Partners - Book 1

by Melissa Good

Dev got her scanner in place and triggered the recorder, blinking her eyes rapidly to clear the light flare so she could see. The deck was alive with alighting figures and as they landed and rifles started swinging around, Jess attacked.

  It was awful and to her, scary. Jess was moving so fast it was hard to keep sight of her, blaster fire missing her on all sides as she twisted and turned, a dozen figures swiveling to target her as she calmly laid down her own fire.

  Rifle tucked against her side, hand gun in her left hand, she was shooting in two directions at once while moving in a third, never pausing in motion for even an instant. She took down one of the enemy, then two, then she leaped up onto the side wall of the ship as it pitched, jumping out and over two others who were rushing toward her.

  Dev’s jaw dropped a little, as she watched her partner flip over in mid air, shooting down at the two figures and blasting them into pieces just before she landed and turned and let off a barrage in a sweeping motion that took out two more descending figures and sent them spinning off into the ocean.

  No hesitation. All smooth and deadly motion.

  She was a deadly force, and the men facing off against her knew it. Dev could see their faces in the wash of the light, their eyes wide, pointing, diving for the deck, ducking away from her motion even though they wore the same uniforms and were cut from the same apparent cloth.

  Through the roar of the surf and the carrier engines, she heard a wild yell ring out, high and bold that made the hair on the back of her neck lift. She saw one falling figure shift sideways and head right for Jess only to watch in astonishment as her partner took one long step and then crouched, shooting off the deck and colliding with the figure as she swung her free hand out and around and the light caught a thick spray of liquid as the figure seemed to come apart as she hit it.

  Jess tumbled in the air and then righted herself and landed, dropping into a crouch as bolts flew over her head and slammed into the outer wall of the ship and ricocheted back almost catching her as she leaped again over them and tumbled lazily into the air before the deck came up to meet her and she landed square, turning in a circle with both guns outstretched.

  Men were yelling. The carrier above them suddenly shifted from white to red lights, and a loud horn blared out. Dev had no idea what it all meant, but she kept recording, as Jess closed in on two more of the attackers, now too close to use blasters so it was hand to hand.

  She kicked the legs out from one and sent him into the fire of another of the enemy, his body blasting apart into chunks as the plasma bolt touched him. Then she grabbed the second, swinging him around as he aimed the butt of his gun at her head. He missed his target by a fraction, then Jess had her knife out again and slashing, and the red light caught a spray of liquid as the knife cut deep and then flashed free.

  Her laughter suddenly rang out over the chaos. She slid sideways and put her back to the ship wall, head swinging around as she looked for her next target.

  Hooks suddenly caught the light, and four figures hauled on to them, as the carrier started to lift off. Jess dropped to her knees and braced her rifle, sighting up as the figures lifted clear and the lower guns of the craft activated, and swung around.

  “Jess!” Dev let out a yell, as she recognized the configuration. “Guns live!”

  “See em!” Jess yelled back, squeezing the trigger and letting off a barrage at the muzzles moving her way. The carrier’s shielding took the hit and she knew she was likely about to get blasted along with the rest of the boat, when a fast moving body made her jerk around just as Dev hit the deck next to her, sliding across the icy surface and slamming into her with stunning force.

  Her automatic reactions seized up, throwing her body into confusion as the kill instinct was unexpectedly stifled, and she went with the motion as they both ended up behind the big net wheel just as the deck lit up with an overhead barrage and she had to throw her hands over her head to protect her eyes from the flash.

  “They’re going to shoot you!” Dev yelped. “Get down!”

  “They’re going to shoot you too now!” Jess yelled back, as a line of blaster fire came right at them, counter to the carrier’s motion as it lifted away and headed south. With a curse she grabbed Dev and yanked her out of the way, rolling out of the line of fire as the blast hit the deck again and sent a cascade of energy across it.

  The backwash hit them and Dev felt her ears pop and her body arch and cramp, an almost fire burning over her senses before it was gone and over, and the sky was dark again.

  Every inch of her was tingling. Dev got her knees under her and straightened, twisting around to find Jess right behind her, gun muzzles still glowing faintly, a light that vanished as the ship recovered and turned on the outside lights on the deck, bathing them in a white orange glow.

  The engines rumbled to life. Dev caught her breath, and looked at Jess. “That was interesting. In a bad way.”

  Jess slowly put her guns down on the deck and sat down next to them, letting her hands rest on her knees, her fingers twitching in a jerky rhythm. Her breathing was coming short and hard, and after a minute, she looked up at Dev with cold, expressionless eyes.

  Killer’s eyes. Compassionless and remote.

  It was stark, and terrorizing, seeing the cold and merciless machine behind those eyes and yet, Dev didn’t either think or hesitate before she reached out and clasped her shoulder, far more worried than scared. “Are you all right?” She asked. “You seem in real discomfort.”

  For a moment Jess kept staring at her, then her eyes blinked, and the muscles under Dev’s fingers relaxed and the breath came out of her in a long, trickling sigh. She lifted her hands and rested her head against them, fingers still twitching.

  Dev forgot all about the bad guys. She put her back to the chaos on the deck, blocking the view of the crew. “Jess?”

  “I’m okay,” Jess muttered. “Just coming down. Give me a minute.”

  Dev wasn’t sure what that meant, but she watched the planes of Jess’s face ease after a moment, taking on familiar character and leaving behind that cold, hard mask that had put a chill down Dev’s spine. “I’m sorry if I was incorrect,” she said, in a quiet tone. “You told me to stay behind.”

  Jess blinked a few more times, then she looked up at Dev with a strangely wry expression. “We’ll talk later.”

  “Hot damn!” Sigurd’s voice rang out over the deck. “Get the engines revved! Put us back on course and get this deck ready to fish!”

  Jess lifted her head. “Don’t...” She scrambled to her feet and sucked in a breath. “Hold it!” She called out in a commanding tone.

  Dev got up and stood, uncertainly, at her side. “What’s wrong?”

  “Go get a scan of the bodies, especially the hands.” Jess turned to face her. “Before they throw them over,” she added. “Need to know who the hell they are.”

  Dev studied her for a moment. “Are you sure you’re okay?” She asked, lifting the scanner up and keying it.

  A very brief smile appeared on Jess’s face. “I’m fine.” She patted Dev on the arm. “G’wan so they can clean up.”

  Somewhat reassured, Dev turned and made her way across the slippery deck toward the first of the bodies. The engines had steadied the course of the ship, but they were still plowing through white ruffled seas and she balanced carefully as the crew backed away as she approached.

  Strange. She had no idea why they might be wary of her, since all she’d done during the fight was yell and slide across the ice like a crazy person.

  She knelt down beside the body and started the scan, glad she’d put on her heavy coat when a blast of ocean spray coated her liberally. The scan chimed softly and she reviewed the results, then she passed it over the hands that were already freezing to the deck.

  The body was in a typical black battle suit, the twin to the one Jess was wearing, right down to the blue trim on the collar. She finished the scan and got up, storing the results before she headed to the second,
catching sight of Sigurd crossing behind her and heading in Jess’s direction.

  Dev circled around the body and knelt down, positioning herself so she could keep an eye on her partner. Jess had picked up and holstered her weapons, and was tucking her hands inside her jacket as Sigurd reached her.

  She seemed all right, but Dev was still concerned. She set the scan up and reached out to grasp the stiffening shoulder, rolling the body over and straightening it. The fact that the man was dead didn’t bother her.

  Bio alts were programmed to be very pragmatic about life, and death. Dev herself had seen any number of her kind put down in the crèche, for various reasons, and she felt no emotional charge as she studied the dead man’s face. Dev captured the details carefully, then she passed the scan over his hands, waiting to hear the beep as the device picked up the embedded chips under the skin.

  The device remained silent. Dev redid the scan, but got the same results. “Hm.” She did it a third time, this time recording the result or lack of it and closing the cover. Unexpected. She got up and went to the other casualties and then she headed back to where Jess was still talking to Sigurd.

  Six bodies in Interforce uniforms, five of them without the chips Dev knew they all carried, including herself. She’d gotten her set the morning before she’d left the crèche, and she remembered the bone deep tickle as they’d activated the programming for it.

  “Jess.” She paused, seeing the suddenly intent look from her partner.

  “Done?” Jess said.

  “Yes.”

  “So, captain.” Jess put a hand on Dev’s shoulder. “Did we deliver?”

  Sigurd grinned. “Gotta admit, that was pretty slick work,” he said. “Bastards came down on top of us before we even caught them on radar. Looked like your side, huh?”

  “It was a carrier,” Jess acknowledged. “Bet they won’t be back though.”

  “Not today,” Sigurd agreed cheerfully. “You done now? I need to clean my deck.”

  “Done,” Jess said, watching him as he walked off, yelling orders at the crew. “Shit.” She exhaled. “Wasn’t looking to have to report this today.”

  “Jess.” Dev opened the scanner and called up the results. “I found something unusual.” She keyed up the second set of comp and showed it to her. “No ident.”

  Jess took the scanner and peered at it. “None of them?”

  “The first one had.” Dev reached over and switched the record, displaying it. “The rest didn’t. I thought it was a bit unusual.”

  “A bit?” Jess’s voice lifted. “Those are reg uniforms. Here’s the scan tag.” She pointed. “And that was a carrier, even though it was an older one. No one should be onboard it that isn’t one of us.”

  Us. Dev again felt just the tiniest prickle of pride at that, no matter how inappropriate the time for it. “What does this mean, Jess?” She asked, as her partner slowly started to move across the deck, still studying the scanner. They eased past the crew who were now dragging the bodies to the side, and gained the shelter of the bulkhead.

  “Good question,” Jess finally said, handing the scanner back. “Let’s talk about it later.” She folded her arms and regarded the busy deck. The attack didn’t seem to have fazed the crew at all, and most were returning arms to an insulated locker before moving out to go back to work.

  Sigurd came back over to them, rubbing his hands. “Ready to head into the slot?” He said. “See it? Right there.” He pointed up and forward, where the solid inky black of the sea was abruptly bisected by a ghostly gray wall looming up unexpectedly in front of them.

  “I see a head on crash,” Jess said. “Not much else.”

  Sigurd chuckled “There.” He grabbed a post as the ship veered. “That crack.”

  Jess squinted, seeing a long, dark line in the gray. “You’re taking this thing in there?”

  “Scared?”

  “Yes.”

  Sigurd looked at Jess in surprise. “Thought you jiggers didn’t admit to that.”

  “Stupid ones don’t.” Jess eyed the oncoming wall. The ship lights now bounced off the ice and she could see the separation between the two big sheets, the waves rushing up against it and bouncing back. Her breathing was returning to normal, and the energy that had been making her muscles jerk was easing.

  She was out of the need to be zoned. The harsh black and white flatness had eased from her vision, and she felt the bowed tension in her back releasing as she leaned against the wall of the ship.

  Had she freaked Dev out? She watched her grip the rail to keep herself steady, her head turning a little as she watched everything. It didn’t seem like it. “Dev?”

  “Yes?”

  Jess hesitated. “Never mind. We’ll talk later.” She turned to Sigurd. “Why there?” She asked, walking over to the side of the ship and peering over the rail. “What do you think you’ll find in there?”

  “You tell me,” Sigurd said. “How about it, tech? Wanna give that thing a whirl?” He came over next to Jess. “We know schools tend to hide up in the crevasse. Give’s ‘em shelter from the big current they’re just a little tricky to set the nets into.”

  “Why at night?” Dev asked.

  “That’s when they’re there.” Sigurd grinned at her. “They sleep at night. Get it?”

  The alarm went off. “Standing by to move forward, cap’n!” A voice rumbled over the hailer. “Have clearance.”

  “C’mon.” Sigurd motioned them forward. “See it for yourself. You’ll only get the one chance.” He rambled toward the side of the ship, clearly expecting them to follow, and they did.

  The walls of ice towered over them, and Jess tipped her head back, feeling a blast of cold air hit her, along with a wash of icy spray. She refastened her neck cover a little more firmly and felt her eyes widen a little as the brash lights of the ship hit the ice and sent a dozen jolts of color through the surface.

  She felt like they were entering a cave. The dark clouds over head were formless and impenetrable, and as they slipped between the walls the thunder of the waves nearly deafened her, thrumming against her ears with an uncomfortable vibration.

  She lifted one hand and covered her right ear, wincing.

  Through the thickness of her jacket she felt Dev’s touch on her, the heat of a grip on her elbow and then the press of Dev’s shoulder against hers as they were surrounded by rumbling echoes.

  “Loud huh?” Sigured yelled.

  The noise was pounding in her head and Jess felt suddenly sick.

  “Drop the net!” Sigurd bawled into the loudspeaker. “Drop! Drop!”

  Dev saw the real discomfort on Jess’s face. She looked around at all the activity, then she carefully gripped Jess’s arm and tugged her toward the hatch that would block some of the sound that was bombarding them from all directions.

  It wasn’t terribly comfortable for Dev. The discordant waves were making her head ache and she was glad to get the hatch open, and then closed after her and Jess, the seal thumping into place and dropping the noise level by three quarters.

  It was a physical relief. “Ah.” Jess leaned against the wall, rubbing her ear and wincing. “Thanks.”

  Dev shook her head rapidly to clear it. She could still feel the ship moving but the roar of the waves and the echoes had faded to almost irrelevancy. They were alone in the mostly dark corridor, in relative safety.

  Jess exhaled, flexing her hands. “Let’s go look at that scan,” she finally said. “Something’s not adding up. What was that ambush all about?”

  “They wanted the fish?” Dev hazarded a guess.

  “Why drop a full on assault team to the deck in that case? Why not just put the guns on them and threaten them? Were they after fish, Dev, or were they after something else.” She slowly turned her head and looked around. “Like this ship instead?”

  Dev picked a spot on the wall next to her and leaned on it. “Why would they want this ship?”

  “Why would they want an old carrier?” Jes
s countered “How many of them didn’t have tags? They weren’t Interforce, Dev. You were right about that. Those weren’t agents.” She exhaled reflectively. “If they were I’d be dead.”

  “I see,” Dev said, then paused. “I think.”

  “We all get the same training. Some of us are better at some things than others, but we can all do a first class job of kicking ass. Those guys could no more kick my ass than they could flap their arms and fly.”

  “You seemed very successful.”

  Jess stared quietly at the opposite wall for a few moments. “I’m very good at killing people,” she said. “You shouldn’t have come that close to me while I’m like that. I don’t always know the difference between friends and enemies when that old fog of war descends.”

  “In the big pl...in the citadel, when those people attacked us, you knew Doctor Dan wasn’t a bad guy.”

  Jess half shrugged. “Yea, but you can’t always depend on that,” she said. “Don’t take chances with me. Last thing I want to do is screw up and pop you one.”

  Dev remembered that laugh. She thought about what she’d done, and that run across the deck and the irresistible need that had driven her. “I didn’t think about what I was doing,” she said. “I just did it.”

  Jess nodded. “Let’s go back to our digs.” She draped her arm over Dev’s shoulders and pulled her close. Then she turned fully and wrapped her arms around Dev and hugged her.

  Dev smiled, returning the hug with a sense of wholesale relief. Things might be getting confusing, but this, at least, certainly wasn’t.

  JESS WAS VERY glad to get back into their little scrap of a cabin, away from the sounds and the wary eyes of the crew. She felt raw, and it occurred to her it was the first time she’d been in the zone since Josh’s betrayal. She hadn’t thought about going into that space before she’d done it, and now that she’d come out of it she wondered why she’d felt so nervous back in the citadel.

  She remembered being nervous, and that sick, roiling feeling in her guts as she’d imagined going back into action, but when the time came, she hadn’t even thought about it.