Cobra Gamble (18 page)

"And once we figure out which material works best, we'll need probably every bit of it you've got," Geoff said. "In Stronghold, and possibly everywhere else on the planet."

"Plus you'll need a lot of hands to put it all together," Harli concluded.

Jody winced. Between the work on the warship, the general cleanup, and keeping everyone fed and safe. Stronghold's resources and personnel were already stretched dangerously thin. "Unfortunately, yes," she admitted. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Harli assured her. "There are plenty of people out there sitting around loafing. A little real work will do them good. I'll have the orders cut by the time you know what you need." Abruptly, he held up his hand. "Quiet a minute." He turned around toward the downed warship.

Jody frowned, trying to figure out what he was looking at. A movement above the crowd of Trofts caught her eye: one of the other Cobras—Popescu, she tentatively identified him—was standing beside the ship's upper stern weapons wing, gesturing toward Harli, his mouth moving. Jody strained her ears, but without Cobra audio enhancements she couldn't tell what he was saying.

But Harli could. And it was clear he didn't like what he was hearing. "You two get back to work," he told Jody and Geoff. His eyes flicked to Nissa. "If you really want to make yourself useful, you can go with them."

Nissa's eyes narrowed—

"We could certainly use your help," Geoff seconded quickly. "Freylan's basically glued to his chair right now, with his ribs and all. He could use someone to get equipment and lift things for him."

Nissa's eyes flicked to Jody. "Seems to me you've got plenty of help already."

"We will later," Geoff assured her. "Right now, Jody needs to go talk to Rashida Vil."

Nissa frowned. "The Qasaman woman?"

"Yes, that's what I came out here to ask you," Jody improvised, turning to Harli. She hadn't actually planned on talking to Rashida until later today after they'd finished their work on the combat suits. But Geoff was clearly angling to keep her and Nissa apart for a while, and she could easily readjust that part of her tentative schedule. "Any idea where she is?"

"She's over in the other warship," Harli said, eyeing Jody thoughtfully. "Come on—I need to head over there anyway. I'll walk you through the crowd." He flicked a finger at Geoff. "And
you
go get busy."

He took Jody's arm and led the way toward the broken wall and the Trofts swarming around it. "Well,
that
was interesting," he murmured as they walked. "I wouldn't have thought Gendreves was his type."

"I'm sure it's nothing like that," Jody assured him. "Geoff's always been good at politics and basic old-fashioned charm—it's how we got the funding to come to Caelian in the first place. I think he's decided she's a challenge he can't pass up."

"Maybe." Harli looked sideways at her. "Next question: how did you know I was going to ask you to talk to Ms. Vil?"

"I didn't," Jody said, frowning at him. "I just wanted to check in with her and see how she's doing. What did you want me to talk to her about?"

Harli made a face. "I wish I knew. There's just something... she's polite and all, and she takes orders just fine. But there's something going on behind those eyes I can't figure out. I figure since you're the closest thing she's got to a friend here, maybe you could get it out of her."

"Not sure I qualify as a friend, exactly," Jody warned. "But I'll be happy to give it a try."

"Thanks." Harli gestured ahead. "I need to talk to Popescu for a second. If you want, I can get one of the others to walk you the rest of the way."

"That's all right," Jody said. "I'd like to hear what he has to say, too."

Harli grunted. "Fine," he said. "But you aren't going to like it." He was right.

"I found it wedged behind the number eight grav lift," Popescu said, showing Harli a small, gleaming wrench. "Right where we ran the connections to the ship's power system."

"Exactly where you'd put something metal if you wanted to short the whole thing out," Harli said.

"Yeah, pretty much," Popescu growled. "Sorry, Harli. Someone really dropped the ball on this one."

"Not your fault," Harli said, peering up at the ship. "You never had nearly enough men to ride herd on a work gang this big."

"Yeah, excuses always look so good on your gravestone," Popescu said sourly. "Anyway, I've got Brady pulling together a team to start rechecking everything."

"Good," Harli said. "Any guess as to how soon they'll be done?"

"Depends on how many men he can pull away from other duties," Popescu said. "No earlier than this afternoon, though. Maybe not until tomorrow."

"Damn," Harli said. "Well, if it's tomorrow, it's tomorrow. Just make sure to remind Brady that speed is good, but accuracy is better."

"Be nice if we could have both, though," Popescu reminded him. "What would you think about pulling the Cobras off out-rim guard duty to help out? If the Trofts are going to play games, there's no reason we should knock ourselves out protecting them from giggers and screech tigers."

"Good point," Harli said. "You can take a few, but you need to leave at least half the current number of guards out there." He gestured to Jody. "You know the Tlossies better than I do. Does it make sense to keep the prisoners safe—you know, holding onto the moral high ground, and all that—if we want to get them in as allies?"

"Absolutely," Jody assured him. "The Tlossies put a high premium on playing by the rules."

"Yeah, fine," Popescu said. "But high moral ground isn't much use if all it does is open you to more enemy fire."

"Don't worry, I'm also going to have a little chat with Captain Eubujak," Harli assured him grimly. "I'm going to tell him that if we find any more sabotage from his troops I might just take Ms. Gendreves up on her suggestion to set off a warhead inside the downed ship." He glowered at the Trofts working at the edges of the wall. "And I might not wait until after the explosion to move him and his troops inside."

Jody felt her eyes widen. "You wouldn't."

"No, but Eubujak doesn't know that," Harli said. "Popescu, go help Brady form his crew and get to work. As soon as I've get Jody to the other ship, I'll come back and give you a hand."

They reached the second Troft warship without further incident. The Cobra guard passed them through, and Harli led Jody to the top deck. Rashida was right where Jody had expected to find her: seated at the helm and studying the angled control board.

"Ms. Vil," Harli greeted her as he and Jody walked past two small groups of techs testing the circuits in some of the other boards. "How are things going?"

"They go well," Rashida said, looking up at them.

Only they weren't going well, Jody realized as she studied the other woman's face. There was a tension behind Rashida's eyes, a tautness at odds with her confident words.

Harli was right. Something was wrong.

"Good," Harli said, and Jody could hear the false cheerfulness in his voice, as well. "I'll leave you two alone, then." He glanced at the techs, as if only then realizing how relative solitude was right now. "Just let the guard downstairs know when you want to leave, Jody, and he'll arrange an escort."

"Thank you," Jody said. "Good hunting."

Harli nodded to her, then to Rashida, then turned and strode out of the room.

"What is he hunting?" Rashida asked.

"Sabotage," Jody said, pulling up a chair and sitting down. "One of the Trofts working on the downed ship jammed a wrench where it would short out the power conduits. So now they have to check over everything before they can try to move it."

"Yes, I see," Rashida said, lowering her eyes back to the control panel in front of her. "How much will that put them behind schedule?"

"Don't know for sure," Jody said. "Several hours at least. Maybe a day or more if they find more sabotage."

"Which will then delay the moving of this ship?" Rashida asked.

"I'd say so, yes," Jody said, studying the woman's profile. "Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?"

A muscle in Rashida's cheek twitched. "Does it need to be either?" she countered evasively.

"No, but it usually is," Jody said, lowering her voice. "What's wrong, Rashida?"

Rashida's throat worked. "I..." Her eyes flicked to the side. "I can't tell you. Not here. Not now."

Jody felt a sudden stirring of anger. "Is someone bothering you?" she asked softly. "One of these men?"

"No, not at all," Rashida said quickly. "It's... there's trouble. I should have spoken of it sooner, but..." She trailed off.

Jody chewed at her lip. The techs working on the other side of the room were theoretically out of earshot, especially if Jody and Rashida kept their voices low.

But there was at least one Cobra in the group, and maybe more who Jody didn't know, and distance didn't mean much where Cobra audios were involved.

Still, there was distance, and then there was
distance.
"Come on," Jody said, standing up and offering the other woman her hand. "Let's take a walk."

Rashida shook her head. "I was told to stay here."

"That's okay," Jody said, still holding out her hand. "I'll take responsibility."

Rashida seemed to draw back. "You can do that?"

Jody felt her lip twitch. For a moment she'd almost forgotten how male-dominated the Qasaman culture was.

And it suddenly occurred to her that the Caelian society Rashida was experiencing probably looked a lot like the one she'd left at home. Of course, that was really only because Governor Uy had declared the planet to be on a war footing, which meant that the Cobras—all of whom were men—were basically running everything.

But Rashida wouldn't know that. And whatever her world's rules were about women speaking out or approaching superiors with questions or problems, that system was what she was working under right now. "Of course," she said, trying to keep her voice light. "Come on. A little fresh air will do you good."

Rashida hesitated another moment. Then, almost gingerly, she got to her feet. "All right," she said, still sounding uncertain.

"Wait a second," the Cobra spoke up, frowning at them. "Maybe you missed it, but the fresh air down there is contaminated with Trofts."

"That's okay," Jody assured him. "That's not the direction we're going."

Two minutes later, she pushed open the ship's rear dorsal hatch and climbed up the narrow stairway onto the hull crest. "Here we are," she said cheerfully, offering Rashida a hand up. "Fresh air, no predators, and no Trofts. And a pretty nice view."

"Yes," Rashida said coming gingerly up onto the hull crest. "It's... a little high, though."

"You're afraid of heights?" Jody asked, frowning. "But you're a pilot."

"I don't mind heights when I'm encased in a flying vehicle," Rashida said. "Here, there's a chance I might fall." She craned her neck gingerly. "And it's a
very
long way down."

"That it is," Jody agreed, peering at the Trofts, the humans, and the town thirty meters below them. "So tell me what the problem is."

Rashida hesitated. "Can I trust you?" she asked. "I need to trust you. I need you to not tell them."

"Okay," Jody agreed cautiously. "Tell them what?"

"Tell them..." Rashida closed her eyes. "I was left here as a hostage, Jody Broom."

Jody felt her eyes narrow. "A
hostage?"

"You weren't supposed to know," Rashida said. "None of you were. Djinni Ghofl Khatir wanted to show our determination to abide by the terms of our agreement. I'm that guarantee of our honor."

"There wasn't any need for that," Jody assured her. "We know you're honorable. Besides, we don't do the whole hostage thing."

"It was nevertheless Ghofl Khatir's wish that I remain," Rashida said. "From his discussions with Cobra Harli Uy, I believe your leaders accepted my presence because they thought my Troft language skills might prove useful."

"Which they have," Jody said, suppressing the urge to tell her to get to the point. Clearly, she had to do this her way.

"But I believe Cobra Harli Uy also thought my piloting abilities might prove useful." Rashida swallowed hard. "He still believes that."

Jody felt her stomach knot up as she finally saw where Rashida was going. "He wants you to fly the warships away from here," she said. "Only you can't, can you?"

"No," Rashida said, almost too quietly to hear.

Jody looked down at the town again. "But I thought Djinni Khatir said you were a better pilot than he was. Was he lying?"

"No, not a lie," Rashida hastened to assure her. "But certainly a mischaracterization. I can fly most Qasaman aircraft, most likely better than he. I was also the more capable pilot on the freighter we used to travel here from our home. But
this
—" she waved a hand helplessly downward at the ship they were standing on "—this is far beyond my capabilities."

Jody hissed gently between her teeth. Practically every plan she'd heard Harli or the others discuss over the past few days had included the unspoken assumption that they could move the two Troft warships wherever they needed to go. If Rashida couldn't do that, there was certainly no one else on Caelian who could. "But you can learn, right?" she asked. "I know the warship's bigger, and probably has a gazillion times as many controls as the freighter. But the principles are still the same. In theory, all you have to do is apply what you were taught and ratchet it up a bit."

"You don't understand," Rashida said with a tired sigh. "Djinni Khatir and I weren't actually
taught
how to fly the freighter. The invader pilot was drugged and made to believe he was performing various maneuvers under various circumstances. Djinni Khatir and I merely watched and memorized his movements."

Under the influence of memory-enhancement drugs of their own, no doubt. "So you watched him working the controls—"

"There were no controls," Rashida interrupted. "There was no freighter. We memorized his movements as he sat at a long dining table in a Qasaman village and imagined himself aboard his ship. We watched where his fingers and hands worked the controls that he believed he was seeing."