David Kantrowitz's Blog, page 9

Pegasus in Chains (RF VI), Chapter 12

Spoiler Alert: This is a new entry into the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/reckless-faith-vi-prologue/

It was easy for Helvetios to imagine what a glittering gem Saffron Canyon City must have been before the disaster, in contrast to the utter mess it currently was.  As he and his team moved steadily north, they drew closer to the city center, and as such the buildings were getting larger and more elaborate in construction.  The street they were following was one of the main arteries through the town, and was arranged in a classic boulevard style, with a strip of former parkland dividing the north and south lanes.

This area was practically deserted compared to the bazaar, which wasn’t surprising given the information Jim was seeing with the Geiger counter function on his PDA.  It was too radioactive for anyone to stick around for very long, and the several apartment buildings they had passed so far showed obvious signs of abandonment.  What few people that did wander by on the street were wearing some variation of a gas mask or respirator, though a couple of more raggedy individuals simply had a strip of damp fabric tied over their nose and mouths.

It was a cause for concern for the team, but their only other option was to completely gear up in their EVA suits or combat armor, a posture they weren’t yet ready to take.  Fortunately they did in fact have iodine pills in their medkits, which as suggested by the guard on their way in was a reasonably effective first-line defense against the type of radiation they were encountering.  So, everyone but Jim had taken one.

Helvetios was on rear security, so in addition to scrutinizing each shadowy corner and rooftop, every ten paces he would turn around and carefully check to see if they were being followed.  He tried not to be distracted by the energy shield high above them, as it was quite beautiful despite its ominous reason for being there.  It was partially covered by the yellow dust that spewed from the research center, which interacted with the shield to form constantly shifting patterns, and was also being moved around by the wind above the canyon, making for a hypnotically peaceful effect, not unlike sunlight shining into clear, shallow water.

After several blocks, they came across the river as it snaked its way through the center of the canyon.  Here, they found the remnants of a construction project, including a few disused bucket loaders and self-propelled cranes.  The purpose of the work site was clear: there had been an effort to cover the river in an encasement of solid concrete.  When the riverbank and the road met each other, he took a moment to look over the railing.  The water level was much lower than the banks seemed to indicate it had been at one time, and the putrid trickle of water that remained was nothing anyone would want to drink or touch.  Not far to the north, the stream disappeared into the maw of the encasement.  Jim appeared at his side just long enough to scan the riverbed.

“Yikes,” he said.  “Resist the urge to take a refreshing dip, everyone.”

“Keep it moving,” replied Marcon.

Bravo team continued on their way.  So far it had been easy to maintain visual contact with Alpha team, as the boulevard was a straight shot as far as the eye could see.  That changed when they reached what looked like a roadblock, consisting mostly of wrecked vehicles and other random metal scraps.  A hole big enough for two people to walk abreast was in the middle.  Marcon keyed his radio.

“Alpha team, hold there.  We’ll come to you, over.”

“Understood, out.” said Alsade, her voice crackling in their earpieces.

Helvetios heard a noise and looked behind him.  Two figures were scrambling over the railing from the riverbank, their legs and boots caked in wet mud.  He whipped his rifle off of his shoulder and immediately moved to his left toward a bulldozer nearby.

“Contact on our six!” he shouted.

One of the figures managed to get off a shot with a bolt-action rifle before he and his companions were hit with over a dozen rounds of plasma from Helvetios and the rest of Bravo team.  They crumpled into a smoking heap.  He glanced around him looking for other hostiles, but found none.  A moment later, a deafening crack from back to the north caused him to look over his shoulder just in time to see a blue fireball emanate from Cane’s pistol, a shimmering, twisting path of light trailing behind it.  He had fired on a man on top of the roadblock, and when the shot hit its target, the man was blown in half, each section of his body glowing blue as it disappeared back behind the obstruction.  More conventional gunshots could be heard as Alpha team scrambled to find cover and return fire.

Marcon said, “Helvetios, Laurent, cover our six!  Jim, use your scope!”

Jim and Marcon unlimbered their rifles and found a concrete block to kneel behind.  Each of them had a scope on their rifle, and they settled in to find a sight picture.

“Two hundred and twenty-five meters,” said Jim.

Alpha team started to attempt a coordinated retreat in bounding pairs.  Bullets kicked up dust at their heels as they ran.  Marcon and Jim found targets and began firing, slowly and deliberately.  Helvetios was beside himself not being able to help, but he had a job to do, too.  Soon, Alpha team arrived back at their location, and stumbled behind the cover of the construction equipment.  Just as quickly as it had begun, all firing ceased.

“Laurent, over there,” said Marcon, directing him to move to a different location.

Jim and Marcon set up a perimeter within the cluster of machinery.  Alpha team bolstered their positions, and everyone held fast.  After a couple of quiet minutes, Cane offered his status.

“I’m hit,” he said.

“Me, too,” said Vecky.

“I’m losing blood, here,” said Talyn.

Eva added, “They tagged me, too.”

“Lieutenant?” barked Marcon.

“I’m fine,” replied Alsade.

“Helvetios, Jim, check them out.”

The two men dropped their rucksacks, and grabbed their medkits from inside.  Jim went towards Eva and Talyn, so he went to check out Cane and Vecky.  Both had been shot in the left leg; Eva above the knee and Cane below.  Helvetios attended to Eva first.

“Bastards,” said Eva, keeping her eyes on her sector.

He poked his fingers into the tear in her pant leg and ripped it open.  The bullet had passed through her thigh, showing both entrance and exit wounds.

“I’m going to need you to sit down,” he said.

Eva did so.  Helvetios wiped away as much blood with sterile gauze as he could, but she was leaking like a sieve.  He got out a pressure dressing with an elastic band, and another roll of gauze.  Then, he balled up the gauze, placed it over the exit wound, and slapped the pad of the dressing on the entrance wound.  Finally, he wrapped the elastic band around both, making it as tight as he could.

“Do you have dermaplasts?” she asked, wincing at his efforts.

“Yes, but I want you to take an oral anticoagulant first.”

“Side effects?”

“Are you serious?”  He found the blister pack he wanted.  “Just swallow this.  If the flow abates, then I’ll try to apply dermaplasts.”

He slapped her on the shoulder, and moved on to Cane.  His wound was superficial, and only required a standard bandage.  Helvetios used a pressure dressing anyway, as it was the easiest to apply and secure.  That done, he moved to assist Jim.  He had already attended to a grazing head wound on Vecky, and was evaluating Talyn.

“How’s he doing?” he asked.

“He took a large caliber round to the chest,” replied Jim.  “His jacket took the brunt of the force.  There was no penetration.”

“Can I take this thing off, now?” asked Talyn.  “I’m roasting.”

Jim and Helvetios helped him remove his jacket.  It was hot to the touch.  Jim lifted his shirt and investigated the bruising through his fur.

“Take a few deep breaths for me,” Jim said.

Talyn did so, and indicated no unusual discomfort.  Marcon looked at them.

“We should displace.  Is Alpha team mobile?”

“Eva?” asked Helvetios.

“I can walk,” she replied.

Marcon said, “Good, let’s see if we can get inside that structure across the way.”  He pointed at a three-story apartment building on the west side of the boulevard.  “But first I want to make a swap.  Adeler, you’re on Bravo now; Laurent, take her place on Alpha.”

“Okay,” they both said.

“Alpha, move up.  Bravo, cover us.”

Helvetios kept his eye on the gloomy streets while Alpha team ran west and swept into the building.  A few minutes later, Alsade’s voice came through over the radio.

“The building is clear.  Bravo team, come to us, over.”

“Moving, out,” replied Marcon.

Bravo team crossed the boulevard, went up a half-flight of marble steps, and entered the building.  As Helvetios crossed the threshold, he noticed a thin layer of yellow dust on the floor.  Jim must have seen it as well, and he scanned the entryway with his PDA.

“We shouldn’t stay in here for too long,” Jim said.  “Try not to get any dust on your legs.”

“I’d love to get a sample of that stuff and take it back to the Fox for analysis,” said Eva.

Helvetios reached into his pocket and pulled out the foil wrapper from one of the pressure dressings.  “Here.  Scrape some into here, fold over the open end, and I’ll tape it shut.  Then I’ll do the same with another wrapper.  Two layers of foil should be enough to block alpha particles.”

“He’s right,” said Jim.  “Here though, I’ll do it.”

Jim took the first wrapper and gathered up some dust with the edge, then Helvetios helped him seal up both wrappers with plaster tape.  He handed it off to Eva, who stuffed it in her rucksack.  That done, he posted up on the door to watch the street.  From what he saw of the first floor, it was a standard layout for a residential apartment.  Alsade had gone to guard the rear entrance, and everyone else gathered in the living room.

“Adeler,” began Marcon, “how are you holding up?”

Eva said, “It hurts like hell, but the bandages haven’t soaked through.  I won’t be sprinting any time soon, of course.”

“So, you’re good to continue the mission?”

“For now.  I’ll let you know if it gets any worse.  If I become unable to walk, I’ll hole up somewhere safe and wait for you to return.  If I put on my EVA suit, I’ll be able to monitor my vital signs.”

“I’m not going to let you do that without assigning you a companion,” said Vecky.  “I think the team will do just fine with seven instead of nine.  In fact, I think you should stay here.”

“I’m really okay for now, Vecky.  I’m not going to bullshit you.  I promise I won’t push myself too hard, and I’ll let you know as soon as I start struggling.”

“It’s your call.”

“Should we call for evac?” asked Talyn, rubbing his chest.

“Are you doing okay?” Jim asked him.

“I’m fine.  It just feels like I was kicked by a wolrasi.”

Marcon said, “We already went over the evac plan, weren’t you paying attention?”

“I suppose I wasn’t.”

“We don’t know if it’s safe for a shuttle to pass through the energy shield.  If not, we’d have to get at least as far as out of the city.  In either case, we have to assume that Vastus forces will actually respond to a breach of the restricted zone, which means we only get one shot at it.  If Adeler doesn’t need immediate surgery, we should continue the mission.  Unless you disagree, Captain Kitsune.”

“No, you’re right,” replied Vecky.

“Then everybody take five, water up, and top off your magazines.”

Jim said, “I’m becoming concerned for you humanoids.  Radiation levels are becoming more consistently dangerous.  You should really put on your suits if we’re going deeper into the city.”

“We’ll give up any hope of blending in, but if that’s your recommendation then we’d better do it.  Do us a favor and see if you can find a room that’s relatively free of contamination in this apartment where we can suit up.”

“No problem.  Be right back.”

Jim went off to investigate the rest of the structure.

“Helvetios, let’s see if we can manage to apply dermaplasts to my wounds,” said Eva.  “It will be a lot easier to put my suit on over them.”

“I’d prefer to wait at least thirty minutes for the Tranex to kick in,” he replied.  “Captain Marcon, do you think we can stay here for a bit longer?”

“Captain Kitsune?” Marcon asked.

“I’m sure another half an hour won’t make any difference,” Vecky said.  “And as long as we’re staying put, we might as well have lunch.”

“Fine by me.  Sergeant, I’ll relieve you in fifteen minutes so you can get some chow.  Mister Venator, can you do the same for Lieutenant Alsade?”

“Sure,” said Cane.

“Good.  Then everybody finish eating, get suited up, and let’s get on with this god damn shit show.”

Pegasus in Chains (RF VI), Chapter 11

Spoiler Alert: This is a new entry into the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/reckless-faith-vi-prologue/

The southern route into Saffron Canyon City was an overwhelming barrage of sights, smells, and frenetic activity.  The haphazard conglomeration of one-story buildings, shacks, and vendor carts could be identified as the city’s bazaar, as translated from a cock-eyed wooden sign hastily erected where the main road met the perimeter.  A keen eye might have been able to identify the area as originally being residential, but time and necessity had transformed it into a dusty, dirty, and chaotic town square of sorts.  The newcomers kept their long arms slung across their shoulders, a posture that was quickly confirmed as the norm for those already present.  Though it seemed at first glance that violence might break out at any moment, simply observing for a few minutes proved that this was not, or at least rarely, the case.

Vecky was understandably concerned that their cover story would soon be discovered, since they didn’t have any 7.5×50 or whatever caliber of ammunition they had claimed to possess to gain entry.  Adding to this worry was the fact that they had no idea who Shining Beacon was, or their role in the society of the community.  If the guards at the perimeter had contacted them, then their welcome might be rather forcefully abbreviated.  To their benefit, they didn’t appear to stand out with their choice of vestments, since what they were wearing didn’t make them look like newcomers or hostiles.  In fact, it seemed like it would be rather easy to fade into the woodwork and disappear.

Marcon spoke lowly to those who could hear him, which was about half of their group.  “Sentries at ten, four, and seven.”

Vecky looked at the positions he had indicated.  Sure enough, she could see three individuals dressed alike, in robes that could easily conceal a rifle, both standing on balconies or on rooftops.

“Shining Beacon?” whispered Eva.

“Who knows?” replied Marcon.  “Keep an eye on them.  Our best bet is to find a bar or tavern, where alcohol has loosened lips.  In a place like this, it’s the easiest way to get the lay of the land.”

Marcon gave hand signals to the group indicating that they should stick together, and head through the throng of wheeling, dealing, and doubtless deception that the bazaar offered.  Moving into the surging sea of activity, they each kept a tight grip on any of their things that might find a fast-fingered new owner, and strained to locate an establishment that met Marcon’s description.  Helvetios was the first one to point toward a two-story building that looked more like an office peddling insurance policies, and yet as they drew closer, they could see that it had indeed been converted into a public house.  A patio area had been delineated with concrete bollards and yellow rope, which managed to separate the patrons with the stream of traffic just beyond it.

This demarcation probably had a lot more to do with the huge, muscular male that stood by the door, of a species that none of them had ever seen before.  Standing two and a half meters tall, by Vecky’s best estimate, he bore no distinct features that might have made his lineage clear.  As far as she was concerned, he looked like a Terran, the most generic of all races.  Despite their obvious and numerous armaments, he made no move to deny the team entry.

Once inside, the nine of them had to cram themselves into the periphery to fit, without bumping into the patrons that were already present.  The bar area was barely larger than a residential living room, and every square foot was occupied by either tables and tall stools or the bar itself.  There was no room for billiards or even a dart board, and neither was present.  What the place did offer was an impressive selection of beer on tap, with at least twenty jerk levers behind the bar.  A proper neon sign glowed red on the wall, identifying it as the Winged Horse.

“Now what?” asked Vecky.

“Fortune favors the bold,” replied Marcon, then to the rest of the bar, “Drinks are on Shining Beacon!  Let their light forever illuminate Saffron Canyon City!”

Vecky’s heart leapt into her chest, but the crowd’s reaction was what Marcon had hoped for, a resounding cheer and a deluge of orders to the already overworked bartender.

“That was a dangerous move,” said Eva.  “You’re lucky you didn’t get us all killed.”

Marcon smiled.  “You’d have to assume that the guards on the way in were completely bluffing about the Shining Beacon’s influence here.  They thought it would matter to us.  It seemed like a safe bet, if we want to make some friends.”

She shook her head.  “Did Scherer give you carte blanche to run this mission as you please?”

“Cart blansh?”

“Free rein, autonomy, whatever you want to call it.  Perhaps he made a mistake sending us out here without establishing a clear chain of command.”

“He did, though.  Captain Kitsune is in charge.  So far she’s deferred to my experience.  I apologize to both of you if I overstepped by bounds, but this is a dynamic situation and I can’t wait for you guys to reach a quorum every five minutes.  If either of you want to be more assertive, by all means tell me and I’ll stand back.”

Vecky stepped between them.  “I appreciate your input.  But Eva has a point.  We don’t know enough about the Shining Beacon to invoke their name.  Let’s stick to your plan to let our money and alcohol coax more info out of this crowd.”

“Now that sounds more like a ship captain.”  Marcon picked up a stool that was lying on its side and sat down.  “This is your mission, Kitsune.”

Vecky shrugged, and gave the rest of her gold ingots to Eva.  “Get with Cane and Talyn and try to figure out how much this generosity is going to cost us.”

Eva gestured toward the bar.  “They’re already up to their elbows in some kind of cocktail.”

Cane and Talyn had each ordered a large, orange-tinged beverage, and laughed with the bartender while they made a toast to an obscure Camphustian general and clinked their glasses together.

“They were born for this stage of our mission.”

Eva walked over and got the bartender’s attention.  She noticed he had a gas mask in a carrier around his waist.

“I wish your boss hadn’t done that,” he said.  “With all these patrons ordering drinks at different times, how am I supposed to keep track of your total?”

“There are thirty people in here, including my group.  If you give me an average for thirty drinks, I’ll pay now.”

“Fine.”

She worked it out with the bartender and handed over about a quarter of their gold, then rejoined Vecky and Marcon.

“Now what?” asked Vecky.

“Let our two resident schmoozers work the crowd.”

“Those two idiots?” asked Marcon.  “They’re already halfway to inebriated.”

“It’s all an act.  The fact that you already lost confidence in them proves it.”

Marcon unsnapped the retention strap on his pistol holster, and dragged his seat to the far wall.  He motioned at Alsade and Helvetios to come to him.

“Get ready for exfiltration,” he said.

“Your caution is appreciated,” said Vecky, smiling.  “Give it an hour, and Cane and Talyn will know our next move.”

Marcon didn’t say anything in response, only keeping his right hand draped over the grip of his pistol.  The next thirty minutes went by without the violence that he had predicted, and indeed he relaxed quite a bit after he noticed that Cane and Talyn were barely touching their drinks while they engaged in chatting with a random collection of loquacious locals.  Evident to all the team members was how easily they pulled information from them, while retaining their veneer of drunken hayseeds.

Over an hour later, after slapping the backs of a few new friends, the pair came smiling and laughing back to the rest of the group.  Fortunately for both their safety and ease of conversation, the crowd had thinned out considerably.

“Third shift is done in,” said Talyn.

“I was wondering why so many people were getting drunk so early,” said Laurent.

“It’s not just stress relief,” said Cane.  “They believe alcohol can help flush contaminants from their system.”

“I was going to mention that,” said Alsade.  “According to the scanner on my PDA, some of these people were emitting alpha particles from their sweat.  Wherever they’re working, it’s a horrific fate.”

“Let’s not end up in the same situation,” said Marcon.  “What were you able to learn about Shining Beacon?”

Talyn said, “They’re a religious sect, based on the idea that the research center is a conduit to the gods themselves.  No one we talked to mentioned the Kira’To by name, but the way these patrons described the cult’s thralls matches up with what we experienced with the Adherents of Aquila, the followers of Cygnus, and Cassiopeia.”

“What is their role in Saffron City?”

“They’re the main peacekeepers, though I think they fall short of what we would consider a police force.  Though they don’t investigate crimes, they will intervene in major crimes in progress and either execute the alleged perpetrator on the spot, or exile them from the city.”

Cane said, “One guy mentioned that they’re probably short-handed right now as at least two squads of their people left the city earlier today, heading west, so we should be extra cautious.  I’m sure they’re off to find out what happened to the squad we ran into.”

“That’s a safe bet,” said Eva.

“Any leads on element 93?” asked Vecky.

“A family of Z’Sorth merchants run a shop to the north of here,” replied Talyn.  “The guy I spoke to isn’t sure if they have radioactive materials for sale, but it’s where he recommended to start our search.”

“How did he react when you asked about radioactive materials?” asked Marcon.

“He didn’t bat an eye.  I don’t think it was a suspicious request.”

“Good.  Let’s get ready to head out.  Talyn, did he give you an address?”

“No, just a neighborhood and a description of the area.  Finding it will require some trial and error.”

“Threat assessment?  Radioactivity?”

“I didn’t ask.”

“Very well.  Do you two still have your wits about you?”

“It’ll take more than half a Sunbeam for Talyn and me to get fucked up,” said Cane.

“All right.  Captain Kitsune, here is my suggestion.  Alpha and Bravo teams will leave a few minutes apart and head toward the shop.  Alpha team will stay in radio contact and designate rally points every two hundred meters.  If we run into trouble, fall back to the last rally point and we’ll attempt to break contact.  Sound good?”

“Yes,” replied Vecky.

“Good.  Let’s go.”

__________

Woodbury, the capital city of Sylvania, was not a large metropolis, at least by area, but it made up for it with several square blocks of tall buildings clustered in its downtown section.  It bordered on a wide river, with the urban area on both banks, going back only about a mile in each direction before ending abruptly in forest.  When they had flown over it two hours earlier, the crew of the Reckless Faith found the architecture of the city remarkable, not in its beauty, but its uniformity.  The buildings, regardless of their height, were nothing more than monolithic rectangles.

There were also no trees, parks, or any other patches of green within city limits, making it stand out even more in stark contrast to the verdant landscape that surrounded it.  This unusual arrangement made it difficult for them to locate anything resembling a place to park a ship, not that it mattered for them, of course.  If there was a spaceport that serviced the city, it was quite a distance away from the center.  So the ground team had Milly drop them off in an alley just off what turned out to be the financial district, revealing that the city was even more confusing at street level than it was from the air.  The narrow roadways choked off so much sunlight that even in the middle of the morning, street lights were on.

The team this time consisted of John, Ray, Richter, and Devonai.  They had spent the next couple of hours wandering around, trying to look casual, to get a sense for life in the city under the thumb of the Rakhar.  Fortunately for the sake of them blending in, there were still a few off-worlders to be seen here and there, and after eavesdropping on a conversation between two Matesians in a café, they learned that interplanetary commerce was still occurring, albeit with a ton of added red tape.  They also discovered that access to Woodbury was restricted to ground vehicles only, and that a Rakhar cordon was screening all visitors.  This made the team nervous, because they had no way of proving to a patrol that they were supposed to be there, but so far they hadn’t seen any Rakhar at all in this district, soldier or otherwise.

Armed with this knowledge, they had made small talk with the employee behind the counter, between sips of an awful hot beverage that at least looked like coffee.  In response to their queries, she told them that the prime minister of Sylvana had been evacuated to an undisclosed location and had not made any public statements in several days.  When asked about any hint of a resistance movement, she had just shrugged.  Rebuffed, the team returned to the Faith.  Christie was waiting for them in the cargo bay.

“That was mostly a waste of time,” said John, doffing his jacket.  “I’ll tell you about it after I’ve rinsed out my mouth with bleach.”

“It went that well, huh?” Christie asked.  “At least you didn’t get shot at.”

“That’s always a plus.  Let’s get to the bridge.”  The five of them took the port stairs to the top deck, and entered the bridge.  Milly was piloting, and Ari and Dana were at their stations.  “Milly, take us back to our hiding spot, please.”

Milly brought the ship into the air, and headed back toward the small town they had visited earlier.

“Did you boys have fun?” asked Ari.

“Oh, it was a blast.  We have neutral news and bad news.  The neutral news is that we were able to learn that some commercial traffic is being allowed, though it comes with a mountain of paperwork that outside ships are required to complete.  They also have to submit to their people being monitored any time they’re on the planet.  The bad news is that it doesn’t seem likely we’ll be able to gain access to the prime minister, at least not without a much more in-depth attempt at espionage.  I think for now we’re better off trying the next country on our list.”

Dana said, “If this is what we might expect, we’re going to run out of confederates very quickly.”

“We have to try.  Let’s take a lunch break and move on to Pararivula.”

“Before we do that, we have a couple of updates for you.  First, we heard from President Feras.”

“Excellent!  What did he have to say?”

“Nothing other than to confirm that the transceiver is working.  We sent a reply that he also confirmed.  He didn’t volunteer any other info.”

“Okay.  And the other thing?”

“We have a much better idea of what the projectile that almost destroyed us was.”

John sat down in the nearest chair, as did Ray and Devonai.  “Awesome.  Fill us in.”

“It wasn’t easy,” began Ari.  “We only had a split-second worth of data to work with.  As we first surmised, it was a thin metal shell containing super-heated plasma, moving at zero-point-twenty-five c.  It hit us with around four million foot-pounds of energy.  At that speed, we’d have to be at least an eighth of a parsec away to maneuver out of its way in time, or twelve million miles.  That rules out any combat action remotely similar to what we’ve encountered in the past.  In order to survive in the future, we’ll have to be damn sure our invisibility shield is effective, and our NDSS isn’t giving us away.”

“What about any potential countermeasures?” asked Richter.

“Carrying that level of kinetic energy, the only thing that could save us would be some sort of ablative armor.  We have data on the type used on the Fox, and unfortunately for both of us, it wouldn’t be sufficient to counteract such a projectile.  It’s possible that the Rastaban has a type that’s adequate, but none of us thought to scan them or ask for the specs before they left for Vastus.”

“We couldn’t be that lucky,” said Ray.

“Agreed,” said John.  “I realize what I’m asking here, but what if we were able to extrapolate what we know about existing ablative armor, and bolster it to be an effective defense?”

Christie let out a long, slow breath.  “John, I’m not one to say it’s impossible.  If anyone can do it, though, it’s Ari, Dana, and me.  I’m still working on fixing the SRC transceiver; that will have to come first.”

“Can’t you just replicate a new one and interface with that?” asked Devonai.

Christie gave him a hard look.  “Don’t you think that already occurred to me, Kyrie?  The issue is its connection to the orb.  It’s a thousand threads floating in ether, and each one needs to be properly fused.  To quote Captain Miller, each one is a needle in a stack of needles.”

“Sorry.”

John held up his hand.  “Okay.  Add it to the queue.  Our three ships and anyone else who chooses to fight on our side may end up betting their lives on this new technology.  At any rate, we’re not going to do anything until the Fox and the Rastaban return.  If there’s nothing else, I could really use a bite to eat.”

“John, I’m starting to get nervous about our friends.  We should have heard something by now.”

“I know.  I’m sure they’re doing their best.  If they’re not dead yet.”

Pegasus in Chains (RF VI), Chapter 10

Spoiler Alert: This is a new entry into the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/reckless-faith-vi-prologue/

The Exotic Spice Hotel & Resort used to be the fanciest place to stay in Saffron Canyon City.  Tucked behind a huge garden, replete with fountains, flora from other worlds, and a carousel, it offered the finest in luxury accommodations to be found in the city, and arguably anywhere on Vastus, while still making available less expensive rooms for those that wanted to experience its opulence, but without demanding a Prince’s ransom.  After the disaster, it was the perfect place for Jinro Praxis to make his home, as leader of his people.

Like much of the city, the hotel had become badly contaminated with radioactive dust, prior to the planetary government installing the energy shield.  Known only to Praxis and his followers, any basement area remained habitable, and they had taken up residence there.  Other than storage, the underground sections also contained the employee quarters, the Starship Suite, and most importantly, access to the air circulation system, which still functioned just fine and kept contaminants away from their living areas.

The Starship Suite was an anomaly in the hotel.  Built at the request of someone who was evidently extremely wealthy, it didn’t match the classical style of the rest of the hotel at all; instead, it was meant to resemble a modern, and well-appointed, starship.  Praxis could only guess that whatever patron convinced the owner to add it wanted the experience of living on a ship, but without the hassle of maintaining it.  Its most curious feature was that there was a fully-functioning airlock at its entrance, including a decontamination feature, making it even safer than the rest of the basement area.  It was for that reason that Praxis lived there, and allowed his top lieutenants and concubines to occupy the spare bedrooms.  It was one of those lieutenants, a native Vastusian by the name of Rikky, who woke him up that morning, paging him from the intercom in the airlock.  Praxis growled and flopped out of bed while his lover of choice for that night rolled over and put a pillow over her head.

He pressed a key on the console on his night stand.  “It’s early.”

“I’m sorry, my lord, but this is urgent.”

“Fine.  Proceed with decontamination and enter.”

Looking at the clock, he decided he might as well begin his day, since Rikky wasn’t in the habit of waking him up for situations he didn’t have to deal with right away.  He pulled on his clothes and boots, grabbed his gun belt, and holstered his pistol.  He emerged into the lounge area of the suite and found two more of his concubines there, chatting in front of the fireplace.

“Have you been up all night?” he asked, rubbing his eyes.

“Yes, dear,” one of them replied.

“And you had the fire going the whole time?”

“No, we just lit it about an hour ago.”

He eyed her warily.  “I hope so.  You know how difficult it is to get fuel for it.  Would you mind wrapping it up?  I need to meet with Rikky.”

“That can’t be good.”

“It probably isn’t.”

The women grabbed a pair of empty glasses and headed into the kitchen.  Praxis walked over and closed the valve to the fireplace.  One wouldn’t find that on a starship, of course, but it was still a nice feature.  Though getting the gaseous fuel it used into Saffron City was expensive, he couldn’t blame his companions for using it.  The suite did get chilly this time of year.  He waited by the interior airlock door until it opened, admitting Rikky.

“My apologies, again,” he said.

“Don’t worry about it.  Can I get you anything?”

Rikky eyed the doorway to his bedroom longingly.  “No, thank you.”

Praxis gestured toward the lounge area, and the men found some chairs and sat down.  Rikky had been the maintenance man at the hotel before the disaster, and an engineer in the Vastus Defense Fleet prior to that.  Praxis had met him at a meeting of Shining Beacon several years ago, though he wasn’t there looking for membership, but instead to try to negotiate protection for his handyman business.  It was then that Praxis realized he could be an asset to his organization, even if Rikky had no interest in the religious side of it.  So he hired him to help maintain the hotel, and over time he realized that the younger man’s military background would also make him valuable as a lieutenant.  Even more, Praxis now considered him a friend.

“So, what’s going on?”

“Bear Squad went to investigate a proximity alarm at the center last night, and never returned.  I accompanied Wolf Squad out to find them, and we did.  They’ve all been killed, just south of the building.  It was a combination of plasma and projectile fire.  We retrieved their arm bands and weapons and returned immediately, though we didn’t have enough spare drivers for all of their vehicles.”

“Shit.  Sounds like it wasn’t the typical scavengers this time.”

“I don’t think so.  We did sweep the area and didn’t find any bodies or blood, other than our own.  Whoever did this had some training.”

He stroked the stubble on his chin.  “I don’t think we have anything to worry about yet, as far as the sanctuary being defiled or looted.  Anyone hoping to retrieve anything of value from there will need heavy equipment, brought in by ship or large vehicles, neither of which would escape the notice of the government.  If it was the government itself, you and Wolf Squad would have been killed, too.  So I’m guessing well-prepared scouts, with little intel, discovering the truth of the research center.  There is nothing there but death.”

“Or enlightenment, if they happen to believe the same thing as your flock.”

Praxis nodded.  One thing that he appreciated about Rikky was his objectivity.  Though he had felt for himself the call of the Kira’To at the building, it was not the life-changing revelation that others had experienced.  He was not, and probably could not be, enthralled by the same sensation that had so captivated those in the congregation of Shining Beacon.  The fact that the flock, or cult as some would call them, were being conned, had long since ceased to be a problem for Rikky.  Praxis, for his part, did sincerely believe that he was building something positive here, despite some of the more destructive tendencies of his congregation.  Overall, they were a stabilizing force in Saffron City, which was more than could be said for the merchants, brigands, and opportunistic nomads that sustained some sort of community after the disaster ten years ago.

“I suppose it’s possible that this group was there purely for research purposes.  Any organization with enough funding to attempt it would certainly arm their people adequately for any opposition.  In fact, they may well still be in the building, if they have excellent rad suits.”

Rikky looked at him smugly.  “Your people would expect you to repel them, if that was the case.”

“They don’t know what they don’t know.  Still, we’re forging something good here, and I’m not about to let any intruders run freely there without reprisal, regardless of what their goals may be.  I want you to pull Fox Squad off of bazaar security and take both them and Wolf Squad to the center for a sweep.  Obviously I don’t want you to be as reckless as Bear Squad; take your time and clear the area properly.  I’ll have the acolytes take over bazaar security in the meantime.”

“Yes, lord.  Do you want prisoners?”

“Of course, as long as you don’t have to take any unnecessary risks to capture them.  The loss of Bear Squad is already a blow to our ability to keep the peace around here.  We can’t let our numbers dwindle much more.”

Rikky nodded.  “We’ll be careful.  Sir, you should also consider the possibility that they were there to loot fissile materials.  Having discovered the truth, they may come here next.”

“I’m less worried about that.  Even if they do bribe their way past the perimeter, they’d have to have a point of contact on the inside to ensure their safety.  You’re right, though.  I’ll fire down a quick breakfast and head out to feel the pulse of the city.  If they do have a host waiting for them, it shouldn’t be that difficult for me to find them.”

“I’ll make it happen.  There is one other thing, after this morning’s engagement, we no longer have enough 7.5 by 50 to maintain a standard battle load-out for the Steedmans.”

“All that firing and they didn’t kill anyone?  It sounds like we need to do some remedial marksmanship training.”

“Well, the enemy may have retrieved their dead.”

“True.  Anyway, I’ll put in an order.  Honestly I should have done that several weeks ago.  Consolidate and redistribute the remaining ammo for now, and tell the troops to use their pistols for suppressive fire whenever possible.”

“Yes, lord.”

“You’re dismissed.  Good luck.”

__________

When Evangeline opened her eyes, she could see the first rays of daylight illuminating cirrus clouds far overhead.  The passing of the previous night had been painfully slow, as she hadn’t slept much, and though she felt like she might be able to snooze for a couple more hours, her time was up.  She sat up, removed her helmet, and took a small sip of water from one of her canteens.  Breakfast, they had already decided, would wait until a bit later.

Looking around, she saw that everyone else was already awake.  Vecky, Laurent, Cane, and Helvetios were pulling security, and Marcon, Jim, Talyn, and Alsade were sitting in a circle nearby.  She approached the latter group, passing her hand through her hair, and sat down.

“Good morning,” she said.

Talyn looked dead to the world.  “I thought my days of sleeping in the dirt were over.”

“The combat doesn’t bother you, but a little camping trip does?”

“Lately after all the fights I’ve been in, I still ended up bathed and in a warm bed at the end of the day.  And if we really were camping, we’d have a lot more booze.”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.  Jim, any luck with that PDA we found?”

Marcon said, “He found a report on the accident, among other things.  It’s a huge file, so right now he’s reading it so he can give us an abridged version.”

“Oh, gotcha.”

Eva got up and stretched out her limbs.  When she turned to the north, she noticed something about the research center and the valley that was invisible to her before.  A huge plume of yellow dust was billowing out of the top of the center, rising only a few feet before the wind caught it.  It was then swept down to the valley floor, where it spread out a couple hundred meters on each side of the river.  The dust was blown to the east, and extended as far as her eyes could see.

“It looks like what we read about this place is true,” she said, gesturing at the plume, “that the center is still contaminating the valley and canyon.”

“Yes,” began Jim, looking up from the tablet.  “That’s what the report says.  The center is indeed the source of the radioactive dust, though why it continues to spread after so much time is a mystery.”

“Anything else?” asked Alsade.

“Oh my, yes.  So the incident corresponds with what we learned from the message archive.  The research team was experimenting with just shy of sixty kilograms of 93244, and caused an uncontrolled cascade reaction.  The resulting gamma rays killed everyone in the room, and forced an evacuation.  About a week later, another team was sent in with the proper protective gear to investigate.  What they found was largely inconclusive, except again noting a strange parapsychological phenomenon.  The bottom line is that they couldn’t figure out how to eliminate the contamination short of dropping a tac nuke on the site, which would obviously have dire ramifications for the planet.”

“And the element 93?” asked Eva.

“It was fused with the superstructure of the building.  Recovering it may be impossible, even if you were to reduce the building to rubble.

“Shit.”

“Yes, I doubt we’ll find what we’re looking for there.  The recommendation of the investigation team was that the government build a giant concrete sarcophagus over the entire structure, but as you can see that hasn’t happened yet.  Who knows if it will ever happen?”

“They did the same thing at a nuclear disaster site on my home planet.  Though, that wasn’t nearly as big.”

“I’m sure it was a funding issue,” said Talyn.  “It was probably cheaper to install the shield emitters over the city and call it a day.”

“At least we didn’t waste our time getting the UGV from the Rastaban,” said Marcon.  “Mister Jim, if you find anything else of interest, let us know.  Let’s gather our things and head back to the crossroads.”

Marcon called back the security team, and everyone began to load up their rucksacks and gear.  The plan had already been established: head back to the crossroads, change back into their street clothes, have breakfast, and proceed to Saffron Canyon.  The hike back there was uneventful, and they made better time on the return trip by virtue of being familiar with the terrain.  Once there, they gratefully shed their EVA suits and combat armor, and pulled out their choices of food items.  Eva attended to her bathroom needs, having waited until her suit was already off, as did most of the others.  When she, Vecky, Cane, and Talyn donned their jackets, Helvetios pointed at them.

“Are those Raptor Industries jackets?” he asked.

Eva nodded.  “You’ve got a good eye.  Yes, level nine.  I procured one some time ago, and the crew of the Reckless Faith was kind enough to replicate several more.  They can get unbearably hot when dissipating energy, but they’re a good compromise between an EVA suit and nothing at all.”

“Level nine?  Those are military grade, not available on the open market.  That must have set you back something awful.”

“It’s a lot easier when the previous owner is dead.”

“You are an enigma, Miss Adeler.  When this is all over we need to sit down with drinks so you can tell me your story.”

“You can bet on it.”

“If you two are done with your foreplay,” said Marcon, “it’s time to move out.”

The team wolfed down the rest of whatever they were eating, and arranged themselves in the same marching order as before.  The walk to the canyon would take about 45 minutes, and as the sun rose over the horizon, their path seemed easy.  As usual, Alsade had one eye fixed on her PDA, scanning for radiation, but as the group progressed down the mottled road, conditions remained favorable.  After half an hour, the road began to follow an increase in elevation, and soon, they found themselves with a view of the entire canyon.

Saffron Canyon City lay before them.  The entire depression was filled with buildings, with its center dominated by skyscrapers.  The road continued towards a dip in the canyon wall, which as they knew from satellite photos was one of only two routes into the city accessible by ground vehicles, the other being on the north reach.  Barely visible in the daylight was the protective shield, glowing blue over the rim of the canyon.  It did not cover the upper floors of the tallest buildings, and unsurprisingly those sections appeared to be in terrible condition.  The yellow-tinged plume that was sweeping down the valley passed over the canyon and lost cohesion about a kilometer to the east.

“Why would anyone choose to remain here?” asked Vecky.

“Home is a powerful force,” replied Eva.  “People don’t like to be told that where they live is now forbidden.  On Terra, even official information put out by the government is met with skepticism by some.  It doesn’t surprise me that an evacuation order was ignored by a significant number of residents.”

“People are stubborn,” said Marcon.  “The instinct toward freedom is universal, in my experience.”

“You would get along well with the crew of the Reckless Faith.”

“Yeah?  I don’t care.  I follow the money.  Knock off the chatter and keep moving.”

Eva might have been offended, a long time ago and a lifetime away.  All she cared about now was that Marcon’s contingent was indispensable.  At his urging, the team continued forward.  The road twisted down along a ridgeline, and before long they reached the edge of the energy shield.  A checkpoint lay before them, manned by six natives.  As they approached, the guards seemed annoyed by the interruption to whatever they normally spent their time doing, but didn’t raise their weapons.  Marcon gestured for everyone to form a perpendicular line, and he broke from the group to talk to them.  The guards carried projectile weapons of the same type, though there was no uniformity to what they wore.

“State your business,” said the man closest to them.

“Trade,” replied Marcon.

“What do you have?”

“Does it matter?”

The man laughed.  “It does if you hope to make any profit by your visit.  Some goods are more valuable than others.”

“So, are you implying that you’ll deny us access if our items are too mundane?”

The guard looked at the rucksacks they were carrying. “Not at all.”

“We have several hundred rounds of 7.5 by 50.”

“Shining Beacon will definitely be interested in that.  What would you care to offer for entry?”

“Element 79.”

The guard conferred with his companions.  “We’ll take seventy-five pentrodo.”

Jim said, “That’s approximately 1.5 kilograms.”

“That’s more than we have,” said Eva, then softly to Marcon: “We have a combined total of one kilogram.”

Marcon turned back toward the guards.  “You can have ten, or we’ll find another point of entry and you get nothing.”

“Fifty,” countered the man.

“Twenty-five.”

“Twenty.  Final offer.  And I don’t think the Shining Beacon would be too pleased to find out that you denied us access while we have ammo they can use.”

The unmistakable expression of cognitive dissonance passed over the man’s face.  “Fine.”

Eva, Vecky, Cane, and Talyn gathered up their gold ingots, while Jim scanned the pile with his PDA.

“Right there,” said Jim.

Eva passed over the stack, and the guard gestured magnanimously ahead.  “Welcome to Saffron Canyon City.  I hope you brought plenty of element 53 pills.”

Pegasus in Chains (RF VI), Chapter 9

Spoiler Alert: This is a new entry into the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/reckless-faith-vi-prologue/

It was midnight, and Fomal Feras couldn’t sleep.  In the ten days since the arrival of the Rakhar, his role had reverted to president of Ossekey, for all practical purposes.  General Monterrach had put himself in charge of planetary affairs, but when it came to running Ossekey, Feras was mostly being left alone.  The notable exception was that of the export of goods produced there, for which Monterrach and his underlings demanded a constant oversight.  This being the same for all countries on Eniph, interstate trade had slowed to a crawl.  All of this might not bother him that much, for the new Rakhar chains rested lightly on his shoulders, except that he was still, technically, president of the planet, and had a responsibility to see that through.

Unfortunately for his sense of duty, the Rakhar invaders made that impossible, resulting in a constant gnawing feeling in his gut and many almost sleepless nights.  There was also the constant fear of being arrested and possibly tortured for his knowledge of what happened to the Solar Defense Force, since he had never revealed to Monterrach where he’d sent them.  As it was, the general had asked, been rebuffed, and then declared the information to be irrelevant.  It made sense; the SDF was vastly outnumbered anyway.

Feras got out of bed, taking care not to disturb his pets, and crossed to the nearest window.  The city-state of Ossekey glittered below him.  By mere appearances, no one would know anything changed.  He was at least glad to be home, the same home he’d occupied for six years.  Though living in the presidential palace was optional, he had decided to do so, not for its opulence, but for its history.  During the planetary election debates, two of his opponents had derided him for not living like a common man, a notion that was easily countered when Feras pointed out that they were obscenely wealthy compared to the rest of the planet’s population, while his salary was slightly below what was considered middle class.  Also, unlike them, he had not spent a single penny on campaigning, nor was he wealthy at any point in his life.

Someone knocked on his door, then opened it without waiting for a reply.  Feras was initially irritated, since one of Monterrach’s guards had done this a few days ago to ask permission to grab some food out of the kitchen.  Though the door had been locked, the guards insisted on knowing the entry code.  He was surprised to see three humanoid figures enter, clearly not Rakhar.  He turned on the nearest lamp, and saw that it was one man and two women.  The man put his hands out in front of him.

“Sorry for the intrusion, sir, but we couldn’t risk being discovered.”

Feras sighed.  “I’ve been stripped of most of my power, why should I expect to get a good night’s sleep in my own bedroom?”

“My name is John Scherer.  This is Ari Ferro, and Christie Tolliver.  Our ship is the Reckless Faith.”

“If that’s true, you’ve earned quite a reputation for yourself.”

“Mostly good, I would hope.”

“The liberation of Umber?  That’s just a rumor.  As is your involvement in the Battle of Freedmen Colony.  Your incursion into Cygnian affairs has been confirmed by reliable intelligence sources, however.  Overall, your reputation being good or bad depends entirely on one’s perspective.”

“Then if we were to offer to help kick the Rakhar out of your system, how would you feel?”

“One ship won’t make a difference, though I have heard your ship has powerful weapons.”

“Our intention here is to forge an alliance with neighboring systems.  I don’t know how many ships you have in your defense force, but since you didn’t fight back immediately I’m guessing it’s not enough.”

The two pets on the bed jumped down to investigate the new arrivals, and sniffed at their boots.

“Oh my god,” began Christie, “these animals are adorable!  Are they fully grown?”

Feras nodded.  “Yes.  They are unrelated to Rakhar or Kau’Rii.  Well, maybe if you go far back enough in their lineage, I don’t know.”

“We would call them munchkin cats on our planet,” said Ari.  “Ours have fur, though.”

“They are very popular on Eniph.  Anyway, Mister Scherer, I’m not going to reveal our fleet strength to you.”  He pointed to his ear, and then the ceiling.  “I also cannot condone any action against the Rakhar; as president I cannot unilaterally declare war against anyone.  Such a declaration would have to be approved by a supermajority of member states.”

John said, “We already scanned for listening devices, the room is clean.”

“Oh?  One can’t be too careful.  And here I’ve been telling my pets long, boring stories just to annoy whoever might be listening.  Nevertheless, my answer is the same.  Even if I wanted to cooperate, I have no way of communicating with anyone without the Rakhar knowing.  This room may not be monitored, but every other aspect of my life is.”

“It we were to give you a portable SRC transceiver, would you be able to conceal it somewhere around here without it being discovered?”

“Maybe.  Even if it was encrypted, wouldn’t the Rakhar be able to detect and triangulate it?”

“Good question.  Do you have access to a wireless communication device in this building, that you only use while here?”

“Yes, my console in my home office.”

“Here’s what I propose.  The transceiver we’re offering you has a piggyback mode…”

“Sorry?”

“It’s a mode which will allow you to send us a text message at the same time you make a voice call to someone else, using the same carrier frequency.  Using encryption level five, it would seem to anyone listening to be background noise.  Is there room under your console to conceal something about yea big?”

John gestured with his hands, indicating a cube of about a quarter of a square meter.

“Yes, I could put it there.  How would I receive an incoming message?”

“Once set up, you would send us a test transmission at your first opportunity.  Then, when we know the frequency, we can send you a reply, or at any other time.”

“I understand.”

“If you accept, then we can make the same offer to the leaders of the other member states.  How many would have to agree to reach a supermajority?”

“Thirteen.  How many of these transceivers do you have?”

“Our ship has cutting-edge replication technology.  Transceivers on demand.”

“That sounds convenient.”

“It has been, yes.  So what do you think?”

Feras grabbed an ottoman nearby and sat down.  “I’m tired of feeling useless here.  I still need time to consider it.  Where was the transceiver originally manufactured?”

“It’s a modified design, but of distinctly Umberian origin.”

“Then I take a chance of it being discovered, and without the plausible deniability of it being there prior to my arrival.  Based on the level of scrutiny the Rakhar have given my residence, I think I have a decent chance of getting away with it.  I mean, it doesn’t surprise me too much that you were able to get in here undetected.  I’ll tell you what.  Give me the transceiver and help me set it up.  If I decide to collaborate with you, then I’ll send you a message.  What are your intentions in the meantime?”

“The same as when we first arrived here.  Monitor the situation, and wait for communication from our sources about a potential alliance.  Hopefully you will decide to be part of it.”

“Why do you want to get involved?  If you’re mercenaries, who hired you?”

John smiled.  “No, not mercenaries.  But our home planet would rather not get caught up in the expansion of a new Rakhar empire, if that’s what this whole effort really is.  Call it being proactive.”

“Then why send only one ship?”

“As I said, we’re still in the reconnaissance phase of the mission.”

“Fair enough.  Where’s your ship?”

“Hovering right next to the balcony outside your office.”

“Perfect, let’s go get the transceiver.  Stay quiet in the hallway, there’s always a chance one of the guards might wander by out of boredom.”

Feras donned his robe and slippers, then the group crept out into the hallway and down to the office.  It was an impressive chamber, outfitted with bookshelves and dark hardwood furnishings.  Though he had the prerogative, he hadn’t changed a thing upon his election, nor had his predecessors going back a hundred years.  As nice as it was, he didn’t spend much time there, preferring to use his other office in the parliament building two blocks away.  The large double-windows behind his desk were open, admitting a pleasant breeze.  John and Christie crossed to it, while Ari stayed out in the hall.

“We’re back,” said John, “and the answer is yes.  Open the airlock doors.”

A portal to nowhere appeared just over the balcony railing, revealing the interior of a ship.  A taller man with darker skin than the others was there, and picked up a device about the size that John had described.  He brought it inside, not without some effort, though the woman named Christie offered to help.

“Mister President, Ray Bailey,” he said.

“Hello,” replied Feras.

“Where do you want it?”

Feras retrieved a key from a lanyard around his neck, unlocked and opened a lower drawer in his desk, and compared the interior to the size of the transceiver.

“Will this work, or were you planning on doing a wired connection?  Also does it have its own power source?”

“Yes, it looks like it will fit,” said John.  “We can do a wireless connection, and it has a battery that should last for months with normal use.  Christie?”

“I’ll need access to your console, sir,” she said.

Feras removed several files and a pistol from the drawer.  Ray hefted the transceiver inside with a grunt.  John gestured at the pistol.

“Did the Rakhar even bother to search your quarters?”

“No,” Feras replied, and sat at the desk.

The console was set into the surface of the desk.  He activated it and entered his access code, then stood up, and gestured at Christie.  She sat down and began working.

“I’m not sure how long this will take,” she said.

“No problem with the interface?  Where did you learn our language?”

“I’m an android.  I just had to download it.”

Feras raised his eyebrows, and leaned in a little closer.  “Damn.  Verisimilitude Android Designs?

“The one and only.”

“You’re lucky, then.  Eniphite characters are usually very difficult for outsiders to learn.”

“It’s the same for Chinese on my planet, which these symbols resemble.”

“I wish we were meeting under better circumstances.  Rumors of the existence of the Stymphalian Raptors have been passed on for centuries.  It would be fascinating to hear about your time there.”

“There was a lot of shooting,” said John.  “Expanding on that would take several hours.”

“That was easier than I thought it would be,” said Christie.  “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to try to send a test message now?”

Feras shrugged.  “You said I’d have to call someone I normally would, right?  Nobody I know is up at this hour, except of course for my presidential security detail and the Rakhar guards.  The former isn’t even guarding me or my home at the moment, having been dismissed by the latter.  I’d be more comfortable waiting until morning.”

“Fine,” said John.  “I hope you’ll decide to help.  Until then, we’ll let you return to bed.  Ari, we’re ready to go.”

Ari came into the office, and the three strangers boarded their ship.  Feras waved half-heartedly at them, and watched as the airlock door slid closed, returning the view to nothing but night sky.  There was a slight rush of wind, and he had to assume they were gone.

Feras returned to his room, flopped into bed, and slept like a stone.

__________

It was 3am, local time, and Reveki Kitsune couldn’t sleep.  The specter of the Kira’To filled her being like a toxic gas, adding to the discomfort of trying to sleep in an EVA suit.  It did provide protection from the elements, obviating the need for erecting shelters, and other than being in the way of basic hygiene concerns, there was no reason they couldn’t spend the rest of the night in them.  Vecky had to guess that it took some getting used to, since her companions from the Fox and the Bellatrix seemed to be as restless as her.  Marcon and his contingent, when they weren’t on watch, slept just fine.

Jim was the exception, having no need for sleep, and when he wasn’t pulling watch, he was trying to restore access to the recovered tablet.  Giving up on rest for the moment, Vecky rose from her spot in the dirt, and sat down next to him.  He had turned down the brightness on the device to levels useless to humanoids, and as such his expression was inscrutable.

“Any luck?” she asked.

“Yes.  As you can see, I’ve restored power to it, and got the OS to boot up as well.  Right now I’ve got an algorithm running to repair the corrupted files, which was most of them.  I might be able to find something useful by dawn.”

“I wish I could help.  Other than send a magazine of rounds at those weirdos that tried to ambush us, I’ve felt kind of useless on this trip.”

Jim put the tablet face-down on his knee, and looked at her.  “You’re more than capable of being an asset to this mission.  Captain Tomoyasu spoke very well of how you handled yourself during our collaboration.  Just focus on doing your job as a member of the team, and I’m sure you won’t feel wasted.”

“I guess I want to redeem myself after what happened on the Eagle.”

“I’m not sure what you mean.”

“In the last moments before Aquila escaped, and spirited me away to Earth, I was combat ineffective.  Eva almost died because I was too terrified to fight as well as I could have.”

“No one could have expected any more of you.  You shouldn’t be so hard on yourself.  Besides, does your inexperience in ground combat mean you shouldn’t be captain of a starship?  That you can’t do that job, either?  I have an eidetic memory, I know exactly how you performed during our time together.  And to hear Eva talk about the Cygnus affair, you did well there, too.”

“I suppose.  I just wish I could have the same kind of confidence as Eva, Tomo, Marcon, or even Cane and Talyn.”

“That comes with experience.  Focus on keeping your friends safe, and the rest will follow.”

The tablet chimed, and Jim looked at it.

“Progress?”

“One file is available so far.  Might as well look at it.  Let’s see… this is an email archive, the kind the program makes as an automatic backup.  Since it’s a local file, it could only belong to the person who used this device.”

“When is the most recent entry?”

“Ten years ago.  Shall I read it?”

“Go ahead.”

“Okay.  ‘Dearest love, life continues as I’ve described often, not much changes from day to day here.  There have been no major breakthroughs in any of our departments, save for my own.  That’s why it’s been so long since I last wrote to you, if you forgive me for it.  As I’ve told you, we’ve been bombarding element 93244 with neutrons in the hope of creating that ‘magic’ stable isotope that our models have predicted, and while we weren’t making any progress there, the element 92 team gave us several kilograms of 93 that they inadvertently created.  I suggested that experimenting on an amount just short of critical mass for 93 might yield different results.  And it has.

Earlier today, my team and I succeeded in transforming the entire sample to 93244, then bombarded it with neutrons of a particular energy.  Our electromagnetic containment field fluctuated, and all of a sudden the material itself generated a massive amount of power.  The reaction only lasted a nanosecond, which is fortunate, because we might have obliterated ourselves and the building.  However, all of this is very encouraging.

I’m sure you noticed that this message was encrypted.  That’s because I wanted to share with you something else that happened that defies explanation, to the point that no one present in the lab wanted to put it into an official report.  You remember the time that you and I were at that party in university, and we were offered psychotropic drugs?  During that brief fluctuation, we all felt like our sense of self had expanded, like we were outside our bodies, or ‘above’ reality itself.  There was also a strong sense for all of us that someone, or something, was watching us, like that odd feeling you get when someone is looking over your shoulder and hasn’t yet announced themselves.  It was very unnerving, but too indistinct to try to put in a report.  More importantly, none of us want to be removed from this project for a suspected psychotic break, unless it reoccurs, at which point we may have no choice but to say something.

I’m telling you all of this because I’m scared, and considering resigning.  You have always supported my professional goals, and stood by me during both failure and success.  If I do return home unexpectedly, I wanted you to at least have an idea ahead of time what was going on.  I promise you I won’t be reckless with our research, and the rest of the team feels the same.  Tomorrow we aim to replicate the power surge, though perhaps not to the degree as before.  I love you, miss you, and will write you again tomorrow’.”

Vecky let out a long breath.  “If there were no more messages after that, then I think we can pretty easily guess what caused this disaster.”

“They touched the realm of the Kira’To.”

“Yes.  That would explain the peculiar feeling that Eva and I recognized inside.  The crew of the Reckless Faith believes that their stardrive draws its power from this dimension; I think they called it zero-point energy, or at least that was one of their theories.  It seems the researchers here not only drew too much power from it at once, but opened a rift that continues to contaminate the area.  It would also explain why scavengers or thieves created a cult around it, if a Kira’To communicated with them while in proximity to the phenomenon.”

“That all makes sense to me.  It might also mean that there’s still element 93 present there, if we could find a way to access it.  Perhaps a robot could retrieve it for us.  Like the kind they use to clean up industrial accidents.”

“Maybe.  We’ll have to discuss it with the others in the morning.”  Vecky yawned.  “I’m going to try to get some more sleep, Jim.  I hope you’re able to find more useful information on the tablet.”

“I’ll try.  Sweet dreams, Reveki.”

“Not fucking likely, but thanks.”

Pegasus in Chains (RV VI), Chapter 8

Inspired by the poem Pegasus in Pound by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, I’ve decided on the title of Pegasus in Chains for the sixth book in the Reckless Faith series, at least until I think of something better. In the meantime, chapter 8 is complete, and can be found below.

Spoiler Alert: This is a new entry into the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/reckless-faith-vi-prologue/

The sun had just set behind a distant mountain range in the west, and those waiting at the boundary to the Saffron Exclusion Zone were glad to be dressed warmly.  This was easily accomplished since the mercs had donned their combat armor suits, and the contingents from the Fox and the Bellatrix were wearing their EVA suits, though sans helmets at the moment.  They had also retrieved their rifles from their shuttles, as according to the locals, they would almost certainly need them.

Following the coordinates provided to them by their hired guide, they proceeded on foot east from the spaceport for about three miles.  The high desert terrain didn’t change while they traveled, but did take on an ominous feel once the sun went down.  At that point the boundary to the Zone was easy to spot, as they arrived at a manned checkpoint.  Two soldiers from the Vastus Military Force were there, and asked their business.  When Marcon simply said they were waiting for someone, the soldiers went back into their shack and ignored them.

Not long after that, a Z’Sorth wearing a leather trench coat appeared from the south, trailing behind him a shaggy pack animal with a porcine snout and long, swept back horns.  Strapped to its back was a burlap bundle, along with what appeared to be an entire kitchen’s worth of cooking utensils.  The Z’Sorth was mostly dark blue in color, though its scales glinted of silver in the vestiges of the dying daylight.  Eva happened to be closest to him, so she approached first.

“I take it you’re our guide?” she asked.

“Igamu,” came the blurted reply.

The Z’Sorth shuffled around the group and toward the checkpoint.  Since Eva’s translator hadn’t offered her any meaning to the statement, she had to assume it was his name.

“Chatty fellow,” said Vecky, cradling her Phalanx in her arms.

Igamu spoke to the soldiers, then gestured roughly back at the group.

“I guess we’re good to go,” said Cane.

Though she was in good physical condition, Eva was hoping their guide would show up with a ground vehicle.  Their recon had showed them that it was nine miles to the scientific center, and ten miles to the canyon.  Still, that was only a three-hour walk.  The group began to walk past the guard shack, and one of the soldiers held up his hand.

“Since you people are obviously looking to cause trouble,” he began, “we’re going to require an additional contribution.”

“What did you have in mind?” growled Marcon.

“One set of combat armor, a plasma rifle, or one of those space suits.”

“Would you be happy with a combustion weapon instead?” asked Eva.

The guard glanced at the AK-74 strapped to her back.  “Where am I going to get ammunition for that thing?”

“You can have my suit,” said Jim, and began to remove it.

“You might as well go back to the spaceport without that,” said Talyn.  “Unless someone’s got another closed-cycle respiratory device they haven’t mentioned.”

“I’ll be fine.”

Jim passed off the suit, and the soldiers went back into the shack.  Igamu gestured impatiently, and they resumed walking.

“Are you sure you still want to come?” asked Marcon.  “I’m sure we’ll be fine without you.”

“Jokes on them, I’m an android.  I was only wearing that in case someone needed a replacement.”

Marcon laughed lowly.  “Let’s hope that doesn’t end up happening.”

Once it was clear that the soldiers weren’t going to mess with them any further, Marcon arranged the group in a double-wedge formation, with himself at the center.  He placed Alsade on point, behind Igamu and his beast, and Helvetios on rear security.  This arrangement was vaguely familiar to Eva, having received some infantry training from the CIA.  The road turned to the northeast, and they set off.

The next hour went by without incident.  The sky was clear, and the stars shined brightly.  The only sounds were their footfalls, and the chirping of avian life unseen to the naked eye.  They arrived at a small town, its buildings completely dark, with the main road offering a foreboding passage through its center.  The team knew of its location, and Marcon had asked Igamu for a risk assessment.  The Z’Sorth had only said that it was deserted, and of no concern.  However, upon arrival, they caught a whiff of a campfire somewhere nearby.  Since their guide showed no sign of stopping, Marcon halted the formation and walked up to him.

“It smells like someone is around,” he began.  “Are you sure you want to march right through the center of town?”

“Caravaners,” came the curt reply.  “Not hostile.”

“That may be, but I’d rather divert around the town if it’s all the same to you.”  Igamu merely grunted, so Marcon went back to his spot.  “Alsade, give me an azimuth north.  We’ll skirt around the town.  Should only add about thirty minutes to our trip.”

“Yes, sir,” she replied, and accessed the HUD on her visor.

As predicted, it took the team about half an hour to bypass the town, having never spotted a campfire or anyone who might have built one.  Meeting back up with the main road, they continued northeast.  About an hour later, they became aware of a low hum in the distance, and the road began to descend into what they knew was a gentle valley.  Soon, the hum resolved itself into the rush of a westerly wind, a force that continued to grow in power as they progressed.  By the time they reached a notable crossroads, the wind was constant at nearly twenty miles per hour.  A street sign lay face-down in the road, but Igamu revealed its message.

“Science place, one mark,” he said, pointing to the road to the north, then to the east.  “Saffron Canyon, two marks.  Do not contact me again.”

With that, the Z’Sorth turned himself and his animal around, and lurched back the way they’d come.  Since they could barely hear him over the wind, those that hadn’t yet donned their helmets retrieved them from their rucksacks and did so.  Vecky led her people on a comm check, then they confirmed a good connection with everyone else.  As planned, they headed north.

Other than the wind constantly pushing on them from the west, the terrain continued to make for easy travel, though the road’s surface was becoming increasingly deteriorated.  After about thirty minutes, the road winded around a small hillock, and the research center came into view at the center of the valley.  It was a monolithic block of a building, five stories tall, and about two hundred meters on each side.  It was situated next to a small river, which ran the length of the valley.  Though the river to the west of the building was flanked with vegetation, such flora thinned out just before the structure and was nonexistent to the east.  Alsade must have taken that as a clue to start scanning, and she spoke.

“Radiation levels are slightly elevated compared to a minute ago, but not even remotely dangerous.  For now.”

“Good,” replied Marcon.  “Keep an eye on it.  Let’s approach upwind of the building.  Switch to infrared if you haven’t already.”

Eva’s interface with her suit was her PDA, so she pulled it out and activated the infrared function of her helmet.  The terrain lit up accordingly, and the sky glowed with millions of previously-unseen stars.

“Holy shit, are you seeing this?”

Vecky’s comment brought her attention back toward the building.  Her jaw dropped, as it was impossible not to notice a bright shaft of shimmering, shifting light emanating from the center of the structure, piercing the veil of darkness and seeming to escape the atmosphere itself.  She double-checked her PDA, only to find that whatever force was causing the vibrant eruption wasn’t showing up in her scans.

“I’m not getting anything here,” said Alsade, her eyes on her own PDA.

“Nothing from me,” said Cane.

“What could be causing that?” asked Laurent.

“Probably a result of whatever caused this catastrophe in the first place,” replied Jim.  “Gamma radiation from a particular source, having breached its containment, would be a directed energy.  If that breach was upward, then it might look like this.”

Eva raised her eyebrow and looked at him.  “Do you know more about the disaster than you’re letting on?”

“No, it’s just a plausible explanation for what we’re seeing.  Proceed with caution, everyone.”

The team left what remained of the roadway, and began to flank to the west.  They rounded what was a large parking lot, and turned to the north.  As they drew near to the west side of the building, they spotted the burned-out remains of five armored personnel carriers of unknown design.  Marcon gestured for the team to spread out, and they got in a line, focusing their attention straight ahead.  Moving at a measured pace, it wasn’t long before they found several corpses; the tattered uniforms that hung loosely from their desiccated flesh matched those of the soldiers back at the cordon.  Any other evidence as to what had caused their demise had long since faded away into dust.

“Fire team Alpha, check the northwest corner of the building,” began Marcon.  “Bravo, secure that entrance.”

Alsade, Eva, Vecky, Cane, and Talyn moved north until they reached a large patio area, overlooking the river, while Marcon, Helvetios, Laurent, and Jim approached the largest doorway on the west side of the building.  Finding nothing, Eva’s team came back.  A set of double doors had once been in place at this entrance, but now one lay on the ground and the other was nowhere to be found.  The dark maw of a wide hallway into the first floor seemed to beckon them forward.  Marcon nodded, and Alsade activated an IR illuminator on her helmet.  She moved inside, the stock of her rifle tucked tightly into her shoulder.  Eva and Vecky were fast on her heels, but stopped as soon as they crossed the threshold.  They could both feel their hair rising off their skin, as if a cold breeze had just washed over them.

“Can you feel that?” breathed Vecky.

“I can,” murmured Eva.

“What are you two on about?” asked Cane.

“It’s just like when I was transported to Earth,” said Vecky.

Eva nodded.  “And when I watched you go.  The fabric of our beings touching the skein of the Kira’To.”

“Now is not the time to get freaked out by your own superstitions,” said Marcon.

“After everything that happened at the Swan, you still think both the Adherents and the Cygnians were just religious nuts?”

“I don’t know, I was just there to do a job.  I couldn’t have cared less what was motivating everyone to kill each other.  Is this going to be a problem?”

“To me, it just feels like the hint of an old memory, nothing more.”

“I’ll be fine,” added Vecky.

“And I assure you, the Kira’To are very much real.  What constitutes that reality, however, is up for debate.”

Marcon grunted.  “Clear as mud, thanks.”

Alsade said, “Ambient radiation is up to 125 pfligents, nothing our suits can’t handle.”

Eva checked her PDA for a measurement she could understand.  Her own device was showing 500 milliSieverts, which would be a minimal risk to a human as long as they didn’t take up residence in the hallway.  She activated the IR illuminator on her Phalanx, and began to poke around.  A few feet down the hallway, there were sets of sliding doors on either side.  Shining their lights through the windows set in the doors revealed nothing but grime and more darkness.  Marcon gestured toward the room on the left.

“Move in, nice and slow,” he said.

“Adeler, get on that side,” began Alsade.  “Venator, Kitsune, you’re up.”

Eva and Alsade each grabbed one side of the doors, and wrenched them open.  Cane and Vecky swept inside, with the first two women fast on their heels.  They found themselves on a landing above a cavernous area, with a set of stairs leading down one floor.  Cane and Vecky took a knee, their rifles poised over the railing, while Eva and Alsade moved down the stairs and took up positions at the bottom.  Thanks to their illuminators and visual enhancements in their helmets, they could see the limits of the space, if not every corner.  It was a laboratory, two stories in height, and appeared to take up the entire northwest corner of the building.  At first glance, it was impossible to determine the purpose of the lab, as it had been thoroughly ransacked at some point.

“In place,” said Alsade.

Marcon and the rest of the team came in, and together they all methodically cleared the room.  It quickly became clear that anything of value had already been stripped, and what machinery and equipment that had been left behind was smashed beyond recognition.  Eva ended up next to a shallow pool of water near one of the corners, and scanned it with her PDA.

“I’m detecting alpha radiation from this water, with an energy of 5.5 MeV.  This is consistent with the decay of element 95241, which itself is a decay product of element 94.  So they must have been experimenting with one or both of those.”

“We already know they were using element 94 in their research,” replied Jim.

“I find it strange that someone went through the trouble of destroying this equipment,” began Cane.  “Why risk illness or death on vandalism for entertainment purposes?”

“It could have been done by the employees here, upon given the evacuation order,” said Talyn.

“That would make more sense.”

Marcon said, “From what we were able to learn on the ‘net, they had very little time to get out, let alone attempt to preserve corporate secrets.  I sense something more sinister happened here.”

“Our armor, and your EVA suits, are top-of-the-line,” said Alsade.  “If whoever did this didn’t have adequate protection, it would have been suicide.”

“We’re all committing suicide, just with different timing.  Come on, let’s keep moving.”

The team explored the room across the hall, which was a mirror of the first.  The situation there was much the same, although they also discovered a tablet-size PDA among the wreckage.  Jim declared that it was salvageable, though it would take some time to restore its contents.  He stuffed it into his rucksack for consideration later.  Moving further down the hallway, they were stymied by gamma rays emanating from a point in a lower floor.

“Jim, is something you can withstand?” asked Marcon.

Jim shook his head.  “Not for long.  My circuits would be scrambled within minutes.”

“Adeler, any chance you can determine the origin?”

Eva frowned, and scrutinized her PDA.  “These readings are strange.  I’m seeing positron emissions consistent with isotope 93244, but the gamma rays are from another source.  Though it suggests spontaneous fission, I’m not getting an exact match with anything in my database.”

“It seems to me that the scientists working here got too ambitious with their experiments, and unleashed something hell itself couldn’t contain.”

“Weren’t you just saying not to let our superstitions get the best of us?”

“I was being poetic.”

“Fair enough.  From what I can tell, even if we find a way to this phenomenon’s origin point, it would be fatal to investigate it further.  My recommendation is that we withdraw to a safe distance, set up camp for the rest of the night, and proceed to Saffron Canyon City in the morning.”

“I agree.  We’ve all been awake for far too long.  Perhaps Jim might be able to find something useful on that tablet in the meantime.  Let’s withdraw to the parking lot.  Everyone stay alert.”

The team made their way out of the building, and got as far as the wrecked APCs before Alsade barked an alert.

“We’ve got company,” she said, unlimbering her plasma rifle.

From the east, kicking up dust that was immediately carried away by the wind, a convoy of trucks approached.  Upon reaching the parking lot, they spread out in a line, revealing seven wheeled vehicles.  The team took cover behind the APCs, and watched as about two dozen humanoid dismounted and surveyed the area.  They had rifles, or other long arms, but at the distance of a hundred or so meters, no other detail could be discerned.

“I guess we got the attention of the welcome committee,” whispered Talyn.

A lone figure broke off from the group and walked ahead.  He seemed to know exactly where the team was, and shouted at them.

“Interlopers,” he began.  “You have defiled the sacred ground of the Kira’To.  Surrender, and your deaths will be swift.  Otherwise you will know suffering reserved only for the most egregious traitors!”

“What was it you said about committing suicide?” asked Helvetios, smirking.

“They must think we’re common thieves,” replied Marcon.  “Everyone choose your target, left to right.  I’ll initiate fire.”

Marcon didn’t hesitate, laying down a brilliant swath of blue plasma toward the right flank of the new arrivals.  A split-second later, the rest of the team began firing, with the Phalanxes adding several decibels of an ear-splitting cacophony to the valley floor.  The strangers replied with a fusillade of projectile weapons, the bullets of which either caromed off of the APCs, kicked up dust in the parking lot, or found their way into the murky depths of the river.  Some of them attempted a flanking maneuver towards the building, but were easily cut down in the open terrain.  Just as quickly as it had begun, the action was over, and the team suffered no casualties.  Marcon spoke again.

“Bravo team, move up.  Alpha team, watch our backs.”

Marcon and his fire team cleared the parking lot, and found and disarmed one survivor.  The others, once they were sure they weren’t being flanked, joined Marcon and set up a perimeter.  Talyn grabbed his medical kit, and attended to the lone survivor.  He had been struck by a round from a Phalanx in the abdomen, so Talyn applied a pressure dressing.  Though he was displaying the professionalism of a soldier, the others couldn’t help notice the appearance of the man.  A native Vastusian, his flesh bore many piercings, some of which were still weeping blood at the point of puncture.  He also showed signs of radiation poisoning, including blisters all over his body.  Despite his care, Talyn couldn’t help but rupture some of them as he attempted to stop the bleeding from the gunshot wound.  He was muttering something unintelligible, until Marcon grabbed him by the neck.

“Captain, wait,” objected Talyn, dropping his bandage before he could secure it.

“What happened here?” asked Marcon.

“Interlopers,” wheezed the man.  “You have defiled this holy place.”

“Holy to whom?  Answer, and we will treat you.”

“The Illuminated Path, the true children of the Kira’To.”

Though she recoiled at the sight of him, Eva drew closer.  “What do you know of the Kira’To?”

“Their presence was revealed to us here.  This is their sanctuary.  Only those of true belief can approach it.”

“Did the Kira’To give you a name?”

The man laughed, then coughed.  “They have no names.  No more than the galaxy itself…”

His eyes rolled back into his head, and he stopped breathing.

“He’s lost too much blood,” said Talyn.  “There’s nothing more I can do.”

“And here I thought we had exhausted our supply of Kira’To lunatics,” said Vecky.

“I’m not so sure that’s what’s going on here,” said Eva.

“I really don’t care right now,” said Marcon.  “Let’s withdraw to the hillock we passed on the way here.  We’ll set up camp on the leeward side and search the rest of the research center in the morning.  If we don’t find what we’re looking for, we’ll proceed to Saffron Canyon.  Any objections?”

There were none, so the team arranged themselves in the previous marching order, and headed back toward the road.  Vecky looked at Eva, the older woman’s expression inscrutable behind the visor of her helmet.

“You don’t think the Kira’To are actively involved here?” she asked.

“I don’t know.  Something about this whole situation feels different from what we encountered on the Eagle and the Swan.   I mean, I felt what you felt back there in the hallway, but it felt more like a distant memory.  I’m not sure how else to describe it, except it lacked the same urgency as before.”

“I guess I can agree.  I’ve never been too confident in my connections with them.  I always felt like I was just as soon telling you about a dream I had last night, as opposed to actual missives from those beings.”

“I know exactly what you mean.”

Reckless Faith VI, Chapter 7

Spoiler Alert: This is a new entry into the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/reckless-faith-vi-prologue/

It was eerie under the red sun of Epsilon Pegasi, and Richter didn’t care for it very much.  He, along with John, Ray, Dana, Milly, and Devonai, sat in the patio section of a bar in the town that was nearest to the Faith.  It was time for an evening meal for the locals, though this particular establishment was only at about 25% capacity.  Having done a bit of recon prior, the assembled team knew they would be welcome.  So far, the other patrons were ignoring them.  Nothing on the menu was anything they could comprehend, so they’d just ordered beer.  They had plenty of food back on the ship.

That morning, after some sleep, Dana, Ari, and Christie had thrown themselves back at the task of trying to figure out how the Rakhar ships were able to detect the Faith.  Though Richter figured their combined experience would quickly yield results, he was wrong.  By the time the afternoon had arrived, they all decided they needed a break.  Ari chose to get some more rest, while Dana and the others decided to explore the nearby town.  They hadn’t detected any ships since their quick escape from the industrial complex the night before, so it seemed safe enough.

The town supported itself, most obviously, through agrarian efforts.  Any other industry might have been present, but wasn’t apparent to a casual observer.  Their brief walk into town had shown them both crop fields and livestock, the latter of which was in bizarre forms.  Since some of those animals were presumably on the menu, the thought of eating them was rather unappealing for any of the human visitors.  The beer, however, was excellent.

Conversation had been light as the team sipped their brews and watched the locals do locals stuff.  The only notable snippet of a subject they caught from a nearby table was a brief discussion of the sudden collapse of a silo at old Bayyer’s farm.  Such mundanity made Richter slightly wistful, as he had grown up in a small town, while at the same time finding it notable that nobody here seemed the least bit concerned about the Rakhar invasion.

As it happened, both Richter and Devonai finished their drinks at the same time, and well before the others.  They stood up, and headed inside to the smoky bar.  There was only one kind of beer being offered, so they simply pointed at their glasses and slipped the bartender a small gold bar after he’d finished refilling them.  Both men carefully sipped at the rims of their glasses to reduce the suds.

“I’ve been meaning to ask you,” began Devonai, “why didn’t you transfer to the Fox, or ask Eva to transfer to the Faith?  You’ve decided to rekindle your relationship, but have hardly seen each other these past few weeks.”

Richter shrugged.  “It’s a situation we discussed, and it quickly became obvious that our primary commitment is to our respective ships.  I also had to recognize that there was an imbalance in our levels of interest in each other.  For me, only about a year has passed since she and I first broke up, but over fourteen years for her.  Her latent feelings have faded more than mine.  It would be foolish to expect her to give up her shipmates for me.”

“So why not transfer to the Fox?”

“It would be like moving in with someone you’ve only been on a couple dates with.  That’s how I’d characterize our relationship right now, despite our history.  We need to take it slow right now.”

“I guess that makes sense.  You know, you never talked much about why you broke up.  Was it just the distance between Boston and DC?”

“Essentially.  That and the age difference.  You still haven’t told me anything about your relationship.”

Devonai visibly blushed, then sipped his beer.  “She told you about that, huh?”

“No, she mentioned it to Kitsune, who asked me about it later.”

“Awkward.  Look, there has to be a reason Eva hasn’t mentioned it to you.  If I were you, I’d let her breach the topic if she wants.”

“Fine, but I’m sure she’ll respect the fact that you’re a grown-ass man and free to talk about your own past.”

“I think this alcohol is going to your head too quickly.  Suffice it to say that our flash-in-the-pan relationship was initially borne out of circumstances beyond our control.  By that I mean the unintentional consumption of MDMA.”

Richter almost spat out his drink.  “Ha!  Seriously?  You were both high?  Oh my god, you can’t say something like that and not tell me the rest of the story.”

Christie’s voice crackled in their earpieces.  “John, this is Christie, come in, over.”

Richter and Devonai returned to the patio table where the others were sitting.

“Go ahead, Christie,” said John.

“Three Styluses have taken an interest in the general area around the ship.  They seem to have an inkling that we’re in the area.”

“Roger.  Let’s not take any chances.  We can’t be spotted walking back, so you’ll have to come to us.  We’ll try to find somewhere nearby we can board without being seen.”

“Understood.  We’re already moving.”

The team either finished their beers or chugged as much as they could, and headed for the street.  Once there, they turned to the north, and began looking for an appropriate pickup spot.

Christie said, “The fighters are heading directly toward the Faith.  They’ll be in weapons range in a few seconds.”

“Deal with them first, then,” said John.

The team continued moving until Richter noticed an empty livestock pen with no one around.  They moved inside, and their attention was drawn to the sky by the sound of weapons fire.  About half a mile away, and five thousand feet up, three small specks could be seen trading plasma bolts and tracers with the invisible Faith.  One of the specks immediately exploded, and after a brief dogfight, the other two were also destroyed.  A few seconds later, a rush of wind announced the arrival of the ship, and the cargo bay came into view as the ramp lowered.  The team jogged inside.

“Everyone’s aboard, you can close the ramp,” said John.  “Any damage?”

“We took several hits but everything seems to be fine,” replied Christie.

The team returned to the bridge.  Ari was piloting the ship, and Christie was at the weapons station.

“Nice work, you two,” said Ray.

“You’ll have to hold off on the celebratory orgy, folks,” began Christie.  “I’m reading five more Styluses and two light cruisers coming in hot from high altitude.”

“I don’t think we’re going to evade them again,” said Ray.

“I agree,” said John.  “I say we break atmo and try to lose them in the magnetosphere of one of the gas giants.”

Ari smiled viciously.  “Fine with me.  Everybody strap in.”

The others did so, and Ari pointed the ship straight up.  She accelerated to over four thousand miles per hour, causing bright orange flames to appear around the bow.  Moments later, the greenish sky faded to black, and the flames ceased.

“I’m setting a course for Eniph V,” said Christie.

“Fine,” said John.  “Ari, 0.9c, please.”

Ari pushed the throttle forward to their maximum sub-light speed.

“We gained some distance but the ships are still pursuing,” said Christie.  “We won’t reach Eniph V before they’ll be able to fire on us.”

“The NDSS!” shouted Dana.  “Christie, shut it down, now!  Passive scanners only.”

“Bringing the system offline now.”

“You think that’s how they’ve been tracking us?” asked John.

Dana nodded.  “It would make sense.  Let’s see what happens now.”

Bringing the ship around to port, Ari pulled back on the throttle and maneuvered in a wide circle until the ship was directly above one of the light cruisers.  Shaped roughly like an almond, it bore no distinct livery other than a flat gray exterior.  It and the other ships continued toward the gas giant, oblivious to their course change.

“So far, so good,” said Devonai.

“Permission to engage, commander?” asked Ari.

“Give ‘em hell,” said John.

Ari opened up with both the plasma cannon and GAU 8, filling the bridge with their thunderous reports.  She broke off and came around to get on the stern of the same ship.

“No visible damage,” said Christie.  “But look.”

The formation banked to the right, and went to superluminal.

“Excellent work.  Resume our previous heading.”

“Roger,” said Ari.  “Zukova, take over for me.”

Ari locked down the autopilot, and she and Milly switched seats.  Ari joined Dana at her station.

“So why the NDSS?” asked Christie.  “Most ships we’ve encountered use a neutrino-paired sensor.  What’s distinct about ours?”

“The energy of neutrinos depends on how they’re created.”  Dana peered at her monitor.  “Ours are a by-product of the neptunium-generated fusion process, and as you know there are very few known reactor designs that use neptunium as a fuel source.  If the neutrinos we use in our NDSS have a distinct energy signature, and our enemy has learned how to distinguish it, then they could track us whenever we’re using it and know it’s us.”

“Wait a minute,” began Devonai, “if our reactor was damaged, and the fusion process is no longer, um, fusioning, then where have we been getting the neutrinos from these past couple of days?”

“The same place those deadly gamma rays came from,” replied Christie.  “That forced us to put that lead sarcophagus in place.  Our particular form of neptunium is only stable in certain amounts.  Upset that balance, and you get gamma rays and beta decay, the latter of which is a viable source of neutrinos.  From the perspective of the NDSS, they’re just as useful.”

Dana said, “According to our sensor logs, our neutrinos are emitted with an energy of 2.4 megaelectron volts.  Every other ship we’ve ever been scanned by, or have been scanning something at the same time they were, had an energy of 1.8 MeV.  Hold on… yup, you guessed it, Aldebaran’s ship, a true Umberian Mark XVII, also had a neutrino energy of 2.4 MeV.  That confirms it, folks.  We’ve been outing ourselves as Umberian to anyone savvy enough to know the difference.”

“It seems so obvious now in retrospect,” said John.

“Tracers work both ways,” said Richter.

“Can we modify the NDSS to use less energetic neutrinos?”

“Maybe,” replied Dana.  “Prior to emission, neutrinos are stored in the primary cyclotron.  Their energy is maintained through the angular momentum imparted on them by the electromagnetic field.  It should be possible to induce drag on them somehow, bleeding off energy to a point that makes them indistinguishable from other ships.  But doing so would reduce the range of the NDSS.  I know, an acceptable compromise.”

“Okay, work on that.  Ari, Christie, help her.  That still leaves the problem of our invisibility shield.  Even if our scanner isn’t a red flag, wouldn’t the fact that its origin point being undetectable be a red flag by itself?”

“We’re still talking about at least half a light-year, which is well beyond the visual range of passive scanners or the Mark I eyeball.”

“That’s a relief.  As long as we’re in a region with normal traffic, it shouldn’t raise any suspicions.”

Ray said, “That’s all well and good, but even if everything is figured out, what does it change?  We’re still stuck waiting for the Fox and the Rastaban to bring us more neptunium, or installing a Cooper drive instead.  Is anyone seriously proposing that we try to take out the entire Rakhar fleet by ourselves?”

“Of course not, Ray.  The odds are still stacked against us, and we can’t rule out sheer numbers overwhelming our stealth in open combat.  As long as we’re alone, our best bet is to either remain hidden, or start trying to recruit allies locally.  We still haven’t made contact with the legitimate government on Eniph.  If we have the ability to do so undetected, that should be our next step.”

The Faith arrived at Eniph V, and Ari concentrated on getting her in orbit near the northern pole.  The rest of the crew was momentarily distracted by the swirling, roiling atmosphere and dancing lights of aurora borealis.  Christie seemed lost in thought, so Ray sat down next to her.

“What’s on your mind?” he asked.

“I’m reviewing the sensor logs from a few minutes ago, when we were taking hits from those Styluses.  Normally, when we have critical mass for FTL, taking too many hits in a short time is usually our biggest problem in combat, since the hull shunts that excess energy into the stardrive and we risk overload.  This time, however, the hits barely caused the lights to flicker.  In fact, the power transfer system very briefly pushed the latent energy in the stardrive to levels near what we need to initiate FTL.  It’s possible that if we do decide to fight, and start getting overwhelmed, the enemy’s own weapons could provide us the opportunity to make a quick jump into FTL and make an escape.”

John nodded.  “That’s great, except for whatever weapon penetrated our hull completely.  That’s never happened before.  Have you had a chance to figure out what it was?”

“Initial data shows that it was essentially a much more powerful version of our own plasma cannon, but the shot was contained inside some kind of thin metal jacket.  How that shell itself wasn’t vaporized, I don’t know yet.”

“Sounds like a kind of explosively-formed penetrator,” said Richter.

“Okay,” began John.  “Dana, Ari, you continue to work on modifying the NDSS.  Christie, I want you to go back to getting the SRC transceiver back online.  The rest of us will look into plasma shot that hit us, and see if we can’t develop some sort of countermeasure.  No matter what we decide to do next, a few more hours hiding out here won’t hurt.”

Reckless Faith VI, Chapter 6

Spoiler Alert: This is a new entry into the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/reckless-faith-vi-prologue/

Fifteen minutes later, Ari and her rescue team of John, Richter, Ray, and Milena, had arrived back at the Faith.  It wasn’t a moment too soon, as two ships had just come into view over STC, swooping down from high altitude in a big hurry.  The rest of the crew had finished returning the base camp supplies to the cargo bay.  When the team arrived inside, they found everyone else standing at the top of the ramp, except for Christie, who was presumably still on the bridge.  The ramp closed, and they felt the ship begin to move.

“Where are we going?” asked Ari, strapping her new plasma rifle to her back.

“Anywhere but here,” replied Dana.  “At least anywhere within a fifteen-minute flight.  Christie says if we stay by the ramp, we should be safe from the gamma rays for that duration.”

Christie’s voice filled the bay.  “Yes, and I’ve calculated that a one centimeter barrier of lead on all six sides of the engine room will completely block the radiation from the rest of the ship.  The only problem will be finding enough source material for me to construct the cube.  My suggestion is to wait until things quiet down at STC, come back, and cannibalize one of their structures.  Assuming, of course, we don’t get pursued right now.”

Ari said, “Christie, you said the radiation is less dangerous for me, right?  I should be up there with you.”

“I mean, from what I understand of your modifications, yes, but I have no idea how much more resilient you are compared to a standard human.”

If we get into combat, fine,” began John, “until then there’s no need.”

“Okay.  Christie’s got enough on her plate, I’m going to start researching our last encounter and see if we can figure out how they circumvented our invisibility shield.”

“I’ll help,” said Dana.

Ari and Dana headed for the nearest computer terminal.

John nodded.  “Thanks, both of you.  Christie, I’m sure we can find another source of materials for lead.  We saw a city to the south on the way in, fly nap-of-the-earth to the outskirts.”

“Understood.”

“I also want you to contact the other ships, and let them know not to take heroic measures to obtain any neptunium, since we have the uranium hexafluoride to fall back on.”

“The SRC transceiver is down, and they’re out of range for the VLF.”

“Damn it, that’s right.  We’ll just have to hope that they’ll exercise good judgment.”

It didn’t take long for the ship to arrive at the nearby city, and Christie quickly located a disused grain silo that was comprised mostly of concrete.  As such, it was more than enough material for her to transport aboard and transmute into lead.  Unseen to the others, but also unsurprisingly, the silo collapsed.  She completed constructing the engine room’s new sarcophagus, and began to run some tests.

“Good news,” she began.  “The lead lining is working as intended.  The rest of the ship is now safe to occupy.”

The crew cheered, and returned to the bridge, save for Ari, who went to the galley first.  Christie in android form didn’t acknowledge them, presumably deep in thought.  When Ari came back, she placed a huge container of pasta salad on the console, set her rifle down, and she and Dana resumed research on the failure of their invisibility shield.  John watched them briefly, though he didn’t intend to try to help.  Despite all his time on the ship, he was hardly an expert in its inner workings.

“I wonder if what caused Ari’s shield to fail is the same as how they spotted the Faith,” he said.

“It’s possible,” replied Ari, mumbling around her food.  “They use similar light-bending techniques.  It would also be good to know if they’ve put two and two together, as far as my little foray tonight being connected to the attack that grounded us.”

“Right now, the only way to know would be to ask them.  However, it’s a good sign that there aren’t a dozen ships patrolling around STC looking for us.”

“Hopefully Christie can repair the rest of our systems soon, we could really use her help with our analysis here.”

“I’m going to need a break first,” said Christie.  “But I think that task has a higher priority than others.  Remaining hidden is the most important thing right now.”

“She’s absolutely right,” said John.  “Go ahead and rest your mind for a while, then we can tackle it.”

Richter picked up the new plasma rifle.  “I don’t suppose it would be too much strain to take a look at this, first.”

Christie hesitated for a moment.  “Sure, Richter.  The markings are in Umberian, with Rakhar translations engraved next to them.  The controls and operation are what you’d expect.  The fire control lever is by your thumb, currently on safe, and goes clockwise to semi, three-round burst, and auto.  The LED indicator on the magazine is showing 95% charge… holy shit, the power source is neptunium-244.”

“That would make sense, if the rifle has Umberian origins.”

“Yes, but from what I’m seeing here, you’d need more of the same to recharge it.  So one would have to conclude that the Rakhar have a source of neptunium-244 at their disposal.”

“That’s great,” said John, “but again, we can’t just ask them where they got it.”

“It might explain how they were able to detect the ship.  If they’ve been researching it, that is.”

“How many shots did you fire?” asked Richter.

“Seven three-round bursts,” replied Ari.

“Jeez, that gives it something like a 400-round capacity.  Nice.”

Dana said, “Richter, you’re burying the lede here.  Ari, Christie, let’s focus on that idea.  We already know that the invisibility shield can mask our energy signature, or disguise it to look like another propulsion system.  The Zendreen satellites could track us when we were uplinked to Talvan’s computer, and the shadow ships could track our wake eddies.  If you were well familiar with 244’s particular properties, what advantage might that give you that our other adversaries haven’t had?”

Ari nodded.  “All right, that’s where we’ll start.”

“If that’s the solution,” began Ray, “then that means the entire Rakhar fleet has been instructed to scan for us, specifically.”

“I’d take it as a compliment that they think we’re that much of a threat,” said John.  “We already know we’ve gained a reputation in this quadrant.”

Milly said, “What if this entire invasion is just an elaborate trap for the Faith?”

“I don’t think so.  I think it’s more of, ‘hey, this ship the Reckless Faith has been an enormous pain in the ass in this region lately, keep an eye out for them’.  We can only speculate until we get off this planet.”

“How long do you want to wait for the Fox and Rastaban to come back before we execute our Plan B?” asked Ray.

“I dunno, say a week?  If we can fix the SRC transceiver, we can get updates.  Barring that, after a week I’m going to start getting a little squirrelly thinking something has gone wrong with them.”

“Look on the bright side,” said Richter.  “If we have to switch to the Cooper drive, we’ll have enough neptunium to keep this rifle in service for years.”

“Okay, Richter.  You like guns.  We get it already.”

__________

The Fox and the Rastaban had arrived at Vastus, an otherwise unremarkable blue-green Earth-like planet orbiting a yellow G-type star.  On the bridge of the Fox, Evangeline had just finished scanning the area, revealing the number of satellites and ship traffic one might expect from any planet along a trade route.  The entire crew of the Fox was present, and Captain Marcon was listening in on an open channel.

“We’re receiving a transmission from one of the satellites,” said Eva.

“Put it through,” replied Vecky.

An unfamiliar language could be heard, translated a split-second later by the ship’s computer.

“This is an automated message from Vastus orbital control.  Your transponder has been registered and your ship has been cleared.  You may establish orbit or land on the surface.  Important!  Access to Saffron Canyon City, and everything within a ten-mark radius is strictly forbidden.  Airspace in this zone is assiduously monitored, and any ship entering without authorization may be fired upon without warning.  Coordinates to follow, voice transmission terminates.”

“The computer is telling me that unit of measurement is approximately 1.5 kilometers,” said Eva.  “Assuming we figure out a way to get in, we’ll have a bit of a walk ahead of us.”

“Okay,” said Vecky.  “See if you can find us a trade port somewhere nearby.”

“We need to establish orbit first.”

“Oh, right.”

“I’m sending the telemetry to your HUD now.  Captain Marcon, did you also get it?”

“Yes,” came the reply.

“Thank you.  Once we’re in orbit, we might as well dock, since we’ll need the Rastaban’s shuttle to get to the surface.”

“Understood.”

Cane said, “There’s a trade port about thirty kilometers from Saffron Canyon.  I’m looking up their rules for visitors and any weapons restrictions they may have.”

“Good,” said Vecky.  “Hopefully we’ll be able to make some connections there.”

Vecky concentrated on getting the ship into orbit, then on the task of docking with the Rastaban.  They had already decided on the usual compliment of away team members from their ship, so it was time for her, Eva, Cane, and Talyn to depart.  They each stopped by their quarters, and then the ship’s armory, to grab their gear.  That done, they headed to the airlock and boarded the Rastaban.  They were greeted by Marcon, and his first officer, Tereis.  After moving down a short hallway, they entered the large cargo bay.  Here, at least fifty of the Rastaban’s crew was busy with hand-to-hand combat training of various sorts.  Marcon barely glanced at the activity, instead leading them to the opposite side, and another airlock.  Waiting for them was a Primarian female with pale skin, and an auburn-furred Kau’Rii male.  Both clutched a capable-looking plasma rifle in one hand, and a large duffel bag in the other.  A third rifle and bag were also on the floor.  Marcon picked them up.

“It’s nice to see another Primarian all the way out here,” said Vecky.

She nodded at her.  “Lieutenant Alsade.  You must be Captain Kitsune.”

“Nice to meet you.  Did you grow up on Primus?”

“Yes, I’m from Camphustia.”

“Me too!  Small galaxy, isn’t it?”

The Kau’Rii looked at Eva, noticing her several weapons.  “Expecting trouble?”

“Always,” replied Eva.  “Anyway, you never know which of these might be legal where we’re going.”

“I like it.  Sergeant Helvetios, at your service.”

Vecky went on to introduce Cane and Talyn.  Marcon gestured toward the airlock.

“Unless you need anything from me, let’s get going,” he said.

The seven of them piled into the shuttle.  Much larger than the one that the Fox used to have, this one could easily accommodate twenty-five passengers, along with a crew of two.  Though the interior was mostly clean, gouges and scuff marks on the bulkheads and deck bore evidence of heavy use.  Helvetios and Alsade put their gear in the back, then took up the command stations.  Marcon and the others strapped themselves into jumpseats.  Alsade fired up the power system, and began to do a systems check with Helvetios.  There was a slight bump as the shuttle freed itself from its host, and they were on their way.

“ETA to the trade port, seven minutes,” said Alsade.

The shuttle smoothly entered the atmosphere of Vastus, and made a rapid descent.  The region of the continent that was home to their destination was high plains desert, near the foothills of a mountain range.  The trade port was under a giant transparent geodesic dome, with dozens of landing platforms on the periphery.  Weather in that area was fair, and it was a couple of hours after dawn, local time.  Alsade set the shuttle gently onto their designated platform.

“I think we can leave our bags here for now,” said Marcon.  “Helvetios, any luck with the rules for visitors?”

“Yes sir,” he replied.  “Pistols only, weapons must be concealed, limit for projectile weapons is 75 krewsh and energy weapons is 4500 parhet nominal yield. Edged weapons must not be able to penetrate body armor of less than 200 layers of synthetic kinetic-absorbing fibers.”

“Our sidearms are good to go.  How about you lot?”

“I think those are the same limits as the Four Winds Complexium,” said Eva.  “We should be good except for Cane.”

Cane nodded.  “I’m only taking my Legionnaire.  It’s within the limits.”

“What else you got in there?” asked Alsade.

“If you ever find out, it means the shit has really hit the fan.”

“Curious expression, but quite illustrative.”

“Terrans have lots of colorful phrases.”

“Ah.”

Everyone stepped out onto the platform.  The morning air was chilly, and the team was glad to step inside the much warmer dome.  The interior of the trade port was a sprawling, wide open space, with several rows of one-story structures and kiosks.  Because of this, the entire place smelled like food, even though they had yet to spot the food court.  Eva’s stomach growled at her, reminding her that she’d had a small breakfast.  Security drones patrolled overhead, and they quickly spotted a couple of armed guards walking away from them.  At first glance, the only people there were native Vastusians, who were tall, stocky, and dark-skinned.  Long hair with top-knots seemed to be the preferred style for both men and women.  There didn’t seem to be any rhyme or reason to the arrangement of businesses and vendors.

“All right,” began Marcon.  “You know the deal.  Discretion is going to be the name of the game today.  We have plenty of time to suss out how to get into the Saffron exclusion zone, so be casual and take your time talking to people.  I suggest we split up into two groups.”

“I’d like to use the opportunity to get to know you better,” said Vecky.  “Do you mind if I join your group?

“Fine with me.  Helvetios, you can go with them.  Can I assume you’ve all got some currency to lubricate conversation?”

Eva nodded.  “We have quite a bit of element 79 in small bars.  Should be enough for several modest transactions.”

“Good.  Stay in touch by radio.  We’ll meet back here in four hours, or earlier if we come across any promising leads.”

“Sounds good.”

The two teams parted ways, with Eva’s group heading toward the southern end of the dome.  There wasn’t yet too much activity around them.

“Kinda sleepy here today,” she said.

“It’s early yet,” said Cane.  “We may not find the information we need until the more interesting characters crawl out of bed.”

“I guess it’s a universal thing that people operating on the edge of the law prefer to do so at night.”

“Seems that way.”

“How much experience do you have with this sort of work?” asked Helvetios.

“Operating on the edge of the law?  Before we were freelancers, Talyn and I were Syndicate men.”

“I’m surprised you’re willing to volunteer that information.”

“Me too,” said Talyn.

Cane said, “The way I see it, you’ll keep our secrets if you want us as future clients.”

“True,” said Helvetios.  “Dead men are notoriously stingy.”

“Adeler!”

Eva responded to the familiar voice calling her name.  She turned to face a café they were walking by.  Out on the patio, she saw two people she knew, and answered.

“Jim!  Laurent!  Hello!”

Eva went onto the patio and immediately sat down with the pale humanoid and brown-furred Kau’Rii, so the others stood beside her.

“Everyone, this is Jim 147 and Laurent, crewmembers of the Bellatrix.  At least, they were last I saw them.”

“We’re still with her,” said Laurent.

Jim looked at Eva with intensity.  “I am the captain now.”

“That’s great!  Have you been in touch with Tomoyasu since you parted ways?”

“That’s why we’re here, he hired the Bellatrix to look for more reactor fuel.  Considering how dependent the Eagle is on its only reactor, he thought it prudent to have spare fuel in case of another catastrophe.”

“Indeed.  Not to try to take money out of your hands, but I wonder why he didn’t contact the Fox or the Reckless Faith.”

“You had already left to look for the Swan, according to him.”

“Ah.  So, your research brought you here.  Heading for Saffron Canyon, I take it?”

“If it doesn’t end up being a dead end.  Can I assume you’re here for the same reason?”

“Yes, but we have a different problem we’re trying to solve.”

“Perhaps then we should be working together.  We’ve made contact with an individual who claims to make regular trips inside the exclusion zone.  I’m sure he would be willing to escort a larger group, for the right price.”

Cane said, “Evangeline, a word, please?”

He gestured back toward the street, and she followed him until they were out of earshot.

“What?” she asked.

“I’m not sure this is a good idea.  Sixty kilograms is a lot of neptunium.  It’s already a shit wager that either the old factory or the city has that much, and even more so for double that.  If we team up with them, and there isn’t enough for both of us, how are we going to decide who it belongs to?”

The pair stepped aside to allow a man pulling a fruit cart to pass.

“I know, Cane.  My heart sank when Jim told us their goal.  But we should be working together, because now the only alternative is to work against each other.  This isn’t a good-natured scavenger hunt, and I’m not going to get into a debate about whose mission is more important.  Jim, Laurent, and whoever else is left of the Bellatrix’s crew is beyond reproach.  We have to work together.  We’ll split whatever we find evenly.”

“Okay but anything less than sixty kilos each is going to be useless to both of us.”

“Then we’re back to running down other leads.  I don’t see another option.”

“Fine.  And for the record, I trust these guys, too.”

Cane and Eva returned to the rest of the group, who were making small talk.  A waitress came out to check on her original customers, and took new orders from the others.  Talyn dragged another table over and they sat down.  Laurent was on a call on his PDA.

“All right,” he began.  “Our guy is willing to take on the additional travelers, at 50 local credits a head.  Will that be a problem?”

“If we have time, we’ll have to try to exchange some of our gold first,” said Eva.

“We’ll front you if it isn’t enough, or if they can’t interface with your bank accounts for some reason.”

“A guy like this accepts electronic transfers?”

“Sure, why not?  Anyway, we leave at dusk, or about eight hours from now.  That should be plenty of time to get us caught up on your adventures in the Cygnus system.”

“You’re right about that.  It’s a long story.”

Reckless Faith VI, Chapter 5

Spoiler Alert: This is a new entry into the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/reckless-faith-vi-prologue/

It was 10:30 by the Fox’s clock, and Jim Penrose had decided he needed another cup of coffee.  He had been spending his time almost exclusively in the medical bay since the mission to the Swan, emerging only to sleep in his quarters, attend briefings, and take meals either in the galley or occasionally on the bridge.  It was in the galley where he currently found himself, brewing a cup from an Earth pod-style machine modified to work with the Fox’s power system.  It was placed next to the ship’s corferic machine, a beverage that Arthur Dent would describe as “almost, but not quite, entirely unlike coffee.”  Containing ample caffeine, it served the same purpose for those used to drinking it.  Penrose didn’t like it, hence the replacement.

When the machine was done gurgling the brackish liquid into his well-worn Navy mug, he returned to the medical bay.  The object of his study these past few weeks were alien anatomy, knowledge of which had changed from nice to have to indispensable after Aldebaran’s grave injuries required surgery.  For the most part, the races represented on the crews of their ships and those they might encounter had only subtle, but critical, variations from human anatomy.  Though a human doctor would find their major organs where one might expect them, the vagaries of millennia of isolated development had resulted in plenty of other deviations that could mean the difference between life and death when receiving medical treatment.  That was Penrose’s particular challenge; not just for surgery, but for medications and proper dosages.

The Fox’s medical bay was well-appointed, with technologies beyond anything he’d encountered before, adding to the difficulty of becoming the best ship’s doctor he could.  It would take months for anyone of reasonable intelligence to make use of all of it, and Penrose only had a few weeks.  In fact, he had since learned that he could have prevented permanent injury and disability to Aldebaran, had he only known what was at his disposable.  Though it was regrettable, it wasn’t his fault.  That Aldebaran’s life was saved at all was still a minor miracle.

So, Penrose had dedicated himself to the task, aided to some degree by Evangeline whenever she was available.  She was also working with Christie and Dana on the neptunium mystery, dividing her time between that, Penrose, and her friendships with the rest of the Fox’s crew.  Penrose might have dedicated some time to helping them figure out why the peculiar neptunium isotope they’d acquired had different properties than expected, but he had plenty of his own research to do.  Still, the conundrum fascinated him, and he would’ve appreciated another reason to spend time with Eva.

He had just settled back into his chair at his desk in the med bay when Reveki’s voice came in over the intercom.

“All hands, report to the bridge for a conference call with the Rastaban.”

He sipped from his mug, got up, and entered the central corridor.  He rode the lift to deck one, then entered the bridge.  Vecky, Cane, Talyn, and Evangeline were there, along with Miriam.  Though young, the girl was a quick study and was adamant about learning how to be a useful member of the Fox’s crew.  Penrose thought having her along on missions like this was borderline irresponsible, but Vecky was just about the same age and she was captain of her own ship.  Of course, the two of them were worlds apart in terms of experience and temperament.  One thing was for sure, Miriam wasn’t going to be volunteering for ground combat any time soon.

When he got there, Captain Marcon’s visage was on the main screen.  Despite everything he had seen, Penrose still wasn’t used to seeing what was, essentially, a seven-foot-tall talking panther.  He took a seat in the back.

“Our research has hit a dead end,” Vecky was saying.  “We still only know for sure where there’s element 93M; Umber, Residere Alpha, The Eagle, Earth, and the Reckless Faith.”

Marcon replied, “We had heard that Mister Venator got some in the neighborhood of Matesia.”

“Correct,” began Cane, “but my sources said it also came from Umber, originally.”

“Any luck on your end?” asked Eva.

“Potentially,” said Marcon.  “One of my troops has been to Vastus, a planet thirteen light-years from here, and he reports that there used to be a large scientific center there dedicated to cutting-edge nuclear technologies research.  About ten years ago, there was a disaster at the facility, contaminating the entire continent.  News reports at the time, referring to the daunting environmental cleanup that would have to happen, mentioned large quantities of fissionable material there, including element 93.  The latest word is that the facility was simply evacuated, and is too dangerous for any cleanup.  So it’s possible that the stuff you’re looking for is still there.”

“Considering that’s only a five-hour trip, it’s certainly worth investigating.”

“I agree.  The only question is whether to send both ships, or leave one here.”

“What would be the point of leaving a ship here?” asked Cane.  “A rescue mission to Eniph is impossible right now.”

“I’m just asking the question, Mister Venator.”

“I think the Faith would agree that we should both go,” said Vecky.  “I’ll contact them and let them know our plans.  If they don’t object, we’ll leave at your earliest convenience.”

“I’m ready when you are, Captain Kitsune.  Just give me the word.”

The transmission terminated, and Eva opened a channel to the Reckless Faith.

“You’re live with Christie,” she began.  “VLF.  Audio only.”

Christie’s voice came in, sounding distant.  “Hello, Fox.  How’s it going?”

“We have a lead on some possible neptunium,” said Vecky.  “How about you?”

“Same here, though it’s very unlikely there will be enough to fix our reactor.  Ferro’s getting ready to go check it out.  Other than that, I’m still trying to figure out if I can mitigate these gamma rays so we can at least get off the planet.  Worst case scenario, we can jettison all of our neptunium, but then we’re stuck looking for sixty kilograms instead of one, never mind the horrible environmental disaster we’d cause.”

“Understood.  The Rastaban and the Fox are ready to go investigate our lead.  It’s a five hour trip.  Do you want us both to go, or leave one ship behind in case you need help?”

“It makes little sense to me to have one of you hang back.  Neither of your ships have invisibility shielding, and I doubt the Rakhar would let you anywhere near the planet.  I’ll confer with the others and get back to you, though.”

“Fine.  We’ll await your reply.  Fox out.”

“I’ll get started on seeing what I can find out about Vastus on the ‘net,” said Eva.

The conversation turned to idle topics while they waited for a response from the Faith.  After about ten minutes, Eva let out a long sigh, alerting the others.

“Bad news?” asked Cane.

“It’s not great.  So I can confirm the story from Marcon’s crewmember.  The research facility, called Elysium, did suffer some sort of accident, rendering it and large portions of that continent uninhabitable.  The true nature of the incident isn’t yet known, because despite an extensive investigation by the planetary government, information about it is under a gag order as Elysium is still tied up in litigation.  Only until the case is resolved in court can any effort be made to clean up the site and render it safe.  Until then, the entire site is off-limits.  The good news, if there’s any, is that the rest of the continent has been cleaned up, and repopulated, with one notable exception: a city called Saffron Canyon.

As the name implies, the city was built at the bottom of a canyon just to the east of Elysium.  Due to prevailing jet stream patterns and the depressed terrain, Saffron Canyon suffered terrible effects from radioactive fallout.  Most residents were evacuated, but thousands refused to leave.  The planetary government hastily constructed a series of force field emitters on the rim of the canyon, preventing the problem from getting worse, and then told the remaining residents that they were on their own.  Since the city government also evacuated, the place has become a refuge for criminals and anarchists.”

“I’ll cross it off my list of vacation possibilities,” said Talyn.

“No shit.  Anyway, freelance traders still make supply runs there, and those that care to talk about it reported an ad-hoc government run by an unsteady collaboration of gangs, syndicates, and religious nuts.”

“So stay out of Saffron Canyon, got it,” began Vecky.  “Is there any information about whether or not we can safely investigate Elysium?”

“I’m getting to that.  Reports also indicate that reckless canyon residents have been trying to loot Elysium of anything of value.  Whether they’ve taken any radioactive material is uncertain, but radiation levels detected from the outside have been decreasing faster than one would expect through natural processes.  Which implies they have.  We may end up exploring the city whether we want to or not, Reveki.”

“Will our EVA suits afford us any protection?” asked Cane.

“They’re effective against alpha and beta radiation, but not gamma.  So, maybe?  Marcon’s troops have power armor that may be better, we’ll have to evaluate the situation and find out.  Oh, and the Faith just responded.  No updates on the ship situation, but they’re giving us their blessing to go to Vastus.”

“Very well,” replied Vecky.  “Inform the Rastaban, we’ll leave as soon as they’re ready.  Let’s see what kind of man-made hell awaits us.”

__________

Once again, Arianna Ferro found herself sneaking around someone else’s property, cloaked in her personal invisibility shield.  An ability unique to her, she had quickly learned to hate it, though she was never reluctant to volunteer for a mission that required it.  Powered by her own body’s caloric output, she had to stuff herself with food prior to leaving in order to keep it working for even a few hours.  She could never seem to consume enough, and it always left her feeling exhausted.  Add a little combat to the mix, and it had the potential to be the most grueling thing she could possibly imagine.

It was 0300 local time, and three hours to sunrise.  Ari and the others hoped that the time of night would lessen the chance of her running into a Rakhar patrol, if they were patrolling at all.  At the moment, she had just nabbed the security guard’s keycard, a task made all the easier due to the fact that he was sound asleep.  She made her way to the back of the lobby, which led the way to the most obvious entrance to the rest of the building, and used the keycard to let herself through the door.

The first area was full of cubicles, stretched out across almost the entire floor.  A directory on the wall indicated that all three floors were corporate offices.  She had studied satellite photos of the complex prior to leaving the Faith, and this didn’t surprise her.  Anything of use to them would be in the research labs or industrial areas beyond.  She headed north, and exited the offices.  She crossed a small courtyard to the next building, which had a much more utilitarian design and appeared to be several decades older.  She yanked on the door handle before remembering to use the keycard, and let herself in.

To her left, she immediately noticed a massive horizontal tube, at least thirty meters high.  To her right, flanking the central corridor, were metal fabrication workshops.  She followed a set of stairs that ran up the side of the tube, and opened the door.  At first met with darkness, she found a light switch, and the tube revealed itself to be almost completely empty.  There was a small structure at the center which sort of resembled scaffolding, but it was too far away to be sure.  The space didn’t look like it had been used for anything in a long time.  Her best guess was a derelict wind tunnel, or perhaps a space for testing engines.  Satisfied, she went back down the stairs.  After giving the workshops a little bit more attention, and finding nothing of interest, she moved through another doorway and discovered the cafeteria.  She made note of the vending machines, and moved on to the next building.

This structure was newer than the last, though still older than the first.  Now her work was cut out for her, as this was the home of the company’s laboratories.  Unable to read the local language, the next half an hour went by in the same methodical fashion: pull out her PDA, take a picture of the signage outside a lab, and send it to Christie for a translation.  Fortunately for them, the area had been set up with visitors in mind, and included a brief summary of what was going on inside.  If the experiments seemed to be of the type that would use radioactive materials, Ari made a note of it for further investigation later.  One room made her decide to enter, after hearing Christie’s translation of its purpose: the Uranium Hexafluoride Zero-Emissions project.  The security guard’s keycard didn’t work, so she used her PDA to bypass the panel.

Inside, in addition to a wide variety of equipment, most of which she couldn’t identify, she found three massive cylindrical storage tanks with a plethora of scary-looking warning signs.  She snapped a picture and sent it to Christie.

“It’s gaseous Uranium Hexafluoride,” replied Christie.  “Each tank contains one thousand liters.”

“That’s good news, right?” asked Ari.

“Yes.  As we discussed, worst case scenario, we can retrofit the Faith with a Cooper Industries stardrive based on the one on the Fox.  That’s more than enough fuel to fill us up, even accounting for transportation attrition.  As long as we also create a well-shielded storage space for our remaining Neptunium, we could reconstruct our original drive system at a later time.”

“The Fox can do what, 22,500 c?  That’s certainly fast enough for our purposes, assuming we don’t have to shuffle refugees to Earth again.  Anyway, have you marked the coordinates?”

“Yes.”

“All right.  I’m moving on, then.”

Ari exited the lab and moved down the corridor to the next one.  She took a picture and waited.

“Here we go,” began Christie.  “It says ‘Element 93 Research.  Element 93 is a fissionable material with many applications similar to Elements 92 and 94, but usually in larger quantities that make producing it less cost-effective.  As such, it is a poor choice for all but the most specialized roles, and of little interest outside of the research community.  However, interesting meta-states have been observed, and STC hopes to expand the role of Element 93 in energy production applications’.”

“It sounds like STC has caught wind of Umber’s success with Neptunium.”

“It’s probable, yes.”

“Okay.  Stand by.”

Ari used her PDA to let herself in, and began to poke around.  This lab was smaller than the last, and contained less equipment, but what was there appeared to be the height of available technology.  Everything, except for the old-fashioned clipboard and papers hanging from a secured storage locker.  She sent a picture to Christie.

“It’s a sign-out roster,” Christie said.  “It has names of employees, time in and time out, and the quantity of Neptunium used, going back six months.  The amount used is never more than a few micrograms.”

Ari’s stomach growled angrily at her.  “Makes sense for research purposes.  Any idea of the total amount?”

“I can’t say from the sign-out sheet alone.”

“Fine, give me a minute.”

Ari scanned the storage locker with her PDA, and was unsurprised to find that reading anything inside was impossible.  She searched the rest of the lab, eventually finding a file cabinet with some old documents.  She took pictures of all of them and sent them to Christie.  She replied a few minutes later.

“Good news and bad news,” she said.  “There’s a receipt in there from Matesia Heavy Industries for the purchase of two grams of Neptunium, dated about six months ago.  There are more receipts for other items and equipment all the way up to last week.  It appears this particular project was only initiated six months ago.  If there’s more Neptunium elsewhere on the site, it’s not indicated there.”

“Shit.  Oh well, at least we have a Plan B.”

“Are you up for searching around a bit more?”

“Yes, but I’m going back to the cafeteria for a snack first.”

“Okay.  Stay frosty.”

Ari back-tracked until she got to the cafeteria, and walked up to the vending machines.  She picked the one that looked like it had food similar to chips or crackers, only to find no obvious way to interface her PDA with it.  She tried tipping it over, but it got away from her and crashed forward onto the floor.  She swore at herself, and remained motionless for a few minutes.  No one came to investigate, so she righted the machine, not a small effort for her.  Fortunately, her error had caused most of the snacks to fall to the bottom.  She selected a package that looked and smelled like cheese crackers, and ate seven of them before calling it good.  Refreshed, she headed back toward the labs.

At the very end of the long central corridor, a trio of Rakhar soldiers had just entered the building.  Ari unlimbered her knife, and walked up to the first adjacent hallway.  She stood at the corner, and watched them.  They didn’t seem to be in any particular hurry.  As they grew nearer, she could see that they were dressed in black and dark blue, wore light-weight armor, and had unfamiliar rifles in their hands.  One of them spoke.

“Okay, so once we’re done here, what would be your ideal assignment?”

“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” another replied, “thinking they’re actually going to be finished this morning.”

“Sure, but they’ve had a week to evaluate this place, and they said…”

“I know what they said.”

The third soldier spoke.  “Despite your learned opinion, private, it’s still entirely possible that they’ll decide this facility is worth guarding indefinitely.  This is what you signed up for, and if you don’t like it, try earning some rank.”

“How am I going to do that, if I’m stuck here?” asked the first.

“You can stop complaining so much, for starters.”

The first soldier stopped short, and gestured at the others.  He sniffed the air, and began paying more attention his surroundings.  All three lowered their helmet visors into place.

“I think there’s someone in here.”

Ari glanced down the hallway she was in.  There was no exterior door at the end.  She sighed and headed back toward the cafeteria.

“Hey, stop!” bellowed the first soldier.

Ari broke into a run, and was surprised to see a bright blue plasma shot pass over her shoulder.  It impacted the door in front of her, and she pushed past the smoking metal surface.  As soon as she entered the cafeteria, she glanced down at herself to see if her invisibility shield was still working.  It was.  Whatever those visors were augmented with, it had defeated her technology.  Between that and the shot that had crippled the Faith, she had to conclude that this enemy was far better equipped than any they’d faced before.

“Temerity, this is Ghost.  I’ve made contact with the Rakhar, and my shield is useless.  I may be coming in hot.”

John’s voice filled her ear.  “Negative, Ghost, do not lead them back here.  If you can, lead them to the east.  Do you know how to get to the receiving docks from where you are?”

“I hadn’t explored that far yet, no.”

“All right.  We’re dispatching a team along the eastern perimeter.  We’ll try and link up with you.”

“Understood.”

Ari made a quick evaluation of her environment.  There was no way she could make it back to the entrance to the office complex before the Rakhar entered the cafeteria, and she wasn’t inclined to rely on any further bad aim on their part.  Instead, she ducked into the kitchen, quickly searching for a good hiding place.  A moment later, the three soldiers burst in.  She hid behind a large steel refrigerator, and tried to control her breathing.  To her left was a cooking pot, so she picked it up.

“I guess we’ll do this the old fashioned way.”

The soldiers spread out and began exploring the cafeteria.  Inevitably, one of them headed toward the kitchen.  Luckily for her, his first turn was away from the refrigerator.  She threw the pot as hard as she could toward the opposite corner.  She was already moving when the pot hit the wall and clattered to the floor.  She grabbed the soldier’s helmet with her left hand, wrenched his head to the side, and buried her knife in his throat.  She let go, wrenched his rifle from his arms, and landed a front kick on his torso.  He hit the floor, gurgling obscenely.

The other two soldiers sprinted toward the kitchen.  She hefted the rifle to her shoulder, and was relieved when a broad swath of shots left the muzzle and impacted the soldier on her left.  The remaining man dodged to her right, and sprinted out of view.  She deactivated her invisibility shield, ignoring the brief wave of dizziness that washed over her, and followed him.  She got off a shot as he dove behind a vending machine, and missed.  Then she began to make a wide circle around the perimeter of the room, keeping the holographic sight of the rifle fixed on where she last saw him.

The soldier popped up, and quickly took a bead on her.  She hit the floor, which hid her from his line of sight due to the number of dining tables.  She scrambled on her hands and knees for a few meters before getting to her feet, and ran again.  This time, he took several shots at her, driving her to the floor again.  From a supine position, she let loose again on full-auto, knowing full well most of her shots would hit chairs.  She made a tremendous racket as several chairs were knocked over or pushed away, smacking into tables and the floor.  If any hit the soldier, it would have been a miracle.  She caught a glimpse of him retreating toward the kitchen, and noticed she only had a couple more meters to go to get to the courtyard.

She ran for it, stumbling as she got to the door and slamming painfully into it with her shoulder.  It gave way, and she fell onto the concrete pad on the other side.  Getting to her feet as quickly as she could, she continued into the office complex, and through that to the main lobby.  The security guard must have caught wind of the fracas, and was nowhere to be seen.  She exited the building, and headed toward the eastern perimeter.

“Temerity, this is Ghost, I made it outside.  Where are you?”

“In the woods, heading northeast.  There should be another gate about one klick that way along the perimeter fence.  We’ll meet you there.”

“Roger.  I think we may have overextended our welcome here.  We may have to move the ship.”

“We’re already packing up camp.  Christie repaired enough of the ship’s systems for us to move again.  A short ride will have to be worth the radiation exposure.  We’ll discuss it when we’re back.  Are you being followed?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Good.  Keep moving.  Let’s get the hell out of here.”

Reckless Faith VI: Chapter 4

Spoiler Alert: This is a new entry into the Reckless Faith series. The prologue may be found here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2021/10/26/reckless-faith-vi-prologue/

It was 0800 by the ship’s clock on the Reckless Faith, and she, the Fox, and the Rastaban had just arrived at the Eniph system.  They had parked themselves at the heliopause of the solar system, about 120 AU from the star, and were about to have a conference call between all three ships.  Their journey had taken eight days, during which the crews of the Faith and the Fox spent their time as they usually did during long transits, with rest, relaxation, and epic card game marathons.  However the crew of the Rastaban was spending their time, Marcon didn’t share with the other ships.

The spare time was a boon to Christie, as she had been able to all but master her new android body.  After retrieving her personal clothing from storage, it was eerie for the rest of the crew to have her back in physical form and hanging out with them, though they soon got used to it.  Although Christie was thrilled as well at first, following-up her transformation with a several days in FTL was not the most exciting thing she could’ve been doing.  For her part, she was glad to participate in card games again, since doing so while a disembodied voice stuck inside the orb wasn’t practical.

Another activity that was fun for her, but less so for her sparring partners, was practicing using her new body for hand-to-hand combat.  With the combined experience of everyone on the ship, and her new strength and speed as an android, she had become undefeatable.  Though she couldn’t get any marksmanship practice in the confines of the Faith, no one had any doubt as to how her skills would translate to that task.

Ready to recon the solar system, Christie opened a channel to the Fox and Rastaban.  The main screen was split between a red star at the center of their view, Captain Marcon on the left, and Vecky on the right.  Also on the bridge of the faith were John, Ari, Ray, Dana, Richter, Devonai, and Milena, who sat in the pilot’s chair.

“Hello again, everyone,” said John.  “We’re not reading any ships anywhere near us, can I assume the same for you?”

“Zilch,” replied Vecky.

“Nothing on our sensors, commander,” added Marcon.

John nodded.  “Good.  We’ll proceed with the previously discussed plan.  Let us know if you happen to spot anything while we’re gone.”

“Understood,” said both of the other captains.

The transmission terminated, and John swiveled his seat around to face the others.

“Christie, do you want to give us an overview of the system?”

“Of course,” she began.  “Eniph VIII is a small planetoid at 40 AU, similar to Pluto, and is barren and unused.  Eniph VII is a gas giant, very similar to Neptune, with several small moons at 20 AU, it is not known if there are any colonies or mining activity on the moons.  Same with Eniph VI, at 14 AU.  Eniph V is another gas giant, much like Jupiter, and has three terrestrial moons that have either mines or small self-contained colonies.  Eniph IV is a terrestrial planet just on the edge of the star’s ‘Goldilocks Zone,’ one-and-a-half times the size of Earth, at 9 AU, and while it has a breathable atmosphere, colonies there are limited by cold temperatures and increased gravity compared to Eniph III, which is the cradle of life for this system.  IV has two rocky moons of little interest.  Eniph III is nearly identical to Earth, except at 6 AU.  Its single moon was rife with mining operations until about 50 years ago, when they exhausted it of anything useful.  Eniph II and I are lifeless rocks.  The star itself is a K2 red supergiant.”

“Then it seems like Eniph III should be our first stop.  Zukova, take us in, 32 c.”

“At that speed it’ll take us almost 30 minutes to get there.”

“I know.  I want to give us some time to keep scanning.  I’d rather not stumble upon any hostile craft.”

Despite John’s admonition, they didn’t detect any other craft until they did a fly-by of Eniph V, and even then there was nothing suspicious.  When they got within 1 AU of Eniph III, Milena dropped their speed to 0.9 c.  Almost immediately, dozens of ships appeared outlined in red on the Heads-Up Display.

“Holy shit,” said Ray.

“That looks like a blockade,” added Richter.

“Anything on the IFF frequencies?” asked John.

“Nothing,” replied Christie.  “None of them are broadcasting anything in the clear, though I’m reading a lot of encrypted traffic.”

“What about from the surface?”

“Same story there.  Unless you meant ships.”

“Well, both.”

“There are a few smaller ships coming and going, yes.  As for the rest, there’s no uniformity between designs, except most of the larger ships are ResZor-Con frigates and cruisers.  The only other design I recognize are the fighters, most of which are Hayakuvian Styluses.  Total number within scanning range, seventy-nine.”

“Got it.  Zee, give us a high, leisurely orbit, say one thousand klicks.”

“No problem,” she said.

Milena pulled back on the throttle and followed the vector that appeared on her screen.  Ari peered at her own console.

“Hey guys,” began Ari, “One of the ResZor-Con cruisers and five Styluses are following us.”

“It’s probably a coincidence,” said John.  “Unless those ships are equipped with sensors we haven’t encountered yet, they shouldn’t be able to detect…”

There was a bright flash, and the entire ship was rocked by a violent explosion.  Everyone but Milena was thrown from their seats, and half-finished coffee cups clattered across the floor.  Emergency klaxons began to wail from each station.  The crew picked themselves up, jumped back into their chairs, and fastened their seat belts.

“Fuck!” muttered John.  “Zee, get us out of here!  Everybody okay?  Damage report?”

“Weapons are offline,” said Ray.

“As is FTL,” added Dana.

Christie said, “There’s a hull breach on deck three, aft.  Whatever hit us punched right through into the stardrive.  Emergency force fields are in place, but we have a bigger problem.  A breach in reactor containment is flooding the entire ship with low-level gamma radiation.  Readings range from five hundred milliSieverts here on the bridge to four Sieverts in the engine room.”

“That sounds very bad,” said Devonai.

“It is.  Everyone but Ari and I need to get off this ship immediately.”

“What about the EVA suits?” asked Richter.

“They’re practically useless against gamma radiation at this level.”

Ari said, “We’re still being pursued.  They’re obviously tracking us somehow.”

“Okay,” said John.  “We can’t outrun them, and even if we call the Fox and Rastaban, we’ll never be able to dock and evacuate before we’re overwhelmed and destroyed.  That leaves just one option.  Zukova, take us down to the surface of Eniph.”

“Can’t we try to continue evasive maneuvers and get out of the system?  There’s no guarantee we’ll be able to repair the ship from some random location on the planet.”

“We can’t take that chance, another hit from whatever weapon that was could kill us.”

“And if that radiation breach gets any worse,” began Christie, “you’re all going to be dead before we can make it back to Secundus for treatment.”

“Then we ditch somewhere and hope for the best.  Dana, contact our allies and fill them in.  Zee, you got this?”

“Don’t worry about me,” Milena said calmly.

“The ships seem to be having trouble tracking us,” said Ari.

John nodded.  “Good.  Christie, what do we know about Eniph?  Any particular place we should set down?”

Christie thought about this as the planet loomed ahead.  “Sylvania is the largest neutral country, we should head there.  There’s a state forest that takes up quite a bit of their western territory.  I’d say that’s our best bet for laying low for a while.  Also, I’m dropping the force field in the engine room and allowing it to vent into space.  Better now than when we’re planetside.”

“I’m sure the population of Eniph will appreciate it.”

Bright orange flames began to appear around the bow of the ship as Milena followed Christie’s directions to Sylvania.

“Nobody’s following us into the atmosphere,” said Ari.  “While I’m sure they can make visual contact at the moment, once we get past the mesosphere, we should be in the clear.”

As their altitude decreased, and finer features of the landscape could be determined, John pointed at an area of thick forest next to an industrial complex.

“Are we getting any radionuclide readings from that factory?” he asked.

“Some, yes,” replied Dana.

“Good, we should put down as close as possible to the perimeter while still maintaining some cover.”

Milena brought the ship down into a small clearing, then jogged it over several meters until they were under the canopy of several large trees.

“Antigrav is failing,” said Ari.  “Make contact with the surface, now.”

The ship touched down with barely a thump.

Christie said, “Time is of the essence, people.  Radiation levels are increasing.”

“Drop the ramp,” began Richter.  “Everyone get to the armory and grab your kit.  Christie can retrieve anything else we’ll need after we’re off the ship.”

Everyone but Christie began a rapid but orderly rush off the bridge, down the stairs to the cargo bay, then up to the armory.  They grabbed their long arms, sidearms for those that didn’t already have one on them, flak vests and load bearing equipment, and bug-out rucksacks that were staged there.  Richter confirmed that everyone had either their PDA or a radio, and earpieces, and while John went back upstairs to retrieve Friday and Tycho, he led them down the ramp out to the forest.  It was early evening at this spot on Eniph, warm and slightly humid, and in any other context would have been quite agreeable.  John reappeared a moment later, with Friday in a carrier and Tycho by his side.  Richter made a quick evaluation of the terrain, then spoke.

“Christie, how far out do you recommend?”

Her voice came in over the radio.  “I’ve reestablished the force field around the breach, one hundred meters in any direction should be safe.”

“Roger.  Alpha team, head south, Bravo team, north.  Standard dispersal.”

Richter, John, Ari, and Dana headed away from the bow of the ship, while Ray, Devonai, and Milena circled around to the aft.  Bravo team immediately noticed a ragged opening in the hull of the ship toward the rear of deck three, the blue glow of the force field barely visible over the aperture.

“Whatever hit us is like nothing we’ve seen before,” said Ray.

“If we ever get off this planet, we may have to accept that we can’t help Eniph,” said John.

The two teams moved away from the ship until they were in position, setting up a slightly-lopsided perimeter.  With so much space between individuals, some couldn’t maintain visual contact.

“Let’s do another comm check,” said Richter.

Once that was complete, Christie chimed in again.

“These gamma rays are making it difficult, but not impossible, for me to run diagnostics.  The first thing I want to do is shut down all systems.  Richter, there’s camo netting in the cargo hold, I was thinking I could replicate one large enough to cover the entire ship.”

“I like that idea, go for it.”

There was a sound like cascading sand, and a dance of green light appeared over the ship.  A moment later, a huge camo net appeared, and floated down gently into place, revealing the outline of the Faith.  Then, Christie dropped the invisibility shield.

John said, “It’s better than nothing, but if they can track us to this exact location, it won’t do much good.  Christie, send an update to the other ships, then begin your diagnostics.”

“Understood,” she replied.  “I’ll keep you apprised.”

“Everybody hold your position and keep the chatter to a minimum,” said Richter.  “I want to stay put for one hour.  If Christie’s still working on a solution for repairs after that, we’ll ask her and Ari to bring us more supplies and we’ll set up a base camp.”

Everyone else acknowledged the order, and settled in to watch their sectors.  The forest grew dark as the time passed, with the only light coming from the industrial complex, filtering through the foliage.  After 45 minutes, Christie came in over the radio.

“You guys still awake?” she began.  “I have good news and bad news.”

“Of course you do,” said John.

“The good news is that I can repair the engine using just the matter replicator.  The bad news is that the neptunium core was hit, and approximately one kilogram of material stripped away.  This destabilized the reactor and is what caused the gamma rays.  We will need one kilogram of neptunium-238.”

“God damn it.  We just gave fifteen kilos to the CIA.”

“I know, John.  It’ll take months for either the Fox or Rastaban to return to Earth, assuming the feds haven’t accidentally blown themselves up with it.”

“Fuck.  Is the ship safe to board?”

“No.  I’m still trying to figure out why.  However, you can return to the exterior.”

“What about the sensors?”

“The NDSS requires the reactor to be functional, that’s where we get the neutrinos from.  Passive sensors are working just fine but won’t be much help securing a patrol base from intruders.  Though we might be able to spot a ship if they’re running their engines dirty.”

“Then we’ll do it the old fashioned way,” said Richter.

“Christie, what sort of radionuclides did we detect from that factory?” asked Dana.

“Indeterminate,” she began.  “All I can tell you is that I detected positron levels much higher than would be expected from natural sources.”

“I know it would be a hell of a coincidence, but it’s possible that facility has some neptunium on site.”

“Maybe but our neptunium has special properties that we can’t explain or replicate.”

“It would be better than nothing.”

“They’d have to be willing to sell it to us, too,” said Ray.  “We can only ask.”

John said, “Okay.  Richter, Ray, Milena, and I will investigate the complex.  Ari, I want you, Devonai, and Dana to stay here to help set up a base camp and guard the ship.”

“We should probably leave our rifles here,” said Richter.  “We don’t want to give the wrong impression.”

The crew gathered by the side of the ship, and those investigating the industrial complex passed off their long arms and rucksacks to the others.  Everything else that they carried was concealed underneath their jackets.  John peered at the edge of the property through the trees.

“Christie, what can you tell me about this place?”

“Can it wait?” she said.  “I’m a little busy right now.”

“Don’t worry about it.  Everybody ready?”

Richter led the way through the woods, and it didn’t take long to reach the perimeter of the complex.  They found themselves at what appeared to be the main entrance, and though there was a high fence running along it, a vehicle gate was open a few meters to the east.  The main building had a corporate appearance to it, while others were obviously industrial in nature.  A large sign on the fence had the company’s name on it, but none of them could read it.  The entire area looked deserted, except for the ample exterior lighting.

“It looks like they’re closed for the night,” said Richter.  “There’s a security guard at a desk in there, though.”

“Maybe at least he can tell us who to talk to in the morning,” said Ray.

The team approached the building, with Richter keeping an eye on the roof until they got to the doors.  Inside, the guard noticed them and waved them on.  They passed through the foyer and over to the reception desk.  The man, according to the descriptions Christie had given them earlier, was a typical native Eniphite, with blonde hair and blue-tinged skin, due to their evolution on a planet that orbited a red giant.  He smiled wanly at the group.

“Hello,” said John.  “My name is Temerity, we’re traders from Secundus looking to buy some precious metals.  It seems we got your business hours wrong.”

“Officer Samraa,” he replied.  “Yes, we’re closed now.  There’s nobody here but me and our new Rakhar overlords.”

Everyone but John spread out and began to pay extra attention to their surroundings.

“We’re aware of the current power struggle here, and we don’t want to get involved in any of that.  The new Empire, or Protectorate or whatever, is allowing basic commerce to continue while they negotiate with your government.  You said there are Rakhar stationed here, should we be talking to them about trade?”

“They’re just guarding the place, to make sure nothing that may be of value to them is removed.  If STC were to agree to sell you something, they’d have to approve the deal.  What are you looking for?”

“Elements 92, 93, and 94.”

“Yeah, all of those are used in experiments here.  I have no idea how much or if any of it is for sale.”

John raised an eyebrow.  “I’m surprised you’re willing to share that information with us.”

Samraa shrugged.  “My presence here is superfluous.  Anyone with criminal intent who wanders in here would be murdered by Rakhar troops with plasma rifles.  The only reason I even showed up this week is because they’re still paying me to be here.”

“What sort of experiments?” asked Ray.

“Sorry, I won’t go that far.  Feel free to visit our public website.”

“Okay,” began John.  “We’ll be back in the morning, then.  Thanks for your help.”

The team exited the building, and carefully left the property.  When they returned to the ship, they found the others stacking supplies under the voluminous camo net.  John approached Ari.

“We’ve got another mission for you, Ghost.”

Reckless Faith Now Available as an Audiobook

I’m pleased to announce that the audiobook version of Reckless Faith is now available. Promo codes are also available to current Audible subscribers, so if you want a free copy just let me know and I’ll send you a code (US and UK subscribers only, Audible’s rule, not mine)!

https://www.audible.com/pd/B09VPLYLCS