The smoke had cleared in the shuttle bay.

As Katie followed Zakota and Orion inside, she expected to find the Zi’i craft plastered all over the walls and ceiling. Instead, the ships parked to either side of it were charred, melted, and warped. The entire side of one hull had been blown open.

Four men and women in red security uniforms stood around the front of the Zi’i shuttle, pointing to it and pointing to the damaged ships while arguing with each other. Two more red-uniformed beings—Katie had no idea what the species was called—were circling the shuttle while holding devices and sniffing the air with scaled snouts that made her think of crocodiles. The aliens walked on two stout legs, but from what Katie could see of the rest of their bodies, they definitely looked like they could belong to the crocodile family.

Orion paused before he reached the shuttle and whispered something to Zakota, probably asking him to lead the way since he was in uniform. Or perhaps since he wasn’t carrying an unconscious sniper over his shoulder.

“Hello, folks,” Zakota said, striding toward the shuttle. “I’m Lieutenant Zakota of the Falcon 8, under Captain Sagitta’s command. This Zi’i shuttle is a battle prize of ours. What happened here?”

The security officers turned toward him and all started talking at once. One who must have been in charge waved the others to silence and took over. Zakota nodded and stood so the officers ended up facing toward the forcefield exit instead of Katie, Juanita, and Orion.

Orion wriggled his fingers, indicating they should follow him, and he picked a circuitous route toward the side of the shuttle.

Katie tried to listen to Zakota’s conversation as she trailed Orion. She heard snippets such as, “…planted an explosive” and “your shuttle wasn’t severely damaged.”

“Well, it’s Zi’i,” Zakota said. “They’re tough bastards, and their ships are too.”

“How did you come by one of their shuttles?” one of the crocodile aliens asked, his words coming out as a weird blend of hissing and snapping of teeth.

The translation chip in Katie’s ear didn’t have any trouble with the noises though. The aliens must have been a well-known species.

“Captain Sagitta bested one of their warships in battle,” Zakota said, putting all the emphasis on the captain and none on the crew, though they’d surely helped.

Katie assumed his name was better known than anyone else’s from the ship. Maybe it would protect them from suspicion.

Orion opened the hatch in the side of the shuttle. One of the security officers at the front started to turn in his direction, but Zakota gripped the man’s shoulder, drawing his attention back to him.

“I know you’re not questioning the Star Guardians,” Zakota said with a haughty sniff that didn’t seem in character for him. But maybe whipping out scrimshaw and trying to make a sale would be less likely to keep the security officers occupied.

The hatch opened, and Orion hopped inside. As soon as Katie and Juanita stepped in after him, he closed it, and they couldn’t hear any more of the conversation. The lights came on inside, but the interior smelled like smoke—no, like something burning. The shuttle might not be as damaged as the others, but Katie doubted it had come through unscathed.

“Are there reasons we sneaked past Security?” Juanita whispered.

“Just one.” Orion rolled the unconscious guy off his shoulder and onto the deck.

“Are we not supposed to kidnap people who try to kill us?”

“I’m sure Security would like to talk to him,” Orion said, “but I figure Sage will want to dose him with one of his concoctions and have his own chat with him.” He walked toward some cabinets built into the rear of the shuttle. “I’m going to see if there’s some rope. Otherwise, we’ll have to keep stunning him until we can get back to the ship.”

“Is that good for a person’s health?” Juanita asked as Katie headed to the console.

Unfortunately, the flight simulation hadn’t included anything about maintenance and repairs, so she had no idea how to check the systems to see if there were problems.

“No, but it’s better than getting your chest cavity blown open by a bolt bow. That was a possible future for him at one point.” Orion patted the weapon strapped to his back. “I don’t like seeing people I care about getting shot at.”

“You care about Zakota?” Juanita asked. “I haven’t seen you talk to him more than three times since we came aboard.”

Orion paused in his rummaging to give her a stricken look. “When Zakota ducked, that bolt almost hit you.”

“Oh. I didn’t take it personally. Zakota should take it personally.”

Orion’s expression shifted to one of fondness. “You’re oddly unflappable for a woman armed only with a stick.”

“It’s more of a branch and quite hefty.”

Katie did the equivalent of turning on the shuttle’s ignition. The holographic surround came on, displaying the security people still talking to Zakota outside. One of the owners of the destroyed shuttles had run in too—Katie assumed that was who she was—and was pointing at her craft and at the security officers while jumping up and down.

Though nothing appeared wrong with the shuttle’s display, no fewer than ten alarms flashed on the console.

“We may need Hierax if we’re going to fly this thing back,” Katie said.

Orion knelt over the unconscious man with what looked like a high-tech ball of twine in hand, but he paused to comm Hierax.

“When is someone going to get us those wrist phones, Juanita?” Katie asked, half watching them and half poking at the controls to see if she could get any of the alarms to stop flashing.

“I don’t know, but they are handy. Captain Sagitta got one for Tala.”

“He’s a man of means,” Orion said. “Hierax, you there? You’re not taking a bath with all those women, are you?”

Distant bangs sounded over the comm before Hierax spoke. “I’m at the smelter, bargaining with sweaty, smelly men and getting my special alloy.”

“So you only wish you were in the baths with the women.”

Hierax sighed and, speaking so softly Katie almost missed it, said, “Maybe one.”

“The shuttle was sabotaged, and we need help with repairs,” Orion said.

“I’ll be there in an hour.”

“Aren’t we supposed to be back to the ship in an hour?”

“Yes, so it would behoove you people to pick up a screwdriver and get to work before I get there. Hierax, out.”

Katie leaned her hand against the console. “I’d happily do the repairs if the instructions weren’t in an alien language.”

The hatch opened. Zakota waved at someone outside before stepping in and closing it.

“I sold two Marawa the Spider talismans,” he announced.

“Oh good,” Orion said, tying their prisoner’s ankles together. “That’s important right now.”

“It kept security from noticing you kidnapping an unconscious man.”

“Is it still considered kidnapping if the person you’re absconding with was trying to kill you?” Juanita asked.

“Is there a more specific word for it on Gaia?” Orion asked as Zakota stepped past them and joined Katie up front.

“If the captain puts him to work after questioning him,” Juanita said, “it could be called shanghaiing.”

“Is that less of a crime than kidnapping?”

“I don’t think so, no.”

Zakota laid a hand on the console next to some of the flashing alarms.

“Hierax suggested we could fix those with a screwdriver,” Katie said.

“Uh huh, sure we can.” Zakota tapped a few buttons on the device jury-rigged to the alien system, and what appeared to be schematics for the shuttle joined the rest of the displays.

Katie would have to ask him more about that device, though the Star Guardian tech was as alien to her as the Zi’i stuff.

“Actually,” Zakota said, “we might be able to do some repairs without him. Some of these alarms look like they may be from connectors that loosened when the explosion went off.” He glanced at her. “Or when we bounced off the deck.”

“Hush. None of these alarms were flashing when we landed.”

Zakota pointed at glowing points on the schematics and dim spots that might have marked a lack of electricity getting to certain equipment. “A malamal with a hammer ought to be able to fix those.”

“I don’t know what a malamal is, but if you’re comparing me to one, I’ll smack you.”

“Actually, I was about to look at Orion.”

Orion cleared his throat noisily.

“Oh,” Katie said. “Give me tools, and I can help. I’m used to keeping my own rigs running, air or ground.”

Zakota arched his eyebrows, then walked to a panel and opened it. Items that reminded her of an axe and a fire extinguisher were nestled inside. He plucked a repair kit off the bottom, withdrew pliers and a tool she couldn’t name, then handed it to her.

“Looks like the security officers have decamped,” Zakota said, nodding toward the display of the exterior. “We can go outside. We’ll have to do most of the repairs from there.”

“Fine with me.”

“I can keep an eye on the alarms and let you know if they go out,” Orion said. “Or if more come on.”

“And I can be decorative,” Juanita said, leaning on her branch. “Maybe supportive too. Would you like a cheerleader?”

“Just don’t let our buddy wake up and wander off,” Orion said as Katie and Zakota headed for the hatch.

“Seems unlikely. You trussed him up like a rotisserie chicken on a spit.”

The smoke smell lingered outside, and people crowded the bay, owners running in to check on their ships. Word of the explosion must have gotten out.

Zakota touched the shuttle’s hull, and his finger came away sooty. “Some of the damage isn’t as apparent because of the black hull.” He tapped his logostec and another version of the schematics on display inside popped up. “The panels open here and here and here.”

As he found the mechanisms to open them, Katie looked toward the forcefield and the starry sky beyond, wondering if they needed to worry about any further trouble. Would friends of the guy inside try again? Or would his accomplices try to rescue him?

She was reassured by the fire falcon floating in the distance, its winged outline unmistakable. The end of the warship was also visible from her vantage point. Now and then, shuttles or other small ships passed by, but the hulking freighter was no longer in sight.

A flash of brilliant orange light came from the fire falcon, and Katie jumped.

“What was that?” she blurted.

The light faded, revealing the fire falcon now tilted, its wings out of alignment. She thought a portion of the hull appeared darker than it had before, though there wasn’t much light out there, so it was hard to tell. The ship definitely looked off though. As if it were broken and adrift instead of carefully anchored out there.

“What did you see?” Zakota joined her and frowned toward the ship.

“I thought—I’m not sure. Maybe an explosion?”

As they watched, the fire falcon went dark, all of its running lights cutting out.

Unease wormed its way into Katie’s gut. What if they all got stuck here? What if something had happened to Captain Sagitta? He was the only one with any influence who cared if Katie and the other women got home.

“That doesn’t look good,” Zakota said, lifting his logostec for a comm. “Falcon 8, this is Zakota. Are you having problems over there?”

Nobody answered.

Zakota tried again, but the result did not change. The fire falcon continued to float listlessly in space, looking like a derelict rather than an operating ship.

“Hierax?” Zakota asked, switching channels. “Are you there?”

“Still in the smelter, yes. Still not bathing or being bathed by anyone.”

“Can you get in contact with the ship? They’re not answering me, and something happened.”

“What do you mean happened?”

“There might have been an explosion and—”

Two blue wedge-shaped ships flew into view, heading from the station out toward the fire falcon. Directly toward the fire falcon.

“Those are Heloran inquisitors,” Zakota said.

“So named because they’re inquisitive?” Katie asked.

“They’re deadly. Small but fast, and they pack a lot of power for their size.”

The first one opened fire on the Falcon 8, something that looked like glowing green pellets shooting across the dark sky.

“Does your ship have its shields up?” Katie asked.

Zakota shook his head. “They don’t look like they have power at all.”

“Shit, what can we do?”

Zakota looked at the damaged shuttle, his expression bleak. “We have to try to help.”

Katie tore her gaze from the Falcon 8—she wasn’t returning fire or moving at all. “Is the shuttle capable of flying right now?”

Zakota was already running for the hatch. “We’ll find out,” he called back.

Zakota flew the shuttle out of the bay, ignoring the flashing alarms and the intermittent rattle shaking the deck. He didn’t bother to comm station control and let them know he was leaving. The Falcon 8 was vulnerable and under attack. There wasn’t time to do anything except get out there. Even then, he might be too late.

He had to fly to the warship and dock in the bay before he could do anything. There was no way he could do battle against one inquisitor, much less two, with the meager weaponry of the shuttle. But if he could get them into the warship and run up and pilot that, he could bring its weapons to bear. Assuming the warship hadn’t been sabotaged too.

Earlier, it had been linked to the fire falcon via the airlock tube, but Sagitta must have decided to withdraw it and put some space between the two ships while they were anchored out there. The warship was off to the side now. Its running lights were on, unlike with the fire falcon, but was Asan or anyone on there who could pilot it?

At first, Katie stood and watched Zakota flying, but then she pulled the schematics display down to the deck and opened the panels under the console. To attempt to make repairs? She’d promised she could. He doubted this was a good time, but he understood the need to help, to do something.

“What the hells happened to them?” Orion growled, staring at the view ahead, to where the two inquisitors sauntered desultorily around the fire falcon, lobbing attacks at it.

“We’ll find out,” Zakota said firmly.

“Look!” Juanita cried, pointing to the display.

As one of the inquisitors soared under the fire falcon, its belly showing, the Star Guardian ship fired for the first time. More than that, it unloaded everything it had, pumping en-bolts and torpedoes into that closest ship.

The inquisitor darted off like a kotopo stung by a zang.

The fire falcon’s lights came on, and the sensors showed its shields flaring to life. The other inquisitor fired at it, but the Star Guardian craft spun, evading the plaz-rounds as they zipped past. It wheeled and, thrusters flaring, shot after the closest inquisitor. En-bolts streaked away from the fire falcon’s weapons ports, peppering its target with powerful blows.

“Go, Killer,” Zakota urged, watching as he piloted toward the shuttle bay doors on the warship.

But then, realizing an active and fighting fire falcon evened out the odds a lot, he veered toward the skirmish instead. The shuttle might not be a powerhouse, but he could throw a few attacks at the inquisitors and help keep them distracted.

Katie climbed onto her box. “I’ll fire while you fly.”

Zakota thought about objecting, mostly because she was presuming to give him orders, but the console, with its controls so spread out, did take two humans to manage well.

“Fire at will then,” he said, aiming toward the closest inquisitor.

It was busy shooting with its aft weapons, returning the Falcon 8’s fire.

But the Star Guardian ship danced in the sky as it pursued the enemy, evading so many of the attacks that it barely needed shields.

“That’s some fine flying,” Zakota said. “I didn’t think Asan had that in him.”

Katie fired at the inquisitor ship. A woman of great focus.

She hammered one side of it as the Falcon 8 fired at its rear. Their combined weapons pummeled the craft’s shields. A sensor report flashed up when those shields collapsed.

“Again,” Zakota ordered Katie.

She thumped at the weapons controls with more energy than required. Their beams shot out, mingling with another barrage from the fire falcon.

The inquisitor blew up spectacularly.

Zakota started to let out a triumphant whoop, but he spotted two more inquisitors coming in from the station. And the Falcon 8 had to turn to deal with the one firing at it from behind.

“Not good,” Zakota said, and zigged their route as he turned back toward the warship. The time had come to jump into its shuttle bay for cover, after all.

But when he took a closer look at it on the sensors, he saw that its shields were up. Someone was over there.

The shuttle groaned and creaked as Zakota continued evasive maneuvers, reminding him that it needed repairs. One of the newcomers headed toward the fire falcon, but one veered after him.

The Zi’i warship rotated toward the shuttle as Zakota flew toward it.

“Who’s flying the warship?” he asked over the comm, then pointed toward the console in front of Katie. “There are rear weapons too.”

“Me,” Asan said. “Some kind of bug came in via the comm and messed with power for a minute, but I think I’ve got it cleared now. I’m going to help with the inquisitor flying up your ass.”

“Appreciate it. Feel free to hurry.” Zakota spun and whipped to the side as the enemy ship came up behind them, weapons blazing.

The shuttle had reinforced hull plating, hence its survival of the explosion on the station, but it did not have shields. They couldn’t take many hits.

Katie found the aft weapons and fired at their pursuer. Unfortunately, the beams shot well wide, all of them streaking off into the dark of space.

“Ugh, I think the targeting is off,” Katie said as another groan came from the hull, and the console shuddered under Zakota’s fingers. “Trying to compensate,” she added.

“Good, make sure to—” A thunderous snap erupted from the control panel. Light flashed, and an electric shock arced into Zakota.

His vision went black as he flew through the air and slammed down on the deck. Pain coursed through his body, and his heart hammered against his ribs. He gasped, struggling to find air.

“Zakota?” someone asked, seemingly from far away.

Hands slid under his shoulders and cradled his head. Katie?

He blinked furiously, trying to clear his vision.

Underneath him, the deck jerked and shuddered. He floated upward a few inches as artificial gravity started to fail, but then he struck back down again. Gravity returned, but he could feel the stabilizers struggling to keep it there.

Something battered the shuttle, and he flew off the deck again. Enemy fire?

He groaned, trying to sit up. Who was flying? Or were they floating in space, an easy target? He had to get back to the console.

Someone gripped his shoulders. “I don’t think you should get up.”

That was Juanita, not Katie. It was illogical, but a surge of disappointment went through him. He wanted Katie to cradle his head, maybe stroke the side of his face.

“She got him!” someone cried. Orion.

“Who-what?” Zakota asked, his vision returning, though it was still blurry.

Despite Juanita’s protest, he rolled to his hands and knees. He had to get back to the helm.

“Nice flying, Katie,” Juanita said.

“And shooting,” Orion added.

“I told you I could do it.”

Zakota looked up in time to see Katie tossing Orion a triumphant look over her shoulder.

“I was just offering to help since I have more experience—I do pilot my own ship, you know.”

Zakota gathered that he’d blacked out for a few seconds, long enough to miss an argument. Maybe Katie had swatted Orion’s hands away from the console.

“But have you mastered the flight simulator for the Zi’i shuttle?” Katie asked.

“No, have you mastered it?”

“Practically. Except the part where the ship self-destructed at the end of the run.”

Zakota used the hull to support himself as he stood and made his way back to the console. He looked at the sensors to see if he needed to do anything. There were more alarms flashing than ever, so he wondered if they even could do anything.

The Zi’i warship hovered nearby, and the inquisitor that had been chasing them wasn’t registering power anymore. Part of its hull had been blown off.

“That’s the one I got,” Katie said smugly. “The warship got that one.” She pointed at another wreck.

Zakota located a third destroyed inquisitor, the one he and the fire falcon had taken out, and finally, he found the fourth inquisitor, the one that had been harassing the Star Guardian ship. Rather, he found the remains of it. It was in at least a dozen pieces scattered in a trail.

“I think we should take you to sickbay,” Katie said, reaching out to touch his face. “You smell like spent fireworks. If you had hair, I think it would be sticking out in all directions.”

“I have hair. In places.” He pulled his fatigue jacket and tank top away from his chest and peered down, moderately curious if an electrical shock would make his chest hair stand up.

“You’re not one of those men who shaves everything, eh?”

“No, why would I? I mean, who would?” He curled a lip at the notion of a bald groin.

Then he noticed Katie was still touching the side of his face. She gazed at him as if she worried he might fall over at any second. He must look bad. But maybe that was all right if it elicited feminine concern.

He reached up and touched his hand to hers, in part to let her know that he would be all right. And in part because touching sounded nice. She had soft skin. He wondered if he could convince her to take that jacket off so he could see more of it.

“Some bodybuilders on Earth do it,” Juanita offered, “to show off their chest muscles. I think they even wax.”

Katie lowered her hand, and Zakota felt a stab of disappointment. Why hadn’t he booted Orion and Juanita off the shuttle back on the station? There hadn’t been any reason to take them into battle, and if he’d left them, he and Katie would be alone and she might still be caressing his cheek.

A moan came from the deck, their tied captive finally regaining consciousness. Zakota supposed they wouldn’t have been entirely alone.

“I think I owe you some flying lessons, Katie,” he said quietly, turning his back toward the others.

“Because I so obviously need them?” She folded her arms over her chest, taking the words as an insult.

“No, because you need a lot of supervised flight hours to get a space pilot’s license in the Confederation, and you seem like you’d like to do that.”

“Oh. I mean, I don’t know if there’ll be time, or what’s going to happen in the future, but I’d like some more training, yeah. On the fire falcon.” She gave him that challenging look, as if daring him to find a way to make that happen.

He snorted, but he definitely owed her a favor, and after this, he wasn’t quite so horrified of the idea of her sitting in his helm chair on the bridge.

“I’ll see what I can do,” Zakota said.

“Who was flying the Falcon?” Juanita asked.

“Uh, good question.” Zakota rubbed his head. “If Asan is on the warship, and I’m here, I guess it could be Arkyn. I didn’t think he had those kinds of maneuvers in him.” For the most part, Arkyn could pilot ships through open space, but Zakota couldn’t remember him piloting one in battle.

“Zakota,” came Sagitta’s voice over the comm, “your shuttle looks like it could fall into a sun at any second. You better land it for repairs. Do you have Hierax aboard?”

“No, sir. We left him gathering his materials. We saw you under attack and rushed out to help.”

“Ah.”

Sagitta didn’t sound annoyed, but maybe disappointed. No doubt, he wanted to take off right away. That must mean that the Falcon 8 hadn’t suffered much damage. Had he been playing dead to lure those inquisitors into getting foolishly close? That seemed like the kind of thing he would do, but Asan had also mentioned some kind of computer virus.

“Dock your shuttle, then take the other one over to the station to pick him and his supplies up.”

“Yes, sir. Uh, who was at the helm over there during that skirmish?”

“I was,” Sagitta said.

“You, sir?” Zakota realized that might sound insulting and hastened to add, “I didn’t know you’d had pilot training.”

“I’ve taken a few classes,” Sagitta said. “Dock, Zakota. I’ll tell Hierax to be ready when you get back to the station.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Is Orion still with you?” Sagitta added before Zakota cut the comm.

“I’m here, Sage,” Orion said.

“You still have that prisoner?”

“Yes.”

“Alive?”

“Yes,” Orion said dryly. He sounded a lot like Sagitta when he got dry.

“Good. I want to question someone about this mess.”

“Maybe you shouldn’t have obliterated those inquisitors so thoroughly when you were practicing your piloting skills.” Orion smirked. As the captain’s little brother, he was apparently allowed to razz the captain when others weren’t.

“Blame that on Ku. He’s still working on mastering the difference between the commands, ‘Disable them,’ and ‘Utterly obliterate them.’”

“Captain,” came Ku’s voice, “all you said was ‘Take care of them.’”

“Just bring me that prisoner, Orion,” Sagitta said.

“You forgot to say please,” Orion said.

Now Zakota smirked, wishing he could say something like that to the captain.

“He has difficulty with such words,” came a new voice. Was that Dr. Tala?

If she was on the bridge, did that mean someone up there had been injured?

“Tell me about it,” Orion said.

Zakota’s logostec beeped, letting him know about a comm on another channel.

“What is it, Hierax?” he asked after closing his call with the captain.

“I’ve got a pallet full of boxes here and no shuttle to load them in,” Hierax announced.

Zakota rubbed his head again. “I’m beginning to wish I’d stayed unconscious.”

“Want me to fly us into the shuttle bay?” Katie asked, her eyes gleaming. Maybe she wished he’d stayed unconscious too.

“Go ahead.” Zakota waved to the controls. Anyone who could evade the enemy while firing back at him could surely handle landing the ship. “Just don’t bounce off anything this time. I think the console will explode if any more indicators start flashing. Explode again,” he amended.