The Deadly Pact

by Michael Freeport

  “Good work, Exec,” Stokes said. He waited while Bendel relinquished the command chair for Stokes.

  Bendel bent over Stokes and said, “Sorry for that display, sir. He needed a sharp nudge. He’s a good officer, but he’s still pretty unsteady.”

  “That’s fine, Exec. Please give me reports without bending over me that way.” .

  Bendel straightened and then said, “Aye, sir.” He turned and sat in the secondary command chair. “Intercept with Aeternum, seventy-nine minutes. That assumes they’ll have to slow for FTL transit like the Alliance ships.

  “Our experience shows that Aeternum will have to slow even earlier. Aeternum has a lot of mass to move around. How far is Lachesis from intercept?”

  “Tracking puts her at intercept in roughly forty-three minutes. They’ll make vector match just as Aeternum begins to slow down. May I ask what happened over there, sir?”

  “I’m not entirely sure, Commander. When I boarded, the ship had begun to request a verification code for use by someone or something called ‘Woduur’. I don’t know what it is, but it clearly has control of Aeternum. I ordered an evacuation of the ship, and just as I was on my way back here, Cobb contacted me with some vague offer of assistance. Given what I know about him and his way of handling ‘sensitive information’, I presume he has the authorization code the ship wanted, but because he’s a paranoid and distrustful sort, he neglected to share it with the navy. I do know, however, that he’s aboard the Lachesis. With luck, they’ll get him aboard in time to enter the code.”

  Bendel had a strange expression on his face. “Cobb was the agent that went after Captain Patho a couple of months ago, isn’t that right, sir?”

  “That’s correct, Exec. At the time, he was using the excuse that he’s from the Karn region, but I found out later that he was being vetted for command of the stealth fleet.” Stokes sighed and shook his head at the memory. It seemed like years ago. “I’m, still not happy with how he was treated, but I do understand it, now that I know he was being considered for such a sensitive command.”

  “Sir, we’re getting a comm request from Admiral Coffee,” Woodard said.

  “Put it up, Commander,” Stokes said. The main plot came on to show Coffee’s broad face. Rather than the usual easy smile the senior admiral often wore, he had a grim set to his features.

  “What’s going on with the Aeternum, Admiral?” Coffee asked. Stokes repeated his story for the admiral, adding that he’d ordered Brand to evacuate the ship. Coffee listened intently and then paused for several seconds before he responded. “Our sensor array is getting a strange energy build up from Aeternum. I have Naval Research on it, but we aren’t sure what it means. I don’t want anyone other than Lachesis getting too close in case it’s some kind of weapon or poses a hazard to other ships. I want your flotilla on standby to render aid for Captain Powell if he has any problems.”

  Stokes nodded and said, “Aye, sir. It is my intent to pursue Aeternum if possible. Once we have their transit vector, we should be able to calculate their first fuel stop. If the ship is on auto navigation, we may have the opportunity to beat her to the next system and board while she refuels.”

  “Very well, Admiral. You’re authorized to pursue up to fifty light years. If Aeternum evades you for any further, you are ordered to let her go.”

  “I understand, sir.” Fifty light years was the limit of their faster than light communication range under ideal circumstances. “With luck, we’ll intercept before Aeternum even leaves Lashmere, sir.”

  “I’ll leave you to it, Admiral. Coffee out.” The main plot shifted back to the navigation overlay.

  Stokes waited with growing impatience as Lachesis closed with Aeternum. The minutes and seconds slowed to a crawl as the point at which Aeternum should begin braking for FTL transit came and went without the ship showing any signs of slowing. Stokes watched his own group of ships reach the point where they began to make up time on Aeternum with its slower acceleration.

  “What’s our time to intercept, Mister Bendel,” he asked.

  “We’ll be able to match our vectors in twenty-seven minutes, Admiral.”

  “Very well. Has Lachesis made her intercept?”

  “It looks like they are moving in to dock now, sir,” Woodard said. Her voice was tinged with disbelief. “It looks like they plan to dock directly, not using a shuttle.”

  Stokes spun in his chair to face his operations officer. “He’s what, Commander?”

  “Lachesis is attempting to dock directly with Aeternum, sir,” She repeated.

  “That’s insane. Aeternum is under full power. Any torque on the airlock could cause a hull breach. Get me on comms with Captain Powell.”

  “Aye, sir.” Woodard worked at her console for a moment before saying, “I can’t raise them, sir. It looks like they’re caught in the energy field Aeternum is emitting.”

  “Put the sensor readings on the main plot, Miss Woodard,” Stokes observed as the display updated. The information was incomprehensible. Part of it looked like the distortion created by the Alliance FTL drive, but there was also a lot of bleed into various energy bands that made no sense. It was like the ship was creating a gravity web of some kind. Stokes couldn’t make heads or tails of it. “Do you have any thoughts, exec?”

  “No, sir. I recognize some of it from my briefings on the Alliance FTL system but the rest? No clue, sir.” Bendel sat back in his chair and scratched his head while he peered at the plot with a confused look on his face.

  “Sir, I think Lachesis is in trouble. They’ve suddenly veered away and have dropped to zero acceleration.” The plot updated to show the destroyer spinning away from Aeternum in an uncontrolled tumble. “It looks like they’ve lost power, sir. No emissions at all,” Woodard said.

  Bendel said, “Sir, we’re getting a transmission from Aeternum. It’s on a light speed frequency.”

  “Put it on, Exec.”

  The screen showed the same odd metallic face he’d seen on the bridge of the Aeternum. “The Woduur claim all products of our technology. Unauthorized use cannot be tolerated. Our technology will cease to function in ten seconds.” The face vanished from the screen.

  “That must be what happened to the Lachesis, sir,” Bendel said. “I wonder if we-” he cut off suddenly as all of the lighting, the artificial gravity and equipment shut off at the same moment.

  Chapter 5

  Hanlon sat against one of the walls, slowly recounting the battle in L262 in her head for what seemed like the thousandth time. The crabs had been waiting for them, and somehow, she couldn’t figure out how, they’d figured out where the expeditionary force planned to go. She couldn’t divine the method they’d used, but the crabs had either discovered their specific strategy, or they’d placed themselves in a variety of locations where they thought the expeditionary force might have been going.

  “Hey, Kiran, are you awake?” Hanlon asked.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Watkins said and sat up on the bed he’d been lying on.

  “Come here for a moment.”

  Watkins stood and, after stretching exorbitantly, moved over to where Hanlon was sitting. He settled himself on the floor next to her with a smile and said, “What can I do for you, ma’am?”

  “I’ve been thinking about how the crabs intercepted us at L262. What kind of analysis do you think they used to predict our movements?”

  Watkins stared at her for a moment before his face settled into a thoughtful expression. “Um, well, ma’am. I haven’t thought much about it. I guess they must have waited after we left L1131 to see where we went next. Once we got to M673, they were able to extrapolate our next most probable destination. What I don’t understand is how they were able to hit us with such a massive force.”

  Hanlon nodded to herself and thought about what Watkins had said for a moment before she responded. “Even so, there were a lot of systems on our target list. Many of them quite a distance from one another. For them to have a good chance of i
ntercepting us, they must have staked out a dozen or more systems. I’m trying to think, what if they met us in L262 with such overwhelming force not because they’d concentrated their entire force, but because they had enough fleet reserve to place such a force in several, or even more frighteningly, all of the systems they predicted we’d enter?”

  Watkins rubbed his chin with the side of his index finger; his eyes narrowed in thought. “If they have a fleet that big, why were they only using a small part of it against the Alliance?”

  “I’m not sure. It seems unlikely the crabs managed to guess the one star system where we planned to go. I think they must have staked out more than one system.” Hanlon thumped her fist onto her knee for emphasis. “Maybe we can get some info from the crabs next time they come in to tell us what’s going on.”

  “Maybe,” Watkins said, his voice tinged with uncertainty. “They’re not exactly forthcoming. Do you think I should try this time?”

  “No. I’m in command.” Hanlon softened her voice and continued. “I appreciate the offer, Kiran. I’m willing to entertain suggestions on the subject. Do you have any ideas about their motivations?”

  Watkins rubbed his eyes with his thumb and forefinger. “I think we need to engage them to gather information. Have you tried offering information for information in exchange? The answers they seemed satisfied with when they tortured us were almost inconsequential as far as I can tell. I can’t even tell what their actual goals are, given the answers the got from us.”

  Hanlon nodded. “My thoughts keep running in circles over and over.” Hanlon sighed and then gave Watkins a wan smile. “I really need a vacation.”

  Watkins smirked. “Someplace quiet, perhaps far away from everyone.”

  “Oh, that sounds nice.”

  “Maybe someplace with no distractions? No vivid decorations, doors or pesky scenery.” Watkins’ voice trailed off in a speculative tone, and he raised a single eyebrow at Hanlon.

  “You had me up until the no doors idea.” She put a bright smile on and said, “Once we get out of here, we’re all going on a vacation.” She turned her gaze to peer across the room to where Zinda Kelper was sitting. “How’s she doing?”

  “Not well, ma’am. I spent some time with her this morning. She didn’t have much to say, though. She might open up to you if you don’t mind me saying so, ma’am.”

  Hanlon nodded. “I’ll try talking to her in a moment. How’s the rest of the crew doing?”

  “Good for the most part. There are a couple of the enlisted crew who seem to be allergic to the food the crabs have been providing. The situation isn’t bad so far, but I think it’ll get worse unless we can get the crabs to give us a more varied diet.”

  “I’ll look into it. How’s your stomach?”

  Watkins rubbed the spot where he’d been injured. “Still stiff, but the treatment from the first aid kit worked pretty well for me. I’ve started organizing physical fitness activities for the crew. We’re trying to maintain order here, but there’s not much to do. The room has no openings we can find other than the door. I’m not even sure how they change the air.”

  Hanlon looked speculatively at the walls surrounding them. “It looks seamless. I’m hoping we’ll have a better chance for organizing a breakout once we arrive on the crab home world.”

  “The problem with any escape attempt is that the crabs are so much more capable in hand to hand combat. Their claws can cut a human in half.”

  Hanlon felt the spark of an idea forming. “Find out who among the crew is best at hand to hand combat. We’re going to train to beat the crabs. When the time comes for us to take action, I intend for us to be ready.” Hanlon looked over to where Kelper was sitting again. “Now, I’m going to go talk to Miss Kelper. You go work on organizing us into a band of rogue martial artists.”

  Watkins grinned as he got up. “Aye, ma’am.” He looked over at Kelper again. “Good luck.” He strode off to the back of the room.

  Kelper sat against the wall, the wide neck of her shirt pulled up over her head, shrouding her face in shadows. She was motionless except for the movement of her breathing. As Hanlon got closer, she caught the expression on Kelper’s face. Her eyes were staring through the floor in front of her, sightlessly concentrating on some unknown thoughts.

  Hanlon dropped to the deck next to the diminutive lieutenant. “Zinda?” When Kelper didn’t move, Hanlon leaned forward so she could look into Kelper’s eyes. “Lieutenant Kelper? Can you hear me?”

  Kelper’s head slowly turned, and her eyes met Hanlon’s. Hanlon suppressed a shudder at what she saw there. Something about the torture and confinement had had a terrible effect on the once light-hearted young woman. Her eyes were cold and distant. “Sorry, ma’am. I was just thinking. What can I do for you?”

  “I just wanted to check with you and see how you were feeling,” Hanlon said.

  “I’m okay,” Kelper said. Her voice had a listless quality. No, listless wasn’t quite right. Her voice has a nearly disembodied quality to it, as though Kelper was speaking from a great distance. Her eyes were still looking out through the wall on the far side of the compartment. “When are we going to break out and kill all the crabs?”

  “I’m working on a breakout plan. Kiran is setting up a hand to hand combat routine for all of us to follow. I want you to participate. When we do break out, we all need to be ready.” Hanlon hoped the martial arts would help Kelper snap out of whatever had ahold of her. “I also wanted to talk to you for a moment about how you’re doing.”

  “I told you, I’m fine.” Kelper’s features grew irritated.

  “I know you’re fine, but you seem a bit out of sorts. What’s going on in your head?”

  Kelper looked Hanlon directly in the eyes again. The cold hatred lurking in those dark brown depths made Hanlon want to recoil. “I just want to kill the crabs, ma’am. I’ll practice the martial arts. We should learn to beat them with our bare hands if we can.” Kelper shook her hands out of the too-long sleeves of her shirt and looked at them as if she’d never seen them before. She flexed her fingers repeatedly and then looked across the room to where Watkins was standing with some of the engineering staff who’d escaped the Broadsword. “Excuse me, ma’am.” She stood up and walked over to Watkins.

  Hanlon watched her go with a growing sense of concern. Kelper frequently talked about killing crabs, sometimes she talked about killing all of the crabs. Hanlon could only imagine the ordeal Kelper had gone through while the crabs had been torturing her. From what Watkins had said, his conversations with her went along the same lines.

  Hanlon was still musing on what to do about Kelper an hour or so later when the door opened. Hanlon jumped up from where she was sitting. She rubbed her thighs to loosen them up from sitting on the hard surface for so long. Two crabs were standing in the doorway as Hanlon approached them.

  She addressed the closer of the two when she got to them. “When will we arrive on your planet?”

  The crab turned to face her and was silent for a long moment while Hanlon waited. It finally said, “We approach the planet soon. You will come with us. We have questions for you to answer.”

  Hanlon didn’t move. “I can answer questions here, thank you. I’m not willing to leave my people.”

  The crab pondered her response for a few seconds. “Your desire is irrelevant. You will accompany us in any event. If you resist, you will be rendered unconscious and carried.”

  Hanlon nodded and said, “Let me speak with my second in command for a moment then I will accompany you.”

  “Granted.” The crabs maintained their motionless stance at the doorway.

  Hanlon turned and walked up to where Watkins was standing next to Kelper. He’d wisely decided to stay with her in case she tried to attack the crabs. “Mister Watkins,” Hanlon said quietly, “you’re in command until I return. For some reason, the crabs seem to want to have a word or two with me. Continue with your activities. If I don’t return, you are to take
every opportunity to engage our captors and effect escape at the earliest possible moment.”

  Watkins put his hand on Hanlon’s shoulder. “I’m sure you’ll be alright, ma’am.” He gave her an encouraging smile.

  Hanlon nodded at him and returned to the crabs. “Let’s go.” The crabs turned and walked away from the door. Hanon followed them, watching carefully, but the door closed without any obvious interaction from the crabs. She sighed quietly. She’d hoped the crabs might be using some kind of device or switch to open and close the door, but there was nothing on the outside wall, and the crabs weren’t carrying any devices other than the translation box.

  The trio of beings walked through the sterile corridor for less than a minute; the only sounds were the sharp taps of the crab’s legs hitting the floor and the soft scuff of Hanlon’s bare feet. The crabs stopped at a door set into the empty corridor. It opened, and Hanlon saw the passageway beyond was like the ones from footage taken from the defeated crab ship in Lashmere. The alternating bright yellow lighting and dark gaps had an almost hypnotic effect as the crabs began moving rapidly along once again.

  The crabs proceeded quickly, and Hanlon soon lost her sense of direction. She was unsure if she was even on the same deck as the rest of the prisoners; some of the passages seemed to go up or down. The entire walk was disorienting.

  The crabs stopped at a door that looked exactly like any of the others they’d passed except this one opened. Hanlon wondered why the interior of this ship near the room where the prisoners were held was different from the interior of the other crab ship that had been boarded in the Lashmere system. From images brought back, that ship had had a utilitarian interior and signs, along with doors that could be opened with a mechanical mechanism.

  “How do you open the doors where we’re being held?” Hanlon didn’t think they would actually answer her question, but she figured it was worth a try.