by Chele Cooke
“I’m an adult by every law.”
Wrench sighed as he sat down. Georgianna glanced over at them before fixing her gaze on the weapon in her lap. Like Keiran, Wrench had a worn look, his eyes hollow and mouth slack. Jacob, though, stood tall, his curly hair pushed back from his bright eyes. He folded his arms and tapped his toe.
“I’ve been learning to shoot,” he said. “You’ve been teaching me to shoot. Why do that if I can’t fight?”
“I taught you to protect yourself, not to go running off into a fight.”
“By fighting I am protecting myself. I can’t sit around and—”
“How do I look?”
Georgianna jumped to her feet and swept past Wrench and Jacob. Dhiren stood in the doorway, scuffing his boot against the floor. He stared at the wall and scratched the back of his shoulder, tugging the material at his hip, then bent his knees and straightened up again. It was the first time she’d seen him unable to keep still.
It had been her idea and she was sure that if Dhiren had his way, she would pay dearly for it. Dragging her lips between her teeth, she tried to suppress the smile that wanted to burst free.
“It’s great,” she said, quickly pursing her lips again.
He glared at her, his expression murderous, and turned away. Georgianna jumped forwards and grabbed his arm, yanking him back.
“No, come on,” she said. “That expression was perfect. Very Adveni.”
“I feel like an idiot.”
Drawing him further into the room, Georgianna looked him over again. He shuffled and adjusted his stance, rolling his eyes and staring over her head. His hair was too scruffy, his jaw unshaven, but it would do. They only needed to get past a first glance, just long enough to make an Adveni pause and doubt himself before shooting. They wouldn’t get out of this without blood, they all knew it.
“You and Keiran are the tallest. It had to be you two.”
They’d found two Tsevstakre uniforms buried in the bottom of a bag of Edtroka’s things. Dhiren had wanted to burn them, but Georgianna had told him her idea before asking him to try one of them on.
She moved closer and clicked her tongue. Dhiren’s black uniform was creased between the plates of armour that had been built into it. He’d not done up all the buttons. Having never seen Dhiren in any kind of tight clothing, she couldn’t imagine the uniform was comfortable for him. She reached up to fasten the top button, stopping short when she saw the leather cord hanging around his neck. Georgianna smiled and quickly averted her gaze, patting him on the shoulder. Dhiren fidgeted again and growled under his breath.
“E’Troke is a head taller than I am. I don’t feel right wearing it.”
Georgianna frowned and tugged at his waist, straightening the creases.
“He was a head taller than you.”
He didn’t answer.
Glancing down and busying herself with making the costume seem authentic, at least for a moment, Georgianna snorted and covered her mouth with her hand. When she looked up, Dhiren was staring at her with a scowl so hostile that it only made her laugh all the harder.
“What?”
“You rolled up the trousers.”
He propped his hands on his hips.
“What was I supposed to do? They’re too big.”
“It looks like your legs have swollen to double the size!” She grinned up at him. “And gone lumpy.”
“Well if you have a better idea…”
She stepped back and pinched her bottom lip. For the most part, the uniform looked decent on him. Keiran, too, would be able to fool an Adveni for just long enough to give them a window. But the length of the uniform was sure to cause problems. It would be obvious that the uniforms had not been made for them; not to mention the discomfort in having the extra material bunched around their ankles.
“Well?” he asked.
“Shh, I’m thinking.”
She pulled up the waist of the uniform. It ballooned around Dhiren’s stomach and chest, the plating unyielding and unsightly. It also didn’t remove the problem. The trousers were still too long.
“Take off your boots.”
Georgianna grabbed one of the knives from the pile of weaponry they’d managed to find in Edtroka’s stash. When she returned, Dhiren had taken off his boots, the uniform now extending past his toes. He flinched away as she knelt, knife in hand.
“You sure about this, Med?” he asked.
Looking up, she rolled her eyes and went to work, cutting away the excess material. She wasn’t great at making clothes, but the extra was easy to cut away and she doubted anyone would look closely enough to see the fraying edges.
“Stay still, will you?” she said as Dhiren once again shuffled, watching her. He huffed and stared at the wall, crossing his armoured arms over his chest.
She was just cutting at the second ankle when the door banged open and Keiran and Alec, sodden from head to heel, bustled into the house. Dhiren turned away and the last of the material came away in a noisy rip. Slumping back on her heels, Georgianna stretched the fabric in her fingers.
Alec looked at Dhiren, his eyes widening as his gaze travelled the length of the black uniform. He blinked, and looked away.
“The Colvohan agreed,” he said.
“He did?” Dhiren smirked and cocked his head to the side, scratching himself under the tight collar. “Surprise.”
Keiran approached Wrench and laid his hand on his friend’s shoulder. They shared a look, both grinning.
“We get one ship, one of the small ones. One pilot and Tohma.”
“I’ll let him know.”
He grabbed his gun and was out of the door, Jacob on his heels, before any of them could say anything else.
“Will it be enough?” Georgianna asked. “Do those ships—”
“It’s not ideal,” Alec said.
“It’ll be fine,” Keiran corrected. “The shields are the same, we’ll have the same area covered, and it’ll be easier to position us over the buildings.”
Alec was doubtful, but he didn’t argue with Keiran’s assessment. Dhiren smoothed his hands down the sides of the uniform and glanced to the other one, draped over the chair. Alec followed his gaze and stepped back.
“Not a chance.”
Getting to her feet, Georgianna picked up the second uniform. She stepped forwards and Alec recoiled further.
“It’s not for you,” she said, holding the uniform out to Keiran. “It’s for you.”
Keiran looked down at it. His jaw clenched, but he took the uniform just the same.
“Any advantage we can get, right?” Dhiren said.
Keiran nodded and took a deep, steadying breath. He held it up against his chest and it was clear that this one would need to be altered, too. Georgianna held a hand against his waist, holding it in place, and measured down his leg. Marking the spot with her fingers, she lifted the legs away from him. He released the uniform immediately, letting the rest of it slump to the floor at her feet. He barely looked at it as he stepped back.
“I’ve been allowed to see Beck,” he said.
“Really?” Georgianna asked. “Are they letting him go?”
“Depends on how this goes. If we come back successful, then maybe.”
“A lot riding on this then,” Dhiren said.
“You mean aside from our lives? Yeah.”
Keiran gazed through the open window and drew a cloth bag from where it had been hooked into his belt. Something dripped from the bottom, dark and thick. Georgianna grimaced. He dropped it at their feet and turned away.
“We’re leaving at sunset. I’ll be back soon as I can.”
He strode from the room and the others stared at the bag and the small dark puddle it had made on the floor.
Dhiren was the first to step forwards. He pinched the bag at a clean spot and lifted it. Something shifted inside and Georgianna wasn’t the only one who took a step back, wrinkling her nose. The smell was atrocious.
The hand sl
ipped from the bag and hit the floor with a slap. The skin was almost grey. Blood had congealed at the open wound where it had been disconnected at the wrist.
They had known they would need the Volsonnar’s approval to engage the Mykahnol, and it seemed, thanks to Beck, they now had it.
Georgianna held tight to the leather strap hanging from the ceiling as the ship swayed through the air. Bracing herself against the wall, she kept her gaze through the windscreen as their pilot, Jeshrom, had advised. The rocking of the ship swirled through her stomach and each lurch sent her heart into her mouth.
Jeshrom was a small woman. Sitting at the front of the Dalsaia ship, her head barely cleared the back of the seat, her thin hands only just wrapping around the controls. Her dark hair was pulled into a tight knot high on her head with the straps of her headset settled around it. A device was wired into her ear with a microphone in front of her mouth and a cord that fed down under her uniform to a pad placed over her heart. When she spoke, her voice echoed through speakers at the back of the ship even though they were all close enough to hear her clearly. Tohma sat by her side, his Cahlven uniform undone at the neck and the sleeves rolled up to his elbows. He read out instructions in the Cahlven language, frequently turning to translate over his shoulder.
The Dalsaia ship they had been allocated had no seats for passengers and was so small that they had to remain standing in order to fit inside. Keiran’s arm pressed against Georgianna’s on one side, Alec’s on the other. Dhiren stood opposite with Wrench, and when Georgianna risked looking away from the landscape spreading out before them, it was to find Dhiren looking as sick as she felt. He hadn’t taken Jeshrom’s advice, instead closing his eyes and tipping his face up towards the ceiling. He gagged and grimaced with each lurch.
Tohma spoke again in the Cahlven tongue and turned to look back at them.
“We are heading south, leading into the airspace over Adlai,” he said.
“What’s to stop the Adveni from just shooting us out of the sky, again?” Georgianna asked.
Though they had been planning the assault non-stop, now that she was actually in the ship it felt like all of their foresight had been useless. Pessimism had taken root, and no matter how hard she tried to focus on the plan, there was an obsession over the ways it could go wrong.
“Bringing ship down on buildings cause much damage,” Jeshrom replied in her broken Veuric, her voice echoing from both ends of the ship. “Almost much as explosion.”
“But it’s only a small ship,” said Georgianna.
“It does not matter,” Tohma said, his Veuric much clearer than Jeshrom’s. “With the velocity of the fall, we would take out too much. We are following a scenic route with the hope that the Adveni will think we are on a scouting mission. By the time they realise the truth, it will be too late.”
Georgianna nodded to nobody and turned her attention back to the windscreen. The moment she did, the buildings rushing beneath her made her stomach heave again. Like Dhiren, she tipped her head back and closed her eyes, waiting for the nausea to pass.
“The Mykahnol is in the basement of the building,” Wrench said. “If we’re correct, it’s seven flights down from the roof.”
They all nodded. Alec and Keiran began checking their weapons.
“Everyone’s on lookout except me and Tohma.”
Opening her eyes, Georgianna glanced at Wrench across the small space. He was leaning back against the wall, hunched over to check the devices in his pockets.
They’d known it would be impossible to get in at ground level. They had no idea how many Adveni would be inside the building until Jeshrom and Tohma could scan directly down from the ship. Georgianna was starting to think that she would have preferred to go in at ground level, even if it meant she might have to stand in the ship and wait. She’d never been involved in any Belsa missions before, not like this. In Lyndbury Compound she had only had to set a single device and run. She’d not had to fight anyone. Now, she was one part of a team and, if she cracked, they would all fail.
Georgianna gulped and pushed herself back against the wall. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to push back the rising bile in her throat.
“Who set you up, Med?” Dhiren asked.
She opened her eyes and looked back at him. His face was so pale it was almost grey and yet he unwound his hand from the leather strap and stepped across the gap.
“I did,” she said.
“Figures.” He attempted a laugh that fell flat as he pressed his hand against the wall above her shoulder to steady himself.
Drawing the gun from the holster that had been set around her hips, he held it up in front of her.
“Which hand do you shoot with?” he asked.
She held up her right. Dhiren pushed himself off the wall and wavered for a moment as he calibrated to the rocking of the ship. He pulled the knife from her right hip and replaced it at the left, fitting the gun in the knife’s original spot.
“You and Alec both draw across your bodies,” she said.
He grinned back at her.
“You’ll also notice Cartwright and I don’t have breasts,” he said.
Georgianna rolled her eyes.
“You have a copaq at your back, right?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Is the handle facing your right hand?”
As her right hand was currently tangled in leather, holding her in place, Georgianna reached back with her left to check. She nodded.
“And you have your extra bullets?”
“Yes,” she said. “Why are you only asking me this?”
“Because you’re the only one who looks like you’re about to throw up all over my shoes,” Dhiren said.
Georgianna blushed and he lay his hand over her cheek.
“You ready to die?”
“Hey!” Keiran shoved Dhiren in the shoulder, sending him staggering back against the wall. “Don’t say that.”
Taking Keiran’s hand, Georgianna squeezed his fingers and gave him a tentative smile before turning back to Dhiren. It was comforting, having him there. He didn’t lie to her and tell her it would be alright, that she would be safe. Though he could be blunt and even cruel, it felt familiar and she liked it.
“I am,” she said. Dhiren nodded and avoided Keiran’s glare as he moved across the gap.
“Alright,” he said. “Now make sure you don’t.”
Reaching up, he stroked his fingers over the leather cuff around her right wrist. When he returned to his position against the wall, she rested her head against Keiran’s shoulder. He kissed the top of her head and squeezed her hand.
“You alright?” he asked. “Remember your position?”
“Yeah. I’m ready.”
Only the rumble of the engine and the whoosh of air over the ship remained as they sped over the city towards the centre and the building they had marked.
“Two minutes,” Tohma said. “Starting the scan.”
Wrench was the first to move, straightening up and stretching his shoulders. Alec was next, unwinding his wrist from the leather strap and taking a shaky step towards the panel which would open up into a door.
“What about you, Jeshrom?” Georgianna asked.
“I set shields and follow you,” she said. “When in place, connected to weapon, I control from distance.”
Tohma had undone the buckle that strapped him into the seat and tapped Jeshrom on the shoulder as he climbed back to join them.
“Once the shields are set, we will have fifteen minutes before they are impassable.”
“We’re setting them to solid?” Georgianna asked.
“Have to,” Tohma said. “If we want to make sure the blast is contained, we need the highest setting. Jesh can change it remotely, but the connection and the original order must be made from the ship.”
Georgianna wasn’t the only one who looked uncomfortable at the news, but they all knew that Jeshrom would need to get down seven flights alone if she was to get
out.
The ship shuddered as it came to a halt. Tohma moved between them gracefully until he stood next to Alec by the panel door. The ship jerked and rocked harder than ever and, when Georgianna looked at Jeshrom, she had a control in each hand, manoeuvring the ship down towards the roof.
“Go,” Jeshrom said as the ship gave another ominous lurch and stopped entirely.
Tohma smacked a device on the wall and the panel slid out of place. Cold wet air rushed into the small craft as the door opened. There was no turning back.
Following Dhiren, with Keiran behind her, Georgianna took a deep breath, looked out across the Adlai skyline, and jumped.
The impact shuddered up Georgianna’s legs and along her spine. She crouched as she landed, pressing her hand against the stone and springing back up. Racing across the roof after the others, she glanced back as Keiran thudded down behind her and was at her side within three strides. He grasped her by the elbow and pushed her along, wheeling her in front of him as they came to the door. Pressing her back against the wall, she looked up and saw the grim determination in his eyes.
Tohma crouched in front of the door, wiggling a long, thin device into the lock. He glanced at a silver cuff around his wrist and turned the rod until a small screen in the metal flashed white. When he jammed the device further into the lock, it clicked. He waited a breath, his hand on the handle as he glanced to each of them in turn.
“Ready?”
Keiran just kept staring at her.
“Ready,” the others chorused. Georgianna didn’t join them.
“I love you,” she said instead.
He smiled, squeezed her arm, and then was gone.
Drawing the gun from her holster, Georgianna waited until Tohma had extracted the device from the lock. He tucked it into a pocket on his chest and clapped Wrench on the arm. The two of them set off down the stairs after Keiran and Alec.
The others carried knives. They wanted quick and quiet kills if they could get them. Dhiren looked at the gun in Georgianna’s hand, but didn’t say a word. She was grateful.
She counted out in her head as they had planned. Ten seconds. While most had agreed that going down as a single group would be safer, Alec had insisted on scouting ahead, arguing that, should he and Keiran encounter a problem, it would give the others time to turn back. Also, if she and Dhiren were stopped, the others would be further ahead with a better chance to escape.