Meanwhile, on Binary Bloom, Nicodemus Hallows was getting some much needed sleep. He was short on staff with the dead and wounded, but the people on Bloom were an independent and self-sufficient lot, they would manage a few hours without him.
Meanwhile, Faberto had returned to the control room and on the way filled his coffee mug. Traffic had picked up slightly again, but with three of them it was still an easy shift. Then he got an incoming call from the Grimalkin.
„Binary Bloom, Faberto speaking.“, he greeted the ship, „What can I do for you?“
„Hey Faberto“, a familiar voice answered him, „It’s Red Rodriguez. Glad to hear you. Listen, can you get Nico on the line for me?“
„He went to bed, get some sleep. And I really don’t think I should wake him up.“
„Damn.“, Red said, „How about Baer?“
Faberto shook his head slowly: „I heard that he’s dead. Sorry, Red.“
„Damn!“, Red exclaimed, „You guys were hit hard. Faberto, I need someone who knows Bloom. We’re coming in hot and we’ve got a kind of a Mexican standoff situation here.“
Faberto checked his console. Then he wondered: „Red, you are not on my screen yet. Which means you are still hours away.“
Red took a second to answer before she said: „Two hours. Current speed is C-35.“
„Come again?“, Faberto said. He brought up the ship data of the Grimalkin: „Got you. C-25 you mean.“ The display in front of him listed that number as the Grimalkin’s official top speed.
„No, you heard me right. C-35. Thirty-five. I don’t have time to explain. Wake up Nico. Tell him I’m sorry but it is an emergency and we don’t have time to wait for his beauty sleep.“
She closed the call and left Faberto dumbfounded. He still remembered Nico’s mood from an hour ago and very much did not want to wake him up. He started to get up, very slowly, then sat down again with a sudden jerk. He typed on the console, then he spoke into his headphones: „Hey Emilia. Listen, I need you to do something for me, I can’t leave traffic control right now.“
Twenty minutes later, Nico was back in his office, tired and moody, but dressed and mostly functional. He called the Grimalkin.
„Hey Red“, he began, „please tell me some good news, I’ve had enough of the other kind today.“
Red stared at him and through the holographic image spotted his red eyes and unkempt hair. Nico had never been one for the AI image manipulation tricks that were so common to smooth out or exaggerate facial expressions, retouch blemishes or even digitally applied make-up or a change of clothes.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
„Bit of a mixed bag, to be honest.“, she said, „We’re coming in not under our own power. We’re bringing along some Xylars, and they are bringing along us. It’s a bit of a prisoners love triangle. Awake yet to digest the details?“
Nico had indeed perked up slightly. He had met Red only a few times, and thought of her as a sharp and capable captain, but nobody all too special. This was an intriguing premise, however. He told her to go on.
„Right“, she said, „While fleeing Erulas, our ship was taken hostage by a Xylars ship that came out of nowhere. Then they boarded us and we took their boarding party hostage. Right now we’re the prisoners of our prisoners if that makes sense. Anyway, we made a mutually beneficial deal of getting out of the Erulas system together. Fortunately for us, it’s a small ship and they can barely reach the end of the Junkstorm. So we proposed Binary Bloom to negotiate a less improvised solution. Nico, we want to make a deal with the Xylars. Give them back this damned core and end this all. But I’m very aware we are like insects to them. We need to be sure they won’t just snuff us out as soon as they have it. We’ve convinced them that the Grimalkin can’t be unloaded in space, which is true, and if they try to just cut us open to take it, we’ll blow up the ship and them and the core with it.“
„They bought that bluff?“, Nico asked with a sly grin. Red was not the type to… „It’s not a bluff.“, she simply said, interrupting his thoughts. He had nothing else to say for a moment.
„Anyway. The Xylars are high-dim creatures. If we were in normal space, they could just lift the core out through some of the higher dimensions. Heck, they probably have a choice which one to use. So we can’t leave hyperspace and the moment we do, we take a huge risk.“
„Great“, Nico said, still cynical from lack of sleep, „So you’re bringing more trouble to Bloom. No problem, it can take a number and join the rest.“
„What?“, Red sounded surprised, worried even, „Nico, are you alright?“
„Sorry Red“, he simply said, „Not enough sleep and too many setbacks. You got the news that we’re evacuating Bloom? I’ve built this micro-nation for a decade and now it’s all gone. I can’t decide if I should cry or bash holes in the walls. So please, tell me that this isn’t more trouble.“
Red became softer in her words. She could relate to Nico, she had been through a lot recently as well and was just about done. „Not if we play our cards right, Nico. Let’s do this. I have a plan.“
„Ok“, Nico said, calming down slightly, „Let me hear.„
„Bloom is not defenseless. Is there anything that might damage a Xylars ship, one that is a light fighter or fast shuttle or something? Maybe a military ship but not a frontline combat one. If so, my plan is to drop out of hyperspace really close to Bloom, within range. Use Bloom as a deterrent for them to move on us. Get them to negotiate sincerely and get them off our backs for good. We dock at Bloom and transfer the core to the Rusty Bolt. The Rusty Bolt can pick up or drop off cargo in space. We fly off to the edge of the Junkstorm and hand over the core, safely away from Bloom. We drop the core and jump away before they can blow us up. Just in case they change their minds.“
Nico let it all sink in and went over the plan in his mind, twice. „Sounds like a fair plan to me.“, he finally said, „Can’t spot any obvious flaws. Still risky, though.“
„It is.“, Red agreed, „But our alternative is to get wasted somewhere out here. We made a temporary deal with them that they’d drag us along to Bloom.“
„Drag us along?“
„Some fancy Xylars tech we didn’t know about. One of the reasons I worry they might blow us up in the end, to keep their secrets. Anyway. What about the plan. Can we make it work?“
„Yes“, Nico gave the response she had been waiting for, „We still have one ace up our sleeve. I’ll let traffic control send you coordinates. I hope you are right in judging these aliens. But you’re putting your life on the line here, so if you’re all in, I’ll trust that.“
„Thank you, Nico.“, Red finished the call, „Hope to see you in person soon.“