‘She’s a terrible spy,’ Idris said, with the ghost of a smile.
Kris took a slug of kaffe and instantly regretted it: too hot, way too nasty. ‘Idris . . . I will walk away with you. If you don’t want to do this, I’ll go. We’re a team.’
‘But . . .?’ He eyed her cagily.
‘I don’t want to walk.’
She couldn’t read him at all, in that moment. Then at last he said, ‘I thought you’d be pulling me the other way. I thought, of all of us, you’d have the good sense to have nothing to do with this. I thought we’d be having this conversation in reverse.’
‘You mean you—’
‘I want to back up Rollo. I want to get closure on Barney and Medvig. I don’t want to kill anyone, but I want our ship back too.’
‘A lifetime of trouble’s going to come out of this. Aklu seemed to feel pretty strongly about this whole business.’
Idris gave her a frank look. ‘I give not the least fuck what some renegade Essiel wants with a torn-up wreck. I just want to do right by Rollo and be back on the Vulture.’
When Rollo returned to the bay, with a crate gliding along behind him, he found everyone there but Kittering. The absence hit him; Kris saw it in his wry smile.
‘Not bad though,’ he admitted, looking at the remainder of his crew. ‘Children, I have toys for you, dangerous toys. Not many, but it was short notice. And we need a plan of attack. Battle-daughter, you can do that for us?’
Solace tapped at her temple. ‘I’ve been working on it already, Captain.’
‘You are the favourite of all my brood,’ Rollo told her, trying for his old good nature but the sharp edges were showing through. Then there was a rapid pattering of feet and Kittering scuttled in, screens showing clashing, alarmed colours.
‘Kit . . .?’ Rollo asked.
‘Vulture in-system!’ Kittering’s translator barked, and he lit up with simulations, telemetry and projections. Barely three hours had passed since Idris had made his prediction.
‘Olli?’ Rollo barked.
‘Beds are almost out. Nearly ready.’ The remote specialist loomed at the hatch. She was already in her Scorpion for the heavy work, and would be taking up half the available standing room behind the pilot’s seat.
‘Attention!’ Kit announced. ‘Another vessel has launched on a course for the Vulture-Oumaru.’ More lines arced across his display.
Kris took a moment to work out what she was seeing. The Vulture had exited unspace but it wasn’t hauling its prize anywhere near Tarekuma or the orbitals. It was staying discreetly out of the way towards the system’s further reaches. Aklu must be sending a ship to get whatever he wanted off his ‘ark’ – the Oumaru – without the Architected wreck causing an outcry.
‘Can we outstrip them?’ Rollo demanded. ‘Olli, finish up double time. Don’t worry about sharp edges or loose wires.’
‘They’re going out full burn.’ Solace had taken in the figures Kit was streaming.
‘We can outstrip them.’ Idris’s voice was flat. He looked a little sick at whatever idea had just come to him. ‘We’ll do this, Rollo. Now, before my nerve goes.’
‘Kit?’ Rollo looked at the Hanni.
‘Yes, my captain,’ Kittering confirmed. His screens displayed a sequence of complex patterns – oranges and pinks and greys – but his eloquence was beyond human comprehension this time. Then Olli had dumped the last of the beds out the hatch and backed up to give them room. With his brisk, many-legged stride Kit pattered up the ramp into the Joan. The rest of them followed. The game was on.
13.
Idris
‘I don’t like the look of it.’ Olli had brought up an image of the speeding Broken Harvest vessel. ‘Is she armed? With Hegemony ships, who the fuck knows, right?’
Rollo grunted an affirmative, then looked at Solace hopefully. She leant in to get a look at Olli’s display. That put her elbow in Kris’s ribs and almost ended up with her stepping on Kittering. The Partheni ship was still cosy even without the pods. Olli was being mulish about letting Solace look, but eventually gave up, and the Partheni stared at the specs sombrely.
‘She’s armed,’ Solace confirmed after a moment. The Broken Harvest ship led with a spiky eight-pointed crown, the rest of the vessel a three-lobed bulb behind it and the whole finished in dull grey, ornamented with geometric lines in gold. ‘I see four big accelerators. And maybe that thing front and centre is a focusing iris, for its gravitic drives.’