The Nathan Daniels Saga: Part 4

by Sam Lippert

“Then why did we even come here!” Nola whined. “We could have taken the load of fissionables that Kezia offered, which would have fetched a good price on any of twelve planets within my flight radius.” Nola displayed a map of the quadrant, highlighted twelve planets and displayed the current pricing of fissionables for each one.

  “Nola, being a computer I don’t expect you to understand, but I know your human sisters do. I have been haunted for years by the swindle I pulled here, and the older I get the more events like these weigh on me. This might be the only chance I have to make amends, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t, especially since, as it turned out, I would have been able to make that payment on your chassis had I simply dealt honestly with the clans here.” Nathan had ‘fiddled’ with the device he now held in his right hand, a one-hundred-centimeter-long cylinder sporting a fancy red button on one end. “The key is to get them talking instead of shooting…”

  * * *

  Daniels reached the bottom of the ramp without even being noticed by any of the three gunmen awaiting him there. Apparently, there was a disagreement as to who’s claim on his life held more weight, something Nathan thought would have been settled years ago. He cleared his throat when he reached the bottom, causing the gunmen to raise their weapons and train them on him. Garrin, the gunman from the Antwerp clan, spoke first.

  “Nathan Daniels,” he said, waggling his gun a little almost as if he was laughing. “You have big diamond-studded balls to show up here again.”

  “Obviously, what he did with the diamonds he promised us!” Yosef, from the Tel-Aviv clan, spoke next.

  “My sister’s marriage was to bring great glory to our clan,” said Reyansh, of the Surat clan. “Instead, thanks to you, we are disgraced. Why should we not shoot you where you stand?”

  “Obviously,” Nathan responded. “If it were that simple, I would be dead already and we wouldn’t be having this lovely conversation. I would conjecture that you are each under orders to apprehend me, alive, so that justice can be meted out, very publicly, by your boss. But, since only one of you can do that, there is a bit of a stalemate.”

  “Which is why it would be much easier just to shoot you.” Yosef jammed the barrel of his weapon under Nathan’s chin.

  “Tsk, tsk. Not so fast.” Nathan held up his right hand, making a point of showing the device in his hand, and his thumb depressing the button on its end. “This, my friends, is what is classically known as a ‘dead-man switch.’ As long as my thumb remains firmly on this button, everything is fine, but if that changes, within seconds the Nola’s engines will go critical, turning us all into a crater big enough to be seen from orbit.”

  “What?!” Nathan heard Nola scream in his earpiece. “No one said anything about blowing me up as part of this plan! I won’t stand for it! I won’t!”

  Remi’s voice attempted to sooth the AI. “Sis, you know that Nathan would never hurt you, and even if he were to try, Winette and I would never let it happen. The switch is a dummy, meant to buy the Captain enough time to strike a bargain.”

  Daniels was extremely glad the conversation was not audible to anyone outside the ship except him.

  “Now, if the three of you will kindly lower your weapons so as to keep from turning us all into radioactive vapor, I think I can make each of you an offer that will more than compensate your clans for my past transgressions.

  “Reyansh,” he turned to the Surat gunman. “Your sister did not want to marry the old codger she was betrothed to. She begged me to take her away from here so she wouldn’t have to. Saanvi has made a very nice life for herself on Vishv, I see her every couple of years and each time she, her husband, and your niece and nephew thank me for taking her away from here. As a way to make amends to your clan, I offer one-third of my current cargo of diamonds, a value roughly equal to three times the dowry that would have been paid for her hand.”

  The Indian looked thoughtful, then said, “I will take this offer to my father, after I have verified you have the cargo necessary to fulfill your end of the bargain.”

  “Yosef,” Nathan turned to the man from the Tel-Aviv clan. “Yes, I accepted payment in good faith from your clan for merchandise I never delivered, instead having Garrin’s clan cut the diamonds for me to sell off planet. As you know, diamond prices have increased dramatically in the last ten years, making one-third of my current cargo worth twice what I failed to deliver. See if your boss will accept this as repayment.

  “Finally, Garrin, one-third of my cargo should be enough to pay my debt to your clan, resupply my ship, and buy a handful of cut stones so I can buy a cargo at my next destination.”

  * * *

  With the successful aversion of initial disaster, the next few days were simply a matter of finalizing deals, supervising the off-loading of cargo and resupplying the ship. The gunmen were never far from Nathan, at least until their clan’s transaction had been completed, and the Captain’s thumb was never off the fake dead-man switch.

  The evening after they had off-loaded the last of their cargo, and completed the resupply of the Nola, Nathan was in the cockpit, going over possible destinations with the AI, when he heard Winette scream over the shipboard intercom.

  “Where is she, Nola?” he asked.

  “She and my other sister are in their suite. Remi’s vitals have suddenly become very weak. She seems to have collapsed on the floor.” At this point, Nola was speaking to an empty chair.

  “She just collapsed,” Winette, again composed, said as Nathan knelt with her next to the princess. “She appears to be in some sort of catatonic state.”

  “Captain,” Nola’s voice came through the speakers in the suite.

  “What is it, Nola?”

  “I am getting activity on that KII doo-whapie that Winette installed in my communications array.” Nathan gave the KII agent a questioning look, and got a ‘we’ll talk about it later’ look in return.

  “Send it to the screen down here, if you would, Nola.” Winette stood, and faced the nearest screen, making some quick adjustments to clothing as she did so. Within moments, Empress Nimjufet’s face appeared.

  “Winette, dear, would you be so kind as to put my daughter on, and then give us some privacy?”

  “Sorry, ma’am, but I am unable to do that. Barely moments ago she collapsed and fell into what appears to be a catatonic state.”

  “I am not surprised, given the official communique I just received from Verstat, although I was hoping to speak to her before it happened. Her condition is nothing to worry about, however. Is Captain Daniels there?” Nathan stood, putting his face within range of the screen’s pickup.

  “Yes, Excellency.” Nathan gave a slight bow, then stood at his best attempt at an ‘attention’ pose.

  “Come now, Nathan.” The Empress smiled. “You have both my daughter and foster daughter aboard, with one of them unconscious. No need to be quite so formal! That military stance looks ridiculous on you!” Nathan relaxed his posture. “Intelligence reports put you currently on Kütting, is that correct?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “With proper fuel and supplies, can the Nola make it directly to Verstat? My advisors say yes, but I always like to verify with the person who actually has to make the trip.”

  Nathan thought for a minute. “It’s at our extreme range, but I think we can do it. How about it Nola?” He asked the AI. “What do you think?”

  “If you let me fly it, it will be a cinch! Mom, don’t let Nathan snow you, getting to Verstat is a piece of cake!”

  “Nola! We are speaking to the Empress of Kalifet. It is improper to refer to her as ‘mom.’”

  “Shows how much you know, Captain! The Empress is Remi’s mom and Winnete’s foster mom, and since I am their sister, that makes her my mom too!” The AI gave a self-satisfied haruumph.

  Winette snickered, as did the Empress.

  “Nathan, I learned long ago not to try to out-logic a computer. I am quite surprised but happy to have acqu
ired a new daughter. It’s a pleasure to meet you, daughter Nola.”

  “Geez, thanks mom! Why do we need to bee-line to Verstat, anyway?”

  “According to the dispatch I received from the Elite of Verstaten, Omany has been arrested and is being transported to Verstat to face a hearing concerning an alleged violation of some proscriptions their order has. If he is found guilty he could face any number of punishments, up to, and including death. Remi is required to give testimony at this hearing, and her current catatonia is a means of ensuring she does not discuss or rehearse said testimony.” The Empress paused for a moment. “Nathan, I have known Omany for years, and I have always known him to be a man of honor. The thought of him betraying any kind of oath is very foreign, but so too is the notion that he would infect my daughter with some kind of nano-device that would allow the Elite of his order to render her unconscious, but apparently, he did that, at some point.”

  “Okay, ladies. Enough jibber-jabber.” Nathan took charge, he was the Captain, after all. “Let’s get this boat to Verstat.”

  “Only if you retract that ‘boat’ comment!”

  “Very well, Nola. You are a sleek and beautiful ship, not a boat.”

  “Aww, thanks Captain. You can be charming when you try. It’s no wonder my sisters like you. Course plotted and laid in. Lift in five minutes.”

  “If you’ll excuse me, ma’am,” Daniels made a slight bow to the screen. “There are a few things aboard that still must be attended to by a human before the ship can lift.”

  CHAPTER XXVII

  Captain Jeremy James brought the Equinox in for a landing on Verstat. He had spent most of his life flitting from world to world, first as Nikolai’s apprentice, then on his own, but he had never been here before. The home of the Verstaten (Faith? Belief? Religion? He didn’t really know what to call it.) was a barren world, mostly desert and mountains. The atmosphere held enough oxygen, in combination with neutral gasses, to support human life, but that was about all that could be said for it. The world’s only export was Verstaten, and it didn’t really import much of anything either, as the priests led relatively simple lives. This led not only to few visits by free traders, but also a small and under-utilized spaceport.

  James could spot all of two spacecraft parked at the port as the Equinox descended, and neither of them were the Nola. Jeremy assumed that had Nathan beaten him here, the small vessel would still be berthed at the spaceport, the crew waiting to be reunited with Omany. This was the situation that he had hoped for, as it would have given Nathan the upper hand, and left him with the need only to go along with whatever plan his brother had concocted. The fact that the Nola had yet to arrive meant that Sokolov was going to expect James to finagle some sort of ambush, making it much tougher for him to simply “go along” with whatever Nathan set in motion.

  Shortly after Equinox grounded his passengers debarked, and set out across the desert towards a distant mountain, carrying Omany. Jeremy was glad to be rid of that moody bunch. They had been decent company for the first half of the trip, but when they were about three days out from Verstat, Omany and Mecy cloistered themselves in Omany’s cabin, and a pall came over the rest of the priests. It was all very strange, but James never asked questions that he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer to.

  With his passengers gone, Captain James set to work. He had to devise an ambush that wasn’t really an ambush. Something that would satisfy Sokolov, who was still watching from inside his head, but would not fool his ‘little brother.’ Implant, or no implant, he was not going to kill Nathan. As a Son of Nikolai, he would give up his life for any one of his brothers, as he knew they would for him. But, if he could find a way out that kept both of their skins intact, he would use it, even if it meant turning this supposed ‘princess’ over to the lunatic admiral.

  * * *

  Captain Nathan Daniels sat in the pilot seat as the Nola approached the Verstat spaceport. Although he was becoming more and more comfortable with the way the AI Nola handled the ship, and he had to admit, on this approach at least, fuel levels were so low that her precision was necessary, he still insisted on being in the pilot seat for the tricky maneuvers, just in case his human intuition told him that he needed to take control.

  Once again, Nola proved that human intuition was not all it was cracked up to be. Even to the point of spotting Equinox before he did.

  “Cap’n,” Nola’s avatar was bedecked in her girlish rendition of eighteenth century swashbuckler attire. “I detect a ship matching the specifications of Un’le Jeremy’s rig Equinox on landing pad five-b, right next to where we’re to moor.”

  “Uncle?” Winette questioned.

  “Nathan’s brother,” Nola said, with the exasperation shown by any child having to explain the obvious to an adult. “Means he’s my uncle, and your brother-in-law, or near enough. Why do I keep having to explain human familial relationships to actual humans? Anyway, uncle Jeremy being here means I can delete contingency plans thirteen through twenty-five and recycle the memory locations I have devoted to them, correct?”

  Nathan and his crew had spent the trip from Kütting to Verstat developing scenarios to handle the inevitable conclusion that they would have to face Jeremy James at their destination. Because of his arrangements with Prescilla, the Equinox was the one ship Nathan knew would be able to leave Rand, and if Omany had escaped The Collector (obvious), and was due on Verstat, the most likely means for him to get there was aboard Equinox.

  Nathan gave Nola and affirmative reply as the ship touched down. He and Winette unstrapped, made their way to the cargo hold and down the ramp, which the AI had lowered. Nathan had expected to be met by an envoy from the Elite, at least that is what their communication with the spaceport had indicated. Instead, Jeremy was at the foot of the ramp, blaster drawn.

  “Looks like plan four-a, boss.” Nola whispered in his earpiece, with her best Chicago gangster voice.

  * * *

  Devka was surprised at how quickly she was allowed into Admiral Sokolov’s inner circle. At their first meeting, she had provided the names of a dozen ‘sympathizers’ within the Kalifet military. The list had been provided to her through the instruction wafer, and every one of the names was actually a KII operative. Sokolov reached out to them, and in short order was ever so proud of himself for having reasserted a strong link to a disgruntled Kalifet military.

  Of course, nothing was further from the truth.

  Because Devka had provided the information, Sokolov trusted her, which had been the plan all along. The admiral had even explained to her how he had corrupted Jeremy James, and was using him to get his hands on Princess Remini, showing off the information feeds from inside Jeremy’s own brain. Devka was disgusted, even as she was sure that KII had probably deployed similar technology in the field. She found the idea of a detonation button that would cause the implant to explode especially disconcerting.

  She was unsurprised to find the Admiral studying the video and audio feed from a recent implant download when she was ushered into his office. The segment he was watching showed a confrontation with Nathan Daniels, through the eyes of Jeremy James. Daniels was there, as well as Winette, but there was no sign of the Princess. Sokolov would play the video to a certain point, rewind, then play it again.

  “Devka,” The admiral finally acknowledged her presence. “Watch this and tell me what you see.” He ran the video again, this time at half speed. He kept the audio portion of the feed routed to his earpiece, so she was only able to see what was going on.

  She watched as Winette moved off, out of frame, while James kept his gaze and his gun leveled on Daniels. Nathan approached Jeremy, hands raised, with the confidence of a man who had stared down the barrel of a blaster numerous times, but there was something more there, almost a knowledge that the man in front of him, would, in fact, not shoot. Sokolov froze the picture as Nathan reached for Jeremy’s gun.

  “Is that the look of a man who is afraid for his life?” The Admir
al’s finger was poised over the ‘detonate’ button on his console.

  This was Devka’s moment of truth. The one that would either cement Sokolov’s trust in her, or cause him to doubt her. She had faced a similar decision onboard the Nola, when she had chosen, correctly, not to kill Nathan Daniels as General Marag had ordered.

  She did not know how old this transmission was, only that it was not happening in real time. The Princess was likely not within blast radius when this encounter occurred, but would that still be the case?

  It took every ounce of will the KII agent had to force her head to shake no.

  The deranged Admiral stabbed the detonation button.

  Devka prayed that she had made the right choice.

  End of The Nathan Daniels Saga: Part 4