Her Brother's Keeper - eARC (22 page)

“P…perhaps,” Cecil squeaked.

“I have faith in you, Mr. Blackwood,” Lang said. “Do this thing for me, and I will let your sweet Bianca leave with you. I think you both would like that, yes?”

“Yes. Yes, of course. That’s very generous of you.”

Lang smiled evilly. “I am
very
generous to those who do well for me. Very generous.” He turned on his heel and strode out of the room, pausing only to berate his two bewildered bodyguards. “Come, you fools, leave these scholars to their work. Can’t you see you’re disturbing them?” A door slammed as the warlord and his entourage left the building, leaving the three captives alone again.

Cecil, wide eyed, heart racing, slowly sat down. A bead of cold sweat trickled down his right temple. He looked over at his partner and shook his head slowly. Zak seemed like the quiet type, but Lang was right: the man had
balls.

Anna was staring at Zak in disbelief. It would seem that she’d never seen this side of him before either, and it was apparent to Cecil that she liked what she saw. Her face flushed, just a little.

“Say Zak,” Cecil said conversationally. “I need you to help me with something upstairs.”

“What? We’re pretty busy here, Cecil,” Zak said, as oblivious as ever.

“I’m aware of that, but I really need to discuss something with you. Please, it’ll only be a moment.”

“Fine,” Zak muttered, standing up. “I’ll be right back, Anna.”

She seemed surprised by the statement. “Hmm? Oh! Okay,” she said, her face turning red. She looked back down at her console.

“This had better be important,” Zak groused as he followed Cecil out of the room.

“Oh, it is,” Cecil insisted, “it is.”

Chapter 20

The Privateer Ship
Andromeda

Deep Space

While the ship was under acceleration, Marcus thought the journey was much more enjoyable. A steady 0.85 gravities of thrust wasn’t exactly real gravity, but it was enough to settle the stomach and allow the team of mercenaries to enjoy a solid meal. After forty-five minutes of physical fitness training and a quick shower, the hired guns gathered around a circular table in the ship’s common area. An impromptu game of poker had broken out while they ate a meal together.

Marcus chewed his food idly while reading from his tablet. He was terrible at poker and wasn’t playing. Devree Starlighter, on the other hand, had a poker face worthy of a professional card sharp, and seemed to be cleaning up nicely. She didn’t even crack a smile as Randal Markgraf folded in frustration, but Wade laughed at him.

Marcus chuckled and returned to his reading. On his screen was an encyclopedia, and he passed the time reading everything he could find on not only Zanzibar, but also Avalon and the Blackwood Family itself. The captain hadn’t been exaggerating when she explained that she’d come from a powerful family. Clan Blackwood was an ancient family line on Avalon, going back centuries to the colony’s founding in the Late Diaspora. They were one of a number of original stakeholders, colonial founding fathers who set themselves up as a sort of aristocracy.

Avalon’s government was not democratic by any means. The heads of the Stakeholder Families served on a high council, a legislative body that held most of the political power. They would choose a High Councilor who served as the colony’s head of state, but his powers were specific and limited. The stakeholders’ power and prestige seemed to come from the size, wealth, population, and economic productivity of their respective provinces. Clan Blackwood, lords of Aberdeen Province, had been one of the most powerful and influential for centuries.

The Blackwood & Associates Trading Company was one of the largest and most widely traveled merchant fleets from an independent world, and they had a virtual monopoly on interstellar trade to and from the Arthurian System. Their earnings had been slowly declining for years, however, as Avalon’s trade regulations made it difficult for them to break into new markets, and in the face of increasing competition from independent free traders.

“So what’s our next stop, Marcus?” Devree asked, scooping an armful of poker chips toward her.

Benjamin Halifax stopped frowning at his cards for a moment. “It’s probably Opal, lassie. Not many places to resupply this far out. Really, not enough traffic out this way for many traders to establish themselves, especially since to get to Zanzibar from here you have to go through Combine space. Most choose to take the long way ’round.”

Randall Markgraf spoke up. “Why didn’t we take that way? Why in the hell are we going through Combine space if there’s another way?”

“It’s a
lot
longer,” Wade answered, looking up from the game he was playing on his handheld. “There aren’t a lot of places to resupply that way, either, and they’re spread further out.”

“A ship of the
Andromeda
’s class would be pushing its luck to take that route,” Marcus said. “She’s still a patrol ship, even if she’s a big one. She wasn’t designed for one-way missions this long. The captain didn’t want to risk running low on remass or stores.”

“Let us not forget,” Ken Tanaka said, “that this is a rescue mission. Time is of the essence.”

Wade nodded. “And the long route would add…hell, maybe months to the trip, depending.”

“I’ve never heard of Opal,” Devree said.

Halifax folded his cards. “I’m not surprised. The colony there is all of one small city, maybe ten thousand people. They’re independent, not affiliated with anyone. Not enough there for anyone to bother with, I suppose. The planet has a fully developed ecosystem, but it’s completely incompatible with terrestrial biology. The atmosphere is breathable, but only barely. Humans can’t even digest any of the native plant matter. Just growing food there is a challenge, needs to be done in greenhouses. There are hardly any metals close enough to the surface to bother mining. It’s not a good candidate for colonization.”

“Why in the hell does anyone live there? How are we supposed to get supplies from this place?”

“Just enough traffic to Zanzibar, and to the Orlov Combine, comes though this way that traders have set up shop. At least, they were there last time I came through this way.”

“When was that?” Marcus asked.

“Seven years,” Halifax replied. “New Austin years, I mean.”

“How does a colony that small even sustain itself?” Devree asked.

“Their primary economic resource is the export of locally grown plant matter and alien artifacts,” Wade said, reading from his handheld. “I just looked it up.”

“Alien artifacts?”

Halifax grinned. “Aye. Opal is inhabited.”

Devree’s eyes grew wide. “I’ve never seen an alien before.”

“You may or may not see one while we’re there,” Halifax said. “They’re reclusive.”

“It says that they’re at a stage roughly equivalent to the Stone Age,” Wade said, reading further. “Their population is small, estimated to be only a few million on the whole planet. They trade trinkets and crafted goods to the human colonists, who sell them on the open market.”

“The big money is in relics from
extinct
alien species,” Markgraf said. “That’s probably why the colony on Opal isn’t booming. There are a few known planets with indigenous civilizations at that level. Their artifacts are expensive novelties for collectors, and that’s about it.”

“What do these beings look like?” Hondo asked, setting down his cards.

Wade raised his handheld so everyone at the table to could see the screen. “Check it out.”

“I can’t tell if it’s cute or horrifying,” Devree said. The creature on the screen was short, little more than a meter tall, with smooth, leathery skin that varied from blue to brown. Its short arms and legs both ended in hands with opposable digits, tipped with claws. It had a mouth full of pointy, needle like teeth, and two large, round red eyes.

“They’re unsettling when you first see them,” Halifax said. “Opal’s ecosystem is similar to Earth’s, and these beasties fill the role that our ancestors once did. But when you get close, you realize just how alien they are. They don’t have noses, for example, like mammals on Earth do. They breathe through their mouths, make this sickly wheezing sound. They don’t talk to humans—they
can’t.
Their mouths are too different, they can’t pronounce human languages. They’re not dumb, though. They learned a crude form of sign language, which they use to communicate with the colonists.”

“They reproduce asexually,” Wade said, reading from his screen again. “They don’t really have sexes. Or sex, I guess.”

Devree raised an eyebrow. “How dull.”

“They’ll bash your head in and eat your guts if you walk in on one of their gatherings at the wrong time,” Halifax continued, “but they’re mostly harmless. Humans are a curiosity to them, nothing more. It’s the colonists you need to be wary of.” When the group looked at question at him, he leaned in closer and explained. “They’ve been isolated on that world for a long time, since first contact with the Maggots. They were like a doomsday cult, hoping that if they settled there they’d be overlooked by the Maggots while the rest of humanity was slaughtered.”

“It worked,” Wade said. “It says here that even when the war came through this sector, the Maggots never even approached Opal.”

“Aye, and that’s where it gets strange,” Halifax said. “The Maggots did come through this system. I read up on all the reports the last time I was through here. It wasn’t a big force, but they were tracked by Concordiat ships. They could’ve easily blasted the colony from orbit. They never left any other human colonies unscathed. But instead, they just left the system and never returned.”

“After the war,” Wade read, “the Concordiat government sent an envoy to Opal to try to learn why the colony wasn’t attacked. Rumors were flying that the colonists had made some kind of deal with the Maggots, but that doesn’t make sense, because we never were able to communicate with them at all.”

“What did they determine?” Hondo asked.

“Pretty much nothing,” Wade said. “It says here that the inquiry was inconclusive, and they left. That was over a hundred years ago. They were mostly forgotten about after that.”

“As I said, they’re strange folk,” Halifax said. “If the captain lets us off the ship while we’re planetside, you’ll do well to stay out of their settlement. The traders had a nice little trading post established while I was there. You won’t likely see too many of the locals. Rumor has it they tried to forget that they’re the aliens on that world, never told the children about humanity’s real origin. I don’t know if there’s anything to that, but they do act as if they worship their planet. They fancy themselves its guardians and servants. They’re especially protective of the natives.”

“How do you know all this?” Marcus asked. “How long were you there?”

Halifax crinkled his brow as he tried to remember. “Maybe a couple of local weeks? The ship I was on needed engine repairs while she was there. We stayed for longer than planned. Anyway I was plowing this local girl, if you follow me. Buxom young thing, inexperienced but eager. She told me all this.” Devree frowned, and Halifax grinned sheepishly. “Begging your pardon, lassie. I said too much.”

“I thought you said the locals are reclusive,” she said.

“Aye. But they’re still human, and there are thousands of them. It’s frowned upon, but some of them fraternize with off-worlders, especially the young people. Colony Fever is universal, you know.”

“So, you said it’d be a good idea to stay out of their settlement?”

“It really depends. We may get a cool reception, but there are things to see there. It’s best to abide by all of their rules, no matter how strange. They punish infractions harshly, so they say, but I don’t really know. All of that is kept quiet, and even the lovely lassie with the enormous knockers wouldn’t tell me the details.”

Markgraf looked thoughtful for a moment. “If I didn’t know better,” the veteran intelligence officer said, “I’d say you were using that girl as a way to get information. Classic honeypot.”

Halifax grinned. “Believe it or no, I’m not just a handsome face who’s handy with a gun.”

“You’re not handsome, for one thing,” Marcus said. “It’s a good thing you’re handy with a gun.”

“I think you’re all gross,” a familiar voice said. The mercenaries looked up to see Annabelle Winchester enter the common area.

“Good to see you too, baby,” Marcus said. His daughter hugged him, then sat down at the table with the group. She was dressed in the same green flight suit the rest of the crew wore, with her hair done up in a tight braid to keep it out of the way in freefall. Marcus didn’t want to embarrass her by saying so, but he was so proud of her he felt as if he might burst. “How you been holding up?”

“They keep me busy,” Annie said, peeling the top off of a heated flight meal. “Twelve-hour shifts every day.” She took a bite of her meal and frowned.

Marcus smiled. “You said you wanted to be a spacer, kiddo.”

“It’s not bad,” she said. “I’m not whining, I was just saying.”

“I think it’s a fine thing you’re doing, little lassie,” Halifax said. “You may be surprised to learn that when I was your age, I got into a bit of trouble with the law myself.”

“Yeah, no one is surprised by that,” Devree said.

Halifax laughed and shook his head. “All this defamation of my character, it’s unfair. But it’s true. At fifteen standard years I was in a street gang on Olympus.”

“You’re from Olympus?” Markgraf asked. “You don’t sound like you’re from Olympus. You don’t have the accent. Olympians talk like they’ve got a mouth full of rocks.”

“Aye, but, I wasn’t born there. My mum took me there when I was just a babe, got passage on a free trader somehow. Grew up in the slums there, though, and it was the law of the jungle.” He looked up at Marcus. “Being on a ship is good for the girl. She’s safe, she’s busy, keeps the youthful piss and vinegar under control. When I was her age I’d have killed to get off that miserable rock.”

“I like the
Andromeda
,” Annie said. “Everyone is nice, except for First Officer von Spandau.” She looked around to make sure no one else was listening. “I don’t know what that guy’s problem is,” she said more quietly. “He never smiles or anything.”

Wade shrugged. “I heard he’s from the Concordiat Fleet. I was in for twelve years, and I saw more than a few officers like that. He’s not a bad guy, he’s just serious about running a tight ship. Believe me, kiddo, I saw a few free traders and independent spacers in my time, and none of them were as disciplined as the crew of this ship. None of their ships were in as good a shape, either. This ship is in top condition. That’s good. Space is unforgiving.”

“That’s what he told me,” Annie said. She badly mimicked his accent. “Space is zee harsh und un-forgivink mistress! Now report to your station,
schnell!
”

The table of mercenaries erupted in laughter. Marcus shook his head. “Where did my daughter learn to be so sarcastic?” he wondered aloud.

“Uh, I
wonder
, Dad,” Annie said, rolling her eyes.

“Oh. Right,” Marcus admitted. “Probably my fault.”

Annie looked at her chrono. “I need to get going.” She stood up and cleared her tray from the table.”

“Where you off to, kiddo?”

“Gotta help Daye do some systems maintenance down in engineering.”

“Yikes, how is that?” Devree asked. “The engineer seems like a real hardass.”

Annie shrugged. “I haven’t really worked for her yet.”

“Just do your best, honey,” Marcus advised, “and be respectful. Let Daye do the talking if you’re not sure what to say.”

“I’ll be okay, Daddy,” Annie said. “I gotta go, though. I’ll see you guys later.” She dumped her waste in a receptacle and disappeared up the ladder.

Devree smiled at Marcus. “She’s such a sweetie,” she said. “I can’t believe that girl got in trouble with the law.”