Wreck of the Nebula Dream (31 page)

Casey glanced at them curiously.

They stepped out into an impressive control chamber, with a vaulted ceiling, exposed to the stars, giving a 360-degree view of their celestial surroundings. Various control panels hummed and beeped and hissed. Nick stopped after walking out into the center of the bridge and whistled. “This is one hell of a unique ship you guys have here.”

“Yes, we cashed in our veterans’ acres when we retired – sold them to Loxton, in fact – and then bought the
Dragon
from a salvage yard. She is a mite different, I will admit.” The speaker was a tall, red-haired, impressive man, who left his scrutiny of the controls and walked across to meet them, hand extended to Nick. “I’m Jack Rafferty, formerly Major Rafferty of the Special Forces. Glad we were close enough to help.”

“So it was you I had the fastlink conversation with?” Nick inquired. Rafferty nodded. “And how did we manage to connect, by the way, considering the technology isn’t available to civilians?”

The freighter captain just shrugged, reaching past Nick to adjust a control slightly. “Oh, the
Dragon
has some – special features, you might say. She was a prototype for a new class of military ships that didn’t get further funding. So we were able to get her for a song.”

“You bought her still fully commissioned?” Nick probed further, good-naturedly. “Weapons and features, as you call them, intact?”

Rafferty winked. “Well, it’s amazing how sloppy these salvage yards can be, at times.”
 

Mara cut in, “I’m grateful you were willing to come rescue us, Captain Rafferty.” She extended her hand. “Mara Lyrae, Sector Agent for Loxton Galactic.”

Shaking her hand, Rafferty grinned widely. “Pleased to meet you, ma’am. We’ve taken on charters for Loxton from time to time, although mainly we contract through the Frayser Line.”

“Well, you’ll never lack for work from Loxton in the future, I promise you,” Mara answered fervently. “All the work you can handle.”

Enough social chitchat.
Nick wanted to get down to the business at hand. “You have the LBs in tow?”

“Come see,” Casey invited them over to the bank of vid screens. “The robo tugs had a hell of a time getting them into convoy formation, but I think we’ve begun moving toward Sector Sixteen in about the last five minutes.”

“LBs don’t herd like cargo containers,” Rafferty said. “Wish we could simply take the passengers aboard and leave the LBs here, but the
Dragon
doesn’t have enough room. We only ever carry a few passengers.”

“There’ll be the salvage value of the LBs to consider,” Casey pointed out cheerfully. “Well worth the trouble, since we have no choice about dragging them home with us.”

“Are you the whole crew?” Nick was curious, in data-gathering mode.

“Pretty much, except for the Mxilm couple who tend the engines – Hatesh and his mate, Gilesh.”

“What’s your running time to Sector Sixteen?” Nick asked next.

“Ten hours. The liner’s captain was way the hell and gone from where he should have been.” Rafferty’s frown was impressive.

Nick nodded, tapping one finger on the vid screen, where he could see the signatures of oncoming Sectors vessels. “Any word from Admiral Reston’s group? I contacted them as well with the fastlink, but you were closer.”

“Yeah, they’ve been in touch. Tried to order us out of Sector Seventeen, but I said nuts to that. Figured you were going to need rescuing sooner than later out here. Every second counts in enemy territory,” he said, directing the last remark to Mara, who nodded. “And we Special Forces types stick together,” Rafferty finished.

The burly freighter captain joined Nick at the vid screen. “You can see them coming, but maybe a couple of hours out. They’ll fly cover for us, once they arrive. Till then, there’s only the
Dragon
and her guns to keep us safe.”

“Good thing there was just one pirate ship, then,” Mara said, crowding Nick a little so she could see the readouts for herself.

“Well, yes, but the situation is subject to change,” Rafferty reminded her without smiling.
 

“Mawreg?” Nick knew the answer even before Rafferty nodded grim agreement. “How long till they reach the
Dream
?”

“Hard to say. Who knows what a Mawreg ship is truly capable of?” Rafferty shook his head and gestured them to another vid screen. “This is them,” he said, rapping his knuckles on the far edge of the display grid. “Can’t make out how many yet, but I’m guessing a battle cruiser and three escort ships. Probably hundreds of individual fighters on the cruiser – a typical configuration, as far as we know.”

He checked with Nick for confirmation and the captain nodded.
 

Eyes wide, Mara was horrified. “How long did you say it would be till they arrive? Are we going to be far enough away by then?”

“I’m planning on it, myself.” Casey joined them. “The
Dragon
is good, but she can’t take on a battle group.”

“Not even a swarm of their fighters,” Rafferty said. “They come at you in the dozens, don’t care if they live or die, just crash into you. So yeah, we’re going to be long gone, I hope, tucked neatly under Admiral Reston’s wing. We’re accelerating as rapidly as we can, without losing the tractor beam net on those LBs.”

Nick reached out to take Mara by the hand, swinging her to face him rather than gaze in terrified fascination at the tiny blips representing the oncoming Mawreg. She stared at him with questioning eyes.

“I have to go back,” Nick said, speaking directly to Mara as if the others weren’t present.
 

She shook her head slightly, blinking. “You what?”

“I have to go back to the
Dream.
There’s something left to be done, something I have to do.”

Eyes wide open, Mara was left speechless.

“Don’t be a damn fool, man!” Casey’s reaction mirrored Mara’s.

“We can’t wait for you.” Rafferty’s assessment was cold but practical.

Nick concentrated on Mara, addressing his words only to her, wanting,
needing
her understanding and blessing. They could have been alone on the
Dragon
’s bridge. “I can’t leave yet, Mara.”

She closed her eyes, obviously striving for calm, anger and fear close to the top of her emotions, and then raised her head. She chose her words carefully. “What does it matter if the Mawreg get their claws or tentacles or whatever on the
Nebula Dream
? It’s only a ship. Not worth risking your life for. Again!”

Drawing her into a hug, which she resisted for a moment before allowing herself to snuggle into the curve of his body, Nick tried to explain. “If it was just the ship, I’d agree with you.” Nick shook his head impatiently. “I’m not big on suicide missions, but there are eight hundred and fifty helpless people on board the
Dream
. If I don’t return and do something about it, all of them are going to wake up in a Mawreg experimentation camp.” Nick paused, swallowed hard, trying not to remember any details from his one encounter with the horrors of such a place.

Even Rafferty and Casey paled at the mention of the well-known evils of the Mawreg “scientific” stations.

“How do you know there’s anyone left? Much less such an exact –” Mara stopped in midprotest, eyes widening. “You’re talking about Level Six, aren’t you? The cryo sleep pods?”

Nick nodded, relieved she got it so quickly. “I can’t sail away from here, knowing those innocent people are in jeopardy on that cursed ship. Knowing what will happen to them? Admiral Reston will never get here in time to attempt a rescue. The Mawreg will be in full control of the
Dream
by the time he could arrive.”

“The level wasn’t jettisoned in the first evacuation?” Rafferty asked in disbelief. “It’s required by ICC regulation.”

Nick shook his head, disgusted. “Yeah, well, someday when you’ve got a few hours, I’ll be happy to tell you about all the ICC regulations the
Dream
’s captain was breaking. Hell, the man murdered some of his own bridge crew in cold blood to ensure we’d never be found. So the passenger cryo sleep pods were the least of his concerns.”

“We debated where it was, but we figured maybe it’d been hit by an asteroid, or drifted off,” Casey said. “What the hell happened on that ship?”

“If I can get the level to jettison, can the
Dragon
take it in tow, too?” Nick asked Rafferty and Casey.

The freighter captain shook his head in definitive negative. “No, we’re straining capacity as it is to handle the LBs.”

“But the robo tugs could shepherd it, sir,” Casey offered. “They have enough AI to handle the unusual job. We could leave you the robo tugs on standby.”

“Yes, because we have to keep blasting for the Sector border with the rest of the survivors,” Rafferty agreed. “The one thing we can’t do is wait.”

“All right, then,” Nick said. “It’s settled. I’m going to take
The
Sigrid
and head over to the
Dream
. Get the level to jettison, set the Yeatter engines to self-destruct, and then get myself the hell out of here. You can ask Admiral Reston to send a squad of long-range fighters to fly cover for me when he gets close enough, all right?”

Rafferty and Casey were nodding, accepting Nick’s decision as the only reasonable course of action.

Mara placed herself between Nick and the grav tube.

“I’m going with you.” Her tone brooked no argument.

Nick disagreed anyway. “Like hell you are! You’ll stay here on the
Dragon
, where I know you’re safe – as safe as it is anywhere in Sector Seventeen – and I don’t have to worry about you.”

Hand on his chest, Mara stood toe to toe with him, her face set in stubborn lines. “You can’t do this by yourself. You’re going to need help.”

“She may be right,” Rafferty said, earning himself a blistering glare and an oath from Nick. He tilted his head apologetically. “Takes two people to release a cryo pod, Captain Jameson, working independently, but simultaneously. It’s a fail-safe, to prevent an accidental jettison.”

Nick stared at him. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Rafferty nodded again. “Standard configuration on any ship carrying cryo pods. Even here on the
Dragon.
”

“I’ll go,” Casey said.

“No, you won’t.” Rafferty’s voice was ice cold. “I need you here, to help me. Between watching the damn LBs try to break free from the tractors, flying the
Dragon,
and directing weapons fire if we’re attacked, I actually need a third person besides you and me. I certainly can’t spare you! You and I can barely handle it all. Miss Lyrae doesn’t have the right kind of experience, is my guess, for all she can co-pilot a shuttle.”

Mara shook her head.

“Which means you stay aboard the
Dragon
,” Rafferty told Casey flatly. He gave Nick an apologetic glance. “I’m sorry, but I’ve got to balance the greater good here as well.”

“No problem.” Nick understand where Rafferty was coming from, would have made the same decision in the other man’s boots. “Maybe Khevan –”

“We’re wasting time,” Mara said. Her voice had a slight tremor in it, but her face was calm. “Khevan is too shattered from his near miss with the Red Lady, and you know it. Now let’s get ourselves to
The
Sigrid
and get on with this craziness, okay?”

CHAPTER NINE

With Nick at the controls,
The
Sigrid
dropped easily from the
Dragon
’s cargo bay, heading along the lines of lifeboats tethered to the freighter by tractor beams. Nick could see in the vid screens how the LBs bobbed and wove in the hold of the tractors, their AI’s attempting to fight free. The
Dragon
’s AI was trying to transmit a cease-and-desist command to the LBs, Nick knew, but had yet to find the right level of ship-to-ship communication. In the meantime, the crew was exercising constant vigilance to keep the lifeboats from crashing into each other, or the
Dragon,
or drifting off into Sector Seventeen on their own.
Nerve-racking work
.

“There are the three robo tugs, waiting as Rafferty promised,” Mara said, intent on the vid screens.

“This return flight should take less time than our trip out.” Nick tried making conversation. There was a tense, strained atmosphere between the two of them that hadn’t been present before. Nick was deeply unhappy he’d been forced to accept Mara’s help, not wanting to risk her life again. Mara was equally upset any necessity existed for Nick to venture into the treacherous nightmare that was the
Dream,
as she’d told him several times while getting
The
Sigrid
ready to launch.

“Robo tugs falling into formation with us,” Mara reported a minute later.

“Rafferty and Casey are pretty damn good,” Nick commented with appreciation. “Efficient.”

“So tell me the plan again.” Mara’s request was terse, and she didn’t look at him.

“We dock at a lifeboat port on Level Nine, since there aren’t any davits on Level Ten. Then we take the grav tube up to Level Six, figure out the jettison controls for the cryo pod –”

“What if the pod has failed? What if they’ve all died? Then this whole trip will be for nothing.”
 

Nick didn’t take offense at her argumentative tone. “I instructed the AI to maintain power to the cryo pods and the grav lifts above all else, remember? The Shemdylann wouldn’t know how to countermand those orders. And they wouldn’t mess with the cryo pods, not with eight hundred and fifty potential slaves at stake.”