Cobra Outlaw - eARC (6 page)

“Sorry, but what I have to say is for Qasaman ears,” the Marine said. “Commodore Santores has a proposal to present the Qasamans. That’s why Commander Tamu wanted Shahni Omnathi to come to Aventine, so that he and the Commodore could discuss the matter directly.”

“I thought Tamu came to Caelian to bring Governor Uy to the Dome so they could put him on charge for treason.”

“I don’t know any of those details,” the Marine said. His tone was one of casual dismissal, as if the incident had simply been a misunderstanding instead of a violent clash that had ended in multiple deaths. “All I know is that there was a lot of discussion among the officers on the way here about how we could get in contact with Qasama. When Commander Tamu found out Shahni Omnathi was here, naturally he jumped at the chance to invite him to Aventine.”

“I remember it being more a demand than a request,” Kemp said grimly.

“Yeah, Tamu can be a jerk sometimes,” the Marine said. “But that’s not the point. Commodore Santores isn’t here, which means it falls to me to make his pitch.”

“Like I said, go ahead,” Kemp said. “But you start by talking to
me
. No, strike that—you start by letting your hostages go.”

The Marine snorted. “You’ll forgive me if I don’t exactly trust your word. Not after what you did during a supposedly peaceful prisoner exchange.”

“Our people shouldn’t have been prisoners in the first place,” Nisti put in harshly.

“They came aboard with malicious intent,” the Marine countered. “Would
you
have just let men like that wander freely around your territory?”

“As our guest said, we’ve distanced ourselves from the point,” Omnathi’s voice came from the corridor on the far side of the standoff. Hopefully, he was standing out of range in the mirror-image corridor curve to where Jody and Kemp were currently skulking. “You say you have a proposal. Speak. I will listen.”

“Thank you for your willingness, Shahni Omnathi,” the Marine said. “Here’s the basics. Commodore Santores wants to arrange an alliance between the Dominion and Qasama. To that end…”

He continued on; and as he did so, Jody stepped closer to Kemp. “Kemp?”

“Don’t worry, Kazi’s watching the other gunbay,” he murmured. “If this is a diversion, the guy in there won’t get very far.”

Jody frowned at the curve of the corridor, listening with half an ear to the Marine’s speech. Something was wrong here. “
Has
he tried anything?”

Kemp shook his head. “I haven’t heard any noise. Trust me, there
would
be noise.”

Jody clenched her teeth. There would be noise, all right. Noise, violence, and probably some death, too.

Yet none of that had happened. And if diversion wasn’t the purpose of this standoff, what was? “Why was Rashida here?” she asked. “Isn’t she supposed to be in CoNCH?”

“No, she’s on a half-hour check schedule,” Kemp said. “She was probably just keeping Smitty company. She does that a lot when he’s on watch duty.”

“So if the Marine has a view onto the corridor he’d know that,” Jody said, trying to think. Given that practically everyone else aboard was either a Djinni or a Cobra, it certainly made sense for him to grab Rashida. “But if this isn’t a diversion—”

“Oh, hell,” Kemp said, very quietly.

Jody tensed. Had he heard something from the other side of the ship, some noise that her normal human hearing hadn’t picked up? “What is it?” she whispered.

“Rashida and Smitty,” Kemp said. “Our primary and secondary pilots. He’s got both of them.”

“It gains him nothing,” Nisti said. “Ifrit Ghushtre and Shahni Omnathi have also made themselves proficient in the vessel’s operation. And he will certainly not be permitted to come within firing range of either of them.”

“Maybe he doesn’t have to,” Jody said slowly, staring at the curve of the corridor. If Rashida and Smitty were in the corridor, and Omnathi was at the far side listening to the Marine’s pitch… “Where’s Ifrit Ghushtre? Is he with Shahni Omnathi?”

“Yes.” Nisti did a sudden double-take. “Son of a
snake
.”

“Exactly,” Jody said, her stomach tightening. “There’s no one in CoNCH who knows what any of the controls and readouts mean.”

“But how does that gain him anything?” Kemp asked, sounding bewildered. “We’re watching CoNCH. Neither Marine can get in.”

“Maybe they don’t have to,” Jody said, pulling up a mental image of the
Squire
’s layout. “Did anyone ever find an auxiliary control room? A mini-CoNCH, or something like that?”

“No,” Kemp said. “Maybe a ship this small doesn’t have one.”

“Or maybe those backups are in the gunbays,” Jody said.

“The
gunbays
?” Kemp’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”

“Why not?” Jody said. “They’re secure and well-armored, and they’re far enough from the main CoNCH that a hit on one of them might leave the other one intact.”

“Yes, but—” Kemp waved a helpless hand. “People
shoot
at gunbays. Don’t they?”

“Probably,” Jody said. “But the only way this makes any sense is if the other Marine is doing something in his bay while this one is holding our attention here.”

“I agree with you, Cobra Kemp, that the notion borders on the ridiculous,” Nisti said grimly. “I also agree with Jody Moreau that the possibility cannot be ignored.”

Kemp glared at the corridor wall. “So what do we do?”

Jody tuned back into the Marine’s monologue. He’d left the subject of treaties and was speaking about the wonders of the Dominion of Man and the privileges of being part of it. “We need to end this,” she said. “I’m guessing Smitty and Rashida have worked out a plan to take him down and are waiting for an opening.”

“Only they don’t know we’re running a time limit,” Kemp said.

“They must be alerted,” Nisti agreed. “Is there a code you can use to signal them?”

“Nothing that wouldn’t be ambiguous and confusing,” Kemp said, his forehead wrinkling. “We’d do better for one of us to circle around to where Shahni Omnathi and Ghushtre are and tell one of them to head back to CoNCH and find out what’s going on.”

“They will not leave,” Kaza said grimly. “Shahni Omnathi, because his sudden departure from the conversation would alert the soldier that we were aware of his deception. Ifrit Ghushtre, because his task is to protect His Excellency. He will not leave without him.”

“Even for something like this?” Kemp pressed. “Even if we can guarantee the Shahni’s safety?”

“He will not leave,” Kazi repeated.

“Wait a second,” Jody said as a new thought suddenly struck her. “We don’t need either of them to leave if we can get Rashida out of there.”

Kemp shook his head. “The Marine isn’t going to give up his hostage.”

“No,” Jody agreed. “Not unless he can trade up to something better.”

Kemp’s eyes widened. “Out of the question.”

“We have no choice,” Jody said flatly. “I’m practically the only person aboard who he wouldn’t see as a threat. Especially since I’m a woman and we’ve seen that the Dominion doesn’t think much of women. If I pitch it as one emotional female trying to protect an even more emotional female, he may go for it.”

“No,” Kemp insisted. “Aside from anything else, your mother will kill me if she ever finds out I let you do it.”

“If you don’t let me go she may never have the chance,” Jody shot back. “The other Marine could be setting a self destruct right now. Or overloading the drive, or who knows what.”

“She’s right,” Nisti said. His voice was tight, but there was an edge of respect mixed into his tone. “Do not fear, Kemp. She is a Moreau. She will win through.”

Kemp bared his teeth, then gave a reluctant nod. “You’ve just arrived, and I’m too slow to stop you from going in there. Got it?”

Jody nodded, feeling her pulse pounding at the base of her neck as she took a few silent steps backward. It was the only way, but that didn’t mean she had to like it. Bracing her feet against the deck, she flexed her shoulders once to relax them and then launched herself toward the corridor curve.

Kemp hit his cue perfectly. “Jody, keep back—Jody,
stop
!” he said, raising his voice as she raced past him.

“Rashida?” she called, ignoring Kemp’s order and dodging his token attempt to grab her arm as she ran around the curve into the gunbay area.

The scene was pretty much as she’d envisioned it. The Marine was standing beside the gunbay door, his back to the wall, his legs spread out in a solid shoulder-width stance. Rashida stood in front of him, her back to him, her body pinned against his chest by his left forearm across her throat. Smitty was on his knees across the corridor from them, his fingers pressed to his eyes, his face screwed up in pain at his blindness. The Marine’s right hand was tucked away behind Rashida’s back where Jody couldn’t see whether he had a weapon there or not.

Though at this point a hand weapon would be pretty redundant. The Marine was wearing a Dominion combat suit, complete with the epaulets whose multiple auto-targeting lasers Jody had seen demonstrated back on Caelian. Those lasers could take out Rashida, Smitty, and Jody herself if the Marine chose: quickly, efficiently, and without the man himself having to move a muscle.

She was two steps in from the curve before the Marine seemed to recover from his surprise at his unexpected company. “Halt!” he snapped.

“Please,” Jody said, trying for a tone of dignified pleading as she obediently came to a stop. “Please. Can’t you see she’s terrified?”

“As long as your Cobras keep their distance she’s got nothing to worry about,” the Marine said, his eyes flicking back and forth between Jody and Smitty.

“She’s a Qasaman,” Jody said, enunciating her words carefully. “More than that, she’s a Qasaman woman. They’re not used to this kind of thing.”

“I thought they just went through a war.”

“Not the women,” Jody said, watching his face carefully. If she could get him to hook onto the Dominion cultural ethos that saw women as having limited capabilities and subservient societal roles, maybe she could make this work. “If you let her go, I’ll take her place.”

“Yeah, right,” the Marine scoffed. “I’m supposed to believe this was your idea? That the Cobras are just offering the great Jody Moreau Broom up as a sacrificial lamb?”

“What sacrifice?” Jody countered. “You said there wouldn’t be any trouble as long as no one attacked you.”

“Don’t play cute,” the Marine growled. “I know damn well that you’re planning a—”

And in the middle of his sentence Rashida grabbed the arm pressed against her throat, jabbed her right heel down on the Marine’s foot, bent her left knee to bring her left heel up against the wall between his thighs, then straightened the knee and sent them both toppling forward. Before the Marine could move his free foot to try to break their fall, an invisible wall seemed to slam across Jody’s body, blurring her vision and tilting the universe violently around her. Rashida and the Marine continued their face-first fall—

They were a fraction of a second from impact when a faint flash of current arced from the stunner in Smitty’s right little finger to the top of the Marine’s head. Rashida landed hard on the deck, the Marine slamming down on top of her.

And as they hit the deck, a small handgun went skittering across the deck from the unconscious Marine’s hand.

“Clear!” Smitty barked, scrambling to his feet. Grabbing the Marine’s arm, he flipped his unconscious form off Rashida and dropped to one knee beside her. “Rashida?” he asked anxiously, reaching a hand to her cheek.

“I’m all right,” Rashida said, sounding a little winded as she pushed herself up, glancing over as Kemp and Nisti charged around the corner. “He’s heavier than he looks.”

“Probably the combat gear,” Smitty grunted, shifting his hand to her upper arm. “Let’s get you to sickbay and make sure he didn’t crack any of your ribs.”

“I don’t think he did,” Rashida said again, wincing a bit as he helped her to her feet. “We also need to go there to have your eyes looked at.”

“Afraid that’ll have to wait,” Kemp said as he and Nisti knelt beside the unconscious Marine and began carefully removing the tunic with its lethal epaulets. “We think this was a diversion to keep us occupied so the Marine in the other gunbay could do something in there, possibly messing with one of our flight systems. Rashida, you need to get to CoNCH right away and see what’s going on.”

“Understood,” Omnathi said. “Djinni Nisti, escort her to CoNCH.”

“Yes, Your Excellency.” Scooping up the handgun and tucking it into his belt, Nisti took Rashida’s other arm, and the three of them disappeared around the corridor curve.

“Okay, he’s disarmed,” Kemp announced, and Jody turned around again to see him carefully folding up the Marine’s tunic. “What would you like me to do with him, Your Excellency?”

“I’m told there is a compartment aboard with reversed locks where Jody Moreau was kept prisoner while on Caelian,” Omnathi said, regarding the Marine thoughtfully. “Will that serve?”

“It should, Your Excellency,” Kemp confirmed, getting a grip under the Marine’s arms and hauling him upright. “Jody, come show me where it is, will you?”

It took two minutes for Jody to lead Kemp to the makeshift prison where she’d spent two glorious days before the Qasamans had broken in and freed her. Kemp spent another ten minutes going through the cabin and removing everything the Marine could conceivably use as a weapon or for escape once he woke up. Only then was he willing to leave the unconscious man alone.

They reached CoNCH to find Rashida and Smitty at the control consoles, Omnathi standing silent watch behind them. “Prisoner is secured, Your Excellency,” Kemp murmured as they came up behind the older man.

Omnathi nodded acknowledgment. “Cobra Smith?” he prompted.

“I think we got it in time, Your Excellency,” Smitty said. “Rashida’s double-checking, but I think we stopped him.”

“What was he doing?” Jody asked.

“Trying to change our course back to Aventine and then lock down the helm,” Smitty said grimly. “He got most of the first part keyed in, but luckily he hadn’t gotten to the second yet. Rashida’s got us back on our original course, and I
think
we’ve got him locked out. At least for now.”