“Siv and Mitsuki are criminals,” Bishop said. “If I didn’t know them personally, then I wouldn’t base a plan off assuming they’d attempt a rescue.”
“If they’d been attacked to lure us in, don’t you think he would have mentioned it?” Oona argued.
“Not if he was one of the bad guys,” Kyralla said.
“Why would one of the bad guys be on the damaged vessel?” Bishop asked.
“He could’ve been part of a boarding party,” Kyralla replied. “The entire thing could be staged as a lure.”
“That seems even more doubtful,” Bishop said.
“Maybe one of the criminal groups on the way to Titus decided to ambush a vessel,” Kyralla said. “Criminal guilds aren’t beyond piracy.”
“Again, if it was an attack,” Bishop said, “then why not mention that in the message?”
“We did miss part of the message, a part where I think he was trying to say what happened,” Kyralla said. “And I think that—”
Oona interrupted her. “You’re reaching on this, sis. We have to go help them.”
Kyralla shook her head. “It’s too risky.”
“We can’t let people die without trying to save them,” Oona said. “We have to do the right thing. Otherwise…”
“We’re supposed to wait in this area in case Siv and Mitsuki need us,” Kyralla said.
“We won’t be that far away,” Oona said.
Over the ship’s comm, Artemisia said, “Silky would be able to get a message to us in the Kor system.”
“And they’re not going to ask for help,” Bishop said. “They don’t want the two of you in the Titus or Zayer systems, even in dire circumstances.”
“Rosie and I can continue researching the vessel along the way there,” Artemisia said.
“We can enter the system, skirt along its edge, and run a sensor sweep,” Bishop said. “That way we’ll have a chance to spot other ships or anything suspicious before getting too close.”
Oona nodded. “And I could reach out with my abilities like before. If I detect anything out of the ordinary, anything at all, we’ll turn around and leave immediately.”
Kyralla paced the bridge. “I don’t like taking this risk.”
“You’re willing to let these people die?” Oona said.
“We’re not the only ship in the region,” Kyralla said. “Why don’t we let someone else save them? It’s not our responsibility.”
“It is our responsibility,” Oona said. “Rescuing a ship in distress is a core tenet of any spacefaring civilization. We’re all out in space alone.”
“Even if we reach them first, others may arrive after us,” Kyralla said. “Bounty hunters, criminals, pirates, federal agents…”
“You think criminals are going to show up to help someone?” Oona said.
“A ship in distress is an easy score,” Bishop said. “But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do the right thing.”
“The feds are just as dangerous to us,” Kyralla said.
Oona rubbed her hands across her scalp and groaned in frustration. “I can’t not help.”
“Maybe we’re getting ahead of ourselves,” Bishop said. “How long ago was that message sent? Would the ship’s crew still be alive?”
“I do not have enough information to tell you whether the crew is still alive,” the ship AI replied.
“And no information was delivered about the level of damage the ship sustained,” Artemisia said over the comm. “The message was sent using an echo space, emergency broadcast transponder. Only half an hour has passed since the broadcast.”
“We could be the first ones to get there,” Oona said.
“It’s likely, based on our current position, that we are the closest ship,” Rosie said.
“If we rescue them quickly, then we may be able to get out of the system before anyone else arrives,” Bishop said.
Kyralla paused and stared at Oona. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
Oona shook her head. “We have to go. It’s the right thing to do.”
“It might get us killed,” Kyralla said.
Oona sighed. “Look, sis, the chances of me surviving another year are low.”
“You have the priestess now,” Kyralla argued. “She’ll prepare you to face the trial.”
“Sure, but we’re also being pursued by criminal guilds, bounty hunters, the Federation, and the Empire of a Thousand Worlds. Those things balance out at best.”
“Still,” Kyralla said. “I don’t—”
Oona interrupted her. “I do not want to die knowing that when people were calling out for help I did nothing to save them.”
“You’re ignoring the big picture,” Kyralla said. “You have a chance to save trillions upon trillions of people by restoring the Benevolence.”
“Maybe. Maybe not.” Oona collapsed into the command chair. “I feel guilty for asking Siv and Mitsuki to rescue Dad. It’s driving me crazy. And that guilt, maybe I can live with it. What I can’t live with is knowing that people were crying out for help and I did nothing. I can’t be a galactic savior if I’m not willing to help even a few individuals who need it.”
Kyralla stared at her, showing no emotion.
“Oona’s right,” Bishop said.
“You’re going to agree with her on this?” Kyralla asked. “You? You believe in restoring the Benevolence as much as either of us, maybe more.”
“I believe Oona was meant to restore the Benevolence. But I think the kind of person she is makes a big difference. Maybe Empress Qan wasn’t the kind of person willing to help others. Maybe she wasn’t willing to do the right thing. Maybe that’s why she turned out the way she did.”
Kyralla ran her fingers through her hair and then stamped a foot. “Fine. Fine, fine, fine.”
“You know you want to help too,” Oona said. “You know it’s the right thing to do.”
“I swore I would protect you,” Kyralla said. “No matter what. That’s not easy to do when you insist on putting yourself in danger.”
Oona shrugged. “Sorry.”
Kyralla returned to the piloting station. "If we're going to do this, then we do it right. We research everything along the way. We scan thoroughly when we reach the system. If there's one single ship in that system, other than the research vessel, then we let them do the rescue, and we continue on. And if we do help, we get those people, and we get out as fast as possible."
“Agreed,” Oona said.
Kyralla turned and looked back at her over her shoulder. “You realize we’re almost certainly going to get into trouble and have to fight our way out right? Because that’s how our luck’s been going.”
Oona nodded. “I understand. And that doesn’t change anything for me.”
"Then set a course for the Kor system," Kyralla said. "And let's pray that we get lucky for a change."
Oona bowed her head and prayed to the Benevolent Source that the Argos Alpha’s crew would still be alive when they arrived. She prayed they wouldn’t face any danger.
She’d never prayed much until the last week. Now it seemed to be an hourly ritual.
“Course set, madam.”
Oona triggered the stardrive.
28
Kyralla Vim
Kyralla’s muscles tensed as they neared the Kor system. She tried but failed to deepen her breathing. She needed to focus in case they ran into immediate danger, but she couldn’t calm her nerves.
She was more anxious now than when they'd fought the freighter, even though they might not be in danger. And she knew why.
Without help from Siv and Mitsuki and especially Silky, she wasn’t sure they could survive a difficult fight.
Sure, if it came to a battle, Oona would be a massive help in the command chair, and Bishop wouldn't be useless. But ultimately everything would fall on Kyralla's shoulders. If it was too much for her and the ship's AI, then…then they were doomed.
Rosie, Artemisia, and Bishop had spent t
he last six hours carefully researching the Argos Alpha. They didn’t find anything suspicious about it or its crew of accomplished researchers and graduate assistants. The ship had been in space for three months since leaving the planet Dogon in the Sirius C system, and it hadn’t made any stops along the way.
Kyralla had a bad feeling about this, but then she had a bad feeling about pretty much every choice they made, paranoia having set it. She wanted to do the right thing and help the ship’s crew, but she didn’t believe it was the correct choice.
Oona wasn’t looking at the bigger picture. Sure, they might save a dozen lives in the Kor system, but that paled in comparison to what she could do if she restored the Benevolence. Stardrive and medical technology were slowly failing. Within a century humanity would no longer have starfaring civilization. Trillions upon trillions of lives would be affected if Oona restored the Benevolence.
She understood Bishop's argument that it mattered for a hyperphasic messiah to be prepared to risk herself to save others. But just because Oona was willing, that didn't mean they had to do it. Kyralla had almost refused to go along with the plan. If it had just been her and Oona, she would have. But it didn't seem right to go against Bishop as well. And she didn't want to face a mutiny.
Besides, she didn’t want to live with the guilt of not helping either.
The Outworld Ranger bubbled into real space a half a light year outside the Kor system, on the opposite side from the direction of the Ekaran system and at a right angle to the Titus and Zayer systems. That way when they entered it would seem as if they had come from elsewhere. Aside from the ship’s masked transponder and its jamming sequences, they had no other way of disguising themselves.
Bishop took the sensor station, but they had all agreed he would switch to the weapons system in a fight. Not because he would be any good at operating them. Loaning his brainpower to the system through the circlet would make a big difference though.
“Everyone ready?” Oona asked.
“Ready,” Bishop answered.
"Last chance to change your mind," Kyralla suggested, hoping a last-minute surge of fear would make Oona change her mind.
Oona activated the stardrive.
An hour later, the Outworld Ranger zoomed into the edge of the Kor system at an angle that would keep it skirting along the perimeter so that they could reenter hyperspace within minutes if necessary.
Kyralla checked the ship position locator. No other ships appeared within five AU of their position, the farthest out they could scan. “Bishop?”
“The ship’s sensors have locked onto the Argos Alpha. It’s in orbit around the fourth planet.”
“Anything else?” Kyralla asked.
Bishop shook his head. “I’m not picking up any signs of other ships.”
"Rosie and I can't detect anything either," Artemisia said over the ship's comm. "However, neither of us have access to a ScanField-3 like Silky does. We will continue analyzing data from the ship's sensors."
“So we’re in the clear,” Bishop said with relief.
“We can’t guarantee that, Mr. Bishop,” Rosie said aloud. “Powered-down ships could easily lurk behind planets or moons so that the Outworld Ranger’s sensors can’t pick them up. And there may be other ways of hiding.”
Kyralla turned to Oona who was sitting cross-legged in the command chair. Her eyes were closed, her brow furrowed. Kyralla didn't want to disturb her, so she waited patiently.
Her eyes flicked open. “We have to hurry. Only six people are still alive, and one of them is fading.”
“Enemies?”
“I didn’t sense any danger,” Oona replied.
Kyralla sighed, entered the new course, and maxed their speed. The Outworld Ranger’s ion engines flared as it turned ninety degrees and sped inward. “Keep meditating. Let me know if you sense anything.”
Oona nodded and closed her eyes.
As the hours passed, the fourth planet, a super-Earth, shifted from a tiny speck to a glistening orb and then to a dazzling world. Five rings of alternating pinks, golds, and crimsons encircled the planet. The colors resulted from the system’s red sun reflecting off the icy fragments.
“The ice rings were formed by an accident involving dozens of large comets that were supposed to crash into the planet during the terraforming process,” Artemisia told them.
Beneath a few wispy clouds, the planet's spidery oceans threaded their way between sprawling, barren continents. The world supported no lifeforms save for algae and various microbes seeded by the Benevolence.
“Another crewman died,” Oona announced for the second time. “Only five people left."
Bishop tapped a button on his control panel. “I’m zooming the viewscreen for a visual on the Argos Alpha.”
“You know you can do that with your circlet,” Kyralla told him.
“I didn’t want to take up any of the sensor station’s processing power,” he replied. “Besides, I like doing things manually whenever I can.”
In orbit around the planet, just beyond the rings, the research vessel was spinning out of control, rotating on its axis once every few seconds.
“Well, that’s a problem,” Bishop said.
“The Outworld Ranger’s maneuvering thrusters are not capable of matching the research vessel’s spin rate,” Rosie said. “At best, we can match half of its current rotation speed.”
“So how do we stop it spinning?” Oona asked.
“You’re supposed to be meditating,” Kyralla told her.
Oona shot her a dark look then closed her eyes again.
“Well?” Kyralla asked Bishop.
He shrugged. “No clue.”
“If we pull up alongside the vessel,” Artemisia said, “and let it impact our shields, we can stop it from spinning while causing minimal damage to its hull. But we must get the angle just right.”
“And if we don’t get it just right?” Kyralla asked.
“Either we send it spinning out of control in the other direction,” Rosie said. “Or the impact ruptures the vessel’s hull, spilling everyone inside out into the vacuum of space.”
“The sensors are picking up a significant amount of metallic debris,” Bishop said. “Analysis suggests fragments from a starship roughly equivalent to a light freighter like this one.”
“So there was another ship here?” Kyralla said. “That’s odd.”
“Receiving a signal from the Argos Alpha,” Artemisia said.
They had been trying to contact the ship since entering the system. A faint voice came through the ship’s comm.
“Is someone out there?” a trembling voice male said. “We’re…desperate…need…”
His voice faded out.
“Analysis shows him to be the same young man who sent the distress signal,” Artemisia said. “The signal is coming from his chippy.”
“Can you hear us?” Bishop asked.
“Barely,” he responded.
“We’re half an hour away,” Bishop said. “Can you tell us what’s going on, what happened to your ship?”
No reply came.
“We’ve lost his signal,” Rosie said.
“The ship is still intact,” Bishop said. “So it’s either interference or…he’s gone.”
Half an hour later, they reached the visual range of the Argos Alpha, and the sensors managed to do a life form scan of the vessel.
“We have five survivors,” Artemisia said. “One is in critical condition, and two others are injured.”
Four of the survivors, including the injured one, were located in the back of the ship. The other one was on the bridge.
They slipped up alongside the research vessel. Working in tandem with the ship's AI, Kyralla eased toward the Argos Alpha. She focused her mind and counted up slowly using the Fibonacci sequence. She still felt stupid doing it, but she couldn't deny its effectiveness.
“I focused our shields toward the Argus Alpha,” Artemisia said. “You’re clear to move in, madam
.”
Kyralla nudged the control stick left. A second before the Argos Alpha would have spun into their shields, Kyralla “saw” what was about to happen. She jerked the stick right. With all of its maneuvering thrusters firing, the Outworld Ranger darted away.
Kyralla took a deep breath, kept her focus, and guided the ship back toward the spinning vessel. This time she nailed it. She sighed with relief. It was a good thing she had practiced maneuvers the last few days.
As the Argos Alpha struck their shields, Kyralla jerked the Outworld Ranger down and away so that neither ship would suffer a full impact.
“Shields down to ninety-two percent,” Artemisia announced as they moved into the clear.
The research vessel was now spinning in the opposite direction, but slowly.
“Good work, madam,” Rosie said. “We can attempt to dock with the Argos Alpha now.”
“So here’s a question,” Oona said. “How do we go about doing that?”
“Their docking port is in the same location as ours,” Bishop said. “So all we have to do is use our thrusters to match the spin of the other vessel and extend the docking tube.”
“You’re supposed to be meditating and scanning for dangers.”
Oona huffed, settled back into the seat, and closed her eyes. “Fine,” Oona huffed. “Just tell me this first: How do you get them to open their port?”
“If we can’t connect with their ship’s AI then…” Bishop shrugged “…then we may have to cut our way in.”
With a smug smile on her face, Oona closed her eyes. Kyralla snorted in irritation.
“What are the chances of connecting with their ship’s AI?” she asked.
"I am working on it, madam," Rosie said over the ship's comm. "But so far, I'm not having any luck. The connection is poor, and I can't get past the ship's defensive protocols. Artemisia and I are doing our best, but neither of us is Silky."
“Are there any other ways in that wouldn’t require us to cut through their hull?” Kyralla asked. “Cause I’m guessing that would take time.”
“I cannot find any other ways,” Artemisia said. “And yes, cutting our way in will delay the rescue by at least half an hour, perhaps longer.”
Shadow Agents Page 21
