We stared out of the hatch that led into the medbay. It was empty. No sign of the doc. And no sign of Price or his men.

“Johnson and I should go, sir,” Armstrong suggested behind us.

“It feels like a trap,” I said instead of answering him. My eyes flicked to Adi’s. That’s what she kept insisting I call her. Adi. And for the life of me, I couldn’t refuse her.

I’d started calling her Adi in my head. So far, I’d avoided calling her anything out loud.

She didn’t much look like an Adriana anymore. Adi suited this persona she now wore. A hint of strength wrapped up in a blanket of innocence dancing with courage openly.

She had courage, I realised. She had courage in spades.

I looked back at Armstrong. “The medscanners should be in the cupboard on the far wall,” I advised. “The doc kept them locked away; you can bet Price does too.”

Armstrong scowled at the back of Adi’s head, but he didn’t say anything.

“I’ll go,” Adi said. Of course, she did. And of course, I couldn’t let go alone.

“I’ll cover her,” Johnson rushed to offer. I almost glowered at the man.

“Armstrong,” I said. “You stay here. Report back to Commander López if it all goes wrong. She needs to know. Understood?”

“Yes, sir.”

“I’ll go first,” I said. “Adi behind me when I say it’s clear. Then you, Johnson.”

“With all due respect, sir,” Lieutenant Johnson said, “I should go first. I’m dispensable.”

I wasn’t going to sit here and argue with him over this. And part of being in command was to know your position in the scheme of things. I might have been the chief tactical officer once, but I was now the captain.

I sighed.

“Go on, then,” I said.

He grinned at me and shuffled past.

“Adi,” he said, indicating she should lower the hatch with her wrist comm.

I rolled my eyes at the lieutenant’s use of her Christian name and watched as she reached past him, bringing her wrist comm close enough to activate the gel wall.

It was intriguing to watch. And also a little unsettling. I’d never seen a wrist comm do that before. There was no denying that Adi’s wrist comm was unique. But was it unique to her or unique to the leaseholder and his men?

I didn’t know the answer to that, and it bothered me. We were working in the blind and severely outnumbered. It didn’t take a tactical genius to see how bad this could go and I’d never claimed to be a genius.

Johnson slipped out, plasma rifle up and eyes scanning.

“Clear,” he whispered a moment later.

Adi slid out, while Johnson covered her. She remained next to the hatch until I slipped through it. My eyes connected with Armstrong’s just as the hatch closed. Behind the grille, you couldn’t even see him. But I was sure he was watching our every move.

Was anyone else?

I walked across the medbay with Adi trailing me. Johnson stepped into the centre of the room and aimed his rifle at the closed door. There were usually cameras in here. Security coded to the chief medical officer. If Price had Dr Romano in his care, then he could have access to the footage.

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end.

I stopped beside the medscanner cupboard and looked at Adi. She lifted her wrist comm up, bottom lip between her teeth. She looked like she expected it to fail. I was betting differently.

The door clicked, and I opened it. Bingo. Reaching inside, I pulled out a scanner and a mobile treatment unit. I also grabbed some multi-injectors, preloaded with trauma meds. I didn’t think we needed to be prepared for the common cold.

I shut the cupboard up and turned to look at Johnson, just as the door to the medbay chimed. We dived to the floor. Adi and me behind a workbench, Johnson behind one of the beds. We were far too exposed, and nowhere near the hatch. I pulled my plasma pistol out slowly. Then leaned in toward Adi and whispered in her ear.

“Any other exits?” I asked.

She looked at me; this close I could see the striations in her blue eyes. I ignored how stunning they were. She shook her head.

“If you would allow me to tend to the civilians,” Dr Romano was saying, “then you wouldn’t have to field so many complaints.”

“They can complain as much as they want, Doctor,” a merc said through his helmet speakers. These guys weren’t taking any risks, I noted. “They’re not our problem.”

“They should be,” Romano snapped.

“They’re not the ones who harmed our men.”

The six in the brig at a guess. They’d been found, then. I wondered if any of them had lived. I should have felt bad about that. But it was kill or be killed, and just because we threw the first punch didn’t mean they hadn’t started this.

I watched as the doctor went across the medbay to a cupboard. He used his wrist comm to open it and pulled out a medkit.

“Here,” he said, holding it out to the merc.

The merc shook his head. “You carry it, and we need a scanner.”

The scanners were behind us. To get to them, they’d have to walk past the workbench Adi and I were hunkered down at. Even a few steps closer and they’d spot us, I was sure. I searched out Johnson. He met my eyes from around the corner of the bed and nodded his head.

The door had closed. There could be more men outside. But it was the best we could hope for.

I leaned into Adi, handing her the medscanner and multi-injector, slipping the treatment unit under my shirt. Then quietly whispered, “When the shooting starts, get to that hatch.”

Her eyes were wide. Her skin pale. But she nodded her head.

I nodded mine in reply and then stood up and fired my pistol. Johnson joined me as I watched Adi out of the corner of my eyes crouch-run along the wall. Intent on circumnavigating the medbay and getting to Armstrong and that hatch.

The guard reacted quickly. But rather than fire back, he reached out and grabbed Dr Romano about the neck and hauled him in front of his chest. He lifted his own pistol to the doc’s head.

“Stand down, or he’s dead,” he said.

Plasma had melted some of his armour, but none of it had time yet to penetrate the outer layer. He was uninjured, and we’d played our hand. I would not get the doctor killed.

“Stand down, Johnson,” I said.

Dr Romano met my eyes, putting two and two together. No Captain Moore or Commander Lawrence meant I was the acting captain of Aquila. He gave me a look that said, “What the fuck were you thinking?” And then closed his eyes, offering no resistance to the neck gripping merc.

“Who are you?” the helmet speakers asked.

“Who do you think?” I said. “Did stripey and the gang in the brig not clue you in?”

“You,” the merc spat. “The major wants a word with you.”

“I bet he does,” I muttered, wondering just who the hell this major was. Not Price. He had no military experience, although talk was he supplied several different militarised organisations with weapons back on Earth.

“Hands up,” the merc said, still holding Romano by the neck.

“Let the good doc go,” I argued.

“You don’t get…” He didn’t finish his sentence. But he did let the good doc go.

Romano stepped away, rubbing his neck. He stared at the merc, who stood there, looking like some shiny metal statue.

“What the hell?” Johnson muttered.

We couldn’t see the merc’s eyes; the helmet faceplate was set to mirror; a predatory setting chosen with the intent to install fear, I thought.

“Doc?” I said. “Did you do something?”

Romano shook his head, taking another tentative step away from his captor.

“It was me,” a female voice said. Adi revealed herself by peering around the back of the merc’s armour, eyes wide and blinking rapidly.

In an instant, all I wanted to do was to get her away from him. From the threat. And then maybe tan her backside for being so reckless.

“Adi,” I said, holding out my hand. “Step away from him.”

It was with no small measure of relief that she did as I asked, even going so far as to take hold of the hand I offered her. I tucked her behind my back and said, “How the hell did you do that?”

“They have a reboot cycle for when EMPs are used against them,” she said quietly. “You can trigger it manually from a small hidden switch on their backs. So medics can take over the armour’s computers and treat the men inside if needed.”

And she’d known this because her father had manufactured them.

“The reboot takes two minutes,” she added.

We had to get out of here, then.

“Come on, Doc,” I said. “Let’s go.”

“I’ve got patients,” he said. “I can’t leave them.”

“What about your medical staff?” I demanded, pushing Adi toward the hatch.

“They are the patients.” He gave me a pertinent look. “It’s been rough.”

“I’ve got a man down, and I need him treated, Doc,” I urged.

He walked over to Johnson and gave him the medkit. “You had time to grab a scanner?” he checked, correctly assessing the reason why we were here.

I nodded as Adi opened the hatch. The doctor’s eyes widened.

“I’d rather you, Doc,” I said.

“Captain,” he replied. Definitely reading the situation correctly. “I can do more if I stay here than if I don’t. Trust me.”

“They’ll question you,” I said as I urged Adi into the hatch. Johnson hesitated but followed behind her with the medkit when I gave him a hard stare.

“They will,” the doctor agreed. “But they already know who you are, Hugo.” He looked at Adi as she peered out over my shoulder, keeping the hatch open. “And they suspect who you’re with. What more can I tell them?”

I shook my head. Did this confirm that Adi was a trap or did it exonerate her?

“And now they’ll definitely know who I’m with,” I muttered, just as lights blinked to life on the merc’s armour and he started to jerk.

I jumped up and back into the hatch as Adi swiped it closed behind me. A plasma blast hit it a second later.

“Too late,” I heard Romano say. “Now, let’s tend to your injured men.”

I lay there a while longer, listening to the merc rant and rage, and Romano’s calm replies to him, and then I flipped over and started heading back to the computer core. I would have liked the doc with us, but at least we’d got what we came for.

But I wondered if Price had got what he wanted out of this little get together too.