“Shall I call?”
Natalya nodded and routed the comms array to the console in front of Ahokas. “You know how to run that?”
Ahokas shrugged and pulled a headset out of the pocket between the couches. “Push to talk, right?”
Natalya chuckled. “Yeah. All right.” She consulted the navigational screen. “We’re still a couple of seconds out, but we should be close enough.”
Ahokas nodded and held down the key. “Smelter Seventeen, Peregrine. Over.”
They waited. After a full tick had elapsed, Natalya nodded at Ahokas.
“Smelter Seventeen, Peregrine. Over.”
Natalya caught herself looking out into the Dark in the direction of the marshaling yard, even though it was still too far away for naked eye viewing.
“Smelter Seventeen, Peregrine. Over.” Ahokas’s voice sounded a little strained.
“You all right,” Natalya asked.
Ahokas shrugged. “Something’s wrong.”
“She could just be busy,” Natalya said.
Ahokas looked at her with an eyebrow raised halfway up her forehead.
“Yeah. I don’t believe that either,” Natalya said.
“Smelter Seventeen, Peregrine. Over,” Ahokas said.
Natalya felt a tightening of her gut. Each time Ahokas called it tightened a little more.
The speaker crackled just as Ahokas started to speak.
“Peregrine, Mindanao. Over.” A man’s voice.
“Mindanao, Peregrine. What’s your status, over?”
“Peregrine, Mindanao. Just peachy. What’s yours?”
Ahokas looked at Natalya. “I don’t recognize that voice.”
The knot in her belly tightened a little more. “Ask what ships have come in?”
“Mindanao, Peregrine. We’re fine. There are a lot more ships here than we expected. Who came in? Over.”
“Peregrine, Mindanao. Chunker and Dust Bunny are here. Sagittarius docked at the yard. Micky Michaels brought in Putterfly, yesterday. Why? Over.”
“Mindanao, Peregrine. Just curious. Didn’t expect a welcoming committee. Over.” Ahokas shook her head, her eyes wide. “Something stinks here.”
“Peregrine, Mindanao. How soon before you’re docked? Over.”
Ahokas looked at Natalya.
“Tell him half a day. We jumped a bit long and need to match velocities,” Natalya said.
“Mindanao, Peregrine. Natalya says half a day. Over.”
“Peregrine, Mindanao. Really? That long? You look a lot closer than that on long range.”
Natalya winced and shook her head. “I was hoping they weren’t looking.”
“Mindanao, Peregrine. We jumped a little long and need to match velocities. Over.”
“Peregrine, Mindanao. Roger that. We’ll be here when you get in. Over.”
Natalya’s gut didn’t feel any better. “Ask if we can speak to Zoya. Or Rob.”
“Mindanao, Peregrine. Natalya needs a word with Zoya. Would you put her on? Over.”
After a longish pause, the speaker crackled again. “Peregrine, Mindanao. She’s at the yard. Over.”
Natalya’s brain seemed to slow and a cold sweat broke out on the small of her back. She brought up the comms panel and typed a short message before pinging it directly to the comms buoy. “Thank him,” she said.
“Thank you, Mindanao. See you when we get in. Peregrine, out.”
“Mindanao, out.”
Ahokas looked at Natalya. “Well?”
“We got trouble,” Natalya said. She looked off into the dark again. “I just don’t know what kind.”
Chapter 40
Smelter Seventeen:
2368, March 1
Natalya killed the Peregrine’s relative velocity and peered through the armorglass. The marshaling yard’s uppermost deck showed lights but no movement. “They must know we’re here,” Ahokas said.
“One would suppose.” Natalya stared at the empty room.
“How do we get in?” Ahokas asked.
“That’s the other good question. It’s your house. Any suggestions?”
“Other than the front door?”
Natalya nodded. “Yeah. We’ve done everything but knock. That ship is parked in the only docking ring, not that it would do us any good.”
Ahokas shook her head. “The shuttle has a remote to key the docking bay. Other than that, I haven’t a clue.”
“We don’t have the shuttle,” Natalya said, more to herself than anybody else. “I’m not keen on walking into an ambush either.”
Ahokas grimaced. “You think that’s likely?”
Natalya sat back in her couch and looked at Ahokas. “Too many ships. No response from Zoya or Rob. Yes. I think it’s likely.”
“What do we do?”
Natalya took a deep breath and blew it out slowly through her nose. “The unexpected.” She popped the throttle to boost them up and away from the marshaling yard.
“We going somewhere?” Ahokas asked.
“Yeah.” Natalya spun the ship on its axis and pointed it back out of the system, goosing the main engine to get them moving away.
“What are you thinking?” Ahokas said. “Going for help?”
Natalya shook her head. “I’m thinking I need to get the one thing they want well away from where they can get it.”
“What do they want?” Ahokas asked, her brow furrowing in confusion.
“The ship.”
“This ship? Why would they want this?”
Natalya shot her a sideways glance.
Ahokas blanched. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
“It’s the only jump-capable ship in the system at the moment,” Natalya said.
Ahokas’s eyes widened. “I hadn’t thought of that.”
Natalya nodded at the short-range scanner. “They did.”
“What good will it do them?” Ahokas asked.
“It’s enough to get a few of them out of here.” Natalya shrugged. “Beyond that, I have no idea.”
The speaker crackled once before the voice they heard before came on. “Peregrine, Mindanao. Over.”
Natalya nodded at the headset Ahokas still wore. “This will be the ransom attempt.”
Ahokas took a deep breath and her lips pressed together in a tight line. “Mindanao, Peregrine. Over.”
“Where are you going, Peregrine?”
Ahokas looked at Natalya.
“Tell him we’re jumping out. Going to Port Lumineux.”
“Mindanao, Peregrine. We’re going to Port Lumineux. Over.”
The pause felt longer than it was. Natalya pushed the throttle up a little more.
“You’re going to just leave your friends here?”
Ahokas shook her head. “He’s right.”
“I know,” Natalya said. “Tell them we don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
Ahokas frowned but keyed the mic. “We don’t negotiate with terrorists.”
“Ah, Peregrine. Such harsh words. You say terrorists, we say we’re just people who want to survive.”
“Tell him to put Zoya on,” Natalya said, her attention focused on the ships navigation and vector.
“Let us speak to Zoya,” Ahokas said.
After a pause, they heard Zoya’s voice. “Peregrine, Mindanao.”
Ahokas stripped the headset off and offered it to Natalya. Natalya took one last look at the display in front of her and pulled the throttle to zero before taking the headset. “Mindanao, Peregrine. Status report. Over.”
“Peregrine, Minda—” Her voice cut off.
After a moment, the man’s voice returned. “That’s enough of that,” he said. “She’s fine and your boy is fine. That’s all you need to know. Now we just need to come to terms.”
Natalya waited, staring at the speaker in the overhead.
“You there, Peregrine?”
Ahokas glanced at Natalya.
“We’re waiting, Peregrine.”
“You going to an
swer?” Ahokas asked.
Natalya nodded. “Eventually.” She made a course correction and let the jets turn them back toward the Mindanao. A quick shot on the main engines killed some of their vector.
“Let’s stop playing games, shall we, Peregrine?”
Natalya keyed the mic. “You’re the one playing games, Mindanao.” She pulled the headset off and handed it to Ahokas. “Keep them busy.” She clambered out of her couch and trotted aft to find her vac suit. She could hear as well back there as in the cockpit.
“Look, all we want is a way out of here. Nobody has to get hurt.”
“Don’t answer right away,” Natalya said, scrambling into the suit. “We need a few ticks.”
Ahokas looked down the passageway at Natalya, her brow furrowed and her eyes narrowed. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to pay our friends a little visit.” She finished buttoning up the suit except for the helmet. She trotted back to the couch and fell into it. “Keep them talking. Ask them what they want to do.”
Ahokas asked while Natalya squinted out the armorglass and made a course correction to spin the Peregrine toward the Mindanao’s stern.
“It’s simple enough. Give us the ship and we give you your friends.”
“What proof do we have?” Ahokas asked.
Natalya grinned and nodded. “Keep it up. I need a few more ticks.” She stood and slipped down the passageway, buttoning her helmet down as she stepped into the lock, then stopped inside the door and keyed the lock closed. She forced herself to take the time to double check every fitting on her suit before starting the lock’s cycle. In a matter of a few moments, the lock emptied of air and the outer door swung open.
“This is stupid,” she said. “You’re going to kill yourself.”
She leaned out and looked to where the Mindanao hung motionless in space, Peregrine’s vector bringing the larger ship closer and closer. She stood, poised, hand on the grab rail just outside the lock, and waited. Her heart hammered in her chest and the sound of the blood rushing through her ears overwhelmed the small sounds of her suit around her.
A flickering of attitudinal thrusters alerted her and she flexed in the tiniest of crouches. A brighter flash stopped the relative motion between the two ships and she kicked off, leaving the Peregrine’s lock. She saw a reflection off the Mindanao’s hull but kept her gaze on the flat stern, willing the grab bar to be where she could reach it.
She didn’t dare consider the possibility that she’d miss.
Everything seemed to be in slow motion. The trip lasted a lifetime. She all but held her breath, kept her body absolutely still. In the end, the Mindanao’s stern almost seemed to jump at her before she was able to grab the handle and bring her boots flat to the hull. Her breath left her in a whoosh.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the Peregrine continue on her programmed course and hoped Ahokas had managed to distract the hijackers long enough.
“Focus, Nat. Focus,” she said and clipped a safety line to the eye-bolt. A sense of relief washed through her. She wiggled her fingers in her glove and tapped in the default digits, hoping nobody on the barge crew had thought to change the locking code. She knew it was only a second, at most, but that pause between hitting enter and the telltale turning green felt very, very long. The lock started its cycle.
She held on to the grab bar, focusing on her breathing. She made each breath a conscious effort, willing the breaths to become slow and deep, remembering her training from the academy, focusing on being in the moment. Not ahead of it. Not second-guessing the past. The outer door opened. She felt the small vibrations through her hand on the bar. She pulled herself into the lock and stepped onto the grav plate on the deck. She peeked through the port into the boat deck, ducking back to process what she’d seen. Only maintenance lighting. Lots of shadows. Shuttle on its skids. No obvious people.
She leaned over to take a longer, more deliberate look.
No people. Somebody could be in the shuttle. They’d be almost impossible to see in the dim lights. She reached over and keyed the outer door closed, triggering the cycle that would let her into the ship. The vibrations under her feet became sounds, faint at first and then louder as the air returned. When the tattletale turned green, she began stripping off her softsuit, keeping an eye to the port to see if the noise had attracted any attention.
“So far, so good.”
She balled the suit up and tucked it under her arm. She’d need to stash it somewhere out of the way, but for the moment, she kept it. She rolled her shoulders and stretched her legs a bit, feeling the freedom of movement and checking in with her body.
She keyed the inner door.
It swung open with barely a sound.
She pressed herself back into the dimness inside the lock for a few heartbeats to see if anybody crawled out of the shadows to investigate. She smelled the fuel from the shuttle and heard the tick-tick-tick of cooling metal. They’d had it out recently. On silent feet she slipped into the docking bay and crossed to the shuttle, peering into the cockpit to make sure nobody hid there.
Power first. Engineering Main lay at the foot of the ladder but the primary breaker box was one level lower on the main deck. She crossed to the airtight door and grabbed a quick look down the ladder. The light from Engineering Main cast a bright pool onto the decking. She watched for a moment but nothing stirred.
She pulled back for a moment and steadied her breathing. She crept down the ladder, casting a glance down the spine first before leaning out to look around the combing. One guy in a dirty shipsuit nodded in front of one of the consoles, his back to the hatch.
Natalya pulled back and weighed the options. Take him out now or get him on the way back in the dark. Emergency lighting would come on as soon as she pulled the main power breaker. She needed to kill the communications first. She was pretty sure Zoya was on the ship but had no idea where they’d stashed Bean. The smart choice would have been to keep him at the marshaling yard.
One step at a time.
She could pull the communications array offline without killing the power. That would break their link with the yard without them catching on right away. She hoped.
Then power. She’d spent enough time on a Barbell to know her way around better than these barge jockeys. She hoped.
Focus.
Two steps took her across the open hatchway and onto the ladder down to the engineering deck.
The fusactors gave off a low-pitched thrum that Natalya felt in her chest. The status lights gleamed in the dimness, giving her enough light to orient herself. She crossed to the breaker panel and eased the door open. The darkness inside the box made her pull a mini-flash from her pocket but she paused to look around before turning it on.
A noise. Quiet, like a scuff of a boot on the decking.
She flattened herself against the aft bulkhead and let her eyes unfocus slightly, trying to spot a shadow that shouldn’t be there, a movement where nothing should be moving.
After a full tick she started to chalk it up to nerves, when it came again. Faint. Nothing she could identify but something that shouldn’t be there in the darkened engineering bay. She could smell the green funk of environmental wafting up from below. Every so often one of the multitude of pumps whined into motion for a few seconds before cutting off with a quiet thump. It wasn’t coming from there.
She lowered her softsuit to the deck, careful not to scrape any of the fittings against the bulkhead. She stayed low, letting her ears and nose work in the twilight.
It came again. A quiet rasp as of fabric against the skid-grip decking. This time a quiet snort followed. A snore? Was there a guard down here? Fallen asleep on watch?
She crossed the open deck, skittering behind the portside Burleson drive to peek around it toward the spares locker. Nothing looked out of place. She waited, praying Ahokas was still keeping the radio warm.
She skated through the shadows to stand beside the spares locker in the shadow of
one of the huge supports that kept the ship and its mechanical heart together. She paused, quieting her breath and straining her ears.
When the sound did come, she practically jumped out of her shipsuit. She pressed herself back against the bulkhead. It sounded like it came from her feet. It took a few heartbeats for her to place the sound but the aroma cued her before she realized what she’d heard.
A nervous giggle bubbled up in her chest. She had to bite her lip to keep from letting it escape.
She got down on her hands and knees to peek through the metal grating at the bottom of the spares locker. A faint person-shaped lump lay sprawled on the decking, a survival blanket covering it. One limb, possibly a leg, appeared to be tied to a storage unit. Making out the body’s orientation from the position of the limb and the lumps under the blanket proved impossible. She couldn’t see well enough and the clock in her head kept ticking down.
Eventually somebody was going to twig to the fact that Ahokas was stalling and begin to ask why.
She slipped around to the front of the locker and released the latch as quietly as she could. The metallic snick sounded like a firecracker to her, but the figure on the deck inside only snorted once and rolled over on its back.
She eased the door open and the dim light fell across the man’s face. Even in the shadows, his face looked battered with a black eye and some cuts across his cheek bones. It wasn’t anybody she recognized and she cursed to herself. It would have been so much easier if it had been Zoya. Or Bean.
Locking him back up crossed her mind but, logically, he was here because he wasn’t with whoever had hijacked the ship. She clicked on her mini light and shined it on his face. Black stubble with shots of gray didn’t hide the bruising along his jawline. She wiggled the light until his eyelids began to flicker and then clicked it off.
“Wha—?” he groaned.
“Hush,” Natalya said. “There’s a watchstander in Engineering Main.”
The man struggled to sit and twisted around to stare at Natalya. “Who are you?” His voice was barely louder than the fusactor’s low hum. “I can’t see you.”
Natalya flipped the light up and clicked it on. “Fair’s fair. I don’t know you either.”
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