Fracture Lines (The Glass Complex Book 2) (30 page)

The rating, his hands shaking, apparently decided he wanted to live. He fumbled with a control pad and the display on one of the viewscreens changed. “Sir, that’s the officers’ wardroom. We’re not allowed in there, yeah.”

The image slowly resolved to display the three Fain and a number of uniformed officers. Two Fain were restrained, their hand tied, and the third one, Stacia, was in a heap on the floor, unmoving. Steg felt his anger grow.

“Where is that—what level? Fore or aft?” He looked at the rating’s name tag. “Osbourne, show us where this wardroom is. Now”

“They’ll kill me, yeah.”

“Or we will, take your pick. By the time we’re finished with your officers, they won’t be in any condition to threaten anyone. Come on, let’s go.”

Riddell picked the man up by the collar with one hand and held him off the floor. “Your decision—slow death or you live.”

The rating was choking as his shipsuit collar tightened around his throat. He gestured, as he pointed out the door and tried to speak. Riddell released his grip, and the man dropped, almost stumbling, to the deck.

“Sir, I’ll show you.”

They followed the rating off the bridge. He led them down a level and along a series of corridors. Eventually he stopped at a door; the sign indicated it was the officers’ wardroom. Steg held up his hand.

“Osbourne, you can stay outside. Riddell, split the squad, half to guard the door, the others to follow me. Detain anyone who comes along the corridor. If they protest, kill them.” Steg didn’t wait for the sergeant’s acknowledgment and pushed open the door.

He headed for the officer who was threatening the two Fain. Three other officers, junior to the first, were standing back. They all reacted with shock as Steg, with five mercenaries and two Fain, all armored and with weapons ready, moved towards them.

The frigate captain was the first to find his voice. “Who in hell are you, and how did you get on board my ship?” He somewhat belatedly reached for his handgun. Steg struck him a savage blow, and the man staggered back, dropping the weapon.

“Finch, see to Stacia. I want to know her condition as soon as possible.” Steg signaled the closest mercenary. “Mohave, cut Tessa and Sara free. You”—he indicated the captain—“had better pray Stacia’s alive. All of you—you’re under arrest for kidnapping and torture. Try to attack us and you’re dead, all of you.”

The captain protested. “You have no right—”

“I have every right. You kidnapped three of our medical team.” He turned his head. “Try for your weapon and I’ll shoot you.” His warning was addressed to one of the junior officers. He returned his attention to the captain of the frigate. “If necessary, we’ll take you all with us and hold a Captain’s Mast. According to Imperial law, the sentence for kidnap and assault is death. I’d be pleased to pull the trigger so I suggest you keep quiet.” Steg directed his men. “Disarm them. Tie them up, same as they did to our Fain.”

He watched as his men, angry at the treatment of the Fain—their Fain—secured the officers; their actions were not gentle. When one of the junior officers protested, the mercenary restraining him raised the butt of his weapon and poised it ready to land a heavy blow. The officer shrugged and held out his hands. He said, “I’ve been on board all day and night. I had nothing to do with all this, yeah.”

“Did you attempt to stop this?” Steg asked.

“Why? They’re only Fain, yeah,” the man sneered and collapsed as Mohave dealt him a blow to his midriff. Mohave was a heavyworlder and his blow was unrestrained.

“You may have broken something,” said one of the other mercenaries, nudging the fallen officer with his toe.

Mohave checked his fist. “No, there’s nothing broken.” The other man laughed, and they both dragged the officer upright and finished tying his wrists.

Steg checked with Finch. “How’s Stacia?”

“I think she’ll have a sore jaw. It looks as though one of them punched her, possibly a couple of times and knocked her unconscious. There might be some concussion. I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”

Steg said to Tessa, “Tell me what happened.”

“We thought they were harmless—well, relatively speaking. We met them at one of the bars, and they invited us back to see their frigate, which we agreed to. We thought the more we could discover, the better. Once they got us in here, the skipper turned nasty. I’m not sure what he was thinking. He accused us of being pirates, and wanted to know what we’d done with
Djamu
. I told him we’d never heard of it.”

“I had second thoughts about letting you play spy. I should’ve stopped it.”

“Why Steg, you care.” Her smile took away any negative.

“I’m going to talk to the skipper, see if he’s capable of answering questions. You and Sara sit still, like good little girls.” He ignored the expression on Tessa’s face, as he turned away with a hidden smile.

The frigate’s skipper was not happy. “You’ve invaded my ship,” he accused. “How’d you do that? Who’d you bribe, yeah?”

“I have control of your frigate,” stated Steg with a shrug. “Your security system recognized me, and unlocked the entry hatch. More to the point, why did you attack our people?”

The frigate captain screwed up his face and almost spat. “People? They’re constructs, yeah. We know what they are, yeah.” The man leered at Tessa and her two temporary patients.

Steg restrained his anger. He wanted information; personal satisfaction could wait. He caught Tessa’s eye and winked. Then he said, “Riddell, I need you here.” He turned back to the skipper. “I don’t approve of your attitude. If you insult Fain, my reaction will be more than you want to know about. Now, again, why did you take my friends prisoner? What were you trying to achieve? Riddell, I need some answers. I don’t mind if the goods are damaged.”

Steg stood back while Riddell grasped the frigate skipper by the throat and squeezed hard. The skipper’s face turned red. Steg signaled, and Riddell released his grip. The skipper’s breathing rattled in his throat.

“I want answers. Were you instructed to take action against us?”

Riddell moved towards the man who stepped back, trying to avoid the promised choking.

“Yes, all right, we were told to find out what we could about
Wasp
, its mercenaries, and a freighter called
Djamu
, yeah.”

“Who gave the order—was it Ser Bedwyr?”

The skipper paled. He looked around at his junior officers; however, they had been moved to the back wall and were out of hearing range. “Who told you?” he asked in almost a whisper.

“He’s a major producer and smuggler of Joy, so it was a reasonable guess. Are you an addict?”

The man drew himself up straight. “Me? No, don’t be stupid. I’m an officer in the Eos Navy, yeah.”

“In that case, who’s addicted? Your wife? A family member?”

His shoulders dropped. “Yes. My sister. They are threatening to expose her, and to cut off her supply. She’s a teacher; exposure would end her career.”

“So you kidnapped three Fain and beat up one of them. Riddell, get ready to take these people to
Wasp
.”

“Skipper, a quick update. We’ve detected a brief and exceptionally fast starship transit. It jumped out, had a look around, and immediately returned into s-t.” Jessie was onto her fourth stylus for the day.

“Did you get a profile?” Montrose raised his head from reviewing the log for the previous watch.

“Yes, sir. It was Xesset, almost identical to the starship that
Djamu
fired at.”

Captain Montrose frowned. “Was it, indeed? Nav, plot a course to take us to a new position, one AU on the opposite side of Eos. Helm, get us there, fast. Tac, raise all shields. In case we need them, drop off two missile pods while we’re underway—work out the best locations—we may need to strike out at some alien warships. Bridge, prepare for enemy action. You’ve less than twenty minutes.”

“Sir?” queried the Tac commander.

“Prediction, Tac. That was a scout, tasked to check local space—who’s here, positions, etc. There’ll be a Xesset task force arriving imminently.”

“Should we inform our friends?”

“Their sensors are good. They probably detected the same details. I expect
Wasp
will move away from the station and re-position somewhere. She’ll be well hidden once their shields are up. Let’s see who gets underway first.”

Defender
beat
Wasp
into action by forty seconds or so. The destroyer, shielded, was under way in a little over five minutes. It took
Wasp
six minutes to depart the station.

“Sir, our drone has reported.” Jessie was more relaxed now she had possible enemy action to focus on. “
Wasp
unloaded a shuttle and then unassed in a hurry and is underway, moving fast. She’s certainly got some acceleration. Aah, she’s raised her shields. We’ve lost her. They’ve crew still on-station.”

“Keep trying to track her, Tac.”

“Yes, sir. I believe de Coeur is still on the way station; that’s why
Wasp
left the shuttle behind. He’ll be at risk.”

The comlink buzzed in Steg’s ear. “Steg, this is Dean. We’ve detected a Xesset scout. It stayed long enough to identify all the starships docked or near the station and then jumped out. Gillespie’s undocking. She wants to depart in a hurry. She’s anticipating the Xesset will send an attack force; it could arrive in minutes. She said
Wasp
can defend herself better, away from the station. She’s not waiting for you. Weapons said it would take you too long to extract and return. In case—well, you never know—we’re leaving a shuttle for you. It’s the big one, s-t capable, if it comes to that. We’ll drop a couple of remote sensors to help you see what’s happening.”

“I agree with her decision. Where’s the Alliance ship?”

“We think she’s underway—she’s raised shields—we’ve lost track of her. We’ll up shields, once we’re safely undocked. How’re the Fain?”

“We’ve recovered them. Stacia suffered a beating; the frigate captain was trying to get information. We know who ordered it.”

“Good. We’ll make contact when the Xesset leave.”

“Tell Gillespie we expect to see
Wasp
back here. However, if it all goes pear-shaped, we’ll head off in the shuttle and meet up with
Djamu
.”

“You could always take over one of those Eos frigates.”

“I think the shuttle is better.” The shuttle was the size of a large inter-system yacht and had accommodation for forty or more.

“Gillespie wants me. I need to go.”

“All right. Report when you can. We’ll head to the shuttle.”

Steg signaled Riddell. “We’ve an emergency. Let’s get out of here. Finch, is Stacia okay to walk?”

Finch was worried. “Captain, she’s still dizzy; she can’t stand properly. It’s concussion. If two of our marines can assist?”

“Riddell, take care of it. Mohave, gag this lot. Make sure they can’t call for help and can’t get out of here. The captain—gag him, too—he comes with us—drag him, if need be. Come on, we gotta move.”

Riddell opened the wardroom door and checked with his men in the outside corridor. He said to Steg, “We’re okay, sir. No one’s around.”

On the way back to where
Wasp
had been docked, Steg explained their circumstances to the sergeant and his squad. He included the armored Fain in the comlink; Finch would pass on details to her companions. “
Wasp
has undocked. A Xesset starship jumped in, had a look around, and jumped out. Gillespie thinks it was a scout and it will return with a larger force. She decided
Wasp
is safer away from the station. They left a shuttle for us, the big one; it has shields and plenty of power, although nothing much in the way of weapons. The Alliance destroyer has shielded and moved away. They may stay for a while, if only to see what happens.”

“Sir, do you expect the Xesset to attack the station?” Riddell asked. There were other comments in the background, which Steg ignored.

“Unknown.” Steg was setting a rapid pace along the walkway towards the shuttle. The usual transport was inoperative for some unknown reason. Steg wondered if the virus was starting to impact the way station. Two men, under Finch’s guidance, assisted Stacia; Sara and Tessa were able to walk and keep pace. The frigate captain was in front of Mohave, and the mercenary kept prodding him with the barrel of his weapon. Then, without warning, all the lights on the way station blacked out.

“What the hell?” It was Riddell.

The frigate captain stumbled, bumping into the sergeant, and Mohave pushed him back onto his feet. The exo-armor worn by the mercenaries provided them with visual augmentation, and two of the marines now guided Tessa and Sara, who were without armor, along the walkway. After five minutes or so, a handful of emergency lights switched on, throwing a palid illumination onto their path at knee height.

“I suspect the virus Howe and Beagle warned us about has attacked the station’s computers,” Steg observed to Riddell. “The station could even lose atmospheric control. Keep an eye on our Fain; without armor, they’ll be at risk. Mohave, protect your new friend if the station vents its atmosphere. The shuttle’s not far, now, anyway.” He increased his pace.

“Sir, we’re exposed to more than atmosphere loss,” reminded Riddell. “The station’s got no defenses, no weapons. The Xesset might want to capture it.”

“When we reach the shuttle, we’ll be able to plan. Step out.”

Steg settled the mercenaries with the four Fain and the prisoner in the shuttle’s general mess. There was room for thirty to sit and eat at any one time, although Steg only wanted to confer with his team and plan their next steps. To his surprise, Howe and Beagle were on board the shuttle. Apparently they had been tasked to protect the small starship from unauthorized boarders and from their virus, mutated or otherwise.

Steg looked at Beagle and said, “Later. Finch, take Stacia to the medical bay.”

Finch nodded her head. “Yes, sir. It’s on the mid deck. I’ll also check Tessa and Sara once we have Stacia settled.”

“Good. Let me know if there is anything major or if you need assistance.” He watched as Tessa and Sara, guided by Finch, assisted Stacia.