“Didn’t we?” Allie clenched her jaw before she could scream her frustration.
“No,” Shank said firmly. “We had to get those kids to safety, or everything would have been pointless. We did that, and now we’re back for our friends.” He grinned cruelly. “And if anyone gets in our way, we can take care of that too.”
Allie breathed deeply and tried to steady herself. “I’m supposed to be the aggressive one here.”
Shank snorted. “Trust me, you are. Ben is terrified of your temper.”
“Hey, I wouldn’t say terrified. I would call it a healthy respect and desire to stay clear of the blast zone,” Ben said.
Ignoring him, Shank finished, “But that doesn’t mean the rest of us roll over. Now, what about those outliers? Do we have guards?”
Ben slipped into the chair Allie had just abandoned. “They aren’t in good position to guard anything,” he said.
“Then shitty guards?”
“Or people trying to get a little privacy,” Ben said. “Most of the outliers are in pairs.” He looked up at them. “If we need intel, it’d be easier to grab someone who had already separated himself from the group. It will slow any search, and there’s a good chance we can complete the mission before they realize they’ve been compromised.”
“Compromised?” Allie asked. Ben’s plan would be absolutely reasonable if they were attacking an armed garrison of bat soldiers. It seemed a little over the top for a rescue. “So we kidnap a few miners and ask them where we can find Jacqs and the commander? Then what? We apologize for acting like thugs?”
“If we walk in there and try to talk, only to find out that these people have been brainwashed or modified, or that they’re desperate and willing to attack us for the slim hope of grabbing our ship, this rescue could turned into a pitched battle fairly quickly,” Ben warned.
Shank tightened his arms around Allie’s waist. “I didn’t think of that.”
Allie shook her head. It wouldn’t happen like that. It wouldn’t. “There’s no way these people would attack us. We rescued their kids when no one else would.”
Ben sighed, and Becca moved closer, wrapping her hand around his arm and leaning against him. “Allie,” Ben started, “I love that you believe in humanity. I love that you have faith in human nature, but trust me, we can’t afford it. If we had enough firepower to intimidate anyone who didn’t live up to your expectations, I would be the first to let you handle this the straightforward way. However, humans aren’t logical. They’re panicky and selfish and shortsighted. I can promise you that at least some of them are going to want to steal this ship, and nothing will stop them—nothing except either me or Shank gut-shooting them as a warning to the others, and I would like to avoid shooting our own people.”
Allie looked up at Shank to see his take on all this.
“Don’t look at me. If Jacqs or Zeke were here, they could argue with him, but I haven’t seen any action in the field beyond one round with a bunch of battle-mad Nicve marines. I’m inclined to take his advice when it comes to fighting people.”
“You grew up on a family ship. You’ve seen lots of fighting.”
“From the ship,” Shank said firmly. “I shot at other ships; I was not on the boarding parties. Besides, people hear ‘pirates,’ and they tend to surrender and beg. A lot.” Shank shrugged.
“Thank you for that disturbing image,” Allie complained quietly.
“We should find the smallest signal farthest from the rest of the group, and gather a little intel,” Ben said firmly.
Allie sighed. She hated feeling like she was being sneaky—it went against everything she was raised to believe. However, she could see the logic. “Entry is going to create a fairly large vapor trail. If we’re going to do this, we should enter orbit on the other side of the planet and then ride in-atmosphere to the site.”
“That’s going to burn fuel,” Ben said in a concerned voice.
It would, but the ship was built for it. The sleek lines were far more aerodynamic than most spaceships, and they had the fuel to spare. “You worry about us getting shot; I’ll worry about us running out of fuel. We have enough for this.”
“Good enough for me,” Shank said.
Ben took a second, but then he nodded. “Me too. So, let’s get the ship down.”
“I assume we can’t use the nice safe landing pad that’s conveniently placed near the settlement,” Allie said.
“That would make stealth a little difficult,” Ben agreed. He pointed to a spot beyond the landing area where a set of low hills hid a wide, flat area. “This looks like a nice boring spot to land a ship.”
“I’ll get to work on trajectories,” Allie said. The truth was, a difficult landing was a good thing. Numbers would keep her mind off all the potential problems they might run into. Ben moved out of the nav chair, and Allie sat down. Yeah, she needed numbers. They were her only link to sanity at this point.
Shank rested his hand on her shoulder.
One of her two links to sanity.
