Kill Shot: A Remnant of the Commonwealth, Book Two (26 page)

“Tracker?” Russell repeated.

“Benjamin Dunn gave me that gun. He had it waiting for me when I got there,” Aaron said. “Eric took it with him when he left the ship, and our kidnappers somehow managed to find him.”

Russell took a deep breath and looked back to the small piece of metal. “Oh,” he said simply.

“Surely something this small couldn’t create a wormhole to send a message through,” Susan said, still looking at the small piece of metal.

“No,” Kyle said, “it definitely couldn’t create a wormhole, but it probably wouldn’t need to.”

“Explain,” Susan said, more of a command than a request.

“My father has some things similar to this. It wouldn’t need to create a wormhole—it could piggyback on ours when we’re underway.”

“And when we’re planetside?” Aaron asked.

“Well, then it could use the system’s own communication satellites. It’s even easier when we’re in-system,” Kyle replied.

“Son of a bitch,” Eric said, staring at the
metal. “You mean they found me because I took that gun?”

“It’s beginning to look that way,” Aaron said.

“We can’t let Dunn get away with this,” Thomas said. He was normally stoic, but his face was carved up with anger now. “We should head that way, right now!”

There was a buzz of whispered conversations.

“No,” Aaron said loudly, cutting through the conversations and causing an immediate silence. Every face turned to look at him.

“We can’t let Dunn get away with this,” Thomas said
again, rather emphatically. “You’re not getting scared, are you?” He and Eric were both pumped up and ready for a fight.

Aaron turned his hard gaze on Thomas and after a moment Thomas dropped his eyes. “Use your fucking head,” Aaron said coolly. “If Dunn set us up, then whoever he did it for will probably expect us to go to Pocal. I wouldn’t be
surprised if a small army was keeping watch over Dunn. And I don’t mean his people . . . I mean the people who kidnapped you. You fancy meeting up with them again?”

After a moment, both Eric and Thomas shook their heads.

“There will come a time and opportunity for us to get Dunn, but it’s not right now.”

“What do we do with it?” Russell asked, pointing to the small table.

“Out the airlock with it,” Aaron replied.

“Just the tracker, or the rest of the Patterson as well?”

Aaron snorted. “Just the tracker. Please reassemble the gun and put it back with the others.”

Russell nodded, picked up the tracker, and then disappeared out through the doors.

“So what now?” Eve demanded. “Where do we go from here?”

“We need to
change our course,” Susan said.

Aaron nodded. “Once the tracker’s out the airlock, we ca
n drop to normal space and then . . .” he paused, unsure of what would happen then. He would need to get in touch with Locke again. Somehow, Dunn had been on the lookout for them; he had to see if there was a bounty on their heads that he didn’t know about. It was the only thing that made sense to him. If Dunn was actively working for what remained of the Commonwealth intelligence groups, then there would have been a hundred soldiers waiting for the
Long Shot
when it returned from Bathia. Best guess was that Dunn was just an informant. He probably didn’t want to get too involved, so he sent Aaron away with a way of tracking him.

At the moment, t
here were more important things, like where they went from here.

“Secardus is several weeks away,” Adam said. “It’s not quite the oppos
ite direction, but close enough. Plus, there’s a lot of criminal activity in that system.”

“Great. We’
ll fit right in,” Jessica said in a jovial tone.

“Uh,” Eric said, interrupting. “What about us?”

“What about you?”

“Well, are
you going to drop us off somewhere?”

Aaron watched the two, trying to decide what to do with them.

“Perhaps you’d let us rejoin this merry, little crew?” Thomas asked. His eyes studied Aaron carefully. “We screwed up and you could say we paid a hell of a price for it. Would you allow us back in?”

“Are you sure that you even want to come back?” Aaron asked. “You’re less likely to get a second chance or leniency again.”

Thomas looked to Eric, who simply shrugged. “We wouldn’t assault you, if that’s what you’re asking,” Thomas said, “but we would appreciate the benefit of the doubt. We won’t always behave exactly as you’d want, but we’ll do our best.”

Aaron casually glanced to Susan and she shrugged. He wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but at least she hadn’t picked up any obvious deception in the two. Instead of answering Thomas, Aaron glanced around at the other members of his crew. “Opinions?”

There was surprise on some of the faces, but Eve spoke up. “Give them another chance. If they screw up, then flush them out the airlock.”

“Hey, now!” Thomas said, turning in surprise at Eve’s harsh words, but she was smiling at him
, and after a moment, he smiled back. “Let’s not even play like that, please.”

“Welcome back, gentlemen,” Aaron sai
d. “This is your second chance. There will not be a third. Got it?”

Both men nodded.

Epilogue

Lieutenant Ian Nelson sat in the small hotel room and waited while his comm gear connected through to Gamma Crucis
. It wasn’t an actual live connection, rather his message would be recorded when it was received and then he would be given his orders. He didn’t expect to hear anything back until at least tomorrow.

There was a small beep and Nelson sat up a bit straighter.

“This is Lieutenant Ian Nelson of the Commonwealth Alliance with a priority one message for Senator Long.” He paused and swallowed hard. “It is my unfortunate duty to inform you that the mission has failed. Colonel William Stone, Major Emma Cooke, Captain Terra Bowe, and Lieutenant Quinton Hymire have all died in the line of duty. We captured several members of Colonel Walker’s crew nearly a week ago, but were unable to get any useful intel from them. Colonel Stone sent me to the spaceport in Nettin City to check for our targets. While I was there a local crime lord was killed in Marin Aldabia and the whole planet seems to have been locked down. I was forced to remain there for five days. Upon returning to Marin Aldabia, I found our base destroyed and the place crawling with security. I discovered that two bodies were found in the building rubble and that two others were found shot to death in a local hotel room. I can only surmise that Colonel Walker or some of his group were discovered and somehow managed to kill my fellow soldiers. I have verified the identities of the four bodies and there can be no doubt that the previously listed soldiers are dead. I have been unable to uncover a clue on where Colonel Walker and the others may have gone. However, the tracker is no longer broadcasting, so I request permission to go to Pocal III and maintain surveillance on the informant, Dunn. Please respond with farther instructions. Out.”

Nelson pushed a button and the recording stopped. He slumped
and appeared to age ten years. He was only twenty-seven years old, but he had seen a lot in that short time. He had fought on the losing side of a war and seen his home planet decimated. There was precious little hope left in him. Now that his friends were dead, he felt cold inside, cold and alone. If only he had been here, perhaps his friends and fellow soldiers would still be alive.

He sighed and wondered what he would do if Senator Long refused his request to go to Pocal III. Would he obey his new orders? He wasn’t so sure. There was nothing left for him on Gamma Crucis. The world was a burnt-out cinder. Senator Long may talk about one day throwing off the bonds of the Miram Union, but Nelson wasn’t
convinced. He wasn’t good at playing this game of pretending to like the Unionists. He couldn’t lick their boots the way the Senator did; he just couldn’t. He might not even have called in his report, but he wanted Colonel Walker and the rest of them dead, and he still held out hope that the Senator might be able to help him with that. That was the only reason he even considered continuing to follow orders.

He hated Colonel Walker; despised the man. The colonel had killed all of the other volunteers on that research moon, destroying any chance the Commonwealth had of ever being free again.

He was still plotting all the various ways he might kill Colonel Walker when he dropped off into an exhausted sleep.

Nelson woke to the beeping of his comm gear. He sat up quickly, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he did so. He had slept the night away in the chair and his back and neck were all twisted and sore.

He moved over and keyed in his security code, and the screen lit up. It was the face of the senator. Nelson hadn’t expected that at all. The senator rarely sent his own messages.

Senator Long was tall and slim, his graying hair in stark contrast to his darkly tanned skin. The senator’s thin face and pointed nose filled the screen.

“Lieutenant Nelson, I was sorry to hear about
the deaths of your comrades. They died as heroes to the people of the Commonwealth. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten.”

There was a pause and the senator appeared to be shuffling some papers. “I agree that the deserters might return to Pocal III, but I must refuse your request to go there.”

Nelson cursed and nearly knocked the comm gear off of the table. He took a deep breath and began rubbing his temples. It appeared his service in the Commonwealth army had come to an end.

“There are still several possibilities of investigation that must be followed on Redamor. It’s possible that with a liberal amount of money, we might still be able to discover a clue as to where the deserters went.”

Nelson’s hands dropped and he stared at the screen.

“Farther instructions and the appropriate funds will be forthcoming.”

The recording cut off and Nelson sat there, not even noticing.
Perhaps I’ll see what the senator has in mind,
he thought.