What May Come

Please see chapter 1 for author's notes.

Chapter 18: On Our Own

Radu was a little surprised with the speed everything moved…fifteen minutes after Aslinn and Jacie decided they were going the ships were separating. In that time, Jacie had handed over a disk of contact information, sent off half-a-dozen communiqués, and very nearly shoved them out the airlock and onto the scout, while Aslinn did a spacewalk… something about temporary repairs on the engines. Personally, Radu knew he wasn't the best at split-second decision-making. He tended to follow Commander Goddard's orders on the ship and, since they'd started getting along better, Harlan's lead in extra-curricular activities. Not that he couldn't think for himself; he just preferred having time to consider all the options before taking action. An Andromedan thing rather than an Ashrach one, apparently…back on the Triiad station Jacie certainly hadn't had any issues abandoning whatever he'd been working on to help them find their crew—after a short bout of paranoia, anyway—with less than a day's notice. Or, for that matter, abandoning them in Spung space to save his own friends. Not that Radu could blame him for that…not too much, anyway. But now they had no one to help them. They had nothing but a little tiny ship a tentative spot on a Centauri transport—who knew how they'd react to strangers in place of the two they thought they were helping?—and some contact information for people who might or might not even be there. And Suzee was injured.

"Radu? Come in Radu, this is Harlan calling. Buddy?"

"I'm sorry, did you say something? I was just thinking."

"We're almost to the rendezvous point. Want to try a few of those contacts?"

"I…yeah, sure. You want me to?"

"I doubt there are too many humans involved in the resistance," Goddard pointed out. "Besides which, if they've all been raised by Spung that may be the only language they know. We'll have the translation program on, but they might feel more comfortable with someone who looks like they expect and who is speaking their own language."

"All right." He moved to the communication console as the door opened from the ship interior.

"Um, weren't we on your friends' ship a little bit ago, or did I dream all of that."

"Turns out that junk in the box you and Cat and Radu found was pretty important. The Spung are out to capture the resistance, and Aslinn and Jacie had to split to warn the others."

"They just left us here!"

"We have contact information for some of their friends who might be able to help us," Goddard assured her. "And we're still meeting the transport to get us farther into Spung space. We're StarDogs…this is what we train for."

"I don't think any of our classes covered infiltrating a Spung capitol," Suzee pointed out. "And I'm not even a student!"

"How are your ribs?" Radu asked, before she could start on the familiar rant. Granted it was generally directed at Miss Davenport and something she said in classes, but still…

"They're better…just a little sore. So the Rockhopper is gone?"

"Off to find someone called Ryxi," Harlan agreed with a nod. "So off we go, all by our lonesome."

"Mr. Radu, would you start with the first contact?"

None of the first three connections went through…whether people were refusing to respond because they didn't recognize their callers or because they actually weren't around none of them knew. "Commander…what happens if no one answers? Or if they don't know anything?"

"Well then, we're no worse off than we were before. I…Suzee, are you sure you don't remember anyone saying anything when you were onboard the Christa? Maybe a base they were taking the Christa to…someone in command who was running the operation?"

She shook her head. "Sorry, Commander, even when I was in their minds I didn't see anything like that. They might not even have known…wasn't exactly the leaders I—" she broke off suddenly. "Are you sure? Why didn't you say anything before? Are you sure?"

"Suzee, what's happening? Are you talking to Cat?"

"No, I'm channeling Warlord Shank," Suzee shot back. "Who else would I be talking to? She says that right after they knocked the rest of us unconscious and shut Thelma down, one of them mentioned Farthil."

"Who's that?" Radu asked. "It didn't sound like a Spung name, but…

"Or what's that?" Harlan asked on the heels of the navigator's question. "Is it the base or the commander or…?"

"She doesn't know, that's why she didn't say anything before. She was going to have me ask Aslinn and Jacie, but I guess it's a little late now."

Goddard shook his head. "Well, there's no point getting upset about it now. If we can get anyone to answer our hails, we'll ask them. Harlan, while we're waiting, why don't you pull up one of the starmaps of Spung space? If it is a location—planet or station—we might not need anyone's help finding it."

"But they might not have been taken there," Suzee pointed out. "Catalina says one of them just mentioned it."

"It's more than we had before."

"Commander, the message went through…someone is taking our hail." The screen flickered, and a tall, furry man with pointed ears and a flattened nose appeared.

"Ghi speaking. Who are you and how did you get this frequency?"

Radu took a few seconds to shake off the memory of Reaver's crewmate Ubi. The resemblance between him and the man on the screen was disturbing. "This is Commander Goddard, Harlan Band, and I'm Radu. We're from a ship called the Christa…it was stolen a few days ago and Aslinn and Jacie gave us your contact information…didn't you get their message?"

"I've been busy. Are they all right?"

"They're fine, but your resistance might be in trouble," Harlan put in as the translator finished interpreting his words.

Radu nodded. "You really need to hear that message, I'm sure Jacie explained everything."

He frowned. "I assume there is another reason behind your call besides telling me to check my answering service?"

"Have you heard anything about a ship being captured by the Spung?"

"The Spung are at war, at least in the sector I'm in right now. They're capturing a lot of ships."

"But this one is different," Radu told him. "It was built by a race called the Lumanians…it's part machine and part living material."

The man's ears flicked back against his head. "Biomechanoid? No, I can't say I've heard anything about a ship like that. Sorry I couldn't be of more help. Have to run now."

"Wait, do you know anything about a planet or a station or something cal—"

The connection was closed before Goddard could finish his question, and Radu frowned. The man's heart had nearly doubled in speed when he'd heard the Christa was partially alive. "I don't think he was telling the truth."

"Yeah, he seemed awful eager to get away as soon as you mentioned what kind of ship it was," Harlan agreed. "I bet he knows more than he said. Where is he, anyway?"

Radu shrugged. "The contact information I have routes through all kinds of satellites…he could be anywhere."

"Not anywhere," Suzee disagreed. "He said he was in a sector where the Spung were fighting a war. They can't be fighting too many wars right now."

Goddard nodded. "Aslinn said something, when we were going to meet some of his informants…the Spung were fighting a border war with someone. The Karbani… Karlabi..."

"Karbali?" Harlan suggested, studying the map on the screen in front of him.

"That's it. He said it was nothing major, but if they were fighting multiple wars I think one of them would have mentioned it to us. "How far away are the sectors adjoining Karbali space?"

"Um…navigation's his job, but the nearest one is about three days from here. Assuming they didn't hyperjump, the Christa would have just arrived today if they went straight from the Triiad station."

"Radu, keep trying to contact the others. Will meeting up with the Centauri get us closer to this sector."

"Uh, yeah…if we travel with them for a day or so, it looks like we'll by able to bypass a couple of the busier trade lanes where someone might notice us and still be able to get to the planet without losing time."

"All right…it might be a long shot, but I'd say that man knew something. Unless we get a better lead, we'll head for the warring area."

"Commander? That's probably where all the Killcruisers are," Radu pointed out. "And we're in a stolen ship."

Harlan nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we better find some way to disguise this thing or they're going to turn us into spacedust before we can save anyone."

"Good point, gentlemen. Suzee, could you and Catalina do a more thorough exploration of the engine room and see if there are any more compartments up there? If nothing else, we could use a bucket of dark grease to change the name and identification numbers on the exterior of the ship."

"Sure, Commander."

"Be careful not to strain your ribs," he called after her.

"Yes, Commander. Cat says to tell you she'll make sure I don't." Radu grinned as he heard the girl continue to mutter to Catalina, quietly enough that the commander wouldn't hear. "Honestly, you'd think I was three years old. I'm an engineering genius, I can certainly manage to open a door all by myself. Be quiet, Cat! That wasn't me, that was my little sister, I just got blamed because I'm the oldest. It's true!"

"Hey, look!"

Harlan's exclamation drew his attention back to the pilot. "What is it?"

His finger stabbed at a point on the map. "Look, right on the border of the sector bordering Kalrabi space. Farthil. Looks like it's labeled an R&R planet."

"Nice work, Mr. Band. I'd say we're definitely on the right track. Mr. Radu, none of the others have answered?"

"Sorry, Commander…I'll keep trying."

"So we've got what, four no-reply's and one lying," Harlan said, making a face. "Somehow I don't think they're all off to a show today. I'm not real impressed with their resistance."

"They've got no reason to trust us," Goddard said with a shrug. "I was afraid this might happen. These people are trying to live under the radar of the Spung empire…without someone to directly vouch for us they aren't going to take any chances. Maybe once they've heard Jacie's message they'll be willing to help."

"Or they'll split and we'll never find out anything."

"That attitude won't help, Mr. Band. We'll keep trying until we're onboard the deckship."

Privately Radu agreed with Harlan…as upset as Jacie and Aslinn had been with the information in the boxes, he doubted that very many resistance workers were going to stay at their posts once the 'evacuate' message had been passed along. And even if they did, their paranoia levels were bound to be way up. But…like the Commander said, they might as well keep trying.