The container beeped as expected and the top flipped open. Malik counted, then recounted his remaining tabs of Necris. Seven whole. Three halves. Five quarters. That was all he had left of his cache from his service. Ten tons could put a serious jolt into the flagging Alliance. Malik allowed himself a moment to think on this as he took a half, closed his eyes, and placed the tab beneath his tongue.
The Rise came over him. Heat rippled from his center. It spread to his hands and feet, then folded back in on itself and flushed his face with warmth. From there, it pulsed outward and Malik felt every inch of the Swift Destiny's airlock. The doors, the walls, the ship itself were his to command. All he had to do was outstretch a hand and it would be his to hold or lift or burn.
His Rise bled into the thoughts of his team as well. Together, they shared in this sightless awareness and, in silence, planned their raid on the station.
They were also alerted of a great deception that lay ahead of them. Not one of them knew what this deception was, but each felt it and relayed it to the others. A warning.
Hosk's voice came in over the link. "Your readings are all up. Are you hitting halves back there?"
The start of a smirk grew on Malik's face. No Liothern can hit within a kilometer without the others knowing. It was just a part of being in the Collective. They always knew.
Malik opened his eyes and replied. "Yeah. Do the same for yourselves. We need you sharp."
"Aye, sir," Hosk said eagerly. Malik heard her chew her tab over the comm link and winced. The Rise from a chewed tab burns hotter at first, but ebbs more quickly. It was a terrible habit.
The ramp dropped and the four Liothern fanned out inside the hangar. Wren's implanted targeting systems scanned the layout and fed the information into each of their exo-frame's computers. Rikt ran meters ahead of the others, scouting the many dark corners. Malik and Joer stalked up the center to the blast door. By the time they got there, Wren had already begun taking apart sections of her forearm.
"Why not wireless?" Rikt asked from the top of a stack of crates.
"And open myself up to a foreign attack?" Wren said. She drew one long blue wire out of her wrist and held the end of it near the port. There was a quick light from the end of the wire and it shifted to fit the opening. "My arm runs on a separate hard drive that I purge every couple of days when new codes are updated over the Sprawl."
"Whatever gets it done," Malik said. The Rise struck him again in a rush. He looked to the others and their eyes told him that they felt it as well. "It's time to concentrate." He watched as the panel light above the port flashed from red to green. "What do you feel?"
"Blaster fire will come through on the left side," Joer said.
"Upper left," Wren added. She closed her eyes and Malik watched her ride the waves of probability, just one of the Rise's many gifts. "But that's just the first one."
"Good," Malik said approvingly. "The second bolt will singe the floor, so watch your feet." He checked their eyes for understanding and each Liothern nodded. He didn't tell them that there were only three men behind the door or that Celwik was the furthest down the corridor. He didn't need to. They all felt it.
"Go," Malik said and the team moved.
The door slid open and a yellow bolt of energy scorched the air, high on the left. Rikt jumped over the second bolt that sparked against the floor and threw a charge from his gauntlet at the nearest man. The man's eyes grew wide and rolled back as he died.
The second man had better cover and let out a shot that cut a deep groove against the wall of the corridor. Wren ducked it a second before the man squeezed the trigger, as did Joer, who bound to the far wall and propelled himself at the attacker.
The man shot again, but Joer rolled underneath the bolt and rose inches from the man's face. The man drew breath to scream, but Joer ignited his blade and severed the man's head before his breath could escape.
All eyes turned to Celwik, who ran away down the corridor. Joer and Rikt both fired charges from their emitters, but hit only the blast door that shut behind the smuggler.
"Damn it," Wren said. Rikt and Joer made it to the door first, but she muscled in between them. "Move. I'll hack it."
She got to work on the panel as Malik took stock of the corridor. There were two rooms off to one side: the command center and the power core, neither of which looked modified from the original specs. Malik wondered, idly, whether the processing unit was still intact, not that it mattered. What good would the equipment be without a Necri to operate or supply it?
It was a thought he had already dismissed as Hosk's voice came in over the link. "Captain. I'm reading a new power source. Get back here now. I think he's making a run for it."
Chapter Four
4
Malik waited until they were all on board to grill Daton. "How could you not know about this ship?" His temperature peaked with his frustration, a nasty side effect of the Rise. Your body did what your emotions dictated. He breathed one long hard breath through his nose. "You said you scanned the surface twice after the cloak dropped."
"I did," Daton said through the link. He paused and Malik felt the computer aboard the Swift Destiny initiate its launch sequence. "Either the ship has a separate cloak or the asteroid has some sort of sliding door."
"Whichever it is, you fouled this up," Malik said. "We had the guy pinned down. Losing ten tons of Necris to the Shogol is as good as surrendering this quadrant. The Collective will fall and any excuse we give might as well be carved on our tombstones."
Wren sprinted to her battle station, as did Rikt and Joer.
Malik marched toward the bridge, still in his exo-frame. The door slid open as Daton's voice came over the comm.
"Got him," Daton said. "He's thirty kilometers into the thick of the asteroid field."
The table powered up. Above the center, a 3D display generated the image of Celwik's small freighter. Red crosshairs highlighted the craft among the dozens of spinning rocks.
"We cannot let him get clear,' Malik ordered. 'That goes for everybody. Do what it takes to keep him from shifting.'
"He's taking a risky path here, Captain," Hosk said.
"I don't care," Malik answered. "Sweep the field clean if you have to. I'd rather spend a month picking chips of Necris off of the rocks than let it get away."
Malik studied the holographic display. The readings on the sidebar laid out all he needed to know. Celwik's freighter had been modified for combat, but it was no match for the Swift Destiny. They gained on him as he ducked and weaved between asteroids. A red streak of light shot out of the port gunnery bay and clipped Celwik's engine. There was a flash and the freighter began trailing small pieces of the hull.
Yellow and orange lights overtook the sidebar and an alarm sounded.
"He must be out of his mind," Hosk said. "He's attempting a shift."
"Finishing him now," Joer said. The Replicant's jaw tightened. The projected crosshairs swooped over, under, and past the damaged freighter. They drew closer and closer in tight, controlled movements, but each time they were directly over the ship, the computer erred. "We can't lock with this much in the way."
"Best guess," Malik said. "Now, Joer."
Joer fired the neutron guns. Two streams of green plasma sailed high to the left and dissipated into the blackness of space along with the hopes of those aboard the Swift Destiny.
The freighter shifted red, then was gone.
Long moments passed in silence as Malik stared into the space where Celwik's ship was just a moment ago.
A quality Forward Pulse Inducer brings a ship to within one one-hundred-thousandth of light speed in under a minute. It might take Celwik centuries to get where he is going, but from his perspective he is already there and laughing about it. He can be tracked over the Sprawl and he can be followed, but at the expense of hundreds or thousands of cycles as they would be counted by the Liothern Collective. By the time they caught him, the Collective would have dried up their remaini
ng supply of Necris and have died away long ago.
It was over.
Then the comm link signaled from the cockpit. "Captain," Daton said. "I'm picking up readings on Celwik's ship. He shifted out within this system."
A wave of heat pulsed through Malik's heart. "Where?"
"He only made it a few million kilometers, then he crashed on the first of Hora's moons," Daton replied. "Not the ice one, the one with a breathable atmosphere."
"Thank Amun for small favors." Malik zoomed the 3D display out until the Hora System's orange star became the size of a fist. Around it was the first of two asteroid belts it held in its grip, followed by a rock world, then the bright and blue Hora, encircled by its two moons. Malik expanded the view to focus on the moon Daton mentioned. On it, a red mark pulsed, indicating the energy signature of the crash site of Celwik's ship. "Have the people of Hora visited this moon yet?"
"According to the computer, they're still using stone tools," Daton said. "They barely know what it looks like."
"All the better," Malik said. He then opened the comm link to all stations. "Okay, this is now a recovery mission. Log the entry and plot a course, Hosk."
"Aye, Captain," Hosk said. "We'll be there in forty-two minutes. We have a few repairs to make along the way."
"Just get us there," Malik said and switched off the link. He sat down in his command chair and sighed heavily. With Celwik stopped, they had all the time they needed.
Chapter Five
5
The Swift Destiny made its approach toward the crash site from the moon's southern hemisphere. A storm had started in the east and Hosk hated punching clouds, even in a gunship.
Malik took great pride in her training. She was the first Drogerd that he had ever met and she was a fast learner, both as a pilot and as a Liothern. Her Rises were always greater than her peers, greater in fact than many who had practiced for decades. Over time, their relationship developed into something more than a mentorship. That's likely why she spoke to him as she did, questioning his moves. It was more than her role as his first officer. It was what family did. She even asked him to preside over her marriage to Zeeb, the only other Drogerd in the Liothern Collective.
These thoughts passed in a jumble of images as Malik watched the holographic display of their approach. The Swift Destiny weaved through mountains as it crossed the equatorial border into the moon's northeastern quadrant. Grassy plains soon gave way to barren rock beds that almost certainly held water not so long ago.
"These rock formations look fresh," Malik said to no one in particular.
Rikt chirruped his agreement and tapped a few controls on his station panel. The display zoomed out to show a range of active volcanoes along the edge of two tectonic plates. The Abyssiet jumped down from his seat and climbed onto the edge of the display table. "New change and not the last," he said. He then scrolled the 3D image over a few kilometers west and pointed at the fault line beneath the crash site of Celwik's freighter. "More change coming. Days, maybe hours."
Malik read the data that flashed on the margin of the display and shook his head. "It's always something."
Rikt smirked and resumed his station.
As the Swift Destiny grew closer, the readings for Celwik's freighter became less like a single mark and more like several small marks scattered over half a kilometer. Even so, Malik was glad that it had held together as much as it did. A more poorly constructed craft would have broken apart as it began pushing through the atmosphere. That'd be a nightmare to pick through.
He examined the crash site on the 3D display and made his calculations.
Hosk put the Swift Destiny down on a high, flat surface that read as older than the formations around it. The vantage point gave the ship a great view of the rocky terrain.
Daton uploaded the detailed scans into the hard drives of each of the exo-frames.
Malik waited for his upload to complete, then met up with Zeeb, Wren, Rikt, and Joer outside the ship.
Minutes later, the five members of the away team were headed towards the remains of the freighter.
"Not the most hospitable planet, is it?" Zeeb asked.
Wren stopped her descent for a moment and looked around at the jagged black landscape. "No, I guess not," she said. "I'm sure it was nice once."
"It probably looked as green as the rest of the moon," Malik said. "It's a shame. A few more big eruptions like what happened here and you can say goodbye to whatever calls this place home."
From up ahead, Rikt whistled, "There." He then disappeared over a crest of volcanic rock. By the time the rest of the away team caught up to him, Rikt had tapped into the power the Necris gave him and had already started shifting much of the debris. He stood with his arms outstretched as massive pieces of the freighter's hull lifted off of the ground, came to him for examination, then spun away into the distance when rejected. "No Necris yet," he said.
Joer and Wren joined in and, between the three of them, they were able to sort and discard anything that wasn't useful.
When they finished, the team began searching the main section of the hull.
The ship was torn down the center, which made it look more like a cross-section diagram than an actual ship. Smoldering steel gave off wisps of smoke in the cool air. The smell of singed plastic and burning fuel hung like a thick blanket. The Liothern jumped and climbed as they searched each floor and the surrounding area.
"Gross," Zeeb said after a few minutes of silence. "I think I found Celwik."
"Me too," Wren said, pointing behind her. "Back there."
Zeeb made a face and shuttered. "Fragments of hull... Body parts... How are we finding anything here? Didn't he hit this moon at near light speed? All of this should be vaporized."
"His ship must have decelerated before crashing," Malik said. "Either way, he's no loss."
"Here we go," Wren called out. "I've found the cargo bay. It seems intact."
"One thing about these smugglers' ships," Joer said. "They retrofit their holds to survive almost anything." Together, he and Wren ignited their blades and cut the doors open. Then they just stood there, staring.
Malik walked up in between them and stared as well. In the center of the hold, a single set of crates stood tied by cables, undamaged and underwhelming.
"There's no way that this is ten tons," Zeeb said. "Three at best."
Malik looked at it for moments longer as though the duration of his gaze would change what he saw. "Celwik must have started unloading it at the base," he said finally. He then turned to face Wren. "Are you sure Jada's intel was right?"
Wren waved the question away. "Jada's intel is not questioned by the Collective."
"I'm not asking the Collective. I'm asking you."
"It has to be right," she said. She tapped a few keys on her forearm and read the text that scrolled across her screen.
"Then how do you explain the missing seven tons?" Malik asked.
Wren breathed hard out and her shoulders dropped. "I don't know."
They stared at it for long moments. The single, sad pallet cast a soft glow on the deck around it, calling to them. The low hum of gathered Necris sang to those who knew its touch best, like an old lover come back from a long journey. It was hardly enough to die for and barely enough to kill for. Even so, they stared. They didn't even know for how long.
Hosk's voice hissed in over the exo-frame's commlink. "Swift Destiny to Captain Carthen."
Malik shrugged his disappointment away as best he could. "Carthen here."
"Any luck?"
"A little, and I mean little. There are roughly three tons here."
Silence followed. After several seconds, Hosk began speaking again, "But Jada's report..."
"We had the same conversation here," Malik said. "Do us a favor and call up the full readout along with as much relevant data as you can about her sources. We're going to load this onto the ship and figure this out--"
A sharp, silent cry stung the back of Mal
ik's mind. A Rise had happened nearby. Stunned and alert, he looked at his crewmates, who all shared the same expression of shock and envy. "You felt that, right?" he asked.
"We all felt that," Joer said.
Malik spoke into the comm link. "What's going on back there, Hosk? Isn't it a little early for another boost?"
"It's not us," Hosk said. "We thought it was one of you on the away team."
"Negative. We're all accounted for."
"Then who's hitting out there?"
"Unknown." Malik tapped a few controls on his exo-frame. A 3D display grew from his gauntlet and flashed in front of him. "I'm not reading any lifeforms for nine kilometers."
"Me either," Wren said, looking at her own projected image. "But I am picking up movement. Small seismic rumbles three hundred meters south."
She tapped a few holographic keys and relayed the data to the rest of the team's exo-frames. They studied the patter of slight impacts for a moment. Equal noise, seemingly equal weight distribution, and all coming from the same direction.
Malik dropped his arms and looked in the direction of the impacts. There, only sixty meters away, a low mountain rise stared back and pulsed. With each second that passed, he grew more certain that the answers he wanted would be found there. "Wren, you and Zeeb load this pallet onto the ship. Rikt and Joer, you're with me."
"We need Joer to realign the weapons array," Hosk said over the link.
"Fine," Malik shrugged. "Wren, you're with me."
"She needs to talk the computer through Daton's navigation repairs," Hosk countered. "In case you didn't notice, Captain, we took a bit of a beating in that asteroid field."
Malik sighed. "Suggestions, Commander?"
"I'm on my way out," she said, then cut the link.
Zeeb smiled and shook his head.
By the time Hosk suited up and joined the recovery party, Wren, Joer, and Zeeb had levitated the pallet of Necris and begun heading for the ship. The three remaining Liothern broke off into a one-by-two formation. Rikt was in the scout position, followed by Malik and Hosk in a staggered advance.
Deception Page 2