Grey felt her forehead. Sticky blood wet her fingers.
“I’ve got a med kit. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
Unable to wait for news of Dad and Rin any longer, Grey gave Mrs. March a quick salute then threw open the cockpit door and ran down the short flight of stairs.
“Where the blazes are we?”
“We crashed!”
“Let me out now!”
Grey spotted her father in the middle of the crowd. “Everyone stay where you are! If you’re hurt we will help you, but do not move until I say.”
Commander March came to stand beside Grey. She raised her fingers to her lips and let out a shrill whistle. All eyes turned toward her.
“We just survived the ride of our lives, yes?” she said, her voice firm yet reassuring.
Grey thought she heard someone moan and hoped they weren’t badly injured.
“Mr. Alexander is right,” March continued. “We must stay calm. We aren’t out of the woods yet.”
“Where are we?”
Mrs. March turned to Sue Alexander, who joined them. Even though she looked shaken, Grey’s mother kept her shoulders straight.
“I knew of this canyon from my years on the planet,” Mom said, scanning the crowd. “We are safe for the moment. We have enough supplies to keep us here for now. We’ll wait until morning and then continue on our mission. We’re still over three hundred kilometers from our rendezvous point.”
More questions flew through the air, but Grey didn’t pay attention. Jupiter’s ten-hour days meant they’d be stuck here for at least another five. She pushed her way through the throng until she spotted Rin standing near the Jeep.
Grey ran the last few steps over to her sister and hugged her.
“You’re hurt!” Rin tried to touch Grey’s head.
She waved off her sister’s concern. “A scratch.”
Rin would have none of that. She pulled Grey off to the side and made her sit down, something she was more than willing to do.
“Wait here,” Rin said. “That needs to be cleaned.”
Grey gave her sister a weary smile. Maybe their roles were changing. Leaning against the Jeep tire, Grey touched her forehead again, wincing at the sting. There’d be no light therapy to heal it here, and another scar would grace her body.
She could hear her parents giving instructions to the others. Anyone with an injury was to move to the front where they would be treated the best they could with limited medical supplies. For the first time Grey got a good look at the passengers and realized there were far less than the fifty there should’ve been. She counted twenty-five or thirty. Did the second ship carry more or had the civilians refused to come? Were people left behind in the chaos?
Grey stared down at her hands. If her shots had penetrated the Mazdaar jet’s shields, she would’ve killed again today. Back in the turret it had seemed justifiable, but now she felt sick to her stomach.
She took in a deep breath and tried to still her thoughts. That’s when the crowd parted, and she saw Dana Yurkutz staring at her from across the hold.
Chapter 9
There was no time for Grey to react before someone blocked Dana from view again. Then Rin brought a med kit the size of one of the scarce, thick paper books they used to smuggle to Jet Yien back in the Preserve.
“What is Dana doing on this ship?” Grey started to rise, but Rin held her down with a firm hand.
“Hold still.” Rin unzipped the kit and pulled out a white packet. “She came with Mrs. March.”
“Who’s supposed to be back at Orion. None of this makes sense.”
Her sister tore open the packet and removed what looked like a piece of cloth, probably sterile. She began wiping Grey’s forehead which made the wound burn even more.
Grey jerked away. “What is on that?”
“Disinfectant.”
“Is it deep?”
“No, but will you stop moving?”
They were used to tending each other’s wounds, but Grey could barely sit still. She needed to speak with Mrs. March or maybe Dana herself.
She knew Dana had been part of the team sent to Jupiter with Rin and Mrs. March to rescue Grey from Mazdaar. Was it Dana’s intention all along to turn on them? How had she kept up a charade like that without anyone suspecting? Grey wasn’t sure how to approach someone who saved her life and yet was a traitor to her family.
She focused again on Rin. “That really hurts.”
“Almost done.”
“I need to talk to Dana.”
Rin opened another packet and placed a fresh, self-sticking bandage on Grey’s forehead. “She can’t walk.”
Grey craned to see Dana on the other side of the cargo hold. “Permanently?”
Rin gave a little shrug. “They wheeled her up in some sort of chair.”
Dana couldn’t walk because of her. That was going to make the conversation difficult.
“Is she guarded?”
“Two soldiers.”
Grey touched her bandage. It was emitting a cooling sensation that eased the throbbing. At least on the outside.
Rin sat down beside her. “Tram and Trif did not enjoy that flight.”
As if to punctuate the statement, a shrill whinny reverberated through the ship followed by a loud whack! Probably a hoof hitting wall.
“Why doesn’t it surprise me you managed to bring them along?”
“They’re family too.”
She studied her sister’s face. All the years she’d spent protecting her, and it was ending here on Jupiter. Rin was no longer a child, and Grey realized she needed to start treating her as an equal rather than a little sister. It could start with being honest about her fears.
Grey reached for Rin’s hand. “I wish we could all go home.”
Rin squeezed her fingers.
An image of the border patroller Grey shot back in the Preserve flashed across her mind, real and uncut. The blood spreading across his chest. His eyes begging her to provide help she could not give.
“I was the one firing the cannon just now. If I had gotten through their shields, I would’ve killed everyone on board that jet.”
“Like they would have us.”
“But wouldn’t that make me just as bad as Mazdaar?”
Her sister was quiet for a moment. They were together and alive. At least that hadn’t changed.
“Dad told me nothing’s ever obvious in war,” Rin finally said. “But light shines in darkness, and darkness cannot overcome it.”
“What does that mean?”
Rin’s forehead creased. “I think that’s what makes us different.”
“I still wish we could go back home and pretend none of this ever happened.”
“Me too.”
Mom found them a few minutes later and crouched down in front of them. “You girls okay?”
They nodded.
“I need to go outside and inspect the hull.”
Grey perked at the opportunity to be alone with her mother again and jumped up to join her. Mom didn’t protest. She handed Grey a rifle and headed for the side access door. Before they reached it a Yien soldier stepped into Sue Alexander’s path with a salute, and Grey realized it was Corporal Lennox. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Of all the soldiers to bring along it had to be him. But then she noticed Lieutenant Marie Johansson behind him and was at least glad to have her presence to counter Lennox. She didn’t seem to have trouble standing up to him.
“Captain?” Lennox said.
Mom nodded.
He tapped at the metallic, square device attached to his belt. Perhaps it was a radio of some kind. “I made contact with Orion Settlement just before we landed.”
Sue Alexander glanced around as if checking to make sure no one was listening. Grey was glad she wasn’t asked to leave, but her mother and Lennox lowered their voices.
“Their report?” Mom said.
Lennox’s expression remained blank, but his jaw twitched. “I only got ha
lf of it since the signal broke off when we entered the canyon. Heavy casualties, but we held the settlement.”
“Reinforcements?”
“They made it, but not soon enough.”
“So our mission remains the same.”
Lennox cleared his throat. “We lost Major Hoshi.”
Grey watched her mother try to match Lennox’s demeanor, but she saw the double blink and slight tremble of her lips.
“His ship and passengers?” Mom asked.
Lennox broke eye contact. “Never got off the ground.”
“Thank you, Corporal.”
He saluted again. As he brushed past Grey, his shoulder pushed hard against her, knocking her off balance. Before she could fall, he caught her arm.
“My apologies,” Lennox said.
She glared at him, somehow knowing he’d done it on purpose.
Grey repositioned her rifle’s shoulder strap and tried to ignore him. The access door whooshed open vertically, and a blast of cold air hit them. Mom stepped down the set of stairs that had lowered and Grey clattered behind her, barely keeping up with her mother’s long strides.
Once the door shut behind them Mom let out a sigh as she kicked at the ground with her boot.
“Did you know him well?” Grey asked softly.
Shaking her head, Mom steeled herself again. “Those people . . .”
Grey stood beside her mother trying to be strong when her mother felt weak. She hoped Mom knew she wouldn’t think any less of her if she cried.
Sue Alexander wiped her eyes. “Major Hoshi was evacuating the other civilians. He was a good man.”
He was probably the man with the long hair and moustache she’d seen convening with Mom back on the battleship.
“So they’re all dead?”
Her mother didn’t have to respond for Grey to know the answer.
Chapter 10
Dana Yurkutz clenched and unclenched her fingers around the armrest of the wheelchair that imprisoned her. Two of her knuckles were scabbed over, and she couldn’t remember how they’d gotten that way.
“Comfortable?”
Dana started. She hadn’t seen the Yien soldier approach, but now the black-clad man hulked over her, his arms crossed. He’d been the one to cuff her wrist to the chair right before takeoff. Like she was going anywhere.
“Never better,” she said.
The soldier squatted down in front of her. His intensity made her want to push him away, but she didn’t dare show it. She would not shrink back from him or anyone else. Dana Yurkutz didn’t back down. Not now, not ever.
“I’m Corporal Lennox,” he said, holding out his gloved hand.
She glared at it.
“You can call me sir.”
“Where are we?”
“Here’s the thing, Dana.” He leaned toward her, lowering his voice. “You don’t get to know things anymore.”
Lennox rested his palm on her lifeless thigh. He was probably her age. His hair was buzzed, his body lean and muscular. In a fight he’d have size and strength on his side. That wouldn’t have mattered to her before. Cunning and speed could match brawn if you were careful. But now Dana had neither.
“Your Mazdaar friends killed some of mine today,” Lennox said with a strange smile. “How’s that make you feel?”
“What do you care what I feel?”
“Oh, I care.”
“Get your hand off me.”
“And you don’t get to order people around anymore either.”
Dana searched the room for anyone watching. When March escorted her on board right before the attack began, more than a few stared. And she’d felt their whispers. None of these people would care if a Yien guard roughed up a Mazdaar prisoner. They’d probably think she deserved it.
Across the hold Dana saw Orinda Alexander. Their eyes met for a brief moment, but Dana looked away.
“Am I making you uncomfortable?” Lennox put his face way too close to hers.
“Not at all.”
His grip on her leg tightened. “You fooled a lot of good people, but you didn’t fool me. I saw right through your charade.”
Her mind shouted at her legs to kick him, but her right leg starting shaking uncontrollably. It was just as well. If she retaliated in any way right now, she knew she would lose. She would’ve been better off if that violetflare had hit her in the head. Then she wouldn’t have to face these people ever again. She could die and join her mother wherever she ended up.
“Hey.” Lennox’s breath was hot. “I’m still talking to you.”
Dana focused on the corporal. She’d been trained by Yien rebels in ancient martial arts. But that was when she had two working legs. She wasn’t used to being vulnerable, and Dana resisted the urge to yank on her restraint. Suddenly Lennox let go, standing to his feet. He saluted as a soldier approached, a woman probably in her thirties with the silver bar of a lieutenant on her sleeve.
The lieutenant glared at Lennox. “What are you doing, soldier?”
Lennox stood at attention. “Checking the prisoner.”
“She looks fine.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Go assist the commander.”
Corporal Lennox obeyed, shooting a wilting look at Dana before he left.
“I’m Lieutenant Marie Johansson,” the woman said, towering over Dana but not in a threatening way. “If he becomes a problem, let me know.”
“What do you care? I’m a prisoner.”
“You’re a person first,” Johansson said.
From across the hold Dana saw Rin Alexander make her way over.
Johansson extended her hand to the youngest Alexander. “I don’t believe we’ve officially met.”
Rin shook it, introducing herself. The lieutenant went to assist one of the civilians with some containers that had shifted during flight, and Dana was left alone with the Alexander she’d betrayed the most.
“Was that guy bothering you?” Rin asked.
Dana pushed herself up straighter in the chair. “I can handle myself.”
“They have rules, you know.”
So did Mazdaar, but that didn’t keep people from breaking them. Her mother had proven that.
“That flight was even crazier than the one that brought us to Jupiter in the first place,” Rin said. “Remember how I lost my lunch?”
“I am not your friend, Rin, so stop acting like I am.”
“You were once.”
Dana pulled her arm against the wire restraint and jerked it back and forth so Rin saw it clearly. “Does it look like I am now?”
Rin rubbed her face with her hand and then, much to Dana’s dismay, sat down beside her.
“It couldn’t all have been fake,” Rin said.
“Like you have any idea.”
Rin stared at Dana. “I should hate you.”
Dana didn’t want to admit it, but the words felt like the punch Lennox had no doubt wanted to throw. She flexed her fingers, trying to focus on the pinch of the cuff, her useless legs, or the fact that she had no idea whether they’d survive the night. Anything to keep from facing Orinda Alexander.
“You used me,” Rin whispered. “You hurt my parents and Mrs. March. I should hate everything about you.”
“Go ahead.”
“But you saved my sister.”
Dana rolled her eyes. “An accident.”
“I don’t believe that.”
She smacked the palm of her free hand against the chair’s armrest and saw Rin flinch. “And maybe you need to wake up!”
“Your mother lied to you, Dana. Whatever she promised, it was only to further her own cause.”
“Don’t you dare bring her into this.”
Rin fingered the leather sheath hanging from her belt. “I’m not the one who went running back to her.”
“She was doing great things,” Dana said. But the sentence scratched at her conscience. Her mother had killed innocent people. She knew that. She’d seen it. But so had the Yien D
ynasty. RedStar used to argue in message after message that Yien wanted the world to believe they were right and good and everything perfect, but they were power-hungry oppressors.
“She was using you,” Rin said. “Don’t you see that?”
“Shut up.”
“You almost shot my dad.”
“I said be quiet!”
Rin got up and waved her hand toward the front of the vessel. “They gave you everything, and you threw it away for what?”
“You’re a naive child. You would never understand.”
“Then explain it to me.”
“I’d rather you just pull out that knife and finish me off.”
Rin’s expression turned incredulous. “What a stupid thing to say.”
“You’d be saving us both a lot of trouble.”
“Oh come off it, Dana. You’re not a martyr.”
“Leave me alone, Alexander.”
A snicker came from Rin’s lips. “Not gonna be easy in this tin can.”
Dana jutted out her chin and turned away. She stuffed her free hand between her legs to still the uncontrollable trembling which seemed to plague her every time she got angry.
Rin remained next to her. “How does that chair work anyway?”
Was there no way to get rid of her?
Rin was fiddling with the back of the chair, out of Dana’s reach. A whirring came from somewhere inside the contraption, and Dana felt herself reclining backwards.
“What are you doing?”
“Looks like you have a built-in bed.”
Dana futilely yanked on her wrist restraint even as her legs raised. “Stop it!”
“You’ll sleep better than most of us tonight,” Rin said.
She was nearly lying on her back now. Dana grabbed at Rin to make her stop, but the girl ducked away.
“It’s actually pretty simple technology,” Rin said.
The whirring stopped, and Dana pushed herself up to a sitting position.
“Will your legs hold you?” Rin pushed a button, and the backrest of the chair flipped up against her. The leg portion lowered to its vertical position, a chair again.
“What do you think?” Dana nearly growled.
“Can you feel them?”
She took a deep breath. “Yes.”
Jupiter Storm Page 5