by K. B. Wagers
“Is there still enough coolant to get this engine back into the green zone?”
Max took Jenks’s outstretched hand and hauled her to her feet. Tiga grabbed for the edge of the console and carefully got up. The engineer tapped a few keys.
“Barely. But if we turn the system back on, it’s likely that it’ll just flood engineering again instead of going to the core.”
“It’s locked. Damn it all to the bottom of the greasy Volga river. The core is locked down and I can’t touch it.” Jenks tapped her gloved fingers on the sides of her helmet. “The spike in the containment caused the coolant to respond, but the vent doors must have failed, which is why the compartment flooded!” She slapped herself in the head as Max stared at her.
“The coolant was shut down when we came in,” Tiga said.
“Because Jim managed to shut it down and was trying to get the doors to close again. That’s why he was over there.” She pointed to where Jim’s body had been and Max watched Tiga frown in confusion. “He couldn’t get to them before the coolant flooded the room.”
“Asshole, if he’d told me I could have helped.”
“You’d both be dead, and I’d be clueless,” Jenks replied, crossing the room. “Lieutenant, come here.”
“What do you need?”
“Stand there. Hand here.” Jenks pushed her hand toward the screen with a pair of square buttons lit up in blue and orange. “That orange one is going to start flashing. You press it only when I say so.”
“On your mark,” Max replied with a nod. “What are you going to do?”
“When in doubt, bypass the safety features,” Jenks said, and flashed a grin. “Tiga and I are going to kick the vents closed. When that happens you’re going to slam the button and coolant will go where it’s supposed to. There’s enough left to cool things down and—hey, Commander?”
“Yeah, Jenks?” Rosa replied over the team com.
“Get on the com with Control and tell them to send us an extra coolant rack ASAP.”
“Will do. You all good there, Lieutenant?”
“Yes. Jenks has a fix for this. We’re about to put it into play.” Max glanced at Jenks, who lifted a shoulder at her silent question about whether this was going to work. “Recommend you finish the evac and move ships away, though, just to be on the safe side.”
“Roger that, Lieutenant. We’ll see you two when it’s done.”
Jenks and Tiga separated, moving to opposite ends of engineering and popping the access panels on either side. Max tore her gaze away and focused on the console in front of her. A warning started flashing at the top and the button in front of her picked up the pulse.
“Jenks, orange button is flashing. Temp is going up again.”
“Yeah, it’s going to keep doing that until it fails or we stop it.”
“That’s reassuring.”
“Hey, no worries. It won’t hurt. At least I’m assuming it won’t. Found the vent—as expected it’s jacked open. Tiga, how’s yours?”
“Same. Can I start kicking?”
“Do it.”
Max could hear the filtered impact sounds over the com and the grunts of the women as they bashed at the vents.
“Got mine!”
Jenks grunted. “Get out of there. I’ve almost got this one.”
Max swallowed as the temp continued to rise and the warning flash grew a little more insistent. “Jenks?”
“Almost.”
“We’re almost out of almost, Jenks.”
“I know. Would. You. Close!” Each word was punctuated with a thud. “Got it.” The sounds of scrambling followed. “Punch it, Lieutenant!”
“Please let this work,” Max begged as she jammed her finger into the button with more force than was probably necessary. For a heartrending moment nothing happened. Then there was a whooshing noise and she looked up to see the coolant flowing into the core to her right.
Tiga punched the air, her cheer breaking off into a swear as her ribs protested. Jenks smirked and polished her knuckles off on her suit. Max gave a shuddering laugh.
“No dying today?”
“We good, Tiga?” Jenks asked.
Tiga was furiously tapping away at the console. “Looks like. The coolant is burning out fast, but it’ll hold temp until we get more here and can get it shut down fully. Since everyone else is off, I’m shutting down all the systems that I can.”
“No dying today, Lieutenant,” Jenks confirmed with a wink.
“Commander,” Max said on the coms, “we’re clear. Core is stable. Tiga says we’ll need that coolant as fast as Jupiter can get it here and she’s shutting down all the systems she can to help with the power strain in the meantime.”
“That’s good to hear. Captain Guru is with me, she’d like to speak to you.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant.” Captain Guru’s voice was soothing, carrying a hint of the recognizable Martian-born inflection.
“Don’t thank me.” Max shook her head. “Petty Officer Khan is the one who fixed it. Along with Tiga’s help.”
“Pass my thanks along to them, then. To all of you. You saved a lot of lives today.”
“I’ve got you on the main com, Captain, consider them thanked.” Max saw Jenks wrap an arm around Tiga and pull her in for a gentle hug, surprised by the slight pinch of jealousy that twisted her gut.
She’s not going to treat you like her brother, Max. I don’t know why you keep hoping for it. Inwardly, she scowled.
The voice in her head was too hard, hitting with deadly precision.
T-minus One Week until Prelim Boarding Games
“You should hear the stories swirling around about that freighter rescue last month.” D’Arcy spun his sword in a frivolous gesture as he circled Rosa.
“Oh yeah, what are they saying?” She watched him, always envious of his grace. D’Arcy was a big guy who moved like a dancer, limbs and torso in perfect synchronicity.
“All manner of things. I did hear people are very impressed that your newbie stayed with Jenks the whole time she was trying to keep that core from blowing.”
Swords rang out as she attacked, dull metal edges striking with discordant chimes.
“I told her to go with Jenks,” Rosa said when their swords locked and she dug in, shoving D’Arcy back a half meter with effort.
“Sure you did, but you didn’t order her to stay. She chose to do that. Jenks tried to get her to leave, you know?”
“Did she?” Neither Jenks nor Max had mentioned it to Rosa.
“Yup. Carmichael told her they weren’t dying and she trusted Jenks to fix it. People are impressed. Hell, I’m impressed. Most people would have gone.”
“What people are we talking about here?”
D’Arcy smiled as he pressed an attack of his own. “All sorts, but the ones who matter a little more up at command level are very interested.”
“That’s all we need, more scrutiny.” Rosa ducked under D’Arcy’s swing, bringing the pommel of her own practice sword down into his left kidney before she folded over into a forward roll, sword stuck out to the side to keep from impaling herself. She heard him wheeze with laughter as she bounced back up to her feet.
“God damn it. I miss that every damn time.”
“You need a time-out, old man?”
D’Arcy snorted and gestured at her with his free hand. “Come on, Rosa. The day I have to take a break during a sword fight is the day I should probably think about retiring.”
“Are you, then?” Rosa teased as she approached cautiously, switching her gaze from his eyes to his torso as he shifted.
D’Arcy lunged instead of answering, or maybe that was his answer, and for several minutes they fought silently. Swords slashing and locking together, rapid breaths, and the soft shuffling of their bare feet on the mats were the only sounds in their little corner.
Rosa saw the move. She knew it was going to disarm her, but she’d overbalanced and there was nothing she could do. D’Arcy blocked her sw
ord with his, reaching up with his free hand and tipping the pommel of her sword up and away from her, tucking it behind him with a grin that made her want to punch him.
But the dull blade of his own sword was at her throat.
“If I had a delightful family like yours to go home to, I might think of retiring,” he said, handing her sword back with a wink and a smile. “But I’m sadly alone and so here I’ll stay.”
“You love it here and you’re only alone when you want to be.”
D’Arcy shrugged a shoulder. “That’s not the point, and also we’re not talking about me, are we?” He took a step closer. They were isolated from most of the others in the gym, but there were still people around and D’Arcy dropped his voice to keep from being overheard. “What’s wrong, Rosa? You have shadows in your eyes.”
All these years and he still managed to catch her off guard when he dropped the dashing pirate persona to truly be himself. Rosa knew more about him than most. His criminal past, his final chance with the NeoG. There was always more about the man she realized she didn’t know. D’Arcy trusted so few people and she still wasn’t sure how she’d made the list, but the first time he’d done this soul-seeking thing to her she’d been so stunned her jaw had hit the floor.
He’d laughed himself silly seeing the effect his question had on her then. Now he patiently waited for an answer. D’Arcy was good at patience. The man could sit for hours without moving if the occasion called for it.
“You know that feeling when you step off solid ground into the low-g chute and for just a second the primitive part of your brain wakes up and screams at you?” Rosa took a deep breath when D’Arcy nodded. “It doesn’t care that you’ve done it a million times, it’s convinced that you don’t know, that you can’t possibly know what’s going to happen this time.”
Suddenly needing to move, Rosa spun away and stalked to the benches. D’Arcy followed but stayed silent as she dropped her sword into her pile of things and braced both hands on the wall.
“I’m so tired of the disrespect. I knew what I was getting into when I joined the NeoG, but our people bust their asses day in and day out. You say the higher-ups are noticing, but does it matter? Will it translate into money to replace some of this antiquated equipment we have to deal with? Will Max be able to walk through the fucking hangar without getting shit from some self-important naval bastard about how she’s slumming it?”
“You think it bothers her?”
“It bothers all of us, doesn’t it? We pretend and smile and take it. We deal with shit equipment—we do our jobs with shit equipment.” Rosa sighed and sank down on the bench. “These Games are important. I know in the grand scheme of things they’re just games, but if we win? Maybe it’ll finally change things around here.”
D’Arcy sat next to her. “I know. It would do more than just give us bragging rights, though what rights they would be.” His grin was sharp and quick. “I’m aware enough of the politics of all of this to know that if we won it would be a good bargaining chip for Admiral Chen. But that’s not all on your shoulders, Rosa, so stop taking the weight.”
“We were so close to winning last year. I was determined to find a way to bring that damn win home this year. Ever since Nik got promoted, I’ve felt like something is conspiring to keep us from this path. I don—” The words clogged her throat and Rosa tried to push past the fear. “I think if we don’t win this Games I’m done.”
“Rosa, you only have a little over a year left to retirement.”
“You think that matters to the higher-ups? Someone should pay for the loss. We all know it’ll be me.” She looked up at him. He’d set his sword down and was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, a frown carved into his face. “Why would they keep me on after? What would be the point?”
“The same fucking reason they’d want to keep you on when you do win the Games. You said it yourself. They’re fine entertainment, a bit of friendly—or not so friendly—rivalry between the branches. But it’s what we do the rest of the time that matters, and you do that better than anyone.”
“You sound like a recruitment poster.”
D’Arcy snorted and waved a hand. “I’m serious, Martín. You’re a damn good Neo and Command wouldn’t be so stupid as to throw that away just because you didn’t win.” He reached out, stopped. “Do you need a hug? You look like you need a hug.”
There wasn’t any sarcasm in his offer, so Rosa nodded and leaned into D’Arcy’s embrace. He was solid and just tall enough she could lean her head against his shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it, Rosa. We’re gonna win this thing anyway.”
“What’s this ‘we’ stuff? Did I black out and miss prelims?”
His rumbling laugh echoed against her ear. “Nope, they’re still next week, but it’s you and me going to the Games.”
Rosa tipped her head back to smile up at him. “This newfound optimism is not a bad look on you, Commander.”
D’Arcy squeezed her once before letting her go with a smile. “Your newbie is settled in well enough. And more than that, she’s got something . . . undefinable about her. Command has to have an eye on her for something. And you are as good a sword fighter as Nika was. You just need to believe that.”
“I feel like you’re setting me up just to kick my ass in the prelims.”
“I’m going to try,” he replied. “The ass-kicking part, that is. I’m serious about the winning-this part, too.” A smile pulled at his scarred cheek. “My team’s been in this gym as much as out of it for the last eight months and there’s no other team I’d rather go up against the rest of the branches with than you and yours.”
She swallowed. “You’re a good friend.”
“You are, too.”
Rosa looked down at her hands, surprised by the sheen of tears suddenly coating her vision. D’Arcy also wasn’t the kind of man who’d admit that he cared about people. It meant something that he would say such things to her. “You mean it, don’t you? About Command watching Max?” Rosa asked.
“She’s a Carmichael.” D’Arcy shrugged and grabbed his water. “Someone put her here for a reason, Rosa, you and I both know that. Which means they’re watching. Could just be her parents, though from what I gather they’re not on the best of terms. You know they were unhappy about her decision to go to the NeoG?”
“I did not.” That was a failing on her part. In her push to get Jenks and Max to jell, she hadn’t taken the time to get to know Max nearly as well as she should have.
“And even more unhappy about her joining the Interceptors,” D’Arcy said. “I hear they didn’t even show for her graduation.”
Rosa stared at him in shock. “Seriously?” The idea of unsupportive parents was almost unfathomable for her. “Why wouldn’t they—”
“Not all of us grew up with your kind of family, Rosa,” he replied with a wry smile. “And money doesn’t matter if the love is missing.”
“When did you get so fucking profound?” she asked, tossing a towel at him. D’Arcy chuckled, batting it out of the air with one massive hand.
“I took a class last week. Don’t tell anyone.”
Letters
Max—
Just wanted to drop you a line to tell you good luck and kick some ass at the prelims. I know you’re likely nervous, so remember to breathe. And keep your damned hands up.
Jenks said there hasn’t been any more movement on that system jumper mystery but that she’d passed the smuggler information on to Luis at HQ. I know I’m technically not on your team any longer, but I appreciate you keeping me in the loop as much as you have.
I hope talking about it on the com the other week helped, even if we didn’t seem to get anywhere on it. It was nice to see your face.
—N
Nika—
I’m hoping we’ll have some time after the preliminaries to investigate further. I did appreciate that conversation and it at least gave me and Jenks some new ideas to kick around. S
eems like everything for the last week has been wholly focused on the Games. I’m not complaining, the focus is welcome, I guess? It helps make this a little more real.
I am terrified.
You said recently that you wished you could have stayed here. I find myself wishing the same thing. It’s selfish, though, isn’t it? I only wish it because then all these eyes wouldn’t be on me. All these people wouldn’t be wondering if I’m going to mess up and ruin everything.
That sounds horrible reading it back to myself. I don’t only wish you were here because of the Games. I am no good at people. I never have been.
I’m going to send this and then go stick my head out the nearest airlock.
—M
P.S. It was nice to see your face, too.
Max—
I know what you meant. Don’t worry about it. :) And please don’t stick your head out the airlock, we need it.
—N
T-minus Forty-Six Hours until Prelim Boarding Games
“Mama!”
Jenks grinned as Gloria raced across the deck, easily dodging the mass of people until she was close enough to launch herself into Rosa’s arms.
“Softie.”
Jenks elbowed Ma. “Hush. You’ll ruin my rep.”
“Nothing wrong with liking to see people happy.” He slung an arm over her shoulders. “You ready for this?”
“As ever,” she replied, eyes straying to Max as the lieutenant climbed down from Zuma. “You think she’s going to make it?” Max’s hands were clutching her bag straps so tightly it made her knuckles pale against the rest of her skin. “Or is she going to fold before we even get in there?”
“She’s tougher than she looks, Jenks. She’ll be fine.”
“There’s tough and then there’s competition. You know that.” Jenks scanned the docks as she spoke. “Look—there’s Honorable Intent. Stephan has put on some muscle.” Luis had, too, but she wasn’t going to comment on that. Their relationship wasn’t exactly a secret, it was just . . . private.
