He grunted and opened the lock.
Joat shoved her burden through the open hatch and Joseph closed it again. Then she picked up a control plaque and pressed the firing stud. The rocket ignited and her faux comet was off.
"You really like that alien, do you not?" Joseph asked as he strapped himself back into his seat.
"Yeah. He's a nice kid."
"He is a tactless, interfering busybody."
"But basically a sweetie."
"He is hideous to look upon and he is a fool."
"I knew you liked him."
Joseph growled. "It is hard not to. He is so much like a happy, bouncy little puppy."
They were silent a while, monitoring the discreet Kolnari signals. Kraig had warned them to linger just outside the Kolnar security perimeter and wait to be recognized.
Joat did and didn't mind.
The waiting was hard, largely because her excellent imagination kept conjuring possible disaster scenarios. Kraig might have left out something vital, or they might be given close escort to Belazir's ship. In which case they were sunk. The success of the whole plan depended on their being handled like a friendly.
Yet the longer they sat here, the more time her "snowball" had to do its work.
Suddenly there was a flurry of questions from the Kolnari. Rand's program answered as designed and they were given leave to proceed.
"Welcome back, Rendino du Pare," a woman's voice said.
"Thanks," Joseph muttered, "out."
"I hope that's not his girlfriend," Joat said.
"I would not worry," Joseph said quietly. "I am sure the Kolnar do not encourage chatter in their space."
They proceeded quietly on their way, watching the distant Kolnari fleet loom larger as they approached.
"Joat, may I ask you a question?"
"Sure."
"Your ship, the Wyal, what does its name mean? I have tried to find a reference to it everywhere that I can think of; without success. And knowing you, I am sure it has some significance."
"It's an acronym," she said with a grin. "Does that help?"
"Are you going to tell me or not?"
"It means While You Ain't Lookin'."
Joseph laughed silently. "Appropriate. It is pleasant to know that creeping respectability has not entirely obliterated the feral child I knew and loved."
They're not all watching me, Joat told herself. This is normal. And this is the end of a normal mission. Lights on the floor and ceiling guided her to a berth. She parked neatly and powered down. The hangar was cramped, nothing like the cavernous hold of an assault carrier. It was a little unusual for a ship of this displacement to carry fighters at all, but she supposed it was useful when you didn't have an elaborate military organization with specialized vessels. The tips of the fighter's weapons pods just barely cleared those of the other three; there was one empty berth-that would be the one Soamosa had taken-and a scurry of crew and robots, doing maintenance work.
No, they're arming up and fueling. Somebody's suspicious. Oh, joy.
"They're going to be expecting only one person to disembark," she said nervously.
"Kraig told you that security was light in the mercenaries' section, almost casual. My advice is to disembark with me, acting like you belong here. I doubt anyone will look twice, or bother to question us. As I said before, I am much more nervous about the paint on our suits."
"Don't worry," she said, "we'll shed them as fast as we can." They do have a kinda orange undercast.
Joat wondered if the suited figures servicing the fighters around them were mercenaries or Kolnar slaves. Either way, Joe was probably right. The ones who knew how many people should be returning from this mission sure as blazes weren't working on this deck. She grasped the strap on her black shoulder bag and followed Joseph across the floor to the locker area.
Joseph was keying in Kraig's locker combination when a message came through his suit's receiver.
"Rendino du Pare, you are to report to Captain Hobsbrowm for debriefing at fourteen hundred hours. Room C-780."
"Acknowledged, out."
Joseph finished the unlock code and pulled open the door. Then he took off his helmet and spoke to Joat.
"Now we know how much time we have. I am to meet with my debriefer at fourteen hundred."
Joat was already half out of her suit.
"It's twelve hundred now. They're not too eager to talk to you, are they?"
There were two uniforms in the locker, Joseph proceeded to put both on.
"It works to our advantage, of course. But I wonder what is going on."
Joat brushed her hair smooth and retted it in a ponytail.
"If we're lucky," she said, "Belazir's asleep and no one wants to wake him. If we're not… then he's with Bros."
"Or he is in conference with his captains, or working out, or just generally busy. Let us not worry about how Belazir is occupied until we must conclude otherwise."
"Joe," she said as she stuffed her suit into Kraig's locker beside his, "you're being reasonable. I really, really hate it when I'm being hysterically pessimistic and people insist on being reasonable."
"I shall try not to restrain myself," he promised with a smile.
"Well, all right," she said, "see that you don't." Joat looked him over, straightening his collar.
"Okay. Let's do it."
The Kolnari had sealed a number of the access panels into the repair tunnel that ran between corridors C and B, no doubt for security reasons. The remaining few were carefully locked.
Joat pulled Sperin's override gizmo out of her shoulder bag and set it against the lock mechanism. It hadn't taken her long to figure it out. The thing was designed to be simple to use and she had a natural affinity for mechanical objects.
Still, she was nervous and her hands were slick with sweat. Even with Joseph's beefy body partially shielding her from view she felt conspicuous.
The fact that they'd sealed so many panels made her believe those that weren't sealed were under observation. That "everybody's watching you and they don't like what they see" feeling was raising chills up and down her spine.
The lock clicked open and she slipped through, half expecting to be met by a snarling crowd of armed Kolnari. What are you doing here? Hands up! Behind your head! On your knees! March!
There was no one there. She breathed a soft sigh of relief.
"How I wish we could use one of your little scramblers, Joat," Joseph murmured nostalgically. "I would feel so much more secure."
"You and me both," she said, smiling. "But they're just as likely to set off alarms these days as to get you by them."
They backtracked until they found the access panel they wanted. One that was located quite close to the Kolnari Brig. Predictably it was welded shut.
Joat pulled a roll of what looked like putty from her bag and began to stick it around the seam of the panel. When she was through she stuck a suction cup with a handle attached onto the center of the panel and pulled on it to test its grasp.
Then she and Joseph drew their sidearms and after carefully regulating the laser's temperature they melted the coil of heat activated acid they'd drawn around the seam. Slowly at first, and then more quickly, it liquefied and began to eat its way through the welds. Joat exerted a gentle outward pressure on the suction cup. What fumes there were stayed with them in the narrow tunnel, unpleasant, but nontoxic. For the most part. Kolnari would probably hardly notice them. A small alarm she'd built into her coverall was complaining about the Dreadful Bride's toxic atmosphere in increasingly insistent tones anyway. She reached up and turned it off. I know already!