Zero (15 page)

“
How so?”

Harvey sighed, stared at her hands.
“They found out about some shipping I did for... someone. Someone I shouldn't have shipped for.”

“
Who?” Hugo asked.

She shook her head.
“I can't say. Someone dangerous. But I owed them. I ain't proud of it but if you owe someone, you pay 'em. If you know what's good for you, that is. So I did this run for them. I wasn't to hear from them again. Then all of a sudden this Splinter shit corners me in a bar. Says he knows. Says he'll talk to people who would be mighty interested to know who did that run, unless I agree to do the same run for him.”

“
What sort of run?” Rami said quietly.

Harvey
bit her lip. “Weapons. Autos. Explosives. Serious shit.”

“
The Splinters are militarising?” Hugo felt his face drain of colour.

“
I don't know,” Harvey raised her hands. “I don't know, I didn't ask. I ran their weapons for them then I got the hell out of there.”

“
Where did you run them to?” Rami asked.

Harvey looked a bit pale herself.
“Lunar 1.”

Hugo looked at Rami.
“They're rumoured to have a base there, aren't they?”

Rami nodded.

“Get Spinn,” Hugo said and Rami left.

Harvey sat there, chewing on her fingernails.
“I shouldn't have said anything. But I couldn't not, you know? You stumble on someone hiring out the Splinters... you can't let that stay quiet.”

“
You did right.”

“
Webb weren't lying, were he? You got Service connections, right?” Harvey went on. “Powerful guys who'll believe you?”

Hugo looked back at her. Her hands were steady on the table but there was a spark of fear in her eyes.
“We know who to tell,” he hedged.

Rami returned with Spinn who took in Harvey with a glance then looked back at Hugo.
“Captain?”

“
Well it's been fun,” Harvey said, glancing at her wrist display and standing. “But I done my bit. You guys can tell the Service and they can make of this what the hell they want. I'm out.”

“
Sit down,” Hugo said.

Harvey frowned.
“I said,
I'm out
,” she went on. “If the Splinters even get a sniff I've ratted them out they'll drift me if I'm lucky.”

“
Sit down,” Hugo repeated. “You're not done.”

“
Don't take no Service-tone with me, Kaleb Hugo,” she growled. “I ain't your crew. I only came to you to try and give the Orbit a fighting chance against whatever's brewing. I didn't have to.”

“
Hugo to bridge,” Hugo said. There was a beep and More's face appeared on the galley wall display.

“
More here, Captain.”

“
Are we all aboard?”

More glanced at something off-screen then back.
“Yes, sir.”

“
Contact control. Prepare for launch.”

“
Hold on one fucking second,” Harvey said. “Belay that, right now. I'm getting the hell off this ship.”

“
Marilyn,” Hugo began.

“
That's
Captain Harvey
to you, Service-boy.”

“
Harvey,” he compromised. “You are right. You have put yourself in danger. Now you can either stay, help us and we'll protect you, or you can run and hide for the rest of your life. Which is it going to be?”

“
Running and hiding,” Harvey said. “No contest.”

“
Marilyn,” Rami came forward. “You're surely safer with us. This'll be the last place they'll look for you.”

Harvey chewed on her lip again.

“Where's the
Phoenix
?” Rami went on.

“
She's safe,” Harvey said, quietly. “Stowed her on Haven with folk I trust.”

“
Well then,” Hugo said. “Welcome aboard, Captain Harvey. I suggest you find somewhere to buckle in. We're moving out. Spinn?”

“
Sir?”

“
Captain Harvey is going to fill you in on some details that I'm going to need you to cross check with whatever you have on the Splinters and Lunar 1. Then I want you and Rami to report to me with whatever you find.”

“
Yes, sir,” Spinn said, eyeing Harvey warily.

Harvey had crossed her arms and set her jaw again.
“This better work out worth my while, Hugo. And where the hell is Webb, anyway?”

“
We're on our way to get him,” Hugo said, nodded to the three of them and made his way to the bridge.

ɵ

“I have to report this to Luscombe,” Hugo said to the whole bridge. “Whatever's going on with AI and Fitzroy, this is bigger.”

There was silence in reply.

“Spinn,” Hugo said through clenched teeth. “Have you found anything?”

“
Unsubstantiated rumours, Captain,” Spinn said. “But coupled with movement of credit, ships and a few unexplained incidents on Lunar 1... I think Captain Harvey is right.”

Hugo cursed.
“How do these bastards still exist anyway?”

“
Same way crews like we do, sir,” More said, adjusting their course. “The Service can't hold everything in line, as much as they try. And if anything their hold over Lunar 1 has weakened since the revolution.”

Hugo chewed the inside of his cheek.
“I'm going to report to Luscombe,”

“
Sir,” Rami began but Hugo held up a hand.

“
I won't tell him where I heard it,” he said, glancing toward the galley where he'd left Harvey raiding cupboards. “But if someone really is militarising the Splinters, then I'm prepared to bet it's for a strike at the Service. I have to report it.”

No one replied, but there were a series of tight nods.

Hugo stood from the copilot chair. “Hail Webb as soon as we're in comm distance of Lunar 5. Tell him to be ready. Lieutenant?”

“
Captain?”

“
Set me up a secure link to Colonel Luscombe from my cabin.”

“
Yes, sir. Captain?”

“
Yes?”

Rami looked pale.
“Be careful.”

Hugo nodded and left the bridge and made his way to his cabin.

“Captain Hugo,” Luscombe said when he came into view on the display screen. “This is a surprise. How have you been getting on?”

“
Colonel,” Hugo said. “I have something to report.”

“
Oh yes?”

Hugo took a deep breath.
“Sir, evidence that someone may be arming the Splinters has come to my attention.”

Luscombe made no reaction other than a slight flattening in his expression.
“Really? Are you sure?”

“
I am, sir.”

“
Where did you hear it?”

Hugo paused.
“A source, sir. A confidential one.”

“
Ah,” Luscombe said, eyes sliding off screen. “Do we have any details?”

“
The source couldn't be specific,” Hugo said. “Partially for their own safety and partially because they did not ask questions themselves.”

“
Probably wise, if frustrating. What do you have?”

“
That the Splinters have been organising weapons and supply runs into Lunar 1. There's no credit trail to indicate who’s paying, but the fact that they are organising ships and weapons is enough to worry about.”

“
That it is,” Luscombe said. Hugo tried his best to read the sombre face but other than the gravity in it, the colonel’s face remained unreadable. “Does Webb have any suppositions?”

Hugo paused, caught himself just in time.
“Not yet sir,” he managed. Luscombe held his gaze but Hugo couldn't be sure if there was anything significant in it. Hugo kept his face neutral.

“
Well then,” Luscombe said, straightening. “I guess we have your next assignment.”

“
Sir?”

“
Stop them.”

Hugo took a minute to find his voice.
“Stop them?”

Luscombe smiled, not nicely.
“The Splinters are thugs, Hugo, pure and simple. Terrorists for hire. No discipline, and loyalty up for the highest bidder. Whatever it is they're planning, you have smarts and training on your side.”

“
Yes, sir,” Hugo said, keeping his face blank with an effort.

“
About time we cleared out that rats' nest that is Lunar 1. Be careful, Captain,” Luscombe said. “And I wouldn't screw up this time, if I were you.”

“
Yes, sir.”

Hugo stared at the blank screen,
feeling every beat of his heart clench in his chest. He moved out onto the bridge in a daze.

“
Sir,” Rami said as soon as he came in sight. “We can't get a response from Webb.”

“
What?”

“
We're hailing his room. Nothing.”

“
He might have slipped out?” Kinjo put in.

“
I told him specifically to stay put,” Hugo growled. “How far are we from Lunar 5, Sub-Lieutenant?”

“
We're still several hours away, Captain,” More said.

“
Get us there quicker. And try hailing him on his personal comm.”

“
We've tried, sir,” Rami said, her voice tight. “It's off.”

“
If he's gotten himself killed or caught, I'll flay him alive,” Hugo growled.

ɵ

“You're overreacting, Hugo,” Harvey muttered as she trotted to keep up with him. “I'm sure he's fine.”

“
He won't be when I get hold of him,” Hugo mumbled as he wove through the crowds in the corridor. The air was heavy with the familiar Lunar Strip smell of oil and bodies.

Harvey shook her head.
“He'll be there, you'll see.”

“
Who invited you along, anyway? You should be staying out of sight.”

Under the wide brim of one of Webb's c
aps, she grinned, showing her teeth. “What, miss a showdown between Kaleb Hugo and Ezekiel Webb? You couldn't get tickets to that show for all the credit in Sunside.”

Hugo snorted and ducked down another busy, low-ceilinged corridor towards the bank of express lifts to take them up to the residential levels of the spacescraper. He stood with his arms folded and scowled at the level counter as the lift zoomed up. He kept his anger stoked and hot so that he didn't have to
acknowledge the fear that misted underneath.

Hugo was out and storming down the corridor before the lift doors had finished opening. He waved his ID badge to get them through another set of check points, checked the directions on his wrist panel then turned through some sliding double doors and onto a long, quiet corridor with numbered doors on either side. Hugo picked up his pace, glancing at pod numbers until they came up on the one he'd booked. The door was shut, the control panel dark. He took a breath and pressed the buzzer. He heard it trigger inside the room, and then there was silence. Harvey hovered at his side, looking entirely too expectant, and he pushed the buzzer again. Still nothing.

Hugo lifted his fist and banged on the door. “Commander, you had better be dead in there or I'll -”

The door slid open. A huge, balding man with spacer tattoos and a pair of cargo pants and nothing else stood in the doorway, blinking and glaring. His bleary eyes levelled on Hugo.

“What the fuck do you want? I'm on fucking night cycle.”

Hugo blinked a moment.
“Apologies, sir,” he managed. “I...we thought someone else was here.”

“
Well they're fucking not. Piss off.”

Hugo stood and stared at the closed door for a long time, unable to keep the anger burning hot enough to fight away the chill of fear. He turned and moved back down the corridor.

“Where are you going?” Harvey said catching up.

“
Control. We need to see the camera feeds.”

“
They won't show you, Hugo” Harvey said. “If they haven't been paid off then they'll at least be smart enough to keep it zipped.”

“
I left him behind,” he murmured. “Again. I shouldn't...” He paused as his wrist display began beeping. He clicked the answer command. “Hugo here.”

“
Captain?”

“
Lieutenant,” Hugo said, moving back out onto the busy corridors of the spacescraper. “He's not there. I'm heading to the building’s control -”