Terminal Alliance

by Jim C. Hines

  “To a race that’s spent the last century and a half trying to kill everyone who isn’t Prodryan.”

  “Who else could they turn to?” Azure snapped.

  Mops nodded sympathetically. “It must be hard to find a good partner in biological terrorism.”

  “All we want is freedom and justice for what the Krakau did to us.”

  “All Anna May Wong wanted was to earn his sergeant’s stripes and master an old Earth instrument called the ukulele.”

  Azure scooted backward. “They arranged a meeting with Heart of Glass. When he learned the truth about humans, he became fascinated by the biochemistry of our venom. He said it was the key to overthrowing the Krakau and bringing true change to the galaxy.”

  “And you believed him?”

  “I saw an opportunity to help our people.” She quieted. “And to finally escape the confines of our lifeship.”

  How many generations had lived and died on that ship, never seeing more of the galaxy, never meeting anyone beyond their own extended family? Mops would have been desperate to escape as well. “What about Squarm? How did they get drawn into this?”

  Azure shuddered. “Squarm is a scientist and a criminal. They specialized in creating recreational drugs on Coacalos Station. They’re just in this for the money. Heart of Glass had recruited them several months earlier. I believe the two of them were originally planning a chemical attack against Dobranok, but then they learned of my venom. Squarm studied captured EMC humans, trying to understand and reverse engineer what was done to you. It took them two years to develop this bioweapon.”

  Mops nodded. “I’m curious. What do you imagine the Prodryans will do to you once they’ve used you to murder a planet of Krakau and weaken the Alliance?”

  “The Krakau are the greater threat to our people.” Azure drew herself up. “Tell your team to surrender themselves, or I’ll kill you.”

  “Don’t be stupid.” Mops sighed and massaged her shoulder. “You know my team’s listening in on this, right? Kill me, and they’ll come down to incapacitate your shuttle. Maybe they’ll weld it to the deck or cut holes in your hull or disable the emergency power to the grav plates and physically throw your ship against the wall until it breaks. Wolf would have fun with that, I think. The point is, there’s no way we’re letting you launch this shuttle, so either shoot me or put that damned gun away.”

  Azure whistled again, her anguish loud enough to hurt Mops’ ears. “You aren’t even soldiers! How have you countered our every move? How have humans shown such tactical and strategic skill—what are you doing?”

  Mops caught herself. “Laughing. I’m sorry, that was rude, but you caught me by surprise.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “‘Strategic skill’? Hell, Azure. I’ve spent this whole time pissed that your lot was always a step ahead of us.”

  “You . . . you think this was what we planned?” Azure stared, her blue coloration brightening with shock. “You destroyed the Prodryan fighter team sent to investigate the Pufferfish! You uncovered our contacts at Coacalos Station, forcing us to speed up our plans.”

  “And in the process, I was shot, blown up, and captured,” Mops countered.

  Azure flicked a limb dismissively. “You didn’t seem to have any trouble overcoming your captors and escaping, or of tracking us to Paxif 6.”

  “Where we flew into the middle of a Prodryan assault!”

  “An assault you drove off!”

  “Did we really?” demanded Mops. “Or did they pull back to allow you and Squarm to ‘escape’ to the Pufferfish? We played right into your hands. Tentacles. Whatever. We were nothing but a taxi to the Krakau home world.”

  “You think I wanted to die in the attack on Dobranok? I only agreed to this because Heart of Glass threatened to kill everyone on Paxif 6, including me, if I didn’t get this bioweapon to the Krakau.”

  Mops sat back, fighting another bout of laughter. “You’re as out of your depth as we are.”

  “More so,” Azure said grudgingly.

  “I wouldn’t bet on that.”

  Azure made a clicking, stuttering sound, a mix of despair and dark amusement. “It doesn’t matter. The shuttle is programmed to blast its way free and begin its run as soon as we’re within range of Dobranok. But you’ll stop that as well, won’t you? And the Krakau will win again.”

  “It looks that way to me. We stop your shuttle. The Krakau tow us in and imprison or kill everyone. They pull the data from our monocles and take Squarm’s cure, at which point your bioweapon is all but useless. Everything you’ve done was for nothing. My crew was infected for nothing.”

  “I know.” Azure snapped a tentacle in Mops’ direction. “There is no need to rub it out!”

  “Rub it in,” Mops corrected. “How long before we reach our destination?”

  “An hour. Maybe two.”

  Mops chewed her lip. “All right, the first thing you’re gonna do is get rid of that damned gun.”

  “I will not surrender to the Alliance,” said Azure.

  “Nobody’s asking you to.” Mops waited, then shrugged. “Have it your way. Monroe, get the team in here and tear this shuttle apart. Wolf, Azure is all yours.”

  “Wait!” Azure flung her tentacles in all directions, then ducked back into her hidden room. A moment later, the gun disappeared into the ceiling.

  “Stand down,” Mops said.

  “Are you sure?” asked Monroe. “Wolf really wants to shoot something.”

  “The way things are going, I’m sure she’ll get her chance.” Mops glanced around. “Azure, do you know how to control this shuttle?”

  “Most of it, yes. Why?”

  “Because ours aren’t working.” She crawled up the narrow ramp into the cockpit. It was like entering a giant metal clamshell. Control panels and consoles were built into the floor, with additional screens and indicators around the edge. She pulled her legs in to make room for Azure. The Rokkau had a much easier time moving about, simply spreading her limbs to flatten and broaden her body. Mops glared at the unmarked controls. “How do I find out exactly where we are and what’s happening outside the ship?”

  “Scanners are over here.” Azure flipped a set of switches and maneuvered a control token over a grid. Several screens lit up to show the shuttle surrounded by an outline of the Pufferfish.

  “I was hoping for a broader picture.”

  Azure continued to move the control token, and the image zoomed outward to show six identical ships surrounding the Pufferfish. Each tow ship was roughly a quarter the size of the cruiser, but the engines on any one generated enough power to tow a warship. Six of them with their grav beams deployed could drag the Pufferfish anywhere in the system . . . or tear the ship apart. Farther out, a pair of warships flanked the convoy. The Krakau were serious about keeping the Pufferfish under control.

  The image kept growing until Dobranok came into view, along with its moons and orbital defense stations.

  “What do you intend to do?” asked Azure.

  “I’m working on that. Why haven’t the Rokkau just announced themselves to the galaxy? Tell the Alliance what the Krakau did?”

  “It was tried once, more than a century ago. Rokkau refugees designed a communications module that could transmit simultaneously to Dobranok, Solikor-zi, Cuixique, and several other worlds. The Alliance Military Council denounced the transmission as propaganda put forth by a splinter group of Krakau extremists. The Rokkau lifeship was captured, the entire group interrogated. Through them, the Krakau hunted down two additional lifeships. We are too vulnerable to expose ourselves like that a second time.”

  “We need proof. After all this time, the Rokkau must have some idea where the Krakau kept the rest of your people. If we could locate that prison planet—”

  “We have tried,” said Azure. “The Krakau pro
tect that secret more fiercely than their own young.”

  Mops frowned and tapped another screen. “What’s this countdown here? What happens in ten hours and seventeen minutes?”

  “That is when the Prodryan war fleet arrives.”

  Mops froze. “Say that again?”

  “Squarm signaled them before the jump to schedule their attack. Heart of Glass intends to strike after our bioweapon has begun to spread death and panic and chaos through the entire system. He’s gathered assault forces from other clans and declared himself Supreme Assault Commander. He hopes to use this victory to restore his honor among the Prodryans. One squadron is supposed to liberate Prodryan prisoners from the Krakau’s orbital facility. The rest will destroy the Krakau defenses, satellites, space stations . . . anything they can blow up.”

  “All right,” Mops said, fighting for calm. “Given the mess we’re facing, what’s one more clog in the pipes? How do communications on this shuttle work?”

  “Over here.” Azure scooted sideways. “The shuttle has a low-power communications pod.”

  “Put me in contact with those Krakau tow ships, and I’ll try to get us out of this mess.”

  “How?”

  Mops threw her hands up, smacking the ceiling. “I don’t know yet.”

  “My mission—”

  “Has failed,” Mops said flatly. “You’re not going to infect Dobranok. My team will blow this shuttle to dust first. We’ll destroy the entire Pufferfish if we have to.”

  “You expect me to help save the Krakau? To protect a race that drove mine to the verge of extinction? You can’t imagine how that feels.”

  Mops propped herself up on one elbow and glared until Azure realized what she’d said, and to whom.

  The Rokkau dipped her body. “Oh. Yes, I suppose maybe you can.”

  “You have three choices. My team blows everything up, and we die here. We disable the shuttle without destroying the Pufferfish, and we all end up prisoners of the Krakau. Or you work with me to get us out of this.”

  “How can I trust a slave of the Krakau?”

  “You begin by erasing that word from your beak,” Mops said softly. “Call me a slave again, and I will flush you down the nearest sewage line.”

  Azure pulled back.

  “You and your friends attacked my ship,” Mops continued. “You shot a member of my team. Your venom wiped out my civilization. You are in no position to question our trustworthiness, child. And if you give me any more backtalk, I will smack the blue right off your shell.”

  “You sound like my mothers,” Azure muttered, before turning to touch a new set of controls. Painful static filled the air. “I’m sorry! I didn’t have time to fully study how this ship works.”

  “Believe me, I understand.”

  The buzzing cut off a moment later. “I think we’re ready,” said Azure. “Low-power signal, audio only, nontargeted, encryption turned off. . . .”

  Mops waited while Azure flipped two more switches. “This is Lieutenant Marion Adamopoulos of the EMCS Pufferfish. I need to speak with whoever is in charge immediately. This is a matter of planetary security.”

  Silence.

  “They’re not answering,” Azure said helpfully. “Unless I have them muted. Hold on. No, they’re definitely not responding.”

  “Given the secrecy surrounding the Rokkau, I’m not surprised. They shut down the Pufferfish to keep us from telling anyone about you.” Mops peered at the console. “They’re probably searching for someone with clearance and authority to talk to us.”

  “You could tell them about the bioweapon,” Wolf said over the comm.

  Mops turned away and lowered her voice. “What would you do if someone was coming to Earth with a weapon like that on board?”

  “Blow it into atoms,” Wolf said promptly. “Oh.”

  Monroe cleared his throat. “Could you take another look at the scanner?”

  Mops hesitated. “Doc, have you been sharing the visual feed with the team as well as audio?”

  “They were curious. I thought it was better than letting them get bored. You know what happens then.”

  Hard to argue with that. Mops turned back to the screen showing Dobranok and the surrounding system.

  “Not one EMC ship,” said Monroe. Most worlds had at least one EMC warship stationed in-system for protection. A central planet like Dobranok should have rated a half dozen or more.

  “They were probably reassigned to protect Earth and Stepping Stone,” suggested Mops. Which meant, in their efforts to defend Earth against a nonexistent attack from the Prodryan bioweapon, the Krakau had left their home system vulnerable.

  She tapped Azure on the tentacle. “How many Prodryans are supposed to show up when that countdown hits zero?”

  Azure flinched. “They didn’t share such details with me.”

  Mops turned her attention back to the comm. “I repeat, this is Lieutenant Adamopoulos on the Pufferfish. I have urgent information about an imminent Prodryan attack.”

  An unfamiliar voice crackled over the speakers. “Miss Adamopoulos”—the omission of her rank stung—“this is Captain Mbube of Tow Ship Three. I’ve been authorized to hear your warning. Switch to a secure, direct channel immediately.”

  Mops looked to Azure, who stared at the console and spread her limbs in a helpless shrug.

  Mops sighed. “Captain Mbube, the Prodryans aren’t going to attack Earth. They—”

  “If you cannot follow communications protocols, we will block your transmissions,” Mbube interrupted.

  “These are the people you serve?” Azure muttered. “The people you hope to protect?”

  “Yes. Well, maybe not that one in particular.”

  “Miss Adamopoulos,” said Mbube. “Are you aware you’re still broadcasting?”

  “I am, yes.” She rolled sideways and stretched her shoulder, popping the joint. “Azure?”

  “Still searching for the encryption controls,” the Rokkau muttered.

  “See? It’s harder than it looks,” Wolf said over Mops’ comm.

  “We’re trying, Captain Mbube. But the Prodryans are going to attack Dobranok. You have to contact Admiral Pachelbel. Tell her—”

  Painful feedback squealed from the console. Azure attacked the controls with all three tentacles, eventually shutting it down.

  Mops checked the countdown. Less than an hour before they reached whatever orbital prison the Krakau were taking them to. Nine hours after that, the Prodryans would arrive. “Azure, you said this shuttle was set to launch automatically. Can you abort that program?”

  “I cannot.”

  With the Krakau refusing to listen, that left one other choice. “Monroe, get the team down here. We have forty-five minutes to break a shuttle.”

  Wolf’s whoop of excitement almost drowned out Kumar’s comment: “We’re not familiar with Glacidae shuttles, and this one has been modified.”

  “Don’t worry,” Mops said dryly. “I have the utmost confidence in your ability to break things.”

  The chemical tanks containing the bioweapon were welded into place in the back of the shuttle, along with the terraforming dispersal satellites. Trying to cut them free risked puncturing the tanks or setting it all off prematurely. Instead, Mops’ team attacked pretty much everything else in the shuttle, hoping to render it incapable of flight.

  Kumar and Azure worked in the cockpit, trying to decipher the controls. They’d figured out how to adjust internal temperature, unfolded the wings for atmospheric flight—directly onto the top of Wolf’s head—and in a particularly exciting mix-up, fired one of the upper bow maneuvering thrusters for two and a half seconds.

  Monroe was working on the main engines in the back, carefully tracing wires and circuits and fuel lines.

  As for Wolf, she was in the cargo area ripping apart ev
erything she could get her hands and torch on. She’d already cut the main ramp free. It lay on the deck, along with several wall panels, an air circulation grate, a pile of burnt cargo netting, and a flickering light strip. From what Mops had pieced together, Wolf was determined to remove the bioweapon. If she couldn’t cut it free from the floor, she’d simply cut away that entire section of floor.

  “Twenty minutes.”

  “What about the fuel lines?” asked Mops. “Say we cut up a sanibomb and set off a piece inside? It should expand and clog things up.”

  “Depending on which of the six standard Glacidae fuel mixtures this shuttle uses, the reaction would generate enough heat to ignite the fuel lines. Which, admittedly, would stop the shuttle from completing its mission. . . .”

  A floor panel clattered to the deck.

  “I think we’ve figured out how to set off the escape pod,” Kumar called down.

  Mops sighed. “That’s great, Kumar. How does that prevent the shuttle from launching?”

  A long pause. “We’ll keep working.”

  Mops poked her head up into the cockpit. “How does the shuttle know when to launch?”

  “I don’t understand,” said Azure.

  “You said on the bridge that your shuttle was programmed to automatically try to escape once we entered Dobranok’s orbit. But you couldn’t have known exactly when we’d arrive in-system, or how long it would take our escorts to drag us to Dobranok. Which means the program is probably tied to the shuttle’s scanners, counting down based on our distance to the planet. Where are the sensors on this thing?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  “If this is a standard Glacidae shuttle, sensors are located in the underside of the ship, approximately two meters back from the docking ramp. Where the docking ramp used to be, rather.”

  She climbed down and exited the shuttle. “Wolf, how close are you to cutting those tanks free?”

  Another chunk of metal clattered through where the docking ramp used to be. “They’ve got three damn layers of flooring, honeycombed with some kind of mother-drowning nanofiber reinforcement that smells like burnt Glacidae shit. It’s taking forever.”