by Lee Watts
Salazar sighed but relented. He figured he would return another day and speak with his grandfather about what this alien device was; but time was not on his side, more specifically not on the Duke's. Within the month, the duke was dead.
In the will was a hefty donation to the Academics for the Quality of Life Union. Also, the offering to the Holy Sect of the Elder was more generous than Mara anticipated; evidently, absolution was costly. Yilib, with the grand piety of a high-ranking mediator in the Sect of the Elder, smiled graciously as the amount was read. Despite the contribution, there was still a sizeable fortune remaining for Mara. The lawyer continued reading.
"To my daughter, Mara Yorin, I bequeath the remainder of my estate, holdings, and title."
Mara, the newly-titled Duchess, hands neatly folded on her lap, allowed the smallest of smiles to cross her face while keeping her gaze coolly on the lawyer.
Salazar quietly huffed to himself thinking, Why are you so happy? A lot of good money did him.
The attorney steadied himself before proceeding. "But to Lord Edric Canton-"
With sudden trepidation, Mara's face froze, and eyes darted to the man seated on her left - her father's political protégée.
"-one I've always been able to count on, do I leave my seat on the High Council. I entrust you to champion the role and interests of Enty in the Realm."
Leaving his position as the senior representative from Enty to someone else was the duke's final slap to his daughter. She curtailed her emotions and dispassionately regarded the lawyer. With the reading complete, everyone rose. While Mara and Lord Canton spoke, the lawyer looked at Salazar, subtly gesturing for the boy to follow him out of the room. When the door closed, the lawyer reached into his case and withdrew a data card.
"Salazar, there is one final provision in the will. Your grandfather instructed me to give you this, but it comes with strict orders to never let your mother know."
He handed the slender data card to the boy.
"What is it?"
"I don't know. He keyed it to only open with your retina scan."
Puzzled, the youth looked at the card. On it was a simple, yet enigmatic label, A chance and hope.
CHAPTER 3
"…all things work together for good to them that love God…" - Romans 8:28
Engines screamed, and inertial dampers strained to the breaking point as the transport ship Morningstar was ripped from lightspeed. Thrown from her bunk by the abrupt deceleration, Aulani flew across the room, landing with a thud.
"PAPA," the frightened six-year-old cried.
"I'm here," Sev answered while scrambling to her.
"What was that? What's happening?" asked his wife Tara with controlled fright.
"I don't know," he answered with equal worry as he placed a comforting arm around their child.
The seven hundred other passengers were all wondering the same thing. On the bridge, a similar conversation was taking place.
"REPORT," demanded Captain Telza Larson as she rose from the floor.
The ship's navigator, also thrown from his station, took a moment to get to his computer and find the answer.
"Ma'am, sensors show we entered a high-density gravity field."
Telza was puzzled.
"Why didn't the navigation computer plot around it? We're lucky we didn't have a critical impact. Run a full diagnostic."
Before the navigator could begin the check, the speaker of the communication station began to squeal and crackle. A sinking feeling formed in the pit of Captain Larson's stomach. Quickly, she punched up an analysis on the interference. It confirmed her instinct - pirates. Colony ships loaded with supplies and defenseless civilians were ripe targets for corsairs and slavers.
Realizing mere seconds could make all the difference in how they came out of this, Telza flipped a switch on her console. She punched in a few quick bits of information launching the emergency drone.
"Never mind the diagnostic. This is an artificially created gravity field."
"How do you know th-"
The sentence was interrupted by another crewmember.
"Captain, a ship is closing fast from astern!"
Frightened civilians looked out the vessel's many windows to see what halted them in their flight to freedom. Most feared their clandestine plans were discovered, and it was ships from the government of the Entauri Cluster coming to bring them all back to face prison, family separation, or worse. As Sev peered out the window at the approaching alien craft, Aulani clutched her mother's waist.
"Is it the T'lec?" Tara asked in dread.
Sev looked back at his pregnant wife and their daughter assuring them it was not a T'lec ship design.
"No, but whoever it is, we're still in trouble."
"What are we going to do?"
"Pray," Sev answered.
Kneeling, the family pressed against him as he began to speak. "Elder, we ask you to hear us in our time of trouble. We don't know what's going on. We're scared and confused, but trust in your infinite wisdom and plans for us. I ask you to protect my family and the others. May you lead us to a place of refuge where we can worship you without persecution. Give us strength and courage in this crisis, and protect us from the hand of the wicked. In Elkanah's name, we pray, amen."
The Suchet family stayed a few moments more, bowed in silent communion before Aulani finally spoke.
"Momma, you said the Elder wanted us to leave Entauri so why is He making these bad things happen to us?"
Placing her arms around her little girl, Tara pulled her close.
"Sweetheart, the Elder never makes bad things happen, but sometimes He allows them to happen. People can choose; if we couldn't make our own choices, we'd all be bots. But don't worry; I'm sure we're doing what we are supposed to, so have faith. It will turn out alright in the end."
Aulani nestled into her mother's arms being reassured by the words. They helped to encourage Tara as well.
On the bridge, Captain Larson was seeking a way out of the mess.
"What do we have to work with? What's around here?"
A crewman ran a quick scan of the area.
"There's an energy distortion nearby, but without lightdrive, they'll overtake us before we could make it. Plus, there's no telling what effects the distortion may cause. It could vaporize us, or we might not be able to get back out, or-"
Telza cut short his nervous tirade of doom.
"Lay in a course and engage at best speed," she ordered. "We'll worry about the consequences later."
With shaking hands, he input the course. Captain Larson didn't blame her crew for being scared. Most had less than five years of star time. Transport runs to outlying colonies were usually dull work, but decent money. When she retired from military service, Telza thought commanding a colony ship for a transport company was a safe, easy way to stay in space a few extra years. She was currently reevaluating her choice of a second career. Suddenly, the ship rocked, and the sound of the engines increased pitch as they strained against a new force.
"Captain, they've locked on a tractor beam. Long-range communications are still jammed, but they're hailing us on a short-range channel."
Telza took a brief moment to formulate a plan. With few options, she decided to improvise, which was a fancy way of telling herself she had no idea of what to do but hoped an opportunity would present itself.
"Stay on course for that distortion," she instructed in the most confident voice she could muster. "I want to get as close as we can. If things go bad, we won't have much time to get away."
Trying to appear calm, she corrected her posture, straightened her clothes, and brushed a loose strand of sandy hair from her eyes.
"Everyone put on your best face," she said trying to encourage them. "We'll get through this."
Though she didn't share it with her crew, her instinct told her this would end badly for them. Her biggest fear was that the pirates might sell her crew and passengers to the T'lec. There was high prof
it in delivering young, healthy people to that mutilating race. A steady supply of bodies for experimentation and harvesting was required to further their research.
Not a religious woman, Captain Larson saw no profit in prayer, so merely hoped for the best.
"Open the frequency," she ordered. The image of a handsome man with auburn hair and square jaw appeared on her screen.
"Greetings. I am Sosimo Degare Fauntleroy LaRouche the Fourth, captain of the Fortune," he began with a beaming, roguish smile.
Telza wasn't sure which was worse, the man's name or the fact that three other people had also been cursed with it.
"You are outmatched," Sosimo continued, "I'm sure an intelligent, lovely, and reasonable woman such as yourself will acquiesce without further need of force."
His manners surprised her, but all she cared about was the safety of her people, not small talk with a marauder feigning politeness. Though it loathed her to placate this pirate, she thought it best to go along with his façade of civility instead of calling him every insulting name she ever learned in the service.
"I am Captain Telza Larson of the Morningstar. No, force will not be necessary," she paused before adding, "or tolerated. But I'm sure a gentleman such as yourself wouldn't think of such a thing."
"No, of course not. Now, Captain, power down your engines and prepare to be boarded so I may collect my tribute and prize."
Larson's mind raced with unpleasant possibilities of what he meant.
"Exactly what does that include, Captain…" she struggled to remember the man's inordinately long name.
"Please," he insisted, "call me LaRouche. There's no need for concern, dear lady. There's no profit in death, and I don't peddle flesh to the T'lec. I've come for things, not lives. I hear you have things. I want things, you have things; so, it's fortuitous we met isn't it?"
Larson considered if the man might possibly be insane, but didn't really have any option but to comply.
"I'll hold you to your word of no violence, Captain LaRouche." She nodded; he returned the gesture then the frequency closed. Telza let out a breath when her screen reverted to displaying the black of space. The energy distortion, barely visible without magnification, was too far to make a run for it, so she ordered the Morningstar to full stop. The Fortune came alongside and extended a passage tube to link up with its prey.
Telza used the ship's intercom telling everyone if they didn't struggle, she believed the pirates wouldn't harm them. She then made her way to where the passage tube was attaching.
Hidden among the frightened passengers were Doctor Quace and his assistant, Christina, a graduate student from the university where he taught.
"Hurry child, get in, and lock the door," urged the white-haired doctor.
"Doctor Quace, it's no good locking the door; they'll just break it down when they get here."
"I don't need to stop them, child, only slow them down until I can hide it."
"Hide what?"
"This," answered the professor of archeology as he held up a hand-sized, crystalline disc.
"What is that?"
"This," he said while placing the bauble on the bed and picking up a spanner, "is the key to everything."
"You didn't take that from the dig site on Oleann did you?"
"Only for research," the doctor assured her. "I'll return it when I'm done. I'm certain it's the key I've been looking for." While unfastening a panel on the wall, he continued excitedly. "It's the missing link to it all: the map, The Vault, everything."
"You think you're that close?" she questioned. "But, why didn't you tell me?"
"I was going to once we were at the colony and away from prying eyes, but between you and me, I don't trust Rone."
"But he's the one funding your research."
"His family is funding the research. He doesn't have a credit to his name, and with a gambling debt to the Hammer, he might do anything."
"The Hammer? Who's that?"
"Child, don't you watch the news? The Hammer is the most ruthless crime lord in the galaxy. I know Rone's cash flow is in danger. When his father came by the university last month, I overheard an argument, and he threatened to cut Rone off. With a debt to the Hammer, I wouldn't be surprised if he has sold us out."
Removing the wall panel, Quace made quick steps to the bed, picked up the prism and gently inserted it into the wall.
"That should hold it in place nicely," he announced with satisfaction then reached for the panel and began reattaching it.
"Doctor, you forgot this," she said holding up a metallic ring. "Shouldn't you hide it too?"
"No need. Rone knows I have that. If he can't find it, he'll do something… unpleasant until I say where it is. I've taken an additional precaution that might keep him from getting that, but the most important thing is he doesn't know about the prism."
With a hiss, the door opened on the Fortune's end of the boarding tube. Though pressurized with air, the tube had no gravity. Forced to pull themselves along with ropes attached to the sides, the weightless pirates lumbered through the tube.
Concealing her only means of defense, Telza hid the pistol under her loose-fitting top in the small of her back. With a small gust of air, the pressure door slid aside. Larson curled her lip in anticipated disgust of the gruff, crude men about to board her ship. To her surprise, the first person out of the tube was a militaristic-dressed woman.
She's all but a girl, Telza thought. She guessed her seventeen or eighteen at most. Trim but well-toned, with black hair fastened neatly back, the girl, Shen Mei, wore fingerless gloves, dark pants, and a magenta-hued, a short, waist-length jacket. Though young, her demeanor gave the impression of a disciplined professional, not at all what Telza expected. The pirate turned her sparkling green, slanted eyes to meet Larson's defiant ones, but remained silent. Recognizing the girl's pale race as that of one of the Realm worlds, Telza was surprised at the girl's eye color. Up until that moment, Captain Larson thought they had uniformly dark eyes.
Next out of the tube were six slovenly thugs more befitting of Telza's expectations. Last to appear was the stubble-faced LaRouche. Larson noticed he had a slight limp and a robotic left hand. His jacket's long sleeves covered his arm concealing where the machine ended, and the man began.
Mustering what sense of equality she could, Telza stood rigidly.
"I will hold you to your promise of no violence, Captain."
"Dear lady, you will find me a thief, a brute and a cad, but a man of my word." He turned to his crew. "You heard the agreement, no rough stuff, and that includes you, Crimson."
The greasy, muscular man huffed and rolled his eyes.
"Let's get to work," Sosimo instructed. "Crimson, take two men and go through the cabins. Byron, you and the twins take the cargo hold. Mei and everyone else with me."
As the pirates broke off to their assigned groups, Sosimo extended his robotic arm. "Now, my good captain, I understand you have a Doctor Quace aboard. I'd very much like to meet him."
***
Aulani Suchet stood between her parents, clutching her mother's waist as the door slid open and the intimidating men entered. Tara placed one protecting arm around her frightened daughter and the other hand on her belly with her soon-due second child.
"The money is on the desk," Sev told the intruders.
One of the men went over and put the money in a satchel.
Crimson paused.
"Too easy," he hissed, his slicked-back, oily hair matching his voice. "They're holding out."
"It's all we have," Sev assured.
Unconvinced, Crimson let out a small huff motioning for his companions to ransack the room. The search turned up empty.
"There isn't anything here we'd want," one of the pirate's announced.
"There's something I want," Crimson added while leering at Tara. "You just have to know where to look."
***
Because of Sosimo's limp, it took several minutes to make it to the doctor's ca
bin and a few extra to get the door open.
"Ah, Doctor Quace," Sosimo began as if greeting an old friend. "Your reputation precedes you, a revered man of discovery. In fact, it's your latest discovery I'm particularly interested in. I too am a man of science."
"Science, pha! All you pirates care about is lining your pockets. You're going to ruin one of the greatest archeological discoveries of all time. How did you know I was here?"
"Never mind that. Simply hand it over, and I'll be on my way."
Quace remained silent, defiant, and unmoving. Telza knew there was no way she could really stop the pirates from doing whatever they wanted. Subtly reaching for her weapon, she moved a hand to her back. To her shock, the pistol was missing.
"Looking for this?" Shen Mei asked.
Wide-eyed, Captain Larson stared at her weapon firmly in the girl's hand.
"How did-"
"Oh, Mei's quite the accomplished pickpocket," Sosimo interrupted. "Have to watch my own stuff around her, and honestly, Captain, I expected more from you." Returning his attention to Quace, he continued, "Now, I believe you were considering your options."
"There's a safe in each cabin," Telza admitted in trying to ease things. "Let's check there." She punched in the override code, and the wall-safe opened. Mei stepped to reach inside it.
"Hold it, Mei," Sosimo chided. "You don't reach in a hole because someone tells you to; that's how I lost my hand."
"What do you suggest?" asked the first mate's daughter.
"Watch and learn," he replied. He called for the pirate standing guard in the hall. "Hey Giovanni, go reach in that wall-safe over there."
The pirate shrugged and without a thought reached in the safe pulling out a small container. Sosimo flipped open the top revealing a metallic ring.
"What's that?" Telza asked.
"A fake," came a voice from the hall. Telza turned to see the newcomer.
