“You may be right,” Leonidas said slowly, his gaze still toward Bruiser’s corpse. “But we have a common purpose at the moment. Besides—” his eyes shifted back toward her, “—I’m not welcome on your ship. There’s nowhere else for me to go.”
Was that why he had agreed to work with Malik? He didn’t think she would willingly take him with her to Perun? Yes, she might have been thinking of leaving him on that station, but that had been before he’d saved her life from an overgrown bear with bad breath, and before she had come to realize the same thing that Alejandro had said, that even if he had been the enemy, he was an honorable man.
“Shit, Leo, I’ll gladly welcome you back onto my ship if it means you’re not going to combine forces with Malik and set yourself up as some pirate overlord. I’ll even grab Beck and go help you kill the bears on that station so you can root around for whatever you want to find. You know he wants a chance at taking down another left rear haunch.”
He snorted.
“Go ahead,” she said.
“What?”
“Remark on the inappropriateness of my humor.”
“Actually, I was thinking that it’s impressive that you’ve managed to retain it after all this.” He glanced at her torn shirt, then sighed and stood up. “You have my word that I will not become a pirate overlord. But he wants me to be his guide down there—he doesn’t know what he’s looking for. Besides, if I take him down there, he won’t be here.” He spread his hand toward her.
“Meaning we’ll only have to deal with normal human pirate obstacles during our escape?”
Leonidas inclined his head once. For some reason, she had the sense that he was sacrificing himself for her crew—and to get those people out of here. Maybe sacrifice was an overstatement. It wasn’t as if he was helpless. Still, if all of the future slaves escaped imprisonment while Malik was down on the station, and if Malik found out that Leonidas had been responsible…
Alisa frowned deeply. Maybe he was sacrificing himself for them.
Someone banged on the door, and she leaped from her seat. She cursed under her breath. Bruiser’s body was off to the side, but it definitely was not hidden.
“Bruiser?” a man called from the other side of the door. “You done yet? Commander said to take the prisoner back to her cell.”
“Stand there,” Leonidas whispered, pointing to a spot that might block the view of the body from the doorway, then he headed over to answer the call.
“Leonidas?” Alisa asked.
He paused in front of the door and looked at her. She wanted to thank him or to apologize for calling him a mech. Or both. There didn’t seem to be time to express what she wanted to say, though, especially since she would no doubt trip over her tongue doing it.
“Malik was wrong about what he said in my cargo hold. You could get a human woman to care about you. If you wanted to.”
He inclined his head once more, then opened the door.
The pirate outside saw him and jerked back in surprise.
“It’s Sublime Commander,” Leonidas corrected, his voice cold, so different from what Alisa had just heard from him.
“Ye—yes, sir. Is the, uhh, prisoner here?” The pirate glanced past his shoulder and toward Alisa.
She hoped he would not think to ask where Bruiser had gone.
“Take her.” Leonidas waved Alisa forward as he shifted his position to take over blocking the view of the body.
“This way, woman,” the pirate said, making his voice gruff. As if he hadn’t just been knocking his knees together at Leonidas’s unexpected appearance.
Alisa walked into the corridor without making trouble. She looked back at Leonidas, noting the grimness of his face and wishing she had found a way to apologize and thank him, after all. Then the door slid shut, and she lost her opportunity.
Wondering if she would ever see him again, Alisa let the pirate push her through the corridors. There were other men about, perhaps getting ready for the trip down to the station, or she might have tried to get away from her guard. But she was injured, and he kept his rifle pointed squarely between her shoulder blades, not giving her any opportunities to take advantage. He was far more professional than Bruiser and did not leer at her, nor did he look like a leer from her would do anything for him.
Soon, she was pushed back into the short corridor that held the jail cells. She counted all of the faces she passed—their numbers mattered more now that she had agreed to take them all with her.
She was still counting when her cell came into sight, and she frowned when the count came up short. Beck lay on the floor in the back, sleeping or unconscious, and Alejandro sat near him, a hand on his chest. Mica and Yumi were gone.
Chapter 18
Alisa rushed into the cell, barely aware of the bars clanking into place behind her. She dropped to her knees beside Beck.
“What happened?” she asked Alejandro.
“Several thugs came to take Yumi away. Beck flung himself at them, almost overpowered them too. One of them hit him with a stun gun. He’s lucky they didn’t kill him. Slaves are worth money, apparently, so it’s a shame to lose them. But mauling them beforehand is fine.” Alejandro clenched his jaw. “My attempt to steal a gun was not successful, nor did they have an interest in my attempts to sway them into doing the right thing so that they could stand tall and be proud when their Reckoning Day came.”
“If the pirates had scalps on their belt, I suspect they’ve already given up on the notion of their reckoning going well.”
“I fear that’s so.” Alejandro’s eyebrows drew together, as if he couldn’t imagine the concept. “They must be praying that there is no afterlife where they will be held accountable.”
“Can you pray for a lack of religion? Is that how that works?” Alisa rubbed the back of her neck. If Leonidas were there, he would point out that this was an inappropriate time for humor. And he would be right. She couldn’t deal with the idea of Yumi being mauled by pirates. Not just one. Several, Alejandro said. How would she survive that? How could Alisa have brought her into this situation where such an atrocity could happen? “Did they take Mica too?”
“No, she was taken earlier, according to your plan.”
“My plan?” Alisa gave him a bleak look. Nothing here was a part of her plan. None of this. It was all a mistake. They never should have been out here.
Maybe Leonidas felt guilty for having inadvertently caused this, and that was why he was going to risk getting himself killed to free them and the other prisoners. She only hoped he could arrange for the gates to open soon. She should have gotten more specific details from him. What was the timeline they were working with? Had he meant that he would take Malik down to the station later this day? Later this week?
“She argued engineering with that miner in front of the guard and sounded like she knew what she was talking about.” Alejandro spread his hand and shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. But when some pirates showed up down here, needing something fixed, she finagled herself onto the team. They took Sparky too. Told him he’d better watch and make sure she didn’t sabotage anything, and he agreed. He seemed happy to tattle on her if she did do something wrong. But she didn’t appear deterred. She wore a very determined look.”
Alisa rubbed her neck harder, as if that could help with anything. She wished now that she hadn’t come up with that plan. Now, Mica was off who knew where, and Leonidas might arrange for the security failing at any time. How could Alisa lead these miners to her ship when she had to run off and find Yumi and Mica? At least she had an idea as to where Mica would be, but those pirates might have taken poor Yumi anywhere.
“I’m sorry about Ms. Moon,” Alejandro said quietly.
Alisa lifted her head. “It’s not your fault that we’re here.”
“Perhaps, but I always envisioned myself as… someone capable. I ran an emergency room for several years. I was good at my job, so good that I attracted the notice of influential people. I— That’s not
important. What I mean is that I always thought that if I had to take care of myself in some less than civilized setting…” He sneered at the old rusty walls of the cell. “I imagined myself being able to handle myself. To be flung aside so easily has been humbling.”
“Don’t be humble, Doc. Be pissed. And then when you get a chance to pay them back, use it.”
“Not entirely injudicious advice, I suppose.”
“Given the source?”
“Given the source.” He gave her a half-hearted smile, one that faded quickly.
Alisa was tempted to tell him that they needn’t give up yet, that if Leonidas acted quickly, there might be time to get Yumi before it was too late, if they could just find her. But she remembered her suspicion that there were cameras monitoring the cells and kept her mouth shut. Instead, she laid a hand on Beck’s cheek, hoping it would rouse him. If the gate opened, she did not want to have to figure out a way to carry Beck. Even without his combat armor, he had to be close to two hundred pounds.
She turned the touch into a poke, then a prod. “Tommy? Wake up, will you?”
“Old Earth fairy tales tell of a princess waking a prince with a kiss,” Alejandro observed.
“Yeah? What do they say about pilots and security officers?”
“I’m not sure working career men and women were mentioned.”
“No? So, you were out of luck if you weren’t a prince or a princess?”
“I believe so.” Alejandro patted Beck’s chest. “He should wake soon. It’s been almost a half an hour.”
A half hour. Already? Alisa worried that Yumi could have already been raped in that time, especially if the pirates had just dragged her to the nearest empty room.
She pushed herself to her feet. There was nowhere to go, but she paced anyway.
Beck groaned.
“It seems you’re the one with the power to rouse him.” Alisa grabbed one of the bars, as if she could push them up into the ceiling with her strength. “And you didn’t even have to kiss him.”
“I have experienced hands.”
Beck rolled over, nearly putting his face in Alejandro’s lap. “Wassit?”
A comm panel beeped at the end of the corridor. Alisa pressed her face to the bars, glimpsing a guard’s sleeve as he answered. She couldn’t hear the conversation, but it was short. A moment later, the door opened, and the guard walked outside, leaving the prisoners alone in their cells.
Alisa rubbed the bars. This might be it. She willed them to retract.
But it was the door that opened again, not the gate. She slumped. The guard had probably just gone to the lav.
A slight form scurried into view, glancing over her shoulder several times.
“Yumi,” Alisa blurted, shocked. She was alone. “You got away?”
The miners across the way, men who had heretofore ignored the goings on in Alisa’s cell, now perked up. A few peered up the corridor, perhaps noticing the missing guard.
“Captain Alisa,” Yumi said, spreading her arms, as if they could hug through the bars.
Since they hadn’t hugged at all before, Alisa found the gesture a tad odd, but she was so glad to see Yumi again that she would have returned it if she could. Yumi did not even appear hurt. Her dress wasn’t torn and dotted with bloodstains. Her eyes, however, were dilated and her cheeks had a flush to them. The pirates hadn’t drugged her with something, had they? Why would they bother?
“Yumi, it’s good to see you. How did you get away from your captors, and is there any chance you can find a button on that control panel over there to let us out?”
Yumi grinned broadly. “I convinced them that sex is far more stimulating when under the influence of rifters. I’m not sure they believed that, but they were intrigued when I promised I could get them some. They just had to take me to my trunk. Which they were happy enough to do. There’s an entire room full of things they’ve stolen from people, did you know?”
Alejandro jumped forward, joining Alisa in gripping the bars. “Did you see my duffel bag?”
“I don’t know. I saw lots of bags. I was only looking for my belongings, and they were getting quite grabby, so I had to act quickly. When they saw the various herbs and mushrooms I keep with me, the pirates were quite excited. And overeager. They overdosed themselves. I may have helped them.” She grinned again. “I had to help myself, too, or they wouldn’t have relaxed enough.”
“Did you kill them?” Alisa asked, patting Alejandro on the shoulder. He looked like he wanted to reach through the gate and shake Yumi by the shoulders until she gave him more information on his bag.
“Not at all. I left them having a very exciting time, all within their own heads. Only one of them noticed that I was leaving.”
“What did he do?” Alisa glanced toward the door.
“He waved and said to enjoy my trip.” Yumi chuckled. “Adolescent humor in grown men. Always a strange thing.” She gripped her chin and walked up the corridor to the guard station. “I don’t see any buttons. There’s nothing up here but a chair and a half-eaten bar of some mysterious and dubious substance. Those words are quite mellifluous, aren’t they? Mysterious and dubious.”
Alejandro thunked his head against the bars. “I’m relieved she’s safe, but this will wear off soon, won’t it?”
“You’re the medical doctor, aren’t you? Don’t you know?”
“My clientele rarely came into the hospital because of overdoses on street drugs. I’m not even sure what rifters are.”
Alisa imagined him presiding over the emergency room of a hospital in a wealthy neighborhood where the presence of the imperial authorities was so strong that a drug dealer wouldn’t dare wander the streets.
“They’re mushrooms,” Yumi called from the guard station. “Most exquisite psychedelic mushrooms.” She giggled, and a cabinet or drawer thumped shut.
“Try the control panel, Yumi,” Alisa suggested again. Had she even noticed it?
Alejandro sighed.
“She’ll find it,” Alisa said. “She not only escaped from a group of pirates but also managed to finagle herself a tour of the loot room. All while drugged. I’m going to make that position of science officer official and offer her a job. When she’s sober.”
“Yes, I’m sure a knowledge of psychedelics will be useful on a long freight-hauling mission.”
“I’ve pressed everything,” Yumi said. “Nothing’s working.”
Alisa peered down the corridor again—Yumi was wandering about near the door. “You’re sure?”
She glanced toward the smudge on the wall that she had worried was a camera. Maybe she had been wrong and the cells weren’t being monitored.
“You can’t open the gates from in here unless you have one of the remotes,” a miner said. “You—”
The door opened.
“There she is,” someone immediately said. “How’d she get out?”
Alisa groaned.
“Hello, pirates,” Yumi said cheerfully, spreading her arms, now offering them a hug.
There were two of them, and they strode through the doorway, pointing their guns at her.
“Get back, Yumi,” Alisa whispered, though it was useless advice. There was only so far she could go before running into a wall.
“I… yes.” Yumi frowned at the fearsome faces of the pirates. They didn’t look pleased that someone was on the outside of the bars. “I’ll just go back here.”
She scooted back until she was even with Alisa and Alejandro. Alisa gripped the bars, as if she could do something. Beck growled and rose to his feet, joining Alisa on her other side.
“How did you get out, girl?” one of the men asked, advancing.
Yumi backed farther, until there was nowhere for her to go. When the guards drew even with the cell, Alisa was tempted to reach and try to grab one of their guns, but her arms weren’t that long. She—
A clang sounded as the gates on all of the doors rolled open.
The guards spun. “What the?
??”
Beck was the first one out. He bowled into the lead guard, knocking him against a wall with a roar. The second guard aimed at him, but the previously apathetic miners came to life and leaped from their cells. The guard shifted his aim, his gaze jerking from threat to threat.
Alisa kicked the bottom of his hand. His blazer rifle flew out of it and clanged off the ceiling. As she kicked him again, this time in the side of the knee, the weapon hit the ground in front of her cell. The guard tried to spin toward her, but his knee gave out. She snatched up the weapon as he reached for a dagger at his belt. She shot him in the chest.
Beck and the other man were grappling, and Alisa turned the blazer toward them. She needn’t have bothered. Beck had gained the advantage, wrapping his hands around the pirate’s neck and bashing his head into the floor. He finished the abuse with a palm strike to the nose. The pirate’s head clunked against the hard floor, and he did not move again. Beck knelt back, his chest heaving.
“My way seemed easier,” Alisa said, waving the blazer when he looked in her direction.
“I’m a tactile fellow. I like to use my hands.”
“Is that why you took up grilling?”
“That was because the closest thing to a cook we had on my first ship was the private who handed us our ration bars.” Beck stood up, frowning at what was quickly becoming a crowd in the hallway.
There had to be at least forty prisoners. Several were already heading for the door.
“Wait,” Alisa called.
“The hells with that,” several of them growled, their backs to her.
“I have a ship.”
Everyone stopped and turned.
“And I’m a pilot,” she added. “I’m getting off this barge, and I plan to take you with me.”
They cheered. She bit back a grimace, not sure making noise was the best way to go. Leonidas might have gotten Malik off the ship by now, but there would still be plenty of pirates between here and the landing bay. Even though she had been hanging off a man’s shoulder on the way in, that hadn’t kept her from noticing what a long walk it was.