“There,” one said, pointing.
Erick winced and almost dropped his camouflaging efforts in favor of reinforcing his barrier to repel blazer fire. The two men raised their rifles. Instead of firing at Jelena and Erick, they shot the thrust bikes parked innocently on the side of the dune.
Clangs echoed from the dunes, shrapnel flew in all directions, and one of the fuel tanks blew up. Fire and smoke poured into the air.
Erick gaped at the carnage.
Crap, we’re not getting our deposit back, Jelena thought.
Deposit? You’re going to get a huge bill. Did you put that on your parents’ business account? Erick stared at the men, half-surprised they hadn’t seen through his attempt at camouflage too.
Yes. I think we’re now going to have twenty thousand fewer tindarks to barter with for a ship. She looked warily at the men with the rifles.
One tapped an earstar. “Sarge? We got a couple of spies hiding out here somewhere. The good news is they’re not going anywhere unless they walk home.”
Erick couldn’t hear the reply.
“Right. We’ll widen our patrol. We’ll find ’em.”
Erick let his shoulders relax an iota as the men turned their backs. They walked along the crest, one looking down one side of the dune, the other looking the other way. Erick kept his camouflage up.
I guess I need to ask Grandpa for more training when it comes to camouflage. Jelena sounded sheepish as she looked back toward the smoldering remains of the bikes.
Remedial camouflage classes, yes. Erick frowned at her, not sure the ramifications of the destroyed bikes had sunk in for her yet. This little side trip was going to cost her parents a lot of money. This was not the way to show she was responsible and capable.
Bleakness found its way onto her face as she looked at the wreckage. Maybe she did get the ramifications.
I can try to maintain my camouflage as we sneak slowly down there, Erick said, watching the vigilant men walking away. More patrollers waited down below. But tell me what we’re going to try to do. I could possibly disable the bombers if I had enough time, but all that would do is leave a bunch of angry men on the ground with us.
He thought of the way one had called another “Sarge.” That further suggested these were ex-imperial soldiers, men still acting as if they were in a military unit. If so, they would be dangerous, and they wouldn’t cower in their ships if someone yelled, “Starseers.”
Let’s get the man and the dog out, Jelena replied. If we get some inspiration and can find a way to stop those men from stealing the cargo, that would be good, but mostly we should focus on the rescue. The man is hiding in a secret compartment, I think, but do you sense that one man wandering through the ship? I bet he’s looking for the owner.
I’ll take your word for it. I can’t split my concentration to keep the camo up and sense what people are doing.
All right. I’ll lead the way. Jelena rose to a crouch.
Erick shook his head, doubting this was a good idea, but he couldn’t fault Jelena for wanting to save someone’s life. And some dog’s life. Besides, if these were old imperial soldiers, and they were stealing weapons, it couldn’t be for any good reason. What if they were planning some new attack against the Alliance? A lot of people could die if a militant team of ex-soldiers got their hands on crates full of weapons.
If he and Jelena were careful, maybe they could sneak in, find the freighter operator, sneak out, and Erick could destroy the cargo on the way out. Better that than letting unscrupulous people have it.
He rubbed his face as he followed Jelena down the dune. How had they gone from being innocent shoppers to scheming vigilantes in under an hour?
A pair of men striding about and looking very alert came out from between two of the ships. They looked up the dune, and Erick made his camouflage as perfect as he could. Even though he and Jelena were sneaking down slowly, maintaining it over moving targets was not easy.
She took a roundabout route toward the freighter, skirting two of the bombers. The old imperial vessels had clear canopies with all four seats up in the cockpit area, so Erick could see the helmeted heads of the pilots as they passed close to them. Would the sensors in the cockpits see through Starseer tricks?
Focus, he reminded himself. Focus.
Jelena picked up speed when the big freighter’s cargo ramp came into view ahead of them, but she halted halfway to it. A man strode out of the hatchway, gripping a hand tractor and floating a massive gun barrel ahead of him. No question about the cargo they were stealing. Weapons.
Erick glowered, tempted to trip him, but it was bad enough that the imperials knew spies were about.
Jelena crouched, waiting for the man to cross the sand toward an open hatch in the side of one of the bombers. They weren’t going to be able to load a full cargo on the three smaller ships. No doubt, they were selecting the best stuff.
There’s only one in the hold right now, Jelena told Erick silently. This might be our best chance.
Wait, I’m not going to be able to camouflage us going up that ramp. It’s not going to look right if I try. He shared an image with her of the way he was manipulating things to make the spots where they stood look the same as the empty sand next to them.
