The Boundary Zone

by A. B. Keuser

  “She doesn’t know about Aaron, no, but she’s become something of a patron.”

  Raza’s jibe about Bezzon and sleeping his way to the top came to mind.

  “Does her wife know about you?”

  Bezzon’s smile soured. “That’s not something we should discuss. You and I should start fresh. As far as I’m concerned, anyone from your past doesn’t matter. My… indiscretions won’t come back to haunt us.”

  “There is no us. There won’t be an ‘us’.”

  “We’ll see what your brother has to say about this.”

  If he thought for one second that her brother could make her do anything other than punch him square in that sickly smile, he was delusional. She’d rather fling herself into the void.

  Thirty-One

  The ship Aaron had taken for his own felt wrong.

  Cable was sure that whisper of disgust in the back of his mind was not his own.

  Linked through the grotesque meat glove and proximity, Cable followed the Kas instructions. Though he was seeing it through Cable's eyes, the Ka could make out the indistinguishable differences that told him when to turn right and when to turn left.

  Raza was thankfully silent behind him. It was already too loud in the silence of the halls.

  He followed the path KaDen set out for him, stopping when the ship told him to.

  Aaron stood in the middle of the room, looking as pleased with himself as he had on a number of occasions when they were out running missions together. But, unlike during so many of those missions, right now all he wanted to do was gut the bastard.

  He felt an odd sort of pleasure at that thought and realized the ship's voice in his head would not be displeased with that idea.

  "There are too many of them for us to handle on our own. Any help coming from the guy in your head?"

  Cable didn't have to ask. He already knew the answer. "No. This ship is dead. When Aaron ripped the captain from its cortex, he left the systems inert until he put in his own tech. We're on our own here. He makes a good map though."

  A twinge of pain stabbed at his temple, and he moved quickly to the other side of the corridor. They would have to be sneaky about their onslaught. Aaron was with friends and lots of them, which meant he had the upper hand. But, he didn't know Cable was there, and that made this a whole different ball game.

  We need some place to work out of.

  He hasn’t cannibalized the whole kazahan.

  That would take too much time.

  At the moment he’s focused on primary systems.

  Keeping himself comfortable.

  Back four doors, down two levels.

  You’ll have an entire section of the kazahan to yourselves.

  I can access several of the sensors.

  No one has accessed the spaces recently enough to leave a heat trail.

  Nodding to somehow physically show he'd understood, Cable rose and headed to the door as directed.

  As they snuck through the ship, his hand opening doors and manipulating tech he hadn't dreamed of two days earlier, Cable wondered if he might not try to desert when all was said and done.

  You are too deeply ingrained with this sense of duty.

  Cable was almost irritated that he couldn't disagree with that.

  But things have a way of righting themselves.

  If KaZie has her way, we will not fight your people

  If KaZie has her way, we will need intermediaries.

  KaZie will, of course, be ours.

  She is, after all, all that we have.

  And you… you will be theirs.

  “Not sure if I should thank you for that…”

  We have seen the extent of your life.

  Were you kindiran, you would not have been culled.

  "Okay?" Cable said as they pushed through a second door and into a dimly lit wind tunnel. They made their way down a macabre stairwell as the ship continued his praise.

  No human has ever been deemed worthy.

  Not even of consideration.

  "Well, there's always a first time for something."

  "Boss," Raza whispered from behind him. "You hear that?"

  Cable hadn't heard anything save for the prostrations of the ship in his head. But now, as he listened, he did hear it. A consistent tapping, like a leak on a metal pan.

  Something is damaged.

  "What's down here?"

  The silence in his head was deafening, but it was not so bad as the note of panic in the Ka's voice when he finally did return.

  Everything.

  As you have a spinal column, this is the Kazahan nerve center.

  All systems connect here.

  Damage could be linked to any number of things.

  "We need to know what it is. If it's dangerous or if it will bring them down here to us."

  Another long pause met him. And cable pulled the tactical flashlight from his knee pocket. Shining it on the fleshy walls of the outer ring and trying to see if there was any outward sign of trauma.

  I do not believe it will bring them here.

  If it is what I think it is….

  It would be akin to internal bleeding for you.

  Under normal circumstances, this ship’s Ka would begin to repair itself.

  KaLongre would have felt it the moment it happened.

  He would have begun to repair.

  To know more, we must access a terminal.

  I cannot keep that information from the kazahan’s control center.

  "If they send anyone, it will be a recon mission... not a fully-fledged assault."

  "We could take out a small number of them before we have to worry about the rest."

  "But then they would know we were here, even if they don't know who we are."

  "Aaron will know."

  "How."

  "Because I threatened to kill him if he ever did anything to hurt Kenzie."

  "Isn't that something he should have said to you?"

  "Oh, he returned the sentiment in kind. Though I never felt like he was serious about it, he knew I was. He's waiting for me to come after him... or be delivered to him. He thinks he's safe right now because he doesn't know anyone's here,” How Kenzie had pulled that off, he didn’t know. “But the second we let him know someone else has entered the game, he'll know it’s me."

  "But he might not know it’s me too."

  Cable nodded, it was a good point. "If something happens and I'm captured. Keep on with the plan."

  "What’s the plan?"

  "The same as always. Search, destroy, and control."

  If you access the systems, I can bypass the original commands.

  This will make you acting captain.

  It will read your bio signature and begin to reject the fleet components.

  Aaron should never have integrated them in the first place.

  "You're talking about sabotage."

  Of course.

  A fair fight requires equal footing as a start.

  In smaller numbers, you must use every available trick.

  "Where's the nearest terminal?"

  KaDen directed him further down the stairs and to a landing that was larger than the others they'd passed. Unlike the others, there was no access to the rest of the ship, there was only a heavy wall panel and another hand port.

  Feeling less than sanguine about another foray into the pain express that had rocketed down his arm, Cable reached out tentatively. His hand sliding across the port as though his skin was made specifically for this interface. And then he remembered, it had been.

  The leak is in the auxiliary lubrication ducting.

  They’ve been burning fuel at ten percent of optimum.

  "What happens when they run out of fuel?"

  The ship begins to cannibalize non-essential systems.

  If they are close enough to a gas giant to pull elements, they will.

  A crude refinery process is possible.

  "We're in orbit of a XT class world"
/>   The kazahan would have to land.

  Materials could be bored from the soil.

  It is an inefficient process, and not one this ship could manage.

  KaLongre’s death has made much impossible.

  "Then let’s focus on locking Aaron out and getting his tech to reject. I want him to lose that arrogant smirk he's flaunting at Maeltar."

  The system has been turned over to you.

  Do not make me regret that decision.

  “What can I possibly do that’s worse than what’s already been done?” The Ka did not answer, and Cable turned to Raza. "And now, let's go regroup before the party comes to us.

  The override has already been detected.

  "That was quick."

  A system was in place.

  We can assume he did not trust KaZie.

  Overthrowing his control would have been easier for her.

  “And now, because he thinks she’s the only one able to do this…. he’ll think it’s her.” Cable looked up the spiraling bone structure to the door through which they’d come. “Until he finds out from his crassicau that she’s on her ship, doing as she was told.”

  I have warned her to return to the gunnery where Nrog believed her to be.

  Whether she follows my advice is another matter.

  With a nod of acknowledgement he knew he didn’t need, he turned to his soldiers. “We need to make ourselves scarce.”

  Raza nodded and headed quickly down the stairwell to the next landing. She waited for Cable to open the door and let her through. When the wing-like doors closed behind them, the level was pitch black, and Raza let out a shaky sigh.

  “You afraid of the dark, Raz? We’ve been on more than a few pitch black ops.”

  “Yes, but I always had my helmet on… when it sees for you, you don’t have to worry about the ookey things that go “bump” in the night.

  Thirty-Two

  The armory was… not what she’d expected.

  None of her school texts had covered Kindiran weapons, and even if those tiny sections had, she was certain now that they would have gotten it wrong.

  “Like everything else.”

  KaDen was helping Cable—how, she didn’t know—and KaLea watched her, an ever present shadow.

  The compartment, a hall-like space lined with projectile weapons that reminded her of teeth—of fangs—closed in around her as she moved deeper. She needed to eat. Needed to sleep. But neither looked like it would be on offer any time soon.

  The silence from the crassicau didn’t help. He hadn’t even yelled that she’d escaped him before. She needed something… some form of outward stimulus. Some reason to push on, to shake off the detestable self-pity that clung to her like a silken web.

  She sucked in one breath after another, her eyes wandering around the ship’s bridge. A red light flashed in the cartilage-like underbelly of the primary console. The light reflected off the glittery texture of the column that held it aloft. She knew what it meant: a Ka summons.

  But did she want to talk to them?

  She stared at the blinking, without moving.

  Maeltar was a scuzzbucket. She’d expected no more from her. Aaron though….

  She thought she had known him. Though he was her brother before anything else… and then, then she saw the contempt in his eyes. He didn’t care that Maeltar was trying to hurt her. He cared only that she might not have been able to finish his plan.

  His plan was all he’d cared about from the beginning. He could have come to find her long before he destroyed the station… it would have been easy as patching a comm line for him to walk onto the civilian station and find her. He knew her pod key, he could have waited for her… but no. He hadn’t bothered with her until he needed her for his plan.

  And when he’d taken her, Cable had come after her, finding his way to the very edge of their galaxy, and Raza had come along as well, ever the soldier looking to protect her command. She didn’t delude herself to think that was her motivation for helping Cable earlier. She wasn’t a soldier,

  But she was. Fleet had forced that on her. Taking one more aspect of her life from her.

  And now, Aaron was trying to take Cable too. Not that she exactly had him to begin with. She let out a deep breath and pulled herself to her feet. Doing nothing would ensure Aaron carried through with his threats on Cable. And that was something she couldn’t allow.

  She spared a glance at Nrog before sliding her hand onto the panel and tumbling into the mind.

  The Kas waited for her, their expressions grim.

  “I know what you want, and by now you’ve had your fingers in my brain, you know what I’m going to do. So you can kill me now, but then you’d be left with only Aaron. And I know you don’t want that.”

  “He’s only one human.” KaMin “You must think of the greater good.”

  “Forgive me for growing up with humanity as my only model, I’ve adopted some of their principals. I have lost everything in the past few days, everything but Cable and that humanity that you detest. I will not let Aaron take him. I will not let you take it.”

  KaLea was the only one with a hint of a smile on her face and soon the others started to disappear. Until it was only Mack and her left.

  “Did I piss them off that much?”

  “No, I blocked them out. Eventually you’ll learn to do it too.”

  She considered asking if this was her turn for a scolding, but she knew that wasn’t it.

  “KaDen is helping him. We may be wary of the humans, but we cannot deny that there is something to be said for your judgment. And we believe you could control him if needed. Not that I think you would, but it is enough to appease the others – for now.”

  “Then I have work to do.”

  “I hope you can. What you plan to do… it is not an easy task. It is not something we should have asked of you.”

  A firm resolution gripped Mack as she let herself disconnect. “What other choice do we have?”

  She slipped out of the mind and let out a fortifying breath. Her eyes slid do Nrog. The creature’s jaw was slack as he stared at her. Relief, awe, and belief shone in his eyes, and she knew she’d come one step closer to winning him fully to her side. Assuming that was what she actually wanted….

  He flinched as a burst of static echoed out of the radio at his hip, and raised it to his ear, turning his back to her.

  Nrog listened to the chatter on the fleet-standard walkie in his hand while Mack moved into the captain’s office. With his back turned, his focus on her brother, it was easy to slip into the room.

  The cleaver was ungainly, but she used the blade to slice open the lining of her jacket and slid it inside before returning to the main part of the command center and moving to the navigation console, as though that had been where she was all along.

  With a hissing sigh, Nrog stepped to her side. “I am to escort you back to Aaron’s ship. He has questions that cannot wait.”

  Nrog dragged her to the beam room and she found herself face to face with a red-faced Aaron.

  “How the Hell are you doing this?” The force of the blow, the back of his hand to her cheek, knocked her back against the squishy wall.

  Thirty-Three

  With a hunting party after them, Cable followed KaDen’s instructions without question. He trusted his gut instinct about people. With the exception of Aaron, he’d rarely been wrong.

  The Ka was thankfully quiet inside his head. Though from the oddly nauseous waves passing through him, he had a feeling the captain was judging everything he did, there was little point in a critique and they both knew it. A door to their left opened and Cable hustled Raza inside.

  The space was cramped. Narrow, but tall, and completely empty.

  “Where the Hell are we?” Raza was pressed up against him, her gun poking into him in all the wrong places.

  Shifting to get away from the hard metal, Cable let his eyes travel up into the darkness above. “We’re in an access shaft.�
� He said the words as they entered his mind.

  “Access to what?”

  KaDen didn’t seem to care to share that information with him, and an uncomfortable silence settled over them. Cable waited for the sound of boots to pass, but that was not what he heard. Filtering through the Ka in his head, Cable heard the unmistakable rasp of Maeltar’s voice as she scolded one of his cronies.

  “Aaron is sending us on a wild goose chase.”

  “Are you sure? We saw—”

  “We saw what he wants us to see. I am going to take great pleasure in making Mackenzie pay for the frustration her brother has put me through.”

  Her man laughed, and KaDen flashed a memory through Cable’s thoughts. Maeltar, attacking Kenzie, then Aaron telling Kenzie the plan for her. Cable didn’t know what to believe as boots pounded past the hall door way, but he wouldn’t wager on either having a very long life expectancy.

  The door opened in front of them, letting him know the coast was clear, but something had settled in his mind with the thought of Maeltar getting her part of Aaron’s deal.

  He set his gun down on the floor as the door closed once more. KaDen knew he wanted to “talk.”

  “Raz, do me a favor, just… don’t pay attention to me for the next few minutes. I’ve got to have a conversation with the guy in my head, and it’ll be easier if I say it out loud.”

  “Sure thing, boss man.”

  Exhaling heavily he closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the soft wall, he was starting to feel a little crazy with this other being in his head.

  “At this particular moment, I don’t care one lick about what happens to you and your race. Kenzie is my top priority. And frankly, based on what little insight you’ve given me, it looks like she’s your only hope. So, we’re going to play this part of the game my way, and after we’re done, then we’ll talk about putting your civilization back together.”

  I could kill you with a thought.

  “I’m sure you could, but that’s not what we’re talking about right now, because let’s face it, killing me isn’t really going to help you. Kenzie’s smart, she can do a hell of a lot of things that I will never be able to do. But her brother is unhinged. You know that better than I do, I think. Can she get the upper hand on him and save your race all by herself? Probably. Should she have to? No.”