“Let’s see what you’ve got,Leland Waters.”
He couldn’t help the smug smirk that joined his next words. “It’s game time.”
They had their mission assignment, and they wouldn’t stop until they found Segura and the truth they were looking for, if they had to go head-to-head with the General himself.
CHAPTER 41: KAT
OVER THE next few days, she and Lee realized various pieces of their plan coming together.
The first major one was settling upon a launch date. Placement applications were due the following Friday, so they’d want to be out of here before then. The transports were expected to arrive this afternoon, which would leave the main hangar chaotic and bustling for at least a few days. Combined with the raids going out, that Zane now monitored for them, it also created the perfect chaos to slip in and prep the ship unnoticed. Which directed them to next Tuesday.
They would be leaving a week from today.
Kat had done her best not to think about it for the last twenty-six hours. So naturally, it was all she’d thought about. All her secret hideouts, the places about the ship she was going to miss. Like this too-chilly stairway. How many more times she would get to pound down the grates after Lee, ponytail bouncing with some obnoxious commentary.
And speaking of hair…
“I bet Whistler’s already inside,” Kat mused, scanning the central-skywalk ahead of them as they rounded the base of the Heptagon. He’d asked her and Lee to meet him down here in the main hangar at 07:40 hours.
Whistler had apparently already picked out a ship for them, a ship which, as of this morning, he was eighty-five percent certain would be available next week. Given the circumstances, and the timeliness of their situation, the percentage was a much higher assurance than she could have hoped for, so they were taking it.
Lee grunted a response as he typed something back into his hyperband.
“Who could possibly be messaging you this early?” She glanced over as his hyperband buzzed once more.
“Jed, actually,” Lee said, frowning as he quickly read the message, before dropping his hyperband arm back down again
“Oh. Did we have him looking into cameras or something for this morning?” She didn’t recall them tasking him with anything else of that nature. Not since the break-in.
Lee grinned over at her wryly. “It’s not like that. This was for something else. I asked him to hack those bands from Segura.”
“The radiation monitors?” She perked up. “Anything?”
Lee shook his head. “It’s been harder to crack than he anticipated, it’s all hard-coded for their mainframe. He’s managed to decrypt parts of it, but we haven’t found anything we can use yet.”
“Oh. It was a good idea though. Here’s hoping,” she said, already shaking it off. There were still too many loose ends to tie down, and they were running out of time to check those knots.
Her eyes drifted down to her own hyperband and the messages where-within. She was still waiting for the repercussions from their break-in and data breach with the Command wing. Their fabulous run-in with Nolan. But—nothing.De rien. Crickets and radio-silence, it was slightly off-putting. Kat was a thousand percent sure Nolan was aware something was up, regardless of whether he’d started them off down this broken path or otherwise. The Commander herself had been back on the ship for at least a full day. This was hisinvolvement on the line, too. But it seemed he might actually have some faith in them…
Either that or it was still coming. She imagined how his precise, laser-marker strokes would appear on a holographic memo. How obnoxious it would be to receive something like that…
“Yo, Hanneman, Waters.”
Kat looked over in time to see Whistler duck out from the loading ramp of one of the central skimmers.
Nodding once to Whistler, Lee sidestepped around her, a casual grin slipping onto his face as he made instead for Flyn and his co-squadron lead, Ness, their fellow Gammas very conveniently going out on raid this morning.
Sidling up the loading ramp, Kat followed Whistler aboard.
“Meet Isla.” Whistler motioned to the gleaming, spotless interior of their new skimmer.
Tutting to herself, she peered about the sleek ship with new eyes. Freshly renovated with top-of-the-line tech and the usual streamlined cabin. In a matter of days, this could be their vessel. She trailed her fingertips over the chrome mini fridge. And without additional cadets, there would be ample room back in the bunks… “Are we still pretty sure this one will be available and ready for us next week? What about last minute assignments? Those do come up…”
“Oh I don’t think that will be an issue,” Whistler said, smiling to himself.
“How so?” Kat demanded, stopping her perusal as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Our lovely hangar managers and systems crew-members will be finding a leak in the transmission over the next twenty-four hours that will require full investigation write-ups and confirmed approval before they send it out again with cadets. Raider Bylaws and Regulations.” Whistler shrugged. “And withthe bump in raid traffic going out over the next few days, it will take at least a week to confirm she is back up to standards.”
