by Drew Avera
16
Deis
The bridge hummed the comforting song of air recyclers as the blue light cascaded against white bulkheads. The overhaul crew that repaired the Replicade were expedited in a short duration, but it came at a large financial strain. That was the cost of not being caught off guard, a wiped out savings account and a ship that may or may not be flight worthy. Deis listened intently for any sounds of the ship that might alert him to a problem, but everything sounded as it should. That assurance felt like laziness to him as he expected something to go wrong. He didn’t know what exactly, but the expectation was there. It was more than he could say about the haunting memory of Crase and Neular when they came to take the ship. If anything, Deis felt like he was learning to trust his gut, or to not trust himself at all. He wasn’t sure which. All he knew was that he flew the ship where Brendle instructed and they were to wait.
With the Replicade set quietly adrift beyond the asteroid belt Deis thought they should be in a position of relative safety. Brendle was the navy veteran, he had used the same tactics dozens of times, but of course he was in the most feared naval fleet in the galaxy. Still, in a perfect world the Replicade was camouflaged by the rocky monoliths orbiting Karanta, but just as his fears suspected, like a damning self-fulfilling prophesy, the sensor array sprang to life, the monitor illuminating red as the alarm buzzed in the air around them. It was a tragic, heart-stopping reminder that they were never truly safe.
“What the‒” he said as he leapt to his feet and ran to the monitor. He scrolled his hands along the console, manipulating the controls and trying to find as much information about what was wrong with the ship as he could find. The good news was that it wasn’t a catastrophic engine failure. The bad news was that it was just as bad.
The alarm woke Malikea from his nap where he slept with his feet kicked up on the unused navigation console. “What’s wrong?” He rose and rubbed his eyes as he yawned.
“We’re being pinged,” Deis said as his fingers scrawled across the screen. “I have no idea where they came from and no one should know we’re here.”
Malikea stepped over to Deis and looked over his shoulder, his crimson robe swaying around his ankles. “What about that, is there something wrong with the ship?”
“What? What are you talking about?”
Malikea pointed at one of the energy output readings on the screen. “Shouldn’t that parameter be red-lined?” The drive display showed an output of energy coming from the ship that was nine-hundred percent above the normal operating parameters. But it wasn’t an indication highlighted in red as is should have been if there was something wrong with ship.
Why didn’t I notice that before?
“That’s odd,” Deis said. “I’ve never seen it surpass one-hundred and fifteen present, and that was only during a short burst at a high-g maneuver.”
“Perhaps there is something wrong with the drive that happened during the overhaul,” Malikea suggested.
Deis shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not sure. Brendle has taught me a lot about the ship, but this isn’t anything we’ve ever discussed. Besides, the overhaul didn’t include any drive repairs because it was fully operational. We just had repairs to the hull and some of the non-critical electrical systems to cut down on fire hazards. Anything related to the drive should have been omitted.”
Malikea cleared his throat. “What if someone sabotaged the ship?” Malikea asked. The thought hadn’t crossed Deis’ mind, but with their recent run of bad luck, he would hate to think they were foolish enough to allow such a thing to happen. That was part of the reason that they took shifts living on the ship during the overhaul, so they could ensure something like that didn’t occur. “Or maybe the ship is pinging us because they think we’re in danger,” he added.
Deis’ brow furrowed as he thought about the possibility. His eyes read off the output display and everything was once again within parameters. “I don’t know, but I’m not fond of the idea of finding out what they want the hard way. I’m going to call for Brendle.”
Malikea stepped aside while Deis got to work adjusting the power settings of the Replicade to prep it for evasive maneuvers. “Brendle,” he said using the open communication channel for the crew. “We have a problem. A large energy source escaped our ship and caught the attention of a very large and heavily armed vessel that is headed our way. I hate to say it, but hiding in the asteroid belt did little to mask us from them. What do you want me to do?”
He waited a few moments for an answer, but one never came. “Brendle? Are you there?”
“That’s not like him,” Malikea said, concern dripping from his voice.
“I know,” Deis said. “Usually if he even suspects we might be in danger he comes running. “Maybe there’s something wrong and he can’t hear me.” Deis keyed the switch again, “Anki?”
Her voice responded almost immediately. “I left him in the medical bay. Maybe he’s sleeping. I’ll go check on him,” she said.
Deis leaned against the bulkhead and waited for Anki to check on Brendle while the dread in his heart built up. There’s too much going on for me to be comfortable with this, he thought. First, the strange girl and their magical teleportation onto the ship. Then, this ship finds us beyond the belt and is pinging us. If they were a rescue ship then my mind might be more at ease, but those are some of the largest weapon mounts I’ve ever seen on a non-Greshian ship. Hell, the ship might even be bigger than the one that chased us off that moon when we first met Brendle and Anki.
“What are you thinking about?” Malikea asked, breaking the silence on the bridge.
Deis looked up at his husband. “I’m not having a good feeling about this,” he answered, not having the energy to put into dampening the dire straits he thought they were now facing. In Brendle’s words, I think we’re fucked, might sit a little heavy for Malikea.
“I’m not either,” Malikea said. “There’s something unsettling about that girl and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that we have her on board and now this ship is coming after us.”
Malikea’s words reflected exactly what Deis was thinking. “I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks that.”
“What do you think we should do?”
Deis shrugged his shoulders. “I honestly have no idea. I think Brendle would try to evade them, but he’s a far better pilot than I am. Knowing my luck, we would crash into one of the asteroids.”
“Better than being lit up by whatever that ship might fire at us,” Malikea said, his words taking a much darker tone that Deis was used to.
But he’s right, Deis thought. There is no honor in allowing your enemy to take your life. I just hope it doesn’t come down to that.
“Let’s give Anki a chance to see what’s wrong before we make any rash decisions,” Deis said, his eyes narrowing as he watched the ship approach. The sensor array was starting to piece it together, to bring it into focus. What Deis saw wasn’t making the situation any better.
“And if something is wrong?”
Deis sighed, thinking about their options, but coming up with nothing. “I have no idea.” Together they watched the large craft approach, caught between whatever threat was coming their way and their backs to a large grouping of asteroids. It was the proverbial rock and a hard place.
17
Anki
Two things made Anki afraid as she walked quickly from her quarters to the medical bay. First, why wasn’t Brendle responding to Deis’ call? Second, did it have anything to do with Carista? She didn’t want to suspect anything, but dreaming about the girl made her wake up on edge. She didn’t want to say anything to alert the rest of the crew, but the image of Carista appearing to her in her sleep and saying that she hurt Brendle moments before Anki woke up to hear Deis calling for him made her heart leap in her throat.
It took every bit of restraint to keep from sliding down the handrails of the ladder well on her way to the second deck. She heard Brendle’s stories abo
ut people doing that and severely injuring themselves in the process, but walking down thirteen steps, regardless of how steep, was a process that slowed her down more than she liked. With both feet on the second deck she ran for the medical bay, holding back the desire to grip the weapon holstered to her right hip. If I go in gun drawn it could escalate things, she thought. If Carsita did hurt Brendle then what would keep her from doing the same to me?
As soon as Anki entered the medical bay she saw him laid out on the deck, face down, crumpled like dirty laundry tossed across the room. “Brendle!” she ran over to him and slid across the smooth-tiled deck and checked for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there. “Deis, Malikea, I found him and I need help putting him on the medical cart,” she said after keying her communications device.
“I’m on my way,” Malikea said, presumably from the bridge.
It’ll take him a minute or so to get here, she thought as she checked Brendle for noticeable injuries. There is no blood which might be a good thing, but what about internal injuries? “Pilot, can you evaluate him until Malikea gets here?” Anki looked up and saw a dent in the bulkhead above where Brendle lay on the deck. It was protruding outboard like maybe he was thrown into the bulkhead. How much force would it take to cause that kind of damage?
“Yes, Anki. I am detecting a steady, though faint heartbeat. His brain function appears to be normal and his oxygen levels are nominal. Without further testing I am left to assume he was knocked unconscious, but I can see he has no life threatening injuries.”
“Is it safe to move him?”
“Once Malikea arrives, I would suggest rolling Brendle onto a hover-stretcher before moving him, just as a precaution against spinal injury. I believe a full-body scan will set your mind at ease in regards to his condition.”
Not coming in here to find Brendle on the deck unconscious would set my mind at ease. I’ll be happy to know he’s all right, but that doesn’t solve the problem with what happened and what to do about it, Anki thought as she turned to look around and found a hover-stretcher mounted to the bulkhead under a ventilation shaft. There was something off about the vent, though. It was open, the grated cover for the open cavity was lying on the deck, half-leaning against the partially open drawers of the counter. Strange, she thought as she rose to her feet.
She ran over to grab the hover-stretcher and paused to look up into the shaft. It was situated on the bulkhead and went the length of the deck before jutting off into other directions. It was dark and appeared empty, but the shafts ran all throughout the ship. Which direction Carista went was anyone’s guess. “Pilot, do you know where Carista went?”
“I’m sorry, but she is undetectable by my sensors. I am running a review of video data from the medical bay now.”
Anki carried the hover-stretcher over to Brendle and laid it next to him, powering it on in the process. The life support systems came on line with a chirp and blinking lights flittered on the panel checking the diagnostics of the hover-stretcher. Within a few seconds it was green-lit and ready for use. The thin, metallic piece of equipment was state of the art. It came equipped with anti-gravity capabilities that allowed a victim to be carried by only two personnel and transported to a medical cart. All the people had to do was place their hands onto the ends of the hover-stretcher and it would level out based on their height, or match the height of the medical cart for transferring the patient. It was primarily used in combat conditions, but it was becoming more and more popular with civilian medical providers. She doubted the Replicade’s medical bay counted as the latter, though. Even if we aren’t military anymore.
“After reviewing the data, I can confirm Carista escaped the medical bay by using the ventilation shaft, but her approximate location is unknown right now.”
“Can you find her?” Anki asked as Malikea ran into the medical bay. He immediately knelt down to help move Brendle, his shoulders sagging with each deep breath he took.
“I cannot. There are no sensors in any of the ventilation shafts on this ship, though I can monitor for activity in any of the other spaces.”
“Shit,” she said, spreading her attention between helping Brendle and finding out where Carista had gone. “Keep an eye out for any movement that is not us. Malikea and I will be attending to Brendle. I want to be alerted the moment you find her.”
“Roger that.”
“What happened?” Malikea asked.
“I’m not sure, but it looks like he was slammed against the bulkhead and dropped to the deck.”
“Really, what makes you say that?”
Anki pointed at the dent in the bulkhead that was not there when she was in the room with Carista before Brendle took over. “That,” she said.
Malikea turned to look at what she was pointing at. “Wow.” It was a sizable indentation in the bulkhead, bowed outward and discolored form a massive object coming into contact with the once shimmering white paint.
“Wow is right, but we can’t focus on that right now. Help me roll him over onto the hover-stretcher.” Anki didn’t want to think about what would happen if the girl wanted to do the same to her and Malikea or Deis. She had never seen that kind of power before and it was frightening. It only goes to show that my thoughts for how to handle the situation don’t go completely unwarranted.
Malikea grabbed Brendle by the shoulder and held the stretcher in place with his knees on the deck, while Anki took Brendle’s legs. “Are you ready?”
“Yes,” she answered, her hands placed on Brendle’s legs so she could help roll him onto the hover-stretcher without having to move his spine too much. Even the best medical facilities on warships could not repair some spinal injuries and she didn’t want to take an unnecessary risk.
“One, two, three,” together they rolled his unconscious body onto the hover-stretcher and made sure he was lying flat on it. Their hands touched the ends of the hover-stretcher and it slowly rose from the deck as they stood up.
Anki looked over Brendle as they walked over to the medical cart and Malikea flattened it out to aid in the transfer of his body from the hover-stretcher to the cart. “I think the girl is dangerous,” she said quietly.
Malikea looked down at Brendle’s unconscious body. “I’ll say, but is it her fault?”
Anki bit her lip nervously. “Maybe, maybe not, but until we know for sure we need to treat the situation as it appears. She is a threat to us.”
Malikea nodded, but said nothing. He didn’t have to; she knew exactly what he was thinking.
“Anki, how is Brendle?” Deis asked over the intercom system.
“He’s on the medical cart now. We are running a diagnosis, but Pilot said he’s most likely just unconscious. We’ll know more in a few minutes.”
“Keep me posted. I’m going to keep an eye on this incoming ship in the meantime.”
“How far out are they?” Anki asked.
“About an hour before they are in kill range, but they could launch at any moment and potentially cause damage.”
Anki swore under her breath. Brendle was right, we’ll be looking over our shoulders our whole lives and never be completely out of danger. “Let me know if things change. We’ll have to make decisions on the fly and without Brendle we will be forced to act without naval aptitude on our side.”
“You’re a marine; you’re in charge in the meantime.”
“That’s fine, but I’m trained as a ground troop, the ship warfare strategies weren’t part of my training. I’d rather not make any unnecessary moves without Brendle, but if things get too hot then I want us to bug out.”
“I agree,” Deis said.
“I agree too,” Malikea whispered.
It felt good to have their confidence, but that didn’t mean she was confident in herself. She looked up at the ventilation shaft again with worry on her heart. Carista was up there somewhere and she was why that ship was coming for them, Anki could feel it. None of this is coincidental. It was just a matter of time before the situation
got out of control and people would have to die. Anki just hoped it wasn’t anyone on the Replicade.
18
Ilium
Ilium supposed he should be angry, but if anything, he was impressed at the lengths Vesna would go to lure him out and to show his hand. Sure, sending Harso in to intimidate Ilium worked in his favor, but the truth was that with Harso dead, Vesna had only a few people who would side with him in his attempt at a coup. As ilium sat back on his bed he thought of all the ways he could use Vesna’s plan against him. Vesna wanted to silence Ilium, not necessarily kill him. While Ilium appreciated the sentiment, he saw that it was Vesna’s weakness, and all weaknesses could be exploited.
“You want my ship, you can take it,” he said as he stood up and walked towards the chest at the foot of his bed. He opened the dark, metallic box and lifted a few tightly folded uniforms from it. When he found the coveralls with his Ensign bars sewn into the collar, he unfolded them and rifled through the pockets until he found an old com-unit. “There you are,” he whispered, the greedy grin on his face made is eyes light up.
He rose from the deck and sat once again on his bed, turning on the device and syncing it to his secure network on the Hamæråté. Vesna may be smart and conniving, but he has a lot to learn about pulling one over on someone like me, Ilium thought.
