Breaking Point

by David Alastair Hayden

  18

  Siv Gendin

  Siv’s string of curses continued for almost as long as Mitsuki’s.

  “Silkster, I don’t see his ship in my system locator.”

  “I wouldn’t expect you to, sir. But you’ll see it pop up in just a second.”

  “How’d you detect him?”

  “The long-range scan he did. Eyana piloted a different Infiltrator-class vessel, but it used the same sensor suite, so I’d know that signal anywhere. He should’ve closed in first and used the short-range sensors. Those I might not have detected.”

  “I’m guessing your level five scan is what made him suspicious in return,” Mitsuki said.

  The dot appeared in Siv’s HUD. The infiltrator wasn’t close, but it wasn’t far away either, and it was speeding toward them.

  “I suspect you’re right, Mits.”

  “I hate it, but I’ll have to agree,” Silky said.

  “So we’re swimming up a shit creek,” Mitsuki lamented.

  “We’ve got trouble,” Siv told Oktara. “Kaleeb’s ship is heading toward us.”

  "I don’t see anything," he replied.

  “It’s cloaked, but my sensor array can detect it. I’ll transmit its location to you.”

  “Locator transmission to the Bumblebee now in progress, sir.”

  “ETA?” Oktara asked.

  “Thirty-eight minutes, sir.”

  Siv relayed that information to Oktara.

  “You should go hide in the smuggler’s nook,” Oktara told them. “That will be your best chance at avoiding detection.”

  “We could choose a good ambush spot and fight him when he boards,” Mitsuki suggested.

  “If he boards,” Oktara responded. “If he decides to just blast the ship instead, then it won’t matter where you are.”

  That was a frightening thought.

  “He was shooting to kill when he attacked the Solace, just before we jumped," Siv said, "so I prefer hiding because I'd rather that he didn't think we were here. Besides which, I'm not sure we can take him."

  “No offense, but I don’t think the two of you can,” Silky said. “Not even in an ambush. We got lucky before. I wouldn’t count on that happening again.”

  Mitsuki stood and stretched out her wings. “Hiding in a cramped hole it is then.”

  They retrieved their packs while Oktara changed out of his robes and into a nondescript jumpsuit. After he donned one of the chameleon hoods Siv had given him and uploaded the profile, Oktara led them into the cramped engineering room where he pulled up a section of the grating to reveal a storage compartment. A half dozen small crates were stacked inside.

  “Rare spices,” he told them.

  “A smuggler’s nook beneath the floor isn’t the most original method of hiding,” Mitsuki said, her voice heavy with disappointment. “If I were determined to find someone on a ship, I’d definitely check the floors for hidden compartments.”

  “No doubt,” Oktara replied. “That is why you will find a second compartment that’s only accessible from the inside of this one. No one thinks to check the second level within.”

  Siv helped Oktara pull out the crates then jumped in, squatted down, and by following Oktara’s directions, found the latch to open the other section.

  A wave of heat struck his face as soon as he opened the hidden door.

  “’Nevolence! Is this directly under the fusion drive?”

  Oktara nodded. “Sorry, I forgot to mention that.”

  “Sir, the radiation levels in there are, like this ship, far less than ideal.”

  “Is it safe?”

  “It won’t kill you right away, sir, and I don’t think it will cause any long-term harm. As long as you’re not down there more than several hours. Batwings, you’ll be fine.”

  Mitsuki had several layers of hardened skin that provided significant heat and radiation protection.

  “Why’d we have to end up on a junker?” Mitsuki lamented. “Was this mission not difficult enough already?”

  She tossed their packs of gear down, and Siv shoved them into the nook. It was going to be a tight enough fit with the two of them. With the packs, he wasn't sure they'd be able to manage it.

  “Once you’re both inside, I will return the spice crates,” Oktara said. “I doubt Kaleeb will think to check for a second compartment.”

  Siv crawled into the sweltering compartment, and then Mitsuki squeezed in with him, accidentally jamming him in the ribs and thighs a dozen times. Together with their gear, they took up the entire space. There was absolutely no room to shift, exchange positions, sit up, or turn around. If Kaleeb found them in here, they were as good as dead.

  Oktara jumped in, closed the second hidden door, tossed in the spice crates, and replaced the grating. With no access to fresh air and with the combined heat of their bodies, it was unbearably hot within moments.

  “We just keep ending up in tight spaces together, Sivvy.”

  “I’m all too aware of that.”

  “I think the universe is trying to tell you something,” she whispered in his ear.

  “Ugh, stop that. All the universe is telling me is that I should rethink our friendship, and maybe the life choices that brought me here.”

  “You know, Silky, he really does love me.”

  “Not in the way you might like though, madam. Which is a real shame, because I would enjoy the two of you being a couple.”

  “Are you certain he doesn’t feel that way about me?”

  “Based on his heart rate and brainwaves and other biological…measures…he doesn’t at all view you the way he views…oh, say, Kyralla.”

  “Sivvy! Do you have the hots for Kyralla?”

  “No! It’s…it’s just…” He groaned, twisted his arm upward, and wiped sweat from his forehead. “She’s attractive, and that elicits a response. I don’t know her well enough for it to be anything more. It’s just a small crush, at the most.”

  “Ignore him, Batwings. He’s definitely got the hots for her. And I can show you the exact images and video that got his motor running good.”

  “Silkster! Do not share that—”

  “Too late, sir!”

  Mitsuki whistled. “Sweet ‘Nevolence, she’s got more bod under her jumpsuit than I would’ve thought. I’m a bit tempted to tap that myself.”

  “Screw you both!” Siv hissed.

  “Wowzers! I just saw the rest of the video. That view before she kicked you in the head and knocked you out… All I can say to that is ‘Hello, nurse.’”

  “It’s almost enough to get my silicon motors running,” Silky said in a mocking tone.

  “Look, I wasn’t trying to see her naked,” Siv argued. “She just happened to be coming out of the shower when I sneaked into Senator Pashta’s compound. And the view wasn’t my fault. And I didn’t tell Silky to save the video.”

  “First, I’m pretty sure you did, sir. Second, you know I save everything anyway.”

  “Okay, I think we’ve teased him enough, Silky. Besides, those images haven’t done a damn thing to improve how hot it is down here.”

  “She is pretty,” Siv admitted.

  “As always, I wish you all the best,” Mitsuki said. “Seriously, given how we keep ending up in cramped spaces together, it really is a shame we don’t do anything for one another. But you’re honestly not my type either. I like someone I can dominate a bit. And you like someone a little more Terran.”

  “Thanks for not judging me on that.”

  “You like what you like, Sivvy.”

  It was just as well because before this misadventure he didn't actually enjoy spending time with Mitsuki. He'd always found her a bit crazy and annoying to hang out with too often.

  “You know, Mits, you’ve really grown on me.”

  “Has all the bacteria from my sweat set up a colony on you now, too?”

  “Super gross. What I’m trying to say is I think this whole experience has improved our friendship.”


  “It has, Sivvy, but I always enjoyed your company more than you did mine.”

  “Sorry.”

  She shrugged, jamming the top of one of her wings into his chin. “Silky explained it to me years ago.”

  “He did?”

  “It’s true, sir.”

  “And what did you tell her?”

  “That you found her equal parts intimidating and annoying. The latter because you’re too much alike, except that she’s undisciplined where you’re meticulous in planning and execution.”

  “That’s not… Yeah, okay, maybe it’s true. I’m bad with people, you know. Other than my neighbor and her husband who ended up in prison, you’re actually my only friend, Mits.”

  “Only friend?” Silky said appalled. “Only friend?!”

  “Keep your panties on, Silkster. You know you’re more than a friend.”

  “Sir, I think I’ve figured out why you’re so bad with the female persuasion. They don’t drop their panties when they’re angry with you.”

  “Silkster, I…whatever.”

  Mitsuki was quiet for a few minutes, not even commenting on Silky’s joke. Finally, she responded. “I think Oktara’s right. We are decent people. Sure, we worked with and as criminals, but we didn’t make any friends with them and—”

  “Hush,” Silky said in a serious tone. “The infiltrator is about to be close enough to hit us with a close-range scan. We’ve got to go silent. No talking out loud. Don’t even move unless absolutely necessary. Sorry, Mits, but I’m even going to have to sever our connection.”

  A half hour passed in miserable, sweaty silence. Siv watched his HUD with dread as the infiltrator closed in and circled them. The tension was so high that he would've sworn that he could feel the scans passing over him.

  The infiltrator pulled up alongside them, and they felt a shudder through the Bumblebee.

  “We’ve slowed down to match the infiltrator’s speed, sir.”

  Several more minutes passed, and then he felt a vibration in the floor beneath him.

  “What was that?” he whispered to Silky as if whispering thoughts made a difference.

  “The boarding ramp has been lowered, sir. And the infiltrator is extending a plasma window tunnel.”

  Siv touched the ceramic amulet that hung from his neck and wished he could talk with his father now, as he had done before when facing death. But apparently, he had to actually be in the process of dying for that to work.

  Two red dots appeared in the locator and met Oktara’s yellow dot. Silky had tagged the Hydrogenist leader yellow because he didn’t fully trust him, which seemed fair enough. They talked for a few minutes, then Oktara led them through the ship.

  Silky loaded profiles into the HUD identifying the members of the boarding party.

  Vega Kaleeb and his sky-blade companion. Damn. They had both survived the explosion.

  “Any good news, Silkster?”

  "Kaleeb's not at peak operating capacity, though I can't risk a scan strong enough to verify the extent of the damage. Also, he's wearing Centurion V armor now."

  “Isn’t that what the Thousand World’s shock troops wore?”

  “That was Centurion IV, sir.”

  “I take it this is a downgrade from what he wore before?”

  “A significant one, sir. But it still makes him extremely formidable. You and Mitsuki still have no chance of taking him out in close-quarters fighting. If he finds you, he owns you.”

  Heavy footsteps reverberated through the walls and ceiling over them as Kaleeb followed Oktara through engineering. They passed on and completed a circuit of the Bumblebee. Siv breathed a sigh of relief, then cursed as Kaleeb began a second tour of the ship. This time walking through a lot more slowly than before.

  When Kaleeb reached engineering again, he stopped. Then he removed the grating over the smuggler’s nook and tossed it aside. As it clanged loudly to the floor, Siv’s breath caught, and Mitsuki tensed beside him.

  19

  Galen Vim

  Galen lounged in the command chair, staring out through the viewport of the BSS Falling Rain. Night descended onto the barren, nameless world that stretched beyond him. Sunset and sunrise, moonset and moonrise, those were the only times anything outside this vessel ever changed.

  “There’s a lot more to it, if you know how to look,” Tamzin had said.

  So he’d tried to appreciate this world’s stark beauty, but whatever it was that she found interesting, he couldn’t see.

  The bleak isolation was almost too much to bear. With only the planet's distant orange sun and its giant, yellowish moon to keep him company, he continually brooded, worrying about Oona and Kyralla. Were they still safe on Pashta's estate? Had they gotten news of his disappearance and fled elsewhere? Or had the Tekk Reapers captured them, too?

  He might never find out. He might never see them again. He was lost out here.

  Sometimes, Galen imagined that the Tekk Reapers had killed him and that instead of wraith space Tamzin had led him through the fires of hell. How else could he explain ending up here in this limbo where he was useless, where he couldn’t help those he loved? And he would be trapped on this dilapidated vessel forever, never knowing if his girls were okay.

  He was used to attending meetings and negotiations, reading and writing memos and treaties. He was used to being buried in government work all the time or else researching hyperphasic messiah mysteries. But now, he had nothing to do but stew in his worries. And without a chippy, he couldn’t even distract himself. There was nothing to read, no videos to watch, no games to play.

  Tamzin hadn’t said a word to him in days. He didn’t need to be an empath to feel her anger and her resentment at his presence. But he could also feel the guilt, remorse, and sadness that bound her, inexplicably, to this place.

  Tamzin walked in and sat on the floor beside him. She didn’t speak. He knew from her pensive mood that he shouldn’t say anything. She would talk when she was ready.

  Staring out through the viewport, they sat together for nearly two hours. It was the closest they’d been to one another in days, and it was also the most time they’d spent together in the same room. To avoid him, she had taken to sleeping inside one of the locked rooms he wasn’t allowed to enter. Though that only seemed to increase her negative feelings toward him.

  She sighed, the anger seeming to slip off her. Then she fidgeted, running her fingers through her loose, pink hair. “You didn’t ask me again.”

  “Ask what again?”

  “Why I saved you from the Tekk Reapers.”

  He finally turned to her. “That was easy enough to figure out. You’re a bounty hunter. You were sent out to capture me. But when you discovered the Reapers had me, and that they were using torture, you took pity on me.”

  Nervously, Tamzin shrugged. “Well…they were asking about your children and…you were willing to suffer rather than say a single word about them. That is why I saved you.”

  Galen sensed she was telling the truth, but it also seemed as if she were hiding something, or else leaving out some detail that mattered. Which was odd since she had brought it up.

  “Regardless, thank you for not turning me in afterward.”

  “I didn’t turn you in because I’m sure the people who hired me also just wanted you to get to your kids.” She looked up at him with her intense eyes. “I’m not a heartless criminal.”

  “I know,” he answered.

  Only he wasn't sure. He sensed there was a lie in what she'd said. Was there another reason she hadn't turned him in? Or did she, in fact, think that she was a heartless criminal? That was the tricky thing about reading people's emotions instead of their thoughts. Someone could feel like they were heartless but not actually be that way.

  For a moment, he wished he was a level three empath instead of just a level two, but then he thought of the trip through wraith space. If his empathy were any more powerful, he wouldn’t have survived that journey.

  Tamzin st
ared silently at him for what seemed like ages. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat several times. “Your gift angers me. I don’t like people knowing anything about me, especially how I feel.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s who you are. You shouldn’t have to apologize for that.”

  Though he sensed she was in the mood to talk, he waited a while before speaking again.

  “So, who hired you?”

  She shrugged. “An off-world intermediary. I don’t know who they represent.”

  Now that was a lie. That was what she’d been hiding earlier. He was certain of it. He was also certain that trying to pry an answer out of her would be foolish. He needed to keep her calm and earn her trust. Besides, it might not matter whether someone local or far away had hired her or who they were. At the moment, it didn’t, since he couldn’t do anything about it.

  “Are you a full-time bounty hunter?” he asked.

  “It pays well,” she replied quietly, “and it’s easier and a lot more interesting than harvesting flux crystals. Mostly, I hunt down crooks the police can’t find. Sometimes I steal items from people, but only if they’re rich. It helps to be able to pop into and out of wraith space. I’d probably make a fortune if I ever went somewhere more populous.”

  “Sounds a lot more exciting than being a diplomat.”

  She scanned him then shrugged again. “Doesn’t look that way.”

  “This is the first time something like this has ever happened to me.”

  “Well, that explains a lot.”

  He couldn’t disagree with her. When the Reapers had taken out his security detail, he’d had no idea what to do. Unlike his oldest, Kyralla, he’d never trained to defend himself or anyone else. In retrospect, given his position and Oona’s nature, that was naive.

  “I should know how to fight,” he said. “I should have been armed when I was attacked.”

  She nodded. “Would’ve been smart. But you couldn’t have stopped Tekk Reapers.”

  “I could have stopped someone like you.”

  “Hardly,” she replied with a laugh. “When you’re better, I’ll teach you a few basic moves. You’re going to need some exercise to rehabilitate that leg.”