by Isaac Stone
“We're concerned we may not have enough time,” Orlando explained. “I was with that woman called Kane the other night. Alone, for a change. She's broken, in mind and body. I could tell she was letting me touch her because Dredge told her to, not because Captain accepted them. It's like they are acting under orders, not so much that they've changed. I’ve heard stories about the others the same way.”
It was obvious I hadn’t probed deep enough on these women. Dredge was most of my effort and she wasn’t an easy fix.
“I’ll talk to Captain,” I told them as the clock began to run down. “It’s all I can do. Now, everyone back to their post before she suspects something.” I turned and floated back to the tower. In my rear vision, I could see them place their helmets back on and return to their stations.
I didn't hear a thing from the ship until I’d made it back to my place in the tower and strapped myself back into position.
“Corwin,” I heard Ely’s voice break over the audio. “Are you still there? What’s your status?”
“All good,” I relayed to her. “Why? What’s your issue?”
“Don't you see that incoming from the ghost ship’s remains?” She added. “What the hell is going on with you?”
Before I could say a word,” the AI flashed up a projectile on the screen. It was blank the moment I strapped in, but now I could see a flaming red icon moving at high speed for the mothership.
“Got it," I told her. “Just waiting for our shot.”
“Incoming missile!” I screamed over the audio to the crew. “Activate on it now!”
Tank was in the background with his crew, but he was too far away. The only option we had was to run an intercept before it reached the Hard Rain.
“I'm on it,” Orlando replied, and I felt the ship spin in the direction of our target. All talk of their dissatisfaction with Captain was over as they tried to bring the FAS into range. I fumed but didn’t say a word.
“Too fast for the laser or particle beams,” I heard Tran speak. “Medoro, load for maximum damage, we’ve got to kill that thing before it gets too close.”
I watched the missile close in as we tailed it. The only thing we could do was run interference and nail the projectile as it came in range. Chasing it was out of the question. Even if the FAS could match the missile’s speed, we’d all be crushed from the acceleration.
“Chain cannon loaded,” I head Medoro confirm. “Fire when ready.”
I watched the AI line up the trajectory of our weapons against the missile as it approached our position. This wouldn’t be easy; Tran had to knock it out as the thing whizzed past us. I counted on the AI to compensate for any lack of targeting on our part.
“It’s closing in,” I heard Tran speak. “Oh, stars and stones, that thing sees us, it's going to compensate.”
I felt his concern and fear. I knew he couldn’t do it with the AI. It would assume the missile to continue on a predetermined course. There was only one thing I could do and that was to trust Tran’s judgement. I reached out and touched another icon three times.
“AI off line,” I told him. “It’s on you Tran.”
I heard him grunt and swing the chain cannons into position.
The missile wasn’t easy to see, as it left no trial or sound in the vacuum of space. I could see a bright light approach and knew it was the projectile. Somehow, the ghost ship managed to launch it in the last few moments before Dredge and her women carved up the ship.
Through the visual feed in my helmet, I watched Tran focus on the target in front of his screen, tense up, and concentrate. The screen in front of me showed the intercept in less than ten seconds. We wouldn’t have another chance. I could feel the menace and sentience radiating from the projectile. A goddamn haunted missile.
Tran’s eyes went narrow as he pulled the trigger.
8
The chain cannon spit its load of destruction at the missile. Somehow, Tran pulled the trigger at the precise moment it veered away from us but was still in range. I watched the bright light from the propulsion system of the projectile flash as the shells from the chain cannon found it. Seconds later, the screen showed five separate parts of the missile as it broke up and spun in several directions.
Tran scored a direct hit.
Now I had the AI back online and surveying the damage. It noted the remains of the missile. No radiation was recorded, so we didn’t have to worry about any mess remaining from a nuclear warhead.
“Missile eliminated,” I reported to the ship. “Chalk up another win for Tran.”
“Where did that missile come from?” I asked Ely as Tank and I guided our respective ships back into the hanger. “I thought we took out the weapons array on the surface of the ghost ship.”
“We don't know. I appeared when the main section of the ship collapsed. Captain’s got Cherish and Maga trying to figure it out. By the way, your comms went dark for two full minutes. Mechanical issues?”
“Probably, I just though things were quiet until your signal came back in,” I lied. “We’ll find out once we dock.” My crew continued to stare straight ahead at the open hanger and didn’t say a word.
That was too close, I thought. The crew had risked the destruction of the mothership to talk to me about Captain. Even if they came through at the end, we still faced the knowledge of the near loss of everyone we held close. But I couldn't reprimand them for it. Not now at least. What worried me more was they felt it a big enough issue to risk going off line for a few minutes. I’d address it later and try to have a conversation with Captain about her reasons for bringing the pirate women into the pack. I was sure it had to do with more than adding more women to the ship.
Of course, Captain would want to know why we were out of communication for two minutes in the middle of combat. She didn’t miss much. This would be the first time anyone had organized resistance to her rule.
Tank and his guys were already on their way out of the ready room with their assignments for the evening. I glanced and spotted Precious with her arm around Tank as he headed into the main corridor. I’d managed to get my jealousy in check, so it was no big deal to see that. It was the new recruits from the pirate ship that had me troubled.
Dredge had all her former women lined up as I left the ship. They were in the ready room and had on the standard robe most of us wore during the evening shift. I was surprised they’d changed that quickly.
“Take your pick,” she told me. “Captain says your schedule is open and wants you to choose three partners, gives your crew a chance to have one on one encounters as a reward for stopping that missile. I hope you can keep them happy all night. Don’t worry about my girls; they’ve had plenty of experience with men.” She smiled and stood back.
I closed my eyes and let my mind reach out to them. I wanted the three with the most issues this evening. I knew I wanted Kane, after what I’d already heard about her. I walked down the line and took her hand. She joined my side and stood still.
“Jezebel,” I said, “And Astarte. Come along.”
“This will be fun,” Kane growled.
“Not too much fun,” Dredge said to me, “We have a lot to do tomorrow. Captain says we’re all being sent back into the storm. Guess the rest of the navy is headed in that direction too. Something about that cluster growing and more of those ghost ships. Guess we’ll find out when we get there. Oh, there you are!”
Dredge walked over to Orlando and began to help him remove his suit. As I left the ready room, I noted they were all over each other. I guessed his fear of the pirate women didn’t extend to their former queen. Unless he was just scared to say no.
I stopped with the three women outside the ready room in the corridor. The only one that had me concerned was Kane. She was tall and slender, perhaps a great beauty at one time. I could see the scar tissue trace down her neck and to her left arm. Astarte seemed to have the least physical damage, but there was something inside her that made her push herself to levels of suici
dal violence.
Jezebel. She had a lightness to her, and had red hair. There was something vacant in those green eyes though. She kept a barrier firmly in her mind that I need to get across. Well, there were a few hours ahead of us.
“Any one of you have a private room yet?” I asked.
“I do," Kane raised her hand. “Not much of a bed and I don’t think there’s room for all of us. Can we use the floor?”
We found a way to use the floor and bed in combination that night. I started with Jezebel and had the other two observe from the bed while we writhed on the floor. Then I had Kane while Jezebel moved back to her packmate’s position on the bed. An hour with her was still enough time for me to bring Astarte down and get her satisfied.
I observed Kane’s cannibal fantasies while she orgasmed. I’d found that was the best way to peer in on a woman’s mind, or anyone’s mind for that matter. The barriers went down when they were being pleased.
Astarte visualized herself in a pit of fire when she climaxed. Jezebel imagined herself pregnant, for some reason.
Afterwards, we spent the next few hours having a long discussion about what brought them to their current state. Most of it wasn’t vocal. I found, so long as they were in physical contact with me, it was possible to get them to open all the way. By now, I was used to the horrors inside those damaged bodies. It was possible to lock the inclinations up, so they could function. I’d done what I could before, but this took a lot of work and trust. I wished there was some quick way we could repair their exterior shells, but it would take a long time.
Although we only managed to get a few hours' sleep, I felt enough progress was made to justify the evening. I woke up that morning in the center of three naked women who slept soundly for the first time in their adult lives. Sometimes I even impress myself.
At mess hall in the morning, I sat with all three. We didn’t say much to each other; it wasn’t needed. I’d still need to monitor the rest of the former pirate women, but at least I didn’t have to worry about them in crisis mode at night. Who would have thought that my psychic gifts that had been awakened in combat would be honed as a tool for healing?
I watched as Tank kissed Precious good-bye for the morning shift. He walked over to our table and sat down.
“I've talked with Captain,” he told me. “We’re making the jump to Insubstantia in three hours.”
“How bad?" Astarte asked him. This was a surprise, as she hadn’t spoken much since we brought her into the pack.
“We are going to the Spear Cluster," he continued, and as he said it the pirate women became visibly aggressive, as if they'd been waiting for this news with great anticipation. “All manner of these ghost ships showing up. They want us down there since we’re one of the few starships that engaged them and won. They have been transmitting the sigils that Dredge had us use, but only a few of the UDF ships and pilots appear to be willing to employ them.”
“I have an appointment to see her right after I go on duty,” I told him. “I'll get a better idea when I’ve talked to her.”
It wasn’t just the mess we were about to engage that I wanted to find out about. I needed to learn what she suspected about the crew’s displeasure with some of her decisions. At least I’d had a chance to repair some of the damage done to the former pirate women. I needed to spend time with the others too. Although we were about to enter combat again, I couldn’t ignore some of the issues my crew brought up the last time we were out. Any one of those women was a potential time bomb. I didn’t need to have them lose composure when we engaged another ghost ship.
She was behind her desk when I entered her quarters. I passed up Medoro in the hall as I walked toward her. He avoided my face. So, I already knew Captain was suspicious. Not hard to do when you’ve slept with a suspect.
She turned off the screen in front of her the moment I walked into her desk. “You want to tell me the real reason you were incommunicado for two minutes yesterday?” she asked as I sat down next to her. “I tried to get it out of Medoro, but he won’t budge. Bully to you for having such a loyal FAS crew.”
“What's with this big plunge into the area we just left?” I ignored the question.
“We make the jump in one hour. The timetable was moved up. You’ll have to reach and feel what’s out there. Some of those ghost ships went invisible and you will need to find them. Is that going to be an issue?"
“Of course not. It means we won’t be in on the initial assault, but I expect they’ll want the best and brightest for that wave.”
“Good. Now what happened out there and why did you want those particular three women last night?"
Then she seemed to forget the whole reason she’d called me into her quarters. At first I didn't answer, so she kept talking.
“It’s much worse than you can imagine, Corwin,” she continued. “I’ve started to see things....” Captain let the last one trail off as she stared at the wall.
“See things?” I asked her. “Are you seeing things in your dreams?” I sometimes did the same thing and they came true on occasion.
“No, these are things that take place while I'm awake. I wouldn’t call them visions, but they’re more than hunches and impressions. It has to do with the Spear Cluster.”
I watched as she continued to stare away from me and speak. Captain was in a waking dream from what I could tell. I wasn’t even sure if she noticed I was in the room.
“There is something in that cluster than wants out,” she spoke to no one in particular. “I’ve seen it. It’s terrible. It wants control of us all. I’m not talking about the UDF. It wants to mold humanity to fit its own needs. I don’t understand what it is, but it’s scared of this ship and who’s on it. It’s tried to destroy us many times and it will come for us the moment we make the jump. We have to be ready.”
She turned her eyes and focused them on me directly. “It wants you, Corwin,” the eyes told me. Captain didn’t say a word, but I heard her thoughts. “It tried to send Precious to kill you, but her love for you was stronger than its power. Dredge was meant to be a stronger enemy, but she managed to break free of the mirror and start pushing back against the cartel, which we know now was just a front for the various Black Mirror cults. It’s tried to tap directly into your mind, but you have a barrier it can’t break.”
I knew what she spoke about. The unknown alien force that continued to probe me. It wanted control of my mind. If it couldn’t get that, it would kill me. Or at least try to until it finally succeeded. I knew it wouldn’t stop until I was dead.
The jump this time was made with everyone at their post, waiting for what we might encounter on the other side. I was in full suit armor with my crew in the ready room in case we had to be deployed the moment we were near the Spear Cluster. Tank’s crew was in position as well. One of the things I like about the ship was the collision seating we had in the ready room. This allowed us to strap in just in case there was someone waiting for us the moment we made the jump.
Dredge and her crew of former pirate women were in the Thunder Horse behind Hard Rain. The plan was for them to go through first and take out any hostiles that might have prepared an ambush. They knew as well as everyone else that they were going to bear the worst of any attacks that started at entry into real space, but they didn't seem to mind.
The jump date was pushed back several times so the navy could bring their forces into play before we went across. The Spear Cluster was several jumps out, so it would take a few days. I’d monitored the fighting and it was intense, as everyone suspected, but thankfully after some intense initial casualties the UDF were finally employing Dredge's sigils, and though we weren't pushing the ghost fleet back, humanity was holding the line.
The extra time gave me the chance to work with the rest of Dredge’s women during the evening shift. Not all of them would open their minds up to me. Several of them had serious issues with intimacy, which we needed to overcome. I was able to find the root of their damage after
two difficult nights. I don’t know how they would’ve ever been able to function around men had I not done the deep probe inside their consciousness. On the third night, I was able to let Captain know that all the former pirate women could resume their place on the roster without any worries. I passed the news along my crew to tell the other men not to worry about sleeping alone with the new recruits.
We came out in the middle of a clear space. It had no planets or systems within two standard light years. The Thunder Horse made contact the moment Hard Rain exited through the Insubstantia barrier and informed us they’d encountered no resistance.
“Check that out,” Orlando said to me as I unstrapped myself from the collision harness. “Look at the screen floating near the wall.” He pointed at it.
Captain had the bridge zoom in on the Spear Cluster and the strange activity around it. Solar flares had emerged in the last few days that damaged the ghost ships as they emerged from the center of the cluster. We watched as one ghost ship after another was raked by particle streams from the flares. Most of them didn’t make it out of the flare, and the ones that did were damaged to the point of uselessness.
“I wonder what caused it,” I spoke to Orlando. “Doesn’t appear to be any weapon our side owns.”
“Could be something we don't know about,” I informed him. “Or a natural phenomenon that the other side didn't anticipate. We don’t know much about the other side, but they don’t seem to be invincible.”
We watched a solar prominence shoot out from the cluster and vaporize a ghost ships in its path.
Orlando shoved a note in my hand and I looked down at it.
“Did you talk to Captain?” was all it said. We both knew what that note was about.
“Everything is fine,” I told him and prayed it to be true. After some of the revelations she’d given me, I couldn’t be sure. We were in the middle of a major campaign and I had to trust her judgement.
“I saw you flew solo with Kane last night,” I asked him. I’d checked the roster the previous day and made certain Captain followed my recommendations about the sleeping schedule. I’d already spoken with Kane who told me she had a good evening with Orlando. Now I needed to hear from him.
