Two Rraey peeled off and came at me. Tellez put herself in front of me. One of the two advancing Rraey raised its weapon at her. “You son of a bitch,” Thao shouted at Ocampo, and the crew of the Chandler began to agitate.
“Quiet,” Ocampo said. He said it in a loud voice that he was clearly proud of, the sort of speaking voice that had been polished by years of diplomatic speeches and the assumption that people would naturally listen to what he had to say.
And it worked; even the Rraey coming to get me stopped and looked at him.
He held up a hand to further the call for silence. The crew hushed to a low murmur.
“You will survive this,” Ocampo said, loudly. “Let me say this again: You will survive this. But only if you listen to me right now and do as I say. So listen. Quietly.”
The Chandler crew was dead silent now.
“I regret the death of Lee Han,” Ocampo said. “Rraey commanders are not accustomed to having orders questioned or refused. There will be no more killings unless you resist or disobey. I also recognize that from your point of view this looks very much like both piracy and treason. I assure you that nothing could be further from the truth. I am sorry I don’t have time to explain it to you further.
“Now. I require the Chandler and I require a pilot. I am taking the ship and I am taking Mr. Daquin here. As for the rest of you, very shortly you will be escorted to the Chandler’s lifepods. The lifepods will be launched and immediately after the Chandler has skipped away—three days from now—an emergency drone will be sent to Phoenix Station and the Colonial Union with the precise coordinates to this system and your lifepods. You know that the Colonial Union keeps ships at skip distance specifically for rescue missions of this type.
“So you will be rescued in four days, five days at the outside. The lifepods are rated for seven days under a full load. You will be rescued with time to spare.
“I repeat: You will survive this. But in order to do that you must now offer no resistance. You must not fight. You must not argue. If you do, the Rraey here will show no hesitation in putting you down. I want you to see your family and friends again. I want you to make it back safely to Colonial Union space. Help me help you get there. Let’s get to it.”
“I don’t believe you,” Thao said, loudly, to Ocampo.
“That’s fair,” Ocampo said. He nodded to Tvann.
The Rraey shot the captain in the forehead. She collapsed, dead.
Ocampo waited for the screams to die down. “As I said, you must not argue. Now follow the Rraey’s orders, please.” He turned away from the Chandler crew and motioned to Commander Tvann to follow him.
The two Rraey continued toward me, and I saw Tellez tense up to fight.
“No,” I said to her.
“They’re going to kill you,” she said.
“They’re going to kill you if you try to stop them,” I pointed out.
“We’re dead anyway,” she said.
“I’d rather you take your chances with a lifepod,” I said. I put my hand on her shoulder as the Rraey arrived. “Thank you, Chieko. I appreciate that you’re willing to fight for me. I really do.”
“Well, you would for me, right?” Tellez asked.
“Yes,” I said. “It’s what I’m doing now.” I nodded to the Rraey, letting them know I was ready to go. One of them grabbed me by the shoulder, and we marched away from Tellez and the crew of the Chandler.
I barely knew any of them.
I was already feeling guilty that I knew I was going to survive.
I heard Secretary Ocampo talking to Tvann as I was marched up to him. “How much damage did you do to the ship?” he asked the Rraey.
“Very little and none that would threaten the ship structurally,” Tvann said. “We only needed to disrupt and disable certain systems.”
“Good,” Ocampo said. “The Chandler’s chief engineer said he could get the power back online in twenty hours. Can you do it in the same timeframe?”
“We will take less time than that,” Tvann said. “We have experience with this, Secretary. As you know.”
“Indeed I do.”
“It will be good to have you with us full-time now.”
“Thank you, Commander Tvann,” Ocampo said. “I agree.”
“What do you want to do with the rest of the crew?” Tvann said.
“I told them we’d put them on the lifepods. Let’s do that.”
“It will be a shame to lose the lifepods.”
Ocampo shrugged. “They’re really not going to be needed, are they?”
“No,” Tvann said.
“Then no real loss. One thing, though. One of the lifepods needs to be destroyed. It has to be plausible that my body isn’t recoverable. Having a lifepod torn up will help with that.”
“Of course,” Tvann asked. “You have an assistant, yes? Will she be going into the lifepods?”
“Offer her the choice of the lifepods or coming with us,” Ocampo said. “How much you want to hint to her that the lifepods are a bad idea is up to you.”
“She did not know?”
“About this? No. This was a secret, remember?”