Star Watch (23 page)

Bristol took a hesitant step forward, doing his part in meeting his approaching, far bigger, half-brother. Stalls’ eyes never left Bristol. When close enough, Stalls swung a fierce backhand that connected with the left side of Bristol’s face. The skinny, overtly nerdy, younger man fell to the ground in an awkward tangle of arms and legs. Rizzo and his men, their weapons raised and poised to fire, quickly moved forward.

“Hold on … it’s all right!” Bristol yelled. “Stand down … I probably had that coming.”

Rizzo retracted his visor into his helmet, his face clearly showing his anger. “Touch him again and I’ll be happy to burn you down to an oily stain on the ground.”

Stalls’ eyes briefly left Bristol for Rizzo. Recognition showed on his face. It was apparent today’s encounter wasn’t the first time they’d come in contact with each other. Stalls’ smile returned, and, ignoring Rizzo, he extended his hand down to Bristol, who took it and pulled himself up off the ground.

“Little brother. How nice of you to drop by for a visit. You should have called first; I would have prepared a feast in your honor. For you and for our young sister,” he said, now turning his gaze in Hanna’s direction.

Leon watched with fascination as the family drama unfolded.
This is never going to work.

Stalls maintained his grip on Bristol’s hand and pulled his younger brother in close. “It is good to see you, Bristol. I might even forgive you … in time.” He released Bristol’s hand and turned toward his half-sister. “Hanna … look at you … you’re all grown up … a woman in every way.” Stalls took a step back and eyed his sister up and down, head to toe, then back up again. “And what a woman you are!” He stepped forward quickly, pulling her close. Her arms remained at her sides as she disappeared into the big man’s enfolding embrace.

Only a few feet away, Leon thought Stalls smelled nearly as foul as the Serapins. He saw that Hanna’s eyes were closed, more like clenched, as she waited for her older brother to release her. Leon noticed Stalls looking over at him—assessing him from over her shoulder.

“And who do we have here?” Stalls asked, finally releasing his hold on Hanna. He gestured for the Craing men to put down their bows. Rizzo then said, “Stand down,” to his team as well.

“That’s Leon Pike,” Hanna said in a flat voice. “Be nice to him. He might be your ticket out of here … if you don’t screw things up.”

Stalls stepped away from Hanna, but maintained a hold on both her wrists. “What is this man to you, Hanna? I don’t like him … I don’t like the way he looks at you.”

Hanna flashed a quick glance in Leon’s direction but didn’t say anything.

Stalls released one of her hands, slowly bringing his fingertips up to her face. She flinched. Stalls hesitated, then continued on, using the back of his fingers to gently stroke one cheek. She tried to pull away but his solid grip on her other arm held her in place. “Such a pretty face … you always were so …”

Seeing the revulsion on Hanna’s face, Leon couldn’t simply stand by. He looked over to Rizzo, who also seemed ready to make a move. Leon said, “Hey, why don’t you let her go, Stalls. We have some important things to discuss.”

Stalls acted as if he hadn’t heard Leon—continuing to gaze at his sister—first tilting his head one way, then the other.

This guy really is a sicko
, Leon thought.

Stalls spoke softly, almost in a whisper, “Don’t you think it’s disrespectful to come into someone else’s backyard and start making demands? What do you think I should do about him, Hanna?”

Leon shook his head. “Look … I’m not going to ask you again; let her go.”

Bristol, looking nearly as uncomfortable as Hanna, said, “Come on, Stalls … knock it off … okay?”

Leon, watching, saw it coming—it was nearly imperceptible. He’d learned a long time ago, when waiting for an opponent’s first move, you notice two things: their eyes and their breathing. It was subtle, but he’d definitely caught it. Stalls’ eyes twitched—ever so slightly—and he’d taken in a breath, and held it. Stalls yanked Hanna to his right while punching out with his left fist toward Leon’s face. Leon was ready for him. Stalls’ punch was fast, very fast. But not fast enough to tag him. Leon dodged it and stepped to the side. He also brought up the long knife he’d earlier pulled out from the back of his collar, and pressed it beneath the fleshy area of Stalls’ outstretched chin.
So much for Jason’s directive to make friends.
Perhaps Stalls detected the attraction between him and Hanna … thinking Leon had encroached on his familial territory, or something. Hell, there was no reasoning with psychotics and it was obvious this old pirate was more than a little crazy.

“Move … even twitch … and the tip of this blade will be tickling the middle of your brain. Do you understand?”

Stalls stayed perfectly still, keeping his eyes focused steadily on Leon.

The pirate smiled; this time, a broad, showing-all-his-teeth kind of smile. He laughed and said, “Maybe I do like you … you’re devious and probably ruthless.”

Leon, slowly, brought the tip of his knife away from Stalls’ chin. Stalls’ smile remained as he assessed first Leon, then the rest of the assault team. He rubbed his hands together, like a hungry man ready to eat. “This is going to be good. I can tell … this is going to be monumental, isn’t it?” he asked, now looking at Hanna.

“If you’re done with the theatrics, I’ll tell you,” she said, the slightest touch of humor in her voice.

“No … I want to savor this. You will join me … all of you … for dinner. My camp is nearby—”

“I know where the camp is,” Rizzo interrupted. “Remember … this isn’t my first trip to the circus, Stalls.”

* * *

They sat around a blazing fire, within a clearing the size of two side-by-side football fields. The surrounding evergreen trees were tall and dense, not dissimilar to some big pines indigenous to northwest America. The
Charm
was close by and Rizzo’s men kept a vigilant guard on both the ship and the passengers seated outside.

Leon didn’t know the complete story … how Stalls ended up in this habitat, but it seemed obvious to him he’d made the best of it. He had to give the pirate that much credit.

“I really should still be mad at you, little brother. Your captain left me stranded on a bluff, hundreds of feet from the ground. Did I mention he’d taken my clothes? Do you have any idea what it’s like to scale down the side of a mountain with no pants?” That evoked laughs all around, except from Hanna.

“At least you had a weapon,” Bristol said.

“It lasted a few weeks … and I killed a lot of Serapins. But then the battery pack, and the spares, too, all petered out. The beasts continued to come … mostly at night. I knew there was just one hope for my survival … to get across that volcanic gorge. I’d seen fields of green from atop the bluff; I knew I had to get across it … somehow.”

“How’d you manage that?” Rizzo asked. “Hell … I tried to do it myself, and that was with a battle suit on. More than a few on our team went up in flames crossing that chasm.”

“Patience and timing,” Stalls replied. “Every three days, there’s a lull in volcanic activity. It only lasts a few minutes, so you need to move fast. I tried four separate times … only the last time, I was successful.”

Leon watched as the group talked and ate—some kind of meat and gravy stew that was actually not too bad. As near to normal as Stalls was behaving now, Leon had no doubt the man was never far from once again becoming the lunatic he’d witnessed earlier. He saw the natives keeping an eye on himself and the other newcomers, but even more so on Stalls. He didn’t see admiration in their eyes; he saw fear.

“And the Craing warriors?” Leon asked, gesturing with his hand to the surrounding encampment.

“Oh … that’s a story for another time. No … it’s time we spoke of why you’re here and what you so desperately need of me.”

Leon’s expression turned stern. “You seem fairly content. You’ve made this your home … you’re a king among hundreds. We may have been mistaken. Truth is, I no longer think we should have come here. I apologize … we shouldn’t have come.”

Hanna, who’d stayed quiet since her ordeal with Stalls back in the field, looked over to Leon with a startled expression. Rizzo and Bristol looked equally disconcerted.

“Don’t trifle with me, Mr. Pike. You need me … for something … and it’s going to get me out of here.” Stalls appeared on the verge again and close to erupting, which was exactly where Leon wanted him.

“First, you’re going to help your sister … provide her with the information she requires. Then we can talk about getting you out of here and what else we need from you.”

Stalls tossed his half-eaten bowl of stew onto the ground and looked over at Hanna. He smiled at her and said, “You think I don’t know exactly what you’re dying to ask me? Why you’ve come along on this little habitat foray?”

“Is he … alive?” she asked, her eyes downcast, staring steadily into the flames.

Stalls waited for her to look up at him. Obviously, he liked to taunt … no … he liked to torture. “Hanna, the man you married is not the same man who managed to survive the Sahhrain prison camps.”

“What does that mean? Why can’t you just answer the damn question?” Hanna was standing now, her fists clenched.

Stalls let out a long breath, as if the whole conversation had become overly burdensome. Leon considered retrieving his knife.

“What it means is your husband, Ridert, is no longer the same man taken from that exploration vessel three years ago. He’s lost an eye, for one thing, although he looks surprisingly dashing with his eye patch—but the changes go far deeper than that. In fact, he’s now the leader of Lord Vikor Shakrim’s very own Chosen Spears imperial guard … the truth is, he’s nearly as cunning, might I dare say as evil, as Lord Shakrim himself. We’ve shared Targonian spirits together on several occasions. As much as it pains me to say this … the casual observer might go so far as to even call us friends.”

She jumped on him. Her screams echoed out into the night. Fists pounded down onto Stalls’ head and shoulders. Her knee came up and connected to his nose. Blood spurted and poured freely down and over his lips. The sounds of his laughter began to ebb and, with one quick flick of his hand, Hanna was knocked to the ground. She stayed down and sobbed. Leon put a hand on her back, tried to help her up, but she shrugged him off. Getting to her feet on her own she ran to the
Charm
and disappeared inside.

Stalls looked up at Leon. “So tell me … what services do you require of me?”

Leon wanted to kill Stalls right then … this second … and someday he’d make that happen. He hesitated before answering, “You mentioned Lord Vikor Shakrim.”

Chapter 33

Dacci System

The
Minian
, Flight Bay

_________________

Jason stood at the massive, arched bay opening on the
Minian
’s starboard flight deck. He felt the subtle effects of the invisible energy field—used to maintain the integrity of the ship’s internal environment—a barrier against the vacuum of space beyond. There, in the distance, was the twinkling starlight of three planetary systems. The flight deck was quiet, with the exception of maintenance droids—attending to the Caldurian fighters, numerous pilotless fighter droids, and a handful of shuttlecraft.

Jason continued to stare off into distant space. His father, perhaps his daughter, too, was out there … somewhere. In both cases, Jason felt responsible for their situations. So now he’d have to wait. The team had already set off to HAB 331, to find and bring back Stalls. Something he was more than a little leery about. Stalls was ever the sly egocentric, and Jason was well aware what the ex-pirate was capable of … something he’d reminded Rizzo about, and more than once.

Jason decided to take advantage of the downtime. He needed to discover more about the Sahhrain and the Blues, before confrontations between them came to pass. The best way to do that was to visit Harpaign, the desolate world in the Blues’ solar system.

Ricket arrived with his battle suit already initialized. He stood at Jason’s side in silence for a moment, and together they looked out toward the distant stars. Jason eventually said, “This will be somewhat dangerous, Ricket. As you well know, the
Pacesetter
’s probably undetectable to any vessel we’ll be coming into contact with … with that said, still we’ll be skirting a hostile fleet.”

“I do understand that, Captain. But the planet Harpaign, for the most part, is sparsely populated. As miserable as the weather is within HAB 7, it seems to have worsened even more over time. A most undesirable environment.”

“You know where to go … where to locate these ancient tablets?”

“I believe so, Captain. I’ve uploaded all the pertinent information to our HUDs and to the
Pacesetter
.” Ricket gestured to the fighter stationed nearby.

Together, they headed over to the sleek, dark red Caldurian vessel. Jason felt the familiar rush of adrenalin as he approached his most-favored fighter … it was fast and remarkably intuitive. He’d learned to pilot vessels like her only after his own hyper-learning stint in a MediPod, two years earlier, and the thrill of piloting a small, highly-maneuverable ship, like the
Pacesetter
, was now in his blood. He waved Ricket toward the inset ladder.

“Up you go.”

The canopy was open and Ricket took the front-most seat, while Jason sat in the seat directly behind him. The canopy closed and the cockpit came alive with multiple holographic 3D displays, which hovered just above their dual dash control boards. Jason listened to the soft voice of the AI, providing ship status information over his NanoCom. All was well—the
Pacesetter
operating at a hundred percent.

Jason quickly reviewed the latest uploads from Ricket on his HUD, skimming some items, giving others more attention. They’d be traveling to the far side of Harpaign. Since the
Pacesetter
was equipped with phase-shift capability, their actual travel time in space would be limited. He viewed the suggested plot coordinates, optimal phase-shifting points, along their upcoming flight. Phase-shifting allowed for jumps across great distances in space, thousands of miles—but there were limitations to how many phase-shifts could take place within a given block of time, without providing adequate time for the system to recharge. In this particular case, the
Pacesetter
’s AI had calculated seven phase-shifts, while providing hands-on, sub-light flight in areas of space that were the least congested with alien spacecraft. He entered a few adjustments to their plot coordinates and reduced the plot screen down to a small icon window on his HUD.