A Pale Light in the Black

by K. B. Wagers

  “What? I wouldn’t hurt her!”

  “You gave me a black eye your first day here,” Rosa reminded her with a grin that had the others—minus the lieutenant—laughing. “Come on, Max, let’s see how your hand-to-hand is.”

  Jenks dropped onto the bench next to Ma as the commander handed her practice sword off to Tamago, the microsheath sliding back up around the edge.

  “I wouldn’t have hurt her,” she muttered.

  “You would have,” Sapphi said, lifting her hands and spreading files only she could see wide across her vision. “At least a little.”

  “Okay, maybe a little.” She grinned. “Isn’t that part of the fun, though?”

  “For who?” Ma bumped her shoulder with his and laughed. “Commander’s thinking ahead, this way you can watch her. You’re a better judge of someone’s skill set than any of us.”

  Jenks couldn’t argue with that, so she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back against the wall to watch the fight.

  The commander was tall—well, honestly, everyone was tall to Jenks, but at 178 centimeters, Rosa was a pretty decent height. The new lieutenant was taller than Rosa and had a similar long-limbed build.

  The difference was that Rosa moved like she was comfortable in her skin, while the lieutenant decidedly did not.

  Still, she didn’t square off directly across from the commander, turning her hips and torso away and making herself a smaller target as she lifted her fists.

  Too low to protect her head.

  “Commander’s gonna smack her right in the eye,” Jenks muttered, watching Rosa’s hips move as she threw the expected punch.

  What happened next was not expected, though.

  Max shifted to the side, blocking the punch and hitting the commander with a spinning kick in the upper back hard enough to knock Rosa several feet across the mat.

  Jenks sat upright with a whistle. Max didn’t pursue but settled back into her stance, arms raised—still not high enough—and waited. “Going to have to teach her to attack when she’s got her opponent stunned like that,” she murmured under her breath, already calculating the ways she could coach Max into something unstoppable.

  The grin on Rosa’s face had Jenks whistling again as the commander lifted her own hands and gestured for Max to continue. There was a moment when Jenks wasn’t sure if Max would comply, but the lieutenant moved forward and threw a punch of her own.

  The fight was on.

  “She’s good.” Jenks didn’t bother to keep the surprise out of her voice. “Hasn’t fought enough, but the instinct is there. If she’d commit to actually fighting.”

  “She doesn’t like it,” Ma said, and Jenks nodded.

  “Nothing wrong with that. Does make you wonder why she joined the Interceptors, though.” She glanced in Ma’s direction when he didn’t reply. “You know why.”

  “Maybe,” he said. “It’ll be good for you to figure it out on your own, though.”

  Jenks shrugged with a noncommittal grunt, but then she winced as Rosa hit Max in the stomach with a particularly solid kick and the lieutenant folded in half. “Oof. Call that one a win for the commander.” She got up and crossed the mat, grabbing the wheezing Max by an arm and stretching her out as the lieutenant struggled to suck air into her lungs. “Give it a minute, Lieutenant, you’ll be okay.” She patted Max on the shoulder and then left her with Ma.

  “Thoughts?” Rosa asked, catching the towel Jenks threw in her direction and mopping at her face.

  Jenks rubbed at the back of her head. “She’s better than Sapphi, or rather, she could be better. There’s something there.”

  “She moved like a ghost sometimes, but she wasn’t invested in the fight.”

  “Could have been nervous about fighting a superior officer.”

  “You weren’t.”

  “Not everyone’s me.” Jenks shrugged.

  “Thank God.” Rosa grinned down at her. “Get her trained up. Take it easy on her, but not too much. We’re on a timetable now, plus I want to know she’ll be up for anything that comes at us in the field. We’ll have Sapphi put all her focus on the hack competition and everyone trains for the Boarding Action, but I want you and Ma and Max on the hand-to-hand.”

  “Can do, Commander.” Whatever her misgivings about Max, Jenks trusted Rosa’s decision on the matter and she’d do what she could to get the woman trained up. “How’s Tamago going to handle the sword fighting?”

  “Should be fine.” Rosa frowned as she dried off the back of her neck with the towel. “They’ve got a natural grace that lends itself well to it, if—”

  When Rosa paused Jenks waited a beat before finishing the sentence. “We can get them to commit to the fight. Same problem as Max.” She shrugged and grinned at her commander’s surprised look. “I know it doesn’t seem like it, but I do pay attention.”

  Rosa chuckled and flicked her with the towel before going back to join Ma and Max. Jenks watched her go, her smile fading somewhat. For all their closeness, she knew the one thing Rosa hadn’t confided in her. The commander wasn’t just worried about Tamago’s fighting ability with the sword, she was worried about her own, and shouldering an already heavy burden of trying to win these damn Games.

  But it wasn’t Jenks’s place to be there for the commander to confide in. She knew how this worked.

  She only hoped that Max was up to the job.

  The NeoG preferred for its Interceptor teams to stay together for long periods. It led to better team cohesion, lower stress levels, and better performance overall. But promotions also had to happen, and there was no denying that Nika’s departure had left a giant hole in the heart of Zuma’s Ghost.

  The question was, was it one that Lieutenant Maxine Carmichael could fill?

  Rosa pondered the problem as she sat at the table in her office, pretending to read the daily reports in her inbox. They were going back out today, and despite her own reluctance about the new lieutenant, she was looking forward to seeing how Max handled herself in the field.

  The instructors at Interceptor training all spoke highly of Maxine Carmichael, and not because of her last name. She was, by all accounts, bright and dedicated. She was preternaturally good at predicting other people’s choices—which explained her ghostlike moves in the fighting ring—but seemed to have trouble relating to her fellow Neos—which explained why she was shut in her room so often. Sapphi seemed at ease with Max, as did Ma. But those two were the easy pair. They got on well with everyone.

  Tamago was more reserved, but would be fine. Jenks . . .

  Rosa sighed and shook her head.

  Jenks, while not hostile, displayed a formality that was completely out of character for her. The petty officer persisted in calling Max lieutenant while everyone else had fallen easily into using her name, or, in Sapphi’s case, the more genial LT.

  Rosa knew Jenks was still smarting from her brother’s departure in addition to adjusting to a new lieutenant. Hopefully she would come around; if not, they were going to have to have a talk.

  You miss Nik, too, Rosa.

  She did, but she also didn’t regret pushing him out the door. Nika deserved a team of his own and a chance to show HQ just how good he was at his job. He deserved the chance to show himself just how good he was. She laughed softly. “God help me but I could take some of my own advice.”

  “You keep sitting there laughing to yourself and people are going to get worried.” Ma sat down in the chair opposite her.

  “Among this bunch? I doubt it.” Rosa scrubbed a hand through her brown curls and smiled in Ma’s direction. “We ready to go?”

  “Prechecks all checked out,” he replied. “What’s bothering you?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Ma hummed. “I know you well enough to know that’s bullshit. Max isn’t settled in and until she’s able to ask you what’s on your mind, it’s my job for the moment.”

  “It’s just as well she isn’t.” Rosa mustered a smile.

&nbs
p; “You worried about your new lieutenant?”

  Rosa didn’t answer. She knew Ma would keep everything in confidence but something about admitting her misgivings to anyone but Max seemed unfair. “You know her,” she said instead, and Ma nodded.

  “Watched her grow up.”

  “Tell me about her parents.” Rosa glanced at the door as she leaned back in her chair. “The files don’t say much beyond the basics.”

  “They’re complicated. Her mother is an excellent officer. Her father is a brilliant doctor. They are both very good at their jobs,” Ma said, rubbing at his chin, and Rosa didn’t miss the incredibly diplomatic answer that held a wealth of information just out of reach. “Maybe not quite as great at being parents. They pushed their kids hard, and still do. Carmichaels are expected to uphold a certain image, and Max—” He shook his head. “She never quite did. It made things rough for her.”

  Rosa raised an eyebrow in his direction, holding in a snort of amusement. Ma lifted up a hand with a laugh.

  “You won’t hear the ‘poor little rich girl’ thing from her, Commander. That’s why I’m telling you—without the specifics; you’ll have to get those from her. Max is good people, dedicated and determined. She’s sharp and has great instincts. But she’s awkward as fuck and doesn’t trust herself enough to take action sometimes. I just don’t want you to take that hesitance as poor leadership skills.”

  “Admiral Chen’s recommendation for Interceptor training was positively glowing. She talked about how much potential Max has and how with a good commanding officer she could—” Rosa broke off as the realization hit her like an asteroid. “Oh. Ma, you sneaky bastard.”

  He held his hands up. “What? I’m just a master chief. I don’t have any pull around here.”

  Rosa gave him a flat look. “You are full of shit.”

  Ma tilted his head with a chuckle. “Seriously, I wasn’t the one who suggested it, but I may have put in a good word on both sides of the aisle here. And I did get an early message she was headed this way after everything was said and done, but I figured you and Nika had your reasons for waiting to tell the team, so I kept my mouth shut. You know I wouldn’t have broken up the team this close to the Games. I suspect someone else out there had your name at the top of a very short list of people they thought could watch out for her, Commander.”

  “I’m not a babysitter, Ma.” She waved a hand in the air, but Ma shook his head at her dismissal.

  “Don’t argue with me, Rosa. You’re good at what you do. You’ve trained, what, half a dozen officers in your time with the NeoG? All of who’ve gone on to have stellar careers. You and I both know you would have been a rear admiral by now if you could leave the system.”

  “I made peace with my choices, Ma.” She couldn’t stop her hand from reaching up to the medallion around her neck.

  “I know. I may not get the God thing, but I get sticking to a decision.” He smiled at her. “What I’m saying is you’re doing good work here and you’ll continue to do it with Max.”

  “You’re not half-bad yourself there, you know.”

  Ma shrugged. “I’m old and grumpy, but it serves me well.” He clapped his hands on his legs and stood. “Anyway, I’ll get people rounded up and Zuma is ready to go. Your lieutenant just came out of her room and is headed this way.”

  Rosa stuck a hand out, smiling when Ma clasped it and squeezed. “Thanks, Ma. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

  “Hopefully neither of us will ever have to figure that out.” He let go of her hand and left the room.

  Max exchanged a smile with Ma as he came out of the commander’s office and then knocked on the doorjamb. “You have a minute, Commander?”

  Rosa waved her in. “Ma’s gone to get everyone rounded up. They’ll head down to the boat. Something about the briefing?”

  “No, it was about your mission with the system jumper.” She watched Rosa’s eyebrows lift and swallowed down her trepidation. “I know I wasn’t involved, but I took a look at the reports and cross-matched the launch lists. Both An Ordinary Star and Journey’s Folly were from the same launch day.”

  “Go on, Lieutenant.”

  “I’m not inclined to go so far as some of Jenks’s suggestions.” Max smiled sheepishly. “Aliens are pretty much out of the equation at this point, according to everyone who studies astrobiology. Natural wormhole sucking them off course is possible but also highly unlikely and doesn’t explain how the ships ended up back in our solar system.”

  “You read her unedited report?”

  “It was unfiled on the team server,” Max replied. “I didn’t think it would be an issue—”

  “It’s not.” Rosa waved a hand. “If anything I’m impressed you took the time to see if there was anything unfiled on there.” She smiled. “So not aliens or natural wormholes. Then what?”

  “Salvagers coming across the derelict vessels and just ejecting the bodies makes the most sense, but—something’s not right about that, either. I just can’t understand why they would go to that kind of risk for such outdated components. I don’t have an answer for you.” Max hated to admit it, but the commander didn’t seem the least bit bothered by it.

  “Keep digging, then.” Rosa got to her feet and grabbed her bag off her bed, pausing with her head cocked to the side. “You seem surprised. Were you expecting me to tell you to leave it?”

  “I just—” Max stammered. “I suppose I was. Why don’t you?”

  “Get your bag, we’ll walk and talk.”

  Max practically skidded across the floor toward her own room and caught up with Rosa at the entrance to their quarters. The door slid shut behind her, and red lights pulsed twice around the perimeter as Rosa pressed a hand to the panel to lock it.

  “What made you look into this in the first place?”

  “Nika mentioned it before he left. I thought it was strange.” Max shrugged. “Jenks is right about one thing, the odds are ridiculous. That’s far too high a failure rate for it to never have been talked about in the press. I went back and looked. Not only was there nothing in the news, Commander. There were no protests.”

  Rosa stopped midstride. “From the families?”

  “Right—because there were no families,” Max said. “All the people who were on that last wave were solo cruisers, or all the family they had in the world was on board with them.”

  “Jenks would have said something about that.”

  “She doesn’t know. She doesn’t have access to the manifest lists.”

  “I don’t have access to those lists,” Rosa replied.

  “I do.” Max looked at her hands and then back up at her commander. “They were all on the trial list for a newer version of LifeEx. All the travelers were. I messaged my sister yesterday and asked her for a favor.”

  It was hard to tell if Rosa’s smile was amused or annoyed as she started walking again and then swung into the zero-g tube that led to the docking bay. Max was hoping it was the former and scrambled after her.

  “So is that what you’ve been doing in your room?” Rosa asked, spinning gracefully around to look at Max.

  “Partially.” Max took a deep breath, blew it out, and took a chance. “I was also hiding. Trying to get my bearings. New places are hard for me.”

  “We’re a team for a reason.”

  It was less a rebuke and more a gentle reminder, which somehow made it ten times worse, and Max felt her cheeks heat in response. “Yes, Commander.”

  “We’re under orders from Admiral Hoboins to keep an eye out for any more salvaged jumpers. I suppose that would also include any information we happen to find about said jumpers, wouldn’t it?”

  “I guess so.”

  “Here’s why I didn’t tell you to leave it. This job? It’s not all about what’s up here, Carmichael,” Rosa said, tapping at her temple. “You have to learn to trust this.” She reached out and poked Max lightly in the stomach. Rosa fixed her with serious brown eyes. “I suspect you’re very g
ood at the former, so we’ll work on the latter.”

  Max nodded once, grateful when Rosa turned away to catch the bar by the corridor that led to the Interceptor bay. It gave her a moment to blink away the tears that had sprung out of nowhere.

  The easy acceptance in Rosa’s tone would have been shocking in itself, but coupled with words that cut straight through her? It shook Max to the core. No one had treated her with that much respect since Ma, not even Admiral Chen, who’d been the most supportive person in Max’s life for the last year. But the head of the NeoG stood on the other side of a yawning gulf of rank and Rosa, despite her position, already seemed far more approachable.

  “Ma is already keeping an eye on Jenks and her interest in this,” Rosa said as Max’s boots hit the floor behind her, “so you won’t need to. But despite Jenks’s somewhat unorthodox temperament, she’s good crew and she knows her shit, so feel free to bring her in on your investigation.” She looked over her shoulder. “And once she unsticks her head from her ass about you taking Nika’s place, I suspect you’ll get along just fine.”

  “You noticed, huh?”

  Rosa laughed. “I notice everything, Carmichael, get used to it.” She pointed to her left. “We’re going this way.”

  The Interceptor bay gave a sense of just how massive the station was, Max thought as she followed Rosa through the wide bulkhead doors. It stretched away from her until the curve vanished from her sight. The seventy-three-point-three-meter ships were lined up with military precision, following that same curve until they, too, disappeared in the distance.

  From the doorway the ships looked resplendent, each glowing white with the NeoG logo emblazoned on its rounded side and a distinct green-and-blue hash marking at the tail end. As they got closer, though, Max could see the grime and space dust coating the ships, the residue of which wouldn’t come off even with constant scrubbing. All of it evidence of a service hard-pressed for replacements.

  But the deckhands waved and greeted them—or Rosa, rather—as they walked through the busy area, and competing music blared from several stations as well as ships.