<Whoa, no, not like that,> Niki interjected. <That won’t be enough to stabilize the tower, and the top hundred meters will fall off.>
<You have a better idea?>
<I do,> the AI said. She proceeded to rapid-fire at the engineer a series of instructions that Rika could barely follow.
<Shit…> Bondo swore. <That’ll burn out our systems.>
<Probably,> Niki confirmed. <But not till after the Fury Lance shows up.>
<Do it, Bondo,> Rika ordered. <Niki practically invented the graviton emitter. She knows her shit.>
<She did? Seriously?>
<Questions later. Action now!> Niki ordered.
Everyone fell silent, all eyes on the top of the tower as it continued to sway back and forth. Rika hoped not many people were up that high, and if any were….
Well, I hope they don’t have a lot of loose objects around.
As she chastised herself for such a callous thought, the building began to sway less, and the discordant vibrations thrumming through the air decreased.
“Whatever you’re doing, it’s working,” Chase said.
<I can see that,> Niki replied. <I’m right here too.>
Chase shot Rika a frustrated look, and she shrugged.
“I guess Niki hates to hear the obvious stated,” she told him.
<Just concentrating.>
Rika saw Barne approaching from her left, and the master sergeant cleared his throat when he caught her eye. “I know you like to have a front row seat, but do you think you three can back it up a bit? Or at least not stand in the middle of the road with bullseyes painted on your heads?”
“Shit, yeah,” Admiral Carson said. “Sorry. Not used to all this planet-side stuff. Been on ships too long.”
“Well, no excuse here,” Rika said as she followed Barne across the road to the lee of the next building.
Her anxiety lessened and her breath came easier as the leaning building continued to stabilize. Moments after they reached the relative safety of the next building, Rika saw the Fury Lance lower through the clouds, its four-kilometer-long hull dwarfing the Asora and the city’s skyscrapers.
<Got it,> Piper announced. <You can unwedge yourself, Vargo.>
<Gladly,> the captain said, and the Asora began to ease backward out of the gap, the side of the ship scraping along the tower on the other side of the road.
<I think you need to get your license to fly that thing examined,> Bondo called up. <Either that, or it’s got a hell of a blind spot.>
<Says the guy who couldn’t drive a ‘Muth straight for the life of him.>
<It’s broken!>
Vargo laughed as his ship finally got clear of the building and began to gain altitude. <Right, sure. That’s what they all say.>
<Rika?> Leslie’s voice came over the command net, and Rika breathed a long sigh of relief.
<Stars, Leslie, glad you’re OK. You are OK, right?>
<I am, yeah. And I’ve made a new friend. You’re really going to want to hear what he has to say.>
COMING CLEAN
STELLAR DATE: 05.26.8950 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Fury Lance, Belgium
REGION: Genevia System, New Genevian Alliance
“You know you can’t cut a deal with him, right?” Barne growled as he stared at the man Leslie had captured. “He’s a fucking mass murderer.”
“Attempted,” Rika corrected the master sergeant. “He didn’t actually pull it off.”
Barne’s brow lowered, and he looked like he was going to spit. “Scumbag is too calm. He’s done this sort of thing before. Might not have committed this massacre, but I bet there’s an ocean of blood on his hands.”
Rika grimaced, not at the thought of what Caleb might have done, but at the memories that surged to the forefront. She resisted the urge to look down at her own hands and the sea of blood on them.
She placed a hand on his shoulder and gave the man a reassuring look. “I’m not going to set him free. He’s going to prison for what he did. Carson offered to take him to the ISF’s POW facility if we’re worried about someone offing him.”
“Someone like me.” Barne snorted after voicing the words, then drew a deep breath and closed his eyes. “OK…I think I need to go scream at some FNMs for a bit. That always calms me down.”
Rika laughed. “We don’t have any FNMs in the Marauders. Unless you want to scream at yourself, Vargo, or Chase. You three are our newest mechs.”
“Don’t forget about some of the LHO mechs on the ship crews,” Barne said with an arched brow.
“Sure, see how Heather responds to you reaming out her crews. Better yet, film it. I love to watch SMIs take assault mechs down a notch.”
The master sergeant blanched. “OK…good point. Even Heather’s happy face can be a bit intimidating.”
“Yeah, it’s why she’s such a good fleet commander.”
The statement reminded Rika that she needed to reorganize the fleets and lay in a host of promotions. Of course, that meant promoting herself, which she couldn’t do so long as she was a Marauder.
Barne nodded. “Can’t argue with that. OK, I’m going to leave you to it, see if Leslie needs a hand with her hunt for whoever planted the second bomb.”
“Good luck, Master Sergeant.”
He tossed her a salute before walking away and calling over his shoulder, “You too, Colonel.”
<Niki, have you and David made any headway on our legal tangle?>
A long sigh filled her mind, the tone of which almost made Rika laugh.
<Yes and no. We have a plan to extricate ourselves, but it’s stuck in a bit of a catch-22. We hope to have an option for you soon.>
<OK.>
Rika turned back to the wall-filling display of the next room. It showed the man who had nearly detonated an antimatter bomb sitting serenely at the table, his hands folded in front of him. Sensor data on the upper right showed that his bio readouts matched his expression. If he was feeling any stress, he was hiding it very well.
<Barne’s handling this well,> the AI said after a moment, interrupting Rika’s observations. <I thought he’d fly off the handle more than he has.>
<Oh?> Rika wondered what Niki was getting at. <I didn’t notice anything out of character.>
<No? You need to read between the lines. He was freaking out about Leslie almost dying.>
“Huh,” Rika said aloud. <OK, I guess I wasn’t thinking that way. But Leslie has been in dozens of dangerous situations since she and Barne became an item. Why would this one faze him more than the others?>
<I think it’s because she was alone,> Niki suggested.
<Leslie has always worked on her own. It’s sort of her thing. She’s changed herself into a black panther, for goodness sakes. That’s a pretty big ‘I go it alone’ statement.>
The AI laughed at Rika’s statement and then added a sigh. <That’s what makes it so hard for Barne, I think. He loves how strong and independent she is, but he never opens himself up to anyone, you know that. I bet that since he’s done it with Leslie, he really worries about losing her and the connection they’ve made.>
<We’d all be devastated if we lost Leslie,> Rika countered.
<Of course we would. You know no good comes from trying to measure who has more misery—especially potential misery. I’m just bringing this up to explain why he’s extra twitchy, not to say he has some sort of monopoly on worry about Leslie.>
Rika pursed her lips, nodding slowly. “OK, I get that. And now I’m going to put it out of my mind so I can focus on this dickwad.”
As she finished her sentence, the door behind her opened, admitting a Commandant Perin, head of the Jague Police Department, and a woman Rika’s HUD identified as Detective Kora.
“I assume you’re talking about our guest, Colonel?” the man said.
Rika extended a hand, which the captain clasped. “Commandant Perin, good to see you. And yeah, I was just gettin
g out some frustration before going in.”
“You’re planning on speaking to him yourself?” the woman asked, then flushed. “Sorry, Colonel Rika, I’m Detective Kora.”
“Nice to meet you, detective,” Rika shook the woman’s hand. “And yes, I was. I find that people often become quite talkative in a mech’s presence.”
“OK…” Kora drew the word out. “I just feel like we should work him a bit. Taking him up here to your ship has already made him feel more important, like he’s in a solid bargaining position. If you go in first thing, then he’ll know that he has all the power in the situation.”
Rika pursed her lips, nodding slowly. “OK. I see your point, I’m not used to being the big boss lady, but I guess that’s the way it is now.”
Commandant Perin and the detective shared a look of relief at Rika’s words, and she cocked an eyebrow.
“Well, don’t think I won’t come in if it’s warranted,” she told them.
“Oh, it’ll probably be warranted at some point,” Detective Kora smirked. “Let’s just use it for maximum effect.”
Rika nodded, and gestured to the full-wall display. “OK, the show is yours.”
The outline of a door appeared, and the detective walked toward it, glancing over her shoulder at the other two before she pushed it open. “I assume there are security measures in the room?”
“There are,” Rika replied. “His mods are all disabled, and there’s a sleepy-time packet at the base of his neck. If he so much as blinks sideways, he’ll be out like a light.”
Kora gave a toothy grin. “Awesome.”
She opened the door and passed through, its outline fading once it closed behind her. The display now showed Kora walking to the table and sitting across from Caleb, the man barely registering acknowledgment of her presence.
The detective seemed nonplussed by the lack of reaction, and dragged her chair back and to the side. She settled into it and put her booted feet on the table, tilting the chair back as though she hadn’t a care in the world.
“Quite the performance already,” Rika commented to the commandant.
“She’s good. One of our best,” he replied. “Used to be an actress in a popular vid series before the war.”
Rika had only been a child before the war had started, but had watched a lot of old vids in the years since. She didn’t recognize the detective, but a quick check over the Link revealed a long list of performances.
“Well then, this should be entertaining.”
The commandant nodded his agreement, and Rika turned her attention back to Kora, who had folded her hands behind her head and appeared to be half asleep.
This continued for almost ten minutes, until finally Caleb slammed his hands down on the table and all but yelled, “You just here for a nap or something?”
To her credit, Kora didn’t even flinch. She simply cracked one eye open and gave the man a disinterested look. “I was giving it a shot. Simmer down, I was having a good dream.”
“Isn’t someone going to come talk to me? Rika, maybe? They brought me up to her ship, after all.”
“And what a fucking pain in the ass that was,” Kora grumbled. “They’re all worried about you getting iced by someone down on the planet, so they haul you up here. But the Marauders are so busy with the mess you made that I get yanked up here from my precinct just to watch you. Fucking annoying.”
Caleb didn’t respond for a moment, and Rika could see that he was trying to decide what to make of Kora. He had to suspect that she was playing him, but she didn’t appear to be in any rush at all, and given the severity of the attacks, that was hard to swallow—it was certainly chafing Rika’s nerves.
“Seriously?” the man sat up straight. “They’ve pulled local cops up to this ship?”
“Yuh huh,” Kora replied, closing her eyes again and shifting to get more comfortable. “A few of us. I’m just on first shift. Honestly, I’m pretty happy to be up here. Things are a total shitstorm down on Belgium.”
“And you’re not going to question me?”
Kora opened her eyes again and fixed Caleb with a withering stare. “Look, buddy. I’m looking at this as a silver lining. I don’t have to interview a thousand people about what they saw, or pore through vidstreams looking for clues. All I have to do is make sure that an asswipe like you doesn’t get offed. And honestly, I can do that with both eyes closed.”
“No you can’t,” Caleb hissed. “There are people out there who will see me dead before I can talk. I know they have people in the police departments. If they brought cops up here, then it’s only a matter of time before someone comes in here shooting.”
“Think so?” Her tone was disinterested. “Think some cop from down in Jague would start shooting on a ship loaded with mechs? That’d be suicide.”
“People can be motivated to do suicidal things,” he countered.
“What if it was me who was sent here to kill you,” Kora asked, “and I’m just biding my time?”
“That thought had crossed my mind.”
<Seems risky,> Rika said to Niki. <She’d been building rapport…suggesting she’s a threat is going to diminish it for sure.>
<Maybe. She does need to address that issue, though. Head-on is best.>
Caleb snorted. “Nice bluster.”
The detective shrugged. “I have a gun, you’re defenseless. Sure, the mechs would grind me into hamburger afterward, but you’d still be dead.”
“Now that would be a waste of a beautiful woman.”
“Tell me about it!” Kora nodded vigorously. “I just got done with a rejuv treatment, too! Not gonna waste that and my life just to ice a dumbass like you.”
Caleb shook his head. “I’m starting to realize why they sent you in here.”
“Oh? Do tell, I’m curious to know, myself.”
“You’re really good at this. You’re trying to goad me into spilling why I’d be worth taking out.”
Kora closed her eyes and leant her head back once more. “Spill, don’t spill, I don’t care. I got sent up here because I’m an asshole. I don’t have friends or family, no one likes me, so there’s no one I care about. I’m unblackmailable, and I’m self-centered. That means no one can coerce me into killing you. However, I’m not supposed to interrogate you because I’m such an asshole, which means they think I’m useless for anything other than guard duty, which means I’m taking a core-damned nap. That is if you’d shut the fuck up for a minute or two.”
“Damn,” Rika muttered, glancing at Commandant Perin. “I’m starting to believe her.”
“One of Kora’s many skills,” he replied. “She almost has him.”
Caleb shook his head as he stared incredulously at Kora. “I can totally believe that. You’re one hell of an unlikable person.”
“And you need to believe that you should shut the fuck up,” Kora shot back. “What part of ‘I want to nap’ don’t you understand? Seriously. You should catch some Zs too. You’re gonna get put through the wringer soon enough. I can have them dim the lights if you’d like.”
“The wringer?” Caleb asked. “Do you know what they have in mind?”
Kora cracked an eye and looked him up and down. Then she opened both and looked around the room. “I really shouldn’t say. They’re probably listening.”
“You can’t disable the monitoring?”
She snorted. “If this were a room back in my station, sure. But we’re on a mech ship. They call the shots here.”
“Can you give me a hint?” Caleb implored. “Just something to give me an idea.”
“Wellll…From what I hear, they have the ability to make new mechs, and since there’s a dwindling supply of their people….”
“No!” Caleb’s mouth hung open. “They’d turn me into…a fucking thing?”
The detective shook her head. “That probably wasn’t the wisest thing to say, what with them listening and all.”
“Shit,” he shook his head, glancing around. “Shit shit shit shit shit!”
Kora chuckled and shook her head. “I’ll give you a heads up when they’re on their way to get you. Till then, you should try to relax. Meditate or something. Heck, you’re not locked down. Get up and do some yoga or something. I bet you’ll make a great mech. I wonder if they still use Discipline on new recruits like you.”
“Look, I’ll tell you who hired me.” The words tumbled out of Caleb’s mouth almost too fast to understand. “I always planned to spill it, I just wanted to play the game, you know? See what I could manage to get out of the deal.”
“Whatever,” Kora shrugged. “I can’t offer you any deals. I’m just a glorified babysitter.”
“Hey!” Caleb shouted at the wall behind Kora. “I know you’re watching me! I can give you everything, all my contacts! Just don’t turn—”
Kora snorted. “You should be really careful what you say next. Plus, you should probably give them a name, something to start on, otherwise they’re gonna start on you.”
“OK.” Caleb nodded. “I didn’t talk to the guy at the top, but his name was Xa.”
<Nice work, Kora,> Rika said. <From the intel we have, Xa is name that has come up in reference to the Nietzschean spy network. I guess it’s safe to assume they’re not just going to let the death of their emperor go.>
<Happy to help,> the detective replied. <I’ll keep him going for a bit, see what else he’ll volunteer before we get down to brass tacks.>
<Excellent. I’m going to pass this on to the folks on the ground and attend to a few other crises. Keep up the good work.> She turned to the commandant. “More than glad you two came up here today. Reach out to me if you need anything, or feel free to contact Piper, the ship’s AI.”
“Of course, Colonel Rika,” the commandant said. “I’ll also send a request down to my people to look for anything they have on Xa and pass it along.”
<Let’s not do that quite yet,> Niki cautioned. <If there are in fact people in your department that the Niets have in their pocket—which isn’t that far-fetched—then we don’t want to make it known that we’re looking for Xa.>