by Elin Wyn
Given what I suspected about Erich, that didn’t make me feel any better.
Ronan
I burst out onto our deck to see my worst fears realized. The hatch, still flashing its warning, swung open. A crowd of Hunters pressed through, intent on exploring whatever had drawn them here.
I drew the knives from the makeshift sheaths and leapt onto the back of the one closest. It fell, and I didn’t even hear its scream, just made my way through the crowd, attacking one, darting behind another, working until they couldn’t afford to ignore me.
I cursed myself. I shouldn't have been so anxious to leave the cargo bay, should have kept exploring until we found better weapons. But the tanks had driven it from my mind.
And now Loree would pay the price.
The Hunters turned to face me, this cluster, at least, content to eradicate the threat to their flank before continuing their explorations.
Good.
Another Hunter fell, and I retreated back, hoping to draw them away from the corridor and Loree.
"Don't tell me that's the best we've got for weapons," Xander tore by me, knocking the closest Hunter away and then fell back so that we fought back to back.
I passed him a knife. “Who's with Nadira?”
“Aedan’s waking up, she sent me to help you. And I'd rather you be mad at me than her.”
“Smart man. We’ve got to get the Hunters away from here. There’s another woman trapped back in that hallway.”
His jaw tightened, and he looked around. “I’ve never argued with a target-rich environment, but this might be taking things too far.”
No point telling him to focus. Xander chattered, but he came through. Nothing to do but ignore it.
“She’s in the first door to the right, past that hatch. I’ll draw them off. You keep them out of that room.”
We tangled with another pair, dispatched them, kept fighting.
“If they’re already in?”
“Disinvite them.”
“Got it, boss.”
He fought forward while I drew the Hunters towards me, further away from the hatch. In an instant, he was gone, blocked out by the mass of black uniforms and domes.
A sharp blow to my spine knocked me off balance, and I staggered against the wall. Stupid. I’d been distracted, and let one get too close.
I pulled my focus back, got my feet back under me, and got to work.
“She said you needed a hand, but you look like you’re doing fine.”
“Shut up, Aedan, and find a weapon.”
“Grabbed one on the way up.”
I glanced over, he’d found a length of metal pipe. “Pulled it from the room with those chambers. Hope it wasn’t important.”
“Not planning to use those things again,” I snapped as a fresh pair attacked us. “Let’s finish this.”
Between the two of us, we cleared the way through to the stateroom. In the end, we boxed the Hunters from both ends of the corridor. If the droids had even been programmed to retreat, they never had the chance.
The bodies in the hall told us how far they’d reached before Xander got to them.
He leaned against the wall of the stateroom, a long cut across his chest.
“Nadira’s going to want to patch that up. Nice to have her work on someone else for a change.”
“Wait till she sees you. You’re not looking so good yourself.”
Huh. Now the surge of adrenaline was fading, I suspected he was right.
Geir and Hakon trotted down the corridor. “Didn’t leave anything for us?”
“Where’s Nadira?” I ground out through clenched teeth. “Do not tell me she was left unguarded. I don’t care if you think she’s scary, I will hurt you worse.”
They blinked. “Quinn is with her. She’s finishing with Lorcan now, and then they’ll come up.”
“Aeden, still got enough juice to check out the rest of the rooms in this corridor with these jokers?”
The three headed off, muttering that things never changed.
“Boss, we have a problem,” Xander started.
“No kidding. This was our refuge, the one place of safety on the ship. And now they know we’re here.”
“Yeah, we’ve had worse days. But that’s not the problem.”
“Oh?”
“The other woman, she’s gone.”
Shit.
“Tear the ship apart. Find her. That woman is an ally.” And I was not going to tell Nadira I’d lost her friend.
The stateroom was a disaster. Xander shook his head, but I knew he wasn’t to blame. The Hunters had gotten here before him.
Heaving the bed back upright, a sniffle caught my attention.
Carefully, I cleared out the rest of the wreckage, until I saw a flash of red hair under the kneehole of the desk.
“Hey, you want to come out of there?”
Loree shook her head. “It’s my fault. I think they traced the distress call to the tablet.”
“It’s not a problem, promise. Come on out.”
She shoved her legs behind her, struggled, and then gave up.
Xander pushed his way past me to sit down on the floor next to her. “Mind if I join you?”
“Hit him if he gets annoying,” I growled. I wasn’t worried, he’d never hurt her. Doc would have strung us up if she’d heard of such nonsense.
“If he brings me my tablet, I might forgive him.”
With that settled, I headed out to check on our security, whatever was left of it.
Aeden stood guard by the closed hatch. “Geir and Hakon are finishing the second sweep. It’s clean.”
“The others should be here now.” Something had happened. What if the attack on the staterooms was a diversion and a second wave of Hunters had headed to the stasis chambers?
The sounds of the security sweep behind us broke into my thoughts.
“Please, go get her.” Aeden waved towards the hall. “We’ll keep things together here. Void knows, we’ve had about all the rest we can take. Just get her, and stop being an asshole.”
I knocked him on the shoulder on the way out. “Good to see you, too.”
In the stasis room, I stood by the door as Nadira knelt over Lorcan while Quinn hovered behind her. “I think that’s the last of it.” She patted his back. “Hopefully this isn’t the standard procedure for coming out of these things, but we were a little short on time.”
“Man, next time, try not to breathe so much of that crap.” Quinn stepped back quickly from another pile of goo.
Lorcan coughed again. “There’s not going to be a next time, not if I have any say.”
He straightened up and saw me at the door.
“Is the incident clear?”
Nadira jumped up, and in three quick strides I held her.
Quinn helped Lorcan up. “She told me to leave, but figured you’d have something to say about that.”
“Good job.”
Nadira tilted her face to mine, checking for injuries. “You’re okay? Is Loree…”
“She’s fine. Promise. Could use a visit from her doctor, I’ll bet.”
The tension melted from her and she sagged against me. “I didn’t have a comm, I didn’t know what was happening.”
“I know, babe.” My arms tightened around her. “Won’t happen again.”
But I knew it was a lie, even as the words left my mouth.
Nadira
If I had thought that having Ronan in the stateroom made it crowded, I obviously hadn't imagined what adding six more men of his build would be like.
In the end, they took all the furniture out of the third room down the hall, and brought in chairs for Loree and myself. The rest stood against the walls, looking to Ronan for a summary of their situation.
Loree was pale and shaky, but didn't seem noticeably worse for her adventure. Xander stayed close to her. That was all right by me. If the seven of them were going to be out fighting, and getting into Void knew what trouble, I was going to
have my hands full.
"So that's the situation as we know it," Ronan concluded.
One of the new ones, Quinn, Quill, something, I’d get it straight soon, spoke up.
“How many hunters are left?"
"No way of telling," Ronan answered.
Loree tapped her tablet, looked up hesitantly. "Actually, I've been trying to see if we can track them through the systems."
"Track what?” Aeden asked. "They’re droids, they don't have life signs."
Xander glared at Aeden.
"But they throw a lot of heat," Loree murmured, struggling to stay awake. "The Star’s systems are compromised, but if I can get cameras, or even just heat sensors up, we’ll have a better sense of what we’re fighting."
“It’s true,” Ronan added. “They’ve got that burning, bitter smell.” The rest nodded in agreement.
"As long as you promise to look at it after you've had some rest," I said pointedly. "And that goes for all of you.” I looked around the room.
Groans and general muttering broke out and I didn't care.
"You may think you've been sleeping for weeks, but we don't know what-all was done to you. Half of you woke up and ran into a battle."
Ronan grinned at me and I shoved my hands through my hair.
"Okay, I sent you there. And I appreciate it. But you're still getting a checkup."
"Lorcan, Quinn." Ronan pointed as he tagged them. "When we’re done, I'll tell you where to find the lab. Bring back anything that's not nailed down. I get the feeling she's going to want a clinic back here."
"Damn straight, I am."
Geir spoke up. "I don't mind hunkering down for a siege. But do we have a long-term plan? We can just outlast them, pick them off. But, then what?"
Those were the most words I'd heard from him since he woke. And he had good questions.
"We have two options," Ronan started. "First, try to take control of the ship. There may be a few problems with that one. I don't trust anything they've had their hands on. It’ll take a lot of checking to make sure systems are secure.”
"I can keep running searches through the software," Loree said. "I'm starting to get a sense of their signature, how they've changed things."
Ronan looked at me and I shook my head a fraction. "That’d be great. Would you mind showing Quinn what you're doing? He's not bad with comms and with the two of you, it'll go faster."
Loree nodded, then finally drifted off a bit.
I'd rather she was resting in bed, but she was in as much danger as any of us, had as much right to fight for her safety.
At least having someone else who understood comms systems would take some of the pressure off her.
Ronan cleared his throat, looked over everyone’s heads. “Also, it's possible I may have destroyed part of the jump drive."
The room went quiet as they stared at him.
"I guess I know what my assignment will be," Hakon finally said.
"Yeah. You may want to look for some tools."
To fill the awkward silence, I brought up the final point. "We do have another option. We sent out a distress call as soon as the jump drives were taken off-line, but no telling if anyone will come for us.”
Loree giggled, half-awake. "I tried to make it enticing." And then she faded back asleep.
I shook my head at Ronan’s stare. That could mean anything.
"You might have guessed, we’re not so great at waiting."
I'd been busy watching Loree sleep, wondering about her words, so I didn't see which of the brothers had spoken.
It didn't really matter; any of them could have, and meant it.
"Then learn to multitask.” I snapped. “Do both, take over the ship while we’re waiting. If the rescue shows up before we get control of the ship, we’re saved. If it doesn't show up, we’re covered if we get control of the Star."
I stood up. “I've got a patient that needs me.”
Ronan laughed. "And you can see why I can refuse her nothing."
I went to get Loree, but Xander had already lifted her carefully.
Her room had been restored, at least as close as we were going to get.
Xander waited while I tucked her into bed and gave her another dose of painkillers.
"Was she hurt in the attack?"
"No. But none of this is helping. Go on back. I'll stay with her for a bit.”
He left the room, with an obvious bit of reluctance.
I brushed her hair back from her for head and stayed, waiting for the drugs to ease the worst of her pain. "Well, that's an unexpected complication." I whispered to her. "I guess we'll deal with it when it's time."
Ronan
I walked by Loree’s stateroom, but stopped to watch Nadira, framed by the door.
She sat in the chair by Loree’s bed, covered in those swathes of fabric, a half-amused smile on her face, but her eyes betrayed that her thoughts were elsewhere.
Xander’s voice boomed down the hall. “And then Ronan…”
I entered the room, and whatever I’d been about to do in Xander’s tall tale could obviously wait to be explained until I wasn’t around.
“You’re relieved.”
“Yes, sir.” He hurried out of the room with a quick shrug for Loree.
“What was that about?”
“Just another of your charming brothers, keeping us company.” She sighed. “Don’t you need them for other things than watching us?”
It was true. In the two days since the breach of our haven, we’d all been busy.
Staterooms in other parts of the ships had been raided, clothes and beds found, excess furniture dumped.
I tapped the earcomm. “Actually, I wanted to let you know Lorcan and Quinn are on the way back with presents for you.”
She hopped up. “They hit the lab?”
Teams of two had gone out scavenging in near-constant rotation. I wanted that cargo bay inventoried, but I knew Nadira would be more comfortable knowing she had the tools to keep us patched up.
So far, we’d been able to avoid the Hunters. But it wouldn’t last.
I opened the hatch for the pair, and Nadira damn near bounced down the corridor to her makeshift clinic.
As Quinn helped her unpack the boxes they’d brought, Lorcan pulled me to the side.
“Sir.”
“Yes.” I didn’t know Lorcan as well as most of the others. He’d been out on long- range missions for most of our years. But I knew that tone.
“The bodies you mentioned. They’re gone.”
“Dammit. Don’t tell Nadira.”
“Wasn’t planning on it.” He joined Quinn in sorting out the tangle of devices, and I headed out to check on Hakon.
I found him in the cargo bay, where Xander and Geir had pulled half the crates off the shelves.
“We were just heading up with the news.” Hakon pointed to a shelf, and the knot in my gut loosened.
A small row of weapons lay separated by the door. Small blasters, needle guns. Nothing long range, but a hell of a lot better than knives.
“Xander, go take a pair up to Quinn and Lorcan.”
“Man, there are days I long for the quiet rest of my gel, you know?” But he grabbed the weapons and headed out.
“Where’s Aeden?”
Hakon shrugged, went back to his search for tools.
I tapped the earcomm. “Aeden? Report.”
He came on with a crackle. “Up at the bridge, boss. Trying to figure out how to get in. Or why it’s locked in the first place.”
“I’d think that was obvious. The Hunters don’t want us in.”
“But that’s the odd thing. Quinn said that he and Loree were checking the code. This lockdown doesn’t look like the Hunters’ work, but part of the original systems.”
“Then how…” I stopped. I didn’t need to figure it out. Other people were on it. Good people. “Let me know when you have something.”
“Got it.”
I found Hakon further back
in the racks, digging through crates. “Any luck with the engines?”
Hakon stared at me. “”We were lucky. The engine doesn’t seem affected by the… surprising amount of debris that happened to shake loose from the upper console.”
Good job with the wording. I might never live that down. “That was lucky, yes.”
“It’ll take some time to reroute the controls to only need the lower console, but I’ll get it.”
“The top one was messed up anyway,” I muttered as he went back to his work.
I headed back out, scowling at myself.
This was what I’d wanted, the damn near-miracle of having a team, my brothers back.
Then why was I so cranky?
Because giving orders was boring.
Grinning, I headed up the stairs. Why should everyone else have all the fun?
I popped out of the stairwell feeling more cheerful than I had in hours.
Aedan had pulled the panel off the wall next to the sealed door of the bridge. I gave him a quick wave and then headed back to the captain's quarters.
If the bridge hadn't been sealed by the Hunters or whoever commanded them, the only one with the power to do that would be the captain. And if Loree hadn't found any clues on the tablet, then it would have to be here, in this room.
I turned around, examining it closely. It was a good-sized room, had been nicely furnished, more complete than the staterooms downstairs. Meant for working and comfort, as could be seen by the full-sized desk that took up almost a quarter of the space and the large holoplate against the wall behind it.
If it was in the secure area, I'd move Nadira and myself into here in a heartbeat.
I shook my head. I wasn't here to play house, I was here to get information.
I flipped through the contents of the shelves. Some awards from the Starliner Association, whatever good that was. I stopped. A row of ribbons in a case. Imperial Marines. And not just puff commendations, these were combat zone ribbons.
I looked around the room again. Whatever else the captain had been, they had been a soldier. And the captain and their men wouldn't have left their command without a damn good reason.
No further clues on the shelf. I turned my attention to the desk. The drawer we’d found the tablet in was empty.