by DC Bastien
"Mes!" Biann called out, running to the nearest panel. "Mes, no!"
"What the fuck did you do?" Avery growled, and then a knee between his thighs made him howl.
Kre moved fast, pulling Avery off and scruffing the Judge by the back of his collar. "Restrain him, before I do worse."
***
[Sianor: God, I've been waiting since we last wrote to see that.]
[Ashroe: It's been killing me! It's a good job we don't post chapters as we go. If anyone was reading it, and we hiatused, they'd kill us!]
[Sianor: I know you like to do it all in one go, but it's killing me not archiving. I want to see what people think...]
[Ashroe: But what if you need to tweak it when you find out you changed a name or something?]
[Sianor: Yes, but... I like the feedback. I like to know I'm not going off the deep-end. I'm only managing because you're reading it, and you'll keep me right!]
[Ashroe: I guess. I just know when I read, I like to read things I know have been completed, so I don't invest in something that won't ever finish.]
[Sianor: I don't think I could write professionally, you know. I'd be at a loss without knowing how many hits I'd got.]
[Ashroe: There's always sales records, I guess. And googling yourself.]
[Sianor: Hah. I'd also need a pen-name. Mandy just wouldn't sell books, I bet.]
[Ashroe: There's always just using initials.]
[Sianor: I guess :)]
[Ashroe: The next bit requires concentration. I might take a half day tomorrow. I have way too much leave left at work anyway, and they keep telling me 'use it or lose it'.]
[Sianor: You can keep me company! I'm back at my mom's for now, and she just fusses over me non-stop. It's like being five again.]
[Ashroe: It's how you know she cares. If you didn't have anyone fussing, I'd be worried.]
[Sianor: I keep telling myself that, but if she props up my cushions one more time I might scream.]
[Ashroe: Make a sad face and whimper about needing icecream.]
[Sianor: You are an evil genius.]
[Ashroe: Save some for me!]
***
"What's going on?" Biann insisted, stomping right behind them.
"Tie him up, and put him in the smuggling compartment," Avery yelled. "And don't pretend there isn't one. I know the dimensions of every major mass-produced model of ship, and I have nigh-perfect recall. Now is not the time to play cute."
As Avery and Kre went to complete the kidnap of the struggling Judge, Vadim turned to the shocked Hleen and Roq.
"I've known Judge Peters for longer than I've known any of you, and there's no way in all the levels of Tartarus that he'd leave one of us open to being mobbed and killed. No way at all. So either the man who just put a virus in our ship has been warped in the head somehow, or he ain't the Judge. That being said, I need us to get as far away from here as we can without Mes' help, because that beacon will be drawing his support to us tout suite."
"I'll get on it. Loap, are you coming?" Saidhe asked.
"I... yes. Yes, of course."
"And you," Vadim said, a hand on Biann's shoulder. "...I want you to do a full sweep of the system. Isolate the AI from the gubbins, in case Mes can't keep herself choked down. See if you can find out what information it broadcast, if it spread further, and if you can disable or trace it, without infecting anything else. Understand?"
"Yes, Sir," Biann said, and she looked ready to add something else before she shook her head and ran off.
Which left Vadim alone. He closed his eyes for a moment and counted to ten in his head. This was bad. Very bad. If the virus spread into life-support, they could all be decompressed. The ship could fly them right to the nearest Ur-court - back to Lineon - or... or anything. He tried to work out what they'd said in earshot of the Judge, and what he could have compromised them with.
Identities. Both the ship, and the crew. Their second lot of identities were burned. At least their plan wasn't, for the simple reason that they currently didn't have one. They were going to need to change everything all over, and now they knew that the enemy - whoever they were - were onto them, it was going to be almost impossible to do it. Who would take something as hot as they were? They couldn't afford to pay for the privacy, the surety that they would offer more than the Ur-court could bribe an informer. They were up a creek without a paddle.
Wonderful.
***
Chapter Twelve - Mission: Interrogation
"He's restrained, Kip," Avery said, when the Captain finally approached. "Knocked out cold. We might have been a bit heavy-handed with him."
"He hurt the ship," Kre snapped.
Vadim knew it wasn't about the ship, though. Well, not really. It was the betrayal of trust, it was the fact that Kre had nearly died because they'd put their faith in the hands of this... this 'Judge'. This Judge who was not their Judge.
"Twinkle and Sparkle are trying to fix that," Vadim said. "We'll get off-radar as fast as possible, and make sure we're not leaving a cookie trail behind us for the bad guys to follow."
"You mean the Ur-Enforcers," Kre corrected, her ears twisted back as she scented the air around Avery.
"Easy, girl." Avery flicked up his wrists, showing the empty cuffs. "I'm not on the books. Not since your boss busted out an informant with my ident."
"It's okay, Kre. He's on our side," Vadim said, shoving his hands under his belt. "Much as I hate to admit it."
"Kip, that's the sweetest thing I've ever heard."
"Don't push your luck, Ithon."
"So, are you going to tell him, or am I?" Avery asked Kre.
The Sianar bristled, her claws tapping threateningly on the deck. "Tell him what, Enforcer?"
"Sweetheart, if you can't trust him, why are you here? Do you really think you're doing your friends any favours by keeping it a secret? You've had two runs on your life, now. If Kip knows what's going on, he'll plan accordingly."
Vadim was now utterly baffled. "Would someone please tell me what's going on?"
Kre looked ready to argue again, but then she dropped her head in resignation. "The Enforcer is correct. The fact that I have twice been in danger recently is likely not a coincidence. I have not been... entirely truthful with you. I believed I had no choice, Captain. If you choose to terminate my passage on this ship as a result, I will understand."
"Hey, ain't no one kicking you off, you big oaf. Come on. Quit with all the cloak and dagger and tell me."
Kre lifted one paw, extended a single claw and unhooked the clasp around her throat. She glanced sideways to Avery, who stepped in and helped her shrug the heavy, fake-fur ruff that many of the common-born Sianar wore to appear more threatening. As Avery pulled it off, she licked at her paw-pad, and combed the saliva through her natural mane, before shaking it upright. It was a little bedraggled from the ruff she had been wearing in public, but there was a mass of thick, silver fur and mottled black guard-hairs in a perfect crescent around her neck.
"Kre... the hell?"
"My name is not Kre-Nappre, Captain. I am Kre-Tho-Tiamet. I am the eldest daughter of the great leader Ail-Tho-Gameth. I did not dare dishonour my bloodline by removing my birthright, but I had to conceal it, so that no one knew I had rebelled." The Sianar looked utterly broken, and around the corners of her eyes, the fur was damp with barely-halted tears. "I am one of the great oppressors of the Roq race. Or... my family is. I could not abide by the bloodshed, and I..."
Kre's voice broke, and she turned in disgust with herself. Despite all the protocol, Vadim couldn't stop himself. He walked closer and put his hand low on her back, then slid it carefully up, pausing just below her mane to wait for a sign of disapproval, before putting his fingers in the thicker, lush fur. "It's okay," he told her.
"It is not," she complained.
"It is. Hey. You aren't your bloodline, Kre. And you'll be any Kre you want to be here. I understand why you wanted to hide who your family was, but I promise you now, we won'
t judge you on it."
"But Loap--?"
"That idiot took a bullet for you, you dumb fool," Vadim said, scratching the nape of her neck. It was a gesture only close kin or mates would dare try, and he knew full well that Kre would recognise this as an informal adoption. "He likes you. Hell. We all do. You're part of this crew, whether you want to be, or not. It wouldn't be the same without you."
The Sianar paused for a moment, before she turned and lowered her face, pressing their foreheads together. "Thank you, Captain." Her voice was low and thick with emotion, a rumble in her chest.
"You can tell the others when you're ready, but they'll be understanding, I know. And if they're not, I'll smack them myself," he joked.
Kre whuffed in muted laughter, then straightened back up. "I will tell them. They deserve to know the truth."
"Good girl. But what I really want to know is how this asshole knew before me?"
Avery snorted. "Please. Do you think I really chased you down over 'paperwork' on a shipment?"
"Stranger things have happened."
"I bet you thought I just wanted the chance to wind you up... egotistic as ever, I see," the Enforcer said, rolling his blue eyes in disgust. "I was checking up on Kre. For her father." He turned to address the chaplain. "He knew you'd gone out into the world, he just wanted to know you were okay."
"My father knows where I am?" she asked, alarmed.
"Nope. I told him I'd locate you and keep my eye on you, but that if you didn't want to be found, there was a reason. He was satisfied with that. I was just making sure you weren't up to your ears in trouble with this lovely example of Humanity," Avery explained.
"Hey!"
"I... I appreciate that," she said, at length. "And I am surprised that Ail did not demand my return."
"He might have to show he adheres to protocol in public, Kre, but that doesn't mean he isn't sympathetic. I think he was pleased you were brave enough to follow your own path, if a little upset you couldn't say goodbye. I'll pass on any messages you want to him, unopened, once we get through this."
"I thank you again, Enforcer."
"Avery," he said.
"Avery."
"C'mon. Now we've got the cargo stored, let's go and work out whether we can go to your safe house, or if it's been compromised, Ithon. The Judge had all our current identities, so we're going to need to change again."
"Preferably to something more... discreet."
Vadim glared. "What are you trying to say?"
"Changing from 'Messenger' to 'Mission'? Please. You need to do more to overhaul your identity, especially when you're a high-profile target," the Enforcer pointed out.
"And risk us all slipping up with the name of our ship?"
"Then hide better."
***
[Sianor: Sianar politics! And my suspicion about her heritage!]
[Ashroe: I put it in for you, of course.]
[Sianor: <3<3<3]
[Ashroe: You know we're going to have to write Ail at some point?]
[Sianor: Me! Me, me, me! I love that damn race far more than is good for me.]
[Ashroe: Let me guess, you've drawn a world-map?]
[Sianor: I love to doodle, sue me!]
[Ashroe: I wish I had your talent. My pictures are all stick-figures.]
[Sianor: Just tell me what you want illustrating and I'll draw it!]
[Ashroe: Ooh, well you could do some cover art. I was just going to whack some reduced-opacity swirls and text on for the chapter headers.]
[Sianor: Gimme briefs!! And I'll do it!]
[Ashroe: You're on!]
***
"Good news first, or bad news?" Biann asked.
"Good news." Vadim was in his chair, spinning slowly back and forth.
Biann was hovering near her sister, wringing her hands in a way that did not inspire confidence. Loap and Saidhe were at their stations, though turned to face the Captain. Avery was lingering off to one side, and Kre mirrored the Enforcer on the other side of the bridge, looking uncomfortable.
"Good news is that Mes managed to shut down pretty fast. We broadcast our current status, our location, but not our destination. She quarantined everything, which means I can't get a look at the corruption first-hand, but that means it hasn't spread. We have manual control over everything, and she set it all to run as standard at the levels we had set, so life support, navigation and so on will just continue as they are unless we make any manual changes. We will need to make regular checks and modifications, but not constant ones."
"That doesn't all sound like good news," Vadim complained.
"...it's as good as I can make it, Cap'n. The bad news is... we've lost her. I don't know if we'll be able to recover her, and I've isolated her module and pulled it from the network. She's stuck inside the box, and... and I don't know what we'll get when we plug her back into a board. Possibly... nothing."
"So. Mes... is dead?" Loap asked.
"No. No... she might be okay. I just... I don't know for sure," Biann said, smiling slightly when Saidhe clasped her hand. "I'm sorry. I don't know what else to do."
"You did what you could, B. None of us clocked that the Judge was a risk. It's... it's my fault if anything, but we can't spend our lives second-guessing the past. Just... moving to the future," Vadim said, head up as high as he could. "Top priority is get to Avery's bolt hole. Batten down the hatches, and get ourselves a ship that ain't compromised. Find out what the Judge wants - if it even is him - and... and work out how we fix this."
"You even think that's possible?" Saidhe asked. "If the corruption goes into the Judges..."
"If I might interrupt?" Avery asked, looking for permission. "Yes, there's Judges involved, but we don't know how high up this is. So far, I've only been able to tell things are awry in this sector. I was hoping that Kip would be more... circumspect in discovering more corruption, but now we're hitting the thick of it. We need to work out what our captive knows, and then I have a few contacts we can use to get to the bottom of it. I don't think the whole Ur-government is implicated, but I don't know for sure. If they are, then... I suppose we either stay in hiding forever and learn to love one another's company, or we bite the bullet and go out in a blaze of glory."
"...or take them down?" Loap asked.
"If you think of a way to unseat a cross-species, cross-galactic organisation, then I would be happy to listen to you," Avery snarked. "But otherwise, my options seem the only two viable ones right now."
"Is he always like this?" Loap asked.
"Yep." Vadim shrugged.
***
"Good Cop, Bad Cop, or Crazy Cop?" Avery asked.
"How about: Ex Cop, Recently Ex Cop?"
"Alright, I'll put you down as Cranky Cop."
The small smuggling compartment was just big enough for the Vadim to stand up in comfortably, leaving Avery slightly hunched over. It was about as wide and long as the engine room, though currently empty. It was nominally an area for ventilation, providing a natural heat-sink for the engine, but in practice most people bought better coolant systems and stashed slightly-less legal items in them.
The Judge was currently tied to a chair, wrists crossed behind him and bound, legs and torso secured against the chair's frame. He was gagged, and glaring.
Avery flicked his wrist, and a knife slid from the concealed sheath under his sleeve, dropping into his hand. Another flick and the blade - dull black, with the thinnest line of sharpened metal at the edge - caught in the strip lighting.
"First thing to do, is work out if you're the Judge and you've been interfered with, or if you're an imposter," he said, and with worrying speed he'd cut through the gag, barely missing the skin.
"Do you know the penalty for kidnapping and assaulting an Ur-Judge?" Peters spat.
"Considering he's already down for impersonating an Ur-Enforcer, I think the book will already be thrown at his head. Not much more than the maximum penalty you can do, you know," Avery answered, stepping back, ar
ms folded.
"You're both fools. You know that interfering with Ur-law is the lowest crime, worse even than treason. If you even make it to a penal colony, your life won't be worth living. Especially as an ex-Enforcer. All the other criminals will want you dead, and the guards won't protect you."
"Could we maybe focus on the part where no one's caught us yet?" Vadim asked. "Currently, you're tied to a chair. And you don't know where you are. And you ain't got anything on you but clothes. How are you in a bargaining position right now?"
"I don't bargain with terrorists."
There was barely anything between the word, and Avery's application of blade to cheek. One moment he was intact, the next there were thin streaks of blood running down the Judge's face. "I'd advise against using such emotive and incendiary language, your Honour."
