Wreck of the Nebula Dream

by Scott, Veronica

  “Keep trying. These bastards are getting close. I may not be able to evade them much longer,” he said. “No weapons, no shields – all we have is speed on our side, which isn’t too comforting. The pirates cleared the Dream a lot faster than I’d estimated they could.”

  “Wait,” Mara said. “What’s this? On the screen?”

  “What now?”

  Leaning closer to the readout, Mara bit her lip, squinting at the odd message. “Some kind of symbols. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

  “Read it to me.” Nick couldn’t spare the time to even glance at it, as intensely as the pirates were pursuing them.

  “It’s just symbols. I told you – nonsense. Interference, maybe?”

  “Or military code.” Striving for patience with his civilian co-pilot, Nick took a deep breath as he threw the ship into another wild spiral. “Can you describe the symbols?”

  The Sigrid bucked wildly, crabbing sideways in space for a heartbeat. A violent flash of light glared, nearly blinding them.

  “Damn, too close!” Nick pointed the bow into the direction the last shot had come from, trying to outguess the pirate gunner. The next volley blazed wide to starboard, and then Nick zigzagged along a new heading. “They’re trying to keep us from making headway to Sector Sixteen.”

  “Not trying to blow us up?” Mara asked in disbelief.

  “That, too, probably.” Nick gritted his teeth as the ship rocked badly. “But I think they’d rather recapture us, if possible. I have to stay out of tractor beam range. The symbols?”

  “For what it’s worth, I think they’re repeating.” Slowly, Mara announced the gibberish words and symbols crawling across the com screens, repeating in sluggish green pulses every few seconds.

  “Yes!” Nick was triumphant. “Special Forces recognition code! Respond with this –” and he reeled off a string of syllables Mara tapped into the panel to her left.

  “Space Dragon calling Sigrid,” came a deep voice a minute later, “glad to hear from you. Sitrep?”

  Nick keyed the com link. “Majorly fucked. We have a Shemdylann mother ship in hot pursuit here, firing on all guns. Suggest you abandon attempt to rescue us. Get yourselves to safety.”

  “Not to worry. Not a problem, the Dragon can handle one undersized ship full of those saurian bastards. Stand by!”

  He heard the com link click closed.

  “Stand by?” Mara was bewildered. “Is he crazy? How can a freighter take on a pirate ship?”

  “I think we’re about to find out.” Nick nodded at the forward vid screen. “The Dragon has arrived.”

  He continued to fly his desperate, random zigzag pattern at top speed for another two or three tense minutes, dodging blasts from the Shemdylann cannon, while the mysterious freighter drew nearer, coming on with amazing speed. “Unusual configuration for a freighter,” Nick said. “I wonder –

  Multiple streams of intense blaster fire streaked by The Sigrid, blazing from the Dragon to the pirate ship. The cutter rocked and swayed, Nick fighting the controls to keep the small ship from veering into the path of the friendly fire. More blasts followed in close succession.

  There was a gigantic explosion.

  The cutter tore itself out of Nick’s control, thrown about by the blast wave of the pirate’s demise, sweeping over them from behind. The outcome of the pursuit had been close indeed.

  Flinging out one hand instinctively to prevent Mara from being ejected from the co-pilot’s chair, Nick fought the controls. They were both wearing safety harnesses, but the civilian ship’s systems weren’t designed with combat conditions in mind.

  “You okay?” he said.

  She nodded, rubbing her elbow, which had come in violent contact with the vid screen. “Yes, thanks.”

  “Sigrid, your pirate problems are solved,” said the deep voice of the Dragon’s captain, on the com.

  “Thanks,” Nick responded, exchanging glances with Mara. “Can you take us aboard?””Engaging tractor beams in ten. You might want to cut off those engines now.”

  “Yeah, right.” Nick swept his hand across the board and The Sigrid went silent, dead in space. He relaxed in the plush pilot’s chair as the freighter’s tractor beams pulled them inexorably up and into the massive cargo hold of the larger vessel.

  “I want to go check on the children and the others, okay?” Mara asked.

  “You’re sure you’re all right?” Nick scanned her face anxiously, holding on to one of her slender hands for a second. “Pretty nasty bruise on your face.”

  Bending over, she kissed him on the cheek, undeterred by the stubble. “I’m fine. You’re one hell of a pilot.”

  “Yeah, adrenaline and terror enhance a person’s motor skills. Even better than adrenephix,” Nick said with a crooked grin. “I’ll come with you. Nothing more I can do here.”

  When he emerged into the small cabin of the cutter, Paolo called out from the rear seats. “Are we safe now? Is everything going to be okay?”

  Nick moved past Mara to go to the boy. “Yes, trooper, we’re safely on board the freighter I was telling you about. We’ll be fine now. How’s Gianna? And Huntington?”

  “Good. We’re good,” Gianna piped up. “I’m hungry.”

  Nick laughed. “I’m sure we can get you something to eat in a few minutes, little lady. Hold tight.”

  “Come check this out,” Mara said in a low voice.

  Glancing at her anxiously, he moved to join her. Khevan and Twilka both remained unconscious. They didn’t appear to be in any distress.

  “Don’t you see it?” Mara asked.

  Nick checked the slumped figures out again. “See what?”

  “His tattoo, where is it?” Reaching out, she gently raised Khevan’s head from Twilka’s shoulder, so Nick could see more clearly, brushing the lush black hair away from the Brother’s chiseled face.

  The rampant emblem was gone, as if it had never been. Khevan’s cheek was violently sunburned but unmarked. No tattoo.

  Nick whistled a long, low note. “I never heard of that happening before. Think the Red Lady kicked him out of the Brotherhood? Or does he belong to the White Lady now? He may have given up a hell of a lot, buying our freedom.”

  There was a sharp knock at the outer hatch.

  Unholstering his blaster, Nick turned, the mysteries of the D’nvannae forgotten.

  “You don’t think they’ve rescued us only to attack us, do you?” Mara was dismayed, watching his precautions.

  Striding toward the hatch, he shook his head. “Probably not, but after all we’ve been though, I can’t take chances.” Giving Mara a brief glance before releasing the controls, he let the door cycle open and the ramp began to extend itself. Before it was completely out, the first rescuer came into The Sigrid.

  The man stopped short at the sight of Nick’s drawn blaster, but nodded approvingly. “You won’t need that, I promise.” He extended a work-roughened hand the size of a dinner plate. “I’m Bill Casey, formerly Master Sergeant Casey of the Special Forces. Welcome to the Dragon.”

  Relieved, Nick slammed his blaster into the battered holster and shook hands gratefully with Casey. “Nick Jameson, active duty Special Forces. This is Mara Lyrae, Loxton Galactic Trading, the kids are Paolo and Gianna Nadenoft, and over there we’ve got Khevan of the D’nvannae and Twilka Zabour.”

  “Seems as if you’ve had pretty rough times,” Casey said as he shook hands with Mara, eyeing Khevan and Twilka. “Injuries?”

  “No, but we’ve each been through some weird things since the Nebula Dream hit the asteroids the other night.” Nick opted for massive understatement. “We only got off the ship at the end because the Brother was able to call on the Red Lady for assistance. The Socialite girl helped him with part of it. We think they’re okay, but exhausted from the process.”

  Casey raised his eyebrows but didn’t ask anymore questions. “Well, if I’d known the Red Lady of D’nvannae was going to come to your aid personally, I would
have told Raff to stay on course in Sector Sixteen.”

  “Trust me, we’re glad you’re here. The Red Lady is – well, she helped us, but the price was steep.” Nick smiled. “And she’s not too good at blasting pirate ships out of the sky.” He moved down the aisle to where Khevan and Twilka lay sprawled in their chairs. “Your ship have a sick bay?”

  “Small but efficient.” Casey nodded. “Let me help you. You don’t look any too good yourself, Captain, begging your pardon.”

  “The Shemdylann had him on their torture rack for hours,” Mara said. She shivered.

  Casey paused and stared at her for a second, then glanced at Nick, who nodded somewhat impatiently. “Sergeant, we’ll give you a full debrief, but later, okay? There isn’t much time. I need to talk to your captain.”

  “Mister!” Paolo tugged on Casey’s green shirt sleeve. “You have any food on this ship? My sister’s hungry.”

  “Well, we can sure fix that,” Casey said with a cheerful laugh. “Let’s get your two friends here out to sick bay, and then we’ll see about some dinner. You like Azrigone beef burgers?”

  Licking his lips, Paolo nodded enthusiastically. “Real ones?”

  Casey nodded.

  “With Jovian sauce?”

  “I’m sure they have whatever you’d like,” Mara interrupted, steering Paolo to the hatch and picking Gianna up from her seat. “Come on, let’s get out of the way so they can move Khevan and Twilka.”

  “Cute kids.” The sergeant nodded after them. “Parents dead?”

  “The mother is, for sure. We don’t know the status of the father.” Nick bent to lift Twilka. Moaning, she opened her eyes briefly, before relapsing into her sleep-like state. Nick adjusted her in his arms and moved carefully down the narrow aisle. “The kids keep asking about their dad. They’ve been brave – tough. Tougher than you’d expect kids to be, considering what we’ve been through.”

  Leaning over, Casey shook Khevan gently. “Come on, Brother of the Flames, time to wake up and help me get you out of this ship to somewhere better suited to sleeping it off.”

  Eyelids flickering, Khevan stirred, exhaling, the breath seeming to empty completely from his body. “We’ve reached safety?”

  “Oh yeah, you can rest easy now,” Casey said. “Can you stand? Be a lot simpler to do this if you can walk.”

  “I can walk.” Khevan’s voice was weak but purposeful.

  Nick went on ahead with Twilka, emerging from The Sigrid into a cavernous cargo bay, filled as far as the eye could see with containers. Another shuttle sat off to the side, slightly larger than The Sigrid, noticeably less gleaming but built for speed. Nick realized the shuttle was bristling with weaponry. He shook his head again. This setup certainly isn’t like any freighter I ever heard of. Mara and the children waited for him, off to the left of the ramp.

  “How’s Khevan?” she asked.

  “I shall be fine,” the Brother answered for himself from the top of the ramp, where he and Casey had just appeared. “I need to regain my strength.”

  “Food would probably be helpful,” Nick said. “Come to think of it, none of us has eaten anything since we were up on the bridge.”

  “And who knows how many hours ago that was.” Mara laughed, as their small group moved off behind Casey, half supporting Khevan.

  “Listen, I need to talk to your captain,” Nick repeated again as they neared the exit hatch. He shifted Twilka, trying to ignore the pain in his injured shoulder.

  Nodding, Casey explained his immediate plans for them. “We’ll take the grav tube to Level Four, get these two and the kids something to eat, and then you and I can go up to the control chamber. Raff’s up there, trying to herd the damn LBs into some kind of convoy, so we can get the hell out of here.”

  “I’m coming with you to the bridge,” Mara said adamantly.

  Casey rolled his eyes at Nick, who shook his head. As far as I’m concerned, she’s welcome anywhere she wants to go.

  The Dragon’s grav tube was fast and efficient, depositing them on Level Four of the freighter in short order. Casey took the lead. “Sick bay’s there, fifth door, if you want to set the lady in a bed. Give her some intravenous replenishment, maybe?”

  Nick headed in the direction Casey indicated but shook his head, saying over his shoulder, “I’m not a medic.”

  Shrugging, the red-headed first mate pointed with his chin at Mara. “I can help you in sick bay then, if this lady –”

  “Call me Mara.”

  “If Mara can manage the galley duty. Let me get the Brother settled at the table and I’ll be right down to join you.”

  Mara made a face at Casey’s retreating back. “Galley duty, indeed.”

  Smothering his laugh, Nick continued on with Twilka. He found the sick bay as promised, a trim, gleaming, efficient setup. Depositing Twilka on the nearest of the three beds, he had to disengage her fingers from the tattered sleeve of his blue shirt.

  “It’s all right now, we’re safe. We’re aboard the rescue ship. Rest easy.” Nick made his voice as calm and soothing as he could manage, given his raging impatience to go speak with Captain Rafferty.

  “I did a good job? Khevan’s okay?” She opened her eyes then, staring intently up at him, working hard to focus. “His evil red witch didn’t kill him?”

  At least her eyes are normal human. Nick pulled a thin blanket up over her shoulders. “No, no, he’s fine. Just getting a bite to eat in the galley. You both did a terrific job. We never would have made it off the Nebula Dream without you. Now relax, sleep it off, okay?”

  “The Lady was terrible.” Tears beginning to seep from under her closed eyelids, Twilka clutched the blanket and shuddered. “She took me over – I was burning alive, from the inside out. She was so angry, at both of us, but especially at me for – for what she read inside my mind, for what I feel about him –”

  “Mara said she was a jealous bitch.” Taking one of Twilka’s hands, Nick tried to be comforting. “But she’s gone now, sent away by her sister, the White Lady. I think she saved your lives.”

  “But he’ll have to report to the Red Lady, and then what?” Twilka sobbed harder.

  Nick was at a loss for anything to reply. He wished Casey would hurry up. Assessing the sick bay storage areas in frustration, Nick tried to guess where the tranqs were kept. He could probably administer a simple tranq inject to Twilka himself. It might be a good idea to try. She’s working herself into quite a state.

  Voices in the corridor heralded the arrival of Casey and Khevan, walking into the sick bay, the latter carrying a small tray of food and mugs of steaming coffee.

  “Khevan’s here to see you,” Nick said. Relieved, he got up from the edge of the narrow bed and moved aside, taking the tray from the Brother’s hands and depositing it on a handy counter space.

  Sitting in the space Nick had vacated, Khevan enfolded Twilka in his arms, murmuring soothingly to her, the words indistinguishable.

  “All right, so I’ve told you where the medical supplies you wanted are,” Casey said, tapping Khevan on the shoulder. “I need to get the captain here up to the bridge, to talk to Raff and me about what’s next.”

  “I thank you,” Khevan said.

  “You’ll be okay? With her?” Nick asked, hesitating at the doorway.

  Raising his head, Khevan faced Nick, his expression serious, even grim. “You’ve seen my tattoo is gone, I am no longer of the Brotherhood?”

  “Yes. But the Lady in White –”

  “Saved us, yes.” Khevan smiled at Twilka, a bit sadly, a bit ruefully. “We two are joined, forever. No one can part us. Beyond that, I cannot say. We must go to Temple Home and seek enlightenment from the Highest Brother of the White Lady. Only then will we know the rest of our destiny.”

  “I don’t care, as long as we’re together,” Twilka announced, defiantly.

  Khevan gently tilted her head, gazing into her eyes. “No regrets?”

  She shook her head rapidly. “None.”
/>
  Khevan bent his head to kiss her.

  Definitely my cue to leave. Nick joined Casey in the corridor.

  Mara was there, too. “I left the children in the galley, eating a full meal, under the strictest orders not to stray.”

  “Control chamber now?” Casey asked.

  “Yes, as fast as possible,” Nick said.

  As the three of them proceeded to the grav tube, he expressed his concern to Mara. “Did you eat something?”

  “Grabbed a few bites here and there while I was fixing the children’s meal. I’ll be fine.” She stared at him, eyes narrowed. “I’m more worried about you, at this point.”

  Reaching out, he curled his fingers around hers. “I’ll be fine. Running on natural adrenaline here, you know. Even better than the synthetics. When the job is over, then I’ll probably crash for about three days, if past experience is any guide.”

  “What do you mean, when this is over?” Mara eyed him suspiciously as they rode upward in the grav tube, heading for the bridge.

  Nick ignored her question, pretending not to have heard her. He chewed slowly on the energy bar she had brought him from the galley to hold him off until he could take the time for a proper meal, washing it down with a swig of hot coffee, balancing the mug carefully in the anti-grav flow.

  Casey glanced at them curiously.

  They stepped out into an impressive control chamber, with a vaulted ceiling, exposed to the stars, giving a 360-degree view of their celestial surroundings. Various control panels hummed and beeped and hissed. Nick stopped after walking out into the center of the bridge and whistled. “This is one hell of a unique ship you guys have here.”

  “Yes, we cashed in our veterans’ acres when we retired – sold them to Loxton, in fact – and then bought the Dragon from a salvage yard. She is a mite different, I will admit.” The speaker was a tall, red-haired, impressive man, who left his scrutiny of the controls and walked across to meet them, hand extended to Nick. “I’m Jack Rafferty, formerly Major Rafferty of the Special Forces. Glad we were close enough to help.”

  “So it was you I had the fastlink conversation with?” Nick inquired. Rafferty nodded. “And how did we manage to connect, by the way, considering the technology isn’t available to civilians?”