by Megan Derr
"That's Karmikel Aurum," Lark said, sounding surprised. Cyan looked at him—and drew up short at the look of longing that flitted across Lark's face before it was hidden under his stony mask. "I don't believe it; he dropped out of the stars ages ago. Why would he be with those two?"
Jade shrugged. "Lieutenant Aurum worked as a security consultant for Three Moon Industries; he quit that position two terms ago for reasons unknown. It's believed he was bought out by another corporation. I've no idea which, and I do not care. He's dangerous, as are the other two. You will have to find them first, but I cannot imagine finding an old friend will be a problem for you, will it, brother?"
Cyan said nothing, merely glared at him. Laughing, Jade cut the connection. Heavy silence fell over the bridge, and Cyan sat down before he gave in to the urge to start hitting things. Jade had not even bothered to reiterate all his threats; he knew it wasn't necessary. Cyan would help Einn and Lark kidnap his best friend, or people would die.
He slammed his fist down on the nav console, only barely avoiding the controls themselves. "Stars damn him."
"Agreed," Einn said, glaring as he brought up all the information that Jade had left them.
Cyan could not stand to look at Sean's face, the way he was smiling faintly, unable not to even in an official image. He focused on the two Draconis and his curiosity instead. "How do you know that one—Karmikel, wasn't it?" he asked Lark.
It was Einn who replied, "We crossed paths a couple of times. He's one of the best damn pirate hunters in the stars—or was, anyway. He just up and vanished one day, and no one knew where he went. We half-figured someone had finally managed to kill him, but if that were true, the bastard would have bragged about it long and loud. At which point Lark would have murdered him, because he's always had a bit of a thing—" He broke off with a pained grunt and gave Lark a look that was equal part scowl and pout. "Was that called for?"
"Yes," Lark said with a grunt.
Cyan almost laughed. "So what more do we know about Mendel and Karmikel? How ironic that I have to go after Sean when that was the whole fucking point of my being in space."
"Oh?" Einn said, when Lark shot him one last warning look and stepped away. "Why are you trying to find him?"
Sighing, Cyan replied, "Because his mother is dying, and her final wish is to see her son." Silence fell at his words, only the whir of the machinery to keep it from being absolute.
"Cliffs," Einn sighed. "How are we going to get out of this mess? I feel like we're trying to untangle ourselves from Vrill thorn-ivy." Cyan grimaced with agreement. Einn struck the comm station with his fist. "I wish we could just turn the bottom dweller in—he's the Lower Chancellor! He shouldn't be doing this! I don't understand why he's doing it."
Cyan stirred at that, because it was a question he should have asked himself already and being distracted by how much he wanted Einn and how much he hated his brother were not good excuses. "Jade only gets his hands dirty when he wants to hurt someone. He isn't Lower Chancellor at age twenty-nine because he asked please. He threw all three of his predecessors out of office by dragging them into the mud but getting none on himself."
Lark quirked a brow at him. "How do you know that? People love him; he won the vote for the position by a record-breaking margin. The Star Assembly could find no fault with him, and of course he has the lineage."
"You seem to know an awful lot about it," Cyan said, surprised. "You don't seem the type for politics."
"Politics, no," Lark said, mouth twisting in a cynical smile. "Politicians, yes. They paid well, always pay well, for services rendered. They like to talk, and they'll do it all night with very little encouragement. I learned a lot listening to them mostly because they thought I was too stupid to understand what they were saying." His smile turned into a smirk.
Cyan laughed. "The best politicians are the ones who say nothing at all outside of an official capacity. My father was notorious for being silent, and Jade has that skill. The only person I ever saw match Jade full measure was a man nearly twenty years his senior…" His mouth twisted with bitter memories and a few sweet.
"They say it's only a matter of time before he becomes High Chancellor."
"That won't happen," Cyan said. "High Chancellor is too restrictive. You only become High Chancellor when you're destined for Grand Chancellor or the Grand Chancellor wants to keep an eye on you. Jade can get away with more as a Lower Chancellor. All he'll do is ensure that someone useful to him is put in the High Chancellor's seat." He turned to look at the nav station, staring at the star course they were on without really seeing it, mind occupied with thoughts of his brother. What was Jade up to? Looking up again, he asked, "You said you kept records on everyone you've kidnapped?"
Einn nodded and moved to the data station, calling up all sorts of files, his in-lens flashing as it transmitted his personal access codes. He put it up on the main screen. "Eleven Draconis and their matches, and seven scientists from all over the IG. If there's a correlation past the obvious, we haven't seen it; the scientists don't even all do the same kind of research."
Cyan looked pensively over the images and data that flashed up on the screen. "They all spoke at the Temperast hearings, one way or another. The scientists, I mean. Three of them actually spoke at the hearings, three contributed research, but were excused from presenting, and one was permitted to give sealed testimony that was read only by the Grand Chancellor, the High Chancellor, and the panel of judges."
"Sealed testimony?" Einn echoed.
"Because giving it publicly would have endangered her life," Cyan replied, and indicated the woman in question. "Sarah Cohen is the sister of the High Chancellor, though he was only a Lower Chancellor back then. Their ancestors were the ones who helped develop the Temperast. No one except those I just listed was allowed to read what she contributed to the argument, but it's largely believed she spoke for the prosecution and supported the termination. I haven't spoken to any of the Cohen family for years, but I know the case fractured them badly. But her brother is High Chancellor now and doing well at it. He won't be able to stand against Jade whenever Jade decides to put someone else in that spot, but he's done well enough while he's had it."
Cyan pointed out two more images. "These two were excused due to old age; the journey to Zero would have been far too arduous for them, never mind the rigors of a trial that lasted for two terms. The last, Dr. Bikendi Itzal, was excused because of his magics."
"The way he can kill with a touch, you mean," Einn said. "I had to put gloves on his hands before I could take him."
Cyan nodded. "That's right. It's a strange combination of being half-Telven, half-Kemperast. He's been a subject as often as he's been a scientist. His research was crucial to the entire matter; they say without his contribution, the case may not have been won. I believe they are trying to coax him into the Draconis trial to do the same thing."
Dismissing the scientists, Cyan pulled up the Draconis and their matches. "It's interesting that of the eleven pairs, only two are Coni/Draconis matches. The rest…it's quite the mix, isn't it? A Vrill, a Hellcat, a Krawl… It's wild how broadly the Draconis have matched, since they were created just a few generations back. They were never meant to match with anyone except the Coni, and their scale colors have gone beyond the original scope. Then you have Mendel who matched with Sean—nowhere in the Draconis gene structure should it have been possible to create a Draconis who could match with a race that's not even supposed to have magics."
Lark grunted. "It's no mystery to me that genetic research has been outlawed in three of the four quads. I wish they'd outlaw it altogether, before someone develops something worse."
"What could be worse than the Temperast?" Einn asked. "No one has annihilated a race since those things on Kreska were destroyed centuries ago."
Cyan swore as an idea came to him, looking at the array of people who had been taken. "I don't want to know what could be worse. Hopefully we never find out. What we do need to fin
d out is why someone is kidnapping these people. It obviously has to do with the pending trial to decide the fate of the Draconis. But are the kidnappings to impede the trial? To push for their destruction, or for their survival?"
"Does it matter, really?" Einn asked. "Your brother is going to let us die, eventually. Soon, I think. I'm just getting that feeling that there won't be many more serum injections in my future."
"You're not dying!" Cyan snapped. "Once we find Sean, everything will change. I'm not letting Jade kill any of you."
Lark sneered at him and kicked idly at the cabinet below the nav station. "I'd like to know how you're going to obtain this miracle cure. You said yourself it's of Jade's design, and he's the only one who can fix us."
"I don't know yet," Cyan said, "but I'll figure it out. Jade isn't getting away with this. I slipped through his fingers once, I can do it again."
Einn glanced at him, expression unreadable. "I guess if anyone could, it would be his brother."
Cyan smiled tightly. "It doesn't come without cost, slipping free of Jade's hold, but as you said: if anyone could, it'll be me. He won't kill me, just make me wish I was dead."
"He's on Zero, more than likely, and if not, then some planet far from here," Einn said. "He's nowhere close to us, I'm pretty sure. That would be stupid given the way he's blackmailing us. You make it sound like he's going to snatch you out of thin air."
"Jade couldn't touch me before, not when I was out of his quad and a Rehab guard. Now, however, I'm missing, presumed dead, but actually consorting with criminals. Jade can do whatever he wants to do me; the only question is when he'll do it." He abruptly turned and left the bridge, wishing the Dragonfly were not such a small ship. He felt as though there was nowhere to go, as if he was trapped all over again. Tied to his bed. Tied out in the yard. Left to starve and dehydrate, bake under the sun and freeze under the moon.
Beaten, humiliated, imprisoned…and Jade's cold laughter, his pretty poison smiles, the way he charmed everyone else while breaking his twin brother. Cyan hated most that Jade's abuse had worked: he would always wonder how different things might have been if he had been standing with his family as he should have been instead of sneaking off to steal kisses. His mother had begged him not to wander off, and his father had given him one of those looks, but Cyan hadn't been interested in anything but the pretty mouth of a young man whose name he could no longer remember.
If he had been there, like he'd been told, as he should have been, would he have wound up as broken as Jade? Or could he have saved his brother?
Cyan finally found himself in the holding cell he hadn't visited since Einn had freed him. What was he doing here? Footsteps made him whip around and bring his hands up for a fight—but on seeing Einn in the doorway, he tried to relax. "Sorry," he said, feeling stupid.
"You're fine," Einn replied, cocking his head. "Well, you're not fine, not really, but I won't take it personally if you want to hit me again. You've got a mean punch; you may yet crack my bones."
The words were almost enough to make Cyan smile. "Sorry to storm off."
Einn shrugged and strode into the cell, crowding into Cyan's space and forcing him up against the wall. He towered over him in a way that should have been threatening, or at least annoying—but Cyan only found it oddly comforting and fought an urge to lean into him. Einn was a good time, even if Cyan shouldn't indulge, but that was all he was. Cyan wasn't cut out for serious shit, and Einn was literally incapable, even pretending for two seconds that Cyan wanted serious.
Which he didn't. They barely knew each other. Cyan was a former Lord of Zero turned Rehab, and Einn was a pirate. When their fucked up adventure finally ended, they'd go their separate ways and never look back. Serious wasn't even an option.
That didn't stop him from leaning into the touch when Einn touched his face, cautiously at first, then more firmly when Cyan didn't recoil. His fingers were long, and Cyan should have been used to that by now, but it always startled him how much further Einn could reach, how much further his touch could go. He dragged his eyes up and met Einn's gold gaze, so vivid against his light gray skin, the paler gold of his hair. "You don't have to concern yourself with me, pirate."
"I know, and I keep trying not to, but then I keep doing it anyway," Einn replied, looking as lost as Cyan felt. "I wish I knew why."
Cyan nodded, knowing how he felt and probably hating it just as much. He'd thought that bout in the room they'd rented would scratch an itch, finally get Einn out of his system. Instead, he'd woken up wanting Einn even more. As hard as he tried to dislike him, to keep a distance, it seemed every new thing he learned just made him like Einn more.
Cyan wished he knew why, too, so he could fix the problem and regain his equilibrium. He was going to need every last bit of himself when he finally confronted Jade. He didn't need to be distracted by Einn, no matter how fascinating and sexy and…and Cyan didn't know what, he just wished it wasn't.
But it was hard to think about anything else when those long, thin fingers were stroking his skin in an attempt at comfort, something Cyan just wasn't used to. Hard to focus his thoughts when he could smell Einn, could feel his body heat, when Einn was blocking out the rest of the world exactly the way Cyan wanted. Sighing softly, he finally gave in to the urge to move closer, to reach up and wrap his arms around Einn, greedily attacking his mouth and wrapping his legs around Einn's waist as Einn hefted him up and braced him against the wall. Sex wasn't the smart thing, but it was distracting and about the only thing Cyan felt he understood at the moment.
Chapter Twelve
Unregistered Merchant Class StarShip
Sean frowned as he examined the bridge of The Argus, the captured captain, and other crew. "We've been duped."
"Yes," Mendel agreed lightly. "There's no way this is the ship behind the kidnappings."
"It was a dead match," Sean muttered. Absently using his magics to heal a cut on his arm, he moved to the ship's master console at the captain's seat and pulled out his datapad, quickly synching and cracking the security codes with only a few minutes' work. "Subpar computer work," he commented, and began to work his way through the information that practically fell into his lap. "Someone hacked them, rewrote their logs and registries. I don't get why, though."
Karmikel snorted and kicked the seated captain in the thigh. "Who hacked your ship?" When the captain remained silent, Karmikel kicked him again, harder. "We can play this game all night, Smoke, or you can tell me what's what. Who'd you tussle with that gave you that head wound, and then hacked your system?"
"Hood's rock spider and that Helioran slut he ran with," Smoke said sullenly. "Should have killed them when I had the chance."
Karmikel nodded. "No doubt, but you were always too cocky to last forever."
"You never caught me."
"I don't waste my time on the small jobs, Smoke. People paid me to go after pros, not amateurs. If you're what they consider pro these days, I'm glad I got out of the business." Karmikel drew his stunner and knocked Smoke out before he could reply. Holstering the stunner, he knelt and double-checked Smoke's pulse, then turned to Sean, and asked, "Got any new information for us?"
Sean pursed his lips, eyes on his data screen, in-lens flashing as he worked. "Whoever did this knew what he was doing and knew not to waste time hiding his work overmuch. He knew it would be found, and just made it good enough to buy time. The information he planted lines up too neatly with exactly what we're looking for. I think Adalsteinn and Lark were behind this hack."
"To buy time to get away since by now they must know who Cyan is?" Mendel asked, and when Sean nodded, continued, "Now we've got proof that they did it, and we also know now that they were on the Dragonfly. Was the risk of revealing that worth buying time?"
"Guess that depends on whether or not we can find them," Sean said. He disconnected his datapad and stowed it in its holster on his thigh. "We should get back to our ship and figure out the next step; there's nothing more this ship ca
n tell us."
Karmikel nodded in agreement, checking over the cuffs holding the crew captive one last time. "Winter said he was sending a ship into the area to arrest them. We should be gone before it gets here." As if on cue, their in-lens lit up with a communication from the Brilliant. "Ship approaching," Karmikel grunted. "Auths, all right—the Scythe. Winter wasn't lying; we need to be gone. If the Scythe spots us, they'll Heartstone us."
Sean rolled his eyes as Karmikel and Mendel walked over to him but didn't comment; only took hold of both of them as they reached him and teleported them all back to their ship. On the Brilliant, he settled into his seat on the bridge to upload and begin analyzing the collected data.
"We're clear," Karmikel said some time later, and Sean looked up, glancing at the console and seeing an hour had passed. "Winter says they were taken into custody, and the Scythe was instructed not to look a gift horse in the mouth. What have you learned, Sean?"
"Nothing good," Sean said, frowning as he looked over his data again. "These guys have connections—serious connections. I'm only looking at the data that the unregistered ship logged while it was hacking the Dragonfly, and I can tell you they have the sorts of things they shouldn't."
Mendel asked, "Like what?"
"Like I don't know exactly, but I recognize enough of it to know some of these number strings are high level IG-issue. These guys have serious government clearance, unless I'm sorely mistaken. They're fractured, because the hack didn't finish—" Sean broke off and transmitted it all to the main screen. "Here and here," he said, pointing to two lines of numbers. "These are IG pass codes for something. They're similar to what we get on Rehab, the only reason I recognized them at all."
"They're merchant licenses," Karmikel said. "Zero class licenses at that, meaning they have permission to trade everywhere without needing to get special permits for certain planets. Not entirely unusual for merchants, especially in-lens merchants who might sell military-grade in-lens. Still…" Karmikel frowned. "Can you pick out anything else?"