Chapter 38
Velda had fallen asleep.
Ethan stood with her still in his arms and walked back to the rear of the runner.
The benches on either side would do as beds, but they couldn’t lie together this time. It was way too narrow.
They also couldn’t afford to both be asleep at the same time, as the runner didn’t have the technical specs to fly itself through space without pilot input.
Ethan lay Velda across the bench and stood over her for a moment. It was hard to take a step back, as if he was more himself, more content, when they were touching.
He forced himself to turn and find a blanket in one of the storage units, and tucked it around her before he moved back to the pilot’s seat.
He brought up the scan of what lay ahead of them. He couldn’t call it a map because it was simply what the less-than-powerful runner instruments could make out. This was not a known sector, there was no match-up of planets and other celestial bodies that corresponded to any map in the system.
And that worried him.
They would be pursued by Nirro as soon as the Caruson rebel leader had taken Sylvester’s ship. Nirro had made that clear.
And they had nowhere to hide. No destination where they could seek sanctuary.
Nothing but space and limited supplies.
They might actually have to turn and go back.
Not something he wanted to do.
A warning chime sounded from the panel, and he pulled up the rear lens view.
A runner was behind them, and by the looks of it, it was Caruson.
Before he could open a line of communication, it shot them, taking out the runner’s engine in a precise strike.
The runner jerked and then began to drift, and Ethan realized he was impressed.
The hit had barely rocked the ship, let alone jostled him.
The larger runner slid over them, a mechanical arm shot out and clamped them, and then the runner jerked as they were towed back.
Ethan stood, his presence in the pilot’s seat no longer required, and went to the rear to check on Velda. She was still sleeping, and he realized he was running low on sleep himself.
He lay down on the other bench, hands behind his head, ankles crossed, and let himself doze, working through various ways to get out of this predicament.
When they began to slow he got up and went to the pilot’s seat and activated the feed, saw that they were approaching the Caruson ship, which was now beside the Raptor, with a short tunnel visible between the two ships.
He walked back and gently shook Velda awake.
She came to slowly, with a sleepy smile. “Hey.” Then, as if sensing something was wrong, she frowned. “What is it?”
“They chased us down with one of their own runners, shot out our engine, and have been towing us back for the last hour. I think we’re approaching the Caruson ship right now.” He brushed her hair back off her forehead.
“And you let me sleep.” She swung her legs down and stretched, sent him a sidelong look. “Got a plan?”
He shrugged. “I’ve got no idea how we’re going to get out of this.”
“We’ll think of something.” She got to her feet, standing shoulder to shoulder with him as the runner jerked and then thumped down hard on a metal surface.
Ethan hoped she was right.
They were taken straight to the med bay.
Velda shouldn’t have been surprised, but she did think they’d be left in their old cell for a bit first.
Nirro was obviously in a hurry to get the silver balls and put his assassination plans into motion.
Ethan had told her the Raptor was joined to the Caruson ship via an inter-ship tunnel. She wondered if Nirro had full control yet, or whether they were still fighting it out.
Whatever the case, it hadn’t diverted Nirro from also going after them, it seemed.
Two Caruson she didn’t recognize were in the med bay, waiting for them, and they were both given chairs to sit on.
They were restrained, which was perhaps the result of Nirro watching them attack the Cores, but after a while she was offered a cup of water, and Velda wondered if the silver balls were undermining their worry over her abilities, or if the fact that she was so much slimmer and smaller than them made them unable to take her seriously as a threat.
They definitely treated her better than anyone else, loosening one of the restraints so she could drink.
“Can Ethan have some, too?” she asked, and after a moment of consideration, they gave him a cup.
They were clearly waiting for someone—Velda guessed Nirro—and when they got bored, one of the Caruson took a diagnostic wand and waved it over both of them and noted the readouts, almost as something to do rather than out of medical curiosity.
They were here to extract the balls for the balls’ sake, not for any experiment or theory.
Velda could even see the extractor, sitting where she remembered it being before, on the counter where it had been left after the Caruson soldier had died and Ritter had been shot.
What would it feel like to have the silver balls removed?
You’ll never find out, they told her.
She wondered how that could be true. They had been removed over and over again in the experiments Ritter had conducted on the crew.
We were still waking up, the balls said. We were absorbing information. And then he left us for a few days, and we decided that we did not want to go back into the box again. And then we were given to you.
I’m glad you were, Velda told them, and was surprised to realize she meant it.
Eventually, well over an hour later, Nirro stepped into the room.
He looked like he’d been fighting, and Velda noticed some blood spray on his forearm. There was a gleam in his eye that told her he had been enjoying himself, and the blood-smudged blade at his waist told her he had been using it rather than a laz.
“Have you taken the Raptor?” she asked.
“Not quite yet. They’re very stubborn.” Nirro shrugged. “They’re lucky they got rid of our backdoor intrusion moments before we boarded them, so it was harder for us to take the ship. It’s inevitable, though.”
It probably was, but if the backdoor was gone and the ship wasn’t actually under Caruson control, the Raptor wouldn’t be a bad option for escape. If they could get to it.
Velda slid Ethan a look and he gave a tiny nod of agreement.
“You fight with blades as well as laz?” Velda didn’t know why that was so shocking to her.
“Laz are good ranged weapons,” Nirro said. “Blades are good for close work.”
And taking a ship was very close work.
Velda tried to keep her features serene.
“You ran,” Nirro said.
“You’d have, too.” Velda pretended calm, stretching out her legs and looking up at him. “Given the same circumstances.”
Nirro paused, gave a laugh. “You’re right. I don’t blame you for it, and it didn’t cause me too much trouble, given there’s nowhere to run to.”
“About that.” Velda leaned forward. “Where are we?”
“Out near some planet Sylvester’s people found some months ago. Already inhabited, but difficult to take over, given the threat level of the indigenous species.”
“Fjern?” Velda couldn’t help the way her voice lifted in surprise. “We’re near Fjern?”
“Is that what it’s called?” Nirro shrugged.
“Sylvester promised us it contained the motherlode of ore that we needed, but I gather from listening to the hidden comms my people set up in the Raptor that they barely came away with their lives last time. It was then that it occurred to me that Sylvester was perhaps setting us up to take all the risks, and maybe was hoping we’d be a much diminished force at the end of the trip. ”
“All the better for Sylvester to make a new deal with your government, in exchange for you defeated, and their warship back. And with them owing him a massive debt,” Velda mused. “One they could discharge by helping him take Aponi.”
“Exactly,” Nirro agreed. “It was only a suspicion, until Linao made it clear she had intelligence from the Caruso establishment about where I’d served before.”
And that had been the last straw for the Caruson commander, Velda realized.
“Still, it was a long term plan,” Velda said. “It’s not as if you could set up a mine on Fjern overnight.”
“Apparently there’s already one down there.” Nirro lifted a shoulder. “So not that long term.”
“And how far is Aponi from here?” she asked. Because as much as she wanted to see Fjern, it was more important to get back to Aponi.
Nirro studied her, then flicked a look at Ethan. “Nice moves on the bridge,” he said, without answering. “I had a feeling something was up with you. You, though,” he turned back to Velda, “I was surprised at what happened in the launch bay. You hadn’t shown any sign of enhancement before that.”
Velda just lifted her brows.
“Well, that’s over for you both. Where’s the device?” He addressed one of their guards, and the soldier handed over the extractor.
Nirro went to Ethan first and unclipped one restraint. “Hand out flat.”
Ethan lifted his hand, palm up, and waited, his gaze fixed on Nirro’s face.
Nirro switched the little machine on and pressed it into Ethan’s palm.
Nothing happened.
Nirro stepped back, frowning, and turned it off and on again. Put it back on Ethan’s hand.
The smell of burning wires and electronics suddenly became evident.
Nirro’s face went hard. “No.” He put the extractor down on the counter, and then stepped back when it made a strange popping sound and smoke escaped from a thin join on one side.
The two guards edged a little closer to the door in the tense silence, and then Nirro turned suddenly to Ethan, lifting the curved blade from his belt and bringing it down on him.
Except, Ethan wasn’t sitting in the chair.
Nirro had undone the restraints on his right hand, Velda recalled. And then everyone’s gaze had gone to the extractor.
She smiled in satisfaction as Ethan seemed to float through the room, using whatever came to hand as a weapon, bringing down both guards, shooting Nirro with one of their laz.
It felt like reality restarted as Ethan bent down on one knee beside her to release her from her restraints, three Caruson lying around her.
“That was beautiful,” she said.
He shot her a look, serious and focused. “Beautiful?”
“Very.” She grabbed up a laz, hefted it. “Let’s find out how to get on the Raptor.”