The Trophany – Part 3
If you missed part 2, click here.
“I don’t like this,” Doug
Parra said. “Cisneros is the ranking officer, and y’all tied him up.” While The
Trophany attempted to organize her groupies, Quinn and Bergen had pulled aside
a couple of retired military members.
“We tied him up because he
pulled a gun on us,” Quinn said. “We have a plan, but he won’t listen.”
“I won’t be party to a
mutiny.” The stone-faced woman from The Trophany’s sharing circle, a retired
shuttle mechanic named Cynthia Horgan, crossed her arms over her chest.
“We’re civilians, Cyn, so
it’s not actually a mutiny,” Bergen said.
“I’m not a civilian, I’m retired.”
Cyn insisted. “So is Cisneros. And Parra. We could be called back to active
duty at any time.”
Bergen rolled his eyes.
“But you weren’t called to duty. You’re here as civilian dependents.”
“Could we stop arguing
about this and get to work?” Quinn said. “My kids need me.”
Cyn nodded in agreement.
“Mine, too. OK, if you get us off this rock, we can sort out the mutiny issue
later. And if you don’t, we’ll be dead. What’s the plan?”
Quinn looked at Bergen, but
he stared back at her. Finally, she shook her head. Obviously, Bergen wanted
her to do the talking. “According to information Tony found in the databases,
there’s a mothballed shuttle at an outpost across the Serpian Crater. If we can
get there, can you two get it up and running?”
Doug looked thoughtfully at
Cyn. “I’ve helped recommission shuttles before. What’s your background?”
While the two discussed
technical details, Quinn pulled Bergen aside. “I’m not comfortable with this.
Why are you making me take charge?”
“You’re the ranking officer
after Cisneros.” He held up a hand to stop her disagreement. “Yeah, I know, you
aren’t an officer any more. But these guys are going to respond to your rank
even if you don’t own up to it.”
“That’s ridiculous! You
take charge.” Quinn shoved her fingers through her tangled brown hair. “I just
want to get back to my kids.”
“You may think it’s
ridiculous, but you know that’s how military folks are wired.” Bergen leaned
back against the table behind him. “Officers are in charge. If you don’t at
least pretend to be the boss, you’d undermine any authority I try to exert. No
one here trusts Cisneros—his bad behavior is an open secret. They know he’d
abandon us in a heartbeat if he could replace us with a crate of gold. They
know and trust you, so you’re it. You’re our best chance for survival.”
“Ugh. If I wanted to lead a
mission, I would have stayed on active duty.” Quinn pulled a tie from her
pocket and bundled her hair into a low ponytail. If she was going to have to
take charge, she’d better look the part. She squared her shoulders and turned
back to the two mechanics. “What do you think?”
Doug shrugged. “If it was
mothballed using standard procedures, with the intention of being reactivated
in an emergency, we can do it. If it was just abandoned as useless junk, we’re
screwed.”
Quinn nodded. “It’s plan C.
If we get that far down the list, we’re already screwed. The Trophany is
supposed to be recording a message to the admiral. We’ll launch it in an
emergency beacon. And Steve Piruytha is still trying to raise the Elrond.”
She grabbed a piece of paper and a pen. “Tell me what you know about our fellow
refugees. We’re looking for anyone who could help us get off this rock.”
Cyn glanced at Doug. “I’ve
attended a few of—what did you call her? The Trophany?” She smirked. “I’ve
attended a few of The Trophany’s spouses’ meetings. She seems to attract the
most drama-prone among us. Marielle LeBlanc, for example.” She laughed as she
named the aide’s wife. “Did you hear her moaning about her husband’s
‘deployment’? A whole week at the front!”
Quinn smiled and waved a
hand. “Yeah, I heard, but that’s not helpful now. Who might be useful? Anyone
else with mechanical or tech skills?”
“Cassi Palacios was an EVA
Specialist,” Doug offered. “She just separated last year, so she’s pretty
up-to-date. We might need her if this shuttle is across the crater.”
“Good thinking. Who else?”
Quinn looked from Doug to Cyn and back. “Is that it?”
Bergen made a choking noise
from his seat in front of a computer terminal. “You aren’t going to believe
this.”
“What? More bad news?”
Quinn rubbed the back of her neck.
“Maybe. We have a security
specialist. Black belt in four martial arts and expert marksman in every weapon
from slingshot to rocket launcher.” Bergen leaned back and laughed. “She worked
for the Federation Secret Service.”
“They only hire the best.
That means she’s fast, smart, and lethal,” Quinn said, quietly. “Who is it?”
Bergen bit his lip.
“Marielle LeBlanc.”
“No way!” Doug laughed.
“The moaner? I would never
have guessed,” Quinn said.
Cyn shook her head. “This
is the second time I’ve been stationed with her, and I had no idea. Do you want
me to talk to her?”
Quinn looked at Bergen, but
he offered no advice. “OK, here’s the plan. Bergen is going to find as much
info as he can on the mothballed shuttle. Parra, you work with him to come up
with a launch plan. Horgan, you get Marielle on board. We definitely don’t want
her siding with Cisneros and taking us out. I’ll talk to Cassi about the trip
across the crater. We’ll meet back here in,” she looked at the chronometer,
“thirty minutes.”
Bergen gave Quinn a
discrete thumbs up as she and Cyn left the room.
* * *
Quinn groaned in
frustration as she watched Cassi Palacios dig through a store room. “There are
only two EVA suits? And they’re both tiny! Child-sized!” She held one of the
suits up to her long frame. The feet dangled just below her knees.
“Most techs have their own
custom suit. I wouldn’t trust a station-supplied one if I had a choice.” The
tall blonde grimaced. “Doesn’t matter, since neither of these is going to fit
me. We’re going to have to depend on the rovers. At least they’re all
vacuum-tight and fully charged. Normally I wouldn’t venture across an asteroid
like this without a suit, but this is not normal. I recommend you, Cyn, Doug
and I take the rover and find the shuttle. Doug and Cyn can get it up and
running—this suit should fit her. Bergen can stay here and organize the wives’
club so they’re ready to load when we arrive.” She wrinkled her nose as she
said “wives’ club.”
“Not a fan of The
Trophany?” Quinn asked, folding the EVA suit into its bag with the helmet.
“Shh! She hates that name,”
Cassi said, packing the second suit. “And you really don’t want her angry at
you. She is vicious.”
Quinn rolled her eyes.
“What’s she going to do? Tell her husband on me? Actually, that would be great,
because maybe it would get us off this rock.” She led the way down a hall
toward the rover garage.
Three rovers squatted in
the crowded garage. They looked like a cross between a deep space shipping
container and a spider on roller skates. An open crate lay on the floor next to
the farthest rover, and The Trophany and Cisneros stood beside it, scattering
packing material as they dug through it.
“Crap!” Quinn grabbed
Cassi’s arm and dragged her back out of the garage. “She untied Cisneros and
I’ll bet that crate is full of gold. We need to find Tony. Let’s get away from
here!”
They ran down the hall,
Quinn gabbling into her phone as she stumbled along. “Tony, Cisneros is loose.
They’re in the rover garage. Where are you?” They scrambled back into the EVA
dressing room. “Lock the door!” she told Cassi.
Cassi looked at the panel
beside the entry. “There’s no lock. What do we do?”
A message pinged on Quinn’s
phone. “Bergen says he’ll come to us, and we should stay away from them.”
Cassi gave her a strange
look. “You’re the L.T. What do you think we should do?”
Quinn froze. What did
she think they should do? “I think we should lock them both up, send the
emergency beacon to the Elrond, and then get across the Serpian Crater
and get that shuttle running. Which is basically what we already had planned,
except the locking up part. Let’s take those two out. Are there any weapons in
here?”
Cassi smiled a little.
“There’s a vacuum-rated cutter.” She brandished a heavy-looking device. “And a
couple crowbars.”
Quinn laughed and pulled
Cisneros’ gun from her waistband. “I think this will work better but give me
one of those crowbars.”
The two women gathered
their weapons and headed back toward the garage. Bergen barreled into them from
a cross corridor. “Where are you going?”
“We’re going to get
Cisneros and The Trophany out of our hair and get on with this mission.” Quinn
raised the gun.
Bergen smiled. “I like it.
Do you need help?”
Quinn handed him the
crowbar. “Look threatening and back me up.”
“Drop the gun,” a soft
voice said, “or I will fire.”
The three froze. “Crap,”
Bergen said. “Not again.”
“Drop the gun and turn
around slowly.”
“Do it, Quinn,” Bergen
said. “She’s serious.”
Quinn carefully placed the
weapon on the floor and pivoted, hands held out to her sides. Marielle LeBlanc
stood in the hallway, a disrupter aimed squarely at them.
“Shit,” Quinn said. “Did
Cisneros get to you?”
“He’s the ranking officer,”
Marielle said. “Whose orders should I be following? Yours?” She barked a laugh.
It sounded like a chihuahua.
“He’s a criminal!” Quinn
protested.
“Charges were dropped,”
Marielle shrugged. “He’s the ranking officer. Besides, Tiffany trusts him.”
Quinn rubbed her forehead.
“Tiffany thinks she’s going to get rich. She doesn’t care about anyone but Tiffany.”
Marielle lifted her chin.
“She’s always taken care of me.”
“They’re in the rover
garage pawing through a crate of gold.” Cassi said. “If they get a shuttle down
here, what do you think they’re going to take with them? You or another crate
of shiny metal?”
“Look, I’ve seen your
background. You were FSS. You can’t possibly be as gullible as you pretend.”
Quinn narrowed her eyes. “What is your game?”
The barrel of the disrupter
drooped a little. “They’re in the rover garage?”
“Where did you think they were?”
Quinn asked.
“Tiffany said she was
recording the message for the beacon. She told me to come find you and keep you
out of the way so she could get her message out.” She looked the three of them.
“Show me.”
Bergen started to move down
the hall, but Marielle hollered, “Stop! Show me a surveillance feed. Can you
get audio?”
“I can do that,” Quinn
said. “Let’s go to the Control Center.”
The four of them moved down
the hall, Quinn leading the way with Marielle trailing behind, the weapon still
aimed at them. Once inside, Marielle took up a station by the closed door and
gestured with the gun. “Dial it up, Quinn.”
Quinn sat at the nearest
station and picked up a note leaning against the screen. With a humorless
laugh, she waved it at Bergen. “Steve went to get lunch.” Dropping the note,
she opened the facility surveillance. “They’re still in the garage. I’ll unmute
the audio.”
The Trophany’s voice grated
shrilly through the speakers. “—we get more?”
On the screen, Cisneros
fitted the lid back onto the crate. “I don’t think it’s just lying around on
the surface out there, or we’d have heard about it before now. Someone must
have found a vein and been mining it.”
“Was this whole evacuation
just a conspiracy to get the gold off the base?” Quinn whispered.
Onscreen, The Trophany
continued to stare at a lump of metal in her hand. “If we could get more, well,
I’d be willing to make some sacrifices to get it back to civilization.
I’m not stupid. I know Syed is done with me—if he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have left
me here. I need to make sure I can provide for myself.” Her voice hardened.
“But I don’t just want to be comfortable. I want to be wealthy. I want to have
enough money to destroy him.”
“What kind of sacrifices
are you talking about?” Cisneros asked.
“Why?” The Trophany
snapped. “Do you know where there’s more gold?”
“How badly do you want it?”
Cisneros flipped the switches on the grav cart strapped to the crate. The
device hummed and lifted the crate, and he shoved it toward the rover. “If we
can get to that shuttle Burger mentioned, we can fill it with gold. I’ll fly,
you’ll co-pilot, and the rest is cargo space. But you’d need to sacrifice
your little coffee klatch.”
The Trophany waved a hand.
“There’s a new spouses’ group at every base. They’re all pretty much the same.”
She laughed as she watched him maneuver the crate through the rover’s door.
“Lucky for you I don’t know how to pilot a shuttle.”
A smirk crossed Cisneros’
face, but with his back to The Trophany, she didn’t see it.
Quinn turned down the volume
and looked at Marielle. “Any questions?”
“One,” Marielle said. “When
do I get to take her down?”
Come back tomorrow to read more.
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