He shrugged. “You already know I’m SC, so it’s not worth burning an entire identity for this trip.”
Jasper seemed to find that logical, even if Allie was irrationally annoyed. “Okay then, Heyoo. You sound like you belong with his crew.” Jasper poked a thumb toward Shank.
Shank’s eyes narrowed. “No. He doesn’t. That’s not a Lakota word.”
“Tell us what you want, or get out,” Zeke warned. He was the first of them to take a seat at the conference table, and he chose the chair on the end opposite Jasper.
Jasper looked at Heyoo for a while. “We’re trying to do a deal to leave you here in return for the commander.”
Heyoo nodded. “Okay. Commander Waters, I’ll need to review your notes and get up to speed on your negotiations. We know you’ve been working well with the bats, but we don’t have the important details.”
“You’re trading yourself? What?” Zeke looked confused, and Allie sank into a chair simply because her knees were getting weak. They were trading away one of their people like a circuit to be swapped out, and Heyoo was accepting this as business as usual. She was going to be sick.
“I assume they’ll retrieve me eventually, and right now, this part of the universe is a little hot for me. The bat patrols will be a good line of defense.” Heyoo leaned forward. “Honestly, this is not a bad detail, and after a few things went south on my last mission, I knew they were going to find me somewhere to lay low. I’m just impressed they’re getting me this far off the grid.”
“We aim to please,” Jasper said. “Now we don’t have intelligence on your role in the colony, Corporal Glebov.”
Jacqs shrugged. “Mostly I work my ass off.”
“Hard labor in the deep mine,” Zeke added.
Jasper took out a data pad and started scrolling through information as he nodded. “I have a ship full of battle-weary marines. I’ll find someone willing to take a year of boring and safe duty over more of the same. That’s not going to be a problem.”
Zeke leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “You’re talking like we’ve already agreed. I’m not an assassin, and I’m not going to kill for you.”
After putting his data pad on the table, Jasper made eye contact with the commander and then looked around the room. The room had more than its share of aggression. Copta and Becca were near Ben. Ben stood next to the doorway with his arms crossed. Jacqs was being even less subtle as he kept his hand on the butt of the assault weapon clipped to his vest.
Eventually Jasper focused on Zeke. “Aluino and I have always served on hot ships—the best equipment, the best training, and the most dedicated personnel. Hot ships go places you can’t imagine, and hot assets like Heyoo here get access to literally limitless resources because they are regularly asked to do the impossible. You don’t have the training to be a hot ship, even if I wanted you for that. Your only tech has...what? A few weeks’ training on ship systems? Your pilot is top-notch but not up to SC standards by a long shot, and while I am more than willing to admit that both Sergeant Aluino and Corporal Glebov are SC quality”—he nodded toward Ben and Jacqs—”they both seem to have developed emotional attachments that don’t fit into the profile of hot assets.”
“We’re all loners,” Heyoo explained. “Relationships mean someone who can be tortured to get information on you.”
“Lovely,” Allie said softly. Heyoo flashed her a grin that made her wonder if all the SC people were bat-shit crazy. At this point, she was starting to think she had some pretty good evidence.
Zeke leaned forward. “So what are you offering?”
“A job as a cold asset,” Jasper answered. “You can either trumpet to the world that you’re SC, or keep that quiet. We don’t care. You’ll keep an eye on local problems, report any crime, and we may ask you to step in where local law enforcement should be making arrests and aren’t. You’ve got a good brig here, so if we say you should pick up someone you’ve identified as a trafficker or murderer, pick them up, and we’ll deliver them to a court closer to Earth where they might actually face justice.”
“And if you don’t think the court has treated them fairly, you’ll kill them on the courthouse steps?” Zeke demanded.
“No. Anyone who poses a threat that warrants that kind of attention will have another sort of ship pick them up. We’re looking for quieter crews, people who can blend in.”
“No,” Shank said.
Zeke looked up in surprise, which was Allie’s first hint that he was considering the offer. Whatever he saw in Shank’s face made him turn to Jasper and issue a curt, “We need to talk about this in private. Leave.”
Jasper stood, followed by Heyoo. “Okay, but here’s the full offer. All of you get the genetic resequencing. You all get training. If you want extra crew from our roster, that’s fine. If not, we’ll let you pick your own. You’ve done a pretty damn good job so far. You tell us what rank you’re going to carry on the ship, and each of you will draw a salary equal to your new rank. All military records will reflect your change in rank. Please do keep in mind that a ship only gets one captain, so don’t try to promote everyone because we’re not paying for a ship full of captains to wander around gathering intel for local cops who are too dirty to bother. You ask us for more favors after that, and you risk getting seen as a warm asset, a ship eligible for more advanced training and more difficult missions.”
Jasper nodded at Zeke and then walked past Ben to leave. Heyoo followed.
“I’ll escort them out,” Ben offered.
That left the ragged remains of theCandirucrew all looking at each other.
“Shank?” Zeke didn’t say anything else.
Allie could see Shank’s distress in the way he pressed his lips together. “I want you guys to go free. I want us all to.”
“But?” Zeke asked. “Give me some information to work with here.”
