Confluence

by S. K. Dunstall

  “Attention, you are entering restricted airspace. This is an automated control area. Please hand control over to the automated controller.”

  She turned the volume down. “How’s van Heel?” she asked Chaudry. “Can she run?”

  “I can run,” van Heel said.

  Chaudry shook his head.

  “Okay, you’re responsible for her then. We’ll try to stay with you. Get something to cover your mouth and your eyes.” She tapped the gas grenades on her belt. “I might have to use these.”

  He nodded.

  They were thirty seconds from landing when a human controller took over. “Back off, moron. You’re in a spaceport, and you’re too close to the shuttles.”

  She checked one last time to see if the shuttle was still on the ground. It was.

  “The shuttle’s there.” She pointed in the direction the shuttle would be when they landed. Head for it.” If they were lucky, the door would be open, and they could storm it. “Chaudry, get van Heel settled and strapped in. Han and I will take the shuttle.”

  Han looked at the weapon in his hands. “That’s our plan?”

  “The best plans, Han, are the ones you make up as you go along. They have an element of randomness. If you don’t know what’s coming, other people don’t either.”

  They landed fifty meters from the shuttle. Better, it was partway through being loaded, so the doors were open. “Let’s go.” Radko set her blaster on stun and led the way down.

  “I can walk,” van Heel insisted, but was soon leaning heavily on Chaudry.

  As they made their way across the tarmac, a ground car sped up from the other end of the field.

  Radko waited until they’d slowed, then stunned the four occupants with her blaster. The ground car rolled to a halt.

  “A bit extreme,” Han said.

  “Any closer, and they’d be in the shuttle blast when we take off. This way it’s safer.”

  Radko quickened her pace. At the door to the shuttle, they were greeted by a blaster—not on stun. “I’ve called the authorities,” the pilot said. “They’ll be here soon.”

  Radko shot him. He toppled backward.

  Chaudry made an inarticulate sound.

  Radko hauled the pilot back into the shuttle. “Han, can you disengage the robots loading?”

  “I—”

  “I’ll do it.” Chaudry passed van Heel over to Han and moved over to the boards. Radko watched his swift hands as she prepared for takeoff. This was one thing he was used to doing.

  “They do this in Stores?”

  “All the time,” Chaudry said. “It’s Stores, after all.”

  She locked each door as the robots disengaged. “Han, disarm the pilot and strap him in.” They could have ditched him, but it would take too much time to drag the body a safe distance.

  Radko checked the fuel. Half-full. Enough for what they needed. She hoped.

  “Pilot secure,” Han said, at the same time as Chaudry said, “Robots clear.”

  Radko snapped the last door shut and fired the engines. Five seconds later, they started to rise.

  How long before anyone came after them? It depended how long it took Redmond to link their missing aircraft with the stolen shuttle. Radko guessed they had an hour’s lead, at best. She hoped it was enough.

  In that time, they had to find the ship Gunter had arranged to transport the shellfish, intercept the shuttle pilot—who would already have started the delivery to Redmond—and convince him to collect them and return to his ship without making the delivery.

  She counted on three things. First, that Renaud Han was genuinely fond of his son-who-wasn’t; second, that Renaud and Gunter Wong were close friends; and lastly, that because it had been arranged at such short notice, the ship Gunter had called in to do the job was one that spent a lot of time ferrying shellfish for him. Which meant, she hoped, that Gunter had influence with the ship captain. Enough to convince him to pick up four strangers out of space, and order another jump, hours earlier than the one he already had.

  She identified the ship. The Mikasa. The ship they’d caught off Lancia to Barth. How much was this diversion costing Gunter, for that had been a full passenger ship?

  Half an hour. The timing was close.

  “Han, I want you to call Gunter.” Maybe it would have been smarter to call Renaud Han, but Renaud was probably still with Gunter anyway. “Tell him you have escaped from Redmond and that we’re in space. We want to rendezvous with the shuttle that’s delivering the shellfish to Redmond. We want the pilot to pick us up and return to his ship. We want the captain of that ship to organize his jump for as soon as we get on board.”

  They only had one chance at this. Further, they could only do it because the lag time between the two sectors was so short. Surely, someone had reported that by now. Radko couldn’t see any reason for such rapid communication, yet someone had paid hefty premiums for that type of lag.

  If this worked, Radko owed Gunter Wong and Renaud Han. A debt she’d be happy to repay.

  Han opened his comms. “I hope no one at the barracks ever gets to hear about this.”

  So did Radko, but not for the same reason Han was hoping. She had to remember that Renaud had contacted someone at those barracks. Whoever he’d contacted would be looking out for Han.

  If Renaud had convinced them it was serious.

  “I mean it.” Han looked at Chaudry and van Heel. “One word passes either of your lips, and you’re totally dead. Or arrested on a trumped-up charge, at least.”

  Chaudry mimed zipping his lip. “Not from me.”

  “Van Heel?”

  Van Heel struggled to reply, and when she did speak, it was through gritted teeth. Her wound must be bothering her more than she admitted. “I’ll keep silent if you introduce me to your father. After all, I have to thank him for saving our lives.”

  Han looked at Radko.

  “If you think this reflects badly on you,” she asked, “how do you think it reflects on your team leader?”

  “Badly,” everyone agreed.

  Radko laughed and checked the emergency suits as Han called Gunter.

  There were six suits. Four of them were simple emergency suits with twelve hours of air and an emergency beacon. The other two were full suits, with controls. That was standard in a shuttle like this. The shuttle pilot always had a full suit—in case he had to do emergency repairs outside—and a standby suit in case that first one failed.

  It was better this way. Han and Chaudry had probably never used suits outside of training. Ean had said his first time in space was terrifying.

  “Yves.” Gunter seemed to have aged in the time between calls. “We thought something went wrong.”

  “We were on Redmond. Have to avoid the enemy. Hello, Papa,” as Renaud moved into sight as well. “I apologize for worrying you.”

  “We called Fleet Headquarters,” Renaud said. “They will get you out.”

  Han kept talking, for they couldn’t wait for the lag to catch up. “We got ourselves off Redmond. No need to stress, Papa. But I do need another favor from Gunter. I know it’s a big ask, but people are chasing us. We need to get away.

  “We booked passage on the ship that is taking the Gippian shellfish.” He grimaced as he said it, but they all knew he had to mention it. “We’re about to meet up with the shuttle. We want it to pick us up and take us back to the ship. We need you to tell the captain what’s happening and that it’s okay. We’ve less than half an hour before we intercept the shuttle. We need to do it fast. And you’ll need to ask the captain to organize another jump. Before they realize what we’ve asked and stop him.”

  The delay for a reply took forever. Radko had time to think of five thousand ways that all this could go wrong. Renaud had a contact in the Lancian fleet. They might be listening to this call—but that could
be advantageous. They might convince Gunter and Renaud to act fast.

  Even if Lancia wasn’t listening in, Redmond would certainly be. The only reason this plan might work was because even the military had to work with bureaucracy of the jump gates, and a captain who used the gates all the time might get precedence over someone who was trying to prevent that.

  Chaudry moved over to check van Heel’s wound again.

  After the wait, it was Renaud who answered rather than Gunter. “Yves. We’ve organized a rescue. You’ll be rescued soon.”

  Thankfully, in the background, they could hear Gunter talking. “Collect them and take them where they need to go.”

  “We don’t need rescuing, Papa. It’s a job. We ran into a little difficulty.”

  “Understatement of the century,” van Heel murmured quietly to Chaudry.

  “They might even compromise the mission if they try to help.”

  Radko nodded approvingly.

  “We are nearly at the shuttle. We need to intercept it now.”

  Whoever Gunter was talking to was arguing back.

  Gunter cut him off. “If you still want my business, you’ll do this.”

  They were in range of the other shuttle and were out of time.

  Gunter said in the background. “I’ll give them the codes, Captain Engen.” He repeated them aloud, much to Radko’s relief. “The numbers are 436-243-043-341-094-334-234.”

  “Thank you,” Han said, though the message wouldn’t get back to Gunter for fifteen minutes. “We appreciate this, Gunter. And we’ll repay any expenses as soon as we get home. Look after Papa and Mama for me, please.” He clicked off, then sagged into his seat.

  They had to keep moving. “Suit up.” Radko chose the full suit for herself and gave van Heel the second full suit.

  “I like your family,” Chaudry told Han.

  So did Radko, but this still had to be the strangest operation she’d ever been on. She punched in the code.

  “Captain Engen. Gunter Wong called you a moment ago, asking you to change some plans.”

  Engen had a broad, flat face and a yellow net covering her brown hair. At least, Radko thought it was a net until it moved a tendril.

  “You’re not who I’m expecting.”

  Thank the lines for instantaneous communication within a sector. Han leaned into the call with her. “That would be me. I won’t introduce myself, as I suspect people are listening.”

  “We’re nearly at your shuttle now,” Radko said. “As soon as your shuttle acknowledges it’s ready to collect us, we’ll suit across.”

  Captain Engen nodded and opened another comms line. “Come in, Leonard. Change of plan.”

  “These babies have a restricted shelf life. We can’t change too much.”

  It was the same shuttle pilot who’d brought them on planet initially.

  “This one pays more,” Captain Engen said. “You’re about to receive some visitors. Let them in, then return to ship.”

  “I’m in space.”

  “So are they.” The captain clicked off, clicked back on again. “If the port authorities call, ignore them.” She turned back to Han and Radko. “Here’s the code for the shuttle.” She pushed it through. “Tell Leonard to let me know when you’re on board.”

  “Thank you.” Radko clicked off and turned to check each suit before she clipped them into a line. Chaudry behind her, then Han, and lastly van Heel. Van Heel might be injured, but at least she’d done some ship work. “I’ll do all the work. You stay put. If it gets too bad, close your eyes.”

  “What about him?” Han asked, looking at the still-unconscious pilot.

  “We put the ship on auto and set a beacon. He’ll come around in two hours.” The biggest danger for the pilot was that Redmond would reach the shuttle before he returned to consciousness and blast him out of the sky. Unfortunately, she wasn’t going to stay around to ensure he was okay. And she definitely wasn’t going to mention that possibility to the others.

  She zipped him into one of the remaining emergency suits. At least that way, he’d have a chance.

  “You said he was staying here,” Chaudry said.

  “Just in case,” Radko said. “Are we ready?”

  The air lock was too small to fit all four of them. She broke the link between Chaudry and Han. “We’ll go first.”

  Outside, through her helmet, she heard Chaudry swallow.

  “Keep still, Chaudry,” and made her voice commanding, and hoped he’d instinctively follow the order. “Close your eyes.”

  She linked herself magnetically to the side of the ship as she waited for the air lock to recycle, and listened to Chaudry gag in his suit. She’d once told Ean how important it was not to be sick in your suit, but if she even mentioned the word, then Chaudry’s stomach would rebel properly.

  “Are your eyes closed?” She snagged Han as he exited and clipped his line to Chaudry’s belt. “If any of you have problems, close your eyes.”

  “But you still know.” It was little more than a whisper from Chaudry. “You can’t hide from it.”

  Radko fired her jets. The sooner they were in the other shuttle, the better.

  The trip took seven minutes. Behind her she heard nothing but heavy breathing and choked-off gasps. One of them was hyperventilating, probably Chaudry. “All of you, keep your eyes closed.” Didn’t they take the trainees out into space anymore during training?

  It felt like the longest suit journey Radko had ever undertaken.

  She called Leonard when they were close enough for Leonard to track them from the shuttle. “Leonard, Captain Engen told you to expect us.”

  “Don’t know that I’d like to be doing what you’re doing.”

  Radko didn’t mind. She liked space. She shifted, and changed direction to aim for the air-lock door she could see. “We’re close to your hull. Can you let us in, please?” She turned her magnets on and clicked onto the hull.

  The air lock opened. “Two of you at a time,” Leonard said.

  She unclipped Han from Chaudry again and pushed Han and van Heel into the air lock. “Be gentle. One of them is injured.”

  Outside, while they waited for the air lock to recycle, she said, “Chaudry, are you listening to me,” and kept saying it until he was. “We’re up against the side of a shuttle now, and I’m attached to it magnetically. You’re safe.”

  As safe as he could be in a suit without any controls. It was for emergencies, after all.

  “Ready?” Leonard asked, and opened the outer air lock.

  Radko made her way in and dragged Chaudry in with her. “You’re safe now,” she said again. “You’re in the shuttle.”

  Chaudry didn’t relax until they were in the shuttle cabin proper.

  “It’s not how I’d choose to travel,” Leonard told them, as Radko stripped off her suit, and helped Chaudry, then Han, out of theirs. Van Heel was struggling out of her own. “Hello, I remember you lot. I told you San See was a better port.” He called up the ship. “Captain, I have our passengers. Heading back to the ship now.”

  “You realize,” he told them, “that we spoiled an order of shellfish for you.”

  “They were our orders,” Radko said. “I don’t see why we can’t eat them at dinner. We owe you.”

  “As if,” Leonard said.

  THIRTEEN

  EAN LAMBERT

  WORLDS THAT HAD stalled on providing line trainees suddenly managed to find extra linesmen in their fleet. There were so many trainees that eventually the Department of Alien Affairs put a hold on arrivals while new modules were ordered for Confluence Station because the Gruen was full.

  “One can only imagine,” Ean heard Helmo say wryly to his second-in-command, Vanje Solberg, “how they’ve all scrambled to get this far.”

  Fergus was a lifesaver. He organized the gr
oups, organized which trainers were training who, and kept Ean sane.

  He’d been Jordan Rossi’s assistant before he’d come to work with Ean. “Rossi must be really sorry you’re not still working with him,” Ean said.

  “Jordan’s life isn’t the same as it used to be. He hasn’t got the same need for an assistant.”

  Ean couldn’t see that Rossi was doing much different than what he’d always done. Fixing the lines. True, he was behind a protective curtain of military security now, but he was working harder than ever. Although, from what Ean could gather, a lot of Rossi’s old life involved politicking, for it was no secret Jordan Rossi had wanted to be Grand Master of the line cartels.

  Leo Rickenback—Rossi’s old cartel master—was Grand Master now.

  “Does Rossi still want to be Grand Master?” Ean asked.

  “Even if he could, Orsaya wouldn’t allow it,” Fergus said, which wasn’t an answer at all. “Not unless it benefits Yaolin.”

  Rossi as Grand Master of the line cartels wasn’t as useful to a world going to war as a level-ten linesman who could communicate with the lines.

  “Does he mind?”

  “More important is do we think he’s ready to train linesmen on his own?”

  Ean could take a hint.

  * * *

  THE trainees were personally escorted and introduced by admirals of the fleet. Ean hadn’t expected that.

  “Let them come,” Orsaya said, when Sale protested. “Don’t hide him away like some relative you’re ashamed of.”

  “The whole point of putting Ean on Confluence Station is to keep him away from people.”

  “Specific people. Let these people have their say. He’s proxy for the one person they can’t say it to.”

  The first to arrive was Admiral Trask of Xanto.

  “Governor Shimson sends his regards,” Trask said, as he looked around the area Sale had made public. It was bleak at the moment, with temporary chairs and tables bolted onto the floor, the only furniture in the room.

  “And please pass my regards back to him,” Ean said warmly. He liked Governor Shimson. Most people did, which was rare this high in politics. “Tell him he’s welcome out here anytime he wishes to come,” for Shimson was a single-level linesman himself.