by Rachel Bach
Rupert shrugged. “The symbiont’s regenerative system repairs the damage eventually, but she will have a massive headache when she wakes. Even so, it’s preferable to bleeding her out, which is the only other way to disable a symbiont for long periods of time.”
“I don’t know,” I said, reaching for my gun. “Seems like it would be a lot simpler just to kill her.”
“It would,” Rupert agreed, bending down to check her pulse one last time. “But I won’t. Maria was just following orders, and she’s not a bad person. Or, at least, no worse than any of us.” He smiled. “She was kind to her daughters whenever she could be. I always liked that about her.”
As he fussed over her, I felt a strange pang of emotion I didn’t like. It was such an odd, uncomfortable feeling that it took me several moments to recognize it as a twinge of jealousy.
That realization made me like it even less. I’d barely come around to the idea of being in love; jealousy was way outside of my comfort zone. But when Rupert stood to walk away, I was the one he looked back for, and low as love had brought me, I was not above giving Natalia a superior look before I turned to follow him.
“We don’t have much time,” he said, jogging down the pipe, back the way we’d come. “She would have reported her intention before chasing us, and the others will come looking when she doesn’t check in.”
“How did they find us so quickly, anyway?” I said as I struggled to keep up. “Drones move faster through hyperspace than manned ships, but even if Anthony sent his report the second we took off, it couldn’t have gotten to Paradox in less than five hours.”
Rupert slowed down until we were running side by side. “Once the message got to Paradox, all they’d have to do was tell a daughter. What one daughter knows, they all know. After that, tracking down a rogue Paradoxian military ship would have been simple. Once they found our destination, all they had to do was scramble the closest teams.”
“You keep teams way out here?” I asked.
“The Eyes have a maximum two-hour response time to ninety-seven percent of colonized worlds,” Rupert said proudly. “Teams are evenly spread all across the jump gate network to ensure this. Otherwise, we’d show up too late to stop most phantom attacks.”
“Even for a pirate camp?”
Rupert’s face fell into a scowl. “All people, no matter their status, deserve protection from phantoms.”
I was a little surprised by how fiercely he said this, but I really shouldn’t have been. Considering what the phantoms had taken from him—his home, his family, his entire culture—I could understand exactly why Rupert would never want that to happen to anyone, pirates or not. Not that it helped us at the moment.
“Well, good on them for being on the ball,” I muttered. “But what do we do now?”
“What we were already planning to do,” Rupert said. “Get a ship and get off-planet.” He glanced at me. “Your armor is going to be a problem.”
“Not as big a problem as we’re going to have if you try to make me take it off,” I snapped.
He sighed, but I didn’t care. I was in full-on fight mode now, and there was no way in hell I was taking off my suit. Fortunately, Rupert didn’t push the issue.
“They’ve locked down the starport for sure,” he said, pulling out his handset.
“Even here?” I asked.
Rupert nodded. “Kessel might be run by pirates, but the Eyes can swing a lot of power when they want to. Even the head of a criminal haven wouldn’t dare deny someone with that kind of clearance, not if he wants to avoid bringing a battleship down on his head. The governor’s probably falling all over himself to make sure the Eye team has no reason to call for backup.”
“If that’s how it is, we’ll just have to find another way off-world,” I said, looking up at the shanty city above us. “That’s the good thing about smuggling holes, though. There’s always another way out.”
I already had a pretty good idea how we’d do it, too. We’d reached the ladder back up by this point, and Rupert was taking the opportunity to stop and check the system warnings on his handset to see what the Eyes had closed down. While he did that, I pulled up my suit’s records on Kessel and started rooting through my old mission notes.
Sure enough, a bit of searching turned up an old briefing about an illegal airfield that had been a possible escape route for a target we’d been hunting. We’d gotten him before he’d made it anywhere near the place, but I still had the location saved in my suit’s memory. When I told Rupert my plan, though, he didn’t seem enthused.
“I don’t know,” he said. “You’re a high-value target, and the Eyes like to work quietly. Even if we could convince a smuggler to sell us a hyperdrive-capable ship, they’d just sell us out to the Eyes the moment they were offered the right price.”
“Better sold out and in the air than waiting around down here,” I said. “It’ll be fine. We’ll just have to be sneaky.”
“With your armor standing out like a silver beacon?” Rupert said. “I don’t see that happening.”
I blew out an angry breath. Rupert made a good point, but again, no armor was not an option. I was trying to think of some way to reconcile the two when I looked down to see that the pipe’s thick grime had formed a crust on the bottom of my Lady’s lovely silver boots during the run over here. I leaned down to wipe the stuff off, cursing under my breath, but as I struggled futilely with the oily dirt, a brilliant idea came to me.
“Rupert,” I said, straightening up. “I think I know how we’re going to get out, but you’re going to have to help me.” Because there was absolutely no way I could do this on my own.
“Always,” Rupert said. “What did you have in mind?”
I told him, and Rupert’s face broke into a smile. “That just might work,” he said, pointing at the ground. “Get down, let’s try.”
I swallowed. Even though it had been my idea, I suddenly felt like a prisoner on her way to the gallows. Fortunately, Rupert was there to make me go through with it, glaring at me until I fell to my knees. But it wasn’t until he leaned over to coat his hand in pipe grime that I realized just how much this was going to suck.
And oh god, it did.
“Did you have to be so damn thorough?” I groaned.
“Devi, relax,” Rupert said, his voice infinitely patient as he finished cleaning his hands with a cloth bandage from our first-aid kit. “It will come off.”
I barely heard him. All I could think about was my suit. Rupert had smeared pipe grime over every inch of my Lady’s silver surface. I could already feel the oily dirt working its way into my joints, and even my helmet was caked in it. Rupert had used his claws to scuff my finish as well, leaving my priceless custom suit looking like a banged up, filthy piece of scavenged spacer gear. Which, admittedly, was the entire point, still. “My baby,” I whimpered, brushing my hands over what had been a peerless, mist silver paint job. “My beautiful girl.”
“Three hours in your case’s nano-repair and your Lady will be back to her usual pristine condition,” Rupert reminded me. “This is only temporary. Everything will be fine.”
“Don’t ‘fine’ me,” I snapped, pulling Sasha out to make sure he hadn’t gummed up her trigger. “I don’t see you rolling around in the dirt.”
That was a little harsh considering this whole thing had been my idea, but Rupert laughed it off. “That’s because there are, at most, five people on this entire planet who could recognize me, one of whom is currently tied to a pipe.” He grinned at me as he slung our bags over his shoulder. “Think of this as the price of fame.”
I rolled my eyes and holstered my gun. “Let’s just get to the airfield. The sooner we’re off this rock, the sooner I can get this gunk off my baby.”
Rupert stepped aside, motioning for me to lead the way.
Now that I had my suit, going up through the Pipes took significantly less time than going down. Between the maps I’d logged on my previous visits and my density sensors, I was
able to find the quickest, safest path no problem. Unfortunately, this made me feel even worse about covering my Lady in grime. Such a good, wonderful suit did not deserve such treatment.
But the disguise seemed to be working. Every time I’d come to Kessel before, people had stared at my shining armor in fear and respect. Now, dirt made me invisible. I would have thought the Lady’s custom profile would have been a dead giveaway, dirt or no, but I always forget how little non-Paradoxians know about good armor. Other than a few sideways glances at my plasma shotgun, we made it all the way back up to the underground bazaar without a hitch.
“We should disguise your suit more often,” Rupert murmured as we wove our way through the crowded tables. “This is nice, almost like I’m undercover again.”
“What’s the point of having an amazing suit if no one notices?” I scoffed, checking my map. “Okay, unless they closed down in the last three years, our exit should be through there.” I nodded at the doors on the opposite side of the building. “Let’s go.”
We struck out across the market floor, passing booths full of guns, supplies, Republic Starfleet patrol maps, scan-proof cargo containers, and pirated corporate AIs. But as we walked through the panoply of everything a professional criminal could possibly need, I finally understood how Rupert had been able to get cash for his Warrant. You don’t exactly do a lot of sightseeing on a crash mission, so I’d never noticed it before, but most businesses down here were operating on paper money. It felt quaintly old-fashioned, like one of those historic villages they took you to on school trips, only with contraband instead of cheap souvenirs. If the stakes hadn’t been so high, it might have been fun to look around now that I wasn’t here as a raider. But we had no time, so Rupert and I pushed through the crowd as fast as we dared, making a beeline for the door I’d marked on my map.
I kept my eyes peeled for symbionts the whole way, though even I had to admit they’d be impossible to spot in the crowd. Fortunately, so were we. My plan was actually working better than I’d thought. Since there was cash everywhere, most of the shops employed armored guards, several of which had suits even dirtier than mine. There were also plenty of buyers with bodyguards walking beside them just like I was walking with Rupert. With so many pairs, we blended in seamlessly, especially now that the sun was going down and the resulting cold was driving everyone underground, filling the market to bursting.
The doors led out into a covered loading zone full of merchant cruisers, small atmospheric cargo ships undoubtedly used to ferry goods from the smuggler hideouts in the mountains down to market. Our airfield was supposed to be straight through the next set of doors that led outside, and the second we were out, I knew it must still be here. There were no signs or markers, of course, but the huge, snow-free stacks of shipping containers were a dead giveaway. Also, the road leading up from the base of the dug-out factory back to ground level was amazingly well maintained for a supposedly abandoned back alley. Grinning triumphantly at Rupert through my grimy visor, I picked up the pace, jogging up the road until I reached the crest of the hill.
The wind hit me like a wall as soon as I left the shelter of the dug-in ramp. My suit adjusted at once, protecting me far better than my coat ever could, but I still couldn’t help shivering as the blowing snow engulfed me. According to my map, I should have been right at the edge of the airfield, but now that I was up here, all I saw was trash.
The ramp had led us straight to the town dump. There were plenty of spaceship hulls in the scrap metal heaps that filled the little valley between the mountains, but they were hollowed out skeletons picked clean of all salvageable parts. Definitely not spaceworthy, even by smuggler standards. But when I turned to tell Rupert we had the wrong place, he was already jogging ahead.
“This isn’t it,” I said when I caught up. “Let’s get back inside before my disguise is ruined.” Now that night was falling, the snow was starting to come down in earnest. Up here in the open with no protection against the wind, the fat, wet flakes were hitting my suit hard enough to make holes in the heavy layer of oily dirt.
“Actually, I think your information is spot-on,” Rupert said, pointing ahead. “Ever see a dump with a jump gate relay tower?”
I looked where he pointed, and my mouth fell open. Now that Rupert had drawn my attention to it, the scrap pile at the center of the junkyard did look strangely regular, exactly like a relay tower someone had welded over with scrap metal to hide. It was the right height, too, and my hopes began to pick up again. A few feet later, I was doubly glad Rupert hadn’t let me turn back, because as we cleared the top of the first trash rise, the airfield came into view.
I should have known. Like everything else on this planet, the airfield was dug down for protection against the wind. But despite the piled trash that ringed it on all sides, hiding it from view, the airfield itself was orderly and filled with ships, mostly atmospheric craft, but there was a whole line of small starships with clearly visible hyperdrives, and I broke into a grin.
“There’s our ride,” I said, hopping up onto the edge of the trash pile. “Come on. Let’s blow this—”
A boom cut me off. The sound was warped by the wind, bouncing off the trash until I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. Because of this, I didn’t even recognize it as a disrupter pistol shot until Rupert fell, toppling forward into the now-bloody snow at my feet.
CHAPTER 5
I caught him before he hit the ground.
Moving faster than I ever had in my life, I snatched Rupert up and dashed under the rusted out hull of a freighter, the only cover I could see. This turned out to be a lucky break. The old freighter was about as large as the Fool had been, and it was picked clean down to the struts, leaving only a hollow metal shell. Better still, it was half buried at an angle with its nose sticking up, creating a sort of crooked metal tent with the empty hole where the bridge window had been as the only one way in.
I couldn’t have asked for a better fort given the circumstances, and I said a prayer to the king as I ran Rupert to the far end, setting him down under the metal cage that had once held the navigation array, the only part of our shelter that wasn’t covered in dirty snow. “Where’d they get you?”
“Back,” Rupert panted through gritted teeth.
I leaned him forward at once, but I already knew what I’d find. Sure enough, Rupert’s back was a burned, bloody mess under the smoking tatters of his coat. It was even worse than when Rashid had shot him in the forest, because this time Rupert hadn’t had his scales to protect him. I cursed at the damage and dropped my armor case, which I’d somehow managed not to lose, in the dirt beside me. I was about to open it and get out my coat to tie over the wound when Rupert grabbed my wrist.
“I’ll heal,” he said, his voice tight. “You’re their target. Go on, I’ll catch up.”
“Hell no,” I said, yanking my wrist out of his grip. “I’m not leaving you.”
For a second, Rupert looked amazingly touched, but then his face broke into a pained grimace. “You have to get out of here,” he said. “I’ll—”
A loud bang cut him off as something landed on the old hull above us. Something far too heavy to be only human. Two more bangs sounded a second later, and the rusty ship began to groan.
“Company,” I whispered, reaching into Rupert’s bag to grab his disrupter pistol. Rupert watched me, scowling as he tried to push himself up. I scowled back and motioned sharply for him to stay put. He must have been really hurting, because he sagged in defeat almost immediately. Smiling, I lowered his gun and crept silently across the icy ground to the edge of our little shelter.
Though there was only one opening big enough to fit a person, the old hull was pitted with rusted out cracks where the wind howled through. I positioned myself right next to one of these and ducked low, disrupter pistol ready in my hand as I listened. The wind was too loud to make out voices, but I could feel the metal vibrating as they moved on top of it. I moved with them, repositioning myself
until I was standing by the wall of the hull closest to their perch, and then I stuck out my foot.
My suit had six cameras in total: four on my head to achieve my 360-degree view, one looking straight down, and one that looked up at myself, located on the top of my right boot. The purpose of this last camera was ostensibly to let me see things above and behind me as well as give me a full view of my suit for damage checks, but I’d quickly learned it could also be used to look around corners and up walls, which was what I did now.
Quiet as a mouse, I slid the toe of my boot through one of the rusted out spots where the hull met the ground. As my camera cleared the metal, I got a shot straight up the hull’s curved side. An inch later, I spotted the men who were standing on top of it.
There were three of them, standing in a tight cluster on top of what had once been the ship’s forward gun. All three of them were wearing plain, black suits like Rupert’s under their heavy winter gear, which made me roll my eyes. Considering the Eye’s lifestyle, you’d think their dress code would be a little more practical. But even though it looked like I was being hunted by a trio of stuffy businessmen, they were all clearly symbionts, and they were watching the hole we’d used to duck under the hull like wolves eying a rabbit den. Since I was on the opposite side of the hull, this meant that my camera was looking up at their backs, and that gave me a great idea.
I marked each man on my targeting system and then pulled my boot back in. Stepping away from the wall, I slung Mia off my back, holding her one handed with Rupert’s disrupter in my other. I took a second to get a feel for the unusual configuration before I hit Mia’s charge, sending her whistling to life. The distinctive sound meant I’d have to move fast, a dangerous thing when your enemies were faster, but I was confident. Even if they heard me coming, they wouldn’t suspect this.
When Mia hit her highest octave, I leveled my plasma shotgun at the old freighter’s rusted wall and jumped forward, pulling the trigger at the same time. My plasma shotgun fired in a blaze of white light, the plasma shot hitting the hull only a fraction of a second before I did. The metal was still melting when I crashed into it, but Mia had done her job well, and I busted through the old starship hull like it was wet cardboard. As I broke through, I dropped Mia on the ground so I could focus everything on the disrupter pistol, watching my rear camera for the moment when my targets appeared.