Tobias Buckell - Ragamuffin

“Try?”

“I think there is a Hongguo ship in the area for sure, I’m going to try and draw it off.”

“Be careful, Jamar.” Ijjy walked closer to the frozen image of the Queen ’s captain. He looked a bit shaken.

“I’ll be canny like Anansi,” Jamar said. “We’ll take that ship, but if we don’t, Nashara, remember—” The link died.

“Heavier jamming,” Kara said. She looked at them and shrugged. The three adults didn’t say anything, but looked at each other. Nashara stared at the floor.

“How we going get there from this side the habitat,” Ijjy finally asked.

Both men looked at the big gun by Nashara and she frowned. “Not like that. I won’t have that much blood on my hands. I’m not psychotic.”

“You the soldier.”

Nashara looked down at a screen on her wrist. “I will fight if I have to, but I’m not going to slaughter those people just because the Satrap has their minds.” But Kara saw her continue to stare at the gun. The woman was thinking about something.

“So what we doing?” Ijjy asked.

“Get the vacuum bags out.” Nashara looked angry, her eyes blank. “I’m sick of breathing this shit anyway.” She looked very, very angry.

“But what are we doing?” Sean asked.

“How’s that plastic coating?” Nashara walked over and poked Sean’s neck. “You safe to go back out?”

“We both good,” Ijjy said. “Couple minutes exposure.”

Nashara looked around. “They’ll be waiting for us just past the decompressed area.” She was obviously talking about the stratatoi.

“You got a big gun,” Ijjy said. “We armed.”

“To face tens, maybe.” Nashara looked down at the massive gun and rubbed her temple, then glanced over at Sean’s waist. She stopped rubbing her temple, stared at the loops of rope he carried. “Hundreds? No. You really want to walk over twenty miles of hostile terrain to get to the other end cap?”

“The Satrap will be watching,” Kara agreed.

Kara flinched as Nashara spun and walked over to her. “The center. The sunline. Is there a shaft that will take us up to the sunline? We’re deep on the cap on this end, we should be able to get to it, right?”

“Yes. There’s an elevator.” Kara closed her eyes, mapped out a location, and tried to pass it to Nashara, but nothing happened. “Um, you have access to lamina?”

Nashara shook her head and held out her wrist. “On here.”

How quaint. Kara sent it, and Nashara looked it over. “We’re going to seal you up for a few minutes in bags to protect you from the lack of air. We’ll carry you out. Once we’re in a safe area, we’ll open it. Okay?”

Kara nodded.

“Good.” Nashara caught a small, folded-up pack the size of her hand that Sean tossed at her. She unpuckered the top and shook it out into a four-foot-wide bag, then looked over at Jared. “Crawl on in, then.”

Jared looked at Kara. “Go ahead,” Kara said. “It’s our only way out.”

He stepped forward, still carrying the doll, and sat in the bag. Nashara pulled the edges back together, except for a last little bit for him to keep breathing.

Sean tossed another package at Nashara and she opened the vacuum bag. “You’re next.”

Kara looked at the filmy plastic and took a deep breath to steady herself. It was out of her control now. She had to relax and let these adults help the both of them.

She stepped forward into the bag, sat down, and drew the top over her head.

“Can you give the command to open the outer door from in there?” Nashara asked. Kara nodded. “Good.” Nashara looked around. “Then let’s roll. Open the door. Ijjy, Sean, keep back, don’t shoot unless shot at. Let me pick the fights, all right?”

They nodded.

Nashara sealed both bags, then stepped forward to pick up the massive gun. Ijjy awkwardly picked Kara up and slung her over his shoulder, holding onto the back of her legs with one arm while he held a pistol in his other hand.

The outer door rumbled open at Kara’s command, and she heard a brief rustle against the plastic as all the air escaped. Ijjy’s shoulder slammed against her stomach and the world lurched as they began to move, and quickly.

The Takara Bune timidly approached Agathonosis, dropping drones and scattering them along its path. Only a few hundred thousand miles lay between the two wormholes here, both at the same orbital altitude above the planet Ys.

“They’re here,” Bahul said. “I can see the Queen Mohmbasa .”

“Good.” Etsudo closed his eyes as they approached. “Brandon?”

“Yes.” The other man’s voice sounded as hushed as Etsudo’s. The habitat looked wrecked. Old and wrecked.

“Are those holes in the skylights?” Etsudo asked.

“I think so.”

A ping alerted him to the presence of the Shengfen Hao , now just transiting the wormhole. Etsudo continued looking at visual updates of the habitat’s exterior, hardly able to believe what he was seeing. Neglect.

“Have you ever seen anything like this?” Brandon asked.

“No,” Etsudo said. “Not ever.”

The Shengfen Hao hailed. Jiang Deng popped up. “Moving for the attack, good job tracking them, Etsudo.”

Deng would certainly not try to capture them alive.

Disappointing. But safe. Nashara was probably aboard that ship; picking her up was too dangerous. He’d instilled some of the same loyalty into her when patching her mind back together that his crew had. Enough so that if he ever ran into her again, he had some sort of fighting chance. But he hoped not to meet her face-to-face again; the last encounter had shaken him.

The Queen Mohmbasa accelerated hard out, curving away from the habitat. Etsudo watched the Shengfen Hao match it, then fire a dozen missiles.

Even the nimble Queen couldn’t outrun the sharp sparks racing toward a point ahead of her. The Ragamuffin ship jinked hard, several missiles miscalculated and passed above her, but debris rained off the ship.

“No one is on that ship,” Brandon said. He glanced over.

“Why do you say that?”

“That maneuver. Too many g’s for a human to suffer, particularly at a right angle like that.”

Etsudo snapped himself in. “Scan for any broadcasting. We’re looking for a pod, or a shuttle, something that they’re hiding in to control the ship.”

The Queen spiraled, elaborate dodges, avoiding more missiles, and Etsudo smiled. He would love to meet the man piloting that ship.

Was it worth risking a meeting with Nashara? Sadly, no.

One missile finally struck the Queen . A geyser of hot metal, air, and water spewed from the side of the ship. No more shaking the missiles, something had been damaged, the Queen accelerated along a straight line.

A long line of laser fire faintly visible in the interstellar dust stabbed out from the Shengfen Hao . It razed the side of the ship, and the Queen began to spin slowly. The ship vented air and more debris.

“Deng has her,” Bahul noted. “Quick dancing, but she’s done.”

Etsudo waved aside the virtual window showing the destruction of the Queen and looked at Brandon. “Anything?”

“Yes.” Brandon displayed a small spot of dark moving slowly toward the hull of the habitat.

“Well done, Brandon.” Etsudo strained against the straps. “He’s headed to the other side of the habitat. I wonder why?”

Brandon shrugged. Etsudo changed course to follow the small craft. “Bahul, forward this all to Deng.”

Then he sat back and waited.

“Incoming,” Brandon muttered.

Missiles. From the Shengfen Hao . If Deng doubted Etsudo’s commitment, he’d have to change his mind now. Or maybe Etsudo needed to invite Jiang Deng aboard his ship for some tea.