by Jaye McKenna
Anja looked up at him and gave him a small smile, which faded as her gaze shifted to Draven. “I had no idea it was you.”
Draven’s hand tightened around Cam’s again, and Cam felt the pounding of Draven’s heart as if it were his own. He shot Draven a questioning look, but Draven was focused entirely on Anja.
“I might have had you thrown in the brig,” Anja continued, “but by the time I realized who you were, Luka had already told everyone who would listen about how you saved Alek, and Eleni and Jaana were convinced you were Cam’s last hope. Do you even remember me?” The tension level around the table spiked as all eyes turned to Draven.
“I remember,” Draven said softly. “Mercury.”
Cam’s heart skipped a beat. The Mercury had been Anja’s last post in Space Fleet before she’d been discharged, psi-damaged and under orders not to reveal the details of the mission or the confrontation that had injured her.
“Aye. Mercury.” There was a bitter edge to her voice, though her expression remained neutral.
Draven didn’t even break a sweat. “I was following orders,” he said in a cool, neutral voice. “As were you. I was smuggling psions into the Federation from the Colonial Alliance. Most of them came from worlds where psions are executed for the crime of being different. I… wasn’t expecting to find a psion leading the boarding party.”
Psions? Cam could have guessed Draven would be involved in smuggling drugs, weapons, or slaves. But psions?
Anja’s hazel eyes narrowed. “We wouldn’t have hurt them.”
“Didn’t think you would,” Draven said drily, “but you’d have nailed me and my crew for human trafficking.”
“Probably,” she conceded. “Under the circumstances, I guess you did exactly what I would have done, had our positions been reversed. Hit the enemy hard enough to force a withdrawal without damaging your own ship and cargo in the process. In that situation, a psionic attack was your best bet. And it worked. It was the last thing I was expecting.”
The tension coming from the group around the table eased considerably, and dropped even further when Draven gave her a brief nod. “I didn’t know if you were capable of attacking me psionically, but I dared not take the chance.”
“Understood.” Anja shook her head as she leaned back in her chair. “You risked your life to save Alek and Cam, and I find myself in the uncomfortable position of being in your debt.”
“I would… wipe the slate clean, if you’re willing,” Draven said.
Hazel eyes met amber. “Fresh start?” Anja asked.
“Fresh start.”
“I take it you’re throwing in your lot with us, then. Not that there’s much choice, at this point.”
Draven’s eyes met Cam’s. “Got a good reason to do so.”
Anja was silent for a long moment before a wicked grin curved her lips. “Lord knows, Cam needs someone to keep an eye on him. I wish you luck. You’re going to need it. Welcome aboard, Draven. And” — her gaze shifted pointedly to their joined hands — “welcome to the family.”
“Thank you,” Draven whispered.
“Psions?” Cam asked as they drifted away from the table to take a few moments alone before the vote. “You were smuggling psions? That sounds almost… humanitarian.”
Draven shrugged. “Depends on how you look at it. Romani offered them legal employment, Federation citizenship, and a big wad of cash in exchange for a few months working as test subjects in one of his research facilities.”
Not so humanitarian, then, given that some of Romani’s test subjects didn’t survive the experience. “Did he at least tell them what they were signing up for?”
“No,” Draven said flatly. “But I did. They didn’t care. Romani was offering them a chance. Their own governments wouldn’t even give them that.”
“How is it that even though I’ve been deep inside your mind, you still manage to surprise me?”
“Shouldn’t surprise you.” Draven’s hand sought his, lacing his own fingers with Cam’s. “We’re a lot alike, underneath. I realized that back on Alpha. That’s why I didn’t kill you then, and that’s why I came to you when everything fell apart. I knew I could trust you.”
“And what’s that trust gotten you?” Cam asked bitterly. He’d promised his people a new home, freedom, and safety from the Federation. Now they would all pay the ultimate price for believing in him. “You’ll die here with the rest of us.”
Draven’s lips curved in a small smile. “We’re not dead yet, Asada.” His hand tightened around Cam’s. “And you’re standing here beside me, alive and free. Right now, that’s enough for me.”
* * *
As soon as Anja sat down, Miko wormed his way through the crowd to Tarrin, who stood with Vaya and Nick, all three of them looking pale and sick.
“Is that true?” Vaya was asking Nick as Miko drew near. “Our only chance is to jump, but if we do that, we may never see Aion again?”
“A premature jump is a blind jump,” Nick said quietly. “We may not see anything again. Chances are pretty damn good we won’t wake up at all.”
Vaya’s face paled. “But… there are children on this ship. Families. If we surrendered, would the Federation hurt them, too?”
“If they’re psions, yeah,” Nick said. “That’s their plan.”
“And you and Tarrin truly believe you can reason with the Federation Senate?” Vaya asked.
Tarrin’s eyes met Miko’s, but Miko couldn’t tell him anything for certain. He hadn’t seen this in the Pattern. Hadn’t seen any of it.
Tarrin’s mythe-shadow rippled with the colors of doubt.
Miko took hold of his hand.
“I hope you’re right.” Tarrin drew him close, and they held one another tightly.
Against the uniform backdrop of grim determination, the oily blackness of Rafe’s mythe-shadow was a constant irritation. Rafe had drawn back as far as he could, lurking at the far edge of the room. While Miko appreciated the gesture, it made no difference to his own discomfort. It would be a profound relief to finally be off the ship so he could put some real distance between them.
When the half hour was up, Anja rose and took her place at the front of the room while Kyn and Pat moved through the crowd, passing out poker chips. Kyn pressed three of them into Miko’s hand: one blue, one white, and one red.
“Time to vote,” Anja said gravely. “There’s a box on the table up here, and I want everyone to slip one chip into it. White for surrender, red for stand and fight, and blue for jump. I’ll remind you that surrendering or fighting will see at least some of us dead and the rest of us drugged or mind-wiped.”
No one spoke as they lined up to vote. The chink of the chips falling into the box was the only sound in the room. Miko and Tarrin joined the line, and Miko made his choice: blue. Tarrin’s hand was shaking as he dropped his own chip into the box. Blue, like Miko’s, but with a lot of reservations.
Miko hadn’t said a word to Tarrin about the plan he and Rhys and Anja had come up with, but he was certain Tarrin sensed his apprehension. He was doing his best not to think about it as he and Tarrin moved toward the table where the rest of the McKinnon family had gathered after casting their votes. Draven was there with Cameron, and he looked Miko right in the eye, suspicion rippling through his mythe-shadow.
>
Amber eyes bored right through him.
Miko looked away, and his eyes were drawn to Rafe, who was making his choice. Rafe dropped a chip into the box and looked up, eyes meeting Miko’s. He hesitated, took a single step toward Miko, then turned on his heel and headed for the far side of the room.
Miko’s heart ached for Rafe and for his own lost memories, which might have made it possible to build a bridge of some kind between them. As it was, Rafe was a stranger to him, and with them unable to get close to one another, he would remain so.
Tarrin followed Miko’s gaze. His arm went around Miko and he pulled him close. “I’m sorry it hurts you so much,” Tarrin murmured.
Miko replied.
“I wish I could help you both.”
There wasn’t time to respond to that, even if Miko could think of something to say, for the last of the votes had been cast, and Anja was stepping up to the table. She took the lid off the box and her eyes widened as she looked down into it. With a grim smile, she tipped it forward. A pile of blue chips spilled out onto the table. Anja spread them out with trembling hands. There wasn’t a single white or red chip among them.
“You people are crazy,” she said, her voice thick. “And I mean that in the best possible way. All right, then. It looks like we’re taking our chances in jump space. God help us. Let’s get everybody tranked down. Miko and Rhys, with me.”
“Wait,” Cameron said. “Why Miko?”
Miko dipped into the net and turned on the comm speakers in the crew lounge. “I can maybe increase our chances of getting to Hope.”
“How?” Cameron wanted to know.
“He’s planning to stay awake during the jump,” Tarrin said, a bitter edge to his voice. “Aren’t you?”
A murmur of protest rippled through the room.
“The drive crystals are made of shaalinite,” Miko explained, turning to face them — his family, his friends, all of them. “The same as the artifacts on Aion were. If I can find the right pattern to get us to Hope, I can push it into the drive crystals and get us there even if we don’t enter jump space at the correct insertion velocity. But I have to be awake to do that. The timing is critical.” He didn’t mention that he’d also have to be inside the drive tube, touching the master drive crystal in order to do it.
“You can’t survive jump without trank,” Rafe called from the back of the room.
Miko faced his brother without flinching. “I already have.” Rafe closed his eyes and turned away, grief, fear, and regret streaming from his mythe-shadow. Miko turned to Tarrin and buried his face against Tarrin’s shoulder.
Tarrin’s arms went around him, sheltering and protecting him one last time.
Miko didn’t say goodbye, but from the colors rippling through Tarrin’s mythe-shadow, Tarrin knew it might be that, too. With a silent sob, Miko pulled away and started to make his way to the exit. The crowd parted for him, almost everyone reaching out to pat his shoulder or clasp his hand briefly as he passed.
Another time, Miko might have marveled at how it didn’t hurt when they touched him.
He could touch anyone he wanted, now.
Anyone except Rafe.
When he reached Cameron, he stopped.
“Are you sure, Miko?” Cameron asked, setting his hands lightly on Miko’s shoulders.
It’s our best chance, Miko signed.
Cameron hugged him. “Then all I’m going to say is thank you.”
Miko put his arms around Cameron and squeezed hard. When he pulled away, he looked up at the man who had sacrificed so much for him and signed, Thank you. For being my father, my brother, and my friend.
Cameron’s eyes filled, and he hugged Miko again. “Be careful, Miko,” he said in a hoarse voice. “I want to see you on the other side.”
When he pulled away from Cameron, Draven was there to take his place.
“I will,” Draven murmured, bending to kiss his forehead. “I promise. Go with Aio, little brother.”
Luka and Kyn both hugged him, too. Rafe hung back, watching with big, frightened eyes, arms wrapped tightly about himself. Those dark eyes met Miko’s for a long, painful moment before Rafe finally turned away.
Eleni and Damon started herding people off to their cabins so they could get everyone tranked for the jump. With a wrenching feeling of loss, Miko followed Anja and Rhys to the bridge.
Just before they turned a corner, Miko looked back to see Tarrin and Rafe staring after him. Tarrin’s hand was on Rafe’s shoulder, and he lifted it in farewell. Rafe remained still, black eyes fixed on Miko, the colors of loss and grief streaming from his mythe-shadow.
* * *
Miko climbed into the drive tube and turned around to face Anja and Rhys. Anja handed him an earpiece, which he immediately handed back. “I don’t need that,” he said through the comm speakers in the drive chamber. “I’m already in the Wanderlust’s data-net. I’ll hear you on the bridge just fine. And you’ll hear me through the comm speakers.”
“Are you sure about this, Miko?” Anja asked for maybe the tenth time in as many minutes.
“I’m sure,” he said. “If I could do it from the bridge, I would, but I have to touch the crystal if I’m going to give it a new pattern. It’ll be fine. Tell her again, Rhys.” He wished he felt as certain as the synthetic voice came out sounding.
“Theoretically, the drive tube is a perfectly safe place to be during jump,” Rhys said. “No radiation, no moving parts. As long as Miko’s sure about surviving jump space without the trank drugs, I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”
Anja gave him a dark look. “Going through jump without trank is plenty to worry about. Never mind doing it halfway down the drive tube with your hand on the goddamn drive crystal.”
Rhys hesitated for a moment, then said, “I don’t have any other ideas. Do you?”
“Fuck. No. You know I don’t.” Anja reached out and clasped Miko’s hand. “I’m not even going to pretend to understand what it is you’re planning to do. Just… whatever it is, be careful. A lot of people here care about you.”
“I care about them, too,” Miko said. “That’s why I’m here.”
When Anja left, Rhys said, “You can do this.”
Miko smiled. “You’re the only one who thinks so.”
“You saved my life when I took that last crazy jump with the Gremlin to get Alek home safe. You were there with me, somehow, before you’d even met me. If you say you can do this, I believe you.”
“Of course I saved your life,” Miko said. “You’re the Pathfinder.”
“No,” Rhys said, shaking his head and giving Miko a small smile. “I’m just the guy running the navigation systems. I’m nothing special. Not like you are.” He took hold of Miko’s hand and squeezed it. “Like Anja said: be careful, okay?”
“I will.”
It was a relief when Rhys finally left the access hatch to return to the bridge. Miko turned around and shimmied down the tube to the drive-crystal housing. He and Rhys had practiced this earlier in the day, when he’d first suggested it.
Planning for the worst, Anja had called it.
Rhys had shown him exactly where the master drive crystal was located. He’d even removed the access panel and left it off so Miko wouldn’t have to worry about manipulating tools.
The drive tube wasn’t nearly as tight a fit for Miko as it was for Rhys, and it didn’t take long for him to belly-crawl the thirty meters to where the master drive crystal was located. When he reached it, he r
olled onto his back and stared up at the faceted chunk of green shaalinite.
“I’m ready,” Miko said through the bridge comm speakers.
“Stand by,” Anja said. “Rhys is running through the final checks before we initiate the ignition sequence.”
The emerald-green crystal filled his vision. All around him, the ship was eerily silent, the only conscious minds belonging to Anja and Rhys, and all too soon, they, too, would be tranked down, leaving Miko alone.
Like he had been on the Mathilde…
His hands trembled, and his jaw clenched. This wasn’t the Mathilde, and he wasn’t a helpless child.
“Final check complete,” Rhys said. “All systems in the green. We’re go for drive ignition on your mark.”
“All right, let’s do this thing,” Anja said, her voice sounding cool and confident. “On my mark. Three, two, one, mark.”
The drive tube thrummed with power, and the crystal began to glow.
“You realize they’ll be hailing us as soon as they detect the change in energy signatures,” Rhys said.
“I’m aware,” Anja said. “We’ll warn them off.”
“If they don’t clear off…” Rhys paused, then said, “Miko, what if they end up in our jump vortex? Will that throw off your… whatever calculations you’re doing?”
“It won’t make any difference,” Miko said. “I’ll be manipulating the drive crystals directly. In the mythe.”
Anja’s whispered curse hissed through the comm.
When the Space Fleet destroyers hailed them a few minutes later, Miko was only half-listening to the heated conversation that followed. His senses were intertwined with every system on the ship. He knew before Anja did when one of the destroyers fired. Instinct had him curling up in a ball in the drive tube to protect himself. The glancing impact rocked the ship, and Miko’s mind raced through the data-net, checking all the vital systems. Some of the sensor arrays were out, but the shields had absorbed most of the impact.