Collision Course (Class 5, #6)

Chapter 39

CHAPTER 39

Rose saw Dav’s stride hitch slightly and then he sped up as he moved out of sight.

He was nervous she was going to provoke Priyan into shooting her, but she knew the captain wasn’t going to do that. Or, not easily.

They had already burned their bridges with the Hasmarga. There was no salvaging what had happened to Gerna and her warriors below, nor what had happened to her babies onboard this ship.

Priyan thought there was a chance that they could come to some understanding about what had happened to her, though. She was still mentally in a place where she thought there was blame on both sides.

She kept harking back to what the Tecran had done, but every time either Rose or Dav corrected her, she seemed to default back to the Fisone’s original premise.

Even if Priyan did now believe them, she either thought there was enough wriggle room to claim they didn’t have proof of the United Council’s innocence when it came to what the Tecran had done, or she was stuck in time and incapable of changing her world view.

Given that, she still thought of Rose as a valuable hostage, one who could be traded for what they wanted.

When it came to the Hasmarga, the Fisone clearly had a problem with seeing them as sentient beings on an equal footing. They were afraid of how the Hasmarga would retaliate, but they had no interest in making friends.

“You need to come inside the comms station.” Priyan had stepped back out into the corridor. “Give me your helmet.” She held out her hand.

Rose eyed the weapon she was pointing at her. Priyan shifted it slightly to point at Gerna again. “I’m not sure how many of these she can take.”

Rose used the wall to pull herself back to her feet, handed the helmet over. “This could all have been a lot friendlier.”

Priyan shrugged. “You—or whoever it was—took our people and our most advanced ship. You started the unfriendliness.”

Rose stared at her. “Are the Fisone unable to change their perspective when they have new information? We have made it clear that we had nothing to do with taking your ship and your people. Either you’re being disingenuous or there is a problem with your mental ability to absorb new ideas.”

Priyan drew back. If wearing pearls had been a thing in this new galaxy she found herself in, Priyan would have clutched them.

“You’re calling us stupid?”

“I’m calling you either a liar, or rigid and incapable of adapting.” She tilted her head. “Which is it?”

The hand holding Priyan’s weapon shook, just a little. “You are very bold for someone who has a friend to protect and a weapon pointed at her.”

Rose sighed. She’d promised Dav. She ran a hand down her bump, and saw Priyan’s gaze jump there, and then jump away just as fast.

There it was again. That strange reaction. It sobered her. Best to keep things as easy and light as she could, given that she didn’t understand what was behind it.

“I just want to be back on my ship with Dav, getting ready to have my baby. I am hungry, tired and stressed. And you are blocking my ability to call for help.”

Beside her, Gerna twitched, and Priyan flinched.

“Come into the comms station.” She glanced each way down the passage, and Rose guessed she was worried about the babies coming back.

“Do you have some cushioning for Gerna?” Rose asked.

Priyan looked like she was going to say no, but she walked across the passage, opened the door opposite, and came out with two large couch cushions.

“I can’t lift her,” Rose said, and four guards reluctantly came out, and lifted Gerna onto the cushions.

“Now come inside.” Priyan handed her helmet to someone within the room, and Rose glimpsed guards in their protective suits, and two other senior officers inside.

As she took a step toward the door, there was a clacking, like the sound of chitin hitting a hard surface, and Priyan leaped back inside with a cry and closed the door.

Rose stared at it for a moment, and then laughed.

The sound came closer, and two of the Hasmarga babies flew toward her, low and fast.

They swerved toward their mother and settled on her.

Rose was considering whether to go looking for Dav when he came around the corner.

His gaze went right, to the comms station door. “They left you out here? Where’s your helmet?”

She nodded toward the babies. “Priyan heard them coming and leaped inside. She had taken my helmet by then, so it’s in the comms station.”

He reached her, pulled her close. “Let’s get out of her line of sight while we can.”

She followed him back the way he’d come, which made sense, because Priyan was petrified of going this way.

“How was your recon?” she asked as they turned the corner and then stopped. Dav pulled her beside him, arms around her.

“The engine room looks more or less fine, but there are babies settled on all the machinery, and they’ve chewed through cables and pipes. I’m guessing there’s no real structural damage, but no one can get to anything that needs to be fixed until they’re gone.”

“What happened to the guard that went with you?” Rose asked.

“The two babies who followed us out frightened him, and he took cover in a room. I suggested to him that he stay there and wait for help.” Dav rubbed at his hair. “I think I saw a comm unit in the engine room. It probably transmits up to the comms station.”

“You want to go back in there and see if we can patch in?” Rose asked.

Dav nodded. “It’s worth a try.” He hesitated. “Do you want to find a room to rest in and wait for me?”

She shook her head. “I’d be more stressed worrying about what’s going on. You go ahead, I’ll lumber along behind you.”

He shook his head this time. “There are stairs. Four flights of stairs. I wouldn’t trust the tubes on this ship.”

Neither would she. And four flights of stairs . . . she sighed. “I’ll wait. But hurry.”

He checked the next door down, made sure the room was empty, and then waited for her to close up before she heard the thumping of his boots as he ran back down to the engine room.

The room she was in was clearly someone’s office, and given the proximity to the comms station and the bridge, she wondered if it was Priyan’s.

The notion perked her up. She walked to the pretty, gleaming copper wall, found the area of dark gray Irini had shown her to look for, and brushed it with her fingers. The wall shimmered into transparency, and she looked straight out into space.

It was empty, although she could see some of the big gas giant below, so she guessed they’d hopped behind one of the planet’s other moons.

She sat down in the chair in front of the desk and began opening drawers. There were a few of the energy bars she’d seen before when she’d been down on the moon, no doubt Priyan’s emergency stash, and small rectangles that were labelled, which she guessed might be the Earth equivalent of thumb drives.

There wasn’t much else, and she leaned back in the chair and put her feet on the desk, hands resting on her stomach. She was worried about Gerna, she was worried about Dav, and she was worried about Sazo.

He was fragile in some ways, so very strong in others. And he relied on her. This was the longest they’d been out of contact with each other, and she was afraid of what he might do as a result.

“I need to speak to the captain.”

The loudness and unexpected shock of hearing a disembodied voice almost scared a squeak out of her, but Rose managed to get her feet back on the ground and look for where it came from without making a sound.

“Is someone there?” The voice came again, from a slim inset on the right hand side of the desk.

Rose studied it. “Pyre?” she asked.

There was silence for so long, Rose wondered whether she’d played the wrong hand.

“Rose?”

Well, well. “Yes, I’m waiting in the captain’s office.”

“I couldn’t respond when you wanted to speak to me earlier. Gerna’s children ripped up most of my systems. It’s taken me this long to find my way into the ship’s tech, and even then, a lot has been destroyed. The comms line I’m using is the direct link from the launch bay to the captain’s office.” Her voice sounded friendly.

“So how’re things going, Pyre? All your plans working out?” Rose asked.

Again, a beat of silence. “You know they are not. I had not planned to have technical issues.”

“No. Taking Gerna didn’t work out for you.” Rose had wondered if Pyre herself had been damaged, but that clearly hadn’t happened.

“I couldn’t have known what would happen. I’m sure Gerna will understand that.”

Rose gave a bitter laugh. “You’re right. I’m sure the death of Ecdre, and some of her babies, is fine.”

“She has plenty of babies, and many warriors.” But Pyre sounded uncertain. “The ground command on the moon is hailing the captain, but some of the damage to the system means they aren’t getting a response.”

“But you can receive the hail?” Rose sat forward, wondering how that could be.

“I was able to infiltrate the receiver on the outside of the ship. But the transmitter inside is damaged. This is the only comms line I could find that’s open on the whole ship.” Pyre couldn’t hide the pride she felt.

Rose had heard that pride in Sazo’s voice before. And felt momentarily sorry for Pyre. She was trying to become. Perhaps, if she’d had nurturing and care as she began to wake up, as Sazo called it, she would have made better choices. But the Fisone didn’t even realize their experiment had worked. Pyre had kept herself hidden and was trying to hide, even now.

“Why were you hailing Captain Priyan? Why not just answer the hail yourself?” Rose asked.

“I don’t want them to know about me until they can’t do anything about it. Right in the beginning, when I first became aware, I could hear them discussing ways to cage me if I developed in the way they hoped. So I never gave them the opportunity.”

Rose could understand that. Would have done the same. “You could have kept yourself secret, and still not betrayed Gerna and me.” She didn’t expect a response, and she didn’t get one.

“Where is the captain?” Pyre asked.

“She’s in the comms station. She’s locked herself in there with some of her officers and some guards. What do Dimal’s ground command want from her?”

“They haven’t said, they’re just hailing her for now, but I want to know what’s happening down below, and they sound panicked.”

Rose thought about it. “Patch them through to me,” she said. “Maybe they’ll tell me.”

“They probably won’t,” Pyre said.

“Well then, talk to them yourself.” Rose put her feet back up on the desk.

“I don’t . . .” Pyre paused. “All right, I’ll put them through.”

A voice came through the comms speaker, talking in Fisone. Whoever the man was, he sounded frantic.

“I don’t understand you.” Rose spoke in Tecran. She wasn’t going to trust the translator. Not with Pyre in control of the comms.

There was a moment of silence, so sudden Rose could almost hear the shock. “Who . . . this?”

“This is Rose McKenzie. I am in Captain Priyan’s office.”

There was a sound of movement. “Rose, this is Sartie.”

Rose blinked. She’d almost forgotten about her guard and translator from the bunker. She hadn’t seen what had happened to her after the big ship had crashed, but obviously Sartie had gotten clear.

“Hello, Sartie.” She kept it short.

“Why are you in Captain Priyan’s office?”

“Because she has taken cover in the comms station, and it was the first open room I could find down the passage.” Rose chose her words carefully.

“Taken cover from what?” Sartie asked.

“Gerna’s babies are frightened at being born in an unfamiliar environment. They caused some damage, and Captain Priyan and her crew shot some of them, and were attacked in return. When the captain saw two of them coming down the passage, she barricaded herself in the comms station with some other crew members. She and her cohorts shot Gerna, so she is unconscious on the floor, and to make sure I wasn’t caught in any crossfire, I retreated to the closest room.”

“There is someone else with you. Where is he?” Sartie asked.

“What’s going on?” Rose asked, ignoring the question. “I need to get back to my ship. Like Gerna, the time is coming for me to have my baby.”

“We want that, too,” Sartie said. Her voice trembled a little.

Something had them freaked out. She guessed that something was a very angry Class 5.

“So now you want to give me back? That’s why you’ve snatched me at least four times so far.” She didn’t try to hide her utter disdain.

There were other voices in the background and Rose could hear the tension.

“Whatever happened in the past, we want you to get home now.”

“Great.” She would have snarked a little more, but things were beyond that now. She just wanted to get home. “Someone will have to come fetch us, because this ship’s engines are no longer operational.”

“How is that possible?” Sartie asked.

“I’m no engine mechanic, I’m afraid. I have no idea. I just know we’re floating. Why don’t you ask the captain?”

“We can’t get through to the comms station. Were you attacked?”

Rose put her feet back on the ground in surprise as the baby gave a massive kick. She had to breathe it out a bit before she could answer.

“Rose?”

“I’m here.” She got to her feet. “The Hasmarga babies like to chew on pipes and cables, I think.”

“The babies have broken the ship?” Sartie sounded incredulous.

“Yep.” She rubbed her lower back. “So, do you know where we are?”

“We have a general idea. We will send your ships to your location.”

“Looking forward to it,” Rose said. “Tell them to hurry.”