“No choice.” I initiated an override and the MedBed did its thing, dosing Ana-Zhi with a gradual stimulant cocktail and high-oxygen air through her nasal cannula.
Within three minutes she was starting to come around.
“Ana-Zhi, it’s me, Jannigan.” I took her hand. “Do you know where you are?”
She groaned and her eyes fluttered. “Jannigan?”
“Yes, listen, you’re going to be all right.”
“I don’t fucking feel all right,” she said weakly.
“You’re in the infirmary. Being treated for an electric shock.”
“Jannigan?” She looked at me, but her eyes were unfocused.
“I’m right here, Ana-Zhi. Tell me, who did this to you?”
“To me?”
“Yes, someone messed you up, but good. Who was it?”
She groaned again and coughed.
“Ana-Zhi, tell me—”
She murmured something, but I couldn’t make it out. Neither could Chiraine.
“Say again.” I stooped down so my ear was nearly against her mouth.
“The Rhya,” she said. “The Rhya did this.”
Chiraine and I looked at each other in disbelief. How could this be possible?
Just then the comm squealed to life.
“Bad news, folks,” Narcissa said. “We’ve got company!”
“What?”
“Three fighters and a dropship.” It sounded like she was breathing hard.
“How far away?”
“Just about knocking on our door.”
Holy shit.
“Get us out of here! Now!”
“Almost at the bridge—”
Just then the ship rocked and all hell broke loose. Something just hit us. Hard.
It was too late.
12
We didn’t really have any sort of chance.
The Mayir legionnaires rushed through the airlock before Chiraine and I could even get up to the hold.
They didn’t even need to use any breachers; the fucking Rhya just let them in.
“Drop your weapons!” a Mayir corporal yelled, as five more soldiers fanned out on either side of him.
We did so. I didn’t want to die right now, and I definitely didn’t want to risk Chiraine’s life.
“Where’re the other ones?”
“Bridge—top level,” I said. Then I told Narcissa, over the comm, to surrender.
“Holy shit,” a voice called. “It’s my old buddy, Jannigan Beck!” Unfortunately, it was a voice that I recognized.
“So, Qualt, I guess I messed up big time by leaving you alive,” I said.
“I know that wasn’t your call, kid. It must have been Ana-Zhi who was my angel of mercy. Am I right?”
I didn’t say anything.
“No matter,” Qualt said, as he sauntered closer. “How’s she doing? I understand there was some…unpleasantness.”
“She’s in the MedBed thanks to that scum of a Rhya.”
“Hold it up there, hoss!” Qualt chortled. “That’s an advanced intelligence you’re talking about.”
“An advanced traitor, is more like it. I should have known that you had someone on the inside. There’s no way a bunch of yahoos like you and your crew could have taken out all those wardships.”
“Believe what you want, manito. I’m just here to collect my ship back.”
“What’s going to happen to us?” Chiraine asked.
“Not my call, ladybug. But if you’re nice to me, maybe I’ll put in a good word…” He leered close to her.
Rage welled up inside me and I stepped between him and Chiraine. “You get away—”
Then the base of my skull exploded in a supernova of pain.
“I don’t believe I was talking to you, junior.”
Everything went black.
Falling in and out of consciousness, I had brief flashes of being dragged from the Vostok and tossed in a jumpship. I passed out for a long time, and when I finally awoke I found myself flat on my back and shivering on a hard metal surface that vibrated almost imperceptibly.
It was almost completely dark. Just a few dim status lights in the distance. My eyes could barely focus and my head pounded from what felt like the mother of all hangovers.
I hate getting nailed with a shally stick. This was only my third time. Both other times I was a little asshole of maybe thirteen or fourteen. I had been messing around with Kane and Hoedi and a kid we knew named Pauley. We stole an old shally stick from Hoedi’s older brother Lucias who worked as a security guard. We dared each other to take a hit from it. Pauley got messed up the worst and nearly died. At least that’s what Kane told me.
I actually think my younger self had been able to shrug off the shally’s effects a bit better than thirty-two-year-old Jannigan. Right now I was feeling pretty messed up. Especially when I tried to sit up.
“Jannigan? You awake?” The voice seemed close.
“Chiraine?”
“Yeah. You okay?”
“Not sure yet.”
I heard the rustling of fabric and then felt soft, warm hands cradling my face. “Oh, Jannigan.”
I pulled Chiraine close and she buried her head against my shoulder. I could feel her sobbing quietly.
“It’s going to be okay,” I whispered.
Another voice asked, “Really?” It was Narcissa.
“Narcissa, are you okay?”
“Relatively speaking.”
“Good.”
“I mean, they kicked the shit out of me. Especially Qualt. I think he wanted a little payback for me shooting his hand. But nothing’s broken. I hope.”
As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, I thought I could make out Narcissa’s figure sitting against something about a meter away. Maybe it was my imagination, though.
“Ana-Zhi?” I called.
“She’s not here,” Chiraine sat up beside me. I could smell her natural scent. It was faintly sweet. Vanilla, maybe.
“Is she okay?” I asked.
“No idea.”
“What about my father?” The Mayir must have found him.
“They didn’t really talk much when they were trying to kick my head in,” Narcissa said.
“I gather we’re on the Mayir Scout Carrier,” I said.
“I heard them mention the Baeder,” Chiraine said.
“Never heard of it.”
“Whatever it’s called, we’re on a big ship,” Narcissa said.
“How do you know?” Chiraine asked.
Narcissa knocked on the metal floor. “The hum. Every size and shape ship has its own hum.”
“You can tell what kind of ship this is from the hum?” Chiraine asked incredulously.
“Of course not. I can just tell that it’s big.”
“Yeah,” I said. “Well, from what we saw on the scanner when they first appeared in the system, Ana-Zhi guessed this was a Hammerhead-class Scout Carrier with a dozen stingrays in her belly.”
“I’d buy that,” Narcissa said.
Chiraine sighed. “So what do you think will happen to us?”
“No idea.” I didn’t want to mention the fact that
