Dark Deeds (Class 5 Series Book 2) (29 page)

And there, hallelujah, was the tiny black panel.

She pulled the handheld out again. “Do your thing,” she told Eazi.

The wind was hurricane level now, battering at her, moving the handheld around in her hands, until she pressed it down onto the beam with her hands and her knees, hunching over it like a mother protecting her baby.

“Look at the gel wall,” Eazi told her, and she forced herself to turn her head.

It had lit up in a narrow strip along the beam she'd slid down, and as she looked up, the strip grew taller and taller, until it disappeared into the dome above.

“I'm guessing it's working?”

“It's working. I've been able to create a new frequency, one that isn't affected by the dead zone, sync all comms to it, and let the residents know that we're fixing it.”

“So you've taken over the station, have you?” She said it jokingly, just trying to keep her mind off where she was and how close she was to the edge.

“I think I have.” He was absolutely serious. “I need something big and complex to manage. And I don't have my Class 5 any more. I think I'll like running Larga Ways.”

“Got an apartment for me?” she asked, even as she wondered what Battle Center would think of this. But what could they do about it, anyway?

Sazo wouldn't force Eazi out, or hurt him in any way. Hadn't Eazi told her Sazo wouldn't even shoot at Eazi when Eazi was shooting right at him?

They could do nothing.

She laughed.

“I have a very nice apartment for you,” Eazi said. “Two bedrooms with a shared bathroom; lounge, dining and kitchen area are open plan, and there is a balcony. It's reserved for the president of Balco, but he's only used it four times in the last three years, and given he needs Larga Ways way more than we need him . . . I've generated a comm for when we get back online, letting him know he'll have to stay in a hotel next time he visits, just like everyone else.”

“What are we up to in that book we're putting together? Chapter Five?” Fee tried to ignore how tired her arms were getting. “When your enemies change the rules, take it as an invitation to cut yourself free of the rules completely.”

H
e must have misheard
.

Hal blinked at Rial, and then held out his arm for Jasa to ease off the intravenous tube.

“Fiona is down there?” His heart sank in a sickening rush to the pit of his stomach as he looked at the strange wobble in the gel at the top of the way station dome on the wall screen. “But she was right with me. She was sitting next to me when you came to get us.”

“Rial didn't say it made sense, just that is how it is.” Jasa's face was tight, the way it got when she was really angry.

“I was in a hurry to get you up to the
Illium
. She wasn't going to keep up, and Tean Lee was demanding that she give a statement, anyway.” Rial looked as sick as Hal felt. “I didn't know the place was going to blow up.”

“Of course, they'd already moved her out of her room and over to Sazo, kicked her off the ship, more or less, so perhaps they thought Sazo would deal with her.”

“When,” there was a rushing in his ears and he could barely hear himself, “did they move her off the
Illium
?”

“When you were kidnapped. It was Commander Chel's view that she would be safer on Sazo's Class 5 and it would free up her guards to do other things.”

“Very practical,” he conceded. He slid off the bed and stood for a moment until he was sure his legs could hold him. “And total yurve shit.” He stepped into his boots.

“What are you doing?” Rial stared at him, face slack.

He liked that Jasa didn't do the same. She knew exactly what he was doing.

“So where is she on Larga Ways?” He started walking toward the door. “If comms are down, we'll have to start somewhere.”

“Lee's headquarters.” Rial followed him out the room. “Lee took her there himself.”

Hal's first steps were a little wobbly, but they got stronger as he went.

“Captain.” Rial put a hand on his arm, and it was all Hal could do not to lash out at him. Rial must have seen the flare of violence because he took a step back. “We made a mistake. A few mistakes. But Rose and Captain Jallan are helping Sazo send all his runners down to get people out, and we're doing the same. Finding one person in there is going to be impossible.”

Hal kept going without responding. By the time he got to the launch bay, sweat was beaded on his upper lip and forehead, and he could feel it running down his back.

“Not looking too good there, sir.” Tobru paused at the wide doors, and then, with a quick glance at Rial, ran toward one of only two runners left in the launch bay and disappeared up the ramp. It closed almost immediately and took off.

“Captain.” Chel coughed as the space dust swirled around them. “What are you doing——?”

Hal leaned forward, hands on knees, and managed to stop seeing spots in front of his eyes. “What am I doing?” He bared his teeth, and Chel gaped.

“I'm going down to Larga Ways to find Fiona Russell. Who for some reason is not on this ship, where she is supposed to be. I don't suppose you would like to give me an answer as to why that is, would you, Commander?”

“Hal——” Chel wouldn't look him in the eye.

“Get that runner ready,” he said, his voice low and mean. “Now.”

He turned toward it, saw Rial was already talking to the pilot. He ran back to Hal, put out an arm to help him.

“You should be in bed.” His lieutenant glanced at him as they hobbled toward the runner. “I'll go back down, find her. I won't stop until I do.”

Hal shook his head. “I may need your help, but I'm going down with you.”

The ramp closed behind them, and when he turned, he saw Chel had come in right behind them.

“I'll direct the runners from below,” he said. “They're never going to get everyone in one go, so we'll operate a drop-and-go.”

Hal slid down into a seat and felt the surge of lift-off. “You sent her away.” He felt a deep-seated terror at the thought. “This was all she had. The one place where she was safe and knew people, and you used your power the moment I was gone and threw her off.”

“She was safer on the Class 5,” Chel began, and Hal stared at him. “All right. Yes. I threw her off.” He rubbed both hands over his face. “In all the years I've served with you, you've never put a foot wrong, Hal. You're an excellent captain, and you know your way around the politics of Battle Center. I don't want to see you kicked out because you've lost your head over some strange orange.”

“If you thought I'd have let her go without a fight, you were wrong,” Hal told him. “I would have chased after her, if I had to. But you didn't get what I tried to show you this morning. She isn't some strange orange. She is loyal, brave, clever. She risked her life to find me this afternoon, or did I get that wrong?”

“No.” Rial ducked his head. “She came up with the plan, and I think because she thought no one would listen to her or take her seriously, executed it to the point where we had no choice but to come onboard.”

“How did she get down there, though?” He was still trying to work that out, because he'd had strict instructions that she was not to set foot off the ship without a full guard.

“When I told her to pack her things and move to Sazo,” Chel was looking down at his feet, “she persuaded Sazo to help her with her plan and he took her down to Larga Ways with the correct permissions to get through the gates.”

Hal was silent for a moment, eyes closed, head tilted back as he tried to get himself back under control. He wondered if a little togrut was still in his system, that his emotions were coming through so raw and unfiltered. If he didn't get some control he might end up saying something he'd regret.

“She gave me hell down there.” Rial suddenly laughed. “I saw her walking along, looking like a tourist, and pulled her into a little side street. She let me have it.” He shook his head. “She's been polite to everyone since we found her. No temper, no fuss, but she turned on me and put me in my place when I tried to tell her we were busy, and she was distracting us from our search for you.”

“She didn't have to be polite any more. As far as she was concerned, you'd rejected her.” Hal felt that sick swirl of fear again. She would know he'd had nothing to do with her being kicked off, but the easy way it had been done, her lack of any right to insist otherwise, spoke to just how powerless she was.

“Why are you so angry about this, Hal? I shouldn't have done it, but it can be undone.” Chel lifted his hands, palms out.

“You think we hurt her, deeply enough that she might reconsider her place with us.” Rial answered for him, speaking slowly.

The runner thumped into the dock, bumping like it was in a raging storm, and Hal nodded to him as he stood, and struggled down the ramp without a word.

Tean Lee was running toward them as he stepped onto the dock and was forced to brace his legs against the air that was being sucked up to the top of the dome.

“That . . . woman.” Lee screamed it over the howl of the wind. “She's mad.” He pointed to the end of the dock, and Hal looked over, but there was nothing to see.

“Fiona?” he asked.

“She jumped.” Lee's eyes were wild. “Jumped and then slid down. And now, look!”

Hal looked again, and this time he saw what Lee was trying to show him. A thin line of purple light in the dome, edging up along a curved beam, slowly spreading as it went, until it seemed there were dancing stars of purple light jumping and leaping across the dome ceiling.

“We couldn't get it to do that. With the dead zone, it wasn't receiving the instructions, and then she jumped to that beam and slid down and now . . .” He stared straight up. “I think she fixed it. By hand.”

S
omething bumped
the beam near her, and although she did't think there was much strength left in her arms, Fiona found some from somewhere, and clutched a little tighter.

“It's okay. I've got
you
, this time.” Hands, so warm against the cold of hers, tried to pry open her fists and she forced herself to open her eyes.

“Hal?”

“I've got you, you can just let go.”

Could she?

She closed her eyes again and thought about it.

“I promise.”

She waited another beat and heard him sigh.

“I think I need help.” She couldn't move, she realized. Her body was stiff and cramped, and he lifted her, knocking the oxygen mask she’d set in front of her off the beam.

She couldn't figure out how he was doing it and not falling off until she opened her eyes again and saw he was standing in a hover that put him waist high to her, her handheld under his arm.

He carefully pulled her in, lifted her again and set her down on what felt like the most comfortable cushions she'd ever lain on.

“I'm glad to see you're up to rescuing.” She had her eyes closed again. She didn't know why she had such a hard time keeping them open.

His hand brushed hair off her face. The rest of it was probably a rat's nest whipped up by the wind, which had died the moment the rip repaired itself, and then stirred to life again, more gently, as Eazi started up the air plant and began pumping in the new atmosphere.

“So tell me. How do you know how to save way stations?” He lay down next to her, and she turned into his warmth, snuggled closer when his arm came around her.

“Oh, I was just the brawn of the operation. Eazi was the brains.” She yawned. So, so tired.

“And my rescue earlier?”

She forced her eyes open, looked into his. “That was all me. Although Sazo gave me a hand, but more in a sidekick capacity.”

“You were moved off the
Illium
earlier today.”

His voice had become deeper. Rougher.

“Yes. Ouch. Kicked out of the club.” She found a more comfortable spot on his shoulder. “It's okay. I've found a new place.”

“Sazo's asked you to stay?” He didn't sound like himself.

“Nah. Although I'm sure he would. No, I'm in the presidential suite on Larga Ways, these days. Sort of been made operations manager.”

He leaned over her. “You're hallucinating.”

She opened her eyes again. Saw he looked a lot better, although he still wasn't quite right, his skin holding a tiny trace of gray. “No, really.” She put a hand on either side of his face. “Eazi's taken over Larga Ways, Hal. He had to, to save it, and he doesn't want to give it back. The Class 5's gone and he needs something like this or he'll go mad.”

“You're serious.” He looked into her eyes, and she saw fear and desperation there, where she thought she'd see amusement and maybe irritation.

“Shh. What's wrong?” She stretched up and brushed a kiss at the corner of his mouth.

“You're not staying with me.”

“Your crew don't want me, Hal. And even if they did, I have no job onboard, whereas Eazi needs me.”

“I want you to stay.” His voice was rough.

“If I stayed, you wouldn't have been able to keep me. You'd have been ordered to send me to Battle Center, and I'd have had to appear before the UC, and someone would have tried to kill me a couple of times.”

“They'll still order you to go to the UC,” he said.

“Under whose authority? I'm on sovereign Eazi soil here. And I'll happily speak to the UC, if they come to me. Eazi really does need me. I wasn't just saying that before.” She kissed him again. “And apparently I've got a lovely bedroom with a balcony where I can entertain my Grihan lover when he comes by to visit.”

His grip on her tightened, almost too much, and then he pulled her close.

The hover started to move.

“We haven't got to the lover part yet.”

“Well, we probably won't get there tonight, either, given I can't unclench my hands.” It felt good, though, lying so close that they were entwined in each other. “But if you wake up next to me in my fancy new apartment tomorrow morning, I think we might be able to change that.”

“
Y
ou are saying
the thinking system has stolen Larga Ways?” Hoke's face told him she wasn't sure if he was joking.

Hal shifted. “Not stolen. It's still in orbit around Balco. He's just taken it over.”

“On what grounds?”

“On the grounds that it would no longer exist if he hadn't grabbed hold of it and, with Fiona's help, activated the repair function in the dome when a bomb ripped a hole in its gel wall.”

“Larga Ways is a strategic asset for the Grih nation. It has Battle Center priority security status.” Hoke stood. She'd managed to stay seated longer than he thought she would.

“It's useful, then, that Eazi has already sworn to not harm the Grih in anyway, unless in self-defense.” Hal crossed his arms. Decided to make this quick. “We can't do anything about it. Sazo won't lift a finger against Eazi, and Eazi's right, Larga Ways would be bits of debris making a new asteroid belt around Balco if he hadn't stepped in and forged new connections, and if Fiona hadn't risked her life to activate the repair function. He's going to take a monthly percentage of trade in payment for himself and Fiona, and he tells me the improvements he's making will start saving everyone money by the end of the first week.”

“What do the Balcoans think about it?”

Hal shrugged. “They're afraid of having Battle Center come down on them for the Tecran facility out in the desert, and for the obvious collusion of some of the officials on Larga Ways with the Tecran. Also, given the sophistication of the electronic explosives sniffers, someone helped that Vanad smuggle his bomb in. They failed on a lot of levels, and they know it. Right now, they're just happy that they still have Larga Ways, instead of a massive trade disaster with enormous loss of life.” He lifted his hands. “If Eazi messes up, they may start to resent him, but right now, it's almost amazing how calm things are.”

“And have you worked out what created the dead zone, and why the Vanad set the explosion?” Hoke had calmed down, herself, and Hal guessed she'd seen as quickly as he had that things could be a lot worse.

Hal rubbed the back of his neck. “The dead zone we can only guess at. Sazo, Eazi and Gerbardi, my comms engineer, all think it was another Class 5. Eazi and Fiona think the Vanad might have been abducting her for the Class 5. The dead zone happened just as she was snatched. The bomb, well, Eazi says whoever created the dead zone wiped Larga Ways' whole operating system clear. So the way station couldn’t repair itself after the bomb damaged it.”

“If it was a Class 5, there's been no sign of it?” Hoke asked.

Hal shook his head.

“Then you're staying in the Balco system. Sazo, too.” Hoke lowered herself back in her chair. “There is something going on out there. For a start, the investigative team the United Council sent to look at the
Fasbe
seems to have disappeared. It should have arrived in Larga Ways already, and the UC's lost all signals to it. The Tecran are also suddenly being really cooperative. They're backing down. Apologizing.”

“You don't trust it?”

Hoke shook her head. “Feels like the calm before the storm to me.”

Just before she leaned over to sign off, she stopped. Looked him straight in the eye. “You still friendly with Fiona Russell?”

Hal nodded.

“That's good.”

Hal thought about the satisfied gleam in her eye as he took a runner down to Larga Ways, and caught a glimpse of the perpetual storm, Kyber's Arm, a twist of brown on the planet below.

As he walked to Fiona's apartment, he passed the wreckage of the day before, saw they'd already made a start at clearing it up.

Fiona opened the door before he could knock. “Eazi told me you were on your way.”

She was wearing a dress which must have come from one of the stores on the station, soft and flowing in a pale orange that made her dark eyes and hair gleam.

The way she went into his arms made his heart clench.

“I have a surprise for you.” She smiled against the side of his neck.

“You've taken over Balco, now, too, and I should address you as President Russell?”

She laughed. “Maybe next week. I've set my sights a little lower this evening.” She gestured with a flourish to the dining table. “Ta da! Edible food. And I've invited Rose and Dav for dinner, because Rose is just as hungry as I am.”

“I have a surprise for you, too.”

She waited for him to tell her, her arms loose around his waist, her eyes dancing.

“I've been ordered to stay in the Balco system for now.”

“Well.” She kissed him, leaned back in his arms. “That makes me so happy, maybe I will take Balco over.” She kissed him again.

“Can you wait until tomorrow?” He ran his hands up her back.

She tilted her head and gave him a wicked grin. “If you make it worth my while.”