∼Were there people in those ships? she asked.
∼GFCF navy? Definitely. Very quick deaths, even given that they would have been wired in and speeded up, if I may just leap in front of any nascent and entirely vicarious moral qualms you may be about to suffer from, tiny human. Military personnel, babe; put themselves in harm’s way when they signed up. Just that the poor fuckers didn’t know it was my harm they were putting them-selves in the way of. That’s war, doll; fairness comes excluded.
The doubly unreal vision of the avatar floating in space looked away, as though gazing contentedly round at the almost unsee-ably small debris floating around him. ∼That’ll fucking learn the bastards.
Lededje waited a short while but he kept on looking about him, sighing happily and seemingly either ignoring or having forgotten all about her. ∼Fuck me, she heard him say quietly, ∼I just blighted an entire fucking fleet there. Without even stretching a limb. Squadron, at the very least. Fuh-zuck-elling hell-cocks, I’m good.
∼I think I’d like to get back to Sichult now, if that’s all right, she told the avatar.
∼Of course, Demeisen said, turning to her with a neutral expres-sion. ∼There’s that man you want to kill, isn’t there?
Veppers had to slide slowly down the carpeted floor of the corridor beyond the door; it was too steep to try to walk down. The first thing he found was Jasken attempting to climb up towards him, pushing open another dented door. Behind Jasken there was dim light, and the sound of crying and moaning. A breeze rolled up the tipped corridor, from behind Jasken.
“Sir! Are you all right?” Jasken said when he recognised Veppers in the gloom.
“Alive, nothing broken. I think some fucker tried to nuke me. Did you see that fucking fireball?”
“I think the pilots are dead, sir. Can’t get into the flight deck. We’ve a door open to the outside. There are some dead, sir. Some injured, too.” He waved the arm that had been in the fake cast.
“I thought it might be time to discard—”
“Is there any help on the way?”
“Don’t know yet, sir. There’s a hardened comms set in the compartment somewhere; the two Zei left are checking the emergency storage.”
“Two? Left?” Veppers said, staring at Jasken. There had been four of his clone guards aboard, hadn’t there? Or had they called off at the last moment?
“Two of the Zei died in the crash, sir,” Jasken told him.
“Fuck,” Veppers said. Well, you could always grow more, he supposed, though it still took time to train them. “Who else?”
“Pleur, sir. And Herrit. Astle’s got a broken leg. Sulbazghi’s unconscious.”
They descended into the passenger compartment. It was lit by emergency lighting and the daylight from outside coming through the small oval portholes and the opened emergency door. The place smelled bad, Veppers thought. Moaning sounds and people crying. Thankfully it was hard to see too much. He wanted to get out immediately.
“Sir,” one of the Zei said, approaching them over the tipped chaos of seats and spilled possessions. He was holding a comms transceiver. “We are glad you are alive, sir,” he said. He’d bled heavily from a wound on his head and his other arm hung oddly.
“Yes, thank you,” Veppers said as the Zei handed the set to Jasken. “That’s all.” He nodded to the Zei to go. The big man bowed, then turned and walked back awkwardly over the seats.
Veppers brought his mouth close to Jasken’s ear as the other man checked the transceiver and activated it. “Whatever turns up first, even if it’s an ambulance flier, you and I get on it alone,” he told Jasken. “Understand?”
“Sir?” Jasken said, blinking.
“Make sure there’s enough other craft to get everybody else off, but we take the first thing that arrives. Just us, understand?”
“Yes, sir.”
“And where are your Oculenses? We might need them.”
“They’re broken, sir.”
Veppers shook his head. “Some fucker wants me dead, Jasken. Let’s let them think I am. Let’s let them think they succeeded. Are we clear?”
“Yes, sir.” Jasken shook his head, as though trying to clear it. “Should I tell the others to say that you were killed?”
“No, they’re to say that I’m alive. Injured, perfectly well, traumatised, missing, in a coma; more different stories the better. Point is I don’t show, I don’t appear. Everybody will assume they’re all lying. They’ll think I’m dead. Possibly you, too. You and I are going to hide, Jasken. D’you ever do that when you were a kid, Jasken? Hide? I used to. Did it a lot. I was great at it. So we’re going to do that now; we’re going to hide.” Veppers patted the other man on the shoulder, hardly noticing that he winced when he did so. “Shares will go into a tail-spin, but that can’t be helped.” He nodded at the transceiver. “Make the call. Then find me a flight suit or something to use as a disguise.”