The Catalyst (Targon Tales) (19 page)

Seth lurched into the cargo bay and waited impatiently for Caelyn and Nova before raising the ramp. “Laid that on kind of thick, didn’t you?” he said and urged Caelyn into the cabin where the Delphian placed her carefully onto the lounger.

Caelyn grinned. “That was exhilarating. I may have a future as a spy.”

Seth rummaged through a box until he found Nova’s supply of medicine vials. He pushed the sleeve of her suit past her elbow and, when his numb hands refused to cooperate, opened one of the packages with his teeth. “Spy?”

“Centauri, if you want me to think you’re a rebel I have to tell you that you’re currently fighting on the wrong side. Is she a double agent, too?”

Seth shook his head. “Regular army.” He held the ampoule to Nova’s arm, hesitating until Caelyn took it out of his hand and nudged him out of the way. “When did you figure it out?” Seth said.

The Delphian quickly and efficiently administered the drug while Seth pulled blankets around her. “When you shot that rebel. Your loathing for them and their kind shines like a beacon. I don’t even need to touch your mind to feel that.” He looked down at Nova. “And my head isn’t clouded by all those high emotions Humans suffer from.”

“Didn’t think you Delphians were quite so empathic.” Seth breathed on Nova’s hands, feeling no response to any of their attentions.

“We’re not! In fact, most of us are as dense as ordium in that area unless we can link up directly. We just pretend we don’t care when really we just don’t even understand what drives you people. But I had a remarkable mentor on Delphi before I turned to navigation.”

Seth grinned. “I won’t tell anyone.” He stood up to fetch a bottle of oxygen.

“So why doesn’t she know about you?” Caelyn asked when Seth crouched beside the lounger cubby to adjust a respirator over Nova’s face.

“She probably suspects,” he said. “She’s in enough danger without my baggage. I’m Prime Staff. Baroch’s.”

Caelyn gasped. “Gods! I heard about those! I thought it was just a rumor. And you’re working for the Delphian Factor? Baroch himself? How did that come about? And how, by Mel’bry’s beard, does Prime Staff get interested in our Naiya-saving mission?”

Seth shrugged. “Let’s get out of here. And the less you know the better.”

“Seth,” Nova whispered.

He took her hands in his to stop her from pulling the oxygen mask away. “I’m here, Red.”

She opened her eyes although already drifting into a deep, healing sleep. “I’d like to know, too.”

* * *

When Nova awoke the cabin was quiet. Something blipped to itself in the cockpit and the soft whirr of the life support systems indicated that they were in-flight. She stretched and rolled over, pleased to feel that strength had returned to her limbs, to look at Seth lying beside her.

He slept on his side and she observed him for a long while, easily done without the violet eyes to distract her with their observant, ever-sardonic intensity. It was a gentle face, she decided, so slightly not-Human, and so slightly illusory for all that she didn’t know about him but thought she did. She leaned close to him and kissed his lips.

He smiled after a moment and draped his arm loosely over her waist without opening his eyes. She slipped from the lounger, not without a few winces and groans, and padded into the coffin-sized hygiene compartment near the cargo area.

He was up when she emerged again and she took a few pieces of clothing from him. “How do you feel?” he asked when she had slipped into tights and a wonderfully soft and baggy shirt.

“New,” she said. “Clean. Awake. Alive. How long was I out for?”

“Quite a while. But it’s a long trip, so you didn’t miss much except for Caelyn’s weird chanting sessions.”

Nova went into the galley in desperate need of some very hot tea. “Where is he?”

“Resting. He found a keyhole before we even got to Aram gate and we were able to jump all the way past Magra. It knocked him out but we’ve saved two days’ travel time.”

“I slept through that? What happened on Aram?”

He shrugged and took a cup from her. “We just left. The Eagles had gone already and they didn’t have anything left that can catch the Dutchman. They certainly wouldn’t bother to send the base ship after us. They probably just figured that we were rebels making an escape.”

She inhaled the soothing fragrance of the tea. “And? Are we?”

“Nova...”

She held up a hand. “Yes, Prime Staff, I get that. Way too much secret stuff for this Lieutenant. But you didn’t have to let me believe you’re a rebel. Although now I know how you got out of that scrape on Targon so easily. And how you got the upgrades for the Dutchman. Does Carras know who you are?”

Seth nodded. “Sort of. He’s probably been told enough to look the other way. I doubt he trusts me a whole lot. Don’t go any further with that. Don’t make me lie anymore.”

“Then don’t! Can you not trust me?”

“I have my orders, too, Lieutenant.”

“And what are those?” she said, refusing to budge.

He put his cup down and turned to walk away before remembering that there was little chance of escape on the small ship. She propped her elbows on the galley counter to watch him pace about. He fiddled with the air system, then turned on some music before returning to the table where he sat down.

“I was working on Colonel Drackon,” he said finally. “There has been suspicion about him for a while and the Factors asked me to investigate. Mostly gun running. I didn’t know why they’d be interested in this but you don’t question the Factors.”

“And then you realized that he was working with rebels, not just moving the stuff on the side. The Factors must have suspected that or they wouldn’t have sent you on this.”

“Yes. I was already working my way up to Pe Khoja and pretty much embedded on Magra. He confirmed that Drackon was using rebels for black op against Union interests. Mostly for profit. Then you came along and I had to consider that Carras might be in on this, too, as much as I didn’t want to. That would compromise the entire Targon base.”

She nodded. “And then Drackon drops Rellius’ name and suddenly it’s clear why they’d use Prime Staff for this case. They’re not just after Drackon. They’re after one of their own.” She cocked her head. “And still you are working to keep Naiya out of Commonwealth hands.”

“Yeah.” He lifted a hand to cup her chin. “I’m a rebel.”

She put a finger to his lips when he leaned over the counter to kiss her. “Is this why you left? Back then? Flight training?”

He sighed and sat back down. “Nova, please...”

“I won’t ask you about your work. But I think you owe me the truth where it concerns me. I am involved.”

“Yes, it’s why I left. I was already working for Intelligence, but not the Factors. There were rebels at the Academy. Sabotage. Espionage. Nothing terribly interesting but when they made me the offer to join Prime Staff I took it. There were looking for unknowns. People that would stay unknown.” He chewed on his lip. “You were the price of that.”

“And you paid it.”

“I did. I am not like you, Nova. I knew I’d never make it in your army. Was I going to work as a transport pilot somewhere? That didn’t sound all that exciting. I was thinking about deep space exploration; they’re always looking for a pilot crazy enough to head into the Outlands. But then I got this chance and I took it.”

She came out of the galley space to stand close to him, between his knees, and wrapped her arms around his neck. “That I can understand. One more question and then I’ll shut up.”

“Hmm?” he said, his eyes on her lips and his hands on her bottom.

“Vincent and Acie?”

“Rebels both. But not Shri-Lan. Do not turn them in. They are more valuable to me outside than locked up somewhere.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh? Giving orders now? Last I heard, Prime Staff is about as far removed from the military as you can get.”

He pulled her closer. “Not feeling very far removed at this moment.”

She burst into laughter when they heard the door to the crew cabin slide open. Seth muttered unhappily.

“Recovered?” Caelyn asked when he entered the cabin. “It’s good to see you on your feet.” He glanced at Seth’s hands. “Although I see have some help with that.”

She stepped away from Seth. “So where are we now, anyway?”

“Still two days before we’re in com range to the rebel base or whatever they have waiting for us at the keyhole to Naiya,” Seth said. “We’ll have to find a way to stall our approach till Caelyn can work out the math.”

“Is the feeder interface going to work for you?” she asked Caelyn. She busied herself in the galley. “Anyone else want some food? I’m starving.”

“If you’re offering,” Seth said.

“That interface is a joy to work with. I will be able to span that breach,” Caelyn said. “But it won’t be fast, so the sooner we can lock on the better. Oh, we also have to try your suit. I made some adjustments.” He left them to go into the cargo hold. When he returned he was carrying her pressure suit. She let him help her pull it on while Seth continued her work in the galley.

“What did you do?” Nova held her arm up. He had installed some sort of valve around the upper arm of her suit.

“I am assuming that you will have to offer up your blood, or the catalyst within it, once we’re on Naiya. This will allow us to pull your sleeve off without leaking oxygen into the atmosphere. Or letting Naiya’s elements into your suit.”

“Except for my arm. Is that safe?”

“It’s not ideal, but it isn’t overly toxic. Hopefully we won’t be there long enough for you to absorb things through your skin. You should be all right.”

“
Should
? How about we just stick a tube through the suit into my arm. Have you thought of that?”

“Yes, but given that there is no technology to speak of on Naiya, doing that won’t remove the entire catalyst, only whatever is in the blood you spill. We have to rely on the Naiyads to know what they’re doing.”

“You have a lot of faith in a bunch of squid.” She watched while he made some adjustments to the valve. “That’s tight!”

“It’ll prevent you from bleeding out.”

“What?”

Seth laughed. “I always thought Delphians have no sense of humor.” He went into the cockpit and activated the communications console.

Nova peered at Caelyn. He avoided her eyes. “Make it tighter,” she said before turning to see what Seth was doing. “Who are you messaging?”

“I’m not. You are. Time to give Daddy a call.”

Chapter Twelve

There was something eerie about the tense silence that had descended over the Dutchman, now only a few hours away from their destination. Nova had completed a check of its armaments and defense system and now had little more to do than watch the two motionless pilots.

Seth and Caelyn were plugged into the ship’s sensor systems, intent on their task. The Delphian was preparing to detect the promised keyhole whose coordinates lay just ahead now. Seth monitored the farthest reaches of their sensors for the presence of others. Only an occasional squawk emitted from the boards, no music was playing to distract the men, and Nova tried to move as silently as possible.

“Found them,” Seth finally said, startling Nova. Caelyn did not flinch, immersed so deeply in his mental exercise that little reached his consciousness.

She crouched by Seth’s bench and put her hand on his leg to let him know that she was there. His eyes remained closed. “Not far now. They have a lot of hardware. A carrier, floating platforms, com beacons, a few cruisers, Shrills.”

“How many Shrills?”

“Dozens. They must be expecting trouble.” His mental instruction to the Dutchman activated an overhead screen to display for her an interpretation of the sensors’ findings. “Should have real-vid soon.”

“Could they have intercepted our message?” They had spent much time over composing a missive to her father, requesting a full Air Command assault on the rebel location near the keyhole. If they had deployed at once they would be in this sector within hours, coinciding with the Dutchman’s arrival, or at least close to it. If they slipped through the jumpsite that Caelyn was to create to Naiya, the Union would take care of the rebel base. With luck, then, they would avoid returning to a full brace of irate rebels.

“No. They know we’re here. If they weren’t happy about that we’d know by now.”

“Any sign of our surprise visitors?”

“Nothing yet. Let’s hope your old man isn’t going to let you dangle in the breeze just to teach you a lesson.”

“He’s not an ogre, you know. He’ll have all of Targon mobilized after the news we gave him. I’m his favorite daughter by default.” Nova watched Caelyn’s immobile face for a few moments. “Is he finding anything yet?”

“Yes, he is,” Caelyn said, awake after all. “But with the Centauri using every resource to just get there, I don’t have much left for the central processor. So all I can do is look at the keyhole and admire it for its simple, mathematical perfection.”

“Is he being sarcastic?” Nova whispered.

Seth smiled.

“Well,” she sighed. “It’s kind of boring watching you two lying around. Let me know if I can do anything.”

“You can move your hand up by about that much,” Seth said.

She slapped his thigh and straightened up.

Caelyn rose from his bench, too. “I am going to meditate a while to prepare. And perhaps pray to what gods are still watching us out here that you people know what you’re doing. I take some comfort knowing that Celessa thinks the transfer will work, but how you’ll get us past the rebels is a mystery to me. Hopefully she’ll—” He halted abruptly when he saw Nova’s face. His eyes traveled to Seth. “Why are you looking at me like that,” he said. “Something isn’t right with what I said.”

“Caelyn,” Nova began and looked to Seth for help.

“What’s happened?” the Delphian said. “Is she all right?”

Nova winced. “No, she isn’t. I’m sorry, Caelyn. The lab on Tyra was attacked. Two cruisers came by not long after we got there. We tried to head them off but they destroyed the building.”

Caelyn had gone very pale and there was no expression on his face that she could interpret. “The lab is gone? All of them?”