Lost Planet 02 - The Stolen Moon (4 page)

“That's okay. I was just coming by to check. I figured, after everything that just happened…”

“Walk to the stairs with me?” the doctor asked. He strapped on a wristband communicator, gave his daughter a kiss on the cheek, and stepped into the hallway. Analora gave them a curious look as they left.

“Later, Chase,” she said, letting the door slide shut in front of her.

“She lives on Jypras half the year with her mother,” the doctor explained as he hurried down the hall. She had to have gotten that blond hair from her mother, because she certainly didn't have her father's bushy black eyebrows.

Chase rushed to keep up. “Yeah, I didn't realize that you, uh…”

As he spoke, the lights flickered, and they both glanced up at the ceiling.

“Looks like they're still ironing things out,” said the doctor with an unconvincing chuckle. “I've never been in a ship-wide blackout before. I hope you weren't frightened.”

“No,” Chase lied. In all the time he'd spent letting the doctor try to poke him with needles to test the limits of his phasing, Chase had grown comfortable talking to him, so he only hesitated a moment before sharing the next bit of information. “Parker thinks someone caused it intentionally.”

The doctor rubbed his bald scalp and glanced over. “Why does he think that?”

Chase gave an irritated sigh. There was so much he wanted to say about Parker. “I don't know, because he's paranoid. Because he thinks it's fishy that both the main and the emergency lights went off, and he doesn't think it was caused by a software upgrade like Chief Kobes is saying.”

The bushy eyebrows bunched into a frown. “Has he told someone about this?”

“Just Maurus.” Chase paused. “I'd go tell the captain, but I'm sure he's too busy fixing everything from the blackout. He's always pretty busy.”

Dr. Bishallany stopped in front of the stairwell door. “Don't be afraid of him, Chase. He'll make time for you. Go see him.”

After leaving the doctor, Chase wandered through the hallway toward the elevator, navigating with ease the corridors that had been such a maze when he, Parker, and Lilli had first come aboard the ship. The three of them should have been quartered here on the civilian level, where soldiers with families lived, but the captain had insisted on finding space for them in the middle of the soldiers' quarters, where he thought they'd be more secure.

Captain Lennard didn't live on the soldiers' level. His private quarters were up on the second floor behind the main command bridge, so that he had quick access in case of emergency. This also placed him farther away from the ship's escape shuttles, but a captain was never expected to flee his own ship.

As Chase neared the captain's suite, he could hear shouting. When he rounded the corner, he saw the leader of the Movala mining colony, a coarse, ruddy-faced man with pocked skin, waving his hands in an agitated fashion as he spoke. “Our company signed an agreement with the Federation when we set up operations out here that promised uninterrupted Fleet protection. Where is that promise now?”

Captain Lennard stood in the doorway to his quarters, arms crossed. “You know very well that between the instability in the Crayder system, the attacks on the Primus shipping pathway, and the continuing aftermath of the Trucon disaster, there's barely a Fleet vessel to spare these days. The Fleet can't offer you a replacement for the
Kuyddestor
after we leave. You should bring your men in from the outer belt.”

Leave?
Chase frowned. He knew that the captain had intended to spend at least half a year at the Movala colony. Why was he talking about leaving already?

“The inner clusters are nearly ninety-five percent depleted,” snarled the miner. “If we stop mining the asteroids in the belt, we'll have to do four times the work to extract a tiny fraction of what we're getting now.”

“I'm sorry, but that's your best option.” The captain's voice was firm. “We'll be starting preparations for our departure immediately.”

Hurling a storm of angry curses, the miner stalked off toward the stairs. The captain shook his head and turned to go back into his quarters when he spotted Chase. A tired smile stretched across his face. “Hey there. What a day, huh?”

Chase pointed after the miner. “Was he here with you during the blackout?”

“Luckily, no. He just teleported over a few minutes ago after we sent him word that our plans have changed.”

Chase hesitated. “Are we really leaving?”

Captain Lennard sighed and nodded. “I'm afraid so.” He stepped back to usher Chase into his quarters and gestured for him to take a seat. “Fleet command has ordered us to change assignments. Actually they've been trying to switch our mission almost since the moment we got here. They're sending us to the Galloi star system to help moderate a territory dispute.”

Chase sat down on the hard brown couch in the captain's spartan sitting room. “Can't you tell them no?”

“I've already given High Command a long list of reasons why we can't leave the miners alone out here, but they just keep after us. Pretty soon it's going to look less like wanting to protect the miners and more like insubordination, and I can't risk bringing more attention to the ship than we've already got.”

Chase stared at the arm of the couch, running his finger along the seam. “I thought we'd be able to stay out here for a lot longer.”

The captain didn't speak until Chase looked up and met his pale, wolfish eyes, and then he smiled. “We haven't been called in to answer questions; this is a standard change of mission. I received the most recent orders from Rear Admiral Shaw, who's been a personal mentor of mine for many years. And the mission isn't a dangerous one. We're escorting a Federation peacekeeping envoy to Storros, which is a peaceful, prosperous planet and an important ally to the Federation.”

“But what if it's an excuse?” Chase asked. “What if this was all planned by the people who want to get back at you or Maurus?”

“I don't see how it could be. This conflict with Storros began long before the events surrounding Trucon.” Captain Lennard paused, and sighed. “Anyway, I sent word an hour ago that we'd be on our way there within the coming week. There's nothing we can do. We'll just have to be very, very careful.”

Hearing the captain's warning, Chase finally remembered why he'd come to visit. “The blackout. Parker doesn't think it was an accident. He says somebody inside the ship hacked the mainframe.”

The captain took a moment to absorb this. “Why does he think this?”

“I don't know, he said it seemed suspicious. You know how Parker is about computer stuff. He just said that was the only thing that made sense.”

Frowning, the captain said, “Our crew will investigate every possibility.”

“But if someone on your crew did it in the first place, couldn't they just cover it up and say it didn't happen? How can you trust anyone?”

“I have to be able to trust my crew. This,” he said, gesturing around them to indicate the entire ship, “doesn't work without trust. We all work together, and if someone's acting out of line, they'll be found, believe me.”

Chase smiled, but the uneasy feeling in his chest didn't fade. If Parker could hack into the mainframe unnoticed, couldn't someone else do the same?

*   *   *

Chase was in the officer's lounge that evening watching Maurus annihilate his teammates from the expeditionary squad at a Shartese card game when Lennard came on the public address system to announce to the rest of the ship that they were leaving the Movala system. The lounge filled with cheers at the news.

“Huzzah and hallelujah,” said Lieutenant Seto, throwing down his cards and flashing his easy grin. “Finally out of the backwater and back to civilization.”

“I don't know that I would call Storros civilization, exactly,” came a cool reply from one of the officers sitting at a big round table. Lieutenant Karsten Derrick was Chase's least favorite member of the expeds, and not just because he consistently ignored Chase's presence. “Bunch of slugs living in beehives, as far as I can tell.”

“Oh, give it a rest,” said a sharp-tongued female pilot who Chase knew only as Vidal. “Wherever we go, it's guaranteed to be less boring than here.”

Maurus, who had moved back to sit beside Vidal on a hard sofa, fixed his dark eyes on Chase as soon as the announcement was broadcast. Chase was certain he was thinking the same thing:
This could be a trap
. “Storros is actually a pretty enlightened place,” Maurus said casually. “They have a rich musical culture.”

Derrick sneered. “No, they're just rich, period. Otherwise we wouldn't be rushing across the galaxy to solve their problems for them.”

“Well, it's hard to argue with an endless supply of rhenium,” said Seto in a wry voice. There was something about his expression that always made it look like he'd just heard a good joke.

“A planet is more than its resources; a planet is its people,” said Maurus. “And the Storrians are far more than just a ‘bunch of slugs.'”

“Of course you'd say that,” sneered Derrick. “Aliens stick up for one another.”

Maurus turned on him. “I'll tell you where you can stick something.” Chase had learned early on that the word
alien
was a quick path to Maurus's formidable temper. It was moments like these where Chase was reminded of the fact that Maurus was the only non-Earthan among the
Kuyddestor
officers. Most of the officers treated Maurus, if not as a friend, at least with respect, but there were a few like Lieutenant Derrick who scorned him openly.

“I'd like to see you try,” snapped Derrick.

“Guys, please,” interrupted Vidal as she pulled her long, dark hair into a ponytail. “This whole flirtation between the two of you is getting really boring. Even Chase thinks it's lame, don't you?” She gave him a coaxing smile.

Maurus shot her a warning look. “Don't drag him into this.”

She rolled her eyes and offered Maurus her hand. “Then will you escort a gal to the canteen for a hot caff before duty starts?”

He pulled her to her feet, flashing Chase a look that promised more discussion later.

“I can't believe Vidal's into that freak,” muttered Lieutenant Derrick after they'd left.

Seto looked after them and frowned. “I think they're just friends.”

With a sneer, the blond lieutenant gathered up the cards scattered on the table and dealt to the three remaining officers, ignoring Chase as usual. “Cutty, you in for this hand?”

Ensign Cutler, a funny, round-faced kid and one of the few engine room ensigns deemed cool enough to hang out with the officers, rose from a sofa where he'd been reading something on his communicator. “Do you know how to play seven-card Ambessitari risk?” he asked Chase as he joined the other officers at the table. “Do you want to learn?”

Hanging out in the officers' lounge wasn't as fun when Maurus wasn't around, and Chase had no patience to learn a new game at the moment. He tried to give Cutler a grateful smile. “Thanks, but I think I'll go take a walk.”

He stopped by the canteen for a synthesized soy-chitin-riboflavin patty—a scrappy, as he'd learned from Parker—and scanned the long, low-ceilinged room for a glimpse of Dr. Bishallany's daughter. She wasn't there, so Chase took his scrappy to go, munching on the crisp patty as he strolled down the hall. He turned toward his room for a second, but Parker was there, deep in thrall to his computer, which he had scarcely left since the blackout. He wouldn't be any fun to hang out with. Instead Chase wheeled around and took the elevator up to the fifth floor, where the observation deck was located.

The long room was empty, so Chase descended to the bottom tier of benches and sat directly in front of the glass wall, looking out at the massive mining colony below. Part factory, part living quarters, the colony looked like a ragged conglomeration of white metal warehouses that had been stitched together and left to float in space. Most of the mining work was done at outpost stations in the outer belts of the asteroid cluster, where miners extracted helium-4 from the icy chunks and sent it back to the main station for processing. It was during those long transports that raiders liked to strike, stealing the precious helium-4, but regular patrols of the
Kuyddestor
's Khatra fighters along those routes kept them at bay. Chase could understand why the head miner was so upset that the Fleet was withdrawing its protection.

A high-pitched sigh sounded to his left, and he looked over to see Lilli sitting beside him. “Hey,” he said. “Where've you been?”

Her expression was tense, her gaze fixed on the colony. “We're leaving.”

He nodded. “Captain says we can't refuse these orders.”

“We shouldn't go,” she said in an unusually strident voice. She turned to him, her eyes filled with an urgency that alarmed him.

“Why?” When she didn't answer, he said, “It'll look worse if we don't go. The
Kuyddestor
still answers to the Fleet, or at least it has to seem that way.”

Lilli shook her head fiercely. “It's too dangerous.”

Something about her attitude riled Chase. “I don't understand why you're so worried about safety now, after all the times you've pulled your disappearing act since we got here.”

Lilli gave him a condescending look of such disgust it might have been funny, if he thought she had even a shred of a sense of humor. “You still think I did that on purpose?”

Oh, that's right, it's always just a “mistake.”
The words were on the tip of his tongue, but he stopped himself from saying them. One thing he'd learned in all their bickering was that she never backed down, and it was up to him to bite his tongue and defuse the conversation before it escalated into a skirmish.