by B. V. Larson
“That’s crazy-talk, Captain,” I said. “This is an emergency. We must contact Hammerhead and—”
“Are you actually suggesting I let you capture me? Your fantasies exceed the boundaries of good taste, Blake.”
Although I couldn’t control the tiny ship, I was able to direct her sensors. Using my sym, I reached out and perceived our environment.
Below us was the dying world. The frosty surface was torn up, but not yet fatally so. In space above her were three vessels. One of them was Hammerhead. She sat high, watching the action as if aloof and immune. The gravity fluctuations my ship was sending out maintained just the right pattern of uneven pulses to prevent the Hunter from attacking.
The second ship was the Hunter itself. It had crested the atmosphere and lifted into orbit. There, it stalked its prey. A series of bristling spines rose up and launched themselves from its back.
The vision was startling. The missiles—that’s what the spines really were, vast missiles—plunged toward Splendor. The cruiser’s shields were up, and she was firing back everything she had. The Hunter absorbed the tiny sparks on its vast hull. It was scored and pitted from a thousand such strikes.
But it was hopeless. It wasn’t until the end that I realized the spine-missiles weren’t a single entity. They broke apart into a million flechettes, each carrying an explosive payload. They delivered so much firepower even a large shielded ship was overwhelmed.
Splendor was battered by tens of thousands of strikes. They set her to spinning, then cracked open her hull, sending bodies, precious gasses and gouts of flaming plasma into space. The display was brief, but beautiful.
“She’s gone,” I said to Samson thoughtfully. “Lael’s quite the opposite of our own captains, who are dedicated to going down with their ships. I’d be willing to bet she’s the only Imperial survivor in this system.”
“What about the Hunter?” Samson asked. “Can you see it? Is it stalking us next?”
Concerned, I studied the scene outside. The massive Hunter drifted through the debris field it had created, bits and pieces of Splendor bouncing off the hull.
“Looks like its ignoring us and Hammerhead. We probably look like space junk, and Hammerhead is using Abrams’ gravity pulse system to hide.”
“We’ve got to get out of this tin can” Samson said. “We can’t call Hammerhead, and they probably think we’re Imperials anyway.”
“Yeah…” I agreed. “There’s only more move I can think of.”
He looked at me expectantly.
“You aren’t going to like it,” I warned him.
“I figured. Do what you’ve got to do, man.”
With his blessing, I reached for the communication controls again.
Samson’s big hand reached out and interposed itself between me and the radio set.
“Hold on,” he said. “The Hunter was intent on destroying Splendor, right?”
“Yep. One target at a time. I don’t think they’re all that bright.”
“But if you start talking on that thing—won’t it detect our transmissions? It’s in acquire-target mode right now, and we don’t want it to acquire us.”
I nodded. “You’re right about that, but look at this display. We pinpointed Lael the last time she transmitted anything. She’s much closer to the Hunter than we are.”
“Yeah? So?”
I stabbed the transmit button. Samson winced.
“Captain Lael,” I said, “let me be the first to express my heartfelt regrets on the loss of your ship and crew. I can’t tell you how sorrowful it makes me to think of all the brave Imperials who’ve just lost their lives needlessly under your command.”
I paused then, waiting for a second to see if she would take the bait. She didn’t.
Frowning, I decided to prod her harder. “For the record, this was a foregone conclusion. We planned it before we even reached the Ral system. Your acceptance of my challenge sealed the fate of Splendor and every weakling Imperial aboard her.”
I paused again, staring out into space. So far, the Hunter hadn’t so much as flinched. But Lael had maintained radio silence anyway.
“Yes…” I said, keying the transmitter again, “once again the Rebel forces prevailed over a larger Imperial vessel. I’m growing increasingly convinced that there’s nothing to fear for our side. Your people simply aren’t dangerous. You’re overrated. It’s probably due to decadent rot within your ancient culture. After all, how long can a decaying people maintain a warrior tradition? You’re toothless and old, sure, but you—”
“SHUT UP!” screeched Lael. “You will be silent, insect, or your home planet will be crushed next!”
Smiling, I stopped transmitting and used my sym to watch the big Hunter. It was still lingering in orbit, drifting above the torn-up world. Nothing happened for several seconds. I sighed and reached for the transmitter again, but—
“There!” I called out. “Samson, look at the display!”
He did as I asked, and I relayed what I was seeing to that tiny space on the deck of the lifeboat. The massive Hunter, which had been dormant since destroying Splendor, finally lurched into motion.
“What’s it doing?” Samson asked.
“It’s doing our work for us.”
He frowned. “But you talked more than she did. Why is it going for her boat and not yours?”
“Opportunity versus target value,” I said. “It’s driven by an AI, remember? A bunch of complex ‘if’ statements make decisions for it. Since Lael’s boat is within easy reach, it’s decided to go for her. We’re much farther away. That made us a lower-valued target.”
Samson studied me with a furrowed brow. “You took a big risk talking to her, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I said. “But it wasn’t just for fun. Watch.”
We stared at our sensors for the next minute. Lael activated her tiny jets, and her lifeboat began thrusting away from the monster that pursued her.
There was no hope of escape, however. She couldn’t do more than delay the inevitable.
The Hunter, for its part, didn’t bother to fire another spine. It simply chased her with its forward maw open, ready to swallow her whole.
Picking up the transmitter, I called Lael one last time.
“It might be too late to save you, but I’m willing to try,” I told her. “First, tell me how to transmit on an open channel, without Imperial encryption. I must talk to Hammerhead.”
“You shall be drained of your bodily fluids, Blake!” she called out. “You’ll—”
“You’re wasting precious time, and quite possibly your own life, Lael. Do you want to live or not?”
Cursing me with every other word, she gave me her codes. I quickly used them and transmitted instructions to Hammerhead. Gwen answered, and while she was doubtful, she knew how to follow orders.
In the end, Lael had to abandon her tiny ship and become a morsel in a spacesuit. After an hour of drifting out there in a decaying orbit, Hammerhead caught up to her and rescued her.
I made sure I was on hand to greet her at the airlock. Despite the fact I was in searing pain, there was a broad smile on my face as the hatch spun open. Crewmembers on both sides of me applauded in congratulations as an Imperial officer stumbled aboard an Earth ship for the first time in history.
=55=
Captain Lael made a poor houseguest.
She was the sneering sort, and I’d expected that. But I hadn’t quite grasped the level of disdain she had for me and my people.
“The ignominy of imprisonment isn’t worth living another year,” she said. “I should give up my life and taste the sweet release of death instead.”
“That’s always an option,” Gwen told her in a cheery voice. “You wouldn’t be the first woman to think of it in Blake’s presence.”
Lael looked at her as if she were some kind of an anomaly.
“Your beasts continue to address me, Blake,” she said. “It’s disconcerting and rude.”
Gwen set her jaw, showing her fine white teeth.
“Yeah, well…” I said. “The Rebel Fleet doesn’t maintain the same sharp discipline you Imperials manage.”
“You should punish her,” Lael told me seriously. “It’s the only way. Like any animal, the lower—”
“Lady,” Gwen interrupted. “We’re not beasts, or slaves, or anything like that. We’re crewmen, people who can freely move up or down in rank based on our own merits. I might become the captain of this vessel someday.”
Lael shook her head, marveling. “Impudent and deluded. I can’t decide who is more offensive, the shipmaster who lords it over me, or his servants who don’t know their place.”
Gwen threw up her hands and walked out. That left Lael and I alone.
We’d long since stopped worrying that Captain Lael was dangerous. Without her ship, or her crew, she was toothless. She still had her wand, but it was a dead curio without a vessel to control. As a precaution, I ordered her wand be removed and stored in a locker along with her other personal effects.
My I hope was that she’d turn out to be as knowledgeable as she was irritating. If it hadn’t have been for the fact that she was a possible source of invaluable intelligence, I wouldn’t have risked so much to pick her up. But I knew she could tell us a lot about what was going on along the Orion Front. With many Rebel worlds endangered, I wanted to make sure I gained whatever intel I could from her.
Accordingly, the moment Gwen was gone, I offered Lael a drink. It was a slight risk, as she wasn’t exactly human, but she looked like an elongated human. With any luck, alcohol would affect her nervous system the same way it did ours.
After I poured her a fine wine, she sniffed it, sipped it, then spat it out on the deck. The porous surface sopped up the stain, and I frowned.
“Not to your liking?”
“It tastes like cleaning fluid,” she complained.
“Right…”
I searched the conference room’s tiny liquor cabinet. I selected the sweetest, sappiest drink I could find. It was a peach liqueur, the sort of thing I couldn’t stomach for a second.
I poured, she sniffed again, and this time she touched it with her tongue. Her frown melted away.
“That’s better. Why must I drink this liquid before dining?”
“It is our custom,” I explained.
“You drink some, then.”
Grimacing, I poured myself a dollop and forced it down. It was like drinking maple syrup.
She loosened up after that, and we both had some more peach liqueur. I delayed the food, and I poured her additional small doses of alcohol. She began to smile and her mood became elevated and relaxed.
Finally, however, she figured it out.
“I’m intoxicated!” she announced. “This is foul behavior!”
“Why? I’m drinking too.”
“Of course you are. You’re attempting to mate with me. I was thrown off by the lack of a syringe, but the procedure is the same. I want you to know right now, Captain Blake, I’m not going to become your concubine!”
“Uh… that wasn’t my intention,” I assured her. “Here, have another drink.”
I poured, but she smashed the tiny glass away from the table. It flew and became a sticky orange mess on the bulkhead.
She stood up, swaying slightly. I realized she was drunk. She hadn’t had much, either. Perhaps her metabolism was different, or perhaps she lacked any kind of tolerance. Worried I would poison her, I put the bottle away.
Lael glared at me, still standing and swaying. “I want that other stuff—the wine.”
I hesitated, and she flew into a rage.
“Give me the wine, you fool!”
That’s when I learned that Lael was a mean drunk. I let her have the wine, but only a half-glass. She became tipsy and violent in turns. She kissed me, then slapped both my ears at the same instant a moment later. It was tiresome.
“What I don’t understand,” I said conversationally, “is where these Hunters have come from, and who sent them.”
“More wine!”
I smiled, and I filled a glass with tap water. Topping this off with a shot of fruit juice, I passed it to her. She declared it delicious.
“The Hunter was sent by the Nomads,” she said. “If you could pay attention long enough, you would have heard that.”
“Where do these ‘Nomads’ come from?”
She made a sweeping gesture, slamming her hand into a wall, but she seemed not to feel it.
“From beyond the Rim,” she slurred. “From outside this Galaxy. Our life form dominates these stars now. We will allow no others,” she promised, wagging her finger sloppily.
I squinted at her as I thought for a moment. “Let me get this straight,” I said. “There were once other forms of intelligent life in our galaxy?”
“Of course, fool,” she sighed. “Why else would we have exterminated them and seeded worthy planets with our own genes?”
“So, these ‘Nomads’ are aliens that once lived here?”
“Finally, your primitive brain begins to comprehend the basics!”
She closed her eyes, but she didn’t fall asleep.
I’m hot,” she announced suddenly, pulling open the neckline of her robe, and kicking until one bare leg was exposed. She laid her head back and panted twice, deeply.
Startling me, her head snapped back up. “Give me more of that drink, or I’ll have your skin flayed from your corpse when this is over.”
Absently, I created more weakly flavored fruit punch and passed it to her.
The enormity of what she was saying began to sink in. If it was true… then these Nomads had a right to be pissed, whoever they were. The Hunter was their form of revenge.
“Can the Imperial fleet destroy these Hunter ships?” I asked.
“With difficulty, if we mass our strength. They travel alone, fortunately, and they are few in number.”
“Why don’t you do it, then?” I demanded. “Why are you letting them destroy the worlds of fellow Kher?”
She curled her lip at me. “Because you drove us off a year ago, Mr. Captain. We decided to turn them against you instead of wasting more ships.”
I stood up, suddenly angry. It was all I could do not to throw her back into her cell below decks. Controlling myself took a tremendous effort of will. These Imperials were technically our relatives, but they’d killed billions of their own kind. How could there be anything but total war with such people?
“I want you to pleasure me now,” she stated.
“Come on,” I said, “I’m taking you below.”
“To your cabin?” she asked.
“No, to your cell.”
“You find me unattractive?”
I looked at her. She was lovely, but she was a vicious witch. How could I even think of making love to such a monster? I shook my head.
“No thanks. You are beautiful,” I said, “on the outside. But inside, you’re demonic. You would kill your own brothers for sport in the face of true aliens like the Nomads. I don’t understand you. I’m repulsed.”
She responded with incoherent sounds and began humming to herself.
Guiding her by the arm, I took her down to her cell and locked her in. She was asleep as soon as she lay down on her bunk.
Watching her sleep for a second, I had to wonder what we were going to do with her. I guessed it would be Admiral Fex’s problem once we got back to the battle station.
=56=
Ursahn eventually showed up with Killer. By that time, the Hunter had opened an interstellar rift and disappeared. Ral was safe, as were the last few planets close to the star. Mia’s people had figured out how to build their own gravity-repellers, setting them up on each remaining mass of any size in the star system to drive away the Hunter.
Without anything else to destroy and digest, the Hunter had flown to another star system.
Ursahn arrived just as we reached Ral’s far orbit. The people of Ral were grateful—i
n their own odd way.
I’d been about to take a pod down to the surface of Ral when Killer hailed me.
“Phase-ship Hammerhead,” Ursahn called, using my sym. “Why are you lingering here? The enemy has left.”
“Because we don’t have an FTL drive on this phase-ship,” I explained patiently.
“But how did the enemy exit the system…?”
“Uh… they made a rift and flew through it.”
“And you didn’t follow? Were you out of position?”
I squirmed a bit in my seat. I knew what Ursahn was getting at. I could have tagged along with the Hunter, spying on it and maybe even harassing it—but I’d chosen not to.
“My mission was to save Ral. I saved Ral. Where have you been all this time?”
Ursahn glared at me across many thousands of miles of nothingness.
“Following orders. More ships will be coming through shortly—but there will be no battle, because you’ve driven off our prey,” she accused.
We parked Hammerhead in orbit, while Ursahn proved true to her word. Dozens of ships soon appeared, then hundreds more. The true strength of the Rebel Fleet had gathered at last.
“Wow,” Gwen marveled. “Are you getting this, Captain? We’ve got three battleships, at least a hundred cruisers, forty carriers and hundreds of smaller gunboats. There are so many fighters—thousands of them!”
“Yeah,” I said, not looking at the display. “I’m sure they’ll all blame me for keeping them alive.”
“You don’t think this armada could face a single Hunter?” Miller asked me.
“I’m not sure. Captain Lael hinted a fleet could destroy a Hunter, but who knows? She could have been lying. She was drunk at the time.”
Gwen looked startled at this remark. She squinted at me suspiciously. In her mind, I didn’t have the best reputation when I was left unattended with a woman.
“There’s a transmission coming in from Ral,” Chang told me. “Do you wish to take it privately?”
“No,” I said. “Display it on the forward hull.”
He did as I’d asked without comment. I’d been expecting to see a crowd of feline faces, probably old-timers with gray whiskers and drooping jowls. Instead, I saw Mia.
