Ethan could see the Caruson soldier had assumed there was a strategy at play, but he personally thought the chances were fifty fifty.
It didn’t escape his notice that Velda had taken the lead again on the responses, and the Caruso had listened to her carefully.
So far, they almost seemed more hostile to Sylvester and his crew than to him and Velda.
“Let’s go see this tech for ourselves,” the soldier said.
The walk to the bay was more like a congenial stroll than them being herded along as prisoners.
Velda again, he was sure.
They arrived to find about ten Cores guards climbing in and out of the crushed ship, and looking at it from the outside, Ethan wondered how they had managed to get out of it alive.
He was guessing the sight of the damage had inspired Linao’s bitterness at her father’s solution to stopping the runner.Because she was right. She—and they—were lucky to still be breathing.
He still didn’t know how they’d crushed the ship like that. Four dead Caruso lay beside the runner, and two others were stashed to the side, faces uncovered although they were very still. Could they still be alive?
Ethan remembered the empty med bay, and Linao’s sidelong glance at the Caruso with her when she told them it was not considered a priority to tend to injured soldiers. Was this what she was taking a dig at them over?
“Got it!” One of the Cores guards emerged from the runner with the box in his hands. It was crushed on one side and the lid was slightly buckled.
“How soon until Ritter joins us?” Linao asked.
“A couple of hours.” Sylvester turned from the runner and then stopped short at the sight of him and Velda.
Ethan had been careful to limp along, letting Velda assist him, but he had the feeling Sylvester’s eyes narrowed a little when he saw him.
“What are they doing here?” he demanded.
“We are not yours to command,” the Caruson soldier who’d spoken to Velda said. “You left them in the room. We brought them to you. You are welcome.”
Sylvester blinked, and before he fixed his expression to neutral, Ethan saw the spike of fury on his face at being challenged.
“Thanks, Nirro.” Linao slapped the Caruson’s arm lightly and jerked her head at Ethan and Velda. “Come on, back to your cell.”
Ethan considered the various escape options, but there were too many weapons in the room. Too many people to fight.
He let Velda draw him out of the bay, her hand patting his back as if to console him for the fact that he couldn’t do what he wanted.
And what he wanted was to fight.
He wouldn’t have called himself a violent man before. If he were given the chance, that would change.
27
Velda layin Ethan’s arms, staring up at the frame of the bunk above them.
At least they had gotten some sleep. They had both really needed it.
No one had come for them again since Linao had returned them to their cell, and she was still turning over Sylvester’s potential motivations for summoning them and then essentially abandoning them in her head.
Either he’d let his argument with Linao take precedence or he’d been distracted by the thought of the silver balls being damaged and found that more important.
She decided she was going to ask Linao.
She might refuse to speak, or she might blurt out everything, like she had done to Ritter about the discovery of the ancestral wreck.
She also wondered what had happened to Linao on Fjern. There was some really bad blood there.
