by Eric Warren
Cas double-checked the cover and scrambled over to them.
“Screw you,” Rasp said. Cas sucker-punched him, causing his head to bounce on the ground. Rasp spit up blood in response.
“Don’t do that again,” Evie said. It took Cas a moment to realize she was talking to him, not Rasp. “What is your mission here?”
“To…get him.” Rasp pointed a bloody finger to Cas.
“Why?” Evie said, pressing the blade against his neck just as she had with Cas. “I paid your boss fairly for him.”
Rasp chuckled. “You think she didn’t know you were from the Coalition? She wanted to know why you wanted him so badly. And now we know about the Achlys…”
Evie winced, pulling the sword back and sheathing it. She grabbed Rasp by the lapels, drawing him up on his feet. Cas stood with them. “What do you know?”
“You’re not getting off this rock alive,” he told Evie. “And you,” he said to Cas. “The mistress has a new job for you.”
“The mistress is just going to have to do without,” Cas said. “What do we do with him?” he asked Evie.
“I’m placing you both under arrest,” Evie said, staring at Rasp. “You for attempting to murder a Coalition officer, and you,” she indicated to Cas, “for conspiring against the Coalition.”
Rasp only laughed. Evie tapped her hand, activating her comm. “Yamashita. We have a situation down here. Bring me two sets of cuffs and notify the Tempest we have prisoners and potential wounded civilians we’ll be bringing back.”
“Ma’am?” Laura asked on the other end.
“Don’t argue, just do it,” Evie replied. She led Rasp back to the shipping container but turned to Cas before they got very far. “And if you feel like running now just imagine the consequences when I catch up with you. Because you know I will.” She turned back and strong-armed Rasp down the corridor.
Cas sighed and followed.
***
Laura met them at the shipping container, handing Evie the electronic cuffs. The three Plegarians lay off to the side, still unconscious. Evie placed one set on Rasp then sat him on the floor. She then indicated Cas put out his hands, which he did reluctantly, and locked the cuffs on him, sitting him down beside Rasp.
“See what happens when you trust the Coalition,” Rasp whispered to him. “Veena tried to tell you.”
“Don’t talk to me. You tried to kill me,” Cas replied.
“No, just incapacitate you. If I’d killed you Veena would have been very upset. Just like she’ll be upset she hasn’t heard from me.”
Veena would send others after him when he didn’t check in. Cas tried to get Evie’s attention, but she and Laura were in the process of studying the shipping container. And Laura’s words distracted him.
“…wouldn’t let me contact the ship. He said it was too dangerous to send a signal,” Laura said.
“So they’re both traitors—” Evie replied.
“You can’t send a signal from here, half a dozen non-aligned ships will trace it to the source,” Cas interrupted. “If Box had let her send a signal she’d have exposed your ship.”
Evie whipped her head around. “Just like you were about to do.”
“I wasn’t going to go that far. I was going to tell the Plegarians there was a Coalition ship close. It would have sent them into a swarming frenzy. They’ve got to have at least a hundred shuttle-sized ships up there. Enough for an easy getaway.”
“And that’s all you care about, getting away.”
“Yeah, it was,” Cas said, balancing enough to stand. “Until I found that. That’s the whole reason I commed you. I couldn’t leave those people to be sold into Plegarian labor camps. And if that meant giving up my chance for freedom then I guess I made my choice.”
“How noble,” Evie quipped. “Too bad I don’t believe a word of it.”
“Why else would I have told you to come back?” Cas protested, desperate for her to believe him. Why did he care so much about what she thought?
“He commed you to come back?” Laura asked. “Why would he do that if he wanted to meet the Plegarians alone?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Evie said. “Just help me get this hatch open.” She tugged on the side of the container.
“It doesn’t work like that.” Rasp chuckled. Some of the blood from his nose had dried and crusted on his upper lip. “It needs an access code.”
“Then we’ll just take the entire container,” Evie said, turning to Laura. “Tell Box to move the ship down here, we’ll load it just as it was unloaded.”
“Commander,” Cas said, thinking about how little time they had until Rasp’s reinforcements showed up. She didn’t reply, only continued to ignore him. “Commander! Evelyn!”
She turned on him, fury in her eyes. “What?”
“Do you think he’s here alone?” he said, indicating Rasp. “We don’t have time to transport the container. We need to get out of here now.”
She considered him a moment, then glanced down toward the entrance they’d come through. “Get Box down here, he’ll be able to get this open.”
Cas put out his hands; he couldn’t access his comm unit to call Box with them restrained.
Evie scoffed and turned to Laura. “That’s an order, ensign.”
Laura seemed to realize she was talking to her at the same time Cas did. She tapped her comm. “Box, we need you in lower level seven. We’re about forty meters from the main entrance.”
“Be there in a minute,” Box replied.
Meanwhile Evie continued to look for some way to access the container, running her hands over the sides.
“Hey, Robeaux,” Rasp whispered. “Help me out of here and I’ll make sure you’re back in good with Veena.”
“You can’t seriously think I’d go back to her. I’d almost rather be imprisoned in a Coalition cell,” he replied.
“She’ll make it pretty sweet for you,” he said.
He stared straight ahead. “I’m not going back.”
Rasp shrugged. “It’s your funeral.” He wasn’t wrong. As soon as Rutledge found out Cas had tried to defect again there was no telling what he’d do.
Box jogged into the space, surveying the area. “Hey, what the hell,” he said upon seeing Cas.
Cas put his hands out in a surrender gesture. “It’s fine. Just help Evie. Do what she asks you to do.”
Box hesitated, but he went over to her.
“Open this,” she said, standing back from the container.
Box wrapped his slender fingers around the edge of one side and yanked, tearing the metal away from itself. There was a hiss and a cloud of mist rose from the break in the seal. Box continued to pull, ripping the entire side of the container away.
Cas gasped when he saw what was inside.
Two rows of people, suspended vertically by some kind of harness attached to both the ceiling and floor of the container, tubes running from them into a series of devices built into the floor. Each had on an oxygen mask but they were all conscious. And they looked emaciated. Cas counted five of them, all different ages. The one closest to the wall where he’d knocked was in her early teens.
“Get them unhooked as quickly and safely as you can. We need to get them all back to the ship,” Evie said after a moment of silence. Perhaps she was as stunned as the rest of them were.
“You’ll never make it,” Rasp said, his voice cheery. Cas kicked him in the side for good measure, causing him to double over in pain.
Box went to work disconnecting the people from all their tubes and harnesses while Laura helped them out of the container to sit on the ground beside it.
“How many can you carry?” Evie asked Box.
“Three, maybe four before I won’t be able to move under the excessive weight,” Box replied.
Evie sighed, approaching Cas. “You and Yamashita get the ones Box can’t carry back to the ship. I’ll escort the prisoner.” She reached down and held her finger to one side of his cuffs. The cha
in between them lengthened, but remained connected. It was enough so he could move his hands freely enough to help the people in the container.
“You trust me?”
“Not at all,” she replied, turning her back on him. She walked over and lifted Rasp up to his feet. His hands remained locked behind his back. But just as he stood a blast of energy hit him square in the chest, leaving a deep black burn mark in its wake. Rasp’s eyes rolled up into his skull and he fell back, dead.
The blasts exploded all around them.
25
Bolts of superheated plasma struck the crates all around them as Cas ducked into cover beside Laura. He glanced over to see Evie and Box hiding behind the crate with the five people inside, who had—free from their harnesses—crowded in the back of the container.
Cas risked a glance over what little cover he and Laura had and counted four of Veena’s guards, each armed with a plasma rifle. And here they were with no weapons but an ancient sword.
“Box,” Cas yelled. “Any ideas?”
“Yeah, but you’re not going to like it,” he yelled back.
“I don’t care! Just do it!”
Box nodded, stepped around Evie to her protestation and reached out in the line of fire, grabbing one of the unconscious Plegarians.
“Wait, Box, you can’t—” Before Cas could finish the sentence the Plegarian went sailing through the air, flying like a lawn dart at the nearest guard who didn’t have time to register just what was happening to him. They struck skull to skull, knocking the guard back with the unconscious Plegarian landing on top of him. The other three guards were stunned by the scene, long enough for Box to grab the other two and toss them in the same direction.
Box jumped out into the line of fire as the remaining guard seemed to gather himself and point the weapon at Box, only to find his recently-deceased boss, Rasp, heading straight for him. The guard screamed, firing wildly, and while some of the shots struck Rasp they didn’t slow his momentum and he collided with the last guard in a sickening crunch.
“Let’s go,” Evie yelled to the people huddled in the back of the container. They wouldn’t have long, but the people were too scared to move. Box lumbered into the container, grabbed three of them and pulled them out, handing one each to Laura, Evie, and Cas. He then went back in for the last two and came out holding one under each arm.
“Now we’re ready,” he said, his yellow eyes blinking satisfaction.
Evie grabbed her person by the wrist and yanked her down the hall past the moaning guards. Laura followed her with her person followed by Cas and Box. But as Cas passed he took the opportunity to snatch one of the errant plasma rifles from the ground as they ran.
They reached the entrance to the level, guarded by the two men they’d seen coming in. Cas didn’t know if they’d heard all the commotion and didn’t want to get involved, but he wasn’t about to let them stop them from getting back to his ship. One of them reached inside his jacket and Cas fired the rifle at the ground at both of their feet. They both jumped aside, their hands up and their weapons forgotten while Evie and the rest ran through, still pulling or carrying the prisoners.
Cas glanced over to his prisoner, it was the same young girl who he suspected responded to his knocking. Her hair was wild and untamed and her dark eyes traveled over everything, probably looking for potential threats. Cas couldn’t help but wonder how long ago she’d been captured.
“This way,” Box yelled, indicating the ramp. Thankfully the prisoners seemed to understand Evie was helping them and didn’t put up a struggle on the way back to the ship. Cas kept expecting another set of guards to jump at them but they managed to make it back to the ship without another shot fired. Though those guards couldn’t be far behind.
Just as he was about to take a step toward the airlock the others had already passed through, a plasma bolt exploded on his shoulder, causing him to scream in pain and fall to the hard, cold tunnel surface. The young girl just stared at him, her face awash in terror.
“Run,” Cas yelled, trying to push her to the airlock. Box appeared a moment later and grabbed the girl, yanking her back out of the line of fire.
Behind him one of the guards had managed to keep his pace with them, though he was huffing and bleeding from the head. Cas swung the plasma rifle at him one-handed and pulled the trigger, but the kick of the weapon made the plasma swing wide. The guard grinned and hoisted his own weapon to his shoulder, bracing it and staring Cas down through the sight. Cas fumbled with his weapon, trying to reposition himself so he could get a better shot but he already knew it was over. He couldn’t get one off fast enough with the chains in between his hands.
When he looked up a strange frown had come over the guard’s face. Cas glanced down to see a very large sword sticking out from the abdomen of the guard, the hilt wagging ever so slightly. He looked to his right to see Evie, standing with her feet prone and her arm outstretched. Her fingers shook, but it was almost imperceptible.
The guard collapsed back just as Rasp had done, his gun scattering across the floor of the smooth tunnel. Evie stood straight and walked over to him, yanking the sword from his body with a schluck. The blade dripped red.
Keeping the blade out she strode over to Cas, hoisted him up by his good arm and pulled him through the airlock. “Box, we’re good. Go!” she yelled, escorting Cas down the corridor to the kitchen. One of the prisoners sat at Cas’s pantry going through the food, tearing things apart with his teeth.
“Hey!” Cas yelled. “That’s mine! Get your—”
Evie reached down and pulled the weapon from his hand, tossing it to the counter as Cas felt the main thrusters on the ship fire and the ship begin to rise off the asteroid. She pushed him down into the nearest chair, her eyes burning with an intensity he hadn’t seen from her before.
“You have a med-kit I assume,” she said, staring at his black shoulder.
“It’s over by grabby-hands there. Two cabinets up and one to the left.” He surveyed the room. “Hey, where are the rest of them? They’re not in my room, are they?” He moved to get up before Evie pushed him back down in the chair.
“What the hell was that back there?” she asked, going over to the metal cabinet and pulling the med-kit from the back. The prisoner ignored her, choosing to continue to gorge himself on Cas’s food. Cas eyed his shoulder. Strangely, it didn’t hurt. It must be the adrenaline.
“You’re asking me?” he said. “I should ask you. I didn’t know you could throw swords.”
Evie winced. She placed the bloody blade beside the rifle he’d confiscated. “I want to know why I shouldn’t turn you in to Captain Greene when we get back to the Tempest,” she said.
Cas dropped his head. “I panicked, okay? You told me no matter what I did I was going to be imprisoned for it. I couldn’t let that happen. You had to expect I wouldn’t just sit by. Not when I had a chance.”
She sighed, pulling a small knife from the kit. She used it to cut away the charred cloth of his arm. “Maybe I did,” she admitted. “But you deserved to know.”
“You have to believe me. I wasn’t going to put the ship in danger. I wouldn’t do that. Not after…everything.”
She didn’t look at him, instead kept her attention on his shoulder, removing the last pieces of cloth. Beneath the skin was charred and burned. Cas could even smell it. For the first time since he’d been shot he grew concerned. Shouldn’t he be feeling something?
“It doesn’t hurt,” he said.
“That’s because it neutralized your pain receptors,” Evie said, running a diagnostic scanner over the wound. “Your arm could be missing and you wouldn’t feel it.”
“Does that mean I’m going to lose the arm?” Cas asked, concerned now.
She pursed her lips at him. “So there’s one thing the great Captain Caspian Robeaux doesn’t know about after all: medicine.”
“Is that a yes or no?”
“You’ll be fine, but I can’t fix it. You’ll have to se
e Doctor Xax back on the ship.”
The ship.
“Box, turn around!” Cas yelled down the adjacent corridor.
“What are you doing?” Evie furrowed her brow.
“Don’t you see? Veena tracked us to D’jattan. She knows where we’re going and what we’re looking for. She’s got to have a tracker on us somewhere.”
Understanding dawned on Evie. “And we can’t return to the ship until we find it.”
Cas struggled to stand. “She probably installed it when she was unloading all that contraband back at Devil’s Gate,” Cas said. “No wonder she was so agreeable.” The links between the cuffs rattled as he stood, his left arm hanging limp at his side. “Can you please take these Garth-forsaken things off me?”
She hesitated a moment but then pressed her thumb to the inside of the cuff. Both sides released and clattered to the ground.
“Thank you,” Cas said. He turned and made his way down the main corridor to the cockpit. Box sat at the pilot’s station and Laura occupied the co-pilot’s seat. The young girl prisoner stood behind them, watching the stars go by.
“Box,” Cas said softly. He turned. “Put it on auto. Take us away from the Tempest.”
Box nodded and hit the appropriate switches. He rose from the seat and faced them. “What’s the problem?”
“Veena bugged us. We have to find it before we go back. Otherwise she’ll know our every move.”
“That woman is worse than Maxine Anderson!” Box yelled, jolting out of his seat and storming down through the corridor.
“Who is Maxine Anderson?” Evie asked.
“Probably the matriarch of his most recent net drama obsession,” Cas said. “I try to stay out of it.”
Evie turned to Laura. “Keep us out of range of the Tempest. And if anything looks strange, let me know.” Laura nodded and turned her attention to the monitors.