"I… I…" Betty stuttered.
Somewhere the part of me that was still a decent human felt like a first-class heel. I was committed, however, and unrelenting as I stared at her.
"I don’t know what to say."
"Tell me you want to live, Betty," I said. "Tell me you'll do what it takes to keep your friends and neighbors alive."
"I do. I will," she said and broke into sobs.
I allowed Mom to push my arm away from the bitter old woman and comfort her. No doubt I would be hearing about my treatment of Betty later if the daggers from Mom's eyes were any indication.
"Uhh, we're going to take a bit of a break here, folks," Hog said, stepping up next to me. "We're going to need some volunteers to help us go out into the forest and get fresh water and supplies. I'd ask anyone interested to meet us by the door in a few minutes."
For a moment, the crowd that I believed represented the entirety of York quieted. The room where we'd gathered was too small for all of them, but the adjacent hallways were filled to capacity. Even so, the only sound that could be heard was the dripping of water.
"I want to live," a tall man offered quietly, standing from where he'd been leaning against the wall. As he stood, I could see that his broad shoulders were slumped forward as if he carried the weight of the world on them. "I'll go."
"I want to live," a young woman offered, nodding and stepping forward.
"Me too," an older woman in soiled clothing added, joining her.
What followed was like a dam breaking. The room was soon filled with the murmurs of people stating their desire to live. I'd like to say it was what I had in mind when I'd threatened the old woman, but it wasn’t. However, I wasn't about to admit that to Mom or anyone else in the near future.
Chapter 6
Phoenix
"Walk with me," Mom said, catching me from behind and pushing her hand past the bend of my elbow so our arms interlocked.
Gaining control of the land around our homestead on Zuri had been our first priority. While we'd rebuffed a few roving bands of Kroerak in the process, we were relatively secure. Although, I might not have been the best judge given my experience on the planet Picis, where a few dozen Kroerak warriors was considered light duty.
"Look, I'll apologize to Betty," I said defensively. I'd been feeling bad about how I treated the old lady and had no doubt Mom was ready to give me a good dressing down.
"What? Oh, do not apologize. That crazy old lady had it coming," she said. "Trust me, you don't want to get locked in a cave with her."
I chuckled and extracted my arm so I could pull her close, grateful she'd survived the Kroerak invasion of Zuri.
"Did Katherine stay behind?" I'd wondered how Intrepid had ended up on Zuri with only minor damage to its forward compartments. The only answer I could come up with was that someone had provided cover from Petersburg station so Intrepid could make a break for Zuri. Katherine LeGrande had once been a captain for Belirand Corporation. Our paths crossed when Hotspur found her ship abandoned in the deep dark by a corporation that cared more for its reputation than the lives of hundreds of its employees. She shared that dubious distinction with the colonists who had settled York.
"She wouldn't come with us," Mom said, her voice carrying grief.
"Brave woman," I agreed. "What about Munay?"
Gregory Munay was a commander in Mars Protectorate Navy and had followed us to the Dwingeloo galaxy. Making no bones about the fact that he still served Mars, Munay had also been willing to follow my lead as it concerned the Kroerak. I’d never liked the man. I wasn't sure if my dislike was because of his interest in Mom or because I generally didn't trust someone who had ulterior motives.
"He and a group of ten of his most loyal took Fleet Afoot," she said.
"To do what?" I asked, immediately annoyed. The tiny sloop-classed vessel hardly had a place in the fleet-based combat the Kroerak had brought.
"You know Greg. Operational security," Mom said. "He wouldn’t tell me."
"And you let him go?"
"We didn't have a choice," Mom said. "By the time I knew what was occurring, my only choice was to shoot him down."
I nodded. We both knew that was something she wouldn’t have done.
When Mom had caught up with me, I'd been on my way to the original shop where Nick had started his manufacturing company. While he'd long since abandoned the small area in favor of the plant he'd built across the road, it had one distinct advantage; it had been built into the side of Quail Hill. Our hope was that a replicator we’d salvaged a long time ago was still operational.
The whir of a mechanical infantry suit caught my attention just as we stepped onto the gravel road twenty meters from our destination. Instinctively, I turned, checking my HUD for identification. The Popeye operator was York's sheriff, Mez Rigdon.
"I think she's looking for a salute," Mom said under her breath.
Indeed, Sheriff Rigdon had her gloved fist held at mid-section and was standing still. It was an odd thing that had been happening more and more, as people became aware of my new status as Prime of House of the Bold. For me, there had been no change. I'd always seen myself as the one in charge of Loose Nuts, along with Nick, Marny, Ada and Tabby, that is. I hastily returned the salute.
"What are you finding, Mez?" I asked, establishing comms.
"We've secured twenty square kilometers," she said. "We're not a hundred percent locked down, but we have sensor pucks in enough places that we can react to wandering Kroerak within a few minutes."
"Any word from Mshindi compound?" I asked. The edge of the territory controlled by House Mshindi was a hundred kilometers east of our position.
"Not yet."
Our plan was to secure the citizens of York and then split off and help Mshindi. I wasn't thrilled to separate our forces but saw no alternative.
"Copy that," I answered. "I'll let you get back to patrol."
"Thanks, Prime," Rigdon answered and jogged off along her patrol route, obviously looking to make up for lost time.
"Prime? Do we need to have that talk about egos again?" Mom asked. She was only half joking.
"Probably," I answered as the two of us hustled across the road and up to the shop.
Even before entering, I heard the make-shift replicator we'd pieced together so many months before. Though we'd replaced just about every part, the machine had never sounded right. In that the Abasi sloops didn't have replicator technology aboard and the Kroerak had ruined the manufactory, the dilapidated replicator was the only one we had ready access to.
"That can't be good," Mom said, hearing the noise as we approached.
I chuckled. "You'd think," I agreed, placing my palm onto the security panel. I caught Nick's eye as we approached. He and Roby had been working on the replicator and I was gratified to see a substantial pile of water filters, meal-bars and med-patches. "Looks good!" I shouted over the noise.
"We're going to have to run some new parts for it once we get access to a real replicator," Roby answered. "It was never designed to make meal-bars and med-patches, but Jester Ripples can make just about anything work."
At the mention of his name or possibly the sound of my voice, Jester Ripples’ comically-proportioned frog-head popped up above a stack of supply crates and he grinned widely at me. I braced myself for impact as he propelled himself across the shop floor and jumped up into my arms. He'd been clingier than normal.
"You must promise to never leave me behind again, Liam Hoffen. I do not care that you are powerful and important."
"I left Jester Ripples behind because I wanted him to stay safe," I said.
"Your plan was unsuccessful," Jester Ripples said, placing a warm finger on my eyebrow. I'd explained to him that rubbing eyebrows wasn't something humans found particularly enjoyable, but he'd ignored me.
"Nick, any word on Intrepid?" I asked. We'd prioritized the replicator, but he and Jonathan had been looking through the data-streams to assess damage.
Mom smiled tightly in acknowledgement. In what seemed like an entirely other lifetime, Mom had been our secondary school teacher on Colony-40 and Nick had never gotten past her nickname.
"We were lucky," Mom answered. "We had ninety souls aboard and we only lost five."
"I watched the data-streams, it was more than luck, Mrs. H.," Nick said. "You turned Intrepid at just the right angle to minimize damage. You could have lost the ship."
"Hard to feel good about losing those people," she said.
"Understandable," Nick agreed. The muted cry of a baby caught Mom's attention and she looked around, almost startled.
"You have a baby in this combat zone?" Mom asked. "He should be on the ship."
"Safer here, Mrs. H.," Nick said, opening the armor-glass panel that made up the top of the crib. The crying sounds grew louder as the always-squirming Peter emerged from the safety of his armored cocoon. Nick turned and handed him to Mom. It wasn't lost on me that she was instantly mollified by the baby's presence. "Want to feed him?"
The proffered pouch of milk hung for only a moment in the air as Mom grabbed it from Nick and set to work. I grinned knowingly at Nick's sleight of hand and changed the subject.
"Raaawwr!" An orange streak of fur jumped on top of the table next to me and then onto my chest. Pulling my arms up, I held onto the overly-thin housecat we'd rescued so long ago. A pang of guilt surged through me as I stroked the upset kitty.
"You might ask Nicholas how much effort a baby takes, Liam," Mom cooed, her attention almost completely focused on the baby. "I suspect Filbert might appreciate a little more of it."
"I was thinking that Tabbs and I could take a run over to Mshindi's compound. Bish offered to take the tank and we could bring one of the Popeyes along. If we left both of the sloops behind, I think York would be secure enough," I said, opening a food bar and spreading it out for a very hungry Filbert.
"In Intrepid?" Nick asked. "She's not exactly a puddle jumper, you know."
"She'd provide a lot of cover," I countered.
"She was also shut down hard," Mom said. "We had to kill the power. The Kroerak were tracking us and I wanted them to believe we'd crashed."
"I saw where you landed," I said. "You convinced me."
"It's just a flesh wound," Mom quipped, in her baby-cooing voice.
"Do you need anything from us?" Nick asked.
"I came over to grab Jester Ripples. Once we secure Intrepid, we'll need help getting systems up and running. Jonathan's Phentera are already on their way," I said.
"Yes!" Jester Ripples agreed enthusiastically, pulling closer to me.
"Phentera has been spending a lot of time separated from the main collective," Nick said. "Think we have anything to worry about?"
"No idea," I said.
Our conversation was cut short as I heard the approach of a Popeye. When I checked my HUD, I also discovered the sloop, Shimmering Leaves, had taken a position a thousand meters above the shop.
"Cap, we're ready to roll out," Marny called over comms. Tabby, Jester Ripples and I, along with Marny in her Popeye, would accompany the Abasi sloop over to Intrepid. The two sloops had added Intrepid’s location to their patrol routes and had been reporting on Kroerak movements, as well as plinking away at any bugs caught out in the open.
"Copy that," I said. "You good here, Mom?"
"Someone's got to take care of this baby," she said, jealously pulling Pete to herself.
"I think Nick and Marny have been doing a pretty good job," I said.
"Not really. It's stressful because he needs a lot of attention," Nick answered. "Mrs. H. if you want to help out, I could really use it."
"Of course, Nicholas," she said. "After all that we've seen, I can think of nowhere I'd rather be."
I plucked a handful of meal bars from the table and stuffed them into the pocket of my grav-suit and made for the door. "Talk later," I said as I locked the door behind me, still carrying Jester Ripples.
"Let's go, Hoffen," Tabby said, holding an Iskstar-tipped staff she'd brought back from Picis.
"Be safer if you flew with me," I said, glancing back at Marny, who was alertly scanning the area for danger.
"For Kroerak!" Tabby said with a wild look, just before she sprinted up the road that led to York.
"Fifteen meters elevation, Cap," Marny said, as she jogged after Tabby.
Using the grav-suit's repulsors, I easily lifted into the air. Jester Ripples only weighed twenty-five kilograms and the grav-suit would lift anything I could carry, especially this close to a massive object like the planet Zuri.
I felt a certain awe at the near-complete destruction of York that came into view as I cleared Quail Hill. Kroerak generally focused more on life forms than they did structures. There was no doubt in my mind the additional damage was an expression of Kroerak rage, just as the total ruination of Petersburg station had been.
Even with near constant patrols and our ship hovering overhead, a few unlucky Kroerak warriors waited as Marny and Tabby approached Intrepid. Apparently, danger wasn't something the Kroerak communicated well amongst each other. Every bug we ran into had the same one-track mindset bent on killing anything that moved. I understood the need to eat, but there had to be safer meals than Tabby, wielding an Iskstar-tipped staff, and Marny in a Popeye.
As expected, the armored ball holding Jonathan's Phentera group joined us as we approached the ship. I'd learned that Phentera wasn't overly interested in conversation, so I honored this by acknowledging their presence with a simple nod. Additionally, Bish arrived, having given Semper a ride over in York's tank.
"I'll hold this position," Marny said, jumping up ten meters onto the damaged portion of Intrepid's hull. Enterprising Kroerak warriors could have gained access to Intrepid, but they wouldn't have found anything to eat and would have had no reason to believe we'd return. Our danger would more likely come from a bug following us in, rather than one hiding aboard.
"Let me do a quick sweep before you bring Jester Ripples aboard," Tabby said, dropping down and grabbing Semper from where she'd exited the tank. After setting Semper next to Marny, Tabby disappeared into the inky blackness of the lifeless Intrepid. Zipping past, Phentera chased after Tabby.
Landing next to Marny and Semper, I helped Jester Ripples onto the torn deck. Without power, the gravity generators weren't working and it required effort to hold ourselves in place. With Jester Ripples no longer in my arms, I pulled out two Iskstar-tuned blaster pistols and handed one to Semper.
"Will this be difficult to repair?" Semper asked, inspecting the damage caused by the Kroerak lance.
"Looks like I could get this sealed off in about an hour," I said. "Wouldn't be pretty, but the patch would hold. We'll need to put in a lot more work to get her back to ship-shape."
Even though she was talking, I was pleased that Semper remained alert and continued to scan the opening into the ship. The once immature Felio had grown up and I felt a certain pride at my contribution.
"Nothing so far," Tabby announced a couple minutes later. I checked her progress. She'd started on the forward, lower deck, just below where we'd entered and worked her way back into the ship. "Engine room is clear."
"That's my cue." I lifted from the slanted deck and floated aft with my pistol held defensively in front of me. In my other hand was a very nervous Jester Ripples.
While Tabby hadn't checked the main level entirely, I could see her progress. She had just checked out the starboard passageway and was headed in our direction. Swinging port first, I made sure the area was clear and pulled Jester Ripples around the corner to the starboard. While I might not admit it to Tabby, I was relieved when I saw the lights on her facemask coming in our direction.
"So impatient," she said, acknowledging that she'd seen us. "You know I haven't checked that section yet
."
"Marny's just around the corner. We've also made enough noise that any bug hiding in here would have already come out and gotten us," I said. My statement might not hold up to deep analysis, but I was confident I could handle myself, if necessary.
"It is enjoyable to be aboard our home once again," Jester Ripples observed. I nodded, but felt it an odd thing for him to say. He had always preferred the wet environment of a swamp over that of a clean spaceship.
"I'm not getting movement," Tabby said, as she passed us. "You're probably safe to go back to the engine room."
I nodded. We both knew Kroerak were capable of hunkering down and jumping out at inopportune times. I preferred not to live my life like a bad horror vid and, therefore, kept my pistol ready as I brought Jester Ripples aft.
"You know, for as many times as Intrepid’s been brought back from the ashes, we should have called her Phoenix," I observed as we approached the engine room.
"A fiery bird," Jester Ripples said as imagery apparently filled his HUD.
"Seems appropriate. So what do you think?" I asked as soon as Jester Ripples had scanned the control surfaces for the ship's electronic and mechanical systems. I walked back to close the door to the engine room and lock it mechanically. A Kroerak warrior would be able to get through it after a few minutes, but the steel hatch would provide warning.
"A ship such as Intrepid is not designed to be without power," Jester Ripples said. "There are quite a number of systems that must be inspected and repaired. I am happy that planet Zuri is temperate and crystallization of water did not occur."
"Can you turn her back on?" I asked.
"Oh yes," Jester Ripples answered. "I thought perhaps Liam Hoffen desired to do so?"
I chuckled and checked my HUD. My AI displayed the correct sequence of actions that would power up Intrepid's various systems. I started the sequence and was almost instantly rewarded with a gravity field that pulled us to ninety degrees with the deck, instead of forcing us to stand in line with Zuri's gravity and the slope of the ship, twenty degrees askance.
Judgment of the Bold Page 7