His words made sense, but still, Kylie wasn’t sure. “Fix it for who? Me? Lana? The Dauntless?”
“Don’t give up. I’m not going to hand Lana over if it means the end for you or your crew. Even this ship of yours.”
Seems the Dauntless had worked its way into Grayson’s crusty old heart after all. Kylie took the weapon he offered, shouldered the rifle and led Grayson out of there. They ran to the medbay as the lights aboard the Dauntless dimmed.
Once they got Lana out, they should split up. Kylie didn’t want to make this easy for the SSF soldiers, especially if it was the last thing she ever did. As they approached the medbay, Kylie realized the door was open. She and Grayson exchanged a glance before bringing up their weapons and sweeping through the room.
Lana’s blanket was on the floor in a pile, but there was no sign of a struggle. Nothing of the room or even the door panel was damaged. Kylie didn’t get it, and then it dawned on her. “Her nano.”
“She broke out,” Grayson said with a nod. “I suppose now we have to worry about what happens if the SSF gets her before I get a chance to plead my case.”
But it might give them time to find Lana, and that was the most important thing. If Lana was hiding—or worse, if she was planning an assault—she might be hurt or killed.
“You don’t think she really would attack, do you?” Grayson asked.
“You saw the things she can do. If she thinks she’s threatened, I think that’s exactly what she’ll do,” Kylie said as they rushed from the medbay.
“Once they can see what she’s capable of…” Grayson warned. “We must keep it from them as long as we can. If I can negotiate a peaceful surrender before they witness anything crazy, it’d be in everyone’s best interests.”
But to kill her and just take her nano? Would General Samuel really be okay with that? What was more important to him? The tech, or his daughter?
Kylie hoped to God she didn’t have to find out the answer to that question.
LOYALTY
STELLAR DATE: 08.47.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Salvage ship Dauntless
REGION: Scattered Disk, Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance
Kylie looked worried as they rushed down the passageway, but it wasn’t her that concerned Grayson so much as it was Jerrod, who was growing increasingly agitated for an AI.
Grayson stifled a sigh.
Kylie gave him an eye. “Everything okay?”
“Fine,” Grayson said in a short, agitated tone.
Grayson peered back at Kylie as she took up a position behind some conduit near the airlock.
That was a question he couldn’t answer.
REPEL BOARDERS
STELLAR DATE: 08.47.8947 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Salvage ship Dauntless, en route to Freemont
REGION: Scattered Disk, Gedri System, Silstrand Alliance
The statement was broadcasting on a loop as Kylie took a defensive position behind a conduit stack near the airlock. She wasn’t in the mood for a game of hide-and-seek. Her plan was to turn Lana over to them and she was going to do just that, with an explanation.
Grayson took up a position across the corridor from her. They gave each other a worried glance as the airlock opened.
They just needed enough time to plead their case.
Kylie also hoped that Rogers would make it into the bridge and take out Winter just in case they needed to get out of there on a moment’s notice.
As the airlock opened, Kylie tensed and Grayson gave her a level look that put her at ease. He was wearing his serious-commander expression, and at the last minute, he rose from his cover and stood in the center of the corridor, his arms crossed behind his back. She wondered if that was the right move, but these were his people, after all. He had probably worked with some of them shoulder-to-shoulder. If he couldn’t get through to them, then no one could.
Kylie just wanted to give him a chance. She’d hope they’d listen to him.
She was about to find out as several soldiers rushed out of the airlock and took cover on the far side of the corridor. Their guns were drawn, but at the sight of Grayson, they faltered. “Colonel Grayson, sir!”
Grayson nodded solemly. “I really don’t wish for my head to be blown off before I’ve had a chance to grab a good dinner. If you could please lower your weapons, we can arrange for a transfer.”
Kylie kept her rifle trained on the soldiers and waited for their response.
“Not until she does, sir.”
“Not going to happen,” Kylie said. “You either listen to Colonel Grayson, or we stand here all day at a draw.”
“I think you should listen to us, Commander Rhoads,” General Samuel said as he stepped out of the airlock with another three soldiers covering him.
Man, it must have been a tight fit in there.
Grayson visibly relaxed. “Sir!”
Samuel nodded in response. “Colonel, from your reports, I suspected you would be en route with my daughter. When you changed course….”
“Not our doing,” Kylie said, and the authority in her voice stole the general’s attention.
“Oh?” Samuel raised his eyebrow.
“One of my crew went off-mission. It’s unfortunate, but we are handling the situation.”
“Let me guess which of your crew that could have been? I’m going to go with Winter. Am I close to the mark?”
“Dead on, sir.” Kylie said. “If you’ll have your soldiers lower their weapons, then I’ll lower mine. We can discuss what happens next and you can see your daughter.”
The general waved his hand to issue the order to his officers. “That’s my show of good faith. Your show, allow Grayson to take your weapon, Rhoads.”
She bristled as Grayson approached. He held out his hand, and there was something kind in his eyes. Kylie thought it over for a moment before she handed the rifle to him. He wouldn’t let anything bad happen, and she had to show faith in that the general would keep his word.
“
Good,” General Samuel smirked. “Now, let’s get back to the business of my daughter. Where is she?”
“Safe. Where she’ll stay until we hand her over. I need to make sure that our deal still holds. My crew will be free to go and the letter of marquee….”
“I’m afraid not. No. The agreement was you bring her to me. Since you failed to hold up your end of the bargain, the deal is off.”
Kylie took a deep breath. “Now, wait for just a second! I explained!”
“And I don’t believe a word you say. As for the letter of marquee…well, maybe it’s better that Grayson explains that one at another time. Bring me my daughter.”
Kylie’s eyes shifted from Samuel to Grayson. Why couldn’t Grayson even look at her and why hadn’t Samuel even asked how his daughter was faring? “If you think I’m going to just let you walk onboard and take someone off my ship without my permission—”
“No one is asking for your permission.” General Samuel pointed his finger past her. “The ship isn’t that small, find her. Colonel Grayson, do your job.”
Was Grayson really going to side with Samuels on this? Kylie watched his face and saw the rising tension. He was considering it, wasn’t he? Well, at least he was conflicted about it.
“You don’t care for her at all, do you?” Kylie asked the general. “All you want is what she’s carrying.”
“So, you figured it out?” Samuel asked. “All right. My daughter’s always had problems with authority, with me. I wouldn’t want harm to come to her, but she signed herself up for this under my nose. She kept it from me. She broke the law, and now she expects me to save her. Is that, right? So, I’ll save her. I’ll save her, and she’ll solve all of Silstrand’s problems. War is approaching us on all sides; she carries the advantage we need.
“Now, Grayson, follow out your orders, or we start firing. Kylie spends her life in Silstrand prison or floating through space, you decide.”
Kylie peered up at Grayson’s face as he took a deep breath. For a split second, she thought he would do what he was ordered, but then he pivoted and aimed his rifle at General Samuel while simultaneously tossing Kylie’s back to her. “Sorry, sir. I can’t do that.”
The soldiers’ weapons snapped back up, all aimed at Grayson. “Careful what you do next,” General Samuel smirked, “more than your career is on the line here.”
Grayson’s scowl deepened, and his voice was scornful. “Kylie put her life on the line. She saved your daughter, and you have no idea what Lana has been through, sir. If we’re going to arrange for a transfer, let’s do so, but the crew of the Dauntless deserves your respect and has earned the immunity and the letter of marquee you promised them.”
Samuel’s eyebrow twitched. “She really got to you again, didn’t she? Puppy dog, doe-eyed, Rhoads. She’s always had her hooks in you.”
“If we could keep calm…” Kylie said, but her words broke off as Rogers broke in.
Crap. That meant he could be anywhere.
Kylie returned her attention to the conversation that continued to play out in front of her.
“The full pardon you promised for Kylie, Nadine, Rogers, and even Winter, if he’ll take it. That’s what I require from you, General.”
“Shoot him,” the general ordered. “For defying a direct order and siding with common criminals, thugs, and members of the Jericho crime syndicates.”
What? No!
Kylie leaped in front of Grayson with her arms spread. “Don’t! You can’t!”
A scream echoed through the passageway behind them, and the SSF soldiers all looked behind Kylie and Grayson. The pair turned to see Lana being led over, held at arm’s length by Winter. He had a weapon right against the back of her head, and his hand was wrapped around her neck.
“I believe we can end this all right now,” Winter said.
Lana’s lip quivered, and a stream of tears rolled down her cheeks. “He told me about your friend. He told me about Nadine.”
Winter really was a pile of shit. “Lana….”
“I won’t go with them. I won’t go with my father or back to Silstrand. Not until you get your friend back. She can’t die because of me. It isn’t fair.”
“In other words, advance on us and I blow her fucking head off,” Winter said. “I’ll do it. Don’t tempt me.”
“He’s telling the truth,” Kylie said dryly. “He’s just that kind of guy.”
“Lana, you can’t possibly mean what you’re saying. I’m here,” General Samuels opened his arms. “I’m here, and I’m ready to take you home. Your dorm is just as you left it. Your friends are waiting for you.”
“I can’t go back, Daddy. I’m sorry. Everything’s different now.”
“Different?”
Lana nodded, and Kylie had a sinking suspicion the girl was about to tell him about the nano. “Lana…” Kylie warned.
“The nano, it broke out of the container I was carrying. It’s in me now. It’s…” Lana raised her hand as if to show them. A cloud of particles, too small to see other than as an indistinct haze, swirled around her hand. Almost like a dance.
General Samuel stepped forward. “You mean…it’s in your blood? It’s merged with you?”
Lana nodded. “It’s in me now. I can…do things. That’s why I can’t go with you. I can’t go with anyone. Once Nadine is free, I have to just…go away.” She glanced back at Winter. “He made me see how dangerous I am.”
“I have a way with words, what can I say?” Winter gave a cruel smile.
Kylie had no idea how Winter had twisted the truth to manipulate Lana, but she was sure he had. It was written all over his face.
Samuel lifted his hand toward Lana. “Fascinating. You’ve become the most advanced human Silstrand has ever known. Smarter, faster. A weapon….” His eyebrows arched. “A weapon we need, Lana. What’s in you could save countless lives.”
“Or spark a war across the whole Orion Arm. I may just be a dumb college girl, but I watch the feeds. I know what’s going on. Everyone wants me.”
“We’re your people! Your home. You’ll come home with me now, Lana.” Samuel pushed past Kylie and Grayson, reaching for Lana’s outstretched hand.
“Winter!” Lana shrieked in panic.
Winter yanked Lana back, out of the General’s reach and his finger slipped off the trigger guard, ready to pull it. He was going to do it. He was going to kill her just as he said he would. Kylie dodged around Samuel, lowering her shoulder to knock Winter back just as a filament of nano leaped from Lana’s hand toward the general, streaming into his eyes. He screamed and fell to the ground.
Lana turned to the group of soldiers and raised her hand. Kylie couldn’t scream fast enough. “Lana, get down!” She altered her trajectory and crashed into Lana, forcing her down as focused pulse blasts rippled the air above their heads. Kylie was on top of Lana and found herself wrapped in a swarm of nano. The nanoscopic robots surrounded her in a glittering haze. She swatted at them like they were bugs or smoke, but it was no use.
As the nano-fog cleared, Kylie held Lana close to her. The young woman’s eyes were wide, staring up at the ceiling. Her forehead was crumpled where multiple pulse shots had hit it. Blood was seeping out, and more than a little gray matter was visible around the edges.
Kylie looked at her hands, covered in the young woman’s blood, and screamed. Everything she had gone through to protect her. Everything they had done to win. None of it had mattered, and now she sat, cowering beneath a hailstorm of pulse, beam, and projectile rounds as Grayson and Winter lay down suppressive fire.
Grayson heard the conversation over the Link and pointed his rifle at the prone general’s head.
“It’s about to get real cold and airless in here,” he yelled at the soldiers and nodded at a pair. “Everyone but you two fall back, or the general breathes his last. Then you can take him.”
The soldiers ceased fire, as did Winter. They glanced at each other, and one, with a lieutenant’s insignia on his armor, nodded. They fell back and the two men Grayson had called out came and grabbed the unconscious general by his arms and carried him to the airlock.
As soon as they were through, Grayson ran forward and palmed the control to seal the inner door.
Kylie didn’t give a shit whether the general was safely through the umbilical and called up to Rogers.
With a rending sound that set Kylie’s teeth on edge, the Dauntless broke away. She didn’t know if the SSF soldiers had made it back to their cruiser or not. Or, if any of them had realized Lana was dead. To be killed for this tech, by her own father’s soldiers…it was horrible beyond thinking…such a waste of a life.
“Kylie,” Winter said.
“Shut up! I’ll deal with you later,” Kylie trembled with rage, her voice filled with malice. “Go to your quarters and don’t you dare show yourself. Don’t you dare.”
Winter turned and walked away without a word while Grayson fell to his knees beside Kylie. He stroked Lana’s hair back and both of them sat in bitter silence. “Are you…”
“Okay?” Kylie shook her head. “I’m so far from okay. Gray…” She squeezed her eyes shut and fought off the urge to sob.
Grayson moved closer. He placed his hands on her knees and just sat with her. The body of a dead young woman between them. The one they were meant to save.
Rogers said.
Close Proximity - An Aeon14 Space Opera Adventure (Perilous Alliance) Page 29