Blowback (35 page)

“I am Gashta,” the
cati
said, but he almost made it
sound like a question, like he didn’t know his own name. “New rivers bring new
colors,” he said.

“Adjust to colors,” she agreed. “Colors spilling across the
world.”

Gashta glanced over at Tom. “New paths. New humans.”

Da’shay didn’t wait for anything more; she turned to head
for the ladder back down. Tom blinked, caught off guard by the sudden end
because it was feeling to him as if they weren’t done. However, Gashta turned
his back to Tom and went to the injured
cati
who was slowly turning a
pasty color. Tom was guessing he was dead unless the
cati
had a real
good doctor. “Tom,” Eli called softly from the top of the ladder.

Tom backed away from the group, still waiting for some sort
of retaliation. Two
cati
were dead on the floor, but Gashta didn’t seem
too upset and the others were milling. Gashta reached out and touched a
cati
who immediately started to gather up the dead. Others started to follow suit as
Tom followed Eli down the ladder. Once they were out of the room, the membrane
over the hatch closed and Tom followed Eli through the tech room down into the
sleeping quarters. “I can’t believe you did that,” Eli whispered harshly.

“Don’t rightly care.” Pushing past Eli, Tom headed down the
ladder into the triangular room where Ramsay and Becca were waiting. Da’shay
wasn’t here either.

“Where’s Da’shay?”

Ramsay poked a thumb toward the hatch that led to the
corridors level. “She went rushing through. What happened?”

“Da’shay claimed the ship,” Tom answered as he went to the
next hatch. He wanted to follow Da’shay, but he didn’t have many illusions
about being able to find her in this nightmare of a ship.

“She just claimed it? The aliens didn’t have anything to say
about that?”

“Not after Tom shot two of them,” Eli said. Ramsay and Becca
both turned to him with stunned expressions.

“The one threatened Da’shay and the other tried to shoot
Eli,” Tom said without any guilt.

“I only have two classes of xenocultural studies, so I don’t
presume to know much about the topic,” Eli said, “but I think Da’shay set me up
as a decoy. When the shooting started, Da’shay had already put Tom on his knees
and they didn’t even look at him twice. They were trying to shoot me.”

“I could have told you she’d do that. She does seem
uncommonly attached to him.” Ramsay ran his fingers through his hair and shook
his head. “If there wasn’t already a war coming, I’d make a fuss about you
going and getting one started by shooting aliens, Tom,” Ramsay complained.

“I’m not so sure they’d care as much as you might think.”
Eli said.

“Not care?” Becca sounded shocked.

“What’s that mean?” Ramsay demanded.

“I’m not sure, but I think only three of them were actually
autonomous. The others were all doing the same thing, like maybe they couldn’t
function independently. I’m not sure that they’re going to be as easy to
understand as the
genta
.”

“Only three were actually thinking, you mean?” Ramsay looked
a little green at the thought.

“Well, now there’s only one,” Tom pointed out. “The one who
is listening to Da’shay.” Eli gave Tom a sharp look, but Tom wasn’t going to
apologize.

Becca made a face. “Only one? You think all these others are
slaves? That’s horrible. I don’t like these people much at all.”

“I…” Eli stopped and took a deep breath. “You don’t
understand. One of them was talking to us, but all the others were sharing
behaviors—they were all humming or all clicking or all staying behind the
leader. I don’t think they’re slaves—I think biologically there’s something…”
Eli rubbed his face. “Shit. Captain, I’m not experienced enough or educated
enough to know what I’m looking at, but Da’shay’s right that they aren’t going
to think in human terms. Psychologically, they aren’t even as close to humanity
as full-
genta
or
casslit
. All I can say is that this is going to
stir things up back home.”

Da’shay’s head popped up through the hatch. “Time to fly
into space full of recognizable diamonds,” she said.

“About damn time,” Tom said as he hurried to follow. “I say
we get clear before someone has a chance to attack us on the ground. I hope
we’ve got better weapons and shields than the
Kratos
or the planetary
cannons are going to make this one short escape run.”

“Thank you for that cheerful thought,” Ramsay complained as
he followed. “Becca, can you give me any assessment on the tech or weapons
systems?”

“Honestly? Nope. I’d be making it all up if I even tried.”

“It just keeps getting better,” Ramsay said with a sigh.
“Da’shay, did you at least have a good reason for killing folks?”

“Yep,” Da’shay agreed.

“And are you considering letting the rest of them off-ship?
I still don’t like the idea of taking prisoners back. Tech is one thing, but
you don’t know what it’s like to be a prisoner in war.”

Da’shay stopped and looked at him, her dark eyes studying
the captain. “Yes, I do,” she whispered. “Dark and dark. I won’t lead anyone
into darkness. Just making new rivers.” She walked up and rested her fingers on
Ramsay’s chest for a second before she turned to Tom with a smile.

“So, did you really leave Eli on his feet so they’d shoot at
him and not me?” Tom asked. Words had always betrayed him, but actions…they
were a much better way of telling who liked you well enough to let someone else
get killed in your place.

Da’shay’s smile grew. “Yep. Like you better.”

“Great,” Eli said with a dramatic sigh. “I’m not going on
mission with those two again.”

“Look at the bright side. I thought we’d be dead a while
back,” Becca offered. “And we have a nice ship to fly back if we don’t get
blasted out of the air. You have to admit, they have pretty colors on this
ship, even if the hallways are about the most annoying things in the universe.”

Tom smiled. Yep, leave it to Becca to see the bright side of
things. Da’shay stopped under a ladder and caught Tom’s leash right under the
collar. He focused on her. She pulled him close and rested her forehead on his
for a second. “My toy,” she whispered.

“Yep,” he agreed.

She smiled and gave him a quick kiss before she let go of
his leash and headed up the ladder into another room full of the unknown.

Tom sat in the chair closest to Da’shay and watched as the
clouds streaked past the windows, the view more distorted than on the
Kratos
.
“I’d be a lot more comfortable knowing we weren’t about to get blasted out of
the air,” Ramsay muttered again. Tom had decided the captain was remarkably bad
at following. Da’shay sat in what looked like the pilot’s seat and ran her
hands over a large panel of that same blended metal, her fingers touching a
dozen little gauges all colored different so it looked like one of those light
displays some people used to celebrate holidays.

“I think she’s got engine room and pilot functions on that,”
Becca commented. She was on the other side of Da’shay where she could see the
controls. Ramsay and Eli were behind her. They took up five chairs of the
sixteen that sat facing the front window. On the
Kratos
, only two could
sit on the pilot’s deck during takeoff, and if four of them stood in the room
at once, it felt crowded. This ship was huge compared to the
Kratos
, but
more than that, the rooms were empty, without the corners and walls that made
Tom feel as if he had a way to get away from the others.

“That would explain why she doesn’t need you in the engine
room,” Ramsay answered.

“Um, Captain, she’d have to have someone down there. She’s
monitoring the engine, but if she has the controls up here, that means someone’s
got to be down there in case she does something crazy like roll the ship. That
tends to break a whole lot of seals.”

Tom’s stomach turned as he remembered the time Ramsay had
done that. He’d flipped the
Kratos
as they were leaving orbit and just about
everything that wasn’t bolted down, including Tom and a would-be hijacker, had
gone crashing into walls. That wasn’t something he wanted to go through again,
but if they did, having Becca in the engine room to patch up the leaks before
the engine exploded would be good.

“So, you’re saying there’s some
cati
engineer down
there? This really is getting better by the second.” The captain complained,
but he didn’t get up as Da’shay piloted the ship up into space. Tom held his
breath. If the planet was going to shoot at them, they’d do it when the ship
was breaking atmosphere. At that moment, the gravity of the planet was still
pulling, so the internal gravity couldn’t take over. It made everyone in the
ship a little slower to react to panels blowing up.

The clouds cleared and Tom could practically feel the pop as
they slipped free of
Nodar
.
Nodar’s
moon was at the edge of the
window and Da’shay rocked the ship to the side to avoid its gravity well.
Internal gravity came on and Tom could feel his stomach unknot. They weren’t
dead. He was mildly surprised.

“Does anyone else feel like that was a little
anti-climatic?” Ramsay asked.

“Would you shoot down an alien ship?” Eli asked.

“Me? Hell no. But evidence is that the slaver worlds have
known about these
cati
for a while, for a good long while. It’s been
about eighty years since first contact and then trading with pirates before the
government seems to have taken over. So, if
Nodar’s
government knows
enough about
cati
, yeah, they might shoot down a stolen
cati
ship. Actually, they should shoot us down. They’re about to lose any surprise
they might have if there is a war.”

“Do you think they know war might be coming?” Tom asked. He
didn’t think Hou would tell anyone. It seemed more like a
genta
businessman to use the information to get his own profit out of it.

Ramsay didn’t answer right away, and when he did, he was
oddly hesitant. “Who knows? If Hou and Da’shay are right about the Information
Corps staging the whole terrorist attack, maybe not.”

“Captain.” Eli stood up and caught himself on a low hanging
vine-thing. “Could it be that the Corps was trying to arrange a proactive
strike because they knew about the
cati
, or at least suspected?”

“Whispers of ants in the darkness, ants over the feet,”
Da’shay said. She reached over and rested her hand on Tom’s knee.

“If they had rumors that the slaver worlds were allied with
powerful aliens, they might want to act before the alliance could become too
established,” Eli finished.

“That’s an uncomfortable thought,” Ramsay said without
disagreeing. “I can’t say I like the idea of our own government sacrificing a
war hero just to have an excuse for war.”

“Do you think I’m wrong?”

Ramsay stood up and started walking around the large room,
exploring the controls set into the walls. This one was easily as large as the
room where they’d left Gashta and his group. “Didn’t say that. I just said I’d
hate it if it was true. And if it is true, telling people isn’t going to make
any of us more popular.”

Becca gasped. “Captain, you can’t mean we should help them
cover it up. IC blew up Berley Tarby.”

“Allegedly,” Ramsay quickly added. “They allegedly blew up
Berley Tarby, and I can’t even tell you how much that turns my stomach, but we
don’t have proof.”

“You and Tom saw—”

“No!” Ramsay cut Becca off, turning to face her. “What we
saw is only as reliable as we are. I’m an old war prisoner who should have
retired years ago and Tom’s got a service record so bad that six years of me
giving him perfect assessment scores doesn’t even come close to evening it all
out. IC would shred us. That’s if they even bothered to. The fact is that Tom
and I saw what the employee of a slaving, smuggling
genta
showed us. We
have nothing.”

“So we let them get away with it?” Becca sounded lost.
Da’shay left the pilot’s controls and turned to kneel in front of Becca’s chair
and catch her hands.

“Whispering in the dark, actors and cat’s cradle. Little
castles made of sand with trails made from little feet. They built a kingdom of
sand.”

“Who? IC? The
cati
?
Nodar
?” Becca asked.

Da’shay looked around, her eyes settling on Tom. “
Cati
can’t build in sand. One ant follows another. Lay down new ant trails. Follow
and follow and follow. Don’t understand leading yourself to follow another.”
She smiled at Tom before she turned back to Becca. “When indigo sands shift
around them, the trail is lost. Humans build on sand. But the river washes
through, washing away their castles. Work, work, work all gone. Plans ruined
and the king falls from the tower of his sand castle.”

Becca looked over toward Ramsay. “If the Information Corps
did arrange all this to deal with the
cati
in secret, flying a
cati
ship into Corps space is pretty much going to ruin their plans, isn’t it?”

Ramsay nodded. “I think Da’shay’s right that the king that
arranged this whole plot is going to fall out of his tower. We don’t have much
to worry about on that front. However, I’m still not happy about turning aliens
over to a government that’s primed to hate them. There are going to be parts of
the Corps committed to war if she’s right about plots, and I don’t hold with
vivisection, no matter who’s on the table.”

Da’shay stood up. “Not giving them
cati
. Making new
ant trails. Gashta will talk to Corps. We fly the ship.”

“Wait. What? We’re just playing chauffeur?” Ramsay rubbed
his hand over his face. “Are we even giving the ship to the Corps?”

“Nope,” Da’shay said. “New ant trails. Trade. Talk. If
cati
start a war, the ant trail will lead more and more to war. If the ant trail
leads to trade, more and more will trade.
Cati
are predictable.” Da’shay
managed to make it pretty clear from the tone of voice that she didn’t like
predictable.

“At least the xenospecialists will get a good look at them,”
Eli pointed out. “I’m not sure they’re going to understand
cati
any more
than
meaiai
, but maybe I’m just being pessimistic.”

“Yep,” Da’shay agreed. “Now everyone out.” Da’shay caught
Eli’s arm and started pushing him toward the hatch.

“What? Why?” Ramsay crossed his arms and looked as if he was
going to make a stand about his right to stay on the pilot’s deck. Becca,
however, was already following Eli and Da’shay to the hatch.

“The room below looked real interesting with the tech. Tom,
do you think you could recognize weapons systems? Wait. Da’shay, am I going to
blow anything up if I start turning on displays down there?”

“Nope, no explosions. Poke away, but not with Tom. He’s my
toy,” Da’shay said as she half-helped and half-pushed Eli into the hatch.

“Excellent!” Becca might have complained about hating the
tech in the ship, but her face lit up at the idea of exploring it. “Captain,
you coming?” Becca looked from Da’shay to Ramsay.

“Wasn’t planning on it, no. I am still the captain, and
while I’ve let Da’shay have her way, I’m not going to leave pilot’s deck to
her. Does anyone else wonder exactly where she’s planning on taking us once we
hit a quantum string?”

Becca’s mouth opened, but Da’shay put a hand on Becca’s head
and pushed her down the ladder before she could say anything.

“I’m still not leaving,” Ramsay said firmly. That was his
tone that meant he had no room for compromise.

“Then you can watch us have sex,” Da’shay said before she
turned toward Tom and gave him a feral look. Tom’s cock got hard just that
quick. “Want to see my toy all naked. My mate in all his glory. Scared Gashta.
Action from one dismissed as follower.
Cati
stupid.”

“Damn right I scared him. I didn’t like how he looked at
either of us,” Tom said with satisfaction as he shrugged his shirt off. The
thing had more rips than cloth at this point, but one of the sleeves got caught
on the slave cuff around his right wrist. He cursed as he worked to get it
free.

“On the other hand, the others might need me downstairs,”
Ramsay said as he hurried toward the hatch. “I actually had control over my
crew at one point. At least, I’m pretty sure I did.” The captain rushed down
the ladder.

Tom almost laughed at the speed that Ramsay made his
retreat. Da’shay walked up to him and started untangling his right cuff,
separating the frayed fabric from the metal. She started humming as she traced
her fingers over the slave mark.

“Are you saying stuff with the humming?” Tom asked.

She stopped and looked up at him, her head tilted to the
side. “Knew you’d follow. River cutting through rock, but without rain, it all
dries and the work sinks into the ground.” She ran a hand up his stomach, her
fingers splaying out as she moved up toward his slave mark. “Could taste your
white and brown. Knew you were a good man.”

“You’re about the first that did then. Most would argue that
point.”

“Most are wrong. Ramsay sees. I see. Becca sees, but thinks
you have too many angles and not enough curves. I like your angles.” Da’shay
ran her second hand down Tom’s side and let her fingers trail inside the waist
of his pants.

“Does Eli see?”

Da’shay cocked her head to the said. “Eli thinks you’re an
ass.”

Tom snorted.

“Thinks you’re a useful ass,” Da’shay corrected herself. “Is
glad I picked you and not him.”

Tom wrinkled his nose at the idea of Eli and Da’shay
together. He got a weird image of Eli taking out a notebook and writing
comparisons of sex with various women and rating it against Da’shay and her
alien body.

Da’shay laughed. “Would rather have Tom.”

Tom shook his head and focused on the woman in front of him.
She was beautiful, all muscle and strength. Her long fingers traced over his
skin and the blue of her body seemed to create even more curves than a human
woman. She pressed closer and pulled her dress down while humming softly. The
silky fabric slithered over her skin and puddled on the floor so that she was
wearing several guns, a knife and not anything else except the holsters for the
weapons.

“There is something sexy about a well-armed woman.” Tom
reached for her, his hands cupping her waist as he pulled her close for a kiss.
She tasted of salt as he kissed down her throat. “An older, well-armed woman,”
he added. He kissed the indentation where her collarbones met.

Her hands trailed down his arms, and then, before he could
react, Tom found himself twisted around and flung toward one of the chairs. He
tried to catch himself, but she held one of his arms and he could only break
his fall as he landed on the cushion of a chair. Before he could counter her
moves, she had caught his other arm and pulled it behind his back. Tom swore,
but the two slave cuffs clicked together as Da’shay’s controller reversed the
magnetic polarity of one of them. Tom was trapped, his head hanging over the
side of the chair and Da’shay’s weight pinning him down. He couldn’t even get
his feet under him because of the angle. About all he could think was that he
was glad it was his stomach and not his crotch on the chair because his cock
was about as hard as it could get.

Da’shay stroked the back of his neck as Tom struggled to see
if she’d left him any room for retaliation. She hadn’t. “An older, well-armed,
aggressive and possessive woman,” she corrected him before she kissed the back
of his neck. Tom let his body sag as Da’shay took control, her fingers
exploring every inch of exposed skin. He really did like aggressive women.

Da’shay pulled him up and held his collar tightly in one
hand and the waist of his pants in the other as she force-marched him over to a
pile of pillows. Tom would have gone down voluntarily, but she didn’t give him
a chance as she hooked her foot around his ankle and then gave him a good push,
controlling his fall with her hand around his waistband.

Tom landed stomach first in the pile and Da’shay landed on
top of him, knocking the wind out of him. Fuck. Even if he’d tried paying a
doxy, she never could have been this damn good. Tom struggled to turn to the
side and Da’shay braced her legs and held him easily. Pressing his forehead to
the pillow under him, he just tried to keep from coming right there as she
quickly stripped off his pants and underwear and then used his pants to tie his
ankles tightly.