“Good luck, Commander,” Les said.
Michael left the bridge and didn’t stop until he got to the bottommost compartment of the airship, which served as a second launch bay. The space was already filling with crew members.
Magnolia and Rodger had beaten him here. Both were already in their Hell Diver armor. Alfred and two of his technicians were standing with two engineers at bulkhead-mounted screens. On the display were blueprints of the thrusters.
Banks and the other militia arrived a moment later. They had traded out their crossbows for submachine guns.
“You sure these are going to protect us out there?” Banks asked. He wore a hazard outfit and a space helmet.
Alfred looked over his shoulder. “Yeah, you’ll be fine as long as you don’t tear the suit.”
Everyone in the room turned to look at the next two men through the hatch. The two surviving Cazador soldiers entered, in full armor and carrying spears and swords.
“All right, listen up,” Michael said.
The bulkheads hummed as the airship lowered through the sky. He raised his voice above the noise of wind and turbines.
“Our target LZ is an old-world airport on an island called Barbados,” he said. “We’ll set down there and then haul ass outside to start fixing the thrusters. Timothy said it’ll take only two hours max if all goes to plan.”
Michael gestured to the militia soldiers. “Banks, you and your men will patrol the runway around the airship once we set down. Mags, you and Rodge are with me. Our job is to protect the techs and engineers.”
“Are you expecting hostiles?” Alfred asked.
“On the surface, we always expect hostiles, and unfortunately, we’ve lost the sensors that will help us detect any.”
“Well that’s just sweet as Siren shit,” said one of the engineers. He scratched at his bald head. “Not exactly what I signed up for.”
“Even with your protection, without weapons we’re still sitting ducks,” said one of the techs.
“You’re not sitting ducks,” Magnolia replied.
“Says the lady with a laser rifle,” another engineer chimed in.
Michael raised his robotic hand. “Cricket is going to be out there with us, too, and if we see anything remotely hostile, we’ll pull everyone back inside. If you want to bring a blaster or a gun, that’s fine, long as you know how to fire them.”
Alfred nodded. “Sounds like a plan to me. Besides, we don’t have a choice.”
“No, we don’t,” Michael said. “I’m sorry, but we will do everything in our power to make sure everyone gets back inside unharmed.”
“No one gets eaten on my watch,” Rodger said.
The techs and engineers all looked at him with the same incredulous gaze, as if trying to decide whether he was joking or just stupid.
Michael resisted the urge to shake his head. “Any other questions?”
No one said a word—a good thing because Michael didn’t have the patience to deal with anyone else. He didn’t want to be out there any more than they did.
“Okay, get ready,” Michael said. “We’ll be there in about forty-five minutes. I have a few stops to make and need to grab some more gear.”
“Will you check on Sofia?” Magnolia asked. “I’m really starting to worry about her.”
“No need to worry,” said a voice.
Sofia Walters, the Cazador who had once been married to el Pulpo, stepped into the room wearing her Hell Diver armor.
Michael gave her a once-over, but the armor didn’t deceive him. She wasn’t ready to go back out there. Losing Rhino had broken her, and she could become a liability in the field.
“Can I speak to you a minute?” Michael asked her.
Sofia followed him into the passageway, and he shut the hatch behind them.
“I already know what you’re going to say, and I’m fine,” she said. “Not fine, but—”
“Yeah, I know what you mean. You’re not fine, but you can function.”
She raised a brow. “Something like that.”
“If you want to sit this out, you can,” Michael said.
“I need something to keep my mind off what happened to Rhino. If I stay another minute in those dark quarters, I’m going to lose my mind.”
Michael paused, unsure what to say.
“You need more boots on the ground to protect our engineering team,” she said. “I won’t let you down, I promise.”
She was right about him needing more security out there.
“Okay, you’re in,” he said, “but don’t make me regret it.”
“I won’t, Commander.”
They parted ways, and Michael returned to the upper decks. His first stop was the medical ward. Arlo, Edgar, and the militia soldier injured by the Siren in engineering were all sleeping in their beds. Two medical staffers worked inside the dimly lit room, moving from monitor to monitor.
Edgar raised a hand at Michael, and Michael raised his robotic hand back.
“Hang in there, brother,” he said. Then he hurried off to the launch bay to check on their new friends. Two more medical technicians were inside, dressed in hazard suits. They worked on Pedro, who sat on a stool with his shirt off.
The Siren had done a number on him, leaving multiple gashes across his muscular flesh, but the tech was applying nanotech gel to the deepest of the wounds, ensuring a much faster recovery.
Pedro had risked his life to save his people, proving that they weren’t weak pacifists after all. Pedro, at least, could hold his own, having killed an adult male Siren with the leg of a cot.
Timothy had already spoken to him, and he was mad. Furious, in fact. But Michael understood his feelings. They had locked Pedro and his people inside the launch bay, inadvertently turning them into bait. Not the best way to start building trust.
“Timothy, have you explained to Pedro what is happening?” Michael asked over the headset.
“Not yet, Commander.”
“Please explain to his people that we’re touching down to make repairs, but do your best to keep them calm and assure them everything is fine.”
“You got it, sir.”
The hologram emerged inside the launch bay, in front of Pedro. Michael frowned and then returned to his quarters. Another message crackled over his headset.
“Radiation levels are in the yellow zone,” Timothy confirmed. “Biological scanners are still offline, but I’ll do a visual scan with our cameras once we get into position.”
“What about exhaust plumes?” Les replied over the comms.
“No exhaust plumes detected on the surface, Captain.”
On the way back to the lower decks, Michael grabbed his duty belt and a bag of tools from his quarters. His final stop was to get Cricket off the charging station.
When he got there, he hit a button to raise the crossbars. Hover nodes glowed red as the chirping robot flew away from the charging station.
“You ready for some more fun, buddy?” Michael said. He tapped his wrist computer to link with Cricket. Several more chirps echoed down off the bulkheads.
“Don’t get too excited,” Michael said.
He led the drone back down to the compartment where Rodger and Magnolia were still bickering.
“What’s this place called, again?” Rodger asked. “Barbarian?”
“Barabados, man! Do you ever listen?” Magnolia said.
Rodger slapped a magazine into his rifle and looked up as Michael came through the hatch. “Hey, Commander,” he said. “Do you think there are going to be those bone-beast thingies down there?”
“I don’t know, Rodgeman,” Michael said.
A technician still suiting up looked over. “Bone beasts?”
“He’s kidding,” Magnolia said, darting Rodger a warning glare.
The bulkheads groaned, distracting everyone during the last moments of the descent. Lightning slashed the sky outside the portholes.