"Who the hell are they?" Grishnag glanced at Donovan before jumping into the shaft. She drifted downward but kept grasping handholds and propelling herself even faster. The sooner they could get to the front door, the sooner they’d reach the rovers and get back to the Jemison -- and she wanted to be the first to greet any opposition between them and safety.  "I know they’re mercs, but who’re they working for? You appear to know why they’re here."

He winced but remained silent. Kolya glared at him as she followed the others into the shaft.

"Answer the question."

"Kolya, I … I should’ve …"

"Not now, Donovan," she snarled through clenched teeth.

"I’m sorry," he muttered. "I didn’t expect them to find me."

"I don’t want to hear it," Kolya snapped. "Just answer her goddamn question."

"They’re a bunch of thugs who work for Santiago Morales." Donovan let out a heavy sigh. "He runs a criminal operation that’s active in nearly a dozen systems. I kind of got myself on his radar in one of the casinos on Alpha Phoenicis d, just before I traveled to Sevastopol Station."

"What the hell did you do to piss him off?" Grishnag sneered at him as she reached the ground floor. "Did he catch you fucking his wife or something?"

He shook his head and followed the group through the corridors toward the main hall. "I won too much money in his casino. I cheated and some of his guys figured it out. I returned the money, but Morales wanted to ‘make an example’ of me. So I ran."

"Is there some reason you singled me out when you were looking for a quick way off the station?" Kolya turned to aim her good eye at him and glowered.

"When I saw you fight those muggers off, I thought you’d be handy to have around in case these guys managed to track me down." Donovan tried to make eye contact, but couldn’t hold it. "I didn’t think they actually would, though. I don’t know how they found me so quickly. I scanned my clothing and everything in my pockets for tracking devices and came up empty."

"It wouldn’t have been that hard for his people to follow you to Sevastopol," Cora said, pausing to peek around the next corner and then taking point. "If one of them spotted you boarding our ship, they could’ve found out our destination from the station’s traffic control center."

"So, you started sucking up to me because you thought I could protect you. And when you found out I was leaving right away, you practically begged to tag along." Kolya shook her head slowly. "I’m an idiot. I was stupid enough to think you might actually be able to see past this." She waved a hand at the scarred side of her face.

"It started out that way, but when I got to know you, things changed. You’re amazing, you’re so much fun to be with, you’re …"

"I’m not listening to any more of your bullshit."

"Kolya, please, I really do care about you."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"It’s true!" He winced and rubbed a hand over his face. "I meant every word of everything I’ve said to you over the last few days. I didn’t think they’d get anywhere near us."

"We don’t have time for this."

"Kolya …"

Cora stopped suddenly and held a hand up. "Their gunship has already landed and has its weapons pointed at the Jemison, and it dropped an APC before touching down."

"Lemme guess, it’s heading straight toward us?" Grishnag flicked a narrow-eyed glance at Donovan.

"Yes. Even if we get to the rovers before they arrive, they’ll still meet us halfway. We could try to go around them, but if their vehicle is faster than ours, we’re screwed."

"Not only that," Zilaka said, wringing her hands, "getting back aboard the Jemison could be a problem with their guns aimed straight at it."

"Then we’ll have to find a defensible area and make our stand here." Grishnag turned to head back the way they’d come.

"With what?" Ralissa flicked her wide, glowing, yellow eyes around and sucked in several rapid breaths, clearly on the verge of panic. "We have no weapons of our own."

"Not quite true." Grishnag glanced through doorways as she passed them. "I’m not a bad fighter, and Cora is a weapon. We just need to get right in the middle of them, so they won’t be able to shoot without hitting each other."

"I’ve learned a few moves, myself," Nishara said, her voice strained with the effort of keeping it steady. "I started learning some basic mekharan martial arts after we arrived at Sevastopol."

"We also need to keep them away from the stasis pods." Dylan’s face had turned pale, but he pulled himself together quickly. "We don’t want any shooting around them. Any stray shot could kill one of the kids we found."

"Right." Grishnag darted around a corner, peeked into the next room, and shrugged. "This looks good enough. Storage cabinets and lockers to take cover behind, plus several doors to run through if things turn to shit in here."

"Good." Cora waited for everyone else to enter the room before following. "We should also keep them away from consoles and equipment that looks like power or environmental control. Since we don’t know what any of the controls do, we have no idea how any of the panels would react to being shot. If a power conduit or part of a cooling system is hit, this whole place could end up vaporized."

"So, no pressure." Dylan rubbed his arms as if feeling a chill.

"There’s some good news, though." Cora glanced at Ralissa. "I’ve locked the Jemison down and sent text messages warning Zadra, Peter, and Mila about our visitors. They’re safe."

"Thank you." Ralissa let out a long breath. "They’re my friends. If anything happened to them …"

"We’ll do everything we can to keep them safe." Cora smiled. "My upgraded combat suite can jam their scanners and prevent them from detecting any life signs. We’ll be hidden from them, but they’ll figure out that they’re being jammed, so they’ll know something’s hinky."

"Unless they’re total dipshits like Donny, here," Kolya grumbled.

Donovan winced as if he’d been slapped, then he hung his head and sighed.

"We need to stay focused," Cora said as she made her way farther into the room. "They’re about two minutes away."

Grishnag nodded and motioned for everyone to find a hiding spot behind one of the rows of lockers filling the room. "Let’s get ready."

***

Wish I’d thought to bring my baseball bat. Kolya stood behind a row of lockers in the middle of the room and fought the urge to peek around the end. She glanced over her shoulder at everyone else and found Cora waving to get their attention. When they all faced her, she pointed at the hallway and then held up her hands with seven fingers extended.

Okay, seven of ’em, right outside. A moment later, the thumping of boots on the floor in the corridor reached her, and she tried to keep her breathing quiet.

"This’ll take forever," a woman’s voice grumbled, echoing along the empty corridor.

"Well, our scanners aren’t working, Witherspoon," a man replied, "so we’ve got to go room by room until we find the bastard."

"Let’s pick up the pace, then," another woman said. "If we don’t, it’ll take the rest of our lives to search this whole place."

"Probably take that long even if we speed it up." Yet another male voice, growing louder along with his footsteps. "I’ll check the next room on this side."

The second woman spoke again, her footsteps pausing for barely a second before moving on. "That one looks clear."

"Look again, Vacendak. I’m seeing nine organic heat signatures and one synthetic."

Ah, hell. Kolya eased closer to the end of the row, cocked her arm back, and waited.

"Suit yourself, Swanson."

"In here, everybody." Swanson’s footsteps clacked through the doorway and several other sets followed him. After a brief pause, one more pair of armored boots brought up the rear. "Seriously, Vacendak, I thought you had one of the most advanced prosthetic bodies ever built. So how can my eyes pick up simple heat signatures and yours can’t?"

"Maybe yours are malfunctioning, seeing things that aren’t really there."

What the hell’s going on? We’re all right here and he can see us. Maybe her gear isn’t as advanced as he thought. Kolya risked a quick peek around the end of the lockers and swept the new arrivals before ducking back into cover. Seven humans -- well, at least one was a brain in a cyborg body, from what Swanson had said -- two female and the rest male. All of them carried assault rifles except the dark-skinned woman, who wielded a pair of huge hand cannons.

"We’re only looking for one guy," she said. "Not ten. This is probably just a group of scientists or explorers. Or maybe scavengers."

"You really need to get your eyes upgraded when we get back. McCallister was spotted boarding that ship parked out there, and we saw the crew load those two rovers into the cargo bay. He’s either here or on the ship."

"Fine, but we’re here for him, not the rest."

"They’re in the way." After a quick silence, he added, "Don’t get squeamish on me, Vacendak."

Terrific. What the hell did you get us into, Donovan? Kolya almost wished the room wasn’t so dark. The goons could see her and the others anyway, so something to level the playing field would be nice right about now.

"Hey," one of the others whispered. "The synth disappeared! Can any of -- hurrk!"

The next sound was the crack of something metal fracturing bone and then an armored body crumpling to the floor. Kolya glanced over her shoulder and caught a glimpse of Cora snatching his rifle and tossing it to Dylan before flitting out of sight.

"Take ’em out," Swanson snapped, and the rest of the goons rushed forward.

Kolya turned back just as one of them appeared around the end of her row. She snapped her arm out and caught him across the throat. He choked and staggered back. She threw herself at him before he could recover and took him down with a punch to the temple, another catching him under the chin, and then a head-butt that slammed him into the wall. He slid down and slumped over. She grabbed his rifle and turned, trying to find everyone else in the dark.

In the corner of her eye, Ayastal stood suddenly, rising behind two of the men. She clapped a hand to the side of each of their heads and cracked them together. They dropped straight down and she grabbed their guns before they hit the floor. She tried to fit her big finger into the trigger guard on one, snarled softly, and handed both rifles off to Syala and Zilaka.

At the same moment, Nishara coiled up, sprang over the top of a row of lockers, grabbed on with all four hands, and swung her body around like a gigantic whip. The tip of her tail whistled through the air and connected with Witherspoon’s jaw, producing a pop as loud as a gunshot. She spun to the left with a scream and toppled over. Her rifle clattered across the floor and Cora appeared out of nowhere, scooped it up, and passed it to Ralissa.

Nishara dropped to the floor beside Witherspoon as the woman picked herself up, blinked, and shook her head. She seemed to notice Nish approaching, yanked a knife from her belt, and snapped into a defensive stance. She thrust the knife at Nishara. Nish whipped to the right and the blade hissed between her left arms. She clamped her lower-left hand onto Witherspoon’s wrist and forced her arm upward while driving the edge of her upper-left into the side of the woman’s neck. She followed up with a clap to the ear with her upper-right hand and a blow to the nose with the heel of her lower-right hand.

Witherspoon dropped the knife, shrieked again, and stumbled backward. Nishara dived forward, twisted, rolled, and lashed out with her tail again. The tip whacked into the side of her head like a bullwhip, knocking her into a storage cabinet with enough force to leave a dent in its door. Witherspoon sprawled on the floor, curled up, clutched at her head, sobbed, and then passed out.

"Okay, everybody can just stop right there." Swanson’s voice.

Only him and Vacendak left, Kolya noted. She glanced around, peeked out from behind her lockers, and finally found him standing behind Ralissa, pressing the barrel of his rifle against the back of her head. She whimpered and dropped the gun Cora had given her.

"Everybody step out into the open or I’ll blow the devil-alien’s head off."

Ralissa squeezed her glowing eyes shut, clamped her lips together, and tried to keep her breathing steady.

Before anyone could move, Vacendak snapped her gun up to aim at the side of Swanson’s head.

"What the fuck?" Swanson stared at her with his mouth hanging open.

Ralissa ducked away from the business end of his rifle and swung her left arm out, deflecting it upward.

Vacendak pulled the trigger and Swanson’s head burst like a water balloon. Everyone else flinched at the boom of the massive pistol’s discharge, but Vacendak didn’t even blink. She glanced at the other goons as if making sure they were still unconscious, then she holstered both guns.

"Jesus Christ," Dylan whispered.

"Take it easy. I’ve been working my way up through Santiago Morales’s little criminal empire." Vacendak turned toward Cora. "I’m part of a special-investigations unit answerable only to the top level of the galactic government."

"I’ve heard of agents like you." Cora glanced around at her crew. "They’re just called ’Operatives.’ They tend to work independently, and are above any other law-enforcement agency I’ve ever heard of."

"That about sums it up." Vacendak picked up one of the mercs and Swanson’s body, slung each over a shoulder, and marched toward the door. "Mind helping me get these assholes out of here?"

Everyone stared at her and then glanced around at each other. Cora shrugged, grabbed two of the unconscious goons by the ankle, and dragged them into the corridor. Ayastal picked up the last two.

"What the hell’s going on here, exactly?" Kolya hurried to catch up with the others as they made their way to the building’s entrance. Once they were outside, she finally got a good look at Vacendak -- warm black hair reaching almost to her waist, a few thin braids and the rest straight, dark skin, and piercing eyes. Steel-gray armor covered everything except her head.

"Morales has been a very naughty boy. He’s been hurting too many people and getting away with it, so I was given the job of working my way through his gang until I can get my hands on him." Vacendak smirked as she tossed the bodies down behind their ground vehicle. The still living one groaned, stirred slightly, but remained unconscious.

"How far would you have gone to maintain your cover, if we hadn’t interfered?" Cora placed her pair of goons gently beside the others and narrowed her optics at Vacendak.

"I wouldn’t have killed McCallister or any of you. He didn’t deliberately do anything wrong. He just made a mistake. I would’ve taken the whole squad out and concocted some bullshit story to feed the captain of the Relentless. If he didn’t buy it, I would’ve taken him and his whole crew out, then made up some other story for the people above him. Which is still the plan, more or less."

She pulled out her comm, loaded a DNA-scanning app, and swept it over the mercs, logging their identities. Then she climbed into the back of the APC, tossed the weapons and ammo out onto the ground, and casually blasted three rounds into the console, disabling the controls and communications.

"I would’ve executed the rest of ’em to maintain my cover, but I’m guessing you’d think that’s a little extreme." Vacendak picked up the headless body, tossed it into the back of the APC, and followed up with the rest of the mercs.

"I would." Cora kept scowling at her as she finished packing the unconscious mercenaries into their vehicle.

"Fair enough." Vacendak closed the back door. "I took their weapons but left their food and water. That should get them through the next few days until someone can be sent to arrest them." She smirked again. "Unfortunately, this vehicle isn’t equipped with a toilet, so I’m glad I won’t be the one picking them up after they’ve had to take a few morning dumps."

"Heh." Cora took her duster off, slung it over her left shoulder, and deployed a tiny plasma torch from her right arm. She welded the back door shut and walked around to take care of the front doors. "Can’t have them getting out and hiding in the city-building, here."

"Nice." Vacendak headed for the Jemison’s rovers. "Since you jammed our scanners, I’m figuring that between you and me, we can hide both of these vehicles from the gunship’s sensors long enough to get back to your ship. All you need to do is drop me off once we get close enough, and I’ll take care of the pilot before he can fire on you."

Cora stared at her for a few more seconds. Grishnag shrugged.

"It’s either that or wait for ’em to send another squad after us."

"Fair point." Cora sighed and jogged over to the rovers. "Okay, get in, everyone. Let’s hope we can pull this off without being turned into Swiss cheese."

***

Dylan kept his eyes on the gunship’s cockpit as the rovers approached the Jemison. Cora and Vacendak might be able to keep them hidden from the bad guys’ sensors, but all the pilot would have to do was glance out the cockpit windows and he’d see them. If Vacendak couldn’t …

The pilot’s head exploded and blood sprayed the inside of the canopy. Dylan flinched and Zilaka slipped her arm around his shoulders. He patted her hand, turned back to the gunship, and spotted Vacendak emerging from the hatch and jogging toward the Jemison.

"The Relentless has launched another gunship," Cora said. "Good thing we’re almost there. I’ve started the preflight procedures remotely so we’ll have a chance of lifting off before they get within range."

"Glad to hear it." Grishnag sighed and slumped back in her seat.

"Kolya …" Donovan hesitated and then reached slowly toward her hand. She pulled it away with an exasperated grunt.

"Goddamn it, Donovan, not now."

"Come on, Kolya …"

"Looks like we’re here." Kolya waited for the rovers to roll up the ramp and into their docking ports, and then she popped her seatbelt buckle and launched out of the chair.

Everyone else unbuckled and rushed out of the rovers. Dylan’s boots hit the metal deck plating in the Jemison’s cargo bay as a brief hurricane filled the chamber. He turned and caught a glimpse of the ground receding before the ramp closed. Cora, still linked wirelessly with her ship’s controls, must have initiated liftoff the instant the rovers hit the ramp.

"Damn it," Donovan said under his breath. "You’re a dumbass, Donovan! Idiot, idiot, idiot!"

Fuckin’-A, buddy. Dylan followed everyone to the flight deck. You would’ve had a good thing going if you hadn’t just used her for a quick escape. And if any of my wives are hurt because of your little stunt, you’ll be begging us to kill you by the time we’re done with you.

"Damn it!" Cora darted over to her console and sat. "The Relentless has opened a comm channel. They’re saying they’ve locked their weapons onto us and will breach the hull if we try to rise any higher off the ground. I’ve just confirmed it. So, we’re hovering." She scowled at her control panel. "I’ve returned the favor and targeted the second gunship and the Relentless. Dylan, I need you to get the science team and the rest of our wives into the engineering section. It’s the most heavily shielded part of the ship. Signal me when you’re all there, and I’ll seal all the internal hatches to limit atmosphere loss."

Assuming they don’t punch a railgun slug right through the flight deck first. Dylan nodded and turned to the hatch, taking deep breaths and trying to hold himself together.

Cora pointed at Donovan. "Don’t make a sound." She turned back to the console and tapped a button. "Who the hell are you and why are you threatening us?"

"Who we are doesn’t matter," a male voice replied, and Dylan stopped to glance over his shoulder. A face had appeared in a newly-opened window on Cora’s console. "And I’m not talking to an outdated robot. Put the captain on the line."

"I am the captain." Cora glared at him. "I’ve had a lot of upgrades over the last hundred-sixty years, including a top-of-the-line combat suite. Our passengers are under my protection, and my crew is my family. If you think I’ll allow you to harm any of them, you are catastrophically mistaken."

"We know McCallister is on your ship. You’ve got one chance to hand him over, or we’ll blow your ship apart and leave you to rot. Or in your case, rust away."

Donovan moaned softly, ran his hands through his hair, and paced back and forth near the circular console at the rear of the flight deck.

Dylan tried to do as Cora had asked him, but he couldn’t take his eyes off her.

"You have thirty seconds to give him to us," the man on the screen continued. "If you don’t, you’ll all die." The window with his face in it blipped out.

Vacendak gave Dylan’s shoulder a gentle nudge. "Come on, kid. Let’s get everyone to --"

"Land," Donovan said, his voice barely above a whisper. His already pale face turned almost completely white.

"What?" Cora sneered at him.

"I misled Kolya to try to get away from those bastards, and I’ve put all of your lives in danger." He threw his hands up and turned to the hatch. "Just land and let them take me. It’s your only chance."

Next Chapter: Chapter 12: Rabid Dogs