He had time to think on the way over, running through the most likely scenarios. The odds were good that if she thought she was being hunted, she’d try to get off the station. But how? She didn’t have ID or scrip to buy her way off, which left stowing away or stealing a ship.
He checked the Malora’s security log the second he set foot on her deck. It showed that no one had been onboard since yesterday. Good.
After that, it was simply a matter of cobbling together a few bits of spare tech he had lying around his cramped workspace and figuring out how to connect the various devices to the ship’s navigational system. Then all he had to do was ping her location. It had a limited range, but she couldn’t have gotten far. Even if she’d found a way off the station, all ships were required to use standard engines until they reached a safe minimum distance from the Drift. FTL Drives were just too dangerous when there were so many ships and other objects floating around local space.
He set everything up, stared at the jumble of parts he’d thrown together, and briefly questioned his life choices as he plugged himself into his makeshift matrix and hoped he’d got everything right. “Here goes nothing.”
He didn’t go all the way into cyberspace this time. Instead of stepping into the digital realm, it was as if part of the realm flowed out into reality. He was still in his chair and could still smell the unique perfume of circuitry, metal, and ozone that filled his little corner of the ship, but he could see data flowing around him, and hear the subtle buzz of the datasphere.
He sent the ping, and whooped in triumph when he got an immediate fix on her position. His jubilation was short-lived, though. She wasn’t on Astek anymore. He sent several more pings in quick succession, getting a reading on her course and relative speed. She was heading into the asteroid field, which made no sense, but she was moving slowly enough he’d be able to catch her. If he could find a ship.
He unplugged from the system, packed the equipment into his bag, and got to his feet, already running through a list of people he could call on for help. The cyborgs who ran the Nova Club would step up to protect one of their own, or he had a favor or two he could call in from some of the freight pilots that came and went from the Drift. He couldn’t take the Malora—the moment he released the docking clamps they’d know she was in flight and come after him. He couldn’t ask for permission to go after her, either. If Halverson learned where she was or that she was trackable, he’d toss Eric in a cell and send someone else after her. That wouldn’t end well for anyone, because his beautiful, dangerous starshine wouldn’t go down easily.
No, he had to do this quietly, and he had to do this alone. This wasn’t about fixing things with Nyx anymore. This was about making sure she got a chance to live the life the Gray Men had stolen from her, whether he was a part of it or not.
He was already composing the message he’d send to Dax after he was gone, taking full responsibility for his actions. Even if nothing else stuck, going AWOL and disobeying orders to stay on the station would cost him, but if he had to trade his future for Nyx’s, that was a price he was happy to pay.
“This is not Rossi’s office, Erben,” Kurt’s voice came over the ship’s speakers.
“Oh, come on!” he muttered.
“Get your ass to the briefing room, Ensign. Since you failed to come to us, we came to you. Double time!” Kurt barked.
“Yessir, on my way!” He broke into a run and made it to the briefing room in a matter of seconds. Whatever came next, there was no point in delaying it.
The door slid open at a touch and he walked inside, expecting to be met by the disapproving stares of his XO and commander. Instead, the entire team was seated around the table, all of them grinning at him but Dax, who stood much as he had earlier, arms folded, jaw set, eyes narrowed.
“Care to explain why you didn’t follow Sabre’s very simple instructions?” Dax asked, every word cool and clipped.
Eric came to attention. “I needed to find Nyx, sir.”
“And did you?”
He hesitated for a moment, but the only people in the entire galaxy he trusted with the truth were all in this room. If he couldn’t help Nyx, maybe they could. “I did. She’s not on the station any longer. She’s running.”
Dante cursed, and Aria leaned forward in her chair, fingers steepled in front of her. “Where’s she headed?”
“Into the asteroid field,” Eric said.
“Why would she go that way?” Cris asked.
“I don’t know. She’s not answering me.”
Dax’s lips twitched in what might have been a smile or a grimace. “And how would she be able to do that when your comm unit was seized to prevent you from contacting her?”
The way this day was going he was going to have to start inventing new curse words, because muttering fraxx every few minutes was really getting old. “I had another means of communication, sir.”
Dante snickered, and Trinity hid her face behind an upraised hand.
“Of course you did. Did you have this when you were in my office?”
“No sir. It was in my quarters.”
“And yet, it wasn’t seized with the rest of your things?” Dax asked.
“It was. Uh. It was in a hard to find location.”
The room broke out in snickers and soft guffaws of laughter, and even Dax smiled a little. “You’re a pain in my ass, Erben. You realize that?”
“You’ve mentioned it once or twice, sir.”
Dax sat down, looking more relaxed now, and gestured for Eric to do the same. “You were going after her, weren’t you?”
“I was. I have to.”
“And you weren’t going to ask us to help, because you wanted to keep us out of trouble, right?” Kurt asked, his voice tight with frustration.
“Yeah.”
Kurt grunted and slapped a hand on the table. “I’m done with this deniability crap. You took the blame for breaking the rules and going into cyberspace to track down Project Fury, even though I’m the one who told you to pursue it.”
Dax stared at his XO. “You did what? Dammit, Sabre, I leave you in charge one time…”
Sabre looked around the table, then at Dax. “And when you came back from your well-deserved time off, we had a lead to follow. Finally. We’re fighting a war against an enemy with no limits. If we don’t step over the line from time to time, we’re going to lose.”
Everyone was quiet for a long moment.
Finally, Dante nodded. “Sabre’s right. I’m not saying we need to go rogue, but if we play it straight, we’re going to get our heads handed to us.”
“And our asses,” Aria chimed in.
“They tried to kill my sister. They’ve tried to kill members of this team. We need a new game plan,” Cris agreed.
“Meyer only knew what I’d done after I’d already done it. The choice was mine. I was tired of hitting dead ends because I had to follow the rules,” Eric stated.
“I see.” Dax sat back in his chair and looked around the table. “Anyone else feel this way?”
Trinity leaned in. “You know my feelings already.”
Dax rapped his knuckles on the table. “Alright then. It’s unanimous. Not that this is a democracy by any means, but I needed to know where everyone stood. It’s time we changed playbooks.”