Dakiti: Ziva Payvan Book 1

by EJ Fisch

  “Solaris is the real threat here,” he’d said.

  Tarbic tilted his head back and swallowed his drink, setting the empty glass down on the table with a thud. Brushing his shaggy black hair out of his face, he wiped his mouth and turned around, startled when he spotted Ziva sitting in the shadows. His hand went immediately to his hip, reaching for a nonexistent pistol.

  “It’s a little early for that, isn’t it?” Ziva said, shooting him a quick glance over the top of the data pad.

  Tarbic relaxed, seeming almost relieved when he realized who she was. “What do you want?” he muttered.

  “I think we should talk about our situation,” she replied, putting the data pad away and crossing one leg over the other.

  “Talk about our situation,” Tarbic mimicked with a wry chuckle. He picked up a shirt that had been draped over the back of a chair and tugged it over his head. “I’m not stupid. You’re not here to talk – you’re just following orders.”

  Ziva smirked. “Very good,” she praised, “but let’s not be so harsh, shall we? Let’s say that the director gave me orders to come talk to you, and I agreed. Care to hear me out?”

  “Do I have a choice?”

  She shrugged. “Sure, but if you have any desire to keep your job, I suggest you listen up.”

  Tarbic let out a reluctant sigh and crossed his arms, waiting.

  Ziva stood up and began to pace in front of him. “I talked to Emeri after you left yesterday. He’s not happy that you know who I am, but taking the circumstances into consideration, he’s decided to let bygones be bygones and keep you around. He’s bent on keeping the logistics of this assignment the way they are, so don’t bother whining about it. Trust me, if I could change anything, I would. But the mission is simple; we’re hitting a Solaris stronghold and taking out one of their leaders, and you can provide us with the intel we need. Emeri tells me you’re the best the SCU has to offer, and I settle for nothing but the best. I understand that you’ve been in charge of the whole department for the past three months… since the death of your team.”

  He eyed her thoughtfully for a moment. “Was it you? I’ll bet if I did a little research, I’d find that the day they died was the exact same day you left for your last assignment. Convenient.”

  Ziva stopped pacing. “What the hell are you talking about?” she demanded through clenched teeth. “Give me one good reason why I would want to kill them.”

  “They say you like to get inside people’s heads, work them over, mentally torture them. I suppose it was you two years ago too, going after my father even after he’d been proven innocent.”

  “Oh, I’m disappointed,” Ziva said, clicking her tongue. “You of all people should know that if it was me, he’d be dead.” She paused, taking a step forward to study his face. “You know, Soren looked just like you.”

  That did it. Tarbic’s hand shot out – either to hit her or strangle her, it didn’t matter which – but she deflected the blow and stepped back, ready for a full-scale fight. None came, however. There was a brief period of silence as the two of them simply stared at each other, jaws set.

  “If you say one more word about my brother,” Tarbic growled through his teeth, thrusting a finger in her face, “so help me I will make sure you die a slow and painful death and feel every second of it. I’ll be there to watch.”

  He went back to the kitchen and collapsed into one of the dining chairs, hanging his head in frustration. He was right, after all – she did like to get inside people’s heads. That’s what she’d spent the last several minutes doing. It was something she’d worked at since long before her HSP career had even begun, and she liked to think that she’d become rather good at it. She watched Tarbic, wondering what he was thinking. His emotion could go both ways – it could motivate him and make him a better agent, or he would be distracted and drag the whole team down. The choice would be his.

  “It’s nothing personal,” Ziva said, unable to suppress the icy edge in her voice. “I was only doing my job.”

  No response. How about a different approach? “You know I went through the initial selection program with Tate and Jole. They were my friends too.”

  Tarbic looked up, obviously startled by the information, though he was still turned away from her. “I never saw you at the memorial.”

  Ziva moved into the kitchen and stood across the table from him, arms crossed. “Just because you can’t see someone doesn’t mean they’re not there.” She was tempted to make another comment about snipers and his brother, but thought better of it. If they were indeed going to be working together, it would be best to start off on more amicable terms.

  This time Tarbic made eye contact when he spoke to her. “And why am I supposed to believe any of this?”

  “Because you do not kill people you went through elite training with,” Ziva snapped, slamming her palm against the tabletop. “And believe it or not, I don’t kill anyone unless I have a good reason.” She skirted around the table and seized a fistful of his shaggy hair before he could protest, tilting his head back to ensure she had his undivided attention. “Now you listen carefully. I need you for this mission, and you need me. I’m not your enemy here, but I damn well can be if that’s the way you want to play this. Our battle is with Solaris, and when we fight, they win. Do you understand me?”

  “Yes,” he muttered without hesitation.

  “Good. Now, I’m giving you one chance to take this opportunity. Are you as good as they say you are? Then prove it. Show up in the situation room for a briefing at zero twelve hundred. If you’re not there, I’ll have your badge.” She released him, pausing long enough to fish a rusty pair of dog tags out of her pocket. Without another word, she dropped them on the table then turned and walked out the front door, leaving him speechless.

  -6-

  HSP Headquarters

  Noro, Haphez

  “What happened to you yesterday?” Adin Woro called breathlessly, jogging up beside Aroska as he strode into HSP headquarters. “I waited for hours. When you didn’t show, I tried your communicator – must have tried ten times since then.”

  “I turned it off,” Aroska replied bluntly, not breaking stride.

  “Don’t scare me like that. For awhile there I was afraid she might have killed you.”

  Aroska threw his friend a cynical glance. “I’m fine. I’ve decided to go ahead and go through with this mission.”

  “Are you serious?” Adin exclaimed. “Honestly, I think that’s great. Just don’t turn around and do something stupid.”

  Aroska shrugged indignantly and picked up his pace, but Adin caught him by the jacket and pulled him into a vacant elevator. “Don’t throw away your career,” he warned. “You’re no match against her.”

  It was the same thing he always said. “That’s not it,” Aroska muttered.

  “Then talk to me here.”

  When he was sure the elevator door was shut, Aroska reached into his pocket and pulled the old military tags out. “Do you know what these are?” he asked, holding them up for Adin to see.

  “Your brother’s metal?” Adin said. “How did you find these? Weren’t they—?”

  “The only thing missing from Soren’s body when he died,” Aroska finished. “Payvan had them. I don’t know how she got them, and maybe I don’t want to. She left them on my dining room table this morning.”

  “She was at your house? Are you okay?”

  “Not really.”

  Adin shook his head and handed the tags back to Aroska. “As crazy as it sounds, this might be Ziva’s way of apologizing. What did you do to make her soften up?”

  ‘Soften up’ wasn’t exactly the phrase Aroska would have used. “I haven’t done a thing. I’d never met her – never even seen her – before yesterday. Why would she wait all this time to give them back? I’m telling you, she’s just trying to mess with my head.”

  “You can’t let her get to you.” Adin sighed, putting an arm over Aroska’s shoulder as the
elevator reached its destination. The door slid open and they stepped out onto the squad floor. “You’ve experienced some horrible things, and words cannot express how sorry I am for everything that’s happened to you. But the fact that you’ve persevered through it all says a lot. I know it won’t be easy, but I’m sure you can get through this, too.

  Aroska took one last look at Soren’s tags and returned them to his pocket. “She killed my brother, Adin. He died in my arms.”

  Adin stopped walking and faced him, hands clamped firmly over his shoulders. “Ziva obviously knows what you’ve been through. She may not be very personable, and it’s not right for her to manipulate you like this, but maybe she’s testing you. It’s possible that she just wants to see if you can overcome this the way you’ve overcome everything else. Think of it this way; working with her team is an amazing opportunity for you. Ignore her. Focus on yourself and how you can do your job to the best of your ability. Promise me you’ll try.”

  “I will,” Aroska said quickly, hoping this encounter hadn’t made him late for his meeting. He brushed Adin’s hands away and glanced toward the situation room. “I promise,” he added in response to the man’s doubtful look.

  Adin smiled and patted him on the back before turning back toward the elevator. “Go get her.”

  Aroska nodded and broke away before he could be delayed any further. He wasn’t as concerned with himself as he was for Payvan and what might happen to her if he got a chance to corner her somewhere. He kicked himself for not finishing her inside his own house earlier that morning. Adin was right – he couldn’t let her get to his head like that. He couldn’t let her win.

  As he neared the conference room, he could hear her voice within. The situation was awkward on so many levels. The most obvious reason was the death of his brother. Secondly, having four people on any operations team was unheard of. Maybe that part wouldn’t be so bad. It also seemed a little strange to be taking orders from someone younger than him. He wasn’t quite sure how old Payvan was, but he had to have a couple years on her if she’d started training with Jole and Tate.

  Mustering up his confidence, Aroska stepped into the open doorway. The other two members of Payvan’s team, Sergeant Skeet Duvo and Intelligence Officer Zinnarana Vax, were seated at the long conference table, and Ziva herself was perched on the edge of the table between them. Their conversation ceased abruptly when he entered, making him feel even more self-conscious. Ziva seemed almost annoyed by the interruption, but took a look at the time and nodded his way.

  “You made it,” she said, eyebrows raised.

  There was something about her now that didn’t seem quite as hostile, though the mere sight of her still made Aroska burn with anger. “You weren’t expecting me?”

  She got up and motioned for him to take a seat, ignoring his comment. “You’re actually just in time,” she went on, activating the holographic map in the center of the table. “We’ve got a bit of a situation here.”

  Duvo and Vax each offered a friendly greeting and shook Aroska’s hand. He’d heard their names before and even recognized them from around the agency campus, but he never would have guessed they were special ops. Vax was tiny by HSP standards and wore dark makeup that made her brilliant cerulean eyes stand out even more than they normally might. Most people called her Zinni, if he’d heard correctly. Duvo was a brawny man, about Aroska’s height. His bright orange hair stuck out in all directions, and Aroska wondered if he could possibly fit any more piercings in his ears.

  “We received a tip that a Solaris group is massing in the forest about twenty klicks out of the city,” Ziva said, directing his attention to the table.

  Aroska leaned over the table and studied the detailed hologram, a three-dimensional map created by the many infrared probes that hovered in the Haphezian atmosphere. The group appeared to be gathered along the bypass that ran parallel to the Haphor-Noro traffic lane, the main transportation route between the spaceport city and the capital. “I’ve seen this kind of behavior before, just before Solaris ambushed a supply ship that was transporting weapons off the planet,” he said. “They’re setting up for an attack. Is anything coming through on the bypass that we can’t see?”

  Zinni manipulated the map for a few seconds, her computer-savvy hands running gracefully over the delicate controls. “I’m picking up an approaching convoy, three vehicles. Estimated time until contact, twenty minutes.”

  “What kind of convoy?” Ziva asked.

  “Passenger,” Zinni replied instantly, checking the computer for further information. “Receiving a signal… these are Tantali codes, registered to… the governor’s household.” She looked up from the computer. “We’re looking at Tantali royalty here.”

  “What?” Skeet said, leaning over her shoulder to take a look for himself. “I didn’t think the governor of Tantal was due to arrive until tomorrow.”

  “Apparently he’s here early,” Ziva stated bluntly, “and it certainly doesn’t look like Solaris is there to welcome him.”

  Aroska hadn’t heard anything about a visit by the governor of Tantal. “There’s no telling what they’re planning. These guys are relentless, and it never takes much provocation to fire them up.”

  At the moment, no one seemed to be paying attention to what he was saying. Ziva had opened a weapon cabinet on the wall and was checking the rifles. Zinni was still at the hologram controls, making calculations and looking for an angle of approach.

  “How long until they hit?” Skeet asked, slinging one of the rifles over his shoulder.

  “Eighteen minutes and counting,” Zinni replied. “Our quickest route will put us there in at least twenty.”

  Ziva tossed Aroska the last rifle. “Then we’d better get moving.” She looked at him for a couple of long seconds, almost glaring, almost sarcastic. There was still something fascinating about her eyes, but when he remembered that they were the color of the Soren’s blood, he wanted to gouge them out.

  “After you,” he muttered.

  -7-

  20 kilometers west of Noro

  Tasmin Forest, Haphez

  Ziva brought the armored car to an abrupt halt along the bypass, narrowly avoiding a collision with a patch of overgrown brush. She jumped out, listening to the sounds of the forest through one ear and Zinni’s voice in the other.

  “They’re two hundred meters dead ahead,” she said through the earpiece from her place in the control room at HSP. “I’m seeing about twenty hostiles. You’d better move. I’ve got an approaching shuttle, ETA ten seconds.”

  “Roger that, Zinni,” Ziva said, motioning for Skeet and Aroska to follow as she began to run.

  “Twenty hostiles, huh?” Skeet chuckled. “Sounds like a fair fight.”

  “Work to neutralize the threat,” Ziva ordered. She could hear the hum of the approaching shuttle somewhere above and gunfire further ahead. “Use your judgment. Shoot to kill if necessary. Identify the attackers and do not harm the defenders.”

  “Got it,” Skeet said. Aroska was quiet but didn’t break stride.

  “Seventy-five meters and closing,” Zinni reminded them. “There’s a high concentration of hostiles on the south side of the clearing. Shuttle is touching down. I’ve got backup and medical on the way.”

  “Let’s go, let’s go!” Ziva called. “Skeet, take the right flank, I’ll go left. Tarbic, go up the middle. Go in strong; we’re outnumbered.”

  They split off, staying low with rifles raised. Ziva stepped off the road into the bushes, listening. The shuttle was either bringing reinforcements – bad – or was a means of escape for the Solaris attackers – also bad. She broke out of the foliage into the scene of the battle and paused for a split second to take it all in. The dark blue uniforms of the Tantali guards were easy enough to pick out, not to mention those wearing them were all of much smaller stature than the muscular Haphezian insurgents. Blue-white bolts of plasma zinged to and fro, and the stench of charred flesh filled the air.

 
; Ziva turned and took down two hostiles who were headed for her, somersaulting out of the way of a third. She rose to her feet, unsheathing her knife as she did so, and jammed the blade into the back of the man’s neck as he passed. A sizzling green bolt burned through the air mere centimeters from her head and she dove behind one of the convoy’s parked cars, firing on the Solaris attackers from cover. Acquire and fire, acquire and fire, acquire and fire. The motion was as smooth as it was fast. Her breathing remained slow and steady, her eyes unblinking as she squeezed off round after round, each of which sent a man to the ground.

  The boarding ramp of the shuttle was just closing and the craft was beginning to lift off. Judging by the number of insurgents that remained in the clearing, the ship had neither brought more nor taken any away. This was good. She recognized the little ship as Haphezian military-class, probably stolen. Maybe a third of the Solaris group had already been taken out by the Tantalis, though many of the humans were down as well. Two of them stood back-to-back in the center of the clearing, attempting to pick off their attackers as a unit. They were successful for awhile, until the older of the two took a hit to the upper leg and fell to his knees.

  Ziva bolted from behind the car with the intention of grabbing the younger Tantali, but he turned and fixed his sights on her, startled. She took aim with her own weapon, ready to neutralize him if needed, but Aroska suddenly appeared behind him and disarmed him, closing a massive arm around his throat.

  “Don’t shoot,” she heard him say in accented Standard. “We’re here to help.”

  Free of that distraction, Ziva swept the scene again and nailed two more insurgents. Skeet did the same on the other side, and all was suddenly silent, except for the distant hum of the shuttle as it disappeared into the sky. Ziva placed a finger on her earpiece and watched it go. “Zinni, see if you can get a reading on that ship. Solaris attackers are down. How far out is that medical team?”