Broken Glass (Glass Complex Book 1) (30 page)

*Module
D’Art
to Steg de Coeur. Program one running. Program two running.*

Steg turned to the control center technician and requested him to link a viewscreen to the freighter’s system. He relaxed as the viewscreen cleared and then colored with data images. He now was able to access all messages to and from
D’Art
, and he could monitor shipboard activities in real time. His foray had not yet disturbed the routine of the carrier. When he was satisfied with the progress of the orbit decay program, he signaled the captain.

“I understand your ship orbit’s in gradual decay, Captain. My estimate for the carrier to touch down on Hellfire is just under ten hours.”

The captain was perplexed. “What do you mean, de Coeur? I don’t have time for senseless pranks.”

“I suggest you check with your watch officer. He’ll be able to verify my estimate.”

“I’ll do that.” The link ended.

Steg, with Millie and Jackson, watched and listened via the viewscreen to activities on board the freighter, silent observers as the captain spoke with the duty watch officer. Jackson and Millie each wore a puzzled expression. The carrier officers both expressed incredulity and disbelief and then alarm as they checked and re-checked their bridge readouts. They struggled unavailingly to regain control of the carrier which now was in a decaying orbit, its controls were locked. Planetfall was inevitable. Steg waited for the captain to communicate his plight to the company and listened avidly to the brief and irate report with its urgent request for assistance. At last the captain came back on line to Hellfire.

“de Coeur?”

“Yes, Captain?”

“What’s happening to my carrier? What have you done? This is an orbit to orbit star ship, it’ll never pull out of Hellfire’s gravity well.”

“Captain, I understand it will take some time for your ship’s orbit to reach the point of no return. You can stay with the carrier or abandon ship, the choice is yours. I understand the emergency landing process is completely safe.”

“But I’ll never get my ship back into space! It will be stuck on that godawful planet.” A tinge of near panic momentarily colored the captain’s voice.

“Captain, I have a similar feeling. I may never get back into space, either. Perhaps you should consider a compromise? I suggest you think about it.” Steg cut the communication link although he continued to monitor the viewscreen displaying activity on board
D’Art
.

The captain sent another almost panic-stricken message to the company. He was fighting to save his ship although he would soon appreciate the benefits of compromise. Steg waited patiently while his companions watched anxiously until at last the captain returned to the communication link.

“Very well, de Coeur. I’ll have a landing craft down to you as soon as it can be launched. First release my ship from this disastrous orbit.”

“We accept your offer, Captain. Note that your crew must not be armed. Keep in mind my demonstration with the auto-miner. You’ll be able to move back into your routine orbit once we are safely on board.” Steg could see the realization of his plans as at last the captain acknowledged the inevitable.

“I’ll cooperate,” the captain agreed unwillingly. “You’ll be off Hellfire in three hours.”

Steg smiled his relief to his Fain companion. “Millie, we’re going to make it. At last we will get off Hellfire. After that we need to take just one step at a time until we get well away from the company.”

They all watched the activities on the freighter. Millie’s hand crept slowly into Steg’s and he gripped it tightly. They listened to the orders flowing from the captain and his senior officers. Their intention was to capture and imprison the two passengers once they had boarded and the freighter returned to its normal orbit. Steg smiled. He was not surprised.

“Listen,” exclaimed Millie. “Our kind captain is reporting back to the company.”

“Yes, he was under instructions to stall for as long as possible.” Steg recalled the messages he had read while connected to
D’Art
. “The company’s arranged for one of their security star ships to rendezvous here with the carrier, to plan and take further action. The other ship—they called it a firefighter—is still some hours away and they’re running out of time.”

“Why do they call the other ship a firefighter?”

“I suspect it’s equipped for more than fighting fires. They may decide to risk destroying the auto-miners with missiles. We’ll see, soon enough.”

Steg was unconcerned about the second ship because he estimated they would be aboard
D’Art
and well away from Hellfire by the time the firefighter arrived.

“Taul’s our only problem now. Well, apart from getting down the stairs. He’ll have to escort us to the landing site, which won’t please him.”

The security chief was unarmed and his cooperation had been obtained only after a direct order from the captain, after Steg triggered another auto-miner’s nuclear explosion. Taul cursed Steg continuously while they clambered aboard a small tracked desert vehicle and headed for the intended shuttle landing site. Taul knew he was hostage against action by his own men, and acted as though that Steg would kill him once he and Millie had access to the carrier’s shuttle. The security chief projected a mixture of fear, distrust, and hatred that was almost tangible. Steg watched him carefully, since he didn’t trust the man. Under no circumstances would he leave Millie in the destructive hands of the man who had killed and persecuted in order to exert his control over her. He did not relax as Taul drove the tracked vehicle across burning hot sand and rough rock outcrops. The grip of the Fain on his arm was almost painful.

They reached the rendezvous point without mishap and then waited anxiously in the limited shelter of the cabin of the desert vehicle. Outside their small bubble of cooled refuge, waves of heat radiation blurred the sharp outlines of rock outcrops. The sun was overhead and almost no living creature would survive for long, unprotected from its harsh and withering heat. Steg felt the cooling system falter and almost stop, before carrying on, as the temperature burden occasionally overloaded its straining efforts.

Fortunately they did not have to wait long. The small shuttle touched down with a roar and Steg and his Fain companion boarded the craft quickly, eager to depart the planet Hellfire. Taul scowled angrily at their escape and Steg ignored the unspoken promise of revenge. They barely had time to strap in when the shuttle jerked and roared aloft, heading back to the space carrier, into the inky blackness of space.

The captain was brusque and unfriendly. His relief at regaining orbit control did not overcome the barrier of antagonism created by his duress. While he was not prepared to actively assist Steg he had to protect his ship.

“de Coeur,” he explained. “I’ve no argument with you. However, the company regards you as its enemy and therefore I can’t provide assistance to you or your companion. Consider yourselves to be my prisoners.”

“Your ship, captain, is no longer in a decay orbit although it could be returned there very quickly. Your current task is to select a destination for your passengers—not prisoners—that’s acceptable to us. Of course, it should not be a planet within the influence of the House of Aluta.”

“This is piracy, you realize? The penalty for piracy is death,” he added with emphasis, taking pleasure in the threat.

“Captain, House of Aluta was attempting to kill me on Hellfire. Anything I’ve done is self-defense, I assure you. I’m requesting safe passage for my companion and myself. The Imperial Fleet will pay the transport cost and I’m confident we can negotiate a reasonable charge for one more passenger. If for any reason Fleet doesn’t pay, Homeworld will.”

“Very well, I suppose I can,” the captain reluctantly agreed. “However I’ll have to wait for a full consignment of ore before I can leave. My capacity is fifteen loaded ore shuttles, you know, and I only have five.”

“There are problems you obviously haven’t considered, captain.” Steg maintained a patient attitude with difficulty. “There’re no operating auto-miners on Hellfire and the shuttle launch pad’s inoperative. It will be months—perhaps a year, before the planet’s producing ore again, assuming the xenos allow it.”

“What do you mean?” the captain demanded, urgency and alarm filling his voice. “There were only two auto-miners destroyed? They must have thirty-eight that can continue mining?”

“Yes, and each one has buried itself under sand and rock, hidden from any rescue team. They’re designed to burrow and they’ve done just that. They’ll stay hidden under protective rock mantles with their systems on standby. I can still communicate with them and if anyone attacks me or Millie, their self-destruct triggers will fire automatically. Imagine the whole thirty-eight exploding simultaneously. The explosion would probably fracture the planet.”

The captain cursed. “No wonder the company is after you.”

Steg attempted to explain. “Captain, I’m protecting myself against House of Aluta. Simply that. If I make it too expensive for them, they should leave me alone. Of course, their pride will require revenge no matter the cost. So be it. Now what do you propose? Your ship could wait years for the remainder of its load. Perhaps you should reconsider?”

Steg left the captain to ponder the problems posed by his two unwelcome passengers. A crew member, unresponsive to Steg’s questions, silently led them to a spare cabin. The carrier was a working ship and did not normally cater for passengers. The bridge and accommodation deck were housed in the blunt nose of the craft, its skeletal body similar to the carriers that operated at Homeworld. Most of its bays were empty of ore shuttles. Whatever their destination this would be a profitless trip for the carrier.

He
carefully
checked the sparse cabin. The interior walls were unlined, with regular rows of rivets joining heavy steel sections, reflecting the utilitarian nature of the carrier’s structure and functions, and had been re-painted numerous times with gray paint over years of maintenance. Electrical wiring was laid flat in open channel ways and painted white, the one color scheme of decoration. Steg checked but did not find any listening devices. The furniture was basic, consisting of little more than two couch-bunks and built-in wall units. They had access to a small washroom, basic, adequate for its purpose. Overall, the cabin was antiseptic and impersonal, without appeal or attraction. However, they were both off Hellfire.

“Better than Hellfire?” he queried Millie. She nodded her agreement. She was silent, apparently unable to believe she was at last off the planet that she thought would be her grave.

Steg tested the bunks and indicated to Mille she should rest. He lay back on the other bunk, unable to relax. He wanted first to re-establish his contact with and control over the freighter’s system.

*Steg de Coeur to Module
D’Art
.*

*Module
D’Art
.”

*Prepare for inter-system drive activation. Initiate all pre-drive checks. Prepare to depart orbit in thirty minutes. Destination to be advised. Lock system including outgoing communications. These instructions can only be countermanded by Steg de Coeur. Run instructions.*

*Instructions running.*

Steg was committing the ship and its captain. He could not sit idly while the firefighter approached. He searched the ship’s navigation charts and files, seeking a system outside the influence or control of the company. At last he found a suitable system, Tacia, central member of the Tacian League. It seemed the best choice given their need to reach a non-Imperial, non-Alutan system as quickly as possible. The chain of nexus points from Hellfire to Tacia would take five days to transit. Satisfied, he loaded the destination details into
D’Art
’s navigation system.

The carrier captain was in a developing state of confused anxiety when Steg was brought to the bridge by a nervous crewman.
D’Art
was preparing to depart orbit and he and his crew were powerless to prevent it. Controls were locked against them and the carrier’s systems refused to accept new instructions. Steg had observed his increasingly urgent messages to the company and had blocked their transmission. The captain was isolated, faced with circumstances he had never before experienced. He turned to Steg with almost a sigh of relief.

“This is impossible,” he cried. “My ship’s underway, it ignores my instructions, I’ve no idea of where we’re headed and the company won’t answer me. All this is because of you, I know.”

“Captain, please be patient,” Steg reassured the man. “Yes, control of your ship is out of your hands. I‘ve blocked outgoing communications. Your ship’s now following my orders. If you were to jettison me into space or set out to harm me in any way, I promise, you’d be unable to prevent her destruction. You’re still responsible for the ship and her crew. However, if you cooperate, I’ll be off your ship as quickly as possible. We’re heading for the Hellfire nexus and our destination is Tacia. That’s where we’ll disembark.”

The captain stared at his unwanted passenger for a moment, silenced by his quiet air of confidence. He was concerned only with his command, his carrier, and her crew, and he’d do anything to rid himself of the threat posed by his passengers, even if it meant cooperating with an enemy of the company.