From where she was, Aria could see that nothing seemed to have changed down below. The wreck of the
Cha'la'fa
was still just as destroyed as before, and the pirate ship was still as motionless and quiet as ever. The pirate tents were unmoving, as one would expect tents to be. Aria could see multiple power generators set up among them, and those were quiet as well. She shivered a little as a chilled wind blew through the area.
Something pinged in the back of her mind. The night was cold, just like nearly every night had been while she'd been stranded on this planet. If the pirates had power generators, they should be running to provide heat to their tents. But Aria's sharp ears couldn't detect any hint of noise from them that would suggest they were operating. That was...not right...
“Pa'ka...,”
the Ailian cursed to herself, her eyes widening.
How I not realize before...
She stood up, snatching her rifle from the ground. Gripping it tightly, she began stalking down the ridge, her feet occasionally slipping on the slick grass in her haste. She hoped she wouldn't be too late.
******
What the hell?
Jack thought to himself. He was startled by what he was seeing right now. Civilian vessels, and pirate vessels still technically counted as civilian vessels, would have their radios tuned to commercial band frequencies to get information on planetary weather, space hazards, and traffic control. Since civilian ships had different mission parameters and capabilities, they needed this specific information. However, each input receiver of this ship's integrated radio was tuned to military frequencies, both the standard ones and some not-so-standard ones that Jack didn't recognize, but which were coded with Special Operations identifiers.
“This isn't a pirate ship at all...,” Jack murmured to himself.
“Very good.”
Jack whipped around in his chair, his eyes widening and his heart ramping up to breakneck speed. Standing in the doorway, which he hadn't even heard open, were three of the “pirates”, including the female leader he'd observed before. All three of them were armed with handguns, and all three of their weapons were pointed directly at him. Jack slowly raised his hands, feeling a sense of déjà vu. A similar situation had been how he'd met Aria. Somehow Jack didn't feel as though this situation would work out quite as well.
The female looked at the male to her right, jerking her head towards the unconscious radio operator. “Taylor, take Smith to sick bay.” The male she was speaking to holstered his weapon and went to the man, picking him up under the arms and dragging him out of the room. The female leader stepped further into the room, and the other male kept an eye on Jack while she handcuffed his arms to the chair. With that done, she dragged over another chair and sat in front of Jack, crossing one leg over the other and putting her weapon away. The male stood at her shoulder, keeping him covered with his gun.
“Who are you?” Jack asked, finding his voice. “Why are you in a ship with pirate markings?”
The female smiled at him, though it was a smile with absolutely no friendliness in it. “You're in no position to be asking questions, my friend,” she said. Her accent was neutral, and Jack couldn't place it. “But I'll indulge you. We're from the UN Navy, privateers. We go by the name of Task Force Amber. We fly under pirate colors and work Ascendancy shipping routes, taking supplies and ships from Ailian merchants to be converted to military purposes.”
“Never heard of you.”
“That's the idea,” the commando said. She crossed her arms. “You can call me Captain Bennett. And you must be Mr. Squier.”
Jack looked surprised. “How...How did you know my name?”
“We didn't come here first. The first wreck we investigated was your ship, the
Star's Eye
.” Bennett uncrossed her legs, leaning forward. “We downloaded the ship's logs from what was left of the main computer, so we know everything that happened right up until you crashed. Now, how about you tell us everything that's happened since then? Like how you came to be at the crash site of the Ailian vessel that was pursuing you.”
Jack opened his mouth, then closed it. He shook his head. For some reason, he knew he shouldn't share that kind of information with these people, even though they claimed to be military. He didn't have a good feeling about them at all.
“You're not going to tell me?”
He shook his head again, tight-lipped.
Bennett sighed. “I was afraid of that. Ramsey?”
The commando standing behind Captain Bennett walked forward. With little in the way of warning he jammed the barrel of his gun against Jack's left leg and pulled the trigger, firing one round into his thigh. Jack jerked back in his chair, his arms straining against the handcuffs as he let out a bloodcurdling scream of pain. Blood streamed from the smoking wound. Bennett waved a hand and the commando holstered his weapon, then withdrew a tourniquet from a pocket and wrapped it around Jack's thigh.
Choking back the pain, Jack gasped for breath. He stared at the wound in his leg, not quite believing what had just happened. He looked up at Bennett, but she was looking at him impassively.
“How about now?” she asked. “Ready to tell me?”
“F-Fine...,” Jack managed to say, his voice almost squeaking with the effort of speaking through the pain. “I'll tell you...”
******
Creeping around one of the tents in the empty campsite, almost at the pirate ship, Aria froze in place as she heard the shot. From the muffled nature of the sound, she thought it had probably come from within the ship. Her heart jumped a little bit as she felt the familiar thrill of battle start to come to her. There was a fight coming, no mistake about that. But underlying that thrill of battle, for the first time, she felt a touch of fear. Jack was inside that ship, and there couldn't be any good reason for there to have been gunfire inside.
“Need to get in there...,” the Ailian hissed.
Aria quickly ran up the ramp to the main hatch. She paused there, confused. The entranceway was much different from one on an Ailian ship. The locks on Ascendancy vessels were biometrically coded, and would open when an authorized person presented a retina scan. This lock seemed to require some sort of device to open. She strapped her rifle to her back, out of the way, and knelt next to the doorway on the ramp, trying to figure it out. She messed with the controls next to the door for twenty minutes. Aria knew ways to override the biometrics, but she wasn't sure what to do with an electronic lock.
Her ear twitched suddenly. Aria wasn't even sure why it had twitched, but she paid attention to it. Over the years, she had learned to trust her instincts. Cautiously, she pressed her ear to the door of the ship and listened carefully. For long moments, she didn't think that she heard anything. Then, faintly, Aria heard the soft tapping of footsteps on the other side. They grew gradually louder as she listened, and it sounded as though there was only one person approaching the door. She flattened herself against the outside of the hull at the top of the ramp, next to the door, and drew her knife from its place on her belt.
A soft beeping sound was heard from the inside of the doorway, and the hatch slid open. A man stepped through, and Aria heard a metallic snapping sound, saw a brief flare of light, smelled the faint odor of something fragrant burning. In a flash, Aria darted her hand out and grabbed the side of the man's head. Before he had a chance to even utter a cry of surprise, she swung her knife hand over and drew the blade across his throat, opening his neck up from ear to ear. Blood spattered the metal surface of the ramp, liters of it spilling from the man's body in a matter of seconds. Letting his body fall, Aria darted inside the ship. The door closed behind her.
Aria quickly got her rifle off of her back, bringing it up to cover the inside of the ship. The scent of human blood faded from her nostrils, but the rush of adrenaline didn't fade. Her heart was racing now, and she had to force herself to focus on the task at hand. Jack was somewhere inside the ship. She didn't know the first place to look, and would have to follow her nose. She knew his scent well by now, enough to be able to pick it out from the other human scents that filled the ship. Keeping her rifle raised, she started into the ship.
******
Captain Bennett leaned back, her arms crossing again. Jack, still breathing heavily with sweat beading on his upper lip, watched her and tried to figure out what she was thinking. The other male commando, Ramsey, was pacing behind him. Jack glanced over his shoulder, then back at Bennett. She was regarding him with an impassive gaze. He'd told her the whole story, hadn't left anything out at all. For damn sure, he didn't want to get shot again. One time in his life was definitely enough.
“So, that's it, then?” Bennett finally said after what seemed like an eternity.
Jack hung his head. “That's it.”
“Not quite.” Bennett held up a finger, rubbing her chin with her other hand. “You've left out an important part. Where's the cat now?”
Jack looked back up, clamping his mouth shut. He felt his defiance returning despite his fear of what the commando leader might do. He shook his head, refusal evident on his face. No matter what, Jack wasn't going to give up Aria like that.
Bennett smiled at him. “How about this, then? I'll make you a deal.”
“A deal?” Jack narrowed his eyes, suspicious but curious.
“Yes. It's quite a good deal.” The woman stood, clasping her hands behind her back. “This unit is due to head home after we're finished up here. You tell us where the Ailian is, and if we can take her alive, you get a ride home with us.”
Jack's heart sank into his stomach. Of anything Bennett could have offered him, she had to offer that. It was the one thing Jack wanted more than anything: to go home. He almost couldn't bear the thought of not getting there, and to be able to ride home with these commandos, even after what they'd just put him through...Well, it was better than staying on this planet forever.
But could he trust what this woman was saying? She wanted something from him, and Jack was willing to bet that she would say anything to get it. Jack didn't believe for a minute that they were going to try to take Aria alive. They'd showed him what they were about when they tortured him to get information. He was certain that Bennett was planning on killing Aria as soon as Jack told her where to find her. And when Aria was dead and Bennett had what she wanted out of the wreck of her ship, there'd be absolutely no reason to keep Jack alive, and he'd be dead as well.
But what if Jack was wrong?
Bennett clapped her hands, jolting Jack out of his inner turmoil. “Time's up!” she snapped. “What's it gonna be, Squier?”
“I...”
Loud gunfire made all three of them look towards the door. Bennett ran for the door control, and paused with her hand over it. She looked back at Jack and the male commando. “Ramsey, keep him in here. Anybody but me comes through that door, kill him first.” She ripped her sidearm from its holster and slapped the door release, running out to the sound of more gunfire.
Ramsey stepped to the far side of the room and leaned against the wall, his arms crossed, looking unconcerned. Jack stared at him, unblinking, while he stared right back.
Aria, what are you doing...
******
Aria waved her hand, swiping away the faint smoke from her rifle shots, and stepped over the two bodies lying in the hallway. All pretense at stealth were gone now, and she was looking for more targets. She knew what path Jack had taken through the ship now, could follow the smell, and she ran. At each corner, she would pause only for a moment, making sure she could go around without being shot down. She'd been in patrol ships for a while, but she hadn't forgotten her tactics learned in military training. She also hadn't forgotten what fighting trained soldiers was like; these were no mere pirates, even
if
they were only human.
Aria was rushing down a long, straight hallway now. Doors lined either side, with one straight ahead of her. Jack's trail led right this way. She snarled, ready to advance, but behind her she heard loud, running footsteps, and shouting. Glancing over her shoulder, she skidded to a halt and turned around, one arm slapping out and opening a door beside her. Aria slipped inside, half in and half out of the doorway, lying in wait like the predator that she was.
The footsteps halted before anybody came around the corner at the end of the hall. Aria kept her aim steady, waiting. After a few moments, a head slowly edged its way into view. Aria squeezed the trigger, and the head snapped back, accompanied by a pink-and-gray cloud of blood and gore. She growled a challenge.
Another man came around the corner, swinging his arm out and bracing a rifle against the wall. He sent a one-armed burst of fire down the hall towards Aria, and bullet fragments peppered her leg as the rounds impacted the wall near her. Aria ignored the stinging pain and fired back, striking the man in the torso. As he fell to the floor a man and a woman came into view, opening up on her with their own rifles. She jerked out of the line of fire and into the open room, feeling a brush of air as a pair of rounds zipped through the space her head had occupied half a second before. Aria popped the magazine out of her weapon, grabbing and inserting a fresh one. She waited for a lull in the firing outside and then emerged again, kneeling.