Void Wraith (The Void Wraith Trilogy Book 2) (7 page)

Dryker knew a cue when he saw one. He strode forward, walking onto the large, empty disk. All eyes were on him as he mounted the steps up to the raised dais, clearly intended for a speaker to address the conclave.

"The 'testimony' you offer comes from the same source as the recordings," Endari protested. He gazed down at the conclave, finding support from more than a few Primos. "Are we to listen to the theories and ramblings of lesser races now?"

"Let the human speak." The purple-skinned figure--the one called Kayton--finally spoke, his voice deep and gravelly. "We can judge for ourselves whether this is worthy of a conclave. I, for one, find the presented evidence disturbing. We cannot know if this new race is, in fact, the Void Wraith. Yet their technology is clearly derived from our own, and must therefore be investigated."

"Very well, if you both wish it we will proceed with this foolishness," Endari said, waving dismissively at Celendra. "Speak, human. Give us your limited understanding of galactic events."

"The Void Wraith are real, but I don't expect you to believe that," Dryker said, turning slowly atop the dais. He looked from Primo to Primo, a sea of emotionless faces. Tough crowd. "The data core I provided to Celendra contains something that should concern you far more: it shows an attack on one of your libraries, an attack perpetrated by your own people. I asked her to wait until today to show you that data, because it proves that at least some of your people are working with the Void Wraith."

"Lies," Endari barked. "Our people would never attack a library, not for any reason. Libraries are sacred. If one were attacked, it could only be by lesser races, and we would easily repel them."

"See for yourself," Celendra said, coldly.

She gestured, and the entire dome displayed a holographic image. It was a familiar scene, one that evoked painful memories. Three Primo carriers launching fighters to fire on the
Johnston
, then the
Johnston
speeding away toward the star. Behind them, more fighters attacked the Primo library. Plasma beams scored its pristine surface, and the damage worsened as the
Johnston
retreated. Then the library exploded in a wave of intense white light. The dome went translucent again.
 

"Why have you waited until now to show us this?" Kayton asked. He leaned toward Celendra, almost threateningly.

"Because of what it means," Celendra said. "Dryker is right. We have been infiltrated by the Void Wraith. It is possible that some of the people in this room are actively working to destroy our race."

Chapter 14- Shipwarming Present

Nolan circled warily, prowling the edge of the dueling circle as Fizgig did the same just a few feet away. The pair watched each other, each waiting for a weakness.

"Hey, Nolan, if you're through getting your ass kicked I brought you a present," Annie said, drawing Nolan's gaze.

It was a fatal error. In the split second Nolan's gaze was averted, Fizgig darted forward and rammed her plasma blade into his chest. His muscles spasmed in the by-now familiar pain of paralysis, and he flopped about for several agonizing seconds, clawing the deck as he waited for the pain to subside.

"You let Annie's arrival distract you. Such distractions are common in combat. They separate the warriors from the kits. Kits will chase whatever draws their attention," Fizgig said, offering Nolan a paw. He accepted it and she effortlessly heaved him to his feet. "You must be more than that. You must be a predator, fixed on your prey. If your focus is greater, then you will be ready to take advantage of
their
lapse in attention."

Like all of Fizgig's lessons, this one was practical and easy to understand. Nolan nodded, bending to pick up his towel as he walked over to the doorway. "Same time tomorrow?"

"Of course," Fizgig said, nodding. She leaned forward to lick her forearm, then glanced back at him. "You have impressed me, Nolan. You learn quickly. Pursue this with the same persistence you have pursued strategy, and you will become deadly."

Nolan gave her a grateful nod, then joined Annie in the hallway. She carried a large brown sack that bulged with a rectangular object. A trail of red and yellow wiring, long enough to brush the floor, hung from the bag.

"Is that what I think it is?" Nolan asked, toweling sweat from his face.

"Yep," Annie said cheerfully. "I figure Bock will get by without one for a few days, and none of the miners care. Coronas will pay for a replacement. I can have it installed on the bridge whenever you like, but if you want something quick and dirty all it needs is power. There are conduits all over the ship."

"Okay, let's get it installed then," Nolan said, starting for the bridge. He was quiet as they walked, considering Annie's actions. They were a little ruthless, but also pragmatic. They'd needed a quantum transmitter, so she'd acquired one.
 

Underhanded, but the longer Nolan played this game the more he realized principles could get you killed. Principles were the reason Admiral Kelley had died in his sleep. Yet if one gave up one's principles, what was left? It was a troubling line of thought.

He trotted up the last set of stairs, striding onto the bridge. "Set it up on the far wall there; you can wire it to that access panel."

Nolan moved to the hastily-installed captain's chair, sitting stiffly on the sharply angular metal. It wasn't comfortable, but it beat standing for the entire shift. He watched as Annie worked quickly and efficiently. She had the access panel off and the wiring exposed within seconds. It didn't take much more than a minute for her to connect the red and yellow wires to the pulsing blue lines that powered their ship.

"The nice thing about these portable transmitters," Annie said, closing the access panel, "is that they have limiters built in. It will automatically regulate the flow of power it draws from the ship."

"That's it? You installed a quantum transmitter into an alien vessel, and all it took was two minutes of your time?" Nolan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm pretty good with this stuff, but it's just not that hard," she said, shrugging. She pressed the green button on the front of the transmitter and it hummed to life. "The network strength is really weak. You can't check your messages in your bunk or anything, but at least we should be dialed in now."

Nolan got out his comm. It was already syncing, the tiny
QN
logo swirling across the screen. A moment later, his home screen began to populate, and he saw he'd missed several messages. He thumbed open the app, selecting a message.
 

Kathryn had requested a meeting for the following day.

"Annie, get the crew together. Looks like we're taking a trip to Mulholland Station," Nolan said, hitting the
Reply
button.

Chapter 15- Mulholland Station

Nolan was more than a little jittery as he entered Mulholland Station's food court. Hundreds of people flowed between tables, each carrying trays from one of the station's eleven restaurants. They were all different flavors and cuts of the same basic soy protein served in backwaters like this, but after three months in dead space they smelled heavenly.

"It's so weird being around this many people," he muttered under his breath, knowing Hannan would pick it up. She'd injected him with a sub-dermal transmitter just before they'd arrived. He couldn't hear his team, but they would know everything he knew, as soon as he knew it.

Nolan carried his tray to an empty table and sat down to wait. He glanced around him as he used the chopsticks to shovel noodles into his mouth as quickly as he could get them from the bowl to his face. God, he'd missed real food. As the noodles disappeared, his pace slowed, and he began to survey the crowd a little more carefully.

The guards lurking on the fringes of the crowd carried stun batons, but no firearms. That made sense. The super-dense hull of a starship was designed to pass through a star. Small arms had no prayer of punching through them, no matter the caliber. But stations like Mulholland were built cheap, and since they were stationary the developers hadn't given them more than a thin steel membrane. Bullets were a real hazard here, which was why station security was so strict.
 

Nolan had no firearm, but he
did
have a plasma blade. He'd tucked the bracelet under the leather coat he'd borrowed from Annie. The coat was loose around the gut, but fit snugly around his arms and shoulders. The bracelet didn't even make a bulge in the arm, and whatever scan the security guards had used hadn't seemed to pick it up.

"Nolan?" came a familiar voice from behind him. It cut through the din, drowning out everything else. He shifted in his seat to see Kathryn, just as she dropped into the chair across from him. She shot him a dazzling smile, but there was something...
off
about it. It didn't quite reach her eyes. Stress maybe?

Nolan wasn't really sure how he felt about seeing her. They'd never been a couple, not officially, but things had been headed that direction right before he'd been exiled to the 14
th
. She'd been wrapped up in that, though he didn't hold it against her. Admiral Mendez had likely strong-armed her just as he had Nolan. Either way, Kathryn had helped them a lot. It was only because of her that they'd even known about the Ghantan system.

"It's good to see you, Kathryn," Nolan said, smiling back. He meant it. It
was
good to see her, even if he couldn't stop looking over his shoulder.

"I know we could go on for a while with small talk, but we can do that when we're somewhere safer. Bring me up to speed," she said, lowering her voice. "Where have you been, and what the hell happened out there?"

Nolan considered the question for half a second before answering. Could he trust her? Could he trust anyone? Right now he needed her, and that made the decision for him. He'd trust her as far as necessary, but he wasn't taking any chances.

"The war with the Tigris is the most massive coverup of all time," he said, hunching over his noodles and leaning a little closer. "The Tigris were there to help us against the Void Wraith. We blew up a factory, and stopped a bomb we believe they intended for Theras Prime."

"Theras Prime?" she asked, cocking her head in surprise. The gesture was a little too practiced, a little too OFI.
 

That gave Nolan pause, because he'd received the same training. Kathryn's surprise was feigned. Did she already know about Theras Prime? If so, how had she known? Why hide it? Nolan thought quickly, not liking where his line of logic led. There's only one reason Kathryn would lie, one way she could have known. She'd been comprised.
 

How the hell was he going to disengage? If she was lying, had she brought friends? Or was he just being paranoid and misreading her emotions?

Chapter 16- Kathryn

Kathryn stretched out a hand, resting it gently on Nolan's for a moment. Then she leaned back, taking him in. He'd changed in the last few months, though it was difficult to put her finger on the
how
of it. He was more confident, certainly, but there was more to it than that. He moved differently.

"Yeah, Theras Prime," he said, after a pause. He busied himself with his noodles, scarfing them like a war refugee. Was he avoiding her gaze?

"Okay, so you dealt with this bomb," Kathryn said, picking her words carefully. He must not suspect the joining; her larva had been clear on that. "What happened after? Why have you been gone so long? And what ship are you on? The
Johnston
was presumed destroyed."

"One question at a time," Nolan said, his face unreadable. He was more guarded than he'd been when they'd last worked together. That was also new, and problematic. Earnest Nolan was much easier to read. "The bomb destroyed the star, and we had to fly to another one. It took a few months to reach another star with a Helios Gate, and we've been out of contact that entire time. My turn. What happened to you? Have you officially gone rogue? I notice you're still flying the
Sparhawk
."

"I'm officially AWOL," she said, glancing around to make sure they weren't being eavesdropped on. This part she'd been ready for. "Most of the admiralty has been infiltrated, I think. I couldn't risk sticking around, so I grabbed
Sparhawk
and ran." She took a sip of Nolan's soda, giving him a playful smile.

"And in the three months since?" Nolan asked, ignoring the theft. His expression remained impassive.

"My turn," she said, touching his hand again. "What ship are you on?"

"One of the Void Wraith harvesters. We commandeered it during the battle," Nolan said. He polished off the rest of his noodles, sighing as he set the bowl down. "Your turn. Catch me up on the last three months."

"I've been running from port to port. The war with the Tigris is heating up, so patrols along the fringes are next to nonexistent," Kathryn explained. "The only fleet defending the periphery is the 14
th
, and they're stretched pretty thin. I figured I'd be safe out here, and so far I'm right. My turn. What did you learn about the Void Wraith? Where do they come from?"

The question was casual, but she felt the quivering around her spine. The larva was
very
interested in Nolan's answer.

Nolan was silent for a long moment. Too long.
He knew
. She must have done something to betray her true loyalties. That scared the hell out of her, because she knew what the larva would make her do. Perhaps they could finish the exchange. She'd get what information she could, and they'd part ways. The masters hadn't demanded his death, and that part of her mind, the part grown by the larva, was silent.

"They've been here a long time," Nolan said. He glanced right, then left, and his tone was even lower when he continued, barely audible over the hum of the crowd. "The empire before the Primo dark ages wasn't the first. My crew is investigating the empire before that. We believe it predated the Void Wraith, because the Primo DNA from that time wasn't modified. Their DNA now? It's got markers all over it. Someone or something engineered changes in the Primo. That something shaped the Primo into the Void Wraith, and I think we're close to cracking who it might be."