Free Fallen Empire 1: Star Nomad by Lindsay Buroker Page B

out. Set a delay if your bombs don’t have a remote detonation capability.”
    The men did not respond, but she flicked on the exterior cameras and saw them running down the ramp in the direction she had indicated.
    “You pretended to crash,” Alejandro said slowly, also watching the camera.
    “Yeah. Did you come up here to pray for us in case we were really going to crash?”
    “Actually, I was going to call you a maniac and try to wrest control of the ship from you.”
    “Are you a pilot?”
    “No, but I felt desperate.” He shrugged, his hand wrapped around his pendant. “I haven’t been in many battles.”
    Alisa thought about pointing out that this was tame as far as battles went, but it wasn’t over yet. They could still end up in pieces littered up and down this canyon for miles.
    “They’re hovering over us now,” she said, watching the sensor display. She flicked several switches. “I’m killing all non-essential power so we look dead, but not everything. If they decide to blow this ledge to Old Earth and back, we’ll need to take off. I’m hoping they have orders to bring Beck back alive for his punishment.”
    Alejandro scratched his head. “I… feel like a planet that got left off the map.”
    “He failed to explain that the mafia is after him before he accepted his new job.”
    Alisa watched the camera as they spoke, wincing when she realized how high above them the underside of the ledge was. The Nomad fit with ten feet to spare, and the ship itself was over thirty feet high.
    As she was trying to remember if there was collapsible grav scaffolding somewhere in the ship, the cyborg ran to the rock wall. It was vertical with few obvious handholds, but he climbed up it as if there was a rope ladder hanging there for him. Beck could only stand and watch, pointing his rifle vaguely down the canyon at the cactuses poking up on either side of the riverbed.
    Alisa glanced at Alejandro. He was watching the camera too and did not appear surprised. She remembered that hint of recognition she’d glimpsed on his face when he had first seen the cyborg. She wasn’t sure if it had been because he recognized him specifically or just that he was familiar with cyborgs.
    “You haven’t met him before, have you?” Alisa drummed her fingers as she watched him switch from vertical to horizontal, still finding hand and footholds as he maneuvered far enough out along the ceiling of the ledge that he could plant the bombs where she had requested.
    Alejandro hesitated, then shook his head.
    She almost pressed him further, but the blip that represented the other ship moved. “They’re coming in to check us out more closely,” she announced. “Or, with luck, to land and try to board us.”
    “That’s what you consider lucky, is it?”
    “Hurry up, boys,” she muttered, her hand hovering over the external comm. She was about to warn them that they didn’t have much time, but the cyborg let go of the ledge then. He dropped forty feet, twisting in the air to land on his feet. He crouched deeply to absorb the impact of the landing, but anyone else would have broken both legs trying that move. “Must be nice to be able to do things like that,” she mumbled.
    “They give up much in exchange for their abilities,” Alejandro said dryly.
    The words made her think he might know a lot more about it than she did, but even if there had been more time, she wasn’t sure she would have asked for details. Cyborgs were the enemy. They had been long before the war had started, acting as tools of death for the empire, assassinating those who didn’t precisely obey imperial law. She had no wish to humanize them and think of them as anything except monsters to be avoided.
    A shadow fell across the canyon. The other ship coming in. To land, Alisa hoped. They could have fired from up above without dropping into the canyon.
    Beck and the cyborg raced up the ramp and showed up on the interior cameras in the cargo hold. Alisa