“I wasn’t sure the rest of the ship wanted to see me wandering the corridors naked.”
“You can send them to me if they have a problem with it. Who goes naked and where is the captain’s prerogative.”
They hadn’t gotten much further than getting his pants off when a firm knock sounded on the hatch. Alisa groaned and dropped her forehead to his shoulder.
“I suppose that’s my repair list,” she said.
Alisa thought he might tell her to ignore it or send Mica away—the thought certainly crossed her mind—but he was always the professional soldier, even when horny and naked in bed. He shifted to make room so she could slide out. Since Alisa lacked a robe, she grabbed the blanket and wrapped it around herself.
“You may want to drag a sheet over yourself,” Alisa said, as she trundled over to the door. “We don’t want Mica to be alarmed.”
“I don’t think much alarms her,” Leonidas said, but he covered himself and glanced toward the corner of the cabin behind the hatch, perhaps thinking of standing somewhere he wouldn’t be visible.
Alisa patted the air for him to stay put. She wasn’t going to hide him. Besides, it wasn’t as if he would fit in her cabinets.
When she opened the hatch, Bravo Six stood in the corridor instead of Mica. And he was wearing an eye patch. Alisa would have smacked herself in the forehead if she hadn’t been using her hand to hold up her blanket. That had to have been Mica’s work.
“Good morning, Six,” Alisa said. The blanket and sheet probably hadn’t been necessary. What would an android care about nudity and human sexuality?
“Greetings, Lady Captain. I have completed computations on the asteroids provided to me by Yumi. I’ve sorted the list in order from most to least likely for secret bases, with the ten truly ideal locations now placed at the top.”
“Only ten?” Alisa brightened, hopeful thoughts springing to life. Ten wasn’t nearly as daunting as the two hundred they had started with.
“Ten. It’s possible the Starseers did not employ as much logic as I did in making the list, but I believe it highly likely that we’ll at least find the asteroid in the first fifty locations. The other options would be suboptimal.”
Assuming there was a base and that the shuttle hadn’t flown away to wait for another ship to meet them and pick them up. Alisa made herself temper her hope with reality. She had already been disappointed too many times.
“Great,” she said. “Send the list to my netdisc, please. As soon as the repairs are done, we’ll fly off to check the first asteroid on the list.”
“Repairs are done,” came Mica’s voice from the intersection, a yawn punctuating the words.
“Glad to hear it. That’s all for now, Six,” Alisa said, waving him away. She didn’t want an entire meeting going on in front of her hatch while she was still naked. “Thank you.”
“You’re a lot more polite with that android than you are with the rest of the crew,” Mica said, passing Bravo Six and coming to a stop in front of Alisa. “Please and thank you. I don’t get all that.”
“Well, he’s missing an eye. He deserves my solicitude.”
“You just feel guilty because you’re the one who shot it out. Nice blanket, by the way.” Mica leaned around the jamb to peer past Alisa, then smirked. “Morning, Leonidas.”
“Mica,” he said, deadpan.
Mica quirked an eyebrow at Alisa. “You know he has his hand under the sheets while he looks at your ass, right?”
“I like it there. Repairs are done, you say?”
“Not fully, but the generator stopped making that disturbing clunking noise, and there are only two alarms left flashing in engineering.”
“Practically showroom new.”
Mica yawned again. “I can work on the rest while we’re underway.”
“Get some rest first. And thank you for working through the night. You’re wonderful.” Alisa gave her a one-armed hug, holding up the blanket with her free hand.
“Ugh, what are you doing?” Mica stepped back, wrinkling her nose. “You know I’m not into hugging and touching, unless it’s in bed. And then only as needed to hang on.”
“You have the warm snuggly soul of a puppy, Mica.”
Her nose wrinkled further.
“Sorry, I’ll restrain myself in the future.” Alisa lifted her hand. “I just didn’t want you to think that only Bravo Six gets my gratitude.”
“Gratitude should be given in the form of a bottle of aged brandy, not in hugs. Didn’t they cover that in pilot school?”
“There was a war going on. The classes were abbreviated.”
A cheerful whistle came from the direction of the mess hall. Was that Admiral Tiang? Alisa was on the verge of ducking back into her cabin—she didn’t need everyone aboard the ship to see her in a blanket—but a clang and a grunt sounded, and the whistling broke off. Curious, she peered toward the intersection as Tiang walked into it, carrying several pieces of equipment. Was that Alejandro’s DNA sequencer?
Tiang headed for his cabin, but his step faltered when he spotted Mica in his path.
“More stolen equipment for your new lab?” Mica asked.
“Pardon?” Alisa asked. What had she missed?
“Stolen?” Tiang said. “Of course not. Admirals don’t steal. I asked Alejandro if he minded if I borrowed a few items for my research project. He said I could.”
“I saw your cabin yesterday when the hatch was open. It looks like medical mission control in there.” Mica stepped back as he continued forward, though she folded her arms over her chest, squinting at him.
“I assure you that I’m not working on anything inimical. My project may even prove helpful.” When he reached Alisa’s cabin, he glanced toward her, and past her to Leonidas. At first, he looked like he would continue on without comment—which Alisa would have appreciated—but he paused, the scanner on the top of his stack of equipment wobbling and threatening to fall.
Mica reached out and steadied it.
“Good morning, Colonel Adler,” Tiang said. “How is your penis?”
“Sufficient,” Leonidas said in that same deadpan tone he’d used with Mica.
“Is there any scarring or swelling? Do you need me to take a look?”
“Not at this time.”
“Excellent.” Tiang trundled off to the end of the corridor and stepped into his cabin. The hatch clanged shut.
“You might want to look in on him from time to time,” Mica said. “He’s up to something. It could be nefarious.”
“What nefariousness can you cause with a DNA sequencer?” Alisa asked.
“He had more than that in his arms. And he’s got stuff all over the table in there already.”
Alisa remembered Alejandro had mentioned Tiang’s project having to do with retrieving the staff, but couldn’t imagine how medical equipment could help with that. She shrugged and said, “Maybe he’s going to retire from admiraling to become a mad scientist.”
“Last night, he was wandering around, asking the Starseers for blood samples.”
“That sounds like a point in favor of mad scientist.”
“I agree. Better watch him.”
“Did anyone actually give him blood?” Alisa couldn’t imagine the secretive Starseers sharing their genetic peculiarities willingly.
“Ostberg traded a sample for five cookies.”
“Beck has created a strange economic system aboard my ship.”
“I won’t argue with that.” Mica lifted a hand in parting. “Go back to hugging your cyborg. He probably appreciates it.”
“He does,” Leonidas murmured.
Alisa was tempted to give him more to appreciate, but if the ship was ready to fly, and she had a narrowed down list of asteroids to check, she didn’t want to delay. She grabbed a clean set of clothing. “I’m afraid hugs will have to get moved to NavCom. We have people to find.”
“Is that allowed? Hugging in NavCom?”
“So long as any messes are
cleaned up afterward.”
He wrinkled his nose almost as impressively as Mica had as he climbed out of bed. “Maybe we should keep hugging confined to our quarters.”
“So long as any messes are cleaned up afterward.” She grinned and swatted him on the butt.
• • • • •
The comm console flashed, alerting Alisa to an incoming message. She steered the Nomad away from the unexciting and un-base-containing X8373-A2 asteroid, and plotted a course for the next one on the list. This was only the third one she had checked since receiving Bravo Six’s updated list, so she refused to feel disappointed. The next one might have the hidden base.
In the meantime, she dug out her netdisc to check her new message. Commander Tomich’s face popped up in the holodisplay. He wore simple civilian clothes instead of a uniform, and she could see a window overlooking city skyscrapers behind him. Even though she had sent Admiral Hawk a message, and had asked about Tomich in it, she was surprised to hear from him, especially since that Admiral Agosti had implied he was detained. Wherever he was now, it wasn’t on his ship.
“Alisa,” Tomich said without preamble, “what are you doing now? High command believes you’ve kidnapped Admiral Tiang. Admiral Hawk is saying that might not be true, but he sounds confused on the matter. He did say that you and your cyborg tried to stop the Starseers who caused the Laikagrad earthquake, and that you might not be the enemies to the Alliance that it’s appeared of late.”
“Of course I’m not,” she grumbled, though it was a recorded message. It would take a couple of hours for whatever response she sent to make it back to Arkadius, assuming he was still there. A location hadn’t shown up along with the message.
“If you want to have any hope of getting the charges removed,” Tomich continued, “you better fly your butt back to Arkadius and turn yourself in to high command.”
“Sounds like a good way to get thrown in the brig.”
“That’s not live, is it?” Leonidas asked from the hatchway. Alisa hadn’t heard him arrive, but he leaned against the jamb, a towel dangled over his shoulder, sweat gleaming on his forehead.
“No, but that doesn’t keep me from responding,” she said as Tomich paused, looking at something to the side of the video pickup. “I’m not too sane to talk to myself.”
“Ah.”
She waited to see if Tomich would say more, such as that he’d sent word to Agosti that Alisa was a good person and didn’t need to be chased through asteroid fields, but all he finished with was, “Stay safe, and don’t get caught with your lips on any imperial ass.”
“Hm.” She arched an eyebrow in Leonidas’s direction.
“I don’t believe I count since I’m your employee now and not on the empire’s payroll,” he said.
“Good to know.” Alisa wouldn’t point out that he had shown he still felt strong loyalties to the empire. What would he do if the prince wanted to put him on the payroll one day? A question for later.
Alisa waved him to the co-pilot’s seat, so he would be off the camera, and hit the record button. “Tomich, I appreciate your concern for my safety and what I do with my lips, but if you want to help the Alliance, you’ll bring some ships out here to the Kir Asteroid Belt, and maybe Admiral Hawk, too, especially if he outranks Admiral Agosti.”
“Isn’t he retired?” Leonidas murmured.
She shrugged. Hawk apparently had some influence, even if he wasn’t active duty most of the time. Someone had given him a team to use to retrieve his fiancée.
“I have some Starseers on my ship,” Alisa continued, “and they’re telling me that they can sense the Staff of Lore out here somewhere. The name of the man who has it is Tymoteusz. I didn’t catch his last name, but I’m guessing it’s Schwegler if you want to look him up.” It seemed reasonable to assume that Tymoteusz shared Stanislav’s surname, though she had no idea what the naming conventions were of a people who referred to each other as lords and ladies. “He’s the one who attacked Laikagrad, if Hawk and your superiors didn’t already tell you. By the way, from what I’ve heard, the Alliance had warning about that attack. They chose to dismiss Terrible Tym. Apparently, not a good idea. I’m going to sign off and stay on the move, as I’m looking for something else right now, but I thought you should know that the staff is indeed here somewhere. And the people you have out here hunting for it seem clueless. You better come join them. I’m sure whatever admiral you’re sheet surfing with can get you out of trouble and on a ship. Use your charm. Marchenko, out.”
“Such a persuasive tongue,” Leonidas said.
“You didn’t have any complaints about my tongue last night.”
“True.”
Alisa sent the message and turned in her seat to check the sensors. “The fourth asteroid isn’t far from the third. Bravo Six did a nice job of creating a logical path for us to check.”
“Do you trust him fully?”
“Should I not? I don’t think I’ve run into a duplicitous android yet. They’re usually blunt to a fault. Never ask an android if you look fat in your combat armor.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
She frowned, wondering if she was being unwise giving Bravo Six free rein of her ship. He had been helpful so far, and he wanted to be reunited with his master, so he seemed to have a reason to work with them.
“After we check the next asteroid, perhaps you should join me in the gym,” Leonidas said. “We could work on further familiarizing you with your combat armor and also improving your martial skills.”
“I suppose there’s no chance of my tongue getting me out of that?”
“In particular, we can work on your tactics when facing androids.”
“Are we going to get Bravo Six to practice with us?”
“He’s not a combat model, but he does have the usual android strength, so we could put him to use,” Leonidas said. “I want to grab Beck, too, so we can practice tactics for dealing with multiple opponents.”
“My tactic for multiple opponents is to hide behind a big cyborg with a lot of guns.”
She expected him to frown at her lack of seriousness. It was true that she shouldn’t be making jokes here—she should be grateful to him for wanting to train her to be better at staying alive.
To her surprise, he nodded, “That’s always an option if you feel overwhelmed.”
“I’m glad to hear it. But will any cyborg do, or should I choose a specific one?”
He snorted. “You better pick one who appreciates your tongue. They’re a rare breed.”
“Ha ha. You may want to get your favorite Starseer for some sparring too. We’re even more likely to run into them out here.”
“My favorite Starseer?” Leonidas asked. “Ostberg?”
She smiled. He was her favorite too. Young-hee did not bother her, but Alisa hadn’t had a chance to spend much time with her. She and most of the adult Starseers were keeping to themselves. Only Ostberg wandered the ship, feeding chickens, helping Beck stir sauces, and asking if everyone had heard how paramount he had been in the battle against the androids, especially the part where he had blown up the ship at the end.
“If you could talk Durant into joining us,” Alisa said, “I wouldn’t mind punching him a few times while wearing combat armor.”
Leonidas rose to his feet and touched her shoulder.
“I’ll find Beck,” he said, heading to the hatchway.
“Judging by the pesto smell coming from the mess hall, he shouldn’t be hard to find. Dragging him away from his newest creation may prove to be the hard part.”
“I will convince him,” he said firmly. “He, too, needs exercise and practice against androids. We may run into those treasure hunters again before we can leave the field.”
“There’s an unappealing thought.” Alisa checked the sensors again. “Ah hah, Asteroid X4463-D4, I see you.” She smiled and pointed at the massive, lumpy sphere that floated at the edge of their range now, but her smile quickly faltered as the sens
ors reported something else in range. “Uh, Leonidas?”
He had stepped into the corridor, but he leaned back into NavCom. “Yes?”
“We may need to practice fighting imperials instead of androids.”
He frowned at the sensor display. “The ships from the station?”
Alisa sent out a ping to get the identification of the sole vessel floating near the asteroid. It appeared identical in make to the imperial warships that had fired upon Sepiron Station.
“Just one so far,” she said. “The others could be nearby but still out of our range. Or they could be hiding inside the asteroid.” She straightened in her seat, as she realized what the presence of that ship here might mean.
Was it possible the imperials had somehow located the children first? They must have located something. The sensors showed the ship hovering in space near the asteroid, not flying past it on the way to somewhere else.
“I’ll find Beck,” Leonidas repeated, his tone grim. This time, it wouldn’t be gym practice that he had in mind.
Chapter 18
Alisa stopped the Nomad well away from the spherical asteroid, the mass of rock large enough to qualify as a planetoid. She kept it between them and the imperial ship. It was probably pointless, since the warship would have better sensors than her old freighter, but she hadn’t decided how to deal with them yet, and did not want to rush into battle without a plan. Not that her plans ever came to fruition as she imagined. Still, she felt she should start with one.
She tapped the comm. “Abelardus, Yumi, and Mica. Please join me in NavCom for a meeting.”
She assumed Leonidas would be up shortly with Beck. She thought about calling Alejandro, too, if only because he had been on the ship for a long time, but unless they got into a battle and needed medical attention, there wasn’t much he could do. Besides, she didn’t want him to know about the imperial ship sooner than necessary. Even though Senator Bondarenko’s people had presumably been the ones after him for the orb back on Perun, he might be tempted to cut a deal or share information, believing that the empire was more preferable to deal with than she was. And Admiral Tiang… Even if he hadn’t stayed on board the Nomad to spy on her, she didn’t know what he would add to dealings with the empire.