Vendetta (Project Vetus Book 2)

by Emmy Chandler

  “So.” Sotelo turns to the rest of us, one hand resting on the end of Meshach’s crate. “What are we going to do with subject G4?”

  “Do you still want a vote?” I ask, and the very thought makes my stomach pitch. “Because if you vote to hand her over to Meshach, I’ll kill every fucking one of you myself,” I growl.

  “Relax,” Dreyer says. “We’re not giving her to anyone.”

  “Agreed,” Lawrence echoes, followed by Sotelo and Zamora. “But we still need that ship. And without subject G4, we don’t have any way to pay.”

  “So maybe we don’t pay,” I suggest with a shrug. “Maybe we just take it.”

  Lawrence frowns. “I’m going to insist we try to find another way.”

  Dreyer’s brows rise. “Feel bad about stealing from a human trafficker?”

  “No.” Lawrence doesn’t even hesitate. “But Meshach evidently has quite a fleet. If we’re going to steal a ship, we’re going to need a better plan than just ‘Step one: Break in. Step two: hot-wire ship.’”

  “Maybe we don’t need to break in.” Grace’s gaze tracks from face to face around the room. A small smile takes over her features, lighting her up as if the sun has just found her face. “I might have an idea.”

  23

  GRACE

  “OKAY, but even if we get away with the ship intact, the Gebosan fleet will give chase.” Captain Sotelo’s voice echoes through the open conference room door, and my stylus pauses over the surface of the tablet while I listen. “Which means we’re either going to need one hell of a head start, or a serious cloaking system.”

  “And we’ll need to know for sure that Meshach hasn’t installed some kind of tracker on the ship,” Vaughn adds. “Dreyer, if we get you some time onboard, can you verify that? Or, alternately, remove whatever he’s installed?”

  “Yes,” she says, and when I lean back in my desk chair to hear her better, it nearly rolls out from under me. “And if you’ll come with me, we can cut the time that takes in half.”

  “I think Sotelo’s going to need me elsewhere,” Vaughn says. “Zamora, can you go with Dreyer?”

  “No problem,” Thiago says.

  “How’s it going?” Lilli drops into the chair across the desk from me, and I blink at her, startled by her sudden appearance in the office we’ve co-opted in the administration wing of one of Theron’s labs. The furniture and equipment in here have mostly escaped destruction, and I have this entire desk to myself.

  “Good. I think I’m done.” I spin the thin, transparent tablet around to show her my work. “This is all I can remember of the layout. I hope I haven’t forgotten anything vital.” It’s kind of terrifying to think that my memory of a building I’ve never even seen all of is all the crew will have to go on, once they’re inside. “I really hope I’m not getting anyone hurt. Or killed.”

  Lilli spins all the way around in her chair, then she reaches out to grab the edge of the desk and halt her rotation. “I’m sure you did a great job. And even if you left something out, the guys are going to be fine. I know you haven’t seen them fight much yet, but they can handle themselves like no one else in the galaxy. Literally. And as former soldiers, they’re used to shit going wrong, in every possible way. They’ll be fine.”

  I give her a grateful smile, just as Vaughn walks through the door.

  “All done?” He pulls me up by one hand and wraps me in an embrace I never want to leave. And before I can answer, he leans down to keep my mouth busy with his own.

  “Mmm…” I practically purr. Then I open for him, and his tongue greets mine. “Why do you smell so good?” I demand softly when he finally pulls away.

  “Because you aren’t pregnant yet,” Lilli says with a laugh. “That magic his fluids worked on your body will do anything to make you irresistible to each other, until you’re baking his bun in your oven.”

  I twist in his embrace to frown at her. “And then that all stops?”

  “Nope. In fact, he’ll become even more attentive and protective, instinctually. But the two of you will no longer be at the mercy of your hormones. Which just means you’ll be able to wait for an appropriate time and place to please each other, rather than indulging a desperation that makes you want to strip on the spot and abandon all modesty and shame.”

  “I never want to hear another word about modesty or shame,” I tell her, pushing back memories of the modesty sheath. Of living unseen, even in my own home.

  “You will never be burdened with either of those again,” Vaughn assures me as his hands slide up my sides, his thumbs brushing the side swells of my breasts.

  I frown up at him. “And you’re sure you’re not totally creeped out by the thought of being with a two-year-old?”

  He actually laughs. “I told you, that number is irrelevant. UA is planning to grow super-soldiers in those pods, just like they grew you. Which means in a couple of years, we could come across a pod just like that one—” He nods over my shoulder, where subject G4 still lies in cryosleep. “—and discover a man who looks just like me.” Vaughn spreads his arms, inviting me to take in his massive build and beautifully thick, hard musculature. He smiles, and suddenly his chest and shoulders are covered in that built-in biological armor I’ve only seen once before. “Would you ever refer to me as a two-year-old?”

  “No.” I smile at just the thought. “No two-year-old could ever be this dangerous.” Or this beautiful. Or this determined to protect me from harm, even if that harm should only come in the form of a strong breeze intent on blowing hair into my face.

  “Neither could any two-year-old be as clever, or compassionate, or fucking sexy as you are. So I don’t want to hear any more about the irrelevant chronology of your creation. You are a woman in every way. And you are mine,” he growls as he leans down for another kiss.

  “Yours,” I echo as his mouth trails down my throat. “And you are mine.”

  “With every beat of my heart,” he assures me.

  “I hate to interrupt,” Lilli says, with a smile in her voice. “But we ladies have one more thing to do, before we take off for Gebose.”

  Reluctantly, I let Vaughn go, as Captain Sotelo and Lieutenant Dreyer step into the room. “Ready?” Dreyer asks.

  I nod as my gaze falls to the cryopod. We’ve decided that Dreyer—she’s asked me to call her Tirzah—Lilli and I should be the ones to open the pod, to wake up subject G4, in hopes that being greeted by several friendly female faces will spare her the trauma that was my own awakening.

  Being dragged from the pod, naked and terrified, by Damaris, only to be manhandled and examined by her husband minutes later.

  We can do better by G4. We will do better by her.

  “Okay, Zamora, Lawrence, and Jamison are doing one last sweep of this place, to take everything we can possibly use,” Captain Sotelo says. “Food. Medication. Equipment. Clean bedding and clothes.”

  “And no one feels guilty for stealing?” Lilli teases.

  Her mate snorts. “UA owes us much more than what we’ve found here.”

  “And we’ll take the balance out of their fucking hides,” Vaughn growls. “Both for us, and for what they did to you two ladies.” His glance slides from Lilli and me toward the pod. “You three,” he corrects himself.

  “Coleman and I are going to be here with you, but we’ll stay back, to keep from scaring her,” Captain Sotelo says. “You ready? We need to get moving.”

  I nod, despite the fact that I’m oddly nervous about this. About waking up my clone. About telling her that everything she thinks she knows is a lie.

  I wonder what memories they’ve given her. What backstory she’s been programmed with.

  I wonder who she’ll turn out to be.

  “Okay, waking her up seems pretty simple.” Dreyer—Tirzah—pulls up a menu on the surface of the pod again, tapping on it with one finger. “It looks like we basically just open the thing, and in a couple of minutes, whatever she’s breathing in there will dissipate, and she’
ll wake up. Because this isn’t actually cryostasis. Meaning that she isn’t frozen, because she wasn’t expected to be in here for the long-term. She’s really just asleep, and she’s breathing something that slows her biological functions, to keep her from starving. Or…soiling herself.”

  “I’m ready if you are.” Lilli steps up to my side with the robe we picked out for G4 from the shopping center. There are clothes waiting on the desk behind me, as well, but the robe will give her something to put on immediately, while we explain what’s happening.

  I take a deep breath and glance at Vaughn, who gives me a reassuring smile from his position at the back of the room. Then I nod at Tirzah. “Do it.”

  She taps something on the interactive surface.

  The pod hisses as the seal is broken, and a puff of air lifts my hair from my shoulders. The top shell pops open half an inch, and Tirzah lifts it the rest of the way, folding it open like a clamshell.

  At first, nothing happens. Poor G4 just lies there, unmoving. Asleep. Breathing so shallowly that I can hardly see her chest rise. But watching for that movement reminds me that she’s naked, so I take the robe from Lilli and drape it over her, covering everything from her shoulders to her knees.

  “Any idea how long this takes?” Lilli peers in at her in obvious curiosity. And before I can tell her that her guess is as good as mine, G4’s arm twitches. The next breath she takes is deeper, and her eyes begin to move beneath her closed lids.

  “Not long, I think.” It’s bizarre to be staring down at myself. To watch myself sleep.

  I wonder how much like me she really is, aside from the physical. How much will her memory implants affect her? Will she be like a sister, or will being with her feel like looking into some weird mirror reflection?

  Finally, she opens her eyes.

  At first, they’re unfocused. She blinks, frowning up at a ceiling I don’t think she can see clearly, and I remember being in her position. At first, I wasn’t scared; I was confused. I didn’t know where I was or how I’d gotten there, but that sensation wasn’t particularly frightening. It felt like being woken up in the middle of the night and trying to orient yourself, while you’re still mired in dreams.

  I didn’t get scared until Damaris grabbed my arm and hauled me out of the pod. Until I found myself standing naked and shivering in front of a room full of women all looking me over from head to toe. Standing in judgement of my every feature. Seeming angry when they couldn’t find any flaws to point out.

  “Hi.” I resist an urge to step forward and peer down at her. She can see me from where I am, and my curiosity will only scare her. “My name is Grace.”

  G4 blinks, and her eyes widen when they focus on me. She clearly knows, from whatever memories they’ve given her, that she’s looking at her own face.

  “It’s strange, I know,” I say. “We look just alike. I’ll explain it all in a minute. But first, can you tell me your name?”

  She sits up, smoothing mussed hair back from her forehead, and the robe falls to her waist. She snatches it up to cover herself, then she frowns down at the unfamiliar material.

  “We have more clothes for you,” I assure her. “And if you don’t like those, we can take you shopping. We’ll have to be quick, though. We’re kind of in a hurry.”

  “What—?” Her voice breaks, and I can tell that her throat is dry. I remember my throat being dry.

  “Do we have some water?” I turn to Tirzah, and G4 follows my gaze to find several people watching her.

  Tirzah grabs a pouch of water from the desk behind her and hands it to me.

  “Here.” I give G4 the pouch, and she pulls the spout open and sucks up several large gulps.

  “Where am I?” she asks as she closes the spout, and her voice sounds steadier now.

  “That’s a long story,” I tell her. “You’re in an office, in a research complex on the planet Zelos. Have you ever heard of Zelos?”

  She shakes her head, still clutching the robe to her chest.

  “Can you tell me your name?” I ask again.

  She nods. “My name is Hannah, and I’m eighteen Earth-standard years old. I was born in a convent on the planet Theron and raised among women of tireless virtue.”

  I suck in a sharp breath as I stare at her.

  “Oh my god,” Lilli whispers as she steps up on my right side. “They didn’t even bother to give her unique memories.”

  “Her ‘backstory’ doesn’t matter to them,” Dreyer says. “They only care about how well she accepts the implants.”

  Because like me, Hannah is just practice. A chance for UA to perfect their techniques before they’re applied to a new crop of super-soldiers.

  “What?” Hannah’s gaze skips from Tirzah back to me, skimming over Lilli. “What’s going on? Why am I here? Why am I naked? Where’s Sister Tabitha?”

  “You’re naked because you were in stasis. Would you like to get dressed?” I turn and grab the stack of folded clothing from the corner of the desk, holding it up for her to see.

  Hannah nods, but then her focus flicks briefly toward the men at the back of the room.

  “We’ll excuse ourselves,” Vaughn says. “But we’ll just be in the next room, if you need anything.” I nod at him in thanks, and he takes the tablet with my hand-drawn map as he and Captain Sotelo pass the desk.

  “Who are they?” Hannah asks, as Vaughn closes the door on his way back into the conference room.

  “The one with white hair is Carson Sotelo. My…mate,” Lilli says, and I’m relieved to hear that the term still gives her pause. “Though that isn’t really a human concept.”

  “The other one—the man with dark skin and golden eyes—is…mine,” I tell Hannah as I hand her the clothing. “His name is Vaughn Coleman.”

  “And you are?”

  “I’m Grace,” I tell her, because she probably wasn’t yet ready to process that information when I told her the first time. “And this is Lilli.”

  Lilli gives her a friendly smile.

  “Lieutenant Tirzah Dreyer.” Dreyer shrugs with a smile. “Retired. I guess. It’s complicated, really. But you can call me Tirzah.”

  “We’ll turn around to give you some privacy,” I say as I spin to face the back of the room. Lilli and Tirzah do the same, and the pod creaks behind us as Hannah moves. Presumably putting the clothes on. “As for your other question, about Sister Tabitha… That’s complicated too.”

  “Is she okay?” Hannah’s voice is muffled; I think she’s pulling her new shirt over her head.

  “She…um… She doesn’t exist.”

  Hannah goes still and quiet behind us. “What? I just saw her the other...” Her words fade into an uncomfortable silence, and I remember the frustration she’s feeling. “Well, I’m not sure when that was, actually, but she was fine when I last saw her.” Clothing rustles, and the pod creaks again. “You can look now,” she says.

  Lilli, Tirzah, and I turn to see Hannah dressed in the snug pants and pullover top we found for her at the shopping center. She’s holding her new socks and boots in one hand.

  “It’s a good fit.” Tirzah gives her a satisfied nod. “Of course, we went shopping with someone who just happens to share your exact measurements,” she says with a glance at me.

  Hannah studies me again for a second. “I don’t— I don’t understand what’s happening.”

  “I know. Why don’t you put your shoes on, and we’ll explain?” I push the rolling desk chair toward her, and Hannah sinks into it so she can finish getting dressed.

  “How familiar are you with the concept of memory implants?” Tirzah asks. “Or genetic design and cloning? Or accelerated growth and development?”

  I glance at the lieutenant in amusement, but Hannah can only frown at her. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Tirzah sighs. “I was afraid of that.”

  “We need to have a long talk,” I tell Hannah. “And none of what we have to tell you will be easy to hear. But I promise
that we’re not going to let anything happen to you. And I can also promise you that I know exactly how you feel, because I’ve been through everything you’re going through right now. Every single bit of it. Which is how I know that you’re going to be just fine.” I give her my most confident smile. “You have my word.”

  “BAKING SISTER SARAH’S birthday cake with—”

  “Sister Tabitha,” I finish for Hannah, and she frowns at me, still frustrated, even though I’ve demonstrated our duplicate set of memories at least a dozen times on our walk through the underground tunnels from the admin wing of the research building toward the landing bay. Under escort by Vaughn and Captain Sotelo.

  “What about that time I was late to dinner, because I’d been—”

  “—catching fireflies by the lake and lost track of time? Yeah, me too.” I give Hannah a smile, but that only seems to unnerve her even more.

  She leans closer to whisper the next test, as we walk side by side. “Do you remember lying in bed at night, staring up at the moon through the window, and this raven landed on the window sill while I was—”

  “—touching myself for the first time?” I whisper in return. “The only time? Yeah, I remember that. I think they put that memory in there just to give us a baseline for what sin and guilt are supposed to feel like. You know, so we understand how to feel ashamed of ourselves. How to hate our own urges. Our own bodies.”

  “Oh my god,” she breathes, and I can only nod in sympathy. I’ve already come to terms with what she’s facing—mostly—but that doesn’t make it any easier.

  “Yeah. But even if that had really happened—and it didn’t—you’d have no reason to feel ashamed. There’s nothing wrong with desire. With satisfaction. With taking both of those for yourself. Or sharing them with someone else.” I glance at Vaughn, and he’s kind enough to pretend he can’t hear us, with his advanced super-soldier hearing. But the corner of his mouth turns up just a little.

  When we arrive at the Dinghy, we find it empty. And yet…full. The cargo hold is full, anyway. Zamora, Lawrence, and Jamison have clearly been busy loading up everything they thought we could possibly use. Which includes a stack of double mattresses, which they’ve strapped to the rear wall of the hold.