Chapter 20
Since they’ddropped out of hyperdrive, Xera was doing everything she could tounlock the controls. Nothing worked.
It had been threetense days to the frontier border. They had plenty of food and water,but no weapons. Their shuttle was a commercial model for ferryingpassengers, not fighting aliens. She didn’t know what they’d doif they did make it to the desert planet. Unless they made it to theshelter, they wouldn’t survive long. Unfortunately, she didn’tknow the coordinates to the fortress, even if she could unlock thecontrols….
She wanted toscream. Instead, she cursed. The black words were almost a mantra,but they weren’t helping her much. She tried praying instead.
Rysing sat like astatue, alternating between staring at the proximity locator andXera’s dogged efforts. “Can you fly this if we do unlock thecontrols?” she finally asked. Maybe Xera’s constant muttering waswearing on her.
“Sure. Mostly. Ican land for certain,” Xera said. She hoped she could.
Rysing took ashuddering breath. “What is this planet like?”
Xera bit her lip.
“That bad?”
“It wasn’t apleasure park.”
“I’m sorry tohear that,” Rysing said, her voice distant. She’d been watchingthe readouts with disturbing intensity. “There’s a planet comingup, and I think we’re headed for it.”
Xera stopped whatshe was doing to stare at the display. Rysing was right, but therewas something else. “There’s a ship in orbit.”
Rysing froze.“Khun’tat?”
Xera frowned. “No.It almost looks like…the GE! We’re saved!” Her joy was quicklycut off as she realized what they might look like; an enemy shipclosing in on their turf. Granted, they were in a shuttle and not awarship, but they weren’t exactly invited to this particular party,either. According to the newly minted treaty, the GE weren’tsupposed to be here..
She drew a quickbreath and thought fast. They needed a way to communicate, and theircontrols were still locked. Could they free the transceiver in time?
They got lucky.The GE ship hailed them, and while the women could not respond, theycould see and understand the captain of the ship. He looked startledto see her. No doubt her face had been splashed on telecasts all overthe star system; her situation would have been interesting fodder forthe folks back home. She wondered what spin the GE had put on thestory. “Lieutenant Harrisdaughter? What are you doing here?”
“We’retrapped!” Xera tried to tell him, but it was plain he couldn’thear her, so she gestured to the controls and mouthed, “Help!”
He frowned at her.“Is there a problem with your communicator?”
She nodded, thenglanced around in frustration. There was nothing to write with, soshe looked at him and mouthed, “Help!” again.
“We’re goingto bring you in,” he said, as if she might disagree with thatoption.
Xera nodded andgave him an enthusiastic thumbs up.
“Who are thesepeople?” Rysing asked.
“My formeremployers,” Xera said bluntly. Realizing her position, she turnedher back on the screen and told the girl, “They’re kind ofenemies of the Scorpio, so we’re going to have to play thiscarefully. They’re to think we were both held against our will;that should be easy for them to believe. If they thought otherwise itmight go badly, understand? Don’t tell them about the baby. Infact, it would be best if you didn’t say much. Try to actshell-shocked, like you did when the Scorpio first found you.”
Rysing lookeddisgruntled at the reminder.
Xera wasn’tabove pleading for a good cause. “Please? If we’re not verycareful, I might never see my husband again.” An eight monthjourney was too far away for casual visits, and if the GE did takeher back to Polaris, her baby would be nearly a year old before shecould return to Ryven. That was assuming she could find the money anda private craft willing to take her so far out. With the Khun’tatrunning around, it became too dangerous to risk.
Maybe, someday,conditions might be right to meet her sisters halfway; they couldeach travel for four months and meet at a place somewhere in themiddle. None of that mattered today. Today, she had to choose betweenthem.
Rysing looked ather intently. “And is that truly what you want? You have a chanceto see your sisters again. I’ve heard you speak of them…you missyour family.”
The ship shiveredas the GE ship’s tractor beam locked on. Xera had minutes to makeup her mind. Her husband or her sisters? New or old? There was onlyone choice her heart would accept.
“Commander! Youneed to see this.”
Ryven took thetablet from the ensign and scanned it quickly. His eyes slowed as hetook in the data.
“What is it?Toosun strode over and tried to read over his shoulder.
“One of thecloaked satellites around planet 4 Zega picked up a human ship. Itlooks like the interlopers are back. That’s not all. An hour agothey towed one of our shuttles onboard. The satellite picked up atransmission.” He keyed the audio and heard the human Commandersay, “Lieutenant Harrisdaughter? What are you doing here?”
Ryven’s heartlurched when he heard his wife’s name. He listened intently to therest of the exchange, learning all he could. If her communicator wasjammed, what else might have been wrong with the ship? What was shedoing on it in the first place?
Toosun lookedsober. It was obvious he was considering the implications of Xeraconveniently appearing near a GE ship.
Ryven looked athim. “There’s no way she could have known it was there. We didn’teven know until now. “
His brother stilllooked somber, but continued Ryven’s line of reasoning. “Shecouldn’t have killed her guards, not by herself. We all watchedher, and she had no one who would have helped. There was noindication she ever tried to make any allies to help her escape,either. But if a chance opened up to run? Would she have taken it?She knew how to pilot a shuttle.”
“With jammedcontrols, through Khun’tat infested space? She’s not suicidal,”Ryven snapped. But it begged the question, was she put in there? Ifso, someone had seemed intent on an ugly death for her. Who hatedher, or him, that much?
Toosun bit hislip. “We’d better get to her fast. It’s three days if we leavenow.”
Ryven gave theorder. The ships were already fueled and standing by. He prayedthey’d get there in time to prevent a disaster.
It was a disaster.Xera just didn’t have the patience to pretend to be downtrodden andabused. She sat in the commander’s office and tried to at leastlook weary. That was easy enough. She’d forgotten how much shehated bureaucracy.
To give himcredit, Commander Telis seemed to be trying to be sensitive. Heoffered her coffee and asked again if she’d like to see the medic.When she refused, he settled down to politely interrogating her.“Lieutenant, I know you’ve been through a lot these past months.We at the GE salute you for your bravery and daring in escaping yourcaptors. While we know it will in no way make up for your pain, restassured that you will receive a promotion and a substantial bonus foryour suffering.”
There was thebribe, she thought dispassionately. The man sounded like he was at aboard meeting. “Thank you,” she said into the expectant pause.
He cleared histhroat and looked down at his electronic tablet. “As I’m sure youknow, the Galactic Explorers finds itself at odds with the Scorpio ona number of matters. They’ve objected to our exploring thisparticular planet, for instance.”
Xera maintained apolite silence. They both knew the GE was breaking the treaty bybeing here.
“In spite of therisks, our leaders feel it’s a world that requires at least acursory survey. There are so few habitable planets that we can’tafford not to learn all we can about each new discovery.”
In other words,the greedy board members were willing to risk having their charterrevoked to explore this planet. They must think there was somethingvaluable to be had. If they got in and out quickly, they could getaway with samples and a cursory survey without anyone being thewiser. If they did find anything of interest, who knew how far they’dgo to obtain the planet? Even if there were a movement to revoke theGE’s charter, the Intergalactic Council might not have the power tostop them. After all, the IC was simply an under-funded,unappreciated peacekeeping committee. The GE had grown powerful. Itmight take a true war to bring them down.
His next wordsconfirmed her fears.
“Of course,should the planet prove as valuable as we hope, the GE may decide topress our claim on it. After all, there are no Scorpio currentlyliving here. Why should they be allowed to claim a planet they aren’tcurrently using?”
Why should theGE? Xera thought privately, but she said only, “That’s veryambitious, sir.” And wouldn’t the Scorpio love to know abouttheir attitude? Of course, the fact that the commander was tellingher all this confirmed that he didn’t expect her to bolt back tothe Scorpios.
He nodded. “Doyou have any reason to believe your escape was discovered or tracked?We’d hate to cut this mission short.”
Xera frowned. Hewas ready to pull out if she said yes. That might make her life verydifficult. If they left, she’d have no choice but to go with them.“If they had any idea they’d already be here. I have no reason tothink they’ve discovered us.” She tried to look anxious for themission. “I’m sorry, sir. It wasn’t my intention to make thisdifficult for you.”
He relaxed afraction. “It’s certainly not your fault. In fact, you could beof great value to us all. No one else has been so deeply integratedinto the Scorpio culture. Any insights you can offer would beappreciated; especially anything with military applications.”
She didn’t haveto fake her distress. There was no way she was going to betrayRyven’s people to the GE. “I’m sorry, sir. I wasn’t allowedto witness much of a military nature. They didn’t trust me, youknow. Except….” She frowned as if reluctant to dredge up thememory. “I was on a ship once that was attacked by the Khun’tat.You did get the message they let me send to the IC? You know whatthey are?”
The commanderlooked uncomfortable. “We got the message. Our understanding wasthat they mainly existed on the other side of Scorpio space.”
She let the fullweight of her concern show. “We were attacked close to the site ofthe peace talks. That’s not so far from here.”
He was silent amoment. “Any additional information you have will be useful. I’dlike you to file a formal report as quickly as you can.
“Meanwhile, yourassessment has made me want to get this assignment done with allspeed. We’ll be landing on the planet shortly.” Her alarm musthave shown, for he added, “You don’t have to worry about yoursafety. We’ll be using the ‘fortress’ you know from before (wehave a full report of it) and our ship is in good working order. Ourforce field will be more than sufficient to repel any creatures.”
“Yes, sir. I…Iwon’t be required to leave the ship, will I?” It was easy to actpetrified. Maybe it wasn’t so far from the truth.
His expression waskind. “No, lieutenant. For now I’d like you to concentrate onyour report. You may go.”
She was glad toleave, and more rattled than she liked to admit. She had no goodmemories of this place. Finding out she was going back, howeverbriefly, was an unpleasant shock, but not as bad as the one she gotwhen she found out who else was sharing her ship.
Captain Khan waswaiting for her in the hallway. There were people around, so hedidn’t pause, didn’t say a word as he strode forward. He didn’thave to. Though he used a cane and walked with a pronounced limp, hisstare was still predatory. It intensified as he neared. Waves ofhatred washed from him, as if he could do her harm with a thought,and his cold eyes promised a reckoning.
Xera held theman’s gaze and tensed, prepared to defend herself, though shedoubted he’d try anything here. No, he’d wait for his moment. Shewas going to have to watch her back.
She wondered whyhe was here and decided the GE would want his experience of theplanet for this mission. She suspected if he’d been punished atall, it had probably been a hand slap. The GE would value hisknowledge more than they would care about his “alleged” badbehavior.
She warned Rysingabout him as soon as she got to their room.
The Leo-Ahni saton her bunk in their tiny cabin and eyed her. “You have a specialtalent for making friends, don’t you?”
Xera grimaced.They’d been allowed to clean up and change into spare uniforms whenthey arrived, though Rysing’s bagged hopelessly on her slenderframe. It was hard to say whether human space rations would agreewith her, but Xera hoped she’d try to eat; the girl couldn’tafford to lose more weight.
Well, they’dsoon have their chance to find out. On Xera’s advice, Rysing hadgiven a blood sample to the medical technicians to test forallergies. Out of politeness Xera had waited with the Leo to eat.Fortunately the med techs were quick. Rysing tested allergy negativeto most common foods, though that was no guarantee she’d like them.
The galley wasjust ending a shift when the women walked in. A quick glance aroundshowed no Khan in sight. “Okay, girl. Time to try some more alienfood,” Xera remarked. “I’ll try to steer you away from anythingwith teeth.” She gave the girl a quick smile and handed over atray.
This far out inspace, shipboard fare was pretty dull, so Xera figured it’d be easyto keep Rysing’s sensitive taste buds from rebelling. The girl’snose twitched suspiciously as they moved along the cafeteria line,and she looked less than thrilled with the globs of reconstitutedmashed potatoes, hydroponic veg and dehydrated fruit. Even thetank-grown fish were met with looks of stoic determination.
They sat at atable. Rysing stared at her tray and took a deep breath. She put atiny bite of mashed potatoes in her mouth…and promptly gagged.
Xera noddedsympathetically over her own bite. “You get used to it.”
Rysing bravelytook a sip of water to clear her mouth, and tried the beans. Shedidn’t gag, but she didn’t look happy. After trying the fish, sheput down her fork. “I don’t think I’m hungry anymore.”
“You haven’ttried the veg.”
“I don’t thinkI dare.”
Xera exhaled inamusement. “I see your point, but you need to keep up yourstrength. Trust me when I say the food gets no better than this.”
Rysing looked ather plate and swallowed hard. After a moment, she picked up her forkand dug in. She chewed mechanically, an empty look on her face, as ifshe were trying to distance her mind from what she was ingesting.
“I’ve seenthat look before. You looked like that when we were dining on bugs,lieutenant,” a new voice said.
Xera looked upinto the face of Ensign Trevor, the man who’d once offered her acomb…and made her a scandalous proposition. The memory made hervoice cool. “Ensign.”
He lookednonplussed, then reddened with memory. “Ma’am. I was hoping wecould talk. I think I owe you an apology.” He looked at hersteadily until she relented and allowed him to sit down.
He stared at hisown tray a moment as his face became a deeper shade of red. It was anunfortunate combination with his orange-red hair and the pale skinthat made his freckles stand out in glaring relief. “I, uh, want tosay I’m sorry for the way I handled things in the cave. It’s justthat…” He took a deep breath and looked her in the eye. “I hada crush on you, ma’am, and I didn’t want to see you get hurt. Ijust picked the wrong way to try to protect you.”
She could see nodeceit in his face. Looking back, she could see how she might havetaken his interest hard, but things had been very different then.She’d been feeling trapped and vulnerable, imagining the worst. Shecould believe that he’d been a slightly horny white knight whobungled his approach. Here and now, he could be excused.
“I think we wereall out of our element, Ensign. I can forgive you for fumbling yourcatch.”
He grinned at herdescription. “Thank you. I think you had it worse than most,though.” He sobered and glanced around. “Listen, you need towatch out for Khan. He was forbidden to speak to you upon yourarrival, but he hasn’t forgotten what happened. He’s up forpromotion, too….”
“Promotion!”
“Yeah. The GEsees him as a valuable asset. We’re all being called heroes forsurviving the crash. Now that you’re here, they’ll use you as anexample of why we shouldn’t ally with the Scorpio. If they can findan excuse to lay claim to this planet, they’ll be happy to sendmore ships and men out here.”
“Why? What canpossibly be so precious about this place? You’ve seen it; it’sone step removed from hell.”
He glanced at hertray. “Finish up and I’ll take you to the lab. There’ssomething you should see.”
Xera translatedfor Rysing, who grimly gagged down her dinner, minus the mashedpotatoes. In minutes they were walking into the labs where EnsignTrevor worked as a technician. He nodded to the lone woman on staffand took them over to a bench. “We’ve all be taking turnsbringing our buddies in here, showing them why the GE wants this‘stinking hole of a planet.’ You won’t be seen as unusual.”
He said it in away that Xera wondered if he’d be questioned later. Maybe he waspushing his luck to be inviting her in, explaining. Maybe he wastrying to make amends for their misunderstanding on the desertplanet.
“Watch this.”He put on gloves, then took a big tube full of murky water and showedit to them. “This is the toxic water from one of the oceans. Nowlook what happens when I pour it through this filter into this otherbeaker. You see this sediment forming? We’ll get back to that.” Aclear drip of liquid was slowly filtering into the tube. He set itback out of the way and reached for another tube. “This liquid isalready filtered. Now we use a nano-filter to separate out the oiland water….” He repeated the process with a new beaker.
“Oil? I thoughtthe two didn’t mix,” Xera said.
“Not unless theyhave an emulsifier, but this is special stuff,” he agreed. “Okay,this is now separated. You can see the value of the water without myexplaining it. As for the oil….” He stuck a wick inside and setit on fire. “Ta-da! Fuel, ladies. Oceans of it, enough to power awhole civilization for a long time. But wait! There’s more.”
“I’m afraid toask,” Xera said. Clean water and a cheap fuel source were badenough. Her homeworld of Polaris had started out with much less,dragging asteroids into orbit around a gas planet and using lunar iceto form lakes. This planet didn’t even need that much effort. Sure,it was overrun with pests, but varmints could be trapped and killed.
“You should be,”Ensign Trevor confirmed, “because this sludge rivals tranium as afuel source.”
Xera gasped.Tranium was the most efficient fuel source ever found for starships.If a rival source were found, the GE would shed blood to get theirhands on it. Suddenly cogs started clicking into place. “You didn’tjust discover this. The GE has been here before.”
“And lost shipsto the Khun’tat,” he confirmed. “Nobody will admit it, but I’vegot a friend on the inside who says it’s true. You know what? Ithink those monsters are out here in this sector because they’vespotted a new food source.” He looked her in the eyes, hisexpression deadly serious. “You went through all the trouble tosend a message out, but you didn’t tell the GE anything they didn’tknow, lieutenant.”
“And they’rewilling to risk everything for the fuel,” Xera said softly. Shefelt sick. Countless lives were being thrown away, and for what? Sosome rich guys could get richer. She also had to warn Ryven.
Rysing demanded toknow what was up. Her brow furrowed in concern as it was explained,and she looked thoughtfully at the tubes on the bench. “If all thisis so, why are they here now? Why not attack already?”
“Specimens,”Trevor explained after translation. “They want some live crittersthis time, and more soil samples, weather data, etc. We also have tostudy the bugs and fungus we ate in the cave. Unless we find othernative prey animals, future colonists might have to live on them.”He looked disgusted.
Xera’s lipscurled in memory, too. “Ugh!”
Rysing didn’tlook horrified by the description of the situation, just thoughtful.“I’d like to see this place,” she said when their fortressdestination was described.
Xera started toargue with her, but was interrupted when the ship intercom announcedtheir impending descent. All personnel were to prepare themselves forlanding.
“I think we’llride this out in our room,” Xera told Ensign Trevor. “I’ve gota lot to think about. Thank you. I hope we’ll get another chance totalk.”
He gave her ajaunty salute. “My pleasure. Remember, stay clear of Khan. Thecurrent commander is all right as they go. Stay on his good side andyou’ll be okay.”
Xera shook herhead slightly as she left. Would she be able to stay out of trouble?Considering her goals, she doubted it would be for long.