Coalition Defense Force Boxed Set: First to Fight

by Gibbs, Daniel

  "Finally," Henry said. "Cera, take us in."

  "Aye, sir." She triggered the maneuvering thrusters.

  The change in positional attitude turned a stable orbit into an atmospheric entry course as provided by the traffic controllers below. Tia gave the landing alert over the ship intercom.

  The Shadow Wolf's trajectory shifted, bringing the vessel into the atmosphere. Cera's approach vector was more vertical than horizontal, obeying the particular restrictions the local rulers had on their airspace. For her, it was one of the trickier approaches. The thrusters would be under greater strain to resist the planet's gravity since she couldn't use the same to benefit a longer, flatter approach vector. She started to redline a couple of them and compromised with a spiral descent, letting her use the lateral thrusters and relax those that she was pushing too hard.

  Gradually, the distant beige speck on green land and blue ocean turned into the outlines of a city on a sea coast, complete with a river bisecting it. Cera angled the ship toward the western side of the city, where a vast expanse of buildings and runways indicated the location of the spaceport.

  Cera evened out the spiral and brought them in from the southeastern corner of the airspace, using the final approach to finish cutting their velocity so that she had the Shadow Wolf hovering over her landing spot. She lowered the power on the thrusters and allowed Harron's gravity to bring them to a landing.

  "Great landing, Cera," Henry said behind her. "I can see why they call it the Sektatsh Spiral."

  "Always wanted t' try it." Cera flashed him a grin before returning to her primary post-landing duty, cutting all power to the ship's various motive systems.

  "Going barhopping again?" Tia asked jovially.

  Cera laughed harshly. "I enjoy partyin', ma'am, but not that much. I'll not end up slaved t' some sassenach takin' advantage of a good drink."

  "I'd rather no one left the loading area," Henry said. "I don't like this place or its reputation."

  "And we may need to beat a hasty exit when this mess blows up in our faces," Tia added wryly.

  "So no gettin' into my stash, either." Cera shrugged and finished her last task before standing. "It's all right. I want t' see about th' thrusters anyway. The spiral was tough, but not that tough. They may need a wee bit of work."

  "Just don't drive Pieter up a wall" was the condition she received from Henry just before her departure from the bridge.

  * * *

  The landing was just the beginning of work for Henry, in more than the usual way. He left the bridge shortly after Cera, with Tia following. "That descent was a little rough, even for the course," she noted, echoing Cera's earlier sentiment. "The thrusters may need some work."

  He answered with a nod. Henry would ensure Pieter looked into it and reminded himself to hire an engineer's mate or two. Brigitte was fulfilling the mechanical role well enough, but she had a long way to go before she was a qualified engineer's hand, much less an actual engineer. He was also arguably short another hand even beyond the engineers. It might be time to bring someone on.

  But it could wait for later. Henry and Tia had other matters to attend to.

  They met Yanik in the middle-port hold, which was already opened to the loading dock, where a mix of Harr'al and other species waited with pallet jacks. Among them was a stout little H'taram in something like a bathrobe designed by someone obsessed with rainbows. Only about a meter and a half in average height, the H'taram was as wide as most of his people, and in general, that matched their usual proportions. It gave the H'taram the look of a particularly wide and overweight dwarf, at least to human eyes, but Henry knew that appearances could be deceiving.

  The H'taram spoke first. "I am Teyanak, chamberlain to the Most Gracious Lord Pyta Sikna."

  "Ah. His Lordship is not present, then?"

  The reply was clipped and immediate. "Obviously not. Understand, human, that the Calnin nobility does not speak with those of lesser station who are not part of their immediate household. That is my role."

  "Ah." Henry glanced toward Tia and briefly considered the idea of relegating her to be his voice, since he didn't like to deal with snooty alien nobles. But he couldn't do something like that to her. Nor would she let him, he figured. "Well, your boss's cargo is here, as promised by Minister Vitorino."

  "So we are told. Before accepting the shipment, it must be inspected to His Most Gracious Lord's satisfaction."

  "Who is not here?"

  Teyanak indicated the necklace he was wearing. Henry took a closer look at it and realized it had a small dot in the middle of its central disc—a spy camera. His Lordship would, indeed, be observing.

  Henry nodded in understanding, which was better than the sigh truer to his feelings. Better get this done as quickly as possible. I've got a retired spy turned spacer to find.

  * * *

  Stakeouts were a part of Allan Kepper's life. In his line of work, people didn't want to be found, and finding them demanded watching people. Surveillance was often crucial to finding a mark.

  His target had none of those. The closest she had to a contact was the Harr'al Kepper's little scouts had identified. To get her, Kepper had to get him.

  Doing so in Sektatsh was not easy. As a human, Kepper could move only through the Alien Quarter with ease. He counted himself lucky that Vasily, as the target's contact was known, lived near the border of the Alien Quarter and one of the city's residential districts, close enough that some of the denizens were non-Harr'al. Kepper didn't stand out.

  Vasily lived in a small apartment in a building along a secondary avenue. Kepper found that a building across the street let out rooms daily. Sektatsh was, thankfully, the kind of city where people didn't ask questions when one did such a thing, so there were no problems when he showed up to pay a few days' worth of rent and hauled his equipment up to the desired room.

  Single-man stakeouts were technically impossible, since one couldn't be awake and functional at all times. Technology made up for that, though, and the software was among the best Kepper could find, an automated system that pinged him whenever his subject was spotted and recorded the subject's movements while they were visible.

  Over the course of the first day, he figured out the subject's patterns. Rarely home, for one thing, an annoyance to be sure. But he could work with that.

  The second day, he received a call from Li. "You should know that you must step your timetable up," the Leaguer said. "Another party has sent an extraction team. They could arrive as early as today."

  Well, damn. Kepper wanted another night to get a better read on the schedule his quarry held. "I'll step up my plans," he promised. "What can you tell me about them?"

  "They're a bunch of independent spacers, and we have no indications that they're a threat. All you need to worry about is securing the target before they get her offworld. Li out."

  Arrogant League prick. He sighed and went to his notes on Vasily's schedule. It would soon be time to for him to come home, it appeared. Kepper would be waiting.

  * * *

  There was no rushing Teyanak. The diminutive alien spent two hours meticulously checking every crate, even individual bottles, presumably receiving instructions from his aristocrat boss over a private commlink. During this time, no unloading was done, nor could Henry justify getting away to begin his other job. He was ready to strangle the H'taram by the end of the inspection.

  Finally, Teyanak closed and resealed the last crate. He turned to Henry, and two dark-violet eyes focused on Henry's face. "On behalf of His Most Gracious Lord, I accept this shipment. Minister Vitorino's payment is being processed as we speak, and my people are ready to transfer the shipment to our transport." He eyed where Felix, Vidia, and Brigitte stood with pallet jacks. "That will not be necessary. Our people will handle this." Teyanak smiled gently. "Without an unloading fee against your account, Captain."

  "Fine by me, then," Henry said. He turned to the others and shook his head. "They're doing the loading. Felix,
stay with Yanik to observe."

  Felix nodded. The trio headed for the stairs to the upper level of the hold. He took up a spot on the catwalk while the other two headed on to the door. Yanik took his place by the ramp to observe the teams coming and going.

  Henry waited while Teyanak got the work crews from the loading dock before he joined Felix. He noticed a scowl on his old friend's face. "What is it?"

  "The labor," he said. "Look."

  Henry turned back to look down at the hold, where four individuals were bringing pallet jacks in. Two were Harr'al, one was H'taram, and the third was Tal'mayan, a species with skin tones in various shades of blue. They had a vaguely humanoid shape, much like the Harr'al, although their ears were slanted downward, and their skin was as coarse as sandpaper. He wondered what Felix was getting at for a moment before his eyes settled on the choker necklaces that, upon closer inspection, were not necklaces but collars with tags.

  Slaves. Vitorino's client was using slave labor to unload Henry's cargo.

  Revulsion twisted his stomach. For a brief moment, Henry considered throwing them off the ship—to hell with the consequences and Vitorino. He noted the twinkle in Felix's eye and knew he would gladly enforce the order.

  But just as quickly, Henry rejected it. A treacherous voice in his head whispered, You've seen forced labor before, and you've seen it used by your clients on Hestia and in half a dozen worlds and space stations in the neutral systems where the powerful oppress the powerless, and life—and labor—is cheap. There's nothing you can do to stop it. Acting out will only hurt the people you're responsible for.

  Such a calculation was a far cry from the James Henry who had once been an idealistic CDF officer, but it fit the necessities that James Henry, the independent trader, dealt with.

  Felix noted the shift in Henry's look. "You're just going to let this happen?"

  "I can't fix the galaxy, Felix," Henry said softly. "Best I can do is protect this crew."

  "Right." Felix nodded. He let out a little sigh. Below, the Tal'mayan was getting yelled at for nearly knocking a crate over. He didn't know what was being said, exactly, but it didn't require much imagination to guess, given the forlorn expression on the being's face.

  Henry stepped away quietly and continued up to the catwalk and the door to the upper deck.

  He found Tia in the rec room, going over something on a tablet. She glanced up. "I've got no contacts in Sektatsh, if that's what you're wondering," she said. "I checked."

  "I'm not surprised," Henry said, "especially with that amnesty available now." He noted her dark look and resolved not to bring it up again. "Well, I've got no contacts either. So how do we do this?"

  "The first thing we do is check the ISU chapter," Tia said. "They have a hostel and hotel in the Alien Quarter exclusively for union members, and your allegedly former Coalition spy is supposed to be a member."

  "And it gives her a place to lay low that'll have some security," noted Henry. "All right. I think I can remember my union ID."

  "Thirty-nine, ninety-eight, two fifty-four," Tia said cheerfully.

  Henry smiled at her. "You would remember it, wouldn't you?"

  "You joined the union to avoid problems. I joined because I genuinely believe in supporting my fraternal comrades of the spaceways," Tia replied, cheer still in her tone. A slightly somber look came to her. "You should consider being more serious about it, Jim. You've suffered from corporate moneygrubbing as much as any other spacer. More than most, really. The ISU is a brotherhood for people like us."

  "There's only one brotherhood I gave my loyalty to, Tia, and that was the Coalition Defense Force," he replied, pain in his voice. "Gave 'em heart and soul."

  Tia lowered her eyes. "And they betrayed you in the end."

  "Yeah. So pardon me if I'm not in a hurry to join another brotherhood. Either way, I'll go check my dues paperwork for my number, then we'll go rent a vehicle." Henry turned to the door. "The sooner we get to this lady, the sooner we get offworld, and I've already had enough of Harron."

  18

  Another day of waiting, another day of checking news sites on the commlink to see if anything else came up about the Kensington Star or other attacks on ships and pondering how she would deal with the investigation loomed ahead for Miri Gaon. Karla Lupa's legend was already undermined by the measures she took to get away. Okon would put her record under a microscope. A new legend looked increasingly necessary, along with a change of scenery. She could find passage on a liner or transport leaving Trifid Nebula for Omega Nebula or something like that. Maybe she would even brave Coalition space itself.

  With nothing left for the moment, she started checking schedules. The spaceport already had Shadow Wolf listed as landed. But there was no sign yet of the Astra Mater, the P&Y ship Okon said was on the way to Harron for her. New Cornwall being further away from Harron would account for that, of course, at least in part. But she darkly wondered if the League might be planning on seizing the ship, especially if they knew its purpose.

  I should not fret over things I cannot influence. She stared at the list of arrivals still showing on her screen. The company ship is my primary unless I want to ruin my credibility. I need to show patience. I'm good at patience.

  * * *

  Kepper was watching his monitors when Vasily came home. He grinned at his luck and how his patience had paid off. Given what Li said, he had to act immediately if he was going to get the mark—an annoying necessity, since it meant he didn't have time to plan things fully, but that was how life was.

  A quick trip down a stairwell brought Kepper to the ground floor. He left his building and went out into the avenue. Traffic was heavy and mostly wheeled, save for the occasional anti-grav or helicar vehicle, so he had to be agile in weaving through it, taking advantage of the frequent stops as he did. He entered Vasily's building and behaved as if he had every right to be there, which was the usual approach one took to keep anyone from questioning one’s arrival. No one said anything to him as he rounded a corner and entered a stairwell. He went up the required number of stairs and found his way to his mark’s room. The door was locked. He knocked.

  The door opened a crack, and a cautious Harr'al eye showed. "What you want?" asked the figure in broken English.

  "I am from Old-Rite Church," Kepper answered, effecting a Russian accent that his old accent coach would have appreciated. "They sent me to warn you. Nasty people after woman you help."

  Vasily seemed to consider the warning for a moment. There was little trust in that alien eye. Kepper glanced around as if nervous, helping him sell the role while he made a genuine check for potential interlopers. "Make sign of cross."

  Kepper did, using three fingers to gesture at his forehead first and then his right and left shoulders. Vasily's eye twitched, and Kepper knew he'd done it wrong. Oh well. He never could keep straight how the damn churches did their silly gestures.

  Just as Vasily tried to slam the door, Kepper brought his foot up and kicked hard at it. Metal snapped, and the door flew all the way open, hitting the Harr'al resident as it did and sending him flying backward. Kepper stomped in and drew the pistol from the small of his back.

  Vasily made a little panicked noise before a pulse blast hit him square in the chest. It was a weak shot that hurt more than it wounded, but the jolt it delivered had the side effect of seizing up the alien’s body, stunning him.

  Kepper reached back and closed the door until it was cracked, waiting for the sounds of an alarm. When there were none, he shut it completely before turning back to his stunned quarry and reaching for the tie straps in his jacket pocket.

  By the time he had Vasily's wrists and ankles secure, the Harr'al was regaining the ability to speak. "You slaver?" he asked fearfully.

  It was the tone of a former slave terrified of being returned to that state, and Kepper felt a little surge of pleasure. He fought down the urge to laugh.

  "What you want?"

  "I want your spacer friend," Kep
per replied. "Cooperate, or I'll head straight to the Trader Quarter with you and find the most ruthless, vicious slave driver looking for more laborers and sell you to him. Understand?"

  "Understand," was the scared reply.

  "Good." Kepper smiled thinly at him. He tilted his head to the apartment commlink. "I'd like you to call her."

  For a moment, he thought the Harr'al would resist, but slowly, Vasily went over to his commlink and tapped at it. After several moments, a Hebrew-accented voice came over the line. "Yes, Vasily?"

  "Me have more food for you. From Father Nikolai," Vasily said.

  "All right. Bring it by."

  Kepper frowned for a brief moment. Given that the League wanted her for something, and wanted her badly, he suspected she wasn't just a spacer but a careful operator of some sort. After all, the ISU hostel was an environment where she could retain some control over access, which was already limited—a smart move, especially if she knew she was being hunted.

  "Will give message when I there." Vasily ended the call and gave a forlorn, worried look to Kepper. "Why you hurt nice lady?"

  A nearly unstoppable urge to smash the alien's rubbery, inhuman face in came, but Kepper's control slammed down. The creature wasn't worth it. "You've got a helicar," he said, making clear that it wasn't a question. "Give me the access code."

  His captive made a mewling sound but ultimately obeyed. Kepper decided to put off dealing with the Harr'al for the moment and stuffed him in a closet. He could come back and deal with Vasily when he was done with the target.

  * * *

  When the call from Vasily ended, Miri went back to checking her messages, unable to banish the uncertain dread building within her. She'd received no further messages from P&Y on her incoming ride. While that alone wasn't surprising, some of the questions coming from Okon were quite impertinent. She could sense the corporate security officer's suspicions about her. She couldn't even entirely blame Okon for them, but they were dangerous for Miri and indeed for everyone else. Anything that gave the League cover for their attacks could help them prevail in the end. And she didn't need to know precisely what their plan was to realize it was not for the best.