When Stars Fall (The Star Scout Saga Book 4)

by GARY DARBY

  “I—” he started before he was interrupted by a voice coming through his earpiece, “Colonel Marrel, we may have an answer on the sky watch.”

  “On my way, Lieutenant Staley,” Jadar answered.

  He glanced at Vlad. “Hold down the fort for a few minutes. If those things start coming up the hill, sound the alarm.”

  “Can do, sir,” Vlad replied.

  Jadar turned to Shar and asked, “Can you check on Wiggins, see how they’re coming with those supplies?”

  “On it,” Shar replied.

  At a lope, Jadar hurried to the scouter where Staley had set up shop. Moments later, he was through the airlock and into the little craft. He made his way to the tiny cargo hold and climbed down the ladder.

  Staley raised her head at his approach. “We’ve found the problem. Most likely, an EM pulse caused a burnout in the relay sending circuit. That tripped the microbreaker and turned the device off.”

  “I thought these things were hard-wired against EM discharges,” Jadar frowned.

  “They are,” Staley replied. “But there must have been a tiny fracture in the casing that allowed the EM flow to get into the guts. Luckily, it fried only one nanoboard.”

  “Can we repair the board?” Jadar asked.

  Staley nodded at a scout who held a circuitry board and was working on it with a portable diagnostic maser and a set of micro tools.

  “No, it’s too far gone. However, Choi thinks he might be able to substitute a nanocircuit from the console processor to replace the burnt-out one. The nanogel that streams the electrons is similar but not entirely compatible.”

  She shrugged. “It’s a bit of a long shot, but it might work.”

  “How long will you need?” Jadar asked Choi.

  “Ten, fifteen minutes,” Choi answered. “I’ve got to pull three or four other micro networks out until I can get to the right one.”

  He glanced over at Staley pointedly, and who, catching his anxious expression said, “There’s a catch, however.”

  “Isn’t there always,” Jadar sighed. “All right, what is it?”

  Pointing at the board that Choi held, Staley said, “Since the nanocircuit is not wholly compatible, we might get only one message burst out before the power fries the replacement board and the tied-in boards as well, and there’s no way we can damp down the voltage.”

  Jadar ran a hand over his bearded chin, feeling the raspy stubble as he considered the problem. “Any other options? I sure hate to think that we’ve got only one shot to make this work.”

  Staley and Choi exchanged quick glances and then Staley said, “Sir, it’s the only solution we’ve been able to come up with.”

  Jadar reached out to run his fingers over the device and considered their proposal, thinking that, for now, this was their one best chance at communicating off-planet.

  “All right,” he replied, “if that’s the best we can do, then make it so. We’ll just have to—”

  “Colonel Tuul, Colonel Marrel,” Vlad said in a tight voice over the comms, “you two better get out here.”

  “On my way,” Jadar responded. As he was leaving, he said to Staley, “See if you can shave some time off your repair, we may have trouble brewing, and you might not have that ten or fifteen minutes.”

  He turned, pounded up the cargo hold ladder, and charged out of the airlock. At a hard run, he slid in beside Vlad just as Shar came sprinting up.

  “What is it?” Jadar demanded. “The hyenas catch our scent?”

  “Worse,” Vlad replied and pointed up the valley. “A Mongan cruiser at our nine o’clock and thirty degrees up.”

  Jadar and Shar whipped their heads around and caught sight of the Mongan craft, its dark shape outlined by soft starlight. “Moving pretty slowly,” Shar observed. “They couldn’t have spotted us or they’d be on top of us by now.”

  “Not yet anyway,” Jadar breathed softly. “But from overhead, it’s not going to take much to spot these scouters sitting in the open.”

  “Pull back?” Shar asked.

  “We may not have any choice,” Jadar answered. “But not until we absolutely have to. Staley thinks she has a decent chance of getting the sky watch operational.

  “She’s going to need the power off the scouter but once we light that off, the Mongans will know we’re here.”

  Peering over the hill’s lip at the forest below, he questioned, “The hyenas?”

  “Moved off sir,” Vlad replied. “Maybe the Mongan ship scared them off or they caught wind of meat on the hoof.”

  “Good,” Jadar grunted, “one less thing to worry about.” He glanced over his shoulder at the scouters and asked Shar, “How’s Wiggins doing on the supplies?”

  “They’ve got trail kits ready to go,” Shar replied. “There’s one for each of us to take back to base camp.”

  “Good,” Jadar answered. “Have Wiggins and his team haul everything they can and head down the ridgeline’s backside. That’ll give them some concealment from the Mongans. Take everyone with you but Staley and Choi. I’ll stay here as their overwatch.”

  “We’ll stay here as their overwatch,” Shar said crisply.

  “I stand corrected,” Jadar replied. “We’ll stay here.” He slapped Vlad on the back. “Get’em moving,” he ordered.

  The young scout bounced up and dashed toward the scouters. In the far distance, the Mongan cruiser seemed to float a few hundred meters above the giant trees that blanketed the valley, seemingly barely moving.

  “They don’t appear to be in any great hurry,” Shar remarked, “which is a good thing.”

  “A very good thing,” Jadar muttered back.

  The rustling of clothing and hurried footsteps caused him to turn and look over his shoulder just in time to see most of the scouts heading away from the scout craft and into the darkness.

  He turned back to Shar. “They’re on the move and loaded down, too. Wiggins and his team must have packed everything and the kitchen sink in those kit bags.”

  “When I poked my head in,” Shar answered in a muffled tone, “he was on a tear, grabbing everything in sight. If I hadn’t moved aside I think he would’ve stuffed me in one of those sacks.”

  “Good for him,” Jadar replied. “I hope he left the cupboards bare.”

  Shar was about to answer, when Jadar reached out and grabbed his forearm. “Uh, oh, I think our luck just ran out. The cruiser’s moving our way.”

  Jadar hit his comms unit hard. “Staley, status.”

  “Choi just about has the new board fitted,” she replied. “Then we’ll need to synch it with the rest of the circuits.”

  “Snap it up,” Jadar ordered. “We’ve got a Mongan ship headed our way.”

  Staley’s lack of response to Jadar’s order signaled to him that the young lieutenant and Choi had jumped into high gear to get the sky watch operational.

  “Vlad,” Jadar said over the communicator, “status?”

  “We’re fifty meters below the ridgeline, sir, about to make our turn to parallel the crest.”

  “Keep going,” Jadar directed, “and don’t stop. If the Mongans open fire, you’ll need as much mountain between you and them as you can get.”

  “Will do, sir,” Vlad replied.

  Jadar waited a few more seconds, watching the Mongan vessel loom larger and larger as it closed the distance.

  “Staley?” Jadar asked tensely.

  “Almost there sir,” she replied. “Choi is synching the new board. We should know something in a couple more minutes.”

  “We don’t have a couple more minutes,” Jadar declared.

  He whipped his head around to stare at the closest scouter. “Or do we?” he asked himself.

  He turned to Shar. “They’re going to have to bring the sky watch out here and hook it to the power coupling. You help them. Once they’ve got it powered up, get the message off and bug out of here. Got it?”

  Jadar started to stand only to have Shar reach out and grab his tors
o vest. “And what are you going to be doing?”

  Smiling at his friend, Jadar placed a hand on Shar’s shoulder and squeezed. “Giving Staley the minutes she needs,” he answered.

  He tore away from Shar’s grasp and sprinted toward the scouter. He squirmed through the airlock and pounded through the passenger compartment to slam into the pilot seat.

  Hands flying over the pilot’s console, Jadar brought the little craft to life. He glanced out the window just long enough to see the Mongan cruiser rising over the ridge.

  It was now or never. Either his gambit worked or the scouts would lose their one shot at getting a message off to the Imperium.

  He scrutinized his board for a second more to make sure he had emergency power for boost out. He was about to punch the acceleration button when a sudden noise caused him to turn.

  Shar Tuul slid into the copilot seat and brought the c-bars across the midsection. To Jadar’s stunned expression he rasped, “We got off this planet together last time, we’re going to get off this planet together this time, too.

  “Now punch it, and let’s see how good they are at playing chase.”

  The two locked eyes, Jadar slapped the acceleration control, and the little ship leaped into the air. He heeled the craft hard over on a course he hoped would lure the cruiser away from the scouters.

  Jadar played his fingers over the controls trying to coax out every ounce of speed he could. Without taking his eyes off his board he called out, “Are they following?”

  “Like a moth to a flame,” Shar replied dryly. “And they’re closing fast.”

  “Sure wish I had a suitable flame thrower bout’ now,” Jadar grunted and sent the little ship in a sharp dive behind a nearby hill. “Teach that moth not to get so close.”

  He slewed the scouter on a steep angle to the left and jetted them through a narrow pass in the hills. Shar sucked in a sharp breath as the canyon walls zipped past just meters away on both sides.

  “Please tell me that you don’t have a death wish,” Shar spit out as Jadar weaved the scouter between the canyon’s narrow vertical walls.

  In response, Jadar pulled the scouter straight up and barrel-rolled down the backside of a nearby twin-peaked hill. “Nope,” he answered. “I just like driving fast.”

  He slapped at his communicator. “Staley, status.”

  “It worked!” she exclaimed. “We transmitted one message before the circuit board died.”

  “Great,” Jadar answered. “Now, you and Choi get out of there, head back to base.”

  “We’re already moving! What about you and Colonel Tuul?”

  Jadar glanced over at Shar and ordered firmly, “Lieutenant, take charge of your team.”

  “But sir . . .” she began with a slight choke in her voice.

  “Lieutenant Staley,” Jadar commanded, “that’s an order. Scouts Out.”

  “Scouts Out, sir,” she replied softly.

  “You heard?” Jadar asked.

  Shar nodded his head. “Let’s just hope someone picks up the message, or this will all be for nothing.”

  Neither spoke for several seconds as Jadar whirled the scouter through the sky. “They still behind?” he asked.

  “Yep,” Shar replied in a calm voice that belied the churning he felt deep in the pit of his stomach. “And my guess is that whatever they’re going to do is going to be soon.”

  Jadar pushed the scouter over into a nosedive straight down and then pulled the little craft up, skimming the flank of a hill.

  They shot over the top and Jadar pushed the nose down just as Shar said, “Game’s up.”

  Hovering in front of them was another Mongan ship. A wave of blue light shot out from the Mongan vessel and encircled the scouter.

  In an instant, Jadar, Shar, and their little ship disappeared.

  Chapter Four

  Star date: 2443.090

  Geneva, Switzerland, the Seat of the Imperium

  Marching with crisp steps, General Rosberg and Scoutmaster Tarracas strode down the Imperium’s Great Hall of Celestial Worlds. Flanking them on each side and matching them stride for stride paced eight grim-faced Imperium Guardsmen, their royal purple short coats buckled at the waist.

  Typically, they carried a single ceremonial gold dagger sheathed at their right side. Now, along with the traditional blade, they had L-guns buckled on as well, a fact that neither the general nor the Scoutmaster had missed.

  The heels of the guard’s shiny black boots struck the glistening ebony floor in perfect unison, sending waves of echoing thuds down the long, arched hallway.

  Tarracas’s face held no emotion though Rosberg’s eyes blazed like hot stones set in a mask of granite hardness. Neither spoke while they tramped toward the great doors that led to the High Council chambers.

  As they approached, the massive, ornate doors opened slowly but neither Rosberg nor Tarracas lessened his pace.

  With resolute footsteps, they marched into the spacious, airy chamber and stopped several paces away from the glimmering horseshoe table where twelve councilors sat in cushioned high-backed chairs.

  Only a few raised their heads for an instant to glance at Rosberg and Tarracas with stony expressions. The others stared down at the tabletop or at their hands; seemingly embarrassed or unwilling to meet the eyes of the two Star Scouts.

  Rosberg gazed at the table’s head where, by custom, the three senior presiding councilors sat. His eyes widened, and his neck muscles tightened like a bowstring that’s pulled taut just before the arrow’s release.

  Instead of the usual three senior councilors, four now peered at him and Tarracas. Each sat equidistantly apart, symbolizing that they held equal power.

  Rosberg’s eyes flicked across those councilors he knew from his previous interaction with the High Council; Constance Krause, Liefa Bongani, and Drexler Quido.

  Now though, occupying one of the two inner chairs, sat none other than Adiak Peller.

  Before now, Peller was little more than a perfunctory high-level bureaucrat. However, his standing had instantly changed when Tor’al, the esteemed Sha’anay elder and apparently the next Grand Elder of the Sha’anay nation announced to the Imperium High Council that it was Peller who had rescued him and prevented his murder at the hands of renegade Star Scouts.

  The hood from his dark robe cuffed his neck and a cold smile, more of a leer than a grin, stretched his thin lips as his narrowed eyes took in Rosberg and Tarracas.

  General Rosberg knew the look and smile all too well. It was the expression that a hunter has when he’s brought down his prey and now gloats over his trophy.

  Both knew, without having to voice it to each other, that Peller was the real power in this room now.

  More so, they also recognized that his wasn’t a benign authority, he reeked of maliciousness and a single-mindedness to garner power and unrighteous dominion over all around him.

  Rosberg and Tarracas gave the customary curt bow to the council while the guards, instead of marching from the room per the normal protocol, took up positions just behind the two scouts.

  As they did, Rosberg shot Tarracas a sideways warning glance, to which the Scoutmaster returned a small nod. They may have been in the chambers of the Imperium’s High Council, but both recognized a trap when they saw one.

  The assembly room’s great doors closed shut without a sound. Rosberg couldn’t help but notice that there were no others in the chamber. That could only bode ill for him and Tarracas as usually there were any number of horse holders sitting in along the walls.

  The lack of others could only mean that those inside wanted no witnesses to what was about to transpire.

  Rosberg, going against all custom, decided to take matters in his own hands and before any of the councilors could speak, spoke out in a strong voice that seemed to reverberate throughout the room.

  “I demand to know why Scoutmaster Tarracas and I have been held against our will. We have done no wrong, broken no laws, yet you treat us as if
we were ordinary criminals.

  “Worse, we’re held without knowing the charges against us, nor are we allowed to speak with legal counsel. I—”

  “Will speak no more,” Peller interrupted harshly. “We haven’t brought you to this council to speak, but to listen.”

  He jabbed a bony finger at Rosberg and Tarracas. “You two are responsible for all but destroying whatever hope we had in forming an alliance with the Sha’anay, along with those renegade scouts of yours who tried to murder Elder Tor’al.”

  Glaring at the two, he went on. “As part of our agreement with Tor’al, we promised that we would apprehend those who tried to murder him. This has not been done. Those traitors are still at large, and Tor’al finds this incredibly offensive.”

  He studied his manicured nails before sniffing disdainfully. “This council finds that most offensive as well. However, Tor’al and this august body are willing to concede that we should extend mercy and therefore, are willing to offer you a compromise that will spare lives.”

  Rosberg asked stiffly, “What kind of compromise are we talking about, and whose lives would be spared?”

  “Well, yours and Tarracas for starters,” Peller shot back. “Frankly, there are some on the council who have the misguided idea that your lives should be of some worth because of your years of service to the Imperium.”

  He chortled disdainfully, staring straight at Rosberg with a baleful expression. “Though I am not one of them, considering how close you came to wrecking any possible collaboration with the Sha’anay.

  “Nevertheless, I was persuaded to plead with Tor’al that your lives not be forfeited as part of our mutual pact. You should be grateful to know that my supplications have not been in vain, and he has agreed to let you live if certain conditions are met.”

  Cocking his head at the two men, he raised his eyebrows as if waiting for an answer.

  “I’m listening,” Rosberg growled. “Get on with it.”

  Peller nodded to himself as if pleased at Rosberg’s response. “From the reports, it appears that the majority of your Star Scouts are heeding the council’s orders and withdrawing back into Imperium space.

  “Tor’al is pleased with that. So, in recognition of our honoring that portion of the bargain, he has generously agreed not to punish all who participated in the attempt on his life, just the leaders.”