The Pirates of Clew Read online

  “Yeah, I remember,” Saundi said and leaned closer.

  Haley looked around again to ensure no one was listening. “The Captain was reading something, but he wasn’t looking at his screen,” she whispered. “He wasn’t looking at anything.”

  Saundi’s face scrunched up in confusion. “So?” Something must have clicked, and she suddenly stared wide-eyed at Haley and quietly mouthed the question: “Implant?”

  Haley shrugged and then nodded her head. “Maybe. That’s the only thing I can think of. He wasn’t wearing an earpiece, you know how people look around while listening to someone. He was reading left to right.”

  “Holy…” Saundi drawled out and then shook her head. “No way. There’s no way, Haley. They’re illegal!” she whispered.

  “I know but what else could it be?” Haley asked. She knew cranial implants had been banned by the Alliance five centuries ago after the conflicts between Earth and the outer colonies. Fighting erupted when the government on humanity’s home planet broke down and was rebuilt as a theocracy. From the history classes she’d taken, she’d learned that implants were used to a high degree for espionage. They were outlawed after the Alliance was formed and defeated Sol Fleet after the one hundred years of the Divinity Wars.

  On every planet in the Alliance there were systems scattered throughout that would alert security if they detected one. Even if there was a remote possibility one could help someone with a traumatic brain injury, they couldn’t be used.

  Saundi let a short chuckle slip and crossed her arms. “Man, I thought I was upset but you’re coming unglued, girl. This went from over-aggressiveness straight to conspiracy. You need sleep and some anti-paranoia pills.”

  Haley sat back, deflated. “Maybe.” Her friend was right though; she was a mess. “I’m so tired, I think I could sleep right here in the galley.”

  Saundi finally perked up and said, “hey, that would make for an easy breakfast. Just wake up and snap your fingers, I’m sure cook would come running. I’ve seen how he looks at you,” she said in a playful tone and wiggled her eyebrows.

  Haley groaned. At least Saundi was back to her old self instead of moping. It had worried her to see her friend so upset though. She was even eating now. Perhaps Saundi was right and they were both stressed out and could really use a good night’s rest.

  ***

  The next morning, after a good night’s sleep and a revitalizing morning workout, Haley felt refreshed as she made her way to the bridge. As she passed several of the crew, she noticed there wasn’t as much outward hostility toward her as there was the first few weeks of being aboard. Some actually smiled when she passed. She guessed the Valiant was on the trail of the same pirate they’d just dispatched when they were called in to pick herself and Saundi up. Maybe catching him offered a bit of respite from their animosity toward the girls.

  She still felt every cold shoulder though. The new officers had been outcasts in the social scene aboard since the moment they stepped off the shuttle. People were coming around, but no one approached them. Even at her scheduled sessions with the other tactical officers, ordered by the Captain of the ship, she sat alone waiting for no one.

  She rounded a corner and was surprised by coming face to face with Saundi, who had a strange look in her eyes. It wasn’t fear, but definitely something akin to worry. “Wha –“.

  “Haley! There you are!” Saundi said in a rush, grabbed Haley by the arm and began leading her back to the officers’ quarters.

  “Well good morning to you, too,” Haley said sarcastically as she was dragged by the cuff of her ship suit. She wondered what was so urgent that she might be late for her shift on the bridge but knew better than to interrupt Saundi when she was in a mood. “Where are we going?”

  “Here,” Saundi replied and dragged Haley into her quarters. She shut the door and locked it behind them. “You remember when you told me you thought Andrelli had an implant?” She asked.

  Haley sighed dramatically. “Saundi, I was just overworked,” she replied, sitting down on Saundi’s bunk after moving some strewn clothes out of the way. She could have guessed Saundi’s cluttered nature would transfer from the academy to the Valiant. Their old dorm had a clean side and a completely destroyed side. For some reason people always pegged Haley as the messy one. “I’m ok now. You were right. It was just stress and lack of sleep causing a bit of paranoia.” She’d really felt better after getting some sleep. She’d simply been overly distrustful and imagined most, if not all, of it.

  Saundi started digging around in a pile of clothes, throwing a blouse and several other unmentionable items across the room. “I’m not so sure, Haley.” She finally found what she was looking for and held up a small data chip. “Just because we’re paranoid, doesn’t mean they’re not trying to kill us,” she stated matter-of-factly and inserted the chip into the control panel at her desk.

  Haley laughed. She remembered the data mining class their professor had made that statement in, and she didn’t find it very applicable. Even so, her friend had her interest now.

  “Watch this,” Saundi said, then activated the screen on her wall. It sprang to life showing a split, four-view camera recording of the bridge. “Right here,” Saundi indicated just as the screen replayed the images. “This is the recording taken just as the transmission came in from the shuttle.”

  “Saundi Adair, you know better than to have this,” Haley started, then stopped, watching in awe as the different views proved Andrelli had been staring at nothing, but his eyes were scrolling back and forth as if reading text. “No.”

  “Yes!” Saundi exclaimed. “You were right! Look at him! There’s nothing there! The bastard’s reading field-of-view, not a screen. He has an implant!”

  Haley sat for a moment in thought. “Then command has to know. I mean, how can a Captain get away for years and years with an implant in his head? He’d be found out the moment he boarded any Allied Fleet installation.” She thought about that for a moment and said, “he’d be caught disembarking anywhere in Alliance space.”

  “The Valiant hasn’t put in since their mission began!” Saundi exclaimed, her hands in the air. “They restock and reload by transport ship out here near the border, or a non-aligned system. I checked.”

  Haley shook her head, trying to take it all in. “They never leave the ship?”

  “They do,” Saundi replied with a vigorous nod. “But never in Allied space. Coming to pick us up was the closest they’ve come to home in all that time, and no one left the Valiant. I think these people have been out here for two straight years, Haley. It doesn’t make any sense! And I’ve got more,” Saundi said then pulled up a sensor recording. “This is a life sign record straight from the mainframe. It’s standard procedure to keep this stuff for months. Watch this.”

  Haley watched as the shuttle clearly held the fifteen life signs of the boarding party. The count would increase by one when they would pick a survivor up from space. Then she watched in shock as the life sign count in the shuttle would drop by one just before they picked up the next. This pattern repeated through the entire operation of picking survivors up.

  “That’s disturbing, but this is the scary part,” Saundi said as she watched alongside.

  Haley noticed the life sign count on the hauler. Seven lives registered inside that ship. When the shuttle docked, those life signs were extinguished in rapid succession.

  Haley turned to Saundi in utter horror. “Saundi? Did an Alliance boarding crew just murder these people? Did we just murder civilians?”

  Saundi nodded firmly once. “Without a doubt. Someone deleted these records after I was able to get copies. Haley,” she stared at her friend with a look of dread. “We have to get off this ship.”

  Chapter 7

  Pain seemed a normal part of Cade’s life, like breathing. There was more than pain, but a dense fog kept everything at a strange and comfortable distance. Confusion was the most apparent sensation. He knew he’d woken up before
but couldn’t quite remember the details. When he was awake, he wasn’t sure if he was really conscious or dreaming, so when he awoke this time he simply laid there and waited for the darkness to take him again.

  “Dorian Cade,” came a muffled voice. “Dorian, can you hear me?”

  The darkness didn’t come.

  “Dorian, I’m going to sit you up now,” the voice said. He couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman talking to him. “Tell me if this hurts.”

  The fog lifted, and Cade screamed. Pain flooded to the forefront of all thought until finally, the darkness came and took him once again.

  The next time he awoke, his mind was clearer. The fog was gone, but the pain had been reduced to a dull ache that stretched from the top of his head down the left side of his body all the way to his foot. He wiggled his fingers and toes. They seemed to be there, but his entire left side was extremely difficult to move at all, like he’d been strapped down. He glanced over to his left arm and realized he couldn’t see out of his left eye. Panicked, he felt his face to find hard plastic encased the left half of his head.

  A chime from the wall caught his attention. He glanced up and found several yellow numbers next to what looked like a heart rate monitor. Cade took a deep breath and exhaled, trying to relax. He could feel his heartbeat had picked up, and it probably wasn’t a good idea considering where he was.

  Curiously, he didn’t know where he was. The last thing he remembered was the airlock leading to the hauler they’d captured. That he had captured. A phantom pride washed over him as he thought of his performance on the bridge. Even the Captain had been proud of him, he could tell.

  He wasn’t on the bridge anymore though. It was unfamiliar but obviously a sickbay. He’d been in medical several times on board the Grim Shoals, but this didn’t look like that room. This was a much cleaner, much larger sickbay. The walls were close to what he was used to though, a darker gun metal gray perhaps.

  The sheet that covered him was soft, softer than any sheet he’d ever felt before. And the air had a sweet scent to it. Cade figured it was the drugs. He felt very drowsy but was awake enough to realize he couldn’t trust his senses.

  “Ah. You’re awake,” came a woman’s voice from behind him. “And not screaming, either. That’s a good sign. With everything you’ve been through, that set of lungs is in perfect condition.” She smiled at him and asked, “how are you feeling?”

  Cade eyed the woman in white who walked around his bed to face him. He didn’t recognize her. She was older, maybe in her late fifties, with graying hair tied up in a bun. He tried to reply but only managed a grunt. His throat hurt so badly.

  “Here,” she said, and lifted a clear bottle of water with a straw to his lips.

  The cool liquid was like gold to him. He wondered how long he’d been there without a drink, living off I.V. meds. His left side was beginning to hurt worse now. “What happened?” he managed to croak out.

  The woman shook her head. “I’ll let Andy explain that to you. He’s on his way. I’m Dr. Grant. Try not to move around too much.”

  Cade tried to relax again after taking another sip of water. He felt like he’d been burned on his left side, but he couldn’t remember what it was that was so hot. Maybe the fog hadn’t lifted as much as he thought.

  A man who only looked a couple of years older than Cade entered the room and came to stand at the foot of his bed. He looked at Cade for a moment, nodded to him, then talked to the doctor in a hushed tone that Cade couldn’t hear. The man finally turned to him as the doctor left the room and said, “Hello Dorian. How are you feeling?” His voice was a deep tone that held both the air of command and slight concern. Cade noticed the man’s jacket held the normal Jolly Roger with a ship’s name patched below it, but the skull and crossed swords was red instead of silver, and he was too far away to read the name.

  “Confused,” Cade replied and found his throat was feeling better, his voice stronger. There must have been something in the water. “What happened?”

  The man sighed and pulled a chair closer to Cade’s bed. Sitting down, he said, “My name is Andrew Neese. You can call me Andy. You’re on board the Reaper, commanded by Captain Torbeck.”

  Cade noticed the man was trying overly hard to keep his voice soft and comforting, as well as avoiding his question which only made him mad. “Ok, Andy. What happened? Where’s my ship? Where are my parents and…“ His composure fell apart as the fog suddenly parted and a flood of horrible memories came crashing back. He remembered the boarding party and all their faces. Keely’s face and an unmistakable look of terror rush to the forefront of his mind. He could hear the shouting over the comms and see the blood floating through the tube.

  Andy suddenly moved closer, grabbed his hand and squeezed down hard. “Dorian, listen to me. You’ve been through a lot in the past week. But I need you to calm down.”

  Dr. Grant came rushing back into the room. She shot an upset look toward Cade’s visitor. “I told you, Andy.”

  Cade withdrew his hand and realized an alarm was going off. He looked up to the monitor and saw numbers were flashing an angry red. He closed his eyes and tried to calm down, but all he could do was worry about his parents. And Asaya! The alarms doubled their tempo.

  The sudden quiet surprised him. He opened his eyes and found the doctor furiously working the panel. An odd calm came over him. It wasn’t the fog from earlier, this was something else. He took a deep breath and turned back to Andy knowing the doctor must have just added something to his bloodstream. “Tell me what happened. Now.” He could feel his heartbeat slowly returning to a normal pounding instead of the intense hammering that resonated through his entire body.

  Andy leaned back and glanced at the doctor, who nodded but was clearly upset at having to do whatever she just did. He looked back to Cade and said, “Grim Shoals was attacked by an Alliance warship during your run on that hauler. Do you remember that?”

  Memories came a little easier now; the tube being torn apart, the wild bucking of the ship and the heat. “I was in the airlock during boarding,” he said looking away as he tried to throttle the flow of memories and emotion down to a manageable rate. It became easier as the meds kicked in. “I knew something was wrong but didn’t know what. I didn’t see what was happening. I just felt… everything.”

  Andy nodded. “The Valiant found you,” he said in a soft tone. “A bastard named Andrelli. As far as we can tell, a pulse energy weapon hit the Grim Shoals three meters from your airlock. Some of the heat from that beam soaked through the bulkhead and flash-burned your left side. It melted your suit to you. The only thing that saved you was that your suit’s processor wasn’t damaged in the blast, and it went into emergency preservation mode when you were hurt. It shot you full of meds to put you into medical stasis, sealed what holes it could and kicked its power saving mode on. You’re lucky to be here. ”

  “Lucky,” Cade whispered back. He couldn’t help but feel like the unluckiest person alive. “How long was I out there?”

  Andy looked at the floor and said, “You floated in that wreck for four days before we found you. We had your files from the data transfer when we rendezvoused with Grim Shoals and Crazyhorse, otherwise we wouldn’t have known who you were until we got you back home. We don’t transfer information about dents.”

  Cade sat staring at the wall for a moment with his one good eye, then asked the question he dreaded to know the answer to. “Where are the others? Who else survived?” He couldn’t help but hope that in another room his parents and Asaya waited for him. Maybe even George or Captain Kova. Anyone whose face was familiar and he could embrace, knowing they’d survived the same nightmare he had.

  He may have been a dent for ten years, but he wasn’t stupid. Andy had said he was floating in the wreckage of his home for four days. If anyone else would have been alive, they would have found him. Yet he still clung to that sliver of hope that promised a reunion.

  “That’s where it gets complic
ated,” Andy said with a mild stutter, almost as if he were scared to hear the words himself. “There were several others who survived, but…”

  Cade looked up to Andy. He had said some survived and felt his hope swell inside, but the man’s pause scared him. “But what? Where are they?”

  Andy took a deep breath and finally said, “They executed them, Dorian. All of them. You’re the only one left.”

  His world shattered around him. Every scrap of hope, obliterated. Everything he’d worked for, everything he’d dreamed of, gone. His parents were gone. All his friends and crewmates aboard the Pirate Vessel Grim Shoals had just been wiped away. Asaya. “I loved her,” he whispered.

  Andy looked to the floor saying, “I’m so sorry, Dorian. When the Grim Shoals didn’t show up at the rendezvous we came looking for –”

  “I don’t care,” he heard the words come from his lips, but he didn’t truly realize he’d said them.

  “I know,” Andy whispered back, his head lowered, obviously feeling Cade’s pain. “I’ll leave you alone now. The doctor needs to talk to you about some of the things that –“

  “I, don’t, care,” Cade whispered again, trapped in an agonizing state of comprehension while being pumped full of drugs that didn’t allow him to process the raw emotions he so desperately needed now as outlets. He looked away. “Get out.”

  As Andy left, he placed a bundle on the bed that was heavy against Cade’s leg. He looked to his side to find his coat and Captain Kova’s sword. He lifted the sword and held it close. The scabbard was black leather that seemed real, and held intricate patterns down its full length that were now scarred by the heat. He gripped the pommel and unsheathed the blade a few inches and noticed a small, ungainly etching at the base of the blade. It read “V. Kova.” He returned the blade to its sheath and pulled his coat and the sword tightly to his chest.

  ***

  Cade limped into the Reaper’s galley for the first time three days later. He’d spent a full day in a haze of turbulent memories and emotions after losing everyone he knew and loved. He spent another coming to terms with his injuries. The third day was spent learning to walk assisted by a small exoskeletal brace on his left leg. It was very uncomfortable, but at least he could manage.