Chapter Sixteen
Ammo’s groan pulled Ethan toward the edge of consciousness. He remembered flashes of what happened, but he wasn’t sure why. Or who.
He could tell he was lying on his side and maybe on a soft surface. A bed perhaps.
He struggled to open his eyes but couldn’t force them to work. His eyelids felt like they were glued closed. He tried to move anything. Even his fingers felt stuck together and lifeless.
The stunstick. Over the years, he experienced the sting of a stun pellet and that was bad, but this was like being dead and trapped awake inside his own corpse.
The groaning again pulled him upward. Ammo. Beside him. He wanted to say something to let her know he was here, but even his lips refused to move. Instead, he moaned. At least she should hear him, and then she’d know she wasn’t alone.
“They’re waking up,” a female voice said. It stood close over him and he felt a sudden shot of panic.
“Good, I’ll let the boss know,” another voice said. It echoed of a memory. He’d only heard him once, but he had the same gravelly growl as the door guard.
The bed shook, and he felt hands moving him. Rolling his body over onto his back. Then something touched his face, pulling his eyelids open. Bright light flooded into his mind and he fought to focus.
“Welcome back, Captain Walker,” she said. A head hung in space above him and he felt his eyes trying to respond. “That’s it, you’re close now. Focus on my face and it will help. A stunstick is a different beast, but you’ll be alright.”
He sucked in a breath and things started to clear. His eyelids twitched, and he felt his face move for the first time.
“When it lets go, it happens quickly,” she said.
He nodded, but only knew it had happened because the room rocked as his eyes tilted up and down with the motion. Then his hand moved, and he could pull his arm up over his chest. It was eerily like his body was a machine and someone was throwing switches to reconnect dead circuits. He was being handed back control over his flesh in steps and he reassembled his reality from there.
“What happened?” he said. Using his voice felt like tearing metal.
“We rescued you,” a voice said from across the room. It was someone else.
Jetaar.
“From Coalition Security?”
“You know that’s not who it was,” he said. He was closer now.
Ethan rolled his head to look in his direction. “What the hell happened?”
“We figured they’d make a move on you, so Sinthya set a watch around you in case the stink came hunting.”
Another switch closed in his body, and he pushed himself into a sitting position. “What about my crew?”
“We’re bringing your doctor here,” he said. “And one of your security handlers. The big one.”
“And the rest of my people?” He slid his feet off the side of the bed and scanned his surroundings. It looked like they were in a hotel suite. Two beds and tri-vid screen. A single door and generic furnishings. Not high tier, but still not a dive either. Or a holding cell thankfully.
Ammo was still on her back on the bed beside him, but her eyes were open, and she was staring at him.
“Your other handler and your pilots are safe,” he said. “They hadn’t been snatched yet, so we put them aboard a private shuttle and they’re on the way to your ship.”
Ethan wasn’t sure if he felt any safer in Jetaar’s hands than he’d been with the Special Security officers, but at least here he felt like he had a running chance. Maybe.
“So, I have to ask,” Jetaar said, sitting down on the bed across from him and leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “Were you really heading out without saying goodbye?”
That was a question that he knew had no good answer. “We found a listening device in our cabana, and it was way past…” He let it trail off. It wasn’t something he should say aloud even if it was the truth.
Jetaar steepled his fingers and rested his bearded chin on the point, nodding. “The Institute?”
Ethan held his face immobile, a task that was easy considering it still took some effort to make his muscles move at all.
“No comment on that?”
“The Institute? As in STI?”
“Enough games, Walker. We’re on the same side and you know it. The device you found was technology that is way past what we have in mainstream circulation.”
Ethan shrugged. “I didn’t recognize it, but I’m not an engineer.”
“Fine, don’t admit to it, but it was Shan Takhu based technology and you’re undoubtedly aware of it.”
Ammo sat up beside him with a groan and reached out to brush a fingertip along the side of his palm. He was shocked as she pulled him into a link. He knows a lot more than he’s saying, she thought to him the instant they connected. Give him something and he might tip his chips.
Jetaar looked at them strangely and then shook his head. It must have looked like she’d given him an affectionate caress, and he frowned his disapproval.
“Alright I admit, I suspect it might have been,” Ethan said. “I just don’t know why. Do you?”
“I’m sure they have their reasons. They’ve been watching you for a while and maybe it’s because you’ve stuck a finger in their eye.”
That was true, but not something that anyone outside his crew would know for sure. “How would I have done that?”
“You’ve danced the edge a lot recently. That seems to be where the Institute lives, so it might be that they just don’t like the light you’re draining into their territory. I’m sure you’ve suspected that the STI isn’t all moonbeams and candy since the first time we crossed paths. I seem to remember I pointed you at a few things to chew on.”
“You mentioned something like that.”
“I don’t think you’re the kind to let go of something like that either,” he said. “It’s against your paladin nature.”
“Right now, I’m just wanting the fastest path out of the frak-knot,” Ethan said.
“Problem is, they’re going to keep shoving you further into the recycler until you come out as a stink-biscuit.”
“And doing business with you will keep that from happening?” Ammo asked.
“Not necessarily, but you might be able to keep off their radar while you get the answers you need to stay alive.” Jetaar pushed himself up off the bed and walked across the room toward the door. “The STI plays a game with air you can’t even sniff, and the sooner you figure that out the better your odds of surviving.”
Ethan knew that he was right, even if admitting it was not yet in his best interests. All he knew was that they were so far into the black that he had no idea how to get their bearings.
“Are we doing this now?” The pirate captain cocked his head to the side and held out a hand toward the door in a pointed invitation to join him.
“Not yet, but it’s getting closer,” he said, standing up to follow him out of the room.
Chapter Seventeen
“What kind of trouble did you get us into?” Kaycee landed in the small conference room with bloodletting on her mind.
Quinn followed her through the door and slid around to the side and out of the way. From the way he looked down and avoided eye contact, it was clear that he’d avoided explaining much of their reality to her.
“Trouble hunted us down all on its own,” Ethan said, standing up and turning to face her. “Sit down and I will try to explain.”
“Who are these people and what the hell is going on?”
“It looks like they’re allies at the moment,” he said.
“Allies? We’re on frakking vacation, not at war,” she said.
“Kaycee, sit down and I will explain.” He nodded toward a chair across from him.
She clenched her jaw closed and nodded, stepping up to the table and dropping to sit on the edge of the seat.
Ethan tilted his head to indicate that Quinn should also take a chair. “What ha
ve you told her?”
“She knows we’re all in the same reality now, but other than that nothing else, Boss,” he said. “I figured that was your job, and with the sudden change in situational terrain it might be best for me to not make it worse by giving her a partial set of facts.”
“Well, let’s start with the fact that I think we’ve got a job,” he said.
“One that starts with being kidnapped? This better be good,” she said with a snort.
“Kidnapped?”
“That might be a bit of a stretch, but it smelled like burned eggs. We decided to play along since the alternatives looked worse,” Quinn said.
Ethan nodded. Playing along had to be smarter than how he and Ammo got here.
“Well, if you haven’t figured it out, you weren’t kidnapped,” he said.
“I guessed that when Legs McDarvelle was the first face I saw getting out of the ride,” he said, using Ethan’s nickname for her.
“Legs McWhat?” Kaycee said.
“She’s Brendan Pierce’s Legal Advisor,” Ethan said.
“Who’s Brendan Pierce? Is he the one that had us kidnapped?”
“Frak, Kaycee! Just breathe and let me explain this,” he said. It was complex enough without her jumping sidewise all over the map.
“Fine, the deck’s all yours. We got a job?”
“Yes, hauling medical supplies.”
Quinn raised an eyebrow and Ethan nodded. Yes, we took the job.
“Alright, keep going,” she said.
“I wouldn’t have taken this run except that it might be something that will help you get some clues about what happened to Starlight,” he said.
“What?” she leaned forward and put both hands on the table. That got her attention on what he was saying, and off her own indignation.
He nodded. “Honestly, this client isn’t someone we’d do business with under normal circumstances, except that he knew we were looking into the situation with the missing colony and he led with the fact that he knew another one has disappeared.”
She sucked in a sharp breath. “Nojo?”
He nodded. “Tamilis Two. It’s a small mining colony in Draco. It disappeared sometime in the last six months or so, and it looks like FleetCom is trying to cover it up.”
“And Pierce told you all this?”
“We’ve confirmed some of it on our own,” he said. “We also had a run in with some other interested parties. They may not be related, but that’s where the allies thing comes in. Ammo and I were being hauled off, and Pierce gave us a hand in getting out of the stink.”
“The one that brought us in mentioned something about that, but I don’t track that yet,” she said. “For the sake of discussion though, I’ll assume you know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“Did you know we’ve had people watching us since we got here?”
“No. Who?”
“STI Operatives.”
She blinked several times and then glanced at Quinn. “The Institute has to suspect the truth about what we did,” she whispered.
He nodded. “Probably.”
“You’re sure it’s them?”
Pulling out his thinpad, he flipped through several screens before he found the optic image he’d taken of the device from the lamp. He set it on the table and slid it toward her. “I found that in our cabana this morning. There might have been more than that one, but once I saw that, I figured it was time to call off the rest of our vacation.”
“It’s definitely Shan Takhu technology,” she said.
“Problem is these might all tie together,” he said. “We did some poking into Tamilis and that’s when they made their move.”
“How do you connect those together?”
“Loosely for now,” he admitted. “But the missing colony was majority owned by STI and the two ships that somehow are circling the problem are the Argos and the Magellan.”
She leaned back in her chair and nodded. “It’s obvious why the Magellan might be involved, but why the Argos?”
“I don’t know other than that it appears to be the last contact from that system. And it ported there within weeks of our tangling with them.”
“Circumstantial, but enough to make my short hair dance,” she said.
“I’m glad you think so, Dr. Caldwell,” Jetaar said, coming in unannounced with Ammo at his side.
The broker nodded at Ethan and he knew that she’d found out enough to endorse the idea of moving forward. “Let me introduce our client, Brendan Pierce,” Ammo said.
Kaycee was facing away from the door, but she spun at the sound of his voice. As soon as she recognized the pirate captain, she was on her feet and looking for a direction to run.
“Doctor, please sit down.” He offered his hand and nodded toward the chair she’d almost dumped over as she leapt up.
“Oh. Fuck. No!” she said, stepping back as he came toward the table.
“You didn’t think Kendrick Jetaar was my real name, did you?” He smiled and sat down at the head of the table beside Walker.
“Are you fucking insane?” she hissed.
“You need to sit down a second,” Ethan said.
“I’m sure your Captain has already told you there’s been another colony lost,” Jetaar said. “I’d like to offer you a chance to get some answers.”
“No,” she said.
“He just wants us to haul a legit load of medical supplies,” Ammo said. “Really, it’s one container of totally legal and documented pharmaceuticals.” She pulled a thinpad out and held it up.
“Exactly, and in exchange for that, I can give you a chance to get some firsthand information on what happened.”
“Firsthand?” Ethan asked.
“There are survivors,” Ammo explained. “Adult witnesses.”
“There are?” Kaycee asked, glancing at the broker and then at Ethan.
Jetaar nodded. “I figured when we got to the point of actually negotiating the run, you’d find that interesting.”
“What bearing does that have?” he asked. “Wouldn’t FleetCom have them? Or the Institute?”
“I have them at Tortuga,” he said. “I’m sure your doctor here will want to interview them.”
Kaycee’s face wrinkled up strangely as she fought some internal struggle to the death. Finally, she nodded. It looked like even that much of a concession was tearing chunks out of her soul, but she collapsed into the chair and hauled in several breaths to calm herself.
“Then you need to do my load,” he said. “Carrying freight for me will get you into my base.”
Chapter Eighteen
Pharmaceuticals were one of the most pirated cargo anywhere in Coalition Space. Superficially it seemed strange that Jetaar wanted to buy them rather than just raid for what he needed.
Ethan had asked Kaycee to dig into the manifest, not because Jetaar’s motives mattered, but because understanding what he was thinking might be crucial. If they could figure out why he needed whatever it was badly enough to buy it, they might have a tool to use later. Assigning her to figuring that out also meant that while she was chewing it over, he didn’t have her chewing on him. And that was far more important to his personal sanity.
They’d dropped over the Escabosa-Earth threshold beacon and when there weren’t security interceptors all over them, he breathed a sigh of relief, albeit a small one.
On the way down system, Marti had requested a short detour to Alpha Five to acquire some piece of critical hardware from a local robotics distributor. It was where she’d purchased her original Gendyne 6000, and Ethan assumed it would be a replacement since the old one was now a black hole. It surprised him when a multi-tread Gendyne 10K tactical bot rolled onto the deck. It barely fit through the hatch and onto the middeck.
“What the holy frak is that?” Ethan said as he caught sight of the behemoth squeezing past the MedBay door.
“Marti’s new portable chassis,” Rene said. He’d come out of the other hallway from engi
neering and was standing and admiring the new hardware. “We’ll be chopping this Enforcer chassis down a bit and narrowing the tread-gauge to make it more maneuverable in tight spaces, but in the long run it’s easier than building her body from the base up.”
Marti’s Humanform automech climbed down off a carrier deck on the back of the beast, looking like a midget climbing off an armored draft horse. “The 10K Enforcer Series carries a pair of one-gigawatt microfusion plants,” Marti said. “It’s also hardened against most radiation and electromagnetic interference so it will keep my core as safe as possible.”
“That’s bigger than our shuttle craft,” Ethan said, letting out a slow hissing breath.
“Not really, but it’s considerably heavier,” Rene said.
“I suppose it’s bulletproof.” Kaycee said as she squeezed out of the MedBay door and around the beast.
“For the most part,” Marti said, turning to face the doctor. “However, the actual reason I selected this model was because it has a communication suite sufficient to maintain full operational interface with the Dawn once I am permanently transferred to my new main body.”
“Doesn’t something like this require special licenses?” Ethan asked.
“Only if it is equipped with Class-4 or heavier weapons,” Marti said. “I assumed you would not want to deal with the paperwork, so I had them remove all but the defensive systems when I ordered it. We are in compliance.”
“In most places,” Rene said, leaning in and whispering in Ethan’s ear.
The captain nodded. “So, you’re going to tear this apart in engineering yes?”
“I planned to speak to you about that. It does not fit through the door into engineering until we have modified the tread system,” Marti said. “Since we are not carrying passengers for this run, it would be desirable to do the modifications here in the lounge. The extra space would allow us to have the hardware operational and my core transferred over before we arrive at CG-670.”
“Would we still be able to eat?” Ethan asked. “I think Quinn would be mighty hurt in your general direction if you didn’t give him space to spread breakfast.”
Wings of Earth- Season One Page 93
