Fringe Runner (Fringe Series Book 1) (12 page)

He sighed. “Why is it that when it comes to you, all I get is headaches and problems? First the package, then the guns, then the tracker. What next?”

She seemed taken aback by his words. “You know I would have absolutely nothing to do with that horrible blight. As for the guns, I want all torrent ships weaponized. We need to be ready for the Uprising. I would’ve told you, but I wanted you to meet with Critch first.”

“You should’ve told me. And the tracker?”

She shrugged, her brows raised. “That wasn’t my doing. I think you need to ask a particular CUF commandant about that.”

Reyne watched her for a moment before accepting her response. “Tell me, what’s your part in all this?”

“My part?” Her normally direct gaze skipped to the wall. “I’m simply the stationmaster of Ice Port, the fringe station that has always been the bane of the Collective.”

“I’m not talking about that job.”

She pursed her lips. “Everything I do—everything I’ve ever done—is to unite the worlds of the Collective, with colonists treated equally along with citizens. I’ve been forced to make compromises in the past, but I’ve taken a stand. I give you my word, my heart beats only for the Uprising. And there are those who will go after me because of that.”

A quake rattled the control room, soon following by the sound of thunder.

Everyone shot furtive glances around.

“I didn’t know Playa had quakes,” Sixx said.

“It doesn’t,” Reyne replied, his heart freezing within his chest. “That’s the sound of a phase cannon.”

“That doesn’t make sense.” Vym frowned. “The
Arcadia
would never fire upon Ice Port.”

“The
Arcadia’
s not out there,” Reyne said. “It’s the
Trinity
.”

Her eyes grew wide as she gasped. “It’s not her.” She threw on her hood. “That changes everything.”

“Wait,” Reyne called out. “We can form an offensive and buy time for Playans to escape. How many ships with phase cannons do you have at Ice Port?”

She lowered her head. “Counting the
Gryphon
? One. I sent them all to the Coast, along with nearly all my torrents, as soon as I learned of the attack at Sol Base.”

“Shit
,” Reyne muttered as he racked his brain for ideas.

“However, I have a very large phase cannon set up within the station,” she added. “And, I have no problem firing upon a warship to protect my people if it comes to that.” She held up a finger. “Give me your word that you will not head out there and take on the
Trinity
. One small gunship will make no difference in whatever outcome Ausyar has planned for today.”

Reyne watched her, his chest pounding.

“I need you to promise me,” she said. “The Uprising needs you. Critch needs you, whether he’ll admit to it or not. Don’t throw away your life and the lives of your crew today. You know there’s nothing that can be done against a warship.”

After taking another breath, he spoke quietly. “You have my word.”

“Thank you.” She gave a tight nod. “I need to hurry. Ausyar has made his next move, and it’s to take me out of the fight. Let us pray my surrender will be enough to appease his plans. I fear it may be the only way to save Ice Port.” She rushed to the door, then stopped and turned to Reyne. “I need you to do one more thing for me.”

“Name it.”

She pulled out a small tablet and began typing. “With the jammers, I can’t get a message out. I asked you to meet with Critch. Now, I must ask you to meet with Commandant Heid from the
Arcadia.
Give this device to her when you meet with her. It has to be handed directly to her, not to her officers. It’s proof that I trust you, and that she can trust you. You and Critch will need her help in the Uprising.”

Reyne laughed. “You want me to work with the CUF?”

“I have no time to argue. Our people are being slaughtered out there!” She forced him to take the tablet. “Without support from the Alluvians, the Uprising will fail.” She turned and ran from Reyne, her posse trailing her.

Reyne and Sixx stood there in startled silence.

After a long moment of silence, Sixx asked, “What just happened?”

Reyne gave a long, slow shake of his head. “I think my home is being attacked and there’s not a viggin’ thing I can do about it.”

Frozen Sorrow

The first thing Reyne did after Vym left was relocate the torrents from the cargo bay to the base’s control room, where the temperature had warmed enough to survivable conditions. At first relieved to leave the cramped hold, they began asking questions when they felt the cannon blasts rumble through the base.

He stared down the runway, in the direction of the bombardment taking place over one hundred miles away. He’d heard—and felt—the deeper, heavier sound of Vym’s phase cannon returning a shot, followed by a rush of blasts coming from the warship. Then, he’d never heard another shot fired from the ground. She’d never stood a chance.

The horrible awe of his home being destroyed blistered his nerves like plastic over flames. Embers of anger burned within his heart, and he craved to jump in the
Gryphon
and fly right into the
Trinity’s
bridge. But, Vym had been right. The drones would’ve crippled his ship the moment he cleared the atmosphere, and the warship would’ve blown him to bits, and then keep on blasting away at the city. 

Sixx eyed Reyne before taking charge of the room. “We could be here for some time. You may as well get comfortable. I need a couple volunteers to get the heat going in the rest of this place.”

Three torrents raised their hands, and Sixx nodded in recognition. “Once the temp is bearable, go in pairs and tally supplies. See what we have to work with here.”

Reyne blinked his eyes as he fought to bring himself back to reality. “Start two levels down,” He said. “There used to be a large stockroom down there.”

Chatter erupted from the group of fifteen shivering torrents, and Reyne turned and headed outside, slamming the door on the cacophony of questions and demands. After climbing aboard the
Gryphon
, he locked the door to keep all non-crewmembers out.

Boden and Demes came walking down the hall. Boden tossed a small object to Reyne. “The tracker’s been taken care of.”

Reyne examined the small black device that looked like it had been hit with a hammer. He tossed it back. “Good job.”

“What’s going on out there?” Demes asked. “I’ve never heard phase cannons before. It sounds like one hell of a battle.”

Reyne shook his head and swallowed. “It’s not a battle. It’s a massacre.”

Demes’ eyes widened, while Boden sadly shook his head.

Reyne looked upward, as though he could see the
Trinity
through the thousand feet of rock they sat under. “Ausyar announced that Ice Port was housing the terrorists responsible for the blight.”

Boden guffawed. “What? No one would believe that Playans would harm another colony. Genics Corp was behind the blight. I’d bet my life on it.”

Reyne squeezed his fists and breathed deeply, trying not to think about what was happening to Ice Port. “And, you’d be right,” he said finally. “But, they’re arrogant enough to believe no one will figure that out if they pin the blame on Playa.”

“Citizens suck,” Demes said. “Wouldn’t it be great if we broadcast everything we know to the entire Collective?”

“Yes, it would,” Reyne mused.

“Too bad it’s impossible,” Demes tacked on. “The only Collective-wide broadcast points are on Alluvia and Myr. I’ve tried to hack into them a couple times—for fun, you know—but had no luck. There’s no hacking into them without tapping into the hard lines.”

“Hm,” Reyne said as he pondered Demes’ words.

Boden and Demes started to walk away.

After a moment, Reyne called out, “Hold up, guys.”

They stopped and turned.

Reyne nodded first to his mechanic. “Boden, I need you to work on refueling the
Gryphon
. Grab Sixx to help you. I want us ready to lift off as soon as the CUF leaves.”

“There’s juice here?” he asked.

“Juice and a ready launch pad. When you’re done, meet me in the commons. We’re going to have a crew meeting.”

Once he left, Reyne turned to Demes. “How good of a tech are you?”

“Good enough to make the crew of the
Honorless.
”

Reyne pulled out the tablet. No matter how he worked through the details in his head, the value of whatever Vym was hiding on the device far outweighed the risk of what the pirate would do with it, though Reyne planned to keep a very careful eye on the tech.

He took a deep breath and handed the tablet to Demes, who examined it. “I need you to hack into this tablet and copy all the information on it while leaving it completely intact. No signs of being hacked. Can you do that?”

Demes grinned. “Of course I can.”

“Come get me the moment you get it copied. I need it before the crew meeting.”

“Am I invited?”

“You’re one of the crew, aren’t you?”

“Then I’ll be sure to have it to you before then.” Demes rushed off like an excited boy with a new game.

Reyne headed to the bridge to find Throttle staring down the dark runway.

“They’re all dying, aren’t they?” she asked.

Reyne spotted the tears running down her cheeks. He took a seat and leaned heavily on his elbows. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Because of us?” Her question was soft, tentative.

Reyne leveled his gaze upon her. “No,” he answered firmly. “None of this is because of us. This is because the powers that control the Collective are playing gods. Darios fell because it’s the most valuable fringe planet. Playa is falling because it’s the least valuable.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I don’t understand it all yet myself. But I do know that whatever is happening was planned long before we ever found that damn package.” He took a deep breath. “Get some rest. You’ll need it. I’ll wake you when Boden and Sixx return.”

She didn’t say anything else as she rolled off the bridge and down the hallway.

He sat there and stared out the window, every cannon blast echoing in his heart. He had been born in Ice Port and had spent the first seventeen years of his life there.

His heart swelled every time he returned home from a run.

Home.

He began to wonder if he’d have any home left after the bombing.

The slaughter raged for hours, and Reyne kept himself busy contemplating Vym’s words and the relationship she’d had with the CUF officer.

Demes entered the bridge and handed the tablet along with a computer coin to Reyne.

“I was able to ghost it and get you a copy, but the data is still encrypted. I can’t break it without my tools on board the
Honorless
. If I can get to my tools, I can break the encryption.”

“Then, I guess we need to get you to the
Honorless
,” Reyne said before shooting the pirate a wry look. “Listen, Demes. I don’t entirely hate you, so I’ll make this clear. I know you’re working for Critch every minute of every day, and I know that you’ll see that he gets a copy of this the instant the jammers clear out of Playa’s airspace. If he’s serious about making this Uprising work, he needs to see it, too. However, if I find out you’ve decrypted this tablet and given that data to Critch and not me, I’ll drift you. Got that?”

Demes nodded tightly.

The port door opened, and Sixx and Boden entered, bringing a cold breeze with them.

“The ship’s refueled and the launch pad is booting up. I’m charging the tug now.”

Sixx gave a dramatic shiver. “It’s colder than an Alluvian wench out there.”

Boden’s brows rose at the mention of his home world.

“A Myrad wench?” Sixx offered.

“Wimps,” Reyne said. “We’re in a cavern. There’s hardly any wind in here. Hell, I’ve gone for jogs outside in colder weather than this.”

“That’s because you’re a Playan, and everyone knows Playans are abominable snowmen,” Sixx muttered.

Reyne gave him a droll stare before hitting the comm to broadcast to the entire ship. “Crew meeting in the commons now.”

The group of four headed to the commons. Once Sixx pulled off his coat, he frowned at Demes. “What are you doing here?

“Crew meeting. I’m a crewmember.”

“You’re not one of the crew. Go hang out with your buddies in the base.” Sixx jerked his thumb toward outside.

Demes shot Sixx an overly wide grin. “Tell them, cap.”

Sixx turned to Reyne, who shrugged. “Demes is serving as our tech until we get him back to his pals on the
Honorless
.”

Sixx shook his head, turned to the cabinet, and pulled out a bottle of whiskey.

“I’ll have a drink of that,” Demes said.

Sixx ignored him and took a long swallow. He sat down and then warned, “You can’t trust a pirate, Reyne
.
”

“You were working with pirates when I met you, Sixx,” Reyne said.

“That’s why I know you can’t trust them,” Sixx replied.

“All right,” Reyne said after Doc and Throttle arrived. “It’s time to talk.”

Reyne began. “Ever since the Genics Corp contract, we’ve been set up, lied to, threatened, and shot at. That changes now.”

He held up the tablet. “I believe this holds the secret to the success of the Uprising as well as retribution for Ice Port and Sol Base.”

Utter silence.

Then, Boden pounded his fist on the table. “Whatever your plan is, I’m in.”

Reyne held up his hand. “Hold on. You don’t know where I’m going with this yet.” He paused. “We know the CUF is fractured. Vym’s working with at least one CUF warship commander. In fact, she asked me to meet with a particular dromadier officer. And, I told her I would.
”

The room broke out in an uproar.

Doc crossed her arms. “We don’t work with the CUF.”

Reyne tamped down the air with his hands. “I already said I’d do it, but I admit it’d be a lot easier if I didn’t have to go it alone.”

“If you think it’s the right thing to do, then I’m in,” Throttle said.

“I trust your instincts,” Sixx said. “We go where you go. Especially if it’s dangerous.”

“I’m in,” Demes said.

“I already said I was in,” Boden grumbled.

“You know I’m always with you,” Doc said after things quieted down. “But, I don’t like the sounds of this.”

Sixx pulled out the raindrop pendant he wore. “In case you’ve forgotten, we already signed up. We’re all in for the long haul.”

Reyne scanned the faces in the room. Warmth filled his chest as he realized he had the bravest, most loyal crew in the universe. “Okay, then. I guess our next step is to figure out a way to meet with this commandant without getting blown to bits in the process.”

“That sounds like an interesting challenge,” Sixx said.

“But, hold up,” Reyne continued. “We’re not going anywhere until we’ve scraped every bit of intel on that tablet. That’s where our handy tech comes into play. Demes here has made a copy of the data, but it’s encrypted. So, as soon as the CUF clears out of Playa, we’re going to bring the
Honorless
down here, where he can decrypt the files for us.”

“How’s the
Honorless
going to get here?” Demes asked. “The Coast is sitting behind a CUF armada right now.”

Reyne chuckled. “If Critch can’t get past a few ships, I’ve thoroughly overestimated him.”

“Didn’t I just say you can’t trust a pirate?” Sixx asked. “I’m surprised our boy here hasn’t decrypted and sold the data already. What’s going to keep Critch from killing all of us to keep from contacting this CUF officer?”

“Because Critch wears one of these, too.” Reyne tugged out his necklace. “If Vym is out of the picture, he’s going to need all the help he can get, even if it means working with both the traitor of Terra and a CUF warship commander.”

“What if he changes his mind?” Sixx asked.

Reyne threw a quick glance at Demes. “Then, one of us will die, because I won’t let anyone get in the way of Ice Port’s retribution.”