Pledge Allegiance (3 page)

“How can you know that?” I asked, confused.

Vess smiled. “I’ve run more multi-billion credit companies than I can remember and if there’s one thing that has taught me, it’s this: if you want an honest appraisal of someone’s character, you ask the people who are ranked below them, those who work for them. And you come with glowing references.”

“I still don’t understand.”

“Captain, the
Oregon
was my daughter’s favorite posting. When I spoke with her, she had nothing but good things to say about the way you ran that ship. When she was on the
Oregon
, she glowed with a happiness I hadn’t seen before. She mentioned you many times, and told me that you were the best captain she had ever worked for. Before being assigned to the
Oregon
, she’d been on ships where she didn’t like the captains for one reason or another, but she told me that she trusted you with her life.”

I was genuinely touched. As a captain, I’d always cared for my crew, which was probably why the destruction of the
Oregon
had hit me so hard. To hear that an ensign on board trusted me with her life, and had told her father that, filled me with a sense of warmth that I hadn’t felt in a long time. The type of warmth that didn’t come from a whisky bottle.

“So, you see,” Vess said, “as far as I am concerned, you come with the best reference possible, that of my own daughter. I’m sure there is nobody else she would rather have leading this rescue mission than you. So will you do her, and me, the honor of bringing my daughter back home?”

How could I refuse? “I will,” I said.

He beamed. “Excellent! Now, I’ve put together a rather special crew for you to lead. You’ve already met Eric Morrow. He’s going to be the pilot, of course. The man is a master of control when it comes to flying, you said so yourself.” He gestured to the gruff man who was still staring at me.

“Morrow,” I said, extending my hand.

He shook it with a grip that was meant to intimidate me. I looked him square in the eyes and waited for him to release my hand. He did so with a slight nod. I had no idea if he had a problem with me personally or if he was just a sociopath in general, so I didn’t take his intimidation attempt personally. The man could fly, I couldn’t deny that, and that meant he would be a good man to have on this mission.

“And you already know Jane, of course,” Vess said. “She’s an excellent fighter, Captain. Ex-legionnaire, you know.”

“I know,” I said, looking at Baltimore.

She smiled but it was one of her cold “I’m only smiling on the outside” smiles.

Was anyone on this mission going to be friendlier than Morrow and Baltimore? Vess’s enthusiasm certainly wasn’t spreading to the crew.

“There are two other crew members I’d like you to meet,” Vess said. “They’re waiting on your ship, along with a dozen soldiers hand-picked from my security team.”

“My ship?”

“Of course. You can’t be a captain without a ship. She’s not the Imperium fighter you’re used to, but I’m sure you’ll find her more than adequate for the journey to Savarea.”

He typed on the keyboard again and the field and forest vista disappeared from the windows. With the illusory landscape gone, we could see through the windows to the section of space beyond. A small ship drifted there.

She was much less grandiose than I’d expected, given Solomon Vess’s propensity for luxury. Compared to the shuttle that had brought us here, the ship I was looking at now was positively outdated. I recognized her as an Avis class fighter, one of the first classes of fighters that had been deployed during the Horde War. I’d heard they were maneuverable and reliable but they had soon been replaced with the more modern Raptor class vessels.

“I know what you’re thinking,” Vess said, going to the window. “She doesn’t look like much. But she’s been updated with the latest engine technology and we’ve improved her life support systems and weaponry.”

I was used to commanding much larger vessels but I’d been out of action for a year, so maybe taking command of a smaller craft was the best way to resurrect my captainship. And it was either this or go back to the surface of Iton-3 and spend my life huddled in doorways while the rain poured down. Beggars can’t be choosers.

“She’ll be fine,” I told Vess. “At least we should be able to get to the survivors without attracting too much attention to ourselves.” Who was going to be interested in an old Avis ship? Even pirates would probably ignore her.

“Exactly. And that’s another reason why I don’t want the Imperium blundering in with its cruisers and destroyers. This operation should be carried out with the minimum of fuss. Shall we go on board and have a closer look?”

I nodded. “Sure, why not? I might as well get acquainted with the old bird.”

“Of course, of course.” He pressed a button on his desk and said, “Velma, could you have my shuttle readied for take-off, please?”

He led us to a door that opened onto a long corridor. The walls were made of glass, so walking along the corridor made me feel as if I were walking on a bridge amongst the stars.

We reached a door that opened to reveal a small shuttle bay. The shuttle was almost identical to the one that had brought Baltimore and me here from Iton-3 except it was blue instead of white. A number of technical crew were fussing around the craft, obviously ordered by Velma to get it ready for their boss’s arrival.

A woman in dark blue technician’s coveralls ran over to Vess. “She’s ready to fly when you are, Mr. Vess.”

He smiled and nodded. “Excellent. Thank you, Sarah.” He looked at us and gestured to the steps leading up to the hatch.

Baltimore went first, me close behind. Vess took a seat near a window with all the excitement of a child about to embark on his first space journey. I supposed he was excited; if this mission succeeded, the daughter he had assumed dead was going to be returned to the civilized world after living on an alien planet for a year.

The old guy had every right to feel excited about that, but I hoped he knew that extracting the survivors from Savarea wasn’t going to be a walk in the park. We had to travel through Horde space to get to the planet in the first place, and once we were there we had no idea if there were any alien forces on Savarea itself. Being a Horde planet, it could be crawling with them.

Maybe that was why Morrow and Baltimore were so stoic. They knew what lay ahead. And maybe they didn’t relish having a captain who, until an hour ago, had been a drunken gambler living in a slum on Iton-3.

The shuttle lifted off and exited the docking bay in a manner that was smooth but not as silky smooth as Morrow had managed earlier. I wondered how well Morrow would pilot the Avis class ship. Probably damned well.

Vess seemed to employ the top personnel in their fields. Morrow was a first class pilot, no doubt about that, and Baltimore would be one hell of a fighter due to her legion training. Vess had said that there were two other crew members on the Avis, and I had no doubt that they would also be experts in their own right.

But what about me as captain? Vess said I came with glowing references but was he blinded by his daughter’s words? Just as he was over-enthusiastic now, seemingly blind to the hardships a search and rescue operation was going to entail, was he also blind to the fact that even though I’d been a good captain once, I was now out of practice and a possible liability to the mission?

I just had to hope that I was going to perform at the level expected of me, or at least well enough that I didn’t get anyone killed.

I watched through the window as we approached the Avis class ship. Her lines were certainly more retro than modern but she had a certain quirky charm about her. Her body was long with wings set far back, behind a top-mounted gun. The running lights lit on her nose and wingtips were illuminated orange and red and seemed to be winking at me as we got closer.

She wasn’t much compared to an Imperium naval ship but she seemed to have character. She and I would get along just fine.

I turned to Vess and asked, “What’s her name?”

He grinned. “Captain Shaun Blake, I’d like to introduce you to the
Finch
.”

W
e flew
beneath the
Finch
’s hull and ascended into her docking bay. I heard the whirr of machinery as an outer door closed and an inner door opened. Morrow flew us expertly through the airlock and into the shuttle bay.

The shuttle door opened and a set of steps extended down to the hangar’s steel floor. Through the window, I could see a second shuttle sitting a few feet away and other vehicles covered by tarps. One of them was a tank, the camo-painted barrel of its main gun protruding from the tarp. I wondered what kind of trouble Vess was expecting. He seemed to be putting together a small private army.

“Come on,” Vess said. “Let’s go and meet the rest of the crew.” He jumped up out of his seat and descended the steps.

Baltimore and Morrow climbed out of their seats silently, their expressionless faces a stark contract to Solomon Vess’s wide-eyed wonder. Okay, so maybe the old guy was overenthusiastic but it would nice if at least some of his enthusiasm rubbed off on these two.

I followed them, realizing that proper protocol would have been for them to wait until I had disembarked. I was the captain, after all.

We walked through an open door and along a small, dimly lit corridor to a second door where two soldiers stood at attention with blaster rifles. They didn’t have the Imperium insignias on their dark blue combat jackets but everything about their attitude and manner told me these men had once worked in the regular army, even if they were now part of Vess’s private security force.

They waited until we were through the door and then fell in behind us.

Vess tapped the steel wall gently. “What do you think of her, Captain?”

“She’ll do just fine,” I assured him.

“As I said, we’ve upgraded the engines and weapons a little. She should fly like a dream. If you’re interested in all the technical aspects, Tegan can fill you in on that later.”

“Tegan?” I asked.

Vess nodded. “Tegan Prime, your engineer. She and her crew will make sure the
Finch
’s engines are ship shape. I asked her to meet us in one of the conference rooms, along with Shibari and Hart.”

“Shibari and Hart?” I asked. I hoped I was going to be able to keep all these names straight in my head. Until today, the only things I’d had to remember were WarZone strategies. I didn’t have many acquaintances on Iton-3 so interacting with people on a daily basis was going to be a new experience. I’d done it before, of course, but I had the feeling I was going to have to relearn my social skills. Especially where Morrow and Baltimore were concerned.

“Don’t worry,” Vess said as if reading my mind, “you’ll soon get to know everyone. All you need to remember for now is that I have assembled the finest crew for this mission.”

He led us to a transporter. Vess, Baltimore, Morrow, and I squeezed inside but there was no room for the soldiers. They remained in the corridor as the doors slid closed.

Vess pressed a button and the transporter began to move. “There are a dozen soldiers on board,” he told me. “Sergeant Ian Hart is in charge of them.”

“Sergeant?” I said. “I thought the Imperium wasn’t involved in this mission.”

“It isn’t,” Vess said. “I’ve hired Hart and his squad from the Imperium but his superiors know nothing about his duties on board this ship. I paid a lot of money to keep it that way.”

I nodded with a newfound appreciation of Solomon Vess’s influence and power. Not just anyone could hire enlisted men from the Imperium. In fact, I’d never heard of such a thing before.

The transporter slowed to a stop and the door slid open. We stepped out into a corridor that was wider than the one we’d entered from the shuttle. The lighting panels in the walls and ceilings were brighter here. A number of doors lined the corridor on both sides, all with digital locks.

“Crew quarters’ deck,” Vess said. He walked to a door that had the word CAPTAIN stenciled on its steel surface. “And these are your quarters,” he said. “The passcode on the lock is all zeroes at the moment but you can change it to whatever you like.” He jabbed the zero key a few times and the door slid open.

Vess gestured for me to enter. “Your new home, Captain.”

I went inside and stood in my quarters. The main room was furnished with a blue sofa and easy chair arranged around a low glass coffee table. A TV screen was built into one wall while the largest wall was simply a huge window, looking out into space and the bright stars. An archway led to a small kitchen.

While Vess, Baltimore, and Morrow waited outside, I went through to the bedroom, which contained a large bed, a closet, a nightstand, and a second TV. Another huge window dominated the room but this one showed a view of a nighttime forest scene, complete with the sounds of distant birds. There was a remote on the nightstand to control the TV and the window.

If only Mr. Chow could see me now. Compared to my apartment on Iton-3, this was the lap of luxury.

In the closet, a number of identical dark blue uniforms hung, waiting for me. Each had a double silver bar insignia on the shoulder, the symbol of a naval captain in the Imperium Army. It seemed Vess had appropriated Imperium ranks and symbols for his own private force. Two weapons belts, complete with blaster pistols, lay on the closet shelf.

I wondered if we were all expected to wear uniforms while on this mission. Was Baltimore going to change into something other than her Solomon Vess Industries uniform, maybe a tight-fitting legion outfit? If so, I looked forward to it.

I walked back to the door and said to Vess, “The quarters are fine.”

He smiled. “Excellent, Captain. Now if you’ll follow me, there are a couple of people I’d like you to meet.” He led us back to the transporter and we squeezed inside again. This thing was only meant to carry three people, max. With the four of us in there, the fit was tight.

When the transporter opened to let us out, we were standing in a small, brightly-lit area before a large double door marked BRIDGE.

“The ship’s computer will only open this door for personnel who are authorized to be on the bridge,” Vess said. “Go ahead and try it.”

I stepped forward and the doors slid open.

Vess grinned. I wouldn’t have been surprised if he’d clapped his hands together in glee. Now that I had seen the uniforms hanging in my closet and Vess’s enthusiasm regarding the ship, I was a little worried. Was Vess like a child playing with toy soldiers but because he was a billionaire, he could afford real soldiers and ships instead of models? I felt like I was one of the pieces in a WarZone game and Vess was the player, moving me around to suit his whim.

I put the thought aside for now. Once we were underway, this mission would be under my command. Vess would be waiting in the
October Girl
until we returned.

At least, that’s what I hoped was going to happen.

I looked at the old man gesturing for me to enter the bridge. He wasn’t coming with us, was he?

Unsure as to how I was going to broach the subject with him, I walked onto the bridge. The door opened onto a raised area behind the main room. A ramp each side of where we stood led down to the bank of screen that displayed star charts, diagnostic diagrams of the ship, and scrolling numbers that reported the status of life-support, weaponry, and a myriad other functions that were performed by the ship’s computer.

I descended the right-hand ramp and found myself standing by the captain’s chair, which was situated on a raised platform. It was upholstered in black leather and looked comfortable. A control panel had been built into the wide right arm of the chair and a small screen stood nearby. The screen was switched off at the moment.

Three large windows curved around the front of the bridge, showing the star field before us.

There were two other chairs in the room, located at the control panels in front of the captain’s chair. I assumed one of them was for Morrow but had no idea who would be sitting in the other. If it was Baltimore, then the bridge was going to be a barrel of laughs with her and Morrow in here.

“Well, try the chair,” Vess said. “I think you’ll like it.”

I took a seat. The chair molded itself around my buttocks, thighs, and back. I felt like I was floating in zero-g but not in an uncontrolled way. I shifted my position. The chair adjusted itself to accommodate me, taking my weight so that I felt like I was floating again.

Vess grinned. “You like that? It’s something my science team came up with. It’s based on the slumberfoam we have on all the beds in the ship. You could sit in that chair for hours and never get a backache.”

“Great,” I said. I didn’t have the heart to tell him I had no intention of sitting here for hours. I was in the habit of pacing around the bridge, stretching my legs, moving my body. At least, I had been in that habit when I’d captained the
Oregon
and I didn’t see any reason why that would have changed. I wasn’t going to spend this mission sitting on my ass.

A low chirp sounded from the control panel by my right hand and a small amber light blinked at me. The control panel was similar to the ones I’d been used to, so I knew that the light meant someone was trying to contact me from another part of the ship. The amber color of the light probably told me which part but I wasn’t familiar with the color coding system yet. I pressed a button to answer the incoming communication.

“Captain, this is Sergeant Hart. Tegan Prime and I are in Conference Room One whenever you’re ready, sir.”

“Thank you, Sergeant, I’ll be there shortly,” I replied and closed the channel.

“I guess I’m ready to meet the rest of the crew,” I told Vess.

He nodded. “Conference Room One is this way.” He ascended the ramp, and the door at the top opened for him.

I looked at Baltimore and Morrow. “Is he always this enthusiastic?”

“Only regarding this ship and this mission,” Baltimore said. “He wants his daughter back.”

I couldn’t fault the guy for that but my own approach to missions was more reserved. I prepared myself for every outcome. Yes, I would try my best to succeed, but sometimes even the best laid plans fell to pieces when they were put into action. Vess didn’t seem to acknowledge that this mission could end in a number of ways, not all of them happy.

Maybe I was being too pessimistic, or maybe Baltimore’s and Morrow’s personalities were affecting me. After all, this mission to save Vess’s daughter might be a breeze. We might fly to Savarea without meeting any hostile ships, land on the planet and find the survivors immediately, and then fly home without a scratch.

But somehow I doubted that was going to happen. I’d spent enough hours in space to know that there were all kinds of dangers out here. And we were going to be flying into Horde space and landing on a Horde planet, which multiplied the dangers exponentially.

I climbed out of the captain’s chair and ascended the ramp to the open door where Vess waited. We rode the transporter to a level where the conference rooms were situated. There were four rooms, two on each side of a short corridor.

“After you, Captain,” Vess said when we reached the door marked CONFERENCE ROOM 1.

The door slid open for me and I went through into the room beyond. A long table sat in the center of the room, with chairs lined up along its edges and at its head. There was nobody in the chairs. The two occupants of the room, a man and a woman, stood by the window.

They turned when I entered.

The man was tall and well-built with a strong angular face topped by a military buzz cut. He wore sergeant’s stripes on his arm. “Sergeant Hart, sir,” he said as I approached him. He stood stiffly at attention.

“At ease, Sergeant,” I told him. He relaxed.

The woman’s appearance took me by surprise. She was short and looked lithe beneath her clothing, which consisted of loose cargo pants and a white top. At least, the top was supposed to be white but it was covered in oil stains like the rest of her clothing.

But it wasn’t the grease that surprised me; it was the fact that the woman was half machine.

She had long red hair and a pretty face with green eyes and full lips. From the neck up, she was unblemished but her body was a combination of machinery and flesh. Her left arm and what I could see of the left half of her torso beneath the clothing were formed of dark gray steel with tiny steel cables running like tendons and veins over the surface. Her movements, though, were not mechanical or stiff in any way. Someone had done an amazing job of fusing the machinery to her body.

“Tegan Prime, Captain” she said, offering her right hand.

I shook it, looking into those deep green eyes. “You’re the head engineer on this ship?”

She nodded. “I am. My team will keep her flying no matter what.”

I liked her enthusiasm. Unlike Vess’s, it seemed borne of confidence rather than childish delight.

“Excellent,” I said. “It’s good to be working with both of you. If you have any reason to see me, please don’t hesitate, no matter the hour.”

Prime nodded at me and smiled. Hart looked straight ahead and barked, “Yes, sir.”

“Are we ready to fly?” Vess asked Tegan Prime.

“We are,” she said, nodding.

“Then we should get underway,” he said. “Unless you have any objections, Captain?”

“Of course not,” I said.

“We really shouldn’t waste any time.” Then he frowned and said, “Where is Sumiko?”

“Meditating,” Prime said.

“Ah, yes,” he said. “Did I mention, Captain, that Sumiko Shibari is an onna-bugeisha from the planet Kamakura?”

“No,” I said. “You didn’t.” I’d heard of the onna-bugeisha but never met any members of the Japanese female warrior clan in person. They were fine warriors, apparently, trained in many martial arts and also practitioners of a Zen-like philosophy that gave rise to their practice of meditation and other mind control techniques.

I knew this mission was serious but Vess seemed to have assembled the most stoic crew members in the galaxy. Morrow and Baltimore seemed to dislike me, Hart was obviously stifled by his military zeal, and if there was an onna-bugeisha on board, she was sure to be the most solemn of them all. Only Tegan Prime seemed to have a normal demeanor.