Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (63 page)

“Who was in that ship, smugglers?” the Administrator
asked Toormis.

“I’ve never seen smugglers fight so determinedly and
then wait for the right moment to attack their lead pursuer. Whatever it was
about, a very brave and skilled pilot died in that fight.”

“Maybe not,” Peter said. “Didn’t you see the objects
leave the ships just before they blew up?”

“No and my instruments didn’t either. What did you
see?” Toormis said not surprised by what Peter says anymore.

“One went away from us and the other towards us but a
little behind.”

“You saw that?” the Administrator asked but added,
“Which one is closer to us?”

“The one that tried to fight them all,” Peter
answered.

“Well Toormis?” the Administrator asked.

“Too risky.
We don’t know who it is plus it might be a trap. Do
not take anything for granted out here. We’ll just wait until its safe, and
then proceed to the disputed territories,” Toormis replied.

“Administrator, what do you mean?” Cassy asked and
flashed a look at Toormis before looking back at the Administrator for an
answer.

“There was, according to Peter an escape pod launched
from two of the destroyed ships. One of them is close behind us and is from the
ship the Starfighters were engaging.” The Administrator answered and looked
expectantly at Cassy.

“Maybe they’re hurt and need our assistance,” Cassy
said urgently to Toormis.

Toormis glanced at the Administrator annoyed that he
had manipulated Cassy in such a way. “Cassy we don’t know who they are and we
could give away our position by trying to get that pod. It could be an
elaborate plot to find us. Don’t forget whose ship they are after. It is safer
that we just leave it alone and go on our way. Plus if Peter did actually see
them, there are two. Don’t you think it odd that they were headed in different
directions? There are just too many unknowns.”

Cassy looked at Toormis in recognition of his words,
and then leaned forward in her seat. “But they might be hurt and if the
Starfighters were after them, they might be Irrimus people. You thought of
that?” She said determined to know who was in the pod.

Toormis let out a sound similar to a growl and glared
at the Administrator. “Don’t look at me,” the Administrator said and busied
himself with his arm console.

“Cassy. It is not safe to do this but I will plot a
course on the vector Peter thinks the pod went and we will go that way. If we
see it we will get a close up of it and maybe do some low intensity scans. But
please understand…”

“Yes Toormis, I understand,” Cassy said standing up
and going over to him and kissing him on the cheek. “I have a feeling we need
to know what occurred out there and this will tell us.”

“She’s right about that Toormis,” Peter added. “That
battle had something to do with us. I’m not sure what but my view of the pod
coming this way was just too real, like it was trying to get my attention.”

“Oh please,” Toormis lamented shaking his head from
side to side. It’s tough enough believing the instruments and interpreting scan
data without this
hocus
pocus
being thrown in.”

“What sort of feeling did you get Peter?” the
Administrator asked. Toormis left the Bridge in disgust and entered the galley
where Cassy had gone.

Peter tried to seek reason for his feeling but became
frustrated at his lack of memory. ”I don’t know
Drex
.
It’s just that when I take an interest in something, there seems to be a reason
that I only find out about later.”

“Like you’re viewing someone else’s actions and you
have to decipher why it was done,” the Administrator said taking a logical
guess at what Peter might be feeling.

“Exactly!
Does that happen to you too?” Peter asked
enthusiastically.

“Sometimes, but it’s hard to understand and even
harder to tell someone else. I feel we should check to see if the pod exists.”

“Oh! It exists all right. Of that I am certain,” Peter
said with an image of two cylinders and a man dying trapped inside a metal
cocoon, he grimaced at the image.

 Cassy and Toormis returned to the Bridge with
four serving of ‘space junk’ and gave one each to the Administrator and Peter.
“This pilot’s food isn’t very nice,” Cassy said, “but until we learn how to
operate that galley properly it will have to do.”

“Thank you,” Peter said and ate ravenously.

The Administrator looked dispassionately at the tray
and muttered, “thank you,” and gingerly ate only what he considered edible
which wasn’t much. He actually missed the cooked moibla meat over an open
flame.

Toormis finished his tray and checked his instruments.
“We should be right to leave now. The Starfighters are out of positive pulse
range.” He fired up the engines and the ship’s systems came on line. They
slowly moved out of the cloud of space debris.

Fully cloaked Traveller adopted the course suggested
by Peter. The ship silently slipped into the next sector when Peter suddenly
stood up, “faster, Toormis faster,” he said and moved forward to the viewing
port looking out into space. “Something is out there,” he pointed, “scan that
area.”

“It’s dangerous to…”

“Toormis, scan it!” Cassy insisted.

Toormis looked at Cassy but kept his mouth shut. He
flicked the switch to scan the area Peter was pointing to, just left of
straight ahead. “Well, there you go,” Toormis said once again amazed by Peter.
“An escape pod!”

The Administrator rushed over to look at Toormis’s
monitor. “I’ll put it on the main screen,” Toormis said as they all looked at the
pod now clearly visible.

“It looks like a standard Confederate escape pod.
There aren’t any House or unit markings. I’d say it definitely came from that
smuggler’s ship,” the Administrator explained.

Toormis agreed and realized they were going to investigate
this pod no matter what he thought or said so he scanned the area with full
power. He changed to long range scans and everything showed up negative. “We
are safe to investigate it. May I suggest we make this quick. It may be booby
trapped but once we are close enough I will scan it for life forms and
unfriendly devices.

The pod was very slowly tumbling end over end and
looked eerie as it proceeded on its course to nowhere. Toormis put the
Traveller as close as he dared and scanned it for life forms. “Quickly
Administrator get a tractor beam on it. There are three humanoid beings in that
pod and all of them have critical life support signs. One has a head injury and
is an old man.”

“Torquay?”

“Possibly.
Quick get that beam attached and hurry to the loading
dock, I will steer Traveller on an intercept course. Cassy get the medical kit,
one of them has lost a great deal of blood.” Toormis urgently ordered.

The Administrator jumped into the co pilot’s seat and
brought up the tractor beam imaging program. He quickly set the power levels
and initiated a self locking beam at the pod. He watched intently as a silvery
light snaked out into space twisting and turning as it searched for its target
object. The Administrator worked the controls and soon the beam locked and
anchored onto the pod. The Administrator initiated the automatic sequencing and
sat back satisfied as the tractor beam turned from silver to a dark blue as the
particles of the beam solidified into a stiff, slightly flexible ribbon of
energy. The pod stopped spinning and began its journey towards Traveller when
the beam was energized and contracted.

The Administrator jumped out of his seat and ran
through the ship to the loading dock. Toormis did a splendid job of piloting
the vessel to minimize the abrupt effect tractor beams generally have upon
capturing moving objects.

The outer doors of the loading dock opened and the pod
was drawn into the air lock. The metallic ‘clunk’ of the doors closing was
easily heard throughout the ship. Toormis set the Traveller on auto pilot and
rushed to the loading dock where Cassy, Peter and the Administrator were
struggling to open the door to the pod. Toormis rushed forward and with a great
heave opened the door.

Toormis rushed inside the tiny space of the pod and
found he was standing in congealed blood. He bent down and rolled a blood
soaked man over onto his back. Peter quickly moved forward and took the medical
kit from Cassy who had entered the pod and knelt beside Toormis. He ripped the
material away from the man’s chest and down his front finding a deep gagged
wound on his side just below his rib cage.

Toormis opened the medical bag and quickly took out a
battle trauma syringe and administered it to his neck. He selected a large self
applying bandage and ripped it out of its cover and applied it on the wound. It
immediately spread and then attached itself to the wound area effectively
sealing it. Toormis looked on horrified. There was so little blood left in this
man’s body. “We need to get him to sick bay immediately,” he said intently and
looked at the canisters. He immediately saw the power levels on the power packs
were damaged and the needle was past the critical level on the dial. “Cassy get
those black power packs on the shelf on the left side of the dock, hurry!”

Cassy turned and saw the shelves Toormis meant and
rushed over and grabbed two of the heavy black power packs. She rushed back to
the pod and handed them to Toormis who quickly replaced them with the damaged
units. The cylinders hummed with fresh power and immediately the critical
levels dropped to acceptable limits.

The Administrator had gone to retrieve a stretcher
from sick bay and got it as close as he could to the pod door. Peter got behind
the man’s neck and Toormis got his feet. Just as they took his weight the
Ensign regained consciousness and moaned deeply in great pain. The two men
instinctively lowered him back to the floor.

“Save…
save
the Emperor,” the
Ensign whispered.

“Yes, we’ll save him. You just hang on and we’ll get
you out of here,” Toormis said and nodded to Peter as they lifted him. He
screamed and tried to thrash about but had little energy.

“Please don’t,” the Ensign begged, “please…”

Toormis and Peter’s eyes met and they briefly blinked
and lowered the Ensign carefully to the deck. The Ensign raised his hand
slightly and with great effort grabbed Toormis’s sleeve. Toormis lent his head
closer. “Please take him to Norfis,” the Ensign whispered and coughed
painfully, “the Captain wanted that… here is the… Smuggler’s Almanac,” he
moaned and put his other blood soaked hand in his breast pocket and took out
the mini data recorder. The Ensign’s eyes opened wide and he thrust his hand up
and seized Toormis by the collar; “save the Emperor and Torquay!” then the
Ensign fell heavily to the deck, his eyes open and lifeless.

Toormis moved his hand and closed the Ensign’s eyes
and he sat back looking at Peter. Peter’s eyes were soft but he drew his lips
to a tight line, “brave lad that one,” he said.

“Yes he was,” added Toormis and took the data player
from the Ensign’s hand. “Administrator this is something for you,” he said
holding it above his head. The Administrator had seen the Ensign die from the
door and extended his hand and took the data player from Toormis. He turned and
saw Cassy leaning against the bulkhead with a mournful look on her face.

A siren sounded through the ship and an automatic
warning signal sounded through the ship’s speaker system, ‘Ships unknown
approaching: Ships unknown approaching…’ repeated over and over.

“OH NO!” Toormis yelled loudly. “Get those cylinders
out of the pod now and push it over to the jettison port, do it now!!” He
screamed and ran back to the Bridge.

Toormis slammed himself in the pilot’s seat and
checked the ship’s cloaking status; he breathed relief as it was functioning
correctly. He activated the main screen with the auto scan that started the
alert. A Confederate Squadron of Starfighters entered the sector in V
formation. They were coming directly towards them.