“Right, but that also means that, since our Shaumri friend has kept the station from ratting us out, at least so far, the navy doesn’t know we’ve left until they spot us.”
Sal caught himself spinning his fingers. “Get on with it.”
“And you’re looking at the genius who plotted a perfect course to that depot without being seen by any of them.”
Sal shrugged. “Until they pick up the radiation from our engines.”
“Which they won’t because I’m flying on inertials. Oh, here we are.”
Sal turned his attention back to the forward viewscreen. The drydock station ahead filled the screen, a massive, dark rectangle. Depots like this were designed to house freighters for repairs. It was a massive , free-floating hangar big enough to hold a ship much larger than the Jessamine with ancillary spaces for workrooms, machine shops, nanofacs, assemblers, etc. At the moment it wasn’t being used, which meant it was prime pickings for a ship looking for cover.
With gentle touches to the control yoke Sabella guided the Jessamine into the huge, black maw of the hangar. “No lights on,” she said in a sing-song rhythm. “Nobody home.”
Sal turned his chair and pulled the link off his wrist. “Kahula,” he said. Kahula turned. He handed her the link. “Our Shaumri friend opened an encrypted channel for us while we were leaving. Link the channel into ship comms.”
“Yes sir,” Kahula said, and turned to her station.
“Tally,” Sal said. Tally turned towards him. Her wide, curious Sabatean eyes blinked. “I need an N-jump course plotted to the Gazi system.”
Tally’s brow raised. “Gazi, sir?”
Sal nodded. He turned back to the main viewscreen. “I don’t think Alliance space is going to be safe for us any time soon.”
Bel was now rotating the Jessamine, turning her nose back to the opening for a quick escape and turning her belly to one of the sides. Sal could barely see her hands move as she motioned the ship to hug the interior wall of the hangar. Once done she tapped a few buttons and released the yoke. Then she turned her chair towards him, arms crossed, face smug.
Sal feigned a gentle clap. “Not bad, first mate,” he said. “Not bad at all.”
He opened up ship comms on his station and administrated duties. “I need all available hands to battle stations.” He then switched to the medbay. “Ms. Jens, how’s it going down there?”
“I’ve stabilized Besser and Yuki. They’re both sedated and safely strapped in. Our injured passenger wouldn’t let me sedate him, so he’s miserable and strapped in.”
Sal switched to the encrypted channel and Dothin’s link. “Lanseidis,” he said. “Where are you?”
“I’m strapped in... somewhere amidships.”
Sal chuckled. He did a search for Dothin’s link and found he was in one of the emergency crash chairs outside engineering. “Stay put, will you?”
He didn’t wait for a reply but switched again. “Where you at, Lanjer?” he asked.
“At the docking bay controls and ready to scoop up your little friends.”
“Just a touch on the creepy side there, Jac,” Bel said.
“I’ll get you my pretties,” Lanjer crooned.
Sal chuckled. “Good, stand by. Kahula, get him access to the Shaumri’s channel.
“Sir,” Kahula said. Sal turned to her. She handed his link back. “I have the encrypted channel linked up to ship comms.”
Sal nodded, set the link back on his wrist. Then he pulled the earpiece out of his ear. “Good.”
“Someone’s talking in it.”
“Patch me through,” Sal said.
“Yes sir.” Kahula tapped a few buttons and a young, female voice erupted from the pilot station speakers.
“Is anybody there?” It was Vares, the governor’s girl.
“We’re here, kid,” Sal said. “What’s your status?”
“We’re out and looking for a friendly berth and a ride out of here.”
Salazar grinned. “I might just have something for you.” He turned. “Kahula, patch our particulars to the kid through the special channel.”
Kahula didn’t respond. Her brow was furrowed, her jaw set. Her hands danced across her screens.
“Kahula?”
She nodded, then lifted a finger. Her other hand was busy tapping at her terminal.
Sal watched the holographic projection of the station and its surroundings. A new dot, representing the girl’s little ship, moved across the distance between the station’s docking levels and their hiding place.
“I suppose I should have suggested she use inertials like you did,” he said, then looked at Bel.
Sabella smiled. “Well I—”
“Captain,” Kahula said, “Foreign object is scanning us. Multiple ladar contacts detected.”
Sal spun around to her. “From where?” he asked.
Sabella cursed. Sal looked at her, saw her finger pointing towards the main viewscreen, then followed it. Out the rectangular mouth of the hangar a dark form blocked stars as it passed.
“Kahula, light it up,” Sal said. A holographic red square outlined the object and then the Jessamine’s sensor suite provided artificial light. The object was shaped like a flattened sphere. Cameras and sensors protruded from a central gap in the black metal of its shell. Rectangular inertial drives protruded from it in gimbaled ball joints. They flicked this way and that, course correcting as it scanned the Jessamine.
“Autonomous recon drone,” Kahula said.
“Kill it,” Sal said. “Who’s on—”
He was going to say, “Who’s on the forward gunner turret,” but Bel had a quicker solution. She tapped a few buttons and the Jessamine’s nose-mounted point-defense laser cannons protruded from their hiding places and pelted the drone.
The drone’s inertials flicked and it sped towards the mouth of the hangar. A second later, the Jessamine cracked the drone’s barriers. The second after that the drone exploded. Pieces flew in every direction, some glowing red hot.
“Good thinking,” Sal said, then turned to Kahula.
“Sir,” she said, “uptick in Navy comms. I think they spotted us.”
“How far is the kid’s ship?” Sal asked.
“Right out in the open,” Bel said.
“Alright, we’re leaving,” Sal said. He slapped the red alert button on his screen. Out in the rest of the ship red lights would be pulsing and an alarm sounding.
Bel took the control yoke and Sal pulled the switch that would toggle pilot controls to him. “No,” he said, “you’re on defense. I’m flying.”
Sal lifted on the yoke, then flicked the hard switches that would light up the main engines. Then he twisted the speed controls and the Jessamine leapt out of the hangar. The Jessamine rattled, and Bel swore.
“Two fighters right behind us,” she said.
“Jin,” Salazar said, opening a channel to the girl’s ship at the same time. “Listen kid—”
“I know,” Ashla called back. “I’ve got two...no, three fighters in bound and targeting me.”
Salazar maxed out the g-buffers and laid into the control yoke’s throttles, accelerating the Jessamine to five Gs.
“Captain,” Tally said, her voice calm and sweet as usual despite the situation. “I have a course laid to the Gazi system. N-jump engines are hot and ready.”
Sal sighed. Flick a few levers and he’d be out of hot water. The Navy might not have even gotten a good look at the Jessamine, which would make it a lot easier to fix his way back into working Alliance space lanes. All he had to do was leave the kids behind. He was better off without them.
To accentuate his point the Jessamine rumbled, and lights blinked on Bel’s console splashing her in yellow. “Direct hit from one of the fighters. Shields are at eighty-five percent.”
Sal shook his head. “Get to us as fast as you can,” he said through the channel. As he spoke he set an intercept course with the kids. “Use the parked freighters as cover if you have to.
”
“Those freighters have people in them,” Ashla said. Her voice was shrill. “There’s no way—”
“Navy SOP,” Sal said—his temper was turning his voice into a growl— “requires those pilots to hold fire when civilian vehicles might be in danger.” As he spoke he winged and dodged, working his way to an intercept course with the Lunar Seed. “Now, you might get a careless pilot or an overzealous commander, or they might hold fire while you’re getting away. The choice is yours. Kol out.”
“But I--” Ashla said before he cut the comm. He didn’t want to be so harsh but desperate times called for desperate measures.
“How we doing, Bel?”
“Kapa’s turret knocked out fighter one,” Bel said. “It’s now spiraling out of its attack vector. “Fighter two is still on us. Shields are at seventy percent.” Something banged behind them. Sabella hissed. “Sixty six percent. But so far no—”
“Captain!” Kahula shouted. “Capital ship targeting us.”
“Show me.”
A red light pulsed on the holographic display between he and Bel. The ship it represented stood at about a hundred and fifty kilometers away. There were a lot of freighters between it and the Jessamine. Plenty of places to hide while the kids caught up.
“Destroyer,” Kahula said. “Arrosto class. Main drives are hot. Primary laser cannon is powering up. Twenty percent.”
Sal looked back at the holographic display again. Vares was still too far. He reopened the channel with her while shunting the control yoke, sending the Jessamine into a controlled spin to put a freighter between him and the destroyer. “Listen kid, we’ve got a destroyer gunning for us. You need to hurry.”
“No. Kidding,” Ashla said. Her words were quick, guttural and breathless. She was pushing her ship past its G-buffers. Sal thought about giving advice but figured the kid had plenty on her mind. Instead he thumbed the switch to activate the maneuvering warning alarm and kicked the Jessamine into seven Gs. It was the least he could do. The Lunar Seed was pushing fifteen to catch up.
“Captain!” Kahula shouted. “Destroyer is at ninety-five percent.”
“Bel!”
“Popping chaff,” Bel said. She tapped at her display.
“One hundred percent!”
The Jessamine boomed. Sal was blown up and away from his seat, only held back by his restraints. Someone screamed. Sparks flew through the air then zipped past Sal, pushed towards the rear by the heavy thrust gravity as they burned out. The lights flickered. Alarms blatted.
But the Jessamine failed to disintegrate. After a stunned second Sal noticed he still had power. Quite a few of his controls went dark but he still had acceleration and steering.
“Report.”
Bel grunted, shook her head. Sal turned to look at her. A cut on her forehead was bleeding. Her eyes went glazed for a minute, then sharpened. She tapped at her display.
“Mostly minor hits,” she said. “Nothing that will keep us from jumping.”
“What the void was that explosion then?”
“Not sure but none of the systems are showing serious damage.”
“Run a diagnostic,” Sal said. “Kahula, Tally, you still with us.”
“I’m okay,” Tally said.
“Yes sir,” Kahula said. “Destroyer is heating up for a second attack.”
“We can’t take another hit like that. Where are the kids?” He checked the sensors himself. Vares’ ship was right behind them. The Jessamine was starting to take some flak from the fighters chasing the kids.
Sal opened the general channel. “Someone lax those sawking fighters.”
“On it, cap!” Vance called back.
“Sir,” Bel said, pointing at the icon representing the Lunar Seed. “She’s going too fast. She—” As Bel spoke, the Lunar Seed flipped 180 degrees and decelerated hard. Bel made a surprised sound in her throat.
“Kid’s got some moves,” Sal said. “Gotta give her that.”
One of the three signals chasing them disappeared. A second later, the other two started backing off. Their fire ceased.
“Captain,” Kahula said. “Enemy destroyer’s main cannon is at fifty percent.”
The Lunar Seed flipped again, now right under the Jessamine. She was still going faster, but not so much faster that the pilot and passenger would be pulverized when Lanjer’s claw got a hold of them.
“Knock, knock,” Ashla called. “I’m here.”
Sal’s station chimed a warning signal to let him know the Jessamine’s docking bay doors had opened. Lanjer’s voice filled the Shaumri’s group channel. “Name’s Lanjer, kid. Make sure your main engines are off or you’ll blast me down to my knees when I bring you in.”
“Done,” Vares said.
“Good.”
“Captain, seventy percent,” Kahula warned.
“Hurry it up back there,” Sal said. “That destroyer’s about ready to fire again!”
“Now,” Lanjer said, ignoring Salazar. “As soon as I got you, shut off your inertials and tuck them in.”
“Understood,” Ashla said. Then a pause. Then, “Okay, I’m ready. Bring us in.”
There was another pause.
“Ninety percent!”
“Lanjer!”
“Just a minute to lock the claw and seal the hold and...now!”
“Alright,” Salazar said. “All hands, brace for N-space jump.” He tapped the N-jump warning button. A trio of green lights lit up and three alarms sounded. With his fore, middle, ring and pinky fingers he flicked off the primary engine switches off. Then he turned the control knob over, locking all flight controls. Finally, he pulled the heavy black throttle between he and Bel back. It made a series of ripping clicks as it did.
The Jessamine shuttered. The lights in his console, Bel’s console, all the lights on the bridge went out. Only the forward holographic display remained lit. In it the stars moved, warped, turned into curling, scrolling lines of blue light. Then the light from them bled into the darkness between them and everything went blue.
Chapter Thirty-Seven:
Plans of the Diligent
Nix sat in the Jessamine’s medbay holding an oxygen mask to his face, drinking in the cool, rich air. As he did, something in his side hurt, like a stitch he’d gotten for running hard for a while. He had been, but that’s not why he hurt.
The medbay was smaller than Dothin’s workshop and crowded for its size with four other people in it. Two men lay in wall-mounted gurneys. What Nix understood of the numbers and charts on the wall behind them suggested they were okay, just unconscious. Gan lay in a third gurney and stared at the wide, white light strips in the ceiling. His sleek, black smartskin had a gap in it from the top of his calf to the bottom of his ankle.
Nix had dared a single look at the wound there, and found it wasn’t as grotesque as he had expected. Gan had a perfect hole shot straight through his leg from the back of his calf to the front of his ankle. The hole wasn’t gushing blood or anything. The skin around it was blackened though, and it smelled so much like char-grilled pork chops it made Nix wish he was unconscious like the two big guys against the wall.
Dr. Jens, a beautiful young woman with striking dark skin and a mop of blond hair all done in tight curls, stood over Gan, a cylindrical device in one hand and a standard-looking link in the other. As she waved the cylinder around Gan’s leg the link’s screen showed an X-Ray feed.
“It looks like your bone is growing back fine,” Dr. Jens said. “I want to have regular check-ups to make sure everything is healing properly. Understood?”
“As you wish, doctor,” Gan said. He sounded bored.
“Hold on.” Dr. Jens set her link and x-ray scanner on the table beside Gan’s gurney, then lifted an auto-syringe. She brought it close to Gan’s leg and his smartskin closed around the wound again. Dr. Jens looked at Gan. Her eyes might have cut a few more holes.
“What’s that?” Gan asked, nodding at the syringe.
“It’s just a
cell reproduction booster. It will speed the rate at which your skin cells rebuild which should help with the burning.”
Gan nodded. The smartskin retreated again. Dr. Jens touched the syringe to his blackened skin and hit the button on the end of it. Gan didn’t wince. Nix would have.
“All done,” Dr. Jens said. She stepped back and let Gan stand. He did, then tested his weight on the leg. When standing he towered over her. She smiled but seemed otherwise unimpressed.
“Here,” she said and pulled a wrapped piece of candy on a stick from one of her coat’s many pockets and held it out to Gan. “You’ve been a very good boy.”
“No thanks, doctor.”
Dr. Jens shrugged and shoved the candy back into her pocket, then went to check on the two unconscious patients. Gan stepped over to Nix, who was still drinking in cool oxygen from the mask.
“You alright?” Gan asked.
Nix lowered the mask and gave Gan a thumbs-up. “Fine. Just happy to breathe again.”
Gan nodded. “I heard you two had to burn pretty hard to get away. That’s...uncomfortable to say the least.”
Nix chuckled. He got a sudden flash of Pattie Kalen cooking Dothin and him dinner consisting of long noodles in a sauce made from crushed tomatoes. Pattie had used a meat tenderizer to smash the plump red tomatoes into puree. That’s what his ride to the Jessamine had felt like.
“I’m good though,” Nix said. He didn’t look to see if Gan was convinced by his lie. Even he himself had doubts. “What about you?”
Gan shook his head and scowled. “Just paying the bill for sloppy mistakes. Nothing I can’t afford.”
“Glad you’re okay,” Nix said. “This trip would be a lot scarier if you weren’t around.”
“Likewise.” Gan patted Nix on the back.
“Niko?” Dothin pushed in through the door as it was still sliding open. He laid eyes on him and Nix almost worried Dothin would cry. Gan stepped aside as Dothin approached.
Nix dropped the oxygen mask and hid it behind himself but far too late. Dothin stepped up to him and put his hands on Nix’s shoulders.
“Are you alright? I heard you were in medbay and I feared the worst.”
Remnant Page 38
