Chapter 3
"What is it?" Riddick repeated, alarms going off in his brain. Nothing ever startled her into silence . . .
There was a second ship docked to the first, about the same mass, but in a hell of a lot better condition. They looked to have been in a firefight, recently. The starboard side of the first ship was battered and burned, several hull breaches evident. Its markings were totally unknown to him.
"Kysian." she breathed. "Predator class, or maybe bigger . . . " she couldn't recall the name at the moment. Tane stared at the ship, awed and still a bit shaken. "They actually got a command ship."
"Are we being invaded?" Riddick asked, more adrenalin pumping in to his system than was comfortable. He was only half-joking.
"No. That's a Colonial Marine Cruiser. Big guns, not as fast, but damn, they got it anyway, didn't they?" She was checking the datalink from the station. "I have got to learn to read the shit they send me before I delete it."
"Marines?" Riddick asked.
She paused, watching him. "We are ok. Marines don't hunt Alliance felons, especially not dead ones."
"You knew there would be Marines here."
"There is always that chance." Tane's gaze strayed back to the Kysian ship.
"You are itching to get a look in that ship." Riddick stated.
"Look at it . . . I want to fly it."
He regarded her over the top of his goggles, shine reflecting back at her. "Have you lost your mind?"
Tane shook her head slowly. "No."
"We are looking for Cody." Riddick reminded her.
"Chances are, Fleet Command will be want me to supervise the upload of the system files, if there are any left . . ." In fact, she was counting on it. A stray thought suddenly had her attention. Tane was a flurry of motion, sending a message. "Hey blondie." she smirked at the video. "Look at what I just found sitting in plain sight at a civilian port." She directed the camera for a slow close-up of the Kysian ship. "I would like your professional opinion on this . . ." Tane had a wicked grin. "Get back with me quick."
"If Fleet Command wants you involved, do you have a choice?" Riddick wondered.
"I do."
"And if you turned down this particular assignment, there would be questions."
She nodded. "Want to go sight-seeing?"
"Sure. Who's 'blondie'?" Riddick eyed her, knowing well enough he had better be suspicious. If he didn't ask, she wouldn't tell, and damned sure as not, he'd regret it later.
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"Constellation type cruiser." West verified, clearly disturbed by the images playing on the video.
Cody wasn't concerned with his co-pilot's emotional state. "How old is this? What system is it out of?"
"It's forty-two hours old, out of . . . Voynich."
Pressing fingers to his temples, Cody leaned back far enough to stare at the ceiling. "Fleet Command will want their top people to examine it. And Tane is one of the top programmers they've had in the past twenty years. The real question is - Will she come out of hiding to get a look inside?"
"No." West thought.
"No? You don't know her." He sat up. "If she isn't there already, she will be. I just have to figure out what suprises she has planned."
"Curiosity isn't as powerful as fear."
"She has never been as afraid as she is curious."
"That makes her dangerous."
Cody laughed. "To whom? We really can't go barging in there, as packed with Marines as the system is right now. But maybe I can figure out a way to . . . encourage her to move on a little sooner."
West could bide his time, playing like he couldn't get around Alliance space without Cody's guidance. It was a useful ruse, for now. He did tire of being subservient, but that was a game, too.
Chapter 4
Tane tied her hair back as she strode down the walkway, in search of an MP. The station was crawling with Fleet personal, but a lot of them were civilians, and Tane didn't deal with civilians. She spotted a pair heading in the same direction and didn't feel like running to catch up with them. They were regular Fleet, military but not Marine. A shrill whistle got their attention.
"Can I help you, Miss?" the sergeant offered. The corporal had been annoyed until she caught up with them. Tane had purposly left an extra button on her shirt opened. She had also left it untucked, her clothes a bit unconfortable now.
"'Miss'?" Tane handed him her military ID card. "I'd like to see the Duty Officer or the OIC as soon as possible."
He peered at the card, then Tane. "This is out-of-date." Among other things. It had a clearance level of 4, higher than his, certainly, and only one level below Fleet Command.
"I'm retired." she offered.
"I have to scan this to verify." he told her. He was paid to be suspicious. To his partner, "Stay with Captain Allen." There were call boxes every hundred yards along the main corridor. He returned within a minute.
"Cpt. Allen," he said, sounding a hell of a lot more serious than he did before. "How formally do you want to do this?"
The corporal was in momentary disbelief.
"As informal as possible. I don't do the military protocol because I don't have to and neither do you becasue I really am retired."
"Can I ask what your business is with the OIC?" the Sergeant asked. The trio headed for the station center.
"That ship sitting on the next platform, mostly. How did they get their hands on it?"
"I don't know, all I know is they towed it in two days ago and this station has been in chaos ever since. They are shipping in a dozen techs from the Rift, but they won't get here for two weeks."
They were going to beg Tane to look at the Kysian ship, and she was going to make a bundle of money from it. The funny thing was, she would have done it for free just to get on board. But she wasn't going to tell them that.
"You are carrying a sidearm?" the Sergeant asked.
"Always. Why?"
"The station isn't secure."
Tane stopped. "I don't recall that bit of information in my docking upload." Of course, she hadn't even read it.
"No." he concurred. "But we have a few stray Kysians . . . at least we suspect there are. No way to account for the troops. There are 61 in lockup on the lower levels and a couple hundred bodies we incinerated."
"This is an opened station." Kysians could come and go as they pleased, but the system was claimed by the Alliance. Too damned close to the Frontier for comfort, tho'.
"Exactly the problem."
"There are reinforcements on the way." Tane stated it as a fact rather than a question.
"There are." He couldn't give her info he didn't have. And a Fleet Sergeant didn't get a lot of top level secrets.
"So I should have gone on to the next system if I was really concerned about security?"
"Yes, ma'am."
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Riddick trailed along behind them, on the opposite side of the wide corridor, pretending he had a passing interest in the many shops that lined the level. He was out of earshot. Since it was early in first shift, the crowd of people was growing, so sometimes, they were out of sight, but Tane was never beyond his sense of smell. The atomsphere seemed tense, but maybe that was just him. Crowds always made him on-edge.
While Tane was learning what she could, he was going to see what he could dig up. He could go places and learn things she would never hear through official channels. As much as she liked to think she could handle anything, Riddick seriously doubted she would have a clue about the 'bad side of town'.
Once this thing with Cody was over, he'd have to educate her on the finer points of the criminal lifestyle. She was certainly teaching him a thing or two . . .