Dragon's Nemesis (The Dragon Corps Book 7)

by Natalie Grey

  Talon gave her a bemused smile.

  “I know.” Whatever else might be going on with her, it was clear that Dess was fascinated by these minutiae of human interactions. “It’s crazy, but things like just bringing someone a cup of tea or chocolate bar mean that they might donate 10 times that to a charity drive you set up, for instance.”

  Talon nodded. “So, Ghost was good at that.”

  “Ah, yes, but it was more than that. To use the same example, say you go to drop off the blueberry muffin, yes? But I’m not there. You decide to come back later, but you still don’t see me. We haven’t had the discussion where you acknowledge how much I helped you and I acknowledge your return gesture. That acknowledgement lets you know that the slate is clear.”

  “…Oh.” Talon gave a little chuckle.

  “Exactly,” Dess said. “So, Ghost would go out of her way to speak to people and let them know that she was helping them out, but when it came time for them to return the favor, she wouldn’t ‘be available’ to meet with them. It left them hanging in a way that meant they usually didn’t consider the favor repaid.”

  “Tricky bitch,” Talon commented. He cleared his throat. “Ah, sorry. We tend to be a bit more colorful with our language than the average—”

  Dess waved her hand, smiling. “I don’t mind. My brother was in the Navy for a while, actually, so we all got used to, ah….” Oddly, her voice trailed off and she shrugged, looking back at her work. “So, Ghost—the senator—initiated all of these bills—where did I put that sheet?”

  “I have it.” Talon consciously did not hand the paper back, looking at it instead. He scanned it, half to see if anything jumped out at him, and half to let the silence grow. Instead of acknowledging the clear signal Dess had sent about her brother’s naval career, he pressed the point instead. “Where was your brother in the Navy?”

  The pause was a split-second too long.”Oh, just on a patrol ship,” Dess said. Her tone was a bit too easy. She opened her mouth once or twice to say something else, and then swallowed. “It wasn’t his thing,” she said finally. “So he got out when his—well, he ended up leaving.”

  “You know, same with Nyx—and Tersi, actually.” He kept his face aimed at the paper, but studied her out of his peripheral vision. She was standing very still. He lifted his face and smiled easily at her as if he didn’t see her discomfort. “The Navy really just wasn’t tfor them.” He didn’t provide the reason why, hoping to see if she would do so, herself.

  “Oh?” was all she said, however. She had regained her equilibrium. She nodded at the paper in his hands. “In any case, Ghost has taken quite an interest in technology. Not exactly surprising.”

  Talon made a mental note of where she’d turned the conversation, and decided to let her take him along for the ride. He nodded.

  “She cultivated a very specific image,” Dess said. “That she was concerned with overreach and lack of due process. It meant that it wasn’t noteworthy if she held up proceedings on … well, pretty much anything.”

  “She interfered a lot, then.”

  “It was most of what she did,” Dess said, with a laugh. “I really don’t know where she found the time, what with everything else. She leaned on her staff, of course—all good senators do—but she personally handled a great deal of business, and a large part of that was debating bills and government contracts, as well as governmental oversight on new types of businesses and technologies.”

  Something occurred to Talon. “No chance we could talk to some of her staff, I don’t suppose.”

  Dess definitely tensed. “I don’t think so,” she said, after a moment. “They’ve all signed extensive non-disclosure agreements after testifying to the senate about her, and a lot of them are part of her family, anyway. Getting through all of that will be time-consuming—more time than we have, I think. And that’s assuming you find them.”

  “You think she had them killed?” Talon asked blandly.

  From the look on Dess’s face, she had not thought of that—but she did not doubt that it might have happened. She looked a little bit queasy all of a sudden.

  “Or perhaps hidden,” Talon suggested. He kept his voice smooth and light, designed not to interrupt her thoughts. “You said they were family. Perhaps she has estates somewhere.”

  Dess looked a bit panicked now. “Yes,” she managed. “I mean, I’m sure she does. But the question is, where? A family like hers is bound to have a lot of properties.”

  “Oh? Are we talking three or four?” Talon knew the answer, but he managed to look appropriately intrigued. “Five? A dozen?”

  “Hard to know.” She gave a shrug.

  “You knew so much about her space stations, I figured you’d know about her houses as well.” He kept his eyes fixed on her face, but he didn’t let her see the threat there. Not yet.

  She blanched a little. “She was good at hiding things.” Her voice was tight. She gave a self-conscious little laugh. “I probably don’t even know most of her businesses.”

  “Mmm.” Talon shrugged. “Well, we have someone on it and they think they’ve started to find some family holdings—they mentioned something really big, so we’ll see what comes out.” He gave an artful little shrug, pretending he didn’t see the look on her face. “Anyway, good work on all of this. If you need anything from me, let me know.”

  He handed the papers back and ducked out of the room, heading back to his cabin with a grim look on his face. He had to meet Tersi for sparring, so he didn’t have much time to waste—otherwise, the other man would know something was wrong, and Talon didn’t want him to know. Not yet.

  Luckily, he didn’t need much time for this. Lesedi was the one he contacted, and the message was brief:

  Find out everything you can about Dess.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  GHOST STALKED DOWN THE WALKWAY, staring at the factory floor below her. Though most of the workers were far too busy to look up—engaged in tasks like welding, which required their undivided attention—some occasionally did glance at the walkway, and would generally freeze when they saw Ghost and her cohort.

  She made a point to stare back at those ones until they looked down again. I see you, her face said. I see everything.

  They had no time to waste, after all. Everything hinged on the next few weeks. If she did not play everything exactly correctly….

  They could lose everything.

  “You think these ships will be enough?” The voice was high and weak, and Ghost felt a surge of hatred before she turned to look. Emotions felt different now that they were not accompanied by physiological responses, but they were still there.

  Like her dislike of this particular great uncle. She turned only her head, emphasizing the way her mechanical body could move. “If you find these measures insufficient,” she said, her voice as cold as winter, “you are absolutely welcome to make suggestions of your own … or supply any meaningful help, in fact.”

  The last comment was pointed. Ezra Samuels, Maryam’s uncle on her father’s side, was fond of pointing out problems, but never seemed to want to take responsibility for finding solutions. Since Maryam had become Ghost, he had been of the opinion that any problem or setback they faced was due to the transition.

  Over the years, he had been a constant source of irritation. She remembered him from the first family meetings she had been a part of. He was often a thorn in the side of her Uncle Gareth, who had then been the head of the family, and whom she had quite liked.

  She had killed Gareth, of course, but that had been a business dispute and not a personal one. If anyone would have understood, it would have been him.

  If only there had been some way to keep Uncle Gareth and get rid of Ezra, instead. She had tried multiple methods of dealing with Ezra, from giving him side projects to outright banning him from her meetings.

  Nothing worked. He would leave the side projects unfinished, he would worm his way into people’s confidence until they told him what had bee
n said in the meetings he missed, and he liked to demand details on her operations. Worse, he had begun rallying others to his cause.

  It was the whining, Ghost thought. Ezra whined. Nothing was ever his fault, nothing was ever fair. If he’d been given a fair shot, he liked to insinuate, he’d be head of the family. His niece had taken what was his—the fact that Gareth had been firmly in control was never mentioned, nor was the fact that there had been several able successors waiting in the wings. Ezra had never been in line to be head of the family.

  So he whined, and she considered how best to deal with him. Assassinations were a tool best used sparingly, especially with family. Unrelated employees, she would torture for effect. Family tended to inspire loyalty and sympathy. Gareth had told her that once, being perhaps the only one of her family who realized she would one day lead it.

  She had been careful not to make the same mistakes he had. He’d been a more self-sacrificing person than she was, and he’d believed that once she was strong enough to take control of the family from him, that control should rightfully be hers.

  Ghost, however, had no intentions of giving anyone else such an advantage, especially since she now had no mortal body to break down.

  “I think you’re overlooking some important pitfalls,” Ezra said now, puffing up his chest.

  Ghost looked at him again. She looked, and she marked the looks on the faces of the people he had brought with him. Aunt Gee, who had always been sensible, and Uncle Nate. Both of them were watching her like they weren’t quite sure what she would do.

  If Ezra had gotten them on his side, that was a problem.

  But she doubted he had. She suspected that they were simply worried.

  She smiled. The effect was not exactly what she wanted, especially with part of her cheek missing—when would Dr. Cheung have the bones and skin ready?—but it was always best to put a pleasant face on family meetings.

  “What do you think, Auntie Gee?” She did not have the trick yet of making her voice do exactly what she wanted in this body, but her aunt smiled at the old nickname. “I imagine you wouldn’t come all the way out here unless you thought there was cause for concern.”

  Set at ease, Regina—nicknamed Gee in her youth—smiled back at Ghost. “Our operations are ramping up and we haven’t been informed of why. There have been a few disturbances after the defection. We’re all on edge.”

  Ghost fought the urge to snarl at that particular reminder. The defection, of one of her cousins and almost his entire subset of the family, had lost her several important contacts in the government. One child was left in her control, having been called back to Eternas before his father’s message could reach him, but her cousin seemed to be ready to sacrifice one in order to save the rest.

  As for the disturbances…. Ghost had not been checking her briefings as thoroughly as she should while heading off this new development. The Alliance was making another push for settlement of formerly uninhabitable worlds. Both habitation and terraforming technologies were making leaps ahead, and the Alliance had decided to give lucrative tax-exempt status to companies that could jumpstart settlement on any previously-barren worlds.

  Which put Eternas squarely in the crosshairs. Ghost had done all she could, while she was in the Senate, to keep these bills from moving forward and to subtly steer interested companies in the direction of other worlds.

  But all the misdirection and defense in the world would not keep them safe if enough people kept coming to see what was in this system. Eventually, someone would get through.

  Rhea Hugo was her last defense against this eventuality, and Ghost did not trust even her beloved Aunt Gee enough to tell her that there was now a child in the mix. People tended to have strong views about using hostages.

  One child, however. A single hostage—weighed against everything the family had worked for, for generations. John Hugo could block discovery of Eternas. He could use his leverage against the senate. They hated her now, they would resist her with every fiber of their being. They would send the Navy and tell the press: look at the corrupt senator with her hidden planet.

  Hugo, though—he could fix this.

  And if not, she had the workers below building her fleet. She was ready for the Alliance, either way.

  “Several companies in the Alliance have been lobbying hard to be given clearance to try new terraforming technologies,” Ghost explained to the family members after a pause. She watched Aunt Gee’s face carefully. “I was able to find out about these efforts due to my position, and I blocked them for a long time. I can’t block them forever, though. I have some methods of leverage in place to see if I can’t make Eternas off-limits, but in case those methods fail….”

  “If you hadn’t joined the senate,” Ezra said shrilly, “none of this would have happened. Gareth was right to forbid you.”

  If there was something to be gained, Ghost had almost infinite patience. It occurred to her now, however, that Ezra was going to spend the rest of his life causing trouble.

  Her hand shot out and dragged him close by the throat.

  “I bought us years,” she told him as he struggled and choked. “While you sat on Eternas with your endless girlfriends and played chess and told yourself you were the better strategist—never once doing anything of value for this family.”

  Her eyes flicked up, but neither Aunt Gee nor Uncle Nate seemed to want to interfere. They were watching quietly.

  “You—destroyed us—” Ezra choked out.

  “I will save us,” Ghost said. “Everyone is always trying to kill us, that’s what Uncle Gareth taught me. How many crises did he weather without you even knowing it? Without you helping? He put up with you whining through all the meetings and stirring up trouble just to make yourself feel powerful. I won’t.”

  His neck snapped and he dropped to the floor with a thud.

  “Cara,” Aunt Gee said, after a moment. Her voice trembled on the familial endearment. “Is there anything we can do to help? If there’s a need for defense….” Her voice trailed off and she looked at Nathan. Both of them had lived in this family for a long time. The sudden death of a family member, while not a common occurrence, was also not enough to shock them.

  Ghost wished she’d done this sooner.

  “Everything is set up,” she said simply. “The fleet is being built. Pressure is being brought to bear on the Alliance to keep Eternas off-limits—without saying why, of course. We’ll stay hidden. We always have.”

  “What if we don’t?” Uncle Nate asked pragmatically. He met Ghost’s glare with a small shake of his head. “We should plan for it, Maryam.”

  They were telling her that she was still the little girl they’d taught to walk and shoot a gun and fly a ship. Ghost felt a wave of something she could not put a name to. It was one thing to stay silent because a tremor in your human voice would betray you. It was another experience entirely to stay silent because you were overwhelmed with emotion, even when your body was not fragile and weak.

  She fought for composure.

  “If Eternas is found,” she said, “we lose everything. So, come up with a plan, Uncle Nate. Both of you, start planning. I’ll forward you documentation on the possibilities we’ve already explored—and the two of you are now the head of this task force. Money is settled in banks we control and resources are stockpiled. If we have to run, we can.”

  “But?” Aunt Gee knew her well.

  Ghost smiled savagely. “But there are scores I want to settle first.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  NYX HEARD the sounds of sparring as soon as she turned down the corridor towards the armory, and the sheer amount of yelps and thuds made it clear who was sparring. Neither Choop nor Maple was quiet by any stretch of the imagination.

  She was glad they were there, however. She had been hoping to get a workout in and had been planning on some running and weights, but sparring with her team would be better if they’d let her in for a few rounds. She was still getting to kno
w all of them.

  Loki had it easier, she thought. He bunked with Halo and got to spend most of his days with the rest of the crew, while Nyx had a good chunk of time to be spent on running the team and getting up to speed. Still, while she was envious, she was glad that he was a bit ahead of her on socializing—his comfort with the other members of the team told her she had nothing to worry about as she got to know them.

  She stuck her head around the door and had to duck out of the way as both Maple and Choop slammed up against the wall at high speed. Choop, who looked to be winning, was sent shooting backwards a moment later when Maple threw a foot up and punched it out.

  “Hi, Captain.” He managed to get his feet under him and called the greeting as Maple pushed herself off the wall and bounced on her feet, waiting.

  “Hey,” Maple added. Like Choop, she didn’t spare a glance for Nyx.

  Choop began a series of tentative attacks, getting in close and dancing away before Maple could get a good hit in. It was a few attacks before Nyx realized what he was doing: building up the rhythm of her getting close to hitting him, and getting frustrated doing so. He was getting out of the way by less and less each time, and when she grabbed his arm at last, it was with a sound of satisfaction.

  As Nyx had seen, however, he had a plan. A grin lit up his face and he used her grip to drag her off-balance. There was a scuffle, a flail of limbs, and a very loud thump, and then the match resolved into Choop with his knee held a fraction of an inch over Maple’s throat, and her annoyed face as she tapped out.

  “Dammit,” she muttered as he helped her up. To Nyx, she gave an embarrassed shrug. “I walked right into that one, didn’t I?”

  “Little bit.” Nyx laughed. “Don’t suppose you two have a few more rounds in you?”

  “Sure.” Maple gave a smile as she went to take a drink of water. “Winner goes first.”

  “Oh, I don’t think….” Choop scratched at his head.