Dark Space: Origin (22 page)

Ten minutes earlier . . .

“So,” Gina began as she programmed a course to the far side of Ritan, where the
Valiant
was slowly drifting out of orbit. “Are you going to tell me why I just had to beat half a dozen angry flight controllers off the comm so that we could fly this
particular
transport? I’m guessing it has something to do with that scruffy-looking outlaw they caught impersonating the overlord.”

Alara nodded.

“You were his copilot?”

“Before I was chipped, yes.”

“Right, so how can you still remember that? Shouldn’t the slave chip have suppressed all your memories?”

“Yes, no—I don’t know. He keeps breaking into my thoughts at odd times. It seems like every day I remember something new about him.”

“So what do you think you remember?”

“That I love him.”

Alara saw one of Gina’s blonde eyebrows arch behind the faceplate of her flight suit. “Are you sure about that?”

“As sure as I am about anything.”

“Okay, then tell me
why
you love him.”

“Why?”

“There’s gotta be a reason, Kiddie, or it’s not love.”

“I . . . he’s . . . I feel like something is pulling me toward him whenever I see him. The air starts to buzz as if with an electrical charge. My heart starts pounding, and—”

“I’m going to stop you there. What you’re describing is lust, pure and simple.”

“No.” Alara shook her head. “I feel lust all the time, for almost any man. It’s programmed into me—part of being a
good playgirl,
I think—but this is different. There’s physical attraction, but there’s also so much more . . . he makes me want to smile and laugh and cry all at the same time.”

“Hmmm. There has to be a
reason
you love him—besides how he makes you feel. What has he ever done for you?”

“He’s going to risk his life to board the
Valiant
so he can find Brondi and help me get my memory back.”

“That’s something he’s
about
to do, not something he’s done, and you only have his word for that. He might have other, more personal reasons to get his hands on Brondi. I know I do.”

Alara sighed. “Well, I don’t know, Gina. I can barely remember him, let alone everything he’s done for me. All I have left are my feelings.”

“All right, don’t get all emotional on me. Just take a page out of my logbook, Kiddie—if there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that when a man makes you his number two, because some other woman is already his number one, you’re just there to keep the pillows warm for her.”

“It wasn’t like that,” Alara said.

Gina turned to her again. “Do you know that for sure?”

Alara grimaced. “No.”

“Then until you do, don’t waste your time worrying about him.”

“Is that what happened to you?”

“What?”

“You said if there’s one thing you’ve learned . . .”

“Don’t read too much into that.”

“That’s what Adan Reese did to you, isn’t it. He had someone else and you were his—”

“His
what?
” Gina snapped. “His little bit on the side? Yea that was me, and I’d sooner kiss a skull face than another slimy toad like him.”

“What happened?” Alara asked.

“He was dating some rich farmer’s daughter. They got engaged. That was when I broke my knuckles on his face and left the kakard.”

“Krak, I’m sorry, Gina.”

“Then he comes back from a patrol in Dark Space, looking and sounding all reformed, and he has the nerve to sit there at the bar, sipping a drink
I
bought for him, with a wedding ring on his finger. A wedding ring!” Gina snorted and shook her head. “He said it was for luck. Yeah,
right
.”

Alara frowned. “I remember Ethan used to wear his. He made no secret of the fact that he was married . . . at least not that I can remember.”

“I guess your man’s more brazen, or maybe you’re just a bigger skriff. I dated a man who was engaged, and you dated one who was already married.” Gina snorted. “Do you think either still counts as dating?” she mused with a whimsical lilt in her voice.

Alara frowned. “Who are you calling a skriff?”

“Hoi, we were both skriffs.”

Alara sighed. “So Adan was wearing a wedding band, too?”

“Back then, right before we lost the
Valiant.
Seems like a lifetime ago now. The krakhead wouldn’t even admit to being married, and I haven’t seen him wearing it since. I guess he took it off after we left Dark Space—maybe he figured it didn’t work for his playboy lifestyle to advertise that he was unavailable.”

“I remember Ethan’s was just a simple silver band. I don’t think it could have cost much, but one time, when he thought he’d lost it . . .” Alara shook her head and gave a small, bitter smile. “He turned the whole ship upside down until he found it again. He treated that ring like it was his prized possession.”

“You see? There you go. A man like that isn’t going to forget about his wife for you. The only reason he says he can now is because he realizes that his wife moved on and he’s about to die. Maybe he wants to feel like someone still loves him before he goes into the light. That still makes you sloppy seconds, girlie, so don’t you believe his krak.”

Alara felt those words hit her like a slap in the face. Gina was right. The cockpit fell into silence, and Alara lost herself in the stars as she thought about everything Gina had said. A horrible, hollow ache began in her chest and spread through her veins until she felt numb and leaden with sorrow. Without Ethan she didn’t have anyone. The only other person she felt any kind of connection to was Brondi, and she couldn’t trust those memories. If she couldn’t trust Ethan either . . . where did that leave her?

“There she is,” Gina said.

Alara blinked and suddenly the starry backdrop of space came into better focus. In the distance she saw a large, gunmetal gray ship bracketed against the stars. The ship looked like it was glowing, but Alara realized that Gina had snapped on a light amplification overlay to make the
Valiant
visible despite the near perfect darkness around Ritan.

“We’re a few minutes to target,” Gina said. “Thanks to you, we’ll be the first ones there.”

Alara smiled. “You know, piloting a transport for the
vanguards
is going to look a lot better on your record, anyway.”

Gina snorted. “Yea, except it’s gonna say
commandeered
not piloted, and it’ll be on a
criminal
record.”

Alara laughed and watched the
Valiant
growing steadily nearer and larger in the forward viewport. When they’d closed to within just two klicks of the
massive carrier, and their speed was down to 542 m/s, Alara saw the super carrier’s icon abruptly brighten on the grid, and she frowned. “You see that?” She looked up to see Gina’s hands flying over the controls. “I see it.”

Abruptly the carrier’s hundred and fifty plus decks lit up, and the ship began shining like a whole galaxy of stars. A second later the comms crackled with, “Approaching vessels, this is the
Valiant,
please state your intentions.”

“Looks like Brondi’s planning to make a run for it,” Gina said. “You’d better hold on tight. This is gonna be close.”

The
Valiant
now filled their view of space. Gina used the rudder to slew their transport’s nose into line over the carrier’s ventral hangar bay, while Alara studied the blue fuzz of static shields at the opening, trying to determine if there were any heavier shields already powering over top of that thin blue membrane.

“Transports One and Two, this is mission command, it looks like they’re on to you. See if you can get the vanguards on board before their shields are fully powered.”

“Roger that, command,” Gina said, and pushed the throttle forward.

Alara’s eyes goggled. “You’re
accelerating?
”

“Either that or we make their shields fizz as we’re turned into liquid plasma. What do you prefer?”

“You’ll crash on the deck.”

Gina shrugged. “Maybe.”

The
Valiant’s
hangar swelled until it was all they could see. It was an enormous, yawning space, empty but for a few novas lined up along the far wall. Alara watched the pale blue fuzz of static shields carefully, in case it suddenly brightened and became more opaque, signifying the presence of the ship’s more powerful beam and pulse shields.

Then a flicker of movement caught her eye and she saw a transport go rocketing past theirs with a simulated roar of engines. The blue glow of its thrusters was bright enough to make their viewports polarize, and Alara read the white numerals on the side of that ship—
02
. Then the comms crackled with, “Ruh-kah! What’s the matter, AT One? Can’t find the afterburners?”

Gina smirked and keyed the comms for a reply, but she never got the chance. The hangar shields abruptly flared a brighter blue, and Shuttle Two ran straight into them. Their eyes were dazzled by the explosion. The simulated roar which boomed and rattled through their sound system was deafening.

“Frek!” Gina yelled, pulling up hard to clear the hangar.

Alara watched the carrier’s hull blur by underneath them in a terrifying rush. Illuminated viewports turned to blurry streaks as they jetted past dozens of decks in an instant. Alara clutched her armrests and gritted her teeth in anticipation of the inevitable collision. Instead, Gina fired the grav lifts and bounced them off the hull. Alara felt her stomach drop with the sudden change of direction, and all the blood rushed to her toes, leaving her blinking spots and listening to the ringing in her ears. Her head lolled and she felt like she was about to faint.

“The
Valiant’s
shields are up!” Gina yelled into the comms. “No sign of weapons powering yet.”

“Roger that, AT One.” Alara saw that the speaker was Inferno One, the squadron leader of their nova escort. “We’re reading their SLS spooling.”

“This is mission command, do not let the
Valiant
make a run for it.”

“Affirmative, command,” Inferno One replied. “AT One, we’re gonna try to overload the shields on one of those hangars. They’re not at full strength yet, so we still have a chance to get you in.”

“Ready when you are. Which hangar . . . ?”

“Port ventral. Looks like it’s seen some damage, and shields are weaker there.”

Gina clicked the comm to acknowledge and then looped over the top of the carrier to the hangar on the other side.

Alara felt her stomach lurch again, but this time upward as they dove back down the other side of the ship. She saw red and her head began to throb. She groaned and squeezed her eyes shut.

“Sorry about that,” Gina said, looking over at Alara. “I guess you’re not used to the G’s yet. It takes a trained nova pilot to appreciate the thrill. I’ll dial up the IMS.”

“Thanks,” Alara managed weakly. “Why aren’t they firing on us?”

“Hoi, don’t jinx us, Kiddie. Maybe they can’t find the triggers. Whatever the case, it’s a good thing.”

Alara watched the blue glow of hangar shields appear below them, growing rapidly closer. She saw fresh, unpainted hull plates where the hull had been patched.