by K. B. Wagers
Chae reached up and grabbed the link, twisting and shoving the ends into the bucket.
“Remember when you told Tamago to do that and they didn’t wait for the second part of the instructions?” Nika asked with a laugh, and Jenks joined him, rolling her eyes.
“I do. It sprayed everywhere. We were covered in goo. I was still finding dried bits a month out. Thank you for waiting for me to say the whole sentence.” She reached out and patted Chae on the shoulder. “Hey, Nik, do you know where Sapphi is?”
“She came up with me from the gym; she’s on the bridge with Tamago.”
“I thought I smelled something.” She winked at him. “Tell them both to come back here a moment, will you? We need to have a quick talk.”
Interstitial
Encrypted Message
NeoG Task Force at Trappist Juncture—Jupiter Station side as follows:
Zuma’s Ghost running from 6233/9983 to 8466/9983 and 107.7
Flux Capacitor in the main belt lane, closer to Jupiter Station
Wandering Hunter in the Saturn patrol area
Dread Treasure in the main belt lane, closer to junction
Other ships of note:
Burden of Proof patrolling between Jupiter and Saturn
Keppler’s Folly at transport point
Teams 1–6 advised to fly no cargo, no raising suspicions. Task Force has list of possible ships to watch for and board as necessary. Recommend swapping decoy ships for those on list and run usual spoiled cargo as a distraction. The Belt run is still a go.
Nine
Max stretched in her seat. Zuma’s Ghost was quiet, the gentle hum of the ship less a noise in her ears than a vibration in her bones.
God, she loved this ship. She smoothed a hand over the console with a fondness she’d never expected to feel for a vessel. Two years had gone by in the blink of an eye. She remembered how unsure she’d been, how out of place she’d felt, and now she couldn’t imagine being anywhere else.
Laughter wafted onto the bridge from the galley. Sapphi and Chae were making breakfast.
They’d been out in the Kuiper Belt for the better part of a week, patrolling the high-traffic lanes around the junction that fed from Jupiter to Trappist. It was quiet work, a few stops to check on freighters’ paperwork, but other than that nothing major, and she was glad for the post-Games downtime.
Plus it gave Nika and Chae a chance to settle into the crew. Which Chae seemed to be doing. Seemed—the spacer was a little hard to read at times. They were watchful and careful, giving almost nothing away with words or gestures. Max had thought for a moment she’d run into yet another Jenks, but after a few days she knew that was wrong.
Chae was as predictable as most people, but so careful in their actions it almost had the opposite effect of telegraphing what they were going to do once they’d decided to do it. It was like they thought everything through in triplicate and then did it again before committing.
Except for flying. Chae let go when they were flying and moved on instinct.
Max also knew Chae was still hiding something, which worried her more than she wanted to admit. She’d tried to tell herself that everyone had secrets, but whatever this was had worked its way into the fabric of Chae’s being. And if the seams fray at the wrong time . . .
She’d continue to keep an eye on them.
And Nika.
Max suppressed a sigh.
You’re making that into more than it should be, Carmichael.
She’d tried to talk to Nika twice now about Chae, and each time he’d brushed off her concerns, insisting they had been dealt with. She’d known Nika would be a different leader from Rosa, but she’d also thought maybe he’d be more willing to listen to her—not less.
Maybe he’s just busy, or you really are making something out of nothing, or he doesn’t trust your gut the same way Rosa did . . . because he’s not as good a commander as she was.
It was an uncharitable thought and she felt immediately guilty.
“Morning, LT.”
She looked up at Tamago, putting a hand on theirs where they’d rested it on her shoulder. “Morning. How’d you sleep?”
“Good.” Tamago slid into the empty seat next to Max. “Hey, do you have a minute? I wanted to—”
“Zuma’s Ghost, this is Flux Capacitor, do you copy?” The ship’s coms crackled to life, interrupting Tamago. Max held up a finger as she toggled the coms.
“Copy you, Flux. Lieutenant Carmichael here.”
“Hey, Max, it’s Tien. We’ve got a positive return on the list headed down the lane for the wormhole point. You want to back us up on a boarding?” Flux’s senior chief petty officer, Dao Mai Tien, had a sweet voice that didn’t so much as hint at her absolute brutality in the sword ring.
“We’d love to. Send me coordinates and I’ll wake the others.”
Tamago was already out of her seat and down the bridge stairs before Max finished speaking.
“What’s up?” Nika asked a few moments later. He rested a hand on her shoulder in the same spot Tamago had just left and Max reached up, tangling her fingers with his.
“Flux called. They’ve pinged a suspect ship from the list and asked if we wanted to back them up on the boarding.”
“Honor’s Fury?”
“Good guess.”
He grinned. “I can read briefings, Carmichael.”
“She’s not big—a D-class freighter from Trappist Express waiting for a ride across to Trappist. Four of us would do it in addition to Flux putting four of theirs in.”
“I don’t know if we need four. I could take Jenks and Chae. It’ll be an easy board, most likely.”
“Four’s the standard for a ship that size.” She frowned as he slipped away from her, physically and mentally, his mind so obviously somewhere else that she called out as he headed for the stairs. “Nika, if the ship was on the briefing, it might not be easy.”
“Fine, I’ll take Tamago, too.”
“Be careful,” she whispered, but he was already gone.
Nika left Max on the bridge and headed for the back, stopping when he heard the laughter wafting in his direction from the galley.
He’d slipped, and of course Max had noticed. The first one had been easy enough to cover with humor, and it wasn’t a huge stretch that Honor’s Fury would be one of the ships they tagged. But he should have paid better attention and acted like this boarding could be dangerous, even though he knew Honor’s Fury was likely nothing more than a decoy ship because of the information Chae had passed along . . . and Intel had intercepted. There would be little more than maybe a carton of rotten food, or broken equipment. All easily explainable as poor quality control in the warehouse.
And yet you should be careful, Vagin. Any boarding could turn nasty in the blink of an eye. Intel is not the same as surety, and a good commander isn’t cocky.
A good commander . . .
He sucked in a deep breath, letting it out slowly.
“Commander, Commander Till is reporting the ship has heaved to and is agreeing to an inspection. You still want to board with them, or hold back?” Max asked over their private com. Her voice was stiff, the use of his rank hitting like a punch.
“Let’s board,” he replied. “Strange that they would agree so readily, and you were right that we should go in standard force.”
“Thank you for that. I agree that it’s strange. They might actually be clean this time, though. Or thinking they’ve got shit hidden well enough. I looked over the manifests in the registry, and everything seems in order, but—well, you know.”
He did. He also knew he’d been discounting her gut feelings about Chae and that it had to hurt Max. Yet he was going to have to figure out a way to shut her down on that before too much longer. Nika rubbed a hand over his face. “I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?”
“Good luck. Be careful.”
“You said that already.”
“I didn’t think you heard me.”
Nika didn’t know what to say to that, so he stuck his head in the galley instead. “Jenks, Chae, Tamago—get your boots and swords on. Sapphi, you’re staying here with Max. Doge, you know the drill.”
The ROVER dropped back into the corner of the galley in what Nika would almost call a sulk if he’d thought the robot were capable of such emotion.
“No suits?” Jenks asked.
Nika tried to ignore his uncertainty and shook his head. “They heaved to. I think we’re good without them.”
They moved without hesitation, Jenks cursing as she tried to drink the last of her hot coffee faster than a human should and Chae moving with a look of wide-eyed wonder that only a brand-new spacer could have.
“Hey, you’ll be fine,” Nika said as the kid passed, and they nodded. “Stick with Jenks, follow her orders, and keep your eyes open.”
“Yes, Commander.”
Nika grabbed his boots from the locker just off the airlock and laced them up, his heart still thumping an odd tattoo that was a confusing mess of preboarding nerves and every lie he was telling his crew.
“Hey, space ranger.” Jenks snapped her fingers in front of his face. “You in charge here or what?”
He took the sword she was holding and attached it to his belt. His little sister was grinning at him, bouncing on the balls of her feet in that familiar way, and for a moment everything slid into place just like he’d never left. “That’s the rumor.”
“Good. Let’s get our asses on that ship before Vera gets to have all the fun.”
Nika heard Commander Vera Till chuckle over the live coms. “Don’t start none, Jenks. If this goes smoothly, we get to go home early.”
“Roger, we are in ancient Tibetan mode: don’t start none, won’t be none—”
“Let’s focus, folx,” Nika said over the top of Jenks’s singsong.
Max’s cool voice came over the main com. “Airlock secure on the port side. Commander Vagin, Commander Till, whenever you’re ready.”
“We’re on starboard side, locked and ready to board.”
Nika hit the panel to cycle the airlock, glancing down out of habit, and did a double take at Jenks’s neatly laced boot.
“You fixed your boot?”
Jenks looked at him and then rolled her eyes. “Yeah. LT kept fucking stepping on the lace. For someone so smart she couldn’t seem to figure out how to not do it and I got tired of almost landing on my face over and over.”
Nika was reasonably sure Max hadn’t done that accidentally at all. They’d all spent years learning how to avoid Jenks’s bootlaces, knowing she wouldn’t tie them correctly. The only time she made sure they were tucked in was during boarding actions and at the Games, but she’d refused to fix them completely no matter how many times he or Rosa or even Hoboins had threatened her.
In under two years Max had gotten Jenks to fix the damn things without even asking. A glance in Tamago’s direction netted him a slow smile, as if they knew exactly what he was thinking. Gravely, Nika winked back.
“Well,” he said, and had to clear his throat, earning a suspicious look from Jenks. “Let’s go see what Honor’s Fury is up to, shall we?”
Chae followed Jenks like a shadow through the boarding. The spacer was good at being quiet and watchful, and asked questions at just the right moments. It had all gone very smoothly.
Too smoothly.
Now Jenks leaned against the bulkhead, watching Honor’s Fury’s captain and first officer as they talked with Vera and Nika. There was no hostility in their stance, but just enough of something to make her nerves stay on high alert.
Even though the Neos hadn’t found shit so far.
“Nothing,” Tamago said. “Everything on this manifest matches.”
“It happens.” Jenks shrugged. “Maybe the intel was wrong. Maybe they went straight and narrow for this run.” She scanned through the manifest on her DD chip, keeping one eye on Chae and the crewman who was leading them through the mass of pods. “It’s all headed for Trappist-1d. Building materials, foodstuffs, the usual.”
“Intel’s not typically this far off with their leads.” Tamago leaned against the bulkhead next to her, a frown on their face. “I expected to see something that would explain this itch.”
“Maybe you just need to see the doc.” Jenks grinned and dodged Tamago’s shove. “Hold up.” She noticed Chae’s posture, the Neo hunched over a container, and pushed away from the wall, crossing the cargo bay. “Problem, Chae?”
They looked away from the container at her and shook their head. “Busted seal. It happens, but if they don’t seal it back up these cabbages will all rot out before they get to where they’re going.” They shrugged at Jenks’s curious look. “We saw it a lot in the habitats.”
Jenks looked at the crewman, whose handshake read Crewman Penor Crie, he/him. “You got stuff to fix it?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Well, go get it. We’ll give you a hand.” She dropped into a crouch as the crewman ran off, running her fingers over the seal. It was loose on the bottom edge. “Pressure differential,” she murmured. “You know, internals on the ships were supposed to fix this issue.”
“Chief?”
She looked up at Chae. “We see it off and on, but sounds like it happens a lot more than just the occasional case.” The seal was curled inward like it had never stuck to the container and Jenks took a few photos, out of habit more than anything. “You open this to make sure it was produce?” She rolled her eyes at Chae’s sudden embarrassed expression. “You always gotta look, kid. Hey, Tamago, come give me a hand.”
On the team com, she said, “Nika, we’ve got a broken seal on a container. Could be nothing but we’re gonna open it up.”
“Roger that, proceed.”
“Take a corner,” Jenks said, pointing at the other side. Chae and Tamago lined up and Jenks nodded. “On three, lift and slide toward that empty spot. One, two, three.”
The smell was immediate and awful. The lid of the container clattered to the floor of the cargo bay. Tamago started retching. Chae looked horrified, but unbothered by the smell.
“If that doesn’t smell like my childhood,” Jenks muttered, breathing as shallowly as she could and peeking into the container. “Too late to fix the seal on that.”
“Holy fuck, Jenks, what is that smell?” Commander Till demanded over the com.
“Rotten cabbages.” Jenks skirted the container, grabbing both Tamago and Chae and dragging them away. “Breathe through your mouth, as shallowly as you can, Tama,” she said gently. “Nika, we’re not going to want to hang around here. Trust me when I say you don’t want that smell getting in the Interceptors.”
“We’re done here anyway,” Till replied. “Let’s wrap it up and go, people.”
The exclamations and protests of the freighter captain filled the air along with the stench as the Neos abandoned them to their rotten cargo.
“Do not puke on my boots.” Jenks shoved Tamago toward the head as soon as they were through the airlock. “Strip your clothes and bag them. They’re not so bad we can’t save ’em, but we don’t want them out in the air.”
“Rotten cabbages?” Max asked, recoiling as she caught a whiff of the smell. “Good lord.”
“Those things were black as space. Long gone. That seal failed well before the pod made it on board Honor’s Fury.” Jenks muttered a curse as she bent to unlace her boots. “Was easier to get these off before, you know.” She pulled her shirt over her head as she went up the stairs.
“You’re the one who decided to start tying them properly.” Max leaned against the doorframe of the room the other four members of Zuma’s Ghost shared.
“Vera should tell the captain of Honor’s Fury to file a complaint with Trappist Express. Those things were probably rotten before they even made it on her ship.” Jenks glanced over at where Chae was dutifully putting their clothes into a sealed bag, after folding them neatly.
“You can tell her. We’re going to
hook up with Flux and have breakfast.”
Jenks grinned.
Tamago’s groan echoed from the head. “Don’t talk about food.”
Chae sealed the bag and slid it into the storage locker near the door, moving back to their bunk and getting dressed in fresh clothes as they listened with half an ear to Max and Jenks. They wondered if the fact that they hadn’t found anything but rotten food was because of the message they’d passed to Julia before leaving on patrol, but the thought made their chest ache so they tried their best to shove it away and peeked in on Tamago. “You okay?”
Tamago looked up from the sink and spit out the mouthful of water they’d been rinsing with. “Yeah, that was foul. How did you not throw up?”
Chae shrugged. “Not my first bin of rotten food, honestly. Like I told the chief, we saw it a lot in the habitats.”
“You shouldn’t have.” Tamago rinsed their mouth out and spit into the sink again. “I thought that was part of the agreement for folx who moved to Trappist?”
“It is. Reality is usually pretty different from what’s on paper, though.” Chae held their hand out. “You want me to bag those for you?”
“You’re a blessing, yes please.” Tamago nudged the clothes over with a bare foot. “There’s nothing left in my stomach, but that won’t stop it from trying to expel something if I smell that again.”
Chae scooped up Tamago’s uniform, carrying it out of the bathroom. The rotten stench had dissipated for the most part, but they could still smell the faintest trace and a memory rushed up to meet it.
“Seven of the fifteen containers are useless. Seven, Gun. And none of the medicine we requested. How are we supposed to survive this winter?”
Chae pressed themself closer to the wall in the hallway as they listened to their fathers.
“We’ll figure something out, Michael. Daki’s got a new batch of protein in the mix, and the kale is already growing. It might be tight, but we’ll make it.”