Chapter 4
'target'
Stinking, polluted city. Eric grimaced as he clambered awkwardly out of the luxury car and put his foot right in a dirty puddle.
"Yuck."
"What did you say?" his father demanded, his high-pitched voice so loud in the earpiece that Eric winced.
"I said 'God, I hate this city, somebody, somebody get me out.' Didn't you hear me?"
"Don't you take that smart-aleck tone again, Eric, don't you even start. I am furious at you, how do you explain yourself?"
"Huh?" The second bodyguard disembarked, and the car pulled away from the curb. "What about?"
"You know exactly what about."
"Afraid I don't. Sorry."
"Perhaps you were too drunk to remember? Perhaps you don't recall making out with some whore right in the middle of the Capital Lounge last night?" Eric's skin warmed slightly at the memory of it, and a smile played across his lips.
"Oh that. That's what you're mad about? It was just a kiss."
"Just a kiss?" Eric could imagine his father smoking in helpless fury back home, and smiled even more at the mental image. Jim – or maybe Bob – held open the door to his building and he entered, escaping the damp stickiness of the D.C. evening. "Just a kiss? Everyone saw it! It was all over the news here in town today, we're the laughingstock of Hollyn! How could you do something so stupid?"
"It was fun; and besides, she started it. Last time I checked, a senator's perfectly free to kiss a girl if he's not married."
"That's not the point, and you know it! You're not at school anymore, Eric, it's time you started acting like it. I've placed you in a respectable position -"
"Respectable?" Eric snorted. "Have you seen these guys at work?"
"Which cost me a lot of money and I'd appreciate a little gratitude! For starters, you could behave with a little more decorum, and conduct yourself properly when in public."
"Don't hold your breath, Dad," Eric advised. He pressed his thumb against the panel, and the door to his flat slid open. Jim and Bob remained in the front lounge area as always, and Eric continued through the next doorway into his personal living space. It was a luxury flat but still small, untidy, and totally unsuitable for receiving anyone of importance. It was therefore exactly what Eric wanted, as long as he was stuck here, and he breathed a sigh of relief to be home again and safe. He'd spent the entire day in his office fending off calls from lobbyists and fellow senators about the XP-314, to the point where he hated the bill even more than before. If that was possible. "Maybe you should have thought about that before you shipped me off to this godforsaken bureaucratic jungle. I told you I wouldn't like it."
"And I told you that you'd better do a good job, even if you didn't. This is about more than your little whims, Eric, it's about keeping the family -"
"Well-connected, I know." Eric started to loosen his tie, then stopped. Had he just seen a shadow move on the opposite wall? He blinked, but nothing else moved and he decided he must be taking too many sips out of his flask at work.
"Damn it, Eric, don't ignore me!"
"Huh, what? What did you say?"
"If you keep up this cocky display, I might decide you don't need my financial assistance with the reelection campaign. How do you feel about that?"
Eric splashed his face with some cold water in the kitchen.
"Well, if I was interested in running again I might care, but since I'm not -" He broke off, this time sure that he'd heard something.
"What?" his father screeched, drowning out any other noise. "Of course you're running again, there's no other option -"
"Shh."
"Don't you 'shh' me, boy, who do you think you are?" Eric's skin prickled, standing there in his dark apartment, and he felt a rush of unease.
"Sorry, Dad, we'll have to talk about this later. Much later." He pulled the earpiece off and pressed the power switch, cutting off his father mid-squawk. The flat was still very quiet, even the D.C. traffic was just a faint hum. Certain that he'd heard a sound in the study, Eric tiptoed out of the kitchen and crept across the hall. The door wasn't fully shut, and he pushed it open, heart thumping.
The room was empty and silent, save the humming computer on the desk. Eric grinned sheepishly at his silly paranoia, and that was when someone slammed into him from behind.
It was so hard and so fast, he could only grunt as all the air was knocked right out of his lungs. But he didn't fall. His attacker wrapped his arms around Eric in a powerful grip instead, jabbing at his arm with a syringe. With his arms trapped against his chest, Eric only just managed to push the other man's hand away, but he couldn't free himself completely and this man was obviously stronger than he was. They struggled for a few seconds, each struggling to push the syringe in opposite directions, then Eric braced his foot against the doorframe of the study and pushed. He took his attacker by surprise and they both stumbled clumsily into the kitchen before smacking into the counter. His attacker uttered a muffled grunt of pain and relaxed his grip on Eric for just a heartbeat, long enough for Eric to wrest an arm free. His nightly consumption of alcohol had left an impressive forest of empty bottles in and around his sink, which he bothered to clear away only once a week. Driven by pure survival instinct he grabbed one and swung blindly behind his head. The glass shattered, and fragments rained down on the kitchen floor by his feet. They were followed by a few drops of blood, and then the arms went completely slack. Eric pushed himself clear just before the stranger slumped over on the floor, unconscious.
"Holy slag," Eric gasped, and placed his hand over his chest. His heart was going fast and hard, and the sound of his ragged breathing filled the whole apartment. It was too much for his stunned mind to comprehend, really, there was only the numb realization that he had just been attacked.
The bodyguards, he thought, and took a step towards the front door. At that very moment the door swung open, and someone in a black suit walked in. It wasn't Jim or Bob. It was a complete stranger, and he seemed just as surprised to see Eric as Eric was him. They traded shocked stares, and then the man in black reached inside his jacket.
Eric didn't wait to see if it was a gun. He bolted back down the hallway and past the study, ignoring shouts for him to stop, dove into his bedroom and slammed the door shut. Hands shaking, he managed to turn the lock just before someone threw himself against it on the other side.
There was another bang, and another. Horrified, Eric realized he was going to break the door down, and he dragged a heavy chair in front of it before stopping to take a breath. Now what? He was alone, and trapped. The phone! No, he'd left it in the kitchen. Damn, damn, damn!
The banging was getting louder. It sounded like there was more than one man working on it now, he didn't have much time. The only way out was his balcony. He slid the glass doors open and closed them behind him, but there was no way to lock it from the outside. His flat didn't face the noisy street, but overlooked the neighborhood's private park. He could still see the individual trees, bathed in twilight now that the sun had set.
"Help!" he called out, uselessly. When he'd first moved in, he'd been thrilled to get a view over the exclusive park, which was almost always empty and therefore very quiet. Now he searched in vain for another person, but there was no one.
He heard an especially loud splintering sound from the bedroom, and knew that they were close. There was nothing for it; he'd have to try and climb down himself. He was only one story up, but it was still a distance, too much to jump. A rain pipe ran down the side of the building within arm's reach, but it was too big and too smooth to grasp.
Another loud crash behind him. Eric had an idea and began to tear at the knot in his tie, pulling it off as fast as he could. Senate Chamber rules dictated that he wear the appallingly old-fashioned thing whenever he was in the building, and today was the first day he was glad of it. Clambering awkwardly over the railing, he threaded the tie between the pipe and the wall and wrapped both ends securely around his hands. Once he started, there'd be no way back.
"Here we go," he muttered aloud, and leaned back as far as he could to brace his shoes against the bricks. Much to his surprise, the tie held and he didn't slip. His hands were already starting to redden and swell, though. Painfully and gradually, he inched his way down the wall. There was more banging up above, then it got quiet, and someone slid open his balcony doors.
"There he is!"
Eric lost his balance and fell the rest of the way. Fortunately it wasn't far, but he still landed painfully on his back on the grass, and groaned. Three more men crowded onto the balcony, looking down on him with surprised expressions. All of them wore black suits.
Eric scrambled to his feet and ran for the trees, wheezing.
"Hold it! Stop right there!"
"Come on, after him!"
"Don't let him get away!"
The distant shouts echoed in his ears, sounding unreal in his panic. Now he couldn't remember which way the gate was, how to get back to the streets. It was much darker here under the trees, so much harder to see. He tripped over a root and went sprawling, and he winced at the pain and the noise.
"This way!" he heard one shout, startlingly close. Eric lost his head and started running for all he was worth, knowing that he was making an incredible amount of noise but unable to do anything about it. It didn't matter anyway, he could hear them shouting and knew they were too close, that he wasn't going to make it. And all he could think about, the one question hammering away at his mind but would likely never be answered, was why.
There was a blur of movement to his right and he tripped again, tumbling to the earth with a grunt. Someone was bending over him, and blindly he tried to scramble away.
"Shh," someone ordered, and a hand clapped over his mouth. "Don't move."
In the capricious moonlight, he had just enough time to see a beautiful and exotic face before the woman stood and turned away. Without looking back to see if he obeyed she strode away from him, casually twirling a long wooden stick in one hand. It looked like the sort of thing that might have been a rake handle, or hoe, but the end had been snapped off to leave a splintered stub.
Hardly had she taken three long steps when the first of his attackers came tearing around the corner. That he wasn't expecting anyone besides Eric was obvious – he screeched to a surprised halt and raised his gun, too late. She knocked it effortlessly from his hand with her staff and continued to spin, following through with the motion. Eric could hear the impact of her heel against his temple. It was so hard that he was knocked into the tree for a second blow to the head, and he crumpled to the ground and lay still.
She didn't pause but immediately spun around and swung her staff out, catching the guns of the second and then third of the group, before they even realized there was a threat. Taken aback, they tried to surround her and attack from both sides, but with her long weapon neither could touch her. Expertly she dodged and jabbed and struck, and planted a hard kick on one's chest that threw him straight back against a tree. The man wheezed painfully, then came to a decision and pulled something out of his jacket pocket. It was a syringe that looked just like the one Eric had been attacked with, he realized, and opened his mouth to call out a warning. There was no need. She turned just before he raised his arm to jab, caught his wrist, and twisted to drive the needle into his partner's shoulder. His whole body went rigid, and with the other's arm still trapped she took the opportunity to kick him hard in the face. He dropped right to the ground, dragging his now convulsing partner with him. Stupefied, Eric watched him shudder a few moments longer and writhe before finally lying still.
He had to look away and swallow, and that was when he saw the moonlight glinting off one of the guns, where it had landed clear of the trees and not far from him.
She crouched warily by her victims, breathing a little hard but otherwise silent. Uncertainly Eric opened his mouth to speak, but she threw herself to the side and behind a tree, just before three bullets bit into the earth. The fourth man stepped carefully down the path and toward his men, approaching her cover with trepidation. On the other side, she crept around the trunk until Eric could no longer see her. A few more silent moments passed as the man drew closer. Nothing moved; there was no breeze and the leaves above were absolutely still.
The sharp crack of wood broke the silence and both of them started, but neither of them saw the attack come. With one half of her previously long staff she struck viciously at his hand, and the gun flew into the undergrowth. The other half hit him across the temple before he could even react, and when he stumbled backwards she drew up her leg and kicked him squarely in the chest. He was thrown clear across the path and tumbled over the bodies of his men, before coming to a stop. Barely conscious, he pushed himself to a half-sitting position and reached for his ankle.
"I wouldn't go for that," she advised. He ignored her and grasped for the small pistol in his ankle holster, and she threw one of her sticks. With deadly accuracy it struck him right between the eyes, and he collapsed against the earth one last time.
"They never listen," she complained, and brushed a few stray hairs out of her face. Then she looked up to see Eric standing in the moonlight, eyes dilated in fear, his shaky hands pointing a gun in her direction. "Put the gun down, Senator. You don't want to shoot me."
"Oh yeah?" he barked, trying hard to keep the quaver out of his voice. "How the hell should I know that? I got people in my apartment trying to kill me, I don't know what's going on, and then you show up out of nowhere and start killing people too! Why should I listen to you?"
"Because I'm the only one on this planet who wants to see you live," she said simply and without a trace of exaggeration. She stepped out from under the trees' shadows and he took a step back, more frightened by her words than comforted. But here in the brighter light, there was something about her face that made him pause.
"Do I... know you?"
"Maybe this will help." She raised her hands and he flinched, but she paid no attention. Instead she unwound the band holding her hair up, and it cascaded like thick black silk over her shoulders, reflecting the moonlight. Eric's breath caught in his throat.
"You- you're the girl that kissed me!" She nodded. "What's going on? Who are you?"
"My name is Meilin. You've been targeted for assassination, and you're in a lot of danger right now." She took a few steps toward him and he backed up again, the gun still trembling in his hands.
"That syringe contains Rifaximin. It paralyzes the cardiovascular muscles, making death indistinguishable from a heart attack. I know because it was in your drink last night at the Lounge. I kissed you so I could switch our glasses without anyone noticing." She kept coming closer as she spoke, carefully, but apparently unworried that he might shoot.
"I'm here to help you, Senator, but we don't have much time. I need you to trust me."
The gun was no longer shaking in his hand, and doubtfully he loosened his grip.
"If you've got nothing to hide, then you won't mind coming back with me for my bodyguards."
"Your security is gone, Senator," she said gently.
"They're dead?" He gulped, but she shook her head.
"No, they're just gone. Your bodyguards were ordered not to interfere, you'll never see them again. Powerful people are trying to kill you, Senator Masters. Please let me help." She extended her hand, waiting patiently for the gun. He hesitated, then came to a decision.
There was a tiny noise behind them and she reacted, snatching the gun easily out of his hands and whipping around to shoot the second man twice in the chest before he could reach his ankle holster. He collapsed against the earth again, and she turned around with a satisfied air, twirling the gun expertly on one finger.
"Thank you. Now we have to go, before more of them come."
She brushed past him, and with no other option that he could see, Eric followed.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chief James Russer stood on the edge of the busy crime scene, watching the stranger as he flashed a badge at one of his policemen and brushed past him. He looked a bully all right, flicking impassive gray eyes over the chaotic mess of bodies, photographers, and investigators. Russer didn't move, and waited for the new arrival to find him and approach.
"Chief of police?" he inquired, with just the tiniest hint of amusement in his tone. Russer didn't answer his question, but drew up his lip in a sneer.
"You must be the reason I'm not allowed to clean any of this up." The older man nodded and flashed his badge again, too quickly for Russer to read.
"Special Agent Jay Rino, Division 13. I'm here to investigate the crime scene in its untainted condition." He cast another displeased glance at all the people working. "I trust you've managed to preserve all evidence appropriately?"
Russer bristled.
"We're not a bunch of security guards here, 'Special Agent'. My men know how to look into a crime, and we managed to start just fine without you." Rino raised his eyebrows slightly, but there was no change in his expression. "And don't you start with that classified information crap. These three were my men, and I want the guy that did this."
"Very well," Rino acceded. "And what have you found?"
Russer really wished he hadn't asked that, and felt a little of his bravado slip.
"Well, not much. The guy covered his tracks pretty good. No one was shot, he killed them all with his bare hands. But there isn't a single fingerprint on any of them. The police club that he used we found in a fountain upstairs – washed clean of any prints. He knew what he was doing, all right."
Rino seemed to have already lost interest in what he had to say, and Russer watched him crouch by one of the bodies, looking at his wrist viewscreen without touching anything.
"Time of death?"
"Er, between 12:50 and 13:10, standard time." Rino moved to the second officer, again examining his viewscreen. "We, uh, haven't pinpointed it exactly."
"And the surveillance disc?"
"What?"
"The disc," Rino repeated impatiently, straightening and raising an arm to point. "From the camera, that's right there. I assume you already extracted it?"
Chief Russer felt all the blood drain from his face as he followed Rino's gaze and saw that there was, indeed, a surveillance camera high above them and pointed right at the scene of the crime. No one had noticed it.
"Uh..." Russer's mouth flopped open uselessly before he managed to gather some of his composure back. "Jonsen!"
"Sir?"
"Get a hold of Spaceport Security and tell them to send someone up for that camera." Now he could feel his cheeks flushing under Rino's superior smirk, and he ground his teeth in annoyance. But it wasn't until a security tech arrived, opened the camera, and discovered no disc within that Russer really wanted to throw himself in an airlock and push the button.
"The camera was empty before?"
"No sir, our cameras are always set to digitally record, the information automatically downloaded to the disc. But there's a code on the camera, no one else outside Security should be able to access it."
Rino snorted, registering his opinion on the impregnability of Crossworlds Security, and Russer writhed internally.
"Get me a list of all ships that departed within an hour of the crime."
"Crossworlds is huge, we got hundreds of ships -"
"Get it," Rino repeated coldly, and turned on his heel and left. Russer exhaled in irritation, ordered his men to clear away the bodies at last, and got on the phone to Central Control.
A safe distance away, Rino too was making a phone call. It rang only once before a familiar voice answered.
"Smith."
"Agent Rino here, sir. It's confirmed, all three of them did call up the subject's image on screen."
"And the elder Kinomoto?"
"No sir, just the girl."
"All three men are dead."
"Mysteriously enough, yes. There's almost no evidence, but it's an expert job. Looks like someone's helping."
There were several long seconds of silence, while Rino waited for his superior to process this information. Finally he spoke again.
"That'll be all, Agent Rino. Report all developments."
"Yes sir." He pulled off the earpiece and disconnected, allowing for just one moment his stony expression to crack. "As always, sir."
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
There was no more conversation for a while, but she led him silently over the park wall, through the streets and to a local train station. Eric saw the elevated monorail whizzing overhead every day on his way to work, but he'd never been aboard the public transport before. She seated herself across from him at the far end of a mostly empty car, and waited until they started moving before she spoke.
"I think we're all right now."
"On the run with people trying to kill me is not 'all right'," he muttered, trying to coax a flame from his lighter with trembling hands.
"They do not permit smoking on trains," she informed him, and his shoulders slumped.
"Of course." He left the cigarette between his lips anyway as he leaned back against the window, just to keep the taste in his mouth. "I don't get it. Why? Why are they going to so much trouble to kill me?"
"You are a threat, Senator, the positions you've taken frighten many people in this city."
"My positions? You mean all the times I spoke up in Session?" He grunted in a wry manner. "Huh. Didn't think anyone was even listening."
"They were listening. And they didn't like what they heard."
The train continued on through the night, its soft clicking sounds the only noise as he tried to grope his way to what she had obviously figured out for herself.
"Pindexter," he said finally, and she nodded. "He was mad about the bill, when I said I'd filibuster it in quorum. He said I should watch out – I figured he was bluffing. The guy's a family values politician, he's no killer. Is he?"
"Perhaps not alone."
"Working with someone else? For what?"
"That's what I intend to find out," she assured him, her voice cool and steady. Eric watched the lights of the city stream past behind her head, reflecting on her hair and casting strange shadows on her face.
"Who are you, Meilin? Why are you involved in this?" She looked away without speaking. "I mean, if you don't want to say, that's all right -"
"No. I'll tell you. You deserve that much, I suppose." It seemed she was trying to compose herself, though it was so difficult to read her expression Eric wasn't sure. "Two years ago the government seized our home. They forced my family to scatter to the six planets in order to avoid arrest, but we never did anything wrong. No one offered an explanation, no laws protected us. I just want to know why."
"I'm sorry," Eric said lamely. "That's terrible."
"I know that you think so. That's why I saved you."
They rode the rest of the way in silence.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
There was the fleeting sensation of panic in his mind before Li opened his eyes, his muscles tensing before he knew why. The next second a gigantic explosion rocked the ship and threw him right out of bed, hitting the cold floor with a thud. Across the corridor, Touya and Yukito sat straight up in bed.
"What was that?"
"Dunno, come on!" They both scrambled into their pants and out of the bunk, racing for the cockpit just as Li emerged from his own bunk. Something collided with the ship and sent a violent shudder under their feet, and Yukito stumbled. Touya caught him just in time.
"Now what?" Li demanded.
"We don't know. Sit tight!" They swarmed up the cockpit ladder just before another impact and Li gripped the doorframe to remain upright. Sakura's door slid open and Tomoyo crawled out, eyes wide with panic.
"She's gone! Sakura's gone!" She tried to stand and nearly got thrown right back in the bunk when the ship jerked again. Li snatched her wrist and pulled her to the floor.
"What are you thinking, this ship is under attack! Get back in your bunk and don't move."
"It's Sakura, she's not in her bed," Tomoyo babbled. "We went to sleep together but now she's gone and I have to find her!" She tried to pull her wrist out of Li's iron grip, but he wasn't giving.
"Tomoyo! Get a grip on yourself. She's on the ship, it's not like she's going anywhere."
"But she could get hurt -"
"She'll be fine, I promise." One of the lights overhead shorted and sparks rained down on them. Tomoyo shrieked and covered her head. "Get back in your bunk and hold onto something, all right?"
"Will you look for her?" Tomoyo pleaded. "Please? I don't want her to be alone in this!"
"Uh, sure. I'll take care of it." Li hustled Tomoyo back into Sakura's bunk and shut the door, then braced himself as another tremor ran through the ship. That one felt more like laser fire than a collision. What in the 'verse was going on out there?
Touya swore loud and long when they reached the cockpit and saw the chaos roiling outside. It looked like some kind of vast junkyard, with huge chunks of twisted and charred metal drifting into a deadly obstacle course. Another piece came hurling toward them and Yukito grabbed the steering stick just in time, veering away and taking the blow underneath the ship.
"Slag it. Slag, slag, slag it! What the hell happened here?"
"It looks like one of those huge cargo ships," Yukito surmised. "We must have been really close to hear the explosion like that, we're lucky we didn't get caught in it ourselves."
"Don't say lucky now, Yuki." Dread all over his face, Touya raised an arm and pointed. "The problems are just beginning."
Yukito barely caught a glimpse of the pirate ship coming into view before it saw them and fired. The shot hit them with deadly accuracy but it was too far out of range to do much real damage. Even so they felt the ship shudder, and Yukito threw the Wildflower into a hard right.
"Hang on. This might be a little tricky."
"A little?"
"All right, a lot," Yukito admitted. The pirates were bearing down hard now, as fast as they could go through the maze of debris. Yukito swerved and swooped around two huge chunks, picking up speed as he did so. "There, see? We can outrun them, no probl -"
A violent blast threw them forward against their seat harnesses, knocking the wind out of them.
"There's two of them!" Touya yelped, looking at the radar. "It must have been an ambush for that ship, and now they don't want any witnesses."
"Uh, Toya." Yukito pressed a few buttons and tapped a screen worriedly. "There's something wrong with the rear engines. The shields took most of it but something threw them offline, they're not responding. We can't get away like this."
A significant look passed between them and Touya unlatched his seat harness.
"I'll take care of it. Just keep us alive for as long as you can."
"I'll do my best."
There wasn't even time enough for a kiss, though Touya ached for it. Instead he could only jump down the chute and sprint to the back of the ship, expecting another blast of enemy fire to blow them all to oblivion at any second. He almost crashed right into Li, who was coming out of the engine room after looking for Sakura.
"Watch it!" Touya pushed him aside and dropped to his knees by the toolboxes, frantically pawing through them. "What are you doing hanging around in here, don't you know pirates are shooting at us?"
"Pirates? Then what are you doing down here playing mechanic, shouldn't you be getting us out of here?" Li chose not to mention that Sakura was missing, for the moment, having wisely decided that the captain wouldn't like it that it was Li searching for her.
"Engines are out, someone's gotta fix 'em." Touya yanked a grate covering off the floor and slithered down into the lower engine itself.
"The engines are what? Now? This hunk of junk is nothing but a deathtrap!" He ducked just in time before a wrench came flying out of the hole, and Touya hauled himself up enough to glare over the edge.
"Do you know how to do anything besides talk? Like how to shoot?"
"Not on a ship like this -"
"Then why don't you make yourself useful, and get your ass up to the cockpit and learn how? Because I'm busy here!"
He disappeared again, and the ship lurched to avoid another blast. It ricocheted off the side armor, nearly knocking Li off his feet, but he grabbed the doorframe in time. Sakura was going to have to wait. He ran for the cockpit.
In the front of the ship, Yukito was biting his lip in concentration as he hurtled through the mess, ducking and swerving to avoid another shot. The shields had taken enough as it was; he didn't think they could handle another direct hit. And both ships were gaining. Li stumbled into Touya's chair and latched the harness over his chest.
"Hi. Here to help?"
"If I can." Li could pilot a standard ship and fire its guns if he needed, but this antiquated layout was totally unfamiliar to him. Uncertainly he pushed a few buttons, trying to call up the targeting system. "Which is the -"
"Just a moment," Yukito said apologetically, and threw the ship into a stomach-twisting dive roll. With just the fore engines the ship still had complete maneuverability, but almost no speed. He compensated by gunning it as hard as he could for a giant scrap of twisted metal. Li yelped but Yukito yanked the steering stick downward just in time, escaping impact. The resounding explosion behind them announced that the pursuing pirate ship had not been so lucky.
"Gets 'em every time," Yukito declared, tone almost pitying. Li sagged against his harness in relief, eyes dilated.
"Wow," he gasped. "That was – amazing."
"Thanks." Yukito pulled up and swerved around a few more chunks of metal, keeping an eye out for the other pirate ship.
"No, really. What are you doing on some scrappy old cargo ship like this? You could be working anywhere you wanted."
"I'm where I'm supposed to be," he murmured.
"What?"
"Hold on!" Yukito pulled up just in time to evade the pirates' blast and Li fumbled for the trigger button, all other thoughts driven from his mind by the fight for survival.
On the opposite end of the ship Touya braced himself between the unmoving turbines and traced his pliers down the red wire to the power coupling. As he'd thought, there wasn't anything physically wrong with the engines. But that rear blast had interrupted the power flow's rhythm, crippling them. He resisted the impulse to swear again, and tried to think it through logically. The coupling was going crazy, rerouting the power back to itself when it should be transmitting it to the turbines. If he cut it off, they might be stranded out here in space forever, if the pirates didn't shoot them out of the sky first. But if he could restart it, then the power would probably assume its regular pattern and the engines would come back on line. Probably.
"How do you work this damn thing?" Li appealed, having pressed every button next to the targeting screen that he could see. Yukito leaned over without taking his eyes off the view and thumped his fist on the console. Immediately the screen flickered to life and started scrolling stats on every foreign object within range. Li grunted in relief, but then realized that with so many scraps of cargo ship floating past, the targeting computer didn't know what to focus on. Unsuccessfully he tried to single out the attacking ship, but nothing seemed to work.
They were bearing down fast now. Unconsciously holding his breath, Yukito soared upward in a wide loop, hoping to entice the pirate into following. But the pilot, having learned from his partner's mistake, was keeping his distance and firing long-range. Just in time Yukito dove behind a giant hunk of metal before a cannon shot could pulverize them. The piece of scrap disintegrated instead, exploding into millions of tiny shards.
"Ouch!" Something outside the ship had exploded, rocking them to the side and causing Touya to slice his pliers along his palm. He stared at the line of blood for a second and then went back to work, hoping it wouldn't drip into the coupling and short anything out. There was no time to bandage it, even if he had a piece of cloth. An omen?
He hoped not. This might or might not work, but he had no other option. Taking a deep breath, Touya cut the wire. The power coupling went dead and everything was suddenly very quiet.
They couldn't keep up this duck-and-hide game forever. Li glanced at Yukito's white knuckles on the steering stick and came to a decision.
"Can you fly straight toward them and keep her steady for a few seconds?"
"What? Why?"
"I want to end this."
"Oh, you got the targeting computer working?"
"Not really." Li flicked the safety switch on the trigger stick and placed his thumb lightly on the red button. "But it'll be okay. Just fly straight."
Yukito gulped but did as he was told, angling up in an attempt to at least avoid the pirates' lethal horizontal sweeps. Belatedly their guns swiveled upward to track them.
"Here we go," Touya whispered to the silent engine room. He'd peeled back the protective casing on both ends of the just-cut wire and wiped his hand on his pants again. The blood was starting to flow a lot faster now; he'd have to hurry. Before it could well up again and mix with his sweat, he grasped both ends and rapidly spliced them together.
Li closed his eyes, mustering every bit of concentration and control that he had, aimed, and fired. The two laser blasts shot toward the pirates and unerringly hit the small but vulnerable bridge. The transparent window crumpled and melted, and then the entire ship blew up in a spectacular fashion.
"Yes!" Touya jumped to his feet and raised his fists in victory. Restarting had worked, the power coupling was alive and humming again. With a groan the turbines began to rotate, pumping the rear engine into activity. He pulled himself up into the upper engine room, wincing at the pressure on his hand, and sprinted back to the cockpit.
"I got the engines going again, get us out of here!"
"It's all right, Toya, we're all fine. They're both gone now, Li shot the second one. He's pretty good." Yukito smiled wanly and unlatched his seat harness to stand up.
"Yuki? You all right?"
"Sure, fine, never better. I was pretty good back there, if I do say so myself. Never a dull moment..." His voice trailed off as his eyes closed, and he slumped over into Touya's arms. Li jumped out of his seat.
"What's the matter with him?"
"Nothing," Touya answered in a low voice, checking Yuki's pulse and removing his glasses. "He just overexerted himself again, he's tired. I'm going to get him back to bed." He pulled Yukito's arm over his shoulders and half-dragged, half-carried him back down into the corridor and their bunk.
"You're welcome, by the way," Li muttered sullenly, then remembered that he was supposed to be looking for Sakura. The door to Touya's bunk was closed, but all the others were open, including Sakura's. A glance revealed that Tomoyo was already gone, and he found her poking through crates down in the cargo bay, still in her nightclothes.
"Did you find her?" she asked hopefully, and he shook his head. Her face fell. "She must be so scared. She's done this before, sometimes, but I always found her by now. Last time she was hiding in the supply crates." Her long black hair kept swinging in front of her face and she pushed it out of the way impatiently.
"Did you look in the escape pod?"
"Yes, but it's locked with a code. We're scared to death she might climb in and jettison herself one day, so Touya doesn't let her anywhere near it." She left the opened crates, biting her lower lip worriedly. "This must mean she's hiding in the engine room; I've looked everywhere else. I hate going in there."
"I doubt it. Touya was back there working just a few minutes ago. He would have seen her. I looked in there, too."
"She has to be," Tomoyo insisted. "There's nowhere else to hide." Li shrugged and allowed her to march past him on the stairs, leading back down past the galley to the engines. Even if she hadn't said as much, it was obvious that Tomoyo didn't like the room. She tiptoed gingerly past the rotating upper turbines, holding her arms to her chest and keeping well away from anything moving.
Although Touya and Yukito were both perfectly at ease working with the machinery of the ship, and Sakura fascinated to watch, it made Tomoyo uneasy to the point of real fear. Her comfortable upbringing included nothing dirty or noisy, and the engine room was both. She could clean the bunks, sew clothes for the others, and cook tasty meals as much as she liked in the rest of the ship, but this room broke the illusion that this was a home. Instead she was drifting through space, dependent on these mysterious machines to keep her alive, which somehow just made them scarier. She could never get close without an image of being dragged into those grinding teeth and shredded until there was nothing of her left.
Li had no such qualms, inspecting all the turbines before lying across the floor and lifting the grate to check below.
"There's definitely no one down here," he announced, and Tomoyo whimpered. Now what was she going to say to Touya? Li lifted his head and stopped short. There, in the far corner at his eye level, a lone pink petal was lying on the floor. Without speaking he crept across the room and picked it up.
"Found her."
"What? Where?" He pointed up, to a small ventilation shaft in the low ceiling. It was ungrated but naturally Tomoyo had never noticed it, having been in the room only a handful of times. She looked up into the darkness of the opening with a sinking sensation. Wherever it led to, it would be dark, and cramped, not designed for any human interference. Maybe even more machinery.
"You going to get her?" Li inquired, when she made no move to do so.
"Oh. Uh, of course." She shivered and made a half-hearted jump, but she couldn't even reach.
"Scared?"
"No! I just -"
"I'll go." He didn't even give her a chance to protest before he bent his knees slightly and jumped straight up, effortlessly disappearing through the tiny opening. Tomoyo squeaked in surprise, though relieved. Now she only hoped that Sakura was all right, after everything that had happened that night.
It was utterly dark, in the topmost layer of the ship, and hot. All the heat of the internal engines was sucked up here, drawn away from the interior of the ship for safety and comfort. Holding his breath, Li thought he could hear something over the noise below and started crawling through the pitch black. The noise grew louder, and he realized it was someone crying softly.
"Sakura?" he ventured. There was a red glow ahead and he crawled for it, clambering over thick cables and pipes. His vision adjusted and soon he could see her, huddled miserably in a circle of red light and toying with something. She looked up when he came closer but did not speak, tears trickling down her cheeks.
"Sakura," he tried again, feeling awkward. "Uh, don't cry. Everyone's okay, the danger is over. You're going to be all right." She hiccuped and shook her head.
"It's all come apart," she sniffled. "Can't put it back together again, won't work." For a second he thought she meant the exploded cargo ship outside, then he saw the wilting flower in her hands. Several petals had come loose in all the turbulence, and with trembling hands she tried to fit them back into their proper place. Inevitably they drifted back to the floor again.
"You like things that can be put together, don't you?" Li murmured. "You like watching your friends sew, and fix engines." Her hands stopped moving but she did not speak, eyes steadfastly on the floor. "Why are you like that, Sakura? What did they do to you?"
Sakura still said nothing, but she did look up, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. Delicately she reached forward to touch, and reflexively Li leaned back. She hesitated, hand extended, and then brushed her fingertips down the side of his face. His sharp intake of breath echoed loudly in the tiny space, but he didn't speak or push her away. Her feathery touch traveled down his cheek and traced his jawline, and then she reached up with the other hand as well.
Li closed his eyes, the sound of his own breathing like a roar in his ears, his skin inexplicably going hot under her innocent explorations. Gently her fingertips traced over the arch of his eyebrows, down the bridge of his nose, and brushed over his lower lip. She paused then, but when he opened his eyes she didn't pull away. Instead her right hand slid down his neck and to his chest, stopping over his rapidly beating heart. Never breaking her gaze, she took his right hand in her left and held it firmly over her own heart. Under her soft flesh he could feel her heartbeat, in perfect unison with his.
Her eyes begged him to understand. She could not form the right words, perhaps, but she was trying to show him anyway.
"We're the same, you and me," Li said slowly, and was rewarded by a flash of triumph in her eyes. "The government took everything from us. I'm trying to reclaim what's mine. But what about you?" He leaned forward without realizing it, feeling the light exhalation of her breath on his face. "Can you ever go back?"
She opened and closed her mouth without speaking, the conflict and frustration building in her eyes. Quickly he placed a finger over her lips.
"Shh. It's okay, don't think about it. Let's go back down."
She looked relieved if a little bit disappointed, and tired. He let her crawl away first, back to the dim light where Tomoyo was waiting, and then he followed.
She left the flower behind.
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Disclaimer: I do not own these characters