Hold Fast Through the Fire

by K. B. Wagers

  “She was like that as a kid, too,” Scott murmured. “Impossible to divert or refuse when she put her mind to something.”

  “Yeah.” Nika kept his eyes on Chae and the crew. The spacer had a death grip on their sword, but Nika suspected the haunted look in their eyes wasn’t from the boarding. “She found the listening device.”

  “Ah, is that why this didn’t go down the way it was supposed to?”

  “Pretty much. Also her damn intuition, I suspect. She pushed Zuma just far enough out of the blast range of the EMP and then had Sapphi fire on them before I could stop her.” Nika glanced over as the sound of shouting echoed from a door on the far side, but Tivo and Chief Petty Officer Netra were already headed in that direction. “She knows, Scott. Or at least suspects.”

  “About the operation?”

  “Well, at the moment I think she’s convinced I’m involved with the smugglers.”

  That hurt more than he wanted to admit, but Nika couldn’t get the look of abject betrayal on Max’s face out of his head.

  “If she thought that, you’d be in the brig,” Scott replied. “I already sent Stephan a message. He and Luis are on Trappist-1d. Once we finish up here he said to bring Zuma and Dread over.”

  “I’m assuming he’ll tell them?”

  “Don’t assume anything with Stephan. More likely he’ll come up with a cover story that’s got enough truth in it to mollify Max without completely exposing this op. We had a backup plan if this plan didn’t work anyway, so my money is on him using it. He doesn’t like opening his operations up to too many people; it reduces his ability to control the situation. I’d recommend you avoid her until we get on the ground, though, so you don’t have to answer any questions.”

  Nika rubbed his free hand over his face. D’Arcy’s Interceptor was going to need work before it could fly again, so it made sense to load it onto the Laika. Zuma was undamaged, thanks to Max, but it meant there wasn’t anywhere he could hide on the long flight back to Trappist-1d. “You may as well plan on loading Zuma onto the ship, too, then.”

  “I was. It’s easy enough to explain that the trip will be faster, and also safer.”

  Max and one of the freighter crew stumbled through the far door, their swords tangled together, and Nika barely had time to draw a painful breath when Max’s sword clattered to the deck. She dropped into a spin below the crewmember’s wild swing, kicking their feet out from underneath them.

  They hit the deck and Max rolled to her feet, but Lieutenant Commander Ian Sebastian was already there, turning the crewmember onto their stomach and wrestling their hands into cuffs.

  Nika winced when Max bent to pick up her sword and he saw the blood dripping down her right arm.

  “Jenks and Tivo have the other two. Ship is secure,” she said as she approached them.

  “Sit down,” Scott replied. Max glared at her older brother but dropped onto a nearby cargo crate, setting her sword next to her. “Captain Troika said they’ve got Dread Treasure on board. All the crew is fine. There’s a second ship inbound to take care of this wreck. You did good, Max. Can you get out of that sleeve?”

  Max undid the buttons of her ODU, shrugging out of the right side with a wince, revealing the black T-shirt underneath the operational duty uniform. “Happy coincidence that you showed up.” She was talking to Scott, but her gaze was locked on Nika when she said it.

  “Not much of one. We were headed for the transit juncture and you all were right in the middle of the lane.”

  Nika kept his face impassive, but he was thankful Max looked away from him. Scott’s lie had been easy, practiced, and Nika didn’t know how he could live with it.

  Tamago showed up with a med kit and Nika dragged his attention away from them with a sigh.

  “You want to tell me what’s going on? Without any bullshit, if you please,” Jenks said from his side.

  Jenks watched Nika jerk at her sudden question and felt a little bit guilty for sneaking up on him the way she had, but the memory of the tense interaction on the bridge and her own concerns about whatever was going on between Max and him over the last few weeks quashed it pretty quickly.

  “Was Max right? Did you know that freighter would be there with that EMP?”

  “I can’t talk about it, Jenks.” His reply was low, with enough pain in his voice to make her even more concerned.

  Jenks took a deep breath. “Look, you’re my brother and I love you, so just tell me this: Are you in trouble that I need to bail you out of? Or is this actual NeoG shit and I’ll let you suffer whatever wrath Max subjects you to?”

  Nika’s soft laugh was bitter. “I don’t even know how to process that the two most important people in my life apparently think I’m involved in something illegal. That I would ever do something like that.”

  “I’m not judging, I’m trying to help. This is my fucking crew t—”

  “It’s actual NeoG shit, Jenks,” he cut her off. “And I can’t talk about it.”

  Jenks shoved both hands in her hair and blew out a breath as she watched him walk away. “Fucker.”

  “You maybe want to cut him some slack. It’s tough being in a position where you can’t tell the people you work with everything.”

  She managed to suppress her own surprise and turned her head as Tivo came into view. “What do you know about it?”

  “SEAL team,” he replied with a shrug. “Pretty used to not being able to talk about ops with anyone.”

  “Not even your own team?” Jenks scanned the cargo bay. Reasonably sure everything was under control now, she allowed herself a moment and slipped around to a shadowed corner. “You move pretty quietly for a big fucker, you know that?”

  He flashed her a grin that had her heart thumping a little harder. “Demolition experts who stomp tend to get blown up, Pocket.”

  “Pocket?”

  His grin widened and he held two fingers a few centimeters apart. “You know, because you’re pocket-sized.”

  Jenks crossed her arms over her chest and stared up at him, willing herself not to smile back. She still wasn’t quite sure what to make of the Navy lieutenant who’d been brought in to compete in the Games two years ago in a failed attempt to kick her ass.

  She wouldn’t admit it out loud, but it had been a close fight. And now . . . well, she wasn’t in love with him the same way she was with Luis, but she liked his face.

  Among other things.

  “I’ll deny it if anyone else asks, but I don’t hate it.”

  “Good.” Tivo grabbed her around the waist and boosted her up onto the supply crate. He leaned in, his lips not quite touching hers and laughter dancing in his blue-gray eyes. “Hi. I’ve missed you.”

  It was strange enough when Luis said it and even stranger to settle into the idea that there were two people out in this wild universe who missed her when she wasn’t around.

  More than that, really, Jenks; you should start getting used to it.

  Jenks combed her fingers through Tivo’s black hair. “I missed you, too.”

  The tension among the crew of Zuma’s Ghost permeated every bolt and bulkhead of the ship as they sped toward Trappist-1d on board the CHNS Laika.

  With no need for urgency, Captain Troika had declined to burn the fuel needed for a second wormhole, so once the tow for the freighter had arrived they’d started the trip.

  Chae hated that the bug they’d planted appeared to be at least part of the cause of the fight between Max and Nika. Hated that their lies had resulted in Nika’s disappearance onto the Navy vessel and this uneasy silence on the ship, and now the conversations between crewmembers were stilted and the laughter that had filled the air on their trip out was absent.

  The tension had been there before. Everyone had just pretended it wasn’t.

  Mostly, they hated that as much as they hated the situation they’d put everyone in, they’d do it again if it meant keeping their fathers safe.

  Because they had their own problems. The message th
ey’d gotten on their DD chip when they’d connected to the Laika’s com systems was a heavy stone in their gut.

  We warned you what would happen if you didn’t keep your mouth shut.

  Chae had sent a frantic message back that they hadn’t said anything about this latest mission and that they’d passed everything along just like they were supposed to. Silence had been the only reply.

  “You doing okay, Chae?” Sapphi’s question wasn’t loud, but its sudden echo on the otherwise quiet bridge was enough to make the spacer jump.

  “Sure.” They busied themself with the console even though there was nothing to do, and Sapphi sighed.

  “Well, I’m not and I really wish someone else would admit it.” The ensign leaned back in her seat and then rubbed her hands over her face. “Shit’s weird. This feels like when my parents fought and the aftermath where everyone was walking around the house pretending the others didn’t exist.”

  “I remember that feeling,” Chae offered. “My fathers don’t fight much, but when they did?” They whistled. “It was uncomfortable to be in the house for like a day after. It never lasted much longer than that, though.”

  “My mom could hold a grudge at my dads for ages.” Sapphi dragged the last word out and Chae couldn’t stop the laugh. “She always forgave them, of course, but me and my siblings would vacate the premises as fast as humanly possible.”

  “Can’t do that here.”

  “True enough.” Sapphi sighed again. “I mean, we could venture out into the Laika, but I wouldn’t recommend it. I’m sorry. I know this probably isn’t at all what you expected when you joined.” She glanced over her shoulder toward the galley. Max was back there somewhere, working on reports.

  “To be honest, I didn’t have a lot of expectations.” Chae swallowed down the urge to confess their fears that this tension between the commander and the lieutenant was all their fault. They’d almost bolted when Max had pulled the listening device out and destroyed it. The LT had thought Nika was responsible and somewhere, through their own horror, Chae had realized that the commander had known it was there. “Okay, maybe less frozen silences.”

  “I think it’s going to get loud and heated pretty soon.”

  “Oh?”

  “Yeah. Jenks is going to lose her shit on one or both of them,” Sapphi replied. “I’m going to go get lunch started and maybe poke at the LT a bit until she spills the beans more about what happened. I hate trying to piece together incomplete data. You want to come along?”

  A second incoming message notification pinged into their vision.

  “Sure, give me a minute to finish running this diagnostic.” Chae smiled as Sapphi got up, but the expression vanished as soon as they were alone on the bridge again.

  Outside. Now. Second cargo area on the right.

  Chae’s throat closed up. There was no way Julia was on board the Laika.

  Cascade failure prevention. Block and redirect.

  They sent a reply back. Julia couldn’t possibly know they were lying.

  I’m under orders not to leave the ship.

  A heartbeat later the reply came.

  I don’t care. Get there or things are going to be so much worse than they are right now.

  The message was accompanied by a news flash from Trappist Associated Press: four killed in building collapse at west ridge, trappist-1d.

  They didn’t recognize the three other names in the article, but Bean’s name struck them with enough force to knock all the air out of Chae’s lungs. Their best friend was dead. How had they moved so fast?

  Chae pushed out of their seat, panic moving their feet through the frozen fear. They slipped down the stairs to the deck and paused a moment as they tried to orient themself.

  “Hey, Chae.”

  Jenks was on her back less than a meter away, working on Zuma’s underbelly with Lieutenant Parsikov. Doge lay nearby.

  “I’m just going for a walk, Chief, stretch my legs a little.”

  “That’s fine. Just watch out for Navy pukes.” She was grinning at Parsikov’s flat stare.

  Chae nodded and walked away. The corridor between where the Interceptors had docked and the nearby cargo area was deserted and Chae’s worry grew as they turned a corner.

  Two burly spacers in maintenance uniforms emerged from behind a stack of supply crates. Their handshakes were off. Chae almost turned and ran.

  Your fathers will end up like Bean if you do.

  “Got a message for you, Neo. Actions have consequences.”

  “I didn’t do anything but what I was supposed to.”

  Chae saw the slap coming and reacted without thinking, just like Jenks had been teaching them, knocking it out of the way and punching them in the jaw.

  It had little effect. Both of them moved faster than Chae could avoid and the blows rained down, knocking them to the floor. They tasted blood, pain sparking as a boot landed in their ribs.

  “Enough. That’s enough.” One of the attackers grabbed Chae by the hair and hauled them upright. “Someone’s being unrealistic about their options here.”

  There was at least a bruise spreading across their pale skin. Chief would be proud of me.

  They were oddly proud of themself.

  “I didn’t know what was going on when we went out on patrol—all I was told was patrol. But I swear, I didn’t tell anyone about the listening device. I’m just a fucking spacer. You’re going to have to find someone with more authority to get you the information you want.”

  “This isn’t personal, kid.” There was an odd flicker of sympathy in the person’s eyes. “We do what we’re told. You do what you’re told. The message is this: make sure your ship gets grounded—or there’ll be worse things than this beating down the line.”

  Chae watched as the other person flipped open a knife and sawed partway through the strap holding down the crates along the back wall of the room. Before they realized what was happening they were flying through the air. Chae crashed into the crates; pain surged as the boxes came loose, driving them toward the floor, and just before the blackness took them they were able to gasp a cry for help on the team channel.

  “Jenks!”

  Fifteen

  “Navy pukes, huh?”

  Jenks grinned at Tivo and then stuck her head back up into Zuma’s guts. “I make a case-by-case exception.”

  “Chae will be fine. No one is going to pick a fight with them.”

  “You’d better hope so.” She dropped back down so she could meet his eyes. “I will straight up pull a Sea Hawk on your ass if someone hurts my crew.”

  “What?”

  “I will set your boat on fire.”

  Tivo laughed. “I’m still having to ask Luis for translations, you know.”

  “Keep up or take a seat, Parsikov. And hand me the sixteen-mil socket.”

  “What are you doing again?”

  “Keeping myself out of the brig through the wonder of calibrations,” she murmured, and went back to work. It was mostly to hear him laugh again, but also not far from the truth. Being on a Navy ship was traditionally bad news for her, and it was even worse with everything else that was happening. “May as well do maintenance during the downtime instead of just sitting around on my ass.”

  “I can think of half a dozen things better than maintenance. Did I mention I have a room of my own?”

  She slid out from under the ship. “You did not mention this.”

  Tivo leaned in. “You seemed pretty excited about getting to do work on the ship. I wasn’t sure if I should interfere.”

  Doge whined.

  “Jenks!”

  She jerked from the volume of Chae’s voice in her head, nearly catching Tivo with an unintentional headbutt he managed to avoid, if only barely. “Chae? Chae!”

  “Jenks, what is it?” Tivo asked.

  “I don’t know. Max!”

  “I’m right here. They were on the team channel. Where are they?”

  “I don’t know, th
ey went for a walk.” The map suddenly overlaid itself on Jenks’s vision.

  “Spacer Chae is in Storage Three,” Doge said.

  Jenks sprinted in the direction she’d seen Chae go, following the map. She could hear Max catching Tivo up as they ran behind her. “Oh no.” She scrambled through the door and around the jumbled equipment boxes before anyone could stop her.

  Chae was on the floor, partially obscured by the crates piled on top of them.

  Jenks’s heart stuttered in pain.

  “This is Lieutenant Parsikov, we have a medical emergency in Storage Three, repeat, medical emergency in Storage Three. Jenks, be careful.”

  But all she was thinking about was her Neo.

  She slipped below the precariously balanced cargo bin and her breath caught when she saw Chae’s bloody face. “Chae, please no—” She reached out to rest two fingers on their throat. She exhaled, all too aware it was almost a sob, when a weak pulse beat against the tips. “I’ve got a pulse, Max. Chae, wake up for me.” She squirmed farther under the stack and patted the spacer’s face gently.

  “Chief?”

  “Hey, come on, you called me Jenks earlier.”

  Chae smiled weakly.

  “Sorry, bad joke. Listen—don’t move just yet.” Jenks took in the edge of the box that was jammed against Chae’s chest. It was braced on another box above, but not by much and if it slipped . . . “Tivo, get over here. Carefully.”

  “Wasn’t that what I told you?”

  “You want to argue, or you want to help?”

  “We’ve got people coming,” he said.

  “Tell them all to stop outside,” she snapped. “We need to get Chae out from under this before people start tromping around and vibrate the fucking floor. If any of these boxes shift it’s coming down on our heads. Now get over here—I can lift this, but I need you to brace the box from here and Max can pull Chae free.”

  “Chief, what about you?” Chae’s voice was weak and Jenks reached over to squeeze their hand.

  “Let me worry about me. These two won’t let me get crushed. Besides, I know how much I can leg press and it’s a lot more than you.” She also knew that with Chae free, if anything went wrong she’d have enough time to push the box to the side and roll away before it smashed down on her.