“Something new, something we’ve never seen. The fleet will be interested in this data,” Ammarie weakly waved a hand at her own console, blinking to make her eyes focus. It didn’t help, the problem wasn’t with her eyes, it was with her rattled brain which was throbbing with the beginning of a painful headache. She sent a command to her internal medical monitor to release pain suppressors into her bloodstream, and turned her attention back to the data that was still compiling. “That damping field was projected by a missile.”
“A missile? How-” Vinny realized that question was not important at the moment. The ship had jumped less than one lighthour from the battlespace, and if they were being pursued by an enemy warship, the Sure Thing was surely in major trouble. If the attack had been conducted only by missiles, the crew had time to inspect and make repairs to the jump drive before moving away. “Forget it. Good work, darling. How did you know?”
“I saw the damping field had peaked and was already weakening, the missile must only be able to project a temporary bubble. There was either a regular missile homing in on us,” she wasn’t yet able to make sense of the sensor data, “or another damping field coming after the first one passed by us. We jumped just as the damping field strength dropped below the critical limit.”
“Below the critical limit for most ships. With the condition of our old drive system,” Vinny didn’t finish the thought. “Good enough. We have evidence the Deal Me In was destroyed, so we should head back as soon as we-”
“Not yet,” Thelmer held up a hand for attention. “The Deal Me In was hit, but not destroyed.”
“It jumped away?” Vinny asked incredulously. From the debris field he had scanned, the star carrier had been thoroughly ripped apart.
“Not exactly.”
Vinny “What do you mean ‘not exactly’?”
Thelmer’s antennas twitched with amusement. “You are not going to believe this.”
“That is impossible,” Vinny declared flatly. A broken star carrier had jumped, under the control of a Ruhar ship?! A Ruhar ship commanded by a human. Vinny’s mind reeled at the idea of a lowly human being in command of anything more complicated than a rowboat. His gambler’s brain pounded at the unlikeliness of a broken star carrier jumping at all, and that the jump controller had been developed by the Ruhar. He would have wagered everything he had that neither of those events could have been possible! Yet, according to the flight recorder log certified as accurate by the Deal Me In’s former crewman Arlon Dahl, it had been the clever thinking and initiative of the human called Emily Perkins that saved both her old Ruhar cruiser, the life of Arlon Dahl, and the aft section of the Deal Me In.
“It happened, therefore it is not impossible,” Thelmer retorted. “Do you want to bet on it?”
“No.” Vinny replied automatically as he had lost too many wagers to his sister-in-law. “Ammarie, we need to follow that, that,” what could he call it? The thing that had jumped away from the battlespace was not a star carrier, and the Ruhar training ship was not capable of jumping a useful distance. “Follow what is left of the Deal Me In.”
“What? Why?” Ammarie was wary of another scheme from Vinny. “We have proof that we found the missing ship.”
“We found part of the missing ship. Those sleazy bureaucrats at Central Wagering will use any excuse to cut our winnings, you know that. Darling, we can follow easily, there is less danger going into Kristang space than there is for us being here. When we locate the ship, and the one crewman who survived,” Vinny knew there would be a bonus if they could bring back Arlon Dahl, “the fleet will surely forgive all past transgressions we’ve committed.”
“Allegedly committed.”
“Plus,” Vinny was getting wound up with enthusiasm. “That training ship is full of cadets. The Ruhar will reward us well for bringing back their precious children.”
“You hope.”
“I believe.”
“This is a sure thing?” Ammarie put her hands on her hips and Vinny knew what that meant. “Like all your sure things before?”
“This is different.”
“Different how?”
“This time, you agree with me.” Vinny flashed a winning smile.
Ammarie sighed. “Maybe you’re right. This one time, mind you. Besides, there’s one thing you forgot.”
“What is that?”
“A Ruhar ship controlled one of our jump drives. The Ruhar fleet will pay dearly for the knowledge of how that happened.”
Thelmer and Cleeturss agreed wholeheartedly, even enthusiastically to the idea of following the Deal Me In. All four aboard were greedily imagining their cuts of the wager and rewards money, and all four were burning with curiosity to learn whether the aft end of the Deal Me In had successfully jumped, or had exploded into a million pieces. For another species, agreement and curiosity would have been enough to settle the issue. For the Jeraptha, those factors merely served as an opening for renegotiating their financial arrangements, and to set side wagers on whether the broken star carrier had in fact survived a jump. And had jumped more than once. Had flown through a wormhole. Had arrived at a Kristang-controlled star system. There were other wagers on how many, if any, of the cadets and other crew would still be alive when the Sure Thing arrived. Vinny allowed the dickering back and forth to continue, both because he couldn’t resist getting in on the action, and because work to inspect and repair the ship’s jump drive continued during the negotiations.
Only after all wagers were properly registered and the jump drive was fully checked out, did the Sure Thing jump to follow the planned course of the Deal Me In.
CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
“Colonel! Colonel Perkins!” Arlon Dahl stuck his head out the door of the dropship, waving his arms and antennas excitedly. “A Jeraptha ship is overhead! It jumped into orbit a few minutes ago!”
Emily Perkins felt her heart soar with hope and immediately crash with despair. She felt a pang of fear like a fist squeezing her chest. “Just one warship?”
“It is not a warship,” Dahl’s antenna twitched in a gesture Perkins had learned to associate with nervousness.
“Not a warship? What is-”
“Colonel,” Dahl urged her forward, waving his hands. “It would be best if you spoke with Captain Gumbano himself. It is,” his mouthparts worked erratically. “Complicated.”
The situation was indeed complicated, what mattered most was that the Sure Thing was a Jeraptha starship capable of traveling vast distances on its own, and that the ship’s crew had come to Camp Alpha for the dual purposes of determining the fate of the Deal Me In, and of rescuing the survivors of the battle with the Bosphuraq. Perhaps ‘rescue’ was not the most accurate description of the Sure Thing crew’s intentions, which became clear the moment Perkins mentioned the bioweapon. If that ship’s captain was excited to find cadet survivors who would prompt a grateful Ruhar government to pay handsomely, the captain was deliriously happy to learn he would be carrying information that could save an entire Ruhar planet, for that data would be worth a true fortune.
Emily Perkins was very happy also, except for the annoying little detail of the Sure Thing’s crew flatly refusing to let any potentially infected humans aboard their ship. The prospect of a Jeraptha ship whisking her team away from Camp Alpha had caused her heart to soar. The recognition that the Sure Thing had actually arrived too soon had been the source of her despair.
Not enough time had passed since her team had been exposed to the control group Keepers, who might be infected. Her original plan had been for her team to remain sealed up in skinsuits during the raid, and to thoroughly decontaminate the dropship, suits and everything else that had been exposed. Having to take the Keepers with them, just because the research base was about to self-destruct in a massive fireball, had ruined all her plans. Her team had been potentially exposed, as soon as the dropship landed and they removed their skinsuit helmets.
If the Jeraptha ship had arrived more than three months after the
raid, her team would know they were infected or not, by either becoming sick as the bioweapon completed its incubation period, or not becoming sick because they had not been exposed. The Keepers weren’t sick, but for all Perkins knew, they could have been infected the day before the raid. She simply didn’t know, and she understood why the Sure Thing’s crew did not want to risk taking her team aboard. Before talking with the captain of the Jeraptha ship, she took a breath to calm herself, and patched Bifft Cohlsoon into the conversation, so the cadets could be aware of the situation.
“Colonel Perkins,” Vinny announced in an emotionless voice, “we will report your presence on this planet when we return to space controlled by our people. Perhaps, after the incubation period has passed, another vessel will be sent to retrieve your team.”
Yes, Perkins thought sourly, perhaps. If her team had not died from the bioweapon. If the Kristang had not returned and vaporized the small group of humans with an orbital strike. If the Ruhar government wanted to expend the effort and take the risk of sending a rescue ship into enemy territory. And if, only if, the bioweapon had not already ravaged the population of Paradise. No way would the Ruhar have any interest in rescuing humans, if humans acting as unwitting carriers had caused the deaths of a significant number of Ruhar on Paradise and beyond. “Captain Gumbano, we do understand your concerns. The Ruhar cadets have remained on the other side of the planet, they cannot be contaminated, so there is no risk to you or the general Ruhar population. Also Arlon Ernt Dahl is one of your own people, and Surgun Jates as a,” she stumbled, then settled on an accurate description. “As a Verd-Kris Kristang, they are both unaffected by the bioweapon and cannot be carriers of the pathogen. Captain Gumbano, please take them aboard and away from here as quickly as possible. Arlon Dahl and Surgun Jates can walk a safe distance from our camp here, where your dropship can pick them up without risk of contamination.”
“That is acceptable,” Vinny responded, relief evident even in his translated alien voice. He had not been looking forward to an extended argument with the human Emily Perkins, and so was very pleased she was being reasonable. Also, he expected that bringing back Ernt Dahl as the sole survivor of the Deal Me In would earn some measure of gratitude from the Jeraptha fleet, and perhaps they might overlook any past transgressions the Sure Thing might have involved in. Allegedly.
There was, to Vinny’s own surprise, a part of him that regretted leaving this Emily Perkins to die on the surface of the planet, for they both knew that would be her fate after the Deal Me In jumped away. Perkins and her team had accomplished incredible things against great odds by taking great risks, and Vinny felt she was a gambler at heart, just like his people.
Perkins knew her certain fate also, and chose not to dwell on it. “Cadet Colhsoon, load your people into dropships and dust off immediately, leave whatever gear you have outside the dropships. There could be a Kristang ship jumping in at any moment, do not take the risk-”
Bifft’s voice broke into the comm system. “Colonel Perkins, your team will not be coming with us?”
“No. We may have been exposed to the bioweapon and there is no way to test us for infection,” she explained. “If we came aboard the ship, we would risk contaminating you and your team-”
“We will not allow anyone who might be infected aboard our ship,” Vinny interjected. “Cadet Colhsoon, your lives have substantial value to your government and therefore to us. But you will not be valuable to your people if you are carrying a deadly bioweapon. We will bring you back to your territory, where you can, um-” What? What could he say that didn’t sound like an obvious lie? “You can persuade your government to send a ship back here for Colonel Perkins and the other humans, after enough time has passed to prove they are not infected,” Vinny cringed as he spoke because everyone knew how lame his argument was.
“No,” Bifft tried to keep his voice even but the strain was clear. “Captain Gumbano, you can take the Colonel’s team aboard in dropships. Your docking bay can remain exposed to vacuum, and her team can remain inside dropships. The only connection to your ship will be power supply cables,” Bifft knew the Jeraptha would not allow a dropship to remain on internal power for an extended time, there was too much risk of an accident if the airspace craft’s engines were running.
There was a pause as the Jeraptha considered the proposal, then, “Not acceptable. When we arrive in your territory, your people will demand that our ship be subject to a quarantine that would delay us for months, and cost substantial loss of revenue. The humans are not why we tracked you across the stars at immense cost and risk to ourselves. There will be a reward for delivering Ruhar cadets safely home, I do not see your fleet caring whether a small group of humans-”
“There is no risk in you taking aboard dropships that remain in vacuum,” Bifft insisted, anger creeping into his voice.
Perkins seized on the cadet’s idea, it offered the only realistic hope to save her team’s lives. “Cadet Leader Colhsoon is correct, there is no risk to you if our dropship is in an open docking bay. I am sure there will be additional reward for-”
“No such reward was included in the search and rescue terms offered by our fleet,” Vinny insisted. “Risk is never zero. You are being foolish, Colonel Perkins. Every risky transaction must be balanced by reward.”
“The risk is, you get nothing for your effort,” Bifft declared. “Take Colonel Perkins and her team aboard your ship, or my team will not come with you.”
“What?” Vinny shrieked with outrage.
Perkins looked at her team in complete surprise. She had assumed Bifft would take any opportunity to leave her behind, so he could spin the story of his attempted mutiny however he wanted. “Cadet Colhsoon, while I appreciate your offer of solidarity, you must dust off immediately. You cannot risk the lives of-”
“Colonel, you already said I am young, inexperienced and impulsive, so I am free to do impulsive things without further damaging my tarnished reputation,” his smugness was reflected in his tone of voice even through the translator. “I have a ship full of people here who are determined not to leave you behind. Captain Gumbano, good luck trying to drag us off this rock to collect your reward, because we are not coming aboard your ship until Colonel Perkins’ people are secured in a docking bay. You talked about risk, what is the risk if you leave us here deliberately?”
Perkins held her thumb above the transmit button, hesitating before she replied. “Well, Goddamn,” she looked at her incredulous team. “That mutinous little shit has grown up quick.”
“Yeah, perfect timing too,” Shauna agreed. “You think he’s bluffing?”
“I sure hope not,” Perkins replied with a rueful shake of her head. “The kid’s right, those beetles are just being assholes.” She pressed the transmit button. “Colhsoon, you are playing with your people’s lives.”
“I am not ‘playing’ because as you would say, this is not a game. If you could see the faces of my team here, you would know we are all equally determined. The Jeraptha have the data your team recovered from the research base, that is all we can do to help the people of Paradise, both our peoples there. Colonel,” his voice cracked with emotion, “I thought you were unworthy to command a Ruhar ship. I was wrong. You saved all our lives by doing something, several things, I thought were impossible. If we had not come to this world, the people of Paradise would not be aware of a terrible threat.”
Perkins almost sighed and rolled her eyes at hearing the young cadet’s melodramatic words, but she let him continue. “Colhsoon, listen, do not think you owe us anything. We are soldiers, this is our duty. You-”
“We do owe you! That is not why we will not leave without you.”
“Ok, what is the reason?”
“We are a team. And a team does not leave people behind. You taught me that.”
Emily Perkins could not argue with that. “Captain Gumbano, did you hear that, you greedy little shit,” she used the insult deliberately. “You want to collect a rewar
d for rescuing those cadets? Then you need to take my team aboard in one of your dropships. Consider that my cut of the pot.”
Vinny’s voice was enraged. “You are not entitled to a cut of anything, you-” The sound cut off, and Perkins waited breathlessly, watching the clock in the corner of the display. Thirty nine agonizing seconds of silence went by before the voice from orbit returned.
It was a different voice. “Colonel Perkins, this is Ammarie, you had been speaking with my business partner. Very well, we agree, however we do not have a dropship large enough for your entire team.”
Perkins took a moment to think. “Not a problem, but our dropship here is busted, it can’t fly. Cadet Colhsoon, I need you to remotely pilot two Dodos to our location, and we will fly them up to the Jeraptha ship. Captain Ammarie, your dropship can assist bringing the cadets up to your ship?”
There was a pause and when Ammarie resumed speaking, there was a muted argument going on in the background. “We can do-” The sound cut off then Ammarie abruptly announced. “Hold a minute, we need to discuss this up here.”
Ernt Dahl had enough, the mercenary attitude of his fellow Jeraptha in orbit had embarrassed him, so he stepped forward. “Colonel Perkins, as your people would say, screw this.” He activated his microphone. “This is Arlon Ernt Dahl of the star carrier Deal Me In, on detached service from the Thirty-Fifth Fleet, Gold Squadron of the Jeraptha Home Fleet. As a Fleet officer, I am officially commandeering your merchant ship for a Fleet emergency. Is. That. Clear?”
The pause was long enough that Ernt opened his mouth to speak again, but Ammarie spoke before he could. As she spoke, there was grumbling voices in the background, but at least no one up there was shouting. “Arlon Dahl, we would of course be, happy,” the last word was pronounced as if she had just tasted something disgusting, “to comply with Fleet requirements. Our ship is available to assist in this emergency situation.”
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