The Cyber Chronicles 09: Precipice

by T C Southwell

  "Apparently he does, Sire."

  "That bloody fool." Tarvin cursed. "Fire back."

  Andon relayed the order to the cyber pilot, and lines of white fire lanced from above and either side of the screens. They converged on Imperial, whose hull became dotted with glowing spots. Andon listened to the furious voice in his ear, grimacing.

  "He's threatening to engage us, Sire. He says those were just warning shots."

  "We're already engaged. I'll ceasefire if he does, otherwise he will suffer the consequences."

  "Sire, that's a battleship too."

  "I'm aware of that, thank you."

  Andon listened to his earpiece again. "The enforcer is asking to dock with us for repairs."

  "Not right now."

  "They say it's an emergency... some sort of gas leak."

  "Fine, let them. Myon Two's going to pay for the damage to my ship, that's for sure."

  Brilliant streams of laser fire poured between the battleships, pure white and vivid red mingling in a scintillating web. Imperial's bows were almost molten under the barrage, the glowing spots melding before they faded in the sub-zero of space. Tarvin knew that Shadow Hawk's bows were similarly affected, and the rapid heating and cooling weakened her hull.

  As if reading his thoughts, Andon said, "Forward hull strength down to seventy per cent, Sire."

  Although a battleship's bow was reinforced to withstand just such a barrage for a while, it would take its toll. When battleships engaged, which was rare, the resultant spectacular battle's outcome depended upon which had the stronger hull. Shadow Hawk's forward shielding was a high-density duronium-tirrinium alloy, but Endrovar could also afford the best, and Tarvin did not doubt that his ship's shielding was just as good. Tarvin squinted as the screens blazed brilliant red, and Andon cursed.

  "Close forward shields," he ordered.

  Battle shields whined over the forward screens, blocking off the view of the battle, and Tarvin's scowl deepened. The screens, made from Trevian armoured plasglass, were a ship's weakest point, and targeting them was a low tactic. All it did was force them to raise the battle shields, which was a mere annoyance.

  "Target their screens too," he said.

  "Yes, Sire."

  Two could play at a game of tit for tat, but, with the shields up and the vista ruined, all that remained to monitor the battle were the tactical displays and vidscreens that brought images from external cameras. Andon glanced up as a voice gabbled in his ear, looking relieved.

  "He's broken off his attack, Sire. He's asking to come aboard and speak to you."

  "At last, he shows some sense. Ceasefire and let him wait. I'm not in a mood to see him now."

  "The enforcer ship is docked, Sire."

  Tarvin turned his chair and drifted towards the door. "Bring their commander to my meeting room. I want a word with him."

  Chapter Eleven

  Sabre glanced at Tarl, who watched him with deep concern. The ex-cyber tech's hovering irritated him, even with the calming drugs. Pathos had just completed docking with Shadow Hawk, and tension on the bridge was high. Thestan issued orders into his com-link, directing rescue and repair crews to affected areas. Pathos had taken a terrible beating, and several decks were damaged, as well as one of the main engines and four thrusters on the port side. As soon as Shadow Hawk was in range, the cyber's scanners had picked up Tassin's life sign far to the rear of the vessel, and he fought the urge to go to her.

  Tarl raised his brows. "Well, that worked. What now?"

  Sabre gazed at Shadow Hawk's hull, which filled the screens, since Pathos was docked with it. "Now I have to get aboard and find Tassin."

  "That's not going to be so easy, bud. What about if Thestan asked Tarvin to hand her over? He could say that she's the wife or daughter of a Myon Two elite or something. That might work. Tarvin seems to be an ally."

  "A lie won't work if there are any cybers around, and, since he has so many, there probably will be."

  "True," Tarl agreed. "But you can be quite sure Tarvin won't allow a cyber on his ship."

  "I'd say he's more likely to than most, since he has so many of them."

  The coms' officer glanced around. "Sir, Shadow Hawk is ordering our commander to a meeting with King Tarvin."

  Sabre nodded. "Good. Ask if we can bring a cyber along."

  The officer listened to the reply, and his brows rose. "They say we can bring as many as we like."

  Tarl frowned. "That's odd."

  Sabre turned to Thestan. "Any ideas, Sub-commander?"

  "No, sir."

  "Of course not. Perhaps it's because Tarvin's got so many of his own on that ship. It suits me, anyway."

  Tarl said, "It's weird. No one allows four strange cybers on their ship if they can possibly help it, even if they've got forty of their own. I could understand if we were able to persuade him to allow one, but to agree that easily to as many as we want? There must be a reason for it."

  Sabre shrugged. "I guess we'll find out, won't we?"

  "You're far too calm. Have you taken any of those pills?"

  "Yeah, and I feel fine."

  "Of course you do, you're on cloud nine."

  Sabre sighed. "Quit worrying about me, and quit hovering over me like a bloody over-protective mother naibull."

  "You're not yourself..."

  The cyber turned away. "Thestan, assemble a boarding party. Ten men, I think, and one of the cybers. I assume you wouldn't normally take all of them, would you?"

  The sub-commander shook his head, and Sabre continued, "You'll play the part of commander for the duration. All you have to do is tell Tarvin the truth about Tarl, and keep him busy while I fetch Tassin. You order the cybers to wait outside the doors to his audience room, or wherever he meets you. Tarl will come along as your prisoner. Got it?"

  “Yes, sir.”

  Tarl said, "That's a battleship, bud, it's -"

  "A Vegar Class Battle Axe, built on Estron Prime, I know. I can find my way around it blindfolded."

  "Yeah, but they're not going to let you just leave with her. There's got to be more than five hundred people aboard her, and a lot of them will be soldiers, not to mention the forty-one cybers."

  "I'll do it quietly. They won't know she's gone until we're well away."

  "You can't be sure of that,” Tarl protested. “What if -"

  "Will you quit arguing with me?" Sabre glared at him. "We're here to rescue her, and that's what I'm going to do."

  "Not like that. The chances of your plan working are nil. You're not thinking straight, bud. We've got to try to buy her, or tell Tarvin that Myon Two wants her. If you sneak her off that ship, even if you succeed in getting her back here, he'll attack us."

  "I'll risk it."

  "Just how many of those damned pills did you take?"

  "Not enough to stop you annoying me." Sabre rubbed his brow, disliking the harassment. The drugs that brought him a modicum of calm also fogged his mind. "Look, I know it's a bad plan, but there's no other way. It will seem mighty odd to him for enforcers to want to buy a slave, and he might not care if she's Myon Two elite. We don't know how important Myon Two is to him, and if we let on that we want her, for whatever reason, and he doesn't agree to give her up, he'll make sure we don't get to her. Right now he's busy with Endrovar, so, if I can sneak her off, we tell him we've made our repairs and leave. The chances of anyone noticing she's gone straight away are slim, and if she has guards, I'll make sure they can't raise the alarm."

  "What if they're cybers?"

  Sabre shot him a scathing glance. "Why would anyone guard a woman with cybers?"

  "I guess." Tarl still looked worried. "You should call Fairen."

  "No. This is my battle."

  "Would you risk Tassin's life?"

  The cyber frowned. "I'll call Fairen if I have no other choice. That has its risks, too, because although he’ll probably demand Tassin’s release if I ask him to, Tarvin is a king, and I’ve dealt with royalty before. Th
ey don’t like to be ordered around, even by an Overlord, so he might just arrange a little accident for her rather than hand her over. I won’t risk that. I have to be with her, so I can protect her. Besides which, Fairen’s helped me out of enough shitty situations. I can do this on my own."

  "I suppose you could be right, but I think you’re also experiencing another new emotion. It's called pride, and most people call it foolish."

  Sabre turned to Thestan. "Are the men ready?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Right, let's go."

  Sabre followed the boarding party along plush corridors carpeted in royal blue, with sleek grey walls and a glowing ceiling. Tarvin's ship reeked of wealth and decadence, its décor almost as rich as an Overlord's, but not in such good taste. The enforcers marched ahead in a tight bunch, Thestan at the fore, guided by a liveried flunky. The cybers brought up the rear with Tarl between them. Sabre had hoped to slip away in the corridors, but the fifteen guards who had met them at the docking gate and now followed at his heels had foiled that plan.

  They arrived outside a pair of golden doors, where two cybers stood guard, and the doors swung open at their approach. The flunky stepped aside, and Thestan led the band into a vast, gloomy chamber, pausing to glance back.

  "Cybers, wait here."

  Sabre stopped, but the officer in charge of their escort said, "No, everyone goes in."

  Tarl turned to him. "Your king allows strange cybers in his presence?"

  "Yes. Keep going."

  Thestan issued the order, and Tarl shot Sabre a worried look. Sabre cursed silently, his alarms jangling. The control unit flashed a warning as he entered the room and the scanners detected twenty-two cybers hidden in niches around it. That was not unexpected, but allowing Pathos' cybers to enter Tarvin's inner sanctum was. A slender man sat in a floating throne in the centre of the room, a warm yellow spotlight above him. Dimmer spotlights illuminated the area in front of him, where Thestan stopped and bowed.

  "King Tarvin."

  Tarvin inclined his head. "Greetings, Commander Thestan."

  Sabre assumed a resting pose at the back of the group, beside the Myon Two cyber, and listened to the discussion between Thestan and Tarvin without much interest. He had switched the brow band's lights to an in-control configuration, and studied the scanners. Tassin's life sign remained in the same position, but the ship's schematic told him that she was in the hospital. That worried him, and he wished Thestan would think of an excuse to get him out of the meeting room. He stared through the back of the Tarl's neck, sensing his intense anxiety.

  The cyber tech’s nervousness was well founded, given all the cybers in the room. Sabre counted the ship's complement, which turned out to be over six hundred. Thestan had better come up with a reason for him to leave the meeting, because a cyber would not take the initiative. Several life signs were gathered around Tassin, and that worried him even more. What were they doing to her? Was she ill? Injured? Despite the pills, concern gnawed at him. He became aware that the conversation had taken on a new direction, and focussed on Tarvin.

  The young king had unfolded his floater chair, and now it held him in a standing position, his feet a few centimetres above the floor. He drifted towards Tarl, and the enforcers stepped aside.

  "So, you are the cause of all this commotion." He stopped in front of the cyber tech. "How did Endrovar come to own you?"

  "Slavers kidnapped me and sold me to him, sir… um, Sire."

  "Hmmm. A rogue cyber tech. You are indeed a rare commodity. I can understand why Endrovar wants you back so badly, since he has cybers, and abuses them so often. Now that the enforcers have you, what happens?"

  Tarl shifted. "I'll be taken to Myon Two and executed."

  "What a waste." Tarvin glanced at Thestan. "Could I persuade you to release him into my custody, Commander? Commute his sentence to a life of servitude, perhaps?"

  Thestan looked uncomfortable. "I don't have that authority, Sire."

  "Right, of course you don't. I shall contact Myon Two. They usually accede to my requests." He turned back to Tarl. "How would you like that?"

  "It would be good, Sire."

  "Naturally." Tarvin's eyes flicked past him to Sabre and the other cyber, lingering on Sabre. "I suppose you brought these two to guard him, Commander?"

  "Yes, Sire," Thestan replied.

  "A bit overzealous, I would say. A cyber tech is hardly a warrior. And yet, I wonder why you brought him along. Shouldn't he be in your brig?"

  Thestan said, "I - I thought you would want to see him, since he's the reason for Endrovar’s attack on you."

  "Indeed?" Tarvin glanced at the shadows. "An unlikely story. Shadow Five, was that the truth?"

  A cyber stepped out of the gloom. "That was a lie, Majesty."

  "I thought as much." Tarvin turned to Thestan. "Why are you lying to me?"

  Thestan drew himself up. "The brig is in the area of the ship that's full of gas, Sire."

  "A lie," Shadow Five stated.

  Tarvin cocked an eyebrow at Thestan. "Really, Commander, you should know better than to lie in front of a cyber."

  Tarl said, "Your cyber is mistaken, sir, Commander Thestan isn't lying."

  Tarvin swung to face him. "And why would you defend him?"

  The cyber tech hesitated, clearly unable to think of a good response, then shrugged. "It's just the way it is."

  "A cyber is never wrong, you should know that."

  "Then how about a second opinion?" Tarl turned to Sabre. "Cyber Two, was Commander Thestan lying?"

  Sabre cursed silently, longing to wring Tarl's neck. Of all the dumb stupid things to do. Tarl clearly had not thought the situation through, or perhaps nervousness had addled his brain. He knew what Tarl wanted, and perhaps there was a reason why he thought it would work. There was no telling what was going on in the cyber tech's devious mind, but he would go along with it and see what happened.

  He said, "No, sir."

  Tarvin's brows rose. "How odd. How can a cyber lie?"

  "He can't," Tarl said. "Yours must be malfunctioning."

  "Truly?" The young King glanced into the shadows again. "Shadow Four, did Commander Thestan and Cyber Two lie?"

  A second cyber stepped out of the darkness. "Yes, Majesty. Both lied."

  Tarvin turned to Tarl. "So is he malfunctioning too? Perhaps you'd like to ask your other cyber, and I'll ask another of mine... but I have more than you do so..." He paused, and his eyes flicked back to Sabre. "But a cyber can't lie. So how did yours?"

  "He didn't," Tarl said.

  "Oh, yes he did. Both of mine confirm it."

  "I meant, he can't lie, so he must be the one who's malfunctioning. I recommend that Commander Thestan sends him back to the ship."

  "Ah." Tarvin cocked his head. "Do you take me for a fool? You also said Thestan was telling the truth, and called upon your cyber to confirm it, which he did, except that he was malfunctioning, or lying, and so, I suspect, are you."

  "I don't really know Commander Thestan's reasons. I just know that Myon Two personnel, and in particular enforcers, are supposed to be truthful, so I assumed -"

  Tarvin raised a hand. "Don't insult my intelligence. Shadow Four, is this man lying?"

  "Yes, Majesty."

  The young King frowned. "So is anyone going to tell me the truth, or should I just throw the lot of you in the brig? Two cybers won't stop me, you know."

  Sabre reached Tarvin in a long stride, yanked a laser from his thigh holster and pressed it to the side of the King's head in a smooth motion. "I will."

  Tarvin's mouth dropped open, and his eyes widened. "What the -?"

  "One move from your cybers and you die. Order them to leave, now!"

  "I..." Tarvin gulped. "Shadows, return to quarters."

  "Majesty, you are threatened," Shadow Four protested.

  "I order you!"

  The two cybers swung away and headed for the door, and the others stepped from their dim niches to follow. Sabre g
round the laser muzzle into the side of Tarvin's head and leant closer as the door slid shut.

  "That took you by surprise, huh?"

  Tarvin's eyes rolled towards him, white-ringed. "No one gave you an order!"

  "Yeah, strange, isn't it? That's what you relied upon when you allowed two strange cybers into your meeting room. It takes a couple of seconds for a man to issue an order, but only a split second for yours to react. You thought you were safe."

  Tarvin stared at the brow band. "You're not a cyber."

  "Oh, but I am. Just a bit different from the ones you're used to." Sabre changed the lights on the control unit.

  "You're him. You're the free cyber Tassin spoke of."

  "Clever king. I knew she'd mention me. Now, you're going to order her release, and have her escorted here. Do it."

  Tarvin nodded. "Of course."

  Sabre frowned, becoming aware of a warning light deep in his brain, and turned his attention to it. The flashing words said 'Myon Two elite'. He turned to the Pathos cyber.

  "Cyber Three, return to the ship."

  Tarl looked puzzled as the cyber left, and still a little stunned by Sabre's sudden action. "What is it?"

  "He's Myon Two elite," Sabre explained.

  "Ah. So he wasn't just relying on his cybers. He knew no cyber would attack him. Except he didn't know about you."

  "Well he did, because Tassin told him, but I guess he didn't believe her. Big mistake."

  "It's impossible," Tarvin said. "You're an anomaly... an abomination."

  "You have no idea how much I dislike being called that." Sabre jabbed the laser muzzle into Tarvin's temple.

  Tarl frowned at the King. "Why would Myon Two make him elite? He's not management, or even related to management, as far as I know."

  "Probably the same reason they gave him forty-one A-grade cybers, and I don't really care what it is." He glared at Tarvin. "Order the ship to set course for the nearest corridor."

  "You'll never get away with this, you know," Tarvin said. "The moment you leave I'll blow your ship to oblivion."

  "Thanks for the tip. I'll just keep you as a hostage until we're safely away, then dump you in a life pod."