Soldiers of Fortune

by Joshua Dalzelle

  “Is there anybody else alive in there?” Jason asked him loudly. The small man only shook his head, his eyes squeezed shut against the pain. “You’re sure?” Only a nod in response. “Kage, cut us loose and move us away…” Dowarty’s left hand reached up and grabbed his wrist.

  “Destroy my ship, Captain,” he whispered before passing out.

  “Better get up here, Captain. One of the Eshquarian cruisers has started to head this way.”

  “Get him to the infirmary,” Jason told Lucky. “I’ll send Doc down there in a minute.” He ran back up to the bridge and saw that the cruiser wasn’t accelerating too quickly, so they had some time before there was a risk. Once he confirmed they were floating free from the damaged ship, he moved them away to a safe distance and brought the nose back around.

  “Target the aft drive section and the reactor core,” Jason told Kage.

  “Target locked.”

  Jason squeezed the trigger on the stick and let loose a salvo of high-energy plasma bolts into the unprotected vessel’s main drive and reactor. A brief, explosive flash and all that was left was a cloud of high-density metal particles drifting outward. Satisfied, he turned them about and accelerated away from the closing cruiser while Kage entered a jump point into the nav system. Once they had meshed out of the system, Jason hopped up and went to check on Dowarty in the infirmary.

  Chapter 11

  “He looks bad,” Jason observed.

  “He isn’t great,” Doc confirmed. “He has significant burns over much of his body, but the immediate danger is the caustic fumes he was breathing in on his ship. I’ve stabilized him and the nanobots are beginning to map out the damage to his lungs, in the meantime I’ll be oxygenating his blood artificially. It could have been worse though, his hearts are beating strong and his brain scans show normal activity.”

  This little wisp has more than one heart? They must be the size of walnuts.

  “We’re heading back to the Oorch system,” Jason said as he looked down on the small facilitator. “We’ll hang out just inside the heliopause until he regains consciousness and…” He broke off as he saw Dowarty’s personal effects laid out on the far table, much like his own were when he was first brought into the infirmary by Deetz. Among the various decorative pieces of jewelry was an only slightly singed miniature tablet computer. “Kage! Get down here,” he called over the intercom.

  “What’s up?” Kage asked as he rushed into the infirmary a moment later.

  “Can you do anything with this?”

  “Hmm,” was all the Veran said as he grasped the computer in the smaller of his four hands. Silver threads of nanobots seemed to spin from his hands like a spider’s web as they glided over the surface of the computer, searching for a way to make a hard circuit path that would enable Kage, with his highly specialized neural implants, to try and access the unit. His eyes glazed over for a moment and Jason realized how well secured the small device must have been; he’d seen Kage slice through supposedly locked-down systems within seconds.

  “The encryption is top-notch,” he finally said. “I can’t break it without dismantling the unit, and even then there may be safeties in place to let him know I’ve been there.”

  “So it’s useless to us?” Jason asked, trying to not let his disappointment show.

  “Maybe not,” Kage said, again seeming to drift off. After a much shorter pause he was back; “There is a flaw in the device’s security.”

  “I was hoping you’d find at least one,” Jason smiled.

  “It’s not a guarantee, but I can copy the entire contents off the storage medium. It’s sort of like cloning a computer core; it will exist on a section of our computer and the software on the device will never know it was tampered with since no attempt at forcible entry was made. Then I can try and slice into the copy stored on our computer.”

  “That seems like a glaring security flaw,” Doc said. “You sure it’s not a trap?”

  “It’s designed to protect against direct slicing attempts,” Kage explained. “There’s no external connectors, so it’s not likely someone could attempt this without permanently damaging the unit. The outer case cracked during the fight, however, and I can just fit four pairs of nanite tendrils into the gap.”

  “Go ahead and start,” Jason decided. “You’re routing the data stream through your implants and into the main computer?”

  “Yes.”

  “Keep alert then, if anything suspicious happens break the connection.”

  “You got it, Captain,” Kage was already getting comfortable in a chair. “With only four pairs the data stream is going to be a bit thin, this could take a few hours.”

  Jason simply nodded to Doc, who reached up without question and adjusted the stream of sedatives being pumped into Dowarty to ensure he didn’t awake at an inopportune moment. With Doc and Kage busy, Jason felt he was just in the way, so he walked out of the infirmary and back towards the bridge.

  * * * * *

  He must have dozed off sitting in the pilot’s seat because Jason nearly jumped out of his skin when Kage’s voice came over the intercom; “We’re all set, Captain. The copy went off without any trouble. Doc says this guy is ready to wake up if you want to come down here.”

  “On my way,” he replied through a yawn. He hopped out of his seat and made his way back down to the infirmary. There was quite the crowd when he arrived, Doc and Kage were both still there, but sometime during the previous few hours Lucky decided an armed guard needed to be present. “Kage, why don’t you head on back to the bridge? The less people it seems to have been rifling through his stuff, the better.”

  “Probably not a bad idea,” Kage said wearily and walked off without any further argument. Jason watched him trudge off, practically dragging his feet. The data transfer must have taken a lot out of him.

  “Ok, Doc,” he said, “let’s wake him up.” Doc reached over and shut off sedative stream and injected Dowarty with a mild stimulant and stood back expectantly. Within minutes Dowarty’s eyes began to flutter and the small alien looked around in alarm.

  “Relax,” Jason said firmly, stepping into his field of vision. “You’re on my ship, we pulled you out of your own flaming wreckage. Remember?” He watched as Dowarty slowly relaxed and finally nodded his head, closing his eyes at the pain.

  “I apologize for the discomfort,” Doc said as he saw the grimace. “There were some questions about drug interaction and, of course, the substantial injuries you sustained. Now that you’re awake I can go ahead and up the dosage and observe for any adverse reaction.”

  “Thank you, doctor,” Dowarty said, finally gathering up the energy to speak. His voice came out in a raspy croak, but he seemed lucid enough. “It seems I owe you a great debt, Captain.”

  “Don’t worry,” Jason said offhandedly. “I’m sure you’re good for it.”

  “A true mercenary, through and through,” Dowarty said with a painful sounding chuckle. “Where are we currently?”

  “We’ve retreated back to the outer edges of the Oorch System,” Jason said. “With the ambush by the Eshquarian fleet we’re not sure if Oorch Prime is still a safe harbor, so we’re not chancing it just yet.”

  “Very prudent, Captain,” Dowarty approved. “You’re correct, the Oorch operation may well be compromised after the attack we just survived. If you’d be so kind as to give me a bit more time to recover, I’ll be able to direct you to a safe place to regroup and avoid any other unpleasant engagements. I will, of course, make it worth your time.”

  “Sure, at this point I’d say our fortunes are linked together. At least for the time being,” Jason shrugged. “You’re superiors won’t mind you making contracts on the fly like this?” Another rasping, coughing laugh.

  “I can assure you, they will be fine with whatever decisions I make,” he said, confirming some of Jason’s suspicions about his actual place within whatever organization he represented. “You destroyed my ship as I asked?”

 
; “Oh yeah,” Jason laughed. “That thing is nothing but vapor.”

  “Another thanks for that, then,” Dowarty said, his head sinking down into the pillow as the effort to talk sapped his strength. He opened his eyes one more time, “I had a small computer when you pulled me off my ship…” Wordlessly Doc handed the small tablet to him. Dowarty clutched at it with his bandaged hands and pulled it tightly to his chest. “It is most fortunate that it survived.” A few minutes later and the steady rise and fall of his chest told the others he had fallen asleep.

  “Lucky, would you mind keeping watch over our guest?” Jason asked the synth, who had been standing silently during the exchange.

  “Of course not, Captain,” he answered. “I had intended to do so anyway.”

  “Thanks. Doc, if there’s no particular reason for you to stay, I could probably use you on the bridge,” Jason said, giving Doc a meaningful look as he did.

  “Of course,” Doc said, understanding immediately. “He’ll likely sleep for a while more and I have some things I should be doing up there anyway.” The two turned and exited the infirmary, leaving Lucky to stand watch over the presumably sleeping Dowarty.

  “So,” Jason asked once everyone had made their way up to the bridge. “How does this change our plans? And Kage… could you unplug for a minute?” The Veran was sitting at one of the sensor stations and was hooked directly into the ship’s computer, obviously working on cracking the download from Dowarty’s computer.

  “Sure, Captain, just give me…”

  “Now,” Jason said firmly. He wasn’t being intentionally harsh, but Kage would become more and more enamored with the problem he was working on until he tuned them all out completely. With obvious reluctance, he paused the processes he had been running and pulled his hands away from the terminal, raising all four to prove he was completely disconnected. Jason just stared at him, not breaking eye contact as he accessed the ship’s computer via his own terminal and shut down the wireless links on the bridge.

  “Oh!” Kage exclaimed. “I must have forgot about that one.”

  “You really don’t think I learn, do you?” Jason asked rhetorically. “Anyway… Lucky is currently guarding Dowarty down in our infirmary, who is sleeping a bit more to try and heal up some before we make our next move. I’m assuming he’s going to negotiate for us to get him back to his own people. Thoughts?”

  “It could work to our advantage,” Doc said speculatively. “That’s assuming he’s not just going to arrange for another of his own ships to meet up with us to hand him off.”

  “That’s doubtful,” Crusher offered. “He’s likely to assume that someone in his own organization tipped off the Eshquarians, he may have us fly him all the way to their main base of operations. At least that’s what I’d do.”

  “Yeah, but we’re not sure if he’s going to suspect that we tipped off the military,” Kage said, his hands fidgeting in his lap.

  “We’re probably in the clear there,” Jason disagreed. “It’d be almost impossible to trace the Eshquarian fleet movement to us, not without someone on the Diligent being a traitor.”

  “So what do we offer him?” Crusher asked.

  “We’ll keep playing the money hungry pirates, for now. If he knows we can be trusted so long as the pay keeps coming in, I think we’re in an advantageous position,” Jason answered. “We really could be rolling up on the endgame soon; if he has us fly him to their main base then we simply make a discreet exit and call in the cavalry.”

  “You think an underling like that would risk exposing their operation?” Doc asked.

  “I think Dowarty has been quite good at hiding who he really is,” Jason argued. “His multiple personalities aside, too much evidence points to him being a lot higher up than a simple errand boy.”

  “So we’re agreed?” Kage asked eagerly. “We keep playing along for now until we can call in the Eshquarian fleet if we find their main base. Simple and brilliant, Captain.” Jason affixed him with a steady glare even as he reactivated the links for his neural implants. A broad smile came over the Veran’s face as he turned to his terminal and dove back into his work.

  “Remember, Kage,” Jason warned. “I still need you to fly right-seat, so don’t get too comfortable there.” He looked around a moment before snapping irritably, “Where the fuck is Twingo?” He was more annoyed at himself that he hadn’t noticed his engineer was missing during their strategy meeting.

  “Sleeping,” Kage answered absently. “Don’t worry, I’ll be ready to fly when you are.” Jason took in a deep breath, held it, and let it out slowly.

  “Nice of him to let me know he was going off shift,” he said simply as he exited the bridge. Doc had already left, presumably to monitor his patient, so Jason did a quick flyby of the galley to grab a sandwich and a glass of water. The plan was thin, even by their standards, but like most aspects of this mission; it was all they had. It felt solid enough that he was fairly certain they would find the base that had so far eluded the authorities, but he also knew these people were smart enough not to just let them go off on their merry way with a cheerful wave. An organization like this survived by being smarter than the people hunting for them, and letting an unknown group of strangers find your main logistical hub, and then simply leave, wasn’t all that smart. So, the trick will be to convince them to let them leave once they have the location. Not an easy trick by any means.

  “Captain Burke, please come to the infirmary,” Doc’s voice came over the intercom. He winced as his real name was used in front of Dowarty. I had thought we’d progressed past these rookie mistakes…

  When Jason entered the infirmary Dowarty was sitting up slightly and appeared to be quite a bit more alert than the last time he’d seen him. “Captain… Burke, was it?... Odd name. Anyway, I think I’m well enough that we can progress to our destination, but it will require that I be on the bridge with you.”

  “If you think you’re up to it,” Jason said, giving Doc a hard stare.

  “I think I’m as ready as I will be for some time,” Dowarty said, starting to swing his legs over the side. Jason slapped Lucky’s arm;

  “Help him up to the bridge. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Yes, Captain.”

  Jason hustled out of the infirmary and towards the engineering bays to let Twingo know they would be getting under way shortly.

  “Ok, Dowarty,” Jason said from the pilot’s seat. “Where the hell are we going?” Instead of answering, Dowarty activated his tablet computer and went through an insanely convoluted recognition ritual before he could access the information inside. He scrolled through various menus, entered some commands, but still provided no answer. Just when Jason started to become seriously irritated he rose from his seat in obvious pain and shuffled towards him. Jason pointed to Kage, causing the injured alien to turn and trudge around the command dais to show the Veran the display. Kage took a seemingly cursory glance at the display and began entering the information into the nav system without so much as a grunt. Jason cringed inside as Dowarty fixed a suspicious glare on their flighty code slicer before moving back around to his own seat. He started entering commands frantically into his computer the moment he had situated himself. Probably trying to see if our slicer tried to break into it. I hope Kage was right about the security protocols.

  “We’re only six hours away at maximum slip velocity,” Kage said as he transferred control of the slip-drive to Jason.

  “That close?” Jason asked, surprised. “Let’s get on it then; I’m sure Dowarty is good for the fuel tab.”

  “You can be assured of that, Captain,” Dowarty said in a labored breath. He had slipped his computer back into the pocket of the odd, tunic-like garment he wore, apparently satisfied no attempt had been made to crack it. Either that or his poker face is as good as Lucky’s. Jason remembered when he had first met the man and he had appeared as a servile boot-licker, now he seemed very accustomed to being in charge. His duplicity at every turn meant no
amount of body language would let them know what he did, or didn’t know until it was too late.

  “Meshing out now,” Jason announced unnecessarily as he slapped the control to send the Phoenix streaking towards their destination; an open patch of space within a gaseous protuberance of the nebula that spawned the Cluster. It was probably a nightmare of gravitational anomalies and interstellar particles, but he assumed Dowarty had shown them a safe route given he was on the same ship they were.

  They rode in silence for the most part, limiting their chatter to terse status updates with an interloper sitting amongst them. Kage had found a new way to communicate, however, and gave it a try as they all pretended to be fascinated by the displays in front of them:

  “I THINK WE MAY HAVE A PROBLEM.” The text appeared to float in Jason's field of vision and he realized that it was being projected by his ocular implants. He blinked and looked around, trying to decipher the source. “THIS IS KAGE, BY THE WAY.” Jason rolled his eyes, he should have realized who would be able to hack into his neural implant. Since he had no idea how to reply he made a rolling gesture with his right hand to indicate to Kage that he should continue. “I CAN’T BE CERTAIN, BUT I THINK DOWARTY IS TRYING TO ACCESS OUR COMPUTER THROUGH HIS HANDHELD.” Jason tried to think of a way to reply, but came up with a blank. Now it was Kage’s turn to roll his eyes. “THAT’S WHY I’M ACCSSING YOUR IMPLANT DIRECTLY, I DON’T WANT TO RISK HIM INTERCEPTING A MESSAGE TO YOUR CONSOLE. I’M GETTING SOME SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY PIGGYBACKING ROUTINE DATA PACKETS. SHOULD I LOCK HIM OUT, OR BEGIN ISOLATING ALL OUR SENSITIVE DATA THAT’S IN THE COM CENTER?”