“Still in pain, huh?” she said.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t lie well.”
“Merthon said I heal faster than, uh.”
“Than un-modified humans?” Katy said.
“Is that what I am?”
“Yeah, a modified human. Better than human.” She smiled and put her arm around him and he winced and she pulled her arm back, then she patted him on the back and he winced again. “I’m making a run to Bertha’s, wanna come?”
“Yeah. I need to get out of here before I go crazy.”
“What’s Merthon gonna say?”
“He ain’t gonna know.”
They took the Scout, which Marco had outfitted with a Halbrock Industries Phase 4 turret. He’d welded it straight on to the front of the hover craft partially obscuring the pilot’s view. The Phase 4s, usually fitted to the undercarriage of the big freighters, had long since been replaced with the 5s, because the 4s had a tendency to lock up with tracking system issues, usually right when you needed them most. So the pirates and the free traders salvaged them or bought them for scrap, then added modified logic chips that fixed all the previous issues and suddenly the 4s were helping to take down the ships they were supposed to defend.
Jolo couldn’t help but stare at the big barrel, aimed down to the side, reminding him of the giant turrets on the ice harvester.
“You get used to it after awhile,” said Katy. “Could’ve used the thing when the BG hit us a week ago.”
Jolo slowly turned around in his seat to say hi to the girl in the back, Misha. The shots of pain under his ribcage were distant and dull, thanks to one of Merthon’s pain killers. He tried to make eye contact, to make some kind of connection. But she stared straight out and watched the gray morning sky turn bright blue.
They made it to Bertha’s right at lunch time. The old wooden house was partially obscured by a giant UFP freight hauler sitting on a makeshift landing pad. The large, white ship looked out of place next to the tin-roofed house. The kids swarmed around Jolo when they spotted him and Katy had to act as body guard. “Can we play, Cap’n Jolo?” they all yelled. The big cargo hauler’s side doors were open, each one nearly as big as the house, and kids had set up camp in one of the large empty rooms. Meanwhile a team of engineers and mechanics worked on the engines.
A man in a Federation engineer’s black coverall came up to Jolo and saluted. “Captain Vargas. It’s an honor. I’m Biggins. I heard you rescued Captain Barthelme. I was on the Valhalla with him for a time when you were gone. How is the cranky old fart?”
“Getting better,” said Jolo. “Are you still with the Fed?”
Biggins smiled, ran his fingers through his dark, greasy hair. “Is Captain Barthelme? I got reassigned to a recon boat after they took the Captain. It was just before they pulled all Fed boats back into core world space. Anyhow, we had it out with a pair of pirate ships and they took our boat and dropped us here. I thought they were gonna kill us, but I ended up staying and helping out.”
“You know what’s happening then?” said Katy.
“Of course.”
“But the Fed don’t, right?” said Jolo.
Biggins shook his head in disgust. “It’s like they’re blind. You’ve seen it. All the strange stuff happening. The dang towers. BG boats letting the pirates run free on the fringe. Even heard of BG boats attacking core Fed haulers.“
“Are there others like you in the military?” said Katy.
“You mean freaks that don’t fit? No. I ain’t upper-crust core world stock. My father worked as a mechanic in the bowels of a freighter his whole life. And I bounced around on the bottom of the Fed pay scale. You think they put the up-and-comers on the Valhalla, way out here?” He looked around with his arms outstretched and laughed. “Not many like me. But I’ll tell you one thing. Most of us want to do what’s right. If a BG boat comes at us we’ll give them hell, alliance or no.”
“Is this ship gonna be ready?” said Jolo.
“We been workin’ day and night. It’s got to be ready.”
They found Bertha in the kitchen chopping greens on a huge wooden cutting board. A big man with a mech leg and a young girl were laying out bowls and mixing the greens with Fed meal packs. The whole operation ran like a factory assembly line.
Bertha gave Jolo and Katy a hug when they walked in. Jolo grunted in pain and the big woman just laughed.
“I heard you saved a Fed man from a prison planet. I didn’t think that was possible?” she said.
“I thought the garden was destroyed by the BG ship?” said Jolo, changing the subject, pointing at the greens on the cutting board.
“That’s mainly chicory, with a few other edibles. When we lost this year’s crops we started foraging out near a patch of green a few kilometers away. We taught the kids what to look for and they’ve been a big help.”
“Looks like you’ve got even more kids,” said Katy.
“They keep coming. Kids without mommies or daddies. Kids that have seen too much.”
“Are you gonna make it out in time?” said Jolo.
“Our Fed man Biggins is on it. I have faith in him, but I also have faith in Jolo Vargas,” she said. She
