Star Wolf (Shattered Galaxy)

by David G. Johnson

  “Call me Dub,” said the malmorph engineer. “That is unless you prefer freakishly deformed mutant, but that’s a mouthful.”

  John feared open animosity directed at him for his initial reaction to Dub’s appearance. Years of reading faces across a card table, however, told him the smiles from the others around the table indicated that Dub was only razzing him.

  “Yeah, it is,” John answered, trusting his gambling instincts had led him to read the situation correctly. “But maybe I will save the deformed mutant thing for formal occasions.”

  Dub’s twisted smile gave John hope that there might be a kindred spirit resting in the malmorph’s heart. It appeared that his bungled first impression had not completely ruined his chance at a positive relationship with the malmorph chief engineer.

  “This gray-skinned ball of danger on my right is Lieutenant Commander Yasu Matsumura, my security chief, call sign Voide. She served with Galactic Security. Voide is a Prophane Pariah.”

  “A Prophane?” John gasped, his mind racing at the implications of what Molon had just said about his security officer. “Humaniti has been at war with the Prophane since before the Shattering. I thought Prophane died in captivity? How do you have a Prophane in your crew, much less one that served with GalSec?”

  “I guess,” Molon explained, “as deep as Tede is in Faithful territory, and so far from the tailward border of Humaniti space, you ain’t up on all the details of the Prophane, so I’ll lay it out for you.

  “Adult Prophane prisoners die in captivity within a week. They have some type of self-poisoning ability. Scientists still haven’t quite figured out if it is natural or technological. Pariahs are Prophane who were captured as children. Below a certain age, Prophane either haven’t developed or haven’t been taught how to trigger this suicide reaction.”

  “But aren’t their loyalties divided?” John asked.

  “You know,” Voide interjected, baring her elongated canines threateningly. “I’m sitting right here. You got a question, pale, ask it, but don’t just keep discussing me like I’m a lab experiment?”

  John flushed while Molon laughed.

  “I’m sorry, ma’am,” John said, turning to address Voide directly. “I don’t mean to question your loyalties. I have just never heard of a Prophane serving on a non-Prophane ship before.”

  “Null sweat, John,” Molon answered. “Voide, if he is going to be kicking around here for the next week, we might as well clue him in on what he needs to know to be comfortable.”

  “Fine, then,” Voide snapped. “You want a briefing, pale, here it is. A Pariah is a Prophane separated from the Ascendency as a child and raised apart from them. Prophane hate Pariahs more than any other race, which is saying a lot. As for divided loyalties, let’s just say that if we encountered a Prophane ship, and they found out I was on board Star Wolf, they would ignore every other target, sacrificing every last Prophane ship in their attack force if that is what it took to reach and kill me. Destroying Pariahs takes precedence over everything else.”

  “Wow,” John replied.

  “Yeah, wow. So don’t worry, pale. Double-agent really isn’t a viable career option, but thanks for asking.” Voide’s face morphed into a feral grin. “Still, there is good news.”

  “Good news,” John answered cautiously. This woman scared him.

  “Yeah, I only eat human children on special occasions.”

  “Okay, enough,” Molon said, placing a hand on Voide’s shoulder. “Let’s all take a deep breath and get back to the introductions. By the way, John, she was joking.”

  “Molon is right,” Voide added, flashing her elongated canines in John’s direction. “I actually eat them at least twice a week.”

  “Knock it off, Voide,” Molon snapped.

  John tried to affect a good-natured smile, but he doubted even his best poker-face was capable of hiding his trepidation. He would not be on the security chief’s friend list anytime soon. Trying to put this behind him, he took mental note that he would need to be a bit more diplomatic around the aliens…um, non-human sophonts, from here on out.

  “And the lovely blue vision beside Voide,” Molon continued with his introductions, “is my communications officer, Lieutenant Imeldria Sarum, call sign Mel. She is Fei, formerly with the Wyldefey, the Fei Regency’s terraforming division.”

  “I heard the Fei have allied with the Theocracy of the Faithful,” said John, trying to form a positive impression with at least one of Molon’s bridge officers.

  “The Fei have no desire for conflict with anyone,” Mel answered, a troubled frown gracing her lovely face.

  He’d missed the mark again.

  “Out of necessity,” Mel continued, “and an unwillingness to face the Lubanian Alpha Pack as well as New Empire forces under Seth Halberan alone, the Regency determined that allying with Patriarch Enoch Halberan of the Theocracy of the Faithful, and the Angelicum Host, was our best hope for survival.”

  John saw a compassion in her eyes even though the thought of picking sides in an unwanted and unprovoked war was clearly distasteful to her. John more than understood. His own world of Tede had no desire to take part in any conflict. Its unfortunate position—in Theocracy space but adjacent to both Dawnstar and the Provisional Imperium borders—left it vulnerable to ongoing border conflicts.

  “Now that introductions are out of the way,” Molon said, glancing at a datapad in front of him, “let’s discuss the situation concerning our new guest first. Then he can be excused, and we can move on to regular ship’s business.”

  “What situation would that be exactly?” John inquired. It seemed everyone knew a good deal more about what he was doing here than he did.

  “We were hired to bust you outta that Dawnstar prison colony in the Ratuen system,” Molon answered.

  “Dawnstar?” John asked. “What would Dawnstar want with us?”

  “I don’t know why you were taken, John. Only that we were hired to facilitate a jailbreak.”

  “Hired? By whom?”

  “Actually, we were hoping you might tell us that,” added Voide, with an accusatory tone.

  “I don’t know anything,” John replied.

  “Obviously,” snapped Voide.

  “That is to say,” John corrected, furrowing his brow at the security chief, determined not to let her jibes unsettle him, “My corporation’s board of directors would be the most likely candidate. But I have no idea how they knew where or by whom we were taken.”

  “Your corporation?” Voide inquired, her yellow eyes lighting up even brighter.

  John mentally kicked himself for his carelessness as he wrestled with exactly how much to reveal. Molon and his crew had extracted him from the detention camp, but who was to say they were not pirates? If they truly knew how much John was worth, they might end up trying to ransom him themselves. Once again, his trusting nature and loose lips had landed him in an awkward situation. He would have to be more careful.

  “Well, it was my parents’ corporation actually. I have very little to do with it. It is a small pharmaceuticals company on Tede. Generally any allocation of credits beyond picking up a meal check requires a consensus of the board. Perhaps it was the Tede government that hired you.”

  “Doubtful,” Molon replied. “Unless you’re tied to the Tede government.”

  “No,” John quickly responded, gazing down at the deck. “But if you took the job, don’t you know who you are working for?”

  “It was an anonymous contract,” answered Molon.

  “Anonymous contract?” John asked. “Then how do you know you are really getting paid?”

  Molon’s furrowed brow and slight snarl was what John imagined frustration would look like on the face of a wolf.

  “It was a secured contract, with the credits in escrow. If I report we were unable to complete the job, they revert back to the depositor. If the depositor acknowledges completion, the credits are released to me. The payment’s secure; we just don’t know who t
he depositor is.”

  “I wish I had an answer for you,” John said, shaking his head and wracking his brain but coming up with nothing. “I truly have no idea.”

  “Hmm,” Molon said, scratching the fur on his chin. “Why don’t we start with why you were taken, and reason it out from there? Do you have any idea why Dawnstar would want to kidnap you and your wife?”

  Suddenly a wave of grief hit John like a tsunami. He struggled to breathe against the tightness in his chest. In all the confusion of finding himself on a ship led by aliens, he had nearly forgotten the terrible fate that had befallen Elena. They had killed her, right before his eyes. But why? John felt tears welling up in his eyes as he fought to blink them back.

  “John,” Molon said with a strange and awkward compassion in his lupine voice. “I know what happened to your wife was terrible. I wish I could have prevented it.”

  John felt heat rush to his face. Through gritted teeth he spun toward Molon, his eyes boring a hole in the middle of the Lubanian captain.

  “You could have!”

  “No, John, I—”

  “You had a blaster on your side. I saw you drop other guards with a single shot. You could have taken out the two guards and the jailor before they even drew their weapons. But you stood there and watched her die!”

  “John, let me explain.”

  “Explain what?” John fumed.

  “Did you notice I didn’t use the blaster pistol at all during our escape?” Molon pleaded. “I used my automag, after I attached a suppressor to silence the shots.”

  “So what?” John said, clenching his fists and raising his voice at Molon. “If you can shoot a slug thrower, you can fire a blaster.”

  “John, that facility may have looked like a hole in a hill, but it was a Dawnstar detention center.”

  “And?” John said, doing his best to follow Molon’s explanation while holding his anger and frustration in check.

  Molon rubbed the back of his neck and took a deep breath. He turned to John with soft eyes, not the sharp frustration John had seen during the rescue. This calmed John a bit as he listed to the Lubanian captain, grasping for understanding.

  “Dawnstar, pre-Shattering,” Molon explained, “was the primary megacorporation responsible for defense R&D for the Empire. That facility was lined with blast detectors. Any energy discharge would have set off every alarm in the compound. If I’d used a blaster, we’d both be dead.”

  John heard all that Molon said, but it was not yet pushing through his blanket of emotions to register on his conscious mind.

  “John,” Molon continued in a calm voice. “We we were hired to rescue both of you. I had every reason to get your wife out safely, but there was nothing I could do. Had I gone for my automag in the interrogation chamber, I’d have been dead before I got a shot off.”

  John felt the rage in him subside a little as rationality slowly took control of his mind, allowing him to reason through Molon’s words.

  “Why not come in with your gun ready, like you did at the guard station?”

  Molon shook his head.

  “Couldn’t. I’d already been through the guard station on my way in. I knew what to expect. I had no idea what was beyond the interrogation chamber door.”

  “You must have known something,” John argued desperately. “You had a guard uniform and everything.”

  While Molon’s voice remained calm, John could tell his patience with the barrage of questions was wearing thin. Maybe this Lubanian captain really had done all he could. Maybe there had been no way to get Elena out safely.

  “I took out a Lubanian guard on the perimeter of the compound. I swiped his uniform and flew into the shuttle bay. I chatted up some guards and found out where they were holding you two as quickly as I could, but by the time I arrived you were already spilling your guts about the Brothers of the Lion’s hidden monastery location. The inquisitor was on Elena before I could do anything.”

  Suddenly John felt an unnatural calm flow over him. Moments before he had been furious at Molon for not doing more to save Elena, but now all he felt was peace. Then the blue-skinned Fei, Mel, spoke to him in a voice as soothing as a summer breeze. Her voice had an eerie, ethereal quality, almost as though he were hearing her with both his ears and his mind at the same time.

  “John, I know your heart is full of pain, but you must believe Molon. If he says there was nothing he could do, that is the truth. He has risked his life for every officer in this room. He would have given his own life if it could have saved you and Elena.”

  John could not explain his sudden change of heart, but he found himself unable to doubt anything Mel had just told him. He was filled with a complete and unshakable trust for Molon Hawkins and the Star Wolf crew. Something was not right about this, but to save his life he could not figure what it was, nor did he have any inclination to try. John turned and addressed the captain with a steady placidity in his voice.

  “I’m sorry, Captain Hawkins. I am sure you did your best, and I am grateful to you for helping me escape. Now, what was it you wanted to know again?”

  The Lubanian captain shot a fierce look in the direction of his Fei coms officer.

  “We will talk later, Mel.”

  “I am certain,” she replied with a subdued smile.

  “Anyway, John,” Molon said, returning his gaze to John. “What would Dawnstar want with you and Elena?”

  John thought through their history searching his memory for any link. Only one thought came to mind.

  “Elena used to work for Dawnstar.”

  “Really?” Voide interjected. “That’s too convenient for coincidence.”

  “I agree,” John added, rubbing the back of his neck. “But that was pre-Shattering.”

  “Did they have a facility on Tede?” Molon asked.

  “No. She didn’t work for them directly. They were funding her research into a cure for malmorphsy. She would send them results from her testing.”

  “A cure?” Dub asked, understandably interested.

  “Yes,” John continued. “Elena had focused on curing malmorphsy in human subjects but Dawnstar wanted her to focus her efforts primarily on aliens.”

  “Watch it, pale,” Voide snapped.

  “Um, sorry, non-human sophonts,” John felt his face flush. He was going to have to break that habit. “Since there are only humans living in the Tede system, they would bring her DNA samples from out-system malmorphs.”

  “Did she provide them with what they were looking for?” Molon asked.

  “I think the research was going well, but after the Shattering, we were on the wrong side of some imaginary line, so the funding and genetic samples stopped coming.”

  “What happened with her research after that?” asked Dub, the malmorph engineer, sitting forward in his chair.

  “As I said, we have many human malmorphs on Tede. Elena was elated to continue her work with a renewed focus on her human patients. To my knowledge, in the eight years since the Shattering, no one from Dawnstar has tried to contact her at all.”

  “It’s thin,” said Molon, “but that’s got to be the link.”

  “But it makes no sense,” John objected, shaking his head vigorously.

  “Why not?” Molon asked.

  “Because,” John said, “the inquisitor never asked Elena anything about her research.”

  Molon’s ears drooped and his brow furrowed. Silence overtook the room for a brief moment as the impact of John’s comment sank in. Molon turned and glared intensely at John.

  “Then what did he ask about?”

  “The Brothers of the Lion and their base on Tede,” John replied, glancing about at nothing in particular as his voice wavered. “If Dawnstar wanted Elena’s research, why didn’t they just ask for it? She would have gladly shared her data. There was no reason to kill her!”

  Molon scowled and scratched his cheek as he shook his head.

  “You’re right. Makes no sense, but maybe once we meet
the patron who hired us, maybe they can shed some light.”

  “So you are returning me to Tede, then?” John still wasn’t sure he was out of danger, but everything about Molon’s story seemed to add up.

  “Of course. In the meantime, we currently have no full-time physician on board, so you can use the stateroom next to the infirmary. Can you find your way back there?”

  “Yes, I believe so.”

  “Good. That will be your cabin until we reach Tede.”

  “How long is the journey to Tede, captain?”

  “Two more days. Until then, take it easy. Check in with the corpsman on duty in the infirmary. He can show you the galley, facilities, and how to reach me if you need anything.”

  “Thank you, Captain Hawkins. I am truly grateful for all you have done.”

  John said his goodbyes around the table and left to retrace his steps to the infirmary. There was a lot to think about between here and Tede, but if the Star Wolf crew were pirates, they were as nice a bunch of pirates as one could hope for.

  Four – Dead Ends

  The door chime sounded. John Salzmann glanced up from the datapad filled with the Star Wolf’s collected medical journals, which he had been studying. There was precious little data on xenobiology back on Tede, so he had passed most of the last two days reviewing the biology of known non-human sophont races.

  “Yes?” he called out.

  The door slid open at his acknowledgement, and a young ensign stuck his head in the doorway to John’s stateroom.

  “Doc, captain said to let you know we should drop out of voidspace into the Tede system very soon. He’d like you to join him on the bridge.”

  “Thank you, ensign. I will be right there.”

  The young man nodded and withdrew, letting the door close behind him. John was home again, or was about to be at least. Home. What did that mean anymore?

  With Elena gone, what was left for him on Tede? A corporation he didn’t care about beyond the lifestyle it provided and the altruistic opportunities it opened? Corporate life didn’t suit him, but living out his days as a wealthy dilettante in the same casual manner in which he had frittered away most of his life would be an empty shell without Elena. She had been the anchor of reason keeping him from drifting away completely on a sea of whimsy.