The Truth of Valor (46 page)

“Then why is she supposed to kill you?”

“Not me, them!”

“Nadayki said . .”

“He misheard! I was standing right beside her.” Craig aimed for Cho’s ego, not exactly a difficult target to hit even for a civilian. “You were right! Big Bill’s up to something!”

“I fukking knew it!”

“Captain, I can’t get the air lock open.” Nose ridges flared, Huirre ran through the sequence again. “Outer doors are under station control!”

“That son of a bitch!” Big Bill was going after the weapons. Cho had known it all along. Known from the start that anyone who stole an entire station from the government wouldn’t settle for fifteen percent. Turned out they did want the same thing. “Dysun!” Cho slapped a hand down on the intercom by the hatch. “Dysun, haul ass out of your rack and get this hatch open.”

“What? Captain, I don’t . . .”

“You will! You want to see your share for those weapons, you’ll get your ass to your board now! Get the
tasiks
,” Cho snarled at Huirre, pivoted on one heel, and headed for the control room. “I want Doc out there with you the moment the door is open. If Big Bill wants a fight, he’s got one!”

“Ressk!”

*Working on it, Gunny!*

The Grr brothers had been farther from the deck when the gravity kicked in, but they were Krai and Krai bones bounced. Torin rolled up onto her feet, aimed a kick at the closer brother, missed his head, hit his shoulder, and twisted out of the way at the last second. She couldn’t let them grapple. Once they got a hand or foothold, teeth would be next. Pain and physical damage aside, no one reacted well to being eaten alive. She had to use her greater reach and hope like hell she could use one of them to disable the other. Again.

Her odds went up if Ressk regained control. As a species, the Krai might be naturals in zero G but in specific, she’d had a lot more training.

When the gravity kicked out, Craig anchored himself on the edge of the storage pod. He could hear Nadayki flailing and cursing inside the pod, and he realized the kid would have no trouble knifing either him or Torin in the back should Cho command it. Nadayki had to be dealt with before Cho remembered he wasn’t permanently attached to the armory.

Even injured, Craig could take the kid in a fight. He was bigger, stronger, and although he had little experience with the kind of up close and personal violence Torin excelled at, Nadayki had even less. Craig could take him down, tie him up with his own overalls, and when Ressk opened the outer doors, the kid would die. Sure, Nadayki was low on the list for di’Taykan of the year, his blood sure as fuk not worth bottling, but he had to give him a fair go.

When the gravity came back in, a moment later, he took his weight on his good foot then hopped over the lip into the pod, grabbing Nadayki’s upper arm. “Come on, kid, move!”

Eyes dark, the young di’Taykan struggled but couldn’t break Craig’s grip. “Let go of me, you
senak
!”

“No, like it or not, I’m pulling your head out of your ass!” Craig shook him hard, lime-green hair flicking back and forth against the motion. “They’ve already fukked with the zero G; what happens if they vent the atmosphere next? I’ve seen a di’Taykan sucking vacuum and it’s not pretty.”

Nadayki shoved his slate into Craig’s face. “Fuk you! I’m almost done!”

“Is getting this thing open worth dying for?” Craig demanded. “You think Cho would die for you? He’s locked himself in the
Heart
—all safe and warm—and he’s locked us—you and me—out here!”

“No way!” Twisting free, Nadayki pushed Craig aside, surged out the hatch, and stared toward the ship. Even with Human vision, the lockdown was obvious from the storage pod. “That
ablin gon savit!
”

“That’s what I’m trying to tell you!” Craig grabbed his arm again. “Come on, if we can’t get onto the ship, we go out into the station.”

Nadayki’s gaze flicked over to where Torin and the Grr brothers were fighting. “But they said you’re with her!”

“Right now, in the interest of not dying, I’m with you! Move!” He tightened his grip and hauled Nadayki around until he faced in the right direction. “We need to get the hell out of here before the crazy bastards finish with her and start on us!” Ignoring the fight, trusting Torin to survive, he hustled Nadayki across the ore dock to the hatch, cutting him off every time he tried to speak, finally shoving him through and slamming the hatch behind him.

Entry from the station to the ore docks had to be cleared through the station sysop. Craig doubted Big Bill felt much like opening doors right now.

He glanced at the big doubles, hoped Big Bill wasn’t willing to sacrifice the Grr brothers for the win, and headed at his top speed toward the storage lockers and the suits.

One of the Grr brothers couldn’t see out of his right eye, and the other . . .

Torin stomped down hard.

. . . had at least two broken toes.

He screamed.

She ducked under an attack and came up off the deck, driving her stiffened fingers into his throat. Not a move the Krai were familiar with as opponents tended to stay the hell away from their mouths. Clearly, they hadn’t been paying enough attention as she’d fought her way across the Hub. As his eyes widened and blood gushed out his mouth, he grabbed a handful of her hair.

Torin twisted under his grip, turned a little too slowly to meet the other Grr’s charge, raised her arm to block . . .

. . . and got sprayed with blood as Craig slammed him in the back of the head.

His teeth snapped shut

The impact took them both to the deck.

“Torin!”

“I’m okay.” They heaved the limp body off her together, and then Craig held out a hand. Torin didn’t need it, but she took it anyway and let him help her up to her feet.

“You’re bleeding.”

She was covered in blood. “This isn’t mine.”

“On your arm?” He gently bent her right arm up closer to her face, his fingers warm around her wrist.

Her sleeve flapped loose, about four square centimeters of cloth missing, a smaller piece bitten out of her forearm. Adrenaline still buzzing through her system, Torin could hardly feel the injury but, later, it was going to hurt. “Okay, this is mine. But it’s minor.” She could use the arm. Right now, that was all that mattered. “Your foot?”

“Old news.” He looked worried, relieved. And there. Right there. Right in front of her. When the corners of his mouth curved up, slowly, as though he wasn’t sure this was real, Torin felt as though one of the Grr brothers had chewed a piece out of her heart not her arm. She could feel each beat, and it hurt. Craig released her wrist and laid his palm lightly against her chest, as though he knew. “I’d kiss you, but you’re covered in blood.”

“Something to look forward to, then.” Her smile felt too wide, awkward, but she couldn’t dial it back. “What did you hit him with?”

“Pipe wrench.” Brows up, he lifted his other hand. Blood dripped from the heavy curved end of the tool. “Wasn’t sure you’d want me to get involved.”

“No, it’s good.” She took a deep breath and all of a sudden it was. It was very good. “I’m all for you participating in your own rescue.”

He grinned and let the wrench drop to the deck. “Fuk it, what’s a little mess.”

*Gunny!*

Torin jerked back just before Craig’s mouth touched hers. “It’s Ressk.”

Craig rolled his eyes. “Yeah, the little mood killer’s patched me through.”

*I’ve got the Hatch, but Big Bill’s unlocked the
Heart
!
*

“You need Nadayki for this, Captain.” Dysun’s eyes were nearly black as she worked both index fingers over the screen of her slate. “This is more his sort of shit.”

“Well, I don’t have Nadayki, do I?” Cho snarled. “Or his shit.” He’d dragged Dysun down to the air lock controls when she’d been unable to free up the system from her board. Not that it had helped. Useless! They were all fukking useless! “Nadayki is out there on the other side of the . . .”

The telltales turned green.

“Finally!”

Dysun lifted both hands, eyes lightening. “It wasn’t me.”

“I don’t care who it was. Doc! Huirre!” They each held a
tasik,
and the fingers of Doc’s free hand kept folding into a fist and unfolding again. Cho doubted he knew he was doing it. Huirre had been less than enthusiastic about joining the fight until Cho’d reminded him his share of the weapons’ sale was at stake. He watched them step into the air lock. Watched the door close.

“Outer door opening . . . Closing again!”
Huirre sounded freaked.
“Hey! What the fuk are you . . .

“Outer doors have closed and locked again, Captain.” Dysun slapped her thumb repeatedly against the screen. “Looks like the signal’s coming from the station sysop. No one can crack Big Bill’s system.”

“You can’t,” Cho sneered, tried of hearing excuses. “That doesn’t mean no one can. Huirre, report!”

“Doc’s out. Shoved me, threw away his
tasik
and squeezed through at the last second. He looked weird. Even for Doc.”

“Captain,” Dysun’s eyes were dark again when she looked up, and her hair flicked back and forth in short jerky arcs. “A body in the path of the door, even a moving body, should have stopped the door from closing.”