Dark Horse

by Michelle Diener

  There was an uncomfortable silence, and as Rose kept up eye contact with Lostra, she shifted in her chair.

  “Captain Jallan, however strong his personal relationship with you may be, doesnʼt have the security clearance necessary to be present for what we hope to achieve in this meeting.” Hoke spoke up. “He is being debriefed.”

  “Can we leave the topic of Captain Jallan aside for the moment?” A man to Kraleʼs left spoke. He was tall, the tallest there, and his stark black clothes were in contrast to the clothing everyone else was wearing. His hair was silver-gray and clipped short, more a buzz cut than the electric-socket shocked look of most of the Grih. “My name is Vulmark, and Iʼm the leader of the Grihan people. Iʼd like to know what your intentions are toward the Grih.”

  “My intentions?” They were afraid of little old her?

  Or, more likely, little old her plus her two big, bad Class 5s.

  “You seem to have two thinking systems at your beck and call, and as I donʼt know anything about you, that makes me nervous.” Vulmark gave a slight smile.

  “They arenʼt at my beck and call. Theyʼre my friends, and they use me as an advisor of sorts. And one of them, Sazo, is a silent participant to this meeting, and can hear everything you say about him.”

  “How can you advise them when you are as new to the Grih as they are?” Cavile Lostra fingered a stray strand of hair that had fallen across her brow.

  It was a good question, but Rose had the sense they were veering from the main issue. “My specialty is in the area of moral responsibility and conscience.”

  Again, it seemed she had managed to silence the most powerful people across the four planets.

  She was tired, she still hurt a little, and she was starting to feel edgy again that Dav wasnʼt there. She was sure he would have tried as hard as possible to be involved. “Can we get to the point here, ladies and gentlemen?”

  “I donʼt know if we can while I still donʼt have a clear sense of whether youʼre dangerous to the Grih or not.” Vulmark drew himself up sharply.

  Oh, for heavenʼs sake. “Iʼm about two-thirds of your size, Iʼve just recovered from being shot twice and Iʼm recovering from cracked ribs and other injuries as well, although Dr. Havak certainly has worked miracles there. And on top of that, Iʼve never once, since Iʼve encountered you, done anything to hurt a single Grih. In fact, Iʼve done everything in my power to help you. What on earth do you think Iʼm going to do?”

  The woman beside Vulmark leaned forward. “My name is Gaumili, Iʼm the leader of the planet Grih, the first of the four planets. I agree that you physically seem to pose no risk to us but do you understand that as a completely unknown entity, we have to take precautions to safeguard our people?”

  “I can understand taking precautions.” And truly, she could. Would a Grihan visitor to Earth fare better than her? Thinking of the conspiracy theories, she probably had it a lot easier. “However, there is also such a thing as good will. You are rapidly running through your store of it.”

  Vulmark tapped a long finger against thin, mercurial lips. “You canʼt die from a shockgun blast.” He looked down at a handheld lying in front of him. “You apparently can see through our camouflage, and you appear to be far more intelligent than any of the five member nations of the UC think of when they picture a sentient orange.”

  “With respect, Mr. Vulmark, your misconceptions about sentient oranges are not my problem. I am what I am. I didnʼt ask to come here. Iʼm not the thin end of the wedge, Iʼm the only one of my kind. With the exception of Admiral Valu, the Grih have been decent to me, and I can see that if Iʼm to find a place for myself in my new reality, the Grih people would be the closest I could come to being home. I have no fight with you, quite the opposite.”

  She leaned back and wondered where to go from here. She simply wouldnʼt have believed they could have made such a bogey man out of her. And they hadnʼt even gotten to Sazo yet.

  Hoke leaned forward from her place behind Admiral Krale. She looked down the length of the table. “Iʼve had Rose in my custody numerous times, and there was no point at which I could not subdue her. Yes, she can survive a shockgun blast, but itʼs not like she can run a lap around the spaceship afterward; sheʼs rendered unconscious.”

  Vulmark drew in a deep breath. “Point taken. But it isnʼt just Rose weʼre dealing with, is it?”

  “No.” Rose agreed. “You want to talk about Sazo.”

  “We have a very clear law that states we have to try to kill Sazo,” Krale said.

  “That law is two hundred years old, and killing Sazo when he hasnʼt done a single thing wrong, and in fact used his own shields to prevent Grih ships from taking fire, is hardly equitable.”

  “Agreed.” Guamili obviously shocked her own colleagues as much as she shocked Rose. “News of what Sazo did, and his and Roseʼs exploits, have already disseminated across the four planets and to most of the other UC members. This has been fueled in great part by comms of some songs performed by Rose on board the Barrist, which have endeared her to the Grihan people.”

  “Told you if you sang they wouldnʼt be able to give you away.” There was a smug tone to Sazoʼs soft words.

  “I am very much of the opinion that the decision to execute a kill order on Sazo would meet with vast public disapproval.”

  “I would agree.” A thin, wiry man sitting next to Cavile Lostra moved his handheld around with a finger in an unconscious gesture. “My name is Radie Silvan from the Grihan planet Xal, and Iʼve been getting the same feedback from my people.”

  “And you, Hygu, Lostra?” Vulmark asked the two on either side of Silvan.

  They both gave reluctant nods.

  “If we donʼt execute the kill order, then can you tell us what path you and Sazo will choose?” Kraleʼs voice was overloud in the silence that ensued.

  “Weʼd like to work with Captain Jallan and the crew of the Barrist, assisting them in their exploration work. And if you genuinely need the threat of Sazoʼs fire power, we can go where you need us and he can look mean and threatening for you.”

  “That would be a very acceptable outcome.” Krale exchanged a look first with Hoke and then with Krale.

  “We could draw up a contract to that effect now,” Vulmark said with a nod.

  “Rose.” Sazoʼs voice sounded odd. “Iʼve finally decrypted the conversations they were distorting earlier.”

  “And?”

  “And Dav has been arrested and is facing a court martial.”

  “What?” She raised her eyes and looked straight at Krale. “Youʼll draw up a contract stating weʼll work with Captain Jallan?”

  “Well, not Captain Jallan specifically, because captains get promoted, change ships.”

  “And can be arrested?” She pushed back her chair and stood.

  Krale jerked with surprise, then rubbed a hand over his face. “He left his post. There is no getting around that.”

  “Dav left his post to protect his entire ship and all the other ships in the fleet. If you donʼt understand that, I donʼt think Sazo and I can work with you.”

  “Weʼll understand it when Captain Jallan is brought before the courts.” Krale shot a quick look at Hoke.

  “Hoke.” Rose looked at her with genuine fury. “You know what Dav did was the right thing. The only thing a captain who understood the whole situation could do to protect his people.”

  “Hereʼs the thing, Rose. If Dav did what he did to protect the fleet,” Hoke held her gaze, “that means Sazo posed a risk to the fleet and that Dav was saving everyone from him lashing out. That means if Sazo is upset, he becomes a danger to us. The Grihan people may all be humming along to your songs now and feeling sorry for Sazo, but how long will that last if they know Dav had to bundle you up and give Sazo his way in order to protect Battle Center crew?”

  “So youʼre saying . . .” Rose could hardly believe what she was saying.

  “Either Dav left his post, which is against orders and carries
a five year sentence, and the stripping of rank, or Sazo is dangerous, and the chances of popular support for not executing the kill order becomes far more shaky.”

  “Youʼre making it a choice between Dav or Sazo? Youʼd railroad Dav into a conviction to keep Sazo? Or Sazo and I would have to go on the run if the truth of what Dav did comes out?” But why were they offering her the choice?

  Sazo was dangerous when he was upset.

  It would get better with time, but they didnʼt know that, so why would they risk it? And also risk the loyalty of their own staff by deliberately convicting Dav when they knew he had only been doing his duty?

  And then, it all came together.

  “You want to keep your toy.” She spoke softly. “You think if Sazo and I agree to work with you, and the general public continues with their enthusiasm for us, that somehow you can get someone on board and cage Sazo again. I donʼt know what happens to me in that scenario. I get dumped somewhere? Locked up?” She spat the words out in disgust.

  The uncomfortable silence was all the confirmation she needed. Some of the Grihan leaders exchanged troubled looks.

  “Iʼve disabled their monitoring systems. Made it look like mechanical failure.” Sazo was almost too soft in her ear, she only just caught what he said.

  Time to go.

  She reached out and switched off the screen, ignoring the shouted demand for her to stop from Admiral Krale as she leaned across the table. Something on Admiral Hokeʼs face made her pause, just for a moment, before she switched the screen off. She picked up her bags. “Where is the drone?”

  “You could have left the screen running, Iʼd have created a simulation of you.”

  “Theyʼd have guessed soon enough it wasnʼt me. The drone?”

  “Go out the back door and run into the woods. Iʼll talk you through it.”

  “Good.” She looped a bag over each shoulder and strode toward the kitchen.

  “You seem calm.” Sazoʼs comment was almost a question. “Arenʼt you upset at the way theyʼve betrayed us?”

  Rose drew in a deep breath of cold, crisp air as she closed the back door behind her, enjoyed the crunch of the frost-bitten grass under her feet. “To be honest, theyʼre behaving just the way Iʼd have expected them to back home. Only maybe on Earth theyʼd have been a bit more violent. And looked a lot less guilty about it.”

  “Really?”

  She smiled, trying to work out why she was so accepting of all this. “Really. Iʼm feeling quite at home.”

  Sazo made a noise, a sort of snorting laugh, and she laughed with him.

  “Letʼs go bust Dav out.”

  48

  Forty-seven

  * * *

  Rose crouched deep within the trees, and looked between the small temporary cabin a half kilometer ahead of her, and the close-up of the same cabin Sazo was providing on the handheld sheʼd taken from Davʼs house.

  If Dav was inside it, as Sazo thought from eavesdropping on the comms, he wasnʼt going to be easy to rescue, but also, would rescuing him solve their problems?

  Rose had the feeling it would make things worse.

  “Sazo, how do you feel about working with the Grih after this? Are you okay with it?”

  Just because she could understand their wanting to keep their people as safe as possible, and that they didnʼt consider her and Sazo part of their people yet, didnʼt mean Sazo would, too.

  “Well, the Tecran are out, and so are the Garmman. That leaves the Bukari, by far our best bet, and the Fitali, who I donʼt really have any idea about.”

  “I agree, the Bukari are our next best option, but do we want to settle for second best?”

  He thought about that for a while, and soft, slightly blue-tinged snow began to fall around her. She was crouched on a thin layer of it, and was amazed at how her hyr fabric clothes were keeping her warm, despite being thin and light. There were seriously good reasons for this stuff being the most expensive fabric in the universe. She wondered what a hyr spider looked like.

  Or maybe she didnʼt.

  “You still fine with their betrayal?” he asked at last.

  “Not fine with it by any means. Understand it? Yes.” She crouched a little lower as she saw a soldier walk the perimeter of the cabin on the handheld. He was harder to see from this distance, but she could just make him out if she tried. He was in reflective camouflage mode. “Iʼll want an apology, and maybe some heads to roll, and obviously Dav reinstated, and as Iʼve had some time to think during the jog from Davʼs house to here, I donʼt know that our rescuing him will be to the long-term benefit of his career. Breaking out of jail makes you look guilty, even if you arenʼt.”

  “What do you suggest?” Sazo sounded relieved, and Rose thought heʼd also been having doubts about how they were going to get Dav out without spilling some blood, something they could not do if they wanted a place in this society.

  “How about I take the drone up to you, and we very deliberately and openly reach out to the Bukari. But we shield what we say, which could simply be a hello and catch-up with Filavantri Dimitara. And maybe a request for some more yuiar.”

  “So theyʼll think weʼre getting ready to make a deal to move to the Bukariʼs territory?”

  “Yep. Around about then, I hope theyʼll be on their knees to Dav, asking for his help, and if they arenʼt weʼll refuse to speak to anyone but him when they contact us.”

  “If they contact us.”

  She gave a snort. “Theyʼll contact us. To have an offer on the table from us of full cooperation which they then totally blew? If they donʼt salvage this, itʼll be the end of their careers, and they know it.”

  “The deal going forward is no one but you is allowed on board, though.”

  “That goes without saying.” Not that they had any hope of re-caging Sazo, heʼd completely overwritten that code, even if they knew he was the crystal on the necklace she used to wear, or where to find it on the Class 5, something she highly doubted. Even she didnʼt know where Sazo had hidden himself.

  “You think your moving back to the Class 5 and calling the Bukari will be enough?”

  “I think it will, but if not, weʼll explore other options. Letʼs see how they react to this, first.”

  “Okay. Iʼve landed the drone two thou from here. Thatʼs the closest I could get it and be absolutely sure they wouldnʼt spot it.”

  Rose peered through the thickening snow at the cabin one last time, and then turned. “I wish we could find some way to contact Dav. Let him know what weʼre up to.”

  She started walking as fast as she could away from the Battle Center camp, putting as many trees between her and them. Good thing Sazo had taken out their monitoring equipment, or she couldnʼt have gotten this close.

  “There are too many guards for you to get an earpiece to him, even if you had a spare with you.” Sazo sounded philosophical about it.

  “You canʼt hack into his current one?”

  “I already tried that. He doesnʼt have it with him, they took it.”

  “His handheldʼs gone too, then, I suppose?”

  Sazo gave a grunt of confirmation.

  She didnʼt want to give up. If he didnʼt know what they had planned, he may think sheʼd abandoned him. That didnʼt sit well. At all.

  “Is he still in uniform?” He had been when heʼd left her earlier.

  “Yes.”

  “Then what about . . .” Her words caught in her throat in her excitement. “What about the built-in watch thing on his sleeve?”

  “The smart fabric digital time insert?”

  She grinned. “Yes. That.”

  “That doesnʼt have an audio component.”

  “It doesnʼt have to. We could send him a written message. How many characters are there on it?”

  “Five. Space for two digital numbers on either side of a dash.”

  “Before I get too worked up about this, can you hack into it?”

  “Please.” Sazo laughed in her ear. “It doesnʼt eve
n have a rudimentary shield. A child could hack into it.”

  “Woohoo.” She wanted to shout it, but she whispered it instead.

  Sheʼd sped up as sheʼd gotten more and more excited, and as she stumbled out of the treeline she realized too late she was on the edge of a steep incline. She went over, arms windmilling.

  It was a soft landing. A deep drift of snow must have built up in the small dip over the last day.

  “Iʼm okay.” She stood, dusted herself off, and then looked up.

  Right at an equally startled soldier in reflective camouflage.

  “Damn.” She pretended to keep dusting herself off, slipped her hand into her pocket and held the light-gun loosely in her hand.

  “Rose, what is it?”

  “You canʼt see the soldier standing right in front of me?” Rose used English, so the Grih wouldnʼt understand, and she sang it, too, as a distraction.

  The soldier shifted in surprise.

  “No. I canʼt see anything.”

  “Who would have guessed their camouflage works on you and not on me? I feel less useless, all of a sudden. Itʼs good to have some super-powers of my own. Not all side-kicks are that lucky.” She smiled at the guy as she sang, and he took a step back, completely confused.

  Time to get jumpy again.

  She bounced on her knees, gave him another smile, and leaped, sailing over his head and landing lightly behind him.

  It really did never get old.

  She jumped a second time, angling slightly so she wasnʼt going in a straight line, and heard a dull thud just to the right of her.

  “What the hell was that?” She twisted slightly and a shockgun blast clipped the top of her arm.

  Pain blinded her, blue-white, like the snow around her, and she landed hard, the breath knocked out of her.

  “Rose, turn! Turn and shoot him. Heʼs approaching. I can read the heat in his shockgun after he fired, even if I canʼt see him.” Sazoʼs voice was a faint buzz in her ears but she tried, managing to push herself onto her side so her right hand was free.