Inherit the Stars (14 page)

Inside
Aldaar
's hangar, Seul stood still while a medic unlocked her polyarmor. She grunted as the armor's rodlike inserts retracted from her cryoports. Cryonic exhaust wafted from her body.

“Cut wound on the right tricep. Puncture wound on the left quadricep,” the medic said, wrapping cold packs on her injuries. “Small laceration on the right cheek. A few bruises. Are you able to walk, Captain?”

Seul gave him a cool glance. Of course she could walk. A few cuts wouldn't stop her. But she'd let Kivita escape. Maybe even lost the best chance her people would ever have of finding the Vim. Of finding her daughter.

“These wounds should hold until you reach the Medical Ward,” the medic said. “We have more wounded coming in.”

Shock Troopers hurried from another returned shuttle, carrying dead or wounded companions. Every Trooper in two different squads had been killed or maimed, and two other squads all bore wounds and cracked armor. Many had smashed faceplates, their faces blue from suffocation. Shekelor Thal's pirates had
fought harder than usual. In past confrontations, these scum had fled in droves. And this time they'd made a stand before fleeing? Seul didn't like it.

“What is the battle's status?” she asked a nearby operations officer.

He gave her a brisk nod. “The pirate ships have fled, but nothing of worth was taken from the fortress, Captain.”

“What of the slaves the pirates kept?” Seul's mind flashed to the ragged human children down there.

“Forward reports have indicated all noncombatants were left planetside, Captain.” The officer hesitated. “Commander Vuul expects a briefing.”

Seul nodded and headed to the bridge. More incoming Troopers passed her, speaking of pirates augmented with Sarrhdtuu coils or carapace armor. No wonder the pirates had fought so well.

“What did those animals do to you, Captain Jaah?” a voice behind her asked.

“Nothing I won't survive from.” Seul turned. “Kael?”

Kael nodded in salute. “I am very glad to see you back, Captain. We feared you had been lost over Vstrunn.”

“Help me to the bridge.” Seul leaned on his shoulder and placed his hand around her waist.

Looking around, Kael gulped. “Captain, I . . .”

“That's an order.” Seul wrapped her left arm around his waist, and they continued. A few crew members frowned at them in passing. She didn't care. Seeing how Kivita missed her own lover made Seul openly appreciate Kael.

“What happened after I was taken?” Seul asked.

“An Inheritor battleship carrying the Rector himself
fired on
Aldaar
. Commander Vuul ordered a withdrawal, based on the second human trawler's trajectory. The one you were on.” A glance from him told Seul he had missed her. Good. “The Archivers have been woken from cryostasis. They are speaking with Commander Vuul now.”

Seul squeezed his hand as they neared the bridge. Smiling, he squeezed back and walked away.

His words sobered her, but Kael's smile made Seul's cryoports gape open. She needed it, after letting Kivita go. The human woman had lied and threatened her with an empty gun, but Seul found no bitterness in her heart. Kivita's comment about Seul's daughter had sounded sincere. No Aldaakian would have said that.

Seul's musings faded as she entered
Aldaar
's bridge. Three Archivers waited, their solid white uniforms topped with black collars. Each held a computer chit booklet.

Vuul stared at her with cold eyes.

“Commander Vuul.” Seul inclined her head and touched both chest cryoports.

“Captain Jaah,” Vuul said. “Due to your message,
Aldaar
was able to track your location. The Terresin Expanse would have garbled our scanners for days. Yet I see no Vim datacore in your possession, as mentioned in your radio message.”

Seul's cryoports tightened. “Commander, the datacore was never in my possession. I've been a prisoner until I was liberated by my comrades. The Juxj Star is on one of the human ships that departed.”

Vuul strolled over to her, hands behind his back. “Which ship? Nine squads searched the planetside fortress. We suffered heavy losses.”

“Kivita Vondir's ship,” Seul said. “She asked me to send the message.”

The Archivers mumbled among themselves while Vuul's staff shared uneasy looks.

Seul fought down frustration. “She wanted to bargain the gem for her ship, or perhaps—”

“Do you suppose she could send another signal to the Vim?” Qaan, the lead Archiver, asked.

“Track that vessel's course and make the jump,” Vuul said. “Send a message to all Commanders in Aldaakian Space: mobilize for a possible Inheritor invasion.”

The orders sent a noticeable ripple of tension through the operations staff. Seul almost stepped forward, but caught herself. Alerting the other Aldaakian fleets would accomplish nothing. It would take years to assemble them, and for what? Kivita would be out of their grasp by then.

“The human craft's trajectory leads to the Tejuit system,” an operations officer said.

“Commander Vuul, Kivita still might bargain for the Juxj Star. It stands to reason that the pirate ships forced her to flee.” Seul remained at attention, her wounds throbbing through the cold packs.

“You could renegotiate a deal with this salvager?” Vuul asked.

“A Shock Trooper is not trained in the correct disciplines to make this human understand her importance,” Qaan said. “Kivita Vondir must be questioned by us.”

Seul kept her face expressionless. “Shekelor Thal had a Sarrhdtuu-enhanced keypad on his ship, Commander Vuul. Kivita knew the keypad's sequence.”

Qaan sniffed. “Impossible! Sarrhdtuu codes are too complex.”

Silence fell over the bridge as Vuul held up a hand.
Aldaar
shuddered as it made a light jump and left Umiracan behind.

Seul took a breath and spoke, ignoring protocol. “Commander, Shekelor planned to sell her to someone, perhaps the Sarrhdtuu. Others want her.”

Vuul sat in his command chair and glowered. “The signal you sent contained traces of a Sarrhdtuu message. Kivita's ship is equipped with a Sarrhdtuu beacon, and she knows Sarrhdtuu codes? She cannot be trusted.”

“She activated the Vim signal sent from Vstrunn,” Seul said. Years of training and authoritarian conditioning kept her tone respectful, but . . . hadn't Kivita spoke her mind?

“Commander Vuul, the pilot of the impounded trawler also cracked
Aldaar
's clamp code,” a staff officer said.

Vuul's expression darkened.

Seul's cryoports sank into her flesh. “That is how she escaped?”

“And you withheld this information, Commander Vuul?” Qaan murmured.

“What can a human mercenary do to save our tattered civilization?” Vuul's flat tone cut through the air. “Listen to yourselves. The Inheritors are gathering to destroy us this time. Our way of life, our children, our species! We should trust our weaponry and training, not the slim possibility this human woman and that gem represent.”

“Statisticians proclaim an eighty-eight percent probability that Kivita Vondir is a Savant,” Qaan said. “Yet reports state that brain-pulse analyzers detected no Savants or datacores in the fortress.”

Vuul stood. “The leader of the Inheritors himself appeared after the Vim signal was sent. This is all a ploy to lure us into disaster.”

Qaan cleared his throat. “Our enemies want Kivita, and that is enough. We must interrogate her about the Vim signal, Commander.”

“I think she is more than a Savant. Everything so far has happened because of her.” Seul glanced from Qaan to Vuul. To her surprise, the Archivers nodded in assent.

“That is why we are following her ship, Captain Jaah,” Vuul said. “But not to feed into the hysteria that is building aboard this ship. Since you may be able to sway Kivita, I am assigning you the task of acquiring her. Use all means to find her, but I want the Juxj Star most of all.”

“This human may not come peacefully, Commander Vuul,” Qaan said. “Or relinquish the gem.”

“Then execute her. Is that understood, Captain Jaah?”

She inclined her head, though her cryoports clamped so hard, they hurt. “Yes, Commander Vuul.”

Vuul's fear that Kivita might be a Sarrhdtuu tool or an Inheritor plant nagged Seul as she left the bridge.

She'd not hurt or kill Kivita.

Disobeying orders, though, would earn her own death sentence. Kivita wouldn't give up the Juxj Star, else she would have done so at Umiracan. Seul had never seen such hope on the faces of the operations staff. How could she destroy it?

Inside the Medical Ward, several Troopers squirmed on bloody cots. One still had a human sword protruding from his left side. Another's hand had been sliced off, and one was missing her eye. Less fortunate ones passed
Seul on covered stretchers. They'd join Niaaq Aldaar and his loyal host, floating forever in the void.

An attendant removed Seul's cold packs and lathered her wounds in amino jelly. One medic examined her cryoports with prongs and scrapers. Afterward, Seul stripped and stepped into a vat filled with chemical slush. Her lungs labored to work in the subfrozen liquid.

Three flat displays highlighted Seul's diagnostics. One showed the infant name list. Seul's heart jumped.

“Signs of corrupted pseudoadrine seepage. We'll have to clean your teeth and palate,” the medic said, as she studied the displays. “No unusual menstrual activity since your last examination. Your ovaries might produce a few more eggs for the Pediatric Ward. Those humans don't use enough radiation shielding on their ships. How they manage to breed so much is beyond me.”

Seul felt like she could float from the vat. Once her people reunited with the Vim, maybe a security clearance would allow her to birth and raise her own child. Her excitement spawned a grin as Kael entered the room.

The medic frowned at him. “Shouldn't you be in cryostasis?”

“Officer Kael can help me to my cryopod when you are finished,” Seul said.

Kael knelt beside the vat's edge as the medic walked away. “Vuul must have been easy on you.”

Seul's grin faded. “I've been assigned to find Kivita Vondir, once we exit this jump. I'll need
Aldaar
's best pilot. I won't accept a negative, Officer Kael.”

“Is she that dangerous?” Kael touched the scratch on her cheek. “I heard Vuul thinks she is a threat.”

“No, but I think she is linked to the Vim somehow.” Seul glanced at the infant list once more.

“Why are you looking at that again?” Kael asked in an amused tone.

The chemical slush made her shiver. “One of those names could be her. I don't like the way you said that.”

Kael withdrew his hand from her scarred cheek. “Forgive me, Captain Jaah. But the Pediatric Ward knows best.”

Swishing through the slush, she gripped his hands. “If your sperm had fertilized my egg, how would you feel about it?”

“I . . . Captain Jaah, please.” Kael's cryoports gave an audible squeeze.

She gripped his hands harder. “Would it shame you, then?”

Embarrassment left his eyes. “I would be honored, Captain Jaah.”

Seul sank to her neck and beamed. “I'll need your help once we reach Tejuit. Will you keep a secret?”

“Yes, but—”

Seul pulled him closer to her and lowered her voice. “We're not going to kill Kivita Vondir. We're going to save her.”

•   •   •

Zhhl's hologram stared back at Dunaar. “
Terredyn Narbas
and
Frevyx
escaped. The Aldaakians have left. Our ally is reclaiming his ship and planetary fortress.”

Dunaar mopped sweat off his head with a yellow towel. “At least five years have passed on Haldon Prime since we departed. I cannot be away much longer. You are certain our quarry will be coming here?”

Outside the viewport, the pink, blue, and green gas
giant of Tejuit Seven dominated the scene. The system was the largest trading hub in the Cetturo Arm. Inheritors, Tannocci, Naxans, and even Aldaakians sent merchant fleets there to conduct business. Like his predecessors, Dunaar participated only to maintain a presence in the system and to spy on rivals.

“The beacon on
Terredyn Narbas
will reveal Kivita Vondir's position,” Zhhl said. “The Aldaakians will realize Sarrhdtuu involvement. Confrontation is unavoidable now.”

Dunaar smiled. In addition to
Arcuri's Glory
, he had six cruisers and two other battleships waiting in the system. More would be coming. “How difficult will it be for Kivita to remove the beacon? Surely she knows about it by now.”

“Sarrhdtuu technology inlays itself into the hull. Kivita Vondir will either have to dismantle her ship or reverse the implantation code, which only a Sarrhdtuu can accomplish.” Zhhl's voice slurred.

“Very well.” Dunaar risked the Thedes getting the redheaded salvager and the gem, since Tejuit was clogged with starship traffic. The reward still outweighed such dangers. “When can I expect the arrival of your own ships?”

“Soon, Prophet of Meh Sat.” The connection ended.

Dunaar leaned against a quartz wall mural and swathed his face in the towel. Though Haldon Prime was in the hands of subordinate prophets, Dunaar had never been this far from the Compound. But no one else could be trusted with these tasks.

The fabricated news brief from Vstrunn had already been dispatched in a wideband signal. By now, most in orbit around Tejuit would have seen it. What else would these fools think if Dunaar didn't give it to them?

He tapped the intercom panel in his quarters.
“Captain Stiego, keep
Arcuri's Glory
at the farthest fringes of the system. When the Sarrhdtuu signal from
Terredyn Narbas
is detected, you may alert me. Until then, all aboard will remain in cryostasis on the usual shifts.”