The unwilling, p.23
The Unwilling, page 23
Oliver sighed and turned back to the galley. “This reluctant-passengers rule, does it include coffee?”
Gabe dipped his head. “It does.”
Oliver turned away. “I’ll leave you to it.”
He was halfway to the small galley set in the back of the shuttle, when the cockpit hatch slid closed. That didn’t bother him. He hadn’t noticed any supplies in the cockpit…and the man had to sleep sometime. All he could hope was that by not threatening him, he’d earned some trust.
Who are you kidding? he asked himself. He’s Odyssey—and those guys don’t trust anyone…ever. It’s how they stay alive.
Still, the hope Gabe would relax enough to come out of the cockpit was enough to make him shrug and set about finding something to eat. From the looks of it, the bounty hunters had been planning on at least a day’s run to wherever they’d been going to make the exchange.
…Or their crew was bigger than he’d realized. Oliver looked around the passenger compartment, counting seats. Enough for ten, which would account for their escorts and the reinforcements he’d seen arrive. Not enough for two prisoner passengers. Frowning, Oliver opened the door into the small cargo hold.
Neatly racked lock-boxes provided enough storage for the weapons and equipment of an eight-man team. They also provided the storage for more food, medical supplies and… Oliver’s eyes widened…a second regen tank.
Either these guys got hurt a lot, or they’d been planning on transporting him and Lewis on ice. Oliver investigated the lock boxes, and found they were locked.
“Probably keyed to their supplies officer,” he muttered, and walked back to the cockpit.
He tapped the door for entry and found it locked.
“No surprise,” he said, and tapped the intercom. Instead of berating the operative for locking him out, he got straight to the point. “Can you see if you can open the lock boxes in the storage compartment? I’m kinda out of the gear I need to do it on my own.”
“Sure thing,” Gabe replied, and if he was surprised at Oliver not mentioning the fact he’d been locked out of the cockpit, he didn’t show it.
Oliver went back to the storage compartment, arriving in time to hear several locks release. Looking in, he saw two of the food boxes showing green access lights.
“Is that all you wanted?” Gabe asked.
Oliver opened the boxes and went through their contents. Ignoring the weapons boxes, he tapped on the two, remaining food-storage containers. “Can I have these, too?”
A few seconds later, two more green lights showed.
“Anything else?” the agent asked.
Oliver made a show of studying the remaining boxes: Weapons and armor. He looked around the compartment until he found the camera, and cocked his head.
“I’m pretty sure Odyssey would take a dim view of us arriving armed,” he told the agent, “…and I’m pretty sure it would make you feel uncomfortable, so maybe you should keep the weapons boxes closed.”
He tapped a narrow box as tall as he was and marked with a clothing symbol.
“But Lewis needs some new clothes, and I’d like better armor if that’s allowed.
A short silence followed, then, “Fair enough, but I want you to check it for weapons and stow those in the locker. You’re right. I will feel uncomfortable if you’re armed.”
Oliver nodded. “Agreed. I’ll even go through it to show you things are empty.
He needn’t have worried, there was nothing in the pockets and pouches of the armor he pulled out. He sorted through each one and found nothing. Whoever the guy was, he was just as big. Oliver bent to sniff the armor’s neckline.
“Aiden,” he murmured, picturing the wolf bounty hunter in his mind’s eye. They were nearly the same size. “I wonder if he has a spare.”
The next locker over unlocked as if it was reading his mind, but Oliver knew better. The locker wasn’t a mind-reader…and Gabe was smart enough to anticipate his next request. There were four lockers in all, and two sets of armor for each of the hunter’s team.
Oliver pulled out the second set for Aiden and glanced at the camera. “Should fit the pup.”
He continued holding up the suit with one hand while he went through it with the other. About half-way through he stopped.
“I’m gonna have to leave an IOU, because I’m not giving this up when we get there,” he said, and managed a lop-sided smile. “Odyssey can just add it to everything else.”
“That is something we can negotiate,” Gabe told him.
Oliver felt his wolf still, its ears pricked as he thought about what the agent wasn’t saying. In the end he set Lewis’s suit to one side as he got changed. There was no shower, just a small san for necessities and that was it.
He tried to ignore the idea that Gabe monitored the process, as he shrugged into the slightly heavier armor the bounty hunter favored. When it was on, he stopped. Usually, the next step was to add his weapons load-out, but he had nothing to add.
Instead, he turned to the food lockers and looked for protein. With a werewolf on board, they wouldn’t be relying on the replicators alone.
“Dinner for one,” he muttered, gathering the ingredients, and glared at the camera, “because someone has trust issues.”
Gabe chuckled at that. “I didn’t know you were a master chef at heart, but the ruling stands. Enjoy your…whatever it is.”
“Pan-fried steak in garlic butter with a side of steak?” Oliver offered.
“Don’t you know you need to eat your greens?”
“I’m a wolf. We only eat our greens when we need to throw up,” Oliver told him. It wasn’t exactly true, and some vegetables would be a good idea, but the ship wasn’t carrying any and what came out of the replicator didn’t taste right.
He’d had a bad enough day as it was without eating anything that didn’t taste right.
There was no reply from the intercom, so he cooked, and then ate, alone. When he was done, he settled into one of the flight couches and tilted it back. The shuttle was built for speed not comfort, and the seat didn’t go all the way back.
It didn’t matter. They had hours before they had to worry about Odyssey, and he figured Gabe would wake him if there was trouble. For the moment, he was safe…and there was nothing he could do if he wasn’t.
Oliver closed his eyes, trying not to think that sleeping when he could, wherever he was, was another of those skills he hadn’t thought he’d needed anymore.
As was waking when someone was nearby.
Oliver lashed out with a fist, coming out of the chair and to his feet as he swung a second time. The first blow landed. Gabe deflected the second and backed out of range, speaking up as he did.
“Oliver! It’s me. It’s Gabe… Oliver!”
By the time he’d taken the first step after the man, Oliver was awake. He flung up his hands and took two hasty steps back.
“Gabe! Sorry, man. What were you doing?”
Gabe gestured toward the replicator. “Food. Had to eat.”
He looked past Oliver, and the wolf realized he was blocking the walkway to the cockpit—which was when he struck.
As he’d thought one human was no match for a werewolf, even if he was Odyssey-trained.
He didn’t go easy.
As soon as Oliver moved, Gabe sidestepped, but Oliver had prepared for that, coathangering him instead of hitting him straight on, and twisting around him to bring him down.
“Sonuva…” Gabe choked out, as Oliver wound a forearm around his throat, pulling the man close with his other arm.
“Just relax,” Oliver told him. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
He wasn’t sure what Gabe was trying to say, and he wasn’t easing up on the man’s throat to find out. For all he knew, he could voice activate a distress beacon. It took a few minutes before the agent sagged, but Oliver didn’t release him straight away.
He gradually eased the pressure off, and then pinned the man to the floor while he pulled the cuffs from his belt. They had a similar gleam to the ones the bounty hunters had used.
“Hmmph,” Oliver grumbled. “You came prepared.”
He removed Gabe’s boots and used the second set of cuffs to bind the agent’s ankles…and then he gagged him.
“It’s just until I can get you into the box,” he reassured the man. “Don’t want you activating some emergency protocol, before I lock you down.”
He kept talking, as he opened up the second regen tank.
“I like you, Gabe,” he said, grunting as he tossed the man over his shoulders, “but you’re a pain in the ass and I could do without that.”
“I can also,” he added, dropping the agent into the tank, “do without being Odyssey’s indentured servant for the rest of my life, which was what you were offering, wasn’t it?”
Gabe groaned, swallowing convulsively, his eyelids flickering as he slowly regained consciousness.
Oliver patted his cheek. “No hard feelings, man. You’ll be fine.”
He pulled the gag out of Gabe’s mouth and laid a finger over his lips. “You need to forget you ever saw us.”
Gabe’s brow creased, but Oliver closed the tank over him as he opened his eyes—closed and locked it, and set the controls to put the man into stasis. He figured even an Odyssey agent would have trouble using his implant if he was out cold.
As soon as the tank’s monitors showed Gabe was under, Oliver headed for the cockpit. He almost stopped to get Lewis out of the tank, but then figured his friend needed more time to mend. The man had taken a battering when his wolf broke loose.
Oliver kept going. Odyssey didn’t know everything. Some things were only held in the records of the mercenary companies with whom he’d served…like the fact he could fly a shuttle.
He frowned. Of course, being able to fly a shuttle didn’t necessarily mean he had the skills to fly this shuttle. All he could do was hope they translated enough for him to get them out of here.
He wondered if Florey could help them. Maybe she knew someone who could remote pilot them out of here… Maybe she could remote pilot them out of here.
It was worth a try.
Settling himself into the pilot’s seat, he pinged her contact. He didn’t stay on the line for long, in case it was being monitored. He sent just one ping and then waited.
Florey replied within minutes.
“Took you longer than I expected,” she told him, forging a secure link to his implant.
Oliver shrugged. “Gabe was more careful than I’d like.”
That gave her pause. “Gabe? Not Gabriel Arkham, by any chance?”
“Blue eyes, blond hair, likes lavender?”
“Yeah, that was the description I was given,” Florey told him, “but I wasn’t given a name…”
Oliver sent her one of the pictures recorded in his implant.
“Gabe…” Florey’s voice was filled with awe, and something else, a certain fondness linked to memory and the distant past. Chitin had nothing to worry about, but Gabe had once been a central figure in Florey’s life.
“It’s been a while,” she said. “Last I saw, he was operating as Odyssey White and using garlic.”
“Garlic has white flowers?”
“The varieties he was using, did.”
“So, he wasn’t working with vampires, then.”
“Not then. No,” Florey replied, and changed the subject. “How’d you get by him?”
“He tried to sneak past me to the galley. Thought I was asleep.”
“That was careless,” Florey said. “Didn’t he know you were going to be a problem?”
“I think he was hoping I was too exhausted to notice,” Oliver answered.
“Careless of him,” Florey noted, then, “Don’t they have your file?”
“I have a file?”
“You have several,” she told him. “Some of them are very hard to get to.”
“I’m not sure I want to know,” Oliver said, “but that’s a puzzle for another time. Can you remote pilot a shuttle?”
“I thought you were shuttle trained,” she responded, and Oliver got an idea of just how far she’d dug…and where. He hoped she hadn’t been discovered.
“They’re good,” Florey assured him, “but they don’t have my experience.”
She paused. “Mind you, I don’t think I’d do it, again. They learn fast.”
Thinking of where she’d been, Oliver had to agree.
“Did they discover you’d been?”
“Not yet,” Florey said, “and I left nothing to chance, but it only takes one mistake. If I made one, I didn’t catch it, so I took extra precautions.”
Oliver relaxed. “Good.”
“And now I’m curious to know just where my mate has been.” Chitin’s deep voice rumbled over the line.
There was a sharp snap and he gave a snarling yelp, after which Florey returned.
“I’d tell you to look at what you’d started,” she pouted, “but we have more important things to deal with. Patch me into the shuttle.”
29—Flight Transfer
“Where are we going?” Oliver asked.
“Same place I recommended before,” Florey answered shortly, “a mining colony in an asteroid belt, but you won’t be landing anywhere. We’re going to hook onto an ore freighter and catch a ride out.”
Oliver sighed and looked around the cockpit. “So this is going to be home-sweet-home for a bit.”
“Its bio-set-up will deal with it,” Florey told him, and Oliver got the impression he’d been told he’d better be able to deal with it, too.
“This mining operation…” Oliver began, but Florey cut him off.
“Ten seconds to warp. You’d better strap in.” she told him, leaving him to wonder if she was using circumstances to avoid his question.
Ridiculous, he told himself. There’s no reason for her not to tell you where you’re headed.
He tried to ignore the little voice that suggested Florey might indeed have reasons to keep him in the dark about where they were going. She knew Odyssey, after all.
He didn’t bother trying to insist. The last thing he wanted to do was upset the woman remote-piloting his shuttle. He wanted to arrive at wherever it was they were going, not find himself stuck somewhere in the middle of the warp.
Even though he was very sure Florey would do no such thing…
He pulled the pilot’s harness over his shoulders and buckled it tight, then leant back in the pilot’s seat and closed his eyes. As much as he appreciated Florey piloting, it left him nothing to do, but sleep.
Lewis could sleep until they arrived…
Oliver’s eyes snapped open.
No, he couldn’t.
When they arrived, he was probably going to be needed up front in case something went wrong…or something. His hand moved to the buckle.
“I wouldn’t,” Florey told him, and the ship melted into warp.
Oliver considered it, and then didn’t. Technically, he could move around the ship while it was in warp…and he had done so before. It just wasn’t pleasant.
Nothing seemed quite real, and surfaces shifted. Thinking about it, Oliver decided maybe he wouldn’t pull Lewis out of the tank in the middle of a warp. That wouldn’t be the nicest thing to do to his friend.
He closed his eyes, again, and tried to figure out what he was going to do next.
Florey’s voice woke him. “We’re here.”
Oliver looked out of the cockpit and onto an entirely unfamiliar system. Their transporter hadn’t dropped them in at the usual warp point, and he found himself being carried toward the edge of a densely populated asteroid belt.
Oliver stared. He hadn’t been aware there were small craft with that capability, larger craft, yes, but shuttles this size? No.
“That’s a new trick,” he noted.
“Yes,” Florey agreed, “and you can imagine my surprise when I discovered the hunters could afford this kind of tech. I knew they were good, but this level of sophistication suggests corporate ties.”
“They said Ravelin won the bid,” he paused, “but Exarch told us they’d be taking us to Xanil.”
Florey snorted. “Ravelin can’t outbid Xanil. They don’t have that level of financing…yet. They’re working on it, but they’re not quite there. If the hunters were delivering you to Ravelin, then we know at least one of their ties.”
She paused, and Oliver stared out at the asteroid belt, picking out the small points of light that were small transports moving between the rocks floating ahead of him. The more he stared, the more signs of habitation he saw.
This had to be one of the busiest mine sites he’d ever visited.
“What do they pull out of here?” he asked.
“This belt has the usual precious metals,” Florey told him, “but it’s unusually rich in osmium, ruthenium and rhodium. There are several covert wars currently ongoing for control.”
“Is that why you don’t want us to land here?”
“You’d be picked up seconds after this ship was scanned and you were identified—and there are at least three parties present with that capability.”
“Three?”
“As I said, it is a very valuable body of ore…and there is a bounty for clearing a path to the planet.”
“They can’t reach it?”
“They can, since this is a belt, but the most economical routes to the more desirable parts of its surface are untenable. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to concentrate while I find us a waiting point.”
“Do you need me?” Oliver asked.
“No. Are you decanting Lewis?” Florey wanted to know.
“I was going to. Your thoughts?”
“It’s a good idea,” she told him. “That way there would be two of you on deck if anything happened.”
Oliver unbuckled and slid out of his seat, catching sight of the shielding coming down over the cockpit windows.
Florey must have been observing him through the ship’s surveillance system, because she explained. “We’re entering an asteroid system…and the shields will block more scans than the plassteel.”
