Captain James Heron: First into the Fray: Prequel to Harry Heron: Into the Unknown of the Harry Heron Series Read online

“Lights,” he ordered. He frowned as he recalled the dream. The horse had been in full gallop, saddled and bridled, with the reins trailing as it hurled itself across a strange landscape. He’d not seen it in his dreams like this before. Saddled and bridled, yes, when his parents were dying, but never in this wild gallop as if it were pursued by some unseen predator.

  He checked the time and reached for his comlink. He entered his passcode ID and activated the private tracking feature that he and his wife shared.

  “Where is Veronique now?” he asked the link.

  “Your wife is currently in the XRE Laboratories on Tobit, the moon orbiting Serengetia, Captain.”

  “Damn.” He hesitated. “Get me a hyperlink connection to Dr Veronique Heron please. Immediate. Top priority.” With luck he could persuade her to get the hell away from the lab and away from that planet. Sleep was now impossible, so he set to work preparing his course exercise for the coming day. Damn, why couldn’t the coms system put him in touch with her? Was it already too late?

  Veronique Heron studied the results of her latest analysis. These creatures were stranger than anyone had realised. Their venom was easily the most complex she’d ever seen, and their biology was even more bizarre. She tapped her tablet to read a report from the examination team. This was her third time perusing it because it didn’t make sense to her logical mind. What they reported should be impossible, yet they had the record to support their findings. The creature could stiffen its tentacles and use them as legs. It could run at speeds and jump to heights that easily outpaced even the most athletic human.

  “Are you sure of these results, Russ?” she asked her assistant. “They say this Teuthida creature can administer its venom by simple touch. No penetration? No bite?”

  “We’ve not found any sort of stinger or fangs, Veronique. As soon as it touches the target prey, that’s it. Done and dead.”

  She stared at her analysis of the venom again. “Damn, I wish Dr Tanha would get here. We need his expertise on this.” She stood, stretched, and found herself looking at one of the creatures through the thick armoured glass screen. Against all possibility, the creature stared back. The glass was one direction only, or at least it should be. The creature should see nothing but a blank wall.

  “Russ? Look at this. Just stand next to me and tell me what you see.”

  He joined her at the screen. “What am I supposed to be looking for? Oh, wow, that’s creepy. It’s watching us, but that’s not possible—is it?”

  “If its eyes function as ours do, it can’t see us, but maybe we’ve just discovered something about these creatures.” She waved her tablet at arm’s length. They both watched as the malevolent eyes followed the movement, then snapped back to make direct eye contact with them.

  “Okay, now we really have something unusual.” Veronique turned as the door opened and the lab protection supervisor entered. “Dr Jorgen, I’m glad you’re here. I think we have a problem. Our subject appears to be watching us. I thought the screen was completely opaque from that side.”

  “It is.” He joined Veronique to study the creature in its enclosure. “Yes, I see what you mean.” He frowned. “I’ll have to look into this. What wavelengths does it see?”

  “Essentially the same as the human eye, as far as we’re able to determine.” Veronique felt a shiver. “I think my team need to get onto this, Dr Jorgen. Clearly we’re missing something in our assessment of this creature.” Her link chirped. “Damn. I have to run. I’ve a hyperlink call coming in. Russ, set up a team session for the morning. Include Naz if he gets here in time.”

  “No, James! No! This is the most amazing project! I won’t drop everything and leave it so that everyone else gets the credit. I’ve done most of the research!” Veronique saw the expression on her husband’s face. “I know you’re worried, my love, but we’re perfectly safe. The lab has so many protection systems it’s almost impossible to work, and I won’t go planet side.”

  “I’m worried that you’ve got a live one of these creatures anywhere near you.” James Heron tried to drop his command tone as he continued. “You know what happened to the original exploration team. One of these damned squid beasts got into their autonomous survey vehicle, and when they recovered the vehicle, there was blood splattered—”

  “James, I know all about that! It can’t happen here, I assure you. Dr Jorgen has designed and installed just about the most escape-proof specimen containment I’ve ever seen.” She hesitated, remembering how the creature watch her, but there was no way she was telling her husband that. “These are amazing creatures, absolutely amazing, and they show signs they’re very intelligent.” She put on her appealing face. “I simply must carry my current research through to completion, James. I promise I’ll take care, and I’m getting the best medical attention available anywhere.”

  “Sweetheart, please. Let someone else take this on. You can always do your part of the analysis from Earth.” He hesitated. “I really think this dream visit from the horse means you’re in serious danger—”

  “Ugh, you Irishmen with your sixth sense dreams! No, James. It isn’t that easy. We have to find out a great deal more about these creatures. This planet is perfect for human colonisation in just about every way except one—these squid creatures. If we can find a way to negate their toxicity and perhaps live alongside them, it could be of huge benefit. We might even find a way to use them as pest control, as an example, like how barn cats keep the mouse population under control.”

  James tried hard not to snort at that suggestion, which seemed a bit too optimistic based on what he knew of this creature. But he recognised the obstinate expression in his wife’s face and tone. It didn’t help that she really was interested in her work, and she truly believed that humanity could, one day, through efforts like hers and other researchers, find a way to live on new worlds and have a minimal impact on the ecosystem of each unique planet. He gave it one more try.

  “My darling, there will be other worlds and other more exotic creatures to study.”

  “No, James, there won’t be. I’m pregnant, remember? By the time our child is old enough for schooling, I’ll have been out of the field long enough to be out of date, or at least, no longer at the top of the game. That’s even assuming I’ll want to leave our child at home while I go off to the next discovery.” She paused as her link chirped. “I promise I’ll take extra care. I’ve got to go. I’ll give you a call as soon as I’m free. Love you.” And with that, she was gone.

  The squid-like Teuthida watched and waited. Satisfied that its prey were otherwise occupied and unaware, it located the opening that the biped had created while its companions were absent. Exploring it with incredible thoroughness, it slowly worked itself into the tight confines of the tube then extruded itself through the first set of hindrances. Like the earthly cephalopods it resembled, it was able to fit its entire bulk into extremely small and awkward spaces.

  The smell alerted the occupants of the lab that something was wrong.

  “Where the hell is that stink coming from?” Veronique wrinkled her nose.

  “Look out!” Dr Tanha shouted. “It’s above us!”

  Veronique felt a strange touch on the top of her head and collapsed, her response dying with her. The creature struck twice more, and Nazirim Tanha and another died before Russ was able to activate the alarm and seal the lab, but he died moments later.

  The alarm blared throughout the complex, a jarring, bone-rattling sound that sent everyone running.

  Dr Jorgen, aka Heimdall, checked his schematic and allowed himself the briefest smile before joining the response team. It took him a matter of seconds to confirm that the occupants of the lab were dead. Of the creature itself there was no immediate sign. One of the response team moved to deactivate the alarm and unseal the lab.

  “Wait!” Dr Jorgen ordered. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with here.” He searched the security monitor for any indication of where the creature might be hiding, glad
they had the lab wall, the sealed doors, and the radiation shields between himself and the laboratory. Just when he decided the room was clear, he caught a distinct movement in the peripheral edges of the monitor. Hold steady, he said to himself inwardly.

  A security guard saw it on the monitor too. “Bloody hell! How’d it get out?”

  “We’ll worry about that once we’ve dealt with it,” snapped the doctor. He stared at the malevolent eyes watching him and his team through the wall between him and the laboratory. “Kill it. Vent the atmosphere. It can’t survive in a vacuum, and the doctor and her team can’t get any worse. They’re dead and gone. The rest of you, suit up. As soon as it’s immobilised, go in and burn the bloody thing.”

  Captain James Heron placed the small posy of flowers on the grave, his face giving nothing away. His sister, Niamh, and her husband, Theo L’Estrange, watched in wordless silence. Niamh recognised the anger her brother nursed. The last six months had been difficult, to say the very least, and it wasn’t over yet. The circumstances that had allowed the creature to attack her had been the subject of a protracted lawsuit that was eventually settled out of court. He’d put the money into a trust dedicated to supporting promising students in need of assistance. James had accepted the out of court compensation package on the advice of Theo and a team of Fleet advocates, but he was very tight-lipped about some briefings he’d received from someone very high up in Fleet Security.

  He turned from the grave and nodded to Theo and Niamh. “Thanks for all your support and help. I don’t think I could’ve made it these last six months without you. I suppose I should take some consolation in the fact that Veronique died doing what she loved, but I just can’t.” He stopped, his face hard. “I just can’t accept that, and one of these days I will get a copy of her research on the creature that killed her. She wasn’t happy that the Johnstone Research Group had taken over the company. I’m beginning to understand why.”

  Niamh hugged her brother in a long, comforting embrace. “I know, James, and I feel your pain. It’s just too horrible for words, and damned unfair.”

  Theo gripped James’s shoulder. “At least Serengetia is now a completely quarantined world. We have Veronique and her team to thank for protecting all future colonists from the propaganda the Consortium put out for so many years about this being a habitable planet. She did humanity a great service.

  “She did,” said James. It was some consolation, but why did his wife have to be the guinea pig?

  An investigation had revealed that the IPM had tried to set up a mining operation there on the quiet. It had to be abandoned after their pilot team were killed by these creatures, and their hope of using remote mining units controlled from orbit was abandoned after the creatures somehow managed to modify one of the ore shuttles and get aboard the station.

  Niamh slipped her hand under James’s elbow. “Let’s try to put this behind us for now, James. Let’s go home and have a good dinner together. We can set the world to rights another day.”

  James nodded and patted his sister’s hand. “A wise suggestion, but I want you both to know that I won’t let go of this. There’s something ugly behind this whole scheme. It’ll be exposed eventually, and I plan to do my bit as a Captain of the Fleet to bring the guilty party to justice. Besides which, I owe it to Veronique. I think the Admiral has me in mind to lead the charge in this as well, at least according to his most recent letter to me. I’m to meet with him next week. In the meantime, take care of yourselves. I’ve the Fleet watching my back, but you two are a lot more exposed.”

  Chapter 2

  The Plans of Mice and Men

  “The Admiral is expecting you, Captain.”

  The SU gleamed, and James Heron, Captain, North European Confederation Fleet, smiled as he admired the decidedly feminine curves of the titanium alloy android unit. He glanced at ‘her’ unit identifier, noting that it bore the usual numbers and alphabetic glyphs, but it had an additional identifier proclaiming that the unit was named Nadine. He smiled, remembering the family android—a much older and less sophisticated version of this one—that he and his sister had dubbed Herbert.

  “Thank you, Nadine,” he responded, and noted that the SU appeared pleased by his use of her name. It prompted him to wonder if the AI built into these service unit androids could develop a personality. Herbert certainly had done so.

  Nadine escorted Captain Heron the short walk down the corridor to the Admiral’s office. When the door opened, the Admiral stood and stepped around his desk to greet them.

  “James, take a seat. Nadine, send a steward with coffee for us please, and no interruptions until we’re done.” He shook hands with the tall Captain and gestured toward a pair of leather chairs. “First, let me offer my condolences, James. The death of your wife was a shock to everyone.”

  “Thank you, sir. At least it was quick. The venom of the species she was studying is fatal and near instantaneous to humans in its impact. Veronique would have had time only to register the sting.” He didn’t mention that Fleet Security believed her death to be collateral damage. Her assistant, Dr Tanha, had been the target of an assassination contract with the shadowy group known as The Pantheon, though the circumstances made it very difficult to prove.

  “You’ve no children, I believe?” asked the Admiral.

  “None, sir.” James Heron smiled wistfully. “Between my career and hers, we never quite got round to it.” He kept to himself the knowledge that his wife was pregnant at the time of her death. Now he would never know the unique individual their child would have become.

  James Heron settled into the comfortable leather chair. “You’ve a ship for me, sir?”

  “We have, James, brand new—still in build—and the most powerful ship we’ve ever built.” The Vice Admiral waited as the android steward placed a tray with two cups, creamer and coffee pot on the table. After the unit withdrew, he continued. “She will be a beauty, a massive step forward, but there are a few problems to overcome with the build.”

  “Technical, sir, or something else?”

  “Humph. Both.” The Admiral paused. “What I am about to tell you is very sensitive information. It will not appear in any briefing note or orders. We think we have a major problem, and it’s directly related to the privatisation of WeapTech and the Fleet Building Docks.”

  The Captain’s brow creased with concern as he nodded in recollection. “My brother-in-law Theo mentioned something about supply problems as well as increased costs being imposed on existing contracts. And I hear there are a number of problems with maintenance and refits as well.”

  “There are, and that is just the tip of the iceberg according to what we’ve uncovered thus far.” Taking a sip of his coffee, the Admiral replaced the cup and leaned back. “Have you heard of an outfit called the Interplanetary Development Consortium?”

  “They were in the news recently. Ah, yes, I recall the specifics now. They’re developing a couple of distant planets into colony worlds, and just got authority and contracts to provide the support services and security for several more. Theo mentioned them. He tells me they are a very questionable organisation—legitimate on paper and in appearance, but some of their activities are a source of concern in some circles, and they are involved behind the scenes in a lot of things they shouldn’t have their hands in. They claim they’re unconnected to any of the companies running our facilities, but Theo tells me that some of the board members of the IPC are also on the boards of DockCorp, SecuriCorp and several more supposedly unconnected companies.”

  “Sounds like you’ve been well-informed.” The Admiral leaned back. “There are links within links, and nobody in Fleet Security is completely certain who is working for who, but we will find out. It’s a very tricky situation, and you’re going to be the man in the hot seat, I’m afraid. Your ship is both the lightning rod and the prize in this.”

  Ari Mutada Khamenei stroked the polished surface of the conference table in what could almost be called a lovin
g gesture. He had a weakness for the best of everything, but didn’t realise how obvious he was about it. This made him seem somewhat pathetic and desperate to the more observant members of his Board, yet they also recognized the danger. You crossed or defied him at your peril. He smiled at them, if it could be called that, and they turned their perfectly composed and expectant faces toward him while they waited for the android stewards to place a water flask, drinking glass and small bowl of bonbons next to each attendee.

  If Chairman Khamenei had been as observant of them as they were of him, he would’ve detected that his Board members watched him in much the same manner that a mouse watches a cat and scurries out of harm’s way just before the deadly pounce.

  He smiled again, a peculiarly predatory smile that failed to reach his eyes. “Welcome, my friends. Shall we begin? We have a full agenda to discuss, and I have some good news for you under item four.” He looked at the man seated to his left. “Have the minutes been circulated, Ashworth?”

  “Yes, Chairman, and acknowledged as read by the Board.”

  “Excellent. I will address the matters arising then.”

  A Board Member cleared his throat.

  “Yes, Mr Jaffray?”

  “Chairman, please pardon the interruption, but I must point out that I don’t see a mention on the agenda of the settler unrest on Pangaea. That’s a fairly major problem we’re having right now, and—”

  “It’s being dealt with by Ms Ceasescu and the head of our security team there. The Board need not trouble themselves over it.”

  Seeing the Chairman’s challenging expression, the Director of Mining and Resource Acquisition shuffled his papers and nodded his acceptance of the dismissal. Only a fool challenged Ari Khamenei without the support of the other members present. Khamenei had risen to his current position through sheer ruthlessness, and everyone knew it. Those who failed to take a warning generally did not remain members of the Board or hold their Directorships for very long afterward. The Consortium existed largely for one purpose only, to ensure that the resources of any new worlds came into the hands of, and remained in the control of, the men and women at this table.