by Kelly Gay
She snorts at that.
“For you as well,” I say.
This does not endear me to her, but it is the truth. We are the same, in this regard.
“What did the Librarian give you?”
“A coordinate key.”
“To where?”
“A safe place.” Among other things.
At this time, she does not press further.
“Will you use it?”
“Perhaps. In time.”
“And until then?”
“I believe you are in desperate need of an AI to administer your ship.”
Her brow rises. “And you’re the AI for the job?”
“No more lies, Captain.”
She gazes so hard at me I wonder if my armiger might crack in two. “No more lies,” she says.
And yet . . .
Perhaps some things are better left unsaid.
CHAPTER 54
* * *
Ace of Spades, slipspace to Shaps system, September 7, 2557
After the ritual good-bye, they left Earth right under Homefleet’s nose and jumped, heading to the Shaps system and Myer’s Moon.
From there, they’d figure out their next move.
The first night in slipspace, Ram made them a traditional Komoyan dinner with hardly any traditional ingredients, which in hindsight really made it just dinner. Rion didn’t have the heart to point this out to him, but Niko was more than happy to do so.
They gathered around the table, joined by Spark over the holopad.
After the meal, talk turned to the future, and Lessa asked the question on everyone’s mind.
“So what do we do now? I mean . . . can we go back to salvaging? Should we?”
The mood grew somber.
“We’re not exactly in the clear with Gek ‘Lhar,” Ram said. “That bounty’s still in effect.”
“And ONI won’t stop—ever,” Lessa added. “They know we have their asset.”
“Which, really, when you think about it,” Niko said with a frown, “is ridiculous. Spark belongs to no one but himself.”
Spark gave the kid a nod.
No one was thrilled with the prospect of a future where they were always on the run, always looking over their shoulders.
“We’re not the enemy,” Lessa said. “Instead of trying to learn from him, they want to lock him up.”
“In their defense,” Spark told her, “I did not make a good impression on the human military when I was a monitor. Neither did others of my former kind.”
“So to recap,” Niko said, “our future entails steering clear of ONI, dodging what’s left of the Covenant, and avoiding every mercenary and bounty hunter in the galaxy. So . . . like a normal week.”
That brought a few laughs, and Rion smiled as they finished their meal, while talk turned to Gek ‘Lhar and where he might be in the galaxy.
The last several months had been a tumultuous ride, and she wasn’t keen on continuing down that particular path.
Could they go back to the way things had been before? With a little finesse and careful planning . . . probably. It would take some doing, but most things could be made whole once more.
Did she want to?
She wasn’t so sure.
They could easily reap the rewards of Triniel—with the salvage currently in their hold, they’d never lack for credits or resources again. Though she wasn’t sure they’d ever return. Plundering a planet-wide grave site hadn’t felt right, nor did the idea appeal now. And salvaging definitely lost some of its shine when it became easy.
She thought back to the cavern beneath Kilimanjaro, the way the light had filled her up and the strange figure moving out of the haze.
She’d held on to her secret, and wondered if the crew had done the same.
Rion had seen the Librarian.
She’d gazed upon the ancient Forerunner, utterly struck by the love and wisdom in her eyes, and understood at once how Spark could cling to his devotion for so very long.
She understood why he called her mother. Savior of mankind, nurturer . . .
But even as Rion had felt the stirrings of loyalty and love, she knew those emotions for what they were: a genetic disposition built into her very DNA, giving the Librarian a way to be heard, a way to inspire loyalty, a way to nudge her children to fulfill their potential.
Like any other human, Rion listened.
She heard. And she understood.
The trials ahead. The battles to come. The safe place. The things that needed healing and tending.
Take care of him. He is more fragile and important than you could ever know.
She’d thought a lot about that moment over the last few days, unwilling to share it just yet.
She’d felt conflicted too. On the one hand, it felt like she’d been blessed. On the other, she wasn’t too keen on the idea of being genetically predisposed to want what someone else wanted.
Though her choices were her own.
And, boy, did they have options like never before.
With a souped-up ship like the Ace of Spades, thanks to the upgrade seed, and an AI on the level of Spark, they could get into places most civilians or military personnel couldn’t dream of.
And as always these days, she thought of her father.
His sacrifice . . . the scale of war, the billions lost. Kip Silas’s loss and the many who had died on Sedra, and more recently the millions gone in New Phoenix . . . It seemed the killing would never end.
She thought of the horrifying prospect of the Flood, what Spark and the Forerunners had gone through, and knew in her gut that if that particular threat ever reappeared, and the various species of the galaxy didn’t wise up and stop slaughtering each other, they were all doomed.
Maybe the Mantle of Responsibility that the Forerunners had been so fond of wasn’t a one-race responsibility, but an every-race responsibility. Human, Sangheili, Kig-Yar, Unggoy . . . postwar life had begun bringing small pockets of species together. If certain factions stopped making war, manipulating fears, clinging to their information and technology, and deciding for the greater good without the greater good’s input, it might be the beginning of something better.
One single act could make an enormous difference, could reverberate across the entire galaxy . . . John Forge had proven that.
“Rion.” Niko’s elbow nudged her out of her deep thoughts.
“What?”
He gave her a weird look. “We asked what you think. About the future.”
They were looking at her expectantly. She let out a deep breath. “Well . . . Ram’s right. We need to get the bounty off our heads. And Less is right too. We’re not ONI’s enemy. We’re not the UNSC’s enemy either. They might try their damnedest to paint us as the bad guys, but we’re not going to live up to their expectations of who we are and what we stand for.”
Niko tilted his head, curious. “What do we stand for?”
“I don’t know,” she answered. “I honestly thought I did. But now . . . What I do know is that I’m going to finish what I started and find the Spirit of Fire. There are eleven thousand souls still out there. . . .” And she had to believe they were. Rion might not have been able to save the one who mattered most to her, but she sure as hell could save the rest of them. Her father would have wanted it that way, and if there was any way to honor his memory and his sacrifice, it was this.
She met Spark’s blue eyes, and he dipped his head. “I have no doubt, Captain. We will find that ship.”
It was a tall order, but if anyone could help her achieve that goal, it was Spark. Rion returned the nod, and then refocused on the crew. “After that . . . We have a helluva fast ship. We can go places and do things we never could before. We have the Triniel loot, so we’re all set with funds. We have the luxury of choosing.” Rion picked up her glass of ale. “The galaxy is ours.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Ram said, flashing a white grin through his black beard as he lifted his glass.
Nik
o stood. “To the scrap.”
“To the stars,” Lessa joined in.
“To the father.” Ram nodded to Rion, then to Spark. “And the mother.”
Spark manifested his own glass and lifted it. “To friends.”
Rion leaned over the table as they put their glasses together. “To family.”
And they drank.
They call us criminals now. Renegades.
The Office of Naval Intelligence spreads its propaganda through the galaxy, posts bounties, and hounds us among the stars.
But we have a fast ship.
The fastest. The smartest, if I may say so.
They are afraid. Of what we know. Of what we might share. Of where we go, and what we might bring back.
They know what is still out there. What could return.
Their fear is justified.
EPILOGUE
* * *
UNSC Infinity, Spartan deck, December 2557
Novak entered his quarters and saw the flashing signal on his personal datapad.
He tossed his gym towel onto his bed and sat at his desk. The message had no sender, no origin data, no time stamp. He passed it through a complete security check. It came out clean. Mysterious, but clean.
As he read the brief missive, a small quirk twisted his lips. He shook his head, and leaned back in his chair, his grin growing.
He hoped like hell he never came across Rion Forge again, because he’d sure hate to have to put a firebird like that behind bars.
Tempting fate, that one.
A deep chuckle escaped him as he hit his comm unit to file a report, then stared at the message a moment longer.
Hey, Big Guy.
I’m a bit tied up at the moment, so thought I’d throw a little luck your way since you seem to need it.
Gek ‘Lhar (you remember who he is, right?) is headed to Earth, specifically a refugee settlement in Quito.
Don’t mess it up this time.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
* * *
Thanks go to 343 Industries for putting their trust in me, not only to take Rion Forge’s story forward, but also to give another iconic character a chance at redemption. Special thanks to Jeremy Patenaude, Tiffany O’Brian, and Jeff Easterling.
Immense gratitude goes to my editor, Ed Schlesinger, without whose belief, support, and patience this book quite simply would not exist. Thank you.
To Jonathan, Audrey, and James for their unwavering love and understanding; and to Kameryn for continuing to be my cheerleader and sounding board.
Acknowledgments would not be complete without recognizing Greg Bear’s incredible work in the Forerunner Saga, which was instrumental in the writing of this book. It is my deepest hope that I have done some justice in carrying part of the story forward.
More from this Series
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Book 24
HALO: Shadow of Intent
HALO: Saint's Testimony
HALO: The Fall of Reach
Book 1
HALO: The Flood
Book 2
HALO: First Strike
Book 3
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
* * *
KELLY GAY is the critically acclaimed author of the Charlie Madigan urban fantasy series. She is a multi-published author with works translated into several different languages. She is a two-time RITA nominee, an ARRA nominee, a Goodreads Choice Award finalist, and a SIBA Book Prize Long List finalist. Kelly is also the recipient of the North Carolina Arts Council Fellowship Grant in Literature. She has authored the short story “Into the Fire,” featured in Halo: Fractures, and the novella Halo: Smoke and Shadow. She can be found online at kellygay.com.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR:
Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Kelly-Gay
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.
ISBN 978-1-5011-9279-1
ISBN 978-1-5011-9280-7 (ebook)
on Archive.