“This plan. It was my son’s, wasn’t it?” Anpaytoo suddenly sounded weary rather than angry, which was a nice change.
Allie liked to think it meant there was less chance of her spacing them. “Yes.”
She sighed. “That is proof that he needs someone to stop him. Men—they raid and fight and take risks, and it is up to us women to bring a calmer perspective before they lead the family to their deaths.” She gave Allie this disappointed look that made it pretty damn clear she blamed Allie for letting the crew follow Shank’s plan.
“Thank you for that bit of gender-based stereotyping. Men are perfectly capable of coming up with good plans that don’t involve dying.”
“Really? If you succeed, what will you do? Even family ships must sometimes stop at docks, and there you will be vulnerable—unless you would lock yourselves away in a cabin for the next forty years. What is the exit strategy? How will you protect the others? Where will you go?”
Allie frowned. She really didn’t want to think about those questions because it just emphasized the number of answers she didn’t have. “We didn’t know that everyone was going to guess where we were going.”
“Plans are like that. One must have contingencies. Backup plans. Exit strategies and multiple options for the carrying out of those exit strategies. So tell me, what will you do now? If you are the woman who would lead my son, show me a way out of this.”
Allie didn’t know the answer, but from the expression on Anpaytoo’s face, the woman didn’t want to hear that. “Zeke and Jacqs could go to the press,” Allie said, and she tried to think through how that would work. “They could claim they found a ship on-planet and escaped themselves. Once they’re free and getting treated like heroes, there’s no more reason to come after us.”
Anpaytoo took a deep breath. The woman seemed to be holding her temper by a thread. “You assume the only reason to arrest someone is to prevent an act. I would say it is more likely to be revenge for having caused that action.”
“Then we go to an out-of-the-way planet.”
“Most planets are jealously guarding immigration ranks. They do not want refugees.”
Allie threw her hands up. “Fine, what would you suggest?”
“That you had avoided starting on this course to begin with,” she snapped back. She closed her eyes and used long fingers to massage the bridge of her nose.
“Right, so we would all be back at theCandiru?” Allie asked.
Anpaytoo looked at her suspiciously. “It is not ideal, but that would be better.”
“Only it wouldn’t. We had orders that theCandiruwas going to be decommissioned. I might have gotten to go home, and maybe Copta. Maybe. The others would have been sent to guard refugee camps.” Allie leaned close. “Shank would have been ordered to sit in a gunner chair and open fire on unarmed civilians if they tried to storm the food supplies. How well do you think that would have worked?”
Anpaytoo pressed her lips together in an unhappy line. “He would not have done that,” she eventually said.
“Then he would have been court-martialed the first time they had a food riot. We gave up too many planets, and there are going to be too damn many refugees to avoid riots. How much sympathy do you think Command is going to have for a soldier who won’t protect his post, even if that means protecting it from hungry people?”
Anpaytoo slumped in her chair. “They are cold bastards.”
“I agree. But that’s what Shank faced back there, so don’t tell me that would have been a better outcome.”
“You have put yourself in a position where I don’t see a good exit strategy.”
“You know, I don’t either,” Allie admitted. She couldn’t bluff her way out of that truth. “Luckily enough, Zeke is the planner in our group. If we can get to him and get him out, I am more than willing to let him take over all the plotting and scheming.”
“A man?” The dismissive laugh made Allie want to strangle the woman.
“Testosterone doesn’t actually poison them. Yes, a man. He’s a good man.”
“So is my Shank, but his plans involve more risk than sane people should take.”
“And that’s why Shank doesn’t get to plan any more great escapes, but that’s a Shank thing, not a male thing.” Allie sighed before adding, “I didn’t actually realize how bad this plan was until we were halfway through it.”
“Which does not speak well of your own abilities.”
Allie really wished she could argue that point. “That speaks to how panicked I was for my friends,” she said.
A frown darted across Anpaytoo’s face, and Allie got the feeling she’d surprised the woman. If she thought Allie only cared about Shank or only cared about sex with Shank, she was wrong.
“These people are my family,” Allie said. “I’ve slept with Becca and held her in my arms, so I’ve seen how tender her soul is, and then I’m supposed to stand back while someone orders her to kill civilians? And say what you want about Shank and his stupid willingness to do dangerous things, but he loves people more than anyone should. Becca would open fire on civilians and die a little every time. Shank would kill himself first.”
