Shipment to Daphnis (Mastery of the Stars Book 2) Read online

“Sevan?”

  “They remind me of myself. Why shouldn't I destroy them? All of them. And why shouldn't I kill your little friend first?"

  “Why?”

  “Let’s just say he got it coming to him.”

  CHAPTER 4: A CONTRAST OF WELCOMES

  When Sevan entered the council chamber some newly elected councillors rushed up to him to greet him. But these were very much the minority, the ones who had never sat on the council before, the ones for whom Sevan’s election had been a means for them to escape their daily drudgery as a worker and enter the luxurious life of a councillor. The majority, the ones who had been on the previous Corporation appointed council, the ones who President Man dismissed when he appointed Sevan as Chief Council Member; they did not greet him at all. In fact, some even refused to acknowledge his presence. They hadn’t worked a day in their lives, Barnes had created them to rule over everyone else, and they did not understand what problems an average worker on the concession was facing daily.

  Sevan had just entered the room when they called the meeting to order. He took his seat for what he imagined to be the last time. As current Chief Council Member, they invited him to make the customary opening statement.

  “Welcome to you all,” Sevan began. “Welcome to all the new councillors for whom this room is still a novelty and welcome back to all of those of you for whom this room must seem like an old friend. I am glad that in this election we could give a voice to our workers by allowing them to choose their own representatives for this chamber.”

  Sevan looked around the room to see which councillors looked like they found Sevan’s idea of democracy amusing but they all looked serious.

  “I would like to assure you,” he continued. “That I recognise your authority as the elected representatives of the workers, and that I will respect and honour your decisions.”

  Sevan sat back down and a councillor rose. He had been Chief Council Member before President Man dissolved the old council.

  “Thank you for your kind words,” he spoke with what Sevan perceived to be mock sincerity. “I propose a motion to allow the newly elected councillors to choose their own chief council member. They can decide whether to keep the appointed member, the choice of President Man, or they can vote for a councillor whom the workers chose by democratic means.”

  There was a hubbub of agreement and the vote on the motion was almost unanimous. They nominated the old chief council member as a candidate and the whole process of deciding between him and Sevan was quick.

  “I would like to thank the outgoing chief council member for his service both to the council and to the concession,” said the new Chief Council Member, smiling at Sevan. “And I wish him all the best in his future ventures, whatever they may be.”

  Security guards escorted Sevan from the chamber and, as he was being led away, he felt a sense of relief that the problems of the concession were no longer his to worry about. He knew that the changes he had hoped for would not be forthcoming under this council which was almost identical to the one President Man had dissolved. But he hoped that once the workers became accustomed to their new democratic powers that they themselves might demand change. It was up to them now.

  As Sevan was leaving the council building, Tori was waiting for him.

  “Come with me,” Tori said, leading Sevan away.

  “What is it?”

  “We have to get ourselves a corporation fighter.”

  “Why?”

  “At the moment, I am still head of concession security, but it won’t take them to replace me and when they do, I won’t be able to do things like take fighters anymore.”

  “And why would we need a fighter?”

  “Have you been checking your communicator?”

  “No, I was in a meeting.”

  “Check it.”

  Sevan looked at his communicator. There was a message from Ron telling him the security forces at Daphnis had arrested Ay-ttho.

  “Oh, for the love of the Giant Cup!”

  He wasn’t sure whether he was more annoyed about the fact that Ay-ttho had been arrested or that Tori was expecting him to help rescue her. Now that they had dismissed him from the council, he had nothing else to do, so he followed Tori.

  Tori led him to the shuttle bay of the council building where they took a shuttle; all of the security guards they passed had not yet received the news of Sevan’s dismissals and, as far as he knew the councillors were still debating what to do with Tori. For the moment at least, they were still being treated like the Chief Council Member and the Head of Concession Security. No-one questioned why they wanted to take a Corporation shuttle or why they weren’t taking the Chief Council Member’s shuttle as usual.

  “We must be quick,” said Tori. “We have to get to Tomorrow, get a fighter and get out of the system before they realise we are no longer who they think we are.”

  “Don’t you think we should just contact President Man?” said Sevan. “I’m sure all this is just a big misunderstanding. Maybe the president could sort everything out.”

  “I thought of that. That may be the case but I have my suspicions about the president and if those suspicions are correct, he would prevent us from leaving the system. Let’s get well on the way to Daphnis before we send him a message. Did you see all the messages Ron sent?”

  “There’s more?”

  “Check your communicator.”

  Sevan checked, Tori was right, Ron had sent several messages. When he had seen them all, Sevan exhaled.

  “She killed an entire platoon? No wonder they arrested her.”

  “We have to get there before they do anything to her.”

  “But why haven’t we received any official communication from Daphnis?”

  “If the concession receives an official communication from Daphnis, your old friend, the new Chief Council Member will handle it.”

  “Oh, for the love of the Giant Cup! He’ll tell them to execute her.”

  “We have no time to lose, Sevan.”

  They were just passing the grey sphere of the Giant Cup and even though Sevan no longer believed in its magic powers, he still offered it a silent prayer hoping, if it had any powers, it would be benevolent enough to use them to protect Ay-ttho.

  Ahead of them the giant station, Tomorrow, was coming into view. Sevan shuddered to think what would happen if the news had already reached there that the council had stripped them of their positions. This was the fourth time he had visited the station, on every occasion he hadn’t wanted to be there and bad things had happened. He’d stolen a ship, he had been tortured, he had said goodbye to a friend for what might have been the last time and now he would steal another ship.

  The shuttle entered the hangar without hindrance. Sevan and Tori disembarked and looked around. There didn’t seem to be platoons of guards rushing to apprehend them. Tori spotted a Corporation fighter nearby and motioned for Sevan to follow him.

  The area around the fighter was deserted apart from a sole engineer who appeared to be making checks.

  “Is this fighter ready?” Tori asked the engineer with authority.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Good, remove the hoses, we are taking her out for a test.”

  “But...I...er...”

  “Just do as I say.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Tori and Sevan climbed into the fighter while the engineer removed the maintenance hoses. As soon as the engineer was clear, Tori lifted off and headed out of the hangar doors.

  “Fighter x-342, this is station control, the system does not authorise you to leave the station.”

  “Station control, this is Commander Tori, Head of Concession security requesting permission to take fighter x-342 on a short test.”

  Sevan and Tori waited for the control to reply. The silence went on and on. Sevan imagined they had discovered that they were no longer in charge, a message from the concession, perhaps.

  “Commander Tori?” the voice crackled from the
control panel. “Commander Tori? This is Tomorrow control, are you receiving me?”

  “Yes, Commander Tori here.”

  “Commander Tori we have cleared you for takeoff. Opening hangar bay doors. Enjoy your trip, sir.”

  “Thank you. I’ll try.”

  As the doors opened, Tori steered the fighter through the gap and away from the station, reconfiguring the navigation plan as soon as they had left the shadow of the station.

  “My antennae ache, they were so tense,” Sevan admitted.

  “I’m setting the course for Daphnis,” said Tori.

  “Can I ask you a question?”

  “Of course.”

  “What are we going to do when we get to Daphnis? There are only two of us against... the Giant Cup only knows how big their security force is... and they have all the arms that Ay-ttho took there in the Mastery of the Stars. Tell me you have a plan.”

  “I don’t have a plan.”

  “But you are devising a plan, right?”

  “I have no idea what we will do when we get there. I was just going to see what happens.”

  “Tori, this is a terrible idea. Let’s call the president.”

  “Not until we are out of range of Tomorrow,” something on his monitor distracted him. “That’s interesting.”

  “What is?”

  “The route to Daphnis goes close to a black hole.”

  “Should that worry me?”

  “No, we’ll be fine, as long as we don’t lose power. We are getting close to the portal that leads to another portal close to the event horizon of the black hole. The second portal will take us close to Daphnis. Should be straight forward.”

  “X-342, this is Tomorrow control,” the control panel crackled.

  “Are you going to answer that?” Sevan asked.

  “Do you think I should?”

  “Not really.”

  “X-342, we have rescinded your permission. Please return to the station.”

  “Well, that’s not going to happen,” said Tori.

  “X-342. Return to the station. If you ignore these orders, you will be subject to punitive measures.”

  “Punitive measures? What do you think they mean?”

  “Missiles.”

  “This fighter has a weapons system though, right Tori?”

  “Of course. You should plug yourself in. Unless you’d like to fly, Sevan?”

  “No thanks. I’m used to weapons.”

  “X-342. You have ignored instructions to return to the station. Punitive measures are being activated.”

  “Here we go. We are about to find out. You ready, Sevan?”

  Sevan had connected the cables emerging from the weapons officer’s seat to his antennae and could now see hundreds of missiles heading their way.

  “Giant Cup! They’re firing everything at us,” he cried.

  “Launch all the counter measures. We are almost at the portal.”

  “They are getting close!”

  “Launch the counter measures!”

  “I’m launching them!”

  The fighter shook as the missiles exploded when they collided with the counter measures. As the explosions came closer, the fighter shook more.

  “Almost there,” said Tori. “3...2...1.”

  It threw both of them from their seats as the explosion tore into the hull of the fighter, a safety door closed behind them, sealing them in the cockpit which was plunged into darkness.

  “We’ve lost power,” said Tori as the fighter entered the portal.

  CHAPTER 5: THE PROBLEM OF GRAVITY

  When the fighter emerged from the portal, a series of explosions caused by missiles and countermeasures which had been sucked through the portal with the fighter, followed it.

  In the distance, Sevan could see a tiny halo.

  “Is that it?” he asked.

  “I guess so,” said Tori. “We are still moving fast towards the next portal but if we can’t get the engine restarted the gravity of the black hole will pull us towards it and the velocity we will need to escape will soon be beyond the capabilities of the fighter.”

  “What will happen then?”

  “It will crush us to death.”

  “Great. So how do we restart the engine?”

  “Good question. Ron? How do we restart the engine?” Tori spoke into his communicator.

  “Patch me into the control panel and I will look,” Ron’s voice was faint but audible.

  It impressed Sevan that Tori could place his communicator on the control panel and, bit by bit, it began to illuminate.

  “How is it?” Tori asked.

  “Not great,” said Ron. “It’s fixable, but the problem is you have little time. If you’re too slow, the escape velocity you will need will be greater than the maximum velocity the fighter is capable of.”

  “How long do we have?” asked Sevan.

  “Rather than waste time talking about it,” said Ron. “Why don’t you fix the engine?”

  “Okay, tell us what to do,” Tori stood up, ready to get to work.

  “You will have to put suits on. You must open the door and the missiles have compromised the hull.”

  Tori threw Sevan a suit, and they put them on, securing their safety cables.

  “Hold on tight,” said Tori, and he released the safety door.

  Sevan felt himself being sucked into the vacuum with the air escaping from the cockpit but he held on tight.

  “The blast severed the power connection,” said Ron. “If you can bypass the damage you might restart the engine.”

  “Might?” said Sevan. He could see the second portal ahead but the rate at which they were closing on it was slowing as if some unseen force was retarding their progress.

  Tori made his way towards the section of damaged hull.

  “Yes, I can see the problem,” he said. “How are we going to bypass the break?”

  “You might have enough undamaged component left to bridge the two terminals.”

  Tori examined the damage.

  “Yes, I think there is enough there. It’ll be tight but I think it will reach. Sevan! Come here and hold this.”

  Sevan made his way over to Tori, all the time staring at the hole in the hull, through which he could see the distant halo of the back hole.

  “Hold this,” said Tori, showing him what looked like a tube.

  Sevan tried to focus and do what Tori was asking him, although his marbles were swimming with thoughts of how he had got himself into another dangerous situation and that if he ever set foot on the concession again, he would never leave, no matter what mundane job they gave him.

  “Would this be a good time to ask the president for help?” he asked.

  “Just hold that straight,” Tori barked. “By the time they got here, we’d’ve passed the point of no return. Even the fastest ship in the galaxy wouldn’t be able to escape its pull.”

  Sevan concentrated on holding the tube straight.

  “You have used a quarter of your available time,” Ron warned.

  “So you have done the calculations,” Sevan sulked. “Great, now we have a countdown timer.”

  “It doesn’t matter; I’ve almost got this secured. Just another...there, that’s it. Let go.”

  Sevan let go of the tube and nothing moved. It made him wonder why he had been holding it.

  “Quick, back to the cockpit,” Tori urged Sevan to move.

  Once back in the cockpit Tori closed the safety door.

  “Right, let’s try this,” he said.

  Sevan watched as Tori changed some configurations on the control panel.

  “Here goes,” he said.

  Sevan braced himself for the engine to kick in. Nothing.

  “Try again,” Sevan urged.

  Again, nothing.

  “Ron?”

  “I am analysing the system. There is something not right.”

  “Do you think?” Sevan couldn’t help the sarcasm.

  “Are you sur
e you connected the two terminals?” Ron asked.

  “As far as I can tell,” said Tori.

  Sevan tried to be patient, but he felt the time slipping away. He felt the sinister halo pulling them towards it and the second portal, so close now, slipping from their grasp.

  “So what are we going to do?” Tori ask.

  “You must go back out there and check all the connections,” Ron replied.

  Sevan sighed as Tori opened the safety door once more and ventured back out towards the breech to check the connections.

  “I can't see anything,” Tori said. “It all looks okay to me. Are you sure you haven’t missed something?”

  “I’m running diagnostics throughout the whole system. According to the data there is no reason the engines shouldn’t start, the connections seem to be all intact.”

  “Run the checks again.”

  “Running checks. 32 percent of time used before required escape velocity becomes too high.”

  “Stop checking the time and runs the checks again,” said Sevan, becoming impatient.

  “I have run the checks again. All the connections are in place.”

  “There’s something we’re missing,” Tori was talking to himself more than anyone else. “The panels are working, the connections are good. What is it we’re missing?”

  “Well, whatever it is, would you hurry and find it?”

  Tori ignored Sevan but looked around at all the mechanisms and instruments.

  “Let’s give it another try,” he suggested and led Sevan back into the cockpit, shutting the safety door behind them.

  Out of the observation windows Sevan could see the second portal. He thought they were no longer reducing their distance to the portal, their progress seemed to have halted, they may even have already started going backwards towards the ominous halo.

  “Okay, let’s give it a go,” said Tori.

  Sevan waited but nothing happened.

  “Have you done it?” Sevan asked.

  “Nothing is happening.”

  “I can see that.”

  “50 percent of time used.”

  “Oh shut up Ron,” Tori and Sevan said in unison.

  “Think. Think,” Tori ordered himself. “What is it you are missing?”

  “Is it plugged in?”

  “What?”