Outfield Shift
“I thought we’d have at least a week,” I complained.
“So did everyone else,” Serral said. “You aren’t the only consideration involved. Make no mistake, this is an answer to Korbanok. Going after you is a bonus for them, I’m sure.”
Listening to the Jackie Robinson ’s cabin, it would be easy to think we were being glib. An armada big enough to blockade an entire moon was headed our way and I was whining like a brat.
Out loud, we were talking casually in defiance of every military disciplinary tradition. Our psionic channels told the real story. Serral had decided to reserve psionic communication for the crew’s orders. All told, there were a number of advantages to that.
Serral asked.
Nai said.
Our ship’s fusion engines were primed and ready. The ship’s air envelope had been trimmed to match the profile of the hull. Being nonessential to our launch, the fabricator wasn’t fully integrated yet, but it was aboard at least.
The Jackie Robinson would be launching any moment now.
Was there anyone I hadn’t gotten to say goodbye to? We’d be staying in contact with Laranta as long as we were in this system, and almost everyone else on Lakandt I might contact was on the ship with me.
Some of my bodyguards?
They were good people, but we weren’t particularly close. I’d been an assignment for most of them.
Maybe Tiv, and the Adepts in our workshop.
I knew why I hadn’t talked to them though. It would have meant talking more about Nora’s departure.
I might still run into some of them on Draylend. Troops were being relocated and shuffled between the Coalition controlled moons in anticipation of the Vorak fleet bearing down on us.
“Captain,” Weith said, removing his earpiece. “Ground crew is acting skittish. Could you pull rank?”
Serral tapped a button on the comm station, letting us all hear.
“This is Ase Serralintus, what is the problem?”
“Err… Ase, some of the ground crew are…nervous about what the Vorak broadcast said,” the voice on the other end said shakily. “We…we don’t want to abet a reploid incident.”
“Your objections are noted,” Serral said. “Your orders are to launch. Carry them out.”
“…Yes, Ase,” the voice said reluctantly. “Launch in…ninety seconds.”
A flicker of anger went through me. My professional pride was wounded by Marshal Tispas speaking so confidently about which he knew nothing.
I gestured for the radio, and Weith passed it to me.
“If it makes you feel any better, we’re not going to a Beacon. This is a diplomatic mission and we’re flying to Draylend to avoid the worst of the fighting,” I said.
“But…was the Marshal telling the truth?”
“No,” I said, rolling my eyes. “Psionics exist, yes. And they can be dangerous. But he doesn’t have a way to make psionics safe. They can’t even prove if they’re dangerous to Beacons.”
“Are they?” the Casti asked.
I shrugged. “Honestly? I don’t know. And that’s really why the rak are lying. Because they don’t know either.”
It was easy to say that. But I was getting a nagging feeling in my gut.
Nora had clearly shared information about psionics with Tispas. That posed so many problems all on its own, but the Marshal’s reaction was worrying.
I would have expected the message to relax, if only slightly, upon receiving new information. But Tispas had doubled down on his theory instead.
Was Laranta right? As a propaganda measure, it was devastating. One soldier had already hesitated to help us launch, and it even had me doubting myself.
But if there really was something to Tispas’s fears, why wouldn’t they share any evidence?
“If there’s nothing else?” Serral snapped irritably.
“No, Ase,” the operator said. “CS Jackie Robinson is cleared for liftoff. Projectors are ready to follow your vector, awaiting your go.”
“Copy,” Weith said, from the pilot’s seat. “Firing in four, three, two—”
The roar of the engines drowned out any voices. But our psionic channels could overwrite the deafening.
<—one,> Weith finished.
Ten people were pressed into our chairs while our rocket accelerated upward. With the gravitational assist, we didn’t experience more than half a G for the first few minutes of flight. But once we cleared a higher orbit, Weith opened up the ship’s throttles and we rocketed toward Draylend.
An ordinary trip would have gently accelerated for the first half before flipping the rocket to slow down the same way. But we needed to get to the other Coalition moon immediately. So we were accelerating harder, and shorter so we could build up speed early.
Half an hour off the ground, we finally lessened our acceleration to half a G, and we could finally move around the ship.
Because of the incoming Vorak fleet, we were forced to take the long way around Paris. Total flight time would be close to twelve hours.
Our ship actually had a decent angle to report on the direction and numbers of the incoming Red Sails fleet. Serral stayed on the radio the whole time, relaying information back to Larnata on the ground.
“Why are the Vorak still this focused on Caleb?” Tasser asked. “If Nora told them about you sharing psionics, then isn’t any psionic-equipped alien a target?”
“Who knows?” I said. “Maybe Nora didn’t share all that much yet. Or Tispas didn’t get the message.”
“Nora’s hand was definitely in that announcement,” Nai observed. “Tispas just gave the whole star system a reason to be afraid of killing you. She really did bargain for your life.”
“Good for her,” I grumbled. “But I don’t plan on giving them an opportunity to make good on that.”
“…What if Nora isn’t good enough at psionics?” Tasser asked.
“What do you mean?”
“What if that’s why the Vorak are still focused on you? What if Nora can’t definitively figure out if the Beacons are vulnerable to psionics? What if she can’t answer the questions Tispas has?” Tasser asked. “You said she’s good, but I have a hard time believing you aren’t better.”
“She made a superconstruct,” I said. “She’s…very good.”
I wanted to say she was as good as me, but that professional pride was prickling again. I’d put blood and sweat into figuring out this thing that no one else had. I wanted to hold onto that.
“Her superconstruct isn’t about connecting like yours is,” Nai reminded me. “It’s function could be different enough that it’s misleading. Even if she made a super-psionic, she might not have the same underpinning skills you do.”
“I appreciate the thought, but you’re reaching,” I said. “There’s a much simpler explanation very in line with the Red Sails priorities so far.
“Tispas isn’t concerned about just psionics anymore,” I continued. “There are poisons and illnesses back on Earth that are only dangerous when combined. I’m willing to bet he’s found Nora’s psionics to be safe, but he’s going to construe that mine are still dangerous. He doesn’t think all psionics can knock out Beacons, just mine.”
“He could also just be interested in you to deny a strategic Coalition asset,” Nai said. “This thought-plague warning gives potent cover for something like that.”
“Bringing us full circle to ‘does it matter?’ They’re coming, and I’m somewhere on their list of priorities. So let’s just go anywhere else…” I said.
“The three of us, fleeing a Vorak response to Korbanok, an ill-defined destination, and only partially functioning transportation…” Tasser said. “Kinda seems familiar, doesn’t it?”
“Feels like we’re missing people,” Nai said. “Nemuleki. Lorel too.”
“Seems like an unfair comparison too,” I said. “The Jack might still need work, but it’s hardly a dingy mountain truck.”
“I couldn’t believe that vehicle didn’t die on us,” Tasser said. “We got very lucky, staying ahead of the Vorak like we did.”
“Well here’s hoping we can get lucky again,” I spat. There were only so many times we’d be able to duck Tispas’s search.
“It’s not impossible,” Nai pointed out. “There’s no way the Vorak don’t know you’ve been moved, but they’re going to have no idea where. It leaves them with two whole moons to search. That should buy us a few days, at least, if not weeks.”
“Where are we actually headed?” I asked.
“Coskit Base,” Tasser said. “We’re definitely trying to hide more than we are trying to dig in. It’s a spaceport attached to a tiny little colony near Draylend’s north pole.”
“It’s not particularly defensible,” Nai said. “But it also makes it a super low priority target.”
·····
Nai, of course, jinxed us. Or maybe it was Tasser, talking about how lucky we’d already gotten.
An hour away from Draylend’s surface, we got the bad news.
Serral sent abruptly.
Weith and Fenno were looking at the ship’s scopes when we climbed up into the top of the rocket.
“” Serral said, relaying the words to everyone on board too.
“” Nai asked, instantly.
“” Fenno reported. “
”
“” Serral fumed.
“”
I whispered to Tasser.
he explained.
“” Serral asked.
“” Weith reported. “”
“”
“” Fenno said. “”
“” Nai realized.
“” Serral agreed. “”
“” Nai asked.
“” Serral prompted.
Shinshay replied, from elsewhere in the rocket. ,
“” Serral observed. “”
Shinshay said.
Serral asked.
Shinshay said, psionically prodding at Tasser and Weith for help.
“” Weith relayed.
“” Serral asked.
Tasser confirmed.
“” Serral grimaced. “”
“” she said.
“”
Nai gave me a questioning glance. She didn’t have to put it into words.
I nodded.
“” she said. “”
Serral did not miss Nai’s meaning.
“ “
“” she said simply. “”
“<…We might be able to divert some of the Adept units to Coskit,>” Serral said. “”
“” I proposed. “”
Tasser said.
“” Nai said. “”
“<…Give me a tactical plan then,>” he said.
“” Nai suggested. “”
“<...Which plays to our conditions,>” Serral nodded. “”
“”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
“<…Will Coskit be able to replace the drop pod?>” Serral asked.
Tasser said.
I could see on his face, Serral wasn’t going to go for it. Nai did too.
“”
“<…And we couldn’t have even stayed in High Harbor,>” Serral spat. “
“” Serral asked me.
“” I said. “”
Ase Serralinitus, Captain of the Jackie Robinson, gave me a fearful look. I’d gotten good at reading the alien facial expressions of Casti, but even if I hadn’t, I’d recognize the look in his eyes anywhere.
He had no choice. Every option in front of him just plain sucked.
“” he ordered.
·····
In no time at all, our pod plunged toward Draylend, with Nai, Tasser, and I strapped in.
Nai coached.
I said.
she warned.
I said, deadly serious.
Nai ordered.
I asked.
Tasser agreed.
Nai prompted.
I said.
<…Yeah,> Tasser said. 
