Red Survivor Mission Chronicles Box Set Page 4

  I assumed based on Sawyer’s demand for millions of credits they had tried to con Captain Marchant and that he had done something to them in return.

  I had tried to look up the Red Survivor logs for the last five years to see if there was any record of Sawyer or his sister Mina on board, but as I had only been with the ship for the last year, I could only see the ship records that went back that far. This was my first time as commander, so I did not know if this was normal procedure or if this was something Captain Marchant had done to intentionally keep things hidden from me. When we got to the shuttle bay I looked at Ensign Redding.

  “You fly the transport, Ensign.” She gave me a look that told me that she wished I had not involved her in this crazy mission, but I shrugged it off. She had insisted that things should not be awkward between us and that she didn’t want me to avoid her or give her any special treatment, so I hadn’t given it a second thought when ordering her to come.

  Captain Marchant was already entering the shuttle bay, not waiting as per protocol for all the others to go before him.

  He’s rattled if he forgot that.

  I shook my head as I waited for the rest of our team to exit and board the shuttle before following after.

  When we were airborne and flying down to the planet surface, I risked another question to Captain Marchant who I had sat beside on the shuttle.

  “I figured out what Sawyer and his sister—”

  “Congratulations, really well done.”

  I held Captain Marchant’s glare. “They are about to be indicted, but it does not look like there are any arrest warrants out for them yet.” I let that hang for a moment. “But I don’t see the risk in simply not meeting him. We can just return to Verus Station and take some leave until this all blows over, the Plethki won’t bother us there.”

  “Never figured you for a coward.”

  I snorted. “This is a problem that might solve itself if we let it. Nobody is forcing us to go down there.”

  “Coward.”

  I’d known it was a fruitless task but I could at least put in my record that I had tried, a lot of good it would do me if this whole thing blew up in our faces.

  “What did they do to you?” I asked.

  “Who says they did anything?”

  I gave him a disbelieving look. “I am not an idiot.”

  “Never you mind about that, this is not your business.”

  I opened my mouth to argue but then thought better of it and instead, leaned back in my chair, remaining silent for the rest of the trip. I had been prepared to offer Captain Marchant empathy if only he were willing to listen, but it was clear he had no interest in anything I had to say, so why bother?

  Once Redding had parked the ship we all got out. I had the team set up a perimeter around Captain Marchant while we waited for Sawyer to join us. All of us had rifles except for Marchant, who only had his holstered sidearm.

  It was a hot day and I was soon wiping sweat from my forehead.

  “He will appear shortly,” Captain Marchant said quietly after a glance at his watch, before studying the horizon in all directions through an old-fashioned pair of binoculars he liked to bring along on missions. I too scanned the horizon with my monocular but saw little of interest.

  I remained alert and tried to stay open to the possibility that there were things about this location we might not understand. Sawyer had been only too happy to accept Captain Marchant’s suggestion and while it did not seem likely that he would’ve been able to prepare something ahead of time, I decided it was better to be safe than sorry. It was best to assume he had some trick up his sleeve that was not obvious.

  “Ensign Redding,” I said stepping up to her, careful to avoid getting too close. “I want you to scan the ground underneath us, see if there’s anything that concerns you.”

  “Will do, sir,” she glanced at me, held my eyes for a moment and then looked away. She did not need to say what she was thinking because her eyes did it for her, accusing me of putting her in danger by bringing her along on this mission. If I would’ve known she would be so worked up about it, I would’ve chosen somebody else. I had wanted her because she sometimes spoke her mind to the captain. Marchant had a way of accepting the truth from her that he refused from me. We were walking into an unknown situation that had the potential to turn into a conflagration, it seemed wise to have somebody like her along. That tiny bit of history between us was nothing significant and had not lasted long, but it had been just enough to make things awkward. I had thought she was starting to get over it, but perhaps not.

  “Captain,” Watt said, pointing in a westward direction. “There in the distance.” We all turned our attention to where he was looking and saw a ship headed our way. It appeared to be a FEDE landing vessel, similar to the one we had brought here. As far as I knew the FEDE was the only one who used them, so it was surprising to see Sawyer approaching with one. I had just assumed he would use a Plethki landing craft.

  “Where did he get that?” Captain Marchant asked as it landed a hundred feet away, turning towards us as it did.

  It appeared as if some of the decals had been taken off, but there was one left on the front.

  Marchant growled. “That’s from the Red Stalwart!”

  “I would guess he stole it, sir,” Redding said.

  “Have somebody look into it.” Captain Marchant wiped his brow with a hand and took a step forward, walking out of the protective perimeter we had formed around him.

  He cut me off when I started to give orders to have everybody follow after him.

  “Belay that order, I’m going alone.”

  I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off again.

  “Your protest is noted, Commander. That is an order. Everybody stay here.”

  Once Captain Marchant was out of earshot, I pulled Redding to the side. Her eyebrows raised when she saw that I had taken hold of her arm. I immediately released it when I realized what I had done.

  “Can you eavesdrop on their conversation?”

  “I could, but should I?”

  “What do your instincts tell you?”

  She gave me a cold look. “None of this comes back on me. Agreed?”

  “Just send it to my earpiece.”

  I fished into my pocket and pulled out my earpiece, fitting it into my ear while I studied the scene in front of me. I did not have any fear of the people around me ratting out my actions to Captain Marchant if they discovered what I was doing, they didn’t like him any more than I did, that’s why I had chosen them.

  That’s the Captain’s formality working for me there, I thought, glad it fell to me to designate members for our off-ship missions.

  Because I did not know what this was about and I suspected Marchant had gotten himself involved in something he shouldn’t have done, I used my handheld screen to record the conversation, so I had a copy if I needed it in the future.

  “Captain,” Sawyer said a moment later, his voice raspy over my earpiece. “I’m happy to see you.”

  “I do not feel the same,” Marchant said gruffly. “That money is gone and is never coming back. Forget about it.” Captain Marchant looked back at us, probably to make sure we hadn’t followed him. I felt a flash of guilt for eavesdropping on the conversation but did not look away, so he did not suspect me of a guilty conscience. He turned back to Sawyer.

  “I came here to parley with you, I know how you operate. You need something else or you wouldn’t have gone through this whole charade to get my attention.”

  “Perceptive as always, I just had to put on a good show.” Sawyer gave him a piercing look. “I wanted to protect your image.”

  Marchant snorted. “You’ve put it in question, is what you’ve done, accusing me of theft like that.”

  “It was theft.”

  “Why didn’t you report me to the authorities?”

  Sawyer didn’t respond.

  “You could have reached out to me without firing on my ship.”

  “What’s the fun in that? Besides, I did and you didn’t respond. But enough of that, you are right. I want something from you and don’t say you don’t owe me a favor, I spared you a lot of trouble by not going to law enforcement.”

  “Get on with it.” Marchant’s voice was tight now.

  “I need you to get a copy of the FEDE Mount Signal Project plans.”

  “How do you know about that?” Marchant asked slowly.

  “Never mind how I know, can you get me a copy? If you do, we will be square.”

  Marchant looked back again and I got the idea he was considering it.

  What is the Mount Signal Project? I had never heard of it before but it must be something important if Sawyer had gone to all this trouble to ask Marchant to obtain the plans.

  I leaned forward, my pulse racing, wondering if I might soon have evidence to get Captain Marchant removed from his commission. If he did something like this he could be executed. I was too early in my career as commander to be considered for the captain’s seat but having another person in charge of the ship would be far more tolerable.

  “Sawyer—” Marchant began, but before he could say another word, a laser blast came down from the sky, nearly obliterating both of them.

  6

  I looked up to see an incoming ship as Captain Marchant and Sawyer split to run in different directions. I brought up my rifle and fired on the ship, my blast flying wild as it continued to descend. The ship’s laser gunner was so chaotic that I could not tell if they were aiming for the Captain, or Sawyer, or both.

  The attacking shuttle was a Plethki landing craft.

  Perhaps they were not happy with how Sawyer had backed them into a corner and were hoping to eliminate him.

  “Back into the ship,” I told the others. They were only too happy to oblige, all except for Security Officer Watts, who stayed beside me, bringing his weapon up and firing at the ship as it passed. A moment later it was circling around to make another attack. Captain Marchant had disappeared and Sawyer was headed back into his ship while yelling furiously into his communicator.

  Watts gave me a look. “As Security Officer, I am duty-bound to protect the captain.”

  “Very good,” I said, pulling my handheld device out of my pocket and pressing the communicator button.

  “Captain,” I said. “Come back to the ship so we can get out of here.”

  “Negative.”

  Of course, the Captain doesn’t want to return to the ship because doing so would be the only thing that makes sense, so obviously, he’s not gonna do that.

  I looked at Watts. “I’m going after him.”

  “I’ll come with you.”

  “No, you need to stay here and protect the ship and the others, that’s an order.” I didn’t wait for him to protest as I dashed towards where I had last seen Captain Marchant.

  7

  The ship swooped down one more time but didn’t fire on me. It landed in the same place where Captain Marchant and Sawyer had met.

  The rear door was just opening as I ran down a slope and found Captain Marchant hiding behind a boulder.

  “What are you doing here?” Marchant demanded.

  “Saving you.” I nodded up the hill and gave him a level stare. “Care to tell me what’s going on yet?”

  Captain Marchant didn’t answer as he stood and pointed his weapon up the slope, apparently planning to shoot anybody who came down.

  I pressed the communicator button on my handheld. “Watts, come in.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Get the ship up into the sky and fall back ten kilometers, tell me when you’re safe.”

  “Copy. I’ll stay behind and provide you and the captain with cover.”

  “Negative, you go with it.”

  “Sir? Is that wise?”

  “I have the captain. You take the others.”

  “Are you sure about that, sir?”

  “Yep, go on.”

  I gave the Captain a challenging look, but he did not admonish me. From somewhere on the hill above I heard a buzzing but did not immediately recognize it.

  “No need to get them involved too,” I said once the transmission was over. “I am doing this to protect you.” It felt strange to say that last bit as my words were an echo of Sawyer’s to Marchant, just before he had asked him to commit espionage against the FEDE.

  “This is my business, you should go with them.” Marchant glared at me. “And I don’t need protection, I’ve done nothing wrong.”

  “I’m sworn to protect the ship and as you so ably reminded Sawyer, your survival is key to the ship’s survival.” I tried to say all this without scorning sarcasm but apparently was not successful because the Captain looked at me with contempt before shaking his head and focusing on the scene in front of us.

  A moment later two hovercycles came hurtling down the hill, headed straight towards us. Captain Marchant was about to fire his sidearm when he suddenly pulled up.

  “Not her.” His voice was flat.

  “Mina,” I said.

  Captain Marchant didn’t answer. A moment later, the hovercycles came to a halt and Mina got off.

  8

  “What are you doing here?” Captain Marchant asked Mina. “You shot at me.”

  “I knew I wouldn’t hit you.” Mina brought up a rifle and leveled it at Marchant. “That doesn’t mean I won’t hit you now, though. Tell me there was nothing real between us.”

  Marchant slipped his weapon into his holster. “Go ahead. It will make you feel better and I already know what you believe.”

  “What did he do to you?” I asked, unable to pass up the moment.

  Captain Marchant looked at me but said nothing.

  “Do you want to tell him or should I?” She studied me before she went on. “Don’t you think he deserves the truth, Johnny?”

  Johnny?

  I nearly sputtered, covering my mouth and faking a cough.

  Captain Marchant bristled. “I tried my best to... to talk sense but you refused to listen. It’s too late now anyway. I saw the news, Mina. I know about the mess you’re in. I tried to warn you, told you that you were getting too greedy.”

  “It was you who refused to see reason. Those people were some of the worst—”

  “I served with them, Mina. And worst is a matter of perspective. They did what they had to do, we’re all safer because of them.”

  “Let’s just all put down our weapons,” I said looking at Mina’s rifle before glancing back at the other armed woman she had with her. “I think we might all converse a bit better if we aren’t afraid that somebody is going to get an itchy trigger finger.”

  As a sign of good faith I slung my rifle over my shoulder.

  Nobody paid any attention to me.

  “Tell me none of it was real,” Mina demanded. “Tell me you just got close to use me to get the money!”

  “How did Sawyer find me?” Captain Marchant rubbed the side of his head. “What on earth did you guys do to the Plethki to make them risk war with us?”

  “I’ll start answering your questions if you answer mine.”

  Captain Marchant licked his lips. “My feelings for you were complicated, I wanted—” He didn’t finish what he was about to say, because Mina was hit with a laser blast from over the top of the rise. I looked up in time to see Sawyer’s head disappearing. I brought up my own rifle, intent on firing, but he was already gone.

  I tried to push Captain Marchant to safety behind the boulder, but he lunged towards Mina, crying out as he did.

  9

  “There appears to be real feelings,” I said as I stood over Captain Marchant and Mina while keeping my rifle up, waiting for Sawyer to poke his head over again. The moment he appeared I would shoot, we could sort out the legalities later. Sawyer’s last shot was close enough to the captain that I could claim I shot Sawyer to protect the captain. “It also appears your brother doesn’t take kindly to you shooting at him.”

  Mina appeared unharmed except for a spot on her shoulder where the blast had grazed it, burning a nice hole through the top of her expensive baldashar leather coat. It looked like she had a shoulder pad there, because I saw no harmed skin underneath. I wasn’t confident if it was the blast or the Captain that had knocked her from her feet. On second thought, it looked like she was wearing body armor underneath her clothes because I could see some sort of ceramic through the burned area.

  “I’m okay,” Mina said as she sat up, gently pushing Marchant off of her as she did. There was an exchange between the two that seemed loaded with emotion.

  “I expected you or him to try to kill me,” Mina said, “my bet was you.”

  “Why would you ever think of a thing like that?” Captain Marchant demanded of his former flame. It was at that moment that Sawyer put his head over the cliff and I took a shot, hitting the cliff just underneath him and sending him back into hiding as bits of rock fell to the ground below.

  “Who’s your friend?” I asked, looking at the woman who had watched the whole scene unravel without approaching, barely ducking when Sawyer had taken a potshot at his sister.

  “A friend.”

  Captain Marchant studied the woman in front of him before turning his attention back to Mina. “You are right, you deserve an answer. I left you high and dry.”

  “Finally.”

  “But I’m not gonna give you one. Cons don’t deserve answers.”

  Despite his rough tone, Captain Marchant offered a hand to Mina and helped her to her feet.

  “I don’t know why you thought I would want you to die.” Captain Marchant shook his head. “What you and your brother did—are still presumably doing based on what’s going on with the Plethki and the pending charges back on earth—was terrible, even if I might have been conflicted, I had no choice.”

  Captain Marchant glanced at me, not bothering to conceal the contempt he had for me but carefully choosing his words. There was something else as well, I could tell he hoped I would not include any of this in my official report.