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The Drahk got the point and backed into the kitchen again.

  Fox rammed the door with his left shoulder.

  Splinters flew into the hallway outside, making a hole just big enough for a Vosan to squeeze through.

  He waited outside the door, his chest heaving as he fought for air.

  Doors lined each side of the hallway. A stairwell at the end led to the lower and upper floors.

  He ran to the stairs and took them two at a time, deciding to take his chances on the rooftops.

  He shouldered through an unlocked door on the top landing and exited onto the flat roof. The apartment building stood in the shadow of a much taller building but otherwise offered a good view of the city.

  A low parapet jutted from the edges. He looked in the direction of the entrance, his hand blocking the sun’s glare.

  I can take the roofs all the way back to the storage yard.

  Distant clicks and barks erupted from the open door to the stairwell. The Drahk had picked up his trail.

  He ran for the parapet and jumped for the next building.

  As his foot struck the beige stone, chugging engines thundered overhead.

  He looked up in time to see the net come down. He jumped for safety.

  But the weight of the ropes struck home, flattening him to the rooftop, sending his blaster clattering over the edge.

  The net twisted around his struggling limbs. The more he fought, the tighter it wound until he could hardly stand the pain.

  He gnawed viciously at the thick rope, but it was no good. Out of breath and energy, his body relaxed.

  The net suddenly jerked upward and he lifted off the roof. He twisted his neck around and to his horror he saw that the shadow above grew larger as the ship dragged him in like a fish caught on a line.

  The line whirred as they pulled him into a cold chamber.

  The hatch door snapped shut, closing him in darkness.

  6

  The Brig

  Kelvin’s stomach growled as he sat in the brig holding room where the officers had left him, cuffed to the table. He’d long since stopped banging on the table, demanding food or water.

  He still couldn’t believe that the championship had been snatched away. Someone had clearly set him up. In time, he would figure out who, and he would pay them back in kind. His thoughts suddenly shifted to the others in the video. They had also been framed.

  What will they do to Lora?

  He hoped he hadn’t incriminated her with his words. He should have asked for representation then shut his mouth.

  You never could shut your cocky mouth, Kelvin, he told himself.

  He tensed as the door scraped open.

  Admiral Dyson ambled in like a bear on steroids, his heavy-set features lending him a sense of foreboding power.

  Commander Tassels followed, locking the door behind her.

  They approached the table and stood side-by-side. Commander Tassels reached out and set a small black sphere on the table. She pushed a button, and a ring emerged from the device and began to spin. “For security measures,” she said, attempting a friendly smile.

  “You’ll have to forgive us for keeping you waiting,” Admiral Dyson said, his demeanor somewhat softer than before. “It took some time cleaning up the mess your cheating created.”

  “I already told you. I didn’t cheat.”

  “Of course you didn’t,” Commander Tassels said, a hint of humor creeping into her eyes.

  “Aren’t you going to take a seat…sirs?” He spat the last word.

  The Commander glowered, her icy eyes drilling into his own.

  “No need,” the burly admiral said. “We won’t be staying long.”

  “Good.”

  Commander Tassels regarded Kelvin with a smile so unlike the stony expression she’d worn in Admiral Dyson’s office that it left him dumbfounded. “You weren’t kidding about the attitude, sir.” She chuckled.

  He found the uncharacteristic sound unsettling.

  Admiral Dyson nodded. “Yes, Major Goff wasn’t exaggerating, was she?”

  Kelvin’s ears perked at hearing his instructor’s name. “What have you done with Lora?” He croaked; his throat parched.

  “You let us worry about your girlfriend,” Commander Tassels mocked.

  “Girlfriend? No way—"

  “She’s in good hands.” Commander Tassels offered a reassuring smile that almost seemed genuine. “That’s all you need to know…for now anyway.”

  She was still the same hawk-faced woman from the admiral’s office, but somehow, she seemed different. Who the hell is this jovial lady? Are they playing good cop, bad cop?

  “Is this a game?”

  Admiral Dyson smiled, the gesture softening his heavy brow. “I guess you could call it that.”

  “Before we explain, I owe you an apology for my harsh words in the good admiral’s office, Lieutenant. As his primary adviser…Well, I have to put on a bit of a show. I’m not really that much of a bitch.”

  Admiral Dyson glanced at her sidewise and cocked an eyebrow.

  She straightened the front of her uniform and cleared her throat. “Well…most of the time.”

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Kelvin’s brain felt like it was going to explode, like he couldn’t take any more.

  Admiral Dyson looked at the chronograph on his wrist. “We don’t have long, so I’ll cut to the chase.”

  “Finally,” Kelvin muttered. “Err…sir,” he added quickly when the Admiral locked eyes with him.

  “It must be difficult, working so hard to win the Delta Fleet Games only to have the rug pulled out from under you.” He gestured to the holding room.

  Kelvin folded his arms. “I’m sure the formal investigation will show I’m innocent.”

  “I don’t intend on signing off on a formal investigation.” He held up his hand as Kelvin tried to stand. “And if you hear me out, you might not need one.”

  Kelvin stopped struggling against his restraints and studied the admiral’s face, trying to work out where he was going with this. He eased back into his chair. “Okay, I’m listening.”

  “The information we are about to share with you, Lieutenant Terrence, may never leave this room.”

  Kelvin looked from one to the other expecting to catch another smile, but they appeared to be as serious as ever. “Okay, you have my word.”

  “We know that you and your team didn’t tamper with that fighter.”

  Commander Tassels nodded. “I had a tech team run tests on that footage as soon as we got our hands on it. They confirmed it was a fake, though be it a very clever one. It almost passed their scrutiny.”

  “Then if I may be so bold, sir. Why didn’t you say something?”

  Tassels pursed her lips. “Without getting too deep into the weeds, we couldn’t show our cards.”

  “Your cards? I don’t get it.”

  Admiral Dyson cleared his throat. “We find ourselves caught up in a…game…as you so accurately put it. We have reason to believe that an enemy organization has infiltrated Delta Fleet. We don’t know who they are or what they want, but we’ve been onto them for months now and they haven’t figure it out. We’d like to keep it that way.”

  Kelvin’s mouth hung open. “You mean we’ve got spies on board?”

  “Worse,” Tassels said.

  “Fleet relays by Delta Gate keep picking up strange messages every time a ship comes through. At first, we thought it was just noise, but the comms team noticed a pattern and deciphered the data. Since the signal was old it took some time, but turns out someone’s been sending a message for God knows how long.”

  “What kind of message?” Kelvin wasn’t sure he even wanted to know, but they had made such a big deal out of the whole thing, he couldn’t help but ask.

  Commander Tassels produced a compad and turned it to face Kelvin. With a swipe of her finger, she activated the screen.

  A still image of a strange creature appeared. Kelvin could only descri
be it as a dog with angular features and pointed ears…A fox perhaps. “Mind me asking what that is, sir?”

  “It’s a Vosan,” Tassels explained. “The Drahk wiped most of them out a long time ago, so there aren’t many left. The image was attached to the message. We believe this is the guy responsible for the broadcast. Listen to the message.” She flicked her finger again and blue text appeared on the display.

  The computer read the strange language as it was translated.

  “My name is…well, I go by Fox these days, but that doesn’t really matter. I’m transmitting this message in the hopes that it reaches human space…that it finds the right people.”

  An image of a teenage girl in white rags appeared, replacing the text. The computer continued narrating.

  “This is Doctor Michelle Riley. She was taken from her home…a place she called Gallak Prime.”

  “I’ve been to Gallack Prime for training,” Kelvin whispered.

  “Hush,” Tassels said.

  “She didn’t make it, but I promised to keep sending this message in the hopes that it would reach her parents someday. Please get it to them. To the Riley family…if you’re hearing this…Michelle wanted to let you know that she loved you both dearly and wished she could have seen you one last time before she died. I would have you know that I knew your daughter well. She was one of the most virtuous people I knew. I tried to save her. I failed, but I vowed to avenge her death. May the universe forgive me. This is Fox signing out.”

  “It’s weird alright, but how is it worse than spies?” Kelvin was too tired and hungry to figure it out for himself.

  “That message is only part of the package,” Commander Tassels said. “Something else is embedded in the data. We haven’t been able to decrypt it yet, but we suspect that our enemies on the other side of the gate are using it to communicate with their allies on this side.”

  “You believe this Vosan is helping our enemies?”

  “We don’t think so. We’ve asked our contacts on the other side of the gate,” Commander Tassels continued. “It turns out this Fox character works for some organization that call themselves the Alien Slave Tracking and Relocation Agency. They track down slaves for a fee. It’s nasty work, but a Vosan would never collude with the Drahk. The lizards are the reason they were almost wiped out. Someone else is piggy backing off his broadcast and we need to find out who.”

  “I see…That girl was a human slave then…but how?”

  Admiral Dyson ran his hand through his silver hair. “The Drahk venture into our space from time to time and pick up the odd straggler…taking them back to Drahkonis space. We’ve been handling the problem for years…but it’s a delicate situation. As you can imagine, we want to avoid all-out war with the Drahk.”

  Kelvin nodded. “Of course.”

  “We tracked the signal and sent several probes into the area,” the Commander explained, “but only one made it back through the gate. It was badly damaged, but the techs managed to pull enough data to make a plan.”

  “Plan?” Kelvin asked, not liking where the conversation was going.

  “We’re breaking several international treaties sending those probes,” the admiral said. “But the alternative doesn’t even bare thinking about. As you can imagine the president is eager to keep the Drahk out of human space. These messages hitting our relays put the human-Drahk ceasefire in jeopardy.”

  Commander Tassels brushed a lock of hair out of her eyes. “We need someone to take a stealth ship over there and assess the situation. And while they’re at it, find the source of the broadcast and stop it. We’ve already passed the message onto the girl’s family.”

  “We would also like this person to gather information on the Drahk,” Admiral Dyson added. “The data the probes returned suggests they might be preparing an attack…it could be a false flag, but we need to be sure.”

  “We aren’t sure how yet,” the Commander whispered, “but we believe it ties in with whoever these infiltrators are.”

  Admiral Dyson leaned over the table and lowered his voice. “We believe someone in Delta Fleet is pulling string in the shadows and setting the stage for a Drahk invasion.”

  Kelvin exhaled deeply. “That’s pretty heavy stuff, Admiral, sir. But what do you want me to do about it?”

  “You’ve found yourself in a sticky situation…through no fault of your own, I might add. As things stand, we can’t make it go away. But if you help us uncover what’s going on here, we’ll be able to clear your name for sure. Whoever arranged that video stunt wanted us to lose face before the Fleet Council. To diminish our influence. It’s part of a plan to take control of the Council…a political game if you will. With the Council under their control, the enemy would have free-reign over the Delta Gate. They could let anyone through. If the Drahk were ever allowed free travel, there’s nothing humanity’s forces could do to stop them.”

  “I understand,” Kelvin said, getting the gist of it. “But what I don’t get is…how am I supposed to help? I’m just a pilot who can’t even win a damned tournament.”

  “But you did win…we know you did, and that’s why we chose you. We want to send the best pilot we’ve got into Drahk space for reconnaissance. If we can locate the source of the message, we’ll stand a chance at deciphering the enemy’s data. If we can intercept their communications without them knowing, we’ll be able to strike back.”

  “But why me?” Kelvin didn’t want to throw away his get-out-of-jail-free card, but he didn’t want to walk blindly into something so critical. “You’ve got plenty of pilots with more field experience than me.”

  “Don’t you see?” Admiral Dyson said. “If we use a service pilot, the spies will figure out what we’re up to. However, no one will suspect a pilot who’s been discharged from Delta Fleet.”

  “Discharged?”

  Commander Tassels pushed the compad toward Kelvin. “If you sign this, you can avoid a public hearing and walk away with no other questions asked. That way, you can fly under the radar.”

  “But what will people think? My family…” He stared into nothing as he imagined his mother’s reaction. He’d come from a long line of service men and woman. His family would be ashamed of him.

  “It’ll sting for sure. At least at first,’ Admiral Dyson said. “But once you’ve successfully completed the mission, we can clear your name. We’ll root out the infiltrators and turn it back on them. You’ll be a true hero.”

  “And those twenty-five thousand credits will be nothing compared to the reward you’ll receive when you see the mission through,” Tassels added as though trying to sweeten the deal.

  Kelvin had to admit it was an attractive proposition. “I’ll need to think about it for a while,” he said, taking the compad.

  Commander Tassels put her finger down on the pad, stopping it from sliding any closer, her strength impressive. “We don’t have time for you to think about it, Lieutenant. We need to act now. Strike while the iron is hot. I’ve got a meeting later today about securing the prototype ship we’ll need to get you in undetected. Before we walk out of this room, we need to know if you’re in or out.” She removed her finger from the compad.

  Kelvin stared at it, unmoving. He decided not to ask what would happen if he said he was out. They would lock him away…or worse. They couldn’t have someone with that kind of information walking around free. They’d cornered him, and they knew it.

  “Consider it a sacrifice for the good of mankind,” Admiral Dyson said. “A sacrifice you will be paid for handsomely in due course.”

  He hated the thought of being in the admiral’s pocket, but throwing such an opportunity away would be stupid. And it wasn’t like they’d left him any other choice.

  All he had to do was fly a ship into enemy territory, gather information, and return to base. He’d done that countless times before, even if it had mostly been part of flight training. He sighed. “Okay, I’ll do it.”

  He held his hand against the compad as it to
ok a reading. Once confirmed, he signed the dotted line.

  As soon as his finger lifted off the display, Commander Tassels snatched the compad from the table with a smile.

  Admiral Dyson bowed his head. “I’m glad we could come to an agreement.”

  More like you coerced me into joining your damn scheme. He could hardly say it out loud. “Of course, sir. Thank you for the opportunity to clear my name.”

  “You won’t regret it.”

  Tassels thumbed toward the door. “Officer Tully will return for you soon. He’ll bring your orders and something to eat.”

  “I can tell you don’t like all of this,” Admiral Dyson said, pausing. “But you’ll come to understand in time. The galaxy might never know you as a Delta Games champion, but they will know you as the pilot who prevented a terrible war.”

  “That would be…something, sir.” Kelvin did like the sound of that.

  Admiral Dyson scratched his beard. “We’ve already dallied too long. We have places to be and people to see. An admiral’s work is never done.” Without another word he turned and walked out the door.

  Tassels gave Kelvin a smile before turning to follow, the compad tucked securely under her arm.

  “You forgot your recorder,” he said, pointing to the sphere on the table.

  “Oh, yes. Silly me,” she said, walking back and snatching the device from the table. She looked him in the eyes, her features almost soft and caring. “It’s not a recorder. It’s a signal jammer. To make sure no one was listening in on our conversation.”

  “This enemy you speak of…they have people so close to the brig?”

  “Ah, so naïve. Sometimes I wish I could be your age again…when everything was so fresh and new. As Admiral Dyson explained…there is more of a need for security aboard the Atticus than we would like.”

  The Commander chuckled and spun on her heels. The door snapped shut behind her, and just like that, they were gone, leaving Kelvin alone in the cold room with a flood of questions and few answers.

  His stomach growled again.

  At least they’d promised to feed him soon.