by R. E. Vega
“Or maybe they’re part of Trousso’s new team,” Brax said dryly.
Dayna shot a glare at him. “They’re not Trousso’s people, trust me. They’ve been around a lot longer than that buffoon.”
“Which is why you should tell us everything you know about—”
“Enough,” Captain Arleth said. “We’re not having this argument again. We’re getting out of here.” She took in the scene in front of her. “They don’t appear to be showing us any special attention. If you four were discreet about returning to the ship, they have no idea where any of you are right now. They’re watching everyone.” She glanced back at Dayna. “So we’re going to pretend it’s business as usual. Don’t be in any particular hurry to get us out of here. Fly like this is just an ordinary cargo run. No reason to raise any suspicions unnecessarily.”
Dayna nodded. “Yes, sir.”
She steered Defiance slowly through the air traffic, and Brax found himself gripping the sides of his seat again. They were missing so much information about these mysterious people. Whoever they were, they seemed to know a hell of a lot about a number of people on this ship. And there were only two people on this ship who—
Wait.
Dayna might have been refusing to say a word about these people, but she didn’t appear to be the only one with information. Their new unexpected passenger knew something, too. And she would probably be a hell of a lot easier to crack.
Abruptly, he stood—then nearly tumbled over as he put too much weight on his still-sore foot. Dayna rolled her eyes at him as he steadied himself.
“I’ve got a bit of a headache. I’m going back down to the sickbay,” he announced. By way of the passenger bunks.
“Fine,” Captain Arleth said with a wave of her hand. Her eyes were locked on the scene outside. “I’ll let you know if we need you.”
He only made it a handful of tender steps toward the door before another curse broke the silence—this time from Dayna.
“Captain?” Dayna said. “I think we’ve got trouble.”
The captain immediately strode over to stand behind Dayna, and Brax, in spite of himself, followed. His curiosity was too great.
“I was able to pick them up on this scanner,” Dayna said, indicating her screen. “It uses a different frequency. I can’t be sure, but I think they’re following us.” She pointed to a small dot on the screen. “They’re being very sneaky about it, which is why it’s hard to tell. But they more or less seem to be coming after us.”
“They can’t attack us in Castalian airspace,” the captain said. “They’re biding their time.”
“So what should we do?” Dayna asked.
Captain Arleth straightened and crossed her arms. “What are the chances of them getting bored and giving up if we stay here?”
Dayna shook her head. “Slim to none.”
“If anything, turning back around would only confirm their suspicions about us,” Brax said. “They’ll know they have the right ship. We’re not even one hundred percent certain they’re following us yet—”
“Not a hundred percent sure, but getting closer every minute,” Dayna said.
“You told us yourself before that your technology is imperfect—”
Her eyes flashed. “Are you actually criticizing my technology right now?”
“Enough, you two,” Captain Arleth snapped. “If you can’t keep from arguing then I’m sending both of you to the brig. I’ll drive this damn ship on my own if I have to.”
That shut the pair of them up.
“Here’s what we’re going to do,” the captain went on. “We’re going to stay the course. See if they’re truly following us. The most important thing is still getting out of Castalia.”
“And if they are following us?” Brax asked.
The captain turned her hard gray eyes on him. “Then we’re going to outrun them. And if we can’t do that, then we fight them. We have very important cargo on this ship. We’re not going to waste time running in circles trying to lose these guys.” She glanced back at Dayna. “Does everyone understand?”
“Yes, sir,” they all said.
Brax no longer had any interest in hurrying down to interrogate their passenger—not right now, anyway. Instead, he found himself frozen in place, alternating between staring down at the screen in front of Dayna and looking nervously out at the sky in front of them.
They were slowly but steadily approaching Castalia’s atmosphere. In a few moments they’d be beyond the limits of Castalia—and then they’d be a target.
“You should go sit down, Officer Locke,” the captain said. She glanced over her shoulder at the rest of the small team. “Everyone, make sure you’re strapped in, just in case we need to make a quick getaway.”
Brax did as he was told, telling himself that their passenger and a visit to the sickbay could both wait. The captain returned to her own seat.
“They’re still on our tail,” Dayna reported. “And the farther we get from the city, the more obvious they’re being about it. They’re getting cocky.”
“Good,” Captain Arleth said. “We can use that to our advantage.”
They were burning through the last few layers of the atmosphere, and Brax braced himself, preparing himself for what was shaping up to be a bit of a fight.
“We’re almost clear,” Dayna said.
“The moment we are, kick us into hyperdrive,” the captain ordered. “I want us out of Castalia’s orbit as fast as possible. Let’s see if we can lose these bastards before they’ve even broken through the atmosphere.”
“Got it, Captain.”
Dayna was true to her word. The moment Defiance broke into open space, the navigator kicked her into hyperdrive. Brax was thrown back against his seat as the ship blasted away from Castalia, into the star-studded abyss beyond.
There’d been a lump in his gut since the moment he woke up underwater. But finally, he felt it starting to release. Defiance wasn’t the fanciest ship, but she was reliable and quick. He had no doubt they could outrun anything.
After a few minutes of feeling like the skin was going to slide right off his body, Defiance started to slow again. He released a breath as they returned to their standard speed, then turned with a grin toward Dayna.
“Good job, Officer Jackson,” he said. “Perhaps later I can thank you with a—”
“Wait,” Dayna said. Her eyes were wide as she looked down at her screen. “They’re—”
She was cut off when the whole ship began to shake violently with the force of an explosion.
“We’ve been hit,” Dayna said. “They’re right on us.”
The lump instantly returned to Brax’s stomach, but with it came a sort of hungry determination—and one look at the look on his captain’s face only strengthened his resolve.
Looked like they were going to get a fight after all. And those purple-eyed monsters had no idea what was coming.
KAYLIN
Kaylin knew it might have been smart to stay on Castalia a bit longer, to see if there was truly a threat from this ship, but she had her cargo to think about. Getting Barner to Oenone was more important than whatever the hell this was. Dayna had said something to the effect of Trousso’s people being nothing compared to these, but she hadn’t believe it until she felt the hit from their weapon hitting the Defiance.
“Thad, report.” It probably wasn’t the greatest thing that her engineer was on the bridge when they were under fire, but she couldn’t say she wasn’t happy to know he was safe—it wouldn’t do to be worried about him when she should be worrying about her ship and the rest of the crew, too.
Thad scanned the screen in front of him. “Minor damage to the starboard shields. It doesn’t look like their weapons are very—”
“They’re fucking with us.” Dayna interrupted. “Their weapons are very advanced.” She shook her head, turning her attention to Kaylin. “Captain, permission to use the Olympus laser?”
“Uh, that tech is untested,
Dayna.” Brax answered instead of letting his captain speak. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
The ship shook again, this time a little less than the first.
“See?” Brad continued. They don’t have the weapons to—”
“I’m telling you, Captain.” She glared at Brax. “And I wasn’t asking you, Locke.” Her gaze narrowed and her eyes never left the communications officer. “Their weapons technology is far more advanced than anything we have. And if we sit here and argue about it, they’re going to destroy us. But probably not until after they board us. And if you think what they did to you back on Castalia is bad, Brax…” She shook her head again. “Let’s just say, at least you had air to breathe on Castalia. They might have dumped you in the sea, but at least when you got your ass to the surface, there was something for you to suck into your lungs. Out there…” She motioned toward the front of the ship. “Out there, you’re fucked.”
“Permission granted, Jackson. Be quick about it.” Kaylin didn’t even hesitate—whatever it was Dayna knew about these people, it was clear they meant business. And she had no reason to doubt her navigator, as Dayna had rightly pointed out only a few minutes before.
Dayna pushed a few buttons on her console before turning her gaze to Thad, who was seated at the console next to her. “Did you ready the weapon before we landed on Castalia, the way I asked?”
Thad only nodded, checking his own console’s readings.
Dayna nodded in return, turning her attention back to her weapons screen. The other ship suddenly zoomed past them and appeared right on her screen—almost too easy a target. She targeted the ship with the weapons console easily. “Preparing to fire in three…two…one…” She pushed another button and a moment later, the green glow of the weapon she’d developed was streaking through the sky in front of them. It wasn’t even two seconds before the ship that had been tailing them through Castalian space exploded in a green glow.
Kaylin sucked in a breath, her eyes widening. “Dayna…”
The navigator’s mouth hung open for a moment before she turned back to her console. “The ship’s been destroyed. No survivors.”
After their conversation a few minutes ago, it shouldn’t have struck Kaylin as odd that Dayna seemed very unconcerned about the fact she had just killed an entire crew. But it wasn’t the lack of concern that was strange—it was the near-glee in Dayna’s voice that was most disconcerting.
Kaylin let out a long breath. “Dayna, you know our policy. Wound…don’t kill.”
“I’m sorry, Captain.” Dayna was doing everything she could to hide the smile that was all too obvious on her lips. “But like Brax said, the tech was untested. Now it’s tested. I’ll dial it back for next time.”
“There’s not going to be a next time, Dayna.” Kaylin shook her head. “You’ll take the weapon offline now. And you’re relieved of your duties as weapons specialist. Thad—”
“But Captain, I’m—”
“No arguments, Jackson. You know the standards of this ship. And I’ll not have you doling out death sentences on this vendetta of yours—”
“Fine.” Dayna stood from her station. “You can drop me off at the next planet. Yuki, too. We’ll—”
“You’ve not been relieved of your duties as navigator.” Kaylin motioned to Dayna’s console. “And if you’d have let me finish, I would have told you that.” She nodded toward Thad. “Hamilton will take over as weapons specialist for the time being. Until you and I can debrief.” She pressed her lips in a hard line. “Fully debrief, Jackson. That includes telling me everything you know about the people aboard that ship.”
Dayna lifted a brow before dropping back into her seat. She punched a few buttons on the console. “All weapons access is transferred to Hamilton. And I don’t know anything about the people who were on board that ship, Captain.”
“I’ll not have you splitting hairs, Dayna. I’m sure you didn’t know those specific people. But you know who they are—what they want. And you’ll share that information as soon as we clear the next patrols.”
Dayna sighed, and it sounded a little too much like a petulant child. “Fine.”
“Good. Now that we have that settled, do we have any other vessels following us?” Kaylin turned to Brax. “Any chatter we need to be aware of?”
He shook his head turning to his console. “I haven’t heard anything. In fact…” He frowned. “It’s a little too quiet.”
Kaylin tapped the button on her headset. “Ulan? Can you give a status report on our cargo?”
“All clear, Captain,” came Ulan’s voice a moment later.
“Excellent,” Kaylin replied, almost under her breath. “All right, let’s get out of here. The sooner we can get away from this mess, the better. Dayna, set coordinates for our next destination.” She normally would have been very specific—telling her navigator to set coordinates for Oenone—but it was better to leave out the actual name of the restricted destination on the off chance someone was listening.
Too many strange things had been happening lately, and while she didn’t like to think that it was even possible for Trousso’s people—or even the people who had been aboard that ship they’d just destroyed—to be able to listen in on what was going on inside her vessel, she knew there was always the possibility. Better to be extremely careful, especially because of their cargo.
Oenone was already a long distance from where they currently were, just outside the current border of the Interplanetary Union, and also currently completely off limits to IU vessels. She’d only begun to try to figure out how they were going to get themselves there, particularly with the current travel restrictions in place.
Kaylin wasn’t sure that she’d ever need to align herself with the IU again, but for now, it was safest if she played within the rules as much as possible. Of course, destroying a ship without much provocation wasn’t going to sit well with Trousso’s people, if it even came to that. Castalia had always been something like the Wild West—the traders there played fast and loose with the rules, and there was always the chance of getting hurt. Everyone who visited there knew that. It was why it was best to get your trading done and get out, at least from her perspective. Her crew probably had a far different view of the planet—it was also a fantastic place for shore leave, as far as they were concerned, at least.
None of that mattered now, though. Now, they just needed to get the hell away from here and to try to get a little closer to Oenone. If something did go wrong with her cargo, she wanted to at least be sure the cargo would be safe. They just needed to make it through the border patrol at the edge of this solar system first, hopefully undetected. She could worry about the next step in what to do with Barner after that.
Kaylin realized the ship hadn’t yet roared to life with the jump to hyperdrive. “Why aren’t we moving?”
Dayna’s fingers never left her console, her focus still firmly on the screen in front of her. “I’m trying, Captain. I think we may have suffered more damage than our sensors are showing—”
“Impossible.” Thad interrupted from the station next to her. “If there was more than minor damage, the warning system would be going off.” He tapped his headset. “Ruce, report on the status of the starboard shields.”
He tapped it again a moment later. “Ruce, respond.” He shook his head, turning to the captain. “There must be something wrong with the comm system, Captain.”
“There’s nothing wrong with the comm system,” Brax interjected from the rear of the bridge. “I’m telling you, Captain, I think there must be some sort of damper in place. I’m not even picking up chatter from the border, and normally it’s noisy as hell out there.”
It made Kaylin’s stomach twist, but she knew she had no choice. “Thad, go lay eyes on the damage to the starboard shields. Report as soon as—”
“Holy shit.” Dayna’s voice was low, and the fear in it was palpable.
Kaylin’s heart sped up several beats at the sound. �
�Report, Jackson.”
“We have much bigger problems than the starboard shields, Captain. If we even have a starboard side of our ship left.”
“The damper might be throwing off our sensors, Captain,” Brax added.
Dayna nodded, finally turning to face the captain. “As much as I hate to agree with Brax, what he just said is entirely accurate.”
Brad grinned. “Well, I’m glad we finally found something to agree on, Dayna. As a matter of fact, I…” His voice trailed off and his mouth fell open as he stared out the window of the bridge in shock.
Kaylin turned to look and her mouth dropped, too. Everyone on the bridge seemed to have the same expression—a combination of awe, fear, and horror.
A ship—the biggest ship Kaylin had ever seen in her life—had just appeared in front of them, seemingly out of nowhere.
BRAX
If he thought they were in trouble before, it was nothing compared to the trepidation he felt now.
The ship was unlike any he’d ever seen—and he’d spent most of his life traveling through space, encountering vessels of all shapes and sizes. Its size alone was astounding—it was larger than any transport vessel the IU owned, that was certain—and the design was wholly unfamiliar to him.
“What is it, Captain?” he asked.
“Who is it?” Dayna corrected him. “That doesn’t look like a government ship—not unless Trousso’s been doing a lot of spending we haven’t heard about.”
“It doesn’t have any sort of government ID on it,” Captain Arleth said. “If it’s one of Trousso’s, it’s operating off the books. And it doesn’t have any markings like the one Jackson just destroyed.” She looked over at Dayna. “It’s not one of theirs, is it?”
Dayna shook her head. “Definitely not.”
For a moment, everyone on the bridge just stared at the giant vessel. It moved slowly, almost circling them, and Brax found himself subconsciously holding his breath, waiting for the worst. If that thing hit them, even once, they’d all be dead in an instant.