by Taylor Smith
Laughter from the bridge caught his attention. His fears were realized. That was Captain Torbeck’s voice he was hearing. His shoulders dropped, knowing his task would be near impossible now, but his resolve held firm. He took himself in and wished he had his left arm but if he was patient and quick when the time came, he could even the odds. Hopefully he could do it quietly so that whoever stayed on the bridge wouldn’t notice.
A hand suddenly wrapped across his mouth from behind and a strong arm pinned him still. He jerked in reaction, knowing he was about to fight to the death. He grabbed the strong hand at his mouth and pulled but he was too weak.
“Sh!” came the soft warning behind him and then a whisper: “Dorian, be quiet.”
This shocked him. Whoever it was behind him knew his name, but he couldn’t tell who the whisper belonged to. The hand slowly lifted from Cade’s mouth and when he turned he was surprised to see Andy. “What are you doing?” he whispered as low as he could.
“What the hell are you doing?” Andy whispered back. “You’re supposed to be in your tank!”
Cade shook his head at Andy, his face growing dark and not answering. He slowly moved his hand to his pocket to grab one of the injectors from medical. He liked Andy, but right now Andy was in his way. He felt the cold metal handle against his palm when he heard the voice from the bridge grow louder.
“Andrelli, ya bastard,” came the shout and another laugh.
Cade’s eyes widened, refusing to believe what he’d just heard. Surely his new Captain wasn’t talking to Andrelli. Captain Torbeck actively hunted the Valiant and must have just been shouting a curse. Still, he doubted everything now. “Did he say Andrelli?” Cade whispered to Andy.
Andy looked furious, glancing from Cade to the hall and back over and over, seeming not to know what to do. “You stay here and keep quiet. I have to find out who he’s talking to.”
Cade ignored him and rounded the corner, disregarding Andy’s urges to come back to the shadowed war room.
Cade edged his way back into the hall to get a better look. The two voices continued their back and forth while he crept as quietly as he could toward the bridge entrance. He noticed Andy was right behind him, craning his neck to get a better view of the bridge. As he neared, the conversation became clearer.
“That’s the deal,” said Torbeck. “You just do your job, and I’ll do mine.”
“You promised me Clew, Torbeck,” said a new voice Cade wasn’t familiar with. “That was the deal.”
Cade stepped gingerly onto the bridge. There was no one else but Captain Torbeck sitting in his command chair facing the view screen at the front, which showed an image of a ship floating off their bow. It was a ship he’d never seen before and looked battle-worn. Torbeck’s back was to them as he spoke to whoever it was over a voice-only channel.
“The deal’s changed. The Reaper be goin’ home now,” Torbeck continued. “When we shove off again, I’ll line up two more ships for ya. Ya get Clew after that, and not a moment sooner.”
“This has played out too long already, Torbeck,” the voice from the speaker said. “I have two new officers on board that are not on my payroll, sniffing about. This has to happen now.”
Torbeck reared his head back in laughter and then said, “Your problem, mate. I gave you the Crazyhorse and the Grim Shoals this time, I did. That pay be enough to satisfy your crew until I get back.”
Cade found he was standing directly behind Torbeck’s chair as he listened in horror and disbelief.
After a brief silence, Torbeck leaned forward and said, “Listen to me, Andrelli. I – “
Time seemed to stop.
A curious calm came over Cade. He was sure Andy was still behind him as Torbeck slowly turned his head around to look behind. A look of utter fright was on the man’s face. No, not fright. Perhaps disbelief? Cade wasn’t sure why until he looked down and found Captain Kova’s sword was through Torbeck’s chest. He looked down to his right hand, his good hand. It was gripping the pommel of the sword his old Captain had given him.
“Torbeck?” queried Andrelli over the open comm.
Cade stared into Torbeck’s eyes. Those fearful and misunderstanding eyes stared back in shock.
Andy seemed to gather his wits first and dashed around Cade to slam his hand against a control on the command chair, ending the communication with a low toned chime. “Cade!” he shouted.
Cade jerked awake from whatever trance held him and yanked the sword back.
Torbeck made an awful moan and collapsed to the deck of the bridge.
“Damn it, Cade!” Andy shouted again and stared down at the cooling corpse of the late Captain Torbeck as a pool of red spread out beneath him.
“He betrayed us,” Cade heard himself say. “He betrayed all of us. Andrelli…” he started, then his legs gave out on him. He caught himself and leaned on the back of the command chair shaking his head. He’d just killed a man. He’d just killed a Clew Captain! He’d just killed a traitor. Cade nodded, took a deep breath and found his resolve again. He straightened himself and whispered, “And now I’m going to kill Andrelli.”
Cade limped around the stunned Andy and the dead traitor and smashed the communications link with his good hand. He didn’t know what button he’d just hit but the channels-open chime sounded.
He sat in Torbeck’s chair, leaned toward the front of the room and glared at the ship that floated in the middle of the screen. “You’ve been playing both sides, Andrelli,” he said in a low, murderous voice. “You think Torbeck can hand you more families to kill? More loved ones to massacre?” His breathing was steadfast, but his heart pounded furiously in his chest as he lowered his head and continued, “I just ran my blade through the chest of your Clew traitor. He will give you no more of our ships to slaughter. No more payouts for your crew. No more Clew. You took everything from me, Andrelli. Now I’m going to take everything from you.”
Chapter 10
Haley watched in awe as the scene played out on the main view screen.
“Cut that channel! Cut the damned channel!” Andrelli slammed his fist against his command chair and screamed frantically as the face of a young man, bruised and bandaged, spilled his secret to the entire crew of the Valiant.
“Channel closed, sir,” responded the officer at the communications station, now missing one Saundi Adair.
This operation had, at first, played out as they normally did. They were drifting close to the edge of the Vorn system to meet with another Alliance recon ship for more intelligence on the region. As before, they’d followed the homing beacon and the communications opened. The Captain was in private conversation with the ship when he suddenly grew agitated and then the conversation switched to an all-channel broadcast that was immediately displayed on the main screen.
The man in the image was badly injured, but handsome. The left side of his head was wrapped across and over his eye and, while not visible she could tell he wore a sling for his left arm. A look of intense hatred radiated from his image that Haley couldn’t shake. But then when he spoke, she could tell he was filled with vengeance.
It was what he said that caused the entire bridge to take pause. Even as Andrelli shouted continually to cut the connection and repeatedly slammed his hand down on his own console to no affect, some officers simply stared in shock. Andrelli was working with the pirates or at least one pirate now dead. The last words he said before the connection was broken still rang in Haley’s mind.
“Contact!” shouted Connell. “Captain, I’m reading a cruiser class warship powering up off our bow approximately point zero one – “
The unprepared Valiant lurched violently, throwing everyone to the floor. Claxons blared from all directions and sparks flew from a console on the second tier.
“Battle stations!” Andrelli cried as he picked himself up. “Get us moving! Polarize the armor!”
Haley pulled herself back up to the tactical table. Everyone was still shaking off being tossed arou
nd like rag dolls as she studied the information coming in. Once the order was given, the readings changed to combat data only which concentrated on the nearest threat. Seeing the other tactical officers still rattled, she worked the station and activated the armor plating. “Armor activated!” she shouted back.
“We took a direct hit! That was an energy weapon and several kinetic rounds, Captain,” Connell said as he regained his senses and ran through reports. “Damage is to starboard. Two decks open to space. We’ve lost one starboard missile bay and two pulse energy turrets.”
“Damn!” the Captain shouted. “Bring us about! Target that ship and fire everything we’ve got!”
Haley noticed the other two tactical officers still on the floor. One was holding her head while the other cradled his arm. It was just her and Connell at the tactical station, so she activated the targeting sequence, then nodded to Connell to let him know she had control.
“Firing!” Connell replied and the Valiant shook slightly. “Missiles away, turrets engaged.”
Haley watched the reports flow across her screen as Connell worked fire control. “Hit!” she shouted. “Direct hit on target, minor apparent damage. They’re firing again.”
When the Valiant shook this time, it wasn’t as fierce as the first since they were now moving at a good rate of speed and the armor was activated. “Direct hit on our port side,” she reported. “Minimal damage to armor.”
The Valiant arched away from the Reaper as they fought. Both ships clawed at each other as the crews probed for weak spots. The Reaper fired volley after volley and rolled each time it was struck to spread damage across a larger area of armor. As the Valiant came back around for another firing pass, her pilot unknowingly exposed the already damaged starboard side to the pirate.
“Brace!” Haley shouted as a flurry of missiles honed in on the damaged sections of the heavy cruiser. A massive crash erupted through the ship, threatening to throw everyone off balance again, followed by an unnatural groan. Shouts of panic and pain came from the lower tier of the bridge as smoke billowed from another console.
Haley continued to track the pirate through its movements, and she couldn’t help but respect the piloting skills. Every twist and turn had a function, whether it was to gain the upper hand in a maneuver or evade being hit. Then she saw her opportunity. Each time the Valiant fired, the pirate would roll counter-clockwise and pull up relative to the Valiant. It was sloppy to repeat actions so frequently.
“Lieutenant,” Haley said sharing her data with his screen. “Fire one medium turret, then immediately fire a full volley just above and to port of him on our next pass.”
Connell stared at her with a look of debate before shaking his head and setting up his next firing run. “Check my numbers,” he replied.
Haley ran through the calculations he’d entered and nodded. “He has a pattern. Hopefully, he’ll repeat it one last time.”
The Reaper, relentless in its attack, came back into range after a long arc below the Valiant. Missiles flew from their cradles toward the Alliance ship and energy weapons reached out to ravage the already stricken cruiser.
Just as the pirate ship closed, Valiant yawed and fired a single beam toward its enemy. The Reaper rolled expertly and climbed to port just to meet a well-placed, full broadside from the Valiant.
“Got him!” Connell shouted as the tactical console lit with fresh information. “Direct hit, sir! Massive damage to their dorsal hull, and we’re registering secondary explosions! Their engine output is fluctuating!”
Haley grinned as she watched the same readout, but her pride soon died at the thought of the man she’d watched only minutes before on the screen. “What have I done?” she whispered to herself.
“Excellent shooting, Connell,” the Captain said waving smoke from his face. “Bring us back into range and finish it. I don’t want a scrap of metal left intact from that ship,” the Captain growled.
Suddenly, the tactical console began alerting Haley to a massive increase in reactor power on the pirate vessel. It was unlike anything she’d ever seen before. “Captain! Possible reactor meltdown in progress!”
“What?” the Captain stood and ran to stand beside her. “That’s not a meltdown,” he said with a touch of dread in his voice. “Shoot! Fire! Fire now!” he screamed in a panic and seeing Haley’s shocked inaction, he began depressing button after button on the console.
“Captain!” Haley cried as the Valiant launched a flailing, unguided attack. Energy beams tore at empty space and missiles streaked away without bearings.
And then the pirate vanished.
“No!” Andrelli shouted and immediately turned and struck Haley across the face. “You incompetent fool!”
Haley reeled at the impact, her hands immediately coming up to cradle her burning cheek. She’d been trained in hand to hand combat in the academy, but she had no sign her Captain was about to do something so brash. She stood motionless in shock, staring at the wicked man who’d just struck her.
Andrelli stalked back through the smoky bridge to the command chair shouting, “Damage report!”
Connell smirked at Haley from across the tactical console, scrolled through the reports and replied, “Missile batteries seven and eight are gone. Pulse cannon two through five are offline. Damage control teams are reporting a fire in secondary engineering and an hour to repair what they can but most of the damage needs yard time.”
The Captain scowled, then turned toward tactical saying, “Ensign Marks, get off my – “ but Haley was already gone.
***
Haley strode past the chaos of crew running from compartment to compartment attempting to assist in damage control and put out fires. This was not a vessel of the Alliance Fleet. This was a farce commanded by a madman and with Senior Chief Benley in agreement, she now had no doubts. In one way she was relieved. When she boarded Valiant, her dreams of the Alliance she loved had been dashed. Now she was one hundred percent certain her Alliance still lived, but definitely not aboard this ship.
She rounded a corner and slammed into a crewman running full blast toward the bridge. The impact almost knocked the wind out of her, but she steadied herself. “Watch where you’re going, crewman!”
“Ensign Marks,” the man said wide-eyed. “I was coming to…,” he shook himself and continued in a more even tone. “Senior Chief wants his report. He said he wants it now and that Ensign Adair needs to be in that report.”
Haley’s anger at almost being mowed over vanished. Her duties included no reports to the Senior Chief. That was the signal from Benley that he’d have everything ready but they didn’t discuss Saundi being a part of it. The brig would be guarded day and night. Maybe the fight had changed something. She nodded to the crewman and said, “Tell him I’m on it, crewman.”
Haley watched him go and built up every ounce of courage she had left. This was it. She dismissed going to her quarters. Nothing in that room was needed. She rounded a corner and without stopping, ripped an assault rifle out of the small armory station that had opened at the announcement of battle stations. She adjusted the setting to wide area stun and continued toward the gym.
Passing several heavily damaged sections of Valiant, Haley reached the empty gym and retrieved the small data storage case from her locker. She opened it, removed the drive Saundi had hidden as well as the device Benley had given her and stuffed them into a small pocket on her uniform. She dropped the empty case on the floor without giving it a second thought and left the gym.
Several decks down, she arrived at the brig. Upon seeing the guard on duty, desperately watching a screen that monitored damage control, she lowered the rifle at him.
The guard seemed to notice and turned quickly toward her with raised hands. “Wait! She’s coming!”
It was then that another guard rounded the corner with Saundi in tow looking both confused and very pissed off. “Haley?” she stopped at the sight of her friend.
“Saundi!” she shouted. “We
have to go!”
The first guard waved Saundi out and said, “Go! Whatever you two have planned just get that data to command. Get us home.”
Haley looked at him in a new light. She’d almost fired, but she wasn’t prepared to start shooting the place up. She was glad she didn’t have to. “What about you two?”
“We’re not here,” the other guard replied. “We’re in engineering helping with damage control.”
“Right,” she said, grabbed Saundi by the arm and led her out of the brig. “Good luck.”
“What happened to your face?” Saundi said as she tried to keep up with her friend. “Where are we going?”
“Andrelli is on the take,” she said as they rounded another corner and down a set of stairs. “We’re leaving.”
“Damn, Haley,” Saundi exclaimed, looking over her shoulder as they made their way. “Never knew you had a jail break in ya.”
“Yeah. But when they notice you’re missing they’ll realize something’s happened,” she said. “We have to get to junction two. Come on. Act natural. People are too busy trying to make repairs to care much about anything else.”
They made their way through the ship, dodging several crew members tearing through the corridor holding equipment of one sort or another. Finally, they came to a small indentation in a hallway that seemed devoid of people. Haley pressed a small pad on the wall that lit up and chimed at her.
“Oh, no,” Saundi said as she shook her head and backed away at the sight of an escape pod hatch opening for them. “I’m not getting in there.”
Haley dropped the rifle from her shoulder and pointed it at Saundi. Without a smile she said, “I can just stun you and drag you in.”
Saundi climbed quickly into the pod. “What’s gotten into you?”
Haley followed without a word, closed the door then jabbed the launch trigger.
A metallic thump resounded through the small pod before it rocked, throwing them both off balance. Haley recovered first and reached for the pod’s console. She knew the pod would start transmitting once it reached a certain distance from its launch point, so she disengaged the emergency beacon.
