‘Good,’ Aneka said, leaning back in her chair, ‘because I haven’t had any in ages either, so when you two have finished reconnecting, it’s my turn.’
12.11.559 FSC.
The fortified rock that was Border Enforcement Station 395 filled the view from Gwy’s flight deck. As space stations went, it was not especially large and it was rather unassuming, considering that it was meant to mark Pinnacle’s claim to the system. It was fairly well armed, with good sensors, and there was a cruiser attached to it via a docking pylon, but the effect was rather unimpressive.
‘I believe your view is coloured by the stations back at Shadataga,’ Al commented.
‘Maybe,’ Aneka replied. ‘Gwy, are we getting anything which might be Ella’s implant?’
‘No, Aneka,’ the ship replied. ‘However, the station is noisy and the wireless system implanted in Ella is designed for short range.’
‘Yeah… Okay, we observe for a while. See what you can do about tapping their comms. Do full passive scans of the station, and compare it with the generalised schematic. If I’m going in, I’d like to know as much about the place as possible.’
‘I have already begun,’ Gwy replied.
‘Of course you have. I expected nothing less.’
~~~
Aneka moved across the surface of the asteroid carefully, keeping low against the rock. It was mostly to ensure she did not float away from it since it was spinning and the only things keeping her attached were the gripper strips on her nanosuit. She was using the suit because it had optical camouflage, radar stealth, and thermal suppression, and she could only keep her personal cloak up for so long. The fact that it could bounce bullets and beams as well as her shield was incidental; she did not really expect to need that.
‘All right,’ she said, ‘everything’s in place. Blow it.’
Of course, the explosions made no sound, but she felt the slight vibration in the rock as the docking pylon holding the cruiser in place sheared off along a joint and the big warship began to spiral slowly off into space.
‘I am detecting alarm codes being broadcast through the station,’ Gwy reported.
Aneka nodded, even if the AI could not see it. ‘Good. Al?’
‘Connection to the internal network made. I have successfully bypassed security. The airlock will open… now.’
‘If only everything was so easy.’ Aneka slipped in through the opening door and waited for the lock to recycle. The plan was simple enough. The alarms would pull most of the personnel to the other end of the station. Aneka would slip in, locate the cells, rescue Ella and get her aboard Gwy where she could berate her at length on the way back to Shadataga. The makeup sex would be lengthy and very energetic. ‘Okay, do we have a location for Ella?’
‘There are no currently occupied cells according to the environmental systems,’ Al replied. ‘We need to locate a secure terminal so that I can access their more restricted systems.’
Aneka’s heart sank. ‘There are weapon turrets in this section, right? We could probably jack in from there.’
‘A good plan. Go right. You should see an access ladder to the nearest turret in about twenty metres.’
‘The cruiser has stabilised its spin,’ Gwy reported. ‘I am monitoring traffic regarding the issue. You were correct. Their initial assumption is mechanical failure. They are, however, actively scanning the near area, almost as though they are expecting a cloaked ship.’
‘Cloaking tech isn’t common in this region,’ Aneka said, not frowning because it was quite hard in the suit.
‘No, but they are performing slow, high-definition scans in a wide frequency range.’
‘You’re secure?’
‘They have not detected me yet.’
The turret was a tight squeeze for a big man and not too easy for Aneka, but it had a control panel with a data port. Aneka settled into the gunner’s seat, produced a length of optical cable and plugged it in. Then she told her suit to open up and the metallic material unwrapped from around her head and neck so that she could plug in.
‘Searching,’ Al stated almost immediately.
Aneka tried to wait patiently. It was not an easy task when your brain ran at the speed of a high-powered quantum computer, but she did her best. The scanning was concerning her. Why were they scanning for a cloaked ship? There were few cultures in this region of the galaxy with the technology to build one, as far as she knew none of those had done so, and if they had, they were unlikely to attack the Pinnacle.
‘Al, could you spare a few cycles to check internal comms? See if you can find out what they’re looking for.’
‘A pirate vessel,’ Al responded without pause. ‘A ship called the Hope of Sanctuary. The commanding officer has stated several times that someone called “Kade” might be responsible. They have failed to locate Gwy, however, and are standing down from high alert.’
‘They’re still scanning,’ Gwy said. ‘I assume that since nothing else has happened they are just being thorough.’
‘And I have found the data on Ella,’ Al said. ‘It is not good news. She was taken off the station to be delivered to a planet named Ariadne approximately eight days ago.’
‘Crap,’ Aneka growled. ‘Can we get location data?’
‘Already done. Aneka, they convicted her on trumped-up terrorism charges. The sentence was passed down from quite far up their hierarchy. And that is where things get odd. She is to be enslaved on arrival at Ariadne, but the commanding officer was told to tell her she was being taken for execution.’
‘Okay, well at least she’s alive. But why the subterfuge? Isn’t slavery bad enough?’
‘There is no explanation aside from a comment that she is to be treated under “protocol fourteen.”’
‘And I assume you can’t find that protocol explained anywhere?’
‘There is nothing with that description in the data we took on Oberian,’ Gwy put in.
‘I suspect that it forms part of an eyes-only instruction given to station commanders,’ Al said.
Aneka sagged slightly. ‘How important do we think that is?’
‘I am unable to pass an opinion without further information. If we don’t know, we could be left in a difficult situation on Ariadne.’
‘And that’s going to be hard enough as it is. This is going to get messy.’
Cassandra’s voice cut in at that point. ‘Do you need me over there with Al’s drone?’
‘No… but get ready. You’re going to become pretty visible soon and Gwy will need some help.’
‘What do you need?’
‘I need a route to the reactor and communications room on this station, and you need to get ready to take out that cruiser.’
~~~
‘Hey, arsehole, wake up.’
Detrow groaned and turned over on his bed. His suite was fairly palatial considering that it was aboard a Pinnacle space station. He did not have to share the rooms with anyone else either. Not all of the crew were so fortunate. As his vision swam into focus, he realised that he was sharing it with someone now. Someone holding a very large handgun.
‘That’s right,’ Aneka said, ‘open those eyes and pay attention. I need some information, and you’re going to give it to me. I’m on a bit of a schedule here, so I’d appreciate it if you listened carefully and answered quickly.’
‘You’ll never get out of here alive,’ Detrow growled, reaching for the comms unit beside his bed… and stopping when he realised it had been ripped out.
‘I beg to differ. What’s protocol fourteen?’ His eyes flicked to her pistol. ‘Oh, sorry, you haven’t been introduced. This is Racine. She’s so far ahead of any technology you have it would make your mouth water, I have no doubt. I came up with the concept, but it took a genius and two of the greatest artificial minds in the galaxy to make it work. She’s a multi-role, automatic, replicator-fed gravitic pistol. Capable of firing a three-mil round at a respectable percentage of the speed of light. She’s very accurate, so if I pull
the trigger right now, you’ll lose both your legs below the knee. Now, what’s protocol fourteen?’
‘You’re looking for the Narrows woman. She was sent to be executed.’
‘I’ve seen the orders. What’s protocol fourteen?’
‘You can’t have–’
There was a sharp crack and the bed tore open along its entire width. Detrow felt the heat searing into his buttocks and scrabbled off the bed as it began to smoke. Aneka was on her feet beside him before he even realised she was moving, her hand locked around his throat and Racine pointing at his face.
‘Last time. Keep in mind that this information is useful, but not of sufficient importance that I won’t blow your head off and leave to find it elsewhere. What’s protocol fourteen?’
‘Prisoner of special interest,’ Detrow said quickly. ‘Someone in the hierarchy is keeping an eye on her. It’s usually an intelligence operation.’
Aneka’s head rolled back on her neck and she looked up at the ceiling. ‘I killed six people setting this up so you could tell me that she’s a political prisoner? Well that’s just great.’
‘You’ll still never get out of here alive.’
‘Seriously, don’t bet on that.’ Silently she added, ‘Al, blow it. Gwy, hit the cruiser as soon as the bombs go off and then come get me.’ She looked at Detrow, waiting for the alarms to start.
‘What have you done?’ he asked as claxons began sounding.
‘You can find out when you wake up.’ Then she slammed her gun into the side of his head.
13.11.559 FSC.
‘As requested, both the reactor and communications system of the cruiser have been disabled,’ Gwy said as Aneka marched through from the airlock, heading for the main cabin. ‘Cassandra has already initiated warp, and we are on our way to Ariadne.’
‘Great. Ask her to join us in the cabin when she’s happy with the course.’
Cassandra was not exactly happy, but the course was laid in and Gwy was well able to handle the flight from there. ‘So we went to all that trouble, and tipped our hand to the Pinnacle, to discover nothing especially useful?’ the android asked as she walked in.
Al’s avatar stirred as he took control of it. ‘Essentially that is true. The loss of their communications system will significantly delay any warning they may give to their compatriots, however.’
‘Well,’ Aneka said, ‘we confirmed what we suspected, that Ella’s capture had a reason beyond simple information gathering. Any thoughts on the subterfuge regarding her sentence?’
‘They want her scared,’ Cassandra replied. ‘She’ll spend the flight thinking she’s going to die when she gets to the destination. Can we get to Ariadne before she does?’
‘I have no information on the ship which took her,’ Al said. ‘A cruiser we could beat, but if they sent some sort of courier vessel, they have a sufficient head start to make it unlikely.’
‘If they sent a courier to pick her up,’ Aneka mused, ‘it would imply that they’ve had this entire thing planned out for a while. There’s some plot behind all this and I don’t like it. Gwy? We’re at full warp?’
‘Of course, Aneka.’
‘Okay, we make best speed to Ariadne and see what we can discover there.’
Part Four: Ariadne and the Pirate Queen
Ariadne, 12.11.559 FSC.
‘I am pleased to tell you that, by the mercy of Pinnacle Commander Lucifent himself, your sentence has been commuted to life in slavery.’ The officer explaining this to Ella was smiling at her. She suspected that he expected her to be happy about it so she presented him with a relieved smile.
‘Thank you,’ she said. Apparently he had been expecting more because he looked a little confused for a second. ‘Thank you so much,’ she added.
‘Yes… You have been assigned to the family of one of our commanders. You will be taken there immediately. This is your first and last warning. Any attempt to escape or act to the detriment of your owners will result in your immediate execution.’
‘Of course.’
The man frowned at her. ‘Take her away,’ he said to the guards standing on either side of her.
Ella went, meek as could be, with the guards. In truth, she had expected the reprieve and it came as no surprise. They had woken her up four days earlier and treated her like a condemned prisoner the entire time. The ship she was on seemed small, a fast courier vessel in all probability, and that had been one extra fact to go with the others which had begun to circulate once the initial panic had worn off. The vessel had to have been sent out ahead of time to collect her. But why was she being shipped to a planet to be executed anyway? The gunner who had displeased his captain had been killed without pause, so why would they wait to kill her?
So it was a shock tactic. In fact, the entire proceeding seemed to have been set up that way. Slavery had been put out there as a possibility. Then it had been yanked away from her and she had been left to worry over that for days before the ‘lesser’ sentence was invoked due to the ‘mercy’ of their ultimate leader. She was meant to feel grateful. She was supposed to feel happy about being enslaved since she had thought she was going to die.
Ariadne was a perfect world to be on while dressed in a lightweight shift of a dress. The atmosphere was humid and warm, tropical warm. The spaceport building had been air-conditioned, but the heat hit Ella as soon as she stepped out through the doors. The guards seemed to be unconcerned, likely used to it. On the other hand, the ground car she was bundled into was similarly air-conditioned so they clearly found the warm, damp air less than pleasing. At least the drive gave her a view of the planet.
Someone, it seemed, was up on their classical mythology. As they moved out of the built-up area around the port, the surrounding area turned to scrubby bushes which showed signs of having been denser forest cut down relatively recently. Stretching across the bushes were filaments, strands of silvery material which looked like webbing. If the odd growth, which was presumably some sort of plant, was endemic, then it had likely given the world its name.
‘See that silver stuff?’ one of her guards said from the front seat. Having him speak was something of a surprise.
‘Yes. Fascinating.’
‘Dangerous. We burn it back from the towns. If you see any, report it. Get too close and it gives out an electric pulse. It’s been known to stop a man’s heart.’
‘Thank you. I’ll be careful.’
‘That’s the standard warning. Everyone sent here gets it, even the slaves.’
‘Thank you anyway.’
He did not reply and they travelled the rest of the way in silence. Ella estimated ten kilometres out from the port complex and then through a gate into a walled community which looked like it was relatively recently built and quite pleasant. She noted, however, that the ground around the wall showed signs of burning and there were small turrets mounted on it, presumably there to keep the web back.
The house they stopped outside was low, a single storey, but still quite large. The area around it was solid, poured concrete from the look of it. Somehow she had expected gardens. The place looked like it should have gardens.
She was taken through the front door and then left and down a corridor into an office. It looked utilitarian rather than part of a home and it contained a man. He was tall and powerfully built, which seemed to be typical of Pinnacle men. The haircut could be generously described as fashionable, it fitted his face nicely, and he was aging well but he was aging. Used to people not doing that unless they wanted to, Ella found it fascinating that a society would embrace the process.
‘Ella Narrows,’ the man said, not getting up from his desk.
‘That’s me,’ Ella replied. The man smiled and pain lanced through her skull.
‘You’ll speak when answering a question,’ he said when the pain had stopped. ‘I am Commander Arundal and I am now your owner. Take the collar off her.’
One of the guards produced a control box and tapped some sort of code
into it. The collar disentangled itself from around Ella’s throat and she thought about thanking them, but she doubted it would be a permanent arrangement and Arundal had told her not to speak. Sure enough, her new owner produced a second collar from his desk and handed it to a guard. It looked more or less the same as the first one, but with different coloured gems mounted in it. Arundal produced a box which he used to lock the collar in place.
‘She’s mine now, men, you may go.’ The two guards turned and left without a word, leaving Ella alone with Arundal. He looked at her briefly as though examining a newly bought car. ‘As I said, you now belong to me. You will be one of my house slaves so my wife will be dealing with you most of the time. If I need to speak to you, it will hurt. Are we clear?’
‘Yes, sir,’ Ella replied.
‘Excellent, you’re a fast learner. Behave, don’t give me cause for concern, and you’ll find this a pleasant assignment. I know why you’re here, so have no doubt I will execute you myself if I even think you’re going to be a problem.’
Ella nodded. She had not actually been asked anything so staying silent seemed like a good idea. Meanwhile, she set her implant working on the radio signals she had recorded from the collar controls. They were encrypted and the protocol would take some time to work out, but she was fairly sure that she would have access to the unlock code within a day or two. Now all she needed was a plan to get off the planet.
13.11.559 FSC.
The day started early in the Arundal household. There was little light in the sky when the slaves were roused from their beds by the house computer and set about their tasks. The family got up about thirty minutes later, expecting the breakfast to be laid out. Commander Arundal was ten minutes later than his wife, son, and daughter since he was being dressed by his personal servant, a rather dour, older man who, despite wearing the same collar as all the other slaves, still seemed to consider himself somehow better than them.
Ella was on breakfast duty and she made sure everything was ready and waiting when the first of the family arrived. Mrs Arundal peered at the table briefly and then gave her a nod indicating that everything was to her satisfaction. Ella said nothing but allowed a pleased smile to show. She wanted them thinking she was happy to serve after all.
Aneka Jansen 7: Hope Page 5