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I got to take my shower, but no matter how hard I scrubbed, I just didn’t feel clean. I also threw up, and I thought it was just because of what I’d seen down in Blaedergil’s mansion, until I stepped out of the san unit and found Doc and Mack waiting for me.
Mack was sporting a slowly purpling bruise on one cheek, but I didn’t feel a bit sorry.
“Doc,” I said, trying to ignore Mack’s presence.
Doc just glared at me, and then pointed to my bed.
“Sit,” he said, and I crossed the room to do as he said.
I might sass Mack, but Doc I wasn’t game to mess with.
“I thought I told you to take it easy,” he said.
I opened my mouth, then reviewed what I’d been about to say—after all, it wasn’t Mack I was talking to, and Doc had access to sharp and pointy objects, and would get to see me at my most vulnerable. On second thought, maybe I didn’t have anything I wanted to say.
Mack stirred uneasily, but I avoided looking at him. That was a lot easier than expected; Doc was right in front of me, and he didn’t look happy.
“I didn’t get thrown around,” I tried, as Doc gripped my chin with his thumb and forefinger and took a close look at my eyes.
“Uh huh.”
“And it would have been a lot more strenuous if I’d been caught.”
Doc gave a non-committal grunt.
“You need a scan,” he said, and I realized Mack’s presence was absent from inside the implant.
“Why? I didn’t get a knock on the head.”
“You’re about to,” Mack grumbled, and Doc glared at him.
“I think you’ve done enough damage,” he snapped. “Besides which, I need to quarantine you both for testing, because if any of that shit was airborne, you’ve just infected the entire ship. Professional, my ass.”
Ah, well that explained what Doc was really angry about.
“She wasn’t infected the first time we brought her back on board.”
And Doc sneered.
“You never heard of mutation?”
Mack rolled his eyes, careful to stay out of Doc’s view.
“I saw that.”
Damn, the man must have eyes in the back of his head, which earned me another glare.
“You have no idea.”
Whatever any of us might have said next was lost, as Tens interrupted.
“You can check them later, Doc. You have thirty seconds to get to a pod.”
Thirty seconds? I looked around my cabin.
“Warp?” Mack asked.
“Yup. Case says to move your arse; she can’t keep dodging forever, and this moon is only so round.”
I had a feeling Case had been nowhere near as polite, but I didn’t want to know. Mack was already heading to the door, and signaling me to follow. Doc came with us, reaching out to take my arm as he caught up.
“See me as soon as we hit safe space.”
Safe space. I hadn’t heard it called that before, but, then, I hadn’t spent a lot of time in space. I nodded, and Mack led us to where another half dozen crew had gathered. They were in twos, each pair taking it in turns to each pull a pod out from the wall in front of them, and climb inside.
As soon as the lid on one slid shut, it was pulled back into the wall, and the next crewman stepped up. They all looked up as Mack joined the back of the two lines.
“Carry on,” he said, and the next crewmen stepped into their pods.
I wondered why they didn’t insist on making Mack go first.
“Because the last time I had to fight someone into a pod, I left them at the next port,” Mack whispered in my head. “We go by order of arrival. Those are the rules, and I am no exception.”
“He’s an idiot,” Doc added, as the line moved forward. “Can’t see how his own survival might be just a little bit more important than that of the rest of us—given he’s the captain of this boat.”
The crew nearest us blushed, but kept moving forward, and I figured Doc might have earned the right to yank Mack’s chain. I didn’t know how to respond to that, but it was our turn, so I stepped forward just as Mack stepped back.
Doc was frowning as the pods swung down in front of us, but I noticed he wasn’t arguing. I got into the one in front of me, and lay down, watching the lights in the corridor start to strobe as the lid slid shut. I figured Doc hadn’t argued because he knew how stubborn Mack could be, and we were almost out of time. I figured there’d be some words exchanged once we got back out, again.
I might have wondered if Mack had made it, but stasis pods had just one function, and I was out not long after the lid had closed. When I woke up, Doc was looking down at me.
“You okay?” he asked, and I wondered why I might not be—and then I registered the amber lighting in the corridor.
“Hel...” I swallowed against the dryness in my throat, and tried again. “Help me out?”
He did, and I looked around. The corridor looked perfectly okay, but the lights stayed amber.
“What happened?”
“They winged us. Mack’s directing the repair crews, now. Told me to come get you out.”
“What’s he want done?”
To be honest, ship’s repair wasn’t something I thought I could help with. Odyssey’s training just hadn’t covered it for me.
“He wants you checked out and certified healthy before you relieve Tens on the comms.”
“Tens is still on comms?”
“And he needs to be on piloting, because Case needs a break.”
“Don’t you have a second pilot?”
“Not yet. We’ve added that to the ‘to-do’ list.”
It sounded like a fair call to me. I wondered why they hadn’t done it before.
“Never had a need. Tens could always pick up the slack.”
“And he can’t now?”
“Let’s just say his job’s gotten a little more complex.”
He didn’t say it but I picked up on it anyway.
“What. Since I came on board?”
Doc didn’t answer that; he just smiled and offered me his arm.
“The infirmary is this way,” he said.
I hesitated only briefly, before slipping my metal hand through the crook of his elbow.
“Lead on,” I said.
The fact I could have walked myself to the infirmary by accessing the ship’s schematics was beside the point. Right now, knowing we’d been hit, and things were still interesting, it was nice to just walk beside someone, and know I wasn’t alone.
I’d been alone a lot, both growing up and since I’d left home—and I figured that wasn’t going to change in my future, so I might as well enjoy the illusion while it lasted. If he could see that thought in the implant, Doc didn’t comment, just guided me to the infirmary and settled me into the scanner.
“We might as well check all of you out while you are here,” he said, and then pointed at my new hand. “That is going to have to come off.”
I felt my gut twist, but nodded.
“Go for it, Doc. Just make sure it’s not going to explode first, okay?”
I’d meant it as a joke, but the Doc didn’t take it that way.
“Stay there,” he said, and moved over to a cabinet not far from where I lay. “Tens.”
I wondered why he wanted Tens, but the answer was obvious when Tens replied. Someone was getting very good at riding unseen in my implant. I added it to the list of things I needed to fix, but paid attention to what Tens was saying.
“Hand’s clear, Doc. Fortunately Corovan can’t match our girl in evil, twisted and fucking subtle.”
Subtle? Well, that was new. I’d thought I was about as subtle as a brick in the face.
“You’re that, too,” Tens told me, and Doc nodded, “but you can be sneaky when you need to be.”
I figured I hadn’t been sneaky enough if he was still reading what I was thinking as it crossed my mind.
“Yeah, well I’ll stop doing that when Mack says we can trust you not use that sneaky nature of yours to sneak your way off the ship, and get yourself killed.”
I gave a heartfelt sigh at that, because the way I was feeling now, that might as well be never. Until I had a choice as to whether to go or stay, I was always going to be leaving—and Odyssey could jam any future job offers up its ass. Way they used coercion, the sooner I was free of them the better.
Doc patted me on the shoulder.
“They’re not all bad, girl. You’ve just seen them in more of a pinch than most. Normally they don’t push a person so hard. It’s why they still have Delight.”
And before I could respond to that, he added, “Now, lie still, and let the machine do its work.”
He tapped on the panel at the side of the machine, and I realized he’d been working on my hand while I’d been distracted. He set it carefully to one side of the scanner.
“You’ll get it back as soon as this is done,” he said, “unless you want to go into a tank and grow a new one.”
“Do we have time?” I asked, and Doc smiled.
“No, but it’s one hell of a way to keep you out of trouble.”
“Thanks, Doc. Talk to me about it later, okay?”
I watched as the smile faded from his face.
“Will do, Cutter. I’ll even see if there’s a way to avoid it being added to your bill.”
“How about it being the employer’s responsibility to repair the damage caused when the mission goes south because they’ve fucked up the intel?”
I thought I saw his eyebrows hit his hairline in shock, but the scanner was sliding down across me, and it blocked him too quickly from sight for me to be sure. I lay there and let my mind drift as lights of varying shades and intensities played over me. I even remembered to close my eyes, and wished Doc had remembered to give me the usual eye protection before hitting the switch.
Still, it didn’t matter. I watched the play of light and shade across the inside of my eyelids, and slowly relaxed. For the first time in weeks, I felt safe. I wondered what Mack would say to that.
“I’d say it was about fucking time.”
I startled, opening my eyes, but was fortunate enough that the light was back to normal, and the scanner was sliding away from me. The feeling of security didn’t quite fade, but I sat up as soon as I could, reaching over with my good hand to grip my wrist just above where it ended. I watched Mack follow the movement, and saw the twist to his lips.
“That’s my fault,” he said. “We’ll fix it as soon as we hit a quiet patch.”
I gave him my most skeptical look.
“We have quiet patches?”
“You know we do,” he said, and I remembered the quiet patch that had led to me getting picked up by Odyssey.
“And that’s not going to happen, again,” he said, and I couldn’t be sure if he meant me leaving the ship, Odyssey getting its hands on me, or what.
I chose not to pursue it, but sat quietly, while Doc refitted the hand. I hadn’t realized I was staring at Mack, until he waved a hand in front of my face.
“Credit for your thoughts?”
I shook my head. My mind had been a complete blank for once. Instead of giving Mack an answer, I turned to Doc.
“What’s your verdict, Doc?”
He met my gaze, and then stepped back.
“You’re in better condition than you have any right to be,” he said, and then fixed Mack with a hard stare, “but the implant needs another fortnight to be sure the connections have formed properly.”
“She slugged me in front of the crew,” Mack said, but Tens intervened.
“No, she didn’t, boss. I got them out of there, before she let fly.”
“You were there.”
“Yeah, but I don’t count.”
Mack was silent long enough that I realized that Tens had a point. I wondered what the difference was between him and the rest of the crew, but Doc was quick to fill the gap.
“So, no mat time required,” he said, and turned to me, “which makes you more fortunate than you deserve, given just how good a hit that was.”
The look on my face must have said it all because he went on to explain.
“You’re not the only one I fitted a monitor to. Mack was knocked about by your little excursion to Costral, too.”
My excursion? So, it was my fault? I was about to point out exactly whose fault it was, when Mack stepped in.
“That was my little excursion, Doc.” Mack’s eyes flicked to the metal hand. “And the proximity bracelet was mine, too. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I wanted her coming back.”
Given I had been planning on ditching him on Costral, there really was nothing I could say to that, so I didn’t say anything. I just eased myself off the scan table, and looked to Doc.
“Is there anything else, Doc?”
“Yeah,” Doc said. “You’re to report to Mack, when I’m done.”
I looked over at where Mack stood.
“So, boss...” I started, but Tens interrupted before I could go any further.
“They’ve found us,” and then he added in aside not meant for us, “Stand down, Case. You’ve done what you can.”
Mack cut across him.
“Clear the bridge. Case, get some rest. You did well to buy us this much time. Tens, stay right there. Cutter and I will be up shortly.”
I glanced back at Doc, but he was looking to Mack.
“Any injuries?” and I understood he wasn’t asking if Mack was hurt, but if there was anyone else on the crew who needed him.
“In the infirmary,” Mack told him. “They’ll need you there.”
And Doc was gone, brushing right past Mack and me like we were no longer important. When we were the only ones in the scan bay, Mack turned to me.
“You coming, Cutter?” he asked, and then he offered me his arm, much the same way Doc had done.
I hesitated, not sure whether to take it or not, but it seemed churlish to refuse, so I slid my good, right hand through his elbow, and walked with him into the corridor.
“What kind of trouble do we have?” Mack asked, and, when Tens replied, it was for our ears alone.
“Skymander brought a battle ship.”
“The hell he did.”
“I’m not sure how he traced us, but he followed us through the first three hard burns, before we lost his fleet, and then we did another two before Engineering told us we’d lose the ship if we tried a sixth.” Tens sighed, and then added, “I thought we were out from under, boss, but...”
“You were,” Mack said. “He’s just got more contacts than we realized. What else is out there?”
“A squadron of light fighters.”
“So, no running then.”
“We couldn’t if we tried. Engineering would have our balls.”
“Not if we blew the ship up,” but even Mack sounded tired.
I caught the movement of his hand as he raised it to cover his eyes, and then drew his fingers together to pinch the bridge of his nose.
“Are they hailing?”
Oh, by the stars, I hoped so.
“Not yet,” Tens said, “but I’ve got Engineering to cut power to the drive. If we’re lucky they’ll see that as a sign we’re willing to talk.”
“Let’s hope they’re in the mood.”
“We’ve been in range of their missiles for the last standard hour,” Tens told him. “They could have had us if they wanted.”
That might have been the case, but just because they hadn’t fired, didn’t mean they wouldn’t. I kept that thought firmly to myself, and, if Mack and Tens saw it, they chose not to comment.
Mack and I headed for the command deck, and hoped.
Tens was waiting when we got there.
