Admiral Shaw chuckled. “Son, you didn’t just reach me. On that frequency you reached nearly everyone in the galaxy.”
“Are we safe now?”
“I’ve ordered the Destrier to hold their fire.” Admiral Shaw paused. “You’re safe.”
The relief that flooded through Chase brought on a million different feelings. He bowed his head in front of the screen.
“You boys have done an excellent job. Will you have Captain Lennard contact me once he’s freed?” asked Shaw.
“Yes, we will,” said Parker. “And thank you, Mr. Admiral.”
A smile started to crack the corner of Shaw’s mouth, and with a brisk nod he ended the comm.
Chase looked up at Parker, who slowly broke into a wide grin and clapped Chase on the shoulder. “We did it. Lords, we were lucky that guy heard our distress call.”
“Captain Lennard told me about Admiral Shaw a while ago. That’s his mentor—one of the people in the Fleet he said he can trust.”
Asa shook his head, wiping the blood from his mouth where he’d split his lip. “So you think Shaw went against the Fleet and stopped the attack because he’s Lennard’s friend?” He raised an eyebrow. “Or do you think maybe he had to stop it because the Fleet couldn’t destroy the Kuyddestor after your plea for help went live across the star system?”
Chase’s smile faded as doubt crept into his mind. Asa’s paranoia was contagious. “Does it matter? We’re safe now. The Kuyddestor is safe.”
Asa gave a one-shouldered shrug. “Until the next attack.” The communicator at his side chimed. He glanced at the screen and didn’t answer. “It’s time to leave now. Jericho’s about to fold up to the thruster hatch again.”
It was too soon. Chase wanted to talk to Maurus about the hacker, to tell Captain Lennard how the Fleet had orchestrated the whole hijacking. He wasn’t ready to leave yet. He turned to Asa, the request on the tip of his tongue.
“You promised.” Asa cut him off in a tone that left no room for bargaining.
“Don’t worry,” said Parker, putting a hand on Chase’s shoulder. “We’re coming.”
When they came to the main stairwell, Analora turned to head upstairs. She stopped outside the stairwell door when she realized that everyone else had walked past it. “You’re … Aren’t you coming up?”
Chase hesitated. He couldn’t bear to tell her that he was about to leave the ship forever. He wanted to just sneak away, to avoid seeing the disappointment of all the people he was leaving behind. “We need to go help Asa with something first.”
She looked warily at Asa and nodded, and then gave Chase a quick hug. “I have to go look for my dad. I’ll see you soon.”
Chase returned the hug and nodded, looking away quickly. “See you soon.” Only that’s not true. I’ll probably never see you again.
They continued down the hall toward the spot where Jericho would pick them up, taking the narrow stairs down to the last corridor. Ahead lay the door to the access hatch where they’d boarded the ship. Asa touched something by his ear, and then touched Parker’s arm to stop him from opening the door. “Wait a minute. Jericho’s still working out the fold coordinates.”
Parker leaned against the wall and rubbed the angry red marks on his arm where Asa’s earlier grip was going to leave some ugly bruises. “You don’t have to manhandle me so much next time,” he said in mock resentment. “We make a good team though, your brawn and my brains.”
“Parker, I’m not your father,” said Asa abruptly.
Parker flushed a deep scarlet. “I never said…”
“No, you didn’t. But I can see what you’re thinking and it’s only fair to let you know. You are uncommonly intelligent; I know that now. But that’s only because you’re the son of two uncommonly intelligent people.”
Chase looked at the floor, feeling the heat in his cheeks on Parker’s behalf. Asa could have at least waited until they were back on his ship to do this. A person with normal social skills would have.
“Who were they?” Parker was barely able choke the words out. “I’m assuming the whole story about them being employees who died in a teleport accident is a big fat lie.”
“Just like Henk and Caralin, I found someone to help me after we escaped from the Fleet. Your parents were biological engineers. I’d heard of them because of their vocal opposition to genetic manipulation, and I thought I might be able to trust them. They understood the depravity of what the Fleet had done in creating us, and they helped me to hide. Eventually we worked together for a time. When you were born, I made them a promise that if anything ever happened to them, I would care for you.”
Parker looked up. “And?”
Asa kept his gaze straight ahead. “It was the only time the Fleet nearly caught up with me. They sacrificed themselves so that you and I could get away.”
Parker turned his face toward the floor and said nothing else.
Giving no indication that he realized how he’d just shattered Parker’s world, Asa touched his ear again. “Jericho, are you in position?” He reached for the door, looking around to make sure everyone was there. “Alright. Let’s go.”
As he took his final steps aboard the Kuyddestor, Chase couldn’t stop thinking about the months he’d spent on the ship, the friends he’d made and the busy hum of life aboard the starship. Only silent hallways awaited his future. He glanced over at Parker, who, judging by the pained look on his face, was having even worse thoughts.
But it was Lilli who stopped first, just inside the access chamber. She looked back toward the corridor with panic in her eyes. “I won’t go.”
Asa turned to face her, cold and menacing. “You promised.”
“Where are we going to go?” asked Chase. “What will we do?”
“You’ll be safe,” said Asa.
“Just like my childhood,” said Parker bitterly. “Safe, and sheltered, and alone.”
Lilli turned to run, and Asa reached out, lightning-fast, and grabbed her arm. “I’m your guardian. You’re coming with me!”
The access hatch was open, and on the other side of it was Jericho, standing inside the smaller vehicle. Chase didn’t want to go either, but they’d given their word, and Asa had kept up his end of the bargain in saving the ship, however much of it had been their own doing. But watching Asa drag his sister forcefully toward the hatch, he felt ill. And angry.
Lilli screamed in defiance, and a half dozen of her copies appeared, pulling at Asa’s clothes and trying to help Lilli pull away from him. “Stop that!” Asa shouted. He grabbed both her arms and shook her like a rag doll. “Stop it!”
“Ow, you’re hurting me!” she screamed. The copies vanished. “Chase, help!”
Behind them in the corridor came the sound of a door opening and then footsteps. “What’s going on there?” shouted a man’s voice.
Before them was his sister’s tear-streaked, hysterical face.
That was all it took for Chase to make a decision.
“Help us!” Chase yelled. “The hacker’s in here! He’s trying to kidnap us!”
The look on Asa’s face: fury, hurt, betrayal—in an instant it was seared into Chase’s memory. Asa glanced at Lilli, at Parker, back at Chase. His blue eyes were bright and hard, furious and desperate.
“Freeze!” yelled the soldier over the sound of his blaster charging.
Without saying a word, Asa turned and ran. Before the soldier could fire a shot, he dove through the hatch back into his ship, and it clanged shut behind him.
Chase turned back toward the corridor. “Run!”
They raced back out of the access chamber before it could depressurize, slamming the door shut behind them. Then they stood shocked in the corridor, looking at each other, realizing what they’d just done. They had broken their promise, and betrayed the only man who knew exactly who they were and where they’d come from.
The soldier stared at all of them, holding his blaster awkwardly. “Was he really the hacker?” he asked.
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“No,” said Chase bluntly. He took Lilli’s hand and squeezed it, and she threw her arms around his waist.
Parker looked over at Mina. “What are you still doing here?”
Mina shrugged. “He told me not to leave your side.”
* * *
A haze of gray smoke filled the hallway when they reached the main level of the ship. The halls were packed full, people running to seal off the parts of the ship that had been damaged by the Destrier’s attack. Chase held Lilli’s hand to keep from losing her. Behind them, Mina followed Parker as casually as if she’d been living on the Kuyddestor this whole time.
Chase strained to look through the crowd as they slipped, largely unnoticed, into the chaos. He had to tell someone the things they’d learned—about Ksenia’s lies, Corporal Lahey’s treachery, and most importantly, the Federation’s plan to attack Storros and the Kuyddestor.
“Chase! Chase!” Maurus came running up behind them, breathless. “I went to the engine room to look for you and you were gone—I was afraid Asa had taken you away!”
“No, but he’s gone now.” Chase said nothing more, the shame of his betrayal chipping at his conscience. “Did you find Corporal Lahey?”
“I haven’t seen any sign of her, but we told the MPs to be on the lookout for her. She won’t get far.”
A voice came from behind them. “Not far at all, I’m afraid.” Vidal stood there, a grim look on her face. “MPs found her body in another section of the engine rooms, along with Chief Kobes. They were both armed, but we’re not sure yet if the Werikosa got them, or if Kobes discovered what she was doing and confronted her.”
In his shock, the first person Chase thought of was Dany Kobes, far away at the academy, probably still with no idea that his father had been killed. He looked at Parker. “Then who was running the attack on Storros?”
“Once she installed the trojan, it could have been anyone as long as they had the right access. Even someone on another ship.”
“But, Parker, you stopped the trojan.” Maurus grabbed Parker’s hand, shaking it fiercely.
“No, I didn’t stop it,” said Parker. “It’s still running in the navigation system, and probably other places as well. We just destroyed the external weapons system so no more missiles could be launched.”
Maurus looked alarmed. “Then we need to get you in touch with someone from the engine room to follow up.” Ensign Cutler was standing two groups away, talking to Seto and another officer. Maurus flagged him down, and after a brief explanation sent him off to the engine room with Parker. Mina followed quietly on their heels.
Before Chase could tell Maurus about the Fleet, Seto came over and slapped him on the back. “You’re back!” he exclaimed. His other arm was in a makeshift sling.
“What happened to you?” asked Maurus.
“Oh, I learned a lesson: Don’t fight a Werikosa in the dark.” He looked around at the four of them, rubbing Chase on the head with his good arm. “Where’s Derrick? Still down on Storros?”
Maurus looked at Chase, hesitating. Chase could tell he was deciding how much to tell Seto. “He got hurt.”
Seto’s smile faded. “How hurt? Dead hurt?”
Good question. After all that had happened, Chase wondered if Asa would still heal Derrick’s injuries, and what he would do with him afterward.
Maurus shook his head. “We don’t know yet.”
“Do you know where the captain is?” Chase asked Seto.
“I think he went up to the bridge to try to get things back under control. Forquera’s directing teams to seal up the damaged parts of the ship. And I’m sitting on my butt waiting for the medical bay to clear up enough to get this mended.” He raised his wounded arm slightly.
“I need to talk to the captain,” said Chase.
“He’s probably pretty busy right now,” said Seto. “If it can wait…”
Chase gave Maurus the kind of look that said it couldn’t. Maurus nodded in understanding. “Let’s go find him,” he said. Chase put his arm around Lilli, and they followed Maurus from the flight deck, leaving Vidal behind to help Seto to the medical bay.
As they walked down the hall, they passed the spot where Asa had left Ksenia lying on the floor. She wasn’t there any longer, but Chase supposed she could have been taken to the medical bay. Or she could be hiding somewhere, waiting to make her escape from the ship. “Have you seen Ksenia?” he asked.
Maurus shook his head. “No one’s said anything about seeing her.”
Chase looked around at the walls of the ship, at the people passing by. Something didn’t feel right, and he couldn’t put his finger on what it was.
They rounded a corner, and there in the middle of the hall was the captain. His back was to them as he gave orders to the crew that crowded around him, coming and going in packs like schools of fish.
“Captain!” called Chase.
The captain turned around, and in three strides he had crossed the distance between them. He dropped to one knee and threw his arms open, engulfing Chase and his sister in a long, strong hug. He pulled back and looked at both their faces, his own face haggard, as if he hadn’t slept in days. “I’m so glad you’re both okay.”
“We’re glad you’re okay,” said Chase. Lilli’s eyes shone.
Lennard smiled. “How did you get back onto the ship?”
“Asa brought us.”
“Asa Kaplan? He’s here?”
“He left. But he helped us take the ship back. Mostly it was Parker, though.” Chase looked around the hall before whispering, “It was all a set-up. Everything.”
Lennard nodded. “We know someone on the ship helped the Werikosa take over. Parker was right about that hacker.”
“But the Werikosa on the ship never attacked Storros. They weren’t even on the bridge. It was the Fleet, firing Kuyddestor weapons from somewhere else and using the Werikosa as an excuse. They did everything.”
Lennard’s hand tightened on Chase’s shoulder, and his face shifted from relief to a much more serious expression. “Come back to my quarters with me. I want to hear the whole story. Starting with how you ended up back in the company of Asa Kaplan.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The captain placed Lieutenant Thandiway in temporary charge of recovery and led Chase and Lilli back to his quarters. Maurus went with them and helped Chase explain everything that had happened from the moment they met up on Storros. Thankfully Lennard didn’t say anything when Chase admitted to stealing the jump pod to go to Storros, although he did give him a look that promised further discussion later.
When Maurus explained how they had ended up on Asa’s ship, he provided the details of how Ksenia had shown up at the mineworks after Mina had rescued Chase and the others, and how an unmarked vehicle with an unknown pilot and an android had picked them all up.
Captain Lennard rubbed his forehead, taking a deep breath. “So Lieutenant Derrick is still with Asa?”
“He was in bad shape, sir,” said Maurus. “If he survives, what Asa chooses to do with him is anyone’s guess.”
“And you never saw the pilot of this other vehicle? But now we can assume that Asa has more people working with him.”
“Her name is Nika,” said Chase. “She’s another genetically engineered soldier. Like my parents. Like Asa.”
“What?” asked Lennard, incredulous. “Asa?”
Chase went on to explain what he’d learned about the seven soldiers and their escape, including the fact that three of them, including Asa and Nika, were still alive. The one detail he withheld was Nika’s cover identity as Parri Dietz. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Lennard or Maurus with that information, but her secret was so huge, he didn’t feel right sharing it. At least not yet. A nod from Lilli when he omitted that part of the story made him feel like he was doing the right thing.
Lennard ran his hands over his face, shaking his head. “Henk and Caralin never hinted that there were others like them. I’d assumed they were an
Adam and Eve project. If this is true, I need to speak with Asa.”
“I don’t know how we’re going to find him again,” said Chase. “Unless Mina can tell us where he is.”
When it came time to explain how they had stopped the attack on Storros, Chase felt guilty about sharing Parker’s side of the story since he wasn’t there to bask in his own glory. He told them about what Ksenia revealed to him outside the bridge, and how the Federation had instigated the entire hijacking and run the Kuyddestor remotely like a video game. And finally, Chase explained about how the Destrier kept firing, even after Parker had contacted them to let them know the ship was retaken.
“Sinjan Devore has a reputation as a reactionary and a vicious leader,” said Lennard. “No wonder High Command called him in as their attack dog.”
“The Destrier was involved in a huge massacre just off of Pranatine a few years back,” Maurus told Chase. “Everyone from the Fleet side was cleared, but to me it always smelled like a cover-up.”
“Though I’m not surprised it was Shaw who stopped the attack,” Lennard continued. “I was his second-in-command back when we served on the Roscommon, and we’ve always had a good relationship. He was a good, fair commander, and he has enough seniority and influence within the Fleet to stand up to the people who are taking it in the wrong direction.”
“He told us to have him contact you when you were free again,” said Chase.
“I’ve already spoken with him. He’s coming over later today to survey the damage.”
“How long is it going to take to fix the ship?” Chase asked.
The captain grimaced. “A while. Once we get all the systems wiped clean and the engines back online, we should be able to fold back to one of the shipyards around Earth. Maybe I can find a place there for you kids to stay while the ship’s being worked on.”
“No,” said Chase and Lilli at the same time. Chase shook his head. “This is our home.”
Lennard smiled at their outburst but didn’t reply, looking down instead and scrolling through some information on his communicator. He gave a low chuckle. “Reports from the engine room say that Parker is schooling the entire division on how to hack their own ship. There’s going to be a scheduled blackout later today when they flush out the trojan.”
Lost Planet 02 - The Stolen Moon Page 23
