Ms. Qin now.” Tristan smiled lopsidedly. “I hope the people I’m going to rescue need to be rescued this time.”
“I’m positive they do.” Asger hesitated, realizing they were assuming Tristan wanted to come. He seemed game, but this could be dangerous. Very dangerous. “Tristan, do you want to stay on the warship? We could use your help, but I realize you didn’t sign on for any of this and probably just want to go back to the station.”
“I would rather help than keep hiding. I wouldn’t volunteer to risk myself for Jorg, but for you and your friends, yes, I’m in.”
“Good.” Asger clapped him on the shoulder. “Thanks.”
“Will El Mago be joining us?” Viggo sounded hopeful. A couple of his robot vacuums vroomed across the cargo hold deck and paused at the airlock, their noses pointed toward the tube.
“Who?” Tristan asked.
“That’s his name for Casmir,” Asger said. “Or Bonita’s name for him. I’m not sure.”
“Hers,” Viggo said, “but she’s allowing me to use it. Is he coming?”
“He wants to, but I’m not sure yet if he can. I heard he’s going to sickbay.”
“Sickbay? Was he wounded? By the Kingdom troops?” Viggo sounded like an attack dog ready to spring to protect his master.
“I don’t have all the details.”
Faint clunks emanated from the hull.
Asger’s father commed down from navigation. “Are your friends here yet? The Osprey is making preparations to release us, and we’ll have to retract the tube.”
“Not yet. Give them a few minutes.” Asger bit his lip. How long could they wait?
“Ishii is letting the ship go?” Tristan asked. “Without a fight?”
“I believe my father promised we would use it to ram one of the prince’s attackers,” Asger said.
“What?” Viggo demanded.
Asger lifted a hand. “That’s just a contingency plan, Viggo.”
“It had better be. I just got everything in working order again.”
“William,” his father said. “We’re less than an hour from the battle. If we’re to detach and act anonymously, we need to do so now.”
“Just wait a couple more minutes.” Asger bit his lip and paced. “Casmir wouldn’t want to miss this.”
“Casmir would keep me from being used like a clunky tree trunk hurled against a castle door,” Viggo said.
“That’s true,” Asger said, “and it’s why I’d prefer he join us.”
He sent another message. Casmir, what’s going on?
Once again, he didn’t get an answer.
7
After the lights came back on, Qin found her and Bonita’s armor and weapons in a cabinet near the exit of the detention center. It was locked, but her irritated fist found a creative way to unlock it. One that left her knuckles bruised, but she didn’t care.
Fighting the zero-g, she pulled on her armor. It didn’t help that the ship was engaged in evasive maneuvers and kept twisting and thrusting, making even Qin’s usually ironclad stomach object.
Bonita was still out from the stun. Qin didn’t think she could dress the captain and reluctantly locked her boots to the deck by the door to wait for her to wake up.
Now that she was out of the network-blocking walls of the cell and corridor, a stream of messages came to her chip. Many were from Asger, asking if she was all right—that touched her. One was from Bjarke, asking if Bonita was all right, and one was from Casmir, asking if they were all all right. He’d also let her know that the Dragon was being repaired and towed. He was the only one who’d given all the details on the freighter’s repairs and Viggo’s state of mind—such as Viggo had a mind—clearly believing they would be as concerned about their computerized friend as anyone would be about a human. Bonita would want to know about her ship.
The last message in the queue startled her. It was from one of her cohort sisters on the Scimitar, Qin Liangyu Seven, or Mouser, as they’d called her when the pirates hadn’t been around to scowl at the nicknames. They were from the same batch of clones and similar to all their sisters, but everybody had their own personalities. Mouser had always been curious and a little mischievous. Even when she’d been punished for it, it hadn’t dampened her spirits.
She and Qin had been close, but Mouser hadn’t sent a message for the entire year that Qin had been free. Why now?
A new jolt coursed through the ship, and the lights flickered again. An alert on a nearby panel warned of an imminent failure to the main environmental system and that the computers were switching to auxiliary. Qin and Bonita