Skirmishes (16 page)

And what of the ships?

“Could this force field be designed to hold
anacapa
s in place?” I ask. “So that the ships won’t accidentally drift out of the area?”

Yash shakes her head slightly, not because she’s disagreeing with me, but because she’s obviously forgotten I’m here, and my question reminded her of my presence.

“It could,” she says after she processes my question. “Yes.”

“Then we wouldn’t be able to fly in without one, either, right?” I ask. “I mean, no one else can. We’ll need an
anacapa
to get in.”

“The right kind of
anacapa
,” she says. “One the system recognizes. That’s the only kind that’ll go inside the Boneyard.”

I let out a breath. We’re screwed, unless we take the
Ivoire
inside. I’m not sure I want to do that. I’m not sure I want to go back and tell Coop the
Ivoire
is the only way in.

“However,” Yash says slowly, “I wonder…”

“What?” I ask.

“I think we can get in without an
anacapa
.”

“You just said we couldn’t,” I say.

“There are other ways to get through that force field,” she says. “If I can open it—”

“We can take a ship without an
anacapa
inside?”

She nods.

“I have no idea why you’re so confident about this,” I say.

She grins. “Because I needed a rest a few years ago—I guess, a few thousand years ago—and I did a post-doc on the
Brazza
just to keep my hand in.”

“A what?”

“I got an advanced degree in something that’s not my specialty,” she says.

“And that something was?”

“Shields,” she says.

I’m still having trouble. “Ship shields? But they’re—”

“All kinds of shields,” she says, and her grin widens. “Including force fields.”

“Like this one,” I say, wondering why she hasn’t told me this before.

“Oh, no,” she says. “Not like this one. This one wasn’t even a glimmer in my professor’s eye. This one was so beyond theory that we didn’t discuss it.”

“Then why are you sure you can solve this?”

“Because this force field has at least two purposes: to handle ships with
anacapa
drives, and ships without.”

“Yes,” I say, feeling dumber than I have in years. “And…?”

“And, Boss!” She slaps a hand on the table. “And! That’s the difference. Underneath it, if you strip the
anacapa
stuff away, you have a force field. A regular, normal Fleet force field.”

“And you can beat that,” I say, hoping that’s her point.

She nods formally, grinning like a fiend.

“And I can beat that,” she says.

THE SECOND SKIRMISH

ONE MONTH AGO

TWENTY-TWO

COOP SAT on the bridge, his full bridge crew around him. Boss had a seat to his left side, out of his range of vision. He had asked her to remain quiet, and hoped she would listen. She worried him as much as this mission did.

The only reason he had agreed to it was because Boss would mount a mission with or without him. She had no tactical skills. She didn’t know how to command the Fleet ships that she had. She would bring herself, Lost Souls, the ships, and everything they’d done to the attention of the Empire.

She would get people killed. Maybe even herself.

He let out a small sigh. If he were honest with himself, that was the only reason he was doing this. He couldn’t bear to lose Boss. He wasn’t sure if that was because he loved her more than he had loved anyone else, or because he had experienced so much loss that her death would be the last straw.

No matter what it was, he couldn’t face it—not now, not even when she was doing something stupid for someone she loved.

They were mounting a rescue mission for a woman that Coop didn’t even like. Rosealma Quintana, known as Squishy, had defied all of Boss’s orders and had probably provoked a war with the Empire.

Squishy and her team had destroyed several imperial research facilities. She had gotten caught on her way back to Lost Souls. Since Squishy ran the so-called stealth-tech program at Lost Souls that was, in reality, a program that morphed into ways to modify the
anacapa
drive, she was a valuable asset.

The fact that she had gotten caught would give the Empire information that they didn’t deserve to have. She’d been in their custody for days before Boss even heard about it. Squishy had probably already given up too many secrets.

Coop had never encountered a culture that had trained its soldiers to survive certain interrogation techniques. Squishy wasn’t a soldier. She was a scientist. And no matter how strong her resolution to hang on to her knowledge would be, she wouldn’t manage it. No one could.

Given how much time she’d been in the Empire’s custody before Boss got the news of Squishy’s capture, Coop was inclined to write Squishy off. It was the kind of command decision he had had to make throughout his career, and it was cruel. But sometimes, it was all that a captain could do.

Although, a couple of times, he had broken the rules, once for the woman he’d divorced but still cared for.

Boss didn’t understand, not entirely. And she was convinced Squishy hadn’t talked to the Empire yet. Nothing Coop said could dissuade her.

So Boss was going to go, with or without him.

He preferred it to be with him.

He knew he could get her out of there. He also knew the only way to do it was to reveal the
Ivoire
to the Empire in a way that would get this ship noticed, and it would probably start a war.

Boss denied that. She believed if Coop did his part, the Empire wouldn’t figure out what his ship was.

Boss didn’t understand how empires reacted to attacks on their important research facilities—not in a deep way, anyhow. She knew they would want retaliation. She just didn’t know how badly.

All of that made him leery. Curiously, it made him leery about Boss herself.

He expected her to try to take over this mission. He expected her to demand that she be in charge.

But she hadn’t—at least, not yet. They had agreed on a mission plan, and she vowed she’d stick to it.

He would believe it when he saw it.

“Lynda’s ready,” Anita said to him. Anita hadn’t questioned this mission—at least verbally. But when he went over the mission with his entire bridge crew—and without Boss—Anita raised her eyebrows, just once, as if silently asking,
Really? Do we want to be part of this?

Since she hadn’t asked the question out loud, he hadn’t had to answer it out loud.

He glanced around the bridge. Everyone was watching him, waiting for the command to leave the Lost Souls and head into foldspace. Anita had just given him the last piece. Lynda Rooney was ready too.

Lynda now commanded the ship Boss had named the
Shadow
. It was a former Fleet ship, rebuilt at Lost Souls. Boss’s people had found it mostly intact, but it still had needed massive repairs. Boss would have taken the
Shadow
with one of her own people in charge if Coop hadn’t stepped in.

He commanded the mission, but Lynda commanded the
Shadow
. Both ships were flying with minimal staff. Each had one hundred Fleet veterans in operations, and fifty trainees from Lost Souls. That was the true definition of skeleton crew, made worse by the fact that he had added thirty assault teams to each ship.

People who would normally be on the
Ivoire
in a support capacity were now using old, rusty military skills to make sure Boss didn’t do anything stupid.

Coop glanced at her. He couldn’t help it. She looked so demure in her chair, her close-cropped hair framing her small face, her hands clasped in her lap. She looked like a woman most people wouldn’t even notice.

Until her gaze met his. Then he saw the strength in it. He saw
her
, clearly, and his stomach clenched.

Even with the assault teams and his precautions, she could die on this stupid rescue mission.

She was insisting on going into the facility herself. She believed she could get her friend out with minimal casualties.

He couldn’t dissuade her from that. And he didn’t dare go with her this time, because he needed to provide external support.

Boss nodded, the movement small, as if she heard the question he hadn’t asked—or hadn’t asked out loud, anyway.

Yes, they were going. Yes, she would follow the plan. Yes, they were taking a risk.

“Lynda’s ready,” Coop said to Anita, “and we’re ready. Double-check the coordinates on the other side with her. Once she confirms, we’re heading into foldspace.”

If everything went well, it would only take them a moment to cross the Empire and invade its most secure region.

That alone was an act of war.

His second against a government he had no real argument with.

And this time, the Empire would notice.

TWENTY-THREE

THE JUMP TO FOLDSPACE lasted only a moment. It registered on the sensors long enough for Coop to glance at the readings, and then the
Ivoire
arrived in Empire space.

The Empire’s research station sprawled before them, going on for miles and miles. The thing was as big as Boss’s friend Turtle had claimed.

Turtle bothered him. She knew things she shouldn’t have. She had probably gotten the information in ways that Coop wouldn’t have liked either. She had brought the news of Squishy’s capture to Lost Souls, and even though Boss had trusted the information because of some long-ago established code between the three women, Coop hadn’t trusted it.

He hated the fact that the only maps they had of this research facility came from Turtle.

But the facility was top-secret, and Turtle’s coordinates had gotten the
Ivoire
here.

The
Shadow
arrived a moment later, which also relieved him. That ship moved into position.

The research station—so secret he couldn’t even find its name—had layers and levels and sections that suggested the thing had been added to over the years.

He had seen the maps and the holographic recreations, but they still hadn’t prepared him for just how large this thing was.

He glanced over his shoulder. Boss had paled. Apparently, she finally realized the magnitude of what they were about to do.

“Last chance,” he said to her, hoping she’d abort.

She took a deep breath. Everyone watched her. She nodded, even though he doubted she knew she had done that.

For the first time that he’d seen in years, Boss appeared nervous.

“See if she’s there,” Boss said.

He bit back a surprised response. He didn’t expect Boss to make even that much of a concession. If Squishy wasn’t on board the station, then they could return. The station might wonder what showed up on their sensors, but they wouldn’t have a reason to pursue.

Maybe Boss mistrusted Turtle as much as he did. After all, there was nothing to stop the woman from giving them false information and letting them start a war she was too cowardly to start on her own.

“Kjersti,” he said to his chief linguist, Kjersti Perkins. “Scan for me, will you?”

“Already on it, sir,” she said. “We have multiple confirmations of Squishy’s personal signature. She’s on board. And I’ll double-check, but I’m convinced we can pinpoint exactly where she is.”

He felt his shoulders slump just a bit. He knew what Boss would say before she said it.

“We’re not aborting,” she said. “We’re going to rescue Squishy and we’re going to do it now.”

“Well,” he said, to make sure his crew knew that she wasn’t giving an order. “We’ll do it according to our plan.”

Boss stood. He moved so that he was in front of her, so that she couldn’t avoid him.

“I’d prefer it if you stayed here,” he said.

“Not a chance,” she said.

He had known she would say that, too, but he had to ask her.

“All right, then,” he said. “Go join your team.”

She grinned at him like a kid who had gotten a special toy. Then she winked at him and headed for the door.

He swallowed hard, hoping that wouldn’t be the last time he saw her. Then he banished the thought.

He scanned the ships on the landing bays. There were three major bays and two emergency bays. Underneath one of the emergency bays, a ship he hadn’t expected had docked on a special ring.

He cursed.

He wasn’t that familiar with Empire design, but he knew what he saw here: a warship. And, judging by its size, an important one. This ship was bigger than the ship he’d encountered at Starbase Kappa.

“Wait,” he said, hoping Boss was still there.

He looked. She had stopped right at the door. She walked back to him now, and he turned his attention away from her.

“Is that what I think it is?” he asked his crew.

“The large ship?” Anita asked. “It’s some kind of battleship, maybe even a flagship. I’ve compared to our database. It’s not in there.”

“But it’s Empire?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Anita said. “And it’s suited for battle. It has fifteen different weapons systems that I can count. I have no idea how many are shielded from us.”

“Not to mention a variety of missiles, fighters, transports, and God knows what kind of weaponry inside,” Yash said from her position down front. She sounded annoyed. But then, she had sounded annoyed since Coop had agreed to this mission.

“It also seems to have a full crew,” said Kravchenko from the first officer’s perch.

And Coop’s two ships were running on such skeletal crews that anything out of the ordinary would compromise the
Ivoire
’s function. He couldn’t engage in a major battle with this vessel, not because he couldn’t out-shoot it, but because he didn’t have the staff to maintain all of his systems.