Vas opened the ship wide comm and called out the names of the folks who would be joining Ragkor. She added Therlian and Kaena; she’d told her folks on Home to find a safe foster for Kaena and fully screen Therlian. But even with the recent dust finding, she wasn’t too worried about Therlian. Aithnea wouldn’t have let go of a bad nun—she would have killed her. Even from beyond the grave, Vas was trusting Aithnea’s ways.
“Meet Captain Ragkor Kjillian in bay two. Yes folks, Ragkor is now a captain—treat him as such. We’ll see you in a few days.” Vas knew by now Grosslyn had already not only picked out the rest of the crew for both ships, but he’d given them all specialized instructions on what to tell Vas was needed back on Home. The new crew would probably be so sick of his nagging that they’d be ready to take off as soon as the shuttle landed.
Vas switched to a closed comm. “Ragkor, make copies of your side project and keep working on it.”
“But not too much. You need to rest,” Terel said from where she was locking up the dust samples.
“And you can do research while you rest,” Vas said.
“As long as you rest.” Terel kept tagging on to Vas’s comments.
“Might I interject?” Ragkor went on without waiting. “I have copies, I will rest, and I will also research, check out the new crew, and get the refurbished ship back to meet you as soon as possible.”
Vas looked at Terel and smiled. “Told you Marines were handy. Excellent work, Captain Ragkor. Goddess speed, and don’t mess up my ship.” She closed the comm.
“Just what is he working on that is more important than resting? Even Marines need recovery time—especially those as damage prone as that one.”
Vas wasn’t sure how much to tell Terel. This was Ragkor’s secret. Then she shook her head. Who was she kidding? Terel was her confidant, and Ragkor was lucky Vas hadn’t spaced him with this secret.
It took an hour to get the whole bit out—who he really was, what his background was, what he was researching. That was solely because Terel kept interjecting comments and questions.
By the time Vas had finally said everything that was pertinent, Gosta was calling to tell them they had been hired for the mercenary job and were cleared to enter the Silantian system. The only glitch was that Vas and Deven needed to appear as well. Gosta proposed that once the fighting team was engaged, she and Deven could take the shuttle to Yholine.
Vas turned to Terel, but she was already researching things on her computer. She raised her head briefly. “You go ahead; I have other things to do. I will have to report Ragkor’s recent medical activities to the new medical officer on the Dead, but I don’t see any reason they would need to know about his prior connections.” She dropped back to whatever she was studying, clearly dismissing her captain.
Vas smiled and left the labs. She knew Terel wouldn’t say anything. Now if Ragkor had been hiding something medically—something serious—then Terel would have nailed him to the floor.
The issue she currently had was how much of a pain it would be to go down to the fighting, then sneak off. The fighting she was fine with, it would do her some good. It was the sneaking out mid-battle then flying to the other planet without anyone noticing. Annoying, but not on the level of the other problems they’d had as of late.
She was heading back to the deck when Hallam came down the hallway. He shook his head a few times, but then stabilized his walking once he saw her.
“Captain! I was looking for you,” he said.
Vas looked him up and down—his shirt was half tucked in and his hair was sticking up on one side. “Weren’t you sleeping?” She wasn’t sure if being unconscious because a doctor knocked him out so he’d calm down counted as sleeping, but it sounded better.
“Ah, yeah.” He looked around the hall. “I was a bit upset when I heard the alarm. I’m better now. I heard that Therlian left and will be joining your other ship. What can I do? I have no home left on Mayhira. I only had limited access, but I was able to check the channels, and someone betrayed the resistance. All of our contacts are dead or locked up.”
Vas wasn’t surprised by that, and Therlian’s actions indicated she knew or expected that was the case. The people behind the gray ships, or at least the two they’d seen, might have been trying to restore some sort of balance to Mayhira, but someone had been targeting the destruction down there.
There was still the issue with the Pericdin dust. She’d ordered random venting sweeps for the entire ship—as well as the Victorious Dead once they got on it. She didn’t let that become common knowledge. She might need to give Hallam some room to expose himself if there was any chance he’d been involved.
“How are you at swords?”
He’d been in the act of finishing tucking in his shirt but looked up at her with wide eyes. “Um, I used to be good? I grew up on Nalin III, a closed-world system.”
Closed world, primitive, and wanting to be left alone. Interesting.
But it could be handy. “I’ve got a short-term merc job coming up tomorrow. I need swordsmen. Mostly we’ll be backing up the Hight Collective’s official government.” She honestly hadn’t cared which side hired them, but Flarik had reached the small official government first.
He started to nod, and then winced. “I’d need weapons. Everything I owned was left behind.”
“We can take care of that,” Vas said. She looked at his clothing. “And anything else you need. Can’t have one of my mercs wearing the same clothes to sleep in and fight in. If you seem like a good fit on this job, we’ll see what we can do to find you a place with our troop.”
“Thank you,” he said with the first real smile she’d seen.
Vas gave him instructions on where to get supplies—he could pay the store master back once he started getting paid—and who to check in with for the fight. He nodded and went off in search of the store master.
“Hopefully he really knows which end of a sword to attack with,” Deven’s voice was right behind her—as usual she hadn’t heard him come down the hall.
“One of these days I’m going to blast you when you sneak up like that,” Vas said.
“As I recall, you’ve said that many times—and yet haven’t followed through once,” Deven said with yet another one of his dangerous smiles.
“There’s always a first. What do you want?” Vas kept her eyes focused on his face, after one quick visual drift down to the rest of him. He’d been working out and, as usual, forgot to put his shirt back on. His workout pants were loose and hung low on his hips. ‘Forgot’ her ass—even newly back from the dead, Deven had way too much fun messing with the libidos of folks around him.
“Just to tell you that the shuttle for Home is off and we’re approaching the Hight Collective home world. Will you and I be leaving before the fight is done?”
“Yup. Make ourselves noticeable so there’s evidence we were down there, then you and I will take off. Gosta sent details to my hand-held. He can cover the shuttle’s disappearance once we’re ready. I’m only sending twenty of our folks, and Hallam.” She turned and kept walking down the corridor to the lift, Deven matched her pace. She’d need to change before they went down on their mission. “What do you think of him?” Vas had always counted on Deven’s opinions. Esper powered or not, he was a great judge of character.
The silence that met her question caused her to stop and turn.
“It’s nothing bad,” Deven said and shrugged. “I just get an odd feeling from him. More like an old profound grief than anything else. But it’s hard to pin down.”
That was something very different for this new Deven. The original Deven was far more confident on his feelings about people.
“But you were fine with him when he was part of a group pointing blasters at our heads?” She watched his face carefully. It would be too easy to fall back into their old routines, and her way of implicitly trusting him. If something had changed in that area, she needed to know.
Deven shook his head and o
ne long strand of hair came out of his ponytail.
“That was different. The group as a whole was safe. And I’m not saying I think that he can’t be trusted. He has some very strong emotions there and they are blocking everything else.”
Vas narrowed her eyes, but Deven shrugged.
“Fine. But when we’re done with this job, you’ll be spending a lot more time with him.” She continued walking down to the lift. She was looking forward to using her Zalith blades, they hadn’t had a primitive world job in a very long time.
“And we’re taking Hrrru on this trip, he’ll fight at first, but leave with us.” The thought had just come to her. She held up her hand as Deven opened his mouth to protest. “I know. But he’s been on the command ship for two years now and only gone on one battle. He needs the experience, and we’re going to need someone of his caliber at solving puzzles.” Vas knew that like the buoy, which they still hadn’t gotten open, anything left behind by Aithnea would be wrapped in a few layers of puzzles. Gosta had narrowed the area to a ruined town a few hundred clicks from the former capital. But aside from the geographic location, she had no clue as to what she was looking for. Hrrru would be their best bet short of dragging Gosta down there with them.
“Sound thinking, actually. I’ll meet you at the shuttle bay in an hour?” Deven said.
Vas nodded. Enough time to prepare for a nice clean battle.
39
The hour had flown by for Vas, but by the look marring Hrrru’s tiny, furry face, it had been far longer for him. He’d sounded excited when she called him on the way to her room and told him he was coming along. The lowered eyes and worried frown he now wore said that excitement had faded fast.
He’d come on the command ship two years ago full of ideals and youth. He was an excellent strategist and had a sharp mind for solving puzzles even when no one else knew they were there. But his first time in a fight had scared him horribly.
Welischians were fierce combatants as a whole. Generations of being kept as slaves on their home world had created an impressive fighting force when they finally rose up against their oppressors. Hrrru had been young and cocky. He’d been born after the great uprising and believed in his people’s prowess.
And he was a scrappy fighter. Welischians were armed with long, thick, curved claws that were designed for shredding. Being small could be an advantage when you knew how to fight.
His first battle had shown him the brave didn’t always win. They were fighting with another merc group, and out of the twenty people in his section, fifteen were killed. That only two were from their ship wasn’t any consolation. Hrrru had been taken out of the fight early on and had to watch, barely conscious, as his comrades were slaughtered.
Vas made a show of adjusting her pack as she got down to the shuttle bay. Her Zalith blades were secured in their sheaths across her back, and a pair of knives hung from her belt in thigh holsters.
Hrrru had a short sword. Still in his hand.
“Hrrru? It’s better to travel with your weapons in their sheaths.” She wanted to ask him if he was going to be okay, but knew that question usually had the opposite effect on people who were not okay.
“What?” He looked down at his sword as if he’d just noticed it. “Of course, I didn’t mean to stand like that with it…there.” He sheathed it, then looked up. “Do you think there will be great mysteries on the planet?”
It took Vas a moment to figure out he wasn’t talking about the battle on the Hight Collective’s home world, but rather their job on Yholine. She should have known his love of puzzles would overrule his fear.
“Probably, but we’re only worried about what was left hidden specifically by the nuns. You do realize that we will have to make a show of fighting in the battle before we can leave, right?
His paw flittered in the air. “Yes, yes. We will fight well. I have my sword and claws. Fight, then go and search.” The avarice in his eyes would give an Ilerian a run for his money. But Vas knew it wasn’t directed at riches. Maybe after this whole mess was done she’d open a salvage and investigation team with Hrrru and Gosta in charge.
She’d changed to an all-black skin suit under her duster, and had included a black skullcap in her pack. While she wanted to be noticed during the fight, and her trademark red braid would help with that, she definitely did not want to be noticed when they snuck around Yholine. Along with the cap, her pack had land maps, a hand-held scanner and a backup, as well as the standard emergency supplies for any away mission.
Welischians were covered in a fine gray fur, but always had clothing that worked with it. The all-black ensemble he was currently sporting made him look like a giant teddy bear stuffed in a black wrapper.
“All ready?” Vas smiled and nodded to his extremely full backpack. Hers hung close to her back and protruded very little—his looked ready to topple him over.
“Yes,” he said and patted the straps of his pack. A serious look crossed his face. “I will not let you down, Captain.” The fear that flickered in his soft brown eyes wasn’t for himself, it was for letting Vas, Deven, and the entire ship down.
Against her nature, Vas wanted to hug him. “Of course you won’t. I only take the best, you know.”
“Gosta’s prepared with a program that will allow us to leave without being noticed when we’re ready,” Deven said as he came into the shuttle bay. Like Vas and Hrrru, he was wearing the skintight black suit. However, on him it looked dangerous, deadly, and unmistakably sexy.
Vas mentally swore at her libido. His memories of them hadn’t come back—not completely anyway. There was definite interest in his eyes, but it was new. Like she was new. She wanted the history they had together to be there.
With him looking like he did at this moment, she was having a serious fight with herself about that point right now.
Vas focused on the plans as her fighters came into the shuttle bay. They had been assigned to monitor a small border on the far end of the contested area. Everything looked fairly cut and dried. Hallam was the last to arrive, but he looked as ready as the others. He’d selected a larger Gfick sword, not easy to master, but deadly when used by someone who knew what they were doing. He was either very skilled, or very cocky.
“Are we certain we will be able to sneak away after the fighting?” Hrrru looked up from adjusting the straps on his pack—again. He was more concerned about the fighting than he was trying to let on. Even the chance for solving a puzzle afterwards wasn’t distracting him as well anymore. He seemed to calm down when Deven leaned over.
“Gosta is working out a plan. You know how his plans are.” Deven smiled until Hrrru matched it and nodded. Hrrru trusted Gosta more than anyone on the ship.
Vas went on board the shuttle before Deven could. It was probably safer this way—her libido might not be able to handle itself if she saw his ass in that tight black fabric.
Marwin was piloting the shuttle, so Vas took a moment to remind the team what they were doing, and the real reason.
Everyone nodded except Hallam. “We’re fighting just to get you on the other planet? Then this isn’t a real fight?”
Deven responded before Vas could. “It’s a real fight. And you’ll find out that the people we’re fighting against will view it as very real. People will be injured and dying.”
Vas was about to add something, then shook her head. There was something about Deven’s tone—he was watching Hallam carefully. If there was something wrong with the man, Deven would take care of it quickly and efficiently. She waited until he seemed satisfied at Hallam’s silent nod.
“Agreed,” Vas said. “I know Hallam has never fought with us, but the rest of you are old campaigners. Marwin will be in charge once Deven, Hrrru, and myself leave. We’re only contracted for short support, a break for their home troops, so there is a chance you might be released before we get back. Try not to let that happen.” The last thing she needed was for her people to be sent back to the ship, and no longer any reason for t
he Warrior Wench to stay in the area. The Silantians might take exception to that.
Once everyone nodded, some more enthusiastically than others—it had been a long time since they’d had any merc work—Vas sat down and let Marwin get them on their way.
Hrrru seemed to keep mentally bouncing from excited to scared, although his scared reactions were settling down. Vas leaned over his seat as the shuttle made its approach to Hight.
“You are trained for this, remember that. That young, wet behind the ears ensign is long gone. You not only have your heritage, but my training behind you.”
He smiled, showing his small fangs and gave a few tight nods. “You are correct. I will not let anyone down.”
Vas gave his arm a tight squeeze. “You never have.” She looked up to see a surprised Deven watching her. It had always been his job to soothe the crew when they needed it. Vas had fallen into that role when he died. She gave him a shrug and ignored the slight smile he gave back.
“Captain, the Hight Collective commander is calling us,” Marwin said. The shuttle field wasn’t that close to the fighting, and well behind the battle lines. So far behind that Vas had a feeling the official government was winning this skirmish so far.
Vas tapped the shuttle comm. “This is Captain Vaslisha Tor Dain, I have my relief team ready. We should be on the ground in a few minutes.”
“Captain Tor Dain, I can’t tell you how grateful we are that you were able to help on such short notice. I will meet you and your second at the landing zone.” With that he clicked off.
“He didn’t even say who he was? Isn’t that odd?” Hallam asked.
“Not really, his ident showed on the comm.” Which it had, but Vas knew who it was from the voice—Governor Bain. He had been a merc for a few years when Vas first started, then settled down out of the business. But she was surprised he was leading the fight on their end. He wasn’t old for a politician, but he was for a merc. Maybe they weren’t doing quite as well as she thought.
Once they landed, Vas and Deven left the shuttle with a few stern words for the crew to stay inside. Hallam seemed to need them more than the others and was practically bouncing in his chair to get out. When Marwin finally stood near the door with his arms folded, Hallam gave in and sat still.
Victorious Dead (The Asarlaí Wars Book 2) Page 28