Authors: Jonathan L. Howard
Katya was having trouble breathing.
Uncle Lukyan was showing no sign of releasing her from the bearhug he’d flung around her the first chance he had.
“
I thought you were dead, Katinka,
”
he kept saying, more than a suspicion of a sob in his voice,
“
I thought you were dead.
”
He rarely used the familiar form of her name, preferring Katya. It took a lot to make him use Katinka.
When he finally let her go, she said,
“
I thought the same of you, uncle.
”
She could feel the tears running down her cheeks and was aware of some of the pirates watching their reunion and not being subtle about it. She really didn’t care.
“
Yet here you are. Here we are.
Here we are.
”
She couldn’t speak anymore and hugged him close, her eyes clenched shut.
“
I tried to save you, Katinka. But the damned LoxPak wouldn’t go on and, by the time I had it secure, you’d vanished. I saw that the top hatch had been blown and hoped… prayed for you to have got clear. The next thing I know, that filthy pirate scow had swallowed the
Baby
whole. As soon as they’d drained the salvage maw, they were waving guns in our faces and demanding to know where Kane was. That Federal cur, Suhkalev, he’d have sold them his own grandmother he was so scared.
”
Katya
let Lukyan go, and wiped her eyes on her sleeve. She
looked over where Suhkalev sat on the rock floor of the dock, separate from the
Novgorod
’s crew. They’d treated him with contempt ever since the pirates had concentrated all their prisoners into one group under the unnerving gaze of the deck-sweeper guns aboard the pirate boat. The Fed had his knees drawn up, his chin resting on them, a look of abject misery on his face. He knew he’d disgraced himself and his uniform. Katya thought he looked like he wanted to die. She hoped he wouldn’t do anything stupid.
“
We really didn’t know what had happened, though. The acting captain, Tasya something – the one they call the Chertovka – she’s a clever one. She put the boat on silent running and we just hung at neutral buoyancy for what seemed like hours while they listened for whatever had attacked us. They heard something in the distance, but couldn’t get a decent lock until it hit the surface. She went up on one third ahead to investigate but there was nothing there. The
Baby
’s distress beacon cut out at the same time and she guessed it had been picked up.
”
“
It had. Kane and I were hanging onto it when the
Novgorod
picked it up,
”
said Katya.
Lukyan nodded.
“
So they brought us here while they figured out what t
o do next. Next thing we know
the pirates are running around because they thought the mining site was under attack
by the Feds
.
”
He sighed.
“
She played the FMA people for fools and they fell for it. What happened to bring you here in such a great hurry, Katya?
”
Katya noticed he’d dropped the familiar form of her name. He must be calming down.
Slowly, putting in as much detail as she could remember, she told Lukyan about how they’d been attacked again by the same thing that had attacked the
Baby
, the thing Kane called
Leviathan
. He listened quietly, asking only a few questions to clarify her story and iron out ambiguities.
“
Leviathan,
”
he said when she’d finished.
“
That’s an old Earth name for a sea monster. Is...?
”
“
He’s from Earth,
”
she confirmed.
“
He didn’t even try to deny it when I confronted him with it. He seems proud of it.
”
“
He would be. He should be. A man who has no pride for his birthplace is a hollow man. I don’t begrudge him that much. Still…
”
his expression darkened,
“
…Earth.
”
It was no secret that there were still Grubbers on Russalka even ten years after they’d lost the war. Stranded away from their units, trapped when the Terran ships ignited their drives and ran back to Earth with their tails between their legs. Abominated and loathed by the Russalkin, it was hardly surprising that most ended up in the world of crime. She’d seen lots in action dramas; pirates, terrorists and insane killers. They’d always seemed so ineffectual, though. Perhaps, she thought, it was time to stop watching everything that came out of the drama studios of the Department of Public Enlightenment quite so uncritically.
“
What about the Chertovka?
”
she asked.
“
She seems Russalkin.
”
“
She is,
”
growled Lukyan,
“
to our shame. She was a collaborator during the war. She worked for the Grubbers against her own kind. If the FMA ever capture her, there’s nothing waiting for her but a maser bolt through the brain in a quiet cell.
”
“
And Secor?
”
He looked at her suspiciously.
“
What about Secor?
”
“
The captain of the
Novgorod
, Captain Zagadko, he was going to hand Kane over to Secor.
”
Lukyan frowned.
“
Well, I don’t suppose
it’s any less than he deserves,
”
he muttered, but Katya doubted he really meant it. He looked past her and his frown deepened.
“
Speak of the devil…
”
Kane and Tasya were approaching with a couple of pirates acting as bodyguards. Tasya looked like she could look after herself pretty well and wouldn’t need guards, but Kane looked tired and ill.
“
Captain Pushkin, Ms Kuriakova,
”
said Tasya, nodding politely at each.
“
Hello again, Katya,
”
said Kane. His voice sounded strained, the pleasantries forced.
“
We meet again, Captain Pushkin. I’m very happy you made it.
”
Lukyan said nothing but glared at them both.
“
The
Novgorod
’s captain,
”
said Tasya,
“
Zagadko. Where is he?
”
“
We’re telling you nothing,
”
spat Lukyan.
“
He’s dead,
”
said Katya. She caught her uncle’s furious glance.
“
So what if I tell them, uncle? None of us are ever leaving this place.
”
Tasya laughed, a pleasantly throaty sound.
“
This sea monster Havilland has been telling me about?
”
It took Katya a moment to remember that was Kane’s first name.
“
We travelled from the North docks right around the mountain and came into the moon pool at speed, making plenty of noise. We weren’t attacked. Whatever it is, it’s long gone.
”
Kane shook his head slowly like an old man. Katya couldn’t believe the change that had come over him so quickly. It was as if he was dying before her eyes.
“
Oh, Tasya, no. Whatever it is, it’s outside. It has cunning, you see.
”
Tasya gave him an exasperated look and, Katya realised, one with some underlying affection.
“
So why didn’t it attack, hmmm? Tell me that.
”
Kane opened his mouth, but it was Katya who answered.
“
Now it only has to watch one docking tunnel. It’s got both boats trapped in the same moon pool. You won’t get out as easily as you got in.
”
“
She’s right,
”
said Kane. His voice was so weak that even Tasya, who’d seemed blind to his rapid deterioration, noticed.
“
You ought to go aboard,
”
she whispered urgently, moving closer to Kane in an attempt to make the conversation private.
“
I will,
”
replied Kane in a croak that wouldn’t have seemed out of place coming from a man in his last minutes.
“
Don’t fuss so, Tasya. I’ll be fine.
”
“
Captain!
”
the shout floated across from the pirates who were securing the
Novgorod
.
“
Damn,
”
said Kane.
“
Now what?
”
Kane had insisted on coming aboard the
Novgorod
to see what the problem was, overriding Tasya’s increasingly forceful demands that he go back to the pirate boat. They’d been gone for a few minutes when the pirate who’d called across came back up on deck and called to Katya that Captain Kane wanted her present. With a few calming words to her uncle, she climbed up the gangway that had been placed up against the prow, walked down the tilted deck and climbed back down the hatch into the bridge.
It was very different from the last time she’d seen it. The lights were out, illumination now being provided by work lanterns and torches the pirates had brought. A cluster of pirates was grouped around the captain’s chair, speaking quietly. They moved aside to allow Kane through.
“
Something you should see, Katya.
”
He looked back as if internally debating something.
“
Though you won’t thank me for it.
”
He stepped back and parted a way for her. She took a step forward and stopped, horrified.
Lit obliquely by the harsh white lights of the work lanterns, Captain Zagadko sat in his command chair quite at peace. He seemed so serene, almost happy with a faint smile on his lips, that the realisation that he was dead was a long time coming.
“
Oh, captain,
”
said Katya in a tiny whisper.
“
Oh, Captain Zagadko.
”
“
It looks like he was hit by a round from the Gatling gun,
”
said Kane. Out of the circle of light, Katya realised that the captain’s uniform was glistening slightly, soaked. She took an unconscious step back and was appalled when her boot stuck to the floor for a moment.
“
Yes,
”
Kane spoke again.
“
I’m afraid it’s blood. The floor’s thick with it. At a guess, the femoral artery in his leg was nicked. He bled out quite quickly.
”
“
Why,
”
said Katya, her voice shuddering with revulsion,
“
are you showing me this?
”
For his answer, Kane shone his torch on the dead man’s left hand. It lay on a panel of the captain’s status board; a security plate over the panel had been unlocked and lifted.
“
You recognise a handprint scanner of course. This one’s special. Between needing a key to access it, requiring the handprint of a senior officer and then the inputting of a code, it’s very secure. Not the sort of thing you can do by accident.
”
“
A code…
”
Katya knew what the captain had done and so she knew why all the lights were out.
“
The scuttle code. The captain crawled back in here after being blown off the deck with half his leg dangling off by a thread – don’t look, it really isn’t a pretty sight. He must have come in by one of the rear locks. I can’t even imagine swimming while that badly injured. Then he crawled forward, straight past the sickbay where he might, just conceivably, have managed to save his own life by getting into the automedic. Of course, that would have drugged him into a dreamless sleep where we’d have found him. He knew that and that’s why he kept crawling. All the way back to the bridge and into his chair, to open that panel and issue the scuttling code, killing his beloved ship rather than let her fall into our hands. Then he sat back and fell asleep.
”
Kane drew strength from somewhere and straightened up.
“
In a fairer universe, captain, they’d sing songs about you. I salute you.
”
He snapped a salute of a type she’d seen in the same stupid dramas that said the Grubbers had no honour, that showed them spitting on the corpses of their enemies. He held it for a long moment and then finished it, and seemed to age even as he did it.
“
Organise the funerals for tomorrow morning, please, Tasya. Ours and theirs. I want a full turn out.
”
He started walking slowly, almost shambling towards the hatch.
“
Why did you show me this?
”
asked Katya again.
“
Duty, Katya Kuriakova. He knew his duty, as I know mine.
”
He paused to look back at her.
“
Do you know yours, Katya Kuriakova?
”
He turned to continue walking but paused instead, touching his brow with his fingers.
“
Oh dear,
”
he said to himself, and collapsed.