“I don't know.” Hal tried to remember if he'd heard from Rial about the condition of the UC officer, but nothing came to mind. He'd been too busy trying to get Fiona back.
She took a small kesti cake, chewed it thoughtfully, if not enthusiastically. “How did you know to come after me, by the way? Was it that medic I waved to? And how did you find me?”
“Yes, it was Rial. If you hadn't waved to him, we wouldn't have known what had happened to you until hours later.”
“But even if you knew I was on Larga Ways, how did you know to chase Cy? Rial didn't follow us into that building.”
“You were wearing a cadet uniform. They have a tracking device embedded in them so we can keep an eye on the students. Finding you was easy.” Actually, all guest uniforms had tracking devices, not just the cadets, but Hal didn't think that was relevant right now.
“Well, I want to thank you.” She reached across the table and touched the tips of her fingers to the back of his hand before withdrawing. “Seeing you running down the dock to try and save me, it meant a lot. And when Eazi told me you'd chased after me in a runner and were just outside, I was honestly amazed that you had gone to so much trouble.”
She was his responsibility and potentially a key witness that would bring the Tecran to their knees, but Hal admitted to himself he would have gone after her even if she wasn't. Not only was she part of his crew now, but the way Cy had treated her, the way she'd been used, over and over again by others with no concern for her or what they'd taken from her, enraged him. Made him determined to balance the scales a little. And if his skin still tingled from the touch of her fingers, well, that wasn't something he was going to dwell on.
“You're under my protection,” he said, and found his voice was rougher than usual. “I——”
“I think you need to speak to Cy.” Eazi's voice came through the comm system, rather than their earpieces.
“What's wrong?” Fiona stood, touching a slim, sparkling crystal that hung from her neck.
Eazi had obviously been generous with what he had drawn for her from the stores, but Hal had to admit to himself her deep cleavage was more fascinating to him than the jewelry Eazi had given her. Her shape was so much more voluptuous than any Grihan woman, and he fought to keep his focus on the matter at hand.
“Is he making threats again?” Fiona lifted her cup and drained the last of her water.
“He's been shouting he needs to talk to you for a while, but he's finally given a little more detail. Unfortunately, I think he's telling the truth. It confirms some things that have bothered me for a while.”
“What things?” Hal pushed away from the table as well.
“Cy claims after the other two Class 5s were taken by the Grih, the Tecran High Command put in place a way to make sure it didn't happen again. Or at least, to prevent the Grih getting any more Class 5s on their side.”
“A self-destruct mechanism?” Hal said it softly. Battle Center should have made this leap themselves. Maybe they had, and just hadn't put out the word yet.
“Surely that's not right?” Fiona frowned, her hand clutched around her necklace. “You're in control, and you wouldn't destroy your own ship.”
“According to Cy, the activation switch is down below, on the facility on Balco. They haven't hit the button yet, because we're still here, but I'm going to go back into Kyber's Arm. According to Cy, the storm's interference is the only way to guarantee this ship won't blow up.”
23
“How many hours have you been shut up in there?” Fee asked Cy as the ramp lowered. “Four hours?”
Hal had his shockgun trained on the Tecran, and Cy raised his hands in surrender and slumped down into the more comfortable pilot's seat inside the runner, rather than the one he'd been tied to for so long.
“So?” Cy opened his mouth and leaned toward her in what she assumed was an aggressive display.
“That's a long time to know we could all blow up at any time and say nothing about it.”
Hal took a step closer, and she could see the same curiosity on his face. “I agree. If death is imminent, you've taken your time about telling us.”
Cy moved his head, turning it right and then left, as if to ease some muscle cramp, and Fee guessed being tied up for so long, he probably was stiff, even if he'd been free for a couple of hours. That he was almost able to turn his head 180 degrees from front to back was just a footnote in the craziness her life had become.
“I tried to tell you before you shut me in.”
“Not that hard, and you left it to the last minute.” Hal said.
Cy pouted. “If they do it, it'll be as a last resort.” He shot Fee a filthy look. “This ship is the pride of the Tecran fleet. They'll explore every other option before they destroy it, but they'll do it if they think it's been taken from them.”
He stood as he spoke, his gaze shooting daggers at the runner's lenses. “It started after that battle we had in Grih territory last month. Although I knew there were other Class 5s, we were absolutely banned from talking about them, ever, even onboard our own Class 5. I didn't realize it until we got to Grih airspace, but that battle was to either get one of our Class 5s back, or destroy it so it didn't fall into enemy hands. Something went wrong though, and they pulled us out of the battle. I suppose they realized the very thing that makes the Class 5s so powerful also means they are almost impossible to destroy. Captain Flato was nervous after that. We were sent off on a few unimportant missions, which felt like they were just trying to keep us busy and far away from the action. When we got to Balco this week, the first thing the captain did was allow some of the crew who staff the facility below to come up. They made some alterations to the ship. I offered to take them back to Balco, and it was clear enough they were installing an explosive of some kind, one that could be triggered from a considerable distance away.”
“They didn't tell you openly that if you were boarded by the enemy, you'd be sacrificed to the greater good?” Hal's voice was dry.
“No. I know how High Command works, I wouldn't expect them to, but the techs from below didn't really even talk among themselves while they were here, and believe me, I was listening carefully. It was only when I took them back to Balco, landed the runner, and got out to share a meal with them before returning that I picked up some of what they were doing. No one needed to tell me it would be a last resort. I know how much the Class 5s mean to High Command.”
“You say you suspected something like this?” Fee asked Eazi, looking up at the lens in the launch bay so he would know she was talking to him.
“I knew something was going on.” He spoke into her ear. “I knew they'd brought something dangerous up, but I wasn't able to see what they were doing. Flato removed all lens and audio feed from that whole area. I've sent some drones in there to try to see what they did, but whatever they've installed, they've set it behind the wall and removed all cables near it. There's no way to know where in the storage room they even put it, and I'm afraid if I use the drones or even you and the captain to look for it more thoroughly, there may be a trip switch that activates it. Our only option at the moment is to disable the switch itself, and that's down on Balco.” The fury and frustration he felt at being helpless came through, loud and clear.
“You're speaking to whoever took over the ship?” Cy glared at her. “You seem on good terms.” The accusation in his tone made her laugh out loud.
“Yes, I'm on good terms with him. What are you going to do about it? Put me on the Tecran Naughty List? I was happily minding my own business on Earth, you're the ones who forced me to be here. For you to act all injured when I fight against you because of that is absolutely unbelievable.” She pushed her hair behind her ear with a hand shaking with rage, then took a deep, cleansing breath. “Good terms is the least of it. Any enemy of yours is a close personal friend of mine.”
Hal turned to look at her, eyebrow raised, and Fee moved a little self-consciously. Guess she'd needed to get that o
ut of her system. And being clean, well-fed, well-rested and well-dressed again helped her feel more like herself.
Her old, Earth, view of herself had been as a young, attractive woman with a challenging and fulfilling job, but in the last three months she'd been a prisoner and a slave, and the Garmman had even forced her to hide her face and her identity behind a mask.
Looking at the heat in the captain's gaze as he stared at her, she realized being found attractive again was good for her self-esteem. And it didn't hurt she felt that attraction right back, in a heart-skipping, breath-hitching punch.
When Hal had found her, she knew he and his crew had seen her as a weak and helpless victim. She felt more in control now, stronger, in her golden silk, with some food in her stomach and her injuries healed. And it looked like Captain Vakeri didn't see her as weak and helpless anymore.
He cleared his throat. “We in Kyber's Arm yet?” He turned his head up to the lens as well.
“Yes.” Eazi's voice came through her earpiece, so she assumed he was talking to Hal that way, too. “That means we're out of signal range on Balco, but up until we moved back in, the Balco facility was signaling us over and over. They're using code, one I don't have the key to. As they would know I wouldn't receive any messages inside Kyber's Arm, Captain Flato must have intended to take me out of the storm when he got onboard.”
“So their fingers are going to get itchy pretty soon,” Fee said. “And when they do, as soon as we leave Kyber's Arm, boom.”
“Why would Flato take the Class 5 out of Kyber's Arm?” Hal asked Cy.
The Tecran shrugged, surliness in every line, then frowned as he considered the question properly. “I can only think it's because they're monitoring the comms from Larga Ways, and they've heard about the abduction.”
Hal nodded slowly. “You're right. Of course they're monitoring what's happening on Larga Ways and Balco's capital cities.”
“Maybe Flato told the ground crew he'd move out of Kyber's Arm so they could keep him updated.” Fee knew in the captain's place, she'd have done the same. He'd have wanted to know what was happening, not be stuck in the storm, unable to communicate. Especially if he knew it was her who'd been abducted. According to Eazi, she was supposed to have been delivered to the Balco facility weeks ago by the Garmman. Flato would want to know what had gone wrong, and if the Garmman had betrayed them.
“So, what do we do?” Fee crossed her arms over her chest, dread rising in her even as she registered and enjoyed the soft, almost velvety feel of the silk against her skin.
There really was only one thing to do. She just didn't want to do it.
“We take the runner back to Larga Ways.” Cy watched them with sharp eyes.
“That's not going to help the Class 5,” Hal said. “Even if we go back, get down to the surface of Balco and find this facility, all without letting the Tecran know the Class 5 is no longer theirs, they may still have activated the destruct mode. If we can't work out how to reverse it, the Class 5 will be forced to hover here until it runs out of energy.”
Fee felt a renewed surge of warmth for him. She'd told Eazi before that Hal was a protector, but she was glad that extended to Eazi as well.
She would have to go down, but it sounded like he would go with her.
“The Grih aren't in control of this ship,” Cy sounded as if he was very certain of that. “What do you care what happens to it?”
Hal rubbed a hand through his spiky hair. “The person who is in control has declared himself a friend of the Grih. So I'll do my best to help him.”
Cy's eyes went very wide. “You make it sound like a single person. Who is it?”
Neither she nor Hal said anything and he stood and stared at them as Eazi closed the runner's ramp again, shutting him in.
The fear of facing more Tecran, of making herself a target for them again, had initially swamped her. But she knew she couldn't run. There was nothing for it but to go down and try to destroy whatever it was that could blow up the Class 5.
The Tecran would keep coming for her, and Eazi was an ally she had started to count on. For his sake and hers, she would help him.
She drew in a deep breath. “Would you like to come down with me, Captain? Otherwise, I can ask Eazi to send you back to Larga Ways.”
Hal stared at her. “Would I like to go down with you?” He seemed to struggle for a moment.
Fee frowned. “Yes.”
He kept his gaze locked on her. “A foreign power has set up a military operation on a Grihan planet, and they're spying on us. As a senior officer of Grih Battle Center, I'm obliged to investigate. I also know my superiors would want me to do anything to safeguard this Class 5, and heading down to Balco will help with that. But why on Guimaymi's Star do you want to go?”
“Because I promised Eazi I'd help him.” And he'd offered her a place here, without conditions or strings. As someone without a place left in the world, that offer had been a precious gift. She could run, she could stay up here and wait for something to happen, or she could act. And if they were successful, they'd be ruining the Tecrans' plans. Something she could really get behind.
Hal had schooled his features and she had no idea what he was thinking.
“So, you're coming?”
“Yes,” he said at last. “I'm coming.”
“Good.” She gave him a sunny smile. “I need to get out of this dress, and then perhaps we can meet outside the armory? I'm sure Eazi can provide us with some weapons.”
She turned on her heel and walked out of the launch bay, leaving Captain Vakeri staring after her.
24
“You could be hurt down on Balco.” Eazi spoke to her the moment the launch bay doors closed behind her.
“But we'll both theoretically be safer off this ship,” Fee said, touching the crystal around her neck again.
“Both——” He seemed stymied for a moment. “You mean, I come with you?”
“Yes.” Fee shrugged. “As you said earlier, your corporeal form is hanging around my neck. I'm assuming you could gain access to the systems at the facility. Maybe find which program would activate the self-destruct. Probably better than Captain Vakeri and I could, anyway.”
“I . . . I hadn't thought of myself as separate from the ship. It's so much a part of me, but . . . you're right. If I'm not on the ship and it explodes, I'll still be fine.”
Fee walked into her rooms. “If not fine, at least alive.”
“I hope it doesn't come to that.” There was almost a tremor in his voice, like a little bit of static on the line.
“Well, that's the reason we're going down.” She smoothed a hand regretfully over the dress. The stretchy silk made it a one-size-fits-all affair that she'd shimmied into by pulling it over her head. She suspected it had been cut to hit someone's knees, whereas it was below calf length on her. “What can I wear instead of this? Because no way can I creep around a secret facility looking like I'm about to walk the red carpet.”
The door of her room gave a polite ping, and then opened to admit a drone.
“I took some fabric from the stores and had an outfit made for you while you were eating, using your exact dimensions.” Eazi told her.
“Ooh. You have a way to make clothes?” Fee reached into the drone's box and pulled out an outfit.
“Yes.” He sounded amused, and she guessed making clothes was quite literally child's play for him.
Fee laid the clothes out on the bed, waiting until the drone left the room. She knew it had a lens on it, and while she was getting dressed and undressed, she wanted privacy. No matter that Eazi probably couldn't care less one way or the other, she didn't need footage of herself getting changed in any database, thank you very much.
“These are great.” She separated out the garments. There were gloves, shoe covers, and a kind of balaclava, along with pants and a top. The pants resembled yoga pants, stretchy and flared at the bottom. Everything was in a shimmery gray. Fee held the shirt up and it seemed to ble
nd into the wall behind it. “Camouflage?” That explained the gloves and hood thing. Hard to be invisible with your head and hands uncovered.
“The fabric is another type of silk, from a caterpillar that has evolved a way of hiding its cocoon by making it almost impossible to distinguish from its surroundings. The cocoon needs to be hidden through two very distinct seasons.”
“I love it.” She wriggled out of the dress and pulled the clothes on over the underwear Eazi had already given her, made of the same golden silk as her discarded outfit. She patted her encryptor, tucked into her new bra, just to make sure it still lay flush against her skin and didn't make any suspicious bumps. “Where did you get the silk?”
“We found it on a small planet on the edge of Bukari territory. It's part of the Bukari Union, but they had an ecological disaster a hundred years ago when someone brought two small pets on-planet with them without permission. Ten species were wiped out when it turned out the pets were carrying a disease nothing on the planet had any immunity to. Their population was reduced by a third and they closed themselves off to any outside trade.”
“How did you manage it, then?”
Eazi was silent for a moment. “We stole whatever we found interesting.”
Fee tugged the top straight, then sat to pull on the boots that had come with her Grihan cadet uniform. “Openly, or was Flato being sneaky about it?”
It would say a lot about where the Tecran were with their plan to start a war, depending on whether they were being brazen about their aggressive exploration or not.
“As quietly and unobtrusively as possible.” Eazi said. “We shadowed one of the planet's three moons, listening to their comms, working out what technology they had that might be useful to us. When we felt we knew what we wanted, Flato sent down a stealth team to one of the major cities, and they broke into warehouses and stole the camouflage silk fabric, some interesting devices, and a few weapons.”
“Sort of what they did on Earth, in other words.”
Dark Deeds (Class 5 Series Book 2) Page 17