The Lost Star: The Complete Series, page 36
If they’d been in a Coalition medical bay, the chief medical officer would have gone ballistic.
Bob didn’t seem to care.
Then again, this medical bay was so chunked full of junk, it was a surprise Bob could fly anywhere without scuttling himself.
Hunter found himself leaning forward, gaze locking even harder on Ross. “Intelligence asset? We have intelligence assets beyond the Barbarian border?”
“Sure we do. Idiots dumb enough to accept the mission. Idiots dumb enough to accept the promise that if something goes awry, they’ll be extracted.”
“… What happened?”
“What happened was I got too far in. I made enemies. They came after me. I asked for a ticket out of here. I was denied.”
Hunter briefly looked at his hands before returning his gaze to Ross. “So you turned to smuggling?”
“Yeah, I turned to smuggling. I turned to living. To surviving. The only way I could.”
“Couldn’t you go back to the Coalition now? I’m guessing you’ve developed the kind of skills that could get you anywhere in the Milky Way without detection. You might, however, have to leave this enormous rust bucket of a ship at home.”
Ross didn’t seem to like the question. He shifted nervously, no longer throwing his apple up in the air and catching it. In fact he wrapped his fingers around it so tightly Hunter could hear the soft flesh crackling.
“You want to know why I haven’t gone home? Because I like it here now. My people abandoned me. My crew here, they’re pretty loyal.”
Hunter snorted. “I imagine they are if they’re slaves. You can buy a lot of loyalty with an electronic collar.”
Ross stared at Hunter for a few seconds. “What makes you think the rest of my crew are slaves?”
Hunter opened his mouth but stopped.
It was nothing more than an assumption. “Aren’t they?”
“Oh, they might have started out that way. Nylex did. Believe it or not, he is considered a runt for a Hagorian. The other guys who run the slave markets were selling him for a premium. Hagorians don’t usually come up for sale, you see. I bought him because, let’s face it, it’s kinda cool having a Hagorian around. That and I didn’t want to see him dragged off to the mercenary training yards in the Mancor sector.” Captain Ross didn’t look away from Hunter once.
And Hunter didn’t drop the guy’s gaze either. “So you’re a good guy, huh?”
Ross laughed. It echoed and boomed through the medical bay. “What gave you that impression? If you think I’ll let you out of that electronic collar, you’re wrong. I owe nothing to the Coalition.”
“Interesting. You haven’t even asked how I came to be in the Barbarian sector. Maybe I’m just like you. An intelligence asset gone off the reservation.”
“Ah, heck, maybe you’re an intelligence asset sent here to finally kill me, ha?” Captain Ross shifted position, that heavy cloak of his pushing behind his back and revealing the fine array of weapons at his hips.
Ross glanced down at them, and Hunter followed his gaze.
It was Hunter’s turn to laugh. “You really think I’m an intelligence officer? I thought you said I was sold with a full information kit?”
“I didn’t say full. So I’m going to ask you, Hunter McClane, are you here to kill me?”
“Wouldn’t this have been a particularly risky plan if I was? You bought me of your own free will, correct? Do you really think I would have allowed myself to be sold on the slim chance that you’d find it in your heart to bring me aboard? If I were an intelligence officer, I wouldn’t risk everything on a planet like that. So the answer, Captain Ross, is I am not here to kill you. Before today, I’d never heard about you.”
Ross looked at him. He did not look away. Hunter was suddenly exquisitely aware that Ross – if he was telling the truth and really had been an intelligence asset – would be well trained in picking up a lie.
So Hunter sat straighter, turned his face fully to Ross, and looked at him directly. “You know I’m not lying, don’t you?”
After a few more seconds, Ross relaxed. “I guess you’re not. So that does pose the question, Lieutenant McClane, of why you are in the Barbarian quadrant. In the tatters of your uniform, no less.”
Hunter paused.
Ross saw it, his brow crumpling hard. “Wondering how much to tell me, aren’t you? So you are here on some mission, then?”
Hunter couldn’t help but snort. “A mission that took me far, far from home.”
He could see that mysterious comment got Ross’s attention. For the first time, the captain pushed himself up from the doorway and stood straight. “You know I could threaten you, right? Tell me the truth – and I will know whether you’re telling the truth – or I’ll electrocute you with that collar.”
Hunter leaned back, shooting the captain a particularly unimpressed look. “Sure, I guess you could threaten me. But you’re not going to.”
“I’m not?” Ross said challengingly.
Hunter shook his head. “That’s not your style, Captain Ross.”
“How would you know that? You’re right. You just met me.”
“If that was your style, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. Plus, you don’t need to threaten me, do you? You just need to watch the way I speak, how I act, my body language. I haven’t done the training you have as an intelligence asset, but I know how rigorous it is. You barely need to lift a finger to figure out whether someone is telling the truth. So why go to the trouble of threatening them and putting them offside?”
Ross smiled. It was a heck of a lot more subtle than the devious grins he’d been shooting Hunter before.
It was probably a genuine move. “Okay, Lieutenant, why are you here? And you’re right – I will know if you’re lying.”
Hunter was faced with a conundrum. Should he tell Captain Ross the truth? In many ways, he’d walked himself into this trap.
He had to tell Ross something, and no, he couldn’t lie.
“It has to be something big. I haven’t caught up with Coalition politics for a while, but you’re a McClane, which means you’re related to Captain McClane, right?”
Hunter stiffened.
“Your body language says yes,” Ross concluded. “I really don’t think the top brass would leave someone like you behind enemy lines. You’re not as replaceable as someone like me. So, Lieutenant, I’m going to ask you one more time – why are you out here?”
“Wormhole,” finally the truth cracked from Hunter’s lips.
He didn’t get the reaction he expected. Most people would look confused at a comment like that.
There were very few cases of stable wormholes transporting somebody from one point in space to another. With that person staying alive, that was.
Captain Ross paled. For a man as well-trained as him, it meant something for him to be losing his nerve.
Again Hunter pressed forward, locking his elbows on his knees. “What? You reacted when I said wormhole.”
“You’re right, Lieutenant, I did. So, just to clarify, you’re telling me that you encountered a stable wormhole that presumably warped you and your entire ship into the Barbarian quadrant, right?”
Hunter nodded, nerves escaping down his back. Up until now, he hadn’t really questioned the way they’d come to the Barbarian quadrant. He’d put it down to a one in one billion chance – a stable wormhole forming just close enough to the ship that the gravitational pressure hadn’t torn it apart.
Now Hunter felt his cheeks pale. “That’s right. It was a small ship. Only carrying two people. And the ship didn’t technically survive. The wormhole tore through half its decks. We only just made it to the escape pod.”
“We? Where’s your partner?”
Now there was absolutely nothing Hunter could do to control his expression. He knew sorrow crushed his cheeks, pushing them hard into his lips, paling then compacting his brow.
Captain Ross frowned. “Dead?”
Hunter shook his head. “I have no idea. She was taken away from me on Arazia.”
Slowly Ross nodded. “I see. Do you know by whom? We can try to find out who she was sold to.”
“I have no idea if she was sold. She was taken by someone called the Prince.”
Ross froze. His body locked in place, his eyes drawing so wide they practically bulged. “Prince Zor?” Ross said through a stuttering tone.
It was the first time Ross had shown genuine emotion. And the strength of the guy’s reaction was like two hands wrapping around Hunter’s throat.
He knew he paled even further. Heck, one of the medical scanners on the far side of the room started to beep a warning. “You know him? Who the hell is he?”
“Why would he be so interested in your friend? She was Coalition like you, right?”
Hunter nodded. He also looked down at his hands.
A mistake. “You’re not telling me something. You know I can’t just tell when you’re lying – I can tell when you’re holding something back. It’s the most important skill an intelligence asset can possess. We don’t just want a fragment of the truth – we want it all.” Ross took a sudden thumping step into the room. “So, Lieutenant McClane, you tell me now what the hell Prince Zor wanted with your friend.”
Hunter pressed his lips into his teeth. He’d walked himself into a corner. Even if he’d had no intention of telling Ross who Ava was, there was now no way around it. Captain Ross was too skilled to let Hunter get away with a lie.
So Hunter drove his eyes closed. “I don’t know. But she’s…” he stopped.
He couldn’t say it.
He couldn’t reveal that Ava was Avixan. Not in this current climate. Sure, Hunter didn’t know what was happening on Avixa, but in his gut, he knew the civil instability would only be getting worse. The other Avixans in the galaxy would still be after Ava.
Hunter would rather die than reveal that fact.
So he tilted his head back and shot Ross a look. “I can’t tell you.”
Ross didn’t react. Not really. He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly, but that was all. “No, you can’t, can you? You’re terrified of what would happen if you shared whatever information you’re holding back. So I’m going to let you know something else – you’d better be terrified of what I’ll do to you if you don’t tell me the truth.”
Hunter didn’t react. “Do your worst. I can’t tell you.”
Ross stopped a meter from Hunter’s side. He made no movements, didn’t lurch forward, pluck up the bone saw, press it against Hunter’s throat, and threaten him once more. Instead he shook his head. “Fine. I know you’re telling the truth. I can tell that much, at least. And I know how you Coalition flyboys are taught. You’ll want to go down in a blaze of glory. So you’ll keep whatever secret you have pressed to your chest until your heart stops beating. Fine. But I’m gonna tell you one thing – if Prince Zor has your friend, you are never going to see her again.”
Maybe Ross was only saying that to see how Hunter would react. Hunter knew that. But he still couldn’t control his reaction.
He pitched forward, hands locking onto the edge of his bed. His heart beat so fast it felt as if it would punch a hole through his chest. “What? What’s he going to do to her?”
“I don’t know. Prince Zor is now the most powerful force in this section of the Barbarian quadrant. No one goes up against him. He doesn’t just have some extremely powerful ships at his disposal, but he’s… they’re calling him a god,” Ross said through a laugh, but it wasn’t a happy laugh. There was a note of true terror in there.
“God?” Hunter questioned in a disbelieving tone.
“I know, flyboy, it’s impossible. The guy is clearly not a god. But he’s certainly got godlike powers.”
“I don’t get it – he’s half Avixan. Sure, they are powerful, but they’re still a soft-fleshed race.”
“Half Avixan, sure. You should be worried about what the other half is.”
“What?” A spurt of nerves erupted through Hunter’s heart. “What do you mean?”
“They say he appeared when the lost star appeared.”
“The lost star…? I heard some traders talk about it on Arazia. What the hell is it? And what does that have to do with Prince Zor?”
“You’re asking a lot of questions for a slave.”
“And you’re sharing a hell of a lot of information with that same slave,” Hunter commented immediately. Then he stood. His body was still injured, but he was a lot better than he’d been on Arazia. Bob had cleaned all the blood from his brow and had fixed most of his serious injuries. So Hunter had no trouble in maintaining his balance as he stared directly into Captain Ross’s eyes. “Who the hell is Prince Zor? And what’s he going to do to Ava?” Ava’s name slipped out of Hunter’s lips before he could stop himself.
Captain Ross’s brow crunched hard over his eyes. “Ava… Ava? That’s a strange name. That’s her only name, too, isn’t it?”
Hunter didn’t move.
“Yes, it’s her only name. You don’t have to answer for me to know what you’re thinking. I’m no mindair, but unless you’ve been specifically trained to withstand a proper interrogation, there’s not much you can do to keep the truth from me.”
Hunter clenched his teeth.
“Bob, do you still have access to your universal cultural database?” Ross shifted past Hunter and nodded at Bob.
Bob spun around, a few vials flying from his hand and smashing against the wall, the brightly colored contents slipping down the rusted metal.
Ross brought a hand up and locked it over his brow and massaged it. “Never mind, I’m sure those vials weren’t important. Or expensive,” he said, voice tinged with a touch of irony. “You still have access to the cultural database, right?”
“Sure do,” Bob said in a singsong conversational tone.
“Then do us a favor. Run a search for species who only use single names. Cross-reference with the name Ava. Tell me what culture she’s most likely to come from.”
Hunter stiffened. There wasn’t a thing he could do but watch.
Bob tilted his head from side-to-side as if he were literally trying to work the information out of his mind like a farmer churning butter. A few seconds later, he straightened. “There are approximately 300 possibilities with greater than 35% chance of being correct.”
“Give me the top three,” Ross said.
“The Banzians, the Voxians, and the Avixans.”
Ross’s eyes grew wide. He snapped his attention back to Hunter. “She’s Avixan, isn’t she? That’s why the Prince took her.”
Hunter didn’t react. And yet, without realizing it, his face did. He paled, the capillary flow being redirected from his cheeks and down into his neck.
“She is. She’s an Avixan. There aren’t too many in the Coalition, are there? So what the hell is she doing out here with you? What mission did you two have before you took a short sharp trip through a wormhole to the Barbarian quadrant?”
“I’m not going to answer you,” Hunter said through stiff lips.
“Really? I can figure this out on my own, or you can tell me. You trust me, and maybe I’ll start trusting you.”
“Trust you? I’m a slave, remember.”
“You keep reminding me, sure. But now, what are you going to do? I will find some way to drag that information out of you.”
“Fine, she’s Avixan. But… but you can’t…” Hunter couldn’t push the words out. He shouldn’t have even admitted to the fact she was Avixan.
True fear and shame started to gather together in his gut, combining into a knot that felt as if it would squeeze the blood from his heart.
You wouldn’t even need someone with Ross’s level of training to figure out that Hunter was terrified.
“I heard on the news feed there’s some kind of civil disturbance in Avixa. This has got something to do with that, doesn’t it?”
“How the hell do you know that?”
“I still keep an ear low to the ground – I like to know what’s going on in Coalition space. I have contacts. Contacts who are pretty good at finding out information. So, what the hell is so special about this Ava? And what’s terrifying you, kid? What exactly do you think is going to happen if you tell me who she is?”
Hunter shook his head. Over and over again. It was all he could do. He’d never be able to face Ava again if he let this secret slip.
“… You’re really frightened, aren’t you? What kind of mission were you on?”
“Human’s bio scans show considerable stress,” Bob suddenly said in a high-pitched happy tone. “He needs a new coat of paint.”
Ross brought out a hand and made a stopping motion. “No, Bob, he does not need a new coat of paint. He needs to start trusting me. Start telling the truth. Compared to Prince Zor, I am one heck of a good guy.”
Hunter’s gaze lurched up and locked on Ross once more. “Who’s this Prince Zor? What’s he going to do to her? Why—”
“You want me to answer your questions, start answering mine. What kind of mission were you on with this Ava? And why are you so terrified to tell me who she is?”
“Because there are people out there who want to see her dead,” Hunter finally answered through clenched teeth.
It was the truth. It wasn’t the full truth. But it was enough, he hoped, to stem Ross’s curiosity.
“I see. So what were you doing, Lieutenant? Flying her to safety when your ship was sucked into the Barbarian quadrant by a wormhole?”
Hunter looked up.
Ross nodded. “You were, were you? Well then, I guess it’s time for me to answer your question. What’s Prince Zor going to do to your Avixan friend? I’m not entirely sure. The one thing I do know is that Prince Zor has a singular mind and a single focus. His only interest is the bounty within the lost star system.”
Again Hunter’s brow crumpled. “Lost star system?”
“It appeared. About a month ago.”
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