Threshold of Annihilation (The Firebird Chronicles Book 3)

by T. A. White

  Kira started forward with a sense of resignation. "There's no point in betting when it's a sure thing."

  Raider jogged after her, Finn next to him.

  "Really wishing I had a weapon right about now," Raider muttered.

  Kira snapped off the dangling gem in her earring and pressed a button. A long thin blade extended out of it, forming a knife.

  She tossed it to Raider. "Happy now?"

  "Ecstatic."

  *

  A short while later, Kira held up her hand as they reached an intersection. She looked down one corridor and then another without the faintest clue which direction to take.

  More than anything, she wished Jin was here. She wouldn’t even complain about his smart-ass comments or his ridiculous antics.

  At least he’d have some idea what to do, which direction to take. He’d hack the security feeds or use any one of a dozen methods to get a lock on Elise.

  "Which way do we go?" Raider asked, turning in a circle.

  This time there wasn't a handy body left behind that they could use as a compass.

  "I don't know."

  "Do we split up?"

  "I don't know!" Kira yelled.

  She took a deep breath immediately after.

  Focus, Kira. One foot in front of the other until you accomplish your mission. Losing control won't help anyone, least of all Jin.

  Raider paced, his movements almost frantic. "You go that way. I'll go this way."

  "We can't split up," Finn objected. "The enemy is too powerful. None of us stand a chance if we meet up with them alone."

  And by none, he really meant Kira and Raider.

  "We don't engage then," Raider argued. "We hang back and notify the others."

  Finn sent a pointed look in Kira's direction that seemed to mock that suggestion. Noticing the look, Kira could only shrug. Even she knew the chances of that working were small.

  It wasn't just her. Raider was as likely to run into the fray as her.

  "We don't have a lot of options," Raider said, unwilling to back down.

  Static filled Kira's comms.

  "—tie."

  Kira frowned and pressed a finger against her ear.

  "Auntie, are...there?"

  "Elena." Kira closed her eyes in relief.

  At Elena's name, Raider took a step toward Kira.

  "Is that Elena? Is she okay?"

  Kira held up a hand as she moved further into the hallway in the hopes of strengthening the signal. By now, they had to be out of the protected section of the station. That had to be why she was suddenly able to hear Elena.

  "I've been trying you forever," Elena burst out, sounding close to tears.

  "I know. Some things happened. The place I was in must have blocked unauthorized signals."

  "Do you know what's going on down on the planet?"

  Kira started to answer but paused.

  "Where are you?" Kira asked.

  "About that—" Elena drawled.

  "You're on the station," Kira answered for her.

  Elena's silence was answer enough, her guilt traveling down the line as clear as her voice had.

  It made perfect sense. The channel Elena was using wouldn't have reached the station from the planet, especially with the interference from the bombardment and the signal blockers that were standard procedure for the Tsavitee when they launched an attack.

  “You did say we could go sightseeing,” Elena finally offered.

  Elena knew this wasn’t what she’d intended. Trust her niece to take a mile when she’d been offered an inch.

  It was a trait she’d inherited from Jin and Kira, both of whom were known to twist the meaning of words to find a loophole when it suited them.

  “Not on Almaluk.” Kira pinched the bridge of her nose.

  "She's here?" Raider asked. "Let me talk to her."

  “Why not? You know how hard it is to find this place at any other time,” Elena argued. “Besides, Wren and Devon were interested in seeing the Wanderer.”

  Kira bet they were.

  She twisted away as Raider tried to reach for her ear.

  "Stop that. You know my comms are embedded in my ear canal," Kira snapped.

  "Are you with the sperm donor?" Elena asked, brightening. "Hi, sperm donor."

  Kira rolled her eyes but passed on the message.

  "Why is Uncle Jin being so quiet?" Elena asked.

  Kira caught her breath against the unexpected stab of pain.

  "Auntie?"

  Kira stared unseeing down the corridor as the words to explain clogged her throat.

  "Auntie, what aren't you telling me?"

  Kira knew she needed to say something. Continued silence would only exacerbate Elena's fears.

  Her niece was surprisingly sensitive. Hiding things rarely worked with her.

  "If you're not explaining, that means something happened," Elena said slowly. "You're in a secure section of the facility. One of the perpetrators was caught yesterday."

  "How do you know that?"

  Elena ignored Kira's question, intent on following the logic. "You'd only be interested if that person was someone important to you. My mother. Judging by the fact you haven't mentioned her and Uncle is now missing, I can only assume Mother did something and took Uncle Jin."

  Kira wanted to bang her head against the wall. Damn Jin for teaching Elena that trick.

  "Auntie?"

  Kira rubbed her head. "Yes."

  Elena was quiet for several seconds. "Is it really my mother?"

  "I don't know."

  There was a moment of silence where Kira thought she’d lost the connection.

  "It doesn't matter either way," Elena said finally. "If you have a choice between Mother and Uncle Jin, you need to save Uncle Jin."

  Kira glanced at Raider before ducking her head, not wanting him to see her expression.

  "Elena—"

  "You and Uncle Jin are my family,” Elena said loudly, drowning her out. “I won’t trade either of you—even for Mother.”

  Despite Elena's firm words, Kira could sense the turbulent emotions her niece choked down.

  "If it's really Mother, she's lost to us anyway," Elena said, her voice breaking.

  The hardest thing Kira had ever learned—and something she had never mastered—was knowing when to call it quits.

  It seemed her niece was a little more advanced than her in that respect.

  Kira leaned her head against the wall and closed her eyes. "You're a good kid, do you know that?"

  "I know," Elena said.

  Kira took a deep breath and straightened. "Raider, if you had staged an attack and stolen something, what would be your next move?"

  "I'd find a way off this station," he said.

  Kira glanced at Finn to see him nodding in agreement.

  Her lips tilted up in a half smile. "Me too."

  Finn accessed the interface on his forearm. "They'll want to take the quickest path to the docks. Let me see if I can find a map."

  "Auntie, I want to help," Elena said. "I love Uncle Jin too."

  Kira quelled her instinctive rejection.

  As much as she wanted to wrap Elena in a bubble, she could already tell it’d be futile. Kira knew what it felt like to feel powerless while the people close to her were in jeopardy. It was the worst feeling in the world.

  She didn’t want that for Elena. At the same time, she had no intention of placing her niece at risk.

  "Before you say no, you should know I'm not alone," Elena said.

  A chime sounded in Kira's comms accompanied by a notification in the upper right corner of her optics. Kira clicked on it, and a holo video of her niece appeared.

  Elena swung the camera to capture Wren’s serious expression, his oshota, Auralyn, next to him.

  They weren’t the only ones either. Devon, Joule, and Ziva stood to the side.

  "Are you kidding me?" Kira asked. What was this? A fieldtrip?

  There was some comfor
t in Wren and Auralyn’s presence, but not much. To attack Almaluk like this, the Tsavitee would have a lot of tricks up their sleeve.

  Even warriors as accomplished as that group could be overwhelmed eventually.

  Before Elena could answer, Kira's gaze locked on the silver turtle clinging to her collar. The creature's head lifted as it yawned before curling into a ball.

  "MinMin," Kira said softly.

  "What was that, Auntie?"

  Why didn't she think of that before?

  MinMin could be considered part of Jin. Not just in a metaphysical sense through ki, but also through an actual physical link that could be traced.

  Kira dismissed the thought almost as soon as it occurred to her.

  As talented as Elena was, she lacked the skills to perform such a complicated task. Kira would need a hacker for that, something Elena wasn't.

  Jin could—or Odin.

  "I've got the map," Finn announced. "We need to take the corridor to our left."

  "Elena, standby." Without waiting for an agreement, Kira put the call on hold, switching to search mode. "Please. Please, still be on the station."

  "Kira, we need to get moving, or we'll lose them," Raider warned.

  Kira stayed silent, sifting through her contact list. Jin always made this look so easy.

  The name Allfather popped up. Kira hit it.

  "Odin, are you there?"

  Silence stretched.

  She waited, feeling more and more hopeless as the moments passed.

  Finally, there was a click.

  "You do have an interesting knack of timing," Odin said grumpily.

  "Odin, thank God," Kira said as Finn and Raider lost patience and set off.

  Kira’s pace was much slower as she followed.

  "Your comm almost got me caught by the Haldeel. Do you know what they do to people they find hacking their most sensitive systems—especially during an invasion?"

  "Listen to me," Kira interrupted. "The Tsavitee have Jin."

  Dead air echoed through the comms.

  "What do you need from me?" Odin asked, sounding grim.

  "There's some type of interference preventing me from using our special connection."

  Not that Kira had ever tried using their link in that fashion. Jin could ride Kira's senses, and they could each feel each other's emotions, but tracking the other? That had always been Jin's ball of wax.

  "Can you use his avatar to pinpoint his location?" Kira asked.

  "He's started playing with those?"

  Kira picked up her pace, keeping Finn and Raider's backs in view. "Just answer the question."

  "Yes. Yes. He would have established some type of feature so he didn't lose track of the avatar. I should be able to reverse track his location from there."

  That's what Kira wanted to hear.

  "I'll need the avatar though."

  "Can you get to the Wanderer?"

  Kira had no way of knowing how bad it was in the rest of the station. According to the Tsavitee’s way of doing things, their forces should have already infiltrated with the help of the androids. That was in addition to the attacks they were launching from the outside.

  Kira wouldn't risk Elena's life—even for Jin. He wouldn't want her to either.

  The Wanderer had the advantage of some of the most advanced tech coupled with the fact it was probably the safest place right now. Her security measures ensured any infiltrators would have a hell of a time breaching her defenses. If things got really bad, they could unlatch from the station and flee.

  Odin didn't hesitate. "I'll find a way."

  The comms clicked as Odin signed off.

  Kira activated her link with Elena. "Head for the Wanderer. Odin will rendezvous with you."

  "Auntie," Elena protested.

  "This is how you help me," Kira interrupted. "It's more important than anything. Odin will use MinMin to find Jin, and then I will go get him."

  Kira took Elena's silence as agreement.

  "Wren, I’m trusting you to protect them," Kira said, knowing her seon’yer would hear.

  Wren didn’t hesitate. “With my life.”

  Kira felt relief at that promise.

  “What will you do?” Wren asked.

  “What’s necessary.”

  TWENTY-FOUR

  KIRA AND THE rest left the warren of hallways behind, bursting onto the level of the main station. Signs that a battle had recently taken place lay all around them. In the distance, they could hear a fight still in process.

  "A few androids wouldn't have been enough to do all this," Raider said, studying the blackened marks on the floor and wall.

  "The soul bound are different. Besides, I don't think it's just a few," Finn said. "They had help—a lot of it."

  If the Tsavitee had made it onto the station, it could explain the difficulties the Haldeel were having. She didn’t know what had possessed them to make this move.

  Even with the blows struck to Almaluk, it was only a matter of time before the Haldeel took control again.

  Finn pointed to their right. "The map says to go this way."

  Kira hesitated, torn between continuing to follow the map and waiting for word from Odin.

  Finding the nearest port off-station sounded like a good idea in theory. For a station the size of Almaluk, the port would be humongous, and with all the ships currently docked for the quorum, it would be impossible to search all of them in time.

  Also, the port wasn’t the only way off Almaluk. Kira didn’t want to overlook something because she was too impatient.

  She needed to balance the desire to close the gap between her and Elise with the knowledge that making the wrong choice would put her too far behind the other.

  "Come on, Odin," Kira urged.

  Finn waited patiently. Raider less so.

  There was a certain frenetic urgency to his movements that screamed of his need to act until he was practically vibrating in place.

  "Kira, I think I've narrowed down the location," Odin said suddenly through the comms. "It's not precise yet, but I have a general direction."

  "Where?"

  "They've headed for the lower decks in the Day Lily sector. Sending the map to Muscles now."

  Finn jerked like someone had stung him.

  Odin’s ability to hack the interface in his synth armor was surprising. The use of ki in the Tuann’s networks made their technology nearly impenetrable to traditional hackers.

  It was like being on two separate networks that had no way of talking or even hearing the other.

  It figured Odin would find a way around that eventually.

  "Patch Raider into our comms in case we get separated."

  Raider touched his ear and then nodded at Kira to say he'd received Odin's message.

  "Everyone ready?" Kira asked.

  Finn and Raider nodded with serious expressions.

  "From here on out, we go silent unless there's an emergency." Kira didn't want to risk alerting the enemy of their approach.

  "Finn, you're our compass. I'll take point. Raider, protect our back."

  Their formation was different than what an oshota would prefer for their sword, but it was necessary. With Finn preoccupied by the map, he wouldn’t be able to pay as much attention to his surroundings.

  Most importantly, this formation fit Kira's personality.

  "Let's go," Kira said, taking the lead.

  The other two chased after her, careful to keep their movements as silent as possible.

  They raced through the station, Finn tapping her shoulder every now and then before indicating where to go.

  In this fashion, they advanced, diverting around the small pockets of fighting they encountered every now and then.

  Nearly twenty minutes later, Kira and the other two slowed as they neared the docks. The area they found themselves in was adjacent to the port and contained a maze of shipping containers stacked until they nearly reached the ceiling two stories above.

&nbs
p; Along one side was a massive opening, the atmosphere inside contained by a thin membrane that allowed the entrance and exit of freight.

  "You're getting close, Kira. I can't narrow his signal any more than this," Odin said softly into her ear. "I'll see if I can access the feeds, but it'll be difficult from here."

  Kira tapped behind her ear twice, knowing the sound would carry to her comms to show she understood.

  To Finn and Raider, she sent them a hand signal to be on guard.

  The two spread out, moving cautiously as they made their way through the stacks of containers.

  A surge of energy crashed through the space.

  Instinctively, Kira dove for cover, rolling until her spine fetched up against a container. Her heart pounded as adrenaline flooded her system.

  The spot where she'd just been standing had been turned into a crater.

  She scanned her surroundings, relieved when she spotted Finn and Raider behind their own container.

  "Well, well, look who we have here." Niland walked out of the shadows. "A weaponless human, a misguided Tuann, and the reject who led them to their deaths."

  Across from her, Raider rolled his eyes at the posturing by the oshota from House Remie. "Kira, have you ever noticed how the weaker one of these guys are, the more they like to pontificate?"

  "What are you doing?" Kira mouthed.

  "Go," he mouthed back.

  Kira shook her head.

  "Yap all you want, human. You'll soon be dead."

  There was a loud thud as if Niland had leapt onto one of the containers. Identical thuds came from several different positions in the warehouse.

  Finn looked around Raider's shoulder and dipped his chin once, his eyes grave.

  "You have to," Raider mouthed.

  Even from this distance, Kira could see the emotions he was suppressing. Adrenaline clashed with anticipation and fear.

  "Find another way," she mouthed at him.

  Finn tapped Raider’s shoulder, and with one last glance in Kira's direction disappeared into the shadows surrounding the containers.

  Kira's nose burned as she shook her head at Raider again.

  This wasn't necessary. They could deal with these people together.

  Raider's eyes were suspiciously wet as he gave her a bittersweet smile and touched his chest over his heart.

  No, he wasn't doing this. Not for her.