“I hope Cascade behaves himself.”
“Who?”
I’d forgotten Abby hadn’t known about the dog.
“Rohan picked up the last of Ghoul’s puppies, and Tens let him keep it. Said the pup steadied Rohan down. If I know those two, Cascade will be wherever Rohan is. I hope nothing happens to him. Rohan will be heartbroken.”
“No. Rohan is a very lucky young man. The dog will gain him more forgiveness than his youth, particularly if he has treated it well.”
“Those two? Like brothers of a different skin.”
“Then Rohan will survive the meeting.”
“Will they separate them?”
“They may not. It depends on how well they acquit themselves.”
“Are we going to try and save them?”
And I meant the whole ship, and not just Rohan and the dog, but Abby knew that.
“We cannot save them, yet. I am good, but not good enough to deal with four wolf drop-ships and the kind of back-up they can call. I would not be able to retrieve the Marie before we were overwhelmed.”
I’d known that. I really had, but hearing it was still hard. My heart sank.
“What do we do now?”
“We wait for them to leave, and pray they don’t see us—and then we head planetside to find out what happened to Mack and Tens.”
“You don’t think they were on board?”
“Would Rohan have taken charge if they had been?”
I shook my head. No. Rohan would have deferred to both. The fact he’d been calling the shots meant he’d been filling in for Tens, and Mack had put him in charge of what should have been a nice, safe orbit.
Damn.
I couldn’t think of anything to add to the plan, so I settled myself in the pilot’s seat, and watched. The Marie’s docking bays opened.
“What is the delay?” the wolf leader demanded, and I watched as the shuttles prepared to fire.
“I’ve enacted emergency stasis procedures. I will be the only crewman awake when you board the Shady Marie.”
“Thank you, Marie. This will ensure your personnel remain unharmed. Any found out of their pods will be detained.”
“Agreed,” and if Rohan was feeling any form of nerves, he didn’t show it.
“Good boy,” Abby breathed. “Very good.”
I wanted to ask what was good about any of it, but didn’t want to miss anything else coming over the comms.
“You want to see what happens when they dock?”
Dry-mouthed, I nodded.
It was a good thing she’d linked in through the implant—or maybe it was because I was in her cabin and she could see me with her own security feed. Either way, she got it, and I was able to follow Rohan’s progress through the monitors as he locked down the Marie’s control center and made his way to the docking bay nearest the bridge, Cascade trotting by his side.
He was almost there, when the Marie rocked as four shuttles touched down, and I saw when he contemplated leaving the bays open to vacuum.
Don’t do it Rohan.
He showed no sign of hearing me, but stopped outside the airlock entry, and sighed. Abby’s scans showed when the Marie’s bay doors closed, and I knew the boy had accessed the controls using his implant. That done, he rested his hand on Cascade’s ugly head.
“Well, boy. This is it. Let’s go meet our guests.”
The dog gave him a curious glance, and wagged his tail. It was not a happy wag, and the big brute looked more anxious than content. Apparently, Rohan picked it up, too.
“I know, boy, but it’s the only way. I need you to play nice, okay? No biting.”
Again, Cascade tilted his head, eyeing the youngster with what might have been puzzlement. Rohan patted his head, and the door opened before them.
“I mean it, boy. I need you to not get hurt.”
They stepped into the airlock, and the door slid shut behind them. Cascade whined, and leant against his master’s leg. The door to the hangar started to open, and Rohan dropped his hand to the dog’s shoulder.
“It’ll be okay, boy.”
The wolves were waiting when they stepped out, three meters back with blasters aimed directly at the lock. Rohan closed his hand on the scruff of Cascade’s neck, and took two steps to clear the entrance. He raised his other hand over his head, and looked to the obvious leader of the squad. I stared dumbfounded.
I had never in my life seen a two-legged wolf, before, never in my wildest dreams or worst nightmares—and these guys were beasts to look at, built like every shock trooper I’d ever seen, but out-massing them, and towering over Rohan’s six-feet of growth by another three.
Cascade growled, and Rohan’s grip on his scruff tightened.
“Easy, boy.”
The wolf leader signaled two of his men forward, and Cascade lunged. Rohan didn’t hesitate; he dropped down over the big dog, wrapping his arms around it and hanging on for all he was worth. The dog went down under him, but Rohan didn’t let go. He did his best to cover the creature with his body.
“Stand down! Cascade, stand down! Stand down! Stand! Down! Please, stand down.”
And the dog went still—which was when I noticed that the wolf warriors had stopped their advance.
“Good boy. There’s my boy,” Rohan crooned stroking Cascade’s head and shoulders. “Easy. Good boy.”
The wolf warriors looked back at their leader, and he nodded.
I’d only ever seen arach move that fast. They had grabbed Rohan and the dog by their respective scruffs and dragged them apart in the time it took me to blink—and chaos erupted, boy and dog fighting to reach each other, until the wolf holding Cascade growled, and shook him.
The dog gave a frightened yip, and went limp, the wolf wrapping his arms around his body. Rohan fought harder, trying to reach him.
“Cascade! You bastards!”
He drove an elbow into the monster holding him, and lashed out with a boot. It looked like the training he’d be doing with Tens was
