by Chris Reher
“Delphi,” Jovan said. His voice shook with anger and fear. “They are going to hit Delphi. Within hours.”
Nova felt the blood drain from her extremities and staggered backward when her legs threatened to give out. She could not possibly have heard those words just now. She turned, thinking that she might faint, to see Tychon equally stunned by this revelation. “Is this true?” she whispered.
“It is,” Lok said. “It took very little to convince Rakh to start testing their new toy on Delphi. Obviously, they’re not going to get much further than that.”
“So you know that the ANI is useless for keyholing? That the jump there will likely kill Betl? And you didn’t tell Rakh?”
“Of course not. He’d have his people choose a more strategic target. Your pitiful base on Delphi won’t deter him but without a quick way to leave Delphi again he can’t escape Targon’s retaliation, which I’m sure will be immediate. Please understand me, Nova. I truly wanted you to see the rightness of what I’m trying to do. For all of us. And for a moment I thought I had you convinced. You thought about it, I know.” He shook his head, apparently saddened by his failure to sway her. “I may be an idealist but one must plan for all possible outcomes. And so Delphi will be what motivates you to make the right choice.”
Tychon strode across the room and pushed the Caspian against a crystal wall already veined with long cracks, a dangerous snarl on his bloodless lips. “Disable that program.”
“That isn’t going to happen, Major. And I, unlike your noble Union agents, it seems, am willing to die for my cause.”
Tychon looked angry enough to push the Caspian through the hazy window. But he let him go with the barest shove. None of them here had the skills to amend the program, undoubtedly coded to Lok’s touch.
Nova shook her head, trying to understand. “This can’t be happening. We have to end this!” She moved to the control board.
Tychon grasped her arm. “Wait.”
“What’s there to think about?” she cried, trying to shake him off. “My baby is on Delphi!”
He pulled her close to prevent her from reaching the board. She struggled briefly before slumping in his arms.
“That’s so touching,” Sao Lok marveled. He swept his hand dramatically toward the control panel. “How many Delphians are there? A fragile population of perhaps three million. You can save them by giving up a few thousand Air Command lives and resetting the balance of power in this sector. That’s not such a poor trade, is it?” He tilted his head to smile at Nova. “Imagine: instant peace among the stars! How does it feel to have such power, Captain?”
She lunged at him, prevented from attacking by Tychon’s grip on her arms. “I am going to tear your face off, Lok.”
He waved his six-fingered hand, dismissing her threat. “We all die, Captain. Are you going to let your child die while you live a little longer?” His eyes shifted to Tychon. “And are you going to allow the Shri-Lan to destroy your people? How typical of Delphi arrogance to think that we cannot touch you. It was just a matter of time. Today’s lesson will be painful.”
Nova looked up at Tychon when he slowly released her arms. She had never seen him so completely out of his depth, so utterly doubtful. His people had never, as a race, taken up arms against anyone. Delphi was perpetually at peace, perpetually neutral, trading its plentiful resources to ensure the Union’s protection against the Union’s enemies. The population, concentrated in just one area of the planet, might never recover from an all-out rebel attack. She felt his apprehension and rage like heat radiating from him.
But what would happen to them if the Union as well as the rebel fleets were gutted of their pilots and operators? It would take years to replace them all. And who would rise to power then, and where would that leave Delphi? Where would it leave the other planets that had come to rely on the Commonwealth for peace and prosperity?
And what about her own daughter?
Tychon said nothing. Being Delphian and being Tychon meant that he had never compelled her to yield to his wants and he would not do so now. This was no longer an Air Command operation and he was not her superior officer now. She wanted to shake him, to demand that he, just this once, tell her what to do.
She looked around the room for some answer written among the ancient carvings in the stone. Her eyes lingered on the inactive control panel for a moment and then followed the cables up to the apex of the dome.
“Why are you doing this, Lok?” she said tonelessly as she walked to the control panel. She hesitated before activating the transmitter and chose the coordinates for the jumpsite leading away from Gramor. All of them heard a mechanical buzz when the transmitter above them adjusted to the planet’s current angle. She returned to Tychon’s side with a meaningful look upward. His brows twitched as he tried to discern her intent. “Stop this madness,” she added.
“Madness? It’s brilliant! I only meant for you to cause a little damage before your people complete the ANI. No doubt they’ll discover ways to prevent innovations like mine. But when the Shri-Lan joined the party I realized the true potential for a decisive strike against the Union. How could I resist turning this into the greatest battle that never took place?”
“Enough of this,” a harsh voice cut through the silence that followed Lok’s words.
Five Caspians moved into the crystal dome, guns in hand. Out of habit and training, Nova stepped away from Tychon to spread out their target.
“Leave this to me, Vir Khoja,” Lok said to the woman who had spoken. Her luxuriantly gleaming hide bore the stripes of Caspia’s northern region, the dominant sector of their planet.
Nova heard Tychon stifle a groan.
Khoja ignored Lok’s objection. “Send your signal, Human,” she said in heavily accented Union mainvoice. “End this. We have other business.”
Nova shook her head. They needed more time! “There has to be another way.”
The Caspian looked to the younger Delphian standing silently nearby, utterly shaken and confused by these events. “This is what your Union brought you, Delphi. And this Union agent is going to let your planet be destroyed, along with her own young, just so that the mighty Air Command does not suffer defeat. This is what you ally yourself with!”
Jovan swallowed. “What other business?”
“We did not kill your mate,” Tychon said. “Although I don’t suppose it makes any difference now, does it?”
“None.” Her cold smile did not touch her eyes. “Watching you destroy your own clan would satisfy us completely, but that is not why we are here. We want to see the end of the Commonwealth and that goal is in sight now. You will launch that program at your fleet, save your planet and then face our retribution for Pe Khoja’s loss.”
“Pe Khoja was a murdering psychopath!” Nova hissed. “He deserved what he got!”
“By your measure, Human. His mates, his children, did not deserve it.” She nodded to the control board. “Have you made your choice, then?”
All of them started when an ear-piercing shriek rang through the countless passages of the Abiah. It echoed eerily, seeming to multiply as it rang through the mountain’s crystal veins, taken up by another shriek before it finally died down. Excited shouts reached them in the language of Caspia.
“A plane approaches eastwards. Not one that belongs to our people.”
Nova, as the least surprised of all of them, immediately aimed her weapon at Vir Khoja and fired. Tychon was not far behind and shot another of the Caspians before flinging himself behind some of the stone blocks scattered throughout the space. Nova whirled to take out a third and then moved to Lok.
But the Caspian had already rushed to where Jovan still stood. He snatched the gun from the youth’s hand and jammed it under his jaw. “Back,” he hissed at his hostage. “In there!” He forced Jovan toward one of the side passages.
“Jovan!” Nova cried. She ducked a projectile that shot past her to shatter a massive pane of crystal. Razor shards rained down
on her and smashed into smaller bits on the ground. She felt blood trickling where one scraped along her cheek. Tychon shot two of Khoja’s followers and the rest were driven back into the shelter of the corridor.
More battle cries rose from the depths of the Abiah as the rebels were alerted to the crisis in the dome. Distantly, answering calls rose from the crystal canyons.
Another shriek stabbed her ears, this one much closer. Nova turned to see Jovan’s hands clasped around Sao Lok’s head as if he meant to crush it. His expression was utterly devoid of emotion while something ghastly was taking place in the Caspian’s brain. After a long, terrible moment, Jovan dropped the lifeless body.
Nova rushed over to him. “What did you do? What was that?”
Tychon picked up a piece of broken stone column and heaved it at another of the crystal panes. It shattered to open the way onto the crumbled platform ringing the dome. He stepped outside to search the horizon, apparently not troubled by what had just happened.
“You said your people couldn’t do that!” Nova shouted to him. She turned back to Jovan who stood over Sao Lok’s body with terror and awe written on his face. He looked at his hands and slowly balled them into fists.
Tychon came back inside and grasped the youth’s arm. “He’s a Shantir, Nova.” He aimed past her to take down a Centauri rebel that had appeared at the opening to the passage. Those that followed held back now, unwilling to enter the open space between the entrance and their quarry. “Come on!”
Still mystified by what had just happened, Nova ran past them and out onto the platform. A cruiser swooped into view from the other side of the mountain. “Is that the Dutchman?” She adjusted the output of her laser to draw his attention, wagering the rest of their otherwise very short lives that this was Seth and not another rebel plane. He came about and directed a volley of his own at the top of the dome. Something impacted up there and then they heard a loud crash as a construct of twisted metal, formerly a transmitter, crashed through the crystal roof to shatter on the floor.
Tychon motioned for Seth to hover near the platform outside the dome.
“You’re not serious!” Nova shouted over the noise of the plane. The Dutchman’s airlock door slid aside to reveal Vincent, waving frantically.
“Just don’t look down,” Tychon advised. He pulled Jovan forward. “Can you do this?”
Vincent had spotted some of the rebels inside the dome and laid some covering fire, using bright tracers to keep the laser going to the correct target.
“Jovan!” Tychon grasped the youth’s collar as if to shake him. “Come on!”
Jovan blinked, startled out of whatever had claimed his attention.
Nova stepped closer to the edge of the platform when a piece of it crumbled under her feet. She threw herself back just before it fell away and tumbled into the depths below. “Damn plane used to have a ramp. Where is the ramp?”
“Careful,” Vincent shouted. “The ledge is paper-thin. You’ll have to jump!”
Nova dared not to ponder this proposition for any length of time. She glanced at Tychon and then back at the ship hovering beside the platform. Vincent raised his arms. She ran. She jumped. Her shin collided painfully with the edge of the door and then she was inside, helped by Vincent’s strong hands. Acie was behind him and dragged Nova farther into the hold.
“Ty!” Nova shouted and turned back.
Tychon nudged Jovan ahead. More agile than she would have thought, he leaped at the opening and landed on both feet just inside the portal. He tumbled aside at once to make room for Tychon in the small space.
Tychon turned when one of the pillars supporting the dome’s roof collapsed behind him, bringing down more shards of crystal. Nova joined Vincent in firing at some of the rebels, holding them back to give Tychon more time. She knew that Seth’s view of the platform was limited to a few camera angles when he moved the ship further along the platform, away from the now heavily damaged area. The ship briefly made contact with the edge and, feeling that, he pulled away before more pieces broke off.
“Now,” Vincent yelled. “Jump!”
Tychon did, just as one of the rebels stepped out onto the platform and took aim. A bullet tore into his thigh as he leaped and Nova screamed when he missed and only one foot landed on the bottom frame of the Dutchman’s gate. Flailing, he managed to grasp an intake valve and now clung to the ship’s exterior beside the door. A laser impacted only a handspan from his extended arm and Vincent answered. The rebel tumbled off the platform and into the Deeps.
“Seth!” Acie yelled into the ship’s interior. “Turn the plane! But don’t go anywhere.”
Seth responded by rotating the plane to offer only its hull to the enemy’s fire. Now there was nothing below Tychon but the distant and jagged crystal spires. Nova looked outside to see blood already staining his leg from thigh to ankle. She refused to look down. “He’s not going to make it till we can land somewhere.”
Jovan pulled her back. “Hang on to me,” he said, shouting against the wind whistling through the cargo space. Nova grasped his arm while Vincent hooked his hand into Jovan’s waist band. Acie clung to Vincent’s vest, more out of fear than any ability to keep the large Human from being pulled outside along with the rest of them.
Jovan leaned far out of the gate and reached out to Tychon who wasted no time in worrying about the likely outcome of the offer. Their hands locked around each other’s wrist and then he released the valve to swing into the ship, crashing all of them to the floor.
Nova rolled over to him. “Are you okay?” she asked breathlessly.
Tychon gaped at her for a moment before laughing, even as he grimaced in pain. “Go,” he said. “Hurry.”
She scrambled to her feet once she saw that Acie had pressed her hand firmly over the spurting wound on Tychon’s leg.
“All aboard?” Seth asked when she leaped into the cockpit.
“Did any of the Air Command ships arrive yet?”
“Not a single one. Busy, I guess. So I thought I’d start smashing transmitters. I want to point out that it’s a whole lot easier to find a transmitter when it’s actually turned on.”
“That’s what I thought. Do I still have command level access to this plane?”
“Just like you left it.”
Nova connected her ANI to the Dutchman, likely the only transmitter on this planet not tainted by Lok’s kill switch program. She leaned on the com console as if pressing her hands against the smooth surface could improve the connection. Without the packet relays destroyed by Rakh on his way to Pelion, the only way to reach anyone outside this sub-sector was to use the ANI as it had been designed.
“There it is,” she whispered when the Dutchman located the jumpsite. There was no need to widen the breach by very much. Carefully, she directed the processors to probe the void. She tried a few of the mapped terminals until the ship made contact. “I think I’ve got it,” she said. “There’s a ship out there! We’ve got us an Air Command ship!” As in the lab on Dannakor, she requested and was instantly granted access to link her systems to the distant carrier. From there, the ANI used the communications system to interface with the ship’s operator.
“Hear me,” she said. “Don’t be alarmed. You will not be able to reply,” she spoke aloud to keep her thoughts organized and to let the others hear her message. “Contact Air Command immediately, closed band, top priority. The Shi-Lan attack is on Delphi. I repeat: Imminent enemy incursion directed at Delphi, likely from Pelion.” She repeated the message to make sure that whomever she had just utterly frightened by this apparently telepathic message hadn’t fallen off their chair. To many of her fellow pilots, the ANI concept was still only a distant possibility. “Secondly, requesting a hostage extraction on Gramor Bejo. Hostages are in danger, so spare us a spanner and get here immediately.” She hesitated a moment and then winked at Seth. “And then send this message to Targon: Captain Nova Whiteside reporting for duty. Eventually.” Nova dropped her link to the
ship and collapsed into the Dutchman’s co-pilot bench.
Seth turned to look at his passengers as they staggered into the main cabin, taking in Jovan’s torn and filthy clothing, Nova’s bloodied face and tangled mass of hair, Tychon’s bleeding bullet wound. “So where are the others?”
Epilogue
“You’re not hiding, are you?” Nova said softly when she finally found Tychon reclining in one of the rooms overlooking the verdant fields of his clan’s estate. His faraway eyes told her that he was deeply immersed in a khamal, likely one used by Delphians to heal their bodies, and she stroked his cheek until he blinked slowly. He shifted his arm when she laid down beside him, carefully avoiding his injured leg. “Weren’t you going to join us?”
“It’s so peaceful here,” he said.
She had to agree. Two of the walls of this room were made entirely of windows, now flung open to allow Delphi’s cool breezes to waft through the room, bringing with them the smell of the fields and trees outside. Gauzy curtains moved hypnotically, creating a play of shadows over the tiled floor. It was Nova’s favorite retreat, a soft and feminine space in her often hard-edged world and she had not expected to find him here.
“I just talked to Acie and Anders. He said to come by tomorrow, before they leave for Shaddallam.”
Tychon’s lips curved in a smile. “What’s going on with those two?”
Nova grinned back at him. “What do you think?”
“And Vincent is allowing that? Anders is... well, you know. Anders.”
Nova reached up to push a long strand of his hair behind his ear. “She’s got Vincent around her little finger. As long as she’s happy, so is he.”
Tychon nodded contemplatively. “She’s safer with Anders than risking her neck with the likes of Sethran Kada.”
“He saved all of our necks,” she reminded him. “That was a bad spot we were in.”
“Yes, it was. Let me know if there are any more scruffy ex-boyfriends that are useful.”