He sighed, but nodded. “Don’t cause any trouble.”
Veronica’s smile was brittle. “Do I ever?” she asked.
Tabo opened the door and waved us through. Once we were out of earshot I whispered, “I can’t believe that worked.”
“I told you, I come here often.” Her voice was wistful. “Tabo is too nice for his own good. He can’t stand to see a woman in pain. He told me once that if he had a ship, he’d take me off-planet in a heartbeat. If there is any way to avoid hurting him, please do so.”
“I will do my best,” I said.
The launch pads were arrayed in a set of three arcs leading away from the terminal. A wide road split each arc in two and allowed ships farther out to have a safe passageway for ground travel.
In total, a dozen ships could land at once. Today, three were berthed, and it seemed like that might be an unusually high number, based on the state of disrepair most of the pads were in.
Larger ships docked on the farthest arc and Richard’s ship was the only one out there. It wasn’t big enough to require the extra space, so they’d docked it for privacy. The ship practically glowed with good maintenance and money. I’d seen maybe three mercenary ships ever that looked that good. No wonder Loch immediately picked up on it being one of Richard’s ships. The cargo ramp was lowered, but the door was closed.
Two small ships, both older and in dire need of exterior maintenance, sat in the closest arc, one on each side. If we had to abandon Richard’s ship, we would need to run back toward the terminal to take one of these two ships. That was less than ideal, but I couldn’t see a way around it.
The ship on the left was a Yamado ship. It was impossible to tell its age just by looking, but I guessed at least fifty. Meant for short-range jumps only, it would truly be our last resort.
The right ship was a von Hasenberg ship that we’d stopped producing before I was born. It was marginally newer than the Yamado ship, but that wasn’t saying much. It was equipped with a long-range FTL drive, but it took forever to charge. If they jumped it on the way here, it was likely still charging.
Fuck.
Based on these two backups, it was imperative that we take Richard’s ship. There was no way I could take on six or more elite soldiers on my own, even if my harebrained scheme worked. If Loch wasn’t in fighting shape then we would have to abort and settle for the von Hasenberg ship.
“I’ve seen enough,” I said.
Veronica cast one more wistful glance at the ships then turned and headed back to the terminal. I followed.
“We need to walk by the detention center,” I said. “The side farthest away from everything else. Then you need to find a reason for why we walked by, even if it’s to stop for tea.”
“I regularly shop in the market nearby. The detention center isn’t exactly on the way, but I often stalk through this district after a visit to the spaceport.”
We exited the terminal and turned right. A two-meter plastech fence marked the edge of spaceport property. The holes were too small to use for climbing, so we’d have to go through. That would be the least of our problems.
Five minutes later we walked past the detention center. It was just as bad as I feared: no cover, cameras everywhere, and only two main access points. This would have to be a quick and dirty rescue.
We stopped in the street market while Veronica bartered with a few vendors. I reined in my impatience. Diverting suspicion was worth the extra few minutes, but I breathed a sigh of relief when we headed back to the house.
Once we were inside, I went straight for the desk. A hand wave brought up the display and the flat keyboard embedded into the desk surface lit up. “Is this secure?” I asked Veronica.
“No.”
I bounced my connection through a variety of universal servers until I was happy that, while not secure, it would at least be difficult to track the connection back to this address. Then, I got down to work.
The detention center server was easy to find. It was harder to breach. I kicked off my cracking scripts while I manually poked around. It took longer than I would’ve liked, but the scripts finally found an overlooked, vulnerable service. I set up a back door and then I was in.
I pulled up the various video streams. The outside of the building showed from all angles. No blind spots. The inside was the same story.
I flipped through the cameras until I found Loch. He was in a solid-sided holding cell in the middle of the building. Shackles connected his spread arms to the wall and his ankles were attached to a short chain and leg shackle. By the way he slumped, he was sleeping, passed out, or dead. Blood ran down his arms from his wrists. Bruises and swelling marred his face.
Richard had not been kind. Rage burned hot and my decision to rescue Loch cemented.
I pushed the rage back and focused on the other cameras. The lack of interior guards was an unexpected surprise. The house Richard was staying at was less than five minutes away at a flat run, so they must figure they could get there before any escape attempt succeeded.
I would have to prove them wrong.
Loch shifted. Still alive, then, but I didn’t know how hurt. If he couldn’t walk then we were royally fucked. I could only deal with one problem at a time, so I prayed he looked worse than he felt and moved on.
Veronica poked her head in the room. “I received word that the last of your supplies just arrived. They were not cheap and I didn’t have room to bargain.”
“They’re worth it,” I said without looking up. “I’ll reimburse you.”
She lingered. “Is this really going to work?”
I met her gaze. “I don’t know. But I’m going to do my damnedest to make sure it does. And I need you to do the same. You good?”
“I’d be better if I knew what you were planning.”
“All in good time. Are you packed and ready?”
“Nearly.”
“Good. We’re going tonight.”
She sucked in a breath. “I’m almost afraid to hope,” she said very quietly.
“Then I’ll hope enough for both of us.”
I strapped on the thin ballistic armor designed to deflect energy bolts. It only worked about half the time, but with the backup of my necklace and cuff, I hoped it was good enough to keep me alive. Ideally, it wouldn’t even be needed, but I’d never be that lucky.
Pistols went in holsters on each hip. A pair of flash-bang grenades went next to them, along with two modified smoke grenades and a set of six mini vaporizers. A knife and a plasma cutter rounded out my easily accessible equipment. Each had a distinct shape so I wouldn’t grab the wrong one by accident.
A backup battery snugged against my low back and connected via inductive charger to my cuff. With the extra boost, the cuff should protect against six or seven glancing shots and two or three direct hits. Loch would not be protected, and I couldn’t afford to be slowed down by an extra set of armor. I’d just have to stay between him and any shooters.
A small pack with the rest of my supplies went on, then my cloak would go over the whole lot. Veronica would be responsible for my big pack, as well as her things. Loch and I would meet her two blocks from the detention center.
I picked up the control tablet of the first drone. The drones were the last items on my list and the most expensive and difficult to find. I had no doubt that Veronica reached out to contacts on the smuggler side of the planet to purchase them, because they weren’t something that normal people had just sitting around. The fact that she hadn’t needed me to transfer money to pay for them said a lot about her financial situation.