by Megan Derr
Cyan rounded on him, barely resisting an urge to punch first and ask questions later. "You didn't have problems risking your partner by fucking a Rehab, so don't preach to me, rock spider. Don't call me high society, either. I'm not."
Einn snorted. "Who are you fooling? You might try to speak like a commoner, but when you're pissed, your words start getting that clipped tone only Zero-types have. You might be Rehab now, but I'll bet you grew up on Zero."
Well, fuck the stars and everything in them. Cyan thought he'd kicked his accent. Shit, shit, and shit. "Fuck you," he said, and whirled around—and nearly crashed into the missing partner. Lark, he recalled. "I hope you're not as annoying as him."
"Less annoying, more violent," Lark replied, folding his arms across his chest. "Though so far as that goes, I don't think either of us is as bad as you."
Cyan smiled his Rehab smile. "Matter of perspective, I guess. Rehabbers and criminals get along like Sardorans and Avarri."
"At least you didn't say Fornarians and Kreskans," Einn commented dryly.
Despite himself, Cyan snorted in amusement. "I think we both know I'm no locked-down, virginal Kreskan. I don't suppose I could get something to eat and possibly be pointed to the head?"
"That way," Lark said, gesturing. "Second to last door on the left. Mess is last on the right. Don't go anywhere else."
"Got it," Cyan said, lifting a hand as he strode off.
Get to Kreska. Kill Sean for putting him through all this bullshit. Go home.
Hopefully he would be able to do all of that before anyone noticed he was missing and that the ship he'd been on had been blown up by pirates. He really did not need to be the reason the IG flipped out and started tearing down the stars to find him.
Despite his best efforts, thoughts of the life he'd left behind crept to the forefront of Cyan's mind. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd seen Jade other than on news reports, and those were few and far between. Jade was a beauty, knew he was a beauty, but he detested being fawned over. Beauty was a weapon to him, and attention on a large scale diluted its power. Cyan's hand curled into a fist, but he forced it to relax as he slipped into the head, and finally was able to relieve himself.
Washing his hands with dry soap, he went into the mess and grimaced at the limited offerings. Stars, he had not missed starship travel. Stifling another sigh, he went about fixing food, going ahead and making enough for three from habit. He had not travelled so roughly in years, but he had not forgotten how to do it.
Carrying all the food back to the bridge, he hovered at the edge. "Want food?"
They looked up, surprised and cautiously pleased. "Yes?" Einn said and shut down the comm where he was working. "Uh, thanks."
Shrugging, Cyan handed over their trays, and then stole the only spare seat over by the engineer's seat. In larger ships, the engineer usually remained in the engine rooms. On smaller ships everything was consolidated on the bridge to maximize on resources and make the power last as long as possible. He ate in silence, not really certain what he was supposed to say; even his extensive etiquette lessons did not cover 'polite conversations with one's kidnappers'.
Cyan glanced up through his lashes, looking over Lark and Einn. His gaze lingered on Einn, unable to resist. No matter how much he hated to admit it, Einn was attractive. Everything about him just did it for Cyan, and he completely hated that another bedroom romp or six was out of the question. Not that fucking on starships was ever as easy as net shows and bad porn made it out to be.
Rolling his eyes at himself, Cyan poked at his food and slowly made himself eat, wishing he was back on Rehab getting attacked by a Sardoran—even that was better than the mess in which he was currently stuck.
Chapter Six
Planet Number 2051225 (Telve), Imperial Tower
"I don't understand how the hell they got in." Sean glanced at their escort, a rough-looking Danubian Hellcat with brown-red feline ears and hair, dusty brown skin, and sharp yellow-green eyes. "We've checked the security systems a hundred times looking for even the smallest bug. No strangers, no unusual guests of any sort. Nothing. Whoever they are, they're fucking ghosts."
"No such thing as a ghost, Lius," Sean said.
Lius shrugged irritably, ears twitching. He kicked the floor with one booted foot and flexed his claws. "May as well be, and it amounts to the same thing. No one just hacks security without leaving some sort of trace. The fucking gremlins leave signs, even if they're the only ones who can see those signs later." His ears twitched again.
Sean shrugged and moved to the balcony, looking down. They were shockingly high up; the kidnapping had definitely been no easy feat. No one just walked into the Imperial Tower of Telve without being noticed in some way. Most of the galaxy was terrified of the blood-drinking, xenophobic Telve. They would not tread—
Xenophobic. Sean leaned further over the balcony, reaching out to run his hands along the surface of the tower. It was completely unmarred, exempting the normal wear and tear any building suffered after centuries of existence. Because no damage had been done to the tower, everyone had determined the kidnappers had hacked security to gain access to the tower and worked their way up from the inside.
He paused when he saw something. Kneeling, he reached his hands through the railings of the balcony and rubbed the white mark he had spied that would have been easily missed if he hadn't already been thinking that someone had done the impossible after all. His fingers came away covered in chalk.
Smirking, Sean stood and returned to the room where Karmikel and Lius were still poking around. "How well do the two of you know your IG races?" They both gave him withering looks, clearly offended he had to ask two top tier Internal Affairs operatives how well they knew anything. "All right, then, smartasses," he said, "name me the race that wouldn't need to break into the tower because he can literally climb any surface, has no fear of heights, and would leave no trace because he would not need special equipment for even this difficult a climb."
"A fucking Fornarian!" Lius swore, and Karmikel looked just as irritated with himself. "How the stars did we miss that?"
"In your defense—in everyone's defense—Fornarians are even more xenophobic than Telvens. I doubt there are even twenty registered as space travelers."
"Seventeen," Lius said. "The last time I had to look up that sort of thing there were seventeen Fornarians who had registered to leave their planet and travel the stars. The number goes up to twenty-one if you include those on the Star Assembly, but they never leave Zero. I don't know what the seventeen are doing, mostly geo work, I think. Stars take it! A fucking Fornarian."
Karmikel, as usual, had already overcome his anger and moved on with his ruthless efficiency. "The Telven will be relieved to know their security has not been breached, though I'm sure now they will endeavor to create a surface that even rock spiders can't stick to."
"Good luck with that," Lius said, rubbing one ear. "Why do you think they do geo work? No one has found a place they can't climb up or down. Well, if we're looking for a Fornarian, that just made the job stupid easy. But call if you girls need help, anyway."
Sean gestured crudely and waited while Karmikel let the Telve know they were leaving. When Karmikel had finished, he took Karmikel's arm and said to Lius, "Thanks for the help."
"Yeah, yeah," Lius said. "Just find the kidnappers before I have to do it for you."
Karmikel rolled his eyes as Sean lead the way to the balcony and, once outside, teleported them back to the ship.
Custom Class StarShip Z-28922942, the Brilliant
"We have problems," Mendel said, as they appeared on the bridge. "There's been another kidnapping."
Sean nodded, but did not reply. He was too startled by Winter, who was on the main screen and looked the grimmest that Sean had ever seen him—and given that grim was Winter's default, that was bad.
Their codenames were largely superfluous, meant only as a precaution should they be overheard, though the chances of tha
t were extremely slim. Zero-grade security and technology were nothing to sneer at; even gremlins were impressed with it, and they literally had electricity in their blood. Winter, however, remained largely a mystery to him.
If Mendel and Karmikel knew who he really was, they had never said or even hinted at it. He was the shadowy head of the IG's Internal Affairs, a network of agents who did a shocking number of things behind the scenes. Nearly all of them were magics capable, which meant they definitely did not work officially for the IG. No government position of any sort could be held by a magics capable being.
Still, Sean had his suspicions as to who the man was, though he doubted he would ever know for certain. "What's wrong, Winter?" he asked. "You don't usually look this upset over the kidnappings."
Winter's mouth only tightened. "Yesterday, at 17:05 ZT, a leisure class starship, the Huntress, X-82142089, was destroyed. It was registered with two travelers. However, we have reason to believe that they were transporting an unregistered guest who is now also missing. It's possible he's dead, though we are hoping he was taken hostage. Unfortunately, they were expert about blowing up the Huntress and not enough of it remains to tell if there was a body onboard when it was destroyed."
Karmikel gestured impatiently. "Who is this 'guest' that obviously has the IG panicking?"
"No one knows yet, outside of a very small group of people. The man they were transporting, and who is missing, presumed dead, is Cyan McCracken, also known as Lord Cyan Alexander."
Sean paled. On either side of him, Karmikel and Mendel swore. "Why in the hell were they stupid enough to kill or kidnap the twin brother of Lower Chancellor Alexander?" Mendel demanded. "Who is that stupid?"
"I doubt they know," Winter replied. "After Lord Alexander surrendered his title, he changed his name and worked hard to live a completely different life. He has not been Lord Alexander for more than five terms. He never put himself in the spotlight as his brother has, and they look almost nothing alike for all they are twins. You know more about the kidnappers than all my other agents. You will find them, determine if Lord Alexander is alive, and if he is, you will retrieve him."
"If he's dead?" Karmikel asked.
"Let us hope he is not."
Sean swallowed, and then asked, "What was he doing so far from home? He lives on Mars, and it's possible he was on leave, but it seems strange he was so far from home."
"He was taken just outside of Bangkok, less than an hour after departure," Winter replied. "We believe he was simply on vacation, though that does not entirely explain why he was not on the passenger manifest for the Huntress."
"He was my best friend. Ever since I was kidnapped, I bet the IG has been keeping an eye on him. He was probably just trying to be left alone," Sean said, biting his lip, then added, "But Cyan isn't that stupid or reckless. He knows what would happen if he went missing; he dreaded going back to Zero. He wouldn't cause himself or anyone else trouble by sneaking around like that. There must be another reason."
Winter shook his head. "We don't know yet; I've dispatched agents to look into the matter. As I get more information, I will send it your way. Did you learn anything useful at Telve?"
"We're ninety-eight percent certain that a Fornarian did the kidnapping," Sean said, forcing himself to focus on business, even if the back of his mind was flailing with worry and panic. Cyan had to be alive; nobody got the drop on a Rehab, especially Cyan. "No one could have snuck up from the inside; Bikendi's room was over a hundred stories high. That left only the outside, but there were no visible signs of climbing, only a chalked mark on the outside ledge of the balcony."
"To indicate which balcony," Winter said, smiling in a way that made his codename so apropos. "You're right, only a Fornarian could have made that climb without leaving a single trace. Well done. I'll send you all the information I have on Fornarians registered to travel. That should narrow things down considerably. Keep me apprised." The screen went dark, leaving the bridge in a sudden silence.
Sean turned around and left, heading for his room and sitting down on his bunk. He buried his face in his hands. Cyan wasn't dead. He couldn't be dead. What in the stars had he been up to? Sean scrubbed at his face and tried to focus, but all he could think about was the last time he'd seen Cyan. They'd been screwing off in the break room. They'd been planning to build a ship because Cyan had more money than god.
Cyan was supposed to be alive and well on Mars or Rehab, planning all the ways he was going to kill Sean when they met up again. Not that Sean had ever thought they would meet again; his life had been over the moment his secret was revealed. Thinking about that did not help matters, so he tried not to dwell on it. Cyan…stars have mercy, he hoped Cyan was alive.
A knock on the door startled him from his thoughts, and Sean reluctantly punched the release button by his bunk to open it. "What?" he asked tersely when Mendel stepped into the room. They had barely spoken since their fight, and every word they did exchange pertained to business. Sean was certain Karmikel would kill them sometime soon just to gain some peace, but Sean refused to bend. He'd done nothing but bend for an entire term.
"For whatever little my opinion is worth," Mendel said, "I do not believe your friend is dead. It does not fit the MO of the kidnappers. I surmise they took him and do not yet know who it is they have taken. If they do know, they are even less likely to kill him."
Some of the tension in Sean's shoulders eased as he recognized the awkward attempt at comforting for what it was. Mendel was an ass, but sometimes the man he had probably been before his life shattered slipped through, and he was only an awkward scientist who was more comfortable with his lab than people. "Thank you," Sean said gruffly. "I had hoped that was the case, but it's good to hear it from someone else."
"We were going to start re-analyzing data factoring in a Fornarian. I thought you would want to help."
Sean nodded, then drew a deep breath and let it out slowly, before standing up and heading for the door. Mendel stepped aside, but not quite far enough for Sean to avoid brushing against him. Whatever the bond between them, touching seemed to jolt it slightly, leaving something akin to an electric charge brushing along his skin.
He moved hastily on, pretending not to be painfully aware of every part of Mendel, who had proven time and again that he wanted no real part of Sean. Mendel called his name, but Sean pretended not to hear him, simply heading for the bridge where Karmikel had already pulled up all their files on the kidnappings. "Seven scientists and eleven couples so far, twenty-nine people total," Karmikel said when he saw Sean. "This is all assuming they haven't kidnapped individual, unmatched Draconis, and we've simply never noticed."
"I'm sure we would have noticed by now," Sean said. "Missing persons reports on single Draconis have never matched up. I'm more interested in what we know of the kidnappers, now that we have a real clue as to their identities."
Karmikel nodded and shifted files around, bringing up their notes on the kidnappers. The amount of information they had was pathetically small; no matter how hard they tried, they were working against pros. "Probably not a large group of men, but it's hard to say for certain. They use a small, light ship. They're experienced space travelers, good at getting in and out of ports quickly. We're probably looking for free mercenaries or pirates, rather than corporate goons. One is a Fornarian—" He stopped as his in-lens flashed, then shifted the information on the screen again. "Here's all the info on Fornarians from Winter. Seventeen, all right. Hmm…interesting collection, all told. More than a few possible candidates, at a glance."
"Go through them one by one, in more detail," Mendel said from right behind Sean, making him jump. How had he not heard the bastard arrive? "One of them must be it; unregistered travelers do not go unnoticed long."
Sean moved away and sat down at the chair by the star chart table. "Well, almost half that list can go away—three are underage, two only have permits for public travel, and two are retired."
"Three more can go,"
Mendel said, folding his arms across his chest and standing in front of the screen, Karmikel to his right at the comm station. "They're scientists aboard research vessels. We'd know if they were missing or going on kidnapping jaunts."
Karmikel dismissed the indicated files. "That leaves seven. One is fresh out of a Rehab in quad four…sector six, I think."
"Yeah, six," Sean said. "That's Rehab 4.3, third Rehab built by the IG in that quad, one of only three that is the sole occupant of an entire planet. The entire thing was wiped by the Sentas Plague fifty terms ago. It's the only Rehab licensed to perform executions, though only on the order of the Grand Chancellor and a majority vote of the Star Assembly."
Mendel shook his head. "I was nearly sent there, but they thought your Rehab would be a better fit, since I stood less chance of being 'accidentally' killed there."
Sean grunted. "Very true. So what does the file say on this guy?"
"Says he was arrested for disorderly behavior, repeat offender. They let him off the first couple of times, but the third time they locked him up for the night, and the fourth they had to arrest him. He appears to have been no better in Rehab, at least at first, but he was only released a half term ago. Not our guy."
"Five left," Sean said, and it did not take them long to discard two more, leaving only three. "Hakon, Adalsteinn, and Pall. Why don't any of them have surnames?"
Mendel shifted to half-face Sean behind him, and replied, "Fornarians don't have surnames. Their native language doesn't even have a word for differentiating 'given name' and 'surname'. They don't really even have words for family, sister, mother, etcetera. The closest they come to surnames is tacking on what section of caves and cliffs they come from, and as they seldom travel even on their own planet, it's largely irrelevant."
Sean nodded and looked again at the three men on the screen. "Hakon is a geo explorer, but he hasn't been with any planet exploration team in well over a term. Adalsteinn is listed as a free traveler, and no further information is given. Pall was arrested for suspicion of piracy a term ago but let go when no evidence could be found to make it stick."