by S. J. Bryant
"I have no idea what you're talking about. Does it look like I've moved?"
Kari frowned. Ryker did look pretty much the same as when she'd left.
"He hasn't moved," Atticus said. "And I wouldn't recommend he try for at least an hour."
"And too bad if I have to piss," Ryker said.
Kari glanced down the corridor. If it wasn't Ryker, then it had to be Wren or Piper. It didn't seem like the type of thing Piper would do, but then, neither would Wren…
She must have imagined it. It was probably her subconscious feeling guilty about taking a three-minute shower. Oh well, it was done now, and damn it had been worth it!
CHAPTER 3
"Better grab onto something!" Kari called, strapping herself into the captain's chair.
Minutes later, Ghost fell out of FTL and it was like someone had slammed the brakes on. The sudden change flung Kari forward in her seat and she would likely have gone through the front window if she hadn't buckled herself in.
The stars returned to normal pinpricks of distant lights and there, spread out beneath Ghost, was a large, green planet with masses of clouds hiding huge portions of the surface.
"We're here," Kari said, her voice echoing through the intercom. "Check the windows ladies and gentlemen, we're here!"
Ryevo was huge, bigger than Zenith, and so green. Even from this high up, Kari could see that most of the planet was covered in vibrant forests, the likes of which she hadn't even dreamed of. The distant sun was a warm and friendly yellow, so unlike the harsh glare of Zenith's sun.
Kari locked on to the biggest urban center—a tiny gray splodge amongst the green—and programmed a descent pattern. All those years she'd wasted between Zenith and the asteroids, and here was this beautiful green planet, just a few days at FTL travel away.
The planet grew bigger as they approached, and the broad patches of green resolved into towering forests of a thousand different types of trees.
Ghost shook and vibrated as they entered atmosphere, but they came out the other side into a blue-skied wonderland. The forest came right up to the outer edges of the main city, the branches casting cool shadows over the buildings.
Kari hurried from the captain's pod—trusting Ghost's automatic landing gear to take care of the rest—and into the dining room where everyone stood gaping at the windows.
Kari squeezed in beside Ryker and Piper. "Look at it," she said. "Have you ever seen so many trees?"
"How can there be so many?" Ryker said.
"And the people live above ground," Kari said. She gaped at the buildings. The city was small, even by Zenith standards, but all of the buildings were above ground. There were no tunnels for the population to hide in as soon as the sun came up. Instead, actual streets meandered between buildings with clear glass windows.
"It's beautiful," Piper said.
"It's too light," Wren said.
"Of course you'd say that," Kari said. "But imagine not having to run underground every day."
Atticus smiled like an older grandparent when their grandchildren first discover the taste of sugar.
"Imagine all the new things they'll have," Ryker said. "We have to get out and explore."
"Do you think it's safe?" Kari said to Atticus. "Will the Imperium find us here?"
Atticus frowned out of the window and shrugged. "Not straight away. They probably won't know that you have katium, so for now they'll keep looking in the Raxis system. And like you said, they've got a lot of others to find now. I imagine Eta and her rebels are giving them a lot to think about as well."
Kari grinned and felt a weight lifting off her shoulders. For the first time in a long time she could just enjoy herself. She and Piper could get to know each other properly without having to look over their shoulders or be worried about enforcers shooting them in the back. Finally, freedom. "Okay, get your stuff everyone. I have no idea what this place is like, so better take some weapons, and anything we might be able to trade."
Atticus and Ryker hurried away, Wren following more slowly, until just Piper and Kari stood at the windows. Rusty lay slumped in the corner, uninterested in the new planet.
"Isn't this great?" Kari said, grinning at Piper. But instead of excitement, she saw worry and dread in Piper's face. "What is it? What's wrong?"
"Wren means to kill you," Piper whispered.
"What? Why would you say something like that?" Kari knew that the Imperium had done something to Piper's head, but why would she say something so horrible, especially right now when things were going well?
"It's true."
"Piper, don't be ridiculous. Go and pack."
Piper locked eyes with Kari. "You have to believe me."
"Why? Why would Wren do that? And why now? Just stop it."
"She got the job when we were still in Raxis. You must have seen the signs. I assumed you knew and had some kind of plan, because how could anyone miss it? But then you kept pretending like everything was normal and now you plan to go to your room alone to pack and then… that's when she'll strike."
"Piper. That's enough."
"Please. Just think about it. Think about the signs."
"What signs? There haven't been any signs. Wren is just quiet, that's who she is."
Piper gripped Kari's wrists, squeezing them tight. "Listen to me!"
Kari wanted to resist, wanted to pull away, but a dark seriousness filled Piper's eyes and she couldn't. She had to at least listen to Piper so that she could put her fears at ease. Who knew what horrors she'd seen at the Imperium's hands? It only made sense that she'd be jumpy, would see danger where there was none. "Okay, I'm listening."
"She got the call when we were still in Raxis."
"Yes." Kari remembered, Wren had said it wasn't a job, was something else.
"And she came back here." Piper gestured at the dining room.
"Yes." Kari tried to keep calm, but she wanted to be out exploring the new planet, not talking crazy conspiracy theories with Piper. "She came back into the room, I remember."
"But not straight away," Piper said. "She was standing outside in the shadows."
"Wren has a tendency to lurk."
"She was holding her knife and looking straight at you. She was going to jump in, I just know it." Piper spoke in such a low whisper that Kari could barely hear her, but it didn't take away from the urgency in her voice.
"You're assuming—"
"I saw her!"
Kari shifted, uneasy. "Wren often plays with her knife."
"She was going to stab you, but then she realized we'd all see. She's been waiting for a chance ever since. I think she was going to try to kill you in the shower."
Kari's memory went back to the shower, to the noise she'd heard at the door. "No…"
"Yes. But she decided it would be too easy for her to get caught. But now… now she has a whole planet to hide in. If you go to your room now, she'll be waiting, and she will kill you."
"No." But Kari's voice had lost some of its conviction. Piper's story made sense, and was it just her imagination, or had Wren been acting especially strangely since they left Raxis? "But she said that if she ever got a job for me, that she'd let me buy it out."
"Not if it came from the Guild," Piper said.
Kari's blood went cold and a lump formed in her throat. She knew as well as anyone Wren's devotion to the Guild. If they'd asked Wren to kill her… she'd do it.
"You have to kill her first," Piper said.
"What?" Kari said, jolted out of her thoughts. "No! I won't kill her without reason."
"She'd do it to you."
"I can't believe that, not without evidence."
"I've given you evidence." Piper's face glowed red and the corners of her eyes gleamed.
"Piper, I'm not saying I don't believe you. I just need… more… before I do anything drastic."
"So what will you do?"
"I'll be ready. Tell Ryker to come to my room if you hear anything suspicious."
"But by then it might be too late."
"Wren has been with me for years," Kari said. "I'm not going to kill her in cold blood."
"But—"
"Please. Just go to Ryker."
Piper hesitated, then ran out of the dining room, and down the corridor beyond.
Kari took a steadying breath and pulled her pistol out of its holster. All the excitement she'd felt at arriving on a new planet was gone, burned away. Piper had to be wrong, she had to be! Surely after all these years, Wren wouldn't put her misplaced loyalty to the Guild above Kari's life… would she?
Kari kept her pistol ready, finger on the trigger, and trudged down the passage to her sleeping quarters. She felt like someone walking to their own death sentence. If Piper was right, then Wren would be waiting for her, probably just inside the shadows of her door. She'd have her knife ready…
Kari swallowed, paused at the door to her room, and then stepped inside.
She'd only just passed the threshold when a shadow lurched away from the darkness behind the door, arm swinging. A flash of metal caught the light from the hallway and there was no mistaking Wren's knife.
Kari ducked out of the way, bringing up her pistol.
A blue blast of plasma lit up the small sleeping quarters and slammed into Wren's shoulder, knocking her against the wall.
Shouts erupted through the ship, accompanied by the sound of running feet.
Wren's lip twisted. Blood and burned flesh glowed at her shoulder but she didn't slow, didn't even look at it. She crouched, knife ready.
Kari's hands shook as she aimed at Wren's head. After all these years. How could Wren do this? How could she be willing to stab Kari in the back, in cold blood? The streaming thoughts made Kari hesitate.
Footsteps drew closer.
Wren looked at the gun, looked at the door, and with a sudden rush of wind, she was gone.
Seconds later, Ryker and Piper burst into Kari's room, Atticus not far behind them.
"What the hell?" Ryker said.
"Are you okay?" Piper said, pushing through to Kari's side.
"I'm fine," Kari said. "I'm fine." But she felt far from fine. The lump in her throat made it hard to breathe and the corners of her eyes stung. She'd been seconds away from death. If Piper hadn't warned her, or if she'd been slightly slower in firing… she'd be dead.
"What the hell?" Ryker said. "Who were you shooting?"
"Wren."
"What?"
"She tried to kill me."
"Is this some kind of joke?" Ryker said. "Because it's not funny."
"It's not a joke." Kari's knees shook and she fell onto her bed, exhausted and filled with adrenalin at the same time.
"The Guild put a job on Kari's head," Piper said.
"What?" Ryker and Atticus said together.
Kari nodded. "It's the only thing that makes sense. She was waiting for me." She used her gun to point to the shadows behind the door. "Piper saw the signs… she warned me."
"If Wren tried to kill you," Ryker said. "Then you should be dead."
"Tell me about it," Kari rubbed her aching head. "I managed to get a shot off first, hit her shoulder."
"Where is she?" Atticus said.
"She ran off."
"But if she's still alive…" Ryker said. "Then you're still in danger."
Kari nodded. She didn't need Ryker to tell her that. She knew what Wren was like with a job. She'd keep hunting, keep finding new ways of tracking Kari down until she finished the job. No matter what happened, as long as Wren was alive, Kari was in danger.
She bowed her head and fought back tears. She'd been so damn close to freedom, and now… ripped away by someone who was supposed to be her friend.
CHAPTER 4
Atticus' heart thrummed as he paced across the room, glancing over his shoulder every few steps, sure that he'd see Wren wielding a knife behind his back. What the hell had just happened? One minute they'd been excited to arrive on a new planet—Atticus could enjoy some of the excitement, even though he'd been to Ryevo before—and the next minute there'd been gunfire. Atticus couldn't process it. Sure, Wren was dark at times, and kept to herself. But was she really so heartless that she'd try to kill Kari without so much as a warning?
Kari's head snapped up. "We have to go."
"Whoa," Ryker said. "Calm down. We can't go out there. Wren will be waiting for another chance."
"We can't stay here," Kari said. "You know what she's like, how good she is. She's probably set up poison or bombs, or who knows what else all through the ship. If we stay, we may as well be killing ourselves."
Ryker's face turned stony but Atticus could see fear in his eyes.
"Right," Ryker said. "Everyone grab what you can carry. We're leaving."
Atticus ran to his room, snatched his tool bag and a half-packed satchel of his belongings, and raced toward Ghost's front door. He stopped just before stepping out, imagining Wren crouched on the other side. Did she have a job to kill him too? Or would she do it just to get to Kari?
Atticus' skin crawled, as if Wren already had a knife to the back of his neck. A person couldn't pretend to be friendly one moment, and then draw a knife the next… it just wasn't right.
The others hurried to Atticus' side, all of them flushed and carrying ragged bags. Ryker bristled with weapons.
"Atticus," Ryker said. "You've been here before. Do you know any places to lie low?"
"What?" Atticus said. "I… no… I was here with the military. We didn't exactly—"
"Right," Ryker said. "Kari, you stay in the middle. Wren might not be the person I thought she was, but I don't think she'll kill us to get to you unless she absolutely has to. We'll get out of the ship and find somewhere to regroup. Then we'll plan our next move."
"Right," Kari said.
She looked calmer than Atticus felt. Wasn't she reeling inside? Didn't she feel death's icy hand on her shoulder?
He shook his head to get the thoughts away and focused on Ryker.
"Move!" Ryker said.
They poured out of the ship and across the open area that served as a landing pad. A few ships dotted the area but the otherwise empty space gave clear lines of sight all the way to the trees on one side, and the first line of buildings on the other.
"Did anyone notice if she had a sniper?" Ryker said.
"I don't know," Kari said.
"She didn't," Piper said.
"Are you sure?" Ryker said.
"There were three sniper rifles on board Ghost. You're carrying all of them."
"Right," Ryker said.
"She has a set of grenades, a shotgun, a plasma pistol, and at least six knives," Piper added.
Atticus turned to stare at her and in so doing lost his footing and tripped on a small pebble. He staggered, wheeling his arms, but stayed upright and kept running. How did Piper know all that? He'd met people with uncanny powers of perception before, but she was on a whole other level. Those people could notice things when they were looking, but Piper seemed to observe everything, even without trying. It was a gift… whether she realized it or not.
"Good," Ryker said. "Then we're safe from long-range fire. At least for now. This way."
He led them around the side of a line of ships and then across a patch of open ground. Atticus ran with his head ducked. No matter what Ryker said, he wouldn't be surprised if Wren could throw a knife with the same accuracy as someone using a sniper rifle.
They got to the edge of the landing area and slipped over a raised mound of dirt into a ditch-like ravine that ran the length of the shipping yard. A thin trickle of water flowed along its base toward the buildings.
Atticus slid down the side of the ditch and landed in a puddle, his boots sinking a few inches into wet mud that gave off a moist, earthy smell.
"Keep moving." Ryker led them down the culvert toward the buildings.
"She'll have seen us," Kari said.
"Yes, and she'll have a fifty-fifty guess as to which direction we've gon
e now."
"It's not like our tracks will be hard to follow," Kari said.
Atticus glanced back. Sure enough, their footprints made deep impressions in the mud that even an untrained tracker would be able to follow.
"I'm all ears if you've got a better idea," Ryker said. "But you know how skilled Wren is. Even if we walked backward across hard concrete, she'd still be able to follow us."
Kari didn't respond and they kept running.
Dark clouds rolled in from over the forest and darkened the sky above them, casting everything into dim shadows. Thunder rumbled somewhere far over their heads.
The culvert ran along the edge of the town, walled on one side by buildings and on the other by forest. A few blocks in, Ryker paused and climbed out of the ravine into the shelter of an alley.
Kari clambered after him, followed by Piper.
Atticus came last. His boots slipped and slid in the slick mud until the whole front of his pants were coated in red dirt.
Ryker reached down with his thick hand and grabbed Atticus' wrist, hauling him over the edge of the ditch and depositing him on the ground.
A pile of rubbish filled most of the alley they'd found themselves in, giving off a strong smell of rot and decay—far worse than the smell of mud.
"Duck," Ryker said, gesturing beside the pile of rubbish. "It's not pretty but it's better than standing out in the open."
Atticus hunkered beside Piper with his back against the building. The side of his arm brushed against a rotting piece of fruit—so far gone that he couldn't tell what it had once been.
"You've got the road?" Ryker said to Kari.
She nodded. "You can see the ditch?"
"Yeah."
Atticus let out a long breath and tried to be grateful that he had Ryker and Kari—they seemed to know how to handle being hunted. Still, he would have preferred to be strolling through the markets of Zenguan than huddling in a muddy pile of rubbish.
Another clap of thunder boomed over their heads, making Atticus jump. It brought with it a cold breeze that cut through his clothes, right to the skin.
"Right," Ryker said. "What the hell?"
Kari shrugged. "The Guild put out a job on me, she took it."