<Approving their request,> Ames replied. <And Katrina?>
<Yes?>
<I’ve not had a chance to thank you for what you’ve done for me. I really appreciate it.> Ames’ mental tone carried true gratitude.
<Of course, Ames. I can’t abide slavery.>
<What about what you’ve done to the humans? You can control them, if you wish—like you did with Lars. That’s a type of slavery.>
<I think of it as insurance, Ames. Without it, any one of them can turn on us, and we’d have no recourse. We all have some measure of control placed on us. Be it physical reality, societal constructs, or law. It doesn’t make it slavery.>
Ames was silent for a moment before he replied. <I suppose you’re right, but that also means that there is no clear line between freedom and slavery. There’s a grey area.>
<As with everything,> Katrina replied.
<I hate grey areas.>
<It’s what makes our world dynamic, Ames,> Katrina replied. <The NSAIs live in a black and white world. For us…things are not so easy.>
<Never thought I’d envy an NSAI,> Ames replied with a chuckle.
<Me either.>
Katrina glanced at Malorie, who was staring down at Persia again. It was hard to believe that just yesterday morning, she’d awoken in her cell. Now she held a space station and was one step closer to achieving her coup.
<Damn,> Ames was back in her mind again. <There are a lot of people in that shuttle.>
<How many?> Katrina asked, sitting up straight.
<Twenty, maybe more.>
<How many normally come on an inspection?>
<Usually six, eight at most,> Ames replied. <You know what that means?>
<I do.>
Malorie had noticed Katrina’s change in posture and sat forward as well. “What is it?”
“Lara’s here,” Katrina replied. “She’ll be docked in five minutes.”
“Shit,” Malorie swore. “I guess I’m on.”
“We’re on,” Katrina corrected.
“Oh, do I need a babysitter?”
Katrina barked a laugh. “Absolutely. I’m a new guard you’ve hired.”
“For some definition of ‘hired’,” Malorie muttered.
Katrina rose and walked up the steps to the door where she waited for Malorie to catch up.
The Lady of Revenence Castle still wore the white dress and towering heels Juasa had selected for her that morning. Katrina had considered allowing her a change of clothing, but a vindictive streak in her hoped that the shoes were killing Malorie’s feet by now.
Korin and Norm, one of the new members of the Alpha Guard, waited in the hallway.
“Gentlemen,” Katrina said by way of greeting, and Korin laughed.
“Stars, can’t remember the last time anyone called me that,” he said.
Katrina clasped him on the shoulder. “Probably around the same time you were last called Major.”
Korin snorted. “Hell no, it was long before that. The outfit I was in never called anyone anything like ‘gentleman’. Usually something more like, ‘Asswipe’.”
“What do we call you…Katrina?” Norm asked, apparently uncomfortable using her name.
“You call me Katrina,” she replied. “Nothing else.”
“Oh,” Norm said with a slow nod. “I heard you wanted to be called ‘Warlord’.”
Malorie chuckled softly. “A bit presumptuous…and premature.”
“It’s aspirational,” Katrina said coolly. “But none of that, for now. I’m just another one of Malorie’s guards. A new hire that she’s brought on.”
“Of course,” Norm said, and Korin nodded.
“Not really my type,” Malorie added.
They reached the landing pad at the same time as the Midditerra inspection shuttle. They waited with Freya as the ship’s doors opened, and four soldiers walked out, flanking the exit.
Katrina noted that their medium-class armor was not powered, but did appear to be well made and uniform between each soldier.
A pity; powered armor was easier to hack and lock up.
The next person out of the shuttle was Admiral Lara herself. Unlike her guards, she wore no armor to speak of, though Katrina would be surprised if her uniform did not have at least one layer of protection built in. Even now, in this backward time, such things were common.
Malorie’s dress could even stop a bullet, in a pinch.
The admiral was a tall woman; her dark hair pulled back in a long clasp from which it cascaded down her back. Her sharply angled eyebrows sat over jet black eyes. The woman’s skin was pale, and her lips red.
Katrina wondered if she was a sucker.
Malorie stepped forward and offered her hand. “Admiral Lara, imagine meeting you twice in as many days.”
“Indeed,” Lara said with a raised eyebrow. “I know it’s your station and all, but I find myself curious as to what brings you up here.”
No elongated canine teeth. Good, I can’t stand suckers.
Malorie shrugged. “Jace should be returning soon with our new prize ship. I figured that it would be nice to meet him up here.”
“Not because you want to intimidate my inspection crew in any way?” Lara asked with her angled brows raised.
“Are they susceptible to that?” Malorie asked. “If so, I should have done it more often in the past.”
Lara looked back at the inspection team, and the other soldiers who were disembarking. “They’d better not be.”
“We can take a skiff over to the ship,” Malorie said. “Though I suppose it may take two.”
“Lead on,” Lara said with a wave of her hand.
Freya directed the group to two separate skiffs, and soon they were crossing the two kilometers of open space toward the Havermere.
“I must say,” Lara said with a sigh as they approached. “I was expecting something a bit more impressive.”
Malorie nodded. “As was I. Bollam’s World can be a crapshoot. Sometimes you get a real gem, sometimes you get a workhorse like this.”
<I’ll show her an old workhorse,> Sam commented to Katrina.
<Made it to the Castigation?> Katrina asked.
Sam sent an affirmation. <Juasa is working on the node hookup; its bandwidth is too low for me. I guess the Ranians liked to limit their AIs’ ship access.>
<Doesn’t make sense to me.> Katrina gave a mental scowl, commiserating with Sam. <Why have AIs if you’re going to castrate them?>
<Lack of vision,> Sam replied.
Katrina stifled a laugh. Something about the AI’s dry sense of humor put her at ease. Perhaps it was how similar he was to Troy.
Where are you, Troy? Why haven’t you arrived yet?
Of course, it was entirely possible that Troy had arrived and that he was laying low on the outskirts of the system, trying to get a bead on the situation.
A minute later, the skiffs entered the bay and settled down beyond the cradles.
Katrina was surprised to see workers swarming the bay. Panels were off, molecular welders were hard at work, repairing the ship’s ribbing, and spools of cabling hung from the overhead as more workers stood on high gantries, arguing over the best way to repair damaged systems.
It was a completely different scene from earlier in the day.
“Your people sure get to work fast,” Lara observed.
“A lot to do,” Freya offered. “The crew had some sort of fight when we showed up, and then our teams had to put a lot of them down. Made a mess of things.”
Lara glanced down at the bloodstains on the deck. “I can see that.”
<The bay didn’t take this much damage,> Katrina said to Freya. <I know because I did most of the damage in here.>
<Yeah, but they’re here to assess the ship for its value so they can tax us, and possibly buy it. You don’t want them to buy it—at least that’s my impression—and we don’t want to pay tax. We want to hold onto the thing, so it’
s my job to make it look like a shit box.>
<I didn’t give you those orders,> Katrina said as she considered Freya’s actions.
<No, but you told me business as usual. This is business as usual.>
Katrina shook her head as Freya led them across the bay.
“Some of my inspectors will go aft, while the rest will come with us to the bridge,” Lara said when they reached the ship’s central corridor.
“Works for me,” Malorie said with a shrug. She motioned for a pair of guards standing at the bay entrance to escort the inspection team while the remainder of the group turned forward.
The corridor was in even worse shape than the bay. Deck plate was lifted up in a dozen places, the overhead was pulled open every few meters, cabling impeding their progress as they moved to the front of the ship. It took nearly ten minutes to reach the bridge—which looked like a bomb had gone off in it.
Katrina had to admit that she was impressed by the speed of the Blackadder teams. They had managed to make it look like the ship was barely functional and in need of massive repair in only a few hours. She’d rarely seen that level of efficiency.
The inspectors set to their disparate tasks while Lara tapped a finger on her chin. “I can see how the ship has potential. Sure it needs some work, but it’s rugged; has a lot of supplies, too.”
Freya laughed. “A lot of those crates you saw in the bay are full of used parts. These people were packrats. They kept everything they pulled out on repair jobs.”
The remainder of the inspection was uneventful. It consisted of Lara making comments about how valuable the Havermere could be, which were countered by Freya or Malorie describing how it would take a lot of effort to make repairs, and how the parts would need to be fabricated from scratch for such an unconventional ship.
“Ah, but that’s this vessel’s specialty, isn’t it?” Lara had asked at that point. “Fabricating obscure components would be something it needs to do with great frequency—it’s part of the draw.”
<This is so tiresome,> Katrina groused to Sam. <I had expected more from Lara, but she’s just a swindling brigand like the rest of them.>
<What do you want me to do about it?> Sam asked. <I’m just a brain in a case right now.>
<Sorry, just looking for a sympathetic ear.>
<Well, I can see what these mad mechanics have done to the Havermere through your feed. It’s not making me happy.>
<Yeah, but soon you’ll be wearing a nice new warship.>
<It’s a warship, yeah, but neither nice, nor new.>
Katrina gave a mental laugh. <Point taken.>
<It’s not as bad as he’s making out,> Juasa joined in on the channel they shared. <The reactors are in good shape, it has some serious beams, and two AP drives. As soon as our friends head out, we can test the reactors and get this bird to sing.>
Juasa sounded happier than she had in days—excepting a few intimate moments. Katrina was glad to hear the joy in her mental tone. Working on starships really was what Juasa longed to do.
<Yeah, well, if—and I do mean if—all that stuff works, then I’ll be happy. But I’m not holding my breath,> Sam said.
<You’re an AI, you don’t breathe,> Juasa said, her mental avatar grinning at Sam’s.
<Stars, you humans. It’s a metaphor.>
Katrina sighed. <Relax, Sam, you’ll be set up in no time, and you’re going to love being in a warship.>
A few minutes later, Lara and her inspectors pronounced themselves satisfied, and they made their way back through the ship to the forward docking bay.
When they arrived, Lara turned to the group. “Now, let’s go check out that big mass of crap you’re shifting around in the back of this floating garbage dump.”
“What?” Malorie asked with a frown. “Which mass of crap? This whole station’s a boneyard.”
“Don’t pull that innocent act with me,” Lara snarled at Malorie. “You’re not smart enough to get free of Jace, and you’re certainly not smart enough to pull one over on me. Let’s go see what you’re up to back there. Seems like just the sort of place you might hide a Streamer ship.”
“A Streamer ship?” Malorie’s voice was filled with disdain. “How would we have gotten it in here?”
“Not sure,” Lara said. “Maybe it wasn’t as big as you said. Maybe the Havermere was just your transport vessel. It doesn’t look worth the effort to bring it, otherwise.”
Shit…did they make this thing look like too much of a hunk of junk? Katrina wondered.
“Fine,” Malorie said. “Let’s go take a look.”
The group reboarded the skiffs, but this time two more of Lara’s guards piled onto the same skiff as the Admiral.
The skiffs pulled out of the bay and flew toward the back of Rockhall’s interior cavern. Katrina tried to get close to Lara, but each time, her guards blocked her. She was tempted to try and drop nano on the guards as a preemptive strike, but worried they would have countermeasures that would detect it.
Getting into a pitched battle with six soldiers on the small skiff was not her idea of a good time.
<What’s your plan, oh queen of the universe?> Malorie asked as they flew the ten kilometers past the corvettes and scrap hulls that filled Rockhall.
<I’m playing it by ear,> Katrina said.
<You’ve been saying that a lot.>
<It’s a good saying. Direct the skiffs to land on a catwalk close to the ship. We’ll walk onto it and kill them all there.>
Malorie shook her head and glanced back at Katrina. <Just kill ‘em all? That’s your strategy?>
<It’s worked so far.>
<Except for when Jace captured you.> Malorie’s response came with a mental smirk.
<That was a scenario that will not be repeated.> Katrina replied. <This time I hold the one he cares about. It’ll be a good chance to see how much he really values you. Think it’s more than his empire?>
Malorie didn’t respond, but her shoulders slumped. Katrina shared Malorie’s assessment of her true value to Jace.
The skiffs approached the racks of hull and skirted around their edge into the open space beyond.
“Well now, what is this?” Lara asked. “This is no raider.”
“Not all our ships are raiders,” Malorie replied, her tone not as haughty as normal. “Jace’s Verisimilitude is a cruiser, as well.”
“True, but why are you hiding this ship from me?”
“Lara, seriously. It’s inside our station; it’s our business. This is just a ship we got in a raid years ago. If you check your logs, you’ll see that.”
Lara snorted. “You just tucked a ship like this in the back of Rockhall for years? Doubtful.”
Malorie and Freya both responded to Lara, trying to convince the woman that there was no way the Castigation was a Streamer vessel, but Lara wasn’t having any of it. Every time they presented a piece of evidence, Lara countered with the fact that they’d had the ship for weeks and could easily have disguised it.
<How are things looking in there?> Katrina asked Sam and Juasa.
<Just putting Sam in his new home now,> Juasa replied. <He should be back online…now.>
A second later, Sam’s wry tones came across the Link. <Gah, it’s like this network is full of cobwebs…>
<Parts of the ship are,> Juasa said. <Why not the network too?>
<Any chance the external beams are online?> Katrina asked.
<No dice, they’re only configured to run from the reactors. The ship’s on station power and can’t charge them,> Juasa said.
<Well, it’s going to be me, Korin, and Norm out here grabbing our ankles if we can’t figure anything out.>
<Good thing you can’t get taken that way anymore,> Juasa said with a laugh.
<Really? You pick now to get all blasé about my mods?>
Juasa laughed. <Took me a bit to get comfortable being intimate with a war machine.>
<Ju!>
<Sorry, mockery is a stress response. I’m going
to grab Demy and spin these reactors up. There’s not a lot of fuel aboard, but it should be enough to spark up the point defense beams.>
Katrina pulled Korin, Freya, and Malorie into the conversation. <If we can’t convince Lara that this is just an old cruiser, we take her out. Understood?>
<Well, when they get aboard, there’s no way they’d mistake this thing for a Streamer ship,> Freya countered.
<So long as she doesn’t do anything rash before then,> Malorie said. <She’s being really obtuse. This could be a play on her part to—
<Katrina!> Ames broke into her thoughts. <There’s something weird going on. A number of Midditerra Defense Force ships have changed their standard patrol patterns.>
<Is that something that never happens?> Katrina asked.
<Well no, but this change puts twelve ships on vectors that pass very close to Rockhall.>
<Shit! She’s going to take the station,> Katrina swore before calling out to her senior captains. <Hana, Jordan! We’re under attack by Lara’s ships. A dozen are inbound.>
<Fuck! Really?> Jordan exclaimed.
<Yes, really,> Katrina shot back. <I want everyone on their ships and out in the black, Hana, coordinate the defense with Ames.>
<On it,> Hana replied. <Looks like your timetable for taking out Lara just got moved up.>
Katrina’s response was sheathed in ice. <She’s going down. Five minutes, tops.>
<Dammit, the scan data I show has at least two of the MDF ships reaching the docking ring before we can get out there,> Hana responded a moment later. <I’m keeping our boarding crews on station for defense.>
<Not gonna reach the ring if I have anything to say about it,> Ames cut in. <Rails up, firing.>
Katrina wished she had Troy to help manage this, but for now, she’d have to trust Ames and Hana to get the job done.
<I’m almost at the Castigation,> Jordan added. <Do you want me there, or back on my old ship?>
<Get aboard, Captain. The Castigation leaves dock in ten minutes tops. We’re heading to Farsa.>
<Shit, Katrina, you play for keeps.>
<Just get on the ship, Jordan.>
As she had been speaking to her command team, Katrina sent a message to all Blackadder ships and stations using Malorie’s tokens.
<All Blackadder ships, stations, personnel. All cantons. Admiral Lara is attempting to steal Blackadder property and has launched an attack on Rockhall. I’m declaring open war on Midditerra Defense. All ships attack targets of opportunity, and come to the defense of Rockhall.>