Gravlander

by Erik Wecks

  Soren squared her shoulders, and her eyebrows lowered inward toward her nose. “What did it say?”

  “It was only one sentence, sir. It said, ‘It ends today.’”

  Before she could respond, Michel’s voice rang out over the ship-wide comm system. “Officers to the bridge!”

  “We have to do something,” implored Katy. “I can’t stand by and let them all die. Let me take the Strident and see if I can find survivors, please.” Her eyes flooded as she spoke.

  Soren, Jones, Katy, and the other senior officers leaned over the communications console on the bridge. Buried in the middle, Michel sat strapped into his chair at the terminal; Susan, at sensors, sat beside him. Katy glanced between them, desperate, hoping to see in them some sign, some shred of the same gut-clenching desperation she knew. They had just watched the replay of Tanith’s message.

  The rest of them remained silent.

  Katy held her breath, unwilling to push a delicate moment, lest she drive it against her.

  Face grim, Soren didn’t answer Katy. Instead, she turned and spoke to Michel. “Play it again.”

  A grainy version of a Timcree appeared on the screen. Interference caused him to occasionally fade out in the peculiar fractals of modern communication. He wore an eyepatch over one eye. Behind him, fire raged. There was so much interference and he was so backlit by fire that it was hard for Katy to recognize the Timcree who had once been her medical partner.

  “Clarion … Clarion.” It sounded like Tanith, but he was chewing on his words as if he hadn’t spoken English in a long time. It reminded Katy of her first lessons with the quiet Timcree. “Clarion, be warn. Unity attack Korg Haran. Many dead. We are hiding. They know Gravlander stopped infectant. They are …” At this point, the message was truncated by an explosion in the background that blurred out the feed, and then it cut out.

  Soren took a deep breath.

  Freddi spoke before she did. “It can’t be coincidence. Chapman knew that Jo Lutnear lived with the Timcree.”

  Soren nodded. “I think you’re right.”

  Freddi repeated herself, almost in awe. “I think, he sold us out to the Unity.”

  Soren glared daggers at the screen, thinking. “The question is, what did he tell them? What does he remember?”

  Katy’s feet felt cold. The knot in her stomach returned. She had an almost uncontrollable urge to bolt from the room. Where she would go she wasn’t sure, maybe her bunk? She just knew that she needed to take action, to do something.

  “If he sold us out, then it’s my fault that the Unity are attacking Korg Haran. All the more reason to let me take the ship’s boat! I can’t sit here while they die. Besides, I need to get out of here before they find me on the Clarion.” Her voice sounded far more desperate than she would have chosen in such a fragile moment, but Soren had taught her to be more honest about her emotions.

  Neela, who was standing next to her, reached over and put an arm around her. “You don’t have to leave. We’re your family. We’re in this together.”

  Katy’s breathing quickened and her pulse began to race. She let her forehead knit together all the worry in her body. “I can’t. I can’t let you all get hurt because of me.”

  Soren, who had been looking down at some of the contact data on Susan’s screen, suddenly stiffened. Her cheeks flushed with anger, and her voice was low, almost a growl. “No, Katy! Don’t go back there. None of what happened to Korg Haran or anyone else is your fault. If any of us are in danger, it’s because the Unity is a corrupt system. It’s not because of you. Don’t undo all the work that you’ve done getting rid of your self-judgment and blame with a lie like that.”

  Katy wasn’t sure that she had ever seen Soren so frustrated, and it pulled her up short. She stuttered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t … I’m sorry.”

  Soren nodded her head imperceptibly, allowing her expression to soften.

  Katy took a long, slow breath and focused her mind on Neela’s arm wrapped around her shoulder. We always do what we can … Soren and the others will help. You’re not alone, and it’s not your fault.

  Eyes closed, she felt Freddi, who had been standing on her other side, lay a lanky arm around her side. For a second Katy just stood there, focused on soaking in every physical sensation, aware of the tide of shame that threatened to undo her.

  Soren, who had gone back to her own thoughts, spoke again. “How long to the gate, Vi?”

  The pilot answered from her station at the helm. “Forty-three minutes.”

  “Are we in the system?”

  “Yes, sir. I filed our flight plan at the hour-and-fifteen-minute mark as per regulations.”

  “Fuck.”

  “Yes, sir. Fuck indeed, sir.”

  Soren reached up and clicked on her heads-up. The internal comm system answered with a short whine. “This is the captain. Stations: set condition two. This is not a drill. Repeat. Set alert condition two. This is not a drill.”

  Freddi answered the question on everyone’s mind. “I don’t think we run yet.”

  Soren scowled for a moment, hands on her hips, staring daggers at the starlit viewscreen at the front of the room. “Agreed, Freddi. We don’t know what’s next, and we’re not yet being threatened. If Chapman only remembers a little, he could think this to be all the revenge he chooses to take.”

  Returning her attention to Susan, she commanded, “How many squawking?”

  “Within one tenth, there are twelve squawking, sir. In the lane, six. Four in front. I also have three patrol boats in a standard picket at the gate.”

  “Any dark targets?”

  “None that we’ve found.”

  “Keep looking. I don’t want to walk into an ambush at the gate.” Soren gestured. “And put it up on the big board.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Get me an image of the gate control station. I want to know what’s going on there.” Soren moved to her chair at the back of the bridge. She waved her hand at the rest of her staff still huddled around Michel and Susan. “Stations, everyone! Let’s let them work.”

  At the loss of touch, Katy felt her worries again begin to assert themselves, but instead of giving them control or fighting them, she took a deep breath and stepped back to the space she usually occupied near the door.

  Freddi took a seat next to Jones, dropping her heads-up over her eye. She brought up a schematic of the engine and started quietly conversing with her crew, who were well into their quarter-mile journey to the cramped alternate engineering station located in what ought to have been a broom closet one deck down next to cargo.

  Neela stood next to Katy near the door.

  “Captain! I have two more squawks from gate control. They look like two more patrol boats. Scratch that, they just put two interceptors in the air. I now have five contacts at the gate, and it looks like I’ve got two more coming through the gate right now, make that four. I have twelve squawking at the gate, sir.”

  “Communications concurs, sir. They are talking about some kind of interdict.”

  Soren turned to Neela, her face a grim mask of determination. “Get ready!”

  The normally talkative Indian woman didn’t say anything, instead she held the captain’s gaze for just a half second longer and, frowning, disappeared to supervise her staff of longshoremen.

  Seeing Katy next to the door, Soren pointed to one of the fold-down seats next to the console near Freddi. “Sit. Strap in.” Pressing on her heads-up, the captain brought up the intercom again. “Now hear this! Now hear this! Set condition one! Battle stations! This is not a drill! I repeat! Set alert one! Battle stations!” Following the pronouncement, a small klaxon sounded, and the lighting throughout the ship changed to red. In the bridge, everyone strapped into their seats.

  Katy felt like she was sitting in a waking nightmare. The words came out of her mouth before she even had thought them through. “Captain, if you would just give me the boat, I could—”

  Soren frowned slightl
y and interrupted, but she kept her eyes on the board, watching the disposition of the Unity ships at the gate. “No, Katy. This isn’t about you. You don’t have to fix it.”

  Katy’s voice was calm. This wasn’t merely her fear speaking. “I know I don’t have to fix it. You’re right, this isn’t my fault, but what about the camps, and Alia, and all the other people we’ve helped in the last two years? Right now it’s a really good bet they know that I helped the Timcree, but that they don’t know anything about Katrina Paige or the rest of it. If I turn myself in, you can keep doing your work and those people remain safe.”

  Katy might have imagined it, but she thought that Soren almost looked pleased as she shook her head. “No, Katy. You know better. If you go into custody, they’ll get it all out of you.”

  “But you’ll all have a head start. You can disappear as soon as you turn me over.”

  From the console next to her, Freddi looked at Katy and also shook her head.

  Without looking back at her from her console, Vi spoke up. “Family, Katy.”

  Now beginning to feel desperate, Katy leaned forward in her straps, gesturing. “That’s why I can’t do this! You have to let me! I can’t have all of you on my conscience when I know that I could do something to stop you from getting hurt. I can’t!”

  “Captain, we have an interdiction alert!” said Michel. “It’s not us. It’s the first ship.”

  The whole bridge watched as the group of interceptors and patrol boats converged on the internal hold freighter.

  Soren breathed audibly, rubbing her face. “Well, Katy. Your conscience can remain clear for another day.”

  “Incoming message on the emergency band,” said Michel. “It’s from Alia.”

  Soren’s face paled. “Put it up on the board, Michel.”

  Unlike the message from Tanith, this one came through crystal clear. It was also delivered in real time. Alia herself wasn’t seen. The camera on her heads-up was pointed away from her face. Instead, the cold salted ground of Salvador bounced in vivid hues. For just a moment or two, Katy could see several others running beside her.

  Soren unstrapped and stood from her chair. “Alia, we’re here. What’s going on?”

  Just as she said it, the camera came over a rise. For a moment, St. Justina on Salvador, now called Freetown, came into view in the distance below the ridge. Directly below, Katy recognized the airfield. The sounds of small-arms fire rang out. Tall columns of smoke rose from several places around town. Right below the ridge, a large landing craft continued to disgorge Unity ground forces. The camera ducked to the ground.

  Now facing the blue sky behind the ridge, Alia whispered as she spoke. Katy guessed she was lying on her back just below the crest. “Clarion, I don’t know if you can hear me or not. There was no warning. We think they may have attacked the Mining Division first. Transmissions stopped about three hours ago. We can’t be sure of the size of the force, but there’s at least one Unity strike boat in a parking orbit above Freetown. When the ground troops appeared, at least three of our families panicked and tried to launch early. All three of them were lanced out of the sky. Clarion, clear out! We knew this day would come. They’re hunting. If we can take care of the ground forces, the survivors will launch together. Hopefully, some of us will get away. Verification code two-five-beta-gamma-pi-three-six-five.”

  Soren’s knuckles had turned white as she gripped the side of her chair. “Michel, does the code check out?”

  Michel’s voice cracked. “Yes, sir. It does.”

  A moment after Alia stopped talking, the camera flipped over and crawled to the top of the ridge again. Alia brought her weapon up carefully, aiming down on the troops below. Once set, she turned to look up and down the ridgeline. It was hard to determine, but there were at least thirty or forty fighters there, perhaps more. They were all lightly armed.

  Alia’s voice rang out. “Fire!”

  The transmission ended.

  Soren fell back into her seat and silently, deliberately strapped herself in, pulling down hard on her harness. She gathered her thoughts, then she looked over at Michel. “Warn everyone. Anyone you can think of who knows what we’ve been up to in the last two years. Start with the sites that Katy visited.”

  She turned to Susan. “You’re sure that the interdiction order went out for the first ship?”

  “Yes, sir. They’ve pulled it out of the queue and have it slowed to less than 10,000 klicks per minute relative to the gate.”

  “Michel, have they boarded it?”

  “Not at this time. They’re still checking papers.”

  “Susan, get me eyes on.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Susan trained one of the ship’s cameras on the now drifting freighter and the patrol boats surrounding it. Even to Katy’s untrained eye, something didn’t look right. If it had wanted to make a run for it, there were several clear paths of escape.

  Soren spoke to the room. “Does that look right to anyone?”

  No one answered.

  “Vi, how long until crossing?”

  “We are thirty-six minutes and twenty seconds out.”

  “Captain, if they’re going to ambush us, it will come sometime before that. I would say we have maybe ten minutes at the most.”

  “Thank you, Sensors.” Soren squinted at the board. “Damn it!” After a moment, she said, “Michel, get me Commander Trachenko at gate control. Not that it will do us any good. That asshat is a ladder-bound tool, but we can try.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Katy was surprised that it took only a couple of seconds before Trachenko answered.

  Soren raised an eyebrow when Michel said that he had the station commander on the line. Soren flicked her finger toward the big board. The perfect picture of a Unity bureaucrat appeared. As was the current fashion among the upwardly mobile in the Unity, he wore a gray military uniform, decked out with red stripe and brassy military garnish.

  He smiled ungraciously at Soren. “Captain, shall we skip to the part where you agree to surrender?”

  “Always pleasant to speak with you, Alexi. I would prefer to skip the posturing and just get to your price.”

  The wide man tsk-tsked at Soren and waved a finger at the camera. “Not this time, my dear Captain Soren. I admit that you might have succeeded in the past, but not now. Do you know who signed these orders?”

  Soren frowned. “Fine, have it your way. I’m only going to make this offer once. I have the formula for the anti-aging serum used by the board. I will trade that to you for safe passage through your gate. You have thirty seconds …”

  Trachenko started laughing. “You don’t seem to understand. These orders were signed by the Katana himself, General Chen. He says you have a wanted fugitive on board, a Josephine Lutnear. For me to go against the Katana, I will need at least something to give him. Give me the anti-aging formula and send me the girl as a present for Katana, and then I will let you and the rest of your crew pass through my gate.”

  Katy had been terrorized by this moment for two and a half years. It haunted her nightmares, and now that it was here, she somehow felt better instead of worse. No more hiding.

  Katy thought that Soren did an excellent job of looking green. “Give us a minute to think about it.”

  Trachenko glanced smugly at a clock off-screen. He smiled again. “Take all the time you need.”

  Soren cut the transmission. “Well, that was a wonderful exchange of total bullshit. Susan, estimated time to intercept.”

  Susan’s voice trembled a little. “Maybe five minutes, or a little more.”

  Soren rubbed her face and, speaking to herself, said, “My first priority is to this crew.”

  Katy pleaded. “Captain, I could just give mys—”

  Soren raised her hand. “He’d kill us anyway. It would be for nothing. The safest thing for everyone we’ve helped in the last few months is to keep you alive and free. Vi, we’re heading to the Jersey Frontier. How many gates will we
need to jump if we’re using continuous transit?”

  “Five or six, depending on where you’re heading.”

  “Korg Haran.”

  23

  The Clarion at War

  Soren leaned against the straps of her harness, and she turned toward her second. “Are you in, Jones?”

  Sweat poured from Jones’s brow as he worked the screen in front of him and his heads-up. “Almost.”

  “Almost! Almost? You’ve got about thirty seconds before those interceptors are on us.”

  Planning on the Clarion for their escape from the Unity had begun almost two years prior when Soren, Freddi, and Katy had first talked about taking on the Unity directly through community development projects. Only Freddi and Soren knew the whole plan, and Katy thought possibly Neela as well. Katy only knew bits and pieces, but it involved a series of gate jumps to who knew where—somewhere that Soren had assured her would be safe. But Katy was pretty sure that the plan hadn’t included going to Korg Haran.

  “I’ll be ready, but you know there’s no guarantee that this will work. We put these exploits in over two years ago. There’s no way to know that they haven’t been flushed …”

  Soren growled. “Well, then things are about to get ugly, aren’t they?”

  Jones’s eyes stayed laser focused on his screen as he continued. “And we’ve only got two of these, and we have six gates. If this doesn’t work, we don’t make it.”

  “Well, Mr. Positivity, thanks for that vote of confidence.”

  Jones frowned. “I’m in. It all looks to be intact, but …”

  “Just do it!”

  “All right! It’s done! The code is sent.”

  “Freddi?”

  “The weapon is charged.”

  Susan called loudly, “Fifteen seconds until intercept.”

  Soren took a deep breath. Sitting back in her straps, she picked up a mechanical stopwatch and, holding it up, she started it running. “Execute.”

  Katy felt the seat beneath her vibrate as the bridge lighting dimmed and the strong sound of flowing electricity hummed in the ship. The big board and various monitors around the ship blinked out momentarily, and then the room went dark as the hum built to the rumble of thunder. A loud, almost metallic boom followed as all the pent-up electromagnetic energy sped from the ship.