by Melissa Good
“Yeah?” Jess regarded her. “Walk and talk.” She indicated the passageway. “I gotta get back to the front.” She turned and walked with Cathy beside her. “We got a spare seat up there. Want to come join?”
Cathy smiled. “Yes, I would, thank you. That’s what I was going to ask. It’s so strange to be going downside. And all the others that came...”She looked behind her, and her face crinkled a little in reaction. “They’re a little strange.” Cathy looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I think they said you come from the same place?”
Jess chuckled. “I do. Don’t worry about it. No one’s more aware of how strange Drakes are than I am.” Jess bumped the hatch open. “How we doing, Dev?”
“Nominal for now,” Dev responded. “I estimate ten minutes to the outer range where your home place is. I assume you wish me to land this ship where it took off from.” She turned and took the bar Jess held out. “Thank you.”
Doctor Dan half turned in the other pilot’s seat. “Hello, Cathy. That wasn’t too bad an entry, was it?”
“Not at all, sir.” Cathy settled on one of the jumpseats against the back wall of the pilot’s compartment. “I didn’t even realize until we came back under grav.” She looked forward out through the viewscreen. “Oh. We’re under the gray.”
“Yes,” Dev said. “That is the ocean, under this craft. We have already crossed the arctic, and soon I will turn the shuttle toward our destination.”
Jess dropped into her seat and extended her legs. “Any hails?”
“Nothing,” Kurok said. “I can’t decide if that’s good or bad.”
“We’ll find out soon enough.”
Chapter Twelve
THEIR ARRIVAL WAS, in fact, uneventful. The shuttle approached Drake’s Bay from the north, aiming for the pad off to one side of the homestead. The only oddness was the lack of comms, and Jess’s insides roiled as they slowed for the approach. “Dev?”
“Yes?” Dev glanced from one panel to the other with a hint of indecision.
“You know how to land this thing?”
“Theoretically,” Dev said. “I am glad the place to set down is not near anything fragile.” She made an adjustment. “I just hope we do not drop excessively.”
Both of Jess’s brows lifted and she tightened her restraints a little. “Remember no upside down. Okay?”
“Yes.” Dev shifted the controls and the shuttle jittered sideways. “Please hold on.”
Jess curled her legs around the seat base and eyed Kurok. “Anything on the wire?”
Kurok shook his head. “Nothing. Not getting a scan on anything at all.”
There were no flyers around, nothing on patrol, and when they’d crossed the half circle bay, it was empty. Like there was nothing left. Jess took a tighter hold and leaned forward a little as the shuttle got lower to the rocky ground and slowed.
Dev was sweating. Her blonde hair damp at the temples, her breathing a little fast, aware of her role in trying not to get them killed.
“Easy, Devvie.” Jess bumped her calf against Dev’s leg. “Just set her down.”
“Yes.” Dev hunted and found the landing jets and triggered them, just as she felt the engines reach their stall limit. The pad was under them, rocks broken and scattered, and as the jets blasted out air beneath them it spewed bodies out in all directions, rolling across the wet ground.
“I’ve lowered the landing skids, Dev,” Doctor Dan said. “You can set down.”
“Yes.” Jess took a careful breath behind her. “Fifty feet.” She got the engines secured and let them lower, the wet now turning to steam as they hovered, then landed on the cracked pad with a rock and a thump, the hiss of the jets loud and distinct.
Dev turned off the power to them,and the shuttle went mostly silent, just some dings and beeps from the console audible. “We are down,” she said, relaxing just a bit in her seat.
“Good job, Dev.” Jess stood and leaned over and gave her an unexpected kiss on the top of her head. “You got us home.”
Dev enjoyed the moment. She folded her arms over her chest and glanced over at Doctor Dan, who was smiling his gentle smile at her. So many incorrect things, and then, at this moment, a bit of contentedness she was human enough to savor. “Thank you, Jess.”
Behind them, on the other side of the hatch, they heard voices and motion.
Doug loosened his restraints. “Rocket rocks another one. So now what? Looks like a graveyard out there.”
Everyone looked at him.
“Yeah okay, sorry.” Doug got up with grimace. “When we left, we were being shot at from every direction. I don’t really know how this thing actually made it up, so everything being equal it was a hella better landing.”
The cockpit hatch opened and April entered. “Plan?” she asked brusquely. “Better open the hatch before your family dents it.”
Jess shook herself and glanced out the front of the shuttle. The carved path to the homestead was full of rubble and bodies, and it was starting to rain. “Let’s go. No sense staying here. Dev, you got anything on your babbler?”
Dev tuned her scanner, and after a moment she looked up. “The area is shielded,” she said, with a note of surprise. “I cannot detect anything past that far entry door.”
Jess went over to her, crouched down, and reviewed the screen. “Huh.” She stood back up. “Let’s go. You, me, April, Doug.” She settled her blaster at her side. “Doc, keep everyone else inside here.”
Kurok regarded her. “No offense, but you’re going to have to give that order to your kinfolk, Jesslyn. They’re not going to take it from me.”
Jess nodded and went to the hatch. “Yeah, probably.” She sighed. “Let’s hope they listen to me.”
“What’s the pitch?” April asked.
“We go see who’s in charge,” Jess said. “If anyone is.” She pushed through the opening and edged into the corridor. “Hey,” she called out.
It was full of Bay residents, who turned and looked at her. “Get the door open, cuz,” Dustin said. “It’s cramped in here.”
Jess squeezed through the crowd and got to the outer hatch. She turned to face them. “You’ll be crowded a while more. We’re going out there to see what the deal is. You stay here.”
A chorus of dissent rose.
“Stop!” Jess’s voice boomed. “If anyone’s going to croak here, it’s going to be us. Stay put.” She went to the hatch and worked it. The hatch opened and the ramp extend. It reminded her suddenly of that moment when she’d first seen Dev.
That dark, cold day, her sitting on the bench outside the base, with nothing but a future of rock scraping ahead of her. Now? Jess felt a bit of black humor. Well, at least then she’d contemplated being a live rock scraper.
“Jess’s right,” Jake said. “We did our part. Now’s her turn.”
“Nice.” Doug grimaced.
Jess shrugged. “He’s right.” She flexed her hands and gave herself a little shake. “Let’s go do what we do.”
“Still no readings,” Dev said as the cold air blasted inward, with a stench of cold, damp death roiling over it. “Except deceased persons and rain.”
“Yeah.” Jess pulled out her blaster. “So I see.” She looked at the group from the Bay, who were now silent, noses twitching. “Stay here,” she reiterated. “Let them take their spleen out on me.” She turned and started down the ramp with Dev and the other two at her heels.
THE WIND HOWLED past them, yanking at clothes and hair as they walked down the sloping rock path toward the narrow cleft between the stone faces that protected the homestead from the back blast of the shuttle. They slowed as they reached the gap. Jess lifted her hand with her gun in it, going still just as she got to the edge.
She listened hard, discarding the whistling of the wind along with the rattle of small stones being driven across the ground and the hiss of the shuttle offgassing behind her. She put aside the knowledge of where she was and what she might likely find past this crick in the rock.
“I do not see anything,” Dev said softly. “There is too much rock for me to get a signal past this wall.”
“I don’t see anything either.” Jess eased through the entrance, a crookback kink in the rock that would let a loaded pallet through, but only just. She got herself clear of the second angle and swept the area carefully. She saw nothing but stone with dead bodies scattered over it. Some had crabs eating them. They scattered as the four of them approached, but not far, lifting armored claws up and clicking them.
She edged forward and got to the first of the bodies which was in black. “Scan,” she said, since the face and features were nothing but mulch.
“He has a chip.” Dev said. “From Base Ten.”
“Okay.” Jess moved on to the next, aware of how exposed they all were. “This one’s from the Bay.” She didn’t stop to examine the body, getting an angle and seeing the entrance to the Bay past the long stretch of wet stone. It was closed. Beside it the square indentation that was the bio lock flashed a faint, faded red.
The bodies got denser as they approached, roughly half and half between Interforce and the Bay. Jess stepped over the last of them and reached the entrance as Dev came up next to her.
“Crap chance which way this went,” April said.
“Crap chance,” Jess agreed, and put her hand on the pad. “But I lose either way.”
“You do.”
The door remained closed. Dev eased over and ran her scanner over it. “This seems defective.”
“Ya think?” Jess examined the wires coming out of back of the indent pad. “Someone blasted it.” She holstered her gun and pulled the panel out toward them. “All that hurry up here we are.”
“Let me see if I can help.” Dev set her scanner down and stuck her head into the panel, removed the small light clipped to her suit and turned it on.
“This the only way in?” April asked.
“You can climb the cliff.” Jess leaned against the rock to watch what Dev was doing. “They put the shuttle pad here for a reason.”
“Didn’t trust it,” April said.
“Please stand clear,” Dev said suddenly. “I am going to apply power and the result could be unexpected.”
April went to the door and braced herself against the side of it, her blaster cradled in both hands. After a moment Jess joined her. Doug tucked himself on the other side of Dev and lifted a hand to cover his eyes. “Go on, Rocket.”
Dev routed a wire to her scanner and applied the connection.
For a moment she didn’t think it was going to do anything. Then there was a loud crack that almost made her drop her device.
“Watch your paws, Rocket.”
Then the rock panel shifted and Dev quickly pulled back and disconnected the wire. She looped her scanner over her head and felt the wind start to come through the opening as the surface slid aside.
More death smell.
“Go,” Jess said, and she and April flowed through the gap. Doug and Dev went after them, busy with scanners.
“Getting stuff now,” Doug called out. “Watch it! Ten targets!”
Dev was through the gap and into the mountain cavern, her own scanner out. She walked along the edge of the wall as she tried to keep Jess and April in sight, the two agents already at the end of the long passage and against one wall.
“Drake!” A voice called out. “Hold it!”
“That’s Alters,” Doug said as he and Dev moved quickly along the wall. “All interforce targets.”
“Yes,” Dev agreed.
“It’s Drake,” Jess responded. “What’s the deal?”
The stench was almost overwhelming. Dev resisted the urge to cover her mouth as she got up next to Jess, who had her back pressed against the wall as she listened.
“Jackass,” April said.
“It’s Bensen Alters. If it’s just you, we’re clear,” he responded. “Come over and let’s talk.”
Dev tuned her scanner. “They do not have active energy weapons.”
Jess cocked her ears and listened for a minute. She heard shifting of limbs and the rustle of fabric, and behind the stench of death she detected fear and cold sweat.
“Okay.” She put her gun back on it’s hard point. “This is my gig.” She looked at the rest of them. “Stay here.” Her eyes went from one to the other and paused as they met Dev’s. “Please.”
Dev’s nose twitched, and she kept a very noncommittal expression on her face. “This does not seem nominal.” She said. “But I will remain here if you say so.”
Jess’s lips quirked.
“And of course, if you don’t think I could be helpful.”
Jess held a hand up. “Give me a couple minutes,” she said. “Honestly if they’re going to start blasting, better it be me they’re aiming at.” She didn’t give them any more time to protest and moved out from the corridor into the big cavern where the shuttle would deliver and pick up supplies.
There were shadowy figures in the gloom, only one of the several lights up in the roof being on. Jess walked forward with an even pace, avoiding the bodies on the ground as she angled toward where the small group stood waiting.
Alters, yes, with a thick bandage around his head, obscuring one eye, a bloodstained jacket over his jumpsuit. He looked exhausted, and that made Jess feel a little proud despite everything. “So.” She came to a halt a bodylength away from them. “Talk.”
He indicated a side corridor. “Let’s go where we can sit.” He was limping, and he didn’t try to hide it as he walked away, leaving her at his back.
Jess regarded the rest of the bunch, who all watched her warily, all newcomers to Base Ten, all bearing the signs of a big battle.
It made her feel proud that her homestead hadn’t sat down to be taken advantage of. No matter it was against Interforce. She gave them all a brief nod. “Three more at my back. Don’t screw with them.” She started after Alters and crossed from the storage intake hall into a back corridor where he was standing near a doorway.
Jess walked inside and waited for him to enter and close the door. She sat down in an old, wooden chair and put her elbows on the arms of it. “So.”
He sat down facing her. “I understand a hell of a lot more about you now than I did a week ago, Drake.” He leaned his weight on his elbows. “Wish you would have warned me.”
Jess didn’t smile. “Interforce knows all about this place,” she said. “My assumption was you knew what you were getting into. And wouldn’t be stupid enough to try and rape it.”
He didn’t deny it. “The idea was to secure this resource. We’re out of the habit of asking, and since you are active duty we didn’t really have to.” He regarded her. “Everyone paid for that arrogance.”
“I heard,” Jess said. “Two-hundred was the number they gave me.”
He nodded. “Something like. Maybe half that on our side that we can’t afford to replace. So.” He shifted a little. “Now I need you to make these people stand down, get the hell out of the way, and let me do what I came to do.”
“Steal what belongs here?”
He stared at her. “That really how you see this, Drake?”
Jess shrugged. “It’s the truth. So yes.” She moved a little and saw him twitch in response. “It was paid for. Jimmy bought it. You have no right to take it.” She lifted her hands and rested her chin on her interlaced fingers. “It wasn’t a scam from the other side. At least that part wasn’t.”
He looked at her in silence. “You don’t know that’s true.”
“I do. I know the price. I found the collateral up on station,” Jess said. “I stopped it. Reclaimed the price.” She smiled faintly. “My brother sold my nephew to the geeks so they could make more of me to sell to the other side.” She watched him carefully and saw the twitch of surprise that, in fact, surprised her. “So yeah, you’ve got no claim on it.”
“Son of a bitch,” Alters said, softly, almost under his breath.
“He was, matter of fac
t,” Jess said. “But he kept his part of the bargain, and it wasn’t with them. Station made the deal with the other side. I’d say take it out on them, but the doc blew the head off the guy up there who did it for ya.”
“Kurok?”
Jess nodded. “I’ll get them to stand down, but you’re not going to take a damn thing from here.”
“Are you rejecting a direct order, Drake?”
“Yes.” Jess felt a sense of calm settle over her. Of decisions made and paths chosen. “Because you don’t have the right to give me that order, and you know it.” She stood up. “I’m the Drake of Drake’s Bay. So let’s go to ops, and I’ll clear the halls.”
“Fuck.” He stood up as well, sighing wearily. “We can’t get into ops. They sealed it.”
“I can.” Jess went over and pushed the door open. Outside the security guards were waiting, hands on blasters. Their eyes went past her to Alters. Jess drew in a breath of the cold, fetid air and knew herself to be walking along the knife’s edge.
She walked past them and headed for the inner door, ignoring the threat and the flickers of motion that might be guns coming up to level.
Would they shoot her? Was Alters really that stupid?
Or that smart?
Would April take vengeance on her, or just join the crowd? If she did, what would Dev do? Would Dev get all crazy and try to stop her?
Jess didn’t look behind her but sensed Dev’s eyes watching her. She could almost see that frown and the little pucker between her eyebrows.
Suboptimal, was that what she’d call it?
Incorrect?
The guards formed a watch behind her and followed along, and Alters caught up to her as they neared the inner section. Just past the entry, she saw a body move out of the way. Incorrect. She exhaled, and then her ears twitched as she heard the faintest footfalls coming along behind them.
There would be no waiting behind for Dev. She listened intently, and then very faintly smiled.
DEV REMAINED STILL until the last of the agents took up point guard as they followed Alters and Jess. Then she moved out after them, surprising both April and Doug.
