“It is fully disinfected and most deep structural damage has been repaired,” Jelly Bean replied. “I believe what is left can be defined, in primitive human terms, as a boo-boo.”
Jelly Bean began to make her way out after Olofi. “I will make aesthetic corrections later,” she said before the door closed behind her.
“So, uh…” Bentley shifted her weight from one foot to another, the silence between the two of them feeling all the more awkward now that they were left alone in the med bay together. “I guess I feel like I ought to, you know…”
“Huh?” Loco gave her an irritated look and took a sip from him drink. “I know what?”
“Thank you,” she finally got the words out. “For taking that shot for me.”
Loco winced at this and looked down at his feet, as though trying to avoid Bentley’s gaze once she’d said this.
“Don’t bother. I just forgot that my shoulder plate was busted. I saw a shot and you were in the way, that’s all,” Loco grumbled quietly.
“Oh…” Bentley said. She wasn’t sure if she believed any of that, but decided to let him have whatever excuse he wanted. “Well, thanks all the same,” she said. “You might have saved my life. I would be dead now.”
“And then the whole mission would have been fucked, wouldn’t it?” Loco commented, looking back up at her. “If we’d lost the sword and you took one in the head on the way out, this whole thing would have just been a big pointless joyride. I’d rather take one for the team than walk away empty handed.”
“I guess so,” Bentley humored him with a slight smile.
“Besides,” Loco’s voice became more even and he took another gulp from his drink. “This whole thing was the first mission they let me plan in a fuckin’ year. If I’d let you die on it, I’m pretty sure Shango would never let me live it down. So I guess thank you for not getting your head blown off.”
“Well, you’re definitely welcome for that,” Bentley answered. “Pretty sure that’s always going to be on my daily to-do list from now on.”
“Lists are for losers, anyway,” Loco said. “Real warriors improvise.” The way he smiled when he said it made Bentley feel like he was referring to her somehow. He swigged down the rest of his drink.
“I’ll try to keep that in mind,” Bentley replied.
“Well,” Loco said, wiping some foam from his lips. “Olo’s shitty synth booze isn’t doing anything for me. I’m gonna find out where Jelly hid the tequila this time.” He hopped from the table, his injured arm hanging relaxed at his side. “Try not to get kidnapped again while I’m not looking. I don’t have another rescue in me today. You’re on your own if you somehow piss off another evil empire in the next twenty-four hours.”
“Well, my whole afternoon is ruined now,” Bentley quipped back with mild sarcasm. “Way to go, dick.”
“Watch yourself,” Loco said while the doors opened for him. “Still haven’t decided not to space you, you know. We’ll see.”
He walked down the hallway and the doors shut, leaving Bentley alone in the med bay.
+++
Malleghan’s Chamber, Dracon System, Klaunox Sector
Amroth found himself again standing at the far end of Malleghan’s hall, marching down it ceremoniously with his honor guard in tow. They looked disappointingly pathetic; so many of them had taken part in the skirmish aboard the Geburah that many of them still sported bruises on their faces, broken limbs that had been crudely treated, or blaster wounds that made the timing of their stride off by a few seconds.
Amroth was not concerned with this in the way he normally might have been, however. His focus was on the sword he held in both hands, on display. The memory of when it had come alight was still fresh in his mind, and he still felt the echoes of the anticipation he’d experienced in that moment.
Malleghan had that same sour, wrathful expression on his face even as Amroth held his prize on display. Amroth took a knee, holding the sword by its scabbard, point down, presented it to his master.
“Reporting,” Amroth said. “The Sword of the Crossroads is now in our possession.”
The sword slipped from Amroth’s hands, shimmering under the influence of Malleghan’s throne’s machinations, and it slowly levitated upwards until it came eye-level with him up there.
“I seem to recall, Amroth,” Malleghan said with a slow, deliberate cadence, “telling you that the sword was not our concern. I don’t believe I misspoke, did I? Was I unclear?”
“You were not, my Lord,” Amroth admitted. “I understand Legba is our priority. However, he continues to show no presence in any system of our influence. All of our analysts have concluded that the energy readings we have detected came from the sword. Our readings when it activated briefly on the Geburah were able to corroborate this.”
“Hm,” Mallegan’s frown flatlined, as though this had somewhat appeased him. “We’ve acquired some valuable information, in spite of you and your men’s pathetic performance against three men.”
“It was not merely three men,” Amroth said in protest.
“What they once were is irrelevant!” Malleghan yelled down at him. “You have been provided with the galaxy’s most sophisticated military resources, enough to deal with any mortal foe. And that’s all they are anymore: pathetic mortals.”
“If you would like me to track them down and seek vengeance,” Amroth plainly replied. “I will see the Chesed annihilated at your orders.”
“No,” Malleghan had the sword rest at his side with a wave of his hand. “The fact that the sword activated in the girl’s hands confirms she was involved somehow with Legba. And it may leave us an alternative if he continues to elude you as he has.” Malleghan’s judgment and contempt dripped from every syllable of those last few words.
“We also know the angels are willing to protect her,” Amroth stated. “For whatever reason, they undertook considerable risk in retrieving her.”
“Their actions or intentions are of little concern,” Malleghan said dismissively. “Legba is still the only one that truly matters. He’s the key.”
“We are unfortunately without further leads regarding his disappearance,” Amroth said.
“I am aware of this,” Malleghan answered with deliberate scorn. “But however that girl is connected to him, that is what you must now determine. What he seems to have entrusted her with… Even he would never do something like that so recklessly.”
“Yes, my Lord,” Amroth said. “I will have an investigation into the girl extend immediately.”
“And keep track of her, too,” Malleghan said. “When the time comes to open the Crossroads, it seems likely we may now need her. Extend her tracking device’s signature to my private corteX so I can monitor it at my own leisure.”
“Her tracking device?” Amroth asked. “I was unaware she had been fitted with one.”
A low growl rumbled in Malleghan’s throat while his face contorted with poorly suppressed rage.
“Are you telling me,” Malleghan’s words crawled, “that in all the time she was in your captivity, you didn’t have the most basic intelligent impulse to have her fitted with a tracking device?”
Amroth was silent for a moment.
This was not unusual from him, but this time was different. Realizing his failure to fit the girl with a tracking device rendered him speechless. It hadn’t even occurred to him. Then again, he’d had no intention of her having any chance of escape.
“No, my Lord,” Amroth finally admitted. “I saw no reason to do so.”
Malleghan’s chair began to descend, bringing his wrathful gaze closer to the men kneeling before him.
“This girl was our only connection to Legba,” Malleghan coldly said. “You had her in custody with a full interrogation team on hand. And you, Amroth, saw no reason to place any kind of tracking on her?”
Amroth looked up now to meet Malleghan’s eyes, unflinching at the palpable fury building in them. “No, my Lord,” he repeated. “I was pla
nning on exterminating her once we had acquired the information necessary. To attach any devices would have been wasteful.”
“Wasteful,” Malleghan echoed his subordinate sardonically, then shouted it down at him. “Wasteful!?”
A loud roar emanated from him, and Malleghan’s bellowing rage echoed so loudly through his chamber that felt like it could have echoed across the furthest reaches of Dracon Station.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Mess Hall, Aboard the Chesed, Klaunox Sector
Bentley was making her way to her room when she heard voices coming from the mess hall. The doors to it remained open, but nobody seemed aware of her presence. She stopped, just out of sight.
“You’re supposed to be resting,” Jelly Bean chided Loco, who was leaning back in one of the stools carelessly.
“What, you actually expected me to just hang out in one of those sterile med bay beds until you got back?” Loco replied. “Besides, you’re the one who said it’s just a boo-boo now, right?”
“Boo-boo?” Olofi said from the other end of the mess hall. “That’s your diagnosis Jelly? You’ve got access to zetabytes of medical text, and that’s what you come up with?”
“I was trying to remain colloquial for Loco’s sake,” Jelly Bean said. “My intention was for him to understand that his wound did not require further immediate treatment, not to indicate he should be disregarding it entirely.”
“I’m not disregarding it!” Loco answered her. “But I’m not gonna sit around whining about it, either. And anyway, you left before I could get you to fetch the real medicine.”
“Understood,” Jelly Bean said before she moved towards the bar. Some sounds of clattering glasses rang out and she retrieved a bottle of tequila that she placed in front of Loco.
“Thanks a million, Doctor Jelly,” Loco said with a snicker while he took the bottle for himself.
“You do realize that tequila is not recognized as medicine, anywhere, yes?” Shango said.
“Sure as hell makes me feel better,” Loco said while pouring out a shot.
“Actually, most distilled alcohol and its development in primitive societies can be traced to medicinal use,” Jelly Bean said. “And its disinfectant qualities alone due to its desiccant properties-”
“Noted, Bean,” Shango cut her off.
“Hah! Looks like the master just got schooled!” Loco laughed and slammed back the shot.
“The history of ancient human crafts is unimportant to our mission,” Shango said with a subtle defensiveness.
“Oh, you’re mister important to our mission now, huh?” Loco raised his bottle to pour another shot, then looked at the bottle for a moment before drinking straight from it. “Coming from the guy who just handed over our best, probably only chance of changing our fate on this damned plane. That’s pretty fucking rich!”
“It was the right thing to do,” Shango said. “That still matters here.”
“If you say so…” Loco drank some more tequila.
“Besides,” Shango continued. “We all saw what happened when she touched the sword. It didn’t do that for me. Her connection to it may be more important than the sword itself at this time.”
“I guess it makes sense to keep her around until we can find out more,” Olofi suggested.
“You think so?” Loco grumbled at the idea.
Bentley herself felt uneasy hearing this. They had rescued her, and she was grateful for that. But the way they were talking about her now made it sound like her status as a prisoner aboard the Chesed was about to become official. As she hid from their view she began to consider how she might escape with Jade again.
“I have enjoyed her presence on the ship thus far,” Jelly Bean said. “It feels like the energy here has changed.”
“Either that, or there was a magic sword hidden on the ship for days,” Loco said.
“Magic?” Olofi smirked. “Really, Loco?”
“I agree with Bean,” Shango said. “We’ve gone so long with the crew being just the four of us, I sometimes feel like we forget what it is to be a human.”
“Some of us, anyway,” Olofi glanced at Loco.
“All of us,” Shango said pointedly. “I can feel the distance growing as the years go by.”
“More like you’ve forgotten how to have any fun,” Loco said. “I swear, another five hundred out here and you’re gonna be as bland as Cardboard.”
“If you weren’t already recovering from a wound, I’d demand a duel over that kind of comparison,” Shango said, his tone making it unclear if he were joking or not.
“Yeah? Sounds like a party!” Loco said defiantly. “Jelly, patch me up stat so I can cross swords with this old bastard.”
“That’s not remotely how medicine works,” Jelly Bean said.
“Maybe he’s thinking of magic again,” Olofi chuckled at his own joke.
“In any case, I would like for her to join our permanent crew,” Shango said.
“Permanent,” Loco’s grin widened as though the concept were amusing to him. “Yeah, sure.”
“I would find that beneficial,” Jelly Bean said. “And not just because I’m so often left short-handed.”
“You think she’s going to agree to that, though?” Olofi asked. “She’s only been here for a couple of days and she’s already been almost killed. I wouldn’t blame her if she wanted to get as far away from this ship as possible at this point.”
“If that’s what she wants, we’ll have to honor it, of course,” Shango said. “After we can guarantee her safety.”
“Yeah? How the fuck’s that gonna work?” Loco said before tilting his head back to pour some more liquor down his throat. He patted his chest with the bottle afterwards. “Have you got some secret place in mind that LaPlace can’t touch? Where might that be? And why have you been keeping it a secret the past hundred times it might have come in handy?”
“It’s a big galaxy,” Olofi countered Loco’s point. “I’m sure we can find a hiding spot for one girl.”
“Who the fuck wants to spend their life in hiding?” Loco sneered at the idea. “Not her, I can tell that much already. Too busy. No, only place someone like that’s going to be safe is surrounded by guns.”
“That’s your solution to everything, Loco,” Olofi answered with growing exasperation.
“Worked pretty well this time around, gotta admit,” Loco replied, sounding pleased with himself.
“Says the guy who got shot!” Olofi raised his voice. “Loco, I swear sometimes…”
Bentley felt herself beginning to relax as they argued amongst themselves. For the first time since she’d woken up onboard the Chesed she felt something like a welcoming atmosphere. She finally turned the corner and made her way into the mess hall, drawing the eyes of all of them this time.
“Aha! And there she is!” Olofi gestured towards Bentley with a smile. “Come on, sit. I made the autocook go family style this time around.”
Bentley sat down and saw that there was food in several large bowls along the table. Shango began to take a very small portion and slowly eat, while Loco continued to focus only on his bottle.
“You’ve gotta be hungry after going through all that,” Olofi said. “All that sword fighting and running around…”
“I barely even saw you during the fighting,” Bentley said.
“Kind of the point,” Olofi said proudly. “Nondetection is always the most effective combat strategy. Doesn’t matter how much weaponry advances.”
“You’d be way better at it if you didn’t insist on using that big fucking sword,” Loco said. “Seriously. I can teach you how to use a knife if you’re that scared of screwing it up.”
“Jelly,” Olofi looked to her. “Can you finish patching this jackass up so I can kick his ass and not feel bad about it?”
“That’s not how it works,” Loco mimicked Jelly Bean’s voice while talking along with her.
“In any case,” Shango said, looking towards Bentley. That piercing i
ntensity had softened from his gaze. “You did pull an impressive Alamo.”
“Alamo?” Bentley took a bite from what might have been the autocook’s idea of meat. It wasn’t terrible, though the texture was somewhat odd.
“Oh, that’s what we call the tactic, after the ship we first performed it on,” Loco said, finally letting his stool drop all four feet to the floor when he leaned forward. “A long time back when we were in a bind a little bit like this. You know, something on a ship we needed to get off. Basically, I had to let myself get captured and fight my way out of captivity to drop the shields.”
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