Being able to monitor the Astryx forces as they closed in on the holding area allowed Jacob to skirt around them easily. With the majority of them stuck having to cut through the sealed bulkheads to get to Melody’s core, and the ones heading to the cell area unable to get in, he had time to question Xing’che. He had put off questioning her because he knew how loneliness could gnaw at a person’s mind and was hoping the isolation had worn down some of her ability to manipulate the conversation.
When Jacob checked the camera for her cell, he found that the woman had cleaned herself up and fixed her hair. She was sitting on the padded bench, legs crossed, eyes closed, looking serene and beautiful. It was clear she knew something was up.
Jacob frowned at that. He didn’t know how someone who had just killed a person a few days ago could be so calm. Was she a psychopath or something?
He shook that thought away. It was dangerous to assume that he knew her motivations or feelings, especially since she was an alien. Once he was face-to-face with her, he could get a better idea of her current condition by scanning her.
When the cell door flicked open, her eyes were already open and looking at him.
“Captain Jacob?”
“If you were expecting Franky, I’m going to have to disappoint you.”
“You saw our exchange? I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. And no, I hope never to see that man again. Franky’dee was a disgusting individual.”
“I won’t disagree with you there. If he disgusted you so much, why did you help him?”
“I figured if I could remove a thorn from your side, you would be more apt to speak with me. I wasn’t expecting someone to attack the station.”
“And what about your aide? You don’t seem all that broken up, considering that you murdered her.”
“I am saddened that I had to do that, but as I said before, Uht’ra was a traitor to the eiraxin people. Her activities caused the deaths of twenty-two individuals, and she would have reported everything that happened here to her handler the moment we returned. My death wouldn’t have been far behind. Would you feel bad about removing someone like that?”
Jacob didn’t have an immediate response to that question, and his hesitation made the woman smile ever so slightly.
“Your hesitation shows me that you’ve never had the fate of others hang on the choices you make.”
“You’re wrong about that,” Jacob muttered.
“I assume you are referring to your current predicament about being a digital entity?”
Jacob had been infuriated when he learned that Franky had told her about his circumstances. “No, actually.”
His reply got a look of surprise from the woman, which made him laugh. She crossed her arms and glared at him. Apparently, she didn’t appreciate being laughed at. Well, too damn bad.
“While you’ve been rotting away in here, representative Chalto has been making his own plans. He spoke with someone, and a judicator has just arrived. You probably felt the station shake slightly when they breached it. So not only are you wrong about why I’m concerned, but your actions have also put people I’m responsible for in the crossfire. I would ask if you felt sorry for doing so, but I suspect you would say whatever you thought would benefit you the most.”
Xing’che hid her surprise well as she smoothed the side of her outfit. “I thought I would have more time, but I knew Chalto wasn’t a fool. I know I don’t warrant a judicator, so I assume he’s here for the planetary conditioning vessel?”
Jacob didn’t answer.
Xing’che sighed, showing a bit of humanity for a moment. “Believe what you will, Captain Jacob, but I am sorry for dragging others into this problem. If there were any other way to save my people, I would have gladly taken that option, but there wasn’t. My people have tried for centuries to make up for what our ancestors have done, but it’s never enough. I realized long ago that our efforts would be in vain, so alternative arrangements had to be made.”
Stolen novel; please report.
“And that gives you the right to send armed people to kill me?” Jacob demanded.
“This will sound callous, but rights mean little when your entire species faces extinction,” Xing’che replied calmly. “I came out here to apologize for my actions and ask if you were willing to work with me. Surely a fellow eiraxin can understand?”
“Once again, you’re wrong. Making assumptions seems to be a common issue with your people. For someone so certain of everything, you’ve been wrong about me at every turn.”
For the first time since their conversation began, the woman looked unsure, and he saw her vitals spike. The rest of her reactions had either been theater to make her appear more relatable, or she was just that good at hiding her emotions. Jacob honestly didn’t know.
It took her a moment, but she eventually came to the correct realization. “You’re not eiraxin?”
“Never claimed to be,” Jacob replied.
“How is that possible? You’re a captain of a planetary conditioning vessel, and you can merge with machines. The only other options are you being t’uk or a lau. The t’uk don’t need to sneak around, and I don’t believe you are a lau, even if that makes the most sense.”
Jacob wasn’t planning on answering that question, but he was spared the awkward silence as their other guests arrived.
Jacob opened the door, and the armed group of frogmen looked surprised that the door had opened without the judicator’s diplomatic credentials. That surprise only lasted a moment before they aimed weapons at him.
“Hands up and back away from the cell!” the one in the lead demanded.
Jacob could have ignored the request, but he saw no reason to push these people, so he complied to the best of his abilities.
The armed individuals cleared the rest of the cell block and checked his suit for weapons before backing off. He was surprised they hadn’t demanded that he take the helmet off or ask to see his face.
“Open the cell!”
“No,” Jacob replied. “Until I’m done speaking with Judicator Ghrroaqq,” Jacob said, pronouncing the name perfectly, to the surprise of the frogmen, “Adjunct Xing’che will be remaining where she is.”
The frogman narrowed his large eyes, but didn’t say anything. Instead, he had two of his people keep their weapons trained on Jacob while he made a call to his boss.
The leader of the group ended his call and approached once more. “The judicator will speak with you after the ship’s AI has been disabled. You will remain here.”
Jacob turned to Xing’che. “I hope you didn’t mind a few more guests?”
“The more the merrier,” she replied without missing a beat.
***
Jacob watched nervously as the Astryx forces cut through the last hatch leading to Melody. The only thing standing between them and the core was Melody’s armored hatch and the door to the core. He had realized quite some time ago that the doors wouldn’t stop them from carrying out their mission, so Jacob had unlocked the airlock door and the one to the core to prevent additional repairs from having to be done once everything was resolved.
He would have done that for the others, but the rest had been welded shut.
If anything, that made the Astryx forces more wary. They must have assumed Jacob, or more specifically, the AI, would fight them every step of the way.
Honestly, he might have just done it to spite them, but the wait was getting to him. He wanted to get this nightmare over already. Either his efforts to save himself would pay off, or he would drift off into digital oblivion.
The large force of troops, led by their combat drones, vanished inside Melody’s gargantuan hull. The next time he saw them was outside the core chamber.
They opened the door, and one of the drones rushed in, looking for threats. When it didn’t find any, it quickly took up position, its guns leveled at the part of the core visible inside the room.
The group wasted no time entering the room. Two of the combat drones were stationed at the ends of the corridor, while the fourth was situated in the entryway, probably to prevent the door from closing and locking them all inside.
It was a tactically sound choice. Jacob had considered doing that early in the planning until Barry pointed out that locking armed people inside such a sensitive area was a bad idea.
Two of the soldiers hurried in with a crate and set it off to the side. One knelt and twisted a handle on the crate, then pulled. A wide cylinder connected to the handle rose about an arm’s length from the crate.
Jacob wasn’t sure what the device was, then he saw the two men pull out keys and stick them into slots he hadn’t noticed. As soon as they turned the keys, the cylinder on the device pulsed an eerie blue for a moment before the color went away.
The device wasn’t the only thing that had the color drain from it. Jacob’s spine prickled, and his face turned white as a ghost as he realized what the device was. He popped back into the drone inside the containment area.
“Why are your people planting a void bomb inside the core chamber?”
The soldier seemed slightly surprised that Jacob knew what was happening inside the core, but that surprise quickly faded as his face hardened. “It’s insurance in case you or the AI get any funny ideas.”