Alejandro swore, then muttered something about Alliance wenches before cutting the comm.
“We’re not on a pointless sightseeing trip, are we, Yumi?” Alisa asked, hoping for confirmation that it was unlikely.
“Unknown, Captain. Has the ship we’ve been tracking changed course since we left the Aldrin area?”
“Yes, a few times.”
Yumi’s “hm” did not sound encouraging.
“I assumed they were hoping to avoid the usual kind of pursuit.”
“Hm,” Yumi murmured again.
Alisa sighed. “I’ll get us close enough to find out. And stretch those sensors as wide as they’ll go. If there’s another ship out there, I’d like to see it before it sees us.”
“What you’d like and what’s possible given the age of this ship may not be compatible. Might I recommend some upgrades to the sensor array the next time we’re in a spaceport?”
“If we survive the next twenty-four hours, you can recommend anything you want.”
“Excellent.”
“While we’re getting sensor upgrades, don’t forget better towels for the lav,” Abelardus said.
“Yes, I’ll put them on the list.” Alisa shooed him out of NavCom and tapped the control panel to fly them closer to the tracking device.
Yumi’s third “hm” came about a half hour later.
“A ship?” Alisa spun in her chair. The chasadski ship had long since disappeared from the cameras, and nothing except empty space and the occasional rock had floated past on the view screen.
“Something just came into sensor range. Something large.”
“A warship?”
“I don’t believe so. It has a different shape.”
Alisa leaned over her backrest for a better view. “But it’s a ship, right? You’re not reading the station, are you?”
The blips on the monitor were not that illuminating, but the data scrolling past gave estimates of size and power being emitted.
“No, it’s a large ship,” Yumi said. “Larger than a warship. You may want to halt us, as we may already be visible to their sensors. I’m reading an energy signature.”
Alisa tapped at the controls, reversing thrusters to bring the Nomad to a halt. Whatever was waiting for them, it wasn’t an Alliance ship, not unless they’d brought some kind of mobile weapons platform with them.
“No other ships around?” Alisa glanced at the tracking display, thinking to compare the location of the blip to the location of the ship they sensed, but for the first time in days, the blip had disappeared. She frowned and swiped at the holo controls hovering over the netdisc. “What happened there? We were catching up with them because they were stationary. They couldn’t have flown out of range.”
“Maybe the tracking device flew into the rift,” Yumi said dryly.
“You’re joking, I hope. That place sounded like it would be a worse place for a meeting than the corona of a sun.”
“It certainly would have a very high amount of radiation, but yes, I was joking. I think it’s more likely that the tracking device was destroyed. Or, if the ship carrying it has been in close proximity to the station, the radiation might be interfering with the signal. The sensors show that the large ship is very close to the spot where the rift and the station were showing up before, and I’m reading residual radiation in that area, but no sign of either being present in our dimension right now.”
“Present in our dimension. That sounds so odd. You think the station is still cycling in and out of our space?”
“The residual radiation suggests that. If you give me more time and get me closer, I could probably make an estimate as to when the station will appear again.”
“I’m not sure we want to get closer to this large ship you’ve found.” Alisa frowned, trying to guess who might be out there. Henneberry’s yacht had been sizable, as had the private vessels of some of the mafia families, but none of them had been larger than an Alliance warship.
“It could be a mining ship,” Yumi said after studying the sensor display a while longer. “I’m reminded of the length and width of the vessel that Malik and his pirates had taken over.”
“Who would bring a mining ship out here? There wouldn’t be any point in tearing that station apart for the pieces, would there? It’s centuries old, and if the artifacts that came out of there could kill people within days, I imagine the rest of the pieces of the station could too.”
“That does seem likely,” Yumi said. “And as I recall, there weren’t any precious metals in the station composition. I did a scan when we first visited.”
“Maybe this is someone exploring, hoping to stumble across riches.” Alisa slumped back in her seat, trying to stave off the feeling of defeat creeping over her. This wasn’t Henneberry, and it wasn’t Tymoteusz. If Henneberry had somehow placed the tracking device on that mining ship, and Alisa had been following it all along… Alejandro could be right. They could be days and days from whatever meeting spot those people had chosen. They would never find Thorian now.
“Mom, Mom!” came Jelena’s voice from the corridor.
Alisa tried to fix a smile on her face and turned as she scrambled into NavCom. “Yes? I’m here.”
Jelena rushed up beside her, gripping the edge of the control panel and looking at the view screen even though nothing but stars was visible there now.
“I sense him,” she blurted. “We’re close.”
“Who? Thorian?” Alisa couldn’t imagine her daughter trying to sense anyone else out there, but how could that be? Unless he was on that mining ship, but how could that make sense?
“Yes, he’s alive, like I said. And he’s out there ahead of us.” Jelena pursed her lips. “But he’s afraid… I think. We’re too far for me to talk to him, but I think… I can feel that he’s hurt and afraid. And trapped. Somewhere small and dark.”
“Can you tell if Tymoteusz is there too?” Alisa frowned back at the sensor display. Could Tymoteusz have moved his people over to the mining ship for some reason? And abandoned his smaller vessel?
Jelena bit the side of her lip. “I don’t know. I don’t want to look for him. He’s scary.”
“That he is.” Alisa decided to wait for later to tell her that the crazy old man was her great-uncle.
“More ships just came onto the sensors,” Yumi said.
“The Alliance fleet?” Alisa asked hopefully. Now would be a good time for Senator Hawk and Stanislav to swoop in and distract the chasadski.
“I don’t think so. Those look like civilian ships.”
“Henneberry’s people?” Alisa asked.
Maybe they had been following her the whole time, after all.
“It seems possible. Yes, these look familiar. So far, there’s the yacht and a couple of personnel transports. There could be many more ships just out of our sensor range.” Yumi frowned over at Alisa. “Captain?”
“Yes?” Alisa asked, doubting she wanted to hear what came next.
“One just veered away from the main group and is heading toward us.”
Chapter 21
“Leonidas and Beck,” Alisa said over the comm. “We have a problem coming our way. You may want to get armored and fierce.”
Jelena, still standing between the pilot’s and co-pilot’s seats, nodded solemnly. “I’m ready to be fierce. For Thorian.”
Alisa gripped her shoulder. “I’d prefer it if you hid in your cabin under your bunk.”
“It’s hard to be fierce while cowering under the furniture,” came Leonidas’s voice from behind them. Already clad in his crimson armor, he ducked into NavCom, his helmet tucked under his arm. “Just ask Alejandro,” he added.
He wore a weapon Alisa hadn’t seen before on a band across his torso, and he also carried a rifle in one hand. Jelena shifted closer to Alisa and gripped her arm.
“He’s the same man who kept Westfall from taking you away,” Alisa pointed out.
“But he’s wearing that… that.” Jelena pointe
d at Leonidas’s armored chest. “Like the bad people on Andromeda Android. The empire always has soldiers in black and red armor.”
“I keep telling you to paint that suit pink, Leonidas,” Alisa said, keeping her tone light, though she kept glancing at the view screen. That ship had come into camera range, a civilian transport, as Yumi had mentioned, but one that had weapons mounted on every surface. Its artillery options made the Nomad’s two e-cannons seem like toys in comparison.
“I thought you said stickers would be sufficient to take away the menace,” Leonidas said. He hadn’t come any further into NavCom than the hatchway and gave Jelena one of his solemn nods even though she looked nervous. “But you did tell me to get armored and fierce.”
“Yes, you were amazingly prompt,” Alisa said. “I take it you were already dressed.”
“I anticipated trouble.”
“Because you heard we were getting close? Or just because I’m piloting?”
“Indeed,” he said, eyes crinkling at the corners.
Jelena relaxed some at this banter and loosened her grip on Alisa’s arm.
Alisa commed the shuttle—Bravo Six was faithfully following along behind the Nomad. “Six? You see that we have trouble coming?”
“According to my sensor readouts, this sector appears to be full of nothing but trouble, Lady Captain,” the android said, almost sounding dry. Or maybe she was reading emotion into his monotone voice.
“An accurate assessment. There aren’t any weapons on that shuttle, so if we get into trouble, do your best to stay out of the way, all right?”
“Understood, but since this ship is largely superfluous, might I propose that in the case of an emergency, it could be used for ramming purposes?”
“That doesn’t sound healthy for the pilot,” Alisa said.
“Correct. But it’s possible that the shuttle might have enough mass, especially at sufficient velocity, that it could severely damage an enemy vessel, especially if its shields were down.”
“Listen, Six. You aren’t superfluous. Do you understand? You’re not sacrificing yourself out here.”
“I am merely an android, Lady Captain.”
“You’re an asset, and we don’t want to lose you, so just fly wide of any battles, understood?”
“As you command, Lady Captain.”
Alisa closed the comm with a grimace. She didn’t need a noble knight of an android that wanted to get himself killed out here. She hadn’t even gotten his eyeball fixed yet. He wasn’t going to sacrifice himself on her watch.
“I don’t suppose there’s any chance Thorian is on that ship?” Alisa asked, pointing toward the vessel coming toward them. The others were too far to pick up on camera as of yet.
Jelena shook her head. “He’s on the ship with the scary Starseer, the one who stole him at the station.”
“Tymoteusz?” Leonidas asked.
Jelena shrugged. Right. They hadn’t yet been formally introduced.
“Then there’s little point in getting in a fight with this ship, is there?” Alisa raised their shields and powered up the thrusters again. She flew straight toward the mining ship. The armed transport would intercept them easily, so she flexed her fingers, preparing for some fancy maneuvering.
“No point,” Leonidas agreed. “That’s one of the ships that was at the meeting.”
“One of Henneberry’s allies then,” Alisa said. “It probably got sent over to deal with us.”
Leonidas lifted his chin. “It can try.”
Jelena smiled slightly, perhaps in approval.
“A few more ships are coming into range,” Yumi said. “They’re behind the area where the rift will appear.”
“Still no Alliance ships?” Alisa asked.
“No.”
Where were they? Hadn’t Tomich been sending the directions to his people? Or was it possible that his cover had been blown, and Henneberry had realized he was a spy? If so, the Alliance might not have any idea where this meeting was being held.
“The transport will be in weapons range soon,” Yumi said quietly.
“I’m going to do my best to avoid getting shot,” Alisa said, “but we may want to see if we can distract them with a few e-cannon blasts of our own.”
“I’ll handle it.” Leonidas stepped forward slowly, looking like he didn’t want to startle Jelena. There wasn’t much room for him to squeeze in with her in the aisle.
Jelena leaned closer to Alisa to make room. Alisa thought about swooping her into her lap, but she was about to need all of her concentration for flying. Besides, Jelena had grown too tall for sitting in her lap, at least when she needed to see.
“Go stand back there, please,” Alisa said, pointing to the hatchway. “Or you can go to your cabin if you’re scared.”
“I’m not scared,” Jelena said firmly. “I’m going to help. To get Thorian.”
“We have to get past this ship before we can get to the one with him on it.”
“Do you think he’s on this ship?” Yumi asked Jelena, pointing to the big blip on the sensor display.
With the question distracting her, Jelena didn’t seem to mind Leonidas squeezing past. She went behind Alisa to peer over Yumi’s shoulder as Leonidas took the co-pilot’s seat and activated the weapons controls.
“Yes,” Jelena said. “That’s where all the bad Starseers are and…” Her face screwed up in concentration.
“Did you want me to be fierce too?” Abelardus asked, walking into NavCom. He wore his black robe, as usual, and had his staff in hand, his long braids tied back.
“Definitely,” Alisa said. “And see if you can fiddle with the mind of whoever is at the weapons station on this closest ship, please.”
“Fiddling away.” Abelardus leaned against the bulkhead and closed his eyes.
“There’s a lot of people on there,” Jelena said.
“On the mining ship?” Yumi asked.
“Yes, that one.”
“How many is a lot? More than a handful of chasadski?”
“How many is a handful?” Jelena asked.
“Ten? Twelve?”
“I think there’s a hundred people there. Maybe more.”
“Did he take over the ship without bothering to ask the miners to move out?” Alisa asked, dipping the nose of the Nomad as the transport’s forward cannons flared. Twin blasts of white streaked through space, almost glancing off the Nomad’s shields. She threw them into a roll even as she zigzagged to make a harder target. “I need more fiddling than that, Abelardus.”
“Sorry,” Abelardus said. “I think I was—”
“Their shields dropped,” Leonidas said. “Firing.”
Thrums echoed through the ship as the Nomad’s e-cannons fired. The blasts of energy hammered into the side of the transport. Leonidas fired again, but fiery orange flared around the hull, the attack deflected.
“They’ve got their shields back up,” Yumi said.
“Someone else took over the position,” Abelardus said. “I made the one lower shields, but they’ve got backup people.”
“Fiddle more,” Alisa said, sweeping the Nomad up as the transport turned to give chase. The pursuer’s side was charred where those blasts had gotten through, but it didn’t look like the e-cannons had done serious damage to the heavily armored ship.
“Working on it,” Abelardus said.
Even as Alisa did her best to evade their pursuer, she kept them heading toward the mining ship. She tapped the camera controls, thinking it might be close enough to see now. Yes, there it was in the distance. As Yumi had said, it was huge, a hulking rectangular vessel, a mile long and a half a mile wide, with all manner of retractable tools for cutting and digging and gathering mounted on the hull. Alisa spotted weapons, too, additions to the original ship’s makeup.
“I don’t mean to question you, Captain,” Yumi said, as blazer fire streaked past to their port side, “but you’re flying toward that ship like it’s a beacon of safety, and, ah—”
/> “There are no beacons of safety out here,” Alisa said. “I know. But that’s where Thorian is.”
“And the staff,” Abelardus said.
Alisa chopped her hand in the air. As if she cared about that staff.
“The only way we’re going to get Thorian is by boarding that ship,” Alisa said, banking as their pursuer fired again. This time, she wasn’t fast enough, and one of the blazer bolts smashed into their rear shields.
Leonidas fired twice. “I’ve hit them square on several times. Their shields should be worse off than ours.”
Unfortunately, there wasn’t any way to tell that, not on the instruments.
“They are,” Abelardus said. “The captain is communicating with Henneberry. Two more ships were just dispatched to help.”
“Wonderful,” Alisa muttered, turning them toward the mining ship again.
“When you say we need to board the ship,” Yumi said slowly, “do you mean forcibly? Because I’ve had time to thoroughly scan that craft. It’s been reinforced and is far more dangerous than a typical mining ship.”
“I guessed that,” Alisa said, “when I saw the weapons mounted all over it like cactus thorns. We’re not going to be able to force our way anywhere. We’re going to have to be captured.”
Even though Leonidas was busy firing, he gave her a long look. What, he hadn’t assumed that was what she had in mind?
“They may simply destroy us,” he said.
“How silly would that be when we have a proposal to offer?” Alisa waved over her shoulder. “Yumi, do you have enough of that drug to fuzz the minds of everyone on our ship?”
“I’ll see what I have on hand, Captain,” Yumi said, rising from her seat, “but it’s not a guarantee. Also, a powerful Starseer may be able to see through the, ah, fuzz.”
“I’ll take my chances,” Alisa said, banking hard to evade another round of fire. “Leonidas, have you not fiercely made our pursuer dead yet?”
“Working on it.” He fired again. “Their shielding is—”
“Abelardus, get those shields down.” Alisa hit the comm. “Young-hee, can you come help Abelardus? He needs a co-fiddler.”
End Game Page 29
