Arkadian Skies Read online

  As the Nomad neared the end of the copse, with trees all around and a picnic table underneath, Alisa hit reverse on the thrusters, abruptly throwing them to full power. The ship seemed to lurch backward, even though it was merely braking hard.

  More curses came from within the ship, from both Mica and Alejandro, as Alisa was thrown against her harness. Abelardus, who hadn’t been in a seat, went tumbling to the deck beside her. With her gaze locked to the rear camera display, Alisa barely noticed.

  The shuttle tried to pull up, but it was too close. Its belly slammed into the Nomad’s rear shields, and it was flung away like a ball bouncing off a brick wall. The pilot couldn’t regain control quickly enough, and the craft slammed into a tree. The ancient oak won the battle, remaining standing as the hull of the shuttle crumpled.

  With no forward momentum, the Nomad struck the ground, smashing the picnic table. Their shields protected them. The picnic table fared less well.

  “Will someone give the captain a dictionary with the word steady highlighted?” Alejandro asked, a groan mingling with the words.

  “Sorry, Doctor,” Alisa said.

  She took them back up into the air again, hoping the shuttle would be out of the fight. But it was determined to get them. It wobbled into the air again. She hoped the crew hadn’t thought to call for reinforcements yet.

  “If you do something like that again,” Abelardus said, easing up into the co-pilot’s seat, “I’ll try to make him jerk his hand, turn it into a harder crash.”

  “I doubt he’s going to hug my ass again after that,” Alisa said.

  “He might not be able to resist your allure.”

  “Yeah, I get that a lot.” She shot him a meaningful look as she steered away from the trees. She would have to set things up differently to fool the pilot again.

  “Alisa?” Leonidas spoke over the comm. “We got those people out.”

  “Good. Thank you.”

  Alisa couldn’t bring herself to ask if they were all alive. She didn’t need another reason to feel guilty. What she needed was to find a way to put this shuttle out of commission.

  The ground shuddered beneath the Nomad, another aftershock coursing through the city. Plumes of smoke came from a long, squat building up ahead. One of its walls had collapsed, the roof slumping to the ground on that side. Alisa headed toward it while trying to think of something clever to do to their follower. The shuttle was on their tail again, not as close this time.

  “Mica?” Alisa asked over the comm. “Can you make me some smoke? Smoke that billows artfully from one of our thruster housings?”

  “I’d be shocked if smoke wasn’t billowing now,” Mica grumbled.

  “Let me know when you have it ready.”

  Alisa swept around the corner of the squat building, spotting people climbing out broken windows on the back side. One of them looked toward the freighter and waved furiously, wanting help.

  “Wish we could give it to you,” Alisa whispered.

  The shuttle zipped around the corner, right behind them. It wobbled slightly as it straightened out. Maybe the damage it had taken from the tree was affecting its maneuverability. She hoped so.

  “Smoke’s ready,” Mica said.

  A few seconds later, the shuttle’s e-cannons fired, blasts striking the Nomad’s shields.

  “Good timing,” Alisa said. “Let it flow, Mica.”

  She dropped the shields, as if that last strike had depleted their power and done real damage. Alisa threw the Nomad into a spin as they banked around the building again, the shuttle disappearing from sight behind them. Abruptly, she reversed the thrusters again while raising the shields.

  The shuttle accelerated around the corner of the building, the pilot no doubt thinking its wounded prey was within grasp.

  “Abelardus,” Alisa said, as the shuttle veered to the side to avoid the unexpectedly halted freighter in its path.

  This time, it wouldn’t have crashed into them, but Abelardus must have done what he said he would do. The shuttle veered too hard and crashed into the wall of the building, smashing through two side-by-side windows. The front ten feet of the craft disappeared as it lodged in the structure, bricks tumbling to the ground all around it.

  “He’s not getting out of that position anytime soon,” Abelardus said, sounding proud of himself.

  “Let’s hope he didn’t call for reinforcements,” Alisa said, feeling significantly less proud. “Or if he did, let’s hope they’re too busy to come. Shouldn’t these people be focused on rescues right now and not chasing down falsely accused criminals?”

  “You’re falsely accused, Captain?” Yumi asked.

  “At the least, I’m… misunderstood.”

  “I believe that was on Billy the Kid’s tombstone, back on Old Earth,” Mica said.

  Alisa’s fingers danced across the controls as she started to take them up into the air again, but dozens of people were running out of the squat building toward them. Some limped, and some carried others. Still more just waved frantically. Alisa couldn’t hear their words, but she had no trouble deciphering the cries for help. She did not want to set down here, not so close to that Alliance military shuttle, but who else was going to take these people to the hospital?

  Sighing, she inched the Nomad forward and landed on a patch of lawn, the only spot that wasn’t damaged, filled with rubble, or filled with people. But several potted trees lined the area, along with a picnic table. She managed to avoid the trees, but one of the picnic benches at the table was flattened. Oh, well. Better than a person.

  “Abelardus,” she said, “if any Alliance soldiers run this way with weapons in their hands, I’d appreciate it if you used your prodigious mind powers to fling those weapons onto the roof.”

  “I’ll keep them back.” Abelardus hopped to his feet and strode out of NavCom.

  “Leonidas?” Alisa commed. “We found a non-rooftop landing spot. We’re a few buildings away from you, at the, uh—” She poked at the map. “Cafeteria. Follow the path of smashed picnic tables to find us.”

  Yumi snorted.

  “Keep an eye on that shuttle, will you, Yumi?” Alisa unbuckled her harness. She wasn’t going to let people flood into the cargo hold without keeping an eye on things. “Let me know if it manages to get out, or if any other ships head our way.” The latter seemed a distinct and unsettling possibility.

  “Will do, Captain.”

  Alisa headed for the cargo hold, almost running into Abelardus, who had gone to his cabin to grab his staff. He jogged ahead of her, and she paused to stick her head into sickbay.

  “Doctor?” she asked, spotting Alejandro and young Ostberg. After the crazy flying, Alejandro’s face was pale, and he looked like he might throw up—or like he might have already thrown up. Ostberg stood next to Durant, who had been returned to the exam table, and he looked fine. In fact, he grinned at her, his eyes gleaming. Anyone who could zoom those thrust bikes around that hilly course probably would not get airsick. “Can I borrow your helper? We’re about to have a bunch of injured people coming in.”

  Alejandro rubbed his head and gave her a sour look.

  “Don’t worry,” she said. “We’re taking them to the hospital. You don’t have to do anything.”

  “That’s not what my glare was for.”

  “Still grumpy about my unsteady flying?”

  “I’m grumpy about every choice you make. What are we doing here?” Alejandro flung a hand toward the bulkhead, though the gesture was probably meant to indicate the campus rather than the ship.

  “Rescuing people,” Alisa said brightly, and waved for Ostberg to join her.

  Alejandro squinted at her. “Random people?”

  “Since we couldn’t locate the un-random one, yes.”

  Ostberg’s brow crinkled in confusion, but he joined Alisa in the corridor. When they reached the cargo hold, they found Abelardus had already opened the hatch and lowered the ramp. He stood to the side, once again in his Starseer rob
e and with that staff planted on the deck next to him. People looked warily at him as they walked, limped, or were helped up the ramp, but their wariness did not keep them from shuffling into the hold and collapsing inside. The chickens pecked nervously at the floor and eyed the newcomers suspiciously.

  “Go in as far as you can,” someone called from the ramp. “Try to stay out of the way.”

  The speaker came into view, a black-haired woman of about thirty with a younger woman’s arm slung over her shoulder. Another woman walked beside them, this one older and with blood on her blouse. She was using a hand tractor to guide two unconscious young men into the craft. Two other men were using a blanket to carry a third. Nobody had hover gurneys or even hoverboards. Most of the people appeared to be college-age students, with the exception of the two women directing people.

  Alisa picked her way past the refugees, so she could meet the women at the top of the ramp. She didn’t know if they were nurses or doctors or simply faculty who had taken charge. They did not wear uniforms of any kind.

  “Is the captain here?” the gray-haired woman asked, scanning the hold as her people settled in. She glanced at Abelardus but did not appear eager to talk to him. Leonidas wasn’t the only one who would need muffins to bribe people not to fear him.

  Is that so? Abelardus said into her mind, his nose wrinkling in a sniff.

  Definitely.

  “I’m the captain,” Alisa said, lifting her hand and meeting the women’s eyes. She did not offer them her name. University professors probably wouldn’t follow the news in regard to rogue freighter captains, but there was no need to take chances. “We were flying by and saw the trouble. We’re prepared to take a load of people to the hospital.”

  Just happened to be flying by, eh?

  Ssh.

  “We need it,” the dark-haired woman said, assisting her student to the deck, then heading to Alisa. Sweat gleamed on her forehead, and she wore an understandably frazzled expression. She gave a short bow, then said, “I’m Dr. Suyin Tiang. We’re grateful that you landed. The hospital must be the priority, but if you have time afterward, I dearly need a ride to the Siamese Tower Apartments. My father is there, and I haven’t been able to get in contact with him. He’s not answering his earstar. The news is so fragmented, and I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to find out if anything happened to the building.” She laid her hand on Alisa’s forearm. “You were in the air, you said? When the earthquake started? Is it as bad everywhere as it is here?”

  “It’s—” Alisa groped for words while her mind spun, processing the woman’s introduction. Dr. Tiang’s introduction. Had she truly stumbled across the one person here that she sought?

  Suyin's grip tightened. “Captain?”

  “According to the news, it was an earthquake,” Abelardus said, “but we have reason to believe that a weapon was used, that it was a deliberate attack on the city. Half the continent is feeling repercussions from the earthquake, but this was the epicenter. It shouldn’t be as bad everywhere.”

  Alisa nodded. “We can take you to the hospital and the apartments afterward.”

  Where they would have a chance to legitimately rescue Admiral Tiang. She told herself that it was inappropriate to be triumphant right now, considering everything going on, including the bleeding and moaning people filling her hold, but she couldn’t help but feel that fate had finally done her a favor.

  “Excellent.” Suyin released her. “I need to get more people, direct them in here.” She turned, waving at students still coming up the ramp. “Only the injured, everyone. The hospital is going to be flooded with people to care for. If you’re not seriously wounded, please stay in the cafeteria until—”

  “A ship crashed into the cafeteria,” someone cried from the bottom of the ramp. “It’s not safe!”

  Alisa hoped nobody had noticed that crash had been her fault.

  “That won’t happen again, I’m certain,” Suyin said. “Just—” Her voice cut off with a startled sound of dismay as she reacted to something to the side.

  From her position, Alisa couldn’t see what she was looking at.

  A cyborg without muffins, Abelardus informed her.

  Screams and cries of fear started up on the ramp and on the grounds outside. Alisa rushed through the hatchway, immediately spotting Leonidas and Beck, their armor dulled with soot. But not enough soot to hide that crimson coating on Leonidas’s suit.

  “It’s all right,” Alisa called, aware of the students—and the faculty—scooting away, even though Leonidas was carrying an unconscious man in his arms rather than any blatant weapons. “He works for me.” When that didn’t noticeably calm people, some of whom needed to board the ship and be taken to the hospital, she added, “He’s retired!”

  Alisa squeezed past those on the ramp and ran out to greet Leonidas and Beck. Beck was also carrying someone, a young woman with burn marks on one sleeveless arm and soot smearing her red face. Alisa patted him on the shoulder, but went to Leonidas’s side, wanting to show people that he was safe—helpful, damn it. He was carrying someone to the ship. How could they even think he was here to do harm?

  Since she couldn’t hug him while he carried a man in his arms, Alisa walked at his side, close enough to rest her hand on his back. Too bad the armor prevented a good butt squeeze. Nothing said this man is not a threat to anyone right now and has a playful side like a butt squeeze. Of course, she hadn’t truly discovered yet if Leonidas had a playful side. She believed he did, but he kept it buried fairly far down. She had seen glimpses of humor, however. She had hope for him.

  Leonidas headed straight up the ramp, not returning the stares of the wary students, his helmet focused forward. Alisa wondered how many people had screamed and run away when he’d been trying to help them in the other building and on the grounds in between. She wished she could cuff them all. At least Suyin, apparently having heard Alisa’s words, was heading back up the ramp after them, helping the other woman to support someone hopping on one leg.

  “Doctor,” Leonidas called when he reached the hold. “This man has internal injuries and needs immediate help.”

  Alejandro had come down with his medical kit and was starting to assess some of the injured. Ostberg made his way to each person, offering each a drink of water from his canteen. Alisa imagined these folks would like something stiffer than water, but it was good to see the kid helping out. Even though he also wore a black robe, nobody seemed overly concerned when they saw his young face and gangly frame. A few people even smiled when he excitedly detailed the way the Nomad had evaded that Alliance shuttle. Alisa wasn’t sure they should mention that the military was after them, but she had too much else on her mind to worry about it.

  “Two soldiers are heading this way,” Abelardus told Alisa, touching her arm. “From the shuttle.”

  “Armed?” she asked.

  “Armed.”

  Leonidas had been striding toward Alejandro, but he paused, looking back.

  Alisa waved for him to deliver his patient. They could handle this.

  “Can you make them unarmed?” she asked Abelardus.

  “If I catch them by surprise, probably.”

  “Let’s go talk to them.” Alisa didn’t want to wait for the soldiers to run up the ramp and throw accusations where all of her new passengers could hear. That would only alarm them when they didn’t need to be alarmed. Besides, she didn’t want Suyin fleeing at her first opportunity.

  Is your primary concern truly getting your cyborg’s penis fixed right now? Abelardus asked silently as they headed down the ramp.

  Alisa glared at him. No, but it’s a concern. And I don’t think it’s right for you to judge me when you’re so judgeable yourself. As if everything you do is altruistic.

  Judgeable? Is that a word?

  Yes.

  Does it mean what you think it means?

  We’ll ask Yumi later.

  As they turned off the ramp and toward the side of the building,
the two soldiers strode into view. With their uniforms askew, their caps missing, and their hair covered in dust and soot, they didn’t appear too happy. Each carried a rifle in his arms. Abelardus might have a hard time flinging the weapons away from them if they had a good grip. Alisa had been imagining pistols in holsters that he could slip out with his mind. Instead, they were eyeing Abelardus’s robe and fingering the triggers of those rifles.

  “Hello,” Alisa said with a cheerful wave. “Did you come to help take wounded people to the hospital? That would be excellent because I’m not sure I can fit everyone in my hold.”

  They scowled at her.

  One said, “Are you the captain of that… that?” He thrust a dismissive finger toward the freighter parked in the park.

  Innocuously parked, Alisa thought. So long as one didn’t notice the shards of picnic bench sticking out from under the belly.

  “It’s the pilot I want to shoot,” the other one muttered. “Not the captain.”

  How lucky for them that you are one and the same. Abelardus winked at her.

  Why do they still have their weapons?

  They have a death grip on those weapons. I’ll have to distract them in order to fling them away. Unless you want me to fling the men away?

  Can’t you distract them by undoing their boot fasteners? Or dropping their trousers?

  Sounds kinky.

  “Shit,” one of the soldiers said, faltering as he gaped over Alisa’s shoulder.

  He started to point his rifle in that direction, but it flew out of his hands. The other soldier’s did the same thing. Both weapons sailed into the air and landed on the roof.

  As Alisa glanced behind her, Leonidas strode up, still in full armor and now with a rifle in his arms.

  “Is there a problem?” he demanded coolly.

  “Uh—” Both soldiers looked toward the rooftop, toward Abelardus, and finally toward Leonidas. Then they ran.

  “Your cyborg was more distracting than kinky uniform malfunctions,” Abelardus said, waving in the direction that the rifles had gone.

  “I guess that reputation is occasionally handy,” Alisa said, nodding at Leonidas.