“You think I give three hells about training? I’m going because Jelena is in there.” She glared at him, but found him glaring back with a mulish expression. “You think she and those other Starseers will jump into your arms and realize you’re there to help them? She’ll see me. She’ll know—” She broke off, her throat growing tight. She blinked furiously, not sure why tears and emotion were threatening to spill over when this definitely wasn’t the time for them. Once she had Jelena… then she could fall apart. Only then.
“With Abelardus in our group—”
“I’m going.”
The indicator flashed, showing the Nomad sealed to the airlock, and Alisa stood up and shoved Leonidas’s hand away.
“Beck and Leonidas, meet me at the cargo hatch in five minutes. With plenty of weapons. Abelardus, this isn’t your fight, I know, but we would appreciate your help and that of any other Starseers who will come along. But tell them to bring weapons too. We’ll try talking—” Alisa glanced at Leonidas, “—but I’m not counting on it working. The imperials have never been fond of my mouth.”
She shoved past everyone and ran to her cabin. So far, she hadn’t managed to get into that armor in less than ten minutes, so five would be a push, but there couldn’t be any more delays.
She hit the comm button next to her bunk as she stripped off her clothes, nearly falling into her armor case as she moved too quickly. “Mica?”
“What?”
“If you have any grenades, smoke bombs, or other items that’ll irritate enemies, I’d appreciate a delivery to the cargo hatch door in four minutes.”
“A delivery? What do I look like? A robot at a burger kiosk?”
“Three minutes now.” Alisa grabbed the leg pieces and stuck her feet through, the smart armor automatically sealing to the correct pressure.
Leonidas leaned through the hatchway. “I am fond of your mouth.”
“What?” Alisa shoved a boot on.
“You said imperials aren’t fond of your mouth. I am.”
She eyed him warily, expecting him to argue again that she shouldn’t go. “Only because you’re not an imperial anymore. I’ve used my vast charms and impeccable logic to sway you to my side.”
“Your logic swayed me?” He walked in and started helping her dress.
“I’m sure I must have used some logic. At some point in the months you’ve known me.”
“I don’t recall it.”
“Well, you did just undergo brain surgery. Those nanobots probably knocked some of your memories out of your head.”
She stood to buckle her chest and back pieces to her torso, glad the armor did most of the work, aligning and fastening everything, because her need for speed made her motions jerky and imprecise.
He picked up her helmet, but touched the side of her head before handing it to her. “Stay close to me, and don’t pick any fights you can’t win. You want Jelena, and we’ll get her, but they may have as much right to Thorian as we do. More. I don’t know. It depends on what Bondarenko has planned. I want to find out. Markus wanted Thorian to go to the Starseers, but I don’t think he imagined them being chased all over the system. He needs to be with someone who can protect him.”
“Does this mean you’ve agreed that my place is out there at your side?” she asked when he lowered his hand and gave her the helmet.
“No, it means I’ll have your back even though I don’t agree with you.”
“You’re a good man, Leonidas.” Alisa made a hasty bun for her braid and shoved the helmet over her head, glad that whoever had designed the armor had thought to accommodate for hair, boobs, and hips. “Even if you insist on wearing that red armor and openly allying yourself with the empire.”
“This is state-of-the-art armor,” he said, leading her out of the cabin. “I would be foolish to give it up.”
“We could paint it. I bet Jelena wouldn’t be as alarmed to meet you if you showed up in pink armor.”
“It’s a mystery as to why the imperials don’t appreciate your mouth.”
“Can we at least apply some decals to soften the look?” Alisa asked. “I bet I could find an Andromeda Android sticker to plant on your butt.”
A throat-clearing sounded over the comm. “It’s disheartening when you rush to put together a grenade order,” Mica said, “and the person who wanted it isn’t there for the delivery.”
“We’re coming, Mica,” Alisa said, breaking into a run. Under her breath, she added, “We’re coming, Jelena.”
Chapter 19
The flashlight beams played over the dark docking chamber, revealing smooth stone floors and walls, but no computers or furnishings or anything else that hinted of life. There was atmosphere and gravity, but nobody had left the lights on. All of the airlocks opened into the large chamber, but there was no sign of the soldiers. They must have disappeared into one of the two tunnels leading away from the place.
“Which one did they take?” Alisa asked Leonidas.
He looked at her through the faceplate of his helmet, the shadows hiding his features, and gestured toward the two options, neither having signage to suggest what one might find down the passages. “They failed to mark the way.”
“I thought you might be able to use your superior olfactory senses to smell their sweat.”
“By its nature, combat armor must lock odors in while keeping environmental toxins out.”
“Sounds unpleasant.”
His eyebrows lifted. “Imperial soldiers do bathe.”
“Most of them went that way,” Abelardus grumbled, pointing at the tunnel to their left before Alisa could further quiz Leonidas on his olfactory abilities.
He, Beck, and Ostberg were fanned out behind Alisa and Leonidas. When Alisa had asked for Starseer volunteers, she had been imagining the other adults coming along, but Young-hee and two of the others had merely linked hands and promised they would keep the warship busy if it sent people in to take over the Nomad. Alisa admitted to feeling relieved that Durant hadn’t asked to come. He and his imperial sympathies could stay out of the way. As could Alejandro. He had been scarce of late, and that was how she preferred him. Tiang, as far as she knew, was locked in his cabin and working on his project. A good place for him.
“Most?” Alisa asked.
“A couple are searching in that direction,” Abelardus said.
“We’ll go that way then.” Alisa pointed to the right, in the direction of the “couple” rather than the “most.”
“Good idea,” Beck said.
Leonidas hesitated, then nodded. “Agreed.”
Did he want to catch up with the main imperial force? He had mentioned talking, but Alisa would prefer not to meet up with them at all.
She took a step toward the right, but a soft, “Captain?” from the Nomad’s airlock tube made her pause.
Yumi stood there, waving a bag of powder. Blessings of the Sun Trinity, what drug had she prepared for this?
Alisa held up a finger so Leonidas would wait and jogged over to join her. “What is it?”
“You may find some qui-gorn useful.”
“I have no doubt. What is it?” Alisa asked again. She couldn’t remember all of the drugs Yumi had mentioned during her months on the ship.
Yumi held out the bag. “It’s the one that temporarily alters the chemical composition of your brain, making it harder for Starseers to read and influence your thoughts.”
“Does it make it harder for them to hurl you into walls?”
“Sadly, no.”
“I’ll take it anyway,” Alisa said, accepting the bag. Maybe she should have been using it all along to keep Abelardus out of her head. Or maybe Leonidas would like some, since Abelardus apparently surfed through his thoughts too. “Are there any side effects?” She thought about popping open her faceplate and taking a dose right there.
“It may make your thoughts more scattered and difficult to grasp.”
“What’s new?” Alisa said, but she slid the bag into a p
ouch on her utility belt instead of taking a sample. She would save it for an emergency.
“Just place some on your tongue and let it dissolve,” Yumi said, glancing toward the others, who were shifting their weight impatiently. Leonidas had already stepped into the tunnel Alisa had chosen. “It’s bitter, but there’s not much of an aftertaste. I make my compounds as palatable as possible.”
“I’m sure you do.”
“You haven’t tried any of them, have you?”
“Uh, not yet.” She still had some of that mushroom powder from Cleon Moon that she could sell one day, the stuff that supposedly relaxed a person and increased one’s sexual satisfaction. She supposed she could try that one sometime, now that she had someone to be sexually satisfied with, but she hesitated to try things that could become an addiction, an illegal one at that. How would she answer questions Jelena might have about Yumi’s hobby?
“I hope you will. They’re quite delightful and will help you achieve greater awareness of yourself and intimacy with others.” Yumi smiled and looked toward Leonidas.
“Good to know,” Alisa said, flushing. She hoped Yumi had no way of knowing that her and Leonidas’s intimacy was still a work in progress. “Watch the sensors while we’re gone, will you? Let me know if anything changes.”
“Of course, Captain.”
With her drug delivered, Yumi backed into the tube. Alisa ran to join Leonidas, waving for the others to follow, hoping vainly that they could avoid the soldiers and find the children without trouble. She touched the grenades, both explosive and smoke-diffusing varieties, that she had clipped to her utility belt, reassured by their presence. The belt also held her stun gun, even if it would do nothing against armored foes. If some Starseer gave her lip and didn’t want to relinquish Jelena, she could use it.
A few steps into the tunnel, Leonidas waved at a panel on the wall that looked like it might control the lights. Nothing came on.
“They may have had long enough to place booby traps,” he said, pointing the flashlight integrated into one of his arm pieces at the floor ahead. “Watch for anything that seems out of place.”
With the warning given, he continued down the passage.
Alisa glanced at Abelardus and Ostberg as the group walked after him. “Can you tell if any of your people are here?”
Could they tell if Jelena was here?
“There are a couple dozen people inside of the base,” Abelardus said. “Not all are soldiers.”
“I recognize Lady Westfall,” Ostberg said brightly. “I can’t wait to tell her about all of my battles.” He thrust his staff to his left side and then the right.
“Any of the children?” Alisa asked, forcing herself to be patient.
“I think Brandon is there. I don’t know Thorian and Jelena as well. They were newer.”
“Can you get in touch with them? Either of you? Let them know we’re coming?”
“They already know the soldiers are coming,” Abelardus said. “I’m trying to talk to one of the adults now. None of them are from Arkadius, and they don’t know me well. I’m telling them I’m Durant’s brother. That’s not winning me as much favor as I expected.”
“Doesn’t surprise me,” Alisa muttered.
“My telepathy isn’t good that far away,” Ostberg admitted, the tip of his staff drooping. “We’re still not that close.”
“Keep trying to warn them we’re coming. I don’t want to walk into any ambushes they’re preparing for the soldiers.”
“Starseer ambushes sound unappealing,” Beck said, bringing up the rear of the group and glancing backward often, his rifle in hand.
“Like a sauce gone bad,” Alisa said.
“My sauces never go bad. They get used as soon as people open them, because they’re delicious.”
The tunnel ended at two elevators, and Leonidas paused to eye each set of doors. One set had been partially torn open, the metal dented and mutilated. It reminded Alisa of when Leonidas forced doors open with his enhanced strength. The other set was closed and appeared undisturbed. There was no power to the panel between the elevators.
Alisa walked over and pushed the button just in case.
“There’s not a car back there,” Abelardus said.
Leonidas pointed his rifle up and down the open shaft behind the warped remains of the first set of doors. “There’s not one here either. They probably climbed. Or descended.”
“Ascended,” Abelardus said, waving toward the ceiling. “I can sense the large group up there.”
“And the small group?” Alisa asked. “I thought we were following them.”
“I think they’re all together now.”
“How about we opt for a different elevator and come out on a different floor?”
“The soldiers are getting close to the Starseers,” Abelardus said. “If we avoid them, we may miss the people we came to rescue.”
Alisa groaned. She should have known they couldn’t avoid the soldiers. “Is there no way to circle around behind the soldiers and meet up with them?”
“I’m not familiar with the base layout,” Abelardus said. “I can sense people easily, because of their auras, but not lifeless corridors.”
Leonidas walked to the undisturbed elevator, gripped one of the doors, and forced it open. Metal squealed in protest, but it slid aside for him. As Abelardus had promised, there was no car back there and nothing but an empty shaft.
“Told you,” Abelardus said.
“Looks like we’re climbing,” Leonidas said.
He stepped off the edge of the floor and gripped a narrow rail at the back of the shaft. There was nothing like a ladder or a chain.
“Uh,” Alisa said, skeptical about whether she could make that climb. There were no footholds, only the featureless surface of the flat wall, and the rail did not protrude far. She would only be able to grip it with her fingertips.
“You can do it,” Leonidas said, glancing back, taking one hand off the rail and pinching his gauntleted fingers together. Right, her armor would make her grip stronger. Still, it looked like a daunting climb. “Abelardus and Ostberg might have trouble,” he added.
“I can do it,” Ostberg blurted. “I’m just not sure where to put my staff.”
“Levitate it up while you climb,” Abelardus said. “I’ll show you.”
“You want to go before or after me, Beck?” Alisa asked, waving toward the dark shaft as Leonidas ascended out of sight.
“I don’t know. Leonidas didn’t mention me.”
“He must have assumed you wouldn’t have a problem.” She pinched her gauntleted fingers together in a motion similar to the one Leonidas had made.
“Guess it’s good to know he thinks highly of me. Go ahead. I’ll catch you if you fall.”
“Really? That’s quite gentlemanly of you.”
“Or you’ll fall on top of me, and we’ll both plunge to the bottom.”
“So long as we fall in a gentlemanly manner.” Alisa lunged across the shaft, trying not to look down at the way the dark space dropped away into blackness. She caught the railing, gripping it so strongly that the metal dented under her armored fingers. “Huh.”
There was no way to hook it with her feet, but she could plant the tips of her boots against the wall and walk up it while pulling her body up with her hands. As she ascended slowly, Leonidas out of sight in the darkness above her, she tried not to think about what would happen if the elevator car appeared, zooming up or down and squishing them along the way.
I think your tin can will protect you, Abelardus spoke into her mind. Worry more about me and Ostberg. Starseer pancakes.
I’m sure you could make a shield, and the car would bounce off.
It’s hard to concentrate on creating barriers when you’re dangling from your fingertips and there’s a draft sweeping up from below, chilling your nether regions.
“I’ve reached the top,” Leonidas said quietly, his voice sounding over Alisa’s helmet comm. “I hear voices.
”
“We’ll be right there.”
“I have to force the doors open. It will make noise.”
“Maybe we can have Ostberg do it. He might be quieter.”
A clunk drifted up from below, followed by an, “Ow,” from Ostberg.
“Or not.”
“I’ll handle it,” Leonidas said.
Alisa forced herself to climb more quickly, imagining Leonidas stepping out of the shaft, only to face dozens of armored men with rifles. Would they hesitate to fire because of the color of his armor? Or would they be expecting him? After his help keeping the remnants of the empire from getting Alejandro’s orb back on Perun, the imperials might believe he was working against them now.
A soft groan of metal sounded, and a slash of light entered the shaft above. A shadow stirred, Leonidas pulling himself out of the shaft.
The squeals of blazer fire erupted from above. Alisa cursed and hurried so she and Beck could help.
“I thought you wanted to talk to them,” she said.
She wasn’t surprised when he didn’t answer. It sounded like an entire army firing up there. His armor could take a lot of hits, but it wouldn’t make him impervious indefinitely.
“Captain?” Mica said over Alisa’s comm.
“Busy now.” Alisa lunged the last few feet and gripped the edge of the floor. Fortunately, after Leonidas had forced the doors open, they had stayed that way.
“Comm me back as soon as you can. We have an incident.”
Alisa groaned and pulled herself up. She didn’t want to hear about more incidents than the one she already had.
She rolled as she came onto the platform, getting out of the way of the doors so Beck could follow her right through, and also in case anyone was aiming toward the elevator. She came up on one knee, the blazers in both arms popping from their built-in sheaths. Leonidas rolled past two feet in front of her, avoiding a round of fire that bounced off the floor where he had just been. He jumped up, firing behind him.
Alisa expected a room full of imperial soldiers, so it took her a few seconds to find his opponent. A sleek black drone zipped after him, orange blazer bolts scorching from its wing tips. She fired at it at the same time as Leonidas’s rifle blasts slammed into it. Shielding protected the drone from the first few hits, but under the combined assault, it blew up.