A Terrible Choice
The battle of Hinterland Outpost didn’t last long. At first the station-dwellers fought back, but their spirit was soon broken as the initial wave of Tau starships was joined by a dozen more reinforcements. The Tau fleet surrounded the outpost, ion cannons primed and ready to fire, and Station Master Vetone reluctantly signalled the surrender.
Soon a Tau banner was flying from the space station’s buttresses, its colours frozen in the cold vacuum of space.
Tau fire warriors marched through the marketplace, clad in gleaming white armour. Every vox in the place was broadcasting a message from the Tau commander, declaring the station was now under the protection of the Tau Empire. The words were meant to sound comforting, with talk of freedom and liberation, but few on the station believed them, especially as the fire warriors rounded up any would-be freedom fighters and clamped them firmly in localised gravity bubbles.
Zelia looked at the prisoners uneasily as the elevator doors opened and Mekki stomped out, dragging a caged Madame Lightbringer behind him.
The marketplace was silent, most of the stalls abandoned. Cargo pods had been impounded by the Tau, and Zelia watched in horror as, accompanied by a message of peace and liberty, a spacefarer was stunned for wanting to protect his stack of very familiar barrels.
They were the same containers that had housed Karter’s kraken.
Whatever the contents of the stasis-barrels, the Tau had no right to seize other people’s property. Regardless of what Zelia thought of the station, Amity had condemned the trading post to occupation. Zelia had doubts about the Imperium, but the Tau didn’t seem any better. For all their talk about the Greater Good, the armoured warriors had conquered by force, winning the day because they had bigger, better weapons. They were the same as everyone else.
Not that Talen seemed to care. The ganger was scampering behind Amity like an excited puppy.
‘So, you were recording the entire conversation?’
The captain nodded. ‘Every word was transmitted back to Tau. ‘I’d tipped them off as soon as we arrived, but the Dal’yth High Command wanted hard evidence that Lightbringer was here before seizing territory this near to the Imperium.’ She spotted an imposing Tau warrior in green armour and raised a hand in greeting. ‘General Firebrand. It’s good to see you again.’
The Tau bowed in acknowledgement. ‘And you, captain. You have fulfilled your contract to the letter.’
Amity smiled. ‘A pleasure doing business with you. Speaking of which, I believe this belongs to you.’
She nodded at Mekki, who dropped the cage at the general’s feet. Madame Lightbringer glared up at the Tau officer.
Firebrand’s lips curled up into a snarl. ‘Por-Vre Tolku Paxis – you have dishonoured our people. The weapons of the Tau are forged for battle, not profit. You will be taken back to Dal’yth for trial.’
‘What will happen to her?’ Zelia asked.
‘That is not my concern,’ Firebrand replied. ‘The ethereals will decide her fate.’ He looked up at Mekki, ruby eyes narrowing. ‘And this is one of the automated suits?’
‘No,’ Amity replied, rapping a knuckle on the golden chest-plate. ‘A member of my crew is inside, but we will gladly hand it over, once payment is received, of course.’
‘You will get what you deserve,’ Firebrand said, aiming his pulse-cannon at Amity’s head. The captain raised her hands.
‘General, we had a deal.’
‘I’m sorry,’ the Tau told her, ‘but no one outside the Empire must know of this dishonour. I am offering you and your crew a choice, captain. Either you stay here, as loyal citizens of our empire…’
‘Sounds a lot like prisoners to me,’ Talen snarled.
‘Or identify yourself as an enemy of the Greater Good,’ Firebrand continued, undaunted by the ganger’s interruption.
‘What happens then?’ Zelia asked. ‘A lifetime imprisoned in one of those gravity bubbles?’
‘Or worse,’ Mekki rumbled from within his battlesuit.
Amity seemed to consider it. ‘It’s a tempting offer…’
‘But not one we can accept,’ Talen told the general. ‘We’ve got places to go…’
‘And people to see,’ Zelia said, grabbing the last flash grenade from her bandolier. She twisted the device, and threw it at the general’s hoofed feet. ‘Everyone, close your eyes!’
The grenade detonated, flooding the hangar bay with light.
‘Run!’ Amity yelled, and they charged for the hangar, Mekki making sure he shoulder-barged General Firebrand as he clomped by.
Pulse-cannons fired, but the blinded Tau warriors struggled to find their target. That wouldn’t last. They needed another distraction, and Zelia knew exactly what to do…
‘Mekki,’ she called over her shoulder. ‘See the barrels by the hangar bay doors?’
The armoured Martian guessed what she wanted him to do. He aimed his burst-cannon and fired, the bolt knocking the barrels into the air. When they crashed back down to the ground, the seals had buckled and dozens of claw-tipped tentacles burst out.
‘That should keep them busy,’ Zelia cheered, sliding underneath a rubbery limb. She looked up to see tentacles wrapped around dark green armour. The krakens were already growing, pulse-cannons raking their skin as the Tau fought back.
‘What are you waiting for?’ she yelled at the Hinterland inhabitants. ‘This is your chance to take back your station!’
She smiled as a tentacle inadvertently swept through a gravity net, freeing prisoners who immediately took up arms and joined the fight.
‘You’re a proper little rabble-rouser, aren’t you?’ Amity said, as she lowered the Profiteer’s ramp.
Zelia and the others raced up the gangplank, Mekki’s armoured feet clanking on the metal. She grinned at Amity as they charged through to the flight deck. ‘It’s for the Greater Good.’
Amity swung into the pilot’s chair. ‘You won’t be saying that when we get blasted to void dust by a Tau starship.’
Zelia looked through the viewport at the sleek cruiser that was laying siege to the space station. Any other day, Zelia would have said it was beautiful, a glistening manta ray ready to slice gracefully through the stars. For now, all she could see were the weapons that bristled along its shining hull, weapons that would strike the moment anyone tried to escape the Tau’s ‘protection’.
‘Maybe we can outrun it,’ Talen suggested.
‘Of course we can outrun it,’ Amity said, trying to pull the Tau ring from her finger. ‘The Profiteer can outrun anyone, but thanks to this little trinket they’ll be able to track us halfway across the Imperium. We need to destroy it.’
‘No, wait,’ Mekki said, unlocking the battlesuit and leaping down to the deck. ‘Give it to me.’
Amity hesitated, but Zelia jumped in to support her friend.
‘Just do it, captain. I don’t know what Mekki’s planning, but trust me, he’s a miracle worker.’
‘He better be,’ Talen added, staring at the alien fleet.
Amity dropped the Tau ring into Mekki’s hand. ‘If we get atomised…’
‘You will know who to blame,’ Mekki said, dropping into the co-pilot’s seat. Using the haptic implants on the tips of his fingers, he accessed the Profiteer’s vox-system. ‘I need a sonic probe,’ he told Zelia, flipping a magnifying lens down over his eyes. Zelia reached into his pack, found the right tool and passed it to Mekki, who used it to open an access port in the terminal.
‘I hope you know what you’re doing,’ the captain said as the Martian continued to vandalise her beloved dashboard.
‘The ring is a transmitter, is it not?’ Mekki asked, wrapping wires around the flashing band. ‘I am preparing to transmit.’
‘Transmit what?’
Mekki tapped his wrist-screen. ‘Everything in my databank. Every catalogue, every recording, all delivered at exactly the same time.’
Dropping the ring into the access port, Mekki twisted the vox-control.
A shrill babble erupted from the speakers, dozens of voices speaking at once. With another twist, Mekki increased the volume so much that Zelia was sure the viewport would crack.
The words were distorted, playing over each other, but she could make out familiar voices in the mix. There was Mekki, of course, plus Talen and Erasmus. Her mum was there as well, even Zelia herself, every conversation in Mekki’s archive played back at once and amplified beyond belief.
On the Tau cruiser, the commander pulled off his helm and threw it across the bridge. The noise was unbearable. He called over to his communications officer, but the order was lost in the tumult. Staggering over to a vox-terminal, he tried to raise General Firebrand on the trading post. It was useless. The signal was blocking every frequency. He looked up at the giant holo-screen which minutes before had shown the space station they had conquered for the Greater Good. Now all it displayed were flickering images of broken pots and rusty hunks of metal. There were faces, too. A young human girl and a pale-skinned boy.
The Tau commander slammed an armoured fist into the vox-controls. This couldn’t be happening.
‘How long before they block the signal?’ Amity shouted over the din.
Mekki checked his read-out. ‘Approximately thirty-nine point four three seconds.’
‘Then we’d better get moving,’ Amity said, priming the engines. ‘Everybody, hang on.’
The Profiteer streaked out of Hinterland Outpost, zipping past the stricken starship and out into the stars.
On the cruiser, the commander let out a sigh of relief as the bridge fell silent. His ears rang, but he didn’t care. The noise had stopped, that was all that mattered.
‘Sir, I have General Firebrand,’ the communications officer reported.
‘Put him on screen.’
The commander turned, his eyes going wide as the general appeared. Firebrand’s face was blackened, dark blood crusted around his nose-slit. The percussive beat of las-fire echoed from the speakers, followed by the roar of a gigantic beast.
‘We are under attack,’ the general yelled into his vox. ‘Open fire on the station. I repeat, open–’
The commander stared in disbelief as a huge tentacle wrapped around the general and yanked him away. The transmission cut out, the general’s screaming face replaced with static.
The commander raced for his command chair. ‘Y-you heard the general,’ he barked. ‘Arm gravitic launchers. Full power to primary railguns.’
The viewscreen shifted to a view of Hinterland Outpost. The station had deployed its cannons, which glowed bright in each gun turret.
‘Well?’ the commander snapped at his tactical officer. ‘Where are my weapons?’
The Tau gunner blanched, his face going pale as he randomly pressed controls. ‘They’re not responding, sir. Internal communications were burned out by the transmission. Circuits have overloaded.’
The commander gripped the arms of his chair. ‘Reroute power to forward batteries.’
‘Sir, we can’t. The central processor is offline. Controls are not responding.’
‘Then make them respond! We will not fail. We are Tau. We are–’
His rant was cut off as Hinterland Outpost opened fire.
Harleen Amity’s mouth dropped open as she listened to reports on a headset.
‘What is it?’ Zelia asked.
‘If I heard correctly, Station Master Vetone just declared victory over the invading Tau forces.’ The captain pressed buttons, attempting to boost the signal, but soon dropped the headset back down to the dashboard. ‘We’re out of range, but if that’s true…’
‘Mekki really is a miracle worker,’ Talen grinned, slapping the Martian on the mechanical shoulder. ‘Never doubted you for a minute, Cog-Boy.’
Amity consulted her controls to make sure they weren’t being followed. ‘Good work, everyone. You never know, carry on like this and you may even convince me that having a crew isn’t so bad.’
Zelia slumped into an empty chair, suddenly exhausted. She watched as Amity took great pleasure in instructing Grunt to destroy the Tau communicator-ring. The servitor took the metal band in his cybernetic claw and crushed it between two pincers.
Meanwhile Mekki, Meshwing and Fleapit descended on their stolen battlesuit, keen to learn its secrets.
Zelia couldn’t believe how easily Mekki had adapted to wearing the armour. As she watched them work, she realised how little they really knew about each other. Mekki’s past was a complete mystery to her. All those years travelling together, and she’d never even asked him why he left Mars. What had he meant by escape, and why did he have to fire a gun to do it? Then there was Fleapit. She knew he used to be a slave, but what had the Jokaero’s life been like before he was captured? Where did he come from? How did he know how to make such incredible machines?
Even Talen, who was bombarding Amity with questions about her ship, was still a puzzle to Zelia. He could be so angry, so quick to think with his fists, and yet had risked his life to rescue Fleapit.
And then there was Captain Amity herself, a woman who, by her own admission, ‘had nothing to lose’.
A rogue trader, a ganger, a Martian, an alien and Zelia. Could they really be a crew?
‘So,’ Amity said, interrupting her thoughts, ‘where now, my lady?’
‘You’re sticking with us, then?’ Zelia asked.
The captain raised a pierced eyebrow. ‘Until someone makes me a better offer.’
Zelia hoped she was joking. Either way, the rogue trader was right. They needed a destination.
‘Talen?’ she asked. ‘What did Karter tell you?’
The ganger scratched the back of his head. ‘To be honest, it didn’t make much sense to me.’
‘Does anything?’ Mekki said, glancing up from the battlesuit.
‘Oi!’ Talen snapped, but the smile the boys shared was warmer than Zelia had ever seen. Maybe they were becoming a team, after all.
‘Cut it out,’ Zelia said, realising how much she sounded like her mum. ‘Come on, Talen. Don’t keep us in suspense. Where are we going?’