Project Charon 2 by Patty Jansen (brene brown rising strong .TXT) 📗

turns out that we can’t pay, there isn’t going to be any point in her staying where she is. I intended to come back to talk to you about that, just in case you might have some money. But on the way back something else happened that, frankly, has thrown doubt over us leaving at all. It seems that the pirates have captured one of the Federacy’s Star Fighters. There was a great cheer about it, and when we came to the docks, we saw the crew being led away as prisoners.”

Finn’s face turned hard. “The poor guys. That’s worse than being shot to pieces.” His expression was dark.

“Yes. But there is an added complication. One of those crew members happens to be my daughter.”

Now Rex whirled to Tina. “What? Evelle? Was she on that ship?”

“She was. When we were at Kelso, I had heard that she serves on the Manila, and I saw her with those prisoners. She looked a bit beaten up, but otherwise proud.”

“Did she see you?”

“I don’t think so, at least she didn’t make eye contact. I wonder whether she would recognise me even if she had seen me.”

“You recognised her.”

Yes. Evelle would probably recognise her.

“Obviously, it complicates things,” Tina said.

Finn met Tina’s eyes. “Don’t try to be a hero. I don’t think there is anything we can do for them. There are far more than one million people on this station, and if most of them are aligned with the pirates, then everyone on this station is going to be our enemy.”

“Yes, and they’re already looking for us,” Rex said helpfully. “Mum’s face was in a general broadcast warning.”

Tina put her hands flat on the table. “I’m not leaving the station without making sure that my daughter is safe.”

“You haven’t seen Evelle for sixteen years,” Rex said. “You’ve told me many times that she left, she yelled at you, and she never answered any of your messages.”

“She might have been a spoiled brat when she left, but she’s still my daughter. I will save her, even if she’s a hard-faced bitch without a shred of gratitude. Because I can’t expect that piece of shit Dexter to look after her safety. He’s not here anyway. I know where she is. I know she is in danger. I will try my best to get her out of that situation.”

There was a moment of tense silence, in which both Rex and Finn were wise enough to keep their mouths shut.

After a while, Finn said, “Well, that certainly puts a different perspective on the question of whether we should or should not leave Rasa in the Ship Supply office.”

“Exactly. When she gets that permit, we have to act. We have to pay, and we have to leave. Apart from the fact that I have no money to pay, we don’t want to leave anymore.”

Finn nodded, although his expression was dark. “Are you sure you really want to take on a pirate stronghold?”

“There is no ‘want.’ I have to do this.”

Rex nodded. “You better not interfere with Mum when she gets like this.”

Finn didn’t, although he heaved a sigh.

Even through all of this, Tina wasn’t sure what he had wanted. Get away from his ex, obviously, but what was his relationship to this reward for information leading to the defeat of the rift infection? Was he involved with it? Did he want to use the money to set up independently? If so, was it a good thing for her to be involved in?

But her first concern should be doing what she could for Evelle. She cared much less about going to Olympus anymore. It sounded like too political a place for her liking anyway, and she doubted the stuff that had sat in a document box at Kelso Station for fifteen years was going to make any difference to the Federacy’s response to the pirates.

“I want to free Evelle. We need to do something radical,” she said.

“You said it,” Finn said.

“But what?”

Someone knocked on the inner airlock door.

A male voice said, “Coming to return your inverter panel.”

Chapter Fifteen

Tina went to open the door. Jens came in first, looking around anxiously. “No geese today?”

“They’re safely tucked away,” Rex said, although said geese were making a racket in their cabin.

Thor followed Jens, carrying his bag, which he set on the table and proceeded to take the inverter panel out. “Let’s install this baby and see if it works.”

Finn went with them into the maintenance access cubicle and clambered down the ladder.

Once he had oriented himself, Thor again needed no help to locate the correct panel cover, and the panel next to it that folded out like a table so he could put his tools there. It was a marvel to behold. He had to know these ships like the back of his hand. He would be such a valuable person to have on board.

When he was done, he asked Tina to turn off the umbilical power.

She did. The light flickered, came back on, and stayed on.

“All done!” Thor called from downstairs.

He replaced the panels, packed his gear and came back upstairs with Finn. Tina invited them to stay for some tea.

“How are you doing for a permit to leave?” Thor asked.

“We’re still waiting,” Tina said. “Rasa managed to get into a high priority area and should be done today. But the problem is going to be paying for it.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much about that. It will probably start moving quickly very soon.”

“What do you mean? Apparently a ship supply package is five thousand credits.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“I do worry about it. I don’t have anywhere near that kind of money.”

“They’ll be getting rid of everyone in that room soon, payment or no payment.”

Tina remembered what he had said during their previous meeting about closing the docks and secret shipments coming in. “Is there a pirate ship coming in with more prisoners?”

“There is something in the air,” Thor said. “I know you don’t notice it but when you live