STAR HOUNDS -- OMNIBUS (50 page)

W
hen Laura raced through the door and onto the bridge, she immediately noticed two things: the tension was so thick you could cut it with a proverbial knife. There was good reason for this. The view screens were filled with Federation battleships, getting larger and larger as they got nearer and nearer.

It stopped Laura dead.

“Uhm … guys?” she asked. “I’m hoping this is all part of the plan … right?”

The crew were all in battle stations. Red emergency lights strobed, drowning the entire bridge and its crew with heightened tension and foreboding. Voices were terse; even the computer voices, it seemed. A few eyes flashed Laura’s way, noted her presence, then turned back to work. Dr. Mish slouched limply in his chair, in some kind of trance.

Captain Tars Northern stood up from his command chair, his face clearly aglow at seeing Laura. He stepped over to her, and she grabbed him and held him hard. Softly she said, “Thank you. Thank you so much, Tars.”

He held her away from him, making sure all of her was there. “Did you bring the supercargo?”

“Yes. Apparently they made the transfer just fine. They saved me, Tars. They saved me from myself.”

“Good. Mish is busy figuring out the next step. And it’s got to be pretty damned fast too. Our shields aren’t going to be able to hold out against that kind of firepower for very long.”

“Mish … yes. Tars, those spokes … the ends … it was almost magical. And you’re not supposed to be able to jump into a system like this!”

“One of the
Starbow
’s little secrets, but we only do it in emergencies. Takes up an incredible amount of energy, and damned chancy to boot! I guess right now he’s greeting his pals. Hopefully he’s working on getting us out of this mess.”

“If you came here using that method, why can’t you leave that way as well?”

“Power supply is too low,” Tars said.

“How did you know to come for me?”

“Little message transmission from the Aspach. Apparently they were close enough for some kind of contact, and Mish pretty much knew what was going on.”

“Then you know … ” Tars nodded solemnly, and squeezed her shoulder comfortingly. “Yes, Laura, we know all about it. But look, you’ve done your bit. What I want you to do now is to just go over to the empty chair and tie yourself in. This place is going to be jumping pretty hard … and soon, I’ll wager.”

“Captain,” said Tether Mayz, looking up from the blinking communications board. “We’ve got a message coming in from those Federation ships.”

“Wonderful. We’ll have a chance to buy some time. Open up the channel on the intercom, Tether.”

A kind of hiss filled the room; a crackling became a voice.

“ … I repeat, this is Overfriend Arnal Zarpfrin of the Federation, speaking from Federation Headquarters on Earth.
Starbow
, do you read me?”

“We read you loud and clear, Zarpfrin.”

He looked around at the assembled crew at their stations, and winked. Laura, hooking herself into place in a seat to the rear, knew that the captain was pleased: this was a chance to parley, and stretch out the time they needed.

“Excellent,” came Zarpfrin’s voice finally. “I don’t know where you came from, Northern, or how you did it, all I know is that my captains out there have got you completely surrounded. Now, I could simply order them to let loose with their weapons and transform you, your crew, and the
Starbow
into random bits of energy. On the other hand, if you surrender and allow a boarding party to come and take you away, I promise you a fair trial. And the possibility of new lives for you all. Doesn’t seem to be much of a choice, does it, Captain?”

“What you seem to be trying to say, Zarpfrin, is! Surrender or die!”

Seconds passed.

Laura glanced over at Mish—no sign of animation at all.

She could see on the view screen that dozens of Federation ships surrounded them, their energy weapons sparkling with held-back energy, just waiting for the order to send it hurtling at the
Starbow
.

“That’s right, Captain. So what is your answer going to be? I’ll give you exactly one minute to answer.”

Northern glanced at his watch, and smiled grimly. He motioned Tether Mayz to close the channel. Then he looked at the crew.

“Unfortunately we can’t rely on Mish right now … but we can give him every bit of time he needs to do what he can. So this is the plan. If I tell Zarpfrin to go to hell, we immediately get blasted. But if I surrender, it will take some time for the boarding party to arrive … and time, needless to say, is a precious commodity at this point.” He smiled.

Heads bobbed in agreement. It was a good plan, the best plan anyone could muster under the circumstances. Northern let the seconds tick away to the deadline, then motioned to Officer Mayz, who opened the line again.

“Zarpfrin, I think you’re scum, and I hate what you Feddies stand for. But I can’t justify the death of all my crew. As captain of the
Starbow
, I surrender to you. I can only hope that some of my crew will come out of this ordeal alive. Send a boarding party if you like. We’ll cooperate fully.” Northern paused. “You sonofabitch, you won!” His voice cracked, and he stifled a sob. Ending the transmission, he smiled up at his crew.

“Pretty good, huh?”

“Excellent, Captain,” Zarpfrin replied. “You are much wiser than I thought. Now, I will give the line over to Captain Follet of the Andromeda, who will give you the specifics of what will be required of you. And Tars … I look forward to seeing both you and Chivon again. I hope that the meeting will, this time, be much more pleasant.”

“I can hardly wait,” said Northern.

Captain Follet came on the line and identified himself. “As a further signal of your cooperation, Captain Northern, I want you to turn off your protective shielding.”

Northern shrugged. “Certainly. Mr. Thur, would you please turn off primary, secondary, and tertiary force-screens.”

Fingers stiff with tension went to work. The shields flipped off one by one.

“Now I want you to open your docking bay. We’ll be sending two shuttles. One with a team of specialists who will take over the operation of the
Starbow
forthwith. The other will carry you and your crewmates back to the Andromeda, where you will be incarcerated for the duration, until you can be shipped back to Earth. Is that understood, Captain?”

“Perfectly.”

“I want you to keep this channel open. Remain in constant contact with us. Any sign of the slightest attempt to resist us, and the large array of weapons now trained on your ship will be triggered.”

“Understood,” said Captain Northern, his eyes growing a little nervous as they flicked to Mish, still unmoving in his chair.

The minutes passed slowly, until finally the view-screen showed the shuttles heading their way, growing from mere pinpricks of light into fairly large vessels.

“I’m afraid we’re going to have to open the docking bay doors now,” said Captain Northern wearily. “Can’t stall any longer.”

“Aye, aye, sir,” said Gemma Naquist, performing the operation.

Northern stepped over to the limp body of Dr. Mish. “Come on, old fellow!” he said urgently. “We’re counting on you to come through for us … or you’re going to be just as lost as we are!”

There was no response.

“Captain, the first shuttle is about to reach the docking bay,” reported one of the officers.

Northern turned away in exasperation from Dr. Mish’s body. “Damn! There must be something we can do to stall them longer!”

“Captain!” said Navigator Dansen Jitt tremulously. “Look. Look at Mish!”

Laura turned and looked even as the captain twirled around.

Mish’s hand was starting to glow!

“Mish!” said Captain Northern. “Mish, what do we do?”

Dr. Mish did not respond. The light, however, started to rapidly course up his arm, streaming into his face, spreading a scintillating cover over the entire area.

Then, quite suddenly, Laura realized that she was glowing as well, just as she had when she had let the Aspach pour through her.

They all began to twinkle.

“What the hell is going on?” came a shout.

And then everything shifted. The view screens, the lights, everything went completely dark for one moment ….

Then came back on.

Only this time, the view screen held no sign of the fleet of Federation ships. There was only star-spotted space in front of them, in back of them, above them.

Arkm Thur whooped. “We did it! We jumped back to our previous coordinates.”

Silver Zenyo seemed more surprised at what showed on her instruments. “Captain! We’ve somehow picked up a full complement of energy! We can head back into Underspace at any time, sir.”

Northern knelt beside Mish’s body. “Good show, old fellow! Can you come out and talk to us now?”

Dr. Mish’s eyes opened. He looked around and smiled broadly. “I am complete,” he said simply.

He turned around to Laura, who was just detaching herself from her seat. “I have much to thank you for, Pilot Shemzak. My brethren are reunited with me … and I am more able to function in aspects of my true capacity.”

“You know about the Zernin, though,” Laura said, hanging her head. “Yes,” said Dr. Mish. “The task was harder for you than we realized it would be. But your sacrifice and your bravery will long be remembered and cherished.”

“I should be the one thanking you,” said Laura. “You and your fellows, I mean. I’m clean now. I don’t need the drug anymore. Of course I can’t fly a blip-ship—but it’s a small price to pay, really.”

Still, she felt a bit empty, a bit haunted now that the excitement of escape was waning. For years, her life had centered around her role as an XT pilot.

Tars Northern seemed to read that emptiness. He stepped over to her. Wrapping his arm around her he said, “You’ll always be a pilot, Laura. As a matter of fact,” he continued cheerily, “it just so happens that we could use another master pilot, couldn’t we, people?”

The crew assented.

“And so, Lieutenant Laura Shemzak,” Northern smiled, “you will receive the necessary instruction as soon as possible.”

“Lieutenant?” Laura said. “You’re making me a Lieutenant? But how—”

“Oh, I assure you, all rankings on the
Starbow
are pretty much arbitrary.” There was mischief gleaming in the captain’s eye. “Just for fun. For example, at a whim I can make myself Admiral Northern. After ail, we’re really not military, we’re just star hounds.”

“Pardon me, Admiral,” said First Mate Arkm Thur. “I think it would really be advisable to resume our Underspace journey. I’m going to need a destination.”

“Make it our previous destination, Mr. Thur.”

“That would be Snar’shill, in the Dominus Cluster.”

“Absolutely correct.” He winked at Laura. “We’re going to get Calspar Shemzak, and Overfriend Arnal Zarpfrin be damned!”

O
verfriend Arnal Zarpfrin sat before the Council of Five, awaiting their decision as to his political future.

None of the Council were smiling.

Wreaths of pipe smoke twisted up from the pinched countenance of Overfriend Visto. “You are the most recent of our number, Arnal Zarpfrin,” he began, “and the most active and mobile. You had our approval on a number of projects and plans … and yet from all the evidence that we’ve been accumulating,” he gestured back at ghostly documents hanging in the air, “it would seem that you have been involved in actions we have not been aware of.”

“Nor would we have approved them,” Overfriend Mazerk said, leaning toward him, fixing her sharp gray eyes on Zarpfrin.

“Just what is going on?” Overfriend Banili demanded imperiously.

Overfriend Zarpfrin smiled. “I’ve acted badly, my friends, but all in a very good cause, I assure you!” He smiled all around, even at the two guards standing on either side of him, holding power guns at the ready. “Everything I’ve done, I’ve done for the sake of the Federated Empire!”

“Secret contact with the Jaxdron … for the sake of the Federation? A treasonous alliance with an alien enemy?” exclaimed Overfriend Fernk. “Subversive spying action involving a Federation Corporation … there’s a whole laundry list of charges against you, Zarpfrin! We’re just beginning to understand what you’ve been up to! Your obsessions, your ambitions, are wholly out of place in what, after all, is a cooperative arrangement by we administrators of a sacred trust!” Overfriend Fernk’s mouth twitched nervously. He ran a hand through his short, grizzled hair. “This affair with Pilot Laura Shemzak and Friend Chivon Lasster … wholly beyond the pale! We have a number of facts before us. We would like you to tie them all together for us … before we make our decision as to your fate.”

Overfriend Zarpfrin nodded. “Fair enough. Although the ramifications are complex, the beginnings are simple enough. And I trust you’ll understand why I had to keep all of this to myself.” He took a sip of tea, then looked around at the assembly. “Five years ago we made contact with the Jaxdron. I was in charge of extraterrestrial contact at that time. As you may recall, the Jaxdron quite easily took over a few of our outlying planets. They sparred with our fleets. We even seemed to beat them once. But then the
Excelsior
was taken captive by the Jaxdron. A month later it was returned, crew quite unharmed, with its captain, one Giles Raken, a spokesman for the Jaxdron.”

“We have no record of this!” said Overfriend Visto.

“Of course not. I thought it best to keep it a secret, for reasons you will soon understand,” continued Zarpfrin. “The message that Captain Raken brought was quite remarkable. Essentially, the Jaxdron were pleased to discover us and had no large territorial demands, nor did they desire the extermination of the human race, whom they found quite interesting.”

“Whatever did they want then?” demanded Mazerk.

“They wanted to … play with us!”

There was a stunned silence in the group.

Zarpfrin paused for dramatic effect then continued. “Yes … a markedly superior group, the Jaxdron -better ships, better weapons—they could have taken over half our worlds by this time, with sufficient armies to control them. But no, they wanted to play. They wanted to continue to have the odd battle, the odd planetary takeover, but with fairly even matchups. If this was reasonable to our leaders, then the deal would be this: do not notify your fleets that this is all just play, just strange exercises on their parts … act as though it’s for real and no serious threat will be posed to the bulk of your worlds!”

“Outrageous!”

“Ghastly!”

“Preposterous!”

“Well, that was my response at first as well, but then I considered, and it sounded interesting and not that insane, really. Naturally, we know from our experience with the AI project that there are indeed conquering races out in the galaxies. But why did they all have to be that way? I mean, I am the very first to admit to a paranoia on the subject. This, after all, is the reason I called for all of those alien ships to be destroyed. We need time, gentles, time to develop and to grow scientifically and technologically.

“I said yes to the Jaxdron. Yes, we’ll play … and we’ll continue this ‘war’ … and I kept this knowledge to myself and my immediate associates for two reasons.

“The first reason, gentles, is quite obvious. All of you know it because I was the one who proposed the plan in the first place. The Jaxdron terrorize the Free Worlds, Free Worlds come to the Federation for protection, we provide the ‘protection’ … and it’s all just a ploy to get our ships within range of the planet, infiltrate the military structure, foment rebellion, and then force reunion with the Federation.

“The second reason is more subtle. A culture at war invariably develops faster in scientific and technological ways. This ‘play’ war with the Jaxdron—with the society not realizing it was just play—would send us zooming in our development. You can already see the results.”

“Part of that development, as you know, was the project on Mulliphen, to experiment with the Fault. I had no power over that project, and always openly opposed it for the reasons I just mentioned.”

“Less than a year ago it came to my attention through Friend Chivon Lasster, who monitored results from the activities on Mulliphen, that a brilliant young quantaphys scientist was making inroads into the discovery of a new dimension in space. I have also been involved with the Walthor operation. As it happened, one of the scientists—Torlos Ornix—working with Calspar Shemzak—the previously mentioned quantaphys—had been fitted with a prosthetic bearing a spy device, and thus I could monitor his actions.

“In the course of contact with the Jaxdron, I mentioned this activity and they became deadly serious. Apparently they, too, wanted to pierce Omega Space, and they thought they could use Cal Shemzak. So I made a deal with them. We would allow them to invade Mulliphen without opposition and ‘steal’ Shemzak … as long as they destroyed the project and we were not allowed access to Omega Space. In return, I was to have more control over selecting Jaxdron targets, so that I could better monitor Federation military takeovers.”

Zarpfrin shook his head and smiled ruefully. “Their response was absurd on the face of it, and yet I had to cooperate.”

“What did they want?” asked Fernk, clearly astonished at all this.

“They said no, you make it too simple! We must make this a cat and mouse game. You must try and catch us, prevent our use of Cal Shemzak. I didn’t know what to do, until I looked into Shemzak’s records and discovered that his sibling was one of our XT pilots and an intelligence operative, with a fierce loyalty to the fellow. I ran it through my planning simulators and came up with a quite byzantine plan that had a very good chance of snagging a particular headache of mine: Captain Tars Northern and the
Starbow
.”

“Yes, yes,” said Visto, gesturing to the translucent documents hanging in the air. “We have many facts on the rest of it … but apparently, all this has blown up in your face!”

“Perhaps,” said Zarpfrin. “Not all has gone according to plan. But then, that is part of the fun of gaming, I suppose. But you must remember—I am in contact with the Jaxdron, and the
Starbow
is most certainly headed to rescue Calspar Shemzak. Thus I have the final trump card in my hand!”

“This is all preposterous, Zarpfrin!” said Mazerk “You act as though you consider yourself our ruler. You have acted like a tyrant. Your machinations are deplorable and cannot be tolerated any longer. I vote for an immediate censure, and must ask you to resign from the Council and report for psychiatric readjustment after a full debriefing of your activities is made, so that we can restore dignity and order!”

The response from the others was total agreement. Zarpfrin shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry you feel that way, gentles. In this you are confirming my deepest suspicions that you’re a thundering herd of Denebian cows, all of you!”

“Guards!” cried Visto. “Take this traitor away to his cell immediately. If he causes you trouble, you have our permission to sedate him.”

But the guards did not respond as expected. Instead, they lowered their energy rifles -and thumbed off the safeties.

Zarpfrin stood and stepped back. “I am truly sorry, gentles, that it must be this way. But perhaps you are correct in one respect: I rather fancy the notion of becoming a tyrant!”

“Now!” he said to the guards.

Overfriend Fernk went first, skewered on a rod of energy.

Almost simultaneously, Overfriend Mazerk’s head was blasted off.

The other two rose.

Banili went for his intercom to call for help; the power beam that swept over him cut the man in two.

Overfriend Vistro ran straight into a wall, as though he could run away through it. He turned around, his eyes wide with panic and terror. “You’ll never get away with this, Zarpfrin!”

The power beams intersected where he stood, killing him in a blaze.

“People get so clichéd when they’re about to die,” Zarpfrin said. The air purification system struggled to suck away all the smoke and smell of burnt bodies.

Zarpfrin took out a handkerchief and blew his nose.