The Search for Gram (27 page)

“Did you have any problems getting up here?” asked Night.

“No,” said Calvin. “Once you made the announcement we had captured the queen, all the Efreet stopped fighting. It’s almost like there is some sort of cultural imperative to defend the queen at all costs, even if that means doing nothing that would endanger her.”

“Well, that’s good to hear,” said Night. “We’re already outnumbered, and it looks like it’s about to get worse.”

“Master Chief said we’re going to have company; what’s going on?”

“There’s some sort of cargo ship inbound,” said Night. “It jumped into this universe about five minutes ago. No idea if it came from our universe or somewhere else, but if it came from our universe, the
Terra
didn’t do a very good job of stopping it. When the ship checked in, they didn’t mention any problems or issues.”

“Okay, I’ll ask,” said Calvin. “How were you able to find that out?”

“We had help,” said Night. “Once you captured the queen, the Efreet became a lot more cooperative.”

Night nodded toward a small alcove off the bridge that Calvin hadn’t noticed before. Inside were two Efreet under the watchful eyes and ready weapons of two troopers while the vizier and Master Chief spoke to them. The alcove was unlit, and the dark-skinned Efreet blended into the shadows.

“None of the bridge crew survived the initial assault, but we bagged these two right after the attack. One knew how to operate the radio, and the vizier listened in to make sure he didn’t warn the ship off. The vizier admits he doesn’t know much about military communications, but the conversation seemed all right to him.”

Calvin walked over to the alcove. “Have you been able to learn anything?” he asked Master Chief.

“Not a whole lot, sir,” Master Chief replied. “They’re both pretty junior. All they knew was that the freighter was bringing something for the ship, and their CO was looking forward to having it.”

“Have we found out where the CO is yet?” asked Calvin.

“Unfortunately, yeah, we have,” said Master Chief. He turned and pointed to the bodies by the chair in the middle of the room. “I think he is the one with purple stripes on his uniform. He took three laser bolts to the chest at the start of the fight; we’re not going to be getting any answers from him or anyone else in the command group. They’re all dead.”

“Shit,” said Calvin under his breath.

“So, what are we going to do with the freighter?” asked Master Chief.

“I don’t know,” said Calvin, “but give me a minute, and I’m sure I’ll come up with something.”

Jotunn Jail, 14 Herculis ‘a,’ Unknown Date/Time

K-Mart transferred back to the Jinn universe and hurried to where the workshop was in his own universe. He ran as fast as he could, knowing the Jotunn would soon notice the absence of the women and children. “If I…live through…this…” he puffed, “I’m going to…get in shape…when I get back.”

He stopped at the transfer point he had marked out and waited to catch his breath. It wouldn’t do to be panting so hard the giants could hear him.

“You there!” a voice called. “Don’t move!”

K-Mart’s head whirled around to see a squad of men dressed in black approaching. The enemy’s color. One fired a weapon, and the slug slammed into the tree next to him. Without thinking, he pushed the button and disappeared.

He reappeared in the workshop, which was noticeably less crowded than on his earlier visit. Only one Jotunn was present, and it stood in the doorway watching two Sila. The giant was armed with an enormous rifle and had a small metallic box dangling from a strap that ran diagonally across his chest.

Still trying to control his breathing, K-Mart tip-toed to the Sila furthest from where the giant stood.

“Don’t say anything,” whispered K-Mart into his ear. “I am here to help you.”

The Sila jumped and looked around wildly.

“Keep working,” K-Mart added.

The Sila gave a small nod and went back to tinkering with the device he had been working on. His eyes shifted back and forth, looking for the source of the voice while trying to watch the guard and work on the metallic object all at the same time. It didn’t work well, and the screwdriver-like tool slipped and scratched across the object.

“Easy,” whispered K-Mart. “I’m going to get you out of here.” The male’s head snapped up, and he opened his mouth to speak. “Your family is safe,” K-Mart added; “don’t worry, I’ve already freed them from their cell, and we will join them shortly. Before we go, I have a request.”

The Sila made a face; his annoyance obvious.

“I’m sorry,” said K-Mart, “but there are more people here that need rescuing than just you and your family.” The male appeared to understand, and his face relaxed. “Are you the person working on devices to transfer across to the other universe?”

The man nodded.

“I need a device which can transfer a large number of people at one time, and one that can transfer a really large creature. Do you have something that can do these things?”

“How many people?” asked the Sila under his breath.

“As many as I can,” replied K-Mart. “There may be 100, and I would like to make the fewest number of trips possible.”

“The large creature,” said the male. “Is it the one on the level above us? Silver with scales and wings?”

K-Mart nodded, then added, “Yes,” when he realized the male couldn’t see him.

“I saw him once, and he speaks to me in my mind, sometimes,” said the male. “I would like to free him, too, but there is a problem. The giants took all the transporters which can be used for large individuals yesterday. I don’t have any more that are functional. I only have one, and it’s broken.”

“Damn,” said K-Mart, “I really want to get him out.”

“Me, too,” said the Sila. “Let me think.” He didn’t say anything while he continued to work on the equipment. “I have an idea,” he said finally.

“What is it?”

“I can use parts from the ship transporter to build a new transporter for large creatures, but the guard is never going to let me have it.”

“How long would you need if you had access to the parts?”

“About 10 minutes,” replied the male. “It isn’t hard, but I can’t rush it.”

Gunfire sounded in the distance, and the giant turned toward the sounds, listening intently. A voice could be heard from the box on his harness. A radio. K-Mart set the transportation rod down on the table and became visible. The Sila said nothing as K-Mart calmly aimed his laser rifle and fired twice, hitting the giant in the side of the head with two long blasts. It crashed to the floor.

More gunfire sounded in the distance. As it died, Chomper called on the comm system. “
K-Mart, you’d better hurry. I think they know we’re here!
” K-Mart looked at the Sila. “We need to hurry,” he said. “Our time just ran out.”

“The freighter
Spark
is asking if the captain is available to come to the radio,” said the vizier. “What do you want me to tell them?”

“Tell them his second-in-command is standing by and ask what they want,” replied Calvin.

“The
Spark
said they are running behind schedule and will have to avoid an enemy warship on the way back. The
Spark
wants to know if we can send a shuttle to get our things, or if they should use their own shuttle. They would prefer that we send our shuttle so they can leave sooner.”

“Tell them we’d be happy to send our shuttle,” said Calvin, a smile brightening his face for the first time all day. “We will send it as soon as we are able.”

“Sir, you’re not thinking of doing what it sounds like you’re thinking of doing, are you?” asked Master Chief. “We really don’t–”

Calvin held up a hand, silencing him. “Ask the
Spark
what they have for us.”

The vizier translated Calvin’s request, then answered, “They have some supplies, payroll for the crew and the new modules for our engines which will allow us to jump to the other universe and back.”

Calvin turned back to Master Chief with a gleam in his eye.

Master Chief sagged. “Yeah, I know,” he said in a defeated tone of voice. “We have to go get them.” He sighed and then straightened. “Okay, so how exactly do you propose we do this? I may not have been to all the math classes you have, but I can count. We’ve got 27 effectives, 33 if you count the Mrowry and the Aesir. If the Efreet decided to mutiny right now, we’d be hard pressed to stop them. The only thing we have in our favor is Sergeant Graham; the Efreet don’t have a lot that can stop a cyborg.”

“That’s true,” said Calvin, “but she’s coming with us to the freighter. If things go badly, we’ll need her fire support.”

“If things go badly here,” said Master Chief, “we might come back to find out we no longer control the ship. I don’t like our chances if the Efreet bring this ship’s weapons into play. They outgun everything else in this system put together. They could also wipe out all the Sila on the planet. We
can’t
lose control of the ship.”

“I know,” agreed Calvin. The smile was back. “That’s why I’m leaving you here as Lieutenant Rrower’s second-in-command. I know I can count on you to make sure the ship stays in our hands while we’re gone.”

“Me? Stay here?” Master Chief asked. “What do you mean, I’m staying here? I’m the most qualified person you have to lead an attack on an enemy ship. Who has more training than I do?”

“No one,” admitted Calvin.

“Damn right,” huffed Master Chief.

“You also have more experience with guerilla warfare, booby traps and leading a small force against a much larger one. I’m leaving the lieutenant here to figure out the workings of the ship; you’re staying here to lead its defense.”

“Wouldn’t it be better to destroy this ship and take everyone over to the freighter?” asked Master Chief, trying a new approach. “That way we bring all of our combat effectives to the fight and don’t have to worry about losing control of the destroyer. Besides, who are you going to take with you in the shuttle to talk to the freighter? The vizier?”

“Hmm…I hadn’t thought of that,” said Calvin. “We need someone on the ship to talk to the freighter if they call, and we also need someone on the shuttle to talk to them. We definitely need someone on the shuttle, because we’ll need guidance for getting to the docking port.”

Captain Nightsong cleared his throat. “I am a little rusty, but I can speak a bit of Efreet. I haven’t spoken it in a couple of millennia, but I’ve been listening to the vizier, and I think I can pull it off.”

“Perfect,” said Calvin. “Captain Nightsong will stay here to talk to the freighter if needed, and we’ll take the vizier with us because we’ll be doing more communicating. If we do it this way, we’ll be able to keep the destroyer to help defend the Sila, and we will still have enough troops to go to the freighter.”

Master Chief could see he was beaten. “Who are you leaving me with?”

“I’m going to leave what’s left of the Ground Force, as well as the Mrowry and the Aesir. The Aesir are about out of nanobots, so they are less effective than when we started. Captain Nightsong will be in overall command; you’ll have the nine members of the Ground Force, the other four Aesir, Lieutenant Rrower and yourself. That’s 16 total to hold the ship. Hopefully, as long as you have the queen, the Efreet won’t get uppity.”

“And that leaves you what? All of 17 people to go capture the ship?” asked Master Chief.

“16 and a cyborg,” said Calvin, “and we’ll also have the element of surprise.” He turned to Night. “Sound like enough to you?”

“What’s our mission, sir? A quick smash and grab to get the engine components, or a full-blown assault to take over the ship?”

“Well, let me put it to you this way,” said Calvin. “If we grab the engine parts, how are we going to get them to our universe? We already burned out one of the control rods, and that was just trying to bring a cyborg across. How well do you suppose it will work for engine parts? There’s only one thing in this system that can get those components to our universe, and it’s the ship which brought them here in the first place. It’s also the best chance we have for getting our remaining cyborg back across. That freighter not only has the technology we need to be effective in our war with the Efreet, it’s also our ride home. We’re going to do a smash and grab all right…but we’re grabbing the freighter.”

“When you put it like that, sir,” said Night, “how can I refuse?”

“Shuttle Five,
this is
Spark
control. The packages heading to the
Incinerator
will be waiting for you in Starboard Loading Bay Three. Are you familiar with where to go?
” translated the vizier.

“Beats the hell out of me,” said Calvin, who was once again flying the shuttle. “Tell him our normal shuttle pilot is sick and ask for directions.”

The vizier spoke on the radio again and then translated, “He said, ‘Ah, that explains why your flying is so bad.’ He also said the loading bay is on the starboard side of the ship, about halfway down. It will be the only compartment open.”

“Do you suppose they have a force field to keep the air in?” asked Night from behind the co-pilot’s seat. “Or do you think we’ll be in vacuum in the loading bay?”

“I don’t know,” said Calvin. “Their tech level is all over the place. They have some stuff that isn’t much better than what we had before the Psiclopes arrived, but then they have other things like the time bomb that are
way
beyond anything we’ve got.” He thought for a second and then answered the original question, “Have everyone prepared for no atmosphere. Helmets on and buttoned up. We’ll try to use the suits to their fullest. Full invisibility. Maybe we’ll get lucky and make it to the bridge before anyone notices us.”

“That would be nice,” replied Night. “We don’t have enough people for a running gun battle.”

“No, we don’t,” agreed Calvin. “I’m hoping their freighters are like ours back home. Lots of open space for cargo, with a minimal amount of crew to run the ship.”

Calvin paused as he scanned the freighter. “Got it,” he said as he found the opening to the bay. “Some landing aids would have been helpful,” he grumbled as he jockeyed the shuttle around for entry.

“Just take your time, sir,” said Night, getting up to go to the back of the shuttle. “Even if you do it badly, they already know we don’t have a professional pilot at the controls.” He gave the vizier a grin before exiting the cockpit. Calvin was too busy fighting with the unfamiliar controls to notice.

It didn’t help that Calvin was as inexperienced with the landing signals the freighter crewman was giving him as he was with the controls of the shuttle. He had to spin the shuttle slightly, then he over-corrected as he realized the position of the lineman’s tail was just as important as the lighted wands he was holding. The shuttle started to oscillate, and Calvin allowed it to drop the final four feet to the deck of the ship, rather than fight the controls any longer.

Two orange lights illuminated on the control panel as the shuttle slammed to a stop. “
We’re down.
” He commed.