{"id":3511,"date":"2026-03-19T14:31:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T14:31:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/govaliant.net\/?p=3511"},"modified":"2026-03-23T14:40:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T14:40:03","slug":"black-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/govaliant.net\/en\/archives\/black-ice\/","title":{"rendered":"Black Ice"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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CHAPTER 1<\/strong><\/p>

The stars turned slowly around a small, oblong cargo hauler as it made a wide turn away from Dlamini Station, an outpost of the Jupiter Rings. To the rest of the solar system, it was entirely unimportant, a tiny blip on a radar full of threats. To the people who lived inside, it was the Valiant, their home.
Captain Jake Steele sat in the command chair of the ship, deep within the compact halls and corridors of the vessel, his hands resting lightly against the handful of controls that came up from the armrests. His sharp eyes scanned the countless sensors in front of him, looking for any signs of abnormalities.

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\"\"<\/p>

\u201cNothing showing up on scanners, captain.\u201d Cara, the pilot, glanced over her shoulder. \u201cWe\u2019re in the clear.\u201d
\u201cYou can fool scanners a lot easier than your eyes.\u201d Jake murmured. \u201cTrust me, I know.\u201d
\u201cI know, I know. You tell me every time. If we had a fancier ship where we could actually see outside the command center, I\u2019d trust you more.\u201d Cara shrugged, a hint of a chuckle in her voice. \u201cI\u2019m just telling you, we\u2019re in the black. We\u2019ll be engaging our long-distance engines in five minutes.\u201d
\u201cGood.\u201d Jake murmured. He wasn\u2019t worried – He had been through too much in his life to feel too much fear for a simple run – But he knew that the moment you threw caution to the wind was often the moment that you regretted it for the rest of your life. Often, that amounted to only a few seconds. All around him, the walls felt close, close and protective. Bulkheads rested only feet from him, and everything was covered in blinking lights and flashing diodes. After a moment, he flicked a switch on his armrest, opening a com down to the engines. \u201cSojen? Everything good?\u201d
\u201cEngines are up and running, captain!\u201d A distant voice echoed back through the intercom. Sojen was nothing if not competent, and she could fix up just about any of the many problems that the crew of the Valiant was always getting themselves into. \u201cI fixed up the damage we took from that solar surge. Everything should be aligned again. If it\u2019s not, I\u2019ll let you know with plenty of time.\u201d
\u201cVery good.\u201d Jake nodded. \u201cKeep at it, then.\u201d
\u201cAs always, captain.\u201d
Jake felt a sense of satisfaction as he closed the line, then opened a final channel to the medical bay.
\u201cHwa-Young?\u201d
Lee Hwa-Young\u2019s voice came through a second later. She sounded annoyed, though not tremendously so.
\u201cYeah? What\u2019s up?\u201d
\u201cI was wondering if you could run down and check on the cargo.\u201d
Hwa-Young sighed. \u201cI\u2019m a little busy putting away all the medical supplies we just purchased. There\u2019s a lot to sort through, and I don\u2019t want anything to fall once we engage the long-distance engines. You were the one who secured it, I\u2019m sure it\u2019s alright.\u201d
\u201cAlright, alright.\u201d Jake closed the line, then sighed and leaned back in the chair. \u201cI\u2019m just checking up on things.\u201d
The stars continued to spin through the viewport, until, slowly, they came to a stop. Jupiter\u2019s horizon could just be seen off to one side, glimmering against the very edge of the viewport.
\u201cAlright, captain. Here we go.\u201d Cara flicked a few switches. \u201cFasten your seatbelts, because we\u2019re firing engines in three\u2026 Two\u2026 One\u2026\u201d
She hit a large switch, and with a roar, the engines came to life. The ship jumped forward, and for a moment, Jake was pressed back into his chair. The acceleration was equivalent to about a fifth of a g-force, and would last until they reached full velocity. How long that would take depended largely on how far they were going, and what they would be trying to do once they got there.
\u201cAnd we\u2019re off.\u201d Cara nodded to him. \u201cWe ought to arrive on Mars in\u2026 Looks like the computer is charting us for arrival in about two week\u2019s time.\u201d
\u201cThank you, Cara.\u201d Jake slowly climbed to his feet. The floor felt as though it was tilted, and in a manner of speaking, it was. The ship had been designed to work both at speed and under acceleration, and while it hurt your head for the first little while you were on board, it worked well enough once you got used to it. \u201cI\u2019ll be down in the cargo bay.\u201d
\u201cAnd I\u2019ll be here, watching for the random asteroids and other anomalies that never show up.\u201d She answered with a chuckle.
Jake nodded, then slowly made his way to the ladderwe’ve got a ships that allowed him to descend. There were two of them in that part of the ship, one on starboard, and one on port. He went to the port side, where, even with an odd gravity, he was able to climb down from Deck Seven to Deck Eight.
There, a small door opened into the cargo hold, which at that moment, was nearly filled with large crates. He stepped inside and took a look around, confirming that they were all in place, and that the straps had held. Once again, he wasn\u2019t concerned all that much about them breaking free, but he hadn\u2019t managed to last as long as he had by ignoring the obvious. If a tow rope came free, you\u2019d better be able to get it latched back down, or you were going to regret it later.
His eyes scanned across the crates one last time. They were holding medicines, manufactured by some black-market producer out in the rings of Saturn. Medicine was in high demand on Earth, there was no doubt about that, but they wouldn\u2019t be making the full run. Just a partial delivery, getting it to Mars.
Earth, like it or not, wasn\u2019t a place that Jake had any real ambitions of traveling to anytime soon.
Once he had confirmed that they were still in place, he turned and slipped back out. All was well. The hard part was done.
Now, it was time to enjoy the rest of the trip.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Chapter 2<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\u00a0<\/p>

\"\"<\/p>

Jake had been on many a run through his life. The Valiant had gone back and forth across the solar system a dozen times over, from the mines of Mercury to the rings of Neptune. This was a relatively simple run, just straight in to Mars, and he expected that they would soon have payment in hand.
Four days later, he sat at his desk down in the Captain\u2019s Quarters. It was on Deck Seven, like the bridge, with a door that opened directly onto the bridge itself. On that day, he had the door open between the two, and was busily working at his desk.
The desk itself was small, and folded up into the wall when it wasn\u2019t in use. On that day, he was leaning over it, writing up a bill of sale for when he arrived.
\u201cI don\u2019t know why you bother with all that, Captain.\u201d Cara called from the pilot\u2019s seat. \u201cWe\u2019re not going to be dealing with the law. Hopefully.\u201d
Jake shrugged with a sigh. \u201cMaybe not, but I still like things to be on the level. Firm.\u201d He glanced up at a tattered, leather-bound Bible that he kept next to his desk. It was bound to the wall with a strap so it wouldn\u2019t float away, now that they were cruising at Zero-G speeds. \u201cRigid.\u201d
\u201cThat may be so, but I\u2019m just telling you that you\u2019re wasting your time.\u201d Cara called back. \u201cHow much you think we can make from this?\u201d
\u201cEnough to buy fuel for the next run, and hopefully a few meals while we\u2019re at it.\u201d Jake answered. \u201cI\u2019d like to replace a few of the engine parts, Sojen told me that the-\u201d
Beep!
The tone echoed loudly from the main computer, and Cara muttered something under her breath.
\u201cWhat was that?\u201d Jake took the bill of sale and stuck it back into a drawer, then attached the magnetic pen to its docking port. He then unclipped himself from the desk\u2019s chair and floated up into the air, pushing himself off the walls to float into the bridge. \u201cSomething the matter?\u201d
\u201cIf you ever had kids, you would be the worst helicopter dad ever.\u201d Cara commented, even as her fingers pressed buttons and flipped switches. \u201cAnd\u2026 In answer\u2026 Looks like we\u2019ve got something on sensors.\u201d
\u201cWhat sort of something?\u201d Jake asked. \u201cThe sort of thing that ends up with us dead?\u201d
\u201cThe sort of thing that I haven\u2019t had time to figure out yet.\u201d Cara shot him an annoyed look. \u201cWould you just sit still? Keep your shirt on, and I\u2019ll have it for you in a minute.\u201d
Jake sighed, nodded, and he strapped himself into the captain\u2019s chair. After a moment, Cara nodded and glanced back over her shoulder.
\u201cWe\u2019ve got a ship.\u201d
\u201cHow far out?\u201d Jake asked.
\u201cCouple thousand clicks. Computer says it\u2019s drifting.\u201d
\u201cHow fast?\u201d
Cara pressed a few more buttons. \u201cAhh\u2026 It\u2019s at a constant speed\u2026 About half of how fast we\u2019re going now.\u201d
\u201cIs it sending out a distress signal?\u201d
\u201cNothing that I\u2019m registering.\u201d Cara shook her head. \u201cI\u2019m guessing that it\u2019s dead.\u201d
Jake thought for a few moments. It didn\u2019t take long for him to decide.
\u201cMatch speed, and approach.\u201d
\u201cI\u2019ll have to hit the thrusters pretty hard for that.\u201d Cara cautioned. \u201cWe\u2019re moving pretty fast, halving our speed will-\u201d
\u201cI know, I know.\u201d Jake flipped a switch that broadcast his voice through the ship. \u201cEveryone! Prepare for deceleration.\u201d
He knew that the others would have questions about why, but he couldn\u2019t answer them right at that moment.
\u201cImmediately.\u201d He added an instant later.
There was a silence that filled the cockpit as the coasting engines died, and then a low rumble as the reverse engines began to build up power. Jake didn\u2019t know what they were about to find\u2026 But he had a feeling that it was nothing good. the years immediately after the war.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Chapter 3<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"\"<\/p>

It took Cara two hours to slow down enough that they were able to match speed with the drifting ship, but by that point, they had overshot it slightly. She matched its course, then slowed a bit more, allowing the ship to catch back up. Through it all, Jake remained on the bridge, watching. Hwa-Young joined them, though Sojen had to stay below in the engine room.
\u201cWe\u2019re on final approach.\u201d Cara murmured. \u201cThe ship is reading as a Saturn Ice Hauler, belonging to the Wang-Gan Syndicate.\u201d
\u201cHaven\u2019t seen one of those in awhile.\u201d Jake murmured. \u201cAnything interesting?\u201d
\u201cWell\u2026 It looks like there\u2019s power to the ship, but no life support.\u201d Cara answered. \u201cThe atmosphere seems intact, it\u2019ll just be freezing inside. You\u2019ll want to wear suits when you go over.\u201d
\u201cWe\u2019re going over?\u201d Hwa-Young asked. Her eyes were wide, and she looked back and forth between them. \u201cAre you sure?\u201d
\u201cI\u2019m sure.\u201d Jake nodded. \u201cBest case scenario, we get to tow this thing in to Mars. Slows us down by a couple days, but it\u2019ll net us a massive profit. Worst case scenario, we harvest a few parts that we can sell off once we get there. This is a massive score.\u201d
\u201cAnd it looks like we\u2019re the first to get here.\u201d Cara grinned. \u201cI guess fortune smiles on us sometimes.\u201d
\u201cDo you need me for the docking procedure?\u201d Jake asked.
\u201cOnly if you want to hold my hand.\u201d Cara shook her head. \u201cGo get ready. Are you bringing Sojen?\u201d
\u201cAs long as you don\u2019t need her.\u201d
\u201cI\u2019m not planning on it.\u201d Cara shrugged. \u201cI\u2019ll let you know if I see any other vessels on the radar.\u201d
Jake nodded, and he soon made his way to the docking bay. It was, like all the other rooms of the ship, quite small. Quickly, he pulled off his outer coat and hung it on a hook, then started pulling on an environmental suit. Hwa-Young did the same. She wore a long, white coat that was ordinarily filled with an assortment of medical tools, all of them adhered in place with velcro to keep them from drifting away. She hung it on a hook next to Jake, and pulled on her own environmental suit.
Sojen was the last to arrive. Her eyes were dark as she climbed up, her hair pulled back tightly behind her head. She began to put on a suit wordlessly, and Jake nodded to her.
\u201cYou alright?\u201d
\u201cOf course.\u201d She answered crisply. \u201cI just want to get this done. It\u2019s a valuable find, but ships don\u2019t start drifting for no reason.\u201d
Jake couldn\u2019t disagree with that. As they finished closing up their suits, they all stepped into the airlock, peering through the strange, plexiglass visors that allowed them to see out. The inner door was closed, and Jake stepped up and peered through the small, outer window.
It was one of the only windows on the ship that looked out into the Void. It was so small that he couldn\u2019t see much, though he could see a massive bulk of reddish iron slowly drawing closer and closer. Claws stretched out from the Valiant and snapped into large rings, and the two docking ports were drawn together.
Hisss!<\/em>
\u201cWe have contact.\u201d Cara\u2019s voice echoed through the docking bay. \u201cYou\u2019re cleared to enter.\u201d
Jake pulled a lever, and the outer door of the ship hissed open. The two docking ports matched up perfectly, but of course, most ships were designed to be compatible. The docking port of the opposite vessel was closed, and Jake could see only darkness behind. He grabbed the external latch and pulled, and, after a moment of struggling, swung it open as well.
They were soon inside the drifting ship. It was much larger than the Valiant, that much was obvious even at a glance. They passed through a narrow tunnel to a main shaft that cut up through the ship, flicking on their suit lights in order to see. They were entirely weightless, and Jake pulled himself along via holds in the walls.
\u201cNo artificial lightning.\u201d Sojen commented, pressing a button several times. \u201cI don\u2019t know if the power was cut, or if they just don\u2019t work.\u201d
\u201cCara said that the vessel does still have power.\u201d Jake commented. He looked up the central shaft, and then down. \u201cWhich direction should we go?\u201d
\u201cDown.\u201d Sojen answered quickly. \u201cThat\u2019s where the engine and the bridge will be. We can learn a lot down there.\u201d
Jake couldn\u2019t disagree with that. They slowly started floating down the shaft, peering into each of the doors as they passed.
That said, there weren\u2019t many of them. There was a kitchen area, and a few bathrooms, but nothing extraordinary or unusual. Finally, they came to the bridge, and Jake slowly swung inside.
The bridge looked almost exactly like the one on the Valiant. There was room for two pilots, but that was the only real difference. Jake frowned and swung into the captain\u2019s chair, then reached out and pressed a small, red button.
It was the \u201cconnect\u201d button, and would allow a secondary ship to connect to a damaged vessel. There was a short pause, and then Cara\u2019s voice came through Jake\u2019s helmet.
\u201cI\u2019ve got you.\u201d Cara\u2019s voice came back. \u201cConnecting to the computer now. I\u2019ll leave all other systems alone, until we figure out what\u2019s going on here.\u201d
\u201cThanks.\u201d Jake nodded. \u201cI appreciate it.\u201d
He swung himself up and out of the chair. Suddenly, a loud scream cut through the air.
\u201cAhhh!\u201d It was Hwa-Young. Jake launched himself out of the bridge and into the hall, where he found Hwa-Young floating a few feet further down. She was staring through one of the doors, and Jake pulled himself up to it.
\u201cCome on.\u201d Sojen snorted and elbowed Hwa-Young. \u201cHaven\u2019t you ever seen a frozen body before?\u201d
The room was full of cryosleep pods, sometimes called Fridges. Jake hadn\u2019t encountered one of those in years, but there they were.
\u201cIs the crew dead?\u201d Cara asked. \u201cI\u2019m still accessing systems.\u201d
\u201cNot dead, no.\u201d Jake answered. \u201cFrozen. I\u2019m counting\u2026 Twelve.\u201d
He drifted into the room. The pods all had large, glass fronts that allowed them to easily see the occupants. All of them wore clothing indicating that they belonged to the Wang-Gan Syndicate, and showed their assorted ranks. Their eyes were closed, their breath frosty upon the glass.
\u201cSorry.\u201d Hwa-Young floated into the room as well. \u201cI just\u2026 I wasn\u2019t expecting this. Give me a second.\u201d
She nervously floated up to a small computer next to the pods. Jake hovered briefly in front of the captain of the ship. It was an older man, with a grizzled beard covered in frost.
\u201cDon\u2019t open them up.\u201d Jake murmured.
\u201cCryosleep takes days to pull someone out of.\u201d Hwa-Young shook her head. \u201cEven if I did hit the wrong button, I\u2019d have plenty of time to reverse it. Now\u2026\u201d She paused. \u201cLooks like eleven out of the twelve are still alive.\u201d
\u201cWhich one didn\u2019t make it?\u201d Jake asked.
\u201cThe one down on the end. He\u2019s listed as\u2026 John Silver.\u201d
Jake floated down to gaze at the boy. He looked the same as any of the others, except that perhaps there was slightly less fog on the glass in front of him. He was just resting there, quiet and peaceful.
And now, he would never awake.
\u201cHow long have they been like this?\u201d Jake asked.
\u201cHard to say.\u201d Hwa-Young shook her head. \u201cThis computer isn\u2019t saying.\u201d
\u201cI can answer that.\u201d Cara\u2019s voice came through the headset again. \u201cAccording to the Internal clock, the ship has been adrift for\u2026 Three years.\u201d
\u201cThree years?\u201d Jake murmured. \u201cIncredible. Do we know yet why it\u2019s been like this?\u201d
\u201cStill working on that.\u201d Cara answered. \u201cI\u2019m going through the ship\u2019s logs now. They launched from Saturn\u2026 Set a course for Earth\u2026 The whole crew entered cryosleep\u2026\u201d
\u201cThe whole crew?\u201d Hwa-Young glanced over at Jake. \u201cWhat about the pilot?\u201d
\u201cThere\u2019s an autopilot for journeys like that.\u201d Jake shrugged. \u201cAt slower speeds, an autopilot can pretty much handle anything except freak accidents.\u201d
\u201cHere we go.\u201d Cara suddenly spoke up. \u201cThere was something that went wrong with the autopilot, it\u2019s looking like. The course was changed slightly, and it went into orbit around Jupiter. It was at a really distant orbit, just close enough to be caught in the gravity well, but escaped about a week ago. Maybe two weeks, the clock doesn\u2019t seem to be perfect. Anyway, it wound up out here.\u201d
\u201cSo what do we do?\u201d Jake murmured. \u201cJust\u2026 Put it back on track?\u201d
\u201cMaybe.\u201d Cara murmured. \u201cI\u2019m still looking through some things. Keep exploring. There shouldn’t be anything on the ship that will hurt you.\u201d
\u201cShouldn\u2019t be. That\u2019s comforting.\u201d Jake nodded. \u201cAlright, we\u2019ll keep it up.\u201d
Sojen was floating at the entrance, and she pointed down. \u201cI\u2019m going to go see if there\u2019s anything that the engine can tell me.\u201d
\u201cGood.\u201d Jake turned and looked upward. \u201cI\u2019m going to go see if I can figure out what this thing is carrying.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Chapter 4<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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\"\"<\/p>

It was a Saturn ice freighter. The natural conclusion, then, would be that the ship was hauling ice of some sort. Jake, though, had a suspicion that it wasn\u2019t, at least not in its entirety. Cara hadn\u2019t said much over the com, but he understood what she had been hinting at.
Ship autopilots didn\u2019t just take people off-course. Yes, it was technically possible that something had glitched, but there was a far more obvious solution: Sabotage. Likely, someone had sent the command to the ship in order to make it go off-course. The question was who, and why.
Generally, when things went wrong in space, it had something to do with either the people or the cargo on board.
The ship, being designed for cryosleep, had far fewer amenities than the Valiant had, despite being much larger. The majority of its bulk was, indeed, made up of cargo space, and as Jake floated up to the level just above the airlock, he felt a brief flicker of excitement. He slowly pulled the door open, and then glided inside.
Inside was a glorious expanse of ice.
The cargo hold had to be two hundred feet long, if not longer, and was filled to the brim with carefully cut and stacked ice. Some of it was a brilliant and deep blue, some of it was green, some was red. It was stunning to look at, and Jake whistled. There were a lot of folks living in the inner planets that would pay top dollar for genuine Saturn Ice. They said it had lots of minerals and things that you couldn\u2019t get elsewhere. Now, what most of them didn\u2019t realize was that out in Saturn, people paid top dollar for Mars Dust or Luna Rocks, with much the same logic.
People were willing to pay for just about anything they didn\u2019t have, regardless of how much they did have already.
In any case, the cargo hold was packed full, and unless there was something hiding beneath the ice (which was a certain possibility), Jake didn\u2019t see much wrong with it. Hwa-Young floated up after him, and Jake slowly looked around for a manifest.
\u201cWhat are you looking for?\u201d She asked, as he drifted over to a small computer on the wall.
\u201cI just want to see what the captain wrote about this stuff.\u201d Jake answered. He pressed a few buttons, and after a moment, the computer lit up. \u201cThere we go. Let\u2019s see here\u2026\u201d
It was hard to type in the oversized gloves of the environmental suit, but after a moment, he managed it. With a flicker, a small list appeared on the screen, and he scanned through it.
\u201cAlright\u2026 Five hundred tons of ice\u2026 And that\u2019s it.\u201d Jake frowned. \u201cHuh.\u201d
\u201cYou expected to find something else?\u201d Hwa-Young asked. \u201cI mean\u2026 Even if there was something else hidden there, would it really be listed? Wouldn\u2019t you want to keep it hidden from the law?\u201d
\u201cIf you\u2019ve been boarded, you\u2019re already lost, and you don\u2019t want gangsters shoving guns in your face because your manifest doesn\u2019t show the stuff they\u2019ve been promised.\u201d Jake shook his head. \u201cIt looks like they really are just\u2026 Just hauling ice. Nothing more. You getting anything, Cara?\u201d
\u201cSomething, yes.\u201d She answered. \u201cI\u2019ve tracked them to Ice Outpost Nine, in Saturn\u2019s Inner Rings. They were reported as departing, and then when they didn\u2019t arrive on schedule, they were reported as missing, but given the relatively minor nature of the loss, no one dispatched anything to scout them.\u201d
\u201cEveryone is too busy getting ready to fight each other to bother with something like that.\u201d Jake murmured. He frowned. \u201cWhat about the command?\u201d
\u201cIt was sent via an external device, about two days after they launched. Within hours of them entering cryo.\u201d Cara sounded confused.
\u201cI have the external device.\u201d Sojen\u2019s voice echoed through the com. \u201cYou\u2019re going to want to see this.\u201d
Jake soon floated down the hall to the engine room. There, amidst the mass of wires and gears and shafts, all of which were now quiet and motionless, Sojen floated. She was holding a small, black device that looked almost like a fork wired to a radio.
\u201cI found it tucked in behind the modulators.\u201d She shrugged. \u201cI was checking to see if we could use the modulators ourselves. I don\u2019t think it was meant to be found.\u201d
\u201cNo dip.\u201d Jake shook his head. \u201cSo then\u2026 The ship was sabotaged before they departed?\u201d
\u201cSomeone wanted to be able to silence them without anyone else knowing about it.\u201d Cara surmised. \u201cYou blow up a ship, it makes news. A ship vanishes? Meh, it\u2019ll be found in a couple hundred years when technology gets a bit better.\u201d
\u201cTrue.\u201d Jake shook his head. \u201cThe question is who did it, and why.\u201d
\u201cDoes it matter?\u201d Hwa-Young asked. \u201cThese are living people! We can get their ship back on course, right? We can set their destination again, right? They\u2019ll wake up and wonder why they took so long to get there, but at the end of the day, they\u2019ll be where they need to go. That\u2019s the right thing to do\u2026 isn’t it?\u201d
Jake nodded slowly. \u201cYou\u2019re\u2026 You\u2019re probably right.\u201d
He hung there in the engine room, hating his bad luck. Not only did they walk away without a score, they had wasted time, and were possibly getting onto the bad side of someone really nasty.
And then, suddenly, they heard Cara gasp.
\u201cGuys\u2026 You\u2019re going to want to get back over here. And Hwa-Young, get a sample of that ice.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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\"\"<\/p>

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It was a Saturn ice freighter. The natural conclusion, then, would be that the ship was hauling ice of some sort. Jake, though, had a suspicion that it wasn\u2019t, at least not in its entirety. Cara hadn\u2019t said much over the com, but he understood what she had been hinting at.
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ship autopilots didn\u2019t just take people off-course. Yes, it was technically possible that something had glitched, but there was a far more obvious solution: Sabotage. Likely, someone had sent the command to the ship in order to make it go off-course. The question was who, and why.
Generally, when things went wrong in space, it had something to do with either the people or the cargo on board.
The ship, being designed for cryosleep, had far fewer amenities than the Valiant had, despite being much larger. The majority of its bulk was, indeed, made up of cargo space, and as Jake floated up to the level just above the airlock, he felt a brief flicker of excitement. He slowly pulled the door open, and then glided inside.
Inside was a glorious expanse of ice.
The cargo hold had to be two hundred feet long, if not longer, and was filled to the brim with carefully cut and stacked ice. Some of it was a brilliant and deep blue, some of it was green, some was red. It was stunning to look at, and Jake whistled. There were a lot of folks living in the inner planets that would pay top dollar for genuine Saturn Ice. They said it had lots of minerals and things that you couldn\u2019t get elsewhere. Now, what most of them didn\u2019t realize was that out in Saturn, people paid top dollar for Mars Dust or Luna Rocks, with much the same logic.
People were willing to pay for just about anything they didn\u2019t have, regardless of how much they did have already.
In any case, the cargo hold was packed full, and unless there was something hiding beneath the ice (which was a certain possibility), Jake didn\u2019t see much wrong with it. Hwa-Young floated up after him, and Jake slowly looked around for a manifest.
\u201cWhat are you looking for?\u201d She asked, as he drifted over to a small computer on the wall.
\u201cI just want to see what the captain wrote about this stuff.\u201d Jake answered. He pressed a few buttons, and after a moment, the computer lit up. \u201cThere we go. Let\u2019s see here\u2026\u201d
It was hard to type in the oversized gloves of the environmental suit, but after a moment, he managed it. With a flicker, a small list appeared on the screen, and he scanned through it.
\u201cAlright\u2026 Five hundred tons of ice\u2026 And that\u2019s it.\u201d Jake frowned. \u201cHuh.\u201d
\u201cYou expected to find something else?\u201d Hwa-Young asked. \u201cI mean\u2026 Even if there was something else hidden there, would it really be listed? Wouldn\u2019t you want to keep it hidden from the law?\u201d
\u201cIf you\u2019ve been boarded, you\u2019re already lost, and you don\u2019t want gangsters shoving guns in your face because your manifest doesn\u2019t show the stuff they\u2019ve been promised.\u201d Jake shook his head. \u201cIt looks like they really are just\u2026 Just hauling ice. Nothing more. You getting anything, Cara?\u201d
\u201cSomething, yes.\u201d She answered. \u201cI\u2019ve tracked them to Ice Outpost Nine, in Saturn\u2019s Inner Rings. They were reported as departing, and then when they didn\u2019t arrive on schedule, they were reported as missing, but given the relatively minor nature of the loss, no one dispatched anything to scout them.\u201d
\u201cEveryone is too busy getting ready to fight each other to bother with something like that.\u201d Jake murmured. He frowned. \u201cWhat about the command?\u201d
\u201cIt was sent via an external device, about two days after they launched. Within hours of them entering cryo.\u201d Cara sounded confused.
\u201cI have the external device.\u201d Sojen\u2019s voice echoed through the com. \u201cYou\u2019re going to want to see this.\u201d
Jake soon floated down the hall to the engine room. There, amidst the mass of wires and gears and shafts, all of which were now quiet and motionless, Sojen floated. She was holding a small, black device that looked almost like a fork wired to a radio.
\u201cI found it tucked in behind the modulators.\u201d She shrugged. \u201cI was checking to see if we could use the modulators ourselves. I don\u2019t think it was meant to be found.\u201d
\u201cNo dip.\u201d Jake shook his head. \u201cSo then\u2026 The ship was sabotaged before they departed?\u201d
\u201cSomeone wanted to be able to silence them without anyone else knowing about it.\u201d Cara surmised. \u201cYou blow up a ship, it makes news. A ship vanishes? Meh, it\u2019ll be found in a couple hundred years when technology gets a bit better.\u201d
\u201cTrue.\u201d Jake shook his head. \u201cThe question is who did it, and why.\u201d
\u201cDoes it matter?\u201d Hwa-Young asked. \u201cThese are living people! We can get their ship back on course, right? We can set their destination again, right? They\u2019ll wake up and wonder why they took so long to get there, but at the end of the day, they\u2019ll be where they need to go. That\u2019s the right thing to do\u2026 isn’t it?\u201d
Jake nodded slowly. \u201cYou\u2019re\u2026 You\u2019re prFifteen minutes later, they had entered the Valiant once more, exited their environmental suits, and made their way onto the bridge. Jake pulled himself into his chair and strapped himself down, just to keep himself from drifting, while Cara hit a few buttons. Hwa-Young floated up to her medical bay, where she could run some tests on the ice she had brought back.
\u201cSo, I was digging through their computer\u2026\u201d Cara murmured. \u201cAnd I found this.\u201d
With a flicker, a large screen above her head changed, and showed a strange logo. It depicted the planet Saturn, with sword plunging through it. Water dripped out the bottom of the planet like blood.
\u201cI\u2019ve never seen it before.\u201d Jake shook his head.
\u201cI have.\u201d Sojen muttered. \u201cTerrorists.\u201d
\u201cWhat?\u201d Jake looked back and forth between them.
Cara nodded her head. \u201cThey\u2019ve been operating for a few decades now. Most of the ice from Saturn is harmless, but there\u2019s a particular type of toxin that can only be found in the rings. It\u2019s an organic compound that forms in the volcanos of Titan, and then gets spewed into the surrounding ice fields. The stuff is pretty nasty, and can kill pretty quickly.\u201d
There was a crackle from the coms, and Hwa-Young\u2019s voice rang up from the medical bay. \u201cI can confirm that. It\u2019s hard to say exactly what it is, but there\u2019s definitely something here.\u201d
\u201cSo\u2026\u201d Jake\u2019s stomach flipped. \u201cThese are terrorists?\u201d
He felt sick at the thought that he had very nearly sent the terrorists on their merry way.
\u201cYup.\u201d Cara confirmed. \u201cAnd\u2026 Here\u2019s this. It\u2019s a message that was beamed out about a week before their departure.\u201d
A message appeared on the screen, and Jake leaned forward to read it.
\u201cOperator, this is Captain Yize. We\u2019ve been speaking for some time about a traitor in our midst, and I\u2019ve learned their identity. It\u2019s the boy, John Silver, he seems to work for NUN. I\u2019ve arranged for his cryo pod to malfunction when we begin our next journey, so it\u2019s nothing to worry about. Thought you should know.\u201d
The message was short and to the point, and Jake sighed as he leaned back in his chair.
Very, very interesting. What to do about that? The traitor was dead – And Jake had no particular love for the New United Nations, or NUN, so he wasn\u2019t going to mourn the loss of one of their operatives too greatly – but apparently that hadn\u2019t been enough. The ship had been cut loose and set adrift, sent across the solar system on a doomed journey until the cryo pods failed, and the crew froze for good.
On one hand, the crew was helpless.
On the other hand\u2026 They were terrorists.
\u201cCan we tell anyone about this?\u201d Jake asked.
\u201cTell who?\u201d Cara held up her hands. \u201cUnited Earth? That would give them our transponder information. Same with NUN. Not to mention that anyone in their ranks who belongs to these terrorists would know that we know. We\u2019d be painting a massive target on our backs.\u201d
\u201cAlright.\u201d Jake held up a hand. \u201cWhat if we make the ship broadcast a message, warning people. We send it on its way to dock, so that when it arrives, everyone knows it\u2019s carrying poisoned ice. The terrorists get arrested, and no one knows it\u2019s us.\u201d
\u201cUntil they pull the computer logs.\u201d Cara shook her head. \u201cDoesn\u2019t really matter how deep we try to bury it. There are thousands of computer systems on any ship you come across, and our fingerprints will be in it somewhere. It\u2019s the same problem as before.\u201d
Jake sighed and rubbed his fingers against his temples.
He didn\u2019t consider himself a bad man. There was poisoned ice being delivered to Earth, and whether or not he liked the people running the planet, he had no particular hatred for the average person, and it was the boots on the ground that would be affected. He needed to get out a warning\u2026 But on the flip side, he had to take care of his crew, first and foremost. They were his responsibility. There had been active ice shipments for decades, so if NUN or United Earth hadn\u2019t figured out how to stop it yet\u2026 That was really on them.
Finally, he sighed and nodded. \u201cAlright, then. Cut the ship loose. Let it keep drifting.\u201d
\u201cKeep\u2026\u201d Cara blinked in surprise.
\u201cNo, not just drifting. Give it a boost of the engines. Make it look alive.\u201d Jake sighed. \u201cThat\u2019ll keep it going until it flies out of the solar system. Then\u2026 Take that image that you showed us, the one of the terrorists, and make it into a burst transmission. Oh, I know. Have their computer send out the transmission. We\u2019ll receive and record it, and then we can pass it along at the next port. We say we picked it up in the Void, which is true, and that we wanted to pass it on. The authorities can take it from there.\u201d
Cara gave a small nod, and set her jaw. Sojen let out a sigh, then slowly drifted out of the cockpit and down toward the engine room. A moment later, there was a clang as the ice hauler detached, and the ship shuddered as the other ship roared off.
\u201cAnd\u2026 All has been done.\u201d Cara nodded. \u201cJust as you asked.\u201d
\u201cGood.\u201d Jake murmured. \u201cSet a course for Mars.\u201d
The engines kicked on, pressing him slightly back into his seat once more, and once again, his eyes swept over the array of sensors.
The solar system was a dark place, these days. Everyone trying to kill everyone else, and the people who were just trying to make a living usually had to help someone or another do the killing. Such was the way of the stars.
Jake had no desire to take any part of it. The terrorists had been killed by their own people, he just hadn\u2019t done anything to stop it. His own crew would get to keep eating and breathing for another day.
More than that, in the stars, was a luxury that he couldn\u2019t even begin to afford.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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    This page uses temporary AI generated images.\u00a0 Our intention is to replace them with images from human sources as our resources allow. The story on the page was created by humans.<\/strong><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    CHAPTER 1 The stars turned slowly around a small, oblong cargo hauler as it made a wide turn away from Dlamini Station, an outpost of the Jupiter Rings. To the rest of the solar system, it was entirely unimportant, a tiny blip on a radar full of threats. To the people who lived inside, it […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3511","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-story"],"yoast_head":"\nBlack Ice -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/govaliant.net\/en\/archives\/black-ice\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Black Ice -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"CHAPTER 1 The stars turned slowly around a small, oblong cargo hauler as it made a wide turn away from Dlamini Station, an outpost of the Jupiter Rings. 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