Star Raider

by Vaughn Heppner

  “It’s like our galaxy is an island,” Greco said one day.

  Tanner shuddered, not liking that for some reason he couldn’t figure out. It lingered back in his mind, refusing to show itself. He scowled. What was going on? Why would he care if his galaxy were an island or not? Whatever the problem, it remained unfocused but present like a stealthy raider.

  By diligent work, he built up a map of the approaching star system. He’d already spotted a few laser platforms in a close orbit around the most outer gas giant.

  “Study the different moons, too,” Ursa suggested. “I believe the Old Federation people built heavy turrets on some of them.”

  By this time, the Dark Star had finally worked up a reasonable velocity given the distance of travel left.

  “I wouldn’t build up any more velocity,” Ursa said. “One of those sensors will spot us later if we have to brake too hard. If just one of them sees us, we’re dead. You know that, right?”

  “Perfectly,” Tanner said. The huge platforms could undoubtedly generate far-striking lasers.

  Bit by bit, Tanner and Greco discovered ancient turrets on the various moons. They also found mines coated with black ice drifting in random patterns. Perhaps as bad, there were over one hundred sensor buoys scattered throughout the outer system.

  “The system itself is a fortress,” Tanner told Ursa in the rec room. “How did Majorian ever figure he could slip past all that?”

  “Easy,” the patrician said. “None of us saw all that the last time we were here. No one knew we had to be so careful.”

  Tanner was bent over the pool table, readying a shot. He paused and straightened. “What do you mean?”

  “Exactly what I said,” Ursa told him. “Don’t you realize yet how advanced our new sensor systems are?”

  Tanner scowled. He hadn’t realized. He’d known they were better, but not fantastically so.

  “I’ve only realized it myself lately,” Ursa said. “In five frantic days, Lord Acton completely changed our raider—your raider. It was more than a mere upgrade. In truth, he made the Dark Star something different. We’re like a ghost out here, one that can see much better than before.”

  “It’s like a man in a nighttime forest,” Tanner said. “And suddenly he can see as well in the dark as an owl.”

  Ursa nodded.

  “I hadn’t realized the extreme difference, but it makes sense now. Yes. I’ve been so preoccupied with Acton, with worrying…”

  “Worrying about his motives?” Ursa asked.

  Tanner grunted. He’d become more and more worried about the blaster and the ancient energy beings. He hadn’t handled the gun since hiding it before entering hyperspace. Was that why Acton had given the Innoo Flaam to him instead of handling the weapon himself? Tanner had almost become convinced that it was because the blaster was too dangerous to handle, which meant the Shand would have played him yet again.

  “It’s strange being way out here,” Tanner said. “We’re alone with the Shand, with his enslaved Lithians and who knows what he has in Lacy’s room.”

  “You have the blaster,” Ursa said.

  “Yes…”

  “Is something wrong with the gun?”

  “Maybe.”

  “What?” Ursa asked.

  Tanner glanced around the chamber. Acton must have installed listening bugs in here. Should he have let the Shand know he doubted the blaster? That might have been a mistake, one he should fix this instant.

  “I’ll tell you what’s wrong with the blaster,” Tanner said. “I don’t dare shoot it in the ship.”

  “Oh. I thought you meant something else.”

  “Like what?” asked Tanner.

  “Maybe there was a failsafe so it wouldn’t shoot if aimed at Acton,” Ursa said.

  “I don’t see how he could do something like that,” Tanner said. But in reality he did. He saw it right away. It made him wonder about the weapon even more. How did Acton know so much about it and the energy beings? That seemed simple. He’d met the energy beings sometime in the past. Maybe the energy creatures powered the blaster. Maybe Acton knew the energy being in this particular gun and they had an agreement.

  Was that crazy?

  Tanner had begun to believe that nothing was crazy on this voyage.

  “What are you thinking?” Ursa asked. “You seem so solemn, so preoccupied.”

  Tanner smiled. “The pressure of the trip is getting to me. The hibernation…I’m still trying to shake off the aftereffects.”

  “Yes,” Ursa said. “I know what you mean.”

  “Let’s finish the game,” Tanner said suddenly. “But let’s make it more fun. We’ll wager.”

  “What should we wager?”

  “That’s easy. If I win, I kiss you.”

  Ursa blushed, blinking faster. She shook her head. “Please, Centurion…let’s be friends. I…I can’t manage more than that.”

  Tanner was silent for a moment. Then, he forced another smile. “Of course, Lady.” Without another word, he bent over the table, lining up a shot.

  Thus, he failed to see Ursa studying him closely as she brushed her fingertips across her lips. Was she wondering what it would have felt like kissing him? Maybe she was.

  ***

  The next few days were tedious and long. Tanner and Greco continued to catalog the approaching star system. They continued to find more equipment, but hadn’t spotted any spaceships anywhere.

  “I have a theory involving the gas giants,” Greco said. “I wonder if waiting spaceships are hiding under the methane clouds like on the wandering planet.”

  “Seems like a bad spot to hide a ship for a long time,” Tanner said. “The atmosphere would corrupt the outer hull given enough time. It would be better to leave them in space.”

  “Agreed,” Greco said. “But the methane clouds would keep the ships hidden better.”

  Tanner shrugged. “Why would that matter? All these laser platforms and sensor buoys are watching Planet Zero, right?”

  “We’ve seen more than one sensor sweeping out-system,” Greco said. “That means some of the sensors are making sure no one outside comes in.”

  “This is all very confusing,” Tanner said. “Why did the Old Federation people leave so much hardware behind? Why wouldn’t they have taken it home with them?”

  “Lord Acton told us why. They’re guarding—”

  “Look,” Tanner said, interrupting. “I know what everyone is saying, but it doesn’t add up. If people were truly worried about hidden cyborgs, why not go down to the planet and scrub them? I mean, at the very least plant a hundred nuclear bombs on the planet. If cyborgs crawl up from somewhere deep, boom, a nuke goes off, scratching those cyborgs. In my opinion, the Old Federation people could have finished the menace forever. Instead, they let cyborgs linger down on the surface and leave all this precious hardware behind. Why would the Federation do that? Does that make sense to you?”

  “We should ask Acton,” Greco said.

  “What for?” Tanner said. “He likes his secrets too much to spill them to us. Besides, he has his own agenda.” Tanner scratched his scalp as he stared into space. “There must be something more down there than just cyborgs. Something Acton doesn’t want to tell us about.”

  The apeman searched the centurion’s features. “You should question Ursa. She’s the one who would know more.”

  Tanner stared into Greco’s eyes. He didn’t nod, not even in the slightest. But he saw that his friend understood him. Tanner did know something, and when the time was right, Greco now knew that he’d tell him what.

  Soon, the two of them continued to study the nearing star system.

  ***

  In his quarters, Acton sat back. He tapped his slate so the centurion’s face zoomed larger. It was clear the others knew he had planted listening devices throughout the ship. What they didn’t realize was that many of the devices gave him visuals as well.

  Lord Acton reviewed every one of the centurion’s fe
atures as he spoke. He tapped the slate, overlaying the man’s normal responses.

  Yes… Tanner of Remus was sharper than his fighting man’s features should warrant. The young legionnaire was dangerous. Giving him the Innoo Flaam might have been a mistake. Could…?

  Acton shook his head. He wouldn’t even allow himself to think that, not now, not here confined to the spaceship with…

  The Shand frowned. He must control his thoughts. This was his most dangerous mission ever. Still, the odds of success should be good as long as the Coalition fleet stayed away. If it arrived too soon…all his long preparation might go to naught.

  Stay the course, Acton told himself. See this through. If you fail…all sentient life might be in danger of extinction.

  He closed his eyes, gathering new energy. Soon, now, he and the humans would have to take the fatal step. He hoped he had the courage to see this through, by Rull he did.

  -40-

  By slow degrees, the Dark Star dumped gravity waves, slowing its velocity. Two weeks had passed since dropping out of hyperspace. The stealth ship neared the outer edge of the last star system in the galaxy.

  Beyond was open space into the grand reaches of the cosmos. A vast loneliness waited out there, the cold of deepest space. Yet that wasn’t the Dark Star’s problem. Could the stealth raider slip unnoticed past ancient waiting sensor buoys, past dangerous laser platforms and sniffing moon turrets?

  If the Dark Star could, that was merely the first layer of defenses to worm past. Worrying about what waited beyond was too much now and for some time to come.

  The tiny vessel slipped past the imaginary line, entering the unnamed star system. The F type star shined with a yellow-white hue as it had for millennia. The terrestrial planet of the star orbited in its slow circuit with perhaps the last remnants of the once mighty Cyborg Empire down there, rusting for ages.

  “We are the ghost,” Tanner said.

  Greco grinned at him.

  “What are you getting so toothy about?” Tanner asked. They were in the control room.

  “Your analogy is backward,” the apeman said. “We’re the living breathing beings passing into the graveyard of an ancient conflict. Those ancients still hunt for their enemy.”

  “No. They hunt to make sure no one helps their ancient enemy get a start over.”

  “We don’t know that,” Greco said. “It’s just what our special passenger has told us.”

  For the hundredth time this trip, Tanner wished Nelly Jordan had joined them. He wondered how she was doing on the Calisto Grandee gigahab. Had she beaten her Rigellian Fever? She could have helped them outsmart Acton despite his Shand toys.

  The days passed with endless waiting and watching. Tanner or Greco made slight course corrections, trying to evade yet another black ice-coated mine. They used the new ship sensors, searching each passing gas giant. At no time, did Tanner or Greco detect waiting battleships inside the methane atmospheres.

  Once the raider passed the halfway point, they stopped searching the gas giants and trained the sensors solely on Planet Zero and its orbital space.

  Orbital space there held hundreds of devices.

  “Those are orbiting nuclear missiles,” Greco declared one day.

  Tanner searched for Acton, telling him the news. “Hundreds of orbiting missiles,” the centurion said, “possibly five hundred or more.”

  “Daunting,” Acton said.

  “Yeah, there’s that. But I have two other words for you, Lord: too much.”

  “We can nullify the orbital threats,” Acton said.

  “Sure, by going to each missile in turn and deactivating it. Now, that might take some time, don’t you think? Do we have the time, though?”

  “We will not have to go to each missile,” Acton said.

  “No? How come? What’s your genius plan this time?”

  “The same as always,” Acton said. “We shall insert down onto the planet—”

  Tanner grew alert. “Insert? What do you mean insert? You’re not talking about taking the Dark Star down onto the planet?”

  “That would be ridiculous,” the Shand said. “The many sensors on and around the planet would detect the raider’s heat shield. By the time we reached the surface, the missiles would already have begun dropping.”

  “Right,” Tanner said. “That’s what I was thinking. So when you mean insert…?”

  “I do not understand your coy manner,” Acton said. “You have inserted before. I have a record of your time in Remus’s elite space-strike team.”

  Tanner smiled. He even laughed. “Are you kidding me?”

  “In what particular?”

  “Enough already,” Tanner said. “I’m not inserting onto that freak world. It’s bleak, a desert planet with vast electrical storms. Winds howl at three hundred kilometers per hour in places. With the fine sand down there, that could tear off our skin.”

  “We won’t stay down there long.”

  “Oh? You’re inserting too?”

  “I am, my Lithians, Lacy—”

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Tanner said. “I’m not inserting with the cyborg princess. Do you think I’m stupid?”

  “I have noted your distrust, but it is unwarranted. I have proven a faithful companion—”

  “Until you start talking about inserting onto a planet no one can leave. Why do I want to spend the rest of my life down there? I forgot. Oh, that’s right, no one ever told me about that until this moment.”

  “We will find cyborg vessels and lift off,” Acton said.

  “Uh, how do these cyborg vessels get out of the star system? You are seeing all these black ice mines, right? You do know laser platforms and gun turrets will shred anything trying to leave?”

  “They will not remain there,” Acton said.

  “Oh no? Care to tell me how you figure that?”

  “Captain, the Coalition is coming after us. They shall clear our way.”

  Tanner shook his head. “What? You never said any of this before. How do you know they’re coming?”

  “I know through logical deduction, of course,” Acton said.

  Tanner rubbed his face, turning away. How had he ever gotten into this mess? This star system daunted him, preyed on his spirit.

  “You should look upon this as a grand adventure,” Aton said. “It is the mission of a lifetime.”

  Tanner’s nostrils flared as he began to count to ten. Once he reached it, he spun around. “Why don’t you level with me, Acton? What’s your purpose for coming? Do you plan on letting any of us leave?”

  “You have a clear purpose,” Acton said in lieu of an answer. “You wish to free Remus from tyranny, from foreign occupation. You have come to acquire a powerful weapon.”

  “I did. But dying on fool’s quest doesn’t seem to be the brightest move. I mean, I’ll even grant you tremendous weapons lie hidden down there. But the hardware in the star system is just too much. What can fight past all that? It would take a huge star fleet. I doubt a handful of people are going to raise something of that caliber. Otherwise, the cyborgs of long ago would have done just that after the Old Federation people left. The cyborgs would have fought free and gone into hibernation elsewhere.”

  “That is soundly reasoned, I grant you.”

  “Now, you’re trying to sell me on an idea that we’ll come up with this superweapon to fight our way free. But it gets better. You’re going to give me this superweapon to keep. You’re going to do this while the Lithians are there to help you stop me.”

  “You will possess the Innoo Flaam,” Acton said.

  “Right, that’s going to trump all your Shand secret knowledge about how everything works. Somehow, I doubt that.”

  “You are not a trusting creature.”

  “Wrong!” Tanner said, as heat built up. “I’m not a trusting man. Do you get that, Acton? I’m a man, not some brain-scrubbed, gelded creature wired to do your bidding.”

  “You are overwrought.”

  “M
aybe because you’re a sneaking liar planning to double-cross us at the worst moment,” Tanner said. “Why, I ought to—”

  Acton leapt back. They were in the rec room. The Shand leapt back as he raised both hands, palms outward, aimed at the centurion.

  The hands didn’t glisten. Instead, Tanner had the impression Acton aimed unseen weapons at him.

  Slowly, Tanner released the hilt of his monofilament blade. The knife was secured under his arm by its harness.

  As fast as the Shand had taken the stance, he lowered his hands, standing normally.

  Tanner flexed his hands and grew uneasy. He had a temper. It didn’t show that often, though. Not like this. He’d been like a dog working itself up. He frowned. Is that what had happened to Lupus?

  “What just happened, Acton?” he asked.

  The Shand seemed to become even more alert than previously. “I would appreciate it if you told me what you meant.”

  “I was ready to stab you,” Tanner said.

  “I noticed.”

  “Why did I get so mad?”

  “I am not a mind reader, although I have studied the human species for a long—”

  “No,” Tanner said, waving his hand through the air. “You know that’s not what I’m talking about. Something else happened.” He tapped his head. “It’s like a pressure against my mind. I don’t know why I haven’t noticed it before this. Something pushed me, making me edgy. What have you brought onto the ship, Shand?”

  “I have warned you about the blaster.”

  Tanner laughed bleakly. “It has nothing to do with the blaster. Lupus went crazy before we ever brought the Innoo Flaam aboard. This is something else, although maybe it’s similar to…” The centurion’s eyes grew wide.

  “If—”

  “You filthy bastard,” Tanner whispered. “You brought one of those energy beings onto my ship, didn’t you?”