Shank grimaced. “Only if we want to make my mother responsible for everything we do. If we’re part of theMitakuye Oyasin, then every person on that ship will be guilty of whatever crime we commit. That’s how it works with the bats.”
“Let’s avoid that,” Ben said. “I would rather not be lumped in with your mother. She’s an admirable woman, but I don’t plan to put myself under her authority. More than that, she’ll kill us slowly if we get her ship targeted for retribution.”
“I second that,” Becca said.
“So we tell them that this is the extent of our family,” Shank said. “They track the families well enough to recognize my DNA, and I’ll tell them I’m starting a new branch of the family.”
“And we’re your...what? Siblings?” Ben gave Shank an amused look. He was the right shape to be a Lacroix, tall with broad shoulders; however, his dark blond hair and green eyes weren’t close. Becca was almost the antithesis of the Lacroixs with blue eyes and nearly white-blonde hair. With brown hair and eyes, Allie came closer, but she had a small upturned nose that set her apart from any of Shank’s cousins, and Copta was wispy and fine-featured with deep hazel eyes, even if her darker skin and black hair made her the closest of them all to looking Lakota.
“That’s not going to convince anyone, much less bats who can scan DNA. No, we tell them the truth. We’re two couples.” Shank looked around the room. “I’m not completely sure, but I think that will satisfy a bat sense of familial obligation. They may board, or even take us hostage to ransom back, but they won’t hurt us if they believe we’re a family ship and we don’t fire on them first.”
“So...we’re a go?” Allie asked. Everyone stared at Allie’s proposed route deep into bat territory.
“We’re a go,” Ben finally said.
“Yep,” Shank agreed.
Ben leaned against the holoprojector. “We have to talk about this SC thing.”
“I was hoping to ignore our guest,” Allie said. Their little ship had a brig, so she was pretty confident she could even ignore him without endangering anyone.
“This is the Security Central,” Ben said, which was unnecessary. They all knew who they had shoved in a cell. “Schemes are their bread and butter. Maybe they support us. Maybe they want to arrest us the second we get near the Eclipse mining base. Maybe they’re going to wait until we rescue Zeke and Jacqs, and then they’re going to arrest us. That would allow them to get those two back without having to raid a bat planet. Politically, that might be the best of both worlds.”
“But all those end with us in custody,” Copta pointed out.
Ben looked at her and sighed. “Or blackmailed to do something we truly don’t want to do. SC favors don’t come for free.”
“Then we all pay it,” Shank said firmly.
Ben opened his mouth.
“No,” Shank said, cutting him off. “We all knew the dangers going in, and they haven’t changed. We have our plan. Now we carry it out. Copta, get the supplies settled. Becca, take a run through the tech systems. You’re the closest thing we have to a technician if we need repairs.”
“I’ll check the weapons,” Ben offered before Shank could give him any orders. It was funny. Ben was a sergeant with a hell of a lot of experience, and Shank was a corporal who had graduated from gunner school less than a year ago, but Allie could see that Shank had the power here.
The others filed out of the room, and Shank turned to look at her. Suddenly, he was hers. He moved closer and rested a hand against her hip. That was all. He didn’t push or ask or even move. He studied her.
“Are you okay with this?” Allie asked. She put her own hand on top of his, holding it there.
“Terrified,” Shank admitted. “With the SC involved, I don’t know what’s going to happen.”
Allie laughed. “You are the only person I know who is more afraid of SC than bats.”
“I have more experience with bats,” Shank said. He reached up and ran his fingers through her hair. “How are you doing?”
That was a complicated question. Allie turned toward the table, and Shank let his hand fall away from her. “I’m just now starting to realize I’m never going to see my father again,” Allie said. She grieved for that, but she had known that was a possibility ever since she showed up for induction into the military. The difference was that now she had made the choice to give up that life.
Shank moved to a spot behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I’m sorry,” he said, his warmth soaking into her back.
“I wouldn’t change anything, and my father would want me to make the right choice, but...”
Shank waited a long time before asking, “What?”
Looking over her shoulder, Allie studied Shank’s dark eyes. “SC knows who we are. They have profiles on us. We have an SC hostage in our brig.”
He gave her a wry smile. “Yeah, that’s a little creepy. But Allie, the trick to living in space is you can’t think about all the might haves or could bes. You have to go with what you have, and just keep moving forward.”
Allie wasn’t so sure about that. Anpaytoo seemed like a woman who spent a considerable amount of time worrying about possibilities.
