The Final Battle

“It’s hard to mimic. No, we’re Feds.”

“Feds?” Horda’s eyes widened. “In that case you’d better tell me what this is all about, Johannes.” He stopped and stared at Michael for a moment. “Wait,” he went on. “Smuts isn’t your real name, is it?”

Michael grinned. “No, it’s not. I’m Michael Helfort,” he said.

“The Michael Helfort? I thought you looked familiar, but I just couldn’t work out why. I’ve seen you on the news. Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

“I am.”

“What the hell is going on?”

“Sit back and I’ll tell you as much as I can,” Michael replied.

“… and like I say, I’m sorry we have to destroy your ship, but given what’s at stake, I don’t think I can afford to be too sentimental.”

“Easy for you to say,” Horda muttered; his eyes shimmered with unshed tears. “I’ve been Starlight’s captain for twenty-two years. I hate the thought of what you want to do to her.” He paused for a moment, then took a deep breath. “You know the worst of it?”

“No, what?”

“I’m Scobie’s born and bred. I loved the place … once. But now?” He shook his head. “I hate it. I’ve watched the Hammers turn the place into a cesspit with their corruption and sleaze. I never go dirtside anymore. This-” He waved a hand around the saloon’s well-worn paneling. “-is our home now.”

“You said ‘our.’ Your first mate and chief engineer; they feel the same way you do?”

“They do. We might not own the Starlight …”

Thank goodness for that, Michael thought. I feel guilty enough as it is.

“… and I know she’s old and might not look much to you, but this is our home, and now you want to destroy it.”

“I wish there was-”

Horda put a hand up to stop Michael. “You don’t have to say it, son. If it’s any comfort, I hate the Hammer too. Doesn’t stop the hurt, though.”

Michael nodded; he did not trust himself to speak.

“So,” Horda went on, “what’s the plan and how can we help?”

Michael stared at the man. “Help?” he said. “You want to help?”

Horda shrugged. “Why not? I can’t change anything, and to be honest-” He looked around. “-maybe it’s time I moved on. Matrix was taken over last year, and the new owners are way too close to the Hammers for my liking.”

“How does the rest of the crew feel?”

“Marty hates the management. They think he spends too much on the old girl. It’s bullshit, of course. He only spends what he needs to keep her safe, but they don’t see it that way. Money’s all those bastards care about. They’ve been making his life a misery.”

“What about Rajiv?”

“He’ll go with the flow. Always has.”

“So what will you do?”

“It’s strange, you know,” Horda said, looking away at something that existed only in his mind. “We were talking about that only the other day. We’d just done a run to Vatuna-6. Nice place. Lots of jobs for guys like us … and no Hammers within hundreds of light-years. So who knows, we might go there.”

“Well, I hope it works out for you.”

“It will. Not sure about you guys, though. I’ve heard a lot of dumb ideas in my time, but what you want to do is just plain crazy.”

“Needs must, Captain. Believe me, if there was another way, I wouldn’t be here now.”

“And what makes you think what you’re doing will work for you?” Horda asked.

Why is the bastard looking so smug all of a sudden? Michael wondered with a twinge of concern. “Oh, don’t worry; it will,” he replied, forcing himself to sound both relaxed and confident.

Horda shook his head. “I’m sure that’s what Kalkuz told you, but did the asshole tell you that Matrix ships have a backup protocol to validate all changes of command?”

I don’t like the sound of this, Michael thought, concern turning to alarm. “What backup protocol?”

“Oh, dear.” Horda shook his head. “Kalkuz is not a man you can trust. I could have told you that.”

“Don’t screw me around,” Michael spit. “If you’ve got something to tell me, then tell me.”

“You have to repeat the entire process within two hours. If you don’t, you’re locked out and stay locked out. The Starlight will only do what we tell it to do.”

“Shit!”

“And it gets worse. Next time we drop into normalspace, the ship automatically broadcasts a message telling every man and his dog there’s been an attempted hijack. That will bring the cavalry, I would think. Let me see … yes, our next drop is when we cross Brooks Reef, so it’ll be the Hammers who turn up.”

Michael’s guts had turned to ice. He cursed his stupidity. Not only had Horda just blown his last chance to get back to Commitment clean out of the water, now he knew more about his plans than he should. If Horda opened his mouth …

“Now, young man,” Horda went on. “We have eleven minutes left before you lose control of the Starlight forever, so-”

“If you fuck me around,” Michael snarled, “I will kill you and the rest of your crew. There’s way too much at stake here.”

“I’m not sure you’re the natural-born killer you’re pretending to be, but noted,” Horda said; he did not look even slightly concerned.

“Captain!”

“Oh, all right. I’d like to help any way I can. Of course, that means you have to trust me, but since I have you by the balls, I don’t think you can afford not to, do you?”

“You’re enjoying this.”

“Oh, I am, but only because I don’t like people taking my ship away from me. No, no.” Horda’s hand had gone up to forestall Michael’s angry response. “I understand why it’s necessary, I really do, so don’t waste time repeating yourself.”

“Fine.” Michael tried to keep the desperation out of his voice. “Give me a minute, Captain.”

He stepped outside the saloon and put a comm through to Shinoda. “You following this?” he asked her when she came online. The tension on her face was obvious.

“I am.”

“Talk to Kalkuz. Ask him if the old buzzard is lying and if there are any more protocols we should know about. Tell him that I’ll dump him out the airlock unless he’s straight with us.”

“Wait one.”

Shinoda was gone less than a minute. “He swears Horda’s telling the truth, but there is a duress code word as well.”

“Which is?”

“It’s ‘ultimate’ in lowercase. You need to key that in as well, and the ship really is ours.”

“Got it.” Michael stepped back into the saloon. “Let’s go,” he said.

With ten minutes to go, an icon in the center of the command console’s holovid screen was flashing a lurid red. “Now what?” Michael asked Horda.

“I have to enter the command authority code, then do the DNA and retina checks.”

“Do it.”

When Horda finished, the icon vanished and the screen went blank. I’ll give you another ten seconds to tell me about the duress code, Michael thought, and then I will kill-