by M. D. Cooper
“Sure.” Paul flashed his winning smile at Levin. “Excuse us for a few moments, General, will you? Ah, look, here comes my wife. I’m sure you have much to discuss with her.”
“Of course.” The general turned away, but not before giving Kylie a questioning look.
Kylie turned her back to Janice before they saw one another up close, and waited for Paul to take the lead. He did so silently, guiding her across the back of the hall and through the kitchen. From there, he took her into a pantry that had to be as large as the crew areas on her old ship, the Dauntless. Kylie noted three exit points as Marge set a structural map of this section of the hotel on the right side of her HUD.
“Did you tell your wife who I am?” Kylie asked.
Paul ignored her question and instead walked over to one of the shelves laden with root vegetables. He leant against it and stared at his hands before glancing at her. “I’m guessing there are no AIs in that thing you’re carrying.”
Kylie shook her head. “Correct. They’re free. Your plan isn’t going to work.”
“And Chassea? Her crew?”
“Prisoners.”
He squeezed his eyes shut as if the news caused him physical pain. Kylie didn’t understand how this could’ve happened to her brother. He wiped his mouth. “Are you here to kill me as you did Father?”
“I didn’t set out to kill Dad, Paul,” Kylie whispered hoarsely. “He lost his way. He went mad, no thanks to those fuckers from Orion, and whoever it was that helped him put those control systems in everyone. You have to know about that. He wiped out an entire planet of people, too! He was going to kill so many others. I didn’t have a choice.”
“I know,” Paul’s voice was low, and Kylie could hear a deep pain in those two words. “I’m his son. I was the one to follow in his footsteps, to continue his message. I know what he did, and I know how despicable he became.”
Kylie stared into her brother’s lost eyes, desperately wanting to help him, praying that she could find the right thing to say.
Paul heaved a long sigh. “He wasn’t the man who raised us anymore. You were right to get away.”
All those long years, Kylie had dreamed of hearing him say that, for her big brother to admit she was right. But now, hearing it…the words broke her heart.
“I’m here to bring you in. Peacefully. Quietly. I need you to come with me.”
Paul shook his head. “Surely, you don’t think it’ll be as easy as that? Is it possible that you are still this gullible and naïve?”
“There are two ways this can go down, Paul. You know that. I’m the easy way. They’re coming for you. Silstrand, Scipio, and a fleet with more power than you can imagine—they decimated father’s ships, and from the stories they told, they’ve crushed Orion’s fleets in the past. If I don’t bring you in…I…I won’t be able to protect you.”
He licked his bottom lip. “Baby sister wants to protect me now? Well, doesn’t life have a funny way of being ironic?”
Kylie realized that she’d forgotten how downright infuriating her older brother could be. “Don’t let it be like this. There’s a way out. We can stop the bloodshed, you have the power to end the Revolution. Disband the fleet. Tell them to stand down. Tell Orion to go screw themselves. Do something that shows you’re looking for redemption, and I can save you.”
He pursed his lips, not giving a reply.
“Please, Paul. I don’t want to lose anyone else.”
“That’s not it,” he said plainly. “I’m looking for a way out. I’m looking to escape, but I’m not looking to be redeemed, Kylie. Leopards can’t change their spots.”
“There are people with me; they’ll give me time to talk you down, but I don’t have all the time in the world.”
“Don’t waste your breath. It’s over.” Paul started back toward the pantry’s exit.
“If you walk out the door, this truce, is what has to be over. I can’t have you hurt or destroy anything else, Paul. Don’t push me to do this.”
“I remember I said something similar to you once, and you still walked out that door.”
Tears filled her eyes. “Don’t throw that back at me! I’m here to save you.”
He turned back around and cast her a dirty look. “You left! I was alone against him! I did the best I could to guide father, to serve him the right way. But when I would bring up questions of morality, he only shot me down. When I saw…when I saw how completely he’d convinced David and Mother…I knew I had to toe the line.”
“So, what? You just watched as he destroyed an entire world?”
“I wasn’t there. He sent me away before that.”
“Such a pathetic excuse,” Kylie raged. “You got sent away? Dismissed like a child?”
“I could never say no to Father. His presence, his personality, it was too big. It demanded obedience.”
Kylie shook her head. “That’s not the way I remember him.”
“Of course it’s not. You ran away! The one person who had a shot at changing his mind when there was still time was you! And you abandoned your duty to the family!”
His words struck her like a physical blow. “You think I don’t blame myself? I do! I should’ve been there before he destroyed Hanoi. I should’ve been there before he built a fleet for war! I should’ve been to stop him before he implanted chips in our mother, our brother, and anyone else who didn’t follow him blindly. I should’ve been there to protect all of us. It was my fault. Mine. You happy now, Paul?”
He blinked. “I…chips?”
He didn’t know? Kylie felt her resolve waiver. “What else do you think he was keeping from you? There was a reason he sent you away, wasn’t there?”
“We went away because Janice suggested it, and Father agreed that it’d be good to scout further ahead. She knew I needed a break.”
Janice, huh?
Kylie didn’t know her well. Paul and Janice had wed while Kylie was still at home, but the haughty woman had spoken to her only sparingly. Kylie remembered how Janice and Father spent time together in the garden, though, talking over his philosophy. She remembered how jealous she’d felt.
“Well, isn’t that convenient. Is your wife loyal to you? Or was she loyal to Father?”
Paul shook his head. “It wasn’t like that. I won’t have you talking about things you don’t understand.” That look of stubbornness she remembered from their childhood settled on his face. “The only thing I have left to destroy is myself. If you think I agree with everything going on here, let me tell you that I don’t. You haven’t known me in a long time, Ky, and I’m sorry for that. Really sorry. But I never wanted to get into bed with Orion. Father led us places I never wanted to go, but I couldn’t stop him.”
“You could’ve said no.”
“That was your path, not mine. I was a good son. I was a good man, once. Now, I can’t tell the rain from the fog.”
Paul’s despair reached out to her like a palpable thing, and Kylie drew her pistol, training it on him as he pulled open the door, desperately trying to force her finger to move, but it wouldn’t.
“Paul!”
Then he was gone, and the door swung closed.
Kylie knew. She should’ve shot, should’ve stopped him, but she hadn’t.
Now where did that leave her?
Then the door opened again, and Kylie glanced up just as Marge shouted a warning.
“You’ll leave us alone now,” Janice said. “I liked you far better as a brunette.” She fired her weapon point-blank at Kylie.
The weapon delivered a targeted EMP blast and then a series of high-velocity railshots. They hit Kylie in the chest and flung her back into a shelf.
Blood began to seep from crack
s in her solidified armor as she lay stunned and unable to move.
“Too bad.” Janice sneered and arched one eyebrow. “We could’ve used you once.”
MISSION GUARD
STELLAR DATE: 12.21.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: The Hyperion Hotel, New Roma, Dante
REGION: Dante Velorum System, Fringe
Ricket had thoroughly explored the second floor, but found access to the third level and up to be well guarded. The floors above were guest rooms and, from what she could tell, the guards were more focused on keeping people from coming down than going up.
No point in checking those out.
When there wasn’t a response, she began to worry.
Smiling at a group of women, she walked around the rim of the room toward the restrooms.
Ricket’s lips pursed into a thin line as she entered the restrooms.
She slipped into a stall and balanced the container of ‘nanovirus’ on her knee. She unscrewed the lid, and the device hissed as it slid open. After pulling her pistol out, Ricket pulled the canister apart into smaller pieces and then dropped it into the toilet.
It began to foam, and a few seconds later, had completely dissolved like a sugar cube in coffee—which was pretty much what had just happened. The container had been made of solid sugar, an easy thing to make in the field, and a material that left little evidence—plus it was a handy energy source in a pinch.
Ricket stepped from the bathroom stall, adjusting her dress. It wasn’t ideal for an op, but she’d worn worse.
So far as Ricket was concerned, it was a terrible idea to give a cat access to the Link. She’d seen it go wrong more than once before. Still, the little furball was so morose without Bubbs, and it had helped to keep him calm when no one was around.
I used to work with top agents…now I’m sent off with new recruits, and I have a cat on the team. Oh, how the mighty have fallen.
Ricket suppressed a sigh.
Ricket was pretty sure she didn’t want to know what that meant. She’d ask him about it later.
Ricket muted the cat’s pleas for food as she stepped from the bathroom and trotted down the glass stairs, smiling at the guests. She slowed her descent and paused, surveying the milling throng. She considered deploying nano drones, but with Orion Guard officers present, it was too risky. Their security would have the place covered with their own probes, and they would be sure to detect hers.
Just knowing that there were dozens of OG officers around her made Ricket’s skin crawl. She wished she was in heavy armor with a chaingun.
With a shake of her head, she cleared those thoughts away and did her best to look dignified as she visually scanned the guests. One lit up on her vision and she scowled at the tall figure.
Practically twins. Well, if he was here, where the hell was Kylie?
Ricket stepped off the last step as she saw Paul walking across the dance floor toward the buffet table. She quickened her steps to make an intercept and crashed into him next to the bowl of chilled shrimp.
“Oh, I’m so sorry!” Ricket said and raised her small clutch purse in mock embarrassment. “Are you all right?”
Paul appeared flustered, but then gave her a wide smile. “Oh, no harm. I know how the buffet calls.”
Ricket laughed and tapped him on the back, imbedding a small tracker in the fibers of his jacket. “You know those puff salmon pastries do it to me every time.”
“For me, it’s bacon,” Paul admitted. “Nothing like bacon with a cup of seriously strong coffee. I’d give anything for some of that right now.”
Just like his sister, Ricket thought and felt a bout of overwhelming sadness for the man. When he glanced away for a quick moment, Ricket saw a hint of regret in his eyes. For the first time since all this started, she thought Kylie might be right. Maybe there was a way to get Paul to stand down that didn’t involve killing him.
Stars, I’m going soft. This is what making friends does to a person.
“Elizabeth,” Ricket said and offered Paul her hand.
He paused for a moment before he shook it. “Paul. Though I’m betting you know who I am, if you came with Chassea.”
Something in his tone and the knowing look in his eye made her think that he knew Chassea was Kylie….
Shit! Where the hell is she?
“Have you seen her? I can’t find her anywhere. I’m hoping she’s all right.”
“I didn’t hurt her, if that’s what you mean. If you’ll excuse me, I need to get some fresh air.” Paul quickly started away, striding toward the exit.
“Paul!” Ricket caught up to him and grabbed his arm. “Whatever is going on, we’re here to help you. We have a ship. We can get you out of here and end this.”
“No one can help. There’s nothing left that can be done. My path was always going to lead me here.”
“It doesn’t have to be like that. I know what your father did, but I don’t know what you did. You can stop—”
“Darling, there you are!”
Ricket backed away as Janice approached. Something about the possessive look in the woman’s eyes hinted to her that Paul was not the real threat on Dante—that role belonged to his wife.
“There are a few people I need to introduce you to. You can chat with the help later,” Janice said softly, rubbing Paul’s arm gently…like he was her tamed pet.
“I was just going to step out for some air, sweetheart. I’ll be right back.”
“Don’t be absurd! You can get fresh air any time. Today’s a time for celebration of our success and victory. You’ll excuse us, won’t you?” Janice’s tone was frosty as she led Paul away.
Paul glanced back at Ricket, and she wanted to follow them, but with her tracker, it wasn’t necessary.
She checked her HUD to confirm that it was relaying Paul’s movements and vitals—it was, so she tapped into audio.
“Why is she still here?” Janice asked sweetly, with an underlying current of anger behind her words. Ricket could practically see her gritting her teeth.
“She’s just waiting for Chassea,” Paul replied.
So, he wasn’t going to tell his wife? Ricket found that interesting, and maybe even a little telling.
Kylie said.
Ricket sprinted down the hall and tuned back in to the audio from Paul.
“I think we both know you’re lying, Paul,” Janice was saying. “I’m afraid it’s time we both come clean. Should I go first?”
“Janice, what are you doing? Janice!”
There was real fear in Paul’s voice, and Ricket picked up the pace, running full bore toward his location.
She only hoped she wasn’t too late.
CHECKING IN
STELLAR DATE: 12.21.8948 (Adjusted Gregorian)
LOCATION: Polis Fury, orbiting Battia
REGION: Hanoi System (independent)
With the palace and surrounding buildings finally secure, Grayson took a shuttle up to the Polis Fury to check on Maureen.
Being planetside in the palace put him in an uncomfortable state of mind. He’d rather be on the ship where he could survey the situation better than when on the ground. He knew that he could get data just as well on the surface, but something about actually being up in space made him feel better.
When he disembarked from his shuttle, he checked the status of the incoming ships via the relays at Hochi.
She sent across a warm smile.