Just a little bit of luck.
Nate blinked at the console, then grinned at El. “Hey. Hey hey. Luck.”
“Gladiator, this is Absalom. Do you read me?” The voice was male, talking a little too fast. Inexperienced with the comms? In trouble? No surprises he was feeling some pressure. Hell, everyone was most likely dead, and that would change your world view.
Nate clicked the comm controls. “Absalom, this is Gladiator. Kinda.”
There was a pause. “Kind of?”
“Kinda, yeah,” said Nate. “This is Captain Nathan Chevell of the free trader Tyche. We’re—”
“Great, great. Captain. We don’t have time for the usual spiel. What’s the state of the Gladiator?” Nate had been wrong: the voice wasn’t afraid, just terse. Might be a man used to being in charge, stuck in a place where there was no one to be in charge of anymore.
“Uh.” Nate looked around the bridge. El, now sitting upright but still tired. Kohl on the floor, by all appearances asleep. The empty acceleration couches. Careful, Nate. The man at the end of this line could be responsible for all this. “It’s complicated,” he said.
“I was afraid of that,” said the man, “and I admire your discretion. Captain, this is Rear Admirable Melvin Penn. I’m conscripting you and your crew to bring your ship to this planet within the hour and evac me.”
Rear Admiral. Nate looked at the comm. “Penn? Penn. We’re going to have a small problem with that.”
“Excuse me?”
“Hell, now,” said Nate, “let’s not get off on the wrong foot. But we’ve got problems of our own. Our ship, she’s hurt bad. We’re a good six hours away from being flight ready. And last time we tried to do something up here, the Gladiator fired on my crew.”
“You tried to start the Bridge,” said Penn. “I know. I saw it. That was under my orders.”
“You tried to blow up my crew?”
“I ordered contingencies to stop unauthorized egress from the Absalom system.”
“You’ll kill anyone who tries to leave,” said Nate.
“Unauthorized persons,” said Penn. “Captain? We don’t have a lot of time. I’m holed up in an air duct. They’re trying to find me. Always trying to find me. I need … it’s vital to the safety of our species you come to Absalom and get me. I’ll unlock the Gladiator from here. Give me your transponder, and you won’t be fired on.”
“Wait,” said Nate. “Who’s trying to find you? And what do you mean, ’won’t be fired on?’”
“There’s very little time,” said Penn. “But I mean the Gladiator is set to fire on anyone who approaches or leaves the planet.”
Nate looked at El, made an O with his mouth. “And what do you mean by ’them?’ Who’s down there with you?”
There was a pause on the comm, then Penn said, “Everyone, of course. Everyone else.”
• • •
Nate tightened the straps on the dropship’s acceleration couch. He gave a glance to Grace, who sat at his side. Face still pale, but firm. She’d found something hard and strong in the medbay, something that put iron in her stride and made her forget the pain of her shoulder. Which is what he needed. It’s what they all needed. Kohl was behind them in the dropship’s hold, armored up. He’d collected a rotary laser from the Gladiator’s armory, an ostentatious weapon that only Kohl could use with a straight face. Or lift, because it was designed to be mounted on a tripod. He’d found it, said something like ’everyone’ means we need a lot of firepower, and had gone to sit in the hold with a happy expression.
Hope was still working on the Tyche. He’d looked her in the eye and said you make my ship fly again and she’d just hugged him and said you try not to die. El had frowned at that, gave him a salute, and said she’d come get them as long as there’s not too much fire going in your direction.
The dropship backed out of the bay, Nate’s hands on the sticks. He wasn’t a pilot as good as El, but good enough for a simple drop. He turned the ship, hoping that Penn had been true to his word and told the Gladiator not to fire. After Penn had unlocked the remaining bridge controls, standing the ship down, they’d seen how much automated combat the Gladiator had done. And it was a lot, most of her torpedo bays for ship to ship combat empty. A lot of use of lasers. People had, what, tried to flee Absalom? Land on it? It wasn’t clear. Penn hadn’t trusted them with any of the Gladiator’s mission details — need to know — but the ship’s inventory had been worked hard.
Whatever was going on to whomever was involved, they were not fucking around.
The dropship kicked hard as he pushed the acceleration into the red. “Here goes nothing,” he said.
“It’s better to be in a chair for this,” said Grace. “Last time … anyway. It’s better with a chair.”
“Grace,” said Nate. “You seem to be good with people.”
She gave a half-laugh, half-something-else, none of it happy. “It’s … useful.”
“Penn,” said Nate, “will kill us all and leave us to die.”
“I figure the same thing,” she said. “What I’m not sure about is why we’re going down to get him.”
The dropship trembled as they touched atmosphere. The windows of the shuttle were bathed in red, orange and white as they burned a bright streak towards the planet’s surface. Nate watched it for a minute before he spoke. “I’m not a great supporter of the Republic.”
“What with all the flag-waving and cheering, I’d never have guessed,” said Grace.
“There’s a few things we see eye to eye on,” said Nate. “But they killed a good man once. A … friend of mine. I know how they work. I know what they are.”
“Still doesn’t explain why we’re going down to get one of their head assholes out,” said Grace. “To my mind, it makes this more confusing.”
“The Republic used to be the Empire,” said Nate. “The Old Empire. Same people, you see? Just different assholes in charge. If there’s people down there, we need to get them out.” He thought of the emptiness of the Gladiator. “If the people on that crust are trying to kill Penn, I want to know why.”
“There’s no bonus in it,” said Grace, looking out the window.
“For me, there is,” said Nate. But he wasn’t sure if it was true. Not anymore. He hadn’t worn the Emperor’s Black for a long time. Since he lost his hand — at least he got to keep the sword — he’d not felt like the people in charge much wanted his help. That was fine, but … but. “Grace, there’s a whole planet of people here. They’re not in charge of anything. We … just need to make sure they’re here for the right reasons.”
“If they’re not?” she turned, eyes searching his face. “You don’t strike me as a man into politics, Nate. What, you got your hand torn off because you believed in something, and now you’re angry about it. No, don’t interrupt. I can see it in your face. It comes off you in waves. It’s in this crew you’ve got. The Helm who can’t cut it in the Republic’s Navy. But good enough for your fleet. The thug who doesn’t take orders from anyone in charge. Sometimes not even you. The Engineer whose lover left her bankrupt and on the run from Republic justice. But you’ve given her safe harbor.” She turned away from him. “I’m good with people,” she said. “I’m very good with people.”