Nellie and the Nanites - Bk2 - Ch.26

Chapter 26

Make Do and Mend

Duke’s place had been as welcoming as always despite the new soldiers on the walls. The ones near the landing bay seemed to recognize it, waving as she had landed and again when she took off. The whole place had managed to keep that welcoming feeling despite the dire circumstances.

The most significant change this time had been the other shuttles. It was the first time she could remember loading at the same time as others. The other crews were not exactly talkative, especially when they saw Duke’s people loading the shuttle for her. They were having to do their own loading, and she heard a mutter about special treatment or two before she left.

Despite that, it was a pleasant enough trip. Even Salem seemed to be starting to enjoy visiting the place, and a couple of people asked after her, which was a pleasant surprise for Nellie. Her synth crew was really making an impact. A bit of banter with Leo certainly put her in a better mood before the next stop, the village and Molly.

After everything she had learned about the place, she had been tempted to not make the supply run but couldn’t bring herself to do it. The people in charge seldom represented the actual people they were responsible for. Besides, there were kids there. Was she going to let them starve to prove a point?

Nellie sat back in her chair and tested the implant again. Flying via it was still a tough ask, but she managed well enough. Lucy’s intensive course of training was paying off again. She was able to make the minor corrections to the autopilot with a lot more confidence as she understood what she was doing and how each part would respond.

Knowing her ship was always going to be a priority for her.

She was surprised to be hailed as she approached the village. Until now, they had never shown themselves to have a basic comm system set up. The few times she had been there, people would have to find each other for even the smallest conversation. It was one of many things that had bugged her about the place.

“Attention, approaching shuttle,” A robotic sounding recording came over the comm line. “State business, and hold for contact.”

“Bringing supplies, holding,” Nellie eased the shuttle to a stop and hovered in place while she waited.

“Captain, I’m surprised you showed your face here again,” Molly came over the comm line. “Come to punch me a few more times?”

“Hey, Molly,” Nellie rolled her eyes at the snippy tone in Molly’s voice. “Just here to deliver supplies.”

“I’m waiting,” Molly said.

“For?” Nellie asked.

“You apologize, and then you can drop off your supplies.” Molly snapped.

Nellie ground her teeth for a moment but got under control before the silence stretched too long.

“You know what, Molly?” She sighed, feeling the tension leave her shoulders, “I do apologize; I should never have punched you. I was having an awful day and didn’t consider your side of it.”

“Fine,” Molly said, her voice carrying her surprise even over the comm line, “You can land.”

“Easy folks,” Nellie said as the rifles trained on her the moment the hatch opened. She wasn’t worried about it; she was wearing the gear Lucy made for her, which was more than capable of stopping what the civilians were carrying. “Just here to deliver a few supplies.”

They kept their guns trained on her, but their eyes were on the supplies more than her, even now. Molly pushed her way through in short order and looked a little uncertain despite all the armed people.

“Sorry again, Molly,” Nellie said seriously, “Things got a little out of hand last time.”

Molly nodded, but Nellie was pleased to see a few weapons lowered.

“You want to offload this stuff, or shall I?” Nellie asked.

“You unload it,” Molly sniffed. “I don’t trust you won’t fly off with my people.

Nellie just chuckled and got to work. Molly never gave an inch, even when she should. It didn’t make much sense to Nellie, but at least she was consistent. Something about Nellie had made her suspicious from the off, and Molly evidently never let facts get in the way of first impressions. There was just nothing that Nellie could do that would make Molly any less hostile or suspicious. At this point, Nellie didn’t really care. She had people working their butts off for her back in her yard, friends, Lucy, and the whole crew over at Duke’s. In short, Molly could be as snotty as she liked now.

The unloading went pretty smoothly, everyone keeping a distance as if she might explode into violence at any second. None of that bothered Nell; she was preoccupied with other things. Only once she finished unloading did she even pay attention to the crowd again.

“All done, Molly,” Nellie said and went to board her ship again.

“Wait,” Molly called. “You can’t leave yet.”

“I don’t want trouble,” Nellie said again, cocking an eyebrow at the Mayor.

“I want the control codes to the Scouts you sold me,” Molly said. “I don’t want you using them to spy on us anymore.”

“I don’t use them to spy,” Nellie grimaced. They could, she knew, but they didn’t. “If I did, I would have known you left families with young children outside to die,” She retorted. “You could have just told me you needed me to move them somewhere else, Molly.”

“What?” Molly glared.

“Duke would have taken them in,” Nellie said. “Or I would. There was no need to reduce people to slave labor for their food.” She felt her anger flaring and calmed herself. “Food you never even paid for, I might add. All you had to do was ask. I would have found them somewhere else.”

“Easy to say now.” She said defensively. “When you don’t have to prove it.”

“Fine,” Nellie said with a smile. “Anyone that you need me to move, Molly? I’ll take them right now.”

Molly hesitated, then shook her head.

“Well, if that changes, just keep them inside for a few days until the next supply drop, okay?” She smiled encouragingly at Molly. “I’ll have Salem transmit the control codes as soon as I get back.”

“You can’t leave until I have them,” Molly insisted. “You could fly off and order them to attack us or something!”

“I could already have done that with the shuttle,” Nellie said calmly. “It has multiple laser arrays; I don’t need to use drones.” She watched as everyone took a step back from the shuttle, “Salem handles the drones; I don’t have the codes to give.”

“I don’t believe you,” Molly insisted. She gestured, and the group of guards raised their weapons again. “If you move, we will shoot.”

“Then we have a problem, Molly,” Nellie said as a small radio tower icon flashed in the corner of her vision and turned green. “I have a radio tower coming online soon, and I could try that to get you the codes, but it will be under duress at that point.”

“So?” Molly asked.

“So… I won’t allow my people to land inside the village anymore.” Nellie shrugged slowly, “I can’t ask them to risk similar treatment. All supplies will have to be dropped outside the village from now on.” While she talked, Nellie had her implant connecting to the controls on the Shuttle. Just in case, she brought the rear array online. “Or, you can accept that there has been a series of mistakes by BOTH of us and give me a chance to prove my words true.”

Molly wavered; Nellie saw her hesitate and really hoped she was going to be reasonable–

“I’m not risking it,” she said, shaking her head decisively. “I’m sorry, but I can’t trust you. Since this is likely to anger you even more, I’m afraid we are going to need to keep the shuttle to get our own supplies from now on.” She did look genuinely sorry, “You won’t be harmed, and once your radio connects, we’ll have them send someone to pick you up.” She gestured, and two men stepped forward, motioning her forward with their weapons.

Nellie seriously thought about simply leaping backward into the cargo bay and having the shuttle lift off. It would be simplest for her, but the chance was someone would try and fight their way on. However, that worked out; someone was getting hurt.

Shaking her head, Nellie just walked forward, raising her hands as she ordered the Bay to close behind her. The moment she was clear, the ramp listed smartly into place and blocked access as the outer doors slowly slid shut.

“Open the bay!” A man shouted and brandished his weapon, evidently feeling a rush at stealing her shuttle from her.

“No,” Nellie said in a calm, clear tone.

“Forget it,” Molly snapped. “We can open it once she’s gone.”

Nellie was led at gunpoint through the village and out the one functioning gate. It was a lesson in the small details for her. The closer they got to the gate, the cheaper everything looked. It was like the problems you see in cities, only written large in a very small space. The gate opened just wide enough to let her out, and the shouty man shoved her hard in the back, sending her stumbling forward as he laughed.

Nellie didn’t waste any time, breaking into a fast jog. It would look like a sprint to others, but that was nanite tech for you. Everything got a little bit better, if a little bit creepier.

“I’m going to find that man and break his fingers,” Lucy said in an icy voice. “Slowly. One bone at a time.”

Nellie just chuckled. “Please, he didn’t even touch me.”

“Not the point,” Lucy said primly. “Manners are important.”

“Who’s coming my way?” Nellie asked, knowing Lucy would have dispatched someone already.

“Me, obviously,” Lucy said.

“Well, keep clear. I want to do this myself.” Nellie grinned and activated her power armor. She didn’t normally bother, but this would be interesting. She activated the implant-linked controls and initiated lift-off, noting there were three life signs inside. One of them either fell or jumped out almost immediately. The other two were still onboard as she flew it remotely, speeding up a little as she moved a good twenty minutes away from the village and set it down, pistol in hand.

“Stun round,” She intoned. It was actually chosen via her implant, but it was just too cool to say it out loud for her to resist the impulse. “Shields to full.” Her suit shielding powered up. It could not last too long at these levels, but she wasn’t taking any chances. Bringing up the internal cameras on the shuttle, she saw two men standing at the landing bay doors and waiting. One was armed with a rifle; the other seemed to have nothing but a wrench. What the hell did he think he was going to do to a shuttle with a damn wrench? Sure, her shuttle looked a little rough, but she didn’t have the damn thing bolted together.

To her surprise, Nellie felt a little insulted about the wrench. If he had duct tape as well, she was going to lose her shit. These people thought they could look after a shuttle?

Nellie landed the shuttle, keeping the cargo bay facing away from her, and opened the bay doors while keeping close to one side.

“Self-destruct activated! T-Minus thirty seconds. Twenty-nine, twenty-eight, twenty-seven….” The computer voice she played over the interior speakers was perfectly monotone as she set all the interior lighting to flash on and off ominously.

“Shit!”

She saw the man drop his wrench and sprint straight out of the bay, not even stopping to look back. His partner was only a few steps behind him, but at least he turned to run back toward the village. Gods knew where the other guy was headed.

Chuckling to herself, Nellie walked into the bay and started it closing as she slid into the pilot’s seat. She canceled the fake message and saw the man with the rifle turn as the engines whined into high gear. He spun, and his eyes locked with hers. She gave him a little wave as she lifted off, knowing she would treasure the look on his face for a long time to come.

===<<<>>>===

Crush walked his section of the wall again, looking out into the darkness with growing distaste. Soldiers gossiped like nobody, and the small mess they had set up was already full to the brim with rumors about Duke. Some said he was an actual Duke, an exiled son of the Beltan Empire, and was hiding here as some sort of penance. Others insisted that their sector had not been abandoned and that Duke was the commander in waiting for a fleet that would arrive to save them all any day now.

From there, it got weirder. No one took the rumors seriously, especially not Crush. There was even one that said Duke had some hidden hangar deep underground where he was building a massive ship to evacuate everyone. That one had made Crush laugh, even through his bad mood.

Duke was a weird one, but come on?

His fragile mood turned worse as he walked through the dark; nothing to see outside the walls and nothing to break up the thoughts in his head. Back in the Endless Dark, it was only now that Crush was starting to wonder if Des had been right about it. Could you ever really leave it? He sure as hell recognized something in the blackness out there. Something familiar.

He’d told himself he was fine after everything with Des and that damnable mining world, but was he? Crush was starting to realize he had been carrying a little of it inside him all this time. It was like a living thing, a malignant force that squatted in the back of his mind and insisted he couldn’t trust people, that they didn’t really like him, that it was just a matter of time until they let him down.

Just like Des had.

Now, that part of him seemed to be growing, robbing him of his hope, his sleep, and his sanity. It was bad, and this time, the routine he was strictly keeping to was just not enough.

He was leaning on the parapet, eyes looking blankly into the blackness outside the wall, feeling like a part of himself was just draining out into that emptiness as he did, yet unable to bring himself to care, when he heard a voice calling him.

He ignored it, his mind full of regrets. Full of things he would never get to do as the certainty that he would die here, in the dark, alone settled around his shoulders like lead weights.

“Oy!” Something smacked him in the side of the head. “One shag, and you just ignore me?” Vicky kicked him hard in the side. “Fucker!”

“Sorry!” Crush said, blinking his eyes against the light she carried. “I was lost in thought, I guess.”

“Oh,” Vicky lowered the flashlight she had bashed him with and glared. “Still rude.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Crush shook his head. “I’m not doing too great in this dark.” He nodded to the empty darkness outside the walls, still feeling like something off him was draining away, even as he talked.

“It’s a bitch, isn’t it?” Vicky said, coming to lean next to him on the wall. “Probably better not to stare off into it all the time.”

“You may have a point,” Crush admitted sheepishly. “I was in this kind of thing before, and well–” He flinched as she bashed him with the torch again.

“No thinking about negative shit,” She said cheerfully as he rubbed the side of his head. “You have to think positive, ya know?”

“You’re quite a violent person,” Crush said with a smile.

“I am what I am,” Vicky winked. “You got to keep cheerful when things get dark, you know that, right?”

“I honestly wish we could at least fight something,” Crush said, “Sitting around doing nothing is what is doing my head in.”

“Oh, nice,” Vicky laughed. “I had to get involved with some dark, brooding stranger who always wants the next fight.”

“I’m not dark and brooding,” Crush protested. “I am serious and careful.”

“Eh, same thing,” Vicky nudged him again, “You need to loosen up, or you really will go mad.”

“I’ll try, I promise,” Crush said, mostly to get her to drop the subject. Nothing made him feel worse than being told to cheer up.

“Well, see that you do,” Vicky said as she pushed back from the wall. “There won’t always be a flood of Abomi-Toads to take your frustrations out on.”

“I said I’d–” Crush stopped. “Hey, where did you get that Abomi-Toad thing from? One of the soldiers?”

“That?” Vicky laughed. “No. It was Bea. She’s that Beacon people are always on about. She gets her supplies here. You have to admit, it’s a great name for them.”

“One of a kind,” Crush said with a distant smile.