Tycho said, “As you know, the head security officer for the habitat is missing.”
“We know,” Jaina said, ruefully. “That’s what Zekk and I have been doing, looking for him. We looked at the holocam recordings-“
“Which don’t exist for Kallebarth Way for the time period of the attack,” Tycho said.
“Correct. We also went through his quarters, tried to get a sense of him …” She frowned.
“What is it?” Tycho asked.
Jaina smiled. “Oh, at last you’re curious. At last I have something you want to know.”
Tycho rolled his eves. “Better tell her, Wedge. She’s going to get difficult.”
Wedge came to a stop so suddenly that Jaina almost bumped into him. They were in front of an air lock; Wedge’s datapad indicated that they were at the terminus of the red dotted line. He snapped the device shut. “In the wake of the attack, Tycho and I did the first, most obvious thing-“
“You asked for brandy?” Zekk asked.
“The tree speaks at last.” Tycho shook his head. “No, we asked for those selfsame holocam recordings that don’t exist.”
“So you got nothing,” Jaina said.
From a pocket, Wedge pulled a cable. One end went into a jack in the datapad. The other was a standard round wall plug, which he fit into the jack beneath the air lock’s control panel. “Running diagnostics,” he said. “Seems to be pressurized. No unusual pulses through the internal sensors. No, Jaina, we asked whether Toryaz Station is the sort of place where the engineering department logs all door openings and closings. You know, to measure wear patterns, predict replacement needs, that sort of thing.”
“That would never have occurred to me,” Jaina admitted.
Wedge smiled. “Me, either. Something my wife taught me. Or, rather, taught my younger daughter while I eavesdropped. I have one daughter going into my line of work, one going into my wife’s. Genetically and culturally speaking, isn’t that perfect?”
“Perfect,” Jaina said, her tone flat. “So? The door openings?”
Wedge rapped the air lock door. “This was open, shortly before the attack, for about a minute at a time when there is no listing of a ship being docked outside. And note that we’re on the opposite side of the habitat from its outer rim, meaning that this air lock is out of direct sight of the frigate Firethorn-it’s the most inconvenient air lock on the habitat, with the most inconvenient approach, suited only to shuttles and smaller craft. Anyway, a minute later it went through a depressurization cycle, outer door opened and closed, and then repressurized.”
“So someone arrived here by shuttle, and left here by shuttle,” Jaina said.
Tycho shook his head. “That doesn’t make sense. You bring in a crew of assassins, you open the air lock to let them in. You close it, cycle it, reopen it-why? If you’re just going to leave, why not leave it open for the sixty or ninety seconds until you leave?”
“Meaning,” Wedge said, “ultimately, what we have is a mystery. Add to it the fact that the security door on the tube to the main station opened a couple of minutes later. So a shuttle left here, and then something cycled through the air lock-to throw out some evidence, maybe?-and then someone left the habitat on foot.” His datapad chimed, and he opened it up to glance at the screen. “Looks all clear,” he said. “Risk it?”
Tycho said, “Put the children up front.”
Wedged grinned and typed a series of numbers and letters into the ‘pad. The air lock door hissed and slid open. From another pocket, he pulled a pair of thin gloves and donned them. He began prodding at the corners of access panels, running fingers across the tops of glowing WARNING signs, peering into every crack and cranny in the air lock. “Wish Iella were here,” he said.
“Or Winter,” Tycho added.
“Both our wives are ex-Intelligence,” Wedge said, his comment directed at Zekk. “Tycho’s wife used to babysit Jaina, in fact. Whatever we’ve learned, we’ve picked up mostly through osmosis.”
“Normally, we just shoot things,” Tycho added.
“We keep trying to retire,” Wedge said. “Give up this life of shooting things.”
Tycho nodded. “We’re really men of peace at heart.”
Wedge stepped out from the air lock and shrugged. “Nothing.”
Jaina held out her hand. “Give it over.”
Wedge looked surprised. “What?”
“I saw you palm something when you were bent over looking at the floor. Hand it over.”
Wedge shook his head. “Our lead, our investigation. You and your pole-like shadow can tag along if you want.”