He jammed a grenade into a crevice in the tank, ripped open one of Mica’s rust bangs and left it in another crevice, then sprang free. With its one remaining gun barrel, the tank spun, trying to target him. The grenade exploded first.
The boom shook the entire ship, and alarms flashed on the control panel. Alisa gripped the console with both hands, helpless to do anything. Smoke filled the cargo hold, and she could barely tell what was happening. The drones continued to zip about, firing energy bolts that lit up the gray haze.
“I guess Leonidas gets the kiss,” Yumi said, pointing to the hulking body of the tank. Its treads had been blown apart, and it had stopped moving.
Abelardus growled.
“More trouble coming,” Alejandro said.
An armored humanoid figure had appeared in the smoke at the airlock entrance. It carried weapons and an energy shield, the front crackling with white light and power.
“I bet that’s the captain,” Alisa said. “Or one of his men. Androids. Whatever they have.”
The figure leaped straight toward Leonidas.
Something slammed into the hatch to NavCom, and Alisa jumped from her seat. A red blazer bolt splashed against the thick glass of the window. A drone hovered in the corridor on the other side.
“Duck,” Alisa said, having no idea how much damage that window could take. Not much, she was sure. A prolonged blast would melt the glass easily.
Alejandro flung himself under the console, with the orb box. Yumi took deep noisy breaths. Alisa grabbed her Etcher, wishing she had thought to ask to borrow a more powerful weapon from Leonidas. Abelardus turned toward the hatch, his eyes narrowing to slits as he waved his staff.
The drone fired again, this time maintaining the blast. Glass snapped and melted. The energy beam burned through, slamming into the bulkhead below the view screen.
Alisa slammed down on the comm button. “Mica, I need you to get out of the closet. I need a…” She groped for something that would help with this new development.
“I’m rather comfortable in here, right now,” Mica replied, the booms of whatever was going on in the cargo hold nearly drowning out her words.
The beam halted abruptly, leaving a scorched divot in the bulkhead and a giant hole in the hatch window.
“Hah,” Abelardus said, a clunk sounding as the drone fell out of view.
Two more drones flew through the corridor toward them. Abelardus cursed.
“Mica,” Alisa said, careful to keep her head below the level of the window, “can you open the cargo hatch so everyone not locked behind a door will fly out? The way Beck and the others did when we had a squadron of soldiers in here?”
“They won’t fly anywhere with the grab beam holding us,” Mica said, “or I would have already done it. The ship might as well be in a tub of gelatin right now.”
The two drones outside fired at the hatch, this time aiming for the handle and locking mechanism instead of the glass. They wanted in.
Abelardus waved his staff, and one of the two dropped out of sight.
“Can you do that all day, or do you get tired?” Alisa asked.
“I have excellent stamina.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“Depends on how many drones they send,” Abelardus said.
That didn’t answer her question either. Another one zipped up the corridor, joining the one remaining. The stench of burning metal wafted into NavCom, and the hatch itself was starting to glow red around the handle. What would those drones do when they got in? Kill them? Or did they simply want the orb?
Remembering the armored android, Alisa looked toward the view screen to check on Leonidas. She could see Beck near the stairs, firing at something else trying to come out of the airlock. Neither Leonidas nor the android was in view. Several ominous bangs reverberated through the ship, and she could imagine them hurling each other into bulkheads.
With little else she could do, Alisa tried comming the other ship again. “Captain Echo, are you there?”
She had no idea whether he had come personally to collect his orb or sent another android to do it.
“I am here,” came the now-familiar emotionless voice. “Do you wish to surrender?”
Alisa licked her lips. Was that an option?
“No,” Alejandro snarled.
How could a man wedged under a console be so vehemently unyielding? Maybe she should shove him out the hatch to deal with some of those drones himself.
“Is the offer of ten thousand tindarks still on the table?” Alisa asked.
“Not at this juncture, but I am willing to spare the lives of your crew and withdraw my forces.”
“Magnanimous.”
“Yes,” Echo said, no hint that he grasped the sarcasm in her voice. Maybe he grasped it and just did not care.
More clangs echoed up from the cargo hold. Alisa wished she could see how Leonidas was doing. Dozens of drones hovered in the air around Beck, all shooting at him. He was trying to use the warped support for the stairs—all that remained of the structure—for cover to lessen the number of hits he took, but his armor was already scorched and melted in places.
Alisa shook her head. This wasn’t worth it.
“Those two won’t be bothering us again,” Abelardus said, jerking his staff toward the smoking hatch. For the moment, the corridor was clear of enemies.
But how many more could the android captain send? Money had not been an obstacle when outfitting that ship.
“Anyone in here have a blazer?” Alisa asked.
“Captain?” Echo asked.
“I do,” Yumi said, lifting a compact hand pistol up. “Tommy gave it to me.”
Alisa bent down and grabbed the box out of Alejandro’s hands before he could react. His head clunked on the bottom of the console as he tried to snatch it back. She held her other hand out to Yumi.
“What are you doing?” Alejandro clambered to his feet and reached for her.
Alisa did not have Leonidas there to protect her this time, but she reacted without hesitation, grabbing the blazer and pressing the barrel against his chest.
“Back off, Doctor.”
He froze, his eyes bulging as he gaped at her. Then he clenched his jaw.
“Captain?” Echo asked. “Are you prepared to hand over the orb? My automatons have severely damaged your cargo facility.”
“I’ve got the orb right here, Captain,” Alisa said and tapped the button to transmit a video feed as well as her voice. Juggling the box, the blazer, and manipulating the controls was not easy, not with Alejandro looming next to her, looking like he would attack if she took the blazer from his chest. It was going to be hard to do a good bluff with him standing there, ready to take advantage. “Abelardus, would you mind pulling the doctor back?”
Abelardus hesitated, looking between Alejandro and her. She doubted he cared much about Alejandro, but he probably knew what was in her mind, knew that even she wasn’t sure if she intended to bluff—or go through with the threat.
Ultimately, he lifted his hand and nodded to her. “He won’t attack you.”
Anger burned in Alejandro’s eyes, but his expression—his entire body—was frozen.
Another boom came from the cargo hold.
Alisa gritted her teeth and flipped the orb box open. Its yellowish glow poured out, making her squint. Her arm hair stood on end. The temptation to stare at the orb came to her, nearly overwhelming in its intensity. If not for the clamor of weapons fire in the ship behind her, she might have struggled to resist, but she ground her clenched teeth and jerked her gaze away.
“Can you see me, Captain Echo?” Alisa asked.
“I see you.” For the first time, the android’s face came through on the flat display embedded in the console. He had short, neatly combed white hair, silver eyes, and a bland and forgettable face that was slightly more male than female.
“If you don’t call your automatons back and let go of my ship, I’m going to destroy this artifact.” Alisa tossed the box aside and pressed the barrel of the blazer to the surface of the orb. A jolt of energy ran up her arm, electrical shocks coursing through her nerves. She moved the muzzle back a half inch, but did not let any sign of the pain show on her face. If the android had been programmed to decipher human expressions, she did not want him believing that she was uncomfortable—or bluffing.
Off to her side, Alejandro continued to look enraged, but he did not move.
Could
not move.
“Starseer artifacts are not easily destroyed,” Echo said.
“Are you sure?” Alisa said. She had no idea if a blazer pistol would break the orb, but the android couldn’t be that positive, could he? “Do you want to risk it?”
“A blazer can damage a Starseer artifact,” Abelardus said, stepping closer so the android could see him behind Alisa’s shoulder. “Perhaps not a staff of power,” he added, “but this orb is a key, not a weapon.”
“Yes, I require its use as a key.” Captain Echo gazed at them, his face impossible to read.
“If you don’t remove your robots from my ship and let us go, nobody’s going to get to use it as a key,” Alisa said.
“You are the Starseer?” Echo said, meeting Abelardus’s eyes.
“Yes.”
“You may be useful in recovering more artifacts. It would be challenging to keep you alive, but I have suits that could be altered for human protection.”
“Good to know, but I’m not going with you. Any artifacts that get recovered will be going back to my people.”
Alejandro growled deep in his throat. It was the only protest he could manage.
“I will take you prisoner if possible,” Echo said, “and spare your life.”
“Didn’t you hear me, Captain?” Alisa said, waving the blazer. “If you want this artifact, you’re going to spare all of our lives. And my ship.”
An alarm blared. It was not a small alarm on the control console this time. The noise came through all the speakers on the entire ship. “Hull breach,” the computer announced. “The hull has been breached.”
Alisa wanted to comm Mica to see if there was anything she could do, but she dared not interrupt this conversation with the android. Besides, Mica would know what to do on her own.
If
anything could be done. Alisa had no doubt that breach had occurred in the cargo hold, and Mica would be suicidal to run out there amid the drones and whatever else was going on.
“You have minimal time, Captain,” Echo said. “I suggest you deliver the artifact to my automatons now. You may still be able to repair your ship after we depart.”
Alisa’s grip tightened on the blazer pistol. The android did not sound worried that she would blow up the orb. Alejandro seemed to believe it far more than Echo did.
“Marchenko,” Leonidas said over the internal comm, the blaring of the alarm coming over the channel even more loudly than it was sounding in NavCom.
Alisa muted Echo and answered Leonidas. “That’s
Alisa
, and what? Are you all right?”
She could still see Beck on the camera, shooting at drones. A few more of them had crashed to the floor, but he remained under siege, with more blast marks dotting his armor since the last time she had checked. And she still couldn’t see Leonidas.
“The android intruder is dismantled,” Leonidas announced, even as he strode into view of the camera. He smashed the butt of his rifle into one of the drones attacking Beck, and it flew across the cargo hold to slam into a wall. It crumpled and dropped to the deck, more affected by his raw power than by blazer bolts.
“Uh, good,” Alisa said, half-stunned. She had thought the men were losing down there. Echo certainly had not done anything to indicate he expected anything other than victory.
Another voice sounded on the comm. “Captain,” Mica said, “I can’t get to that breach to see how big it is and if I can patch it, not with a war being fought in the cargo hold.”
“Working on it,” Alisa replied. “Leonidas, if you could disable the grab beam on that other ship—”
“There are still robots within
this
ship,” Leonidas said, smashing another drone into a wall. “We should finish them off first, to ensure—”
“Abelardus will handle them. We need that other ship to let us go. And it would be even better to have that android captain out of commission.”
“Understood,” Leonidas said. “Beck, come.”
“Come?” Beck asked, ducking as one drone fired at his head and two more sailed straight toward him.
Leonidas grabbed one of the drones out of the air, his hands moving too fast to track. He gripped the device from either side and crushed it in his grip. Beck fired at another one, a barrage of blazer bolts, and it flew into the support post over his head. It bounced off his shoulder and crashed to the deck.
Leonidas destroyed one more drone, and he and Beck jogged toward the airlock. The still-smoking tank blocked the way. Leonidas heaved it to the side. Alisa watched her men disappear into the airlock tube.
On the monitor, Echo had stopped looking at Alisa and Abelardus. Something on his own panels seemed to have demanded his attention.
Figuring she had better distract him if she could, Alisa toggled the mute. “All right, Captain,” she said. “We’re ready to surrender. You win.”
The android lifted his silvery gaze toward her. “Humans are very duplicitous,” he said, then stood up, having the look of a man—or an android—who had business to attend.
The channel closed down.
Alisa grimaced. Abelardus had said there were at least three androids on that ship. Even if Leonidas had managed to come out on top when battling one, that meant he had two more to deal with and whatever other assault robots and drones remained on the
Explorer
.
“Here, Doctor,” Alisa said, shoving the orb at him. “Stay here with Yumi, and keep the hatch shut.”
Abelardus must have released Alejandro from his mental grip because he grabbed the orb and returned it to its box.
“Where are you going, Captain?” Yumi asked over the continuing blares of the alarm.
“Abelardus and I have a date.” Alisa eyed her broken hatch window and the smoky corridor beyond it.
“Oh, will there be kissing, after all?” Yumi asked.
Abelardus quirked an eyebrow.
“Yeah, I’m going to watch him give the kiss of death to any drones left on my ship. We’ve got to clear the cargo hold so Mica can fix our breach. If Leonidas and Beck manage to get rid of that grab beam, we need to be ready to fly. Mind if I keep this?” She waved the blazer pistol.