“You could have led with your ability to override Imperial computer systems,” Kori said. An officious lieutenant had moved them to a conference room. The officer didn’t offer any explanation and only stared down the two Crimson Orchid men, who demanded to be released. The conference room was considerably nicer than their cell, but the guard outside the door, and the locked icon on the control panel, made it clear they were not yet free to go.
Naomi was sitting at the terminal set in the tabletop. It had been locked down remotely—which was next to useless against Naomi’s gifts. Both of her arms glowed brightly. Her eyes were closed, outlined in pulsing blue. “Jax is in one of the interrogation rooms,” she said, ignoring the other woman’s observation.
“Kinda cool,” Steve said. He reached down to poke Naomi’s forearm. Kori swatted his hand away.
“Shut up. Both of you,” Naomi said. “Captain…Hollister, I guess, is with the two goons now.” She was silent.
“What—” Steve started but stopped when Naomi looked up, glaring at him.
Kori had moved to pacing the length of the room. “Okay, so what now?” She turned to Naomi. “Can you do some…whatever this is,” she gestured to the other woman’s glowing arms, “to get them to release us?”
Naomi thought for a minute, her hands never leaving the terminal. “Maybe.” She turned her full attention back to the small terminal.
As she worked, Steve munched on one of the veggie wraps a steward had left them. “These are good.” He held one out to Kori.
* * *
“I can’t believe we got stuck with this,” the shock trooper said to his companion. He gestured to the Valerian Coop Infiltrator sitting dark and powered down on the ground a hundred meters away. The boarding ramp was down, but they’d been ordered to not board the vessel unless necessary.
The other trooper nodded. “Yeah, I think it’s because I pissed off the Lieutenant.”
“What’d you do this time?” The first trooper resumed walking the path they’d worn in the scrub grass.
“I was late to muster this morning. I was with Stacy.”
“The gunnery officer?”
“No, that’s Linda. She broke it off. Stacy is the engineering second watch lead.”
“Can’t you keep it in your pants until you’re off duty?”
His friend shrugged. “Technically, I was off duty when we got together.” The other trooper sighed.
They looked off toward one of the Crimson Orchid freighters. Scanner crews and shock troopers were all over the hull, coming and going through a large hole in the side of the ship. Temporary cages held the surviving crews off to the side. The unruly freighter crews had started their captivity shouting all manner of obscenities. They’d gotten bored with that fairly quickly and were all sitting against the cage bars talking now.
The two troopers continued away from the Osprey along the patrol route they had been walking since their forces had left the planet. Crouched next to a piece of the valley wall that had fallen to the floor in the earlier fighting, Baxter watched. Thus far, he’d remained undetected and had spent his time watching the patrols and snooping on their comms.
Baxter stood and crept toward the Osprey. He had been careful not to establish contact with the ship wirelessly in case the Imperials had monitoring equipment.
* * *
Jax was sitting in the interrogation room, eating a hamburger, when the Captain returned, riding crop in hand. The hatch closed behind him as he said, “Enjoying?”
Jax took a bite and nodded. “Willy gud,” he said around the mouthful. He chewed and swallowed. “So? What’s the verdict?”
The Captain sat down across from him. “They haven’t talked.” He held up a hand when Jax opened his mouth. “But we have the survivors from the crews of the freighters. The Crimson Orchid apparently paid them far less than the two men we have.” He rapped the metal end of his crop against the table. “I have to take some of your story at face value as those freighter crews don’t know anything about you, your friends, or your ship. They were hired to grab those modules.”
Jax smiled. “So we can go?”
The Captain was tapping his chin, debating Jax’s fate, when the door to the interrogation room slid open to reveal a young ensign. “I’m sorry to interrupt, sir. We’ve received orders.” The young woman offered a tablet.
The Captain leaned back and snatched it from her hand, examining it. Jax craned his neck to see the screen. The other man noticed and turned enough to keep the screen hidden. He handed the tablet back and said, “Escort him and his friends to a shuttle and get them planet-side and recall our forces immediately.” He turned to Jax. “To answer your question, yes, you’re free to go. We’ve got somewhere to be, so I’ll have to continue my investigation en route. If I have questions, I know where to find you.” He smirked, then stood and strode out of the room, leaving the young ensign to stare at Jax.
Jax looked up at the ensign. “I’m ready whenever you are.”