Nova (34 page)

Looking at her friend, Adeline could practically see the
stress simmering about Perez in waves, knew that some part of him struggled
with what he and the others had seen on that ship, a reality magnified by his
worry for Captain Serros.

“Tell me.” She said as calmly as she could.

By the time Marcus was finished recounting the horror of
Nova Squad’s findings on the Karukai freighter, Diana could feel her own exhaustion
mating with a wave of nausea born from his descriptions.

“The worst of it is that I
know
Serros and Z’arr saw
even worse on the prisoner level than we did; I could hear it in Avara’s voice
over the Comm.”

“It’s why we’re out here, Marcus.” She offered, making him
meet her eyes.

After a moment, he nodded. “Damn straight. Now, let’s go
over our search grid. Your execution and strategy is flawless. I have only one
change.”

Adeline could tell by the Commander’s voice that she was not
going to be pleased with his next words, and could see that he knew it as well.
“With Sensors still down and repairs just under two weeks away from completion,
we can’t have all the fighters sweeping for Serros and Z’arr. We need to trim
down the number to two.”

“
What
?” She burst out, unable to help herself. “But…
that would reduce our effectiveness by sixty–three percent. We’re already hobbling
along with our sensors barely able to identify and communicate with our own,
let alone running through the grid out there!”

With a placating wave of one hand and using his reasonable “Executive
Officer’s” voice, Perez responded, “Yes, I know, and I’m
not
happy about
it. But right now,
Excalibur
is practically a sitting duck out here with
half her systems inoperable or limping along. That makes our starfighters our
primary means of defense until our hull and sensors are fully back on–line.”

“Marcus, you said yourself that there are
no Human food
supplies aboard a Karukai vessel. That means at best, Avara has her carried
allotment of two days rations. Even stretching it out to four or five days
makes the statistical likelihood of starvation, especially because she’s a
bloody
Arca VII
, totally unacceptable.”

So unlike her usually unflappably cool demeanor (Diana knew
she’d been called the “Ops Ice Queen” in friendly jest more than once), the
Lieutenant Commander could hear her voice rising as the last threads of self–possession
threatened to fray apart.

“Diana! Don’t you think I know that?” Marcus asked, no anger
in his tone, just pain. “But think; it’s
Avara
! If she’s trapped in the
pod and needs to, she can use her damn Synergy Enhancement to go into stasis. If
on–planet, she’ll locate food. We both know she’s tops in survival training. And
don’t forget, she’s not alone.”

“Oh, I find the fact that she’s traveling with a Vosaia who
also will have little to no supply of serum to inject in lieu of Feeding to be
so
comforting.
Thanks awfully
.”

By the slow blink of his rich eyes, Diana could see that her
sarcastic words had hit the mark. He’d not even considered the issue of their
Vosaia Squadmate needing to ingest non–Human food.

“K’llan would never hurt Avara.” Marcus remarked after a
moment’s consideration, much more certain than she. But then, he’d taken time
to befriend the Vosaia, as where she’d maintained a polite distance.

“They will find a way, Adeline. We will keep two fighters on
task, but we must have the remaining three of
Ghost Squadron
immediately
on–hand to protect
Excalibur
.”

Seeing that she was about to protest further, Marcus quickly
cut in, “We
need
them, Diana.
Ghost Squadron
is our only real
form of defense and maneuverability out there right now, not to mention the
best eyes and ears we have. What do you think Avara would do?”

Damn him to Hell!
Diana internally fumed.
He knew
exactly
what to say.

Given that Commander Marcus Perez had just been forced to
follow Captain Serros’s orders to leave her and Z’arr behind to ensure the rest
of Nova’s safety above Avara’s own, the answer was only too easy to supply. So
was her duty.

“Fine!” She finally responded to his painfully earnest gaze.

“We won’t give up until we find her, Diana; I
promise
you that.” Marcus asserted, his tight voice fierce.

Regarding each other in absolute yet soul–easing silence,
Diana Adeline was pleased to note that the two were in perfect accord.

No matter what occurred or how long the endeavor took, they
would
find Captain Avara Serros, or by God, they would never leave this backwater shit–piece
of Black Space.

CHAPTER 18

“K’llan… K’llan, can you hear me? K’llan, come on back now.”

It so was hard, given the sweet lassitude that currently
caressed her body, but something about that voice overpowered her desire to
remain in the honey–thick blackness. Called to her with more than words and
tone, pulled her very essence with an undeniable persistence coupled with half–remembered
promise.

Upon opening her eyes, the first sight that greeted K’llan
Z’arr was a rosy, muted sort of burnished–gold light that faded away to a brilliant,
deep blue. It took a moment, but then she became gently aware that the light
was reflected from the control panels that surmounted the too close walls surrounding
her, and that the rich blue was Avara Serros’s eyes, pooled with concern and
relief both.

“There you are.” The Human Captain exclaimed a few long
heartbeats later, apparently satisfied by what she saw in K’llan’s face. “How
do you feel?”

“Like I have been run over three or four times by a Hurricane
driven by a madwoman.” Z’arr answered, finding her throat thick with disuse.
“Where are we?” K’llan felt like her head, unhelmeted just as the Human woman’s,
was as heavy as tajet stone as she tried to look about. She was seated in a
chair and Captain Serros was leaning over her, one unarmored hand gently
gripping her shoulder.

“The surface of Dantis; you were knocked out. What do you
remember?” Serros answered, and K’llan knew her friend was asking to make sure K’llan
truly was well, ascertain if her memory was intact. Some half–asleep part of
her noted that the tactic was a common trauma response test.

A picture of fire and the sensation of bone–melting heat
arose in her mind. With perfect clarity, she remembered Serros’s incandescent
eyes and one–armed grip clasping her with desperate strength as they were both
slapped into a side–wall of the
Ardent’s
lift–shaft like a scorpion–stung
finch winging madly in search of succor only to break into a rock–face. Then
K’llan remembered only blackness.

“Getting more closely acquainted with a starship wall than I
ever wished or thought possible.”

“Ha!” Serros laughed slightly. “Yep, you have the essentials.
Can you get up?”

Shifting, Z’arr realized she was in one of the cramped
Karukai life–pod’s seats, though the shock–frame roll–bars and safety harness
had been deactivated. Serros was crouched low before her so as to not hit her
head on the ceiling. It was an effort, but the Vosaia was able to make her feet
a moment later, though not before a wave of nausea threatened to spill bile
down the front of her chest.

“Steady on.” Serros encouraged, gripping her arm in support.

It took some time but then her rebelling body settled and
she was able to more or less stand on her own though like Serros, had to take
care not to hit the roof. “What is our situation?”

“Well, for the most part, you and I are whole,” Serros
started as she led the way out of the pod into the chill night air beyond the
hatch, using her arms to pull first herself out of the roof’s aperture and then
lending a hand to K’llan to do the same. “However, as far as I can tell, though
the pod’s beacon and Comm are both functioning, neither can penetrate the
sonite. I also tried to hail any other pods that may have made surface; no
response.” She continued after the two both stood atop the pod’s atmo–entry–scarred
roof.

Under the bright lunar light, K’llan could see a vast, saw colored,
grass–swept swath of emptiness surrounding them.

“Additionally, sensors can detect no trace of a settlement
or other sentient–life. Matches what we reviewed about the planet.”

Feeling a sense of infinite emptiness as she regarded the
still vista, K’llan asked, “So we have no destination to try for and no means
to make contact with the
Excalibur
for aid?”

“Not exactly. We
do
have a pre–determined set of
coordinates programmed into the pod’s Nav data–base. It seems to be this
Outpost J2 that Perez and Naxos identified in the Karukai Captain’s log. In
fact,” she continued, running fingers through her hair as she gazed across the clear
expanse and considered their options, “it seems the pod was programmed to land
near the outpost. However, the sonite completely crashed any semblance of
directional control. And here we are.”

Hearing the note of frustration in the Human Captain’s voice
and somehow knowing there was more, K’llan repeated, “And here we are?”

“Yes, here we are: approximately one–thousand, seven–hundred,
and twenty–three miles out from Outpost J2.”

“Oh my. And the sonite will be an equal limitation to the
Excalibur’s
search efforts.”

“Exactly. Oh my, indeed.” Serros agreed, a quirk of humor
playing about her mouth despite the dire situation. “Not to mention, it’s not
as if the Karukai will be pleased to invite us in out of the cold for tea.”

“Not to our benefit, that’s for sure.” Z’arr remarked, eye
cocked to convey the double–meaning of her statement.

“Yes, quite. On the positive side, our Arca DSA Enhancements
should allow us to add an extra sixty miles or so per day to our achievable
travel distance.” The Captain said, projecting cheer in her tone.

“That means at best it will take us … approximately twenty
days to reach our destination.” Her calculation felt akin to heaping stones atop
her own grave.

“Approximately, yes.”

“You know, Avara.” K’llan began somewhat hesitantly,
predicting what the Shield’s response would be to her next words, “You are an
Arca VII, and since you number more than four enhancements and thus, are an
Arca Savant, you could
easily double
the Arca travel rate… Meaning, you
could make the station on your own in a significantly reduced period of time.
Ten or so days.”

Shaking her head, midnight–blue eyes obdurate, Serros replied,
“Only if I left you behind, and I will not. From a practical perspective, we
both need one another to reach and then, as we undoubtedly will have to do,
infiltrate the outpost. It is simply not a strategic move, even if I was
willing to leave you behind on a personal level, and I am not. Separation is
not an option.”

K’llan could feel the Human’s sincerity as her
nya
flared with uncompromising certitude.

“Very well.” The Vosaia responded quietly, feeling her own
soul flicker with a mixture of gratitude, respect, and slightly exasperated
affection.

“All right, well, unless I miss my mark, I’d say dawn is about
three hours away. We should begin taking stock and gathering supplies, and see
if there’s anything we can do to increase our chances of
Excalibur
locating us through this mess.”

“Agreed.”

At K’llan’s motion of acquiescence, the two dropped back
into the pod and began their work, with Z’arr investigating means of boosting
the pod’s emergency beacon and Serros taking stock of their survival inventory.
About an hour past the first rose–painted stroke of dawn, the two Nova Squad
members stood together and took measure of what the last four and a half hours
of labor had wrought.

After several frustrating attempts, K’llan had been able to
re–route the reserve of the pod’s life–support power pool to boost the rescue
beacon signal, an output that would last for approximately twenty–six days. She
had also left a coded signal containing the coordinates of their proposed
destination and estimated duration of travel.

For her part, Avara had collected the pod’s survival gear
and cannibalized the four separate kits to two compact packs for their journey.
Their equipment included most of the essentials they would need to survive the expedition,
including two purification and medical kits and four canteens filled with hydro–fluid.
The Captain had also gathered sleeping rolls and miniature light–nodes, a
portable laser, rope dispenser, grappling–attachments, a miniature generator
that also acted as an alarm system, a collapsible shovel, and one two–person
tent.

Additionally, she had located a spare set of clothes for each
of them. It was a find made essential by the fact that though their armor had
done an admirable job of protecting them from the
Ardent’s
explosion and
successive blasts of metal–melting fire, it had been rendered utterly useless
by the laudable deed. The flame had also performed a disservice upon most of
their arms, leaving only two functional pistols, Avara’s Volturno SX9s, half a
dozen grenades, and three micro–assembler knife hilts. Fortunately, their
ammunition was entirely intact, the CD casings having adequately served to
protect each dispenser’s payload.

Of most concern was their food supply, or definitive lack of
one. As Karukai did not eat solid food, there were of course no Human–edible victuals
available in the pod’s supplies. Since they also did not make use of Vitani
Serum as a matter of defiant principle but instead relied upon each other or
Clones in the case of emergency, there was also no sustenance for K’llan. The
net result of Karukai appetite was that the only food supplies they possessed
were what they carried with them as per standard practice.