“Oh it is you!” She laughed. “For a moment I thought you were old Morgata come back from the grave to haunt me.” I didn’t laugh with her.
“I don’t want these scars.” I said angrily.
“You’re a true Alartaw hero now.” She replied.
“I told you before not to leave me scarred.” I snapped. I was a fucking monster.
“I like you rough, don’t worry.”
“I could care less what you like.” I growled. “I don’t like it. I’m going to be a walking, talking scar before long.”
“Stop walking into bullets.”
“That, obviously, I cannot do.” I said, but smiled grimly. I looked terrible like this, but it was a mark of distinction among the Alartaw.
“It does kind of screw up your hair style, though.” Meerla said, coming up behind me and running her hands through my much depleted hair. “Maybe if you hold your head a little higher from now on, and stop the bullets with your face, if possible?” She was grinning carnivorously at me in the reflection of the mirror.
“I’ll do my best.” I said. If you can’t beat them, you might as well join them.
“See that you do.” She laughed.
I couldn’t really get testy with her. I certainly remembered her standing over me while I lay disabled on the ground, my skull cracked open like an egg, and helpless while she fought for me. How many lives did I owe her, anyway? I’d lost count.
“What’s been going on while I was out?” I asked as Meerla followed me through the several rooms to my restored Bridge. She didn’t answer until we got there. Houdar was sitting at my Command Console.
“Houdar’s trying to back trace our route here, unsuccessfully, so far, and we’ve been shooting down lizard ships. They attacked us before we even got off planet. It was a close call.”
“Good morning, Emperor.” Houdar said, looking back at me for a moment.
“It’s a morning?” I asked.
“Yep.”
“Time flies when you’re having fun.” I muttered.
Houdar had the wall displays set to perimeter feed so once again we appeared to be standing right in the vacuum of space. Directly ahead lay a green and blue world with belts of white cloud cover, on the wall to the rear of the Bridge, on the front wall the system’s blazing star.
“This the planet we were on?” I asked. There was no way to tell.
“No.” Houdar said, looking up from his console again. “This is the lizard’s home world, I think. Same system, anyway. There’s a large population here, cities, civilization, technology. I’ve been shooting down their ships, waiting for you to wake and give the order to annihilate all of them. Now you’re here and I await your pleasure.”
“How many ships do they have?” I asked.
“I think they’re out.” Houdar grinned malevolently.
Houdar expected me to order the annihilation of an entire species. They’d certainly tried to wipe us out, but I balked at killing an entire world of them. Maybe if there was a profit to be made, or in the heat of battle, or as a last resort, but the cold blooded killing of billions of sentients, even reptiles, didn’t sit well with me. Meerla noticed my hesitation.
“They may have information that could help us get home.” Meerla suggested.
“They have no valuable data.” Houdar hissed. “They’re barely able to get off their own planet.” Meerla gave me a ‘I tried’ look behind Houdar’s back. I would have to be decisive.
“No.” I said. “Shoot down all the ships you want. Otherwise leave them be.” Houdar looked at me in astonishment, but kept his mouth shut.
“I’m starving.” I thought out loud. I was.
“There’s no food.” Meerla said. “Houdar has been too busy chasing lizards.”
“They were attacking us.” Houdar cried out defensively.
“They’re not attacking us now,” I said, “and I’m digesting my own stomach, so let’s go hunting.”
Exasperated but not arguing (which was good for him), Houdar saved the data he was working on and began manipulating the keyboard. I stood over him and watched carefully because as yet I still didn’t know how to fully run my own ship (besides ordering the computer to do it for me).
He plunged us straight down into the planet’s atmosphere and raced us towards a dark green continent, too fast for the squeamish, but I wasn’t watching the view under my feet, I was watching Houdar’s fingers on my control panel, memorizing his every move and all detail. My memory worked funny like that. I remember as a child the few years of schooling I had received and how I could listen to a teacher for hours and not remember a single thing later on, but when I wanted to remember something, it stuck like glue.
He raced us at the planet at breakneck speed, traveling the hundreds of clicks from the stationary orbit we had been in to racing along the planet’s surface, only meters above the tree tops of the forest we now traveled over, quite recklessly, I thought.
“Wanted to get under their radar quickly.” Houdar explained, catching my glare into the back of his head.
“I doubt this ship could get under anything.” I commented dryly. “If you were so worried you could have taken us back to the last planet. If you’re trying to impress me, I’m not impressed.” Secretly I was. Houdar was a fine pilot.
Houdar’s fingers flashed over several keys I could barely keep up with and a blue grid system appeared around us, overlaying the surround view. Each square was numbered.
We flashed out over a treeless plain (obviously he had previously studied the planet and knew where he was going) covered with herds of herbivorous animals grazing on the verdant plains below. The myriads of varieties of animal all broke and ran upon our approach, in every direction that was away from us, but there was no escape. I almost missed Houdar’s fingers as he stabbed one button while holding down another, a number correlating to the grid around us.
Orange light flashed out and engulfed a behemoth four legged monster as we flew by it over head. Its legs continued to run even after it left the ground and I could plainly see the terror in its eyes. It was sucked quickly into Vengeance and disappeared from our view. Houdar repeated the process dozens of times, taking as many different animals as there were, before Vengeance spoke.
“Ship’s larders at maximum capacity.”
Houdar rocketed us back into space.
“Not much of a hunting trip.” I complained, but there was food to eat. Vengeance had processed it and delivered a parcel to my kitchen by the time I walked there and opened the compartment. The meat was bloody and delicious. Everyone ate.
When I had eaten all I could hold, and that was a lot, I took a tour of Vengeance to take stock of our situation. For a ship that can carry four or five thousand in a pinch, we were now nearly deserted. No one was moving about much, either, which exacerbated the situation. We were like a ghost ship. With all the crew members we had lost, it was possible we were a ghost ship.
Guermata came out of a doorway I had just passed and fell into step beside me. He had his own scars to show for our adventures (plus he was the only attack victim of our first night upon this planet to have survived) plus his scars were obviously teeth marks, an especially honorific wound, while my own were merely disfigurements (like I had gotten them tripping over my own feet and falling down a long staircase, or something equally ignominious.) Guermata the Hero would wear his scars proudly, to be sure.
“How does coming so close to death so many times equate to honor?” I asked him speculatively, rubbing at my own scars. He laughed, at ease with me after our harrowing ordeals together, as any soldiers in arms might be after such an experience.
“No one can doubt your virility.” He assured me.
“Another couple weeks like the last and I’ll be a broken up worthless shell.” I said, exaggerating. The doc would always be able to repair me. All but my scars.
“You do live dangerously.” Guermata said. “That’s always been your style though. Everyone kind of thou
ght you would slow down once you became Emperor, but I see that’s not to be. You’re blood thirsty.”
“Krazdop wasn’t?” I demanded. “Before the Alutia leaf, anyway.”
“Oh, he was, he was,” Guermata said, “and with the people after the leaf. We all thought you were so aggressive because you were motivated to advance up the military hierarchy, which of course only respects courage and honor. No one really suspected you were a true blue lunatic. I guess we know how to choose our leaders.”
“I might be the Emperor who leads his people to destruction, before this war with the Kievors is over.” I pointed out.
“How could leaf eaters be victorious over us?” Guermata said, appalled.
“How are we going to beat a black hole weapon?” I asked.
“I’m no scientist,” Guermata said, “but I’m sure they’re working on it right as we speak.”
“If we ever get back to see what they’ve learned.” I said ominously. Guermata stared at me like I had lost my mind. I opened my mouth to say something snappish, but was interrupted by Vengeance.
“Alert. Alert. Houdar Nataku requests your immediate presence in your Bridge.”
“Why?”
“Long range scanners detect a Kievor Trade Station.”
“Have they detected us?” I demanded. My head began to throb.
“They are accelerating towards us, Emperor. The probability that . . . “
“Never mind.” I interrupted her. “Battle stations!” Immediately alarms began to ring. I ran for my Bridge, and Guermata in the opposite direction, hopefully to a separate gunner’s station, but I really had no idea.
“Evasive action.” I yelled on the run, hoping Houdar hadn’t already decided to attack them. I had felt no change in the gravity field, but of course that didn’t mean anything at all with Alartaw technology.
“Instituted, Emperor.” The computer’s voice sounded next to me even though I was running full out. I sprinted all the way into my suite and into my Bridge, my lungs and heart working smoothly, but what I saw on the wall of my Bridge nearly caused my heart to falter. The Kievor Trade Station was crawling up our back wash like a spider up its web, and we were the prey.
It was still some good distance back when I first saw it, but it was growing rapidly, and they were obviously pissed off. So much for their non-confrontational policies, or did that only apply when they were out gunned. They obviously didn’t think they were now.
Houdar was intent on my console, his finger poised over the control board. I ignored the advancing Kievors on the rear wall and walked up to see what Houdar was so intent upon. The screen of my console showed the advancing Kievors targeted within a firing grid that was closing as they caught us. There was still some distance before Vengeance had her maximized range.
“Have you considered that their weapons may be more powerful?” I demanded, furious, and without hesitation, reached over and stabbed the fire button Houdar’s own finger had been poised over.
Vengeance shuddered as every joule of her free capacity was momentarily transferred over to weapons systems. The whole room turned brilliant yellow/white as the entire skin of Vengeance flashed, each molecule sending its portion into the whole stream of energy, and as fast as striking lightning, or faster probably, it lanced back at the advancing Kievor ship.
I spun my head to watch the result on the back wall, was just in time to see our massive blast of energy vanish into a warp portal that appeared in space, between our two ships, which shimmered briefly after it engulfed our energy, and then vanished.
“Hyper Space.” I screamed as several things all happened at once; the Kievor ship turned bright yellow/white and struck out at us, smashing us brutally; we jumped to Hyper Space; I was thrown to the floor backwards, bouncing my head off the steel deck and sending stars spinning and whirling through my head and we vanished from normal space.
But I didn’t black out this time, nor was I injured beyond the goose egg I already felt growing on the back of my head.
The power was gone again and I couldn’t see a damn thing, but it flickered back to life, tentatively at first, while I struggled dizzily to my feet.
The wall view lit back up, showing me the strange version of space that was Hyper Space, unlike human warp or Kievor worm hole, yet also similar. The stars were ripping past so quickly they created a horizontal tapestry around us. It was awe inspiring.
“Shut off the damn alarms.” Meerla yelled behind me, and instantly it was quiet. I hadn’t even really realized they had come back on with the power, I was so stunned to still be alive. At least I had an excuse for not having heard Meerla come up behind me, this time.
I turned to look at her and for the first time ever saw her wounded. Blood was pouring from her split open left eyebrow even though she was pinching it closed with the fingers of her left hand. It was going to leave a highly visible scar the way it had split through the middle of the eyebrow. I grinned at her happily.
“What’s so funny?” Meerla demanded. “I’m not keeping this scar!”
“Oh yes you are.” I said, smiling hugely. “You heard that, didn’t you, Vengeance.”
“Yes, Emperor.”
“You dirty rotten bastard!” Meerla swore venomously, and she was not smiling. My smile grew even larger. This was a win she would remember every time she looked in a mirror, at least until we got out of these Alartaw bodies, if ever that was to occur.
“I’ll get you for this.” She swore, stalking up and standing right in my face, as much as anyone who is thirty centimeters shorter than I am can stand in my face.
“You’re an Alartaw warrior.” I said. “You can wear your scars like the rest of us.” But she knew I was just getting even, playing our game, and winning at the moment.
“I’m going to the doc,” Meerla said, “and there had better be no scar on my face when it’s done.” She turned and left.
“You don’t want your woman scarred, do you?” Houdar asked. I turned to look at him.
“Mind your own damn business.” I snapped. He looked away quickly.
‘Damn her’, I thought. It was amusing to see me all chopped up but one little blemish on her and she was throwing a fit. She even had me feeling guilty. What kind of pathetic whimp feels guilty?
Jeez!
“Vengeance.”
“Yes Emperor?”
“Belay that last order.” I said resignedly. “Don’t tell her I changed my mind though, let her find out when she looks in a mirror.”
“Yes Emperor.”
Houdar was studiously avoiding my eyes. I could swear he was trying to mask a smile, I could see it tugging at the corners of his mouth.
“What’s so damn funny?”
He looked at me. “I would never have imagined.” He said. Then he went back to what he had been doing, leaving me staring at the side of his head.
“Just never mind all that,” I growled, “and tell me where the hell we’re going.” Damn him and Meerla.
“No idea.” He said cheerfully. “But I’m analyzing the Kievor entry data and our departure data and I should be able to take us back along the route the Kievors used to jump in.”
“Which should lead us back home.” I said. “Good. Damage report?”
Vengeance popped up a screen on the front wall showing a before and after graph of ships mass. We had suffered a sixteen percent depletion.
“Why so little?” I asked.
“Two factors.” Vengeance answered. “Partial dissolution of the tight band fusion pulse, and . . . “
“What does that mean?” I interrupted.
“We were still out of range.” Houdar now interrupted, double interrupting.
“And our Jump to Hyper Space.” Finished Vengeance. Did she sound annoyed?
“We obviously weren’t completely out of range.” I said, stating the obvious. “What were you going to do, Houdar, trade punches with them, a ship thousands of times larger than us? Were you out of your damn mind?”
“A worthwhile death if we could have destroyed them.” Houdar said proudly, suddenly really pissing me off.
“We wouldn’t have destroyed them.” I snarled. “We wouldn’t even have scratched them!” I got real close, because I was really angry. “We’d be dead for no reason! When confronted with a no win situation, Houdar Nataku, you run, regroup, and live to fight another day. Do you understand me?” I nearly yelled this last.
“Yes my Emperor.” He wouldn’t meet my eyes.
“Good.” I said savagely. “Because the next time you make a mistake like this it will be your last!” I didn’t elaborate on what I meant, but I think it was obvious. I also meant it.
With responsibility comes accountability. I’d given him responsibility and position, and now I’d given him accountability. He seemed to understand very clearly what exactly I’d meant.
He didn’t say a word as he brought us out of Hyper Space, turned us around, re-accelerated and jumped us back into Hyper Space on the coordinates he had calculated based on the entry trajectory of the Kievor Trade Station when it had appeared in the lizard system. It went without incident.
“If the Kievors can track us through Hyper Space, they can’t do it very quickly.” Houdar said.
“I doubt they tried.” I said. “They thought they had the advantage of surprise. They won’t fight fair.”
I didn’t know why Houdar had felt the need to set up shop in my private Bridge, but as long as he was here and busy there was no point in making him move, so I went into my kitchen, got a bottle of Harcled, thought better of it, considering our situation, put it back, and walked up to the main Bridge. I made myself comfortable in the Captain’s Chair, which, for some reason, was more comfortable than my own. Annoyingly.
The work Houdar was doing was displayed on the Captain’s console and I was able to follow along with what he was doing. Sort of. He was mapping course probabilities according to parameters he had already fed the program. There must have been billions.
“Vengeance,” I said, “do you understand what he is trying to do?”
“Yes Emperor.” Vengeance answered. “He is trying to deduce the probable course the Kievors used to enter the reptiles system.”
Chronicles of a Space Mercenary Page 32