I didn’t have to wait long. A few moments later, I was being hailed.
“Come in, Vostok. This is Field Marshall Molda Prundt of the MCP.”
Oh great.
My finger hesitated over the broadcast button. What was I doing? Did I really think I could convince them not to blast us into oblivion?
Then it hit me.
All I needed to do was stall while I moved the Vostok into position to pick up the team.
I keyed the comm. “What do you want, Prundt?”
“With whom am I speaking?”
“Jannigan Beck. I bet that’s a name you won’t be forgetting any time soon.”
“Indeed, Mr. Beck. You continue to surprise me: escaping from our detention center, stealing our ship, destroying our fighters. And, if reports are to be believed, somehow acquiring a combat bot along the way.”
“What can I say, Prundt? When you’ve got it, you’ve got it.”
“Perhaps, Beck.”
“Oh, and you forgot the two fighters I just took out. Do you have any left?” I goaded him.
“You may yet find that out for yourself.”
“Bring it on.”
“Or I may just detonate the bombs we’ve planted on the alien station. The resulting explosion will turn you and your friends into space dust.”
I had been keeping an eye on the jumpship. It was still moored near the top of the station’s central shaft.
“I don’t think so, Prundt. You’ve still got men dicking around down here.”
“Yes, but I have one thousand and ninety-two other men onboard here. You do the math.”
That sicko was prepared to torch his own men!
“Do what you have to do,” I said. “You don’t scare me.”
There was a brief silence and then he said, “I don’t believe I do.”
I had arrived at the lower section of the station with the gaping breaching hole.
“Well, I’m glad we had this little chat, Prundt, but—”
“Tell me, Mr. Beck, what are your intentions?”
“My intentions? What do you mean?”
As I spoke, I cycled through the video feeds from the Vostok’s hull cameras until I got a lock on the gaping hole in the station’s hull. Then I zoomed in until I saw a figure waiting on the edge of the hole.
“I mean, what do you think you’re even doing here in this system? Do you really think you will somehow activate the Fountain and escape us?”
“Now that you mention it, that doesn’t sound half bad,” I said.
When he laughed, it was a high, girlish sound that completely creeped me out. “I’m completely serious, Mr. Beck. What is it that you want?”
I quickly tapped out an Aura-to-Aura message to Ana-Zhi: AM PARLEYING WITH MAYIR. OPENING STERN BAY DOORS. Then I leaned over and began flipping through control screens until I found the controls for the lower aft doors.
“What do I want?” I said to Molda Prundt. “Let’s start with you backing that monstrosity of a ship away from here. It’s so ugly I am actually feeling queasy having to look at it.”
“Surely you have greater aspirations than being a space traffic controller.”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Well, speak up, Mr. Beck. Tell me of your desires. Wealth? A prestigious rank? Or perhaps the fine food, drink, and the, uh, intimate company that you no doubt miss, being so far away from New Torino.”
I bristled at the realization that he knew where I lived. They probably pulled a data profile on me.
“You got me pegged, Prundt. I’d say yes to all of the above. With a side order of vengeance, I have to admit. Since we’re in a sharing mood.”
My Aura pulsed with a message alert. WE’RE IN.
Thank Dynark.
“Vengeance, Mr. Beck? Against whom?”
I tapped back: ALL?
“Against the people who fucked with me, of course. Some I killed already. Yates. Obarral. But right now, I’m thinking of Agon Qualt.”
“Qualt? You captured him and let him go.”
“Yes, a momentary lapse on my part. I thought it was dishonorable to shoot him in his cell, so we marooned him. My bad.”
Molda Prundt laughed his unsettling laugh again. “What if I were to offer you up Mr. Qualt on a silver platter.”
“For—?”
“I’m not finished, Mr. Beck. What if I were to offer you Qualt plus a sizable finder’s fee for locating the Kryrk?”
“Finder’s fee, huh? How much are we talking?”
“In all honesty, much more than you’ve ever seen in your life, Mr. Beck.”
Where the hell was the team? I needed to make sure that they were all on board. That meant I had to stall for a little longer.
“You do know that I am the heir to Beck Salvage, don’t you? Money’s not really much of a concern to me.”
“So you’d be willing to accept just Qualt in trade?”
“For what?”
“For the Vostok, of course. And her contents. It is our ship, after all.”
“Actually, possession is nine tenths of the law,” I said.
“Not our law.”
“Besides, your men destroyed our original ship. That means—”
“I must interject that they did so in defiance of our standing orders. If you were familiar with our doctrines, you would know that we have no quarrel with other humans. It is the aliens who are the scourge of our galaxy.”
“Let’s just agree to disagree about that,” I said.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw people coming down the hallway. Finally.
“So, Mr. Beck. Do we have a deal?”
Chiraine waved at me, followed by Narcissa and Ana-Zhi.
No sign of the Sean bot.
Shit.
“Break it down for me one more time, Prundt. You want to trade me Qualt for the Vostok?”
I broke the transmission so I could talk to the women. “Where the hell is my dad?”
“He said he needs more time,” Chiraine said. “Who are you talking to?”
“We don’t have more time!”
Molda Prundt’s voice interrupted us. “Yes, Mr. Beck. Surrender the Vostok and Qualt will be yours to do with as you wish.”
I clicked the transmission back on. “Uh, it’s been a long day. Can I have a little more time to consider this?”
“Of course.
