Collision Course (Class 5, #6)

Chapter 40

CHAPTER 40

Sazo had never consciously considered whether he liked destroying things or not.

His time under the Tecran’s thumb had been more sneaky. Getting in somewhere, getting out, all unseen.

The time he was unaligned and free to do as he chose had been short, because he had made the decision to ally with the Grih, and that had imposed certain restrictions on him.

He had destroyed a large number of the Tecran fleet when they’d invaded Grihan airspace to try to get him back, but he’d been too busy worrying about Rose during that battle to feel much of anything.

But he had to admit destroying targets chosen by himself and Commander Tiern was something he enjoyed. A lot.

He waited his turn, allowing the Hasmarga to destroy the launch pad near the mine, before he destroyed the mine itself.

“They have hailed us again.” Borji’s voice cut through his feeling of satisfaction as the mine disintegrated into a conflagration.

“And?”

“They have located the general area of the Havelan and have sent us the coordinates.”

“Not the exact location?” Sazo spun away from the moon.

“They say the ship is floating, engines and comms down.” Borji sent the information, and Sazo light jumped just short of the position immediately.

There was nothing in view, but he did a sweep and found a single signal a short distance away, sped over, and found the Havelan , just as Borji said, dead in space.

“Dav?” Sazo sent a message to the frequency he’d reserved for the helments Dav and his team had been wearing.

“Sazo.” Dav’s relief was no less than Sazo’s own. They were finally back in communication.

“Rose?” Sazo asked.

“Four flights above me. I’m down in the engine room, trying to get a comms link out, but I wasn’t having much luck. The babies have chewed through everything, I think.”

Sazo heard sounds, as if Dav was moving.

“You’re going back to Rose?” he asked.

“Running up the stairs now.”

“You said babies . . .” Sazo knew Rose was only having one baby.

“The Hasmargan. Gerna. She had about thirty babies. They have taken over the ship and shut it down.”

“They are safe, though?” Sazo was aware that the Hasmarga were very concerned about Gerna and her young lives.

“Not all of them.” Dav sounded grim. “The Kimol killed some. They shot Gerna as well, but she’s alive, just unconscious.”

Sazo mentally winced. This was not going to go well.

“I’ve launched a shuttle. It should land in the launch bay in ten minutes.” Although Sazo could see the bay was shut. “Is there a way in? It looks closed off.”

“I don’t know. Once I’ve gotten Rose, I can check inside the launch bay itself. See if there’s a manual override.” Dav was breathless now, and Sazo could hear the pounding of his boots as he ran.

“What is the situation with Pyre?” Sazo asked. “She was in control of the small vessel that snatched you before you could take the drones?”

“She was,” Dav said. “We aren’t sure if she planned for the Havelan to take her, or whether she just hoped it would, but she was very pleased about it until Gerna’s babies entered the picture.”

“She means Rose harm,” Sazo said. “She told me.”

He heard Dav’s stride falter. “Why?”

“She thinks our presence here is going to stifle her. She decided Rose’s death would make us all go away. I told her that wasn’t going to happen. I’m hoping now she realizes Rose getting back to us is the only thing that will get her what she wants.”

“She is in the launch bay,” Dav said. “But her ship is damaged.”

“But not her?” Sazo asked.

“I don’t know.”

Pyre’s ship might be damaged, but Sazo knew that didn’t mean she hadn’t had time to breach the Havelan’s systems. Even if they were compromised by the Hasmarga babies, she could still have control of vital functions.

“Sazo.” Dav’s voice lowered, and Sazo felt as if his systems froze.

“What?”

“I can’t get into the room where Rose is waiting for me.”

Sazo heard pounding on the door. “Pyre?” he asked.

“Pyre,” Dav agreed.

Rose had turned toward the door when she’d heard the sound of boots running, had taken a few steps toward it, when she heard the lock engage.

“What?” she asked. “More games?”

“No. Leverage.” Pyre’s voice had gone very mechanical. “You’re right, I can’t keep hiding myself. And I shouldn’t have to. But I need some concessions from the Kimol. And right now, they need you. And I can prevent them from getting you. Unless they agree to my terms.”

“Go ahead. But make it quick.” She could hear Dav hammering on the door. She stood in front of it and knocked once.

There was sudden silence.

“Rose?”

She thought he must be shouting, but his words were still faint.

She tapped back.

“They want to talk to you,” Pyre said.

She turned around. “Sure. Put them through.”

“Rose, are you able to go to the launch bay?” Sartie’s voice sounded a little clipped.

“No, Pyre has locked me in the captain’s office.” Rose could hear Dav tapping and walked over to tap back, to reassure him.

“Who is Pyre?”

“The thinking system that was in control of the small ship we were in when the Havelan took us. A variation of the thinking system that was taken by the Tecran.” They had told Crythis and Priyan this when they’d first arrived on the Havelan , but it was possible Priyan hadn’t passed the information along to her colleagues below. She might have wanted confirmation first.

“A creation of our making?” Sartie asked.

“I’m assuming.” Rose walked back, tapped the door again.

“One moment.” Sartie cut off their link and then came back a few minutes later. “It . . . she . . . wants us to give her access to certain systems in exchange for letting you go.” Sartie’s tone made it clear they were not happy about that.

“So she mentioned to me.” Rose closed her eyes and leaned back against the desk. She had thought the end was in sight, but once again, Pyre had managed to get in the way.

“We won’t . . . we can’t agree.” Sartie’s voice hardened toward the end.

“Then whatever is happening that made you want to finally get me back to my people will keep happening.” Rose didn’t try to hide her fatigue.

Dav had started shouting again, and she moved to the door and pressed her ear against it to try to catch what he was saying.

“Sazo.”

She heard the word clearly.

He was telling her Sazo was here?

She cursed the fact that Priyan had her helmet. She could be talking to Dav and Sazo right now if she still had it.

Just as she thought it, Sazo’s voice exploded from the comms unit.

“Rose!”

She leapt for the desk, gripping it white-knuckled as she leaned over. “Sazo!”

“You can try to muscle me out, Pyre, but I’m older and stronger. And I will get the door open.” Sazo’s voice boomed.

“Then I’ll play another way.” Pyre’s taunt was spiteful. “I know the captain has her helmet, I’ve managed to get into the lens feed of one of the screens in the comms station. I’ll change the air in the captain’s office and suffocate her until you get out of my systems.”

“Sazo.” Rose switched to English. “I have the necklace. I’m going to pretend to choke and die, okay? It’s just pretend.” She knew he had difficulty with pretend. She’d been working on it with him. Because children liked to play pretend, and she wanted him to understand it before her own baby came along.

“Pretend?” he asked.

“Yes, because I’m wearing my necklace, and she doesn’t know about it.”

“Yes.” The deep, clear satisfaction in his agreement told her how much he hated Pyre. “Okay.”

Rose just hoped Pyre was only able to change the gas makeup of the atmosphere in the office, that she didn’t have the ability to create a vacuum.

Hopefully the office wasn’t that airtight. Or the ability didn’t exist within the ship’s systems.

Air mixes, she could deal with. Or rather, the necklace could deal with. Vacuums, not so much.

“He’s gone,” Pyre said. “He thinks he can win, but he can’t.”

She sounded so sure. Rose wondered whether it was even possible to get the door open. Perhaps the babies had destroyed wires after Pyre had locked it.

She moved to the door. “Kinetic lance,” she shouted to Dav. If the Fisone had such tech as a kinetic lance.

Dav hammered twice on the door to let her know he heard her, and then silence.

She wondered if Pyre had started interfering with the air, and guessed she must have.

Rose moved to the corner of the room with a good view of the door and sat, curled over herself.

She wondered if Pyre had lens feed of her. She hadn’t noticed anything but it was possible.

Best to play this all the way down the line.

She slowly slid down the wall, until she was lying on her side, and appreciated for a moment the bliss of lying prone, with nothing to do but rest.

The baby’s activity from earlier had calmed, and she actually found her eyes wanting to close.

It sent a jolt of adrenalin through her, as she wondered whether the necklace was in fact working, and if she might really be struggling to get enough oxygen. That shocked her awake, and she sat up, but after a few minutes of feeling absolutely fine, she lay back down again.

If it wasn’t working, there wasn’t anything she could do about it, anyway.

“Why aren’t you speaking?” Pyre suddenly asked. “Why aren’t you saying anything at all?”

Rose didn’t respond. What had Pyre expected? Some begging for her life?

“If she dies, I’ll destroy you.” Sazo’s voice was icy calm.

“I only changed the air a little. I don’t want her dead.” Pyre sounded worried. “It should only be a little harder for her to breathe.”

Rose wondered if she was worried she’d got something wrong.

Almost everything Pyre had done had been taking advantage of something in the moment. She hadn’t planned, and she reacted more than acted.

Now she had come out into the open, and gone head to head with Sazo.

She was about to lose for the first time.

Rose hoped the tantrum, when that happened, wouldn’t cost them all too much.