Asarlai Wars 1: Warrior Wench (29 page)

Chapter Thirty-Four

“Damn him all to hell!” Vas swore as her eyes opened to her room in the medical suite of the
Warrior Wench
.

“Damn who? And I’m glad to see you’re feeling well enough to swear.” Mac’s dry voice came from out of her range of vision, but a turn of her very stiff neck showed him. He looked like he hadn’t rested or bathed in a few days.

“You’ve been watching me?”

Mac flushed. “Well, yeah. Terel has you on camera, so she should be here in a few minutes. But I wanted someone to be here when you woke up.”

“Don’t you mean
if
I woke up?” Vas grinned as the look on Mac’s face told her that wasn’t far from the truth.

“Okay, maybe. Thing is if you woke up, I wanted someone to be here. You’ve been out for forty-eight hours.”

Vas tried to prop herself up but her entire body was encased in steel, or so it felt. She couldn’t move anything more than her neck and hands. “Why am I so stiff? And why didn’t you at least take time to bathe?” Mac and his clothing were a bit ripe.

“You’re stiff because of the meds Terel had to keep pumping in you to keep you alive. We almost lost you twice.” Mac tried to look offended. “And I was willing to sacrifice hygiene to make sure you didn’t wake up alone and this is the thanks I get?”

Vas smiled and eventually Mac dropped his wounded expression.

“So shouldn’t Terel be here? I’d think if she’d lost me twice she’d be anxious to see how I was faring since I’m now awake.”

Mac frowned. “I would think so, too. She was fussing over you like a mother glock with one chick until I finally chased her out a few hours ago.”

“And she hasn’t been back?” Vas frowned and glanced at the camera. Its beam was on, meaning it was recording. It wasn’t like Terel to leave any seriously injured patient alone for any length of time, especially someone like the captain.

Vas motioned for Mac to move closer. “Is there a microphone on too? With the camera, I mean. Are they recording sound?”

Mac started to speak, but Vas just mouthed, “Nod yes or no.”

Frowning, Mac nodded.

Vas swore and pulled him as close as she could with her stiff limbs; at least she was able to move a bit now. “I need you to disable the camera and the microphone. But I need it to look like something just went wrong with the system.”

Mac pulled back, looking with growing concern at her face. “Wh—”

“Don’t ask, just do. I’m serious, Mac. Have you ever known Terel to leave a patient alone this long?”

Mac swore. “No.”

“Then I need you to do what I asked, quickly. Don’t draw attention to your moves.” Vas almost let him go then pulled him back. “Wait, lock the doors first. Is there anyone else in this portion of sick bay?”

“No,” Mac said. “The others were bandaged up and sent to their rooms.”

“Okay, lock the outer doors if the rooms inside still look clear, then this one. If you see anyone, and I mean anyone, only lock these doors.”

“Vas, you’re scaring me. What the hell is going on?”

“No time. Go.” Vas let him go. Damn it, she hadn’t come back in time. When she first woke up she thought her whole encounter with Deven had been a wishful dream. A fantasy brought on by a too close brush with death. But Terel would never have left her alone for any length of time, even with Mac on guard.

Mac came back from the outer rooms, and then locked the doors they were in, and ducked behind the wall the camera was on. A flick and the recording beam died.

“Outer rooms were clear. I could hear people down the corridor but they sounded a ways away and I couldn’t tell who it was. I’ve locked everything I can.” He folded his arms. “Now can you tell me why the hell you had me cut us off from the rest of the ship?”

“First, help me up.” Vas tried to move and got her upper body off the bed before she crashed down. “Damn it. Look for something to fix this. Terel’s got me so full of pain blockers, I can’t move.”

“Vas….” Mac looked ready to argue, but then gave up and went rummaging through the medicine. “This should work, but you’re going to hurt like hell.”

“If what I think is happening is actually going on, that’s the least of my worries.” Vas nodded when Mac didn’t move. “Now, Mac. We don’t have much time. Those med seals won’t hold for long once they realize we’re on to them and in here.”

“See, that’s the problem, I don’t know who
they
are.” Mac tried to hold his ground, but finally gave in and pulled a hypospray out of the medicine cabinet.

Vas winced as the hypospray did its job far too well. Her entire body caught on fire as pain flooded every nerve.

“Son of a bitch!” Vas’s scream echoed in the small room. Panting, she wiped away the tears as her body adapted. The pain still raged but once the first shock was over it was almost bearable.

“The ‘they’ I was talking about are the bastards who have taken over our ship. The ones we brought on board.”

Mac rocked back. “The refugees? How in the—why would they and how would they take over our ship?” He peered at her closely. “And just how would you know about it since you were trapped down here and unconscious?”

Vas squirmed. It wasn’t going to be easy to convince Mac. Hell, she wouldn’t believe him for a second if the roles were reversed. “It’s hard to explain. However, the refugees used that damn creature that attacked me to get on our ship without being scanned. The thing that attacked me couldn’t have survived on that planet.”

“Maybe it was a mutation?” Mac’s look wasn’t good. If Vas couldn’t convince him that they were under attack, he was going to unlock everything and run straight into the pirates taking their ship. Irony was a bitch. Her crew had done more than a bit of pirate work in their day, but this was the first time on the receiving end. However, her crew wouldn’t have stooped to such low tactics to take a ship.

“You really think that someone is hanging out with a climate controlled tank of them, letting them out every day or so? So they can harass a bunch of refugees from a planet that was destroyed?” Vas sat up gingerly. The pain in her back was horrific, and spasms echoed every move. At least she could move. “Come on Mac, think about it.”

Mac frowned. “But why didn’t Gosta or Terel figure it out?”

“They might have.” Vas frowned as fear for her friends grew. It was one thing to be lost in battle, another to lose people on your own ship. “When was the last time you saw either of them?”

Mac thought about it. “I probably saw Terel in here about five hours ago.” He looked at his watch and swore. “Actually probably more like ten hours ago. I must have fallen asleep in here. She was finally setting up an autopsy on that gaul. I haven’t seen Gosta since we brought you in.” Mac winced, and then ran his hands through his hair. “He was going to get the refugees settled in.”

“Damn it, there are times I hate being right.” Vas forced herself to sit up through the pain that flashed all over her body. Hopefully once her nervous system got used to handling the pain again it would become bearable. “We have to assume the entire ship is compromised by now. What do we know about the refugees? Or rather the bastards pretending to be refugees?”

Mac started pacing. “Not much. We know what they told us: running away from a destroyed planet, big silver ships came out of nowhere. They claimed to be from Diloxi, small population, low-tech. The idea of them taking off in the generation ship we found the remains of was plausible.”

“They described the ships?” Vas fretted. She didn’t remember them describing the ships. Had she even paid attention to their story? Great move: walked right into a trap and handed over the keys to her ship. Most survivors they met got out before the ships actually arrived, or else they didn’t survive.

“Yeah they did. Sounded just like the ones at that ambush at Lantaria and the ones at the supergate.” Mac paused. “Why are you looking at me that way?”

“Because I don’t think you wanted me to stand here stark naked in front of you and I just realized who’s on our ship,” Vas said as Mac hastily turned his back as she reached for some medical garb to wear. Even just getting dressed was a new exercise in pain. “It’s the Graylian monks, or some group of Rillianians, or both. They haven’t been able to catch us, so they snuck on board.”

She slapped Mac’s ass as she hobbled to a cabinet looking for any type of weapons. “You can turn around now.”

“But how did they know we’d be here?” Mac was slower than usual today. He must have been napping a lot.

“Not hard to figure out how to catch us. We’ve been doing good will trips more than our own jobs for the last two months.” Vas swore and stumbled over to another drawer. Didn’t Terel have anything useful here?

“It’s been kind of nice, sort of a tribute to Jakiin and Deven,” Mac said softly.

“You don’t have to get defensive with me. I’m the one who ordered the runs.” Which was weird in and of itself. Emotions or not, the amount of time they’d burned rescuing small refugee groups was something the old Vas would have laughed herself to death over.

She took a deep breath. She needed to tell someone and right now Mac was it. Wasn’t going to be easy by a long shot, but if something happened to her she wanted someone else to at least know about Deven.

“Mac, about Deven,” Vas said and took another couple of slow breaths. There was no way to say it without sounding crazy. And she couldn’t even tell Mac how Deven did any of it since she still had no idea.

“He’s not dead.” There, she said it.

Mac’s face softened and the closest thing to compassion that Vas had seen on his face appeared. “Of course he’s not, Vas. He still lives on in our actions.” He reached forward to comfort her but Vas smacked him away gently.

“No, he’s
really
not dead. Jakiin is however. Really dead. But Deven is alive.”

“How could Deven have survived that? And how could he have survived and Jakiin didn’t?” Disbelief warred with hope on Mac’s face.

Vas shrugged. “He didn’t survive. He died. He just didn’t stay dead.” Vas waved her hands at Mac. “I don’t know how, he wouldn’t tell me. Deven isn’t completely human regardless of how he looks.”

Mac stepped away a good two steps. “Deven died, but isn’t still dead, and he told you things? After he died, things?”

Vas schooled her face to look very serious and not the least delusional. “Yes, he spoke to me while I was under those drugs. No, no. I don’t know how, nor do I think I was just dreaming. He’s alive. Again. Somewhere.”

Mac looked like he was fighting to believe her. “Okay, so you’re saying that Deven contacted you while you were in a drug-induced coma to warn you about the refugees who are actually these idiots who have been chasing us all over the galaxy. Said idiots have now taken over the entire ship except for us.”

Vas nodded. “Yes.”

“All of that and all you’ll say is ‘yes’?” Mac walked around the room swinging his hands. “How am I supposed to believe you? You could be totally delusional. You did almost die, you know.”

“Yes, you told me. Twice.” Vas wasn’t going to push him. She didn’t even know if the two of them could re-take the ship. But she did know there was no way in hell she could do it alone.

“Shit.” Mac finally stood in front of her. “I have to believe you, don’t I?”

“Pretty much. If you want to live. I have a feeling our pirates don’t realize we’re down here or both of us would have gotten a rude awakening.” She spun as a thought struck her. What would she do if she’d been caught by pirates? Hide as many of her people as possible. “Check the sensors. Are they up?”

Mac muttered to himself about captains who couldn’t check their own sensors but he looked it up. His whistle gave the answer. “Nope, they’ve been down for at least ten hours, maybe longer. Whoever did it caused a catastrophic cascade failure in the main system. It’ll take weeks to get it back up.”

“That’s our Gosta. They probably did get him first, but he was able to crash the system before he was subdued.” Vas refused to think that any more of her people were dead. At the very least the pirates would keep them to sell as slaves. Dead, they had no value. Vas smiled for the first time since she’d woken up. “We may not be the only ones free then. Our first goal is to get weapons, then figure out some way to tell our crew from the pirates, if they’re using shape-shifting tech, they may be able to look like anyone. Oh, and figure out how many of them there are, how heavily armed they are, and how best to take them out.”

Mac sat back down on the chair he’d been on when she awoke. “You’re kidding, right? “

Vas smacked him in the head. “Do I look like I have room to kid? I can barely stand, and if I go back on the pain meds, I can’t move. It’s you and I until we can get some of our own people back. Unless you think you and I can take this ship back by ourselves?” Vas folded her arms and glared.

Mac ran his hand through his spiky hair and reluctantly stood up. “No, boss. I’ll start in the outer room looking for weapons.” He shrugged. “Terel always managed to get weapons when she came back here, so she must have a stash.”

“Good thinking.” Vas tried to ignore the running stabs of pain that followed her every movement, but it wasn’t easy. Each time she moved a new pain snuck up and whacked her. She pulled up the secondary computer systems and began looking for a back door. Unfortunately, as complicated as the under layers of an advanced computer system were, it wasn’t enough to distract her mind completely.