That portion of her mind couldn’t bear to look at the man before her.
However, part of her felt the truth in his words. He hadn’t been completely at fault. And the fact was she needed him if she was ever going to get her ship and her life back.
“We can’t deal with this now. But tell me one thing.”
“Anything.” The sorrow in his voice softened her a bit, but she couldn’t let him in.
“Could you have stopped it?”
He studied her and part of her felt the pull to go to him.
“Possibly. It wouldn’t have been easy, but I might have been able to stop it.” She’d never seen the level of pain in his eyes she was seeing right now.
“If that ever happens again, it will be your life.” She put all the steel she had left in her in her voice and face. Not that she was certain she could kill Deven.
“Understood.” He rose to move toward the door.
“I’m not done. You will switch schedules so that we are on opposite shifts until further notice. And stay away from me as much as possible.”
“Understood. And I am truly sorry.” Deven left the room.
Vas waited a few seconds, then took a deep breath, and followed him out. “So am I.”
She had just changed into the heavy environmental suit she’d have to wear on the ore ship when Gosta called her.
“Captain, I think we’re ready. The ship has stopped moving. Mac is keeping us as far out as he can, but I’ve got a tracker on it so it’ll stay steady while the team goes over.”
She buckled her grav boots, and then headed for the door, more than grateful that the ore ship was enough of a danger to distract her from Deven. “Have Terel and her team meet me at the shuttle. What’s the status of the life sign?”
“Life sign vanished about thirty minutes ago. You still want full quarantine suits?”
“Yep, we have no idea what’s over there. I’ll be in the docking bay. Deven has the deck.”
Vas made her way down to the docking bay before Terel and her people. While she knew Gosta would have scanned for any mechanical traps, they couldn’t be sure of bio-agents. Hence the heavy environmental suits.
Once her final check was completed, she wandered over to the Furies. Deven and Jakiin had been spending some time down here, bonding as they worked on the rusting piles of space junk. To be fair, they were pretty damn impressive looking. All sharp angles and wicked looking weapons ports, it was clear to anyone these ships had one purpose: to destroy as much as they could.
She ran a gloved hand up the side of the third. Deven and Jakiin had been futzing around with the other two, but this one actually looked in better shape. It appeared to be a bit older than its mates, which wasn’t saying much when dealing with ships that hadn’t been made in over one hundred years.
“You too, eh?” Mac’s voice broke her contemplation of the dangerous machine. “Jakiin has been spending way too much time around those things.”
She turned with a frown. “I would have thought a flight junkie like you would be all over these.”
Mac glanced at the ship but shrugged. “To be honest, they sort of disturb me. Too big to do what they supposedly can do and too damn old. Give me a Flit any day.”
“We’re ready.” Terel, Pela, Divee, and Gon came into the flight deck loaded with equipment. Vas hadn’t wanted the med team along for their ability to save lives; she wanted them in case there were any pathogens on board. Divee and Gon, both security engineers, were along for the same reason. She wasn’t sure why Mac was there though.
“Mac, just why are you along on this? You know that ore hauler doesn’t have much room. I really don’t need extra bodies there.”
“I’m playing pilot today. Deven pointed out that keeping someone in the shuttle while you all were on board might be prudent. Bathie hasn’t heard anything on open chatter but if this was an attack we can’t be sure that whoever set it up isn’t still watching.”
As much as Vas wanted to send him back just to spite Deven, she had to agree. It was even a little embarrassing she hadn’t thought of it first.
“Then why are you still out here?” She smacked him in the back of the head. “That shuttle isn’t going to do a pre-flight on itself, you know.”
Mac jogged toward the shuttle in silence. Sometimes she thought there might be hope for that boy yet.
The others all got Terel’s equipment on board and within minutes they were ready for launch. Vas opened a channel to the deck. “Deven? We’re ready to go. Any last minute changes or intel?” It was easier dealing with him when she couldn’t see him.
“Bathie hasn’t picked up any chatter beyond normal. And nothing near us.” There was a strain in his voice that she’d never heard before, but she shoved any concern for him aside. She couldn’t deal with her own emotions right now, and she sure as hell couldn’t deal with his.
“Got that. Vas out.” She turned off her personal ship comms after making sure the ones on the shuttle were solid. Not that she didn’t trust Mac to do a proper setup. Ah hell, who was she kidding, she didn’t trust Mac. But he’d done his job this time. They approached the ore hauler without incident.
The ore ship didn’t look damaged, at least not from the outside. Nor did it look old enough for age to have been a factor in a malfunction. Calling up the specs again she confirmed the ore hauler was only two years old. Called the Guppy for some inane reason. Assigned to the Ore Field Assessment and Survey Company out in the outer rim. Vas frowned. That wasn’t anywhere near here. Nor would it have had to come out this far to pick up its payload. Ore was collected at least five planets closer to the rim than where they were.
She studied the ship through the view screen as they approached, but there were no clues there. The docking was tight and clean. She might not trust Mac on some things, but he was a damn good pilot.
“Everyone, cross check at least two other folks. Make sure all suits are tight. We have no idea what’s on this ship and because of its freight we won’t be able to tell if there’s a bio-hazard until it’s too late.” Vas turned to check Terel’s suit.
“You ready?”
Terel nodded then checked Pela’s suit. “I think so. We should have every contingency planned for.” They checked the rest of the crew, and then Vas called up to Mac.
“Mac, we’re ready. Open the doors. Keep them locked until we are ready to come back though. No sense exposing more of the shuttle than we need to.”
“Aye, Captain.”
“Come on, boys and girls. Let’s see what’s here.” Vas palmed open the latch. “Oh shit…” She froze and slowly raised her hands. A wide-mouth blaster rifle had been inches away from the door when she forced it open and was now aimed clearly at her head.
Chapter Fifteen
“Look, we’re sorry. We didn’t think there was anyone alive.” Vas said with her hands up and prayed her team behind her was doing the same. The gun’s muzzle was less than two feet from her head, the sight lamp on it blinding her to anything beyond. “We don’t mean you any harm, but you did try to ram my ship.”
There was no response, but the gun didn’t lower either.
“Terel, I don’t have a scrambler on this suit, and I really can’t put my hands down to get one. Can you power one up? I’ll try again.”
Terel didn’t answer, but a soft whirl of the translation device told Vas she’d done what was asked. Vas repeated everything she’d just said and the scrambler spit it out in fifteen different base languages. Obviously those weren’t the only languages in the known universe, but all of them were root languages. Between them they covered more than ninety percent of the known population at least in a rudimental fashion.
Judging by the lack of movement from the gun, this person must belong to that ten percent that wasn’t covered.
“Damn it.” Vas lowered her hands a tiny amount to see if there would be a result. Nothing. “I need ideas, people.”
“Hold on. Let me check something.” Ter
el kept her voice low and soft. Even though the person on the other end of this blaster wouldn’t understand, they might react to tone.
A soft chime indicated Terel had turned on her life signs scanner. What was she doing, checking to see if there were others they missed? Even if this person was alone there was no way they could charge him or her.
Hands on Vas’s shoulders pushed her arms down. “You can lower your arms. Our friend here isn’t going to shoot anyone.” Terel stepped around and took hold of the blaster rifle and switched off the sight lamp. “At least not deliberately. Although we should probably disarm him carefully. It might still go off.”
Vas wiggled her shoulders to get the kinks out, and then motioned the rest of the team forward. It took a few minutes for her eyes to see something other than spots.
“Damn me. He’s frozen there?” Once she could see, it was clear her ‘attacker’ had been frozen in place. Face, hands, and neck were black and brittle. Even his flight suit appeared ready to shatter off of him.
Terel scanned some more. “Yes, but I don’t understand how. There’s an atmosphere in here, an odd one, but it should be breathable. But leave your suits closed please.” Terel added that for Vas’s benefit; she was always trying to get out of environmental suits faster than the doctor liked.
“No worries, doc. Suits will stay on until you say. Can we move him? I’d really like that weapon discharged and secured somewhere.”
Gon moved forward. “If you don’t mind, Cap’t, I’d be fine with lowering him down and seeing to the gun.” Gon was a Garthian, and his accent and rumbling voice always reminded Vas of farm country on an ag planet. But he was also the best suited to dealing with frozen beings. Garthia had been known to go through cycles of freezing that lasted years.
She moved out the way and let him lumber past. With a gentleness that was surprising due to his size, he carefully laid the frozen body down and began working on the blaster. Finally, he broke the hand and removed it that way.
“Sorry, Cap’t. Tweren’t another way to get it.” He opened the casing to take out any rounds, and then looked back up at her. “Whoever he were, he went out firing. There aren’t any charges left.”
Vas turned back toward the space lock, but there were no telltale burns indicating he’d discharged his weapon that direction. In fact there were no burn marks at all. “Great, yet another mystery to haunt my sleep.”
“Did you say something, Cap’t?” Gon asked.
She waved him off. There was no reason for the entire crew to know how bizarre her life was becoming. “Nothing, just talking to myself. Terel, you’re with Divee and me. Pela, stay with Gon. Get our friend here in a full decontamination suit then put him in a decon storage locker. We need to take him back and see if there are answers we’re missing. I don’t want to take any chances here. Let’s go see what else is on this damn ship.”
Vas moved forward cautiously. The ship had tight quarters, and she really didn’t want any more surprises. Granted the only person who was supposed to be on here was dead, but she’d heard of pirates masking life signs in abandoned ships, and then attacking those who came after it. As a sometime pirate herself, she’d never pulled that stunt, but she knew others who would. The passageways were narrow and low. Good thing Deven had stayed behind; as it was, Vas was having to duck with the added height of the environmental suit. Deven was about three inches taller than her.
An ore hauler wasn’t designed for looks, comfort, or speed, just hauling huge amounts of rock from one end of the galaxy to the other. However, this one was in worse shape than any she’d seen. The lights were off; most likely they had been cut to a bare minimum to feed whatever had been done to the engines. There was no way a normal ore hauler could have reached the speeds this one did, even for a sprint. Someone had clearly adapted it to become a bomb. Now the question was if it was after Vas, the Warrior Wench, or just any poor sap who came through this part of space.
A low, repeated noise, not part of the ship’s functioning, could be heard down one of the passageways. Vas held up her left hand and clenched her fist. The two behind her froze instantly. With a nod she slowly walked down the short corridor following the sound. A dim light glared unnaturally in the dark from a doorway that was cracked open.
After checking to make sure Divee and Terel were still standing guard where she left them, Vas nudged the door open.
The cabin was small, its tiny space taken up by a narrow cot and a rickety metal desk. The muted sound and light were coming from a small computer screen embedded in the cabin wall. The image was broken and obviously stuck in a loop. Then the static image cleared and a delicate brunette appeared. She held herself regally although she wasn’t anyone Vas recognized. She spoke common perfectly, but there was an accent, odd and fluid, that Vas couldn’t place.
“I hate to put this on you, Ghassil, but there’s no one else. I can’t get out there in time. You’ve got to—” The image scrambled again, the voice nothing but garbage, then it came back.
“—arrior wench. She’ll be in that system soon—”
Vas swore as the image and voice went completely into undecipherable gibberish.
Damn it. Whomever that woman was she had ordered this ship to attack the Warrior Wench and worse, she knew where they had been going.
Vas tapped her comm. “Divee, can you come in here?” After a second thought she added, “Terel, you too.”
She fussed with a few more pads and buttons, but the same loop repeated without any new data. A rustling announced someone behind her. Vas stepped back from the system and waved Divee forward.
“Can you pull that computer and its memory out of that wall? I need everything you can save.”
The slender human man nodded. “Yes, Captain Tor Dain. I can see what can be salvaged from the wreck. I will endeavor to obtain all of the information you need.” He gave a slight bow, a lock of jet-black hair falling forward inside his suit.
“Good man.” Divee had been with her for four years, yet he was still as formal as the day he arrived. Vas gave a mental shrug. He was damn good at computers, almost as good as Gosta, and a formal tech wasn’t a bad thing. Just odd. “Terel, stay with him until he gets the machine free. I’m going to keep searching. If I’m not back in ten minutes, call for Gon and send him out after me.”
Vas sighed and raised a gloved hand the instant Terel’s mouth started to open. “No, you can’t come with me. I don’t think anyone is here. However, if there is, they may not like Divee stealing their computer system. I need you here.”
“I wasn’t going to ask that.” Terel folded her arms, or tried to. The suit made them too bulky to do it effectively. “I was just going to ask if you would like Divee to pull the main computer logs once he gets this personal one out?”
“Right.” Vas knew Terel hadn’t been about to say that at all. She was the biggest mother nag of the entire crew. “But that is good thinking. Divee, please ransack and pillage as much technical information from this ship as possible. Then return to the shuttle.” She nodded and went back down the corridor to rejoin the main passageway.
Ten minutes later Vas had finished prowling around the abandoned ore carrier. The entire ship had clearly been ill-used and without a regular crew for a while. She guessed it hadn’t hauled ore regularly for at least a year. The hold was completely full, but it had dust on it. Obviously the ship had been taken with a full load quite a while ago.
All of the corridors had the same smoky residue as the main hallway. Vas had rudimentary science equipment with her, but not enough to tell what it was. Scraping off a sample she sealed it in a case and slipped it into her pocket. Another mystery for Gosta to solve.
Terel and Divee still weren’t back when she made her way to the shuttle, but Gon, Pela, and Mac were having a fine conversation. A conversation that stopped when she came into view.
With a sigh, Vas stepped past them and peered into the shuttle. The decon case was sealed nice and tight. “Good work. I di
dn’t find anyone or anything else. Have we heard from Terel and Divee?”
“Ay Cap’t, they radioed that Divee had pulled as much equipment and data as possible. T’were heading back a few minutes ago,” Gon said.
Vas nodded and stared into the dark looking for them. This place was dead. Very cold and very dead. She suddenly didn’t want to be there anymore. She rubbed her arms, but the feeling intensified. They needed to leave now.
“Terel? Come in. Where are you?”
“Almost there, Vas. Divee may have found a port system with more data.”
The feeling of needing to leave was almost overwhelming. Coldness crept up her gut toward her throat. “Cancel that, get back now. We have to leave.” She turned to the others.
“Get ready, Mac. The second they get on board we take off.” Another wave of fear overtook her. “Lay in a course straight out as far from this thing and as fast as you can.”
“Terel, damn it, where are you and Divee?” Vas refrained from yelling, but she did push Pela and Gon into their seats and double checked that the decom chamber was secured.
“We’re here, Vas. What’s the hurry?” Terel’s headlamp came into view as she spoke.
Vas motioned for them to get in the shuttle. “Can’t explain. Just get in and get buckled.” She pulled shut the docking door. “Now, Mac.” She barely had time to get in her seat before Mac disconnected the link with the ore hauler and blasted off.
They were about three minutes out when an explosion slammed into them and sent the shuttle into a spin.
Chapter Sixteen
“Mac, were we hit?” Vas yelled into the comm as debris and loose equipment bounced around the shuttle. She’d gotten everyone secured, just not all of the packs. Luckily, the important things were locked down. It would still be damn useless if she or one of her crew got knocked out from an unsecured scanner. “And get us stable!” A pulling on her harness told her that the inertial dampers were off as well.
Asarlai Wars 1: Warrior Wench Page 15