The Empress Capsule (Audacity Saga Book 1), page 12
Ellen only nodded. If he already had figured it out, there was no sense in denying it.
“Have her take them out once we’re long gone. Why else do you have her up there? Unless…” Understanding dawned on his face, eyes narrowing as he realized that Mo’s sights might also be trained on him.
“We’re endeavoring to not pull the trigger on that detonator until we’ve lifted off.” The same applies to you, she thought. “Shit happens, though. You and she are here for that eventuality.”
He relaxed a little. “Shoot them with drugs, then. Tranquilizers or sedatives or something.”
She cocked her head to the side. Huh, that was actually a good idea. Figured a pirate with gang tattoos would think of drugs when she didn’t. If they could get something that would fit into Mo’s rifle… and fire it just before liftoff… No, they’d have to do it all at once. The security guards going down could draw the scientists out of the building away from the gas or draw additional security and ruin everything.
But if they detonated it before they were off planet, picked up Mo, then took off… That was riskier. If the port got any word of their attack, local officials would have a narrow window to try to prevent them from leaving. They’d been comfortable with the possible failure of the mission, knowing they could always return and try again, perhaps with more force. But if they could be sure the mission would actually succeed without killing anyone… She quickly set up a new comm channel via the linkup to the suit and pinged Bri with Sidassian on the line.
“Bri, do you read this?”
“Yeah. What?”
“Lovely to hear from you too. Need a favor. The docs have their hands full, or I’d ask them for this.”
Bri exaggerated an exhausted sigh. “What is it?”
“Can you make a tranquillizer dose in a bullet or something that can be fired from Ellen’s rifle? At long range?”
“One that won’t go in one side of their neck and out the other?”
“Uh… yeah. Nonlethal, or we could just shoot ’em.”
Another sigh. “That is extremely doubtful, considering sniper-rifle velocity. But let me think about it.”
Ellen turned back to Sidassian, dropping Bri but not yet switching back to the main channel. “That didn’t sound hopeful to you, did it? Optimistic?”
“Far from it.”
“Not her biggest strength.”
“A favor, huh?” There was that wolfish grin again.
“She gets snarky when you don’t ask nicely. I run this ship mostly military, but there are a few notable exceptions.”
“Does she ever say no to you?”
Ellen permitted herself a small smile of pride. “Nope.”
Jenny came jogging back, panting but excited. “All set. Nova, done yet or you need help?”
Even as she said it, Nova’s form came round the curve of the building, her cloaked armor leaving her more of an outline of twists and flickers of light in the background imagery rather than an actual human form. “Please. Good climb?”
“You’re just bitter because I went faster up and down a two-story building than you jogged around the side.”
“At least I kept that guard from coming your way and shooting you in the back.”
Ellen raised her eyebrows. “Problems?”
“Nothing I couldn’t handle. Got the other camera too. Adan, you seeing that?”
“I saw you smack that guard’s ass and run. He still doesn’t know what hit him,” Adan said.
“Is that an affirmative?” Ellen snapped, starting to get annoyed.
“Yes. Acknowledged, Commander. Wait—he’s headed toward the corner.”
Nova ducked into cover behind one of the trees along the path just as the black-suited form came into view, rifle sweeping back and forth as it crept closer.
Hell. She really didn’t want to have to set this whole thing off—and defeat the point of this experiment—by having to shoot this idiot right now.
“Ah, go back home, ya damn dreck,” Nova whispered, probably thinking the same thing.
The guard approached the tree line, not stupid enough to miss that anyone who had been in the vicinity had a fairly clear hiding place. But apparently stupid enough to approach it alone.
Ellen quietly checked her multi was set to stun. Her armor read off his status—no special armor, just street clothes, MR6 standard-issue Puritan rifle. Oh, that was an ironic touch.
“The second guard is on the move,” Adan said. Ellen winced at the noise, although there was no point to it. The suits kept sound from leaving, but she always found herself whispering in these situations anyway. Adan, of course, didn’t know how close this first guard was to their position.
The guard paused about three steps from the tree Jenny was hiding behind. Ellen held her breath. Of course they didn’t come up near Nova, where her cloak was blending her into the tree trunk, but instead by Jenny. Dynacamo was great and all, but it wasn’t a miracle. Or a cloaker.
Another step forward. The guard scanned the area, maybe slowing to wait for the other guard.
Jenny shifted, trying to push herself harder against the tree and out of the guard’s sight. Instead, her foot slipped and jutted out into view.
Nova swore. Jenny snatched the foot back, but even with the dynacamo, it was too late. Ballistic fire riddled the forest floor.
Ellen rounded the trunk and fired. The stun bolt flew and sank into the guard’s shoulder. He barely twitched—damn. At nearly the same time, a stun bolt from Nova hit his thigh, but he didn’t stop firing. He certainly wasn’t stunned; he must be augmented somehow. Like the Theroki. It was an Enhancer lab, she supposed, but they’d had to try.
The guard’s fire roared up from the ground and into the tree trunk as he stepped forward and—
Ellen winced reflexively at the wave of thunder rippling through the earth beneath her feet. One moment, she could see the guard turning, the flash of the barrel—the next, he was gone. Instead, her eyes caught on Jenny’s helmet, pointed upward.
Raising her gaze, Ellen looked up just in time to see the guard slam haphazardly into a stray oak branch and then plummet back down. No, it wasn’t an uncontrolled fall.
More like a slam.
The guard’s body hit the ground, leaves and dust flying out from his impact point. He didn’t move.
Leaves knocked free from the oak and birch trees above had barely quit falling when the second guard arrived at the edge of the woods. Ellen inched around the other side of her cover to get a better look. Would he turn back, would he—
He didn’t get a chance. An even more efficient wave of force smashed the guard against the nearest trunk. Ellen swallowed a momentary wave of nausea at the sound of bone crunching.
Well, it was still nonlethal. Hopefully.
They all stayed frozen for a long minute, seeing if the bodies would move. The forest and the guards were utterly still.
“Thanks, Theroki,” said Jenny, her voice unusually quiet. Sidassian might mistake that for fear, but Ellen knew it was more likely embarrassment than anything else. Their armor could take those old-fashioned kinetic bullets. But they’d been trying to avoid killing. Jenny wouldn’t like knowing that they’d failed to achieve that goal—and that a man had died—because of a slip of her foot.
Ellen supposed the guards could be dead. She wasn’t going to stick around long enough to find out.
“Let’s blow this joint,” Ellen said, “before they send any other entertainment.”
“Nice to have that on our side, this time,” grumbled Nova. Ellen grimaced. Nova could be speaking generally, she reminded herself. Hopefully he wouldn’t put two and two together with that statement. Sidassian shouldn’t be surprised that Nova might have fought Theroki; he might even assume she’d fought for the Union like Ellen. If only Nova had been so lucky.
They stayed low but hit the fastest pace they could, coming back onto the road at a different point.
While they went, Ellen hailed Levereaux via the comm and waited. Onboard, she expected an immediate answer, but she certainly didn’t when they were docked with trauma patients.
“Levereaux here,” came her harried voice.
“Checking in for a sit rep.”
“Forty severe traumas, eighteen head wounds alone, thirty-five juvenile Ursa with—”
“Scratch that, I just want an estimate on how much time you’ll need.”
Levereaux made a disgusted noise. “As if there’s ever enough.” She sighed. “Are we taking any patients with us if they choose?”
Ellen frowned. There were few other Ursa populations nearby, and none on their journey. “We can take up to ten in the bays, but they must understand we’re headed only to war zones and space stations, none of which hold Ursa populations. And we don’t have much in the way of Ursa-chemmed rations. But we could try to set a few up at the next station, if you think they need it.”
“All right. I’d say we need eight hours to stabilize the worst and transfer to local facilities. We’ll address what minor issues we can.”
“Oh, and females preferred on relocation,” she added, remembering Simmons’s request. “And families. Okay, good. Any threats reported over there?”
“No, it’s quiet. If the Union Ursas are as battered as these Puritans are, they probably need a break in the fighting too.”
“Let me know if anything changes.” Ellen cut the comm.
As they made their way to the dock’s rear side entrance, she quit her procrastinating and opened a channel just to Sidassian. “Good work back there.”
“My pleasure, Commander. My pleasure.”
Her cheeks felt hot again. She scowled. No time for that nonsense.
Time to go figure out if they were detonating early or waiting to see how long Sidassian had knocked the guards out. Definitely not time to think about how he had a nice voice—when she could forget the crazed armor it was encased in.
“They’re still out, Commander,” Adan reported, studying the security feed from one of the lab cameras they’d placed. The bridge was quiet, only the hum of the ventilation and the occasional creaking swivel of Adan’s chair. “Theroki must have knocked ’em pretty good. Seem alive, though, from these vitals.”
“Good.” Ellen hovered over Adan, her eyes on the camera feeds. Time to see if this plan worked or if they’d be visiting this Ursine-Puritan planet again soon.
“Nova, Dane—sitrep?” she said over the ship’s comm.
“All clear out here, Commander. We’re closing up, readying and waiting.”
“Engine prepped,” Bri reported from below.
“The tranquillizer equipment Dr. Levereaux specified has been delivered and awaits her in the cargo bay, Commander,” Xi said.
Adan’s fingers slid across the displays before pausing a moment to scratch his short beard and listen. “Local traffic control has approved us for liftoff.”
“All right, soon as that door is shut, take us up.” She sank into the copilot’s seat and strapped in, then ran her finger in circles around the smooth black plastic of the detonator button again.
Adan eyed her. “When you gonna push that? I can’t watch these displays and fly.”
“I’m watching. And Fern’s watching, right, Fern?”
“Yes, ma’am,” came her muffled voice from the station off behind them.
“Are you eating during liftoff again?” Adan said. “And I’m the outsystemer savage.”
“What? It’s way past dinner time,” said Fern through a mouth full of something crunchy.
Shaking his head, Adan reviewed the sensor panels. “It’s amazing you don’t damage the equipment more often. All right, we’re good to go.”
Ellen tuned out as he ran through the liftoff procedures. As soon as they had air under them, she pressed the detonator.
From the outside, there wasn’t much immediate drama, but if everything was working correctly, the networks were in a much sorrier state. Soon—yes, there it was. The main lab door levered open slowly and stayed that way. Greenish clouds of gas wafted out.
She waited, trying not to hold her breath. This was going to take a while.
Adan completed the liftoff sequence. Ellen almost didn’t notice except that he’d leaned back in his seat to study the cameras with her. They’d planned to stay in orbit to maintain camera range until they knew how this had turned out.
“Should I get some popcorn?” Fern asked through a mouthful.
Ellen shook her head.
“You said we don’t have any popcorn anyway,” Adan said, smiling over his shoulder at her.
“I picked some up.”
About ten minutes later, Ellen relented.
They were crunching away when—about thirty minutes later—one Ursa with strangely long arms stumbled from the doorway and out into the woods. Security was still down. Good. She was starting to wonder if those live vital signs were really correct.
Another five minutes passed and three more malformed Ursas shimmied out of the lab. She hoped the virus would help them, but she wasn’t counting on it. Even if it changed them back, depending on how the edits had been done, it might only be able to give them typical Ursine genes rather than the ones that had been theirs to begin with. That wouldn’t be much comfort to a Puritan, but perhaps it would be better than the current state. Nothing else was possible, if their own information had been obliterated into the void.
Two more Ursas emerged ten minutes later. The green gas was wafting in smaller clouds now. It had to be near its end. There should be two more—
“What is that?” Adan sat forward, pointing at the display with the closest shot of the front door.
Ellen leaned in closer.
White tentacles gripped the doorframe from three sides as a strange creature oozed its way forward. She forced a deep breath. Just because the thing looked repulsive didn’t mean anything. It wasn’t necessarily a monster of Enhancer design. That’s how atrocities got committed, listening to base animal instincts like that. Perhaps it was some new sentient species. Heaven forbid, maybe it had even been an Ursa once and Lord only knew what the Enhancers had done to it.
But if it was a monster designed to horrify, it was definitely working.
“Wasn’t that smaller before? Xi—bring up the footage of the thermal scan.”
“Yes, Commander.” An image overlaid the planet below in the view screen. There, the tentacled creature had looked hardly the size of an Ursa’s stomach.
Unless… it had Ursas in its stomach now? It was at least ten times larger than before.
The sickly white creature oozed forward, larger than the doorway now, but it finally slopped its way out and into the field surrounding the lab. Its tentacles wriggled it toward the forest, one over another, with surprising speed until four of them hardened into arched legs like a tarantula’s. It skittered even faster with its new limbs and vanished into the forest.
An overwhelming sense of alarm swept through her, a feeling that they’d unleashed something on those poor Ursas that she was going to deeply regret.
They waited for one hour, then two. But the last two Ursas never emerged.
Chapter Six
The next day back in her quarters, Ellen slammed another fist into the dull black punching bag. Her old friend.
Nova could tease her all she wanted for being low-tech. Sometimes she needed a break from the tech. Sometimes she just needed to beat the shit out of something to get some relief. What exactly she had all pent up she couldn’t put her finger on, but her insides twitched with nervous energy, like an errand just forgotten, a deep need left accidentally unfulfilled. Sweat rolled down her, drenching her black sports bra and sinking well into the top of her cargos too, cooling her in the ship’s faintly moving air.
The desk chimed at her. Probably Simmons wanting a report. Well, good. She could multitask.
She strode over and hit the button to accept the call. She hated voice commands. Too easy to have your business overheard. And she felt silly ordering around inanimate equipment. She kept her words for convincing people to do things, especially things they maybe didn’t want to do. Words were too important to waste on machines.
A video feed appeared over the desk, and she took a step back to a more comfortable viewing distance. “Patron Simmons,” she said in greeting. “You caught me in the middle of a workout.”
“Carry on.”
She returned to her assault. He knew she would anyway, whether he objected or not. Whenever he had lectured her on the extensive research showing the detriments of multitasking, she had only punched her bag harder. Now, his stern nod told her nothing.
He always attempted to be stern on these calls, but he had a fifty-fifty chance of succeeding. She had a feeling it was put-on, not the real him, but what business of hers was that? He gave her the ship; she followed his orders. They had a good arrangement.
His tousled blond hair did nothing to age him. But he had wide, genuine eyes, the kind that held a certain optimism and hope that was hard to fake. Or maybe it was innocence in them, she wasn’t sure. Whatever it was, when Simmons looked at her, there wasn’t the usual wariness and calculation that most people’s faces carried. No suspicion. Maybe he just trusted her. He adjusted the collar of his extremely loose button-down shirt, which sported a bizarre pattern of dancing Ursas in grass skirts and beach vistas with palm trees. Or were those actual teddy bears? He pushed his thin wire glasses up his nose absently. “I trust the mission didn’t end catastrophically then?”
“Yep. But I wouldn’t be here talking to you if it had, would I, Simmons?”
“I guess that depends on your definition of catastrophically.”
“Hmm.”
“Anything to report?”
“Not really. Six of eight prisoners escaped, not perfect but not bad. There was… an unidentified ninth creature at the facility. It was… kind of horrifying, actually. Never seen anything like it. Zhia and Adan will be sending over the thermal footage for you later.”
“Great. And so the intel was all right?” He leaned forward. “Anything missed?”
