Ghosts of the Vale

by Paul Grover

  Mira laughed and rested her head on Tish’s shoulder.

  “I need to sleep, Tish… sorry.”

  Tish hushed her and pulled her close.

  The enviro system dimmed the lights to total darkness.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  MIRA jerked awake. Her sleep had been deep and dreamless. The stateroom was lit with soft blue light. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. The world was blurred, ill-defined and glimpsed from beneath heavy lids. She reached out for Tish, only to find the bed empty.

  Mira sat up and blinked her stinging eyes open. She wiped drool from her cheek. Her limbs were heavy but the dull throbbing aches in her arms and upper body were gone.

  Tish was sitting at the desk. The salvaged core was connected to a pair of oversized datapads. She was typing rapid fire commands into a holo-keyboard, projected onto the synth marble desktop. Her lips moved in silent accompaniment to each batch of keystrokes.

  “Tish?”

  “I couldn’t sleep. My body clock is whacked. I thought I would hook these up and start a decoding algorithm.” Tish sipped the pink and fizzy energy drink she favoured.

  “How long have you been on it?”

  “Two hours… I got carried away.”

  Mira stood and walked behind her. She rested her chin on Tish’s shoulder and watched the code running on the screen. “That means something to you?”

  “Yeah, it's raw data but I can read it as it decrypts. It’s interesting. The Torrence was operated by a company called Venture Survey.”

  “I saw it on the crew uniforms.”

  “I looked them up. They’re a small operation, they were subcontracting for Lightfoot Developments.”

  Now Mira was interested. There was a mystery here. The Vale was legally off limits to corporate exploration. Independent survey companies had cornered the market in stellar mapping of the region. Mira wondered what LDC were doing out there.

  Tish pointed to the screen. “There is some viable information on the core. All these coordinates… I know where they were operating and for how long.” She pointed to the other screen. “They are all deep in the Vale. It’s frustrating, the public folders have been wiped. Someone tried to frag the core but couldn’t run a low-level format; they just killed the data where they could.” Tish’s voice trailed off as she sunk her eyes back into the stream.

  Mira thought of the enviro suited ghosts. Something was wrong and it had nothing to do with Pharn or Blackened.

  “How long before we have usable data?”

  “A few hours. It’s building a picture right now.”

  “Tish, Zenia told me we could destroy the Blackened. We could prevent their return, aside from those already free.”

  Mira summarised her conversation with Zenia.

  “Someone else knows about the Mothernode. There was core caddy from another ship on the flight deck: the Carl Sagan.” Mira said.

  “Another corporation I guess… I don’t think it’s directly connected with the Blackened. Corporation games are more likely,” Tish replied.

  “One of the crew escaped in a lifeboat. I presume above the node.” Mira said. “Fuck the Blackened and the MegaCorps, I want to find her. You saved me. No one will save Rosa, so it’s down to us.”

  Tish leant into her.

  “I understand,” Tish whispered. She tapped on the datapad.

  “Her name is Rosalita Lopez. I found her crew record. Aside for statutory medical records I know nothing about her. I want to save her too. We can do it and we might find the answers.”

  Tish closed her eyes and drew a breath. Her lips trembled.

  “Tish?”

  “You won’t be mad at me?”

  “I can’t be mad with you.”

  “Please…” Tish sniffed, her confidence and bravado evaporated.

  “Tish… what’s wrong.”

  Tish padded to the giant wooden shipping chest she had brought on board with her. It was ancient, the timbers deep brown, covered in chips and dents from centuries of use. On the lid was the faded text RMS Olympic and Property of the White Star Line.

  Tish unfastened the old leather straps with trembling hands. She opened the lid and removed a smaller box. She carried it to the desk and opened it. Inside rested the Arethon Cube.

  “I’m sorry… Xander said I had more chance of working out what it was for than he did and he did not want it falling into Verani or Lightfoot’s hands… don’t be mad.”

  Mira studied the cube. It was small enough to fit her palm, obsidian black and shot through with colours that seemed to move with the light.

  “It’s okay, Tish… I’m not mad with you.”

  Mira took her hand.

  “I didn’t know how to tell you. I thought you would be mad. I was caught between Xander and you.”

  “I understand. Don’t be upset.”

  They both stared at the artefact. It appeared innocent, like an ornament of some sort, yet there was something about it that repulsed Mira; she did not want to touch it.

  Tish closed the lid on the case.

  “Come on, come back to bed. Vanessa told me you were awake for thirty-six hours. You need the sleep as much as I do,” Mira said.

  Tish followed her, she stopped.

  “Do you think she’s out there somewhere?”

  Mira tuned, puzzled.

  “Rosa?”

  “My mother… I wonder about her sometimes; what she might have been like. I wonder if she is still alive and if she ever thinks about me.”

  “If she’s out there, I’m sure she does,” Mira replied, a little lost with what to say, unsure of why Tish had brought it up. “The universe is not as big as we think.”

  The sadness lingered in Tish’s eyes.

  “Tish, hold on to the hope. We ran into Vic again… strange things can happen.”

  A melancholy smile crossed Tish’s face. She blinked and looked away.

  “Do you remember much about her?” Mira asked.

  Tish had buried the painful parts of her past, locked it away in an inaccessible corner of her mind. Now and again she would open up and let a little out. Mira understood, perhaps better than most.

  “Sometimes I get flashes but it might be my imagination, what I want her to be like.”

  Mira slipped under the covers and wrapped her arms around Tish.

  “Come, let’s get some sleep. Vic will be underway tomorrow. I want to thank him before he leaves and ask him for a favour.”

  Mira lay in the dark, listening as Tish’s breathing became deep and regular.

  Home… she thought as a blanket of sleep fell over her.

  Mira woke to Tish shaking her. She was sitting next to her on the bed, an ornate copy of the Verani Creed open on her lap. One of her datapads had stopped running code and displayed a star chart. Mira rubbed her eyes.

  “How long was I asleep?” she asked.

  “About five hours,” Tish replied. There was something nervy in her manner.

  “And you?” Mira asked.

  “About the same, honest. I’ve only been awake 10 minutes.”

  Her eyes were excited. Mira was convinced Tish had two modes of operation: on and off.

  “What’s up?”

  “Look,” Tish said.

  Mira took the datapad and flicked through images Tish had ripped from the Torrence’s core. The images looked dark there was nothing… then she saw it. In the centre of the frame was dark sphere defined only by energy patterns dancing over it. Mira could not judge its size.

  “That’s it… the Mothernode,” Mira whispered. “I saw it in my dreams… it’s real.”

  Tish tapped the datapad’s screen.

  “The Torrence crew found it… They also picked up a human distress call. The logs are corrupted after that. It’s 3AU in diameter. I don’t have exact coordinates, but I can find it. It’s in the Vale. It lacks mass, meaning it is hollow and it is big enough to enclose a star.”

  Tish thrust the Creed in front of her. It was o
pen on a page showing an intricate drawing of something very similar. A basic star map was drawn in an inset panel.

  “In Old Verani they call it Hirik Ta Oshsak; which translates to the Heart of Darkness.”

  Mira shivered and shook off the feeling of dread that formed in the pit of her stomach.

  “How close are we to that system?” Mira asked.

  “I don’t have coordinates of the Node, but we can be at the Torrence’s jump location in five days. When we arrive I can work the course back from there.”

  Mira took her hand. “Tish, this is a rescue mission first and a recon mission second. If we need…” She pointed at the box. “That thing, then at least we have it.”

  “Okay. No risk taking, you made me a promise,” Tish replied.

  “And you me.” Mira spoke softly, then with greater strength. “Vic is going back to Miz; I want you and the rest to go with him,” she said.

  “No!”

  “Tish, I don’t want to risk you… it’s…”

  Tish put a finger to Mira lips. “We are a team, Mira. You go, I go. I don’t know how this thing between us works, but together we are stronger.”

  Mira understood. When she was around Tish her Shadow Sister was quiet. She knew there was no point in arguing but before she could reply the com-link pinged. Hofner came through.

  “Mira,” he said. “I think you should come up to the flight deck.”

  “Problems?” she asked, her heart pounding.

  “Something… interesting.”

  She closed the link and dressed.

  “You didn’t dream last night, Mira.”

  It was true. The first time in weeks she had not visited the Pharn city or flown with the collective. She thought of the apparition on the Torrence; could it be the two events were linked?

  Despite the warmth of the stateroom, Mira shivered.

  Hoff was sitting in the pilot’s chair, Shannon next to him. He turned when Mira and Tish came onto the deck.

  “Over there.” He tapped an instruction into the sensor suite and a box lit up on the HUD. “It’s half a million clicks out and closing.”

  Mira studied the trace. There was no radar return, no transponder. The detection showed up as a tiny area of space that was marginally warmer than the surrounding vacuum.

  “Stealth Tech?” she said. “Nemesis?”

  Tish pulled her gaze from the sensor console.

  “No, she conceals her heat emissions. That’s first-generation human tech. Are you getting a zero bounce, Mr Hoff?”

  “Null return on every active scan. It’s like a hole in space,” Hoff replied. “He’s been hitting us with random pings. It’s like he is trying to attract our attention… without attracting our attention,” he added.

  “Are we transmitting our new transponder code and the ship’s name?”

  Tish confirmed they were.

  Mira opened a narrow band transmission frequency and aimed the antenna at the hotspot. She wanted to leave no doubt in the newcomer’s mind they had been detected.

  “We can see you,” she said.

  There was a burble as the comms system linked.

  “Thorny?” Alex’s voice came through. “What the bloody hell has been happening? The whole system is going crazy!”

  “Long story, come alongside. We have quite a party going on. That’s an interesting ship you have Alex.”

  She sent him a vector.

  “Interesting is one word for it, shit is another. Inbound now.”

  “What’s he doing here?” Tish asked.

  “Guess we’ll find out. You know Alex; maybe he didn’t want to miss out on the fun.”

  She thought of the time she had died in space with Alex. As dying companions went, he was one of the best; she had missed him.

  The ships mated with a clunk and after the usual delay while the atmosphere stabilised the inner hatch slid open.

  Mira’s smile broadened when Monica came through the lock. Mira ran to her; Monica Garret was the last person she had expected. Alex followed behind.

  “I heard you were shot,” Monica said as Mira broke their embrace.

  “I got better. Rich hurt his ankle. Vic Rybov is in our medbay. We did what we could but he is cut badly,” Mira replied.

  “I’ll see what I can do.” She glared at Rich Barnes. “You follow me Sergeant.”

  Mira led Alex through to the lounge and introduced him to the senators, Ben and Shannon.

  He looked at Mira with wide eyes.

  “Shannon Wade!” He mouthed the words, “The Shannon Wade.”

  Mira winked at Shannon. “Excuse my friend; he’s a total fanboy.”

  Shannon shook Alex’s hand.

  “Pleased to meet you, Alex. Take no notice of Mira; she lost her shit when we met. Like I said to her, I’m just like you.”

  “No one is just like Alex, Shannon,” Mira said. “I mean that in the nicest way, flyboy.”

  The crew lounge was crowded and Mira opted to stand in the doorway.

  “So Alex, what brings you out here in a stealth ship?”

  “Yeah, it’s important. I need you to stay off Baikonur. We have fuel to share; you have a bounty on your head. We came to warn you.”

  “Alex… thanks, we’ve dealt with it.”

  “Huh?”

  Mira explained their shore side adventure.

  “I knew we wouldn’t make it in time,” Alex said. “The ship could not maintain a compression factor higher than nine.”

  “Nine?” Hoff replied. “That is incredible for a ship that size.”

  Alex shrugged.

  “Not when you have been promised 15, Senator.” He shook his head. “We had three unscheduled drops caused by drive system breakdowns. I actually got my hands dirty.”

  Alex held up a pair of clean hands as if to illustrate his point.

  “I’m hoping Vic will take Vanessa, Hoff and Ben onto Miz… while we go into the Vale. If the offer of fuel is still on the table Vic could do with a top up,” Mira said.

  “Of course. Look’s like we arrived in time. I can send Emerald back on auto,” Alex replied.

  “Alex, I can’t ask you to risk it; besides doesn’t Jon need you on the Valhalla?”

  Alex grinned; it was devilish and infectious. Mira had seriously underestimated Alex Kite on the Berlin. She suspected he had underestimated himself.

  “Mira… I can’t say this without sounding like an idiot, so I’ll be an idiot. I follow you, no one else. Not the Alliance, not the Federation. I’m Team Thorn to the core. Just accept it.” He blushed. “If you throw your lot in with the Alliance, that’s where I’ll go. Until you do, I’m up for a trip to the Vale.”

  Alex had been uptight in the Berlin. Since losing the ship he had changed. Mira figured they all had but she had seen more of it in Alex.

  “Okay,” she said. “Team Thorn? You are such an idiot.”

  “I’ll get my gear.” He stood and left.

  “Alex!” Mira called as he left. “Make sure Tish is off the ship before you program the NaviComp. I think she’s still scoping it out.”

  Alex gave a fake salute and left.

  “Is that the same Alex Kite?” Hoff asked.

  “Yeah, just a new and improved version.”

  Hoff shook his head. “He was a bigger dick than you in the Academy. At least you sinned with style.”

  Mira accepted the compliment with a diplomatic nod.

  “Sorry to spring it on you like that; are you okay heading back with Vic? He looks scary but he’s one of the good guys.”

  “I spoke to him. He has given me all I need to destroy Conway. I’m still working out what to do with it. We may prevent a civil war, then we can concentrate all of our forces on your Blackened,” Meyer replied. She stood and embraced Mira.

  “Welcome to the family, Mira.” The Senator’s lip twitched. She turned to Ben.

  “Ben, dear, would you help me pack my things?” Her voice was thick with emotion. As they left Ben wh
ispered a thank you to Mira. Hofner and Shannon remained.

  Hoff regarded her with the cool flight instructor’s stare she remembered from the academy.

  “Mouse, I reviewed the data from the Mizarma engagement,” he said. “You have nothing to be concerned about. You made the right calls. You had to take out the carrier; if you didn’t, you would have had fighters all over you. As for toss bombing the cruiser that was clever. Okay so you underestimated the drag of the shields and overestimated the power of your engines. That was an error of sorts but your crew came through. It’s not just you in battle; a motivated and competent crew make all the difference.”

  Mira thought of Spence. She had been tough on the weird looking drive specialist on their first meeting. In the hold she had the new plasma torch and goggles she had promised him.

  “Hoff, I still feel bad…”

  “So you should. Decisions of such magnitude should have a consequence. They are not to be taken lightly.”

  She thanked him.

  “One more thing… back in the academy I figured you would make a reasonable pilot and an average bridge officer. Command was not for you. I and others believed you lacked maturity. From what I saw in that battle analysis, we were wrong. You have a tactical ability we never saw. Whether you learned that on Mars or afterwards I can only guess. I would give you a Steelside in a heartbeat. I’ll tell Jon Flynt as much.”

  A glow crept into Mira’s cheeks; she did not know if it were embarrassment or perhaps pride.

  “What are your plans, Hoff?” she asked, eager to change the subject.

  Hofner stood in silence as he gathered his thoughts. “I think I have had enough of politics. There was a certain fun to be had balancing the excesses of Vanessa and Conway but it was never who I was. Vanessa tells me the Alliance needs pilots and I have an instructor’s qualification.” He shrugged. “Maybe I can contribute to the careers of the next Thorns and Kites,” he added.

  “I think Sofi will be your first student. She wants to fly fighters,” Mira replied.

  She hugged him. Hoff left with a smile and a wave of his synthetic hand.

  Shannon made ready to leave.