Calculated Risk

by Zen DiPietro

  Cautiously, he approached and sat in the first mate’s seat next to her, which Kelvin had vacated when he’d arrived.

  “I’m sitting,” he announced as if this wasn’t obvious.

  “So you are.”

  If she wasn’t going to say something more productive, then he would. “Here’s what I think. We’re the PAC’s eyes and ears in this region until their forces arrive. Assuming that’s what’s about to happen. And you don’t intend to abandon your post.”

  She gazed at him balefully. “That sounds awfully noble. I think we’re both aware that I’m nothing of the sort.”

  “Maybe not,” he hedged. “But when you invest in something, you protect that investment. It’s just good business.”

  She smiled faintly. “Perhaps I want to see everything with my own eyes, and maybe I want to protect my investment, as you say. Either way, we’re not leaving this system. Is that a problem for you?”

  “Actually, I am surprisingly at ease with that. Maybe I want to protect my investment, as well. I always did think I was as good a businessperson as you.”

  She laughed. A truly amused sound of joy. “If we’re all about to die, I’m sure glad you’re here with us.”

  “I’m not sure how to take that.”

  “Take it as a good thing,” she recommended.

  “I guess I might as well assume that you value me so much that you want me right there with you when the going gets tough,” he mused. “Because if you’re just glad to drag me down with you, and we all end up dead, it doesn’t really matter what you meant, right?”

  “That’s the spirit.” She nodded approvingly.

  He looked around the bridge at her crew. Rather than seeming grim, they seemed eager. “You all are a bunch of psychos, aren’t you?”

  For the first time, the crew truly responded to him. They laughed. Again, not derisively, but exuberantly.

  “We are,” Astrid answered from behind them at the tactical station. “That’s why we’re here. And it’s what you haven’t understood about us up until now.”

  “And part of why we hate you,” Kelvin added. “Since we’re being honest.”

  Cabot took a moment to digest that. “I see. Considering that I’m going to be here whether I like it or not, then, I guess I’ll climb on board and wave my flag.”

  “You brought a flag?” Ditnya asked, mock seriously.

  “No. But I’m going to go make one right now.”

  “Make me one, too,” Ditnya said.

  Cabot chuckled all the way off the bridge, wondering what kind of lunacy he’d become a part of.

  The galaxy had gone completely mad.

  “I’m going down to the surface.” Nagali’s announcement shouldn’t have surprised Cabot, because nothing she said should surprise him.

  But it did.

  “Let’s be clear here,” he said. “You mean the planet surface of Mayani Minor, the place we’re pretty certain the PAC is about to appear at and proceed to blast the bejeezus out of? That’s where you want to go?”

  “That’s the one.” She perched primly on the edge of his bed, her back straight and her hands on her knees.

  “Why would you want to do that? Is it just your moth-like tendency to throw yourself at something that will destroy you?”

  She brushed her hair back from her face. “I want the PAC to win this one.”

  “And you think a crazy woman on the planet is going to make that happen?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Think about it. What can I do from here? Nothing. If Ditnya chooses to assist with the Bona Fide, my presence is of no benefit. But, what if our side had someone on the surface? Someone who can cause a distraction? Someone who, maybe, could keep Barony from noticing the PAC’s approach?”

  She had a good point.

  He hated that.

  “Hypothetically,” he said, stressing the word heavily, “how would we go about accomplishing that?”

  “We?” She scooted over to where he sat and hugged his arm. “Are we a ‘we’ now?”

  “If we were, how would we go about doing that?”

  “Arpalo,” she announced triumphantly. “I’m sure he’s down there.”

  “Doesn’t he hate you?”

  “Yes, but who doesn’t? If we offer him the right deal, he’ll do what I want.” She sounded so confident, as if it were impossible for this to go wrong.

  She usually saw her plans that way, and she always understated the danger.

  He kind of liked that about her, actually, but he’d never, ever tell her that.

  Ever.

  “What deal would he want?” Cabot asked.

  “Hypothetically?” Nagali asked.

  “Theoretically.”

  “Money’s the obvious draw,” she said. “But we have Ditnya on our side, and if she implied she’d look favorably on him, that would clinch it.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Well…” she licked her lips, looking reluctant. “There is one last thing that he couldn’t refuse.”

  “What’s that?”

  She sighed dramatically. “He would absolutely love to see Ditnya give me the punishment he’s convinced I deserve.”

  “Who wouldn’t enjoy that?” he asked.

  “Theoretically?”

  “Rhetorically,” he answered.

  She tilted her chin up, looking regal. “If putting on a show as a sacrificial lamb is what’s needed, I’ll do it.”

  He frowned at her.

  “What? You don’t think it will work?”

  “On the contrary, I think this is a stroke of deranged genius.”

  She beamed. “You’re in, then.”

  He took her hand in both of his and patted the back of it. “I’m in. Let’s do something crazy, for the good of the PAC.”

  “I don’t see a downside.” Ditnya eyed Cabot and Nagali from the other side of the meeting room table. “Best case scenario, you succeed and help the PAC lay down a stunning victory, eradicating Barony from this system and dealing them a brutal blow. Worst case, they get no help and Nagali dies.”

  “I could die too,” Cabot pointed out.

  “Eh.” Ditnya shrugged. “I’m ambivalent about that.”

  “What about me?” Omar asked. “If they’re going, I’m going.”

  “Well, that would be a drawback,” Ditnya said. “But if you’re dumb enough to get killed with them, then that’s what you deserve.”

  Omar grinned. “Yeah, it is.”

  “And you’re sure about your intended plan?” Ditnya asked.

  “Well,” Omar said, “they had the beginnings of a plan, but my suggestions improved it about a thousand percent.”

  Ditnya looked doubtful, and rightfully so, but did not comment.

  “Yes,” Nagali added. “We will either enjoy a tremendous success, or go down in a blaze of glory. It’s a definite win-win.”

  Ditnya smiled at that, amused. “You are thoroughly unintimidated by anything. As foolhardy as that is, it’s almost a redeeming quality.”

  “Just keep watching,” Nagali advised. “You haven’t seen anything yet.”

  “If you make it back, that thought might keep me up at night,” Ditnya said. “But I recommend you get going. The PAC could show up anytime between an hour from now and a week from yesterday.”

  “Probably not that long,” Cabot said. “Otherwise we wouldn’t have gotten the 'get out' message. I’m guessing we’ll see them within a day.”

  “I thought the same.” Ditnya pushed her chair back from the table. “But why are you all still here?”

  Cabot looked to Omar and Nagali. Were they ready for this?

  By the manic glee in their eyes, he was guessing they were.

  Rigby, as it turned out, was just as nuts as the rest of them. Perhaps that shouldn’t have surprised Cabot, but he’d really thought she would turn them down.

  Instead, she piloted them through the atmosphere in a borrowed shuttle. It was uglier than the government one they
’d taken before, but made for an easy atmospheric landing. Cabot didn’t know where she’d gotten it, and he didn’t care.

  Details like that didn’t matter in this venture—only results did.

  “I wish this thing had guns instead of peashooters,” Omar muttered.

  Rigby didn’t respond. She was too busy piloting the shuttle while trying to keep it between the communications hotspots on the planet’s surface. If they were lucky, they’d sneak down and no one would even know.

  “It wouldn’t matter,” Cabot said in a low voice to Omar. “This thing just needs to get us to the surface and back. If we find ourselves in need of firepower, the whole thing is over before it even starts.”

  “I guess,” Omar rumbled back. “But I always feel better when I’m sitting on enough artillery to really hurt someone.”

  “Would you two be quiet?” Nagali hissed. “She’s trying to work, here. I’m not doing all this just to burn up on entry.”

  Cabot and Omar fell silent.

  Not because of what she said, of course. Simply because they’d said the things they’d wanted to already.

  When they actually landed on the surface on Mayani Minor, inside a dark spot of their communications, Cabot felt pleasantly surprised.

  Then he wondered why a buyer would be such an able pilot. Atmospheric launches and landings weren’t something the average person was trained to do. At least, not people in the PAC.

  There was more to Rigby than she’d revealed thus far.

  It was another thing he’d have to investigate at a later date if he got the chance.

  Nagali unstrapped from her seat and smoothed out her jumpsuit. “I’m so glad we got to use these again.”

  “Actually,” Cabot pointed out, “you’re the only one who did that. The rest of us wore dark pants and shirts, like most of the people we saw when we were here before.”

  “Right. But if we get caught, we can pretend I’m an official and you three are assigned to me.”

  “That will only confuse them for a couple minutes,” Rigby said. “We can’t rely on that as a tactic.”

  “You can kill a lot of people in two minutes,” Nagali retorted. “We’ll be fine.”

  “I hadn’t thought of it that way.” Rigby didn’t seem averse to the idea of violence, which boded well.

  Nagali sniffed. “I’m a problem solver. And I make this outfit work, too.”

  Cabot’s agreeable, “You do,” clashed with Omar’s, “Nuh uh.”

  Rigby opened the hatch. “I don’t even know where to start with all of these interpersonal dynamics, so can we just focus on the job, please?”

  She stalked out without waiting for an answer.

  “I think I like her,” Nagali decided, following.

  Omar moved after her. “Me too. She’s smart and not afraid of whatever crazy shit is about to happen.”

  Cabot was the last to step out of the shuttle.

  He hoped they could actually pull this off.

  7

  “See that truck?” Cabot strode across the dirt lot outside a building as if he went there every day and had a perfectly legitimate reason to be there.

  It wasn’t hard to fool people who had no reason to expect that they might be fooled.

  “Yeah,” Nagali said. “Should we steal it?”

  Normally, his answer to that question would be an emphatic no. Today was different. “Yes.”

  She smiled at him, and he didn’t think he’d ever seen her happier.

  Conveniently, the service vehicle had no anti-theft device. Cabot swung into the driver’s seat while Rigby took the passenger side. Nagali and Omar slid into the back.

  “This thing doesn’t even have an ignition code,” Cabot said in disbelief. “It’s almost like they want us to steal it.”

  “These are Zankarti. Most of our vehicles don’t have security measures,” Rigby said.

  “Auto theft isn’t an issue, I take it?” He started the truck and aimed it in the right direction. He quickly realized they were going to have a bumpy ride. Barony hadn’t bothered to create roads, so all-terrain vehicles and a cratered and rutted, strip-mined surface would make their journey lively.

  “No. Theft happens, but not for things like that.”

  “I cannot wait to learn more about your people,” Cabot said, negotiating a particularly large rut. He raised his voice to Omar and Nagali. “Any pursuit?”

  “No one seems to have even noticed us.” Nagali sounded disappointed.

  “Don’t worry,” Omar reassured her. “I’m sure bombs will start dropping on us soon.”

  “You think so?” Nagali’s tone turned hopeful.

  From the corner of his eye, Cabot saw Rigby looking quizzical.

  “Is she serious?” she asked.

  “We’re never entirely sure,” Cabot said. “It’s usually safest to assume so.”

  “I see.” Rigby took the news well.

  “What’s our ETA to the industrial center?” Cabot asked. “I’d look for myself, but I have concerns that if I did, I’d pitch us over a rut and into a ravine.”

  “Let’s avoid that,” Rigby said. After a pause, she added, “Two hours at our current rate. Longer if the terrain gets worse.”

  “You’d think they would have smoothed out some roads," Nagali huffed.

  “Guess that’s not a priority,” Omar said.

  “I doubt too many people make the trip—just supply trucks.”

  “Are you sure the industrial center is the best place to go?” Cabot asked. He had to rely on Rigby’s knowledge of the place, but going to the busiest spot on the planet felt like a major hazard.

  “Yes,” Rigby said with assurance. “According to our records, that was Arpalo’s last duty assignment. Chances are, he’s still there somewhere, though he might have shifted to another department. We’ll be fine there. We’ll just pretend to be escorting an inspector around, and act like we belong.”

  “But it’s still risky, going in there and poking around,” Nagali said.

  “Yes, of course,” Rigby answered.

  “Good.” Nagali sounded very satisfied.

  Rigby shot Cabot an is she mentally deranged look, but he pretended not to see it.

  The truth that yes, she probably was, would not help anything.

  The bumpy, lurching drive rattled Cabot’s bones and reminded him that he wasn’t as young as he used to be.

  When they finally sighted the complex, his fingers had grown stiff from clenching the steering wheel. He pried them off, heaving a sigh as he exited the vehicle.

  “Let me lead,” Rigby said. “I called in some favors to get false credentials, so as far as you’re concerned, I’m Acquisitions Manager Lon Delacorte. Got it?”

  “Fake ID? Friends who can do that sort of thing?” Nagali asked. “I’m starting to like her.”

  If Rigby was impressed by this declaration, she didn’t show it.

  They strode up to a side entrance and Rigby pulled the door open.

  “No lock?” Omar asked in surprise.

  “There’s no reason for them to think they need one, and it provides ease of use,” Rigby muttered back. “Now hush.”

  They entered and strode down a central path that divided the space in two. On either side of them were large doors that rolled down from overhead. All the doors were down, concealing whatever lay beyond.

  Cabot was extremely curious about whatever was behind those doors. He would have liked a spare couple of minutes to open one up and take a good look around.

  Maybe later.

  Rigby continued to stalk her way toward the center of the complex, her boots making a muffled clomping sound that had the subtle weight of authority. Actually, all of their feet were doing that, and if he was being honest, it was rather cool.

  He looked over to Nagali, who smiled as though she’d just received some lovely presents. He suspected she felt like they were being cool, too.

  Or maybe she was looking forward to a chance of getti
ng them all killed. It was a toss-up.

  Several minutes later, they arrived at a crossway. Cabot grew increasingly surprised that they had not yet encountered anyone.

  Rigby wavered, indecision flickering over her features.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked, edging close to speak under his breath.

  “I’m not sure which way to go. We don’t want to end up someplace that will arouse suspicion, but we need to encounter some people.”

  Cabot looked to Nagali. “Which way should we go?”

  She brightened at being asked the question, and pointed to the right. “That way.”

  Cabot turned to the left. “Then we go that way.”

  Rigby’s forehead crinkled. “Why?”

  “She could find trouble in a windowless padded room. The opposite of her instinct is often the safest path.”

  Rigby shrugged. “If you say so. I’m starting to think PAC people might be mentally unstable, though.”

  “You’re probably right,” Omar agreed. “But if we weren’t, we wouldn’t be here, helping you out with your problem, now would we?”

  She ignored him, striking off to the left.

  Voices reached them, echoing off of what sounded like a large, empty space.

  Rigby shot them a severe look, probably warning them to follow her lead and not say much.

  She led them directly toward the voices, bringing them into a large, warehouse-like space. Though it wasn’t completely barren, it had only a few pallets against the back wall, which didn’t make a dent in the cavernous area.

  Cabot wondered what they intended to store here.

  “Attention,” Rigby called out, her voice crisp and direct. “I’m Acquisitions Manager Lon Delacorte. I’ve been assigned to assist this inspector. Can you tell us the whereabouts of a man named Arpalo?”

  The five men clustered together exchanged a look and some shrugs.

  “Nobody knows him? Why is this man so hard to track down?” Rigby’s voice rose in irritation. Rigby edged closer and lowered her voice as she spoke to the employees. “Help me out, here. Would you want to be leading an inspector around? The sooner she gets him, the sooner she can leave.”

  Again, the men shot glances at one another. A younger one with sandy blond hair spoke up.