Raven's Children

by Sabrina Chase

  Fortin came in then and shooed them off before he could gather the strength to answer. Now he had questions of his own. Ash and her friends were rather peculiar.

  The next time he woke up, it was because he felt an injector activate against his shoulder. Without thinking, he jerked away and grabbed at the hand holding the injector.

  “Ah, very good!” Madele Fortin was smiling at him, making no attempt to pull away. “You should be careful not to overdo, however. The new tendon tissue is not so strong.”

  Ennis let go. “I’m sorry. I was….‌”

  Madele held up a hand to stop him. “I saw the cartridge case in that bag you were carrying. I hope it wasn’t yours, because none of those cartridges had legitimate medical uses.” He shook his head vehemently, stopping when he noticed. He could move again! Madele popped the cartridge out of the injector and showed him the label. It was a standard anti–‌inflammatory.

  “They used drugs to keep me under control,” Ennis said as she continued to give him injections.

  “Now, who would take the risk of doing that to a Fleet officer?” Madele wondered.

  “They weren’t planning on leaving any evidence,” he said dryly. “How do you know I’m Fleet?”

  She seemed to hesitate for a moment. “We found your uniform in that bag. Two, in fact.” Yes, Oberst would have taken her own as well. “Do you feel up for a small walk? You’ll recover faster if you keep your joints flexible. We can get some food in you as well.”

  Food. That was a wonderful idea. Fluid packs did nothing for the hollow feeling in his stomach. When he tried to stand up, he realized he was too dizzy to walk.

  Fortin took hold of his arm. His progress was painful and slow, but as he kept moving the pain decreased and his balance improved. His mind was working better, too. He had to contact Fleet.

  “I need to send a message,” he said. It was hard to think what to do after that, though. He couldn’t go to the station police, not with Oberst’s body to explain. By the time they understood what had happened, the other Toren people would have found him.

  “That’s a bit difficult,” Fortin said, turning him toward the galley. “We’ve been in drive for six days now.”

  He collapsed into a seat, numb with shock. Six days? No wonder he was hungry. “Where are you going?”

  Fortin hesitated. “I believe the captain should answer that question.” She got stiffly to her feet and went to a wall comm and spoke a few words into it. “I’m sorry if this presents a difficulty for you. We had to leave, and you were in no condition to be left on your own.”

  He nodded, sighing. “Yes. Thank you for getting me out of that.”

  “Thank the children. They were the ones that rescued you,” Fortin said, opening a cupboard. “I wouldn’t have thought they’d even talk to strangers.”

  Children? His memories of his rescue were blurred, but he didn’t remember any children. Then he lost interest in anything except the food in front of him. He was almost too tired to eat.

  He had to make contact with Fleet as soon as possible. Or, he temporized, Umbra. Somebody needed to know about Lambert Base, and how Toren had gotten an agent into Fleet. He didn’t even know if Garner was still alive. It could be months before any of the other lot got a message back to FarCom that something was wrong.

  “Madele feeding you well?”

  He started, and turned in his seat. Moire Cameron was standing there, watching him with a faintly rueful expression. He was suddenly aware of how small the galley was, and how difficult it would be for him to move quickly, even if he had the strength to do it. He was trapped.

  She looked exactly as he had remembered her: trim, alert, and deceptively ordinary in appearance. Only the strange hazel eyes gave her away, and he thought he saw a hint of shadow there that hadn’t been there before. Was it because of him? He hadn’t planned on escaping on her ship.

  “He wants to know where we are going, Captain,” Fortin said, tilting her head as if curious to see Moire’s reaction.

  He was in even more trouble than he thought. “You’re the captain?” he asked, incredulous.

  She sighed. “It was their idea.”

  “How?”

  Moire turned away and picked up a mug. “The crew picked me when Captain Davies died in the pirate attack. It was supposed to just be an emergency measure,” she said, glaring at Madele Fortin, who gave her a bland smile.

  Now he remembered. He and Harrington had been on Bone, waiting to hear of Ayesha, and word had come that the captain had died. At the time all he had cared about was it hadn’t been Moire.

  Everybody gets promoted but me.

  “The ship was badly damaged, but she got us back,” Fortin said.

  “You’re good at that,” Ennis said before he could stop himself.

  Moire gazed down at the contents of her mug. He knew she was remembering the less–‌successful return of Bon Accord, and he could have kicked himself. “Yes. I am.” She sat down opposite him at the table, looking at him intently. “The kids told me their version of what happened, but it didn’t make much sense. Who did this to you?”

  Ennis felt a twinge of annoyance. She’d done much the same thing to him the last time he’d seen her, only in her case she had not tried to make him a prisoner. And, he acknowledged, she hadn’t hurt him. “Toren got someone in where I was posted. She drugged me and was taking me to a Toren ship at that station. The injection she used kept my joints locked, so the only way I could get rid of her was by shoving her under a dropdown. I tried to get to security, but it looked like Toren had got there ahead of me—‌and then I was too injured to move. That’s when your people found me.”

  “Where did they find you?”

  “Same corridor your ship was on, near the entrance to the main causeway. Why?”

  Moire smiled crookedly. “They weren’t supposed to leave the ship. We had to leave Jessack in a hurry, with you on board, because someone started shooting at us. We barely made it in to webspace. Something happened to make us a target, and I want to know what. The kids say they didn’t do anything wrong, but they don’t always know what that is.”

  Ennis frowned, suddenly worried. “Shooting at you?”

  She leaned back in her seat, sighing. “Armed people on the dock level, trying to pry the hatch. Had to undock the hard way, and when we did, a ship came after us. They knew exactly which ship to attack. Did anybody follow you?”

  Ennis was sure nobody had seen him at the dropdown, or they would have raised the alarm then. Oberst was probably dead, and who else would have known he was on the station? “I don’t think so. Nobody who would have known what ship I got on, anyway.”

  He rested his arm on the table, noticing as he did so the green plastic cuff was gone. That had to have happened while he was on this ship. Yes, that would make sense. Toren would want to be able to find him wherever he was.

  “It was that cuff. It must have had a locator chip.” The timing was right, too. Just enough for someone in Toren to learn about Oberst and her prisoner and start looking.

  “Damn, you’re right. Should have thought of that.” Moire shook her head and took a drink from her mug. “This is a refreshing change. You’ve gotten us into trouble. I wonder where I can take this ship without getting shot at now?”

  Ennis gritted his teeth. None of this would have happened without her, but it wouldn’t be a good idea to point that out. He needed her help.

  “What about McNaulty?” Fortin asked. “They’ll be waiting at….‌” she trailed off, and Ennis caught Moire giving her a faint twitch of her head, with a glance his direction.

  He pretended not to notice. “I have to get back to Fleet as soon as possible. Or someplace I can send a message.”

  “Saying here she is, come and get her?” Moire asked, unenthusiastic. “Do you really think I’d put myself anywhere near a Fleet station right now? Don’t tell me any fairy tales about how they can keep Toren away. Fleet didn’t do a very good job protecting
you.” She put the mug down with a clang, scowling.

  It was the truth, and galling. What was even more annoying was he hadn’t been thinking of her mutiny. How could he possibly forget something like that? She certainly hadn’t.

  An amiable–‌looking older man wandered in the galley, nodded vaguely in their direction, and headed for the storage area. He started rummaging through the bulk food bins.

  “I wasn’t expecting you to go with me,” Ennis snapped. “Fleet needs to know what happened to me, and I have a duty to get back as soon as I can. You understand that much, I hope.”

  “You don’t have a duty to get shot by Toren, and if I show up anywhere in this ship, that’s what will happen. Relax. You’ll get back eventually.” She drank deeply from her mug, apparently unconcerned. “We just have to find another ship, that’s all.”

  He raised a skeptical eyebrow. “How are you going to do that, if you can’t show up at any ports?”

  “I have a very good source.” She grinned, and Fortin suppressed a smile. “I think you’ll find it interesting.”

  His temper snapped. It had always hurt when people joked about his background, but it hurt even worse coming from her. “I am in enough trouble already, thanks to you. Don’t drag me into your criminal network.” She blinked, looking confused, and he struggled to regain his calm. “You have survival shells, don’t you? All you would have to do is a quick drop at a Fleet station.”

  She shook her head. “No. I need them. Besides, do you really want to be a helpless target like that?”

  A crunching sound made Ennis glance aside. The older man was sitting on a nearby bench, facing them and munching on a bowl of fresh flavored starch puffs as if he were watching a show.

  Ennis looked back at Moire, questioning. Her eyes were dancing. “Another member of my desperate criminal crew. Carlos Montero, in charge of maintenance. Carlos, meet Fleet Commander Ennis. He’s going to be visiting us for a while.”

  Montero dusted off a hand and offered it to him. His gentle, foggy expression was the antithesis of criminal, and Ennis felt ashamed. He didn’t know anything about the crew, just Moire Cameron, and he had done the same thing others had done to him—‌judge Carlos by his associations. He glanced at Moire. Her expression had changed from mocking amusement to affectionate exasperation looking at her crewman.

  In the end, did it really matter how soon he returned? She wasn’t going to come back with him, which meant he would still be in trouble with Umbra. Fleet might decide they’d had enough and kick him out as soon as he reported in. Besides, he didn’t have a choice. He was stuck on her ship until she found him a way out. He had no right to complain. Anything was better than what Toren had planned for him.

  Moire got up to leave, and he felt a twinge of disappointment even though he was starting to feel exhausted. “I’ll get you back as soon as I can, but it won’t be this week, or the next. We have a long way to go.”

  “Where are we going?” Ennis asked.

  She grinned, and he couldn’t help smiling back. “My secret base, of course. I think you’ll like it. You can tell Fleet all about it, too.”

  “Really.” Now he was suspicious.

  Moire nodded. “In fact, I insist.”

  ¤ ¤ ¤

  The data bouncebacks were expensive, but effective. Since he had no way of knowing where he might be next, Kolpe Anders did not hesitate to include all the databot nodes. Every place he had set a databot received data from all the other locations.

  That was how he found one of the former crew of Ayesha. Her name was Tenna Ondolai, now crewing on a passenger/cargo ship running the Fringe. Her dialogue was rapid and inconsequential, making it difficult at first for him to find out anything useful.

  “S–‌so, no p–‌positions?” he asked timidly. He was posing as an Inner Systems dockworker wanting a ship job, but with no real skills.

  She smiled with regretful sympathy. “Sorry. Not for what you’re looking for. Now on Ayesha—‌my last ship—‌they would have hired you right off but we don’t have the room, you know?”

  Kolpe pricked up his ears. “M–‌maybe your old ship would h–‌hire me?”

  “Oh no, it isn’t flying anymore. There were pirates, see, and when they tried to take over the drive….‌” Wearing an expression of calculated shock and wonder, Kolpe let her voice wash over him. He wondered when he could steer the conversation back in a more interesting direction. “…‌and Ren got us to Mullery OK, but the drive was shot. Ayesha was falling apart anyway.”

  “H–‌how did you get out of Mullery, then?”

  “Oh, they got the new ship and…‌” for the first time, Tenna’s artless flow of talk faltered. “And I didn’t want to go.”

  “M–‌maybe your old captain is hiring?” Kolpe asked hopefully.

  “He’s dead, but they picked Ren…‌I don’t know. I haven’t seen them since.” Tenna looked over her shoulder, back into the ship. “Look, I have to go now. Good luck. Try down with the ore haulers, they usually need help.”

  “T–‌thanks anyway,” Kolpe extended a hand, and she shook it. It felt dry, he knew. It was dry because it had been sealed to protect him from the thin film of dermal drugs that would make her short–‌term memory unreliable.

  He made sure to leave looking dejected, just in case anyone else had observed them, but he was feeling elated. Ren Roberts had been the name his target had been using on the planet Bone, when she hired onto Ayesha as pilot. It looked like she now had a ship, and a loyal crew. Even the former crew weren’t willing to talk about her to outsiders. They must know something.

  He needed to get to Mullery, or somewhere close by where they might have heard about the pirated ship that almost didn’t make it in. He could pick up the trail there.

  Arranging his next trip took longer than he expected, irritating him. When he found the ship a muscular woman moving with a trace of a swagger followed him in to his cabin.

  “Occupied,” he snapped.

  She flashed a grin. “Yeah, I know.” She shut the door and offered him an ID chip with a blue T in a circle marked on the surface, looking him over as she did. “Sure hope you don’t always look like that, if we’re bunking together.”

  Kolpe had to take a deep breath to contain his temper. The ID checked out. Plymson was a security enforcer. His helper.

  “How did you find me?” he grated. If this muscle–‌bound idiot had done it herself, he would quit.

  “Sent a whole bunch of us out. Stationed us at all the places you’d been seen last, and nearby. I got sent here. Soon as you activated your expense account here, they added me to the ticket.”

  Well. He had not expected Toren to be so profligate, or determined. He would have to find a way around that in future, perhaps carrying a larger amount of cash. Meanwhile, he had to get rid of Plymson.

  “Get off the ship. You will just be in my way.”

  She ignored the dangerous tone in his voice and handed him a datatab. “They said you’d get huffy. Message from the boss.”

  He read through with a growing feeling of coldness. It was even worse than he’d thought. The Fleet officer had killed the agent sent to bring him in, and escaped. The ship he had left on had not been seen since.

  They could have blown the whole operation with their stupidity. That officer was probably at a Fleet station at this moment. For the first time in many years, Kolpe swore.

  ¤ ¤ ¤

  Their landing site was on the dark side of the planet when they arrived, but Ennis still caught some glimpses of the scattered islands that made up the land surface of Sequoyah from his viewport in the scout.

  The trip to Sequoyah had been a long one, but Ennis had still not met many of the crew. He’d spent most of his time either sleeping or doing physical therapy with Madele Fortin. He’d learned a little more about the three who had rescued him—‌Ash, George, and Hideo. They were Created, children that had been artificially accelerated to full adult size. He wasn’t clear on w
ho had done this or why, and his questions were ignored.

  Moire’s son, Alan, was Created too. He had been very upset when he found out Ennis was on the ship. He wondered how many of the crew, like Alan, resented his presence. They certainly hadn’t gone out of their way to talk to him. He hadn’t seen much of Moire, either—‌busy piloting the ship, in what he understood was a difficult transit—‌and when he did Alan was always there, glaring at him.

  Strangely, he did not feel the tension he had always experienced before on a new ship. Perhaps the crew avoided him simply because he was an outsider. Understandable, and it had nothing to do with his past. Ennis suspected they would treat any stranger the same way.

  He heard the sound of the landing hydraulics vibrate through the ship, which slowed and angled toward a patch of light that showed like an open door in the darkness. If it was a door, it was huge—‌larger by far than the scout—‌and he strained to see more. He’d gotten the impression that they hadn’t built anything on the planet yet.

  The ship landed, and the others quickly popped the hatch and exited the ship. The ship hadn’t docked, but the crew weren’t using any protective equipment, either. Ennis hesitated at the threshold of the open hatch. A cool breeze carried scents of salt and musty spice. Moire walked by him and stepped out, and he followed.

  A hunched, wiry man came hurrying up. “It’s about time you showed up. I thought they were going to go crazy, waiting for you.” He got a good look at Ennis and his Fleet uniform and backed up a step. “What’s he doing here?”

  Moire sighed. “It’s a long story, Harvey. How are the kids?”

  Harvey rolled his eyes. “Still won’t sleep in the bunks. And some of them heard how you gave George and his bunch names yourself, and now they all want that.”

  Moire frowned. “I thought you gave them names already.”

  “They want it from you.” Harvey shrugged. “Not to mention they were getting frightened you were never coming back. Month’s a long time to them.”