"Well, the Walton boys were out running an exploratory mission for Silver and found a municipal warehouse down by the docks," Marny said.
"That's something." I was suddenly very interested. "What'd they find?"
"No spaceships, but that shouldn’t be much of a surprise. They found patrol vehicles, both marine and air-based," she said. "They need work, but initial scans show they're not in horrible shape. Rigdon is already asking about them."
"She’s tired of running around in a Popeye?" I asked, grinning.
The Popeyes were great for extended fighting, but were a complete pain in the butt if you needed to climb in and out very often. Moreover, if Mez intended to patrol more than just the York area, the Popeye's speed was simply too slow – ditto for the tank and Stryker vehicles.
"Anything I need to do about that?" I asked.
"No, just letting you know. Silver has it under control. Fixing them comes down to prioritizing time on the replicators we have access to," Marny said. "There's a lot of infrastructure available, but it’s in pretty bad shape. Since we have access to the Abasi knowledge base, we have all the information we need to repair everything. It's just going to take time."
"Not sure what I'd do if Mom wasn't here," I said. "This stuff drives me nuts."
"We'd find someone else who was good at organization," Marny said. "The value Silver brings is that she has a tie to you, so you don't have to worry she's not considering House of the Bold."
"Feel like she might give the store away," I said. "She's overly compassionate sometimes."
"Apple doesn't fall far from the tree, Cap," Marny answered. "You're more generous than a lot of people in your position would be. Don’t forget. This isn't Mars Protectorate. If we need to walk back decisions she makes later, we can do that. This isn't a representational democracy, even though you and your mother are setting up the local government that way."
"Seems like a goal though, doesn't it?"
"Democracy for Mhina system?" Marny asked.
"Yeah. I love Mshindi and all that, but the way Abasi governs doesn’t feel right to me," I said.
"Pick your battles, Cap," Marny said. "I'm not sure the people of York are ready for anything much beyond survival."
"You're right, and I'm not ready to battle the likes of Bish daily, either." I had some experience seeding small communities of refugees. More often than not, there was one person I clashed with on an epic scale and it gave me a bad taste in my mouth just thinking about it.
"So, you ready to go wake up Munay?" she asked.
"That seems fast," I said. "He was pretty messed up. I'd like to know how he got that ship back here in the shape it was in."
"Agreed," Marny said.
We'd been talking in my personal office, the first room off Hornblower’s bridge and part of the captain's suite. With Tabby gone, I slept on the couch, not interested in using the empty bedroom without her.
As if hearing my thoughts, Marny continued. "What do you hear from Tabby and Ada?"
"Not much more than is in the report I sent out," I said. "Notably, she is feeling some weakness. She says her strength and reflexes are off from her peak and she isn’t sure what's going on with that."
"It's easy to get lost in the forest of urgency," Marny said sagely as we stepped onto the lift that would take us to Deck Two where the medical bay was. "How far off?"
"Thirty percent. She's still way beyond everyone else, but it bothers her," I said. "Intrepid's medical AI couldn't find anything specifically wrong but did verify tissue degradation."
"What if it's Iskstar causing this?" Marny jumped on the subject. "Have you gotten scanned? Cap, this could be a big deal."
"You think Iskstar is harming her?" I asked.
"I have no idea," Marny said.
"What's harming who?" Nick asked, joining us as we entered the medical bay.
Marny ignored the question and pointed to the outline of human feet on the ground. "Clothes off, Cap," she ordered.
I raised my eyebrows, catching Nick's eyes. "But … your husband is here," I said, grinning.
"I'm with Liam on this," Nick said, joining in. "You're entirely too quick to get his clothing off. What? Now that we're married, you're losing interest and going after low hanging fruit?"
"I'll thank you not to talk about my fruit," I quipped back.
"Are you boys about done?" Marny asked, pursing her lips, not even remotely amused. "Liam left out of his report that Tabby is experiencing tissue degradation. It's affecting her strength and reflexes. You both know she nearly died to that man-spider that attacked. What if it's Iskstar? I'm not messing around here."
"A man can hope," I said, sighing dramatically as I pulled off my grav-suit and suit-liner, stepping onto the scanner pad.
Flaer, who had been standing next to the medical tank where the unconscious Munay still rested, stepped over, recognizing the change in focus. "Have you been feeling run-down or tired lately?" she asked, as the scanner's bright-green lights danced across my skin. She pulled a glass tablet from a pocket on the wall and swiped a finger across the surface.
"We good here?" I asked, accepting my suit-liner from Marny. I'd long since lost whatever need for privacy I once had, although I kept my body turned to keep things rated PG.
"There is degradation," Flaer said, flicking the results to me. "Twelve percent from your last scan. Some of this is explained by a recent dip in exercise, although the AI suggests that should account for one percent at most."
"You're not exercising?" Marny asked, raising her eyebrow.
"Haven't really felt up to it lately," I said.
"Still don't think it's Iskstar related?" Marny asked.
"Is there evidence of that?" I asked sincerely, looking to Flaer.
"Nothing direct," she said. "It is beyond our technology to identify the source of the degradation. There appears to be no active agent; no disease or parasite."
I looked back to Marny quizzically and she answered my question. "Tabby carries the Iskstar crystal with her everywhere she goes. You don't. You need to tell her to stop carrying it."
"That's quite a leap," I said, defensively.
"Cap, we don't know what Iskstar is doing, but clearly you're still infected. Just because our AI can't see the parasite, we know it’s there. Your eyes glow blue. We need to get that out of your body," she said.
"The Piscivoru have lived with Iskstar for generations," I said. "It isn't fatal to them. Marny, as you're so fond of saying, we have bigger fish to fry."
"I don't like it, Cap," she said.
"Trust me, neither do I," I answered. "I'll tell Tabby to stop carrying the crystal, but right now I think we need to wake Munay."
Grudgingly, Marny nodded, accepting my words. "You're right. One last thing. Just because Iskstar wasn't harmful to Piscivoru doesn't mean it isn't to humans."
"Flaer, can we wake Greg?" I asked.
"The fluid has drained." The petite, red-haired woman proceeded to pull straps from the grav-board Munay rested on, securing them across his chest, waist and legs.
"What's that about?" I asked, before she could finish.
"His sleep pattern while in the tank has been very active. The medical AI suggests he might awake violently. The straps are to keep him from harm."
The sounds that issued from Munay's mouth as he woke up were as horrifying as they were pitiful. For fully two minutes he howled at maximum volume, gasping raggedly to draw more breath, only to howl again.
"Greg, you're safe." I tried to comfort him, but he withdrew at my touch as if my hands burned. "It's Liam. You're with friends."
The mention of my name seemed to get his attention and he snapped his head around, staring at me intently. His eyes, however, darted wildly about, unable to focus. "You are warned. Do not seek us. Only death awaits," he hissed.
I'll be honest. I absolutely hate horror vids. The occult, creepy dolls, ghosts, ghouls and – frak! – even zombies just aren't my thing. Tabby loved it
all and at the beginning of our relationship, I tried watching a couple of vids with her. Sure, I liked when she got scared and snuggled into me, but the fact was, I found I couldn't sleep afterwards. Spooky evil is my kryptonite, kind of like spiders are for Tabby. I only bring this up because what happened next is a little embarrassing.
I startled, involuntarily jumping back so forcefully that I bounced off Marny and sent us both to the ground in a tangle.
"Greg, who aren't we supposed to seek?" Nick asked, ignoring my inability to keep calm.
"The Empire," he hissed. "You will stop hunting us or you will die."
"Are you talking for the Kroerak?" Nick asked.
"I am Kroerak! And I control this weak flesh bag's mind. You will not be warned again," Munay hissed.
By this time, I'd found my feet again and stepped forward to look into Munay's face. Tears streamed from his eyes and the look on his face was one of absolute terror. "What have they done to you, Greg?"
He whimpered at the sound of my voice. "Commander Greg Munay. Mars Protectorate Navy. Serial number 0229233A5D0. Compromised." The rest of his words were almost impossible to understand. Whatever he was trying to say took him great effort and he finally dissolved once again into a howl of pain.
"Sedate him, Flaer," I said.
She responded immediately.
"No," he said, cutting off his howl in midstream. "Kill me, please … "
The sedation cut off his plea and he fell back against the table, no longer straining at the straps holding him down.
"What the frak was that?" I asked. "He wasn't like that when he came in. Do you really think he was being mind-controlled by Kroerak?"
"We've seen that nobles can communicate to their own over long distances," Nick said. "Munay did say he was compromised."
"What have we learned from the data device we got from his tooth?" I asked.
"Without Jonathan here, we're having trouble," Nick said. "Mars Protectorate military-grade encryption is theoretically impossible to break."
"What do you need to access it?" Marny asked.
"Munay would have an access code that only he and Mars Protectorate would know," Nick said. "We can contact Mars Protectorate; we have a crystal. Maybe they'd give the code to us if we explained what was going on."
"Let's not talk here," Marny said. "If Kroerak are in control of Greg, it’s possible they can hear us even when he's unconscious."
"What will we do with Mr. Munay?" Flaer asked.
"For now, we need him to remain unconscious," I said. "Perhaps over time we can help him recover."
The three of us walked from the sick bay and climbed into the lift to the bridge. "I saw that look on your face, Marny," I said. "You're thinking something."
"That wasn’t Munay's serial number," she said. "It's not the right number of digits and there was an alpha-numeric."
"Every wrong combination we try locks us out by a geometrically increasing amount of time," Nick said. "I've already reached out to Mars Protectorate and tried the four security codes Belcose could come up with. But you need to know, they don't have any record of a secure data storage device associated with Munay."
"How long are you locked out for now?" I asked.
"It's currently not locked," he said. "But, if we blow our next attempt, the lockout goes to sixty-four hours. And you don't want to know what happens after that one."
"Had me at geometric," I said. "Crazy as it seems, I think this all fits together. Munay found the Kroerak. I've been mind-controlled by a noble, so I know that's possible. What if there's Kroerak one step, or even two or three steps above a noble? It's not that crazy to think a more powerful bug would be able to control a person from a long distance. That's why all the smart fabrics were ruined. This ultra-noble forced Munay to destroy everything that could provide a record of his trip and then sent him back here to warn us."
"And he somehow neglected to tell the noble about his tooth spy storage?" Marny asked. "That's a lot of ifs."
"Not for me," I said. "I was able to resist the noble in my head, but I had to be tricky. Munay is an extremely disciplined individual. If anyone could hide something while under duress, it's him."
"Are you telling your mom about this?" Nick asked.
There had been a time when Munay and Mom seemed to be getting closer than mere acquaintances. The situation had changed and things cooled, but she wasn't the type to turn off her feelings like a light switch.
"She should know what's going on," I said. "She'd want to be in charge of organizing his care."
"Are we going to try this code or not?" Marny asked, impatiently. "You guys act like this isn't the biggest secret in the universe right now."
"Mr. Stolzman, clear the bridge, would you?" I asked, sitting in my chair and bringing up the holo projector.
"Aye, Captain," he answered. "I'll head to the galley for an early lunch."
I smiled and nodded as he walked from the otherwise empty bridge. He wasn't an overly talkative man but seemed to genuinely appreciate being given the chance to grow into the pilot's chair on Hornblower. Idly, I wondered if he understood the danger we were about to place him in if Munay's data store showed what I hoped it would.
"I've got it connected," Nick said, once Stolzman cleared the door. "I'm attaching a remote access scanning harness and recorder, just in case we only get one shot at this. You ready?"
"Drama queen," I said, smiling at Marny as I sat back into my chair. The comment couldn't be further from the truth. Nick ordinarily didn't show a lot of emotion or seek to be in the center of anything.
"We'll have to work on that," Marny answered, returning my smile.
"You see the man naked and now you're ganging up on me," Nick complained.
I was about to respond when Greg Munay's face appeared on the holo-projection in front of me.
"This is Commander Greg Munay, Mars Protectorate. The Kroerak fleet looks to be breaking up," he whispered. "I've stolen a ship, Fleet Afoot, from Loose Nuts. If you are listening to this, my guess is I'm dead, so suck it up. I did the right thing here. My plan is to follow these guys home. I've stripped all the comm gear and everything I can put my hands on that might generate a signal. So far, so good. Either they don’t care about my presence or they can't see me. I'm hoping the latter, because for this to work, I need to get out alive, or at least a recording does. Here's hoping I have another recording."
Replacing his bust, a menu of recordings popped up. Twenty in total. The last was less than a ten-day ago. A chill ran down my spine and goose-flesh skittered along my arms. I selected the next in the series.
"Three days later and still alive," he chuckled, his face darker with beard growth. "We're not headed toward any gate I'm familiar with. Coordinate stream is attached. Look at that bizarre looking gate. Like nothing we've seen before."
My holo projector showed the Santaloo star system and the projected navigation from Zuri to the location Greg gave. Fleet Afoot had indeed ventured well away from the beaten path. We'd seen the approach vectors the Kroerak used when starting the invasion, and this trajectory was completely different. The recording ended, and I started the next.
"Well, frak. We just jumped out of Dwingeloo. Pretty standard retreat, though. We just keep matching their navigation so we’re headed in the same direction," he said. "I'm pretty sure Kroerak know we’re here. Not sure why they're not doing anything about it. I'm hoping it's because one ship doesn't present a threat. Feels like wishful thinking, but since we’re doing this on our own and this recording isn't likely to see the light of day, you'll just have to grant me that."
"Brass balls," I said. "He knows they're on to him, but he's not stopping."
"Munay knows what he's doing. The intel isn't useful until he finds the Kroerak home planet," Marny said.
"Looks like we're not alone," he whispered, on the third to last update. To this point, the updates had been mundane. In some cases, he talked about things in his life that he wished he'd done d
ifferently. In others, he talked about goals he had for the future like finding a wife and settling down. The tone of his speech was completely different, much more like when he'd first started following the fleet.
"We just joined up with another large fleet," he said. "I can't tell if it's the same group that attacked Abasi Prime or not. It's a reasonable guess, but I destroyed all of Fleet Afoot’s data stores, including the scans that could help me identify those Kroerak vessels."
The next update was marked only a day after.
"This might be it," he said, his voice conveying excitement. "We've joined with eight more fleets and are about to jump through another gate. My god, but the scale of the Kroerak empire is terrifying. I must be sailing with over four thousand ships. Some of them would give Bukunawa a run for her money.
"And if you thought you had to be at a complete stop to go through a wormhole end-point, you're wrong. We've been hitting these things at ten thousand meters per second. Kroerak can clear an entire fleet in a few seconds. That said, they appear to have gate sickness for an extended period. Up to thirty seconds or longer. I've seen some pretty remarkable wrecks because of it.
"Here we go … Oh, rings of Saturn, this is it. I'm going to try to turn around and get out of here. We just entered the system maybe two-hundred thousand kilometers from a huge, orange planet. There might be as many as twenty thousand ships in orbit. It's impossible to tell. They look like fleas on a dog …"
Uncharacteristically, Greg looked to the side, as if someone was on the bridge out of view of the vid-sensor. "Is someone there?" he asked. His hands flew up to the side of his head and he closed his eyes and screamed. "Get out of my head!!"
It was the last of the recordings.
"Twenty thousand ships?" I asked. "Even at ten-to-one odds with Iskstar, we'd need two thousand ships. There's no way."
"We need to get this information out to Mshindi and Mars Protectorate," Marny said. "We can't hold on to this secret or Munay's sacrifice will have been for nothing."
I pulled the quantum crystals from the secure compartment where they sat next to my chair. "Nick, can you arrange a conference call? It's time to call in some favors."
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