Fortunes of War (Stellar Main Book 1)

by Richard Tongue

  “Oddly enough, I thought of that,” Carter said, settling into the helm. “We got a lot of parts out of the ship we salvaged. Including transponder codes.” With a thin smile, she added, “It wouldn’t fool a serious inspection, and it probably won’t work for long, but I think we might stand a chance of tricking the pirates into letting us through any defense network they’ve established. And if they send a team out to look for us, then we’ll be more than ready to face them, and they’ll have to fight us on our terms, not theirs.”

  Frowning, Garcia replied, “You’re a little too good at this.”

  “I watched a lot of war films when I was a kid. Not much else to do on some of our longer runs.”

  “So, we get to the surface, launch an attack, free the prisoners, recapture Odin, destroy the bad guys?” Kruger asked. “That’s the basic idea?”

  “Pretty much.”

  “How in the name of hell are we actually going to do it?”

  “We’ve got surprise on our side, our ship is a lot more capable of fighting in an atmosphere than anything they’ve got, and with a highly-trained Marine to lead our assault, how can we lose?” Carter said, looking at Garcia. “I don’t know how we’re going to do it, and I won’t know until we make it down to the planet to take a look at the situation for ourselves. I do know that we’ve got to find a way to rescue the prisoners at the very least. The pirates can’t afford to let any of them live to tell their tale. How long before they start killing them, a few at a time?”

  Nodding, Garcia replied, “I’m afraid you’re right about that.” He looked at his console, and said, “That’s interesting. I ran a voiceprint check on that woman we talked to, the commander of Redemption. I didn’t really expect anything to come up, but I thought it might match something in our records.”

  “And?”

  “She worked for AstraTech. Until last month, actually, as a shuttle pilot. She’s got a Limited Master’s license. No notation about the reasons for her departure for the company, which means it had to have been on pretty good terms. McBride and his friends can get pretty damned vindictive about someone they think has crossed them.” He looked at Carter, and said, “You don’t think…”

  “I didn’t, but I think I’m getting there,” she replied. “That’s another piece of the puzzle. We were speculating that AstraTech was interested in getting into trade pioneering, but that’s a little out of character for someone like McBride. He doesn’t like taking unnecessary risks, never takes the uncertain trade routes. Why would he drop a million credits for a ship that doesn’t fit his business model?”

  “You think that AstraTech is working with the pirates?” Kruger asked, eyes widening. “Interesting idea. Might even be true. It’d make sense. They’re going to be able to buy up shipping companies pretty cheap if things stay as they are, get some nice trade monopolies.”

  “One of their ships was attacked…,” Garcia protested.

  Kruger smiled, and replied, “Ah, Lieutenant, I remember when I was as wonderfully naïve as you were. Then I left kindergarten. Think about it. Of course they’d arrange for one of their own ships to be attacked, probably early in the raids. A perfect way to avoid any suspicion, conceal the truth. I’m going to guess that it was an older ship, probably close to the junkyard, and that they managed a surprisingly good insurance claim on it. He paused, then added, “One more reason to go early. After a few ships have been hit, the insurers would have been less willing to pay out.”

  “Good guess,” Carter said, scanning the readouts, running through the list of ship losses. “Arisia. Second ship hit by the pirates, four and a half months ago. Running with a skeleton crew, heading with a cargo that looks pretty damned insignificant, and there was a full insurance claim made. Collected in full, two weeks after the attack.” Shaking her head, she added, “That’s pretty fast work.”.

  “You realize just what you are implying,” Garcia said. “McBride was working with Petrov. That means that you are accusing a senior Patrol officer…”

  “Who has done next to nothing about stopping the pirates raiding territory that he’s supposed to be protecting. You can talk about the limitations of his equipment all you want, but the fact remains that he is failing to do his job, and a lot of good people are paying the price for that.” Taking a deep breath, she said, “We’ve got nothing but supposition. Nothing that will hold up in a court. Not yet.”

  “That’s an excellent reason to launch the attack,” Kruger said, Garcia turning to him in shock. “If you are correct, and we return to Colchis, we’ll be imprisoned and arrested instantly, and it might be weeks or months before we got our day in court. Assuming we aren’t simply killed before we can testify. Accidents happen in prison.”

  “We’re not going to let that happen. We’re going to Abydos, and either we come back with all the evidence we need, and the prisoners rescued, or we don’t come back at all.”

  Chapter 20

  Pandora cruised through otherspace, surrounded by a cold and uncaring void. Schmitt flicked through pages on a screen without absorbing a word, only seeking something to blot out the reality of the situation he had found himself in. He turned off the file, then lay back on his bunk, looking up at the hull metal above, finding himself counting the rivets in the ceiling. His door slid open, and Wu stepped inside, two cups of coffee in her hands, steam rising in the air.

  “Thought you could do with something to drink,” she said. “Wish I had something to put in it.”

  “Thanks,” he replied, taking one of the mugs. “Anything happening out there?”

  “Vicky and Rusty are working on some sort of battle plan with Kruger’s notes, and Sandoval’s fast asleep. At least, I hope she is. I’d hate to think a noise like that was normal.”

  “Maybe I ought to take a look at her tonsils later.” He took a sip of coffee, gasped, and said, “That is truly terrible.”

  “I know,” she replied. “Does the job, though.” She paused, then said, “Vicky told us about your mission. You were really spying on us?”

  Shaking his head, he replied, “That’s what Petrov thought. I never had any intention of going through with it. I only agreed to prevent someone else being sent to do what I wouldn’t.” Looking at her, he asked, “What are you doing on this ship, anyway?”

  “I’m a gunsmith. I need to see how my weapons perform in action.”

  “This is field research, then?” Shaking his head, he replied, “Nice story. Not true.”

  “No.” Moving inside, she leaned on the wall, and said, “I told you some of my story. How I had to fight my way out of my old homeworld, after the whole mess collapsed.” She paused, then added, “The ship that took us to safety was the Thomas O’Dell. And the man who gave my father the loan that got us started on Colchis was Vicky’s father.”

  “I presumed as much.”

  “He didn’t end up taking a credit from us. The money he loaned us was about what he got for our stock.” Taking a deep breath, she continued, “He pulled out a hundred people, didn’t charge a credit, and set as many of them up with new lives as he could. Nobody else was helping us out. The Patrol didn’t turn up until it was all too late.” Looking down at Schmitt, she added, “Eight hundred dead. A hundred thousand homeless. That world will probably never recover.”

  “They don’t care about the frontier,” he replied. “It’s horrible to say, but it’s true. Then this is the repayment of a debt, then?”

  “No. I don’t think it would be possible to repay that debt. I learned a lesson that day, about the time and place to do the right thing. I’ve got the tools. I’ve got the skills. So, I’m here.” She smiled, and asked, “Why are you here, Doctor?”

  “I told you…”

  “It would have taken time. Weeks, maybe. But that ship we left behind in the jungle could have been salvaged. You could have made it back to Colchis eventually. Heck, if that had been your call, we’d have helped you out, left some spares. You’re going into the valley of the shadow
of death with the rest of us, and if you’re going to be fighting alongside me, I’d like to know why. Even if you’re going to be equipped with a medical kit instead of a plasma pistol.”

  “I never made a choice,” Schmitt said. “I never had the chance. Everything was always chosen for me. When I was a kid, the crowd I ran with needed a hacker, and my parents had the money to buy me the equipment I needed to get started, though they didn’t know what I wanted it for. Then I started running with other hackers, and I just did what they did because they were doing it, until it all started to go wrong.” With a thin smile, he added, “I’m not really a very good criminal.”

  “You’d be lousy at poker, as well.”

  “Trust me, I know,” he said. “As does my bank account. I get pale whenever I see a deck of cards.”

  “What about the Patrol? That was a choice, surely.”

  Shaking his head, he said, “When I was arrested, the judge made it clear that my hacking days were over. I went into medicine because my parents were both doctors. They did it, so I did it. My father did a ten-year stint in the Patrol to pay for his course, and he arranged for me to do the same thing. Like father, like son.” He paused, then said, “I think he was proud to see me on graduation. A doctor and an officer, just like him.”

  “Then this is some weird act of rebellion?” she asked.

  “Maybe it’s all just that simple,” he replied. “Maybe that’s all there is to it. All my life, I’ve followed someone else’s lead, done what I was told. And it’s led me here, one way or another. To a point where I actually get to make a choice, and I’m going to choose to do the right thing, no matter what it costs.” Looking at the insignia on his shoulders, he reached up with his right hand, gently tugging them free. “I don’t think I can wear these now. Perhaps I’ve outgrown them.”

  “Technically, isn’t that desertion?”

  “Probably. I still owe them six years of service before I pay off my medical bills.” He grimaced, and said, “Something like three hundred thousand credits. I think they set the charges that high to make certain that we spend time paying off our debts. Everyone at medical school was in hock to somebody for ten years or more.”

  “What would you have done?” she asked.

  “What do you mean.”

  “If you’d had that choice, back when you were a kid. If you didn’t want to be a hacker, or a doctor, or even an officer in the Patrol, what did you want to be?”

  “You’re going to laugh.”

  “No.” She said, struggling to suppress a smile. “I swear.”

  “I wanted to be a magician.”

  She glanced to the ground, then said, “What, bolts of lightning, that sort of thing?”

  “No, no, a street magician. Card tricks, illusions, all that stuff. I read this book about Harry Houdini when I was a kid, maybe seven, eight years old, and that sounded great. I watched a load of videos, even learned some tricks, but…”

  “But that wasn’t cool, and the kids you were running with weren’t interested.” She smiled, then said, “Maybe that’s why you got into hacking. A different sort of illusion.”

  “I never thought of it that way, but you might have a point. Not that it matters. Not now.”

  “Why not give it a try?”

  “I’m twenty-eight, and I’m committed to years of service as a doctor, as well as a prolonged tour of duty with the Patrol. Not to mention…”

  “Not to mention that all of that is over, isn’t it? You’re not going back.”

  “Once this is over…”

  Sitting next to him on the bed, she said, “If you’re being true to yourself, you aren’t going back to the Patrol. Are you? If this goes wrong, and I have to admit that there is an excellent chance that all of us will be dead tomorrow, then you don’t go back. If it goes a little less wrong, then you get court-martialed, and you’re out of the service that way. If it goes right, then we’re all heroes, and you’ll have the leverage to do what you want to do.”

  “It’s strange,” he said. “I hadn’t thought about all of that in years.” Looking across at her, he said, “I guess I just pushed all of that aside.”

  “You’ve got to live for yourself before you can live for others,” she replied. “We get one life, and you need to spend it doing what you love, rather than what someone else demands that you do. It might be different if your job was a means to an end, that you were supporting a family, but you’re not.” She paused, frowned, and asked, “You’re not, right?”

  “No, God, no,” he replied. “Never even come close. Medical school is damned tough, and the life of a Patrol officer isn’t much better. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t exactly been a monk, but there are times that I’ve come pretty damned close.” Looking at his uniform again, he said, “You know what I really want?”

  “Go on.”

  “A quiet life. Somewhere where there are no expectations other than the ones I set myself. Where I just wake up in the morning, have a nice, normal job, with enough spare time to allow me to do what I want to do.” Looking at Wu, he replied, “You don’t know how lucky you are.”

  “I was a refugee, I ran from my burning home, and…”

  “And you live a wonderful life,” he replied. “Maybe you learned the lesson a long time before I did. Maybe I haven’t learned it yet, because a part of me still feels guilty as hell about leaving my post, even knowing that I was being set up by Petrov.” Looking around the cabin, he said, “Maybe I’ll see if Vicky’s willing to sign me on permanently. I can turn my hand to most things.”

  “I thought about that myself,” Wu replied.

  “What about the shop?”

  “Dad can handle it, and he’s got a couple of assistants. None of them have my flair, but enough to keep things going for a few years. I need to see what’s out there, I need to see and learn new things. One day I’ll be on that street, running that store. I’m happy enough with that idea. I just know that I need more experience first, and I’m about at the limit of what I can learn on Colchis.” Cracking a smile, she added, “And I know that my father agrees with me.”

  “Of course, all of this is assuming that we don’t get killed on the planet.” He glanced up at the clock on the wall, and said, “Eight hours and change. I always hate this part.”

  “The waiting?”

  Nodding, he replied, “I’ve been in a few battles. You always know in advance if you’re heading for a firefight. The worst is when it’s in normal space. You can watch the enemy ship slowly closing, minute by minute, knowing that the battle will be over in a matter of seconds and there’s nothing you can do about it other than clean up the mess afterwards.”

  Moving closer to him, Wu said, “You’re a little more than you look, Doctor.”

  “Max. My name is Max.”

  “I’ll try and remember that,” she said with a smile. “Feel better?”

  “Oddly, yes.” Shaking his head again, he said, “I’m not quite sure why, but I know that I’ll have to get a top hat and a cape when we next make planetfall. I think I can even remember how a few of the old tricks go.” A smile crossed his face, and he added, “You know, for the first time in a long time, I think I actually have something to look forward to.”

  “That’s all you’ve got to look forward to?” she asked.

  “Huh?”

  “God, Doc, I know you’re out of practice, but…” With a sigh, she stood up, closed and locked the door, and said, “I might be dead tomorrow. I’m damned well going to have some fun tonight. Unless you have any serious objections.”

  He looked at her, gulped, and said, “I guess not.”

  “You smooth talker,” she said with a smile, moving to the light switch. “How about another magic trick. Let’s see how long it takes for us to make that costume of yours disappear.”

  Chapter 21

  Abydos was as bleak a world as its name suggested. A dry, dying world, life all but extinct on its surface, the aftermath of a million-year ext
inction event that could only have one ending. The planet had but a single supercontinent, lazily sprawled across the northern hemisphere, surrounded by a purple-tinged ocean, the sky a pale, sour green with angry grey clouds hanging like a shroud. Pandora skimmed down, heading to the far side of the planet, using the endless ocean as a shield to avoid detection.

  “I’ve got the base,” Kruger said. “Right where we thought. Long-range sensors have some decent images, but I don’t think we can risk getting any better ones. There is too big a risk that they’ll pick us up as it is.” Reaching for a control, he added, “Transponder activated. They’ll think we’re one of their ships, but the moment they try and call us, they’ll realize something’s gone wrong.”

  “One satellite in synchronous orbit, over the base,” Garcia added. “I’m not picking up any sign of armament. Looks like an old survey-sat. Meteorological and communications, with a side-order of orbital detection built in. It hasn’t painted us yet, but that’s only a matter of time.”

  “Not if I can help it,” Carter said, sending her ship diving down towards the surface. In a world with an atmosphere as dense as Abydos, O’Dell would have been able to do little other than a conservative, slow descent. Pandora had more options, and she intended to use them to the full. As the continent rolled away on the far side of the planet, she dived into the atmosphere, holding the tightest angle she dared in a bid to bring them down as rapidly as possible. The fireball would be visible for hundreds of miles, but there was nobody on that side of the planet to see it. Nor were there any land surfaces to rig sensors, the last islands long since worn down to nothing by the endless tides.

  “Entering upper atmosphere, altimeter live, eighty thousand feet, descending,” Kruger reported.

  “No attempts to hail us, and as far as I can tell, everything on this planet is over the horizon,” Garcia added. “Continuing countermeasures, just in case.” He paused, then continued, “First shots of the base show it at the head of a valley, ruins behind it, high mountains on all sides. That’s going to be tough to get to.”