Page 54 of Enthraller

He opened the door for them, forming a welcome party unlike they’d gotten on the station so far.

“It was amazing to see,” he told them as they walked back to the control room. “Incredible.” He waved his hands.

“Did you see where the laser fire was coming from?” Bailey asked.

Hatch shook his head as he swiped his finger through the laslock into the control room. “Somewhere behind the freighter queue, moving back and forth, so it was impossible to guess where the next shot was going to come from.” He stepped in, half-turning to them as he spoke.

“We were worried when we couldn’t get you—” Bailey stopped talking, and started to reverse.

Wren was about to protest. Bailey’s sudden halt forced Ed to stop abruptly and Wren ran into the back of him. Her words died as she felt the nudge of a laz on the nape of her neck.

“Keep moving forward, people.” Banks’s voice had a slight tremble to it.

Wren finally had a view of the control room, and there was Juller, a laz pointed toward them, standing by the control panel. Banks was herding them in from behind.

Ed turned back to look at her, and she flicked her gaze to the scanner, which he was carrying under his arm.

This was bad.

“Quite a blow to your side, losing all those weapons,” Ed said. “And by your own hand, too. Not to mention the crew.”

“Not by my hand, Ed.” Banks had moved past her and was standing with his body angled to keep them all in view. He looked over at Ed, mouth twisted in a snarl. “I didn’t aim and fire, and I wouldn’t have, if it were my call.”

“But it’s not your call, is it?” Ed said. “Just like last time, you’re the lackey who takes the fall when it’s all over.”

Banks made an explosive sound at that, and Wren realized Ed had scored a direct hit.

Banks knew he was being used, and he didn’t like it.

“What have they got on you?” Hatch asked.

Banks gave a quick shake of his head, but not because he was denying they had something on him, Wren decided, but because he didn’t want to go into it.

“Where’s your little ray of sunshine?” she asked him, because Trish was nowhere in sight.

Banks glanced at her, but it was a dismissive flick of his gaze. She was the non-combat team member who made cakes in her spare time. He wasn’t worried about her at all.

“I’ve never seen one of these,” Juller said, speaking for the first time as he lifted the crawler catcher. “They’re effective.”

“More SF toys no one else gets,” Banks said, bitterness dripping from every word.

“Did you try to join the SF?” Ed said it as if it had suddenly occurred to him. “And they wouldn’t let you in because of what happened when I left.” He said the last bit slowly, as if things were finally making sense. “I’d have thought your masters would have preferred you to stay up here, keeping watch. Are you sure it wasn’t their interference that didn’t get you the job?”

“I didn’t try to join the SF.” Banks shook his head. “But when I ask for equipment, I have to practically beg. Then you lot prance about up here, dripping gadgets I’ve never even seen. It rubs me the wrong way.”

“No, they wouldn’t have let you join, would they? They’ve already got enough moles and spies in the SF, and they needed you up here.”

Banks glared at him. “Well, they did.”

“And who, exactly, are they?” Bailey asked, voice cool.

“We’re not here to answer your questions,” Juller said. “We’re here for the scanner.”

“What good will it do you?” Ed asked. “It only works for me.”

“We don’t need it to work,” Juller said. “We need it to not work.”

“Freighter Five is destroyed, but you’re still worried about the Guan scanner. So that means there is more to find,” Ed said. “Good to know.”

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