13

“We have a problem,” X-37 chirped in my ear.

I didn’t need more problems. The Union was breathing down our necks, two stealth carriers, squadrons of micro-fighters, and void-capable Archangels were searching ships and debris fields like they wanted to kill me and all of my friends.

And they certainly did want to. There was no doubt about that.

“What is it, X?” I patted my gear for a lighter and found not only did I lack a way to light a cigar, but I lacked cigars.

“Horvath is confronting Brion Rejon, the leader—or a leader—of the scavengers, about Gunner,” X-37 said.

“Send their location to my HUD. I’m on the way,” I said, then glared at Bug. When I held out my hand, he put a cigar in it.

“You little sneak,” I said. “Give me the other two.”

“There were only two, not three,” he insisted. “You’re trying to cheat me!”

“You stole the cigars from me,” I blurted. “How could I possibly cheat you?”

“You’re trying to make me give you three when you only had two. That’s bullshit,” Bug insisted. “You’re trying to cheat me.”

“Don’t pout. Give me the two cigars and never steal from me again,” I said.

Bug handed over the second cigar.

“You’re too young to smoke anyway,” I scolded him, tucking away the cigars with my best sleight of hand to confuse him about which utility pocket they actually went in. Pickpocket defense was an art I hadn’t needed to practice for a while.

“He’s totally going to steal from you again,” Elise said. “But he won’t steal from me because I’ll push him out an airlock.”

“You’re hot,” Bug said. “Maybe we should hang out sometime.”

“Airlock,” Elise said, staring down at him.

He spread his hands in surrender. “Okay, okay.”

“I feel like I’m running a daycare, X,” I said at a volume I thought was private.

“Don’t lump me in with him,” Elise said. “I’ve earned my place.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I said. “I forgot how good your hearing is. He can shadow Tom when you and I are on away missions.”

There was more back and forth as we moved through the crowded hallways of the Bold Freedom, but we didn’t exactly cover new ground. Bug was going to be a pain in the ass, but he’d saved us on Dreadmax, so we owed him.

I led the way through the extremely short docking tube to the Jellybird where Horvath and Rejon were squared off.

“What the hell is going on?” I demanded.

“This honorless scavenger claims his people aren’t cannibals,” Horvath said. “And he won’t tell me where Gunner’s body is.”

“We do not consume each other,” Rejon said, remaining calm despite the accusations—reasonably calm at least. He didn’t look like he would throat punch Horvath right this second.

“There’s nothing to eat in space—“ Horvath said, pointing a finger in Rejon’s face.

Rejon slapped it away.

I pushed between them and held them away from each other. “Stop. I’m the only person on this ship who gets to kill people on a whim.”

Horvath and Rejon stared through me, eyes locked on each other.

“Your friend will be returned with honors,” Rejon promised.

“I don’t believe you,” Horvath said.

“Then you will be unhappy and bitter,” Rejon said. “It will change nothing. Your friend’s body will be returned. That is all. I cannot resurrect the man.”

“I won’t forget this,” Horvath muttered, saying something under his breath about cannibals getting his friend.

“Enough!” I shouted. “We’ll get Gunner back, one way or another. Drop it.”

Horvath glared but said nothing more.

* * *

By the time I reached the bridge, I was thoroughly done with Horvath and Rejon. The latter followed me with the agreement he would provide answers about his people and what had happened in the system.

I flopped down into my captain’s chair, thoroughly exhausted. I couldn’t think of what I had done to cause so many aches and pains and the intense desire to hit the rack for a few hours of sleep. A good solo mission would’ve been a lot easier than being a leader.

“Jelly, give me an update if it’s not a shit-ton of trouble,” I said.

“Of course, Captain,” Jelly said. “The Dark Lance is advancing on our position at their best possible speed. After consulting with X-37, the Lady Faith, and Novasdaughter, I believe the Dark Lance is the new flagship of the Union stealth carrier fleet.”

“Makes sense,” I said, knowing that X-37 would tell me if there was more to the discussion. “Are we prepared?”

“We are as ready as we can be,” Jelly said. “The Nightmare is on final approach to our sector but will not be able to fight as effectively as the Dark Lance due to the continuing problems with Necron.”

“Have we made any progress with him?” I asked.

“We are still dealing with Necron. My recommendation, and I believe X-37 concurs, is to formulate alternate plans such as abandoning the Nightmare if necessary,” Jelly said.

“Trust me, I’ve already thought of that,” I said. “It doesn’t look like the Dark Lance is moving in for the kill. Correct me if I’m wrong.”

Several silent moments passed. Elise, the ship computer and my LAI, and Novasdaughter all worked diligently from their respective locations.

“It doesn’t make much sense,” Novasdaughter said from the Nightmare’s bridge. “But the Dark Lance has altered course and is heading for one of the ruined planets in what should be the green zone of this system. I would expect there to be colonies on the two worlds orbiting a habitable distance from the sun, but it seems they were ravaged by very old wars.”

“Rejon, what do you think?” I asked.

The look on his face told me most of what I needed to know. He was pale and contemplative, clearly upset that the Dark Lance was heading toward the planet.

“Talk to me, Rejon. Do you have a settlement on one of those planets?” I asked.

He hesitated, but then met my eyes. “We have people everywhere. When you’re living on the fringe as we are, even the most inhospitable places are better than the void.”

“Voice analysis suggests he is minimizing his interest in the planets,” X-37 said to me privately. “I suspect the scavengers have a significant presence on or near the planets and that Nebs must have detected this and is en route to punish them.”

“Rejon, I need you to be straight with me. The man in charge of this Union fleet has a very special vendetta against me and my people. For him to break off and go after something else is significant, if you get my drift,” I said.

He swallowed hard and refused to make eye contact. “Perhaps he is looking for hostages.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s what he is after,” I said, not trying to hide my annoyance with the subterfuge. “He thinks I’ll be swayed by my obvious concern for a bunch of strangers—people who would be easier for him to capture right here in the debris fields.”

“There are more people on the planet than you might suspect. We’ve worked hard to accentuate the appearance of un-survivability,” Rejon explained. “Once, we thought we could rebuild a fleet from the ships hidden there but the fuel cost required for landing and launching from the planet is high. The people on the planet are forced to stay on the planet, as miserable as that experience is.”

A hidden population still wasn’t enough reason for Nebs to alter course, but I let the scavenger leader think I was convinced. If he wasn’t going to answer my questions, I would have to find the answers in his actions.

I’d hoped he would be a natural ally but wasn’t sure if we were going to be on the same side for long. Maybe he was responsible for destroying dozens of fleets in the system just like Vice Admiral Nebs claimed. Maybe he was a ruthless, throat-slashing pirate. Brion Rejon could be more dangerous than my archenemy.

“X, we need to figure out what the hell Nebs is doing,” I said.

“Perhaps it would be better to continue this discussion in private,” X-37 advised.

He was right, but I didn’t care. “What could be so important that Nebs forgot how much he hates me?”

“Reaper Cain, I really think we should make this a private conversation,” X-37 repeated.

“I don’t have time for that, X,” I said. “I’m tired of messing around.”

“In that case, my best theories involve a much larger settlement than Rejon would like us to know about or a weapon or device that has caused all of these ships to be waylaid and destroyed in the system.”

I faced Rejon and repeated what X told me. “Does that sound about right?”

“My people have suffered greatly. We are just trying to hide,” he said.

X-37 spoke to me privately on this one. “He’s not lying, but I doubt that is all of it.”

My limited artificial intelligence wasn’t wrong. I could see the man was holding back, and suspected it was probably for good reason, but it still frustrated me.

“I cannot pretend to understand the motivations of your enemy, but perhaps there is someone among my people who he thinks will make a good hostage,” Rejon said.

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