THE MOTHER LODE BY ABRAXIS
Chapter 38 – A Small Service in a Small War
As Jenna was pressed against McGhee, she discovered that what she had taken for pudginess, because of his hands and face, was in fact solid muscle. Not wishing to give him any idea of her own strength, she made the required struggle against his hold an intentionally ineffectual one.
"Let me go, damn it! I'm going to my ship!"
"That's not necessary. It's only a class D alert, a small problem that won't affect the inner sections. You are perfectly safe here."
"I don't give a damn! I'm leaving!"
"I'm afraid that I can't allow that."
The arm around her waist tightened and he let go of her wrist, obviously intending to go for a stunner to calm her down. However, he was out of practice and Jenna wasn't. After a rabbit punch to his kidney and a split-second of struggle, Jenna was behind him, one arm around his throat and her dagger making an unmistakable impression on the 'sweet spot' Riddick had taught her to target.
"I'm afraid that you're going to have to! Now, call off your dogs!"
McGhee wasn't stupid. He waved his men away but not too far away.
"Now, what?" It was a bit strangled but had the sound of a man who thought that he was still in control of the situation. Jenna decided to prove to him that he was wrong. She had Jeeter open the com to the Hole, change to the real security channel, ping it and hold the com so she could use it.
"Jack, disappear and relocate."
The reply was immediate.
"Already done. Anything else?"
"If we're not off of here in twenty minutes, cut this station into scrap metal."
"Already ordered but you've got twenty-five to exit or meet up."
"Keep this channel open. If you hear one wrong sound, warn the others and start cutting immediately. End trans."
McGhee's body had jerked at the revelation that his station was actually being invaded and Jenna's dagger was now definitely cutting into the flesh and outer muscle of his back. Not easing it off one bit, she chinned the com away and answered his question.
"Now, you call the dogs off all the way and the three of us are taking an uninterrupted walk to find the rest of my crew and an equally uninterrupted flight to my ship."
McGhee stiffened. When he spoke, his voice was a bitter rasp.
"If you think the Patrol is getting me that easily, you fucking bitch, you can think again. I'd rather die right here and take you with me!"
That McGhee didn't immediately start struggling or signal his men to attack told Jenna that, while there was no doubt that he would die rather than be taken, he would be open to a deal that involved neither. She followed her first instinct. She laughed. Then she twisted the point of the dagger just a little deeper.
"Call me Patrol again and I'll bleed you just for the insult. You're a hostage, not a prisoner. As soon as my ship is safely away, I'll set you off and even make the call for your people to come and get you."
"Liar."
At this, Jeeter, who had been covering Jenna's back since her first move, chimed in.
"Let him check with Wiggler, Lady, he can tell him who I am. About me working for Tio and all."
McGhee must have recognized the name.
"Even if that's true, all it makes you is the sell out that brought all this down on my neck. Wiggler could be in on it as well."
The stand off was growing thin, when McGhee's com beeped. Taking a chance, Jenna growled at him.
"Answer it! But be careful what you say!"
Whoever was on the other end started talking as soon as McGhee opened the channel.
"We got big trouble, Boss. I've got a twelve-man security squad spread all over the bulkheads in section C, outer rim. No survivors. They were answering an alert on some armed arrivals but there was only supposed to be four of them; not enough to do something like this."
"Any other reports of trouble?"
"No … not that kind."
Jenna gave McGhee a great deal of credit for his next question.
"What weapons were used?"
There was a pause and the sounds of the caller moving about.
"Some disrupter work … … and lethal stun … but mostly gages. No laser work but some wild shots that our guys must have gotten off. … … … Shit, at least three of them got their throats cut from ear to ear."
Jenna couldn't keep herself from smiling at this proof of Riddick's presence on the station. The identities of the other three puzzled her but she didn't have time to work on that as the man continued his report.
"Hell, from the look of this, whoever it was went through them like a hot knife through butter before most of them even knew what was happening. If there were casualties on the other side they didn't leave any bodies behind and this is too much of a slaughter house to tell by blood sign."
"But no other trouble?" McGhee double-checked.
"Like I said, not this kind. I've ordered a full sweep of the station but with all the confusion and my men spread all over the place it's going to take time for the squads to assemble. Do you want a security alert broadcast over the PA?"
McGhee muted the com. "Not Patrol, then. Forces, … no. Spec-Ops?"
Jenna twisted the dagger a bit.
"Wrong again. Just an independent that you shouldn't have fucked with. The we-all-get-to-live-happily-ever-after option is still open. Are you going to take it?"
Jenna was almost shocked by the calm, almost friendly tone of his answer.
"Yes. I believe I will." He opened the com again, his voice hardening. "No, to the alert. Keep everybody between here and section C where they are now but have them move out of the corridors and close the doors behind them. I'll handle this myself."
"But, Boss … "
"Just do it, damn it! I don't want Veller knowing about this."
This last caused Jenna to nudge McGhee with the dagger once more, just a small jab to tell him that she didn't like it. Nor had she missed the fact that he hadn't called off the sweep of the rest of the station. Something was definitely not right here. With a wince, he closed his com and turned his full attention back to her.
"My men are going to get antsy as soon as word gets around about the deaths. Whatever you are going to do now had better be done quickly."
The explanation didn't satisfy Jenna but she saw the wisdom in his warning. After having Jeeter locate the sub-q signals of the incoming party and making sure that McGhee's personal guard was locked in a cloak closet, she and Jeeter moved out with the man pinned between them.
Riddick was beginning to get a bad feeling.
Their entry onto the station had gone just as planned. But, their emergence from the ship armed to the teeth must have set off somebody's alarms because they had run into a large security force just outside of the bay. Still, that hadn't gone bad either. The stupid shit leading the squad had his men in tight formation, blocking each other's line of fire and had yelled out for Riddick's team to halt and identify themselves instead of opening fire immediately.
Rafferty had fought like a good little merc. Syrus had done damn fine, even if his moves were a bit flamboyant for Riddick's taste. This wasn't a fucking pirate vid. Casmir had doggedly done his part though preferring the cleaner kill of the stunner to blood letting. And, the important part, they hadn't suffered any losses of their own. Syrus had the streak of a shallow laser burn across his left side and Rafferty was limping from some edge-of-pattern gage shot in a thigh but that was all.
Now, they were more than halfway to their goal, the sub-q signals, without any further trouble. That was the problem. There should have been more trouble, not an easy trot down empty corridors. Now, the sub-qs were moving. They were moving toward Riddick but that didn't mean it was good. Jenna could have a gun to her head and intended to be used to force a surrender.
Riddick halted the team and spread them out, squatting low to make smaller targets in positions that the enemy might not anticipate. Then he held the tracker-unit in front of him, watching the blips draw nearer as he also watched the intersection in the corridor that they seemed to be headed for. Just as the blips reached that turning, they stopped moving. Riddick tensed, a low growl, that he wasn't even aware of making, vibrating deep in his chest as he waited for the demand he knew was coming.
"Hold your fire, First. We're coming in. We've got a hostage with us."
Jenna's voice! And she had a hostage instead of being one! For a brief second, Riddick felt almost light headed as a swell of pride rushed through him. She hadn't just waited to be rescued. It was followed by a flash of anger that she'd taken risks instead of just waiting. Riddick shoved the schizophrenic emotions away and answered her.
"Come in, but easy."
It was an interesting trio that moved slowly around the corner. Jenna and Jeeter were flanking a rather unimpressive man. But if Jenna took him hostage he must be pretty important and the fact that they each had a stunner held tight against his temples, left and right, suggested that Jenna considered him dangerous enough to need a very nasty threat to control. Though the stunners were non-lethal models, a double jolt from those positions would do a pretty good job of giving him a frontal lobotomy and probably even more serious brain damage. Jenna answered all Riddick's questions by introducing the man.
"First, this is the cause of all our problems; Midas McGhee, the owner of this station."
Damn, when Jenna took hostages, she didn't fool around. Again, Riddick felt that disturbing swell of pride. Then he did a stupid thing. He let personal shit interfere with the mission. As his eyes met Jenna's he let her see that emotion. The look of absolute joy mixed with open lust that he received in return sent a jolt of energy straight to his crotch and a twin bolt to the center of his chest that made his breath catch in his throat. Fuck. He wanted her. Against a wall. Now.
Because of his focus of attention on Jenna, Riddick almost missed the slight movement at the intersection behind her. It made his disrupter shot late. He didn't get the shooter, only managed to make him duck and throw his aim off. The laser beam caught Jeeter high on the shoulder closest to their hostage and the little man dropped like a rock. His hold on McGhee's arm took the man and Jenna down with him.
A lucky break, since a wave of un-aimed shots were thrown around the corner at chest height. Shit! There was more than one shooter and, whoever they were, from the aim of the first shot and the wild spray of the rest it was obvious that they weren't just shooting at the crew of the Hole. They were trying to kill McGhee as well!
Speaking of which, the station owner had broken free of Jeeter's death grip as well as Jenna's and was crawling quickly toward a door in the wall of the corridor. Riddick joined Syrus, Rafferty and Casmir throwing down cover fire to cut down the number of laser beams being thrown at them but kept his eyes on the hostage, intending to stun him as soon as he palmed the door open to give them an escape route.
That didn't happen. As soon as McGhee hit the palm plate, he took Riddick by surprise by reversing direction and crawling back to help Jenna drag Jeeter to safety. There was also another complication. Laser fire was now coming from behind them as well as from the front.
Though this new fire seemed to be aimed at the original shooters rather than the crew of the Hole, you could get killed by either side in a crossfire situation. Riddick motioned the rest to follow McGhee and Jenna as he covered their retreat and was the last man through the door, barely avoiding friendly fire gone wild, or maybe well aimed, as McGhee palmed the door closed behind him.
Riddick was pleased to see that his team were in control of themselves and taking care of business. Now when had that long forgotten response come back to him? Rafferty and Casmir were on guard with disrupter rifles aimed at the now closed door. Casmir had obviously taken Syrus'. What Riddick had taken for an extra ammo pack was instead a compact miracle of miniaturized medical technology and Syrus was kneeling beside Jeeter applying hypos and topical medical treatment to the ravaged piece of meat that had been the little thief's shoulder.
The laser had eliminated any bleeding but the whole area was boiled and bubbled like melted slag and some charred bone was showing. It also looked like the energy had penetrated deep enough to damage lungs, maybe even heart. Riddick couldn't tell if the little man was unconscious or in deep shock, only that he was still alive. Not much mercy in that when or if he woke up. Any thoughts Riddick might have had about revenge for bringing Jenna into this situation disappeared. Jeeter was paying for his mistake in spades.
His attention turned to Jenna. She had a lethal stunner, also probably Syrus', pointed at McGhee and was quietly questioning him.
"That first shot was aimed at you, Midas, and now, from the sound of it, there's a small war out there. What the hell is going on?"
Riddick could finally see what had made this small, seemingly mild man the power that he had become. McGhee didn't blink an eye at the obviously deadly weapon aimed at him and the chaos beyond the closed door. Though Riddick could sense the anger that was boiling within the man, there was no outward sign of it.
"Nothing for you to worry about, sweet Lilly, just a little internal politics. It should be settled quite quickly and we can get on with our business. And, may I compliment you on the efficiency of your crew. Good help is so hard to find."
In contrast to McGhee's cool, Jenna had no problem with letting her anger show.
"That answer doesn't satisfy me. One of my 'efficient crew' is lying here maybe dying from a shot that was meant for you, you son of a bitch! I want better answers! And I want them now! Does this have something to do with that cryptic message of yours about someone named Veller?"
"Probably." McGhee didn't look too happy with Jenna's quick understanding of the situation. "May I suggest that you stick to our business rather than involve yourself in this matter. You would find Veller a great deal less pleasant to deal with than me. He is a rather brutal and stupid man with delusions of abilities that he doesn't possess."
More to give Jenna time to control her anger than anything else, Riddick chuckled evilly, "Better the devil we know?"
McGhee gave him an appraising look and seemed to see beyond the physical. "Exactly, Mr. … ?"
"'First' will do. How strong is that door?"
"Not very. However, my men should be here for us shortly."
As if in answer to this expectation, a fist began banging on the door.
"Boss, it's Hendricks. We've got it under control but we need to get you some place safer. Boss?"
McGhee's eyes shot back and forth between Jenna and Riddick as if unsure who would make the decision concerning this request. Riddick kept silent and saw appreciation in Jenna's eyes as she turned to him.
"Since you had to come in for me, it's your call."
Damn! That admission was going to make it almost impossible for him to chew her out royally for this stupid adventure! Of course, that didn't mean that he wasn't going to try as soon as they were alone. Well, try it if Jeeter lived. Otherwise, he had the feeling that he would be too busy keeping Jenna from disintegrating the station and then herself, at least mentally.
"I'd say we find out what his man has to say about the situation and then decide what we're going to do. But I'd rather just go on the way we are and get our asses off of this junk heap. Maybe McGhee will play nice just to get rid of us and get back to his own problems."
McGhee agreed quickly with a stipulation. "As long as the plan no longer includes taking me off of my station, I will, as you say, play nice."
At a nod from Jenna, Riddick palmed the door, snagged Hendricks, dragged him inside, palmed the door shut and disarmed him; all before the man even knew what was happening. Looking impressed, McGhee immediately prevented his man from making any mistakes by demanding a report on the situation from him.
"It's mostly Veller and his men but he's got the gypsies and a few others with him. I told you we were letting too much space trash hang around, Boss."
The easy way McGhee took this mild censure from Hendricks told Riddick that their association was probably a long one and based on something more than a paycheck.
"Next time I'll listen. Now what are the logistics?"
"We got it under control now top side. We caught on to what they were up to before they got too far. But digging them out of the lower levels is going to be a bitch. If it were just Veller, I'd depressurize the levels but those gypsies got a lot of women and kids. Our men wouldn't like the idea of not being able to get themselves some ready made families."
Riddick saw Jenna flinch at this and leaned in close to whisper to her.
"It's the kids more than the women and they'll probably treat them better than their own do. It's different out here, not like planet-side. Kids are in short supply. They're gold to deep-spacers. Trained up right they're a lot more trustworthy than any other kind of recruit."
Riddick could see the wheels turning behind Jenna's eyes and suddenly realized just how much he might have told her about himself in explaining Hendricks' comment. But, the way she smiled at him kept him from being angry about it. He turned his attention back to the problem at hand.
"So how do we handle this? The new ship first or the BC?"
Syrus answered first.
"The BC. I need to get Jeeter into the healing chamber if he's going to have a chance. It can hold him in stasis until I can get him back to the Hole for surgery and regeneration."
Then Jenna settled it.
"Yes, Jeeter to the BC first. Then Wiggler's bay. We need to load the yacht aboard the BC since she can't find the Hole on her own yet."
Then Hendricks chimed in.
"Boss. Wiggler's bay is behind Veller's backside. It would help if we could get four or five squads in that position before we started the clean up."
To Riddick's dismay, Jenna agreed with the proposition to transport McGhee's men. He was slightly mollified when she demanded that the station owner accompany them rather than sneaking off to some safe hole. That let him see her reasons. Transporting McGhee's men was her way of getting revenge on the other side for Jeeter but she was going to make sure that McGhee risked his own neck in the process.
Hendricks objected but McGhee agreed immediately and seemed a little pissed at his security chief's mother-hening. In fact, the station owner seemed to be positively gleeful at having a good excuse to join in the battle personally. From the competent way he armed himself on their way to the BC, Riddick got the idea that the man had done a lot of his own dirty work on the way to the top and it seemed that he missed it.
The trip to the BC was an easy one though Riddick was nervous being surrounded by squads of McGhee's men. Still, it was those men who cleared the resistance at Wiggler's bay and protected the crew of the Hole until they could get the new yacht loaded and clear the station. Riddick had to give more credit to McGhee as he proved an able commander, not allowing his squad leaders to make the same mistakes that the idiot in the corridor on C level had made.
In the end, Riddick was grateful for the help as it allowed him to handle everything on his end of things. While he knew that Jenna would have been able and willing to take back command, it felt right to be able to let her give in to her softer side and concentrate on the wounded Jeeter. It was a side of her that he hadn't gotten to see enough of yet.
After Syrus had overseen Jeeter's transfer to a stretcher, carried by two of McGhee's men, Jenna had stayed plastered to the little man's side, holding his good hand, checking his vital signs and murmuring constantly in his ear as they rushed him to the BC and into the healing chamber. She didn't leave his side until the BC was safely back home in the bay of the Hole and Syrus and Nagia rushed Jeeter, healing chamber and all, out of the bay toward Syrus' surgery.
The second they were out the door of the bay, Jenna morphed back into the Captain of the Hole, recruiting Sasha and Mira to handle settling the children and Casmir; who, once his mission had been explained, had been given strict orders by Jenna not to approach Mira about it until she could be present. David and Jeff immediately followed Jenna's and then Sasha's orders, like good little puppy dogs, to help with the children.
Mr. Sen wasn't so easy. He had quickly understood that the ships safety took precedent over any explanation to him. However, he wasn't so understanding and lost a lot of his pleasant Buddha smile at Riddick's insistence that Rafferty remain on the bridge with Riddick and Jenna rather than leaving with him. It had slipped even farther when Jenna backed Riddick with no discussion and all but ordered Sen off of the bridge.
What surprised Riddick was that Rafferty backed him as well giving the excuse that he was needed on the bridge to replace Jeeter until they were safely away from the station. Sen left but Riddick could tell by the set of his jaw that he wouldn't be sitting still about it. Riddick quickly set the security system for a close watch on the man.
But the bridge didn't settle down until a panicked Jack was released from duty to go to Jeeter's side. Riddick had to admit to himself that that situation was probably a done deal if the little shit lived and, with a resigned shrug, turned his whole attention on getting the Hole away from the station while Jenna programmed in the plot for the jump that would take them back to new Mecca. He didn't notice the hateful look that Ben threw at Jack as she rushed away.
It wasn't long before Jenna transferred the location of the gate they were going to use to Riddick's nav console but they were in a holding pattern until they got the go ahead from Syrus. It wasn't just a matter of his finishing the surgery on Jeeter and preparing the hyper meds for everyone. They might not be able to make the jump for quite a while after that since it depended on Jeeter's condition and it improving until he could take the hyper meds safely.
As soon as the Hole was well away from the station, set into a good position to approach the gate correctly and all outer security systems were working at optimal, Riddick relaxed, waiting for Jenna to finish entering the hyper plot.
This pause was interrupted briefly by a call from McGhee. He reassured them that he was now well in control of his station once more and that, in return for their aid, his station would always be open to them in the greatest of safety. He seemed rather disappointed that he was not allowed to speak to 'sweet Lilly' personally.
For his part, Riddick was rather disappointed that the man was still walking and talking. He was considering what a cold day in hell it would be before he let that smarmy little shit anywhere near Jenna again when she finally locked down the hyper nav and looked up at him. Getting straight to business, he threw a nod toward Rafferty.
"Captain, you should know that part of this merc's deal with Sen was to get rid of me on New Mecca."
The bomb dropped, Riddick relaxed back to watch the fun.
