Outfield Shift
“I thought we’d have at least a week,” I complained.
“So did everyone else,” Serral said. “You aren’t the only consideration involved. Make no mistake, this is an answer to Korbanok. Going after you is a bonus for them, I’m sure.”
Listening to the Jackie Robinson ’s cabin, it would be easy to think we were being glib. An armada big enough to blockade an entire moon was headed our way and I was whining like a brat.
Out loud, we were talking casually in defiance of every military disciplinary tradition. Our psionic channels told the real story. Serral had decided to reserve psionic communication for the crew’s orders. All told, there were a number of advantages to that.
Our ship’s fusion engines were primed and ready. The ship’s air envelope had been trimmed to match the profile of the hull. Being nonessential to our launch, the fabricator wasn’t fully integrated yet, but it was aboard at least.
The Jackie Robinson would be launching any moment now.
Was there anyone I hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to? We’d be staying in contact with Laranta as long as we were in this system, and almost everyone else on Lakandt I might contact was on the ship with me.
Some of my bodyguards?
They were good people, but we weren’t particularly close. I’d been an assignment for most of them.
Maybe Tiv, and the Adepts in our workshop.
I knew why I hadn’t talked to them though. It would have meant talking more about Nora’s departure.
I might still run into some of them on Draylend. Troops were being relocated and shuffled between the Coalition controlled moons in anticipation of the Vorak fleet bearing down on us.
“Captain,” Weith said, removing his earpiece. “Ground crew is acting skittish. Could you pull rank?”
Serral tapped a button on the comm station, letting us all hear.
“This is Ase Serralintus, what is the problem?”
“Err… Ase, some of the ground crew are…nervous about what the Vorak broadcast said,” the voice on the other end said shakily. “We…we don’t want to abet a reploid incident.”
“Your objections are noted,” Serral said. “Your orders are to launch. Carry them out.”
“…Yes, Ase,” the voice said reluctantly. “Launch in…ninety seconds.”
A flicker of anger went through me. My professional pride was wounded by Marshal Tispas speaking so confidently about which he knew nothing.
“If it makes you feel any better, we’re not going to a Beacon. This is a diplomatic mission and we’re flying to Draylend to avoid the worst of the fighting,” I said.
“But…was the Marshal telling the truth?”
“No,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Psionics exist, yes. And they can be dangerous. But he doesn’t have a way to make psionics safe. They can’t even prove if they’re dangerous to Beacons.”
“Are they?” the Casti asked.
I shrugged. “Honestly? I don’t know. And that’s really why the rak are lying. Because they don’t know either.”
It was easy to say that. But I was getting a nagging feeling in my gut.
Nora had clearly shared information about psionics with Tispas. That posed so many problems all on its own, but the Marshal’s reaction was worrying.
I would have expected the message to relax, if only slightly, upon receiving new information. But Tispas had doubled down on his theory instead.
Was Laranta right? As a propaganda measure, it was devastating. One soldier had already hesitated to help us launch, and it even had me doubting myself.
But if there really was something to Tispas’s fears, why wouldn’t they share any evidence?
“If there’s nothing else?” Serral snapped irritably.
“No, Ase,” the operator said. “CS Jackie Robinson is cleared for liftoff. Projectors are ready to follow your vector, awaiting your go.”
“Copy,” Weith said, from the pilot’s seat. “Firing in four, three, two—”
The roar of the engines drowned out any voices. But our psionic channels could overwrite the deafening.
<—one,> Weith finished.
Ten people were pressed into our chairs while our rocket accelerated upward. With the gravitational assist, we didn’t experience more than half a G for the first few minutes of flight. But once we cleared a higher orbit, Weith opened up the ship’s throttles and we rocketed toward Draylend.
An ordinary trip would have gently accelerated for the first half before flipping the rocket to slow down the same way. But we needed to get to the other Coalition moon immediately. So we were accelerating harder, and shorter so we could build up speed early.
Half an hour off the ground, we finally lessened our acceleration to half a G, and we could finally move around the ship.
Because of the incoming Vorak fleet, we were forced to take the long way around Paris. Total flight time would be close to twelve hours.
Our ship actually had a decent angle to report on the direction and numbers of the incoming Red Sails fleet. Serral stayed on the radio the whole time, relaying information back to Larnata on the ground.
“Why are the Vorak still this focused on Caleb?” Tasser asked. “If Nora told them about you sharing psionics, then isn’t any psionic-equipped alien a target?”
“Who knows?” I said. “Maybe Nora didn’t share all that much yet. Or Tispas didn’t get the message.”
“Nora’s hand was definitely in that announcement,” Nai observed. “Tispas just gave the whole star system a reason to be afraid of killing you. She really did bargain for your life.”
“Good for her,” I grumbled. “But I don’t plan on giving them an opportunity to make good on that.”
“…What if Nora isn’t good enough at psionics?” Tasser asked.
“What do you mean?”
“What if that’s why the Vorak are still focused on you? What if Nora can’t definitively figure out if the Beacons are vulnerable to psionics? What if she can’t answer the questions Tispas has?” Tasser asked. “You said she’s good, but I have a hard time believing you aren’t better.”
“She made a superconstruct,” I said. “She’s…very good.”
I wanted to say she was as good as me, but that professional pride was prickling again. I’d put blood and sweat into figuring out this thing that no one else had. I wanted to hold onto that.
“Her superconstruct isn’t about connecting like yours is,” Nai reminded me. “It’s function could be different enough that it’s misleading. Even if she made a super-psionic, she might not have the same underpinning skills you do.”
“I appreciate the thought, but you’re reaching,” I said. “There’s a much simpler explanation very in line with the Red Sails priorities so far.
“Tispas isn’t concerned about just psionics anymore,” I continued. “There are poisons and illnesses back on Earth that are only dangerous when combined. I’m willing to bet he’s found Nora’s psionics to be safe, but he’s going to construe that mine are still dangerous. He doesn’t think all psionics can knock out Beacons, just mine.”
“He could also just be interested in you to deny a strategic Coalition asset,” Nai said. “This thought-plague warning gives potent cover for something like that.”
“Bringing us full circle to ‘does it matter?’ They’re coming, and I’m somewhere on their list of priorities. So let’s just go anywhere else…” I said.
“The three of us, fleeing a Vorak response to Korbanok, an ill-defined destination, and only partially functioning transportation…” Tasser said. “Kinda seems familiar, doesn’t it?”
“Feels like we’re missing people,” Nai said. “Nemuleki. Lorel too.”
“Seems like an unfair comparison too,” I said. “The Jack might still need work, but it’s hardly a dingy mountain truck.”
“I couldn’t believe that vehicle didn’t die on us,” Tasser said. “We got very lucky, staying ahead of the Vorak like we did.”
“Well here’s hoping we can get lucky again,” I spat. There were only so many times we’d be able to duck Tispas’s search.
“It’s not impossible,” Nai pointed out. “There’s no way the Vorak don’t know you’ve been moved, but they’re going to have no idea where. It leaves them with two whole moons to search. That should buy us a few days, at least, if not weeks.”
“Where are we actually headed?” I asked.
“Coskit Base,” Tasser said. “We’re definitely trying to hide more than we are trying to dig in. It’s a spaceport attached to a tiny little colony near Draylend’s north pole.”
“It’s not particularly defensible,” Nai said. “But it also makes it a super low priority target.”
·····
Nai, of course, jinxed us. Or maybe it was Tasser, talking about how lucky we’d already gotten.
An hour away from Draylend’s surface, we got the bad news.
Weith and Fenno were looking at the ship’s scopes when we climbed up into the top of the rocket.
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Nai gave me a questioning glance. She didn’t have to put it into words.
I nodded.
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Serral did not miss Nai’s meaning.
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“<…We might be able to divert some of the Adept units to Coskit,>” Serral said. “
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“<…Give me a tactical plan then,>” he said.
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“<...Which plays to our conditions,>” Serral nodded. “
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Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“<…Will Coskit be able to replace the drop pod?>” Serral asked.
I could see on his face, Serral wasn’t going to go for it. Nai did too.
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“<…And we couldn’t have even stayed in High Harbor,>” Serral spat. “ “ “ Ase Serralinitus, Captain of the Jackie Robinson, gave me a fearful look. I’d gotten good at reading the alien facial expressions of Casti, but even if I hadn’t, I’d recognize the look in his eyes anywhere. He had no choice. Every option in front of him just plain sucked. “ ····· In no time at all, our pod plunged toward Draylend, with Nai, Tasser, and I strapped in. I said. I said, deadly serious. <…Yeah,> Tasser said. I updated the image to have a little dot on a position, then moved it through the map’s streets. Real-time interactive psionics were a cinch as long as only the user needed to see them. Maintaining the ‘real-time’ and ‘interactive’ parts was difficult across multiple minds, but Tasser was right. There wasn’t a day I didn’t do a little psionic work, and a whole suite of updates had been awaiting Tasser on his return. Nai updated the map with each point of interest in the colony. We would hit the colony’s air dome first, then the ground a second later. Tasser was right. Even with a single-use booster roaring to life beneath us and slowing our descent, we still hit the atmosphere like it was cement. I might have snapped my neck if not for Tasser’s warning. By comparison, touching down on the ground was merely a jarring thud. Our options for landing were few. Colonies usually kept large scale space ports on their periphery, and with plenty of channeling to direct the massive plumes of dust away from where people had to be. Smaller launch pads could be found scattered between the canopy structures covering the spots the colony poked above the moon’s surface. Operating air barriers wasn’t free, so while they extended up further than they needed to, they did not extend out more than a few meters. So when I saw the pod read positive atmosphere outside, I was impressed. Weith, or Shinshay—whoever had calculated our pod’s drop, had placed us just inside the colony’s air dome. There was no time to waste. Tasser handed me a bullet for the rifle he carried, and I cascaded it’s size and composition. The gunpowder was energy dense, so it would quickly eat up my magnitude, but I could still materialize a dozen at a time. More than enough to be useful for Tasser, if he needed them. Next was to bump fists with Nai. It wasn’t just a reassuring gesture. Our cascades tapped into each other on contact, paving the way for my superconnector to flare to life. I was ready for the rush this time, preemptively tightening my grip on the surge of information from Nai’s perspective. I filtered out everything that wasn’t the radar, and her relative position in space to me. I tied those features of the connection into the map we were sharing. Our positions on the map would update automatically, so all three of us would know exactly where each of us were. Nai took a moment to materialize transparent armor panels within her suit, giving Tasser and me the same protection a moment later. It was odd, like having cement dry on my skin. But it was bulletproof, and carefully materialized to still let us move. Our joints would still be vulnerable…except going by what I knew about my augmentations, that might not have been true. Armored up, tactical map functioning, wearing our mean faces. Time to get moving. Without a word, she broke off from us, moving along the edge of colony heading north. The superconnector was going strong, conducting only dozens of exchanges between our subconsciousness rather than hundreds, but that was still gave me more than a glimpse of her thought process. She could slag some entry points into the colony and deny the otters easy passage. It would force them to go further counterclockwise around the outside after they landed…unless they just adjusted their landing site. It would have to do. We were playing it all by ear. <[Roger that,]> I said. Tasser and I manually cycled an airlock to get into the colony. In low G, and with my Adeptry, moving around was simple enough. Or so it seemed. Usually, I made myself cling to the wall. But it was simple to make a spike or handhold cling to the wall’s surface instead. I went up first, leaving a series of climbing spikes sticking out behind me, and Tasser followed behind. Running over alien rooftops, with Vorak out to kill us. Tasser was right, this was familiar. But this time, they were coming to us. It took us every bit of the thirty minutes we had to get into position. We only had a few seconds to catch our breath once we were on a rooftop with a good view when Nai alerted us. She was maybe five-hundred meters west of us, still on the colony exterior. She’d gone further west than I’d expected, but I could imagine what she had in mind. Ruin the entrances to the east, force them to come west to her. Then she’d sweep back east, cutting through whoever she could find. <[Roger that,]> Tasser said, parroting me. Connected to Nai as I was, I felt the moment she moved to attack. I couldn’t see it from our position, but I gleaned an impression of what she did anyway. Pressure bombs, like I made them, but not instantaneous ones. Bundles of gas packed inside time decay capsules. She cast dozens of them into the air, letting them fall on the Vorak approaching the colony on foot. I didn’t have a clue how many casualties an attack like that would inflict. Maybe Nai didn’t either. But it certainly kicked up a lot of dust. The cloud rose far enough that Tasser and I saw it from inside the colony. Nai was already on the move, preparing to reposition and hit the Vorak again, and our superconnection remained stable for now. So I felt safe drawing on the radar in her mind. The familiar sensation bloomed outward from me again. Minds came into sharper focus and I immediately set about marking Vorak locations. They were moving in roughly four groups, one from each ship. Nai’s first strike had them abuzz. The dust cloud had cut down their visibility to nothing. They were hesitant to approach the colony superstructure without being able to see. Funny thing was, their worries must have been worried about enemy fire. But the local Coalition garrison didn’t have the personnel to heavily contest the exterior. Even if there had been Coalition guns ready to fire at their approach, the same dust cloud that obstructed their view would have blinded defending guns as well. Not Nai though. While three Vorak groups were finding the manual overrides to airlocks, Nai bloodied the fourth. Tasser and I could only wait on our rooftop and wait. We had a perfect view of the Vorak entry points, and I could tell Tasser was itching to open fire on the first ones we saw. But he refrained. No fewer than thirty Vorak, all armed to the teeth came poured into the colony. Most of the surface level buildings were abandoned in anticipation of the battle, but I was still picking up a few stray minds on radar. <…Copied,> Serral said. Close by, gunfire erupted, and the Vorak marching beneath us froze for a moment. I could picture them confused, turning toward the sound. Encountering resistance was one thing, but hearing unseen resistance? I could feel the shift in emotions below me. As usual, there was nothing to tell what emotions were radiating from the minds below, but context told me it was fear. Nai was keeping a low profile. Even while throwing herself at dozens of enemies, I didn’t hear the roar of any teal flames. She even avoided anything that resembled the massive bramble of spikes she’d showed off at Cirinsko. No, instead, I heard her relying on my tricks. Kinetic bombs, clouds of smoke, no rocket propelled daggers though. That was too precise a trick for her. But I wasn’t the only Adept she was copying. Tasser and I had just leapt to the adjacent rooftop when a few thousand gallons of water shuddered into existence above Nai’s engagement. The water was only thirty or forty feet above ground level, but even in Draylend’s lunar gravity, that much mass fell to the ground like a meteor. Vorak were not unaccustomed to fighting in water. But it took preparation. And these soldiers were wearing armored voidsuits, heavy boots, infantry equipment. They were staging a ground assault; they were not prepared to suddenly be in a flood. I caught only glimpses between the buildings, but the deluge swept more than a few Vorak into foot traffic tunnels leading underground. We saw Nai climb onto a rooftop maybe half a mile from us. There was only one radar, and its perceptions were limited to the mind housing it: Nai’s. It was an impressive piece of psionics, even if it didn’t rise to the same level as my superconnector. So if Nai’s mind could somehow perceive someone else’s mind, the radar could propagate from both people. Nai and I being connected, effectively doubled the area the radar could cover, and both of us stayed aware of both zones of coverage. Trouble was, we still couldn’t be everywhere. And in the radar’s current configuration, and mine & Nai’s current positions…there was a small gap in coverage. Nai had tightened the range to hike accuracy. It let her keep better track of the closest enemies while she was on the attack. But that reduced range left a narrow isthmus between us where we couldn’t sense anyone. Five Adepts came from that blind area, heading toward me. Tasser and I did, immediately throwing ourselves behind ventilation units on the rooftop. And they were. Sensing their progress on radar, they weren’t climbing up buildings, sticking to the streets instead. But as they neared our hiding place, my blood ran cold. A familiar sensation emerged, a line going toward me. No…an arrow. “[Sonofa— Chief!]” I swore, throwing up a mirror around my mind. The connection between Nai and I shuddered. It didn’t like that one bit. I darted toward Tasser, putting my hand on his helmet and trying to add mirroring to his mind too. I checked the radar again. The five Adepts had slowed their advance. Cautious that someone might by hiding from them? I materialized my revolver. With any luck, I wouldn’t need it. But it didn’t seem like luck was on our side today.