The extra acceleration did as hoped: it made an interception of Kepper's ship possible. Henry watched the holotank intently, trying to will them into range before Kepper could get to the limit.
Several tense and stressful minutes passed under the intense G-forces of the fusion drives, as the markers on the holotank drew closer and closer. With how close their timing would be, Henry asked, "Do you think you could clip them with the neutron cannon? Just enough to disable the drives on that thing?"
Piper shook her head slightly, a serious effort in their situation. "Sorry, sir, but I can't guarantee a shot like that. I could land a direct hit that destroys the ship."
"What about the plasma cannons?"
"We're almost in range on those. I'll lock on."
On the front "shoulders" of the Shadow Wolf, hull plates shifted to reveal the Tal'mayan-model plasma cannons installed on barbette mounts to the Shadow Wolf's hull. The two weapons depressed slightly and started firing. Purple bolts of energy crossed space to strike at the enemy ship. A barrier of energy came up to meet them.
"It looks like that ship's got some kind of heavy deflector system for its size," she said, her voice strained by the Gs.
"Keep firing!"
The Shadow Wolf's weapons blazed away at the kidnapper's ship. Repeatedly, purple light crashed into the light blue field formed around the ship's engines. It held firm.
By now, everyone felt the vibration in the deck. A low metallic whine came to their ears. The Shadow Wolf's own body couldn't long endure the stresses of its extra drive, and the ship was slowly suffering greater injury that might pull it apart. Indeed, every moment they were keeping the drive on like this, they were reducing the remaining lifetime of the ship.
Henry didn't want to lose the Wolf. He almost couldn't stand the thought of it.
But to save one of their own, it was worth it.
"We're almost t' th' limit," Cera advised. "Can ye get th' grapplers on th' sassenach yet?"
"Just a little closer," Piper urged.
* * *
It wasn't often that Kepper was surprised. The speed with which the Shadow Wolf caught up accomplished just that. He frowned slightly. So much for the intel that their fusion drive was gone.
Now they drew into effective grappler range. If the energy grapplers got a hold of his ship, they could force him to a stop and keep him from entering a wormhole. He wouldn't be able to escape. He needed to buy time, or barring that, he needed to get out of the system now.
He considered that option. It was dangerous. He was within the Lawrence limit for the star system, so generating a wormhole would tax the drive. If the drive failed, he was stuck, and if it failed while he was transitioning through the wormhole, he would be dead.
But if he didn't get away, he would probably be dead anyway. Worse yet, he would be failing on his job, and his reputation demanded he see it through.
Kepper's hand went to the jump controls. The ship shuddered from another plasma blast while he keyed the drive to his destination. His deflectors showed orange on the display, meaning they were starting to go critical. His ship wouldn't take too many more hits.
A sly grin came to his face as he prepared to initialize the jump drive. Well played, Captain Henry. I always enjoy stiff competition.
His hand pressed down on the control, and ahead of the Nimrod, space ripped open in a rainbow of colors.
* * *
Piper noticed the energy spike on the sensors as she prepared to trigger another plasma cannon burst. "His jump drive's gone active!"
"What?" Henry's shock was clear. The two ships hadn't yet made it to the limit. "Grapple him, now!"
On the main display, they saw a wormhole form ahead of their silver quarry in an explosion of color more vibrant and violent than usual. At Piper's urgent key press, beams of pale blue light shot out from the bow energy grapplers to either side of the ship's bridge module "head." They extended through space, grasping at the ship, nearly reaching it…
…but not quite.
With a final surge of acceleration, the silver shape shot through the wormhole it'd generated. The wormhole shut behind it.
"Dammit!" Henry screamed in frustration. "Kill the drive, now!"
Cera was already doing so. The G-forces ceased. Henry stopped feeling as if his bones were turning to jelly. But it was little comfort to him in these circumstances.
One of their own was gone, taken, and they had no idea where.
5
The mood on the Shadow Wolf was subdued when they returned to the Allentown Station hangar. Henry felt the dejection from his crew amplify his own bitter frustration with their failure to save Tia.
Now, in his office, he listened to Pieter as the engineer laid out the cost of their failed mission. "It'll take the rest of the day to finish the assessment, but we've already found an increase in the number of the microfractures within our structural frame. The use of the fusion drive for that amount of time and at that level has cost the ship at least six months of service life. Maybe as much as nine."
Six to nine months of lost service life. Damn. Considering they were already looking at four years, at most, of serviceable flight time, the loss was a significant figure. Henry frowned and nodded. "Anything else?"
"Nothing," Pieter said. Beside him, Samina seemed ready to speak up, but did not do so.
Henry directed his attention to Miri and Oskar next. The two were at his left-hand side, further from the office door. "How're the injuries we've taken?"
"My leg's feeling better," Miri answered.
"The wound was not severe, not on her anyway." Oskar shook his head. "But Yanik is another matter. The weapon was some form of explosive round, and it has done massive damage to his shoulder joint and the surrounding tissues. It nearly severed his right arm entirely. With all of the damage, he will need more intensive treatment, and that isn't available on Allentown Station, nor my infirmary."
"So he'll need somewhere else to get fully treated." Henry sighed. "Do what you can for him until we can get him somewhere."
"He will not be in physical pain, that much I can promise," Oskar answered.
With an eye on Samina, Henry asked, "Anything else?"
The young woman got the hint. "Captain, are you going to tell Chief Khánh?"
Henry thought about his answer. That's not a conversation I've been looking forward to. "I'll do it when we're done," he finally said. "For the time being, we already paid for that ore, so go ahead and load it. Who knows what we can do with it while we try to find Tia."
"The most likely suspect is the Hestian Business Council," Miri pointed out. "Tia was one of those who refused to sign their amnesty. Maybe they consider her a threat to their regime?"
"That means that something's changed in sixteen years," Henry observed in a quiet tone. "Do you have any contacts that can help?"
"I can see what Abdul knows," Miri offered. "And a few of my former crewmates on vessels that frequent Hestian trade routes."
"Alright, then. Get to that and finish the ore load. I have a call to make."
Henry waited for the four to depart his office. Once the door was shut behind them, he brought his desk monitor display up and linked into the GalNet.
It took only a little time for the connection to finalize, and an assistant to find Linh. She appeared on Henry's display with her olive-yellow complexion already pale. "Something's happened to Tia," she said without a trace of doubt in her voice.
Henry nodded. "She's been abducted. By Kepper."
"Damn them. Damn them all. Why can't they leave us alone?!" she shouted. "They already beat us!"
"So you have confirmation? You know this is someone back on Hestia?"
Linh shook her head. "It's the only thing that makes sense. Tia… isn't the first to be attacked, Jim. Just the first to not be killed."
Henry listened with increasing worry as Linh described the deaths of other prominent Hestian exiles. It was an impressive list. The only name not on it
was Francois "Frank" Lou, the megacorp owner, which said something about whatever was up. "They want to get rid of the revolutionary exiles who got away sixteen years ago. The ones who won't sign the amnesty."
"I think so. Honestly, I'm not sure who else this could be."
"Could be the League," Henry pointed out. "It wouldn't be the first time they've gone after left-wing revolutionary figures they couldn't control."
"Maybe. But they're still getting re-established in Sagittarius under the peace treaty. Why come after us?" She shook her head.
"I don't know that, but one thing I do know is that Tia would want you to be safe. We've got a load of titanium-47 ore from Allentown that should be welcome at Trinidad. We'll bring it over and see where we can go from there." Henry forced his voice to become gentle, which wasn't easy, given the lingering anger and frustration from Kepper's assault. "Plus, Tia would want us watching your back."
"She would," Linh admitted. "And once you're here, we'll find out how to get her back."
"That's a promise," Henry vowed.
* * *
Tia felt a pain in the center of her forehead. She opened her eyes and noted her surroundings. It was a ship cabin from the look of things, with a bathroom stall in a chamber off to one corner, a bed, and closets behind sliding doors. Across from her was a work desk and chair.
She tried to move, but there was little give in it. Her wrists and ankles were confined in stun cuffs. A length of chain held both sets of cuffs to the floor of the cabin, preventing her from rising.
I'm a prisoner. The fear and uncertainty filled her. Is this about what happened to the others? Then why would they keep me alive if they're killing off anyone who wouldn't sign the amnesty?
A cabin door on her right opened. A man in a casual two-piece suit stepped in. It took Tia a few moments to remember where she'd seen him before, and who he was. She frowned at the recollection when she made it. "Kepper."
"Miss Nguyen." He spoke levelly, as if they were passing acquaintances.
Tia held up her cuffed wrists. "I'm your mark, then?"
"You are." He sat at the desk. "The employer's paying far above market rate for spacers too. But everyone in Neutral Space knows the Shadow Wolf now, so it's deserved. You should feel honored."
There were only two possibilities Tia could fathom for Kepper's employers, and the fear of being at the mercy of those suspects froze her in place. She managed to swallow and regain her voice. "Is it the League?"
Kepper laughed. "Ha! The League?" His voice spoke with amusement. "They want me dead too, so no. They're not happy I have this ship or what I did with it. I'm very much an 'enemy of Society'." He chuckled. "I think I've killed a dozen of their operatives since Pluto Base. And that doesn't count the undercover ones I compromised by selling their identities to whoever wanted to pay."
"Then who hired you to take me?" she asked.
"Oh, I'm sure you've got a good idea," Kepper said, his voice lowered nearly to a purr. "But don't worry, you'll be finding out soon enough."
* * *
The Shadow Wolf's second departure from Allentown Station was calmer than the first, but the tension in the crew was worse. Yanik’s crippling injury was known in full to the others now. The ship was effectively down its First and Second Mates.
With the ship burning out for the system limit, Henry returned to his office to deal with the mundane work of the day. But whenever he tried to look over the account ledgers or the invoices, he couldn't keep a focus on them. Bitter self-recrimination filled him at the realization much of this was done by Tia lately, given his inability to focus on work since burying Charlie. He had to start almost from scratch to reconnect with the ship's operations.
He was looking over the month's payroll record when the door chime went off. "Come in," he called out.
The door slid open and Pieter walked in. "Captain." He took one of the open seats. "You wanted to see me?"
"How did that survey go? How much damage did we do?"
The way Pieter's eyes fell told Henry it wasn't going to be good news. "The microfractures grew more than I realized. My estimate was wrong by at least three months."
"So we lost nine to twelve months of service life?"
"Yes, sir."
Henry's jaw clenched. "Alright. Recommendations?"
"I would almost suggest eliminating the temptation, Captain. Simply disconnect the fusion drive." Pieter shook his head. "But the damage is done, and we might still have an emergency."
"Won't do us any good if our ship falls apart around us. Any way we could reduce the strain? Shore up the inertial compensators?"
"That mostly affects the crew, not the structure. The ship simply wasn't designed to handle the stresses of the fusion drive's thrust potential, Captain. No one can change that."
"Right. Otherwise, we might have fixed it already." Henry tried to push down the growing despair he felt. He found himself focusing on the dark coloring showing under Pieter's eyes. "You've done a lot of work today, Pieter. Why don't you hit the rack?"
The relief on Pieter's face was palpable. "Thank you, sir. I think I will." He stood and departed.
Henry waited for the door to close before he reached for the cabinet behind him. From the drawer, he pulled a tumbler and a bottle of bourbon whiskey from Bluegrass. He considered the bottle for a moment before resigning himself to the need he felt. He twisted the cap off and poured himself a shot.
He picked up the glass and nearly had it to his lips when he stopped for the moment. Something within him told him this wasn't the right thing to do. The others needed him sober. They needed him to be in charge, leading them through this. He shouldn't be in here drinking away his frustration. This behavior… it wasn't what he was supposed to be.
I'm supposed to be an officer in the CDF, he thought bitterly. I should've made general by now. I shouldn't have lost everything to the dishonesty of others.
But you got justice in the end. Faulkner's dead. Erhart's on Lambert's Lament. Everyone knows the truth.
His expression soured. Everyone knows the truth that I gave up. That I could've stood up to Erhart from the start, but didn't. I surrendered to him.
You were protecting your crew from him.
No. I was a coward.
The argument within him was not a new one. He'd waged it for over fifteen years now. But it had a new edge to it. Even exoneration wasn't enough to overcome the feeling of personal failure he felt over the Laffey. If I'd stopped him then… how many people would be alive?
He examined the fluid in his glass for a long moment. He'd acquired a taste for this stuff with his uncle, Charlie Henry, while the two were doing repair work and refurbishment on the Shadow Wolf after purchasing the damaged ship.
Once, this memory, among others, had brought him warmth. A reminder of Uncle Charlie's love for family. Now, it only seemed to re-open the wound in Henry's heart. It reminded him that Charlie was gone. He'd passed on while Henry was off dealing with Erhart, denying the two the hope of a final goodbye spoken together.
We deserved better, he thought bitterly. At least, Uncle Charlie did.
His resistance gave way. Henry put the glass to his lips and downed the entire shot.
6
With precise care, Oskar made a final pass on Yanik's damaged shoulder with the Coalition-built bone-knitter. The device did its job well in setting the last of the shoulder fractures, providing Yanik's body a stable foundation for the muscles' recovery.
He placed the device back in its place in his cabinets, marveling at the effectiveness of the technology. The Coalition was ahead of everyone else in this field. He was grateful that General Ostrovsky, the head of CDF Intelligence, let him keep the medical technology "borrowed" from the Masada Redoubt during the Exodus Fleet affair.
A quick scan confirmed the surgical operation was a success. Oskar removed the sedative IV and waited patiently for Yanik to awaken, doing inventory during his wait.
He was looking away when Yani
k spoke. "I cannot move the arm very well. Did the operation go as planned?"
"It did. Your skeletal structure is intact," Oskar replied. He turned to face Yanik as the Saurian sat up. "But I can't regrow muscle and tissue the same way. I can only bind the wounds and use treatments to encourage your body's natural healing. And that will take time."
Yanik's eyes lowered. He flexed the afflicted arm slightly and found his elbow still had good range. "You saved the limb, at least. Thank you."
"You are welcome. I dreaded the possibility of having to amputate." Oskar closed his eyes and relived a hundred such operations in his life. Mostly on camp prisoners injured during labor, or from conflicts with one another, but some were even older.
His mind wandered back to Regensburg, and one of his first patients as a senior class surgeon student. A young man injured in an aircar accident, with crushed limbs and savaged nerves. The parents who had to be informed that the damage meant their son would be disabled for life, even with the best medical technology available to the League.
"Your experience haunts you?" asked Yanik.
"It can," he admitted. "Especially the consequences of those experiences." He drew in a breath. "I've always wanted to help people, but sometimes, even the best of intentions isn't enough."
As he finished speaking, Oskar noted the expression on Yanik's face, a new one he'd never seen on the alien before. For the first time, Yanik seemed… smaller. Not in the physical sense, but as if something had been lost.
Yanik noticed the way Oskar was looking at him. His face shifted to a more stoic, normal appearance. Immediately, Oskar looked away, realizing he'd embarrassed his friend with the attention.
"Can I return to my duties?" Yanik spoke with a certain resignation.
As much as Oskar wished he didn't have to, his duty as a physician and surgeon demanded the truth of him. "Limit your use of your right arm. No lifting. Definitely no fighting. You can man one of the ship's control stations, at least, and perform supervisory and administrative tasks." Oskar rattled the list off, knowing full well Yanik was not happy to hear it. "See me tomorrow for further scans. Above all else, be careful with your shoulder and arm."
Breach of Trust: Breach of Faith Book Four Page 5