Derelict: Halcyone Space, Book 1

by Lj Cohen

  Without any change to his watchful expression, Maldonado stepped close and pressed the barrel of his gun against the fresh bandage and twisted. A bright hot lance of agony tore a scream from him. "Has anyone told you how like your father you are? It's irritating."

  The man pulled away and the pain ebbed to a manageable throbbing. Micah trembled on the crate, his breath coming in ragged gasps, staring at Maldonado, his eyes wide.

  "And speaking of your father …"

  Micah blinked, trying to follow this odd, nearly one-sided conversation and getting mental whiplash.

  Maldonado holstered his gun and pulled out a micro. "We're going to send him a little message. It would be in your best interest to cooperate, Micah."

  Micah blinked slowly, understanding things about Ro he'd rather not have.

  "Hello, Corwin. I've found our missing shipment. As well as some lost lambs. In fact, I have one of them right here with me." He turned the micro to face Micah. "Say hello to your father." The threat in Maldonado's voice was unmistakable.

  "Hello, father," Micah said, keeping his tone as flat as possible, never moving his gaze from Maldonado.

  He shot him a foul look and turned the micro back to himself. "As you can see, he's a little worse for the wear. A small misunderstanding. I know how unreasonably fond you are of the boy."

  The only person Corwin Rotherwood was fond of would be Corwin Rotherwood. By some happy accident, Micah looked enough like him that he was useful to the senator's image.

  "I think it would be in your best interest to relinquish any claim to our cargo. Maldonado, out."

  "And if he refuses?"

  "I think you know the answer to that question, Micah."

  So they both understood the situation.

  Chapter 34

  Nomi paused to straighten out where her uniform had creased during her short off-shift rest before knocking on Targill's door.

  It slid open noiselessly and he watched her from behind his massive desk. "Sit."

  The hard stools bolted into the floor and Targill's large, open desk spoke of a ruthless efficiency, a utilitarian ideal, just like the commander, himself. She sat. "Sir?"

  "Our medic transported one of your compatriots on board. Jeremy Durbin."

  Disappointment warred with relief inside her. "What's his condition?"

  "Preliminary assessment indicates serious head trauma."

  Poor Jem.

  "How well do you know Micah Rotherwood?"

  She blinked. "I'm sorry?"

  "Micah Rotherwood. The senator's son. You are aware he's on the ship as well."

  "Yes, sir." Was this about the bittergreen? "He's a civilian, sir. Other than a brief interaction with him in the mess back on Daedalus, I have had no contact with him." Nomi pressed her feet into the floor to keep from fidgeting.

  Targill tapped on his desk with his index finger. The integrated display winked out before she could see what he was looking at. "Well then, what can you tell me about Alain Maldonado?"

  "Sir?" Her voice emerged high and squeaky.

  "Alain Maldonado. Chief Engineer of Daedalus Station. I assume you know him."

  "Yes, sir." She wondered what he already knew. "I haven't had the opportunity to interact with him much on the station, either."

  He leaned forward, the silver in his buzz cut hair catching the overhead light. "But?"

  "He has a scattered resume. A pattern of short postings, going back nearly twenty years." She tried to stick with what would be publicly available, but it was clear he expected something more. "It's curious that he hasn't moved up in rank."

  "And?"

  Nomi frowned. This wasn't anything he couldn't get through Maldonado's service record or even through Mendez, so why was he asking her? "Ro Maldonado is my friend." Her face heated up, but she didn't look away from Targill. "She believes her father cannot be trusted."

  Targill steepled his long fingers beneath his chin. "What do you think?"

  "Why are you asking me, sir?" Nomi cringed inwardly at how whiny she sounded. "I mean no disrespect, but there are far more senior staff members than me on Daedalus."

  Leaning back in his chair, he nodded, his expression more curious than annoyed. "But you're here. And I think you know more than your precise answers indicate. "

  She closed her eyes briefly, calling up an image of Maldonado's anger. "He wants the ship. Or rather something on the ship." Looking up, she met Targill's gaze directly, without hesitation. "And that something doesn't include Ro. I believe she's in danger."

  He fell silent as Nomi struggled not to fidget in the hard chair.

  "Ensign."

  "Sir?"

  "For what it's worth," he said, "I agree with you."

  He spun his micro around and projected an image from their forward view screen on the gleaming surface of his desk. Halcyone hung in space, pitted and battered. A skimmer disengaged and moved away, getting larger as it came closer to Hephaestus. Nomi glanced at Targill, but his face remained impassive and he flicked his gaze back to the image.

  "This will make it clearer."

  He waved at the micro and the image jumped, winked out, and started again. This time, the skimmer was much further from the derelict ship.

  "Sir?"

  "Watch."

  Halcyone vanished.

  "Ro!" Nomi cried out, leaning forward to peer at the empty field of stars filling up the neat cube on Targill's desk. A harsh metallic taste flooded her mouth and she struggled to catch her breath. "I don't understand." Looking away from the commander and the space where the ship had been, she blinked back tears.

  "Maldonado elected to remain behind when the medic returned to Hephaestus."

  She clasped her trembling hands together.

  "Thank you, Ensign." He wiped the images clean.

  The door opened and she walked out into the corridor, her stomach churning. What was on that ship?

  Gripping her micro in shaking hands, Nomi composed a terse message for Ro. Be careful. We know who's on the ship with you. Need a new ping to track.

  She needed answers and there was only one person who could give them to her. Nomi ran all the way to sick bay, dodging crew members and mumbling apologies. She burst into a bright room full of intense and well-orchestrated activity. Jem lay pale and still on a treatment plinth, the insectoid form of the portable scanner looming over him.

  A technician brushed past her and she tugged on his arm. "Is he going to be okay? When can I talk to him?"

  "Get the hell out of the way before I report you to the commander."

  She retreated to the walk-in area at the front of the room, refusing to leave Jem, not when he was her only link to Ro.

  "Prep him. We have to evacuate the blood."

  Nomi stood up, her heart pounding. "Please, is he going to be okay?" she repeated. The doctor and her staff moved around Jem like a single organism, swarming the small boy, hiding him from sight. She turned toward the door, tears making her vision blur.

  All she could do now was wait and hope Jem recovered and that he could tell her something of value. She turned and strode back to comms.

  If Odoyo had slept there, Nomi couldn't tell. She'd never seen the woman outside of the softly lit, cramped space. A fresh uniform hugged her lanky body and she prowled the space behind the consoles coordinating the search efforts with a quiet efficiency.

  "You're not on shift, Ensign."

  "I know. I need to do something." Nomi stared directly at the lieutenant hoping she wouldn't toss her out of comms. "Please."

  She jerked her chin across the room to an empty console. "Take a sector and set up a sweep. We know they don't have jump capacity. There's a limited distance they could have traveled, even at max interstitial."

  Even so, it represented a lot of ground to cover. Damn it, Ro, answer me. Nomi's micro remained mute and staring at it wasn't going to make it ping. She sank into the console chair and plugged in the headset. They would never just stumble on Halcyone, bu
t what else could she do?

  ***

  Ro grabbed Barre's hand and snatched the make-shift bandage from him. "You have no idea what he's like."

  He sat back on his heels. "Suit yourself. Keep the pressure on. It's a deep one. You must have sliced your cheek open on the sharp edge."

  "He gets what he wants." And even if he wanted her alive, she couldn't think of what use he'd have for Barre. The singed meat smell of the bridge turned her stomach.

  "And what about you?"

  Ro scowled up at Barre.

  "What do you want?"

  "Why do you care? What I wanted got us all in this mess. I got Jem hurt and nearly got you killed." She swallowed back a sob. And probably got Micah killed.

  Barre gripped her arms with his powerful hands.

  She winced at the pressure where her father struck her with the gun. "Let go of me," she said, forcing her voice to stay level. Alain Maldonado had given her plenty of practice at pushing pain and emotion aside.

  He released her and stood, watching her. "What's wrong with you?"

  There would be a fresh bruise on her arm — another in a long line of bruises and threats. Ro spent her whole life finding small ways to defy her father that wouldn't end up with her getting too badly hurt. She folded her arms and cradled her head on her bent knees. It wasn't fair. Finally, she thought she could take something from him after the years of losing everything and everyone she cared about.

  A few bars of music trilled through the bridge. Ro lifted up her head. Barre stood across the room, staring out at the star field. "What are you doing?"

  "Why do you care?" he said, turning away from her.

  Ro figured she deserved that.

  "Fine," he said. "I'm asking the AI to send out a mayday. They found us once, maybe they'll find us again."

  "Space is big," Ro said, shrugging. "But hey, knock yourself out." For all she knew, her father was working with Targill and Hephaestus knew exactly where they were.

  "It's better than drowning in self-pity."

  She lowered her head back down.

  Barre's footsteps echoed in the bridge. His shadow fell over her. "Look, I understand."

  "Do you? Really?" Ro stared up at him. "Let me tell you about my father. Alain Maldonado is a nasty, vindictive man. He drove my mother away not long after I was born and raised me out of spite. I learned early on not to get attached to anyone or anything because every time I did, he would move us. For the past few years, I've been doing everything I could to figure out how to get away from him." She glanced around the bridge. "This was the closest I came."

  Harsh, mocking laughter filled the room. "You've got to be kidding. That all you've got?"

  Heat rose from her chest through her throat. Ro stood and glared into Barre's eyes, her arm folded across her chest. "How dare you?" She took a step forward.

  He stepped back. "Well, that's better."

  "Fuck you. Who do you think you are?"

  "Right now, your only friend."

  Her body sagged. She looked down at the floor and at the cast Barre had so carefully wrapped around her ankle.

  He set his hands gently on her shoulders. All she could feel was their warmth. "Look, I get it. I do. It's why Jem smuggled me on this ship in the first place."

  "I'm sorry," she said, unable to meet his gaze. His music. Her freedom. Micah's retribution. Her father wasn't the only threat they faced, or the most urgent. He was just the closest. "You're right." She tucked her hair behind her ears. Taking a deep breath, she triggered the AI. "Halcyone, locate Maldonado, Alain."

  "Ident unknown."

  He must not have paired his micro with the ship. "Okay, then. Halcyone, identify and locate all unique individuals on this vessel."

  "Maldonado, Rosalen — bridge. Durbin, Bernard — bridge."

  "Bernard?"

  "Family name. Jem couldn't pronounce it when he was little."

  "Unknown individual — aft storage compartment."

  That had to be her father. "Halcyone," she said, "identify unknown individual as …"

  The AI interrupted her. "Rotherwood, Michael — aft storage compartment."

  Barre squeezed her shoulders and Ro yelped, the flare of pain as unexpected as the flash of triumph that shocked through her. She threw her arms around him in a fierce hug before her cheeks flooded with heat and she jumped back.

  "Halcyone," Barre said, smiling broadly, "tag unknown individual as Maldonado, Alain. Confirm occupants in aft storage compartment."

  "Maldonado, Alain, and Rotherwood, Michael."

  "Now what?" Ro asked. "It's not like we can storm the place. He's the one with all the actual weapons."

  "Well, I don't want to wait here for him to come back and pick us off."

  "I can ghost us and we can play hide and go seek. And Halcyone can keep us updated if he moves." Ro pulled out her micro and paused. They were in this together. "What do you think?"

  "Do it and let's get out of here."

  "You got it." She looked at the view screen. "Can you set the comms to loop our distress call?"

  Barre flicked his awareness to somewhere inside his musical brain. "Done."

  "I'm never going to be able to do that, am I?"

  "Nope."

  Her lips twisted into a wry smile. "Okay. Done. Let's go."

  The door didn't respond.

  "Halcyone, unseal bridge door," she said, frowning.

  "Bridge door damaged, non-functional."

  "Shit."

  "Halcyone, assess damage," Barre said.

  "Energy weapon discharge. Door sensors malfunction. Manual backup inoperable."

  "Son of a bitch, he sealed us in."

  Barre examined the seam where the doors met. "Melted it shut is more like it. Now what?"

  "He can't take my ship." She straightened up to her full height and she still didn't make it up to Barre's shoulders. "So how can we make his life more difficult?"

  "Without hurting Micah in the process."

  "He thinks we're trapped in here, helpless."

  "Well, he is right about the trapped part."

  She'd sell her micro for a laser cutter or even one of the stacks of guns in that storage bay. The door wouldn't be the only obstacle she'd want to use it on. "We have to be patient. Keep Halcyone monitoring him. My father works alone. He'll stash Micah somewhere he won't have to babysit him. Once he's on his own, we'll have more options."

  "What does he want, Ro?"

  "We're just collateral damage. The weapons and supplies in those crates are worth a fortune. I'm not even sure he wants the ship past getting the goods delivered."

  "And Halcyone can't jump, so he's not going to do the delivering."

  Ro paced the small area between the view screen and the nav console. "He's got to send out a signal. He must be planning to rendezvous with the buyer out here."

  "And Halcyone just made things easier for him."

  "But you and I," she said, smiling, "we're going to make them a lot harder."

  Chapter 35

  "So which of you realized the seals were fake, you or Ro?" Maldonado asked.

  "Ro."

  "That's my girl," he said, smiling.

  Micah couldn't figure the man out. There seemed to be genuine admiration, but he also watched him wallop her with the end of his gun. At least his own father was a self-centered bastard all the time.

  He rummaged through the already opened containers.

  Micah measured the distance between where he sat and the cargo bay door. Then he looked up at Maldonado. Even if he didn't feel like crap and the room would stop spinning, he could never make it to the door. Maldonado's weapon would always beat out Micah's legs.

  "Ah, that will work." Maldonado stood up, palming something small. "My buyer will have to accept a certain amount of necessary loss." He strode over to Micah. "Hold out your hands."

  He lifted his chin to stare the chief engineer in the eyes. "Why?"

  "Because if you don't, I'll just
knock you out and when you wake up, you'll be confined in these anyway." He tossed security cuffs in his hand.

  Micah held his arms out while Maldonado secured them around his wrists. A second pair fastened his ankles together.

  "Thank you," Maldonado said.

  "I think I like it better when you don't bother being polite."

  Maldonado laughed and engaged the restraints. They tightened down just enough to make contact with his hands and feet. Micah tried to wriggle his fingers and a jolt of electricity shocked through them.

  "Effective for emergency situations. Sensitive to acceleration and they titrate the punishment accordingly, so it's best if you stay put."

  Micah should have told Commander Mendez about the weapons when he had the chance. Resting his arms carefully in his lap, he closed his eyes, and leaned back against the wall. How had he gotten here? Even if he traced the entire line of circumstances that led from a different storage bay to this one, he couldn't make sense of it all.

  A low-level buzzing startled him. Micah stared down at the restraints but it wasn't coming from them. It was his stupid micro and he couldn't get to it, even if Maldonado wasn't in the room. The buzzing got louder. Maldonado looked up from the stack of sealed cartons.

  "I'll get that," he said.

  Micah kept his hands very still as Maldonado pulled his micro from his front pocket. "Clever. Text only uses so much less bandwidth and the messages get passed fairly quickly through the ansible network. Must have been Ro's idea."

  It could only be Targill or Ro. Micah seriously doubted it would be his father. He studied Maldonado, hoping to see some clue in his expression, but the engineer just looked down at the message, a slight smile twitching his lips.

  "Oh, I have underestimated you, Micah. Does your father have any idea?"

  Shit. That meant it was Targill. Micah shook his head.

  "No. Of course he doesn't. Why would he? You're his golden child."

  "You're wrong." Micah's fingers curled partly closed until the shock made him jump.

  "If you'd have told me about your deal, we could have saved a little time. But in any case, thank you for tossing your father in the path of the afterburners."