Page 46 of The Last Hunt
This proves nothing.
You know I’m messaging someone. That’s it.
Cho’s response is so quick that Maeve almost gasps.
He says he calls you Bladesy. How sweet.
Quinlar Cho has Aethon. How else would he know that? And what is he doing to get Aethon to talk? Maeve feels herself switch into hunter mode. Adrenaline floods her body. Her muscles tighten and her mind starts racing through contingencies. She leaps back to her quarters and straps another pulse gun to herself, sliding a long knife into a hidden sheath at her thigh, and a smaller one into her boot. She pulls leather gloves on, and grabs a portable oxygen unit, slinging the small device around her neck under her long braid.
Finally, Maeve strides out of her room and stands at the door to the Archer. She pulls her tab out, and still finding no message from Aethon, taps another to Cho.
What do you want.
The response appears in a few seconds.
I want you. Surrender yourself to me and I’ll let him go.
Maeve scoffs. She’ll do no such thing. There’s no guarantee that Cho will let Aethon go, and she’s not giving herself up to him. But in order to plan a rescue, she’ll need a few more details.
Where are you?
As she waits for his response, she pulls up a map of Valley Starbase on her tab. She scans the schematics, looking for a few different things. She finds what’s labeled as the “Commander’s Office” and then several other isolated areas where Cho could be holding Aethon without other people becoming aware of it. Maeve wishes she knew more about the station, but having avoided it for so long, she’s woefully underprepared to mount any kind of well planned mission here.
Cho finally responds.
Meet me in Section 5, just past Junction 41. Don’t bother trying to fight - if you do, the man dies.
Maeve scans the map and finds the place Cho is talking about. It’s almost a dead end, but according to the map, there’s a maintenance corridor running right below it. Maybe she could use that as some kind of escape route after she gets Aethon away from Cho. She wonders what kind of shape Aethon will be in. Has Cho tortured him? He hasn’t been gone for that long - so Maeve hopes that he’ll be ok to run. He’s still recovering from radiation poisoning though. She can’t think about anything worse at the moment, she has to stay focused.
Maeve sends Cho another message.
Let me talk to Aethon.
I don’t think so,he sends. Times wasting, Bladesbearer. Do you remember how I murdered that man on Vitraxia all those years ago? I wonder how Mr. Trell here would bear up under a bit of that.
Bile burns in Maeve’s throat. She remembers how Cho had flayed his victim slowly, peeling the skin off their stomach. She can’t let that happen to Aethon.
I’ll meet you there,she sends, tapping the words into her tab with sharp jabs of her fingers.
If he’s harmed, you’ll regret it.
Section 5, past Junction 41, is all he sends back.
Maeve takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. She takes inventory of all of her weapons, mentally noting where each is. She doesn’t have a great plan, and she doesn’t know when the Archer will be spaceworthy, but she can’t leave Aethon in Quinlar Cho’s hands. If she has to, she’ll fly off the station with the Archer only half fixed. As long as Aethon is ok. As long as she can get there in time.
Even though she knows that Cho is reading these messages, she can’t help but send one last message to Aethon’s tab.
I’m coming for you.
Chapter 14
Saved
Aethon
It’s a good thing Aethon insisted on keeping track of what the mechanics are doing, because it almost seems like they’re being incompetent on purpose.
“Watch your step!” Aethon shouts over the bay. He watches as a tech leans heavily on the viewscreen of the Archer in his metal soled grav-boots. “Hey! You’re going to scuff the screen!”