“Yes.” He paused again. “Well, on Earth, we just grabbed you, some random species of animals, and left.”
“Not interesting enough for you?” She should be glad of that, not insulted, because if they were boring, they'd be left alone. It was why she'd long ago made peace with never returning. No way was she going to ask to be taken back, and expose the rest of her world to this dangerous new life she'd found herself in.
“No. You were extremely interesting. That's why after they realized Rose McKenzie was an advanced sentient, they came back for another sample. But I had the feeling that something else was going on, and they had to mark Earth as a future project. They were hoping to get a lot of information from you and Rose before they went back.
“I know Flato fought to be the one sent to fetch more samples, after the reports of what Sazo and his crew had found were circulated, and then he got into trouble afterward when he balked at what he'd been ordered to do when he realized he wasn't just picking up an interesting new species, but an advanced sentient.
“He and the medical team had a number of shouting matches with each other, but in the end, Flato had to agree with the doctors that they were breaking the Sentient Beings Agreement by even having you in the cells. That's when High Command ordered them to hand you over to Captain Tak, so he could bring you to the facility.”
“Why have a facility here? Why not somewhere in Tecran airspace? Wouldn't it be safer for them?”
Eazi made a humming sound. “If I were to guess, it would be because High Command knows it's breaking all its treaties with the United Council, and it wants some deniability. Putting the facility on the border of Garmman territory, just into Grih airspace, makes it easier for them to say they didn't know what was going on.”
Right. New galaxy, same old, same old.
“So, how many Tecran know how to find Earth?” It had been worrying her since she was taken, a heavy weight in her gut every time she thought about it. That she could be the first of many, now they knew the way.
“None.” Eazi sounded . . . smug.
“How is that?”
“Sazo. He did it at Rose McKenzie's request. He tracked down and corrupted every report his captain sent out about Earth and its location, and that virus hunted the whole Tecran network, finding every mention of Earth and destroying it. I have it on my system, because I quarantined the virus, and Sazo must have it on his, hidden away, but we both pretended the files had been destroyed on our side, too.”
“But some Tecran will know about it. They read the reports.”
“Yes, but they won't find those reports again, and unless they memorized them, they have no information to go back to, no galaxy locators. They might know it exists, but they don't know where to find it anymore.”
She didn't know whether to collapse in relief, or dance for joy. “Thank you, Eazi. That means a lot. Really.”
Her door chimed, and it was with a light step that she went to open it. Hal Vakeri stood outside, waiting for her. He tilted his head to look at her, his expression all soldier. “Useful fabric.”
“Do you have enough to make an outfit for the captain?” Fee asked Eazi.
“Yes.” Eazi didn't sound too enthusiastic.
“My uniform has similar capabilities,” Hal said, with a shake of his head. “Are you ready to choose some weapons?”
“Sure.” Fee had never held a weapon in her life, but she bet there would be something Eazi could find her that would be useful. “Lead the way.”
* * *
Hal already knew where the armory was, he'd found it on his exploration of the ship. He had Cy's shockgun and his own, and didn't know if he would trust anything from the Tecran stores anyway, but it would be better for Fiona if she was armed, and he decided he might as well see what was available.
He was very aware of her, following behind him down the passageway. He could have shortened his stride so she could catch up, but he didn't want her too close to him.
She messed with his mind.
He knew how to read people, and she had an expressive face, so he'd seen that she'd been terrified by the idea of going down to Balco. He couldn't blame her after what she'd been through. But then she'd coolly asked if he wanted to come with her, or go back to Larga Ways.
He'd been standing there, wrestling with the problem of what to do with her while he went down below, because although for safety she needed to get away from the Class 5, he didn't want her going back to Larga Ways unprotected, either. He'd been trying to work out how to suggest she get in a runner and simply wait somewhere inconspicuous in the Balco system until things were safe, when she'd taken control.
He didn't miss the proprietary implications of her offer, either. She saw herself as aligned with Eazi, or at least, able to make offers on his behalf.
It disturbed him on every level.
He was a child of his time, and he'd grown up on warnings about thinking systems. Like all Grihans, he'd had to study the Thinking System Wars.
He'd asked Eazi before why he and Sazo had both connected with Earth women, but perhaps the answer was as simple as they did not carry the baggage of the past with them.
And then, on top of all that, he forced himself to admit that she made his heart beat faster.
He'd first seen her as more than a victim when he'd spoken to her in Doc Jasa's med chamber, and that had veered to attraction when she'd sung happy birthday to Mun, all sleek and severe in her cadet uniform, her smooth dark hair and her big, dark eyes as exotic as they were beautiful. She had epitomized grace under pressure.
But since he'd seen her again on the Class 5, whether bleeding and exhausted, dressed in gold, facing down her demons and overcoming them, or now, shimmering in silver, determination in every line, he had to admit that he found her almost irresistible.
“You just walked passed the armory, Captain.” Eazi spoke in his ear, and Hal brought himself up short.
He shook his head and turned back to the double doors that he'd completely missed.
The doors opened, and Fiona caught up with him. She was breathing a little hard, and he felt a stab of guilt at not slowing his pace for her.
He'd only taken a cursory look at the weapons when he'd been this way before, but now he stepped into the room and took more notice.
The space was well organized and well stocked.
“Do you need a lot of training to work a shockgun?” Fiona asked.
He pursed his lips. Shook his head. “Not a lot, but to use it well, you do need some training. I'd suggest you find something easier.”
She nodded, and he thought she looked relieved. The shockgun would have been too big for her, anyway, he decided. He'd have said too heavy, as well, but he wasn't sure that was true. Her bones and muscles were denser than the Grihs, and she'd spent a lot of her time on the Fasbe moving heavy boxes around. She was much stronger than she looked.
“Can you suggest something?”
He thought she was speaking to him, but when he turned to her, he saw she was looking up at one of the lenses on the ceiling.
Eazi must have answered her, because she moved across to the far wall, and lifted something off the rack.
“What is it?” He stepped closer, and had to keep himself very still as the scent of her twined around him. She smelled incredible.
“A light-gun, Captain.”
The words snapped him out of his fugue. “No. She can't use it.”
“Why not?” She turned to look at him, and he realized he was far too close, but retreat would look strange. He forced himself to stay in place.
“It's illegal. If we're going to use what we find down there against the Tecran at the UC Courts, then using a light-gun will undermine our moral high ground.”
“Okay.” Fiona shrugged and put the weapon back.
She didn't know what was or wasn't illegal. It was obvious, how could she when she was from a completely different world? But it struck him clearly now. She would have used the light-gun a
nd not thought twice about it. She freed a thinking system, and didn't see the problems it would cause for her with the Grihan government.
He'd offered her sanctuary, but helping Eazi may mean that offer was no longer his to give.
And as a senior officer of Battle Center, he would be forced to agree with what his superiors decided.
He certainly couldn't get involved with her, no matter how irresistible he found her. That would really endear him to Admiral Hoke.
The only hope he had was that Rose had done the same as Fiona, and she was still firmly part of Grihan society.
“The light-gun would be perfect if you're confronting a large number of people you want to incapacitate but don't want to kill,” Eazi said, speaking through the comm system this time so they could both hear him. “I don't understand why Fiona can't use it.”
That was true. But still . . . “It's a banned weapon. The Tecran developed it for crowd control, but it was too effective. The Tecran authorities, as well as every other member of the UC, decided it could just as easily been turned against the security forces as used by them. They were supposed to all be destroyed, so I don't know why this one is here. It's a violation of the Tecran's own rules.”
“They took it off some Krik pirates, actually,” Eazi said. “Rather safely in our armory than in their hands, I'm sure you'd agree.”
Hal could just imagine what a Krik pirate crew could do with a light-gun. “Yes. Confiscating it was by far the better option.”
“What about a reflector?” Eazi asked.
A bracelet slid forward on a narrow retractable shelf. It was made of a dark metal with a sheen to it that seemed more than just a reflection of light.
“I've never heard of it.” Hal reached for it, and felt more than heard a hum under his fingers as he lifted it up.
“Good. It can't be illegal then,” Eazi said cheerfully.
“What does it do?” Fiona leaned over and peered at it, and Hal handed it to her. She slid it over her wrist, where it hung, far too big, and lifted her arm to test the weight of it. “It's lighter than it looks.”
He didn't agree, but then, he'd already noticed she had more strength than a Grih of her size.
“Touch the raised emblem on one of the links,” Eazi told her.
She had to rotate the bracelet around until she found it, and then touched it with the tip of a finger. The bracelet snapped onto her wrist, fitting it perfectly.
She jerked with shock. “A little warning, next time,” she said, eyeing the band suspiciously. “Although it's cool how that light sort of maps your body like that.”
There was a beat of silence. Hal realized Eazi must be as surprised as he was. “What light?”
“The thin lines of blue light that went over my body in a grid.” She was frowning at him.
“I didn't see any light.” There was something, some information, that was trying to surface in his mind, but he couldn't pin it down.
“I didn't see it through the lens either.” Eazi was thoughtful. “Maybe only the wearer can see it, although the officer Flato recruited to try it out didn't mention it when he tested it.”
Fiona shrugged. “Should I do a trial run?”
“Yes. But Captain Vakeri will need a barrier to hide behind when he shoots at you, so let's move to the training room.”
“It deflects straight back to the attacker?” Fiona asked, sounding really interested.
Hal frowned. “Does it?” She'd leapt to the conclusion so quickly. But he'd never heard of a protective device that could do that. All attempts to create a force field that could deflect attacks had failed because of the effect the field had on the person it was protecting. The energy involved made them sick and unable to operate.
“It does.” Eazi said. “Fiona should test it with you in a safe environment, rather than when the Tecran are shooting at her down below.”
“How about it, Captain?” Fiona smiled at him, but he could see the trepidation in her eyes. “You up for taking a few shots at me?”
25
“This isn't just a protective shield, it's a weapon.” Fiona watched as Captain Vakeri's shockgun shot ricocheted straight back to where he'd been the moment before he'd ducked behind the screen.
It had been hard not to flinch or cower when he'd reluctantly shot at her with his shockgun on its lowest setting. She'd been hit twice before and her brain was screaming at her to run away.
“If they stay still when they shoot you, yes,” Eazi agreed.
It had a certain karma to it that appealed to Fee. No one who left her alone would be hurt. That seemed fair enough.
“The blue light that flares up just before the shot hits is a bit disconcerting.” Fee relaxed as Hal stepped out from behind his barrier. “Although I suppose it does give you a little warning.”
The captain holstered his shockgun absently, looking like he'd had an epiphany. “I can't see the blue flare but Rose McKenzie can see a level of light that the Grih can't. They haven't given out a lot of information about her, but I know she can see our soldiers when they activate the reflective camouflage in their uniforms. I assume you can too. Maybe this light is in the same light spectrum.”
That was pretty cool, Fee decided. Super vision. It wasn't as if she had many advantages in this new life she'd fallen into. She'd take whatever she could get.
“Should I get a weapon as well? Or just use the reflector?” She didn't want to carry a weapon she had never used before, but at the same time, the idea of having no way to defend herself at all didn't seem sensible.
“The shield's ability to actually reflect the shot back at the same velocity as it was sent is a weapon,” Hal said. “But it's a passive weapon, and you're thinking you need something more active.”
Fee liked that he got it, and didn't try to dismiss her concerns.
She knew she liked him more than was wise.
It wasn't just his pretty blue eyes and his body, or the way his eyes lingered on her when he looked her way.
He treated her respectfully.
But she also knew she owed him. A lot. She hoped the fact that her heart beat a little faster at the thought of him wasn't too closely related to that debt.
She preferred to meet him on an equal footing.
Vakeri cleared his throat, and Fee realized she'd been staring at him. She could feel her cheeks heating.
“If I shoot someone at the same time someone shoots me, will my shot ricochet right back at me when the shield comes up?” It just occurred to her, and the cold hand of panic brushed down her back, and cooled her embarrassment.
“No. It's one way. You can shoot out.” Eazi opened the training room door for them to leave.
“So do you have something easy to carry, easy to shoot, that isn't illegal?” Fee asked him, falling into step with Hal, who was making an effort to match her shorter strides this time.
“I have a crowd-pleaser.”
Hal stumbled to a stop. “A crowd-pleaser?” He shook his head. “She said not illegal, remember?”
“Crowd-pleasers are legal. They were just withdrawn from general use and most of them were taken off the market. Now the database restrictions that were imposed on me have been lifted, I've been able to access more data than I could before and I've checked the UC regulations. They weren't made illegal because the Tecran and the Garmman refused to vote them off the list, just in case they ever needed to bring them out again.”
“So, what's a crowd-pleaser? I'm assuming that's a sarcastic title.” Fee thought again how people were people, no matter where in the universe you ended up.
“It's a small weapon that shoots a projectile, a little plug that's designed to explode outward, away from the shooter, letting loose hundreds of small barbs. Each one contains enough sedative to down an adult.”
Sort of like a shotgun from Earth. Only non-lethal. That appealed to her, too.
“What if someone gets more than one barb in them?”
“The fatal dose is very
high. No one has ever died from being shot with a crowd-pleaser before,” Hal told her.
“Light-guns and crowd-pleasers. You seem to have a crowd control problem.”
Hal grimaced. “Not the Grih. Or, not recently. Not the Bukari either, I have to say. But the Fitali sometimes have trouble around swarming time, and the Tecran and the Garmman have had some trouble fostering a happy population.”
“Huh. Big surprise there.” They'd reached the armory again and Eazi slid out what she assumed was the crowd-pleaser, loaded with three cartridges. “Just point and shoot?”
Another shelf slid forward, containing a strap with extra cartridges on half of it. Fee belted it around her waist, putting the cartridges at the back, and pulling her shirt over them, to hide them with the camouflage.
Hal showed her how it worked, and it really was as easy as point and shoot. She thought he crowded her a little more than was strictly necessary as he demonstrated, and then wondered if that was just wishful thinking.
Something caught his eye, and she followed his gaze to a small device that would fit snugly in her hand.
“You found a toy that appeals?” Fee asked him, because this had been all about her, she suddenly realized.
“A spiker.” He lifted it. “It's Grihan. Absolutely quiet, unlike a shockgun, but requires a lot of practice.”
“Which you have?” she guessed.
He gave a nod as he slid the spiker into a pocket, and then took a box of what must be spiker ammunition from the same shelf.
“You should take a reflector, too.”
“There is only one reflector,” Eazi said, and he didn't sound too upset about it.
Hal must have heard that too, because his mouth twisted up in a wry smile. “I've been meaning to ask you, Eazi, where is it from? I've never seen technology like that.”
“It's from a place no one in the UC even knows about,” Eazi said. “A place we barely got away from without being captured or destroyed.”
Hal lifted his head, looked right at the lens. “You barely made it out? A Class 5?”
Dark Deeds (Class 5 Series Book 2) Page 18