The Key (29 page)

“Tell the truth, I thought it would be a bit more exciting.” He tipped his head to the side. “You’ve seen some action?”

“Yeah, right after we got here.” Did he know she’d been shot down? She might as well admit it. “I got splashed—a real girl crash first time out.”

He looked surprised. “That’s not what I heard. I hear you got some serious brass ones—for a girl.” He grinned.

Sara was surprised to hear herself chuckle. It helped her insides relax a bit.

“So, you think we’ll see some action? We’re all wondering why we’re just sitting here?”

He didn’t know about the outpost. Of course he didn’t know. She shouldn’t know.

“I thought the plan was to explore, go where no man has gone before?”

“So far this hasn’t been a real friendly neighborhood. If we could see around the corners—” Sara felt something…click in head.
Turn the key.
She remembered the outpost planets, winding through the galaxy like a figure eight. Was that what they did? Extend the view?

She felt a warm hand cover hers and with a blink returned to the cafeteria.

“Hello?”

“Sorry, just remembered something.” She looked down at his hand, a bit puzzled by the sight. “The Dusan aren’t good fighters, but they’re like roaches. You step on one and twenty more pop out of the woodwork.”

“But we beat them.”

He started to rub his thumb along the side of her wrist.

Sara looked at him, then carefully took back her hand. She wasn’t ready for that yet. She smiled to soften her withdrawal. “I have to go. I’m on duty in six. Thanks for the cuppa.”

He stood up and walked with her out into the corridor. “Can I walk you to your quarters?”

She half smiled and shook her head. Somehow, she wasn’t quite sure how he managed it, he got her semi-trapped against the wall, one arm propped on the wall by her head, the angle of his body encouraging her to stay. There was a way out, though. It wasn’t…icky.

He touched her face lightly with his finger. “We could walk to my quarters.”

Sara just looked at him, one brow lifted. He grinned.

“I know, I’m being pushy, but you’re not an easy…bubba to get close to. In fact, you’re very elusive.”

Sara felt color creep into her cheeks. “Let me guess, the video has made it aboard the
Patton
.”

He kind of nodded and grinned. “But even without it, I’d still be interested. I’ve always had a weakness for redheads.”

“And blondes and brunettes?”

“I have a…deep appreciation for the female form.”

His smile robbed his words of offense, though Sara thought it wouldn’t hurt him to be taken down a bit.

“I’ll bet you do.” And they probably had a lot of appreciation for him. He was a good-looking guy. Sara fingered the lapel of his uniform. “Perhaps a…cold shower would help you manage that appreciation?”

She grinned at him.

He chuckled. “I’m sure it would.” He sighed and stepped back. “I see that what they say about you is true.”

Sara stiffened and looked down. “And what’s that?”

He leaned in again. “That you’re a class act.”

Her eyes widened and she looked up, with a sudden smile. He bent his head, but she turned so that his mouth just grazed her cheek. The feel of his mouth wasn’t awful and he smelled good. She put her hand against his chest and he backed off.

“I’d like to do this again sometime…soon?”

Sara smiled. “I…might be open to having another cuppa with you…sometime.”

“And what would I have to do to turn
might
into yes?”

“Letting me get some sleep would be a good start.”

He chuckled and this time he stepped back, gesturing for her to pass.

“Whatever it takes.”

His mouth smiled, but there was a look in his eyes that was a bit…unsettling. He almost looked…like he meant it. That he wasn’t just passing time.

* * * *

Sara felt a quiver of excitement as she read the orders in her email the next morning. They were to report for a briefing before going on duty. A briefing meant a change.

When she entered the briefing room, the first person she saw was Hawkins. He waved at her, pointing to the empty seat next to him. Sara hesitated a half beat before sliding into it.

“Morning.” She gave him a quick, shy smile. “You up to speed?”

“Heard they’re going to launch some recon missions.” He grinned. “Movement.”

“Sweet.” Movement meant flying. Sara loved flying more than she liked breathing.

Carey called for attention and confirmed the scuttlebutt. Three sections of two birds, one from each ship, were going to make hops—hyper-jumps—to three positions outside sensor range with their feelers out, then jump back. The short hops were prelims to longer hops—if all went well.

“Since our people have engaged the enemy, they’ll be lead with the wingmen coming from the
Patton.
Follow your orders, stay sharp and come home to mother. We’ve been lucky so far. Let’s keep it that way.”

He looked down at a sheet. “Donovan, you and Hawkins are taking the KILO X-RAY hop.” He named the other two teams and their hops. “The data is being uploaded to onboard computers right now. Should be a no-brainer.”

Sara looked at Hawkins, wondering how he felt about being her wingman. He grinned.

“They had you assigned to Reams, but I called in a few favors.”

At least he wasn’t afraid to follow a girl. Course, if he knew everything that had happened, he might not be smiling so wide. Considering everything, Sara was surprised she’d made the list at all, but maybe they weren’t as worried about her since she’d died. Twice.

“I picked up your bat decoder for you.” He handed her the sheet.

“Thanks.” Sara looked down at the mission codes. A glance and she had them memorized. She folded it and tucked it in a pocket of her zoombag.

“Let’s kick the tires and light the fires.” Hawkins grinned at her. It was cute in a non-Fyn kind of way.

Sara grinned back, his excitement igniting her own. This is what they’d come for, after all.

Sara settled into her bird and did her pre-flight. She was ready before anyone else and itching to get out there. It felt like her bird was as eager as she was.

Don’t try any crap,
she told Ruby. No side trips to the city or I’ll be grounded forever.

She got the signal to go. She eased clear of her berth, then punched it. Her bird knew the way out.

Once clear of the bay, she kicked it into high and her speedjeans inflated, as she did a couple of tight turns, pushing as many g’s as she dared while she waited for Hawkins to come play.

“Settle down, kilo.” Carey sounded amused.

She “settled” and Hawkins aka
Zoomer
, pulled in on her six. She put up the HUD and looked at the computer data for the hop. Looked like they were sending them outside the range of the city’s tracking, too.
Sweet
.

“You have a go, kilo x-ray. Fangs and feelers out and come home to mother.”

“Roger that, home plate.” Sara did a last check. “You ready, xray?”

“Was born ready,
kilo
.
”

Sara executed the program, letting the computer take charge for the hop. It almost felt like her bird bunched, then leapt forward. Space stretched and thinned on either side. It was a bit like fireworks, only without the pretty colors. It reminded her of her first jump to Saturn. She’d forgotten what a kick it was. Hyperspace travel in a larger ship lacked the personal touch. You hardly felt it. This was
flying.

The jump lasted as long as it was supposed to, then a light flashed, warning her that the end point was close. This was the tricky part. Since they’d jumped out of sensor range, they didn’t know what was out there, other than some planets and moons and other space crap.

Deceleration was a jolt in the other direction. The first time she’d gone through it, she thought her lungs were being pushed out her nose. Now she knew it just felt like that. Her lungs stayed where they were.

Sara had the stick ready as she dropped into normal space. Collision warnings blared as soon as her sensors came back online, but Sara didn’t need them or the HUD to tell her she had a problem.

She could see the big ass ship out her front window.

She pulled up hard, kicking it into a high, very tight bat turn.

“Xray, break hard right! Bogey, I repeat, we got a big bogey in the hop door!”

She passed so close to the ship, she might have left a black streak along it. As she went up and over the top, she saw two more of them. Her tracking lit up like a carnival ride. Tiny dots were flooding out of the big ass dots. The only bright spot, the ships didn’t seem to be Dusan.

Sara jinked her bird, trying to get turned around for an immediate return, while not hitting any bogeys. She was already mentally cueing up the data as Hawkins dropped into the bogey’s hawk circle.

Her sensors were going nuts with all the data, but it was going to take some fancy flying to get back and report any of it.

“Get turned,” she ordered, “we’re leaving this playground.”

So far no one had fired on them.

That was good.

They were trying to contain and trap them.

That was bad.

Sara jinked every direction she could, trying to get through their fighter screen. She could have got out and walked on them, their ships were so thick and close. She saw a hole and headed for it—but saw Hawkins get penned in on the HUD.

“Get the hell out of here!” Hawkins yelled, slamming on his space brakes.

Sara hit her brakes, letting the bandits trap her, too.

“Damn it—”

“And let you have all the fun? I don’t think so.”

There was a pause as they both assessed the situation.

“You been in worse, right?” His voice was calm and unworried.

She could imagine him doing what she was doing—looking at the circling ships and wondering what happened next.

“Actually…I have.” It was depressing to realize that so far this was still a step up from her last encounter with ET.

* * * *

It was a relief to be back aboard the
Doolittle
. Fyn looked around. It felt like coming home—something he hadn’t had in a long time. It had taken him a long time to walk away from Fiona. He kept thinking if he could just talk to her once, maybe he could make a difference, break through whatever it was that wouldn’t let her go.

When he’d lost her, he’d promised to get her back or at least avenge her death. Now she was free and all she wanted was to go back to them…to him.

Finally the doc, what Sara called a shrink, advised him to give it up. She’d been with the Dusan longer than she’d been bond mate to him. It was going to take years to undo what they did to her.

It made no sense, but he hadn’t gone through what she had. Whatever had happened—and he’d seen the horror in Sara’s eyes—must have been bad, so, he couldn’t, he wouldn’t judge her.

All he could do was let her go, let her be. He felt guilty, but relieved. The past eight years had changed him, too—and not all for the good.

Carey was in tracking, watching some screens. He saw Fyn and gave him a friendly wave.

“What are we looking at?” It looked like a blank radar screen.

“We got some people out doing recon. We’re waiting for them to come back.”

“Recon?”

“Just some short hops. Two birds each with feelers out.”

A young soldier wearing a headset watched some kind of sensor, almost without blinking. “KILO X-RAY is over due, sir.”

Carey frowned. “That’s Donovan and Hawkins.”

Fyn felt his insides jerk. “Where did they go?”

Carey pulled it up on the display. “There.”

“That’s technically Gadi territory, but they aren’t usually out this far. Shouldn’t have been a problem.”

Unless the Ojemba were operating there. Kalian liked to keep moving around.

“How long are they over due now?” Carey asked.

“Five minutes.”

“Damn.” Carey looked at Fyn. “Old Man is gonna kill me. I’m the one that talked him into letting her try the hop.”

“She’s a good pilot,” Fyn said. And she would have wanted to go, no matter what. “Who’s Hawkins?”

“Pilot from the
Patton
. Their top gun. He asked to go out with Donovan.” He sighed. “Guess I’d better brief the Old Man.”

* * * *

After a short period of circling, the ships began to try to…nudge them in the direction of one of the mother ships. Sara had played chicken before. She didn’t budge, even when the other ship was pointy end to pointy end with her. She could see the other pilot, but it didn’t tell her a whole lot. He was as geared up as she was, though his was…prettier. His ship was pretty, too. Looked like something from an over-the-top sci-fi movie.

There was another period of…inactivity…most likely a consultation. Finally her incoming transmission beacon began to flash. She had a feeling it wasn’t home plate calling.

Sara took the call. It seemed the only way to end the stalemate.

“Unknown vessels. We will not fire on you
if
you proceed to our landing bay. If you do not follow our escort vessels, we
will
fire on you.”

The voice had an almost courtly sound to it and a “please don’t make me fire on you,” undertone.

“You hear that, xray?”

“Maybe they want us to come for dinner.”

“I’ve tried some of the food in this sector. We might be better off letting them shoot us.”

Two ships moved in on each side, edging close enough to scratch her paint if she moved. They’d be bumping heads soon. Sara sighed.

“I guess we suck it up and meet ET. I’ll follow you in.”

The HUD showed him moving. The ships around her backed off a bit, when it became clear she was playing nice.

Two of the ships rode her six all the way into the alien landing bay. She tempted to tap the brakes, just for the hell of it, but she didn’t. She could see Hawkins, already stable one, as she brought her bird down not far from his.

The landing bay was…as over-the-top as their birds. It had a grand hall feel about it, while still managing to be very efficient. It also thick with gomers holding weapons that reminded her of Fyn’s stuff.