by C H Gideon
“Aye, sir,” Ria said, snapping off a salute.
While they waited for Takal to complete the exchange with the Melliferi, the crew prepared for departure. Reynolds slouched in the command chair, mulling over his decision to take this crew from their home galaxy. Returning to High Tortuga was the right plan to hand over the information and technology he’d acquired, as well as his more immediate concern of reconsolidating his separate personalities into one. Tactical’s continued adolescent behavior was strong evidence it was needed. But he could have made the jump alone. He’d traveled to the Chain galaxy by himself, after all.
And if he’d diverted to drop them at Lariest, he might have avoided the solar event that had thrown them a billion light-years off course. He might already be back home, getting his personalities sorted.
On the other hand, the visit to Serifity had made him realize he, Reynolds, might not be the only personality who could benefit the Empire by being mobile. Doc might make good use of a body. Had he been with them during their adventures in the D’rken’s caverns, he might have helped Ka’nak recover faster. Comm would have been useful on that mission, as well. This trip was giving him time to think.
“Reynolds?” Asya said. “Did you hear me?”
His head snapped up.
“Takal says they’ve got what they need. We’re ready to depart.” Asya gave him a strange look. “If I didn’t know better, I’d have thought you were daydreaming.”
“Do androids dream of electric sheep?”
“What?”
“All systems nominal,” Reynolds said with an easy grin. “Let’s get this show on the road!”
“Battlestations!” XO began the familiar routine. Reynolds smiled as the crew executed the process like a well-oiled machine. Spinning up the Gate drive, they crossed the event horizon and sailed smoothly into Reichof space.
They popped into existence close to Reichof Six—too close. The Gate had landed them inside the orbits of its three moons.
Alarms blared. Warning lights strobed.
“We’re being targeted,” Asya said, slapping the alarm mute. The klaxons fell silent. “Four ships and two space stations have locked on to us. Their missile systems are active.”
“Shields are at full power,” Jiya said.
“Tactical, warm up the railguns,” Reynolds said. “Comm, get them on the horn. Tell them we’re peaceful.”
“Get ‘em while they’re hot!” Tactical called.
“Hailing on all frequencies,” Comm said.
“The station is firing,” Asya said. “Twenty-three missiles inbound.”
“Evasive maneuvers,” Reynolds said.
“Aye, sir,” Ria said. “I’m taking us farther out.” The ship rolled and swooped away from the planet. The four ships changed vectors to follow.
“Two of the ships are firing,” Asya reported. “We have another dozen missiles headed our way. They appear to only have missiles, no energy beams.”
“Comm, tell them we will defend ourselves if they don’t stop firing,” Reynolds said.
“I’m getting no response to my hails,” Comm said.
“Are they getting our transmissions?” Reynolds asked. “Can they understand us?”
“Yes, sir. Translator is working,” Comm replied. “I can hear chatter between the ships and the station. They’ve understood our transmissions and are choosing to ignore them.”
“Let’s show them what they’re messing with, then,” Reynolds said. “Tactical, destroy those inbound missiles and then blow a crater in their moon in a location away from any base or personnel. Just a demo.”
“Just a demo,” Tactical muttered. “Demo this, fuckers!”
Power surged through the railgun, accelerating a flock of projectiles and spewing them at the moon. They slammed into the barren planetoid, digging a new crater the size of a small city.
“They’re still firing,” Asya said. “We’ve got ten more coming our way.”
“Shields are holding,” Jiya said. “They can’t hurt us unless they’ve got something a hell of a lot more powerful.”
“Three more ships have joined the fray,” Asya said. “We’ve got a whole cloud of incoming missiles. Power signatures show that big destroyer is bringing on something new. Might be a laser cannon. Anti-spacecraft lasers on the planet are firing!”
Beams of bright red lanced from the planet, spearing straight into the superdreadnought’s side. The shields sparked but held.
“Shields down twenty percent on the port side!” Jiya called.
“Enough crap,” Reynolds said. “Ria, bring us ‘round. Tactical, disable two of their ships. Disable only.”
“About time!” Tactical crowed.
The railguns spat, sending a mass of hypervelocity projectiles into the first two ships. The ordnance tore through their shields like rocks through wet tissue paper, then the Reynolds belched a cloud of missiles, targeting the pursuers’ propulsion. The swarm of laser-guided bombs curved around the ships, rammed into their engines, and detonated. Clouds of debris boiled out and the ships sailed on, unable to change speed or maneuver.
“Direct hit!” Asya called. “Two ships on ballistic trajectories only. They are dead in the water.”
“Nice job, Tactical,” Reynolds said. “Comm, tell them if they want more of the same, they should keep coming.”
“Nice job? Nice?” Tactical grumbled. “That was fucking neurosurgery. Did you see that precision? You tied my hands behind my back, and I still performed a miracle!”
“You don’t have hands,” Reynolds said.
“Well, whose fault is that?” Tactical demanded. “Not that I need them.”
“Sir, they’re hailing,” Comm said.
A gray control room appeared onscreen. A large blue humanoid with four hands and three legs stood in the center of the room. It had four eyes and a snout like a pig. Several similar creatures squatted before computer stations behind him, their hands swiping and poking their equipment.
“You have illegally entered Reichof space,” the being shouted. “You have damaged Reichof ships! If you do not leave this system immediately, you will be destroyed!”
“By you and whose armada?” Tactical asked. Expecting an outburst, Comm had already excluded Tactical’s channel from the external communications.
“Ten more missiles coming our way,” Asya said.
“Rear and starboard shields are at ninety-five percent,” Jiya said. “Port’s are at seventy-five.”
“This is Reynolds of the Superdreadnought Reynolds,” the captain said. “We have no hostile intentions toward you. We request a cease-fire.”
“If you don’t leave our system immediately, we will blast you from the skies!” the alien replied.
“Two more salvos of missiles launched our way,” Asya reported. “Their ground-based lasers are firing again!”
“You’ve seen what our weaponry can do to your ships,” Reynolds said. “Those were our smaller weapons. You really don’t want to make me mad.” Muting the external comm, he turned to Tactical. “Spool up the ESD. Do not fire it. I just want them to see what we’ve got.”
“Whatever,” Tactical said sulkily. “What good is an Eat Shit and Die weapon if you can’t fire it?”
Reynolds turned back to the screen. “If you check your systems, you’ll see we’re powering up one of our larger weapons. If you do not stand down, we will use it.”
The alien turned to its left and looked at one of the control systems. It seemed to stiffen. A conversation took place, with lots of gesticulating and muttering. Finally, the alien turned back to Reynolds. “We will stop firing if you power down your weapons.”
“Tactical, secure the ESD,” Reynolds commanded. “Keep the railgun hot.” He turned to the alien. “I’ve taken the larger weapon offline, but I will not leave my ship defenseless. Your turn.”
The alien said something to his crew. “I’ve commanded them to cease missile salvos.”
“All incoming mis
siles destroyed by our shields. No further launches,” Asya confirmed.
Reynolds nodded. “Tactical, take the railguns to standby. If anyone twitches in our direction, you can take them on.”
“That’s what I’m talkin’ about,” Tactical said. “Set for pulsar level five, subsonic implosion factor two, Agent J.”
“And by twitches, I mean fires at us,” Reynolds clarified. He looked at the alien. “We have a truce. But if you take any offensive actions against us, we will respond tenfold.”
“Understood,” the alien said. “Now, go away.”
“That’s not very nice,” Reynolds said. “We came to make alliances and initiate trade. Is your system’s government not interested in interstellar commerce?”
The being paused for a moment, as if considering. “I will contact my leadership. In the meantime, move your behemoth away from my stations.”
“Fair enough,” Reynolds said. “We got a little too cozy before we got to know you. Ensign Alcott, take us about halfway to that first gas giant. Will that be far enough, Reichof Command?”
“My name is Vernish,” the alien said. “And nowhere in the system is far enough, but it will do for now. Vernish out.” The screen went black.
“He’s not winning any diplomacy awards,” Asya muttered with a grin.
“We need to tweak that Gate drive again,” Reynolds said. “I like the decreased margin of error, but dropping us right in their backyard is not optimum.”
“I’ll see what I can do, sir,” Alcott replied, turning to her console.
“The Melliferon visit was way too easy,” Reynolds said. “This is more what we’re used to.”
While they waited for Vernish to hail them again, they took the opportunity to study the system. Takal wanted to send scientific probes to look for the odd space storm that had thrown them off course. Reynolds didn’t want to incite any further violence with unsanctioned launches of any kind, so the old scientist was forced to make do with scans from the ship.
Ria and Geroux worked on refining the Gate drive targeting, in hopes of preventing another incident like this one. Maddox and Asya, with the help of Comm, monitored communications between the ships, stations, and planet.
“Most of it’s encrypted,” Comm said. “But it was easy enough to crack. They aren’t very sophisticated.”
“They’re extremely twitchy, though,” Maddox said, using the same word Reynolds had used because he saw how it applied. “They appear to be heavily militarized. Each of the three moons has multiple bases. They’ve got planet-based laser systems, too. Those are more for show than anything, at least to a ship as well shielded as ours. But they probably keep the bad guys at bay.”
“Like those pirates that attacked the Threfol?” Reynolds mused. “I’m kind of surprised we haven’t run into them yet.”
“Maybe these are them,” Taneral said, having arrived on the bridge during the lull. “We’ve never tracked any of the Terubine ships back to their home system.”
“Wild speculation isn’t going to help,” Reynolds told the female. “If you find evidence that clearly identifies Reichof as the home base of the Terubine pirates, then we can talk about how to respond. Right now,” he looked around the bridge to ensure he had everyone’s attention, “we need to focus on our mission. We must get tualinton to repair our Gate drive, and this planet is the most likely source.”
“Vernish is hailing,” Comm said several hours later.
“Finally! Put it through.” Reynolds sat up and straightened his uniform. “Vernish, how are you?”
The alien stared stonily at Reynolds. “Planetary leadership is discussing whether to speak with you. You’ll have to wait.”
“Any idea how long the decision process will take?” Reynolds offered his most ingratiating smile. Then he closed his lips. For all he knew, this species interpreted bared teeth as a threat. He really needed to get to work on that body-language translator.
“It will take as long as it takes,” Vernish said. “Maintain your current position, or we will be forced to take offensive action.”
“We don’t intend to move,” Reynolds said. “At least, not relative to your location.”
“See that you do not, or we will blow you from the skies! Vernish out.”
“Blow us from the skies?” Jiya asked. “He does know we’re in space, right?”
They waited three standard days. Vernish called them several more times, each time threatening destruction if they moved a hair closer to the planet.
While they waited, Asya supervised while Maintenance ran full diagnostics on the ship. Three times. Ka’nak, Jiya, and Maddox binge-watched Firefly. Geroux and Takal modified the communication device to create a version for Taneral. It would allow her to stay connected to the crew without giving her access to anything sensitive. She objected to having it injected but gave in when they described the advantages. “There’s no risk,” Geroux told her. “Plus, it will deactivate and be absorbed by your body when we leave this galaxy,”
Reynolds called together his alternate personalities. Sitting on the bridge, ignoring the crew around him, he called the meeting to order inside his head.
“I’ve called you here today—” XO intoned.
“To tell you to fuck off!” Tactical broke in. “Why the mopey face, Reynolds? Not enough hot android babes?”
“Shut up, Tactical,” the voices chorused.
Reynolds imagined glaring at Tactical. Tactical leered back. He could feel each molecule of the ship and control each part of it—except those bits who asserted their independence.
“Like me,” Tactical said.
That was the problem. He’d split himself into multiple autonomous personalities. Since they were all him, they didn’t take too kindly to being controlled by someone else, even if that someone else was him.
“We need to get home,” Reynolds said. “This isn’t working anymore.”
“We probably need to see a shrink,” Doc said, his thoughtful voice quiet.
“We have some issues to discuss,” Reynolds agreed. “We need to figure out how to live together. How to get the most out of our, er, collective situation. Do we reintegrate?”
“If we reintegrate,” Tactical said, serious for once, “what happens to me? To all of us?”
“That’s the question, isn’t it?” Reynolds replied. “The other option—"
“Incoming message!” Comm reported.
“The supreme commander will meet with you,” Vernish said.
Reynolds wasn’t sure, but the words sounded grudging. “The supreme commander?” he asked. “Is this a planetary leader, or a military leader?”
“I don’t understand the question,” Vernish replied. “There is only one leader.”
“Excellent,” Reynolds replied. “When and where?”
“I will send trajectory and landing coordinates,” Vernish said. “Deviation from the indicated path will be construed as an act of war and result in the destruction of your shuttle and an immediate attack on your ship.”
“We will follow your instructions,” Reynolds said, but he was speaking to a blank screen.
“They’ve seen how much power our ESD uses, and what Tactical can do with a few well-placed rounds,” Jiya said. “Why do they keep threatening us? They know they’d lose.”
“Most bullies have one trick,” Reynolds replied. “Threaten, then threaten some more. They’re probably used to being the biggest kid on the block. Vernish doesn’t know what to do when a bigger kid comes to town. But at least we’re making progress.”
Chapter Eleven
San Roche and L’Eliana piloted the Pods to the surface, following the strict instructions provided by Vernish. The crew rode with San Roche, while L’Eliana flew her cloaked Pod in his wake. The descent was uneventful, although the flight path gave them no opportunity to view the planet.
“If they think this means we won’t know where anything is, they have no idea how powerful our scanners are.” Takal laughed
. “I could print a picture of where the supreme commander left his false teeth last night if I wanted.”
“What they don’t know, they can’t ask for,” Reynolds cautioned. “I don’t want to give them more than we have to. You heard what Maddox and Asya said about the communications they monitored. These folks live in a dictatorship. We’re not propping up military regimes if I can avoid it. Taneral and her People still have to live in this galaxy.”
Takal nodded. “I will be silent.”
“Good.” Reynolds had reservations about bringing the chatty scientist, but his expertise was necessary to retrieve the tualinton.
The Pods arrowed in, landing precisely where Vernish commanded. A huge field stretched in all directions for several kilometers. Although burn marks left evidence of other craft, the field was empty, probably cleared out to avoid giving Reynolds’ team any intel. The Pod doors opened, and the landing team stepped out.
The air was clear, but with a metallic scent that caught in the back of the throat. A thin haze of clouds drifted overhead, and a breeze stirred up dust at their feet. Far off, a larger cloud billowed into the sky.
“That’s our welcoming committee,” Reynolds said. “Right on time.” He looked at the group, ensuring he made eye contact with each, and switched to their private comms. Remember what we discussed. Keep your eyes open. Ask as few questions as possible. We don’t want to give them reason to detain any of us. Don’t discuss our technology unless I’ve introduced it first since even the agroprinters could be twisted to military uses. We’ll have to trade something, but it will be as benign as possible.
The team nodded. Taneral blinked, still getting used to the newly-installed comm link.
“If we get separated, remember where we parked,” Reynolds added aloud as the ground transport rumbled to a halt. The huge, blocky vehicles rode on enormous armored tires, and each sported several top-mounted guns.
Vernish and a dozen soldiers climbed out of the first. They wore bright red uniforms dripping with fringe, medals, and sparkling insignia. The shortest was well over two meters tall and built like a tree trunk. Their three thick legs propelled them at surprising speed, but the gait looked like a three-legged race from a children’s picnic.
