Privateers in Exile

by Jamie McFarlane

  I held my hands out to quell the brewing confrontation. I suspected Joliwe hadn’t been using her people skills with Marny and instead was in attack mode like she’d been with me. “Chappie made the plan for us. Just about everything hinges on our ability to recover Hotspur. After that, it feels like a standard rescue mission.”

  I tried to say the words as confidently as I could, but Tabby found humor in the statement and laughed. “Since when have any of our missions been standard anything?”

  “Seems like we’re up against a ticking clock,” Nick said, joining us. “Joliwe, will Chappie publicly execute Prince Thabini?”

  The question was asked plainly but it stunned Joliwe, whose pale face turned light crimson. “How can you ask such a thing?” She clenched her fists and ran from the group.

  “I didn’t mean anything by it,” Nick said, looking to me for support.

  “She’s had a tough couple of days,” I shrugged as I turned to follow her. She hadn’t gone far and allowed me to catch her arm.

  “How could he ask that?” she asked, her chest shuddering as she spoke.

  “You’ve been through a lot, Joliwe. Nick doesn’t always think about the impact of his questions,” I said. “Believe me, if he asks, it’s for good reason. He’s trying to come up with a way to help.”

  “What if they’ve already killed him?”

  “You can drive yourself crazy with those kinds of questions,” I said. “Right now, we need to believe he’s alive and do everything we can to get him back.”

  “Bongiwe was the fearless one,” she said. “I’m not strong enough for this. If not for my sister, I would have gone along with whatever Chappie demanded. That’s why we let bell-e-runde do what they do. We convince ourselves that it’s better than resisting. I can’t fight them.”

  “You can,” I said. “Not everyone is as brave as Bongiwe. Sometimes we just need someone like her to show us the way.”

  “But she’s gone.”

  “If she was here, what would she do?”

  “I guess she’d help you humans,” Joliwe said. When she said humans, the word sounded less like a curse than it had before, although her emotions were currently all for her sister.

  I nodded and led her back to the group. “I think she would too.”

  “I’m sorry, Joliwe,” Nick said. “I wasn’t trying to be insensitive.”

  “How are we all getting to the ship? I’m not counting enough of your flying suits,” Peter said, fidgeting where he stood.

  “We’re not,” I said, surprising Nick and Marny. “We can’t afford to be slowed down with passengers.”

  “We’re not leaving Peter behind,” Marny said.

  “Joliwe, what’s your relationship with the Scatters who live in this area?” I asked.

  “You need me,” she argued. “You can’t leave me behind. I won’t allow it.”

  I forced a smile and shook my head. “Not up for discussion. If we get Hotspur up and running, we’ll come back for Peter and Joliwe. If we don’t, we’ll have new problems to deal with. Marny, do you really want Peter in the middle of a skirmish with an armed force without a working ship?”

  “Cap, you can’t …,” she said, but closed her eyes in quiet acceptance.

  “I’ve loaded the chamber into the cargo hold. What do you want me to do with it already?” Ada asked, interrupting the conversation.

  “Put a comm set onto the control panel,” Nick said.

  “Just a minute,” Ada answered.

  “I’m coming with you,” Joliwe said, folding her arms and giving me a hard look.

  “It’s time to trust me,” I said. “I have a job for you. You need to communicate with the Scatter tribe that lives on this mountain. Explain what’s happening and get them to accept Peter. If something happens to us, he’ll need people.”

  “This is messed up,” Peter argued. “Why can’t I take one of the suits? I could carry Joliwe. We’d just come behind a bit more slowly.”

  “No,” Nick said, firmly. “Liam’s right. Out here on the mountain you’ll be safe. If you get caught near the city, you’ll be in danger. Worse yet, if Belirand were to capture you, they would use you to make us do things we don’t want.”

  Peters eyes glistened as he processed the incomprehensible. “I can’t believe you’re leaving me behind.”

  “Hopefully, not for more than a night,” I said. “Joliwe, will you do what’s been asked of you?”

  “I don’t like it,” she said. “But I will do as you say today. You will have made an enemy of me if Prince Thabini dies at the hands of Chappie Barto.”

  “I believe that’s right,” I said. “We leave in an hour.”

  “You doing okay, momma?” I asked, bumping into Marny as we sailed low across the snowy forest of the Juba valley.

  “I’m worried about Peter,” she said. “He’s never been around other people. What if they don’t like him?”

  “You sound like you’re sending him off to kindergarten,” I said. “He’s not going to be there that long and the Scatters already know him. Did you know that the reason the Scatters won’t talk to you is because King Nkosi ordered it?”

  “Why would he do that?” she asked.

  “Because they wanted to see if you were trustworthy,” I said. “I also learned that the Scatters consider you four to be good people, aside from the fact that you kill animals to eat.”

  “We couldn’t survive without the protein,” she said.

  “The Scatters know that,” I said. “They saw how you hunted only for survival and how you cared for each other. If I hadn’t shown up, they would have eventually accepted you.”

  “Not sure how that would have worked out well,” she said. “Belirand would have eventually found us.”

  “Are we okay, Marny?” I asked. “I know I’ve asked before, but it has to hurt when you see the conflict between Peter, Tabby and me.”

  “It’s hard for everyone,” she said. “Peter’s hurting right now and it makes me sad. I don’t blame you, though, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Tabby?”

  “That’s a little harder for me,” she said, switching to a private comm. “I wasn’t a fan of her and Peter getting together. When I finally seemed to be getting past my issues, you showed up and it turned into a real mess. We’ll get through it.”

  “Yeah, I suppose we will,” I agreed.

  Sailing down the northern slope of Bluetop Mountain, I got my first good look at what was happening in Thandeka. Still further than forty kilometers away and magnified by my suit, the city seemed quiet, with the cutter still slowly patrolling above the buildings. Periodically, blaster bolts tore at the ground as Chappie’s soldiers continued their campaign of fear.

  “We’re buried in here pretty good,” I said as we arrived at the well-hidden crystal grotto where Hotspur and Ada had spent the last twenty years resting like Sleeping Beauty. For most of the trip, we’d been quiet, each of us lost in our own thoughts.

  Like an arrow launched from a bow, Tabby zipped past us and into the cave. Just how she managed to avoid colliding with the jutting formations was beyond me. When the remainder of our group arrived inside the grotto, we were met with the joyful scene of Tabby and Ada’s reunion.

  “I knew you were alive!” Tabby said, spinning Ada around and lifting them both off the cave floor. “I just can’t believe you’re here.”

  “Feels like only a few days have passed,” Ada said when Tabby finally released her. Tabby stepped back and allowed for the more muted, but no less happy, reunions with Nick and Marny. “Where’s my Little Pete?”

  “We had to leave him on the mountain,” Marny said, urging us into the ship. “We couldn’t afford to be slowed down and he’s not exactly little anymore.”

  “I heard,” Ada said, grabbing Marny’s hand. “When we have time, I need every single detail. I feel like I got left out of Pete’s childhood.”

  “The comm unit didn’t do anything?” Nick asked, abrup
tly turning away to zip through the starboard airlock. Ada and I followed.

  “Not sure what you were expecting from a comm unit on the chamber.” Ada caught up as he pulled up short in front of Hambo, who looked up at him with bemusement. I wondered if Hambo ever got flapped at anything.

  "Nick, meet my good friend, Hambo," I said, "Hambo, this is Nick.”

  "Appreciate what you did for Liam, Mr. Hambo," Nick said. "It looks like the medical tank got you all patched up."

  “This boat is truly amazing,” he said. “I should have died. I was ready to be with my family.”

  “Ship, Hambo,” I said. “And your family will need to wait. We have a prince to rescue.”

  Nick wasn't looking to stand around and chat – not a big surprise. He turned into the hold and sailed over to Ada’s empty suspension chamber. “I need my tools,” he said, absently, swiping at the virtual console in front of his face.

  "Right here," Ada said, plucking the tools she'd already retrieved for him.

  Breathing down Nick’s back wouldn’t do anyone any good, so I palmed the security panel to drop the loading ramp. Tabby jogged past carrying a blaster rifle and leapt into the air. I followed her into the cave and watched as she sailed back toward the cave entrance. “Not sure what kind of a show you’re running here, Hoffen, but we’re deep in enemy territory and without a sentry.”

  “Get ‘em, Tabbs.” I said and flitted to the front of the ship. A visual inspection would give me an idea of just how much damage Hotspur’s armor had taken when it had crashed. It wouldn’t do to chase Chappie into space if our ship wouldn’t hold atmo.

  The first thing that became clear was that Hotspur's crash landing hadn't been completely out of control. If the ship had entered the atmosphere without engines, it would have spun or tumbled – it certainly wouldn’t have come in straight and gentle. And while Hotspur’s armor was extremely tough, I expected to see much more damage. The skin was unblemished for the most part. She was just sitting inside the cave with her nose buried deeply into one of the walls. I pushed along the hull as far as I could, but found no more than a few gouges that could be repaired with replicated material. It was puzzling to be sure, since not a one of us had been up when the ship had landed.

  “Liam,” Marny called. “You should probably get down here.”

  I shook my head, not sure what to think about the lack of damage. There remained a lot of unanswered questions. Knowing Nick the way I did, I knew he’d be ahead of me in chasing down the answers. I had an inkling of what he was trying to accomplish with Ada’s suspension chamber, but I would avoid getting my hopes up. I was really not in the mood for disappointment.

  I ran back to the aft section of the ship and into the hold. “You got ‘em, Nick?” I asked.

  He nodded, not looking up, “They’re in there all right. It’s like they’re trapped in some sort of a logical Gordian Knot.”

  “Is that a fancy way to say you can’t talk to him?” I asked.

  “Jonathan?” Ada asked. “They’re in there?”

  “Yeah. Only I think they’ve been spinning on some sort of complex problem the entire time we’ve been gone.”

  “When we were leaving Mars space, Jonathan just kind of stopped communicating. I remember thinking it was weird since they don’t need physical form like we do.”

  “I’ve been over it a million times during the last twenty years. Jonathan got taken out about the same time we lost control of the ship,” Nick said. “We were hijacked electronically. I guess I’ve always believed Anino was just trying to get rid of us, but he’d never do this to Jonathan.”

  “Why would someone take out Jonathan?” I asked.

  “To gain control of Hotspur, you’d have to stop Jonathan first,” Marny said. “My question is how’d you know Jonathan was in there? Was it the visions of fruits and vegetables?”

  “You’re right. That’s it!” Nick said. “Get this chamber out into the cave! Put it back where it was.”

  “What’s up, Nick?” I asked.

  “I can’t figure out how to free ‘em,” he said, “but the collective has had twenty years to work through the problem. Maybe they can communicate with the same projections they used on the Scatter priests.”

  Chapter 21

  If It Was Easy

  "Ash clouds of Venus, it's not working." Nick angrily slapped his hand on top of the rectangular chamber where Ada had spent the last twenty years. We'd tried just about everything we could think of, including making sure the device was well powered and completely free of debris.

  "Where's the projector on this thing?" I asked.

  "There isn't one," Nick said. "I don't know how they managed the projections."

  Hambo looked at me nervously and it seemed like he wanted to say something. "What do you have, Hambo? We're all equals here. If you have something to add, we'd love to hear it."

  "I don't think you can rely on these forest priests," he said. "They are good and kind people, but they are not reliable and would rather spend their time meditating and singing to the spirits of the forest than gathering food for the long cold season."

  "They had to know something," I said. "Otherwise why would they have placed food onto the chamber?"

  "That is what they do," Hambo said. "They offer food to trees and rocks and even rivers. They believe it brings a special blessing to the land."

  "When the chamber consumed it, the idea was reinforced," Nick said. "It doesn't explain why their visions were so right on the money. Maybe if we could talk to them."

  "That would not be difficult, only it will take some time," Hambo said. "They will not travel during daylight hours."

  "Do you need help to find them?" Nick asked. "I don't think we have a lot of alternatives."

  "No. I will go," Hambo said. "I have always enjoyed visiting with the priests. They have, by far, the best dried kampa."

  Frustration was setting in. Tomorrow was Chappie's imposed deadline and we didn't have a working ship. Soon, we'd need to leave Hotspur, go to the city and hope he intended on a public execution that we could interrupt. The problem was, he would expect us, and I couldn’t come up with any reason why his ships wouldn't be standing by. Running from a ship with a mounted turret, even in a grav-suit, was a losing proposition no matter what fancy plans we might come up with.

  "Please go," Nick said. "And try to encourage them to come earlier, if possible."

  "I will." Hambo turned toward the mouth of the cave.

  "We should focus on getting the ship going, with or without Jonathan," I said. I'd been relying on getting Hotspur in the air. "Waiting for Chappie to bring Prince Thabini back is a huge risk, especially without Hotspur running."

  "It would appear Chappie is expecting us to make some sort of a play," Marny said. "Otherwise there would be soldiers crawling all over this cavern."

  "They think we left," I said.

  "No competent strategist would ignore a location where they have been defeated," Marny said. "They should have returned with a larger group."

  "They will at some point," Nick said. "But he has to think we're trapped. Belirand has air superiority over Fraxus. Chappie's biggest problem is that he needs to cut the head off this revolution before it can grow. He has the revolution's leader. That's his priority. We're just a side-show."

  "And without Hotspur that isn't going to change," I said, stalking over to the ship and up the ramp.

  I pulled up a list of current repair priorities on the ship. While the major systems hadn't been materially impacted by the long downtime, the biological systems were in bad shape. I laughed ruefully as I noticed that the fourth priority was a flush of the black water lines and a restart of the microbes that would turn waste into usable material, leaving only sand behind.

  As I pulled up a deck panel in the exercise area starboard and forward on the lower deck, I shook my head. When I'd first seen the design, the area had seemed like a marvel of combined purposes. The starboard bulkheads were covered
in vid-screens that allowed an immersive experience when working out or jogging on the embedded track. Forward, following the curved bulkheads at the front of the ship, dozens of young, green plants had once grown. The natural foliage had been included for both nutritional and air-scrubbing benefits. At the portside, which was roughly centerline of the ship, a stream of water had gurgled along a pebble-strewn bed.

  Of course, the streambed was dry now and the plants had long ago shriveled up and died. Even worse, the deck near the stream was covered in a layer of what looked like long-dead and dried-up slime. Best I could tell, the water had stopped moving and algae had taken over. At some point, even the algae growth had dried up, leaving behind a greenish brown stain that had spread out half a meter on either side.

  At the top of the AI's prioritized list was replacement of the atmo filtration. It seemed an odd requirement. With no inhabitants, the closed ship shouldn't have had dust, nor should the filters have been clogged. Then again, we'd never had living plants or an open stream bed in a ship before, so perhaps the problems were related.

  Working on ships that hadn’t been maintained in years was a pain. Every nut, bolt, slide and panel seemed to be frozen in place. To make matters worse, I'd been annoyed and hadn't brought my anti-seize pads which would deploy a little army of nanites to free stuck items. It had never occurred to me that the darn filter would be so hard to change out. My hand slipped as I gave the unit another hard tug, causing me to thwack the back of it against the edge of the deck.

  "Frak!" I cussed under my breath and slapped the ancient filter.

  Talk about making matters worse. The soft membrane caved in, sending a huge brown plume of dust and spores up into the air. I choked, sucking in too much of the crap. It was nearly impossible to breathe, and I lurched upward to escape the cloud. I'd heard someone on the deck above me but hadn't given it a second thought. That was, until my head collided with Nick's knee and I fell back into the compartment, seeing stars and kicking up an even larger cloud of dust.