She felt the sting of tears, but she pushed them back. Then she looked down at the grenade. One throw and that entire band of thugs would be wiped out. But then the airlock would be destroyed and she’d be trapped. And there were plenty more pirates crowding the lower airlock door, just waiting for a chance to kill.
All crowding close, she realized. With the lower door propped open.
Oh, she thought to herself, you poor bastards.
She pulled the grenade pin and dropped it right next to the upper door. She snapped her faceplate closed then ran down the steps to grab Fence’s sagging body. She pushed him onto the nearest pirates, keeping their blades at bay just long enough for her to clear a few more steps down.
The blast wave hit her back, but it was reversed almost immediately by the thunderous rush of air escaping up through the exploded outer airlock door.
Liam crested another icy ridge and assessed his distance to Amelia’s airlock. Almost there. Just one last descent and some flat terrain to cross before the long descent into the basin.
He blinked at a sudden flash, just catching a glimpse of a red door spinning away from the outbuilding. A second later he saw a small, suited figure come rocketing out, flailing madly as it rode a frosty plume of escaping air. More bodies spat out the shattered airlock and a great cloud of crystals spread like a fog as moist air spilled out into the frigid vacuum.
Liam looked down at the flailing suited figure, immediately recognizing two things. The person in that suit was clearly still alive. And the blast velocity of the escaping air was probably enough to launch her clear into space. She was still below him, but rising out of the basin fast, tracking right to left in front of him. Ahead of him were two dozen paces of rugged ice before the drop-off.
He burst into motion, bounding down from his vantage point and across the rough ice. Her white suit was clearly visible against the black surface below. At the edge of the drop-off he leaped out, sailing free through the airless sky. The figure had slowly rotated, bringing them face-to-face, and through the visor he saw Amelia’s stunned expression.
Liam extended his arms as they approached and she did likewise. Her suit slammed into his. He grabbed on to her and felt the pressure of her arms against him. They spun together, the outside world flashing by in circles around them as they clung on. Gently, carefully, he extended his legs outward away from her, slowing their spin enough that he could look down at the landscape clearly.
They were drifting high over the dark basin, level with the lip but slowly descending. A reasonably flat patch of ground awaited them several hundred paces away. Far below, a fog of frozen air was hanging over the wreckage of the airlock, still growing as more atmosphere gushed through an uncontained breach. That was probably going to finish off the bulk of the pirate threat.
He could just make out his three sailors staring up at him from the top of the cliff.
“Flatrock, this is the XO,” he called. “Signal the other teams to regroup at the barge. We’ll meet you there.”
“Yes, sir.”
He realized Amelia was staring at him, and he smiled at her through their faceplates pressed together. Her face burst into a grin.
“I accept your invitation, Lord Blackwood,” she said, her voice reverberating through the faceplates.
“To what?”
She nodded to their suits intertwined in a slow rotation over the landscape.
“To our first dance.”
He laughed, and settled in to enjoy the moment.
Chapter 22
The morning sunlight streamed in through the tall windows of Admiral Lord Grandview’s study, sparkling through the glass sails of the decorative battleship on his desk: the mighty Vigilance at full sail. It was always an impressive sight, but Liam found himself less impressed by it than he might once have been.
“Still dreaming she might one day be yours?” Riverton asked behind him.
He turned, offering a smile to his captain.
“Not at all, ma’am. I’ve developed a bit of a liking for old frigates hiding under cargo containers.”
She sat back in her chair, her former grace restored after getting some true rest on the long voyage home. Her black hair was swept up in a striking new fashion that drew attention to her elegant neck, and the weight of gold rank on both her shoulders.
“Yes,” she said. “Especially when they come home in one piece.”
“Or mostly one piece. Lieutenant Swift hasn’t stopped growling since we left the pirate base.”
“Nor do I expect him to,” she said with a raised eyebrow, “until one day we decommission Daring into retirement. And then I expect him to cry.”
He laughed at the thought.
“And how’s our quartermaster?” she asked suddenly.
Conflicting emotions suddenly welled up in his heart. Silly joy at just hearing Amelia referred to, mixed with trepidation as Riverton’s gaze fixed on him.
“She’s fine,” he said simply.
“Good.” She continued to stare at him, but he finally felt he knew her well enough to sense a hint of softness in her expression. “I value my crew, and I want them to be happy. But I also need discipline to be maintained.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So, do you think you can make one of my crewmembers happy and still maintain discipline?”
It took him a moment to understand the meaning behind her words. But when he did, a great weight of conflict lifted from his heart.
“Yes, ma’am. You can count on me.”
“Splendid, XO,” she said with a warm smile. “Splendid.”
Her eyes suddenly snapped past Liam to the door, and she rose to her feet. Liam turned, stiffening to attention as Admiral Grandview strode into the room, a pair of junior officers visible just outside. His broad face was alive with good humor, and he gestured for everyone to sit.
“The final audit of your cargo has been completed,” Grandview said without preamble, “and my team has confirmed the tally of your quartermaster. To the penny, I might add. An impressive haul, Commander Riverton.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said. “May I order the disbursement of prize money to my crew?”
“Yes. I’ve chosen my wealthiest underling to coordinate, who hopefully won’t be too shocked over how much money we’re handing over to common sailors. Lieutenant Lakeblue”—he nodded toward the door—“will supervise with your quartermaster.”
“Very good, sir.”
“I’ll arrange for crew payments this afternoon,” Liam added. “We want to be seen to deliver on our promises quickly, sir.”
“Quite right,” Grandview said. “And I’m sure there will be more than a few boisterous sailors in town this evening—please keep an eye on them.”
“Yes, sir.” Liam already had plans to spend the evening with Amelia, but he was sure the coxn and Chief Sky could be tasked with keeping the crew out of trouble.
“Good.” Grandview glanced at the info pads laid out on the table between them. “And now that we’ve dealt with the most important issue of prize money, let’s wrap up these minor details of the mission.”
The admiral was in exceptional humor this morning, but then, as the senior officer responsible for this mission, he was entitled to one-eighth of the prize money. Liam glanced at the glass statue of Vigilance, and wondered if a new model of Daring might find its way into the admiral’s collection.
“Lord Redfort has informed me of your tireless efforts to uncover the truth,” Grandview said to Riverton. “If it wasn’t for you, we’d probably be at war now.”
“And with this revealed truth,” Riverton replied, “I hope the Emperor can see that we indeed have an ally in our fight against criminal elements who threaten the peace.”
“Don’t expect too much,” Grandview cautioned. “But yes, diplomatic ties with the Sectoid grand hive have been reestablished.”
“Their people were captured and tortured for their venom,” Riverton blurted out. “Their pres
ence in our space was just them trying to rescue or seek retribution.”
“And it was Humans who did it,” Liam added.
“And because of you, everyone now knows this. So there will not be war, but don’t expect there to be peace quite that easily.” Grandview made a show of looking through the info pads.
“Those prisoners you brought back,” he said, “will prove valuable. The intelligence they offer will vary, but even having them behind bars will make the Empire a safer place and will send a message to those who still wish to counter our laws.”
“On that subject,” Riverton said carefully, “there is one prisoner of particular interest to us.”
“Yes, damned shame, that.” Grandview glanced over his shoulder to ensure his staff were out of earshot, but still leaned in and lowered his voice. “What an idiot that young Highcastle was. No different from his cousin.”
“He attempted a mutiny,” Liam said with as much force as he dared. “That is a hanging offense, sir.”
Grandview sighed, his gaze dropping to the table.
“What is to be Highcastle’s punishment?” Liam persisted.
“He has been placed under guard and is currently being shipped to the home world, where he will be handed over to the Imperial court. They will decide his fate.”
Liam held his tongue as Riverton’s hand pressed down on his knee.
“I have,” she said quietly, “some doubts as to the efficacy of the Imperial court to properly assess the military implications of this crime. Sir.”
“And those doubts are not misplaced,” Grandview rumbled, “but you both know well that the law is . . . interpreted differently on occasion for the higher nobility.”
“Yes . . . ,” Riverton almost hissed the word, dark eyes deep in thought, “sir.”
“So, let’s focus on the things we can control,” Grandview said, leaning back and raising his voice again. “The data you captured at the pirate base was considerable, and your crew is to be commended for taking the base with so little damage to the memory cores.”
“We conducted as much analysis as we could while in space,” Riverton said, gesturing to the pads, “and I was astonished at the complexity of the pirate organization. This was no simple band of buccaneers, sir.”
“Agreed,” Grandview said. “My team has been adding to your analysis with intelligence gathered from a dozen sectors, and the results are disturbing.”
Liam glanced at Riverton. Her eyes narrowed.
“While the open pirate activity was restricted to the Silica sector,” Grandview continued, “there are other criminal elements we’ve been tracking across Human space. None of them seemed connected, until we started noticing names from across the Empire showing up in the memory core of the pirate base you captured. Names of petty kingpins, of local gang leaders, and the odd political troublemaker. The sort of common thug usually of concern only to a local constabulary. But now, it seems, there is a connection between them all.”
“That is indeed disturbing, sir,” Riverton said.
“We found no pirate leader, as such, at the base,” Liam added. “Just a collective of fighters. But they clearly took orders from someone higher.”
“We assumed that the pirate leader was killed aboard one of his ships in the battle,” Riverton said. “Do you think otherwise, sir?”
“We don’t know,” Grandview admitted. “But a single name keeps coming up in communications, often used as a threat but, very occasionally, appearing as the source of direct instructions: Dark Star.”
The name hung in the silence.
“One of the prisoners mentioned that,” Liam recalled. “But at the time we thought it referred to the base.”
“It appears that Dark Star is a person,” Grandview said. “But there is no criminal connected to that term.”
Liam clasped his chin in thought, trying to recall ever hearing that name before. There was, he felt deep down, something familiar about it.
“I don’t know that name,” Riverton said, looking questioningly to Liam.
“Nothing strikes me,” he admitted. “But I’ll give it some thought.”
“The Emperor would like you to do more than that,” Grandview said, his tone strengthening suddenly.
Liam straightened, spotting the new intensity in Grandview’s features.
“His Majesty is very concerned at the possibility of some sort of organized criminal element growing in the Empire.” Grandview leaned forward, looking first at Liam and then to Riverton. “We don’t know how far this element has reached into our society, but there is concern that the Navy itself may be compromised.”
Liam felt his chest tighten.
“Traitors, sir?”
“Perhaps just loose tongues and the leaking of information. We don’t know. But His Majesty wants us to find out. In particular, he wants you to find out.”
“Meaning,” Riverton asked, “HMSS Daring, sir?”
“Are you and your crew up for another challenge, Commander Riverton?”
She sat back, crossing her arms. Liam could detect the smile hovering at the corners of her lips. “I’m interested to hear more, sir.”
“You’ll be operating outside the Navy, your actions hidden and unreported. You can keep what you capture, and if you succeed you will be rewarded handsomely by His Majesty. But if you fail, there will be no protection or defense from the Empire.”
“Sounds familiar. What’s the mission, sir?”
“Find out who this Dark Star is, and stop them.”
Riverton turned questioning eyes to Liam. He could see the sudden fire in their depths, and realized that he shared it. What was he going to do otherwise—prance around at vapid balls or waste away his days hunting or gambling? This was his calling, he knew. He met Riverton’s eyes and nodded.
She rose to her feet, prompting Liam and Grandview to do likewise. She extended her hand to the admiral.
“Lord Grandview,” she declared, “my executive officer and I accept this commission.”
Acknowledgments
Despite the common image of the solitary typewriter, no author works alone. I couldn’t have produced this book without the following great people: my editor, Vedika Khanna, for steering this project home; my colleague Priyanka Krishnan, for helping me bring this new world to life; my friend Steven Erikson, for his literary advice and anthropological insights; and my agent, Howard Morhaim, for first suggesting that a “fun space-adventure story” might be worth thinking about.
And, as always, my deepest thanks to my beloved Emma, for all her amazing support.
About the Author
BENNETT R. COLES served as an officer in the Royal Canadian Navy for fifteen years. Once, very early in his career, he was back aft watching flight operations in the North Pacific and he thought: “This is really cool—but it would be even cooler if it was in SPACE!” Thus began his quest to write science fiction books with a naval theme. Along the way he has won an award or two, presented at numerous cons, and met many lovely people. This is his fourth book (that he’ll admit to). He makes his home in Victoria, British Columbia, with his lovely wife and two cherubic boys.
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Copyright
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
winds of marque. Copyright © 2019 by Bennett R. Coles. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mech
anical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
Harper Voyager and design are trademarks of HarperCollins Publishers LLC.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
Digital Edition APRIL 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-282036-5
Print ISBN: 978-0-06-282035-8
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