The Catalyst (Targon Tales) (21 page)

“So? With what we have he’ll never work for the Union again.
And
you have grounds to investigate Rellius.”

“Yes, but Drackon is as likely to join Tharron as he is to disappear forever. We can’t have someone with his clearance switch sides. He must not leave this platform.”  

She frowned and resisted enough to make a point when he wrapped his arms around her waist. “I don’t suppose it’ll make even a tiny bit of difference to ask you to be careful?”

“No,” he kissed her.

“Or to remind you that Drackon is smothered in Union bodyguards?”

“I noticed that. He probably has a rebel phobia.” His lips trailed along her neck to her collar.

“How about mentioning that Carras may well just blow this entire platform to bits instead of boarding it?”

He looked up. “Well, that is a problem.”

She rolled her eyes. “Come on, you. Let’s see if we can get our Delphian back.”

There was no one near the Dutchman’s lock when they stepped out of the plane. Seth winked at her and strolled away, toward the distant locks leading to the adjoining ship. Nova looked after him for a moment before heading into the opposite direction.

She walked quickly and with purpose, trying to look as frantic as some of the rebels that were worrying about the approaching Union attack ships. She ducked a few individuals who, by their bearing, appeared to be in charge of things. How did these people ever stay organized without rank or uniform? The concourse led into the residential wings that they had noticed on the Dutchman’s maps but there was no one here now. She tried a few doors and found them unlocked. There was a sort of commons room beyond that, now used to store supplies.

Nova was surprised by this. More than just a platform to serve as a base for their blockade of the keyhole, this station seemed to have grown into a gathering place and supply depot for the rebels’ comings and goings in this sector. It seemed inconveniently located in what was still considered to be Outlands and she wondered if there wasn’t more to be found here than the way to Naiya. Is this why Pe Khoja wanted the additional flash modules delivered all the way out here rather than to a more convenient rebel base?

Musing these things, Nova wandered past a lift leading to what she assumed to be the launch bay. A few pilots arrived on this level and she nearly ran into them when they stepped out of the elevator, distracted by their conversation.

“Whoa, almost ran you down, Princess,” one of them stepped out of her way.

She looked at him suspiciously, but the Human returned her glare with a friendly smile. “We’re supposed to meet Kayda on Two, in case you haven’t heard,” he said, gesturing back the way she came.

She looked down the hall. “I know,” she said quickly and lowered her voice. “But I was hoping to catch up with my boyfriend before we head out. I just got here and don’t really know the place. I kind of got turned around.”

“Is he a pilot?”

“No, he’s one of the chartjumpers working on Drackon’s project. Would you know where they are?”

A Centauri beside them snorted in derision. “I don’t know how those professors do it,” he grinned, giving his eyes a little playtime over Nova’s shirt. “Lucky guy.”

His companion laughed. “You’re in the right area, but the wrong hall. Go to the end of this one, head left and up some metal stairs to the left again. The cartography lab is up there.”

She smiled quickly and slipped around them to follow his directions. “Did you get that?” she murmured once she was out of earshot. “Found the place.”

“Did,” Seth replied into her earpiece. “Sounds you have a way with rebels.”

She grinned and tapped the nearly undetectable microphone at her collar, knowing it would send an annoying scraping sound into his ear. She wandered down the hallway until she found the staircase and made her way up. There were several open doors up there and she heard voices from behind one of them. She peered into the room, her boyfriend story ready.

What she saw were five or six technicians sitting on the floor against a long console, staring up at her like a row of startled birds, their eyes and mouths agape when she entered. She looked around, puzzled. No one was stationed at the computers scattered about the room or working with the displayed charts on the walls. “Um, what’s going on here?”

“We’re not doing any more work on this!” one of the people on the floor said. She tried very hard to look defiant and courageous but Nova quickly realized that she was merely a frightened civilian caught up in something far beyond her expectations. “So don’t you wave your gun at us!”

Nova came closer, her weapon firmly holstered at her side. “Wasn’t going to. What are you doing on the floor?” There were two Humans, a Feydan, a Caspian and two Centauri. “Have you seen a Delphian here? Caelyn? Would have been brought down here just a short while ago.”

“What do you want with him? You’re far too late.”

“Too late?”

Some of the technicians’ eyes shifted past Nova. When she turned she saw streaks and smears of blood on the otherwise spotless floor. A long smudge of blood also ran along one of the walls to the door. “Oh, no,” she gasped. “What did they do to him?”

“He refused to work with us. They tried to make him, of course. They beat him although that didn’t seem to make much difference to him. Then they took him away. There is a detention area below here, near the hangars.” The spanner looked uncertainly at her coworkers. “We’re not going to do any more work. Even if they beat all of us.”

Nova started to turn away but then paused. “You people aren’t even rebels, are you?”

“Certainly not! We were hired for a charting expedition. Nothing said about rebels or being stuck out here for weeks at a time. Nothing said why they haven’t sent a level three spanner instead of having us inch our way through this. And now this!” She pointed at the blood spatters.

Nova sighed. “Help is on the way,” she said.

“Nova...” came Seth’s warning over her earpiece.

“These are civilians,” she hissed. The technicians looked at her quizzically.

“What is your mission, Nova?” he said.

She ground her teeth and ignored him. “Do you people have access to any com channels from here?” She walked to the console. “Get up already! Believe me, by now everyone is far too busy to worry about you punching up your calculations.”

They slowly came to their feet, unsure of what to do next. The Caspian went to the far end of the room. “We communicate with the charting vessel from here,” he said.

“Good,” Nova strode to the unit and examined its interface. “At some point soon, things are going to get awfully noisy around here. There is a Union fleet on its way to attack this base. When this happens, I want you to use this relay to keep sending messages out. I doubt anyone will bother to trace it back here.”

“So you think,” Seth grumbled into her ear.

“Keep sending a message that there are civilians on this station. It’ll make them more careful about where they shoot.” Her hands sped over the interface to reconfigure the lab’s long range communications, knowing quite well that Seth was also remembering Aram at this moment. “Can you do this?”

“Yes, we’ll keep sending.”

“Not too soon.”

“Yes. Who are you?”

She shook her head. “Just do as I said. And stay here, together.”

She left them to rush back down the stairs, back down the hall and back to where she had met the pilots by the lift. Impatiently, she waited for a platform and jumped onto it as soon as it arrived. “How are you making out,” she whispered on the way down.

“Nothing. Making my way around to your side of the platform. Gravity is a joke over on this side. No sign of Drackon or his men and no one’s seen them. Of course I can’t pretend I’m dating him.”

She grinned and jumped from the lift before it had even touched down. The lower level opened up immediately to the launching pads for the Shrills. There was an archway beside the lift and she peered into the hallway beyond. She had to stifle her laughter when she saw that someone had taken a laser and burned a crude sketch of prison bars on the wall, behind which sat a stick figure with the word ‘Tharron’ above it. “I think I’ve found the detention area.” She drew her gun and made her way down the hallway.

When she turned the corner she was only steps away from a guard loitering in a small antechamber facing two cells. He had been busy carving some words into a plastic table top and looked up when she entered. Behind him, in one of the barred rooms, she saw Caelyn sprawled on a metal bench. She lowered her weapon.

“Came to relieve you,” she said, searching her mind for the name she had heard earlier. “Kayda wants your group topside.”

“She does?”

“Better hurry. You know how she can get.”

He jerked his thumb toward the Delphian. “He’s been pretty quiet. Might be passed out.” He handed her a short truncheon. “Give him few of these now and again to see if he’s in the mood to get along with us.”

Caelyn roused when he heard their voices and sat up on his bench with some effort. His face was puffed and bleeding, partially obscured by his blood-soaked hair.

Nova looked back at the rebel. “This is the best you people can do? Beat up on unarmed civilians?” She raised her weapon. “You know, you’re not going to live out this day anyway.”

“Huh?” he said before Nova’s gun relieved him of duty.

She looked down at the fallen body for a moment before moving to Caelyn’s cell. “Turn away,” she snapped. The lock sprang open under the assault of her weapon. She rushed to him and helped him to his feet. “Can you walk? Seth, I have him.”

“Good, head back to the Dutchman.”

She looked around and found a jug of liquid. She sniffed it and decided it was some sort of tea. Tearing a strip of cloth from Caelyn’s shirt, she soaked it and carefully wiped the worst of the blood smears from his face. “Are you all right?”

He nodded. “Yes, I’m sure it looks worse than it is.” He gingerly touched his swollen lip. “Where is Sethran?”

“I have no idea. Let’s get you back to the plane. He’ll meet us there. I hope.”  She put her gun onto the guardsman’s table and started to tidy up his hair. “Put my cap on to hide that eye. It’s looking pretty purple. Let’s grab this guy’s coat. You’re all bloody.”

“Gods!”

She turned into the direction of his startled gaze. Three men had rounded the corner into the detention room, Colonel Drackon among them. They came to a sudden stop when they saw the body on the floor, the Delphian out of his cell and Nova by his side.

Before any of them had had a chance to recover, Caelyn snapped up Nova’s gun. “You,” he shouted, surprising all of them. He held her gun nervously in both hands, pointed at Drackon’s head. “You killed my sister!”

“What is going on,” Nova heard Seth’s anxious voice over the speaker in her ear.

Drackon backed away. His own men had raised their guns, looking far less nervous, both Caelyn and Nova in their sights. Nova, too, had drawn a second weapon, also aimed at the Colonel although her eyes were on his men. “Put that gun down, Delphi,” Drackon said. “I killed no one’s sister.”

“She was on Tyra when you sent your ships to destroy the lab,” Caelyn said, all vestiges of his gentle voice gone now. “She’s dead because of your pointless ambitions!”

“I’m almost there,” Seth said, breathless. “Caelyn sounds like he snapped!”

“Caelyn,” Nova said gently, hoping to give Seth more time. “Give me that gun. No one has to get hurt here. You don’t want to do this.”

“Yes, I do, Nova!”

Drackon’s brow furrowed. “Nova?” he said. “You are Nova Whiteside? With that rebel?” He shook his head, trying to understand. “The catalyst! You’re here because of the catalyst!”

Just then a sharp beam of light cut into the space from the corridor. The guard closest to Nova dropped to the ground. The other spun and shot at Seth still out in the hall and she heard him yell in pain. His return fire took the rebel down. She grabbed her gun from Caelyn and shoved him back into his cell, barely ducking a bullet from Drackon’s pistol before turning back to fire at the Colonel. His body convulsed in a painful spasm as he crashed to the ground.

“Seth!” she rushed into the corridor to find him leaning up against the wall. A long scorch mark ran along the side of his leg.

“Just a little fried,” he said through gritted teeth. “Is Caelyn still with us?’

“Yes.” She peered at his burn. “Just beat up. He’ll be fine.”

Seth limped after her into the detention area. “Is he dead?” he asked when Nova bent over the Colonel.

“No. That gun wasn’t set to kill.” She looked up at the wall where Drackon’s bullet had buried itself. “What idiot uses a projectile weapon on a barge like this? I’d be surprised if they had any interior shielding at all.”

Seth put his hand on Caelyn’s shoulder. “What happened?”

The Delphian blinked, perturbed by all of this. “I... I’m sorry. I just could not bear to look upon that man. I... I don’t know what came over me.”

“You had good reason,” Seth said. “She really was your sister? That wasn’t just a title?”

Caelyn nodded. “Yes, our Elder Sister really was my older sister. We often joked...” He sighed and fell silent.

Nova rose and reached around him, not surprised when he did not return her embrace. She briefly pressed her cheek to his chest anyway. “I’m so sorry, Caelyn. We’ll get you home. I promise.”

He smiled sadly. “That just doesn’t seem very likely these days.”

An alarm sounded on the main concourse, ringing through the halls with strident urgency. “What the hell...” Nova, the one of them least smeared with blood, rushed outside. People were running toward the hangar.

“Get to your plane,” someone snapped at her. “The battle ship will be here by the time we can launch.”

“So soon? But how...” Not really caring how Carras had managed to pry greater speed from the
Zoya
, she spun around and jogged back to Seth and Caelyn. “Carras is here. We need to get to the Dutchman.”

Seth prodded Caelyn toward her. “I’m going to lock the Colonel up down here and get the rest of these heaps out of sight. He’ll be out for a few more hours so this should keep him in place. You two get to the Dutchman and prepare to take off. Act like you’re joining the battle. I’ll only slow you down. Get Caelyn plugged in.”