Ronan: Ziva Payvan Book 3 (44 page)

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Resistance Battlecruiser
Marauder

Noro System, Fringe Space

They were finally on the command level. Without a schematic and without a comm connection, navigation had been difficult. The sheer vastness of the ship hadn’t helped. The only time Ziva had set foot on a vessel this size, she’d simply stopped in a docking bay long enough to exchange a prisoner for payment. But based on the frequency of their run-ins with Resistance soldiers and the fact that the elevators would go no higher, she knew they were headed in the right direction.

She couldn’t help but recognize the familiarity of the situation. She and Aroska creeping through a hostile environment together – it reminded her all too much of Dakiti. At least they’d been able to blend in a bit there, though the reasons behind that still made her shudder. The real difference now was that neither of them was ready to shoot the other in the back. She caught herself when she realized she was glad Aroska was there. So often, she preferred to accomplish tasks alone, or if not alone, with people she trusted wholeheartedly. The fact that Aroska now fit that description still surprised her. After everything they’d been through together in such a short time, she had to admit there was nobody she’d rather have backing her up right now.

The entire ship reeked of nostium. More accurately, the
crew
of the ship reeked of nostium. Even after spending the past couple of days in the presence of so many Nosti, it was a bit of a shock to smell it so strongly again after close to ten years. The scent made the hairs on the back of Ziva’s neck stand on end as she recalled her final battle with Gamon. Killing him had allowed her to escape both his control and his plot to take her to Forus, and the freedom had been such a relief. But this scent – this
stench
so similar to what she’d once smelled in his presence – sent her right back to that tiny apartment where she’d struggled for her life. If he’d succeeded in taking her, she wondered if she might still be here on this very ship, fighting against her own people right now. Perhaps Gamon had even been on comm with Ronan that day.

“We’ve got to be getting close,” Aroska murmured, pulling her from her thoughts.

Ziva hummed an agreement and paused to listen where two hallways converged.
Yes, just like Dakiti
. Except now their world shuddered and trembled every so often, a stark reminder of how unstable the situation really was.

They’d had to stop and find somewhere to hide on three occasions now, watching with bated breath from tight spaces as groups of Resistance soldiers jogged by. They’d opted to engage a couple of the smaller squads, with Ziva using her Nostia to strip them of any comm devices while Aroska took advantage of the distraction and got several shots off. The routine had worked considerably well; with luck, they’d only had to take on one or two Nosti at a time with the kytaras. As much as the sword-fighting skills were coming back to her, Ziva had to agree with Aroska in his belief that nothing beat a reliable firearm.

Their tactic had also been successful in that they’d made it this far without anyone on the bridge being alerted to their presence. She was sure someone on the ship knew they were there
somewhere
– they’d left quite the trail of bodies and hadn’t had time to stop and clean up – but at least they’d been able to prevent anyone from calling for reinforcements. Most of the squads they’d crossed had probably been on their way to investigate the newest corpses.

The thought prompted Ziva to glance down at the strip of cloth tied around her left bicep. She had no desire to recall all the cuts and gashes she’d sustained while learning to fight with Gamon, nor the one he’d left as a parting gift on her face. The makeshift bandage was currently the only thing keeping the fresh laceration underneath from bleeding all over the floor. The last thing they needed to do was leave a blood trail.

The corridor widened ahead, transforming into an administrative area. A variety of consoles jutted from the walls, and a quick glance told her they were for running the ship on auxiliary power. She released a sigh of relief; no crew members would be rushing in anytime soon to man their stations.

Out of curiosity, she tapped at one of the control panels and was disappointed to see that the console did nothing more than regulate the power distribution to the ship’s systems. It appeared to only activate if the secondary systems were online, and even then, at least half of these consoles would need to be manned in order to accomplish anything. Her hopes that they might be able to recover some data or cause some damage from here were dashed.

She sighed and beckoned for Aroska to join her behind one of the workstations, crouching down in case any more Resistance troops came along. She took the opportunity to check her bandage before shutting her eyes and tilting her head back against the wall for a moment.

“You okay?” he whispered.

Ziva nodded and cleared her throat. “If we advance any further, there’ll be no turning back. That’s not to say we
won’t
come back, but we’ll have to finish what we’ve started. We could retreat now – go back to the
Intrepid
, let the GA finish dealing with the shield generators – but it would mean giving up on finding that command console. I’m willing to press on, but I need to know you’re with me.”

“I am,” Aroska said without hesitation.

“But here’s the thing. I need you to focus. Focus on the
enemy
and do whatever it takes to keep yourself alive. Do not think about me. Do not worry about me. The second you take your mind off of what’s right in front of you, they’ll know it, and they’ll exploit it.”

This time there was a short pause before he managed a nod.

“I don’t even need to tell you we’ll be outnumbered. I’ll bet there are fifty people on that bridge. If you want to have any chance of coming out of this alive, you
have
to focus.” She realized she’d been speaking through gritted teeth. Trying to make him understand was difficult when she was having a hard enough time convincing herself of what needed to be done.

“I get it,” he said, and she saw in his eyes that he truly did. “But listen, if we don’t make it through this, I want—”

“Shut the hell up.”

“Just listen to me.”

“No! You will not talk like that. If I ever hear those words out of your mouth again, I’ll make sure you
don’t
make it out alive.” She stared him down until he complied and then sat back with an exasperated sigh. “
Sheyss
, Aroska. Now’s not the time to be arguing.”

In all honesty, she was more concerned about what he’d been trying to say than whether they’d survive. In her experience, however, thinking about the possibility of not surviving greatly increased the probability of not surviving, so she felt her anger was legitimate.

As much as she desired a rest after running through the ship and cutting down so many Resistance troops, she also didn’t want to still be aboard once the shields were down and the real bombardment started. She risked a glance back and forth down the corridor before gesturing at Aroska. “Let me see your belt again.”

He sat up straighter, showing off the collection of items he’d brought from the GA runner. Aside from the assault rifle, he was also armed with a pistol and carried spare plasma cells for each. There were the three Malesium-core thermal grenades; based on the klaxons that sounded throughout the ship, the bridge had been sealed off, so these could be used to breach it. Despite their short blast radius, using them on the bridge itself was out of the question except as a last resort, as detonating them near the viewports could take the whole ship down and them along with it. Smoke and flash grenades would be more useful; he carried two of the former and one of the latter.

She’d spent much of their journey through the ship formulating a plan, having expected to not find the central computer until they reached the bridge. If it was set up anything like the stills she’d seen from the
Vigilance
, there would be a variety of consoles along the walls, similar to the ones she and Aroska were currently hiding behind. There’d be a large control board stretching across the front for the helmsmen, as well as a podium of some sort where the commander – likely Ronan – could stand and give orders. The majority of the soldiers occupying the bridge would probably be communications techs, analysts, and operations officers working in the CIC. Many of them might not even be Nosti. Even if they were, they were likely to be sitting down at first, putting them at an immediate disadvantage.

If they both started shooting from the outset, they might be able to make a good dent in enemy numbers before any of the troops had even gotten to their feet. The smoke grenades would come into play next, concealing their movements as they advanced further inside. The key then would be to somehow seal the bridge back off so no reinforcements could get inside until they’d done what they could to neutralize the threats within.

Ziva had just opened her mouth to vocalize her thoughts to Aroska when her ears picked up the sound of boots headed their way. Lots of boots. More than any of the other squads they’d encountered so far. The sound was headed toward the bridge. Headed right for them.

It was ironic that she’d just been chastising Aroska for having a potentially negative outlook on the situation. Her own mind was now going places she normally never allowed it to. She pictured them being trapped between the bridge and the group of incoming soldiers with nowhere to run, stuck there behind the auxiliary consoles of all places.

“
Sheyss
,” she muttered, readying her kytara. If she moved now, perhaps she’d at least be able to take a few Nosti with her when she went down.

As she rose to her feet, two things struck her: the fact that these newcomers didn’t reek of nostium like all the other crew members, and the subtle whirrs, clicks, and chirps that could only be the result of cybernetic implants.

Relief took over for only a moment before she realized the Durutians were probably ready to shoot anything that moved. “Hey!” she called, listening as the footsteps slowed. “HSP, behind the consoles. We’re coming out – don’t shoot!”

“Payvan?” a man replied. “Show yourself!”

Reddic
. Ziva drew her pistol and held it out where he could see it, signaling for Aroska to do the same. She stepped out from behind the terminal to find a dozen…no,
two
dozen Durutian soldiers watching her from behind the barrels of their myriad of firearms. More were appearing by the second.

They all lowered their weapons on Reddic’s command, and Ziva and Aroska returned theirs to their holsters.

“I believe you called for assistance,” Mae said.

“Think forty people can take the bridge?” Reddic asked. He shrugged and gestured at them. “Forty-two?”

Ziva had to fight away a smile as she surveyed the group of ‘borgs amassing behind him; indeed, there appeared to be forty of them. “I think so, yeah,” she replied. “How’d you get through so fast?”

“Command sent a couple of personnel carriers to come around behind Ronan’s fleet with us. We found a ship – your ship from Aubin – in one of the hangars, so we knew we were moving in the right direction. We were just headed for the bridge – never expected to actually run into you. Crossed paths with a couple of Nosti squads but we took care of them without too much trouble.”

“Turns out the ability to stop bullets with your mind is vastly ineffective when there are twenty different people shooting at you,” Mae quipped. It was difficult to tell thanks to those glowing implants, but there may have been a twinkle in her eye.

“We saw some of your, ah, handiwork on the way up here,” Reddic said. “You two did all of that?”

Ziva nodded and held up her kytara hilt. A quick glance over the group revealed several other Durutians who had picked up discarded kytaras, so she imagined nobody would find it odd that she had one. The fact that she actually knew how to use it would be a different story entirely.

She gave them a quick rundown of her plan; the thought of executing it with only two people seemed completely ludicrous now that she was addressing such a large group. The overall structure of the plan had been sound enough, but lack of manpower had been the major issue. Incorporating the ‘borgs was bound to ensure success.

“We have more smoke bombs,” Reddic said, nodding his approval. He pointed to his silver eyes. “And we’ve got thermal imaging, so we’ll be able to see through the smokescreens. If you two go in first and draw their attention, we’ll hit them with the bombs and take them out before they even know what hit them.”

Both he and Mae were much more enthusiastic than Ziva had expected. “Good. Once we’re all through, station a few of your men near the entrance to pick off any reinforcements headed this way. We can create a choke point – use the narrow opening to our advantage.”

Reddic dipped his head and turned to address his men, giving her the opportunity to turn and address Aroska. She was pleasantly surprised to find that the uncertainty in his eyes had disappeared altogether.

“You ready?” she asked.

He nodded and gave her the faintest of smiles.

They all turned as a unit and resumed their trek toward the bridge and the CIC. Aroska removed two of the thermal grenades from his belt as they came to a stop at the base of a ramp leading up to a wide, sealed door. There were likely Resistance troops lurking just on the other side, waiting for a force to try to breach it. Ziva doubted they’d be expecting a force of this size.