by M. D. Cooper
“Well Thompson, just like old times, saving your a—”
The man’s words cut off, and though Jinx couldn’t see his face from her position, the drone feeds revealed that he was staring at Camilla.
“What the ever-loving fuck is she doing here?”
A look of worry passed over Thompson’s features. “Trevor, please, she’s with me. She’s OK now.”
The other man jumped onto the platform and placed a hand on Trevor’s shoulder. “Let the captain decide.”
“Coming over,” Jinx announced, deciding it was wise to state her intentions with these two hulking killing machines.
“We see you, Elsa,” the second of the two men said. “Come on over.”
It took Jinx a fraction of a second to remember that ‘Elsa’ was herself, and she checked the rear passage one more time before jumping over the tracks.
“Took you long enough to show up, and who are you?” Thompson glanced at the as-yet-unnamed man.
“Usef,” the man said without removing his helmet. “We met once at a bar on the Intrepid.
“Huh…don’t remember you.”
Usef shrugged. “You were too busy being an asshole, if I recall correctly.”
Trevor’s shoulders shook as he laughed softly. “That’s pretty much all the time, Usef. Doesn’t really help narrow things down.”
“You two done?” Thompson growled. “We need to collect our injured and dead before the Heegs show.”
Thompson helped Camilla up, while Jinx walked over to Roy. “You OK?”
“Still no, but I’m not too proud to ask you to carry me.”
Jinx wondered what the best way to lift her friend would be, and then settled on him sitting on an outstretched arm, his leg propped up on her other arm. She was about to pick Roy up when the man named Trevor approached.
“Hold up there, let me splint that leg before you mech-handle him.”
“Thank stars,” Roy said through clenched teeth. “My mednano is having trouble dealing with this.”
Trevor pulled a kit out of a pouch at his waist. The first thing he did was inject Roy with something in the neck.
“OK, buddy, you ready?”
“Ready for wha—”
Roy sucked in a breath as Trevor quickly twisted his leg back into the correct position.
“—aaaaat?” Roy completed the question with an indrawn breath. “Hey…that didn’t hurt that much.”
“Welcome to good tech,” Trevor said as he tore Roy’s pant leg open and set two bars against the sides of his leg. “You might not want to look, though. High-tech field medicine is a bit nuts.”
“I’d rather see…” Roy’s words trailed off as the two bars flashed brightly, a laser along the inner edge cutting through his skin before the bars sank beneath his flesh and disappeared. Roy took a few shuddering breaths as Trevor resealed the skin with biofoam.
“They’re adhering to your bones, buddy. Give it ten more seconds and Elsa here can lift you and not screw you up further.”
“I’m Jinx,” she corrected them. “I just use Elsa so no one knows who I am.”
Trevor snorted. “You sure you should be telling me, then?”
Jinx looked the man over. She still couldn’t read human body language well, but his expression aligned with what she’d categorized as ‘sincerity’.
“Yes.”
“OK, then,” Trevor said as he rose. “I imagine we have somewhere other than here to be.”
Jinx looked down at Roy. “Ready?”
“Yeah, let’s do this.” Roy’s words sounded more resolute than his expression as he gave his leg a concerned look.
Jinx lifted him carefully and walked to the door where Thompson stood with Usef. Gill and Ben had collected the bodies of the other two guards, forming up at the rear of the group.
“I’ll take the lead,” Trevor said. “We going to the arena?”
“Yeah,” Thompson said. “Then maybe you can do your hoodoo fancy healing on Camilla?”
“I’m OK,” Camilla said from where her head lay against Thompson’s shoulder.
“We’ll see how things go when we get there,” Trevor said, and then turned to lead the group through the warrens.
REUNION
STELLAR DATE: 05.03.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: West Warrens, Chittering Hawk Station
REGION: Virginis System, AST Space
“So ‘Skeez’ eh?” Jessica asked with a raised brow. “That’s quite the name.”
“It’s Atlantean,” the man said with a shrug. “What do they call you? Grape Popsicle?”
Jessica laughed at the glowering man. “No, Retyna Girl.”
Skeez’s scowl depend and then he nodded. “Got it…retinol. Clever. So why do you glow?”
“Alien microbes in my skin…well, in my everything. Apparently even my liver’s purple now—though I’ve not taken a peek at it.”
“And you?” Skeez glanced at Iris. “Why are you a chrome copy of Retyna Girl over there?”
Iris shrugged. “Wouldn’t you want to be a chrome copy of her if it were an option?”
Skeez appeared to give the thought some serious consideration as he looked Iris up and down. “You know…I bet I’d never pay for a drink again in my life.”
“You’re all class, Skeez.” Jessica sighed.
“Figured my name gave that away.”
“They’re on their way,” Iris said as she leant against the wall in the small office. “You know…last time I was in here, I was just a scared kid inside your head, Jess.”
“Jess?” Skeez asked. “Thought you were Retyna Girl.”
“I’m a woman of mystery,” Jessica replied as she looked around the room. “You’re right Iris. You and I were still getting to know one another back then.”
“So you’re an AI?” Skeez asked, his gaze having remained on Iris throughout the duration of the conversation. “I was having trouble telling if you were just modded to the hilt, or if that was a mobile frame.”
“All AI, all the way,” Iris replied, and then nodded at Jessica. “Still might be more human than she is though.”
“Yeah, I’ve noticed. So you two are from Sabrina?”
“Sure are,” Jessica replied. “I’m the captain, Iris is the XO.”
Skeez chuckled and grinned at Iris. “Must be some ship.”
Iris shook her head and crossed her arms. “Sorry loverboy, We’re not looking for any more crew.”
“Damn…well, didn’t hurt to ask.”
“Never know,” Jessica said with a wink as she leant back in the chair and placed her feet on the desk.”
Skeez glanced at her with a look of worry on his face. “I think Thompson may not like you doing that.”
Jessica shrugged. “Thompson owes me.”
The white-haired man didn’t respond to that statement, and instead walked to the wall across from Iris and leant against it, then resumed staring at her.
“I’m not a piece of meat, you know,” Iris said through thinned lips.
Skeez nodded enthusiastically. “Oh, I know. That’s the best part. You’re all machine. One hundred and eight-seven centimeters of gloriously sexy machine.”
Iris glanced at Jessica. “Can I kill him?”
“No.”
“Damn.”
“Murderous, too! Oh Iris, we were made for one another. Say you’ll give ol’ Skeez a shot.”
Iris touched her thigh and a pistol slid out. “OK.”
Jessica shook her head as Skeez bit his lip gazing at Iris with wide-eyed lust.
“I guess we know how you got that name,” Jessica said with a sigh.
Suddenly everything about Skeez changed. His expression shifted from one of unbridled passion to cold cunning while his shoulders rolled back and his spine straightened.
He shifted his feet and slipped a hand into a pocket while the other cupped his chin.
“Well now, I was just seeing what you two were made of, mentally, that is. Glad
to know you’re cool under pressure.”
“Is that what that little show was all about?” Iris asked.
Skeez nodded. “You drew a weapon. I call that a revealing incident.”
Jessica sent a laugh across the Link.
“What is it?” Skeez asked.
“AST,” Jessica rose from behind the desk. “They’re moving in on the maglev station where our boys saved Thompson’s bacon.”
Skeez shook his head in disbelief. “Wow, they rarely come down into the warrens. I guess something must have piqued their interest.”
Jessica nodded absently, her thoughts turning to the families taking shelter in the stands. The last thing she wanted was a firefight taking place all around them.
“Hey, before everyone gets here,” Skeez said as his gaze slid from Iris to Jessica. “How did you get past all my security to get in here? I didn’t see you at all till you suddenly appeared in Thompson’s office.”
Jessica smiled, and then activated her flow armor’s stealth systems. She disappeared from view as did Iris.
“Shit,” Skeez muttered as he looked around the room. “You’re fucking invisible.”
Suddenly the two women reappeared right in front of him causing Skeez to shriek with alarm.
“That’s the point,” Jessica said with a wink before walking back to Thompson’s desk.
“Stars…don’t do that to a person,” Skeez muttered.
Neither woman responded, and the trio remained silent until a few minutes later when the door opened and Thompson stepped in.
“Oh, great,” he muttered. “Make yourself at home, Jessica.”
“Thanks, I will,” she replied with a grin. “You remember Iris, of course.”
Thompson glanced at Iris and shook his head. “Not like that, I don’t. Look, we don’t have much time. The Heegs will be here in fifteen minutes. We need to move our people. I don’t want them caught in a firefight,” he said, only echoing Jessica’s own concern.
She rose from behind the desk and gave Thompson a measuring look. That he’d changed over the decade since they’d parted ways was clear. He still had the traces of his usual haughty expression, but now it seemed to be leavened by a bit more maturity.
That a group of what had to be four hundred refugees looked to him for succor and safety also spoke volumes.
“Iris,” Jessica said. “What can you do to impede the Heegs?”
“Edgar and I are already in half the station’s systems. He’s shutting down doors and lifts and setting up choke points. I’ll get them on our combat net.”
“Good,” Jessica said with a nod. “Trevor, you out there behind this big lout?”
“Yeah,” Trevor’s voice came from the hall. “I’m just treating someone’s wounds so that you can beat the shit out of them.”
“Who?” Jessica asked as she gestured for Thompson to step aside. Once in the passageway her mouth fell open as she saw Trevor treating a gash on Camilla’s forehead.
Intellectually she knew there was zero chance that Trevor harbored even a single iota of attraction to Camilla, but the way the conniving bitch gazed up at Jessica’s husband caused her blood to boil.
Jessica was about to lay into Camilla and make her pay for getting her thrown into that cage match twenty years ago, but then she realized it really didn’t matter. Camilla was a terrible person, and she did the sorts of things that terrible people do. It didn’t mean that Jessica had to respond in kind.
“Hello Camilla,” Jessica said, still allowing a little bit of menace to slip into her voice. “Fancy seeing you here.”
The jet-black-skinned woman turned her head and her eyes narrowed as they settled on Jessica. “Damn…and here I’d hoped you were just a bad dream.”
“And you’re still a lovely person, I see.” Jessica shook her head as Trevor rose.
“Huh….” He seemed genuinely surprised. “I really thought you’d hit her. Took everything I had not to.”
Jessica stretched up and planted a kiss on Trevor’s cheek. “Well, if this jealous psycho hadn’t tried to get me killed because you made moon eyes at me, we’d never have wound up together.”
“I did not make moon eyes at you,” Trevor insisted.
Iris walked out of Thompson’s office and slid an arm around Trevor’s waist. “Don’t try to deny it. You were practically drooling. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.”
“Fuck.” Thompson shook his head. “I’d forgotten what being around you people is like.”
“ ‘You people’?” Jessica turned to give Thompson an appraising look. “You mean people who don’t bail on their crew?”
“OK,” Trevor placed a hand on Jessica’s shoulder, “let’s focus on our shiny new problems, not old ones. We need to move Thompson’s people. How close is Sabrina?”
“Two decks down, snugged up to airlock LWB-19-2A,” Iris supplied.
“Shit, really?” Skeez asked from where he stood at the doorway to Thompson’s office. “I have drones staring at that airlock. Inside and out. There’s no ship there.”
“Looks like you need better drones,” Iris said with a wink.
The group moved out into the arena, and Thompson addressed his people, informing them of their imminent departure. They seemed genuinely happy—which Jessica understood all too well—and Trevor took over organizing them for a rapid egress down to Sabrina.
“You sure you don’t want to come shoot some Heegs?” Jessica asked Trevor as he stood next to the passage leading toward Sabrina’s location.
Trevor shrugged. “I already got my shooting in today. Besides, I know a lot of these people. I want to make sure they get to the ship safely—and I also know some of them too well, and I want to be sure they don’t try to steal Sabrina.”
Jessica laughed and shook her head as she watched the families file past. “I’d like to see them try.”
“Well yeah, they wouldn’t manage it, not with all Sabs’s turrets. It would just be a pain in the ass, is all.”
“At the least you’ll have to keep them from the galley. Misha would flip if it got invaded by this lot.” Jessica planted another kiss on Trevor’s cheek. “OK, well, we’re going to go kill some He
egs and then see if we can find the AIs they captured.”
“Good hunting,” Trevor said before slapping Jessica’s ass.
Trevor barked a laugh as he joined the throng moving down the corridor. “Both, I guess.”
* * * * *
“Jessica, I’d like you to meet Jinx,” Skeez said in a rather fatherly tone as he gestured to the cargo-loading frame standing near the arena’s east exit.
“Nice to meet you, Jinx.” Jessica extended a hand. “I understand that you were with the ship that brought the AIs here.”
Jinx nodded stiffly, the mech frame’s head barely moving. “Yes, I was with the AIs they freed, but they needed help getting the ship past AST patrols and put me in this frame so that I could better interface with the ship and crew.”
“Damn…” Iris muttered as she looked the frame over. “That’s the best they had?”
The loader frame gave another nod. “It was. I know this body isn’t much to look at, but it’s been effective.”
“Stars, Jinx,” Iris placed a hand on the frame’s arm. “You have no idea what you’re missing. I’m bringing you a new body up from the ship. You’re not going to be much use trundling about in that thing.”
Jinx pivoted and stared at Iris. “You’re an AI!”
“Well, yeah.” Iris nodded. “There are more AIs on Sabrina’s crew than humans.”
“It’s a tie,” Jessica corrected. “Four humans and four AIs.”
Iris rolled her eyes. “Jess. We’ve been over this. You’re not human.”
“She’s not?” Jinx turned her frame toward Jessica and her optics swept up and down her body. “I’ll admit, I’ve never seen a glowing purple human before, but my experience is very limited.”
“I’m human,” Jessica insisted. “Well, it’s a minority majority.”
“That doesn’t even make sense,” Iris said.
