‘Just look at the state of your clothes, Edward,’ his mum said. ‘What on earth are those stains? And is that blood?’
He looked down at himself, grimaced and tried to remember how he’d managed to get himself into such a disgusting state.
‘Have you been playing with that Andrew again?’ she scolded, her hands on her hips. ‘I’ve told you he’s a bad influence. Him and his potty mouth.’
‘Erm, no I don’t think so,’ he mumbled, thinking it strange he would have been playing with Andy. He was sure he didn’t meet him until he was in his mid-twenties. He closed his eyes and tried to remember where the hell he’d been, but his brain seemed to be full of fog for some weird reason.
‘Edward – open your eyes. I know you can hear me,’ she insisted.
‘No – go – away,’ he muttered, slowly. ‘I want to sleep – where the monsters can’t shoot me.’
‘EDWARD,’ she shouted, the voice loud and much closer now.
‘Oh, what the fuck,’ he answered, almost levitating off whatever he was lying on and thinking he’d definitely get a slap for using that word.
Only the face wasn’t of his mother hovering above him when he snapped his eyes open. It was a young girl with a surgical mask over her mouth and nose.
‘That’s better,’ she said, the sides of her eyes crinkling with a smile. ‘Do you know where you are?’
He looked left and right, discovering he was in a small medical room of some kind, but where, he had no idea.
‘Not a clue,’ he croaked, glancing down at what looked like blood on his shirt. ‘Did I get shit?’
The girl’s eyes smiled again.
‘I think the question is “did I get shot?”’ she said, unable to keep the amusement from her voice.
He suddenly opened his eyes wide.
‘I – I was in a cell on a space station,’ he said, struggling to sit up. ‘With a lawyer – we both got shot.’
‘That’s right,’ said a male voice, from somewhere in the room.
He turned his head to the right, searching for the source of the voice.
‘I’m here.’ A smartly uniformed man came into view from behind Ed. He smiled and nodded at the nurse or doctor or whatever she was, indicating for her to move away.
‘Are you going to torture me for information?’ Ed asked, trying to shrink back into the bedding. ‘You’re in a GDA uniform and I’m sure those Toufeki KS2 rifles we were shot with are a brand new model and for GDA special forces issue only.’
‘I’m impressed, Edward,’ he said. ‘You get top marks for observation and yes, those plain-clothed soldiers were indeed members of my elite marine detachment and were operating under direct orders from me. But before you start panicking, we had to do that to make your murders look authentic, so you could escape without any pursuit.’
‘Who are you?’ Ed asked, his eyes flicking from the officer to the girl with the crinkly-eyed smile, still hovering at the bottom of the bed.
‘My name is Captain Pickyrd and this…’ he waved his arms out wide as if to indicate everything around him ‘…is my ship, the 28.’
‘You’re lying,’ said Ed, shaking his head. ‘My crew saw the 28 vaporised on the Klatt border.’
‘Your crew saw a very clever holographic image of my ship vaporised on the Klatt border. The real ship was cloaked half a light year away to ensure its safety.’
‘How did you know that was going to happen?’
‘To be honest, it was pure luck, or we really would all be dead. You see, I was taught by someone who I believe is a friend of yours.’
‘Bache?’ questioned Ed.
Pickyrd nodded.
‘Commander Loftt was a stickler for drills. Never mind the situation, if you’d drilled for every scenario, then whatever happens, you’ll have previous knowledge of what to do. It was about three weeks ago; we were practising for the unlikely event of the reactor over-pressurising.’
‘Venting plasma into space?’ said Ed, looking hopeful.
‘Correct. Of course, we don’t actually do that, it would only be done for real in a genuine emergency. But what we do do, is bore a venting hole through a couple of layers of the reactor shielding, so the guys can get a feel for what it takes when you’re cocooned inside an anti-radiation suit and trying to use a plasma drill. On the day in question, they soon realised the material they were drilling through was not the usual shielding agocrete. They took a sample and sent it back to engineering for analysis.’
‘What was it?’ Ed asked, his eyes wide.
‘Tycelerin powdercake.’
‘Which is?’
‘The most powerful explosive element known to the human race,’ said Pickyrd. ‘It’s illegal on every world in the GDA. Just a couple of kilos would blow this ship in half.’
‘How much was there?’
‘Three tonnes and a remote detonator,’ said Pickyrd, his expression suddenly very stern. ‘You could move a fucking star with that much.’
‘Shit,’ said Ed. ‘What did you do?’
‘Quietly removed it all and formed it around our backup core and suspended it beneath one of our larger drones emitting our exact footprint and holographic image. It went everywhere we were supposed to go, while we hung back half a light year. If we were in a populated system we disarmed the detonator.’
‘When was it installed and by whom?’ Ed asked.
‘The shielding is replaced every ten years by a contractor in the Jagnorite system. We had it done a year ago.’
‘So, it’s been there all that time?’
‘Gives me nightmares just thinking about it,’ Pickyrd groaned. ‘All those inhabited worlds we were in orbit around over that period. We could’ve killed billions.’
‘Have any of the other cruisers had their shielding replaced recently?’
‘Only 23 and 56. I discreetly contacted the captains and had them check. They were both fine.’
‘So, you’ve been dark ever since?’
‘We have.’
‘Why risk grabbing me then?’
‘You were being set up to take the blame and probably be executed for it. Firstly, I wasn’t going to allow it out of respect to Commander Loftt, as he speaks highly of you, and secondly, why are they so keen to get rid of you and your ship?’
‘I might be able to help with that,’ said Ed, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and wincing as his broken ribs and bruising from the stun shot covering his chest complained vehemently. He noticed for the first time just how much blood had been involved as his clothes and hands were badly stained.
Pickyrd saw the consternation on his face.
‘It’s fake,’ he said. ‘We had to make your deaths look realistic for the camera footage leaked to the media.’
‘So, I’m supposedly dead again?’
Pickyrd nodded.
‘And the lawyer, Cien’dra, what happened to him?’
‘He’s in the room next door and will be kept in confinement until we know he’s not involved.’
‘What about the families of you and your crew?’ Ed asked. ‘They think you’re all dead too.’
The captain adopted a rueful expression.
‘I know – it’s horrendous, but we really have no choice if we want to uncover who is at the forefront of this murderous plot.’
He looked back at Ed.
‘You were going to tell me where you and your ship fit into all this?’
‘Yeah – we believe it’s a coup attempt by the Klatt Spleeta clan to rid the Grondalle of their power base, aided by a senior person or persons unknown within the GDA. The Spleeta want to abandon Zee-Klatt III as it’s becoming far too cold and are preparing an invasion fleet on Uskrre to take a slightly warmer planet by force. All this at a time when the main GDA fleet would be engaged with the remains of the Grondalle fleet thousands of light years away in retribution for your supposed destruction.’
‘What warmer planet?’
‘Earth.’
‘Shit – that’s your home.’
‘That’s why they wanted the Gabriel out of the picture. It’s the only Earth ship that could hurt them.’
‘This must have been in the planning for a long time.’
‘Indeed, and they’ve compartmentalised well to protect themselves.’
Pickyrd nodded. ‘We’ve noticed – they’ve already assassinated Geltz, Xantian and Xutan to break the chain of involvement.’
‘Xutan wasn’t involved,’ said Ed. ‘They only attempted his assassination because Bache and I had given him the same information I’ve just given you.’
‘What d’you mean, attempted?’
‘Well, he was still alive up to the time my ship was boarded.’
‘Ah – he must have been dragged onto the freighter with Bache and the rest of your crew.’
‘Freighter? What freighter?’ exclaimed Ed.
‘A Krix’ir-registered ship, docked close to yours. They were all taken aboard and the vessel left shortly after.’
‘Where to?’
‘On the logged flight plan, back to Krix’ir.’
Ed looked at Pickyrd’s nonplussed expression.
‘You don’t think they went there, do you?’
‘Their first jump was in that direction I’ll admit, but the report from the marines I sent to follow them in a cloaked troop carrier reported their second jump was in completely the wrong direction.’
‘Heard anything since?’
‘Not yet – but as you know, the further away you get, the broader the beam has to be and the signal has a lot more chance of being intercepted. They’ve just gone dark to cover their existence. It’s what they’re trained to do.’
‘We had a GDA captain by the name of Ganelaine and a young Klatt captain who were heavily involved in custody on the Gabriel,’ said Ed. ‘Where are they now?’
‘Dead,’ said Pickyrd, raising his eyebrows. ‘The coroner’s report said you’d kidnapped and murdered them aboard your ship.’
‘Oh, great,’ sighed Ed. ‘More families who’ll want me dead.’
‘They’ll be happy then,’ said Pickyrd. ‘Because of our little ruse, you are.’
They turned as a junior medic entered the room carrying a pile of clothes and a wristband for Ed.
‘I’ll give you some time to get cleaned up and dressed,’ said Pickyrd, snatching up and handing Ed the wristband. ‘Make sure you put that officer key band around your arm, then come and find me on the bridge. We’ll decide where we go from here.’