Chapter 25
When TiCara came back, Sherin was waiting for her at the foot of the ladder. Let’s not go back up there right now. I got him covered up and a lot of the flotsam cleaned up, but I think you should take some time before you see him again. There’s a pod in one of the storage bays that we can put him later, if whatever we’ve got for cryo is working. She ran a sympathetic hand down TiCara’s arm. "How are Ji-min and Vijay? And the Astra?"
TiCara’s face was drawn and pale. Even her medusas felt like they were hanging mournfully around her head, limp and lifeless. I should—no, you’re right. She glanced up, then back down at Sherin, rubbing a hand across her neck. Ji-min thinks that we hit Electra’s defenses and that’s what made us crash. But Vijay says that that the corp ship was firing on us, too. He’s hurt but not badly. Ji-min is patching him up with the med computer’s help. Apart from that, life support wasn’t hit, but the engines were. We’re not flying out of here without some help and hard work, more than the bots can do.
And that’s not our only problem. TiCara reined her thoughts in before she could speak them out loud. Someone knew that they’d gone down and they would probably come back to finish the job. Or, perhaps, Electra had secret prisons as well as secret labs. Without Vahn’s protection, they might be vulnerable to whatever version of corp law prevailed here.
She realized that she was staring down the corridor leading to the ship’s main door as if she expected a small army of Ears to storm the place. Maybe they would. She hated to leave her crew to deal with whatever might be coming, but then, she had given her word to Sherin and she was going to have to act soon, possibly choosing between her new love and her ship.
Well, if nothing else, at least Vahn had confirmed where they were. There was a slim possibility that the station staff might help them since Vahn was a paying client. If he hadn’t told the station something different, they were still with him. But the only way to find out what was going to happen next were to use the comm unit on the Bridge to try and hail someone or to leave the ship and go into the station.
From the way that Sherin was fidgeting at her side, she must be telegraphing her anxiety. That or Sherin was learning to read her thoughts. Got an extra lazer? Sherin tried to make her question sound casual but TiCara could hear the tension that underlay her tone and she couldn’t bring herself to smile back.
Instead, she pulled her spare lazer from a pouch in her blacksuit and handed it to Sherin. Then she bent down and picked up the one that she had dropped earlier, checked it, verified the charge and put it in the holster on her belt. She remembered to check for the throwing knives in her boots, pleased at how methodical she was being in her preparations.
A part of her marveled at how quickly she was overcoming her distrust of Sherin. Elia had told her once that it would happen that way for her, that when she really fell in love, it would be all or nothing. At the time, she thought the other woman meant that she would fall in love with her. Now, she knew differently.
TiCara looked at Sherin with her heart in her eyes and said, Let’s go see what’s out there. She sent a short message to Ji-min to let the engineer know what they were doing, and told them to arm the pulse cannon for possible attacks if they could. She clicked off before she could add that she hoped that the Astra wouldn’t have to fire it in the ship’s current condition.
Sherin grinned at her and gave her a quick kiss. They moved out to the bay that led to the airlock and suited up. TiCara made sure that they both checked their air supplies before they walked together down to the airlock door and opened it. Then, they climbed through it and sealed the door behind them. Sherin watched TiCara set the lock on the inner door, her expression wary even through the clear plasticene of her visor.
Once the lock was sealed on their side, the pilot reached out to unlock the outer door while Sherin pressed herself up against the airlock wall and trained her pistol on the slowly opening outer door. Just like Erol would have done. TiCara swallowed a lump in her throat at the thought and tried to concentrate on watching for anything or anyone that might be waiting for them on the other side of the door.
Once outside, they could see that they’d crashed on the rocky surface outside Electra’s station walls. From where they were standing, TiCara couldn’t see any wreckage that wasn’t from the Astra. But at least she also couldn’t see the armed welcoming committee that she feared was waiting. Maybe Vijay had been wrong about the other ship firing on them, but she doubted it. They were out there, either crashed somewhere else on the surface or waiting for them off planet.
When nothing happened, they stepped out onto the rocky surface of the asteroid. Gathwaite’s star and two of the planet’s gleamed above them, making for an impressive view. But even without the Ears or hostile security, they had other problems. Electra’s station loomed above them, large dome and gleaming metal walls only a hundred meters away.
TiCara wondered how they were going to get inside. Vahn had permission to go in, but they might not. But then again, maybe they could still use Vahn. He probably hadn’t taken the time to tell every junior security flunky not to let his former rep and his means of transportation into the station.
Besides, they were still contracted to bring him back to Kyrin and that was one deal he hadn’t broken yet. Let’s go knock on the front door, shall we? Wherever that is. TiCara looked at Sherin, but the other woman was looking at something else and didn’t answer. TiCara tried to see what that something was, but in the end, simply followed her when she started moving, their gravity boots clinging lightly to the rock.
Sherin led them up to one faceted side of the building, and once they were close enough, TiCara realized that she could see the outline of a door and a hidden comm unit. If she looked farther up, she could also see the station’s security weapons outlined against the sky, rotating above their heads. She shivered a little, trying to draw comfort from the fact that they had been allowed to walk right up to the walls.
The crackle of sound from Sherin’s helmet pulled her attention back to her companion. Sherin was talking to someone inside the station, requesting entrance and assistance. After an eternity of waiting, the doorway outlined in bright light as it slowly opened to let them into an airlock inside.
The outside doors sealed behind them once they stepped inside and they both waited silently in the airlock for the warning lights to turn green, letting them know that the air was breathable. For a moment, TiCara found herself fearing that it would never happen, that they’d be stranded out here. But the lights slowly changed and she and Sherin removed their helmets. Sherin reached over and squeezed her arm as an inner door opened to reveal an empty room with a large screen on the far wall.
The station’s metal walls surrounded them, once they moved inside, and there were no visible exits. The room looked able to withstand multiple rounds of blaster fire. There was also nowhere to sit down, suggesting that their time here would be temporary, one way or another.
They stepped forward out of the doorway and the door sealed behind them. TiCara summoned her most confident air of bravado and swaggered up to tap the screen. A harried looking man in a security uniform appeared and looked down at them. State your business. Mic is to your right.
TiCara spoke for both of them, loud enough so that her voice echoed against those walls. "I’m Pilot-Captain TiCara X273 of the Astra. We brought Ser Trin Vahn here, and crashed when we were attacked just above your security shield. Most of my crew survived, but we need some replacement parts to transport the Ser when his treatment is complete. I have credits that can be drawn on his account."
Look into the camera. TiCara stepped forward for a retinal scan, then stepped away blinking as her vision adjusted.
Sherin was hanging back, her every movement displaying her reluctance. At first, TiCara wondered why, but once she understood, it was too late for excuses or any story that station security would believe. Sherin must have realized that too, since when she finally moved forward and looke
d into the scanner, her discomfort was obvious.
The security officer frowned. Pilot-Captain, I can let you enter. But Sherin Khan, you are barred from this station.
TiCara raised a hand to stop Sherin’s protest before it started. I realize that my crew member has been on the station before, but I need her help to acquire tech and assistance to repair my ship. Without that help, your client, Ser Vahn, will be unable to return to his home planet. Is there something that we can do to have the secur hold lifted?
The security officer frowned and the comm went silent as he spoke to someone they could not see. Sherin fidgeted beside TiCara. I never should have insisted that we come here. I should have realized—
The mic crackled back to life. Electra Station will require the following amount to ensure that Sherin Khan will not make any unauthorized attempts to access our tech. The sum that appeared below him on the screen made both of them gasp. It would cost TiCara nearly all the credits that Vahn had paid her so far just to bring Sherin into the station with her.
No! Leave me here, Sherin’s cry was a whisper, but TiCara heard it. Heard the woman she was falling in love
with offer to sacrifice her dreams so that TiCara wouldn’t lose hers.
TiCara turned back to the mic and drew a deep breath. Agreed. TiCara found the word somehow and it freed her, as if she’d been trapped under a huge weight. It would be starshine, somehow: she would get the rest of her credits from Vahn and there would still be enough to get new parts. Hesitating now would be foolish. And from the way that Sherin was looking at her, there would be other rewards later. I approve the transfer.
She pressed her thumb to one side of the amount on the screen and it disappeared. TiCara grinned at it, savoring the warm glow that Sherin’s look had given her. It was going to be more than worth it.
The station door opened as the screen showed the security officer once more. Welcome to Electra Station, he said. His voice had taken on a much friendlier tone and that alone might have amused TiCara under other circumstances.
Where do we go for parts? She asked, her tone neutral.
He gave them directions and sent them on to the next room, which was filled with sanitary facilities and storage lockers. They left their suits and lazers behind in a sealed storage locker and went down the corridor that they were told led to the repair bay. Not that they were permitted to do so unobserved. TiCara noticed cameras in the corners of the hallway and at a couple of the intersections. There were also technicians and security personnel walking the corridors, some of them lingering a little too long to be doing anything other than watching them.
Starshine girl, you sure do make people memory you, TiCara muttered to Sherin. She regretted it the moment that she said it; her lover was pale and wide-eyed as it was. She reached out and squeezed her shoulder gently. Parts first. Then we’ll see what else we can do.
Sherin gave her a tremulous smile, but she held her head high and kept walking as if their extra company was no concern of hers. When they got to the repair bay, she backed up TiCara on negotiations and even put forward what she had by way of credits for the parts. TiCara fought her on that piece of generosity, but Sherin was adamant, and they emerged with an agreement that sent a mechanic and parts over to the Astra immediately.
TiCara let Ji-min know that help was on the way, then herded Sherin to the station canteen and an empty table. They sat and ate and talked about small things like favorite vids and which ships they liked flying. Nothing that would attract any additional attention from their observers. TiCara hoped that if nothing else, they’d become less alert from sheer boredom.
I need to find Dr. Moest. Sherin murmured softly across the table, working her comment into the middle of a discussion they were having about which spices tasted best in food replicators. TiCara nodded as if she’d never thought of using curry that way and took a cautious look around. One of the techs she’d seen earlier was still lingering by the door.
Leave one at a time. I’ll go first and find you later. Set your comm to this frequency. TiCara turned the screen on her handheld where it rested on the table so that Sherin could see it. She followed it up with a brief story about over-spicing her food on the first replicator that she used. It made Sherin laugh, and that was a sound that TiCara thought that she wanted to hear more often. Would hear more often, she vowed. TiCara winked at her, then got up as if she was looking for the nearest sanitary facilities.
She left the canteen, and as she had hoped, the tech followed her. After that, it was just a matter of making multiple wrong turns and stopping to talk to almost everyone she ran across. She asked for directions, as well as questions about everything from the air circulation system to the station’s building structure. Everything except the nanotech labs and a certain Dr. Moest.
It was surprisingly easy to get them to tell her about the station and she quickly realized that station personnel were keeping her talking so that they could watch her medusas. No one else on Electra was wired, or at least no one that she had seen so far. The techs and other station personnel that she spoke to seemed to be both fascinated and repulsed, using any excuse to keep her talking for a few minutes longer.
The tech following her disappeared, and after watching to make sure that he hadn’t been replaced, she ducked into a cleaner’s alcove. Once inside, she changed into a station uniform that she liberated from an unlocked locker outside one of the showers. It came with a hood that covered her medusas, and she got it on just in time for Sherin’s signal to reach her.
She was two levels away and TiCara bit back a quiet exclamation of frustration when she realized that she wasn’t sure how to get there. Plugging her medusas in and checking on the station’s computer clearly wasn’t an option. But a few more moments of research on her handheld and some hints from Sherin and she was soon
heading upward, hoping that her new uniform and the cleaning tools that she had taken would be enough to give her safe passage to wherever she wanted to go on the station.
Chapter 26
She could hear Sherin’s voice before she saw the other woman and she paused where she was, listening to what the rep was saying. Not many words, not this far away, but the pleading note in Sherin’s voice made her wince. Clearly, they didn’t need to look for Dr. Moest any more.
TiCara took a deep breath and walked around the corner. As she suspected, she was now in a hallway lined with what looked like lab doors. The number of secur cams in the corners had doubled, so it was only a matter of time before she and Sherin attracted the attention of security personnel. If they hadn’t already.
One more turn and TiCara found Sherin at last. She had abandoned pleading and was now arguing with a thin, pale-faced woman whose frown and crossed arms told the pilot all she needed to know about her response. Sherin was wild-eyed, tears brimming and ready to pour down her cheeks as TiCara reached them and laid a comforting hand on her shoulder. Dr. Moest? She asked the other woman, keeping her tone as formal and polite as she could manage.
The pale woman jumped back out of reach and glared at them. I don’t know who you are or what you want, but this area is classified. I’m calling security. She gestured with her handheld and TiCara lunged out and grabbed her arm with one hand, placing the other over the doctor’s open mouth. The doctor trembled under her hands like a faulty engine, but was quiet for a moment. But it was obvious that her silence wasn’t going to last long.
TiCara tried to keep her tone calm. Don’t yell. Not going to fry you unless I have to. She wants her implants back, all wired and working like they were when your bots took them. And now she needs tru tell from you, what you need to do to make that happen. She waited to see a response, a shift in Moest’s expression and when she got it, she took her hand from the doctor’s mouth. But she kept a firm grip on the hand with the handheld. No point in being careless. Let’s go find a place for tell, nice and quietlike.
From the corner of her eye, she could see a security detail appear at one end of
the corridor, both with blasters held out and pointed toward them. Without turning her head, TiCara knew from the footsteps that there was at least one other guard moving down the corridor behind her. Sherin flinched, her lips tightening into a thin line when she saw them. Moest still looked angry, but also smugly relieved.
TiCara calculated how many steps away the nearest guard was, and wondered whether or not she could reach them before she got blasted. If they got out of this, she was always going to carry a hidden lazer on her. She braced herself to throw Sherin to one side and hopefully out of range when she was ready to make her next move.
But the sudden klaxon of an alarm from the station speakers interrupted the scene before it could go any further. Dr. Moest yanked her arm free of TiCara’s momentarily lax grip and bolted for the lab door behind her. The security details were on their handhelds, getting some tell that apparently overrode whatever they had planned to do about TiCara and Sherin, judging from their sudden level of distraction.
As the lab door clicked shut behind the doctor, they could hear running feet in the surrounding corridors. Then there was a distant explosion and the guards in the corridor vanished, racing back the way they had come. Whatever was going on, it was more important than capturing an unarmed medusa pilot and her crewmember. That realization didn’t make TiCara feel much better, but at least they were alive and free for the moment.
Sherin looked at her, "What now? Back for the suits and our lazers, then to the Astra? At least then we’ve got the pulse cannon to deal with whatever that is." She jerked her head in the direction of the explosion, all traces of emotion gone from her voice.
TiCara noted her calm approvingly, though her heart ached a little to think what that effort was costing the other woman. She smiled at Sherin, relieved that her lover realized how much danger they were in, that the explosions almost certainly meant that the station was under attack. Even if they got out, if the repairs on the Astra weren’t done, they could be trapped on Electra’s surface awaiting their fate, pulse cannon or no pulse cannon.
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