Breakeven Read online

  Sebastian hesitated. He'd planned to force them out, but he couldn't square that with his conscience. They'd be killed by the Caruso out there.

  He inclined his head.

  She relaxed a little against the console. “We're ready to go.”

  There was an urgency to her voice he sympathized with.

  There was nothing to be gained by hanging around right now.

  “Then let's go.” As he said it, there was a strange vibration through the ship, and everyone's gaze went to the wide front screen of the cruiser.

  Suddenly they were thrown upward.

  Everyone was flung up and then down again.

  Sebastian caught a glimpse of a small hover and a body flying past the front screen, and then they were out in the black of space.

  “Power up.” Sebastian pulled himself to a crouch and gripped the handhold on the back of a chair. “We need the grav generator. Power up.”

  One of the Verden's crew lunged forward, forehead bleeding, and slapped a hand on a scanner.

  The soft hum of power purred through the cruiser, and everything tumbled back down.

  “What happened?” Vavi was lying awkwardly against a console, and Sebastian saw the side of her face was bruised.

  She manipulated her jaw and winced.

  “Someone turned off the enviro and grav generator on the Deck.” One of the Verden's crew flopped down into a chair. “Someone sent out a warning to all registered ships' crew. That's why we risked running back to the Verden, even though we had to get past some Caruso to do it.”

  “The Garmen Cores did this on purpose?” Lucia looked out of the front screen, eyes wide. “More than half the dead are their own guards.”

  “And there goes their profit,” Karr pointed as a cargo box floated past them.

  Of course, what was a little lost profit, when they had also surely killed every Caruson solider attacking the Deck? Sebastian wasn't so sure the Cores wouldn't make a decision like that, no matter how many of their guards were killed.

  “I don't think it was the Cores.” The Verden crew member tapped the screen in front of her. “Sounds like Arkhor has taken control of Garmen.”

  Sebastian was there instantly, looking over the woman's shoulder to read the announcement.

  “They say to remain calm, and they'll come fetch us all and tow us back to the Deck when they've reset the generators.” The woman seemed to find comfort in that.

  “That's what's going to happen to you,” Sebastian told her. “Not to us. Unless . . .” He leaned past her and tapped to access the ship personnel locator. Grunted in satisfaction when he saw the master suite was occupied.

  “Unless what?” One of the other crew watched Sebastian from his own console.

  “Never mind.” Sebastian smiled at him. “You're free to go. Karr and Vavi will see you to the lifepod. Have a good life.”

  The three crew got slowly to their feet.

  “What about Rina Fattal?” The woman who stood beside him glanced sidelong at the ship locator.

  Sebastian smiled again. “Don't worry. We'll take good care of her.”

  Chapter 3

  The ship's power humming to life had been one of the sweetest sounds she'd ever heard.

  Dee noticed they weren't going anywhere, though, just drifting with the engines idling, which suited her fine.

  She got up tentatively, and rubbed her upper back as she walked toward the window.

  She winced as her fingers encountered a raised welt across her shoulders that must have been caused by hitting the edge of the table.

  Her forehead and left side of her face was bruised, and when she feathered her fingertips over the skin, she found it was swollen and extremely tender.

  Ouch.

  But at least she was alive and breathing.

  Leo would come for her. She knew that.

  She just had to sit tight, and wait for him or Fink.

  She reached the window and braced herself for a view of carnage and destruction, but there was nothing to see but space.

  Either she was on the wrong side of the ship, or they were much further from Garmen than she thought.

  It could be either, she conceded.

  Footsteps sounded in the corridor behind her, and she tensed, looking toward the door, although she knew no one could get in.

  No one stopped though, and suddenly she realized that was strange.

  Wouldn't they at the very least check to see if anyone was in here, and if they were all right?

  She recalled the screaming, glazed-eyed princess who'd been killed running toward the Verden, and guessed this was her room, and most likely, her cruiser.

  Even more reason for the crew to check on her.

  She took a step toward the door, and then paused.

  No doubt the crew would be surprised to find it wasn't their employer in here, but rather a stowaway.

  Her mouth twisted into a grin. Probably surprise would be the very least of their reactions.

  And she needed to give Leo and Finkle time to find her--although given the chaos below on Garmen, with Felicitos out of action--perhaps she'd better come up with her own plan than rest her hopes on a speedy rescue.

  Her friends and colleagues would come for her, but how long would it take them?

  She checked her comm set, but she wasn't able to reach Leo or anyone else.

  Either the Caruso had taken out the comm systems, or flipping the kill switch had rendered them useless.

  Another possibility was that she was too far from Garmen.

  She didn't want to think about that. At all.

  She had piled the clothes and shoes she'd found littered about the room on the teal couch, but out of the corner of her eye she noticed the pile was moving.

  She turned, heart suddenly beating fast, as the whole thing toppled, and something wriggled amongst the clothes.

  She approached carefully, lifted up a thin shirt, and then frowned in surprise when she couldn't see anything.

  She bent closer, and something hissed at her, almost right in her face.

  She jerked back, and looked more carefully.

  Two angry eyes stared up at her, the whole iris a dark blue, and then she saw pink gums as it bared its tiny white teeth.

  She wasn't someone prone to sentimentality, but she crouched down, entranced.

  “Aren't you a cutie?”

  The hissing stopped.

  “Did Princess Messy keep you as a pet?” She put out a hand, moving slowly and smoothly.

  She felt the cautious touch of a tiny clawed paw, and then the creature scrambled up onto her palm.

  It was almost completely invisible. Up close, Dee could see it was about the size of her palm, with incredibly fluffy fur that seemed to have no color of its own, but rather to reflect the color around it.

  When it had snarled at her, its teeth had been tiny but sharp-looking, although Dee guessed they wouldn't do much damage, even if it bit her.

  She carefully lifted a finger and ran it down the little creature's body, from head to tail, and it arched under the stroke and made a tiny little purring sound.

  Dee hadn't seen any bowls or food that would indicate the princess had a pet at all, so she walked to the food and drink station. There was nothing she could find that was small or shallow enough to be useful, so she poured a little water into her other palm and held it out.

  The creature leaned forward delicately, bracing its front paws on her hand and lapped at the water, and Dee laughed as the roughness of its tongue tickled her skin.

  When it had drunk its full, she looked for something to give it to eat, and eventually settled on cutting up a piece of exotic fruit she'd never seen before.

  When she offered it to the little animal, it snatched it in its enthusiasm, and turned away from Dee on her palm, as if to protect the food from being taken back.

  “Either that is a natural reaction of your species, or the princess wasn't a very nice pet owner.” Dee walked back to the w
indow to see if she could catch a glimpse of Felicitos now that the ship had drifted a bit more, but she couldn't see anything. Not even Valdos, the big water planet that lay close to Garmen in the solar system.

  It worried her.

  While she tried to work out where they might be from the position of the stars she could see, a lifepod spun out from below the ship and powered away.

  She stared at it, openmouthed.

  Was something wrong with the ship, and because she'd hidden here, they'd evacuated without her?

  She strode to the door, disengaged the lock, and stepped out.

  Almost straight into a man standing with his hand raised, as if to open the door himself.

  “Oh.” She put her hand to her chest. “I thought there might be something wrong with the ship when I saw the lifepod. What's going on?”

  The man looked at her with cool eyes. “For you? Nothing good.”

  Sebastian saw Rina Fattal's eyes widen in surprise as he spoke, and then she jumped backward, leaning to the right to hit the button to close the door.

  The speed with which she'd moved took him completely by surprise and he lunged forward to follow her into the room, but he was too late.

  The door closed in his face.

  “What happened?” Vavi asked as she and Karr walked toward him.

  Sebastian glanced at them. He had a deep sense of unease about his brief encounter. “Rina Fattal stepped out of the room, but when she saw me, she jumped back in.”

  “Faster than you could grab her?” Karr asked, and Sebastian heard the skepticism in his tone, and gave a nod.

  “Yes. Which doesn't jibe with anything Harvey told us about her. She moved fast.” And she had the sleek, muscled body of a woman to whom physicality came naturally. A grace and a balance that said guard or special forces to him. Not spoiled princess.

  “She was injured. There was a bruise on her face, and a welt across her cheek, probably from when we were sucked up off the Deck. She might also have injured her arm. She was holding it against her body when she jumped back, and even though the button to close the door is on the right, she used her left hand.”

  “But it was Rina Fattal, right?” Vavi asked.

  Sebastian looked thoughtfully at the closed door. “From what Harvey told us, her coloring was right. Dark hair, dark eyes. It seems very unlikely there'd be someone so similar who just happens to be in Rina Fattal's bedroom who isn't Rina Fattal.”

  But there was something queasy in his gut, telling him maybe they had screwed up. Seriously screwed up.

  There was a long moment of silence.

  “You're kidding, right?” Karr put a hand on his hip. “You can't honestly be thinking this isn't her?”

  “She looked me directly in the eye, and she was absolutely shocked to see me, but not rattled. She moved like she knew how to handle herself. She's had some training. There's no doubt about that.”

  No one wanted to tell him he was wrong, he could see it in the way they shifted uncomfortably, but they also didn't want him to be right.

  They'd lost Harvey, put everything on the line for this.

  If this wasn't Rina Fattal, he didn't know how they could recover.

  And the stakes couldn't be higher.

  Vavi pushed past him and hit the open button he'd already tried twice. Nothing happened.

  “Harvey said this door was never locked because she was so often high, they had to have access in case she passed out.”

  “Well, she's obviously decided to lock it.” Sebastian shrugged. “Given the Caruso were on a rampage, she probably was more concerned about them getting in than someone not being able to revive her from a substance fugue.”

  Vavi acknowledged the logic of that with a nod and a wry twist of her lips.

  “We can speak to her, though. Talk her out.” Karr pointed down the passage to the bridge. “There'll be an internal comm system.”

  That was true. And if that didn't work, there was no way there wasn't a workaround for the door lock. An override switch, or he could just crawl through the venting and drop into the room.

  Talking wouldn't hurt to start, though.

  Sebastian made his way to the bridge.

  He'd left Lucia in control, although there wasn't much to do right now. They were just drifting along at this point. He wanted to get a comm to Rina's father before he decided on a destination. And he knew the top exec of the most powerful Core Company on Lassa would not simply accept anyone's word that they had his daughter.

  He'd want proof.

  A live comm with her speaking to him at the very least.

  Which meant Sebastian needed to get Rina Fattal out of that room.

  Lucia swore softly, then turned to look at him over her shoulder. “We've just been pinged by what looks like an Arkhoran warship.”

  “Ignore it,” Sebastian said.

  She shook her head. “I mean, personally pinged. They want contact with this ship in particular.”

  Sebastian stepped up beside her and looked at the message.

  Felt a chill in his gut again. “Fire up the engines, and head as fast as possible in the opposite direction to the warship.”

  “What are the Arkhorans doing in all this?” Vavi asked.

  “You think Arkhor would let Garmen fall into Caruso hands?” Sebastian shook his head. “They somehow knew what the Caruso were planning. I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't them who switched the enviro and grav generator on the Deck off.”

  “Why are they interested in us, particularly, though?” Karr asked.

  Sebastian looked out the door, down the passage to where Rina Fattal's room lay.

  And thought he knew the answer.

  Chapter 4

  Dee stepped out of the shower in the lavish private bathroom off the executive suite, and heard the internal comm chirp again.

  She dried off with towels made of something almost as soft and fluffy as her new little friend, and ignored it.

  They'd be coming for her soon enough.

  She knew she couldn't stay here forever. They'd either break in or override the door. It was inevitable.

  She suppressed a shiver of fear.

  She was as vulnerable as it got.

  But imagining what might be in store for her wasn't doing her any good. Leo and Finkle would come for her, and she just had to hold on until then.

  She'd decided she might as well have a hot shower first.

  The warm water had soothed her aches and pains from when the ship had been thrown into Garmen's nearspace, and she had rummaged through the pile of clothes and found some that were not too ridiculous.

  As she pulled them on, she looked around for Fluffy, and spotted her sitting next to the basin.

  “Do you want a little wash?” she asked. She turned on the taps until the water was warm, and filled the sink.

  It seemed Fluffy did want a wash.

  She dived in, and Dee noticed with interest that with her fur wet, she could see pale gray skin beneath.

  When Fluffy hopped back on the counter, she gave herself a shake and Dee gently rubbed her dry, then extended her hand so the little creature could climb up her arm and onto her shoulder.

  She felt a lot better as she made herself a cup of jah, gave Fluffy some more fruit and water, and then finally turned to the internal comm again.

  She pressed the button, waited for someone to pick up. “You wanted to talk?”

  There was surprised silence on the other end. “Yes. We've been waiting.” The man who spoke was definitely the same one she'd encountered outside her door. His tone was wry.

  “Should I not have taken seriously your threat to me?” She kept her own tone even.

  He hesitated. “You should have taken it seriously.”

  “That's what I thought.”

  “We're going to get you out of there. It's just a matter of time.”

  She took a sip of jah. “I know. What's this all about?”

  “We have a problem with the w
ay your father is running Lassa. If he wants you back, he's going to have to change course.” His voice was deep, and she could hear the passion in it.

  “My father was killed in a mine explosion in Phansi, the mining center of Garmen, twelve years ago. If you can contact him, Lassa has made some scientific leaps ahead I didn't know about.”

  There was silence. “Are you saying you're not Rina Fattal?”

  “I don't even know who Rina Fattal is. My name is Dee Vanuka, and I'm the inventory manager for Gaudier Transport.” Well, that was her official title. She was actually one of Leo Gaudier's lieutenants, running interference on the core companies of Garmen; undermining them whenever she could. But she wasn't going to go into detail.

  The silence was even longer this time.

  Talking amongst themselves, she guessed.

  “What are you doing on this ship, if you work on Garmen?”

  “I was checking a transport ship on the Deck when the Caruso attacked. I ran to the nearest open door, which happened to be this ship, and hid. I got a warning on my comm that the enviro and grav were about to go, so I tried to close the ship up, but I couldn't. For some reason, the room I'm in now was open and uncoded, so I locked myself in here.”

  “What happened to Rina Fattal?” The man's voice was deeper now. As if he was fighting some emotion.

  “I saw a woman and what looked like her bodyguard being shot down as they ran for the ship. She was certainly dressed like she belonged in the room I'm in now. She could have been Rina Fattal.”

  “How convenient for you.”

  Dee sighed. “No, it's not convenient for me at all. But I'm betting not nearly as inconvenient as it is for you if I'm telling the truth. You've taken the wrong woman, and your plan is dead.”

  The comm cut off, and Dee ran her finger down Fluffy's spine. “I don't think he wanted to hear that.”

  For some reason, that struck her as funny, and she laughed.

  Then she set down her cup, straightened the dark blue jacket she'd found in Rina Fattal's wardrobe, and headed for the door.

  She wasn't going to wait for them to find a way in. She'd meet them on her own terms.