by R. M. Olson
It wasn’t necessarily being knocked out by her crewmates that surprised her—quite frankly, she’d always figured if she was crewmates with someone for long enough, they’d probably eventually want to knock her out.
It was the fact they’d knocked her out to save her damn life.
And that Masha had been the one who sold her out.
It was annoying as hell, but—well, but at the same time, if she stopped to think about it, about Lev and Ysbel tied up on Lena’s ship and Tae and Tanya and the kids hiding back in the engine room, and Masha—who, by the way, she still basically hated—crouched beside her, she was pretty sure she was going to maybe start crying or something.
Which, again, was completely stupid.
“Ready?” she whispered. Masha gave a short nod. Jez stood, swayed slightly, cursed under her breath, and grabbed the wall for support.
“Do you need a hand?” Masha asked, with a slightly ironic smile. Jez narrowed her eyes.
“Go to hell, Masha,” she whispered. Then she took a deep breath and stepped forward onto Lena’s ship.
A heady mixture of anticipation and fear tingled through her body as she stepped into the main body of the ship.
Lena.
It had been years.
She closed her eyes for a moment and pictured the diagram Tae had sent through to her com, and then slipped off down a corridor to her right. Masha’s footsteps followed close behind.
This corridor should lead down to the lower deck, and from there, she should be able to access the hatch that would take her into the engine room. This ship was a soulless thing, all metal and hard lines, nothing like her beautiful Ungovernable, but it was a ship, and she knew her way around a ship.
They weren’t going to steal it, although stealing a second one of Lena’s ships would have been frankly amazing. But she wasn’t going to leave her Ungovernable, she would have died rather than do that, and—well, and the others must have known that when they were making plans.
Nope, they were going to do the second best thing. They were going to damn well cannibalize it. Lena’d given her the best smuggling ship in the system last time Jez had left her. Well, ‘given’ might be a stretch. And now she was going to fix the Ungovernable.
Maybe she’d learn to appreciate Lena one of these days after all.
They’d only made it about ten metres when she heard footsteps from the junction behind her. She looked ahead to where the corridor branched, then glanced back at Masha.
“Rafal?” came a woman’s voice from the opposite corridor. “That you?”
They flattened themselves against the walls of the corridor, Jez hardly daring to breathe.
“Rafal?” the woman’s voice called again, and the footsteps hesitated at the branch in the corridor. Jez glanced around quickly.
The corridor was narrow, and brightly lit with stark white bar-lights set into the ceiling. Nowhere to hide.
Then from the other branch of the corridor, an irritated voice called, “Rafal is on the other plaguing ship, hunting for warm bodies.”
The footsteps, which had hesitated for a moment, restarted, and the smuggler woman said in clipped tones, “Andrik? I thought you’d have finished in the engine room a long time ago.”
“Not as easy as it looks,” the man’s voice grumbled. “Natalia is still down there, trying to make up for how hard we’ve been running her for the last sixty hours. She wasn’t built for this kind of strain.”
Natalia. Jez gave a fond smile. The woman probably still wanted to skin her alive, honestly.
The footsteps moved off, and Jez let out a quick breath of relief.
And then the second set of footsteps turned purposefully at the fork in the corridor. Jez locked eyes with Masha for a moment, and they ran.
Jez had no idea where she was going, except that it was away from the sound of following footsteps. She turned a corner, blinking as her vision blurred slightly.
Damn Masha and her sleeping gas.
The footsteps turned as well. She swore.
There. Ahead. A maintenance closet.
She reached it, jerked the door open, and swayed slightly as Masha slipped past her. Masha grabbed her by the elbow, pulled her in, and swung the door shut behind them just as the smuggler rounded the corner.
Through the crack in the door, Jez could see the man coming down the corridor. He was short and wiry, with dark hair and medium-brown skin, and she didn’t recognize him, which meant he must be new to Lena’s crew in the past four years.
He frowned slightly, looking up and down the corridor. Then he shrugged, and started walking again.
The door to the maintenance closet was open a crack, and Jez bit the inside of her cheek as he came close.
He paused in front of the door, and she felt for her heat pistol, but he just shoved it all the way closed and continued past.
Jez let out a breath and turned on her com-light.
“Well,” she said, her voice only a little shaky. “Guess we didn’t do too bad.” She pushed at the maintenance cupboard door.
It didn’t budge.
She swore, and pushed it harder.
Nothing.
“Seriously?” she whispered.
Masha’s disapproving sigh came from close behind her. “Are we locked in?” she asked.
“Not locked. Just no handle from the inside,” she said.
“Let me,” said Masha, stepping past her. Jez stepped grudgingly out of the way, and the woman pulled something sharp out of the pocket of her coat. She twisted it a couple of times, and there was a faint ‘ting’ as something small and metal hit the floor on the outside of the cupboard. She gave the door a slight push, and it swung open.
She didn’t even glance back at Jez for her reaction, which was actually slightly irritating, because Jez had had no intention of showing that she was impressed. She slipped out of the door, and Jez followed.
They walked quickly, and it was only a minute or two before they reached their destination—the hatch to the engine room.
And three smugglers, standing over it, deep in conversation.
Jez narrowed her eyes and stepped quickly back around the corner. Lena’d let things slip since she’d been on the crew. Pretty sure the damn woman would have threatened to slice her throat three different ways if she’d been lazing around the plaguing engine room chatting.
She could shoot them, which would be satisfying in its own way, but would also probably mean they’d be caught and killed. So probably not the best plan.
She turned and gave Masha a wink, and, before Masha’s face had time to register alarm, she straightened her coat, pulled her toque down over her hair, and strode out into the room.
“What the hell are you dirty plaguers doing! Does Lena know you’re bloody well using up all her oxygen chatting? Because I’m just about to—” She was shouting as loudly as any of Lena’s crew-managers, but probably the other crew-managers wouldn’t have been grinning like complete idiots.
The three smugglers scattered down the hallway like their boots had been scorched with a heat-torch. She threw a jaunty grin over her shoulder at Masha, who was glaring at her, bent to pull open the hatch, and almost toppled over.
She muttered something about plaguing idiots with their plaguing sleeping gas as Masha stepped around her and lifted the hatch. She shot Jez a look as she started her climb down, and Jez could swear there was a hint of smugness in her eyes.
When her head had stopped spinning, Jez touched her hand to her pistol, took a deep breath, and started after Masha.
The engine room at the bottom of the ladder was small and cramped, with a roof low enough that she had to hunch over uncomfortably to avoid banging her head on the ceiling. But there, in front of her—what they’d come for. Two beautiful thrusters, newer than the ship if she was any judge, practically glowing in the faint reflected light from the open hatch.
Be a little less beautiful once she’d pulled out their insides, but still—
> She took an almost-unconscious step towards them.
Then a woman with shoulder-length grey hair and wiry muscles stepped around the side of the thruster. The momentary flicker of shock in her eyes disappeared almost instantly, to be replaced with a dangerous satisfaction. “Jez,” she said, her tone a mix of smugness and loathing. “Should have known you’d come sneaking around here, let someone else take the fall for you.”
Jez grinned, every muscle in her body singing with adrenalin.
“Good to see you too, Natalia. Don’t often meet someone so plaguing stupid that they run the wires wrong on a brand new ship, so I always figured you were something special.”
The woman’s eyes narrowed. “Jez Solokov,” she almost purred. “Look at you, all grown up now. But you haven’t gotten any smarter, have you?”
“Well, at least I haven’t gotten uglier.” Jez managed a smirk, then she threw herself to one side as the woman’s right hook grazed her face. Pain jolted through her ribcage and another wave of dizziness hit her. She staggered, grabbing for the thrusters behind her for support. She threw up a hand in a probably-futile attempt to guard her broken jaw.
And then there was an unpleasant crunch, and Nataila dropped, eyes rolling back into her head.
Behind her, Masha dropped the crowbar she’d been holding, a slight smile on her face.
Jez raised her eyebrows, impressed despite herself. Then she blinked back her dizziness and knelt gingerly, pulling a length of cord from her pocket to truss the unfortunate Natalia.
“Hey Tae,” she whispered into her com. “We’re in. And guess what? Lena brought us some very nice replacement parts.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
The Ungovernable, Tae
It was almost concerning how quiet the children were as they crouched behind the Ungovernable’s ravaged thrusters. But Tae understood that kind of quiet. Olya was looking at him wide-eyed, and Tanya held Misko’s hand lightly in hers, her finger to her lips.
From outside, the sound of boots crossed and re-crossed the engine room.
He’d gambled that the residual heat from the overheated thruster engines would block their heat signature, but that would only last for so long. They’d have to move eventually, because eventually someone would figure out the same thing he had.
Alright, Jez, he tapped carefully into his com. I checked the thrusters. I’m going to send a list of parts through to your com. Do you know what make Lena’s thrusters are?
“They’re Belokamsk,” she whispered, in a voice that was almost reverent, and he rolled his eyes.
Alright. The parts won’t be compatible on their own, but we should be able to rig them in. It looks like Sasa designed this thing to be pretty easy to work with.
“Watch what you’re calling a thing,” she whispered. “That’s my angel you’re talking about there.”
He tapped his com again, sending off the list of parts.
“Got it,” she whispered a moment later. “Hey Masha. You know how to use a wrench?”
Masha murmured something in the background, but Tae was fairly certain that Masha knew how to use a wrench. Tae was fairly certain that if you were stranded on a desert planet and the only way off was to tame and ride a wild harocat, it would just so happen that Masha had had some small amount of experience doing that exact thing at some point.
Outside, another group of boots tramped through the engine room.
“Have you checked in here?” asked a man’s voice.
“Yes,” a woman answered. “But everything is residually warm from where they pulled online to bring on the shields.” She paused a moment. “Looks like they had a core meltdown at some point. I’m actually surprised this thing is still functional.”
“Did you get behind the blast doors?” the man asked.
“Yeah. I checked, and they got the core reactor stabilized, so I was able to plug it into our ship’s power core. Once she had full power, blast doors opened right up. Chilly back there, though. If there was anyone in there, they’d be an icicle by now.”
The man sighed. “Well then, I suppose we go through room by room. Anywhere there’s residual heat, there’s the possibility they’re hiding and their signatures won’t show up.”
Tae bit his lip and glanced down at the kids. They were completely still, hardly breathing, and Tanya’s posture was a tense crouch.
He caught Tanya’s eye. She nodded, and the four of them slipped around the opposite side of the thruster towards the engine room door. Tanya, Misko in her arms, reached the exit first. She peered outside and beckoned him forward. He gently pushed Olya after her mother, and with his heat pistol drawn, he crept out after them.
The hallway was deserted, for the moment at least, and he hesitated, gesturing the others after him into a small storage closet.
They needed to get the kids to safety—if there was any such thing on this plaguing ship at the moment. But he also needed, desperately, to get to the power core and get Jez a list of parts he needed.
“Tanya,” he whispered at last. “I have to get the information for Jez. You take the kids and try to find somewhere safe.”
Tanya gave him a look. “No. You stay here with the children. You tell me what you need to see and I’ll show you on my com screen.”
“I—suppose that would work. But if one of us is going to—”
She gave him a faint smile. “Tae. You are very, very talented at tech. But, and please don’t be offended, you are not very good at sneaking around.”
He sighed.
She wasn’t wrong—over the last twenty minutes, he’d learned she was very much better at this than he was.
But—he glanced down at Olya and little Misko.
He’d never be able to live with himself if they lost their mamochka.
“I’m not asking you for permission,” she said, slight amusement in her voice. “I’m only asking you to tell me what parts of the core you need to see over your screen.”
“I—”
This time she did smile. “As I said. I’m not asking for permission.”
He sighed. “Alright. Listen, then.” He pulled up his holoscreen and flipped to a 3D model of the power core. “These are the places I’ll need to see to start off. Once I know basically what’s going on, I’ll probably need to see more.”
She studied the screen for a moment, then nodded. “Very good. I’ll be back shortly, then.”
She knelt. “Olya, Misko, my hearts, behave yourselves. And listen to Uncle Tae. Mamochka will be back soon.” She stood, gave him a slight smile, and slipped off towards the reactor bay.
When she was gone, he leaned his head back against the wall and swore under his breath.
Ysbel would kill him. Lev would probably kill him too. Possibly Jez would also kill him, just for the fun of it. He’d just let Tanya go into what was probably a suicide mission, and he hadn’t even tried to stop her.
She was right, of course. She didn’t need his permission. But somehow Ysbel’s visceral fear for her wife must have rubbed off on him. And he’d never be able to look the children in the face again if anything happened to her.
He strained his ears, listening to the voices, waiting for them to raise in alarm. She’d wait until they moved, of course, and who knew how long that would be. The hallway in front of the reactor deck was narrow, and there was nowhere to hide.
A faint tapping in his earpiece caught his attention.
I’m in. Turn on your screen.
He stared dumbly at his com for a moment, then flipped up the screen. Tanya’s face appeared in it for a moment, then the view switched to the power core.
Behind the core, he could make out the forms of the three—no, four—smugglers in the hallway outside.
“How did you—” he began. Then he gritted his teeth. No time for that at the moment.
He studied the power core through the holoscreen, frowning. “There’s an access port at the bottom of the outer shell, probably right about where your feet are
,” he whispered. “I need to see inside it.”
She pulled it open, and he ran his eyes quickly over the connections. A few connectors melted, like he’d suspected, but not as bad as it could have been. The wires were a melted mass of metal and plastic, but that he’d assumed.
“Alright,” he whispered. “I’d like to see the port on the other side, but it looks like—”
The screen shut off for a moment.
“Tanya, no!” he hissed. “It’s not worth getting caught over.”
The screen popped up again, showing a clear view of the open port.
She must be standing right behind the smugglers.
His stomach was a tight knot as he looked over the components, carefully noting each damaged piece. At last he whispered, “Got it.”
Her screen flipped around, and he sucked in his breath in alarm. She was standing so close behind one of the smugglers that if either of them had leaned back, they’d touch. Tanya gave a quick nod, and then the screen cut out.
He squeezed his eyes closed for a moment and let loose a long string of curses under his breath.
“Uncle Tae?” Olya whispered. He glanced down at her, his chest constricting even further.
This was her mother. She’s almost certainly seen the screen, and she was smart enough that she’d have figured out—
“You’re worried about Mamochka, aren’t you? Don’t worry, Uncle Tae. She’ll be fine.” She didn’t look even slightly concerned, a superior smile on her face. “She’s very good at being quiet.”
He knelt. “I’m sure you’re right, Olya.” He was speaking past a knot of combined panic and terror in his throat. “I’m sure she’ll be fine.”
She raised a superior eyebrow at him. “Well, you don’t look very sure.”
“Tae.”
He jumped and bit back a curse. Tanya stood beside him.
He hadn’t even heard her come in.
“If you have what you need, let’s get somewhere a little safer. I heard them talking while I was in there. They’re going to go over this sector for a second time very soon now. And it seems Lena’s not overlooking anything. She instructed them to leave someone in each of the rooms with heat signatures, to ensure that no one can access a room that’s already been checked.”