by M. D. Cooper
“Because we’d be crawling with Rebecca’s soldiers if we didn’t get out of there.”
“Rebecca?” Tanis asked. “What happened to Kade?”
“Rebecca killed him.”
“She what?” Cheeky yelled and leapt back to her console. “Kade’s one thing, but Rebecca hates Sera. She’ll kill her! I’m pulling us out and getting back there right now!”
“You’ll do no such thing; they’d waste us in a second,” Cargo said, his trademark calm becoming ragged.
Cheeky couldn’t speak, for a moment she just stared at her controls and then let loose a sob. Tanis knelt down beside her and stroked her hair.
“What do you propose?” she asked her eyes hard as she looked up at Cargo.
“We need to drop out of the DL, alter course and then get back in, or they’ll get higher v and then skip along waiting for us. They know how fast we’re going and can predict our course with ease. Figure out a new course on a different vector and get us on it. We need to get safe and then figure out what to do.” Cargo said.
Tanis turned to her console and began pulling up plots while Cheeky looked up at Cargo.
“I abandoned her.”
“You did as you were ordered. I am the one who abandoned her, and I intend to get her back.”
“How are we going to do that?”
“We’ve got that Drind guy. Since he was the big expert with the scan and nav, I’m betting he’ll know where they’ll go with her.”
They all clung to that hope as Cheeky and Tanis worked out a new vector and effected the transition to regular space. Cheeky quickly altered course and dropped back into FTL. Scan didn’t pick up any of Kade’s ships when they were in regular space, though that didn’t mean there weren’t any sensor arrays nearby relaying information. They made two additional course alterations before they began to feel comfortable.
With Sabrina monitoring the bridge, everyone met in the galley to work out what they hoped would be their plan to rescue the captain.
“What is our damage report?” Cargo asked once the coffee had been poured. No one wanted to talk about their missing captain just yet.
“Not much,” Thompson replied. “The meatheads hit a few power couplings, but secondaries re-routed. Lucky they didn’t hit those too or we would have disintegrated when we tried to go into the DL. Most blasts hit engine shielding, which held without a problem.”
“Hit a return flow pipe on an enviro system.” Nance added. A return flow pipe was a nice way to say sewage. “It was clear at the time, but no one use the cargo deck’s port-side head till I fix it or you get to clean up the mess.”
“Repair time?” Cargo asked.
“Negligible.”
“Not long.”
Cargo was silent a moment, but he couldn’t withhold the details from the crew. They needed to know. “Kade had fallen for our little ruse. Rebecca hadn’t. She pulled a blaster on the captain and then Thompson, Flaherty, and I showed up with the pulse rifles, and we told her to stand down. Kade was on our side and told her to back off as well. So Rebecca turned the gun on him and took the top of his head off.”
Sabrina was an on-the-fringe sort of freighter, running a bit of this and that, things she probably shouldn’t. They’d even gotten in a few dockside shootouts in some seedier stations on the edge of nowhere, but never had anyone died on her decks. Everyone was stunned to silence.
“Great, dead people,” Nance exclaimed. “I’m not cleaning that shit up!”
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll just shift the atmo shield in a few feet and let the void take it all. Lock’s still open anyway.” Thompson said.
“Noticed we blew out some air,” Nance sighed. “I’ll handle all that. It’s what I get paid the big bucks for. Do we want to keep anything as evidence? Isn’t there a bounty out on Kade?”
“Yeah, it’s some pretty serious cred too.” Cheeky said. “Maybe we could use the money to buy captain back.”
Thompson’s expression was dark and he cast a glance at Tanis before he spoke. “I told the captain this was a bad idea. We should consider just turning her over in a trade. Be nice and fast.” Tanis’s expression grew cold as he spoke, but she didn’t reply.
Cargo ignored Thompson’s statement. “If we turn in Kade’s body, we may have to answer some tricky questions about how we got it. Captain may be up to that sort of fast-talking, but I don’t know if I could handle it. Freeze it for now and toss the goons. We’ll use it later.”
“I guess my suggestion is out,” Thompson said sourly.
Flaherty leaned forward as he reached for a plum in the fruit bowl. “Sera made it clear that we don’t trade in human cargo. She decided not to give Tanis over to them. I think we should respect her decision.”
Everyone nodded in agreement, though some were more reluctant than others. Thompson let out a sigh and leaned back with his arms crossed.
“Whatever.”
Cargo looked at Thompson for a moment, wondering what trouble the man would cause. “We do have one piece of good news. We got their Tech and one of their goons,” he paused as Flaherty shook his head slowly. “OK, so just their tech. I’m betting that he can tell us what we need to know about where Rebecca will have taken the captain. Who wants in on having a little talk with him?”
Every hand shot up, even Tanis’s. “Okay, it’s gonna be me and…Thompson. We’ll get answers out of him.”
“He’ll be pissing himself in ten minutes.” Thompson said.
“No good Cargo,” Flaherty said. “He watched you kill that pirate. You’d scare him too much for him to talk.”
“Let me in on it.” Cheeky said. “I’ll get him talking.”
“You’re not exactly intimidating.” Nance shook her head.
“I have some pretty intimidating outfits.”
“Never know, he may go for that sort of thing,” Thompson chuckled, most likely trying to visualize Cheeky in one of those outfits.
Cheeky pouted. “True…haven’t met a guy yet that didn’t seem to enjoy my dom routine, no matter how much I hurt him.”
“I’ll do it,” Tanis said, unflinching as every eye turned to her.
“Why should you do it, you’re as much a part of the problem as that Drind guy,” Nance said as she looked around the table. “Thompson has a point. Don’t you think that Sera may have changed her mind, now that she’s been captured? We all know how much Rebecca hates her.”
Thompson nodded his agreement and cast Nance a small smile for her support.
Cheeky’s face was twisted in an uncomfortable grimace. “Part of me wants to try it; it’s the quick and easy fix. But, I don’t think it’s ethical. Besides, like you said, Rebecca has always really hated Sera, but by extension Sabrina, and all of us.”
“You’re one to talk about ethical.” Thompson said with an unkind edge to his voice.
Cheeky flushed. “You wouldn’t understand why I do the things I do. To you it’s all just raw sex. Sure some of it is, but there’s more to it than that.”
“Cheeky’s sexual proclivities aren’t the issue here.” Flaherty said, his voice toneless and level. The look in his eye sent shivers down everyone’s spine. “Stay on topic.”
“You don’t have to like me,” Tanis said. “You don’t have to like why I’m here or why people are killing and dying to get me. Trust me; I like it just as little as you. You may have had a bad year or two in your lives, but I’ve had a bad century or two. It sucks. But all recriminations and whining aside, I’ve had training in this sort of thing. I’ve commanded units that had to get information in pretty short order before.”
“So you tortured people for it?” Nance asked.
Tanis didn’t reply for a long moment. “Yes.”
Strangely, it seemed to be the right answer.
Cargo steepled his fingers, “okay then. Tanis you do the talking, and Thompson will do the intimidating. The rest of us will watch over the Link.”
“Good, I’ll make sure you do
n’t try anything funny,” Thompson said.
“What ‘funny things’ would I try?” Tanis was growing tired of Thompson’s attitude.
“Whatever pain in the asses did five thousand years ago,” Thompson said.
Tanis sighed and followed Thompson down to the hold where they had dumped the tech. He unlocked the door, but before they stepped inside, put his arm across the entrance.
“You may think you’re all special and hot shit, but if I even get an inkling that what you’re telling us to do will harm Sera, I’ll kill you myself.”
Tanis didn’t flinch as she stared the large man down. She was going to reciprocate the threat, but then stopped herself. “I promise you, that won’t happen.”
She pushed his arm out of the way and stepped inside. Drind was sitting propped against a crate. A sack was over his head and his hands were bound behind his back. The sack wasn’t tied on; Drind just hadn’t tried to get it off.
Tanis had found him to be a nice, if somewhat shy man, when he reviewed their logs and scan data on the bridge. She knew how he must be feeling, but pushed it from her mind. Rescuing Sera was the best way to get back to the Intrepid—though simply commandeering the ship had crossed her mind more than once. But Sera had saved her; she wouldn’t repay that with treachery.
Crouching in front of him, she snatched the sack from his head, then grabbed his hair in one swift motion. He tried to scramble back from her, his eyes closed while she pulled his head back.
“Look at me!”
Startled to hear a woman’s voice his eyes opened and latched onto Tanis like a drowning man.
“Rachel! You’ve got to help me; they’re going to kill me.”
She doubted Drind had many friends in Kade—now Rebecca’s—organization. Being the tech on a ship full of pirates probably was a tough job.
Angela said.
During her chat with Angela, Drind came to the realization that it was Tanis who was pulling his head back at an extreme angle and he shrunk inward.
“Please don’t hurt me,” he whimpered.
Tanis ignored his entreaty and asked angrily, “why did you kidnap Captain Sera?”
His shock was plain and denial strong. “What? I didn’t do that. That psycho Rebecca did. She blew Kade’s head off! I didn’t have anything to do with it.” He was beginning to shake uncontrollably; Tanis decided to back off a bit or she’d have to conduct the rest of the interrogation over the smell of urine.
“Please don’t kill me too,” his voice was little more than a whisper.
Tanis let go of his head. “So you didn’t know what she had in mind?”
“No! She didn’t want me to come, told Kade to just take the ship by force and find the container they wanted. Honest, I didn’t want to come! Staying far away from her is the best way to live a longer life.”
Tanis stood and paced back and forth in front of him. She allowed her expression to soften somewhat and glanced at Thompson who didn’t look the least bit convinced, though the look he cast her contained a small hint of appreciation. Good. She paused her pacing for a moment.
“So you didn’t know what Rebecca planned? The kidnapping or killing Kade?”
“No, I swear it!”
Tanis grunted and paced a few more times, then turned back to the poor man. “I may believe you, but I’m still having reservations. Some of the other guys,” she jerked a thumb back at Thompson, “aren’t as convinced. You better sweeten the pot with something substantial or they may decide that they’re through with my soft talking.”
Drind hung his head like a man who had given up hope for his life.
He was supposed to think she was his hope. Tanis crouched down in front of him and resisted the urge to cup his chin in her hand to raise his face up.
“Hey, they’re not banging down the door yet. Why don’t you tell me what you know and I’ll keep you safe.” Now she was going too far the other way, but this poor guy wasn’t going to notice. She was out of practice, but keeping up her skill at interrogation wasn’t on the top of her list of abilities to refine. “What was in the container that Padre’s men took?”
Drind raised his head, a bit of hopefulness in his eyes. “I don’t know, but it seemed pretty valuable. Not the ‘racing hound’ they told you it was; that much is for sure.”
“Rebecca and Kade never talked about what it was?”
“I overheard an argument about it, and some of the other guys did too. They seemed to be arguing about what to do with it. A couple of times I swore Kade slipped and called it a her, but I wasn’t listening too closely, that doesn’t pay on the Vertigo.”
“Is that where you’re stationed? On the Vertigo?”
“Sometimes.” Drind was starting to warm up now, hopeful that he could spill his guts and save his life. “I’m back at HQ a lot too. Depends where they need me.”
“Kade had an HQ?” Somehow, his appearance had caused Tanis to think of him as nothing but a guy with a few ships causing trouble.
“Of course, haven’t you been there? I mean you’re one of his ships.”
“We aren’t that scum’s ship,” Thompson growled.
Drind lowered his head closed his eyes—Tanis smiled inwardly. Thompson was playing along really well. Either that or it was just his natural disposition. It worked to her advantage though—it was best not to let Drind get too comfortable. If he did, he’d start thinking he could turn things to his advantage.
“Is that where Rebecca will take Sera? Back to HQ?” Tanis asked.
“Probably. The Prowler was at the rendezvous too, lying dark out of scan range. I imagine she’ll have them look for you while she goes back there.”
“How many ships does The Mark have anyway?” Tanis asked, wondering about additional complications.
“We’ll, I’m not sure since he said this was his ship too. Ships that I know he owns for sure…about four hundred; dozens of others that at least do regular business with him.”
“And where is this HQ that Rebecca will be going back to?”
Drind didn’t reply right away, but his eyes darted to Thompson’s cold stare and flexing fists, then back to Tanis. She made her face look as open and trusting as possible.
“It’s hidden really well. It’s impossible to find.”
“But you know where it is right?” Tanis prompted him.
“Sure, I know the coordinates. It’s actually not too far from here.”
“What’s the name of the system?” Tanis asked.
“Oh, it’s not in any system,” Drind spoke as if he was afraid unseen enemies would kill him. “It’s in the dark layer.”
Tanis managed to get the coordinates to the station after that, but Drind warned her that there were sensors and defensive turrets in both the DL and real space. She concluded the interrogation shortly after, with the promise that she would see about getting Drind more comfortable quarters.
The crew met in the galley again; their faces somber as they pondered the implications of this information.
“How do they even dock in the DL?” Thompson broke the silence.
“Very carefully, I’d bet,” Cheeky said with noticeable appreciation in her voice.
The dark layer was just that, very dark. Nothing emitted light at all. It made the interstellar void look like a sunny afternoon. The only natural emissions of any sort were gravitational waves, which was how ships knew when to drop out of the DL and back into real space. Ships could emit light, but the gravitational waves dispersed that light very quickly.
“Even if we believe him that this HQ of his is in the DL and even if we find out that there is a back door, what are we going to do? Just march in there and demand Sera back?” Nance asked.
“We still have plan B,” Thompson looked at Tanis.
“Why don’t we move our friend Drind to some better quarters and see if we can’t convince him to start spilling specifics about this place?” Tanis said, ignoring Thompson. “Once we’re better informed, we should be able to determine if his story is bunk. While we’re at it, we may as well start plotting a course towards the general vicinity of the place, in case we do decide to all turn kamikaze.”
“Do we have that kind of time?” Thompson asked, his face turning red. “They could be killing Sera right now while we sit around and debate what to do.”
“Their base is some ways out into interstellar space on the core-ward side of the Silstrand Alliance.” Cheeky provided a holo showing its relative position. “It’ll take them a while to get there.”
“Which is great if she’s still alive, not so great if she’s already dead,” Nance said.
“She’s still alive.” Flaherty said flatly.
“How do you know that?” Cargo asked.
“Just listen to Tanis! She’s our best bet to get Sera back,” Flaherty growled at the rest of the crew.
No one knew what to say in response and Tanis looked into the stoic man’s eyes for a long moment. His connection with Sera had to be older than their time on this ship. He owed her something, had some deep obligation to her.
THE BEST LAID PLANS
STELLAR DATE: 07.13.8927 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: The Mark’s Dark Layer Station
REGION: Unclaimed Interstellar Space, Core-Ward of Silstrand Alliance
Sera returned to consciousness in fits and starts. Her head felt like it had spent some time in the fusion reaction chamber…or a week on the bottle. Rather than alert anyone nearby to her conscious state, she kept her eyes closed and took mental stock of her surroundings and where her body lay.
