A Pale Light in the Black

by K. B. Wagers

  She turned. “Yes?”

  “Do me a favor and tell Jenks I’ll see her in the cage.” Till blew a kiss and took off back across the mats with a laugh.

  Max caught up with Rosa at the edge of the sword-fighting mats. “Commander, you okay?”

  “Fine.” But her smile was short. “We drew last place on the Big Game.”

  “But?”

  Rosa dragged in a breath, closing her eyes for a moment before she opened them again and stared at Max. “I’m squared up against Commander Yevchenko in the second round of the sword.”

  “From Honorable Intent.” Max nodded. She knew the lanky commander from headquarters from his visits to Admiral Chen, and had seen a few fights when she’d helped Tamago review training videos. “He fought Nika in the finals last year and lost.”

  “Exactly. And I’ve beat him twice,” Rosa said, her voice just above a whisper and her fingers tapping nervously on the tablet. “But one of those times was an exhibition match. He had the flu.”

  “You’ll beat him again.” Max put her hand over Rosa’s, stilling the movement. “Healthy or not. We’ll figure it out.”

  Rosa glanced past her. “Doors are open. Public’s coming in. We should get in the changing rooms or we’ll end up signing autographs right up until the bell sounds.”

  Jenks glanced at the door as Rosa and Max came into the changing room and rolled her shoulders as she turned off the music blaring in her ears. “What’s the news?”

  “We rolled the final spot for the Big Game.”

  “Nice.” The algorithm for the slots of all the competitions took last year’s ranking into account, but there was still a high degree of luck involved and scoring the coveted final run for the Big Game was something all the teams hoped for.

  “Here’s the schedules for everything else,” Rosa said, and Jenks’s DD chip pinged in response to the new file on the team servers. She pulled her comp first, eyes scanning over the names. Most were familiar and she cataloged opponents at lightning speed, tagging the unfamiliar names to investigate when she had the time.

  So many people thought that she just threw herself into a fight and let luck sort it out, which wasn’t entirely wrong. However, Jenks paid attention to her competition with a focus she applied to only a few other important things in her life. She had detailed files on all her previous fights and those would get shuffled into this year’s fight profile as the bracket progressed.

  She didn’t sleep much during the prelims.

  “Scored a bye on the first round, nice.” She flicked a smile in Max’s direction. “That means I can watch your first round, Lieutenant. Come here and we’ll figure out how to beat Lieutenant Shay MacDonald from Sol Rising.”

  “It’s going to have to wait,” Rosa said, sticking an arm out to stop Max before she could cross the room. “We’ve only got ten minutes until the opening ceremonies and we need to go over the Big Game objective.” She slid the tablet into the slot in the wall and cued up the video.

  Admiral Chen’s face appeared on the wall. “Zuma’s Ghost, welcome to the preliminaries. We have cooked up something a little different as an experiment for this game.” She smiled.

  “Oh boy,” Max muttered. “I know that look.”

  “I have been taken hostage by a group of approximately forty-five well-trained mercenaries and am being held on the top floor of a three-story building. Your objective is to rescue me. However, you will not be able to do it alone. There are essential pieces of information you will need to successfully complete your mission. All of which rely upon the success of your competitors. Your scores hinge on each other’s performances. So watch them closely. Cheer them on. My life—your win—depends upon it.”

  The screen went dark and Jenks rubbed a hand over her face. “Well . . . shit.”

  “We have to get info from the other teams? How is that going to work?” Sapphi demanded.

  “Better question is why would they give it to us? We go last, which used to be a good thing.” Jenks shared a grim look with Rosa. “Now all the other teams will have their points, if they let us fail . . .”

  “No.” Max shook her head. “Admiral Chen is big on teamwork. She would make sure that translated into anything they’re doing here. She said, ‘Your scores depend on each other.’”

  “Meaning everyone’s scores depend on the operation being successful across the board.” Rosa nodded.

  “Let’s hope you’re right,” Jenks replied with a sigh. “Otherwise there’s a really good chance we’re fucked here.” She weathered Rosa’s look, shrugging into her blue jacket and checking her hair one last time in the mirror before she headed for the door. She paused, waiting for Rosa before exiting the changing room into the narrow hallway that led to the staging area.

  Most of the fifteen teams were already gathered in the large area just off the gymnasium, and the sounds of the excited crowd filtered in to mix with the conversations of the Neos.

  “I almost forgot—Commander Till said to tell you she’d see you in the cage.”

  Jenks glanced at Max briefly and grinned. “I’m hoping so. She’s over there with the rest of Flux.” She pointed a finger to her right, raising her hand a little higher in greeting when she caught Till’s eye. The commander lifted her chin in acknowledgment and blew her a kiss.

  Jenks laughed, drawing more attention in their direction. She tapped D’Arcy’s outstretched fist as they passed Dread Treasure and exchanged a look with Luis.

  The wink that dropped over one of his amber eyes was so quick no one else saw it and Jenks was glad that shit-eating grin was her default. Luis was built, broad shoulders sliding down to a narrow waist and powerful thighs. He was twenty centimeters taller than her, not enough to make fights complicated, just enough to make things interesting.

  She dragged herself out of that distraction just in time to catch Max frowning at her.

  “What?”

  “Did you—” Max shook her head. “Nothing, never mind.”

  “Multitasking, Lieutenant. It’s a valuable skill.” She patted Max on the back, feeling oddly cheerful as she followed Rosa toward the entrance.

  The newest team to the prelims, Sol Rising, watched them as they passed, wearing identical looks of nervousness.

  “You’re up against Lieutenant MacDonald in the first round. She’s right there,” Jenks said to Max, pulling the file on the pale-skinned lieutenant and sending it to Max. “I’m not seeing a lot of—wait, member of the academy hand-to-hand team. Won a couple of tournaments. There will be video of it. I’ll find it during the opening ceremonies.”

  “I appreciate it.”

  Jenks smiled and patted Max on the back again. “Teammates, Lieutenant. You enjoy your first opening ceremonies. I’ll handle this bit.”

  Rosa glanced back. “Ready?”

  “Let’s do this,” Jenks replied.

  Preliminaries—Day One

  “Did you hear about the Big Game?”

  “Who hasn’t? I don’t understand the point of it, to be honest.”

  “Someone said Admiral Chen wanted a reminder that NeoG is in this together, even during the preliminaries.”

  “Making it so everyone fails the Big Game if she doesn’t survive is one way to do it.” The speaker paused. “Though what happens if Zuma’s Ghost chokes on the final run? It’s not announced, but you know they’ll have to be the ones to rescue the admiral.”

  The first speaker laughed. “You haven’t seen any of these, so I’ll give you a break. Zuma’s Ghost doesn’t choke, Malcolm.”

  “They lost the Games last year.”

  “By three points. That’s not choking.”

  “Yeah, well their best sword fighter got transferred.”

  “He did, but they’ll still be fine. Come on, let’s go get those beers before the next round of fights gets going.”

  Rosa watched the fans wander past the corner she was leaning against as they went in search of drinks.

  “Eavesdropping aga
in, Commander?” Stephan Yevchenko joined her, an easy smile on his handsome face.

  “It relaxes me.” She stuck her hand out and the man shook it. It would have been easy to hate the commander of Honorable Intent if he’d had a single jerkish bone in his body. But Stephan was as easygoing as he was kind, somehow untarnished by his position in NeoG’s Intelligence division. “How are things?”

  “Pretty quiet. You’ve had some excitement lately, though.”

  “What, the freighter?” Rosa shrugged. “Jenks had it well under control.”

  “Hell of a thing.” He leaned against the wall.

  Rosa studied him, something in his tone ringing the warning bells in her head. “Something I need to know about that?”

  Stephan shook his head. “No. From everything I looked at, it was just a magnetic failure. Rare as can be, but not impossible. Heard your new lieutenant stayed the course.”

  “She’s good at her job.”

  “We’re lucky to have her in NeoG.” A quick grin flashed across his face, lighting up his blue eyes. “I was about to beg Admiral Chen to let me lure her over to Intel when she announced she was taking the Interceptor course. She was wasting her talents as an aide, and I think Chen knew it.”

  “I’m glad she’s with us.”

  Stephan grinned again. “You don’t have to say it, I know you’d have been happier if they’d waited until after the Games, but I won’t lie and say I’m not glad I don’t have to face Nika in the ring.”

  “I am not surprised, mercenary.”

  “Word is she’s decent in the cage, though,” he said.

  “She’s got some skills.” Rosa smiled. “I’m not giving you more than that, Luis and the others will just have to deal with not knowing until you see her fight. Why are you here, Stephan? We usually save these chats for the afterparty.”

  “Eh, Chen changed the rules up on us.” Stephan shrugged. “Honorable is tasked to find a security code for the Big Game, which I suspect you’ll need to get into wherever the bad guys are holding the admiral. I’ll pass it on as soon as we get through our round.”

  “I appreciate it, Stephan.” Rosa stuck her hand out. “You’re a good guy, I don’t care what Jenks says about you.”

  Stephan laughed, shaking her hand. “Tell Jenks Luis is pretty sure he’s going to win this year.”

  Rosa snorted. “Whatever.”

  Stephan started away, then stopped and looked over his shoulder. “Since we’re changing things up here, let’s have a drink after I kick your ass. I want to pick your brain about something.”

  “Loser’s buying,” Rosa replied, and Stephan laughed.

  “Fair enough. See you in the ring, Rosa.”

  “Later, Stephan.”

  “Max?”

  “I am so sorry to wake you up, but I wanted to ask you about Commander Yevchenko.”

  “Stephan? Why? Wait, shit, you’re at the prelims.” Nika snapped awake, rubbing both hands over his face. “Sorry, we just got back from patrol two hours ago.”

  “Rosa drew Yevchenko for the second round. I’m on break. I thought it would help her if I could bring her some kind of information on how to fight him.”

  “You already had fights? How did they go?”

  “Sailed through my first two rounds.” Max couldn’t stop the giddy grin from spreading across her face. “Jenks is fighting right now. Ma and I are set to tackle the second round of the pilot course in a little over an hour.”

  “But Rosa’s fighting Stephan?”

  “Yes, in ten minutes. I wish I’d thought of it earlier, but—”

  “Don’t worry about it.” Nika waved her off. “Stephan is good. I can’t believe they got paired in the second round, that doesn’t happen very often. He got a bye in the first, didn’t he?”

  Max nodded.

  “Look, he’s too nice a guy to be arrogant, but he’ll be overconfident. Rosa can use that. When he gets excited he has a tendency to drop his guard on his left side. Tell Rosa to play up her insecurity about the fight, use it to her advantage.” Nika laughed. “She’ll give you this look and try to pretend like she has it together, but I know her, she’s a wreck on the inside right now and convinced she can’t win this fight. Tell her this, exactly: ‘You’re the best sword fighter in the ring in this moment—act like it.’”

  Max nodded.

  “Don’t look so skeptical,” Nika said. “The only difference between me and Rosa is that she always thought I was better than her and she fought like it. She’s got more experience than all of us put together.”

  “I’d better go.”

  Nika nodded and rubbed a hand over his face a second time. “I guess since I’m up I’ll find the broadcast. Hey, Max?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Go kick some ass out there.”

  “I will.” She was smiling when she terminated the com, though, and raced out of the changing room. She wove her way through the people on the gymnasium floor past the cage fights, where a sudden roar went up. Max glanced up at the massive screen hovering in the middle of the open in time to see the replay of Jenks bodily driving her opponent, a well-muscled warrant officer, into the mat.

  “Careful.” Hard hands caught her when she ran into someone and Max brought her own up reflexively. “Easy, Lieutenant, just didn’t want you to land on your butt.”

  “Chief Petty Officer Armstrong.” Max nodded to the Honorable Intent fighter with a calmness she wasn’t feeling.

  “Nice to meet the mysterious Carmichael at last.” Luis’s smile was broad, dominating his round face. “I’m bummed we won’t get to have a fight, Lieutenant, though maybe you’ll surprise me and beat Jenks.”

  “Unlikely.” She slipped free. “Thanks for the catch, I’ve got to run.”

  “You headed to the sword fights? I’ll block for you.” He held out a hand with a smile and Max found herself smiling back as she took it. Luis turned and cleared a path through the crowd. People parted almost unconsciously and within a few moments Luis had led Max over to Rosa and departed with a bright grin and an irreverent salute.

  Rosa chuckled. “Met the chief, I see.”

  “He seems nice.”

  “He’s seeing Jenks.” Rosa laughed again at Max’s surprised look. “They think they’re sneaky about it, but it’s been going on for years. Kinda hard not to notice.”

  Max wasn’t entirely sure how to respond to that, so she changed the subject. “I just talked to Nika.”

  “Nika?” Rosa frowned.

  “I thought he might have some pointers for you for the fight.” Max gestured across the ring at where Stephan was laughing with Luis as she relayed what Nika had said. “He said to tell you that you’re the best sword fighter in the ring in this moment, act like it,” she finished.

  “Asshole.” Rosa laughed. “He would say that.”

  “He said, too, that you’ve got more experience than all of us combined.”

  “Admiral Chen said something very similar,” Rosa replied with a frown. “She also told me I should stop treating this like a match and go into it like a boarding action.”

  Max practically felt the air contract around them and her next words felt weighty in her mouth. “I think you are the better of the two fighters about to step into the ring, Commander. You’ve got the combat experience Stephan will never have. It’s time for you to give yourself the kind of recognition you’re always giving those of us around you.”

  She watched Rosa’s shoulders pull back, spine going straight, and her gloved hand tightened on the dulled sword. Max reached out, putting her hand over Rosa’s. “You can do this. I have faith in you.”

  Jenks wiggled a loose tooth as she made her way across the gymnasium floor. Nilsson’s right hook was a thing of beauty, if only she didn’t leave herself so open when she threw it. That had been the warrant officer’s downfall in the end.

  Jenks accepted the congratulations and paused to take selfies with a few fans who’d scored passes to be at ground level as she
moved across the floor. The tooth would settle by tomorrow thanks to the accelerated heal that medical had shot her up with, and she was done fighting for today thanks to her bye in the first round.

  No replacement tooth for me this year.

  She spotted a man with a press pass and a camera taking photos of Max as the lieutenant watched Rosa’s fight. “You got an admirer,” she said, bumping her shoulder into Max’s and tipping her head to the side.

  Max glanced away from the fight and frowned. “I saw him before the Games started.”

  “Unsurprising. Get used to it. I’ve got a guy who’s followed me around since I started. I send his kids Christmas presents.” Jenks winced when Stephan hit Rosa right in her sword arm with a blow that knocked the weapon from her hand.

  The ref blew the whistle to end the second round.

  “I was about to say you were doing good,” Jenks said, boosting herself up on the ropes and holding her hand out for the sword.

  Rosa slapped it into her palm and looked down at her suit. Eight pulsing red marks decorated the gray surface, the sensors buried within showing where Yevchenko had tagged her. She glanced over at him and sighed.

  “Hey, you got him six times, you’re still in this.” Jenks grabbed a towel and rubbed down the sword as Max handed Rosa a water.

  “Remember what Nika said about his left-side guard,” Max said. “Play up your hesitation, act like those two points have you worried.”

  “They do have me worried.” Rosa flexed her hand.

  Jenks resisted the urge to ask Max when she’d spoken to Nik and instead handed the sword back to Rosa. “She’s right, Nik’s right. Yevchenko gets sloppy when he thinks he’s about to win. Use that against him; you only need three hits to win.” Jenks glanced over her shoulder to make sure no one was watching. “Hit him left side, thigh, torso, and spin to take the final shot in the back. I’d say hold him off for two and a half minutes and then strike in the last thirty seconds to keep him from being able to retaliate, but that’s me.”

  “I actually agree with her,” Max said when Rosa looked her way, and Jenks snorted, rolling her eyes with a smile.