Judgment of the Bold

by Jamie McFarlane

  "I am anything but lazy," Garcia replied stiffly.

  "And you know how to stand up to power," Ada said. "You'll make an excellent pilot, Jose."

  I thumbed my ring as I watched Intrepid lift skyward. The small, matching quantum crystal chip that my engagement ring shared with Tabby’s was too often the only link between us. I smiled when my ring throbbed momentarily as she returned my message. I regretted splitting the team, but knew it was the right answer. I had to get the citizens of York to a safe place and we couldn't afford to ignore leads on Kroerak activity.

  "They're good together," Marny said, clapping me on the shoulder, pulling me closer. "Ada and Tabby make each other better."

  I brought my hand up and rested it on Marny's back. "Like you and Nick make me better," I said. "I just wish I didn't have to watch them sail away without us."

  "Cap, I had to watch you and Tabby sail away just one time to understand that it wasn't acceptable," she said. "Tabby's different. If you ask me, I'd say the only way you keep her is to make sure she has room to fly free."

  "I can't argue with that," I said. "She'd resent me if I tried to keep her back."

  "Been looking for you two." Hog Hagarson's voice boomed through the courtyard in front of Nick's warehouse where Intrepid had just been sitting next to Hornblower. Even though the battle cruiser outmassed the frigate by ten times, the courtyard felt empty.

  I turned to find Hog, Bish and Mom all walking quickly toward us.

  "You're all up early," I said, pushing Intrepid's departure from my mind.

  "Burning daylight," Bishop said.

  "Can I assume York and Petersburg came to a decision last night?" I asked.

  I'd decided to stay away from the giant bonfire they'd hosted. Instead, I’d taken a shift helping Roby manufacture and install armor on Intrepid so he could meet Ada's deadline. I appreciated having gotten the chance to talk with him. Ada had injured his pride and he needed help understanding where he'd gotten off track.

  "We have some modifications we'd like to discuss," Bish said.

  "But it doesn’t change anything," Hog added quickly. "The decision was unanimous and that includes old Bish here. Don't let his surly disposition bury the lead."

  "I hate it when you do that, Hog," Bish said, turning on his friend. "We'll never be in a better position to negotiate than we are right now, but you've gone and given it away."

  "Is it something we can work out once we get there?" I asked, looking at Mom. I was exhausted from working on Intrepid the night before and wasn't up for a negotiation.

  "We can," she answered, with some exasperation in her voice. "Like I tried to explain last night, Bish, this won't be the end of the items we need to work out. House of the Bold wants to create an environment where the people of York will thrive on Kito."

  "Not much we can do now," Bish said sourly, glaring at Hog.

  "That's the spirit," Hog answered, clapping him on the back.

  "Like I was saying before," Nick said. "We've plenty of room for everyone. We'll have limits on items that can be moved on the first trip. We'll spread folks out across the lower four decks. We'll need to keep livestock on Deck Six, though."

  "Livestock?" I asked, recalling a particularly nasty delivery that had left our sloop, Hotspur, completely soiled.

  "What do you think thirteen-hundred people eat?" Bish asked, still annoyed.

  I tugged a mealbar from a pouch and waved it at him. "Spent most of my life eating nothing but these. Turns out, they're quite a lot cleaner than your livestock."

  "Deck Six is mostly open and we can construct partitions easily," Nick said. "As it is, we're seven days travel to the Santaloo-Tamu wormhole entrance. Add another day to get to the Tamu-Mhina wormhole and three more past that. We'll only be sailing for a total of two-hundred eighty hours."

  "Forget about food, that's a lot of O2 and water," I said, thinking about providing for thirteen hundred people and their livestock.

  "Hornblower has a water splitter," Nick said. "We've been using O2 crystals because of power usage, but with enough fuel, the splitter can easily keep up with atmo demands."

  "I assume you've already done the calculations," I said.

  "I have," Nick said. "Our biggest burn will be escaping Zuri since we'll be fully loaded. We should have between fifteen and twenty percent reserve."

  "Didn't we take on fuel at the Abasi ship yard?" I asked.

  "We did," Nick answered. "Hornblower isn't really designed for atmospheric entry. The fuel usage is considerable, especially overloaded like we'll be."

  "What's the quickest we can get underway?" I asked.

  "Two ten-days," Bish answered, before Nick could.

  "You have ninety-six hours," I answered, hotly.

  "You can't …" Bish objected.

  Hog put one hand up, interrupting the irascible old man. "We'll get started on it right away."

  "Nick, we need more," I urged.

  Hornblower's massive engines were generating an enormous amount of power, all of which was being directed into the gravity repulsors. So far, we were making quite a racket, shaking a lot and generating a giant cloud of dust and debris. What we weren't doing was gaining elevation.

  "Hang on, Liam," Nick answered. "Gravity systems take a while to reach peak."

  My eyes were glued to a virtual gauge that showed an altimeter. "That's it," I said, breathing tightly as the gauge suddenly shifted from twelve hundred thirty-two meters to twelve hundred thirty-three. A warning light showed as Hornblower listed to port and slid twenty meters over, crashing into Zuri's thick undergrowth. A screeching sound reverberated through the ship as metal scraped against heavy vegetation. Slowly, I adjusted starboard, migrating a small amount of power portside. I'd had plenty of experience moving heavy loads and knew that fast adjustments brought problems of their own.

  "Armor is holding, Cap," Marny reported, calmly.

  "We're at one-hundred two percent," Nick said. "I've only got a little left."

  "I'm going to need it," I answered.

  Hornblower's port slide slowed and we started moving back. We didn't have a great deal of room before we'd start hitting the hill behind us, but I held steady, not ready to make adjustments.

  "Do it," I hissed under my breath as suddenly we gained two, then three, then five and then twenty meters. "Go, baby!" I urged.

  Hornblower responded and continued to rise, accelerating upward at a rate I'd hardly be willing to brag about – but it was progress.

  "Nick, how are we doing for fuel?" I asked.

  "We're having a yard-sale," he answered, adopting a term often used to describe when a miner decided to call it quits and leave, selling everything he had at ridiculous discounts. "But we're good."

  "All hands, this is Captain Hoffen," I called over public address once we'd reached fifty thousand meters. "We'll be switching from gravity systems to main engines in five minutes. I'll ask everyone to have a seat, the transition can be a bit abrupt."

  I sat back in the pilot's chair I'd commandeered for lift-off and allowed my shoulders to relax. The responsibility for so many people weighed heavily on me and I looked forward to the relative safety of space flight.

  "Almost there, Cap," Marny offered from her workstation.

  "Copy that," I agreed.

  A few minutes later I accepted my AI's offer to provide a shipwide P.A. system countdown from ten. As the count hit zero, I dialed down the engine power, causing an uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach as we lurched downward. As we fell, I maneuvered the controls so we rotated, bringing the powerful engines beneath us. With a light touch, I powered up, watching as the acceleration vectors relative to Zuri shifted from a bright red – which indicated falling – back through lighter shades until they turned blue and finally green.

  "That's my girl," I said, patting the forward bulkhead lovingly.

  "Cap, we have a fleet of Pogona-flagged ships at forty thousand kilometers," Marny warned.

  "Head down to
fire-control," I instructed. "Stolzman, you're needed on the bridge."

  "Aye, aye, Cap," Marny answered.

  "Reporting for duty."

  Ken Stolzman was the only remaining pilot from Munay's crew. While low on actual flight-hours, he was technically qualified for the helm and had chosen to stay behind when Munay had absconded with Fleet Afoot to chase the Kroerak. His voice surprised me as I hadn't realized he was on the bridge, although I had been pretty focused.

  "Take number-two spot," I ordered.

  "Aye, aye," he answered, slipping into the second pilot's chair.

  "Helm is yours, Mr. Stolzman," I said.

  "Helm is mine," he repeated.

  While against my instincts, I knew I could hardly command Hornblower if I was also piloting her. I walked calmly back to the Captain's chair. While I might have hoped to escape Zuri without conflict, in the back of my mind, I knew better.

  Chapter 10

  Not in Kansas Anymore

  Mhina System, Intrepid

  “Captain Chen, we have two freighters on our heading at forty thousand kilometers,” Jonathan announced. “There are also seven smaller vessels operating within a radius of thirty-five thousand kilometers.”

  Twenty hours previous, Intrepid entered the Tamu star system from the Santaloo-Tamu wormhole and had been on hard-burn to the Tamu-Mhina wormhole end-point where the Confederation of Planets' blockade had once been. At forty thousand kilometers, Ada knew they were in no immediate danger and she awaited sensor updates on the holographic displays to her left.

  “There’s quite a bit of debris from the battle,” Tabby said. “I’m taking manual control.”

  “Copy that, Tabby,” Ada answered, allowing her eyes to trace the fantastic amount of rubble left behind months ago during the battle between the Confederation of Planets' fleet and the invading Kroerak. Even after all that time, arcing electrical circuits and small gas leaks were detectable in the broken husks.

  “Frak, this was bad,” Tabby said, her chest constricting as she nudged Intrepid onto a course recommended by the ship’s collision avoidance system. “Do you think there are people still alive in there?”

  “You doing okay?” Ada asked, cognizant of Tabby’s own close call when the Mars Protectorate battle cruiser she’d been on had been destroyed, leaving her near dead among the wreckage.

  “You mean, am I going to turn into a freak because of some crazy flashback?” Tabby asked with an edge to her voice.

  “Well, not to put too fine a point on it, but yes,” Ada answered. The two women had a kinship that only those who’d been through traumatic events and survived could share. Tabby grunted a chuckle at Ada’s bald-faced admission.

  “Point to Chen,” Tabby answered. “Suppose they’re finding anyone?”

  “In fact, they are,” Jonathan answered. “To date, the Confederation rescue mission has recovered over nineteen hundred of its citizens, including six species and nine governments. Most, as you might expect, have been Felio.”

  "Those two freighters just passed through the wormhole," Ada said. "I doubt they're part of any rescue mission. What in Saturn could they be doing? There's no one in Mhina to trade with."

  "The wormhole has been unguarded for two ten-days," Sendrei answered. "And therefore, so have been the cities on Kito. I believe Liam suggested the cities were mothballed when the Abasi left. There would be significant capital value in the material left behind."

  "Looters?" Ada asked.

  "Yes and they've a considerable lead on us," Sendrei said.

  "Well, frak," Tabby answered, "those freighters aren't going to outrun Intrepid."

  "If the wormhole has been unguarded for two ten-days, there's been enough time," Sendrei said. "In my experience as a Naval officer, looters are by far the most efficient at taking advantage. It is particularly disheartening to see their disregard for what has been hard-earned by others."

  "Ada, we need to at least check it out," Tabby said.

  "If our understanding of orbital trajectories is correct from our previous, brief visit," Jonathan said, "such a redirection would potentially add seven days to our journey."

  "Can you imagine how much those freighters could haul?" Tabby asked.

  "I'm with you on this, Tabby," Ada answered. "When we clear the wormhole, we'll make way for Kito directly. If I recall, there were a number of fuel dumps on the moon's surface. We can make up time by using a Schedule-A burn rate and refuel there."

  "Now you're talking," Tabby said and accelerated Intrepid through the debris field toward the Tamu-Mhina wormhole.

  "There is risk that the fuel left behind has been a primary target of the looters," Jonathan uncharacteristically argued. "The remainder of the mission will be in jeopardy if this is the case."

  "Understood," Ada answered. "We have thirteen hundred souls depending on us for survival. I'm not about to let scallywags and cutthroats steal their future."

  As captain, Ada had the last word. They sailed in uneasy quiet as Tabby picked her way through to the wormhole.

  "Roby, we're approaching the wormhole. Can you give me status on the transition engines?" Tabby asked when they crossed the invisible boundary where transition was possible.

  "I copy," Roby answered. "Wormhole drives are all green. We'll transition on captain's mark."

  "Sendrei, is fire-control ready? Could have Kroerak or just about anything on the other side," Ada said.

  "Fire-control is standing by," Sendrei answered.

  "Roby, I want you ready to bring us back to Tamu if we run into a trap. Do you copy?" Ada asked.

  He responded snappily. "Aye, aye, Captain. I'll be ready."

  "Ms. Masters, I want combat burn on transition."

  "Roger that, Captain," Tabby answered.

  "Transition at your leisure, Mr. Bishop," Ada announced.

  Ada blinked away the queasy feeling associated with transition through the wormhole. She nodded with satisfaction as she was pushed back into her chair, the baritone-throated hum of Intrepid's massive engines momentarily overcoming her suit's sound cancellation waves.

  "We're taking fire," Tabby announced a moment before the ping of blaster fire on the hull became recognizable.

  "Return fire?" Sendrei asked.

  Ada could see the firing solution Sendrei had planned on the two ships. Between transition and combat burn, the sensors were having difficulty dialing in details and were currently only showing the mass of each ship. She had to make a split-second decision to jump back or stay in system. The vessels were close to that of Intrepid, which could mean they were only outnumbered two-to-one if they were frigates, but Ada didn't believe that was the case.

  "Hold," she answered, more interested in the fact that Intrepid had received no injury from the exchange. So far, the attacking vessels closely matched the two freighters they'd followed through the wormhole.

  "Seriously?" Tabby asked, annoyed, unpredictably pushing Intrepid hard to starboard.

  "Give me sixty clicks separation," Ada answered.

  "Copy," Tabby grunted.

  Not unexpectedly, the distance between Intrepid and the two vessels rapidly increased, and even though Intrepid continued to take fire, her armor sluffed off the bolts.

  "Tabby, keep separation but back off the combat burn," Ada ordered.

  "Aye, aye."

  "Intrepid, hail those ships," Ada ordered. "Unidentified ships. You're firing on an Abasi warship in Abasi territory. You will desist and submit to turret lockdown."

  Dropping from combat-burn, the sensors quickly resolved. The two vessels firing on them were indeed the freighters they'd seen in the Tamu system. Each ship had a small turret that had little chance of damaging Intrepid.

  "What in the frak were they thinking?" Tabby asked.

  "Intrepid, this is Slefid. I am Captain Grossmek. Our weapons system is not responding. Please do not kill us."

  Intrepid's vivid forward screens showed a high-resolution, wide-angled view of a rat-faced sentie
nt nervously rubbing at long whiskers with narrow fingers. Behind the worried figure stood three more crew, glancing furtively at the vid-sensor amid a filthy, cluttered bridge.

  "Captain, the freighters Slefid and Carisfid are sailing under a Strix flag," Jonathan said, muting comms. "Captain Grossmek and crew are Musi. I suggest asking their destination."

  "He could be bluffing about his weapons," Tabby said. "I don't trust them."

  "With the Musi, distrust is advised," Jonathan answered, "but his weapons are inoperable because we have made them so."

  "You hacked their weapons from sixty kilometers?" Tabby asked.

  "Little effort was required," Jonathan answered. "Musi are of well-below-average intelligence and incapable of independent star-flight. Their systems are unprotected and easily accessed."

  "Unmute," Ada answered, not sure what she'd stepped into. "Why did you fire on Intrepid?"

  The rat-faced captain squealed in horror as he reached for and successfully shut off the communication link between his freighter and Intrepid.

  "They're powering up," Tabby said. "I think they're making a run for it."

  "What heading?"

  "Directly away from us," Tabby answered what Ada's AI projected on her holo. Indeed, the Musi were slowly accelerating away from Intrepid.

  "Captain, if you would like I can shut down their engines," Jonathan said.

  "Do it," she answered. "Can you get him back on comms too?"

  "With little difficulty," Jonathan answered.

  The forward vid-screens blinked back to life, this time showing the ships in the background with a superimposed picture of Grossmek chittering wildly at the crew behind him. If it hadn't been so pathetic, Ada would have laughed at the surprised jump by Grossmek when one of his own pointed at the screen and he realized they were being observed.

  "We are very sorry," Grossmek said. "It was my horrible crew that fired upon the great and powerful ship, Intrepid. Please. I beg you. Do not destroy us. There are children aboard."