Page 61 of Vindicated

Zarn

“Report, battle chief,” Dawz said as he strode onto the command deck.

I turned, then reminded myself that he was now Raas and belatedly snapped my heels together. “No sign of any Zagrath ships, although we did pick up a strange vessel a few clicks from us.”

We were still adjusting to our new roles, but it had been smoother than I’d expected. Serving under Dawz was less fraught than serving under my brother, even if simply for the fact that we did not default to the easiest ways to torment each other.

Things with Lorken were also better, partly because he was too happy to find fault with me and partly because we were separated by a great distance. Even so, our last vid calls had bordered on pleasant. It helped that Athena was skilled at keeping the peace between us and had become an unexpectedally for me. Saving her might have been the best thing I’d yet done. Not that I would tell that to her or Lorken anytime soon.

I snapped back to reality, aware that Raas Dawz had asked me a question. I blinked at him.

“How is the vessel strange?” he repeated, showing much greater restraint than my brother would have.

I walked to the nearest open console and swiped my fingers across the smooth, black screen. “For one, it is an old ship.”

He followed me and glanced at the readouts. “Not Zagrath?”

I shook my head. “No, although that doesn’t mean they aren’t working for the enemy.”

Dawz grunted. “You would think captains would have learned the danger in working for the Empire.”

I made a disapproving noise in the back of my throat. “Once we decimated the Zagrath back during the time of the Raas brothers, we stopped hunting down ships aligned with the enemy.”

“Because there was no functional Empire to be aligned with.”

I gave him a side-eye look. “So we thought.” I pulled up a star chart marking new Zagrath outposts and colonies. “But we took our foot off their throats and look what happened.”

He clasped his hands behind his back. “Are you suggesting that this strange ship might be supporting the Zagrath?”

I thought about the outdated vessel and how it had been flying just slow enough not to attract notice. I had no evidence, but my gut told me that it was no innocent transport vessel. “I am.”

Dawz nodded slowly. “Then bring us closer but keep us invisible.”

My pulse quickened as we adjusted course. I felt sure I would be proven right when we discovered that the unusual ship was an enemy supply ship or maybe even a weapons runner.

“Within visual range, Raas,” our navigational officer said.

Dawz returned to his post overlooking the command deck. “On screen.”

Our view of space vanished, replaced by a live image of the ship we were tracking. I’d known the vessel was old, but I hadn’t been prepared for how run-down it would look. The blocky hull was dingy and dented, with metal patches crudely soldered on. My confidence that this was a gun runner instantly died. No weapons dealer would be caught dead in such a clunky ship.

“Thoughts, battle chief?” Dawz asked.

My thoughts were barely fit to express out loud. “It’stvekkingspace trash.”

“But it is strange.” Dawz rocked back on his heels as he kept his gaze locked on the ship belching fumes from its exhaust. “If I didn’t know how arrogant the Zagrath were, I would suspect this is a decoy of some kind.”

My instincts sharpened. He was right. The most remarkable thing about the ship was that it was so unremarkable. “Scan the vessel. I want to know what she’s carrying.”

“Scanning,” one of our officers said, his fingers flying across his console. Then he squinted, blinked a few times and tapped more furiously at his screen.

“What have you found?” I asked.

“That’s what’s odd, battle chief.” The Vandar looked up, his brow creased. “I can find no cargo, only life signs.”

“No cargo?” I asked. “None?”

“How many life signs?” Dawz asked.