The Scourge Between Stars by Ness Brown

Author:Ness Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tor Publishing Group

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Jacklyn and Watson found Michiko in her office as ordered. Once all of her officers were accounted for, they sealed the deck and completed a mini briefing. Michiko repeated the bio team’s findings.

“Sir,” one of the officers said dubiously. “You’re saying … there’s an alien onboard.”

“You’re free to double-check the research,” Michiko said imperiously. She pulled up pictures of Panio from the coroner on her datapad and projected her screen for the whole room to see. “Take a look at these and tell me if you think that’s a priority right now.”

Several officers blanched. Even Jacklyn, who had been on the scene herself, had to look away. There were no more outbursts after that.

“Our responsibility is ship safety only,” Michiko said. “Not astrobiology, not taxonomy. It doesn’t matter what this thing is—we need to find and subdue it before it takes any more of our people.”

She laid out the standards for the op: they would break into teams assigned to different regions of the ship and seal all doors, vents, and lift shafts on each deck. General orders included escorting any crew in defiance of quarantine to sealed spaces and subduing any faction activity threatening quarantine protocol. As for the intruder, they were to proceed with extreme prejudice.

“I want everyone suited up just in case any more systems fail,” she added. “The more decks we seal, the more Earth-normal conditions onboard will deteriorate. That might take out our problem for us, but we can’t take that chance. Head to the armory.”

The officers filed out of the office and took the gangway to the deck’s weapons locker. Before today it hadn’t been opened since the colonists had fled back to the stars. Jacklyn felt a morbid curiosity about its contents, but instead of following she used the opportunity for privacy to make a call to the bridge crew.

“Go, Jack,” Jolie answered.

“I want you guys to suit up,” Jacklyn said. “Pressurized suit, helmet, air tanks. I think the intruder is getting around in the walls. You need to seal the lift doors and the vents to the bridge, so nothing gets up there.”

Jacklyn expected Jolie’s usual coolheaded cooperation. She was surprised when Jolie asked sharply, “And what about you? Are you still with Michiko?”

“I’m joining security’s hunt for the intruder,” Jacklyn confirmed. “We’re going to take this thing down before it kills us off like the rest of the fleet.”

She had to wait several moments for a response. She could hear Jolie hand over the conn and beat a swift retreat to the ready room. Jolie finally spoke when she was equally alone.

“Don’t be a martyr,” she said icily. “You’re the first mate. Get back to the bridge and leave the firefight to the professionals.”

Somehow Jacklyn smiled. “I’m no martyr. You and Asher keep coordinating things on top—I’ll make my way back up there eventually.”

“You’d better,” Jolie threatened.

Jacklyn almost felt bad for enjoying the worry in her voice. It was nice to know that she wasn’t the only one who

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