“Rings of Saturn, you’re a complete mess,” Ada exclaimed, having arrived in the medical bay before them.
Tabby groaned, but turned on her friend. “Frak, Ada, who’s sailing the ship?”
“Garcia has the helm,” Ada answered. “Sendrei can you get back to the bridge? Jonathan wants us to capture one of those bugs alive and we’ve got one pinned down.”
“Capture, how?” Sendrei asked.
“Same as you did when you were a kid,” Tabby grunted. “Pull out its legs.”
“I never…” Sendrei started. “Never mind, we’ll figure it out.”
Ada pushed her back onto the table. “Frak, Tabby, you’re hurt. Sit back and stop talking.”
“Maybe it was just Liam who pulled out spider's legs.” Tabby chuckled as numbing medicine brought sweet relief and drug-induced bliss. “I was gonna pull out all that sucker’s legs and let him spin like a top. You’re so pretty, Ada.” She reached up to push Ada’s dreads out of her face.
“Might have overdone the pain meds,” Ada muttered and pushed Tabby’s hand back to the table.
“I don’t know what I’d do without you,” Tabby continued. “You’re like the sister I never had. You know I used to be jealous because Liam has a crush on you.”
“We are sisters.” Ada chuckled as she peeled back Tabby’s suit and started working on her wound. “And, Liam has a crush on a lot of women. I’ve always been impressed at how you don’t let that bother you.”
“He can’t help it. He’s a horny little toad, but he’s faithful and he knows I’d remove his little toad if he wasn’t. Is everyone okay?” Tabby asked, her mind drifting. “Are we safe?”
“Brockette didn’t make it,” Ada answered, “but we’re safe because of you. Now go to sleep. You’ll feel better in the morning.
“Yeah, he got messed up bad. I hope he didn’t suffer,” Tabby said, finally giving over to the drugs.
Ada continued to strip her friend down and then moved her to the medical tank, filling it after securing a mask onto Tabby’s face.
“Captain,” Jonathan’s voice called over comms as Ada dropped the bloodied tools into a cleaner.
“Go ahead, Jonathan.” She instructed the room to self-clean and stepped out, carrying Tabby’s soiled grav-suit. The suit would eventually repair itself, but she could speed the process by placing it into a special bath Jonathan had constructed for the specific purpose.
“Sendrei has captured the Mendari sentry,” he said. “We are bringing it to the aft hold now.”
“I’m on my way,” Ada said, running up the ramp leading to Deck One and the aft hold. Instead of heading there directly, she diverted to her quarters and dropped Tabby’s grav-suit into the repair solution. Checking herself in the mirror, she wiped away a dab of blood that had somehow transferred to her face. She sighed, cleaning the spot. There was always a price to be paid for their missions and some days it bothered her more than others. Tabby would be cavalier about the attack she’d survived, however, had the claw been five-centimeters up and to the left, her friend would be dead.
With resolve Ada entered the aft hold and took in the blood-soaked deck. The badly wounded man-spider sat quietly, several of its mechanical legs lying on the deck, victims of some massive trauma. The other legs were bound in a bright, green gooey substance. The alien locked its eyes onto her as she approached.
“Your pistol, Sendrei,” she said.
“Ada?” he asked.
“Captain,” she corrected. “Your pistol.”
Sendrei nodded and handed his pistol to her.
“Why have you attacked my people?” Ada asked, approaching so that she stood next to the goo-covered legs. She returned the alien’s gaze looking for signs of intelligence.
“You are blasphemy,” he said. “Iskstar must be destroyed.”
“Jonathan, are you sure the translation is right? How could they know of Iskstar?” Ada asked, not turning away as she spoke. “Is this why Kroerak let them live?”
The alien narrowed its eyes. “Iskstar is of devil. Kroerak bugs are plague from god. You are demons,” he said, spitting into Ada’s face.
Ada accepted a towel from Sendrei and wiped her face.
“Much of the Mendari social structure is entwined with deep religious beliefs,” he said. “We are using familiar human constructs for the translation of gods and demons. Also, we have sufficient evidence in the recovered data stores to have confidence translating both Iskstar and Kroerak.”
“You attacked us because of Iskstar?” Ada asked.
“The demon my compatriot banished carried Iskstar, and the one whose eyes glowed has the demonic possession,” it answered.
“You know of Kroerak,” she said. “We came because we believed your homeworld was under attack by the bugs. We came to help, but you attacked us. Why? We’re not demons. Our common enemy is Kroerak.”
“The Kroerak are no longer our enemy,” it answered. “They were easily stopped.”
“How?” Ada asked.
“By fire,” he responded, smiling. “Only the faithful survived the great cleansing and now you have awakened us. We killed our devil, but now we know that more Iskstar live. We will hunt it as we did before. We will cleanse those that stand in our way.”
“You burned the Kroerak? That couldn’t possibly work,” Ada said. “They don’t burn.”
“No, but our world did,” he answered.
A chill ran through Ada’s body and goose flesh raised on her arms. “You burned your world to get rid of Kroerak? What about your people?”
“The faithful were brought to slumber upon this moon,” he said. “The sheep were sacrificed to the fire. How can you not understand this simple tactic? The bugs require food. We forced them to leave by removing their food source. Our home has not yet recovered but we know of others. Now that we are again awake, we will begin our civilization again. Only this time, we will start as faithful.”
The alien strained against the goo and plopped a single leg free, whipping it around toward Ada. Had she remained in place, the leg would have pierced her, as one had Tabby. She’d been expecting the attempt and shot from the floor before the leg was completely free.
Instead of flying back, however, she moved up next to the bound alien and pushed Sendrei’s pistol against its head. “You’re not going anywhere, champ,” she said, struggling not to pull the trigger.
“Send me to my maker, demon,” he said, eyes wide as he pushed his head into the pistol’s barrel. “I will die a hero at the hands of the devil’s own.”
“Not today, bug man,” Ada said, pulling away with sheer force of will and handing Sendrei’s pistol back to him. “Roby, report to the cargo hold.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Roby responded a bit too quickly. Ada grinned darkly as she realized he’d likely watched the entire sequence.
With the engineering bay only a few meters from the aft hold, Roby showed up a couple of moments later. “Oh, frak. What’s that smell?” he asked. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Knock it off, Roby,” Ada said.
“I can’t there’s, ugh, stuff everywhere,” he said, staggering away toward the hatch where he’d entered.
“Raise your face plate,” Sendrei offered.
Roby did as Sendrei suggested and straightened, his eyes darting between Ada and the alien. “Um, what do you need?”
“We’re taking this Mendari prisoner,” she said. “I need you to figure out how to remove its legs without killing it.”
“How?” Roby asked.
“Tabby just pulled them out,” she answered. “I was hoping as an engineer you could be a bit more elegant. Sendrei, maybe you should stay and help. This guy’s going to be a handful.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Sendrei answered. “And, if you don’t mind my saying, not pulling that trigger was the right thing to do.”
“I’m not sure of that,” she answered over her shoulder as she walked out.
“Rise and shi
ne, sleepyhead,” Ada said gently into the comms that linked her to Tabby in the medical tank. The AI had already started waking Tabby and Ada knew a friendly voice would put her at ease.
An old pro in a medical tank, Tabby placed a hand on the mask that covered her mouth and nose. Tracing its features, she located the strap that held it around the back of her neck and pulled it free. The tank’s monitor, recognizing the danger of an unmasked, submerged patient, executed an emergency dump of the suspension fluid. By the time the mask was off, the liquid was rolling away from her body.
“You know it’s customary to give the patient shorts and a bra-top,” Tabby said. “You know, for privacy.”
“Since I’m the only one who’s been here and the one to take off your clothing, I think your point is moot,” Ada answered. “And you definitely have nothing to be ashamed of.”
Tabby rolled her eyes. The two had made a game of uncomfortable innuendo and she was sure someday one of them would take it too far. She also wasn’t about to let Ada win by admitting her fears either.
Tabby stepped from the tank and accepted a towel from Ada, pushing the translucent blue gel from her body. When she got to her abdomen, she inspected the scar left behind by the mechanical leg. “Wow, that sucker really got me,” she said. “Liam is going to be pissed.”
“He’s not the only one. You nearly died, Tabby,” Ada said. “You need to be more careful. There are a lot of people who care about you.”
“I thought I had it,” she said. “Something's off. I’ve slowed down and I’m losing strength.”
“Looked plenty strong when you pulled that thing’s legs out,” Ada said.
“Pretty great, right?” Tabby grinned, shimmying into the suit liner Ada offered. “But the loss is measurable in the gym. I’ve lost at least thirty percent of my strength. I’d guess speed is roughly the same.”
“That’s not good. When we get back, we’ll have to get you checked out,” Ada said.
“Back where?” Tabby asked.
“Good point,” Ada said, with a quick rise of her eyebrows. “Change of subject. The aliens are officially nuttier than a hundred-stan fruit cake.”
“Why would fruit cake have nuts?” Tabby asked.
“Not sure, but it’s something my dad used to say. They claim the Iskstar is the devil and they attacked us because your eyes glowed. It called you a demon,” Ada said.
“That’s nutty all right. Although, I do get these dreams,” she said, shrugging.
“There’s more. There were originally two warring nations on the planet you wanted us to visit," she said.
"Already told you that," Tabby said, raising an eyebrow.
"Right. But according to what Jonathan found, that war was fought millennia ago," Ada said.
"Could have been a different war. My visions have been dead-on so far." Tabby leaned against the medical table and crossed her arms, feeling uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was taking.
"If I may, Tabitha," Jonathan interjected, startling her. Jonathan wasn't in the medical bay and she hadn't realize he was monitoring the conversation.
"Frak, a little warning would be nice," Tabby answered.
"My apologies," Jonathan said. "It is our assertion that your visions have been validated with the information we've discovered. If you accept that the Iskstar species has a life-span in the tens of thousands of standard human years, your vision perfectly aligns with the independent datum we've gathered."
"You're doing that thing again," Tabby said.
"Thing?" Jonathan asked.
"If you want the short kids to have cookies, you need to put 'em on a lower shelf," she said.
"An amusing idiom," Jonathan said. "We are certain you recognize the validity of the Iskstar species having long life."
"I just wanted to talk about cookies," Tabby said, earning her a raised eyebrow from Ada. "No, seriously, I'm starving. And, wait! How would Mendari know enough about Iskstar to decide it's evil?"
"We have several theories," Jonathan answered. "We attempted discussion with the Mendari prisoner, but he has been unwilling to participate in conversation."
"Oooh. You played good cop." Tabby nodded with a glint of mischief. "Maybe I could get those cookies to go."
"Go?" Jonathan asked. "We feel you are mixing metaphors. Where are you going?"
"Why, I'm going to go play bad cop."
Ada pulled Tabby's Iskstar-tipped dagger from beneath a towel on a nearby table and handed it to her. "Go get 'em."
"We assume you've lost interest in cookies," Jonathan said dryly, as Tabby turned to walk out of the medical bay.
"Sendrei said you had a sense of humor," Tabby answered, over her shoulder, as Jonathan turned to follow. "I didn't believe him, but there you go."
"Humor does present a significant challenge," Jonathan answered.
Tabby palmed her way past the brig's security panel only two doors forward of the medical bay. "Don't get a big head."
Initially, she was shocked to look on the prisoner. With mechanical legs removed, it sat immobile in the middle of the cell, its bulbous thorax nestled in a hastily assembled nest.
"I speak not with demons," the Mendari sentry said before she could speak.
"Do you know how people become Iskstar demons?" Tabby asked.
"I do not care," he answered.
"Sure you do. Your enemies were once like you, before they became Iskstar," she said, taking an educated guess.
"We destroyed them along with the seed that spawned them," he answered, watching her carefully as she opened his cell and stepped in close, daring him to grab at her.
"So, you do know." Tabby grinned and pulled her Iskstar dagger from beneath her grav-suit. "Have you ever seen the devil's seed in person? Or was it just rumors you whispered to each other while locked in your cages."
Intently, Tabby watched for a reaction. She wasn't disappointed. As soon as she'd drawn the weapon, the Mendari's eyes locked on it, unblinking.
"Where did you get that? The Iskstar was destroyed," he whispered, his bluish lips forming a frown.
Tabby brought the dagger up to her face and licked the side of the blade, inadvertently catching the side of her tongue on its sharp edge. In that it added to the fiction she was building, she smiled at the pain and rolled her eyes lustfully, not sure if facial expressions translated, but selling it all the same. "You didn't tell me if you knew how your friends became polluted with Iskstar." She touched a finger to her tongue and held it so she could inspect the blood.
"I am not afraid."
Tabby reached forward with her bloodied finger and smiled when the Mendari batted her hand away, clearly worried about transfer.
"Blood doesn't do it," Tabby said, switching hands so quickly that a normal person couldn't have followed. Her Iskstar blade was suddenly thrust into his face. "This, on the other hand…"
"Stop," he interrupted, lunging away and falling out of the basket that held him upright.
Tabby pressed her lead and followed him to the ground leaping onto his body and keeping the blade next to his face.
"You'll tell me everything I want or I'll turn you into Iskstar," Tabby growled. "Tell me, sentry, what's it going to be? Want to have some fancy glowing eyes?"
"Please. Do not make me a demon," the sentry begged.
Tabby straightened and slid the Iskstar dagger back into its slit in her grav-suit. The sentry flinched as she grabbed his hand and pulled him upright. "I'm going to leave now," she said. "I strongly recommend talking freely with the next person through that door, because next time I visit, it won't be for a chat."
Chapter 16
Too Many Secrets
Mhina System, Kito moon over planet Elea, Hornblower
"Cap, Mez Rigdon rounded up those Musi over by Plymouth," Marny reported, handing her infant son, Little Pete, to a young woman who'd offered to help nanny the child. "Do you want to say anything to them before we send them away?"
I raised an eyebro
w at the mention of the city's name. A group of York citizens had requested permission to assign names to local features, but I hadn't realized Mom had agreed to it so quickly. In fact, my HUD showed otherwise; the four cities that surrounded Clear Lake like points on a compass were all renamed: York to the west, Plymouth to the east, Vancouver to the north and Rio de Kito to the south. The latter, whose name translated to ‘River of Kito’ in Spanish appropriately sat next to the wide river that flowed from the lake.
"Did we give the Musi enough supplies to survive their trip to Faraji?" I asked.
"There were dozens of them," Marny said. "But we gave them the fuel you specified and enough meal bars and water to last three ten-days."
"Did they seem okay with that?" I asked. "Are their ships in good enough repair to make it?"
The trip to Faraji, the cold moon of the second gas planet in the system, Kobe, was estimated at two ten-days. That generous span took into account the current location of the planets in the solar system, the poor design of the Musi ships and the disrepair of their systems. Even though the Musi had come to Kito to steal whatever material they could find, I still felt responsible to not send them to their deaths.
"They grovel too much to tell," Marny answered. "Rigdon thinks they still believe we're going to shoot 'em down."
"Probably not," I said. "We have exactly two ships, three if you count Fleet Afoot, to patrol an entire solar system. No. Double the rations we gave 'em and have Mez send 'em off."
"We have an update on ships," Marny said. "Good news for once."
I narrowed my eyes. I'd been paying close attention to repairs on each of our ships and couldn't imagine Marny had more up-to-date information than I did. "What's that?"
"Well, you know when the Felio left Mhina, they didn't have room for machinery, right? They packed it all up so it wouldn't get ruined."
"I just reran the data-streams from our first visit a couple years ago," I said. "I was surprised at how little degradation there had been in the machinery."
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