Fire Rage

by Chris Ward

  ‘I believe it’s part of my coding which adapts to its environment.’

  ‘I’d really like to meet this former crew of yours someday,’ Beth said.

  ‘Oh, it’s likely you will. I have received a distress signal that locates them in our current system.’

  ‘They’re here in Trill?’

  ‘We have exited through a wormhole near the fire planet of Wail,’ Harlan5 said. ‘Raylan Climlee’s fleet will likely follow in the next few hours, so we have some time to get away. However, Wail is encircled by a division of Raylan’s fleet. The next closest habitable planet is Abalon 3, a volatile fire planet but one with several subterranean cities. Unfortunately, the Bareleon fleet allied with Raylan Climlee is moving on a direct course and will enter Abalon 3’s orbit in the next few hours.’

  ‘And this mayday call you said you received?’

  ‘It came from the other side of the Bareleon fleet, in the far orbit of Abalon 3.’

  ‘Your old captain is on the other side of a fleet that’s laid waste to most of Trill System?’

  ‘That’s right.’

  Beth grimaced. ‘Can we respond to their signal?’

  ‘Of course, but if a two-way transmission is picked up by the Bareleons, it could cause us some problems.’

  ‘Some problems?’

  ‘They will likely send a fleet to destroy us, sandwiching us between themselves and the following fleet. In addition, they will also be alerted to my captain’s presence. A single transmission would be dismissed as background static, but a complete communication would certainly be noticed.’

  ‘So what do we do?’

  ‘We’re currently at the rear of the Bareleon fleet. I suggest we follow, using our scanners to search for the ship that sent the mayday.’

  ‘But we can’t contact them?’

  ‘Not without putting both of our ships at risk, no. In fact, I would suggest shutting down all systems which emit background radiation, including those that give off heat. That will make us harder to detect. It is advisable to switch on our transmission receivers only at sporadic intervals in order to pick up any new signals. Otherwise, we go off the grid.’

  ‘Sounds like a plan. While it might work for you, how would it prevent us from freezing to death?’

  ‘We can maintain heat in the central part of the ship. I have already taken the initiative to shut down the main thruster, putting us on auxiliary power. We are already at deep-space cruising speed. All we will lose is our maneuverability.’

  ‘Should I trust you on this?’

  Harlan5 cocked his head. ‘My programming suggests I am as capable of pulling this off as any human or off-worlder crew, but our chances of remaining undetected are still remarkably low.’

  ‘I guess that’s war, isn’t it?’

  ‘My programming agrees with you.’

  Beth sighed. ‘Then let’s try it.’

  Harlan5 cocked his head. ‘I have already taken the liberty of enacting our plan. Did you notice the slight change in motion to the ship?’

  Beth shook her head. ‘No.’

  ‘Good. It should have been undetectable to humans. My programming suggests that had you noticed it, there was a possibility you were in fact an android.’

  ‘Are you trying to be funny?’

  ‘Not in any specific sense, but my programming suggests lightening the mood might make what could possibly be our last few hours of existence into a more pleasant experience.’

  ‘If we ever get you back to your captain, I’ll be sure to tell her it’s my recommendation that you have a good servicing.’

  ‘She won’t listen. I’ve been telling her that for years.’

  A noise came from beyond the cabin door. Beth jumped up. ‘What’s that?’

  The door slid open and a disorientated Paul stumbled through, wearing only a pair of briefs and rubbing his eyes.

  ‘One of the power sources I needed to shut down was that to the medical bay,’ Harlan5 said.

  ‘If I’d known that, I’d never have agreed to your plan,’ Beth hissed under her breath.

  Harlan5’s eyes twinkled. ‘My programming thought so too.’

  Paul lurched his way to the co-pilot’s seat and slumped down, the leather from some long-extinct alien animal creaking as his near-naked body twisted to face Beth. ‘Goddamn it, did I miss the war?’

  Beth rolled her eyes. ‘No, there’s plenty more war to come.’

  Paul flapped a hand at the view-screens as though expecting them to be filled with battling spacecraft. ‘I don’t see anything. Are you sure the robot’s not lying to you? We could be anywhere.’

  ‘We’re in Trill System,’ Beth said. ‘We’re a few billion kilometers behind the Bareleon Helix and its fleet as they head to the fire planet of Abalon 3.’

  ‘Behind?’ Paul reached for the controls. ‘Well, why don’t we announce our presence with a few cannon blasts, just to warm them up a bit?’

  ‘No!’ Beth grabbed his hands. ‘Bad, bad idea. Don’t touch anything.’

  ‘It’s all right,’ Harlan5 said. ‘I’ve deactivated his terminal. Little Buck is still a little disorientated after his recuperation. Luckily for us, he has made a full physical recovery.’

  ‘Is that right?’ Paul said turning around. One hand patted his stomach. ‘I feel a little bloated.’

  ‘Osmosis caused by your time in the tank. Once you pass water a few times, you’ll balance out again.’

  Paul lifted his hands and pretended to fire a blaster at the view-screens. ‘Good. If my balance is off, some punks might miss out on retribution. Goddamn, it’s good to be back on the frontline.’

  Beth met Harlan5’s eyes and gave the robot the hardest glare she could manage. ‘It’s good to have you back, Paul,’ she said.

  As he watched her, Harlan5’s eyes gave a little amused twinkle.

  45

  Caladan

  Lia was back with them, and for that Caladan would forever feel grateful, but she had become a distant figure, haunted by some action she refused to talk about. As the Raging Fire moved slowly through space on an interception course with the Bareleon Helix, Caladan sought her out, wanting answers, but she had disappeared somewhere into the bowels of the ship. He found a surveillance room with monitors displaying the views of all the hidden cameras on the ship, but from the interference several of them had suffered, he knew Lia was still wearing an interruption device. While on a newer ship it might have been possible to track her down from the malfunctioning cameras, those onboard the Raging Fire were old and went offline for irregular amounts of time. By the time he made it down to where one had recently malfunctioned, Lia had moved on.

  It was obvious she didn’t want to talk.

  Jake, mourning the loss of the Stillwater, stayed on the bridge, while Lump was off fixing things wherever he found a need, also keeping out of the way. Caladan found himself thinking long about the image he’d seen on the screen in the science lab, and the number of times Lump had got them out of a difficult situation. As Jake had explained, once again what had looked like a suicide mission had become a possible escape due to the little man’s quick thinking and computer knowledge.

  Lump had more than earned the grudging respect Caladan would give a trusted crew member, but more than that… he couldn’t bring himself to think it.

  To keep his mind off things, he busied himself preparing the shuttles for their escape attempt. The Raging Fire came with five interplanetary short-range shuttles, but three had been secretly farmed for parts by the trader on Galanth, rendering them useless. The other two were in working order, even though their fuel reserves were relatively low. He had instructed some maintenance droids to convert a little of the Raging Fire’s trioxyglobin fuel store into a less volatile compound which would fuel the shuttles, but he still had his doubts over their space-worthiness. Still, at least it was a chance, better than dying in the depths of the Bareleon Helix with the doomed Raging Fire.

  He had just gathered his eq
uipment and was about to check the first of the shuttle’s electrical equipment for what felt like the fiftieth time, when the transmitter on his belt buzzed.

  He lifted it to his ear. ‘We have a problem,’ came Jake’s voice.

  Caladan felt a bead of sweat break off his brow and dribble down his face. He sat down on a nearby crate and took a deep breath. ‘Do I want to know?’ he said.

  ‘No. But I have to tell you anyway. They’ve seen us.’

  Jake and Lump were leaning over a terminal screen when Caladan reached the bridge. There was no sign of Lia.

  ‘Tell me how bad it is,’ he said.

  ‘The Helix has sent out vanguard teams to investigate all objects of a certain size,’ Jake answered, not looking up. ‘We have three ships heading for our coordinates. It looks like we have no choice but to accelerate the ship to full power and then jettison as late as possible. If we fire on them, it’ll alert them to our presence.’

  ‘At the moment they’re treating us like an inanimate object?’

  ‘We’ve seen a couple of dozen squads break off the main fleet. They’re checking everything.’

  It’s futile, Caladan wanted to say. One way or another, we’re dead. The only question is how many we’ll take with us. He opened his mouth to speak, but an image appeared in his mind, of a 3D human rendering.

  He reached out, touching Lump’s shoulder. ‘Lad… what do you think?’

  Lump beamed as he looked up. Don’t push it, Caladan thought. We’re not about to go on family picnics or fishing trips.

  ‘What do I think?’ Lump poked a misshapen finger at the screen. ‘Well, this is the Bareleon fleet. This is the wormhole. They’re going to engage us far ahead of it if we allow the vanguard to reach us. However, we have to let them come.’

  ‘Why is that?’

  ‘Because we have no firepower or shields to speak of. We have our weapon, but our weapon is a bomb. Bombs must be planted to be effective. We need to get to our planting site.’

  ‘How do we do that?’

  ‘Judging by their approach speed, they think we’re space junk. I suggest we let them continue to think that. There are two rear thrusters. If we disable one and deactivate the other, then shut down all obvious systems, they’ll have no reason to suspect. They’ll board us to see what’s going on, but if we can stall them until we reach the main fleet, at the right moment we can engage the remaining thruster, throw us into the middle of them where they’ll risk hitting their own ships if they engage us. We can set the Raging Fire on a collision course then we bail out. Getting us out on a shuttle to the wormhole will be down to the pilot.’

  Caladan frowned. ‘They could blow us to pieces at any time. What’s to stop them?’

  ‘They’re parasitic. To the Bareleon, a ship this size is food. Even more so if they find what’s on it. If we’re lucky, they won’t discover the full extent of what we carry until it’s too late.’

  Caladan looked at Jake. ‘Is he crazy, or could this work?’

  Jake nodded. ‘Makes sense to me. You’re the pilot, though. Your call.’

  ‘I can’t make a decision like this. Where’s Lia?’

  ‘I haven’t seen her.’

  Caladan scowled. He went to the nearest transmissions terminal and pulled up the ship’s internal communications system. ‘Lia, get up here, now,’ he growled into the receiver, turning it up to the fullest volume. ‘Wherever you are, moping season is over. We need you.’ He went back to the others. ‘While we wait for her, run that all past me again.’

  Lump nodded. ‘Well—’

  The door opened. Lia stepped through. Caladan smiled as Lia looked up, meeting his eyes. She had changed out of her ragged uniform into a shiny dark blue one. Two blasters hung at her belt, and she had even brushed her hair, tying it back into a long ponytail that hung halfway down her back.

  ‘Welcome back to the land of the living.’

  Lia stepped forward. With a grim expression on her face, she spread her hands. ‘Someone asked for a hero. Here I am.’

  Caladan sighed. ‘And it’s just about time for one, I think. Lump, tell Lia what you just told us. Lia, I’m afraid the plan’s changed.’

  46

  Raylan

  The military officer snapped to attention. He towered over Raylan, who stood on a raised stage just to get his eyeline close to that of the tall Loth soldier.

  ‘Your report, please, Captain.’

  The Loth nodded. He looked past Raylan at the wall behind, a sign of respect. ‘We have a positive identification on the fugitive Lianetta Jansen, my lord,’ he said.

  Raylan felt a tingle of anger at the mention of Lianetta’s name. ‘Go on,’ he said, fighting to keep a tremble out of his voice.

  ‘She was caught on surveillance footage entering and leaving the spaceport of Hopeful on Steer in Phevius System. During her time in Hopeful, she was using a scrambling device to keep her movements hidden, but a break-in was committed, and classified documentation stolen which coincides with the timing of her visit. Her ship was tracked to an abandoned mining base where several refugee ships defying the immigration laws were found and destroyed.’

  ‘And Lianetta?’

  ‘She escaped. Her ship was tracked into a wormhole. The governor of Hopeful was notified. He in turn notified the head of our garrison, who felt it important to relay the information directly to your command.’

  Raylan wanted to scream at the lengthy bureaucratic process which might have let Lianetta escape. Controlling his voice, he said, ‘Where did she go?’

  ‘Into Trill System through a wormhole that exits not far from Abalon 3. A tracking device was placed on all ships docked in Hopeful spaceport at the time of the attack.’

  Raylan’s heart leaped. ‘So you know where she is now?’

  ‘Of course, my lord. She was picked up by a passing deep-space barge which is currently moving toward the Bareleon fleet. Would you like a task force ordered to move in pursuit?’

  Raylan thought for a moment. The Helix was moving, without his authorization, toward Abalon 3. If the barge was moving toward the fleet, it would be hard to engage it without giving the impression of attacking the fleet itself.

  But, if Lianetta’s old ship had also headed into Trill System, that made an arranged rendezvous likely. Intelligence reports suggested the Matilda had gone through a wormhole and exited near the rear of the Bareleon fleet.

  While moving his command fleet would take time—plus the perceived threat it might suggest to the rebelling Bareleon—it wasn’t impossible that he could move a handful of ships, putting him in position when a meeting happened, and with enough firepower to capture or destroy Lianetta Jansen once and for all.

  ‘Admiral,’ he shouted to his senior flight official, dismissing the Loth with a wave of his hand, ‘I have need of your counsel.’

  The man came over, bowed his head and took a knee, as Raylan had trained all his command staff to do. ‘How can I be of service, lord?’

  ‘I need a ship,’ he said. ‘One capable of capturing a fugitive. What do you have?’

  47

  Lia

  ‘OK, we’re ready,’ Caladan said. ‘Shut it down.’

  Lump glanced up at Lia, as though for confirmation. ‘Hang on to something,’ he said. Looking at the others in turn, he lifted a finger, held it dramatically in the air, and then pressed the control to detonate the small explosive they had wired into the control mechanisms of the left thruster.

  With a sudden groan, the Raging Fire lurched sideways, throwing them all off balance. Lia caught the edge of a terminal desk as her legs flew out from under her, landing on her side. She sat up, rubbing her shoulder as the ship’s orientation systems righted it, adjusting the gravity control to compensate that they were now flying side-on. Lump and Caladan were caught in a tangle which Caladan looked keen to get out of, while only Jake had possessed the foresight to strap himself into a seat.

  Lump leaned over the terminal desk then looked up, a
grin on his face. ‘It worked. We set off a chain reaction which will make the thruster failure appear accidental.’ He pressed some buttons. ‘I’ve cut power to the second thruster now too. It’ll appear as though it’s a related incident. If we’re lucky, the Bareleon will think the explosion came from the ship breaking up.’

  ‘Will it keep them out?’ Jake asked.

  Lia shook her head. ‘Bareleons are only part organic. They don’t understand fear like most species. They will view this ship as something to be looted, broken apart, absorbed into their hive. They will board us one way or the other, so we had better be ready.’

  ‘Let’s get to it,’ Caladan said. ‘Boy, come with me. Let’s go set us some traps.’

  Caladan and Lump headed out into the corridor. Jake made to follow, but stopped, bracing himself against the wall, wincing in pain.

  Lia helped him up. ‘The Stillwater?’

  Jake forced a grin. ‘I hit myself when we blew the thruster,’ he said, but Lia could see from his eyes that he was lying. She chose to say nothing, just patting him on the arm and nodding.

  ‘Be careful,’ she said.

  ‘Will do.’

  Jake headed after the others. Lia brought up their location information on the captain’s terminal. So far, so good. They were still on course, although they would gradually slow. It meant that when the time came, they would have more distance to make up to reach the wormhole.

  Lia frowned. Perhaps too much.

  For all their fighting talk, they still needed a miracle. Sometimes life didn’t work out how you might want. She knew that more than anyone, and if someone had to stay behind with the ship, it made sense that it was her. Caladan might be a better pilot, but Raylan Climlee wanted her dead. If she broadcasted her presence, it might distract Raylan’s fleet long enough for the others to get away.

  She caught up with them in the lower shuttle hangars. If the Bareleons thought the ship was abandoned, they would come through the hangars rather than the hull. Destroying the hangar doors wouldn’t decompress the entire ship, and they would be able to bring their ships inside to load with the most valuable cargo.