Transport Ship, Skies of Gamlis
Jennifer Delaney
The final explosion had been enough to sense even through the thickest clouds, and had shocked everyone into extreme caution. They grew even more uneasy from the sudden quiet, wondering what was coming next. The only two things they knew for certain were that the clouds offered them some protection, and that the other ship was more than their match. Three quiet hours passed before they’d finally decided to do something other than wait, and they had emerged on a scene that was much changed.
“No sign of another attack,” Chir said, clearly on edge. He was keeping them just below the cloud layer so that they could return to hiding if they needed to.
“Looks like they really intended to just destroy the whole place,” said Jen as she observed the starport. Nothing remained of the main building, and most of the ships had been turned to slag.
“There is a large distribution of scrap over the engagement area,” Xayn noted after the visual scans were complete. “The pieces are… small.”
“Debris from the spaceport?” Jen guessed.
“It is not made of the same materials,” Xayn replied. “I believe these are the remains of the enemy ship. Perhaps they experienced a catastrophic weapons malfunction.”
Jen did not find that likely. She frowned as she contemplated the possibilities, realising there were very few.
“As I see it,” Chir mused, “we were either incredibly lucky, or we had help. Given recent events I favour the latter.”
Luck did not seem to be on their side these days, so Jen was inclined to agree. “There are a few possibilities. The first is that someone aboard the ship was responsible for sabotage. The second is that someone else caused that explosion.”
“Are we picking up any comms?” Chir asked, looking to Xayn. He was growing a little more relaxed now that the enemy was destroyed, but he was likely to remain tense until the mystery had been solved. Someone who destroys your enemy is not automatically your friend.
“None at all,” Xayn replied. “Although our range is somewhat limited, so it is possible that an attack could have been launched from outside that distance.”
“So we’re back to having no idea what the fuck is going on?” Jen asked in exasperation, and noted that they were once again ascending into the cloud layer. “Chir?”
“I thought it best if we go back into hiding for the time being,” Chir replied. “Otherwise we might end up as a target as well. It does seem to me that we’re out of places to search.”
“But if they were hiding out in the starport…” Jen began, and fell into a deep frown. “Well… I suppose it’s one place less to check.”
“Without knowing what destroyed that ship it is too dangerous to descend and take a look around anyway,” said Chir, clearly pushing for an early departure.
The most annoying part was that he was completely correct, so Jen couldn’t chastise him for not considering their companions. That trio was probably dead, and Jen had no means of finding them if they had somehow survived. Giving up the search felt like admitting that they were gone, and she knew it was ultimately her decisions that got them killed. To go out this way after everything they’d been through just seemed so wrong. “Oh god…”
“Jen, we can still come back here once we’ve helped on Gao,” Chir offered after a moment. “Maybe the fires will be out by then, and the air will be clear. We can conduct a proper search without endangering ourselves as well, and if they’ve survived they might have been able to build a beacon or something.”
She nodded slowly, and wiped a tear away from the corner of her eye. “Alright… alright. Get us out of here. Let’s go see if we can help your homeworld.”
Chir turned the transport towards the skies and pushed it into orbit, where a cloud of dead ships and stations drifted without power. No worse than what they’d seen on the way in, but now it just illustrated the sheer scope of their failure. There was no saving the Gamel after all.
Orienting them for Gao, Chir dropped them into a warp field and they were on their way, leaving the three of them to consider what kind of scene awaited them.
“I can only hope we do not face such a scene on my homeworld,” said Chir. “I may not particularly like the place, but I have no desire to see it fall into flames and chaos like Gamlis and the Vzk’tk colony.”
“We are not equipped to fight either of those things,” Xayn replied. “All we can offer is a working transport ship. It is unlikely to serve as the logistical lifeline you desire.”
Chir growled. “As I said earlier, we simply need to assist them in pulling old hardware out of storage. I always had the feeling that joining the Dominion was an incredibly stupid move, but the lure of its technology was too great. Thank goodness for the war with the Celzi Alliance or we may have progressed down the path of joining far more quickly.”
An alert sounded from the pilot’s console as they dropped out of warp space, and Chir hurried over to check the readings.
“What’s going on?” Jen asked. “There’s no way we can have gotten there already.”
“Our warp field was destabilised,” Chir replied. “Intentionally. And now we’re being hailed. My guess is we’ve just run into a pack of pirates who managed to survive the broadcast. They’re well-positioned to use their working ship to their advantage.”
Jen almost laughed. “Pirates are attacking *us*?”
Chir nodded. “By now they have to have some idea about what’s going on. If I were their captain under these circumstances, I’d be looking to seize control of this ship. The value of a working ship has just immeasurably increased.”
“Makes sense,” Jen said. “They won’t be getting it without a fight, though. You want to try talking them out of it?”
Chir broke into a grin and accepted the comms request. “This is the captain of the transport ship, who am I talking to?”
The reply was short and unequivocal. “Transport ship, you will be boarded. You will surrender control of your vessel or face death.”
“Please!” Chir begged, still smiling. “Please, we’re just trying to ferry medical supplies to those who need them! We’re just—”
“Good news, Captain, you’ve found those who need them,” came the uncaring reply. “We’ll take good care of those supplies of yours. Match course and speed and prepare for boarding.”
The link was terminated and Chir turned to look at the others. He was grinning like a devil. “According to our pirate friends there’s about to be a boarding action.”
“We heard,” said Xayn, already checking over his weapons. Between those things and his physical abilities the pirates were going to have a bad time. “It is nice of them to go to all that effort.”
That they were treating the situation as a bit of a joke couldn’t be avoided. Jen could hardly remember how many times she’d been involved in seizing control of vessels, to the point she’d been dubbed a Pirate Queen. Chir had been a pirate and worse long before that, and held a similar legendary status. As if they weren’t in for enough of a shock, they were also going to face whatever Xayn had to throw at them. Those pirates were about to have a very bad time.
“Connection on my mark,” said Chir, running his hand along his kinetic gun with a little too much affect. “Mark.”
There was a gentle bump as the vessels joined, followed by the sound of the airlock being forced open. Jen pressed the switch to make things a little easier for them, and stood in the doorway only long enough for the confused pirates to see who they were dealing with. Kinetic blaster, fusion sword, and fiery red hair could only mean one thing.
“It’s a trap!” they screamed, bringing up their guns to try and take her down.
But Jen was already amongst them, swinging the blade and firing the gun in a series of smooth motions only possible for a human boosted with Cruezzir. The pirates were instantly scattered, and with their focus fixed firmly on Jen they were late noticing the other deathworlder in their midst.
Pulses of zheron energy seared through them, leaving large patches of their body scorched to ash without necessarily killing them on the spot. Xayn’s tail lashed out to knock down those who dared approach him, and his talons eviscerated the fallen.
Chir remained at the entrance to the pirate ship, ensuring that nobody had the chance to escape. There was no mercy hiding anywhere in his eyes.
The handful of survivors were those who’d been fast enough to throw their weapons aside. Their morale had been shattered, and they were all too willing to obey orders that gave them one more breath.
“Well met,” growled Chir, taking the lead. Even with his limited height, he towered over the surrendered xenos where they lay prostrated on the floor. “I am Chir and some of you may be familiar with my name. You should assume that every story you have heard about me is true.”
He walked back and forth, staring them down and asserting his overwhelming dominance. Jen had to admit that he had a talent for this sort of thing, though he’d certainly spent a lot of time honing it. Some of the pirates lost control of their bowels as he passed them by, and none of them dared to reply. Jen and Xayn had dealt most of the damage, but Chir had a presence that informed them who was really in command.
Chir laughed without mirth. “Allow me to thank you for signing on with the Gaoian relief effort,” he said. “I trust you’re all feeling very charitable today?”
It took a second prompting but the answer was unanimously positive. The pirates knew they were beaten and were willing to do just about anything to stay alive. Normally their own captain would have been the one negotiating on their behalf, but Xayn had disembowelled him almost as soon as he’d joined the fray.
“Good,” said Chir. “Then we won’t be having any problems. As of this moment this ship is under my command. You will make it tidy and get us underway to Gao. Now!”
He barked the final word, sending the pirates scrambling to the nearest useful task, and returned to his companions. “Maybe I’m optimistic, but I think our circumstances have substantially improved.”
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Fallen City, Gamlis
Askit
There had been a very practical aspect to Adrian Saunders that was unfortunately lacking in the younger humans currently in Askit’s company. Adrian may not have liked riding on a missile, but he didn’t complain about the experience. If anything he’d deemed it a point of pride, and had later compared himself to someone named Major Kong. Darragh and Keffa, in comparison, had been terrified as soon as the missile started moving and had not stopped complaining until they finally reached their destination. Even then they only managed to slide off and hug the ground.
Askit regarded them coolly; his exposure to Jen and Adrian had led him to expect much better from humans, and he was left wondering which pair were the strange ones. “Stop complaining!” he snapped, trying to keep his voice steady to discourage further coughing fits. “I told you in the beginning that it wasn’t built for riding on, but it still got us where we needed to go. At no time did it explode!”
Keffa was first to her feet, and helped an unsteady Darragh to regain his own. “Not being okay after riding on a missile is normal!” she hissed. “You’re the weird one!”
“Eugh, enough shouting,” said Darragh, looking pale. “My balance is still catching up after all the sharp turns. How is a Corti still fine after all that?”
“Willpower,” Askit answered with undisguised contempt. “Evidently something so badly lacking in younger humans that I question the need for a shield at all.”
“Way too harsh!” Keffa shot back. “If it weren’t for us you’d already be dead! Don’t be so ungrateful!”
Upset by the noise of the argument, Darragh vomited. “Eugh, I told you… stop shouting. Why aren’t we at the starport?”
The part of the city they were in was definitely intended for industry, and occupied the outskirts, but there was no sign of anything like the starport they’d found themselves in on arrival.
Keffa frowned. “What’s going on? And don’t feed us another line about plans not surviving contact with the enemy.”
“I had no intention of ‘feeding you a line’,” Askit replied. “This is the next nearest major city to the one we were just in, and it does not have its own commercial starport.”
“Then why are we here?” Darragh asked, wiping his mouth on his sleeve. “It’s clearly not for the lovely view.”
“No doubt you are aware that larger ships are manufactured in orbital facilities,” Askit replied. “This is true even for the ships we use.”
“Everyone knows that already,” said Keffa, “and I don’t see how it helps us down here. Nobody builds a ship in a gravity well if they can help it, and everyone who lands will do it at a starport.”
Askit smiled thinly, his patience running dry. Their answers were so predictable, yet he was the one tasked with bringing them enlightenment. “That,” he said, “is not true.”
The humans glanced at each other. “What?”
“Not everyone who lands on a planet will do it at a starport,” Askit told them. “There exists a highly lucrative industry in custom fit-outs. Alternative paintwork, non-standard sound systems, and legally questionable modifications to sublight drives. It’s usually the domain of the young and stupid.”
“Who would want to ruin a perfectly good ship?” Keffa asked, completely bewildered.
Darragh rubbed his head. “You know the more I find out about the Dominion the less difference I see between humans and everyone else. I had this one neighbour who was always working on his car. Bigger engine, big spoiler, metallic blue paint job and these awful anodised hub caps. Every Sunday afternoon he’d just rev the feck outta that thing for hours and hours. Total mog.”
“I don’t understand anything you just said,” said Keffa.
Askit was in the same boat, but he had managed to get the gist of it. Trying to work through all the nonsense was an everyday project while he was with Adrian, and he had a pretty good handle on how to filter out the key words. “His neighbour was an idiot.”
Darragh nodded. “My mum always said he was wading depth in the gene pool.”
Askit snorted, filing that one away for later. “Most of these industries do custom work on planetside vehicles, but they’ll work on starships as well. They’re a lot cheaper than the orbital facilities, so we should find *something* decent.”
The two humans turned around and examined their surroundings. Askit found it interesting to watch how they each behaved as they gained their bearings. Keffa clearly had no idea what she was looking for, and was looking around uncertainly at each and every building. Darragh clearly had certain expectations by the way his eyes darted from structure to structure as though interrogating them. Given how long he’d spent working the docks, and the fact that he’d spent most of his youth on a deathworld, it was hardly surprising to see the disparity. Finally he turned back to Askit and gave his assessment. “I’ve got no idea what I’m looking for.”
Askit didn’t believe him. “Is that right?”
“Well, not completely,” admitted Darragh, frowning, “I started out looking for ships, but there aren’t any. Then I was looking for a building big enough to park a ship, and there aren’t any of those, either. Assuming you haven’t screwed up, I can only assume they’ve been hidden. That’s why I don’t know what I’m looking for.”
For Keffa it was as though something clicked into place. “That’s… back when I was working alone, there were some places that didn’t exist in an official capacity. There was always some sign you’d need to look for before you could find them.”
Askit nodded. He’d never been to Gamlis before, but he was well acquainted with how the criminal element advertised their business; it wasn’t something that changed that much world to world. He was the only one who’d bothered to get familiar with the planet’s shady side before visiting, and recalled that this little area had been a hotbed of all sorts of unpleasant operations. It was true that the shipwork done here was frequently used to ‘flash-up’ ships as Darragh had termed it, but it was more likely to be used to convert ships for smuggling purposes. Given their state of cultural and psychological decay it wasn’t the Gamel running any of this, but the decline of worlds was always used to mask rather unsavoury operations.
“Remain sharp,” Askit informed them, his own gaze darting around. “This area was not only populated by the Gamel, and we have no way of knowing if the residents are still alive. Assume that they won’t be friendly.”
“Did you do something to them?” Keffa asked suspiciously. “Apart from the obvious?”
Askit scowled back at her. “Contrary to your expectations, I have not personally wronged everyone who’s attempted to kill me! I just suspect they will be scared and violent, not that the two of you need to be concerned. On top of that we also have one more asset.”
Keffa frowned. “Which is?”
“He means the missile,” Darragh inferred. “Given that they probably have sticks and rocks it’s a hell of a trump card. The problem is that we can’t use it as a threat since nobody really uses missiles in the Dominion, and we can’t give them a demonstration since we’ve only got the one.”
“But everyone knows what humans are,” Askit told him. “So we just—”
They were interrupted by someone shouting Askit’s own tongue of Cortan. “You there! Stay precisely where you are if you want to live!”
Turning his gaze upward, he noted the sudden appearance of an armour-clad figure on top of the nearest building. They were a biped, and a Corti if their language was anything to go by, but pretty much everything else was guesswork. Askit recognised the suit as something most frequently found adorning the most elite Corti soldiers, who made extensive use of the physical enhancements it offered. They were normally equipped with light weapons to protect them while they carried out sabotage missions, but this one toted an anti-tank rifle. Askit would have been shocked to see something like this on a normal day, particularly on a fading world like Gamlis. Seeing it operating under current circumstances was absolutely astounding.
Darragh looked to Askit for instruction, but the Corti hacker could only shrug in reply. He knew that without the benefit of a working implant the humans could only guess at what was being said, while both he and this survivor would be likely to understand everything. “You’re a human, what do *you* think is about to happen?”
Frowning, Darragh looked up at the Corti on the building. He raised his hand and took a step forward. “Wait, we come in—”
Darragh yowled in pain and clutched his chest. “Mother fecker! This fella’s twistin’ hay!”
He gave another yelp and stepped back as another shot hit him, and Askit was sure to take the opportunity to slip in behind him. Whoever this person was, they clearly weren’t familiar with humanity, and that worked to his advantage.
“What… what are you monsters?!” the interloper demanded as they fired another shot, this time at Keffa.
Keffa released a stream of vulgarity that would make even Adrian blush, and caused the interloper to hesitate as they worked through the finer details. Their cunning aside, Askit most admired the human race for their extreme creativity when it came to expressing themselves. He had the feeling he’d barely scratched the surface of what Adrian came up with, and now he was accompanied by two entirely different fonts of euphemism. Half of what Keffa said only made sense if you’d spent time with humans, and the other half was utterly incomprehensible unless you were one.
Right now they were serving as a necessary—if highly entertaining—distraction while Askit took control of the situation. The enemy carried an anti-tank gun that was lethal to Askit himself and severely unpleasant to his human companions, but they also commanded a powerful height advantage and there was no way for the humans to reach them. Toting only a couple bits of rebar they were outmatched by the distance element, and that was why it didn’t need to be a fair fight.
Askit finished forcing a connection to the suit, and decided it was time for an overly dramatic speech. The humans needed to understand that while he did not share their extreme physical ability, they lacked his digital supremacy and sense of flair. An absolute and overwhelming victory demanded something more than pure efficiency. “Wait!” he called out in his own tongue. “I’ve come to trade!”
He peaked out from behind Darragh who was still grumbling and waved a hand at the interloper standing atop the building. “I’m Corti, just like you!”
He could feel the contempt radiating from the individual inside the suit. “Like me? I hardly think so! I am Auna, Silver Banner and officer in the Shadow Wing. Name yourself, male!”
“Pleased to meet you, Auna,” Askit replied, tapping the button to initiate the data transfer. “I am Askit, Black Banner, and I’m kind of a big deal.”
The mention of the Black Banner had the desired effect. It wasn’t something a Corti was normally given, even if they were the most wretched blob of genetics to grace their civilisation. The Black Banner was what remained when the Directorate decided to erase you from society, and was a punishment levelled against the worst villains their species had to offer. Askit had once belonged to the Silver Banners like Auna, but a trail of destruction had ultimately led to his incarceration in the blackest pits of the Directorate’s penal system. His current freedom was entirely owed to a naïve politician, but his banner had never been restored.
“Then I should kill you where you stand,” Auna growled, “but circumstances demand… flexibility. You know this, or you would not have been so bold in telling me that.”
Askit smiled thinly. “The Shadow Wing is well known for its practicality, if not its mercy. I was being honest when I said we’d make a trade.”
He could feel himself being studied, although confirmation was made easy if he checked the data tab. Linked as it was to the suit, he could see it was scanning his little group in detail.
“You don’t seem to have much worth trading,” Auna observed once the scan was complete. “A data tab and two… unknown creatures. What are they?”
Askit checked the clock time on the suit, and found it predated the first incident with that human and the Hunters several cycles ago. It looked like Auna had just fallen out of a stasis pod. “I’m guessing you haven’t had a chance to catch up on recent history? Let me introduce our new best friends: the human race.”
Auna did not look convinced, but she didn’t need to be. She just needed to keep talking long enough for the data transfer to finish. “Surely the Directorate has no need for creatures such as this. They look barely capable, even if they are shockingly resilient. Are they to be used as weapons against the Celzi?”
Askit fell into a fit of coughs even as he broke into genuine laughter. The concept of the human race being deployed in the Dominion conflict was as horrifying as it was laughable. Adrian had called the war a meat-grinder, and Jen had later made a similar remark, but their answers could not have been more different when Askit had asked them what they would have done to end the war. Jen had expressed sentiments around returning to negotiations, while Adrian had been considerably less restrained. Askit was left thinking that despite their deathworld origins, humans actually desired peace so badly that they would take the shortest route to achieving it. As a species they were a high-yield nuclear weapon you pointed at an existential threat like the Hunters, not something you unleashed on a temporary squabble like the Dominion-Celzi war.
“I wasn’t aware I’d said something amusing,” Auna said, once Askit’s coughs had subsided. Her voice was cold.
“And I don’t know I’d say it really amused me,” Askit replied curtly. “Are we going to start talking about our trade?”
He had already formulated a witty rejoinder for when she finally asked about the trade, and he’d be damned if he was going to let it go to waste.
“I think not,” Auna replied. “You have nothing worth trading, your personality is reprehensible, and your company is deeply concerning. Instead I will leave you with a parting gift: your life.”
If looks could kill, Askit would have annihilated Auna a thousand times over. “I refuse!” he shouted.
“You refuse… your life?” she asked uncertainly.
“I refuse your rejection!” he hissed. “You’re supposed to ask me what kind of trade I have in mind!”
“But I don’t care,” she said. “You clearly don’t have a ship of any kind.”
“And then,” Askit pushed on, ignoring her response, “I would demand that armour you’re wearing!”
Auna was silent for a moment. “You’re insane…”
“And then,” Askit continued, “you would ask me what I could possibly have to trade for something like that when I clearly don’t have anything.”
“Which is what I said before!” Auna shouted back with growing impatience.
“And then,” Askit said, carrying on in spite of any answer from the other side, “I would tell you!”
He let the pause drag out while the bewildered Auna regained her composure and lined up the anti-tank rifle. “I think I’ve decided to renege on my previous offer.”
“Because there’s only one thing I have that I find worth giving to someone like you!” Askit continued as he pressed the button to execute software deployment. Then, as he raising his middle finger towards her, he finished: “This bird.”
Auna’s armour was not a starship, but it was a highly technical piece of equipment that did not appreciate someone attempting to deploy an entirely different operating system on top of what was already there. There was no chance it was going to allow the install, but it did force a hard reset and entry into diagnostics mode. Auna cried out in surprise as her power suit shifted into the classic T-pose and awaited further input. The anti-tank rifle she’d been pointing at Askit tumbled from her grip and into the street below.
“Holy shit,” said Darragh. “I didn’t understand any of that, but did you just flip her off so hard her armour broke?”
“I did,” Askit replied, his finger still raised. “Can I suggest going and getting that gun, and then dealing with our power-suited companion?”
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Dastasji, Skies of Agwar
Laphor
Although she had served aboard military vessels for most of her adult life, Laphor couldn’t help but think they all paled in comparison to the Dastasji. This ship was a true warship, with a clear intent to serve in battle, and seemed very different to the designs crafted in the Interspecies Dominion. There was an unmistakable sense of strength to the design, possibly influenced by a predator’s mindset, and it made Laphor feel strong in turn. Adrian had told her that this species had been all but destroyed in a time long before the Dominion, annihilated by enemies who used asteroids as weapons. There was no doubt that the galaxy would be a very different place if the outcome of their conflict had been different.
The purpose of the warship was clearly turned towards destruction, but Adrian Saunders was its new master and he intended to use it for a more noble purpose—if saving the local savages could be called such a thing. The creatures were clearly very primitive in both appearance and culture, and it was hard to see what they could contribute towards the Galaxy other than problems. The arrival of humans had been disruptive enough, but Adrian was talking about rebuilding the Agwarens from ruin and reviving the V’Straki from the dead. Both were equally unlikely, but they weren’t unimaginable for a man with Adrian’s achievements.
Thus far he was managing to get most of the natives on board with the evacuation in both a literal and figurative sense. Their civilization had been destroyed three times over, leaving them with little to pack, and very little desire to stick around. Most of them had decided they’d seen enough chaos to last a lifetime and were just glad to have one more chance at building a future for their children. It was a poor choice for those people to put their hopes in the Human Disaster, but Laphor had to admit she’d done just the same. Once upon a time she’d seen him as a monster who needed to be controlled, and an example of the rest of his species. Chasing that man had led her into a strange universe and had cost her most of her crew, but now he’d been her sword and shield for so long that it was no longer possible to summon up any enmity. Instead she found herself showing an interest in his projects, and even helping to organise the refugees aboard the ship.
“How are we looking?” Adrian asked as he looked in on her progress. He played at appearing casual, but Laphor knew he was giving the evacuation a lot of attention. This was important to him, and had Laphor been in his position she would have been feigning total confidence as well.
“Most of the refugees are aboard,” she told him. “Food supplies are less than adequate, but I don’t see a way of getting more. Frontline implants are being deployed as they board, and we’re running out of room. Things are going to be pretty tight until we can get them to their new planet.”
Adrian nodded thoughtfully. “We expected that. And things being what they are, it’s not like we want to make a second trip. Did you get the latest ecological report from the surface?”
Laphor sighed. “I haven’t had a chance to look at it yet. Something tells me it isn’t good news?”
He smiled bleakly. “Not at all. We’re seeing huge amounts of algae blooming in the oceans. On the coasts you can just about walk on the stuff.”
Laphor frowned and turned to give her full attention. She didn’t know much about the ecology, but that didn’t exactly sound like a problem. “Doesn’t that just give the sea-life more to eat?”
“That would probably be true if they weren’t pumping out toxins,” Adrian replied. “I’m told the shallows are totally dead, and we can’t get a read on the deeper parts. Things are looking pretty bad on the land as well.”
“If I recall correctly, that would still be pretty far from the surviving villages,” said Laphor, bringing up her maps. The area was deep inland, far from any of the affected oceans. “I don’t see how it impacts us.”
“You’re not wrong,” said Adrian. “The algae is getting swept up in storms. We first saw it in the streams that feed those villagers, and tracked it back to the sea. Pretty soon it will be undrinkable, and the animals and plants will all die.”
Laphor stared at him. Adrian had always said that the planet was dying, but it was hard to give that credibility when everything was growing like crazy. That being said, he’d been talking about some kind of widespread collapse, and not a deadly plant getting into everything. “Well… shit. When did you find all this out?”
“This morning,” he said. “Right now we’re getting the last of the refugees. Some of them doubted what we were saying, but it’s harder to resist when everything around you is dying. The rocks are already headed this way.”
“I know,” she replied, “I’ve been tracking them.”
The V’Straki had been killed by hijacked asteroids, so it was a particularly bizarre state of affairs to use their technology to do the same to another world. This sort of thing was outlawed in Dominion warfare due to the tasteless slaughter involved, and wasn’t the sort of thing Laphor would normally have a part in. Agwar was already doomed, however, and was brimming with strange enemies, so she figured it was fine to be interested in this once-in-a-lifetime experience. Adrian’s digital friend had located the rocks several days ago, and the kinetic drives had been dispatched shortly thereafter. They were now moving so fast that there was only three days before impact. The post-collision projections were truly apocalyptic.
“Good,” he said, staring off somewhere. “Feels a bit weird to plan the destruction of a whole planet. Don’t think I’ve crossed the line into villainy just yet.”
Laphor suspected that line had been crossed when he’d taken part in that series of terrorist actions around the Corti Directorate, but it was getting harder to make the link between that person and the one who’d continually risked his life to keep the remains of her crew alive. “What about that stuff you did on Cavaras?”
He raised an eyebrow as his eyes refocused on her. “Oh… yeah, I suppose that counts, even if we were taking our first actions against the Hierarchy before we actually learned who they are. Our boss was trying to clear out some unwanted influence from the Dominion government, I don’t think he had any idea what he was up against.”
That was a bit of a revelation. Adrian rarely talked about his encounters with the Hierarchy, and for Laphor they had always been a shadowy enemy to Adrian and his former companions. She had never imagined them as a significant power, especially not when weighed against the brain-eating bugs or the powerful artificial intelligence. For them to be deeply embedded in the Dominion raised all sorts of questions. She wished she still had access to the dossier she’d assembled on Adrian and his known associates.
“So… we have three days to finish the job here,” she said, giving herself a recap. “We should have time to spare.”
“Don’t get too comfortable,” Adrian warned her. “The bugs haven’t stopped trying to get aboard since we started the evacuation, but we haven’t heard anything from the A.I. If it’s planning something it’s going to have to do it soon. We’re assuming it’ll be the worst case scenario.”
Laphor shifted uncomfortably. “Can this ship stop it if it does try something?”
“No,” he replied, “I don’t think it can.”
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