“Holy sh-” she whispered. “Are you sure?”
“Positive,” he bobbed his head. “Remember when the hamsters on Paradise got all excited they found some Elder trinkets buried in the dirt, and decided not to trade the planet, and us humans, to the lizards?”
“The Ruhar blew up that power tap,” she recalled. “There was an accident, or something.”
“Or something,” Jesse agreed. “The Ruhar sent out a memo for us to be alert if we happened to find one of these things, plus some other Elder stuff.”
“The memo said the power taps were dangerous,” she looked at the device cradled in the dead Kristang’s arms. The object did not appear to have been damaged in the firefight. “We were not supposed to touch one.”
“Dangerous, ha,” Jesse snorted. “The fucking hamsters just want to keep all the good stuff for themselves.”
“Jesse,” she gently tugged him away from the power tap, which was three featureless spheres connected together. The surface of the ancient device was dull silver, it might once have been shiny and reflective. Under the coating of grime, it might still be shining like new. “The one the Ruhar screwed with blew up like a nuke,” she warned. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with.”
“Darling, trust me, please. We are not screwing with it. We’re bringing it back with us. The Colonel will know what to do.”
Shauna considered their options. If Nert learned what they found, he would know the humans he called friends had concealed the truth from him, because they didn’t trust him. The lack of trust was not due to his youth and inexperience. It was because he was a Ruhar. That would hurt the cadet terribly if he ever discovered the truth. It would be worse, she thought, to ask Nert to choose between his people, and his human friends. As a Ruhar cadet, he was under orders to alert his superiors to any potentially useful alien technology. “We can’t let Nert know about this.”
“Yeah,” Jesse let out a long breath. “That’s too much to ask, we can’t put the little guy in that position, of keeping secrets from his own people.”
“Ok, so,” she looked around the scene of the battle. “How do we get it back to the Dodo, without Nert knowing?”
Jesse unbuckled his pack and shrugged it off his shoulders. “That power tap is not a whole lot bigger than the scanner. I’ll carry it back.”
Shauna shook her head. “Nert will see the power tap when we are getting out of our suits aboard the Dodo. Plus, we do need to bring the scanner back with us, or the hamsters will want to know why we discarded that gear.”
“We can’t leave the power tap here,” Jesse almost gave her the knife hand again. “We can’t just try to hide it somewhere, the Ruhar crew will find it for sure when they search this rock. We don’t have a good excuse to come back to this rock anyway. Maybe we tell Nert to go on ahead of us by himself?”
“That’s no good. He would never break protocol like that.”
“I’m open to suggestions,” Jesse bent over the power tap. It was technology that aliens would go to war over, technology beyond the capability and understanding of even the Rindhalu, according to the Ruhar.
Shauna touched her faceplate to his and winked. “Leave it to me.”
Shauna and Jesse were not yet back to where Nert was waiting, when all three received a message from Irene. The other team had cut through to the seven trapped Ruhar, so the rescue operation was over. The news was not all good, because two of the Ruhar were dead and one seriously injured. Perkins and her team would remain inside the asteroid to assist with the recovery effort, so Jesse was ordered to get his team back to the surface where Derek would bring the Dodo to meet them.
They waited on the landing pad, watching the big dropship approach. “I’ll open the back ramp,” Derek advised as the Dodo went into a hover and slowly moved sideways. In the light gravity, he barely needed any power from the belly jets.
“Sir,” Jesse responded. “There’s no rush, the other team won’t be topside for another hour. I’d like to train for using the side airlock.”
Derek thought that was odd. The side door was a tight squeeze for two people wearing suits. “Fine by me. Send the cadet through first.”
“Uh, Sir,” Jesse shared a look of panic with Shauna. The plan had been for Shauna to cycle through the airlock alone, giving her time to remove the power tap from her backpack and hide it, before Nert came through with Jesse. “We were thinking that-”
“Colter,” Derek’s voice was not unfriendly, just tired. “We are responsible for Dandurf. I don’t want him outside any longer than he has to be.”
“Understood.” Jesse looked into Shauna’s faceplate, silently mouthing ‘What now’?
Shauna patted Nert’s back. “Nerty, you go first.”
The cadet became excited. “We will go together, you and me?”
“No,” Shauna laughed. “I’ll be with Jesse.”
If Nert was disappointed to be going through the airlock alone, he did not show it. He was an absolute model of efficiency, getting his helmet and backpack off and properly stored before the others opened the outer door to squeeze in. He watched the light glow red, then yellow as the outer door slid closed and the lock began to pressurize. He removed the magazine from his rifle and secured it in a locker, making certain the clips in the rack were engaged, so the weapon would not move if the Dodo had to maneuver abruptly.
He looked over at the airlock’s inner door, surprised the door was not yet open. The light above the door glowed a solid green, a color chosen as significant by the dropship’s human crew. The door still did not open. The cockpit door was also closed, the situation was not something he needed to bring to the attention of the pilot. Not yet. Tentatively, he called out to the two sergeants in the airlock.
No answer.
Not only was the light green, the panel beside the door indicated the lock was fully pressurized and the outer door secure. There was no reason for a delay in exiting the airlock’s inner door. No reason he knew of. Feeling responsible for the two sergeants, because they were primitive humans unused to advanced technology, while he was a proud, genetically-enhanced Ruhar. Perhaps his friends needed help?
Walking softly in the slippers commonly worn inside skinsuits, he approached the small viewport built into the airlock door, to see what was going on. A first glance showed only the back of Sergeant Jarrett’s head, she had removed her helmet already. That was odd, Nert thought. Why would she do that?
Pressing one eye to the viewport, he called out softly, trying to understand what the two humans were doing in the-
They were swaying back and forth! There was a muffled thump as Shauna’s back bumped against the inner door. Nert could see Jesse had a hand around the back of her neck.
The two humans were fighting!
“No!” He shouted, slapping the emergency button to force the door open.
“Ok, what’s the plan here?” Jesse spoke slowly as his faceplate touched Shauna’s. They had turned their suit communications gear off to avoid being overheard. Jesse was worried. The plan had been for Shauna to go through the airlock first, by herself. She would have time to extract the Elder power tap from her backpack and hide it before Jesse came through the airlock with Nert. Especially since Jesse had planned to order Nert to operate the airlock manually, for ‘training’. With Nert inside the Dodo’s main cabin, the curious alien cadet would be hovering around them while they removed their suits, earnestly trying to be helpful. There would be no opportunity to conceal the precious Elder artifact.
Shauna’s eyes flicked to the airlock status indicator in one corner of her visor. The pumps were still pressurizing the lock, but it was close enough. With a wink and an impish smile, she gave Jesse only a hint. “Follow my lead, lover.”
Then she surprised Jesse by cracking the seal on her helmet, pulling it off to hang on a strap inside the airlock.
If Jesse was startled by seeing her remove her helmet while the airlock was still cycling, what she did next made his eye
s bug out. She tapped the seal on her collar, and the nanofibers of the skinsuit peeled open down her front.
Then Shauna wiggled to get the skinsuit down below her shoulders.
“Sergeant Jarrett!” Nert shouted as the inner door slammed open. “Shauna, are you- Eek!” he squeaked and hopped backward, using too much force in the microgravity. The teenager bounced his head off the ceiling, coming down to land awkwardly.
“I, I, I,” Nert stammered. “I am sorry. I did, did, did not know.”
When the door opened, he instantly saw the two humans were not fighting or in a struggle. They were- He thought the polite term was ‘embracing’. They were embracing, with their helmets off and Shauna’s skinsuit peeled off down to her waist. Jesse had one hand on the back of her neck, pulling her toward him, and his other hand was-
Nert was too embarrassed to think about it.
“No, I’m sorry there, Nerty,” Jesse quickly placed himself between the alien teenager and Shauna, who was clutching her sportsbra to her chest and trying to put it back on. “We, uh, hey, you won’t tell Captain Bonsu about this, will ya?”
“Urp, no,” Nert squeaked again. “I, I need to go check on the, the-” He never finished the thought, racing toward the Dodo’s rear storage compartment as fast as he could in the low gravity. The door slid closed behind him, and Jesse waited a beat before his knees sagged.
“Shit, that was too close.”
“You don’t like me being close to you?” Shauna giggled playfully.
“Darlin’,” he kissed her again, pulling her toward him. “I never said that. Hey,” he glanced toward the closed door to the rear compartment. “While we got some time, how about we-”
“Later,” she pushed him away. “Although,” she kissed him, nibbling his earlobe. “That was fun.”
“Fun? You nearly gave me a heart attack, girl.”
“That just made it more exciting. I’m afraid we might have given Nert a heart attack. Help me get the thing,” they had agreed not to speak about the Elder device while inside the Dodo, because the flight recorder would pick up their voices.
“Uh huh, got it,” Jesse dug the priceless item out of her pack, quickly placing it in the locker where heavy weapons were stored. The Mavericks had not been assigned any weapons more powerful than rifles, so the locker had been empty and there was no reason to open it. Just in case someone got diligent about conducting inventory, Jesse secured the locker with a code. “Done,” he whispered. “Can I help you get your suit off? Strictly professional, I assure you.”
“I know all about you being strictly profess-”
“Are you three done back there?” Derek called over the intercom. “I want to get over to pick up the Colonel, before the landing pad there gets full.”
“Give us five minutes to secure our gear?” Shauna responded.
“Five minutes, sure,” Derek grunted.
“Can you secure my gear?” Jesse asked. “I should go talk to Nert.”
“No. I should talk with him,” Shauna insisted as she peeled off her suit’s legs, and pulled on a shirt and pants.
“Ok, then,” Jesse agreed immediately, relieved to avoid an awkward conversation.
“Nerty?” Shauna knocked softly on the doorframe as she poked her head into the Dodo’s rear storage compartment. “Can we talk? Just for a minute?” Three steps took her to a set of lockers where the cadet was busily checking on supplies. “Nerty,” she patted his shoulder. “I’m sorry if we embarrassed you. We shouldn’t have done that.”
Nert’s face glowed hot pink under the light fur. He could not look at her. “I, I thought you were fighting.” He looked up at her and his eyes immediately went back to the floor. “I thought you were in, in trouble.”
“And you came to rescue me?” She stroked his cheek with her fingertips. “Nerty, that was very sweet. You’re my hero.”
“I am?” He gulped, afraid to look at her.
“You were protecting me.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.”
His face glowed a deeper shade of pink. “You are very welcome,” he tried to lower his voice, but it still came out squeaky.
“Nerty?” She pressed on his cheek to turn him to look at her. His eyes were still staring at the deck. “Did you see my boobies?”
“No,” he answered quickly, staring down at the deck. Then he glanced up to meet her eyes for the briefest moment. “Maybe,” he added with a grin.
“Then I am sorry.”
“Why? He squeaked, looking at her. “They are, bodacious!”
“Bod-” She had to laugh. “Bodacious? Where did you learn that?”
“I heard Derek, I mean, Captain Bonsu, talking about Captain Striebich’s, um,” he blushed. “Ample assets. Is that the wrong thing to say?”
“No,” she patted his cheek. “It is a sweet thing to say, just be careful who you say it to. Get this stowed away,” she pointed to the supply lockers. “And come forward to strap into your seat. Captain Bonsu wants to lift off in a couple minutes.”
She walked forward and strapped into a seat beside Jesse, noting he had secured all their gear. “I think our furry little friend has a crush on me,” she whispered.
“Really?” Jesse asked with a raised eyebrow. “Do I need to worry about the competition?”
She leaned her head back with a wistful smile. “Nert is adorable. If I was a Ruhar girl, I would be all over him.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Jesse squeezed her hand.
CHAPTER SIX
Seven hours later, both Jesse and Shauna were feeling worn out from constantly being afraid someone would notice the heavy weapons locker, which was supposed to be empty, was locked with a code. If anyone asked, Jesse planned to confess he had brought back unauthorized souvenirs from the planetoid, but he had no plan for what to do if Perkins insisted that he open the locker. Since the Colonel’s away team had come back aboard the Dodo, there had not been a moment of opportunity to speak privately with her. Nert hovered around both Perkins and Czajka, eager to hear about their adventures during the successful rescue operation.
Finally, during the flight back to the cruiser, Perkins excused herself to use the Dodo’s bathroom, and Shauna slipped a note into the Colonel’s hand. A note, written by hand with a marker on a discarded food packet. Perkins stared at the note in surprise, about to ask a question, when she saw Shauna had pressed a finger to her lips. No talking, the gesture said.
In the tiny bathroom, Perkins opened the note and read it. Need privacy to talk. Drop Nert at the Warshon, the note read.
Emily’s first reaction was to wonder what the hell her two sergeants had gotten into. Her second reaction was that the sergeants had earned her trust and she needed to follow their lead.
“All right,” Perkins whispered to Shauna when the Dodo had completed a two-gee burn away from the cruiser, where she had dropped off a very hurt and disappointed Nert. The cadet had accepted her explanation that he would learn more aboard the Warshon than by accompanying the Mavericks to clear yet another asteroid, and that they would return soon. She still felt bad leaving him behind. “Explain yourself, Jarrett.”
“Ma’am, we should get the pilots back here. Everyone needs to see this,” Shauna advised. “It is that important.”
“All of us?” Perkins arched an eyebrow. “But not Nert?”
“All of us humans,” Shauna explained. “No Ruhar. Not yet.”
“Oh. My. God,” Perkins gasped, her voice barely audible. “Is that?”
“It’s an honest-to-God Elder power tap, Ma’am,” Jesse cradled the precious item in his hands. “It matches the configuration the hamsters told us to look for. This particular one,” he patted the dull surface of the interconnected spheres affectionately, “is one of the big output types, according to the Ruhar. You can run a whole starship with this thing, with power to spare.”
Perkins could not tear her eyes away from the incredibly ancient device. “Where did you find it?”
“That was good thinking, Colter,” Perkins scratched the back of her head. “Damned good thinking, both of you. Except, now I am in a very difficult position.”
Jesse did not like hearing that. “How’s that, Ma’am?”
“We are keeping a major secret from our patrons, our allies,” Perkins said with a frown. “The rules say we’re supposed to inform them of any alien technology we encounter, especially Elder artifacts. Those rules are orders, strictly enforced. We could catch hell if our hamster overlords find out about this now.”
Shauna took Jesse’s hand. “Sorry that we sprung this on you, Colonel,” she said with a sigh. “Jesse and I will take full responsibility when you tell the Ruhar about the device.”
“Jarrett,” Perkins glared at the sergeant. “I’m the commander of this outfit. If anyone is taking responsibility, it will be me.”
“If?” Shauna asked hopefully.
“We are not telling the hamsters about the power tap?” Derek asked. “Ma’am, then what do you plan to do with it?”
“The first thing we’re doing is hiding it, on some anonymous asteroid out here,” Perkins tapped her tablet to pull up a chart of that section of the asteroid field. “Some place the Ruhar or Kristang or anyone else would never bother to look.”
“Um,” Derek looked around at the team, seeing the same confusion on their faces. “We’re going to leave it here, in the middle of nowhere? We will probably never be coming back here.”
Irene muttered agreement under her breath. “I hope we never come back here.”
Perkins nodded to acknowledge her team’s opinion of their hazardous yet tedious current assignment. “The power tap itself is worthless, without two pieces of information. First,” she held up one finger. “That we have one. Second,” another finger rose, “where it is. Only this team will know both, that information is our bargaining chip. Anyone we trade the data to can come here to pick up the power tap.”
Deathtrap Page 8
