HAWK

CHAPTER FIVE: TRANSMISSION (2/5)

The Calista's belly was glowing red.

Kas tapped on the Holo-HUD's controls and maximised the view to get a better look at the damage. There was a deep slash along the lower right side of the ship, over twenty feet long. By some miracle, the cut had only breached the Calista's outer plating and not the inner walls where the engine room was located... but it had been close. If she'd turned her ship only a millisecond later, the satellite would've cut the Calista open like a tin can and their problems would have been over in an instant. As it was, the damage wasn't fatal but it had all but severed one of the rear thrusters. While the Calista would still work, piloting it would be slow and dangerous.

Worm climbed up on Kas's chair, trying to get her face as close to the hologram as possible.

'What do you think, kid?' Kas asked.

Worm screwed up her face as she thought, then turned to Kas and held up her hands in shapes that Kas didn't recognise.

Kas turned to the door where Hik was standing. She ordered him up from the engine room simply so he could translate. 'What's she saying, Hik?'

'She says she can fix the damage to the ship, but she needs to get to ground.'

Kas shook her head and looked at Worm. 'The nearest rock is several days from here. I don't want to risk it. Can't I just put you in a space suit?'

Worm's face turned pale.

'I don't believe she is too keen on that idea,' Hik speculated.

'It's perfectly safe. I promise.' But the girl just looked down at the floor.

'If I may, I might be able to carry out the repairs myself.'

Kas turned around and looked Hik up and down. The idea wasn't new to her, but she'd so far been resisting it. Now it was out in the open, however, she knew he was the obvious solution. He didn't even need a space suit - he was one.

'So you know how to repair ships too?'

'I have sufficient knowledge installed to carry out standard repairs.'

She jerked her thumb at the Holo-HUD. 'This look standard to you?'

'I will need to see the damage for myself before I can give you my assessment.'

Kas nodded but her mind was already drifting elsewhere. Thoughts of Selva and of the millions of people who had been killed filled her head, the images seemingly burnt into her retinas.

'What do you think happened to Selva, Hik?'

'I am unable to offer an explanation.'

'But what would you say is the most likely cause?'

'The most likely reason would be assault.'

Kas closed her eyes to try and shut out the images, but they only came into sharper focus. 'By who?'

'I do not have sufficient knowledge to answer that question.'

'Who is the Federation's biggest enemy?'

'Again, I do not have suff--'

'Then guess,' Kas growled, her eyes still pressed shut.

'There are many groups that wish to live outside the rules imposed on them by the Federation, but none stand out as being able to execute an attack of this scale. A successful attack against Selva would require an immense amount of expertise that those particular groups do not possess, to the best of my knowledge.'

'So who would possess such expertise?'

'As far as I am aware, there is no known force in your solar system that could carry out such an attack.'

'In our system...' Kas said to herself. She gave a small nod and opened her eyes. 'So it was most likely by a lifeform in another solar system.'

'It would seem to be the most likely deduction at this time.'

Kas stared longingly out of the viewport and listened to the steady hum of the Calista's engine.

'Ms Balera?' Hik added.

'Yes, Hik.'

'What would you like to do now, seeing as we can no longer proceed with our previous mission?'

Kas turned back to Hik and looked into his shiny black visor. She could see her own reflection beneath the scrolling green digits that were presumably his thoughts and asked herself the same question.

She was on a damaged ship in the middle of deep space, not all that far from the graveyard of the single most devastating attack that Primi had ever known. And without Selva to talk to, she had no way of relaying a distress call. She could put one out, but if she was right about what was going on in the rest of the solar system, she wouldn't expect anyone to pick up on it for days, maybe weeks. She was also still in possession of a rogue X1. And again, with Selva gone, what else was she supposed to do with it? She couldn't sell it. She couldn't trade it. She couldn't even scrap it. The only thing she was allowed to do, was supposed to do, was now impossible. She would have to find a way to contact someone in the Federation and pass the responsibility onto them.

And then there was Worm. The girl was getting too settled in her new life as a bounty hunter's sidekick and Kas didn't want to give her false hope. However she might feel about it, Kas couldn't escape the fact that the kid was stolen property and needed to be returned. She decided that there was only one option.

'Worm,' she said, and the girl returned a harmless, dumb smile that made Kas feel even worse. She raised her left hand to her head, about to sweep back her mohawk, but she stopped herself and scratched her cheek instead.

How am I supposed to say this...?

'I'm sorry, kid. I have to take you back to Chantos.'

Worm's face froze in place, her little pout suddenly carved from stone. She didn't cry or complain as Kas had expected. Instead, she seemed to decide that by not moving, the conversation might also stop, and then she could just bypass the whole nasty thing altogether.

'You can't stay with me,' Kas continued. 'I live a very dangerous life. Almost got myself killed a bunch of times - and this time I almost took you out with me. I can't be responsible for you as well. I just can't.'

Worm didn't move. Her self-induced paralysis was absolute.

'I'm sorry,' Kas said again, and she turned and walked away towards the cargo hold. She was halfway through the door when Hik suddenly spoke.

'Please don't take me back.'

Kas spun and looked at him curiously, wondering what that was supposed to mean... and then realised he was looking at Worm. Her hands were held up in morphing shapes, though her eyes were directed squarely at Kas.

'I don't mind a life of danger if it is one I believe in. It's better than being forced to repair ships on a planet I hate for people I don't know. I don't care if I die tomorrow, I just want to live a bit first.'

She ran past Kas into the hold and scuttled up the ladder into the sleeping quarters. The hatch closed with a slam.

'Y'know' Kas said to Hik, 'sometimes you really make my life difficult.'

'I apologise, Ms Balera.'

'Let's just get you outside so you can assess the damage. I'll dig out the repair equipment.'

'That should not be necessary. I have many of the tools required already built into my body.'

'Of course you do.'