Shockwave

by Lindsay Buroker

  Less than eight minutes of air left. He tried to stay calm, but his heartbeat hammered against his eardrums. It had taken almost that long to walk over here. Why had Rache brought everyone to the backside of the refinery?

  Casmir couldn’t hear the beeps as his electronic lock picker tried to crack the new code, but it flashed, warning him it was close. Again, he wondered why Lopez had changed the combination. If she hadn’t wanted the mercenaries to be able to open it, why send the lock-picking device along? Was it possible there was a message for him? Could she have guessed that he would be the one to open it?

  He looked at Kim, subtly shifting his body to hide the display from the woman looming behind them. She was paying far too much attention to what he was doing. Casmir wagered she was Rache’s engineer or maybe a systems administrator.

  The new code scrolled across the display. GET OUT.

  Shit. Casmir opened the case promptly so the code would disappear. Kim stirred. She’d seen it. Had the female engineer? And how were they supposed to obey the command with all those guns pointed at them? What happened if they didn’t obey it?

  “Your turn, Kim.” Casmir strove to make his voice calm, waving her in to look at the contents as he backed away slightly, looking around for inspiration.

  Rache watched him intently from a few paces away, but several of his troops had moved off. Some remained, pointing weapons at Kim and Casmir, but the others floated from spot to spot in the room, planting compact black boxes on the tanks. What? Explosives? Were they going to blow up the refinery? Because it was a Kingdom asset?

  Casmir gritted his teeth as he stared at Rache’s faceplate. The fuel that was generated here supplied all the ships and stations in the belt, everyone mining and living out there. To lose the Saga refineries would be a huge blow to the system.

  “Everything is still here,” Kim announced. “Several deadly concoctions designed to survive in the harsh conditions of space, eat through your spacesuit, and kill you and everyone on your ship in the most horrible way you can imagine.”

  Rache walked toward her to look inside.

  Casmir pushed off a pipe and eased farther back. Six minutes left. An orange alert was flashing inside his helmet, warning him of the need to attach an oxygen tank. As if he didn’t know.

  To his surprise, the helmet display also showed some oxygen in the outside environment that hadn’t been there before. It wasn’t enough to breathe, but why was it there at all? A leak in one of the refinery’s tanks? No, there wasn’t any oxygen in Saga’s atmosphere to be mined.

  His gaze strayed to the mercenaries flitting around setting charges, and his stomach sank. Of course. Each of their bombs would have an oxidizer built in, but if they wanted a humongous explosion, sufficient to utterly destroy the refinery, it would be helpful to cause a chain reaction that could ignite the fuel in all the tanks in the place.

  As Casmir peered around the bay again, his brain spinning uselessly instead of coming up with the brilliance he needed, he spotted a black shape arrowing toward Rache like a hawk diving for its target. Startled, Casmir almost shouted a warning. But he clamped his mouth shut.

  “The woman from the smuggler ship is coming back,” someone barked over the comm. “There’s no sign of Jackson.”

  Rache turned as the black shape smashed into his torso, knocking him over the case in a crazy somersault. It was the crusher. Casmir’s crusher.

  “Zee!” he blurted before realizing it wouldn’t hear him.

  But he couldn’t smother his delight. The crusher had recovered. Since it didn’t give off much heat, the mercenaries must not have detected it with their scanners.

  Weapons fire filled the room, red energy bolts streaking through the dim light. The men weren’t afraid to fire toward Rache, maybe believing his armor would protect him. They shot at the crusher even as it gripped Rache, wrestling with him and trying to find the leverage to hurl him into a tank.

  Kim looked over at Casmir, and he waved furiously and pointed toward the exit. This was their chance to escape.

  He spotted someone in the doorway. Qin. She’d come back for them.

  A mercenary lunged for Casmir, but Qin fired her rifle, a bolt slamming into the merc's shoulder. The force was enough to knock his magnetic soles loose, and he floated away, struggling to twist himself back around.

  Casmir pushed off another pipe, knowing it wouldn’t take the mercenary long to fire his boot jets and get back into the fight. They would all be in the fight soon. Several men returned fire at Qin. She backed out of the doorway and took cover behind the wall. Someone’s bolt struck a tank right beside the doorway. A hole ripped open, and a gaseous cloud spewed out.

  Casmir dove under it, scrambling for the doorway. A crimson beam streaked through the gas, and fiery orange light flared all around him.

  Qin snatched his hand and pulled him out of the room, hurling him into the next bay. He flailed, tumbling through the air with nothing to grab to slow him down, nothing to push off to alter his course.

  He started to shout that he wouldn’t leave without Kim—his rear helmet camera showed the gas burning, an orange cloud spreading from the tank and blazing like a solar flare. Qin returned to the doorway, firing into the bay to keep the mercenaries from charging through after them.

  Casmir imagined a stray bolt hitting the open case, vials exploding and spewing their deadly contents everywhere, spraying everyone’s suits…

  He finally ran into something that stopped his tumble. A pipe near the ceiling. He tugged himself down it and back to the floor until his boots could attach themselves.

  Kim appeared in the burning gas, her suit charred around the edges. A mercenary grabbed her shoulder, trying to pull her back into the bay. With nothing but his tool satchel, Casmir didn’t know how to help, but he strode toward the doorway as quickly as possible.

  Qin shot the hand that gripped Kim. The mercenary let go but lunged toward them. Qin pulled Kim through the doorway even as she launched herself at the armored man, pummeling his chest and knocking him back into the burning gas.

  Kim scrambled toward Casmir. The lack of sound was surreal and made it hard to tell what was going on in the battle beyond the burning gas. The mercenaries had to be talking to each other over the comms, but they’d switched away from Casmir’s channel.

  A warning flashed red in his helmet. He had less than a minute of air left. He was already lightheaded, his fingertips numb.

  Waving for Kim to follow, he pushed off the floor and dove toward the airlock bay. It was faster to fling himself around in zero-g than to run when he had to keep one foot attached to the deck.

  When he reached the airlock for the Stellar Dragon, the only vessel he could imagine returning to, he almost ran straight out into space before realizing the ship was gone. He gaped out the nearest porthole. The ship wasn’t gone yet, but it was leaving. It hovered a hundred meters from the refinery. Did Lopez know about the explosives Rache had set? What was the crazy mercenary thinking when the case sat right in the middle of all that?

  Kim caught up and slapped him on the back. Casmir pointed. She looked from their empty airlock to the one where the Fedallah was still docked. With seconds of air left, Casmir realized he had to go back that way, had to hope the mercenaries would take him in and wouldn’t kill him.

  Then Qin caught up with them.

  “I blew the charges I set,” she said on the Dragon’s comm channel. “And the crusher is blocking the way. Hurry, the captain is waiting for us.”

  “Out there?” Casmir flung his arm toward the ship, cracking his hand on the airlock hatch.

  “Out there. How’s your aim?”

  “Horrible,” Casmir said.

  “Hold on to me. Both of you.”

  “What about Zee?”

  “With luck, he’s buying us time.”

  Casmir gripped the back of Qin’s suit, careful not to disturb her tank. Kim hadn’t spoken, and when she grabbed Qin’s other shoulder, her grip was clumsy
and she missed twice. Were her oxygen reserves even more depleted than his? Casmir grabbed her with his other hand, making sure she wouldn’t lose consciousness and let go.

  “Ready,” he told Qin, his chest hurting, his lungs trying to gulp in what wasn’t there.

  Qin pushed open the outer hatch and sprang off, angling for the Stellar Dragon, the luminous blue orb of Saga filling the backdrop. The ship floated free, half-tilted, as if she were damaged and adrift. Maybe Lopez wanted the mercenaries to believe that, not that she was trying to escape but that some mechanical problem had resulted in her releasing her docking clamps.

  Qin cursed.

  “What?” Casmir blinked, trying to focus. His vision was dim, his body lethargic.

  “Captain told me the merc ship is getting ready to fire on the Dragon. We’re almost there.” Qin stretched a hand toward the ship.

  Casmir felt cold. He didn’t know if it was his suit struggling to compensate for the frigid temperature of space, or if his body was shutting down.

  A jolt ran through him as they landed on the side of the Dragon. Qin had alighted right on the airlock hatch. She hit the controls to swing it open and pulled them inside. As soon as it swung shut and air rushed into the chamber, Kim tore her helmet off and gasped in huge breaths. Casmir hurried to do the same, sucking in pure, delicious air as they floated in the dim chamber.

  A pale blue light came on, and the inner hatch unlocked. Qin raced across the deck as quickly as her magnetic boots would allow, charging up the corridor toward navigation.

  Casmir didn’t know what help he could offer, but as soon as Kim waved that she was all right, he pushed off the bulkhead to follow Qin. The ship rumbled, engines flaring to life. It started accelerating, and Casmir smashed against a wall, then pitched to the deck. Growling, he scrambled and clawed the rest of the way to navigation.

  “What’s happening?” Qin asked, gripping the back of the co-pilot’s pod.

  Lopez was cocooned in hers, little of her visible from behind. “The refinery is blowing up. A lot. You tell me, Qin. I only gave you one charge.”

  Qin glanced at Casmir.

  “The mercenaries were setting explosives in a processing room as we were opening the case,” he said.

  “Their ship is still attached to the airlock,” Lopez said. “Why would they detonate them now?”

  “It’s possible that burning gas leak—or you said Qin set a charge?—triggered theirs earlier than they intended.”

  “I set mine in the first bay, close to their ship, but I hit one of their explosives intentionally once we started shooting at each other.” Qin patted her rifle. “It may have set off a chain reaction.”

  “I don’t know why they were setting explosives to start with,” Casmir said, alarmed that they might have wiped out Rache and all his men, but relieved to have made it off the refinery.

  “While you were gone, I realized there’s nothing but wreckage where Saga’s other refinery used to be,” Lopez said. “Maybe they got paid to blow both of them up. Though I don’t know why he would have wanted the case delivered in the middle of all that.”

  “Is it possible he intended to destroy it along with the refinery?” Qin asked.

  Lopez shook her head vigorously. “I’m sure he wanted it for nefarious purposes. Either to resell it to someone who would use it against the Kingdom or to use it himself.” She tilted the ship, trying to avoid shards flying from the refinery as she backed them away from the dock, but one struck a glancing blow. “The Fedallah isn’t leaving dock yet. They’re going to take a lot of damage if they don’t depart soon. They may already have. Not that this is a bad thing for us, mind you.”

  “They may be waiting for their captain,” Qin said. “The last I saw, he was fighting Casmir’s crusher right next to the case.”

  “Maybe he’s dead then. I blew up the case.” Lopez held up a detonator. “But not until you three jumped out the airlock. Here comes someone else out the airlock.” She pointed at a display from one of the rear cameras.

  “Zee,” Casmir blurted. “He made it. Can you wait for him?”

  “I’m maneuvering us around to get out of here now,” Lopez said. “That’ll take a few more seconds, but I’m not waiting for anyone.”

  The crusher sprang from the airlock platform with powerful legs, its speed far greater than Qin’s had been.

  “He’s coming straight toward us,” Casmir said. “Just give him a few more seconds, please. If we could keep him, he could help tremendously with… wherever we’re going next.”

  “Probably to Hell. The mercenaries still have their weapons locked on us.” Lopez squinted at a display. “I’m surprised they haven’t… Oh, they’ve got a problem. Their reactor must have taken a hit. Something is overheating in their engineering compartment. Maybe Qin’s charge went off close enough to hurt them.”

  Even as they stared at the ship, the refinery lit up the night sky, flashing white and hurling pieces of the massive structure in all directions. Dozens of house-sized pieces slammed into the mercenary ship. It pitched, breaking free from the airlock, but not on purpose. Its airlock tube tore in half, one end still attached to the refinery.

  “We may have time, after all,” Lopez said. “Qin, go open the hatch and let Casmir’s toy in.”

  Kim shambled into navigation as Qin rushed past her. The crusher reached the ship, landing like a tick on its hull.

  “Do you think Rache will survive that?” Lopez mused, looking at the destruction on the display. “I think some of the tanks must have blown too.”

  Casmir shrugged. He had no idea what had happened after he’d fled.

  “If he doesn’t, I’m going to seriously regret sending that money back,” Lopez added.

  “He actually paid you? For me?” Casmir touched his chest.

  “Two hundred for you, fifty for the case.”

  “And you sent the money back?” He stared at her in surprise.

  “When I decided we were going to try to get you back, yes. And I never wanted to give him the case. He just assumed he could buy that from us.” She lifted her chin, gaze still locked on the display as the ship flew farther away. “He assumed wrong.”

  “Thank you, Captain. I know you could have used that money.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  “The crusher is aboard,” Qin said over the comm.

  “Good,” Lopez said. “I’m getting us out of here.”

  “Fine with me.” Casmir slumped against the wall and closed his eyes, exhausted. “Fine with me.”

  22

  “There are three Kingdom warships heading this way, Captain,” Viggo announced.

  Bonita opened her eyes. She’d only closed them for a moment, savoring their victory. Or at least their survival. She was still out the money she’d paid for the case of evil, but the Dragon had fuel, and they could keep flying a little while longer. If the Kingdom didn’t chase them down. She prayed these warships were after Rache, not her, but she didn’t know if she would get that lucky after her disastrous departure from Forseti Station.

  “How far away?” Bonita asked.

  The largest remains of the refinery were specks in the rear camera now. The slydar-coated Fedallah had disappeared from their scanners as soon as they’d moved more than a thousand meters from it. She doubted it had been damaged beyond repair, but she hoped it would take days before it could go anywhere. And she hoped Rache had died on the refinery.

  “Two days away,” Viggo said. “If we want to head for the gate now, we should have time to reach it before they catch up.”

  Assuming they could bribe the Kingdom ship that guarded the gate to look the other way.

  “Or we could hunker down in Saga’s atmosphere for a while and hope the Kingdom forgets about us. Those ships have to be coming to investigate the destroyed refineries, not us.”

  One of the cleaning robots rolled into navigation.

  “Being forgotten does sound appealing,” Viggo said.

&nbs
p; “Captain Lopez?” Casmir asked, stepping into the hatchway.

  He’d removed his helmet, and his hair stuck out in mussy tufts, despite the return of gravity.

  “You might as well call me Bonita now that we’ve been through life and death together. Laser is also an option.” She arched her eyebrows, though it had been easier to get people to call her that when her hair had been black instead of gray, and she’d had more opportunities to show off her marksmanship abilities.

  She also didn’t know how Casmir felt about her after she’d tried to trick him and turn him over to Rache. Would he forgive her? Normally, she wouldn’t care if someone she barely knew did or not, but he’d helped her, and she’d wronged him. Maybe she’d feel she truly had redeemed herself if he forgave her. At the least, she owed him an apology.

  “Laser?” Casmir asked. “The traditional spelling or is a z involved?”

  “Always an s. Though in the language of my home system, there’s an accent mark over the a. Láser Lopez.”

  “Oh yes, I can see how that makes a big difference.” He flashed his goofy grin.

  Kim stepped up behind him, lifting her eyebrows, and his grin faded.

  “Ah, can we show you something, Captain Laser?” Casmir asked.

  Bonita wasn’t sure why, but it delighted her that he used the name. Maybe because he said it matter-of-factly rather than mockingly, like it was fine by him if she still thought she deserved it.

  “Is it trouble?” she asked.

  Casmir gave Kim a considering look. She twitched a shoulder.

  “Never mind,” Bonita said. “It’s you two. It must be trouble.”

  She waved them in.

  Casmir plopped down in the empty co-pilot’s pod and waved an interface cable he’d found who knew where. Kim stepped up and held up a tiny chip.

  “We thought you might like to see this,” Casmir said and attached one end of the cable to the chip and one to Viggo’s universal port. “Kim stole it from Rache.”

  “I didn’t steal it,” Kim said. “I had it in my pocket when he opened the door and shoved me across his briefing room.”