by Dan Worth
‘You’re a spy!?’ he said to Anita, incredulously. ‘Why the fuck didn’t you say something?’
‘Wouldn’t be much of a spy if I had, would I? Besides, I had to be sure of who I was dealing with, sorry,’ she replied. ‘I’m ah, pretty sure I got the right guy though. I was your escort. You wouldn’t have got here if it hadn’t been for me.’
‘What? Hey I can handle myself! Was Shigs in on this?’
‘No, he wasn’t, but we did use him I’m afraid,’ said Anna. ‘And by the way, you were followed as far as the Labyrinth by one of Bennett’s men. We dealt with him.’
‘Dealt with him? He’s dead?’
‘Yes. Laurence Spinetti was a dangerous man, but his employers were more dangerous still.’
‘Yeah, he was one of Bennett’s men, an employee of the Sirius Syndicate.’
‘And the Syndicate has made some very dangerous allies indeed.’
‘The Syndicate claimed that I owed them a tonne of money.’
‘Cal. I swear I never borrowed money from those people. We might be a little desperate, but not that desperate.’
‘So what the fuck was going on?’
‘My guess would be that they were giving you an incentive to track me down for them. They did have you followed after all, Laurence was but one person on your trail, and I don’t doubt that there were others that we don’t know about. We needed to use people we knew to make sure that you shook them off.’
‘So if you were using people you know to contact me, why all the secrecy? Why all the fucking ‘security’ checks when I got here?’
‘Because Cal, we had to be sure you were who you say you were, that you were still yourself and not someone else. Anita’s known for doing a thorough job.’
‘Well you could say that.’ Isaacs quipped then replayed the last sentence in his head and realised that he didn’t quite follow what his wife was talking about
‘We also used a few of our people inside Barstow to ensure that you got off the station. Apparently, the Navy put out an order to prevent you from leaving.’
‘Okay… will someone please start talking sense to me right now please? Velasquez, who do you think I am?’
‘Why the fuck should I care?’ said the woman and shrugged.
‘Great, okay. So, if I look like me and sound like me and I’m flying my ship, who the fucking hell were you expecting!?’
‘Cal, you have to listen…’
‘Oh I do? You take off and leave me in the shit for years. I don’t hear a damn thing from you. Then when things are just, y’know, looking a bit better all round, I get threatened by a bunch of gangsters who force me to travel half way across the Commonwealth to track you down. I’ve had it with this fucking shit, you and your goddamn cryptic messages, stringing me along like this. What the fuck are you doing here with a bunch of fucking pirates!?’
‘For Christ’s sake, I had to make the message a little cryptic in case anyone else saw it.’
‘Yeah, something about curing my nightmares. Believe me, you’re one of them at the moment.’
‘Will you let me explain? Cal, you told me what happened to you when you were in the military, when you were in training and went missing. Damn it, I was the one that you woke up every night with your screaming. I think I know one or two things about your nightmares.’
‘Yeah, so?’
‘I also know that you aren’t the only one.’
Anna took Isaacs back to her quarters deep within Port Royal where they could talk in private. The small compartment with its sloping, greenish walls had been rendered more homely with the addition of some mismatched furniture and personal belongings. Anna had a skill for that, making places feel a little more like home. Isaacs realised he had missed that aboard ship, alone. She fussed around for a few minutes, tidying away the remains of a meal before sitting next to him on the worn sofa in front of the room’s only screen.
‘So,’ said Isaacs wearily. ‘From the top. What the hell is going on? What are you doing with these people?’
She ran a hand through her thick black hair and stared at the floor. ‘From the top. Okay. You remember when we split up: I ran away?’
‘Yeah I remember. You could have left a note at least,’ he said with a hint of bitterness.
‘I know. It was my fault, my… weakness. I just… I just couldn’t cope with watching you try to destroy yourself. I’m sorry, it didn’t exactly help things did it?’ She looked at him apologetically. ‘You were taking bigger and bigger risks and you were drinking too much and picking fights wherever we went. I was frightened that you’d end up dead somehow and I didn’t want to be around when that happened. So I took the easy, selfish option and I quit. I’m sorry, but it was just too hard for me.’
‘I remember the arguments.’
‘Yes… me too. I suspect you don’t remember half of the drunken ones? Anyway you seem to have straightened yourself up a little.’
‘Yeah, a little.’
‘How’ve you been, since I left?’
‘Ah well, not good at first, not good at all. But I was getting better jobs, so I thought maybe things would work out. Bought myself a new ship.’
‘Yes I saw. She’s a really nice one. One of the new Stallion class isn’t it?’
‘It is. I wanted something faster and with bigger capacity than that old thing that we had. I guess I kind of needed to cheer myself up with a new toy too. Anyway, I was still taking those risky jobs so I needed something that could handle it. The last one was a real life or death situation, let me tell you. I got well paid though, really well and then I ran into a bunch of gangsters. So how did you end up here?’
‘I ended up running into Shigs at the Labyrinth after a run. I saw a friendly face so I stuck around for a while. Anyway, the Sirius Syndicate came after me once I started making some serious money, trying to shake me down for tribute so I joined one of the local freelancer co-operatives for protection. I guess that’s how they heard about me and were able to get to you. Maybe they were trying to back claim on their demands?’
‘Uh-huh, maybe. So how come you ended up with a load of pirates, sorry, privateers?’
‘The freelancers weren’t much protection as it turned out. But during my time at the Labyrinth I’d picked up a few contacts with a local pirate outfit operating out of a couple of systems outside of Commonwealth space. I figured their secrecy and muscle would buy me some protection. That’s how I met Maria, by the way. She and I had a nice little operation going for a while between the Labyrinth and this part of space.’
‘Yeah I heard about your little fleet.’
‘The Sirius Syndicate backed off for while, and things were looking up, I was making some real money, but then I started hearing stories.’
‘Stories?’
‘Yeah. Ships going missing in outlying systems. Whole convoys simply vanishing into interstellar space.’
‘Well, it happens you know.’
‘No this was different. There was no wreckage, nothing, they simply disappeared. Then I met one of the survivors of an attack right here in Hadar. His convoy got jumped just south of the system outside the heliopause, knocked right out of hyperspace…’ She grabbed his upper arm and looked at him fiercely. ‘Cal, I swear he described the same thing that you witnessed. His ship was at the edge of the convoy and he managed to re-activate its jump drive and escape, but before he did he saw the other ships being drawn in by an alien vessel. He said it was big, about the size of one of our carriers and made of crystal. He said the whole thing looked like it was carved from ice. None of the crew from the other ships were ever seen again.’
‘Shit, if it’s the same ship… Those poor bastards. I saw what happened to my squad-mates Anna, I…’
‘I know you did,’ she said firmly. ‘But wait, there’s more. The Hidden Hand aren’t what you think. We aren’t pirates: we’re resistance fighters. We’re trying to protect the Commonwealth from itself, and from the ones who built those ships.’
‘Yeah? You could have fooled me. I saw what your ‘resistance fighters’ did to the last convoy the Navy sent to Barstow. It was a massacre.’
‘It was necessary,’ she said firmly. ‘There’s more at stake here than a few dozen lives. Much more. Listen, I stuck around here for a while after I met that guy, asked a few questions. I wanted to know if anyone else had seen those ships. It led me to the Hidden Hand. Everyone here save for Maria and myself has seen what’s lurking out there in the darkness. They’ve all seen those ships! Some even… some were even rescued from within them by the Nahabe, like you were by the Arkari. They found us, or we found them. All of them have vowed to fight. They told me everything and we signed up. Hell it was lucrative. We were being paid well for each trip we made, far more than we’d make normally for the same goods. These people need supplies, not just weapons and ship parts, but everyday things, like food and water. We had the contacts, so it was easy for us to get what they wanted for them.’
‘Well who’s paying your wages?’
‘The Nahabe. We work for them. We’re their secret army, if you like. They set up this organisation so that they could operate covertly in Commonwealth space. They started to recruit freelance pilots and mercenaries, and anyone who knew anything about what has been going on around here that they could get hold of. They gave us this place and some of them even work with us. One of them leads us. We act as their eyes and ears and carry out raids where necessary’
‘Shit, you’re kidding me. Aren’t you afraid of the risks? Aren’t the Nahabe afraid of what would happen if the Commonwealth were to find out what they’re doing in our space?’
‘No. The Nahabe know the threat that we face and in their view the risks are acceptable in comparison. The creatures who built the ships like the one you were captured by are known as Shapers. They’re old, very old, and they seek to undermine and enslave all of our species. We think that the capturing of vessels is part of some reconnaissance exercise, to study our technology and biology so that they can use our weaknesses to their advantage. We also think that they’re implanting people with their agents somehow. How exactly we don’t know.’
‘I’m sorry; this is a lot to take. You’re saying there’s some sort of secret war going on?’
‘The Shapers operate with great care and secrecy. The Nahabe claim that key figures within our society have been, or will be, implanted with Shaper creatures. Those things grow inside the victim’s head and devour the brain, leaving the creature in control, having absorbed the individual’s knowledge and personality. They are then free to wreak havoc. It’s why we scanned you when you came here, in case you were one of them.’
Something dawned on Isaacs. He remembered his last contract.
‘Shit… wait a second. Anna, that last job I did. I got a K’Soth noble family out of Imperial space. Like I said, it was one hell of a trip, but they had a casket with them containing the body of their former patriarch. I thought that this was odd, since they generally cremate their dead, so I looked closer. The body had a stasis field around the skull. The surviving heir warned me off and told me not to get involved and said that there were things that I was better off not knowing. Then when I delivered them to a Navy vessel I was scanned in the same way as when I came here. The Admiral on board the carrier wasn’t regular Navy; she was Special Ops or something. She also told me to keep my nose out. I didn’t tell anyone, but she said she’d be in touch, I wonder if that’s anything to do with why they want to detain me?’
‘Who knows, we couldn’t dig up anything. The order from the Navy to detain didn’t detail why you were to be held, but do you see?’ said Anna. ‘It’s already begun. The Nahabe told us that they suspected that the K’Soth had been pushed to self destruction by the Shapers. They said the Shapers caused the recent war between the Commonwealth and the Empire as well as the civil war now raging within the Empire. It seems that they were right, if what you say is true.’
‘Shit, and if those things infect humans?’
‘The same. We think that someone in the Sirius Syndicate is working for them, or has been infected by them. They’ve been trying to infiltrate us for months now to find out where this base is located, sniffing around the system, harassing the local traders. Maybe that’s why the Syndicate turned its attention to you and gave you the impetus to track me down for them. Somehow, they must have realised who I was working for, and who you were. What concerns me is how the Sirius Syndicate knew that you were on Orinoco. Someone higher up must have passed information to them. They must have hoped that you’d try to find me and had you tailed. Luckily we got to Spinetti before he could follow you here. The man you dealt with - was it Bennett?’
‘Yeah.’
‘Thought so. The Syndicate goons who were trying to shake me down worked for him. Anyway, Bennett’s dead too.’
‘You had him killed too? That’s no loss. That piece of shit had it coming.’
‘We didn’t kill him. From what we gather from our sources the Navy sent some Special Forces Admiral after him, maybe the same one you encountered, and Bennett was killed by persons unknown before they could bring him in. He must have known too much.’
‘Such as: who was giving order and pulling the strings for these Shapers you mentioned.’
‘Exactly.’
‘So why are you operating out here? Why don’t the Nahabe just go to our government?’
‘Because they don’t trust them, that’s why. It’s rare for the Nahabe to trust anyone but themselves, doubly so given the circumstances. They suspect that the Sirius Syndicate are being manipulated by a senior government official. A crime organisation like that would be a powerful covert tool in the right hands, yes?
‘True.’
‘Besides, your government is doing all it can to assist the Shapers on Rhyolite, whether it knows it or not. That’s why the Nahabe decided to move us here into this abandoned observation post.’
‘The Navy’s helping the Shapers? How?’
‘A couple of prospectors found a crashed alien ship on the moon. It was old, far older than planet and it… it did things to their minds. Somehow it seems to be alive. It filled their heads with strange visions and promises of limitless technological wealth. The power of that thing almost shattered their minds. Imagine someone bellowing into a psychic megaphone, filling your head with incalculable wonders, mind wrenching horrors and incomprehensible gibberish all at once. They were out there for days, writhing in their environment suits until the ship let them go. They were lucky to get away alive, even though neither of them have been quite the same since.’
‘Well I can sympathise with that,’ said Isaacs grimly.
Despite the fact that it almost sent them insane, they still reported the find. They should have known better. The government was all over the moon in days, banned all flights around the area and set up a base over the site which they’re now guarding with several thousand troops all over that hemisphere as well as a flotilla of ships in-system at the naval base in the Hadar AB Lagrange point. The two prospectors were paid off, but the money was no use to them. Their mental states deteriorated quickly. Apparently one was found raving in the street about what he had seen, whilst the other simply sat in his ship for days outside Barstow’s traffic control zone staring blankly towards the galactic core. Eventually the Nahabe found them and brought them here. Both of them now need constant care, and they’ve both attempted suicide at least once.
Since then we’ve heard other stories. The crew working on the site are being sent insane by the ship. It probes their thoughts and shows them things. Even though it appears to have worked out less destructive ways of communicating, it still fills their heads with strange images or dreams. Many have simply complained that they feel like they’re being watched by the ship, other have reported seeing things, phantoms, shadows, you name it. The Navy seems to take no notice or doesn’t care. If our sources are to be believed, they’re too fixated on their prize.’
&nbs
p; ‘How do you know it’s a Shaper ship?’
‘We didn’t, at first. The Nahabe had their suspicions, but it wasn’t until they dug it out of the ground that we could see for certain. Here.’ She passed him a paper print-out of a grainy image. It showed a gloomy scene; a man made pit with a domed roof overhead. The centre of the picture was dominated by a black spiny form that jutted from the depths of the pit at an acute angle. ‘It’s a Shaper ship alright,’ she said. ‘This was taken by one of our operatives at the dig. The ship’s inactive, hence the different coloration, but the Nahabe assure us that it’s one of theirs.’
She saw him shudder visibly. ‘Yeah that’s like the one I saw. But if it’s inactive, where’s the risk aside from the mental torture?’
‘We think that it’s only playing dead, so to speak. If that thing is messing with peoples’ minds it’s still active at some level. We know from our sources that the Navy is planning to lift the ship off the moon and take it to a secure location to try and activate it, hence our attacks on their supply lines. We’re trying to hinder their efforts all we can, but things are getting desperate. We may have to take more drastic action.’
‘But when I met Special Forces they were fighting these things, I think.’
‘True, but what if one hand doesn’t know what the other one’s doing? The Navy is such a huge organisation, and when you factor in personal agendas and the influence of the Shapers it only makes things worse. From what we gather, this whole dig is under the command of one Admiral Cox, who sees it as his ticket to fame, glory and a nice promotion. Besides, what if they don’t know that it’s a hostile ship? Would you pass up a prize like this?’
‘I guess not. I think I’m starting to see why the Nahabe don’t trust us. We’re too god-damn curious for our own good, and most of us would sell our souls for a pay rise.’ He shook his head. ‘Jesus, this is a lot to take in at once. I expected you to just be hanging around with a bunch of pirates and reprobates and… well it’s a bit of shock. Some of this just sounds like just a load of conspiracy theories. If I hadn’t actually seen the evidence with my own eyes I’d tell you that you were all crazy. But after what happened to me back then… Why did you want me involved?’
