Sky Hunter (9 page)

“
What?” he said, somehow making that
word sound like a growl.

“
I want to speak to someone who is able
to do a bit more around here than point his gun at things,” she
said. Djari had come around to the side and watched with an
expression of sheer terror when the leader turned to face
her.

“
What do you have to speak about,
Human?” the rebel said.

A Caspian strolled over to observe her with
curiosity. He carried a medical scanner, apparently looking for
those well enough to be removed from the clinic.

“
What did Sius have to say?” the
Centauri giant asked him.

“
News,” the Caspian said, using his
native language. “The place is totally deserted. Some flyovers but
we’re not seeing any patrols on the ground. Looks like everyone is
here now. Stoyan’s going to hit it tonight.”

Nova managed to keep her reaction to this
information to herself. She squared her shoulders. “These people
are suffering. Two more died last night. Look at this! We don’t
have enough supplies to help them all. Some of them are your
people.” She gestured at the thinly-furred rebel beside him. “None
of the medics know how to treat Caspians. We’re running out of
clean bandages and disinfectant. There isn’t enough food. The water
is probably tainted. We need scanners and decon wands. We can only
type Bellac and Centauri blood and there isn’t enough of that,
either. By the end of the day we won’t even have enough pain meds
to let them die in peace. This has to stop.”

Arter’s forehead lowered into deep grooves as
he contemplated the angry woman before him. He turned to his
companion. “I think that’s her. Has to be Air Command, with a lip
like that on her.”

The Caspian nodded. His yellow eyes narrowed;
perhaps he was worried about the information he had just slipped to
his leader. “What’s your name, Human?”

“
Speak so I can understand you,” she
said. “Centauri or mainvoice will do.”

Before she could react, he grasped her wrist
to turn her forearm outward. She winced when he stabbed her with a
small tool and then released her again.

“
What was that for?” she said, rubbing
her arm.

“
Not a lot of Humans in these parts,”
Arter said. “Your people are looking for an MIA soldier. Little
pilot girl. Sound familiar?”

“
Don’t know what you’re talking about,”
she said. She watched the Caspian enter the sample he had taken
from her into his scanner. An expensive scanner of the sort that
could save lives. She glared at Arter. “That’s the kind of
equipment I’m talking about.”

They ignored her until the Caspian tapped the
display. “Yes, that’s her.” He reached out and tugged the scarf
from her head to reveal her tousled red hair before activating a
small device on his chest to take some video of her. His leader
stepped outside the scope of the recorder. “Done,” the Caspian said
after working with his equipment. “Sent.”

“
You’re lucky Air Command wants you
back, girl,” Arter said. “Seems they don’t want to talk to the
likes of us until they know you’re alive. Where’s the other
one?”

“
Dead by this evening if you don’t
listen to me and find us more to work with,” Nova said. “At least
get us a scrubber so we can have clean water. Let us take the
children out. Air Command will take care of them.”

The two rebels turned away.

“
Dammit, I’m talking to you, Centauri!”
she snapped.

The hulking rebel leader turned back, moving
very slowly. His huge fist reached out to wrap around her neck. He
tightened it. “We are a little busy, Human. And I’m not in the mood
to be shouted at by a Union soldier. Do you get that or do I have
to snap your scrawny neck?”

She did not take her eyes from his, nor did
she struggle to get out of his iron grip. After a thoughtful
silence, he let her go with a small shove.

When he turned away again he waved at some of
his men. “Get them a scrubber and get whoever is left in this dump
to find some food.” Impatiently, he snatched the scanner from the
Caspian’s hands and thrust it at Nova before stomping to the exit.
“None of the civilians are to leave. Get this place cleaned
up!”

Nova slumped against the wall, coughing and
clutching her prize to her chest. Her knees suddenly seemed awfully
wobbly.

Djari came to wrap an arm around her waist to
hold her up. “That is either the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen or
the bravest. Or maybe a bit of both.” He pulled the computer from
her hands and gave it to one of the medics who immediately hurried
away with it.

“
Stupidest.”

They looked up when Coria, his Bellac
colleague, approached. “The last time someone annoyed them they
took five of us outside. They’re still out there, unburied.” She
scowled at Nova. “I told you not to play Air Command soldier around
here. You’ll get us all killed.”

Nova pulled out of Djari’s loose embrace.
“What I got you is a scanner and clean water. If things don’t
improve soon we’ll have dysentery to deal with as well.” She turned
to Djari. “Centauri have a weak spot. You can tell by the color of
their eyes what’s going on, if you pay attention. You probably
noticed that with Reko and some of the other Centauri here. Their
eyes stop glowing when they’re sick or very tired and they can get
really pale, almost grey. But when they’re upset or angry they go
dark and the way they reflect light shifts. Takes a while to
recognize but once you see it, it’s clear. From what I heard the
same is true for Delphians except their eyes don’t glow. Never seen
one close enough to check that out, though.” She glanced at Coria.
“This Arter’s eyes didn’t change the whole time I looked at him.
He’s all bluster and that seems to be working for him.”

Djari chuckled. “I think I could learn much
from you, Sunshine.”

Coria barked a short laugh.

Nova stepped very close to the woman. “You
could, too,” she said, keeping her voice barely above a whisper,
tightly controlled to avoid the hissing sound that could draw
attention as much as a shout. “See that Bellac rebel by the far
window? And the one coming this way? Their rifles aren’t charged.
That means they either don’t know what they’re doing, which makes
them dangerous because their side arms likely work just fine, or
the Shri-Lan here are out of ammunition, which is just as
interesting. Something else you should notice is that none of them
are patrolling the hallway to the latrines, likely because they
just don’t want to. That tells me that they’re a little short on
discipline here. Also both dangerous and useful. Perhaps you could
quit sniping at me and start paying a little attention to our
options here. Sitting around and waiting for rescue isn’t likely to
work out too well for us. So let’s damn well remember we’re on the
same side!”

Coria glared at Nova for an interminable
moment as if working on some sort of retort. In the end, she simply
gave Djari a long, meaningful look and stalked away.

Nova sighed and shook her head. “She doesn’t
get it.”

“
We all cope in our own ways, Nova,”
Djari said. “She’s afraid. Everyone is. She’ll come around. Hey,
breakfast is served. Today’s menu is a lovely clotted rice paste
with at least three pieces of dried fruit. Accompanied by a cup of
hot water that has once been in the same room with a tea leaf. My
treat.”

“
Sounds lovely. I’ll be there in a
bit.” Nova left him to hurry to the injured rebel whose bullets
they had stolen yesterday evening. The woman was still dealing with
her broken arm and had been left behind by her
compatriots.

Nova knelt beside her pallet and checked the
bruise on the woman’s face. “How’s the head,” she said softly.

The Bellac groaned. “Like someone’s hit me
with a rock. Now that I think of it, that’s probably what
happened.”

Nova gambled. “Arter said to get on your feet
quick. I told him you’re not going anywhere with that arm. He’s got
to chew on that.”

“
Thanks. Not much in the mood for
getting shot at right now. Damn Air Command had a convoy of grunts
brought in from Rim Station. Some General’s taken over. Looks like
there might be a ceasefire unless Arter gets in a mood. Which is
likely.”

This news gave Nova some hope. General Ausan
led Air Command operations on Bellac and was not someone who would
allow a siege to go on for long. “You think Arter’s going to get
desperate?”

“
Don’t know him that well.”

Nova glanced around, trying to recall the
name that the Caspian had used earlier. She lowered her voice to a
conspiratorial tone. “Heard the furface say that Stoyan’s outfit
going to hit tonight.”

“
Good, about time. This is a lot of
blood to give up for a damn prison. Pe Khoja better be worth all
this. As diversions go, this is the biggest foul-up I could ever
imagine.”

“
Can’t imagine they’d leave a prison
unguarded.”

The woman made a scoffing sound. “Moshon
ridge is hardly a prison.”

Nova patted her shoulder. “You get some rest.
I’ll send something to eat.” The garrison at the ridge was just a
holding area for captured rebels and local sympathizers. They were
sorted, many of them let go, some turned over to Bellac
authorities. If someone important was among them, perhaps unknown
to Air Command, it would certainly be the place to hit before he or
she was transferred to Siolet’s far more fortified prison. She rose
and hurried to where some of the workers sat around a shared bowl
of food. She tugged on Djari’s sleeve to pull him away from the
others. Startled, he scooped up a plate of the rice mash and
followed her to a less crowded spot.

“
A private dinner,” he said. “I like
that.” He handed her the plate when they had settled into their
corner.

“
We need to find out more about these
rebels,” she said, keeping her voice low. She ate quickly to avoid
tasting the meal.

“
What do you mean?”

“
They must have supplies, food,
equipment.” She peered around him to ensure that no one was
listening. A few of the guards had watched her talk with the rebel
but now returned to their bored pacing along the perimeter of the
hall. “I wonder if you can get some of the kids to scout around,”
she said, meaning the young Bellacs that were sent outside to fetch
water and burn soiled bandages and other refuse. “Some of the slum
rats are pretty savvy, from what I’ve seen. I’m sure that the
Shri-Lan are hoarding supplies for their leaders and whoever they
feel is more important than this rabble.”

He raised both eyebrows in surprise and with
a hint of amusement. “You want us to steal from the rebels to help
the rebels?”

She grinned. “Yeah. Though I need to get my
hands on a transmitter. If they’re talking to Command about the
hostages, they will have stopped jamming com traffic. I’m guessing
they’re using the relays on the tether.” She tapped the small metal
triangle at her temple. “I can probably use this to get into their
system and from there to Command.”

“
Sounds dangerous. Can I look?” He
leaned closer to her and brushed a strand of her hair out of the
way to study the device. Nova’s first impulse was to shrink back
but there was something wonderfully pleasant about his presence.
Perhaps it was this special trait that made him such a skillful
healer in the almost complete absence of any real training. She
held still, drawing comfort from his closeness without bothering to
explore why she felt that way. It had been a long time since
someone had touched her this gently.

“
Amazing,” he said, so close to her ear
that she felt the hair at her nape rise. “To think that this small
interface can let you steer entire spaceships as you wish. It’s
almost magical.” He drew away. “But then a brain is a magical
thing, isn’t it?”

She exhaled a little shakily and just
nodded.

“
Why don’t you just use that as a
transmitter? Or a sort of homing beacon, anyway? There must be a
way to track you with it.”

“
There is, but using these to transmit
directly is too easily tapped. We’d be spotted by rebels at once.
It’s why we rarely use them wirelessly. But I can embed my ID code
into a message using
their
transmitter and they won’t know
it’s me.”

“
Why are you so set on sending a
message? They must know where we are. They just have to figure out
a way to get us while we’re still alive.”

“
I overheard some things. All of this
might just be a diversion to draw local Air Command troops
here.”

“
Why?”

She pulled on her lower lip, thinking about
that. “Just a feeling, really.” She nudged his arm. “So do you
think you can find us someone to look around? Nothing more. I’m not
looking to get anyone into trouble. I just need to contact
Command.”

He nodded. “There’s a delinquent or two that
wouldn’t mind sneaking around a bit. I think they’ve found the
trick of getting around the Rhuwacs.” He nudged his plate around on
the floor. “I wish there was a way to get some of these other
people out of here. Your friend Reko is not going to make it much
longer and that Bellac with the chest wound won’t either. They only
have one lung.”

“
I’m sure someone’s negotiating
something. The explosions have stopped now.”

“
You have a lot of confidence in your
people.”

“
Why wouldn’t I?”

“
Do you really think they care enough
about a few civilians out here? For all we know, we’re the only
ones left.”