Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Santa Cruz

T he sound of laser fire echoes through the narrow, smoke-filled corridors of the fortress. Even sensors in my helmet can't pick up what's happening around that corner. They must have set up spoilers. I stop the squad, tell them to take cover. Damn it, we were supposed to be taking them off-guard. Something's gone wrong.

I send up Jacobs to take a look. She scurries forward, back against the wall near the corner, and peers around. "Shit, sir. They've got a tank. It's coming towards us."

I call her back. She's almost with us when the Ptorix tank rounds the corner, firing as it does so. Jacobs is torn apart in front of me, bits of her splattered on the floor.

Behind the tank come Ptorix troopers. We're vastly outnumbered and outgunned. I yell into my headset, "All units fall back! We're sitting ducks here!"

Someone grabs my arm…

Darius jerked upright panting, and the smoke and the stink and the blood faded away. He gazed at Cilla's dark blue eyes, wide with concern.

"You were dreaming. It's okay."

He slumped, his eyes closed. "Sorry. I didn't mean to wake you." It must have been ten years since he'd had that dream. Until he saw the ghosts in the mist. A shiver slipped down his spine.

He heard her walk away but she came back moments later with a glass of water.

"Drink this. I know about nightmares. I have them, too. Not often, now I have Maahes."

The big cat crouched on the floor, his amber eyes a soft glow in the cabin lights.

Darius's leg ached. He fumbled for his comm. He would have to increase the dose of pain killer. He checked the time and found he'd slept for five hours, not enough but more than he'd expected.

"Have you had some sleep?" he asked.

"Yes. I woke when you started thrashing and yelling. It sounded like a battle."

"Mmm. It was." He sipped some more water.

She sat on the floor beside him, her legs crossed. "You ought to talk about it, you know. That's what the therapist told me."

"What's to tell? I was a green lieutenant. I led an attack on a Ptorix fortress. Our intel guys told us they wouldn't be expecting us. But they were. We walked into a trap. Only three of my squad survived. We were sold out by some bastard who'd warned the Ptorix we were coming."

"And I suppose you thought it was your fault?"

"No. Yes." He sighed. "I know intellectually that it wasn't my fault. But I was the commander. I keep thinking I could have done more, should have saved them. Even when I know I couldn't." And how he'd survived and so many others hadn't.

Cilla nodded, her dark hair draped around her face. "It's awful, isn't it? You wish you could go back in time, do things differently."

Yes, he did. He finished the water and handed her the glass. "Since we're awake, we might as well plan our next step. What do we do with a stolen ship?"

Her eyes widened. "I hadn't thought of that." She moved, leaning up against the bulkhead. Maahes put his head in her lap. "Well… what's our next move, Commander?"

He swung his legs off the bunk and onto the floor. "Basically, we have to dump the ship and get onto the planet. The main space station is over Angelis. It's big and busy. Industrial."

"Wouldn't we be better off somewhere smaller, less likely?"

He shook his head. "No. Somewhere like that we'd stand out. We don't want that."

"I guess not. So, what do we do with the ship? Land it somewhere outside the city?"

That was a possibility. He checked for dirtside spaceports around Angelis and found three.

"The issue is, it's stolen. We don't have papers for it."

His cabin door started to open. Drew started to lunge for his gun, but Maahes simply raised his head, then relaxed again.

Yrena peered in. "I heard yelling. Voices. I hope I'm not interrupting?" She sounded anxious. Darius couldn't believe it.

"Nightmares, huh? That makes three of us." Cilla patted the floor next to her. "Grab a seat. We're planning our next move."

The woman's brow puckered. "I was awake, is all. Couldn't sleep."

Darius swallowed the grin. He preferred not to admit to nightmares. But she'd seen her husband and another man mown down in front of her and she'd been kidnapped. Even for a gangster's daughter, it wouldn't have been nice. Even so, he regretted her presence. He'd been enjoying the alone time with Cilla.

She sagged down beside Cilla. "What's to plan? I contact my Papa and we all go home."

Typical. Life was always easy for a Cornelis. But not this time. It almost felt good knowing that. "Please don't imagine our little ruse necessarily fooled them. These guys are not stupid. Even when we contact your father, it will take a while for a ship to get to wherever we are. Maybe longer than it will take our friends to find us." He left her to think on that and turned to Cilla.

"Can you do something with this ship's records so that it belongs to somebody else? Or change its registration number?"

She shrugged. "I can try."

"It won't be easy. They're designed to withstand tampering."

Her eyes sparkled. "Oh, I do love a challenge."

"Good. You go and do that." He stood. "In fact, I could use a mug of kaff. Let's adjourn to the common room."

To his surprise, Yrena fetched the mugs from the dispenser for all of them. She sat opposite him at the small table, while Cilla took hers to the cockpit.

Yrena, eyes downcast, fiddled with the mug. "I was afraid I might be interrupting something." She waved her hand. "You know, between you and Cilla." She swallowed. She let the words 'I was frightened' drift in the air between them.

"There's nothing between me and Cilla."

She snorted. "Rubbish. You follow her around. And anyone could see the way you look at each other."

Darius wondered if he was blushing. "There's nothing between us." He rushed on so she couldn't interrupt. "Do you have access to any credits? But not via your usual bank accounts?"

Yrena opened her mouth and closed it again. "You mean not traceable."

He nodded.

The way Cilla looked at him? All he'd seen was annoyance and distrust. What had Yrena seen? But he wasn't about to ask.

"If I can talk to Papa, he can arrange credits anywhere. Do we know how we're going to do that?"

"I'm hoping Cilla will be able to use some of her own special magic. When we get to the outer perimeter of the Santa Cruz system there'll be a comms beacon. By rights we need credits to use it—"

Yrena laughed. "Maybe when this is over, I should offer Cilla a job. I'm sure Papa could use her talents."

Not a chance, not if he had anything to do with it. Work for that bunch of murderous… Calm down . His reaction must have shown. Yrena simply looked amused. "I'm sure we could find a job for you, too. You could be together."

Darius's face heated. "I'll see what Cilla can do." He glanced over at her. She was hunched over in the cockpit, her profile lit by the lights on the console.

"Assuming we have credits, what then?" Yrena asked.

"We'll land at one of the space ports outside the city."

Her eyebrows shot up. "Land? Why? We can wait in orbit until Papa's ship arrives."

He shook his head. "Even if Cilla can change the registration, she can't change the ship's appearance. Our friends will recognize it."

"Oh. Yes, of course."

Cilla had straightened up.

"Done?" he asked.

She beckoned him to the cockpit. "I've done my best. The ship's registered to Alexi Lerman and I've changed the registration. It won't do us any good if they match it against the register on Malmos, though."

He smiled. "That's another good reason to go to a back blocks space port where they won't be too particular. Basically, I want to get the thing on the ground, then forget about it."

Cilla frowned, looking worried. "I'll have to modify your implant to change your name. Are you okay with that?"

He squirmed. He hadn't thought of that but of course it would be necessary. They'd want to read his identity from his implant. He didn't like the idea of anybody messing about with his implant, but he supposed he'd have to allow it.

"Just for now," she added. "I'll fix it when we're finished here. Okay?"

"Yes, okay. You're multi-talented, aren't you?" He wondered if Yrena had heard any of that. He hoped not. Cilla would be a great asset to any of the crime bosses.

She fixed him with a stare. "Not multi-talented, no." She patted the seat beside her. "Sit down, look straight ahead and don't move."

"Yes, ma'am." He did as he was told, wondering how this was going to work.

"I'm going to connect to your implant," she said via the comm in his head. "It might feel a bit funny for a minute. Don't move."

He felt a tingling in his head, like an electric current, for a few moments. Beside him, Cilla worked on her comm. He felt another electric tingle, then she said, "All done. Everything okay?"

He relaxed. He'd hardly felt a thing. "I'm fine. That was pretty easy."

"Yeah, it was. I've never done anything like that before."

Good grief. That was something he really didn't need to know.

"I think you'll have to do the same for yourself and Yrena."

Her eyes narrowed. "Yrena I understand. But why me?"

"You're underestimating the enemy again. What if they've worked out who we are?"

"How?"

"Who unexpectedly left the Galaxy Adventurer at Thurbass?"

"Oh. Of course." She stood. "I could use some kaff."

While she went to the dispenser Darius slipped onto the bench opposite Yrena.

"How long before we reach Santa Cruz?" she asked.

He checked the nav system via his comm and told her the number of hours.

Cilla came back with kaff and sat next to Yrena. "No swimming pools and bars on this ship. But I found a few games in the databanks. Unless you'd rather watch porn. There's plenty of that."

Yrena laughed. "Why am I not surprised? What games are there?"

"A few solitaire type games that you can play on your own, some shoot 'em up scenarios where you kill people." Cilla displayed the games on the common room's screen.

"What's that one? Treasure Hunt?" Darius asked.

" Treasure Hunt is a role-playing game. Up to six players attempt to reach a treasure located on an unknown planet, using clues hidden in the game. The goal is to cooperate to reach the treasure but the winner is the player who reaches the treasure first ," the AI explained.

"That sounds like fun," Yrena said. "Let's try it."

The game kept them occupied during the long journey through shift space. As time wore on, Maahes came and put his paw on Cilla's leg. " I need to pee ."

Cilla rose to her feet. "Back in a moment. Maahes needs the toilet." She walked down the corridor, Maahes at her heels.

Yrena's lips parted and her eyes widened. "Where's he going to go? In the hangar bay?" She pulled a face. "Yuck."

What to say? Darius suspected Yrena didn't know about Maahes's special attributes. "He's exceptionally well trained. He can use Human style toilets."

"Really? Wow."

"Stands to reason, doesn't it?" he improvised. "He needs to be with Cilla wherever she goes so it's best if he can fit in."

"Like I said, wow."

When Cilla and Maahes returned, Yrena looked at him in a very different way. Darius suspected she wanted the cat. And Cilla. He'd better take all of that into account. "Right, ladies, let's play Treasure Hunt."

Yrena won the first round. Her smile nearly split her face in half. "Good game."

"Yeah." Cilla got up to feed Maahes.

"That was fun," Yrena said. "Can we play another round?"

"Sure. As soon as Cilla comes back."

The game was fun, but also useful. He was finding out a lot about how the two women operated. Yrena was astute and quite ruthless, using Cilla and Darius until the final move. Cilla was clever, but not aggressive. In fact, he could almost swear that between them, they'd let Yrena win. It had certainly been his intention.

" Did we let her win ?" he asked Cilla through her implant.

He noted the smile as she fondled Maahes's ears. " Would we do such a thing? Still, it would help to keep the peace. " She rose and returned to her seat.

Darius made sure he won one round, working in conjunction with Cilla. Yrena wasn't pleased, but she conceded graciously enough. After she'd won one more game, she called it a day and went off to her cabin.

"You take the cabin," Darius said. "I can sleep in the cockpit. Honestly. Long years of practice."

Cilla looked down her nose. "We've already had this discussion. I'm okay on the floor. If it's all right with you?"

It was. He'd have preferred her to be in bed with him but that wasn't going to happen. "Okay. Let's do it."

***

Cilla woke abruptly, her heart pounding. She could barely make out the shape of Darius on the bed, but what she saw was enough to tell her something was wrong. He was thrashing about, shaking and mumbling unintelligibly. Another nightmare.

She knelt and touched his arm. He stirred and opened his eyes, looking at her with confusion. "Cilla?"

"It's all right, Darius. It's just a nightmare."

He looked at her for a moment, then the tension drained and his breathing started to slow. "Thanks." He rubbed his face with both hands.

"Would you like a drink? Water, kaff?"

"Water." He took her hand and squeezed gently. "Thanks."

She eased her hand free and went to the common room to fetch water. What to do? How best to help him?

" Hold him ," Maahes said. " As you hold me when you are frightened ."

She nearly spilled the water. " I can't. What would he think ?"

" It calms you to hold me ."

Bloody cat. Now he was being a therapist. But he was probably right. No, she knew he was right. Mister Awful's ghostly form had advanced on her last night, but Maahes had woken her and draped his foreleg over her body. She'd drifted into sleep.

Still, she couldn't just get into bed with Darius. Maybe she could make him the hero?

He was sitting up on the edge of the bed when she returned and handed him the water. He gulped it down and put the empty glass on the nightstand. "Thanks. I'm sorry I'm disturbing your sleep."

She shook her head. "I'm not sleeping well. The floor's hard." She licked her lips. "Can I... Can I share your bed?"

Darius' eyes narrowed. "What about Maahes?"

"He won't mind. And he understands." A lot more than Cilla had imagined.

His expression cleared. Without a word, he moved over in the bed and made room for her.

"No funny business, though."

He chuckled. "No funny business. Just friends, okay?"

Cilla smiled and climbed in beside him. It was awkward. His body radiated warmth, but he was as stiff and unnatural as she was. It would have been nice to put her arms around him, embrace him like a lover but that wouldn't be right. To be honest, it might just be very right. But that was something she would keep to herself.

He moved onto his side and draped his arm around her. "No funny business, Mz Cilla. Go to sleep."

Maahes shifted in the darkness on the floor. " You are safe. Sleep ."

***

Darius woke with a hard-on. Cilla was still asleep, her eyelashes draped on her cheeks, her hands curled into loose fists. She looked vulnerable and oh so desirable but he'd promised no funny business, so he'd better go and deal with his manhood. He eased himself across her body without touching her and padded to the washroom, aware of Maahes watching his every move. Soft snores emanated from Yrena's cabin. Good. He didn't want to be running into her in the washroom.

His ablutions finished, he went to the galley and asked for kaff. When he turned, mug in hand, his heart jolted. Maahes sat on his haunches next to the bench.

"You startled me." He steadied the mug and set it down. "Are you hungry? Do you want water?"

" Water ."

Darius filled the cat's water dish and sat down while Maahes lapped noisily. When he'd finished, the tendua stretched, one leg at a time, backbone bent in a way no Human ever could. Then he groomed himself, licking a paw and passing it over his face.

Maahes was totally relaxed, comfortable in his company. Probably as long as he wasn't too close to Cilla.

Footsteps approached. Yrena, rubbing her hand through her hair. She stopped, her lips an oh. "Darius."

"That's me. Want kaff?"

She sagged onto a bench. "Yes, please."

Darius crossed to the dispenser. Was it his imagination or had Maahes's demeanor changed? He seemed… watchful, slightly tense. Or maybe that was because he'd finished washing himself.

"Sleep well?" he asked, handing her the kaff.

"Thanks. I did." Her eyes twinkled, "How about you guys?"

Darius didn't miss the inuendo. "We both slept much better. In fact, Cilla's still asleep. The washroom's free."

She grinned. "I'll admit I'm not used to sharing the washroom. I suppose you are. You were in Fleet, weren't you."

That was safe enough. "Still am. I'm on extended leave."

"Oh? Why?"

"Enough time to go on a tour to places I've never been before." And anything else was none of her business. "Have you traveled much?"

"To Malmos with my father. That's about all. Have you been in many battles? With the Ptorix?"

"A few."

She shuddered. "They're weird. Two mouths, tentacles. Errk."

"They are. From our point of view. But they think that about us, too. We use the same mouth to eat and to speak. Disgusting."

She snorted. "Have you seen them eat? It's horrible. And their food stinks." She shuddered.

This was interesting. "No, I haven't. Have you?"

"Yes. Papa had a meeting with a Ptorix in Malmos. I passed by their room, on my way to the shops. The stench!" She waved her hand in front of her face.

He chuckled. "Yes. We tend to forget they've been around longer than we have, and they have a huge empire. Compared to them we just came out of the egg. They're every bit as smart as we are. Just different."

"Huh." Yrena drained the last of her kaff. "And on that happy note, I'll grab the washroom." She waltzed off.

Well well. Old man Cornelis was having meetings with the Ptorix, was he? He wondered when that was. And what it was about.

Maahes shifted, his body more relaxed than it had been when Yrena was there.

" You don't like her, do you? " Darius said.

Darius thought the cat wasn't going to reply when he said, " I watch for danger to Cilla ."

So, Maahes thought Yrena was dangerous. He was probably right.

" She wakes ." Maahes was loping down the corridor to the cabin before he'd finished speaking.

***

They spent the day playing games of solitaire and mostly avoiding each other. Cilla created new identity records for her and for Yrena to load onto their implants. That done, Cilla sat in the cockpit, refining her approach to hacking the Santa Cruz beacon. Darius performed his exercise routine to strengthen his leg. No doubt about it, space travel cooped up in a small ship was nothing short of boring. Later, they played a few more rounds of Treasure Hunt, with the honors even. Yrena was good but Darius and Cilla, working together, could beat her.

When bedtime came Darius insisted on sitting in the cockpit. "I'll be fine. I've slept in worse places, and I can keep an eye on the ship's vitals." That was rubbish and Cilla knew it.

"What if you have another nightmare?"

"If I start shouting come and wake me."

" I will listen ," Maahes rumbled in his head.

The truth was he'd enjoyed her presence in the bed too much. He'd replayed the encounter in his mind, which insisted on adding things that hadn't happened, that he would have loved to have happened. No, distance was the best approach.

By the time the ship emerged beside the comms beacon at the edge of Santa Cruz's planetary jurisdiction Darius had managed to get some decent sleep, although he'd be very happy to find a decent meal. The ship's simple replicator was limited in what food items it could create and he'd had a gutful of burgers. He had the M3 orbit the beacon and hoped no other ship arrived before they left.

"Ready?" Cilla had slipped into the second seat in the cockpit, her comm unit in her hand.

He nodded.

She'd spent time preparing for what she had to do and had the comms section in the cockpit prepared. He watched her work, totally focused, as she connected her comm. The unintelligible numbers scrolled, then stopped.

She entered a row of digits that Darius recognized as a contact id. "Now we hope he picks up," Cilla murmured. She gazed over her shoulder at Yrena, who looked worried and hopeful at the same time.

Yrena beamed. "Papa?" Her broad smile told the story. Cilla's hack had worked.

"Yes, Papa. I'm okay." A long pause.

"Yes, kidnapped. But a couple of friends helped me to escape."

"It's a long story. Okay, we're just arriving at Santa Cruz."

Over a period, Yrena gave her father a concise account of what had happened and made it clear that a Kuznetsov ship was in pursuit.

"Love you, too. See you soon."

She let out a deep breath. "Papa wasn't happy. He's got a ship out here, our top cruiser, Rhapsody , and he's sending it on to Santa Cruz. He's arranging credits for me. He'll send me an account via my comm. I said I'd let him know where his people could pick me up. Any ideas?"

"How long before they reach here?" Darius asked.

"A couple of days. We can wait in orbit until they arrive."

"The Kuznetsov ship might be here sooner. We'd be sitting ducks. Much safer to land and hole up." Darius shared a look with Cilla. "We'll have to find a place that will accept Maahes."

Yrena chuckled. "Credits should sort that."

"I've had a look," Cilla said. "There are places near the lake at the edge of the city that offer two-bedroom bungalows. Here's their advertising material." The display showed a short presentation of the setting, the inside of the cabins, and the available facilities. "And it's quite close to the space port, too."

"Looks good. Where did you get that presentation?" Yrena asked.

"Off the beacon while you were talking to your father."

Yrena smiled. "Clever."

Cilla's lips jerked. "Not really. Anyone can do this. Advertising's available to everybody."

Yrena gave Cilla a side-eye.

Darius managed not to smile. "Let me know when your credits arrive." He went up to the cockpit and set course for Starport Cruzeno.

Yrena's father had provided her with enough credits to buy a hotel but even so, Darius chose an external parking lot rather than one of the more expensive covered bays. After all, they wouldn't be going anywhere else in this ship.

They had an hour to go before landing and he should have thought about that sooner. They would be so obvious, a man, two women, and a big cat. Unforgettable.

His biggest problem was Maahes. People remembered him. But then again, maybe he could play that to their advantage. He turned to Cilla, seated beside him in the cockpit. "Will Maahes walk on a lead?"

"Of course. But he doesn't need one."

"I know that. But we have to bring him onto the planet and as you know, he's obvious and he frightens people."

She nodded. "He does, doesn't he?"

"What I want you to do is pretend you're disabled and have him on a lead."

She pulled a face. "He doesn't like a lead. And I haven't got one. Besides, what's the point?"

"I want to emphasize he's a service animal. And I want people to notice you and Maahes and not notice Yrena. Understand?"

Her lips parted and she nodded. "A disabled woman with a bloody great cat and a couple of other people."

He smiled. "Exactly."

Her lips pursed, she said, "We'll have to improvise."

"The wardrobe in my cabin has some clothes in it," Yrena said. "I'm sure we can come up with something." Frowning, she sized up the tendua. "A collar and a lead. Let me see what I can do." She marched up the corridor and returned with a thick strap and a belt.

"It's a luggage strap. It'll do as a collar. Nobody's going to believe that collar he's wearing will hold him." She made to slip it around Maahes's neck but he leaned away from her, growling softly.

"Oh." She straightened up smartly and handed the strap to Cilla, who knelt beside the cat.

"Sorry, buddy. It's just for appearances. I'll take it off as soon as I can."

The way she looked at Maahes, tender and loving, her big blue eyes soft and gentle. Darius wished she'd look at him like that.

"Is there a pair of pliers somewhere?" Yrena asked. "I need to alter the belt so it looks like a lead."

Darius fetched a tool bag from the hold. The gangster's daughter knew what she was doing, fashioning the buckle into an attachment for the luggage strap. "It won't hold him if he decides to pull."

Cilla shot her a glance. "He won't."

"Okay, ladies," Darius said, "Strap yourselves in. We'll be hitting the atmosphere soon. It might get bumpy."

***

"No sign of them at the main space station," Serg said as Valkry joined the lane to dock at Santa Cruz's main space station. "See if there's any sign of the ship at the other two, then check the space ports."

The ship's AI acknowledged, searching for the M3's registration number.

Forsyth, sitting with his legs stretched out, arms folded, grunted. "They'll be at a space port. If they've landed."

"They're not in orbit. The other possibility is that they've gone to another planet."

" There is no record of a ship with that registration anywhere on the planet ," the AI announced.

Serg scowled. "Where else could they have gone? Maybe a double bluff and they went to Vamenos?"

Forsyth straightened. "Look, that's possible. But first get your AI to look for M3s. An M3 with three passengers."

"They'd have to have changed the registration number. That's not easy."

Forsyth accessed his comm and took another look at the three fugitives. Fletcher was Fleet. Maybe he had some smarts. And the other woman, Cilla somebody. She was a systems engineer. He frowned. There was something about her, he'd seen her before… He pushed the thought away. He didn't have time for this. He closed the pictures. "No, it's not easy. But it's possible. Get your AI to search."

Serg had begun to pace, six steps one way, six the other. It took him three iterations before the AI said, " An M3 carrying three passengers landed at Starport Cruzeno yesterday ." It showed the location on the display.

Serg stopped pacing. "I'll be damned. Can you find out who they are?"

"The arrival records are for Alexi Lerman, who owns the ship, Rena Subillo, and Judyk Vansen."

Forsyth waved the information away. "Doesn't matter. If they can change a ship's rego, they can change their own."

"Or buy somebody off," Serg said.

True. And it hardly mattered. "Serg, we're running out of time. She would have contacted her old man as soon as they reached the Santa Cruz beacon. Cornelis's ship will be on its way right now. He would have sent it to Thurbass as soon as he learned she was missing."

"We can't be sure—"

"We won't find out here. Let's you and I go down there and find her. They will have taken a taxi or hired a skimmer or something. We can ask at the space port. Have the AI check the hotels for bookings for them. It can let us know."

Serg nodded. "I'll pick a few men—"

"Vlad and Georgi. No more." Forsyth took a deep breath and forced the irritation down. "We don't want to attract attention. We're businessmen in town for a meeting. Can we get this happening? Please?"