by Zach Winderl
“Can we pick anything out of the poem that would help? Weeping or shelves, anything we could tie to a location? Maybe there’s a shelf of some sort on the planet, like a mountain range or something?”
“Kozue, can you cross the poem with geographical locations from the system?” Hither asked.
Kozue replied in a neutral voice. “There are several worlds that might extrapolate from the given wording of the poem. In addition, there are several words that might fit with manmade locations.
“One of the major townships is named Daybreak, which could be a loose reference to morning, or as in the poem, mourning. Sheep are the major protein source in the system, so we could look for the greatest concentration. That would be on Stillwater, the system’s capital planet. One of the smaller inhabited planets is Solace, which is also in the poem.
“There is a seasonal waterfall on Stillwater known as the Weeping Sister. There is a moon orbiting Stillwater named Guidance, and another called Squam, which could be a corruption of the old word for nowhere.
“I can’t make any connection to the last two lines and so I must surmise they were either added to balance the three-part rhyme scheme, or they pertain to something not accessible to my digital probes.” Kozue’s human tone drifted back and Atom smiled at the puzzled sound. “I find the last two lines most intriguing. They cannot just be to balance rhyme scheme. There must be more, but I just can’t see the direction.”
“And the first four give too much direction.” Hither rolled her eyes with a quiet chuckle. “I’m not seeing anything that will help us.”
“Hopefully, we’ll find something in system that sparks a thought. Close it down, Koze.” Atom rubbed his eyes as the mess wall sprang back into existence. “I’m going to get Margo down for a nap. Maybe a little sleep will pop something in my pan.”
***
They dropped into the outer reaches of the Nemo System ahead of schedule with a hold full of crated replacement monitors. Atom stood in his usual spot behind Daisy as the pilot eased into the system at a relaxed pace.
“Anything on the scopes?” Atom asked Hither.
“Neg.” Her eyes flew over data as it streamed across her station screen. “Usual traffic, but nothing that I’m registering as imp.”
“Good for now,” Atom said with a smile pulling at his face.
Daisy grunted as he guided the ship towards the center of the system. “Where we headed first?” he asked as he monitored the secondary feedback flowing up from Byron’s station in the shop.
“Stillwater,” Atom said without hesitation. “I know we talked about scouting the system a touch, but it looks more natural to drop our cargo first.”
“Firm,” Daisy eased on the yoke and punched the coordinates to pull up a vector that would curve them into a high orbit around the system capital. “I’ll try to line a path that might give us a scurrying glance at some of the outer planets as we make for landfall.”
Atom remained silent and looked out at the distant specks circling an old orange star.
“Well, that’s strange.” Hither leaned back and pulled on her bottom lip as her brow knit. “Atom, you need to take a look at this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like if before.”
He turned and leaned over her shoulder. “What am I looking at?”
“This.” She tapped the screen and highlighted Stillwater. “Notice anything?”
He squinted at the screen and said, “Nothing stands out.” As he reached out and pulled in tighter on the planet. “Low water planet with grav a touch below standard. Small seas, but eighty-six percent landmass.
“It would be tough to cover any major crash site from the past two centuries.” He paused to tap a few commands. “And I’m counting hundreds of them.”
“That’s in line with a massive orbital battle.” Hither swatted his hand away and pulled out to show the planet and surroundings.
“I didn’t realize the battle was that big.”
“Me either.” Hither glanced up at Atom with arched eyebrows. “Look at the moons.”
“Three satellites.”
“There are only two according to system records.”
“What’s the third body we’re looking at?”
“It’s artificial,” Hither said with a puzzled smile as she punched in closer on the smallest moon. “That all appears to be wreckage from the battle.”
Atom whistled. “I see how these bokes could make a living as scrappers. There’s enough metal and tech to last a dozen lifetimes.” Atom played with the screen to pull in tighter to where the shapes of individual ships and ship fragments could be discerned. “This battle was massive. I’m talking entire imperial fleet massed in one place and squared off against a force of equal size.
“Koze, what can you tell us about the engagement?” Atom rose and glared out the canopy to the pinprick of the planet.
“According to the histories there was no battle here. There are references to a limited skirmish between an imperial scout force and a few rogue han ships. The imperials supposedly eliminated the rebel fleet with minimal losses and destroyed the han. There are also folk tales of the final stand of the Afkin Rebellion.
“That does not compute,” Kozue sounded puzzled.
“What doesn’t?” Atom asked.
“First off, there is no reference in the official histories to what han the imperials were pursuing and second, there is enough wreckage there to fill the recorded engagement a thousand times over. It looks to be an entire han on the move, and a major one at that. Many of the ships I’m looking at are not military vessels.
“What we’re looking at is not what was recorded in the Imperial Annals. Something happened here that the Empire didn’t want to be remembered. That could explain the relative obscurity these scavengers have managed to exploit.”
Hither spun her seat around to face Atom. He exchanged an overwhelmed look with her and whispered, “Thousands of ships, not all military, we’re looking at an exodus of a han.”
“And we’re supposed to pick a shepherd from this mess,” Hither sighed.
Atom backed up and dropped into Shi’s empty seat. He leaned on his knees with a heavy spirit.
“What if the ships are the sheep and the shepherd is something else.” Hither pulled her legs up to sit cross-legged. “Like a planet, or maybe one of the moons?”
“That’s not helping,” Atom said to the floor.
“Helping what?” Lilly asked as she stepped through the hatch and made her way up beside Daisy to stare out the canopy at their distant destination.
“This whole treasure hunt,” Atom replied as he looked up at Lilly with a worn, befuddled expression. “I’d say it was time we put our chips on the float. We both know the system from Blonde’s table. We’ve followed that, and here we are on the outskirts of the Nemo System, at least three gates from the closest civilization.
“I have a name and you have a name.” Atom crossed his arms and turned toward Lilly. “I don’t think we have time to hold back now.”
“Do you think Toks is that close?”
“I have no idea, but it’s not really something I want to dicker with if we can avoid it. She’s demonstrated the ability to make me look warm and cuddly.”
Daisy’s snicker cut short as he fought a coughing fit but managed to gasp out, “You’re about as cuddly as a porky-pine, Cap.”
“I know, but I wouldn’t destroy a station because it suited me.”
“We both ready to lay out?” Lilly ignored the laughter and stared hard at Atom. “I know I haven’t been full-up honest and straight with you throughout this whole mess, so I’ll make it up and go first. I pull and then you and we’ll be square with our agreed upon split.
“The name I got from my source was Stillwater.” Lilly’s gaze softened with hopeful intent. “Does that mean anything to you?”
“We’ve already laid course,” Daisy said. “It’s the closest thing to a civilized planet in this system. There are a couple othe
rs that pinged on our charts, but they are little more than frontier processing facilities.”
Lilly’s shoulders drooped. “You already had the info?”
“Just a lucky guess,” Atom stared up at the baug.
“Probability,” Kozue interjected.
“We have to start somewhere,” Atom spoke over his AI. “The piece of the puzzle I picked up from Johansen is Shepherd. We are guessing it’s a ship, although it could still be a town or some other location.”
“Wait,” Lilly asked in confusion, “Aren’t we looking for the Ave Maria?”
“That’s the treasure ship from the legend, but there may be some wrinkle and we have to assume that there’s just as much fiction to the legend as actual fact.”
“Do we actually have specs on the Ave Maria?” Hither asked. “We’ve been wandering after this ship for all this time and I don’t recall anyone actually knowing what the ship looked like, or if it even existed.
“I mean, are we looking for a fat cargo ship, a sleek personal yacht, or maybe she was a warship, armed to the gills.” She paused and rocked back in her seat.
Atom’s gaze grew distant. “That could influence where she was hidden and also what we’d be up against when we try to board her.”
Lilly glanced back and forth between Atom and Hither.
“How do you know there’s even treasure on the ship?” Hither continued. “For all we know the reference to Shepherd could be a clue telling us that they unloaded the cargo from the Ave Maria and now we should be looking for some hiding place that doesn’t actually include a ship.”
“Or what if the ship crashed on that planet and broke up?” Daisy asked. “That could mean that Shepherd is a debris field.”
“On that tack, it could be a debris field used by shepherds,” Lilly said with a sigh.
“We will need to get that sorted,” Atom said in a calm tone. “But for now, we need to get down on that rock and hope we get to cover before Toks comes burning in hot. Once we’re tucked away we can start digging for a trail.”
***
They burned for the planet, slipping in among the scattered system traffic. Daisy kept a course for Stillwater while Hither logged their plans with system flight control. As they drew close, a berth opened and Daisy dropped the ship towards the surface on a gradual descent that afforded a panoramic view of the planet.
Broad rivers veined dusty brown plains with dark, muddy waters that flowed south toward an equatorial sea, girding most of the planet. From the poles, thin shards of deep green forests plunged towards the sea like shark’s teeth.
“Nice looking place,” Atom muttered as he held onto the overhead piping against the buffeting of the atmospheric descent.
“Looks dusty,” Daisy said with a grin.
“Speakin’ a which.” Shi sat at her station on the left side of the bridge with her eyes closed and feet up on the console. “Y’all ever git the feelin’ that we frequent the dust bowls a tad too much? Remember, ya found me on a rock with some moisture? Ever stop to think it might be that’s what I prefer?”
“I thought you followed the ko,” Atom said without changing his posture.
“That’s fact, but I sense a trend in yer planet pickin’.”
“Well, if that’s how you feel, maybe we should try to see what kind of work we can hustle on a swamp.”
“That’s be fine by me.” Shi stretched her arms up in the air and yawned with feline ferocity. “The dry wreaks havoc on my sinuses.”
Below them, the planet grew in size. As they drew closer, they found sporadic clumps of cobalt lakes sprinkled across the ferrous brown streaks of the plains. Darker patches solidified into mountains. From their descending course, altitude proved tricky to judge. Wispy clouds circled the equatorial seas in eerie bands.
“I’m wishing I could see more green.” Daisy adjusted the vector with a tap of the yoke. “I wonder what they eat?”
“Besides sheep?” Shi planted her feet and pushed up to stand beside Atom on the bucking deck. “I’d wager they’ve acreage to keep their veg an’ mins up. I know we ain’t seein’ huge greens, but there must be enough scrub to keep them sheepers in the ko.”
“I hate to burst your seal, Atom, but I’m detecting a massive energy spike back at the jump-gate. We have multiple ships entering the system,” Hither spoke with the dead-pan efficiency of a naval officer.
Atom responded to the tone. “We’re close enough to Stillwater to blend into the natural traffic. Daisy, just keep her steady and stay our course. We need to avoid anything that would draw attention to us. If we’re careful, we’ll be able to put the planet between us in short order.
“Hither, keep scopes on the ships and gather as much intel as we can,” Atom snapped as he reached up and snatched the hardwire com. “Byron, get to the mech-deck, there is the off chance you may need to fiddle about.
“Shi, grab Go. Make a sweep and lock the ship down for the unexpected.
“And Lilly.” Atom hesitated a moment as he worked through his plan. “Get to your ship and get her prepped. If Toks pegs us, I’m going to open the hatch and dump you. If that happens, we’ll meet up on the fly.”
Atom didn’t wait for a response. He clipped the com back above his head and gripped the pipes with both hands as the turbulence increased.
“We’re hitting atmo,” Daisy called out.
“Any more on the new ships?” Atom asked Hither.
“Looks like the Graff and four support ships,” she replied, scowling at her screens as the scopes supplied more information. “Two destroyers and two corvettes. They don’t have a ton of firepower, but they have speed for days.
“And let’s be honest.” She glanced over her shoulder at Atom. “They don’t need firepower against us.”
“What are they doing now?”
“Fanning wide. Burning on system center.”
“Hard burn?”
“No, they’re bordering on a leisurely stroll. It’s just plain strange. You’d think they would want to pin ships to the planets.”
Atom shook his head, staring at the growing planet as he tried to crawl inside Toks’ head. “No, it actually fits perfectly. She knows there’s only one jump gate in this system, which means she controls the choke point. A ship from here could cross the Black, but you’re looking at months on the burn. There’s no reason to rush into things. She can take her time and spread her ships while running a deep scan of the system to peg traffic patterns and hope to glean something on the location of the treasure ship.
“The upside to that is there’s no rush to get to the surface. We’re inside the atmosphere, mixed with a planet full of ship traffic,” he said, turning his attention to Daisy. “Take us in as easy as laying a babe in the cradle. No sense in standing out because we’re sloppy.”
Daisy didn’t reply, instead he adjusted the controls and the powerplant eased back. The One Way Ticket rode the gravity well and slipped through the planet’s atmosphere, each second drawing her deeper into the meshed traffic lanes of the system craft skirling about like bees in a disturbed nest.
“Control, this is the One Way Ticket,” Shi drawled as she dropped back into her seat. “Are we still locked fer our assigned pad?”
“You have seen our newest drop-ins.” The woman’s thick accent did little to hide her annoyance. “They have thrown our operations into confusion. We must now reroute you to secondary docking location.”
“If that location could be discreet, we’d be much obliged.”
“Are you carrying anything that could prove problematic?”
“That’s a negative, control. Our haul is completely on the upper.” Shi glanced over her shoulder at Atom. “But a couple of our crew ain’t in the good graces of the imps. I reckin a run-in with them imps would be more than an annoyance.”
“I understand,” the comptroller replied. “Sending you new landing coordinates now. There will be a local trade officer to meet you at your berth. He will assist you.”
The pilot adjusted his control of the ship as they buffeted through the atmosphere and dropped into a long, graceful swoop. The Ticket diverted from the center of the main city, instead aiming for a rocky shelf that curled around the southern sprawl of low housing blocks and industrial complexes.
Keeping a feel on the air flow around the ship through the tug of the stick, Daisy dropped down below the level of the rocky shelf and drifted the ship sideways into one of a series of hangars carved directly into the rock face of the cliff. Following the guiding beacon of their assigned berth, he nosed the ship around to ease into the hangar and set her down with a gentle hiss of compressing hydraulics.
Behind them, the hangar door ground shut, closing them in a coffin of plasteel and stone.
“Let’s go see what the locals have in mind.” Atom nodded to Hither and Shi. “Daisy, why don’t you take it slow and make sure we’re shut down proper. I have no idea how long we’ll be on this rock, but I don’t want to get back aboard and find we’ve let slip the charge to jump the reactor.”
“On it, boss,” Daisy said with a grimace as he leaned forward to run through the shutdown sequences.
“And Daisy,” Atom said with a pat on the big man’s shoulder. “I know you’re far along the mend, but why don’t you lock down and lay up. Regular treats on the medoc so you keep on that road. We’ve something ahead of us and I don’t want you slowing us or getting reinjured because you aren’t full charge.”
“I’m good to go now,” the pilot said through gritted teeth.
Shaking his head, Atom squeezed the shoulder. “I know you could scrap if you needed to, but you don’t right now, so heal up. I’ll keep you posted and when you’re needed we’ll let you know.”
Atom turned and led the women from the bridge. As they passed through the mess deck, Atom checked the load on his pistols, more from habit than actual anticipation of danger. While a rock full of smugglers and scrappers could prove dangerous, having an imperial fleet in orbit diverted that danger. In the hold, they met up with the rest of the crew and Atom pulled the retrieved and refurbished pram out from its spot beside the hatch.