Shades of Gray (96 page)

The
Couana
planned to follow them but hide some distance out from M’zull, ready to come to their aid if necessary. Another addition was a self-destruct mechanism to prevent both the
Aggressor
and the MUTAC from falling into the M’zullians’ hands.

Kusac took the Captain’s chair to pilot their takeoff and entry into jump space with J’korrash on nav and screens, Kushool on engineering, Schiya manning the missiles with comms routed to her board, and Cheelar up in the turret. The rest of the unit were in the cabins, their safety webbing engaged.

Takeoff went smoothly; as did their entry into jump space. Once there, Kusac spoke to Toueesut and then signed off. Over the ship’s comm, he gave the order to remove safety webbing and permission to move freely about the ship.

“Bridge crew, stand down,” he said, releasing his own seat restraints and standing up. “We’ll maintain an eight-hour watch. J’korrash, arrange it please, and you have the Bridge.”

“Aye, sir,” she said, getting up and taking his chair as he headed off the Bridge.

 

He made his way to the mess room, the only common area the ship had. He found Carrie, Kaid, and T’Chebbi already there and coffee and maush being brewed.

“Where’s everyone else?” he asked, taking a seat with them.

“Sorting out the quarters,” said Kaid. “It’s going to be a bit cramped for us—we’ve been given the single officers’ rooms.”

“Cozy,” said T’Chebbi from the brewing units she was watching.

“One way of putting it,” said Kusac.

“They’re working out a way to have one of the rooms as a rec room,” said Carrie. “Apparently several of them have brought playing cards and readers with them.”

“Damn,” said Kusac, frowning. “I should have thought of that. We’re going to need some form of relaxation.”

“Don’t worry, we brought a few things too,” said T’Chebbi. “You had more to think of.”

“Even so.”

“Hey, you got us here,” said Kaid. “You ran this show, you know, not me.”

“We all did,” he said. “As for entertainment, we need to keep up our training during the flight.”

“I’ll work out a schedule and routines,” said Kaid.

“I’m worried we won’t have enough time back on this ship before we have to jump to the surface,” he said. “We’ve a lot to do in a very little time. I need to see to Zhalmo. We need to get the jump packs on, grab our backpacks, and actually jump at the right position, as well as throw down those three crates. Then there’s the worry that they’ll try to move the ship when we’ll only have Jurrel and the MUTAC left in it. It’s essential that it’s there for us to leave in.”

“You’re worrying too much,” said Kaid, relaxing back in his seat as T’Chebbi brought the two jugs of steaming drinks over on a tray with cups. “There should be no reason for them to move it if we land where they tell us. Do you want to leave someone else on the ship?”

“I’m considering at least having someone prepared to remain behind at the last minute if need be,” he said as Carrie got up to fetch creamer and sweetener.

“That’s reasonable. We’ll still have nineteen of us. Who’re you thinking of leaving?”

“One of the females, probably Schiya since I’ve worked with the others before, and they can almost anticipate my commands. I’m not happy with having to take females in the first place, but we need them.”

“There is an alternative,” said Carrie, stirring her coffee. “We could do what we did when we landed on Jalna—fake engine trouble so they assume it can’t be moved.”

“So long as they don’t send a repair crew to it before we return,” said Kusac.

“In case you’ve forgotten, pretty quickly it will be obvious that we’re not the normal bunch of soldiers delivering captives,” said Kaid. “They’re going to be running around after us, not worrying about the ship, until someone works out we intend to leave.”

“That’s what’s got me worried,” said Kusac, spooning sweetener into his coffee. “I know we’ll have a chameleon suit for Zhalmo and that I’ll be carrying her out, but . . .”

“On a mission like this,” interrupted Kaid, “planning can go only so far. We can’t possibly infiltrate for more information first and then get her safely off planet, so we’ll have to go in hot. If I’d seen a way around this, believe me, I’d have told you. Leaving an extra person on the ship is a good idea, and I’d have suggested it myself if you hadn’t. Beyond that, there’s little else we can do.”

“Pity Ashay isn’t with us,” said Carrie. “He’d be great in that turret if they try to board the
Aggressor
.”

Kaid laughed. “You couldn’t get him up into the turret, Dzinae! But from what I’ve seen of Schiya, she’s more than capable of keeping them back with the weapons. I believe the turret, as well as the missile launchers, can be controlled from the Bridge. Not just that, but also she’s female, and they’ll recognize that from her voice. That alone will make them extra cautious.”

Kusac grinned. “I had factored that in when I suggested her.”

“Let’s leave this for now. We can go over and over this every day till we get there and not come up with anything better,” said Kaid. “Besides, we can’t be seen to be having doubts in front of our teams.”

“Who’s on kitchen duty?” asked T’Chebbi. “I’m hungry.”

The others looked blankly at her.

She sighed and got up, still holding her mug. “S’pose I arrange crew details,” she said. “Since you lot did not think of that.”

“I have J’korrash sorting out eight-hour Bridge duties,” said Kusac. “You’ll need to coordinate with her.”

“Carrie, come too. You need to know this,” said T’Chebbi as she headed out of the mess.

“I do?” asked Carrie, dutifully getting up.

Kaid nodded. “Part of our training at the Brotherhood,” he said. “Logistics.”

“Right,” she said, giving him an old-fashioned look as she hurried after T’Chebbi.

The boredom of the trip was lessened by discovering some entertainment units stowed in lockers in one of the unused rooms, as well as a selection of games and martial-themed dramas. Daily training sessions taught the Primes and Ch’almuthians new combat skills, and the Bridge rotation, new technical ones. However, after the first week, because everyone wanted edible food, certain members of the unit were excused from the cooking roster and instead picked up the extra cleanup duties.

Early on, more news had come through from the
Couana
about the battle at K’oish’ik. Casualties had been light on their side, but the M’zullians had suffered badly, and barely a dozen from their armada of fifty ships had managed to escape into jump space. They were at least twenty-four hours behind them.

Kusac and Rezac trained hard in their new Valtegan bodies, Rezac particularly appreciating the extra strength and speed. For Kusac, he found little difference, but it did bring home to him just how much he had changed. It was with a kind of relief that the last day arrived. While those not on duty helped sort the packs they’d each need into easily reached crates, Kusac joined Kaid on the Bridge for the last conversation with the
Couana
before they returned to normal space.

Kaid, who had command of the Bridge, flicked on the ship’s comm. “All crew to the morgue room now, and suit up before reentry to normal space,” he said. “Schiya, report to the Bridge.”

“We have been changing our plans,” said Toueesut. “We will be exiting in your wake and using you to hide us. Our cloaking device from the Primes is superior to any sensors these M’zullians have. We’ll be closer to come and cause a diversion to allow you to escape M’zull and jump to the surface at the right time.”

“This is not what was agreed,” said Kusac angrily. “You’re endangering King Zsurtul.”

“Clan Leader, do you think we are wanting to endanger ourselves? I not wanting blast marks defacing the lovely paint on the
Couana
. We will be most careful,” reassured Toueesut.

“You intended this all along, didn’t you?” said Kaid.

“No, no!” The Touiban shook his head for emphasis. “We are realizing that nothing on M’zull can match us for speed and maneuverability, but you continue to be vulnerable to them if they have craft in orbit or in space. We have tractor beam, and we will be locking onto your ship as planned, and it will travel with us and outrun them easily.”

“Dammit, you’ll be leaving us on the surface not knowing if you got to safely!” swore Kusac.

“We will let you know. Once
Aggressor
locked close enough, we use cloak and disappear, then open jump and we are gone. We send signal to you before we leave, you have our promises.”

Kaid growled his disapproval deep in his throat, and when Kusac tried to do the same, he found himself hissing.

“You will be carrying the future of the Prime people on your ship, Toueesut,” said Kusac. “Their only hope to become one peaceful people again! See you do guard them with your lives.”

“Your honor is ours, Clan Leader,” said Toueesut seriously. “Our sacred duty this is to see them both safe home to K’oish’ik.”

“Take care, Toueesut,” said Kaid.

“Good luck, and your Gods be with you, Captains,” said Toueesut, signing off.

Kusac picked up his helmet and got up to leave, but Kaid stopped him with a gesture. “No, you’d better stay here in case their flight control asks me anything I don’t have an answer for. Can you take over the gunner’s board?”

“Sure,” he said, sitting down again and storing his helmet in the side locker of the seat.

“Permission to come on the Bridge, sir?” said Schiya, standing in the open air lock doorway.

“Granted,” said Kaid. “Time to get up in the turret, Schiya.”

“Aye, sir.” She hesitated at the foot of the spiral stairs. “Shall I stay there while you’re on the ground?”

“No, you’ll take the Bridge,” said Kaid. “Take what action you think necessary if you have to deal with them, but keep us informed. Route all weapons to your boards and use them if need be. We need you and the
Aggressor
to get off M’zull.”

“Understood, sir,” she said, sketching a salute before heading up the stairs.

“All personnel suited up and secured to morgue bulkheads,” said Carrie over her suit comm on their Command channel.

“Copy that,” murmured Kaid, watching the readings.

“Computing jump exit vectors,” said J’korrash, her un-gloved hands rapidly keying in the parameters and double-checking them against the computer.

“Copy.”

“Approaching exit point in five on my mark,” she said. “Five, four, three, two, one. Mark.”

Space wrenched briefly around them, and then they suddenly burst into normal space with its velvet black sky and the tiny glowing lights of distant stars. Signals from the main buoy began to register on the boards, and ahead they could see the M’zullian home world.

“Plotting a course to M’zull, Captain,” she said.

“Transmitting our ID to the buoy,” said Kaid.

“Incoming message from M’zull traffic control,” said Noolgoi. “Welcoming us back and telling us to proceed to the Palace landing site.”

“Have you the location, J’korrash?” asked Kaid.

“Aye, Captain,” she said. “Sending it to your board now.”

Kusac tuned the usual chatter of approach and landing out and began to quiet his mind, sending it out to the planet ahead, looking for the flight controller, searching through his thoughts for any that might affect them.

“They haven’t heard from the fleet they sent to K’oish’ik yet,” he said quietly.

“Acknowledged,” said Kaid, sparing a moment’s thought for him.

He let his mind roam farther, looking now for the Palace and the controller there, getting a mental picture from him of the landing area and the craft docked there.

“We’re to land on the platform that will take us down to the lower levels. Once there, we taxi off the platform to one of the nearby bays.”

“Is the platform the only way out?” asked Kaid, all attention now that they were locked onto the automatic landing pattern.

“No, there is an old tunnel,” said Kusac. “Unused for decades, but the exit itself is clear. That’s all the controller knows.”

“Likely an emergency one for their Emperor. How busy is it?”

“Most there are maintenance crews, not soldiers, though there is a token guard at the entrance to the Palace. They’re informing the Chief Drone of the seraglio, Keshti. He’ll meet us and lead us there.”

“Good. We won’t have to find our own way then. Prisoners gear up in Ch’almuthian clothing,” he said over the ship’s com. “Jurrel, board the MUTAC. Approaching landing site in five minutes.”

Kusac pushed his mind deeper into the Palace, looking for the mental pattern that was Zhalmo, being even more careful to screen himself from detection. Abruptly he broke his concentration and turned to Kaid.