Tanager's Fledglings (The Tanager Book 1)

by Cedar Sanderson

  “A what? Isn’t it a bit early to drink?” Jem didn’t drink alcohol. Walter had never said he couldn’t, but the example he’d set for the boy in his care was a rare drink, late in the ship’s day, and taken no more than once a week. Sometimes far more infrequently than that. Jem had never seen Walter drunk, and given their close quarters, he thought he would have known.

  “Yes. But I need something if you’re going to make me talk about all this crap.”

  “Shouldn’t we, um, be ready for the Tinjins?” Jem followed her as she headed back toward the living area. He wasn’t sure what they could do, until they left foldspace, but at least they could plan for it. And why hadn’t she told him earlier?

  “Yes. We will be. And not with either of your ship-killers, boy!” She laughed. “Walter did the rackety tramp really well. I didn’t even know he’d picked up that predator drone. It’s a laser, you know.”

  “What?” Jem resisted the urge to look back at the engineroom. “It’s a weapon? But they didn’t say anything....”

  “Who saw it?” She asked.

  “Um. Maybe Moskvin. But mostly just me.” Jem thought back. He’d launched it remotely, and then retrieval had been on his own, other than Moskvin thumping him for scaring the older man. “Not even Moskvin, I don’t think. I loaded it back in the tube from the outside, then manually reset the cradles.”

  “But Mac knew what it was. Not surprising, given his background. Which is why he put the H&K onboard for you.”

  “Mac’s background?”

  She shook her head, setting her lips firmly. “Not my story. He might tell you someday. But that’s an expensive gift to be given, by someone who must have thought you’d need it.”

  “I don’t even know how to use it.” Jem started to protest, but then a memory came back. “Wait. When I was a kid...”

  “So long ago.” Jade muttered almost under her breath.

  Jem ignored her. “Mac and I used to play a game. ShipHunter, it was a VR sensie game I really got into. He said I was good, and gave Walter a copy of it to load. Which I thought was weird, but Walter used it as a reward when I’d done my lessons. There was a weapon...”

  “And yeah, simulations can look a lot like a game.” Jade interrupted him. She’d put the basket on the counter and was now kneeling and rummaging in the storage racks. “Aha!”

  She triumphantly held up what looked like a metal pitcher. “My blender!”

  “Your blender?” Jem knew what it was, it just wasn’t a tool he’d used often.

  “Walter didn’t care for girlie drinks.” She set it up and tossed ice in, most of the berries, and pulled a bottle of rum out of the cabinet where Walter kept his whiskey. Jem hadn’t opened it since Walter’s death. The half-full bottle of amber liquid gave him a little pang. He missed him, the old curmudgeon. Jade splashed some rum in her concoction, pursed her lips, and added more.

  The racket of the blender woke the dog, who wandered in, yawning. He came up and leaned against Jem’s leg. “I know, boy, she’s noisy. I think it’s a female thing.”

  Jade just laughed out loud. “Noisy is how we’re going to get the Tinjins off our back.”

  “I don’t understand.” Jem sat and watched her pour the frothy pink mixture into a cup. She tilted it toward him, silently offering him the rest. Jem shook his head. He wasn’t at all sure about that concoction.

  “We’re going to pop out of hyper and head for Loki.” She sat and sipped. “Ah. They’re going to pop out right on our tail - how close were they when you dropped into the fold?”

  He shrugged. “There were two close, mere kilometers. Another was back a ways, I’d have to recheck scans for an accurate distance.”

  She nodded. “So what would you do?”

  “Um,” Jem said, then collected his thoughts after being put on the spot. He had no doubt that she knew exactly what to do. She was trying to teach him something, and he’d better pay attention and learn. “Well, if they want the ship they aren’t likely to come out shooting.”

  Jade nodded, still sipping at her drink. Jem kept thinking out loud. “So we scoot for Loki. The tugs are slower than the Tanager, ‘specially with the boost...”

  She was shaking her head now, a little smile crinkling her eyes. The cup hid her mouth. He stopped. He’d missed something. “The tugs aren’t slower? But... Oh.”

  If they weren’t tugs... his mind raced ahead. “We can’t outrun them. They could grapple with us and board. I can kill them with the drone? But you said we didn’t need that. Be noisy. Send messages? Blast in the clear what’s happening?”

  She nodded. “Pretty much. Once you send a message, they can’t stop the data. You know that, it’s really hard to completely silence information.”

  He shrugged. “It’s not always easy to find it, either, in the clutter. But yeah, if we pop out shouting... no, if we start shouting as soon as they pop out. In case they don’t. I don’t want to blare false alarms.”

  “I could be wrong.” Jade poured the last of her drink into the cup. “I was on Tianjin investigating some troubling rumors.”

  “What happened with the ship that blew up in dock?” Jem asked.

  “I’m not god, Jem.” Jade finished her drink. “But I do know that there is a deep level unrest among the rejected ones.”

  “The dock rats.” Jem filled in, remembering the shadowy figures, Gyro, and the rage behind their return to the Tanager. “Why did they target us?”

  “You took Gyro and he never came back out.”

  Their eyes met. Jem finally broke away and looked down. “I should have...”

  “No. There was nothing you could have done. The responsibility for his death lies on the doctor and officers who carried it out.” Jade tapped the table, and he looked back up. Her eyes were soft, and very old. “I know. I bore a grave burden for many years before I could accept that I had not killed anyone, other than an alien who had hijacked bodies... they were gone before I was put on that station. I came to that conclusion when I learned I was a tool, engineered to resist the alien and placed deliberately.”

  “Your, er, Lemurians.” Jem remembered her description of the first alien race who had rescued her.

  She nodded. “They used me.” Her voice was tranquil. Jem thought he’d have been enraged at the cavalier way they had treated her. Modified her body, and thrust her into a situation with no information. Trusted her wits to... She had done it.

  “You trust them.” He wasn’t sure if that was a question, even though his voice seemed to make it so.

  “I do. We’re in touch, now. They are shy of humans, for good reason. They fear the Phage alien. Aliens. They think they are one unit, but we’re pretty sure it’s more like hives, separated by distance. They have to use hosts to travel.”

  “And the Lemurians - you do know that’s also a legendary lost race of Earth? - think humans are vulnerable?”

  Jade laughed. “I know now. Then I didn’t, but I decided it was appropriate enough considering how advanced they are in technology. You know the Atlantis myths.”

  Jem nodded, and she went on. “Humans are uniquely vulnerable. Because of certain belief systems, the communal Phage can infect us, and spread unseen masquerading as humans until it is too late. The odd individualist is, well, Odd, and can be written off as being crazy.”

  “Is this why ships keep disappearing?” Jem was thinking of the Gwar. “And the survey ship Moskvin told me went missing when it traveled to check on Termine. There have been others, or at least rumors.”

  “We don’t know. We have suspicions, but as you learned on Tianjin, piracy in many forms exists. I cannot assign blame to the Phage where it could equally possibly be just human villainy.” Jade picked up her cup and started to stand. “Oh, the survey ship... is accounted for. I renamed her, though.”

  “Oh.” Jem realized that her ship was that ship. He felt like an idiot. “Um. I meant to ask about your cat...”

  “Are you asking me to stay on as crew, Captain
Raznick?” Jade was washing the blender. “Or wanting to get rid of me?”

  “I need a crew. I wasn’t looking forward to hiring strangers and being alone with them. Could you, ah,” Jem stumbled to a halt.

  “Ah, you want me to stay on a chaperone.” She winked at him.

  Jem threw his hands in the air. “Yes, sure, there’s this girl...”

  Jade broke up into laughter. “I knew it!” she crowed, chortling. “There had to be a girl. And I want to meet her. You couldn’t pry me out of this ship, now.”

  “I was serious about other crew, though.” Jem pointed out. “I can’t afford it, but I think I can’t afford not to have at least one, probably two others.”

  “You’re right. We never did talk about Loki.” Jade sobered up. “I’m no trader, Cap’n, but there was a time I was a pert’ savvy rock jock.”

  “We had other things to worry about.” Jem pointed out. “Like an ambush.”

  “Just because you have one problem doesn’t mean you don’t have two. Or three. Might as well plan while we’ve breathing space.”

  “I have data on Loki, from the message services?” Jem grabbed his tablet, and she settled back down across from him. Eby was asleep on his foot, so moving to the bridge wasn’t appealing. Let the pup sleep. Jem knew he’d be spending enough time in the captain’s chair soon enough.

  Chapter 27: Into the Briar Patch

  Jem sat in the captain’s chair, watching the countdown on the main screen. He was trying not to either fidget, or clutch the arms of his chair in a white-knuckled grip. Neither would look like he was calm and confident in the plan they had hammered out. He hadn’t slept well, although he had tried, at Jade’s insistence, to get some sleep. Eby had gotten disgusted with the tossing and turning and had whined to be let out of the cabin.

  Jem could guess where the dog had spent his night. Jade looked like she really was calm. Only the fact that she was wearing a shipsuit rather than her many-pocketed engineer’s garb gave away the preparation for conflict. The Tanager, no matter what arms she boasted, was not built for action. Speed wasn’t possible, nor was evasion. All Jem could do was make sure he went down warning others. They had prepared multiple versions of the messages. One would be sent no matter what, as soon as they unfolded. Others would be sent depending on what happened once they had returned to real space.

  “What if they board us?” Jem had asked her.

  “We resist. You know how they treat xenos.” She shrugged. “Disguised Light Assault Craft can carry perhaps eight troops, plus two crew, and not even that with a long trip on life support. If they stripped them to the bones... eight. Otherwise, five. Which would likely be more than enough for neutralizing two people.”

  “They, um, shot at me before.” Jem was still seething over that, he was surprised to discover. He’d thought he’d forgotten, but now he relived the flash of light and searing pain.... He rubbed his face with both hands. He wouldn’t mind a chance at them again, in the hardsuit. “If they prepare to board, I’ll be waiting.”

  “If it comes to that, I can fit into your... Walter’s suit. The plumbing’s wrong, but,” Jade shrugged. “Needs must when the devil drives.”

  The alarm chimed in the silent bridge, and Jem forgot his resolution not to grab the arms of his chair. He didn’t look at Jade, just focused on riding out the usual unpleasant sensation of leaving foldspace. The dog was secure in stasis. Jem had been teaching Eby to endure the transition, but this time they did not need him underfoot, possibly in combat, and endangered.

  The Tanager exited foldspace, and Jem sprang into action. Busy was good. Focus was good... he started the scans, sent the message, and took a breath. The scans returned data like ripples going outward... He looked up at the main screens, one set to display visual. They wouldn’t have emerged from foldspace right on top of him. Jem’s education had been firm on this. The gravitational waves that allowed the phenomena disrupted simultaneous entry, and exit. Staggered worked...

  He saw the ship almost before the alarm chimed again. The scans caught it as it entered realspace, and Jem knew with a part of his mind that this was fascinating, he’d never watched a ship unfold before... while the rest of his brain was sending his fingers flying over control boards. They were having to turn toward Loki, having popped out oriented almost in the opposite direction of the erratic little planet. That was taking up time they didn’t have to spare. Jem grunted as a second ship popped into reality.

  “They have us bracketed.” He was surprised that his voice didn’t shake, or go up an octave. The first message was sent, done while the first ship was still shaking down after transition. Now, he sent a flurry of data blips out. Some were targeted for the planet. Two were for the ‘tugs’ challenging them for their names, captain’s names, and registries. Jade had suggested they try to gather as much data as possible on their potential attackers.

  The third ship popped out close enough to the first ship that Jem flinched, expecting to see a collision. “Holy... wow, where did he come from?”

  “I’m betting a couple of guys need clean shipsuits about now.” Jade said, her voice wry. “I’m headed to the aft passageway. It’s going to take me time to get into the suit and adjusted.”

  “K.” Jem was distracted, his fingers dancing over the board. “I remember the drill,” he looked up and met her eyes. “If they approach within a kilometer, slave the board and suit up.”

  She nodded and left. He looked back down at the board, and then up at the screens showing the three attack craft moving impossibly fast, bearing down on them. It was too soon to hear back from Loki yet. Jem sent another squirt of data, a big one with video of what was happening. “I’m not goin’ quietly.” He muttered under his breath as he pushed the Tanager to her limit for the far away planet.

  If they were going to make a move, it would be soon. The planet was distant; observation would be difficult if not possible at that range. The data Jem was sending wasn’t the same as eyes-on the attacking craft. It could be explained away by a sufficiently glib tongue and greasy enough palms. The minutes slowly ticked past, and Jem was reluctant to take his eyes off the screens even long enough to stretch out his stiff muscles. The data he was using to predict trajectories became clearer and the dotted lines that showed the other’s potential intersect points met with the Tanager’s plotted course. He knew what they planned to do, now.

  Slaving the controls to both his tablet and to Jade’s, Jem left the bridge at a trot. If he was correct, he had a few minutes before they clamped onto the Tanager’s hull and forced into the airlocks. Jade met him in the engine room.

  “Now I really wish we had a third body. I should have called Moskvin back.” She held Jem’s helmet while he wriggled into the hardsuit. “Even if he can’t shoot straight, a gunner would have been nice.”

  “The Tanager is an unarmed merchant.” Jem reached for the helmet.

  She snorted, and Jem froze as he processed her answer. “Nope. I helped Thaddeus install the guns myself. They’re covered in ablative blisters.”

  “But...” Jem blinked. He’d been over the entire hull. “Where?”

  “Helmet on. Can’t use them today, kid, I’ll tell you later.”

  “What if there isn’t a later?” Jem put the helmet on, latching it down. She fluttered around him with surprising delicacy in Walter’s exoskeleton, fingers checking Jem’s suit.

  Her answer came over the comm channel. “Won’t matter much then, will it?”

  Jem just grunted as he headed for the other hatch. She would stay here, with the jammed hatch. Their attackers probably didn’t know it was jammed, and it would take some time for them to cut through it, if they tried that. Jade thought it unlikely; the goal would be to capture the Tanager intact. Jem would be the one fending off boarders, then.

  He felt very alone as he strode into the big, empty hold. The comm was silent, save for the tiny rustle of static at random moments. He stationed himself off to one side of the hatch, and waite
d. His mind was still chewing on the concept that the Tanager had weapons. Guns, Jade had said, and the drone had a laser. All that, and they were letting themselves be boarded? Jem’s stomach was in a knot, and he wondered if he was about to die. Surely these men knew about the exosuit and had been given something more powerful than plasma rifles. He squared his shoulders and clenched his fists. The Tanager was his ship in duty if not by ownership. This was not something he was going to let pass.

  His tablet flashed a warning to him, having detected the airlock being opened from the other side. The hatch was not designed for mass boarding in vacuum. There were no more than four men in it, he was certain. Jem forced his hands unclenched and crouched slightly, ready for the hatch to slide open.

  He felt no urge to warn them. They had hunted him, boarded his ship, and now they would take what he was going to give them.

  The hatch slid open. For a long breath, nothing happened.

  A plasma rifle barrel poked out, then two. One was pointing at the far hatch, the other was swinging toward Jem. He reached out, grabbed it, and pulled.

  There was no sound. A flash of light told him the rifle had fired. The hardsuit kept him from hearing anything but his comms, and they were silent. The rifle flew through the air in an arc, tumbling somewhere behind him, but Jem wasn’t looking. He was focused on the two men in simple shipsuits... no, they were in some sort of suit that wasn’t quite an exosuit. He didn’t want to look at their faces as he backhanded the one he’d pulled through the hatch before the man had sense enough to release the rifle. With his other hand, Jem reached for the second rifle-bearer.

  He missed the rifle. He got the man’s upper arm, instead, and with the grip he’d intended to break the weapon, he pulped the man’s upper arm. Slightly horrified, he released him and the man fell to the floor writhing in pain. Jem looked into the hatch. The first rifleman had fallen backward into the two men who had still been in the hatch. One of them was bringing his weapon to bear on Jem.

  Jem didn’t wait to find out what that one did. It wasn’t a rifle, it was shorter and fatter. He just reached forward and grabbed it, pulling it out of the man’s hands easily while the man’s mouth formed a perfect o of surprise. Jem followed through with his motion and bashed the weapon into the heads of the two men who were still struggling to get untangled and up. Jem leaned back, out of the hatch he’d never fully entered, and hit the button with his free hand.