Games of Command

by Linnea Sinclair

  “Galaxus to bridge. We’re clear.” She relayed their heading, making adjustments on her console.

  “Acknowledged. Turning you over to Panperra Approach Command. Have a nice time at the fair if you get the chance, Captain,” said Kel-Faray.

  “Thanks, Timm. See you in forty-eight. Don’t trash the Vax while we’re gone.”

  “The admiral would put a stop to that right away.” Kel-Faray’s voice clearly held a smile.

  Not if the admiral’s on Panperra Station, she almost said, but Panperra Approach was requesting her ship ident and clearance codes. She relayed that information and then waited for docking instructions. The momentary lull gave her the chance to question just why Timm Kel-Faray didn’t know that Kel-Paten was on the shuttle.

  “You didn’t tell Kel-Faray—?” The nav comp’s chime interrupted her question.

  “Theta level security docks,” Kel-Paten read out loud as the data scrolled over his screen. “ETA thirty-five minutes, given the current traffic.”

  The current traffic included at least fifteen freighters waiting for docking clearance and another five commercial transports reporting on an incoming heading through the jumpgate.

  “Acknowledged,” Sass replied, keying in course adjustments while listening to the pilot-to-pilot chatter on the cockpit speakers. At a thirty-five-minute ETA, she knew the Galaxus had been bumped ahead of some of the freighters, the captains of which would be none too pleased. But they all understood, seeing the familiar silhouette of the Vaxxar in the distance. Rank had its privileges.

  But the Galaxus wasn’t bumped ahead of the commercial transports, as those spaceliners had tight schedules to keep.

  She noted their positions, then turned back to Kel-Paten to find out just why the remaining senior officer on the Vax had no idea of the admiral’s whereabouts. But she barely got out her first word when an alarm erupted loudly. Five sleek alien fighters—idents scrambled—came screaming through Panperra’s jumpgate, weapons signatures hot. They veered suddenly, dropped into a kill-or-suicide formation, and headed straight for the Galaxus.

  ALLIANCE COMMAND SHUTTLE GALAXUS

  The Galaxus was already more than halfway to the station. That was the first thing Sass checked when the shuttle’s alarms wailed, laser fire peppering her shields. As much as she would have loved to respond aggressively to the unknown attackers, her primary concern had to be Eden and Serafino. The Galaxus was a shuttle, not a fighter craft.

  “Panperra Command, this is Captain Sebastian. I need an emergency landing bay.” She adjusted the shuttle’s shields. Kel-Paten, she noticed, had the weapons system online. “Get me a comm link to Commander Kel-Farquin. Now!”

  She muted the microphone. “Who in hell are they?” she asked Kel-Paten. The data on her screens told her nothing other than they were fully capable of destroying the shuttle.

  Kel-Paten’s data evidently gave him the same answer. “No idea. Yet,” he said tersely. “The Vaxxar has them. She’s powering up.”

  But it would take, Sass knew, at least five minutes to launch the first squadron of fighters and ten minutes for the huntership to come to full power. The large huntership had been in stationary orbit around Panperra for over three hours, her main drives off-line per Fleet procedure. This was a Triad civilian station, a “friendly” station. Given the proximity to the station, she couldn’t fire torpedoes without endangering the commercial and freighter traffic as well as Panperra’s inhabitants.

  “What’s station’s defenses?” Sass asked, then, before Kel-Paten could answer: “Damn! Why the hell hasn’t Kel-Far—”

  “Vidcomm Link One open,” the shuttle’s computer intoned.

  Sass slapped at the instrument panel before her. Kel-Farquin’s fleshy face appeared on the small vidscreen. He looked distinctly troubled.

  “Captain, I—”

  “Commander, we need emergency access to Theta Bay. We’ll be coming in hot, full power.” She tabbed the thrusters to sixty percent as she spoke. “The Vax is in position to render support. In the meantime, the admiral and I—”

  “Kel-Paten?” Kel-Farquin’s face jerked toward the dark-haired man seated next to her. “You’re supposed to be—”

  But Kel-Farquin’s comment was lost as the vidlink dissolved under a burst of laser fire from one of the alien fighters.

  “Bogey at five o’clock.” Kel-Paten responded by activating the aft lasers and returning fire. “Shields holding at ninety-five percent. No structural damage. What’s our ETA?”

  “We’re still ten minutes out. But I think we can—shit!” The shuttle jerked as another round of laser fire slashed her shields. “Damn it! Who are they?”

  Several thoughts clamored for her attention. The mysterious ability of the unknown fighters to infiltrate Triad space. Serafino’s warning that the Faction wanted both her and Serafino terminated. His suspicions—which she’d oh-so-recently decided to dismiss—that Kel-Paten might somehow be the agent for that. Kel-Paten’s insistence on using the command shuttle to transport Serafino. And both Timm Kel-Faray’s and Commander Kel-Farquin’s ignorance of Kel-Paten’s actions. But more than that, Kel-Farquin’s surprise at finding Kel-Paten on board.

  Was the admiral here to deliver them to the enemy?

  There was no time to puzzle it out. The shuttle dipped harshly as Sass tried to shake the three fighters now on their tail. Kel-Paten seemed to be intent on targeting them. Still…

  She tapped at the shuttle intercom. “Serafino! Get your ass up front! You too, Fynn.”

  Serafino burst through the cockpit doorway, Eden in tow. “What the hell’s going on? Who’d we pick up?”

  The shuttle rocked again from laser impact. “A handful of unfriendlies,” Sass said quickly, aware the admiral stared at her, “who seem to be very interested in us.”

  “What’s Serafino—” Kel-Paten began, but she overran his question with a forceful one of her own.

  “You tell me, Kel-Paten. You’re the one who insisted on transporting Serafino in the Galaxus. And you’re the one who didn’t tell Kel-Faray of your plans. Just whose side are you on?”

  “Whose?” He looked from her to Serafino and back to her again. Eden, no doubt knowing someone had to mind the store while these three fought it out, slid into the open station to the right of the admiral and brought the instruments online.

  “Why did you change to the Galaxus?” Sass asked angrily.

  “It’s the command shuttle. What are you getting at?” His pale eyes narrowed.

  “I’m getting at the fact that you made sure we’re transporting a highly controversial prisoner in a highly visible craft, Admiral. We’re doing the expected. Or is it the requested?”

  “Are you implying—”

  “No, sir, I’m stating. I’m stating that these changes were made to accommodate those who want both Serafino and myself out of the way.” Sass turned to Serafino standing behind her. “Isn’t that how you put it?”

  Before Serafino could answer, Kel-Paten grabbed her armrest and swiveled her chair in his direction. “Do you really think I would—”

  “Incoming, three o’clock,” Eden said loudly. “Shields eighty percent and holding. Tasha—”

  “Taking evasive action, Doc, and thank you!” She returned her attention momentarily to the shuttle’s instruments. Why the hell hadn’t Panperra sent assistance?

  “I don’t know, Kel-Paten.” She replied to his question through clenched teeth. “But if you’ve set me up and I live through this, I promise you I will dismantle you, piece by piece, and sell you as scrap.”

  Something painful flashed across Kel-Paten’s face. She knew the vehemence of her words had cut him. She might have threatened to kill a man, but only to a ’cybe would she threaten dismantling. Like an unusable KS3 unit or a malfunctioning bar ’droid.

  He released his hold on her chair and sat back abruptly. “You’re wrong.” His voice was strained.

  “Am I?” She glanced at Serafino, who’d strapped himse
lf in at the small-weapons station next to her and worked with the data Eden fed to him. “Scan him, ’Fino. I need to know everything, and I need to know now!”

  “Scan?” Kel-Paten focused on Serafino, then suddenly jerked back as if he’d been hit. “Mindsucker!” He spat out the word and whipped his face to the right as if by so doing he could break the probe.

  “Nasyry mindsucker,” Serafino said quietly and in a voice filled with pride.

  Kel-Paten turned back to him, unlatched his straps, started to rise.

  “Sit down, Admiral.” Sass’s tone brooked no argument. Neither did the Ryfer in her hand. She pointed it not at his head or his chest—both areas cybernetically protected through layers of microfine but impenetrable plasteel—but at a small vulnerable area at his throat. U-Cee Intelligence was thorough.

  He took his seat again, slowly.

  “Tasha, I need you.” Eden’s voice had a singsong but firm quality designed to get her friend’s attention.

  It did. Sass reholstered the Ryfer, glanced at her instruments, and made the necessary corrections. The Vax, she noted, was already on the move, the first squadron wheeling away from her bays. At least someone was on their side!

  She felt Kel-Paten staring at her. When she turned slightly, she caught the undisguised pleading in his eyes. He could, she knew, have moved with such speed when she drew her Ryfer that he could have killed her and Eden before Serafino would even have had time to react. Or he simply could have grabbed her arm and, with just a thought, ended her life.

  But he hadn’t, nor had he even tried. And that very fact—coupled with the pain she now saw on his face—made her temper her words and offer him a halfhearted apology.

  “If I’m wrong about you,” she told him quietly as the shuttle jerked again in response to another incoming barrage of laser fire, “then I’m sorry. But circumstances right now are a bit strange.”

  “Tasha, I’d never hurt you.” His voice rasped.

  “He’s clean,” Serafino said. “I can find no trace of loyalty to the Faction.”

  “Eden?” Sass looked past Kel-Paten to where her friend sat at the nav station.

  Eden nodded. “I’m not sensing any duplicity.”

  “But he’s also,” Serafino pointed out, bringing Sass’s laser pistol from the back of his pants and clicking off the safety, “one of PsyServ’s prized projects. He might’ve set this up, he might have set us all up, and not even been consciously aware of it. I can’t—there’s no time to do a deeper probe. Have any tune-ups lately, Admiral?”

  She heard Kel-Paten’s sharp, angry intake of breath at Serafino’s words.

  But any comment—or threat—he might have made was lost as the shuttle jolted violently to starboard. Lights flickered. The horrifying squeal of metal straining under impact filled the cockpit. Kel-Paten reached for the instrument panel before him, tried to throw more power to the shields and at the same time locate the problem. Serafino was back at weapons, returning fire, swearing loudly.

  Sass worked to coax more power out of the shuttle’s engines. Panperra Station was so close! If they could just make it to—

  But they couldn’t, as two fighters peppered the portside of the shuttle with laser fire, forcing her to turn off course.

  “Feeder-valve failure in the port thruster,” she told her shipmates over the wailing of the sirens.

  “Working on it,” Kel-Paten said.

  A quick glance confirmed he was. She hated having to double-check him. But so many things didn’t make sense. And Kel-Paten—in spite of his denial and Eden’s assurances—was the biggest unknown and most likely possibility. She shoved away her fears. “’Fino! I need some room!”

  The fighters forced them out into open space, away from the station.

  “Can’t seem to break through their shielding,” Serafino replied, a note of frustration in his voice. Sass saw the shuttle’s lasers doing only minimal damage.

  “Try a reverse phase modulation!” The shouted suggestion came from Kel-Paten.

  “Bloody damn!” replied Sass as the shuttle jerked and cockpit lights dimmed again. Suddenly everything went green as the emergency-override power supply kicked on.

  She did another double-check. As far as she could tell, the power failure wasn’t Kel-Paten’s doing. He was working as hard as she was to keep the ship functioning. “On backups!” Sass quickly tapped in the adjustments on her instrument panel. “Switching to manual on five. Four. Three. Two. On manual.”

  Around her, Kel-Paten, Eden, and Serafino mirrored her movements.

  “Navigation online,” Eden said.

  “Shields at seventy percent but dropping. We have a rupture, coolant feed section four,” Kel-Paten added.

  “Weapons off-line,” Serafino said angrily.

  “Shit!” Sass looked quickly from Serafino to Kel-Paten.

  “Seal the cockpit and divert power to the shields,” Kel-Paten said, already making the changes.

  “Rerouting life support takes five minutes. We don’t have that.” Sass turned to Serafino. “Well?”

  He hesitated only a second. “Throw all power to the engines. Head for the jumpgate. The section-four thruster will blow. We’ll just have to deal with that.”

  “Agreed.” Sass nodded and moved to implement his idea.

  “We’re not locked on to the gate beacons,” Kel-Paten shouted. “A blind jump—”

  “It’s not blind. He’s Nasyry,” Sass answered back. She unlatched her straps and reached across to tap instructions into the instrument panel. “Go, ’Fino, go! You have the con.”

  She stepped swiftly away from her seat and Serafino slid in, his hands moving rapidly over the panel. The shuttle lurched forward, pounded by laser fire.

  “I’ll drop aft shields last as we cross the gate,” Serafino said.

  “Then we can kiss our asses good-bye,” Sass said ominously as she grabbed the back of Kel-Paten’s chair to keep from falling over. She monitored the admiral’s movements—still not sure she trusted him—and felt more helpless than she had in years. Fighters on their tail, spitting death. No help from Panperra. The Vax unable to respond in time. Their only chance at escape didn’t guarantee survival. The ship could be torn apart by the fierce currents of a blind entry into the gate.

  As if he could read her thoughts, Kel-Paten glanced over his shoulder at her, his gaze as desolate as she felt.

  Then she heard Serafino chuckle. It was an odd, almost cruel sound.

  “Be careful if you do.” Serafino looked at Kel-Paten. “Lady’s got a mean right hook.”

  Kel-Paten took his attention from the instruments just long enough to send a look full of hatred at Serafino. “Go to hell.”

  Mind reading. Serafino read something in Kel-Paten’s mind and responded out loud. His answer clearly angered Kel-Paten, but what Serafino sensed, and who it involved, suddenly held little interest to Sass.

  The ship burst violently through the perimeter of the jumpgate, raked by energy currents. The Galaxus shuddered wildly as Serafino and Kel-Paten fought to keep it under control.

  “’Fino, grab the closest fix!” Sass shouted. They needed a secure energy trail with an active guidance beacon at both ends. Right now the data on the console showed that Serafino had managed to input only one—at Panperra, behind them. They needed that second beacon.

  The Nasyry’s forehead was creased in concentration.

  Kel-Paten had spiked in. “Scanning,” he said, evidently not willing to trust Serafino’s ability any more than Sass trusted his.

  Between the two of them, they had to find something, anything, somewhere—

  The ship dropped suddenly as if into an endless cavern, throwing Sass almost over Kel-Paten’s seat. Eden pitched sideways, her strap’s clasps springing free. Sass made a clumsy grab for her, but Eden ended up on the floor, just as an overhead nav panel exploded in a shower of sparks.

  Serafino yanked off his straps and lunged for Eden, pulling her away from the falling debri
s. Sass saw him grasp her wrist as the ship was thrown to starboard this time, rolling up on one end as if slammed from below. Eden slid rapidly into him, and he locked his legs around hers to keep her from careening into the bottom of the weapons station.

  Strong arms grabbed Sass’s waist just as the shuttle jerked again. She abruptly found herself in Kel-Paten’s lap. Her hands sought his shoulders for balance as a spray of sparks filled the air. Another panel blown. He turned quickly, shielding her. She let out an “oomph” against his chest, then she pushed. She had to get control of the shuttle, had to find a fix, had to get away from the Tin Soldier, who could yet end her life with only a thought….

  But he was pulling her back, fumbling with the chair’s safety straps, trying to wrap them around her.

  Then something yanked her and the admiral out of the chair. Sass swore as they slammed against the wall.

  Or the floor.

  Or the ceiling. She couldn’t tell.

  The emergency lights failed. The cockpit plunged into darkness.

  The last thing Sass saw from over Kel-Paten’s shoulder was the green glow from the instrument panels winking out….

  Serafino unlocked his legs just long enough to pull Eden beneath him, his hands securely on her shoulders, his mouth hard against hers.

  We’re not going to make it. I’m sorry… regret, frustration, and passion all washed over her.

  Eden kissed him back fiercely, letting her mind flow into his, no longer caring about protocol or patients. She felt his desire, physically and telepathically, felt the tension and the tenderness, felt him fill her mind with his fervor as he wanted to fill her body with his physical being. The latter would never happen, but the first granted her a few moments of something so pleasurable that she gasped out loud. She arched against him in an eternal, primal response, her hands threading tightly through his long, dark hair.

  He whispered her name in her mind just as the shuttle rolled over one last time. He was torn away from her and thrown against the weapons-station wall. It responded by buckling, the stack of power units jarred loose from their couplings and raining onto his body like large metal boulders.