Chapter 10
At the end of the tunnel, Alisa found only two docking ports, tubes and connectors dangling out of the wall as if someone had left in a hurry. Maneuvering the Nomad into the cramped spot took a lot of care. She couldn’t imagine that two ships could ever dock at once.
“Guess they don’t invite a lot of people over for game night,” she said to Yumi, who still sat behind her.
One of those tubes looked like it might be for replenishing water tanks and thus, through electrolysis, a ship’s oxygen supplies. Alisa would have to check to see if it was operable. She felt like fate, if not Leonidas, owed her something for what had been a harrowing trip out here.
Near-death experiences hadn’t been uncommon during the war, but she had been fighting for something noble then. To die out here for nothing, with Jelena never knowing what happened to her mother, that would be intolerable.
“Are you going to get out and look around in there?” Yumi asked. “Or is he going in alone?” Her voice was steady. She seemed to have recovered from their close call with that security system. Maybe the noisy breathing had worked to calm her down.
“Oh, he’s definitely going in alone,” Alisa said as she let the autopilot complete the docking procedure. She took the helm when they were cruising through asteroid fields and dodging enemies, but preferred to let the computer line the tabs up with the slots. Besides, she had a headache after the intensity of the last few hours. “I wouldn’t mind exploring a bit on my own though.”
In truth, she wouldn’t mind poking around to see if there might be anything they could salvage and sell. With the empire gone, this research station might be abandoned. A few years ago, she had never imagined herself poking around in wrecks or abandoned facilities, scavenging for parts, but the reality was that she didn’t know what awaited her back on Perun or if her bank account even existed anymore. If she could find a few valuable items to sell, she might be able to replace the parts Mica had mentioned, and she would be in a less desperate situation going forward. She did not want to take custody of Jelena if she couldn’t afford to keep her fed and clothed. Further, for all she knew, it might take a bribe to get onto Perun and find her in the first place. She had no idea if she would be able to communicate with her sister-in-law, or even if she was in the same place as she had been months earlier, when she had mailed that letter.
“It will depend on the atmosphere,” Alisa said as a hiss sounded, the airlock connecting and sealing with the station. “Leonidas has a suit, so he can go in, regardless. Beck should be able to go in too. Though if I send those two in together, I’m not sure both of them will come out.”
No, if Beck went in, she wanted to go in too. It was annoying not to have a spacesuit—not to mention unsafe. If some maintenance issue popped up that required a space walk, Mica would have to send Beck out to do the fixing, something he might not have any experience with. Alisa supposed she should be happy they at least had two people capable of going out, but spacesuits would definitely go on the list of things she would buy if she could find some valuables here that were worth selling.
“I can’t tell from here what the atmosphere is like inside the station.” Yumi waved at the sensor display.
“You might be able to get a reading once the airlock is open. If the men have good combat armor, their suits will also be able to scan the air, see if it’s breathable. They might be able to tell if anyone is home too.”
Her hopes of salvaging would go up in smoke if there were residents. It would be one thing to acquire a few items from an abandoned station, but what if Leonidas expected to find people here? As much as she would like new equipment for her ship, she wasn’t going to steal for it.
“Uhh, Captain?” came Mica’s voice over the intercom. “Could you come down to the cargo hold? We have a problem. Specifically, I have a problem.”
The ship was sealed in, so Alisa pushed herself out of her seat and headed toward the lower deck. Her legs felt wobbly after sitting for so long—sitting and facing death.
She found Leonidas standing near the airlock in his crimson armor, his helmet fastened and a rifle and a bag slung over his shoulder. Though Alisa had not asked him to, Beck had suited up too. His armor was white with silver accents, and he also carried an assault rifle. Mica stood near the airlock, too, but as Alisa walked down the stairs, she assumed that whatever problem she had called about was between the two men.
Mica folded her arms over her chest and scowled at Alisa, making her rethink that assumption.
The chickens jittered and squawked at her as she left the stairs. A lot of feathers dusted the decking over in the corner that Alisa had given Yumi, feathers that had managed to fly impressively far from the temporary fencing that kept the birds secured. The poor things probably hadn’t appreciated the heat wave any more than the crew had.
“What’s the problem here?” Alisa asked.
“Your cyborg thinks he’s taking me on a date,” Mica said.
Her cyborg? When had she been given ownership over Leonidas?
“What’s the matter?” Alisa asked. “He’s not cute enough for you?”
Leonidas’s eyebrows twitched behind the faceplate of his armor. They liked to do that even when he offered no other reaction. Tiny rebellious body parts that would not be sublimated.
“Not funny,” Mica said. “I don’t even know what the atmosphere looks like over there. I’m not leaving the ship. Engineers don’t leave the ship. We stay in our engine rooms and cuddle with our machinery. There are centuries and centuries worth of precedents to back me up.”
“You won’t go anywhere you don’t want to go,” Beck said, tapping the barrel of his rifle and eyeing Leonidas, who was standing close enough to him that he could probably knock that rifle out of his hands before Beck could aim it at him.
Alisa looked at Leonidas, his face hard to read—his eyebrows weren’t doing anything now. “Care to explain?”
“You won’t leave without your engineer,” he said, his voice sounding hollow through the helmet’s speaker.
Alisa mouthed the words, trying to understand what he meant. It took her a moment to piece it together.
“You think we’ll strand you here?” she asked.
“I’m certain you’ve considered it.”
Yes, but he wasn’t supposed to know that.
“I would be a fool to leave our best fighter here when there are pirates swarming around out there, probably waiting for the Nomad to leave the belt.” Not that Alisa had any intention of flying out of the belt in the same spot that she had come in, but it seemed a reasonable argument to sway him.
He gazed back at her through the faceplate, not noticeably moved by her argument. Maybe he thought she was a fool.
“She comes with me,” he said.
“I’m not going anywhere, Muscles,” Mica said, taking a few steps away from him to stand beside Alisa.
As if she could do something to stop Leonidas if he decided to grab her. She wasn’t even carrying her Etcher, not that the bullets would do more than bounce off the hard shell of his armor.
“Besides, I don’t have a spacesuit,” Mica said. “Who even knows if there will be air over there?”
Alisa glanced toward the control panel next to the airlock. They could check that now that they were attached.
“The air will be fine,” Leonidas said without turning to check.
“How can you know?” Beck asked, still tapping a beat on his rifle. “You been here before? Whatever your little quest is here, it has nothing to do with them.” He waved toward Mica and Alisa.
Leonidas hesitated. Because he knew it was true? That it was unfair of him to ask for a hostage?
“At least one person lives inside here doing research,” he said, then repeated, “The air will be fine.”
“Then why did you get all suited up?” Mica asked.
“It’s combat armor,” Leonidas said.
Mica’s brow furrowed. “Yes…”
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“You’re expecting trouble?” Alisa asked. “From the one person you think is in there? Or from something else?”
“Back before the war ended,” Leonidas said, “this station hadn’t been heard from for months. There were plans to send someone out to check on it, but all of the empire’s resources were otherwise occupied.” His words came out clipped, annoyed. Probably because he was talking to some of the people who had been occupying those resources. “I don’t know what’s been happening since the war ended, and yes, I am prepared for trouble if it should arise.”
Right. He had been busy squatting in her ship in a junkyard full of crazies since the war ended. For the first time, it occurred to her to wonder how he had gotten down there in the first place. She had been left behind because she needed medical attention. What was his story? Had his people simply forgotten to take him home? Or had he volunteered to stay behind when things had fallen apart and the imperial forces had retreated? Had he failed them and been left as a punishment?
“Well, if there’s going to be trouble, how about I go with you?” Beck asked. “I wouldn’t mind a walk to stretch my legs, and I’m suited up. I’m the logical one.”
“You’re not integral to the operation of the ship,” Leonidas said.
“What does that mean?”
“You’re expendable.”
Beck glowered at him. “I really hate you, mech.”
“The engineer comes with me,” Leonidas said.
Alisa sighed. This was ridiculous. Hadn’t she risked the ship in that battle with the White Dragon rather than leaving Beck behind? Did Leonidas truly trust her so little that he thought she would go to extremes to get rid of him? It was true that she had not given him a reason to trust her, and she certainly didn’t trust him, but she still felt disgruntled by the situation. It didn’t help that she had been considering leaving him. It made her feel like she had been caught doing something naughty.
“If the air is acceptable, I’ll go with you,” Alisa said. “The ship isn’t going anywhere without a pilot.”
She expected him to object, since he’d objected to everyone else’s attempts to alter his plans. Instead, he nodded and said, “That would be acceptable.”
“What? No, it wouldn’t,” Mica said, gripping Alisa’s arm. “What if something happens to you? He just said there might be danger waiting in there. You think I can fly this rusty relic? It doesn’t even have gravitational calculation computers. I’m surprised there isn’t an abacus hanging in NavCom next to the plush spider.”
“She won’t be in danger,” Leonidas said. “I’ll protect her.”
Alisa grimaced. She didn’t need a damned protector, certainly not when that protector was basically kidnapping her from her own ship.
“That’s ridiculous,” Mica said. “You know what happens when non-expendable crew get sent out on stupid missions that have nothing to do with them? They get expended. What are we going to do without a pilot? Besides, the captain is…” Mica seemed to grope for the words, turning a distressed expression on Alisa.
Alisa hoped that meant that her engineer would object to her death for more reasons than the logistical.
“What’s going on?” Yumi asked from the walkway over the cargo hold.
“A discussion,” Alisa said, sighing again. She didn’t want to involve the passengers.
“Have you decided whether we can go out there with you? I would be curious to look around.”
Leonidas looked up at her, and Alisa assumed he would reject the notion, but he didn’t say anything.
“Well, I’m certainly going,” Beck said. “Whether the mech wants me or not.” He came to stand beside Alisa, on the opposite side from Mica.
Having people who wanted to watch out for Alisa made her feel appreciated, but she still wished this had played out another way. Going out to explore meant she could keep an eye out for salvageable material, but how was she supposed to gather it with Leonidas hovering over her? He seemed like the type to object to the looting of an imperial station, abandoned or not. Of course, if he expected to find someone here, diligently working along and perhaps not realizing that the war was over, her plans for salvage might be moot.
“I wouldn’t mind having the science officer along,” Leonidas said, ignoring Beck.
“Science officer?” Mica frowned up at Yumi, who smiled and waved back.
“Remember how I said she was a science teacher?” Alisa asked. “It seems Leonidas has promoted her.”
“Leonidas?”
“Yes, we’ve named our cyborg.”
“I miss so much being buried in engineering.”
“I’ll start sending out memos to keep you apprised of these cataclysmic events.”
Leonidas turned toward the airlock, where a green light proclaimed the passage ready for use. Apparently, discussion time was over.
“Let me get my gun and my bag, and we’ll go,” Alisa said.