“Yes, sir. Agreed. I assumed we’d have to take a trip.” Assumed, yes. Explained it to his pilot, no.
“I'm co-owner of a freighter, but it has contracts it has to fulfill, so we’ll…” Adler said. “Unless you have a ship.”
Hm, Jasim sort of had a ship. Normally, he wouldn’t volunteer Maddy and the Interrogator for ferry duty, but if he could somehow get her to agree to it, to even back it… Her word would hold a lot more weight with The Pulverizer. Jasim might not be fired promptly for taking on this quest. Besides, he had a feeling their search might take them to places that weren’t easily accessible by commercial transport. It would be far more convenient to have the use of a ship.
“I have a ship,” Jasim said. He’d figure out how to explain it to Maddy later.
“Excellent. I’ll be on Primus 7 in about eight hours. Coming in on the Star Nomad.”
“I’ll see you there. I look forward to working with you, sir.”
Adler grunted and cut the comm. Nerves tormented Jasim’s stomach again. He had a feeling there were at least a hundred other cyborgs that Adler wished had reached out to him, and even though he barely knew his old commander, he couldn’t help but feel disappointed that Adler didn’t want to work with him.
“It’s not important,” Jasim told himself. “Finding the murderers is.”
• • • • •
Leonidas removed neatly folded stacks of underwear and T-shirts from his clothes cabinet in the cabin he shared with Alisa and tucked them into his armor case. He turned back, reaching for the bin that held the sock squares the military had long ago trained him to make, but the bin was empty. He’d done the laundry himself, to make sure he would have what he needed, and he distinctly remembered putting away his socks.
“Someone is conspiring against me,” he announced, looking toward the hatchway and holding out the empty bin for display.
Alisa had been alternating between watching the twins make towers out of condiment bottles in the mess hall and monitoring his packing progress, and she stood there now, her shoulder against the jamb.
“Hm,” she said, arching an eyebrow. “Maybe I’m not the only one who doesn’t want you to leave.”
Leonidas blinked and lowered the bin. “You don’t want me to leave? You volunteered to deviate from the Nomad’s flight path to bring me to Primus 7.”
“To meet and advise your soldier-friend, yes. At that time, I didn’t realize you planned to go off to find and confront someone clever enough and strong enough to kill cyborgs.” Alisa smiled faintly, though there was a wryness to the gesture. “I’m not sure why I didn’t realize you’d insist on going along. I mean, I do know you fairly well at this point.”
“There’s nobody else who will handle this problem.”
“Are you sure about that? Whether you want to admit it or not, you do know people high up in the Alliance. Some of them even like you.”
“They like Beck,” Leonidas said, waving toward the mess hall. Beck’s catering gigs were infrequent, but after doing Senator Hawk’s wedding, he tended to attract high-profile clients.
“Yes, but you impressively carried Beck’s food trays at many of the parties he’s worked. Therefore, they like you too. Who doesn’t love the cyborg who brings in the brown-sugar-and-cinnamon grilled pineapples?” Alisa’s smile faded. “I’m just saying that you could call in a few favors if you wanted.”
“This is a Corps problem. More than that, I can’t trust anyone else to want to help former imperial cyborg soldiers. I can’t trust anyone else to care.” Leonidas met her eyes. “I know you understand.”
“I do,” Alisa said, walking in to slip her arms around his waist. “I’m just concerned for you.” She rested the side of her face against his shoulder. “This isn’t your typical pirate or smuggler plot. You know damn well how hard you are to kill. If someone has been successfully murdering your people… Well, it sounds like someone has figured out a super weapon.”
“A super poison-delivery mechanism is more like it. I’ll keep my armor on. Nothing is going to prick my neck through that.” He wrapped one arm around her and patted the metal gorget in his armor case with his free hand.
Alisa’s “Hm,” did not sound convinced.
He did not dismiss her concerns, as he understood her point, but he’d walked into potentially deadly trouble countless times over the years, many of those times since he’d met her. Maybe she thought this would be different since she wouldn’t be there to watch over him and contribute her schemes to whatever plans he came up with. There was a time when he would have allowed her to join him on such a mission… yes, even to help him, but that had been before Nika and Maya had been born, and before Jelena had come to live with them. Now it seemed more important that one of them stay safe, that one of them always be there for the children.
Of course, he fully intended to come back to them. He was still fit enough to handle these murderers; he was sure of it. And, he admitted silently, a part of him longed to once again feel adrenaline surging through his veins, to go out and make a difference in the system again. To matter to more than his family.
“Of course,” he said gently, Alisa’s grip around him still tight, “if I don’t have any socks to wear, the villainous cowards might simply shoot poison at my toes.”
“Uh huh. You don’t wear socks when you’re in your armor. You hardly wear anything. It’s a good thing that box sanitizes everything so well.” She wrinkled her nose and waved to his case.
“Still, I’m certain I’d fare better in battle if my feet had been properly warmed ahead of time.”
“I didn’t take them.”
“I believe that, but I suspect you know the culprit. You may even be related to her.”
Alisa sighed and stepped back, lowering her arms. She leaned out into the corridor. “Jelena, have you seen Leonidas’s socks?”
There was a long pause before the words, “Define seen,” came from a nearby cabin.
“With your eyeballs or with your telepathic mind’s eye. Or with the chickens’ eyes. Or the geese’s. Or anyone else’s on the ship.”
“That’s quite a broad definition of the word,” Leonidas murmured.
“Just trying to head off obfuscation.”
Jelena appeared in the hatchway, her arms full of familiar folded sock squares. She gave Alisa a sulky look. “You weren’t supposed to help him find them. Or tattle on your daughter.”
“He needs them for his trip.”
“But you don’t want him to go.” Jelena pushed her braid over her shoulder, dropping a couple of sock pairs in the process. “I could tell. And nobody goes on a trip without socks. Or underwear. I thought about taking his underwear, too, but, ew, gross.”
Leonidas thought to protest this malign of his underwear, but Alisa spoke first.
“I don’t not want him to go on his trip, especially when I’m sure he’s looking forward to it.” She gave him a pointed look, and he almost suspected her of the same telepathy her daughter possessed. “I just want him to be safe and come back to me with all of his pieces still attached.”
Jelena looked a little confused, but she came in and dropped the socks in the bin. Then she hugged Leonidas. “Don’t get killed, Dad. Or lose pieces.”
“It would never occur to me to allow either.” Leonidas patted her on the back. “Your mother would be extremely peeved if I did.”
“Extremely,” Alisa agreed.
A squeal came from the mess hall.
“Will you go check on that, please, Jelena?” Alisa asked.
Jelena released Leonidas from her hug. “So you can get me out of the cabin so you two can smooch?”
“Not only so we can smooch.”
Jelena rolled her eyes but jogged out to check on the twins.
Alisa picked up the abandoned socks on the deck and walked them over to Leonidas. “What would you say to taking my father along with you? Those murderers may have plans in place to deal with cyborgs, but I bet a Starsee
r would be unanticipated and throw a wrench in the works.”
It wasn’t a bad idea, one that Leonidas might have considered, but…
“I don’t know how long this will take,” he said. “I don’t want you out there, possibly running into pirates, without anyone besides Beck for protection.”
“Beck and me,” she said pointedly, waving to the blue case that held her own armor. “And don’t forget Jelena and the goose army.”
Leonidas smiled. “I know you’re a capable warrior, as are the geese, but Stanislav is a trump card, and it’s more important that you have him.” She opened her mouth, the protest clearly coming, and he added, “You and the children.”
Her mouth shut. No matter how much she wanted to argue with him, she knew he was right, that the safety of the children had to be paramount over all.
“All right, but if you don’t come back to me, I’ll give Jelena your share in the company, and she’ll insist on turning this into an all-animal-all-the-time freighter outfit. Donkeys and goats and who knows what else will probably roam freely through the corridors and eat all of our socks.”
“That does sound horrific.”
“Very horrific.”
Leonidas stepped forward, pulling her into a hug again, this time delivering a long kiss as well.
When he eventually drew back, he murmured, “I’ll be careful. I love you.”
“And I love you. Much more than I love donkeys.”
“You’re still an odd woman, Captain Marchenko.”
“And you’re damn lucky to have me.”
“Yes. I am.”
Thunderous footfalls sounded in the corridor. It was amazing that such lightweight individuals could run so loudly.
Nika burst into the cabin first, carrying a couple of toys and jumping the small lip of the hatchway like a track sprinter. Maya, her arms so full of stuffed animals that she could barely see, tripped over the lip and splatted onto the deck. Leonidas rushed forward and picked her up.
“What’s all this?” he hurried to ask, since Maya wore a distinctly familiar expression, one that said she wasn’t hurt but that she was still contemplating bursting into tears, because it seemed the right thing to do after a fall.
“We came to help you pack,” Nika said brightly. “This is for you.” She thrust up her plush, musical-planets toy, Aldrin’s moons jangling with internal bells.
“And Mister Cow and Stumpy Snagor.” Maya pointed to the fallen stuffed animals from her spot in his arms. “And Brother Bear. And do you want my blankie? It’s scary to go away from the ship without a blankie.”
“It is indeed,” Leonidas murmured, not certain what to say as Nika grabbed a couple of the stuffed animals, in addition to the planets toy, and walked over and peered into his armor case.
“There aren’t any paints or blocks,” Nika said sternly, frowning up at him, as if she couldn’t imagine battling villains without such staples.
Alisa swatted Leonidas on the arm. “What were you thinking? Worrying about socks when the paints and blocks weren’t in your kit yet?”
“I… don’t know,” he said, watching Nika place the toys atop his T-shirts.
“Let me get my blankie,” Maya said, and squirmed to be let down.
“Don’t you think you’ll need it while I’m gone?” Leonidas asked.
“I want you to have it, Daddy.” Maya rushed out, almost tripping again in her haste.
“Uhm,” Leonidas said, as Nika grabbed more stuffed animals and placed them in the case. Well, not in it, since the items were piling up to the point where he couldn’t have closed the lid, even if he wanted to take all those items.
He looked to Alisa, not sure if he should stop this familial packing help, or simply wait until they finished and left, and then hide the items in a cabinet in here. She was watching, her fist to her lips, her eyes twinkling. She didn’t offer him an iota of assistance.
“Here it is,” Maya ran in with her purple Andromeda Android blanket dangling from one hand, the end dragging on the deck. Impressively, she managed to enter without tripping over the blanket or the hatchway lip. It went into the armor case atop the stuffed animals.
Leonidas cleared his throat. “Thank you, girls. I think I can handle the rest of the packing on my own.”
“Welcome,” they blurted together and ran over, each hugging one of his legs.
Leonidas dropped a hand to each of their heads.
“All right,” Alisa said, waving the girls toward the hatchway. “Let’s give your dad a few minutes of peace to finish. Do I smell cookies in the oven?”
“Brownies,” Nika blurted and raced into the corridor. “Uncle Tommy’s making brownies.”
Maya made excited cooing noises and followed.
Alisa waited until they were gone to say, “Be careful, Leonidas. I know you can handle a lot, but it doesn’t reassure me that there’s someone out there with a list of cyborgs, and you’re overdue for a visit.”
“Precisely why I intend to visit that someone first.”
“All right.” She smiled, though it appeared forced, and headed out of the cabin. She paused in the hatchway to look back one more time. “Don’t forget to pack your paints and blocks.”
Leonidas had been thinking more along the lines of blazer rifles and grenade launchers, but he bowed obediently.
“And to come back to me,” she added softly before disappearing into the corridor.
Chapter 5
Jasim smoothed a hand down his black shirt and made sure it was tucked in. As he waited in the busy commercial airlock area at Primus 7, it occurred to him that he should have cut his hair. Would the colonel scowl at its non-regulation length? They were both years out of the fleet, so Adler couldn’t possibly expect that Jasim would look like a soldier anymore, but one never knew with career officers, even former career officers. They could be sticklers for… everything.
A boxy gray freighter appeared outside the expansive portholes in front of Airlock 73, maneuvering to come in between two smaller, far more elegant ships in the adjoining locks. It looked older than the original colony ships. Not exactly the luxurious—or at least modern—ship one might expect a former high-ranking officer to have. Jasim’s hopes that Adler might have money to pay McCall faded. But what had he expected? He hadn’t heard of many high-ranking imperial officers who had come out of the war with great wealth and influence. Most of them had been lucky not to be shot during the Masterson War Crimes Trials. Those who had come out with money and power… were suspicious. There had been a lot of double-crosses at the end of the war. Jasim decided it was a good thing that Colonel Adler was traveling on an inauspicious old freighter. Maybe the cyborg murderer, as Jasim had come to think of their unidentified foe, hadn’t found Adler because of his unlikely conveyance.
To his surprise, the freighter did a lazy barrel roll before extending its tube and securing it to the lock. Jasim was probably the only one who noticed. People from all walks of life pushed past him with bulging shopping bags and cups full of casino chips. The airlock was across a wide promenade from a casino, a brothel, and an all-you-can-eat buffet—he had visited the latter while waiting, having little interest in the former two offerings.
Maddy was back on the ship, which had a spot at Airlock 14, waiting for him to get his armor fixed. He’d thought about explaining everything to her, but he doubted she would care about dead cyborgs. Further, The Pulverizer might consider it a liability if one of his workers had a target on his back. Even if this wasn’t Jasim’s dream job, it paid well, especially when bonuses were included, and he was getting close to having his university loan paid off. He had certainly worked worse jobs with less freedom since the end of the war.
Jasim avoided the bustling people while keeping an eye on them as he headed toward Airlock 73. Typically, he wouldn’t worry about being harassed by thieves or muggers. Even if being just under six feet tall had made him short for the Cyborg Corps, he still had the thickly muscled body of one of the empire
’s creations. Today, however, he watched people with more wariness than usual, well aware that his surname made him one of the next targets on the roster, if not the next one. He picked out a couple of androids among the crowd, well aware that their power matched his. If one got close enough with a syringe, and Jasim wasn’t paying attention, it could deliver a deadly dose.
The airlock hatch opened, and Jasim walked close enough to peer through the attached tube. Voices from inside reached his sensitive ears, but none of them sounded like Adler. He supposed he should wait where he was, but he preferred to get away from the busy promenade. There weren’t any walls or posts that he could lean against, and his shoulder blades itched. Besides, Adler was expecting him, right?
Jasim walked down the tube, through an open airlock chamber, and poked his head into a voluminous cargo hold. Someone in gray and white combat armor stood nearby, leaning against a stack of crates. That wasn’t the colonel, not unless he’d lost his red gear and had to buy a civilian set. But no, the man had his helmet off, and Jasim didn’t recognize him. Some small animal—was that a chicken?—tried to trundle toward the open airlock hatch, but the man picked it up and strode toward a coop full of squawking chickens and an unorthodox aquaponics tank that looked almost like a pond. Fake grass covered the deck around it—or maybe that wasn’t fake grass. Ducks and geese trundled around the area, plucking at who knew what.
He supposed freighters hauled all manner of cargo. Still, he wondered if he was poking his head into the wrong ship. Adler had said he’d arrive on a freighter called the Star Nomad, and Jasim had looked it up and seen it assigned to 73, but this seemed a strange place to find a former imperial fleet colonel.
Jasim cleared his throat, wondering if he should call out his presence or simply wait for Adler to show up. The man in combat armor had disappeared from sight behind the stacks of magnetic crates fastened to the deck and hull. Jasim could still hear him walking around back there. Perhaps seeking another escaped chicken?
“Hello?” Jasim called.