Sertian Princess

by Peter Kenson

  "Maybe...."

  He broke off as the alarms sounded in the passageway. In the distance he could hear them repeated down the length of the liner. He spun round looking for the deck officer, who was standing by a communicator panel, desperately thumbing a switch and obviously getting no response. After about 20 seconds the alarm bells switched off and an announcement came through all the communicators simultaneously.

  "This is a drill. Repeat, this is a drill. All officers to Boat Stations. All officers to Boat Stations. Repeat, this is not an alert. This is a drill."

  In the sudden silence, they each looked at the other for an instant and then made a dash for the communicator.

  "Get through to the Bridge," David said urgently. "Get this drill cancelled. They mustn't release their overall control."

  "It's too late. Central Control cuts out automatically when the alarms sound."

  "Well, get them to put it back on again."

  "It can't be done," Singh replied unhappily. "Once Bridge Control has been switched off, each Boat Station is completely autonomous. They have to surrender their control to the Bridge at the end of the drill. It can't be taken away from them. We're too late."

  David looked round for Zara but she had already gone. He could just see the back of her head as she pushed through the crowd at the corner. Then Brianey came running.

  "Salamander reports two unidentified ships at extreme range but closing rapidly. Initial analysis indicates that at least one is a Frigate class vessel. Salamander and Cleopatra are moving to intercept."

  "Well, the Salamander will just have to cope. We've got our own problems here. If we can't prevent the lifeboat being launched, we'll have to stop them from reaching it.

  "Lieutenant Singh, I want you to put out a security alert, but do it as quietly as you can. There will be a group of three men and two women, trying to reach the lifeboat station at A8/C37. They must be stopped at all costs, short of harming the women. The men will be armed, dangerous and are expendable, but the women must not be injured. Can you organise that for us?"

  "I'll do my best, sir. Where will you be?"

  "Come on, Bri: let's move it.

  "We'll get over there now, Lieutenant, but by the time we get there, we'll probably be following behind them."

  ***

  Nerissa and Lynda's cabin was at a T-junction in the complex of staterooms on the first class deck. When David and Brianey got there, they found Corin stationed in the corridor directly opposite the cabin door, and Carly and Tessa covering the passageway to the left and right with needle lasers ready in their hands. Brianey replaced Corin watching the door as David drew him aside.

  "What's the situation, Corin?"

  "It's a bit odd, my lord. They went in there about 20 minutes ago and since then... nothing. They haven't tried to leave but there's no sounds coming from inside."

  "What, nothing at all?"

  "Not a thing. A few minutes ago I risked going up to the door and putting an 'ear' on it." He indicated a small device about the size of a pack of cigarettes, attached to the outside of the door.

  "That thing is so sensitive it'll pick up a heart murmur. But there's nothing: no voices, no sounds of movement, nothing. If I didn't know better, I'd swear there was nobody in there."

  "There probably isn't. They're almost certainly on their way to the lifeboat station by now."

  "But how? There's only one door and we're covering it. They went in but they haven't come out."

  "I think you'll find that these people don't regard walls as any sort of obstacle, Corin, judging by the mess they made of our cabin. Get that door open and let's take a look."

  The three girls covered them as David and Corin crossed to the door and flattened themselves against the wall on either side of it. Corin removed another small device from his tool kit and used it to jam the electronic lock. There was a faint click as the bolts retracted. They waited again, listening for any sounds from inside the cabin, but there were none.

  Cautiously David braced his shoulder against the door and, after a quick look at Corin and a nod in reply, burst into the room. It was, as he expected, empty. The lights were on but there was nobody in sight, and no signs of a struggle. Corin and Brianey quickly followed him into the room while Tessa and Carly closed up to cover them from the doorway.

  In the standard search routine which Julia had made them rehearse many times, David signalled to Corin and Brianey to go past him and search the bedroom and bathroom, while he covered them from his position in the lounge. Corin disappeared from view into the bedroom but Brianey turned in the bathroom doorway and waved to him to come over. The far wall of the bathroom had all but disintegrated, revealing a second bathroom beyond, identical in all respects to the one in which they stood, with the exception of the half-naked body of an elderly man lying in a crumpled heap on the floor.

  David paused briefly to examine the body but the man was comprehensively dead. From the size of the wound, it appeared that this team were using the same high power blast weapons as the three who had attacked Marienna and himself, rather than the smaller and more precise needlers with which David's team were equipped. They had brought some heavier weapons with them in the luggage of the Blue Star Streak Group, but they were too bulky to carry round on what had been until half an hour ago, a routine surveillance operation.

  He stepped over the body and led the way into the lounge. There was another body in there. This time it was the slight frame of an elderly lady, presumably the wife of the man killed in the bathroom. She had been attempting to get up from the settee when the killers had come through, and had fallen with her glass still in her hand, its contents spilt across the carpet.

  Nothing else had been disturbed in the room and the door to the corridor was closed. David opened it carefully and surveyed the passage outside. The only person in view was a steward just disappearing round the far corner, completely oblivious to the carnage in the cabin behind him. David turned back to the group.

  "There's no-one in sight," he said. "Now, we know where they're going, but we don't know the route they're taking, or how far they are ahead of us. So we split up and head for the lifeboat station. Cerys and Zara should already be there and will try to slow them down as we come up behind. If you spot them, get on the air and ask for help. Don't tackle them on your own. If you can't get through on the communicator, attract attention in some other way. Set a fire alarm off or something to tell us where you are."

  ***

  By the time Zara reached Cerys' position, the firing had already started. Cerys was in the short corridor leading to the lifeboat station and with her back towards it. She was kneeling at the actual intersection, firing round the corner to her left. She drew back just as another blast of violet energy hurtled past to hit the wall behind her, which was by now showing signs of serious wear and tear.

  Zara was approaching the intersection along the corridor directly opposite Cerys and so could not see the people who Cerys was aiming at, although it was presumably the group who had taken Princess Nerissa. What was more alarming from Zara's point of view, was that the door to the lifeboat station had slid open and Pulowski had stepped out into the corridor, obviously alerted by the exchange of fire. Concentrating on the approaching group, who were now returning fire in a sustained attack, Cerys was unaware of the laser being aimed at her back by Pulowski.

  Without knowing exactly the position of the attacking group, Zara dared not risk distracting Cerys' attention by calling out to her, so she dropped into a firing crouch and let fly at Pulowski herself. Although needle lasers do not have the stopping power of the big blast weapons that Pulowski and his friends were using, in the hands of a marksman they could be deadly over a considerable range. After David, Zara was the best shot in the Salamander's crew, and even though the distance to Pulowski was near the maximum effective range, he screamed in agony as the laser burnt a neat hole in his shoulder, and dropped his blaster as he grabbed for the source of the pain. But
, before she could take aim for a second shot, he recovered his balance and dived back into the lifeboat station sliding the door shut behind him.

  Cerys had turned her head quickly as Pulowski had screamed and was in time to see him vanish back into the lifeboat station. She gave a short wave of thanks to Zara and concentrated her attention again on the attacking group. Zara crept silently up to the intersection, on the opposite corner to Cerys, and risked a quick look round the corner to assess the situation.

  One man, with a heavy blaster in his right hand and what appeared to be a fragmentation grenade in his left, was creeping along the far wall of the corridor towards Cerys' position. As he was on the near wall to Cerys and was pressing himself hard against it, Zara decided that Cerys probably had not seen him yet. About 20 metres further down the corridor, Zara could see the Princess and Lady Lynda, and a man standing right behind them with his blaster held loosely against them. The third man, Zara could not see but, judging by the fire that was being directed at Cerys, he was probably on Zara's side of the corridor and behind some sort of cover.

  The first man was by now clearly visible to her, only about three metres from Cerys. Carefully Zara drilled a hole through his left temple and out the far side, and he dropped like a stone. For an instant the attacking fire ceased, as the other two men weighed up the implications of Zara's shot. She dropped full length on the floor to peer round the corner again, and wriggled back quickly as an energy bolt struck the wall just above her head.

  Before she ducked back, Zara saw two men now with the Princess and Lady Lynda, apparently hustling them back down the corridor away from the intersection. She heard the sound of running feet behind her and turned as she rose to meet David and Brianey arriving together, with Carly in close pursuit. There was barely time to brief them on the situation before sounds of firing broke out again along the corridor, punctuated by much shouting, out of which Corin's distinctive voice could be heard challenging the group to stand still and drop their weapons. In order to ensure that the men realised they were trapped, David sent Carly on to cover the door of the lifeboat station in case Pulowski reappeared, and then stepped out in plain view with Zara by his side.

  The group of four, kidnappers and kidnapped, were about 30 metres down the corridor. The men had their backs against the far wall and were each holding one of the girls in front of them as a human shield, with their lasers pressed against the girls' heads. Corin and Tessa were another ten metres beyond them, in a firing crouch with their needlers aimed at the men, but obviously unwilling to fire for fear of hitting the hostages.

  As David and Zara moved slowly down the passageway, the conversation between Corin and the leader of the group, became more audible.

  "You're trapped. You can't reach the lifeboat and even if you could, you're too late. The lifeboat has been put back under Central Control and can't be launched without the authority of the Bridge," Corin lied fluently.

  "You are wrong on two counts," the Major replied calmly. "Reaching the lifeboat is not critical to the success of our plans, and you are not in charge of this situation: I am.

  "Now we are going back down this passage and you will not stop us or follow us, or we will damage these pretty faces. Show them what we mean, Xieng."

  Lynda screamed as Xieng jammed the hot muzzle of his blaster hard against her cheek. She struggled furiously to get free but he tightened his grip, until she fainted from the pain and collapsed unconscious in his arms.

  "You bloody fool," the Major hissed at Xieng. Then.... “Get back," as Corin tensed himself to rush forward.

  "Corin," David yelled sharply. Corin relaxed his stance but still kept his needler trained on the group.

  "Now that's better," the Major said. "That's being sensible."

  He switched his attention to David. "Tell them to put their lasers on the floor and let us through." He moved his blaster closer to Nerissa's cheek. "Do it," he yelled.

  David nodded and slowly raised his hands in the air so that the needler was pointing at the ceiling. Then he bent down and carefully placed the laser on the floor in front of him, straightened up and stepped back from it. The others followed suit.

  The tension in the Major and in the one called Xieng, dropped visibly. The Major smiled, obviously now in charge of the situation again. He removed his blaster from Nerissa's head and pointed it vaguely in the direction of Corin and Tessa. "Tell them to stand aside and let us through," he ordered.

  David signalled to Corin to do it and they moved back to the opposite wall. Cautiously, the Major started edging past them, his arm still tight around Nerissa's throat. Lynda was still unconscious and Xieng had to change his grip to around her waist, and drag her along with him.

  Slowly David reached inside his tunic to where the moonstone hung on its chain around his neck. He pulled it out so that it lay outside the tunic and glanced sideways at Zara to make sure she had noticed. She nodded and with an almost imperceptible tilt of her head, indicated that she would take Xieng

  He lowered his psychic guard and let the waves of thought emissions wash over him. Rapidly he began to sort through them, searching for the ones originating in the man holding Nerissa. In the process, he felt Zara working alongside him, and there was a reassuring warmth in the contact. Then he found his target, and was there with his arm around Neri's throat, looking back down the corridor at Zara and himself, through the eyes of the Major.

  Major Rodgers, as David quickly discovered, was a highly intelligent man, but with no particular psychic ability, either natural or developed. David could have opted, at that point, to take total control of the Major's body by subduing the Major's own consciousness. This was, however, a fairly risky operation against an intelligent or strong willed subject, who could mount a surprising level of resistance even without any psychic ability. He opted instead to use a technique which both Zara and he had learned on Platos, to place neural blocks on the main motor nerves of the target. Long experience had shown that subjects without any psychic awareness that they were under attack in this way, would spend several minutes wondering why their arms and legs were progressively going numb, before working out how to release the neural blocks.

  He selected the right arm for treatment initially and was rewarded with a feeling of anxiety in the Major's mind, as the hand holding the blaster fell numbly to his side. The left arm was next and Nerissa, feeling the grip on her throat slacken, broke free and ran back up the corridor to where David was standing. Zara was obviously enjoying a similar success with Xieng and, as Lynda's unconscious body slumped to the floor, Corin and Tessa made a dive for their needle lasers and came up covering the two men.

  He left the neural blocks in place in the Major's mind and returned to his own body just as Nerissa reached him, and as Brianey and Cerys rushed past to help disarm the men.

  "Oh, David. I'm so sorry." Nerissa flung herself into his arms and sobbed. "You were right and I should have listened to you."

  "Hush now, Neri. It's all right. I'm just sorry we didn't get our timing that little bit better, and spare you some of this ordeal. Now then.... "

  He broke off as Lieutenant Singh came pounding up with six large and very muscular crewmen in his rear. Each of them, David noticed, had a sidearm strapped to his waist.

  "Lieutenant Singh, well done. You're just the man I need."

  "It looks as though you've got the situation well under control," Singh said, surveying the scene.

  "Yes, but we need somewhere secure to store those two." David indicated the Major and Xieng. "Is there a brig on this ship?"

  "Yes there is. I'll see to it."

  He snapped out a series of orders and two of the burly crewmen took hold of the prisoners and hustled them away, followed by a third member of the crew with drawn laser.

  "Be careful of them, they're dangerous," David warned. "And they may have friends around. I want an armed guard outside their cell at all times."

  Singh nodded in agreement and spoke into a small po
rtable communicator. He noticed David's interest in the device and the ease with which he apparently got through.

  "It's tuned to the ship's main communication circuits," he explained. "Saves having to use one of the fixed consoles all the time."

  "Neat," David admitted. "Should have thought of that ourselves."

  "I take it that one...." Singh indicated Foss' body, "....is past requiring to be locked up."

  "Quite," David agreed. "There's one more live one, actually inside the lifeboat station. He's been wounded and we're not sure if he's still armed."

  He looked down the corridor and saw that Lynda had, by this time, recovered consciousness, and was lying half-propped up in Zara's arms.

  "Neri," he said gently. "Go and see if you can help Zara look after Lynda." He signalled to Tessa to go with her.

  Then he led the rest of his group, with Lieutenant Singh and his men, back to the intersection and round the corner towards the lifeboat station. Carly was still there watching the door, but as she hurried over to report, there was a shuddering through the hull of the ship that threw them all off balance. It only lasted for a moment and then ceased. David turned to Lieutenant Singh with a question framed on his lips, but the young lieutenant rushed past him and ran up to the display console outside the lifeboat station. He studied it for a few seconds and then turned back to the group with an expression of astonishment on his face.

  "The lifeboat.... it's been launched. He's launched the bloody lifeboat. It's gone."

  David was the first to recover sufficiently to speak. "It doesn't matter. He's probably less danger to us out there than he was on the ship. However, I think you'd better get me on to the Bridge straight away, so that we can keep an eye on him.

  "Corin, you and the others take the Princess and Lady Lynda back to your cabin and get a doctor to look at Lynda's face."

  CHAPTER 16

  Suzanne arrived on the bridge of the Cleopatra at a run.

  "Captain, it's started. There's trouble on the Aldebaran."