[01] Elite: Wanted by Gavin Deas

what,’ Ravindra pointed out.
    ‘So we run?’ Jenny said, looking less than happy about the idea. They were all looking at Ravindra. She alone had somebody she cared about she would be leaving behind.
    ‘This is what we agreed,’ Orla said. ‘We don’t do the stupid stuff that gets the others caught. We’ve made enough money. We had a good long run and we got away with a lot.’
    ‘Except that Newman’s a threat,’ Harnack said. Jonty intimated his agreement.
    ‘No witnesses,’ Jenny said coldly. ‘Leaving witnesses behind is part of the stupid shit that would get us caught. Also, we deal with him, get the payload – we can still square this with the Judas Syndicate.’
    ‘That’s a lot of ifs,’ Ravindra said. ‘And you know the rumours – he’s some kind of ex-military, special forces, with a crew of similar.’
    ‘We have our own skills’ Harnack said.
    ‘And if we’re running I don’t want to leave that sick bastard in my six,’ Jonty said. Jenny obviously agreed.
    ‘Orla?’ Ravindra asked. Orla seemed lost in thought.
    ‘I don’t like the options. We go to the rendezvous. It’s a risk, but everything we do is a risk.’
    ‘Okay,’ Ravindra said. ‘Harnack, you’re up.’
    ‘What do you think you’re doing?’ Newman demanded. He sounded like he was trying hard to keep a rein on his anger.
    Ravindra was bringing them in low over the ice asteroid they had agreed on as their primary rendezvous point. Frozen, ugly, it was shaped like an elongated potato. They had come in low, using fissures and contours in the ancient, crystal-clear surface as cover. They had popped up over the nearby horizon, a range of jagged ice hills, and Jonty had put a missile lock on the waiting Cobra. That was when she had received the angry message from Newman.
    ‘We don’t like how it went down—’ Orla said across the comms.
    ‘
You
don’t like?’ Newman demanded, interrupting. Now that he wasn’t getting things his way, now that she knew what to look for, Ravindra could hear it in his voice. Newman clearly wasn’t as mentally well as their initial meetings had led her to believe. ‘The E-bomb almost took us out! What were you thinking, you amateur bitch? Take the lock off now!’
    ‘This goes down smoothly and you don’t need to worry about the lock,’ Orla told him. ‘Any messing around and we just take you out.’
    ‘Look, nothing—’ Newman started. Orla cut the link. Ravindra bought the
Song of Stone
to a stop hovering over the small plateau of ice that Newman’s Cobra had anchored itself to. She knew that, as well as the missile lock, Harnack would have the lasers targeting the Cobra.
    ‘What have we got?’ Ravindra asked. Sensor information from Orla’s scans started appearing in her lenses. It showed a three-dimensional, topographical image of the surrounding landscape. There were two roughly person-shaped heat ghosts lying in overwatch positions overlooking the wedge-shaped Cobra’s position.
    ‘They’re good. Their thermal signatures are well shielded and they’re camouflaged; I almost missed them.’
    ‘Snipers?’ Ravindra asked.
    ‘At least one of them will be,’ Harnack said. ‘The second one could have a support weapon.’
    ‘And there’s no guarantee I found everyone,’ Orla said.
    ‘Give them a chance,’ Ravindra instructed as her hands moved slightly, working the manoeuvring engines, keeping them in place. Newman was still shouting when Orla reopened the comms.
    ‘Newman … Newman … Shut up. We’ve got two heat signatures, both a little more than a klick from your position. Want to pull them back in?’
    ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about!’ Newman declared.
    ‘Sure?’ Orla asked.
    ‘Of course I’m sure’ Newman said. Orla cut the comms link.
    ‘This guy’s a moron,’ she muttered and looked over at Ravindra.
    ‘Do it,’ Ravindra said.
    Port and starboard pulse lasers fired. The least accurate and powerful of their laser weapons,