It looked much different now, of course, and not just because of the lack of impending doom and hygienically suspect pirates. STEVE had finished offloading their cargo into this space and everywhere else it would fit, plus whatever supplies could be spared from the pirate vessel, now firmly claimed as rightful ‘salvage’ by Captain Rain on behalf of the crew. They still hadn’t decided what to rename her – openly the pirates had called the ship Sanguine Rose, but privately it had been known as Bloody Rose. Neither was any more palatable than the rest of the pirate’s ‘personal touches’ to the ship, so go it must.
“Mind if I join ya?” a youthful voice said from behind Morgan.
Turning to face Linda, Morgan scooted over on the crate top.
“I seem to recall asking you to meet me,” Morgan said with a quick laugh.
Linda shrugged. Morgan had been right, cleaned up and with an expression decidedly less haunted, Linda was a looker, not that Morgan thought she realized it.
Probably comes from being around no one but family most her life, she thought.
“Ma always said, manners first,” Linda said at last, hopping up on the crate and settling into the space Morgan had vacated. She then gave Morgan a big, wide smile. “Lots of good news ta go around just now, hope you have more.”
“I think so, but what have you heard? Anything about your family?”
“Yes!” Linda said, actually bouncing up and down a bit. “Ma got them all to a Navy ship, a cruiser or something. The cruiser was hunting the pirates, so they twern’t allowed to get any messages out.”
Probably just a frigate, Morgan thought, not that it matters. That they knew the pirates were out here and didn’t warn us properly… No. I’ll let that lie. I don’t want to dampen her good mood.
“Anyways, what was your news?” Linda asked, still all smiles.
“Well, part news and part an offer,” Morgan started. With Linda’s news factored in, she was now far less certain of the outcome of the conversation. “STEVE will be jumping back as soon as he can, they simply can’t delay any longer, not with the damage the ship already had. Our new ship, well, it can jump on its own, but not until the damage to the structure gets fixed. That means we have to take it back the long way.”
“They ‘n we,” Linda echoed. “That mean you’re not going back with STEVE?”
“I’m not. As much of the crew as we can spare will be staying, but it still won’t be enough. The first officer will be acting captain, and I’ll be acting first officer.”
“Not bad for a girlie my age,” Linda said with another smile.
Morgan just shrugged.
“I’ve had a lot of lucky breaks. It also isn’t like I’ll be kept on as first officer after.”
“Still, kinda nice, innit? Where do I come in?”
“Well, I wanted to offer you a job,” Morgan said, hesitating a bit before saying it. “Of the prisoners they’d been using to help run the ship, only one wants to stay on. The rest will be staying here with the miners and the prisoners until the Navy gets here, or leaving once they can get their ships undocked. We could really use more people who know the ship, even if just a little bit, especially since the one who does want to stay doesn’t really know anything about the ship itself. Seems she was more or less the leader’s secretary.”
“A job?” Linda said, her smile drooping a bit. “But Ma and the littles are on their way here, Pa and I were going to meet them with the ship…”
“And that’s wonderful,” Morgan hastened to add. “And I’ll understand completely if you say no. I just figured, after everything, you could use the money.”
Linda looked pained, and Morgan could see in her face that she was right, they did need the money.
“How much we talking? Would it last more than just the time to get back?”
“We’d pay you normal rate for an outside specialist,” Morgan said. “There is also the matter of the ship itself.”
“What do you mean?”
“Legally the ship belongs to Captain Rain and the crew. Apparently Takiyama thought of this possibility, and there is a clause in our contracts that we have to sell it to the company if they want it, at a rather reduced rate.”
“Oh. That’s not so nice.”
Morgan shrugged.
“Maybe, but we’re still talking about a carrier with its own gate that can carry two dozen other ships. Armed on top of that. Even divided up among the whole crew, that is still a lot of money.”
“Congrats, I suppose,” Linda said. “Still not seeing what it has to do wit me.”
“If you’re part of the crew as we take it home, I can see to it you get a share.”
Linda froze, clearly deep in thought. The pair sat there for perhaps a minute, barely even breathing, as Morgan waited for her to answer.
“That’s a lot of money, isn’t it?”
“If I were to guess, I’d say that ship is worth several trillion, in Zion’s currency.” Morgan snorted. “Or Albion’s. Exchange rate isn’t so important, numbers that big.”
“And how many crew are we talking?”
“Only a few hundred. The mercs don’t get in on this, they get a flat – but substantial – bonus from Takiyama.”
“So even selling way under, you’re talking millions?”
“Yes. I know it’ll mean you don’t see your family for a bit longer, but shouldn’t something good come out of all of this?”
“I’m in,” Linda said firmly, holding out her hand to Morgan. “I was supposed to go off to study wit someone else soon, anyway.”
Morgan took it, shaking it firmly – but not too firmly. It wouldn’t do to forget that Morgan had grown up in nearly three times the gravity Linda had and crush her fingers.
Suddenly Linda’s eyes lit up, and she got a very different sort of grin on her face.
“Tell me,” she said, drawing out the sounds. “Where are the mercs going? STEVE or the other ship?”
“With us,” Morgan answered, laughing as she guessed what Linda was getting at. “STEVE won’t need them for a jump back to Takiyama Station, and one of the things they’re good at is fixing battle damage.”
“Perfect,” Linda said, her grin transforming just a bit more until the best word Morgan had to describe it was predatory.
Should I feel happy for Max, or sad? Morgan wondered with a mental laugh, before adding aloud, “You’d best let your father know, and get your things off your ship, if he’s planning on staying here. On the bridge side, you have your things again, so that’s good.”
Morgan hopped off the crate, headed not toward STEVE but deeper onto the station.
“I’ll get all squared away, don’t ya worry. Where are you going, though?”
“I still need to say some goodbyes to a couple of STEVE’s crew, but first I need to have a talk with someone here. I don’t know that I’ll ever get the chance again.”
“Don’t look happy about it, not one bit,” Linda said with a frown.
“No, no, I don’t,” Morgan said, then forced a smile. “I think most of the quarters – the intact ones at any rate – are claimed on the ship. There should be a spot or two in with the junior techs, six ladies to a room. There is, however, an extra bunk in the first officer’s quarters, if you don’t mind rooming with me.”
“Great! We can have sleepovers! Girl talk!” Linda said, bouncing off the crate and catching a very surprised Morgan in a hug. “I’ll have to grab my makeup off the Scoop, then we can experiment.”
What did I just get myself into? Morgan thought as Linda skipped away.
***
As Morgan approached the medical bay for the station, she was surprised to see Gertrude standing there, waiting. The surprise must have been visible on her face, because Gertrude answered her unasked question.
“Of course you were coming here before leaving, I know you too well to think you wouldn’t. I also know you too well to think you’d think of asking someone to come along as moral support, so I set up an ale
rt to tell me when you left the ship. I didn’t expect to beat you here, though.”
“I had to talk to Linda first,” Morgan said, shaking her head. “Well, you’re here, so you might as well come in with me.”
“You’re welcome,” Gertrude said with a smile, pulling Morgan in for a hug.
Given everything that had happened, there were surprisingly few patients for Doctor Martinez. In fact, all the ones she could see as they walked in were obviously from the station, with a couple who were probably rescued victims of the pirates.
Morgan puzzled over that for a moment; surely there must have been many injured on the pirate vessel?
Oh, she realized, a chill running down her spine despite the fact that she was thinking about the fates of literal murderous pirates. They weren’t expecting us to fight back. They weren’t in skinsuits. No wounded, just dead.
As they walked back toward the doctor’s desk she looked up from her terminal.
“Something you need, Morgan?” Martinez asked, looking her up and down. “You look healthy enough, thank goodness. Who is your friend? I haven’t really met many people from your ship.”
“This is Engineer Suoh,” Morgan said, not sure how professional to be in this case. It wasn’t exactly company business, after all. “My best friend. We’ve come to talk to Thirty-four, uh, the pirate leader, I mean.”
Martinez frowned.
“Why would you want to do that? He’s supposed to be under arrest, kept isolated. If this is about what he did to you…”
“It isn’t.”
Martinez frowned again.
“Then why?” she asked.
“Because he might be able to tell me what happened to my parents.”
“That sounds like a long story. Perhaps you’ll tell it to me, after?”
“Thank you, and maybe. Not a happy tale.”
“He’s in the isolation room.” Martinez turned and raised her voice. “Stephan, we’ve got two visitors for Mr. Grumpy.”
Stephan turned out to be a rather burly sort, armed with what was clearly one of the pirate’s rifles.
“Hmm,” he grunted as they approached. “You armed?”
“Why?” Morgan asked, narrowing his eyes as she looked him over, even as he did the same to her.
“No weapons in there. Can’t risk him getting a hold of anything.”
“Isn’t he restrained?” Gertrude asked.
“Course he is. Still. No weapons.”
Morgan frowned, but it was a sensible precaution. Reaching up under her skirt, she pulled her pistol from her thigh holster. To his credit, she could see the guard pointedly look away, not that he would have seen anything besides her leggings in any case.
“You need the spare magazine too?” she asked as she handed it over.
“No, this is fine. Don’t get too close. He’s a nasty piece of work.”
“Trust me, I know,” Morgan said, sparing a moment to glance at Gertrude before moving toward the hatch.
The guard opened it for them from the control panel next to him on the wall, and Morgan took a half-step inside. The room smelled like the rest, sterile and suffused with antiseptic. There was also a sickly smell in the air, wounds still healing.
“I was wondering when you’d show,” he said, the moment the hatch closed behind them. “I didn’t recognize you, when you attacked me. Good thing too, for you, or I’d have killed you.”
Gertrude grunted, closer to a growl really, but Morgan just let out an amused snort.
“You tried, remember? Your ‘employees’ stopped you.”
“Yeah, they did. If I’d known who you were, I would have tried harder, Rat.”
“Missed opportunity, I’m sure,” Morgan said, fighting to maintain her comp0sure. Yelling at him might feel good, but she needed her question answered, and the less time she spent with him the better. “Do you know why I’m here, what question I want answered?”
“You must think me stupid, to ask that. You must be even dumber yourself, to think I’d answer.”
“Oh?”
He pulled taut the handcuff connecting him to the hospital bed.
“Not much to look forward to, thanks to you. Thinking about how it will torment you, not to know, that will amuse me for a long time.”
“Tell me, or…” Morgan shouted, breaking off as he laughed in her face.
“Or what? You can’t hurt me, you can’t kill me. You can’t change what’s coming to me one bit more or less. You have no power here.”
Morgan collapsed back against the wall. He was right, damn him. She’d hoped he wouldn’t realize it, but she’d been deluding herself. What could she do for him? Nothing. What could she do to him? Also nothing.
This set him off laughing again.
“You know what. I am going to tell you. Just a bit. I think knowing, and not being able to do anything about it, will hurt you more than not knowing at all.”
“If you lie to her,” Gertrude growled, her hands balling into fists.
“I don’t need to,” Thirty-four said. “The truth will hurt worse. Your precious parents aren’t dead. I could have killed them, you know, when it was discovered you were gone. No one would have batted an eye at me taking out the trash.”
He paused, probably waiting for Morgan to ask why he didn’t. She didn’t want to give him the satisfaction.
After a moment, he simply gave a little shrug, nodding his head to the right, and continued on.
“I didn’t because I wanted them to suffer. Especially your traitor of a father. Long, hard, grueling agony until they wished they would be dead. The rest of their lives, toiling away in the place everyone feared. You know where they are, don’t you? Go on, give me a guess. I won’t say anything else until you do.”
Morgan closed her eyes, slumping farther against the wall. She did know. She’d suspected all along, but didn’t want to think about it. Didn’t want to see the shadow of that place in her mind more than it already was. The deathtrap of a mine, where so many prisoners entered, but none left.
“Shaft One,” she whispered, naming the place, the oldest and most dangerous mine on the entire planet of Hillman.
Thirty-four’s laughter echoed throughout the tiny room, a cruel, hard sound.
Morgan stood up, staggering toward the exit.
That’s it then. They’re dead. No one survives Shaft One for more than a couple Hillman years, and I’ve been gone for, what? Eight now?
“Don’t go now, you’ll miss the best part,” Thirty-four called out, still laughing. Morgan paused at the door, unable to stop herself from waiting, dreading what he’d say next. “I’ve been gone a while, you understand, nice big promotion to the Navy, but I always hated your father. I checked before I left to come here. They’re still there. Still suffering.”
He started laughing again, and Gertrude moved into action, pulling Morgan bodily out of the room, as she closed her eyes tight against the pain.
The hatch closing cut off the laughter, but Morgan could still hear it, might always hear it.
“Still alive,” she whispered, a contradictory flurry of emotions rushing through her.
“Morgan, that’s great news, whatever he says,” Gertrude said, rubbing her back with one of her hands while the other reached around to clasp Morgan’s hand.
“Would you rather be dead, and in heaven, or alive, and in hell?” Morgan asked, unable to bring her gaze up off the floor.
“Where there is life, there is hope, Morgan.”
“What hope of rescue is there for them?” Morgan asked, finally looking up, feeling the tears streaming down her cheeks.
“There is always hope. God grants us miracles every day.”
“I…” Morgan started, then stopped and shook her head, breaking free of Gertrude’s embrace. “I better go, there is still so much more to do before STEVE departs.”
“Morgan, wait!” Gertrude called out from behind her, but Morgan didn’t listen. She’d been deluding herself, she realized, cling
ing to some small hope of good news, or at least something less horrible.
By the time she reached the lift, she’d calmed down somewhat, and somehow a peace settled over her, a bit of her conversation with Linda coming to mind.
‘So even selling way under, you’re talking millions?’ Linda had said. There were a lot of things she could do with that much money, especially since as an officer, her share was a lot larger than that of the general crewmen.
She was going to get that ship home, and then return home. She didn’t know how yet, but she’d have the means.
Morgan was going to rescue her parents.
The End
Table of Contents
Chapter 01
Chapter 02
Chapter 03
Chapter 04
Chapter 05
Chapter 06
Chapter 07
Chapter 08
Chapter 09
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
The End
Running Black Page 30