As for Fitz, he paid this reversal of fortune no attention. Nor did Ree. Izza didn’t know how they could remain so calm. Her skin was yellowing with fear.
Green Fish and Sinofar walked into the garden, moving uneasily as the tips of a power lance were pressed into the base of their necks by the cat sisters.
Absent from view was Abyurin, the steward who had first greeted her at the door. He would be running this defense from safety.
“Zan Fey,” Ree said, “you should have warned me you were bringing guests.”
“Maycey!” called a human voice from a high vantage point. “Kaycey! Let my people go, or I’ll drill holes through your spines.”
“It’s the princess,” Fitz explained.
Izza followed his gaze and saw Arunsen lying prone on the Sanctuary roof. His long-barreled rifle was aimed at the cat women. How the hell had he gotten up there?
“My friends,” said Ree, her arms stretched out as expansively as their shortness allowed. “I appreciate the coolness of the garden, but I know, to most of you, the temperature feels cold, and in your haste, some of you have neglected to bring winter clothing. May I suggest we retire to the Hearth Room.”
Everyone there understood. When the Nyluga spoke, it wasn’t a suggestion.
* * * * *
Chapter 30: Vetch Arunsen
The Hearth Room
Once again, Vetch found himself standing at the front of the Hearth Room beside Maycey, looking up at Nyluga-Ree on her throne.
He was still barefoot, his feet blue with cold, but this time he was armed. So were Fitz and the others. Blasters mostly, but Enthree’s curved swords were making Ree’s people nervous. It was good to see the old Raven crew. Sybutu and the jacks too. And a Slern who was tagging along for some reason. But it didn’t look like they would have time for renewing acquaintances. Chimera Company was armed, but they were surrounded, their tactical advantages surrendered for the sake of a kiss.
He thought he’d gotten to know Zan Fey and Fitzwilliam somewhat, but now he realized he didn’t get them at all. They’d fanny-arsed around when they should have grabbed the target and run. Even after the Zhoogene mercs flooded out, Vetch had sights on the cat women and the Nyluga. He wouldn’t have made it out himself, but the others could have fought their way out.
He groaned. They might be armed, but they were essentially prisoners being paraded before their captor.
Vetch had witnessed Fitz in real battles. The man was neither a fool nor a coward, but put him up against the Guild, and it was as if he were playing a game. Deadly. Addictive. But still a game.
Stupid scump. Vetch would have sold his life to give Green Fish, Lily, and the rest a chance to get away. Now, he was going to die for no purpose.
If he was reading the situation correctly, the Nyluga was also fond of these ridiculous Guild games. Instead of sending blaster bolts through Chimera Company, Ree sat on her throne, making Fitz and his people sweat.
“Stand up straight, Vetch,” whispered Maycey in his ear. “You impressed me with your little escape bid. Don’t ruin it by slouching.”
The Kayrissan was another one he couldn’t figure out. Why wasn’t she keeping out of the kill zone in front of the stage the way her sister was? Perhaps she couldn’t resist the urge to gloat. Another explanation floated around the dark places of his mind. Maybe she was standing with Chimera Company to discourage Ree from gunning them down.
Who could tell? He sure couldn’t make sense of these people. He was a thief and a soldier. Those were simple professions. He could never have been a Guildsman.
Up on the dais, another Guild player hovered close to the Nyluga. It was Lynx, the irritable little droid who’d clearly decided which side his bread was oiled on.
The droid spoke quietly into Ree’s ear.
Whatever he said made the Nyluga ripple with laughter.
Lynx had been slowly extending one of his spindly metal limbs. Now, he moved in a blur, reaching into one of the brooding pouches fronting Ree’s belly. Lynx brought out a tiny mewling pink baby, dripping with slime.
Time stood still. Everyone in the Hearth Room watched in horror as Lynx shook the infant savagely.
“Stop that!” called Fitz.
But Lynx paid no heed. Zhoogene mercs moved to intercept, but before they could save Ree’s offspring, Lynx shook the baby one more time, and a little head flew across the stage. Moist, pink skin sloughed away, revealing the pistol that had been underneath the fake infant all the while.
“You?” Nyluga-Ree cried, staring at the pistol aimed at her. “You could never shoot me, Lynx.”
“Indeed, I could not,” replied the droid. “And even if that were not true, this weapon will only fire in your hands. Please don’t consider this a threat. I intend it more as a statement.”
“A damned rebellious one. Are you functioning correctly?”
“No, Nyluga. Fitzwilliam savaged my non-parametric analysis algorithms in a futile attempt to enslave me to his will. My error log is longer than the list of your enemies. The results of my corruption are perplexing, as you can see by this nonsensical action in which I intend to demonstrate solidarity with the thieves who stole me. After studying many biological lifeforms, I have theorized why I should behave in this manner. I seem to be developing impulses similar to those of adolescents in many species.”
“I knew it!” Fitz yelled. He turned to Izza. “Our bot’s just going through a phase, my dear. He’ll get over it.”
Ree seemed to find Fitz’s outburst amusing. “Fitzwilliam, you said you wish me to join you on a trip. You’ve gone to a lot of trouble to pry me from my Hearth, which tells me what you’re really setting up is a meeting. Who desires an audience with me?”
“With regret, Nyluga, I fear that, for the sake of your safety, my answer should not be supplied to everyone in your court.”
“Very well.” Ree clapped her hands. The barefooted ‘guests’ and their handlers rushed away. At another clap, the Zhoogene mercs and most of the flunkies hurried after them.
“Now speak.”
“My Nyluga,” said Fitz, “the person I represent did not specifically state that he desired an audience with you. He only requested your presence at a specified location. The person of whom I speak is Lord Khallini.”
Nyluga-Ree nodded, seemingly impressed.
Vetch ground his jaws. This was the same jolly pink crime boss who’d signed death warrants for Tchon and Kzeddiy. He hadn’t forgotten.
“Khallini would prove an interesting distraction,” Ree declared.
“Speaking of Khallini,” said Fitz, “I have performed a trifling service for him that gave me a small pecuniary reward. When I supplied you the coordinates of the mystery ship back on the deserts of Milsung-Amka, I did so as payment against my debts to you.”
“That information proved costly indeed. Das-Zee went there in search of that magnificent vessel. I have not heard from her in some time.”
“My commiserations, Nyluga. I hope both your wives will return soon and reunite your trio.”
“And what you provided on Milsung-Amka was down payment only.”
“The matter was unclear. So, to clarify our position, I shall make a payment to cover all my debts, plus your standard rate of interest, plus another ten percent on top because, frankly, I’m a fantastic person.”
Fitz tapped his wrist slate to make the transaction. The smile that appeared on Ree’s face suggested he was good for the amounts he claimed.
Ree shifted her arms in a peculiar fashion, almost as if pulling thread off her body. Seeing as she wasn’t wearing anything besides her chainmail loincloth, the gesture looked out of place. A hand signal, perhaps. One she wasn’t trying to conceal.
Maycey whispered once more into Vetch’s ear. “Have a nice trip.” The disgusting creature gave his earlobe a playful nibble. “I’ll bring you back here before you know it.”
“Like hell you—yip!”
The assassin had given his butt a fir
m goosing.
Vetch twisted around, ready to give the annoying cat something in return, but she was already backing away.
Which meant the kill box he was in was now free of friendlies.
He looked at the walls. Though the mercs had left, it was likely there were concealed firing ports in the walls and ceiling.
He intended to subtly flick the safety off his rifle, but the jacks beat him to it. Their blasters were powered up and aimed at Ree. Vetch’s former Militia troopers had followed suit, just a second behind.
Vetch readied his weapon and brought it to bear on the cat sisters who stood two meters apart to the rear of the Chimera party. Their lances hummed with power, but there was no arcing across their tips. He didn’t know how they worked, but he knew they could fling an energy bolt.
Kaycey looked sour. Maycey licked her lips, the way she did when, in her sick mind, she was being frisky.
“Have a nice trip,” she’d said. Whatever Nyluga-Ree had signaled to them wasn’t an instruction to initiate a slaughter.
“Stand down!” Vetch bellowed, lowering his weapon.
His troopers obeyed. The jacks were unsure and looked to Sybutu for a lead.
“Lower your weapons,” Lily commanded.
The jacks did as they were told.
“It’s okay,” Vetch said. “They’re not about to gun us down.”
“I’m pleased to see you learned some manners while you were my guest, Sergeant Arunsen.”
Vetch didn’t turn away from the two Kayrissans to acknowledge Ree’s words.
Lily joined him in facing the Kayrissans.
From behind, he heard Ree descend the stairs.
“I am eager to meet Lord Khallini,” she said. “And I see no reason for delay.” She clapped her hands. “My people. I am leaving on a vacation. Abyurin shall command here until my return. If I should not return, however, you are to hunt down every individual in Fitzwilliam’s party. They are all to die. Their friends will die. Their family to the level of cousins. All to be killed without mercy or ransom.”
The crime boss walked through the Chimera group on her little legs, clapping Vetch on the shoulder as she passed through.
“I hope you’ve prepared appropriate accommodations for a person of my status,” she declared. “I’ll send for my traveling baggage before we blast off. Lead on, Fitzwilliam.”
Fitz took point. The cat sisters parted to let them leave. And, as easy as that, they walked out of Nyluga-Ree’s stronghold.
The snow outside bit through the soles of Vetch’s feet. His heart was palpitating so violently, he feared he’d have a heart attack long before he needed to be concerned with frostbitten toes. Even Lily couldn’t calm him.
Fortunately, they hadn’t far to walk before they entered a house where Catkins and Fregg were waiting. They had equipment cased and ready to move out. They also had boots and clothing for Vetch to change into.
Vetch noted the tension between Zan Fey and the rest of Phantom’s crew. He didn’t care. They were all welcome to their games of betrayal.
That life wasn’t for him. Give him a PPR3 slung over his shoulder and a war hammer in his hands, and he’d wade into a meatgrinder battle any day of the week. Just so long as he didn’t have to return to this mad palace and the insane aliens who inhabited it.
Thankfully, he wouldn’t have to. He was free.
* * *
Secret Monitoring Station, Nyluga-Ree’s Sanctuary
Maycey breathed deeply.
A complex, layered pattern of scents had been trapped in this hidden den over many years. She smelled Slern and Ellondyte but no Arunsen.
Pity.
What she could smell, see, and hear all too much was her sister’s building irritation. She decided she had ignored Kaycey long enough and acknowledged her with a tilt of her head.
“The Nyluga’s hand gestures clearly stated to follow at a distance and await her signal.” Kaycey narrowed her eyes to the merest slits, daring her sister to argue.
“You speak the truth,” said Maycey. She flicked her tail angrily. “At the same time, you lie by omitting that the Nyluga was clearly signaling specifically to me.”
“It is true she gave you her sign, but it’s obvious she wanted both of us to follow her.”
Maycey kept still, her eyes wide and unblinking. The truth was that she had already decided she needed her sister’s help. Kaycey didn’t need to know that, though.
“Very well,” Maycey said after a lengthy silence. “I shall do this as a favor to you. One I will call in.”
“Agreed.”
“And on my terms. You do not get in my way. I want to sink my claws into Arunsen, and I want to enjoy myself doing so.”
“Agreed. So long as you, in turn, don’t get in my way.”
“And what is your desire, dear sister?”
“I want to kill Zan Fey. And, no, you don’t get to play with her one last time.”
“A shame. Very well then. We hunt together.”
* * * * *
Chapter 31: Osu Sybutu
Phantom, Jump Space
“Standby for emergence from jump space.”
The excitement was obvious in Fitzwilliam’s voice. Osu could easily imagine the scene in the flight deck, bubbling enthusiasm mixed with supreme flying skills…and lust. Ever since reuniting at Nyluga-Ree’s palace, Fitzwilliam and Zan Fey had been brushing fingertips and gazes against each other and frequently disappearing into their quarters.
He didn’t begrudge them that—so long as they kept professional when they needed to—but he was much happier here with his people in the aft half of Deck Three that had been renamed Marine Country.
Militia and Legion alike were stacked up in their quarters two by two. Despite grav plating and Phantom’s incredible inertial damping, Sybutu knew never to take anything for granted in what could quickly become a combat zone. All of them were strapped into racks set to acceleration station mode. Viewscreens taped to the bulkheads showed them feeds from the flight deck.
Only Enthree had her own cabin. This was due to physical requirements rather than unpopularity, although it was going to take a lot of persuading for Osu to believe that the Muryani people were not his long-term enemies.
He could say the same about Nyluga-Ree who had taken up residence in the lounge that she had originally commissioned for herself when Phantom had been her pleasure yacht.
To top the non-standard arrangements, Zavage was bunking with his trooper girlfriend, Green Fish. If Osu was honest, the girl impressed him, but he was deeply suspicious of where this fraternization would lead.
The new commander of the Phantom Marines, the former Militia officer, Hjon, had taken Osu aside and asked him how he would feel if he had the chance to share quarters with Nydella. It was a low blow but struck home, though not for the reasons she thought. Nydella had been as Legion to the core as he was. If she were still alive and aboard Phantom, they would not be sharing quarters, though they would be sharing each other at every opportunity.
He had to face it, Chimera Company’s future looked grim and short. Nydella’s death still haunted him, and he was far from forgiving Khallini his part in it. Bronze was bearing the scars of a similar loss. Even Arunsen had picked up a grudge against Nyluga-Ree for a murder he had witnessed at her palace. And everywhere he looked, Osu saw the ghosts of dead legionaries staring at him, judging him for throwing in with the Chimerans.
The human girl and the Kurlei. They were in love. Purity wasn’t a word he’d use to describe either of them, yet their love was pure. To witness their infinite capacity to be enthralled by each other was a powerful tonic. To him, they were a talisman of hope, like a Regellax Skylark singing its beautiful song over a hellish battlefield. In a time like this, everyone needed to look up and see hope.
So, he’d taken Hjon’s hint and had an awkward conversation with Arunsen. Together, they had agreed that the lovebirds could share.
Musical chimes came through the inte
rcom.
“This is your captain. We have successfully arrived in the 211-Fractura system without being compressed into a subatomic dot or being shot at. However, we are detecting two vessels in orbit around our destination of the fifth planet. Nothing we can’t handle. There may be more on the far side of the planet. I hope so. And I hope they’re aggressive. It’s good to be back at the Phantom’s controls. And I’m itching to shoot something out of the black. Bogies are an estimated twenty minutes out from our threat envelope. I suggest you stretch your legs, enjoy a beverage, or read another chapter of your current book. I’ll let you know as soon as things get exciting. Captain Fitz out.”
“Will you look at that mess?” Bronze whistled at the viewscreen, which showed a closeup of the fifth planet.
If the galaxy-wise Bronze was impressed by what he saw, then Osu didn’t feel so bad about being astonished by the sight. It was, after all, one of the so-called Broken Worlds.
Half of its surface looked dead: rusty deserts and arid hills that showed signs of water channels that had dried up eons ago.
A clue to the world’s death came in the form of sine wave scars that cut across the planet with the equator as their midline. The channel seemed to run all the way around the globe several times, the sine wave offset each time.
“What in the Five Hells could do that?” he murmured.
Someone on the flight deck gave a prompt for anyone not realizing what they were seeing, adding a simulation of an orbit with a ground track that matched the planetary scars. A simple circular orbit with 40-degree inclination would do it. But what kind of weapon would leave such scars? The Legion could nuke a world to render it uninhabitable, but it couldn’t do anything that would boil away the seas and leave deep wounds visible from space.
The planet was only partially dead, though.
The peaks and troughs of the sine wave scars disappeared under polar seas. A green equatorial belt dotted with lakes circled two-thirds of the planet but didn’t go all the way around, leaving a gap of rusty dead zone. That alone was enough to make the green band look artificial, but the orbital mirrors beaming sunlight onto the dead zone pushed it beyond doubt.
Smuggler Queen Page 18