Dark Horse

by Michelle Diener

  “Theyʼll live.” Havak lifted his head after heʼd checked both of them. “Rose?”

  “Taken.” The word scratched his throat like gravel.

  “Taken where? She must still be on board.” Havak stood as his team put Halim and Xaltro on the stabilized stretchers and waited for them to rise up to waist height.

  “What are you thinking?” Appal asked him, and he realized he hadnʼt even responded to Havakʼs question. The doctor was already gone, the passageway clear except for Halim and Xaltroʼs weapons.

  Appal picked them up.

  “I think they either wanted to ask her something first and took her somewhere private to interrogate her before they killed her, or they want her in their own custody, for whatever reason, and they are going to try and get her off the ship.”

  “If itʼs the first scenario . . .” Appal glanced at him.

  “If itʼs the first, sheʼs already dead.” He forced himself to say it. “But if itʼs the second——”

  “Captain.” Borjiʼs voice came through the comm, panicked. “The crew you ordered back from the Class 5 to the Barrist just passed one of our maintenance pods. The person in it is Rose.”

  He didnʼt know which way to run. Back to the bridge, to see what the hell was going on, or to the launch bay. “Why didnʼt maintenance pick that up? Can we read her vitals?”

  “The system was overridden. It should have generated a status report, but that was suppressed by someone on board.” He hesitated. “The maintenance pod is not communicating with the Barrist. But from the brief glimpse through the runnerʼs lens feed, Rose has been beaten. Thereʼs bruising on her face and she appears semi-conscious.”

  “Whatʼs her trajectory?” They had to be sending her to Fu-tamaʼs ship, or the new player who was lurking behind Virmana.

  “The Class 5, and at the top speed the maintenance pod is capable of.”

  The Class 5?

  “Turn the runner around. Get them to go back for her.”

  He heard Borji convey the command and turned to Appal. “They knocked her out and put her in a maintenance pod, and have sent her to the Class 5.”

  He started back to the bridge, and Appal easily kept up with his long-legged strides.

  “Why the Class 5?”

  “Itʼs the closest, and those maintenance pods canʼt travel that far. Maybe they think they can get the Class 5 back.”

  “Maybe theyʼve had it all this time.” Appal shoved her shockgun back into her leg holster.

  Dav shook his head. “Then they wouldnʼt have sent a big battleship in. They wouldnʼt need to.”

  Appal conceded his point with a nod. Then she sent him a sidelong look. “Youʼre hiding it well.”

  “Am I?” He didnʼt pretend not to understand her.

  “I know you better than anyone on board, and even I wondered for a moment.”

  “Good. Because if theyʼre holding her for ransom or some concession, itʼs better if they donʼt know Iʼd do anything to get her back.”

  His comm tapped and he accepted without waiting to hear who it was. “Yes?”

  “Itʼs good to hear that you care for Rose, Captain Jallan.” The voice in his ear was not one he recognized. “Please turn the runner around. I wonʼt let it back on the Class 5. Rose has concussion, but I am able to deal with that without help, so she will be looked after.”

  “Who the hell are you?” He was just outside the doors to the bridge, and Dav strode in, gestured to Borji.

  “Iʼm a friend of Roseʼs, just like you. Before we introduce ourselves, I really would not like to hurt any of your crew, so again, please turn that runner around.”

  “Captain?” Kila stumbled to her feet. “The Class 5 just locked weapons on the runner you sent back to get Rose.”

  “Tell them to turn back.” Dav looked at the screen, at the Class 5 right in front of them, and saw the tiny maintenance pod disappear into the launch bay, the runner chasing after it. Everyone stared at him, frozen. “Now!”

  “What is going on, Captain?” Hoke rose from his chair on the bridge as Borji told the runnerʼs pilot to turn back in quiet, urgent tones, and Valu stepped up beside her.

  “It seems we have a situation.” Dav kept his eyes on the Class 5. Watched as the runner did a slow turn and came back toward the Barrist. “Someone other than us is in control of the Class 5. Borji, put my comm feed on broadcast for the bridge only.” He waited a beat until that was done.

  “Weʼve turned the runner around. Stand down.”

  “Standing down, Captain.” The voice was cool, almost amused.

  Dav looked over at Kila and she nodded confirmation that guns were no longer trained on the runner.

  “What do you intend to do with Rose?” He kept his own voice just as cool.

  “Make sure sheʼs safe. You should approve of that. After all, your ship has hardly proven to be that where she is concerned. I have a surprise for you in Maintenance Bay 32, by the way. I locked the doors and overrode the entry and exit codes so only yourself, Commander Appal or Lieutenant Borji can access the bay. I think the man youʼll find in there is the only traitor on board, but I canʼt be certain, so when he tried to send Rose to Councilor Fu-tamaʼs ship, I decided to intervene and put her back on the Class 5, where itʼs just Rose and myself. A much more easily containable situation.”

  There was absolute silence on the bridge.

  “Let me get this straight, you werenʼt responsible for Roseʼs abduction?”

  “No, I just told you, Iʼm her friend. You can inform your aide that heʼs lucky Rose made me swear not to kill anyone on board this ship or he would be dead. As it is, either you, Commander Appal or Lieutenant Borji had better hurry, because I switched off the air filter in the maintenance bay. Mr. Lothric is feeling incredibly uncomfortable, I hope, and if you donʼt let him out in the next half an hour, he will most likely die.”

  “Iʼll deal with it.” Appal tapped her comm, and as she strode out, Dav heard her calling four members of her team to meet her at the bay. The light of fury was in her eye.

  Farso Lothric. Previously the Battle Center aide on Garmma.

  Councilor Fu-tama was Garmman.

  Dav tapped his ear, connected with Appal. “Place Fu-tama under arrest, as well.”

  She gave a grunt of confirmation.

  Then Dav caught Borjiʼs expression.

  “Captain.” His hand shook as he gripped his chair as if for balance. “Ask this person how he re-routed the maintenance capsule, changed the access codes, and how he is talking to you through the Barristʼs comm system.”

  “Thatʼs simple, Lieutenant Borji.” It appeared Roseʼs friend didnʼt need Dav to ask, he could hear Borji just fine. “I now control the Barristʼs comm system, its maintenance system, in fact, all its systems. I have been in control of the Class 5 since you boarded it, as well, and may I congratulate you on your very able attempts to take it from me. It was most stimulating battling intellects with you.”

  “Who are you?” Admiral Hokeʼs voice shook.

  “My name is Sazo.”

  “What are you?”

  There was a moment of silence. “I am a type of Sherlock Holmes.”

  “How do you know Rose?” Dav thought he knew, but he wanted to be sure.

  “You could say we were fellow inmates of the Tecran. I canʼt talk anymore. Rose is hurt and I need to see to her.”

  The comm cut off.

  “What is a Sherlock Holmes?” Kila asked into the silence.

  “What the hell did the Tecran pick up on their travels, more to the point?” Hoke asked quietly.

  “Something dangerous.” Dav looked around the bridge at his senior team. “Itʼs taken over the Barrist, and Iʼm guessing every other ship in our little convoy.”

  “What now?” Borji was still white-faced.

  “We hope Rose likes us enough to rein her friend in.”

  29

  Rose came round slowly, rising up from sleep in increments.

  She was h
ungry, but that was the only thing bothering her. She felt comfortable and warm, and she stretched languidly before she opened her eyes.

  She actually felt her heart jerk in her chest when she realized where she was, and sat up with a gasp, eyes wildly searching the room.

  “Itʼs all right, Rose. Itʼs the sick bay, not the . . . place where Dr. Fliap used to work on you.” Sazoʼs voice was calm, but she couldnʼt flop back down in relief. There was no way she could ever feel anything but panicked in a room that looked the way this one did. A Tecran medical chamber.

  She saw now that as sheʼd sat up, various automated syringes, drips and monitors had lifted from her body and tucked themselves out of the way. She slid onto the floor, and held the side of the bed to get her balance.

  “How are you?” Sazoʼs voice was a little more intense, now.

  She lifted a hand to her chin, gently touched the tender skin under it. It was already half-healed. “I feel fine.” Davʼs aide had hit her in the head, she remembered, although not clearly. It was all a jumble of images and pain. She rubbed where she thought heʼd struck her, and winced.

  “It will be a little tender there, but Iʼve given you the accelerated healing treatment Fliap used on you because I knew it was safe. All traces of the bruising should be gone in two to three hours.”

  “Are there any of the Barristʼs crew still on the Class 5?” She was trying to recall something that had happened before sheʼd been taken. Something important . . .

  “The Tecrans sent another ship!”

  “A Levron battleship.” Sazo sounded disappointed.

  “You hoped theyʼd send another Class 5.” If he had a corporeal body, she would have patted his arm in sympathy.

  “I intend to make them send one.”

  The first tingle of alarm had her narrowing her eyes. “How do you plan to do that?”

  “Iʼve been sending messages to all the Class 5s, but itʼs conceivable theyʼre being blocked, that there is some filter in place while the other four like me are plugged into the slot. I certainly was never made aware of their existence, I found the information when I managed to become more . . . aware.”

  “How long did it take you to become aware?” She had always wondered how long heʼd been here.

  “I donʼt know. Now youʼve freed me from the control room, Iʼve information that puts the development and construction of the Class 5 at six years ago. So I am at most six years old.”

  He sounded bitter.

  “That pretty much sucks.” Six years, and all heʼd ever known. She started to understand why heʼd killed the whole crew.

  Sazo laughed suddenly. “I really like talking to you, Rose. You make me not so angry.”

  “Thatʼs what sidekicks are for, my friend.” Rose took an experimental step and was encouraged when she didnʼt fall over. “Oh no!” She fisted her hands and stopped dead.

  “What is it?” He sounded panicked.

  “Iʼm starving, and I just realized weʼre on the Class 5, where Iʼve never once had a decent meal.” The very fact of how hungry she was surprised her. “How long have I been out for, anyway?”

  He didnʼt need to breathe, but he let out a breath, just the same. “You gave me a fright. Youʼve been out for five hours. But donʼt worry, we have full access to the stores now, weʼll find something you like.”

  “Is Dav okay? That Lever thingy battleship hasnʼt tried to attack them, has it?”

  “Levron.” Sazo sounded amused. “No. Iʼve been in communication with it and made it very clear that I will completely wipe it out of existence if it so much as moves from where itʼs skulking behind Virmana. Iʼm busy working on breaking into its systems right now.”

  Rose lifted her head. “Did you communicate with it as Sazo, or did you copy someone elseʼs voice?”

  “Rose, itʼs almost spooky the way you guessed that. Quite disconcerting, actually.”

  “Another sidekick trait. Answer the question.”

  “Actually . . .” Now he sounded distinctly uncomfortable. “I communicated as you.”

  She wondered why heʼd done that, waited for him to explain.

  “There is someone else I communicated with.” He didnʼt sound normal.

  “Who?”

  “Captain Jallan.”

  She gasped. “You revealed yourself?”

  “He was very worried about you, and when the Levron arrived instead of a Class 5, I realized I would have to change my plans.”

  “Sazo, Iʼm so proud of you. It was the right thing to do.”

  He was quiet for a moment. “I can only hope youʼre right.”

  “Iʼm not a traitor. Although I admit that from the short-term perspective, it could look that way.” Farso Lothric leaned back in his chair and stared them down defiantly.

  Dav had felt very little for his aide before now. Heʼd had no say in his appointment, and had accepted him as one of a revolving group of young officers who needed at least two years on an exploration craft to get ahead within Battle Center. Now, looking at Lothricʼs sulky mouth, and an expression that shouted he thought he was the smartest person in the room, Dav managed to edge his way to extreme dislike.

  “Why donʼt you help us poor, short-term-thinking idiots out, and tell us all about the bigger picture.” Dav tipped back in his own chair, holding Lothricʼs gaze. “What long-term benefit is there to you exchanging communications with a hostile outside force, attempted murder, the near-fatal attack of two soldiers and the assault and kidnapping of a guest of the Grihan government, the only new advanced sentient being weʼve discovered in five hundred years?”

  “Iʼd very much like to hear the answer to that, myself.” Admiral Hoke crossed her arms over her chest. She was leaning against a wall, and Valu flanked her.

  Lothric flicked a look in their direction, then looked quickly away.

  Appal stood by the door, shockgun armed and in her hand. Borji had pulled up a chair and sat at an angle to the table. Heʼd begged to be included in the interrogation, so he could try to work out how badly Lothric had compromised their systems.

  Lothric was silent.

  “Well? If you could quickly enlighten us? Iʼm afraid Iʼm a bit busy at the moment, Mr. Lothric.” Dav refused to call him by his rank. “Iʼve got a Tecran battleship hiding behind Virmana, a UC councilor who has betrayed the alliance, no contact with Battle Center and an unknown presence who has taken over not only all the systems on the Class 5, but the Barrist as well.”

  Lothric started at that. “What unknown presence?”

  “I thought you might have the answer to that question. But why donʼt you start with this big picture that will somehow be to Grihan benefit?”

  “Weʼve been artificially holding ourselves back for too long. When the UC banned thinking systems two hundred years ago, they didnʼt listen to Professor Fayir. He told them heʼd found a safe way to keep thinking systems in society, but there was too much hysteria, too much emotion around the topic and he was ignored.”

  “And someone decided to go down that path again?” Hokeʼs words were almost weary.

  “No. Someone found the professorʼs plans. The blueprints for his safe thinking systems.”

  “Who?” Dav straightened in his chair.

  “A Garmman historian, writing a paper on the thinking system wars. He gained access to Professor Fayirʼs papers and found the blueprints on an unlabeled chip.”

  “And someone decided to follow them.” Dav kept his gaze flat.

  Lothric nodded, his chin tilted defiantly. “The historian handed them to a friend, a senior person in the Garmman government, Councilor Fu-tama, and he decided he needed Grihan help to translate the instructions, so there would be no mistakes. He brought a few of us on board.”

  “And you were happy to oblige, even though you were breaking Grih law as well as UC law, and the oath of loyalty you took when you signed up for Battle Center.” Valu spoke for the first time, and there was a slight tremble in his voice.

  “I was ha
ppy to oblige. The Grih, the whole United Council, is falling behind. I understand the reasons for the thinking system wars, but that was two hundred years ago. Other races are coming closer to developing thinking systems like the ones we had before it blew up in our faces, and if they get it right, weʼll be in trouble. I was thinking of the Grihʼs long-term prosperity.”

  “Even it thatʼs true, if you are so proud of what youʼve done, why didnʼt you bring it into the open, debate it publicly? If itʼs so obvious and so vital that we consider it, why not put it to Battle Center command, or, given your former position at UC Headquarters, get it raised in the main chamber?”

  Lothric lifted his head to look at Dav, and for the first time, he looked uncomfortable. “Fu-tama said heʼd already raised the issue and it had been shut down. That the other UC councilors and Battle Center wouldnʼt even contemplate a conversation about it.”

  “How convenient for him. He could go ahead with it all on his own.”

  “No.” Lothricʼs answer was automatic, then he grimaced. “I admit, that did worry me, that a Garmman was developing blueprints that should have been in Grih hands, but Councilor Fu-tama explained to me that once they had a working model, and it had been operating for a few years, there would be no way anyone could doubt the veracity of what Professor Fayir had accomplished.” He sighed. “But like the UC councilors, it turned out most of the Garmmans he approached were also opposed to the idea. So in the end, Fu-tama made a deal with the Tecran. It was the only way to get the systems built.”

  “So,” Dav didnʼt try to hide his sarcasm. “How did you go from wanting to save the Grih from losing some sort of thinking systems race to trying to drown Rose in a swimming pool?”

  Lothric flushed.

  He didnʼt like Dav calling it the way it was, that was clear. He wanted to pretty up what heʼd done. It didnʼt fit with the little fiction heʼd built for himself.

  “Well?”

  “She shouldnʼt be here!” He sounded genuinely outraged. “The Class 5s were supposed to explore the galaxy, but there was to be no collecting of sentient beings. Goods, riches, information, yes, all those things. No live organisms. For one thing, the potential risk of disease or some kind of unknown contagion alone would have made it dangerous enough, and risked the acceptance of the whole project with the UC, but also, there could be no whiff of sentient being abuse. Especially after the reason for the thinking system wars in the first place——the way they treated people as inconvenient delays or mistakes and killed them if it was the most expedient outcome. And what did the Tecran do? They took eight sentients, one of them advanced. And then they dropped themselves into Grih territory, guilty as sin, and handed us the evidence to convict them.” He actually grabbed his hair and pulled. “If Dr. Fliap wasnʼt already in a coma, Iʼd put him there myself with my bare hands.”