with this prisoner?”
“It depends,” Ky said. “If he offers any resistance whatever, kill him. Otherwise, make sure he’s secured. I’ll be there in a moment.” Surely Osman had planned for the need to have the secret watcher actually arrive in person…there. Another drop-down hatch. Ky opened it and eased through, making sure she didn’t come in contact with the area in which the chemical should have stayed.
The Gretnan, now with hands bound behind him, stared at her, wide-eyed with what looked like both fear and horror, flinching when she grinned at him.
“You,” she said. “You’re alive only as long as you behave. Get that?”
“I didn’t do nothin’. It’s not my fault…you’re all thieves anyway.”
“What?”
“All your kind. You know. You come in and take stuff, you don’t work for it.”
“I paid for it,” Ky said. “Perfectly good credits from Crown & Spears.”
“But that’s not real work,” he said. “You just had them credits, and for all I know—what I think is—it was prob’ly stolen anyway. People like you don’t deserve money.”
Lee cocked a fist, but Ky shook her head at him. “You don’t want his slime on your skin,” she said. The man spat. “I think you need to go to sleep awhile,” she said, switching to a trank round and shooting him in the buttock. In moments his head sagged and he fell onto his side.
From the bridge to the captain’s cabin, their way was clear. Ky led them into the secret compartment and along between bulkheads, aft and down, as her implant forwarded data from the surveillance equipment.
“Bad news from the others, Captain,” Hugh said in her skullphone. “Pettygrew says he’s making a fighting retreat, but he’s cut off from the bridge and from drives; apparently they’d gotten cargo hold codes for all the ships. Argelos still has control of drives, but not the bridge. They’ve taken casualties.”
“So have we,” Ky said, looking down at the latest, the number two engineer, sprawled in a pool of blood and splattered flesh. The intruders here were all dead, but she had been just that instant too late for Foxeham, who hadn’t stayed in the hidey-hole he’d been assigned. Neither had Seeley. Just as Hugh had predicted, some of the civs hadn’t followed orders. “One dead, one wounded.” Seeley would recover, but right now he was in shock, partly from a shattered leg and partly from seeing Foxeham die in front of him. “But the drives are secure now. We’ve made contact with the aft batteries; we’re about to squeeze the bastards between us.”
She left Twigg from Environmental with Seeley, with orders to stay put until someone came to help him get Seeley to sick bay. At least she had medical experts now; surely they had stayed where they were told. Now, with Lee at her shoulder, she moved back into the cover of Osman’s labyrinth. Just ahead, a cluster of intruders—the most heavily armed, since they had attacked the aft battery and armory—continued their attempt to break through the barricades her aft crew had thrown up. In addition to the chemical rounds for their light weapons, they had two cutters at work on the bulkhead aft of the battery hatch, trying to cut in behind the defenders.
“Jon Gannett reports the forward batteries clear, all intruders accounted for, forward of bulkhead sixteen, all decks,” Hugh said. “Do you want reinforcement?”
For a moment she weighed a faster mop-up here against the evident immediate peril to
Bassoon
and
Sharra’s Gift
. Her own ship’s safety had to come first. “Link me to Jon,” she said. “The faster we clear this ship, the faster we can help the others.”
As the Gannetts worked their way aft, they reported on two more intruders, detached individually, trying to break into the ship safe. These were now disposed of, and now Jon spoke in her skullphone.
“Captain, I have you in view. Permission to close up?”
“Come ahead,” Ky said softly. The
“It depends,” Ky said. “If he offers any resistance whatever, kill him. Otherwise, make sure he’s secured. I’ll be there in a moment.” Surely Osman had planned for the need to have the secret watcher actually arrive in person…there. Another drop-down hatch. Ky opened it and eased through, making sure she didn’t come in contact with the area in which the chemical should have stayed.
The Gretnan, now with hands bound behind him, stared at her, wide-eyed with what looked like both fear and horror, flinching when she grinned at him.
“You,” she said. “You’re alive only as long as you behave. Get that?”
“I didn’t do nothin’. It’s not my fault…you’re all thieves anyway.”
“What?”
“All your kind. You know. You come in and take stuff, you don’t work for it.”
“I paid for it,” Ky said. “Perfectly good credits from Crown & Spears.”
“But that’s not real work,” he said. “You just had them credits, and for all I know—what I think is—it was prob’ly stolen anyway. People like you don’t deserve money.”
Lee cocked a fist, but Ky shook her head at him. “You don’t want his slime on your skin,” she said. The man spat. “I think you need to go to sleep awhile,” she said, switching to a trank round and shooting him in the buttock. In moments his head sagged and he fell onto his side.
From the bridge to the captain’s cabin, their way was clear. Ky led them into the secret compartment and along between bulkheads, aft and down, as her implant forwarded data from the surveillance equipment.
“Bad news from the others, Captain,” Hugh said in her skullphone. “Pettygrew says he’s making a fighting retreat, but he’s cut off from the bridge and from drives; apparently they’d gotten cargo hold codes for all the ships. Argelos still has control of drives, but not the bridge. They’ve taken casualties.”
“So have we,” Ky said, looking down at the latest, the number two engineer, sprawled in a pool of blood and splattered flesh. The intruders here were all dead, but she had been just that instant too late for Foxeham, who hadn’t stayed in the hidey-hole he’d been assigned. Neither had Seeley. Just as Hugh had predicted, some of the civs hadn’t followed orders. “One dead, one wounded.” Seeley would recover, but right now he was in shock, partly from a shattered leg and partly from seeing Foxeham die in front of him. “But the drives are secure now. We’ve made contact with the aft batteries; we’re about to squeeze the bastards between us.”
She left Twigg from Environmental with Seeley, with orders to stay put until someone came to help him get Seeley to sick bay. At least she had medical experts now; surely they had stayed where they were told. Now, with Lee at her shoulder, she moved back into the cover of Osman’s labyrinth. Just ahead, a cluster of intruders—the most heavily armed, since they had attacked the aft battery and armory—continued their attempt to break through the barricades her aft crew had thrown up. In addition to the chemical rounds for their light weapons, they had two cutters at work on the bulkhead aft of the battery hatch, trying to cut in behind the defenders.
“Jon Gannett reports the forward batteries clear, all intruders accounted for, forward of bulkhead sixteen, all decks,” Hugh said. “Do you want reinforcement?”
For a moment she weighed a faster mop-up here against the evident immediate peril to
Bassoon
and
Sharra’s Gift
. Her own ship’s safety had to come first. “Link me to Jon,” she said. “The faster we clear this ship, the faster we can help the others.”
As the Gannetts worked their way aft, they reported on two more intruders, detached individually, trying to break into the ship safe. These were now disposed of, and now Jon spoke in her skullphone.
“Captain, I have you in view. Permission to close up?”
“Come ahead,” Ky said softly. The
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