"We've got trouble," I yelled, my boots thumping against the floor. "Secs incoming."

  I expected Riina or Maiko, who stood beside her covered in dripping sludge up to his chest, to argue. Instead, Riina shoved her head into the pipe and yelled for the people to run, and pass it on.

  "How long?" Maiko said. He was holding one of the sub-machine guns liberated from the Huragian guards. The guards were sitting lined up against the pipe, still in their armor, their hands and feet bound, but not looking too uncomfortable.

  "Twelve minutes, according to Montar," I said, skidding to a stop on the sludge-slick floor. I had to wave my arms for balance.

  "You got the codes?" Riina asked. She had my M3 in her hand and a grim look on her face. Somehow, it suited her better than the kind-grandmother-expression she'd been showing me.

  "Right here," I said, tapping my com. The screen flickered to life but Riina didn't even glance at it.

  "Dock five," Maiko said, pointing toward the left. "I've got a crew working the airlock. Viisel commands."

  I took off.

  The airlock was gigantic, old, and pitted with rust. No one had cared for the Belithain for a long time. A crew of five Kylians were trying to clear the emergency release, a two-meter long metal rod thick as my thigh, scraping away palm-sized flakes of rust and old paint with small multi-tools. Good luck with that. The release was sized to be operated by a loading mech. Still, they tried, their expressions intense. A few Kylians, mostly old people or children, looked on.

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  I ignored them all, going directly to the keypad, wiping away a thick layer of grease and dust from the scratched readout. To my surprise, it came online. I pressed my com against it, triggering a channel scan.

  Four labored breaths later, my com beeped. Channel established. I transmitted the access codes Montar had given me.

  Nothing.

  Voidmunching Montar. She'd set us up.

  I ran through the access code transmission sequence again, to no avail. Behind me, the crowd of Kylians waiting to board grew. Maiko must be sending them over as fast as they could run.

  "Wait," Hao said, reaching over my shoulder and bringing up the keypad controls. She placed Montar's map next to them, and started punching key triplets.

  Of course. You had to have the secure key. Which was on a voidmunching piece of printed polymer.

  "Try now," Hao said, and I sent the access codes again.

  With a squeal of metal on un-oiled metal, the airlock labored open.

  The inside of the Belithain was dark. No power. I up-tuned my flash ward, earning myself a thumping reminder of my hurting head, and tossed the armor plate holding it into the ship. It flew a good thirty meters, illuminating a steel cavern so large the ward couldn't light more than the nearest part. I could have flown the Bucket through it, with room to spare.

  No inner airlock, though. Either that, or it had rusted open.

  The Kylians working on the emergency release pocketed their multi-tools and started getting the waiting ones moving. The Belithain echoed with steps.

  Something was finally going right.