Baldwin's Legacy: The Complete Series

by Hystad, Nathan

  Ina was even smaller than her image on the viewer, her brown hair shoulder-length and thin. Ina’s face was narrow, and she lit up at their appearance. She rushed forward, and Brax lifted his gun to aim at her, but Treena stepped between them, accepting the girl’s hug as she almost jumped into the commander’s arms.

  “You came. You really came. My mother always said the Concord was honorable, and that they’d come for us eventually. I…” Ina looked around as she let go of Treena, and must have noticed the huge guns in the Concord crew’s possession. She stepped back warily, her eyes darting around the room.

  “What is it?” Treena asked.

  “I… have you seen anyone else?” Ina asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “On this ship, have you seen anyone else?” Ina asked again.

  “Not yet. We only just…”

  Brax tapped his communicator, holding the piece in his ear. “Deputy, what have you found?”

  “People. No one seems injured, and not that many are speaking Standard. Their speech is…”

  Brax eyed the slip of a girl. “Statu?”

  “That’s right. We’re going to keep moving. So far, the other teams are reporting pretty much the same thing,” Kurt told him.

  “Okay, keep going. I’ll be in touch.” Brax ended the conversation.

  Treena walked to the girl, who didn’t move this time, and reached for her hand. “Ina, what happened?”

  Ina broke her gaze and glanced at Brax, meeting his stare for a moment before looking at Cedric. The big Tekol stayed motionless, his gun resting on his shoulder.

  “We escaped. Fought them, but they were too powerful. We stole seven of the ships, but they brought three. The odds were in their favor, but we managed to remain on the outskirts of the battle. We lost hundreds, thousands of us, but we think that was all of them.” Ina was crying now, her face contorting as the tears fell.

  “Where were you going?” Brax asked her, and she answered through the sobs.

  “We didn’t know. We planned it for years and finally gathered the courage. I hoped to find the Concord, but we didn’t have any coordinates,” she admitted.

  “And you said we need to head to Casonu Two?” Brax asked.

  “We believe there are more slaves there, yes,” Ina said, her composure slowly returning.

  “And the Statu?” Cedric asked, his free hand resting on his hip.

  “They’re gone, from what I’ve heard. We attacked them on Casonu One, and the ships were the last of the Adepts,” Ina told them, and Brax breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Come on, then. Let’s move your people to safety, and we’ll take it from there,” Treena said, ushering the girl toward the elevator.

  Brax peered around the computer room, seeing the screens along the walls, and he remembered flying the other craft away from the Statu world. He didn’t want to pilot another one.

  “Kurt, can you come up to Ninety? I have a job for you.”

  Seventeen

  Ina’s tears had been real, but her story was false. For a brief moment, she’d considered telling them the truth, but deep down, something had told her she’d die a horrible death at Adept Feerez’s long fingers. The second the big strong Concord crew members arrived, she’d felt something lift in her chest. She was free. She could spill the plan to them. Surely Adept Feerez had been mistaken to trust her with such an important task. Why had she been asked?

  He claimed to have prayed on it, and his gods had advised him to seek her out. When he’d found her as a small child on Casonu One, he’d recognized her, and he’d left her there to live underground with her Group.

  She’d asked him about her mother being killed, and he’d assured her none of them were murdered, only repurposed. She thought about the blank white eyes after Carl was put through the machine, and it made her question if her mother was now like that, a mindless drone for the Adepts.

  Adept Feerez had explained the Concord’s hatred, the evil they carried, the fact that they were indeed wraiths, and that the Adepts had managed to save her people from becoming the same. He’d told her that just because they were born to evil didn’t mean it couldn’t be cleansed out of them. He’d said that once they defeated the Concord, they’d be able to return to their enemy’s space and end the injustices for good.

  Then Ina would be given a throne for her involvement, and Adept Feerez would single-handedly train her in their ways. She could become an Adept herself, saving her soul for eternity.

  Ina thought about the evil Vastness the Concord spouted, a place where their people and enemies would burn through the ages. She dreaded the Vastness and had dreamt of it last night. A place where she couldn’t breathe, but only gasp as she tried to swallow air, and when she screamed, the blood vessels burst in her eyes, but no sound emerged from her throat. She’d told the Adept about it, and he’d reiterated the importance of her task. “You must not fail, my child. The fate of everyone falls in your young hands.” He’d left her with that, sending her away in Savior, to do precisely as the ship’s name demanded.

  “Captain, what are your orders? There are about twenty-five escaped prisoners here,” the blonde woman said, snapping Ina into reality.

  She could only hear this side of the conversation, but it was imperative that she lure them to Casonu Two. If she failed, Adept Feerez had assured her the Concord would drag her into the Vastness, and the thought alone was enough to make her skin crawl.

  “That’s right. Ina claims…” The woman turned from her, but Ina stayed close, not wanting to be out of earshot. “Claims that there are a lot of refugees residing on the second planet. Yes, not Yephion’s, but the other twin world. The one we haven’t been to.” She glanced at Ina, who cast her gaze to the ground to appear meeker.

  “Okay, we’ll leave the warship where it is, under our control, and take one of the ships to check it out. We’ll be returning with Ina and the others. Yes, sir. We understand we need to keep them under supervision.” The woman motioned for Ina to follow, and the girl did just that. She needed to convince them to bring all their ships. It was clear the Adept wanted that.

  “You know my name, but I don’t know yours,” Ina said to the woman. The big Tekol that seemed in charge was barking orders to his people, and Ina noticed how quickly they deferred to him. This woman seemed to be more emotional, more apt to listen to her pleas.

  They strode across the hangar, toward two spacecrafts. She’d seen the cylinder-shaped ones the Adepts used, but nothing compared to these. They reminded Ina of smooth rocks, long and lean, with curves and not sharp edges.

  “I’m Commander Treena Starling of the Concord cruise ship Constantine. That’s Lieutenant Commander Brax Daak, and those two men are Executive Lieutenant Cedric and Commander Kan Shu, of the cruise ship Shu,” Treena told her.

  “What’s a cruise ship?” Ina asked. “Is that one?” She pointed to the waiting vessels, and the commander laughed lightly but not cruelly.

  “No. Those are our expedition vessels. Ina, tell me about the Statu,” Treena said, leading Ina onto the vehicle. Some of her people were already inside, and the Adept swore they were to be trusted. She didn’t recognize any of them, but they were all of right mind, each having colored irises. Ina noted how young they were, most even younger than her.

  “The Statu?” she asked.

  “The ones that held you captive. Do you know anything about us?” Treena asked.

  “We only knew them as the Adepts, and they told us about you.” Ina let this truth slip through, aware she’d need to sell her cause.

  “Adepts…” The woman whispered it. She brought Ina away from the rear of the ship, past the other Adept-coached people, and to the front. Everything inside was far more advanced than she was used to, and Ina found her eyes being drawn to the blinking lights and her ears pleased at the soft chimes.

  “Can I speak with your captain?” Ina asked.

  Treena’s eyes narrowed, and she sat Ina down, taking the seat on
the bench beside her. “Why’s that?”

  The one she’d called Brax Daak strode onto the vessel, setting his huge weapon into a case along the wall. She eyed it casually and gawked back at Treena. “I have information that can assist you to recover the rest of my people. Of your people. Lest they find their way to the Vastness.” Ina said the last with distaste, but used the keywords Adept Feerez had engrained into her.

  Treena smiled. “I expect he’ll want to speak with you.”

  “Strap in, everyone. Time to go home,” Brax told them.

  ____________

  “What’s your assessment, Doctor?” Kelli asked.

  Doctor Nee stared at the readouts, the young boy unmoving in the scanner. “By all accounts, what we have here is a healthy Callalay boy of around thirteen years. There are some signs of malnutrition, likely related to diet restriction. Otherwise, his brain activity is sound; his comprehension of the images we shared with him were as strong as one could expect from a boy trapped on a strange world, born in captivity.”

  “And the language?” Kelli asked. The boy only spoke a smattering of Standard, and opted for the clicks and grunts of the Statu. It was the strangest thing. Nee hadn’t thought the Callalay physiology compatible with their intricate speech, but the Tekol and humans they’d checked spoke the language as well.

  “It’s remarkable what one can learn when not given a choice in the matter,” Nee said as he powered down the scanner. The boy automatically slid from inside the machine on a flat white bed, his eyes wide and fearful. Nee gave him a smile, and the boy relaxed slightly. “You’re okay, son. You can join the others.” One of the guards posted outside the medical bay entered, escorting the thin Callalay to the cargo hold, where they’d placed a series of bunks to house the newcomers.

  If there were thousands to be rescued, the Concord had prepared them for that. Shu would house most of the refugees, with the entire Deck Six being temporarily designed to take on such a load of passengers.

  If that failed, they always had the warship they’d just received, though Nee didn’t expect the captain to be so hot on shoving the slaves into those terrible pens like animals. That was how their own, Brax, had been brought to the planet the first time, and no one deserved that kind of treatment, with the exception of the Statu, perhaps. A little taste of their own medicine.

  Kelli walked away, nursing a patient who’d been experiencing a fever. He was one of the guards that had set foot on the warship, and only two hours later, he was burning up. Nee followed her, with the medical bay empty save the single man on the patients’ bed.

  “How are you feeling?” Nee asked while Kelli stared at the tablet beside his bed.

  The tablet clattered to the floor, the noise loud enough to startle the patient, but he remained unmoving. “Doctor, he’s not breathing!”

  Nee rushed to his side, the machines no longer beeping along with his vitals. “What in the Vastness happened?” The patient hadn’t been sick enough to warrant the full array of tests, and Nee kicked himself for the lack of effort.

  “I don’t know…”

  The door sprang open, and two officers basically dragged a Zilph’i woman between them. “She’s burning up. Says she can’t breathe.”

  “On the bed!” Nee pointed to an empty cot, and they settled her onto it, her eyes burning red, her lips pale and cracked.

  “What’s your name?” Nee asked, using a small pocket light to check her pupils.

  She coughed, the sound thick and sticky-sounding. Something was wrong. “Get her a medispray, I need her vitals, and…”

  The door opened again, and more people staggered in. Doctor Nee had a feeling things were about to escalate.

  ____________

  Tom had listened to the girl’s story a few times now and decided they would indeed send both cruise ships into the atmosphere to rescue the others. Their radars still showed no Statu warships in-system; the only thing bugging him was the lack of probe readouts from Casonu Two.

  He peered at the viewer, seeing the planet as they neared it. Everything was calm, peaceful, and he wondered how long the mission would take. The desire to leave here was thrumming in his veins, and he glanced to Constantine, who stood behind Commander Starling, observing the entire meeting.

  “Thank you, Ina. We’re grateful for your time and assistance,” Tom told the girl, and she looked around, as if unsure where to go.

  Treena rose and guided her out the door, shutting the executive crew in behind. Rene Bouchard was there with her, Commander Kan Shu beside her, and she appeared ready to explode.

  “That girl is up to something, Baldwin. I recognize a lying woman when I see one,” she said.

  “And how do you know that?” Tom asked her.

  “As if you’d have any idea. You have no clue how many times I’ve lied to men over the course of my career… my life. Sometimes it’s the only way to make someone to listen to you. Her story doesn’t add up. And do you really think that the warships operated by those skinny kids could have defeated the real Statu?” she asked.

  Tom noticed Ven shifting in his seat. “Ven, what do you think?”

  Ven’s glass slid closer, and he took a drink before speaking. “If this is true, my theory about them having far more people than we had predicted is false.”

  “Rene, if they’re still around, where are they?” Treena asked.

  “The interference. They could be hiding inside the atmosphere,” she said.

  Brax drummed his fingers on the table. “Captain, we could send a fighter in, get the lay of the land first. There’s no harm.”

  “But with the interference, we might not be able to contact them,” Tom said.

  “That’s right, but if there’s nothing to fear below, the fighter comes straight out and reports it to us. If there is, they escape and bring word,” Brax suggested, and Tom nodded along.

  “Fine. Send Basker. He’s the best we have,” Tom said.

  Rene shook her head. “I think Cedric is better.”

  “Fine, send your guy. I don’t care. Just get us some surveillance beneath all this atmospheric disturbance,” Tom barked. The planet was covered in clouds, and the few spots they could zoom in on from orbit showed nothing of use.

  Rene smiled at this, always one to take a win. Tom didn’t feel the same way as she did. He only wanted everyone to make it home safe, regardless of who took what steps to make it happen. “With any luck, we’ll find nothing, and we can begin our rescue efforts. Everyone understand their roles?”

  Constantine buzzed, flickering away, then back. “Captain, the doctor needs to speak with you.”

  “On screen.” Tom stood, striding to the front of the meeting room, where Nee’s face appeared. His white hair stood on end; his usually composed face was twisted in stress.

  “Captain, something’s happening.” Nee’s voice was frantic, and there were at least a dozen patients inside the medical bay behind him.

  “What is it?”

  “There’s some kind of virus hitting our people. I think it’s a contaminant from the newcomers, but I can’t be sure at this time. We’ve had three fatalities so far, but for now, we’re trying to contain those potentially affected: the guards that were in contact with the kids and anyone that was around them. We need assistance and another cargo hold cleared out for a quarantine room,” Nee said in a rush.

  “Brax, get your men on this. Suit up; we don’t want this spreading. Make sure Ina is with the others, and seal them in. Nee, you know what to do.” Nee nodded, the screen going dark, and Tom rubbed his hands, as if cleaning them of any potential sickness.

  “She could have infected us,” Captain Bouchard said, her eyes wide.

  “We can only speculate at this point. Send word to your ship, Rene. Has Cedric returned there yet?” Tom asked.

  “No. He’s still in the hangar,” she advised.

  “Good. For the time being, you and Kan will remain with us.” Tom moved for the bridge, knowing they weren’t g
oing to be able to leave until Nee figured this one out. As if he needed more to worry about.

  “Tell Cedric to make his way to Basker. Treena, get Lieutenant Basker to prepare a fighter for the executive lieutenant,” Tom ordered, and with that, everyone broke from the meeting room, returning to the bridge and their positions.

  Tom walked over to Ven and leaned over. “Do you stand by your theory?”

  Ven peered up. “I read the girl. She’s difficult to sense, but there’s deception beneath her surface.”

  That could mean a multitude of things, but Tom was going to err on the side of caution. “Let me know when Cedric is ready to take off.” He sat in his chair, hoping Nee was able to get a handle on their situation.

  ____________

  Cedric squished into the fighter. One thing he’d always hated about them was how cramped the cockpits were. They weren’t made for a male Tekol’s wide frame, and he’d been lucky enough to have his old ship modified to accommodate him. This one wasn’t to his specs, and his shoulders rubbed against the seat’s edges; his hips fit tightly.

  His mission was simple, and he was glad Captain Bouchard had volunteered him for the role. It was the first time he’d been part of an executive bridge crew, and he wasn’t going to mess it up. He saw the way guys like Brax Daak looked at him. He’d liked to pick on Daak back in the day, but the truth was, he’d been jealous of the man.

  Brax had always been at the top of his classes, even if he was the last one done at each exam. At any given time, Cedric could find him studying away in the Academy libraries, while Cedric was more interested in finding a woman to share his bed.

  And at the end of the day, they’d both ended up on state-of-the-art Concord cruise ships, so Cedric was fine with the amount of effort he’d put in to get here.

  Basker patted the side of the fighter and pointed to the exit, indicating the coast was clear. The big Tekol closed his eyes, as he always did before leaving in a fighter. “Until we meet in the Vastness.” The engines kicked on, and adrenaline coursed through his veins as he anticipated the trip.