Lost Planet 02 - The Stolen Moon

by Searles, Rachel

  Thinking of the engine room made Chase remember what had happened to Chief Kobes. “Who’s going to run the engine room now?”

  “Petty Officer Bycraft is the next in command.” Lennard was quiet for a while, tapping his fingers on the arm of his seat. “Luister Kobes wasn’t the most personable fellow, but he’ll be a tough act to follow as Chief. MPs are investigating the scene to figure out exactly what happened between him and Lahey.”

  “I never liked her,” Chase admitted.

  Maurus shook his head. “I can’t believe she was a traitor. She was always so rigid about the rules.”

  Lennard was looking at his communicator again. “Looks like there’s a problem containing the breach on level seven,” he said, moving like he was about to stand.

  “I’ll go check it out, Captain,” said Maurus. The captain nodded assent, and Maurus left with a quick salute.

  Now that they had a moment of stillness to think about everything that had happened, some of the small things that were still bothering Chase began to rise to the surface of his mind. “Is somebody looking for Ksenia?”

  “I put out a ship-wide alert as soon as you told me,” Lennard said. “There’s so much activity right now, stabilizing the ship, helping the Storrian delegation return to their planet, and detaining the remaining Werikosa, she may have found a way to sneak off already. She’ll probably be protected by whoever gave her this assignment in the first place.”

  “What’s going to happen to the Werikosa?”

  “The hijackers will be taken before the Federation courts, as well as the leaders on Rhima and anyone else associated with the plot. And from what I understand, the remaining settlers on Rhima will be rounded up aboard the Destrier and taken back to Werikos.”

  Chase knew the Werikosa had forfeited any right to Rhima when they attacked the Kuyddestor, and he would never forget the terror of crashing on the moon in the Falconer, but a part of him still felt sorry for the struggling civilization. “I know it’s probably the right thing to do, but it seems a little unfair. They were set up and used.”

  Captain Lennard gave a little shrug. “Situations like this are never purely black and white, right and wrong. All the contributing factors make things much more complex, and a fair-minded person like you will always see that. Maybe the Werikosa were manipulated, but at the end of the day, you have to remember that they were willing participants in the hijacking.”

  Chase wondered if he would ever be so desperate to do something like that, if the people around him were dying. Did their situation justify any of their violent actions at all, or would it be the right thing to accept their agonizing fate in silence? He remembered all the strange, laughing Werikosa children, and wondered what kind of life they would have back on their acrid homeworld. He looked up and saw Lennard watching them with a serious expression.

  “What?” asked Lilli.

  “I was serious about finding you a different place to hide when we go back to Earth orbit. It won’t be safe for you on the Kuyddestor.”

  Her immediate response was to scowl. “Will you come with us?”

  Lennard shook his head. “My place is on the ship.”

  “Then that’s our place too,” she said.

  Lennard sat back and rested his chin on his hand. “Knowing what I know now about Asa Kaplan, I almost wish you both had gone with him.”

  This was the last thing Chase would have expected to hear from Captain Lennard. Lilli looked positively wounded. “But you’re our family,” she whispered. “You keep us safe.”

  “Believe me, Lilli, there is nothing more important to me than you and Chase. But after all this, I have to question how smart it is of me to keep you both on the Kuyddestor.”

  “Hiding didn’t do our parents much good,” said Chase.

  “But it seems to me that Asa Kaplan’s found a way to do it.”

  Yeah, thought Chase. By cutting himself off from everyone and spending his life traveling constantly through the galaxy aboard a silent ship, thinking about nothing but revenge. It wasn’t a life that he wanted.

  The notification chime sounded at the door. Frowning, Lennard answered the door, and it slid open on the trim, silver-haired figure of Admiral Shaw. He leaned inside before entering. “Captain, may I come in?”

  The captain stood, saluting. “Admiral, I wasn’t expecting you until this evening.”

  Shaw stepped inside and shook Lennard’s hand, giving him a few hearty claps on the shoulder as he did. “I guess there’s no need to stand on ceremony, Lionel. Especially after a few days like you’ve had.” Chase automatically stood in the admiral’s presence, feeling almost like he should salute, although that would have been silly. Lilli remained perched on the edge of the hard brown sofa, watching the admiral with cautious eyes.

  “Sorry to surprise you like this, Lionel. I must have ticked off someone important, because I’ve been tasked with the thankless duty of mollifying the Storrian leadership.” Shaw barked out a loud laugh. The admiral was shorter than Chase had expected, and although he gave off a strong commanding air, the plain way he spoke made him seem less intimidating. “So I did what any good leader would do and threw it all at my second-in-command, and said it was vital that I come speak with you immediately.”

  Lennard laughed. “Well, it’s good to see a friendly face.”

  The old admiral looked around at the other occupants of the room with sharp eyes, landing on Chase. “You would be the one I spoke with on the comm, correct? What’s your name? Where’s the other boy?”

  “I’m Cor—Chase,” he said, stopping himself at the last second from giving a fake name. Somehow it seemed wrong to lie to the admiral. “Parker’s out helping in the engine room.”

  The captain motioned for everyone to take a seat, and Shaw nodded at Chase as he lowered himself into an armchair. “You wouldn’t believe what a shock I got, hearing your young voice crying out SOS on the public band. Captain Devore said the Destrier never received your message with the all-clear. You boys truly saved the day.” His gaze shifted over to Lilli on the couch. “Lionel, who are these kids?”

  “Orphans from the Trucon disaster. Some of our crew found them stranded in a gray sector on Qesaris, and rather than place them in the already overcrowded refugee camps, we informally adopted them. They have great cadet potential.”

  “Obviously. How do you like living on a starship, son?”

  “It’s … it’s great,” said Chase.

  The admiral turned his attention back on Lennard. “Sounds like it was a very lucky stroke indeed that you got these kids on your ship.” There was something strange about his tone that seemed to imply more than he was saying, but Chase tried to brush it off.

  The notification chime sounded again, and with a slight frown Lennard rose and hit the entry key. Round-faced Ensign Cutler entered, snapping a salute.

  “At ease, Ensign,” said Lennard. “What brings you here?”

  “I did, actually,” said Shaw casually.

  From one second to the next, the entire atmosphere of the room changed. Lennard started to move toward his desk, but before he’d taken more than a step, Shaw whipped out a handblaster and pointed it at him. Meanwhile Cutler turned around and pressed a finger-sized silver device against the door. It made a quiet beep-beep as he did, and a shot of adrenaline rushed through Chase. He jumped to his feet.

  “Sit down, son,” said Admiral Shaw. The friendliness in his voice had completely vanished. “Nobody’s leaving. We’ll get this over with quickly.”

  At those words, a cold chill settled over Chase.

  “What is going on here, Peter?” Lennard’s tone was stony. “Cutler, what did you just install on my door?”

  “Ensign Cutler here has sealed up the exit with one of his special hacks. Nobody comes in or out until he says so.”

  Lennard loomed over the small ensign. “Cutler, am I or am I not your superior officer? Open the door.”

  Cutler stood completely still, looking p
ast the captain.

  Shaw smiled. “As a hacker, Robin’s abilities are absolutely unparalleled. I found him a few years ago on Ueta, toiling away on code to run the equipment on his parents’ farm. A pure natural genius. And so easy to work with. You may as well stop trying to swipe your communicator, Lionel. He’s got a jammer in that front shirt pocket.” He turned to Cutler. “Did you give Ms. Oriolo her return ring?”

  “I did, sir.”

  Chase sat forward. “You helped Ksenia get away?”

  Shaw chuckled. “In a sense. Where did you program the ring to send her?”

  Even Cutler couldn’t hold back a smirk. “She should be orbiting somewhere over the northern hemisphere of Werikos right now.”

  “You teleported her into space?” asked Lennard, horrified. “To her death?”

  “She turned out to be … unreliable,” said Shaw with a shrug.

  “You killed Lahey and Kobes too,” Chase blurted out as the realization occurred to him.

  “We prefer not to keep people around once they’ve outlived their usefulness. Although, Chief Kobes…?” Shaw cast a questioning look at his sidekick.

  A tiny, smug smile tugged at the corner of Cutler’s mouth. “Taking out that nasty old bear was just a job perk. At some point he figured out a little too much. More than Lahey ever did, actually.”

  Lennard’s eyes were paler, colder, and more furious than Chase had ever seen. “So, Peter, you’re a part of this after all. I have to say, I’m extremely disappointed. So why didn’t you just let the Destrier finish what it started?”

  “It seemed imprudent after half the galaxy had heard a young boy aboard the ship screaming for help,” said Shaw in a tart voice. “One of those pesky Universal News correspondents rebroadcast him immediately, put him all over the newsfeed.” Nika. It had to have been her. “And to be honest, I was always against destroying a big beautiful ship like the Kuyddestor when all we needed to do was replace a few key personnel.”

  “And what happens now?” asked Lennard.

  “High Command’s concerned with you. Seems you’ve gotten in a little over your head. Telling lies, protecting criminals, harboring missing Fleet-owned medical experiments.” He looked at Chase and Lilli as he said this.

  Chase moved closer to his sister as his anger flared up. “We’re not owned by the Fleet. And we’re not experiments.”

  “High Command tried to make me complicit in covering up the destruction of an entire planet,” said Lennard fiercely.

  “Trucon?” asked Shaw. “If you’d stuck with your orders and hadn’t decided to take up the side of that Lyolian, you wouldn’t be in this position right now. I’ve been sent to demote you in person. We’re withdrawing your command of the Kuyddestor, effective immediately.”

  Chase looked to the captain, confused. The Fleet was only going to demote him? Compared to what he’d expected, Chase was surprised to hear this. And uneasy.

  “If I refuse to relinquish command?” Lennard’s voice was eerily calm.

  “I don’t think you’ll have much of a choice.”

  Pounding and shouting sounded from out in the hall, followed by the rumble of blaster fire against the door. Chase glanced at Lilli, whose face was fixed and furious. She must have sent out a copy to raise the alarm. Shaw glanced back toward the noise. “Looks like it’s time for us to get going. I’m taking these two children with me back to the Atreus, so I can get them back where they belong.”

  So this was the sacrifice Lennard was being forced to make. Chase took a step back. “No. We’re not going anywhere with you.”

  Shaw pulled a few rings from his pocket, silver and thick like his own return ring. He handed Lilli a ring, which she took delicately between forefinger and thumb. Please be a copy. Please be a copy. But Chase knew she couldn’t be a copy. She’d fought Asa tooth and nail to stay on the ship, and hadn’t left Chase’s side since. She glared at the admiral, holding his gaze for a moment, and opened her fingers again, dropping the ring on the floor. It made a quiet ting when it hit. And then she vanished.

  Chase nearly shouted in joy. He couldn’t help smiling, especially when he saw the confusion on Shaw’s face.

  “What did she just do? Is that her thing?” He turned to Cutler. “Get her back.”

  The ensign looked just as confused. “I don’t know where she went, sir.”

  “Fine. We can get her later. The boy’s the more important one anyway.” Shaw turned on Chase, but this time instead of handing over the ring, he grabbed Chase’s hand and jammed the ring on his index finger himself. Chase looked past him, at Captain Lennard, who quickly shook his head. Don’t phase.

  If he struggled against Shaw on this, if he phased away, there would be a fight. But if he pretended to go along, Shaw would teleport off the ship, not knowing until it was too late that it hadn’t worked on Chase. It would hurt, he knew, or possibly make him pass out again like the last time he’d tried teleportation, but by then Shaw would be long gone, and they might have time to get away, or at least defend themselves better. So he left his hand in Shaw’s cold grasp, and steeled himself against what he knew was coming.

  “See you in the stars, Lionel,” said Shaw, pressing the return function on his ring. “Here’s your demotion.” At the same moment, Cutler drew something from his pocket and tossed it on the floor with a glassy crash.

  And then the teleportation began.

  The pain was immediate, a giant wave that felt as if his body had been ripped in half. Chase thought he was ready for it, but he gasped and collapsed to his knees, tears springing to his eyes. Every single molecule of his body was trying to tear itself apart, and blackness rushed in to soothe him. Clinging to consciousness with everything he had, he resisted his body’s attempt to pass out. Focus, focus, focus!

  He was trying so hard not to teleport and not to pass out that he didn’t notice the yellow fumes rising from the floor. He didn’t feel Lennard grabbing him under the shoulders and shoving him toward the locked door.

  “Get out!” the captain roared. “Get out of here!”

  Long afterward, when Chase reflected on this, he would be ashamed of how easily he went, barely thinking, grasping at safety even as the thick vapor burned his eyes. Not acknowledging that only he could pass through the locked door. Dazed, hurting, hardly able to see, it took him two tries to phase through the door and into the hallway.

  Outside Lennard’s quarters there was a full riot. Frantic people crowded around the door, beating at the entry key console. Hands reached down and helped Chase off to the side, where he lay on the floor, reeling and only half-conscious of the commotion going on around him, of Parker’s white face hovering over him.

  A thread of urgency cut through his daze, a growing awareness: Something was wrong with the captain. They needed to get inside the quarters, past Cutty’s lock, and help him. Chase tried to rise, weak and half-delirious from pain, but someone pushed him back down. The world swam, darkened, turned into isolated flashes of image and noise.

  A flash of people firing their blasters at the door.

  A glimpse of Mina, kicking at the door, over and over again. The cracking noise when it finally crumpled and came loose.

  The gasps of horror and stifled cries. And a moment later, the high-pitched scream—Lilli’s scream.

  And he knew they were too late.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  And just like that, everything had changed.

  Chase lay in the white silence of the medical bay, staring at the curtains. He didn’t know when he’d awoken. Or if he’d really been unconscious. It felt as if he’d been there forever, just staring, not thinking. Or feeling.

  The truth lay like a lump in the middle of his mind. He approached it from the sides, probing it, challenging the reality of his hazy memory. And every time the realization hit—the captain has died, the captain is dead—his mind leapt away from it and shut down again.

  Shapes moved around him, people he thought he knew, but he just kept h
is eyes focused on the curtain, ignoring everything else. The less he noticed, the less he thought. And not thinking was a good thing.

  It was Parker who finally reached him. In the middle of the night, when the medical bay was quiet but for the whisper of a few machines, Parker appeared between the curtains to stand beside Chase’s bed, Mina right behind him.

  “Chase, you need to get up.” His eyes were rimmed with red. “I don’t know if you’re in shock or what, but you’ve got to snap out of it. Things are happening, and I need your help. It’s not your fault, what happened. It’s like Asa said. The captain was a target. They were going to get him one way or another.”

  Chase turned his head away. That wasn’t enough of an excuse. He should have been able to do something. He could have distracted the admiral with his phasing, led him on a chase, anything. Even though a little voice in his mind told him the captain had been doomed as soon as Ensign Cutler showed up.

  “You need to get up, Chase,” Parker repeated. “Lilli’s even worse off than you are, and Forquera wants us all to meet with him on the flight level right now. I can’t do this all myself. I need your help.”

  Lilli. Chase hadn’t let himself think of her yet, but at the mention of her name, her scream echoed through his memory. She would be taking this so much harder than Chase. He focused his eyes on Parker.

  “There you are, buddy.” Parker gave him a watery smile. “We need to get Lilli and get down to the flight level, okay?”

  The nurse on duty looked up from his desk as Chase, Parker, and Mina stepped out from behind the curtain around Chase’s bed, but said nothing. How much did he know? How many people had seen Chase phase through the captain’s door?

  Lilli was two beds over in the medical bay, curled up in a ball, clutching the pillow. Chase whispered her name a few times. Her eyes were open, but she wouldn’t look at anyone. Mina pulled off the blankets, and Lilli curled a little tighter. With surprising gentleness, Mina loosened Lilli’s grip on the pillow and scooped her up. Lilli didn’t fight it.