Chutes & Ladders (Prosperous Book 1)

by A. Rhea King

  “So there’s a seventy-four percent chance this reposition will kill us and a twenty-six percent chance we’ll survive?”

  Correct. But since all the other scenarios I've run have resulted in ten percent to zero percent, this at least has the highest probability.

  Amanda threw up her hands. “Well, if we die during a dimensional reposition, at least none of us will feel it! Transport me to the Control.”

  Gracie obeyed.

  Amanda marched from the back of the Control to stand in front of the Captain’s chair. She pulled her hands behind her back and for the first time in years, appeared confident; not that any of the crew noticed. They never paid much attention when she came onto the Control. Today it had to be different. Today she was either going to save them all or kill them all.

  She swallowed hard, cleared her throat, and asked, “Aris, have the dimensional reposition cells reached full capacity?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “How wide is the nebula?”

  “A hundred meters short of eighty kilometers.”

  The Control crew chuckled at Aris’ smug answer.

  Amanda shot her a glare. “Couldn’t you just say seventy-nine kilometers? How long is it?”

  Aris smiled. “Find out for yourself.”

  The Control crew chuckled again.

  Amanda walked up behind her and leaned over her shoulder. She spoke next to the Paskian’s ear. “Aris, we all know that Paskians are sniveling cowards and what I’m about to ask from my pilot, I doubt you can pull off. So why don’t I ask Jason to come up here and take your place? After all, he is a man, and he can do much better than a female.” Amanda reached toward the intercom control.

  Aris slapped her hand away, growling, “The nebula is seventy-nine kilometers wide and eight hundred and ninety-three meters long, ma’am.”

  Amanda stood up. “On screen show me where we can reposition while still in the nebula, and come out of dimensional space as close as possible to the Righel Prime or the Merchant Raitor border.”

  Aris turned to her. “We can’t reposition from a nebula. We need sensor readings from—”

  “I am aware that you are used to using sensor and readout station readings, Aris. However, Jackie believes this can be done using star charts, and I have confidence in Jackie.”

  Jackie slowly looked back at Amanda, surprised she was giving her credit.

  “Well, she’s wrong.”

  “She’s wrong, or you don’t believe you can do this? You’re more than welcome to step away and let a man with more skills do this.”

  Aris’ face started turning wolf-like. “I can do the reposition, ma’am.”

  “Then start plotting it, Ensign.”

  “The Terallians are going to follow us into dimensional space, ma’am,” Reuben said. “They will literally be right behind us, if not on top of us, when we exit.”

  “You mean the ones that survive after our super-heated reposition props eject plasma that will ignite the hydrogen gas of the nebula?” Jackie asked. “It will be a spectacular explosion that we won’t be here to see. Or are you talking about the ones that don’t get instantly disintegrated because they were in our way when we repositioned blindly from a nebula and entered dimensional space right in the middle of them? Oh! And the universe will be minus one small nebula when we attempt to do the most impractical dimensional reposition since dimensional cells were invented.”

  He paused, perhaps just now registering the scope of destruction this reposition was going to cause. “Yes,” he answered, “the survivors will follow us.”

  Amanda nodded. “Then we’ll have to come out of the dimensional reposition at full speed and make a run for the Merchant Raitor border. And if Reuben is right, we’ll probably have to fight our way there. Reuben, you and Gracie need to be ready to fight on exit.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Reuben answered.

  “The distance we have to go to get to Righel is going to drain the cells,” Aris told her. “We won’t be able to reposition for three days.”

  “Plot it right the first time.”

  I can assist you, Ensign Dariket, Gracie offered.

  “I’ll have to check the calculations based on star charts.” Aris turned back to the controls to start plotting the dimensional reposition.

  “How long will it take, Aris?”

  “Give me an hour.”

  “I want us headed for the edge of the nebula in twenty minutes; you have twenty-five minutes before the ships will detect us.”

  Aris gawked, looking up at her.

  Amanda kept her eyes on the screen. She couldn’t show them her fear, even if her world was continuing to crash and breathing was difficult. She was aching for the logical, structured, world she’d known before today, before this stint even. She longed for Tru to be standing next to her, making all the tough decisions.

  Q’al ran into the Brig, stopping at the control center in the middle of the room.

  “I need in their cell now.” He pointed at the creature’s cell without looking.

  “Doctor, you know I ca—” the guard began.

  “OUR CAPTAIN IS DYING! I NEED IN NOW!”

  The guard quickly tapped the control to lower the energy shielding. Q’al ran in, watching the two stand up from the bunk. The male pushed the child behind him. She peeked around his thigh to watch Q’al.

  “I need to get some of her venom,” Q’al told the man, stepping toward him.

  The male stepped back, forcing the girl to retreat.

  Q’al looked at the floor. “How can I make you understand this?”

  The man spoke quietly, and Q’al looked up. He was pointing at the canister in Q’al’s hand.

  Q’al held it up. He pushed his lip back, pointing at his canine teeth. He put them on the rubber and bit down, so they punctured it. Q’al pulled his mouth away. He held it out to the male.

  “I need her poison in here.” He pointed down at the girl, then his canine teeth again.

  The male took the canister, looking it over. The girl spoke quietly. The man looked down at her, talking to her. He knelt in front of her, dropping the canister on the bunk. He grabbed her arms, saying something while giving her a firm shake. She replied, looking scared. He stood, looking around him. His eyes found the canister. He handed it to her, indicating he expected her to do something.

  The girl hugged the canister to her chest but didn’t do anything else.

  “All crew brace for weapons fire,” Amanda said over the ship COM. “We will be near the edge of the nebula in five minutes, and we are detecting seven ships. The Terallians are likely to open fire before we can make a dimensional reposition.”

  Q’al crouched down, coming to eye level with the child. She started to step back, but the man caught her and pushed her closer to Q’al.

  “Child, I need you to put your poison in there and do it quickly. My captain is dying from your poison.”

  She said something to the man. He angrily motioned at Q’al, but his focus was on her. She shook her head, trying to pull away from Q’al. The man hissed at her, and she shrank back, staring wide-eyed at him. He scolded her and ripped the canister out of her hands. He bit down on the rubber and a milky fluid start dripping from his fangs. He worked his jaw, forcing venom out of his venom sacs and into the canister. He pulled his fangs out, handing it off to Q’al and then sat down on the bunk, holding his head.

  “Are you all right?” Q’al asked, laying his hand on the man’s shoulder.

  The girl hissed at Q’al. In a surprising move, the man slapped her, knocking her off her feet. He hissed and then started screaming at her. She quickly got to her feet, grabbed the canister and forced venom into the container. The young female produced twice what the man had milked. Q’al laid his hands on hers when a light on the side went green. She let it go, looking up at him. Q’al smiled, gently taking her hand.

  “Thank you, child. Thank you.”

  Q’al got up, turning to leave. His heart leaped
when one of them grabbed his wrist. He looked back, staring into the girl’s wide blue eyes.

  “I’m… Sorry?” she said.

  Q’al smiled, laying his hand on her head. “I know you are.”

  Q’al stepped out of the cell.

  “Gracie, transpor—” He was transported before he could finish speaking.

  “XO…” Reuben turned to a screen. “Sonar is showing ships are moving to intercept.”

  “Reuben shields up and fire at will.”

  “Aye, ma’am,” the two replied.

  Amanda put her hand to her mouth, sinking into the captain’s chair. An anxiety attack threatened to send her screaming from the Control. She pulled her stone from a pocket, pressed her thumb into the center, and mentally began reciting, ‘This moment will pass.’

  “We are being targeted,” Reuben told her.

  Amanda looked at the floor. Things were about to get worse.

  Q’al materialized in Infirmary, handing the canister off to Nurse Tipton. “I need an antivenin, stat!”

  Tipton ran off to make it. Q’al grabbed a scanner, running to Tru’s bedside.

  “He’s having a hard time breathing,” Ilka told him. “His fever won’t go down, and I’m showing a buildup of white blood cells.”

  “BRACE FOR TORPEDO IMPACT!” Jackie shouted over the ship intercom.

  The ship rocked, and Q’al used his body to keep Tru from sliding off the bed.

  “RAILS UP!” Q’al ordered.

  The medical staff raised the bedside rails and secured Tru to the bed.

  “Doctor, his heart rate is becoming erratic,” Nurse Henrich said. “He’s going into cardiac arrest.”

  Q’al ran the scanner over Tru’s chest. The venom had reached his lung.

  Mentally Q’al whispered, ‘Ja’rie, keep his soul safe until I can fix this. Don’t leave him alone out there.’

  Chapter 29

  “THE PLOT IS COMPLETED, MA’AM,” ARIS SAID.

  Amanda didn’t reply.

  Aris looked over her shoulder. Amanda was leaning on her legs, passing something from one hand to another.

  “XO?” Aris said.

  “Alert the crew, Jackie,” Amanda said.

  “Brace for dimensional repositioning. Repositioning in five…” Jackie announced and continued the countdown to the dimensional reposition.

  “We’re going to take out three ships when we reposition, ma’am,” Aris informed her. “Maybe five. Two more are joining the attack formation.”

  “Too bad for them.”

  “Brace him!” Q’al yelled.

  The medical staff rushed to secure the bed.

  “Jump in five…” Jackie counted, “four…”

  Q’al leaned over Tru with Nurse Henrich, themselves bracing for the reposition.

  “Three… Two…”

  The rest of the medical staff braced themselves wherever they could.

  “Jump.”

  Around them, things streaked appeared to slow, and then whooshed at speeds beyond comprehension.

  In a burst of light and trailed by debris and licks of flames, Prosperous streaked to sub-light speed. It turned to starboard, heading toward the solar system that was Righel Prime, and behind the Merchant Raitor border. From the same location, ships of various designs came out of dimensional reposition and opened fire as they perused Prosperous.

  Amanda grabbed the arm of the captain’s chair when the ship rocked.

  “Jackie, send a distress signal to Righel. Gracie, don’t let those bastards out of our sights. And Reuben, if you can’t disable them, kill them.”

  Aris and Jackie looked at each other and then Amanda. She was glaring at their attackers on the view screen.

  The second their surroundings returned to normal, the alarm on the heart monitor went off. The venom had reached Tru’s heart.

  “Prep for surgery!” Q’al ordered. “Nurse Henrich, check to see if we have a heart and right lung with his blood type in stasis.”

  The ship rocked again.

  “You’re going to perform surgery in a battle?” Doctor Ilka cried.

  “Yes. I want him on life support in fifty-five seconds!”

  “Doctor, I have the antivenin prepared,” Nurse Tipton yelled, running up with a molecular syringe.

  “Give him ten milliliters in the surgery theater.”

  Q’al and Lareshth ran into the changing room. The door closed and Lareshth grabbed Q’al’s arm. A hit threw them against the wall.

  “You can’t seriously plan on doing a heart and lung transplant now! You could kill or paralyze him.”

  “He’ll die if I do nothing. Get changed.” Q’al hastily stripped off his clothes.

  Aris smiled, letting out a soft whimper of satisfaction. “Merchant Raitor ships are approaching,” she reported.

  Amanda rose to her feet. “Aris, bring us about. Reuben, keep firing.”

  “The Merchant Raitor ships will provide us cover, ma’am,” Aris told her. “We—”

  “We are catching one of these bastards for interrogation. I am not letting them get away with trying to kill us, twice. Now, bring us about!”

  “Aye, ma’am.”

  Aris turned Prosperous and attacked the Terallian ships.

  “We’re being hailed, ma’am,” Jackie said.

  “On screen.”

  An older human appeared on the screen, and Amanda’s stomach sank. It was her last captain, Emery Lewis. Service under him had been hell, and she had hoped to never see him again.

  “I want to speak to your captain,” Lewis demanded. “You are attacking Merchant Raitor ships, Wrigley.”

  “Captain Barnett is incapacitated, and these ships attacked us in the Eslin system and again at the Awedon Nebula. Emperor Lixu may have issued the order and may be attempting to capture this ship.”

  “I don’t see any Terallian ships, Wrigley. Maybe you should have taken your paranoia medication. Stop shooting immediately!”

  “They are all Terallian.”

  “And you know this how?”

  “Terallians attacked and destroyed several of the Merchant Raitor ships in the Eslin like they had us. We collected as many black boxes as we could and discovered they had intercepted several Terallian communique before losing power. Those communique indicate that the Emperor Lixu himself was behind the attacks, and we forward the data from them back to Earth before we repositioned to here.”

  “And what about at the Awedon Nebula?”

  “They were in pursuit of a Paskian shuttle and opened fire on us. Data we found on the shuttle stated these ships are trying to capture Prosperous.”

  “Why would they want this ship? This ship is small and useless!”

  Quietly enough that only her crew could hear her, Gracie snarled, You are small and useless.

  Amanda ignored her remark. “I don’t know, sir.”

  “Were there Paskians on the shuttle?”

  “No. Another race. They were trying to escape a Terallian ship when they came out of a dimensional reposition.”

  “Are they dead too?”

  “No, they attacked Captain Barnett, and we took them prisoner.

  “Once this matter is settled, I will be taking custody of your alien prisoners.”

  Amanda opened her mouth to object, but the communication link abruptly ended.

  “Son of a bitch!” Amanda snarled at the screen. “Reuben, capture one of those ships. Now we have to need to catch a Terallian ship to prove this was not unprovoked.”

  “Aye, ma’am,” Reuben replied, turning to a row of controls.

  Q’al jerked his hand up when the ship rocked, holding the laser scalpel safely away from Tru’s body. Tru’s chest was open under his hands. Blood sprayed each time the ship was hit. Q’al lowered a steady-handed scalpel into Tru’s chest and made an incision across an artery.

  “Clamps,” he ordered.

  The ship rocked again. Nurse Henrich slapped a pair of clamps into Q’al’s hand, and he clampe
d off another artery before starting his next incision.

  Ilka checked a reading. “The anti-venom has almost counteracted the venom, Q’al. I’m giving him another dose, Doctor.”

  Q’al glanced back at the lung he’d removed. The venom had nearly consumed the organ, turning into a gelatinous goo. Q’al turned back to his surgery. He lowered the scalpel as the ship rocked. Reactively he jerked his hand up and let out a relieved breath. He lowered it back down and cut the large artery still holding the beating muscle in Tru’s chest. The monitor behind him buzzed a warning as it lost the impulses of a heart beating.

  Q’al quickly pulled out the heart and dropped it into the pan next to the lung.

  “Heart.”

  Nurse Tipton carefully transferred a cloned heart from a pan into Tru’s chest. Doctor Ilka and Q’al began rejoining the severed arteries with regeneration clips. The heart monitor started beeping as the new organ came to life in Tru’s chest.

  Dozens of Merchant Raitor ships had joined Prosperous, battling back the Terallians on the Righel Prime front. Despite being outnumbered three to one, the Terallians didn’t show any sign of retreating.

  “Do you have a ship targeted yet, Reuben?” Amanda asked him.

  “Yep. See it, Aris?”

  Aris piloted Prosperous through the middle of an exploding ship. She growled, the sound startling Amanda. She looked down and stared the wolf face that had replaced her puppy face. Her lips rippled with each growl. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end as she hunched over flight controls. Her bright light-brown eyes were fixed on each ship she was targeting. Amanda recalled stories of how werewolves looked, and for a moment she wondered if Aris was about to jump up and start killing the entire Control crew.

  “Think you can outrun Gracie and me?” Aris snarled at the fleeing ship. Her voice was dark and more threatening than her snarling face and growl. “Know something else Paskians have a problem with, XO?”