Hollow Space Book 1: Venture (Xantoverse)

by T. F. Grant

  The Markesian destroyer came closer, filling the Mary-May’s screen with its glossy, shifting black exterior. It moved like a shadow. The front of it came to a point.

  With its massive port and starboard wings that arched back toward the stern, it resembled a bird. It even had a rounded chest-like hull, within which, piloting and running the ship, were over fifty Markesians. Twenty disrupter cannons lined the sides, and laser turrets hung below the wings in rounded pods.

  All the details from the Codex came to her like a bad dream.

  Ironically, Sara thought, it wasn’t too dissimilar to early human aviation designs. Given the Markesian’s main role in life seemed to revolve around eradicating all of humankind, it felt like an insult that they would design their most fearsome ship to resemble a human creation.

  Tooize pulled a series of comm lines from the storage lockers and hooked everyone up, barring DeLaney, whom the kronac had seemed to have taken a disliking to. For Sara, however, he gave her what she thought was a smile. His face scrunched, and he patted her on the back with two of his four arms as he plugged her into the comms system.

  Tai was the first to speak.

  “Okay, everyone, you just hold still, keep your helmets on, and relax. I’ve got this. Tooize, how’s the hull holding up?”

  The kronac whistled his reply. Though she couldn’t understand him, the tone of his strange speech pattern didn’t sound encouraging.

  “Praise be the lord of freck,” Tai said. “We haven’t got long. I can perhaps try to dump all thrust power and glide us to Haven, but we won’t have much to stop with. Who’s up for a crash landing?”

  No one. That’s who.

  “Tai, do something,” Hela said, surprisingly calm. “Or I think all our efforts to save this rabble would have been for nothing. I did not sign up to die for these rats.”

  “Hey,” Sara said. “I didn’t want you here either. You and Tai’s mother decided that. You took the risk, and you’re now facing the consequences. I suggest you concentrate on keeping yourself alive, and don’t worry about us.”

  “Calm down,” Kina said. “We’ve been in worse situations. We’ll find a way… Tai?”

  “Beats me, Ki. I’m all out of ideas.”

  Tooize whistled frantically as he attempted to patch the hull. Each time he applied one of the foot-wide polymer patches, the crack widened, splitting it before it had time to seep into the wound and retain the hull’s integrity.

  A siren wailed.

  “Pressure’s dropping,” Kina said.

  Ahead, the Markesian destroyer came to a stop just a few meters from the Mary-May. Their damaged craft shuddered twice as if struck by a rocket. Sara tensed, waiting for flames or an explosion, but instead, their ship settled and then started to move.

  “They’re pulling us in,” Tai said. “That’s quite a result. Man, look at that ship. Those cannons alone would buy a year’s worth of credit.”

  “With that ship you could probably buy Haven outright,” Hela added. “But it won’t mean shit if we’re dead.”

  “Chill out with the death, girl. We’re still breathing, ain’t we?”

  “Probably not for long,” Sara said. “You do realize these are the bastards that destroyed and hunted down my people. You realize that they extinguished pretty much the entire Crown Central and sent those of us on colony ships racing to the stars for survival.”

  Tai shrugged. “I don’t see them destroying anything, do you? Look, there—some of your stasis units. Why aren’t they blasting them out of space?”

  “Probably because their weapons have malfunctioned? Look, Tai, I know you probably see this as an exciting development, but you’ve got to understand the situation here. They’ve killed billions of my kind. Do you understand?”

  Sara felt something tap on her shoulder. She turned to see DeLaney standing behind her in his suit, his helmet locked down. His face was bright red, and his lips were flapping at a great rate, panic and fear clearly taking over. Despite her feelings toward him, she couldn’t blame him.

  They touched helmets, and Sara instantly broke away. DeLaney was screaming at the top of his voice. She moved her hands up and down, palms facing the floor, indicating for him to calm down and breathe, which admittedly was easier suggested than done, given they were being dragged beneath the wings of the flagship Markesian destroyer. The wires that pulled them were retracting in the main hull section. She saw the airlock door getting closer.

  “We’ve got gravity,” Kina said over the comm. She sounded scared now. “How can their artificial grav extend past their hull—in Hollow Space?”

  “I don’t know,” Tai said. He glanced back at Hela. Sara saw the look, the nod, that passed between them. “Tooize,” Tai snapped, “get on the guns and cover the airlock door. Everyone else grab a shotgun and back him up. If these bastards are as bad as suggested, then I ain’t going down without a fight.”

  In their usual serene way, the Hentian twins picked up their shotguns, checked their ammo, and stood in the rear of the ship, side by side. DeLaney did what DeLaney usually did and cowered in the corner, trying to pretend nothing at all was happening.

  “Stay behind me,” Kina said to Sara. “Aim over my shoulder.” Kina gave her an encouraging smile as she stood from the copilot seat, negotiated the comm line, and helped Tooize set up the cannon platform.

  Tai remained at the helm, leaning forward to get a close look at the destroyer. “Docking in five seconds,” he said, turning to watch the kronac take a seat behind the cannons. “Shoot when I give the order.”

  Tooize whistled an affirmative. He looked at Sara and gave her that weird scrunched-up face look. “He likes you,” Kina said with a smile. “Usually takes him a little longer to like humans.”

  “What’s a little longer?”

  “About fifteen orbits or what you would call Hollow Space years.”

  “Oh,” Sara said, blushing slightly from the honor and the attention on her from Hela and the others. The feathers around Tooize’s face bristled briefly behind his faceplate before he turned his attention back to the cannons.

  “Okay, if we’re done with the mating rituals, can we all get our eyes on the prize?”

  “Prize?” Sara said. “Are you truly crazy? You think we could take this ship with just a few shotguns.”

  “And a kronac with a cannon… maybe.”

  Tai left the pilot’s seat, took his position directly behind Tooize, and drew both of his pistols, aiming them over the kronac’s considerable shoulder. Hela took her place next to Tai.

  “If we make it out alive, Cauder, you and me are going to have serious words.”

  “Your words are always serious, Hela. What’s the worst that can happen, eh?” He flashed her a smile as the Mary-May jolted into place with a grinding of metal.

  Sara cringed at the sound and noticed that the crack in the hull behind them had widened to a hand’s width. Even if they couldn’t survive whatever was coming, at least they wouldn’t be floating about in space without air. But then they’d probably be cut to shreds by Markesian disrupter pistols.

  Tooize whistled a deep tone before making a grunting sound.

  The airlock hatch on the Mary-May slid open. The kronac flexed his great bicep muscles as he hauled the cannon barrels up. Sara trembled as she fought to hold her shotgun steady. She swallowed hard, trying to keep her breathing under control as the airlock door fully opened. She thought back to the time before the jump, gritted her teeth, and readied to blast away the first Markesian she saw.

  If they were going down, she’d take as many of the bastards with her as she could.

  At first she saw nothing but the pure-white walls of the Markesian ship. A tunnel led from the airlock door, now fully open, to at least ten meters into the destroyer.

  “Hold,” Tai said, “Get ready…”

  Sara blinked a drop of sweat away from her eyes and tried to ignore the pain in her arms of holding the shotgun up. Kina seemed to notice and st
ood a little taller, taking some of the weight off with her shoulder.

  At the end of the white tunnel a shadow stretched across the floor, crawling up the side of the tunnel wall. It grew wider as someone, or something, approached. Three figures turned into the tunnel and stared at them. They stopped right at the end.

  “Hold,” Tai said. “Not yet… not yet…”

  Sara readied her finger on the trigger, waiting to pull it at Tai’s command, when the figure in the middle stepped forward and lifted a brown robe hood off its head.

  “President Aleatra!” Sara said over the comm line, pulling the shotgun away.

  The robed figure was human, gray-haired, sporting an instantly recognizable scar that ran from the left temple across his face to the right edge of his jaw.

  Standing on either side of him, in similar robes, were the two ancient joint overlords of the Markesian empire: Chitaan and Catheraine of Markesia.

  FOURTEEN

  Tai snapped his head around to look at Sara. “He’s who?” he said over their secure comm lines, knowing the aliens and Aleatra couldn’t hear them.

  “President Aleatra, leader of Crown Central.” There was a catch in her voice. “We thought he was dead.”

  “He will be,” Hela said. She dropped her shotgun, it fell away, dangling from the strap around her shoulder, and drew a long-barreled handgun. “Not just a Crowner bastard, but The Crowner bastard.”

  Tai let the Napier long-barrel fall from his hand. He reached out fast and grabbed Hela’s pistol. She hadn’t anticipated anyone reacting to her homicidal intent, which gave him the momentary window of opportunity he needed. He kicked Hela backward and yanked the pistol from her hand.

  Hela reached for her shotgun, but Tai pointed his Dorian at her head. “Play nice now.”

  “One day, Tairon Cauder, your mother will lift her protection from you,” Hela said.

  Tai shrugged. “Probably.” He grinned. “Can I give you back your gun now? Or do you still intend to start shooting at the only people between us and cold empty space?”

  The air flowing from the open airlock of the Markesian ship raised the air pressure inside the Mary-May. A loud bang sounded behind them. Tai glanced back and saw the last of the patches fail. The wind of the air flowing into space became strong enough for him to have to lean forward against it. A low bass note sounded from the Markesian ship, and a bright blue light started to flash.

  “Shit. Move.” Tai grabbed Sara and threw her into the airlock. Kina grabbed one of the twins, and Scaroze grabbed the other. They pulled them into the airlock. Hela leapt forward. Tooize lifted the cannon from its tripod and jumped.

  Tai just made it before the airlock doors clanged shut behind him. He tossed the pistol back to Hela. “Here.”

  Hela caught the gun and glared at President Aleatra before holstering it. “I’ll play nice,” she said. “For now.”

  Kina tapped Tai on the shoulder. “You dropped this.” She held out his Napier.

  “Cheers, Ki.” Tai holstered it. “Okay, everyone. It seems they have air on the ship. Might as well unlatch the helmets and conserve ours. We may need it later. And everyone be calm and don’t say anything stupid.”

  He holstered both his guns and reached up to unlatch the helmet, then stopped. “But keep your guns ready. This stinks worse than the reclamation deck.” He removed the helmet and breathed in the ship air of the Markesians. It smelled of cinnamon and was rather fresh and tasty.

  Sara didn’t seem to be listening. She stumbled forward with the faceplate of her helmet up, her shotgun forgotten on the deck behind her. Margo and Murlowe followed, but they kept hold of their shotguns.

  They knelt before the old man.

  “Easy now,” Tai said. The crew of the Mary-May followed the newcomers forward. Tai heard the seal on Hela’s spacesuit open and knew she was readying her sword.

  He didn’t really blame her. If even half of what his mother had told him about the Crown was true, there was going to be hell to pay. A good chunk of the human population on Haven had once been Crowners, and very few of them had anything good to say about the republic.

  “Be calm, Hela,” Tai said.

  “I’m very calm.”

  “So am I,” whistled Tooize.

  Tai glanced back and saw the kronac directly behind Hela. He didn’t quite have the cannon pointed at her back.

  Hela ignored the kronac. “Your ship, Tai, your deal, your choice.” She took her hand from the hilt of the sword. “But the Red Cauder is not going to be happy about this.”

  Tai sucked air through his teeth. “I know.”

  “Excellency,” Sara was saying. “We thought you were dead. We thought you died in the attack on Crown Central.”

  “Obviously not,” Aleatra said. “And you are?”

  Kina whispered, “Arrogant bastard, isn’t he?”

  “Sara Lorelle, Your Excellency. Chief co-navigator of the Venture.”

  Aleatra sneered with an unhidden expression of disdain but quickly smiled when he saw Margo and Murlowe. “Ah, you are Hentians?”

  “Yes, Excellency,” Margo said.

  “Good, your talents will prove useful.” He lifted his gaze, the smile falling from his face. “And who are these people.”

  Tai sniffed. “I’m Tairon Cauder, captain of the Mary-May, bane of my mother’s life, all-round bad guy to cross, and these are my crew.” He gestured to Hela. “Except for her. She’s more of an added extra.” He looked Aleatra up and down, sneered, and asked, “Who the freck are you, Crowner?”

  “I am President Domingo Horatio Douglas Aleatra, President of Crown Central, High Priest of the Free Church of Sanctity, and leader of humanity in this dark, dark age.”

  “Crowner humanity, not all humanity.” Tai scratched at his chin. “And there aren’t many Crowners left, according to this lot.”

  “That is not correct,” Aleatra said.

  Sara’s head jerked up. “Excellency?”

  Tai smelled a double-cross. “I thought these creatures were your sworn enemy.” He pointed to the two large Markesians: bipedal, but insect-like, with mandibles instead of jaws, compound eyes that glittered in the light, and four nasty-looking arms.

  Tai wondered who would win a fight between them and a kronac. He noticed their bone-white exoskeleton and the exposed thorax through the opening of their robes. Kronac, he decided; they would probably just rip the Markesians’ arms off and beat them to death with the wet ends.

  “Please,” Aleatra said, “do not concern yourself with such matters.”

  “Bit hard that,” Tai said. “Lots of humans on Haven, we need to know if there are genocidal maniacs coming to make house calls.”

  “We,” the Markesian’s voice wheezed and panted, “were saving the human race.”

  “By cutting their ships in half?” Kina asked.

  “That was a necessary subterfuge,” the Markesian said.

  “What’s your name?” Tai snapped.

  “I am Chitaan Markesia, and this is my sister-mate Catheraine.”

  “No!” DeLaney scrabbled backward, bumped into the solid immovable form of Scaroze, and collapsed on the deck, weeping.

  Margo and Murlowe jerked up their shotguns. The silent Markesian moved with unbelievable speed, snatching the shotguns from the twins’ hands before Tai even had a chance to blink. He reassessed their chances against the kronacs and judged them even.

  “The leaders of the Markesians,” Sara said. “This is their ship.”

  “One of them,” Aleatra said. “They have more.”

  “Not if the ships are outside Hollow Space, they don’t.” Hela sneered.

  Tai kept his eye on the double-cross. “What subterfuge?”

  Aleatra studied Tai for a moment. He shrugged. “Very well. It is of no matter now. There is a faction amongst the Markesian people who wished to destroy humanity. We could not stand against them; they are a very advanced people. Chitaan and Catheraine did not agree with this faction. They cho
se to help, and we decided to move humanity to new homes outside the expanding sphere of Markesian influence in the Draco sector.”

  “You keep saying humanity,” Kina said. “Like you were all there is.”

  “That is correct.”

  “No, me old son, it really isn’t,” Tai said.

  “But you attacked us,” Sara gasped from the deck. “You killed so many of us. You cut our ship in half, burned up the stasis pods.”

  “There are bloody hundreds of human empires and republics and free planets outside the frecking Crown,” Kina said. She kept glancing at Sara, as if willing her to listen to what she was saying.

  But Sara asked, “Why? Why did you kill us? Why?”

  Hela laughed. “To make it look good, you stupid Crowner. Debris field, dead bodies floating out there for all the Marky-buggers to see.”

  “No,” Sara cried.

  “A regrettable but necessary subterfuge,” Chitaan wheezed.

  Tai spat on the deck. “Nice.”

  The Markesians hissed at him and scurried backward away from his spittle.

  “Oh,” Tai said, noting their reaction. “You really are not going to like it on Haven.”

  “A necessary subterfuge?” Sara yelled. “A necessary frecking subterfuge. You were killing us. You destroyed the stasis pods as they floated in space after you cut our ship in half.”

  “For God’s sake, do be silent,” President Aleatra roared.

  Sara punched him in the mouth. “Freck you.”

  “I’m beginning to like her,” Hela said.

  The president staggered back, white-faced with anger, his hand held over his bleeding mouth. He pulled it away and looked at the blood. “I will have your head, you insolent peasant.” He reached out to grab Sara by the throat.

  Tooize lunged forward, raising the cannon. The barrel slammed into the president’s chest, knocking him backward. He whistled Scaroze’s name as the two Markesians hissed at him. Scaroze charged to the right; the taller of the two Markesians moved with incredible speed, its hands twisting in strange ways, catching the kronac and swinging him around and back the way he came. Scaroze bounced off a wall of the airlock and landed beside Tooize in a heap.