Fallen Empire: Starseers Part 5

"Who gets to repair the pock holes later?" Mica growled, but she complied, dumping a barrage of fire in the direction of the airlock.

In the light from her blazer bolts, Alisa spotted her man again. He spotted her too. He had a blazer out, the muzzle pointed straight at her.

She fired first and lunged back behind the protection of the bulkhead. The man returned fire, but his bolts did not sizzle past her ear as she expected. They must have flown wide.

"We'll make Beck fix the holes," Alisa said. "These are his mafia men."

"I'll have a putty knife and a paintbrush awaiting his return."

Alisa risked peeking out again. When blazer bolts lit up the hold, Mica trading fire with the man in the airlock, Alisa spotted the figure by the stairs, flat on his back and not moving. Good.

"Got a plan for the one in the airlock?" Alisa whispered. She couldn't target him or even see him, and she didn't think Mica could hit him effectively, either. In that alcove between the two hatches, he would be well protected.

A cough came from the airlock.

"That's my plan," Mica said. "Hoping he pukes his lungs all over the deck."

"Beck's going to need more than a putty knife to clean that up."

"He can-"

A boom erupted from somewhere outside, and the ice heaved underneath the Nomad. The s.h.i.+p lurched to the side, hurling Alisa back from the hatchway. She skidded into a console as snaps and cracks erupted outside, echoing ominously inside of engineering. She accidentally kicked someone as she rolled to her hands and knees. Yumi? It was too dark to see anything.

"Did one of those idiots set off explosives?" Mica demanded from flat on her back. She had also been thrown away from the bulkhead and lay in open view of the hatchway. "On ice?"

Afraid Mica did not realize she was a target right then, Alisa scrambled toward her and grabbed her shoulder. Shudders wracked the Nomad, but she could easily imagine the mafia man taking advantage. She found her feet and started to pull Mica out of the way. A thump came from outside the hatchway, and she heard someone's heavy breathing.

Alisa could barely see, darkness still reigning on the s.h.i.+p, but she whipped her Etcher across her body and fired as a man appeared out of the shadows. The figure froze, framed by the hatchway, then toppled forward with a thump.

Before Alisa could recover her breath and string two thoughts together, a bang came from out in the cargo hold. Icy air swirled into engineering.

"Is that d.a.m.ned hatch open again?" she growled, even as she and Mica scrambled to the side where they would not be easy targets.

Footfalls thundered across the cargo hold. Alisa leaned her back against the engine housing and aimed her Etcher. She hoped that in the dark, the reinforcements would trip over the mafia thug crumpled in the hatchway.

Another dark figure came into sight, a huge one this time.

"Alisa?" came Leonidas's voice a split second before she fired.

She yanked her Etcher up, not trusting her twitchy trigger finger. But she reacted quickly enough to keep from shooting.

"We're here," she said, trying to sound calm and professional and definitely not frazzled.

A flashlight came on. It belonged to Yumi, who was crouching near the s.h.i.+eld generator, trying to stay out of the way.

Leonidas stood in the hatchway, a couple of fresh scorch marks on his crimson battle armor. He looked down at the man at his feet, then stepped over him and into engineering. He walked straight toward Alisa as Beck stepped into the hatchway, blood spattering his white armor.

"I told you to keep the hatch closed," Leonidas said, pinning Alisa with his gaze.

"No, we're fine here. Thanks for asking. How was your day?" She stuffed her Etcher into its holster.

His lips thinned.

"I didn't open the hatch," Alisa said, "just as I a.s.sume you didn't hit the b.u.t.ton to lower our s.h.i.+elds right before the other s.h.i.+p fired. Weirdness is happening here."

"Yes, and my vote is to get out of here, especially since-"

Another snap sounded from under the s.h.i.+p, and the deck lurched, dropping a couple of inches.

"This situation is making it very difficult to maintain a serene state of mind," Yumi announced. Her flashlight beam wavered. Her hand might have been shaking.

Alisa didn't blame her. She was trying very hard not to look at the man she had very likely killed-or the blood spattered on Beck's armor.

"What happened out there?" Mica asked. "You didn't blow up the other s.h.i.+p, did you?"

"In the midst of a frenetic battle on their s.h.i.+p, we may have inadvertently shot something important in engineering," Beck said. "Something that cracked, smoked, and caused men to shout, Abandon s.h.i.+p, abandon s.h.i.+p.' Which we then decided would be a good idea for us too."

"There was an explosion, and the ice under their s.h.i.+p cracked," Leonidas said. "It was sinking as we ran away, and we barely escaped before a ma.s.sive chunk of ice broke, sank, and took them all down with it."

"Their s.h.i.+p didn't float?" Alisa frowned at Yumi, more alarmed than ever by the sounds of ice snapping outside. "You said a s.h.i.+p would float, like a boat."

"I said this s.h.i.+p probably would, since it's got a lot of air on the inside."

"Well, let's see if we can get it fixed before we have to test that theory, shall we?" Alisa pushed herself away from the console she had been leaning against, though she had no idea where she would go. The s.h.i.+p was still broken and without power, so she couldn't even check the cameras in NavCom. Maybe Mica would need another flashlight holder. She stopped beside Leonidas. "I a.s.sume we were right and that those were White Dragon people?" she asked him. "The ones in here didn't introduce themselves before they started firing. We have some rude enemies."

"They were White Dragon," he said. "When I charged onto the bridge, the captain tried to bribe me with ill-gotten mafia booty."

"And you said no?"

"I shot him."

"That's the equivalent of a no, I suppose."

His brow furrowed slightly, that look that meant he didn't understand how she could make jokes when she did. She sighed, not wanting to try and explain. She could easily imagine him striding onto a bridge in that red armor, an implacable executioner arriving to deliver death. She found the image disturbing. She found this whole situation disturbing. Making jokes and avoiding thinking about it was easier than dwelling on grim reality.

"You did well to defend yourselves here," Leonidas said, the praise surprising her.

She almost made a flippant comment, especially since she felt her defense had been anything but spectacular, but she bit her lip before it came out. She said, "Thank you," instead, guessing he would appreciate that answer more.

He rested his hand on her shoulder, and she decided she had guessed correctly.

"Uhh, Captain?" came Beck's voice from the cargo hold. "We have a problem. Well, technically, the problem may have us."

Alisa started for the hatchway, but Leonidas kept his hand on her shoulder long enough to make sure he could walk out first. A thunk, thunk, thunk came from a panel that Mica had opened. Yumi, once again holding the flashlight for her, looked curiously toward the hatchway, but Mica remained focused on her work, as if she hadn't heard Beck speak.

"Keep working," Alisa said softly as she walked out. She had a hunch they weren't safe yet.

"Count on it," Mica replied as she continued to thunk.

Beck stood in the cargo hold, his rifle cradled in his arms as he looked toward six robed figures standing at the top of the ramp, mist curling about their legs. Two carried black staffs, like the one Alisa had seen on the station. The others merely had their hands folded into the sleeves of their robes. All had their hoods pulled low, hiding their faces in shadow.

One of those shadowed faces turned toward the stairs and the walkway. A moment later, Alejandro appeared up there. Alisa s.h.i.+vered, having the impression that he might have been somehow compelled to do so, especially since he wore his satchel on his shoulder, the orb box probably tucked inside.

Alisa licked her lips and stepped forward. "I'm Captain Marchenko," she said, addressing them all since she had no idea which one was in charge. "Can I help you?"

She wanted to say, "Did one of you asteroid kissers kidnap my daughter?" But that seemed like a confrontational way to start a conversation with strangers. She did take some rea.s.surance from the fact that Leonidas, through chance or design, stood at her shoulder, looking fierce in his armor as he glared over at the newcomers.

"We will speak to Yumi Moon," one robed figure said, one with a feminine voice.

Before Alisa could decide if she wanted to point the way-or protest the fact that the woman had come onto her s.h.i.+p and was making demands-Yumi walked out of engineering.

One of the other Sta.r.s.eers stepped forward, lifting brown-skinned hands and pus.h.i.+ng back his hood. His black, wiry hair was pulled back from his face in a hundred thin braids, and he had dark eyes that seemed to bore straight into Alisa's mind. Maybe that was exactly what they were doing. She would have called him handsome, with a straight nose and full lips, but she was too busy being discomfited by that stare to make more than a note of it. She did not know how she knew, but she was almost positive that this was the same man who had been watching her s.h.i.+p from the station.

"Yumi's my flashlight holder," called Mica from engineering, not noticeably intimidated by their guests. "You don't get her unless you replace her with someone else."

The male Sta.r.s.eer lifted his eyebrows, looked to someone standing at his side for a long moment, as if they were communicating somehow, and then moved his staff in a slow gesture. The lights came on, and hums and beeps sounded as the s.h.i.+p restarted after its power down.

A clank-thunk came from engineering, followed by Mica swearing.

"My engineer thanks you," Alisa said calmly, refusing to show any fear or apprehension at the display of power-or the realization that these people were likely the reason the power had not been working in the first place. They had facilitated her crash, a crash in which her people could have been hurt or killed. She worried that Yumi's name might not be as much of a pa.s.sword to safety as she had hoped.

Leonidas folded his arms over his chest, his expression clearly saying that he was not afraid of these people, either.

Yumi Moon will speak with Ji-yoon, the man said, ignoring Alisa's comment. The rest of you will come with us.

With a jolt, Alisa realized he had spoken directly into her mind.

Chapter 5.

Alisa hated flying with people watching over her shoulder, so having a Sta.r.s.eer standing by her chair, guiding her through the fog, did nothing to improve her mood.

Leonidas also stood near her chair, his armor still on. He was watching the Sta.r.s.eer rather than Alisa or her controls. He was the same man who had spoken in the cargo hold. Leonidas stood closer to him than was probably comfortable for either of them, and she wondered if it was so he would have time to reach out and grab the Sta.r.s.eer's throat if he tried anything. If so, his brazenness impressed her. She couldn't imagine lifting a weapon against someone who could turn the s.h.i.+p on and off with a thought. It boggled her mind that normal humans had fought against the Sta.r.s.eers centuries earlier in the Order Wars. They had won, so it was possible, but the idea of flying against someone who could cause her to crash her s.h.i.+p with a thought was definitely unsettling.

"So," Alisa said, groping for a way to gather some information from their uninvited guest. "How come you can wave your big stick and turn the power on in my s.h.i.+p, but you can't clear this fog away to make flying easier?"

"It is a Staff of Power," the man said coolly.

"Not a big stick?"

"No."

"Okay, so your staff has a name. Do you have a name? I'm perfectly capable of referring to you as the Sta.r.s.eer for the next week-just ask Leonidas here-but since there are multiple Sta.r.s.eers, that might get confusing."

He continued to stare at the back of her head. Maybe there was something interesting going on back there. She hadn't looked in a mirror for a while, and crashes weren't known to be friendly to hairstyles, even simple braids.

The Sta.r.s.eer did not look at Leonidas for confirmation of her tendencies. In fact, she was fairly certain he hadn't looked at him since they had entered NavCom. He seemed to be doing his best to ignore Leonidas's existence. The military cyborgs, Alisa recalled, had specifically been designed to fight the Sta.r.s.eers back during the Order Wars.

"Lord Abelardus is my name," he finally said.

Lord? Was he kidding? What she said out loud was, "Abelardus? I bet that's fun to rhyme with in a poem."

It occurred to her that she might want to find someone more diplomatic than she to try to get information from the Sta.r.s.eers. Maybe Yumi would do it. Alisa had a paucity of diplomats on her s.h.i.+p. Mica was even more likely to offend someone with her mouth than she was.

"So, Abelardus. Any chance you can wave your Staff of Power and clear the way ahead so I can see where we're going?"

"We have no wish to clear the mists. They serve us well. I will ensure that you do not crash. Veer now to the northwest. There's another mountain ahead."

Alisa could not see anything but the fog, and her instruments were spinning uselessly, but she obeyed. She had no desire for more close-up encounters with ice-smothered cliffs.

Her cameras were back online, and she glimpsed the six hover sleds turning to follow her. Abelardus and the female Sta.r.s.eer-Ji-yoon-had remained on the s.h.i.+p when the Nomad had taken off, Ji-yoon to speak with Yumi. Alisa wondered if that was her mother. They hadn't shared a hug or even acknowledged each other back in the cargo hold, but Ji-yoon also hadn't lowered her hood. The other Sta.r.s.eers had returned to their own transportation, the one-person sleds. Four of those sleds had riders and two were flying themselves, following along with the pack. Even though automated cars and s.h.i.+ps were not uncommon, Alisa couldn't help but think those people were controlling the unmanned sleds with their minds.

"Why do they call you Sta.r.s.eers?" Alisa asked.

"With our mind's eye, we can gaze into the suns in a way that would blind our physical eyes, and we can see them turning hydrogen into helium and creating ma.s.sive energy."

"I guess they didn't have vid dramas on Kir in the early days, huh?"

Alisa could feel the man gazing at the back of her head, but she was focused on guiding them slowly through the mist and did not turn to gauge his expression. He had the look of a warrior with that staff, and he was probably another one, like Leonidas, who did not appreciate her humor. Whether he did or not, he did not respond. Out of the corner of her eye, she did catch the faintest of smiles from Leonidas. Maybe he appreciated her sarcasm more when it was directed at somebody else.

"Turn back to the southwest," Abelardus said.

Alisa did so, skimming along about twenty feet above the ice. She was relieved not to be on the ice. She had seen the gaping black hole where the White Dragon s.h.i.+p had been. It had, indeed, sunk. Now that she was in the air, and unlikely to suffer the same fate, she allowed herself to feel slightly relieved about that. Since the s.h.i.+p had disappeared in The h.e.l.ls' Leftovers, she hoped the White Dragon wouldn't necessarily blame Beck-or her. After all, hundreds, if not thousands, of s.h.i.+ps had disappeared in these mists over the centuries, at least according to Leonidas's encyclopedia article.

Up ahead, the mist cleared slightly. Alisa leaned forward, as if being a couple of inches closer to the view screen would help her see better. A few stars came into view above them. As they continued forward, more of the frozen sea came into view, a tundra of ice stretching ahead of and to the sides of them before disappearing into a horizon of gray fog. The gray was farther away now, but it was still there, and even the stars seemed hazy.

Abelardus directed her to turn the s.h.i.+p a few degrees, and something different came into view, a sprawling structure that floated a hundred feet above the ice. It reminded Alisa of pictures she had seen from Old Earth, part medieval castle and part Taj Mahal, with decorative spires and domes mingling with blocky towers, all surrounded by a bluish-white crenellated wall. Most of the structure had that coloring, as if it were made from ice. Maybe it was.

On one side, a landing dock paralleled the base of the wall with piers sticking out for shuttles and small s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps to land on. An imperial wars.h.i.+p would not have fit into any of the berths, but the Nomad should be able to come down on one of the larger piers. A small squadron of rusty old Strikers, Cobras, and bombers that looked like they had been purchased from a military surplus auction perched on the end of the dock. Apparently, the inhabitants did not use only their minds to defend themselves if someone got through the mists. There were also some small combat s.h.i.+ps that Alisa wasn't familiar with, having hulls the bluish-white of the sea of ice far below. All in all, it was not a huge force, but she could imagine it being sufficient when combined with their mental powers. She wondered how many of the s.h.i.+ps that had disappeared over the centuries had actually been shot down.

"Dock there," Abelardus said, pointing to the landing facility.

As they drew closer, Alisa noticed sophisticated automated artillery weapons along the walls. For people who wandered around the system in robes and sandals, they had some fancy tech here.

She glanced at her comm as she piloted them toward the pier Abelardus indicated, expecting someone to more officially give her permission to land-or not. But maybe the Sta.r.s.eers were chatting back and forth in each other's heads, and the ones inside already knew all about the Nomad's arrival.

With Abelardus and Leonidas watching on, Alisa was glad she piloted them onto the pier smoothly. Gravity had challenges that open s.p.a.ce did not, and her freighter was anything but aerodynamic and maneuverable. They settled in with a soft thump, open air visible on the cameras to either side. She had no idea what held the floating temple in place. She hadn't seen any thrusters or typical signs of hover technology under the structure.

"Let's go," Abelardus said, striding away from Leonidas and toward the cargo hold and the exit. "Bring your artifact, Dominguez," she heard him say from the walkway. "My people will want to see it."

"He may rethink bringing it here," Leonidas said quietly.