Jumper's Hope: Central Galactic Concordance Book 4

by Carol Van Natta

  Yarsulic hadn’t moved from where she’d tackled him, and blood pooled on the floor, but his carotid pulse said he was still alive. He might survive if she could get him to an autodoc, but she needed to figure out how to neutralize Liao and anyone else in on the treachery, regain control of the ship, and keep the jackers from killing them all. Just an ordinary outing for a single active Jumper with resources, but she wasn’t one any more and needed help. She pinged the one person on the ship she trusted.

  K: Jess, I need your help in the engine pod.

  She quickly returned to the patiently waiting weapons console.

  J: Coming. Liao tried to escape. I sealed nav pod under emergency protocol. Are you okay?

  Boris, the trigger-happy AI, showed nine minutes until weapons-range contact with the MO-2 corvette at present vector and velocity, and multiple weapons solutions. The pilot’s holo showed the MO-3 corvette hanging back, suggesting she’d gotten lucky with her earlier shot. The MO-1 corvette was now on an elliptic that was taking it toward the aggressive MO-4 warlighter.

  K: Yes. Yarsulic needs an autodoc.

  J: What about Bhatta? She says she’s locked in her quarters. Shipcomp says the door is open, so it’s mechanical, or she’s lying.

  Either she was an obstacle to Liao and Moon’s plot, or they were simply betraying a fellow thief for a bigger share of the proceeds.

  K: Ask your paranoid friend. We need Bhatta on our side. She has the only nav pod skulljack wire that isn’t sealed in with Liao, unless Kreutz is still on the ship.

  Kerzanna adjusted the firing solution for the energy torps to give the MO-2 corvette a one-two punch in the larger weapons port. She’d have liked to target the engines, but that shot had a much lower probability of success.

  “Captain,” said the cargo master through her shipcomp earwire, “should I go ahead and jet Cargo Four? It’s the organics, and it’ll make a godawful mess if it stays. It’s already a total loss.”

  Apparently, the crew hadn’t heard any of the nav pod drama. She wracked her brain for some excuse as to why a lowly temporary navigator would be telling the cargo master what to do.

  J: If you subvocalize into the shipcomp earwire, the crew will think it’s from Tanniffer.

  Thank the universe for Jess’s extraordinary skills.

  “Cargo Master, we’ll jettison Cargo Four on my mark.” After a three-second delay, she heard her words repeated in Tanniffer’s higher-pitched voice and slightly Germanic accent.

  She was about to ping Jess, when the man himself walked in the main engine pod door. Damn, but he made even an exosuit look sexy. He carried a large, bulky orange cargo bag and wore the straps of both their personal bags across his shoulder. It felt ridiculously good to see him in person, but there wasn’t time to pursue it. She pointed to the big engine core. “Yarsulic is on the other side, by the lift. Technician Moon is tied to a gravcart. He let Liao into the drive access tube two days ago to tamper with the engine. When Yarsulic figured it out, Moon stabbed him in the back with a phaseknife. We need Yarsulic.” She pointed to the holo display of the ships in space. “We’ll be in long-distance combat in four minutes.”

  Jess nodded as he dropped off the bags in one corner, then opened his. “How’s your head?” He touched his own forehead in the same location that she undoubtedly was sporting the start of a bruised lump on hers.

  She gave him a smartass grin. “Biometal skull beats ordinary bone every time.” She tilted her head toward the weapons console. “I’ll help you once I get this set.” She quickly checked the display and started Boris on the countdown, stifling an impulse to second-guess herself about the target choice.

  She raced around the engine core to find Jess kneeling, scanner in hand, over Yarsulic.

  Nearby, Moon tugged ineffectually against the cable binding his wrists and snarled at her. “Stupid cow! I hope the jackers fraggin’ slag you all!”

  Kerzanna ignored him and crouched by Jess.

  “Vertebrae compromised, but the spinal cord is intact.” Jess’s French accent was back. His left eye subtly twitched. “Liver and lung damage.”

  “Nearest autodoc is down the main corridor to the left about twenty meters. Carry him or cart him?” She tilted her head toward the grounded gravcart Moon was still tied to.

  “Let’s strap him to that cover plate, and I’ll carry him. Give me the phaseknife, and I’ll cut the exosuit open once I get there.” He pulled the access plate off the counter and quickly slid it under Yarsulic. She pulled universal sealer tape out of the drawer and measured off a long length to hand to Jess, who wrapped it around Yarsulic’s chest and activated the bond. He did the same with another length of tape around Yarsulic’s hips. Kerzanna helped Jess lift the man’s body so Jess could carry him in his arms, then put the phaseknife in Jess’s exosuit chest pocket.

  Jess gave her a pointed look. “We need to talk to Moon.”

  She kept her face straight. “Okay, I won’t kill him until after you get back.” She spoke loud enough for Moon to hear.

  Jess’s mouth twitched as he turned toward the engine pod door, and she turned to the engine console. To her relief, she found the Faraon’s builders had integrated limited emergency nav control from the engine pod. She brought up the same pilot’s view of the real-time holo, then copied in the local nav solutions she’d sent to Malámselah.

  “Shui Li will kill you if you kill me!” shouted Moon over the din of the engines.

  Standard tactics called for a vector or velocity change as soon as they fired the energy torps, to evade the jacker’s similar salvos, but getting the hell out of realspace was their best hope of survival, so they couldn’t afford the momentum loss. She took a deep breath and poured every erg of energy from the reactor coils into the system drive. If they could get the flux line going, and she timed it right, the Faraón would go transit just inside the MO-2 jacker’s laser-cutter range.

  Jess returned just as Boris fired the one-two punch of energy torps, which showed up as bright blue lines on the holo. He put a hand on her shoulder and leaned close enough to talk without Moon overhearing. “Autodoc says Yarsulic needs four hours before we can talk to him.”

  The ship vibrated.

  “Alert. Hull compromised. Cargo Two pressure loss. Seal commencing. Cargo Two gravity ninety percent.”

  Kerzanna subvocalized for her shipcomp’s earwire, trusting she still sounded like the captain. “Cargo Master, jettison Cargo Four now.” With luck, the move would make the jackers underestimate the Faraon’s spaceworthiness and quit taking potshots at them.

  She turned to Jess to speak into his ear, and made herself ignore the increasing desire to wrap her arms around him and take comfort in his solid strength, if only for a moment. “Moon thinks Liao will avenge his death. I want to use the flux line to augment the system drive, but he could have sabotaged it, if he was brazen enough to do it under Yarsulic’s nose.”

  Through the shipcomp’s earwire, she heard the cargo master’s confirmation that the damaged cargo was away.

  The ship vibrated again, but no synth voice announcement followed, meaning the hull held against the second shot. The jackers had to use care not to damage the cargo, if they wanted their payday. The Faraón was free to kill them if it could.

  The ship’s announcement system came to life. “If anyone can hear me, this is Pilot Liao. Someone’s taken over the engine pod and is–”

  Jess swore viciously as his fingers danced over his percomp interface, Liao’s urgent voice cut off. “I’m a null-brain. I forgot about the emergency comm system. Everyone heard that.”

  Kerzanna quickly subvocalized into the shipcomp earwire. “Please ignore Pilot Liao’s announcement. She’s overstressed. We’re relieving her of her duty for time being.” The delayed announcement played through her earwire in Tanniffer’s voice. She’d have to deal with the passengers later.

  She glanced at Moon, who was glaring at both her and Jess, deep suspicion on his face. She pulled Moon’s earwi
res and shiplink out of her pocket and handed them to Jess.

  “These are Moon’s.” She pointed her chin toward the blood on the floor and Moon. “Despite what the ‘captain’ said, someone might come to check anyway. Can you sound like Yarsulic, in case we need it?”

  “Give me a minute,” he said, frowning in concentration as he worked his percomp.

  Through her earwire, she heard a woman’s voice without a tone identifier. “Kane, if you can hear me, don’t let on.” The voice was quiet, as if whispering, but clearly Liao’s. “Subvocalize and tell me where you are.”

  Jess looked up. “She’s using the analog wired system to access the nav pod secure net. I can hear it, but I can’t stop it. She thinks you’re a pawn.” He gave her back Moon’s earwire. “Use this when I tell you. Bhatta will hear, if she’s listening.”

  Kerzanna nodded and pulled off the earwire that made her sound like the captain and put Moon’s in its place. When Jess finished with his percomp, he pointed to her.

  “Liao? I’m at the weapons console.” she subvocalized. “Why?”

  “The captain sold us out. She spaced Kreutz out the crew airlock and killed Malámselah. She sent someone to take over engineering. You have to seal the pod now, or we’re all dead.”

  So much for hoping Kreutz was alive. Kerzanna decided Laraunte Kane wouldn’t be comfortable bucking authority. “I’ll tell Mr. Yarsulic–”

  “Don’t do that! He’s in on it. He turned us right into the jacker’s path.” Liao sounded panicked.

  Kerzanna let the moment stretch before she answered, trying to sound very earnest. “I’m sorry, but I’m not following. If Yarsulic is in on it, why does the captain need someone to take over engineering?”

  “Goddammit, stop arguing and seal the engine pod now! Or tell Tech Moon, and he’ll do it. I’ll explain later.”

  Jess touched her arm. “She’s been trying to ping Moon for the last ten minutes.” He held up Moon’s other earwire. “A note in the captain’s private data space says Moon and Liao are cousins.”

  Behind Jess, Moon tried unsuccessfully to flop himself like a seal up onto the gravcart’s platform.

  “Yarsulic’s coming,” Kerzanna hurriedly subvocalized to Liao. “I have to go.” She stripped off the earwire.

  She grabbed a spare strip of red cable tie and wrapped it around the earwire, so she could tell it apart from the one that let her impersonate the captain. “I say we keep her completely bottled up, unless you or anyone else has any better ideas.” She tapped her temple to mean the voices in his head.

  Jess’s left eye twitched. She’d stupidly forgotten that he paid a painful price for involving his “friends.” She’d spare him this, if she could.

  Her remorse must have shown on her face, because his expression softened. “I’m here by choice.” He brushed the side of her cheek with his knuckle. She only barely stopped herself from capturing his hand to hold against the side of her face. He stepped back. “I’ll take care of Moon and get Bhatta in here. You get us out of trouble.” He turned and headed toward Moon.

  Kerzanna glanced at the holo to check the status of the jack ships, but not much had changed. Despite advanced propulsion technology, space was vast, and it took time for things to unfold.

  An idea formed, and she sped around the engine core to the weapons console.

  CHAPTER 14

  * Interstellar: “Faraón Azul” Ship Day 05 * GDAT: 3242.009 *

  RITANJALI BHATTA LIKED to think she had an adventurous spirit, but she didn’t appreciate the God of the Gaps rubbing her nose in it.

  The engine pod hummed with constant vibration, and smelled of lubricant and metal, which couldn’t be good. She looked back and forth between Laraunte Kane, standing beside the engine console station, and her cousin, Cadroy Joffalk, standing on a stepladder and doing something with a big line connector. Their dissimilar skin color and looks testified to early divergence of their direct family tree lines, but they certainly shared the height genes. And the craziness.

  “I’ve piloted some for the family business, but I’m not rated for interstellar flight,” she said, crossing her arms protectively. The alert had woken her from a dead sleep, and her exosuit wouldn’t warm her in the chilly engine pod unless she powered it. “Besides, we don’t have full control from here.”

  “I’ll give you captain’s rights and reroute as many systems to you as I can.” Cadroy pointed to the large holo display of realspace, where the four jack ships glowed in threatening red. “I’d rather take my chances with you than with them.”

  Ritanjali half wished Cadroy hadn’t pried open the stuck door to her quarters and walked her to the engine pod while telling her what the snotty Liao and her whiny cousin Moon had done. She shivered. “Okay, I guess. Don’t come back to haunt me if I kill us.”

  She sat in the foldout seat and strapped herself in. Using the navwire in her skulljack, she accessed the unfamiliar pilot system, then yelped. “What was Liao thinking? We’re accelerating straight toward the jacker!”

  “Don’t change course,” said Kane urgently. “Our only hope is to go transit before they can catch us.”

  Ritanjali stared up at Kane. “You did this? How? Why?” Ritanjali made the shipcomp give her a countdown to laser-cutter contact range. Nineteen minutes at present velocity.

  Kane sighed and hooked her thumbs in the tool belt around her hips. “I used to be a military pilot.” She tilted her head toward Cadroy. “My cousin here isn’t just flatline broke, he owes a lot to some powerful cashflow sharks. If I used my military credentials, they’d trace us through me. Liao sent us toward the jackers. I maxed the velocity because it’s our only hope to outrun them. They’ve been using skip scans, so I’m betting they won’t think we’d be crazy enough to speed up. We’ll pour on the flux as soon as he finishes checking that Moon didn’t sabotage the line.”

  Ritanjali blinked. “What does a gambler know about ship engines?” They were absolutely screwed.

  “He went to engineering school, after giving up on being a flatland farmer, but before emergency medical technician training and computer school.” Kane snorted. “When Career Day rolled around, he was standing in the line for shiny objects. I’ve got to check the weapons.” She stepped aside and gave Ritanjali a military salute, then a short, respectful bow before turning away.

  Ritanjali shook her head. “I am definitely coming back to haunt you if you kill us.” She carefully extended her connection into the pilot space, to get a feel for the engine interface and the familiar nav space. Except it wasn’t so familiar.

  “Uhm, Kane? We have another problem.” She had to raise her voice to be heard over the engine noise.

  Kane stopped and turned. “What?”

  “The entire nav data hypercube is gone. If we go transit, we have no way of knowing how to get out.” Ritanjali shivered again. “We’re crippled. Why would Liao do that?”

  Cadroy dropped his multitool and started communing with his percomp, both subvocalizing and gesturing. In that moment, he looked a lot more formidable than the charming troublemaker she’d pegged him for.

  Kane swore in what sounded like some variant of French. “She’s desperate. I think it’s just her and Moon left on the deal, and Moon’s not answering. The jackers are her only hope of getting away with two murders. Must be one hell of a hot cargo.”

  Cadroy shook his head. “Main and archives are zeroed. She must have used the wired analog system.” Cadroy frowned. “I’ll scour the slack space, but that’ll take time. I wish we could keep an eye on her. She’s too damn clever.”

  “Why don’t you use the emergency monitors?” Ritanjali pointed to the face-shaped control icon on the holo display, eyes and mouth currently closed to indicate the cameras and microphones throughout the ship were off.

  Cadroy shook his head. “The system is either on or off. If we turn it on, Liao can see what we’re doing, too. The less she knows, the better.”

  Ritanjali shook her head. “I w
on’t enter transit without knowing where we’re going. Going into transit blind is much more likely to kill us than a few jackers.” Despair at the equally bad choices made her shoulders slump.

  Kane snapped her fingers. “Cadroy, copy my official dataspace to Bhatta’s. I got bored and did transit solutions for all the planned stops between here and Mabingion. It limits our choices to those six, but better than waiting for the local lions to eat us.” She spun and walked fast around the core and out of sight, presumably headed for the weapons console.

  Ritanjali spared a few seconds to glance at the solutions as they appeared in her dataspace. They looked streamlined and complete, which made sense now that she knew Kane was military, not just a wet-behind-the-ears Class 1 commercial navigator.

  The ship earwire she’d almost forgotten she was wearing played a priority tone. “Captain, could someone tell us what’s going on? The passengers are starting to get antsy.” The Logistics master sounded more peeved than alarmed. If he only knew.

  Ritanjali nearly fell out of her seat in shock when the captain answered. The very dead captain, according to both Cadroy and the shipcomp’s life-signs monitor for key personnel.

  “My apologies,” said Captain Tanniffer. “We’re making a run for transit. It’s better odds than waiting to see which pride of lions catches us first. Please remind the passengers about emergency transit entrance procedures.”

  The voice may have been Tanniffer’s, but the phrasing sounded a lot more like Kane. Ritanjali spared a glance up at the too-handsome-for-his-own-good Cadroy, but he was just getting off the ladder. She hadn’t noticed earlier, but he seemed tired as he collapsed the ladder and put it in the holdfast on the wall.

  A pilot system alert caught her attention. She voiced a private ping to Kane. “Whatever you shot at MO-2 made a splash, but no secondaries.”

  “Copy. I’m going to launch some displacement nets into our vector.”