by T. Y. Carew
“Want me to take a look?”
“Knock yourself out,” he said, glancing once more at Brian.
Matt didn't need to be a genius to work out that the engineer wouldn't talk in front of the guard. That meant she had to get rid of him or find some other way to communicate. While pretending to examine the small piece of kit more closely, she tried to think of something that might work. A whole bunch of ideas and tricks she'd seen in movies played through her head, but most of them were trite or obvious. She needed something believable, something real.
Picking up a sharp looking tool, she prepared herself and did her best to cut herself in a way that looked like an accident. She swore only fraction of a second later as the stinging pain kicked in and drops of the dark red liquid ran down her finger onto the workbench.
Her exclamation drew the attention of both men.
“Sorry, I'm a bit of a klutz sometimes,” she said a moment later. “There a first aid kit nearby?”
The engineer frowned and looked to the guard.
“Ours is out of bandages and antiseptic cream. Can you grab the one from the hangar storage?” the engineer asked Brian. The guard opened his mouth to respond, but another splash of blood from Matt's hand seemed to convince him it was necessary.
“Don't go anywhere,” he said before hurrying off. She raised an eyebrow as she briefly wondered where he expected her to run off to before giving her remaining companion her focus.
“What's going on here?” she asked, not wasting any more time and trying to ignore the throbbing in her injured appendage. At first the man hesitated, giving her a moment to wonder if she'd wasted some of her precious blood, but then he looked her full in the face.
“That drone's in here because they're all offline. Every single one. Something is stopping them from working, blinding them.”
“Can't you see what is doing it? Surely they record until they're tampered with.”
He nodded.
“They do, but the security guy they all were attuned to is missing.”
“Missing?” Matt felt a ripple of cold shuffle down her spine. Something was very wrong here.
“They sent him out three days ago to try and get them all online again. He never came back.”
“He just vanished?”
“His whole pod. I got this drone back from a friend when a cargo ship came back in yesterday, but I can't access the data. I just don't have the ability.”
“Leave it with me. I'll see if I can find out what happened.”
The engineer nodded and picked up the device. Matt had it tucked in her pack just moments before Brian returned with a first aid kit. Trying to appear patient and grateful, she let the guard tend to the small wound and fix it up.
“Right. My Colonel will be wondering what's happened to me and he'll want to hear about this,” she said as soon as the guard had finished. The engineer nodded from his own work bench, doing a good job of appearing indifferent to her, and Brian moved out of her way to let her head back to her ship.
She felt his eyes on her as she crossed several hangar launch pads, but then she was in her own ship and safe from prying eyes. Knowing Xander would want to hear the info she'd gained immediately, she headed for his cabin. There was a lot to tell him.
Chapter 4
Xander frowned as he listened to Matt tell him everything she'd just learned, a bandage wrapped around one hand and a small device in the other.
“They've not told us everything,” she said, finally stopping her download.
She was right, but that didn't make it any easier. For some reason, they didn't want him to have all the information yet they were expecting him to investigate further. On top of that, he hadn't received a particularly encouraging response to his request for parts to fix his ship.
It seemed if he wanted something they thought he ought to earn it first, and here was Matt telling him that the mission was significantly more dangerous than they'd been led to believe.
“What do you want to do?” she asked, when he still didn't respond. He sighed and put down his data pad. There was no point trying to make another request. It was clear. Into danger they must go.
“Can you get any more info from that thing?” he asked, waving at the drone's data core. She looked at is, her forehead creasing up in concentration.
“With some time I can probably make it respond to me,” she eventually replied.
“You've got until Drew clears the ship to fly, and then we're going to investigate the coordinates we've been given anyway,” Xander said as he got up. “It's time we looked into this ourselves and made sure we're not putting ourselves in unnecessary danger.”
He didn't tell Matt any of his other thoughts. Something wasn't right here. If security personnel were going missing and it wasn't being reported, then there was going to be trouble. Sadly Xander knew it was a commonplace occurrence in many parts of the galaxy. There were just too many planets too far away from the central hub and not enough enforcement from military and local police-like groups to keep everyone safe.
The bit that bothered him, however, was that the rest of the security weren't the ones who'd taken the opportunity to let his team know. Like they didn't care for one of their own. When you worked with someone out in this sort of place, far from any other humans, you grew bonds with your colleagues. Someone else on the security team should have cared enough to tell them, which meant something was keeping them silent. Something potentially far more dangerous to him and his team than whatever threat had taken a lone security guard out on reconnaissance in the first place.
After taking a moment more to think over that he knew and what he wanted to find out, Xander went in search of Drew, Trey and Tyra. He needed to get them ready for possible trouble. Thankfully, all three were in the cockpit, the twins standing either side of Drew as he lay on his back, his head underneath the main console. A screwdriver could just be seen in one hand as he fixed the panel back in place.
“That should just about do,” Drew said. “But we'll want to keep an eye on it. Especially given they were funny about getting a replacement part.”
Xander coughed to get their attention, taking them by surprise enough that Drew smacked his head on the underside of the console. He swore before sliding out. Trey chuckled as Tyra helped him up.
“Didn't see you there, boss.” Drew rubbed his head but was already giving him the usual quirky grin. “So what brings you to the cockpit? Good news, I hope.”
“If we're in good enough condition, it's time to go on a little investigation.”
“Fabulous. I already don't like this place,” Trey replied. “The sooner we find the problem, the sooner we can go anywhere else.”
Xander tried not to agree too obviously with the Lentarin soldier. For Matt's sake they might need to somehow make this work, but the hope he might be able to satisfy the person in charge and solve their problem had vanished in the few minutes he'd been on the planet.
***
Taking a deep breath, Matt concentrated on the small device in her hands. Just like earlier, she felt the tug of Adamanta that wasn't attuned to her. This time, however, she pushed harder and connected her mind to the visuals she knew it would want to transmit. At first little happened. It always took a while for the metal to respond to new brain waves.
Although she knew it would be important to get the information quickly, she also knew that progressing slower would be kinder on herself and leave her with some capacity to exert herself and fight if the need arose later. With that in mind, she held the full power of her mind back, gently probing and pushing for the metal to accept a new controller.
Eventually she felt the pressure ease and traces of images flicker into her mind. She closed her eyes to make the task easier and tried to reach for some kind of controls with her mind. There had to be a way to make it play a set of images from a specific time frame.
It took her another few minutes to find a way to rewind the storage and get it to play her the f
ootage it had recorded earlier. Thankfully everything from the last two weeks was stored and easy to access.
She heard a cough from the doorway and looked up to see Xander standing there, his data pad in hand.
“We're good to go.” He looked pointedly at the device. Instinctively Matt reached for her transmitter with her mind, and lifted it from her pack towards the side of her head.
“Got it working,” she explained as she fixed it in place, barely registering the sting of pain that came with it. Xander tapped at the pad in his hands, looking for the feed she was creating. They'd watch it together.
Knowing she didn't have long, Matt closed her eyes again and played the footage in a sped-up fashion. For a while the pod just floated through space, the vast blackness around it occasionally broken up by the nearby planets and pinpointed by the stars as it circled in a slow orbit of the solar system. For ages she saw nothing more than the regular comings and goings of cargo vessels and people carriers to the research post, until suddenly, something darted across the screen.
Less than a couple of seconds later the picture went blank. Without being prompted by Xander, Matt rewound and played the last few minutes more slowly, this time in real time.
An unfamiliar-looking craft could be seen unmistakably flying from a small planet, dotting between several drones before coming to this one. Only a fraction later, the feed went offline.
“What kind of vessel is that?” Xander asked as she rewound for a second time. She played it even slower again, and this time froze the picture just as the drone captured the best view of it. It wasn't a great vantage point as the pilot of the small spaceship had evidently been trying to avoid the camera lens, but she could just about get enough of a glimpse to know she'd never seen anything quite like it before.
“Rewind to when it first appears,” Xander asked, chiming in on her investigation for the first time. She didn't remind him that the data pad would have recorded it and that he could control the footage on there now, but did as he bid, pushing the video back until the small ship was a speck coming from a nearby planet.
“Looks like we have a place to begin investigating,” Matt said as she cut the feed entirely and opened her eyes again. Xander was looking at her, frowning thoughtfully. He nodded a moment later.
“I want to go carefully. This could be something easy to deal with or it could be complicated. We've no way of knowing for sure.”
“We do know whoever did this went to great lengths to hide something... It's obviously important to them,” Matt replied.
“All the more reason to go carefully.”
Matt nodded and watched Xander walk away, tapping on the data pad as he did. With a sigh she put the drone's memory core down and tried to think of something to do while they flew closer. They'd already been on the ship too long without a break and she was tired of being cross at Simon. With only one book on board that she hadn't finished reading, and one not designed to be binged on, it left her with nothing that would distract her.
There was only one thing for it. She would need to make herself useful. Getting up, she followed her earlier path all the way back to the cockpit. Tyra sat in the pilot's seat so she slid into the co-pilot beside her and quickly activated the control panel.
“I was hoping someone would keep me company since the boss said to be careful and take it slow.”
“He came to you first, then?” Matt said, not really asking but liking how Tyra was always willing to make conversation.
“Going in the right direction's a good place to start. You can't do your fancy Adamanta stuff if there's no bad guys.”
“No idea if these things are bad guys yet.” Matt noticed Tyra's grin. She'd known that all along. Like Matt had expected, Tyra was giving them something to talk about. “I'm personally hoping they're cute and fluffy, like bunny rabbits.”
“So you can give them a cuddle?” Tyra asked, her mouth splitting open even wider. Matt laughed, feeling herself relax. She should have come to the Lentarin sooner and allowed the two of them to bond further. She'd needed it.
They were still passing light banter back and forth half an hour later when Trey slid into the gunner seat and Drew and Xander appeared behind. Matt went to relinquish the co-pilot's seat, knowing Xander was more likely to want to take it, but he waved her back into it.
“You're better off with a front-row seat,” he said. “Just in case, make sure those little darts of yours are ready for action.
Matt nodded at the order and reached out for them with her mind. Twenty little Adamanta needles were tucked into four pockets on the outer side of the hull. One of the only modifications the old ship had been able to handle in the last few years. She made sure she could feel all of them and command them when ready. If they were needed she wouldn't hesitate. Already those tiny slivers of metal had saved her crew and her more times than she could count. And as much as she hoped they wouldn't be needed today, a small part of her delighted in how easily they could rip apart an enemy space craft.
“Right, ease back a little more,” Xander commanded. “We don't want to look threatening.”
Tyra nodded and punched a couple of buttons before easing down the speed. The planet's growth on the screen slowed and spread out to one side as Tyra flew them towards the area the small vessel had come from.
Without being told, Drew slid into the final seat and started scanning the surface. Matt glanced at the readings he was getting back. So far, nothing.
As the minutes ticked by and Xander stood tensely behind them all, it became apparent this search wouldn’t be for something obvious, and that meant it was going to take a while. A long while.
Chapter 5
Xander fought the tensing of his muscles as he waited in the cockpit. Leaning against the doorway wasn't the most comfortable position to have spent the last hour or so in. Twice now he'd refused the offer from Drew and Matt to swap with them and take a seat for a while. They were all in the best seats for whatever they might find. He was dead weight until he had a reason to issue another order.
That thought alone made him want to clench his fists again. His team were so good at their jobs it often made him feel obsolete. The new wave of Adamanta soldiers coming in Matt's wake only made that feeling worse. Despite his best efforts, Xander just couldn't get on with the metal, and he was beginning to find himself doing nothing but watch as Matt, Trey, Tyra and Drew saved the day again and again.
Hearing Matt sigh made him realize he wasn't the only one frustrated this search was taking so long. On top of that, he knew what this search meant. They had to find something, and they needed to resolve this well. Simon's latest batch of culls and funding withdrawals was going to hit Matt hard. The research post and dojo she'd set up on Corda-Mara and her regular visits to oversee and teach there were under threat.
At some point he'd have to tell her, but he knew she needed to be focused on this mission and not on what she needed to get out of it. He just hoped, for her sake, that he could make it work in her favor. If nothing else, he could bear that weight for her just a little longer. Perhaps, if fortune smiled on them, she'd never ever have to worry about it.
Forcing himself to breathe evenly and slowly, he shifted slightly against the doorpost again. It was possible he was getting too old for this, he thought as his knees protested.
“Finally, a blip,” Drew said, breaking the silence that had grown more than a little uncomfortable. Instantly, Trey, Matt and he looked at the young techie.
“A blip?” Matt asked, her vocal tone less than impressed with the choice of word.
“Yeah, a blip. You know. A dot on the radar that indicates a life sign,” Drew said, forcing more condescension in his reply than was probably necessary. Thankfully Matt didn't rise to the bait and instead rolled her eyes and turned back to the screen.
They watched as Drew manipulated the HUD and gave Tyra a coordinate and marker on screen to indicate where the blip had occurred. Tyra adjusted their course and lowered Lady
to get a more accurate reading on a second sweep past.
This time there were several small beeps in a row, and tiny spots flashed up in a small area of the planet, making it clear that there was more than one life-sign.
“I think they're underground,” Drew said as he brought up a higher resolution picture of the planet’s surface. Barren brownish dust covered a rocky surface that stretched as far as the eye could see, and the temperature on the screen registered more than a little over the average temperature a human was comfortable in.
“Land us close, but keep on your guard. Matt, Drew, suit up in the enviro suits. Trey, keep those guns primed and ready to defend us, and Tyra, keep our lady's engines warm.”
“Yes, boss,” she replied. Trey merely nodded, still sitting exactly where he needed to be, his hands resting where they often did, near, but not on, the main trigger.
Xander led his three-person team to get into suits, seeing Matt's pack float up from the doorway where she'd left it as she followed. There was a time when he thought he'd never feel safer with any crew member than he did with Trey, but in the year and more that Matt had been on his team he'd found himself growing so confident in her abilities and continued commitment to training and learning that he knew by now she was the far more formidable warrior.
She'd once almost single-handedly fought off a hive of Beltine in defense of an entire squad of barely trained recruits and since then taken out more hive ships than he'd seen destroyed before in his entire service. On top of that, people were following in her wake, learning from her and the people she'd already spent time training. The human race finally had protectors amongst them again, and she was by far the most lethal, the most adept, and the person he most wanted by his side when facing the unknown.
There was definitely no denying it any longer. Xander had fallen for her, for her confidence, her resilience, and her commitment to protecting others with the power the universe had graced her with. And for the easy way she appeared to bear it all when he knew she felt every unnecessary death. More than once he'd seen her shed tears for the living hives she'd had to rip apart to save others. She cared, and she cared so much it drove her onward. But a part of him worried, worried that if she didn't find some kind of strong base, she was going to burn out, to push herself so far she broke.
