“After that, once I thought I’d earned my stripes, I put in for Vox.”
That was Reeve’s old ship, but Treena didn’t tell him that. “And?”
“Denied, but I did secure a spot on Eveli. Good ship, solid, but not overly fulfilling.” Conner grinned at her, and it took her back to the Academy.
“But you captained your own vessel recently. That’s what Rene told me.”
“She’s being too kind. It was a cruiser with four crew members. Not what I’d call the dream job. It was even worse, fending off pirates of Concord transport ships and freighters. That’s the kind of stuff you hire out, instead of using Concord-trained officers, but the Concord was in a dire place. With the recent resurgence, opportunities arose, and when I heard the news of Cedric passing on Casonu Two, I had to throw my name into the ring.”
“Just like that? And they accepted?” Treena asked. Usually it took a little more Concord involvement to hire an executive crew, but maybe Admiral Benitor was finally giving her captains a little more autonomy.
“Can you blame them?” he asked, smiling cockily. “Truth is, Rene had her reservations, but we got along well at the Academy, and she gave me a chance. I’m grateful, because this ship is amazing, and look at this mission. We’re doing something important. Helping a partner in need and dealing with actual issues, not neighbors bickering over crop values,” he said.
“Give it a month, and you’ll be wishing for a quieter time,” Treena told him.
“Maybe, but it’s worth the risk. And you? I heard about the accident… and Felix,” he told her. Felix and Conner had struggled to get along, though not because they weren’t compatible. It had been because of her. Conner had made it clear he was interested in Treena, and Felix hadn’t been too pleased.
“It wasn’t an accident, Conner. It was the Assembly,” she told him.
“Keen.”
Treena nodded, the anger rising inside once again. She almost let it go, but being reminded about Felix and that other part of her life was enough to have the emotions resurface. And now they were on the way to retrieve the very man who’d killed the love of her life, along with countless others. She was supposed to be dead because of Lark Keen, but instead she’d been spared, to live out the rest of her years in a bed on life support while being jacked into a robotic body. It wasn’t fair.
“Are you okay?” he asked, reaching for her hand. She jerked it away before he could touch her.
“I’m fine. Conner, there’s something you need to know about me,” she told him.
His eyes were wide, listening intently. “Sure. I’m all ears.”
“I was almost killed in that attack. My…”
“I heard. I can’t believe you’re here.”
How to tell him? “I’m not really here, Conner.”
“I don’t understand,” he said as Yin Shu’s AI projection appeared beside them.
“The captain has requested both of your presences on the bridge,” the AI said.
“Can we finish this later?” Treena asked Conner, who sat there staring at her like she was unstable.
“Yin, what’s the news?” Conner rose, staring at the AI.
“We’ve arrived at Keen’s prison.”
Treena frowned, thinking about the destruction the man had caused not only for her, but for so many others in his tenure behind the Assembly. He’d make it to the exchange, but she wasn’t sure he’d be in one piece.
Two hours later, Treena found herself in a shuttle heading toward Wavor. The planet wasn’t their destination; instead, it was the pocked moon orbiting the world. Conner Douglas sat beside her once again, and surprisingly, he didn’t question her further on the revelation she’d alluded to with him in the courtyard.
There was a pale blue glowing energy barrier in a dome around the structure here, and Treena used a code to enter through the field.
“Quite a depressing place, don’t you think?” Conner asked, and she had to agree. The prison was three stories high, with a dusty beige color on the windowless building.
“It’s not at the top of my vacation lists, that’s for sure. Air is breathable,” she told him as he reached for his EVA behind them.
“Then I suppose this won’t be necessary. Did we really need to bring a cell?” Conner rattled the metal box with long bars stretching from the top to the bottom. They’d opted for the old version of it, instead of the kind with energy bars, in case there was a malfunction while transporting the prisoner.
“He’s the most dangerous man in the galaxy, and now he’s being traded by a new enemy of ours. I’d say taking precautions should be a priority,” Treena told him.
“You always were right about everything, weren’t you?” he asked, lightly nudging his elbow into her arm.
“You better believe it.” Treena opened the shuttle doors, and a wave of nerves coursed through her mind. She didn’t shake as a result or feel any anxiety in her stomach, since she didn’t technically have one, but the brain was used to the emotion, and she tried to banish it with concentration. She pulled the PL-30 from her hip, and Conner reached for his XRC-14 before joining her on the surface of the moon. A layer of dust kicked up as he hopped down, dirtying his gray pants above the ankles.
The building was close, and it only took a few steps to arrive at the ten or so steps outside Keen’s home. But before they even climbed the first, the doors opened, revealing a GuardBot. “Welcome to Wavor Manor.”
“Sounds like a quaint little rental. Maybe we should stay the weekend,” Conner said with a smile she didn’t return. Her unease at being here doubled when she saw Keen behind the shiny robot. His hair was longer, and he was sporting a beard. His eyes were intense, focused.
“What do we have here? Baldwin finally come to his senses? Or is it the Prime? Wants the details I promised to share?” Keen looked skinnier, but his jumpsuit was spotless.
“We’re under orders from the Concord to transport you from Wavor Manor,” Treena told him. She climbed the rest of the steps and saw at least three more GuardBots inside the building. Brax had described Keen being tagged last time he’d seen him, and she peered at the corners of the walls inside, Keen walking away from her and her gun.
“Where am I going? Where’s my wife? Luci?” he asked.
“Please shackle the prisoner,” Treena said with little inflection to her voice.
Seemingly from nowhere, one of the shiny metal men arrived with chains and placed them on Keen’s wrists and feet. He stumbled toward her, nearly falling. “What’s happening, Starling? Tell me!” he shouted angrily. Gone was the phony, amiable Keen from a minute ago. “Are they okay?”
She decided it would be easier to play along a bit, for now. “They’re fine, Lark. Just shut up and follow me.”
“Why should I go, then? They feed me here, I can read, sleep soundly.”
Conner lifted the barrel of the large weapon and motioned Keen forward with it. “You’ll go because we tell you to.”
“Who is this?” Keen’s eyes grew wide. “If it isn’t Conner Douglas. I’ll be damned. I thought you died years ago in some freight-hauling accident. Didn’t you burn out of the Academy and work for your dad or something?”
Treena wondered if they had anything inside the shuttle to gag the Assembly leader with.
Conner didn’t hesitate. He sprinted forward, jabbing the tip of his gun into Keen’s stomach, making the other man bend over, gasping for air. “Why don’t you do as the commander suggests and start walking?” Conner pulled on Keen’s collar, half-dragging him down the steps.
The GuardBots were closing in, and there were at least twenty of them in the vicinity. Treena hoped to the Vastness that their clearance codes were high enough to make it out of there without being attacked by the robots. She was confident they had ample ammunition between them to start a small war.
When they didn’t move, she nodded to them, walking ahead of Conner and Keen.
“Tell me what’s going on,” Keen pleaded.
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“You ever heard of the Vusuls?” Conner asked, and Treena cringed. She’d told him to keep quiet about the purpose of the mission, but it was clear he couldn’t obey simple instructions.
Keen stopped walking, slowly backing away. “No. You can’t… I’ve never heard of them. Leave me here. I’ll live my days out as agreed upon.” He turned, running from them, and Treena cursed under her breath.
“You did this, Conner. You fetch him.” She kept walking to the ship, and the GuardBots formed a solid line between Keen and the building.
Conner was moving for Keen, but the other man was trying to sprint in his shackles. He fell to the ground hard, his arms outstretched as far as they’d go. He still biffed it and smashed into the moon’s dusty surface.
“I can help the Concord. Leave me here!” he was shouting, scrambling to his back.
Conner turned to her, and she nodded, giving him the go-ahead. He pulled the medispray from his pocket and pressed it into Keen’s shoulder. A second later, the man gave up all resistance and lay on the ground.
“Would you guys help me with him?” Conner asked the GuardBots, and one of them arrived, picking up the two-hundred-pound man with no effort whatsoever.
As Keen was loaded, Treena stopped Conner outside the shuttle. “What did I tell you about divulging too much information?”
“I didn’t think…”
“That’s right, you didn’t. Step inside and keep your trap shut for the duration of our trip, understood?” she asked, and Conner nodded, not meeting her hard stare.
Keen was secured in his cell, and Treena left Wavor Manor behind, hoping she’d never need to return to the depressing pit stop again.
____________
Shu’s chief engineer was a frail man, so thin she wondered how his uniform stayed on, but he was brilliant. She’d found herself in awe the first time she’d met him over dinner at Earon Station, and having the chance to work with the renowned engineer was a real pleasure.
“And that’s how you managed to accomplish the wormhole? Brilliant!” Executive Lieutenant Hans Glover told her.
“It was no big deal, not once we solved it. Harry, my deputy, is smart enough to be running his own boiler room,” Reeve told him. “Come to think of it, he’s running mine as we speak.”
The conversation had her thinking. With all the extra fleet ships being built at the moment, would she be able to hold on to crew members like Harry for long? He’d probably ask to stay on with Constantine if she left to follow Treena to another vessel.
“I still can’t believe I’m here with the leading mind behind the modern Bentom drive modifiers,” she told him.
“Bah. The computers did most of the work, I only set the parameters. It’s been a pleasure talking shop with someone so passionate about these subjects over the last few days,” he told her. Hans was balding, light blond wisps clinging to the back of his head, curling over his ears. His nose was long, too large for his sunken cheeks, but when he smiled, he lit up.
“Do you have any theories on how this girl survived so long in stasis?” Reeve asked him. They were alone in his office, which was a mirror of hers on Constantine; only his had art on the walls, and old leather-bound volumes of books from ancient races lined up in neat rows on a bookshelf. She stood now, running a finger over one of the spines, the lettering embossed.
“I have a few ideas. The Pilia would have been really advanced to have something remotely successful like a million-person colony vessel.” Hans rose, crossing the office to stand next to her, facing the books. “I’d have to see the stasis chambers, but I suspect they were running on some kind of renewable energy source. I’m shocked that anything would withstand that many years, but in the depths of cold space, preserving the ship is less surprising. I’m curious if the other chambers all failed at the same time, or if they were extinguished one by one. Perhaps this survivor was the next to go. Who knows how long she had before it expired as well?”
“Maybe we’ll have the chance to see,” she said, pointing to the books. “Where did you get these?”
“My grandfather gave them to me. Science has been a staple in my family for a long time, and most of these scientific theory texts have been passed down over the ages. Some are over five thousand years old, by our estimation.”
“How do you keep the paper and books in such good condition?” Reeve asked.
“There are some useful technologies for that. I acquired an expensive preserver at Ulia to maintain their pages. Most of the work is amateur by today’s standards, but impressive for the times.” Hans grinned, hands clasped behind his back.
Reeve pointed at one. “Where is this from?”
“I don’t know. Family notes reference a place called Sol, but there isn’t much to go on. They do discuss their planets and order, so perhaps one could eventually determine the origin. I fear I haven’t had much time to extrapolate anything further,” he told her.
She nodded, the name sounding familiar. “Could I have a copy of it?”
“Sure. I have them backed up digitally, of course. I’ll send it to you,” Hans said.
“Bridge to Engineering.” Conner Douglas’ voice carried through the speakers.
“Go for Engineering,” Hans said.
“The captain requests both of your presences on the bridge,” Conner advised them.
Hans pointed at the door. “Shall we?”
Reeve hoped it was good news. Lark Keen was safely stowed on their ship, but they hadn’t moved far from Wavor yet, awaiting word from the Vusuls. Nothing had come from Constantine either, which was beginning to worry her.
Treena might be able to relay a message from her real body if it came to it, but she’d need someone there at her side to pull it off, much like Tarlen had done before. But with Kelli running the medical bay in Nee’s absence, and Tarlen on Greblok, there was no one regularly watching over Treena.
The trip to the bridge was a slow ten minutes, moving at Hans’ pace, but Reeve didn’t complain. She’d be old one day, and only hoped others would be patient with her. As long as her mind was sharp like Hans’, she didn’t really mind growing older.
Everyone was gathered on the bridge, Captain Rene Bouchard standing in the middle of the deck looking over Conner’s shoulder.
“We received a message from the Vusuls, and they gave us the drop location,” Treena advised as Reeve entered the room.
Nee stood beside Kan Shu, and she walked over beside the doctor, wondering what the urgency was.
“The drop location. It’s not close,” Kan said.
“There has to be a mistake,” Rene muttered. “It’ll take a month to arrive.”
“A month?” Reeve asked, peering at the star map on the viewscreen. “Why so far away?” It was well beyond the Concord Border.
“This is uncharted territory,” Treena said. “We have no idea what we’ll encounter out there. It could be a trap.”
Reeve considered this, but it didn’t add up. “They went to a lot of trouble to secure this girl, and then use her to negotiate for Keen’s life. I can’t see why they would use that specifically as a trap.”
“You think it’s business as usual, and they’re casually heading home somewhere?” Rene asked.
“I’m not saying that, but I do suspect they want Keen,” Reeve suggested.
“Okay, send the information to Nolix, relay it to Constantine, and begin setting course,” Rene ordered. “I know communications are finicky at this point, but I do have hope they’ll transmit eventually.”
Reeve didn’t love the idea of heading so deep through the Border into the enemy’s territory, but it seemed they had no choice. It didn’t help that they were going in alone, and with Shu instead of their own vessel. Constantine she trusted. The crew was novel, but after working on so many pivotal missions together, they were cohesive. Shu was fresher, but she didn’t have a say in the matter. They were already moving toward the prisoner exchange location as they slowly drifted from Wavor.
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br /> “A month,” Hans muttered. “I suppose this gives me time to play with the newest contraption.”
“What’s that?” Reeve asked curiously.
He waggled his eyebrows. “Nek drive.”
“You have one here?”
“Not yet, but I’m working on it. We have the schematics and recently acquired a shipment of the ore from the Vralon,” Hans told her.
“This is… exciting. Do you mind if I help?” she asked, moving with him to the edge of the bridge.
“Not at all. The moment I heard you were here, I wanted to discuss it with you. Now that we have the time, perhaps we can create something operational over the next few weeks,” he suggested.
“A month isn’t long, but I’d love to collaborate,” she said. Nek drives were remarkable, used only in tiny probes and drones to send them extreme distances in moments. With the discovery of the mines the Assembly had hidden near the Tingor Belt, the game had changed. The Concord held enough Nek to theoretically modify an entire cruiser, perhaps even a cruise ship one day.
They were many years from advancing that far, but getting a shuttle like the one Brax had used with Ven at the Belt to work would be game changing.
She pointed to the exit. “Can we begin?”
Hans started for the doors. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Thirteen
The message came through a week after departing Driun F49, and not a moment too soon. Brax was feeling the itch to be doing something. Space travel was boring at times, but he’d spent the morning training with the forty security crew members on board: sparring, studying past space battles, going over their schedules. It felt good to feel the blood pumping, and Kurt and the others seemed to enjoy the time spent with their chief of security. He promised they’d do it again in a couple of days, and had his second in command add it to the itinerary before rejoining the bridge.
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