She winked at him, which sent shivers throughout Kevin’s body.
“If you catch my drift,” she added with a wicked smile.
17
Boomer regained consciousness and managed to establish contact with Ziron who had finally worked out the bugs in his system and beamed back not two but three members aboard the ship.
The consensus was that Lacuna should stay locked in her quarters, a decision she didn’t take all too well. But after a heated exchange, she finally agreed to give Kevin the coordinates of the Ghost Fleet, with one condition attached. If they tried to double cross her and leave her locked in the quarters upon arrival, she would feed his balls to her pet ranidocus.
Kevin did not know what a ranidocus was, nor did he care to find out.
“She’s quite a handful,” said Boomer. “You could have at least tried to clock her for zapping me.”
“The idea had crossed my mind, believe me.”
“Seems to me it should have been set into motion beyond just thinking it. But well, what do I know?”
“Alright, I’m sorry. I didn’t think I could take her without the armor.”
Boomer snarled. “You mean you know you couldn’t.”
“You had to spell it out.”
“Electricity overload you know? I think it did something to my brain. Actually, no, you don’t know, because you weren’t the one zapped!”
“You are going to let this go, eventually, right?”
Boomer smiled. “We’ll see.”
Ziron entered the bridge on his levitating cushion. “Am I interrupting something?”
“Nah,” said Boomer. “I was about to go anyway, need to relieve myself.”
Boomer trotted out of the bridge, his head erect and his tail high in the air.
“You alright, Kevin?”
“A little tired. That was no small feat getting that information.”
“About that, I tried running your memory against Mira’s triangulation algorithm. . .”
“And?”
“Well, she came up empty.”
“How’s that even possible?”
“She detected some corruption on the holo-vid you were shown.”
“What kind of corruption?”
“I should say tampering. Looks like the ships and the stars aren’t part of the same file, not originally.”
Of course. . .Gotta give it to Lacuna, she’s good.
“So we’re back to square one. Lacuna still has to tell us where to find Kalliopy.”
“Which is unfortunate, because I can’t trust that woman as far as I can throw her. There’s something about her. I think it’s the blue hair.”
Kevin had to stop himself from bursting into laughter and instead produced a muffled chuckle.
“What’s up with you?” asked Ziron.
“You don’t see the irony?”
“What?”
“Your fur is blue.”
“Let’s not compare my very rare, natural shade with some cheapo nano-synthetics that girl has been using to make herself look pretty.”
“Fair enough. About the fleet though, do you think she is telling the truth? Or is she trying to play us?”
Ziron scratched his ear, licked his paw, and then passed it over his face.
“She may very well be playing us. As for the Ghost Fleet, as legend has it, we did lose one in the war. So, I believe we need to investigate.”
“What if none of it is true? She did deceive us with the first fleet footage.”
“Yeah, but some of the parts, the ships in fact, seem genuine.”
“How so?”
“One of my contacts at the edge of Arcadian space told me that he saw the exact same fleet a few days back. They were in a hurry. They stopped for a very short period of time to refuel their engines at the nearby star and went back into hyperspace rather quickly. That can’t be a coincidence.”
“Alright then, for the time being, let’s assume this is where Kalliopy is being held. If the other part of the holo-footage she showed me is real, Kalliopy is in serious trouble, and she could be dead by the time we reach her.”
Ziron hissed at the assumption.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you or anything. I don’t want her to die either, or I wouldn’t be doing any of this.”
“I know. I just—Kevin, we need to save her. I’m responsible, if my tech had been stronger, they never would have succeeded in grabbing her in the first place. I need to right this wrong.”
“Okay, so let’s focus on moving forward and if Lacuna steps out of line, we’ll just have to deal with her.”
“You’re a good person, Kevin. I don’t know if I’ve told you that before.”
“Not in so many words, but I really appreciate you saying it out loud. About the fleet though, what sort of tech can we expect?”
“Even though these were top-of-the-line a thousand years ago, they’ll be rusty flying buckets compared to the Osiris.”
“That’s going to be a problem, won’t it?”
“Well, they have their sheer size we can use. They’re significantly larger than the escort ships and should be able to take quite a pounding. The real question though is—”
“Will they still fly?”
“Exactly.”
“Well, you’ll work your magic on them, of that I have no doubt. What other choice do we have?”
“None whatsoever.”
* * *
The tall man stepped into Xonax’s ready room.
“Come in, Altanor. I’ve been waiting for you. Take a seat.”
The pirate leader looked around the room for a few moments before finally sitting across from Xonax.
“Nice looking ship.”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no? It’s a nice looking ship. I wasn’t being sarcastic—for once.”
“I’m just pre-emptively telling you that I’m not renegotiating our terms. This ship is mine and mine alone.”
The pirate leader had a scar that ran down his nose, which looked like it had been broken and reset multiple times, and not by the best of surgeons. Half of his face was hidden behind long strands of gray hair. His intense gaze fixed on Xonax, at least from the one eye that the Kregan could see.
“A little over possessive, are we?”
“Let’s just say I’ve learned how your kind thinks, and besides that, your reputation precedes you.”
Altanor smiled.
“You can keep your shiny ship, but remember our deal. If you want us to help you overthrow your father, we get the boy and the technological advantage that he will bring.”
“I haven’t forgotten, you don’t need to remind me of our original terms, you just need to make sure you honor your part of the deal. Though we both know that our engineers would get to the bottom of what makes him special much faster than yours will.”
“Are you calling my engineers incompetent?”
“Don’t be over-sensitive, it doesn’t suit you. I’m just saying that we have more resources than you do.”
“Last I checked the Kregan Empire’s resources are—how should I put this mildly—nearly nonexistent. As a matter of fact, I wonder if I shouldn’t just take your father’s place myself. The timing for a coup seems pretty ripe.”
Xonax slammed a fist on the desk. “Yes, it is! But this is my coup, don’t make the mistake and think I would just let you swoop in and take what’s mine. You wouldn’t stand a chance against our planetary defenses.”
“Maybe we wouldn’t, maybe we would.”
“Altanor!” insisted Xonax.
“Cool your jets, Prince. I’m not interested in running the ashes of your pitiful and broken empire. I just want to make sure we understand what’s going to happen next.” Altanor’s face twitched. “You know, be on the same page.”
“You need to engage the enemy when they come, no matter what forces they bring along. That’s the page we’re on.”
“That’s where I’m a little blurr
y. If they come with an armada of Arcadian ships, we both know they’ll wipe us out.”
“Except that it won’t happen. Both sides have lost the bulk of their fleets. They’ll have a couple of ships, three at best. I would think even you should be able to handle that. With the information I gave you, you can penetrate their shields, and that should give you the advantage you need. But remember, we don’t want to destroy them, we need to get our hands on the boy, so you just prolong the battle while he finds his way to my ship to rescue the princess.”
“I don’t like that part of the plan.”
“Would that be because you didn’t come up with it yourself?”
“It played a role.”
“Well, get over it!”
Altanor stretched his head to the side and his neck cracked. He then turned and spat between his teeth. The muddy liquid splashed on Xonax’s brand new carpet leaving a messy stain on the fabric.
Xonax rolled his eyes. “That’s disgusting.”
Altanor shrugged. “If you ask me, it was in dire need of a personal touch.”
18
Kevin walked with Lacuna onto the bridge. She leaned and whispered. . .
“Whatever chance you had to get something extra at the end of this, you can kiss it goodbye. Staying locked up in a small room for two days is not my idea of fun.”
Kevin didn’t bother answering. While he had to admit that Lacuna had certain charms that made him feel funny sometimes, his focus was solely on rescuing a kind girl that he almost kissed. An experience he had been looking for pretty much forever, but the universe could have a weird sense of humor at times.
“When are we jumping out of hyperspace?” asked Kevin.
“Any time now,” replied Ziron. “As for you,” he said hissing at Lacuna. “No funny business.”
“Whatever,” said Lacuna. “As long as I get my hands on what I came for and you fulfill your promise of providing me with a shuttle, you’ll get the precious sub-space frequency and location of the ship where Princess Kalliopy is being held. Then you can detect its current location and do whatever the hell you’re going to do that will most likely end in your lives being forfeited. I’m just glad I won’t be there to see you fail.”
“Yeah, because doing a good deed would kill you,” snorted Boomer from the side of a console.
“Oh, great, the talking quadruped is here too. Why does your race interact with such dumb pets in the first place?”
Boomer’s fur rose on his back and he growled.
Kevin slowly extended a palm, informing his friend to let it go. While he shared Boomer’s sentiment, if they were to succeed in their endeavor, they would have to get used to Lacuna’s inflammatory personality.
Kevin sympathized with Boomer though, especially after how his buddy had been stung by her.
The ship exited hyperspace, and the Osiris’ viewport filled with stars, a truly massive asteroid belt in the distance, and an equally large blue-purple nebula on the port bow.
Mira’s holographic floating face materialized between the viewport and the crew.
“Scans are inconclusive, can’t detect any power signature, which doesn’t bode well.”
Ziron turned his attention to Lacuna. “So? Where next? And you’d better not have embarked us on a fool’s quest, or you’ll find yourself stuck in the middle of nowhere.”
Lacuna mimed being cold. “I’m so sooo scared,” she added, a tad heavy on the sarcasm, even for her. “And let’s make one thing clear: the lack of trust is mutual, okay? So let’s drop the cheap shots and just do the work we came here to do. That way we can part ways as soon as possible. Believe me when I say that I’m not exactly fond of your company either.”
“I like Ziron’s idea,” Boomer said, “should anybody care.”
“Enough,” said Kevin sharply. “I’ve had it. Bickering like kids won’t get us anywhere. Let Lacuna tell us where to go next, and let’s recover the fleet. Then we can all say our goodbyes and be on our merry ways.”
Ziron cocked one eyebrow. “Merry?”
“It’s an express—you know what, forget it.”
“Our next stop is the nebula,” said Lacuna. “That’s the reason your super-duper AI didn’t detect anything. And why no other people found the fleet for all this time.”
“I don’t see why anyone wouldn’t have just sent ships to comb the nebula, they could have found them,” said Kevin.
“It’s a little more complicated than that. This system is unstable.”
“Unstable how?”
“Well, there’s a wormhole that pops in and out at random intervals.”
“That hardly constitutes instability,” Ziron complained.
“It does when the thing on the other side of the wormhole is a massive black hole. Why do you think there are all these large rocks floating around? This used to be an inhabited solar system with eleven planets, but billions died.”
“If that is true,” said Kevin, “then the Fleet could have been destroyed too.”
“That’s what everyone else thought as well. Hence nobody has been looking for the fleet for centuries. Between you and me, I also thought the same until I delved more into Jared’s files. Apparently, it’s unaffected by the gravity pull due to the nebula’s composition. Or something…”
“That’s not how physics works,” snorted Ziron.
“Yeah, well, all I know is that’s how this place works,” Lacuna shot back, “and I suggest we enter the nebula before the wormhole decides to randomly pop-up and ruin the oh-so-lovely day we’re having.”
“Agreed,” said Kevin. “Set a course to the nebula, full impulse. Make it so.”
Ziron blinked a couple of times. “Aye, aye, Captain, I guess. A memo about my demotion would have been nice, though. Just saying.”
Boomer laughed as he came to sit next to Kevin.
“Love your Picard impression,” he whispered.
Kevin grimaced. “Oh, snap, I was going for Janeway.”
“Never mind,” chuckled Boomer. “You should have said: ‘There’s coffee in that nebula,’ then.”
They both cracked up as the ship’s sub-light engines rumbled to maximum power and shortly after, the Osiris entered the nebula.
* * *
After forty minutes of slow travelling inside the massive nebula, Mira’s modified sensors, courtesy of Lacuna’s in-nebula scanning technique, finally found the fleet of old Arcadian battleships.
Life scans came back negative, but then again, it might have been interference due to the density of the nebula’s composition.
The shuttle departed the Osiris, with everyone aboard.
“I’m not sure I should have left the Osiris on her own,” protested Ziron, now stretching his legs as he left the floating pillow behind.
“Does he do anything else beside complain?” Lacuna asked.
Ziron hissed.
“You eventually get used to it,” said Kevin.
Lacuna grimaced for a second. “If you say so.”
“Don’t worry, Ziron,” said Kevin. “Mira is taking care of our ship. I just hope she can beam us out in case we need her to.”
“She should be able to extrapolate a fix based on the sensor modifications I’ve applied, the same ones that allowed her to find the fleet inside the nebula,” said Lacuna. “But there’s very little chance she will need to, it’s named the Ghost Fleet for a reason. Nobody has set foot aboard one in a thousand years, so not exactly expecting any uninvited guests or surprises, except perhaps a millennia-old fermented fart smell.”
“That’s one big assumption,” commented Boomer. “There could be other life forms that explored the ships, roamed around, and god knows what onboard these ships.”
“We’re going in with suits anyway until we can confirm or activate life support,” said Ziron.
“Yeah, ‘cause that’s gonna stop space zombies from eating our brains,” said Boomer.
“Sorry, pal,” said Kevin, “I guess I shouldn’t have w
atched all those horror films with you. Didn’t really realize you’d understand them this much, you know.”
“Don’t sweat it, buddy. I really enjoyed those moments we spent together, no matter what was on TV.”
Kevin smiled. “So did I, truth be told, I’m not sure I would have had the courage to see most of them if it wasn’t for your presence.”
“Hey blue mop?” Lacuna looked to Ziron. “Should we give them the room?”
Ziron’s eyes squinted and he replied with indignation. “Blue mop?! Have you looked in the mirror lately?” Ziron sneered. “Now that’s irony for you.”
Lacuna shook her hair vigorously and it began to change from blue to purple.
“I knew it!” said Ziron, pointing a claw at her. “Nano-paint.”
“Nice trick! Doesn’t look cheap, though,” said Kevin.
“Well, I was half right anyway,” objected Ziron.
“Yeah, let’s put that on our tombstones if we fail,” barked Boomer. “Was half right, just the wrong half.”
“Nobody is dying on my watch,” said Kevin absently as he guided the shuttle to land on the biggest ship in the fleet, the Orus. “Everyone clear on the plan? We get in, restore power to the fleet, and get out.”
“Just like that?” said Lacuna.
“Yeah, just like that,” said Kevin seriously.
However, something nagged at the back of Kevin’s mind. Why were Arcadian ships named after Egyptian deities? Kevin knew that they had a lot to accomplish in a short amount of time, but his curiosity begged for an answer.
“Hey, Ziron?”
“Yes, Kevin.”
“Why are your ships named after Egyptian deities?”
“Egyptian you say. . .” Ziron’s eyes blinked a couple of time. “Oh—I see. It’s not entirely impossible that we visited your world, you know, a long time ago.”
“Oh—Wait! What?”
“I believe this is a conversation for another day, don’t you think?” said Ziron, clearly trying to change the subject. “Let’s first focus on getting Princess Kalliopy back.”
Kevin guided the shuttle onto the landing pad. As he climbed out of his pilot’s seat, he pointed a finger at Ziron.
Across the Galactic Pond - Box Set: The Complete FAR BEYOND Space Opera Series Page 16
