“Oh, I’m thinking I might risk it,” Vok told him, moving the knife back and forth in front of him. “Your hand drops again; I will.”
Verrikoth chittered a laugh. “I might just let him as well. Since we’re all going to die anyway, he might be able to get to you before you can do something foolish.”
A look of mild irritation crossed the human’s face. “I do not act foolishly,” Robert replied. “I am protecting my ship.” He was breathing heavily now, clearly using the console to keep himself up.
“What did you do?” Verrikoth asked, curious.
“Grav plates in engineering,” Robert said, shrugging. “Everything more than a half meter away from the reactor should be pinned to the floor, cranked up to 50G. So if they’re not dead, they will be soon.”
Vok’s wrist comm beeped. Glancing at the indicator, his mandibles clacked. Switching to his native tongue, and activating his earpieces. “This is Vok.”
A nervous zheen voice came back. “War Leader, this is Wikk. The rest of the team have been hit by some sort of malfunction of the grav plates. I don’t know why I wasn’t.”
“Where are you?” he asked, eyeing the human captain, who was starting to slump. Sweat was beading on his dirt-covered face.
“Right up against the reactor, War Leader,” the tech answered. “I’m afraid to move.”
“It’s a booby trap, Wikk,” the War Leader told him. “As long as you stay very close to the reactor, within half a meter, you won’t be affected.”
The tech hesitated for a long moment. “I understand, War Leader.”
“Good,” Vok said. “Now, get the deadman switch disarmed.”
“Understood, War Leader. I can see the detonator now. I’m on it.”
Ending the call, he addressed Verrikoth but stayed in zheen speech. “The captain is looking increasingly ill, my Lord. He can barely stand.” An indicator popped up on the faceshield of his radiation suit, flashing red. “My Lord, radiation levels on the bridge have risen five points in the last two minutes. We’re well into the lethal range. He must be suffering from radiation sickness.”
“You need to get off my ship,” the human told both zheen. “And I see you finally figured out what’s happening up here.” He smirked, though it clearly cost him an effort.
“I don’t think sso,” Verrikoth replied, switching back to Standard. “Vok, ssummon a medic to assist.”
“I’m not sure one will respond, My Lord,” Vok objected. “He’s dead anyway, and radiation levels are very high.”
“Do az I ssay!” the Warlord snapped.
The War Leader jumped to obey, immediately activating his wrist comm to make the call.
“Why did you come to thiss ssysstem?” the Warlord asked, switching back to the human.
“Trade. Repairs.”
“What would you trade?”
The man sighed, his facial muscles twitching in pain. “Some of the barradium. I’ve got about eight kilos of salvaged gadolinium in one of the holds. Some machine parts and live fish.”
“Fissh?” Verrikoth started in surprise. “With the amount of radiation this ship is pumping out, flooding every deck, any fish you could carry would be long dead.”
“We converted one of the water purification tanks to a fish hatchery and built in additional heavy rad shielding.” He took a shuddering breath. “Lined the whole thing with twenty extra centimeters with lead. They’re perfectly safe.”
The main console beeped four times, then repeated the sequence. Robert smiled, deeply. “Well done.” Without a word, his legs buckled from under him, and he crashed to the deck, his hand coming off the switch on the console.
Vok rushed forward, and fired his stunner, twice, hitting the human twice in the chest. He slumped and his tensed body completely relaxed. Vok quickly secured his hands behind his back and then turned to the console. A quick study of the controls had him confused. “The controls are completely non-standard, my Lord, but I think…” He pressed a pair of buttons, then saw the indicator on the right. “I think this is it.” Four lights on the console flashed red, then yellow, then green.
His wrist comm pinged. He pressed the button and Tech Wikk came over the line. “War Leader, the grav plates just turned off. And I found and disarmed the detonator!”
“Very well done,” Vok congratulated him. He glanced at the display where Verrikoth made a sweeping gesture with one hand. “The Warlord heard, Tech. Check on your comrades. No, wait!” he said, changing his mind. “Get status on the reactor. I know its leaking radiation, find out what you can.”
“Yes, War Leader.”
“Out.” He closed the channel. “Warlord, we have the ship.”
“Excellent work, War Leader. I will ssend engineering and medical teamz, from Nemessiss az well az the sstation.” Verrikoth closed the channel, nodding to himself. Too many of his troops were down in securing that ship, and there was no guarantee that they could actually salvage it as yet, if that reactor was just too damaged, then there might not be any point. The crew, however, is another matter. That captain and his crew of miscreants put up a hell of a fight. I might have a use for them if they’re willing. If not… The zheen dipped his antennae. Well, then I don’t think we need to keep them around.
Chapter 7
Everything began to move very quickly from that point. Medical teams, suited in radiation gear, hastened aboard TrinaMarie, securing the soldiers and then, almost as an afterthought, the prisoners. All of them were transferred to the station’s medical section, with every medic and doctor from Nemesis over as well. The prognosis was fair on some of them, those injured from the gunshots upon initial entry as well as one zheen crushed by the grav plates, but the grenade and claymore damage had been too extreme.
Engineering teams swarmed over the freighter. Radiation cleanup was underway, but the sheer amount of it was staggering. Every single surface of the freighter was covered. Shutting down the reactor took only an hour, and then teams with tanks of the blue decontamination compound moved in and started spraying down all the compartments. Estimates showed it would take four days for the decon, and that was with three teams running around the clock. All but five percent of the station’s decon compound was used in clearing out the TrinaMarie.
It would take ten days to get the ship to an acceptable level, pulling spare parts stores from the station and all of Verrikoth’s ships. The TrinaMarie’s long-since cracked and split power conduit were patched with some sort of fibercrete mix. It was capable of sealing the conduits, but it leaked power and radiation like a colander. It was nothing more than a makeshift repair, which had become a permanent fix. Unfortunately, Amethyst was not awash in replacement conduits, tailored to TrinaMarie’s specs, so the techs made do.
“Well, my Lord, we have made enough in emergency repairs for the ship to survive a hyperspace trip to Tyseus, but the ship can’t get any higher than Orange level 4 of the rainbow. It’ll be twenty-nine days, even for such a short hop.”
Verrikoth took the news in stride. “Very well. I want that sship to get there, that iz mosst important.” The situation with the original crew would have to wait a few more days as well, as all of TrinaMarie’s old crew, as well as the zheen rescued from the Committee base, were recovering in Medical.
Looking over the reports from Keseres on Fletcher’s Dolly, he read over all the information he could about the Republic task force. It was sparse, as neither the captain nor the freighter could glean much information about them. The freighter had detected exactly what Keseres had said about the breakdown of the ships: two destroyers, three frigates, and eight corvettes, as well as between thirty-five and forty starfighters. As far as an actual Republic fleet was concerned, that was nothing, but compared to force levels here in the Argos Cluster, it was large. His current flotilla, with Nemesis, Gawilghur, Kopesh and the corvettes would be hard pressed to take a task force of that size. With that many fighters, as well, without a matching force of his own, the Republic force would tak
e him. It would require some serious planning and recon.
He called a meeting of the various ship captains and then, almost at a whim, he invited the Xai’ryn as well. It was difficult, having to include her, to have to include anyone in the planning session who wasn’t directly involved, either a captain of a ship or someone with special knowledge or skills. A land-bound Xai’ryn who was just released from years of captivity wouldn’t have a fresh perspective on things, but he knew it was better to bring her in early instead of having her scheme and plot against him in anger.
“We won’t take long here,” Verrikoth told them all, as they settled themselves in Nemesis’s conference room. The Xai’ryn attended via a virtual display, as she couldn’t possibly move through the corridors of the heavy cruiser. “Repairz to TrinaMarie will take longer than the time I am willing to remain here in Amethysst. Sso to that end, I will be taking the bulk of the tassk force to Tysseuss to regroup, then we will move out from there.”
He pressed a control and a second virtual window popped up, showing the collection of freighters. “Fletcher’z Dolly, TrinaMarie and the prize box freighter will follow along az ssoon az they are able.” He stopped, buzzing. “That irkss me. I don’t want to keep calling it the ‘box freighter.' Doez the sship have a name?”
“Call it the Pirate’s Loss,” the Xai’ryn declared, her voice clear through the virtual display. The others all stared at her for a moment; then heads started nodding.
Verrikoth had to fight his ingrained response to agree with her automatically. It was easier than he knew it should be, probably because they weren’t actually face-to-face. “I thank you, Xai’ryn. That iz a mosst apt name for the vessel. Ssee to it,” he said to the ship’s interim captain. The prize crew went back to Fletcher’s Dolly and a new crew was brought in from the station, hired from the population, the three officers needed were brought in from the local hiring pool.
“Once in Tyseus, we will link up with Commander Hestian, who should be back in from Bimawae by now. From there, our paths will diverge.”
Faces in the room, and on the display, showed interest in this news. Even the Xai’ryn, who was maintaining a demeanor of haughty disdain, couldn’t hide her curiosity.
“The first group will conssisst of Nemessiss, Kopesh, ssince we’ve managed to work sso well together,” the warlord said, acknowledging the destroyer’s captain, who nodded her long head in response. “And the freighterz I previously mentioned. The warsshipss will jump to Tysseuss and the freighterz will follow at besst sspeed. However, before we go, we will unload enough of the new Centurion-A to Nemessiss to bring the sstarfighter complement back up to full. Commander Ssokann and the new pilotss will alsso accompany them.”
The chief pilot waggled his antennae in response. “I’m excited to actually get to fly one of these ships, Warlord. We’ve been running three sims per day for weeks now, and I think we’re starting to get a strong feel for the craft. It isn’t the same as actually flying real ships, though. But I like where we are as a unit.”
Verrikoth nodded gravely. “I want to ssee a demonsstration of your flying when we get to Tysseuss, Commander. And reportss on your pilotss ssim rankingz. Our own pilots were torn apart by the piratess flying inferior craft and I cannot have a repeat of that. Your sstarfighter unit iz to be a weapon in my arssenal, not a liability.”
Sokann twirled his antennae. “Understood, my Lord. I want to integrate the surviving Sparhawk pilot into my flight group as well. He’s a tough operator, to survive through all that. With Commander V’ka’sith’s permission, of course.”
The other zheen’s antennae curled, clearly he was not happy about losing his last starfighter pilot, but he gestured acquiescence. He really didn’t have a choice, not with Verrikoth staring at him.
Verrikoth buzzed acknowledgment. Sokann fell silent, but the Xai’ryn chittered with laughter. The Warlord tamped down his immediate feeling of irritation at her mirth, then moved on.
“Do not disappoint me, Commander.”
“You won’t be, Warlord,” the pilot promised.
The Xai’ryn hissed in disdain, but Verrikoth ignored her. “Our mission will be to deliver relief ssuppliez sstraight to Hecate on the tranzportss, while the warsshipss make sstopoverz on the other planetss on the route.” The others gave puzzled or blank looks, so he went on. “It haz been too long ssince I have vizited all the worldz under my influence and I felt it iz time to make the time. There iz another issue with thiss az well.”
He placed both hands on the tabletop, making sure all assembled were within his field of view, an easy feat with his compound eyes. “The attack on Hecate by a Republic tassk force iz troubling, esspecially sso deep in the Clusster. My only ssolace iz that the Republic did not ssend a larger or more powerful force.” Worry was present on the faces of all gathered save for Tyler and the Xai’ryn. “To that end, thiss trip will sserve to try and bind theze sstar ssysstemz more clossely together. We will need all theze worldz, their peoplez and their indusstry working to fight them.”
“We’re going to fight the Republic?” V’ka’sith asked, just the slightest touch of fear in his voice.
Verrikoth rounded on him. “You will fight who and where and when I order you to, Commander,” he informed him, his voice a blast of utter frost. “Or you will be removed, and I will find a capable warrior.”
V’ka’sith shook himself, bristling. “Apologies, Warlord. I will fight any enemy, anywhere.” His carapace blushed a bright rose.
Verrikoth nodded, letting the silence stretch out for a long moment, then he slapped a hand had down on the table. “Well ssaid!” he crowed, startling everyone. He settled himself back. “No, for now we will not be fighting Admiral Tandred or the Republic at large. But we need to be ready when Tandred ssendz more forcez into the area. I have no intention of trying to make raidz into the border ssysstemz of the Republic, or anything ssuicidal. But when a tassk force attackss one of my worldz, we will resspond. Esspecially for a heavily indusstrialized planet like Hecate. We cannot afford to loze the indusstry for an extended period.”
“Sso, while the freighterz make for Hecate, loaded with relief ssuppliez, we,” he looked to Captain Flayl, “Will make a circuit of the worldz along the path. I want to ssee them, sspeak to community leaderz, assure them of my protection.”
The other captains had looks of confusion on their faces. The Warlord was… well… the Warlord. He wasn’t known for his kind and caring nature, that being said, many of these commanders wouldn’t follow a leader who showed signs of weakness of that nature.
“I want thoze leaderz to feel ssafe and protected,” Verrikoth went on. “They will be happy and productive, and that iz what I want.” Understanding dawned on their faces.
“While I am making a Grand Progress through the sstar sssystemz, the sssecond group, led by Commander Hesstian on Gangez, will take the flotilla out and deal with the ssecond group of piratess, the sso-called Baron Death.”
Tyler nodded. “The analysts managed to decrypt and extrapolate where their base of operations is. It’s a hollowed out asteroid in the Chu-Magna star system, past the fifth planet.”
Verrikoth clacked his mouthparts, as a feral growl swept over the assembled commanders. “I want another object lesson made from them.” More growls. “However,” he said, holding up a hand. “I will not be upsset if you manage to capture ssome of their sshipss. But burn them all down if needed. Ssalvage any and all data corez or intel az iz possible.” V’ka’sith nodded in understanding, his antennae straightening. “We will discuss thiss again once we reach Tysseuss, and plan thiss out more effectively.”
“Of course, my Lord.”
((--[][]--))
“We just took him out of the regeneration tank, my Lord,” the doctor was saying as Verrikoth arrived. “It’s his third round in the tank, but I think he’ll need two more eight-hour sessions to get all of the radiation damage repaired.”
“How iz it that the captain and the resst of the crew
managed to ssurvive with ssuch an environment around them every day?” Verrikoth asked, amazed.
The doctor, a zheen male, waved his antennae up and down. “They very nearly didn’t. From what the good captain told me, it seems that the entire crew would get sprayed down twice daily with the decontamination compound. They apparently had enough aboard ship to be able to do so. Perhaps they had the equipment and the necessary chemicals to synthesize it?” The zheen chittered slightly to himself. “That’s an engineering concern, but one I would ask the techs when you have a chance my Lord.”
“The blue compound would not be enough to keep theze people alive for the monthss they’ve been expozed to the radiation.” Verrikoth felt sure of that.
The other zheen nodded. “No, of course not. You’re right. In addition, they took hourly doses of anti-radiation pills. The techs brought in huge bottles of pills.”
Verrikoth buzzed. “Resourceful and sstubborn. I like it. Iz he awake?”
The doctor turned away from the display he was studying to face the Warlord. “The captain? Probably. I can wake him.”
Verrikoth stared for a moment. “Yess, do that. I wissh to sspeak with him.”
They entered into the main bay of Medical, where the entire crew of the TrinaMarie were lying in beds, wrists, and ankles chained to the metal bed rails. It didn’t look as though any of them were in any condition to try and make a break for it or cause trouble, but the doctor wasn’t taking any chances. Two armed guards were standing only a few meters away; carbines held loose in their hands. They nodded in respect to him and he made a small gesture in acknowledgment. His own guards stepped into the Medical bay, their own weapons drawn and ready.
Verrikoth, following the doctor, walked over to the captain’s bed, where the man was clearly awake. He turned his head to watch them walk up, but Verrikoth noted that the man’s eyes were wider and more wild than he remembered from back on the ship. He started to raise his hands, but the shackles prevented him from moving more than a few centimeters, which then caused him to start straining frantically against his bonds. “I would get up to greet you properly, sir, but I’m afraid I am tied down. I’m afraid I don’t know your name and I was never good at telling zheen apart.” Despite his struggling, the man still managed to keep his tone flat and uninterested.
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