“Starhawk, this is Captain Terry Radnor of Promise. Maintain your present speed and heading. We’ll initiate the rendezvous,” Terry declared.
“Roger. I will launch our shuttle and be prepared to dock.”
“Negative, Starhawk. Do not, repeat do not, deploy your shuttle.” Terry knew what he would have to do; he had figured out the aggressors’ most likely strategy weeks ago. “I will dock with you,” he stated.
Drew gasped. “You can’t do that, Terry!”
“There’s no alternative. We can’t allow them to board.”
“But they’ll capture you when you enter their airlock.”
“Probably,” he admitted grimly, “but that’s better than having them capture our passengers.”
~ 36 ~
As there was no way to reach the shuttle without leaving the bridge, Terry could not avoid encountering Kathryn. She needed to know anyway, of course, but he wished he could keep her from finding out until it was too late to argue. She came out of the lounge while he was pressurizing the shuttle bay. “What’s up?” she asked. “I heard Amir page you; is there a problem with the shuttle?”
“We’ve picked up a distress call,” he said. “I’m going to see if I can help.”
“Don’t listen to him,” said Drew, at his heels. “We don’t think it’s a real distress call; they’re pirates and he’s going to confront them alone. I say it’s crazy.”
Kathryn blanched. “You can’t!” she exclaimed. “They’ll kill you!”
“No, they won’t. They’ll seize me for ransom, and your granddad will pay up if the League refuses to negotiate.”
“But if they’re what we’ve expected, they’re already being paid. What makes you think they’ll hold you instead of getting rid of you on account of what you know?”
“Because it’s what real pirates would do, and they’ve got to keep up the pretense. They don’t know I’m aware of the scheme.”
“Hiller knows you are, and he might have warned them.”
Terry realized uncomfortably that this was true. “Even so,” he said, “they won’t kill me in cold blood. They may have immunity from prosecution for piracy and assault, but not for murder; there’s no way that could be covered up. Besides, if Hiller and his pals wanted me dead they could have arranged an accident long ago on Earth. Their aim is to scare passengers into refusing to travel in a Foundation ship, and this is the only way to prevent that.”
“The passengers aren’t going to be scared if their captain is captured?”
“Not as scared, or as endangered, as they would be if they were all captured, which is what would happen if we let armed men into Promise. And as I’ve explained to Drew and Amir, we have to allow contact in case it’s really a ship in distress.”
“I’m going with you,” Kathryn said determinedly. “They’ll realize that Granddad will pay much more for me than for you alone, and that he’s in a position to have them tracked down for revenge if anything happens to me. He is, you know. He’s got underworld contacts—he had some sort of hold over the original captain to ensure that he’d keep our secret.”
“I didn’t know,” Terry said, “but that’s helpful. It means he can have them tracked down anyway once I’ve identified them. I’ll bet they weren’t informed about that little detail, and I’ll make sure to mention it in time for them to change their minds about holding me.”
I can go, then? Kathryn persisted.
Of course not. You know me better than to think I’d let you. To Drew and Amir he said, “We need a signal in case they force me to tell you it’s a medical emergency. If it is, I’ll say I wish we had a medic aboard Promise. Otherwise, assume they’re hostile.”
“I can fire a warning with the laser cannon, scare them into letting you go—”
“No! The laser cannon is for defense—to open fire without provocation would get us all killed. If I am not back in an hour and haven’t given you the signal, you are to get Promise away from here as fast as you can.”
“Away from here? You don’t think we’d go off and leave you behind, do you? I won’t, any more than you left me on Five-C,” Drew declared.
“That was different,” Terry said. “If there were only Fleet officers on board, you wouldn’t abandon me; I know that. But this is a passenger ship. Your prime duty is to them, so you are to go immediately once you’re sure I’m being held. That’s an order, Lieutenants.”
Reluctantly, they nodded. “Yes, sir. Where should we go?” Amir asked.
“Mars is closest, and they’ll head for it to demand ransom. Try to get there ahead of them and alert Fleet—you can start reporting piracy on the comm as soon as you pick up a station. But say nothing suggesting they’re not ordinary pirates to anyone but Admiral Frazer.” Turning to Drew he said, “Lieutenant Larssen, you are senior and you are in command. I count on you to get our passengers to safety.”
“Yes, sir.” It was not a time for personal farewells between officers.
But Kathryn, Terry took into his arms. “Oh God, Terry,” she whispered, “We knew we were in harm’s way, but I never imagined anything like this, me not facing it with you. I don’t want to be safe when you’re not—”
“Your job is to keep up the passengers’ morale,” he told her firmly, “and of course to contact your granddad, the sooner the better.” He drew back, not daring to say more. He must not start off on a mission like this in tears.
In the shuttle, waiting for the bay to depressurize, he did not let himself think ahead. He had had no experience dealing with criminals and was not sure how to talk to them; anything he might say would probably sound like mere bravado. But then, did it really matter? He wasn’t aiming to be a hero—they would do as they liked with him, regardless of how he reacted.
Only a short way into the flight the AI told him that Starhawk was within range, and he busied himself with the commands for docking. He doubted that they had followed his instruction to maintain their course, unless they had already been approaching Promise. From now on there would be no pretense that their pilot was incapacitated; once he was docked, they had no further need to lure him.
As he expected, five people stood waiting for him as he passed through the open airlock and entered the ship. What did you say on such an occasion—“Hello, I’m Captain Radnor?” He decided to say nothing.
“I’ve got a surprise for you,” said the woman, who did not identify herself but was evidently the leader. “Our pilot’s not unconscious. All we want from you is your ship.”
“That’s no surprise,” said Terry.
At this, they seemed somewhat taken aback; perhaps they had no suspicion that he knew too much about their employer to be kept alive. “Do I look stupid?’ he went on. “Your alleged distress call wasn’t very creative. You appeared out of nowhere about the same time as we jumped in ourselves, and that means you’d had a conscious pilot less than ten minutes before. Heart attacks are rarely so conveniently timed.”
“If you knew that, you were stupid, considering that you came aboard alone.”
“Not stupid enough to let you dock with us.”
“It hardly matters who docked first,” said one of the men, “since you’re going to instruct your crew to open your airlock when we get over there.”
“That’s where you’re mistaken,” Terry declared. “They wouldn’t obey me if I spoke to them under duress; they’ve got passengers to think of.”
“Then we can blast our way in.”
“What for? What good would the ship do you if the passengers were exposed to vacuum? We aren’t carrying any cargo but personal baggage.”
“One or two of them might survive, and the death of the rest would be on your head.”
“But you’ve already got one,” Terry pointed out, “and I’m worth more to you than the others. I’m the grandson-in-law of Arthur Bramfield, who as you may know is one of the richest men in North America. You’d better cut your losses while you have something to bargain with.”
This ne
ws had an effect; it took them a while to recover. Terry’s laser pistol was taken from him, as he had known it would be, and he was pushed roughly into a seat while the mercenaries conferred. They had undoubtedly been promised ransom money on top of what Hiller’s intermediary was paying them; if he had not mentioned the identity of the captain, it could only be that he hadn’t wanted them to be put off by fear of Bramfield’s revenge. Thank God, Terry thought. His greatest worry had been that they might know Kathryn was aboard.
After a few minutes the woman again confronted Terry. “Arthur Bramfield will want you in one piece,” she said, “but he’ll settle for less if he has to. The only question now is how many pieces will be missing.”
A big, burly man who actually looked like a pirate pulled Terry to his feet and propelled him over to the comm board. “Call your ship,” he growled, “and tell your crew that Bramfield won’t be pleased with them if his grandson-in-law isn’t returned intact.”
“Like hell I will,” Terry replied in what he hoped was a strong voice. Until now he had not been seriously afraid; it had not occurred to him that he faced anything worse than roughing up. Yet this development was all too logical. The men didn’t know why they had been hired to intercept Promise, he realized, and they naturally assumed that its crew had no motive for holding out beyond self-interest. They did, apparently, know that incurring the wrath of a powerful billionaire was a less inviting prospect than being held for ransom.
“If you don’t, we will,” the woman declared, “and they’ll let us dock whether or not you’ve ordered it.”
“That’s not going to happen. Haven’t you grasped the fact that Bramfield owns the ship and would be even less pleased if it were taken?”
“If he cares more about the ship than about you,” she observed, “then you’re not worth as much to us as you claim.”
“Hey,” said one of the other men, “maybe this solves the mystery of why we were paid to make this look like ordinary piracy. Maybe Bramfield wants to get rid of this guy without antagonizing his granddaughter.”
“In which case, we’d be doing him a favor by finishing him. How about it, Radnor? Relations been cool between you and the old man lately?”
Oh, shit, thought Terry. He had backed himself into a corner.
“He doesn’t take you for a weakling, I’ll say that for you,” the third man said. “More likely he’s afraid you’ll ditch Fleet and muscle in on his empire.”
“We don’t know that,” the woman pointed out, “and the odds are better if we go with the original plan. Come on, Dobbs, let’s get over to the other ship.”
When the two had left in their shuttle, the three remaining men tied Terry to the seat in front of the comm vid pickup, binding his left arm, outstretched, to the armrest with his hand hanging over the end. He did not struggle, knowing it would be useless.
“We’ll start with a couple of fingers,” the big man announced, “just to show we’re serious. If they don’t open up when our shuttle arrives, the hand goes next.” He drew his laser pistol.
“Urick here amputated a whole arm once,” remarked one of the others. “He’s almost as good as a surgeon.” Terry swallowed and said nothing.
The man named Urick took the mike into his other hand. “Promise, this is Starhawk,” he said, “Turn on your vid screen, please. Your captain wants to speak to you.”
God, thought Terry in despair, Kathryn would be on the bridge. He did not think she would be panicked into capitulation, or that Drew would obey her if she did, despite her being the official representative of the ship’s owner. But he could not see how he could endure the thought of what she would suffer if she watched.
Kathryn! he cried in agony, hoping that their stress level would enable telepathy to bridge the distance between ships. Kathryn, this isn’t as bad as it will look. I’m immune to pain, remember. I’ve even learned something about healing. . . . But of course, he did not have the ability to restore body parts that were gone. Fingers were one thing, but if they proceeded to hands, or arms, or . . . He cut off the thought, not wanting to speculate about what might have been implied by the word “intact.”
“Promise, this is Starhawk,” the man repeated. “Respond please, over.”
“They’re gone,” Terry said, praying it was true. “They were under orders to leave if I didn’t contact them within an hour, and it’s been almost that long now.”
“Leave their captain? I don’t think so; Fleet doesn’t operate that way. But they could have been ordered to maintain comm silence, so we’ll assume they’re watching. Any comments for them, Radnor?”
“No,” said Terry, gritting his teeth.
“Okay then, here goes.”
As the targeting beam came on, terror struck him. What if he couldn’t shift into the state for controlling pain? He could just steel himself, maybe—but no, that was what you mustn’t do. You were supposed to relax. To make the mind training work, you had stop caring what happened or how you would react to it. . . . He closed his eyes and did his best not to care.
Easily, without awareness of when it happened, he shifted into altered consciousness and scarcely felt the cut. At the last minute he remembered to scream convincingly, hoping Drew and Amir, and especially Kathryn, would understand why. If he didn’t react normally to pain the men would conclude that he was psychotic, and might then doubt his claim to a tie with Arthur Bramfield.
The blaze of the laser was bright even through his lids and when he opened his eyes the afterimage was so brilliant that it was a moment before he saw that the two smallest fingers of his left hand were gone. The stumps had been cauterized by searing heat, and his hand and forearm were severely burned. At least, he thought dizzily, he wouldn’t have to control bleeding.
“Promise, we know you saw,” said Urick. “If you want your captain to keep his hand, get into position for docking.”
Oh Drew, pleaded Terry to himself, the hour is up. Please, please obey your orders—you can help me only by being gone when that shuttle gets there.
In the next moment the woman’s voice came over the comm. “Starhawk, I’m not picking up any sign of a ship with the sensors. Make Radnor tell you where it’s headed.”
“It jumped,” Terry lied. “It’s headed where you can’t follow.”
Urick stared at him. “Why? Why sacrifice yourself just to save contract passengers? We wouldn’t have killed them, you know. All we wanted was whatever their relatives would pay.”
“You won’t kill me, either,” Terry said. “I’m all you’ve got left to sell, and Bramfield will prefer to receive me in as good shape as possible.”
Promise would travel free of threats from now on, he knew. Hiller would not try the same thing again; two pirate attacks on the same ship would raise suspicions. And when the trips continued without pause, Maclairn’s opponents would see that there was no point in trying to stop the Foundation from recruiting.
~ 37 ~
As it turned out, no ransom was ever demanded; Promise got to Mars first and Fleet patrollers were waiting for Starhawk when it arrived. Terry was taken directly to the medical center in Marsport, but he checked himself out as soon as his hand was bandaged; he wasn’t free to explain why he didn’t need drugs for the continuing pain of the stumps, and he knew the mentors aboard could heal him faster than physicians could. He returned to the ship for a happy reunion with Kathryn. By the time they reached the moon four days later, his hand and forearm showed no sign of injury except for the missing fingers.
He went down to the moon’s surface, letting Kathryn and the passengers take a commercial flight to Earth, because he was ordered to report immediately to Admiral Frazer. After he had given a detailed report of the incident the admiral said, “Once the paperwork is put through you’ll receive the medal you’ve earned twice over, Commander. An encounter with pirates is something I can announce publicly.”
“I don’t need a medal,” Terry protested. “It was my job to protect my ship.”
Terry acquiesced; it was true enough that something needed to be done to reduce the seizures of innocent passengers. But he didn’t look forward to the attention.
“There’s something else I want to discuss with you,” Admiral Frazer told him. “We’ve been testing a new type of interplanetary ship that’s as fast as a starship in normal space and can land like a shuttle—in fact it’s no larger than a shuttle. I believe such a ship would be of value for patrolling Maclairn’s solar system—I know you’ve been using Promise to do that between trips, but if you could train more pilots there would always be at least one ship available. Do you agree, Commander?”
“Yes, sir. It would certainly be extremely useful.”
“Well, then, what I want you to do is take the prototype back with you. You can carry it instead of your shuttle, and Shepard will loan you a Fleet shuttle until you pick up yours. We can’t make extensive test flights in Earth’s system because it hasn’t been publicly announced yet—it has considerable potential for civilian use and we’re not ready to accept bids. Maclairn’s system would be an ideal place to try it out under operational conditions.”
It was agreed that Terry would remain on the moon to be trained in the capabilities of the new ship while Drew and Amir, who were due for leave, hitched a ride to Earth on a Fleet transport and a caretaker pilot from the admiral’s staff stayed with Promise. “He’s not in on the secret,” Frazer said, “but I’ll warn him that the ship might be targeted for sabotage.”
It seemed strange to be back at Fleet’s huge base on the moon. Terry had spent three exciting years at the Academy there, fresh from high school on Earth, and revisiting it after all that had happened since made him feel unreal, as if he were two different people. He was no longer awed by the vast numbers of shuttlecraft arrayed on the lunar plain or the ships that orbited above it, and liftoffs didn’t arouse him as they once had; but the memories stirred nostalgia. He was now viewed by the cadets there as a celebrity. Word about the pirate episode had gotten around; to his embarrassment, trainees and instructors alike crowded around him in the general mess, eager to hear the story. Fortunately, though he was temporarily quartered with staff officers, his days were spent with the engineers and test pilots at the research section of the installation.
The Rising Flame: Box Set: Defender of the Flame + Herald of the Flame Page 23