Descent

by Hamish Spiers

Beside him, a companion glanced at a handheld radar. “They’re at the hatch now. Uh... there are just two of them.”

  “Not for long,” the man muttered. “Get ready.”

  With a bright flash, the hatch shot into the recess of its frame and two hulking masked figures, wearing some kind of powered armor, stepped through the hatchway laying down suppressive fire as they did.

  “Harskans!” the man with the miniature radar exclaimed. Then he let out a scream and dropped to the deck.

  The man’s other companions were falling around him as well. There were fifteen of them all told, apart from himself, but the two intruders took them out effortlessly while the stray blasts that hit the pair of Harskans did nothing against their armor.

  The man swallowed. He was now alone and in the smoke filled room, one of the Harskans was looking at him.

  “Is that him, Naima?” the giant asked.

  The other Harskan held up a pad, glanced at it and looked at him as well. “That’s our man.”

  The first giant strode towards him.

  With shaking hands, the man raised his weapon to fire but the Harskan slapped it out of his grasp with an effortless flick of his wrist. Then with one powerful hand, he gripped the man’s throat and hoisted him off his feet.

  “Jered Kareim,” the Harskan said. “You are wanted for the murder of sixty-three people, the last eleven of these buried alive in a mine shaft. And you’re responsible for the deaths of tens of thousands through your weapons distribution business.”

  “Whoever you are, you’ve got no jurisdiction here!” Kareim burst out. “And I’m on good terms with the Imraehi.”

  “Wonderful,” the Harskan said. “Then tell me what the Imraehi wanted with all that delydrium you found for them. And, before you make up some inane story, I know full well what it does when mixed with tryithelite.”

  “If I tell you,” Kareim asked, “will you let me go?”

  “Let you go?” the Harskan exclaimed, his tone incredulous. “You’re a dead man whether you talk or not, Kareim. But if you tell me what I want to know, then I’ll kill you quickly. Cleanly. If not, then we’ll smash your communication equipment, cripple your life support and leave you.”

  “You can’t be serious!” Kareim cried.

  “I’m perfectly serious,” the Harskan replied. “And I’m on something of a deadline.” He nodded to his companion. “Naima? The communication equipment.”

  “Right, Drackson,” the other Harskan replied and marched down the corridor. Muted blasts and explosions echoed back and the Harskan returned.

  “Done,” she said.

  “Good,” Drackson replied. “Now take out the life support systems.”

  “Right.”

  Naima turned to leave again but, before she’d taken a step, Kareim shouted. “Wait! You want to know about the delydrium and the tryithelite? Fine. I’ll tell you everything I know.”

  “Is the stuff being used to manufacture more mines for the Imraehi defense network?” Drackson asked, lowering Kareim to the deck.

  Kareim shook his head and gave him a horrible grin. “Oh, you stupid bastard. You’ve got it all wrong. Here. Here’s what the Imraehi agents told me. On the house. Everything I mined was hauled over to Phalamki. Somewhere in Kerali.”

  “Where?” Drackson demanded.

  Kareim shrugged, laughing. “How should I know? But I do know this. The guys who are in with the agents say it’s straight from Ardeis.”

  Drackson frowned. “Deramar Ardeis?”

  Kareim looked at him as if he were crazy. “Who else would I be talking about?”

  “Right,” Drackson muttered. “Who else? So what exactly did Ardeis say?”

  “Only this,” Kareim replied, his voice and bearing now both smug and defiant. “The minute a United Frontier ship enters Imraehi space, something big in Kerali is going to blow.”

  Carla was talking with Alia and Reece when her personal communicator chimed.

  She flicked it on. “How did it go?”

  “Meet us at the hatch,” Drackson told her. “We’re coming in.”

  “Right.” Clipping the communicator on her belt, Carla got up and glanced at the others. “Come on.”

  When they reached the hatch, it was only a short wait before the Albatross had docked and Drackson and Naima appeared.

  Drackson looked straight at the one human male in the group. “Are you Reece?”

  “Uh, yes,” Reece stammered.

  “How much delydrium did Kareim and his cronies ship out of that mine before that reactor failure?”

  “About forty-eight tons,” Reece replied. “I think.”

  “Thanks,” Drackson said, turning away.

  Naima then handed him a card. “Here, Reece. I ID’d everyone we took out on that ship and pulled a record of Kareim’s associates from the ship’s computer. A little present for you.” She turned to follow Drackson before Reece could form a reply.

  “What about Kareim?” Carla called out as she and the others followed her onto the Albatross.

  “Dead, dusted and up in smoke with the Long Haul,” Naima said over her shoulder as she headed for one of their shipboard communicators.. “Come on. We’ve got to raise the Liberator.”

  20. Crisis in Kerali

  The Kerali naval headquarters was a scene of chaos. As he set about his work, Lord Erama could hardly believe the suddenness of the crisis that now occupied every man and woman in the building, along with many more people throughout the city and up in orbit - naval personnel, customs officials and spaceport security officers. Until that morning, his thoughts had been filled with anxiety over his blood daughter and her husband, somewhere in the wilderness on Imraec Tarc for no reason that anyone could conjure up. Maia and Zak had hesitated about passing that on to him from Drackson but, despite all the worry it had caused him, he was glad for news on their whereabouts. However, if the latest information that had been passed down the pipeline was accurate, he no longer had time for personal concerns.

  “Yes?” he said, answering his communicator.

  “It’s Maia,” came the voice of his adopted daughter.

  He sighed. She and Zak were being quite guarded about the number of long range transmissions they were making on their approach to Katara and only contacted Phalamki if they had important news. Invariably so far, it had all been of the unwelcome variety.

  “Hi, Maia,” he said.

  “Hello, Father,” she replied. “I wish the news were better.”

  “Go on. I think I can take it.”

  “We can’t raise Admiral Seirvek’s task force. According to the high command, they’re keeping comm silence until they reach Imraec Tarc.”

  “Well, I can’t fault them on that,” Lord Erama said. “It’s a sensible precaution.”

  “But it means we can’t get them to hold back their attack,” Maia said.

  “I know what it means, Maia,” her father replied. “But don’t you and Zak worry about it. We’ve got half the planet working on the problem. Besides, I can do enough worrying for the three of us, believe me.”

  His daughter chuckled. “All right, Father. Good luck. We’re thinking of you.”

  “I’m thinking of you, too.”

  Once the transmission ended, the door opened and a woman entered.

  “Commander Jazaeil,” Lord Erama greeted her, forcing a smile.

  “What was that about?”

  “Admiral Seirvek’s task force is under comm silence. We can’t raise them.”

  “Then we’ll have to do the best we can under the circumstances,” the commander replied. She handed Lord Erama a pad. “Customs recorded seventy-nine tons of delydrium that has come through in the time frame supplied to us by this...” She checked the name on a separate pad in her other hand. “Reece Carrelle.”

  “Thirty-one tons over,” Lord Erama said. “Any of it turned up?”

  “A bit over six tons of it has been tracked to legitimate businesses and accounted for already,”
the commander replied. “And more numbers are coming in.”

  “But assuming these people stopped using legitimate channels to move their merchandise as soon as they could,” Lord Erama said with a downcast gaze, “the trails we’re after might dry up pretty quickly.”

  The commander smiled. “That’s likely but since forty-eight tons didn’t come through in a single shipment, there must have been numerous smaller shipments. Plenty of opportunities for these people to slip up.”

  “Perhaps,” Lord Erama said, looking at the pad he’d been given. “Now what about the tryithelite angle?”

  “That’s in there too,” the commander said. She glanced down at a communicator on her belt that was vibrating. “Sorry, sir.”

  “Go ahead,” Lord Erama said. “Keep me informed, Commander.”

  The woman picked up the communicator and left the office to answer it, while Lord Erama skimmed the report she’d made. Outside, he knew groups of security personnel were doing sweeps of every major building they could think of. Everything that could be done was being done but if all the delydrium and tryithelite had left the spaceport...

  He frowned and switched on his communicator.

  “Yes?” someone said on the other end.

  “Security Chief Mauritz,” Lord Erama said. “It’s urgent.”

  “One moment,” came the reply.

  There was a slight wait but the communications officer was as good as his word.

  “Mauritz,” came a new voice.

  “It’s Lord Erama. Is it possible that the stuff we’re looking for never actually left the spaceport?”

  “How are we going?” Carla asked as she checked on her people on the bridge.

  “We’re matching the Albatross for course and speed,” Kailis reported.

  “I’m still waiting for the next rendezvous coordinates, Captain,” Eroim reported. “But that lovely sister of yours says they’re determining a suitable location now.”

  Carla smiled, masking her anxiety over the discovery that they’d collectively made with the help of Reece, Drackson and Naima. She hoped the forewarning they’d had was enough to avert whatever the Imraehi had planned.

  “Thank you everyone,” she said, turning to leave. “Keep me informed.”

  Yes, they had done everything they could about the that discovery. Now there was the other discovery, that Asten and Selina had been sent to find a missing Phalamkian field agent. Except he wasn’t missing. Now, it seemed quite likely that he was a highly ranked member of the Imraehi military hierarchy, which went some way to explaining Drackson’s news that Asten and Selina had then gone missing with their beacon signals sporadically appearing and disappearing in the Imraehi jungles.

  Outside the bridge, Reece was waiting for her.

  “You may have just saved the lives of several thousand people,” Carla told him as they went to her ready room.

  “If they can find the delydrium and tryithelite in time,” Reece said.

  “Well, let’s hope they do,” Carla said as they entered the room and sat down. “Failing that, they can at least evacuate the city.”

  “So now we’re heading to Imraec Tarc on a rescue mission?”

  “That’s the plan,” Carla said. “My friends are there. And my crew’s fine with it, since I’m going to give them another danger bonus.” She smiled. “Thanks to my benefactor on the other ship.”

  “Well, I understand all that,” Reece said. “But it could get very dangerous with that task force that’s coming. I don’t know if the Imraehi are just going to roll over and listen to their demands.”

  “I imagine they’re not,” Carla said. “And you’re right. It could come to a battle. And with possibly half the Imraehi defense forces made up of privateers like the pirates we met back there, the task force will be blasting armed freighters left, right and center. And I don’t think they’ll be stopping to run records checks on all of them. So it wouldn’t just be the Imraehi we’d have to worry about either.”

  “That’s not an encouraging thought,” Reece said.

  “No. But, with any luck, we should be able to get in and out of the system before the task force arrives. That’s what Drackson and I are counting on.”

  “Then the Lantern isn’t going to fight.”

  “I certainly hope not.”

  “There’s one thing I don’t understand though,” Reece said. “If Drackson’s got a whole lot of assets in place in the area, why doesn’t he get some of those guys to retrieve these people instead of going in himself?”

  “Those people have been gathering intelligence for him,” Carla explained. “They don’t want a fight any more than we do. And if I’m right, I think most of them will have cleared out already. But there’s another reason as well. And that’s that when it comes to something where the safety of his friends are concerned, there are very few people Drackson trusts.”

  Reece nodded, following. “And you’re one of them.”

  The communicator chimed again. Lord Erama looked away from the city plans he had dredged up and answered it. “Lord Erama.”

  “It’s Mauritz. You told me to make a regular report.”

  “Good man,” Lord Erama said. “Anything yet?”

  “Not yet,” the security chief said, “but we’ve only managed to sweep a small part of the spaceport. We might have a few more people available for the job as we’ve finished sweeping the city but our local spaceport is bigger than you’d think. We’re going to need more people if we’re to move any faster.”

  “I understand,” Lord Erama said. “We’ve got teams flying in from nearby cities to help out.”

  “That’ll help,” Mauritz said, his tone grim. “But I think you may have to make that order you’ve been putting off.”

  Lord Erama sighed. “You may be right, Mauritz. Thank you for the update.”

  “Not a problem. I’ll contact you again within the hour. Over and out.”

  For a long moment, Lord Erama remained perfectly still in a silent debate with himself. Then, his decision made, he leaned forward and switched on his communicator once more. “Commander Alina?”

  “I read you, Lord Erama,” a woman replied.

  “Order an immediate city wide evacuation.”

  The Imraehi city of Keraji sprawled over an island situated on a reef some six hundred kilometers out to sea from Port Alema.

  Getting there was not a difficult task for Jiang, who had so far found herself able to move about everywhere on Imraec Tarc without any undue attention. A few times during her stay, she had thought back to her run in with Merec Derairc on that station where she’d been observing the Drifter’s Folly; if Imraec Tarc was acting like some kind of whirlpool, dragging in all the pirates and fringe scum in the region, then there was a real possibility of her running into someone else who recognized her from her days in the Federation Department of Security. However, so far there’d been no repeat incidents.

  For Vismach though, there were rather more substantial obstacles. The Imraehi didn’t know who he was yet but they were well aware now that a Hie’shi was systematically sabotaging their planetary defense capabilities and they were now actively searching for him. According to Vismach, Hie’shi visitors and residents in Port Alema were being detained and questioned and any Hie’shi attempting to either travel offworld or leave any of Imraec Tarc’s many cities was stopped and questioned by the officials. At least any Hie’shi attempting to do these things through legitimate means was.

  Jiang knew this wouldn’t stop Vismach. It would only slow him down. She did worry though about what measures he’d take to acquire transportation. He had been true to his word so far in his treatment of her. On reflection, Jiang realized that Vismach had been nothing but kindness to her. However, although she was safe from him, that didn’t mean others were. Not for the first time since she’d arrived in Keraji, she found herself regretting her decision to work with him.

  After sitting alone for a while in the motel room where she’d be
en staying the past day and a half, her communicator vibrated.

  She walked over to the small desk where it lay and flicked it on. “Yes?”

  “Did you get something in the Armaera district?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Head to the little bazaar there and find a florist. I’ll meet you there.”

  Jiang frowned. “A florist?”

  “Any florist. There are only seventeen of them. I’ll find you.”

  Jiang sighed. “If you say so. See you shortly.”

  She clipped the communicator on her belt, holstered the blaster that Vismach had given her shortly after her arrival on the planet, and went out.

  It didn’t take long to reach the bazaar, a broad square with shops lining the sides and a large fountain in the center, gurgling and spraying jets of water high in the air above. She wandered along one side of the square, stopped at the first florist she came to and waited.

  She didn’t wait long.

  “Where are you staying?” Vismach asked, appearing from behind her.

  Jiang nodded. “This way. Come on.”

  Neither of them spoke until they were back in the motel room and the door was shut.

  “Are you sure it’s okay wandering around in the open like that?” Jiang asked.

  “You were the one who said not to worry about shutting down this city’s surveillance network,” Vismach reminded her.

  “Yes, but I mean is it safe to walk around in broad daylight like that?”

  Vismach made several short clicks. “The authorities only know I’m a Hie’shi. They don’t know who I am or what I look like yet. And so far, they’re not rounding all the resident Hie’shi up.”

  Jiang pursed her lips. “They may change their minds about that.”

  “Well, we won’t be here long,” Vismach said. “They’re not going to arrest me on sight and they’ve got no reason to review their surveillance footage since nothing has happened here yet. And when it does, we’re not going to wait around for the local authorities to check what the cameras picked up.”

  Jiang frowned. “Why don’t I like the sound of this? Is your plan for breaking into the naval research and development center going to be another one like that job in Port Alema?”