Dark Space

by Stephen A. Fender

  Unconvinced, Shawn looked back to Hansen. “And the combined fleet?”

  “We’re going to remain here for the time being. However, we may need to move out at a moment’s notice.”

  Bill then spoke up. “I’ll provide you a secure channel directly to my stateroom. When you need me, use it. However, unless it’s an emergency, do not contact me until the mission is completed.”

  Shawn looked to Bill. “This’s not what I signed on for.”

  Graves nodded, then looked to his daughter. “I said the same thing myself when my little girl joined the OSI. Look how that turned out.”

  The two men who loved Melissa Graves looked at her in unison. She did her best to smile at them both.

  “Well, Angel, it looks like we’re heading to Torval after all.”

  She smiled. “Looks that way, hotshot.”

  “Then get down to the hangar, both of you,” Hansen said, then stretched out a hand toward Shawn. The commander scrutinized it for a moment before taking it in a firm shake. “Safe journeys, Commander.”

  At a loss, Shawn said the only thing that popped into his mind. “Thanks.”

  %%%

  “I’m just thankful I already packed,” Shawn said as he and Melissa entered the Duchess’s main hangar. Ahead of them was their transport, a hundred-foot-long bullet-shaped craft that had flattened sides. Below and aft of the raised-bubble cockpit were port and starboard engine pods, capable of rotating fully about their axes. The rear half of the vessel had a container attached to it, clamped into wedge cut specifically for standard Unified cargo units. The stern contained the two primary drive engines, placed one over the other. The whole of the vessel was painted a flat gray, with light gray stripes on the sides extending fore to aft. It was pretty enough, Shawn decided—if you liked military streamlining. It would never replace his beloved Sylvia’s Delight, but then again, that wasn’t its intent.

  “The launch has already been delayed a few minutes by our late arrival,” Melissa said as she increased her pace. “Let’s just hope Captain Ramos and the others haven’t become suspicious.”

  “You’re really serious about this whole not-trusting-anyone thing, aren’t you?”

  “Shawn, this is big … bigger than anything you and I ever thought it was. If this is part of the larger cover-up we discovered about Second Earth and the Project Windstorm weapon, we could be sitting on a powder keg ready to explode at any minute.”

  While her analogy seemed overly dramatic, something in it had a hint of sanity. A voice calling Shawn from across the bay caught their attention. It was Trent.

  “He doesn’t know anything about this, Shawn,” Melissa said in a hurried whisper. “Keep it that way.”

  “But what about the shuttle’s pilots?” Shawn asked as he nodded to the waiting transport. “What about them?”

  “There aren’t any pilots,” she shot back quickly.

  Shawn was about to reply when Trent rushed toward them.

  “Hey, man. I heard you’re leaving,” Trent said through deep breaths.

  “Yeah, pal. Sorry about the short notice.”

  “You know, I’m really sorry about everything,” Trent offered with more sincerity than Shawn had heard from the man in ages. “What the hell am I going to do around here without you?”

  Shawn patted him on the cheek. “I’m sure you’ll manage.” Then he headed toward the waiting transport.

  “I’ll manage, he says,” Trent replied, catching up and blocking his path. “I joined this rag because of you, and now you’re getting booted out. At least take me with you.”

  “No can-do, buddy. You don’t want to go where I’m headed.”

  “You’re going back to Minos, am I right?”

  “I haven’t decided. But, rest assured that as soon as I get to wherever I’m going, I’ll let you know I got there okay.” Shawn sidestepped him and headed up the ramp into the transport’s innards.

  “Great, man! That’s just great!” Trent yelled in protest after him. “This is all your fault!”

  “You said ‘yes’ just like I did when they offered to reinstate our commissions,” Shawn called over his shoulder, then turned around. “Take care of yourself, buddy.”

  “Yeah, sure,” Trent said in defeat.

  Smiling despite himself, Shawn looked at his friend lovingly. “Do me one last favor, pal?”

  “Yeah, what’s that?”

  “Clarissa McAllister.”

  Trent smiled wryly at the mention of his girlfriend’s name. “What about her?”

  Shawn grinned down at Trent as the ramp began to close. “Put a ring on that finger before it’s too late. And make sure you send me an invite.”

  “Will do,” Trent replied just as the hatch closed and sealed itself. “See ya ’round, Skipper.”

  In the comfortable cockpit of the transport, Shawn took the pilot’s chair as Melissa strapped herself into the copilot position. Reaching for the intercom, she keyed in the sequence to the flight control officer’s station on the bridge.

  “Control, this is Transport Echo-One, requesting clearance for departure.”

  A second later, Commander Weberity’s voice came over the cockpit’s speakers. “Confirmed, Echo-One. Took you long enough to get on board. Was there a problem with your passengers?”

  She gave Shawn a worried expression. “No problem, control,” she replied. “Commander Kestrel forgot his lucky toothbrush.”

  A brief laugh came over the speakers before Weberity came back online. “Understood, Echo-One. Stand by for final launch authorization.”

  “Standing by,” she said, then muted the channel.

  Shawn reached down and turned on the navigational computer. On the display was their current position, and the proximity of the jump gate. It was behind the carrier now, about three hundred miles away. “Coordinates for the jump gate locked in,” he whispered to Melissa, fearful that if his voice was heard over the intercom it would be recognized.

  Commander Weberity came over the airwaves a moment later. “Echo-One, this is control. You are cleared for departure.”

  “Roger,” Melissa said, then turned on the automated launch system. The transport lifted itself free of the hangar floor, then oriented itself at the now-open launch bay doors. The primary engines on the stern began to light off, while the secondary engines—inside their movable pods—were at station keeping and pointing down. A moment later, the accelerators of the catapult launched the sleek vessel out into open space.

  Once free of the carrier, Shawn took control of the craft and headed outside the conglomeration of Unified, Kafaran, and Rugorian warships. With everything behind him, he turned the vessel toward the jump gate.

  “I assume we’re jumping straight to Torval, then?” he asked.

  “Hardly,” Melissa smiled. “There’s no gate adjacent to the planet. We’ll jump in just outside the system and navigate to the planet from there.”

  “And you’re sure there’s no more pirates?” Shawn asked uneasily.

  Melissa chuckled as she stretched her arms above her head. “That’s usually my line.”

  “I’m just concerned, that’s all. I was never dumb enough to head straight for the planet. The rumors were enough to keep anyone smart enough well clear of it.”

  “Well, don’t be. We’ve got more than enough firepower in this bucket to handle anything that might be lingering.”

  “You see, even you’re unconvinced the system is completely clear of danger.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you the one who’s always saying that no part of space, no matter how benevolent it may seem on the surface, is not without its own inherent dangers?”

  Shawn thought about it for a second. “No. In fact, I don’t recall ever saying that.”

  “Well you should, because it’s true.”

  True enough, anyway. “Thanks for coming out here with me, and for not thinking I’m a complete idiot for going after Santorum.”

  She turned her e
yes from the expanse of space in front of the transport long enough to smile. “It was my pleasure. Besides, I never said I didn’t think you were an idiot. Point of fact, I think you’re an incredibly large one.”

  “But,” he stammered, “I thought all that crying and screaming was part of an act.”

  She smiled, shaking her head slowly. “Maybe someday you’ll figure it all out.”

  “Not likely,” he said, rubbing his face with his hands. “So what’s in the cargo container?” he asked, hooking a thumb toward the rear of the ship.

  “Oh, not much,” she said, still smiling. “Just guns, explosives, anti-missile defensive systems … anything we might need in case we run into lots of pirates.”

  “Ever since I joined the service, I’ve gone from one wasteland to another. Why can’t I get a break and get a mission that takes me to a tropical paradise?”

  -Shawn Kestrel

  Chapter 9

  After passing through the final jump gate, Shawn was greeted by the sight of twin suns burning brightly directly in front of their transport. The ship’s computer, in a friendly male tone that surprised him, informed Shawn that, at a moderate speed, they would arrive at the outskirts of the Concordia system in just over a solar hour. With little else to do, he turned to Melissa in the copilot’s chair and noted she seemed preoccupied reading a small tablet.

  “Anything interesting?” he asked.

  “What?” she asked in surprise as her concentration was broken.

  Shawn’s eyes darted to the palm-sized tablet. “Reading up on the latest in covert fashion accessories?”

  Melissa smiled and glanced back to the computer. “Hardly. I was just reading up on our destination.”

  “Checking the universal travel guide, I see.”

  “Not unless it has accesses to classified OSI material,” she said, then offered Shawn the device. “It’s mostly technical in nature.”

  He’d had his share of technical reports, and held up a hand to stop her. “I’m good. Really. Maybe you could just give me the synopsis.”

  “You sure?”

  Shawn smiled warmly. “Yeah. Besides, I’ve missed the sound of your voice.”

  “Oh,” she said with a single cocked eyebrow. She fumbled with the computer, looking at the display for a moment before responding. “You know, there was a time when you’d just as soon put a clamp over my mouth for talking while you were piloting.”

  “The day’s not over yet,” he replied smartly. “You’ve still got plenty of time to correct that oversight.”

  “Very funny,” she said with a glare.

  Shawn sniggered, then looked back out the wide view port. The auto-dimming system had engaged, filtering the brilliance of the twin stars to a pleasant glow. “All things considered, I’m glad we’re alone.”

  “Why?” she asked with amusement. “So we can go over mission reports?”

  “Yes. That’s it exactly,” he mocked. “It’s just that we haven’t had much time to ourselves in the last few months. It’s nice to be able to get away from everything and just … converse.”

  “And while we’re ‘getting away,’ there are thousands of people waiting back in the fleet for us to return with some vital clue as to what’s going on.”

  “That’s assuming we can find something. It’s a pretty big universe out there,” he said, waving his hand toward the forward windows. “Essentially, all we have is a heading. Who knows how long this is going to take.”

  At that moment, neither of them said what came to their minds: the thought of Shawn being drummed out of the service in less than a week. Deciding to change the subject before Melissa had a chance to read his mind, he looked back to the data pad in her lap. “I’m sorry. You were saying something about the history of the planet?”

  She hesitated for a moment, enough time to turn her thoughts back to the mission. “During the Great War, there was a covert operation on Torval.”

  Shawn nodded favorably. “Exciting. For what purpose?”

  “To apprehend a former Sector Command admiral, one Maros Krador.”

  Shawn knew the name well. The admiral had been instrumental in assassinating the then-president of the Unified Council, as well as a score of civilian and military personnel. While he knew very few of the official details, the word on the street was that Krador had been “dealt with” at some point while Shawn himself was fighting the war against the Kafarans. Of course, as a junior lieutenant at the time, he wasn’t privy to everything that went on in the dark rooms of the upper chain of command.

  “The covert mission here on Torval was an unqualified success,” Melissa finished. “It directly influenced Krador’s defeat on the planet Jido.”

  “What was so special about Torval?” Shawn asked.

  “Its distance from Jido, for one. Secondly would be its anonymity. As a neutral world, it was often overlooked by Sector Command. Both of those factors were taken into account as Krador set up a mining operation on the planet.”

  Shawn nodded as he processed the information. “For?”

  “L-K-C.”

  Lithiumhydroxide Kilostoic Cesium. Shawn knew its most widely used application was jump core shielding. “That stuff’s practically worthless now,” Shawn replied in confusion. “Why have a mining station so distant from Jido?”

  “Because during the war, LKC was extremely rare. In fact, the deposits Krador discovered on Torval eventually found their way into the hands of the Royal Mercantile Electorate. After a while, the RME got greedy, and after a series of unfortunate events, the market was flooded—leading to the current depreciated value.”

  Somehow that news didn’t surprise Shawn. While it was rare, it wasn’t without precedent that someone in the RME would get wide-eyed at the prospects of giving themselves deeper pockets. Shawn had had more than a handful of dealings with members of the Electorate—most of whom were honest businessmen looking out for the overall economic well-being of Beta sector. But, as with a bushel of fruit, a bad apple always seemed to turn up. Shawn’s particular bad apple had turned up in a spaceport on the far side of Persephone. He shuddered as he recalled the encounter, then turned back to Melissa. “So, after Krador was taken out of the picture, the mine fell under the control of the RME?”

  “Not directly,” she said as she scanned the computer pad once more. “It seems that a … mutual friend of ours … decided to set up a little operation of his own on Torval.”

  “Mutual friend?” Shawn asked curiously.

  “Katashi,” she replied with a smirk.

  “Toyo?” Shawn stuttered at the mention of his old friend. “Really? All the way out here.”

  Melissa shrugged. “How do you think he became so wealthy?”

  “Well, I always just assumed he was an exceptional businessman. I had no idea his interests went beyond the boardroom.”

  “After Admiral Krador’s deposition, someone needed to take charge of the operations on Torval, if only temporarily. It seems that Toyo invested a particularly large sum of his own money in financing the continued operations for several months.” Melissa looked back to her computer. “He made his investment back, and then some. In fact, more than tripled his initial outlay. His official report stated that, after a few months of continuous operations, he wasted little time in selling off his rights to the RME.”

  “So he didn’t stay very long,” Shawn nodded, hoping to talk to his old friend about the mission someday. “What can you tell me about the installation itself?”

  Melissa scanned through the report looking for the pertinent information. “There really isn’t much to say. It’s what I would classify as a typical mining station. There’s an ore processing center, several magnetic conveyors that bring ore into it, and a main tower structure used for refining … which also doubles as the administrative and communication centers.”

  Shawn nodded in agreement. “So, that’s likely where the communication from Santorum was received.”

  “That’s our best bet,
for sure,” Melissa granted.

  “What about the surrounding landscape?”

  “Desert for hundreds of miles in every direction, save for a ridge of mountains outlining the complex.”

  Great. More desert. Shawn thought back to Sylvia’s Delight, resting in pieces on a desolate world parsecs from their current position, her back broken, the stern separated from the main body by a few dozen feet. “Anything special about the mountains? Caves or any kind of shelter?”

  Melissa shook her head. “It’s possible. The mountains are actually the rim of a large crater from an asteroid impact in the distant past. Toyotomi’s report says it’s likely that this impact is what shifted the overall climate of the planet.”

  “What about population centers? Towns? Cities?”

  She accessed the information on her computer. “The port city of Salias is a number of miles to the east of the mining center. As for the overall population, the number of inhabitants in the city has dwindled significantly over the past decade. There’s likely going to be a large number of abandoned structures.”

  “Is there a police force of any kind?”

  Melissa shook her head. “There was a security outpost in the city, but it’s long since dissolved.”

  Shawn nodded. With no official lawmen around, it was going to be a dangerous place to poke around for clues. “Food?”

  Melissa again shook her head. “Torval has no native vegetation of any kind, and thus is completely incapable of supporting livestock as we know it.”

  Shawn laughed. “That’s not really what I meant. I was referring to you and me getting something to eat before we make planet-fall.”

  “Oh,” she said, blushing in embarrassment. “Sorry.”

  He reached out and placed a hand on her thigh. “Nothing to be sorry about.”

  “You obviously haven’t seen the provisions we’ve got on board.”

  Shawn gave her a grave look. “Emergency rations?”

  Melissa nodded. “And lots of them.”

  %%%

  Three hours later, Shawn effortlessly glided the transport into standard high orbit above the dust-covered planet Torval. To his right, Melissa attempted to open a communications channel to the surface. He watched her work at the control diligently for a few moments before she began cursing at the machine in disgust.