Captives in Obscurity: Sons of the Starfarers, Book V Page 12

  Reva smiled to see Tomas coming along so well. She remembered how he’d saved her life, and knew that she could trust him.

  “It’s because I saved Reva,” Tomas said. “Olug was going to shoot her, so I shot him before he could.”

  Isaac nodded and glanced across the bridge. Olug’s still body lay in a pool of dark blood, exactly where Tomas had shot him. The events seemed fuzzy to him, like something from a half-remembered dream, but the evidence was all around him, as if he’d never woken up. And as he looked around, his memories became clearer, until he remembered exactly what he’d done.

  That was the first man I’d ever killed, he realized. It felt… satisfying somehow. Terrible, but satisfying.

  Before they’d boarded the Temujin, Reva had made a promise to take care of her own. She’d also shown him her vision for the future, one that he still didn’t fully understand. At the very least, however, he knew it would free him from Gulchina’s cruelty.

  Did I make that promise? I guess I did.

  That was how he understood it. Is he wrong?

  No, he’s right. Gulchina is a monster—I would never want to be like her.

  Tomas pounded his chest with his fist and raised his hand in salute. “I pledged my loyalty once to you, Reva, and I pledge it to you again.”

  Isaac smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. “Then welcome, brother.”

  * * * * *

  Reva stepped into the cargo hold, flanked on either side by Isaac and Tomas. They were dressed in light armor and carried assault rifles from the Temujin’s armory. The extra firepower was probably more than she needed to guard her, but the show of strength was necessary to earn the pirates’ respect. She hoped to earn a lot more than that before the dayshift was over.

  “Here,” she said, stopping in front of the freight airlock where Corporal Sarnai had been executed. There were still a few bloodstains on the floor where Wolf had died—or was that from Matsuda’s ritual suicide? So many people had died in this room, it was difficult to tell.

  Don’t worry, Isaac thought to her. We’re here if you need us.

  I’ll be fine.

  She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. In her mind, she could visualize every fallen pirate—all of the new members of the collective. She could feel their distress and fear, fleeting remnants from the takeover.

  Awake, and arise.

  One by one, they flitted into consciousness. Some of them started, others woke up groggily as if from a long nap. As they discovered the telepathic connection, they reached out with their minds, testing the boundaries of their newfound abilities. They saw through each other’s eyes and heard through each other’s’ ears, including her own.

  “To me,” she ordered, though not compelling them to obey. They all heard her voice and recognized it, but were surprised that it no longer controlled them.

  Get ready, Tomas thought to her and Isaac, checking his weapon. He seemed anxious.

  Be calm, she told him. These are our brothers now, not our enemies.

  The pirates gradually began to assemble in the cargo hold, the one place on the ship large enough to accommodate the entire crew. They entered as reverently as if they were walking into a cathedral. The telepathic connection had sobered them, and Reva could feel that many of them had concerns. When they saw her standing at the head of the hold, flanked by Tomas and Isaac, they quietly took their positions as if Gulchina herself had ordered them to assembly.

  Not all of them came to her, however. Some huddled where they had lain, watching instead through the eyes of the others. Reva could feel their terror at suddenly being part of the collective, and she tried to reach out and assuage them.

  When she reached into Levan’s mind, however, he responded by drawing his energy pistol and running down the hall.

  Careful, said Tomas, fingering his trigger. We’ve got a loose cannon.

  Stay where you are, Reva ordered him.

  He glanced at her nervously, but held his ground.

  If you try to mind control him again, the others will see you for a tyrant, Isaac privately confided in her. Better to wait and see what he does.

  Fortunately, Levan ran away from the vital control points of the ship. He ducked into an EVA suit closet on the same level as the shuttle bays and took cover in the far corner. His heart pounded, and his panic was like a drug. It started to infect the others, until Levan figured out how to shut them out of his mind. As soon as he had, his panic receded into the background.

  “Men,” Reva stated, both telepathically and with the spoken word. The men looked to her at once, both in the cargo hold and across the ship.

  “I am Reva, heir of Gulchina and mother-queen of Star’s End. I am the voice of the many, the one who commands by the power of her mind. Look upon me and tell me, is it not so?”

  Don’t get any delusions of grandeur, Isaac privately counselled. Reva ignored him.

  The men looked at her, and as they saw into her mind, their fear and confusion began to be dispelled. They saw how Gulchina had blessed her to be the mother of a great nation in the Outer Reaches, and how Wolf, in his jealousy, had betrayed her. They saw how she and Isaac had fled to the surface of the planet below and been assimilated together in the cave. She held back nothing, letting them gaze as freely upon her mind as they did upon her naked form.

  “What have you done to us?” one of the men called out. He read her a lot more skeptically than the others.

  “I have gathered you into a single collective, through an alien symbiont that has melded with your minds. You are more than what you were and together, are far more powerful.”

  Powerful? More like we’re your slaves.

  Didn’t she control Jebe’s squad like puppets? That’s why Levan is off in the corner, babbling like a madman.

  What’s to keep her from controlling us?

  Listen to her, Jebe’s voice sounded in the cacophony. She’s our captain now.

  Says who?

  “I am the one who has brought you together,” said Reva. “I am the one the collective obeys. Listen to the voice that speaks from Star’s End.”

  From the depths of the alien collective, a rhythmic pounding grew louder and louder in each man’s head. It drowned out the chaos of their unfiltered thoughts and spoke with the sound of thunder:

  LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER-QUEEN. TAKE US TO THE STARS.

  Several of the men fell to the floor as if stricken. Others covered their ears with their hands, trying in vain to block out the voice. In his corner of the EVA closet, Levan began to whimper.

  Holy shit, Isaac remarked.

  “Do not fear,” said Reva. At her words, the voice of the alien collective subsided, but did not fully depart.

  The hell was that?

  I didn’t sign up for this.

  What does she want from us?

  “Look on me,” Reva repeated. “If you doubt my intentions, look into my mind and verify the truth of what I say. I have no desire for power or dominion. I do not seek to subvert your free will. To the extent that I have done these things, it was to avoid needless bloodshed. If you will have me as your captain, I will exercise this power no more.”

  She’s telling the truth, said Jebe.

  Truth? What is truth?

  She’s crazy, but so was Gulchina. I say we give her a shot.

  I don’t know, man. Better the devil you know.

  Is it like we have a choice?

  The debate raged on. Tomas glanced nervously at Reva, wondering whether it was safe, but she gestured at him to wait and stay calm. Isaac wasn’t quite so twitchy, but his eyes still flitted across the crowd.

  That’s as much of an apology as I can afford to give, she told him. Anything more, and they’ll take it as a sign of weakness.

  Isaac nodded. Like her, he could surely sense how violent and unstable the men were. Now she knew why Gulchina had ruled over them so harshly: It was the only way to bring them into line. Many of them were wanted criminals, wolves driven out
of civil society by force. Others were sociopaths who saw their fellow men as tools for their own ends. Few of them came from healthy families. Many had suffered severe abuse. There were still some who had it together, most of them in the middle ranks, but the grunts were almost all unstable, to the point where they would only answer to force.

  “Sergeants and chief petty officers,” said Reva. “I give you stewardship over your men. Listen to their concerns, and answer them as best you can. I will support you as needed.”

  Are we keeping our ranks, then?

  And what about this “mother-queen” business? Is she our new captain?

  “We will maintain the organization of this ship exactly as it was before, only with me in command.”

  What about Gulchina?

  Yeah. Do we still answer to her?

  “You answer to me,” said Reva, “but only as the crew of the Temujin. As a collective, we will decide together how to answer Gulchina.”

  Her response didn’t satisfy everyone, but it seemed to be enough for the grunts, who for the most part were taking the new leadership in stride. A large part of it was Reva’s display of power, though she could sense that it helped that she was easy on the eyes.

  Pigs, Isaac thought. Reva brushed him off with a wave of her hand.

  “Gulchina was your god,” said Reva, “but I am your mother-queen. Gulchina ruled with an iron fist, but I have united you without the shedding of blood.

  What about Olug?

  Reva bit her lip. They were right—she’d forgotten about Olug.

  “I killed him,” said Tomas. “Just as I would kill any who threatens my mother-queen!”

  So the kid’s finally grown a pair.

  He’s right. Olug had it coming.

  So that’s what it feels like when one of us dies?

  Reva’s hands shook, and her knees felt weak. She hadn’t realized how emotionally draining it would be to stand before these men and offer herself as their leader. The cacophony of their unfiltered thoughts was more than she could bear, though thankfully, the middle officers had begun mediating on her behalf.

  This isn’t working, Tomas thought to her.

  “Give it time,” she whispered. “I have faith in them.”

  In them? Are you kidding me?

  Before she could answer, alarms began to sound on the bridge. The comms officer ran to his post, in time to see a massive new ship on the scanners, larger than anything he or anyone else on the Temujin had ever seen.

  “What’s that?” Isaac asked, his face etched with concern.

  “Gulchina,” Reva whispered. “She’s back.”

  Worldfire

  Tomas jumped into action along with the rest of the crew. The officers and control techs hurried to their posts, while the grunts ran to the high-gee coffins that would protect them during combat maneuvers. They moved with surprising efficiency, though Tomas could still sense their lingering doubts. This wasn’t an enemy they were facing off against, after all. This was Gulchina herself.

  She may yet prove to be an enemy, Reva whispered.

  He escorted her to the bridge, where the Temujin’s chief officers had already gathered. One of the squad leaders had sent a few of his men to retrieve Olug’s body and clean the floor where he had died; Reva, Isaac, and Tomas stepped carefully around the mess.

  “What are your orders, Captain?” the lieutenant at the helm asked.

  Reva sat down in the command chair, back straight and hands clasped firmly on the armrests. Even unclothed, she carried an air of majesty that Tomas and the others found striking. The full-body henna tattoos certainly added to the effect.

  “Begin charging the jump drives,” she ordered. “Adjust our orbit to keep us as far away from Gulchina as possible.”

  “Should we arm the missile pods?”

  “No. Take no aggressive actions.” If this is to end in bloodshed, let her be the one who escalates it.

  She glanced at Isaac, who had assumed the astrogator’s chair. His face was pale, but he keyed quickly through the controls to carry out Reva’s orders. As the other officers went to work, she subconsciously guided them to accomplish their tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible.

  “The fleet has passed over the horizon,” said the officer at comms. “Our orbits will intersect again in twenty-five minutes. Sensors show Gulchina is moving to match orbits with us.”

  Questions swam beneath the surface of Tomas’s conscious mind—questions from the other members of the crew. How many of the Marauders’ ships had returned? Had Gulchina really captured a battle cruiser? Her ship was more than ten times as large as the Temujin, and there were at least a dozen escort vessels as well.

  That’s the GIS Starfire, Isaac answered telepathically. The Outworlders must have captured it at Colkhia—and now it’s Gulchina’s flagship.

  Tomas’s stomach sank. He remembered the Battle of Colkhia, where he had faced the Starfire and lost his father’s ship. He’d known that the Outworlders had been refitting it for their own use, but he’d had no idea Gulchina had her eyes on it. He searched the minds of his fellow pirates to gauge their reaction. Some were undeniably gratified to see Gulchina triumphant, but most of them were just as surprised at the news as he was.

  Then he came to Levan, and realized that his former squadmate had left his hiding place in the EVA closet. The loose cannon was on the move.

  “What are you doing?” Isaac asked as Tomas dashed out of the bridge.

  Levan, Tomas thought to him. There was no time to answer with words.

  Don’t hurt him, Reva ordered him. Let me try to persuade him first.

  Tomas knew there was little chance of success, however. He could tell Levan was past listening to anything Reva had to say.

  He sprinted down the main corridor and ducked through a hatchway to the stairs leading down to the shuttle bay level. As he ran, he drew his energy pistol and set the charge. He didn’t know what Levan had planned, but he could see through his eyes that he was armed.

  Levan didn’t go for any of the control points of the ship, though. He went straight to the docking bays and ran to the nearest outrider.

  “No!” Tomas shouted, arriving just in time to see him duck through an airlock. He sprinted up the steps and slammed his palm against the access panel, but the door was already locked.

  Levan’s trying to escape! he told Reva. What should I do?

  Can you stop him?

  If I had the codes, maybe.

  A quick telepathic query gave him what he was looking for.

  He tried to override the lock, but Levan had already powered up the engines and started the undocking procedure. The ship’s safety protocols made it impossible to get through—and even if he could, there was a good chance Levan would undock anyway and expose them both to vacuum.

  Tomas kicked the airlock door as hard as he could. “What the hell are you doing, Levan?” he shouted. “Can you hear me? Yeah, I know you can hear me!”

  Be calm, Reva commanded. Leave him to me.

  But as the outrider departed the docking bay with a low rumble and a metallic groan, Tomas knew that Levan would die before he ever listened to her.

  * * * * *

  Reva took a deep breath as the outrider departed from the docking bay. The officers on the bridge paused what they were doing and looked at her, uncertainty written on their faces.

  He’s going to betray us!

  We should take him down.

  Why isn’t she stopping him?

  “Captain,” said the lieutenant at the helm. “Your orders, sir?”

  “Maintain course,” said Reva.

  She tried to peer into Levan’s mind, but all of his telepathic energy was focused on blocking her out. She could sense his fear, though—and his desperation.

  Levan, she whispered to him. Levan, please. You don’t have to do this.

  “Fifteen minutes until the Starfire is in comms range,” said the officer at sensors and comms. His voice sounded distant,
as if it were coming to her through a long, dark tunnel.

  “Should we charge weapons, sir?”

  She realized that they were staring at her—and through them, everyone else on the ship. A telepathic debate was starting to emerge about what they should do with Levan. Many of them favored killing him outright, but she could sense some apprehension as well. Gulchina would have killed him without a second thought, but if Reva proved to be no different than her, some of the men were bound to want out. And undergirding it all was a deep sense of uncertainty—not only about the immediate future, but also about the ultimate fate of the collective.

  You’ve raped every person on this ship, Isaac’s words came to her mind. She realized that killing Levan wasn’t an option.

  “No,” she ordered. “Levan is one of us. We don’t do that to our own.”

  But what if he betrays us?

  “I am not going to compel him or anyone else. I did that once when I took over this ship, and that was once too many. You are all free agents to do as you will. This is not a hive-mind where I speak and you mindlessly obey. Is that clear?”

  The anxiety about Levan did not subside, though some of the deeper apprehensions did. She looked her men in the eye until they nodded to her.

  “Yes, Captain.”

  “Isaac,” said Reva. “How are our jump drives looking?”

  “We’re only eight percent charged,” said Isaac. “It’ll take a good twenty minutes before we can make even a short-range jump.”

  “Then charge those jump drives at maximum rate. I want to be ready to leave on a moment’s notice.”

  “Where?” the lieutenant at the helm asked.

  Reva glanced from him to the sensors and back again. The implication was clear—no decisions until the situation with Levan was resolved.

  Stars of Earth. She expects him to betray us.

  Why doesn’t she do something?

  Levan, she thought, closing her eyes as she reached out to him again. Levan, can you hear me? I’m sorry for how I treated you. It won’t happen again.

  Careful, Isaac reached out to her. The men can overhear you. If they think—