Diplomat Kolivar seemed somewhat belligerent when they spoke about the potential treaty between the Alliance and the Retuailian Hegemony. She seemed wary and suspicious of humans in general. Maybe she was right to hold to those attitudes. Her father was the same way.

They were in transit aboard the shuttle now as diplomat Kolivar stared at Jon with that predatory look from across the lounge, legs crossed, arms folded. The alien wore a hooded, white leather vest that split at the waste but continued to her knees. Her boots—also white leather—matched the interior cushions of the wraparound sofa and went up to her thighs, meeting black pants of a fine looking material.

Was she displeased about having to travel to the capital on short notice? She said she was excited to see it, but maybe that was just a platitude. Jon didn’t care. After this was all over, Acheron would be an independent world separate from the Alliance and he would have huge shares in the planet’s mineral rights. He bought massive amounts of stock in TerraCorp Mining and Industrol for that very reason.

Would Rork hold up his end of the deal? Jon probably didn’t have to worry about that, seeing as the warlord knew Jon could cause him a lot of trouble even with the Retuailian Hegemony supporting Rork’s move.

“What is the value my father sees in this human treaty, Ambassador?” Kolivar asked. The overhead lights in the cabin made her yellow-green skin have somewhat of an orange hue. “The Borodan Empire is powerful, but not so powerful that they may cause both your Alliance and the Hegemony complications, I think. It makes me wonder what ulterior motives the Alliance may have, yes?”

Jon smiled. Time to play, he thought. “We already share open trade. The Borodan Empire sees this as a threat and has become increasingly belligerent to get what it wants using questionable back-channel politics and intimidation. Just look at what happened at the fields of Min’das. The Allience only wants to curb this recent activity and show the Borodans who they’re really dealing with.”

Kolivar leaned forward. “What if this treaty agitates them? The Borodans do not like being seen as weak. They will retaliate politically and be worse than they are now, I think. They are dangerous.”

Jon nodded. “Yes, but with limited free travel of our navies through each other’s territories and the setting up of military bases along the boundaries of the Borodan Empire, they will see both the Retuailian Hegemony and the Alliance as stronger than they are. A unified front will intimidate the Borodans, allowing us to operate with fewer restrictions near Borodan space and insure that our own borders are not threatened. They can dislike it all they want, if the Alliance and the Retuailian Hegemony are too strong to touch, what can they do?”

Kolivar looked thoughtful. “Perhaps I do see the value of such a treaty, but I am still wondering what ulterior motives your Alliance may have. Your kind has been known to be...” She looked thoughtful again. “I believe the human word is slippery. Yes, humans have proven to be slippery in the past dealings with us.”

Jon smiled. “All politicians are slippery—even Retuailian politicians.”

Diplomat Kolivar smiled. Or was she bearing her teeth? Jon could never tell with these lizards...

* * *

Marcus West, pilot of the Alliance VIP shuttle Kerris, engaged the ship’s IC unit after entering the Sheol system. There was nothing out here, just a brown dwarf and that dusty world called Acheron the Alliance liked to exile unwanted people to. The government’s official stance was that Acheron would alleviate what would otherwise be a drain on resources. It was restricted space for most ships.

“…yeah,” Marcus was saying. “I was going to join the Navy, but I got married and had kids instead.”

“And what’s wrong with that?” Korvan Taver, his co-pilot asked. “A nice quiet life. Good pay. A wonderful family...” The man was in his early thirties and already balding. He leaned over to show Marcus a picture of his wife and daughter.

Marcus glanced at the photo and haled the station orbiting the small planet. How many billions did it take to keep it functioning? “Cerberus Station, this is Alliance VIP shuttle Kerris. We are low on fuel and were routed here on account of the Xien Xi fueling station in the Cho Pai system having technical problems with their docking bay. Please respond.”

Cerberus Station didn’t respond.

“My flight aptitude tests were really high. That was one of the reasons I decided to go to flight school for the commercial sector in the first place—since I wasn’t going to join the navy.”

“Do you regret it—not joining the service?”

Marcus shrugged. “No... I don’t know. I just crave excitement sometimes, you know? In the navy you get to explore space; there’s adventure—there’s action! In the commercial sector you always do the same thing.” He gestured with his hands. “You know, you pick up these people over here, you move ‘em, and then you pick up these other people over here, and then you do it all over again—and that’s all it ever is. Yeah, the pay is pretty nice, but it’s not very exciting.”

Korvan chuckled. “A boring life is a safe life, I guess.”

Marcus sniffed. “Yeah...”

He haled Cerberus Station again. Still no response.

“That’s strange,” Korvan said.

Marcus tried a third time. “Cerberus Station, this is Alliance VIP shuttle Kerris. Please respond.”

“Why would we be ordered to refuel out here instead of in the Beta Hanson system? Korvan asked. That was a good question. It had been closer than the Sheol system where they were now, but not by much. The Beta Hanson system was a frequented commercial travel lane, though, unlike Sheol, which was restricted to travel altogether. Very odd.

“Maybe it was a mistake.” Marcus checked the onboard IC unit. It was working perfectly. “Are we getting any distortions?”

The other man checked his instruments. “No—all clear.”

This whole situation is starting to feel off, Marcus thought. “If Cerberus Station doesn’t respond in a few more minutes, I’m taking the Kerris to the Cho Pai system. I don’t care what Xien Xi station’s excuses are. They can fuel us midflight!”

Korvan nodded agreement.

Marcus was starting to feel edgy.

Those minutes passed. Marcus began turning the Kerris around when a notification issued on the dash with an incoming hale. Marcus frowned. They were being hailed by Escort Delta? Why? Marcus already sent the escort leader their new flight path. He answered the call and the pilot of Escort Delta appeared onscreen. The man had his visor down but it didn’t hide the scar that traveled from his left cheek and over his lips.

“There’s a reason why Cerberus Station isn’t responding to your hales,” the pilot said in a scratchy voice.

“What?” Korvan asked.

“Cerberus station isn’t receiving your hails,” the pilot said.

Marcus cocked his head back.

“In fact,” the pilot continued, “they can’t even see the Kerris or her escorts—they don’t even know you’re out here.”

“How do you know this?” Marcus asked.

“I’m jamming your communications as well as our radar signatures.”

Marcus’ eyes widened. Korvan glanced at him with equal fear and incredulity.

The pilot smiled. “Unless Cerberus Station scans for the Kerris’ thruster output or heat signature, they won’t even know you’re in the system.”

Immediately, Marcus attempted to contact the other three escorts, but they didn’t respond.

Escort Delta smiled again. “Still jamming you.” He bent down toward his video capture, no doubt getting at the controls of his fighter when suddenly a flash of light burst through the Kerris’ cockpit viewports.

Marcus jerked his head to get a look out the viewport. Escort Gamma was gone. All that remained of the fighter was debris that collided with the Kerris. It sounded like metal rain.

Marcus’ stomach heaved. He jerked back to the radar. Escort Alpha and Bravo were also gone. Destroyed. The only escort that remained was Escort Delta. How did he do that? Was the pilot a fucking psycho?

No. This wasn’t a coincidence. The Kerris’ cargo; an Alliance ambassador and a Retuailian diplomat meant this was some kind operation.

Marcus felt sick with fear.

“Uh-oh,” Escort Four said. They were still on video with the man. “Cerberus Station probably got a ping from that!”

Marcus looked up at the front viewport that was overlapped with the holodisplay. “What do you want?”

“Land at these coordinates.”

The dash blipped with the incoming data. Marcus looked at the coordinates. “You want us to land on Acheron?”

“If you don’t comply immediately, I’ll blow a fucking hole in your ship.”

“Shit,” Korvan said, hands trembling.

Marcus tried physically not to let his hands shake as he looked at his co-pilot and in a quiet voice said, “Stay cool.”

Korvan nodded weakly. “Yeah. All right.”

Marcus cut communications with Escort Delta. If the man had something else to say, he would hale the Kerris again.

Marcus was just complaining about how boring his life was ten minutes ago. Now that’s ironic, he thought, flipping the switch for the onboard cabin communicator. “Attention, this is Captain Marcus West, we’ve...” What the hell do you say to keep people calm in a situation like this? “We’ve run into a problem and need to make an emergency landing on the only planetary body in this system. Please do not be alarmed, the planet has air and can fully support life.” Then, as an afterthought, he said, “Please buckle in—this could get a little bumpy.”

The two VIP passengers didn’t need to know what was going on—that would only cause panic. Cerberus Station would be along to rescue them as soon as they landed, anyway.

Marcus guided the Kerris into a decent as they entered the planetary atmosphere. He kept the ship’s speeds at a nominal level for inter atmospheric flight.

The Kerris lurched. “What the hell was that?”

Korvan turned to Marcus. “We just lost the communications array.”

“Shit.”

At least we have a spare, he told himself. If he had to, after they landed, Marcus would leave the ship with the mobile emergency unit and get a distress call out. That bastard with the messed up face wouldn’t be able to stick around—not with Cerberus fighters already on their way to the Kerris. What was the play here? Cerberus Station would be there to rescue them as soon as they landed.

“Ten thousand feet from the surface,” Korvan said, making the necessary preparations for landing.

Almost there.

Marcus activated the landing thrusters and the Kerris touched down.

Something exploded and Marcus’ head snapped forward. He groaned, rubbing the back of his neck as warning lights flashed on the dash. “Now what?”

“Uh... shit,” Korvan said. “He just took out our main thrusters.”

“What the hell for? We’re already landed.”

Korvan pointed at the radar. “Look. He just broke off. Looks like he’s heading for the upper atmosphere. Do you think he’s giving up because of those fighters?”

That doesn’t make sense, Marcus thought. Escort Delta didn’t seem worried that Cerberus Station might have detected them when he blew up the other escorts. Whatever he was trying to do, those fighters didn’t seem like a problem for him. If they were, he would have broken off the moment they showed up on the radar. And he could have killed them when they were in space if that’s what he was trying to do.

There was a larger play here. “I don’t think we’re done yet.”

* * *

Marcus got up out of the captain’s chair and made his way to the back of the bridge where the emergency IC unit was. He strapped it to his back.

“Are you really going to leave the ship?” Korvan asked.

“You heard what Escort Delta said. Cerberus Station couldn’t see us, and though they obviously detected the explosions of the other three escorts, that doesn’t mean they ever saw us on their scanners. They still might not know we’re here. I need to see if I can get a message out—just in case.”

Korvan nodded.

“I’m going to go check on the VIPs and then get that message out,” Marcus said. “Hold the ship down and keep everyone calm.” He was talking about the aides of Silverman and Kolivar. He didn’t think they would get hysterical themselves.

They might, he told himself as he opened the door to leave the bridge.

Marcus went down the companionway and into the main passenger hold of the Kerris where Silverman and Kolivar’s aides were waiting, all clamoring for a word with Marcus. He shook his head, told everyone to remain calm as he gestured with both hands for people to remain seated.

He entered the lounge where Silverman and Kolivar were and shut the door behind him.

“Captain,” Ambassador Silverman said. “What is going on? Why did we have to make this emergency landing?”

A few of their aides were already in the cabin, though they kept quiet as they waited for Marcus to tell them what was going on.

“The truth is,” Marcus said, “I don’t know.”

Everyone started speaking at once and Marcus raised his voice to get their attention. “The only thing I know is that we were forced to land the Kerris on this planet by Escort Delta after he blew up our other escorts.”

Diplomat Kolivar frowned. “What?”

“I’m pretty sure Cerberus Station has detected what’s happening,” Marcus said reassuringly. “They’ve sent fighters out already, but just to be safe, I’m going to leave the ship and try to get another IC message out in case they aren’t aware of what happened.”

Voices started to clamor again, but Marcus interrupted. “Please! I’m going to ask you to please remain calm. Do not leave the ship under any circumstances.” With that, he left the lounge and headed for the cargo bay, dodging the other aides on his way.

Marcus had to use the cargo bay because the Kerris wasn’t designed for landings outside of space ports. The main entry-exit hatch was at least twenty feet off the ground. The loading ramp would touch down onto the ground. It was designed for that.

Marcus locked the cargo bay door from the inside, just to make sure nobody left the ship. It would be his fault if anyone onboard was injured while trying to do something stupid.

He pushed the button for the cargo ramp and with a loud pneumatic his and the groaning of mechanical parts the cargo bay ramp cracked open and began descending toward the ground.

A hot gust of wind blew into the cargo bay. Marcus had to squint against the dust and sand that kicked up into the ship.

He unslung the emergency IC unit from his back and opened the case. Since it was an emergency unit, it was stalked with other survival items; spare water, a DOE unit, goggles, and of course, the IC unit itself. Marcus removed the goggles and the IC unit before closing the case and made his way down the ramp while it was still descending.

It was better to leave the ship when activating the device, otherwise there might be interference caused by the Kerris’ bulkheads. Marcus booted the unit and scanned for signals as the hot sun beat on the back of his neck. Sheol must have been just a little closer to Acheron than most suns were to their life sustaining worlds.

No signals. He frowned. Turning on his heels, he tried to see if any signals would come in, but that didn’t help either.

Unbelievable, he thought. Why wasn’t it working? Escort Delta wasn’t still jamming them—he couldn’t be.

He looked around. The landscape was barren and quiet. There wasn’t a sound apart from the occasional gust of wind and the rattling or pebbles on stone or hard packed dirt. Acheron really was a hell. People talked about it, but Marcus always thought those stories were just dramatizations of the abandoned mining world.

According to the sensor readings he’d gotten on the Kerris, there was supposed to be a small mountain to the starboard side of the ship not more than a few clicks off. He’d moved to the port side, but he could still see the mountains looming in the distance when he glanced over the ship.

He could make for the dunes that made up some foothills to those mountains. It was unlikely he’d get a signal, but every little bit of elevation helped, and it was his responsibility as captain to be as thorough as possible. He decided to make for the dunes—the hike would probably only take about an hour both ways.