Chapter 13

Remma did his best to keep his head down during the trip back to Mirolasor. He visited Sol and otherwise stayed in his own room aside from meals. He did, though, take the chance to eat dinner with Berro when they ran into each other in the dining hall, and to tell Berro some of what he had planned.

"You're leaving?" Berro blinked at Remma over his plate of food. "Really?"

"Really. Please don't tell anyone. I don't want to deal with Denna being dramatic about it. But yeah, I've had enough of this life. I want something different for a while."

"You heading back to Tozra?"

"Maybe. I haven't really decided yet." Remma grimaced at his dinner. Mostly it depended on what happened with Sol. If he couldn't get Sol back to safety then there didn't seem to be much point in doing anything at all. But he wasn't willing to spend too much time contemplating that possibility. It was too bleak.

"Well, you'll figure something out, I'm sure," Berro said. "It's a big universe. Lots of options."

He was right—Remma could do almost anything. But all that he wanted was to be with Sol, and that was tricky, because Sol was still Denna's prisoner. And Remma had no idea if he would be able to get Sol free.

The day before they were due to arrive in Mirolasor system, Denna sent Remma a message requesting a meeting. Remma didn't want to go—he dreaded hearing whatever it was Denna wanted to say to him—but ignoring the message would be even worse.

A bunch of pirates were milling around in the corridor outside Denna's rooms, talking and laughing. They ignored Remma as he approached, and he waded through them with gritted teeth. The landing party, presumably, having already received their orders, and Remma was the last to hear about the plan.

Denna was in his sitting room, smug as an emperor, eating something Remma couldn't identify, probably some treat he'd picked up at the last station. He grinned at Remma with food in his teeth as Remma came into the room. "There he is. Took you long enough."

"I came as soon as I got your message," Remma said, careful to keep the irritation from his voice.

Denna ignored his reply. "We'll be at your little moon tomorrow. I sent a message to the human's colony letting them know we have him and we're looking to see what they'll offer for his safe return. They're going to meet with us, so you weren't wrong that they value him." Denna rolled his eyes. "Now we'll have to see what these backwater humans can cough up to make it worth our time."

"Do you have some amount in mind that you'll settle for?"

"No firm number. I want it to hurt. If I think they're holding back, I'll space him with no regrets." Denna grinned again. "Bets on whether the mother cries?"

Remma looked at him with disgust. He couldn't believed he'd worked for this man for so long without ever really thinking about it. Denna took good care of his crew, but he was a small, mean, petty man who contributed nothing of worth to the universe. Remma thought less of himself for having gone along with Denna's schemes for so long.

Well, no longer. This was the last job, and this one was for Sol.

"You'll go down moonside with us tomorrow," Denna said when Remma didn't reply. "I want to keep an eye on you while I'm off the ship."

Thanks for the trust, Remma thought but didn't say. Denna was right not to trust him. He would do anything to save Sol—anything at all, without reservation.

"Aren't you worried I'll cause trouble down there?" Remma asked.

"You'd be a fool to try anything in front of me. I'll just call off the negotiations and find some other way to get the core. Or give up on it altogether. There are plenty of other good scores to be had." Denna wasn't smirking now; he looked entirely serious. "But I know you'll behave, because you want your human delivered back to his people."

"I'll behave," Remma said, chastened. "There won't be any trouble."

"Then I'll see you tomorrow," Denna said, a clear dismissal, and Remma gladly took the opportunity to leave.

* * *

The shuttle glideddown toward the moon's surface. Remma, strapped in the windowless cargo hold in back, closed his eyes and listened to the sounds of the wings adjusting on the way through the atmosphere. Around him, the other pirates rode in silence, in some cases, or talked and laughed with their neighbors, in others.

This was the last job Remma would ever do with this group of people. He was finished.

The shuttle landed with jolt. Remma unbuckled his harness and waited his turn to file outside. The air through the open hatch smelled so familiar to him: pine, loamy soil, a hint of coming rain. He hadn't been gone for more than a few weeks, and he was surprised to realize how much he had missed this moon.

They had landed on the flatlands below the colony. The sun was high in the sky behind patchy clouds, casting weak light on the outcrop where the colony lay. Remma craned his neck to look up toward the peak. He didn't see anyone up there, but that didn't mean they weren't watching.

"Let's go," Denna said, motioning with one arm toward the outcrop. Everyone quit milling around and began the hike toward the top.

Loden was waiting for them outside, flanked by most of the colony's members, all of them heavily armed. Remma saw people carrying guns who he knew for a fact couldn't shoot. That was good: Loden was making a show of force, which meant she had some inkling what she was dealing with here. He hoped Sol's message had gotten through.

"You're Loden?" Denna asked, and she nodded once. "No warm greeting for the men who saved your son?"

"You kidnapped him, I believe," Loden said. "But we're greeting you warmly enough. We didn't shoot your shuttle out of the sky."

A bluff: the colony didn't have any weapons capable of shooting down a shuttle. Remma's hopes grew. Loden was going to play hardball, which was the only way she stood a chance of going up against Denna and getting Sol home.

Denna huffed. "Fair enough. Do we get to go inside, or are you going to make me negotiate on this rock?"

"I suppose we can go in," Loden said. She gestured to Meridren, her second in command, who did actually know how to shoot, and he turned to activate the controls to open the gate.

The interior of the colony looked dusty and shabby after Remma's time away. Denna sneered as they all walked into the main passage. "This is your base?"

"An outpost," Loden said. "You think I'd lead you into the heart of my territory? Even on a backwater moon we know how to exercise caution."

She was being more abrasive than Remma probably would have recommended, but it wasn't like he was some tactical genius who knew exactly what to do in every situation. Who was to say his instincts were correct?

And Denna let it go, at least; or at least didn't turn them all around and march right back outside. He followed Loden with a scowl on his face as she led him into the mess hall, which was the only room big enough to hold all of them. Denna's face as he sat in one of the rickety, homemade wooden chairs was a picture of disbelief. Remma kept his amusement to himself. No need to give the game away.

Loden took the chair across the table. Everyone else stood, humans and Tozren eyeing each other warily. The situation could so easily descend into violence, and the humans would lose; even Sol, capable and fierce, didn't know how to fight. But surely it wouldn't come to that.

"So," Loden said. "You have my son, you tell me." A quick glance at Remma, who dipped his chin in acknowledgment. She still trusted him, then, at least enough to believe him that the pirates did actually have Sol.

"And you want him back, I take it," Denna replied.

"I would like that, yes."

"And what are you prepared to offer me in exchange?"

"We have a small something that may be of interest to you." Loden turned to Meridren, who left the room briefly and came back holding a box with a lid. He approached Denna and lifted the lid just enough to show what was inside.

Remma couldn't see, but he could tell from Denna's expression that it was, in fact, the tesseract core. Loden had managed to find it.

"Well," Denna said. "That's something."

"A small something," Loden repeated, with a slight curve to her lips. She knew she had come up with something Denna wouldn't be able to turn down.

"Yes. Well." Denna reached for the box, but Meridren stepped back and replaced the lid. Denna looked at Loden with his eyebrows raised.

"I want my son first," Loden said. "Then you can have the core."

Denna snorted. "You aren't in a position to negotiate. He's still in orbit. Give me the core, and I'll send him down on a shuttle."

"That's unacceptable."

Denna spread his hands. "Then our deal is off."

He was bluffing, Remma knew; he wanted the core, which was far more valuable than the sum total of Sol's organs, and he would likely back down if Loden held firm. But Loden didn't have experience with negotiations of this nature, and Remma could tell from the way she hesitated that she was going to give in.

Don't do it!Remma wanted to shout at her. But there was nothing he could do.

Loden's mouth pursed. "Send him down now, and we'll make the exchange once I can see that he's well."

"I don't have a second shuttle," Denna lied. "Give me the core now, or you don't get to see your son again."

Loden glanced at Meridren, who lifted his shoulders one helpless inch.

Remma's heart plummeted toward the ground. Goodbye, Sol, he thought, even as Loden opened her mouth to say, "Very well. We have an agreement."

* * *

Remma hikeddown the path from the colony in a black cloud of grief and despair. That was it, then: Denna would take the core and leave the system, and sell Sol for parts anyway. And Remma would grieve him for the rest of his life, and never forgive himself for putting Sol in harm's way in the first place. He would take that regret to his funeral pyre.

Everyone filed onto the shuttle and strapped in. The joking and laughing continued. Remma closed his eyes and prayed they would disintegrate going through the atmosphere. At least that way Sol would live.

The shuttle rocked for a moment as it docked with the ship. Denna came back into the hold and said, "Let's go. We're leaving the system as soon as we can get clearance."

"What about the human?" someone asked.

Remma kept his eyes closed, but he could imagine Denna's eye-roll of contempt. "Obviously we're not wasting the time and fuel to send him back. Those humans were fools to give us the core, and they'll learn it soon enough."

"Brutal," someone murmured nearby, and Remma choked back a bitter laugh at the thought of someone else on the crew belatedly developing a conscience.

He went directly to his room. There was only one thing left he could think of to do.

He locked the door behind him. He didn't want to be interrupted.

The communication module by the door was his target. He'd used it many times without ever learning there was a thinking mind on the other end. He knew now, though, thanks to Sol.

Ship? he thought cautiously. Can you hear me?

Of course, the ship replied at once. You're Sol's friend.

Friend—that was one way to put it. He needs your help. Denna isn't going to send him back home after all.

Denna just ordered me to submit flight plans for leaving the system. I'm talking to Sol now. Did his mother not have what Denna wanted?

Oh, she had it, Remma thought grimly. Denna took it. He's just decided not to return Sol in exchange.

But that's cheating! The ship sounded outraged. He can't have it both ways!

Can and will. He's going to sell Sol's organs for spare cash.

No he's not, the ship said. Oh, but I don't know what to do! it wailed, and then went silent. Remma waited. When it didn't say anything further after a minute, he dropped his hand with a curse and slammed the control panel to open the door again.

Nobody stopped him in the corridors, maybe due to the dark scowl on his face or maybe because nobody cared what he was up to. The guard was stationed outside Sol's room as usual, but this time he said, "Sorry, can't let you in. Orders."

"Orders," Remma repeated dully.

The guard shrugged. "Straight from the boss. He said no one goes in."

Well—damn Denna, and damn Remma, too, for being so gullible as to think Denna would ever let Sol go. An intact human, young, healthy, was worth a not inconsiderable amount of money. Denna wasn't going to let that walk away from him.

What could he do? He wasn't smart enough for this situation.

The guard had a gun. He was bigger than Remma, and he knew how to fight. Remma would have to be a fool to think he had a chance.

He had to try. He had to do something. He wasn't going to let Sol die.

"You can make an exception for me," he said, taking one small step closer to the guard. "I just want to see him, that's all."

"No exceptions," the guard said.

"Just for a minute," Remma said. Keep him talking, keep him distracted. "I'll leave the door open the whole time."

"I've got orders," the guard said, and Remma took one more step and lunged for the gun.

He couldn't have said afterward exactly what happened. One moment he was grappling with the guard for the gun; the next moment his shoulder was on fire and he was being slammed down onto the floor. The guard had gotten his arm twisted up behind his back and pinned him there with a knee between his shoulder blades. Remma tried to twist away, but that only made the pain worse.

"Stop squirming or I'll break your arm," the guard said. "That wasn't smart."

"Had to try," Remma muttered, his cheek smashed against the floor.

"Pathetic," the guard said. He lifted his knee away and began dragging Remma down the hallway. Remma didn't fight. He fully believed the threat about having his arm broken, and he'd definitely be no use to Sol that way.

The guard didn't take him far. At the next door down the hallway he stopped, opened the door, and shoved Remma inside.

"You'll stay here until Denna decides what to do with you," the guard said. "If you try to escape, I'll shoot you."

Remma didn't reply. He didn't have anything useful to say.

"Good," the guard said, and slid the door shut.

Remma hauled himself to his feet and grabbed for the communication module. Ship? Can you hear me? Ship?

He was certain the ship could hear him, but there was no reply.

Well. Fuck.