by TR Cameron
He pulled on the suit, which was both heavy and tight. It didn’t compare to the dropsuit in terms of comfort or complexity, and he doubted it would stand up to vacuum for long. It was emergency gear rather than a combat kit. The boots were familiar, their soles magnetic in case of gravity loss. The outfit had a built-in pocket for the handgun, and the rifle had a sling that he adjusted so it laid across his chest. The stock was currently retracted, making it about as large as a handheld machine pistol. He grabbed his helmet and closed the door behind him as he made his way back toward the front.
Cia, who was clearly much more comfortable with the dressing procedure, was already in her chair. She pointed to clips on the side of his chair where he could lock the helmet into place. A moment later, a different set of controls than he’d seen before appeared on the panel in front of him. She explained, “We don’t have anything to blast the other ship with, as such. My girl is outfitted to run away, not run toward, so she’s got a big engine and heavy throughput to the shields.”
“Seems a little optimistic.”
“Family policy. We hire security if we feel it’s necessary for a given job. Anyway, I did have a proverbial ace in the hole put in. Since Grace’s systems are so well-built, she can recover from power loss much more quickly than most. She’s equipped with an electromagnetic pulse projector. It’s super short-range and designed to hit the enemy’s hull and travel through it to connected systems. Basically, if needed, I would play dead, blow it when they got close enough to board, and scamper off into the sunset laughing.”
Jax shook his head. His planning tended to employ the maxim that the best defense is punching the other guy in the mouth before he knew you were there. “Have you had to use it?”
“No. I don’t generally find myself in situations where I’d have to.”
He carefully didn’t smirk. “Guess the Professor thought you should learn.”
She growled, “Shut it. Now, the controls on the left are the shields. They’re directional. I’ll control the total power flowing to them, and you keep them balanced where they need to be. On the right, you have the EMP trigger. When I say close, I mean like kissing-close. Do it too early, and you’ll take us out without disabling them.”
His throat suddenly felt dry. He was not comfortable with space combat. Usually he was just a passenger, and while he didn’t enjoy that much either, the fact that his lack of knowledge could get his team killed was unfamiliar and unwelcome. “Got it. Feel free to give me a warning when it’s the right time.”
Cia chuckled. “Will do. Once you fire it, there will be a ten-second delay while Grace shuts down her key systems so they’re not affected. She’ll need about five minutes to spin back up afterward.”
“How long will it take them?”
“Depends on their shielding. If it’s bad, they might not be able to restart, in which case we’ll have to arrange to get them towed back before they run out of life support. More likely, they’ll need a half-hour or so to handle getting systems back up and rerouting the ones that are burned out.”
He whistled. “So, this isn’t messing around.”
The pilot shook her head. “No. This is a ‘holy hell, we’re all going to die’ tool normally.”
“Looks like the Professor has created a learning opportunity for both of us.”
She laughed, but it wasn’t a happy sound. “Remind me to thank him when we get back. So, they’ll have certainly noticed us by now. I’ll hail them and see if they’re amenable to stopping to chat about things.”
Jax nodded. “And if they’re not?”
“It’s a race to the jump point. We get close enough to kiss and then boom, EMP.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
“All right. Here we go.”
Chapter Eighteen
Cia hailed the other ship. “Uh, Twinkletoes, this is the Grace. Requesting a chat.”
The voice that came back through the ship’s speakers was male, and half bored, half arrogant. “What can I do for you, Grace? Can’t help but notice you’re pretty much on my ass. Like what you see?”
She stuck out her tongue and rolled her eyes, and Jax was glad the conversation was audio-only. “It seems that events have brought us together. You have a package on board that was stolen from a drone on Surya that belongs to us. We’d like it if you returned our property.”
The man laughed. “Why in the world would I do such a thing? Clearly, if this item is on my ship, it’s either mine or I’ve been paid to bring it somewhere. Is your name on it? I could certainly have one of my crew check.”
She flicked a switch and turned toward him. “Mic’s off. What do you think?”
“I think he seems like an idiot.”
Cia nodded. “Finally, we’re in complete agreement on something. He’s not going to give it up.”
“Nope.”
She switched the microphone back on. “Twinkletoes, please kill your engines and let us pull alongside so we can discuss this in person.”
“With all due respect, Grace, you can go screw yourself. Out.”
The pilot muttered, “It would be more fun than talking to you, that’s for damn sure,” and goosed the throttle to full. The push on his chest increased slightly, then backed off again as the artificial gravity caught up. He checked to be positive the shields were mainly focused toward the other ship, with enough power left to at least blunt an unexpected attack from a different quadrant. Being in charge of the defenses for too long could wind up turning him into a very paranoid individual, always ready to react to a sudden blip on the sensors. One more career choice I would have hated.
Jax watched the displays. The Grace inched toward the other ship as they both headed for the pulsing red spot on the display. “So, what happens now?”
The pilot growled something under her breath, then stared up at the screen for a moment. “I’d say there’s a fifty-fifty chance we’ll get close enough to pop them before they jump. That’s assuming they don’t fire at us on the way in, which again is pretty much even odds, depending on whether they think they can make their escape without doing so.”
“What if we can’t catch them?”
“Well, that’s where you’re particularly lucky to be with me. Grace here was custom-built for my family’s business, and she has some tricks ordinary ships don’t. One of those is the ability to determine where another ship is jumping to, assuming she’s close enough at the moment of transition.”
Jax laughed. “So, you’ve had an ace up your sleeve this whole time.”
She shrugged. “It’s a backup plan. I wouldn’t say it’s a great backup plan since the system takes a few minutes to calculate the jump, and that’s after however long it takes to crunch the data and figure out where they’re going. We’ll lose valuable time.”
“But since they don’t know you can do it, we’ll have the element of surprise.”
“At the instant we jump, sure. Once we arrive wherever it is we’re going and start moving, the chances of discovery get exponentially higher.” The small smile that played around the edges of her mouth suggested that once again, she knew something he didn’t and wasn’t willing to share it at the moment.
He drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair, thinking it through while the ships on the schematic grew nearer to their destination. “Unless their cargo is majorly valuable, which I can’t imagine being the case, they’re being jerks about this for pride’s sake. That I understand. No one wants to be told what to do in their own place. That being the case, they probably won’t shoot us down out of hand, but you got any other tricks?”
Cia grinned. “Well, since you asked, yeah. And I think you’re going to like it.”
Once he’d heard what the Grace could do, Jax had decided on a different approach, one where he wasn’t in charge of possibly destroying the ship with the EMP. They continued the chase as if they hoped to catch the Twinkletoes but stayed at enough of a distance that the other vessel didn’t feel pressured to engage
them. The ship’s parting message was amusing in its vulgarity as it jumped away.
The Grace required only two minutes to get the coordinates for their destination. Cia observed, “Their systems must leak like an Alliance politician.” Her pride in her ship was obvious in her tone. A couple of minutes later, the navigation system and engines were primed for the jump. She hit the button, and they vanished from one spot in the universe and appeared in another. Upon arrival, Cia activated their disguise.
Grace had two different stealth modes, both in keeping with Cia’s family’s defensive-minded approach. First, she possessed the ability to switch between a number of transponder identities, and even alter drive signatures and hull configurations at the touch of a button. She’d promised to show him the panels on the ship’s skin that would change position to modify the ship’s profile once they were safely back on Earth because he couldn’t imagine how it worked, based on what he knew of the ship.
It was the second mode they were using now. Much like his dropsuit, the ship had an active camouflage system. This one was far more advanced, defeating visual inspection and most sensors thanks to receivers and projectors on every surface of the Grace. Someone watching closely would see a ripple, Cia had explained, but not much more. They wouldn’t be able to hide from a deliberate search without physical cover, but passive scans weren’t going to catch them.
The ship remained motionless as Cia watched and listened to the sector of space they were in. A map of the area grew in detail on the main display as the seconds ticked by until finally they had an accurate representation of their location. Which, as near as Jax could tell, was the middle of nowhere. He asked, “Where did the jerks go?”
She pointed to a large asteroid that dominated a corner of the screen. Far smaller than a planet or moon, it was still one of the largest free pieces of rock he’d ever seen. Of course, he didn’t spend his ship time looking out the window, so there was a possibility that he wasn’t the best judge. “That’s reading strangely, and not only because it seems to be the source of a bunch of low-level active sensors.” He straightened in concern, but she waved a hand. “My girl’s got them under control. No worries there, but that thing is definitely more than it appears.”
“So, you think it’s what…a shield and they’re behind it? A satellite for information-gathering?”
She shook her head. “No, I think it’s a station. Inside the rock.”
He frowned. “You say that like you know something.”
Cia nodded. “I do. There’s a network of stations that are operated as independent entities throughout the settled parts of the universe. Some of them are affiliated with governments and only cater to a certain group, some are affiliated but welcome anyone and act as intelligence-gathering operations, and there are two or three that are truly independent, but primarily serve the criminal elements. Pirates. That sort of thing.”
Jax vaguely recalled hearing someone on board the Cronus saying something similar, but he hadn’t given it much attention since it didn’t directly concern his team. “Why would they be allowed to exist?”
She shrugged. “Different people have different theories, and there’s no way to be positive without talking to the folks who run them. My opinion is that the major powers are okay with a little trouble happening around the edges, but they don’t want to have to worry about getting their hands dirty with it. These places support that effort. Of course, if it were me, I’d be sure I had my own surveillance of them, too.”
He shook his head. “Too complicated for me. Point me toward the enemy and give me a gun.”
She drew the word out sarcastically. “Riiiiight. You wouldn’t have made it into the Academy if that was all there is to you.” She swiveled back to the controls. “All right. You’re still on shields and EMP. We’re going to go slow and steady.” A glowing line appeared on the display and the pilot grinned. “Grace, I love you, girl.” She gestured with her chin at it. “Leftovers from the engine on the Twinkletoes.”
“The trail disappears at the asteroid.”
“Sure enough does. I don’t know what we’ll find in there, or if we’re going to be able to get inside, but it’s turning out to be an interesting day. There’s no way we’ll be back in time for dinner.”
He scowled. “Insulting us is one thing. But making us miss a meal? Unacceptable.”
The approach was uneventful. A few tense moments unfolded after their comm suddenly crackled to life with a demand for their identity and purpose, but apparently, Cia had the ability to draw on Academy funds for use on her ship, and an upfront payment for berthing turned suspicion into service.
A small hatch opened in the side of the asteroid to permit access. She deftly steered them inside with a shake of her head. “There have to be bigger ones. They did that on purpose to make me work for it. Scumbags.”
He laughed. “Taking your measure right off the bat. Sounds familiar. Perhaps this is an Academy too.”
“Smuggler’s Academy.” She didn’t sound pleased with the idea.
He said tentatively, “Do you want to stay on the ship? This could get a little, uh, messy.” He doubted there would be real violence, but having to rough someone up along the way in order to retrieve the package wasn’t out of the question.
Cia shook her head. “No, we’re a team. Besides, you’re going to need me to cut through any electronic defenses, unless you’ve gotten good at computers while I wasn’t looking.”
“Only combat ones, I’m afraid.”
She landed the ship cleanly, and a mechanical arm reached out from the platform to latch onto a hook set into its underside. The clang of attachment rang through the hull. “Ten to one odds we’ll have to pay extra to have that released when we’re ready to go.”
“No bet.”
“All right, Cap-i-tan. What’s the play?”
“First, get the lay of the land. Find some food and maybe a drink along with it. While we dine, you can figure out where our quarry is likely to have gone. Then we go to wherever that is and ask politely if they’ll give us our package.”
“And when they say no?”
He grinned. “We ask less politely. You going to be okay with that?” He could see that the idea of doing something not entirely aboveboard was causing her stress. He’d seen it earlier outside the hotel room, as well. Maybe that’s what she’s supposed to learn from me—how to push the boundaries a bit. He laughed internally. Or maybe this is a message from the Professor that perhaps I need to be more aware of them.
She nodded. “Yeah. That guy needs to be taken down a notch or two. Let’s hit him where it hurts—his pride as a businessman.”
“Music to my ears, sister. Let’s do this.”
Chapter Nineteen
The first unexpected and unwelcome wrinkle in the plan was the discovery that they were required to leave their weapons on the ship. Apparently each installation had its own house rules on the matter, and the prohibition was front and center in the long litany of instructions they received before being permitted to set foot outside the Grace.
It didn’t bother Jax greatly, except that he very much doubted all parties were treated equally. If his experience in the cities near the military bases he’d been stationed at held up, there would be a multitude of ways to buy one’s way around the restriction. Only small things had occurred while he was on base—restricted items from the commissary being resold, that sort of thing. But from the crew of the Cronus, he’d overheard rumors of larger transgressions, up to and including weapons.
Several other ships were present in the hangar they’d been assigned, most of them of a similar size to theirs. The Twinkletoes was on the far side. Beat-up robots held pristine rifles at each corner of the ship, a very clear Do Not Disturb message. The vessel looked to be powered down, as was their own—another house rule, doubtless to prevent quick escapes if someone caused trouble.
Drones whipped overhead. Cia, who had her face buried in a tablet while they walked, murmu
red, “Scanning the ships and the people. Probably feeding some kind of security AI. Good thing we didn’t try to sneak anything in.” She’d been opposed to his plan to 3-D print plastic knives and stash them in their boots.
He put on an imperious tone. “On this one occasion, I stand corrected.”
She gave a small shake of her head and failed to hide her smile. “You’re an ass, you know that?”
“You’re not the first to say so. I’m guessing you won’t be the last.” Ahead of them, a pair of guards, the only obvious non-mechanical security in the hangar, stepped into their path to block them from leaving the section. “Heads up.”
Cia casually folded the tablet and stored it away. Her posture changed as they neared the two uniformed people, becoming straighter and more authoritative. Her voice was more commanding as well when she said, “Is there something you need, gentlefolk? I assure you we’ve followed all the rules. My family is known for our willingness to get along with station administration no matter where we find ourselves.”
Their faces were hidden by large black helmets that doubtless would have been shining and impressive if they weren’t so old and imperfectly cleaned. The uniforms had been taken care of better, and the pair shared a body type that was on the fleshy side of stocky. The person on the left spoke in an unexpectedly high female voice. “Your family?”
“Indeed. The Reardens, based out of Mars.”
Silence ensued, a delay Jax attributed to them checking her identity. He passed the time being impressed by the professional trader version of his partner. Clearly the years she’d spent working for her family’s business had been beneficial to her. Maybe that’s what earned her a spot in the Academy, the ability to navigate this world with such ease. Finally the guards moved away, and the other one said in a flat voice that was most likely male, “Thank you, Master Rearden. Enjoy your stay on Sapphire.”
