"That's the last thing you need. You've got enough character already."
"We've been ordered to return to Distant Orbit Delta Ochre around Dindabai. It's the designated orbit for dangerous cargo. We're certainly that."
"Fine."
"I just wanted to let you know—so you won't be surprised when they arrest us."
"It doesn't matter, Tara. We were successful. Nothing else matters."
"I suppose you're right. We'll be exiting stardrive in…" she looked at her chron. "…twenty one marks."
"See you at the rockpile."
"Thank you, Wester—for everything."
"I didn't do anything, Tara. It was you."
"It was both of us, Wester. And Gildron. I told you before—we make quite a team."
"Well, it's over now—at last."
"Tenners on that. Good luck, Wester."
"You too. See ya." And I left her cube. I had to tell Priestess that she was married to a jailbird.
***
"Exiting stardrive." I was on the bridge in the VIP chair, totally relaxed. I wasn't at all concerned about being arrested or even at the possibility of being executed. My life's work was done. Nothing scared me any more, not after what we'd already been through. If they decided to execute me, I'd make arrangements for Moontouch and Stormdawn to inherit my savings. They'd be all right. And Priestess would be all right, too. I'd advise her to find some nice, stable desk jockey and hook up with him, and have a baby and stay home. We had all done quite enough.
"CRASH STARLAUNCH! RED ALERT! BATTLE STATIONS! UNDER ATTACK! AUTOFIRE ALL WEAPONS! ALERT! TWO-THREE ENEMY ANTIMAT MISSILES LOCKED AND CLOSING, EIGHT-SEVEN-SIX—" I was paralyzed with shock, unable to twitch a muscle.
"Get us outta here, ship!" Tara shrieked. I only had time for a brief, frantic glance out the viewport—a brilliant infinity of icy stars and a single, red-hot spark, trailing a sparkling phospho tail, coming right at us. I saw it—I actually saw it.
The viewport flashed white hot, searing us with antimat glare and harsh black shadows, dazzling my eyes. I didn't even have my comtop on. A massive, soundless detonation hurled us into the gates of Hell. It happened so fast I did not even have time to breathe. One instant all was well; the next super heavy gravs were trying to rip my body apart. I tried to scream, but my vocal cords were paralyzed. Terrifying vibrations ran right into my bones. Then the grav cut off.
We floated, adrift and helpless. I was still strapped into the VIP chair behind Tara. It felt as if we were upside down. As my vision slowly cleared I tried to see out the viewport. It was ConFree, I decided—their last chance! And it was our fault as well. Dindabai had told us where to orbit, and Tara had confirmed the orbital instructions. Fools! ConFree had to have a psychee in Dindabai Command. They surely couldn't read the starlink so they had to have someone in the Command. And we—we were stupid. Off guard, relaxed—stupid! Blink once and you're gone, they had told us that in Basic—in Basic! We had blinked—and now we were gone! ConFree had been waiting like a spider for its prey.
A fighter shot past outside the viewport, an evil metal bat. I had only an instant's glimpse, just enough to freeze my blood. It looked like a Legion fighter but I knew it was ConFree. Our own fighters had all been lost in the Plane Prime engagement.
My hearing was coming back now. An awful grinding, rumbling, tearing noise echoed through the bones of the stricken ship. I could suddenly hear the Star of Dindabai, summarizing the sit for us all.
"…direct low power antimat hit amidships, ship totally immobilized, decks nine through thirty lost, over eight thousand penetrations and counting, all surviving compartments sealed, massive losses of air and pressure, stats as noted, we have fired suicide burst, awaiting results, skin charging is only partially effective, total deceptor failure, three enemy cruisers have ceased firing on us, no evidence of mother ship, we have successfully locked on all three targets, they are firing on our missiles, thousands of enemy deceptors are masking a fleet of assault craft, prepare to repel boarders, we are engaging the assault craft…"
"Identify the enemy!" Tara demanded.
"I have identified three Loyalist Fleetcom cruisers. Enemy is ConFree," the ship replied. ConFree! In the LC's back yard! Bastards!
"Dindabai Command is crashlaunching all units. Dindabai's Fighter Force is already attacking the enemy ships and fighters, first enemy assault craft have reached us, recommend activation of scuttle charges…"
"Activate scuttle charges!"
"Scuttle charges activated! Strike Force is engaging enemy. Enemy assault teams are breaching defense in two, three locations, as marked. ABANDON SHIP! ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP IMMEDIATELY! SCUTTLE CHARGES ARE ACTIVATED! COUNTDOWN IS 45 MARKS!" The horrifying bleat of the abandon ship claxon crawled over my skin. I had heard it before only in training. Outside the viewport the stars were gone, replaced by a wild, glowing tracery of missile tracks lit up by the hot electric flashes of antimat bursts. We were in the heart of Hell.
"Tell us what to do, Cinta!" Whit demanded. She was just to my left in the second VIP chair. "We don't want to die!"
Tara answered her by addressing the crew. "Attention the ship! This is the Commander. We have been attacked and disabled by ConFree forces. I have activated the scuttle charges! Abandon ship immediately and watch yourselves. We're under attack by ConFree boarding parties. Kill any uniden troopers you see! Strike Force, make the bastards pay but don't sacrifice yourselves. The LC is on the way but now I want everyone off this ship! ConFree is not going to inherit our ship. It's going up in an antimat stratstar in exactly forty-four marks and anyone left on board is going to be vaporized. Get out now! Get in vac suits, E-suits or armor! Launch all lifeboats and shuttles! Detach all escape pods! I want…"
I was out of my chair and shot myself over to the E-suit locker, which had popped open automatically. I ripped out the suits and sent them floating through the bridge. Gildron was out of his seat and so were the pilot and copilot, Ice Two and Slambang Sue. Tara hit the links and floated free of her chair. We struggled into the E-suits. They were light and flexible and were not made for extended wear, but they'd get us through the vac in an emergency.
"It's the Star, Wester!" Tara gasped. "They want the Star! That's why they only disabled us. They know they can't take the ship this close to Dindabai! Gildron, they want the Star!" I was all zipped in, slipping the helmet over my head, locking it in place.
"Never!" Gildron snarled. "They will never take the Star from me!" A flash of movement out the viewport. A ConFree trooper in full armor had just stepped over the viewport outside, disappearing from view.
"They're coming in! The skin charge is shot!" I shouted, snapping the pressure on in my E-suit. It activated. "They're right out there! They're going to blast their way in!" Gildron tossed us weapons from the arms locker. We were all floating in zero G. I seized an E and slipped the sling over my helmet.
"I've got ConFree troopers in the corridor! They're right outside the bridge door!"
"Do something, Cinta!"
"The master control tunnel!" Slambang Sue exclaimed. "There's a crawlspace for access—it's still fully pressurized! It leads to the heart of the ship!" She snapped open an access panel on the deck and popped in head first. Tara urged Gildron and Whit in next. Gildron finished snapping his helmet on and crawled into the control tunnel, just barely fitting in, and the Star was suddenly free, whirling around us like a bee, glittering, dazzling my eyes. Then it shot into the tunnel at blinding speed, going after Gildron.
"Damn!" Tara exclaimed. "Don't lose the Star!" I urged her into the tunnel. Ice Two followed. I was last, slamming the panel back in place and sealing it.
The tunnel was dark and cramped, lined with master cellplate mods and neuropath cables. The cellplates faintly glowed as I floated along in zero grav, shooting from handhold to handhold. My claustrophobia was no worse than usual. Stark terror didn't bother me any more. Ice Two's boots were right in my face and the abandon ship claxons were still s
hrieking, crawling over my skin.
A deafening explosion rippled down the tunnel.
"Entry! Bridge has depressurized! ConFree forces have breached the bridge! Recommend…"
"We've got to get out of this tunnel!" Tara declared. "They'll be after us!"
"Take the upper access tunnel to midships," Slambang gasped. "Right here! It leads to an emergency repair locker. Ice, come with me—I'm going after Alpha and Four Three!"
"They were on Deck Twenty. It's gone!"
"Are you coming or not?"
"Midships!" Whit cried. "That was where they hit us!"
"Up there!" Ice floated down the tunnel after Slambang, but he showed me our escape route. I looked up and Tara was overhead, holding a hatch open for me. I floated up into a vertical tube after her and let the hatch slam shut under me, sealing us off from the control tunnel and leaving Ice and Slambang to their chosen fate.
I floated up past a useless access ladder into a crowded little spherical chamber with dropboxes full of repair gear secured to the deck and a few unsecured cellplates drifting aimlessly. The four of us just barely fit in there. A sealed hatch was set in a wall and Tara had her faceplate up against the readout.
"What the hell is this place?" I hissed. Gildron took up most of the space in his extra-large E-suit, his helmet up against the ceiling. The Star was up there too, hissing and crackling, lighting it all up for us with a harsh electric glare. It really set me on edge. Whit's face was blue behind her faceplate. I think her teeth were chattering.
"Quiet!" Tara ordered, raising one hand. "Someone's out there!" I set my E to x-min burst. Trapped! It was like a coffin—a cenite coffin. We froze, weightless, with the claxons still wailing away in the background. A sharp explosion shook the ship, setting off my adrenalin.
"ConFree troopers," Tara whispered. "They're trying to find us. It's a mess out there, everything is destroyed, there's no pressure. They don't know we're here. ConFree has secured the bridge—they're desperate to find us!"
"Let's attack them!" I urged.
"There's…at least eight of them. They're in armor. We're not. They're after the Star. We can't take the chance! We can't lose the Star."
"Deto!" I glared at the Star. "We should let the bastards have it! They deserve it!" I knew Tara was right. We were all clad in bright orange survival E-suits. One speck of shrapnel in vac and we'd die. We certainly had no business getting in a firefight. They'd win, we'd die, and they'd get the Star.
"Which way are they headed?" I asked.
He came right through the cenite wall, materializing beside us, peering at us curiously. Only the upper half of his body was visible in the shimmering field of light that accompanied him. He was in an A-suit, but his helmet was off. It was Lowdrop. A spasm of adrenalin shot through my heart. I almost fired my E, but I knew the ricochets would probably kill half of us inside that cenite chamber.
"I've found them!" he snapped. "Mark my zero!" His eyes were glowing as he took in the scene. "They've got the Star!" he shouted. And then he laughed, a high shrill laugh that was a heady mixture of relief and delight.
"Don't fire!" I told the others. "It's just a holo." Just a holo! ConFree couldn't hurt us with a holo, unlike the O's, but they sure as hell could locate us with it and call in the dogs.
"Beta Three!" he said. The bastard was smiling. "Fancy that! And you would be Cintana Tamaling. Alias Antara Tarantos-Hanna, alias Whiteline Six Two, alias Ladywhite, alias Black Lotus, alias Blackstar, etc., etc., etc. I've heard a lot about you. You're one notorious bitch! My name's Four One. Sorry we can't chat under more comfortable circumstances. Ah, and that would be Gildron. You are one big ugly ape, just like they said. And the little blonde would be Maralee Whitney, intergalactic criminal and hopeless nympho. And the Star! Oh, it's lovely. Beautiful! Miss Tamaling, you have only one chance. Listen carefully!"
"Burn in Hell!" Tara snarled.
"To the contrary, it is you who will burn in Hell, you and all your friends, unless you do exactly as I say. All I want is the Star—the Star and the D-neg. There's no need for any more needless deaths. We've got the Star already—you're surrounded and trapped. If you resist, we'll kill you all and take the Star, no matter what happens to the D-neg. But I'd like the D-neg, too. Give me the code to cancel the scuttle charges, Tamaling. Give me the code and everyone lives. We'll take what we need and leave immediately. My men are standing by at the controls to the detonators. Give me the code and we open your hatch, peacefully, and you give us the Star, and nobody gets hurt. The alternative is you all die and we take the Star anyway. Think about it—quickly! I need your answer right now!" The continual bleating of the abandon ship claxon added urgency to his words.
"You're a traitor to ConFree, to the Legion, and to humanity," Tara said calmly. "We'd all rather die than assist you."
"I've ordered my troops to recover your body," he said. "I'm going to skin you, and make a doc case out of your breasts." He cried out sharply in pain and snapped his head back, disappearing from view.
"What the…" I began.
"I gave him a little mental jolt," Tara said. "He's on a nearby ship. They're all around here now. They've located us—they're approaching!"
"What the hell do we do?"
"Pray!"
"All right," I said. "We pop the hatch and come out firing. The pressure will blast us out like a cannon. They'll be surprised!"
"We'll have no control. We'll be firing wildly. They'll slaughter us. They'll get the Star! They're here! They've…they're going to put a charge on the hatch!"
Whit reached out and linked fingers with Tara. "Goodbye, Cinta," she said. "I've always loved you."
"We're not going to die like this," I said, shouldering my E. "Pop the hatch!"
"They're going to take the Star," Gildron said quietly. "We'll have to destroy it."
"Destroy it?" I gaped at him. "I thought it couldn't be destroyed! Can you destroy it?"
"Destroy the Star?" Tara gasped.
"It can be destroyed," Gildron said. "There is one way to destroy it."
"Do it!" I demanded.
"How can it be destroyed?" Tara was radiating suspicion.
"You have to want it to die. You have to want it very badly."
"I want it to die!" I snarled. "I've always wanted it to die!"
"Your desire may not be strong enough, Beta Three."
"I hate the damn thing! I want it dead!"
"They're placing the charge on the hatch!" Tara hissed. "What do you mean, Gildron? I don't want to lose the Star, but I'd rather see it lost than inherited by ConFree and the System. We all want it to die! What do you mean?"
"Your desire may not be strong enough either, my dear. But mine is. You see…you have to be very, very strong." He opened one great hand and the Star flew into his palm, just like a bright little bird.
"Explain!" Tara demanded tensely. I was watching Gildron with a growing dread.
"You have to be willing to go out with it," Gildron said. "You have to sacrifice yourself. Then it…understands. Goodbye, my darling Cinta. I will love you forever."
Tara shrieked, a spine-chilling screech of horror and despair, and threw herself at Gildron convulsively. I seized her in mid-air and pulled her away, struggling in zero gravity, and Tara screamed hysterically, fighting me with almost superhuman strength, begging and pleading with Gildron not to do it, thrashing out wildly with arms and legs as we bounced off the walls and ceilings. Whit tried to restrain her as well, crying and sobbing, and Gildron was encasing the Star in his two hands and they were glowing blue-hot. A phospho sheen ran over his whole body. For an instant he was like a great glittering God, blazing like a star, blinding us with his glory. Then they both went out with an ear-shattering bang, and there was only a ringing echo and dancing blue-hot ghost images burnt into our eyes and a glittering haze of dusty metallic debris floating all around us. Tara wailed and moaned, devastated, crying like a baby. Gildron and the Star were gone. My arms were locked around Ta
ra and I was choked with emotion. I knew this was the end of Tara's world. She had just lost her only love. Now there was only despair for her. A sudden rage ran over me like a bolt of lightning.
"We're going out!" I announced, releasing Tara and raising my E. I wanted to die free—not cowering in a tomb. The hatch readout was warning us the vac was right on the other side but I did not care. I flipped up the safety cover and hit the emergency escape tab.
It opened in microfracs and I had a frenzied, blurred glimpse of a ConFree trooper in armor, his widening eyes coming right at me as I smashed face first right into his faceplate and hurtled over his head upside down, flashing like a bullet past a row of frozen ConFree troopers with E's at their shoulders, poised weightless by a wall, my heels shooting past darkened light panels on a corridor ceiling and all around me was a shredded spiderweb of cenite wreckage, the ship blasted to junk by the antimat hit. For a single frac, everyone was so startled by our explosive ejection that there was no firing. Then there was a flurry of x bursts and I was frantically trying to figure out which direction I was facing and sort out the two orange E-suits from the tangle of black A-suits when a ConFree trooper suddenly appeared, upside down, looking up at me in surprise. I fired into his helmet just as a blinding, soundless flash erupted from the direction of our emergency repair locker. The charge that ConFree had placed on the hatch had just gone off. Blood spattered over my faceplate and then broke away in weightless globules, and suddenly I was floating freely in the vac and the ship was gone.
Chapter 21
The Word of God
The transition was so sudden that a burst of panic shot through my veins. I was adrift in space, a tiny chip of life in a magnificent, starry Cosmos. I twisted around and the ship was there behind me, a gigantic presence, a massive cenite wedge filling the vac. It was the Star of Dindabai, our lovely, invincible ship, crippled by a massive antimat hit, torn almost completely in two just aft of the bridge, split wide open, the skin ripped off, the interior decks exposed, an ugly cloud of wreckage drifting out into space. I had somehow been ejected through a gap in the hull. I was drifting in the vac over the ship, looking down at that awful catastrophe like someone's soul, fled from the body. For an instant I wondered if I was dead, but then I realized that all the lights in my helmet were green. They hadn't touched me. Alive! Cursed by the Gods, again.
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