Across the entire planetary system spread the belief that nothing was as impenetrable as the Meh-nan jungle.
Nero pushed Cobra, a human-manufactured ship, as hard as he could to catch a nyasuk fighter that had been evading him for nearly ten minutes. It seemed to flicker on and off the radar. He was going to have to push Cobra to its very limits. He frowned slightly as he wrestled with the controls, which resisted him. The speed pressed him into his seat. The green light on the console flashed. Katherine wanted to talk to him from the Naetilus, but he had no time for that now.
Finally, guided by the radar display, the enemy ship was slightly behind and below him, right where he needed it to be for boarding. He programmed an automated sequence: after a moment, reduce speed, open the hatch. He was fairly close to ground level. He tried unsuccessfully to shake off the heavy humidity. Cobra's operating system startled him with its neutral voice.
—High-risk maneuver detected. Safety lock engaged.
It was, after all, a ship built on Éfesis, the epicenter of human technology.
—Override safety lock, —he snapped impatiently.
—Voice recognized. Welcome, Nero. Awaiting instructions.
Sliding the hatch upward, Nero freed his jacket that had snagged on one of the cockpit tabs, and now he was descending along Cobra's hull. The ship continued cutting through Omega's skies, slowing enough that the pressure change wouldn't burst his head open. The enemy nyasuk fighter was directly beneath him, all aerodynamic simplicity and clean lines.
The pilot of the gray fighter looked up, incredulous to see Nero hanging from Cobra's hull like a dangerous shadow, and pushed his speed. At once he felt the thud of boots on the roof and tried to roll to shake off the intruder, but Nero was already in place.
Dropping straight onto the hull, Nero allowed himself a smile as his hair whipped in the wind and the magnetic clamps locked onto the nyasuk craft.
The smart ship responded to his fingerprints even from outside. He tugged at the trapdoor with one hand, forcing it open with his foot until it gave. The ship wasn't about to allow two pilots: the alarm shrieked, nearly bursting their eardrums. Nero glanced for a second at the nyasuk's panicked face inside.
—This can't be! —the nyasuk stammered, scrambling for something to defend himself with.
With a swift, clean motion, Nero pressed his dagger to the side of the nyasuk's throat. Without another thought he slid into the pilot's seat as the limp body slumped aside and dropped like dead weight.
—Another one, —he muttered to himself, his cold gaze already fixed on the controls as he opened a channel to the Naetilus. —Oracle, I need to know if the Naetilus has docked with Cobra.
—If you don't show up this very moment, —Katherine's voice rose, her indignation barely contained— I swear you'll crash into the middle of the jungle.
—I'm on my way back. Requesting bay doors open, —Nero answered curtly, not wanting to drag out the exchange.
—You'll see when you get here, bastard, —Katherine shot back, cutting the line.
The nyasuk ship's system tried to reboot after the chaos. Nero smacked the nearly buttonless console a couple of times to shut it up. He wasn't in the mood to interact. His temples began to pulse. The familiar headache was coming on.
After circling pointlessly above Omega's sky, he slipped through the Naetilus' bay doors. A moment later he stood before Katherine and Nicholas, who covered his mouth with his hand in shock.
—Would you care to explain what the hell you were thinking?
—Captain, —Nero began flatly— I brought the nyasuk rechargeable battery, so that—
Katherine's slap cracked across his face. Nicholas actually jumped at the sound. Nero stayed rigid, staring at a fixed point behind her.
—Orders are orders, —she snapped— This is the last time I tolerate you putting your own goals above this crew and the Naetilus. When will you get it through your head you're not alone? Nicholas, bring Samantha to run a medical check on him.
Nicholas bolted through the cable-lined corridors of the Naetilus, like vast tunnels, deeper into the ship. Katherine leaned close to Nero's ear.
—Do you realize what would have happened if your location had been exposed? What would have happened to the mission, to our work?
—I'm willing to face the consequences, —Nero said, tilting his head coldly.
—Whatever, —Katherine raised a brow, giving him a once-over— Explain it to Nicholas, —she finished, heading straight to the command bridge.
Now Nero was left alone with his conscience. The echoes of enemy fighters, of the fire he had dodged with the Naetilus, with Cobra, and finally aboard the strange nyasuk ship; all those buzzing sounds sent his sympathetic nervous system into overdrive, his body alerting him to danger. Yet his military training suppressed those primitive responses. He entered the Naetilus' bridge sweating cold, but struggling to hold his composure.
—Naetilus' pilot assuming duties, —he announced in his monotone.
He was a crew member, Katherine the captain. As long as she held the ship, he could hold his own life. A nyasuk for hire, unattached, serving under a human captain aboard a ship falling apart.
Of course, Nicholas deserved an explanation. Or did he? Did it really matter what Nicholas thought? Or that he was worried?
He remembered the hand covering his mouth, the red canvas sneakers, the loose jumpsuit as he rushed off to warn Samantha. Samantha had taken his temperature, said he was cold, that it was an organic response, his body redirecting blood to protect his vital organs.
The Naetilus picked up speed, with Cobra and the captured nyasuk ship secured in storage. Alex, the gunner and second-in-command, watched Nero without pity but with understanding of Katherine's lesson. He raised his eyebrows as he loaded manual rounds into the turret, reflecting.
There was no way Nero could disobey direct orders, steal Cobra without clearance, and risk the mission's integrity by capturing the enemy ship. It had been reckless; he hadn't thought of what might happen if the Naetilus had to endure another heavy barrage, if the attack had doubled. But it was done, and he had the stolen nyasuk battery. The blood from the slit jugular still stained the hull below. That battery would power the Naetilus for months.
Nero felt no regret. He had an overwhelming urge to smoke. His fingers trembled as they brushed the Naetilus' worn controls, his eyes focusing on the details of the plastic casing, once white, with tiny circular bumps under his hands, as they left the thick green expanses behind.
—Are you… are you okay? —Nicholas' trembling voice came through the intercom, meant only for him.
—Operational, —Nero replied, economizing words.
—Why did you do it? —Nicholas' whisper carried both pleading and fear. With a sigh, Nero understood he wasn't really expecting an answer. Even in that, he had Nicholas completely conditioned.
The ground of Omega receded as the Naetilus surged at full speed. They left behind even the tallest palms and treetops, breaking through the rain-heavy clouds.
The great ship's controls, as always when surpassing a certain velocity, finally yielded after long tension, and the vessel shuddered. Nero rubbed his knuckles. From the corner of his eye he glanced right, at Samantha the navigator, charting safe routes through space. She wasn't pleased with his maneuver either. To his left, Birdie at monitoring, correcting drone paths, sang a little tune as if nothing had happened. Nicholas had spoken to him on the private line from the engine room, trying to calm the Naetilus' overheating, checking each propulsion system—nuclear and chemical. Nadia, for her part, was decoding nyasuk characters and the last transmissions the captured ship had sent to its command, finding no amusement in any of this.
Nero entered a command sequence to activate autopilot and, after a moment, went to his cabin. Adrenaline still coursed through his veins, and his training efficiently suppressed his body's responses; but in truth, he was exhausted.
In his mind appeared the image of the dead nyasuk, marked with a bull skull insignia over his heart. The longer Nero stared at it, the more it seemed like his own head, under enemy fire, aboard a foreign ship, on one of the planets within the Asteroid Belt.