Polaris Rising (Consortium Rebellion, #1)(43)

“Can you fight the soldiers on board Richard’s ship or do we need to take the von Hasenberg ship instead?” I asked Loch.

“I can fight,” he said. His heaving chest and pinched brow threatened to undermine his words, but the resolution in his expression said that come hell or high water, he could get it done. I took him at his word.

We arrived at Richard’s ship just as the spaceport alarm sounded. “Stay here,” I said. I climbed the cargo ramp and slid open the control panel. On a whim, I hit the door-open button.

When the door actually started opening, I stared at it in shock. Was the door unlocked because of hubris or because I was about to face a platoon of men? As soon as the door cleared ten centimeters, I pulled a flash-bang grenade and rolled it into the cargo bay. I followed it with one of my modified smoke bombs.

“Masks!”

Veronica handed us each a nose and mouth mask from her bag.

“Give me the foxy,” Loch said. I handed him the injector and he jabbed it in his thigh. The rush would hit in thirty seconds and last for twenty minutes.

“I will need cover,” I said. “I’ll be stuck at the access panel in the cargo bay until I override the ship’s control. Don’t take your mask off even if the smoke clears. If we need to retreat, give me warning.”

He nodded then ducked under the door and disappeared. I took a deep breath, threw back my hood, and followed him. It was time to do or die.



The cargo hold was piled with various pieces of equipment lashed to the floor. Loch was nowhere to be seen and neither were any Rockhurst soldiers. I heard an occasional shot through the earpiece, but Loch was eerily silent.

Once Veronica and her sled cleared the door, I hit the manual close button. “When that closes,” I said, “lock it.” I pointed to the lock control. It wouldn’t keep out someone with the access codes, but it would prevent spaceport security from opening the door as easily as we had.

I dropped my backpack by the door, then found the internal access panel and slid it open to reveal the control terminal. While I had access to the door functions, everything else was locked down. I pulled up the diagnostic screen and started entering the override codes from memory.

The standard Rockhurst code failed. Richard had changed the default codes, which made my job infinitely harder. I kept trying.

I had just entered the third unsuccessful code when my bracelet pulsed and sparks flew from a deflected stun shot. Shit. I turned to find the assailant, but he’d already ducked back into cover.

“Can you shoot?” I asked Veronica. She nodded, so I handed her the gun. “Stand close to me and keep him pinned down for another couple minutes.” She was also wearing ballistic armor and if she stayed close, the soldier wasn’t likely to switch to deadly ammo because he’d risk hitting me.

The fourth code failed and Veronica fired on the soldier. Angry butterflies took flight in my stomach and my heart rate picked up. Only two codes left. Come on, come on.

“Shit!” Veronica yelled. I heard her hit the deck at the same time my cuff pulsed and another shot bounced away. One or two more shots like that and I’d be done.

I steadied my hands and typed in the fifth code. Failure. Veronica fired on the soldier’s position, but everything felt distant and fuzzy.

I typed in the sixth code—the last code Bianca had included. If this code didn’t work, I had no backup. We’d have to haul ass to the von Hasenberg ship, assuming security didn’t already have us surrounded.

I entered each digit with extreme care. Veronica shouted something but I didn’t have time to bother with her. My cuff pulsed weakly and an energy shot exploded near my head. Had they moved to deadly force?

After entering the last digit, the world paused for an eternal moment.

Then I was in and everything snapped back into real time. I immediately set up new override codes and wiped the ones Richard had set. I did not use my preferred codes because I had no doubt House Rockhurst’s spies knew what they were, and I didn’t want Richard to be able to take the ship back as easily as I’d taken it from him. I deleted all authorized users and added myself as captain, but voice command authorization would have to wait until we weren’t under attack.

I locked the ship down and retracted the cargo ramp. If Richard wanted in now, he’d have to take a plasma cutter to the cargo bay door. Even with a heavy-duty system it would take hours.

Unusual movement in my peripheral vision caused me to spin around. A Rockhurst soldier was valiantly trying to lift a stunstick in my direction, but it appeared my smoke grenade was finally getting to him because he blinked blearily and wove on his feet.

Veronica was down, but she appeared stunned instead of dead. I wrestled the stunstick away from the soldier and hit him with it. Yeah, it was low, but the bastard had shot at me. I didn’t feel too bad.

“Loch, I’m in the system. Are you okay? How many are left?”

“I’m busy,” Loch growled. “Just stay put.”

“No can do, I’m afraid. I have to get us in the air. Keep your mask on.” I stepped back to the access terminal, turned on the internal ventilation systems, and turned off the filtration. Then I found an air intake vent and cracked my last smoke grenade in front of it. “Don’t kill the downed soldiers. We’ll dump them before takeoff.”

Loch didn’t respond.