Yes, she answered simply. Ser Vahn asked me to keep it confidential until we were en route. Then his bondarmin found a tracker in one of the cargo bays and he’s accused Sherin of planting it. There’s a corp ship on our tail and pirates hunting us in the asteroids and we’ve got to get past them both. Once she laid it out like that, she realized that it sounded far worse than it had when she kept it under her medusas.
Vijay seemed to visibly swallow most of his questions, though his dark eyes went wide at the end. What will we find waiting for us on Electra, Captain? If we get there?
They were good questions. TiCara thought of Sherin’s fingers rubbing her scalp and shuddered, wishing she had a better answer. Ser Vahn wishes to visit a nanotech lab there to be cured of his illness. She hesitated to tell even one of her crew information that her client had not approved. It felt as if she was violating his confidentiality, rightly or wrongly.
Did his rep plant the tracker? Erol told Ji-min she was confined to quarters. Vijay was looking at the engine again, as though the answer to this question was less important to him.
TiCara directed the cleaning bots over to a new section and considered how to answer that. She found herself watching Vijay more closely, wondering if he could have planted the tracker himself and was hoping to deflect blame, before dismissing that scenario. Vijay was one of the few beings on board the Astra who wasn’t behaving oddly. Vahn believes, she said at last, that whoever planted it was in contact with a rival corp’s Ears. She waited for a reaction, an anomaly, anything out of the ordinary from her crewman.
Vijay gave her an unreadable look. He believes? But you do not? Creds are a hard motivator and the Ears are another. Many have been caught between the two. He shrugged. I believe that this part of the engine damage is fixed, Pilot-Captain. Will you verify? He gestured at her medusas and stepped aside.
TiCara leaned forward and let her implants trail over the engine, then sink into the wiring, their sensors working to pick up the remaining damage. Other side’s hit hard. We need to get that, too. She stepped back to see how they could best reach the seared connections that she’d just found. They were too close to the wall; they’d need to use the repair bots after all. Many? But not, for example, you?
Vijay leaned against the wall and gave her a dark-eyed blank look. I did not plant the tracker, Captain. But anyone who tells you they are above that kind of betrayal has not yet been offered their price. Sometimes, it is something that one cannot resist. Love or violence can be as strong as creds. His expression grew distant and TiCara could see pain at the back of it. Whatever he was remembering, he had been hoping to forget it, and she felt guilty for bringing those memories back.
My thanks for your truth. TiCara nodded and returned to directing the repair bots, reining in her curiosity. She knew from the rare occasions that they had spoken like this before that she could not delve too deeply with him, not without making him shut down. As long as he did his job, she thought, he could tell her or not tell her whatever he chose.
Trouble, Captain? Erol’s voice made her jump. She’d forgotten how little her Second slept during a crisis.
Not exactly. Or maybe not yet. Depends on what happens when we try to lift off. TiCara grimaced and gestured with her handheld. Why are you awake already, Second? I need my crew ready and rested for what we need to do next.
"Which is? I’m sorry, Captain. I couldn’t sleep, not even with the Astra’s help." Erol looked hollow-eyed and worn out.
TiCara wondered if he’d eaten, or if he was foregoing that as well as sleep. Go eat, Second, if you haven’t already. We’ll need to run the bots through that section we can’t reach. After that, we’ll need a plan and I need all of you alert to discuss our options. The pirates will be waiting for us. And we’ll have to hope that we can outrun them or trick them. It wasn’t a thought that she needed to speak aloud, not yet.
With permission, Captain, Vijay’s voice cut through her thoughts. The synth skin can be made to look like something other than metal and we still have some left.
Enough to cover the rest of the ship? Erol sounded eager and that alone was enough to make TiCara smile. Perhaps he was just worried about their current situation and nothing more.
No, Vijay tilted his head to add emphasis, but maybe enough to make it harder to see.
TiCara realized what he was thinking before he said it. A rock among rocks or an asteroid among asteroids, she mused. Nova. We’ll have to go back outside to apply it though.
By the time Ji-min joined them, disguising the Astra was underway, with Vijay and Erol applying the last of the skin to the ship’s outside surface while TiCara supervised the repair bots. While they worked, TiCara asked her engineer about both the state of the ship and about the tracker.
Ji-min’s reaction was, unsurprisingly, more intense than Vijay’s. When TiCara implied that they might have brought it on board, they shut down, barely responding. It took TiCara some time to understand that her engineer
was deeply wounded. Explaining Vahn’s fears and her own did little to smooth things over. TiCara bit back a sigh, wishing that she was better at handling her crew.
Finally, she settled for a simple apology and the assurance that she was asking everyone the same questions, before switching the subject back to the ship and the repairs. She asked questions in such detail that it made it clear that she still respected the engineer’s opinion and their work. After several rounds of questioning, Ji-min began to respond, though still in military cadence. Pilot-Captain, the repairs should hold if the bots can get into that section and clean it up. They gestured at a section of wall. They won’t hold at jump speed, Pilot-Captain. But should hold up for standard acceleration. They stood stiffly, eyes directed over TiCara’s shoulder.
The latter sighed. But she had brought this upon herself and she knew it. Subtlety was a virtue that she always promised herself she’d learn. Eventually. For how long, Engineer? Ji-min spouted a complicated formula that TiCara only partially understood and she held up a hand to stem the tide of technical information.
"We are going to an asteroid called Electra 12. It’s on the other side of this system. There are pirates and a corp ship out there, waiting for us to run, plus a bunch of fast moving rocks between us and the nearest planets. Vijay and Erol are disguising the Astra as an asteroid in hope of buying us more time. The ship is damaged and our fuel is limited. These are your variables, Engineer. How long?"
Ji-min gave her one horrified stare before snapping back to attention. No idea, Pilot-Captain. A few cycles, some machrons, all the way back to Kyrin on the slow road: could be all, could be none, begging your pardon, Pilot-Captain. Their face shut down again as they withdrew into the military shell that they wore when uncomfortable and stressed.
This time, TiCara was more than willing to let them wear it. It saved them both from further dissection of her tracker accusation. For now, she would take their word for it and hope that her apologies and refocusing them on the ship repairs would hold them together and keep them going.
It didn’t help to know that she was about to have another awkward conversation, but at least this time, she knew she was right about her suspicions. She left Ji-min hard at work and this time, she didn’t stop to bow to Vahn at the door when she entered his room. Ser Trinh Vahn, you have chosen to distrust me so far as to give me scrambled coordinates instead of tru ones. On what you have claimed as your clan honor, are we in the same system as the asteroid Electra 12?
Vahn blinked slowly at her while his bondarmin hovered between them in a defensive posture, not quite standing in front of the old man. TiCara growled at him and waved him aside, and with an uneasy glance at his employer, he stepped back two paces so she could face Vahn. I am sorry, Pilot-Captain, that you have discovered my small subterfuge and that it has angered your. He studied her face a moment, then stood unsteadily, leaning against the side of his bed and gave her a formal bow of apology. It was, perhaps, an unnecessary precaution. He gestured to Sam
mo.
The bondarmin turned, clearly reluctant to stop watching TiCara directly, and reached into a pouch on one of the shelves. He pulled out a chip and handed it to Vahn. The old man extended his hand to TiCara. On my honor and that of my clan, these coordinates are tru.
TiCara stepped forward and took the chip from his hand. They’d best be starshine, Ser, or we’ll all end up adrift in the never-never until the pirates get us. With that, she turned on her heel and left, heading for the Bridge. Once there, she plugged the chip into the nav computer and confirmed what she could see there against every starmap she could find.
She sat back with a sigh. Now, she would just have to trust the old man. And her crew. It would all have to be enough to get them there. TiCara promised herself that she’d never trust this much to her luck again and closed her eyes to wait for word from Erol and Ji-min that the Astra’s disguise was complete.
Chapter 19
The comet had spun past before Zig and Yva had a chance to notice the pirates. By then, it was too late to worry about where TiCara’s ship had gone. Fire from the pirate ships hit their shields, searing away part of their ship’s tail before they could react. But once in motion, they were a formidable team. Zig accelerated quickly while Yva headed to the pulsar cannon array to return fire with their other crewmembers.
At least they had several cannons, and a bay big enough to house multiple crewmembers firing at the same time. Zig sighed with something like relief as he felt the slight jolts that indicated cannon fire. Any pirates that got close enough to them would meet a fiery end; he trusted Yva to see to that.
Of more importance was the fact that he had lied to her and things were not going to be nova when she figured that out. He didn’t have permission from their corp to take this ship into the Gathwaite System, certainly not to engage in a firefight with pirates. But that could be dealt with when they got back. Or when he got back. He sent the ship through a sudden sharp loop through several asteroids, unconsciously mimicking the path that TiCara had taken earlier.
Cheated of one prize for the moment, the pirates were taking more risks to try and capture a second one, buzzing the ship and firing on nearby asteroids so that the impact showered Zig’s ship with debris. Answering fire ripped through one pirate ship and Zig grinned as he spun them around for another pass. The pirates scattered and their firing became more erratic.
Zig dodged his ship between and around a few more asteroids. He wondered where TiCara’s ship had gone to ground. She would have outflown these amateurs in her sleep, but if she were hit, she might be hiding out. A lazy admiration tinged his thoughts. Yva was wrong; the wired pilot could be an eager bedmate with many uses. Provided she was sufficiently inspired.
Another pirate strike against the shields reminded him that they weren’t out of danger yet and that there were more important things to worry about. He moved them further out, and felt his ship shudder again as Yva returned fire. The motion was enough to jar his thoughts as much as his body, sending his thoughts into a spiral of doubts and fears.
He had planned better than this, had even set up fail-safes if something went wrong. After all, he knew better than to trust to a DreamZone-addled ex-pilot’s attempts at leverage. True, the corporate rep might yet come through, but he didn’t really expect it. He imagined that there were other ways to come up with enough credits to have her medusas restored, if that was what she really wanted. It wasn’t going to be enough on its own to compel her cooperation.
But that left his backup, the one that he was sure that Elia didn’t know about. Why hadn’t he heard from him? If he didn’t get an update soon, he’d be compelled to deploy his own...leverage. He gave a twisted smile. His agent on Kraybourne would act efficiently once he sent her word.
But then what? He didn’t have anything else to force his contact to give him what he wanted once his agent carried out his orders. Fear was useful until it didn’t exist any more. That notion was enough to turn his thoughts back to the pilot herself. If he was compelled to admit it to himself, what did he have to force TiCara to submit to him if owning her debts wasn’t enough? True, he could destroy her ship and collect the insurance he had taken out on the debt. He imagined her broken and vulnerable, with no one to turn to except him.
The vision sent a pulsing sensation into his groin as he pictured possessing her once more, this time without a contract to protect her. Still, it didn’t arouse him as much as it once had, particularly when he considered how easily she could kill him in a vulnerable moment. There would be no indenture to protect him either. Arousal fled at that second thought.
But the picture of the credits he would get from selling Electra’s coordinates was more enduring. Now, that was enough to arouse his whole body and his mind in the bargain. With that, he could possess any medusa pilot he wanted. He could even make his own; there were plenty of desperate wannabes out there looking to get wired.
Reflexively, he rolled his ship over and slipped it sideways between two asteroids as Yva and her crew hit a second pirate ship. He had gained them some space and cover, moving into a space just outside the belt and hovering behind one of the bigger asteroids. They could wait here for the remaining pirates, and pick them off as they emerged. They could also wait for the Astra, at least long enough to see it if emerged on this side of the belt.
Then either his contacts would reach them with the coordinates, or the other ship would guide them to Electra.
He weighed his options. Once he knew the coordinates, perhaps the pilot and her crew would be far more expendable than he had originally thought. If the Astra was destroyed and her crew along with it, he wouldn’t even have to pay his contact or Elia. Fewer complications all around…as long as he could give up TiCara.
Her face popped up in his head and he savored the memory of pain and rage in her eyes, the feel of her body under his hands, the thrill of bending her defiance to his will. She’d had more spirit in her than any of the other indentures. But while those memories brought a smile to his face, he knew that he could find those pleasures elsewhere. Perhaps even better ones. Renounce his preference for the pilot, kill her crew, kill the DreamZone addict and who was there to remember who he had been, what he had done?
Yva climbed back up onto the Bridge, shattering his thoughts. Why are we stopped here? Then she looked out the view screen and nodded in acknowledgment as she saw the answer to her question. Waiting for the pirates here would make it easier to destroy them one at a time. "But if the Astra leaves on the other side of the belt?"
Zig tapped the navigational screen to full, expanding their view of the asteroid belt in several directions. A three dimensional grid of the belt appeared at his next tap, its asteroids in continuous motion. It even showed the heat from the drives of the surviving pirate ships, just as it would show the heat signatures of any other vessels in the area. He cocked his head at Yva and she jerked her head in reluctant admiration. Nothing to do now but wait.
And until he was done waiting, he’d review his original plan, making the necessary adjustments. Zig watched the grid, lost in his thoughts until the end of that shift, and then the next, oblivious to Yva’s departure when she left to sleep. By then, he begun to think about the best ways to employ his secret weapon: two military-grade robots that he had hidden in one of the cargo bays.
But he was not so lost in his thoughts that he missed the small signature of the Astra, finally drifting out of the asteroid belt. The signal was so faint that it was hard to track and he had to pilot them around several asteroids before he could pick it up more clearly. The ship’s motion drew Yva back to the Bridge because she appeared next to his chair, almost before he knew she was there. He tapped the grid, expanding it so that she could see why he was once again risking the pirates in the belt.
Time to cloak? She asked, her voice still rough from sleep. The ship’s cloaking system was clumsy and burned more energy than accelerating without it, but now that they were in system, that shouldn’t matter as m
uch. They could refuel on Electra or near it. There had to be a station close by; otherwise, how would the ships bringing clients to the lab leave the system?
He gave Yva a head jerk of assent. Cloaking should get them past the pirates as well, though it meant they couldn’t fire on them. Cloak or fire, even the corp ships still had to choose. But if all went well, that wouldn’t matter.
The comm link burst into static a few seconds later. The screen flashed a short code, then another. Navigation coordinates for the asteroid. Zig grinned at the screen before turning that smile on Yva; this was what they had been waiting for, or at least, what he had been waiting for. He was never sure what Yva really wanted from this trip, and had begun to care less and less as they got closer to his goals.
He saved the message, letting his programs unencrypt it. The coordinates shone on the screen as if they were written in pure gold. For a wild moment, he considered firing the pulsar array now and destroying the other ship once it was within range. But it was too soon. His contact might be lying even now, seeking to send them into a trap or worse.
They would wait and follow until they could see Electra. Then, Zig would get everything he truly wanted. He smiled as he saved the coordinates to a chip and piloted their cloaked ship after the Astra.
Chapter 20
The Astra’s liftoff was much smoother than her landing, to TiCara’s relief. She kept the engines on minimum power, letting the ship drift with the asteroids, hoping they would hide the ship’s energy signature. If Erol’s good fortune smiled on them, they wouldn’t get noticed by any of their pursuers. Now to hope there was something to that.
She extended her senses through the ship, part of her wondering if she would see the telltale signal of a communication going off-ship. Now that she wasn’t with Sherin, she realized that even if she saw a signal, it didn’t necessarily mean that it wasn’t coming from Sherin. There were no guarantees in what she could read from the Bridge, nothing that would tell her whether or not the other woman was betraying her or was giving her tru tell, not yet, anyway.
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