“It ain’t personal,” the man said as he knelt by David. “Just business.”
And then his head exploded.
However subtle the new players’ approach might have been—and David didn’t think anyone had seen them coming—there was no subtlety in their actions. Military-grade heavy penetrator rifles barked at point-blank range as three exosuited soldiers appeared out of nowhere.
One of the cyborgs managed to avoid the opening fusillade, dodging sideways at superhuman speed and producing a knife from somewhere. What he was planning on doing with said knife against exosuit armor would be a question for the interrogators, as the cyborg froze in place, barely visible bonds of force slapping down on his arms as the fourth member of the rescue party, the reason they’d approached unseen, gestured.
The Royal Martian Marine Corps Combat Mage was in full uniform but had eschewed the heavy exosuit armor of her companions. She stepped between them, her hand still outstretched and the projector rune on her palm glowing to David’s eyes.
“My name,” she said calmly as she approached the cyborg, “is Mage-Lieutenant Jeanette Williams—and you are under arrest. Now, are you going to be a good boy and cooperate, or do I need to float you down to Navy country?”
All Williams’s magic was doing was holding the cyborg’s limbs in place. He could speak but instead chose to snarl wordlessly.
“Very well,” the Marine said crisply, gesturing. The thug lifted off the ground, floating helplessly over to her, where he looked down at the relatively petite woman. Williams started to open her mouth to say something else…and then the cyborg’s head exploded, spraying blood over the officer’s face in a manner that David completely sympathized with right now.
“Down!” One of Williams’s exosuited troopers was suddenly on top of her, interposing the several centimeters of metal and ceramic that protected his suit between the Mage and the incoming fire.
Heavy slugs smashed into the armor, but they weren’t the saboted penetrators needed to go through it. The Mage was protected—and the other two Marines returned fire.
There was a scream, and a shooter David hadn’t seen went down. More gunfire echoed for several seconds afterwards, a slug ricocheted off the wall near him…and then it was silent.
“They’re gone,” one of the Marines said gruffly. “Scanners show clear. Sorry, ma’am, we should have seen them coming.”
“Retrieve the bodies,” Williams snapped. “See what kind of ID you can sort out.”
She glanced over the unconscious forms of David’s companions and sighed.
“Well, that is going to make my life easier, isn’t it?” she asked rhetorically. “We got a ping from an MISS team that had you under observation, but my impression is that everybody will be happier if nobody realizes the Protectorate is covering your ass.”
She checked her com.
“Anvil Police are being informed as we speak. Vetted officers,” she noted, the emphasis clear. She knew who at least some of the people who’d attacked Rice were. “These gentlemen”—she gestured at the cyborgs her Marines were scooping up—“were never here.”
She smiled, a brilliant green sparkle lighting up her eyes.
“And so far as anyone else is concerned, Captain Rice, neither were we. Understood?”
David blinked, wiping another man’s blood from his face and coughing.
“Yeah, sure,” he agreed. “What the hell is going on, Lieutenant?”
“These were all guns for hire, Captain,” she told him. “Not bounty hunters—someone directly offered them real cash to come after you. That someone cleaned up their loose ends and is almost certainly still in play. Watch your back.”
He finished wiping the blood off his face and looked at her wryly.
“I intend to,” he said, “but it’s nice to know someone else is too.”
30
Maria floated cross-legged in the middle of the simulacrum chamber. It would look to anyone around her, she was sure, that she was simply meditating surrounded by stars. While she’d started with that, she was also moving the tiny trackers that MISS had given her into the cargo containers.
Just attaching the trackers to the containers themselves wasn’t enough. She actually had to open each container, drop the tiny fingernail-sized devices into the contents, then close the container up.
It was a slow, painstaking process. Thankfully, access to the simulacrum made it significantly easier. The jump matrix wouldn’t amplify the minor spell she was using the way a military amplifier would, but it would let her see the outside of the ship with perfect detail and fidelity.
It was also enough of a distraction that she wasn’t thinking of the unpleasant surprise at the end of the previous evening. She hadn’t spoken to Acconcio since she’d seen him in the Green Parson’s Bar and was still sorting through her reactions.
Unfortunately, she’d come to the conclusion that there was no good reason for him to have been there. Either he’d been following her because he didn’t trust her reasons for going to a meeting after their dinner, or he’d been following her because he was keeping tabs on her.
For any one of a number of reasons. Most of those reasons were even innocent…but the action wasn’t. And it wasn’t something she could permit.
She was going to have to talk to him. Cut things off before it got too deep, too dangerous. Stalking was a red flag she’d ignored only once in her life, and that hadn’t ended well for anyone.
A cough at the door interrupted her resolute thoughts, and she unleashed a tiny drag of magic to turn herself. She’d hidden over seventy of the trackers, and while she had thirty more, that was probably enough.
She was surprised to find Xi Wu standing just outside the doorway, where there was still magical gravity. The young Mage looked shaky, worried.
“Xi, what’s going on?” Maria asked gently. “Are LaMonte and Kelzin okay?”
“They’re fine,” Wu said quickly, a soft flush crossing her cheeks. The mild embarrassment seemed to calm her. “We just got a ping from Anvil Station Police—Captain Rice and Officer Campbell are in a station emergency room. So are the troopers who went with them.”
A sharp chill ran down Maria’s spine.
“ASP wants to talk to whoever’s in charge,” Wu noted. “That’s…you, ma’am. Until one or both of those two is conscious, you’re in command.”
“I understand,” Maria said calmly. “Thank you, Xi. Can you let whoever is holding down the communication watch know I’ll be on the bridge in a few moments?
“I’ll talk to Anvil there.”
She couldn’t quite bring herself to take David’s chair, so Maria took over Jenna Campbell’s navigation station and quickly double-checked the cameras.
“Link them through,” she told the tech holding down the com watch. The young woman gave her a grateful nod and hit a key.
“This is Mage Maria Soprano, first officer of the merchant ship Red Falcon,” she said sharply into the camera. “I’m informed my Captain and executive officer are in a station emergency room. What happened?”
“I was hoping you’d have some idea yourself, Mage Soprano,” the pale dark-haired woman on the other end replied. “I am Sector Captain Alicia Nguyen of the Anvil Station Police. I’m not entirely sure what the hell went down, but three of my men are dead.”
“It’s your station, Sector Captain,” Maria pointed out. “Don’t you have surveillance systems?”
“They were disabled, Mage Soprano. And while they were disabled, someone shot three ASP officers to death and stun-darted your crew members. Any information you have would be appreciated.”
The cop’s tone made it clear she suspected that Maria’s crew had something to do with her officers being shot.
“Captain Nguyen, there are groups with long-standing grudges against Captain Rice,” Maria told her. “While those grudges have rarely ended well for those bearing them, this ship was nearly destroyed by pirates on our way to this system.
“I would not put it past those behind that piracy to attempt another attack here,” she concluded. “You should be proud of your officers. In the absence of any communication, they clearly attempted to save civilians and paid a high price for doing so.
“I, and I’m sure my Captain, once he’s awake, can only extend our thanks for their service and our deepest condolences to their families.”
Nguyen didn’t look like she quite bought it. Maria wasn’t entirely sure she bought it herself—but she was quite certain that if David and his bodyguards had shot Anvil Station Police, it had been in self-defense.
“I will be aboard Anvil shortly to collect my Captain and crew,” Maria continued. “Assuming your doctors think he can be transferred?”
Nguyen looked like she was going to argue for a moment, but she picked up on the unspoken comment—that Maria wasn’t going to not collect her Captain for anything short of a doctor’s opinion or an arrest order.
And the combat-mage swords on her Mage medallion warned that getting in her way would be unwise.
“Skavar, you’re with me,” Maria snapped at the Marine as she walked into the armory. “Captain and Campbell got stunned and are in a station ER; ASP is being…difficult.”
“How difficult are we talking?” the gaunt officer replied, the pieces of the weapon he had dissembled in front of him clicking back together with practiced speed.
“I’m not sure yet,” she admitted. “Several of their officers ended up dead and they seem to think the Captain might have been involved.”
The security chief was on his feet, strapping the MACCAW into a harness she hadn’t seen him wearing. He was thoughtfully silent for a moment, gesturing at several of the troopers in the room to get prepped as he pulled an armor vest out of a locker.
“If the Captain shot somebody, they started it,” he concluded.
“I agree. I’m willing to let ASP save face by officially assuming their officers died protecting the Captain and his client, but we are getting our people back aboard and into Dr. Gupta’s capable hands ASAP.”
“No argument there,” Skavar said grimly. Four of his men and women were suddenly standing with him and Maria, all wearing armor vests and carrying SMGs.
“Kelzin and Wu are waiting for us at the shuttle,” she told the suddenly assembled squad. “Let’s go get our Captain, shall we?”
“Somehow, I’m not surprised that we’re having to rescue him from the police,” Skavar replied with a grin. “I’ve seen his file.”
Maria glared at him for a moment, looking at the men around them.
“And how, exactly, did an ex-Marine get access to the Captain’s confidential file?” she asked sweetly.
Skavar coughed.
“Maybe we should talk about that after we rescue him?”
Two Mages, five blatantly armed security guards, and one obviously armed pilot made for a surprisingly large bubble of clear space as Maria and the crew stalked through the corridors of Anvil Station.
Neither the Mages nor Kelzin carried the deadly-looking close assault weapons Skavar and his people were packing, but Kelzin’s holstered pistol was obvious, as were the Mage medallions on the two women.
Wu might not have been a trained Combat Mage, but she’d passed the self-defense portion of the Jump Mage curriculum with flying colors and had impressed Maria in practice. She’d rather have a Marine Combat Mage or another Navy Mage with her, but in the absence of those options, Wu was a solid second choice.
Maria was well aware that her little party looked ready for war, and she didn’t mind in the slightest. If the Station Police decided they were going to be trouble, she wanted to have all the firepower, both literal and figurative, to hand that she could.
The receptionist at the front desk of the ER looked up as she walked in, and visibly swallowed.
“How may I assist you, Mage?” he asked carefully.
“I’m here to collect Captain Rice and his crew,” she told him. “I understand they are in rough shape but should be dischargeable to our doctor’s care.”
“I will check,” the receptionist said. He skimmed over his system and then looked up at her awkwardly. “I have them marked as persons of interest in a police case,” he admitted. “I am not able to release them without ASP permission, Mage.”
“I see,” Maria said calmly. “And is there someone on site who can give that permission?”
The receptionist swallowed.
“I believe they’re under guard,” he said slowly. “I don’t think they have authority to release them without speaking to senior officers. You’ll have to speak to Sector Captain Nguyen.”
“I did,” she told him. “And I was not aware that my people were under arrest.”
“Not arrest,” a voice said from behind her. “Locked down as persons of interest. In case someone decides to try and break them free before I can ask them questions.”
Maria turned very precisely on her heel and found Captain Nguyen standing behind her. The Asian cop wasn’t armed herself, but the pair of looming ASP exosuit troopers were mute testimony to her authority.
“And given that our ship currently can’t fly, what exactly gives you the idea we’re going to disappear before you can ask your questions?” she asked. “On the other hand, given that someone appears to have actively shot at and stunned my Captain, I would far rather have him on our ship than in an unsecured ER.”
“As you can see,” Nguyen said calmly, “this is not unsecured.”
“And if the same people who killed three of your officers and blew giant holes in Red Falcon came for him in force?” Maria replied. “How much collateral damage can you accept, Sector Captain?”
“My job is to avoid collateral damage, Mage Soprano. Collateral damage appears to follow your Captain around. I’d rather keep him contained,” she said. “This is my decision and my authority, Mage Soprano. You may visit with your Captain and crew, but both they and Mr. Boots are remaining in protective custody at least until I’ve had a chance to interview them.
“Understood?”
There were ways Maria could override Nguyen, but they would take time and she’d laid her position out pretty clearly. Force was an option but probably a bad idea.
There were, of course, still compromises available.
“Skavar?” she said.
“Ma’am?”
“You’ll join Sector Captain Nguyen’s people in securing the Captain and our people,” she ordered. “We’ll cooperate, Captain, but we need to be very certain of Captain Rice’s safety.”
Nguyen nodded grudgingly.
“That is acceptable,” she allowed. “I don’t expect to have to detain your people for long, Mage Soprano—but my men are dead and I will have some goddamn answers.”
31
David had arrived at the ER conscious but had fallen asleep while the nurses went over the bruises, scrapes and minor injuries he’d acquired along the way. He’d avoided the SmartDarts that had taken down the others, but the cyborgs had handled him roughly enough to leave him the worse for wear.
When he went to sleep, he’d been in the same room as Campbell, at least, but when he woke, he was alone. Heavy security dividers had been moved in around his bed, not just curtains, and the only exit was through a clearly locked door.
That was…not a good sign.
He caught a moment of unclear argument through that door, and then it slid open to reveal Maria Soprano and an unfamiliar pale woman in an Anvil Station Police uniform. They stood slightly off-angle from each other, both women unconsciously giving themselves space to defend themselves against the other.
That wasn’t a good sign either.
“Maria, Officer,” he greeted them. “What’s going on?”
“I am Sector Captain Alicia Nguyen,” the cop introduced herself. “You were found near the wreckage of a crashed transit pod, with your companions shot and stunned and several dead ASP officers in the area.”
She grimaced.
“Three of my men are dead, Captain Rice, and you’re the first conscious person who was there,” she told him. “Would you care to tell me what the hell happened?”
David leaned back in his bed and studied the two women.
“Do you want the truth or the answer that will make you feel better, Sector Captain?” he asked bluntly. “I can spin a story of brave heroics and grand sacrifice on the part of your men, but it won’t be consistent with anyone else’s story, will it?”
“I am an officer of the law, Captain Rice,” she ground out. “What happened?”
He sighed.
“Six of your men were dirty,” he said flatly. “I don’t know who paid them or why they allowed themselves to be bought, but they set up an ambush. Recoded the transit pod that Boots reserved to take us to somewhere they knew there would be no witnesses.
“The pod was then disabled with a rocket launcher, but my guards were paranoid enough to get us all out of the vehicle before they shot it. They came to finish the job; my people defended themselves.”
He shook his head grimly.
“Not, perhaps, as effectively as we’d hope, since most of us ended up wounded or unconscious, but enough that we survived. As did our client, not that we were being paid to see to his safety,” David concluded dryly.
Nguyen sat still as a statue, processing his words.
“You admit that you killed three Anvil Station Police officers?” she asked softly.
“Honestly, I don’t know for certain if they were actually ASP officers,” David pointed out. “I know they were wearing ASP uniforms and had access to heavy weapons I wouldn’t have expected to be in anyone’s hands aboard a main orbital station.”
“I see.” The cop was silent, then shook her head.
“For your information, Captain Rice, all of the dead men were Anvil Station Police officers,” she confirmed. “None, however, were on duty. Can you be more specific as to what heavy weapon you saw?”
Interstellar Mage Page 22
