Mutiny on Outstation Zori

by John Hegenberger

  Aura took the substance and worked at it, squeezing it tightly at first between her fingers. Then, gradually, she developed a rhythm of pressing, folding, and re-folding the dough on the countertop, along with Dr. Bauer and even Cast Janssen.

  The activity was calming. She began to feel composed, not by any chemical effect of the bread dough, or any telepathic influence, but the simple act of doing something easy for a change, something useful and...peaceful.

  Over the next twenty minutes, no one spoke of Aura's past or present. Instead, the three individuals worked at the task Aura found both odd and consoling; sifting fine white power, mixing in oily liquids, and blending spices and salts into the thickening dough.

  Finally, as they were cutting round sections out of the combined layers of the rolled mass, Aura asked, "What did you mean when you said I was a tool of the Imperium?"

  The yellow-skinned man placed the cut sections into an oversized oven that sat behind Dr. Bauer, and began cleaning the utensils.

  The psychologist shrugged. "The Imperium wears a person down in many ways."

  "The Imperium is soft and corrupt," Aura said.

  "But you've always found a way to give them a push where they needed it," Dr. Bauer answered,

  Cast Janssen came back to the table. "The Imperium has no interest in greater things than itself, except to fear them. It turns a blind eye to pain, or beyond."

  "Whoa," Aura said. "I'm not sure I understand. Sure, I hate the Imperium as much as the next person, but—"

  "That's not as true as it once was, is it?" Dr. Bauer smiled. "Your hate has dimmed, your dedication weakened."

  She must be reading my mind, Aura concluded, even though she began to see a connection between the revolt against the Imperium and her own past activities.

  "The point," Dr. Bauer continued, "is like that of making bread. When a person is dedicated to a firm purpose, they accomplish much. But when they've dispersed their energies in a random fashion, little good is accomplished."

  "You're saying that the Messiah somehow focuses your 'energies'; gives you a dedicated purpose?" In the end, she realized that she had asked a question.

  A buzzer sounded behind Dr. Bauer, and Janssen rose to open the oven and take out the freshly cooked loaves. The compartment filled with a mouth-watering aroma.

  "What I'm saying," the psychologist said, "is that we are neither a dupe, nor a threat. Any vagueness on our part is purposeful, so that a direct decision can be made on your part."

  "A decision about what?"

  Janssen brought the warm bread to the table. "A decision about the rest of your life. Like the Messiah, you're a leader. But unlike the Messiah, you don't trust your followers. That's the decision must make: trust."

  Gingerly, Dr. Bauer tore off a section of the white, flakey loaf.

  Steam rose before Aura's eyes. The aroma almost overpowering. The heat warmed her face. There a bitter tinge to her voice. "Let me out of here," she said, fighting back tears. "Take me back to my cell."

  * * *

  The Messiah raised both hands in a pose that Jamie figured signified peace and acceptance.

  "You are among friends," the woman stated.

  "Thank you." Jamie cleared his throat. "We wish to join you, oh Messiah."

  The elder woman played the scene with a straight expression. "I understand. Tell me how you came to find us?"

  Jamie brought the fingertips of both hands beneath his neck where the folds of his gaudy garb had hidden the crystal pendant. Upon exposing it to view, the Messiah nodded. "Of course," she smiled.

  "Like I said," Jamie answered. "We were called." Suddenly, he felt a strange sensation in his left hand, the one that had been closest to the pendant, a mild numbness or faint vibration from within the crystal. His thoughts raced. Could there actually be something to what Cast told him about the pendant responding to the Messiah's presence?

  A bearded man in grey robes similar to those of the Messiah strode down the corridor toward their little group. He paused as he neared, catching sight of Clamber and the Qestan in their stunning outfits.

  "Seize them," the bearded man shouted, hurrying closer. "They must not—"

  But at that same second, another voice from the opposite corridor called out, "Alert. Alert. The starship is threatening attack. Battle stations. Battle stations."

  The crowd of seven seemed drawn in as many directions. But only for a moment, as the Messiah's voice rose above all others.

  "Stand down," she cried. "Stand down. We must not attack. We must not counter-attack. It is not our way." The deck shivered beneath their feet from the Imperial cruiser's opening salvo. "It is not our way."

  Okay, Jamie thought. It's up to you now, Kleg.

  CHAPTER 11

  The Dagger's lasers lanced out, cutting just in front of the Ironfist and momentarily slowing its progress.

  "This is Captain Kleg Carr of the Grand Enterprise ship, Silver Dagger, Kleg declared. "The station is under our protection."

  Zaxt moved to stand next to the pirate. "What's the Grand Enterprise?"

  "Hush!" Kleg held down the commkey and shouted, "How say you?"

  In response, the military vessel changed course—more quickly than Kleg expected—and banked hard around to confront the smaller ship from a different angle. Without warning, the forward port lasers of the Ironfist roared to life, stabbing outward and striking the silver craft amidships. The Dagger rocked under the assault.

  "Sir," Zaxt raised his voice. "We've got to haul ass out of here."

  Kleg gave him a sharp look, but no response. He had noticed that in times of stress, the diplobot accessed a more vulgar and colorful vocabulary.

  * * *

  From within the Outstation, Jamie could view the ensuing battle. None of the Zori personnel moved to lend assistance to the smaller craft. In the distance, all could see the Ironfist come around fast with its disruptor cannons exploding their loads against the smaller ship's shielded hull just below the port engine.

  The Dagger was slowed for a moment, but then regained its strength and angled back, dodging another set of blasts as it streamed through the void.

  "Don't you see?" Jamie appealed to the Messiah's collective. "They're defending you. Do something."

  Admiral Long began to move to the station's weapons controls, but the Messiah stretched out a pale hand to stop her. "We will await the outcome."

  Deep in his throat, Jamie felt himself screaming.

  * * *

  The Dagger bolted again and Kleg's stomach went with her. The deck groaned as if in convulsion beneath his feet. He clutched at the console and shouted a challenging transmission. "We've discovered a weakness in your armaments and I'm about to launch an assault against it," he announced, hoping to buy more time. "I give you one last chance to stand down."

  The Qestans stood stock still behind him, staring in wonder.

  "That ought to give them something to think about," the pirate muttered.

  The Ironfist hung dormant out there, several of its hull petals torn backward, bent up out of place, rupturing the floral symmetry of the huge conical shape.

  Kleg waited. Under his skin, he sensed the cruiser captain's eyes, watching the Dagger just as now he watched the Ironfist, peering at each other over the relatively short gap of space and the long gap of time. Each wondered if the weaknesses they saw were real.

  Blue balls of energy plowed out from the battlecruiser, slamming into the Dagger's side. Kleg let his ship fall away, trying to gain some distance, but the Ironfist stayed with it, continuing to pour on lethal firepower.

  The tiny bridge crackled and fumed with new damage, but the Dagger kept on course. Before it, the huge vessel began to tip downward and roll sideways, bucking and twisting remarkably for a ship its size.

  Kleg tried to use his ship's cloak to hide from the Imperium's forces, but discovered that the device was damaged or needed recharging. He quickly regretted the action, realizing that there was nothing like be
ing half-cloaked. Worse still, you didn't know for sure when you were hidden and when you weren't. "Just turn the damned thing off!"

  Zaxt spoke in earnest. "I can take command of our firing computer and direct the weapons at the Imperium ship."

  "A diplobot handling the laser guns?" Kleg grumbled. "What are the odds of you actually hitting anything? I'm in charge here and it's going to stay that way, if it kills me."

  The bot meekly accepted this with only a single word: "Ironic."

  * * *

  Jamie continued to watch the silent battle with shallow breath. What if the Dagger were destroyed? There would be no way to return home; Kleg and Aura's followers aboard the ship would be killed; and the outstation would be next to fall.

  The residents and crew of Zori waited uncommitted. The threat was huge and clear, yet they did little or nothing to defend themselves or lend protection or support to the little ship out there valiantly taking on the giant cruiser.

  A new impact flared along the starboard side of the Silver Dagger. A pulse of laser cannon fire skimmed past the outstation, nipping and shearing one of its commdisks.

  Jamie tried to appeal to Cast. "Can't we help them? Launch a rescue party, at least!"

  His old partner blinked at him. "I'll ask the Messiah." He turned to approach the cluster of station personnel gathered at one of the large bay windows.

  "I'll go with you," Jamie replied, certain that all the facts would not be presented unless he were there for assurance.

  The Messiah stood in the center of the crowd of worshipers. At her side was Admin Exec, Ben Zurek, who stroked his beard while Cast implored the grey lady to take a hand in the combat.

  The Messiah listened, nodded, and glanced at Ben. The man's face remained still. Then, she addressed Jamie directly. "I know that you are drawn to rescue those who are in need… but that is not always the best practice. A child will rush into traffic to save a pet… and risk its own life in the process. Sometimes, the best action is not to act at all and trust to the will of the Great Fates."

  Jamie raised his voice at her. "To not fight for life is the same as death. Do you choose death? If so, you'll be the next to die!"

  Cast and Ben moved in and seized him from both sides, prepared to force him to the deck plates. But the Messiah raised her hand and smiled. "Another childish reaction, Mr. Clamber. We will wait."

  Behind her, through the view port, Jamie could see another large ball of fire blossom in the dead of space.

  CHAPTER 12

  Wounded, Kleg battled valiantly and brilliantly, under the overwhelming Imperium military's greater firepower.

  Sawyer broadcasted a final warning, which all on Zori could hear and worry about.

  "Get after that little ship, but keep firing on the station with our main forces." Admiral Sam "Slag" Sawyer was nothing if not single-minded. The Ironfist had sustained several vicious hits, and one of its rear deflector shields had overloaded and burned out. But that was not nearly enough to dent Sawyer's determination.

  "This has gone on long enough," he grumbled, leaning forward and squinting at the main viewscreen and the tactical readout floating near his right arm. The last thing he wanted was for any of his crew to know that his eyesight was failing—again. This was what? his fourth set of eyes in twenty years.

  He rubbed the back of a gnarled hand across his brow to cover the fact that his vision hadn't cleared and grunted to himself, "Damned cheap macula." Then he stood up, directing his wrath forward at the image of the Dagger as it blipped in and out of his clouded view.

  Sawyer had had enough and wanted to focus his weapons on the main target, the Outstation. "But first, see that little ship out there?" he gruffly told his Executive Officer, pointing at the tacscreen. "Fire the Brainbomb at it and let's move on."

  "Sir," his EO snapped to attention, wishing she'd been assigned to another ship—any other ship then this one commanded by an over-aged, over-weight, over-bearing captain, like Sawyer. "That device is still in the experimental stage. If we deploy it now, the effects might blow back on us and we'll all be knocked unconscious."

  "Slag" Sawyer stared deep into her eyes. "Are you attempting to tell me my job, you gob?"

  "No sir," the EO answered, trying not to wince. "It's my duty to point out options and alternatives—sir."

  A mild explosion caused the battlecruiser to vibrate slightly, shuddering faintly while the viewscreen flared and then returned to normal. The tiny target before them skewed off to starboard.

  Sawyer closed one eye to get a better view of his tactical screen. "Well, point your options and opinions in another direction, Commander. I want that bomb fired at the enemy and I want it done before the end of this sentence!"

  This time she did wince. "Yes sir, sir. As you order." Rotating on her heels, the EO initiated the firing sequence for the ultra-secret weapon.

  Sawyer grinned and watched the screen, waiting for his opponent's ship to receive the stunning impulse that would render its crew mentally numb. He mumbled again, rubbing his eyes. "If I could bottle that stuff, I'd be a rich man. FIRE!"

  * * *

  Onboard the Dagger, Kleg Karr laughed, fired, and swooped his vessel into a spinning, twisting loop that tumbled and brought panic to the Qestans behind him. One of them somersaulted unintentionally against a bank of controls in the aft compartment, which made Kleg's soul sing.

  Zaxt seemed to almost screech, "What are you doing?"

  "Just an old pirate custom." Kleg lowered his pants and stuck his butt up against the forward port as the Dagger sped past the Imperium cruiser. "That's a maneuver they don't teach you in the military!"

  The diplobot replied, "I'll keep that in mind."

  Kleg chuckled. He shifted the ship into a high arc, skimming just out of reach of the Ironfist's stinging tracers, loving the moment, certain he could best the bigger ship… given just a few more minutes.

  Zaxt, unfortunately, pointed out that they likely had little or no time left. "It's only a matter of calculated odds," the bot insisted. "We cannot expect to hold off an entire battlecruiser for more than ten seconds now."

  Kleg fired a new shot across the Ironfist's bow and shouted, "Never tell me the time!"

  It was the last thing Kleg said or felt for a time. He could have no idea what weapon the battlecruiser had deployed; only that everything suddenly went black, as if he'd been hit at the base of his brain. All sense and awareness simply stopped cold.

  Zaxt saw the man fall from the command seat at the front of the Dagger. The controls began to shut down and the ship started to list and drift.

  The Qestans crew was similarly stricken, slumping over; one lying inert on the deck at the bot's feet.

  "Get up. All of you!" Zaxt bent and poked a blunt hand at the back of Kleg's neck. "Wake up!"

  There was absolutely no response from any of the bodies. Through the forward screen, the diplobot saw the Ironfist begin to move in a direct path, headed for Outstation Zori.

  Again the bot nudged Kleg, this time with a foot. Finally, he accepted that the pilot was down, possibly dead. And with that confirmed realization, Zaxt knew that the situation was his to lose.

  "Contact," he called, scrambling stiffly into the command seat. "I've made contact—with the ship's controls. The weapons cluster is still on manual command."

  The bot scanned the instrumentation panel, speaking only to himself. "And navigation is on automatic."

  He consulted the sensors, pressed a key, and swiped his mitten-like hand over a display. Instantly, four control screens came to life, ready to accept his commands. "But what do I do now?"

  A stern voice emanated from the battlecruiser and belched from the communit. "This is your final warning. All aboard the mutinous station stand down and prepare to be boarded or destroyed."

  Zaxt saw the Ironfist continue to move on Zori's rotating structure. He had no idea which button to push or command to give. In desperation, he shouted, "Fire! Damn you, fire!" But the Dagger did no
t respond.

  The diplobot tapped screens frantically, even physically turning a knob and flipping a switch he found under the control console.

  The cabin lights dimmed and then flared back up. Readings changed on the screens. Faint beeps and blurps sounded, but no weapons fired. The tiny ship continued to drift while the Ironfist nearer to Outstation Zori.

  * * *

  Standing in a crowd of defenseless spectators gathered at the Outstation's main viewing area, Jamie watched the battlecruiser ease inexorably closer.

  Since the Dagger had ceased to engage and just hung there as the larger vessel passed by, Jamie feared that his teammate was helpless at best and dead at worst.

  Admiral Long stood next to the Messiah; both of them wearing the same grim expression.

  Ben Zurek was motionless, staring off in another direction toward empty space. Then, the man combed his fingers through his beard and pointed to the blackness far beyond and behind the approaching battlecruiser.

  The Messiah of Izar followed his gaze and gesture, as did Jamie.

  A small pin-prick of light flared for a second.

  The entire length and breadth of the Ironfist began to glow. The increasing light came from inside, shining out from the edges of all the seams in its wide midsection. Bright neon yellowish white, it expanded, as the ship spilled forth in a violent, soundless eruption.

  The bulk of the ship turned to vapor. Debris and scraps of twisted alloy that no longer looked like parts of a battlecruiser filled an expanding hellcloud in the emptiness.

  The Ironfist had been completely destroyed by a long-range attack from its rear!

  CHAPTER 13

  A new signal sounded throughout the station. A deep fuming voice instructed: "You are ordered to leave this far edge of Edorrian space. Now that your screens are gone, your operations have been detected, and your military guard destroyed… you are the spoils of war and will be consumed or eliminated."

  Admiral Long seemed to be having trouble swallowing. "The Edorrians are the most savage race we're ever encountered. They claim this sector as their own, but we've always maintained that it is open for exploration."