by M. D. Cooper
“But damn, she can put a good menu together,” Winter said. “Normally I wouldn’t eat something called a crap but they were pretty good.”
Kylie groaned. “Crepe, Winter, the ‘a’ sound is long. Seriously…”
“Whatever. The craaaaps were good.”
“The way you slurped back four of them before the main course, I’d hope they were ‘pretty’ good,” Kylie said and then turned her attention over to Rogers.
“They were filled with chocolate and bananas. Choc-nana, yo. I didn’t realize you could even do that with a pancake.”
Kylie ignored Winter’s food ranting. “I’m sending coordinates to the ship’s nav system. Maverick says the GFF has been monitoring space outside this pocket of the dark layer and its clear of the SSF and the Black Crow. We should be able to dump out and be on our way.”
Rogers opened his mouth to reply, but Lana cut him off. “Wait a second. The GFF president was on that ship and they just let you walk off?”
Kylie nodded. “Yeah, things are a bit…complicated. Harken’s narcissism won’t let her admit defeat, which is playing well for us. She’s claiming to still have you—probably has to or her backers would drop her like a hot potato. For some reason, everyone believes her. They have no idea you’re with us, Lana.”
Lana whistled. “Good thing the bad guys are chronic liars.”
“So, what does this have to do with running errands for Maverick?” Rogers asked.
“The coordinates are for a base he has where they can repair us and get us ready to take on Jason and get Nadine back. That’s priority number one, now.”
Rogers nodded. “That’s good news, because if the Black Crow or SSF catch sight of us, our shields aren’t going to last more than five minutes.”
“They’re back online?” Kylie asked.
“Barely,” Rogers said. “I kinda figured out what Grayson was doing before—”
“Winter,” Kylie interrupted. “Check out the shields, make sure they’ll hold long enough. Gedri’s not a safe place to fly around in without protection—even if we avoid the SSF and the Black Crow.”
“Yes, Captain,” Winter said solemnly, his expression and tone full of respect. She scowled. He wasn’t off the hook with her. Far from it. Still, she appreciated his behavior on the Satisfaction. “Let’s be clear…we need each other to get through what’s about to happen, but we’re not past what you did yet, Winter. You have a lot to answer for.”
Winter pressed his lips together; it was clear he had something to say but he held his tongue. He gave a curt nod before turning and walking down the corridor to the engineering compartment.
His feelings were probably hurt, but Kylie wasn’t too broken up about it. She turned back to Rogers and a strange wave of pain hit her. Her body almost felt like it wasn’t her own, like her limbs were beginning to float off in random directions, like she wasn’t held together by anything anymore.
Well, that wasn’t the news she wanted to hear.
Exciting was not exactly how Kylie would’ve put it.
“I need sleep,” Kylie said and turned toward her quarters without another word.
She raced down the passageway like a drunk headed for her next drink. Footsteps followed after, and from their tread she knew it was Lana. The woman’s usually soft footfalls seemed magnified in Kylie’s ears, the thud of Lana’s feet hitting the deck reverberated in Kylie’s, bringing Kylie close to rage.
Kylie spun—which was a bad decision—and placed her hand on the bulkhead. “Can I help you with something, Lana?” She cringed at how clipped her tone was and at how crestfallen Lana appeared in response.
“Rogers is right. You’re not feeling well, are you?” Lana’s tone was soft and her eyes showed compassion. “Can I help?”
Kylie waved her hand dismissively. “It’s just a lot going on. My ex-husband was taken over by his AI and tried to kill me. The man who used to own me—physically own me, like with a slave collar—well now we’re trading favors and scheming with the Gedri Freedom Federation’s president. And that’s just in the last six hours! All I’ve ever wanted is—” Kylie stopped herself and let out a long breath. “I’m just under a lot of stress.”
Lana chewed on her lip while twisting side to side on her heel. Suddenly she looked more like a lost girl than a super-charged nanotech powerhouse. “Yeah, I guess I can see how that all must be pretty hard.” Lana’s lips pressed together and she looked so very sad. Kylie was glad at least to see she was capable of human emotions other than rage and pouting—or whatever the emotion for pouting was.
Kylie knew that wasn’t fair. Considering what was happening to Kylie had happened to Lana—she supposed she could give the kid some leeway. They’d all been through the wringer in the last few days.
Lana brushed Kylie’s hair to the side and her large, worried eyes probed Kylie’s.
Marge piped in,
“I went in and spoke to Jerrod,” Lana said, her eyes darting to the side. “He said some things…”
“Lana,” Kylie tried to keep her voice even as her temper boiled over once more. “I told you not to do that. I told you—”
“He thinks the nano I have was stolen from S&H. They’re a big military contractor. I heard my father talk about them all the time. Jerrod thinks my nano was weaponized.”
Weaponized by a military contractor? That sent alarm bells ringing in Kylie’s head. “That’s…well that’s something.” Definitely not a good something either. Kylie didn’t even know how to process that information.
“Does Jerrod know things Grayson didn’t?” Lana asked, looking worried. “Why didn’t he ever mention it before? Why—”
“Relax.” Kylie laid her hand on Lana’s shoulder. “Take a deep breath. I’ll handle it. Why don’t you go down to the galley? There’s probably something left over besides my bad coffee. You should get some rest afterward too. I don’t want you to worry about it.”
“But it’s in me. How can I not worry about it? It’s in me and I’m changing, I can feel it. Some emotions are just so intense and other ones feel further away, like they’re behind a glass wall.”
Kylie smiled. “Just let me worry about it, okay? I’ll talk to Jerrod and we’re on our way now…so…. Soon, we’ll have everything we need.”
“To rescue your friend Nadine?” Lana asked. “She’s part of your crew, right? Jerrod told me that you’d do anything to get her back. Anything. Is that the only reason you rescued me? To trade for Nadine?”
So, that was Jerrod’s plan? To turn Lana against them? It wasn’t a bad plan…all things considered. “Lana…”
“Just answer the question. Am I a person to you or just…a thing?”
“You’re a person, of course you are. A lovely girl and very confused, rightfully so. I promise you, I won’t be doing anything stupid, like trading a human life. I do what I have to to protect my crew. And as far as I’m concerned, you’re crew.”
Lana gave a small smile, then a frown took its place. “I guess my old life in Silstrand is over.” Lana chewed on the inside of her lip. “I guess I did that to myself when I agreed to take this stupid job. I’ll go get something to eat. Rogers set me up with a cabin. I guess I’ll be there staring at the ceiling afterward.”
&
nbsp; “Good,” Kylie said with a nod. “I’ll be in my quarters trying to get to a place where my body feels like it’s not made out of bees.”
Lana laughed. “You seem to be handling it a lot better than I was—though who knows. I was unconscious for most of it.” She touched Kylie’s arm. “Call me if you need me.”
Kylie placed her hand over Lana’s. “I will. Promise.”
Lana turned and walked down the passageway toward the galley, and Kylie grunted and leaned against the bulkhead, her head resting on a reinforcement strut.
Just seeing him like that, looking like a machine, made her want to hurt someone. There was no one around she could hurt, which posed a little problem.
She garnered a measure of resolve and approached his bed. Only when she was close, did he look at her.
“Hello, Kylie.” His voice sounded more emotionless than usual. “I was wondering if you would ever come to visit me.”
“I want to talk to Grayson,” Kylie said defiantly. “Let me speak to him.”
“You can speak to me.”
“There’s no reason for this anymore. You aren’t taking control of this ship. You can’t win. Lana is alive and if the general ever wants to see her again…. You’ll release Grayson.”
“I can work with you on your mission to save Nadine as Grayson promised we would. But in the end, you must return to Trio and bring Lana to her father.”
Kylie’s teeth ground together. “No.” She had some idea of what the SSF would do to Grayson—which was nothing good—and she also knew what would happen to Lana if they couldn’t safely get the nano out.
“Typical human response. You lead with fear.”
“You’ve got me stuck between a rock and a hard place. Grayson trusted you. You’ve worked with him for years. How you could—”
“I was following orders.”
“Screw your orders.” Kylie took a deep breath as the room split into two. She blinked rapidly and the medbay reassembled itself. “The SSF doesn’t care about Lana or Grayson. Or you. Everyone is expendable as long as they get this tech. That’s not how I want to live my life. That’s not how Grayson wanted to live his.”
“Are you sure?”
“Sure as hell. He stood against the general in the corridor. I know what he wanted.” Kylie’s heart knew what it wanted too.
“So, you’re just going to leave me strapped to this bed until I agree to put Grayson back in charge? He’ll have me removed.”
“Who’s to say I won’t do that the first chance I get?” Kylie asked as the room began to slip away. Surging pain rippled through her arms and legs. Her heart suddenly felt like it was going to beat its way out of her chest, and she turned away, making it to the medbay’s door before collapsing against the frame.
“What’s wrong with you?” Grayson asked inquisitively. It was the first-time Kylie heard real concern in his voice since Jerrod had taken over.
Kylie ignored him and stumbled forward, pulling the door shut behind her.
Abby, yes. It was a good idea to use the other AI on the ship. Kylie hadn’t spoken with Lana’s AI, but if Marge trusted her…. It dawned on Kylie that she was relying on Marge as much as any other member of the crew—more than some if she still considered Winter crew.
Kylie hobbled down the passageway, finally reaching the relative safety of her quarters. She locked the door and leaned against it. It seemed like just a few hours ago that she had been in here with Grayson, ready to kiss him, but unable to give in. If only she could rewind the clock, Kylie thought she’d be happy to replay that scene just a little bit differently.
She took a step and let herself fall down onto her bed, nearly missing it and hitting the floor as the world spun around her. Kylie felt like she was being compressed into nothing, drawn down into a black hole. All she wanted was to be free, to feel like her body was her own once more.
She moaned, unable to lay still but also barely able to move. Her limbs wanted to get away from the burning heat around her, though the air felt cold. It wasn’t pain, but it was like a fire, tingling and roaring along her nerves. Kylie gasped as her arms straightened out and her back arched.
Was this how Lana had felt? How had she managed to survive?
Just what Kylie didn’t want to hear.
The blunt question threw Kylie for a loop. After everything they went through to save her, Kylie knew the answer was no. It should have always been no, even though she’d considered it on more than one occasion.
If they were going to rescue Nadine, they were going to take her by force. Kylie just hoped to God by the time they got there, she would be ready for the fight.
CONFRONTATION
STELLAR DATE: 09.17.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Dauntless, near Einendart
REGION: Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance
Rogers settled into his chair and watched the GFS Satisfaction disappear from the dark layer as it transitioned back into normal space. He waited five minutes for the other ship to clear out and took a deep breath.
He was surprised that Kylie wasn’t around. She must really trust Maverick and the GFF’s president’s word to crash in her cabin while they transitioned out, or maybe she just had full faith in Rogers instead.
That could’ve been it.
Although, if the Satisfaction had wanted to destroy them, it could have done so earlier. If the GFF said it was safe to transition out, then he had no choice but to trust them.
Here goes nothing, he thought.
An instant later the nothingness of the DL was gone, replaced by the light of Gedri, and a gleaming starscape. Einendart was still there, off the Dauntless’s port side, its dark cloud bands forming their familiar pattern.
Sure enough, there were no SSF ships nearby, though several GFF cruisers were visible on scan. The Satisfaction was boosting away, on a course for Freemont.
Even if Kylie had made some sort of deal with the GFF—a deal he was interested in learning more about—he wasn’t comfortable hanging out with all their ships, and set a course for the coordinates Kylie had provided.
Once that was locked in, he checked the ship’s status, and noted that Kylie’s door was locked, and saw Lana’s was as well.
Good. It was time for a chat with Winter.
Rogers entered the engineering compartment to see Winter bent over a console, the holo before him displaying power flow status, and shield umbrella strength.
Just seeing him there, working as though nothing was wrong, sent a spike of rage burning through Rogers. That Winter was still aboard after betraying them again infuriated him. The traitor stood there as though nothing untoward had transpired.
Well, there
was a growing welt on the back of Rogers’ head that said otherwise. Rogers strode up to Winter and shoved him in the back, pushing hard—though it was like trying to shove a tree.
Winter turned, a look of annoyance on his face.
Rogers somehow felt even angrier. Winter had no right to be annoyed.
“So, it’s just business as usual for you? Not even an ‘I’m sorry I knocked you out and tried to take over the ship to sell you all out’?” Rogers asked. “Far as I’m concerned, everything that’s happened since then has been on you.”
Winter snorted. “Are you done?”
Rogers blew out an angry breath. “Barely gotten started. What happened after with the SSF, what happened with Grayson, all of that is your fault because you took us off course. You thought of yourself and not the team. You didn’t have the captain’s back. Why the hell she’d pick you to go over for backup is beyond me.”
“Maybe because I know how to hold a weapon.”
Rogers eyes narrowed. “That’s not true. I can shoot. I haven’t had as much occasion to as a thug like you, but I get the job done. Kylie and I were a team before we brought you on board. We can go back to it again if we have to.”
“Who you calling a thug?”
“Pretty sure that’s you, pal.”
Winter opened his mouth to speak, but closed it and shook his head. Rogers was surprised to see the big man actually show a modicum of restraint. Even so, he was still angry, really angry, and he didn’t fully understand why.
Seconds ticked by, then a minute as the two men stood staring at one another.
Finally, Winter spoke. “OK, so are you actually done now? You got the shields up, but if we want them to hold against more than the first stray rock that hits us, I need to get back to work.”
“Yeah, I guess I am done.”
Winter turned back to the console and Rogers realized that no, he wasn’t done. The anger was still there and it wanted an outlet. He tapped Winter on the shoulder and when the albino freak turned around, Rogers threw a punch.
Which Winter caught in midair, then forced Rogers’ arm back. “That’s not gonna fly. If you want to fight it out, we can do that. But you’ll end up on the floor. Contrary to what you may believe, I don’t hate you. I don’t want to lay you out on the deck.”
