Stars of Charon (Legacy of the Thar'esh Book 1) (29 page)

“It’s
just a matter of time,” Ju-lin said. “See how the Skins are spreading out and
slowly surrounding them? Even though the Draugari have the advantage in
firepower they are tightening up formation as if they are just waiting to be
slaughtered. Dad always said, when you give up initiative, you give up the
battle.”

“The
Draugari won’t stay in formation,” I said. “Not for long. They don’t like
inaction. They will attack.”

“Yeah,
probably.” Ju-lin replied. “And when they do the Skins will be in position to
wipe them out them. They’ve lost, they just don’t know it yet.”

We
finally slipped past the bow of the wreck, Eridani III loomed clearly in front
of us. With the Collegiate and Draugari fleets still engaged, we had a straight
shot in. Ju-lin fired the thrusters.

Chapter 30

“There,”
I said softly. “Send the signal, have the Slires stay on us close, focus fire a
missile on the lead fighter.”

Kal
leveled out the ship as we continued to follow the signal of the Celestrial
fighters. We’d managed to keep our energy signatures hidden as we followed
them, now that they were within the planet’s lower atmosphere, we were moving
to strike.

“
There’s
something down there,” Jen’tek interrupted. “A colony.”

“A
colony? Out here?” Tren asked.

“Human,”
Jen’tek said. “The Celestrial are bombing it.”

“Surface
rats bombing surface rats?” I repeated. “Good, they are distracted. Focus on
the fighters first, then we will deal with the humans.”

Jen’tek
made a low growl, showing his approval.

I
charged the Carrack’s weapon systems as we came in range. The Slires were
keeping tight on our wing, waiting for my signal to attack. Clouds filled the
viewscreen as we continued our descent, my finger hovered above the trigger as
I waited for the shot.

At
last, the clouds cleared and I saw the ships. Three of them were flying in
loose formation. Smoke was already beginning to rise from the burning
settlement in the distance. I took careful aim and fired.

The
missile fired, trailing cleanly across the night sky. The lead enemy
disintegrated in a ball of fire. First blood. The Slires rushed passed us,
driving hard toward the two remaining fighters.

“I have
three marks coming in fast. Slires. Coming in along the horizon,” I called as I
read the scope. It had been quiet for the last thirty minutes since we had
cleared the battlefield and set our course for the planet, if either of the
fleets had noticed our passing, they were too intent on each other to worry
about us.

“I see
them,” Ju-lin answered.

“Looks
like the Collegiate weren’t the only ones with a rear guard.”

“That’s
unfortunate,” she remarked as she studied the scopes. “Damn they’re fast. Hold on,
I’m going to drive us down and break atmo. The entry will be rough, but if they
want to follow us they will have to slow down or they will be torn apart when
they hit the troposphere. It should give us a chance.”

“As long
as you promise that it will be smoother than the
last
time you tried to
land on this planet,” I joked as I shifted power to the front shields.

“No
promises,” I saw the corner of her lip curl into a grin.

With that
she sent us into a steep dive toward the surface. The ship began to shake as we
hit the upper atmosphere and Ju-lin reversed thrust to start slowing our
descent. As we slipped through the horizon and into the world, she pulled up
and began to level us out as the computer plotted a course to the Downs.

The
scopes were clear. I’d lost radar contact with the Slires when we passed the
magnetosphere, but just because we couldn’t see them, didn’t mean they weren’t
there. I kept my hands on the gunnery controls.

“This is
incoming vessel designation
Tons-o-Fun
,” Ju-lin thumbed on the radio.
“Requesting landing rights outside of the Downs, anyone out there?”

The radio
was silent as we listened to the steady hum of the engines.

“This is
Ju-lin McCullough, is anyone down there?”

Again
silence.

“Maybe
nobody’s near the coms station?” I suggested. “They may not even know there’s a
battle going on up there.”

“Possible,”
Ju-lin answered. “But Dad always has someone assigned to monitoring coms.
Someone
has
to be there.”

“Incoming
vessel, this is the Downs. You have multiple hostile contacts closing in on
you, break off your approach.”

“Break
off my approach?” Ju-lin snapped. “This is Ju-lin McCullough. Who is this?
Darin? Jace? Get my father, now.”

“Your
father is indisposed,” the voice responded.

“Indisposed?
What the hell does that mean?”

“The Slires
are coming in at our six o’clock,” I said quietly. “We have maybe two minutes.”

“It means
he is not available to take your com,” the voice snapped back. “Break off your
approach.”

“My
brother then. Marin McCullough, he always has his radio on him, route me to his
personal comm.”

“Marin
McCullough is off-world,” the voice responded flatly. “This is your last
warning, break off your approach. You are leading hostiles toward the colony.”

“Off-world?”
Ju-lin said breathlessly. “Where did Marin go? When did he leave? And who the
hell
is
this?”

Again,
there was silence.

“Ninety
seconds until those Draugari are in range,” I said. “If we let them get in
behind us we won’t be able to shake them.”

“I know,”
Ju-lin snapped back as she worked the controls.

“Their
shields aren’t modulated for atmospheric combat, they will be operating at
maybe sixty-present strength,” I added.

“Really,
that’s good to know,” she responded. “I’m going to bring us around, open up on
them full bore, our shields should hold for one good pass, maybe we can even up
the odds.”

“Ju-lin!
I’m so sorry about that,” a new voice broke in over the coms. “This is Governor
Hollace Growd, we met back on the colony ship.”

“Growd?”
she repeated as she brought the
Tons
around to face the incoming Slires.
“Where is my father?”

“Since he
was nice enough to take us in after the raid on New Haven,” Growd responded.
“I’ve been helping him out by taking over some of the more menial duties of
managing the Downs, that’s all. My man here tells me that you’re being followed
by, er, wait what? She just turned toward them? Miss. McCullough, you do
realize that there are three Draugari fighters closing on your position?”

I took a
deep breath, focusing on the display as the Slires neared. Almost in range.

“Yes, I’ve
seen them,” Ju-lin responded. “Where did my brother go?”

“Well
now, that’s complicated,” Growd responded. “You don’t seem too concerned, you
should probably take some evasive action. The Draugari aren’t coming by for
tea.”

“Almost
in range,” I said quietly. “Hold steady as long as you can.”

“You
don’t sound too concerned, Growd,” Ju-lin countered. “Why is that? You know
that after they get us they will come for you?”

The
Tons’
large guns had a longer range than the Slires, I knew I would have a few precious
seconds of shooting before they were in range. The reticule went green and I
opened fire on the first ship. With his shields already weakened, it took mere
seconds for
Tons’
powerful guns to slice through the ship’s armor. Its
main wing broke off from the hull, sending the ship spiraling downward.

“A lot
has transpired in the little time you were away,” Growd replied. “After what
happened we contacted our benefactors at MineWorks, they provided us with a
small but adequate defense force. A few raiding Slires aren’t really too much
of a concern. But we would prefer to keep them away from the colony. So I
repeat, divert your course”

As they
closed into range, the remaining Slires opened fire. Our shields were holding,
but couldn’t take much more. I adjusted my aim to the second ship.

I pulled
the trigger, but this one was ready. He made a tight roll, avoiding my fire. I
adjusted, but again, the Slires evaded. Our shield indicator went from green to
yellow as the energy field continued to absorb the Draugari’ fire.

“A few
Slires?” Ju-lin mimicked his voice. “Do you have any idea what’s out there?”

“Out
where?”

“Out
there!” Ju-lin snapped back as she threw us into an evasive roll just as our
shields began to buckle. “About a half-million miles above the surface there
are a few hundred Draugari and Celestrial ships blowing the hell out of each
other! It’s a matter of time before the Skins push through and drop enough atmo
gens on this planet to turn it into a toxic soup by dinner time tomorrow.”

I had
almost gotten a steady track on the Slires when Ju-lin sent us into a roll, my
volley flew wide as Ju-lin once again kicked the thrusters into full. The
Slires began coming around to pursue.

“Really
child,” Growd responded with a barking laugh. “A few hundred, eh? Not just one
fleet, but two fleets? Draugari
and
Celestrial? Overplaying our hand a
bit, aren’t we?”

“Overplaying
my-what hand? Are you thick?” Ju-lin snapped back. “When the Skins are done
with the Draugari they will come here and finish what they started when they
bombed your colony to the ground! You have to evacuate, now.”

“Ah,
there it is,” Growd responded. “So they were right. You
do
know where it
is hidden and are trying to get me to panic so you can get it for yourself.
Interesting. Captain, dispatch the Draugari and escort Ms. McCullough to the
surface. I want her alive.”

“We know
where what is? Bring us in? What the hell are you talking about?”

Her only
response was silence.

“Six new
marks coming in fast,” I said. “Looks like they were using the planet’s
magnetic field to hide their signatures. They are good-sized, about 30-tons,
well-armed, fusion engines. System identifies them as Falcons. Some kind of
heavy fighter?”

“Nice
ships,” Ju-lin said over her shoulder as she thumbed off the coms. “I guess he
wasn’t bluffing about a defense force.”

I watched
the scopes as first one, and then the second Slires blinked out of existence as
the Falcons overtook them.

“I hope
there’s a lot more where those came from,” I said. “They are coming up fast.”

There was
a flash as four lasers streaked passed our cockpit as the two lead Falcons flew
by. All of the ships were painted black with yellow and green stripes on the
tail fins. MineWorks’ colors were blue, these were hired mercenaries I guessed.
The ships themselves were wider and shorter from bow to stern than others I had
seen, shaped like the tip of a spade or an arrow-head. The lines from the
cockpit at the front ran smoothly from bow to stern. If it weren’t for the
bulky gun mountings on the nose and under the wings I could have mistaken it
for a Celestrial vessel.

“Starship
Tons-o-Fun
,” a new voice broke in. “We are taking up positions on your
wing and will escort you to the landing pad on the eastern edge of the Downs.
You will comply or be fired upon. Understood?”

Ju-lin
looked at the two Falcons as they slid into formation in front of us as the
others pulled in behind and boxed us in.

“Understood,”
she said sharply and flipped the coms back off.

My mind
raced. Growd somehow knew we had figured out where the map would lead us. He
would try to make us take him to the site. Whatever it was. I was torn between
my curiosity of what lay hidden, and my fear of what it could do in the wrong
hands. And what was it? A matter of time, minutes? Hours? Certainly not more
than that before the Celestrials would outmaneuver the Draugari and come
streaking into the atmosphere.

“I don’t
like this,” I said feebly.

Ju-lin
kept looking forward. Her knuckles were white as she gripped the controls, and
her jaw was clenched tightly. She said nothing.

Chapter 31.

“The other two fighters are coming around,” Kel called. “They
are focusing on the Slires, but staying low. They’re too fast for us, but we’re
moving into position to cover our ships.”

“These pilots are trained,” I replied. “They’re staying too
low for our targeting systems, I can’t isolate them. Order the pilot’s to raise
altitude.”

“Lor’ten,” Tren said, his voice was unusually low. “Look at
the scan, below us, there-”

“Bladestones,” I said softly as I looked out the viewport at
the huge white stone spires jutting out from planet’s surface. 

“Huge bladestones, bigger than I’ve ever seen,” Tren replied.
“Do you think that is what we were sent to protect?”

“Why would they send us this far to protect bladestones?”
Jen’tar asked. “There are bladestones on dozens of worlds.”

“None that big,” Tren countered. “Take a look.”

I looked out the viewport and saw bladestones below, somehow,
even in the dim starlight, they were starkly visible. They were reaching up to
the sky in spires like arrows fired into the ground.

I had just looked away when the night lit with a flash of
yellow-orange light, I turned to see a pillar of fire rising from the center of
the bladestones.

“What happened?”

“Fire, that’s all I can see,” Tren said as he continued his
scan. “Wait, I have two lifesigns, humans right next to the flames, sonar pulse
is showing there’s a cave.”

“Maybe this
is
what we were sent to protect,” I mused out loud.
“Signal the fighters to continue the fight. Break off pursuit and set us down.”

“Why?” Kel asked. “We should just kill the humans from here.”

“What if those two just destroyed what we were sent to
protect?” I asked. “The chieftain and the conclave will want answers.”

Two of
the Falcons hovered at a distance, keeping their guns trained on us as Ju-lin
set
Tons-o-Fun
down. They held position until Ju-lin finished the
shutdown sequence and our powerplant went silent.

“A bit
paranoid aren’t they?” Ju-lin said as she unlatched her harness, pulled herself
out of her seat, and took a step up toward the cockpit window.

I joined
her and followed her gaze. There was a small crowd of about a dozen armed men
waiting. They all wore dark green uniforms. MineWork’s colors.  In the center
was a middle-aged human wearing a dark grey suit with a purple tie. His
jet-black hair had faint wisps of grey coming from his temples and was neatly
combed.

We were
on the edge of town. A mere 10 days ago this had been a grassy field, now it
was a dusty staging area and makeshift starport. There was a row of new prefab
structures that looked like parts and equipment. Nearby I saw mechanics working
on one of six other Falcons: they had an even dozen.

In each
of the four corners of the field were ground-based laser turrets, each of them
manned. On the western edge of the clearing was a large command structure. The
roof was covered in antennas, satellite dishes, and other equipment.

“All that
tech, but they still can’t see the fleets?” I asked.

“The
first thing the Skins or Draugari would have done would be to disable the
orbital communications relay. Without an eye in space we’re as good as blind
sitting down here.”

“They are
getting restless,” I said, looking down as the guards, laser rifles at the
ready, shifted their feet nervously and pointed up at us.

“I don’t
see my dad,” she said softly. “I don’t see anyone I know. They have fences up
around the landing area, MineWorks is running this place like a military
installation.”

“We won’t
find out what’s going on by sitting here,” I said.

“True,
but we may get shot out there,” Ju-lin turned to me and smiled. For a moment we
stood, inches apart. I remembered the soft touch of her kiss when she and Loid
had rescued me back at the station.

“There is
always that,” I pulled myself back into the moment and tried the best I could
to force a rakish smile.

Her
shoulders bounced as she chuckled. She reached up and lightly touched my arm as
she walked past me back toward the cargo bay.

A few
minutes later we stepped down the cargo ramp back onto the dusty surface of the
world. The guards spread out, and kept their weapons trained on us as we walked
toward Growd.

“Now here
we are. Good to meet you two at last. Been having quite the runaround now
haven’t we kids?” His smile had an unquestionable air of condescension. 

Neither
of us spoke as he stepped forward.

“Silence?”
He continued. “I guess that’s to be expected, it
is
a virtue after all.
Well now let’s see, I can’t say I like what you did with your hair Juliette.
Though I guess it could just be the style these days. But blue really isn’t
your color.”

Ju-lin’s
lip curled in a sneer at the use of her first name.

“And you,
the mystery boy, quite the knife you have there.” He stepped next to me,
tilting his head to the side as he looked at the blade on my belt. “A notable
weapon. I’m sure you understand when I say my men will keep that for you.”

One of
the guards stepped forward and pulled the knife out of my belt.

“Now
then,” Growd continued. “That’s better, less hostility, eh?”

“You
still have a dozen guns pointed at us,” Ju-lin snapped. “We are citizens of
this colony, you have no right to take us prisoner.”

“Ah, and
there you are right, well, half-right,” Growd smiled once again. “Juliette
Linaea McCullough, citizen of this Earthborn colony, you are under arrest for
theft.”

“Theft?”
Ju-lin’s tone was incredulous.

“Yes,”
Growd said as he took a step backwards. “Don’t you think we’d notice that you
just landed a stolen starship? Do you have a legal deed of sale? Certificate of
ownership? A signed notice of salvage reclamation? Anything?”

“You know
damn well we didn’t steal it,” Ju-lin pressed forward. The nearest guard closed
in before she made it two steps. With a deft move he pinned her arm behind her
back and held her. A second guard closed in behind me and pressed the end of
his rifle into my back.

“Little
girl,” Growd stepped forward, eye-to-eye with Ju-lin. “I know nothing of the
kind. I know that the rightful owner of that starship is a known smuggler with
quite a lengthy yet somehow unimpressive dossier of minor legal infractions to
his credit. As the duly appointed and authorized Governor of this colony I have
the-”

“You are
not,” she snapped back. “Lee McCullough is the governor of
this
colony.
Where the hell is he?”

“Ah,
yes,” Growd stepped back and sighed slowly. “After New Haven was bombed and my
people moved here, we had a bit of a rearranging of responsibilities. Lee
abdicated his position as Governor to me.”

“I doubt
that,” Ju-lin answered. “Where is he? What did you do to him?”

“Pretty
girl,” Growd turned and looked at me. “But not too trusting is she?”

Though
part of me wanted to agree, I said nothing.

“The
simple answer is that your father has been ill. He wasn’t up to running the
day-to-day operations of the colony, so he asked me to step in.”

“Asked
you
to step in? Bullshit, take me to him!”

“You
don’t quite understand what being under arrest means do you?” Growd shrugged.
“Take her.”

“I won’t
go anywhere until you let me see my father,” Ju-lin struggled against her
captors, he twisted her arm in response and she cringed in pain but said
nothing.

“You’re
clearly distressed about all this,” Growd said slowly. “So how about a deal, if
you cooperate and calmly and quietly go through processing and get to your
cell, you can see the doctor who has been treating your father. Chen I believe
it is, you know him?”

“I know
Chen,” she snapped. “How can I trust that you will do what you say?”

“You
don’t have a choice,” the forced softness of his demeanor fell. “I don’t have
the time or the patience for this. Get her out of here.”

“But what
about the Celestrial fleet?” She called back as the guards pushed her forward.

“Oh not
that again,” Growd waved his hand dismissively.

“Sir,”
someone in the back spoke up, he was wearing a different uniform with blue and
yellow stripes on the shoulder. It was the same colors that I had seen on the
tail-fins of the Falcons.

Growd
looked at him, pausing expectantly, “Well?”

“This
morning we did lose contact with the orbital coms relay,” he said slowly. “If there
is something out there, we won’t be able to see it.”

“Oh don’t
tell me you’re buying this crap,” Growd answered. “You told me that it got hit
by solar flares. You and your pilots were not hired to think, Commander Teigan.
You were hired to do as I say. Bring your ships in and remain on alert.
Understood?”

Teigan
nodded.

After
Growd turned, Teigan lifted his hand and rapidly spoke a few words into the
comlink on his lapel. 

“You
damned fool!” Ju-lin called as they prodded her forward, leading her toward the
command building and out of sight.

Growd
ignored her as he turned toward me.

“Now, the
girl, I can arrest,” he said softly. “She is a registered and certified member
of this colony and her father is a full-fledged decorated Protectorate war
hero. But you, you’re not on the colonial manifest. You’re not in the Protectorate’s
register. You, I don’t have to arrest. You don’t exist. And like you’re friend
Loid, nobody will miss you when you’re gone.”

“Those
were your thugs who shot him back at the station?” I seethed, recalling the
grey-haired human and old Celestrial who had shot Loid and followed us back on
Tal. “And Joof, they killed Joof.”

“What the
hell is a Joof?” Growd laughed dismissively. “Whatever it is, it was a detail,
and I’m a big-picture guy, not a detail guy.”

“Nice way
of rationalizing it.”

“Rationalizing?
No, you miss the point. We all have our role to play,” he said. “Commander
Teigan’s role is to provide some basic security against marauding Draugari and
the snooping Skins. Trent and Ki’nathi, the two fine gentleman who you so
crudely referred to as ‘thugs’, are expert trackers.”

“Assassins
you mean.”

“Two
sides of one coin,” Growd smiled once again. “One does not track one’s prey
just to observe it.”

“And
you?” I asked. “What is your role?”

“Me?” he
paused. “I’m just an administrator, a clerk. Wholly uninteresting, I assure
you. But you. You are interesting.”

Fear
crept through me. Fear that he knew what I was and where I had come from.

“Oh don’t
look like that,” Growd said. “There is honestly no reason that we cannot be
friends, or that this whole thing won’t work out in your favor. I don’t know
where you came from, maybe you hitched a ride in on the colony ships, maybe you
bribed some smuggler to drop you off out here, maybe you did something horrible
and got marooned on this world. I have no idea, and I couldn’t care less. What
matters is that you have information that I need.”

“Which
is?”

“The
location,” Growd licked his lips. “My workers had just discovered the symbols,
but didn’t get a scan of it before we had to destroy it to keep it out of the
hands of the Skins and Draugari. Thinking back now, I know I overreacted when I
launched the drone. But I couldn’t be too careful, we couldn’t have such a
treasure falling into the wrong hands. There is far too much at stake. But you.
You saw the map room, you know where it pointed. You know where it leads. You
know where
it
is.”

“Where
what
is?”

“Power,”
he said simply. “Surely you know by now that this world was once inhabited by an
ancient race of non-humans. There are clues scattered throughout the sector if
you know what you’re looking at. Some time ago a few of these clues started
falling into our hands, and so we hired an expert to help us track down the
signs and solve the pattern. A treasure hunter that fancies herself as an
archeologist. Either way, she’s very good. We found signs carved into standing
stones on one of the moons in Aegle. We collected some images and pictographs
found onboard the remains of a Draugari freighter, and dozens of other
signposts scattered in the cosmos: all of them pointing here, to this world.
What? Did you think the Company would send
me
out here just to colonize
a mineral-poor world this far from Collective trade lanes and this close to
Celestrial space just to run a relocation site? Do you think that we were
really concerned about how a few sick colonists fare out here after the
relocation? We own more than enough Senators to insulate us from any problems,
believe me on that.”