Savage Stars

by Randolph Lalonde

  "That's something I can get behind," Spin said. "What will your superiors think of you going on this mission for me?"

  Frost gestured for her to sit down in the rearmost seat, and he sat down across the narrow aisle across from her. "I've already made my deal to come out here and give Boro, along with whoever else, a ride back to my place on Tamber. They know I'll be back on the wall with them, watching for invaders. I'm guessing I might be able to get them to look past a detour if I bring something worthwhile back."

  "So, you're looking to loot the corpses around Sa-Hadin like everyone else who's on their way there," Spin said.

  "Between you, me, Boro and Nigel there, listening in; if no one's using it, it's fair game. I saw my first gunnery deck when I was eleven, but I stole my first ship when I was eight. Didn't get caught, either."

  Spin laughed and shook her head.

  "It was a remote flier," Boro explained, amused. "A toy you controlled with a little holo-bud. I remember you flying that around outside, it was a month before you let me have a turn."

  "Right, and I've been either stealing or shooting ever since," Frost said. "With this ship and your brains - because Boro can't stop going on about how smart you are - we'll get what you need and scan everything on the way out. That's where some of the best tech on this ship comes from; scanning and stealing. If I bring something new back, they'll be a little more likely to look past how late I am."

  "Or how many dents you left in their ship," Hal said as he passed between them on his way to the pilot's seat at the front.

  "Ah, that's the problem with self-repairing ships; by the time you get home no one can tell you had a brush with trouble," Frost said with a wink. "Now, the real question is; will you want to come back with us after?"

  "We're clear for departure, I just got the word," Hal said over his shoulder.

  "Take us out, Lad," Frost replied, watching Spin.

  Escaping the Countess' grasp and taking her friends to British Alliance space was the right thing to do. She ran away, plain and simple. Somehow, the idea of running further didn't feel right.

  "Maybe revenge is more important?" Frost asked conspiratorially.

  "No," Spin replied without thinking. "Going back there, going after the Countess and her people would be stupid." As she said it she looked down at her wrist. There was a combat hardened bracer there, a command and control unit as Haven Fleet called it, but it was linked to the computer printed on her arm beneath. Inside was every bit of information she had from Larken's computer along with everything else she could get about the Countess and her operation. She asked herself who she was saving it for, if not herself?

  "Wait, what's that look?" Frost asked, catching some expression or tell that she didn't mean to give.

  Boro was paying attention, so was Nigel. Leland, who was just coming in, knew something was going on right away and sat down in the only free seat. "Nothing, just thinking."

  "I've seen that look," Frost said. "You do want revenge, but something is keeping you from getting it."

  "I have enough information to expose the Countess to attack from pirates, lawsuits, and to sow dissent amongst her people." Spin held her wrist up. "Right here."

  Frost laughed, delighted with a realization that he made only seconds after she did. "What? What's up?" Nigel asked.

  "She wanted to use it herself to get first crack at… what? Piracy? A little grand theft from the bank accounts? Some sabotage? A smear in the media? Extortion?"

  "I don't know!" Spin spat back, angrier than she meant to be. "Maybe I did want first crack, for Larken, for Trevor and everyone else she's killed or screwed over. That would mean going back there. I don't know if I could do that unless I was alone, and that's the one thing I don't want to be."

  "There's another way," Frost said.

  "That's enough," Boro said, getting to his feet and crossing to Spin's seat.

  "No, she's smart enough to figure out what has to happen herself, she just needs a nudge," Frost said. "Getting revenge has gotten me into more trouble than I can tell you."

  "It's a foolish urge, I know," Spin said, thinking about all the dirt and inside information she had on the Countess and, to a lesser but significant extent, the United Core World Authority.

  "So, why are you saving that? Why not share it with every whoreson looking for a good score on the Stellarnet?"

  "I've shared some." That was a good question, though. What if she let go? It's not as though she would forget Larken the moment she sent the data to the nearest node to spread across the galaxy faster than light. If anything, she'd be honouring him. He felt as betrayed as she did when he learned of the Countess' plans to use them as breeding stock. "Maybe, before we do this I should share the rest." Not the Core World Authority stuff, though. No one knows it was in the Countess' files, so I'll keep it just in case. Spin thought to herself.

  "What do you have on her?" Boro asked.

  "Secret trade routes, vault locations and inventories, evidence that incriminates her organizations in every kind of corporate crime, warehouse locations, locations of private law enforcement bases, thousands of security codes, and, well, enough to cause a lot of trouble for her for years. There's even recordings of her badmouthing her relatives in House Lux, including the King, especially the Queen."

  "We're all set to start accelerating out of the solar system," Hal said. "Should I wait, or…"

  "Go slowly," Frost said.

  Hal nodded. "Gotcha, taking the long way so we can stay in range of those hyper transmitter nodes."

  "It's all yours," Boro told Spin. "It's up to you, but do you have anything on Kort?"

  "Enough to incriminate him in murders, acts of piracy, blackmail, torture and corporate espionage. Slavery, too, but everyone at the top of the Countess' organization is guilty of that. The evidence is in the open."

  "I don't know if I'll be going with Shamus when we finish this," Boro said. "But knowing there's evidence against them out there will make me rest easier. If they're busy dealing with fallout from this, it'll make it harder for them to come after us."

  "I'm going to do it," Spin said.

  "It should be out there," Leland said.

  "Yes!" was Nigel's response.

  "Realize, this might not take her down completely," Spin said, bringing up the collection of files. "There's another leak from me out there, and it didn't seem to do much. This is just… the rest."

  "It'll do damage though?" Boro asked.

  "Loads," Spin said. The files were ready to send. The script she set up would send them to every news agency and set up a database anyone could use to see the complete archive. She made sure that the United Core World Authority files weren't included then activated it and sat back with a sigh. "Now It's not just up to me to screw her up. Anyone will be able to find something they can use."

  Frost checked his own command and control unit and flinched as he saw the image of the Countess smiling up at him. "What is she? This Countess of yours? Is she an Issyrian trying to frighten children and put everyone else off?" He turned privacy mode off so everyone could see the freakish holographic image of the Countess in a peacock dress.

  Her neck was extended, eyes enlarged, and her slender, too-long arms were extended wide. Her big smile looked overly toothy and strangely carnivorous. The image was taken so it could be used in a holographic invitation that was sent to the richest people in her social circle. "Oh, that's her. She's had some work done since then, but she's still human."

  "What? That's not human!" Frost laughed.

  Hal turned and looked, flinching in shock at the image. "Gah! That's not real, it can't be."

  "Oh, you should see her in person, she's even worse now," Spin snickered. "I shouldn't laugh; it's sad. She has to wear a special brace to keep her head up because her neck is too long. Kort acts like she's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen, though."

  Frost shook his head, turned the image off and moved to the Co-pilot's seat. "I'll take a pass
on seeing her in person. Just tell me that kind of thing isn't common."

  "The richer you get, the more alterations you get," Spin said. "But she's on the extreme end."

  Boro settled in beside her, and things quieted down as they prepared to jump. "Feel better now that you know you're spreading that to everyone who cares to know?"

  Spin nodded. "The first thing that'll happen is the fallout from all the holo and video footage I just shared. There's a lot of private and embarrassing stuff there. I wish I could see her face. She's screwed the United Core Word Authority over a lot too, so they'll probably be after her next. It's going to be ugly."

  "The Quad Drive is online and ready," Hal said to Frost.

  "Navigation ready," Frost replied.

  "Oh, what's a Quad Drive?" Spin asked.

  "It's a set of four drives and a reactor that can open a hole into another dimension so we can get where we're going faster. I'll unlock a chatty hologram to explain it better once we're underway."

  "Another dimension?" Spin asked as she watched the darkness of space split in front of the ship as they moved into a place surrounded by bright blue light. "How long will it take us to get to Geist?"

  "Three days," Hal replied. "We're in the energy tunnel, stable, accelerating, and underway. Autopilot on."

  Frost locked his station then stood up. "All right, time to get all of you trained up. So far, the only one who tests as fleet ready on anything is Dori, who's still cackling in our rear turret, rampaging through every gunnery sim we have."

  Twenty-Nine

  Labyrinth Nine was one of the most frustrating and thrilling training simulations Spin had seen. It took place in an old star cruiser that was being pulled into a white star sideways at a rapidly increasing speed. Its artificial gravity had failed, so they were running on the walls, and those walls weren't made to take footfalls, so some of the panels failed underfoot.

  The suit's sensors were still reliable, so they used them to find safe paths through the halls as they chased their objective - Dori - who had surpassed them in every way over the past three days. What made it much worse was that she was allowed to fire through walls and sabotage supports, while the pursuers were docked for any damage they did to the ship.

  "Aw, c'mon, you can make it through this stupid Escher painting made real! I'm just around the next corner!" Dori taunted through their proximity radio.

  "God dammit, how did she get so good so fast?" Frost asked as he leapt across a hallway crossing. It was a feat that would be difficult at one gravitational unit, but at five it strained the muscle augmentation in the simulated heavy armour. He was about to touch down on the other side when the airlock below opened suddenly, and he had to fire all his barrier thrusters to make it across. He lit up like a white-yellow beacon, all his shield emitters momentarily converting to high thrust force drivers. Normally, that wouldn't cost him his shields, but his suit was fighting to finish that leap against high gravity and sudden depressurization.

  The thin plating along the walls melted, revealing the sturdier frame of the ship below, and he was about to catch it when Dori peeked around the corner and blasted him mercilessly. "Would have been easier to let yourself get sucked out of the ship, Chief!" she laughed as her high explosive rounds tore through his unshielded banded suit after the first two bursts.

  Spin shot past Frost, her rifle - made to tear machines and something called framework soldiers apart - rattling against her shoulder as Boro and Nigel both joined in. They scored enough hits to burn through Dori's shields, but she ducked and let herself fall down a hallway far ahead before they could make the kill.

  What was left of Frost and his armour drifted down, making its way through the airlock. "I'm out, that was a bloody smart trap," Frost admitted over the general simulation channel. "Good luck, that's not the last, knowing her."

  "If the bots have control of the ship we're headed on, we can expect traps," Mirra said over the shared channel. She was the first to get blasted out of the simulation. Automated cannons raked her from behind, but it was a distraction. A succession of three grenades took her out from above as she was trying to get to cover. It was an early reminder to think in three dimensions, something Hal was helping Dori do using a direct channel. He wasn't in the simulation, but outside, providing advice to help her make the chase as unfair and as educational as possible.

  "We have to go around," Spin said. "We need to trap her."

  "Go outside?" Nigel asked.

  "She opened a door for us, I'll go." Spin activated her suit's flight mode and she let herself fall down through the airlock into the darkness below. Once she was outside the ship she flew along the length of the hull as fast as she could. A few shots from Dori's rifle tried to catch her, but missed, and she took cover over fifty metres ahead, where the ship's hull was ripped open. "I'm in front, she's eighteen frames back."

  "We're five frames behind, you overshot," Nigel said.

  "Only way to get in without doing more damage to the ship. I'll close the gap and set up." Running and switching the mode of her rifle to precision anti-armour firing was second nature. The basics; moving, running, fine movement were easy to learn in the armour. Perfecting it took about ten hours, and flight was another five, but she wouldn't put herself up against a fighter pilot. Actual tactics that required the shield, sensor, computing and weapon systems seemed easy, but there were details, little quirks and tricks to pick up that were taking forever. Dori had an advantage. She'd been a cyborg made for war, killed until it nearly drove her mad, and even though she'd forgotten most of that time, she seemed to have an instinctive memory for how to work with similar technology.

  There was something else, too, and Spin was certain that it was as important as any experiences Dori had in the past. She loved the fight. The harder it was, the more Dori enjoyed herself. Despite her wisecracks, cackling and abundant enthusiasm, her head seemed to stay clear enough to score higher than everyone in every way. If she got quiet, like she was as Spin rushed to close the distance between them, it was because she was concentrating. If Dori was on your side, that was a good thing, her highest performance marks were accomplished when she focused, but if you were against her, it was terrifying.

  Dori was putting something together, a trap, a plan, something that could take them all out at once. Spin looked at her tactical scanner, through the map of the ship around her, and Dori's last known location. She was normally easy to track, but there was no sign of her. Dori had switched to stealth mode or found something they couldn't scan through. "She might be inside one of the dead reactors," Spin announced. "Or stealthed, I have her last known location here. I'm still too far away, but I'll be there soon. Watch out, get behind cover."

  "You think we should take cover? You're the one who decided to break off on your own." Nigel said. "What do the cutest characters in horror vids always do right before they get killed?"

  "They tell someone else to be careful," replied Dori.

  Nigel's armour reported a power interruption, then his life signs went dark. "God dammit!" Spin said, realizing that Dori burned out his shield with her own then used something to crack into his armour and kill him instantly. That wasn't supposed to be possible with the Encounter Suits they were wearing. Breaking through the armour took the kind of firepower you used against heavy fighters.

  "I've got her!" Boro shouted, his rifle spitting rounds in quick bursts.

  Spin had a thought and took remote control of Nigel's armour as though she was wearing it herself. It was right behind Dori. A third of its systems were inoperable, as though an electrical blast was fired from the inside of the suit, but there was enough functionality left for her to make it work for her.

  Dori dodged out of Boro's line of fire, leaving her back open to Nigel's armour, and Spin forced it to move. The arm that still worked thanks to layers of synthetic muscle, gripped Nigel's rifle, brought it to bear, then set it to its highest power level. Dori, perhaps by instinct, maybe at Hal's warning, turne
d at the last instant; just in time to see the triple shot that took her shields the rest of the way down, then the three that blasted her in half.

  "Holy shit, I did not see that coming," Dori chuckled as her armour went to work, sealing the huge gaps in its middle and putting medical systems to work to preserve her life.

  "Game over," Spin said, realizing the crack was groan-worthy, but happy that she was about to get the last word anyway. Two triple-blasts finished her off, cracking her helmet open and destroying the matter inside.

  Thirty

  The transit clock counted down from three hours as the half-brothers met in the deployment room in neutral, dim light. So much changed about his brother Shamus while they were separated. That was to be expected after so many years apart, he supposed, and he wondered how far Shamus strayed from a moral path.

  There were crimes that Boro didn't see as large moral transgressions, plenty of them. Stealing from the wealthy, from large companies, especially from gangsters. If a crew turned slaver, extorted people or took territory and didn't care for the people who were already there, they were fair game as far as he was concerned.

  The Shamus he knew from years before didn't limit his targets on his own. He would steal anything worth his time, regardless of the owner if Boro or the rest of the crew from back then weren't around. It got him into the kind of trouble none of them wanted anything to do with more than once and it cost them friends back in the day. Boro wondered how bad he'd gotten without someone around to hold him back and still suspected that the shiny new ship, all the trappings inside were ill gotten somehow. "Can't believe she got you with that trap," Boro said as he met him at a table that was in the middle of the deployment room. He could see how it folded away, collapsing right down against the floor when there wasn't a need for it, as he sat down on one of the benches.