But even as despair pressed down on them in the eery Jupiter forest, Grey’s mind began to clear. If a mole had given them up, that person knew full well the value of Fleur March and Sue and Tanner Alexander. Would they really just kill them?
“They’re more valuable alive,” Grey said.
Rin sniffed. “We should’ve brought them with us.”
Grey stopped walking. “We barely made it ourselves, and I don’t even know if we’re out of the woods yet.” She raised her eyes to the trees towering above them. “Literally and figuratively. All I know for sure is that we have to keep going. It’s the only thing that’s going to keep Mom and Dad fighting, picturing us alive.” She patted Tram’s neck, slick with sweat. “And what about these guys? They saved our lives. Shouldn’t we do what we can for them too?”
Rin gave a little nod. “They need water.”
“And so do we.”
A human could only survive three or four days without it. She thought back to her mother explaining how water on Jupiter wasn’t like water on Earth. It had some sort of petroleum mixed in and needed to be filtered. And what about predators? Last time she’d been alone in a Jupiter forest she’d been attacked by Tasmanian wolves. At least Rin still had Dad’s knife, and Grey’s violetflare could protect them until it ran out of power.
“We’ll make it, Rin.”
She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt.
Chapter 27
Bring her to my quarters,” Lieutenant Johansson ordered one of the Mazdaar soldiers after pulling Dana’s wheelchair out of the Jeep. Without a second glance at Dana, the lieutenant walked with her father up the ramp into the Mazdaar catch ship as if she betrayed friends every day. Had Dana looked like that when she turned on March and kidnapped Rin Alexander?
The guard allowed Dana to remain unbound as he wheeled her up into the Spartan hold ten times the size of the Yien cargo ship. Several Mazdaar drones with metal heads had surrounded the rest of the prisoners and were herding them into cells along the outer wall. One of the civilians tried to break away and was rewarded with a punch to his stomach. He slammed back against Commander March who stumbled and fell to her knees.
Dana felt her breakfast ration roiling in her stomach. What would happen to them all? And why did she care?
The light shines in the darkness.
Dana tucked her trembling hand under her leg. No wonder the lieutenant had been hinting about her loyalty. How long had Johansson been embedded to be able to pull off this kind of deception? Commander March seemed to trust her fully.
She trusted you too.
The guard escorted Dana away from the others into a lift which took them up two levels into the crew’s quarters. She tried to memorize each turn they made but lost track. The soldier stopped in front of a door with a hand-sensor lock. He pressed it with his palm, and the door dematerialized.
“You will stay here.” He pushed her wheelchair into the middle of a compact pod. Before she could respond he was gone, and she heard the door lock behind him.
Dana tried to stand, but her legs felt weaker than before, and she nearly fell to the floor. Her best chance to get out of this alive was to better understand her allies and foes. Was this all about capturing March?
“Make yourself at home.”
Marie Johansson’s voice startled Dana, and she twisted around.
The woman had removed her Yien uniform coat and replaced it with a dark green Mazdaar cape similar to her father’s.
“How long have you been planning this?” Dana said, her tone cold.
“Long enough.”
She stared at Johansson, whose dark hair now spilled over her shoulders, making her look less like a Yien rebel and more like a Mazdaar elite.
“All this to capture March?”
Johansson smirked, moving toward a cellaret bolted to the wall. She opened it and removed a glass liquor bottle, pouring a shot of amber liquid into a tumbler. Johansson took a swallow and made a sound of pleasure. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed a good Mazdaar scotch.”
She came closer to Dana, appraising her like she was trying to decide if she was worth her time. “I’ve been watching you for years,” she said. “Before you ever left Mazdaar. My assignment and training has always been to infiltrate Yien and deliver March. You were a side project.”
“I don’t understand.”
Johansson raised her glass. “I see your potential. Yien and March don’t. Whose side are you really on? Do those words ring a bell? And I don’t just mean from our conversation today.”
Understanding slowly dawned. They did. Oh, how they did.
Johansson took another sip from her tumbler. “I changed my last name, and Marie is my middle name, but more importantly you, Dana, know me better as RedStar.”
# # #
Grey and Rin walked until darkness fell, and still they couldn’t find the stream that was marked on the map. Tethering the zorses to tree trunks, they finally rested as the cloud-to-cloud lightning began to flash. It didn’t frighten Grey as much as when she’d first arrived on the planet, but it still reminded her with every flash that she was far from home.
Rin leaned against her, and Grey wrapped her arm around her little sister. They’d talked little during their hike as they tried to digest the reality of being alone again. Rin seemed to take comfort in having the zorses near, but Grey’s mind whirled with harsh truths. They could die out here.
Briefly they’d contemplated going back to the cargo ship to scavenge for any supplies left behind, but that was the first place Mazdaar would probably look for them. If they were looking. Two wind cycles had hit them already, but Rin had not seen any images or felt any sort of warning.
“Do you think they’re following us?” Rin whispered.
“Of course not.”
“Please don’t lie, Grey.”
She tried to get comfortable against the tree, but something sharp was digging into her back. “What does Mrs. March say? Even in the deepest darkness, there is always hope.”
“Do you believe that?”
Grey paused, seriously thinking about her answer. She thought she’d never see her parents again, and yet she had. She thought she was going to die at the hands of Mazdaar, and she’d been rescued.
“It has to be,” she said.
Rin jumped, her body tensing against Grey’s. “Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“It sounded like a growl.”
The dark silhouettes of the zorses remained calm as they munched on what they could find, so whatever it was, they hadn’t sensed it.
“Can Tasmanian wolves see in the dark?”
Grey bet they could. She stood up, unsheathing her violetflare. “Maybe we should keep walking. You up for that?”
“Do we even know where we’re going?”
Grey took out the map and flicked it on. It would give them a little light. She held the disc up so it projected the map directly in front of them. Even if she couldn’t tell their exact location, she still knew they were far from the area where Benton March was last seen. She guessed they had walked at least five miles already. They might be able to get five more in before dawn, but at some point they would have to sleep.
If only Grey had the answers her sister thought she did.
She dropped the disc back into her pocket and pulled out the second. Mrs. March hadn’t told her she couldn’t view it. Grey held the disc in her palm for a moment. Their mission had changed, but it was still a mission.
“Mrs. March gave me a message for her husband,” Grey said.
In the darkness she tapped the disc.
A life-size holographic image of Mrs. March appeared in front of them. Rin’s hand went to her mouth, and Grey felt a tightness in her throat. The Yien commander stood erect, her silver hair slightly mussed. Grey couldn’t tell where she’d recorded it, but she guessed in the cockpit, perhaps after they’d landed in the canyon.
“Hello, Benton,” Mrs. Ma
rch began, holding her hands in front of herself. “It’s been a long time. I did everything in my power to deliver these words in person, but I could not risk them going undelivered, so I have given this message to someone I greatly trust.”
Rin elbowed her. Mrs. March must have known their situation was dire long before they did. Would this image be the last they ever saw of her?
“I have many thoughts, Benton, but only two are important. You were right, and I have devoted my life to making up for what I did to you and so many others. I was blind, but now I see.”
Mrs. March gave the camera a sad smile. “I have tried to find you for years. I regret deeply that my first contact after all this time requires me to speak to you in a professional capacity. You do not have to forgive me, Benton, but for the sake of many, please listen.
“I am now a commander in the Yien Special Forces. You are probably aware, if my intelligence is correct, of the conflict between Mazdaar and Yien over the conquest of Jupiter. Mazdaar has not changed. They are just as evil as you once tried to tell me. If they conquer Jupiter like they have Earth, there will never be true freedom for anyone. That is why we simply must win this war, Benton.”
Grey glanced at her sister who was transfixed. Some of this was news to both of them.
“We need your help,” Mrs. March said. “I do not deserve to ask you for anything, but I must for the sake of those under my charge. We are outnumbered and have lost many in this fight already. We will continue to the very end, but Galileo Station is our only hope for survival. Benton, I implore you to help us. Yien must have control of the tunnels.”
Rin turned to Grey. “Tunnels? What is she talking about?”
“Hush. She’s not done.”
Mrs. March paused, visibly taking a deep breath. “I don’t ask you for myself. This is for the good of all oppressed people who long for freedom again. I hope someday to reunite with you face-to-face, but if I don’t, please know that I am sorry. So sorry, Benton.”
The hologram flickered and snapped off, throwing Grey and Rin into darkness once more.
Chapter 28
Dana was still reeling. Johansson was RedStar. She had been the one who convinced her to betray her friends and help Mazdaar again. She tried to remember a time when RedStar had ever referred to herself as female, but she couldn’t. Dana had been a fool to assume she knew anything about the identity of this “friend” she had never met.
“This is a lot to take in,” Dana said, almost calling Johansson “Lieutenant.”
The woman sat down on the plush sofa. “Please call me Marie.”
Dana glanced down at her bandaged forearm. Blood had seeped through the gauze Rin Alexander had carefully wrapped around her wound. Had the girl gotten away, or were she and Grey casualties of Mazdaar?
“Why me?” Dana asked. “Others have defected like I did.”
Marie crossed her legs. “I think there are more important questions.”
“Such as?”
“Your loyalty.”
She narrowed her eyes at the woman. “And I think I already told you I support Mazdaar.”
“Under duress.”
Dana repositioned herself in the wheelchair, buying more time to think through her response. Not only was she vulnerable physically, but Marie was making it clear she didn’t fully trust her. If that was the case, what was keeping Mazdaar from disposing of her entirely? She hadn’t provided them with any information they couldn’t have gotten otherwise. In fact, by saving Grey’s life she’d jeopardized them and indirectly killed her own mother.
“I am in a quandary,” Marie said. “I still believe in you, but I must convince my father and others that you aren’t a liability.”
Dana tried to answer, but Marie silenced her.
“You outperformed even my expectations by single-handedly rescuing your mother from Yien. But when given the choice to seal your devotion, you balked. You saved a rebel girl when you could have delivered Fleur March into our hands. I must ask why.”
Dana hadn’t been able to answer March or Grey when they’d asked her the same question, but she must now. If she could not convince Mazdaar she was worthy, she knew full well what they would do. RedStar’s—Marie’s—earlier question reverberated in her ears. Whose side are you really on?
A contrast between Marie Johansson and Fleur March was beginning to emerge in Dana’s mind, completely unbidden but impossible to ignore. She had just seen this woman execute a man and imprison innocent civilians for Mazdaar’s greater good. Had she ever seen March kill like that?
“You’re worried about my loyalties?” Dana channeled every ounce of her aristocratic breeding and refused to break eye contact with Marie. “From my perspective, you are just as much a liability.” She crossed her arms. “Trust runs both ways.”
Marie Johansson’s gaze bore into her. Had she expected Dana to grovel?
“Very well.” The woman stood. “We will play it that way. But I warn you, Dana Yurkutz, my patience is already wearing thin.”
“I request an audience with your superior,” Dana said.
“Which I will grant on one condition.”
At this point she didn’t dare refuse.
Marie smiled. “Take a shower and change your clothes first.”
# # #
As soon as Marie left, Dana tried to stand again. Holding on to the wheelchair she remained upright, waiting for the spasms in her thighs and calves to still. Then she carefully lowered herself back into the chair. She’d bought herself a small reprieve, but she knew full well it would be short-lived if she didn’t convince these Mazdaar officials she was on their side.
Marie sent in a female drone with a clean pair of pants and a dark green tunic who waited at the door while Dana sponged and dressed as best she could. Even if that door was unlocked, which she highly doubted, it would go against every protocol for her to traverse the ship without an escort. Especially when it wasn’t entirely clear if she was a prisoner or a guest.
Dana couldn’t tell if the ship was moving. She was sure its gravitational adjusters were top of the line. For all she knew they were on the other side of Jupiter by now. Or they hadn’t moved an inch.
Catch ships like this could be transgalactic as well, and this one was definitely the largest she’d seen. There were probably hundreds of soldiers throughout the levels and compartments. What did this say for the battle at large? The Yien Dynasty had always focused on building a strong military force. They’d never match Mazdaar in terms of actual boots, but they touted their technological advances and highly trained special forces. Commander March had drilled into her from the beginning that Yien would have to win on brains not brawn, and they had to be prepared to fight an army much larger than themselves.
Well, they were fighting now. And Dana felt smashed in the middle.
She cradled her wounded arm that was now throbbing to the beat of her heart. One visit to the sick bay would alleviate her pain, but she still wasn’t sure if she trusted Marie Johansson.
“I’m ready,” she said to the drone. She’d grown up with the human-like robots serving in all capacities in Mazdaar City. They were never much for conversation. To amuse herself as a child she’d sometimes try to talk circles around one. Some of the older models would freeze up if asked too many questions for which they didn’t have an answer programmed.
“But I’ll need some help.”
The drone cocked its head then moved to the back of the wheelchair. “I will assist you.”
She could manually move the thing herself, but she didn’t want to waste energy. She needed to be on top of her game.
They passed through the corridor and entered the lift.
“Level six,” the drone said.
Dana felt the floor rise ever so slightly. It stopped with a jolt, door whooshing open. This level was darkly lit and eerily quiet. The drone stopped at an unmarked door. It opened for them, and the drone pushed her into the room. A table burgeoning with all kinds of food and d
rink met them. Six empty chairs were pushed up to it. At their entrance, another door across the room dematerialized, and Marie Johansson entered with a confident smirk. She’d changed into a dark blue Mazdaar dress uniform with gold buttons down the front and the red Mazdaar star stitched to her sleeve. Her hair looked shiny, and her cheeks shone with rouge.
If the effect was to make her appear powerful, it was working. Dana felt drab and worn.
The steel-haired colonel Marie had called her father accompanied her and moved to pull out a chair for his daughter. He’d washed away the dust of Jupiter and appeared as poised as Marie, the lines of his uniform crisp, his gold epaulets sparkling under the recessed lights.
“At last we meet again,” he said, coming around to Dana’s side of the table. He removed a chair and pushed her wheelchair up to the table himself, dismissing the drone who backed up to the door.
Dana had no idea how much this man knew about her, but she had to assume it was a lot more than she knew about him or his daughter.
“I remember your face but not your name,” Dana said.
The colonel laughed, seating himself. “Where are my manners? Apologies, Dana. Perhaps my daughter left out some details.” He shot Marie a glance. “I am Colonel Nathaniel Hutchison of Mazdaar’s Fighting Legion. I was a friend to your mother, may she rest in peace.”
“Why exactly am I here?”
“Ah, yes. Direct. I like that.” Nathaniel snapped his fingers, and a drone server appeared with a bottle of dark wine he tipped into each of their glasses.
Dana’s mouth watered. She waited for Nathaniel to take the first sip then allowed herself a swallow. The wine warmed her parched throat.
“First allow me a few questions.” Nathaniel took another sip and tapped at the side of his glass. “Fleur March. How well do you know her?”
Jupiter Storm (Jupiter Winds series Book 2) Page 12