Mindee Arnett - Avalon

“Jeth?” Lizzie said from behind him.

He didn’t respond. He didn’t know how to without losing it.

“Um, Boss?” Flynn said. “You all right?”

Jeth closed his eyes, willing the numbness to retreat from his mind. He had to think about the others. He needed to be strong. His ability to lead under stress was one of the reasons Hammer had put him in charge of this crew in the first place.

Drawing a deep breath, he opened his eyes and nodded.

“What do we do now?” said Flynn.

And there it was, the question Jeth knew had been coming.

When he didn’t answer, Lizzie said, “I don’t get it. Why would they steal Avalon ?”

“Because they wanted all the money for themselves and a great ship,” said Celeste.

“But they seemed . . . nice,” said Lizzie. “I really thought Sierra liked you, Jeth.”

“Shut up, Lizzie.” Jeth closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. He was so angry sweat coated his skin despite the frigid air.

“I’m sorry.” Lizzie cleared her throat. “But we’ll get Milton and Avalon back. We just got to figure out where they went. Can’t be too many options, assuming they really are headed for Olympia Seven and that they made as big a jump as Avalon’ s metadrive can handle.”

“You mean as long as the jump even worked,” said Flynn.

Jeth opened his eyes in time to see Lizzie shoot Flynn a glare. “You’re not helping.”

“Oh, right. Need to be helpful.” Flynn clapped his hands. “Let’s see. We’re stuck in the Belgrave on a ship with no real power, no metadrive, and probably only a day or two of oxygen left with this many people on board. Not to mention all the freaky dead bodies. So what can I do that’s helpful? I know. I can kill myself now and get it over with.”

“You can start by not being such a jerk,” Celeste said, hands on hips.

“Well, pardon me for seeing the reality of things,” said Flynn.

“You’re just focused on the negative. As usual,” said Lizzie.

“Oh right, because there’s so much positive going on around here. Did you forget that the nav system we just installed doesn’t work? And it’s anybody’s guess about the comms.”

An all-out screaming match erupted. Jeth recognized it for what it was—channeled panic. Unlike him, they were frightened instead of angry.

“That’s enough,” Jeth said. He stood and everyone fell silent. “Celeste, you go check on Shady, make sure he’s all right. Flynn, Lizzie, see if you can repair the comm system so we can call for help.” Jeth glared at each of them in turn, daring someone to protest.

Nobody did.

“I’m going to the passenger deck to check something. When I get back we’ll figure out our next move.”

Jeth strode off the bridge and made his way back to the cabin where Sierra had shot him. He stepped in and pulled the door closed behind him, not wanting to be overseen. Then he ransacked the room, finding an outlet for his anger in the act. Even though he’d searched the room once before, he did it again, desperate to find anything that might help them out of this situation. He yanked out all the drawers on the dresser. He upended the mattress. He reached inside the hidden wall panel, scraping the bottom with his fingers. He even pulled off the air vent to see if she’d hidden anything up there.

Nothing. Nothing. Nothing .

Yanking his hair, Jeth let out a scream. It was pointless. Stupid. There was nothing to help him up here. His only option now was to call Hammer and submit to whatever punishment he saw fit to give. What had he been hoping for anyway? That she’d left behind a copy of the Aether Project? Or a calling card for their contact on Olympia Seven?

Calling card. If only . . .

Not daring to breathe, Jeth looked down and saw he was wearing his flight jacket. He’d put it on before he and Sierra had come over here. This was his favorite jacket, the one he wore on almost every job. The one he’d worn on the Montrose job, when he’d met Marcus Renford.

Jeth slipped a hand into the right side pocket. For a moment, he found nothing in there but fuzz and worn fabric brushing his knuckles. Then he felt it, something small and hard: Renford’s calling card.

Jeth pulled it out and stared at it, hardly believing his luck. This would let him contact Renford directly. Jeth closed his hand around it, weighing his options once again. Hammer or Renford . Renford was ITA, the most powerful organization in the universe—surely they could track down Avalon . And there was no telling what Hammer might do when he found out how badly Jeth had failed. It was possible he might forgive him, but Jeth doubted it—not if the Aether Project was real. The prize was too big. And Jeth had a feeling Hammer would be able to piece together what happened here, or force the truth out of him.

But calling Renford meant betraying Sierra, Vince, and Cora. The ITA would know they were still alive. Could he do that?

The answer came all too quickly—yes. They had betrayed him first. They’d stolen Avalon .

Firming his resolve, Jeth returned to the bridge where the others had gathered, including Shady, who was sitting on the floor with his back and head resting against the nav station, his arms thrust out in front of him, elbows on knees, eyes closed. A massive black, puffy bruise covered the left side of his face, the eye nearly swollen shut.

“What’ve we got?” Jeth said, scanning their expressions. None of them looked willing to speak. He zeroed his gaze on Flynn.

Flynn fidgeted a moment, then gave in. “The good news is the comm system was easy to fix. Just a couple of loose wires I was able to finagle. It should be coming online soon. We just need to cross over the border to transmit. The bad news is we’ve got two days max on life support. So we better get a hold of somebody willing to come rescue us fast.”

“Well, it seems the good outweighs the bad for once,” said Jeth.

Shady looked up, squinting at Jeth with his good eye. “So, we call Hammer then?”

“Yep,” said Flynn. “Going to be a great conversation, too. He’ll be thrilled when he finds out we disobeyed his order not to board the Donerail, brought the survivors onto Avalon, made plans to betray him, and then got our ship stolen in the process.”

Lizzie rolled her eyes. “Like we’re going to tell him all that.”

“Oh, he’ll know on his own,” said Celeste. “Hammer’s not dumb.”

“No, he’s not,” said Jeth. “And no matter what story we spin for him, he’s going to make us pay for this.” Not that we haven’t paid enough already, Jeth thought. With Avalon gone . A terrible sense of loss made the muscles in his chest contract. He drew a ragged breath.

Lizzie frowned. “But who else can we contact who’ll help us?”

Jeth reached inside his pocket and withdrew the calling card. “Marcus Renford.”

“Are you talking about the guy the three of you attacked on Kordan?” said Shady.

“Uh-huh,” said Lizzie. “He sure is.”

“Well, don’t you think he might not be too happy with you after that?”

“It’s not like we hurt him,” said Celeste, no doubt remembering the way Renford had vanished off the ship, despite the two stunners he’d taken to the chest.

“Right,” said Jeth. “And it doesn’t change the fact that he wanted us to bring him the Donerail . So we bring it to him. Or have him come get it, rather.”

“You think he still wants it?” asked Flynn, looking around.

“Of course, he doesn’t,” said Celeste. “He wants the Aether Project, or whatever it is that Vince and Sierra just escaped with.”