Chronicles of a Space Mercenary 3: Vengeance

by Ronald Wintrick

  “And just hope these Alartaw get to us first!” I said. “Great plan. What if these Alartaw aren’t interested in us? What if the war is over and they lost? What if there are no more Alartaw? What then? You broadcast that signal and we know the Kievor will be on their way.”

  “They’ll find us anyway.” Bren said. “The Alartaw are our only hope.”

  “The device!” Tanya said impatiently.

  “Yep.” Bren said as he seated himself at communications and inserted a small chip into the com circuitry. I didn’t look and wouldn’t later- I wouldn’t know what I was looking at- and that why I kept Bren around. Why Bren stayed around was a question I doubted even he could answer with all his genius but thank the stars I had him. I’m sure it was only insanity that kept any of them around- insanity seems to breed upon itself- and if any of the stories Bren had told of my exploits as an Alartaw were even remotely true it would seem I had infected the entire Alartaw Empire as well. I was the carrier spreading my disease everywhere I went.

  “How long’s that going to take?” I asked.

  “Oh it’s broadcasting.” Bren said as I stood to depart. I sat back down.

  “Oh.” I said, very much feeling the insanity at that moment. I buckled myself in. “I suppose that Melanie, Janice and Manuel already know the plan?”

  “Yep.” They chorused over com nearly as one.

  I really hated it when they left com open but it would really be insanity not to do so. “You people are truly out of your minds.” Was all I could think to say because though I was the Captain and owner of this ship suddenly I felt very much a passenger- or even captive- for the control I had over the circumstances which were about to unfold around me despite my will. Nor did I have any doubt that they would expect me to get them out of it once again when the Kievor did show up. In my opinion they were writing our death certificate but what exactly was I supposed to do about it. It wasn’t a matter of whether the Kievor would show up once we began broadcasting that signal but when they would show up and I didn’t think it would take long. “I guess someone has a plan?” I asked though I knew the answer to that question.

  “Of course.” Tanya said. “We’re going to wing it, just like we always do.”

  I knew I shouldn’t have asked.

  Chapter 17

  As the days passed and still no sign of anybeing following us I was able to feel vindicated that it would have taken the Kievor a long time to find us. That meant very little now that we had been broadcasting our location all over the Universe. Nor did I doubt it would matter that the location we were broadcasting from was traveling through warp and across untold spans of real-space. Such things did not seem to matter when the technology involved was so advanced it might as well have been magic- check the crystal ball and see where the enemy is. We had crossed unimaginable spans in that time though it had only been a short time since Bren had activated his beacon. Seven short days of constant stress and worry, knowing the days wouldn’t continue to pass uneventfully forever. The thing that was bothering me the most though, I think, was that I was sure the very moment I poured myself a drink the warp-proximity alarm would start ringing or even worse, it would wait until I’d gotten a few down. Alcohol definitely slows the reflexes, not that I hadn’t been forced to fight through a battle or two slightly under the influence. It was sometimes a nightly occurrence aboard the Trade Station, but that was with other intoxicated combatants- I have never seen an intoxicated Kievor and I would never drink if Last Chance herself was in danger. If Last Chance was in danger I was in danger.

  Bren was glued to the warp-scan imager, there was always someone on it now, though I had been sure the reaction from one or the other of the parties expected to be involved would have been nearly instantaneous. It had not been. “They don’t care about us.” I said. “You may as well turn that off.” What an amusing anecdote that I wouldn’t even be able to find the piece of hardware he had installed much less turn it off or remove it.

  “I think not.” Bren said.

  “I don’t think it’s even working.” I said contemptuously.

  “It’s working!” Bren yelled as the warp-proximity alarm began to ring. Tanya was there a moment later, a flash of blond hair and determined face as she landed in her gunner’s seat. Once again she was returned to her fresh-faced look while I knew I looked haggard and tired. I had looked in the mirror that morning and a fatigued and stressed-out Marc Deveroux had looked back out at me.

  “That isn’t going to do you a damn bit of good if that’s a Trade Station behind us.” I snarled at Tanya as I harnessed myself in, sure as hell hoping it wasn’t a Kievor Trade Station behind us but in that I couldn’t have been more wrong.

  “It is.” Bren said. He sounded surprised, as if it hadn’t occurred to him that this was the most likely scenario to occur when we started broadcasting our location. I didn’t bother saying I told you so. There comes a time when such things simply could no longer matter. This was one of those times.

  I looked back at Tanya expecting a smart-ass response but again I was wrong. “We may have done it this time.” She agreed without my having to say it. We were really past the point of recriminations at this point and little else that could be said.

  “We may have.” I agreed, not dead yet but pretty sure that occurrence wouldn’t be long in arriving. “How long we got?”

  “About four minutes.” Bren said.

  “We need a real plan.” I said.

  “There’s no such thing.” Tanya said, and just for the hell of it, because Bren thought it might work, though there was no other known weapon which could be safely fired within inner-space and warp- and because she knew we were already dead and it didn’t matter if it worked or not, if firing it would back-feed the system and blow Last Chance right out of warp- and because she would not be taken alive by the Kievor- opened up on the Trade Station behind us with her Alartaw cannon. The flashes did not disrupt our visual feed this time- some effect of inner-space dampening the visual energy- and were visible on the main-screen as they reflected from the many faceted walls of the warp-tunnel around us as they flashed away behind us. What we couldn’t see was the effect it was having if any on the Trade Station behind us.

  “I knew the algorithm would work!” Bren shrieked like a girl as the Kievor Trade Station immediately dropped out of warp behind us and vanished from the warp-scan imager. The proximity warning flashing on my own screen vanished as well and I began unbuckling myself fully intent on my bottles of Old Home. We could fire on the Kievor in warp but they couldn’t fire back! Bren had done it again.

  “Good Lord are they going to roast you over a slow fire for the inventiveness of your brain when they finally do get their hooves on you.” I told Bren with a happy grin as I rose and walked towards him. “Do you know what this technology would mean to the Kievor? Clearly they can’t fire in our warp or they would have. Clearly as well that’s why they didn’t destroy us when they had us in their tractor beam.” I said as I came to stand in front of him, my smile firmly in place. “You’re now more wanted than I am.”

  “Marc has a point for once.” Tanya said as she rose as well. “They’ll never stop hunting us now. We’re almost as much a danger to them as the Alartaw themselves.”

  “We could arm every race we meet.” Bren agreed. “Like the Kievor did to the Alartaw.”

  “Won’t work.” Tanya said. “They recruited lizards and all lizards hate mammals- but they hate predatory mammals a lot more than the herbivore type.”

  “What are you two talking about?” I said.

  “Our time with the Kievor.” Bren said.

  “Oh you remember that now.” I said to Tanya.

  “Yep.” Tanya said with a look I couldn’t quite discern. I wasn’t trying. I wasn’t trying to do any thinking at this point. At this point I was headed for those bottles of Old Home and several weeks of rest and relaxation.

  “You know where I’m headed and for your own personal safety,” I
told them with my smile still in place, “I wouldn’t go dropping us precipitously out of warp any time soon.” I did not want to have to think about what the ramifications of Tanya remembering everything was going to mean for my sanity and definitely felt a headache coming-on. A headache which amber liquor would surely cure. At least until the morning.

  “You’re problems will still be here when you sober up.” Bren cast after me just before the hatch closed. I felt a throb in my temple and increased my pace.

  Chapter 18

  The warp-proximity alarm began ringing through my alcohol-befuddled sleep and before I knew what I was doing I was leaping out of bed and racing towards the Bridge clad in my boxers only. I landed in my pilot’s seat in the same state but holt-jolt or not my eyes were wide open as I strapped on my harness.

  “Who is it?” I demanded as I looked back at Tanya but she was busy with a manicure and didn’t look up. Then she reached over a negligent hand and turned off the alarm.

  “Just testing the alarm.” Tanya replied without looking up as she returned to perfecting her already perfect nails.

  “You bitch.” I said as I unharnessed.

  “I was right in the end.” Tanya said. “I should have emptied your bottles.”

  “Are you in a great hurry to get dead?” I asked as I walked over to her. “Fending the Kievor off in warp when they can’t fire on us is one thing, fighting them in real-space quite another. I think we tried that once.”

  “You should wash your underwear once in a while.” Tanya said instead of responding to my tirade. I didn’t bother looking down which would have been as good as saying I thought the potential for betraying evidence existed. I would never betray myself in such a manner no matter what my laundry schedule looked like.

  “I wash my clothes.” I said, though it was possible I had been wearing the same for a few days. Drinking Old Home bourbon, watching old movies and eating recycled protein mush- in whatever delicious flavor you like- had been my sole occupation for a while now though I’d been expecting this sooner rather than later. “What do you want?”

  “It’s been over a month since Bren activated the beacon.” Tanya said. “I thought I might bring this to your attention.”

  “Thanks. I’m aware.” I said. “You know I don’t spend every waking moment drunk.”

  “We’re all concerned about the state of the Alartaw,” Tanya said, “that they’re not responding to our beacon.”

  “So we plotted a course to a known Alartaw world three weeks ago.” Bren said as he walked in right on cue making me wonder how many hours a day they spent rehearsing these things and plotting against me. A good many was my guess and why I spent my free days getting drunk. Bren went on; “You were seeding worlds with hidden Alartaw bases, so the rest of us have pooled our memories and have been able to deduce the locations of many of these star systems. The closest we could determine is now less than a week away. We thought you might need at least that much time to sober up.”

  “Everyone remembers everything now?” I asked. I still couldn’t remember a thing of it but didn’t wait for a response as I turned for the hatch. The response came of its own accord in the form of the warp-proximity alarm again- but this time I ignored it as I continued on my way.

  “I’m not doing this one.” Tanya said stopping me dead in my tracks. The tone of her voice was enough. Tanya didn’t screw around when it was serious and she was already over the warp-scan imager as I turned around so I knew this one wasn’t a test of the system.

  “Who’s knocking this time?” I asked as I took the fresh cup of hot-jolt out of Bren’s hand and headed for my pilot’s seat.

  “I kinda wanted that.” Bren said. “That’s why I made it.”

  “I kinda need it.” I replied as I harnessed and gulped holt-jolt. “Who’s knocking Tanya?” I asked for the second time.

  “It’s a long way back but it doesn’t appear to be the Kievor.” She said.

  “Who does it appear to be?” I asked.

  “Doesn’t appear to be Alartaw either.” Tanya said. I didn’t ask again but when I turned to look back at her she had a strange happy look on her face I’d seen before. She finally answered as Bren got impatient and leaned over her shoulder to see for himself. “You are not going to believe it.” She said.

  “They are persistent.” Bren said to Tanya.

  “You’re kidding me.” I said.

  “Nope.” Tanya replied. “They’re a long way back and an even longer way from home but as far as I can tell there’s at least twenty of ‘em. They are persistent if nothing else.”

  “How in the hell do they keep catching up to us?” I asked.

  “You really want me to explain that?” Bren asked as he looked up from the imager.

  “Nope.” I said as I unharnessed again and turned to Tanya. “You won’t need me for anything else. You can blow them right out of warp and our troubles are over.” I was headed for the hatch but I paused to watch the expression on Tanya’s face as she opened up the cannon on the Katons behind us. It was always a revelation to witness her emotions at such times but her face fell into a little moue and she looked up at me.

  “Nope.” She said. “They’re too far back. The cannon won’t reach them. We’ll have to fight this out in person.” I gave her another measuring look and seeing it clearly in her eyes- the resolve to put the Katons off our trail forever- there was very little that objecting would do to change what was coming.

  “You might want to give me a couple days to recuperate before you do anything rash.” I said, it clearly being pointless to argue with her.

  “You have seven days.” She said and thus reprieved from immediately having to cast my life on the line yet once more didn’t bother asking her plans. It didn’t really matter- it would involve life and death and that was all that really mattered. Thus was my life dictated; weeks of enjoyable intoxicated relaxation interspersed with brief periods of murder, mayhem and near-death experiences, meanwhile being told what to do by my crew.

  Chapter 19

  The Katons couldn’t move any faster in warp than we could and were in exactly the same place behind us six days later- lucky for them- when I appeared on the Bridge again at the revised appointed hour. Everyone was in readiness and at their stations and guns. Bren had even finished building the next cannon- which I had been sure would precipitate a dispute between the back gunners as to who would get it, but I only got half of it right. The dispute came when Tanya tried to force Bren to install it while we were in warp. If I hadn’t interceded on Bren’s behalf I think she would actually have shoved him in the lock and cycled him out- all based on Bren’s own big mouth when he had postulated aloud in her presence that his calculations showed it could be done. That he was positive a person could space-walk in inner-space. With great strength, no matter what your strength, came great failings. We all have them but I was glad I wasn’t on Bren’s side of the graph.

  “The chaperone is back.” I told Bren and Tanya as I entered. Neither said a word and I could feel the tension between them like a thick fog. I stopped and looked back and forth between them before I spoke; “What the hell’s going on now?” They wouldn’t still be this mad at one another over the airlock issue- or at least Tanya wouldn’t have been, so this had to be something new.

  “Bren turned off the cannon.” Tanya said with a sweet smile. It was a sweet smile but I could see she was seething inside.

  “Turned off the cannon!” I said. “Cannons can’t be turned off.”

  “I turned this one off until you’re ready to take Command of your ship again.” Bren told me. I could see the near call at the airlock had been rough on him but I still didn’t like the implications of this. “Without me, no cannon.” This he told Tanya and why I could see her boiling inside. Bren wasn’t going to turn it back on until I was back to protect him.

  “You said it was theoretically possible.” Tanya said with an innocent smile.

  “Turn it back on.” I told Bre
n but giving Tanya a stern look, which she completely ignored. I turned back to Bren as he typed the command to reactivate the cannon; “Are you sure you can’t space-walk in warp?”

  “The math checks out. We should be able to space-walk in warp.” Bren said as he finished. “Would you like to test the theory?”

  “I’m not much of a crash-dummy.” I said as I seated myself and sipped my hot-jolt. It was about my eighth cup or so this morning and so I was about as alert as any human being could hope. “Let’s do these Katons, if you must, and then I’m going back on rest and relaxation.”

  “I don’t think you’ll be getting any rest any time soon.” Bren told me as I heard Tanya’s fingers flying over her keypad.

  “That’s two things you got right.” Tanya said as her system checked out. She hadn’t really been going to cycle Bren out the lock but it had been an amusing interlude to a boring afternoon for which Bren had made her pay dearly after- by disabling her weapon with enemies behind them- and nearly precipitating her into the real act of cycling him out the lock- except without his spacesuit. “Let’s see if we can shoot for three.” She added as she implemented a security protocol over the cannon’s fire-control system that would eliminate Bren’s future interference- but she was talking about the coordinates for the Alartaw world.

  “What are you inputting?” Bren demanded.

  “What did I input?” Tanya said as she finished and pressed enter, the program ready to go and just needing the access Bren had just given her. “Permission to cycle you out the lock should I choose.”