Relic of Sorrows: Fallen Empire, Book 4

by Lindsay Buroker

  “They didn’t mention needing a doctor in their message,” Alisa said.

  “Would you announce your weaknesses when sending out a general distress signal? In a system that’s much fuller of pirates and scavengers than it was a year ago?”

  Alisa frowned back at him, not wanting to get into another argument about how degenerate the system was now that the empire wasn’t in charge. Instead, she asked, “Do you see anything on the sensors that would indicate a medical emergency?”

  “Perhaps.”

  While she waited for him to explain further, Alisa guided the Nomad alongside the Peace and Prayer, matching their course and speed. She also lined up her airlock port to theirs in case they decided to go over. If the crew was unable to respond because of a medical problem, then she should take people over to help, assuming it wasn’t a situation where a quarantine would make sense. She didn’t have the facilities or tech for dealing with that, and somehow, she doubted Alejandro would risk himself to go check on people carrying a deadly disease. For a doctor, he definitely had a selfish streak.

  “There’s nobody chasing them, by chance, is there?” Alisa asked.

  “No other ships are in range,” Leonidas said.

  “There aren’t any nearby stations or known pirate hangouts,” Yumi said. “As I said, plotting their back-route just shows a bunch of nothingness.”

  “Nothingness?” Alisa frowned over at her, then back at Alejandro and Leonidas. Leonidas was tapping the sensors, probably trying to figure out if anyone was left alive over there.

  Alisa dipped into her pocket for her netdisc. She had the coordinates that Leonidas had provided at the beginning of their journey, coordinates he’d used some Starseer nursery rhyme to come up with, coordinates she had pointed out were in the middle of nowhere. She doubted there would be a link between them and the pilgrim ship’s course, but she pulled up the local map, nevertheless.

  The gas giant Aldrin and some of its inhabited moons, including Cleon, popped up at the far edge, and distant stars were visible in the background. The three-dimensional holodisplay was easier for looking at objects in space than the flat built-in monitor that Yumi was using.

  “Humor me and see if their route went anywhere near that dot there,” Alisa told Yumi, swiping her finger to zoom in.

  “Why would this ship have visited the coordinates that Leonidas gave you?” Alejandro asked, suspicion in his voice.

  What, did he think that Alisa had commed ahead and told some pilgrims to check out his secret spot first?

  “It probably hasn’t,” Alisa said, “but there’s nothing else out here, so I’m checking. Maybe someone else likes Starseer nursery rhymes.”

  It was also possible that Abelardus, even though he hadn’t been invited to any of the meetings, had plucked the coordinates out of Alejandro’s or Leonidas’s thoughts. He could have been the one to comm ahead to someone. Admittedly, Alisa could not imagine him choosing to communicate with pilgrims. Unless there happened to be a Starseer on that ship.

  Alisa shook her head. Her mind was dancing without a partner. The odds of there being a relation were—

  “That’s interesting,” Yumi said.

  “What is?”

  Yumi tapped a few buttons on the console screen, sending information to the netdisc. A dotted line bisected the star map. It went directly through the blue dot that represented the coordinates Leonidas had shared.

  “That was their route?” Alejandro asked, stepping back into NavCom.

  “If they haven’t changed it.” Yumi shrugged.

  “Shit.” Alejandro glared at Leonidas and then glared even harder at Alisa. “Someone leaked the information, and someone else got there first.”

  “Nobody in here leaked anything,” Alisa said. “You’re the only one who even wants that Staff of Whatzit.”

  “I assure you, everyone would want it if they knew it still existed.”

  “Not everybody. The only use I’d have for a big stick is clubbing irritating passengers.”

  Alejandro looked like he wanted to club her. Well, he was welcome to try.

  “Abelardus could have gotten the information from us,” Leonidas said quietly.

  “Why would a passenger ship on a pilgrimage be sent to investigate a Starseer artifact?” Yumi asked, scratching her head.

  “Maybe there’s a Starseer onboard,” Alejandro said, echoing Alisa’s thoughts. “The pilgrimage could simply be a ruse.” He curled his lip in distaste.

  Alisa almost looked at his robe and said he would know all about that, but Leonidas spoke first.

  “I only read two people alive on there,” he said.

  “Two people would be enough to fly a ship like that,” Alisa said, “but that message made it sound like there would be more. A bunch of pilgrims.”

  “If they were there before, they’re not there now.”

  “We should take a look,” Alejandro said.

  “Because you’re worried people are wounded or because you’re worried someone over there got your staff?” Alisa asked.

  “I hardly think you have the right to take the moral high ground with me, Captain.”

  “I need to keep the hatch to NavCom locked more often,” Alisa muttered to Yumi. “Leonidas, is there anything else over there that we need to be concerned about? Engine leaks? Gas leaks?”

  He looked over at her. “You do realize I’m using your sensor system, right?”

  “You’re not picking on my ship, are you?” Alisa asked.

  “Just pointing out that its scanners are limited.”

  “Because freighters aren’t supposed to scan things. They’re supposed to deliver things.”

  Leonidas stood up, forcing Alejandro to back into the corridor again. “Then you can deliver me to that ship, and I’ll go take a look. The sensors in my armor will tell you what you want to know as soon as we open up the hatch to their ship.”

  “I was hoping to learn that information before we opened the hatch and sent people over,” Alisa grumbled, as he headed to his cabin to change.

  She turned in her chair to see what readings she could get from the old sensor equipment. Unfortunately, Leonidas was right, and there wasn’t much. She was surprised he had finessed it into reading life signs.

  “Perhaps you could upgrade the ship with more scientific equipment one day,” Yumi said, “since you seem to go to a lot of interesting places.”

  “Right, I’ll put it on the list, right after the lav upgrades. We wouldn’t want the doctor’s fragile skin to have to deal with harsh water removers.”

  Alejandro opened his mouth, no doubt to comment on her decorum.

  Alisa hit the internal comm button and spoke first. “Beck, suit up. We’re flying alongside a ship that’s in trouble. There might be some people that need to be brought over here for medical attention. Leonidas would be devastated if you didn’t join him to help.”

  Yumi smiled.

  “Doctor,” Alisa said, bracing herself for an objection, “why don’t you get a medical kit ready in case someone over there needs treatment?”

  “Very well,” he said and walked out.

  Alisa turned back to the controls. She would have to line them up even more precisely if they were going to extend their airlock tube and lock on. She hoped one of the two people who were alive over there would be able to answer the door. The idea of forcing their way in made her feel like a pirate, like all those people who had forced their way onto her ship. But they might have to do just that. If nobody was in a position to answer the comm over there, chances were they also wouldn’t show up when the doorbell rang.

  Her comm flashed. Alisa thought it might be the other ship, finally responding, but it was Mica.

  “Is this other ship going to need repairs?” she asked.

  “Maybe,” Alisa said. “They mentioned an engine failure in their distress call, and our sensors do show that it’s offline. They appear to be running minimal life support off the battery.”

&n
bsp; “We don’t have any spare parts, certainly nothing that would match the needs of that ship.”

  “You’ve got gum and cable ties. Won’t that do?”

  “Funny.”

  “We’ll worry about it after Leonidas and Beck report.” Alisa finished lining up the Nomad with the pilgrim ship and stood up. “I’m going down to the cargo hold, Yumi. Will you let me know if anything happens? Such as the other ship suddenly veering away and breaking our tube in the process?” She grimaced at the thought.

  “Uhm, is that likely?”

  Alisa shrugged. “I hope not.”

  “Maybe you should stay up here.”

  “Oh, I have no doubt of that, but I’m too curious not to peek around Leonidas’s shoulder as he goes in.” She wished she could go explore, even though pilots weren’t supposed to wander off and explore. Neither were captains.

  “I’m sure he’ll report whatever he finds,” Yumi said, “though I understand being curious.”

  Alisa started for the hatchway but jumped when Abelardus appeared there.

  “We’re boarding that ship?” He looked toward the star map floating over Yumi’s half of the console. The line through the coordinates remained in the air. If he recognized its significance, it did not surprise him.

  “We’re checking it out, yes,” Alisa said.

  “That’s not a good idea.”

  “There are a couple of people still alive over there. At the least, we need to see if they need help.”

  “It’s too late for them,” he said quietly.

  “What does that mean? What do you know?”

  A distant clang echoed up from the cargo hold—the airlock hatch being opened? Alisa glanced at the console. Yes, the tube had been extended and secured. Leonidas and Beck could already be crossing over.

  Abelardus turned and strode away.

  “Damn it, Abelardus.” Alisa leaped to her feet. “What do you know?”

  Chapter 3

  Alisa dug out her comm unit as she ran after Abelardus. He was heading toward the cargo hold, and he had his staff in hand.

  “Leonidas?” she called, speaking into the unit but also yelling. If he was still on the Nomad, he would hear her one way or another.

  “We’re preparing to board the other ship,” Leonidas said.

  Abelardus strode down the stairs, the tip of his staff clanging on the treads. Alisa ran after him, looking around the hold. Leonidas and Beck were already out of sight. The hatch on their side of the airlock was closed. Abelardus walked straight toward it. Alisa ran around him to get there first. Just as she reached the hatch and glimpsed the back of Beck’s helmeted head through the window, Abelardus’s hand latched onto her.

  “Don’t go in there,” he said.

  “I wasn’t planning to.” Probably. “Leonidas? Abelardus says going over there would be a bad idea.”

  Leonidas stood in front of Beck at the far end of the airlock tube. He had reached the other ship’s controls and was examining them, but he paused to frown back at her.

  “Does he,” he said flatly. “He say why?”

  Abelardus still gripped Alisa’s arm, but he was not looking at her. He bowed his head and closed his eyes.

  “Many are dead,” he finally said. “The two who live will not survive.”

  Even though Alisa had seen demonstrations of his power, she shivered as she realized he hadn’t been in NavCom when Leonidas had spoken of how many life signs showed up on the sensors. No, Abelardus knew this independently, through the power of his mind.

  “Because of a disease?” Alisa asked. “Some virus?”

  “If that is the case,” Alejandro said, appearing on the walkway with his medical kit in hand, “then that is a reason to go help them, not abandon them.”

  He wore a determined expression as he came down the stairs and headed toward them. Alisa was surprised he cared about helping and couldn’t keep from being suspicious. His true reason for wanting to go over there might be to make sure nobody had found that ancient staff that he sought.

  “But not until we check it out,” Leonidas’s voice came over the comm. “If there’s a virus, our suits will protect us.”

  “Yeah, but we can’t let you back over here if there’s some horrible disease in the air,” Alisa said. “The Nomad doesn’t have any way to decontaminate you.”

  “Then we’ll have to fly the pilgrim ship to facilities that can deal with a medical emergency.”

  “You and Beck?”

  “You can guide us.”

  “Oh, sure. Long distance tutoring is a great way to give flying lessons.”

  “Marchenko,” Leonidas said, his tone dry. “Let’s see what we’re dealing with before panicking.”

  He tapped at the controls next to the ship’s hatch.

  “Alisa,” she mumbled, watching Abelardus’s face for clues that he knew more. Leonidas sounded as calm as ever, but her stomach pitched and heaved with worry.

  Abelardus let go of her arm and looked at her. “I apologize.”

  “For what?” she asked, bewildered. And afraid. He wasn’t about to apologize for letting Beck and Leonidas walk to their deaths, was he?

  “Knocking you aside earlier when I was attacking the mech.”

  “Oh.” That was the last thing Alisa cared about now.

  “I was angry. My control is usually better than that.”

  “His name is Leonidas.”

  “What?” Abelardus’s brow creased.

  “Not mech. Leonidas.”

  “We’re in,” came Leonidas’s voice over the comm.

  Alisa stood on tiptoes to peer through the window. The hatch on the far side of the lock slid open, and Leonidas and Beck stepped into a dim corridor.

  “Shit,” Leonidas said, halting immediately.

  “What?” Alisa blurted, clenching the rim of the window with her fingers.

  “It’s not a virus.” Leonidas turned and pointed at her. “The radiation is off the charts in here. Break the lock and get the Nomad to a safe distance while we look around.”

  “The hull of the Nomad—”

  “Is meant to protect you from the background radiation in space,” he said. “It’s like someone dropped a nuke in here. Get away now.”

  “Leonidas,” Alejandro said, leaning toward Alisa’s comm. “Your suits—”

  “Mine will protect me. Trust me, they made sure we could withstand radiation out in the field.”

  “What about Beck?” Alisa asked. She had no trouble imagining that the empire would have outfitted their cyborgs with the best gear to survive nuclear attacks, but Beck had some off-the-shelf civilian combat armor. He could spacewalk in it, so it had to have some protection built in, but was it rated to last for hours in intense radiation?

  Leonidas and Beck looked at each other. Beck’s helmet twisted from side to side.

  “He’s not sure,” Leonidas said. “I’m sending him back over, but hurry up and get the ship back to a safe distance.”

  Beck came jogging through the airlock, a panicked expression on his face. The far hatch clanged shut, and Leonidas disappeared from view.

  Alisa bit her lip, afraid for him, but Beck’s face made her fear for the rest of them too. He stopped at the hatch, closing the outer one behind him. He looked like he wanted to rip the inner hatch open and run into the ship, but he opened his comm instead.

  “Get us away before I come aboard, Captain,” Beck said. “And have someone bring my armor case down. It has the means to sanitize and decontaminate. I’ll strip off in here and do my best not to make a mess of the ship.”

  With bleakness filling her, Alisa started to speak, but Leonidas interrupted her.

  “Do it,” he said, his voice hard.

  “I’ll do my best to set up a curtain that will keep the contamination to a minimum,” Alejandro said, heading for the sickbay.

  Alisa cursed and ran for the stairs, bumping Alejandro as she went, barely seeing him. She hated the idea of leaving Leonidas on t
he pilgrim ship to deal with whatever had caused that problem. It had to have been something to do with the engine. Would Leonidas be able to fix it? Was there a point in trying?

  Mica walked out of engineering as Alisa ran along the walkway. “We going somewhere?” she asked.

  Alisa only shook her head and continued on to NavCom. Yumi looked at her curiously as she slid into the pilot’s seat. Someone had already hit the button to retract the airlock tube into the Nomad. Alisa fired up the thrusters and steered them away from the pilgrim ship. An alarm started flashing on the console, warning her about elevated radiation levels. She grunted and turned it off.

  “Leonidas,” Alisa said as the pilgrim ship grew smaller on her rear camera display, “tie yourself into the ship’s comm as soon as you can so you have more range. I don’t want to lose contact with you.”

  “You want me to transmit my camera feed?” He sounded a touch dry, as if he wasn’t seriously considering it.

  “Hells, yes,” she said. “I want to know what’s going on over there.”

  “I found the first body,” he said, his voice growing somber.

  Mica walked into NavCom in time to hear that. She pulled down the foldout seat behind Alisa. “I see nobody’s been sending memos down to engineering again.”

  “Send your feed, anyway, Leonidas,” Alisa said, ignoring her. She wasn’t in the mood for humor. “In case there’s more going on over there than an engine leak. We should record it for—for—” She rubbed her face, not sure what she wanted, just that someone should know what had happened over there. The Alliance. Or the families of those who had been lost on the ship. Three suns, there were two people still alive over there. Did that mean that they were slowly dying of radiation poisoning? Unless they had sheltered themselves or had combat armor of their own, that was exactly what was happening.

  “I will,” Leonidas said quietly. “I’m in their navigation cabin.”

  “Are there bodies?” Alisa said.

  “Yes. I believe I see the woman who sent the message. I’m still looking for the two people alive we saw on the sensors. I’m hoping they were shielded somehow, otherwise—”

  “I know.” She didn’t need Alejandro to tell her that it would be too late to save anyone who had been exposed to that much radiation over hours. Maybe days.