Desperate Measures Chapter 31

Chapter Twenty-Nine

July 22, 2230, Neo Southern California Metroplex, Private Hangar of the Argo

The next two days passed without incident.

Erik and Jia stuck close to home other than for the occasional meal, half-convinced that if they went out, they’d end up swept up in some strange incident that would interfere with their trip to Alpha Centauri. They eschewed training, reasoning they’d have plenty of time to worry about that during the flight to Penglai.

The day came, and with the MX 60 already loaded, they set out. Erik landed the MX 60 with Jia flying her own flitter right behind him. The extra space on the

Argo

allowed them to take the flitters, and Lanara had added some mods to Jia’s in her spare time. It lacked all the features of the MX 60, but the armor was solid, and the maneuverability had been improved.

A small crowd had gathered in the hangar, including people Erik knew: Alina, Malcolm and Lanara, and two men and two women he didn’t recognize—the new team members.

He didn’t object to the idea of having more people on his team, but every new person represented a potential new personnel problem to be solved.

Alina was smart enough not to send him anyone he couldn’t work with, but he wouldn’t know their true measure until he fought beside them. Her warnings about the agents’ strong personalities hadn’t gone unnoticed.

Erik threw open his door and stepped out, offering a broad wave to Alina and the gathered crowd. Might as well start out on the right foot. “Good morning.”

Alina nodded, waiting until Jia was out and standing next to Erik to speak. “You’ve all been briefed, and whatever other details you need will be sent to Emma. I’m not going to waste a lot of time reiterating what you already know, and if any new information pops up, I’ll try to send it to you before you jump.”

Two of the new arrivals wore suits, making Erik suspect they were ID agents. One was a huge beast of a man with a shaved head and a permanent scowl. He looked like the kind of man Erik might need to punch into a wall to earn his respect. The other suit, a lithe auburn-haired woman, coolly looked at Erik and Jia as if judging them. Both of them appeared to be in their early twenties and lacked the subtle features that would suggest de-aging. For some reason, he’d gotten it in his head that most ghosts were like Alina. It was good to get a reminder that wasn’t true.

Two other people stood close to Lanara. The first of the pair, a tall man, nodded to Erik with a broad, easy smile, like he was delighted with life. That might get annoying, but it was better than Mr. Scowl.

He introduced himself. “Wei Li. It’s a pleasure to be working with you two. I’ve already heard about some of the crazy things you’ve done in this ship, and I look forward to doing my part to help you do even crazier crap.”

“Janessa Varone,” offered the other engineer, a younger dark-skinned woman. She averted her eyes. “I hope to do my part, preferably without too much craziness.” She smiled at the

Argo

. “And I look forward to being able to help with the jumpship.”

The suited beast marched up to Erik, looking him up and down, the scowl remaining. He thrust out a hand. A wide grin destroyed his scowl. “Kant Marle. Please call me Kant. I hate being called Agent Marle.”

The other agent scoffed and folded her arms. “You could try being professional for five seconds.”

“This is me being professionally friendly,” he answered.

Erik gave Kant’s hand a firm shake. “You all can call me whatever you want as long as it’s not ‘asshole.’”

Kant laughed and pointed his thumb over his shoulder at the woman. “Agent Anne Devereaux. Don’t mind the ice queen thing. She’s good at her job.”

Anne scoffed and rolled her eyes.

Jia moved forward to shake his hand. “I’m glad to be working with you, Kant.”

Erik and Jia moved toward the others to shake their hands as well. Anne watched in disapproval. Erik wasn’t sure if she had a problem with him or Kant.

“Good,” Alina declared. “You all know each other now.” She stared Anne down. “To reiterate, both these agents are tasked to you for active support, Erik and Jia. You two will make the calls, and they will help you execute them.”

Anne’s mouth twitched for a moment.

“Problem?” Erik asked. If she couldn’t handle taking any orders from someone outside the ID, he’d rather know now than in the middle of a fight with a bunch of behemoth

yaoguai

on Chiron.

He’d gotten lucky with the military squads. They had known about his service time, so they’d treated him as an Army brother, but this ghost didn’t seem to care about that.

“I don’t have a problem, Blackwell.” Anna’s attempt at a smile came off as a sneer. “I’ve read your file. I know you’re good at what you do. I just…well…”

Jia frowned and moved forward. Erik held her back with his arm. She stepped back and nodded at him with a slight smile.

“You what,

Anne

?” Erik chuckled. “Don’t hold back on my account. We might be able to jump to Alpha Centauri quickly, but we’re going to be trapped together on the

Argo

for days. Let’s hash out the petty crap right away. We’ll be tripping over each other in there.”

Alina watched, her expression impassive. Wei and Kant both looked amused, but Janessa seemed worried. Malcolm tapped his leg nervously. It was good for all of them to get a feel for the dynamic.

Lanara snorted and walked toward the

Argo

. “Li, Varone. Come to the engine room when everyone’s done pissing all over the floor to prove something pointless.”

Erik chuckled. Leave it to Lanara to cut to the chase.

Janessa jogged after her. “I think I’ll come now.”

Wei nodded after Lanara. “See you soon. I think I need to spend more time, uh, getting to know people.”

The eager amusement in his eyes spoke more to entertainment than socialization. Erik didn’t care if this was his fun for the week.

Malcolm snapped his fingers and hurried toward the ship, running past Lanara. “I just remembered, uh, something I wanted to check, too. Like, right now, immediately.”

No one spoke as the small crowd made its way to the

Argo

. Anne continued staring Erik down.

“There are more elegant ways to accomplish certain tasks,” Anne noted to Erik. “I know this isn’t your first time out of the Solar System, but this isn’t a military operation, Blackwell. You can make a mess at home because it’s easy enough for Alina and others to clean it up. You do that too much out there, and it’s going to become a problem.”

Jia snorted. “Oh, well, we’ll be sure to let the conspiracy do what they want so as to not cause any inconvenience to the government.”

“I’m serious.” Anne narrowed her eyes. “We don’t know how far or where we’ll end up. Today, it might be Alpha Centauri. A month from now, it might be Molino.”

Erik’s brow lifted. If that was an attempt to goad him, it didn’t work.

“Molino could have used louder military-style solutions,” he replied. “Not quieter. You know the conspiracy can get pretty brazen, which means our response needs to match.”

“I’m just saying, things are more unstable than you might appreciate on the frontier.” Anne folded her arms, her fingers tight. “If we blow up everything left and right, the conspiracy might take advantage of it.”

Marle shook his head. Again, there was an abrupt shift between the scowl and a goofy grin. With his large size, it was unfortunate he suffered from resting bitch face.

“She’s like this with everyone, Erik.” He gestured at Anne. “But she’ll do what she needs to when the time is right.”

Erik marched over to Anne. “Is that the case?”

“I have my orders.” She continued to stare at Erik defiantly. “Those include listening to you, but keep in mind, we’re on loan to you. We don’t

work

for you. If I feel you’re screwing up, I will let Agent Koval know.”

Alina cleared her throat. “Good. I think we’re all on the same page.”

Erik offered Anne a slight mocking grin before stepping back. He had expected something like this. He’d known there was only so long he would be able to operate with total autonomy. Until now, it hadn’t been an issue.

Although they’d met with Barbu without telling Alina ahead of time, that had been a function of limited time rather than a desire to keep anything from her.

As long as the ID remained dedicated to defeating the conspiracy, Erik had no problem with Alina knowing his every move. If the situation changed, he would have a lot more problems than one frosty redheaded agent to worry about.

Emma’s hologram appeared, including a dark suit matching Anne’s. Erik suspected the AI was mocking the woman.

“I should make it clear,” Emma began, looking straight at Anne, “that everything that occurs on any ship I’m interfaced with is under my surveillance except when I choose otherwise.” Her smile was cold. “Attempts to bypass that, such as unauthorized communications, will be reported to Erik and Jia.”

“That’s enough.” Alina stepped forward. “Erik and Jia have my total trust, as do you, Agents Devereaux and Marle. I know it’ll be an adjustment, but I’m sure you’ll learn to work well together for the good of the UTC. They aren’t just muscle, Erik. Use them well.”

Kant flexed. “I have plenty of muscle, too.”

“Down, Hercules.” With that, Alina headed toward a small side door.

Erik gazed at Alina and the other agent. Anne spun on her heel and headed toward the

Argo

, not looking any happier than before.

A dedicated engineering crew, an AI, a hacker, two ghosts, Jia, a damned impressive ship, and an even more impressive jumpship. His quest might have started with a few clues and a desperate hope, but now he had a whole team.

Wei clapped his hands loudly. Everyone left in the hangar turned toward him, confused.

“Okay, now that we’ve got the introductions over with, why don’t we go to the galley and have a little party? The others can join when they hear the fun.” He pointed at Emma. “She can fly the ship, right? So, we’ve got plenty of time before we get to Penglai. If we get drunk tonight, we can sleep it off.”

Kant rubbed his chin. “I like where your head is, but I’m not sure that’s a great idea before the mission.”

“He’s right.” Erik laughed. “We’ll save the party for after the mission.”

Jia leaned toward Erik to whisper, “Are you sure about this? Agent Devereaux might be a problem.”

“If she’s our worst problem on this mission, we’ll do great.”