‘Now let’s walk proudly out of Roshu Admin like free citizens of the Colonies,’ Kris said quietly. ‘Then let’s get the fuck to the ship as quick as we can.’ She glanced back, and Idris did too – meeting Uskaro’s bleak, hungry gaze. ‘I don’t think the Boyarin will restrict himself to legal measures.’
5.
Idris
Roshu Admin’s holding cells were in one of the more civilized neighbourhoods of Roshu Primator. Reaching the docking ring – and the Vulture God – was going to involve some legwork through districts where a little violence could be overlooked. Idris was painfully aware just how big and healthy those two thugs of Uskaro’s had been. Rollo could throw a punch and Kris was more than capable of looking after herself, but neither of them were professional heavies.
‘Listen up, my children.’ Rollo was speaking low, sending to all crew. ‘Extricate yourselves from whatever foul vices you’re engaged in and hightail it back to the God right now. We are no longer welcome here. Keep an eye out for Voyenni in green too.’
‘Are we fighting now?’ came Barney’s incredulous reply. ‘I mean, already?’
‘No, my son, we are flying ahead of the shitstorm, like always,’ Rollo told him. ‘Olli?’
‘Does this mean no shore leave for me?’ the drone specialist’s voice broke in.
‘My poor luckless daughter, it does,’ Rollo confirmed. ‘And I need the God ready for a speedy exit. Especially if bad neighbours turn up before we do.’
Olli’s response to that was anatomically challenging but probably indicated agreement.
‘Kittering.’ Rollo was striding down the dignified street at an undignified hustle, heedless of the stares they were getting: two dirty spacers plus Kris, whose ersatz finery looked like the imitation it was in this district.
There was a rattle over the comms, then the translation chirped, ‘Scurrying in progress!’ Converting Hanni to human Colvul was more of an art than a science.
‘Tell me we have somewhere to go, Kit.’
‘Further employment has been secured through my own excellent offices, Captain! Good work, low risk!’ Kittering’s translator yapped.
‘Anywhere but here,’ Rollo confirmed, as they hit the seedier side of town and prepared for trouble. ‘This way, children.’ He bundled Idris and Kris onto a cargo elevator. ‘Next time, my daughter, bring backup for a caper like this, see right?’
‘I . . . did take out some fight insurance. What with you being incommunicado,’ Kris confessed. She had authority in emergencies, but ceding control made Rollo twitchy. ‘Seeing how the Boyarin get violent when they don’t get what they want, I hired us some extra security.’ At his glower she added, ‘A concerned party who alerted me to your predicament, Captain, and offered their services.’
‘We are going to have a talk about what your executive authority actually covers,’ Rollo muttered, but then the elevator shuddered to a halt at a loading bay. They bulled their way out through a crowd of spacers and staff, all apparently trying to manoeuvre bulky a-grav crates and trolleys towards it at the same time.
Idris caught a flash of bottle-green uniform. ‘Trouble,’ he hissed. A couple of Voyenni were shoving through the throng towards them.
Rollo nodded and vaulted the next cargo flatbed, heading away. But before Idris could follow, a third Voyenni loomed abruptly beside him – a big man in shirtsleeves, no doubt dragged from some dive by his master’s demands. For a moment he had Idris’s collar, hoisting the smaller man off the ground. Then Kris’s knife flashed out, its ceramic blade slashing the man’s wrist so he let go with a howl.
Now we run. Their undignified hustle abruptly became a flat-out pelt over cargo crates and around startled haulers and loaders. Rollo jinked towards another elevator, but the car was already departing – and Idris saw another Voyenni elbowing towards them from that quarter, a head taller than most of the crowd.
There was only a railing in the opposite direction, surrounding a deep shaft. It had been built to transport containers into the bowels of the city from the docking ring above, and also housed the cargo elevator in which they’d arrived. Idris remembered seeing shafts like that as a child. It had seemed that you could step out into empty air and float down – just like those monolithic cargo pods. Except that each pod was controlled by the city’s gravitic engines. Jump out into that abyss and you’d plummet to your death.