Hold Fast Through the Fire

by K. B. Wagers

  Max opened her mouth, but the automatic yes didn’t come like she expected it to and she floundered. Was she just mad he wouldn’t listen to her the same way Rosa had? Was D’Arcy right that it was just a case of different leadership styles? Did she have any cause to be upset when she knew damn well that even Rosa would have wanted proof of something before taking action?

  “I don’t know,” Max finally whispered. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be, it’s an honest answer. Think about it some more,” D’Arcy said. “If you still don’t know in the morning, you might want to talk to Hoboins. We have to trust the people we’re going out into the black with, Max, or what’s the point?” He looked around to see if they were alone before he spoke again. “On that note, I knew Chae’s fathers. A long time ago.”

  “Oh . . . oh,” she repeated as the realization hit. “On Mars?”

  He nodded. “And I’ll say this, it continues to be relatively terrifying how you figure shit out. If you were on my crew, I would trust your gut. At the very least I’d tell you to keep digging until you were satisfied one way or the other. But you’re technically not my crew, so all I can really do for you is offer to talk to Nika.”

  “No.” Max shook her head. “I appreciate it, but I don’t think it would go over all that well. I’ll handle it. I—maybe I was overreacting.”

  “Hey, do you need a hug?” D’Arcy wrapped an arm around Max’s shoulders at her nod. “I haven’t known you all that long, Max, but you’re not exactly the type to overreact about anything. I know how Chae feels, I’ve been there. I didn’t trust that anyone was going to watch out for me when I first got here, either. Give them some time and maybe they’ll come around.” D’Arcy offered up a half smile. “Sometimes you can’t do anything but step back and hope they figure it out.”

  “Okay.”

  D’Arcy got to his feet. “I’m going to get a drink. You wanna come?”

  “No, I think I’ll shower and turn in.” Max picked up her wraps. “Thanks, though. For everything.”

  “Anytime, kiddo.”

  “I am not a kid,” she muttered at his retreating back, and he chuckled. Max frowned. “Hey, D’Arcy? Why weren’t you in the meeting?”

  D’Arcy turned. “What meeting?”

  “Nika said—oh.”

  He lied to me. Just to get out of the conversation. And I fell for it.

  Max shook her head as the realization slammed down on her.

  “Max?”

  “Nothing, never mind. I misheard.”

  D’Arcy hesitated a moment, but then walked away. Max squeezed her wraps in her fists until her hands screamed with pain. Then, sure her eyes would stay dry, she headed out of the gym and back to quarters. She’d cry in the showers, where no one could see.

  Eleven

  Nika pressed his head to the other side of his door with a muttered “Fuck.”

  How had that spiraled out of control so quickly? His brain insisted on replaying the shock and hurt on Max’s face just before he’d closed his door and Nika suddenly wanted nothing more than to open it again and tell her everything.

  It’s probably too late for that, never mind that Stephan would kill you; but you just accused her of wasting your time together and of trying to steal your job all in the same moment. You got what you wanted, she’ll drop it.

  He just hadn’t thought about what it would cost him.

  “Get your shit together, Vagin,” he snapped, and grabbed for the tablet, shutting off the movie and calling Coms. “Hey, Sully.”

  “Nika, what can I do for you?”

  “Can you put a high-security call through to Commander Yevchenko for me?”

  “Sure thing.”

  Nika rubbed a hand over his face as he dropped back onto the bed.

  “Welcome back,” Stephan said when the vid came up. “You weren’t going to call me until tomorrow. What’s up?”

  “The run went well. As we expected, they only had the decoy ships in the transit area. Jenks spotted a carton of rotten cabbages. Easily played off as a warehouse issue. I recommended to the captain that they file a complaint.”

  “I’ll bet that smell lingered.” Stephan’s grin vanished as quickly as it appeared. “So Chae is passing along the task force routes as expected.”

  “Yes. I was thinking: we could tell the kid their fathers are working with us and we’ll keep them out of danger. Something tells me they’d still play along.”

  “Maybe, but it wouldn’t be as authentic. I want these bastards to believe Chae’s scared. The best way to do it is to have them actually be scared.”

  Nika dragged in a breath. “I don’t think we have to worry about it. They’re terrified.”

  “Oh?”

  “Chae’s handler is on station.”

  “Julia?”

  “Yeah. Max said she called herself Julia Draven and claimed to be working for Off-Earth. That gives her a lot of access, Stephan.”

  “Max talked to her?”

  “She walked right up to her in the Interceptor bay and introduced herself as Chae’s girlfriend. I was already gone. Max is suspicious, Stephan. She wanted to know why Chae hadn’t talked about having a girlfriend to anyone.” Nika rubbed at his face again. “And her gut is apparently still screaming at her that Chae’s hiding something else.”

  “Huh, figures Max would pick up on it. It makes sense they’d have someone watching Chae, feeding them instructions beyond what we’ve seen in the emails. If they’re still using Chae’s girlfriend it means Tieg’s people may not realize we know they’ve got Chae under their thumb.” Stephan thought for a moment and then seemed to come to a decision. “I want a visual on Julia to match with what we have from the graduation—to verify it’s the same person. Talk to Hoboins about getting footage of the Interceptor bay; he knows the basics of what’s going on. You have clearance to tell him anything else you think he needs to know. Send the files my way, I’ll do the rest.”

  “Okay. What should I do about Max?” Even as Nika asked, he realized he was hoping Stephan would order him to tell her the truth.

  “You need to get her to drop this. However you can. If she keeps digging, it puts a target on her head, and her family is already in the crosshairs. And more, it could compromise the whole operation. We need everything to go smoothly on your next task force run. It’s dangerous enough with the weapon that freighter will be carrying, and the Laika will have to stay back far enough not to get picked up by anyone’s sensors. Do what you need to do to get her to drop it.”

  I’ve probably already done that. And made her hate me in the process.

  “I will,” Nika said out loud. “I should go catch Hoboins before he turns in for the night.”

  “Nika, I know this is difficult. You’re doing a good job.”

  “Thanks.” It was all Nika could muster up as a reply before he disconnected and dropped his head into his hands.

  I’m doing a good job lying to my crew. I’m not sure what that says about me.

  “Jesus Christ, this is a clusterfuck,” Jenks muttered into the early morning stillness of the bay. She’d thought things were bad when Max had joined. Then, Zuma’s Ghost only had to get used to having one new teammate, and it had been more than a little painful.

  Jokes about Max’s awkwardness aside, the LT had actually settled into her role without too much difficulty.

  The same was not going to be said for Nika and Chae.

  “I was expecting an adjustment period, but this—” Warrant Officer Paul Huang of Dread Treasure broke off with a whistle.

  “I decided you all could have a little win, as a treat.”

  “I am not even going to ask,” he said.

  “This is a slaughter and I hate you.” Jenks bumped her shoulder into his with a smile to soften the words and turned her eyes back to the carnage on the screen in front of them.

  She’d gotten accidentally taken out by Chae early in the fight. The spacer had crashed into her while Jenks was trying
to fend off Paul, and then he’d fallen to Nika about five minutes after that. Now they were watching the rest of the teams work through the deconstructed hull of a freighter she’d talked Admiral Hoboins into letting them keep in the far corner of the Interceptor bay last year. The argument that it would be good to run drills in had been surprisingly effective.

  It also meant they could do practice boarding actions to train for the Games. Or, as was the case right now, let Dread Treasure utterly wipe the floor with Zuma.

  “Stabbed in the back by my own fucking teammate. Come on, Max.” Jenks sighed and then muttered a curse as the lieutenant took a blow from D’Arcy that rendered her left arm useless. She somehow dodged the follow-up strike that would have tagged her suit with a mortal blow and ducked back behind the cover of a stack of cargo.

  “She falls apart a bit when you’re not around,” Paul noted. Jenks glanced in his direction with a raised eyebrow. “You two realize that, right? You’ve jelled so well in such a short amount of time that you’ve got big targets on your backs as far as the Games go. Why do you think I came after you?”

  “Should you be sharing your secrets?” Even as she teased him, Jenks was doing the math in her head and knew he was right on both counts. She and Max did work well together, so well in fact, it hadn’t really registered to her that it had only been two years.

  Feels like she’s been here forever.

  There was something else there, though. Max and Nika had been snappish and short with each other even as they spoke to the rest of the crew like normal, and Jenks didn’t know what to make of it.

  She wasn’t sure she wanted to make anything of it, but if it continued she was probably going to have to get involved.

  I hate being the chief.

  “You were bound to figure it out eventually anyway, and if we end up on the team together I’d rather you have a half-dozen months to mull it over.” Paul shrugged and looked back at the screen.

  “That’s a big ‘if’ at this point, but fair enough.” Jenks chewed on her lip as she watched Nika. His initial hesitation when they’d started this run was gone, but it had fed into this shit show in the first place and she didn’t see a way out of it now.

  Except, there was Chae, slipping between a broken gap in the wall just behind D’Arcy, as quiet as a mouse. He was so focused on hunting Max that he didn’t see the spacer.

  “You warn him, Paul, and I will break all your fingers,” she said.

  “I couldn’t even if I wanted to,” Paul replied, and whistled again as Chae hit D’Arcy in the back with a wound that immediately registered as fatal. “Looks like your newbie is something of an assassin, Chief.”

  “They are, at that,” Jenks murmured with pride. Then she punched Paul in the shoulder. “Don’t call me Chief.”

  Max sat in the pilot seat of the empty Interceptor, one knee pulled to her chest. She frowned at the blank screen in front of her as it fuzzed to life.

  “Hey, Max.” The head of LifeEx’s security dipped her head in greeting. “Sorry for the short notice.”

  “It’s fine. Admiral Hoboins said I didn’t need to be at the debrief.” Max quashed the feeling of guilt. It hadn’t entirely been a lie to the admiral that she needed to make an important personal call. This was both personal and important.

  You’re getting to be a little too much like Jenks, following the letter of the rules rather than the intent, Carmichael.

  For some reason, that thought made her feel more pride than guilt.

  “You okay?” Jeanie asked. “You look a little tired, and I’m not saying that to be a shit, Max.”

  “I’m fine. I didn’t sleep all that well.”

  Zuma’s quarters had been deserted when Max had returned from the gym, and she’d retreated into the second of two private rooms that were normally empty so she could once more comb through all the files Jeanie had sent her about Chae.

  She’d fallen asleep at some point, only to wake with a pain in her neck and more questions than when she’d started. There was video of Chae’s graduation and Julia was there—plain as day—but there had been nothing to indicate her existence prior to last night. No incoming coms for Chae. No requests for a few hours of leave.

  Chae hadn’t even seemed happy to see her. If anything, Max was sure the spacer had been even more tense than usual.

  “Max?”

  “Sorry, my mind wandered.” She shook herself, attempting a reassuring smile at the frown on Jeanie’s face. “Did you find something?”

  “Just that Julia Draven is contracted to Off-Earth and should be on and off the station for the next few months while they test a number of new systems.”

  Max’s heart sank.

  “Thanks, Jeanie. Sorry to waste your time.”

  “What is it, Max?”

  “It’s nothing. My gut. Never mind.” She shook her head.

  “Far be it from me to tell you how to do your job, but my gut’s saved my ass a few times. Sometimes it’s good to listen to it, even if everything else is telling you not to.”

  “You sound like Rosa.”

  “Hey, your former commander knew a thing or eighty.” Jeanie rubbed a hand over her short hair and made a face. “I feel like I’m missing part of this story, so feel free to discard this advice if it’s off-base. You’re good at your job, Carmichael. Don’t let anyone—even people you trust—tell you otherwise.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  “No problem. And tell you what, I’ve got contacts at Off-Earth. I’ll do a little more digging. If anything turns up I’ll let you know. Take care of yourself.”

  “You too. Tell Ria hi for me.” Max disconnected the call and rested her head in her hand.

  Maybe Nika was right and Chae’s just not ready to talk to any of us about their personal life. God, did I just mess up things between us for no reason?

  Max sighed and pushed to her feet. She headed for the stairs and was halfway down them when she spotted Jenks with Doge.

  “Didn’t want to interrupt your call,” Jenks said, her mismatched eyes full of questions. “Everything good back on Earth?”

  “Yeah.”

  “You are sad,” Doge said over the channel, and both women froze at the declaration.

  “Sorry. He’s really into telling people how they feel lately.” Jenks patted her dog on his metal head. “You can’t just bust it out, though, buddy. It’s rude.”

  “It’s fine,” Max replied. She made it down the stairs before Jenks spoke again.

  “Since Doge started it anyway, you seemed kinda off this morning in practice. If you need to talk about anything, you know I’m here, right?”

  The fierce longing that Jenks’s quiet offer woke in Max stole her breath. “I appreciate it. I just . . . I probably shouldn’t talk to you about it.”

  “You mean because Nika’s my brother or because he’s our commander?” Jenks snorted at Max’s surprised look. “I’m not oblivious, Max. I just act like it sometimes because it’s easier than caring.”

  “You always care, even when you’re pretending otherwise.”

  “Maybe.” Jenks shrugged and winked. “But I’m not only your . . .” She paused and rolled the word around in her mouth, finally sighing. “Chief. I’m also your friend if you need it.”

  “I wish I could compartmentalize things as well as you.”

  “I’ll be honest, I’m not sure I recommend it,” Jenks replied, and Max couldn’t stop the pained laugh that slipped out. “Every time we have a crew change things are a little jerky. It’s okay. We’re not just going to fall into a rhythm without some work. But it’s on all of us to do the work, not just you. I figure if I’m supposed to step up around here it involves things like calling our commander out when he’s wrong. Okay?”

  “Okay.” Max nodded.

  “I’m going to tear apart the water system and see if I can’t figure out where that recycler’s failing. You want to help?”

  Max thought of the pile of reports in her in
box, but going back to quarters and chancing a second run-in with Nika was enough to make her nod before she even realized she’d moved her head. “Sure.”

  Jenks’s brilliant smile slid over her nerves, easing them even more, and Max followed her aft, thoughts of Chae and Nika fading into the background of tangible work on this ship she’d come to love.

  Interstitial

  “Grant, we have a problem.”

  The burly man’s expression didn’t change. “Tell me.”

  “Carmichael is poking around about Julia. The last thing we need is someone figuring out that the real Julia Draven is dead. I covered our tracks there as well as I could, but I wasn’t able to hack all the way into Off-Earth’s database.”

  “You want to be more specific about which Carmichael?”

  Melanie bared her teeth at him over the com, but Grant just grinned. “Maxine. She talked to her sister’s security chief about Julia—thankfully on the bridge of the Interceptor, or we’d have heard about it too late.”

  “Gotcha. What do you want me to do?” Grant didn’t hold any illusions about who the brains of this outfit was. His job was to hurt people and he was good at it. Melanie could figure out the details.

  “We can’t touch Maxine—I suspect if we tried to get Chae to do it right now they’d balk, and hard. So let’s cut off her intel—stop Jeanie Bosco from digging, however you need to. Just make sure it looks like an accident.”

  “Consider it done.” Grant disconnected the call without waiting for a response.

  Twelve

  Jenks kicked her feet up on the empty chair and sighed. She was restless, and not just because of the fiasco this morning or her brief conversation with Max on Zuma. They hadn’t touched on it again while they wrestled with the bio-recycler, and in some ways Jenks felt like she’d let her friend down by not pushing her a little harder to open up.