by Melissa Good
“Drake,” the watch captain called out, and Jess turned at the door. “You’re not just going to fly off are ya?”
Jess didn’t even have the energy for offense. “And go where?” she asked simply. “Where else but here?”
The captain lifted a hand in acknowledgment and dropped back into a seat. “Kill ’em all then. We’ll take vid.”
IT WAS A relief to get to the carrier. Dev settled into her station, with Doug in the jumpseat next to her, and April strapping herself into the drop rig as Jess settled behind her console.
“How in the hell are you going to get out of here?” April asked with mild curiosity in her tone. “Don’t get me wrong, Drake. I was as glad to get into this thing as anyone was.”
That was actually a good question. Dev had the front shield up and the nose of the carrier was right up against the rocks with stone pylons on either side of it. There was no room to turn, and the overhead was so close there was no room to hover.
Outside, a few Bay workers halted their efforts to salvage some of the ships she’d literally ripped in pieces on entry to watch.
Dev got her ear cups settled and started up systems, bringing on a distinct sense of pleasure.
Jess leaned back in her seat. “Dev’ll figure it out.”
Dev glanced at her in the reflector. Faintly amused blue eyes looked back. She smileed in response. “I hope so,” she said, “or this will be an extremely short expedition.”
“Just glad to be in here,” Doug said. He rested his big hands on his knees. “Jess, no offense, but your family’s a dozen devils worth of fierce.” He exhaled. “Holy crap.”
“They are,” Jess agreed in a mild tone, as the whine of applied power started to rise around them. “Like a whole pile of enforcement agents...and wannabees. Which is exactly what they are.” She put her elbows on the arms of her chair and hiked one knee up. “It’s only the craziest of us that get put into service.”
April nodded. “I like it,” she said. “Fighting with those kids up on station—nice.” She tugged her straps a bit tighter. “When I was with my family, I felt like a fish with wings. No one was like me. Here? Everyone is.”
Doug grimaced a little.
“S’true,” Jess said wryly. “Ready, Devvie?”
Dev regarded the control panels and the wiremap that showed the enclosure of rock all around the carrier generating proximity warnings echoing into her ear. “Yes.” She flexed her hands and made a picture in her head of what she wanted to do.
Getting the carrier to actually do it would an interesting process.
She put her hands on the controls and triggered the landing jets, stilling the alerts as the top of the carrier immediately almost impacted the stone cavern roof. She adjusted the multiple thrusters, lowering the force in the aft jets just slightly.
The forward jets pulsed, releasing and returning power in a quick flicker of her fingertips, and in reaction the carrier backed up. The stone columns closed in on either side and they felt the jostling shock as the sides of craft hit them.
Dev pulsed the front jets a bit more, grimacing a little at the scraping squeal.
“I can blow out those things if you want,” Jess said.
“Thank you. But I believe they are holding up the ceiling.” Dev gritted her teeth. “Please hold on.”
“Uh oh.” Doug grabbed for a handhold. “Please don’t tell me you’re going upside down.” He curled his legs around the jumpseat supports.
“I don’t know why everyone always assumes I am going to invert this craft,” Dev muttered, adjusting the power to the side jets to tilt the carrier to one side. There was a soft pop and crunch as stored items in the cabinets shifted and she increased the power to the forward thrusters, rocking the carrier back and forth as it wiggled backwards.
“No one in the world’s ever driven one of these like that I bet,” April remarked.
“No bet.” Jess watched the scan intently, reaching up to kill the alarms as they were dinged and dented by the hard stone that made up Drake’s Bay.
Dev adjusted the jets, tilting the carrier over a little more as the restraints contracted around her and the carrier engine pods came loose from the hold of the rock. Quickly she righted the craft and boosted the rear landing thrusters as they came free of the narrow spit of stone and emerged over the docking area.
In free air.
Jess clapped her hands, and after a moment April and Doug joined her. Dev gave them all a bewildered look from the pilot’s station. “Is there something wrong?”
“No.” Jess settled into her seat. “I told you all Dev would work it out.”
Natural borns. Dev shook her head and gently rotated the carrier, sweeping the scan around as she did. She picked up several people standing on the far end of the cavern. She keyed in vid scan and put it on the screen. “We are being observed.”
Jess glanced at the screen. “You are being observed. Let’s go, Devvie. Before they think I’m going to take off and start shooting at us.”
Dev eased her way through the destruction she suspected she caused, avoiding the masts of the sunken at dock ships as she approached the cavern entry, lit faintly from the outside. There were fallen rocks half obscuring the opening, and beyond that the scan picked up an Interforce carrier, sunken and lifeless where it crashed on chasing her.
She wondered briefly if she’d known the pilot and tech. It made her feel sad as she cautiously emerged from the cavern into the blowing rain.
It thundered down on the roof of the carrier, and she adjusted the thrust against it, setting up a scan that covered all of the half circle of Drake’s Bay. The storm was still overhead but moving off and the lightning blasts were now only occasional rather than constant.
She started up the mains and cut off the landing jets, feeling the little thump as she was shoved back in her seat. Beside her, Doug was half turned in the jump, watching the boards and the forward view.
There was just enough light for the outline of the cliffs to show against the dark gray sky. Below them the Bay was ruffled slightly from the wind, the edge of the cliffs showing fresh scars of blast damage, the shoreline littered with fallen rock.
The bay itself was empty. The docks to one side that usually held skiffs and work boats were barren, the pens that held the catch showing empty and broken sided.
“Mess.” Jess sighed. “They’re gonna blow my brains out for this.”
“Who is?” Dev asked.
“The Bay.” Jess put her hands behind her head. “C’mon, let’s get over the top of the cliff to the back side. See what’s waiting for us there.” She slid closer to her console and keyed up the weapons systems. “Gimme some juice.”
Dev did, as she increased speed and started upward, over the cliff as the sound of the rain increased and a roll of thunder rumbled overhead. She topped over the forward cliff and flew up and over the bulk of the mountain, aiming for the pass between two tall crags that angled down toward the small plateau that eventually sloped down to the barrens beyond.
“Scan is showing large bio mass,” Dev said into the quiet. “Also picking up high energy weapons.”
April had unhooked herself and edged over to get a view of Jess’s console. “Holy crap. Where did those grubbers get that?”
“Same place they got the guns they fired on that caravan with.” Jess dialed in settings. “People’ll sell anyone anything for enough cred.” She pulled down her triggers and flexed her hands. “Does it pay to talk to them?”
April held on to a roof rack spar. “Can we outgun them? Not with those metrics. They’ll blow us out.”
“If they can catch us.” Jess’s eyes twinkled wryly. “They’ve never seen Dev fly.”
“Jess, we’re being hailed,” Dev said. “Signal is originating from the bio mass. Open frequency. They do not know who we are.”
Jess studied the scan. She saw energy points that were tucked behind rock walls, and the smaller flares that were heavy blasters.
> Someone had armed her neighbors. She drummed her thumbs on the console. Probably end up a no win. “Go ahead and answer them, Devvie.” Jess retrieved her own comms set and put it inside her ear. “Let’s see what this is.”
“Yes.” Dev nodded. “Calling station, this is Interforce flight BR270006. Please identify,” she responded crisply, as though she was answering central ops. A brief look at the comms board showed it with normal readings, and she was just a little too distracted to evaluate what that meant.
“BR270006, this is a rep from Cooper’s Rock. What’s your intention?” a female voice answered with loud sounds of other voices and the thrumming of rain in the background.
“I got it.” Jess keyed in comms. “Dee, better question would be what’s your intention.”
“Is that the dumbass with the kid?” April muttered. “That feels like a damn year ago.”
Dev was happy enough to leave the communications to Jess as she guided her way through the granite spires, the rain repellers clearing the windscreen as the light grudgingly grew brighter given the clouds. She could now see the steep, craggy mountainside, and as she crossed over the landing caverns, she saw three of them at least were completely destroyed.
“Jess, come down and let’s talk,” Dee Cooper said. “I’m sure we can do a deal.”
There was a rough, desperate edge to the voice, and Jess evaluated that as she tapped her fingers together. “They thought they could do a deal with the Bay, too, Dee. Didn’t work out for them. Sure you want to try?”
Silence.
Dev slowed the engines as they came up over the plateau. Between the next fold of the mountain she could see the faint outline of the shuttle, abandoned on its pad. The caves were in the valley before it, and she saw a lot of black charring across the surface of the rock and wagons filling the passage with lots of bio around them.
Finally, a sigh, then Dee’s voice came back. “Let’s try talking, Jess. What choice do you really have?”
Jess lifted her hands and then put them back down in a shrug that the other woman had no chance of seeing. “Sure.” She folded her hands around her hiked knee. “Be there in a sec.” She cut off the comms. “Dev, put it down right on that crossroad there in the center.”
“This is going to be a bitch,” April said. “They want that rock. Space station wanted that rock. Other side wanted the rock, and Interforce half killed itself for it.” She went back and perched on the drop rig again.
“The Bay wants it,” Jess said after a pause. “They don’t really even know why they want it, they just know no one should take it away from them. There’s no logic there. I can’t fight that.” She sighed and leaned back in the seat. “Protect whats ours. It’s in here.” She thumped her chest.
Dev angled the carrier into the valley and dropped down to ground level, skimming over the wet, racing runoff and coming head on to the caravans. Scan showed her big energy weapons pointed their way from inside the caves, and this close she could now see the armed bodies behind the blockade.
She set the carrier down in the center of the crossroads, extending the skids and settling onto them, cutting the thrust from the engines but keeping the power up for shields and weapons.
Scan beeped softly. “Jess, there is a flight inbound.” She half turned “A dozen carriers of this class.”
Jess sighed. Then she released her restraints and got up. “Let me get some grandstanding in while I can then.” She went over to the arms rack and set her long blaster into its hard points. “Want to come along?” she asked April.
“Positively.” April checked her hand blaster. “Sorry I left my guns on that damn carrier they blew up.” She frowned. “Shoulda taken them with.”
Jess put her knives into the sheaths at her back and then paused as her fingers brushed something inside the pack she’d brought with her “Oh.” She carefully withdrew it. “Here. Brought you a souvenir from station.” She reversed the knife in her hand and offered it hilt first. “Figured you’d do better with it than I would.”
April paused in mid motion and blinked, glancing at Jess first and then at the knife. “Wow.” She gingerly reached out and took the hilt of the dalknife, lifting it to the harsh inside light of the carrier to see it’s reflection. “That is wicked.”
Jess felt an unusual sense of pleasure, watching the reaction. “And hey I owed you for coming up to fetch my ass.” She finished arming. “Took it off the scum bastard who turned my last tech.”
April paused and looked up at her, the knife held between them. After a moment, she smiled. “Nice. I’ll try to reclaim its honor in yours.”
Jess grabbed her jacket from the locker and shrugged into it. “You two—”
“Stay here,” Dev finished for her. “But we may assist if things do not go well.”
Jess turned her collar up and produced a wry, faint smile. “If they end up killing me, take it out on them, wouldja, Devvie?”
Dev didn’t even twitch. “Yes, I will.”
Jess turned and slapped the hatch release and walked down the ramp that extended from it. April smiled and slid the dalknife into her pocket, keeping hold of the hilt. “Wicked,” she repeated, then hopped out of the carrier to follow Jess.
Dev triggered the hatch and it closed, shutting out the sound of the weather.
DEV SWITCHED ON the outside vid, giving them multiple shots of the outside of the carrier. One screen she focused on the line of the wagons and then another on the two dark clad figures walking away from them toward the enemy lines.
“That was seriously right on target with that knife,” Doug commented. “Never seen April light up like that before. Not even when she’s killing people.”
“Yes,” Dev agreed. “I thought she seemed pleased. Jess often gives excellent gifts.”
Doug digested this for a long minute in silence. “Would not have figured that. Even for an ops agent, she’s kinda scary.”
“I have never found her frightening,” Dev said. “Even from the moment I came downside and met her, she’s always been very kind to me.”
Doug wrinkled his nose up a little. “I think you’re an exception. She really likes you.”
“This is true.”
“Enough to want to give you presents.”
Dev smiled. “The most excellent thing I have gotten from her is a piece of clothing that has a lining and is very warm.”
“Oh. That snazzy jumpsuit.”
“It’s really comfortable. Jess got it for me when we were at the trading island on the other side.” Dev wished she had it with her now, in fact, since the pervasive chill of downside was making her shiver a little. But the suit was back at Base Ten, and it was impossible to know at this moment if she’d ever see it again. “She understood I was not really used to the cold downside.”
“That’s cool. I think the only thing April ever gave me was a head cold.” Doug grinned wryly at her. “You had much better luck.”
Dev considered that in silence. “Yes.” She concluded. “I believe in fact I have been quite fortunate.” She glanced at the screen and leaned closer to it. “Hmm.”
“Hmm?”
“Yes.” Dev turned around in her seat. “Do you know how to use the weapons in this vehicle?”
“Theoretically,” Doug answered in a wary tone. “Why?”
With a nod, Dev stood up and moved around the pilot’s position. “Please take my seat.” She went back to Jess’s console and sat down, studying the control surfaces. “I am not sure my knowledge is more than theoretical either, but I want to be able to do something useful if this situation gets incorrect.”
Doug didn’t argue. He hopped from the jumpseat into the pilot’s chair and pulled over an ear cup to settle in as the restraints contracted around him. “No problem, Rocket. I got this.”
“Keep an eye on the approaching vehicles. I suspect they are suboptimal.” Dev tentatively selected a few controls and activated them, hearing the reaction as the weapons boards on either side of
her lit up. She, too, had theoretical knowledge about this station, but there was a depth to it that meshed as she studied the boards and felt programming overlay them. “Ah. Yes. I have programming for this.”
“That must be so cool,” Doug said.
“What?”
“Just waking up knowing stuff. I had to study so damn hard to get anything to stick.” He glanced at her in the reflector. “Good thing you brought the doc with you, huh?”
Dev met his eyes in the mirror, evaluating the straightforward friendliness and tasting the truth of it. “I am glad we brought Doctor Dan because I like him a lot, and he can do many useful things.” She unzipped the neck of her suit and pulled the edge of the collar down. “But I can no longer take advantage of his programming skills.” She pointed at her own neck, visibly sans collar.
Doug’s eyes went wide and he turned around in the pilot’s seat. “Wow! They took it off?” His voice rose in astonishment. “Really?”
“Doctor Dan did.” Dev sealed the neck of her suit and returned her attention to the console, turning on the targeting metrics. “I agreed to it. I did not want to be subject to someone else getting inside my head.”
Doug was still staring at her. “That’s smart,” he finally said, turning back around. “Makes you more like the rest of us.”
“Yes.” Dev smiled. “It pleased Jess as well. It also bypassed the synaptic shutdown that could have affected me, which she found quite non optimal.”
“Yeah I get that. Like if someone did it when you were flying this thing. But you can’t just get stuff anymore.”
“No, I will have to do it like you do,” Dev said. “Doctor Dan advised he’d equipped me to be able to do that, though there is no doubt it will be more difficult than just accepting new data.” She rested her hands on the metal surface. “But on the other hand, I don’t have to wonder if the data is trusted.”
“That’s really smart, too. ’Cause I can see where they’d want to go in there and look around, you know? Like how’d Rocket get so rockety.”