Star Alliance (28 page)

“I can have the AI open a data feed to your ship that will allow you to see what we’ve learned so far,” Kaylan said.

“That would be greatly appreciated,” Kladomaor said.

As the data was transferred, Kladomaor routed it to the navigation computer. After a few minutes, the nav computer was able to triangulate their position, and the results showed on the main holodisplay.

“Is that right? The Carnarvon system?” Ma’jasalax said.

Kladomaor sucked in a deep breath and gave her a solemn look. “It’s right,” he said.

“Commander,” Triflan said. “Limited communication has been restored. I’m detecting a Boxan signal from that system.”

Kladomaor’s brows drew up in consternation. “There shouldn’t be anyone in that system,” he said.

“Can you fill us in?” Kaylan asked.

“The Carnarvon system used to be home to a primitive race of beings that fell
 
victim to the Xiiginns. This system was our first documented instance of Xiiginn intentions,” Kladomaor said.

“What happened?” Kaylan asked.

“The Xiiginns exploited them to gain access to their manufacturing capabilities. Though the species was considered primitive by Confederation standards, they were adept at creating resilient materials on a massive scale. The Xiiginns stole their technology and incited global war between the dominant factions. Their planet is now a wasteland. The Xiiginns then used what they learned to create their current fleet,” Kladomaor said.

“Triflan,” Kladomaor said. “Try and hail them. See if they can help us.”

A few moments went by as Triflan attempted to communicate with whoever was out there. If they had full communications capability, they would be able to follow the protocols that would make the information his tactical officer was trying to obtain unnecessary.

“Commander, there is an asteroid outpost in the area under the command of Prax’pedax. They are insisting that you send your authorization; otherwise, they’ll open fire on our ship,” Triflan said.

Kladomaor seized the comms channel on his console and entered his unique battle commander ID, along with the authorization codes provided by Boxan Space Command.

“Are we in danger?” Kaylan asked.

“No,” Kladomaor said. “This is standard protocol when a certain level of secrecy must be maintained.”

“Coordinates have been transmitted,” Triflan said. “I’ve informed them that we’re in need of their assistance; however, with our current engine capabilities, it will be at least a week standard before we can reach the asteroid outpost.”

Kladomaor shook his head. “That won’t do. If we push the engines like that, we might do further damage.”

“Commander, this is Gaarokk. I have a suggestion,” the Boxan’s voice said over comms.

“Go ahead,” Kladomaor said. He hadn’t spoken directly to Gaarokk since he’d gone aboard the Athena. The scientist likely believed Kladomaor was angry with him, and he
had
felt betrayed but had come to accept what his scientist friend wanted to accomplish.

“If the reactors aboard the ship can handle it, I would propose the use of the gravity tether. We can then use the Athena’s engines to take some of the burden off your ship’s damaged engines,” Gaarokk said.

“Won’t that put too much of a strain on the Athena?” Kaylan asked.

“Not necessarily. There’s a gravity field that’s being maintained. The only resistance the engines would receive is from that field. And you can use the stealth ship’s engines to help compensate,” Gaarokk said.

Kladomaor ran through the calculations in his head and reached out to Thraxu with Gaarokk’s suggestion. “Thraxu thinks this could work. It will still take us the better part of a day to reach the outpost, but that’s better than a week,” Kladomaor said.

“Can Prax’pedax send help from the outpost?” Ma’jasalax asked.

“Not until we get closer. His mission supersedes our need for assistance, it seems,” Kladomaor said.

Ma’jasalax slowly shook her head.
 

“I’ll coordinate from here, and we’ll monitor the Athena’s hull integrity for irregularities,” Kaylan said.

“We’ll let you know when we’re ready to move,” Kladomaor said.

*****

 
Mar Arden was furious, but he resisted the urge to have his entire bridge crew executed on the spot. The truth of the matter was that none of this had been their fault. The failure had been his and his alone.
 

At least his suspicion of a Boxan presence in the Nershal star system had been confirmed. He wasn’t sure what was worse—being outmaneuvered by the Boxans or that fact that he had effectively let a new species slip through his grasp. He glared at the holodisplay, which showed the three warship commanders who had also failed to capture the Boxans.

“How exactly did one Boxan stealth ship manage to disable three of our warships?” Mar Arden asked.
 

“They utilized beacon suites,” Deng Arel said.

He was the most senior of the commanders, and Mar Arden had expected him to reply first.

“Go on,” Mar Arden said.

“We swept the outer system and kept receiving anomalous ship detections in multiple locations. We broke apart to investigate. It wasn’t until the ion missile sweep that the frequency of detections increased. Since we were there to flush them out, we had to investigate all of them. We detonated the ion warheads where we could and investigated the rest, working our way into the system. I think it’s safe to say the Boxans have improved their stealth capabilities,” Deng Arel said.

Mar Arden clenched his teeth, but he couldn’t find fault with Deng Arel’s mission report. Doubtless the detailed report would be without flaw as well, with the exception that the Boxans had out-thought them. And their alliance with the Nershals was collapsing. Two Nershal battle cruisers had opened fire on his ship. He’d destroyed one and disabled the other. Nerva Space Command was mobilizing. Despite the tactical advantage their warships gave them, the Nershals would throw themselves against them. Once the Nershals committed to an action, they rarely changed course.

“We’ve analyzed the damage to our ships,” Deng Arel continued. “The Boxan beacon suites contained drones that attached themselves to our hulls. The drones were concentrated on communications arrays and external power couplings to the engines. They knew exactly how to hit us. All they had to do was wait for the opportune moment.”

Mar Arden sighed. “And the damage this ship sustained from the Nershal battle cruisers allowed them to disable us, allowing them to escape,” Mar Arden finished. He glanced at the damage reports and critical system statuses on the commander’s console. “Continue with repairs. We need to be ready to deploy as soon as possible. I want you to meet with your own staffs and work out a counterstrategy against this new type of stealth warfare the Boxans used.”

“What about the Nershals?” Deng Arel asked.

“I’ll deal with them, but let’s move farther away from Selebus,” Mar Arden said, and cut the comms channel. They had their work to do.

The bridge doors opened and two Xiiginns entered with an armed escort. Kandra Rene and Sion Shif came before him. He had seen Kandra Rene’s mission report on the events that had taken place on Selebus. She met his gaze and waited for him to speak.
 

“Sion Shif,” Mar Arden said. “Before the Boxans escaped, you ordered that a compulsion signal be beamed at the Boxan ship. I’m curious as to what you hoped to accomplish. To my knowledge, aside from Kladomaor, none of the Boxans aboard had been subject to compulsion.”

“The signal was directed at the Human vessel,” Sion Shif said.

Mar Arden glanced at Kandra Rene. “I thought you were unsuccessful with that technique?”

“It didn’t work on him. Sion Shif exerted his influence on another,” Kandra Rene said.

“Is this true?” Mar Arden asked.

“When they attacked our cruiser, I was part of the team sent to where we were holding the Mardoxian priestess. During the firefight, one of the Humans had become separated. On a hunch, I tried compulsion,” Sion Shif said.

Mar Arden pressed his lips together and his tail hung lazily behind him. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. Did it work?”

“That’s the thing. I’m not sure. It definitely affected the Human. I just told it to return to the others and it did,” Sion Shif said.

“And what was in the signal?” Mar Arden asked.

Sion Shif’s eyes widened hungrily. “The rudimentary protocols to send a signal to us here.”

“A sleeper agent,” Mar Arden said.

“I thought it was fitting. If it works, we should hear from them soon and will be able to jump to their location,” Sion Shif said.

Mar Arden smiled, and he nodded. Perhaps the Boxans and Humans were within his grasp after all.

C
HAPTER
T
WENTY
-O
NE

K
AYLAN
WAS
ON
the bridge, reviewing the latest engine performance reports. Between the Athena’s engines and the limited capability of the Boxan stealth ship, they were due to arrive at the Boxan space station in a few hours. The day before, Hicks had insisted that she get some rest, and after checking on Zack’s status with Brenda, she’d gone to her room and passed out. She slept so hard that when she woke she wasn’t sure how much time had passed. She had set an alarm, but she wouldn’t put it past Hicks to kindly ask the AI to override it so she could get more sleep.
 

 
She was alone on the bridge for once. Gaarokk was spending time with Redford, and Efren was going over the particulars of the gravity tether. Kaylan understood the basic concepts and would have liked to know the specifics of how it worked, but there had been very little time for her to do so. Michael Hunsicker had made running the Athena look easy, and she sometimes found herself wondering what he would have done differently if he’d been here.

“Commander, I have an update,” the AI said.

The Athena’s artificial intelligence made all of their lives easier. She really had to focus to remember a time when they had functioned without it.

“Go ahead,” Kaylan said.

“There has been increasing comms activity between the Boxan ship and the space station,” the AI said.

“Hardly surprising. What is it that you find interesting?” Kaylan asked.

“I’m unable to monitor those transmissions. I can detect when they occur, but I don’t have the necessary clearance to decode the actual contents,” the AI replied.

Kaylan chewed on the inside of her lip for a moment, considering. “The Boxans are entitled to some privacy,” she said.

“Of course, Commander. I was merely bringing it to your attention.”

“Understood, and thank you,” Kaylan said.

Both Ezerah and Etanu looked askance at the Athena’s AI having so much unrestricted access to the ship and had been slightly amused that the Humans showed any type of courtesy to a software construct. Kaylan didn’t see it that way. The AI had proven to be a valued member of the crew, even if they had first gotten off to a rocky start. She treated the AI like she would anyone else, and she’d learned at a young age that a little professional courtesy could go a long way in building effective teams.
 

The door to the bridge opened and Vitomir walked in, followed by Nikolai. The young cosmonaut had made it his personal mission to monitor Vitomir’s every move since they had learned of his actions at Titus Station, which had resulted in four people dying, including Vitomir’s wife. Kaylan had reluctantly given Vitomir some freedom because they needed everyone to contribute if they were going to survive. Vitomir had helped them, but she still wondered if at some point he would betray them again. But the guilt of his actions for sabotaging Titus Station so he could join the original Athena mission still seemed to weigh heavily on him. When not busy, he had a haunted look in his eyes.

Vitomir walked over to her. “Commander, may I have a word with you?” he asked quietly.

Kaylan regarded him for a moment before nodding.

Vitomir glanced at Nikolai. “Please, would you give us moment?”

Nikolai glanced at Kaylan.

“It’s fine,” Kaylan said.

Nikolai walked over to the comms station.

Vitomir pressed his lips together, and his thick gray brows wrinkled in concern. “I realize that advice from me is probably the last thing you want to hear, but I would like to give you some, if you’re willing to hear it,” he said.

“Go ahead,” Kaylan said.

“One thing this journey has taught me is that every moment is precious and there is no way to know if the next moment that comes will be your last. I’ve done horrible things that will bring me shame for the rest of my life. I would give anything to hear Natalya’s voice one last time,” Vitomir said, swallowing hard. “She’s dead because of me. I can see it in your eyes, and you’re right. What I wanted to tell you is to take the time for things that are important beyond the work, because you never know when those moments will slip by, never to return.”

Kaylan gave Vitomir a long look and then nodded. Vitomir stepped away from her, and the bridge doors opened. Hicks walked in. Kaylan glanced at Vitomir, whose back was to her. She hated what he’d done, and she was mad at herself for listening to him, even if what he was saying was exactly what she needed to hear. She’d been avoiding Zack and had hardly seen Katie since Zack’s return. She had been giving Zack some space, but she needed to know where things stood between them. Part of her was afraid to find out, but Vitomir was right, she was burying herself in her work.