Collision Course (Class 5, #6)

Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

“There is no safe place on Dimal for any of you,” Pyre said.

“I’m sure that’s true.” Rose couldn’t think of any place that would be safe for them if the Fisone controlled it.

“The landing area where my ship is usually kept is a little way to the north of this mine, but that’s just a large, open-sided storage shed for the crates of stones, and a small office. The big transporters land there, are loaded up, and leave again, and the next shipment isn’t for another week.”

“The mine is useful to the Fisone, so they’ll definitely come back to reclaim it, which we can’t defend against, and we don’t want to be dealing with a large number of prisoners, which we’d have to if we stayed here.” Rose didn’t mention the cold, but that was a massive strike against it, as well. “We need to move.”

“The watch station?” Pyre said.

“Possibly, but if the two we disarmed last night are from there, then they’ve had reinforcements, and we don’t know how many there are.” Rose thought of the communication desk inside the watch station, and wondered if it was worth trying it again, but the place wasn’t big enough for everyone, and they all seemed to be armed there. She hadn’t exactly left any friends behind, either. She’d either shot or physically assaulted everyone. They probably didn’t like her much.

“You want to try the bunker you originally escaped from?” Gerna asked.

Rose shrugged. “I got the sense there were only two people there, and they’ll be easy to overcome. Hopefully it’s big enough. I think we should at least take a look.”

“Well, now that the office is cleared of guards, my warriors can stay in there while we see if it is suitable,” Gerna said.

Rose got the feeling she was as eager as Rose to leave this place in the rear view mirror.

There was no option but to give the bunker a go, and when Pyre took off, it was with five warriors and Gerna, along with Rose. The rest of the group was crowded into the office, with two of the weapons between them for protection.

Pyre flew over the watch station, but there was no sign of movement there, then over the plateau Rose had crossed, and finally to the sharp rocks that formed the start of the path Rose had taken when she’d made her escape.

“I didn’t notice this place, and I’ve flown over it multiple times.” Pyre sounded intrigued. “I wonder how many others like it there are?”

She landed on the hill above the bunker, and four of the warriors slipped out, then she rose up again and circled the area, giving the Hasmarga time to get into place.

“Do you think the Fisone running this place are associated with the mine or the watch station?” Rose asked.

“I would have thought I’d know about it if they were part of the mine group.” Pyre finally landed in front of the door. “But if they are part of the same group and are involved in spying on the others, it’s possible that information wouldn’t be shared with the mine crew.”

They had talked about what to do, and Rose thought the easiest way in through the reinforced door was if someone inside opened up voluntarily.

She waited for the dust to settle from Pyre’s landing, keeping her eyes on the entrance.

When the woman who’d chased after her came out, Rose walked calmly down the ramp, and then Pyre lifted it back up again.

“You.” The Fisone woman suddenly froze as the translator activated, and looked at the slim box in Rose’s hand with astonishment. “A translator?”

“They gave it to me at the mine,” Rose said.

“You made it all the way to the mine, and without a mask.” The woman was breathing hard, and Rose realized that like before, she had stepped out without any breathing apparatus. They must ration their air. If this was all clandestine, it made sense they couldn’t resupply too often.

“I did.”

The woman looked up at the ship. “They sent you without a guard? Weren’t they afraid you’d try to escape again?”

“It was come back here, or work there with their other prisoners.” Rose shrugged. “The ship flies itself and I couldn’t get out until it let me.”

“Who gave you this piece of tech, and who at the mine sent you back?” the woman’s tone became suspicious. “They aren’t supposed to know about us.”

“Why not?” Rose asked, and it wasn’t just to make conversation in case someone else came to check out what was happening at the front door—she really wanted to know.

The woman’s sharp glance made Rose think she was surprised by the question and, deciding she probably wasn’t going to get an answer, she reached behind her, grabbed the weapon, and brought it up and forward.

The woman stared at it for a beat. “You were lying,” she said slowly.

“I was lying,” Rose agreed. “I took over the mine, rescued the prisoners of war your people had working there, and stole your ship.”

The woman didn’t believe her, Rose could see it in her eyes. But the ship was right there, and now that she had her weapon out, the Hasmarga were moving from behind the rocks, weapons extended.

“Hands out,” Rose said, and took the restraints the Fisone had used on her at the mine and secured the woman.

“Success,” Pyre said, and Rose could hear the eagerness in her voice.

“Success. We’ll do some recon, and let you know if this is going to work.” Rose stepped through the door.

While the woman had been speaking to her, she had felt the heat from within wash out over them both, and as the Hasmarga followed her inside, she saw them visibly relax.

At least temperature-wise, this was definitely going to work.

The bunker was set deep into the rock, and the passageway sloped downward at a shallow angle.

“Is your friend still here?” Rose asked the woman, but she refused to answer.

“There is still one more?” Ecdre asked.

“At least one,” Rose agreed. “Possibly more.”

“We will take charge of this one,” he said, nodding at her protective suit. “You will need to go first.”

She handed the prisoner off to the Hasmarga, and the woman, who had been silent since the warriors had stepped out from the rocks, shuddered as they surrounded her.

“Should have left them on their home planet, then, shouldn’t you?” she muttered into the translator, and to her surprise it translated her words into Fisone.

This was really Pyre’s listening device, she decided. And the selective translation was because Pyre decided what was going to be passed on, and what wasn’t.

Without her, there would be no communication at all, so Rose decided that was fair enough. But like with Sazo at the beginning of what he called his awakening, Pyre might not be as trustworthy as she appeared. It would serve Rose well to remember that.

She moved down the passage, the Hasmarga a strange entourage at her back, and when she encountered the other Fisone who’d escorted her here, she saw the utter shock on his face as his gaze jumped from her to the Hasmarga behind her.

“I don’t understand.” His voice was slightly higher than it had been the day he’d been ordering her inside.

“You don’t have to,” Rose said, suddenly more exhausted than she’d been in a while. “You just have to hold out your hands.”

He, like the woman, stared at the translator, and then noticed the weapon in her other hand.

“I leveled up,” she told him, and let one of the Hasmarga slip the restraints over his wrists. “This is warm enough?” she asked Ecdre.

“It is.” He motioned and some of the warriors herded the two Fisone to chairs in the corner of the room. “Will you check for others who may be here?”

“I will.” It was the last thing she wanted to do, but it had to be done. She and three of the warriors walked through the whole bunker. It was empty and there was enough room for everyone. She found a small room with a bathroom off it, the bed low to the ground with fresh linen piled to one side.

“I need to rest very badly,” she told Pyre, as the warriors left to give the good news to Ecdre. “I’m cleaning up and then I’m sleeping.”

“I will have to fetch the remaining Hasmarga in a few trips. I will speak to you later.” Pyre signed out, and Rose closed the door, and headed for the bathroom that had a deep bath already full of water. It resembled a waterhole set into dark gray rock, and steam was coming off it.

She didn’t care how she got clean, she just wanted the smoke and dust and sweat gone.

It gave her a flashback to when she’d broken free from Sazo’s underbelly, from the cells the Tecran had built to hold her and the animals they’d taken. The first thing she’d done when she and Sazo had freed themselves was take a shower.

This had the same feel.

As she lowered herself into the warm water, and then dipped her head under the surface, she wondered what Sazo and Dav were doing, and hoped the Fisone understood what kind of hornet’s nest they had just kicked.