Fortunes of War (Stellar Main Book 1)

by Richard Tongue

  He moved to the passage, took several deep breaths, then sprinted across the cavern, jumping at the edge of the precipice, arms outstretched in a textbook dive. He easily soared over the far side, rolling out of the landing and easily avoiding the wall. With a smile on his face, he gave a theatrical bow, then turned to face them, holding the cable, bracing himself on the floor.

  “Captain Carter goes next,” he said. “Make it quick.”

  She nodded, clipped the cable onto her belt, then sprinted heedlessly across the floor, trying her best to imitate Kruger’s technique. She felt herself falling forward, tumbling, out of position, her feet just touching down on the far side of the precipice. She almost tumbled backwards, Kruger grabbing her shoulder at the last minute, pulling her forward, sending the two of them falling to the ground.

  “Not bad, but I don’t think you’re ready for the Interplanetary Olympics just yet,” he said with a smile. “You want to take a minute?”

  “No, no, we’d better get on with this,” she replied. “You ready, Rusty?”

  “One minute,” he said, hurling his rucksack over the chasm, Kruger catching it with his hand and gently lowering it to the floor. “Brace yourselves.”

  Carter held onto the cable, watching as Garcia raced for the chasm, taking his jump a step too soon. He was falling short, flailing with his hands, and she and Kruger pulled on the cable, trying to help him as best they can, dragging him forward just enough to allow him to grab onto the side of the chasm, his fingers digging in. Carter dived forward, grabbing his wrists as the cable groaned, the two of them somehow dragging Garcia out of danger.

  Kruger rubbed his hands together, and said, “Should have worn gloves.” Looking down at the gasping Garcia, he added, “Now who’s out of condition?”

  “Messed up the take-off,” he replied. “I’ll get it next time.”

  “Let’s hope we don’t have to do this again,” he said. Peering down the tunnel, he added, “I can see daylight up ahead. Looks like we’ve got a straight run to the far side of the mountain from here.” He looked back at the ravine, and continued, “Though I’d say we’ve got a new problem. Getting back isn’t going to be easy.”

  “Surely we can get back the same way we got over,” Garcia said.

  Shaking his head, he replied, “The run-up would be shorter, and we barely made it as it is. I might be able to get back across, but I doubt either of you could.” Looking up at the roof, he added, “There’s nowhere up there to anchor a line. We’d have to improvise something.”

  “We can worry about that later,” Carter said. “Right now, we’ve got the same problem we had before. Nothing else has changed. We’ll work out how to get back when we have to do it. Until then, we press on.”

  Looking down at her, Kruger raised an eyebrow and asked, “You realize we might be stranded on the wrong side of the mountain?”

  “That’s worse news for the pirates than it will be for us,” she said, pushing herself to her feet. “Let’s go see if the trip’s been worthwhile.”

  “Too bad if it hasn’t,” Garcia replied, taking one last look at the bottomless pit before following the others down the tunnel.

  Chapter 23

  “Are you still mad?” Schmitt asked, stepping into the rear compartment. Wu was leaning over a console, poking furiously at the controls, and he added, “I can make a cup of coffee if it’ll help. Or throw one of those ration packs into the oven. I could do with something to eat.”

  She turned to him, hands outstretched, and replied, “Just stop.”

  “Stop what?”

  “Stop trying to calm me down. I don’t want to be calmed down. I’m angry.”

  He gestured at the console, and said, “You’re going to end up rewiring that if you get much angrier. Would it help if I agreed with you?”

  “It might.”

  “Too bad. Vicky was right. Annoying, but right. Two of us have to stay with the ship. Though frankly, it ought to have been her and I. She should have stayed behind and let you go along for the ride, but somehow I don’t think her temperament would have suited that.” He frowned, then added, “Not that yours is, to be fair.”

  Looking down at the terminal, she said, “It might help if I actually had something to do, but the ship is in frustratingly good condition. There are a thousand bits of maintenance I could probably work on, but all of them would require me to start dismantling stuff, and if we need to take off in a hurry, I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to have to rebuild the engine while there are pirates chasing after us.” Rising from her seat, she added, “Maybe that coffee isn’t such a bad idea.”

  Glancing at his watch, Schmitt said, “They ought to be almost there by now. Maybe we ought to run another sensor check.”

  “The automatic systems are working just fine, and they’ll let us know the second anything happens.” She looked up at Schmitt, and added, “You’re as unhappy about being left behind as I am.”

  “Hell yes,” he replied. “You think I want to sit around here?”

  “What about your patient?” she asked, tapping the vending machine for a pair of coffees.

  “Sleeping comfortably,” he replied. “And she doesn’t really need my help anymore. All she needs now is to rest for a few days and let the healing process happen.” He paused, then said, “Maybe I should take a look at her.”

  “That might have been a good idea, but you’ve left it a little too late,” Sandoval said, walking into the cabin, pistol in hand. “Put those mugs down, nice and slow. We’re not going to play any clever games today. You’re going to stand right there while I make a quick call, and then we’ll be preparing for a short takeoff. I hope you know how to handle the controls. I’d hate to have to waste time calling for a replacement pilot, and that might suggest that you won’t be useful to us.”

  “What the hell are you doing?” Wu asked. “It was your crew that was captured!”

  Shaking his head, Schmitt replied, “She’s the one who sold them out in the first place.” Taking a step forward, he continued, “I should have put the pieces together more quickly. You said yourself that Fortuna caught your ship by complete surprise, and that they must have known where to find you, where your ship was going to return to normal space. The First Mate handles the navigation. Who better to provide the pirates with all the information they need.”

  “We don’t have time for you to play Sherlock Holmes,” Sandoval said. “And take a step backwards, Doctor, or I’ll be forced to dispense with your services. That’d be a pity. As I understand it, we’re going to need trained medical personnel, once we get the mines working.”

  “Mines?” Wu asked. “Archaeological mines?”

  “You think we care about some long-dead race? All I know is that the artifacts were digging up will be worth a small fortune back in the Core Systems, and there are enough buyers back there who don’t care where their new treasures came from to keep us in business for a long, long time.”

  “And your friends, your crew?”

  Sandoval shrugged, and said, “They all had the same chance that I did. And if Big Joe had agreed to let me buy into the company, we probably wouldn’t be having this conversation. Greed works both ways.” Gesturing with her gun, she said, “Let’s go up to the bridge. Nice and slowly. No sudden moves. I can use you both, but I don’t need either of you.”

  “Why should we do what you say?” Wu asked. “You’re only going to kill us in the end. You don’t think Smith and his friends can afford to leave any witnesses behind, do you? Hell, what makes you think they won’t kill you as soon as they’re finished with you?” A smile crossed her face, and she added, “That’s a thought I’m going to hold onto for a while.”

  “Let’s just say I’ve put together a little insurance policy,” Sandoval said. “And would you rather die today, or die in a couple of months? Assuming you don’t find a way to cut your own deal with Smith. You might be surprised at how flexible he can be, once you get to know him.” Ste
pping forward, she said, “Believe me, you’re going to become intimately acquainted with him.”

  Schmitt charged forward, and Sandoval fired a quick shot at him, a laser bolt catching him in the shoulder and sending him tumbling to the deck. She took a step back, keeping her weapon trained on him the whole time, and looked across at Wu with a sneer.

  “I’m afraid I damaged your boyfriend a little. Physician, heal thyself, I guess.” Gesturing to the bridge, she added, “I hope I’ve made my position clear on this. Cockpit. Now.”

  “I’ll be alright,” Schmitt said, clutching his shoulder. “Do what she says.”

  “Wait a…”

  “Do it!” he pressed, blood running between his fingers. “Toss me a medical kit.”

  Shaking her head, Sandoval replied, “That can wait until after we’ve reached the compound. I’ll see you get proper medical care there. After all, you’re both valuable property now. Worth far too much to simply through away.”

  Reluctantly, Wu made her way to the bridge, Sandoval settling in at the navigation station, reaching for the communications station, keeping her pistol trained on Wu. She reached for a headset with her injured arm, wincing at the pain, and slid it over her head.

  “Nice friends you’ve got, leaving you in that condition.”

  “All part of the performance. I had to be convincing. We knew you had a doctor on board.” With a sneer, she added, “We knew every detail of your ship’s flight path, right from the beginning. It was a lot easier baiting you here than letting you wander around the galaxy for the next few months. Maybe the next group of heroes will be a little more reluctant to toss their lives away.”

  “What do you want me to do?” Wu asked.

  “Start pre-flight checks. We’ll be launching in three minutes.” Tapping a control, she added, “I can’t get a signal. What have you done to the system?”

  “Nothing. We don’t have line of sight with your base, and we’re tucked close in enough to the mountains that we’re probably going to struggle to spot that satellite of yours, either. If you want, I’d be happy to hand-deliver your message for you.”

  “We can do it in person,” she replied. Entering a series of coordinates, she said, “That’s the landing pad. We’re expected, so they aren’t going to shoot us down, and I’ll be able to send the signals to your base.”

  “Something just occurred to me,” Wu said, folding her hands. “If you can’t call home, and I don’t see you being able to climb the mountain with your arm as it is, then you don’t really have any power over us at all. Shoot us, and you sit here until someone decides to come and rescue you. That might be a long, uncomfortable wait.” Throwing a control to kill the helm systems, she added, “I think we’re going to wait right here. Vicky and the others should be back soon. It’ll be interesting to see how she decides to handle your little mutiny. She and the two Joes go back a long, long way.”

  “You won’t be alive to see it,” Sandoval said. “You’re making a big mistake.”

  “For someone who seems so damned ruthless,” Wu replied, “You’re oddly reluctant to pull the trigger.” As Sandoval raised her pistol, aiming the barrel squarely between the engineer’s eyes, she added, “Go ahead. If you’ve got the guts.”

  “Last chance,” Sandoval replied, the barrel glowing as she completed the charge cycle, narrowing the beam to limit the risk of collateral damage.

  “Fire.”

  A beam of laser light raced through the air, catching Sandoval in the chest, the traitor staggering back on her controls, writhing in anguish as a wailing scream filling the air with her last breath. Wu looked up just in time to see Schmitt collapsing to the floor, his face pale, the pistol tumbling from his hands as tears ran from his eyes, blood flowing from the wound in his shoulder.

  “Doc!” she yelled, racing towards him. “Christ, Doc.”

  “Couldn’t let her kill you,” he said, looking at the gun. “It hurts like hell.”

  Ripping a medical kit from the wall, Wu added, “How do I patch you up?”

  “Realistically, you don’t,” he replied. “Not without first aid training.”

  Shaking his head, she said, “There must be something I can do.”

  “Bandage. Pressure bandage. Tear off my uniform and put it in place over the wound, then tie it on tight.” He gasped in pain, and said, “Going to pass out. Coagulant. The green one. Inject the lot into a vein near the wound. Then a strong painkiller. Purple and black. One injection. No more. I’ll keep until someone who knows what they’re doing takes over.” He looked up at her, and said, “I didn’t know if I could pull the trigger.”

  “Perfect shot. Beginner’s luck.”

  “Good,” he gasped, his head slumping to the side. She ripped the sleeve off his uniform, exposing the wound, and applied the bandage as he instructed, rifling through the medical kit to find the injections, pumping them into his arm one after another. He seemed to relax, his muscles no longer tense, and she laid him on the floor, pausing to plant a quick kiss on his forehead before heading back to the cockpit. The body of Sandoval still lay on the navigation console, and she dragged the corpse to the airlock, unceremoniously tossing it out of the door.

  She’d been given a gift. A way into the enemy base, all the way to a safe touchdown, with a guarantee that the ship wouldn’t come under attack at least until they reached the ground. Sandoval’s co-ordinates were still locked into the computer, her last legacy, and Wu quickly plotted a course, a simple bounce up and down that even she could manage without difficulty, despite her limited piloting skills.

  Turning back to Schmitt, she shook her head in sadness as he lay on the deck, his bandage already growing red as blood seeped into the fabric, staining the material. He needed medical attention. Garcia had paramedic training. He’d be better than nothing. She looked up at the mountain, gritting her teeth in frustration. She couldn’t wait. She didn’t dare. At any moment, the enemy could attack, and she had no way of knowing the status of the others without risking a communications pulse that would play her hand.

  The mission came first. The lives on the far side of the mountain. She had a chance to do sufficient damage to give the others a chance to complete their mission, a distraction, if nothing else. If everything fell her way, she might even be able to accomplish it herself. At the very least, she had to give it a try. Taking a deep breath, she began the pre-launch sequence, starting the countdown to takeoff.

  Chapter 24

  Carter scanned the base, squinting in the sunlight shining from the buildings below. The pirates had thrown together a collection of prefabricated buildings, many of them familiar designs, little more than metal shacks clustered around a deep crack in the landscape. A series of tents had been erected on the perimeter, and a space cleared as a landing strip. There was little evidence of local security, just a couple of bored guards walking around the base, rifles in hand.

  A work team was deep in the crevice, the noise of heavy hand tools filling the air, a plume of dust rising as the excavations continued. Throwing her binoculars to maximum magnification, she could make out Little Joe, leading one of the work parties, sporting a handsome black eye. Most of the others were wearing spacer garb, the usual jumpsuits, already battered and torn. A man stood alone, watching the work, holding a baton in his hand, a sneer on his face. Carter didn’t need any more clues to work out who that was. Smith.

  There were three ships next to the base, parked on the sand, each with guards at the airlock. One was Odin, the second another of the arrowhead scoutships, ‘Retribution’ painted on her sides, and the third was Fortuna herself, resting on her landing claws, turrets poised and ready for action. Bile rose in her throat as she saw the ship that had been responsible for the death of her crew, her family, and she started to take an involuntary step forward before being stopped with a calm hand on her shoulder.

  “Not yet,” Garcia said. “Not yet. What do you think?”

  “I think they’re open to an attack,
and I think that we’ll get the element of surprise, but if they have a chance to rally, we don’t have a chance. They’ve got multiple lines of defense, and Fortuna’s point-defense weapons look as though they’re activated.”

  Holding up an infra-red scanner, Kruger added, “They are. And the lateral thrusters are on idle. They can get away from here whenever they want.”

  “That could work to our advantage,” Carter replied. She patted the haversack on her side, and said, “These charges pack a pretty powerful punch. Not enough to destroy a starship by themselves, but if we can get them to the right place, say, clustered around an active power feed or a plasma thrower, that ship would blow sky-high. What about Odin?”

  “Engines ready, but that’s all,” Kruger said. “Same with the scoutship. They’re ready to pull out at a moment’s notice.” He turned to Carter, and continued, “I guess our little plan worked after all. They’re not prepared for a firefight. That much is obvious.”

  “Then we attack. Right now.”

  “In broad daylight?” Garcia replied. “There’s not that much cover down there.”

  “You think we’ll be any better at night? They’ve got the combined sensor suites of three starships operating down there. They could pick up an inquisitive microbe, never mind a covert attack. Our only chance is to distract them, draw their fire away from those ships. The plan is obvious. One person distracts the guards, one gets the prisoners to Odin, and the third sets the charges.” Turning to Kruger, she said, “Have you ever used explosives in your work?”

  “You don’t excavate ruins with plastic explosive.”

  “Ah, but if you are in a hurry, and you need to get in and out before anyone can stop you, that might be a different matter, perhaps?”

  He sighed, then replied, “Fine, yes, I know how to set the charges. I figure they need to go close to the infra-red sources, right?” Reaching for the haversack, he added, “Just how the hell am I supposed to sneak past the guards, anyway? They’re not going to sit around and watch while I plant explosive on the hull of their flagship.”