by Terry Mixon
Annette found an area adjacent to the road where travelers camped. She could see where they’d cut the vegetation away and dug fire pits. The efforts seemed relatively recent.
She calculated the distance from the town and decided this might be where a traveler on foot camped overnight. If the man were traveling alone, or in a small band of people, this place would be perfect.
They could set a marine pinnace down in the clearing she’d used and quickly move to observe any people resting here.
That didn’t mean there wasn’t going to be excitement when Kelsey introduced herself. That wasn’t Annette’s problem, though. She just needed to make sure the area was as secure and isolated as possible.
She’d been standing still for a bit, so she noticed when the local wildlife shut up. The silence made her crouch. She hadn’t spooked them this time. Was there something else out there?
A strange sound came from across the road. She edged over far enough to take a look. What she saw surprised her.
A dozen of the natives had slipped into the area on the far side of the road. Based on how easily they moved in the dark, these aliens had better night vision than they’d expected, so she’d best be careful.
Each of them had one of the short-bladed swords they seemed to favor strapped around their waists. They also had the native equivalent of crossbows for ranged attacks. Their clothing seemed fashioned to blend in to the foliage.
Each of the Pandorans began shaping the foliage into something that would conceal them from view. They were setting up an actual ambush.
Suddenly paranoid about her own safety, Annette looked into the woods behind her. To her chagrin, she heard movement between her and the clearing where her fighter sat.
It was too bad Carl Owlet hadn’t gotten the improved implant coms into circulation before this mission. If she had one, she’d have been able to communicate with her fighter from several kilometers away.
No use crying over spilt beer.
Annette edged deeper into the woods and a little up the closest hill. She moved slowly and deliberately, watching where she placed her feet. She couldn’t risk making any noise.
She found a position where the foliage concealed her. She’d chosen to wear a black flight suit, so there wasn’t much danger they’d spot her in the dark. That didn’t mean that she was safe, though.
Annette had no idea who these people were or what they intended to do, but they’d probably hear her if she tried to sneak past them.
She had no choice but to settle in and hope that she could slip out of the area as soon as the ambushers settled in. That was going to take a while.
It probably meant that she’d miss her next scheduled report to Persephone. That should bring a little attention her way. All she had to do was keep her head down, and she’d be fine.
Veronica swatted at an unidentifiable bug. She had no idea what it was, but it was huge. They filled the air in the forest that she and Castille were walking through.
“Are you sure this is the best idea?” she asked as she dodged a root that threatened to send her tumbling. Again.
The security officer glanced over his shoulder at her. “Of course I am. How else are we going to find a way to get back up to orbit? The moment we turn on the systems in that cutter, they have the potential to track us.”
“Just hold up a minute.” She stopped so that she could focus her attention on him without breaking a leg. He obliged her by lowering the machete he was using to forge their path through the thick vegetation.
“Graham can go over every circuit in that cutter,” she said. “If there’s some type of remote control mechanism, he can disable it. Sneaking onto their landing field seems a little…rash.”
Castille smiled. “That’s why they’ll never expect it. Relax. This is just a scouting mission. I just want to see how they’ve laid things out in case we come back to retrieve something.”
“Like what?”
“A transponder,” he said. “Just getting into orbit won’t do us much good if they realize our cutter isn’t sending a response to their automated traffic control. That’ll make them suspicious. We’re going to have to slip onto one of their cutters and steal a transponder so we become a known quantity.”
She considered that. Grudgingly, she admitted his logic made sense. That didn’t make this crazy trip feel any safer.
“If they spot us, it’s over,” she cautioned him. “Once they realize we’re here, they’ll bury this island in search parties. They’ll find the base.”
“Then we need to make certain no one sees us.”
He returned to the task of hacking his way through the vegetation, and she fell in behind him.
It took them hours to get near the abandoned town. Once they did, they had to make their way through the foliage without the machete. She’d be covered in scratches by the time they were done.
The slow pace meant it was almost dark by the time they arrived in the overgrown streets of the town.
There were still a few people doing something on the far side of the town, but they were easy to spot by their lights. They apparently didn’t want to trip over anything. Smart.
Castille led them deeper into the empty town. They’d discussed going around and approaching the landing area from the forest, but he’d decided against it. The crew that maintained the landing area was too active, and the risk of them hearing the Fleet officers tromping through the wilderness was too high.
Veronica stopped when they arrived at a large building covered in white stone. It was of higher quality than the buildings around it. If she were judging their location correctly, they were also standing at the center of the town.
“That looks important,” Castille said. “I wonder what they used it for. A government center of some kind?” He spoke softly so that his voice didn’t carry.
She shrugged in the darkness. “Probably. I’m not seeing any lights moving around inside, so why don’t we use it while we wait for the rest of these people to go to bed?”
He considered that for a moment and nodded. “Good idea. Let’s go in carefully, though. If there is someone inside, I’d rather not announce our presence.”
They made their way up the steps to the large doors. Someone had wedged them open. Probably the same people that had swept the debris off the steps.
The interior of the building was lost in gloom. Neither of them dared use a light as they edged inside.
Castille held out a hand to stop her.
Veronica froze, listening closely to see what had alerted him to danger. She didn’t hear anything.
“I’m going to use my light on low,” he said. “I don’t want to trip over something in the dark.”
Her heart raced as the light came on. Even at its dimmest setting, it momentarily blinded her. She stood there blinking until her eyes adjusted and she could begin to see what was around them.
The large room that they stood in seemed to be a lobby of some kind. Maybe this was a hotel.
Off to one side, the remains of what had probably once been comfortable chairs sat crumbling on the smooth stone floor. Ahead of them was a long desk, very much like what one would find in a grand hotel.
It took her a few moments to recognize the words on the wall behind the desk. They caused her to suck in a deep breath. Fleet headquarters.
“Well, I suppose we know where they set up shop now,” Castille said wryly. “I wonder if they ever expected people like us to find this place.”
That seemed like an inane question. Whoever those people had been, they’d probably felt the same way about their Fleet as she felt about hers. Or, perhaps more appropriately, as she had.
The revelation about the AIs had shaken her to her core. The bedrock of her existence now felt like sand under her feet.
There were plenty of things about Fleet that Veronica disliked. The backstabbing between officers vying for the plum positions, the social strata between the officers and the crew, and some of the odious miss
ions they occasionally had to carry out.
Now she wondered if that kind of thing was intentional. Had the AIs set up a series of competing interests inside Fleet to make certain it was never a threat to their rule?
She’d probably never know. Hell, just knowing the truth about the revolt made her death or disappearance much more likely if they made it home.
One more thing she couldn’t change.
“If we’re going to stay here, we should probably move to one of the upper floors,” she said after a moment. “We don’t want someone to wander in and find us.”
“We’ll take the stairs,” Castille said. “The second floor should be sufficient for our needs. We’ll pick an interior room and take turns getting a few hours of sleep. That should refresh us from our journey.”
Some kind soul had wedged the door to the stairs open, so they didn’t have to risk making noises that might carry in the night air. They made their way up to the second floor and found a suitable room toward the center.
It had obviously been an office at some point. The plain metal desk that sat inside looked forlorn and abandoned.
Veronica closed the door slowly. It made a low squeaking noise that set her teeth on edge. Thank God, no one was around to hear it.
She opened her pack and pulled out the tape she’d brought along. She tore off a thin strip and covered the gaps. Now they could turn the light up without risking someone seeing anything in the gloom.
Yeah, this office had definitely seen better days. The remains of shelves had crumbled on the outer edges of the room, dumping their contents to the floor. She hoped nothing poisonous was nesting inside the mess.
Castille looked around curiously before pulling a roll of padding out of his pack. He laid it out in the clearest area.
“Take the first break,” he said. “I’ll keep watch for a few hours and then wake you.”
Veronica lay down and tried to relax. Thinking about the people who’d once worked here made that hard. She dreaded going to sleep because she was afraid that she’d dream of the horrors they’d endured.
She might as well just close her eyes and pretend. She didn’t want to talk with the security officer right now.
Part of her had begun hoping that the enemy found them. That thought might be traitorous, but she wasn’t sure it was the worst option. She needed to know more if she was going to do what was best for her people.
Whatever that was.
Somewhere in the midst of worrying about her problems, she fell into a dreamless sleep.
27
It turned out the reason Commodore Anderson had called Talbot back to Audacious was because Commodore Murdock had managed to pull through the emergency surgery to repair her damaged spine.
Perhaps repair wasn’t the best description. Commander Castille had done an excellent job. The doctor had privately confided to Talbot that he’d expected the woman to die in spite of everything he could do.
Murdock’s long-term prognosis was poor. Even with the advanced medical technology of the Old Empire at their fingertips, nerve repairs were tricky. Particularly the spine.
The odds were high that Murdock would never walk again. She might also never regain the use of her arms. Paraplegics were rare in modern society, but she’d be one of the unlucky few.
Commodore Anderson had instructed Talbot to remain on board the carrier so he could speak with the prisoner when she woke up. Oddly, Murdock had called for him before her surgery.
Not by name. She’d called him “that marine officer” when she demanded to speak to someone during one of her waking moments.
Talbot had eaten dinner and gone to sleep in the quarters he and Kelsey shared when they were aboard the carrier. He’d set the alarm to get him up early.
That proved wise. He’d only just finished breakfast when Zoboroski called him down to the medical center.
Talbot rapped his knuckles on the hatch leading to Zoboroski’s office a few minutes later. “Morning, Zac. How’s she doing?”
The doctor grimaced. “About as poorly as I expected. She’s lost the use of her arms too. They best thing I can say is that I’ve saved her life.”
He shook his head a little. “I’m not certain she’s going to thank you for that.”
“Living up to my oath to do no harm is sometimes complicated,” the doctor admitted. “The odds are very, very high that she’s going to be confined to a bed for the rest of her life.”
Talbot grunted. “I assume the fact you’ve called me means she’s awake.”
Zoboroski nodded. “She’s demanded to speak with you again.”
“Why me?”
“You’re going to have to ask her that.”
Talbot sighed. “Then I suppose I’d best get this over with. I assume you’ve already told her the bad news.”
“As if I’d make you do that. I talked with her right before I called you. She knows how unlikely even a partial recovery is going to be.”
“Then I’d best go see what she wants.”
Zoboroski rose from behind his desk and led Talbot down the corridor. He stopped short of the compartment where Talbot suspected Murdock was waiting for him.
“I’ll leave the two of you alone to discuss whatever it is she wants to talk about,” Zoboroski said. “The only instructions I’m going to give you are not to push her into a rage. One of the two of you is going to have to be the adult. I’m afraid that’s you.”
“Has anyone ever told you what a spoilsport you are?”
“It’s part of my medical training.” Zoboroski clapped him on the shoulder. “Good luck.”
Talbot took a deep breath and walked into the compartment.
Commodore Emilia Murdock looked completely different from what Talbot remembered. The supercilious woman had rubbed him the wrong way from the moment he’d met her, but she’d never looked so helpless. So frail. Not even when he’d cornered her in the interrogation room.
Frankly, she looked decades older lying in that bed with her hands neatly arranged on the covers. It was creepy knowing that she was unable to move them from where they lay.
“It’s about damned time,” the woman said in a hoarse voice. “You’d think my rank would earn me at least a little courtesy.”
He pulled up the visitor’s chair and sat. “My apologies, Commodore. I wasn’t on board when you called. I’m sure someone said this, but we’re very sorry for what happened to you.”
The woman snorted bitterly. “You’re the one that put me under his control. You could’ve locked me into a cell somewhere else. It would’ve sucked, but at least I’d be able to move.”
“We could have,” Talbot said. “We didn’t have any reason to expect Castille would attack you. Why did he?”
“He said he had to kill me so that I wouldn’t talk.”
“You were going to talk? Frankly, I hadn’t pegged you as feeling cooperative.”
When she didn’t say anything, he continued. “He obviously had an escape plan worked out. A successful one, I might add. Why didn’t he just take you with him?”
“I don’t know,” the woman said tiredly. “He didn’t even give me the option. One minute I was sitting in my room reading a book and the next he was on top of me with his arm around my neck.
“Bastard had the gall to apologize for what he was about to do. Then he jerked my head back, and it was all over. If I never hear a sound like that again, it’ll be too soon.”
The best timeline they could put together said that Castille had struck right before he’d left the quarters to go to lunch. As a courtesy, they hadn’t had the computer monitoring the prisoners’ quarters. That turned out to have been a mistake.
Castille had gone into each person’s room and killed them one by one. He’d used some kind of blunt object to crush the mens’ skulls, and then he’d strangled the civilian computer specialist. Finally, he’d snapped his commanding officer’s neck before coolly leaving the suite as if nothing had happened.
Yeah
, Castille was one coldhearted bastard.
“I regret to inform you that you were not the only one he attacked,” Talbot said softly. “Commander Castille murdered Commanders Irons, Gomez, and Jeanette Martin before he attacked you.”
Murdock closed her eyes. “God. This is a nightmare.”
Talbot chose to say nothing. There was nothing he could say.
After a minute, Murdock opened her eyes. “I want to make a deal. I’ll give you what you want in exchange for asylum and the best medical care you can give me. I understand the odds of me recovering are slim, but I want to live.”
Talbot felt his eyebrows rise. “We agree, of course, but we were already going to give you the best care we could. I’m not sure you can give us what we really want, though. I understand that the critical computers on board the orbital require multiple codes in order to access their contents.”
Commodore Murdock gave him a nasty smile. “Commander Castille made an error. He tried to kill everyone that had those codes, but he missed someone. It takes two of us to access the system. He left two of us alive.”
“Two?” Talbot asked. “Who else did he miss? I thought that Commander Renner hadn’t yet received her authorization codes.”
“She hadn’t. Castille’s codes would’ve expired as soon as she assumed his duties. Besides, she’s security. She would never have cooperated with you. She’s probably just as bad as he is.
“No. I’m thinking of someone else. You see, we have a number of researchers aboard the orbital. They’re prisoners too, so they’d probably be willing to cooperate with you, if you sweet-talk them.
“The woman in charge of them has a code, though she doesn’t know it. It’s an emergency measure in case some type of accident kills off most of the command staff. It’s the same code she uses to manage the research systems.”
Talbot smiled. “Well then, I think we have a deal.”
“Good,” the woman grunted. “I want that bastard to know I stuck a knife in his back after he tried to kill me.”
Kelsey arrived on the bridge less than five minutes after the duty officer woke her. “What’s happening?”
