by Blaze Ward
It looked like a piece of cloth, but that was deceiving as she pulled herself back to a hook and attached it. Across the way, she hooked the other side and just flowed right up into the cargo net in a single motion.
Oluchi looked at her with surprise before he laughed. He grabbed another one and hooked it more slowly, having to work carefully while she watched.
Still, this was not his first attempt, as he got the hammock hung and pulled himself in then latched the front closed.
“Who has watch?” Aileen asked, forever on duty on a ship, worried about cargo, even the organic kind.
“You sleep,” Lazarus said. “I’m too keyed up and you need the rest.”
Aileen didn’t argue, but Eha could see the tiredness around the man’s edges. He’d been up all night, and engaged in a rescue, but nobody had used physical brutality on him at any point.
Grace, the Human woman, remained in station with him, so they would be able to watch for Ajax.
Eha didn’t think she’d be calm enough to actually fall asleep as she closed her eyes.
She was wrong.
Thirty-Nine
Lazarus
Lazarus watched the woman next to him as everyone else settled in for something like a nap. Meditation. Something. Apparently Churquen snored, but he’d once had a cat that was louder, except when the little tom started squeaking.
They were as alone as they would likely get, before Grace started to learn his real secrets. It would be interesting to see her response at that point.
“What should I prepare for?” she asked in a voice a trace above a whisper.
Lazarus thought about it for a moment.
“We’re none of us what we appear,” he replied, staring right at her and daring the woman to flinch. Or something.
“You’re Rio Alliance Navy,” she said simply, surprising him. “I’ve been around enough of you people to see the habits. What was the secret mission you were on?”
Lazarus remembered to pick his jaw up off the deck after a moment.
Grace smiled at him knowingly.
“Technically, I can’t tell you,” he said.
“That’s fine,” she started to say, but he overrode her and continued, regardless of how poor manners it might be.
“However, you’ll learn more than you should as soon as Addison gets here, so you might as well be prepared,” Lazarus said. “The vessel is named Ajax.”
“That’s an odd name for an alien craft, even if they do speak our tongue,” Grace scowled at him.
“It’s not alien,” Lazarus smiled. “Ajax is Rio Alliance Navy.”
“But you said the alien was in command,” Grace’s fierceness turned up a notch. “Eha’s mate.”
“I left Addison Wolcott in charge when I went to Yisan,” Lazarus corrected her. “It’s an experimental craft, designed for a small crew to operate, at least in the circumstances we’re using it.”
“How could a ship that small have enough firepower to annihilate Yisan then, or at least Tershuvi Port?”
“It’s not small, Grace,” he smiled. “Ajax is a warship. My ship.”
It was her turn to pick up her jaw. She repeated the words silently, not even breathing.
“I designed the vessel,” Lazarus continued. “Built it around an experimental weapon, and packed it full of bleeding edge technology. The goal was to build something that could defeat Westphalia.”
“But aliens?” she gulped.
“Accident,” he said grimly. “Our first cruise dropped us into a Westphalian GunWall ambush. I was fighting for my life before I knew what happened. The rest of my crew abandoned ship and I decided to destroy the craft. In that, I failed, had some wild adventures I’ll tell you about another time, then eventually recruited the crew of Addison Wolcott’s tramp freighter to help me fly Ajax. They’ve been training aboard her for about a month now.”
“The aliens have the ship?” Grace gasped.
“I trust them more than I trust anyone else right now, Grace,” he said perhaps a shade sharper than he originally intended. “There’s a spy somewhere in the Rio Alliance who told Westphalia where to find me. That person is still there. Strav Ardna tried to kill one of my friends. Not an alien I was transporting home to my superiors. My friend.”
She fell silent, studying his face for some sign he wasn’t sure of.
Something.
“At some point, someone’s going to address you by some other name than Lazarus, aren’t they?” Grace asked finally.
Maybe there was a smile there. Maybe not. Hard to tell.
“They will,” Lazarus replied, “but I’m not him anymore. I’m not really sure I remember him, truth be told.”
“What will your papers say, if they have to reissue them after the emergency?”
“Francisco Luiz Oliveira,” he replied evenly. “Capitão De Mar E Guerra. My friends used to call me Pancho.”
“I think I prefer Lazarus,” Grace said, finally smiling a little.
“Me, too,” he grinned back, shrugging. “It’s been a weird year.”
“So what will you tell the fussy, old admirals, when you show up again with aliens and criminals?” her smile grew as she asked.
“The galaxy has changed,” Lazarus said. “It’s bigger than anyone imagined, and we’re in a position to maybe do something grand and good with it. They’ll just have to deal with all the strangers I picked up along the way if they want my help.”
“Your help?”
“I’m the only Human who knows where the others came from,” he smiled like a shark now. “If you want those coordinates, you’ll have to deal with me. Or one of my friends.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s Pryce’s job,” she leaned a little closer and put a hand on his arm. “I’m supposed to keep you safe.”
“That means assassins, Grace,” he said simply.
“Other assassins, Lazarus,” her smile turned grim, but it was still warm. “Eduardo instructed me to help you and protect you. And you might be the most important Human in space right now, so I better do a good job.”
Somehow, they were both leaning forward, talking in barely a whisper now. Lazarus wondered what her kiss would taste like, but wasn’t sure it was safe to know.
Not all of her motives were ulterior, but there would be some he might not find out about until it was too late. Dangerous, dangerous woman.
But he already knew that.
Attractive, if you liked them athletic and slim, rather than curvy and overdeveloped.
Lethal, in good ways as well as bad.
Lazarus was rescued by the sensor board beeping madly on the console between them. He reached down and checked the readings as an excuse not to kiss this eminently kissable woman, when it might be a trap.
But weren’t all women traps? Some of them you just didn’t necessarily want to escape from.
Lazarus looked back up at Grace and smiled as he killed the alarm and opened the comm.
“You’re back earlier than we expected,” Addison’s voice came over the system and filled the whole space of the pincke. “Is everything okay?”
“We ran into some trouble on Yisan, Addison,” Lazarus replied. “But I was able to recruit some more friends, some Human ones, and we got everything sorted out. Where are you?”
“Looking at my boards, Kuei dropped us out of jump almost behind you,” Addison called. “Relative motion almost zero, except for some drift from solar wind differentials between here and there. Company, you said?”
“Correct,” Lazarus smiled. “Grace Savidge, Oluchi Pryce, and Xiuying Bălan. They’re aboard the pincke and will be coming to Brasilia with us. The password is Zhoonarrim.”
“Understood, Lazarus,” Addison said carefully. “See you shortly.”
They had set up a series of code words, if something had gone wrong and they needed to communicate. Or if Wybert needed to practice his weapons on the pincke. Blowing Lazarus to hell and returning to liberate Innruld Space themselves was a
possibility not all that far down the list.
He was just glad it was unnecessary.
Lazarus cut the line and looked over at Grace, utterly silent through the whole exchange.
“Friends?” she asked quietly, an unsure smile on her face.
Ulterior motives.
“At least,” he replied, smiling some. “All hands, brace for maneuvers.”
He glanced back and saw eyes staring at him from the partial darkness of the cargo bay, so he brought the lights back up and busied his hands on the controls.
The pincke rotated slowly in place on all three axes, and Grace gasped out loud when the windshield showed Ajax coming into view.
“That thing’s huge!” she said, turning a concerned face to him.
“Light Starcruiser,” he replied. “It was the smallest I could build it, to fit the primary weapons system.”
“The one that could destroy Tershuvi Port?”
“That one,” he nodded.
“What will you do with it?” her face softened into something that wasn’t just curiosity, but also included it.
“Teach Westphalia some manners,” Lazarus said. “Then go help my friends.”
“Problems in alien space?” Grace’s eyes narrowed.
Rather than answer, Lazarus just nodded and engaged the engines to start them forward.
“Will we need to help them, after we help you?” Grace asked.
He liked the assumption the woman made that she’d still be involved. And that his Rio Alliance bosses would let him or her do that.
Of course, he might not give them the option to say no. He didn’t know who the spy was that had nearly gotten him killed, so Lazarus of Bethany was going to be rather a bit more reticent and circumspect than Pancho Oliveira had ever been.
“Perhaps,” he temporized.
“It won’t be allowed?”
From the look on her face, she was guessing, but it was an easy guess.
“They might try to stop me,” Lazarus replied. “But I’m already a pirate in Innruld Space.”
Forty
Oluchi
Oluchi had never served in anything like a formal military, so he didn’t really understand the oohs and ahs from the others as the ship filled more and more of the front window, finally turning into a wall with a window, the dock that they were flying into.
Apparently, the thing was huge, compared to other Rio ships. He wasn’t even remotely an expert, having spent his time on comparatively tiny tramp freighters or semi-luxury liners, plying his various trades.
Xiuying was impressed. That told Oluchi enough to listen to the man. Neither of the other two recognized the design of the vessel, but it was friendly and would be his chariot to the heart of the Rio Alliance and all the things Eduardo would be expecting of him there.
They flew into a bay and landed on magnets, thumping with a jar transmitted all the way up his spine. A moment later, gravity was extended to the ship, bringing a solid down to his sensibilities. The hull hummed, which he presumed were the bay doors closing. A hiss as atmosphere flooded the chamber.
Lazarus stood as everything was powered down.
“My friends, welcome aboard the Rio Alliance warship Ajax,” he said simply. “I figured I should warn you up front that the four of us are the only Humans aboard at present, with my other friends providing the entirety of the current crew, at least until we get home and determine our next steps.”
No Humans aboard? None?
Coupled with the immense size of the ship, Oluchi finally understood now the sorts of risk that Yisan hadn’t been aware they faced. An alien warship might indeed have taken offense at Eha’s kidnapping and decided to punish all Humans.
Would that have led to a war? Another war?
Oluchi couldn’t see Westphalia ever making common cause with non-Humans, for anything longer than catching the Rio Alliance in a pincer and destroying it.
He would need to make sure that Yisan wasn’t collateral damage, in ways Eduardo probably didn’t imagine, at least outside of his nightmares.
“Now what?” Oluchi spoke up, as it became clear that Lazarus was waiting for someone to speak.
“Now, we board the ship, get all of you settled, and prepare to head inward,” Lazarus said.
Oluchi watched him key the big rear hatch open when the lights turned green, indicating a safe atmosphere, and the panel lowered into a ramp.
Just because, Oluchi offered Eha his arm. She took it with a jolt of surprise followed by a wry smile. Aileen harrumphed a moment later, so he grinned at her and offered his other arm.
What better way to board a strange ship than with a woman on each arm?
Xiuying rolled his eyes with a grin and shook his head, which just made it better.
Lazarus walked down the ramp first, with Grace close but not that close. Awkwardly a step farther away from the man than her walk might have suggested, like she wanted to be on his arm, but they hadn’t worked that much out yet.
He’d seen enough signs to understand.
Oluchi followed, escorting the ladies down onto the deck, with Xiuying bringing up the rear noisily. Much louder than he’d walked on the decks of Cardinal, so Oluchi supposed he was making a statement.
Or setting false expectations about how quietly the man could move, if he needed to later.
Lazarus led them to an airlock. Again, a standard, Human design three times as deep as a standard lift like you might find in a luxury hotel. Everyone fit, with a bit of adjusting, since the Humans had never had to worry about stepping on a tail or tripping over one before now.
The door to the bay closed and the inner one opened.
Oluchi managed to keep the shock off his face, he hoped. A lifetime of poker and trysts probably helped.
Another Churquen awaited them in a larger chamber beyond. Male, just because Oluchi could see the gender differences now. That would be Addison Wolcott, Eha’s mate.
And the current commander of the ship.
Next to Wolcott was a…
Thing. Oluchi didn’t have a better term to describe it.
Two gray disks, each about six inches thick, sandwiched together around a central hub that was about eighteen inches wide and covered with a heavy hide that vaguely reminded him of an elephant. The whole creature was about four feet tall, with the central part maybe three feet in diameter, so the creature could roll with clearance.
The central part had either an eye, or what looked like a mouth, interspersed all around the circumference. Two spindly arms emerged from the axle, ending in six-finger claws that reminded him of the game machine where you tried to pull a prize up and transport it to the little well where it could be retrieved. Most of them were scams, but the claws were similar.
At least one of the eyes was staring at him.
Maybe.
Lazarus emerged, walking up to Wolcott as the rest of them followed. Eha dropped his arm and surged into Wolcott’s, tangling like a pair of bungee cords left overnight in a drawer.
Other aliens surrounded them as Aileen stepped a little farther away from him. They were all tiny, at least compared to Humans. Aileen was roughly in the middle, when he had unconsciously been expecting her to be small.
Were Humans just that big, compared to the rest of the galaxy?
One of the creatures was a giant spider, reared back almost like a dog sitting on its hind legs, except that doing so freed up the creature’s hands and arms to be crossed across its thorax. Fine black hairs, interspersed with several other colors in such a way that it was almost a glowing rainbow, or would be when the lighting was just right.
A giant, tan, glider squirrel watched, stepping close to Aileen for a hug, those eyes never leaving him, but the face not snarling.
Lazarus had warned them all about Wybert of Capantzina, but the man seemed mostly relaxed. It helped that none of the travelers were currently armed, with all the blasters and such stored aboard the pincke for transit.
Wybert was arm
ed rather more heavily than was necessary.
The creature was turquoise, more or less. He had an upright torso with two pairs of arms, top and bottom, and head atop that with five eyes, two antennae, and a mouth of nightmares, with four finger-like appendages ending in spike-like claws for drawing food in.
On each hip, if you could call them hips, Wybert had a holster with a Manticore pistol in them, rather like a gunslinger. Across his chest and the top of his abdomen, Oluchi could see a semi-rigid armor like a breastplate in several pieces.
Ten legs all ended in feet like the spider’s, if he had to compare them to anything.
And the top arms were holding a long spear with a metal tip over a foot long and as wide as his palm.
Wybert wasn’t threatening anyone, but Lazarus had warned them that the man could be a bit high-strung, whatever that meant.
Once Eha stopped kissing Wolcott, Lazarus gestured to the rest of them.
“Addison, my new friends,” he said. “Grace, Xiuying, and Oluchi. Permission to come aboard?”
“Granted,” the Churquen male said. “Welcome home. Things did not go well?”
Eha had more or less untangled herself and drifted over to one side, putting her closer to Oluchi than the rest of the Humans, but still holding an arm around Wolcott’s waist, just as he had around hers. The last foot or so of their tales were intertwined.
“We ran into someone with Westphalian sensibilities,” Lazarus said carefully, obviously not wanting to set Wolcott off. “He tried to be a problem, so we killed him.”
Rather a stark way to put it, but Oluchi supposed that anyone threatening Eha Dunham would probably deserve it, to see the greeting she had gotten on return.
“Will that cause us other problems?” Wolcott asked, rather taken aback himself, if Oluchi was reading similarities in body language to what he had learned from Eha.
“It will not,” Oluchi stepped up and bowed to the man. “I represent a plurality of the most important trade lords on Yisan, and they supported the operation. My principal looks forward to meeting you personally at some point, and discussing trade in earnest.”
