by Alex Kings
Perhaps it was some sort of lounge, Hanson supposed.
Footage of him and the others entering the airlocks appeared on the screen. “Recorded,” murmured Yilva. The image vanished. “And deleted.” Her fingers raced over her tablet.
“The automated systems might have flagged us,” Vyren said.
Yilva shook her head. “The main security is on the perimeter, and we got past that on the shuttle. Karnasc has guests often according to this, so there is no reason for the system to flag every bit of motion it sees.”
Charin leaned over her shoulder. “Where are they?”
“I am looking now.”
While they were working, Hanson took another look at the walls. Some of the photographs showed some of Karnasc's suits. Some were artsy tourist photos of natural wonders in the galaxy. The Eternal Storm of Ghroga, the Grand Canyon on Earth, the burning diamond surface of Erika.
Beside that, there was a scene of a planet from above. Green plains and crystal blue oceans – and monstrous grey-black mushroom clouds spread across the atmosphere.
The original Petaur homeworld.
“I have found a news feed,” said Yilva.
Half a dozen screens came to life. They showed scenes above and below water. In one, a group of Petaurs moved through a tunnel. In another, a submersible was being attacked. Text scrolled past in the Albascene language.
“What is it?” Hanson asked.
Charin translated fragments into Isk. “Strikes in the Industrial Finance Corporation … March put now … Petaur rebellion reaches new heights … 13,000 imprisoned … Albascene Justice minister proposes mass executions.” He frowned.
“The keep mentioning the Petaur Resistance,” Yilva said.
“It can't be real,” Charin said.
“Some of these revolts are co-ordinated,” Yilva replied.
They stared at each other.
Hanson studied the screens. “This is worse than we thought. No wonder the Albascene were so eager to hide it.”
Yilva's ears fell flat against her head. She went back to her tablet, the tip of her tail twitching. “I have it,” she said. “They're in chamber 32, north of here. We have to go down two levels.”
She killed the screens and detached her tablet. As they turned to leave, her eyes lingered briefly on the photograph of her homeworld.
*
Uruth stood in front the screen, watching the group of aliens walk down the tunnel. The other three Glaber around him snarled slightly or bared their teeth as they memorised their prey.
“Visitors,” said a calm, synthesised voice behind him. “It's always nice to have visitors.”
Uruth and a few of the other Glaber turned.
A big, fancy fish tank stood behind them. Inside, a swarm of tiny coloured fish swarmed and danced among themselves. An empty Albascene suit was attached to one side.
“She's arrogant,” continued Karnasc. “And in too much of a hurry. Typical engineer, thought she could find everything with a computer terminal. Never thought there might be a separate system.”
A small Petaur holding a tray dodged around the tank and offered it to the Glaber. The closest one took a handful of ground, pinkish meat and growled at her. She cowered.
“Play nice,” Karnasc chided.
Another Glaber took the tray, and the Petaur scurried out of the room.
“There's a Tethyan with them,” grunted one of the Glaber.
“I see that,” said Karnasc. “Think of it as a challenge! Or aren't you up to the task? A lone Tethyan, with no Battleship to support him …”
The Glaber growled.
“Good. Well, boys, I think it's time for you to get going! Make sure they're in position before you attack.”
Chapter 22: Siro
Lanik was at the command console, monitoring Laikon, when the call came in.
“It's from Admiral Chang,” said Miller. “Flagged urgent.”
“Put it through,” said Lanik.
Chang appeared on the screen. “Commander.” He nodded a brief greeting. “Where's Hanson?”
“Still on Laikon, sir,”
Chang didn't seem fazed by this news. “I assume he's in the middle of something?”
“I believe so.”
“That makes things difficult.” Chang frowned. “We've just got a call from Iona. The Dominion is up to something on the planet.”
The answer was obvious. “Blanks?” said Lanik.
“We believe so. You see the gravity of the situation.”
The two biggest issues the Dominion had were not enough manpower, and not enough ships. Once they started to produce Blanks, manpower would no longer be an issue. They'd have a mass-produced, perfectly loyal, hyper-competent army.
“Yes,” said Lanik.
“We need to stop them. And for that, we need the Dauntless.”
Lanik began to object, then stopped himself out of his habitual respect for hierarchy. After a second, he decided to speak again. “With all due respect, why us, sir? I would rather not leave the Captain on the surface of a potentially hostile planet without support.”
“I understand your concern,” said Chang. “But we need the Dauntless. We'll have to face an Ancient ship over Iona, and with her Tethyan upgrades, the Dauntless has the best balance of agility and power.”
“Yes, sir,” said Lanik. He still didn't feel particularly overjoyed about it, and that must have been evident in his voice.
“I'll send in the Indomitable to take your place and provide support to Captain Hanson, should he need it,” Chang added.
“Understood.”
“Here's everything we know about the situation over Iona. I want you to rendezvous with the Black Cat outside Iona at these co-ordinates in six hours.”
*
The estate was adapted for Albascene effector fields and nimble Petaur fingers. There were no stairs and no ladders. To descend a level, they had to scramble down taut ropes linking the holes between levels.
From there, another tunnel headed north, gradually descending further into the ocean.
Everything was luxury. Elegant lamps hung from the ceiling. Filigree covered the walls. They passed what seemed to be games rooms, lounges, little art exhibits, two giant dining rooms, a dock for luxury submersibles, and many rooms which seemed to have no obvious purpose.
Up ahead, they heard the sounds of intermittent tapping, spliced with occasional muttering.
Hanson raised his hand to stop them. He levelled his carbine. Charin gave him a look and hefted his catapult.
There was a soft metallic clunk, followed by another soft mutter.
Quietly, Hanson and Charin rounded the corner.
A Petaur hung from the roof. She'd taken one of the lamps apart and was polishing it. Her tail was looped around a little box of cleaning equipment.
For a moment she kept cleaning. When she finally saw them, she squeaked and nearly dropped her tools. “Don't hurt me!”
“I'm not planning on it,” Hanson said in Isk. “Unless you move first. Could you put everything you're holding in that box?”
The Petaur did so.
“Now throw it to my colleague here.”
Agatha caught the box and examined it. “Looks safe,” she said.
“And could you come down here?” Hanson asked the Petaur.
She dropped to the floor. As she looked at Yilva and Charin, her eyes widened. “You're the Free Petaurs!”
Charin's ears perked up. His tail flicked back and forth. “You've heard of us?”
“Of course!” The Petaur paused. “When you go … can I come with you? I … my skills are only to clean and fix things –”
“Yes,” said Charin. “You can come with us. But we're in the middle of trying to free someone else.”
“I don't know anything about that,” the Petaur admitted.
“Agatha,” Hanson said, “Pat her down.” Better safe than sorry.
Agatha checked. “She's clean.”
Hanson n
odded, satisfied.
“What's your name?” Charin asked her.
“Siro.” Her tail flicked nervously.
They continued onward. Hanson had Siro stay near the back to keep her safe, with Vyren watching over her.
A little further on, his comms chimed. He answered. “Hanson here.”
It was Lanik. “Captain, we've just been called away by Admiral Chang. We need to leave immediately.”
“I see,” said Hanson. “What's the issue?”
“We think the Dominion is growing Blanks. We might be able to stop them.”
“Sounds worth doing.”
“Are you able to return to the ship?”
“No,” said Hanson. “We've got unfinished business here.”
“Very well,” said Lanik. “The Indomitable should be arriving to pick you up in the next few hours.”
“Very well,” said Hanson. “Good luck, XO.”
“You too, sir.”
Hanson killed the connection and headed onward through the tunnels.
“This is it,” Charin said, leading them down a side corridor.
Through a further door, cells lined both walls. Hanson recognised the architecture from Kalbraica.
Except – all the cells were empty.
Their transparent doors hung half-open. Lights illustrated clean beds, but nothing else.
Charin looked from side to side, his confusion growing. Suddenly he was moving down the corridor in a sort of spring, interspersed with long gliding leaps. He reached a door at the end, then turned back.
“Nothing …” he whispered.
The door behind him opened.
Behind it, an armoured Glaber brought up its gun. Yilva shrieked.
Chapter 23: A Change of Plan
The rendezvous point was about a light-day away from Iona. On the way, Lanik went over the information Chang had provided, and made sure the senior staff had done so too.
There wasn't much to go on: Half a page of concrete evidence, plus five pages of speculations from the analysis boys over Tethya.
There was a plan too. It was absurd. And yet, as Lanik studied it, it started to seem perfectly reasonable. Perhaps Hanson's view of the world was rubbing off on him.
When they emerged from the jump, the Black Cat was already there, waiting for them.
Serafin appeared on the command console's display. “It's good to see you, commander.”
“And you.”
“I assume you're familiar with the plan?”
“Yes,” said Lanik. He glanced over the plan once more. “It must be interesting to work without effective stealth.”
Serafin offered a small smile. “We've war-gamed it a few times. Mostly supposing conflicts with the Tethyans. But not very often. The opinion of the directors was that if the Alliance ever did manage to go to war with Tethya, we'd lose within a week now matter what we did, so there was little point in trying prepare.”
“And now we're at war with someone who can take out a Tethyan battleship in a couple of shots.”
Serafin gave a tiny snort. “Yes. Funny how the world works.”
As far as the Ancient ships were concerned, the best of human stealth technology was about as effective as wrapping oneself in a bed sheet. Fortunately, there were still certain things Ancient sensors couldn't penetrate. A planet, for instance.
That was the Dauntless' role. They would play decoy and lure the Ancient ship to the far side of the planet, so the Black Cat could sweep in and destroy the facility.
“About the plan,” Lanik said. “It seems to me that this facility is likely to have a lot of intel in it, and …”
“It would be a shame to just destroy it?” Serafin cocked her head.
“Yes.” Lanik frowned and looked over the plans again. “We have a one-time opportunity here. If we sent a ground team …”
“It would make the mission far more difficult,” said Serafin. “Hold it, let me copy someone in.”
After a moment, another display came to life. A face, graced by a vivid red beard, appeared. He saluted. “Hello, Commander.”
“Red is in a Kestrel class fighter in the Black Cat's hold,” Serafin explained.
“If things go according to plan, I'll spend the whole mission in here,” said Red. “But when have things ever gone to plan?”
“Speaking of which,” said Serafin. “We're going to change to plan a little. We want to get a ground team in the facility, see if we can find any intel.”
“Well, then, let's see how we can do it,” said Red.
*
The Glaber stood a couple of metres behind Charin. Hanson, raising his carbine, knew it was already too late.
The Glaber's gun went off with a thunderclap – and missed. Charin was already on the ceiling.
There was motion behind them. Hanson swung around as another two Glaber came into view.
Siro dropped to the floor.
Srak threw himself in the way as the Glaber fired. He grunted with pain and lashed out with his tail, knocking one of them back. Agatha, who was still holding Siro's toolbox, hurled it at the other.
“Into the cells!” Hanson cried. It was the only cover they had. He dived in as bullets bit into his armour.
Charin, meanwhile, dropped from the ceiling onto the Glaber's back, and fired his stun catapult at point-blank range. As it went down, he jumped up, swung off the ceiling, and threw himself into a cell alongside Hanson.
More Glaber advanced down the tunnel from either side. Siro was curled up into a ball, whimpering. Srak had dragged her into a cell with him. Yilva crouched by her side, ears flat.
They were caught in a pincer movement. It was almost impossible to lean out and fire without getting attacked from behind.
A blue effector field snaked out and wrapped itself around the legs of the Glaber who's come from behind. They fell. Hanson took advantage of the pause to lean out and shoot at those coming from in front. Two went down immediately.
Those behind leapt up. One was felled immediately by a shot from Agatha.
Just two left. One was advancing down towards the cells.
Srak stepped out, grabbed the Glaber's helmet in a fluid motion, and twisted. There was a crack.
Then there was a much larger crack. More of a boom, in fact. Doors slammed shut further down the corridor. The floor lurched to the side, throwing Hanson out of the cell. He scrambled to find his target.
The Glaber pushed itself away from the wall. “That son of a bitch!” it hissed, before a stun projectile thumped against its leg. It swayed for a moment, then collapsed.
Everything seemed to tilt forwards. The guns of dead Glaber slid down the corridor before it righted itself.
“The hell is going on?” Agatha cried.
“He's detached this section,” said Yilva. “We're sinking.”
Chapter 24: Under Pressure
They had about forty metres in total: the length of tunnel with the cells, and another length of tunnel just before that. At both ends, thick titanium doors blocked the way.
“So, Karnasc knew we were coming and set a trap for us,” said Hanson.
“Amazing how betrayal doesn't faze you after a while,” said Agatha.
“Oh .. oh crumbs,” murmured Yilva. “How did he …? I thought we were safe.”
Agatha put a hand on her should. “It's okay, girl,” she said. “Something slipped past you. It happens.”
Charin nodded and took Yilva's hand. “We'll get out of this,” he said. Then, looking at the doors, he frowned. “Why shut the doors? Karnasc could have just drowned us.”
Agatha gave the door a hefty kick. “We were, what, thirty or forty metres below? We could've swam to the surface.”
Charin's ears fell against his head. “And we're above the abyssal plain. When we get deep enough, the pressure will crush us.”
“Or we'll suffocate first, and then get crushed,” said Agatha, offhandedly.
“So we need to get through those doors. Quickly,” s
aid Hanson. “Srak, Vyren, you're up.” He thought for a moment, then added, “Yilva, check if we have any computer control over the door.”
Yilva jumped up, prised a panel off the wall, and extended her tablet.
Srak placed his four palms flat against the doors. Vyren extended thin blades of effector fields and tried to slide them into the gap.
“On three,” said Srak. “One. Two. Three!” The immense muscles in his arms bunched. He growled with effort. Above him, Vyren's effector fields shone more brightly. The doors whined slightly but didn't move.
Ten seconds or so later, they fell back. Srak shut his head. “They're not just closed,” he said. “They've been welded or glued or something.” He paused, looked up at the door, and punched it.
There was an immense clang. The entire tunnel rang like a bell. The door shifted outward slightly.
“Damnit,” hissed Srak. “Must be reinforced with sapphiroid, or something.”
“Yilva?” asked Hanson.
“I have internal control. I can control the cell doors, and this partition,” said Yilva, pointing to the doors midway down the corridor. “But that's all.”
“Let's try the walls,” growled Srak.
He and Vyren moved towards the cells.
This was taking too long. Hanson pulled up the environmental records of his suit and ran some calculations. The change in apparent gravity when they started falling gave him their initial acceleration. Integrating that over time gave him their final velocity. Which was worryingly high. He worked out how deep they were and checked the water pressure outside.
“Stop!” he said. “Vyren, come here.”
Vyren did so.
“This is the water pressure we'll be facing when we leave,” Hanson said. The number was rising steadily. “You and Srak would have no problem. Agatha and I might be able to make it.”
“But this is already too high for the Petaurs,” finished Vyren. “They would likely suffer a ruptured lung, and almost certainly an embolism.”
“Could you use your effector fields to hold back the water until we got high enough?” asked Hanson.
