“And have them walk in while we’re naked?” Shank pulled away. “No, thank you. Caj is like an uncle. Besides, as much as he likes a practical joke, he probably has a vid recorder with him just so he can catch a picture of my naked ass and send it to all my cousins. He’s evil that way.”
“He’s Wichiyena, isn’t he?” she guessed.
Shank stood, but he leaned over to offer her a chaste kiss on the forehead. “He’s Brule. My mother makes fun of them. She says they’ve married so many whites that the blood is thin, and they don’t even look like the People anymore. However, they’re the first people she calls when theMitakuye Oyasinis in trouble. Brule and Wichiyena have at least a dozen family links, including my mother’s younger sister who married one of Vi’s cousins. If you go back six or seven generations, you have a lot of common relatives, and fifteen generations ago, theLincolnwas founded with crew from theLittle Waters, and theLittle Waterswas built on crew from theMitakuye Oyasinback when this part of space was uninhabited.
“So we’re all related if you know the lineages well enough. That’s true of my mother’s ship more than most Lakota ships. Originally Wichiyena was the name of our language, not even one of our tribes. However, those who first chose to go into space used the name as a way of identifying themselves. So Wichiyena have members of all the clans since the young men and women of all the subtribes joined together in the early ships.”
Allie tried to process the idea that Shank knew all that. Compared to him, she had grown up in a town that seemed so empty and devoid of roots or history. Her town tracked its history in how many of the young people got agriscience degrees and how many times the football team or the bike polo teams went to regional championships.
“Let’s see what they want,” Shank said as he held out a hand for her. She took it and let him pull her up.
Chapter Twelve
Caj stood by the opendoor and let Shank read the data pad. “Shank?”
When Shank looked up, Allie’s stomach dropped. Something was really wrong. She stepped closer to him. “Shank?”
“Let’s get the others,” he said.
Allie sucked in a sharp breath. This was so not good.
“I’ll get them,” Caj said.
Shank nodded. The second Caj walked out of the cabin, Allie went to Shank’s side, wrapping her arm around his and looking at the data pad. They were Command orders for a number of ships to be stopped and searched at any station, and theLincolnwas the second ship on the list. All Command personnel were ordered to stop them and hunt for deserters, and Command gave permission to disable ships attempting to run.
Disable.
That was such a nice euphemism, but as a navigator, Allie knew exactly what happened when you discharged energy weapons into active hyperdrive engines as a ship tried to run. It blew up. Spectacularly. This was a kill order for anyone who didn’t surrender.
She looked up at Shank’s face. His face was as grim as she had ever seen it. “We can’t let them get killed,” Allie said. She hadn’t seen children on theLincoln, but from the way Shank talked about family ships, she knew they had to be somewhere. He was right about one thing—pirates with kids on board were never going to take the risks that a group of mercenaries would. Even now, Allie could feel the itch to get the hell off this ship before she put these people in any more danger, and she didn’t even particularly like Caj and Vi. If she had family to protect, she’d think twice before doing anything stupid enough to catch Command’s attention.
Ben appeared at the door, Caj at his elbow, but the cuffs hadn’t made a reappearance. “Sit rep?” Ben asked the second he crossed the threshold.
“What?” Becca followed him, her fingers threaded with Copta’s.
“Situation report,” Ben said in a gentler tone of voice. Becca went to his side and leaned into him. “Something changed.”
