Partners - Book 1

by Melissa Good

  Dev put both hands on the edge of the tank, holding herself still as her body drifted in the water. It reminded her a little of being in null grav, but it felt completely different and of course it was a lot wetter. “Well, you said it didn’t really matter, didn’t you?” She said. “That we all do dangerous things all the time?” She looked up at him and grinned.

  With a shake of his head, Brent stood up. “Well, be careful. Last thing we need is for one of us to go and get hurt. There aren’t many of us left.” He studied her for a moment more, and then retreated back toward the dressing room, his head still shaking gently as he walked.

  Us. It seemed that Brent, at least, had decided to accept her presence and that felt very nice. She was glad. She released the edge of the tank and moved her hands around again, leaning forward and stroking forward in a somewhat awkward motion.

  It did move her, though, and she kept at it for a few minutes, until she became a little more accustomed to it, edging forward not exactly gracefully but at least with some good effect.

  The water itself felt wonderful. It smelled like the shower did, rich and wet and interesting. With a good deal of effort, she finally reached the far end of the tank, and discovered it wasn’t as deep there and she could actually stand with her feet on the bottom and have her head stick up from the surface.

  That was even better. She could fully appreciate the nice way the pressure of the water moved against her without having to worry about inadvertently breathing in the liquid. She knew the man who she’d seen in the tank was doing something different. She decided to look up this whole swimming thing when she got back to her quarters to see if the systems had any information on it.

  She bobbed there for a minute or so more, then found the steps that led out of the tank. She felt an immediate chill as the air hit her. She heard footsteps approaching and turned to see Sandy and her partner approaching. “Hello.”

  Sandy ignored her and just walked past. Nappy gave her a brief nod, lifting one hand in a faint wave as he followed her.

  Dev regarded them in mild curiosity.

  “Don’t pay any attention to her.”

  Dev turned to find Jason standing there. “Oh, hello,” she said. “I wasn’t really.”

  The tall, muscular agent had just finished his exercise, and he, like Brent, was covered in sweat. “Jess around?”

  Dev shook her head.

  Jason studied her. “What the hell happened to you?”

  “I jumped in the tank. I liked it.” She ran her fingers through her wet hair. “I think I should probably go put on a dry shirt though and continue my work.” She walked around him and headed for the dressing space.

  “Hey.” Jason jogged after her and caught up. “So what kind of gym work do you do up in space?”

  “Well.” Dev took a towel from a shelf as they passed and dried her face off. “It’s not like this. You do running, walking, jumping, picking things up, things like that, but they adjust the grav so it’s harder.”

  Jason frowned. “What do you mean?”

  They were passing the sets of pull up bars and hanging swings and Dev paused, then she went over to the bars and glanced up at them, drying her hands and putting the towel down. “Like this.” She jumped a little, and caught the bar, adjusting her hold and then pausing a moment before she pulled herself up so that her chin was even with the bar.

  Jason folded his arms and watched her. “Okay, so we do that too.”

  “Then we do this.” Dev hoisted herself, pressing her body up over the bar, and then carefully lifting herself up into a handstand. She held the position briefly, and then let her body fall, swinging under the bar and then releasing it as she came up again, turning in mid air and catching it again and pressing herself back up into a handstand.

  “Ah,” Jason muttered.

  Dev lowered herself until her shoulders touched the bar, then pushed herself back up. Then she fell forward again, releasing the bar and landing neatly with both feet planted. “But they change the grav, so sometimes you’re normal, like now, and sometimes you go up to two, three, or when they want to really work you very hard, to four Gs.”

  Jason stared at her. “Are you kidding me? They work you under four Gs? “

  “Not that much, it’s too hard,” Dev said. “And not what I just did. You can get really hurt. But just walking around, and sometimes carrying things.”

  “Holy shit.”

  Dev wasn’t sure what to make of that reaction. “Mostly it’s two G,” she said. “It makes gym shorter too. I’m going to have to work harder here to match what I did in the crèche.” She made a little face. “The last gym I did before I came here was the hardest. They had me do a whole round in three Gs and I was really tired when I was finished.”

  “Holy shit.”

  Dev managed a brief grin. “Excuse me.” She turned and headed into the changing area, going over to her little cubicle and stripping quickly out of the wet exercise suit so she could exchange it for a dry one. She toweled off and changed, then she headed back out into the gym to find some good work to do.

  JESS STUDIED THE met data, bracing one arm against the console as she overlaid her situational map over it. Two tightly lined whorls intersected their flight plan and she grimaced, moving the met prediction ahead until they cleared. “Shit.”

  “What’s that, Drake?” The meteorological officer glanced at her.

  “Fucking storms biting my ass again.” Jess sighed. “Are they getting worse or is it just my natural pessimism rearing its head?”

  The met officer came around the desk and studied her plotting. “Has been bad up there this year,” he said. “I was just talking to Mort earlier over lunch and he said the same thing you just did. Storms are getting worse and more often.”

  “Mm.” Jess coded the data to her pad and straightened up cautiously. “Well, puts me on ice for a few days. We can’t fly into that.”

  “Yeah? I heard your hotshot new pilot could fly that shuttle to the moon and back,” he said. “That’s the rumor, anyway, from the mechs.”

  Jess regarded him. “Yeah?”

  “Heard them talking in the mess. They saw the mission logs from your last run and there’s a lot of lip flapping on it.”

  “Dev did a kickass job,” Jess said. “Surprised the hell out of me, as much as anyone else.”

  “That make you nervous?” The met officer asked. “Maybe they can replace you with a sim slot?”

  Jess studied him.

  “Just a thought.”

  Jess smiled briefly. “Who knows?” She picked up the pad and gave him a brief wave. “Later.”

  “Later.”

  Jess left the met office and walked along the hall, trying not to acknowledge how much a sense of relief she was feeling at having to postpone the mission for a few days. She considered that as she walked, reasoning that it probably was good because it gave her back a chance to heal up a little, and she could make sure all the repairs were done to the shuttle.

  Two good reasons. She nodded to herself. Perfectly legit reasons. Nothing to do with any reluctance on her part to go back out in the field in a tricky insertion.

  Nothing like that at all. She had no control over the weather, after all, now did she? Besides, it would give her time to work on her cover, and get her plan all nice and settled before she and Dev went haring off into the wild outside.

  That was fate talking, she was sure of it. She’d been doing this long enough to know that when all the odds started stacking up against you, the world was warning you that you were pointing in the wrong direction. Ignoring that never led to good things.

  Last time she’d done it had been her last mission with Joshua. Her gut instinct had been humming like crazy on that one but she hadn’t had the guts to stand up and say so, and scrub the mission. Not with Bricker’s strident insistence on the importance of the raid, and her own arrogance and ego shoving aside her doubts.

  Very stupid of her. Stupid with a trending to d
eadly.

  “Drake.”

  Jess turned and waited, as Alexander Bain appeared from nowhere and caught up to her. “Sir.” She scanned the area for listening ears. “I was just in met.”

  “Not good, I take it? Hm?”

  “Looks like plus forty-eight to go,” Jess said. “There are two tornadic mega storms coming over between now and then.” She paused, and waited, watching those cold gray eyes dissect her.

  “Hmm. That’s bad,” Bain said. “However, on the positive side, you’ll be present for the incoming ceremony tomorrow night. So not all is negative. I very much wanted you and your new colleague to be there when this new class comes in. This scientific raid can wait the few days. In fact, if it solidifies their findings, better for us.”

  Jess nodded, feeling a sense of relief shiver through her muscles. “Let them get the bugs out before we steal it,” she said.

  “Exactly.” The old man smiled briefly. “And perhaps it will keep the enemy off our doorstep.” He frowned. “Shocking, they made it past all the scans isn’t it?” He watched her intently.

  “Very shocking.” Jess said. “They must have gotten very lucky.”

  “Hm.”

  Jess’s lips twitched, and she quickly scanned the hallway again, finding it still empty. “Or someone wasn’t watching.”

  “Hm.”

  “Or someone was deliberately keeping quiet.”

  Bain leaned against the wall, his spare frame barely seeming to cast a shadow. “Does it seem likely to you that they could have gotten in here with no warning, and no storm to cover their tracks?”

  “No.”

  “And yet it seems that the logs for the hour preceding their arrival have somehow become lost, making it impossible for us to ascertain exactly what we knew, when we knew it.”

  Jess stared at him, her body stiffening. “That doesn’t happen without leaving fingerprints somewhere,” she finally said.

  “Hm.” Bain tilted his head slightly. “Troubling times, Agent Drake.” He unfolded his arms and straightened up. “And quite dangerous, perhaps, to those of interest. So keep an eye on your new colleague, hmm? I wouldn’t want anything unpleasant to happen to that charming girl.”

  “I will,” Jess said, in a quiet tone. “I don’t want anything bad to happen to her either. She’s all right.”

  “Yes.” Bains’ eyes met hers, and he smiled, just a little. “And I will keep my eye on her creator. Though I’m sure he would be extremely irritated to hear me say that.”

  “He’s a pretty good shot,” Jess commented. “He took out two of those guys.”

  “Dan Kurok has quite a number of unusual skills,” Bain said wryly. “Pity we need to get him back to the station before they blow up the citadel trying to find him, hmm?” He pushed off the wall. “A good day to you, Drake.”

  “Sir.”

  He glanced back at her. “Do remember to keep your options open.”

  Jess watched him go, as she replayed his words in her head. Then she frowned, and turned on her heel, heading across the hallway toward the gym.

  DEV RUBBED HERSELF dry with the towel, and was headed toward her locker when she heard Jess’s voice nearby.

  A moment later, Jess stuck her head around the corner of the changing area, and then entered. “There you are,” she said. “How’d the gym go?”

  “Very nice,” Dev said. She removed her jumpsuit from the locker and stepped into it. “The stations are really good, and I jumped into the water tank.”

  Jess studied her. “You jumped in the pool?”

  “Yes.” Dev ruffled her hair dry. “I really liked that. But I think I have to work out that whole swimming thing since my head kept going under and it was all a bit difficult.

  Jess put her hands on her hips.

  Dev stopped her motion, seeing the look on Jess’s face. “Is there something incorrect?”

  “Ever occur to you that jumping in water and not knowing how to swim is a bad idea?”

  Dev considered the question as she put the towel in the container and ran her fingers through her hair to order it. “No,” she finally said. “How would I know how if I didn’t try it?”

  Jess nodded. “Okay. Glad you liked the gym.” She exhaled a little. “I have to start getting back in here regularly now that med cleared me.” Her voice sounded regretful. “But listen, it looks like we’ve got a few days break due to met. “

  Dev closed her locker. “Okay. Is there something else we need to do?”

  “C’mon.” Jess started walking toward the door, and Dev followed her unquestioningly. They exited the gym and walked through the central corridor. “Tomorrow night we’ll have to go to the induction of the new class.”

  “Okay.”

  “And the party afterwards.”

  Dev walked along at her side in silence for a few strides. “What’s a party?”

  Jess rubbed the bridge of her nose. “It’s when everyone gets together in one room and drink themselves stupid while eating bad seaweed crackers and mushroom dip.”

  Dev digested this thoughtfully. “Is this a good thing or a bad thing?” She finally asked, as they headed down the long corridor toward the carrier hanger. “You sound like it’s a bad thing.”

  Jess chuckled dryly. “I’m just not a party animal,” she said. “You saw the crowd in the bar when we got back from the rescue. More of the same of that.” She palmed open the door to the hangar and motioned Dev to go in.

  They walked inside, finding the hangar relatively quiet. “Want to check out the body job,” Jess said. “Always pays to put an eyeball on it.”

  Dev decided just to follow along, since neither remark made any sense to her. She stuck by Jess’s side as they walked between the parked vehicles toward the rear where the tech station was. The tall ceiling was shrouded in darkness, the roof overhead firmly shut.

  There were a lot of techs moving around. They gave her and Jess brief glances, then went back to their tasks, which made Dev feel pretty good. She liked being treated casually. “Do you have to go to the party?”

  Jess sighed. “Yes and no. It’s expected. So we go, but...” She paused, and fell silent. “Maybe it was Josh dragging me to all of them I don’t know.” She led the way around a tool bay and ducked under the fuel piping. “Doesn’t matter.”

  Here, close to where they were rebuilding what was apparently their carrier, the smells were sharp and the mist in the air made Dev’s eyes water. She forgot all about the party when she saw the framework of the big craft under the lights, scoured clean of all the battle damage. “Wow.”

  “Stripped her down to bare,” Jess said. “Ugly thing, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t think so, no.” Dev edged around to get a better look. Without it’s skin on, you could see all the systems and gyros that made the carrier function. She stared in rapt fascination, feeling a strong surge of programming tickling her. “This is very interesting.”

  A man in a scuffed and stained orange jumpsuit came around the side of the carrier. “What was that?” He sidled over to Dev. “Were you saying you were interested?”

  “Very,” Dev said.

  Jess rolled her eyes. “Oh, no. Now you’re in for it.”

  “Shut up, Drake.” The tech motioned Dev closer. “Finally, one of you appreciates my work.” He focused his attention on Dev. “My name’s Clint,” he said. “We almost met the other day when you brought this baby back here.”

  “Dev.” Dev smiled at him, a genuine and appreciative grin. “Are you building it all up from scratch? It looks much better already.”

  Clint returned the smile. “Let me give you a tour.” He steered her toward the stripped down rig. “Beat it, Drake. I know you just think of this as your damned bus.”

  Jess felt a sudden rush of anger that really surprised her. She surged after them and only just kept herself from slamming Clint in the back. Clint sensed it, and half turned, his eyes going a little wider in alarm.

  He looked at her face, an
d then stepped away from Dev, holding both his hands up, palms outward. “Sorry. Over the top. Didn’t mean to piss you off.”

  Dev had turned too, and she instinctively did the opposite. She moved a little closer and looked up at Jess with a slightly concerned expression, one hand lifting up and touching Jess on the arm. “Is there something wrong?”

  Jess felt a flush rising to her face and she was glad of the glaring lights that obscured it. “No,” she said. “I just don’t appreciate being told off.”

  Clint let his hands slowly lower. “Sorry, Jess...I really was just razzing you.”

  Jess felt her body relax, aware that her muscles had tightened into a pre fight posture, her fingers twitching a bit at her sides. “It’s okay,” she said, briefly. “But you know, maybe I want to see the damn old thing too.”

  “Hey, no problem!” Clint smiled again. “C’mon.” He turned and led them under the carrier, its stark structure now so very evident. “You really torched it this time. We had to rebuild half the front end.”

  Jess ducked under one of the steel ribs and followed him. After a brief pause, Dev joined her. “Sorry about that,” Jess muttered. “He just bites my shorts sometimes.”

  Dev reached up and pinched the bridge of her nose, giving Jess a sideways glance.

  “Just a saying.” Jess felt herself relax a little more, appreciating the humor. “He’s never been near my shorts.”

  “So anyway,” Clint said, oblivious of the whispers. “Since we had to rebuild this old sucker from the frame, I decided to put in a whole new scan package, and that newfangled targeting system they just released down in the lab.”

  “Oh, yeah?” Jess investigated the item. “I saw a squirt on that.”

  Dev poked her head inside the frame and took in the details avidly, setting aside her concern over Jess’s reaction a moment ago. Jess seemed to be over the anger, and Dev was glad because she could see that it had frightened Clint.

  Just like the security men had been frightened. Dev peeked over and watched Jess as she listened to Clint’s explanation of the new targeting system. She was relaxed and interested now, her hands running over the device.