Captives of the Kratzen (Hearts in Orbit)

by S. C. Mitchell

  A chilling thought hit. “What about Kirtl? He was with us too.”

  “He’s fine, for some reason.” Magda shook her head. “Scans show no sign of the toxin in him even though our medical scanners have now been upgraded to detect it. I’m conjecturing that the Blarmling immune system, which is amazing, was responsible for expelling it, probably before he even left the Kratzen planet.”

  ~ ~ ~

  “Oh, Carter.”

  Tina placed the palm of her hand on the cold steel-glass panel of the cryochamber. Beneath, Carter’s face, pale as death, stared back. Ice crystals twinkled on his cheeks and nose.

  Technically and legally still alive, cryo had a ninety-six percent chance of success. That still meant even the thing keeping him alive could also kill him. They wouldn’t know for sure until they attempted to bring him out.

  Beyond his chamber, two additional chambers, like large metal coffins, lined the Dzlozian medical unit room.

  Rolanda and Tendle, both struck down by the horrible Kratzen poison.

  “Damn you, bugs.” Moisture rimmed her eyes. “Damn you all to hell.”

  Soft footsteps padded into the room behind her.

  “This is my fault.” Kirtl’s soft tone quivered.

  She turned to confront him.

  Moisture rimed his dark purple eyes and matted the silver fur around them. “I should have waited. Learned more. Learned how to interpret the Kratzens’ thoughts better. I should have known this would happen if we left the planet.”

  Dropping to her knees, she pulled the Blarmling into her arms, hugging him close. “This is not your fault.”

  Kirtl sobbed. “I wanted to save them. Now they’re dying.”

  Warm dampness seeped into the fabric of her shipsuit at the shoulder. Let him cry. He needed to let it out.

  But she wasn’t ready to accept defeat yet. “There has to be a cure.”

  Human and Dzlozian medics were working frantically with the small sample of the Kratzen toxin they had taken out of her, trying to find an antidote.

  Kirtl released her and took a step back. His eyes narrowed. “I have to make this right. I have to go back.”

  “Back where?” Home? Did the Blarmlings have some kind of super healer they’d been hiding?

  Certainly he couldn’t mean . . .

  “Yes. Back to the Kratzen planet where they did this to my friends. They’d have more of the toxin there. Maybe even a cure. I’ve figured out some of the bug’s language. I need a little more time with one of those mantis types. They’re more intelligent than the roaches. Use more words.”

  “Kirtl, you can’t . . .” But he was right. It made sense.

  In any case, it was better than sitting around here doing nothing.

  “Let’s go talk to Rik. We’re going to need transport and backup.”

  ~ ~ ~

  Tina owed Rik Mazar big, not the other way round. Yes, she’d been the navigator he needed to steal The Starboard Mist from the pirates, but Rik had been the starship captain she’d needed to get away from Port Hubble, where she had a price on her head.

  Killing that first mate had been instinctive, but probably not smart in the long run. Pirate justice was anything but just. It was, however, swift. If caught, she’d have been dead.

  Still, Rik always treated her like he owed her something.

  He paced the room, but nodded as he considered her request. “I think it’s a good plan. Let me contact the fleet. I’d like to have at least one of those Umberhulks with us when we go, as well as a good mix of other ships. That planet is in the heart of the Kratzen systems. Thanks to the tracking on that Dzlozian ship you used to escape, we can get back to it, but we have no idea what we’d be facing or how long it would take them to mobilize a force against us.”

  The covert mission she’d proposed was morphing into an all-out assault. She was fine with that. “Would we need Federation consent for something like that?”

  “What do you think, Dad?” Kirtl had insisted Ambassador Antares join them for this meeting.

  The ambassador shook his head. “The senate put me in charge of the negotiations here. Those two Dzlozians are considered heroes to their people. Saving them would give us an edge in negotiations.”

  Kirtl huffed. “Not that you’d ever use it.”

  Rigel Antares shrugged. “It’s a good enough excuse, and I have built up enough political capital to sell it back home if we have any problems. But there’s more to this mission than saving three lives. This is an opportunity to learn more about our enemy. If you can crack the code of their language, who knows what valuable information we might be able to unearth. In any case, if the senate gives me any flack, it will be after the fact. We don’t have time to send someone back for permission. I’m giving this mission the green light.”

  Rik pulled Tina aside. “I can request another navigator if you want to stay here with Carter. I know what he means to you.”

  “I can’t do him any good sitting by his cryo chamber, and I’ve been there before. I know some of the things we need to watch out for. I need to do this.” It would be harder staying behind. She’d probably just worry herself sick.

  Rik nodded. “Then let’s go.”

  Chapter 17

  The two-dozen Kratzen attack ships sent up from the surface were dispatched quickly and the fleet took up position in orbit around the planet. No motherships appeared on radar as Tina, Kirtl, and Ambassador Antares accompanied a team of fifty Fleet marines back to the planet’s surface to enter the Kratzen menagerie complex.

  They dropped into the same hangar bay that the Dzlozian ship had been held in. A swarm of burgundy-colored insectoids pulled back from their work as the ship landed. A different type of bug once again, looking more like ants from Old Earth, but man-sized.

  Blaster fire from the shuttles cleared the bay quickly, with most of the bugs skittering through the bay’s exits.

  Tina examined one of the ant bodies, as the marines secured the area. “Yet another kind of bug? How many are there?”

  Only a few of these creatures carried weapons, but all had sharp, wicked looking mandibles. Not something you’d want to encounter at close range.

  Kirtl looked to be straining quite a bit as he attempted to pick up whatever thoughts he could filter out. Tina knew this would be rough on him. Still, The Blarmling was determined.

  Shaking his head, Kirtl bent down to touch the head of the unconscious bug. “I think this may be a drone or worker class of Kratzen. Not very smart. Those who escaped are trying to figure out who to report to.”

  Ambassador Antares holstered his blaster. “In any case, they know were here. Let’s move out.”

  Leading them past the twisted remains of the canister she’d blasted when they’d escaped and the rubble of the collapsed ceiling, Tina and Kirtl retraced their steps up to the scaffolding and back toward the Kratzen menagerie.

  Her gut churned as they entered the chamber where they’d encountered Kristin Devenport earlier. It was now empty. Even the machines and equipment had been moved out. “Is she still here?”

  Kirtl shook his head.

  She wasn’t entirely sure if she was happy or angry that she didn’t get a second chance to take that witch out. The marines had brought some heavy artillery with them just in case.

  “There are minds here,” Kirtle said. “Bug minds. I’m starting to better understand them. We need to go back by the cages where they kept us. Whatever they were doing here, they finished. Kristin Devenport’s transformation has been completed. She’s gone.”

  A group of eight marines took the point, moving ahead out of the room and down the hallway.

  Blaster fire erupted and shortly they returned carrying two of the mantis-like Kratzen.

  “This what you were
looking for?” the Marine Commander, Sergeant Thom Jergens asked. “We used the lightest stun setting.”

  “Perfect.” Ambassador Antares took command. “Tie them up. Kirtl?”

  “I’m already in their heads.” Kirtl scrunched his face. “Ugh. Bug dreams are not pretty.”

  Nodding, the ambassador turned to Tina. “We should be good here with about a dozen men. Take the rest and see what you can find. But don’t take any chances.”

  Carter had told her earlier about waking in a room with metal tables where the bugs had done things to him, probably all of them. It wasn’t a stretch to believe that was where they implanted the chemical time-bombs.

  She hoped to find that room and acquire whatever chemicals or technology could be found there to take back to Dzlozia. In any case, even if they couldn’t find that room, they’d use the time Kirtl needed to interrogate the bugs, to steal as much of the Kratzen technology as they could lay their hands on.

  Without Kirtl to sense nearby minds, they had to move cautiously through the tunnels and hallways. They plundered like pirates, occasionally sending teams back with bundles of loot.

  It was time to learn everything they could about their enemy. With luck, she’d also learn something to help her friends.

  ~ ~ ~

  Six silver metal tables, blood stained and cold, stood in the center of what looked to be some kind of medical room. Equipment on countertops around the room included syringes and strangely marked monitors. This sure looked like the place Carter had described.

  Could the cure be here somewhere?

  “Clear this room, and mark everything in it as priority.” Tina wasn’t leaving anything behind that could possibly help.

  Sergeant Jergens nodded. “On it, Miss la Cross.”

  They’d delved deep into the Kratzen base with little resistance, making their way through the now empty menagerie. Had this base been abandoned?

  They had stumbled across a few more of the mantis Kratzen, and a number of the new ant type, stunning them when possible and sending them back to Kirtl and ambassador Antares.

  A message came over her com unit. “We’ve got Kratzen motherships incoming.”

  Sergeant Jergens eyed her as he shoved more of the bug’s equipment into carry sacks. To his credit, he let her make the call.

  Tina slid one last batch of chemicals and equipment into her own bag as she nodded. “Let’s go.”

  They’d been operating in a time window, she knew. If the bugs came at them in force, they’d need to pull out. They’d been given more time than she’d thought they’d be granted.

  Still, it was a big base. She prayed she wasn’t leaving the cure behind.

  ~ ~ ~

  The fleet above had already engaged the foremost Kratzen fighters as the last of the equipment and troops were loaded on the shuttle, and it lifted off out of the landing bay. They broke out of the atmosphere of the bug world into a bright display of blaster explosions and blue plasma beams against the inky blackness of space.

  “Shuttles, turn sixty degrees to port. We are cloaked and ready to bring you aboard.” Captain Mazar’s confident tone brought a measure of calm to Tina’s jumping stomach.

  “Roger that.” The shuttle pilot turned the ship. “Tractor beam detected. Bring us in.”

  Across the thin aisle from Tina, Kirtl sat in quiet concentration, though fatigue shown in the lined, matted fur on his face and the dark circles around his purple eyes. Four Kratzen, three of the mantises and one of the ants, sat caged in the cargo bay below. Was Kirtl still pulling information and deciphering language?

  “How are you doing?” She reached over to smooth the fur on the top of his head.

  He closed his eyes and laid his head back. “They are so strange, so . . . evil. Most of what they think about is taking, conquering, killing. It exhausts me. But I am making progress.”

  “Anything on the toxin?” Did she dare hope?

  “Maybe.” Kirtl sighed. “Two of those we captured know something, I am convinced. That’s why I’m still working on them. I’m not giving up.”

  The shuttle was pulled into the landing bay of The Starboard Mist and secured. Tina stood to depart, looking down at Kirtl.

  “You go. Just think at me if there’s anything I need to know. I’m staying at these Kratzen as long as it takes. I think one of them is about to give me what I want.”

  Sergeant Jergens nodded to her. “We’ll unload the salvage and start documenting it. You go help get us home.”

  Her navigation station on the bridge was where she’d be the most useful right now, and where she’d be able to compile the most information. Rik would tell her to rest, that she’d done enough.

  Frack that.

  ~ ~ ~

  As the fleet prepared to warp out of battle, Captain Mazar ordered The Starboard Mist to remain cloaked and stay to cover the retreat.

  The huge Umberhulk craft, the FFS Axelrod, disappeared from Tina’s scanning screen as the craft also cloaked. Then one by one, the other ships disengaged from the Kratzen attackers and warped back to the Dzlozian system.

  The two Kratzen motherships had hung back, not engaging. Because of that, casualties in the Fleet had been light.

  “Maybe we’ve put the fear of the galactic gods into ‘em,” Rik said, striding the bridge.

  The Kratzen had lost two motherships in yesterday’s battle near Dzlozia. Had they ever suffered defeat before? Maybe the tables were turning.

  Whatever the case, it made disengaging easier. The armada hadn’t lost one ship, though the Kratzen attack craft had scored a few hits, causing damage, some of it severe, on a few of the Fleet ships.

  “The Axelrod is going to warp.” Harvey, the science droid, manned the communications station. So much a part of the crew, few even noticed the monotone mechanical voice he used anymore. It was just the way Harvey talked.

  Captain Mazar took a few minutes to observe the Kratzen ships. With The Starboard Mist cloaked, the bugs couldn’t detect them. “We need to push for more cloaking on our fleet ships and fly some spy missions in Kratzen controlled sectors.”

  The attack ships eventually flew back to their motherships.

  “Miss la Cross, plot me a course back to Dzlozia.” Captain Mazar fell into his command chair. “Let’s go see what we’ve got.”

  Tina sent the coordinates to his command console then took a deep breath.

  It was time to get back to Carter. But to wake him up . . . or to say goodbye?

  Chapter 18

  Tina hadn’t ever been in the brig on The Starboard Mist. A necessity when the craft had been a pirate ship, they hadn’t had any cause to use the cells here since stealing the vessel from the pirates.

  The dingy inner room on the ship’s lowest level had no portholes. Four barred cells lined the walls, two on either side of a thin aisle. Each contained one of the bug creatures. Three of the mantis type and the one ant they’d captured. In the alcove by the door, Kirtl lay, curled in a ball. Tina almost tripped over him when she entered.

  She went down on a knee and placed a hand on his quivering form. “Kirtl, you need some rest. Take a break.”

  The Blarmling shook his head. “Their thoughts, so chaotic, splintered. But I’m close to understanding what I need to know. If they would just focus.”

  A cold knot fisted in her stomach.

  Carter lay frozen in the Dzlozian medical bay in a coffin, Rolanda and Tendle lay next to him, and Kirtl was killing himself because a couple of damn bugs couldn’t concentrate?

  She strode down the aisle between the cages, her tone hardened as her gut wrenched. “Listen up, you gods damned frackers.”

  All four Kratzen jumped.

  “You put some shit in my friends and made them sick.” She leveled her gaze on
one of the mantises, then pounded the palm of her hand against the cell bars and the mantis jumped back.

  “You’d better hope you’ve got a frackin’ cure for what you did to them, or I’m going to make your life a living hell. Understand?”

  They probably couldn’t understand a single word she’d said. What was she doing?

  The fisting in her gut tightened. Dark dizziness swirled in her peripheral vision. Lost, so completely lost without Carter. Dampness rimmed her eyes.

  She pounded more on the bars, hammering her frustrations into the plassteel, accentuating every word. “You gods. Damned. Bastards!”

  Then Kirtl was at her side. “You did it. Fear was all it took. That bug recognized you from the menagerie, couldn’t understand how you’d survived their time-bomb, and mentally went over every procedure they performed to try and figure out what they’d done wrong.”

  He hugged her leg. “He wondered who had administered the cure, and gave me all the steps. We need one of their machines, and something in a blue bottle.”

  Hope rose in Tina’s chest. “Let’s go look through the stuff we brought back.”

  ~ ~ ~

  A gummy film coated Carter’s eyes, making it hard to pry them open. When he did, he couldn’t make anything out anyway. Like looking into fog. He’d have used his fingers to wipe his eyes, but his hands were like plascrete pilings lying at his side. They refused to lift. He searched, body part by body part, for some small area that didn’t hurt.

  Nope.

  “I’m getting really sick of sitting beside your bed instead of lying in it with you.” Tina’s tone was thick with emotion.

  Shit. Where was he? What had happened? He tried to ask but it came out, “Waaap?”

  His mouth, desert-planet dry, refused to form words. His heart beat rapidly in his ears, and a pounding ache between his eyes added a staccato accent to the rhythm.