Spoiler alert: This is the first draft of the ninth book in the Reckless Faith series, now with the working title of The Path of Andromeda. You can start with the prologue here: https://devonai.wordpress.com/2024/10/17/reckless-faith-ix-prologue/

Three hours had passed since John launched into a summary of all of the Reckless Faith’s adventures up until that day. After an hour, the rest of their team, except for Malthus, had been summoned to Helena’s bar and, with the others helping out John after his voice became hoarse, Helena had listened to their story. After everyone had gathered, she brought out several bowls of snacks, and brewed a pot of yellowish liquid that allegedly contained something like caffeine. She had listened intently, mostly in shock, but also with heavy tears anytime the Kira’To were mentioned. Kyrie, who was currently speaking, continued the narrative.

“After our reunion with Malthus,” he was saying, “we explored the temple. It was almost completely empty, save for a working fountain at its center, topped by a statue of a Kira’To.”

Helena jerked forward in her chair, and pounded the table with her fist. “I knew it! God damn it, I knew it. We have to go there, Mister Devonai. All of us.”

“I know,” said Vecky. “In addition to the temple, we found evidence of a nuclear strike on the surface. Something very bad happened there, a long time ago, and we intend to try to find out what.”

“I guess I can sum it up from there,” began John. “When we came down from the mountain, we explored as much of the surrounding area as possible, living off the land and our meager supplies. After six weeks, the Kestrel found us, and brought us here. You already know the rest.”

Helena leaned back in her chair, and let out a long breath. “It’s no coincidence you were brought here. Whatever secrets are hiding on that planet, all of us were meant to find them. Now that you know that Strouth has a working transceiver, what do you intend to do about it?”

John shrugged. “Nothing? We’re guests here, and we’ve been extended a lot of trust by Strouth and the other captains. They let us keep our sidearms, for example, and we’re not restricted from roaming around.”

“It is frustrating,” said Ray. “We don’t want to wait weeks just to be able to make a radio call, especially when our ship could be here in a matter of hours. But we need to play by their rules.”

Helena crossed her arms. “So that’s it, then? You’re just going to wait it out?”

“It’s the path of least resistance,” said Kyrie.

“I’ll tell you what. Give me the transponder code for the Reckless Faith. I’ll see if I can sweet-talk my way onto the Kestrel. Maybe, if I can get a minute alone on the bridge, I can contact your ship for you.”

Cane said, “Do you think Strouth would be open to resuming your relationship?”

“I know he is.”

“Then I think your best bet is to…”

Helena cut him off. “That’s exactly what I intend to do.”

“Can you give as a few minutes to talk about it?” asked John.

“Of course.”

 Helena took a swig from her mug, stood up, and went into her office. Richter scanned the room with his PDA.

“No cameras, no microphones,” he said.

“Good,” said John. “Okay, gang, what do you think?”

Vecky said, “I don’t trust her. There was something off about the way she talked about her alleged encounters with Andromeda. But I can’t put my finger on it.”

“Trust is going to be impossible, knowing she was the saboteur,” replied Kyrie.

“I agree,” said Richter. “She’s not stable. Even if her plan succeeds, I’m not sure it’s a good idea to take her with us.”

“You mean back to Ibnal’saffar?” asked Ray.

“Yes.”

“I think it’s the compassionate thing to do. If she does summon the Faith, and we leave without her, she’s going to completely lose her mind. We can easily keep her monitored while she’s on board.”

“Compassionate for who, Helena, or the residents of the Serpent?”

“Both. She already tried to scuttle this entire place once, who knows what she’d try next?”

John said, “Ray is right. Sneaking around is impossible on the Faith, and considering that she’s doing just fine running this bar, I think she’s of sound enough mind not to stab any of us in the back at the same time that we’re giving her exactly what she’s wanted for months.”

“What about giving her the transponder code?” asked Cane. “I don’t have any objections to that, because I can’t think of anything misleading she could say.”

“I agree,” replied Vecky. “Our friends aren’t fools. Even if what she says is bullshit or gibberish, they should still be able to use MLAT to determine the origin point, depending on how many SRC transponders are in this region of space.”

“Use what now?”

“If you were a ship captain, you’d know.”

Cane smiled. “You’ve been a useful taxicab driver for sure, Captain Kitsune.”

“Vecky is right,” said John. “Regardless of what she says in the message, it may prove useful to them. If there are no other objections, we’ll agree to her plan.”

There were none, so John got up and knocked on the office door. Helena emerged, holding yet another box of tissues. She followed John back to the table.

“We agree to your plan,” he began, “but only if you can do it without any undue risk to yourself. If that means it takes you a few days to find the right opportunity, then so be it.”

“That sounds reasonable,” replied Helena.

“Here.”

John pulled out his PDA, and pressed a few buttons. He showed the screen to her, and she copied the information onto her own device. Her exhaustion apparently catching up to her, Helena spoke with an unsteady voice.

“As you can probably guess, I’m not opening Nepenthe today. After I’ve had several hours of sleep, I’ll tidy myself up and go talk to Strouth. If I’m successful, then other than our coordinates, is there anything else you want me to tell your ship?”

“Just that we’re all okay, and eager to reunite.”

“Then we have a plan.” She gestured toward the door. “I’ll see you all out.”

The group got up, and headed out onto the concourse. John turned back toward Helena.

“Remember, don’t take any chances.”

“For the first time in months, I have hope. I’ll hold on to that feeling. Thank you.”

__________

The Reckless Faith had arrived at the heliopause of the Gamma Andromedae system, or Almach, the name of its star, also known as Caracal, the Desert Fox, in the language of the Ancients. The crew was eager to proceed to the planet they knew awaited them, but first, standard operating procedure required them to scan the system. For the results, they looked to Friday.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” she was saying. “Almach is a K2 spectral type, almost but not quite a supergiant, and the primary star of an interesting one-and-three quadruple system. Bottom line up front, scans indicate that there are no habitable planets here. We’ve got nothing but gas giants and barren rocks and moons. There’s zilch for radio signals, either traditionally broadcast or the SRC network.”

Ari peered at her screen. “I can confirm that info. It’s possible one of the other three stars is the one we really want. I suggest we do a quick sweep of the system anyway, with a focus on the Goldilocks zone. After that, we move onto the triple system that orbits Almach. Caracal’s gotta be around one of them.”

Dana nodded. “Thankfully, we’re in the right sort of ship for this kind of recon. Let’s get it done.”

Over the next half-hour, the Faith visited each of the planets in the system in turn. Though the gas giants offered spectacular vistas, there was nothing else to find. It wasn’t until they reached the first terrestrial planet, the third from the star at a distance of 5 AU, that something interesting presented itself. From a high equatorial orbit, they scanned its mottled gray surface.

“I’m reading a large complex down there,” began Ari. “There are at least a dozen buildings, some larger, scaffolding-like structures, and underground areas. There are no life signs, and the only energy signatures are from an off-site deposit of strontium-90, cesium-137, samarium-151, and rubidium-85.

Dana said, “That combination corresponds to the type of radioactive waste one would expect from a fission reactor. The presence of rubidium-85 suggests that another expected decay product, krypton-85, was also there. That indicates that the last fission activity was at least thirty years ago.”

“The scaffolding strongly resembles the shipyard we saw at Anachronia VI,” said Friday.

“Good catch,” said Eva. “It seems we’ve found the Alpha Shipyard mentioned on the Tempest’s commissioning plaque.”

“With a mass of zero-point-three ME, this planet would be a great place from which to launch ships.”

“Your deductive reasoning continues to improve. Good job, Friday.”

Friday purred, which was translated verbally as “Prideful satisfaction.”

Ari said, “So this place was abandoned some decades ago, for reasons unknown. That only proves we’re on the right track.”

“What’s the next best candidate?” asked Eva.

“Gamma Andromedae C, a young, blue, A-type main sequence star. Transit time at top speed is several minutes.”

“All right, let’s head out, unless anyone wants to explore the facility here.”

“There might be something valuable down there, but it’s not a priority. Let’s move on.”

A few minutes later, at 100 AU from the next star, they again scanned the system.

“Now we’re talking,” said Dana. “This system is rife with activity. I’m getting a nice, strong signal from an SRC transponder at 5 AU with a public channel. The main population center is the fourth planet, at one-point-five AU, and is indeed called Caracal.”

“Hopefully someone there knows the Tempest’s last location,” said Ari. “Let’s head in.”

“Hold on,” said Eva. “Dana, check to see if there’s a bounty board.”

“Good call.”

Dana worked at her console for a couple of minutes. “Yes, but it requires a registration number from one of several bounty hunter organizations. Eva, you wouldn’t happen to know Talyn’s, would you?”

Eva nodded, and pulled out her PDA. ‘I do. Cane gave it to me recently for just such a time. Here, I’ll transmit it to the Faith.”

“He wouldn’t give you his own info?” asked Ari.

“After what happened on Matesia, he may have a bounty of his own to worry about. As far as both of us knew, Talyn wasn’t in trouble with anybody.”

“The registration worked,” said Dana. “I don’t think it would be a good idea to enter any search terms, so I suggest Ari or Friday review these postings.”

“I got it,” said Friday. “Out of one hundred and fifty-two jobs, there’s no mention of the Reckless Faith, Umber, or Terra.”

“Search for all of our allies, too.”

“There’s an Eniphite with a price on his head. The Black Crest is looking for him. There’s also a persona non grata warning about the Rastaban and its crew. No explanation why. That’s it.”

“Okay, so we don’t mention either of those to anybody while we’re here, along with our normal level of discretion.”

Ari said, “Got it. All right, let’s head in.”

Dana pushed the throttle forward, and within seconds the Faith arrived at a point a few thousand kilometers from Caracal. The planet was typical blue-green world, with a thick network of satellites ringing it at all latitudes. As they drew closer, they could easily see one or two megacities on each continent. Ship traffic was heavy, both inbound and outbound, and Dana followed a series of small transponders until they were in a holding pattern just above the Kármán line. Seconds after they fell in line behind several other ships, a freighter of unknown design settled in behind them. Their consoles beeped, indicating an incoming transmission, text only.

“Orbital control is asking us for a ship registration or origin point,” began Dana, “the nature of our visit, our destination, and duration of visit. I’m going to say that we’re Perditian traders of precious metals, headed to the appropriate marketplace, for five days.”

“Sounds good,” said Ari.

“We’re being directed to Oasis City, the largest development on the southeast continent. Altitude is twenty-five hundred meters. I hope you’ve all been working on your cardio.”

Fifteen minutes later, the Faith was cleared to push down to the surface. Dana headed directly to the coordinates that had been provided, except to mostly bypass a hurricane off the nearest coast, and drew within five thousand feet of the city. The city was at the center of a high desert plain, surrounded on three sides by rugged mountains. Sprawling itself across fifteen thousand square kilometers, the city was a sight to see, even after all of their adventures. The landing pad was at the edge of a rather dystopian industrial area; what looked like oil refineries belched black smoke into the air, and hundreds of large, blocky freighters waited along its periphery to pick up whatever cargo had been forced from the planet’s subterranean deposits. If there was a center of commerce somewhere within that concrete and metal mess, it wasn’t obvious from the air.

After setting the Faith down gently on the tarmac, and locking down the flight controls, Dana stood up and stretched out her arms. Ari and Eva looked out at what they could see through the windows.

“Where the hell are we supposed to go from here?” asked Ari. “There’s nothing out there but forklifts and yard goats.”

“I guess we’ll just have to disembark and try to make contact with a dock foreman,” said Eva. “Was there anything about permissible weapons?”

“Nothing that was in anything we’ve received so far,” replied Dana.

“Let’s play it safe, then. Projectile pistols only. Friday, first sign of trouble, you đi đi mạo, break atmo, and wait for further instructions.”

“Understood,” said Friday. “Ambient temperature is two degrees C. Dress warmly.”

Evangeline already had her Beretta PX4, and Ari her Glock 17, but they had to stop by the armory on the way out so that Dana could retrieve a Beretta 92 and a couple of spare magazines. Then, they grabbed their favorite cold weather clothing.

“It’s been a while since I was in the field,” said Dana, holstering her pistol.

Eva donned a shoulder bag containing a full medical kit. “You’ll be fine. Follow our lead. Ferro, I’ve got two kilograms of gold, how about you?”

Ari said, “Five hundred grams, plus the same in palladium.”

“That should be enough to grease some palms.”

After distributing portable radios, and doing a comm check, the three women were ready to go. Descending to the cargo bay, Eva hit the controls to open the ramp. Fresh, frigid air rushed in to greet them, and they walked out onto the tarmac. The sun had just set behind the western ridgeline, casting hues of purple overhead. Though there was no shortage of local humanoids, they all ignored them, instead concentrating on dealing with several freighters that had arrived ahead of the Faith.

“Over there,” said Dana, pointing ahead. “That looks like an information kiosk.”

At the edge of the pad, next to a busy road, was a squat box with a console on top. The team approached it, steeling themselves against the cold. Ari poked at the console for a few moments.

“Okay,” she began, “this is the same language that I downloaded earlier. We’re definitely in the right place. Where do you want to start?”

“Look for something like customs declarations,” replied Eva.

“Got it. The customs office for this port is in the next building over. Follow me.”

The group walked down the side of the road, pausing as needed to allow trucks to cross in front of them, then arrived at an elevated walkway. On the other side, they made their way into a massive five-story building of concrete and steel. A security checkpoint lay ahead, which included what looked like archway magnetometers. The guards, both with bronze skin and golden eyes, beckoned them ahead.

“I guess we’re about to find out what their weapons policy is,” said Dana.

“I’ll go first,” said Ari, stepping forward.

The first guard read off what he could see at his station. “Permissible projectile weapon, electronics, precious metals, no pathogens, full android composition. Wow, I never would have guessed.”

“You should see me with my clothes off. Are we good?”

“Certainly. Next?”

Eva walked through the scanner. “My clothes are definitely staying on.”

“She’s clean. Unknown genetic makeup. Your initial registration listed you as from Perditia; where is that exactly?”

“It’s in the Greater Luminous Sea, some 160,000 light-years from here. We’ve been in the core galaxy for quite some time.”

“You must have a fast ship, unless you’re far older than you appear.”

“Aww, aren’t you sweet? I’m keeping my clothes on, though.”

Dana went next, with the same results. Once cleared, Ari asked for directions to the customs office, which was given. The trio continued on their way. They passed by a flurry of activity, including a collection of crates containing noisy, feathery livestock that was being cleared for entry. Down a long, nondescript corridor, they found two offices, one for inbound cargo, and one for outbound. Ari led them into the latter. Another bronze-skinned humanoid male awaited them in the cramped space, wearing a blue jumpsuit and a nametag in Caracali. A wall-mounted screen was displaying a program that seemed to be related to finance. He looked at them with an exhausted expression.

“Vessel name?”

Ari said, “Actually, we’ve just arrived. What we would really like to know is the location of a freighter called the Tempest, commissioned out of Alpha Shipyards.”

The man managed to make his eyes look even more tired than before. “Why would I tell you that?”

“Miss Spencer?”

Eva withdrew a handful of gold ingots, and placed them on the counter. The man scanned them with a hand-held device.

“Someone on the Tempest must owe you a lot of money.”

“Can you help us?”

“Put your coin back in your pocket.” He accessed the console on his desk. “According to our database, the Tempest was a regular visitor here until ten years ago, at which time it was sold for scrap. Odd for a ship that was only thirty years old; they must have beat the shit out of it.”

Eva retrieved the gold. “Can you tell us who bought it?”

“An auction house. You’ll have to ask them where it ended up.”

Dana sighed. “And the name of the auction house?”

“To submit a title transfer request is one hundred credits, and takes two to four weeks for processing.”

“Can you at least provide us with a list of auction houses on Caracal?” asked Ari.

“On the whole planet? Probably hundreds. Anyway, any public terminal could give you that information.”

“Great. Okay, thanks. Dana, Eva, shall we go?”

“Don’t forget to dispose of your trash before you go. Please.”

Eva noticed a wastebasket by the door, and dropped three bars of gold into it before she and the others returned to the corridor.

“Shit,” she spat. “That was a waste of time and money.”

Dana said, “We could find a public terminal, like the guy suggested, and see if Ari, or Friday remotely, can hack it.”

“That’s a tall order, even for us,” replied Ari. “I mean, we could try, but I’d have to stand in front of a terminal for an hour or two. I guess if an internet café, or something like it, even exists on this world, then it wouldn’t seem suspicious. I dunno. Thoughts?”

“Fine with me,” replied Eva. “It looks like there’s a food court or something further down.”

“Let’s check it out,” said Dana. “It’s about our lunchtime, anyway.”