by E M Garcia
"What about me?" Gale asked.
Wes snorted, but he didn't look away from me. "I already know nothing affects your stomach."
A sharp chrip echoed through the speakers. Cal's emotionless voice filtered through the speakers like an old friend. Damn, I missed that sound.
"Ambassador Cage," Cal said. "I have completed my dianostics. There is an item I believe needs to be brought to your attention."
I froze. Cal never used my proper title. None of the crew did unless there were strangers on board or something had gone wrong."Go ahead.”
"As part of my normal tests I performed a scan of the shuttle bay" she said. "I found commonalities in the structure and signatures of the stealth ship and the ship on which Dr. Cage escaped."
"Yeah, we figured that, Cal," Gale said.
"Both ships match the stealth drive on the ship currently in shuttle bay, Trick's cruiser."
23
Alix lunged forward, pounding Wes's jaw with a right hook. Mason’s slight, swimmer’s body was no match for LT’s muscular girth. The smaller man hit the ground with a thud. Gale grabbed Alix by the arm and pulled him back. He locked his arms around Alix's torso and held him in place.
"Cool it, LT," he whispered.
Wes sat up, shaking his head and blinking his eyes. He glared up at Alix for a second, then laughed and rubbed his jaw. “You used to hit harder in the old days, LT.”
“And you used to be smarter, you little shit. I’m fine!”Alix’s face flushed red. The veins in his neck bulged. Gale didn’t let go. “All these years I've been defending, and you started with damn terrorist group behind our backs and send them after the Commander’s sister?!”
I slid in between them, to face Alix and holding up my hands. “Alix, we need him.”
“Listen to her,” Wes said “All this excitement can’t be good for you’re health.”
Alix’s eyes settled on my face. He held my gaze, taking deep breaths until his color returned to normal. He blinked and nodded, stepping back once more.
“I’m fine, ma’am.” The second Alix said it, I knew it wasn’t true, but I wouldn’t challenge him in front of Wes and Gale.
I looked at Gale over Alix’s shoulder. “He’s good.”
When Gale let him go, he reached for Mason’s wrist and pulled him to his feet.
Wes whistled. “You’ve got better control of these apes thank I expected, Ambassador. I’m impressed.”
That did it. I turned on him. “Your friends tried to blow me up and created a situation that ended with getting thrown through a ceiling. I'm no fan of yours either.”
Wes nodded. “Fair enough. But in my defense, what Radiance Lives is now, it wasn't when I started it. And I haven't had control of it in a long time.”
I folded my arms across my chest. “Radience Lives is the Alliance’s problem. J’Selle and Daq are mine. Where are they?”
Mason swiped the back of his hand across his mouth, checking it for blood. “The ship they took of in was mine. I don’t know where they went, and I didn’t know what they had done.”
“Why the hell should I believe you?”
“I accepted the transmission on Wes’s behalf, Ambassador Cage,” Nell said, gliding forward. The droid turned her head toward Alix for a second before continuing. “I sent a two-man cruiser to intercept the Calypso. There were no organic lives on board.”
“An AI’s no better, shit-for-brains,” Alix snapped. “You could have programmed it to lie.”
Wes lowered his chin. “Nell’s programming has developed without my intervention. I haven’t touched their core code since the day they were born.”
“That doesn’t mean Nell wouldn’t lie for you,” I said. “Family members lie for one another all the time.”
He fixed his green eyes on me again. This time there sharp edge to the fire I didn’t like. “This conversation is a waste of time, Ambassador. Believe me or don't, been probably the only mechanic in the free systems that won’t ask questions about your damage or demand pay for my work. You can have Cal explain away the RL stealth ship. How are you gonna explain why you’re on the run?”
“What makes you think we’re on the run, Mr. Mason?” I asked.
He snorted. “I thought politicians were better liars.”
“I’m a diplomat. We don't lie so much as carefully avoid the truth.”
“Nell's software runs through all of my equipment," he said.
"Like a housekeeper," Gale asked.
Mason's eyes snapped to him and narrowed. “Nell has access to my all of facilities on the surface and my ships. You can have Cal check them all to verify. Nobody came to this ship for Shadow and the Lady, and they're the only ones who left it.”
I held Mason's gaze, searching his body language for any sign of a lie. I couldn't tell if he was telling the truth, or was past caring about the difference between right and wrong.
"Nell, Wes said something about food in that cruiser?" I turned to the droid, fixing a smile on my face. "Why don't you and he go get it and take to the mess hall? Cal and Commander Howard can show you the way."
"I look forward to exchanging data packages with you, Nell," Cal said. She sounded almost happy.
Mason let out a short breath and straightened his shoulders. "I remember the way. Come on, Nell. I'll introduce you to the Demon."
"I do not think I want to meet a Demon, Wes."
When Gale, Nell, and Wes left, I turned to look at Alix. He glared at the lift doors as if he expected Wes to walk back through them. The fury that cooled when I separated him from Wes had flared again. His pale skin was stained bright red from his anger, making his blond hair look paler in comparrison.
"Tell me you don't believe him, ma'am," he said through gritted teeth.
"I might have if he weren't so relieved I changed the subject," I said, running my fingers over my hair. With gravity restored, I couldn't wait to unbind it and let my curls fall free. "If he says Jay and Daq aren't here, then they aren't. Right now, we can't prove otherwise."
"And when we can?" Alix set his jaw.
"Then you and Commander Howard get to convince him to talk." I tilted my head to the side. "You might try something other than a right hook."
"He deserved worse, ma'am, a lot worse."
"He's right, you know," I said, keeping my voice gentle. "You'll have a heartattack if you keep getting so worked up about this."
"You don't understand, ma'am." Alix's eyes slid to me. "I'd heard the rumors. I just...."
"Never believed them?"
He nodded. When he spoke, his voice was hoarse and strangled."I don't feel like I know any of them anymore. I shouldn't have left them."
Alix's anguished confession took me by surprise. His shoulders relaxed as he lowered his head. The weight of the world seemed to have settled on LT's shoulders in the last few minutes.
I slid my hand into his. His eyes widened, but he didn't pull away. Instead, he turned to me and rubbed my knuckles with his calloused thumb.
This can't happen, Tam. I cleared my throat and pulled away, letting my hand fall to my side. "We should get to the mess hall before Xaveer. Izzy says Strekhan start blood fueds when food resources are low."
Alix smiled. His hand never moved. "If he likes you, it'll only be a wrestling match."
I shuddered. "I don't think the human skeletal system can stand up to Xaveer."
We walked to the lift together, telling cheesy joke to lighten the tension. The whole way to the mess, Alix's words repeated in my head.
This can't happen, Tam.
24
Once the ships's systems came back on line, the general mood onboard improved. It took a hard hit when Cal announced that repairs to the ship would take three days, even with her and Nell working around the clock. After another tense moment with Alix, Wes agreed to make another trip down to the surface for supplies once the sun rose over his main facility. He busied himself with setting out the containers of food, water, and alcohol he brought
for that night, setting up a massive spread that took up all the counter space in the mess hall.
After inhaling a plate of food, I went back to my bunk and tumbled into bed. It had been a long two days, and once the Cal was fixed, I'd go right back into the fire.
At first, I didn't realize the black mass around me wasn’t a dream. The familiar murmur echoed through the void, whispering rapidly in a languge I didn't understand. I wracked my brain, trying to remember where I'd heard it before. Why did it fill me with a mingled sense of hope and dread?
Daq stepped out of the darkness. His black eyes were unshielded. He didn't need the goggles here. Time seemed to slow down. A lump rose in my throat
“Get out,” I said through gritted teeth.
The color drained from his face, leaving it a paler shade of green.” I only wanted to check that your all right.”
"Get out!" I wanted to turn my back on him, but I didn't dare expose myself. If he could give me an orgasm in the void, I had to assume he could hurt me, too.
“Where are you?” he asked. “Have you been treated?”
"Are you fucking kidding?" I snapped. "Now you want to know if I'm okay?"
I closed my eyes and wished to be anywhere else but there with him. Being back here with him felt too...intimate. I felt the void shift and reform around me. When I opened my eyes, the black energy was gone, replaced by Mt. Victoria. The moutain belched angry black clouds into the sky. Silver flakes of ash fell from the sky like a twisted immitation of winter snow. Won't be long now.
Daq cast a wary glance at the mountain. "We can't stay here. It's not safe."
The murmur paused, as if unsure what to do. When it started again, it became a guttural wail. I clapped my hands over my ears, wincing as pain radiated through my eardrums and across my skull.
Daq strode over to me through the grass, gently wrapping his hands around my wrists and pulling them down. “Tam ,what do you hear?”
I blinked. "You mean you don't hear it?"
He shook head. His thumbs grazed the skin on the back of my hands, sending a chill up my arm."All I hear is you."
I snatched my hands away from Daq. The change in momentum made me stumble a few steps back. He reached to help me. I dodged.
"Tam, let me help you, please!"
"I don't want your help, Shadow. You've done enough!"
He froze, seeming to remember that we were on opposite sides of this battle. "I did what I had to do."
“You turn your back on your crew.” I backed away from him, edging closer to the mountain with each step. I didn't have anything to fear from it. Like Daq, it had already hurt me as much as it could.
“J’Selle is as much my crew as any of the others,” he said, taking a step forward for every three I took away. “We were a team in the field. She saved my life more times than I can count.”
"And I was a quick lay, is that it? Or were you bored?" The words spilled from my mouth before I could stop them. I didn't want him to answer. I wasn't part of his crew. I didn't lead the Wreckers and I wasn't one of them. At most, I was running the ship that was giving them a ride on their reunion tour. Daq offered a single night in my bed and I took it. What right did I have to get angry about terms I set?
Daq's throat bobbed as he swallowed.“Neither, Tam. I meant what I said to you on the ship and I never meant for any of this to happen to you. If I had known-”
“Known what? That my sister-in-law would shoot me? That she would steal the most important technological advancement in an galactic history? Or maybe that she would recruit a stealth ship to help her escape, and leave me holding the bag?”
“I didn't know about that, I promise you, Tam”
“It doesn't matter,” I shouted. “Do you think the Federation is going to care what you knew? Or the Alliance? When they catch up to us, do you think they’ll believe we didn’t know? They want their AI back, and they’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”
“I’ve dealt with men like this before. I know the better than you do.” he said. "You don't have to worry about me."
“Who the hell said that I was worried about you?”
“Then who are you about,Tam? I know it's not yourself."
The sharp tone of the question in Daq’s voice stunned me into silence. I searched for a come back, but found none. It was hard to argue with the truth.
“Isabel and Mac for one,”I said. “They didn't sign up for a grand tour of the Wreckers' inner drama.”
“They won't suspect anyone but J’Selle and me. There's too much evidence.”
“I thought you said you knew them? The Hammer fired on us, Daq. The Alliance knows J’Selle stole they AI and they are going to get it back. You two have no idea started.”
The cold sensation creeped into the edges of image. Black tendrils crept along the edge of the sky, gathering above the tip of Mt. Vitoria. The mountain rumbled, shaking the ground beneath our feet as it geared up for it's final performance.
“On that score," Daq said, turning his eyes back to the mountain. A look of dread crept over his face."We can agree.”
The voice faded moving us in silence for a few seconds before a low rumble started shaking the ground beneath her feet. Sirens blared. I clapped my hands over my ear, moaning in pain. Mt. Victoria was about to blow.
Daq stepped towards me. He slipped his hands around my wrists, pulling me toward him. "We have to go!"
"We're not really here," I whispered, planting my feet in place. "Victoria doesn't exist anymore. This house doesn't exist. It hasn't in years."
“What happened here?” He asked.
An unholy wail erupted from the mountain. It ricchoted across the sky, echoing like a clap of thunder. Daq's black eyes held mine as stones and pumice rained down. I looked at the house behind him. The debris from the volcano had reduced it to rubble.
"I died."
He stared at horror as the dream crumpled around us.
I was in my own bed. My heart rate slowed. I sprang from the bed, grabbing my hoodie and tugging it over one arm as I ran. I remebered where I’d heard the murmur before. It was RAE’s voice.
“Cal, where’s Xaveer?” I huffed as a ran into the lift.
“He is in the dining room.”
When the doors opened, I ran full speed to the dining room archway. Xaveer and Wes sat at one end of the great table. They passed a bottle between. I couldn’t have planned it better…if my hunch was right.
Xaveer glanced up at me, flashing a toothy grin. "I was right, Ambassador! Pay up."
"Ooh, sorry, Demon. You forgot to set terms for your bet." I forced a smile onto my face as I approached the table. My eyes slid around the room, searching for Nell. "Better luck next time."
"That's not like you, Demon," Wes said, taking the bottle back from Xaveer's meaty fist. "Were you drunk?"
"Mostly sober," Xaveer sniffed. "But it wasn't for lack of trying."
"There's not a ship in space can carry enough booze to satisfy you, Demon" Wes snorted. He took a drink from the bootle and passed it back before looking at me. "Anyway, what can I do ya for, Ambassador."
"Actually, I had a question for Xaveer." My smile tightened. "You have a working knowledge of the Knaewa memory walking power, right?"
Xaveer furrowed his brow and leaned forward. "Yes...."
"So if I needed a guesstimate as to it's range...you could give me one?"
Xaveer shrugged. "Depends on the situation. If it's a mind he's never touched, he couldn't be farther away than a few kilometers, and it would work best with a visual."
"And if he was familiar with the mind?" I asked.
Xaveer's eyes widened for a moment, then hardened. His gaze slid from me to Wes. There weren't many men in the galaxy who could keep their cool when a Strekhan berzerker stared them down, but to his credit, Mason didn't even crack a sweat.
"Do you want to tell her the truth, Trick? Or should I?"
Wes took another drink from the bottle and passed it back to Xaveer. "Kn
ew I should have left after I fixed Cal."
Xaveer took the bottle back. He sighed heavily and looked back at me. "If he knows the mind intimately enough, Shadow can easily reach surface-to-orbit. In the old days, it's how he used to check in."
Gotcha. I folded my arms across my chest. "Cal, ping Lieutenant Barnes. Tell him I've got his proof."
25
The lower level interview room and the brig, like Cal's storage unit, were among the few places on the ship I didn't go. Neither was a stop on tours. The few times we had guests who insisted on getting a peek, I delegated the task to Mac. It was virtually unchanged from Jack's time in the big chair. To me, that made it his domain. Now it held one of his crew.
Gale and Alix questioned Wes for over an hour. They switched back and forth, pressing and needling in tandemn. Mason watched them. He smiled. Every now and then, he laughed, but he wouldn't say anything about J'Selle and Daq. Xaveer and I watched on as representatives of our governments, Izzy came along for moral support.
As a representative of the Alliance, I had no place in the interrogation room. Wes’s citizenship hadbeen revoked in all systems and governments, but he was a Federation citizen when he it happened. He wasn't entitled to do process from the GA.
"This can't go on forever," Xaveer said, casting an uneasy glance at the viewscreen. "He's not going to break."
"Then Cal will find something in Nell's data," I said. "And if not, we'll take the shuttle down and search building by building."
The Demon smirked. "You don't even know how many buildings there are."
"I know an outlaw doesn't move to the Free Systems, lose control of his criminal organization, and then fill his planet with people who could turn him in." I shook my head, turning to the other screen of the set. Nell stood alone in the other interview room. On Cal's advice, Nell submitted to our custody on assurances that we wouldn't hurt Wes.
"He made Nell so he wouldn't be alone," I said. "There's nobody on that planet but J'Selle and Daq."