The Sac'a'rith (10 page)

“I don’t know. He needs more help than he will be able to get at a prison or military hospital.”

“I can’t believe that, after all we survived together, a wound sustained in the last minute of escape is going to kill him. It’s just not fair!” said Crivreen.

I was quiet for a while, as there was nothing to say to that. He was right; Jammer was doing everything he should have, everything society had demanded of him, and now he was paying for it. Eventually I said, “Let’s not jump to any conclusions. We will get him to a hospital and see what they say.”

“Yeah. You think that Narcion is taking us back to prison?”

“No, I don’t think so, but I am not sure what he is up to. I think that if he planned to take us back to prison, we would be locked in the cargo bay with the others.”

Crivreen just sat there quietly for a long time. Eventually he looked up at me. “We failed, right?”

“Yeah, we did,” I said.

“So no pardon for any of us,” he said.

“Look, our first responsibility is to find help for Jammer. Let’s not worry about anything beyond that,” I said.

“Sure,” was his half-hearted response.

I sat there with him for a while in silence. Officially I was his warden, and it was my responsibility to bring him home, but I was also a fellow prisoner. If I brought him back, I would be locked up too. Our real overseer had been killed back on the station, and I would not miss that vile man in the least.

“Hey, man, it’s my turn at guard duty. Let’s just take this one step at a time. Once the military is off this ship, we can talk with Narcion and make plans,” I said.

“Yeah. Not that we have a choice,” he said.

I grasped his shoulder, looked him in the eye and just smiled. I did not have any words to help him. Unlike me, he was a victim of circumstance. He did not belong in prison. He should not have to go back. As I left I began to wonder about asking Narcion to drop us off at a trading hub and trying to make a run for it. I knew there was no way Crivreen could make it alone, but I knew plenty of places where we could hide. All I would need is a little money, and a head start. I had contacts all over the region that would help us, and with his engineering skills we could easily book passage to another nation and find work.

When I met up with Zah’rak he said, “Hey, Felix, they want to talk to you.”

I had expected this would come sooner or later, and I knew it would put me in an awkward situation if I were not very careful. “Okay. Listen, I can guess what this is about, so if you don’t mind, I would like you to stick around and hear it firsthand.”

“Sure,” he said.

I turned on the audio-only feed to the bay and said, “This is Felix.”

“Felix, how are you doing, old friend?” asked the commander.

“Fine. Narcion is treating us well out here,” I said.

“Good to hear. For all its likeness to a jail cell, we are comfortable enough in here too, but we would like to get out. I am sure you can understand.”

“Well, we should be at the outpost soon, I think.”

“True, which is why I need to act quickly. Our magus should be able to use his full power in another day, but I am not sure we can wait for him.”

“So you need me. What do you want?”

“Easy. When the time is right, you drop the shields around this room and open the airlock. We will handle the rest.”

“Why?”

“Narcion has a big price on his head. With that money, all three of you can easily buy your freedom and I can retire. Everyone wins.”

“I see. I was not aware that the Phareon government placed such a high price on anyone’s head.”

“Oh, no, not them; they like Narcion, actually. He has been very helpful to them, which is why several of the consortiums want him removed.”

“There are almost two dozen people in there. How many ways are we going to split this pot?”

“You need not be concerned with that. I will make sure all of your bonds are paid and the three of you are freemen again. All you have to do is lower a shield and open a door. We will do the rest.”

“When?” I asked.

“Your next shift. That should put us pretty close to the outpost and maximize the amount of time for our magus to get back to full strength. Are you in?”

“I will think about it. Felix out.” I turned and looked at Zah’rak and said, “You might want to let Narcion know.”

“Why are you doing this?” he asked.

“Narcion saved our lives. We owe it to him to see this through.”

Zah’rak nodded and left. As I watched his massive frame turn the corner I thought about the commander’s offer. It was tempting. Jammer was a dead man, I was sure of it, but Crivreen deserved his freedom. I needed to find a way to get that for him. After all he had done for me, I owed it to him. Right now, we were depending on the generosity of a man who had the equivalent of the local police force imprisoned in his cargo bay. It seemed like a risky proposition at best.

That shift passed as they all did, completely without incident. Eventually Crivreen showed up for his shift. “Hey, listen; they tried to bribe me to let them out. You do what you feel you must, but I do not trust them one bit. It is probably best just not to answer if they call.”

“Oh, they try to call all the time, but I never answer. I suspected that is what they wanted,” said Crivreen. “But like you said, Jammer comes first. Narcion is his only hope, so for the moment I am loyal to him.”

He had made a very good point. “I’m glad you understand that. You’re a good friend,” I said as I left him.

As I walked back to my quarters, I decided that Crivreen was right. We had to get help for Jammer, and that meant getting rid of the government forces and sticking with Narcion, at least for the present. Still, the commander’s offer was tempting.

When I got into the quarters where I was staying, I had some messages waiting. Most of them were the normal junk that no one actually bothers to read, but there was one that concerned me greatly. It said, “Narcion will be dead soon. If you help, I will see that you are rewarded; otherwise you die with him. We will be in touch.” It was signed, “The Wolf Pack.”

As we approached the last jump before we reached Military Outpost AU-13, all three of us were guarding the airlock. Narcion was still holing up on the bridge, and he had left me to run things down here with little or no guidance. Everything had been going well, but I was concerned about Felix.

Crivreen trusted him, but Crivreen was too trusting in general. I knew Felix was tempted by the offer the commander had made, and I did not blame him. The commander was offering him a sure ticket to freedom, while his future must look uncertain with us. I knew Narcion well enough to know he would not turn them over to the authorities, but there was no way that Felix could know that.

“We jump in five minutes,” I said as I handed out assault rifles. “If they try anything, it will be in the brief moments right after the jump while you are too dazed to use your magic, so have these ready.”

Felix hefted the weapons and checked them out. “Zah’rak, these are fully charged.”

He seemed surprised by that, and I was not sure why. Perhaps he figured that we would not trust him enough with a weapon after the bribe.

“Yes, and I hope we do not need them,” I said as I clicked my helmet on. “If they break the seal on the door, Narcion might gas this room, so be ready.”

For the first time since I had met him, Felix smiled a little and locked his helmet on. In order not to repeat the lack of ability to communicate we had faced back on the station, we set all of our communications devices to the same frequency and encryption codes.

“It would be best if we fan out so that one stun grenade could not take us all out,” commented Felix.

“Agreed,” I said and moved to the far left, while Felix took the center and Crivreen moved to the right.

“As long as that inner shield holds, we should be pretty bored out here, but I’d much rather be prepared for the worst,” I said.

Crivreen looked a bit worried. “There are a lot more of them than us. If they rush us, we will be overrun.”

“No, we won’t. That airlock will be a choke point. They could only come through that door one at a time. We just have to watch for the magus,” said Felix.

“Two minutes until jump; any final questions?” I asked.

They shook their heads, and we waited in silence until the azure of jump space wrapped around us. As we came out of jump space, I saw Felix recover first and drop to one knee. He was firing his weapon as fast as he could into the airlock. Once my head cleared I saw several stone creatures trying to charge through the door.

“Crivreen, use your bolts!” called out Felix.

I began to fire into the breach also while calling out to Narcion over the intercom, “The perimeter is breached!”

Narcion cursed and said, “Be ready for decompression. I am throwing them out.”

Moments later I saw the rock creatures sucked backwards as the atmosphere of the chamber rushed out the airlock. Crivreen and I were thrown into the wall, but Felix was directly lined up with the airlock and was sucked through and out of sight.

“We lost Felix through the breach!” I said in alarm.

“Don’t worry; he has already teleported back to the ship, and I have closed the exterior doors. It’ll just take me a moment to repressurize your compartment,” said Narcion. Felix came back in and, once it was safe, we all pulled off our helmets. Narcion came down to join us.

“I dropped a homing beacon and sent a message to the local outpost. They had the sense to put on their suits before making their move, so they are fine for now. They will be floating for a while, but someone will be along to pick them up,” said Narcion.

“How did they get through the shield?” asked Felix.

“Brute force. They sent those rock creatures at it just before we jumped, and they managed to pound through before I could react. The field was not designed to take that kind of beating,” said Narcion.

“So what happens to us now?” asked Crivreen.

“Well, we have to get your friend to a hospital. There is a neutral one about a week’s travel from here. They will help us and not report our visit to anyone,” said Narcion.

“But we have no money. The little that we had before being arrested was confiscated,” said Crivreen.

“Let me worry about that. For now, you two can earn your keep by repairing my cargo bay and its airlock,” he said. “Zah’rak, come with me to the bridge.”

“Sure,” I said and followed him up.

Once we were up there he said, “What is your take on them?”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“What do you think we should do with them?” he asked.

“Well, Crivreen won’t last a day alone, but I suspect we could drop Felix off some place where he would have a head start on the police, and he would be fine.”

“So you don’t think we should turn them in?”

“My gut tells me that Crivreen is an innocent bystander caught up in circumstances, and Felix did help us out on that station and here on the ship at great risk to himself. So, yes, I think we should help them make an escape.”

Narcion turned to the computers and set the course into the autopilot, then turned to his communication station and contacted his government employer.

“So the great Narcion finally failed a mission … ” began the man.

“No. Your people blew up the station. We had already eliminated eight of the wraiths. Not only did your people get impatient and destroy the station, they also tried to take over my ship when I was flying them home.”

“What?” he exclaimed.

“Here are the logs, not only of their attack, but also their attempts to bribe the magi to help them take over the ship and kill me,” said Narcion. After the man had had a chance to skim the information, Narcion continued, “That puts you in clear breach of contract, so do not talk to me about failure.”

“We will see that these men are suitably punished. I assure you they were not acting under our orders.”

“Be that as it may, I expect full payment; not only by the terms of my contract but by Felix, Jammer, and Crivreen’s too.”

I caught myself in time, but I almost gasped at that request. I knew Narcion was cocky, but this seemed to push it to a whole new level.

“I can’t; the terms of their contracts …” started the man.

“Enough! I have read the contracts, and by my reading you are in breach of contract with them also. The logs clearly show your men attacked Felix first in the corridor.”

The man sighed. “This is the part of the conversation where you remind me that we still need your services, and that you will not do another job until this one is paid in full, right?”

Narcion merely smiled.

“How about making a deal this time? I get them their freedom, and you forgo the remainder of your payment,” said the man.

“Pay for Jammer’s medical expenses, and you have a deal,” said Narcion.

“What expenses?” queried the man.

“Jammer is currently in a hyberpod, in critical condition. We are heading to the hospital station to get him treatment. Donate what you would have paid me to the hospital in his name, and that should cover it.”

The man leaned back and thought for a bit, then he said, “I think we are finally getting to the point where we can have reasonable negotiations. Okay, you have a deal. Contact me when you are ready for your next contract.” He then cut the channel.

“You just got the magi their freedom, convinced the Phareon government to pay for Jammer’s medical treatment, and they called that a good deal?” I asked.

“Yeah, I must be getting soft. I should have insisted that he pay us too,” he said with a smile.

I shook my head at that comment. “I guess I’d better go and tell them.”

“Before you do, I just wanted to tell you: you did really well on this mission. I think you are almost ready to be made a full member of the Sac’a’rith.”

I did not know how to respond to that, so I mumbled out a ‘thank you’. Before I could leave, he placed his hand on my shoulder and said, “Look, my time is limited here. There is much you need to learn, and I can only teach you so much.”

“What are you saying?” I asked.