“Definitely not,” Allie said.
“Then you’re going to have to bluff your way through,” Caj said. “Our nav tech has charted a hot drop, and theMitakuye Oyasinis coming in.”
“Crap,” Shank whispered.
“Okay, explain that in terms I might understand,” Allie said. Yeah, part of her really wanted to stick her head in the ground and pray this all went away. However, since that wasn’t likely, she had to deal with what life threw her way. Right now that included “hot drops” apparently.
Shank came over and sat next to her, but he didn’t take her hand away from Copta. He just rested his palm on her thigh. “TheMitakuye Oyasinis going to come in on a hyperspace thread only miles from theLincoln. We’re going to take a slip, pull away from theLincoln, and merge with theMitakuye Oyasinwithout ever dropping into normal space.”
The mathematical audacity of it made Allie’s brain whiteout for a moment. Threads mere miles apart, active at the same time. Merging threads. This should scientifically lead to a massive explosion as all three ships collided and attempted to fuse their atoms into one dense ball of inorganic material.
“We don’t do it often, but we have done this more than once,” Shank reassured her.
“That is not a confident expression,” Ben said. “When nav techs look that green, I start to worry a little. How sure are you about this hot drop?”
“You’re a Nicve marine. You’re supposed to be ready for anything,” Shank said. His tone sounded like he was teasing, but Allie was far too freaked out for any joke. This was not humorous under any circumstance.
“I am,” Ben said quietly, “but I would rather turn myself in and take the blame for unauthorized leave than put Becca and Copta in danger. If I say I took them, Command won’t be able to get me to say any different.”
“Ben, no,” Becca said in a horrified tone.
Allie tried to pull herself together. “I agree. That plan sucks. If we can jump over to theMitakuye Oyasinwithout Command knowing, they will have no way to track us. By the time they trace every ship that was on that crappy little station when we disappeared, they’ll run out of leads and lose interest.”
“But they won’t,” Ben said.
Everyone looked to him. “They would only be coming after us this hard if we posed a threat to them. Otherwise, we’re just five old soldiers they’re not going to miss much.”
Allie closed her eyes. “They know we’re going after Zeke and Jacqs.”
“No,” Ben said. “They know Zeke and Jacqs are still alive. If not, there would be no reason for us to take them or for the bats to care about whether or not they disappeared.”
Something tight around Allie’s chest loosened. She hadn’t realized it up until now, but she had honestly thought they were on a quest to recover their friends’ bodies. And she would have done this for no other reason than to give the commander and Jacqs a decent burial on safe ground. However, now everything changed. Now she knew they were on a rescue mission.
“Well, if the nav tech around here thinks we can split a hyperspace bubble, I think I need to go learn some new math. Caj?” She looked up at him.
He nodded. “I’ll introduce you to Wara, and then we’ll get you to your slip.”
