The Spider and the Fly Page 8

  Chapter Five

  The Dowd did not, as it turned out, have a fleet waiting for them in orbit. Instead they had an assault frigate, and that was bad enough.

  “Report,” Jenavian said the moment the gray, bottle-shaped vessel appeared on the tactical holo.

  “Their weapons and shields are already powered up,” Thexyl replied from his station on her left. “They’re moving to intercept.”

  She grimaced. The Manticore packed a much bigger punch than its modest size suggested—they could handle a few fighters or some armed freighters easily enough—but a capital ship, even a relatively small one like this frigate, would blow them out of the stars in a direct confrontation.

  “How do they know who we are?” she asked breathlessly. “And how the hell did they manage to slip a ship that big past the system’s sensor net?”

  Markus grunted. “I doubt many other vessels have launched since their team on the surface went silent—Kalifax isn’t exactly a major interstellar hub. Besides, they might have had some spotters at the starport who saw us leaving.”

  Jenavian turned and glared at him. She’d stuffed him into the forward-most station right next to the tac-holo where she could keep an eye on him. “I didn’t sense anyone down there paying attention to us, and Thexyl never noticed anyone, either.”

  He shrugged. “That doesn’t necessarily mean they weren’t there. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Unless the Convectorate has seriously upgraded their shields in the last four years, I suggest we get the hell out of here.”

  “This system only has the one stable jump corridor, and it’s at least two minutes away,” Thexyl said, his scales rippling a concerned orange. “They will overtake us long before that.”

  “Send a message to the Convectorate orbital relay,” Jenavian told him. “There might be a patrol ship nearby.”

  “The Dowd are already projecting a wide-range jamming beam. We won’t be able to get a signal anywhere near the relay.”

  Markus shook his head. “I doubt they’re interested in talking, anyway. They’re Dowd, and they think we’re humans affiliated with the Mire. They’d probably blow up the whole damn planet just to kill us.”

  “Actually, they might prefer to take the two of you alive,” Thexyl said. “Assuming the rumors about them cloning human laborers are true.”

  “Oh,” Markus murmured. “Great.”

  Jenavian swore under her breath and grabbed onto the piloting controls. She jerked them hard to starboard and then shunted every watt of power she could spare into the engines. It still wouldn’t be enough to outrun the frigate, but it would buy them a little time.

  “They’re matching course,” Thexyl reported. “Weapons range in forty-five seconds. I’m also picking up three new signals—it appears they had scout fighters on the other side of the planet.”

  “Better them than the frigate,” she said as she consulted the tac-holo again. It flashed with a translucent red projection of the planet and every ship in the immediate vicinity. On most populous worlds that would have included dozens, hundreds, or even thousands of ships flitting in and out like a flock of Yarsuvean peckers, but right now the only things in range were the Manticore, the Dowd frigate and its fighters, and an automated mining station harvesting zabrium from the planet’s outer rings.

  “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s too bad that station’s not a Convectorate defense platform,” Markus commented. “Otherwise we could just fly inside their defensive perimeter and let the turrets handle the Dowd.”

  Jenavian smiled faintly as an idea belatedly struck her. “Wait a second—Thexyl, you said the Dowd were using a wide-range jamming beam?”

  “Yes,” he confirmed, “though they’ll likely narrow the focus once they get closer.”

  “But we should still be able to fire off a transmission to something nearby, right? Say, the mining station?”

  “For a few more seconds, probably. But the station is unmanned—it won’t be able to relay our signal if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “It won’t need to,” Jenavian said, mashing in a key sequence on her terminal and transmitting it as quickly as she could. “Hold on to something.”

  Markus frowned. “What are you—?”

  He cut off mid-sentence as she twisted the ship into a hard roll, and her stomach churned as the inertial compensators struggled to adapt. A second later the mining station and its thousands of worker drones appeared on the viewscreen. Facilities like this were completely automated and incredibly expensive, and the sector Prefect would probably have a heart attack if the Dowd ended up destroying it. But right now it was their only chance of getting out of this alive.

  “Incoming fighters!” Thexyl warned. “Redirecting shields.”

  The words had barely left his mouth when the trio of fighters banked towards them and fired. The bright blue flashes of their disruptor cannons lit up the viewscreen as the Manticore lurched beneath the assault. Fortunately, while their shields wouldn’t last long against a capital ship, they would hold just fine against fighters…for now, anyway.

  “No damage, but they’re coming around for another pass,” Thexyl said. “The frigate will be in range in twenty-two seconds.”

  Jenavian nodded as she steered towards two of the station’s outermost asteroids and skimmed along their surface. A pair of the small mining drones bounced off their shields and exploded immediately, and another pack vaporized beneath a second volley of blasts from the tailing fighters. Each stray shot here was probably costing the Convectorate a few million credits, but thankfully the Intelligence Ministry never got stuck with the bill.

  The instant they spun around the asteroid she rolled the ship and bolted straight for the station. Out of the corner of her eye she watched as the tac-holo counted down the seconds until the frigate was in firing range. By her mental rough calculations they should have had just enough time to pull this off…

  “Incoming fire!” Thexyl announced. “It’s coming from the asteroids.”

  Jenavian smiled again as she twisted the ship into another hard roll. The station’s hidden, automated defensive turrets—the ones she’d just seconds ago bypassed with a Spider authorization code—had opened fire on the Dowd forces. It would give them the time they needed to escape, assuming they didn’t get fried in the process.

  Several stray shots splattered across their forward shields, and she swore a vicious curse at whatever piddling bureaucrat had decided to skimp on targeting computers. For a few agonizing milliseconds she thought she’d made a fatal miscalculation when the bridge lights flickered and the shield generators screamed in protest, but then she grabbed onto the steering stick and wrenched it down as far as it would go.

  Had she bothered to eat breakfast this morning, she would have definitely gotten the opportunity to take a second look at it. Even empty, her stomach tried valiantly to decorate the steering console, but once the heaving stopped and she regained her bearings, a quick glance at the tac-holo showed that her plan had mostly worked. The swarm of pursuing fighters, flying in as tightly as they could to blast the Manticore’s engines at point-blank range, had run straight into the station’s automated firestorm. Two of them had vanished from sensors completely, and the third was spiraling away in the opposite direction. And as for the frigate…

  “They’re not giving up,” Markus said tightly. “You have to give them credit for single-minded devotion.”

  He was right. The frigate was still barreling forward towards them, its shields lighting up as it absorbed the station’s defensive fire. Its cannons were obliterating the turrets one by one, and in a few seconds it would have a clear shot at them. And the Manticore was all out of tricks.

  “We have to get to that corridor,” Jenavian said through clenched teeth. “Hold on!”

  She threw the ship into a tight defensive roll, sweeping beneath the last of the asteroids and then gunning for open space. The seconds ticked by on her monitor as they closed in on the
corridor entry point, and she risked a quick glance down at the tac-holo to track the Dowd ship…

  “Incoming missiles!” Markus yelped. “Countermeasure systems not responding.”

  She clamped down on her lip and watched helplessly as the warheads sped towards them. Even one hit at this point would probably cripple their engines and possibly even breach the hull. Evidently the Dowd had decided that killing them was still preferable to letting them escape…

  “Entering range of the corridor,” Thexyl announced. “The drive is ready.”

  Jenavian slammed her hand down on the jump controls. The viewscreen flickered, the stars melted into a seemingly infinite blue-white tunnel, and they were free.

  She sat in place staring at the status board for a good thirty seconds before her brain finally started working again, at which point she leaned back in her chair and let out a relieved breath. They might have escaped, but the Dowd assuredly had another ship ahead of them. The race for the Damadus was on, and they were losing.

  “I have to contact the Widow,” she said to Thexyl. “Put him back in his cage.”

  “Very well,” the Kali replied, drawing his pistol and pointing it at the other man. “If you will please follow me.”

  Markus grunted and stood. “Right. And here I thought we were making progress.”

  The door slid shut behind them, and Jenavian closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe normally. It felt like every muscle in her body was quivering from the sudden rush of adrenaline, which, when she actually thought about it, was beyond foolish. Less than an hour ago she’d stormed into an abandoned building and eliminated an entire squad of Dowd soldiers, and yet somehow that firefight had barely even gotten her heart racing. But this…

  The difference, of course, was that on the ground she knew she could rely on her psionic powers and genetic augmentations to protect her. In open space she was mostly just another pilot completely reliant upon the strengths and weaknesses of her ship. She had always loved to fly, but lately she’d become increasingly aware of how vulnerable she was in open space.

  She shook her head and blew the last bit of anxiety out through her teeth, then stretched out again with her mind to try and reach the Widow. As usual, it wasn’t a long wait.

  Agent Vale, the familiar mental voice came back. Report.

  We rendezvoused with the Mire’s contact, Jenavian said. He was telling the truth—he found the Damadus.

  Typically, the Widow masked her emotions well even over a mindlink. But this time it was easy to feel the ripple of elation. Very good, Agent. Very good…

  There is a problem, mistress. The Dowd got to him before we arrived.

  The elation vanished. Do they have the coordinates?

  They know the system, but not the exact coordinates. I can only assume they’ve already sent a ship ahead of us.

  How much of a lead do they have?

  A few hours at most.

  With what we know of Dowd engines, the Manticore should be able to make up the time rather easily.

  Jenavian shuffled in place. Perhaps, but I’m not sure it’s worth the effort. Knowing how they feel about humans, they’ll almost assuredly destroy the ship and do our job for us. It seems best if I return with Coveri—

  The Damadus is not to be destroyed, the Widow said firmly. The Hierarchy wishes it recovered intact.

  Jenavian blinked. That’s…unusual.

  The Hierarchs were quite clear. Now, what are the coordinates?

  She mentally sent the string of numbers through the link. It’s not exactly sitting right out in the open.

  The Xundrata System is in the Tartarus Expanse, the Widow mused. The closest Convectorate ship is the Argaz, a destroyer on patrol near the Idori Cluster.

  Jenavian opened her eyes and glanced over to the map holo at the center of the bridge and felt her stomach churn. The Idori Cluster was five days from the Expanse, possibly six depending upon the stability of the local jump corridors. It was roughly the same distance as they were right now, except that the Manticore’s engines were the best in the fleet. And that meant only one thing.

  You’ll have to get to the Damadus and secure it until the Argaz arrives, the Widow said.

  With all due respect, mistress, Jenavian said as tactfully as she could manage, the odds that the Dowd find the ship before the Argaz arrives are remote. They won’t be able to locate an unpowered psi-ship, but they’ll be able to track the Manticore just fine. We might even lead them to it.

  Unlikely. Their sensor technology is archaic at best—your stealth systems should keep you hidden unless you’re right on top of them.

  Jenavian winced. This was a losing battle and she already knew it, but she still felt compelled to try. Spending a few days with Markus had been bad enough, but the thought of spending most of a week with him…

  If they do find us, we’ll be no match for a cruiser, she added desperately.

  Then I expect you to improvise, the Widow told her. The Hierarchy wishes you to secure the ship and salvage anything of value, particularly any data crystals you come across. Rely on Coveri’s expertise if you need to—it is likely that he’s studied Sarafan technology extensively.

  I’d prefer not to rely on him for anything, Jenavian said. But I’ll do what’s necessary.

  I know you will, the Widow replied. In the meantime, feel free to begin a rudimentary interrogation, but do not harm him in any way. I wish him intact when he returns to the Nidus.

  I doubt he’ll part with any information willingly, Jenavian said, frowning again. Why did the Widow care how much she hurt Markus? And why wasn’t she more concerned about his intel on the Mire?

  Don’t risk damaging him. If that means leaving him alone, then so be it. Is that clear?

  Of course, mistress.

  Good. Contact me again if you learn anything.

  The mindlink severed, and Jenavian sat there in stunned silence. She’d understood why the Widow had wanted her to retrieve this information in the first place—she hadn’t liked it, but she had understood it. But why in the stars would the Hierarchy want the Damadus intact? Convectorate policy on psi-tech was crystal clear: it was to be eradicated on sight. In her seven active years as a Spider, she’d been sent on numerous missions to investigate reports of uncovered Dominion technology, and in every case she had destroyed it without question. So what was so different about the Damadus?

  Perhaps the Hierarchy really wanted to make a show of it this time. Perhaps they’d drag the ship to the capital on Eladrell and mount the hull as a war trophy, or maybe they just wanted to make a nice propaganda video for the Holosphere. There were plenty of possibilities, but Jenavian didn’t really buy into any of them. No, something else was going on here, something the Hierarchy and maybe even the Widow didn’t want her to know…

  The door slid open behind her and Thexyl stepped back onto the bridge. “What did the Widow have to say?”

  “Apparently we’re going to find the Damadus.”

  “I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised given everything else that’s happened.”

  “She also wants us to secure it until reinforcements show up.”

  His head cocked to the side. “She doesn’t want us to destroy it?”

  “Apparently the Hierarchy wants to study it,” Jenavian said. “Especially the ship’s data crystals.”

  “Curious,” he murmured. “Perhaps they’re interested in studying whatever potential cure the researchers came up with…assuming they actually did.”

  “I don’t see why—they’re the ones who created it. Don’t they already know everything about it?”

  “It’s often useful to see how someone else approaches a problem. They may believe there’s still the potential for extra mutation.”

  “I suppose,” Jenavian conceded. “I still don’t like it. I think we’re being left out of the link.”

  A ripple of purple shimmered across his neck. “Personally, I’m looking forward to the opportunit
y. Destroying such a historical artifact without even studying it seemed rather wasteful.”

  “Then maybe I’ll let you and Markus go aboard—you can chat and compare notes,” she muttered. “I’m going to my quarters. Let me know if anything comes up.”

  “Of course, Jen,” Thexyl said. “I recommend you get some sleep—you’re starting to look pale.”

  “Thanks, doc,” she grumbled as she slipped out the door. He was right, of course, as annoying as it might have been. She’d barely slept at all since Briton Chalo, and it was starting to wear on her. If she were going to have to drag Markus around with her on this little operation, then she needed to be fully focused and alert when they arrived. She could only imagine how insufferably jovial he was going to be plugging around an old Sarafan ship. Surviving that was going to take more energy than fighting through a battalion of Dowd or one of their frigates.

  Sighing softly to herself, Jenavian slipped into her quarters and tried to get some sleep.