Read Online Omega Games by S. L. Viehl - Free Book Online

moment. “He must have planted a charge on the power couplings while I waited for him.”
    “Power couplings, ruptured. Atmospheric controls, offline.” The drone’s chest screen scrolled with numeric readings. “Transmitter, destroyed—” “End status report.” Reever inspected my garments. “Are you injured anywhere else?”
    He pulled me into his arms and held me for a few moments, then kissed me. “Don’t forget me again.”
    We went over and looked through one of the side view ports. “You are an excellent pilot,” I told my husband. “We should have smashed into that range of cliffs over there. Where are we?”
    “Vector seventy-eight degrees,” the maintenance drone said, “three hundred forty east, plus seven solar, eleven point five kilometers outside colony settlement, Trellus, outer-eitri region, Varallan.”
    “Stand by,” Reever told the drone.
    I went to the helm and checked the exterior sensors that were still working before gazing out at the surrounding surface. Outside the ship, curtains and spires of rock dust danced with languid speed, forced into the airless dark by our violent landing.
    “We will need weights and tethers if we leave the ship,” I said to Reever. “The planet has almost no gravity.”
    I couldn’t see the domes of the colony from here, but there were some shelters at the end of the plain, built between ragged pillars of carbonized rock and what appeared to be gaping black holes descending beneath the surface. Behind them, I could just make out several huge, motionless machines covered in dust.
    “What are those things?”
    “Ore conveyers and crushers. In the old days, Alek used the abandoned mining operation here to hide his slave runners,” Reever told me. “There are thousands of tunnels on this planet.”
    The mention of Davidov’s name made my fingernails dig into the edge of the console. “I would like to drop him down one of them.”
    “Stay here.” Reever picked his way back to the droplift. The controls sparked when he punched them, and the door panels to the air lock only slid open an inch before jamming.
    I heard the sound of an incoming relay and straightened. “Reever, someone is signaling us.”
    “Signal transmitted by trader vessel Renko ,” the maintenance drone said. “Originator is Davidov, Aleksei, Terran, current position ship’s owner and flight captain—”
    “Shut up,” I told it as Reever and I hurried back to the helm.
    None of the displays worked, but the audio portion of the relay from the Renko came over the console with perfect clarity.
    “I’m reading two life signs, and you’re moving around the interior, so I know you’re both alive and ambulatory,” Davidov’s voice said over the com panel. “I felt sure you would make it, Duncan. Remember the time you brought down that crippled fighter with all those slaves crammed in the weapons hold? You have to admit, this was a cake-walk compared to that.”
    My husband muttered something ugly under his breath.
    “I regret that I had to be the one to shoot you down this time,” Davidov said, “but you will recall that I did offer to smuggle your wife onto Trellus first.”
    “I imagine you have a lot to say to me,” Davidov continued. “That’s the other thing, old friend. I took out your transmitter before I forced you to land. You won’t be able to signal me or any of your friends on Joren. I also used a small charge to rupture your power couplings. I’m afraid that the only way you’re getting off Trellus is on my launch. I’ll be happy to transport you and the wife, but you have to do something for me first.”
    “He wants the bounty,” I said, my throat tight.
    “It’s simple: Find the shifter.” Davidov’s voice grew harsh. “Find it, capture it, and put an end to the games it’s been playing down there.”
    Reever frowned.
    “Is he talking about the Odnallak?” I asked, but my husband only gave me a blank look.
    “It won’t be difficult,”