Vigilante

by Natalie Grey

  There was a silence—sort of a silence—while all of the Ubuara looked at him.

  Barnabas gave a tiny sigh. “What do you know of my ship?”

  By the time we’re finished everyone is going to know who I am. Just giving you fair warning.

  Barnabas ignored Shinigami and looked at Carter. He shouldn’t know about—

  “The ships built by the Etheric Empire are legendary,” Carter was telling them. “They’re alive—as alive as you or me. They can think for themselves, but instead of having hands and feet, they have a ship as a body. They travel through space and they have weapons—and they know how to use them. Have any of you heard the story of the ArchAngel?”

  The Ubuara shook their heads. They were all listening raptly.

  “ArchAngel sacrificed herself, working with her crew. All of them volunteered to serve with her, even knowing what was coming. Their names will always be remembered, and the way they fought together is what’s important. Barnabas’s ship…” Carter trailed off, looking at Barnabas for the name.

  I AM SHINIGAMI, DESTROYER OF WORLDS.

  Oh, shut it. Barnabas sighed. “Shinigami.”

  “Shinigami.” Carter looked at the Ubuara. “That ship will be able to help him do more than you can imagine.”

  Like fire missiles!

  She had a point, and Carter had given him a good opening. Barnabas cut into the conversation.

  “Shinigami was the one who tracked Lan to Jutkelon’s compound here in Tethra. She’s scanned the building to assess weakness, looked up the schematics of the weapons she can see, and counted the soldiers on the premises. She has guided missiles.”

  And a flamethrower. Don’t forget that.

  We still haven’t established you have one.

  Whose fault is that? A good tactician should always be aware of his resources.

  Barnabas had to work not to roll his eyes. We will talk about this later.

  The Ubuara were staring at him contemplatively.

  “Where is Shinigami?” Leihaba asked finally. “We have not seen this ship.”

  “The ship is in orbit,” Barnabas told them courteously. “Where it will stay,” he added.

  Everyone stared at him.

  Just in case it wasn’t clear, I was talking to you.

  Yeah, but they all heard it and now they think you’re crazy.

  Somehow I don’t think this will be the deciding factor in what they think of me.

  “But it could still be useful,” Carter said finally. “Right?”

  “Oh, yes. It will still be working with us.” Barnabas looked around. “Which is why I don’t need anyone else putting themselves in danger,” he added sternly.

  Aebura, however, had been ready for this. “The Ubuara can keep the townspeople safe,” she told him with a satisfied smile. “We will station ourselves at various places, and if Jutkelon sends forces out, someone will see them and spread the word, allowing everyone to get out of the way.”

  This was a better point than Barnabas wanted to admit. Still, “Why shouldn’t we just tell everyone to stay inside now?”

  “Because then they’ll know something is going on,” Aebura replied smugly.

  “You want to keep the element of surprise,” another Ubuara added.

  “We can help,” offered a third.

  “They can’t tell us apart,” added a fourth.

  “Stop. Everyone stop talking.” Barnabas rubbed his temples.

  You can’t tell them apart, either, can you?

  Can you?

  Of course I can. Their skeletons are different.

  What is it like to be you?

  Aebura waited, but from the way her tail twitched Carter was pretty sure that she was feeling smug.

  “Listen,” he told all of them. “Barnabas is only going to agree to accept your help if you can do it without putting yourself in danger, and then only if you would provide an advantage he and Shinigami would not have on their own.”

  “Thank you.” Barnabas looked around. “All of you should listen to Mr. Eastbourne. He understands.”

  There was a moment of surly silence from the Ubuara. The mood had turned to the point that even Carter could feel it, and the humans looked around warily.

  They’re not going to rip my throat out, are they?

  I’d say it’s 50-50.

  Aebura hopped onto a table and glared at Barnabas.

  “You are a Ranger. You will not stay.”

  Barnabas, who was not quite sure what this pronouncement was supposed to mean, stayed silent. This didn’t seem to be the moment to clarify that he was no longer Ranger One—especially when he didn’t know what he was anymore.

  “Eventually,” Aebura told him, “you will leave and the people here will be alone.”

  “Not alone,” Barnabas said instantly. “There will be many people here from the former Etheric Empire. They will protect you.”

  “We don’t need to be protected! We need to protect ourselves.” She looked around and the other Ubuara chittered and murmured in agreement. “All of us together. Every person here will need to be able to stand up for themselves when you are gone.”

  Barnabas hesitated. “What are you saying?”

  “That we can’t rely on you.”

  “If you need me—”

  “No. There will always be places and people who will need you. Maybe there will be places that need you more, or you will not be able to get here in time. You help us now by taking down Lan, and that is good. But when you are gone, even when all of your humans are here, there will still be people who come here and try to do bad things. When that happens, all of us together will need to bring them down.”

  Barnabas looked down, and Aebura turned her head to stare at Carter.

  He looked back, unsure.

  “Carter Eastbourne, I am disappointed in you.” She narrowed her eyes. “I called you here because you offered to help us before. I thought you understood. I thought you could explain it to him, but you aren’t.”

  Carter sighed. “She’s right.” Barnabas’ eyes met his and Carter swallowed. “Sir, I’m sorry, but she’s right. You’re here because you’re one of the best there is, but you’re not doing her any favors by refusing to allow anyone to help you.”

  “I allowed her to help me!” Barnabas fought the urge to slam his hand on the table. “I asked for information—”

  “Yes, and now you’re not even hearing her out about her plan, are you? You heard the words, but you won’t consider it. The Ubuara are different from us, and their skills can be harnessed to help people. Devon is going to be a place where we all help each other, which is what she’s trying to do.” He paused. “That’s what you asked me to do.”

  Barnabas went still. “I don’t have any right to ask that of them.”

  “You didn’t,” Aebura snapped. “We offered. You want to save citizens because they’re innocent and shouldn’t suffer for Lan and Jutkelon’s crimes. We want to save them because they’re our people. We want to be able to take care of ourselves, and we have to learn how to do that.”

  “What better time for them to learn than while you’re here?” Carter asked Barnabas softly.

  “You’re not helping, you know.” Barnabas gave him a weary look.

  “You’re a Ranger, not the governor. She’s right, sir.”

  “Fine.”

  You could be a little more graceful about it, you know.

  Why are you on their side?

  You know why. You know they’re right. You’re just being stubborn. How would you like it if someone told you that you’d always have to rely on them for safety?

  Barnabas chewed his lip for a moment, then nodded at all of them.

  “You will all be valuable citizens of Devon,” he said finally. “You care for one another, you are courageous enough to help others find Justice—and you’re all stubborn as hell.”

  There was a moment of silence before they all started laughing.

  Better? />
  You have to ask?

  Just checking.

  “Okay.” Barnabas settled down at the table. “I’ll tell you what we know about Jutkelon’s compound, and you tell me how you propose to help, all right?” He looked at Aebura when she brought a new glass of juice. “Does this mean you’ve forgiven me?”

  She just smiled.

  He took a sip and spat it out on the table. “This is...um… What kind of fruit is this?”

  “Iterze,” Aebura replied smugly. She swapped out the glass for another. “Now we’re even. The Nekubi like it,” she added in a tone that said they were crazy, but business was business.

  Barnabas gave her a look. “Mmm. All right, so here’s the deal. Assaulting the compound is going to be difficult. We could simply maintain a presence so they just starve themselves out, but I don’t want to devote months to this.”

  “We could poison their food,” one of the Ubuara murmured.

  Am I the only one who finds it unnerving that tiny monkeys are making war plans?

  You just described my entire experience as an AI working with humans.

  Well played. Barnabas’s lips quirked and he nodded at the Ubuara. “We could, but that would be difficult. We need to get them out of the compound entirely. They have too many resources there and they know it better than we do.”

  “Why would they leave, then?” Carter frowned.

  “Because they want something,” Barnabas explained. “They don’t just want to be safe from me. Maybe Lan does, but that’s not Jutkelon’s nature. His whole business depends on people knowing his mercenaries can win, not just stand there with guns. I’ve put that in jeopardy. Lan probably wants to run away. Jutkelon, though...he wants to fight, and the fact that he still has Lan tells us what his target is.”

  “The mining town,” Carter said at once.

  “Exactly.” Barnabas looked around at them. “The compound is well defended, but it doesn’t have any mid-range missile launchers or anything like that. They can’t attack from there. They’ll have to get the soldiers to the town. That’s the optimal moment to strike. When they get outside Tethra, we’ll take them out.” He lifted a shoulder. ”Probably with missiles.”

  “You won’t do it yourself?” Aebura asked curiously. “You had no trouble with the ones at the mines.”

  “You’re right, I didn’t. But we need to be adaptable when we see what their plan is. They must have an idea of how to keep me from taking them out, and I’m afraid I know what it is.” Barnabas looked at them. “They want to use the workers as shields so that there’s no way for me to fight them without innocent people dying.”

  The Ubuara hissed, and Barnabas nodded. “I feel the same. It’s a cowardly move. What I’m worried about is that they’ll take hostages from the city so that they can march up to the mining camp without us taking them out. Otherwise I don’t know how they’re going to manage it.”

  “Maybe they’re planning to create a distraction,” Carter said with a shrug.

  “What sort of distraction?” Barnabas frowned at him. “I don’t disagree, but I don’t see what they could come up with.”

  “Something you have to deal with immediately. The goal won’t be to keep you from knowing about the troops going to the mines, it will be to have you focused on something else urgent.” He shrugged again, still frowning as he thought. “If I had to guess, I’d say they’ll have a small group of mercenaries scatter and kill as many of the people in Tethra as they can.”

  There was a stony silence as Barnabas went over the schematics in his head to figure out if there was any way to get into the compound and strangle Jutkelon. Carter was right; this was exactly the sort of thing he’d do to make a point, and Barnabas was not going to let him get away with it.

  “This is why you should have the Ubuara helping you,” Aebura said. “We will be able to find anyone he still has in the town and communicate quickly to see who needs to be brought down and how to do so.”

  Barnabas nodded. “I wish there was time to evacuate everyone.”

  “He’d still destroy the place, even if you could manage it.” Carter shook his head. “Jutkelon wants to beat you, and he has no qualms about doing whatever he has to in order to accomplish that.” He hesitated. “In fact, the worse it is, the better for him. He doesn’t have to stay on this planet. He can hire his mercenaries out to anyone. There are people who will want that.”

  To everyone’s surprise, Barnabas smiled. “This is why we have the Rangers. All right, everyone, listen closely. Jutkelon’s distraction is coming. Our main objectives are to secure Tethra and the mining town. Our secondary goal is to take down Jutkelon’s mercenaries. Thirdly, but still important, is to keep Lan from leaving this planet. It will be easier for him to disappear if he does that. With that in mind—”

  He pulled up his cuff and pressed a fingertip onto the side of his watch. It projected a map onto the table.

  “Aebura, you figure out the best vantage points and help the Ubuara disperse. You will all be responsible for passing messages and, if necessary, getting civilians out of the way. No one should mention the Shinigami outside this room. What is known about the former Etheric Empire is fragmented. It’s possible that Jutkelon and Lan don’t know my capabilities yet.”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Arm yourselves,” Barnabas warned, “and remember it is better to retreat and live than it is to be brave for a single moment and die. We won’t let them get away with this, no matter how patient we have to be.”

  Not very, Shinigami reported.

  We can be if we need to.

  No, I mean, I know what their distraction is.

  Barnabas sat bolt upright. What is it?

  Three full ships of mercenaries coming out of FTL nearby.

  22

  Galagg Zuludoss stood at the viewing station at the prow of his ship and watched the planet Devon grow larger, its characteristic blue-white glow beginning to take up the entire window.

  “Deceleration complete,” reported Hojj, the pilot, and a moment later he added, “Orbital trajectory established.”

  Galagg nodded. “Good. Page Jutkelon. Tell him we’re here.” He smiled. “And tell him we’re excited to meet the sonofabitch who took out a hundred soldiers...and show him how missiles work.”

  The rest of the bridge crew chuckled appreciatively. Galagg was the captain so they had to laugh at his jokes, but he’d struck a chord. He was pragmatic, and his crew was the same—he’d made sure of that. There was no point in trying to fight some demon hand-to-hand when they could just use an airstrike.

  There was a flicker on the alert system, as if the ship had been going to sound an alarm and then thought better of it. Galagg turned to frown at the bridge crew.

  “What was that?”

  Hojj frowned and thumped the side of his screen. “Debris or something, sir. Computer malfunction.” He turned his screen for Galagg to see. “There’s nothing there.”

  “Call Jutkelon, then. Let’s get this over with...and discuss payment.” Galagg had some ideas about just how much he was going to demand. It was far, far more than Jutkelon would be able to afford, and that was the point. Jutkelon hadn’t been able to overcome the threats on Devon, therefore he did not deserve to be running a mercenary company there.

  Galagg intended to relieve him of the responsibility.

  Jutkelon paced back and forth on the raised platform at one end of the underground bunker. Three hundred mercenaries stood in formation before him, and there was no mistaking their eagerness to go out and fight.

  One or two looked scared, and he made note of their faces. If they hadn’t died when this was over he would help matters along.

  Better if the mission took care of that, though. He’d put them near the front.

  “You are angry,” he said to the group. “Your comrades were cut down by some vigilante who thinks Queen Bethany Anne should rule everything in the universe.”

  There was an angry murmur of agreement.


  “If we let them in here,” Jutkelon told them, “they will tell us what business we can—and cannot—take. They will tell us how to live. They will tell us how to dress. They will say that we need to ask their permission to be mercenaries.” He jabbed a finger for emphasis. “And that’s why we came out here, isn’t it? So no stupid jumped-up assholes in suits would be telling us what to do!”

  There was a roar of approval and Jutkelon held up his hands, already anticipating their frustration at his next point.

  “Now, I know you all want to get out there with your weapons and take down that bastard face to face, don’t you? Yeah, so do I. But we need to be patient—and smarter than he is.” They were grumbling, but he was pleased to see that no one was challenging this. “We’re going to get back what he tried to take from us. Did you know the workers in that mining town, those filthy little Ubuara and their friends, thought they could take us on?”

  The mercenaries started laughing.

  “It’s not funny.” Jutkelon’s voice echoed off the walls, and the laughter stopped immediately. “It’s. Not. Funny. They don’t respect us. They thought they could just make new rules and send us home. They’re going to learn they can’t. And that motherfucker who wants to show how many of us he can kill? Well, he’s going to find out that it doesn’t matter how sharp your blades are if you bring knives to a gunfight.

  “Three ships just arrived in orbit, each with a nice, full missile bay. We’re going to head out to the mining town now, and when this human tries to follow us we’re going to make sure he’s dust. In the center of a nice big crater.”

  The mercenaries nodded. This wasn’t as good as a face-to-face fight, but their enemy would be dead—and more than that, he’d be an example. They liked that.

  “So.” Jutkelon pressed a button. “Galagg! Nice to see you, old friend.”

  “You as well.” The Shrillexian’s voice hissed slightly over the comm. “I’m glad we could be of use to…what? What?” A pause. “Well, shoot it down!”

  “Galagg? Galagg, what’s going on?”

  There was silence.

  Three full ships of mercenaries coming out of FTL nearby, Shinigami told Barnabas.