Skirmishes (9 page)

“I’m just fine,” he lied, and climbed the rest of the way up the stairs.

TEN

THE FIRST THING Coop saw as he stepped onto the
anacapa
control level were the doors his team had propped open. The civilian saw them too. He ran forward, arms extended, as if he had found a holy shrine.

He would have disappeared through the first set of doors if Coop hadn’t hurried to keep up with him.

“Oh, my God,” the civilian said. “Oh, my God.”

His exclamations got louder as he stopped in front of the second door. The
anacapa
control room spread before him.

Coop tried to see it through the civilian’s eyes, and realized he couldn’t. To Coop, this broad expanse of room, with its warship landing area and its intact equipment, was the most familiar part of Starbase Kappa. It looked like part of a starbase in flux, not like a place that had been abandoned for five millennia.

But to this civilian, the
anacapa
control room had to seem completely strange. The civilian had only known Starbase Kappa as the ghostly Room of Lost Souls, empty rooms, with nothing more than a still-active piece of equipment that mysteriously killed people.

Now the civilian saw the working heart of the starbase, technology beyond his imaginings, and it had to be overwhelming.

He went around and around in circles, head up, then down, like a child spinning for joy. Although he wasn’t spinning for joy so much as trying to take it all in.

“What
is
this place?” the civilian asked. “There’s
equipment
in here.”

The two soldiers who were supposed to guard him hung back. The room clearly scared them. But they didn’t say anything. They just watched, overwhelmed and on alert.

Coop ignored them, and focused on his people. The team he had taken to the landing area had followed him up here, and joined Yash, Lalliki, and six others who still hadn’t evacuated. Those eight formed a half-circle around Dix, who was still arm-deep into the
anacapa
drive.

He grinned when he saw Coop.

“We can
do
this,” Dix said on the private channel. “I know we can.”

Coop wasn’t sure how to answer him.

“I think the only way we can remove Dix is to hurt him,” Yash said on a different channel, “and I’m not sure exactly how to do that. I’m afraid there will be an effect with the
anacapa
.”

“What
is
this place?” the civilian asked again. He had stopped moving and faced Coop. Clearly, the civilian wanted answers.

“Layla,” Coop said on the private channel, “would you show our visitor the equipment. Don’t explain it. Pretend like we just found it too. I also want them to think that Dix is trapped in that drive.”

“I’m not trapped,” Dix said. “I’m just not going to let go.”

“I know that,” Coop said.

Lalliki approached the civilian and touched him on the shoulder. He glanced at her gratefully. Clearly this civilian expected full cooperation from her. It was as if the man had never experienced a hostile situation.

Maybe he hadn’t.

But Coop’s people had. His soldiers spread out along the wall, preparing for anything.

Coop went over to Dix and crouched in front of him, like he had done before. The interior light from the
anacapa
was still on, and Coop could see Dix’s face. He looked exhausted and exhilarated at the same time.

“These people are from the Empire that Boss doesn’t like, Dix,” Coop said softly. “They’re not going to cooperate with us.”

“Not willingly,” Dix said, “but I know how to make this work.”

Coop sighed. He was tired of the disjointed thrum of the
anacapa
, tired of the people around him, tired of the failed attempt at regaining that sense of himself that he’d had before entering this sector seven months and five thousand years ago.

He was also tired of crazy.

Dix’s eyes were too bright. “We’ll give the
anacapa
to these Empire people. They won’t know how to shut it off. We get the
Ivoire
here, we rig the transport to hit the
Ivoire’s
anacapa
with just the right shot, and then we’re home.”

Coop opened his mouth to tell Dix all the reasons this wouldn’t work, and paused.

It would get Dix away from the
anacapa
, and that was step one.

“Great idea, Dix,” Coop said.

“Captain,” Rossetti said, “the
Ivoire
—”

“Let the
Ivoire
know what we need,” Coop said to Rossetti, with emphasis. He hoped she understood what he was talking about. Because Dix had either not heard or forgotten the order to take the
Ivoire
out of the system. “We’re going to follow First Officer Pompliono’s plan.”

Rossetti froze for just a moment, then moved her head as if she were shaking off a comment. Then she said in a voice Coop had never heard before, “Yes sir.”

“Get that
anacapa
out of the casing,” Coop said to Dix. “Yash, help him with that.”

“Captain?” Yash said. He could hear the unasked question in her voice.
Should I wrestle it away from him?

“One step at a time, Yash,” Coop said, hoping that Dix wouldn’t understand.

Then Coop stood. He said through his headphone speaker, “Um, Mister Vilhauser, is it?”

The civilian stopped the moment Coop spoke his name. He came toward Coop, still too eager. Coop resisted the urge to look at the man’s oxygen tank.

“It’s
Doctor
Vilhauser,” the civilian said, but without rancor. He was correcting a colleague.

Coop smiled, keeping up the fiction, hoping the fake smile would sound real in his voice. “We have no interest in this equipment here. If you want your people to take care of it, we can help you with that. It seems that the equipment my first officer is dealing with is still operational. He can shut it off and give it to you.”

The civilian looked stunned. He glanced at the soldiers who had accompanied him, and then back at Coop.

“You would do that?’

Coop gave what he now thought of as his signature shrug. “We have no use for this stuff.”

“Coop,” Dix said on the private channel. “I’m not going to shut this off.”

“He knows that,” Rossetti said so Coop didn’t have to. “He’s gambling this idiot won’t know the difference.”

“How do you know how these things work?” the civilian asked.

“It seems pretty straightforward,” Coop said. “We’ve shut others off all over the sector.”

“There are
others
?” The civilian was practically drooling.

“Not anymore. We have some, we destroyed some. You seem so interested that we figured we can just give this to you.” Coop felt very calm about lying to this man. He wasn’t sure why. “Consider it a goodwill gesture.”

“Vilhauser,” one of the soldiers said, “You need to check this with Operations Commander Trekov.”

“No, I don’t,” Vilhauser said. “This is a scientific mission under my direction. You people aren’t in charge. And this is a boon to the Empire.”

Then he whirled, apparently realizing he had spoken through the public channels, not the private.

“And, uh, we—ah—we’re grateful,” he said to Coop. The civilian nodded at the
anacapa
. “Can we just carry that?”

“Yeah,” Dix said. “Let me give it to you.”

He stood, cradling the drive. It had to feel bulky and heavy. Coop had never held an active drive. It probably vibrated, too. He wasn’t quite sure how Dix managed to keep his arms around it.

“Better yet,” Yash said, “let’s put it in here.”

She emptied her equipment case. It didn’t protect against the effects of the
anacapa
—it wasn’t designed for that—but it looked official.

On the private channel, Dix said, “Engineer Zarlengo, let’s do it my way.”

“The case locks, Dix,” Yash said on the same channel. “They won’t be able to mess with the lock, even if they want to.”

Then she glanced at Coop, as if expecting him to resolve this.

But he didn’t have to. Dix set the
anacapa
in the case. Yash shut it, locked it, and then picked it up. It took both hands.

She extended the case to the civilian. “Be careful,” she said. “These things can be tricky.”

He took the case. “We know,” he said in that much too eager voice.

Then he cradled the case to his chest and walked toward the main door, still a bit bouncy.

“Let’s go,” he said to the two soldiers who were supposed to guard him.

“But the commander—”

“She’ll understand.” He looked over his shoulder at Coop, the civilian clearly trying hard not to grin. “You’ll evacuate like you said, right?”

“We gave you our word that we were leaving,” Coop said.

“You still haven’t shown me how to work the door,” the civilian said.

“We’ll leave it open,” Coop said. “And unlocked.”

This time, the civilian nodded. He seemed to have forgotten his desire to learn how the door worked now that he had the
anacapa
in his grasp.

It had been a long time since Coop had seen someone both this greedy and gullible. Coop had never been able to use both to his advantage before.

“Thank you,” the civilian said, and bounced his way out of the room.

“Now,” Dix said on the private channel, “all we need is the
Ivoire
and we’re ready.”

Coop glanced at him. Dix had believed all of this too.

“The first step is to get to the transport,” Coop said on the same channel.

“Don’t we want to go to the
Ivoire
?” Dix asked. He really wasn’t thinking clearly. How long had he been this off?

“We don’t want them to see it, Dix,” Coop said gently. “They’ll become even more suspicious than they are.”

“Oh yeah.” Dix’s voice had a creepy tone that Coop hadn’t heard before. “Then let’s get the hell out of here.”

Coop couldn’t agree more. He signaled his team to leave the room and head for the transport.

“Close the door after us,” he said to Yash. “And make sure shutdown protocols are in place.”

She nodded.

“Won’t they notice?” Dix asked, sounding worried.

“Believe me, Dix,” Coop said, “they’re not going to notice a damn thing.”

ELEVEN

THEY GOT DIX onto the transport first. Coop didn’t have to tell Lalliki to keep an eye on Dix; she already was.

Coop’s entire team moved fast. They went through the airlock, closed the exterior doors, waited the requisite few seconds, then hurried inside the transport, each moving to their usual station.

Coop went to the cockpit. It was crammed with unnecessary personnel. But Anita was here, and, after a moment, Yash joined them. Windows on three sides were clear, and the screens were up, showing the entire station and the Empire’s ship.

It was larger than Coop thought it would be, about half the size of the
Ivoire
. Unlike the
Ivoire,
the ship was long rather than wide.

“They’re having a hell of an argument,” Anita said. “I’ve tapped into their comm. You want to hear it?”

Coop looked at the images on the screen. Three people stood on the lower landing area to the Room of Lost Souls. One was crouched.

“No, I don’t need to hear,” Coop said. “They’re not letting him onto their ship, right?”

“That’s right,” Anita said. “They’re afraid he’s too close now. They’re telling him that the stealth tech is creating a field near their ship and he has to leave it behind. He’s telling them he can shut it off, and he’s trying to open Yash’s case.”

“Let them worry about that, then,” Coop said. “We need to get out of here.”

“You’re going to leave them with the
anacapa
?” Anita asked.

“No,” Coop said. “You’re going to give me the controls.”

She moved aside, and as she did, the door to the cockpit slid open.

“Where’s the
Ivoire
?” Dix said. “You promised the
Ivoire
would be here.”

“The
Ivoire
won’t be back for—what is it, Anita? Four hours?” Coop settled into the pilot’s chair.

“About that,” Anita said.

“You promised!” Dix said. “We need the
Ivoire
.”

“Get him out of here,” Coop said. He bent over the controls.

Dix yelled in the background, mostly shouting Coop’s name, shouting that he’d promised, that someone should stop Coop because Coop had lied to all of them.

Coop hit the controls, taking the transport slowly away from the starbase. He slapped his palm on the comm, activating it. “I want everyone to strap in. This won’t be fun.”

Dix was still yelling, but Coop wouldn’t turn around.

“I can’t get him out of here, Captain,” someone said. Coop didn’t recognize the voice without looking.

“Then strap him in here,” Coop said.

“Nooooo!” Dix said, and something banged behind Coop. “You can’t do this.”

Actually,
no one else
could do this. Oh, Coop supposed almost anyone in the team could follow his orders, but he didn’t want them to. It wasn’t right. He’d gotten them into this mess. He was going to get them out.

He set the target, and he set the speed. Then he waited until the transport was at the edge of the weapons range.

“They stopped arguing,” Anita said. “They’ve powered up their ship. I think they’re coming after us, Captain.”

“I don’t think so.” Coop felt calm. In fact, he hadn’t felt this calm in months. “I think they’re getting their ship away from the
anacapa
drive.”

And that was smart, especially if most people on board that ship did not have the genetic marker. They were worried that the so-called stealth tech emanating from that container would kill everyone without a marker.

“I thought you wanted to target all of them,” Anita said, and he smiled just a little. His staff knew him. He hadn’t said anything about targeting anyone.