by K. A. Finn
'He wants me to be High Commander.'
Hardy stares at Creed for a few seconds then drops her bowl of stew and wraps her arms around him. 'Congratulations.'
'Thanks.'
'Damn, my dinner's in the fire.' She gets herself a new bowl and digs in again. 'I heard Gryffin isn't fairing too well.'
'I'm sorry,' Milla says, holding up a hand. 'Are you working for Gryffin too? How many more people does he have on his payroll?'
'Actually, he was on my payroll.'
'He's what?'
'A few years ago, before he was made High Commander, we did quite a bit of business together. With his brother too, although Bray and I had more of a personal relationship.'
Milla leans back in the chair and laughs loudly. 'Oh this is brilliant. You were with Bray and Gryffin?'
Hardy shakes her head. 'No. I had a few encounters with Bray, but my relationship with Gryffin was purely business. I would have got more conversation from a rock. Getting him to talk for longer than a few minutes was a bloody miracle. Anything else beyond that was out.'
Creed clears his throat and Hardy squeezes his hand. 'Down boy. We've all got a past.'
He raises his eyebrow and looks back at the fire as Milla pops another spoon of stew in her mouth. The Sawyer brothers sure know how to get around the Sector. With the plentiful supply of love interests on offer throughout the Sector, why did they continuously have to veer towards the same bloody women?
'When the Foundation arrived in the Sector,' Hardy continues, 'I decided it would be prudent to disappear for a while. I hired Gryffin to put his mark on my bar. He made sure no one took advantage while I was gone. He kept it extremely profitable for a few years until I decided to cut all ties with the place. So, back to my original question. How is he?'
'He's dying,' Chayse answers. 'He was adamant we get here as fast as we could. Guess we know why now.'
Hardy nods solemnly. 'Figured he'd be in a bad way. He wouldn't take a step back from the Nomad otherwise. Man deserves a break after everything he's been through.' She takes the empty bowls from everyone and piles them in the sink. 'I'm sure you and... sorry who are you again?' she asks, looking across at Chayse.
'Chayse, Captain of Nemesis.'
Hardy isn't shy about examining him from top to bottom. 'Is that so. You're the famous Chayse. I've heard a lot about you and your ship. Quite a sight if stories are to be believed. No offence, but you're a bit younger than I imagined. Good for you. Well, I'm sure you and Chayse have a bit to talk about. Leave us girls to it and head to the back room.'
Creed and Chayse do as they're told and close the door behind them. 'Hope you don't think that's rude. Thought they should have a talk in private. I'm sure Creed has a hell of a lot of questions as I'm sure you do. Fancy a beer on the porch?'
23
DIXON SPACE STATION
Avoca wipes his palms on his trousers and squeezes his eyes shut. He can think of more than a few dozen places he'd rather be right now, but this isn't about him. Well, that's what he keeps telling himself.
Past actions and decisions haunt him daily, and if he can quieten even one of the many skeletons, he'll be content. Not that he deserves even that much. Bray knows the truth and it's only right his brother does too.
Before he can talk himself out of it, he walks up to the door. The polished white metal door silently withdraws and he steps into the med bay on the station.
He doesn't know why, but the Nomad leader had been moved from Cronus to the station for observation. The technology on the ship is superior. It makes no sense to have relocated him. Perhaps he didn't want to be on a Foundation ship. Who could blame him?
He swallows a few times as he forces his feet to carry him across the wide expanse of the bay to a private alcove. He stops at the entrance, having serious doubts about the intelligence of this decision. The lone occupant is lying on the bed fully dressed. Numerous monitors and wires are attached to him, recording every reading from his system.
Avoca is slightly relieved to see the holster attached to his belt is empty. Gryffin turns off the report he's listening to and looks at his visitor. When recognition kicks in, his purple eye glows brightly.
'May I have a moment, Captain?' Avoca manages to ask before he has to clear his throat again.
Gryffin doesn't respond, but his look of anger is hard to misinterpret.
Avoca takes another step inside, his hands firmly clasped in front of him to stop them from twitching. Gryffin's condition may be precarious, but he is still an imposing man – only partly thanks to the modifications he had a hand in organising. 'My name is Hank Avoca. I'm... well, I was an admiral with—'
'I know who you are.'
Avoca nods, feeling more uneasy by the second. 'I was involved with the—'
'I said I know who you are,' Gryffin interrupts. He pushes himself up on the bed. Avoca can't help but stare at the metal remains of his arm. Gryffin's expression turns colder when he realises what Avoca is looking at.
Avoca takes another breath, but it does little to settle his stomach. 'I need to talk to you. I need to...' He sighs and closes his eyes, his train of thought completely lost. 'I owe you an apology.'
Gryffin swings his legs off the bed and takes a second to get his balance. He slowly walks over to Avoca. The Nomad towers over Avoca, but he manages keep his position. He tilts his head back to look up at Gryffin. 'Say that again.'
'I want to apologise. I should have done something as soon as Balfe mentioned the project to me. But I was too much of a coward. I was afraid of what would happen to me if I refused to help. I know that's no excuse, and I can never make it up to you. But I just wanted you to know I hate myself for my part in all of this. I know I can never say or do anything to begin making up for what I was a part of.'
'You walked right by me on the station when the Scientist was taking my eye out for the first time. You were with Rayde and Sayber when it was taken out again a few months ago. What's to make up for?'
Avoca's breath catches in his throat as the very scenes Gryffin mentioned enter his mind before he can stop them. Yes, he did just walk by with the rest of the participants and do nothing to stop the horrors that were taking place on the operating table. That memory is without a doubt the worst one he relived regularly.
He'd always consoled himself by saying the boy wasn't aware of what was going on. Even with everything the Scientist was doing, he was silent on the table. Knowing that, not only was he aware, but that he remembers the party being led through to watch, makes everything so much worse. 'You remember me from the station? From that long ago?'
'I remember everything. You refused to look at me. Kept your eyes turned away. First time anyway. You couldn't look away the second time.'
'I'm... I'm sorry,' he mutters. Avoca takes a deep breath and asks a question he's been dreading hearing an answer to for decades. 'What happened to the others that were with you on the station?'
'You really do want me to kill you, don't you?'
'No. No... I...' Avoca takes the list of names from his pocket and holds it in his hands. 'I kept a list. Every child I knew about. I may have been too weak to do anything about it at the time, and believe me, it's something that not even death can save me from. I care. Too little, too late, I know, but I don't know what else to do.
'I have given Bray access to every recording I made, every file I copied, the name of every participant no matter how trivial. I want to help you take them down. Yes, you and your brother believe my reasons are selfish, and they probably are. But does that matter?' He takes a step closer not caring what Gryffin does to him. He's beyond worrying about it. 'Please, Captain. I need to know. Did The Scientist... modify them too?'
Gryffin doesn't acknowledge him as he stares down at the list in Avoca's hands. After a minute of uncomfortable silence, Gryffin looks up at him. 'Yes.'
Avoca closes his eyes. A part of him had hoped Gryffin was the only survivor because he was the only one modified. He had ho
ped the others may have escaped before they were hurt. 'What happened to them?'
Gryffin doesn't immediately respond, just keeps his attention on the far wall. 'I killed them.'
Avoca slumps back in the chair beside him. He admits he feels a little relieved to hear Gryffin was the one to kill the other subjects. It offers a little solace to know some of the children didn't die at the Scientist hands. 'You... killed all of them?'
Gryffin looks over at him. 'He left my cage open. I took a knife off the table and slit their throats. I didn't have time to kill myself before he came back.'
Avoca feels like he's going to faint. He rubs his temple as he discretely takes a few deep breaths. He stops himself from apologising again. How can anyone apologise for that? 'You spared their suffering. It's more than I did.'
Gryffin crouches down in front of Avoca, gripping the armrest to steady himself. Avoca pushes himself against the back of the chair, feeling very much like a caged animal. 'You got it all wrong, Admiral. I was the test subject. He'd put an implant on me, test it, take it off, fix it, put it back on, and repeat the whole damn procedure until he was happy. Only then would he fit a similar implant to one of the others. Then he'd do it all again with each and every implant. Some days I'd have ten operations for one of theirs.
‘You assume I killed them to save them. What if I killed them so I wouldn't have to go through any more procedures? If there was no one to fit the mods to he wouldn't have to keep using me like that.'
Avoca licks his lips. 'Whatever your reasons, he was a monster. Doing anything to stop what was going on was justified. I'm sure your companions thought the same.'
'He was your monster.' Gryffin stands up, leaning heavily on the chair. He winces as he straightens. 'Now Admiral, you have two choices.' He lifts his hand and catches a gun thrown towards him.
Avoca turns to see Bray in the doorway. He salutes Avoca then crosses his arms as he leans against the wall. Bray must have spoken to his brother while he was psyching himself up to this meeting.
Facing each of the men individually was a reason to fear for your life, but the two together... Avoca swallows and wipes his palms on his trousers. 'What choices?'
Gryffin crouches down in front of him again and takes the safety off. The metal digs into his stomach as Gryffin shoves the gun against him. 'Choice one is I kill you right now, slowly. Choice two is tell us where the ships are.'
Avoca swallows and looks over at Bray, but Gryffin applies more pressure, burying the gun deep in his gut. 'Bray? What is he talking about.'
The Hunter joins the Nomad. 'The ships the children were taken from,' he says.
'I don't understand.'
Gryffin takes over again. 'You told Bray you were in charge of getting rid of our belongings, creating search party logs, and making up attacks on the ships. What you didn't mention was what you did with the ships themselves.'
'The ships were destroyed.'
Bray shakes his head. 'You're lying again, Avoca.' He leans over the chair, putting his face in front of Avoca's. 'You see, my brother and I had a little chat about what you said to me and we both agree on something. First time for everything. You wouldn't have had to falsify attacks on the ships if the ships were actually attacked, would you?'
'Please. You don't have to do this.'
Gryffin targets Avoca with his glowing purple eye. 'My arm isn't as steady as it used to be. I get tremors.'
'The ships are gone.'
A look passes between the brothers. Gryffin's hand tightens on the weapon. 'Choice one then.'
'No! Wait!'
Gryffin flexes his fingers, readjusting his grip on the weapon. 'Location.'
Avoca closes his eyes. 'They're in the Outer Sector.'
Bray smiles. 'You'll have to narrow it down a little.'
'Giving you access to the ships won't help. I doubt any of them are still operational.'
'Let us worry about that.' Bray leans over to whisper in Avoca's ear. 'He was serious about the tremors. Wouldn't want his finger twitching just as you're about to cooperate. Bullet to the stomach...' He sucks in a breath. 'I've seen it in Tyrat. Seriously painful and slow way to go. And I very much doubt he's going to let any medical staff in here to help you. I'll leave and he'll watch you die. Just like you watched him on the station.'
'Very well. I'll give you the coordinates.'
Instead of removing the gun, Gryffin pushes the metal tip of his damaged arm under Avoca's chin, tilting his head up. One of the connectors tears his flesh, drawing blood. 'Bray doesn't want me to kill you. That's the only reason you're still breathing. It's a one-time favour though. You keep out of my way. Understood?'
'Yes.'
Gryffin gets to his feet and Avoca releases a long breath. Bray takes the gun and slips it back in his holster as the Nomad limps back to the bed and sits down, wincing as he rubs his leg. Bray grabs Avoca by the arm and hauls him off the chair. He shoves him towards the door, pausing in the doorway to look back at Gryffin. 'You good?'
Gryffin drags himself up the bed and closes his eye. 'Yeah. Get the coordinates.'
Bray pushes Avoca down the corridor towards the meeting room and forces him into a chair. 'There's no need for any of this.'
'You want redemption, you'll do as you're told.' He slides a portable unit along the table. 'Coordinates.'
'Bray—'
'What the hell is so special about these ships? Why are you protecting them like this?'
'I want this to end as much as you do, but those ships are not the way to do it. People died on those vessels. A lot of innocent lives were lost when they removed the children for the project.
‘I strongly believe they should be left and no one should have access to them. If anything, they should have been destroyed. The ship Gryffin was on is there too. Do you really think he wants to see it again?'
'You don't get to make that decision. If we're going to have any chance in hell of taking down the Foundation we'll need more firepower. If even one of those relics fires up, we'll be better off than we are now. Write down the coordinates or I swear I'll drag you back to Gryffin so he can get some of the revenge he deserves.'
Avoca takes a deep breath then pulls the unit towards him.
DIXON SPACE STATION
Bray stops by the door to the engine room on Ares and watches Gryffin pulling wires and cables from under one of the units. His brother had left the med bay on the station after the chat with Avoca. Bray is surprised they'd managed to convince him to stay there as long as they had.
He takes the two memory chips from his pocket and stares at them. One has all the details for the hidden ships. The other has Gryffin's files from the Scientist's computer.
'You got the coordinates?'
Bray looks at Gryffin who has stopped destroying the unit. 'What?'
'The coordinates. Avoca give you the ships?'
Bray holds out the chip. 'Yeah. It's all on this. Can I ask you something?'
'If I say no you're just going to ask me anyway so get on with it.'
'Do you really remember your time with the Scientist?' The question pops out without any thought or build up, surprising Gryffin.
His brother stares over at him. 'What?'
'You heard me.'
'No.'
'I don't believe you. That's not what you told Avoca.'
Gryffin reaches under the unit and tears out another cable. It doesn't look like he's going to answer. Bray steps into the room, leans back against the unit, and crosses his ankles. 'You see, I know you have a near perfect memory and it has nothing to do with your implants. You were there for five years and again for ten months. You must remember something.'
Gryffin slams his fist against the unit, denting the surface. 'Enough!'
'I'm not trying to upset you, really. I just need to know.'
Gryffin slides under the unit with a handful of cables. He checks the connectors and plugs the new cables in to the unit. 'What happened is none of your business. It's no o
ne's business.'
Bray takes the memory chip out of his pocket and throws it at Gryffin's feet. 'I got into the personal files on the Scientist's system. It doesn't have anything about the new mods the Foundation are using, but it does have all the details on the procedures he carried out years ago. That chip has all the data from your file. Every procedure, every component... every reaction is noted in there.'
Gryffin sits up and stares at the small chip at his feet for a minute before looking up at Bray. 'You watched it?'
It's an accusation more than a question but Bray nods anyway. 'I thought there might be something in it that could help with my implants.' Bray scratches the skin beside the metal on his face and takes a deep breath. 'I saw him use the threat of hurting me to make you more compliant. You refused to answer to your designation so he said he'd work on me instead. You stopped him and did what you were told.'
Gryffin reaches over and picks up the chip but doesn't say anything.
'Did he make you think he had me the whole time?'
Gryffin turns the chip over in his hand. 'What do you want?'
'I want to thank you.'
'For what?'
'For what you did. For changing my mind about you.'
'This where we hug?'
'I'm being serious, Gryffin. I get some of what was done to you. I'm not comparing your experience—'
'This conversation is done.'
'I need to say this to you.'
'And I don't need to hear it.'
Bray pushes off the unit and shoves Gryffin in the chest. 'What's your problem? For once can you try to let your human side out? You're surrounded by people who, for reasons I can't figure out, actually give a damn about you.'
'I never asked—'
'You don't have to ask. For fuck's sake, it's like talking to a child sometimes.' Bray shakes his head when he realises what he said. Gryffin doesn't know how to deal with the people in his life, but that's not entirely his fault. People skills weren't on the curriculum with the Scientist. 'We care about you, okay, in spite of the way you constantly try to push us away.'