In a moment’s thought, she recalled their names: Hayes, Olsen, and Crewes. She leaned between Hayes and Crewes, putting her hands on the tabletop as she glared directly into Olsen’s eyes. Technician Olsen resembled a rabbit in headlights as she looked up to see whose shadow had been cast over her tray.
“I take the morale of my crew very seriously.” Barbara knew the smile she currently wore was known for inspiring terror in young crewpersons. She saved it for special occasions. “Do you feel like your captain is compromised, Olsen?”
“N-no, ma’am.” Olsen shook her head violently.
“How about you, Technician Hayes? Crewes?”
Their denials echoed Olsen’s. They were false, of course. She’d hoped at least one of them would have the spine to say yes. Maybe these insidious rumors would stop if she could confront them directly. Sadly, these three weren’t going to give her the chance.
“The Mystics on this boat work as hard as you do, with more risk of exposure to hostile forces. They are as loyal to Earth as you and me. It doesn’t take Mystic mind tricks to see that.” She straightened, watching how Crewes and Hayes twisted to face her.
“I don’t believe in forcing people to believe what I do, but I do believe in maintaining morale. If I hear of the three of you, or anyone else, spreading rumors that denigrate my character or that of other members of my crew, you will regret the day you crossed me. Are we clear?”
They assured her that she was, made of crystal and glass, she was so clear. Her smile deepened, and the three of them blanched.
“Wonderful. I want the three of you to meditate on this while you’re helping with clean up after the lunch shift. Report to Mister Reagan. Tell him you’re on galley cleanup until further notice.”
“Aye, captain,” they chorused.
She disposed of her tray’s contents and left the galley, maintaining her cold smile while she clenched her teeth. She’d like to go back to her habit of eating in her office, but she knew her presence among the crew was a great benefit. They would follow a captain who cared enough about them to learn their names, see them at work, appreciate who they were as individuals. She wouldn’t let a few rumor-mongers deter her.
It wasn’t hard to pin down what bothered her most. Even though they were turning her into a victim, the worst was their mentality of Human versus Mystic, Us versus Them. It divided the crew, created animosity where none belonged.
She returned to the bridge, mulling the problem over. She couldn’t force anyone to change their minds. She could only set the right example and put down the rumors whenever she could. She’d get her crew’s trust. It was just a matter of time.
***
The ship bucked, throwing Barbara to the deck as the claxons wailed. She wasn’t alone; a few of her bridge crew climbed to their feet alongside her.
“Engineering better get their act together,” Johnson growled.
“That isn’t an Engineering alarm,” Barbara said, raising her voice to be heard above the alarm. “That’s a proximity alert. Higgins, sound general quarters.”
The claxon muted, and a different alarm echoed through the ship. Throughout Siren, crewmen hurried to their battle stations, engineers and Mystics included. She hoped Alan and his team were up for this because if they couldn’t outmaneuver the pirates, they were in a lot of trouble.
She harnessed into her seat and put the tactical display on the main screen. Three unknown ships closed in on Siren and Mariana. Coming from different vectors, they seemed most focused on Siren, though Barbara was sure they’d take out the more vulnerable colony ship if left exposed.
“Higgins, call Mariana. Tell her to stay on course. Take evasive maneuvers as needed, we’ll keep them busy.”
“Aye, captain.”
“Bring us around, Ensign Johnson. We’ll take the fight to them.”
He acknowledged, his hands flying over the controls. Everyone strapped in as McNuggen gave orders. They’d go after the enemies’ engines, then get Mariana to safety. The important thing was to keep the civilians safe. If the pirates couldn’t’ catch the colonists, they couldn’t harm them.
Siren hummed as the engines kicked in at full power. They wove between two of the attackers, peppering their hulls with railgun projectiles. Once in close range, Barbara maneuvered them so if the pirates fired, they also risked striking their ally. If they went after Mariana, they’d expose their backs to Siren. They eventually broke formation to move from the crossfire position, so Siren stayed alongside one ship, using them as a shield against the other two.
They were grazed by a laser weapon. Barbara had never seen the like, and she set Masters to analyzing the weapon. The pirate ships were nearly works of art, outfitted with weapons beyond her experience. Yet none of them flew like Johnson, and their captains couldn’t outthink McNuggen.
They fought a battle of attrition, wearing away at their enemies, slowing them down and doing damage that was minimal on its own but crippling when compounded. She kept the fingers of her left hand crossed, praying Siren would hold together long enough the pirates would give up, and the Mariana would get away.
Their concentrated barrage on one of the ships suddenly ripped its hull open. The bridge crew whooped as the ship drew away. Johnson sent the speedier Siren spiraling around the ship they were using for a shield, ready to engage the next enemy. All at once, Siren groaned, and a shudder ran through her from stem to stern.
The lights went out. Something crashed into them and sent them into a spin sure to carry them into the void, but they stopped so suddenly Barbara was thrown against her harness with gut-wrenching force. Her shoulder popped and she gasped in pain. The emergency lights came on, but the ship’s screens and controls remained dark.
“Report.” She coughed amid the grinding pain shooting through her shoulder. It was broken, then. She held still as she fumbled for her datapad. “Is everyone alive?”
“Johnson is unconscious, but I see him breathing,” Higgins reported. “I’m not feeling great myself, but I’m here.”
“Good. See if you can get us up and running. I don’t like being blind. Anyone need a medic?” She unsnapped her harness and stood up, looking around. Everyone looked dazed, if they had their eyes open at all. “Who’s unhurt? Yates? Get to the medical bay and see who’s—”
Another groan shook the ship, followed by the deafening screech of metal cutting into metal. Yates froze with his fingertips pressed to Johnson’s throat, poised to follow her order.
“They’re boarding us,” Barbara murmured. They were cutting through the hull, and without her instruments, she had no way to know where they were coming through.
“Yates, new orders. Find out where they’re coming through. Masters, see who you can raise via datapad. We’ll need a force to meet the enemy. Nobody steps foot on my ship without my leave, do you hear me?”
Their answering “Aye-aye, sir!” was more spirited than she’d hoped. It didn’t raise her estimate of victory, but it told her there was still some fight left in her crew.
***
Barbara leaned against the bulkhead, peering around the corner at the white-hot circle someone was cutting into her ship. They had already breached the outer hull, now they had come to the starboard airlock.
They were leaving the ship spaceworthy. Even the exterior hole wouldn’t matter if they kept this airlock shut. Some of her crew viewed it as a good sign. She’d put that idea down as soon as it came up. She didn’t believe the pirates intended to be merciful. She saw it as part of a plan to steal her ship.
The piece of hull hit the deck with a loud clang. She lifted her weapon. She wouldn’t be getting any points for accuracy with her left arm in a sling, but she was going to fight this out with her crew.
“Masks,” she called out as gray smoke rolled into the corridor. Everyone sealed their rebreathers. She switched on the private communications link with those in a sealed helmet. “Wait until I give the word, then fire. I don’t want one shot going out until
we can see their ugly faces.”
They didn’t have to wait long. Heavy boots clomped on the deck, but she didn’t see a single pirate. They were right on the other side of the hole. She could hear them moving.
“My kingdom for a grenade,” she murmured.
Someone chuckled in her ear. She ignored it; it was just a nervous reaction.
A hand appeared in the doorway, flicking in and out of sight before she could react. Her mouth opened to give the firing order, but the pirate stayed behind cover. She grit her teeth. Half her fighters were in bad shape, and the other half weren’t much better. Their fight was to scare off the pirates. She expected things wouldn’t go her way. Their only real hope was to die well.
Something caught her eye; the emergency lights hit it at the right angle, outlining a copper disc floating silently on a cushion of air. It drew close, a set of lights blinking on its surface. They flickered slowly at first, then faster, and it emitted a high-pitched hum that intensified as its lights sped up.
“Take cover,” she yelled.
The words were still leaving her mouth when electricity exploded from the disc’s surface. A tendril of energy hit Barbara, and the next moment she was on her back with the scent of burned hair in her nostrils. She tried to stand, but her body felt disconnected from her brain. She told her right arm to reach for the gun she’d dropped, but all her hand did was twitch its fingers. Trying to sit up got the same result, as did trying to speak.
Her eyes closed despite her efforts to keep them open. The next thing she knew, she was flipped over, her hands bound behind her back. Her injured shoulder protested, and she knew it would be worse once her head cleared.
She found herself kneeling before a Pirr in a ragged coat, flanked by two filthy gray Yeti. One of them wore an eyepatch and watched her with lips peeled back to reveal sharp teeth. She looked away. If she knew anything about Yeti, you didn’t want to keep eye contact with one in bloodlust.
She focused on the Pirr. Rough clothing or not, he had the look of someone who had never worked a day in his life; even his eyebrows were groomed.
“I don’t see any peg legs,” she croaked, wobbling to her feet. “Some pirates you are.”
The Yeti on the left stepped forward and pushed her back down to her knees with a growl. The Pirr held up his hand, and the Yeti backed away.
“You are the captain of this vessel, correct?” the Pirr asked. “I ask because the last captain locked himself in his bridge until we cut him out. It went very poorly for him.”
“I am Captain McNuggen, yes. If you’re trying to scare me, you’ll need to try harder.” She glared, letting the pain in her shoulder feed her hostility.
One of the Yeti warbled to the other. It had been a long time since she’d heard their guttural, growling language, but she understood it was saying something about honor and war-leaders. Her head spun too much to follow it well.
“Greetings, Captain McNuggen. I am Hyuen. As we speak, your engine is being dismantled. Your Mystics are being cut out of their chamber. Ten of your crew have been identified as Mystics without training. What do you say to that?”
It sounded like an accusation. Barbara frowned. “I guess that can happen. Not everyone wants to peruse their Mystic talent.”
“We will remove them from your care. Human Mystics fetch a high bounty.”
“You can take me instead. I’m worth more in ransom than anything you could get for a few Mystics.”
The left-hand Yeti’s fur rippled in happiness. She scowled at it. She wasn’t interested in making a Yeti pirate happy.
“You have impressed my friends with your bravery and honor.” Hyuen smirked. “They wish to let you live. What do you think? Would you like to ask for your life?”
She spat at his feet. “Do what you want. Either way, you’re still a thief and a murderer, and I won’t beg for anything but my crew’s lives. Let them go, and I’ll do anything. Harm a single one of them, and I will hunt you to the grave and beyond.”
“You’re right. She is brave…in a foolhardy sort of way,” Hyuen mused. “Put her back to sleep, will you? Her threats are amusing, but we have more important things to deal with.”
“Don’t touch me,” Barbara started to say, but there was a pinch at the nape of her neck. A soft darkness enveloped her as she sank to the floor.
***
Siren’s engines were damaged beyond repair, leaving the ship to survive on battery power alone. When Barbara woke, the pirates were gone, along with the Mystics and twelve crewmembers.
Nonessential parts of the ship were sealed off in an attempt to use less power. Higgins got communications online but no one answered their distress calls. Mariana was long gone, with no way to know if she escaped or was destroyed.
Siren was dead in the water. If they didn’t run out of air, they’d freeze. If they didn’t freeze, they’d run out of food and water. Odds of rescue were practically nil. Still, Barbara recorded a distress call and sent it out on repeat. She wouldn’t give up without a fight.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
E.F.S. Vaughan was cozier on the return trip than it had been on the way to Geneva. Low-ranking crewmembers had to share bunks with the new ‘students’ headed for the Mystic Academy. The Genevans adjusted their sleep schedule so that they slept while their hosts were on duty. That gesture made it easier to share, but Jack still heard complaints about lost privacy and personal space.
Nada and Ephraim shared a cabin with him and Julia. He didn’t mind, but it left him with nowhere to work on his manuscript. He could use the commune chamber, he supposed, but he didn’t enjoy sitting on the floor. That left him with the galley. He lingered over his datapad long after the dinner shift ended, skimming what he’d written and making notes. It kept him busy until his guests woke up and he could turn in.
“Excuse me, Mystic Gagnon?”
“That’s me.” Jack gestured at the seat across from him before he locked his datapad. “Is everything okay?”
He crossed his fingers under the table as he asked. The younger Mystic recruits had decided he was the one to go to with their problems. He’d already navigated more roommate problems than he’d ever expected or wanted. He still preferred those over rescuing someone who decided to screw around with their Mystic abilities without any training or oversight.
At least this young man didn’t seem panicked. That boded well. His visitor’s name came to him as Jack waited for more information, then he realized it probably wasn’t coming on its own.
“You’re Nico Carter, right? You were on Doomslayer.”
“Yes, sir. I worked security, actually. I’m surprised you remember me.”
“Not so much from Doomslayer, but I heard about you on Geneva. You turned out to be a pretty good hunter if I remember correctly.”
Nico shrugged, ducking his head modestly. “I guess so.”
“So what can I do for you, Hunter Carter?” He was rewarded with a self-conscious laugh. Jack set his datapad aside to give Carter his full attention.
“Nothing much. I just was wondering about some things.” Carter looked around the galley. It was mostly empty. Their only company was a handful of playing cards. “Can I ask you some questions?”
“Yes, of course. Are you having second thoughts?”
“Not really. Unless…well, I was wondering about dragons.” Carter’s gaze became fixed on a point just above Jack’s shoulder. He could almost feel the force of the recruit not staring.
“What about them?”
“How did you get yours? Could anyone just suddenly get…attached to one?”
Jack shook his head gently. He was pretty sure attached hadn’t been the first word that came to mind. At least Carter was tactful.
“No, not just anyone. We entered a pact with the dragons at Ian’s World. This was part of the deal.” Jack waved one hand around his face. “And it was all voluntary.”
“What about on Cavey? I heard that Mystic First Class Dante got possessed there a
nd did a lot of bad things. I heard he wasn’t in control.” Carter’s skin flushed pink.
Jack could understand the young man’s curiosity and the worry. It was brave, too, to enter in a new life with new rules, without knowing all the consequences.
“That was different. Dante’s a good man, and dragons only have good intentions for mankind—for all life, really.” Jack leaned back, folding his hands over his belly as he assessed Nico Carter’s expression. “And that was one rogue dragon. We know much more now how to avoid an unpleasant situation like that one.”
“If you could end the pact, would you?”
Jack considered how he had entered into the partnership with both eyes open. It had seemed necessary at the time and also final.
“No.”
“Because it makes you stronger?” Carter asked, his brow furrowed.
Jack shook his head again. “No. The power is nice, but I wouldn’t miss it the way I’d miss my dragon. She’s part of me now. We’re partners, and I’d be incomplete without her.”
“How do you know those are your thoughts and not the dragon’s?”
Jack raised his eyebrows. That was a good question, but he wasn’t about to say so. He trusted his dragon. She’d done well by him, and he had no reason to doubt her. Yet that didn’t sound solid enough for a stranger to trust.
“I’m in her head as much as she’s in mine.” Not entirely true, but close enough to reassure a new Mystic. “If she was messing with me, I’d know it. We’ve built trust over the years. Don’t worry, we’re good.”
Carter nodded thoughtfully. His thumb drifted toward his face, and he began to chew on the nail. Jack tried not to be impatient. Then the young Mystic seemed to realize he was chewing on his nails and dropped his hand into his lap, wiping his fingers on his coveralls.
“What if I wanted a dragon?”
Jack chuckled, then regretted it when Carter’s face darkened. “I’m sorry, man. I don’t really know. Maybe when you’re done training, you’ll find a dragon who wants a toehold on the physical plane. They approached us. I don’t think it’s anything that can be forced from our side.”
Dragon Wave Page 16
