On Mission

by Aileen Erin

  Caleb held it out in front of him. “This is what you need to watch for. There’s another version of it. Same mechanism, but it’s bigger—two inches by five inches, and nearly an inch thick.” He balanced the device between his thumb and pointer finger. “This little, pocket-size one is short range. It needs to go off within five to ten feet of you. The bigger one can hit you from about twenty to thirty feet away. They don’t have anything that will get you from farther than that. At least not yet.”

  He held it out to me, but I couldn’t take it. I didn’t trust myself. What if I hit the button? What if—

  Lorne reached around and took it. “Ashino. Take this and put it somewhere safe.”

  Ashino came over and held out his hands. He cradled it carefully and walked slowly out of the room with it like it could go off at any second and kill me.

  Which was probably accurate.

  Caleb pulled something else from his pocket. “Proof that what I said about these men is true.”

  “What?” I was too busy thinking about how small that device had been. Anyone could have one in their pocket.

  “Declan said you’d be the kind that needed proof despite all the torture that SpaceTech has done to you. I wish I still had those morals, but I don’t. Lost them years ago. But it’s a good thing you do.”

  He handed a small vidscreen device to me, and I watched things that I could never unsee. The scenes were familiar because I’d survived on Earth and I knew—I knew—that this kind of evil was common. But even knowing it, living it, I couldn’t watch it. Thirty seconds was all it took.

  “Take it.” I shoved the device back at him. He’d killed four of the nineteen on the ground so far—plus the four that had still been fighting—but now I was really, truly sickened. “They’re awful, and now some of these men are dead, but—” I squeezed my eyes shut for a second as I tried to find a way to be okay with killing the rest of the men because I understood his reasoning. But I couldn’t let him do it. It wasn’t okay.

  There was nothing that could save the ones that were already dead, but I could do something about the ones that were still alive.

  “I can’t let you kill them.” I opened my eyes. “Eshrin.”

  “I’ll do as you will,” he said, fist pressed to his heart.

  “They need to be searched, scanned, and their trackers destroyed. It needs to appear like they died.”

  Eshrin nodded. “I know what to do.”

  “When Audrey’s ship comes, have someone—any of the guards—put these men on board. But I don’t want you to leave.” Eshrin was stuck guarding me forever.

  “We have a lot of military here. Someone good will take care of it.”

  I let out a breath. Okay. This I could live with. “Send them directly to my father. They need to go to a secret jail. If he doesn’t have one already, then make one. They get no trial. No logging in. No leaks. This man’s life depends on it, and we need him to stay alive.”

  “Of course. Consider it done.” He turned and nodded to a few of the other guards, who started restraining the officers. “If I may ask you to leave the room though. We have a well-guarded safe room cleared for you over here.”

  I glanced at Lorne, and he nodded.

  I turned back to Eshrin. “Okay.” Okay. Eshrin was handling this, and I trusted him to do it right. Which meant I could focus on finding out whatever else Caleb knew.

  He’d already told me about the device, but I had more questions about the poison and SpaceTech’s plans and how I could destroy both without dying.

  The adrenaline from SpaceTech invading the house helped burn off the last of my headache, but I knew the poison was still active. It was there and primed to kill me. But I wasn’t ready to die. Not yet. Not when I had so much to accomplish before I was done with this life.

  And then there was Lorne.

  We had to find a way to counter this poison because I already knew I needed time in a healing pod again, which was insane. I’d spent so much time in a pod before we came here, and now I had to go back in?

  Suddenly, I wasn’t sure how much longer I could keep up this fight.

  I needed an antidote and fast.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  AMIHANNA

  We wove through the fallen SpaceTech officers strewn all over the floor of the cottage—some were waking up now, one shouted at me but Roan kicked him on his way past—until we reached another room, a hallway, another turn, and then into another room. Every inch of the wall was surrounded by guards, shoulder to shoulder.

  Okay. So, it looked like we brought a lot more men off the warship than I’d thought. Also, Eshrin wasn’t messing around with the whole well-guarded safe room thing.

  There was a couch and a table and some chairs, but I didn’t really see the room beyond knowing that the guards were spread along every wall and had now filled in the doorway. Eshrin was taking the spot in the center of the now-closed doors, and I trusted that I was safe here.

  Roan, Fynea, and Lorne were all standing behind me, but I was focused on the man in front of me.

  All I saw was Caleb. He had to know what SpaceTech was planning, and I needed him to tell me everything.

  As I looked at him, all I could see was him putting his gun to the back of that first man’s head and pulling the trigger. I would never forget that, and because of that, I would never really trust Caleb.

  A man that would kill in cold blood—no matter the reason—was never worthy of my trust.

  Caleb watched me just like I was watching him. He was assessing me as if he wasn’t sure that I was the same woman he’d seen in all the vids. I knew I was thin and probably looking a little frail at the moment, despite the constant dim glow to my skin, but I wasn’t backing down from his stare.

  My spine grew straight and I raised my chin, daring him to try me. Just once. Even though I was exhausted and I could feel the lucole in my blood making me weaker, I was still so much stronger than Caleb.

  Lorne stepped up next to me and placed a hand on my shoulder, squeezing it once before letting his hand drop. “You’ve had word?”

  Caleb’s gaze darted to Lorne, ending the silent confrontation we were having. “No. I was hoping you would’ve heard.”

  “No.” Lorne’s voice was firm and clear and yet not antagonistic. Almost as if Caleb were a friend.

  I wasn’t sure how I felt about Lorne being friends with this man, but I also knew how many hard choices Caleb had to make to stay on as a spy within SpaceTech.

  “We haven’t heard from Declan since he left Sel’Ani,” Lorne said. “Although we did recently hear from one of Amihanna’s friends that Declan was missing.”

  Right. Declan. I should probably pay attention to what they were talking about, but I was still trying to wrap my head around who Caleb was. I felt no click with him. If anything, I felt the opposite.

  “Declan is missing. I have more on that, but first, I came to warn you.” He set his dead gaze on me. “I didn’t explain why the device was important. The way this went down threw me, so you might be confused. I came to tell you that you’ve been—”

  “—poisoned. I know.” Lorne might know this man, and he might’ve been Declan’s friend at some point, but that didn’t mean I needed a lecture. “It’s already been activated once. Tonight.”

  Caleb’s eyes widened, not much, but enough to tell me that he didn’t know. “Why are you still here?” He quickly turned to Lorne, and I wondered how much Declan had told Caleb about me. It was at least enough to tell him that arguing with me wasn’t going to work.

  “She needs to go back to Sel’Ani,” Caleb said to Lorne. “There are spies on all of your planets—especially your home world—but you can protect her better there.” He rubbed his hand over his head, back and forth a couple of times before turning back to me. “I wish I had a sample to give you, but I don’t. They’re tracking it too closely—at least they are when it’s not on Earth. They’ve given some to a few allies, but not much. They don’t w
ant anyone replicating their formula.” He stared off into space, and I wondered how much longer this man could keep working for SpaceTech without getting killed.

  “I think my higher-up knew that we’d all die if we came in here. We were authorized to bring two small detonation devices—to use on you—but no actual lucole bullets. It didn’t make sense to me before, but now it does. They wanted you dead, and they didn’t care if everyone here died accomplishing that task. But they didn’t want you to have any samples. I have no doubt that if you get a sample, then you’ll find an antidote. You have the tech and the people to make that happen. Getting a sample of the poison is the only chance you have of getting rid of the lucole in your blood before it gets detonated, but your chances are better if you go home. So, go home.”

  He had no right to order me anywhere, but I knew I should leave. But I needed that sample. I couldn’t leave without it. “You said allies had it. Do you know which ones? I’m hoping to get a sample of the poison before we leave, and most of our allies are here right now.”

  “No. If I did, I’d tell you, but I’m not at that level to know who was given what. I do know that this attack isn’t the only thing they have planned for Telnon.”

  I laughed. I wasn’t new. “They always have three.”

  Caleb’s gaze narrowed at me. “How do you know that?”

  Roan snorted from behind me, which told me Roan hated Caleb. “Everyone who’s lived around SpaceTech long enough knows that. We’re not morons just because we don’t submit to SpaceTech’s rule.”

  Caleb pressed his lips together as if to stop himself from arguing with Roan.

  I crossed my arms, mimicking Lorne’s pose beside me, and stared at Caleb. The man must’ve been so conflicted because he looked like he was going to argue with us about SpaceTech, and yet he was a double agent.

  I just… I didn’t understand, but it reminded me of Declan. He reminded me of Declan. Of the way Declan tried to work within the system. But the system was corrupt. The only thing it was good for was destroying.

  “Fine,” Caleb said finally. “The other thing I came to tell you was that I came with Jason Murtagh.”

  I thought watching him shoot a man point-blank was going to be the worst part of the night, which was already filled with death, but it could always get worse.

  Life could always get harder, and it did. Always at the most random and awful times.

  Lorne’s skin brightened, but it paled in comparison to my glow.

  “He’s here personally to see that everything goes through according to his plans,” Caleb said.

  “Where?” All I needed was a location.

  Killing that particular man wasn’t something that I’d ever regret. Not ever.

  I didn’t care if he was unconscious on the ground in front of me. I’d do it cowardly or I’d do it in a fight. I didn’t care. As long as Jason was dead.

  In that moment, I realized the darkness I saw in Caleb existed in me, too. I hated knowing that it was in me, but I wasn’t strong enough to fight it.

  I wanted Jason dead. Not just because he hurt me, but because he’d been responsible for so much suffering.

  For everyone else to live, he had to die.

  “Jason is orbiting Telnon right now, waiting for permission to land. Melina’s assistant is giving him some grief about maintaining the peace, but Jason is pushing back on that. He won’t agree to their terms of peaceful attendance, especially when Melina herself isn’t present. They’re at a stalemate. They decided to allow some of the smaller ships to refuel, which is how I ended up here. Jason ordered me to come here with this team and kill you. I’m due back up soon. I have minutes.”

  Then I wouldn’t waste any more time.

  “What’s the next plan for Telnon?” Lorne said before I could ask the exact same question.

  “There should be two more parts, but I only know one of them. Jason is going to show up at the meet tomorrow. Get her—” he motioned to me with his chin, “—really upset. Then, two tones and she’s a weapon. That bullet that she was shot with was more potent than usual. It won’t just kill her. It’ll kill everyone within fifty yards of her.”

  “That’s not what happened with Grugitrg.” It hadn’t even killed the person who had detonated him, and that man was standing inches away.

  His gaze narrowed at me. “You’re not Grugitrg. You’re infinitely more important, so they shoved a lot more lucole into that bullet. Because taking you down will take the Aunare down.”

  He was insane. I wasn’t the one holding everything together. I wasn’t even the High Queen yet. “I don’t have that much power.”

  Fynea muttered something, and I turned to her. “What? I don’t.”

  “On the off chance that Lorne isn’t with you when you blow, they assume that he’ll do something stupid to get himself killed,” Caleb said before Fynea could answer me.

  “Exactly,” Fynea said. “You don’t think highly of yourself, but you need to change that. You’re not some homeless child on the street anymore. You’re as good as the High Queen.”

  Maybe, but I didn’t feel like I was.

  Why did everyone want to talk about either me or Lorne dying? Before we left Sel’Ani, my father brought it up. And now Caleb?

  I turned to Lorne because I needed to make one thing clear. “If something happens to me, don’t do something stupid or I’ll haunt you.” Part of me was joking, but I knew part of me would never be able to let go of him. Even in death.

  “No need to haunt me,” Lorne said without looking at me. His focus stayed on Caleb. “You die, I die.” He said it so matter-of-factly that I knew we were going to need a long talk about it later.

  “And everyone knows that. The next biggest target is her father,” Caleb said. “The hope is that since she’s been on Sel’Ani for so long, that he’ll lose it as well. They’ve got enough poison to wipe out all the Aunare now, and they’re hiding out in systems neighboring Sel’Ani and your colonies. The hope is to use the lucole strategically enough to take out anyone of power—high or moderate—leaving only the weakest and most malleable Aunare alive. The High Council will find a way to reinstate themselves or will work behind the scenes to help SpaceTech. And, if luck is good, Lorne’s father will become the High King again. With all of that in place, Murtagh can complete his infiltration, exploitation, and slow slaughter of the Aunare without anyone standing in his way.”

  That sounded like a worst case scenario for us, but I saw the logic in it. I could see it going just that way.

  Lorne turned to Fynea, who was sitting in a chair behind us. “Are you informing Rysden of this?”

  “Of course. You asked me to keep him up to date, and that’s what I’ve been doing,” she said without looking up from her tablet.

  Lorne glanced at me, and I could see the worry on his face. This night was getting worse and worse.

  Knowledge changed everything. Now I needed more. “What’s Plan B?” I asked. “What happens if I don’t go to the meeting?”

  “I don’t know.” He held up his hands when I tried to push him for more. “I swear if I knew I’d tell you, but my rank isn’t high enough for me to know anything except what directly involves me. Which is another reason I’m here. I can’t find Declan, and that’s very, very bad for all of us.”

  Damn it. If the Crew couldn’t contact him and neither could his own operatives, then I had no hope left for Declan. He was either captured or dead. “How long since you talked to him?”

  “Five days, which I know isn’t long. But for what he was doing, it was long enough. He’s been checking in every day, sometimes multiple times a day.”

  Okay. That was a bad sign. “What was he doing when you lost contact with him?”

  “This is the bad part.”

  We were at war. I’d been poisoned. There were dead bodies in the house. All the parts of this were bad. But I didn’t say any of that aloud. That wouldn’t have been helpful.

  “His father knows what
he is—a traitor. He lost all SpaceTech clearance ten days ago and went on the run. But before he did, he got word that there is an antidote to the poison in the SpaceTech’s HQ on Earth. He was—”

  “There’s an antidote?” Lorne said the words like he’d been given a lifeline.

  Hope bloomed bright and I glanced at Lorne quickly. He reached out, taking my hand in his.

  If there was an antidote, then we needed to be searching for it. We could give it to every Aunare. The lucole poison wouldn’t be a threat. It was almost too good to be true.

  “I don’t know if there’s an antidote.”

  Right. It was too good to be true.

  “It could’ve been a ploy to draw in Declan, but if it’s a lie, it’s a good one. SpaceTech doesn’t release any weapon that they can’t properly counter. It’s not just a rule or a policy—it’s a law. Murtagh’s too scared to use any type of weapon without a way to defend against it.”

  I hoped Vyic had been wrong about there not being an antidote. This gave me a tiny sliver of hope. It made sense to me that they had developed one, but it also made sense that SpaceTech would use that to lure their opposition into a trap. I wasn’t sure which was true.

  “If Declan hasn’t made it back to you—which I know was a stupid hope, but I had to hold on to something—then I have to believe he was caught,” Caleb said. “We better hope he’s dead.”

  The thought made my stomach knot. I pressed my fist against it, trying to ease the pain. I didn’t want Declan dead, but I didn’t want him spilling everything he knew. It was way too much. He knew everything.

  As awful as it was, Caleb was right. We should hope that Declan was dead.

  I remembered sitting next to him on the balcony of my apartment on Earth. It felt like so long ago, but it hadn’t been long. Months really. His smile had given me hope. He had given me hope. Even when I was mining for lucole on Apollyon, it was his voice that kept me going.