Wings of Retribution (83 page)

“Wait a minute, Dallas!” Stuart called after her.  “Shouldn’t we
discuss
your plan’s
merit
before you run off and get us both killed?!”

Dallas waved a dismissive hand at him and hit the steps at a jog.

“Now I just want to make sure we’re clear on this.  We present ourselves as captured Utopian citizens and ask for safe passage back to T-9.  We are obsequious, butt-kissing solar surveyors who were given the unfortunate task of determining whether or not Xenith’s star is a viable candidate for nuclear conversion.  We were captured as soon as we entered the system and were shocked to find that the place was inhabited, let alone that it had a habitable planet.”

“Sounds good to me,” Athenais said.

“Then let’s get this over with.”  Ragnar stepped out into the hallway and Athenais followed.

A minute later, only yards from their goal, two armed ground troops stopped them.  “Utopis only,” one of them said.

“But we
are
Utopis,” Ragnar complained.  Athenais turned to look at him, surprised at the genuine whine in his voice.  “We want to go home.  We’ve been prisoners on this planet for two years!”

“And you’re prisoners again.  Shouldn’t have betrayed the Utopia.  Now leave.”

“We didn’t betray the Utopia!” Ragnar cried.  “We were captured.  We’re solar surveyors.  This star’s twelve million SIDUs from the nearest Utopian planet.  We were told to determine whether or not it would be a viable fuel source for—”

“You heard the broadcast.  Everyone will be evaluated on an individual basis.  Come back tonight and you might be able to get to the front of the line.  Until then, leave.”  The man sounded like he had given a hundred such spiels in the last half hour.

“I don’t think you understand,” Athenais said, stepping forward.  “We need to speak with your Colonel.  Now.  We’re not
just
surveyors, if you know what I mean.”

Ragnar flashed her a panicked look before returning his attention to the Utopis.  “Please, we don’t want any bloodshed.  We just want to speak with…”

“End the act, Ragnar.  The game’s over.  Time to tell the truth.”

Ragnar straightened, but he gave her a frustrated look.

The two Utopis stiffened, grasping their weapons tightly in their hands.  “The…truth?”

“You really believe the Utopia never knew about this place?” Athenais said.  “Thousands of years to build up their own fleet and they never knew?”

The Utopis looked confused.  “It was dead space.”

“We’re agents, you moron.  We’ve been monitoring Xenith for twenty years.”

“That doesn’t make sense.  They would have come in sooner, as soon as they knew they had a fleet.”

Athenais scoffed.  “You think they were worried about Xenith’s
fleet
?  They were worried about its
natives.
  The whole planet is colonized by water-dwelling aliens.  Some grow to the size of a gunship.  I’m sure you picked them up on your scanners.”

The Utopis looked at each other.  “We heard rumors, but we didn’t—”

“And they’re all telepathic,” Athenais stated.  “They’ve got their own armies of sharks under the water. 
Mind control,
man!  Do you realize how valuable that is to the Utopia?!”

The soldiers began to fidget.

“Just let us speak with your Colonel!” Ragnar barked, his attitude completely changed.

The two men jumped, then stepped aside.  Ragnar brushed past, almost knocking one of the soldiers over.  Athenais followed without pause, and fell in behind him as he yanked the Colonel’s door open.

The Colonel had the pale, sickly face of a lifelong spacer.  She had all the windows of the room shuttered against the sun and was reading a report on her handheld when they barged in.

Immediately, she stood.  “Who in the hell are you?!”

“Shut up and listen,” Athenais snapped.  “This whole planet is about to explode.”

The Colonel stared at her.  “It is?”

“Yes,” Athenais said.  “As soon as the DNA data starts getting back to the Admiral.”

“What are you talking about!?  We haven’t even begun testing yet!”

“Don’t,” Athenais ordered.  “Not unless you want to get yourself and every Utopi on this planet killed.”

“But…why?”  The Colonel was baffled.  “Who are you?”

“Agents,” Athenais said.  “That’s all you need to know.”

“What kind of agents?  Why shouldn’t I conduct DNA testing?  It was an order from Admiral Redstone himself.”

“You can’t do DNA testing because as soon as you do, you’re going to realize that every land-dwelling native on this planet is a shifter.”

The Colonel’s eyes widened.  “What?”

“Don’t you wonder how they stayed off radar for so long, with only a little trickle here and there?”  Athenais made a disgusted sound.  “Headquarters had its suspicions, and they pinpointed the leakage to this planet.  They sent us here to investigate.”

“I don’t believe you.”

“Ragnar, show her.”

In an instant, Ragnar shifted into a bulky, muscular woman in her thirties.

“
Double
agents,” Athenais said, grinning at the Colonel’s horror.  She wiggled her newly-grown fingers for effect.

The Colonel’s mouth was open as she stared at them.  “Shifters?  The whole planet?”

“Yes.  Even now, they’re probably infiltrating your ships, getting ready to launch an offensive.  How many ships do you have up there?  What percentage of the Utopian fleet is in orbit?  How vulnerable is the Utopia without it?  Because we’re about to lose it all.”

The Colonel stared.  “I have to warn the Admiral.”

“As soon as you tell him, the Admiral is going to message headquarters and they’re going to tell him to blow the planet.  If there’s anyone you want to get out alive, we need to do it now.  I have a ship ready.”

“How can you be sure they’re not shifters?  How can you be sure
I’m
not a shifter?”

“You’re not a shifter because they haven’t had a chance to regroup.  You captured their leaders.  Shifters are useless without a leader.  Most are just mindless drones.”  Athenais glanced at Ragnar, who was giving her an irritated look.  “As for my ship, we have a codeword—nobody’s getting past the airlock without using it.  My question to you is who do you want us to save?  Is there anyone with important knowledge, anyone who isn’t expendable?”

The Colonel glanced at the door.  “My secretary routinely handles some classified documents…”

“We’re not rescuing a secretary,” Ragnar snapped.

The Colonel straightened.  “Aside from myself, I can think of no one.”

“Then let’s go.  Grab your things.  We need to hurry.”

“Are you sure this will work?” Stuart muttered.

“No, but I’m going to find out.”  Dallas flipped the collars of the lab coat out and grabbed the medical handheld.  “Thanks, by the way.”

The mousy technician smiled shyly and nodded.

“So what do you want me to do again?” Stuart asked, looking down at the white coat he wore.  He had stripped off his Warrior guise and was now clean and shaven, the pile of his facial hair still lying on the floor of the regen lab.

“Grab a handheld,” Dallas said.  “Look professional.  The key to this is not to take any shit from
anybody
.  They might have rank, but you are the
law
.”  She slapped his chest with the clipboard.  “This right here is your power.  Anybody so much as
looks
at you funny, you write their names down on your little sheet of paper.”

Stuart stared at her for a long time.  “Oh…kaaay,” he said, glancing down at his clipboard.  “And that’s to do what, exactly?”

“Scare the holy living
crap
out of them, that’s what,” Dallas said, gleeful.  “You have
no idea
how many times I’ve wanted to be on
this
side of the Clipboard.  And that’s with a capital C.”

“The Clipboard,” Stuart repeated, looking at her as if she’d lost her mind.  “What are we supposed to be, exactly?”

“Utopian auditors,” she said cheerfully.  “They accompany every Corps ship and are constantly putting their noses where they don’t belong.  They always travel in threes, but we’ll just have to make do.”

“Don’t they have uniforms?” Stuart said, leerily plucking at his lab coat.

“They do, but they don’t always wear them.  Easier to catch people goofing that way.”  Dallas looked up at the technician.  “Thanks again.”

“You’re welcome,” the woman said, giving her a genuine smile.  “I hope you get home safe, star-traveller.”

Meeting the woman’s sad brown eyes, Dallas felt like she should say more, but Stuart had already grabbed her arm and started dragging her out of the lab.

They left the regen room and were several minutes down the hall before Dallas stopped and said, “You know, I don’t even remember her name.”

Stuart impatiently stopped and glanced back.  “I don’t think we asked.”

“She was really nice,” Dallas said, biting her lip.  “I should at least know her name.”

Stuart glanced outside.  “Dallas, if we’re going to get this done, we’ve gotta
hurry
.  Athenais and Ragnar should be done by now.”

“But she told me how to fight the shark.”  She glanced down at her lab coat.  “And we’re just using her.  If anybody finds out she helped us, she’s dead.  We don’t even know her
name,
Stuart.”  That was too close to what Athenais did to people for her comfort.