holster.”
“Six people, six guns,” Ann muttered. “At least. There have to be others. Whatever this thing we’re in is huge. Who are they? Or what are they? Russians? Scandinavians? A white-collar terrorist group that doesn’t give a rat’s ass about international borders?”
Jordan shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“This is bad,” Ben whispered shakily. “Real bad.”
Jordan glanced over her shoulder.
Don’t fall apart on me, Ben. I need you
. “Stay positive, you guys. They’re acting calm. We have to, also.” Bringing a damp hand to her neck, she rested her fingers over her throbbing pulse, willing it to slow, willing herself to calm down, to think clearly. To do the right thing. “The presence of those weapons meansthat they’re damned serious about what they intend to do with our plane—and us. And it also says that it’s no accident that we ended up here.”
“Wherever
here
is,” Ann muttered.
Hijacked, Jordan speculated, in a plot that defied anything she understood about modern-day technology.
The white-haired woman outside raised her hands in an obvious greeting—not quite warm, but still welcoming. Jordan didn’t see malevolence in the man’s face, either. But still, the four stony-faced guards stood behind them.
“She looks like she’s trying to be friendly,” Ann said.
Jordan huffed. “Forget it. We’re not taking the bait. Unless they use explosives, they’re not getting onboard this plane.”
The albino woman brought what looked like a handheld computer close to her mouth. It must have been wired to the speaker system, because simultaneously a familiar husky voice boomed, the same one that had accompanied the music. In a strong accent, the woman repeated Jordan’s exact words: “We’re not taking the bait,” she crooned. “Unless they use explosives, they’re not getting onboard this plane.”
“Oh, crap,” Ben blurted.
Jordan fell back against her seat. “ ‘Oh, crap’ is right. They just heard everything we said.”
Chapter Four
“That didn’t go over very well, Ensign,” Kào stated as he watched the refugees flee the cockpit of their vessel from where he stood in the cargo bay with the four security guards and Trist Pren. “What did you say to them?”
“I’m not sure. I merely repeated some of their conversation.” Trist’s colorless, almost nonexistent brows drew together. “I assumed they’d find it more comforting than words issued randomly.”
“Well, it didn’t. It frightened them. Look at their craft,” he said. “It reminds me of the type of craft the Alliance flew eons ago, in the early years of atmospheric travel. If their civilization has begun manned space travel, they haven’t gotten very far. They might not recognize that they’ve been taken onto a spacecraft. We’ll have to try another way to coax them out.”
“How about turning their ship upside down and shaking them loose?” Trist typed data into her handheld. “Or wecan cut off all power in the cargo bay, leaving them to cower in the dark until they grow hungry and filthy enough to be lured out with promises of food and showers.” She pursed lips that were dyed permanently lavender. “More realistically, let’s inundate the ship with sedative gas and render the ungrateful boors unconscious.”
Kào battled exasperation. It was hard to forget what those of this woman’s ancestors’ world had done to his home and family. The albino race had been the scourge of the galaxy for many years. They had imprisoned him. Now he was forced to cooperate with one of them to achieve his goal of helping his father. And although he was hardly a diplomat, her aggressive solution rubbed even his military-trained senses the wrong way. “No, Trist. That’s not the way we’re going to do it.” Aside from its cold almost Talagarian expediency, her plan did not account for human fear, which would certainly soar higher with such induced helplessness.
A series of slams came
“Six people, six guns,” Ann muttered. “At least. There have to be others. Whatever this thing we’re in is huge. Who are they? Or what are they? Russians? Scandinavians? A white-collar terrorist group that doesn’t give a rat’s ass about international borders?”
Jordan shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“This is bad,” Ben whispered shakily. “Real bad.”
Jordan glanced over her shoulder.
Don’t fall apart on me, Ben. I need you
. “Stay positive, you guys. They’re acting calm. We have to, also.” Bringing a damp hand to her neck, she rested her fingers over her throbbing pulse, willing it to slow, willing herself to calm down, to think clearly. To do the right thing. “The presence of those weapons meansthat they’re damned serious about what they intend to do with our plane—and us. And it also says that it’s no accident that we ended up here.”
“Wherever
here
is,” Ann muttered.
Hijacked, Jordan speculated, in a plot that defied anything she understood about modern-day technology.
The white-haired woman outside raised her hands in an obvious greeting—not quite warm, but still welcoming. Jordan didn’t see malevolence in the man’s face, either. But still, the four stony-faced guards stood behind them.
“She looks like she’s trying to be friendly,” Ann said.
Jordan huffed. “Forget it. We’re not taking the bait. Unless they use explosives, they’re not getting onboard this plane.”
The albino woman brought what looked like a handheld computer close to her mouth. It must have been wired to the speaker system, because simultaneously a familiar husky voice boomed, the same one that had accompanied the music. In a strong accent, the woman repeated Jordan’s exact words: “We’re not taking the bait,” she crooned. “Unless they use explosives, they’re not getting onboard this plane.”
“Oh, crap,” Ben blurted.
Jordan fell back against her seat. “ ‘Oh, crap’ is right. They just heard everything we said.”
Chapter Four
“That didn’t go over very well, Ensign,” Kào stated as he watched the refugees flee the cockpit of their vessel from where he stood in the cargo bay with the four security guards and Trist Pren. “What did you say to them?”
“I’m not sure. I merely repeated some of their conversation.” Trist’s colorless, almost nonexistent brows drew together. “I assumed they’d find it more comforting than words issued randomly.”
“Well, it didn’t. It frightened them. Look at their craft,” he said. “It reminds me of the type of craft the Alliance flew eons ago, in the early years of atmospheric travel. If their civilization has begun manned space travel, they haven’t gotten very far. They might not recognize that they’ve been taken onto a spacecraft. We’ll have to try another way to coax them out.”
“How about turning their ship upside down and shaking them loose?” Trist typed data into her handheld. “Or wecan cut off all power in the cargo bay, leaving them to cower in the dark until they grow hungry and filthy enough to be lured out with promises of food and showers.” She pursed lips that were dyed permanently lavender. “More realistically, let’s inundate the ship with sedative gas and render the ungrateful boors unconscious.”
Kào battled exasperation. It was hard to forget what those of this woman’s ancestors’ world had done to his home and family. The albino race had been the scourge of the galaxy for many years. They had imprisoned him. Now he was forced to cooperate with one of them to achieve his goal of helping his father. And although he was hardly a diplomat, her aggressive solution rubbed even his military-trained senses the wrong way. “No, Trist. That’s not the way we’re going to do it.” Aside from its cold almost Talagarian expediency, her plan did not account for human fear, which would certainly soar higher with such induced helplessness.
A series of slams came
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