“How did she escape?” Atlanta asked.
“She jettisoned a pod with cloaking tech, and they haven’t tracked that down yet,” Niko said. “But the only way out for her, really, is through the Gate, so they’re all waiting for her to make a break for it.”
She shook her head. “Those two are in serious trouble. If they’ve really got a way to manipulate the Gates and this wasn’t some elaborate con, every government in the Known Universe will be hunting for them. My guess is that they’re here somewhere, hiding in the chaos, waiting for a chance. If Gnarl’s smart—and he is—he’ll create the illusion of that chance and draw them out.”
“But they might anticipate that in turn,” Atlanta said, trying to sort things out in her head.
Niko grinned at her. “And there you have one of the problems with trying to outsmart people. Sometimes the person you outsmart is yourself. Maybe you overestimated the other person, or maybe they just really are smarter than you.”
“Are we going to stay and watch?” Dabry said.
“I don’t see a point to it,” Niko said. “We need to get to Montmurray, start tracking down Petalia.”
“Are you sure?” Dabry asked.
Niko looked at him, full in the face, surprised. “I thought we were done with this argument. Sure of what?”
“Sure that you want to go after them, Captain? They chose to walk away from us.”
“They thought it was safe to do so.”
“Are you sure that’s why? That they wouldn’t have left either way?”
Atlanta felt as though both had forgotten her presence. Dabry’s face was concerned; Niko’s face held dawning anger. “Do you think I’m chasing them for the sake of my own crotch, Dab?” she snapped.
“I think that you love them and it clouds how you see what they want.”
They all blinked at the baldness of the words. Niko was the first to recover.
“I see,” she said coldly. “I’m such a besotted fool that I can’t be trusted. Is that what you’re saying, Sergeant?”
He straightened. “No, sir.”
“I’m going after someone who was in my protection and who I let leave it because I thought they were safe without it. Now I’m going to tell them the facts of the situation as I know it, and they can decide—but with all the information, not a false sense of safety.”
“And if they decide they still do not want your protection, even with the shadow of Tubal Last menacing them? What then?”
“Then I will let them go,” Niko said, pronouncing each word as though it was its own sentence. “And we will all go our own ways. Again, with all the information.”
“And yet they’d be the best defense against him, wouldn’t they? Who’d be more likely to understand the intricacies of his plans, and know what traps he might have laid in place already?”
Niko threw up her hands. “What are you trying to say, that I should keep Petalia prisoner once I find them? I thought you wanted me to let them be!”
“I am laying out the things that may occur to you,” he said relentlessly. “I am asking you—speaking as your second, sir—to consider all the angles more thoroughly than you might otherwise. I am not saying that your otherwise is insufficient, sir,” he added hastily even as she drew in air for a retort. “Far from it. But the situation is very complex.”
She closed her mouth and studied him. Atlanta held her breath, fascinated. She’d never seen the pair fight before. It was a far cry from the amiable bickering they engaged in, more play and habit than anything else. Niko’s face was set in a way that made Atlanta think, She is a dangerous woman, and used to being one, and Dabry’s face was just as grim.
Something on screen caught her attention. “What’s that?”
The tiny ship Jezli and her friend had arrived in was in motion, suddenly streaking toward the Gate.
“There we go, just as I said!” Niko pointed at the screen. “Maybe they’ll make it if they’re fast enough and if Gnarl hasn’t…”
The ship, picking up speed, was headed directly at the Gate, despite the barrage of shots whizzing around it. As it drew closer to the Gate, the fire ceased—no one wanted to risk damaging the ancient machinery. But then a netting of blue fire manifested directly in front of the ship, a spiderwebbing of force lines.
“But he has,” Niko finished. “That’s a Trillian web—spendy but worth it when you’re hunting pirates, and that’s what Gnarl says he does. I’d also note it’d be pretty handy for a pirate doing their own hunting.”
The webbing wrapped around the ship, stopping it dead.
“What’s it anchored to?” Dabry asked, interested.
“Nothing,” Niko said. “Far as I can tell, it sucks inertia.”
Dabry made a face. “Sometimes I think this universe just doesn’t make sense, scientifically,” he muttered.
“It doesn’t,” Niko retorted. “That’s why we have magic.” She frowned, glancing around. “Thing, are you actually playing atmospheric music to go with this?”
The ship dropped its baseline slightly. “Your pardon, Captain. It seemed an aesthetic moment.”
Niko started to ask, then shook her head and focused back on the screen, where the web was contracting, wrapping itself more and more densely around the ship. There was a flash of white light that made them all recoil, and then nothing.
“Farewell to Jezli Farren and Roxana Cinis,” the ship announced in sepulchral tones and let the music resonate a touch louder. It was proud of itself. It was finally about to have the chance to enact the first performance of its new hobby.
“Thank you for the explanatory commentary, Thing. They must have had some sort of explosive rigged so they could go out with a bang,” Niko said. “Typical. Take anything they had with them rather than leave it behind.”
She thought about the two women and their meal. Jezli, she’d have trusted only about as far as she could throw her, but it would have been interesting to talk further with the Cauldron-born.
She turned away from the screen. “Well,” she said. “So ends the saga of Jezli Farren. Thing, tell everyone to make ready and secure themselves; we’re next in line for the Gate. I want to get to Montmurray sooner rather than later.”
The ship replied in the affirmative. It was pretty sure Niko was going to be unhappy with a decision it had recently made, but that discovery had not been made yet. When it was, Thing also intended to mention some of the things she and the ship had been discussing, such as whether or not it had a right to autonomy.
Could it plausibly argue that the new additions were its version of ship pets? It suspected that argument would not fly, but it could pretend that it had thought it would.
It checked on its new additions. In a forward hold, Jezli and Roxana, encased in a bubble of flesh with barely enough room to spread their elbows, were playing cards.
Gnarl was poised and ready. The minute the Gate opened, he knew she’d try to slip through, and then he’d trip his web and she’d be caught. It was a good, solid-strength beam and usually he was wary of showing it off. Sometimes trailer beams were used for unsavory purposes and the possession of one led to accusations or even criminal charges. But here he figured no one would object, particularly after he redistributed most of the large sum that Jezli had gathered, minus, of course, a small fee for himself.
“Lock on but don’t engage anything yet,” he told his second. “Scan it.” Basli’s analyses were precise, fine-tuned by years of picking targets for piracy.
“No one aboard,” Basli said, fingers flying over the keys. “No signs of life, no organic matter weighing above five kilograms.”
Gone? How could she be gone? Gnarl’s anger choked him so hard he couldn’t speak for a moment.
“Scan again,” he ordered when he could manage the words. “See if she’s interfering with the scan results somehow.”
He sensed Basli’s resentment, but his second was too well conditioned to speak his objection out loud. Instead, he scanned again. Same results.
No sign of Roxana. And no sign of Jezli Farren.
Whose ship had they escaped on? Or were they still here, hiding on the station perhaps?
He grimaced at the Gate. Or had they gone with a particular ship, one waiting in line right now, ready to jump?
“Tighten the web,” he ordered. “Till you tear the ship apart.” Might as well confuse anyone watching. Let them think her dead.
He thought he knew what ship it had been. He’d been right about that captain’s involvement after all.
And bonna swear had smiled on him, because it just so happened he had a tracer on that very ship.