Cold Revenge

by Jaleta Clegg

  Harris dumped a handful of clothing next to me. He’d grabbed whatever was on top in my locker. I looked at the tunic and leggings without really seeing them.

  "Can I have some scissors, please? Or something?" I hated begging, but walking around with my strange haircut was somehow even more demeaning. I hadn’t thought I cared what I looked like. I was wrong.

  Tom gave me a flat stare. I turned around, shoulders sagging.

  The ship passed into hyperspace, lurching because of the missing stabilizers. I crumpled to my knees, holding onto the sink. It was hopeless. Everything I’d risked had been for nothing. I hoped Tayvis would have realized something was wrong. I hoped he’d come barreling out of the nebula and save me. Too late, a nasty little voice inside my head whispered. He wasn’t going to rescue me this time. Hot tears stung my eyes.

  Hands touched my head, more gentle than I expected. I flinched, looking behind. I expected Tom. My personal thug was nowhere in sight. Jerimon was behind me, holding a tiny pair of scissors. He didn’t look happy.

  "What do you want?" I flung the words at him, wishing they were weapons. This was his fault. "You came to gloat?"

  He touched the stubble on the top of my head. "I came to see what I could do to help."

  "Isn’t Harris going to object?" I wanted to stay mad. I couldn’t, not seeing he was as upset as I was. He had backed up my lies. I had to give him credit for that.

  "He doesn’t care what happens to you now," Jerimon said. "If you stay quiet and don’t draw attention, he’ll most likely ignore you."

  I closed my eyes and leaned against the sink. I shifted my legs around until I sat flat on the floor. "I thought he wanted me dead."

  "He’ll get around to that, eventually." Jerimon clipped strands of my hair. They fell into my lap.

  "Doesn’t he care that you’re in here? Helping me?"

  "I convinced him that you were my girlfriend, at least when Tayvis wasn’t around." He knelt in front of me, lifting my hair bit by bit.

  I watched his face as he cut my hair.

  "He believed me," Jerimon said. Because it just might have been true, he didn’t need to say.

  "Why, Jerimon?"

  "Trust me," he whispered. He pulled my head forward and finished clipping the rest of my hair off. It was as short as it had been through all my years in the Academy.

  Tom came back, standing impatiently behind Jerimon. "Boss wants you," he said to Jerimon.

  Jerimon pulled my head up, cradling my cheeks in his hands. His blue eyes searched mine for a long minute. He kissed me, a brief brush of lips against mine. He got up and walked away, without a single backwards glance.

  I looked at the pile of hair around me. I picked up one long strand, brushing it through my fingers. Trust him? After he’d betrayed me? I couldn’t find the energy to be angry. I looked up at Tom.

  "Can I be alone in here? Just this once. I promise to behave." I wanted privacy. I wanted to cry where no one would see.

  Tom hesitated. He looked upset as he stared at the hair scattered around me. He finally nodded. He bent over and removed the cuffs. The door slid shut behind him, leaving me alone.

  I cried as I picked up my hair and shoved it into the disposal unit. I stared at my face in the mirror. My eyes were red, tears streaked my cheeks. My face looked thin and haunted under the stubble on my head.

  I climbed into the shower. I cried as the fine spray battered me. It was hopeless. As bad as anything I’d ever faced. I wondered where we were headed. I let the warm air dry me and stepped out of the shower. I pulled on the clothes Tom had got for me without bothering to care what color they were.

  Tom waited until I opened the door. He clicked the cuffs back on my limp wrists and took me back to the bench. I rolled up in a ball. Harris wasn’t at the table or in the cockpit, I heard him talking with Jerimon in the small cargo bay. I didn’t care what he said. I didn’t care if he stole everything I owned including the ship. All I wanted right then was for him to let me and my friends go.

  As if that was ever going to happen. I rolled onto my side and went to sleep. There was nothing else for me to do.

  Chapter 24

  The Avenger nosed into a docking slip at the tiny station. The ship was too big to land on a planet and orbital stations were few and far between in this sector of space. Captain Suweya insisted he had to report to his commanding officer, letting her know what he was doing and why. He insisted Tayvis add his own personal note to the message. As soon as they docked, the com officer sent the captain's message.

  Tayvis went on station to make his call. He knew Suweya would be checking his credentials. He commandeered a com booth and called the base on the planet below. He asked to speak with Major Talus. The name triggered a coded message. He found himself facing an older woman, wearing a silver uniform and quartermaster’s stripes.

  She studied him. "Yes?"

  "I have a message for Grant Lowell."

  The woman’s expression didn’t change. She waited for him to speak.

  "Tell him Tayvis accepts his agreement." The words threatened to choke him.

  She smiled, a wry grin that said she understood exactly what he felt. "I’ll pass on the message. And Tayvis," she waited for him to look at her, "welcome back."

  She clicked off. He sat in the booth, brooding. He had done it to save Dace. He hadn’t had a choice. She wouldn’t understand, but she had to. He stood, taking a deep breath. No more Ensign, no more orders he didn’t want to follow. It was Sector Commander now, one with almost unlimited resources at his command. He hated breaking up their team, he hated the confused stare Mryah had given him when he and Darus came back from the bridge. Word spread through the ship faster than any official message could possibly travel. By the time they got back to the gunnery section, everyone knew that it wasn’t Ensign Tayvis or even Gunnery Unit Leader Tayvis. It was Sector Commander of the Enforcers. Touk understood. He still hadn’t liked it. Touk saluted him with the stiff formality that should exist between officers and enlisted men. Tayvis saw the reproach in Touk’s eyes. He wanted to explain, but there weren’t adequate words. He finally left the gunnery section entirely.

  Two of the pursers doubled up on their cabins to give him one of their tiny cabins. The rest of the crew treated him with distance. None of them trusted him now. He kept to himself and wished that he’d fallen in love with someone who wasn’t quite such a disaster magnet.

  They refueled quickly and moved out. Within a few hours they were on their way to Viya Station. Tayvis stayed in his cabin most of the time, brooding and wondering what he was going to do.

  Darus knocked at his door on the third day out. Tayvis opened the door and almost closed it again. Darus was the last person he wanted to talk to. The older man pushed his way in.

  "I could put you on report for that," Tayvis said as the door slid shut. He leaned against the wall.

  Darus made himself comfortable on Tayvis’ bunk, the only real place to sit in the cramped cabin. "Payback for that time I put you on report?"

  "For bad table manners. Couldn’t you have at least thought of something that sounded better in my file?" Tayvis studied Dace’s father. He was just as short as she was, and almost as impossible to deal with. "That’s not why you’re here, though. Kissing up to the superior officer isn’t your style."

  "No, I’m here to help you figure out how to get Dace out of her mess," Darus said and sobered quickly. "She’s in deep, isn’t she?"

  Tayvis nodded.

  "I think it’s time you leveled with me about her," Darus said. "I’ve heard rumors, ones she won’t deny but she won’t elaborate on, either. You were there for most of her adventures. Tell me the truth, Tayvis. What really happened with her?"

  "When?" Tayvis sat on one end of his bunk.

  Darus lifted a finger. "Dadilan." Tayvis gave him a sidelong glance. "Highly classified crap, yes. But Dace was there and so were you. You’d be amazed what makes it through the rumor circuit."

  "N
o, I wouldn’t. Dadilan. Nasty planet. That’s where I met her. Did she tell you I pulled a knife on her?"

  "I’m not surprised." Darus folded the thin pillow behind his back. "What was she doing there?"

  "Running, mostly. No one believed her, of course, including me. Nobody landed on that planet without a very good reason. She claimed she crashed." He went silent, remembering.

  "And?" Darus prodded Tayvis with the toe of his boot.

  "And I’m not supposed to talk about any of it."

  Darus blew a raspberry. "When has that stopped you?"

  "You’d be surprised."

  "Not if you clam up."

  "What are you really after, Darus?"

  "I want to know my daughter before she gets herself killed. You know her best."

  "Jasyn probably knows her better by now."

  "Jasyn isn’t here. You are."

  Tayvis shifted to a more comfortable position. Darus watched him, studying him with eyes only a shade lighter brown than Dace’s. Tayvis looked away.

  "So, don’t tell me the private stuff," Darus said. "Tell me what she likes. Tell me what she can do. Tell me she can wiggle her way off her ship and out of trouble in one piece."

  "She’s the luckiest idiot I’ve ever met." Tayvis smiled, a wry twitch of one corner of his mouth.

  "An idiot?"

  "Absolutely naive and incredibly dumb at times," Tayvis clarified. "Part of her charm, I guess."

  "Tell me what she did, Tayvis. Please."

  "On Dadilan? She managed to destroy the entire planet’s government, turned it right on its head. And break open not one, but three smuggling rings. She put at least a hundred people in prison."

  "No wonder she’s got so many enemies."

  "That was only the start of it. From what I can guess, the Targon Syndicate finally caught up with her."

  "Organized crime?" Darus shook his head. "She’s a total idiot, all right."

  "She claims it was accidental. She needed a job and Belliff was the only company hiring pilots at the time. That’s where she got mixed up with the Sessimoniss. She was their high priestess. She looked ridiculous, running around in a robe two feet too long and carrying that rock everywhere. She said it talked to her."

  "Pull the other leg, Tayvis. I came here because I thought you might tell me the truth." Darus stood.

  "Sit down, Darus. It’s the truth. Complete and total truth."

  "You expect me to believe that?"

  "Believe it or not. Your choice." Tayvis lounged on the bunk.

  Darus studied his face, searching for clues. He finally sighed and sat back down. "The truth, Tayvis, not the stories. I’ve heard those and, frankly, they can’t be true."

  "They aren’t," Tayvis agreed. "I’ve heard most of them and they aren’t even close to the truth. The truth about Dace is much wilder. I was there, on Serrimonnia with her. Me, Jasyn, and her brother, Jerimon. Ask them sometime about it."

  "No one knows where their homeworld is," Darus objected.

  "Dace does. She says Serrimonnia isn’t it. The Sessimoniss are even older. You were with her on Vallius in the Kumadai Run. I wasn’t. Think about it. Would you believe what she did if you hadn’t been there?"

  "No, I wouldn’t have believed it," Darus finally admitted.

  "One more civilization she’s destroyed."

  "How many does that make?" Darus settled back against the pillow.

  Tayvis thought for a long moment. "Three, maybe not destroyed but definitely changed. And at least one crime syndicate."

  "In two years? No wonder Lowell wants her."

  Tayvis shifted. Lowell was not a name he wanted to hear. Not until he couldn’t avoid it anymore.

  "I thought you’d resigned, Tayvis." Darus was almost as uncanny at picking the subject you most wanted to avoid as Dace was.

  "I did. I had to get Lowell to back me up for pulling rank on Suweya. I just hope Dace understands why I did it."

  "Why does she hate Lowell so much?"

  "She hates the whole Patrol. With the exception of the two of us." He grinned at Darus then frowned. "I’m not sure why. Something to do with her childhood. She won’t talk much about it. I don’t blame her for trying to erase it."

  "I’ve read some of the reports about Tivor. I tried to get her mother out." Darus looked away, blinking back old tears. "I didn’t know about Dace or I would never have given up."

  "She knows that, Darus. She doesn’t blame you."

  "Not anymore," Darus said. "She was really mad at me and I couldn’t figure out why. After we lifted off Vallius, I cornered her and that’s when she dropped the bombshell. Left me completely speechless. I had no idea she was my daughter." He wiped his eyes and looked at Tayvis. "What can I do to get her out of the mess she’s in now?"

  Tayvis grinned and clapped him on the shoulder. "You can always testify at my courtmartial. Tell them I’m absolutely insane."

  "Judging by your table manners—"

  "You did that just to make trouble."

  "It worked."

  "I’ll get you back. Sometime."

  "I’ll watch my back. Or, better yet, I’ll sic Dace on you."

  "Don’t make her choose between us, Darus."

  "Never. But that doesn’t mean I can’t send her to harass you."

  "I wish you could right now."

  "She loves you, Tayvis. Even a blind man could see that. She lit up when she saw you on Parrus. I admit I’m a bit jealous."

  "Then help me get her back."

  "You have an idea?"

  "We need a few million credits. In small denominations."

  "Raid Lowell’s slush fund."

  "I like the way you think."

  "Tell me why you need so much money. You have a plan?"

  "I’m beginning to get one. I need more information, first."

  Tayvis stood and paced in the small cabin. Four steps one way, four steps back to the door. Darus pulled his feet onto the bunk so he wouldn’t trip Tayvis.

  "How well do you know her ship layout?" Tayvis asked Darus.

  "Give me some paper," Darus said.

  Tayvis popped open a locker and rifled through it. He opened another and grinned. He pulled out a stack of paper and a stylus.

  "I need to know everything you can tell me about her ship. I’ve never really been on it."

  Darus took the paper without comment and started sketching.

  "It would help to know who is on the ship with her, but we can work on that later." Tayvis stood over Darus, watching him draw.

  "It might help if you sat down and quit hovering over me." Darus waited until Tayvis sat on the bunk. "Tell me about Dace, Tayvis."

  Tayvis leaned against the wall and pictured her in his mind. Darus would understand the stories. Darus wanted a chance to know Dace. It didn’t matter how classified the stories were. He told Darus about the Sessimoniss, about Dadilan. Darus drew detailed diagrams of the ship as he talked. He ran out of stories before Darus was through.

  Darus looked up when Tayvis fell silent. "Tell me about the Cygnus Sector. Jasyn wouldn’t tell me what happened. And Dace clammed up tight anytime it was mentioned."

  Tayvis didn’t want to remember it either.

  "What happened?"

  "She was kidnapped," Tayvis said flatly. Dace had been a wreck when he’d found her in the woods.

  "How did she escape?" Darus asked. He added what he remembered of the access conduits and wiring.

  "With the help of Lowell, three squads of Enforcers, a dozen or two other Patrol, an entire Planetary Survey team, Jasyn and Clark, and more dumb luck than any person should have." He picked up the stack of completed diagrams. "She shouldn’t have survived that one."

  "But she did. She’ll survive this one. She has to."

  "I hope she hasn’t run out of luck," Tayvis said.

  "If she has, then we’ll just have to make luck for her. What did she mean when she said it was like old times?"

  "She was telling me to head
for Viya Station, at least I hope that’s what she meant. The coordinates she gave us put her in that general neighborhood."

  "And give her regards to your brother?"

  "I haven’t figured that one out yet," Tayvis admitted. "She knows about my family. That’s what she asked about on Parrus. So I told her." He avoided mentioning the other things she’d said on Parrus. Darus was her father, he didn’t need to know.

  "Who’s your brother?" Darus finished with what he remembered of Dace’s ship. He handed the papers over to Tayvis.

  "I don’t have a brother. I’ve got three half brothers that I barely know."

  "So, why did she ask about them?"

  "Maybe it was all she could think of that would tell me things weren’t what they seemed. Without tipping off whoever’s holding her on that ship."

  "I think you might be right."

  Tayvis shuffled through the papers.

  Darus glanced at the clock on the wall. "I’m on duty in ten minutes. Some of us still have duties."

  "You want me back on point?" Tayvis asked.

  "Bad for morale if you did. Although if things get tight, I’d want you there rather than anyone else."

  "Highest marks on this ship in eighteen years but they don’t want me back. Mryah almost hit me with a plate of scrambled eggs after she heard. Only the fact I’m an officer stopped her. She thinks I betrayed her by not telling her about it."

  "At least you don’t have to click your heels at Jimbo anymore," Darus said, referring to Suweya’s pompous second in command. He used the nickname that everyone used behind the tubby man’s back.

  "If life were simple, that’s where I’d choose to be," Tayvis said.

  "You work on a way to get Dace back," Darus said. "I’ll keep our gunners on their toes."

  He flipped a mock salute at the door.

  Tayvis watched the door slide shut. He hoped he was on to something that would help. He had to be. The alternative was too depressing to think about.