Collision Course (Class 5, #6)

Chapter 23

CHAPTER 23

When the Barrist reached the gas giant, Dav knew exactly where to go. Sazo loomed threateningly over the moon in question, not even attempting to hide.

“Hail him,” Dav said to Borji, worried that Sazo hadn’t already acknowledged their arrival.

There was silence in response, and then suddenly a ping in Dav’s ear.

“Things have not gone as I expected.” Sazo sounded a little . . . lost.

“Tell me.” Dav was aware no one else on the bridge could hear him. He made the sign to Jia that they should get into a holding pattern, and then walked toward his office.

“I threatened both sides with destruction unless they delivered Rose to me unharmed, and then one side brought her to their headquarters and told me they wouldn’t release her unless I gave them some things.”

“All right. First, both sides? There are two groups?”

“The Kimol and the Bandri. The Kimol took Rose at the start. She escaped, but they have her again.”

That was definitely a complicating factor.

“What things do they want?” Dav asked. It had to be difficult to impossible, or Sazo would have already done it.

“They want the code that created Irini.” Sazo went silent for a beat. “They don’t have a copy of how she was just before the Tecran took her. I think they only have foundational code, and her development went in a specific direction they can’t duplicate. They say if there is no way to have her back, they want a replacement.” The scorn in his voice told Dav no matter what the Kimol did from now on, Sazo had lost all respect for them.

“What did you say to that?” Dav asked.

“That there was no way to duplicate Irini’s code, as she is a galaxy away, and that she wouldn’t give it up, even if she was right here.”

“And their response?”

“That until they had it, Rose would stay where she is, on the top most livable layer of their bunker, with them all below her. That there was no way for me to harm them, without harming her first.” There was a very nasty edge to his voice.

“Is that true?” Dav asked.

“As far as it goes for the bunker,” Sazo said. “But they have forgotten something.”

Dav had a bad feeling about whatever it was that he was going to say next. “What’s that?”

“Their planet is just one hop over. One small, little hop.”

Dav felt the hairs lift on the back of his neck. “What are you planning?”

“I could go over there. Start harming their people back home.”

“You could.” Dav drew in a breath. “But those people don’t know what’s going on here, and aren’t the ones threatening Rose.”

“But she doesn’t have long, Dav. She told me she’s exhausted, that she needs rest. I think she’s close to having the baby.” Sazo’s tone didn’t change, he had gone into another mode. His old mode.

“Let me talk to them.” Dav felt fear and frustration grip his throat, and he forced himself to swallow. “Let me get to the bridge, and then patch me through to the people who have her.”

He walked back, and Borji turned to him, tilting his head toward the comms panel.

“Sazo says the Kimol have been hailed.” Borji swung back around.

“Open the channel, give a view of all of us and the bridge.” It couldn’t hurt for these people to see the Barrist , and exactly what they were facing.

The screen winked from black to show two men and three women standing in a dimly lit room. One of the women stood to the side, and Dav had a sense she was not of the same rank as the others by the way she was out of the main frame.

The man standing at the front said something, and the woman to the side cleared her throat and then said in Tecran: “You did not understand our demands?”

“You were talking to my colleague before, but he communicated your demands to me. We understand them just fine.” Dav stared at them, thinking of Rose imprisoned somewhere close to where they were standing, and he wanted to reach through the screen.

“What do you mean, colleague?” one of the women said, via the translator.

“You were speaking to a different vessel before. If you look up, you’ll see there are two ships above this moon, now. And we are both here for Rose.” Dav noticed one of the women sidled off and he stood in silence, waiting for her to return. She looked less smug when she did, talking to the others before they turned to look at him again.

“One ship, two.” The man shrugged. “We have your compatriot, and you cannot do more damage to this facility without harming her.”

“That seems to be the case,” Dav agreed. “But my colleague is a little less reasonable than I am, and his proposal is to go to your home planet, and begin destroying things there.” Dav shrugged. “He can get there in less than two hours, and is prepared to explain to them before he starts his work that it is because of your threats that he has been forced to act.”

The crew on the bridge turned to look at him as he spoke, eyes wide, and Jia Appal sank slowly down onto her seat.

His words also seemed to shock all five of the Kimol.

“You would . . .” It had clearly not occurred to the man at the front. He rubbed under his throat in agitation. “That is murder.” He waved his hands. “Just like the deaths here when you destroyed this bunker were murder.”

They were angry, Dav could see. And he couldn’t blame them. Their games regarding the return of Rose were born from their outrage at the deaths of their people at the Tecran’s hands a year ago, and probably lately by Sazo’s hard-edged demands.

Sazo could put backs up. Dav knew that better than most.

He weighed revealing his personal stake in Rose’s safety, and decided they already knew she was important, no need to give the Kimol any more leverage.

“Things are escalating,” Dav said. “Right now, Rose is your captive, and holding her for ransom is not a good foundation for a cooperative relationship with the United Coalition. We came here to establish communication with you, and in return, you’ve stolen one of our people.”

“You stole from us first!” the woman who was translating burst out. “And we have been told our people who were taken are dead.”

“They weren’t taken by us, but Rose was taken by you.” Dav tried to keep his tone even. “You are not helping yourselves.”

“You are forgetting something.” One of the men leaned forward a little. “If anything happens to our home planet, the majority of the casualties will be Bandri. We are not the bigger group. But if any of our people are harmed, we will start hurting your colleague. For every blow done to us, we inflict a blow to her. And we will still not turn her over until we have the code for the ship that was taken a year ago. I hope that is clear enough communication for you.”

The screen went black.

“I want to kill him,” Sazo’s voice was soft in his ear.

“I do, too.” Dav kept his voice equally soft.

There was a surprised paused. “You do?”

“Very, very much.” Dav had trouble getting the words out.

“What are we going to do?” Sazo seemed to manage a more normal tone.

“What’s the chances of us getting a team down there to break Rose out ourselves?” Dav was speaking solely to Sazo, but the rest of the bridge could hear his side of the conversation, and Jia Appal rose from her seat to stand beside him, head tilted to the side.

“It would be dangerous, because they have weapons we don’t know about, and technology that is different to our own.” Sazo’s voice drifted off, as if he were thinking. “They’ll probably know you landed on the moon, but it will take them time to find you. I am happy to provide a distraction.”

“Nothing that gives them any license to hurt Rose,” Dav warned.

Sazo was silent again. “I don’t know what line to draw there.” He sounded lost.

He was terrified to do anything that would bring harm to her, Dav realized. That was a relief.

“Perhaps both ships can move away from the moon, as if we are withdrawing to reassess,” Jia said. “Or we could hail the Havelan, which is still trying to catch up to us, I’m guessing . We could speak to Priyan, who from what I could work out, is part of the Kimol? The same group who are now holding Rose?”

“They would be interested in listening to us speak to their colleagues,” Sazo agreed. “And moving away will keep them guessing about our motives. And they will try to track us, to make sure we aren’t heading to their home planet.”

“What would we say to Priyan?” Nivan Cossi asked. The United Council representative had been quiet through the earlier exchange, but Dav could see she was taking everything very seriously.

“We could tell her what her friends are demanding in exchange for Rose. We could ask her what the root cause of their rivalry with the Bandri is. Anything to get more information.” Jia lifted her shoulders.

“That’s an excellent plan.” Dav reached out, tapped Jia’s shoulder. “You are acting captain. You can obviously think a lot more clearly than I can right now. I’m going to lead a small team to fetch Rose. You’re going to run things up here.”

Jia looked like she was going to argue. She was the one who was supposed to lead teams on-planet, but she looked into his eyes, lifted her brows, and gave a sharp nod.

“Who will you take?” she asked.

“You tell me.” He trusted her assessment of her people.

She turned. “Keep to the holding pattern,” she ordered the bridge, and then gestured to Dav as she made long, quick strides toward the door. “Let’s get you set up.”