Chapter 9 - Rescue

They sat facing one another over cereal and drinks, still dressed in their bathrobes. Taura had taken their filthy clothes and put them in some kind of futuristic washing machine, which was now whumping softly in the background.

Tara had finished eating some time ago, and now sat watching in silent fascination as Taura shovelled down plateful after plateful of cereal, until she swallowed her last spoonful, lifted her mug, and sat back with a sigh.

"So, can you tell me about the mess you've got yourself into?" said Tara.

Taura straightened and nodded, her expression becoming serious. "Okay, I have to go back a bit," she said, "to when the Fleet doctor found out about, about how I was dying. He contacted Miles, who got me a place at some experimental gene therapy clinic on Beta that's really cutting edge and famous." She fell silent, and looked at her plate.

"That sounds good," said Tara, encouragingly.

But Taura shook her head. "No, I didn't want it." Her face was stern, and distant. "Spending the last of my time in hospital, on a drip - seemed like a waste. But my captain didn't see it that way - he's scared of Miles of course. So he made it an order for me to go. So, so I deserted. And then of course I couldn't use my credit chip because they'd trace me." Her eyes flickered up for a moment. "I got currency chits out, she said defensively, "before I went. But everything is so expensive. I didn't realise. And the Dendarii - and the Barrayarans probably - have been chasing me all the way to Bathory."

Tara held up a hand. This was the second time Taura had mentioned Miles, who apparently made all things happen. Who was this man, who seemed to be pulling all the strings that were dragging her and Taura left and right? "Miles is the guy who isn't scared of you crushing him, or biting him, right?" she said. "I'm guessing from that you were... close at one time."

Taura bit her lip. "He's married now," she said, "to someone else." Her impressive jaw jutted. "And I don't want to see him," she said firmly. "He'll only persuade me to do whatever he wants me to do, which is go to Beta, and I won't."

Tara blinked. That didn't exactly make sense. Okay, back a step. "And what have the Barrayarans got to do with things?"

"Barrayar is this planet in the middle of nowhere." Taura shrugged, "They wouldn't matter much, but they've got control of a wormhole. That's where Miles is from - and he was our - I mean the Dendarii's - Admiral. Now he's retired back to Barrayar. I went there once. It's nice. Green."

"But he still kind of runs things? If your captain is still taking his orders?"

Taura sighed. "Everyone does what he says. He's just that sort of man. So, I wound up on Chrysoprase with no money, just ahead of the Triumph - and first this man wants me to whore for him, then the next man, he wanted me to kill his wife - for a thousand Betan dollars would you believe? And then I met Gul Sanford, who said he was a merchant looking for a bodyguard as far as Bathory, which was the right direction for me, so I said yes - but then it turned out he was a smuggler, which I should have thought of, since this was Chrysoprase after all." She was silent for a minute. "I don't do very well out on my own," she said sadly.

Tara wondered what had happened to the first two men. Maybe Taura just cracked their heads on a convenient nearby wall? "So, there you were working for the smuggler..."

Taura nodded, "And we arrived on Bathory, and met up with his business contacts, and I was just thinking they seemed awfully familiar, when all four of them turned around and hit me with their stunners, turned on high, while Royston just stood there and watched, grinning. When I came round we were in orbit, and I was in their filthy so-called medlab getting shot full of something else, and some grinning sadist pretending to be a doctor told me the next time I was going to wake up was at an illegal auction on some asteroid in the outer quadrant." She shook her head. "The Pelete are very bad people, Tara. Space scum. Pirates, slavers, gene traders. I'm glad we blew up their ship."

Tara shifted uncomfortably. She wasn't at all sure she was glad. But she was glad that Taura hadn't been killed, or sold somewhere. "Well, I'm glad we got out of there, and made it here safely."

Taura's long lips quirked "It's a good thing they didn't know how fast my metabolism is running right now. Or that I was going to meet a witch who can cut through reinforced doors by thinking about it. We gave them quite a surprise."

Tara shivered, remembering, "The door thing surprised me too. But you were awake within five minutes of them dumping you in that cell with me. "

"Yeah," Taura looked at her claws for a moment. "A silver lining for every cloud, I suppose."

Tara took a large hot hand in hers.

The door of the apartment hissed open. Taura rose to her feet impossibly fast, dragging Tara with her, and then stopped. Five soldiers in grey and white uniforms came through the door, stunners in hand. Two of them stepped forward and aimed their stunners, the second two closed the door neatly and stood either side of it. The fifth figure, smaller and lighter than the rest, walked into the room.

"Hi, Sergeant Taura!" she said cheerfully. "You've been having a lively time, I hear. Hands on the table, where I can see them, please." She gestured with her stunner, and Taura sank back down into her chair again, and placed her hands on the table's flat surface. Tara mimicked her, heart racing in her throat. Welcome to your new life, Tara - never a dull moment. Just like the last one...

The soldier stepped forward, pushing back her hood. Her hair was dark, her face beautiful. Taura's hand twitched towards an abortive salute. "Admiral Quinn!"

"In person," said Quinn affably. "You're being detained for going absent without leave. Any questions?"

Taura's face, after its first expression of shock, had now settled to a quiet wariness. "I'm not going to Beta, Sir."

"No," agreed Quinn, her affability unaffected. "You are coming back to the Triumph, under military escort. Which may prevent you getting your big dumb head shot off. Possibly. There seem to be a bunch of guys running around here, real keen to poach them some werewolf."

Taura's jaw stuck out. "I'm not scared of them."

Quinn tilted her head, "Fancy going out in a blaze of glory, huh? Butch and Sundance stuff? Speaking of which..." She gestured with her gun towards Tara, "...where did you pick up Sundance here? And is she up for this glorious suicide idea?"

Tara cleared her throat, "It's complicated..."

A beep sounded, and the soldier on Quinn's left put a hand to his ear, listening to a message. He looked up. "Time to leave, sir," he said urgently.

Quinn turned back to Taura. "Going to disobey a direct order, sergeant? Because if so I'm going to stun you right now."

Tara looked across at the four soldiers by the door. Their faces were expressionless. Four of them - they might just be able to carry an unconscious Taura out of here and down a flight of stairs, but she bet they weren't looking forward to the idea. Apparently it wasn't going to be an issue, though. Taura had hunched defensively over her cereal bowl, staring down at her huge clawed hands.

"No, sir," she said in a small voice.

"Then let's go." Quinn gestured with her stunner.

Tara looked across at Quinn, who stood at a kind of easy attention, bouncing a little on her toes. "Our clothes are in the washing thing," she said, feeling like an idiot even as she said it.

"Well," said Quinn, "I suppose if you're lucky they might be dry before the police arrive to take you for a ride."

Taura looked up sharply, "Tara comes with me."

Quinn frowned, "You are not in a position to dict..."

Taura surged to her feet, hands clenched - even the fluffy bathrobe failing to make her less than terrifying. Five stunners trained on her nervously. "Tara comes with me," she said again, emphasising each word.

There was a long tense silence, then suddenly Quinn grinned, "Shouldn't that be, Tara comes with me, Sir?" She looked at Tara, frozen in her seat, and Taura looming in front of her, and shrugged. "Okay, we'll bring along a passenger - but we have to move now!"

Tara sat squashed uncomfortably in what seemed to be the luggage section at the back of a shuttle as it powered away from the city centre towards the shuttleport. The soldiers sat ahead of them in two rows of seats, while Quinn regarded them from the gangway. Tara was pressed up against Taura's side from knee to shoulder. At some point Taura had taken her hand again, and now it lay swallowed in a huge hot paw. She adjusted the skirt of her bathrobe nervously with the other hand. One of these days I am actually going to get some underwear. Quinn came down the aisle of the shuttle, and sat opposite them, a headset dangling on her shoulders.

"Time for a little talk," she said pleasantly.

Taura shifted, and Tara could feel her whole body quivering with tension. For herself, being found by the friendliest of all the players in this game seemed like a big relief. But it couldn't be that way for Taura. These were the people she had run away from originally.

Quinn pointed a stern finger at Taura. "You," she said, "have caused a whole heap of trouble."

"You didn't have to come after me," said Taura quietly.

"Ahem," said Quinn, "I beg to differ there. Had we not come after you, we - I - would have had to explain that to Miles. Which would have been... difficult, to say the least."

"I don't want to go to Beta," said Taura again. Her hand tightened on Tara's.

"No, I've got the message, there," said Quinn. She leaned back, her arms folded. "I must admit I assumed you were just going off somewhere to open a vein or something, but instead you apparently went off looking for a job minding a gun runner."

Taura stiffened, offended. "I had a plan," she said. "I just didn't realise how expensive everything is, so I needed a job for a week or two. And I didn't know what he was doing. He said it was medical equipment. And I still would have got there," she said broodingly, "if those crims hadn't got in the way."

"Where would you have gone?" said Quinn gently.

Taura sent a little glance Tara's way. "I was going to Margulis Station," she said defensively, "to meditate, and commune with my spirit guide, and make offerings to my ancestors."

Quinn looked concerned, "Well, that's... kind of appropriate - but surely you didn't want to die in some pisshole of a space station, all by yourself - without your friends?"

"I didn't want to go to Beta," said Taura. "Miles would have made me. I know he would. Because he thought it was best."

Some sort of understanding passed between the two women. "Maybe," said Quinn with a sigh, "he is very inclined to think he knows best, it's true. And very often he's right, of course. But I think you could have fought your corner."

"No!"

Taura banged her fist on knee in frustration, "Don't you see? I'm dying, I'm sick. He'd have persuaded me, or you'd have persuaded me, or someone... because in the end I'd have been too tired to keep saying no. And I wanted to go to Margulis Station - and, and meet my ancestors. And that's what I'm going to do, unless you lock me up or hand me over to the Bathorians. I'm going to Margulis station with Tara."

There was pause. Tara looked doubtfully at Quinn, trying to gauge her response to Taura's words. The Admiral's face was a miracle of harmonious planes and angles, her skin flawless, her eyes dark and liquid, and everything little thing in perfect proportion. The effect was stunning, but in repose her beauty was a mask that made her face largely unreadable.

"Well now," said Quinn, "you haven't yet explained who Tara is." Tara felt Quinn's gaze settle on her, coolly assessing. She shuffled back in her seat. You knew this was coming, eventually.

"She seems be your girlfriend," said Quinn, as the silence continued.

"No!" said Taura and Tara together.

Quinn raised an eyebrow, and looked at their clasped hands. "No?"

Tara dropped Taura's hand and cleared her throat, self consciously. She drew a deep breath, "Like, I said, it's rather difficult to explain," she began.

"You don't have to explain anything," interrupted Taura, scowling at Quinn.

Quinn shook her head. "Actually, "you do have to explain - everything. The local authorities here have got an exploded ship in their local space, cluttering up the space lanes and bumping into their satellites, and scans indicate it was carrying a cargo of explosive ordnance, which presents them with a nasty little contamination problem; plus they've got two dead Pelete crew in their station, and another six live ones kicking up a fuss in their jail. And they know you've got something to do with it."

"You need to tell them about Sanford," Tara said urgently, "He betrayed Taura."

"Yeah," Taura's lips curved back into a snarl. "He needs catching, and then he needs to have his head twisted right off his shoulders. And I'm volunteering."

"Oh, I will." Quinn nodded. "But what I do with you two is still a very open question." She looked at Taura. "Especially you."

Tara looked at her doubtfully. That didn't sound good. She squeezed Taura's hand convulsively and felt an answering squeeze. Something inside was closing down. Too many shocks, too many new things, too little sleep and food. She knew she had to try and deal with this new thing too, but right now she really didn't want to. She shifted in the cramped space, and leaned into Taura's neck, closing her eyes. There, that feels nice.

She heard Quinn sigh. "I am going to need answers from you, and soon, blondie. Closing your eyes and snuggling up to your not-girlfriend isn't going to cut it."

There was a low rumbling growl from Taura, sounding amazingly loud against Tara's ear. She opened an eye and saw Quinn twitch back slightly. Really, thought Tara blearily, Quinn looked like a cover girl, not a soldier. But the way Quinn held herself, the authority in her voice, and above all, her rank, told a different story.

"Okay - I'll wait," said Quinn levelly, "but not for long. And sergeant? Growling at a superior officer is insubordination. Don't do it again." She gave a big sigh, and leant her head back, cricking her neck from side to side. "I am going to need a lot more answers, and soon. For now we have to get off this dirtball without getting a laser cannon up our tailpipe, and when we get to the ship you need med care, and I need a nap. After that, it's question time."