I hand the scrolling message to the captain and watch his face as he reads it. “I guess we now know which mine is next,” he states flatly. He hands the trinket back to me.
“So do you think it’s true?” ask Derek.
The captain just walks back around his desk and sits heavily down.
“Can you pull up Mars Colony vids so we can see all the ships around the planet or en route? Maybe we can recognize one, or see a pattern.” My heart races as it sinks in that Mars could be in danger. My home for sixteen years could be attacked at any minute. I feel desperate and shaky.
The captain presses on a corner of the desk and another touch pad opens up. He soon has the real time vids of the area around Mars up on the wall. The vids combine to make one live viewing of everything around Mars.
I step closer, fascinated by my home planet. The domes are visible scattered all around the surface, with the main ones only visible if we change views since they’re on the far side of the planet from us at the moment. My knees get weak, and I hold myself up by the corner of the desk.
Derek steps next to me and wraps his arm around my waist, lending me physical and emotional support. I continue to stare at the planet. I watch the pattern of ships coming and going from the spaceports, and a stream of large barges heading toward Earth.
“I’m missing something here.”
I stare down at the message scrolling in my hand. Mars is next. Red.
“Captain, do you mind if I link my tablet to your vid?” I stretch past Derek to grab my backpack.
“You can plug it in there.” He touches the far corner of the desk, and another touch keypad pops up. The screen on the wall divides into two halves so we can still see the vid of Mars and the ship traffic.
I decide to bring up the files from the Tempest first, and I select the one with a list of ships. I wasn’t sure at the time why there would be a list of ships attached to secret research plans, but I think I might know now.
“Captain can you tap into the traffic data and cross check ships with this list?” I swipe the file so it covers only half of my screen, leaving the other half a list of files I know well. Although the secret research was laid out in detail in this data, it neglected to mention anywhere about the AI component of the auto-drill.
While I wait for the captain to hack into the traffic data, I pull up a map of all the attacks. At first I thought they were in order, leading out toward the Fringe, since the most recent mine was farthest outward. But there doesn’t seem to be a pattern. Some attacks are closer in toward Earth, then there will be several out toward the Fringe. It looks like random nonsense.
I shift my focus to the other screen and watch as none of the ships accounted for around Mars match those on my list. “Can you zoom out a bit? Farther from Mars?”
The captain does and runs the data from the ships farther out. I watch as the ship’s names scroll across the bottom of his screen and are compared to my list. Several matches pull up, and I lean forward, excited to see what kind of ships they are.
My heart skips a beat as I realize they’re galactic cruisers. I look at Derek, irritation at missing something gnawing at my gut. “Galactic ships. I don’t think they’re what we’re looking for, even though they aren’t in their own quadrants at the moment. Strange as that is, I don’t think they’re the ones attacking the mines.” Irritation is making all my nerve endings itchy. It takes all of my self-control to stay still and work the problem.
Derek types in a few commands on the console in front of me. “They might not be doing the attacking, but maybe they’re the ones showing the EPL pirates which mine needs taken care of next. These two galactic ships are long-range research vessels. So they could very well have all the equipment and crew to do the type of research you saw on the asteroid. And they wouldn’t throw any kind of red flag warning up when they entered a new quadrant. Science vessels can go anywhere, even the galactic ones.”
I bite the inside of my cheek. “It would be too obvious for a galactic ship to be hanging around a mining colony though, wouldn’t it?” I look between Derek and the captain, wishing Red were here with his knowledge of all things mining.
Derek zooms in to look at the galactic ship. “They might just be the base of operations. They have every right to be in that quadrant.” He points to where several courier ships are docked up underneath one of the galactic ships. “You said the connection with the data transfers might be the private couriers.”
I slap my hands together. “Of course. The invisible world of the working class. No one would notice courier ships coming and going between galactic fleet vessels, mining barges, or research ships like the Tempest.”
I turn toward the captain. “Can you hack into the galactic data to search for those?”
He shakes his head. “Not without getting caught. The galactic security have reprogrammed their security protocols since the attacks.”
I blow a few stray curls off my face. “I bet security got tighter way before the attacks.” I look back at the list of ships.
“Derek? Do you see what’s wrong with this list?” I read through the names of the ships again just to make sure I’m right.
“That there aren’t any mining ships on there?” Derek guesses.
“No. The problem is there aren’t any private courier ships on here. There are plenty of pirate ships, galactic ships, and Ash Corp couriers. But the private, family couriers don’t have to register with anyone. And there aren’t any on this list.”
I turn back to the captain, my heart racing. “It’s the private couriers. We have to stop all private courier ships from landing on Mars. How do we do that?”
The captain stares at me like I’ve grown another head. “Only the galactic command can stop space traffic. And even then, the private couriers could still manage to get down there without being seen. They don’t need the required e-tags like the rest of us are required to have, and they’re quite a bit smaller so most planetary sensors wouldn’t even notice them.”
“That’s exactly how the research crews are getting into the asteroids unseen. They use these invisible ships to get onto and off the asteroids. We need to do something.” I step behind the chairs so I can pace in the small room.
“But why would they need to have pirates attack the miners, then?” asks Derek.
I stare at the map of locations where mines have been attacked in the last year. “That’s it! This is why the attacks are so random. This group only needs the pirates as a diversion in case their research is discovered. The asteroids they can get their research off of without anyone noticing wouldn’t need a diversion.” I enter a command, and data scrolls beside each asteroid that was attacked. “They’re experimenting on different types of asteroids. Most of these asteroids are made of completely different minerals. There could be hundreds of AI beta machines out there.”
“And yet Red thinks Mars will be next?” Derek turns toward me. “Even though there are so many more possibilities out here?” He waves a hand at the vid screen showing several light years’ worth of stars, asteroids, and planets.
I look over at the live vid of Mars, frowning. Even though we’re several days of space flight away from it, the planet looks alive and as if we could land on it at any minute. “It makes sense with all the traffic that if there was research somehow hidden down there, it would be the hardest place to get out of without being discovered. It’s not secluded like the asteroid mines out this way.” I look at Derek. “But why now he thinks it will be attacked, I have no idea. The only possibility is he somehow discovered something about Mars before he got taken away, but wasn’t able to pass on more than this simple message.”
My hand tightens around the message stick just as a chime startles me. The door opens to the captain’s office, and the second in command walks in. His large face is ashen. “Captain?”
“Voss? What’s wrong? Why didn’t you just comm me?” The captain meets the second halfway across the room. The difference betwee
n the slight captain and the large man is apparent now they’re standing toe to toe. But I can see the respect the second has for his captain.
“It’s Red, sir. A miner on an asteroid, not far from here, has found him and the galactic commander. Frozen in the ice.”
23
All Seems Lost
I step toward the captain and his second in command. “What? Are they all right?” I can’t imagine the EPL just letting the galactic commander and Red go alive. My heart sinks as I realize the odds of them being alive are nil. They both know something about what’s going on with the illegal research.
The large man glances at the captain. After a reassuring nod, he answers me in his booming voice. “They were beaten and left down in the ice mines. Somehow, Red was able to get a message to the miners above to look for them. They were found alive, but freezing in a cavern that had not been mined yet.”
“The research. They took care of two problems at one time. Their hostages and getting their research off the asteroid.” I step next to the captain.
The big man looks confused but continues, “A hospital ship happens to be nearby and will pick them up soon. Although we’re closer to Red than they are.” He looks down at me. “And they sent you a message. I forwarded it to your tablet.”
I tap on my tablet and pull up the message.
“Red and other cold but alive. Second on Delta guilty. They’re already on Mars. Stay away.” I show Derek the cryptic message with shaking hands.
I look up at the captain, rage mixed with relief painfully swirling in my chest.
After seeing the look on my face, he dismisses Voss.
Slowly I read the message out loud. Neither Derek nor the captain speaks. I go back over to the desk computer and pull up the space maps to see how far away we are from the hospital ship. We’re almost two days from them still.
And we’re about the same distance to Mars, which is in the opposite direction. I frown. Red is fairly close to our location, so how did he and the commander get there?
I turn to Derek. “I think the commander might actually have been trying to help us.”
“Just because he got kidnapped along with Red you think he’s on our side?” Derek’s face tinges pink with anger.
I watch Derek’s shoulders tense. “I know we’ve had a rough year trusting people. We’ve been through a lot.” I place my hand on his taught forearm muscles. “But if we’re going to figure this out before the next attack we need to stick together.” I make sure Derek looks me in the eyes, and I see some softening there before I turn to the captain.
“We need to get Red and then get to Mars. How fast can you get us there?” I remember the modified engines and how easy it was to get away from the asteroid.
“There’s no way on Titan’s methane surface will I get my ship anywhere near another possible mining attack. Being in the vicinity of one was bad luck, two would be disastrous. I’d look guilty, like I was in on all this stupid political agenda.” He waves his pudgy hand at the vid screen above his head.
“But if we can just get there, we might be able to avert another attack.” I place both hands on my hips.
“How are you going to do that exactly, Miss Teves? You don’t even know exactly who you’re looking for. There are more than a million private couriers out there; all willing to do whatever it takes to keep their families fed. And if they’re working for the EPL, then you can be sure there is not a person in this whole galaxy who will help you. The EPL is an old, wealthy, powerful, and secretive organization. No one knows who the members are, how they’re organized, or how they keep pulling stunts like this.” He shakes his head, his jowls flapping as he stands up to face me.
“Here’s what I advise you to do. Lay low for a while until this smooths over, and give Red some time to figure out how to get you two kids back to your home station. Then you can just go about your business normal-like and not worry about all this. Whatever is going on with this research will eventually come to light. Hidden agendas always do when you’re in the spot light.”
I stare gape-jawed at the captain. “Are you seriously asking me to give up my investigation and just let innocent miners die?” I can feel heat raging in my belly and spread outward.
The captain steps backward without breaking eye contact. “Yes, I am suggesting it. Chances are there won’t be any other attacks, and if so, just let the officials work things out.” His voice ends in a high note. He steps back behind the safety of his desk but remains standing.
The captain then hands me back the data drive. I have been dismissed.
I look down at the small tech that involved me in all this mess. “I lived on Mars colony for sixteen years, captain. There’s no way I’m going to just sit back and allow her to be attacked.” I look to Derek for support and find him frowning, looking between the captain and me.
“What? Do you agree with him?” I feel like a bucket of ice water has been thrown on me. The heat from the rage turns to ice flowing through my veins as I look at Derek’s conflicted face.
I grab my pack and storm out of the whitewashed room. Although difficult to get into with all its safety protocol, the captain’s room is surprisingly easy to get out of. I blindly rush through the corridors, my head down. I don’t know where I’m going; I just need to get out of there before exploded.
Intellectually I know going to Mars is a stupid idea. It would be dangerous. Knowing I can’t trust anyone is eating through me like an ulcer. But I can’t just sit here and let Mars get attacked. Especially if there’s a chance we can prevent it.
In my blind rampage away from the captain and Derek, I have forgotten one major detail. I was wanted by the galactic command. I can hear it in the whispers of the crew around me as I rush through the corridors.
I pull my hoody over my head and duck down a corridor lined with lifts. I hover by the far wall and push the button. A light quickly illuminates and scans my wrist. “Titan’s ash,” I exclaim under my breath. I forgot about my implant. Even though the captain said it wasn’t traceable outside the ship, it could still be active inside. Nothing I can do about it now. It’s not like I have a plan yet anyway.
I step onto the empty lift, and after pushing the button that should take me to the dock, I lean heavily against the wall.
I close my eyes and assess my situation. I’m still not a hundred percent back to health yet. I rotate my wrists and arms to find quite a bit of soreness still there. I think about the look on Derek’s face just now. He doesn’t believe I can figure this out either.
The wall opposite me flashes something colorful, and I look up to see the end of some commercial about a vacation planet. I don’t even have a ship to get to Mars. I frown and will myself not to cry as I stare at the peaceful scenes of pink water and sky blue sands of the vacation asteroid Ceti.
Then the scene changes to a close up of my face with the word “WANTED” written in large letters across my forehead. My skin crawls, and I suddenly feel conspicuous as the lift door opens at that exact moment. I pull my hoody around my face and quickly walk out of the lift, pushing my way through a waiting crowd.
I hurry away from the lift center, the crowds getting thinner, and soon there are few people in the corridor. On my left, a row of windows appears and continues the rest of the way down the corridor. I stop to look and see I’ve made it to the docks. Just on the other side of this window, is the main dock for this ship bustling with activity. I lean my forehead against the window.
Now what, Bren?
I watch the crews loading and unloading crates from small courier ships. I wonder absently what’s in the crates. Food? Weapons? Trinkets?
I shake my head as a small bit of hope blossoms in my belly. I need to get on one of those ships.
On the far side of the dock, there’s one ship with landing gear and metal under belly that is permanently tinged a dark red. It’s obviously been down to Mars more than any of the other ships. My pulse quickens, and I start walking down the corrido
r again, trying to find a way inside the docking area.
Windows give way to solid blocks of wall, which I hurry anxiously past so I don’t miss that ship. The temperature in the corridor gets colder even as I’m racing past confused crew, my hoody still pulled low.
A few meters ahead I see several crew enter the corridor through a thick door. My heart constricts as I race toward it, knowing I’m leaving Derek behind, and for once, I don’t have a plan. I just know I need to get to Mars. With the message from Red confirming where I need to go to find answers to both how my mom was involved in all this, and how to stop the possible attack on Mars. Even though he told me to stay away.
In my flight toward the exit, I nearly knock over several people, so I slow down and apologize, keeping my face downward. When I finally get to the double doors, I practically sigh in relief. I step in front of them, and as they start to open, I realize they’re made of glass. I can see the whole dock and the Mars ship off to the side as they slowly roll to each side.
And then I notice Derek standing just on the other side facing me.
I stop in my tracks, right before the doors and stare at him. My heart races as he gazes at me with a hardened expression. His hands are clenched to his sides. I feel weak as I look upon the pain on his face I know I caused, knowing I was going to cause more by leaving.
“What’s your plan, Bren?” He asks, his voice gruff. The muscle in his jaw flexes.
I step aside to let crew pass without taking my gaze off Derek. My eyes flick to the ship, which now has a line of crewmembers loading crates into its bay. Heaviness settles on my chest, and I take a deep breath before I answer him.
“I really don’t know this time, Derek. I just know I need to get to Mars.” I step forward through the door so I can get out of the way of the crew coming and going. I’m inches from Derek, and all I want to do is touch him, have him hold me, and have this whole situation with the attacks just be a bad dream. I cross my arms to keep myself in check.
Delta Fringe Series Boxset: Books 1-3 Page 34
