Asarlai Wars 1: Warrior Wench (30 page)

Deven was alive.

Part of her wanted to shout with glee, the other wanted to scream in fear. What was he that he came back from the dead at least twice? She’d done a close study of the scans on the remains of his Fury, and it had haunted her for weeks. There couldn’t have been much left of him to recover. If the explosion hadn’t destroyed him, the radioactive debris would have.

Maybe it wasn’t he. Maybe this was all some delusion? A dream from being too close to death herself? Even as she thought it, she knew that wasn’t it. Deven was real. His presence in her head or wherever they had been was far too disturbing not to be real.

Which left her with the issue of having to figure out how she felt about it. She’d dealt with his death. It had taken awhile, but she’d been able to repress it. Of course he would be the first one to point out repressing it wasn’t dealing with it. But she was going to apply the same tactic she’d used in dealing with his death to his life. Who the hell knew what was going on between her and Deven, but while her ship was being run over by bastard pirates with religious leanings was not the time to be thinking about it.

“Ha!” Vas muttered out loud as she got the nasty questioning inner voice to shut up.

“Did you find something, Captain?” Mac stuck his head inside the doorway.

Vas turned back to her computer quickly. What was wrong with her? Her focus sure as hell wasn’t holding up. “Actually, I,” she paused when the search she was running pulled up the specs she needed, “yes I did.” Thank gods; she didn’t want to explain her issues with Deven to anyone, least of all someone like Mac. She fought off the shudder that caused.

“How good are you at Alterian programming? This ship originally belonged to them.”

Mac shrugged. “I had some in flight school, but I’m—”

“Perfect.” Vas cut him off and offered him the chair in front of the console. “You’ve got more than me. I found the sub-system. You tell it to find a way to locate our people, but only on this computer. Better yet, load it on one of the handhelds. Tell the system to lock out all others.” She patted his shoulder then went into the outer room. “I’ll go find the weapons.”

Vas heard Mac swearing as he typed, but at least he had a clue as to what to type, which was more than she had.

Mac was right; Terel always went here instead of her quarters whenever Vas ordered her to go out armed. She prowled around the lab, flinging open doors at random.

“Captain, I think I found some of them,” Mac yelled from the inner room. “The system is still unable to access some of the ship. Either it’s a side effect of Gosta crashing it, or else it’s something the pirates did when they tried to undo Gosta’s work. I’m trying to cut through, but only partial luck so far.”

Vas sat back on her heels as she hit another weaponless cabinet. She was glad that Mac found a way to track her people, at least some of them. However, without weapons there wasn’t a lot she could do. If there was a time she needed a powerful telepath on her ship this was it.

“That’s great, Mac.” Vas rubbed her eyes. As neat as the med lab was, obviously there was still dust. “Keep trying to break through. Get as much intel as you can.”

“You okay, Captain?” Mac’s voice sounded like he was getting up.

Vas wiped her eyes some more. Stupid dust. “Stay in there and find more of our people. Once I find Terel’s stash we’ll have to move fast. I can’t guarantee they don’t know we’re here.”

The chair squeaked as he sat back down, and his voice was subdued. “Understood.”

Maybe there was more to Mac than she had thought.

Swearing to herself about the weapon situation, she pried open a locked cabinet labeled hazardous materials. She kicked herself for not thinking of that cabinet first. Terel kept her hazardous items in a completely separate lockup.

“Yes! Mac, come here. Do you think this will be enough?” she yelled as she pulled out enough weapons for a small army. Just who was her peace-loving doctor planning on arming?

“Captain!” He ran forward, storing as many weapons on his person as possible.

“Easy there, bucko.” She pulled a heavy-duty artillery rifle out of his hand and put it back in the cabinet. “We’re on a ship, remember?
My
ship. No heavy weapons. I don’t want to get it back full of holes.” She put a sword in his hands. “And try one of these. You really aren’t half bad.” She didn’t know when the
Warrior Wench
had become
her
ship in her head, but it was there now. It was as much a part of her as the
Victorious Dead
had been.

She laughed. He looked like a kid whose daddy just told him he was a good boy. Then she grabbed as many small, edged weapons as she could hide on her person, finishing up with another of the smaller curved blades that worked out well in confined quarters, and a Mark Three blaster very similar to her own. If anyone was going to end up shooting her ship, it was going to be her. But only as a last resort.

“Now, where are our people? Closest group that’s not attended by the pirates first. We’ll gather people then work our way up toward the command deck.”

Mac ran back into the inner room and came back with two comm tablets. “I uploaded it to both in case we get separated. But it looks like at least six people are in the lower weapons tanks. Probably a good place to start.”

She cringed. Probably an excellent place to start. The weapons tanks were not a place sane folks would go to linger. If her folks were there, they were hiding. “Good idea. Were you able to pull up the brig?”

“Not yet. We may just have to see who’s in there when we get there. I don’t think we can take a chance on leaving the search running.”

“No we can’t. Another very good point.” She pulled out one of the smaller caliber weapons and fixed a silencer on it. “Terel can bill me for a new computer.” With a nod Vas went back into the inner lab and blew away the computer they’d hacked into. Either they’d find enough of her people to take back the ship, or they’d fail. Leaving the computer up would just be another way to help the pirates.

“Okay, flyboy, let’s see how good of a hacker you really are, lead on.” She palmed open the door and slid partially around it. No one was in sight, so at least that was holding up.

Mac grinned at being allowed to take point and slipped out into the hall.

Chapter Thirty-Five

Vas heard people down one of the side corridors and froze. Mac reacted a few seconds after she did but still managed to stay out of sight. From the sound there were just two, one of them sounding like one of the frail old women they’d pulled off the planet. Or rather sounded like a surprisingly hale, hardy, and younger version of one of them. They’d used glamours of some sort, something high-tech enough that the scan before they landed hadn’t revealed it.

At least her ship hadn’t been taken by a bunch of old people and children.

Vas fingered her curved sword and toyed with ambushing them where they stood. Problem was she couldn’t be certain it was just the two, and if she was honest with herself she was in no condition to take on anyone at this point.

Mac turned, clearly thinking the same thing. With a frown, Vas shook him off and nodded down the way they were going. There would be time to take out those pirates when they had more fighters. Besides, she didn’t want them tipped off.

Mac continued moving toward the stairs; they couldn’t chance the lift. The lower weapons chamber was only two flights down. Unfortunately, those were the longest two flights Vas had ever limped down. Clearly Terel had done some major surgery while she’d been out floating around talking to Deven, but there were still plenty of things wrong inside her body.

The door to the weapons locker was sealed shut, a perfect hint someone was inside. Fortunately, the pirates didn’t know that.

“Could you tell what species was down here?” Mac had been able to separate out their people based on the bio signs stored in the computer, but Vas hadn’t thought to ask who might be down here.

“No,” Mac said. “I couldn’t get it that refined, just which were our people. But I think we know who’s probably down here.”

She nodded. Flarik, Xsit, and any other of the warm-weather species. The lower weapons locker was kept uncomfortably warm to keep the weapons-grade plasma in a controlled setting, primed for firing. Now the question would be how to get them out.

Vas limped around Mac and pounded on the door. Sometimes the simplest way was the best. “It’s me, people.” If any of the pirates were down there they would have fired on them already. No one in their right mind would hide in a weapons chamber.

A few more poundings brought a crack in the door followed by the muzzle of a snub blaster.

“It’s Mac and me. We need to get our ship back.”

The door opened wider and a clatter was heard. An instant later Xsit’s thin form slammed into her. “Captain!”

Vas held her breath as pain engulfed her. Mac carefully pried the excited communications officer off.

“The captain is still injured, go easy. She should be in pain-med-filled peace right now.”

Flarik, and rest of the snub-nosed blaster, appeared as the door opened further. “Yes, just how are you able to move, Captain?”

“She had me take her off her pain meds.”

Vas glared at her pilot. “I can answer for myself, you know. It doesn’t matter,” she added as she handed out more snub blasters and swords she’d brought from Terel’s supply. “We have to get more people free, and then kick these bastards off our ship.”

Flarik informed her of what little she knew. Xsit had been coming back to the deck from a break when she heard the pirates take over the command deck. She’d run until she literally hit Flarik. Their section of ship hadn’t been searched yet, so they were able to find four others and hide. The only thing they knew for certain was that all of the refugees had been under glamours that were dropped quickly after gaining access to most of the ship.

“I still don’t know why they didn’t come after us though,” Flarik said. “A good scan or two should have shown us.”

Vas readjusted her weapons after unloading so many. “We think Gosta sabotaged the system before they got him. He’d better be able to put it to rights quickly when we get my ship back though.”

She turned toward her new partner. “Okay, Mac, we need to get a few more people before we go after the pirates, and get more intel. Where next?”

Mac flashed a smile at being asked his opinion, and then checked his comm pad. “I’d say the holosuite we blocked off. Or rather, that weird room behind it.” He tapped the screen. “Looks like there are four of our people in there. However, we’ll have to be careful. It looks like three of the pirates are in the holosuite.”

Vas checked the power level on her snub blaster, made sure her sword hung loose, and nodded. “Let’s go retrieve some more of our people, shall we?”

The trip to the room behind the holosuite wasn’t difficult. The pirates clearly felt secure in the fact that they had control of the ship and didn’t appear to be running patrols. Vas questioned their laxity. She never would have been this relaxed unless she had the entire crew in the brig. They’d met her and Flarik, yet they weren’t concerned that they were missing? The Graylian monks might be great on the psychotic religion front, but they weren’t so good at battle plans. Unless they were waiting for something.

The small room was locked as well, another clear sign their people were still inside. But unlike the previous time, she couldn’t just yell and pound on the door. She needed someone to pick the lock.

“Mac? I’ve got a job for you.”

He pulled back in shock when she explained what she needed him to do. “But why would you think I could—”

“I have your juvenile records on file, Mac. We don’t have time for this.”

Glancing at the others, as if this was going to change something about him in their eyes, Mac hovered over the handle and tried tumbling the lock.

After a few tense minutes, a slight click, followed by the popping of a seal, told them he made it.

Followed by a low-voiced, “If you take one step or call to your friends I’ll blow you away right here.”

Vas stepped closer so she could be seen. Mac was so close to the door whoever it was probably couldn’t recognize him.

“It’s me. You’re about to blow up Mac.”

“Captain?” Pela said as she flung open the door. “Sorry, Mac, nothing personal, you know.” The assistant medic patted Mac’s arm as she pulled him aside then quickly looked down both ends of the corridor. “You need to get in here, but I don’t think we can fit everyone in.”

“No, we need to re-take the ship. I just wish I knew who in the hell was really behind this. It must be the monks, but I’m not sure if anyone else is involved.” Vas said.

“Bhotia, or whatever his real name is, is in the holosuite. I think he’s setting up a torture chamber in there.”

“Shit.” Vas turned to Flarik. “Do you know if they’ve been searching the ship?”

“I don’t think they have. Which is extremely odd, wouldn’t they make sure they have us all?” Flarik said with a nod.

“Unless they don’t care. I need to see what they’re setting up before we go after them.” Vas tried to think of a scenario where one didn’t care if the people whose ship you’d just pirated were still running about. Nothing good came to mind.

She turned to Flarik and the others still in the hallway. “You all go to Bathie’s quarters and lock yourselves in. I’ll be back as soon as I can. If I’m not back in thirty minutes, assume it’s up to you to get our ship back.”

Mac and the others nodded. Then he checked down the hallway to make sure it was clear, and they vanished.

Vas followed Pela into the small spy room. The triplets were already there, but were silently watching the tableau before them. Bhotia, or whoever he really was, stood in the middle of an ancient-looking shrine, wearing a Graylian monk’s robe. Clearly the setting was something he’d programmed into the holosuite himself. Two of his henchmen stood near the door as he slowly walked around his creation. Horrific torture devices, some even Vas couldn’t figure out, filled the rock-strewn room.

“Cover your eyes.” His voice was lower than before and accented strangely. His two guards both nodded and covered their eyes with dark fabric pulled from their uniform pockets. Uniforms that were very familiar. Vas was glad she’d sent Flarik away with the others; she had a feeling those Rillianian patches would have sent Flarik into berserker mode.

After the Rillianians finished tying their blinds on, Bhotia raised his arms and began chanting. A moment later a being appeared in the center of the room. Impossibly tall, with long silver hair that flowed to mid back, the male; it was clearly that, peered down at Bhotia with contempt in his red eyes.

“Why have you called me?”

“We have found them, great one. The ship you spoke of, we are on it. The sacrifices are ours.” The look on his face proved whatever Bhotia was, sane didn’t fit in his worldview. “We follow the great rise of the Asarlaí. All we ask is to serve.”

Vas almost jumped at the name. So that was what Deven’s friend really looked like? Maybe it
was
his friend; there was no rule that a glamour had to stay the same sex. Whoever it was, they weren’t on the
Warrior Wench
. Not yet. She knew it was just a hologram even if the guards were made to think their god stood before them.

“You will be rewarded once the Realm has risen again. We are still recovering from our last encounter with the ones you hold. Our fleet was severely damaged by the unclean powers they were able to use against us.”

A thin bead of sweat trickled down Vas’s back. So the Asarlaí, or whoever was pretending to be them, were the creatures in the gray ships. Part of her mind screamed at the impossible nature of that idea. After all, the creatures in the black flight suits from Mnethe V hadn’t been near as tall as this being in the holosuite. But there was no way around it. They’d only destroyed one fleet: the gray ships.

“Captain, I think there are pirates coming down this corridor. We may need to leave.” Pela whispered.

Vas kept her eyes locked on the hologram before her. “Not yet. We may never get another chance like this. Stay close to the door though.” She knew she was risking all of their lives. There was a good chance the pirates had finally started looking for the missing crewmembers. But she needed to get any details she could. Providing they survived getting their ship back, she needed to know just what they were up against.

“Yes, master.” The worshipful look on Bhotia’s face was just a hair short of madness. “We will bring them to you immediately. We will take them through the hypergate, to your awaiting justice.”

The Asarlaí smiled benevolently. Or it would have been benevolent if his fangs didn’t gleam so much. “I was wise to choose you. You may sacrifice them after we have questioned them, and find the one we need. For the Realm.” He gave a tight nod.

“For the Realm.” Bhotia mimicked the nod, but dropped to his knees as he did so.

“We go now.” Vas pushed the triplets to move, but horror had them frozen. “It’s a hologram. For now. If we don’t regain the ship quickly, and avoid being dragged through their hypergate, that thing down there will be real. And I don’t want to be a sacrifice to anything, do you?”

That moved them.

Pela stood in silence next to the door, her blaster out, but she didn’t seem tense. “They went by quickly, but I don’t think they were looking for us.”

Vas cracked the door and checked the corridors. The way to Bathshea’s quarters was clear.

“It’s me.” She kept her voice and knock low, but they had to move fast. Their only chance was to retake the ship before Bhotia got it through a hypergate. Who knew how many Asarlaís were waiting for them.

Mac opened the door and Vas told the rest of them what they’d seen. She didn’t mention Deven’s friend. It was far too complicated at this point, besides she felt that if Marli had wanted the ship, she would have already taken it.

“We don’t even know if it was an Asarlaí,” Vas added as she finished.

Glazlie shook her head with a worried frown. “We know what they look like, Captain. That was one.” Clearly, there were more than a few races who kept the memories of their old nemeses alive.

“That was a
hologram
of one. Other people know what they look like too. They could have easily faked it. The point is, real Asarlaí or not, those bastards have my ship, have our people, and plan to do something very bad to us. We can’t let Bhotia get this ship through that hypergate.” She passed out the supply of weapons she’d taken from Bathie’s locker. The huge stash was one of the reasons she’d picked this room; Bathie was always well-armed.

“Mac, have you been able to see the brig on that thing?” If she was pulling this kind of job, she’d have all the crew locked up tight, but there was always a chance Bhotia wasn’t playing the same game she would. Actually, she probably would have sent the crew into space in communications-disabled life-pods. But then again, she wouldn’t be bringing in an entire crew to be tortured by some dead race of psychotic megalomaniacs.

No matter what she had to do, there was no way she could allow this ship and crew to be brought before that thing she’d seen in the holosuite. Most likely Bhotia wasn’t stupid enough to leave the self-destruct program in place. But that didn’t mean she didn’t have other options.

If she needed to, the Flits and the remaining Fury in the docking bay could be armed and commanded to fire from a single button hidden on her command chair. While in the bay. It was a secret option she always maintained on the
Victorious Dead
, and had added it to this ship almost immediately. No one, not even Deven, knew of it.