Breakeven

by Michelle Diener

  Delkin snorted. “Not buying it. Admiral Yoto saw you.”

  Dee closed her eyes and rubbed the back of her hand over her forehead. “I'm not really in a state to be debriefed. No matter what happened, it's not going to help you one bit with the mess down here.”

  High above she saw a flicker of light, and she lifted her head. “Or up there.”

  “Seems Hanran Fattal was right about there being three Caruson warships hiding on the moons.” Delkin lifted her own head, eyes narrowed.

  “You don't seem too concerned.”

  Delkin turned back to her. “We have seven, so no.”

  Dee grinned. “And there Leo was, telling me you had one warship on the way.”

  Delkin didn't smile, but her eyes softened. “Never know who might be listening, so we might have underreported a little.”

  “Dee!”

  Dee turned, saw Sebastian running toward her, saw Bodivas soldiers divert to intercept him.

  She tapped Delkin's shoulder. “Hurt him, and you'll never know what I did to those Caruso.” Dee started running herself, in a limping sort of fashion.

  Delkin must have issued an order, because the soldiers pulled back, and Dee was able to slow to a walk.

  Sebastian slowed, too, his gaze going over her, then over her shoulder to look at the Caruso ship. He was scowling as he got even closer.

  “Uh uh.” She waggled her finger.

  “Uh uh, what?” He reached her, gently ran fingers down the side of her face.

  “No frowns. We're both alive, and I have to say, I had serious doubts about that outcome a number of times.”

  “When I saw that fucker, Koan--”

  She didn't have it in her to go up on tiptoe, so she hooked an arm around his neck and pulled him down, shut him up with a kiss.

  “He's dead.” She waved her hand behind her at the ship. “If the Caruson captain didn't kill him, the Bodivas did.”

  “I wanted to kill him.”

  She grinned. “There, there. It can't be helped.”

  He kissed her back, just a soft touch of his lips, and then pulled away, and she could see from his face, from the hardness in his eyes, Commander Delkin must be behind her.

  She fitted herself under Sebastian's arm and turned to face her.

  “Commander Delkin, this is Sebastian Xian. Leader of the Lassian Resistance.”

  Delkin couldn't hide her surprise, and Sebastian gave a curt nod. “Commander.”

  She gave the Bodivas greeting of clenched fist covered with the other hand, and Sebastian did the same.

  “You're Bodivas born?” Delkin asked.

  Sebastian nodded. “Was brought here when I was fourteen.”

  “You think the people of Lassa will listen to you?”

  Sebastian pondered that. “Me, Vahn, and Ruanne Lex.”

  “Ruanne Lex being alive was a pleasant surprise,” Delkin said.

  “Dee and I rescued her earlier this morning.”

  Delkin tilted her head, her eyes on Dee. “We saw that on the video feed you sent through. You're a busy woman.”

  “Right now, she's a wounded woman. I need you to get her a medic and then we're going home to rest. Neither of us have slept in nearly two days.”

  Delkin looked her over again, and gave a nod. “Done.” She spoke quietly into her comm unit and then stepped back. “I'll see you later.”

  Sebastian pulled her a little closer as the commander strode away, and a two-person team of medics raced toward them.

  “Should I have asked her to take you to the ship? Treat you there before flying you out?” He looked down at her, eyes unreadable.

  “Without taking me on the holiday you promised me first?” She kept her tone neutral.

  He stared at her as if she'd lost her mind. “Are you being serious?”

  She shot him a dirty look and elbowed him in the ribs. “No, I don't want to jump straight onboard a Bodivas warship. I'm invested here.”

  “Sorry.” He rubbed his side. Turned to take in all the activity around them. “I don't know how to feel, now they're here.”

  “My guess is, a little put out, because they're going to try to take charge.” She could see the tension in his face. “But what you have to remember is that between the VSC and the Cores, the VSC wins, every time.”

  He relaxed against her. “You're right. They're not the enemy.”

  She grinned up at him, then put her hand on her hip as she surveyed the burnt out Caruso warship. “And it'll be unlucky for them if they are.”

  Chapter 36

  “This isn't the holiday.” It was the second time Sebastian had said it. “It's a prelude to the holiday.”

  “All right. So noted.” Dee was still limping a little, but otherwise felt almost herself again, enough that the walk Sebastian was leading her on through the forest was pleasant, rather than an ordeal.

  Fluffy chirped from her shoulder, then jumped to the forest floor. When she landed and turned back to Dee, there was something in her mouth.

  “You are quite the little hunter,” Dee told her.

  “Did you eventually tell Commander Delkin what you did to the Caruso?” Sebastian had stopped on the path, and Dee could just make out a track snaking off from where he stood.

  She nodded. “It wouldn't have taken them long to figure it out for themselves.” She scooped Fluffy up. “And I suppose Fluffy's venom might as well go somewhere useful. I think they're going to stockpile it in case it comes in handy in the future. They've asked us not to talk about it.”

  He nodded, held back a branch for her, and she stepped past him, feeling a sudden shiver of desire as she brushed against him.

  There was no doubt this was an outing to get some alone time.

  Since the Cores collapsed and the Bodivas took over, there had barely been a moment when they'd had any time to themselves.

  The task ahead was massive, but there was a sense of relief, of optimism, that helped, even when disagreements arose and tempers frayed.

  She heard the sound of water a few moments before she stepped between two massive trees and came upon a stream and a rock pool in the tiny clearing.

  The sun shone through the branches, and thick rays of light lit the water with a golden glow.

  “A prelude, huh?”

  He came up behind her, pulled her back against him and nuzzled her neck. “Just for an hour or so. I did bring a comfortable bed, though.”

  “You did?” She twisted her head to look back at him in surprise.

  “An inflatable. One of the Bodivas store masters gave it to me.”

  She curled her arm around his neck, and tipped her head back to kiss him. “How organized of you.”

  He turned her around, but there was none of the humor in his face she'd heard in his voice a moment before.

  “Caro said you spoke to Leo earlier.”

  She nodded. “Just to touch base. Let him know what was going on.”

  “And what is going on?”

  She looked into eyes filled with unspoken declarations.

  “You mean, what do I plan to do?”

  “Yes.” He splayed a hand on her lower back, pulled her a little closer.

  “What would you like me to do?” She thought she knew the answer. She needed to hear it.

  “I want you to stay, Dee. I will literally do anything to convince you.”

  She smiled, feeling weightless as she stepped in even closer. “As it happens, you already have.”

  She looped her arms around his neck. “Meet the new head of Gaudier Transport on Lassa.”

  He gave a shout of happiness, swung her around, and then slowly lifted her top over her head. “When do you start?”

  She lifted her face up to his and smiled. “After my holiday.”

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  Excerpt: Sky Raiders

  Book One in the Sky Raiders Series

&nb
sp; Chapter 1

  He'd asked her to wait for him, and then he'd disappeared for two years.

  As he reached the top of the pass and started down the steep path to the valley below, Garek wondered just how angry Taya would be.

  That she would be angry enough to have taken someone else sat like week-old loaf in his stomach, heavy and sickening.

  He'd had no choice, had come as soon as he could . . . he tried to shake off the chill that touched him, despite the bright day. He'd take her anger, her fury--he'd take it all if it meant he didn't find her with someone else.

  He forced himself to pay attention as the path became steeper still, and frowned at how badly maintained the way had become, as if no one had repaired the damage a winter in the mountains could do to a narrow track. The spring thaw had come and gone, replaced by a golden summer, and the snow had retreated to the tops of the mountains.

  Kas should have done something about the erosion by now, even though this path was a shortcut few besides the villagers knew of, cutting across the Crag and shaving hours off the journey through the foothills.

  The familiar landscape tugged at something inside him. He hadn't thought himself sentimental, and though he'd missed Taya with an ache that hurt worse than a knife to flesh, he hadn't thought the sight of the rolling hills and high peaks would affect him. The crowds and enclosing stone walls of Garamundo had been something to bear stoically, but he was surprised how easy it was to breathe here, and it wasn't just because the air was sweet with the scent of summer grass.

  When he'd left two years ago, the only thing he'd regretted was leaving Taya behind him, and he'd come back only to fetch her.

  Fetch her and run, as fast as possible.

  As far away from West Lathor as they could get.

  The shadow cast by Garamundo had a long reach, certainly long enough to reach out and try to grab him again if he stayed here, and he'd sworn when they'd finally released him that he would never go back.

  He wouldn't give them a chance to conscript him again.

  He was halfway down the mountain when he noticed there were no leviks on the slopes.

  He stopped a moment, shading his eyes against the bright midday light of the Star to search for any sign of their golden, curly coats.

  He could find none.

  A breeze rose up, swirling about him, and he was struck by the silence.

  His hearing was exceptional, and there was no sound of life. No ring of a hammer on anvil, no murmur of voices from the street.

  Impossible.

  His home town was small, but not that small. Pan Nuk had at least a hundred inhabitants when he'd left. And it was directly below him. Hidden by the thick line of trees it would take him only ten minutes to reach, but there nonetheless.

  He started to run.

  At first he ran under his own steam, and then, as the silence seemed to deepen, become more sinister, he opened himself up to the Change and felt the curious, slow, honey-thick flow of the air around him, the inbetween, and he was suddenly at the village gates.

  He drew back to himself, stumbled a little at the feeling of disorientation such a quick Change generated.

  He stood still, looking around him carefully. Took it all in.

  The ripped doors. The shutters hanging by a single hinge. The smashed pots and baskets lying in the street.

  The emptiness.

  While the city of Garamundo had held him, forced him to help them protect themselves from the sky raiders, the sky raiders had been helping themselves elsewhere.

  Helping themselves to Taya.

  Chapter 2

  There would be blood.

  Taya moved her gaze from Jerilia, weeping in soft, keening sobs, to the big Kardanx who gripped her arm, to the way Kas and the other men and women of the Illy began to gather to one side of the open area in front of the mine where they waited to be collected for the camp.

  The Kardanx shifted his grip and Taya could see there were already dark smudges ringing Jerilia's upper arm where he held her.

  The spike of anger that ripped through her made her gasp, made her force in a breath of dusty, cold air.

  If she couldn't keep a cool head, she couldn't expect Kas and the others to do the same.

  Behind the Kardanx, some of his fellow countrymen began to gather as well, their expressions more muted, more severe.

  They didn't want trouble with the Illy. It seemed the big man who had grabbed Jerilia wasn't so worried.

  Kas had already told him to let Jerilia go. Jerilia herself had demanded it. Taya looked into his eyes and knew he would not do it.

  Perhaps if Jerilia hadn't screamed so loudly, made such a fuss. Perhaps if Kas's bellow of outrage hadn't made every head turn.

  Or perhaps not.

  Whatever the reason, to let her go now would be a loss of face the Kardanx would not be prepared to accept.

  Taya could see it in the way his eyes narrowed, the way his mouth tightened. She had always had the gift of reading people's intentions from the way they moved their bodies, and the Kardanx was screaming pent up rage and defiance with every pore.

  A small movement caught her eye. Kas, drawing something from the back of his pants, gripping it tightly in his fisted hand.

  Was that a knife?

  No.

  She wouldn't let another she loved be hurt. Not because of the lust of a stupid Kardanx. The Kardanx were supposed to worship the Mother, but either this one wasn't an adherent to the belief, or he was simply one of the majority who twisted the meanings of their oaths so they could treat women with less respect. She saw the evidence before her now, in the way the Kardanx thought he could have Jerilia, even against her will.

  Taya had heard another, even uglier whisper. That the reason there were only six women amongst all the Kardanx the sky raiders had taken was because the men had killed them, rather than have them taken by the enemy.

  Taya had heard Kardanx men swore an oath to protect the Mother, and her avatars, all women, with their lives. But if they had killed their women to protect them, they were not honoring the Mother as an equal. They had killed them like they would kill their livestock so the invading army cannot use it. As they would burn their house, to give the enemy nothing to shield himself from the weather.

  As one treats a possession, not a person, with their own will and choices.

  The Kardanx took a step toward his own group, dragging Jerilia with him, and Kas and three others took a step forward.

  The other Kardanx shouted something to their countryman, and he turned to look at them over his shoulder. He shouted back, and though Kardanx was close enough to Illian, it was said so fast Taya couldn't understand it. But the meaning was clear enough.

  The Kardanx would not back down.

  She wished, not for the first time, for Garek. Felt a need for him as strong as for her next breath. Then she shrugged off the paralysis of wanting something she could not have, and her gaze came to rest on their guard. When they'd first been brought here the metal skin of the two-legged, squat vehicle that enclosed him had been gleaming and new. Now she could see flakes of it falling off, and it was dull, corroded.

  He was the only one on watch and his guns hung at his sides, mounted sleek and black on the stiff arms of his protective cover, above the pincers he could use as hands.

  Kas took the first step out from the shouting group of the Illy, and without another moment's hesitation, Taya ran toward the sky raider.

  He noticed her before she got to him, the head of the machine tipping down to look at her.

  “Stop them.” She looked straight up into the glass, and the dark tint faded to clear. For the first time, she found herself face to face with one of her captors.

  Pale yellow eyes watched her with an interest that made her want to stumble back a step or two, turn tail and run.

  She forced some saliva down her throat, worked her tongue off the roof of her mouth. “You need to stop it.”

  The robotic suit stayed sti
ll, but inside it, the sky raider tipped his head. “Why?”

  The sibilant tones which made everything they said more frightening hissed over her. But now she'd been given a window into the helmet, she saw there was a disconnect between when the sky raider had spoken and when she'd heard the question.

  It came to her in a flash that that wasn't how they sounded. They were using some device, some method of translating their language into Illian. It made her less afraid to know she wasn't dealing with something that sounded like she would expect a slither to sound like, if slithers could speak instead of hiss.

  “We are different groups, we come from different parts of Barit. We are the Illy, they are the Kardanx. The Kardanx have different beliefs, different ways to us.”

  “We do not care.” Again, his mouth moved and only after a beat did the hiss of his answer wash over her.

  She shivered.

  “Then you are stupid.” She banged his leg with her fist in frustration, felt the gritty crunch of rusting metal. “If you want less work done in the mines, then you'll let that Kardanx take Jerilia. Because we're all mixed up in there. Kardanx and Illy together. And if he takes her, it will be against her will, and that will make us all feel like we have even less control than we already do. The Illy will fight the Kardanx. Fight them down in the shafts. Where you do not go.”

  She saw the pale yellow eyes blink in their narrow, sharp face that was otherwise not that different from her own, if you discounted the long, sharp incisors she caught the briefest glimpse of and the pale yellow fur that covered his face. He spoke again, although this time there was no hiss of reply to her.

  She had the feeling he was talking to someone else. Getting advice. How he could do that, she didn't know. But then, most of what the sky raiders could do was new and magical to her.

  He gave a sharp nod within his metallic cocoon, as if receiving an order, and then lifted both arms.

  She heard something in the metallic suit whine. And the sky raider shifted, lifting up his arms. The barrel of one of his guns came level with her face.