Prime Deceptions

by Valerie Valdes

  So that was their deal. Where had they planned to take Miles? And why? She didn’t think they were working for The Fridge; if they were, they would have just grabbed him and left.

  “You’re as bad as her,” Jei said, gesturing at Eva.

  “Who the fuck are you, even?” Eva asked, then she raised a hand. “No, you know what, I don’t care.” To Miles, she said, “I’d threaten to give you a concussion, but you don’t have a functioning brain to damage. Talk or I’ll kick your ass so hard you’ll need a pit crew to help you shit.”

  Before Miles could choke out more than “Well, actually,” a pair of buasyr loomed behind him, carrying multiple stun batons among their four sets of arms.

  “Rubin Hjerte wants to speak with you,” one of them said. “All of you.”

  Eva glanced up at the still-empty balcony. “Does she now,” Eva replied. She quickly pinged Vakar and Pink with ((Stay close)) before moving to follow the guard.

  Miles, to his credit, didn’t say anything at all.

  Chapter 9

  Continue

  The two buasyr escorted them up a back elevator to a room with no balcony, and only one visible exit. It was furnished comfortably enough: chairs in various shapes to accommodate multiple physiologies, a gleaming metallic table where light refreshments had been laid out, even a holovid display that currently showed the pit. Pounder was being hauled away by uniformed attendants as the next group of fighters took their places.

  Miles stared at the feed sullenly, but then he’d been doing everything sullenly for the past few minutes. Jei’s brow was furrowed, but otherwise he wasn’t reacting. Nara was Nara; her expression was unreadable inside her armor, which she hadn’t taken off.

  Min and Sue had been rounded up as well, their smiling faces falling into nervous frowns as they clung to each other’s hands. Min tugged a braid while Sue bit her lip, glancing around like her head was on a swivel.

  Eva considered whether she might retract her helmet to sample the food, but decided against it. She did ping her location to Vakar and Pink in case they weren’t already tracking her.

  No response. The room was probably shielded somehow. That didn’t bode well.

  After exactly four minutes of stony silence, the door opened and Rubin Hjerte stepped into the room. Her coat reached the tops of her boots, and a hooked weapon hung from a chain on her hip. She stood about a hand taller than Eva, which was middling height for a human, but the sheer force of her personality made her seem like she was looking down on everyone else. It was a trick Eva had never been able to master, and one she envied deeply.

  Following after her were the red todyk Eva had seen earlier, and to her surprise, a familiar face.

  “Baldessare?” Eva blurted out. “What are you doing here?”

  Captain Orlando Baldessare was a kloshian, his face a network of scars that made Eva’s look mild by comparison. He wore a long coat, his hairlike tendrils white and kept long as well, and she had last seen him in the brig of a starship several galaxies away when he tried to kidnap an opera singer for his own amusement.

  Eva had not been amused. Also, she had gotten kidnapped by The Fridge shortly after, so she wasn’t super into the whole kidnapping concept in the first place.

  Captain Baldessare stared at her, unblinking. “Do I know you?” he asked.

  “I guess not,” Eva muttered. She was wearing a helmet that obscured her face, of course, but that didn’t mean he’d recognize her without it.

  Rubin Hjerte ignored their interaction, turning her attention to Miles. “Miles, my boy,” she said, her voice carrying the lilt of an accent Eva couldn’t place. “You assured me this would be an entertaining fight, but that you had no possible chance of losing.”

  “Well, actually, it’s not my fault,” Miles said bitterly. “These two were worthless, and I was having connection issues with Pounder for some reason.”

  Jei and Nara didn’t dignify his bullshit with a response. Good for them, Eva thought.

  Hjerte wandered over to the table, grabbing a grapelike magenta globe and popping it into her mouth. “A good leader takes responsibility for their crew’s success or failure,” she said.

  “Well, actually—”

  “Speak again and I’ll have your teeth for my chest,” Hjerte said, as mildly as if she’d mentioned the weather was cool. Mercifully, Miles obeyed, despite clearly still fuming and outraged at his own perceived victimhood.

  “Captain Eva Innocente,” Hjerte continued, now directing her piercing gaze at Eva.

  “Present,” Eva replied, keeping her posture and expression neutral.

  “I allowed this grudge match despite, or perhaps because of, your reputations.” Hjerte ate another globe, chewing thoughtfully. “Number One has been absent from the pits for several years, but her matches were quite impressive. It was a pleasure to watch her fight.”

  Min inched closer to Sue, eyes wide.

  Eva inclined her head. “The compliment is appreciated, I’m sure. I hope we didn’t cause you too much trouble.”

  “I earned more than I paid out,” Hjerte said. “I always do, or I’d be a poor excuse for an entrepreneur. One of the prop bets was particularly lucrative, thanks to you.”

  “Prop bets?” Eva asked.

  “Bets on specific events occurring within the match.” Hjerte’s lips turned up in the ghost of a smile that vanished quickly. “It was expected that Pounder would knock you out by tossing you over the fence. He’s done so before, with smaller bots. And some large ones as well.”

  Eva thought of the damaged wall outside and winced internally.

  “My problem is not financial,” Hjerte continued. “My problem is that you’ve damaged my champion’s bot, and his credibility, when he is meant to be fighting the main match of the night in a few hours.”

  “I see.” Eva pursed her lips. “And is there a solution to this problem?”

  “That is what we’re here to discuss.”

  Eva traded glances with Min and Sue, who had plastered on stoic expressions despite clearly being scared. They’d been in worse spots, but they were both usually surrounded by a few tons of metal or more, not exposed as they were here. It was usually Eva doing all the physical work of their rough lives, and she felt a pang of regret for dragging them into this in the first place.

  ((You there?)) she pinged at Pink and Vakar, but still no response.

  “Why don’t you let the winner fight in place of your former champion tonight?” Captain Baldessare said, gesturing at Min. “She could marshal the rest of his usual team, or all three of these fine ladies could return.”

  “Insufficient,” Hjerte replied. “I need a longer commitment from Number One. She’s my new champion by rights, and I’ll have her until she’s not a champion anymore.”

  “And the rest of us?” Eva asked.

  “That’s your own business.”

  Min’s terrified expression told Eva all she needed to know about what the pilot thought of the offer. She moved closer to Min and Sue, standing in front of them protectively.

  “Sorry, but no deal,” Eva said. “Number One isn’t interested, and we’ve got our own mission to complete. We wouldn’t even have fought in the first place if Erck hadn’t been such an unreasonable mojón de mierda, so take it up with him if you have a problem.”

  Hjerte smiled again, so slightly, the smile of someone who was unaccustomed to being spoken to in a particular way and whose preferred reaction was swift and merciless. And involving teeth, according to Min’s friend.

  “Mr. Erck will be dealt with,” Hjerte said. “And I’m afraid you’ve misunderstood the situation. Your pilot will remain here, and you will be escorted back to your ship, with or without violence, depending.”

  Eva squinted. “Depending on what?”

  “Whether I am inclined to be violent.”

  The buasyr guards in the room activated their stun batons, which whined to life. Eva had fought similar people and weapons before, but the odds
weren’t her favorite, especially if she had to protect Min and Sue at the same time. She also had no idea whether other hidden defenses in the room would intervene if she acted. And her injuries still hurt a hell of a lot from her recent pounding, pun intended.

  She’d have to leave Min here and figure out how to bust her out later. Assuming Hjerte decided to let them go peacefully after all. Not the best circumstances, but que será, será.

  ((Play along,)) she pinged at Min.

  ((Okay,)) Min replied. At least pings were working inside the room.

  Eva raised her hands in defeat. “I guess we don’t have a choice, then. I’d definitely like to keep my teeth. Sorry, Min.”

  Min nodded stoically. “I’ll do my best, Cap.”

  “With your permission, we’ll return for her when her term is finished?” Eva asked.

  Hjerte shrugged. “We’ll see what unfolds.”

  “Wait a tick,” Captain Baldessare said. “Innocente. I do remember you.” He grinned, exposing pointed teeth as the scars on his face bunched up. “You were in the brig on Justified Confidence, with me and Captain Sakai. The legendary smuggler.”

  Eva rolled her eyes. Of course now his memory would suddenly improve.

  “I saw the holovids later, you know,” he continued amiably. “Captain Sakai and I met for dinner at a lovely place on Theta Lomi 3. They had something called a lobster, and I had—”

  “That’s great,” Eva said. “I’m glad the two of you hit it off. I hope the holovids were exciting.”

  He wagged his head. “I was delightfully dashing, as one might expect. You, however . . . no wonder the head of security isolated you and your companion. I had not realized at the time how many truateg mercenaries you personally handled.”

  Hjerte’s smile disappeared again. She pinned Eva with her gaze, and it took every ounce of self-control Eva possessed not to squirm.

  “Is that so,” Hjerte said. The buasyr guards stepped closer, stun batons humming.

  “Whatever happened to your companion?” Captain Baldessare asked. “You two seemed quite attached to each other.”

  ((Take cover,)) Vakar pinged, his timing impeccable as always.

  “Ask him yourself,” Eva said, and dove under the table, dragging Min and Sue with her.

  The side of the building crumpled inward, sending pieces of the walls flying into the room. A ship hovered beyond the newly created hole, brown-hulled and small enough that it was likely a local cruiser with no FTL capability. A door opened near the bottom and a ramp extended out, until it was a few meters away from where Eva crouched. Pink appeared in the doorway, firing her scoped pistol wildly into the cloud of dust.

  “That’s my podship!” Captain Baldessare shouted, his voice half-choked by debris.

  “Gracias, muy amable,” Eva said, hustling Sue and Min up the ramp.

  Hjerte’s chain weapon wrapped around Eva’s arm, jerking her away from the ship. Eva immediately shifted to grab the chain, pulling back with the enhanced strength of her Protean armor even as her chest sang with pain.

  Hjerte didn’t budge. Probably wearing her own enhancements under the coat, Eva thought. They played a silent tug of war briefly, Eva’s armor straining to maintain its force.

  “I’ll have that bot fighter,” Hjerte said. “She’s wasted on you.” A shot from Pink bounced harmlessly away a few centimeters from her face.

  “Eat a bag of teeth,” Eva said, and activated her palm propulsion units. Within moments the chain melted away, and she threw the hook at Hjerte, who ducked sideways.

  A quick glance told her that Miles was gone, along with Nara and Jei. She thought she saw a hint of armored fingers slipping over the edge of the hole in the wall, and cursed inwardly. Now she’d never be able to beat the information about Josh out of that comemierda.

  A problem for another time. First, she had to escape. Eva raced up the ramp into the waiting ship as Pink continued to provide cover fire.

  As soon as she was inside, the door closed and the ship accelerated away from the warehouse. The interior was absurdly lush, all handcrafted paneling and curves instead of corners, with its own private bar along one wall and a purple sofa-like bed, or bed-like sofa; Eva couldn’t decide which, but its purpose was easy to guess. There was even a full-sensory memvid kit tucked into its own alcove, and an array of what Eva was prepared to politely call “toys” arranged in a display case, both within reach of the sofa-bed.

  Eva didn’t stop to get comfortable, instead barging into the cockpit where Vakar was piloting the pleasure vessel. There was only one seat, so she stood behind him and gripped the back of it while she swayed with the motion of their flight.

  “Thanks for the rescue, hero,” she said, patting his arm with her still-gauntleted hand.

  “I apologize for the delay,” he replied.

  “You had to hack their commwall, steal a ship, find us, and bust us out. As far as I’m concerned, I’m lucky I still have all my teeth.”

  “I also retrieved the robot and mech from where they were being sequestered.” Vakar paused. “Were your calcified jaw structures in peril?”

  Eva grinned. “You have no idea. Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  They flew toward the spaceport, the spire of Evident Academy piercing the sky like a gleaming ivory horn, and Eva wondered what the hell they were going to do next, now that their only lead had fallen through.

  Vakar ditched the stolen ship at the spaceport, after which Min reconnected to La Sirena Negra and they left Abelgard as quickly as her drives could manage. Sue was overjoyed at seeing her mech again, though she seemed even more pleased that Goyangi more or less belonged to Min now. Still, she immediately set herself up in the cargo bay and began repairing the damage to both units, with help from her squad of tiny yellow bots and with the cats diligently pretending to ignore her. Min hovered around her, chattering excitedly about their victory.

  Eva, meanwhile, under Pink’s supervision and with Vakar hovering nearby, had grabbed the briefcase for the Protean armor and attempted to follow the instructions for taking it off. After placing her hand in the appropriate position and issuing the mental command, she waited, as unmoving as possible so the suit wouldn’t liquefy her organs or whatever.

  “Error 13,” the suit said, as well as popping up a visual message on the HUD. “Command failure.”

  “Qué coño?” Eva muttered, repeating the command. The same error message occurred.

  “What?” Pink asked. “What happened?”

  “It’s not working.” Eva tried one more time, with the same result. Vakar smelled like tar and incense.

  “Hey, Cap,” Min asked. “Where are we headed?”

  Eva huffed in exasperation. “Stay in the system for now. Pink and I need to talk it over.”

  Pink peered into the optical cameras of the suit as if she could see inside. “Any news from your mama?”

  “Nada.” Eva went through her q-mail one more time, but there was nothing waiting from her mom. There also hadn’t been a voice message with any more information about Josh’s trail. She tried calling again, but all she got was a generic “Please leave your name and briefly describe the reason for your call,” at which point she hung up because she didn’t feel like talking to another machine.

  “Error 13,” the suit quietly insisted. “Command failure.”

  “I heard you the first time,” Eva snapped. “Me cago en la mierda.”

  “You will have to remove the suit manually,” Vakar said, his smell intensifying.

  “Claro que sí, mi vida,” Eva retorted. “Pero no quiero empezarme con esta puñeta—”

  “Maybe we should go to Garilia,” Sue said.

  Sue hadn’t spoken loudly, but her words seemed to echo in the cargo bay as if she’d shouted them. Eva stiffened, her shoulders hunching involuntarily as she turned to face the engineer.

  “No,” Eva said.

  Sue flipped the faceplate of her welding helmet open, her brow furrowed. “Why not?”


  “Why would we?” Eva asked, but she wasn’t a fool. Her mind had already spun the same web of connections that Sue proceeded to tick off, but she distracted herself by opening the file with the manual armor-removal instructions and beginning to scroll through them.

  “Well, everywhere we’ve gone so far, that Pod Pals company was doing stuff at the same time Josh was there,” Sue said, gesturing with her soldering gun.

  “The same could be said about Crash Sisters, and that was a bust,” Eva retorted. A pair of cats twined around her ankles and she shooed them away.

  “Leroy didn’t go to Abelgard,” Pink reminded her. Eva scowled, not that anyone could see it under the armor. She continued perusing the instructions, which were apparently in a language that didn’t translate fluidly to any of the ones she spoke fluently. She had a feeling “disconnect elbow with wrench” wasn’t entirely accurate.

  “The person in charge of that company went to Evident Academy with Josh, too,” Sue continued. “So they knew each other. I don’t think he knew your friend Leroy or anyone else in Crash Sisters.”

  Their new villain for the season was a xana, Eva remembered, to her chagrin. Leroy had said there was talk of product promotion, hadn’t he? For the Pod Pals?

  Ball Buddies, she thought, chuckling inwardly despite the rising sense of anxiety making her neck hot and spreading to the rest of her body. Another cat rubbed against her boot, its soothing empathy attempting to counter Eva’s surge of emotion.

  “It’s the only lead we have,” Pink said quietly. She laid a hand on Eva’s shoulder and Eva shrugged it off.

  “No,” Eva said, more forcefully. “Garilia is cycles from the nearest Gate, and we don’t have time to go chasing after another dead end.”

  Sue’s faceplate fell and she propped it back up. “Maybe we could try to contact that president person? What was her name?”

  “Lashra Damaal,” Vakar said. Eva wished for a moment that his memory wasn’t so good.

  “If she’s president of some big company, we’re not going to be able to just send her a q-mail and get a straight answer,” Eva said. “She’s probably got ten layers of software and underpaid employees sorting through whatever goes to her public account.” She scrolled back to the start of the armor instructions and tried to read them again, not that she was retaining a single word.