Climbing out of the equipment pit Kassad replied indignantly, "I know more than one trick to slip past a blockade."
"I guess the right person for this job really was a…" Greene stopped herself, catching Canis' concerned look out of the corner of her eye. "A person of your skill set." She finally concluded and then asked as Kassad returned the access plate to cover the hole in the cockpit wall/floor. "So what do we do after that? Where can we go? Won't the Lawship track us down?"
Taking a moment to coddle his aching jaw Kassad finally replied, "Rescue missions legally have broad discretion as to where to drop off survivors, and I was thinking Mareville would work nicely."
The name was completely unfamiliar to Greene who inquired, "What's Mareville?"
In tones that spoke of a depth of familiarity his words could only hint at Kassad said, "Some time ago a few enterprising spacers built a community around six old Mobile Automated Resource Extractors, 'Mares' hence Mareville."
"I remember those vaguely from history studies ages ago." Greene said, recalling that what she'd read indicated that the relics had been out of service for a millennia or more. "They were built during the age of war so our species could quickly build up their resources, but the things were inefficient plus we all know how spacers feel about automation taking their jobs."
Tapping in the plot path equations for the autopilot to use for the trip Kassad explained, "Well, the Mareville settlement managed to make it work. It's just sixty jumps if we stay off the warp drive, which will make it harder to track us." Kassad was rewarded by a series of lights on the console that lit up to indicate the instructions had been accepted. "Anyway they've been using the Mares to break down planetoids to sell off the processed matter of the Horsehead Nebula back in the old Milky Way galaxy. They've got quite a set up. Basically an artificial world with all the amenities including state of the art medical, and their very own sponsored Lawship whose captain I happen to know."
So far the only part of the plan that Greene liked was that it involved them leaving Lawless space. "Can I dare to hope you're on good terms with this Lawship captain?"
With a wry expression Kassad admitted, "Last time I saw her she was in a law court where she was trying to have Sabha seized and myself committed to a rehabilitation colony. But she's honest and won't shoot someone trying to surrender."
Not liking any aspect of the situation Greene couldn't offer a better alternative and instead simply asked, "That's from personal experience?"
Raising his eyebrows in introspection Kassad admitted, "Twice." Not wanting Greene to develop strange notions about his outlaw status Kassad relented to explain, "I was working for the Mareville spacer's guild. They had a disagreement with the automated shipping preferences of one of their buyers." Spacer opposition to being replaced with automation was a battle that had resulted in actual fighting more than once in history. "As a result the buyer may have ended up purchasing the same ore more than once."
Incredulously Greene summarized Kassad's story, "They hired you to rob their own shipments?"
"Welcome to Laniakea." Kassad shrugged. "Anyway, Lawships aren't supposed to care about their sponsor's interests when it comes to enforcing the law, but in this case those sponsors were able to bring out a couple dozen witnesses that said I was drinking it up in one of the local pubs at the time in question."
Rolling her eyes at the story she couldn't bring herself to fully believe Greene replied simply saying, "Nice."
"I don't even drink. Nasty stuff." Kassad commented absently as he concluded his navigational course settings. "Anyway, we should be good to go, so strap yourself in and let's get out of here."
There was nothing to be said in reply to that. So eager was Greene to be out of Lawless space that in her haste to strap in she made a tangle of the buckles. Sabha's engines were revving pushing the ship upward against Alone's modest pull, and breaking free of contact as Greene finally secured the last of the restraints.
Sabha's engines lifted her on super heated exhaust that once again melted the ground beneath them. Fused rock and sand, still hot from the landing, melted, ran, and deformed under the onslaught. As Sabha finally and mercifully transitioned to forward flight the land quickly re-solidified in the shape of a smooth shallow bowl.
Forward thrust rapidly accumulated forward velocity and in seconds the debris of the survivor's camp was behind them. Altitude soon joined speed in a contest for ever greater numbers. As the world's primary reemerged in reverse sunset over the receding horizon Kassad throttled up to full. Powering through the atmosphere left a contrail of expanding water vapor that rapidly expanded to a kilometer in width. Sharply pointing Sabha's nose upward resulted in a shuddering buffeting that rapidly receded as they pulled free of the atmosphere entirely.
In the wire frame display Greene watched as Alone fell away from them. Their own sense of movement was limited to the pressure holding them lightly in their seats. This left the unmistakable impression that everything else was moving as they remained still.
Ahead of them Greene couldn't help but notice the icon representing the system's primary grew closer. "Kassad, is flying into that star part of your plan?"
Finalizing the minutia of the course trajectory for the automated navigation to enact Kassad sighed in exasperation at Greene's constant demanding inquisitiveness. "Technically we'll just be flying into its corona. We'll build up tremendous velocity in the dive and for a minute or so in the corona we'll disappear from their sensors in all the background noise. Then after a last second course tweak out of view of the Armhamon we shut off the engines and slingshot out of the system. With engines cold, our trajectory obscured, and any luck at all we'll be back in Laniakea before anyone on the Armhamon can pick us up again."
******
"I have track on the Sabha." The Armhamon's sensor operator crowed with satisfaction. "Lifting free of Alpha Lima One Nine Four Beta's atmosphere and taking course…" he trailed off in a long pause.
Annoyed by the sudden cessation of the report the Deck Officer complained, "I've got my finger on the button to call the captain and update them the second we regained contact, as ordered. Do you have the Sabha or not?"
Embarrassed by the delay the Armhamon's sensor operator explained, "I have them sir, just verifying the course."
Interrupting the Deck Officer the hard voice of the Armhamon's captain cut further discussion off. "What course?"
The sensor operator answered uncertainly, "The Sabha is on course for the system primary." In a rare display of their face the sensor operator looked up from their console. "They're flying into the star."
In response to this news Captain Andrews cursed vehemently.
Preemptively surrendering the command chair the Deck Officer provided his best analysis of the situation in a vain effort to please his captain. "So, the neural degeneration must be affecting them. It must have driven them insane, right?"
Captain Andrews scowled at the obliviousness of her officer but kept her rebuke mild so as to remain unpredictable which she'd found a useful tool in controlling her crew. "No, it's an old smuggler's trick." She snorted derisively. "More like a desperate ploy. They'll try to lose us in the star's corona and drift out of the system powered down."
The Armhamon's sensor operator, anticipating the potential consequences for the failure, pre-apologized, "We will lose track when they enter the star's corona."
With a cold edge to her voice that made the threat in her words unmistakable Captain Andrews replied, "And you will pick that track back up again before they exit Lawless space."
******
Knowing that the corona of a star represented a deadly thermal barrier was secondary in Greene's thoughts when considering the intense radiation that all stars generated. "I really don't like this plan."
The lack of enthusiasm did nothing to dissuade Kassad. "It's a great plan."
Off the top of her head Greene could think of a number of reasonable concerns over the course of action. "
So long as we don't get hit by a stray solar flare, your slingshot calculations are right, and any of a hundred other things don't go wrong."
Casually dismissing these concerns Kassad explained, "Yes, the star could kill us, but the way I look at it the star isn't actively 'trying' to kill us. It's just naturally extremely dangerous. That makes flying into it clearly the safer choice."
As far as Greene was concerned it was less reason than rationalization. "I really don't like your logic either."
Not letting Greene's criticism get to him Kassad countered, "My logic is great."
Even though it was still at least a day away Greene felt as though she could see the star's wireframe representation growing larger as she stared at it anxiety building. "Well no, it's not great and I'm pretty sure it's not even logic. There has to be a better way. With all your experience breaking through blockades you have to be able to come up with something better than this."
Nodding in agreement Kassad inwardly admitted his experience in breaking blockades wasn't exactly extensive; more like a handful of exploits undertaken primarily for the thrill and glory. "Usually that would be true. Then again usually I don't let a Lawship get a solid scan of my engine signatures. Usually there's other traffic in system I can hide amongst. Usually the Lawship doesn't know it's me they need to be looking for. However under these circumstances this is the best I can come up with."
Giving voice to her fears Greene said, "We're going to get cooked by radiation."
Having plenty of concerns of his own about the plan Kassad was quick to wave that one away, "Nonsense. Sabha can shrug off anything that puny star can dish out and quite a bit more to boot."
Everything was spiraling out of control into conspiracies and mortal threats. Nothing in Greene's everyday life seemed to fit with the strangely abstract life-or-death struggle Kassad claimed they were in. On the other hand there were so many facts that only made sense if what Kassad were saying was true.
Not knowing what to believe Greene said, "This is insane."
Stretching his arms out above his head and his legs below Kassad arched his back and tried to distract himself from his increasingly dimming sight and hearing. "Insane comes next."
Greene bolted upright against her restraints. "You've got something more crazy planned?"
"Any second now the Armhamon is going to be demanding we take such and such course at such and such speed." Kassad explained half hoping he was wrong. "But remember that we're on a stated rescue mission. So legally we get to make demands about course and heading that all other traffic must make way for." Kassad leaned over whispering conspiratorially, "But they'll be thinking about how they want to make the firing solution as easy as possible."
The thought of someone wanting, let alone actually trying to kill her, made queasy. "I'm not sure I want to know what you're planning."
"I saw this in a old video program." Kassad grinned at the memory then related the story, "A crew gets exposed to some horrific alien mind control and it tries to make them spread their alien horror across Laniakea. The brave captain flies his ship into the sun to stop the menace."
"That's absurd." Greene frustratedly rubbed at her eyes with the heel of her palms in a futile attempt to force them to see the universe as it was instead of how they insisted on showing it to her. "I refuse to believe that's your plan."
His joke having failed to lighten Greene's mood Kassad chuckled. "You've got me there. Once we're up to speed the acceleration forces will be too great for any such melodrama, but I'd like to imagine it will be going through the minds of the Armhamon as they watch. After all we're in Lawless Space. This is the last refuge of superstition and the unknown." As weak as a card as it was to play in this game Kassad couldn't see the sense in holding it back now. "I'd very much like them to consider the possibility that this ship never emerges from its stellar encounter."
Not that the ruse would stop the Armhamon from looking, but it would put doubts in their minds, and doubt could be a powerful ally. It was after all a Lawship, and no matter how corrupt they were or how dire the consequences they believed would come from Sabha's escape, they had to see themselves as the good guys in this. They might have been willing to let the research team die in Lawless Space, victims of their own meddling, but the idea of murdering civilians in order to prevent their return couldn't sit easily in any sane mind.
Unhelpfully the reasonable part of Greene's mind reminded her that she hadn't eaten in many hours and this could affect her judgment, but she couldn't see a better course. "This plan is horrible. Next time I get to make the plans."
Kassad wasn't at all offended, replying, "You're more than welcome to make the plans." After a moment he added. "My plans scare the Dickens out of me."
Incredulously Greene inquired, "Dickens?"
"He wrote ghost stores." Kassad said and then sighed, "We really need to get you to read more."
Chapter 11: "Sun Diver"
"To tell the truth there's no good way to avoid a Lawship."
-Excerpt from testimony at the trial of Captain Allison Graves, convicted pirate
Staring at the wireframe display wasn't making the situation any clearer or less frustrating as it kept wavering and shifting in her failing vision. There was a steady throbbing behind Greene's temples she hoped was just the result of dehydration. Concentration on anything for more than a few seconds at a time was becoming increasingly difficult and it had to, at least in part, be the result of not eating.
As unpleasant as the idea of eating anything at the moment was Greene knew it was a task neither of them should completely ignore. "I should get something to eat from the galley. I'll bring you something."
Staring intently at the display Kassad nodded. "Make it quick. I'll keep the engines at around a gravity of thrust for a little while, but if we're not going to spend a week drifting out of system we need as much velocity as possible."
Remembering how unpleasant Sabha's acceleration could be Greene inquired, "How much velocity are you planning on putting on?"
In a very unreassuringly vague manner Kassad said, "I'll have us peak out for at least an hour at six g's nose first into a star's gravity well, that should get moving at a pretty good clip. I don't want to be too exact. Making this look sloppy is going to be half of selling it."
"But…" Greene's protest was cut off by the communications circuit.
"This is the Lawship Armhamon. You will bring your ship to bearing one nine one by oh three four at thrust point seven five and await further instructions. Verify and comply."
Kassad merely raised his eyebrows in amusement but Greene was sickened. She was just a passenger but nearly every instinct inside her was screaming to obey the lawful authority and abandon this suicidal dive. Only the suspicious skeptical part of her mind warned her that things were not adding up. That part of her wanted to trust the pirate who captained Sabha; not that she really had much choice in the matter.
Chuckling at the Lawship's predictability Kassad said, "They'll see our course and we'll get an updated scolding and additional threats in about an hour. I'll need to start ramping up the thrust before then so they don't start taking pot shots at us."
******
"They haven't altered their course Captain." The sensor operator reported which barely elicited a grunt of acknowledgement by Captain Andrews.
It had been a standard demand issued for the sake of proper form. Captain Andrews knew well the roles the two ships were playing in this little drama, but concession to legal niceties couldn't be ignored. This remained true even if it was the Armhamon's Deck Officer who'd had to remind her to issue the order.
Standing dutifully at his captain's side on the Armhamon's bridge the Deck Officer waited for Captain Andrews to retreat once again to her stateroom where she spent most of her time. Having the captain on the bridge for so long at a time was unusual. More importantly having the captain on the bridge for this long was clearly fraying the nerves of the bridge crew, and the Deck Officer
wondered nervously if it would cause problems with the watch turnover.
Without preamble Captain Andrews shoved the projection display she'd been working on into the Deck Officer's face and demanded, "What do you make of this?"
After taking a half step backwards all that was needed was a quick glance by the Deck Officer at the symbols on the display to make it clear what it was, "This is the arrest report for Kassad Mir." He stated quickly, knowing that any answer was better than a failed attempt to read the captain's mind then quickly added, "It's his only arrest with charges and there was no conviction."
Rolling her eyes at the obvious statement of facts Captain Andrews demanded, "And why do you think there was no conviction?" Stymied for an answer the Deck Officer frantically scanned the page for whatever clue his captain had spotted in her hour long scan of the documents.
Eventually Andrews relented with an impatient finger jabbed at the pertinent fact saying, "The arresting officer."
Uncertainly the Deck Officer tapped at the display to bring up the arresting officer's fact sheet. "It's an exemplary record. Well above average on all counts. Their record rivals the Armhamon's."
With a disgusted and resigned sigh Captain Andrews pulled the display away from her subordinate and made a few quick changes before shoving it back again too closely to his face. "And this?"
This time the Deck Officer cautiously adjusted the position of the display rather than retreat further and again a quick glance revealed what the data was if not what his captain's thinking was on it. "It's a civil document, for a marriage commitment. The seals show that it was never enacted." Suddenly the pertinent bit of information jumped out at him eliciting an, "Oh!" of revelation.
Law's End Page 11