Hostage: A Terran Empire story

by Ann Wilson

little surprised.

  Then he frowned as a sudden thought struck him, and he knelt besideTheo's limp form. A blow like that, he'd read, could sometimes kill!But thankfully this time it hadn't; he was relieved to find his guardstill breathing. Theo might play a mean game of chess, but for a rebelhe was okay. Dave started to leave the tent, but it occurred to himthat it would look better if he took Theo's gun.

  He did so, slipping the heavy disruptor pistol into his belt. He knewhow to use it; his mother had been an Imperial Marine, and had madesure her husband and children knew how to handle all the weapons she'dbeen trained on. He checked to be sure the area was clear, then leftthe tent. Everyone seemed to be near the main fire at the center ofcamp, but he kept to cover anyway. He knew he should leave withoutstopping for anything, but he couldn't. Not with a Ranger beinghurt . . .

  The cries of pain were weaker, and as Dave made his way toward thefire, he found himself hoping the Ranger would pass out. He wasgetting too close to stay on the ground, though; he climbed one of thetrees that ringed the campfire and made his way along a limb until hecould see what was going on through the leaves.

  Almost immediately he ducked back, half-sick and not wanting to believewhat he'd seen. He'd known it would be bad, the sounds hadn't left anydoubt of that--but knowing didn't make it any easier to watch anImperial Ranger being beaten, maybe to death. Dave's first impulse wasto start shooting, but even as he reached for the disruptor in his belthe realized that would do more harm than good. Firing into the rebelswould just get him recaptured, maybe killed, and that wouldn't doeither him or the Ranger any good. There were too many rebels, and itlooked like they were all mean-drunk.

  Where in Chaos were the Marines? Dave thought desperately. They shouldbe here, stopping this! In the holos, they always came to the rescue--butin his mother's stories, they were sometimes too late. He inchedforward again, horrified fascination making it impossible for him tolook away. The Ranger's cries had subsided to moans, his body jerkingat every impact of the whip the rebels were taking turns using on him.After what seemed like hours, even the moans ceased, and he hung limpin his bonds.

  With the entertainment over, the rebels lost interest in theirprisoner, and the ones who hadn't already been overcome by therefreshments wandered away, too drunk--or, Dave thought bitterly, tooconfident of the Ranger's helplessness--to bother posting guards. Hedescended from his perch, careful not to lose the disruptor. He didn'tdare use it now, it was too noisy, but it could come in handy later.Right now what he needed was a quiet way to cut the Ranger's bonds.Maybe one of the passed-out rebels carried a knife he could use--mostpeople did, in the wilderness.

  The dying firelight provided just enough illumination for him to findwhat he needed on the second rebel he checked. It was an expensivehunting knife, and he hesitated for a moment, feeling a twinge of guiltat taking it even from a rebel.

  But the twinge didn't stop him; he had to help the Ranger! He staredfor a moment at the limp figure in the torn and bloody forest-greenuniform, then moved toward the south. He had to get transportationfirst; he was strong for his age, but he didn't think he could carry ordrag that much dead weight--he shuddered at that thought--very far.

  The parking area was guarded, though it was obvious that the two onduty had been doing their share of drinking. Dave thanked any gods whomight be listening that the rebels didn't come at all close to Marinestandards; if they had, a fourteen-year-old civilian wouldn't have hada chance. Even as it was, he'd be lucky to get out.

  Not that he didn't have some things going for him, he thought as hestudied the layout of the parking area and the way the guards werenegotiating their patrol routes. First was surprise, since theywouldn't know he was free and wouldn't consider him much of a threat ifthey did see him. Add that he was armed, something else they wouldn'texpect--and, he thought grimly, that he had paid a lot of attention tohis mother's stories and teaching. He might be young, but he had asmuch theoretical combat knowledge as anyone who hadn't been through theAcademy, and he was willing to use gun and knowledge both to help theRanger. But right now, stealth was better than a confrontation.

  He made his way cautiously to an aidvan, finding as he'd half-expectedthat it wasn't secured; aid vehicles had to be ready to go at amoment's notice. He would have liked to take the van, considering theRanger's injuries, but he didn't dare; he needed something that wasboth more maneuverable and less noticeable. He also didn't have thetraining to make use of its resources, at least not enough to make itworth the tradeoff. But he could take things he knew how to use, likebandages, emergency blankets, a survival kit, and rations; he stuffedthose into a carrying sack, then went forward to check the controls.This was a rebel camp, after all, so the vehicles shouldn't requirepersonal ID to operate; if it was like most large fleets a single codeshould be able to activate anywhere from five to a couple of decadevehicles. And the aidvan ought to have one of the code cards in theslot, ready to go . . .

  Dave grinned in satisfaction when he got to the driver's position.Convenience, as he'd hoped, had overcome security, something his mothersaid disapprovingly even happened sometimes with Marine units; the cardwas in the slot. He took it, then grabbed his supplies and hurriedinto the next vehicle in line.

  He breathed a sigh of relief when the card proved to activate thisvehicle as well; he might have had to go through a decade or so. Nowto see if it had . . . yeah, good. Lord Robert might be a rebel, withcreeps--well, mostly creeps, Theo was okay--for followers, but he hadgood equipment. This had variable coloration, which Dave promptly setfor camouflage, as well as convertible capability, a light-enhancingwindscreen, and a low-power setting that made the whine of null-gravengines almost inaudible. Making use of the last two, Dave took thevehicle carefully out of the parking area. Really good equipment hadits disadvantages, too, he knew,; he'd have to get the Ranger, get outof camp, and find a hiding place fast, before the rebels realized whatwas happening and used the override the car almost had to have. Hewouldn't dare take enough time to get home, or to a town, and his campwas out of the question.

  Dave lowered the car's top as he guided it into the campfire area andnudged the passenger side against the Ranger's legs, then he clamberedinto the back and stood on the seat to reach the man's bonds. Theywere rope, so he wouldn't have to risk even low-power disruptor fire;he sawed through them, then laid the Ranger as gently as he could onthe back seat. The fabric he touched was sticky-wet; he wiped hishands on his pants legs before he got back in the driver's seat andbegan edging the car away from the camp.

  He kept the car on low power, traveling slowly, until he was almost akilometer away, then went to normal power and sped up. This part ofthe mountains was honeycombed with caves, so he decided their best betwould probably be to find a nice one and hole up until the Marinesfinally landed. Dave was confident they would; whatever had kept themfrom showing up right away surely couldn't keep them from starting tosearch when the Ranger didn't return when he should!

  It took him almost an hour, but he found a cave that would serve themas a decent shelter. It had a fairly level floor, as far as he daredtake time to explore, with enough turns and side passages to keep thewind out and maybe provide them with emergency hiding places or astronghold--if he could get the Ranger to them. And, best of all, oneof the side passages had a small spring overflowing into a stream thatled deeper into the cave. Yes, he decided, it would do nicely.

  He brought the car to the entrance and turned on the visible-lightheadlights long enough to unload his gear, arrange a makeshift bed forthe Ranger, and finally half-carry and half-drag the man inside andsettle him. Then he started to program the car to take it away fromthem, but hesitated, thinking. He'd gotten what he could carry fromthe aidvan, but there was a better than even chance the car itself heldsomething useful, this far from any settlements. He checked, findingmore blankets and rations, a military-issue medikit--and the jackpot, afusion lamp/stove combination. He grinned, lighting the lamp andstacking
his fresh loot inside the cave entrance, then finishedprogramming the car and sent it on its way.

  It lifted off, climbing to well above treetop height, then orienteditself to a heading that would take it--if it didn't blow itself up orget shot down first--to the Planetary Palace an hour or so after dawn.Dave listened until it was out of hearing range, then carried his findsfurther into the cave and braced himself to check the Ranger'scondition. First he cleaned his patient's face, recognizing him assoon as he'd washed the blood off: Esteban Tarlac, newest and youngestof the Emperor's personal representatives and troubleshooters. Then hestarted pulling Tarlac's uniform shirt off, trying not to get sick asthe wounds were exposed. When he had it about halfway off, the Rangerstirred.

  Tarlac woke