Star Force 12 Demon Star (7 page)

“Hansen, bring us around easy, repellers only. Get us back onto a course for Trinity-9. Once you’re done, meet me at the holotank.”

My XO nodded, beginning the maneuver. Using only repellers would save fuel and mask our change of direction if the enemy wasn’t tracking us closely. When he’d finished, he returned control to
Valiant’s
brainbox and stepped over to me at the holotank.

“What did that attack tell you?” I asked.

“That they don’t like us?”

“Obviously. But why don’t they like us?”

“Why would they?”

I made a sound of exasperation in my throat. “The Whales have established relations with us. They’ve sent useful information. The Elladans at least haven’t shown themselves to be hostile. Why did the Demons attack us without even talking?”

“Because they’re an aggressive race that wants to take everything for itself. They’re bugs, Captain. Most bugs on Earth defend their territories and try to take over more. They don’t negotiate.”

“These bugs are intelligent enough to build starships. Your explanation is that they’re acting on mere instinct? I don’t believe that. Any alien this technologically advanced must understand basic politics and strategy. Why attack a newcomer and make enemies immediately before attempting negotiations? In order for those ships to have arrived when they did, they would have had to divert those eight corvettes from their main fleet when they first saw us arrive through the ring. Instead of talking, they dispatched a strike force.”

Hansen turned to stare at me and lowered his voice. “You’re a thinker, Captain. I get that. But sometimes you over think things. Did the Mongol hordes try to talk every time they encountered a new village or castle? No, they had a policy: surrender or die.”

“But they didn’t ask us to surrender. That’s my point. They simply attacked.” I rubbed my neck, trying to work through the situation in my head. “I think you’re right about one thing, though—policy. Whoever’s in charge of the Demon fleet is following a policy of destroying everyone else. Maybe like any military leader, he has political masters back home. If their command structure is particularly rigid, he’s not going to deviate much from his orders. So…”

“That’s a lot of conjecture,” Hansen replied skeptically.

“But the Whales’ intel confirms it. Their messages said the Demons have been attacking them for decades. Every year, they send a bigger fleet than the last.”

“Then why aren’t they better prepared?”

I shrugged. “Maybe the stealth corvette surprise attack is a new development. If the Whales thought they had more than a month before the Demon fleet arrived, they’d become complacent doing their final refits. Crews would be taking leave, stuff like that. You can’t keep warships at high alert for too long.”

“Yeah. Speaking of that, I think we should go back to normal operations and shut down the active sensors. They’re like beacons announcing our exact positions all the time.”

“Agreed. We’ll stay at battle stations for the rest of this rotation, and then stand down. Use repellers only to change course enough that we aren’t predictable. We can rotate a few recon drones out for constant coverage.”

Hansen nodded and resumed his position at the pilot’s console. I checked on Marvin and saw he had a long time before he would be able to overtake the damaged Demon ship, probably a full day or so. Good thing everyone was heading generally in-system.

“Sir,” Hansen said suddenly. “The Nano ships you sent out to look for our lost marines have returned.”

I looked at him, trying to get some clue what he was hinting at. He had a poker face, and I assumed the worst.

“Kwon’s gone, isn’t he?”

Hansen broke into a grin. “Not quite. Let me pipe the channel through to the bridge speakers.”

“—that was total bullshit! You tell Riggs that!” Kwon’s voice boomed. “I don’t like to die. Especially not in space. Bullshit!”

“Kwon!” I shouted, grinning. “You’re alive!”

“Only barely. I think my dick was blown off. Your doctor-boxes had better have a way to grow me a new one, dammit.”

“I’m sure we can do that, Kwon. Did your men survive?”

“Nah—well, two of them did. We lost three. They got torn apart and fried. I was lucky because I was up against the blast doors, ready to fly out if needed. When the deck came apart under my boots…that was quite a surprise.”

“Yeah, sorry about that. Glad to hear you’re still breathing. My father would never have forgiven me.”

“You’re right about that. He never would have. Kwon out.”

I heaved a sigh and leaned on the console, sweating. My broken arm throbbed, shooting lances of pain along the ruptured nerve endings. Why did the nanites always repair nerves first? Why?

-6-

After we’d all recovered from the immediate aftermath of the battle, I moved to the ready room and called Marvin. My left arm was still out of commission, but the nanites in my system were sewing it back together as quickly as they could. It burned and tingled like a limb that had gone to sleep and still could barely function.

“Now that you’re not actively repairing our systems,” I told Marvin, “I presume you’ve got some spare capacity to give me a report on your investigations?”

“About the Demon ships or the threats on your life?”

I frowned. I’d been thinking of the enemy fleet, of course, but Marvin had reminded me of another topic we’d been concerned with. Why? Was this his odd way of hinting he had information concerning the assassination attempts?

“Tell me of your internal investigation, Marvin.”

“I have discovered many interesting things. For example—”

I sensed he was going to get into gossip and distractions. I didn’t have time for that today. “Get to the point, Marvin. Did you discover further evidence?”

There was a hesitation. I waited him out in silence.

“Yes,” he said at last.

“Who does it point to?”

“Professor Hoon.”

“What?”

“Did my transmission come through garbled?”

I took a deep breath, mind racing. “No, I’m simply shocked. What evidence do you have?”

“I’ve discovered a number of vestigial and partial files in the system indicating he altered yours and Kwon’s suit telemetry, as well as the med-bay programming, and he created the video of you mating with Sergeant Moranian.”

“Fake video of our virtual clones mating, you mean,” I snarled. Of all the attacks on me and my authority, that had actually been the cleverest and most effective, and I found my temper rising once more. “Dammit, Marvin, why didn’t you tell me this before?”

“You set higher priorities on other activities such as repair, translation and our current battle strategies.”

“You couldn’t take five minutes out of your day to inform me?”

“Every time I exercise my judgment to deviate from your orders, you castigate me. As a consequence, I’ve recently decided to comply strictly with your obsessive prioritizations.”

I was steaming, but I tried not to let it show. “All right,” I said. “That’s how I want you to keep doing it. But you should have reported on these findings. That was your charge.”

“I don’t recall you asking for a report during the last two weeks.”

“We were so busy, and I assumed you’d tell me if you came up with something!”

“I ran across a saying recently in my research on idiomatic speech, which states that when you assume, you make an ass out of—”

“Yes, I know that one, Marvin… Dammit! Never mind!” I was getting sidetracked again, and I found my mind burning anew with the desire to find out the truth about why Hoon had been undermining my command and trying to kill me. “Talk to you later, Marvin. I have to get on this.”

“But Captain Riggs—”

I selected the “ignore” option, squelching Marvin’s prattle. Storming out of the ready room and through the bridge, I headed for the damaged troop pods. I found Kwon in the dayroom, which had survived the destruction. He was bench-pressing at least five hundred pounds on a resistance machine, and he had a heavy bandage wrapped around his groin region.

That surprised me, I’d thought all that talk about having his dick blown off had been marine-talk, but now, I wasn’t so sure. I decided not to say anything about it.

“What’s up, boss?” he asked.

“Get in your armor. We’re going to talk to Hoon in his quarters.”

“In battlesuits?” Kwon stepped into his suit and sealed up, activating his short-range private com-link and synching it to mine. He did seem tender when his bandaged region sank into the crotch of the machine, but he said nothing. He only winced.

I suited up alongside him. “The conversation might get a bit heated,” I told him, “and we’ll be under water. I don’t want to be the victim of an accident.”

“Welcome, Cody Riggs,” the suit interrupted as I closed it around me.

“Thanks, suit. Now shut up.”

“Command accepted.”

“I don’t get it,” Kwon said, reaching automatically for a laser rifle. “You think Hoon’s dangerous?”

“Marvin just told me he uncovered evidence Hoon was behind the attempts to kill us—he tampered with the suits and the autodocs.”

“But he’s not even human.”

“What does that matter? And put down that laser. The suits will be enough.”

“How do we know what he has in his quarters and lab? Have you ever been in there? Maybe he has weapons.”

That stopped me. “You’re right, Kwon. I haven’t been in his workspace since the refits.” I switched channels. “Valiant, have you ever recorded Hoon possessing any device aboard powerful enough to pose a significant threat to an armored marine?”

“No.”

“There you go. We’ll risk it.” My anger simmered, but I wanted any rage to be under my control. Kwon had a tendency to shoot first and ask later, which was fine in combat, but not so good inside the hull of our own ship.

“Okay,” Kwon said, reluctantly setting his rifle back on the rack. He surreptitiously checked the suit’s integrated laser. This was a short-range utility beam, usually used for work rather than combat, with approximately the power of a pistol. I decided not to worry about that right now.

“Let’s go.” I lumbered out of the armory, marines in the half-wrecked passageways scattering before us. The troop deck had been slathered with constructive nanites, and the walls had the look of melted metal quickly shaped into a patchwork.

I could hear some of the troops calling out to Kwon, asking what was going on. He told them to button it and get back to their business, and then he followed me.

Kwon and I stomped down the passageways toward Hoon’s quarters. Soon, I was inside the water-lock and pounding on the lobster’s inner door. I could have issued a command override, but I was getting angrier by the minute as I contemplated confronting the annoying creature and finally obtaining some answers.

After water had flooded the lock and the inner door had opened, I barged in past Hoon to stand in the middle of the room. The water was crystal clear, of course, and the light was bright. For some reason I’d expected a dim, murky environment.

“What’s the meaning of this, young Riggs?” Hoon said, once again waving his mouth parts in an agitated manner. I found it odd to see the Crustacean naked, without his pressure suit, making him seem even more alien than usual. “Why have you intruded on my privacy?”

“You will address me as Captain, Professor. As I am the captain, aboard my ship, I can go anywhere I damn well please. I’ve never inspected your spaces, so I decided to pay you a little visit.”

Hoon scuttled closer to face off with me.

“Captain Riggs, I find this ‘visit’ highly irregular, and my superb translation software tells me that you are agitated and expressing yourself even more discourteously than usual. I accept your putative authority, but I demand you explain your actions. I am a diplomatic representative of my race and will not be treated this way.”

“Diplomatic immunity goes only so far, Hoon. I haven’t checked my law books lately, but I bet it doesn’t cover attempted murder of a Star Force officer or sabotage of a Star Force vessel.”

“Your words convey no meaning I can connect to my situation. Are you implying I have attempted to murder someone or sabotage this ship?”

I stepped forward, raising my armored fist. “I’m not implying anything, Hoon. I’m flat-out accusing you. Marvin found evidence you tampered with Kwon’s suit and mine. Further, you hacked the autodocs and faked sex vids that got me into so much trouble.”

Out of the corner of my faceplate, I could see Kwon’s hands working, as if he wanted to grab something and tear it to bits.

Hoon backed away from us. “Your accusations are preposterous. I have neither the motivation nor the technical expertise to commit such crimes.”

“You’ve bragged to me many times about how smart you are, how many academic degrees you hold and how much faster than humans you learn. I don’t see how it would be all that hard for you to teach yourself about our cybernetic systems during the time you’ve had aboard.”

“In that, you are correct, Captain Riggs. I could acquire those skills, but I have better things to do. You are welcome to examine my meticulous research logs and determine for yourself that I simply have not taken the time away from more important tasks.”

“I doubt you logged your crimes. You’ve had plenty of time to do these things, being a clever lobster.”

“I cannot prove a negative, but under your own laws, I do not need to. I am innocent until proven guilty. Besides, what possible motive would I have for performing these actions? I am one Crustacean stuck among you disdainful humans. My life is sufficiently miserable right now that I logically have no desire to make it worse by interfering with your semi-competent attempts to return us to civilization. In point of fact, I have more motivation than anyone to get home, in order to rejoin my kind and get away from you humans.”

I stomped my heavy foot on the deck, creating a pressure wave in the water and causing Hoon to flinch. My voice rose, translated by my suit and spoken in the Crustacean language by the external speakers.

“You lobsters act so superior and rational,” I said, “but you hold a grudge as well as the next biotic. I’ve read the histories. I’ve even reviewed some communications between you and my father. You blamed him for what happened to your home worlds when it was clearly your own damn fault for changing sides every time it seemed to be to your advantage. Your people betrayed biotics everywhere instead of standing shoulder to shoulder with us. When I showed up, you saw a chance to take it out on me.”