I didn’t get to ask him, though, because it was Mack who was standing over me when I woke up, and I recoiled so fast he almost didn’t grab me before I fell off the other side of the bed.
“Where the Hell do you think you’re going?” he asked, taking a firm hold of my shoulder, which was about when I realized who was standing in front of me.
“Mack,” I said.
At least this time, I didn’t throw up—although the results would have been entertaining.
“What’s up?”
“Briefing,” he said, and I rolled my eyes.
Of course, there was a briefing. What else would there be?
“When?”
He wrinkled his nose.
“After you’ve showered and changed,” he said, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
I slipped off the edge of the bed, and he stood back to give me room. I didn’t blame him. If he could smell what I could, he had every right to keep his distance.
“I’ll catch up,” he said. “I have to check on Tens.”
Tens. Right. I turned to see how Tens was doing. I half expected to see him still flat out and comatose, but he was slowly pushing himself upright, and rubbing his eyes.
“How are you?” I asked, and he gave me the finger.
I just laughed and headed for the door, happy to let Mack deal with him.
As I went, I linked into the ship’s system, and checked in on Delight and Pritchard. They were still locked in their rooms, and I had to wonder why. Pritchard seemed to be taking it well; he was running through training kata in the center of his room. He paused, when I looked in, glancing towards the camera, before continuing—and I wondered how he’d sensed me.
Delight was also running through training kata, and she flipped the camera the bird as I came by. Anyone would have thought she resented being locked down. I snickered, and left her to it. Maybe next time she wouldn’t have a hissy fit and shoot the guy with the only ship in-system willing to pull her ass out of a jam.
“I had it under control,” she said, and then left my head, again.
Right. Implant. Party Line. No nicking off when Mack and Odyssey needed me around. Fuck that for a joke. As soon as this mission was done, I was off, and they could both forget about me returning.
Delight was back in an instant, and she wasn’t playing nice. The footage from when Bendigo had shoved me into an airlock to get me to comply to a room change, rolled through my head, accompanied by the sensory input that locked away the safety of the ship around me, and had the air rushing past me to the depths of space.
I was on the floor with my hands over my ears, when Mack wrapped himself around me, and Tens kicked her out of my head. It still took him a while to turn the memory off, or for me to register Mack’s presence.
“You’re not going anywhere,” he said. “Not out an airlock, and not off on your own. Not until we fix this.”
I didn’t argue, and I didn’t raise my head. I just leant into his warmth, glad he was hiding my tears from anyone else using the corridor, and still feeling the echo of terror running through me. I was grateful for that... and then I heard him sniff, and felt his lips close to my ear.
“And you really need a shower,” he said, “because you reek.”
I wanted to tell him that he didn’t smell so good himself, but I realized I would be lying, because... and I cut that thought off with a firmness born of desperation. Tens snickered, but Mack just unwrapped himself from around me, and stood up. I had just started to straighten, when his hand tapped me on the shoulder, knocking me off balance, before grabbing my arm to haul me to my feet and steady me.
Honestly! He could have just asked.
“And you’d have said no,” he told me, and I had to agree. I really would have said no—and then I’d have gotten to my feet under my own steam, and done my best to get myself to my quarters, before the almost overwhelming sense of fear caught up with me.
“I’m going to murder Delight,” Mack said, but Tens intervened.
“Not yet,” he said, “but I think she’s earned an indefinite Time Out.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Tens directed our attention to our implants, and the security feed showing Delight’s room.
“I thought you were making a suggestion,” Mack said, as the feed highlighted a colorless gas rolling down around her from the vents.
Tens shrugged. He sounded completely unrepentant as he replied.
“Nope. Just hoping for forgiveness. She’s going into stasis as soon as it takes effect.”
“What do you mean?’ Mack wanted to know, and I was just as confused as he was. We could both see Delight lying motionless on the floor of her room.
Tens didn’t say anything, just showed us her vitals, including the brain activity that revealed Delight was very much awake. Well, dayum, I thought. The door to her quarters opened, and three, suited figures entered.
Delight bounced to her feet, and the figures ducked, letting a fourth figure fire over their heads and into Delight’s torso. I held my breath as Delight folded mid-leap, and hit the deck much harder than any conscious person should.
“Approach with caution.” Even over the security feeds, Doc’s voice was unmistakable, but I could see from the scan that Delight’s brain was heading for oblivion. No doubt Doc could see it, too; he just wasn’t taking any chances. Delight wasn’t an Odyssey legend for nothing.
This time, though, she was proving to be only human. I watched as Doc and his team lugged her down to the medical center and dumped her in a quarantine pod. When he’d arranged her carefully inside and sealed the pod, tight, Doc turned and looked up at the camera.
“You want her in stasis, or conscious enough to realize how much trouble she’s in.”
I tensed, but Mack was already aware.
“Put her into stasis,” he said. “I’m not playing around here. I don’t want her thinking up any creative bastardry and trying to implement it through the pod’s interface. I need her to not be a complication until the next part of the mission is over.”
22—After Shock
With Delight tucked securely away, I headed to my quarters, Mack hovering at my side until I reached the door. To my surprise, he didn’t just barge in, like he normally did, but stopped and propped himself on the doorframe. When I stopped and looked back at him, he asked, “Are you okay?”
Tens, standing behind him, had the same question written across his face.
“I’m fine,” I said. “When do you need me at the briefing?”
“Half an hour. Get something to eat on the way over.”
I was about to ask where, when Tens sent me the location—highlighted on a handy map.
“Thanks,” I said, and closed the door in their faces.
Honestly, you’d think I was breakable or something.
I was late to the meeting.
Very late.
Apparently, I am breakable.
I collapsed in the shower, and woke up back in the med bay, in bed.
Mack wasn’t very impressed with me, but Doc said flashbacks, especially those with sensory augments could do that. He also mentioned the san unit was a confined space—like the airlock, only smaller—and we were both idiots: me for going in there in the first place, him for not thinking of it, and Tens for not calling him when Delight hit me with the memory to start with. Okay, so the three of us were idiots. Whatever.
As far as Doc was concerned, we all had ‘shit for brains.’ Yeah. Thanks a lot, Doc.
“Don’t we have a briefing?” I asked, sitting up, and then hastily pulling the sheet around me—because I was dry, but I was still as naked as I had been when I’d stepped under the water.
“You missed the briefing.” Mack sounded annoyed.
“So, you’re going without me?” I asked, and Mack smiled.
“Oh, no,” he said. “You’re still going. You just get to follow my lead.”
I frowned.
“Wouldn’t it be
better if I had a briefing?”
Mack backed up a step, and cocked his head.
“Oh, I don’t know. I think it would be more interesting to see you go in blind.”
I swung my feet over the edge of the bed.
“In that case,” I said, trying to maintain my dignity, as I adjusted the sheet so it wouldn’t fall off, “I’d better go and get changed.”
Mack reached out to grab me, and I twisted under his hand and skipped out of range—no easy feat, with the sheet trailing past my ankles.
“You don’t know how you’re supposed to be dressed, or what equipment you’ll need,” he protested, but I kept going, barely stopping to let the door open wide enough to let me through.
“And whose fault is that?” I snapped back.
I was tempted to give him the finger, except that would have meant letting go of the sheet, which would have meant flashing a whole lot more skin to the passing crew than I was comfortable with. Hell! I wasn’t even comfortable in the sheet. I don’t know how long it had taken Mack and Tens to come find me, but I didn’t stink any more. I just needed some clothes.
Tens was snickering, as he followed me out, but, as far as I could tell, Mack hadn’t moved an inch.
“What do you want?” I snapped, when Tens came alongside, and he raised his hands as though in surrender.
“Briefing notes,” he said, and sent the relevant file to my implant. “I’ll catch you in the caf.”
I muttered something more closely resembling a ‘fuck you’ than a ‘thank you’, but I still think I would have punched him, if he’d touched me. I didn’t need any condescension, right now... and compassion would only result in me in tears. I just needed to go through the briefing notes, while I dressed, and then get my shit together before we had to go.
It didn’t take long. Tens had located where Andreus Corovan was holding Melari, and then tracked where the anti-virus had been sent. I was going into the labs of the Corovan pharmaceutical company, while Mack took a team down and pulled Melari out of the isolated mountain retreat in which Andreus had secluded her.
I was wondering how the young lord Corovan had managed to get any staff to work there, and then decided that he’d had to test the serum on someone, and added another mental black mark to his name. Not that he’d care, but it mattered to me. I had a better idea of exactly what he was—and right now, I wouldn’t want him stuck to the underside of my boot.
So, Mack to the mountain, Tens riding teleport duty on the ship, and me doing what I’d excelled in at training—retrieving stuff someone didn’t want me to retrieve. Good. Gotit... and then I saw where the pharma company was located, and sat down, hard, on the floor.
“No. Fucking. Way.”
Which, of course, is when Mack decided to walk through my door.
“Yes, fucking way,” he said, and stopped, as I scrambled to my feet. “You up to it, or not?”
I pulled the schematics up in my head, rotated the space station, and found the entrance I was looking for. Mack’s expression became doubtful.
“They’ll never expect it,” I told him. “Won’t see it coming in a month of Sundays.”
Mack continued to regard me with a dubious stare.
“What?” I asked, and then turned away from him, so I could find some clothes. Mission like this? I was gonna need...
I reached out along the comms signal to access the station’s systems. Figured it wouldn’t like being tickled, so added some code to randomize the route any tracking software might find, and looked for a suitable patsy. Oh, oh my... a wolf ship. And those boys were just famous for their sweet and gentle natures.
I snickered.
Sweet and gentle, right? NOT!
I wondered what look Mack’s face was wearing, now, and decided I didn’t want to know. Once I was sure my interference couldn’t be traced back to the Shady Marie, I wormed my way into the station security system, and piggy-backed onto the feed from their security cameras.
The concourse was full of your usual ship-types, with some security mixed right along in, but that wasn’t the section I was going to try to blend in with. It took a couple of goes, but I eventually found the station section where the pharma company was housed.
There was a concourse there, as well, and a small series of docking bays, most of which were private berths, reserved for company ships.
“You been given a slip, yet?” I asked, over my shoulder.
I still didn’t turn around; didn’t need to. I knew Mack hadn’t left, because I could still feel his presence behind me; it was like a small thundercloud brewing up a major storm... not that Mack was small, but, hey, you get the picture.
He didn’t answer right away, and I guessed he was communicating with Case, given the pilot was the first one who’d be likely to know. While I waited, I compared what I had in the wardrobe with what I saw on the monitors, pulling the appropriate pieces out and setting them aside.
The next problem I had was trying to work out how to fit them under the EVA suit without getting them rumpled enough to be noticed.
“You want to what?”
Well, so much for Mack keeping out of my head, I thought. At least the man had had enough sense not to nudge me while I’d been programming the routing diversion for the station’s countermeasures.
“Curious. Not stupid,” Mack told me. “Now, are you going to fill me in?”
“There’s a maintenance hatch beside one of the thrusters used for attitude adjustment,” I said, referring to my entry point into the station. “I’m going to EVA my way into that, and then disappear into the storage room just beyond it, and stash the EVA suit.”
I had dropped the sheet, and pulled on the civilian clothes I would wear around the station. It wasn’t easy, but I’d dressed in front of Mack before, so why should this time be any different? After all, it wasn’t like he was interested. I moved away from that thought, tracking through the job ahead.
“After that, I’m going to take that ventilation shaft,” and I highlighted the air ducts leading out of the storage closet and linking to the ventilation in the pharma company, “over to the lab where they’re keeping the serum. Once I’ve got that, I’ll either exit via the concourse, or head back to the suit, and EVA my way back out the maintenance hatch and into the ship.”
I finished buttoning the cream-colored blouse that fitted in best with the fashions worn by the pharma’s employees, and dragged my combat suit closer.
“You can’t wear that; you’ll never fit in!” Mack said, as I slid my feet into the legs, carefully tucking the hem of my office slacks down near the ankles—last thing I wanted was for the fabric to bunch, because those were a set of wrinkles I wouldn’t be able to hide.
“I’m going into a set of potentially hostile air ducts; I’m not doing it naked, and I’m not doing it without wearing something over my civvies. Those things need to be clean if I’m to blend in when I hit the lab.”
I kept dressing as I was talking, shrugging my way into the combat suit’s top half, and making sure I kept the sleeves of the blouse I had under it, flat.
“How are you even going to know which lab you need?”
“I’m going to hack the delivery manifests.” I finished getting dressed as I spoke, and started doing exactly that.
“They won’t be on the main station server,” Mack said, and I walked back to the closet to find my boots.
Like I needed to be told that.
I needed a pair that sat at the midpoint between the combat boots I had, and nice every-day or evening wear. Fortunately, the replicator was up to producing something that looked the part. Unfortunately, what it produced was nowhere near being the part.
“Nice,” I muttered, sounding anything but pleased, but I put them on anyway, and decided not to complain too loudly. At least they’d fit in the suit, no problems.
I discovered that most of the Corovan pharma’s computer system was air-gapped, but that the desk at reception was not. It couldn’t let
me into the research systems, but it could let me see what packages had arrived, and when, and what labs they’d been sent off to. It also let me see what classification each package had been given.
There were three that fit the criteria for the parcel I was looking for. Two were right across the hall from each other, but the third was two levels down and right out on the end of the arm.
“That’s the one,” Mack said, highlighting it in my implant.
“I’m gonna need a different maintenance hatch.”
“Are we going to discuss this in the caf, or do I need to bring a couple of spare chairs and the coffee down there?” Tens pinged our implants, and he didn’t sound too impressed—and now I remembered him saying he’d meet me.
“Almost done,” I said, as I looked over at Mack, and headed for the storage drawers under the wardrobe. He wasn’t too impressed as I started pulling stuff out of the compartment I’d built in the back.
“Weapons belong in the armory,” he said, but I ignored him, and pulled out the tools I’d slowly been collecting.
The look on his face as I tucked them in their allotted spaces around the combat armor would have been entertaining, if it didn’t mean he now knew what I spent my pay on, and where I stored it. He smiled as I thought it, and I frowned.
“What?”
“I’m in your implant, remember? I already knew about this stuff. What has always puzzled me is why you never take it with you when you run.”
Man had a point there, but I shrugged. Truth was, I couldn’t say why... unless I really thought about it, I guess, and I sooo wasn’t going there.
“Why not?” Mack pressed, and I slammed the last tool into its pocket, fastened it down tight, and stood up.
“Because it’s none of your goddamned business!” I snarled, and made for the door.
It opened as I reached it, and Pritchard had his hand curled in the throat line of my collar and was lifting me up, and stepping into the room even as I registered he was there.
23—Delight on Deck
“What the—” Mack started, as Pritchard grabbed me, but Pritchard continued with the lift, releasing me in a throw that propelled me into Mack’s chest. Mack went down, and Pritchard had drawn a small needler from inside his ship’s suit, and darted us before we could untangle ourselves.
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