by Zen DiPietro
She slid into the chair across from them. “What’s up?”
“Nothing. Just trying to decide on what to order.” Trin studied his menuboard just a little too attentively.
“Right.” She decided not to force the issue. “What looks good? I was thinking I might have a burger again. The one I had last night was fantastic.”
Kellis ran a finger down her menuboard. “I was thinking about the carrot-corn bisque and some sushi.”
Sushi did sound good. Burger and sushi? Why not? When the server came, she ordered it, along with a cold tea with lemon.
“I heard you’re going to give knife-throwing lessons to Mara.” Trin beamed at her. He’d been the one to encourage her to befriend the girl. Apparently Fallon had earned high marks from him for doing so.
“We just started, actually. She seems quite enthusiastic.”
“Good. She was getting bored. The last stage of therapy usually happens amidst a wave of tedium. For the patient, that is. I love seeing them get to that point.”
Fallon nodded, as there didn’t seem to be much more to say on the subject. Belatedly, she added, “She’s a good kid. I’m glad she’s almost ready to go home.”
“Next stop: Caravon.” Trin’s bright eyes sparkled.
“Really? I hadn’t heard about that.” Fallon would have to research the planet. She knew it to be a modern PAC world, highly industrialized and popular for corporate headquarters. As such, it could prove highly useful for her and her team.
“Jerin only got the request a few minutes ago. I happened to be with her at the time.” Trin winked.
“You didn’t even mention that!” Kellis sent him a dirty look. “But why would Caravon want our help? They have excellent hospitals.”
Their drinks arrived, causing a pause in conversation. Fallon took a long slug of her tea, enjoying the sweet-sour flavor and the coldness snaking down her throat.
Trin held his glass of water but didn’t drink. “Would you believe they had a case of Arburian plague?”
“You’re kidding! How did that happen?” Kellis toyed with the handle of her warmed almond milk. Fallon found her fondness for the childish beverage rather cute.
“They’re not sure. For now, they’re guessing that a person had some tainted grain hidden away in their luggage, then ate it while on the planet. Of course, the microbe doesn’t become the plague until lodged in the intestines of its unfortunate host. So the bioscanners wouldn’t have picked it up.” Trin set his glass down. “Once that person got digesting, though…” He wrinkled up his nose and grimaced.
“That’s ridiculous,” Kellis spat out.
Fallon agreed. “I don’t feel that sorry for the person who smuggled it in. But it really sucks for others to get sick because someone else didn’t follow regulations that are there for a very good reason. How many cases?”
“Only two so far, and Caravon is treating them in quarantine. But they don’t have any Arbur-5, which is the quickest way to shut down an epidemic before it can start.”
“Right,” Kellis murmured. “They’re lucky we were already headed that general direction.”
“Yeah, they are,” Trin agreed.
“What’s Arbur-5?” Fallon asked. Unlike the crew of the Onari, who were all required to be certified as field medics regardless of profession, Fallon had little medical know-how.
“Technically it’s a volatile compound. Short shelf life, which is why most planets don’t stock it, unless they harvest grain. In tiny doses, it inoculates against the plague, and also prevents a patient already suffering from it from progressing in the disease. So long as the patients hang on until we arrive, they ought to make it.”
“What’s our ETA?” Fallon asked.
“At our previous speed, three weeks. But Jerin authorized high-speed transit, so we’re looking at four days. The command crew is prepping the ship. We should get the announcement soon.”
“Wow,” Kellis breathed. “That’s going to cost us a fortune.”
Trin nodded. “We’ll need a complete refuel, and we’ll have to change out the transducer coils. They’ll be completely fused by the time we arrive. But the Caravonians will compensate us.”
Fallon was sorry for the cause, but didn’t mind that their voyage had just been shortened by two weeks. She wished she could have paid Jerin to blast straight to Earth posthaste, but that would have been ridiculously suspicious without any medical emergency to warrant it. Caravon had inadvertently saved her some time.
She’d been in a perfectly fine mood before, but she suddenly perked up. When their food arrived, she dug in with gusto.
“Ahh, look who’s happy.” Trin winked at her.
She paused between bites. “Not about that plague. That’s a shame, and I hope everyone’s okay. But I’m not sorry to get to Earth sooner.”
Trin and Kellis shared a look that reminded her of the way they’d stopped talking when she’d arrived.
“What?”
They became unusually engrossed in their food. “Nothing,” Kellis said, spooning up her soup and putting it in her mouth.
Fallon put down her burger. “Right. That’s twice now.” She gave Kellis, then Trin, a no-nonsense look. “What’s up?”
Kellis looked down at her plate. “We’ve just been speculating about what you’re going to do there.” She rushed on, her words coming fast. “I know, we’re not supposed to, but it’s just Trin and me. We wish we could help. That’s all.”
Fallon frowned at them. “Why would you want to help?”
Kellis peeked up for a moment, then stared down at her sushi. “We’ve gotten to know you. I mean, everyone on Dragonfire loved you, and we’ve seen how you are here, too. You’re a good person. You’ve even helped out a lonely kid, when you surely have problems enough of your own. Whatever you’re doing must be…” She trailed off. “Important.”
Fallon took a quick look around the bar to make sure no one could overhear. She ducked her head forward and spoke in a hushed voice. “You’re better off not even thinking about it. I’m not going to insult you both and insist we’re just going to Earth to visit friends. But seriously, leave it alone. Don’t think about it. Don’t talk about it.”
Trin looked sad, as if feeling very sorry for Fallon. “We won’t. We don’t want to add to your worries.”
Kellis pushed a piece of sushi into her mouth and mumbled something mildly agreeable sounding.
The pleasure of their meal had leaked out, like oxygen from a depressurized airlock. They finished eating in relative silence, with only a polite observation here and there. Fallon was glad when the food had disappeared and she could excuse herself.
Back in her quarters, she felt unsettled. She didn’t like that Kellis and Trin had been discussing Avian Unit’s business, even just between the two of them, even when they could have no way of knowing anything at all. Curiosity could be terribly dangerous.
Her door chime sounded. Sighing, she answered it. Kellis wore a steely, determined expression.
Fallon peered at her in surprise. “Something wrong?”
Kellis glanced around before softly hissing, “Yes. And I want to help.”
“What do you mean, you want to help?” Fallon frowned at Kellis, who’d refused to take a seat on the couch.
“I know something’s up, or something’s wrong. With the PAC, or maybe even PAC intelligence. I’m from Atalan. I know what it looks like when a government starts to go sideways. You and your friends show all the earmarks of things gone wrong.”
Fallon opened her mouth to deny it, but Kellis held up a hand. “You don’t have to explain anything to me, or give me any details. That’s fine. But you’re doing something big, maybe something that could affect the Onari or even my family on their new home planet. Brak and Jerin know a whole lot more than they let on, and they trust you and are helping you. I sure as heck trust them. And I want to help too.”
Fallon stared her down hard, but Kellis stood her ground. She crossed her arms o
ver her chest and refused to look away.
“You really don’t know what you’re talking about.” Fallon didn’t want Kellis anywhere near her operation. Having an untrained person around such a delicate op could be a disaster for everyone.
“That’s right, I don’t have a clue, except that something smells stinky. But I still want to help.”
“Even if you knew what you were talking about and I were on some big adventure, what do you think you could actually do to help?”
“You tell me. If you need anything mechanical done, I can make it happen.” Kellis said it with such quiet authority Fallon didn’t doubt her. Jerin had described her as an engineering prodigy more than once, as well. Fallon remembered how much she’d coveted the skills Kellis had, and wishing someone on her team had that kind of ability. But she’d been thinking of a trained operative. Not a completely green newbie. No, that would be too much of a risk. It would be a crazy thing to do.
“There’s nothing you can do for us,” Fallon said coolly. Then she put some steel in her voice. “Please leave, and forget we ever had this conversation.”
Kellis narrowed her eyes. “No.”
Fallon stared at the woman. She wasn’t used to being disobeyed. “What do you mean, no?”
“I mean you’re going to take me seriously. If you and those other three are good at whatever it is you do, then you can find a way to make use of what I’m good at doing. Just stop saying no and think about it.” Kellis set her jaw. Something about her stance reminded Fallon of…well, herself.
“I—” Fallon’s refusal and dismissal died in her throat. She recalled schematic after schematic of security systems, force fields, air-intake construction, and polaric diffusers. The truth was, if they’d been recruiting a fifth member for their team, Fallon would have been hoping like hell for a mechanical engineer right now. Raptor knew security and Peregrine understood surveillance, but that was nothing like being able to construct and deconstruct the systems they’d be fighting in the process of breaking into PAC intelligence.
Kellis saw Fallon’s hesitation, and they both knew it. Scrap. It would be even harder to shake her off now.
“You don’t like your life here? You want to mess it up by getting involved with stuff that isn’t about you?” Fallon didn’t want to risk an innocent person’s life. She wanted to scare Kellis off. Make her forget about her offer. Which Fallon should not be finding so darn attractive. It was just too risky. But then, Avian Unit was the best, and if they couldn’t protect an asset, then they wouldn’t be the best, would they?
“I love it here!” Kellis countered, too loud. She continued, more quietly, but emphatically, “I love it. I love the people here.” She licked her lips. “I told you a little about it, but until a year ago, I couldn’t walk. I got shot in the war. For being in the marketplace at the wrong time. I sat in a wheelchair for six years.” Her face creased with pain. “I was a burden to everyone. I was the reason we couldn’t move to another village, with better access to food and water. My wheelchair wouldn’t make it through the sand, and no one could carry me that far.”
Kellis took a deep breath and forged on. “Then I lucked into the Onari. Lone survivor of an exploded Rescan smuggling freighter. Jerin fixed me. Trin became my friend. And suddenly I had a whole new life.”
She squeezed her eyes shut for a moment, perhaps fighting tears. But her voice didn’t tremble or waver. She spoke every word with absolute conviction. “Ever since I was able to stand on my feet again, I keep putting one in front of the other and going where they take me.” She pointed down at her toes, then gestured at Fallon. “They’ve brought me to you. Now are you going to let me fight against whatever needs to be fought, or are you going to make me feel useless again?”
She glared at Fallon, as if daring her to try.
Fallon let out a slow, silent breath. Well, damn. Taking Kellis into the field would be crazy. But maybe it was the kind of crazy they needed. “I’ll have to talk to my team.”
“Absolutely not.” Hawk looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “She’s not even military.”
“That’s right,” Fallon agreed. “Not PAC. No affiliations at all. We don’t have to guess her loyalties. We know exactly what they are.” The more she’d thought about it, the more she wanted to make it work.
“We’d be putting her life at risk.” Raptor had been quiet about it, but he mirrored Fallon’s own doubts, making them seem twice as big.
“Yes,” she admitted.
“How does she even have any idea about us?” he asked.
Fallon rubbed her hand over the short side of her hair. She’d been thinking about that, too. “She watched her own government go sideways and fall. She might have heard something about the assassination attempt on me at Dragonfire. She’s definitely noticed me leaving my post to travel across the sector with you three. I’d have to question her more in-depth to figure out her thought process, but whatever it was, she knows something’s up. I’m sure she doesn’t suspect how deep it goes.”
“Even we don’t know that. Yet.” Peregrine chewed on the pad of her thumb. “She’d be incredibly useful. I could come up with some really good stuff, with her brain at my disposal.”
Hawk grimaced. “That’s a disgusting way of putting it. She’s just a kid.”
“She’s twenty-seven,” Fallon pointed out. “Just a year younger than me.” The other three members of Avian Unit were only months from her age, and they all knew it.
“Yeah, well,” Hawk grumbled lamely. “She seems younger.”
True. Kellis had an earnest naiveté that made her more youthful than her years, in spite of hardships that could have made her bitter and hardhearted.
“We don’t have to give her more details. We could just give her engineering problems to solve,” Fallon argued.
Hawk didn’t answer, which was a good sign. She could force the issue, of course. As leader of their unit, she could make a decree. But this was too big. She wanted unanimous consent, even if it had to be grudgingly given.
“Why don’t I bring her in for an interview?” Fallon suggested. “We can all have dinner in my quarters. I’ll set it up nicely. And you can grill her.” She hoped Kellis was up to that. If not, she was a poor candidate to help them, anyway.
Raptor and Per nodded. Hawk sighed and nodded too. “Fine.”
A thought occurred to Fallon, and she wondered if it was time to talk about it. She’d been pushing off discussion of the future, of the restructuring she envisioned for Blackout. It was bad luck to plan ahead during dire circumstances. But maybe it was time.
“I have plans,” she said carefully. “When we clean house at Blackout, I intend to establish accountability. Make sure some psycho admiral can’t tear apart the PAC or risk interstellar wars by violating treaties. We’re going to get inside and set Blackout and PAC intelligence right.”
She might as well have set off a concussion bomb. She heard absolute silence as her teammates stared at her, eyes narrowed.
Finally, Raptor spoke. “How? We’re just an ops unit. We’re the sword, not the arm. Definitely not the head.”
That was what it all came down to, wasn’t it? They were the sword, not the brain. They’d been trained to run missions, not entire organizations. But she’d known ever since she’d realized what had been done to her that she would never be someone’s sword again. She’d either become the brain, or she’d be nothing at all.
She met Raptor’s eyes without hesitation. “We’re going to take over Blackout.”
Hawk muttered the filthiest thing she’d ever heard him say.
The ensuing silence stretched around her, warping the fabric of time as they all stared at one another. After seconds that felt like an eternity, they came out the other side of their emotional wormhole together.
“Damn right we are,” Hawk growled. Per and Raptor nodded.
Fallon felt a slow, deliciously wicked smile spread across her face. It felt wonderful. And reckless. And ju
st the right kind of crazy.
Fallon felt as if Avian Unit had burst out of a chrysalis, transformed. Or, at the least, that their mission had finally kicked into gear with a clear goal. The means of achieving that goal remained murky, but no matter. One thing at a time.
They arrived at Caravon and delivered the needed medicine while the repairs to the Onari began. It would take about three days to get the ship back into shape, which left Raptor with plenty of time to do what he did best.
Peregrine worked her disguise magic on him and Fallon, turning them into a middle-aged couple. She gave both of them tips on moving slower and more cautiously, as older, less active people would do.
“Then there’s this.” She reached into her bag of tricks, as Fallon liked to think of it, and pulled out a thin, silver cuff bracelet. A plain piece of jewelry, like you’d find on any number of planets.
Per fastened it around Fallon’s wrist. “There’s a tiny button here.” Peregrine touched the underside of the bracelet. “Now it’s activated.”
The bracelet vibrated against Fallon’s wrist, like a humming throat. “What is it?”
“Proximity detector. A receiver for the transmitters in our tattoos.”
“Ah.” Fallon gave her wrist a shake. The bracelet felt like a regular piece of jewelry, other than the buzzing. She pressed the button, causing it to go still.
“I didn’t have the equipment before to make something that could do both long- and short-range detection. But these should work nicely for now, until I can upgrade to something that can distinguish who’s who.” Peregrine looked quite pleased with herself as she handed a bracelet to Raptor.
“Hawk and I will have them too. We should start wearing them at all times, just to be sure we have them in case of emergency.”
Peregrine removed her own bracelet and turned it over so they could see the back. She showed them how to decipher the tiny readout. “That’s it.” She snapped it back onto her wrist.
“Nice work.” Raptor tucked the bracelet under the long sleeve of his tailored shirt. Fallon decided he’d make a very good-looking middle-aged guy, in another decade or so.