“There will be a battle cruiser arriving in the next four hours, and two corvettes by the end of the week,” the lieutenant said, addressing the queen. “Don’t worry, your Majesty. We’ll have your orbital up and running in two days, and your solar system secured in a fortnight… at least, until the next attempt is made.”
Tekravzary had shifted to her human form, and two of her bodyguards had mirrored her; the remaining four remained as vespis, arrayed in pairs on either side. The queen inclined her head, and indicated Mack with a wave of her hand.
“Liaise with the captain. His ship is our ship, and it is in need of repairs.”
His ship was her ship? Well, that was news to me, and, judging by the suddenly blank expression on Mack’s face it was news to him, too. I wondered if the queen was reading our confusion, and when she would deign to explain.
“Check the contract.”
And Mack went rigid.
“Son…” he began, and shut his mouth with a snap.
Tens laid a hand on his shoulder, and I just stood very, very still, remembering the queen’s words aboard the ship. No wonder she’d ordered Rohan to fly the shuttle without clearance. She owned the ship… had contracted Mack’s services. Was that like taking on another hive?
Did contracting another queen, mean you contracted all the resources of the hive and treated them like your own?
“Yes,” the queen said, and I stared at her.
Yes?
“Yes,” she said, and T’Kit sidled over to me, and brushed my cheek with an antenna.
Mack groaned, but I knew what he wanted to say. He wanted to say ‘hands off my crew’—and he’d just signed something that said he couldn’t… and he wouldn’t break that contract unless the queen did something to harm us. I looked from him to Tekravzary.
She wouldn’t, would she?
“Only to save both hives,” she replied, and some of the tension went out of Mack’s shoulders.
It made me feel a little better, but still left me with one question. When Mack left the control room to see to the needs of the Shady Marie did I stay, or go with him?
“You have been assigned to my guards,” the queen said, and Mack glanced sharply towards her.
She raised an antenna at him.
“Check the contract, captain. You will find it is not so bad. For instance, I will be housing your crew on-planet for the duration of the repairs. They will work alongside Odyssey to develop the training my people need if they are to go into space. They will assist the humans on K’Kavor to understand how important it is that our two peoples integrate.”
“They will?”
“It is in the contract.”
I noticed that several of the Odyssey operators were smirking, and wondered if their contract held the same clauses. The queen glanced over at the Odyssey lieutenant.
“Odzee has dealt with the vespis, before. Their contract is a little less broad-reaching.”
She sounded almost miffed, but her mental tones also held respect.
“I’m going to murder Delight,” Mack muttered, and the queen smiled.
“That would also be in breach, captain. Now, if you would take yourself and Tens to the repair dock, to ensure we have covered all that needs doing, I will have T’Kit accompany Cutter to collect the equipment and belongings she needs for a stay with my guards.”
Mack’s lips tightened, and the glance he shot me was almost angry. Like his stupidity had been my fault! That earned me a brief glare, before he returned his attention to the queen. His voice was tight, when he replied.
“As your Majesty wishes.”
He turned, and led the way from the orbital’s control center, Tens by his side. T’Kit and I followed, the bodyguard making a short bow to her queen as she departed. I copied the movement, before I left, and the queen inclined her head in return.
If I hadn’t known any better, I’d have said she was pleased.
19—New Ventures and Alliances
The queen might have been pleased, but Mack was not. When he got to the Marie, he and Tens walked, with the head of the orbital’s repair dock, through the damaged ship. I cast a look at T’Kit and wondered if she would let me walk with them, given that the ship, the hive, was my home, as well.
She considered that, with a tilt of her head, and I figured she must be talking with the queen. After a minute, she looked down at me.
“My queen says you may. She is curious, too, to see the damage that was done in the name of keeping her world safe.”
“Thank you,” seemed the safest response, and I followed after Mack.
I’ll give him this: he glanced, once, at the vespis bodyguard and at me, and then turned his attention back to the repair-dock foreman. He might not be happy with the queen’s representative tagging along for the ride, but he seemed happy enough with me shadowing his footsteps. That was kinda nice.
None of us were happy with the foreman’s verdict when he got a good look at what the arach had done to the ship’s docking bay.
“We don’t have the equipment for that,” he said. “Best we could do is patch it over, and send you four systems in.”
“We wouldn’t make the jump.”
“You might.”
“The first one, maybe. What’s in the next system over?”
“Not a lot. Mining colony, four gates, GalPol monitoring station…”
Four gates. I felt alarm shimmer across me. Four…
“Where to?” Mack wanted to know.
“What?”
“Where do the four gates lead to?”
The foreman shrugged.
“Not sure,” he said. “It’s not really my area of expertise.”
“I’ll pass that to Odyssey,” Tens said. “They need to know.”
They needed to know, all right. Delight was on the line minutes later.
“We need to see you and the queen on board, now.”
I half expected to be wrapped in silver and dragged right over, but it didn’t happen.
“You’re under a vespis contract,” Delight said. “There are protocols we have to follow. We’ll send an invitation and a pinnace.”
My, my,
