The Voyage Home

by D. J. Holmes

  “It seems I underestimated you after all,” Rozella said. “I believe it is Scavenger that you have with you. Though it looks like she has seen better days.”

  “Yes,” Sarah said. “It took us a couple of weeks but we managed to catch up with the Tuscan fleet. Scavenger is all that remains of their ships. Hopefully that will be a lesson to the rest of the pirates on Elaijar not to mess with us.”

  “All the Tuscan ships are dead? That is a pity,” Rozella replied sarcastically. “I’m sure it will send a message to the other pirates. May I ask, what do you plan to do with Scavenger?”

  “We’re here to sell her,” Sarah answered. “Though her weapons and engines have been damaged, her reactors, hull, armor and sensors are still fully operational. I imagine there is someone on Elaijar who could afford to refit her and make use of her.”

  “I’m sure,” Rozella replied as her upper lip lifted up, revealing her teeth.

  Sarah hated seeing the soothsayer’s equivalent of a smile. As helpful as she had been, Sarah was under no illusions. Rozella was a pirate. She hated the idea of selling what was left of Scavenger to any pirate. Yet, they needed all the anti-matter they could get.

  “Perhaps, you would be open to a trade. Scavenger for ten cubic centimeters of anti-matter?” Sarah asked.

  “Hhmm,” Rozella said as she considered the offer. “Is that all the anti-matter you will want?”

  “How much can you make within a week?” Sarah asked. She felt staying any longer on Elaijar would be risky. Now they knew Admiral Klixar was hell bent on catching them, she felt uneasy staying still for any length of time.

  “Since you left, I got my anti-matter fabricator up and running,” Rozella said. “I’ve been slowly producing some. I thought that even if you didn’t return, I would be able to find some other use for it. At present, I have forty cubic centimeters manufactured. Do you think you would like all of it?”

  Sarah took a moment before answering. She wanted it to look like she wasn’t sure she needed so much so she screwed up her face to make it look like she was doing some calculations. Inwardly, she was smiling. Twenty cubic centimeters would almost completely fill Alexandra’s anti-matter storage units. As she waited a bit longer before answering, she realized it would be a good idea to see if Alexandra could increase her anti-matter storage units. Destiny had been designed with an operational range of just a few sectors of Elder space. She wasn’t designed for long range travel. Now that she and Divar would be using Destiny to go home, it made a lot of sense to see if they could increase her range.

  “I believe the colony we plan to trade with would be able to find a use for forty cubic centimeters. However, we didn’t come prepared to purchase so much. I don’t think we can meet our previous price of one point three million,” Sarah answered, once Alexandra got back to her to say she could extend her storage capacity. It would take a lot of the platinum they had retrieved from the Tuscan league. But she could modify Destiny.

  “I see,” Rozella replied, smiling in her unusual way again. “I’ll trade you eight cubic centimeters for Scavenger. Then I would be willing to go down to eight hundred thousand credits for each subsequent cubic centimeter.”

  “Scavenger is worth at least nine cubic centimeters,” Sarah said. She was pleased Rozella was willing to give them such a good price on the rest of the anti-matter, yet she still wanted to get her money’s worth for the pirate ship. “With the rest of the money we’re giving you, you will be able to refit her with ease.”

  “Nine cubic centimeters for Scavenger then,” Rozella replied. “And you agree to eight hundred thousand credits for the rest?”

  “We have a deal,” Sarah said. “We have six million credits in gold and platinum bars with us now. We can also get Scavenger to dock within Elaijar and then we can handover her command codes to you. We will have to return to the shuttle for the rest of your credits however.”

  “That will be acceptable,” Rozella said. “I will order the anti-matter sent to your shuttle right away. You can take what you have paid for now, then my associates can make the final trade for the rest once you return.”

  “Perfect,” Sarah said. “I can send the order to Scavenger now if you would like?”

  “That would be ideal,” Rozella replied.

  “Send Scavenger in,” Sarah thought to Alexandra. “Do you have a preferred docking bay?” she asked Rozella.

  “Bay three is available,” Rozella responded. As she spoke she reached forward and pushed a number of buttons on the table they were sitting around. A small square retracted, revealing a holo- projector. It switched on and projected an image of Elaijar.

  For the next ten minutes Rozella made small talk with Sarah and Divar as they watched Scavenger move into orbit around Elaijar and then enter the asteroid through one of its larger hanger doors. As soon as Scavenger was safely docked, Sarah gave the command codes to Rozella. Rozella in turn transmitted them to one of her subordinates. Once the subordinate reported back that he had taken control of the ship, Sarah counted out the gold and platinum bars that they had brought with them. After taking possession of the last one, Rozella smiled again. “It has been a pleasure doing business with you. I’m glad you managed to return. Do you think you will have any more need of anti-matter in the future?”

  “No,” Sarah answered. “As far as I know, my Captain intends to take a ship out of this sector and look for new opportunities. We may not be back to Elaijar for a long time.”

  “A pity,” Rozella said as she stood. “It seems our business is concluded for now then.”

  “We have another question for you,” Divar said, remaining seated as a thought occurred to him.

  “Of course,” Rozella replied as she sat down again.

  “Sarah told me you are the one who sold her the information about the Tuscan fleet’s target. Did you sell that information to anyone else after Sarah?”

  The soothsayer looked uncomfortable. Her tongue flicked out of her mouth rapidly. “My business is my own,” she said. “I can trade with whoever I like.”

  “We understand that,” Sarah said, quickly jumping in. “What my partner means is that we would be willing to purchase this information from you. As I’m sure you know, the life of a pirate is risky. We have made more than one enemy along the way. If someone did come wanting to know where we went, we would appreciate knowing who.” As she spoke she reached into Divar’s pack and pulled out another gold bar. She had kept a couple behind just in case they were needed. “The information is important to us,” she said as she pushed the bar across the table.

  Rozella reached over and picked up the gold. “You must really want to know who it was,” she said. “All right. I can’t tell you much though.”

  “We will be happy with whatever you can tell us,” Sarah said.

  “Less than a day after you left, another being requested a meeting with me. He had been speaking to Hangal. He wanted to know about you. When he realized I had sold you information he wanted to know just what I had sold you. He paid a handsome price, let me tell you. I’m not in the business of selling out my trading partners. He made me an offer I couldn’t refuse. To be honest, I was surprised to see you again. I thought even if the Tuscan fleet didn’t finish you, whoever was after you would. He was throwing gold around like I have never seen before.”

  “What did he look like?” Sarah asked, bewildered. She had no idea why a pirate would be after them, never mind one with so much wealth.

  “He had six long pointy legs, two arms and a thick bulbous body. Arassads I believe his species are called,” Rozella replied.

  Sarah and Divar both looked at each other. Could it be? Sarah said to herself as she felt the blood drain from her face. Surely Angrave was killed at Aral when the Elders attacked?

  “Can you tell us anything else?” she asked, almost scared of the answer.

  “There was one very peculiar thing,” Rozella replied. “He was wearing a slave collar. It was smaller than the collar
s I have seen before. It looked more advanced. Yet there was no hiding what it was. He kept reaching up to stroke it nervously. That was a sure giveaway.”

  Again, Sarah and Divar’s eyes met. Though they couldn’t speak openly, each knew what the other was thinking. Did the Elders take Angrave prisoner? Sarah thought. If they did, that would explain why they knew to come to Elaijar to look for her. Angrave would be able to tell them all the places she might try and go. That means the Elders know about Elaijar.

  Seeing alarm in each other’s eyes, Sarah and Divar both jumped to their feet. “We have to go,” Sarah said quickly. “How long until your anti-matter will be delivered to our shuttle?”

  Rozella checked a COM unit that was strapped around one of her wrists. “My subordinate should be at your shuttle by the time you return to it,” she answered. “They will wait and then take delivery of the rest of your payment as well.”

  “Perfect,” Sarah replied. “We will be on our way then. It has been a pleasure”

  “Goodbye and good luck,” Rozella replied.

  Sarah bowed slightly to Rozella and then turned and made her way towards the circular access hatch that lead out of Rozella’s chamber. As she moved she had to resist the temptation to break into a jog. Divar was right at her heels and she sensed he too wanted to be moving quicker. Before they made it to the access hatch, an alarm sounded.

  “What’s that?” Sarah asked as she spun round to look at Rozella.

  The pirate was looking at her COM unit and didn’t seem to hear the question. “What’s going on?” Sarah shouted.

  “The station’s sensors have detected three new contacts accelerating into the system,” Rozella answered as she looked up.

  “Why is that a problem?” Sarah followed up.

  “The ships have an unusually high acceleration profile,” Rozella explained. “There are only three pirate ships that frequent Elaijar that can accelerate at such a rate. All three of them are already docked here. Either these three ships are a new pirate faction that may be about to try and take over the station, or they are warships from a protector world. Either way, we need to be prepared to meet them.”

  Sarah and Divar exchanged another look. There was a third option. They could be Elder ships posing as pirates to get close enough to the station to destroy it and every pirate ship docked within the station.

  “We will take our leave then,” Sarah said. “We have no desire to get caught up in the middle of someone else’s dispute.”

  “Perhaps your Captain would be willing to hire himself and his ship out for a short period of time?” Rozella asked. “If this does result in a fight, it would be handy to have the ship that disabled Scavenger fighting alongside us. I would be willing to pay a very attractive price.”

  “I’m sorry but our answer has to be no,” Sarah said. “Our Captain doesn’t like getting involved in other people’s conflicts. We only fight when we have to.”

  “Very well,” Rozella replied. “I have to attend to my people. You’d better leave now if you don’t want to get caught in a potential battle.”

  “We’ll be on our way,” Sarah said as she turned and moved towards the access hatch.

  As soon as they were through the hatch and out of sight of Rozella, Sarah and Divar both looked at each other and broke into a jog. As they came barreling around the corner towards the first pirate checkpoint, the pirates raised their laser blasters at them in alarm. Raising their open hands, both Divar and Sarah ground to a halt. “We’re not here to threaten you, we’re just in a hurry to get back to a ship,” Sarah explained.

  The pirates lowered their weapons and replaced them with toothy grains. “In that case, it will be twenty thousand credits to pass,” one of them said.

  “Fine,” Sarah said as she handed over a credit chip. She had no desire to waste time haggling.

  They ended up having to pay extortionate rates to get past the final two checkpoints as well. However, just as they passed through the final one, alarms went off all around the station. An automated voice called out saying, “Elaijar is under attack. Three Elder warships are approaching the asteroid. All ships are advised to evacuate the station immediately. Repeat all ships are advised evacuate the station immediately.”

  “Is the ship ready to move out?” Sarah asked Alexandra.

  “As soon as you two get back here we’re leaving,” Alexandra said. “It looks like Admiral Klixar’s ship and two frigates. I’d rather not have to engage them.”

  “It’s Klixar,” Sarah said out loud.

  Without saying anything else, Sarah and Divar accelerated from a jog to a run. They made it halfway to their shuttle before they came crashing into a throng of pirates. Everyone was trying to get to the docking bays. For a couple of minutes, they fought their way through the mess of bodies and appendages. Thankfully, their shuttle was docked on the edge of one of the landing sites. As the throng thinned, Sarah and Divar again broke into a jog.

  When they came to the shuttle they saw three anti-grav loaders waiting just outside. Each loader was filled with several vials of anti-matter. There was no sign of any of Rozella’s personnel.

  “I guess she has bigger concerns than collecting the rest of our payment,” Divar said.

  “That’s okay with me,” Sarah said. “Let’s get this on board the shuttle and get out of here.”

  Sending a COM message through her neural implant to the shuttle, Sarah ordered the shuttle’s rear access ramp to descend. As it touched down, she ran into the shuttle and powered up its reactor and engines, leaving Divar to load up the anti-matter. “How bad is it?” she asked Alexandra.

  “They will enter weapons range of Elaijar in twenty minutes,” Alexandra replied.

  “That’s cutting it close,” Sarah thought back. “How many pirate ships have launched?”

  “I have detected three already, though from the energy build up within the asteroid, I imagine there are many more about to make an appearance,” Alexandra said.

  Sarah paused a moment to look out through the shuttle’s view screen. Though she couldn’t see the entirety of the inside of the asteroid, what she could see was a hive of activity. Shuttles, small freighters, larger converted pirate warships and personal transport craft were all detaching from their docking bays and making their way out of the asteroid.

  “That’s the last vial of anti-matter on board,” Divar reported not a moment too soon.

  With the touch of a button, Sarah ordered the rear access ramp to close. At the same time, she brought the shuttle’s primitive interface helmet down over her head. As soon as the access ramp was closed, she gunned the shuttle’s engines and lifted off. There were ships flying about all around her. Even as she watched, a shuttle collided with a larger pirate ship, sending the shuttle careening off to crash into the asteroid’s inner wall and explode.

  Taking a deep breath, Sarah accelerated the shuttle right towards the middle of the tumult of ships. She had no time to plot out a course, she was relying on pure instinct. As a large freighter detached from the asteroid and accelerated towards the largest hanger door that would allow it to escape out to space, Sarah had to dive underneath it. As soon as she cleared it, another shuttle came into view, flying right across their path. Slamming on her breaking thrusters, Sarah banked the shuttle up onto its side. Her shuttle’s aero foils barely missed the other shuttle. Her maneuver was only partially successful though. As both vessels brushed each other, a high-pitched screeching filled Sarah and Divar’s ears as the shuttle’s hull protested the forces being exerted against it.

  The contact lasted only a fraction of a second. As soon as they were clear, Sarah whipped the shuttle around and towards the small access hatch they had used to enter Elaijar. She had to dodge a couple of large pirate ships but soon, the way opened up. No one else seemed to be heading towards it and it looked like the safest route out. “I think we’ve made it,” she said as they approached the hatch.

  “Thank goodness,” Divar said as they
flew through. “I thought Klixar was going to be disappointed and that was the end of us.

  “I was thinking the same thing for a moment,” Sarah replied. “Alexandra, you had better come and meet us. We need to get out of here right away.”

  “On my way,” Alexandra replied.

  “If Destiny comes too close surely, some of the pirates are going to figure out what she is?” Divar asked.

  “That’s a risk we will have to take,” Sarah replied. “I’m hoping everyone’s attention will be focused on the Elder warships.”

  It took less than five minutes for Sarah to land within Destiny’s main shuttle bay. Both her and Divar ran to the bridge as Alexandra banked Destiny and accelerated away from Elaijar. As soon as Sarah jumped into the pilot’s chair, the interface helmet descended to attach to her. As Destiny’s sensors flooded her mind, Sarah was momentarily bewildered. Elaijar was clear and unmistakable. Where before the asteroid base had been trying to hide itself by preventing electromagnetic radiation from seeping into space, now its reactors and defenses were fully powered up. Sarah could detect multiple laser cannons and a powerful energy screen around the asteroid.