Star Wanderers: Tales of the Far Outworlds (Omnibus V-VIII)

by Joe Vasicek

  “I am sure that will not be problem,” said Lucca, turning his back on the disgusting scene.

  “What, you think you can take them?”

  “Why should I, when they seem to be doing fine job of it themselves?”

  Salazar laughed. “You’re a funny son of a bitch, you know that? Cocky as hell, but good for a laugh. I’ll bet you’re hilarious when you’re drunk.”

  You’ll never find out.

  “Where is command center?” Lucca asked, trying to bring things back on track.

  “Down aways,” said Salazar, his mouth turning downward into its customary frown. He took a long puff from his cigarette and blew the foul-smelling smoke almost directly into Lucca’s face. “Come with me.”

  He led them further down the corridor, past a row of doors that appeared to lead to the barracks for the men. They walked through a double hatchway past a long row of storage tanks, then out into another hallway with bright LEDs running along the ceiling in place of the window.

  “How far do we have to go?”

  “To what, the command center? It’s on the other side of the station. That supply room we passed is an ammo depot for our capital ships—no shortage of munitions, I’ll tell you that.”

  He didn’t tell me while we were passing through because he didn’t want me to learn any specifics, Lucca realized. With only few brief glimpses, it is likely that my imagination will rewrite my memories, and I will overestimate the scope of their armaments. Not a bad tactic for someone who didn’t know that he was being played.

  As they walked down the narrow, windowless corridor, a door hissed open just ahead of them, and a raven-haired girl stepped into view. With her young face, her bright, frightened eyes, and her nearly perfect skin, she was such a contrast to the men all around her that Lucca couldn’t help but pause. She had a bruise on her upper arm, probably where someone had handled her roughly, and her skirt was torn. As soon as she saw Salazar, her eyes widened and she cringed in fright.

  “What is the prisoner doing out here?” Salazar shouted at the soldiers escorting her, reverting soon to his own language. As he barked angrily at the two cowering men, the girl’s desperate eyes met Lucca’s.

  Save me.

  He could read the plea on her face as clearly as if she’d spoken aloud.

  The shouting stopped, and the guards took her forcibly by the arms. For one very brief moment, she struggled against them, but they soon dragged her off through another doorway. Lucca watched her go out of the corner of his eye, marking the doorway while staying as discreet as possible.

  “Prisoners,” grumbled Salazar. “They’re more trouble than they’re worth. Except the women, of course—don’t you agree?”

  The grin on his face filled Lucca with deep revulsion. Save me, the girl’s plea echoed in his mind.

  “Yes,” he said softly. “They are certainly worth the trouble.”

  * * * * *

  Mariya huddled against the far wall of her cell, fully expecting the doors to hiss open at any moment. More than anything, she wished she could sink through the floor and disappear. She closed her eyes, but all she could see was Salazar’s dirty face locked somewhere between a snarl and a grin. He was coming for her, and there was nothing she could do to stop him. If only she had some way to make herself invisible—

  The hiss of the doors made her jump. Her eyes flew open, and her heart began to pound. A figure stood in the doorway, looking down on her with cold, hungry eyes.

  “No!” she shrieked, shielding herself with her hands. “Please, don’t—”

  “Shh!” said the man. He stepped forward and knelt down in front of her, a finger on his lips to tell her to be quiet. With his other hand, he took her gently by the wrist.

  She frowned and looked up at him. Only then did she realize that he wasn’t one of the pirates. He had a round face and wavy blond hair, with high cheekbones and a firm, penetrating gaze. Still, from the moment she looked into his light brown eyes, she knew that he meant her no harm. His lips curled up a little around the edges, as if from habit. Except for a little scruff on his chin, he was clean-shaven.

  This is the man I ran into in the corridor, she realized. The one behind Salazar.

  “Who are you?” she asked.

  “My name is Lucca,” he said, glancing over his shoulder at the open door. “Lucca Tajjashvili, from Tajjur system. And you?”

  She didn’t answer right away. Though his Gaian was clear and understandable, his accent was thick enough to disarm her. The way he rolled the ‘r’ in ‘Tajjur,’ and enunciated his ‘y’s as if they were two or three letters all on their own—it sounded more than a little exotic.

  He grunted. “No matter. We must go—you understand? They will come soon, and when they do …” He left the thought unfinished as he helped her to her feet.

  “Who?” she asked. “Go where?”

  “Go to my starship at station hub. I am star wanderer, understand? I am come for rescue you.”

  Her heart skipped a beat, but there was no time to answer. He led her by the wrist to the doorway, where he stopped just long enough to look both ways before dashing out.

  Stars of Earth, he’s really going to get me out of here. Chills shot down her spine, and she noticed for the first time the pistol at his belt. She had no idea how he had gotten it past the pirates—or how he had come to the station in the first place—but all she could do was hurry to keep up and do her best not to stumble.

  The corridor curved up to the nearest hatchway, where one of the soldiers who had escorted her to the bathroom lay unconscious. At least, Mariya hoped he was only unconscious. His head lolled to one side like a discarded doll, his legs sprawled out and his arms limp.

  Stars of Earth, who is this man?

  “Stay quiet,” he whispered. Down the hallway on the other side, she could hear raucous laughter. She didn’t need to be told twice.

  He slipped the pistol out of its holster and held it in front of him. A quick glance over his shoulder to confirm she was ready, and then they were running up the long rimside corridor, watching the lip up by the ceiling to make sure the way was clear.

  A pair of boots came into view. He yanked her back into a recessed doorway, out of view. Footsteps sounded ahead of them, and he pressed himself up against the wall, motioning for her to do the same. Her whole body quivered with fear and anticipation, but she took a deep breath and did her best to stay still.

  “But Captain Helena won’t be back for at least another week,” came a voice, growing louder with each step. “Are you saying you want us to—”

  “Yes,” said Salazar. At the sound of his voice, Mariya’s sweat turned cold. “I want everything you can get on this Gulchina, and I want it now—even if it means scrambling that damned starship’s drives so bad it needs a memory wipe. I don’t care.”

  “But—”

  “Who’s in command on this station? You?”

  The men came into view, close enough to reach out and grab her. Mariya froze, hardly daring to breathe, even as the stench of cigarettes hit her like a meteor.

  “No, sir,” said the subordinate officer—a short, balding man with a pair of cybernetic enhancements for eyes.

  “Then so long as Helena’s gone, you’ll do as I say. Understand?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  The two men walked by without noticing them. Mariya was so relieved, her legs practically turned to water. But there was no stopping. Once the pirates’ heads had passed above the lip of the ceiling, Lucca took her again and started running.

  By the time they reached the elevator shaft, she was practically breathless. He pulled her in and slapped his palm against the access panel, shutting the doors behind them.

  “Wait!” she cried. “What about Jeremiah?”

  “Who?”

  “Jeremiah—he was with me when the pirates captured us. They’re holding him prisoner too—we have to go get him!”

  Lucca frowned. “Do you know where?”

>   “No, Mariya admitted. “They separated us when they captured our ship.”

  “Then there is nothing we can do. If we do not escape, we cannot get help. At least this way there is chance we can return and save him later.”

  She bit her lip and nodded. “All right. Let’s get out of here.”

  He pulled down the shoulder restraints to secure him against the wall. Across from him, Mariya did the same. He checked his wrist console, then keyed the elevator control panel. There was no window to see outside, but the sudden pressure on her legs told her they were moving.

  “Who are you?” she asked. Now that they had a moment to stop and breath, a hundred different questions flooded into her mind.

  He looked over at her and grinned. “Don’t be afraid. I am just star wanderer, looking for adventure. I think we have found it, no?”

  “I guess.”

  “And you are?”

  “Oh,” she said, taking a second to realize that he was asking her the same question. “My name is Mariya—Mariya Varvavli. I was on a colony ship, out by one of the Lagrange points. The pirates—it’s a long story.”

  Her stomach flipped as the elevator slowed on approach to the hub, then fell as they passed into the artificial gravity field. She caught her breath and swallowed. Before she could unstrap herself, the door hissed open, revealing two black-clad pirates.

  “Lucca!”

  He fired twice in quick succession. There was a high-pitched squeal as the shots sizzled through the air. Both men slumped to the floor.

  “Oh my God!” screamed Mariya. She tore off her shoulder restraints and leaned against the wall, clutching at her chest.

  “It is okay,” said Lucca. “They are not dead—the energy settings are not high enough for that.”

  “Stars,” she gasped. He was already out on the platform, his pistol pointed in front of him. In the time it took her to catch her breath and step gingerly over the unconscious bodies, he had already secured the hallway.

  “Come,” he said. “I think they have sounded alarm.”

  As if in confirmation, the doors behind her hissed shut, and the elevator shot back down the spoke. She watched it go through one of the hub’s narrow windows, while Lucca swore.

  “We don’t have much time. Come on!”

  She followed him down the hallway. Unlike the rimside sections, this part of the station was white and well-lit. Airlocks branched off on either side, and a long window ran along both walls, offering some spectacular views. They didn’t have time to admire it, though.

  Lucca’s ship was docked about thirty meters from the elevator. He got there well ahead of her and stopped by the door. Shouting sounded behind her.

  “Get in! Get in!”

  He fired over her head, making her scream. A sudden rush of adrenaline sent her sprinting through the open doorway, just as gunshots came from behind. Lucca slammed his palm against the station access panel, then shot it with his pistol, sending sparks flying.

  “To the ship,” he said. The door was already open—she didn’t have to be told twice.

  As soon as she passed through the second airlock, she found herself falling headfirst into the wall. Too late, she realized that the wall was actually a floor, and the walkway leading out was actually a ladder. She covered her head just in time to shield herself from the worst of it, but still landed flat on her face.

  “Ouch!”

  “Sorry,” said Lucca. He came down headfirst, swinging his feet expertly so that he slid down the ladder and landed squarely on the floor. Once down, he helped her to her feet and led her down a short hallway to the cockpit.

  “Sit,” he said, pulling down a chair against the back wall. “Strap in—this will be close.”

  The engines were already purring through the bulkheads. He leaped into the main pilot’s chair, and the displays and control panels came to life. Mariya’s head swam as she struggled to strap herself in. Outside the forward window, the cloudy atmosphere of the planet shone a nearly perfect white.

  Lucca’s fingers raced over the controls, and the ship came to life. A loud clang vibrated through the hull as they disengaged from the station, but as the view began to swim, the only sounds were the puff of the maneuvering jets and the rumble of the sublight engines.

  “Where are we going? Can we jump out? Are they going to shoot us?”

  “Away, yes, and probably,” Lucca answered without breaking his concentration. “Hang on.”

  He pulled the switch to jump out, but nothing happened. The engine began to whine, so he tried again, frowning.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t know,” he said. Sweat was beginning to form on his forehead—that couldn’t be a good sign.

  At that moment, alarms began to sound from the display to his right. Mariya peered forward—it was the scanners, showing a swarm of small piloted objects deploying from the station. They gathered in tight clusters and headed straight for them.

  Drones.

  “Hang on!” said Lucca. He nosed the ship down just as something impacted them. The bulkheads shuddered, and Mariya was thrown forcibly against her restraints. If she hadn’t strapped down, she’d be sprawled out on the floor.

  The sublight engines came alive with a roar, and an invisible hand pushed her back against the wall. Another impact threw her to the side and sent the ship into a spin. More alarms sounded as Lucca worked frantically at the controls.

  “What—what’s happening?”

  “We cannot jump, cannot shoot drones. Must evade—”

  An explosion cut him off. The engine jumped in pitch, making Mariya’s hands go clammy.

  “We’re going to die!”

  Out the forward window, the clouds loomed closer now—much closer. The nearest ones towered like anvil-shaped monoliths over a sea of swirling white. Lucca managed to stabilize them from the spin, but before he could pull up, flames began to lick the edges of glass. The roaring grew louder, and Mariya realized with a sickening sensation that it wasn’t just the engine making that sound.

  “What are you doing? Pull up, pull up!”

  “I can’t!” Lucca shouted over the growing din. “Lost orbit—coming down too fast. Hang on tight!”

  The flames grew longer and the roaring grew louder. Mariya shut her eyes and tried very hard not to scream.

  Chapter 19

  “Hey Lucca!” called out a familiar voice, interrupting Lucca’s concentration as he welded the last support into place. It was his older brother Ivan, back a few days early from the hunting trip up in the mountains.

  “Ivan,” he said, lifting his visor and stepping out from the partially dismantled T-85 shuttle he’d bought at auction. His brother ran up and embraced him, kissing him on both cheeks. The sun shone yellow-white above them, a perfectly clear summer’s day. Why Ivan was here instead of the Akhalikavkaz Mountains hunting ridgebacks with the others, Lucca didn’t know.

  “Wow, you’ve really taken that old shuttle apart,” said Ivan. He looked at all the chairs and interior electronics strewn in a fifteen-yard radius from the decommissioned ship. A couple of construction robots Lucca had borrowed from his father’s garage stood among the heap, waiting dispassionately for their master’s next order.

  Lucca laughed. “I should hope so. When I’m done with it, it won’t be a shuttle anymore.”

  “So you’re really going to turn that thing into a starship, are you?”

  “That’s right.”

  Ivan nodded and looked the ship over. His dirty-blond hair was tied back in a ponytail, still tucked beneath the high collar of his hunting jerkin. The hot wind off the golden-brown steppes tossed a strand in front of his eyes, but he ignored it.

  “What brings you back from the hunting trip?” Lucca asked. He hooked his greasy thumbs around his utility belt.

  “Had a problem with my skimmer. We ran into a herd of jantelope in the foothills, and one of my stabilizer gimbals got bent in the pursuit. When I tried to repair it, I found that t
he whole casing was shot. I didn’t have the tools to fix it, so I was forced to come back.”

  “I see. That must have been frustrating.”

  “Damn right. The biggest hunting trip of the season, and everything has to break down.”

  It wouldn’t if you took better care of your equipment, Lucca thought to himself. His older brothers were so focused on proving themselves in some feat of skill or strength that they never took the time to learn things like mechanics or a trade. Then again, most of them stood to inherit a sizable portion of the family land holdings. Tajjur V was still in the final stages of terraforming, but the annual grain yield was already more than enough to support the system’s five hundred million inhabitants, with plenty of land left over for cash crops like cotton and yanweed. Why should the sons of rich noblemen concern themselves with blue-collar work?

  “Do you think you can fix it in time to return to the hunt?”

  “That’s what I’m worried about. You wouldn’t be able to, ah—”

  “I’ll take a look at it. If it’s just a problem with the casing, it shouldn’t take more than an hour or so.”

  “Thanks!” said Ivan, smiling broadly. “I was hoping you’d be able to take a look at it. You’ve got a way with machines—sometimes, it makes me jealous.”

  You could be just as skilled as me, if you took the time to learn, Lucca thought. Not that he minded the work, but anything that took him away from his main project was a bit of an annoyance, even though it might take months before the decommissioned shuttle was spaceworthy again—perhaps even years.

  “So where are you going to go once that ship is finished?” Ivan asked, changing the subject. It always made his brothers uncomfortable to ask for help.

  Lucca shrugged. “Don’t know yet. I hear there’s a lot of opportunity out beyond the New Pleiades—young colonies, profitable trade routes. None of the territory has been incorporated, so the Empire doesn’t have a choke-hold on things the way it does here.”

  “Well, that’s debatable. Tajjur is still an autonomous system—and by the stars, we’ll do everything to make sure it stays that way!”