Stars in the Sand (27 page)

 “
Do you have any readings on ground conditions?”

 “
No, we don’t. We’re getting the old landing lights turned on for you, but that’s the best we can do for the present. Rescue and medical unit is en route, should reach you about three minutes after touchdown.”

 
“
Thank you, Control,” Cooper said sincerely; this man was doing everything he could, and he was feeling a few pangs of guilt about setting this business up in the first place. He closed down the channel, and tried to sit back and enjoy the ride. The peaks up ahead seemed to be getting closer and closer, drawing in as Barbara struggled to maintain her altitude, trying to keep the nose high without losing too much speed. One of the engines suddenly flashed red, and she looked up with a start, her hands working more frantically than before.

 That hadn’t been part of the plan; her fear spread to Cooper. They soared over the peaks with only a few meters to spare, then dropped to fly down the
face
of the mountain, trusting that they could do it using their wings on a glide trajectory. As the shuttle swooped from side to side to duck around outcrops, Cooper gulped, unable to do anything other than sit back and wait for the madness to end.

 The ground was racing up underneath them as they curved over the
ridge
, Barbara nursing the shuttle home on the single remaining engine, trying to keep their trajectory even. With a loud click, the landing gear dropped home, and Cooper breathed a sigh of relief as he saw the lights of their target runway up ahead, beckoning them into their target.

 Barbara didn’t look so optimistic, glancing down at the detectors, trying to
glide
over the swampy areas of the runway. Over to one side, Cooper saw the charred remnants of another shuttle, someone who had evidently had rather less success with their landing at some other time. It was a sobering moment, and he braced himself for the landing.

 Initially, it seemed to be an anticlimax as the wheels touched down, but a second later they skidded back up again, the nose bouncing back up into the air, and he glanced down to see a huge crack in the runway that Barbara had only just managed to avoid, before the wheels touched down for a second time, breaks engaging as the shuttle slowed to a halt.

 “
Shuttle, this is Control, do you read?”

 Gasping with relief, Cooper said, “We’re down safely, Control. You can call off the rescue team, we’re not going to need them.”

 Muted cheers in the background, the controller said, “Nice flying, Shuttle. Very nice flying. You want me to get some transport out to you?”

 “
I think we’ve got some post-flight checks to do first, Control, but thank you very much. Sorry for throwing you a scare.”

 “
Don’t be. I just won fifty credits. Control out.”

 Cooper looked across at Barbara, trembling in her seat, “Are you all right?”

 She turned to him, her face pale, then said, “We were seconds from crashing all the way down. Seconds. That last crack...why didn’t those morons in the resistance warn us about it. I’d have come down further up.”

 “
Maybe they didn’t know.”

 “
Damn right they knew,” she said. “When that engine went out, I thought we were dead.”

 Glancing up at the status board, he saw green lights over the ship telltales, and replied, “According to this, they are working,”

 “
I was afraid you’d say that. Gabe, this wasn’t hardware, it was software. We’ve been hacked.”

 “
Are you trying to tell me that…”

 “
Someone tried to sabotage us. If we’d crashed, this mission would have failed. Even if we’d lived through it, we’d have had to abort.”

 Shaking his head, Cooper replied, “Who would want to do that? If the Cabal knew what we were doing, there would be security forces lined up here waiting for us.”

 “
I know, I know,” she said. “It could be a coincidence, but it seems too much of a stretch.”

 “
You’d better start post-flight,” Cooper said. “I’m going to call the Captain. I think he’s got a decision to make.”

Chapter 26

 “
It isn’t too late to call this off, Danny,” Caine said, floating near the ceiling of his cramped quarters. “I had another look at the telemetry from the shuttle, and I honestly can’t tell either way.”
 
“
That engine failure could be a fluke,” he said, then shook his head. “No, I don’t buy it.”

 “
There’s a spy in the resistance,” she replied.

 “
I don’t think so,” Marshall said, “If that was the case, the Cabal would already have us. Cooper said as much in his report, and he’s quite right.”

 “
Then what?”

 “
Maggie said that they were paranoid about detection, that they weren’t willing to provide anything other than information, remember.”

 She sighed, then said, “They’ve decided that it would be safer for all concerned, especially themselves, if this mission
didn't
happen. That if we headed off into the deep space and back the way they came, there would be no risk of us getting caught…”

 “
And perhaps giving away the location of the cell.”

 Frowning, Caine replied, “You think they’ll leave it at this?”

 “
I don’t know what to think. What about the satellites?”

 “
Maggie and I spent most of last night working on it. Do you want the good news or the bad news?”

 Closing his eyes, he sighed, then said, “Give me the worst of it.”

 “
We’ll only have a thirty-one minute window to get away. From the time they realize that we have taken control of the truck until Ouroboros gets onto an escape trajectory.
We can probably outrange the fighters if we don't give them too much of a lead.”

 Marshall ran down the time-line in his mind, and said, “That doesn’t sound too bad. We should be buttoned up on the shuttle fifteen minutes after the snatch, and it will only take seven minutes to reach orbit. We even have a margin of error.”

 “
Not much of a one.”

 “
That depends what they are able to put together on the ground, though, doesn’t it. I don’t think that the resistance will try anything once we’re actually on the move, but…”

Interrupting her, Marshall said, “That’s something we can sort out now.”

 “
What are you going to do?”

 He tapped a button, and Weitzman’s voice answered, “Yes, sir?”

 “
Cooper’s got one of those special communicators the resistance gave us, doesn’t he?”

 “
Yes, sir.” 

 “
Can you patch me through?”

 “
I think so, sir, but to who?”

 
“
No-one, Weitzman. No-one.” He turned to Caine, then said, “I’d bet my next month’s pay that they are monitoring those calls.”

 
“
Why do you think that?”

 “
That’s what I would have done.”

 Weitzman piped in, “I have your channel open, sir. Person to person to nowhere.”

 “
You’re sure no-one can hear us?”

 
“
I don’t believe so, sir.”

 “
Good.” He tapped a button, switching frequencies, then said, “This is Captain Marshall. I know that you were responsible for almost bringing down the shuttle, and I can only guess at your motivations, but I want to make something perfectly clear. If there are any other attempts to
sabotage our rescue attempt, anything at all, then I shall make it my personal business to see that the Cabal are fully informed of your location and activities before I leave. I hope I am making myself perfectly clear.”

 A sharp voice replied, “Captain, we’re on your side!”

 
“
Not if you are trying to kill my crewmen.”

 “
It has taken years for us to build up…”

 “
And it was all for nothing if you don’t use it for anything. Take this opportunity and use it; if nothing else, it could be a publicity coup.”

 “
One that will bring the Cabal down on us.”

 “
You promised us help, and I can’t but suspect that it was simply to give you to chance to stop us. My threat – no, let’s call it a promise – stands. Marshall out.”

 With a faint chuckle, Caine said, “That’s really going to win their hearts and minds, Danny.”

Throwing her a severe stare, he replied, “I’m not interested in making friends with them, Deadeye. Just in getting this job done.”

 “
We’re going to need them someday…”

 “
Not if they try and sabotage us the first time we ask them to help. That’s not the sort of assistance we need, and I intend to make it clear in my report – my increasingly lengthy report…”

 “
I’ll wait for the movie to come out.”

 “
...that this resistance network cannot be trusted.”

 “
That’s all we’ve got on this world.”

 “
If we get a chance, I’ll say the same to the Brigadier, as well.”

 Sighing, she said, “I know how they must be feeling, though. Like the first resistance groups on Mars, before the War.”

 “
The difference being that they were willing to seize the opportunities that came their way, rather than just sitting back and hoping for a miracle. I can understand how this group has stayed in power so long, if that’s the only opposition they are facing.”

 “
One group, on one world…”

 He paused for a second, then replied, “I have a feeling that it is symptomatic. Look at Hydra Station. Price was waiting for something, for an opportunity that might never happen, just trying to stop things from getting any worse. If the resistance could get themselves together out here, then they might make some progress.”

 Nodding, Caine replied, “I agree, but how are you going to get them to see it that way? We might be looking at this the wrong way, Danny. They’re just beginning, slowly building up. If they are like Ragnarok, they might have thought they were the only remnant of humanity for a long time.”

 “
How would…”

 “
My guess is that the governments have used that as a weapon. That they have to survive, no matter what the cost, or the human race is finished.”

 
“
A pretty powerful persuader,” Marshall said. “Survival has to mean something, though.”

 “
Freedom for the next generation. Besides, we’re looking at this from outside. By now they’re used to it down there.”

 “
I doubt the indentured servants would agree with you.” He turned to look through his viewport at the planet below, and said, “Do you think I should abort?”

 “
I’m not sure I’d have tried this in the first place.”

 “
But…”
 
“
You’re the Captain. I’m not, and if I can help it, I never will be. You were quite right to
give Maggie the second chair in this mission. I know how badly you want to get them back.”

He took a deep breath, and said, “It might have been different if I hadn’t seen them in that cell. They didn’t deserve that.”

 
“
I suppose I should at this point warn you that there is chance that we could all get killed. Them included. On the other hand, now that we know that they are there, we could try a diplomatic solution.”

 “
The Cabal doesn’t strike me as the sort of group that accepts diplomatic solutions. They impose a decision, or avoid it.” He paused, then said, “Oh, we might be able to get them back, but what would the price be? Hydra Station, certainly. Maybe the Shrouded Stars – though without Hydra, that becomes a route we can’t use.”

 “
They vowed to give their lives in the service of the Confederation.”

 “
Deadeye,” he said, “this Fleet is just a bit over two years old. What we do now will affect how this fleet sees itself, how it builds and develops for decades to come. I don’t what to set this sort of precedent. Practical considerations aside, we’ve got to have pride in ourselves. Ten, twenty, fifty years from now, what we do today might help someone else.”

 “
Assuming we still have a fleet in fifty years.”

 “
True,” he said, smiling. “I think we will. We’ll find a way to crack the Cabal, and then the stars are opened to us, properly this time.”

 “
Is that why you’re going to take the risk?”

 “
We’ll have the minimum number of people on the surface. I’m pulling out Nelyubov; Maggie can do what is necessary on her own, Cooper and Cantrell as back-up on the street. Which just leaves one person to trigger everything at the auction.”

 “
I’ll get ready,” she said, nodding, beginning to move, but then Marshall grabbed her by the arm.

 “
You’ll be needed at Tactical to give us the maximum window of opportunity with those satellites.”

 “
Danny…”

 “
I’m going, Deadeye, because this is my job. They know me as the commander, I’ve been there before, and I’ll attract less attention. As soon as I trigger, I just have to get out onto the street and link up with Cooper for the pick-up. He won’t be far.”

“
You are the commander of this ship, the commander of Alamo.”

“
Which means what? That I’m too important to risk?”

“
Yes. There are others who can do this. I should be doing this…”