“That better not be what I think it is.” My hands clutched the rim of the console as scan focused on the area.
“Commander Sinclair.” The scan officer looked up and met my gaze. “It looks like one of the tagalongs came out and hit the Forerunner. Our ship is unharmed, but the civilian freighter didn’t have shields up…it took significant damage.”
“I told those people to keep back a hundred thousand klicks.”
The scan officer nodded. “Looks like the others did, I don’t know what this ship thought they were up to.”
“I can handle liaising with them, ma’am,” Naomi said. “We can get a repair ship over there and make sure they’re patched up.”
I wanted to tell her to let them drift, but I knew we couldn’t leave a ship in distress alone in the black. Especially on the edge of the occlusion.
“OK, do it, Major. Make sure it’s quick, I’m not slowing the task force down.”
“Understood, ma’am.”
It was inevitable that whenever a large convoy crossed an occlusion, independent operators would follow in its wake. But it was highly unlikely that any marauders would attack ships that were a light second or two from a force as strong as Iron Lance.
Nearly forty ships were trailing behind the convoy, many moving at irregular vectors after they’d boosted to catch up before transitioning to the dark layer. Based on our final scan before dumping to FTL, another ten ships would be arriving before long.
I pulled up the ANSWON report and saw that we were only three light minutes from the edge of the occlusion. The fringes were just sparse dust and light gases, but a light hour further in, the clouds had already closed in at the barycenter, looking like a red-tinted hurricane.
This early on in the cycle, there was no risk to a shielded craft passing through from the clouds themselves. The biggest danger was from EM activity. As the nebula’s clouds interacted with the bow shock from Delphi’s solar wind, static charge would begin to build up. At times, it would discharge in sheets of white lightning as photons excited into elevated states raced across the maelstrom, seeking equalization.
That activity could blind a ship and make them an excellent target for pirates lurking in the clouds.
Like the Kerrigan.
Anger over having to include Jax Bremen’s ship in our convoy still simmered in the back of my mind. In the time it had taken the Kerrigan to travel down to Myka and then back out to Lothar, I’d received confirmation that that they did indeed have a writ of marque in Chal. How they’d gotten it was beyond me—though I planned to dig into that further once we reached the system.
And do whatever I could to see it revoked.
At least Bremen’s tub had exited the dark layer where it should have: near the rear and on the port side. Right in front of the rear cruiser phalanx, one of which being the Daedalus. If I could trust anyone in Iron Lance to do their job, it was Commander Petrov.
Just try something, Jax. I dare you.
“Jump looks good,” Tammy announced. “We’re right in the pocket. Better than half the DSA ships, if I do say so myself.”
“You can say so all you want, Tammy,” I replied, smiling with satisfaction as I imagined Sinclair seeing our perfect jump.
Eat your heart out, bitch.
“Oh shit!” Finn exclaimed, flinging a readout onto the main holo. “Look at that! Captain Jorge came out too late and creamed that corvette.”
“Damn,” Penny whistled from her seat—a different seat than she’d occupied previously, as Kallie was also present on the bridge. “He’s gonna be in hock. He was hauling for Korinth. If that cargo got damaged, it’ll be his hide.”
“Good to know you’re worried about the people on the ship,” Kallie muttered. “Not like they’re worth anything.”
Penny barked a laugh. “Certainly won’t be, if they lost their haul. Jorge is gonna have to take up ranching on Barras.”
Kallie shot me a dark look, as though this was all my fault. It wasn’t anything new. She’d been all cold shoulder ever since she saw Penny come out of my cabin.
I hadn’t bothered trying to explain it to her. I’d been fully clothed, and no one’s hair was messed up. She knew from experience that the aftermath of my sexual encounters looked a lot different.
Besides, you called it off with us. You don’t get a say in who I sleep with. I rubbed my eyes and shook my head. OK, Jax. Ease up, you’re acting a little ragey.
“Any orders from Sinclair?” I asked, knowing I could look myself, but wanting to change the topic on the bridge to her and not me.
“Just to maintain position and vector while they clean up that mess with Jorge’s ship and get their wandering platform back in the fold,” Tammy replied. “If they hold course, we’ll pass a light minute away from our pickup point, though. Nice and easy.”
I gave a tired sigh. “Good. Just a few more days then, and this’ll be over.”
“A few?” Penny asked. “Care to be more specific?”
“Nope.” I shook my head. “You won’t know it’s happening till it’s happening.”
“Fine.” She slapped her hands on her seat’s armrests and rose. “Be that way. I’m going to go find Sherry and fuck her silly.”
“Uhh…good luck with that,” Finn said with a laugh. “She’s probably doing laps around Oln in the gym or something.”
“Screw you,” Penny muttered as she walked past Finn and into the passage.
I glanced at Kallie and saw that she was grinning—until she realized I was looking at her. Then her eyes narrowed, and she turned back to face the main display.
<No chance we can hear what they’re saying, eh?> I asked.
<Nada,> Kallie chimed in. <It’s encrypted end-to-end. We’d be dead before we cracked it.>
<You, maybe,> Finn replied. <I plan to live till the eventual heat death of the universe.>
<It’s not going to have a heat death,> Kallie countered. <It’ll come back down for a big crunch.>
The network breacher shrugged. <Like it matters to us. I think ‘heat death’ sounds cooler, so I’m going with that.>
<Why are you such a dumbass?> she shot back.
<Me?> Finn demanded. <You’re the one who has been one eye-twitch away from frothing at the mouth for the past week. You need to chill.>
<Everyone needs to chill.> I stood and eyed them both <Yeah, things are tense, but we can’t be at each other’s throats. We’re a team, we’ve been through plenty of shit. We’ll make it through this.>
<We’ve never done a job like this before.> Kallie’s eyes met mine, and I could see a modicum of fear in them.
I gave her an encouraging nod, glad that she wasn’t scowling at me for once.
<And in a week, we’ll be able to say that we have done it, and then nothing will be out of our reach.>
<Yay, pep talk,> Tammy joined in for the first time. <Can someone bring me some coffee? I’m exhausted, and I don’t want to pass out till the last of the barnacles jump in.>
“On it,” I said. “Be back in a flash.”
<What about Sherry?> Kallie asked.
<Well, I assume Penny’s going to make good on her promise. And usually, our Paragonian friend goes for a run when they’re done assaulting the pink fortress, so I’ll corner her in a side passage then. We’ll see what sort of arrangement we can strike.>
“Seriously, boss.” Tammy turned and half hung out of her seat. “Coffee. I’m fading. And unless someone plans to assault my pink fortress, I’m going to need it fast.”
Finn stood. “I volunteer as tribute.” He pushed past me and dashed down the passage to the galley.
“You didn’t need to do both,” Kallie called after.
“Oh, he can totally do b
oth,” Tammy said, a wide grin on her lips. “Can you pervs get off the bridge already? There’s crew morale to be fixed.”
An hour later, I waited just inside one of the smaller maintenance corridors for Sherry. Based on her progress through the ship thus far, I had a minute before she reached me.
I took a slow breath, then let out all the air, voiding my lungs as much as possible. After repeating the process twice more, I felt ready.
“Hey, Sherry,” I said as she turned the corner and nearly ran into me. “Careful there.”
“Crap! Sorry, Captain. I didn’t expect anyone to be up this late.”
“You know me,” I shrugged. “I like to prowl around at off hours. What brings you down this passage?”
Sherry put a hand on the wall and grabbed her ankle, pulling her leg up behind her back to stretch it out. “Oh, you know. Kallie doesn’t like me running around the DSA cargo, so I’ve made a bit of a route through the ship. Without taking these maintenance passages, I’d have to double back, and I hate doing that. With these, I get to make a circuit.”
“Oh,” I nodded in understanding. “I thought maybe it was because you wanted to check on your taps into the comm arrays. Or maybe send another message to the Firelight—though you don’t have to be here to do that.”
Sherry’s face paled for a moment before she recovered, brow lowered. “Firelight? What’s that?”
“A ship,” I replied. “Small courier, about three light minutes behind us right now. We saw you send a message to it after we jumped in. We also know you’re Paragonian.”
“So what?” she replied with a shrug. “Lots of people are Paragonian. Is that some sort of crime?”
“Maybe. What about hacking our comm arrays?”
She didn’t reply, just gave an angry stare.
“OK, look. You’re caught, you’re wondering what we’re going to do. I’m also guessing that you don’t want Penny to know you have a ship out there tailing us. I don’t blame you. What we want to do is come to an arrangement with you that helps us deal with the mess we’re in. And we want to be paid for it, too.”
“Aren’t you just the gentleman,” she replied. “Why are you doing this?”
“I have my reasons. Let’s just say that it gets you the cores, and out of Penny’s clutches.”
“And Penny?”
I shrugged. “She won’t be a problem anymore.”
“You’re going to kill her?” Sherry’s eyes were wide, confirming that she’d developed more than a passing interest in Korinth’s left hand.
“No, she’s worth far more alive,” I lied. Sherry might just have enough of an attachment to Penny that if we told her our real plans, she’d balk. “We’re going to hand her over to the DSA to score points. Just like we’re getting with the PMF for giving you the cores.”
“Who says I’m with—”
“Please, Sherry. Don’t insult my intelligence. You have military bearing and deep pockets. Sure, you could represent a legitimate Paragonian business interest, but I would bet my left nut that any company putting you out here is in bed with the military either way.”
She nodded. “OK, yeah, that’s fair.”
“And is it true?” I pressed.
“You’ll just have to wonder. So that’s it? We give you the fifty million, and you tell me where the cores are?”
I crossed my arms. “Pretty sure you were going to pay Penny more than that. Seventy.”
“Sixty.”
Neither of us blinked as we locked eyes, engaging in a silent battle of wills.
“Deal.” I held out my hand. “We’ll give you two hours’ warning before we make our move.”
“Sounds good.” She nodded. “That it?”
“Well, how good is the Firelight’s stealth?”
“You’re worried about the DSA shooting her down?”
I shrugged. “Just thinking about your safety.”
“It’s not like I haven’t been paying attention. You plan to have a malfunction and veer off course. I’ll make sure my people are close, and when you call for aid, they’ll come in, pick me up, and we’ll be gone—and you’ll have our gratitude.”
“The PMF’s gratitude,” I corrected.
Sherry winked. “Maybe.”
“There’s just one more thing.”
She shifted, her brow lowering. “You’ve already dragged us out here for this little charade when you could have just told us where the cores are.”
“Uh huh,” I nodded. “And then Korinth might have just killed us all back on Myka.”
“You really think so?”
“We got boarded by the DSA on the way in. I’ve seen him ‘purge’ a crew when he thinks they know too much. Better safe than sorry.”
“You think turning Penny over to the DSA is going to help smooth that over with him?” Sherry snorted.
“We’ll figure it out. Things are sort of seat-of-the-pants out here. That’s why we’re going to need your help with a diversion.”
“Oh, this’ll be good, I’m sure.”
“All we need you to do is get the convoy’s attention after you get the cores. You’ll be too far away for them to catch you, and beams range will be restricted in the occlusion. Perfectly safe.”
This time, Sherry laughed outright. “I’ll be in a glorified pinnace, and there are dozens of DSA warships here. Trust me, there’s no such thing as ‘perfectly safe’.”
“I hear you…. Still, it’s not that risky.”
“We’ll be the judge of that. If we can, we’ll help. But don’t count on it.”
I nodded. “Fine. You’ve got a day to relax and bang Penny to your heart’s content. Then shit’s getting real.”
Turning away, I caught her laugh and soft reply.
“Girls really don’t ‘bang’, you know.”
28
MARS LANDING
Aboard the Kerrigan…
Still shaking my head after my chat with Sherry, I worked my way around the ship to the starboard maintenance passage. Once there, I opened the control panel for the secondary comm array.
Finn had established a workaround that wouldn’t alert Sherry—and maybe Penny, if they weren’t being honest—when the array was used. Given who I was contacting, that was very important.
<She’s still on her run,> Finn informed me. <So far as I can tell, she hasn’t reached out to Penny, either.>
<OK. Make sure Oln stays in the galley. If Sherry tells Penny about our plans, we’ll have a fight on our hands.>
<Think that was wise?> he asked.
I really didn’t.
<No, but what else was I going to tell her? I’d rather not piss off both governments and Korinth. If we thread this needle just right, everyone will think we did right by them, when really, we’ll have crossed them all and gotten paid.>
<Have to admit, I sure like that last part.>
<Remember, make sure Oln doesn’t kill her. Other than that, he can do whatever is necessary.>
<Uh…yeah, I’ll totally be able to restrain him if he goes hog-wild.>
<Knew I could count on you.> I closed the connection with a laugh and then turned to the task at hand.
Mars had sent a message coded into a status update we received from the DSA escort. The instructions told me to tightbeam my message just over the bow of a freighter on the fringe of the ships following in the convoy’s wake.
The captain of the freighter was someone I’d drank with a few times. Anyone who spotted RF coming from the Kerrigan would think I was just chatting up an old friend.
Not an old friend, a new frenemy.
<I’m so lonely, I wish I had some company.>
It wasn’t the message I was supposed to send, but it was far more amusing than the coded greeting Mars had instructed me to use. She’d know it was from me.
<Yeah, I wish you were here so I could slap you silly.>
Damn…I guess two can play this game.
<Soon, I hope. That sounds like a game I’d like to p
lay. How’re things back there? Crazy what happened to Jorge’s ship, eh?>
<What an idiot.> Mars snorted. <I’m just waiting for the last of the tagalongs to jump into the middle of the convoy and get blown up.>
<Well, if they don’t come out of the DL soon, they never will. We’re not far from the occlusion now.>
<Going to be a smooth ride, I hope.>
<For sure,> I replied optimistically. <I think the worst of it will be past in just over a day.>
<We’ll all be toasting one another in a bar on Barras in a couple of weeks. So long as we don’t get sick.>
I was surprised she knew about my recent experience on Barras. Granted, I’d gotten pissed out of my mind there more than once, so she might have just read it in my file or something.
<I’ll just stay away from shit with those damn worms in it.>
<Wise choice. I need to go, but reach out again when you have a moment.>
<Sure thing, always good talking with you.>
<Wish I could say the same.> Mars’s tone was sardonic. <Bye.>
Worst. Handler. Ever.
That night, I joined the crew for our meal, a rather impressive spread including steak, several types of veggies both cooked and raw, and a great vat of potatoes.
For all his faults, Oln was a good cook, once he was persuaded to actually do the work. This meal was courtesy of me telling him I was going to bill him for the power his VR system drew if he didn’t make it.
I almost chuckled as he bustled around the kitchen, putting the finishing touches on our dinner. Three years together, and he still hadn’t figured out that I always forced him to cook the night before a job.
<I see that look in your eyes,> Kallie commented. <Poor Oln, being manipulated by you.>
<You never know, maybe he’s fucking brilliant, and just doesn’t want to do any extra work. He might just be letting us think he’s an idiot.>
<I don’t know about that, I’ve seen Oln do some pretty stupid shit. Like one time—>
I held up a hand. <Kallie, please. We’re about to eat a meal he made. The last thing I need is to hear some story about his idiocy.>