Revengers Page 8

  Unless her access was cut off. If someone detached the border defences from the main networks, and changed its programming to not recognise this shuttle as an exception, they might be able to overtake her.

  Which meant she had to get there first.

  She looked up control systems for the border defences and found she was right: Someone was working on the systems near her exit point. Whoever was doing it, she locked them out.

  They found their way back a couple of seconds later, and this time when she tried to stop them, she found a dozen difficulties springing up. Her hidden opponent was clearly good with technology – and she knew she had no chance of competing. Not on this playing field, anyway.

  She paused, thinking about all the research she'd done before she'd left the first time. Most of those plans had come to nothing, or were too difficult, but she'd learned a lot.

  She decided to go downstream: The power grid supplying the entire border. She checked. No one was working on that.

  “Oops,” she said with a grin, and cut the power to a thousand-kilometre long section of border defences. She checked again – the defence systems in that section were inactive and not responding to any commands.

  “We're safe,” she said.

  “Not quite,” said Eloise. She tapped a display screen showing a rear view.

  There were three bulky ships flying in formation behind them. They were short but broad, their surfaces covered in machinery. Olivia checked the sensor readout. The three ships were gaining on them.

  “What are they?” said Eloise.

  Truth be told, Olivia had never seen these ships before. She wracked her brains, trying to think what they might do.

  One of the ships hailed them.

  Comms!

  “We might be close enough to the Fire Strider to get a signal through,” she told Eloise. “It'll be weak, but …”

  “May as well try,” said Eloise.

  Olivia used the shuttle's onboard communications systems, bypassing the estate's network, and put through a call. For a few seconds, the console showed no signal. Then Rurthk appeared on the screen.

  The quality was weak, distorted, pixellated. “What is it?” said Rurthk.

  “We've knocked down the – ,” Olivia said quickly. But before she could finish, the call went down.

  “I'm going to accept the hail,” said Eloise. She gestured at the console.

  Her father's bodyguard appeared on the screen. “It's over, Miss Chase,” he said gruffly. “Stand down now.”

  “Go on, shoot us down then,” replied Olivia.

  The shuttle gave a sharp, violent shake around them. Olivia's fingers dug into the leather seating. Had he actually done it? Was he really going to risk killing them?

  “The hell?” muttered Eloise. A red glow seeped in through the window. The checked the console. “They've got the whole shuttle in an effector field.” She tried accelerating. The engines whined through the hull, they stayed where they were.

  Now Olivia remembered. She'd heard about ships designed to bring intruders down without damaging them. They were almost never used, because the perimeter defences were usually sufficient. With effector fields, these ships could forcibly drag the shuttle to a secure facility and force open the door.

  The call to her father's bodyguard was still open, though they weren't transmitting. A grim thought occurred to her. She recoiled from it at first, but she could see no other option.

  “Can you give me a hand?” she asked Dr. Wolff, and together they hauled her father up again, and she shifted so they could perch him on the seat beside her.

  She gestured at the console to activate audio and visual.

  “I have a hostage,” she said.

  The bodyguard looked at her and cocked his head.

  “Keep that in mind before you go any further,” said Olivia.

  The bodyguard frowned slightly. Then he gave a derisive snort. The shuttle shuddered again as effector fields began to pull it backwards. “You won't hurt him,” said the bodyguard.

  “H-how do you know?”

  “I can see it in your eyes. Believe me, I know an empty threat when I see one.”

  “Fine,” said Eloise sharply, leaning into view. She took out a gun, reached past Olivia, almost pushing her off her seat, and placed it against Chase's head. “She won't. But I will.”

  “Who the hell are you?” said the bodyguard.

  “A problem,” said Eloise. “Like always. I will kill Enoch Chase if I have to. Now go on, look into my eyes and tell me this is an empty threat.”

  Olivia froze. She had no idea what to do. Was Eloise telling the truth? She couldn't be, could she? Olivia hated her father, of that she was sure but she didn't want to see him hurt.

  The bodyguard's lips pulled back into a snarl. “But if I let you go, you will still have Mr. Chase as a hostage, and I will have no chance of saving him.”

  “Believe me, I don't care whether he lives or dies,” said Eloise. “But I do care very much about getting free.”

  “That's not much to go on,” said the bodyguard. “I don't think so.”

  “Then I suggest you find a way out of this stalemate so we can both get what we want.”

  The bodyguard was about to say something more but then his console seemed to catch his attention.

  At the same time, the shuttle's sensors called for Olivia's attention. She checked them.

  A ship was rapidly approaching. It was flying fast and low – just under a kilometre off the ground – and heading straight for them.

  It was the Fire Strider.

  Chapter 21: Run Like Hell

  Aboard the Fire Strider, Rurthk looked through the cockpit windows. The pale orange sky and the rust-red ground stretched out ahead of him. A few distant domes and buildings were visible in the far distance.

  The telescope feed showed him the shuttle – the trio of ships harassing it.

  He called up the comms. “Are you ready?”

  “Yes,” said Laodicean's calm, synthesised voice. After a moment, he added, “This would be easier if we had weapons.”

  “I know,” said Rurthk. “But this is civilian vessel without a licence. It would be illegal for us to have weapons, and I felt I should respect the law.”

  There was a pause. “Tell me when we are in place,” said Laodicean.

  Rurthk smiled to himself and tried the comms.

  They were close enough for it to work. “Rurthk?” said Eloise.

  “Just hang tight,” said Rurthk. “We're gonna pick you up and then run like hell.”

  “Alright. Olivia says she'll need a moment after you pick us up. She's got … something to dispose of.”

  “You can have a couple of seconds,” said Rurthk. As soon as he closed the call, he got a hail from one of the three ships and turned it down.

  he ships and the shuttle were visible as dots on the horizon.

  *

  Aboard the shuttle, Eloise and Wolff dragged Enoch Chase to the back of the shuttle, while Olivia opened a small hatch and unfolded a bulky eva suit. It opened up down the front, and they found it easy to get Chase inside.

  “If they don't catch him, won't he just fall to his death?” said Wolff. “I know Martian gravity is low, but …”

  Olivia shook her head. “It's designed to keep the occupant alive, even if he's unconscious. It's got gravity negation, effector fields, and even weak engines. It can land by itself.” She tapped at a control panel on the suit's arm to activate a distress signal, then closed the suit, then carried to an airlock at the back of the shuttle.

  *

  The Fire Strider braked hard as it came towards the shuttle, dropping from supersonic speeds to a stately glide less than a hundred metres away. The scuffle began.

  The trio of ships clawed at the Fire Strider with their effector fields. But while they could hold the shuttle in place, the cargo ship was too large for them. They could slow it, but not stop it. They opened fire, their light kinetic rounds digg
ing into its hull.

  The Fire Strider flew over the shuttle lowered slowly so they were almost touching.

  Rurthk opened the cargo bay doors and told Laodicean, “Now!”

  Laodicean worked with the Fire Strider's effector fields, disrupting those of the ships.

  In the shuttle, Olivia opened the aft airlock, and Enoch Chase, safely held in the escape suit, fell out the back of the shuttle. Eloise guided the shuttle into the Fire Strider's cargo bay.

  The trio of ships scrambled to pick up Chase with their effector fields. The Fire Strider accelerated away, keeping low to the ground where the hole in the perimeter defences was. The trio of ships couldn't keep up, and were quickly left behind.

  As soon as they were through the hole, Rurthk took them vertically upwards. As soon as they reached a safe distance, they jumped away.

  *

  Rurthk was standing there when the door opened.

  “Olivia!” he said, offering his hand. “At last. Welcome back on board.”

  Olivia shook it, smiling. “Thank you,” she said.

  “And you two. It sounds like you've been on an adventure too,” Rurthk said to Eloise and Dr. Wolff as they stepped out.

  “Oh, you know,” said Eloise. “Just a quick detour, take in some of the local colour. Those cells really are very clean.”

  “And how was your first mission in the field, Doctor?”

  “Exciting enough that I need never do it again,” said Wolff.

  Rurthk laughed and patted him on the shoulder. “Now, before we go any further, there's one thing all of you should know about. Promise not to kill me, but …” He turned to call to the cockpit, “Come out!”

  Laodicean glided into the cargo bay.

  “Hello, all,” he said.

  “Whoa,” say Eloise, her eyebrows high. “What's happening here? Because if you say we're under arrest again, I'm not going to be pleased.”

  “I decided to take your advice about Laodicean as a potential ally.” Rurthk paused. “He came by just after you'd gone.”

  “I can no longer trust the GEA,” said Laodicean. “This is the only way I can see to destroy Vihan Yvredi.”

  “Well, then,” said Eloise. “Welcome aboard.” She frowned. “What about Illipa?”

  “Dead,” said Laodicean.

  “I'm sorry,” said Eloise. She reached out to put a hand against Laodicean's globe of water.

  Laodicean moved back. “I will not rest until justice is done,” he said. “Please excuse me, I must calculate our next jump.”

  He floated back towards the cockpit.

  Olivia, who had been rooting around in the shuttle, climbed out again, holding her jewellery box. “I thought you might like this,” she said, offering it to Eloise.

  Eloise grinned as she opened it. “Oh, wow,” she said brightly, taking out a bracelet to examine it. “Stolen jewellery. My favourite kind.”

  “And if there's anything you don't want,” Olivia said proudly, “together, the contents of that box are worth about a hundred thousand credits.”

  “Even better.”

  “Plus the shuttle … which I'd guess is two or three times that much.” Olivia patted the hull. “I thought that might make my return worth it.”

  “Are you kidding?” said Eloise. “Your return is worth it because you're here.”

  “The money is certainly a nice bonus, though,” said Rurthk examining the shuttle.

  “Where are Mero and Kaivon?” Olivia asked. “On the Outsider?”

  Eloise and Rurthk looked at each other in silence.

  “I'm afraid not,” said Eloise, turning back to Olivia. “Mero decided to go his own way after the Blank attack. And Kaivon … we lost Kaivon.”

  A cold tendril snaked around Olivia's throat. “You mean …?”

  “He's dead,” Rurthk said, turning away and heading for the cockpit. “Got shot by a Blank.”

  Olivia slumped against the shuttle. “Oh,” she said.

  After a moment, Eloise pulled her into a hug.

  Chapter 22: Monopole Cannons

  Around Kurkroth, the planet orbiting a black hole, a pair of Varanid dreadnoughts held position. Around them, lesser ships – four cruisers and ten frigates – busied themselves, looking through the destroyed hulks of Glaber hunters, scanning the surface, and deploying orbital defence platforms. In the distance, the accretion disk viewed edge-on formed a bright line in the sky. Through a telescope feed, one could see the ripple in spacetime at the centre, where the black hole's gravity twisted light around.

  Aboard one of the dreadnoughts, the Varanid general stood in front of a giant wall screen filled with tactical data from interstellar scans to detailed surface maps. One of his lieutenants came up beside him.

  “Report,” said the general without looking around.

  “We've met with some resistance in the major cities, but it was easily pacified. Only minor casualties on our side.”

  “And?”

  “We've identified a number of Hives that may have been involved with Blank production. Bellicose, Knife-edge, Gouge – ”

  “The Glaber have always had such charming names,” the general said. “Send down the Strokma and the Rakatan to take these hives. I want them pacified before the investigators arrive.”

  “Yes, sir,” said the lieutenant.

  “Dismissed.”

  The lieutenant turned and ambled out of the room. The general looked over the screen again.

  A small group of Glaber ships had just jumped in a few light minutes away. They weren't hunters. They were long and thin, covered in a jagged surface. They looked civilian.

  His guess was confirmed a moment later when he received a bulkwave message from one of the frigates saying that the Glaber ships claimed to be cargo vessels and were asking permission to pass. The frigate captain asked him what to do.

  “Search them,” said the general. “Report back on what they're carrying. If they're clean, let them pass.”

  He called up a visual feed from one of the satellites to watch the ships approach. The frigate moved to intercept them.

  A silvery thread briefly linked the frigate to one of the ships.

  Did you fire on them? Why? thought the general.

  But he was wrong. The Glaber ship didn't explode. The frigate did. Then the other Glaber ships started accelerating towards Kurkroth.

  A wave of cold dread ran through the general's body to the tip of his tail. The Glaber had monopole cannons? But how? More importantly, the only reason the Varanids and humans had been able to dominate the Glaber forces so easily was because they had monopole cannons while the enemy didn't. If the Glaber did have monopole cannons, that could change the whole balance of power …

  He gestured at the screen, calling up the entire fleet. “All ships, engage the Glaber immediately!”

  Even as he gave the order, a silvery thread leapt from one of the long ships to cut apart a nearby cruiser.

  He sent a bulkwave message to the command centre: “We need reinforcements over Kurkroth immediately!”

  Chapter 23: Together Again

  The mood on the Outsider was uncertain and tense. When it had just been Rurthk, Eloise and Dr. Wolff, everything had seemed empty. With Laodicean among the crew, no one was sure how to proceed. A former lawman was still a former lawman. He had interrogated them all once, tried to take their ship from them, and threatened them all. He might not be part of the GEA anymore, but who knew what he was thinking, what judgements he was making? And for his part, despite the fact that he had joined them, Laodicean found little to trust about the crew of the Outsider.

  Olivia sat in Eloise's cabin, facing the mirror while Eloise cut her hair. Eloise had switched to a suit she had apparently picked up on Mars, and was wearing some of Olivia's more ostentatious jewellery.

  “What do you think?” she said. “Black again? Or do you want to try something else?”

  “I'll stick with black,” Olivia said.

  “I think I've
got the nano here somewhere,” said Eloise, rooting a box under her bed.

  Olivia leaned forward and ruffled her newly-short hair in the mirror. At last she was feeling more like herself.

  “I was talking to Laodicean,” said Eloise as she returned with a small container of nanotech hair colour. She gave it to Olivia, who keyed in the colour data. “You know, he was going to move into the Fire Strider, to give us some privacy. He thought maybe we'd feel more comfortable that way. Rur refused, because he wants to keep an eye on Laodicean.” She took the container back and began to apply some of the contents.

  “I haven't talked to him yet,” Olivia said.

  “We talked a bit about Illipa,” said Eloise. “I think she was the only person he was actually close to. But he's so wrapped in his notions of justice and analysis, he doesn't know how to handle her loss.” She fell silent for a moment. “That might be a problem.”

  Elsewhere in the Outsider, Doctor Wolff was sitting up in bed, reading a hefty hardback book titled The Complete Works of Franz Kafka. The softly-playing Satie in the background was interrupted by a chime. He frowned softly, marked his place with the attached ribbon, and laid the book down. He sat up and extended his tablet to read the message.

  It was from his old colleague Singer. Singer, who habitually scribbled notes on paper.

  And who worked on the Blanks.

  Wolff stared at the message for a few seconds before opening it.

  Dear Anton, the message read.

  I pray this missive reaches you, but I have little hope. The short of the matter is, I want to turn. I know – I should have done something when you found us over Kurkroth. I should never have gotten involved in this mess in the first place. But I did – and here we are.