by Chris Reher
The perimeter alarm in the cockpit sounded stridently, startling both of them. Nova cursed silently and pulled out of his embrace only after a playful tug on his lower lip with her teeth. He followed her into the cockpit where she dropped into the pilot’s bench to activate the screens. “Five bogeys,” she said. “Coming from the south.”
He sat in the other chair and lowered its crash guard. “Those are Shrills. Damn, I thought we’d taken them all out. Let’s get off the ground.”
Nova also secured herself into her bench. She reached for the pilot’s headset to connect the neural interface at her temples to the ship’s main processors. The control board in front of them lit up to confirm the link to her brain. She ran a rapid systems check and hovered the cruiser off the ground and into the air so that she could engage the shielding. “This is no Eagle,” she muttered when she felt a slight delay between her mental commands and the ship’s response. “What guns do we have?”
He was busy loading a selection of armament. “Nothing but standard issue.” He reached for an interface that also included a visor.
“You want to drive?” she said, knowing that he was the better pilot just as her feel for the outboard arsenal was more refined than his.
“You’re not scared of five little Shrills, are you?”
“Hell, no.” Nova punched the ship upward, slamming both of them into their pilot couches, and swooped around to head toward the approaching rebel fighter planes. The higher altitude would give them a little more room to maneuver around the more agile Shrills. It would also make it easier for the rebel planes to surround the cruiser.
Tychon wasted no time once the enemy wing came into range. Using the ship’s laser weapons, he picked off the fighter in the center. It tumbled wildly and exploded as they passed over it, scattering debris into the cruiser’s path. The other fighters broke left and right and screamed past their ship while peppering its shields with solid projectiles. Nova executed an overhead loop to come around again, taking a wide approach to keep the planes to one side. Tychon continued his barrage, rapidly calculating the beams’ trajectory with the aid of the ship’s processors tapped into his brain. The aim was precise and another Shrill spun out of control toward the ground.
A concentrated volley impacted the cruiser’s aft shield. “That one’s coming down!” Nova said.
“Keep to port, Whiteside,” Tychon said without inflection. By the tone of his calm voice Nova knew that he had dropped into a deeper level of awareness, another khamal, which allowed him to block most external distractions. “Shrill at six.”
“I see it,” she said, her eyes closed as she focused on the ship’s sensors. She executed the defensive maneuver and avoided the enemy’s missile lock by a hair. The Eagle class ship that they normally piloted would handle this engagement far more efficiently and it took all of her concentration to succeed. Tychon lobbed a missile at the fighter behind them and destroyed it.
“Beautiful, Captain,” he said. “The other two are bugging out.”
“Follow?”
“No,” he decided. “Let’s get out of here. We did not detect that hardware during our last sweep. Perhaps they landed more. I’m not interested in an all-out battle in this tin box with only Vanguard Two still in range.”
She nodded and calculated an escape from the planet’s atmosphere for the cruiser. “We’ll make a dash for the jumpsite to Feyd in case they send anyone after us. It’s heavily guarded. We can take the jump to Targon from there.”
“Good idea, although I doubt they’ll bother. None of the rebels we caught are terribly important. The only useful thing we accomplished here is to take out a really rather sophisticated relay.” He paused while directing the ship to request a communication packet for his report to HQ. “You know, if you’d taken the Eagle instead of this boat we could keyhole directly home instead of crawling around in real space to the jumpsite.”
She blinked in wide-eyed and entirely counterfeit surprise. “What? You mean this fine ship doesn’t have the guts to make it through a keyhole? And that I could have traded a shortcut home for the pleasure of having you exhausted for hours afterward? Dear me! Why didn’t I think of that? Now we’re stuck with each other for days! What will we do with all that time!”
He laughed. “Set a course for Feyd, then, Captain.”
They soon broke away from the planet and headed out into space, toward the jumpsite. Their ship would get them there within a few hours. After the leap through that open site toward the safer parts of Trans-Targon, a leisurely two-day cruise through normal space would see them home. Like Tychon had suggested, using a higher-quality ship like the Eagle would have allowed them to slip through sub-space directly to Delphi air space. But it was expensive and took its toll on the machines as much as the expert navigator required for the maneuver. And so, using an already-expanded, stable and mapped jumpsite like any of the regular commercial flights was still the most economical way to move between sub-sectors.
Nova programmed the auto-pilot while listening to his report, more focused on the gentle tones of his voice than anything he had to say to their commanding officer on Targon. Unlike most of his kinsmen, he had spent decades in the military among other species and his words were unaccented.
Still using her interface with the ship’s processors, she moved her mental focus to give him a playful, wordless nudge. He responded with a smile but sent no reply. Exchanging words and images telepathically was possible between them but, because she was Human, left him tired and with a headache and so they used it only in times of need.
Humans lacked the Delphians’ mild telepathic talents but, over time, some palpable connection had grown between them that transcended their dependence on mechanical means. It was probably what had allowed him to detect her presence in that jungle even when she was tracking him faultlessly. Nova suspected that the transformation she had undergone three years ago had something to do with that.
She started to ask him about that but then thought better of it. The subject of his son and the events leading up to that terrible day above Shaddallam, while not taboo, often put him into a somber mood from which he was not easily lifted.
And a somber mood was not what she needed from him just then. She waited for him to complete his report and send it on its way. It would arrive at the jumpsite’s unmanned relays long before they did. “You’ll be on Delphi for a while, then?” she asked. Assured that no one had followed them from the planet, she engaged the auto-pilot and disconnected her interface with the ship. He did the same and lifted his seat restraints.
“Something tells me that Colonel Everett is going to make it a short stay.”
“Well,” she said slowly. “Yes.”
He sat up and put his feet on the floor. “Let’s hear it, Whiteside.”
She took a deep breath and spoke quickly. “I got approved for the Azon Neural Interface and he wants us both on the test projects before Air Command goes ahead with the contract. Deep space.”
As she had feared, the bright blue of his eyes deepened and his brows drew together in disapproval. “I thought you didn’t make the cut.”
“I didn’t. But I’m the only Human with first-hand experience of the Delphian khamal. I guess I’m a sort of baseline. So they want me, after all.”
“And you said yes.” He lifted a hand to touch the triangular module on his temple. “The ANI is a pretty big leap from this current design. I thought they were going to hold off before field testing it.”
“Well, they’ve tested it as much as they could and now want to test it through sub-space. And I don’t want to train with anyone but you.”
“I am the only Level Three spanner with that sort of clearance. It’s still classified, isn’t it?”
She searched his face anxiously, looking for any hint of what he may be thinking. But after his initial reaction he had withdrawn behind that infuriating Delphian veneer of indifference that even she, even now, could not penetrate. “Yes, it’s class
ified,” she said. “But even if it wasn’t I wouldn’t want anyone else.”
“Because it’s dangerous.”
She climbed out of her couch and stood between his knees to wrap her arms around his neck. “No, because we’d be out there for weeks and I’d rather be with you than anyone else they’d come up with.”
He looped his arms around her waist. “I know what you’re up to, Nova. It’s not that easy.”
“Yes, it is,” she said. He shivered when her lips brushed his ear. “See?”
“What about Cyann? We agreed not to take on that sort of assignment for a while.”
Nova pulled back. “We just got attacked by five Shrills! And you’re worried about jumping a simple keyhole? She’s safe with your clan and with her uncle Anders. You worry too much.” She bit her lip. Nagging him about his constant dread that something would harm their daughter was likely not a good strategy at this point. “Besides,” she added quickly. “We’ll get to take an Eagle. What do you love more than flying that ship?”
“Nova,” he sighed deeply. “That’s an interesting question, given that my entire field of vision is currently taken up by your very exceptional bosom. I really shouldn’t expect a clean fight from you.”
“We’re not fighting. Are you coming with me or not?”
“When are they doing the implant?”
“Not for a couple of weeks so we can go home for a while. There will be four of us: two Humans, two Centauri. It’s not cleared for Delphians yet, on account of your delicate brains.” She jumped when he pinched her for that comment. “The lab is out on Dannakor but Air Command is providing security while the project is classified. I guess that means they want to be sure they’re the only customer for this thing. After I’ve got mine we’ll leave from Targon for the sub-space tests.”
“Where will that be?”
“Don’t know. Hopefully somewhere interesting.”
He tilted his head toward the lounger in the main cabin. “How about I show you something interesting in the meantime?”
Chapter Two
“I think she’s going to look like her mother, don’t you?” Tychon smiled up at the baby balanced on his chest. She gurgled and drooled and bounced on her diapered bottom while he held her hands.
“She’s but an infant,” the K’lar nanny said in very acceptable Delphi mainvoice. She lounged comfortably in a chair drawn close to Tychon’s hammock, here in a shaded part of the carefully tended gardens, ready to catch the child should his indulgence of Cyann’s energetic wriggling turn perilous.
But this was not the first baby he had held and he managed to keep her both safe and entertained. “She’s got Nova’s eyes, in blue,” he decided. “And, thankfully, her nose.” He ran two fingers through the fine blue curls drifting around the child’s head. Almost two years old now, already long-limbed and agile, Cyann was developing at a rate more common to Humans than his people. Much of her physiology was Delphian and he hoped that her mental capacities would develop that way as well. But it was Nova’s face that smiled back at him.
“Nothing wrong with your nose,” the woman said. Ever alert, she turned toward the house when they heard some voices from there. Although an experienced nursemaid, preferred by both Nova and Tychon over the often reserved and strict Delphian caregivers, Pryca was, despite her comfortably padded curves, expertly trained in hand-to-hand combat and was a sure shot with several weapons. She was not the only armed guardian installed here, in the sprawling compound on Delphi used by Tychon’s clan.
“I prefer Nova’s.” Tychon turned the child to lie down on his chest where she held a few strands of his hair in one hand and sucked the fingers of the other. “I think she’s ready for her nap.”
Pryca made to get up. “I’ll take her inside, then.”
“No, we’ll stay out here. Such a beautiful day. Machi has done amazing things with the garden. I wish we could be here more.”
“As does your mother, I’m certain,” Pryca said with only the faintest hint of reproach. Both knew it was neither the weather nor the garden that kept Tychon out here with his child. She smiled when he kissed the top of the baby’s head and closed his eyes. “It was nice to have the both of you here these past few weeks.”
“Yes,” Tychon said softly as to not wake the child. Nova had undergone her tedious preliminary physical and psych tests on the Union base located here on Delphi. It had given them plenty of time for their furlough, something they rarely took at the same time, before she departed for Dannakor to receive her new neural implant. “Nova loves it here. But you can’t keep her out of a plane for long. She’ll be back in a few days and then we’re both heading into the Badlands for a short mission.”
Pryca knew better than to ask about the details of the assignment. “Not a dangerous one, I hope.”
“Not especially,” Tychon assured her automatically but something about his own words sounded false to him. Was he really sure about that? The privately-developed Azon Neural Interface was not just an upgrade for the neural appliance that he, like any other pilot, carried in his head. Like that one, the ANI allowed them to mentally direct complex machinery but, unlike the previous model, it was also designed for communication. By expanding its access to other areas of the operator’s brain, the ANI exchanged brain wave information instantly with another device even through a jumpsite. This would finally make two-way communication possible regardless of distance and render the tedious exchange of relayed packets of information obsolete. Azon Corp, the developer of the new device, was banking on the military contract that was sure to come their way.
The fact that the fundamental concept of the ANI was based on the Delphian khamal used to mentally join individuals did little to convince Tychon that the mother of his child should be experimenting with it.
Two people entered the little grove behind the main house, cutting through the peace of the afternoon with loud, anxious voices. Tychon’s hands tightened around Cyann.
“Ty, there’s a call from the base,” one of the discreetly armed guards called. “They need you there.”
Tychon frowned and then realized that he had left his wrist array in the house, likely on purpose to avoid disturbances like this. He sat up and handed the baby to Pryca. “What’s happened?”
“It’s Anders. He’s badly hurt and asking for you.”
Tychon leaped from the hammock and rushed to a wall-mounted screen in an open breezeway of the clan home. His bare feet hardly registered the fine gravel of the walkway. A woman in hospital garb awaited him.
“Major Tychon,” she said at once. “There has been an... incident. Base command is requesting your presence.”
“Is he all right? What happened?”
“It is best if you came here immediately,” the medic said with a glance over Tychon’s shoulder at Pryca and the guard that had fetched them.
“I’ll be there in moments.” Tychon hurried into the house to change his clothes without paying much attention to what he pulled on before racing outside again to jump into one of the farm’s air cars. It did, indeed, take only moments for him to skim across the open, sundrenched fields of the valley at top speed, startling a few of his neighbors when he cut across their grounds.
Located in the foothills at the opposite side of the valley, UCB Delphi was the only outside installation permitted on this planet and included the only hospital. The local population preferred the effective healing dispensed by the Shantir sect who used the power of their brains to heal injury and illness. But Anders was Human and an officer and so he had been taken to the base clinic.
Tychon barely slowed at the gates to place his hand onto the electronic sentry and had to back up again to give it enough time to scan his eyes before he sped directly to the small hospital wing.
He practically armed the attending staff out of the way when he was shown to the room where his friend waited for him. His steps faltered when he saw armed guards as well as the base commander, Colonel Jervada. “What is
going on?” Something in their grim demeanor told him that this was not another accident Anders had managed on his experimental hover sled.
“Major,” Jervada held up a hand to prevent Tychon from entering the treatment room. “Captain Devaughn is out of danger, but he is unconscious at the moment. Please step over here.”
Frowning, Tychon followed him out of earshot of guards and hospital staff.
“I have dispatched a detail of guards to your family compound. They will be there very soon. We’re also setting up a perimeter kit there and requesting clearance of all incoming traffic, whether or not they are landing on this base.”
Tychon’s face turned so bloodless that the slight blue cast of his skin became clearly visible. But, like all Delphians, he was able to rapidly bring his instinctive reactions under control to deal with this crisis as rationally as possible. “My family?”
“They will be safe, Major.” Jervada placed a hand on Tychon’s arm as if to restrain him from immediately returning to the valley. He understood that the thought of endangering yet another child in whatever misfortunes the Union’s wars had visited upon Delphi was foremost on Tychon’s mind even if none of that showed on his face. Few of the long-lived Delphians produced more than one or two children and their families, although small, were of greatest value to the entire population. “We have not been able to get a lot of information from Anders yet. He spoke little when he was brought here. It appears that yesterday some men came to his home and questioned him about you and your family. Since your clan holdings were not breached I’m guessing that he didn’t give them your location.”
“Or they don’t have the means to get past our security.” Tychon ran his long hands over his face and considered the possibility that, while he had lounged happily in the garden with his baby, someone may have watched and listened from the nearby hills. It was a chilling thought and he was suddenly glad that he had resisted Nova’s teasing and his elders’ objections to the guards roaming the compound.