*
One-by-one, Naero used the contents of a medkit to revive Gallan, Tarim, and Ellis inside the confines of the transport cockpit. The small ship still proceeded on auto-approach.
All three of her dazed friends remained strapped into their flight seats as they came around.
Their wits returned to them a few minutes later. They looked around and outside of their cockpit.
“What happened? Where in the hell are we now?” Ellis demanded. All of them still appeared groggy from being drugged.
“Just hang on,” Naero told them. “Regain your strength while I prepare to land, so to speak. As soon as we have time, I’ll do my best to explain what’s gone on, in a nutshell.”
Memosa-3 loomed larger before them, almost entirely blue with small polar caps of white and flecks of green scattered far and wide in between.
Naero reset the programmable registration on their ship, just in case someone activated the vessel’s auto-transponder.
Memosa-3. Another minor pit stop, a real backwater waterworld, with more than ninety percent hydrographics. They noted poles and several main patches of volcanic archipelagos were the only dry land.
Naero felt a tight hand grip her shoulder.
“What’s taking so long?” Ellis said. “I’m tired of all this crap. I want answers. You people aren’t going to jerk me around forever.”
She caught his strong scent again. But this time, having him so close felt too much like a threat.
“Let go or take back a stump,” Naero warned.
The hand released her.
“Don’t ever interrupt me when I’m busy trying to save our asses,” she added.
“We’re at the Memosan system,” Gallan said, checking the navicomp, wincing and rubbing his eyes. “Third planet.”
“Pilot to crew. We’re going for a swim, boys. Hang on to whatcha got. We’re gonna get wet.”
Tarim came to last of all. He covered his eyes and groaned.
The planet’s surface raced closer. They penetrated the atmosphere.
Naero locked onto the coordinates for their rendezvous. The ship homed in on them like a beacon.
They descended right into a tropical storm.
“Just my luck,” she muttered.
The craft shook and jostled from turbulence.
“It might get a little rough, boys.”
“What’s happening?” Tarim asked, naked fear in his voice.
“Just a little tropical depression,” Naero said. “Not to worry. It won’t be a hurricane for a few days yet. But it just happens to be directly over where we need to go.”
Tarim started praying.
“And where is that?” Ellis asked.
She’d saved this guy’s butt repeatedly. One would think that eventually a little gratitude might peek out.
“I don’t know exactly who we’re rendezvousing with, but I have a trust code and a pretty good idea,” she said.
“Spacer Intelligence,” Ellis guessed.
“Our meeting point’s over two hundred meters below sea level.” She might even have time for a mist shower and clean togs. She reeked.
“We’re...we’re going under water?” Tarim said. “Won’t we drown?”
“Don’t worry, Tarim. Remember, a starship is a sealed environment, and our gravitics will work just as well under water. The ship will protect us from the increased pressure. We’ll just move a lot slower. But the water also affords us a convenient hiding place and makes us hard to detect or track.”
“Tarim, my friend,” Ellis said. “You need to toughen up a bit. Stop letting everything rattle you so much. Deal with it. Be a man.”
“Leave him alone,” Naero said.”
“It’s embarrassing,” Ellis said. “And you keep protecting him like a child, Naero. Let him stand on his own.”
“That’s enough,” Naero said. “We’re in this thing together, like it or not. Anyone who doesn’t pull together or pull their weight can go for a walk out in that storm, right now. Copy?”
Silence. Naero strapped back in and focused on her final approach.
The ship hit the ocean a little faster than she intended, but she wanted to submerge quickly.
The upper waves tossed them about, even with their gravitic compensators.
Once they sank far enough down, the dark world beneath the surface went relatively calm.
A warning signal went off.
“Naero,” Gallan noted. “We just took a hit on our transponder. Waiting for verification code response. Authenticate.”
“We’ll punch it fast and blow back out of here if we don’t get the correct response,” Naero said. “We’re ready either way.”
“Response confirmed and verified,” Gallan said. “They’re our contact all right, six kilometers north by northeast–locked on. Arrival in several minutes.”
Naero ran for the mist shower, calling it first.
Deep scans revealed an old Spacer battleship, probably long since hidden here during the last Spacer War. Rumors held that numerous ships had been secreted on certain Corps worlds, despite all the treaties.
In case of another war, the mothballed ships could be crewed and emerge for quick strike missions behind enemy lines. Spacers called them Shadow Fleets.
Naero’s small striker fit easily into one of the old battleship’s cargo bays.
Naero waited for the water to be ejected from the sealed hold, listening to the groaning sounds of the big ship and the hum of its old pumps.
When the green all clear signal lit up, she and her friends emerged into the damp loading bay.
A panel slid open. Aunt Sleak ran out, along with Jan, much to Naero’s surprise and relief.
Naero and Gallan met them half-way. Several Spacer Intel agents, geared up in strike armor, took up positions around them, pulse rifles ready.
“Naero,” Jan said, tears in his eyes, “So glad to see you, N.”
“We couldn’t believe it,” Aunt Sleak said, “not after the explosion on that freighter. We thought you and Gallan had been blasted to atoms until Shadowforce contacted us. We even held your wakes along with the other casualties from the battle.”
Jan grinned. “How does it feel to be a ghost, sib?”
Aunt Sleak didn’t say anything about her and Gallan disobeying orders. Yet.
They still would have been abducted.
Jan gave her another big hug. “Been lonely without you, sib. Who else can I plot the future with?”
“I hear you have some new friends.” Aunt Sleak said. She glared briefly at Ellis. “A Matayan prince no less, Naero? How did you get linked up with him, and this lander kid?”
Naero rolled her eyes. “It’s a long story. Meet Tarim, from the mining freighter. And this is Ellis, Prince of House Tarret.”
Naero wondered when she would need to broach the clone issue. Did Ellis know? Perhaps not.
But it came straight from the Matayan Emperor himself. He ought to know.
Aunt Sleak’s eye’s went to black slits when she shot a full hard look at Ellis. She offered him no greeting.
At least she didn’t stab him, shoot him, or attack him outright.
Even Ellis turned pale under her withering gaze and swallowed hard.
“Easy, Aunt Sleak,” Naero told her. “I know this is extremely weird, but Ellis is a friend...sort of. We rescued him from some Triax goon, who tortured him as a political hostage. He’s been running with us ever since. He’s been on our side, and hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“House Tarret’s corsairs helped take out your parents’ fleet,” Aunt Sleak pointed out.
“Along with Triax and several other Gigacorps,” Naero said. “I don’t think Ellis had anything to do with that directly. Like I said, he’s been a Triaxian political hostage. The Corps are forcing his people to be their shock troops, against their will.”
“Yeah, they would never do anything like that on their own,” Aunt Sleak said.
There went that sudden
throat full of dust again, always around Aunt Sleak.
“I assured him that he would not be harmed,” Naero said, “and that we wouldn’t ransom him.”
Aunt Sleak’s eyes bulged. She cocked her head and put her hands on her hips in disbelief.
“I gave him my word,” Naero said.
Aunt Sleak folded her arms about herself, rocked back on her heels and nodded her head. “Well, then damn me all to hell. How generous of you, Naero. Perhaps we should throw in a few megs for his trouble. Invite him to a banquet in his honor. May you always be so confident in your decisions.”
“Captain, excuse me for interrupting,” Gallan said. “But we have vital information for Spacer Intel. All of us are emotionally strained; we’re exhausted and hungry. Can we get debriefed and sort the rest out later?”
“Works for me,” Aunt Sleak said, still fuming. “You two, with me. These other two...will be seen to.”
Naero raised an eyebrow.
“And treated well,” the captain added. “Even his highness there.”
Naero turned to Tarim and Ellis and whispered, “Go on; it’ll be all right.”
“I get the distinct impression,” Ellis whispered back, “that your aunt would like nothing better than to tear out my liver with her teeth and feast on it.”
Naero half-grinned. “Keep that in mind. I wouldn’t put it past her...or be able to stop her.”
“She really doesn’t like me.”
“Ellis, I’m not sure I like you. Don’t tell me that the older generations of your people who went through the wars are any different? But we and our people don’t have to remain enemies forever. Maybe we can find a way to help each other.”
Ellis forced a smile. “I suppose so, especially since I find myself so frequently surrounded by Spacers. Perhaps I need a few friends among them to help me hang onto my liver and other internals.”
“A wise choice,” she said. “Do as they say and you guys’ll be all right.”
Irith, the Spacer Intel leftenant assigned to them, grilled Naero and Gallan for what seemed like several eternal hours.
They went over everything in as much detail as they could, many times over.
Toward the end, both Naero and Gallan drooped and yawned. They hadn’t been given anything to eat or drink, or even allowed to go to the bathroom.
Naero’s kidneys and bladder felt about to pop. At least she’d put clean togs on beforehand.
“Leftenant,” Aunt Sleak finally said. “I think that’s about all you’re going to get right now, until the lab tests get underway, tomorrow. The new equipment is still being set up. Give my people here a breather. They need to take care of their own business and get some chow and rest.”
“Very well,” Irith said. “Begin briefing them on their escape personas. You’ll need to move quickly after the testing period ends. Get out of Corps Space. Our forces will assist you along the way.”
“Any further news on the mounting tensions between Corps and Spacers?”
“Not yet, Sleak. They fluctuate everywhere. Serious incidents continue to increase. The Corps slant everything in their media to make it look like Spacers are trying to incite another war.”
“Has anyone declared yet?”
“If they do, every Spacer in Corps space becomes a target. It’ll be bad, just like the last Spacer Wars. We’ll lose a lot of vulnerable people and merchant fleets and ships initially.”
“This is insane,” Naero said. She worried about her friends, her family.
“War always is,” the leftenant said. “I was a cadet pilot in the last Spacer War, barely old enough. Things got very crazy. But if the Corps think we’ve gained a potential tek advantage greater than what we have, they might just think it prudent to attack first and wipe us out before we can apply it.”
“That’s really insane,” Naero said.
“Don’t expect that reality to change any time soon,” Aunt Sleak told her. “Maybe never. People, let’s go. We’ve been dismissed. Spacer Intel will keep poring over what you’ve given them and pick the bones clean.”
After quick stops at their quarters, they went to the nearest mess hall.
Naero and Gallan ate and ate until they might burst.
Even though she couldn’t eat another bite, the smell of food all around still tantalized her.
“So, where’s the fleet?” Naero asked.
Aunt Sleak’s face darkened. “Still making their rounds, far as I know. It wasn’t safe for Jan and me to stay with them. Sold the fleet to Zalvano for a cred. It’s all legal. He’ll carry on until we can all make it out of here and link up again.”
“Aunt Sleak,” Naero said. “I don’t want my friends treated like prisoners.”
“I’ll do what I can. Tutors will work with your friends–even the Matayan.”
Another glaring look. Aunt Sleak handed chips to Naero and Gallan. “These data files have the uploaded dossiers on your guises that you’ll use to escape. Study and learn them carefully over the next few days.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Naero asked.
“We’ll try to slip out of Corps Space as independents,” Aunt Sleak said. “To do that, we’ll take a long slow loop through the Corps, doing our business along the way. They’ll expect us to make a hell-bent run for Free Space. They’re stopping every runner who doesn’t pause to do business. That would just bring suspicion down on us.”
“Great,” Jan said. “Maybe we can at least make some profits along the way. I know of several hot spots that we could deal with. That full-blown miner revolt continues to explode across multiple sectors. The revolt leader has a powerful psyon working for him–”
“We might have to go through a few of those hot spots, but we won’t take any chances,” Aunt Sleak said. “No risky deals, Jan. This all might be a big game to you, but these players are in earnest. The Corps play for keeps. I don’t want a hothead like you blowing our cover. I’ll shoot you myself before I let that happen. Copy?”
Jan’s eyes went wide. “Got it,” he said.
“And Naero, I want you to stay close to me and follow my lead, got that? No more running off on your own, either. That headstrong crap didn’t work for your mother, and it will get you killed too. You will follow orders. Whatever I say.”
“I will.”
Naero stroked the Nytex on her hips.
“This Kexxian Data Matrix is too important to our people,” Aunt Sleak said. “If the Corps get it, in a few decades they’ll be able to take us out. I can’t emphasize this enough. We have to keep it from them, at all costs–even our own lives.”
“We’re not stupid,” Gallan said. “I think we understand that, Captain.”
“You’d better. We’ll remain here just long enough for Intel to conduct whatever tests and bio-scans on Jan and Naero that they need to. After that, we’ll head out. You’ll all undergo intense training in weapons and espionage with Intel each day.
Aunt Sleak took a deep breath and rested her hand on her energy cutlass. “Sleep when you can. You’ll need it.”
31