Jeffrey Carver - Eternity's End

Deutsch chose not to break the man’s wrist. Instead, he used his network of fingertip sensors to locate the faint aura of nerve pathways in Lyle’s wrist; and as Deutsch smiled at the man, he searched his augmented memory-stores for the image he wanted. He sent it out, amplified: an irresistible image of a crushing force closing on Lyle’s wrist, a vice slowly splintering the bone, and pain like nothing the man had ever dreamed of…

Lyle sank to his knees, trembling. His breath escaped with a gasp, and then a curse. Deutsch released his wrist unharmed. But Lyle remained on his knees, cradling his right arm in agony.

Deutsch motioned Ensign Ganton over. “Remove his weapon.” The terrified ensign obeyed, taking care not to touch Lyle’s arm. Deutsch accepted the gun and amplified his voice as he spoke to the other stunned crewmembers. “We have already paid the price of our failure. We paid it in blood. But it’s done. As your acting captain, I command that no more shall die needlessly.”

At that moment, he heard a small inner voice, providing an update from the bridge. He acknowledged, then linked to the intercom and announced ship-wide, “We are now in normal-space. All suited personnel move into the airlocks and open the outer doors. You are to offer no resistance to the Narseil. Essential systems crew only, remain at your stations.”

Deutsch watched as the suited weapons crew flicked on their silversuit-forcefields and moved into the airlock. Lyle rose, silent with rage, and activated his silversuit. A sneer crossed his features an instant before his face turned to a blank mirror. Then he followed the others into the airlock. Deutsch waited until the inner door closed and the outer door opened, then turned his attention to the rest of the crew.

Legroeder had a clear view from the net as the Narseil boarders, looking like large metal insects, floated across space to the pirate ship. They moved efficiently, but more cautiously than their raider counterparts had. Their first priority was to scan the suited pirates who had come out of the Flechette ’s airlocks and to secure them as prisoners before entering the pirate ship itself. Who knew what traps might await them aboard Flechette ? Legroeder did not envy them their job.

As he watched, along with Palagren, Legroeder sensed a chromatic flicker in his vision, and certain chimelike inner sounds; and he realized that his implants were busily recording, buzzing with analysis and observation. Their progress was displayed to him as streaks of color-coded light at the edges of his inner vision. He exhaled slowly, trying not to let it distract him.

In the space between the two ships, the Narseil commandos were corralling the silversuited pirates into groups. Others were preparing to move into the enemy ship. Something didn’t look right to Legroeder, and he nudged Palagren and pointed to one of the clusters of pirates.

Is that raider commando moving out away from the others? Palagren asked softly.

Yah . Legroeder realized that three of the Narseil commandos were already moving to encircle the figure. But before he could even distinguish what was happening, there were two flashes—and one of the Narseil went tumbling backward. An instant later, the fleeing raider dissolved in a cloud of sparkling silver particles, expanding into the darkness of space.

Deutsch saw it happen on the monitor. Saw his man—had to have been Lyle—pull out a concealed weapon, take one idiotic vengeful shot, then overload his forcefield suit as the Narseil fired back. An instant later, he was ionized dust. What the hell was he trying to do, take a Narseil with him to show how brave he was? And maybe take all of his shipmates, when the Narseil decided to exact punishment? Lyle, you stupid sonofabitch bastard . Deutsch turned and shouted to the roomful of men, all of whom had seen it on the monitor. “Listen up! If any of you is thinking of doing some brainless asshole thing like that, tell me and I’ll put you out of your misery right now. If we don’t all get killed for what Lyle did.” He glared across the room. No one moved. “Good.”

Shaking his head furiously, he linked his primary implant to the ship-to-ship com. “ H’zzarrelik , this is Flechette .”

“This is H’zzarrelik.”

“About what just happened, Commander—”

He never finished, because at that moment the first wave of Narseil marines erupted through the airlock door—and there were more weapons than he could count, aimed at him and all of his men.

A report came back from Ker’sell, who had remained outside the net, on the bridge. It looks as if there was one rogue pirate who didn’t want to surrender. Our marine was not seriously injured.

Legroeder growled to himself, thinking, Just one rogue pirate? Or will there be more?

Ker’sell continued, The airlock deck has been secured, and the raider’s acting captain insists that all his crew have been ordered to cooperate. But the boarding party is taking nothing for granted. The commander says to pull the net in. We’re backing to a safer distance.

Legroeder peered over at Palagren as they drew the net in. The Narseil rigger seemed to be regarding the pirate ship thoughtfully, as though wondering whether it had been worth the price they had paid for it. Legroeder wished he knew himself.

Explosion on the Flechette! There’s been an explosion.

The call from the bridge filled the withdrawn rigger-net like a jolt of electricity. Legroeder and Palagren extended the net instantly, ready to dive away from the pirate ship at the commander’s order.

The silence that followed seemed to last forever.

Although H’zzarrelik had pulled back from the raider, Fre’geel had left the riggers in their stations as a hedge against the unexpected. There was always a chance that he would have to order a fast retreat in an emergency—such as a suicidal self-destruct of the pirate ship. Their quickest escape would be straight down into the Flux—though of course they would leave behind a lot of Narseil marines that way.

They waited.

How long had they been in this net, anyway?

The pirate ship floated, silent and enigmatic, off their port bow. Whatever was happening aboard it was invisible to the eye.

The com hissed. Cantha’s voice: Riggers, withdraw from the net .

Legroeder stared at Palagren in surprise. Did he just say to come out? he said in a whisper, afraid to shatter what might have been an illusion.

Let’s go, said Palagren, and winked out of sight.

Legroeder followed.

He rubbed his eyes, looking around the bridge. Although the place was a shattered mess, a good deal of cleanup and repair had been done already.

Fre’geel, his neck-sail encased in a clear gel bandage, turned from the center console. “We had one last holdout on the raider. He blew up an engine compartment, and himself and a shipmate with it. But we had no casualties, and the raider ship is now secured.” He touched his long fingers together thoughtfully. “It occurred to me that you might be ready for some relief.” He gestured to a pair of Narseil backup riggers, standing by to take the stations. “I think they can get us out of here in a hurry as well as anyone can. But I doubt it will be necessary.” Fre’geel’s mouth remained slightly open, and for a moment his noseless face looked as if it were wearing a human smile.

Legroeder stared at the commander in amazement. He felt relief, and dread, and a dozen other emotions he couldn’t yet sort out. They had captured a pirate ship. And now they were going to… what? Fly it back to its owners.