Page 44 of Reformation
When Jason was right, he was right. Ferran turned back to the control. “We are coming up on the location of the distress signal.”
“Slow us down, get us as close as you can. And when I give the signal, open the top airlock.”
“I will.”
***
The suit had been a gift from Ferran’s mother, part of a matched set. “To keep you safe while you explore the emptiness that is most of space,” she’d said, and whoever she’d commissioned them from, they’d done a fantastic job. It was close-fitting and sleek but still had all the latest amenities to keep him from feeling the vacuum around him. Jason had thanked her, then taken it to Wyl and had it modified to include some less-than-legal weaponry.
Laser cutters, pulse emitters, a miniature gravitational tractor beam powered by a nuclear battery, even some old-fashioned vibro-blade in his gauntlets—it was stocked. Wyl had been amused.
“What, you’re going to storm another ship the old-fashioned way?”
“If I have to.”
He’d raised an eyebrow. “You do know that’s dangerous, right? I mean, the last person I heard of doing it successfully was a cyborg, and even that’s just hearsay.”
Jason had shrugged. “I like to be prepared.” He would have called it overkill if he wasn’t so naturally inclined toward caution. As it was, he considered his extras adequate.
Tonight would test that theory.
He’d been a part of dark ops in his distant military past—not participating directly but hosting operatives on his vesselsand running the ops themselves from afar. Jason knew that the people going after Claudia and the girls wouldn’t be satisfied with anything less than success. Even if the pod was hard to track, they’d stay in the area, trying and trying. Soon they wouldn’t have to try—they could just follow his ship’s trajectory and find them that way. Jason couldn’t let that happen.
We’re close. I’m homing in on the signal.
Good.Jason sent a little surge of pride through their connection to his husband—Ferran had come a long way in his piloting skills.And what about interference?
There’s one other ship in detectable range. It’s starting to close the distance.
Patch the coordinates through to my suit.A moment later, a breakdown of their relative positions appeared in his visor. Jason patched his implant in, running the heavy math with his own mind. Three minutes to minimum approachable distance. He could do that.I’m going to use our ship as a launch pad when they get close. Open the airlock.
Jason … be careful.
I will be.A few seconds later, his suit firmed up as the vacuum surrounded him. He pushed out of the tiny dorsal airlock, let the implant image overlay his natural vision, and assessed.
They were definitely being followed now. The ship was small but well-armed, rather anomalous for something the size of a trader. Ferran was keeping them on course for the pod, which wasn’t visible to the naked eye yet. A few more hundred yards, and Jason would be within range of deploying toward their tail.
If he was seen, he could be shot. The guns on that ship would turn him into frozen slurry in an instant, so as much as he wanted to take the direct route, he couldn’t. His body should be slight enough to slip under their radar, but he needed to avoid coming at them head-on. Which meant he needed to let their ship get close if he was going to swing around behind it.
Slow down.
If I slow much more, I won’t have time to get the pod aboard before they’re on top of us.
I’ll handle that, but I have to reach them first.He felt the ship’s velocity drop off and attached a nanotube filament and reel from his back to the airlock. As long as he didn’t sever it accidentally, he should be able to reel himself back into the ship. Jason took a deep breath, waited for the perfect moment, then carefully pushed off their ship.
His suit didn’t have thrusters, exactly, but he could redirect his spare oxygen into exhaust vents to give him some sense of direction. He floated in total silence toward the false trader. Damn, those guns were … big.Reallybig. Good thing they weren’t motion sensitive—a precaution against overzealous firing, smart for a ship meant to be doing covert work. Jason relaxed a little as he passed under the ship. Now all he had to do was get around to the back of it, locate the closest fuel port, and—
Jason! They’re preparing to fire!
What?What?
Over the comm, they just said—they’re going to fire if I don’t transmit them the location of the pod! They can’t see it yet, I almost have it, but—
Don’t reply.Fuck going around the back. He was going to have to get friendly with the guns after all.Just—stall, I’ll take care of it.Jason activated his tractor beam and let it pull him onto the bottom of the ship. He adjusted the strength of it to allow him to move, then began to crawl back toward the front. He could hear the guns adjusting, going from neutral to firing position and readiness. He moved faster, as quickly as he could, using the vibroblades to gouge grips into the bottom of the ship to propel him faster. He rounded the nose just as the guns began to fire.
Ferran!
We’re not hit!Jason shut his eyes for a split second in sheer relief.It was a warning shot, but they’re going to fire again in ten seconds. Jason, I can see the pod, but I’m not going to bring them on board if we’re just going to be killed.
