Beyond the Stars: INEO (8 page)

Zaric looked at us as he contemplated the idea. “It is closer …
and
easier to get to.”

Tyden’s body stiffened defensively. “Absolutely not. No—
no way.
We can’t trust him. I don’t want him aboard our ship. He’s a wastrel, a criminal, and a low-life,” he shot back.

“Tyden,” Gaelan intervened. “I understand your concerns, but we are looking for Dreons,
remember?
Who else would be better? It takes one to know one. Besides, Loic has a reputation of being one of the better scouts.”

Tyden sighed. “I respect your opinion, but he operates in a self-serving manner. Even though he’s made a name for himself as a scout, he’s probably still as
kooky
and unstable as ever.”

Gaelan and Zaric looked at each other and let out a small laugh.

“So what, you’re prejudice against crazy?” Gaelan teased.

Zaric gave Tyden a pleading look. “Come on, Tyden; he probably knows every dark corner of the universe and might be well versed on the Dreons’ routes. Besides, he has a history of doing business with anyone and everyone. If anyone could find them, he probably could.”

Tyden grimaced. “Fine. We’ll find Loic and see if he wants the job,” he said with a surrendering breath. “But we only grant him a boarding pass if he agrees to follow our rules.”

“Agreed,” Gaelan and Zaric said in sync.

We headed back to the ship with everyone seemingly excited about our newest strategy, except Tyden. He didn’t say one word on the way back. The only sound he made was the occasional sigh. It made me think he was sorry for giving in. At that moment, I wished I could read his mind.
How bad could this Loic be?

CHAPTER 5

DALINOVA

Happily back onboard, I sat beside Gaelan on the command deck while our ship approached Dalinova. The pale gray planet came into sight on the main viewer. Its size looked small compared to Earth and appeared lifeless, like a moon, without the glow of blue oceans or shades of green.

“Can this place really support life?” I asked.

“Yes, it has a thin atmosphere. It’s safe, only you don’t want to be caught here during a meteor shower,” Gaelan explained. “See that?” he said, pointing to some dust clouds passing over the surface. “It looks like someone is running the old mines. I’m heading in for a closer look.”

I watched silently as he and the crew operated the ship remotely with their minds. It looked so hard. I couldn’t forget Gaelan’s desire for me to learn how to fly. I wondered if he was aware of how I had purposely avoided bringing up the subject, hoping he’d soon forget.

“Scan the surface for Katarian vessels and life-forms,” Tyden ordered Pascal.

Pascal enlarged the holographic monitor in front of him with the touch of his finger in order to share it with the room. Pascal Saunders was second in command and took care of the details. Whenever one of the commanders needed assistance, he was the go-to man. He appeared to love his work and seemed to be happily consumed by it all hours of the day. I thought of him as a nerdy Marine, if there was such a thing. He was a big guy, probably in his mid-twenties, had short spiky brown hair, overdeveloped muscles that made his chair look small, and was obsessed with everything technical.

“The mines are awake, sir,” Pascal said, pointing to the floating screen. “There, right there. There’s activity on the rigs. They’re drilling alright. But where are the people? The place looks deserted. Wait, look, one parked Katarian starship. It’s a Sulo Montaro model. Aren’t those retired?” He turned from his console to face us.

Tyden approached the screen. “Yes, they’re old, although they’ll fly. Several were purchased and refurbished by a few wealthy voyagers some fifty years back.”

“Let’s hail the ship,” Gaelan suggested. “Speaker only,” he said, making a control panel appear out of thin air. “This is the Katarian Starship Thirty-three. Please state your current command and mission.”

We listened with attention for a reply. There was only silence.

“Do you think it’s abandoned?” I asked.

“Could be, but why is the equipment still going?” Gaelan sighed with a perplexed look on his face while he listened intently to the open communication line.

We all looked at each other with disappointment. Our trip to Dalinova had been a complete waste of time. But then, we heard something. A rustling sound from the speaker like something or someone was moving around the old, worn-out Spacecraft.

“Starship Thirty-three, I’m a Katarian as well,” replied a man panting breathlessly on the overhead communicator. “I operate a civilian Starship, registration number 562-049. You got here in the nick of time. I’m in desperate need of assistance. My ship has been incapacitated. I came here on a mining expedition, and was rudely interrupted when a group of Grulanti invaded my site. They came in six days ago and took out our defenses and blew up the bloody mine with my crew still inside. I’m the only one to make it out alive. Now, the filthy pillagers keep coming back and helping themselves to the stockpiles. Which you’re welcome to, of course, if you’re willing to assist me,” he stated, as if he held the rights to the planet’s resources.

“What is your name and rank?” asked Tyden in an unemotional tone.

“I am Loic Veenhoven, a Katarian tradesman, Commander.”

Tyden gave Gaelan a look of dread.

Gaelan looked back at Tyden with caution, appearing to empathize with Tyden’s lack of enthusiasm, yet tried to maintain some optimism of his own. “Could you open a visual,” Gaelan asked Loic.

“Sure,” Loic said willingly.

I stared at the floating screen ahead of us that showed the exterior of Loic’s ship. It morphed into the inside view. An image of a shadowy figure of a man appeared. He was standing in a poorly lit room that was brightened only by the red glow from the control console in front of him. It was hard to see his face clearly. His facial features were distorted by the shading caused by the room’s eerie lighting. And judging by the erratically blinking lights on the instrument panel behind him, and bundle of wires dangling down from a hole in the ceiling, his ship must have been damaged. It appeared to be operating on auxiliary power. Even so, his ship looked decrepit compared to our pristine command center with its notably modern, and functioning, holographic screens. The walls were a dreary gray and paled in comparison to our glossy white walls and floors. The seats were tattered, as opposed to our upholstered royal blue chairs that were detailed with a gold Katarian crest at the headrest.

“Hello, Loic, this is Commander Tyden Rigel. I see you haven’t changed and are still a magnet for trouble.”

“Tyden
—Ty, bloody unbelievable, you’re still alive,” said Loic with surprise.

“I thought the same of you,” Tyden replied shortly.

“What are you, like three hundred?” Loic shot back.

I winced at Loic’s rudeness, even though his insult had some validity. It seemed everyone knew Tyden was rumored to be over three hundred years old.

Loic leaned his arms on the control consol of his ship, making his face appear clearer on our viewer screen. His hair looked matted and disheveled, like he had spent weeks without water. “Of all the ships in the whole galaxy, it would have to be yours to pass by. I see you’re still pandering favors for the Council. You haven’t learned to think for yourself yet, huh?” Loic said with a small chuckle.

Tyden glared at Gaelan and flared his nostrils with a quick exhale. “You have some nerve to throw insults with the position you’re in, you derelict. I should have never …” Tyden stopped himself mid-sentence.

Tyden turned around swiftly and signaled a crewman to cut the audio with a hand gesture. The picture of the transmission stayed on the screen, but the volume went mute. I could see Loic’s mouth continuing to move and wondered what he was saying.

Tyden paced around the room with his arms crossed against his chest. “I can’t. I don’t think I can stand him. He’s the same disrespectful insubordinate. Are you
sure
we need him?” Tyden asked with uncertainty. “I might be tempted to leave him in a swamp somewhere if he pushes me too far.”

“He’s our best shot at finding the Dreons,” Zaric confirmed.

Gaelan sighed. “Let us find out what he knows. We will only bring him aboard if he’s willing to help us. And we’ll keep him away from you, I promise. He can bunk with the cadets on deck nine. They’ll make sure he behaves.”

Tyden bit his lip. “If you don’t think he’ll be useful,
leave
him.”

Gaelan nodded.

Tyden raised his hand to tell the crewman to reestablish communication. “Loic, is it safe to land?” Tyden asked with contempt.

“Oh, good, you didn’t scare off. I forgot you can’t take a joke, Ty. Hey, I didn’t get a chance to tell you. I have tons of Tellurium ready to go. You can help yourselves. Take as much as you like, just get me out of here,” Loic said in an eager voice.

“Is—it—safe?” Tyden repeated hastily under his breath.

“Sure, come on in. I’d land a few miles away from the rigs, though. I don’t know where the Grulanti went. Scum like that have a habit of returning when they find something they want.”

Tyden marched over to the control panel on the wall and manually flipped a switch. The communication line went dead. “Take us down,” Tyden ordered before he turned his back to us and left the bridge. I thought I heard him curse to himself on his way out the door.

I watched Gaelan bring the ship down to the planet’s surface, passing us through a thin strip of clouds and land it with ease. Not only did he make it look easy, the ship’s landing gear steadied us so well, our perceivable lack of movement made it seem almost unreal. I could have been watching a movie.

“Come with me, Sami. I need to suit-up and get ready.” Gaelan put his hand on my back and ushered me through the door.

“No wonder they don’t get along. Loic sounds like a real jerk,” I whispered to Gaelan as we walked down the corridor with Tyden disappearing around the bend ahead of us.

“That would be an understatement. There is a tangible contempt between the two. I was hoping that time would heal old wounds, but it looks as if the anger is still brewing.”

“Why don’t they like each other?”

He thought for a moment. “It was a long time ago. Loic and I received our training together. We both majored in Extraterrestrial Planetary Discovery. Upon graduating, we were assigned to Tyden’s ship for our first assignment. Being recruited to serve under Tyden was an honor. He had the reputation for being one of the best and we each had hopes to become future commanders ourselves. I liked Tyden and couldn’t wait to learn from him. He not only tolerated my inexperience, he eagerly taught me all he knew. He and Loic however, butted heads right from the start. Loic would foolishly argue with Tyden, a highly respected starship commander, mind you, over the littlest things. He was into taking risky short cuts, something Tyden balked at. Tyden was even
more
regimented then and followed protocol to the letter, so Loic’s slipshod approach to commanding the ship made Tyden upset with his every move. To make matters worse, Loic often suggested we try ridiculous, even dangerous maneuvers because, at the time, his blatant inexperience caused him to be ignorant of the risks involved.”

“I’m surprised Discovery Fleet would hire someone so disrespectful.”

“Tyden would agree with you. He never believed that Loic was Discovery Fleet material in the first place. It seemed to go against everything he was taught. Tyden was accepted into the academy the traditional way. He had the usual outstanding academic achievements, years of pre-fleet training, and came from a high society background that was commonplace for anyone entering the fleet. Actually, Tyden is a Rigel; his family would be considered royalty on your planet. Loic had no formal training as a child, came from a family with a bad reputation, and was dirt poor. He was admitted into the academy after he’d won a contest. The Council was looking for people that showed resourcefulness and sound thinking abilities under pressure, so they devised a competition that was open to all Katarians up for the challenge. The course blindfolded its contestants, gave them minimal navigation equipment, put them on a starship in a distant, unknown region of Space, and gave them a month to find their way home.”

“And Loic made it back,” I concluded.