Dremiks (50 page)

Hill stared back at her impassively. “When you start showing any inkling of using judgment, Commander, I assure you that I will stop calling you to task for it.” His tone was dry, but O’Connell thought she heard a hint of humor in his words. By the quick glance he threw at her, she knew he had noted her tense stature. He stepped forward, leaving a few paces between them. He was close enough that he could lower his voice to a near whisper and still be heard, yet far enough away to maintain some semblance of decorum.

“Temper, temper, Commander. You very much want to hit me right now, don’t you? Yes, well, maybe now you understand the level of vexation I’ve felt the past few weeks.” Hill paused to read her expression. “Taking a swing at me would not be very wise. You’ll lose much more than the brief boxing match that would ensue.” He waited again, letting the silence cool her anger. “As for my
bullying
you, I offer my apologies. You have performed remarkably well.” His expression and posture turned inscrutable once more. “I need your support to get through this, O’Connell. I need your help to figure out what in the hell is going on. God knows how we’re going to get through it.” He stared at her for a moment longer then motioned with his hand. “Let’s get back to the ship.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” she whispered softly before matching his pace. They walked in silence until they neared the lander. “Sir?”

“Yes?”

“Did you just
apologize
?”

The captain’s eyes seemed to spark with hidden mirth, but his tone was dry. “Don’t be glib, O’Connell. I’ll reconsider strangling you.”

Chapter 29

“Captain, we have a problem.”

“Just one? How refreshing.” Captain Hill’s attempt at humor failed to elicit any response from Lieutenant Price or Commander O’Connell. “All right, sit down, both of you. Wait—which of you is on pilot’s watch? Don’t we have a jump in three hours?”

Knowing she was risking the captain’s wrath, and beyond caring, O’Connell raised her hand. “Turner has the con. I can be back up there in less than a minute. This couldn’t wait.”

“Get to it, then.”

“We have the details of the treaty between the Dremikians and Valtoza.”

“Eh? Khanaa said she couldn’t give them to us since we weren’t party to the treaty.”

“Not to humans, correct. But she
could
give them to a Dremikian.”

“Dwax asked?” The captain’s hushed tone indicated he understood the importance of Dwax’s action. By going behind the High Council’s collective backs, he risked censure or exile.

“He did.” Her green eyes pinned him. “He told her he had a blood oath with humans.” Both of her eyebrows rose, letting the captain know that she was precisely recalling their previous conversation about blood oaths.

Price, oblivious to the eye play between his superiors, said, “She also gave him a detailed history of his people. Like we suspected, the Valtoza created the Dremikian race as we now know it. They used DNA from a marsh dwelling creature that wasn’t quite sentient, but adept at life in the wetlands. Dremiks used to be covered by marshes, remember. The Valtoza wanted lorga and the ability to produce foodstuffs from the lush lowlands.”

O’Connell took up the narrative. “In what should come as no surprise to any student of evolutionary genetics—or pulp science fiction—the Dremikians evolved to the point where they could reproduce on their own. At some point, they fought each other for control of the planet.”

“That sounds familiar.”

“Doesn’t it, though? When one side—and it’s a bit hazy as to who the real culprit was—blasted that huge chunk out of Najif, the Kigvans stepped in. They negotiated, apparently with the threat of force, a peace treaty. A very draconian peace.”

“Neither side got the planet.”

“Pretty much. The earthquakes, sandstorms, and debris fall from Najif made the planet inhospitable for Dremikians and Valtoza alike. The Valtoza supposedly left the system entirely. The Dremikians retreated to a space station they’d built during the war—Rhyse station. That was over six hundred years ago, using Earth years.”

Hill shifted in his chair. “Ok.” He had the look of a man waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“The treaty has a clause to determine final resolution of the planet Dremiks. It’s either ingenious or—”

“Bloody sick,” Price interjected. “I’m sticking with sick, demented, twisted, and scary.”

“The lieutenant has strong feelings on this point, sir.”

“Any person or thing with a damn conscience would!”

“Spit it out, Commander!”

“Sorry, sir. The treaty states that any species that manages to successfully reproduce on the surface gains ownership of the whole planet. Specifically, that the being first born on Dremiks would inherit the planet and the right to dispose of it as he, she, or it, chose.”

Price and O’Connell waited for that information to sink in. They’d had thirty minutes to digest the implications of that one horrifying sentence.

“Sweet Lord, no.” Brett saw his officers nod solemnly at him. “No. Not even Ryan could be that devious. He’ll start a war!”

“The Dremikians cannot reproduce without ground water that has been infused with lorga. They had stores of the stuff on Rhyse station, but that’s running low, after six hundred years. They needed us to correct the orbit of Najif
and
restore the ecosystem of Dremiks to the point that the underground aquifers started refilling the marshes.”

Hill could fill in the next part on his own. “The Valtoza need lorga for weaponry and our arrival shut down their illicit mine. They also need a species, able to survive on Dremiks, to meld their RNA with and then reproduce. So why don’t they just grab one of us or some other sentient species and breed?” He made a face. “Repellant as that notion is. Who or what did they have working that surface mine?”

“Ah, I worked that bit out, sir,” Price said. “They breed clones, right? Every species they mix their RNA with, it makes clones. They’re full grown from the moment of, er, birth. I’m betting they’re still stumped on how to get a clone that is intelligent enough to sign the treaty with the Kigvans handing over the planet, but not wise enough to realize it’s a slave and out-right rebel. They’ve been burned on that score before. I’m betting right now they’re playing a waiting game, working with the Admiral to get the lorga they need and keep the Dremikians from winning the race to reproduce.”

“That seems to have been the original intent of this plot. I think your brother saw a golden opportunity, though.”

Damn right he did. If Marissa delivers that baby on the surface of Dremiks, humankind has snatched an entire planet right under the noses of two technologically superior races. Hell, three species, counting the Kigvans.

Brett Hill shook his head. “We’re missing something, if the point of the sabotage was to prevent us reaching or landing on Dremiks, that is. Ryan needed us there in time for the birth.”

“I presume the Admiral caught wind of Marissa’s pregnancy and put the pieces together. Ryan might have been an original party to their plot, but I’m betting he’s working for himself now. There must be someone else, crew or colonist, working for the Admiral.”

“I’m losing track of how many people are out to prevent our mission.”

“Or outright kill us,” Price said.

O’Connell groaned. “That too.”

The captain surged from his seat, taking the other two by surprise. “You have a jump to prep for. As soon as we return to Dremiks, the first order of business is getting Marissa off that damn planet. I have no idea how we’re going to prevent the Valtoza from getting our DNA or whatever it is they negotiated with the Admiral. We’ll have to try to re-negotiate a treaty with the Kigvans and Dremikians.”

And I have to punch my damn brother in the face.

***

“Jump complete, sir.”

“You have the con, Commander. Maximum speed to Dremiks. I want us in orbit by daybreak over the dome.”

“Communications, sir?”

“Turn the buoy back on, but communications black-out remains in effect, ship-wide.”

“Aye, aye, sir.” O’Connell relaxed into her seat. Price was already up and completing his post-jump duties. She entered commands into the navigational system before notifying engineering that she needed full power on the engines.

“We just finished a jump, Commander.” Guttmann sounded peeved.

“Captain’s orders, Lieutenant.” She wanted to throw in a comment about being careful what one wished for, since Swede was always begging the captain to abandon the rule book and push their limits. Resisting that urge, she closed the channel.

Price came back to his chair after forty minutes. O’Connell looked at him and at her chronometer. He shrugged in response. “Nowhere else to be, ma’am.”

They sat in silence, each lost in thought. The only other person on the bridge was a junior engineering petty officer. Over two hours passed before O’Connell spoke again.

“I’m just finding it hard to believe that Dwax didn’t know
anything
.” O’Connell rubbed at her stiffening shoulder without realizing she was doing so.

Lieutenant Price noted the gesture, but refrained from commenting on it. “I don’t know why. If the initial pool of individuals who knew the details was small enough, and even half of them managed to keep it a secret, over the generations the true nature of the treaty would’ve been lost. If you don’t teach it and you don’t talk about it, it ceases to be.”

She twisted her features in a look of disbelief. “Thanks, Confucius. I still find it suspect.”

“That is because you are a cynic with a shriveled soul and no faith in humanity.”

“Pot, kettle. Unlike you, I have plenty of faith in humanity, it’s all of their alien co-conspirators I don’t trust.” She rolled her head around, trying to work out the kinks in her muscles. “What’s for dinner tonight?”

“Food, not that either of us will be eating. I have watch, and you don’t eat.”

“Shut up, Lieutenant.”

“Whatever you say, ma’am.”

***

Ryan Hill walked into Chancellor Trell’s quarters without knocking. He shook the blue dust of Dremiks off his coat. His nominal superior reclined on a couch while watching something on his tablet. He glared at Ryan before shutting down the video.

“We have a problem.”

“Oh?”

“The
Hudson
is back. She’ll be in orbit soon.”

Trell grabbed a pretzel from an open box. “I fail to see how that is my problem. The military, specifically your brother, is
your
responsibility. I’m sure you can handle this.” His piggy face squinted maliciously. “Or just send your buxom wife. She handles Captain Hill quite well.”

Ryan’s face flushed. “You fool. Wherever that ship has been for the past week, I can guarantee you they haven’t been without communications. They have to know of the Valtoza by now. They might even know about the treaty.”

“You assured me when I agreed to this scheme of yours that you could handle any interference from Brett Hill and Margaret O’Connell. Are you saying you can’t?”

“I’m saying that our timetable has accelerated and violent action might be necessary.”

Trell shifted his bulk. “Do what you need to, Ryan. Do what you
want
. You will anyway. I don’t need to be involved.” He waved a pudgy hand. “Leave me.”

***

“I’m not comfortable leaving Price up here in charge with both of us on the surface, Commander.” Captain Hill tossed the comment over his shoulder as he grabbed his go-bag from his sleeping quarters and returned to his office.

“I’m sorry sir, but I cannot agree. Price is a pompous pain in my ass sometimes—ok, most times.” Her concession was forced by the captain’s sardonically quirked eyebrow. “But, behind all that posturing, he’s a good officer. I cannot see him as a traitor willing to hand over his ship.”

“Never said he was.” He gestured with his hand for her to precede him out of his office.

“You’re going to need help persuading Cassie to move Marissa back up here, and someone needs to watch your back.” She stopped walking to glare at him. “Ah. You wouldn’t be trying to keep me up here in order to keep me safe, would you sir?”

“Perish the thought.” He rolled his eyes. “Stop nagging, Commander. You can come. I’m leaving in five minutes, though. You’d better hurry.”

***

For what seemed like the fifth time since she’d landed on Dremiks that morning, Maggie stepped between Ryan Hill and Dr. Ruger. The younger Hill brother looked ready to maim the diminutive doctor with his bare hands. The doctor looked just as ready to inflict pain.

Ryan Hill glared at the smaller woman over the commander’s shoulder. “You have no right to do this doctor. You aren’t under the protection of the ISA anymore. I’m the vice chancellor of this colony, and Marissa is
my
wife!”

Cassie backed further away and made a frustrated sound in the back of her throat. “It is impossible to reason with you when you are like this. Good night,
Vice Chancellor
.” She slapped her palm against the door mechanism and stalked out.

Much as she hated showing unease around Ryan, O’Connell decided to put a few steps of distance between them. She wasn’t about to be bullied into dropping the subject, though.

“You don’t have any right to threaten her, Chancellor. She’s always been the strongest advocate for your wife’s well being. She has every right to remove a patient from a dangerous situation.”

Ryan Hill did not respond as the commander expected. His eyes narrowed, giving him a heavy lidded, predatory, look. With a sinuous grace Maggie hadn’t known he possessed, he stalked her across the room until she was backed into a corner.

“Awfully sure of yourself, lately.” His tone lost the mocking laziness O’Connell always associated with the Vice Chancellor. “Ever since you returned from your little adventure you’ve seemed very secure in your opinions. What is it you think you know?”

Maggie shook her head, trying to dismiss the unease he generated. She raised her chin to give him a level stare. “I know a great deal more than I did when we first arrived. Care to share what
you
know?”