Aberrant

Chapter 20

"Get to the Fire Witch's airlock." Kaplan's low words jolted Jinx.

She looked up from the pistol he'd reloaded, her nerves ramping up with her tinnitus. It wasn't some human or alien scumbag on C-Deck who had caught the void hound's attention. His eyes, sharp gleams within his therm-pro's hood, scanned the ceiling.

Cracked plaster. Banks of lights. ES vents.

Nothing that warranted a VP250 Jinn loaded with hardened shock rounds.

Jinx pulled in a breath, ice whispering through her blood. "What's going on?" She ignored the order to join his people and the Fire Witch's crew in their dock airlock. She wasn't getting within spitting distance of Heiko Tras. Not while off-duty. Not with an abduction contract out on her. It didn't matter how fond the psycho trader was of Soh, he'd—

The bite of a pistol against her side.

She froze. Kaplan had moved quickly.

Her stunner was in his hand the next instant, replacing his deadlier Jinn. Eyes like frost met hers a second before shifting back to the ceiling high overhead. "Don't argue. Just move."

"I'm going to need an explanation, you back-stabbing son of a bitch." Fury and disbelief rolled through her as he marched her through the crowd, toward the airlock. Unease struck next as she got a good look at the chamber's grim-faced occupants. A massive Atillian guarded the entrance, his dark face heavily scarred, his fists wrapped around a Wolf battle rifle. His cat eyes flicked to her, rust red, like dried blood.

Kaplan pushed her inside, past the big cat, and up against one wall. Another, leaner Atillian—twentieth-century-Earth 'surfer dude' crossed with rabid tiger—punched the door controls, sealing the airlock. Her stomach locked up. "Kaplan, what the hell is—"

"Fuck no." The vicious oath cut her off.

She snapped her gaze to the rear of the chamber. Heiko Tras strode forward, silver coat rippling, his sub-zero stare relaying just how inadequate her hood and breather were as a disguise. He knew exactly who'd got sealed in with his precious cargo.

He turned on Kaplan. "I agreed to eight passengers, but not to one of them being a fucking port CI. The pu'ta boards, she gets ejected out the biowaste port, along with your fucking head."

Eight passengers. Jinx counted Kaplan's team. Six in addition to Kaplan, all in Zex armour and ghetto coats and jackets: the two cats; Kaplan's lethal-looking cousin; a guy with a bandaged head; a young woman with Asian features with a wannabe popstar vibe; and a large, olive-skinned male with a cut across his bent nose.

Jinx nailed Kaplan with a killing look. "You planned this? What the hell?"

Kaplan held up a finger for silence and turned to his cousin. "Ensure Captain Tras and his people are ready to board. Shio, Tripp." He signalled to the wannabe popstar and the bent-nosed giant. "You're with Sun."

As the two soldiers moved to join their colleague, Kaplan's Zex-clad cousin cut Jinx a baleful glance. Her gold stare, like a bird of prey's, raised gooseflesh. A crook of her finger had Tras and his two crewmates join her at the rear of the airlock. No arguments. No drawn weapons. Scary.

"One minute fifty until AL cycle completion." The void hound with the bandaged head stepped up to the rear door's console to view the countdown. "ETD at least ten mikes. It will take a few minutes to load the warp isotopes and ready engines."

Ten minutes to departure? Jinx swung back to Kaplan. "Explain. Now."

Kaplan moved to the internal door's small window to scan the loading bay outside. "I apologise for the heavy hand. Asking for your voluntary cooperation became a moot point when the Xykeree entered the port."