Merkiaari Wars: 01 - Hard Duty (25 page)

“But they
do
know about
us
,” James stressed. “They’re going to start adding two and two, Captain. The FTL thing is already in the open. They saw
Invincible
jump outsystem. If I was an elder, I would be worried about talking in the open. If we don’t contact them soon, the Shan will be the ones contacting us in a few years.”

“We were in space for centuries before we cracked the problem. If they start now they will still take that long.”

“You’re wrong there, Captain.” Sheryl said. “We didn’t even know FTL was possible when we stumbled onto the answer. The Shan have
seen
it in operation. It won’t take them anywhere near as long to figure it out.”

Colgan frowned. Sheryl Linden was greatly respected in her fields of physics and engineering design. She was worth listening to. If she thought there was a risk of the Shan developing a workable fold space drive, then he believed her.

“Can we get back to the present issue?” Bernard asked impatiently. “I thought you were desperate to have us perform a miracle for you.”

Colgan smiled. “Quite right, Professor Franks. I do need a miracle. I need
Chakra
off my back. More, I need the Shan friendly and willing to allow me to fire off a drone to Alliance HQ.”

“Well then,” Professor Singh said. His area of expertise was linguistics, but unlike Janice Bristow whose interest in the area was secondary to her studies in exobiology, linguistics was his passion. “We have an extensive library of Shan verbal communication. Ship to ship traffic has helped us no end with the translation. The various broadcasts from the high orbitals, mining outposts, and planets have helped fill in a great many holes in our understanding. The—”

“Excuse the interruption, Professor,” Colgan said. “Are you saying the tapes are not ready, or that they are?”

“I’m coming to that, Captain. I’ve been unable to eradicate all errors, but that’s to be expected without a native speaker to converse with. Most Shan words are pronounceable after a fashion by Humans. Janice and I believe that in time we could learn to speak without artificial aid.”

Janice nodded and gestured at the holotank. “Their physiology dictates the shaping of their language. As you can see, their mouths are completely different, more like a feline’s muzzle than anything else I can think of. Certain sounds will probably sound odd to them, but we think they will understand the attempt.”

“Yes,” Bindar went on. “But for now, we will supplement the spoken word with the tapes you’re so interested in, Captain. They
are
ready for testing. Though gaps remain, we believe they will suffice.”

“Gaps,” Colgan said without expression. “How big are these gaps?”

“We have perhaps seventy percent of the Shan vocabulary, or rather we believe so.” Bindar was obviously uncomfortable with the uncertainty, but under such hardships as constantly racing to emergency stations whenever
Chakra
closed on them, it was remarkably good luck they had managed to reach seventy percent and not a figure much lower. “On the plus side, we have an extensive library of common phrases that will be very helpful.”

“Take me to your leader, things like that?” Colgan said with a grin, and the others laughed.

Bindar sighed. “Not that one, Captain, but how about this:
we come in peace, don’t shoot
.”

His laughter died. “I like that one very much. Can you teach it to me?”

“I’ll dupe the chip for you, Captain. We should all start carrying the translators chief Williams tinkered together for us.”

“Well done, Bindar,” James said.

“Outstanding dedication. Can’t wait to try it out my friend,” Bernard said enthusiastically to the embarrassed professor, and the others chimed in with similar things.

Bindar blushed at all the attention. “Thank you, thank you all. Janice was extremely helpful.”

Janice snorted. “I hardly knew where to start.”

Colgan broke into the congratulations. “So, we have the means to converse with them. Now we need the opportunity.”

James glanced at Brenda and then back to Colgan. “I’ve been thinking about that, Captain. It seems to me that
Chakra
is the only source of Shan we have available.”

“That’s obvious.”

James nodded and glanced at Brenda again. She frowned obviously wondering what he was going to say. “I suggest we send one man in a lander well away from the ship and allow it to be captured—I volunteer.”

“No,” Brenda gasped looking at her lover in horror.

* * *

James took his time with his inspection of the lander. A week had passed since he volunteered for this mission; a week of intensive training and strained silences between him and Brenda. Both had taken their toll on him, but despite it all, the excitement of meeting a Shan face to face had not left him.

Despite their disagreement, Brenda had done her part. All week she had worked beside him, tirelessly helping him learn what he needed to know to make the mission a success. But at the end of each day, when they retired to their cabin, Brenda would eat in silence and then go to bed—without him. She had made it plain he wasn’t welcome in her bed, not even to sleep.

James stopped and peered around the empty bay. He didn’t want to leave without trying to straighten things out between them. He had hoped Brenda would come to see him off, but she hadn’t yet, and he couldn’t delay much longer.

After their last meeting with Colgan, Brenda was angry. It wasn’t that she didn’t understand why he had volunteered for the mission. She did… or so she said. What made her mad, she said, was that he hadn’t discussed it with her before hand. He tried to explain that until that moment, he hadn’t known he was going to volunteer, but she wouldn’t hear excuses, and she was right. Although he hadn’t known Colgan would pre-empt the President by going ahead with phase two without orders, James had long ago considered ways in which it could be done. His work with Williams on the translators was a big part of that. He tried to tell himself that he hadn’t lied to Brenda, but deep in his heart he knew the truth. He had been working toward this mission almost since the day he offered his help to Bindar.

James climbed up the ramp to the shuttle, but stopped in the open hatch to look out at the empty bay. Brenda wasn’t coming; he knew that now. With a sigh and a heavy heart, he sealed the hatch and made his way toward the cockpit. He was a damn fool. Brenda was everything he had ever wanted in a woman. She was funny, and passionate, and clever, and oh so beautiful. He loved her more than anything, so why had he let this wall develop between them? Their last argument had been the worst.

Brenda had tried to make Colgan let her accompany him, but the captain said letting a civ carry the mission was bad enough, he wasn’t about to make the situation worse by adding another. The ensuing argument had nearly caused Colgan to send Commander Groves on the mission instead, but even he knew there was a greater chance of success if someone familiar with Bindar’s work was there to operate the translators. Brenda knew that as well as anyone. The sneaky woman had studied up while helping James prepare for the mission. She knew as much if not more than he did now, and she had tried to use that to persuade Colgan to let her go with him. It hadn’t worked.

James took his place in the pilot’s chair and activated the lander’s systems. “Alpha One ready for takeoff,” he announced over the comm.

The viewscreen lit and Lieutenant Ricks appeared. “Alpha One, stand by for final instructions.”

“Okay… I mean, copy that, Canada. Standing by.”

Ricks grinned.

A moment later, Captain Colgan came on. “I’m depressurising the bay now.” He turned to nod at someone out of view and then turned back. “Be careful out there, James. I don’t want to lose you.”

“I don’t want to lose me either,” James said with a grin. He sobered a moment later. “You’ll look after Brenda if something should happen. It won’t of course, but if it should?”

“She’ll be fine, I’ll see to it.”

“Thank you, sir.”

Colgan nodded and the screen darkened.

James took a deep breath and released the docking clamps. The lander was a dream to fly in simulation. Nice acceleration and good handling. The real thing was different enough to make him bite his lip as he eased it over the deck toward the hanger doors. As he approached, they cranked open to reveal the blackness of space populated by chunks of rock moving slowly by. As expected,
Canada
was already underway. He firmed his grip on the yoke.

“Here goes nothing.” He throttled up the lander’s main engine and shot out of the bay like a missile.

As soon as he was well clear of
Canada
, he eased back on the throttle and turned his ship toward the asteroid she had been using to hide from
Chakra
. He couldn’t see the alien ship yet, but he didn’t waste time. As soon as he was close enough, he used his manoeuvring thrusters to align the lander with the asteroid, before programming the computer to maintain the shuttle’s position. The Shan should detect him easily.

With nothing to do until the Shan arrived, he decided to make himself a snack. He had missed dinner earlier. Brenda hadn’t felt like eating after their meeting with Colgan, and neither had he. They had both been too upset. Brenda had locked the bedroom door against him, and hadn’t even said good bye when he left for the boat bay.

He unbuckled his harness and floated across the cockpit toward the hatch. Landers like this one were too small to have gravity generators, but they did come equipped with a galley. As he approached the hatch to the main cabin, he glanced at the cases strapped to the deck behind the co-pilot’s seat. They contained the gifts he and the others had put together for the Shan. One of them was filled with compad translators, while others were full of picture books and other things designed to teach Shan about the Alliance. The largest contained Williams’ master unit, or what he called The Box of Crap. James grinned. Only he knew why Williams called it that.

He opened the cockpit hatch.

Brenda floated a short distance ahead of him. “It’s only me,” she said brightly.

James gaped. “I don’t believe it. How the hell did you get here?”

Brenda grinned. “Magic.”

“But I looked…”

“I was in the locker,” she said hooking a thumb over her shoulder at her hiding place.

“You’re going
back!
”

He turned and pulled himself into the cockpit.

“No I’m not.” Brenda kicked against one of the seats and launched herself in pursuit. “
Canada
must be out of range by now.”

“Brenda
please
. I need you to be safe.”

Brenda pulled herself into the co-pilot’s seat. “And I need to be here. If you want to be a hero, that’s fine, but I’m staying.”

James gritted his teeth. “We’ve been through this. We agreed it makes sense for me to go.”

“Oh no you don’t. You agreed, I never did and you know it.”

“But you
said
—”

Brenda finished strapping in. “I said I understood the point you and the captain were making, not that I agreed with it. You
are
the odd one out, you
can
be spared, and you
do
want to do it. All that’s true, but I love you and I’m not letting you out of my sight.”

“I’ll get the, Captain.” He strapped himself in and searched the controls for the one he needed. He was so flustered he couldn’t find it. “He’ll make you see sense.”

“It’s that one,” Brenda said pointing to a single control among dozens of similar buttons and switches.

“I remember my training, thank you.”

“Well
do
it then.”

“All
right
, I’m
doing
it!” James glared, and Brenda smirked. “Alpha One to
Canada
; respond please.”

“
Canada
copies.”

“I have a problem here—a stowaway.”

Lieutenant Ricks’ jaw dropped. “A what?”

“What is it, Mark?” Colgan said out of view of the pickup.

Ricks turned away from the monitor. “Professor Wilder says he has a stowaway, Skipper.”

“For the love of God, who would be stupid enough to… where’s Professor Lane?”

“I don’t know, Skipper.”

“She’s here,” James said.

Brenda grinned and waved at the monitor.

Colgan was snarling something. “…have his damn hide. I told him to watch her dammit. All stop! Prepare to reverse course…”

“Contact,” a voice sang out. “Bearing one-eight-zero. It’s
Chakra
, Captain. She’s coming fast.”

“Sound battle stations,” Colgan barked and the wailing alarm sounded. “Put Wilder on screen.”

A moment later, the captain glared out of the monitor at Brenda. His face was red with rage, and she swallowed nervously. She opened her mouth to explain, but he began first.

“
Chakra
will have you in…” Colgan looked aside then back. “Three minutes if she doesn’t blow you out of space first. I can’t stay, and we’ll lose TBC lock any second. For Chrissakes don’t mess it up or I’ll—”