Chapter 29
“Do we give them time to take each other out?” Velda asked, stepping away from the wall.
The bodies of the guard and Ritter made her deeply uncomfortable but there was nothing she could do about them right now.
“Couldn’t hurt to let them go at it with each other for a bit.” Ethan glanced at her. “The alliance didn’t last long, did it?”
“It seemed to escalate very quickly.” Velda had gotten the impression Linao had regretted showing her hand to Nirro. She’d wanted to find out what he knew about the balls too much, and she’d let on the Cores were still dealing with the Caruso government in the process.
That turned out to be a hard line for the rebels, one they did not hesitate to make clear.
“Linao should have kept her mouth shut,” Ethan agreed.
“Unless she was deliberately trying to stir up trouble between the rebels and her father.” That might make sense. She had misjudged Nirro’s reaction to it, though. Badly.
“You think it’s possible the Caruso do have a box of silver balls from that ghost ship?” Ethan asked.
“Yes.” She could see Nirro thought so, too. “I agree with Linao that the Caruso seemed to know about it before they even saw it and I don’t think Raxia would have hidden the existence of the balls from the VSC if they had found something like that.”
“The other possibility is there might not have been a box on that ghost ship,” Ethan said. “There’s been quite a few ancestral wreck finds in recent months and I haven’t heard about silver balls in any of them.”
“Not finding one on the wreck on Fynian doesn’t surprise me. It was on the ocean floor for years.” Velda thought about it. “And the Cores went through that wreck before we could get to it. If there was one, they may have taken it. They already knew what to look for, after all.”
“Yeah. Although I’m betting Linao would have mentioned it when she was telling Ritter about the Garmen find if they had.” Ethan was moving around the room, opening drawers, rifling through cupboards. He tossed two sharp scalpels onto the table, and kept going.
Velda realized he was looking for weapons and joined in the search.
They found a few more scalpels, and a laser tool, but that was it.
The sound of fighting had intensified, and then everything went quiet.
Nirro burst through the door, panting, hand bloody where he pressed it against his left shoulder, and he touched something when the door closed behind him. Locking it, Velda guessed.
“Things not going well out there?” she asked.
He looked at them, startled, as if he’d forgotten they were in here.
He shook his head. “You’re very calm.” Then his gaze touched on Ethan, and he drew himself up. “And you are recovered.”
“Don’t worry about Ethan,” Velda said, forcing his attention back on her. “What’s going on?”
“We are going to get them off the ship,” Nirro said, shooting another look at Ethan.
“Great.” Velda had found a few regen packs in one of the drawers, and guessing that’s why he was here, held one out to him.
He took it, bemused. “Thank you.” He slapped it over a nasty looking wound, and then eyed her again. “What is your preferred outcome to this?”
“That you get them off your ship, let us sneak over to theirs, and we’ll wreak as much havoc there as possible. You get to go on your way with your warship, and good luck to you.” Velda smiled.
“You wish them harm?” Nirro asked.
“They’ve told us they will kill us when we’re no longer useful to them, so, yes. And I am the Head of Defense for Aponi. If you are victorious in your efforts on Caruso and wish to reach out to the VSC, I would be a good contact to have.” She got a cup, poured in some water, and held it out to him.
“That is true, and it’s also true that I don’t have time to stay here and deal with these bissa.” Nirro drank the water, his gaze flicking to Ethan again, but it seemed he was a little more relaxed now.
Velda assumed bissa was an insult. “Let us deal with them.”
Nirro set down his cup and crouched down beside his dead friend and put a hand on his head in a gesture that seemed almost tender. “If my government has some of these balls, I haven’t heard about it, but I wouldn’t say it was impossible that they do.”
“So be careful if you see one,” Velda said. She was glad Ethan was letting her do the talking. “I don’t think Ritter knew it would kill your friend. He would have warned you.”
Nirro looked up and gave a nod. “I should have been more cautious. This is technology built for your kind, not mine. But what is done is done.”
Someone slammed against the door.
Nirro called out, and was answered with a shout.
He opened up, and the group of Caruso waiting outside seemed to do a double take at the sight of them.
There was some back and forth between them, and someone eventually unclipped a smaller laz from their belt and handed it to Nirro, who handed it to Velda. His gaze flicked to Ethan. “Do not betray my trust.”
“We won’t.” Ethan spoke for the first time. “We are not bissa.”
Nirro gave a nod. “We have a group of Cores’ guards cornered.
We will give you time to get onboard their runner which is in the launch bay, and hide.
Then we will allow them to escape. You will be transported over to their ship, which was built with the technology from my own people, and which they do not deserve, but which I don’t think I have a realistic chance of capturing. ”
“That sounds like a good deal,” Ethan agreed. “Good luck to you.”
Nirro nodded, then turned to Velda and put one fist on top of the other. “You are a light of your people. I hope I will have reason to contact you when we achieve our victory.”
“I hope so, too.” Velda responded in kind, fist on top of fist.
Nirro inclined his head. “Go that way, you have ten minutes before we ‘allow’ the Cores that remain alive to escape.”
Then he and his team disappeared in the opposite direction from where he’d pointed.
Velda held the weapon she’d been given out to Ethan and he took it with a shake of his head. “I don’t know how you do it, but seriously, Velda, they are eating out of your hand.”
It was the silver balls. Velda was sure of it. They were releasing a pheromone or something. Whatever it was, it predisposed the Caruso to like her. To trust her.
Thank you, she thought.
She had the sense of pleasure and almost a flustered feeling, as if they had not expected thanks or praise.
“Time’s wasting,” Ethan said, and took two scalpels, slid them into a pocket.
Velda took the other two and they jogged down the passage toward the launch bay.
It was deserted.
The damaged runner the Caruso had used to flee from the ore ship was still parked to one side, but there was also a new Cores runner, undamaged, facing outward, as if ready to flee.
Inside, lying on the floor between the bench seats, were two bodies, both unconscious. Linao and a Cores guard Velda recognized from the group that had been looking for the box of silver balls in the damaged runner the day before.
Velda hoped they really were unconscious, because Linao would delight in pretending to be out of it and then grab them when they reached Sylvester’s ship.
Ethan must have thought the same because he crouched beside her, put a hand out to touch her neck, and then gave a nod.
The silver balls had told him she really was unconscious, Velda guessed.
Then they searched for a hiding place.
It wasn’t easy—the runner was small—but there was a storage area under the seats that was not compartmentalized, it ran from one end of the runner to the other.
Velda fit in easily, but Ethan struggled to get his shoulders through one of the many openings. He eventually made it, and she could see from his face when he looked at her that he was very unhappy.
“I won’t be able to get out in a hurry.” He turned on his side and held the laz across his chest.
“There’s nowhere else,” she said, wriggling closer so they were head to head.
He grunted in agreement as she reached past him to pull down the flap, plunging them into darkness, and moments later they heard laz fire and shouting, and then the sound of boots running up the ramp and the whirr of engines.
Velda rested a hand on Ethan’s shoulder as the runner lurched and then took off.
They were headed for Sylvester’s ship, they were free, and they were armed.
Time to take back control.