Rogue Stars

by C Gockel et al.

  Caelyn sighed when they saw a long blue braid trailing down the back of one of the men, identifying him as a Delphian. “I suppose you wish I had just taken that ship to Callas instead of tagging along with you. So much for my disguise.”

  “Are they going to let us go?” Khoe asked, sounding anxious.

  “We’re not prisoners. They’ve got no reason to stop anyone. Yet.” Seth noticed the pilot emblem on the Delphian who was taking far too close a look at the Dutchman. He nudged Caelyn. “Don’t let them try to intimidate you. Stick to your explorer story. Your kinsman over there will understand why you’d want to be disguised out here.”

  “I’m in!” Khoe said.

  “Can you tell what’s happening over there?”

  “Yes. The officer is Major Terwood. He’s trying to get answers from Tov Pald without actually accusing him of being a rebel. How very convoluted. We all know they are. They both sound awfully irritable. Tieko just sounds worried.”

  “Might be a good idea to power down the rebels’ guns.”

  “Can’t. Most of the rebels have ballistic weapons. I can take the rails out but the others are all just mechanical.” She frowned. “The officer just asked about you.”

  Seth cursed and stepped down from his rock. “Well, now we know why they’re here. I wonder how they tracked us. What did he say?”

  “That you’re a fugitive. A dangerous one. They want just you, he said. Then they’ll go. I don’t think they believe him.”

  “I don’t, either. Let’s hope Tov Pald won’t hand me over as long as I have one of his collectors. See if you can power down all crossdrives except for the Dutchman’s. Don’t damage them. If you drain them it’ll take a few hours to get them back up. We can make it to the keyhole by then.” He nudged Caelyn. “Start heading to my ship around those sheds there.”

  They ambled through the crowd, keeping an eye on the discussion at the center of everyone’s attention. He winced when he saw Tieko look intently around the wide circle of faces as if searching for him in the throng. He seemed about to give in to the pressure of whatever the major was threatening.

  Indeed, the major took a step backward, gesturing for Tieko to follow. Deliberately turning his back on Tov Pald, he moved toward his own troops.

  “Damn,” Seth said, seeing the expression on the Caspian’s face. “Move!”

  The officer had underestimated the rebel leader. Tov Pald moved aside and signaled for the attack. The crowd surged back in fright when several of his men appeared from behind whatever cover was to be found, including the roof of the wrecked transport, to fire at the Union soldiers. Some of them fell to their aim before the others also sought shelter behind and inside their ships.

  Seth shifted his eyes from the mayhem to keep Khoe’s focus on her sabotage. Civilians scrambled for the caves, heedless to anything in their way. He heard shouts and curses and the sound of gunfire shattering the cold air. And then, thankfully, the whine of his own plane’s thrusters preparing to lift off by Khoe’s command.

  Ahead of him, Caelyn suddenly wheeled around with a curse Seth had never heard a Delphian utter. He clutched his arm, staring in frozen horror at what remained of his hand. A bullet had torn through it and nearly severed it above his wrist. Blood spurted from the horrible wound.

  Seth grasped the wide sleeve of Caelyn’s weather gear and shoved him into the shelter of a metal bin. He clamped his hands around the torn arm to stem the bleeding. Another bullet whined over his head as it struck the edge of the bin. He peered over the top to see the fire fight concentrated on the larger of the two Union ships. “Come on, Delphi,” he said, grinding his teeth when he saw the fear and pain on his friend’s face. “On your feet. We can make it.”

  Caelyn shook his head but his eyes were on the shredded remains of his hand. “You get out of here,” he grunted through clenched jaws. “I’ve done nothing but slow you down.”

  “Not giving up, are you?”

  “They won’t hurt me. Delphian, remember? If I let you patch me up I won’t see the end of the day.”

  “Khoe can maybe…” Seth looked up to see her shaking her head.

  “You’ve got nothing that’ll show me how to fix this,” she said.

  “Go!” Caelyn said. “They’ll have medics with them.”

  Seth bent protectively over Caelyn when something tore into their inadequate shelter and a piece of metal spun over their heads. “Khoe, when you get aboard, see if you can find the Delphian pilot we saw earlier. If you can tap his com, tell him who and where Caelyn is.”

  “Already looking,” she said.

  “She’s on it,” Seth translated as he used a strap from the enviro suit to tourniquet Caelyn’s bleeding arm. He gripped his shoulder in a silent farewell and got up to race to the Dutchman. Khoe’s dread was palpable as he ducked out of the line of fire, keeping low, circling the soldiers near his plane. The tracer of a laser gun crawled over his chest and he rolled under an abandoned tri-rider to return the fire. Two more soldiers spotted him and he shot them, too, wincing when one of them knocked her head painfully against his ship on the way down. He scurried to the next bit of shelter, now within steps of the Dutchman’s doors.

  “Seth!” Khoe cried.

  He spun to look for the threat and saw a soldier only steps away, pointing a gun at his head. The man shot without hesitation and then stared, flabbergasted, when Seth remained standing. Seth recovered first from the surprise and brought him down with his own gun.

  “That worked!” Khoe said excitedly. “Did you see that?”

  “See what?” Seth slapped the Dutchman’s keypad, grateful for his hunch to park the ship with its door facing away from the colony. He sealed it quickly and endured the endless seconds it took for the Dutchman to run its contaminant analysis and allow him inside.

  “Like I told you. I was right. I diffused the output from his gun.”

  “Where did it go?”

  “I scattered it. Pretty broadly. Using its own energy. You didn’t even feel it, did you?”

  He raced for the cockpit. “You said you were going to power the rail guns down, not test your theories on me.”

  “Well, I missed that one. Wasn’t even a rail. Have a little faith.”

  Seth powered up and thrust away from the surface, leaving the waning battle behind. He kept his eyes on the real-video for as long as he could. It seemed that Air Command was starting to turn things in their favor.

  Khoe drew his attention. “I found the Delphian. His name is Palas.”

  “How? A khamal?”

  She grinned. “I’m still hacked into their com system. Typing out words to his sleeve. Their written language is remarkably efficient.”

  His knee had taken a knock somewhere and he winced as he rubbed it. “I just hope no one saw me get shot like that and walk away. That’s all we need now. Dyads impervious to e-mag weaponry. Like we’re not popular enough already.”

  “You sound a little cranky.”

  “Yeah. Worried about Caelyn.” Seth read the single-word affirmative returned by the officer, wondering what was going on down there. What had possessed him to let Caelyn join him out here? The Delphian’s work and passion let him travel to the most remote regions of the sector but always within the relative safety of a scientific expedition. Valued by Air Command, equipped with high-end defensive systems, they were rarely bothered by rebels or pirates. But now, and not for the first time, Seth had dragged the gentle, unwary explorer into not only physical harm but most certainly difficulties with the Union. “I hate to leave him like that. He’s hurt worse than it looked.”

  “He’ll be all right, won’t he?” She raised a hand to forestall his reply when another message arrived from the ground. “That Palas officer found him. He’s going to help, but he’s not happy about it. Caelyn’s under arrest and they’re taking him to a medic.” She pointed at a monitor. “There’s your third ship.”

  He looked up. The third Air Command cruiser, instead of aiding the b
attle on the ground, had changed course to pursue the Dutchman. “Take the helm,” he snapped and shifted his attention to the weapons system. “Break out and head for the keyhole. I have the co-ords for Csonne in there somewhere.”

  She nodded, so intent on her task that she floated in mid-air. “It’ll take two jumps to get there. You’re not going to shoot them down, are you?”

  “I’m outgunned. That’s a Ghoster. But I can slow them till you get inside it.”

  “I have to do all the work around here!” she said, but her eyes gleamed with excitement when she pulled up the specs for that class of ship.

  He shifted into an evasive maneuver when the battlecruiser opened fire. “They’ve sent a whole lot of fire power,” he said and slipped his headset over his interface nodes to allow for greater precision. “Something must be worrying Air Command an awful lot about what’s going on. They’re not looking for us to surrender. They’re out for the kill.” He aimed his return fire across the Ghoster’s bow and impacted a few missiles where they were unlikely to affect their shields.

  “Breaking,” she announced and he pushed back against his bench when they burst through Belene’s atmosphere. The Dutchman took that in stride, as always, but shuddered when a well-placed missile slammed into the aft shield. He punched the autopilot, already set for their destination, to let her concentrate on their pursuer.

  “Same additional configuration as the others,” she said. “They have no imagination. What do you want me to do?”

  “Lock the cruiser into diagnostic mode. It’ll have to take the drives offline to do that. Then disengage the coolant conduit where they won’t find it for a while.”

  “You’re devious.”

  He twisted the Dutchman out of the way of another volley. Something scraped across the small observation bubble overhead but it had seen more direct hits than that and he hadn’t needed to replace it since that unfortunate meteor shower some time ago. Still, he cast a nervous glance at the displays to check the hull’s cohesion.

  “There,” she said with a measure of satisfaction. “I bet they’re surprised.”

  He relaxed with a deep sigh and removed his headset when they left the cruiser far behind. Except for Caelyn’s terrible injury, things were turning out rather nicely. He had the disk, a destination, and, if Air Command did its job, Tov Pald and his people would not be looking for him to return any time soon.

  He climbed out of his couch and went into the main cabin to shrug out of his blood-soaked jacket and shirt. While the decon cycle took care of the gore on his hands and arms he wondered how the Delphian was faring back on Belene-Noh. Air Command would not harm him, that was true, but Caelyn was a long way from home and the protection of his people.

  “I have the feeling you spend more energy trying not to damage your enemies than if you just took them out,” Khoe said.

  “Yes, I try,” he said. “It’s not always possible.”

  “What do you mean?”

  He shrugged. “Sometimes you have to act like a rebel to be thought of as one. How long to the keyhole?”

  “Couple of hours. You’ve harmed people before? Your own, I mean?”

  He waved the question away, recognizing it as one that just might lead to a conversation he really did not want. Sometimes, floating alone around in the middle of nowhere, uninvited memories and images haunted his thoughts when sleep wouldn’t come. Leading his own private rebellion against a ruthless rebel force and the equally determined Commonwealth Union, the distinction between them faded at times and left him wondering about his place in this. Again and again he resolved to turn his back on it all, maybe join Caelyn on some extended trip to elsewhere, and forget about these never-ending clashes. And every time he did, he found himself drawn back into things, irked by the misery meted out by rebel and Union alike. But when self-reflection becomes too much, he told himself at those times, you put away the books, boost the music volume, and spend a few exhausting hours with the exercise equipment in the cargo bay. “Will you be able to connect to Csonne?”

  “Hmm, yeah,” she said. “Will take two days in real-space to the next keyhole.”

  He sat down on the lounger to remove his boots. A slow smile tugged on his lips. “Days, huh? Just you and me and the Dutchman?”

  When he looked up she walked toward him, wearing only a whisper of fabric floating around her like mist. He exhaled audibly when he made out the gentle curves beneath. “Close your eyes,” she whispered.

  He did, half-afraid to lose the lovely vision before him, but she was still right there. He felt the gossamer cloth against his face and inhaled the bewitching scent she conjured up. When he reached for her she straddled his thighs, facing him. Her lips brushed over his. “Days,” she promised. “Anything you want.”

  10

  “Damn,” Deve said when he jammed his elbow once again into the ridged edge of yet another conduit cap.

  He supposed that Lep Ako’s idea of making him an engineer aboard the Air Command transport ensured that he spent most of his time alone, away from curious questions of his crew mates and out of sight of the officers. The alien had little faith in his ability to keep his identity a secret. Deve suspected that he was probably right. And so he labored down here, directed by Lep Ako in whatever task he was assigned, working on things he had never seen before. For all he knew, what he did down here, in the bowels of the Kimura, was either making this ship fly or the toilets work properly.

  Of course, it could have been worse. Lep Ako could have made him a soldier. Deve loved guns and uniforms and often wondered if joining Air Command might have been his true calling. But the Kimura’s grunts were made to pace around outside, freezing their tails here on Belene-Noh, a nothing-planet in a nothing-sector existing for no particular reason. The on-board crew had the better job today.

  He slid a little further into the access conduit and stretched out on his back. Lep Ako, invisible, seemed distracted and had stopped showing him what he was supposed to be doing down here. It suited him fine. The entity in his head had little understanding of his need to eat or sleep and after days of this Deve felt exhausted and miserable. His head hurt all the time and he often fantasized about the food he’d eat if he ever got home again.

  “Stay awake,” Lep Ako snapped. “I can’t concentrate when you’re sleeping.”

  Deve scrubbed his eyes. “I need to sleep. Just an hour.”

  The answer was another vicious stab of pain somewhere in the back of his head where he expected it. He didn’t even flinch this time.

  “There’s something going on in the officer’s lounge,” Lep Ako said, feeling his way through the ship’s communications network. “A major is talking to that Delphian they arrested. He probably knows where Kada is going.”

  “The one that’s got his hand shot off?”

  “Yes.”

  “Can I see? I’m too bored to stay awake.” Deve raised his arm to bring the display screen of his data sleeve up.

  Lep Ako obliged him wordlessly. The ship’s cameras, recording the interrogation, if that’s what it was, sent their data without noticing the tap in the system. He saw a comfortable lounge furnished, he noticed enviously, with the sort of couches that would make for some truly remarkable naptime.

  The major, Terwood, leaned against a bulkhead while the Delphian sat stiffly on a reclining chair. Even on the small screen wrapped around Deve’s sleeve, the exasperation on the officer’s face was unmistakable.

  “How’s the arm?” Terwood asked two decks above their heads.

  The Delphian looked down at the bulky device supplying the end of his arm with what it needed to heal. “Missing a piece,” he said. “But your medics are efficient. They’ve already received word from Delphi that our engineers are preparing a prosthetic hand for me.”

  “Surely, you’ll reconsider next time you feel like taking up with renegades. These things never end well.”

  “Kada’s credentials seemed appropriate,” Caelyn responded. “W
e do not have an endless supply of ships. We must make use of able pilots when we have the opportunity.”

  “You’re sticking with that story? You’re out on this forsaken planet for research? What are you researching?”

  “The colony. They have developed some remarkable survival mechanisms by simply regressing to a more primitive way of managing their collective. They are not completely isolated, yet they choose to remain here. It’s an interesting study.”

  “They stay here because most of them are criminals, smugglers and outcasts. That can’t be hard to figure out.”

  “Not at all. There is an entire new generation, with a third now coming of age. This sort of thing offers fascinating insight into isolated communities. As you know, Delphi also chooses to remain separate from the influence of outsiders.”

  “You’re comparing this cesspit to Delphi?”

  “Comparing what we know with what we don’t understand is a sound basis for observation.”

  “Your little project almost cost you your life.” Terwood gestured toward Caelyn’s arm. “Was it worth it?”

  “I’ll remind you that neither I nor Sethran Kada provoked the attack that took place here yesterday. You showed your back to a Caspian. One apparently known to have an unstable disposition. Cesspit or not, this colony was at peace before you came.”

  “Crawling with Shri-Lan.”

  “I’m an explorer, Major. Your political problems impact the worlds we study, but we do not involve ourselves with them. I do appreciate your offer to return me to Delphi as your unexpected arrival caused my pilot to leave me behind.”

  “Your safety is of great concern to us,” Terwood said, with only the slightest edge of sarcasm in his tone.

  “Thank you. My people will appreciate Air Command’s attention to my well-being.”

  Deve shifted uncomfortably on the floor. “What kind of interrogation is that?” he scoffed. “He’ll get nowhere with that Delphian. They’re treating him like some guest they’re having for tea and cake.”