The Better Part of Valor (27 page)

“Lotta pipes. No way out.”

She reached over and thumbed an adjustment into his scanner. “Look again.”

“It’s a…well, it
could
be an access grille.”

“Let’s find out, shall we? Werst!”

He stepped back from the corner, benny remaining in firing position until Frii stepped into his place. By the time he reached Torin’s side, he’d already slid his pack down off his shoulders. “Fukking obvious,” he grunted at her raised brow. “We’re trapped, and you’re looking up. Where do I climb to?”

Torin pointed.

“Right.” He wrapped a hand around the pipe Torin had ducked and swung himself up. Yellow, to blue, to red, to yellow to…

“Serley chrika!”

“Werst? You okay?”

“Yeah. Mostly. This pipe, it’s fukking cold!”

“Which pipe?” Torin snapped. All she could see was the lower half of his right leg.

“Pinky-purple one.” His tone suggested he was as much insulted by the color as hurt by the cold. “I’m moving on.”

He disappeared and reappeared a moment later, a shadow against the light. “You were right, it’s an access grille. Double toggles holding it in place. Should I go in?”

“Carefully.”

Since she wasn’t supposed to hear his grunted “No shit,” she didn’t.

After a few moments, he returned and dropped as much as climbed back to the passage. “You’re not going to fukking believe it, Staff. Tube comes out in one of the Ventris Station wardrooms. Pool table, bar, big comfy chairs—and the door’s been barred from the inside.”

“And the bugs?”

“Not a whiff.”

The door barred from the inside suggested a sanctuary—or would have were they not running around the changeable guts of a whacked alien ship. Still, it had to have taken the wardroom from Captain Travik’s mind—there was nothing to say it hadn’t taken the symbolism as well.

“Staff!” Dursinski threw herself into the passage after Huilin. “We got bugs one corner back.” She wiped a dribble
of sweat off her face and shook her head. “We’re trapped. Trapped like rats.”

“Cork it, Dursinski.” Torin decided she didn’t need to see the quick glances directed at the Katrien—who looked nothing at all like rats but were the only fur-bearing species present. “Nivry, where are you?”

“Two corners out. We’ll be there in a…Tsui!”

“Got her!”

Up was their only option.

Although their hands and feet looked uselessly tiny poking out from the bulk of their fur, the Katrien, like the Krai were natural climbers.
Harveer
Niirantapajee was not.

“And I’m old. And I’m exhausted.”

“We’re not leaving you behind,” Torin told her, indicating that Guimond should lift her to the first pipe.

“Who asked you to?” she snapped. “You there, Worst! Don’t just hang there. Give me your hand.”

“It’s
Werst.
”

“Worst, best…what difference does it make? Just give me your hand!”

“You’re going to be just like her when you’re old.” Ryder had moved back into place by Torin’s shoulder.

Torin snorted. “Except I’ll be taller. And tailless.”

“And not half as smart.”

“Ma’am, just climb.”

Guimond was already halfway up, blocking the view but not the steady stream of sound.

“Is that the pipe you were burned on? It’s considerably more pink than purple to my mind. How well does your species see that part of the spectrum? An educated guess says it’s transporting some kind of liquid gas and…Young man, get your hands off my tail!”

The Katrien were strangely silent.

Maybe they just need
someone
to be talking
, Torin reasoned as Werst took a rope attached to the captain’s stretcher up over a pipe and dropped the free end back down into the passage. Heer took up a position only a Krai could hold, approximately halfway between the passage and the hatch.

Captain Travik remained unconscious while they hoisted him up into the access tunnel.

“Staff! He’s jammed!”

“Unjam him!” Bruises would heal. Or he’d be dead before they had a chance to. Either way, no one else could make the climb while the captain remained stuck between two pipes.

“Staff!” Nivry’s voice had picked up a shrill edge. “They just tossed a smoker! I think they’re going to try to rush us this side.”

“
Both
sides!” Dursinski yelled.

“Maintain a continuous fire along the floor! Frii, Huilin, steady bursts at a meter!”

“I can’t see!”

“You don’t need to
see
, the passage is only a meter wide!”

“What are they trying to prove?” Ryder demanded. With no room to pace, he stood shifting his weight from foot to foot. “They hold us here and they keep themselves from getting to the air lock. It makes no fukking sense!”

“Welcome to war. Start climbing.”

“Tsui’s hurt, he should…”

Torin grabbed his arm and shoved him toward the pipe. “Go!”

When the smoke cleared, Dursinski’s passage held a small clump of still twitching legs.

“Nivry?”

“I don’t know, Staff. They were making so much noise we must’ve hit something, but they’ve cleared any bodies.” The corporal adjusted her grip on the vid cable and waved a hand under her nose. “Smells like roasted nuts.”

“Do bugs
have
nuts?” Huilin wondered beside her.

“Maybe they roasted yours.”

He laughed but made a fast, one-handed grab for his crotch. Just in case.

The packs went up quickly, Orla to Heer to Werst to Guimond. Once they were clear, Torin called the two Krai down and sent Tsui and Orla up.

“You’re the fastest climbers. You’ll be the last two on the corners. If I put Huilin by the liquid gas pipe, can you get by?”

Heer looked dubious. “It’ll be tight.”

“Just tell him not to grab anything,” Werst grunted, “and we’ll manage.”

As Johnston, Harrop, and Jynett made the climb, the Krai replaced the two di’Taykan on the corners.

“Frii, up. Huilin, seal your helmet; you’ll be covering our tracks.”

“You want me to laser a hole in that pipe?”

He was smarter than he looked, but then most di’Taykan were. “No, I want you to use your cutters on that pipe. We’re not using lasers on an unknown gas.”

“Okay, but why not just use a grenade? I mean, you made us carry them all this way.”

“Because it’d be a waste of a smoker and we don’t use the gas if we’re not all in suits. We’re in a closed environment, and I don’t want us running into it later. Besides, it’d be rude not to use the free alternative kindly provided.”

“Yeah, but, Staff, my cutters went up with my p…”

Torin held out the pair she’d pulled as the packs went by. “I’d do it myself, but you’re in the suit. Nivry, Dursinski; now!”

Nivry squeezed off two more shots, but Dursinski whirled and ran for the pipes.

“What’ll keep them from following us?” she demanded, as Torin boosted her to the first handhold.

“They don’t climb for shit. They don’t like the cold. And they’ve chased us up a level away from the air lock. Pick one.”

She half twisted to stare down at Torin. “It’s not cold.”

“Yet. Climb!”

Nivry’s foot had barely left the pipe when Torin grabbed it. “Huilin, right behind me. Heer, Werst, wait for my word and then haul ass.” She squeezed her shoulders through between a red and blue pipe, wondered how Guimond and Ryder had fit, and pulled herself up to the pipe above the gas line. It was, indeed, a pinky-purple regardless of the
harveer
’s contrary opinion.

“In there, Huilin.” Leg wrapped around a vertical, she bent and checked his seals as he wedged himself as far out of the way as possible. “If you’re not through the pipe by the time Werst and Heer are at the access tunnel, leave it. This is just insurance; like I said, bugs don’t climb for shit.”

He grinned at her through his faceplate.
“What happened to the rule about not putting holes in the ship?”

“It got beat by the desire to not have bugs put holes in us. Werst, Heer! Now.”

She could feel them on the pipes as she dragged herself into the tunnel, two pairs of hands and feet slapping out a staccato rhythm. Benny across her back, she crawled forward on elbows and knees. It was a familiar means of locomotion—join the Marines, crawl around the universe. Uncountable sums budgeted for tech and somehow it always came down to that. Usually, it also came with mud.

“Blade’s not making much of an impression.”

“Then leave it.”

“No, it’s cutting. It’s just slow.”

“And on a flat surface the bugs aren’t.” She could hear Werst and Heer in the tunnel behind her. “I said leave it, before they start shooting at you.”

“Almost got…”

It was a small explosion, strangely muffled. A ripple ran down the length of the tunnel.

“Huilin! Goddamn it, Huilin, answer me!”

“I’m okay. Mostly okay. I’m in the tunnel.”

Torin’s heart slowed closer to its normal rate as she crawled off the metal onto carpeting, rolled to one side, and stood.

Heer and Werst crawled past; then, a long moment later, the top of Huilin’s helmet appeared. Torin helped him the last meter with a white-knuckled grip on his tank, hauling him up onto his feet and popping his seals before he was fully standing.

“First, what the fuk does mostly okay mean?”

His eyes were as pure a turquoise as his hair—every light receptor closed tight. “I got caught looking at the flash.” His arm trembled under her hand.

“Well, it’s a good thing you’re di’Taykan then; it’s a better ocular system for stupidity.” She tightened her grip and shook him gently. “They’ll open up again, just give them time. And until then, you’ve got an excuse to grope your way through the team.” His hair started to lift but before he could reach for her, she snapped, “Second, what happened?”

“Gas started to pour out. It split the pipe and flooded down into the passage just when one of the bugs got off a shot.” He shrugged. “Boom.”

“Yeah. I got that part. And third…” This time when she
shook him, it was a lot less gently. “What part of
leave it
did you not understand?”

“I wanted to get the job done.”

“Admirable sentiment. Except when I’m telling you to do something else.”

“Sorry, Staff.”

“You’re just lucky you didn’t get yourself killed ’cause that would have really pissed me off.” Still holding his arm, she turned the two of them toward the room. “Come one, let’s…H’san on fukking crutches.”

It really was one of the wardrooms on Ventris Station. It said so over the door.
Ventris Station. Wardroom Three.

It held a bar big enough for captains to drink at without having to rub elbows with lieutenants—although the bottles of booze behind it seemed to be part of the wall. There were a dozen big comfy chairs and four sofas. A pool table. Carpeting. Soft, indirect lighting. Deep burgundy curtains covered the wall opposite the bar.

“Don’t tell me there’s a window behind there,” she sighed.

“Okay.” Grinning broadly, Ryder opened the curtains instead.

They were looking out toward the
Berganitan
, impossibly tiny one hundred and eighteen kilometers away.
Could Human eyes even see one hundred and eighteen kilometers?
Torin wondered.
Even through empty space?
Space…She ran over the distance they’d traveled. “It can’t be a window, we’re nowhere near the hull.”

“It doesn’t seem to matter.”

A Jade spun by, one of the Others’ fighters in close pursuit.

Her eyes narrowed. “I’ve had just about enough of this crap. Has anyone taken a look at what’s outside that door?”

“Corridor,” Harrop told her. “Just like on the map.”

Handing Huilin over to Frii, she checked her slate. According to the map, the corridor ran a quarter of a kilometer aft, then ended in a T-junction. The port arm ran a hundred meters then cornered and headed back forward. The starboard arm went two hundred meters then through a series of compartments. The next vertical appeared to be in the middle of the fourth compartment.

Aft. Starboard. Down. Just where they needed to go.

“I checked the door,” Harrop continued. “It can’t be locked
from the outside. I think the ship wants us to take a break, Staff.”

“The
ship
wants us to take a break?”

He shrugged.

“And since when do we do what the
ship
wants?”

“Pretty much from the moment the air lock blew,” Ryder snorted.

“No one asked you.” Torin glanced down at her sleeve. 2343. Another two hours and seventeen minutes and it would be tomorrow.
It had
been a long day. Unfortunately…“If the bugs get to the air lock first, they’ll use it and then destroy it so that we can’t use it, trapping us on board.”

Harveer
Niirantapajee stared up at her from the corner of a couch. “Why would they do that?”

“Every enemy they take out of the fight is one less they’ll have to face later.”

“And you know this because?”

“Because it’s what I’d do.”

“If we are just talking to them…”

“You’d say what?” Torin asked the younger scientist. “Why can’t we all just get along? Well, ignoring the immediate bug/Federate language barrier, if we could get an answer to that, we wouldn’t be fighting this war. Or any other wars for that matter.”

“Then why are we not using another air lock?” Presit demanded. “There are more than one. So this air lock are closer; let the bugs have it!”

In answer, Torin held up her slate. “The maps we were given—before we knew we were heading into bugs—have all gone aft of our original position. If we start for another air lock now, we’ll be wandering blind. We have limited food and, more importantly, limited water.” A sweep of her arm directed everyone’s attention to the window. “Also, there’s a whole different battle going on out there and we need to get off this thing while the
Berganitan
is still able to protect the shuttle.” She swept an uncompromising gaze around the room. “Fifteen minutes, people, then we’re moving out.”

“Do you want someone on the door, Staff Sergeant?” Harrop asked before any of the civilians could make another protest.