Chapter 9: Terms of Surrender

Talak sat at the con with a cup of coffee in one hand.

His shower was finished, his clothes were clean, and for the first time in days he no longer felt as though Erimos was still clinging to him. He had decided to take the first watch. Alliyanna was asleep. Kahlan was below decks and, Talak assumed, probably asleep by now as well. The Star Shadow was quiet.

Outside the forward viewport, Erimos stretched beneath the stars, dark and seemingly empty. Talak knew better. He took another drink of coffee and looked over the passive sensor display. Nothing. No ships.

No transmissions. No unusual energy readings. Nothing to suggest they were being watched. Except for one dead Imperial soldier. Talak leaned back in the pilot’s seat.

That was the problem. The man had not said ship. He had said fleet. Recon. Fleet.

Two words spoken by a dying soldier in the middle of nowhere. Talak had replayed them in his mind more times than he cared to count. If the soldier had been part of a reconnaissance team, somebody had brought that team to Erimos. And if the man had meant what he said, it had not been a single vessel. A fleet meant multiple ships.

Somewhere. Possibly close. Possibly waiting. Talak stared through the viewport. The worst-case scenario was obvious.

They had been allowed to land. Allowed to cross the desert. Allowed to enter the temple. Allowed to retrieve the Fragment. And now whoever had arrived before them might simply be waiting for the Star Shadow to leave the surface.

Talak did not like that possibility. He liked even less how much sense it made. If someone wanted the Fragment but could not enter the temple, allowing Alliyanna and the others to retrieve it solved that problem. Then all they had to do was take it. Talak set his coffee beside the console.

He did not know if that was what was happening. He had no proof. One dead soldier was not proof of a fleet waiting in orbit. But it was enough that he could not ignore the possibility. He began reviewing the ship’s systems.

Fuel. Good. Shields. Operational. Hyperdrive.

Ready. Navigation. Clear. The Star Shadow was a freighter, not a cruiser. She had survived because Talak knew what she could do and, equally important, what she could not. She was not going to shoot her way through a military formation.

She was not going to outrun warships in open space. And she was certainly not going to become agile simply because Talak wished hard enough. If they were intercepted, he needed something other than bravado. He brought up the local system map. Then the departure vectors.

Then every practical route from the surface to the nearest hyperdrive transition corridor. There were not many. Erimos was remote enough that the useful routes were limited. That made things worse. If somebody were waiting, they would know that too.

Talak widened the system search. A civilian facility appeared farther out, several hours away at normal in-system speed. Ran Academy Orbital Research Annex. Talak paused. He opened the station profile.

Academy funded. Civilian administration. Materials science. Xenotechnology. Archaeology. Hazardous artifact containment. Independent research records under the Academy charter. Not Senate. Not fleet. Still part of the Empire and tied to the Capitol through the Ran Academy, but separate enough that anything placed in its custody would create a record outside military control. Talak stored the location.

Maybe it would never matter. He hoped it would never matter. Then he went back to the departure routes. Low-altitude departure. Opposite-side climb.

Passive sensors only. Emergency jump preparation. None of them were plans yet. They were pieces. Talak looked again at the empty sky.

Somewhere out there, there might be nothing. He hoped that was true. Hope was not a strategy. He picked up his coffee. It had already started to cool.

Talak drank it anyway and kept working.

Morning came with the suns. The Star Shadow automatically darkened the forward viewport, portholes, and observation windows against the intensity of the light. Within minutes the outside world became a muted wash of gold and white behind polarized glass. Inside, the ship remained cool and quiet. Alliyanna was awake before she wanted to be. Her divided watch schedule had trained her body badly, and even exhaustion had not kept her asleep through the entire morning.

So she went to the galley. Breakfast gave her something simple to do. Nothing ambitious. Just food. She stood near the preparation counter stirring one of the ration mixtures while something resembling eggs heated beside it. Under other circumstances Kahlan would probably have made some observation about whether either item technically qualified as food.

This morning she almost missed that. The galley door opened. Kahlan entered carrying an empty coffee cup. His watch was nearly finished. He looked tired, although he was trying not to show it.

Alliyanna glanced toward him. “Morning.”

“Morning.”

That was all. Kahlan refilled his cup and sat at the table. Talak was still asleep. Nobody had bothered to wake him. They did not need someone physically standing watch every moment while the Star Shadow remained on the ground. Viki could monitor the vessel more efficiently than any of them, and there was no immediate reason to leave.

They wanted to depart. All three wanted off Erimos. But that was not enough reason to drag Talak out of bed. He needed sleep. More than he would admit.

Alliyanna had seen the way he carried himself during the final nights across the desert. She had felt some of it through their connection as well. The exhaustion had been deeper than sore muscles. He had simply kept moving because stopping had not been an option. Now stopping was an option. So they let him. Alliyanna carried her plate to the table and sat across from Kahlan.

He watched her take the first bite. She waited. Nothing. She took another. Still nothing.

Finally she looked at him. “What?”

Kahlan raised his eyes. “What?”

“You haven’t said anything.”

“About what?”

“The food.”

He looked down at his plate. Then back at her.

“It’s fine.”

Alliyanna narrowed her eyes. “That may be the nicest thing you’ve ever said about my cooking.”

“I am capable of personal growth.”

Normally she would have expected something after that. A joke. A smirk. Some carefully timed comment designed to make her regret asking. Nothing came. Kahlan simply ate. Alliyanna did the same.

For several minutes neither spoke. The quiet did not feel uncomfortable. That was different too. Before Erimos, silence between them usually invited somebody to fill it. Now neither seemed to need to.

Kahlan drank his coffee. Alliyanna ate her breakfast. He was simply there. Present. She realized after a while that she appreciated that more than conversation.

They had things to discuss. The temple. The Maze. The Chamber. What Kahlan had revealed when he had spoken to them without speaking.

The Fragment. What came next. None of those conversations belonged here. Not yet. Talak was asleep. Kahlan had been awake most of the night. Alliyanna was tired enough that even a serious conversation sounded exhausting.

So they ate. The galley hummed softly around them. Somewhere beneath the deck, environmental systems cycled. The engines remained cold. Outside, Erimos burned beneath its suns.

Inside, for the first time in weeks, nobody was asking anything of them. Kahlan finished his breakfast and leaned back slightly.

Alliyanna looked at him. “You should sleep.”

He nodded. “In a minute.”

“You said that during the last watch.”

“I know.”

She almost smiled. Kahlan took another drink of coffee. Neither moved. They sat there quietly while Talak slept. For the moment, that was enough.

The decision to leave Erimos was made without a meeting. There was no formal discussion. No vote. No moment when any of them announced that they were ready. It simply happened.

By the time Talak returned to the bridge, showered, fed, and looking somewhat more like himself, Alliyanna and Kahlan were already at their respective stations. Alliyanna sat at navigation. Kahlan occupied the auxiliary console. Talak settled into the command position and looked across the displays. Fuel levels were good.

Cargo secure. Environmental systems normal. The First Fragment was aboard. There was nothing left for them on Erimos. Talak rested his hands on the controls.

“Prepare for liftoff.”

Alliyanna looked toward him. That was it. No one objected. No one asked whether they should wait another day. Kahlan began checking departure systems.

Talak continued. “Set conditions for interstellar travel.”

“Hyperdrive systems are available,” Viki replied. “All primary propulsion systems are within normal operating limits.”

“All hatches sealed,” Kahlan said.

Alliyanna checked her panel. “Navigation ready.”

Talak looked toward the darkened forward viewport. “Viki, plot us a course to the next viable route toward the Capitol sector.”

“Calculating.”

A route appeared across Alliyanna’s display.

“Course received,” she said.

Viki continued. “Optimal departure requires a northwestern ascent followed by orbital insertion at seventeen degrees above the planetary plane. Estimated time to hyperdrive transition point, thirty-four minutes.”

Kahlan glanced toward the ceiling. “Only one calculation?”

“I performed seventy-three.”

“Of course you did.”

Talak almost smiled. Almost. He activated the flight controls.

“Retract landing supports.”

The Star Shadow shifted beneath them. A low mechanical vibration moved through the deck as the landing gear folded into the hull. Alliyanna looked at the exterior camera feed. The sand beneath the ship had been disturbed by days of wind. Their tracks were already disappearing. Somewhere beyond those dunes stood the temple that had changed all three of them. From here there was no evidence of it. Erimos looked empty again.

Talak increased power. The engines came alive. For the first time since returning from the temple, the Star Shadow stopped feeling like a shelter and became a ship again.

“All systems green,” Kahlan said.

Talak nodded. “Lift.”

The Star Shadow rose from the desert. Sand exploded outward beneath the engines, forming a widening cloud that vanished behind them as the ship climbed. Alliyanna watched the altitude increase. One hundred meters. Five hundred.

One kilometer. Erimos spread beneath them in brown, rust, gold, and shadow. They climbed higher. The sky darkened gradually from pale blue to violet and then toward black. Alliyanna found herself watching the sensors more than the planet.

Nothing. No signals. No contacts. No weapons locks. Kahlan was doing the same thing.

Talak did not need to ask. They all remembered the dead soldier. Recon. Fleet. The Star Shadow crossed the upper atmosphere.

“Approaching orbital insertion,” Viki said.

Talak adjusted their angle. “Passive sensors?”

“No contacts detected.”

Talak nodded. That was good. It was not reassuring. The planet curved beneath them. Space opened ahead.

Alliyanna watched the tactical display. Still nothing. For several minutes nobody spoke. They had left the surface. That was the first step.

“Orbital insertion complete,” Viki reported. “Proceeding toward designated hyperdrive transition corridor.”

Talak kept his hands on the controls. “Maintain passive sensors.”

“Confirmed.”

Kahlan leaned slightly closer to his display. Alliyanna watched the distance to the transition point decrease. Twenty-eight minutes. Twenty-seven. Twenty-six.

The Star Shadow accelerated away from Erimos. Behind them the desert world grew smaller. Then Viki spoke.

“Multiple contacts.”

Talak’s attention snapped to the tactical display. There had been nothing there a second earlier. Then space changed. One ship appeared. Then another.

Then six more. Eight Imperial vessels uncloaked almost simultaneously around the Star Shadow. Alliyanna stared at the display. Eight. Not one patrol craft.

Not two ships investigating an unauthorized departure. Eight Imperial warships. Talak’s hands tightened around the controls.

Kahlan looked at the display and said quietly, “I suppose that answers that question.”

The communications panel erupted. Multiple channels opened at once before Viki isolated the strongest transmission. An Imperial voice filled the bridge.

“Star Shadow, halt immediately and prepare to be boarded. By order of His Imperial Majesty and fleet command, you are commanded to power down propulsion and remain stationary. Acknowledge.”

Talak did not answer immediately. His eyes moved across the tactical display. The ships were positioned deliberately. Two ahead. Two behind.

Four spread above and below their departure plane. Every practical route toward the hyperdrive corridor was blocked. They had not stumbled across the Star Shadow. They had been waiting for it.

Alliyanna looked toward Talak. “They knew.”

“Yes.”

Kahlan studied the sensor data. “They were here the whole time.”

Talak said nothing. That was almost certainly true. The dead soldier. Recon. Fleet.

The pieces fit now. Another transmission came through.

“Star Shadow, acknowledge.”

Talak looked at the propulsion display. They still had full power. For the moment. He could attempt a break. Against eight Imperial warships.

The Star Shadow was a freighter with no meaningful armament and none of the acceleration or maneuverability needed to slice through a prepared military formation. Trying would not be brave. It would be stupid. Even if they slipped through the first line, one damaged engine or tractor lock would end the attempt. One badly placed shot could kill Alliyanna, destroy the Fragment, or leave them drifting until the Imperials boarded anyway. Talak hated every part of the conclusion.

He reached for the surrender control.

“Viki, transmit compliance.”

“Compliance signal transmitted.”

Talak opened the channel himself.

“This is Captain Talak of the Star Shadow. We acknowledge. State the reason for detention.”

The answer came quickly.

“You are operating under direct order of His Imperial Majesty. Reduce propulsion to zero and prepare to receive an Imperial boarding party.”

“Are we under arrest?” Talak asked.