by Terry Mixon
“I fully accept that, at this point,” the man said. “No one can possibly be that strong. Not without technology beyond anything in the legends. Even my father’s stories from Dauntless don’t mention anything like that.”
“As I said last night, my name is Kelsey Bandar. I don’t know who you are or who your people are. At this moment, we are on board my ship in orbit. We’ve been observing your planet for several days and noted the crashed vessel on the surface.
“The aliens have obviously been extracting technology from it for quite some time. The fact that you had a stunner and flechette pistol indicate that you have not lost the technological acumen of your people.
“The thing is, I know nothing about where you came from. My computer indicates that’s probably a crashed battlecruiser on the surface. I assume your people escaped the rebel forces during the civil war inside the Terran Empire.
“So did my people. We’re just now beginning to fight what has sprung up in its place. I’ve heard rumors from prisoners about something they called the ghosts. Ships that attack from nowhere and then vanish again. If I had to make a guess, your ship was one of those. Am I close?”
He stared at her silently for a long moment. “My father would be very angry if I assisted you in any way. That being the case, I feel almost obligated to do so.
“My name is Jacob Howell. I’ve heard my people called ghosts before. We don’t call ourselves that, of course. So I think it does no harm to tell you that we are indeed the people you believe us to be.
“That said, I don’t believe you’re going to find very many people willing to trust your story. My people are significantly easier to deal with than the other clans, I suspect, but none of them will willingly assist you in any way.”
That’s not what Kelsey wanted to hear. Especially not when she still had a missing officer to find.
“That situation can be dealt with in time. I have a more pressing matter to discuss with you. Someone set up an ambush for you. A number of aliens were lying in wait at a campground. I’m not certain what precipitated it, but they began fighting amongst themselves.
“Somewhere in the melee, one of my officers has vanished. Undoubtedly, some of the people involved in the fighting got away. They’ve taken her with them. You’re going to help me get her back.”
He raised an eyebrow. “If she’s as strong as you, then I cannot imagine how that occurred.”
“Don’t play games with me. I’m a civilized woman, but I’m not going to let someone blather inanely at me when one of my people is in danger. If you ever expect to get back to where you came from, then you’d best start making me happy. What was going on down there and where might those survivors have gone?”
They stared at one another silently for several long moments before he spoke again. “If, as I suspect, your officer is in the custody of one of my friends, I’m not going to tell you a thing.”
Perfect, she thought sourly. Any other time she’d be pleased to find somebody with integrity. Now it was just a big pain in the ass.
“We’re continuing to search the area. We’ll find whoever has my officer. If anyone has harmed her in any way, I’m going to hurt them. Do us all a favor and start talking.”
“No.”
This was going to be as tiresome as she’d expected. Well, it wasn’t as if she had anything else to do while the drones scoured the area around the ambush looking for Annette and the people holding her.
Veronica stepped into the cutter just after dark. Castille had already moved the prisoners inside. The men were sullen, but the ex-empress was incandescent. Castille had bound and gagged her.
“It certainly seems that you have a happy camper on your hands,” Veronica said cheerfully.
The security officer grinned. “You could say that. You’d be wrong, but you could still say it. What’s our plan going to be?”
She headed for the cockpit, trusting that he would follow. She began strapping herself in and waited for Graham to get the power back on. The engineering officer had gone over the cutter with a fine-tooth comb. He’d declared himself certain there was nothing that would give them away or allow the enemy to control them remotely.
Veronica turned in her seat while she waited. “As soon as it’s fully dark, we’ll come out of the volcano along the open side and put the mountain between us and the landing field. We’ll go out to sea and then head for orbit at a leisurely rate.
“Once we get high enough to determine the distribution of the ships in orbit, we’ll start for the orbital. If we have any luck at all, no one will even question our presence. They’ll assume that the people on the ground got the damaged cutter functioning again.
“If no one pays any attention to us, we can adjust our course and go straight to the recovery ship. If they direct us to land at the orbital, we’re going to have to do that.
“If that happens, you’re going to have to come up with a plan to get us from the landing bay to somewhere else that will get us onto the recovery ship.”
Castille sat at the flight engineer’s console. “Let’s hope that doesn’t happen. It would make our lives so much simpler if we could go straight to the recovery ship.”
He sighed. “Which almost guarantees they’re going to direct us to land at the orbital, doesn’t it?”
Veronica still thought that wasn’t the worst outcome. The enemy might order them to land on the carrier. They’d be completely screwed if that happened. Best to plan on something that at least allowed the mission to go forward.
“If they send us to the orbital, what are you going to do about the prisoners?” she asked. “We can’t parade them around in front of anyone.”
Castille frowned thoughtfully. “Perhaps we should preemptively stun them. There are some crates inside the base I can pack them inside. If we have to move, we could unload the crate and carry it deeper into the orbital.
“I’ll have to improvise if somebody asks us what we’re doing, but if that happens, we’re going to be in trouble anyway.”
At that moment, the consoles came to life. Veronica began performing a quick preflight to make sure that all the systems were showing green. The last thing they needed was to have something go out on the flight. Having to declare an emergency would be embarrassing.
All systems looked operational, so she returned her attention to Castille.
“If you’re going to get a crate, you should get it loaded now. By my calculations, we have about twenty-five more minutes before we can leave, but I’d rather not waste a single moment. We really have no idea what their schedule of operations is.”
He nodded and stood. “Yes, arriving on station an hour after they depart would be awkward.”
Once he’d left the cockpit, Veronica devoted her time to a more in-depth preflight. She ran a more detailed diagnostic of every major system while she waited for Castille to pack the prisoners away.
Even through the closed hatch, she heard the female prisoner screeching something and then the blast of the stunner. It made her smile. That woman really got on her nerves.
Candace joined her in the cockpit, taking the copilot seat. “I finished going over the exterior of the cutter, ma’am. Everything looks good.”
“What’s the status on the rest of the crew?”
“They’re aboard and secure. We just sealed up the ramp. Commander Castille should have the prisoners in the crate in about five minutes.”
Almost to the second, Castille stepped into the cockpit and resumed his seat at the flight engineer’s console.
“We’re ready to go, Commander,” he said as he strapped himself in.
Veronica took a deep breath. This was a high-risk gamble. If they won, the payoff was huge. If they lost, they’d be in the carrier’s brig.
She brought the cutter to a hover and eased out over the water inside the volcano. She wasn’t going to miss that old base. Even a cell would be preferable.
Veronica could see some lights down by the abandoned town
as she came over the volcano’s collapsed side but knew that they would not be able to locate her visually. The risk was they’d be scanning, but she wasn’t detecting anything.
Deftly, she eased the cutter around the volcano until the massive slabs of rock blocked any possibility of detection. At that point, she was able to open it up and head out over the water.
At about the twenty-kilometer mark, she began a gentle rise toward space. There was always a risk that someone was going to note their passage and wonder where they were coming from.
Considering how intensely they had to be searching for the missing cutter, that was a very real possibility.
She felt herself tensing as they exited the atmosphere. Her passive scanners had located the Dresden orbital. It was just coming around the curve of the planet.
That was a relief. It hadn’t yet departed.
The huge carrier followed along behind it, partially shielded by the orbital’s bulk. That really didn’t mean anything, but it made her feel better than having to pass directly by the massive warship.
There were two cutters rising from different areas of the planet’s surface ahead of her. She’d know very quickly if the carrier’s flight control was directing each one.
Her heart jumped into her throat when the com system came to life. The carrier was signaling her directly.
“Gamma three two six this is Audacious flight control. I don’t have you on my schedule. Where are you going, and what are you carrying?”
This was it. Either the enemy would believe the lies she was going to tell them or all hell was about to break loose.
33
Annette slept poorly, tossing and turning on the rocky ground. So far as she could tell, her captor hadn’t slept at all. Perhaps that was normal for the aliens. She had no idea.
In any case, he was still sitting where he’d been when she’d gone to sleep.
Her understanding of alien expressions might be flawed, but he looked worried to her. Since he’d said he expected his compatriots to arrive by dawn, the fact they were still alone was probably the cause.
She sat up, stretched, and stared at him pointedly. “I have to take care of business, if you know what I mean. Are you going to be reasonable or are we going to have a problem?”
He shook his head and handed her a small pouch with some kind of primitive wipes.
“There’s no need for difficulty,” he said. “You can go over behind that large rock and take care of it. Just rest assured that I’ll see you if you attempt to escape. I’m much more agile in this environment than you are. If I have to chase you down, you’re going to regret it.”
“I’m not going to run. Be right back.”
Annette went around behind the large rock and took care of business as well as she could. The wipes were adequate.
She didn’t like the idea of littering, but she certainly wasn’t going to carry them around with her once she was done. She found a nice rock to bury them under. She pocketed a stone that might make a handy weapon.
Once she’d finished, she headed back around to the fire. There hadn’t been anything cooking, but she hoped breakfast was on the agenda. She was starving.
He gestured toward a handy rock. “Sit. I think we have much to discuss.”
“If we’re going to talk, then I want something to eat. It’s been a long time since lunch.”
The alien grunted. “In case you’ve forgotten, you may call me Derek. I have some travel rations, but you may not find them very agreeable. My compatriots should have been along with our supplies by now. They are overdue.”
Annette allowed herself to smile as he pulled a leather pouch from his backpack. “I’m not surprised to hear it. My friends are probably very annoyed with them right now. They’ll get our location from somebody fairly quickly, so feel free to take your time.”
The alien’s expression turned decidedly sour. It was astonishing how familiar many of his characteristics were.
There had to be something wrong with that. Aliens were supposed to be…alien.
She took the hunk of what looked like cheese that he handed her and nibbled at the corner. It was extremely hard but not too bad in flavor. He followed that up with what looked like some kind of bread. It was like chewing rock.
“I’m not ready to believe you’ve captured my men,” Derek said bluntly as he ate his own share of the meal. “My men are most capable. They’ve been with me for years. I seriously doubt anyone could capture or kill them all.”
Annette smiled coolly. “You have no idea. When I said that I believe they’re expanding the search and will find us, what I really mean is I’m astonished that they haven’t already done so.
“As I told you, we have significantly more technology available to us than you’re used to. Those weapons you have don’t even begin to cover it.”
“I’ve heard the same stories. We can all talk a good game about what humans used to be able to accomplish. That hasn’t been true since before I was born. Give up this fantasy you’re trying to sell me. Just tell me the truth.”
“I can prove my story. All we have to do is go to where I parked my ship.”
Derek gave her a bark of laughter. “As if I would take you back to where you might rejoin with your companions. The goal is to escape.”
“Your goal, maybe. Mine is more complex. I’m trying to get information. I have no objection to going along with you. I have complete confidence that things are going to turn out in my favor before too long.”
“I’ve never met anyone like you. Most humans are clannish, unsurprisingly. They stick to themselves and don’t mingle with our folk. My friend Jacob is an exception to that rule, however.
“He and I grew up together at my father’s court. I feel confident in saying I understand humans better than virtually any of my people. Jacob tells me that I’ve mastered your expressions and many of your attitudes, but I still can’t claim to completely understand you.”
He considered her more closely. “Even with that understanding, you baffle me. I could have killed you last night. Yet here you sit, coolly and calmly bantering with me. That’s the kind of behavior I would expect from a warrior.”
Annette tilted her head. “Of course it is. I am a warrior.”
Derek shook his head. “Humans don’t have female warriors. Not one. That isn’t how your society works. Even if you were not from here, as you claim.”
“Seriously? I thought humans were far past that kind of sexism. I’m just as much a warrior as you are. If you hadn’t surprised me last night, I could’ve taken you.”
“You might carry weapons, but that does not make you a warrior,” he disagreed. “And before you ask, no. I have no desire to prove it to you.”
She finished her meal, such as it was. “Then what is your plan? Do you have any water? That stuff made me thirsty.”
He handed her a pouch made of animal skin that sloshed with liquid inside.
Annette stared at it and then gave him a flat look. “You carry water inside of animal skins? That’s disgusting.”
Derek laughed. “Don’t be so prissy, warrior. What do you carry water in?”
“Sterile flasks.” Putting aside her revulsion, she forced herself to drink. The water had kind of a metallic taste to it. She took the minimum she needed to slake her thirst and handed the pouch back to the man with a shudder.
“So if we’re not going back to look for your men, where are we going?” she asked.
“We’ll wait here for a few more hours. If no one comes, I’ll take you back to the city.”
She felt herself frowning. “If you mean that little spot up the road, I don’t think I’d call it a city.”
“Nor would I. No. I’m speaking of the capital.”
“You say that as if it’s supposed to mean something to me. Is that some type of political affiliation?”
“You take this game too far. I am of course referring to the Kingdom of Raden.” He gestured in the direction from which the
sun was rising. “It will take us about a week to get there.”
Annette brought up an overlay map from her implants. There was a rather large city in that general direction, but she doubted they’d be making it there in a week on foot. The forest was far too thick for that.
“Is that some kind of joke?” she asked. “If it’s the place I think you mean, we can’t possibly go that far through this kind of terrain in so short a period of time.”
He laughed. “And you call yourself a warrior. We’ll make it there in a week, Annette Vitter. You may not enjoy the process, though.”
She really hoped it didn’t come to that. If they actually managed to elude the searchers that were undoubtedly scouring the countryside for her, Princess Kelsey might have to leave her behind. That would truly suck.
Raul tried not to clutch the chair he was sitting in as Veronica responded to the query. This was the moment of truth. All their plans hinged on this conversation.
“The ground crew managed to find the fault and get us going again, Control,” Veronica said calmly. “We still have a little bit of cargo that they decided to put on the orbital, so we’re headed there.”
Control was silent so long that Raul feared they were checking her story, but they finally spoke again. “Copy that. You are cleared to proceed.”
Once he was certain the communication had ended, he let out the breath he had been holding all at once. “Well done. Very well done.”
She glanced back at him. “That’s just one step of many we’re going to have to get right for this to work. Since we know they’re watching us, we’re going to have to land at the orbital.
“I can get you out so you can make your way to the recovery ship, but they’re going to expect this cutter to undock again before they let the orbital go. That means I’m going to have to stay with it at least long enough to complete the undocking maneuver.”
He frowned. “How is that supposed to work? I’d rather not leave you behind.”
“Don’t be ridiculous. While we’re docked, I’m going to find a vacuum suit. Once I take the cutter back out into space, I can program it to head back to the surface. I’ll jump off and land somewhere on the orbital and make my way to the recovery ship. You’ll just have to let me in once you’ve secured the ship.”
