Chapter 40
Ethan slid down the passage, pausing to look back at the doors to the bridge.
Through the narrow gap he saw the flash of laz fire, and hesitated. Velda was in there—
A flurry of movement and another shot forced him to dive for the opposite wall. He came up firing, but Brink had already ducked back into the room she was using for cover.
She had taken advantage of his indecision.
He needed to trust Velda and deal with the problem he’d taken on.
“How did you get back onto the Raptor?” Brink called. “I saw the Caruso towing you back to their ship.”
He ignored her, edging toward the room—the med bay, he realized— and pressed up against the wall right next to the open door.
All the doors except the bridge were open, he realized. Maybe as a result of the power failure the Caruso had engineered.
Brink moved—he could hear the rustle of her clothing—and he worked out he had a good idea from the sounds she was making where she was in the room.
Not something he’d been able to do before.
He paused. Is this reliable? he asked the silver balls.
We would do nothing to endanger you, they assured him.
He loosened his shoulders and then dived into the med bay, rolling to the right and coming up, laz ready.
Brink gave a shriek of surprise and lifted her own laz. Ethan shot it out of her hand.
She stared down at her hand, panting. “You’re fast.”
“How many of you are left?” Ethan asked. Not that he expected an honest answer.
“I don’t know,” she said. “Linao is being held in a cell, but everyone else was defending the ship.”
His gaze caught sight of a pile of restraints on the counter behind her, considered restraining her, and then shot her instead.
It was easier. He was all for an easy life right now.
He laid her on her back, then checked her laz, and saw it was set to kill. He felt even less guilty about his decision.
He jogged back to the bridge and stopped in surprise when he found a Caruson soldier dead in the passageway, blades lying beside him.
“That was me,” Velda called from behind the bridge doors. “He recovered from a laz hit and started following you.”
Relief washed through him.
Velda was fine.
That’s all that really mattered, he realized.
He walked up to the bridge doors. “You worked out how to open them yet?”
“No.” Her voice was clear and he looked down to see her crouched down on the other side, looking up at him through the gap. “I was hoping your magic fingers could do their thing.”
His magic fingers.
He remembered when he’d been able to disable the lens in their cell. Maybe he could . . .
He moved to the keypad and touched it, resting his fingertips lightly. “I think I can make it open, but then I don’t think it will close again.”
“Works for me,” Velda said.
He thought it through, realized it didn’t matter if the bridge couldn’t be secured if they had the whole ship—which they would.
The doors ground open, as if there was some resistance somewhere, and looking to the side he saw the damage to the door was making opening up difficult. He could smell burning by the time they were three quarters open. They stopped there, and went no further.
“Good enough.” Velda had risen to her feet and reached out to touch his shoulder. “All right?”
“Yes. I think Linao is the only one left either alive or conscious. According to Brink, she’s locked up in a cell.”
“How much luck can one woman have?” Velda wondered. “We’re going to take them all to the Caruso ship, I assume?”
Ethan was already deep inside the room, leaning down to grab Sylvester by his feet. He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Of course.”
She smiled. “We’ll have to do it fast. Nirro will regain consciousness soon enough.”
“And we might not have got everyone in the warship, either. Anyone not unconscious is probably already trying to revive their colleagues. We need to be gone by then.” He sniffed the air. “Is that just the smell of burning from the door?”
“No.” Velda looked a little pained. “Some panels were damaged in the fight with Sylvester and company.”
“We’ll work it out. Let’s get everyone off.” He couldn’t wait for that. He’d been thinking of it for a long time. It was time to dump their baggage and go.
Linao lifted both hands as Ethan stepped into her cell, laz trained directly on her.
Velda stood behind him, and Linao slid her a look. “I got you to the launch bay runner, that has to count.”
“You did,” Velda agreed. “If you cooperate, you won’t get shot.”
“Cooperate?” Linao looked quizzical.
“You’re going over to the warship.” Ethan jerked the laz, indicating for her to move. “If you hurry, you might be able to take it over.”
“Not a bad option,” Linao decided. “And everyone else?”
“All unconscious or dead,” Velda told her. “Up to you what happens to them. You’re the only one left walking.”
Linao ducked her head, and Velda thought she looked thrilled.
She wondered if she was aware they were close to Fjern, and decided she probably was. That must have been what was on her mind when she shared her story about Fjern with Brink.
They herded her to the launch bay. They’d already hauled all the other bodies across, working as fast as they could and leaving Linao until last. She was too tricky for them to do it any other way.
She eyed the tunnel. Turned. “Through there?”
“Yes.” And something about the way she said it made Velda sure she was thinking of running back through as soon as they had their backs turned.
She may have looked thrilled with the idea of going over to the warship as the last person walking, but Velda guessed she’d weighed up the odds and decided taking back the Raptor from the two of them would be easier than taking on Nirro and his warriors.
“Fine.” Linao stepped into the tunnel. “See you around.”
“Not if I can help it.” Ethan had never liked her, and now he wasn’t trying to hide it.
Linao laughed at him and walked away, disappearing into the Caruson warship.
“She’s going to try to sneak back,” Velda murmured.
“I got that, too.” Ethan eyed the tunnel. “There’s no way to stop entry on this side.”
“No. I’ll stand guard, you move us away.” She was far less capable when it came to flying a ship. At least Ethan had some experience.
“Shoot to kill from now on.” Ethan pulled her close, kissed her temple, and then strode away.
The door had only just closed behind him, and she was still studying the laz strength settings, when someone exploded out of the tunnel.
She lifted her weapon, but they were moving too quickly for her to aim.
A Caruson.
She felt a wave of panic and jumped straight up, not her brightest move, but the soldier slowed in surprise and she was ready to shoot as she came down.
She hit him, but he was wearing armor and he grabbed her as she landed.
He batted the laz out of her hand and it landed on the ground and slid away. The silver balls seemed to be on fire in her veins. Wherever her skin touched the Caruson’s, she felt a flare of heat.
His hands clenched a little tighter on her, and then he stumbled back, stared at her out of eyes that had gone blank.
“Who else is coming through?” she asked, wondering if he even spoke her language.
He shook his head, and she took it to mean he didn’t. Nirro was almost fluent, and she kept forgetting he was an exception.
She pointed at the tunnel. “Go back.”
He took a hesitant step toward it, and then another.
She stepped to the side, aiming for her laz, moving slowly, afraid that too much movement would break him out of the trace he seemed to be in.
The soldier was almost at the tunnel when Nirro burst through. He was dragging Linao with him, and she had gone limp in his hold.
Except, when it came to Linao, Velda never believed what she saw.
Nirro’s arrival seemed to snap the soldier out of his fog, and he turned to her, eyes wide with fear and anger.
“Get her,” Nirro ordered.
The soldier looked down at his hands and hesitated.
“She does things to you if you touch her. Twists your mind.” Linao’s voice was hoarse and sounded groggy, but Velda didn’t even believe that was genuine.
“Don’t touch her skin,” Nirro ordered, and finally the soldier moved.
She let him grab her, because they were less likely to shoot her if they thought she was under their control, and if she was shot, this was over.
“You’re trying to take the Raptor?” Nirro asked. “That’s bold.”
“Why wouldn’t we?” Velda asked. “It’s a logical step.” She felt the familiar buzz under her skin, the silver balls waiting for a chance, but the soldier was careful to avoid touching her directly.
Nirro tilted his head and studied her. “You influenced him, somehow. Have you been influencing me?”
Velda stared back. “Does it look like I’m influencing either of you?”
“No. But you were.” He spoke to the soldier in Caruson and then looked down as Linao began to struggle in his grasp.
“Why did you bring her along?” Velda asked.
“She was hiding in the tunnel, and I didn’t want her causing trouble on the other side.” Nirro gave Linao a shake, and she subsided.
Suddenly, the whole ship shuddered, and the tunnel began to rattle in place.
Ethan had finally got the engines up and running.
“Take Velda across,” Nirro told the soldier. “Ethan will surrender if we have her on the warship.”
He was right. And she couldn’t—wouldn’t—let that happen.
Nirro looked down at Linao, seemed to be considering something, and then tossed her back into the tunnel. He shot her with his laz before she could even scramble to her feet. He pointed to her unconscious form and barked out an order to the soldier.
Telling him to get someone to drag her back, most likely.
Nirro checked his laz and headed for the bay doors.
Going to the bridge to get Ethan, she guessed. To the bridge with its open doors that would offer no protection.
Absolutely not.
A silver ball rose up out of the back of her hand, rolled up her sleeve and disappeared behind her.
The soldier holding her suddenly let her go and she dived away, grabbing up her laz and turning.
Nirro had stopped and turned at the sound of his soldier in trouble, and they both watched him shudder and then fall.
There was no question he was dead.
Velda crouched down and the silver ball emerged from his cheek, rolled across the floor to her, and she picked it up, felt it melt into her skin.
“You can tie me up, you can put me in a cell, but you cannot stop the silver balls from finding you.” She rose to her feet, her laz steady on Nirro. “I’m generous enough to let you leave and take your friend with you, while the tunnel is still safe to move across.”
As she spoke, the tunnel began to groan.
“Choose fast. Death, or getting your warship back.” She stepped back a little, giving Nirro space to grab his guy and go.
She saw the frustration on his face. The fury.
“I know, it’s hard. Believe me, I understand. Take the win I’m giving you and move it.” She held out her hand and a silver ball shimmered into being in the center of it.
With a growl of anger, Nirro ran for the tunnel, grabbing the back of his soldier’s jacket and hauling him with him.
He disappeared inside and it felt like moments later that, with a final screech of metal, the tunnel was pulled out of the bay.
Velda widened her stance to keep her balance and watched the airlock membrane carefully.
The ship wasn’t moving fast—it seemed to be drifting—but at least they had uncoupled, and no one could easily get across.
She backed away, watching until she reached the doors and, satisfied, backed into the passageway.
The Raptor was finally theirs.