A tactical nuke.
Even Obie's childlike pronunciation couldn't make something like that sound harmless and saying that a nuke meant we were dead seemed like an understatement. There were a lot of less dramatic ways to die, but I couldn't think of any that would both flash fried you and blasted you into component atoms. I pushed my way past the 714 to get some air and walked around. Behind me, Theopolus started bawling and shrieking and I guessed he wasn't too happy about the idea that something made by a lower life form was going to kack him too.
The Chagrin looked surprised that we were all so upset, but knew enough to keep out of the way as the normally calm little people bounced off the walls around him. Nix recoiled from the monitors and shoved past towards the hall at a dead run. K'rth hissed angrily and his tail twitched as he looked around for a release. Shoving the shrieking Ebon out of the way, he kicked one of the prisoners onto his back and kneeled down. There was a hiss of a hypo and the unlucky Interceptor came back to the land of the living with a grown.
"Your people brought thermonuclear weapons onboard?" he spat as he sliced open the man's armor vest. The Interceptor was still disoriented and blinked at him, but K'th didn't have the time or the patience to wait and did something that must have been pretty painful. I still needed air and went outside to stand with Nix, patting her on the shoulder as she crouched to watch a corner. We were both pretty scared to say the least, but where I was shaking, she was so tense that she might have been made of granite.
"Fuck you yoU-AAAAAGGGGHHHHH! OKAY! OKAY! YES!" came the answer behind us. Dark Night Bravado doesn't stand up well to a pissed-off Shaktar.
"You answered too quickly to be convincing," K'rth hissed. "Encourage me to believe you."
There was a wet ripping sound and a scream that made my head hurt. Afterwards, the man was gasping for air and trying to plead, but K'rth hurt him again twice, probably to make a point. That started him chattering and I rubbed my temples.
"A nuke. How in the hell did they manage to steal one of those?" I asked and Nix just shrugged without speaking.
"FUCK! STOP IT! PLEASE!" the Interceptor whimpered. "Please, don't-don't do that again."
"You were about to answer me?"
"Y-yes. What do you want to-AAAAAHHHHHAGGGHHH!"
"Your lack of attention is disappointing," the Shaktar commented. "Answer my question. You brought nuclear weapons onboard?"
"Yes."
"Where are they from?"
"Cross. It's a War World."
Another scream followed by quiet whimpering. It never pays to condescend to a Shaktar on a tear.
"How many?" K'rth continued, raising his voice again. "HOW MANY WEAPONS?"
"T-Three-AAAAAHHHHH!"
"If he's going to play with his food, he'd better eat it," the wraith growled and forced a smile. A little humor would go a long way here, but the intensity of the screams had sent goose bumps up my spine and dulled its effect. I moved to the opposite corner from Nix and covered that hall, hoping that I might be able to clear my thoughts with a little distance. The words "Izuh Tactal Nuke" kept spinning in my mind and I wiped a cold sweat from my forehead.
Gradually, the screams died down into whimpering and I heard K'rth come out into the hall with Obie behind him. He must have said something to Nix because she huddled around and I walked over since I didn't want to be left out.
"What did you find out?" I asked, not really sure that I wanted to know.
"The detonation of the weapons was not in their plans," he hissed. His yellow eyes were as dark as amber with his anger. "The War World soldier has taken it upon himself to do this."
"And you think we can stop a guy in Dogeybone armor with what we're packing?" Nix asked. "That isn't optimism, it's suicide."
K'rth turned to her, his anger leaving his voice. The Shaktar race may be fatalistic but they're not prone to useless sacrifice and that meant that the old man had a plan.
"No," he answered. "But there are other ways."
"Such as?" she asked as she pulled her helmet off and stepped closer to glare up at him. Nix can get confrontational when she's really scared, but K 'rth wasn't offended at her challenge.
"The man is currently not wearing a sealed suit," he said as he looked at the rest of us. "His helmet is off and his hands are exposed to enable the manipulation he needs. That leaves us with two options."
He looked around for a moment before continuing, but the three of us were silent.
"We can always rush in and attempt a head shot before he can cover himself, but any miss would be fatal."
"We kin space him," Obie interrupted as he grinned and bobbed his head. It's mannerisms like these that help perpetuate stereotypes and I shrugged, not knowing what he meant.
"What?" Nix asked and I was glad she did because I wanted to know why he was so pleased with himself.
"You know!" he said, pushing me playfully. "Like in Dustroyuhs ov Therus, Pot Five."
I didn't get it, so he grabbed me by my sore shoulder and shook me like a kid with a doll. God, I hate it when the Chagrin thinks that I'm the slow one and it didn't help when he started breaking his words down phonetically so that I could understand him better.
"We eevac-you-ate thuh at-mo-sphere," he said. "Ya know -SPACE him!"
Now I got the reference and shrugged his hand off. He and Angus picked up a really cheesy action flick a couple weeks back where the hero killed the villain by blowing him out an airlock. If I remembered correctly, I think the guy had some sort of bomb shoved in his ass, compliments of the hero. Hopefully Obie wasn't planning to jettison the live warhead with the guy, but I wasn't too sure. Who says the T.V. can't teach?
"Okay," I said as I pushed the image of Obie playing action hero and getting the girl out of my mind. "How? Can the atmosphere in that area be vented or do we have to blow a hole in the bulkhead?"
I guess my voice was still shaking a bit because of the way K'rth looked at me. As usual, he had probably already worked everything out.
"Theopolus assures me that the area can be sealed off and the atmosphere can be safely 'evacuated' to space without compromising the craft further. Afterwards, we can secure the weapon and attempt to disable it."
I wanted to yell a "hot damn, let's do it!" but K'rth wasn't finished. It felt like the part where the other shoe fell.
"The bad part is that the mechanisms that will permit this are not responding remotely."
"So, we have to sneak down there?" Nix asked. Her body language was unusual, with the head held low and cocked to the side.
"Yes. Or at least those of us best suited for stealth will."
The mention of the bomb had pushed her pretty close to snapping and this was probably the extra shove she didn't need. Her voice turned into a high screech as she waved her arms.
"GET CLOSE WITH A GUY AND A WARMONGER?" Nix yelled. "NO WAY, NO FUCKING WAY AM I GOING!"
"I wouldn't think of asking you to," he answered. "I will go."
"I'm going too," I piped up. Even though he was the second quietest beyond Nix, there was no way I'd leave this to him without backup. That was beyond simply pushing his luck and any extra target would make survival easier.
I couldn't blame Nix for not wanting to try this, but she had lost stock n K 'rth's eyes by refusing. He turned his back on her and nodded appreciatively as he quickly checked his weapons. The big Shaktar seldom questions statements of action and had taken both of us at what we had said. With a huff, he walked back in to the node and stomped one of the prisoners as he made his way to the Ebon.
The tension was bunched up in my neck and I rotated it to limber it, but that got my shoulder aching again. The fact that it was getting stiff again so soon worried me, but I wasn't going to be tempted into using more Kickstart unless I absolutely had to. Instead I underscored the mental note from earlier to get it checked out as soon as we were back on Mort.
"What did he mean 'he wouldn't think of asking me'," Nix asked. She was still agitated, but I figured it was for a different reason.
"You said you weren't going," I answered as I snapped the cylinder closed on my Blitzer and put it away. "And he accepted it. It's as simple as that."
"He's disappointed in me or something, isn't he?"
"Yes, I think he is."
"He thinks I'm a coward?"
I let out my breath and shook my head. While I may understand K'rth's ways more than most people, I still can't tell precisely what he's thinking all the time. There was no doubt that he was ticked at a few things and it was a good bet that she was one of them. Even then, I doubted anyone would ever call her a coward.
"I don't know what he's thinking," I answered and rubbed my eyes, knowing I was far too tired for this. "Why don't you go ask him instead of me?"
"You think I'm a coward too, don't you?"
She hadn't heard me and I winced as I opened my eyes again. "What?" I asked, taken off guard. "Hell, no I don't."
K'rth came back out, stomping the other Interceptor on his way and holding out his oyster as he spoke. It was directed mostly to me and I felt Nix bristle.
"I have downloaded the route and basic ship schematics and we can take a vertical access corridor located-" he started, but Nix got in his way and interrupted.
"I'm going," she said.
K'rth stopped and looked at her with blank eyes, but she was intent on staring him down and didn't budge. The site of the short wraith trying to back a 6' 4" Shaktar down is something you don't see every day.
"I said I'm going," she reiterated. "He'll hear you two coming from a click away, so it's up to me."
"No, it isn't. It's up to me," he answered and started to go past her. When she stepped in his way again and growled, I wondered if there was something in the air up here that was making the entire squad become unhinged. The fighting between the waster/boyfriend team and myself offered more than enough group tension, so I stepped up to intervene before another rift appeared. K'rth told me to hold with his eyes and I stopped just short of doing something stupid like disobeying him.
"You've reconsidered?" he asked, his voice showing no irritation whatsoever.
"YES," she said, dropping the confrontational attitude a few notches. "I'm not leaving my survival up to you or anyone else."
"That is an acceptable explanation," he answered. "But we will both go."
"Why? I just said-"
"You have just told me that you put your survival over that of your friends," he answered in a quiet tone that was harsh enough to make her flinch. "I will ensure that you do not have a further change of heart and that we succeed. The others will stay here to safeguard the Ebon."
Nix kept her head down and followed as he turned and headed past me. Wraiths are bound to their instincts and that means personal survival is much more valuable than luxury concepts like honor and fair play. It's part of what makes Nix what she is and I can't blame her for it. Like she once told me, honor won't fill your stomach and it won't make death any prettier when you' re on the receiving end. On the other hand, while I don't entirely agree with K'rth browbeating her over a difference in values, he had a very valid point. We are in this together and we will either live or die together. That 's what being a squad is all about.
He said "S'tdnt rktmk" as he passed and I returned it as I watched the two of them vanish around the corner.
"Die Well," I said under my breath and Obie cocked his head either because he didn't understand the Shaktar phrase or didn't hear it correctly. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
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