Squinting out over the heaving sea, she hoped the dark objects floating in the water were broken pieces from buildings and not bodies. Another explosion burst after flames greedily ate through the planking outside the fuel cell supply. She vaguely understood the village layout, noting that another fuel cell supply was at risk. Not a problem if the villagers had been evacuated, but she still saw figures leaping from dock to dock, carrying younglings in arms or in backpacks. Where are their evacuation craft? Surely there must be flying transports or marine vessels on their way.She slammed her fists into the deck railing, frustrated. There has to be something I can do to help.
“I need a magnification device, Jeshoh,” Ezri snapped.
He clicked open a supply station, and produced a boxy monocular device.
Taking readings off Ezri’s optical nerve, the lense sensors fed information to its computer, sending the mechanism humming and whirring into focus.
After first surveying the shoreline where the lights of House Minaral blinked, Ezri shifted her focus to the waters, subsequently taking in the entire 360-degree view around the hydrofoil. Nothing. She saw nothing resembling a watercraft heading in their direction. Turning her attention to the burning village, she studied the surface of each dock and platform, then dropped the lense. Ezri stopped counting at twenty, no thirty—too many—Yrythny, clinging to the pylons, structures collapsing all around, desperately trying to avoid falling into the convulsing waters.
“Your people are out there!” Ezri cried, throwing aside the magnifier. “We have to help them—”
“Shhh,” Jeshoh admonished her. “We need to keep to ourselves until the commandant gives us permission to—”
“If you think I’m going to stand here and watch innocents die while that commandant throws his weight around, you haven’t learned much about me during the last week.” Ezri shot off across the deck, igniting commotion among the soldiers.
“Hey you! Stop!” a patrol leader shouted, running after her.
Smiling politely, Ezri waved to acknowledge that she’d heard the soldier’s order. She dropped over the side, taking the ladder to the lowest deck, having some vague recollection of seeing the lifeboats and emergency equipment being stashed near where they’d changed for their dive trip. Dax lived by her own ethical compass; she’d be damned before she dawdled around, watching the military blowhards feeding already overinflated egos while people were dying. These Yrythny wanted her; she didn’t ask to be their savior and they needed to remember that involving her in their civil conflict was theiridea. Dax was a package deal—take all or none—but nothing in between.
Just as she’d started to go below, Jeshoh charged across the deck after her. He skipped rungs down the ladder to help him catch up, but she still beat him by a minute. She kept the exterior door propped open, but as soon as Jeshoh’s feet touched the deck Ezri pulled him inside, closed the portal behind him and locked it. The clamor of boots clattering down the ladder outside didn’t bother her in the slightest.
“I don’t think the commandant wants you to leave—” he panted, bent over, trying to catch his breath.
With only a door between her and a squad of angry Yrythny, Ezri yanked off the doorpad cover, removed two circuit chips and snapped them in half. Two other doors led out of the room and deeper into the ship, but she figured it would be a few minutes at least before the soldiers made it down that way.
“What are you doing?” he said, incredulous. “They’re going to be furious. They’ll blow the door open.”
“This is still a ship of state. You think the Assembly Chair would appreciate his hand-picked mediator being hunted like a common criminal?”
“You looked guilty when you ran.”
“Let’s not kid ourselves, Jeshoh. Your troops have already decided the Wanderers are guilty—they’re not focusing on me or my crew. Well, I’m not about to lounge around, sipping wood wine when your people need our help. It’s not like we don’t have the resources.” She walked down the hallway, examining each and every locker she found. If she had to dive into the water and swim over to those villagers with the lifejackets, she would. Let them try to stop her.
“There’s a criminal investigation underway here, Lieutenant,” Jeshoh said. “You heard the commandant. To the best of the military’s ability to trace, the explosives that destroyed the village weren’t triggered on site, but remotely, from someone on this ship, right after another signal was sent here from your office. You’re right: they don’t actually suspect your or your people, Lieutenant, but they do believe you may be able to help them identify the real terrorists.”
“Why? Because only Wanderers commit crimes?” Dax mocked. She scanned the pictographs identifying the contents of each locker. Rations, rope, water purification, emergency communications…ah! Here it is.She opened the cabinet identified as storing the life preservers and removed the packs inside. An adjoining cabinet had the same contents. She repeated the process, tossing the packs to Jeshoh, who dropped them on the floor in protest. Ezri promptly scooped them up, slung them over her other shoulder and moved on to the next locker. “Is this knee-jerk assumption of Wanderer guilt the reason we aren’t running a rescue mission?”
“In part,” Jeshoh said reluctantly.
“What the hell does that mean?”
“The aquaculture villages are staffed with Wanderers,” he said bitterly. “I’ve seen it before. When terrorist attacks take out Wanderers, the military is slow to rescue or help the victims. Partly because high body count bolsters military propaganda. The Wanderers are evil, dangerous and so forth.” Jeshoh hesitated.
Ezri refused to let him off. “And?”
“And because they believe they shouldn’t save the terrorists from the consequences of their actions. Their attacks hurt fellow Wanderers, let them take the blame for the casualties.”
“That’s despicable!” she said.
“Would you believe me if I told you I agreed?”
Looking deeply into Jeshoh’s eyes, Ezri probed his sincerity. Physically, he towered over her; she knew if he truly wanted to stop her, he could probably overpower her with little trouble. He made no such move. Instead he willingly subjected himself to her scrutiny.
“Help me then,” she said softly.
Knocks became kicks and kicks produced dents as the soldiers continued pounding on the outer portal.
Jeshoh nodded and reached over to free the packs of life preservers from Ezri’s shoulder. “There are four rescue boats on the next level up. The door on the left is a back way. If we hurry, the soldiers may not realize our goals before it’s too late.”
The other door opened and Ensign Juarez peeked out, followed by four Houseborn assembly members, with Candlewood and McCallum bringing up the rear. Juarez sighed with relief when he saw Jeshoh and Ezri.
Good timing,Ezri thought.
“Everything all right, Lieutenant?” Juarez queried, stepping out cautiously.
Ezri filled him in on the proposed rescue mission. “I don’t think the troops will be happy about it, but I don’t really care. Still have your medkit? Good, you’re gonna need it. Grab those as well,” Ezri said, indicating some Yrythny medical supplies near the nurse. Ezri stuffed emergency blankets into her pack and threw assorted items at McCallum and Candlewood. Whether the Yrythny adapted well to water or not, the sun was dropping, and so would the water temperature. Shock would make survivors more vulnerable to hypothermia.
Jeshoh, who had been huddling with the other Yrythny, said, “They are willing to pilot the other rescue craft. I can persuade any other committee members remaining below decks to hold off the commandant and his men until we get the lifeboats into the water.”