Scent of Treachery

by Smith, T. L.

  “This is Nick.” Dolan’s voice responded. “ETA in ten minutes.” The message repeated ship wide. A light flashed towards the station, from one of the bots. “Message received on the Dolan 4.”

  “Then we’re as ready as can be for whatever comes.” Breeze fingered the pistol on her hip, the only person typically expected to carry a weapon.

  “You know they’re going to take that the first chance they get.”

  “Counting on it. I have two backups.” Breeze let go of her weapon. “Do you need anything before they get here?”

  “Hope that I’m wrong and this is over.” Jayda could feel Breeze staring at her. She returned a glare. “What?”

  “It won’t be over, either way. Say these people are the bad guys and we get the upper hand. There’s still whoever started this. If these guys are the real GR crew that means there’s still someone else waiting to hit the station. Nick tried to tell you that. Someone’s out to get you. You can’t stay here!”

  “If all they want is the perfume, they can have it.” Jayda snapped, but deep in her stomach a knot formed. “I can’t leave the station.”

  Breeze rolled her eyes. “I get this is your home, but your life is worth more than all this steel and plastic. If your own people don’t order you out of here, Nick will yank you off this station himself.”

  “He needs to mind his own business.”

  “Lady, you’re crazy! I’ve got final checks to do.” Breeze moved away talking into her comm in low hissing tones.

  Jayda wrinkled up her nose at the pilot’s back, then realized she faced a surveillance node. She gave it the same sneer, before turning to face the docking portal. From the computer terminal she watched the approach of the GR vessel, her uneasiness only growing.

  She opened a comm-link. “GR8541, you’re inside my surveillance net, but coming in too hot. I already got one damaged ship to deal with. Slow it down!”

  “This is GR8541. Slowing approach speed. Sorry, Dr. Maldonado, our pilot forgets protocol after a long stint out here. He’s really quite good, just hard on the stick.”

  The computer was already recalculating trajectory and speed, slowing for a proper docking. “That’s better. Have him calibrate to my approach signal. Once you’re past the last marker my system will bring you in.”

  Jayda muted the comm-link, turning to Breeze, squinting.

  Breeze didn’t need to be lectured. “No Alliance pilot forgets protocol, especially a GR pilot. They know better than anyone to come in slow until they map local hazards.”

  “Even then.”

  “I agree, but we’re still speculating.”

  “I’ve had hot-shots to break in.” Nick kicked in.

  Jayda shrugged, focusing again on the incoming ship. Maybe she was being paranoid. The ship was at the last buoy, the two computers syncing up for final approach.

  Breeze joined her at the terminal watching for a moment, then nudging her with an elbow. “If we all have tells, you’re showing yours.”

  “What?”

  “Biting your lip. I’m surprised you have one left after gnawing on it the last five days.” Breeze smiled as Jayda covered her mouth with fingers. She leaned in close. “If it’s any consolation, I’ve never seen Nick so… perplexed either.”

  “I’m not perplexed!” Jayda hissed back at Breeze. She stared at the woman, resisting the urge to roll her lip between her teeth again. “Focus!”

  Gritting her teeth she watched the GR vessel being manipulated to align their docking portals. Magnetic clamps extended out around the portal to grasp the ship once it was close enough. The computers lined up the two docking rings and secondary clamps latched on, securing the ship to the station’s hull.

  A pressurization tube extended to the small ship, forming a third seal. Lights made their transition from red to yellow, then green as the tube was oxygenated.

  Jayda and Breeze inhaled in unison. “Docking protocols are green.”

  A pasty-white face appeared in the portal on the other end of the tube. “We have green lights too, Doctor.”

  “Great!” Jayda’s hand hovered over the door release. Every instinct in her screamed to hit the clamp release instead. Even a nudge from Breeze didn’t help.

  “Permission to board?” The face in the portal frowned, and twitched.

  “Oh, yeah, sorry. My tech was chatting in my ear.” She released the door and stepped back as her portal cycled open. The knot in her stomach wanted to throw up the coffee she’d only gotten a few sips of.

  The man she’d only seen through comm-link took the few steps through the tube to her deck. Jayda bowed her head. “Again, sorry for the delay. He was assuring me there were no fluctuations in the energy leakage.”

  “Yes…” Capt. Snead half-jerked his head towards the derelict Dolan 4. “…we picked up the disturbance, but she seems a safe enough distance.”

  “She is.” Breeze stepped forward. “If there’s any changes the station tech can jettison the ship completely.” She held out her hand. “I’m Capt. Breeze. Thank you for responding to our mayday.”

  Capt. Snead took her hand, shaking it. “Happy to be of service.” He rolled his pale cold eyes towards Jayda, smiling a bit too broadly. “If I’d known there were two beauties out here in distress, I’d have had the engineer pushing us to top speed.”

  Breeze gave his hand another shake, before extracting her fingers from a grip that had already lasted longer than politeness dictated. “I’m hoping you can take some of our wounded out of here, particularly the two patients in stasis. The sooner we get them to a real hospital, the better.”

  The odd man seemed to remember his reason for being here, nodding solemnly. “Yes, I’m sure we can take as many as we need to.” He looked over his shoulder to the tube. “Our medic wants to evaluate your patients, make sure we get them out of the… harm’s way.” He shifted out of the portal. “Hendrix should be here any second.”

  The thudding of boots announced someone approaching the other portal. A heavy step, not betrayed by the large man who instinctively ducked his head as he stepped over the threshold. He stood up, well over six-foot tall and brawny. Unlike Snead, he’d seen sunlight recently, there was a faint trace of a tan line along his temples from sunglasses.

  He bowed his head to Breeze, then to Jayda. “I’m Hendrix, the ship’s medic. You have wounded?”

  “We do!” Breeze answered. “Multiple burn and smoke inhalation injuries.” She held her hand out to invite him to walk with her and started towards the med lab. “We have two in stasis and several others that would benefit reaching a medical facility sooner than the evac ship will get here.

  The medic had fallen in with Breeze, leaving Snead with Jayda. She felt him watching her as she shut the portal. She pretended not to notice and took the extra strides to catch up with Breeze.

  From behind she watched the big man’s stride. Confident, though like Snead he drifted a bit in the lighter gravity. The GR captain bumped into her a few times. “Sorry, it takes a few minutes to adjust. Why are you not at full-g?”

  “Dr. Taylor’s orders.” Breeze answered over her shoulder. “Less pressure for the burn wounds.” The medic silently nodded. A few more steps led them into the med lab.

  Snead stopped at the doorway, counting the beds. “You already shipped out the worst patients?”

  “On our shuttle, but two more patients went critical after they left.” Dr. Taylor stepped away from one of the beds. “Thank you for responding so quickly.”

  “Looks like you were lucky to be close to the station.” The medic went to Taylor, extending his hand. “Hendrix, Dr. Taylor. Want to show me your worst and we’ll see what we can do?”

  “Absolutely.” She took the medic to the stasis tubes, but warned him off them. Disturbing their lowered metabolic rates could kill them. Any medic knew as much. Anyone living in space knew that rule. She led him to the back, to the real patients.

  To Jayda he seemed appropriately attentive, looking
at the wounds and asking questions. He’d need to know what each patient needed. Breeze came to stand next to Snead, watching the medics work.

  “I agree with Hendrix. You were lucky this happened here, not out in the cold.”

  Breeze gave a realistic shudder to Snead’s comment. “True enough. Dr. Maldonado and Nick were right on top of us, giving us refuge, giving us access to their robots to try stabilizing my ship.”

  She leaned around to give Jayda an awkward smile. “Still apologizing for the damage. We weren’t as graceful with tugging the ship back to the station as they are and had a little accident.”

  “Told you. No harm done.” Jayda snipped back. “Can we get on with this? I have an experiment running in the lab.”

  The medic looked up from the patient he was examining, easing the bandage back into place. “Just a moment.” He removed his gloves, rolling them into each other, then into his pocket. “Is this everyone?”

  Taylor glanced at Breeze and sighed. “A few more walking wounded, but I’ve ordered them to a sedated bed-rest so they’ll be healed up sufficiently when the evac ship arrives.” She gestured to Jayda. “Dr. Maldonado’s been helping with the wounded, but it’s still exhausting. I’m sure she’d appreciate a few less of us.”

  Hendrix gave a squinty smile. “Well, let’s see if we can… accommodate you.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Hendrix nodded to the stasis tubes. “We’ll get them aboard and move to the more serious patients. If you’d like to help Dr. Taylor prepare them?”

  Jayda nodded, but her eyes were on his hand. He was rubbing his fingers together. He must have gotten some of the ointment on them, or he had his own nervous habit. His smile felt fake. Then there was Snead, who seemed unable to steady himself, nudging up against her repeatedly.

  “Sure! I can do that.” Anything to get away from the creepy ghost. She half-expected to feel his hand on her ass any minute. “Capt. Breeze, if you’ll escort them back to the docking bay.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” She tapped her comm. “Lewis, are you in the middle of something right now?”

  He answered after a moment, his voice muffled. “I am, Captain. Sealed up in docking bay 2 fixing the dent we made.”

  “Oh, that’s right!” Breeze smiled innocently at Snead, taking a step away. Maybe because he kept rubbing up against her too. “Forgot I had you on that. Proceed.” She glanced over her shoulder at Jayda. “Your guy’s monitoring the Dolan for fluctuations, so that leaves just me to help with the move.”

  One of our walking wounded stirred, the one Jayda dabbed with the ointment. “Cap, I’m sure I can help out.” He acted like he was going to get up.

  “NO! You already strained yourself this morning.” Taylor was there to put a hand on his ‘unwounded’ shoulder. “I ordered down time and I mean it.”

  “That’s all right!” Snead and his pasty white face stepped away from me. “We got enough crew.”

  Hendrix joined Snead. “And I’ll make sure I have space cleared for them.”

  “The sooner the better.” Again Jayda let the snippiness slip out, intentionally.

  “Yes, ma’am!” Breeze said as sharp. Anyone listening would think there was tension between these two women. Probably helped that there was.

  Taylor resisted a smile as Breeze led the men out of the med lab. Jayda peeked over her shoulder. “Are they for real?”

  “He knew his medicine.” Taylor whispered.

  “I don’t know. I still got a nasty feeling.”

  “Yeah, that medic gave me one too, right there at the end.” The fake patient chimed in, nodding at Taylor, then to Jayda. “Didn’t like how he said he’d ‘accommodate’ you.”

  “Yeah, I picked that up too!” The other fake patient rose up on his elbows. “If I was a girl and someone grinned at me that way, I’d want to be armed.”

  “Could just have been bad manners.” Jayda shook her head. “Let’s keep to the plan. Tubes first.”

  “Agreed!” A voice came through the earpiece on Jayda’s comm. “They’re at the docking bay and leaving the ship.”

  Taylor went over to the tubes, giving several taps to warn the men inside they were about to be transferred. She got the same rhythm taps back.

  If this was legit, they’d be moved and immediately plugged into a power supply, per protocol, to preserve the long-term batteries for a real emergency. If not plugged in, they’d proceed with their secondary plan, exiting the tubes and standing by for trouble.

  Jayda moved to the back of the room, to the real patients. “How are you doing? Do you think you’ll be able to do this if it goes wrong?”

  A young woman who looked fresh out of school patted the side of her bed. She pulled off her oxygen-pak. “We ran through it a few times. Dolan Co makes sure we’re trained in piracy before we come out.”

  If not for the nods from older patients, Jayda would think she was over-confident. “Right, then be ready.”

  Nick distracted her. “Six men just entered through the portal. Breeze bringing them your way.”

  “Acknowledged.” She returned to the stasis tubes. In just another minute Breeze led the GR crewmen into the med lab. They paused, looking at all the patients staring back at them. One of the men in the back got fidgety.

  Taylor stood between the stasis tubes. “Your medic Hendrix wants to start with these two. Get them loaded and hooked up to auxiliary power, then we’ll start on the other patients.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” An old scraggly man turned to the others. “You two take that tube. You and you, that one.”

  He stepped out of the group as they broke into teams. “Doc, our medic asked about medicine and, if you can spare it, food. We're running a bit low on inventory. If we get those items taken care of, I can have all my people available for patient transfer.”

  “Oh, yes. I didn’t think of that.” Taylor looked to Jayda. “What can we do? Most of our medical supplies are exhausted.”

  Breeze joined the men maneuvering the stasis tubes. “And our rations are still on the ship, probably too contaminated if we could get to them.”

  Jayda grumbled a bit to herself, before speaking up. “This station is designated an auxiliary emergency depot. I have sufficient food rations. As for medical supplies, take all the bronchials for the respiratory problems.”

  She looked to the leader of this pack. “As far as any other medicine, we don’t have much left, mostly pain meds. The best your medic can do is keep the wounds clean and address the pain.”

  “Also depends on how many patients he can take.” Taylor chimed in.

  He frowned. Jayda could see him cock his head, just like Breeze had done. He was getting instructions through a comm implant. “Two in stasis. They don’t need anything. We got capacity for nine people, after tripling our crew up.”

  “That fits the payload description for a GR ship.” Nick whispered in her ear. “So far they’re doing everything right.”

  “Dr. Taylor, if you’ll pack up the medical supplies…” She looked around the room at the patients. “…I’ll deal with the rations.” She shifted to the remaining man backed up against the wall, the fidgeter. “You can come with me to the storage bay.”

  The pack leader nodded to fidget-boy. “Kid, go with the nice lady and see what she’s got to spare.”

  If they had to split up, Jayda could handle the boy. She let out a sigh as they headed away from the med lab. She didn’t have to stretch faking her annoyance. “You’ll have to pull inventory yourself.”

  “Yes, ma’am.” Fidget-boy avoided eye contact.

  “Breeze is at the portal. One tube is aboard, second one waiting their turn.” Nick whispered in her ear. “This should take a little while, time enough to get supplies together. Maybe a chance to pry a bit out of this kid.”

  Jayda glanced over her shoulder at fidget-boy. He followed quietly, virtually tip-toeing, which only grated on her nerves worse. “So, kid, got a name?”

  He twitched and stuttered.
“Ummm, ah, yeah. Sorry, Denny. I’m Denny.”

  “How long you been out, Denny?” She put a bit of emphasis on his name.

  “Out? Out of what?”

  Jayda reached the storage compartment for the food supplies, turning back on the boy. “Out in the field.” She looked at him closer. “How old are you?”

  “Ahhh, twenty… twenty…” He stammered, staring down at his feet. Was he stuttering naturally, trying to make something up, or both? “…four. Twenty four!”

  If he was twenty-four, she’d been isolated so long she forgot what that age looked like. If he was legit the GR was desperate for recruits, or he was special in some way. “Denny, how long have you been out here, with GR?”

  “Oh, not long. First time.”

  Still no eye contact and two syllable answers. There certainly wasn’t any threat from a boy too scared to even look at her. “Well, it gets easier.” She opened the storage bay and the lights came on automatically.

  Denny came in after her, his mouth opening slightly as he stared at the compartments. “All this is food supplies?”

  “Yes.” Jayda went to the terminal. “I have to keep an inventory on hand for emergencies, such as this.” She started tapping in instructions. “General rations, nine people, one week and... Your boss said you were running low. I can send additional supplies. How many of you are there?”

  “Good girl!” Nick whispered in her ear.

  “Ummm, ahhh…” Denny was stuttering again. “Twelve.”

  “Twelve.” That sounded about right. She plugged in the number. “Here we go.” Container lights started blinking in the upper levels of the storage racks. Sealed compartments hissed as vacuums were released. “Oh, sorry.” Jayda shrugged. “The containers are picked according to expiration dates.”

  Denny was looking up at the racks. “How do I get up there?”

  Jayda laughed, softly. “That much I can help with.” Another order into the computer and a rack-lift rolled itself out of a corner bay, sliding down a track along the bottom of the containers. It slid to a smooth stop in front of Denny. “Hop on.”