She knew the truth behind his lies. His illusions.
And she knew she had to get out of there. Now.
“No,” she rasped, “I’m all right. Simply trying to do too many things at once.”
“You should rest then,” he said.
Daith shook her head. “I have to finish what I started.” She smiled and opened communications to the attacking fleet. Her voice came out cracked and hoarse. “Enemy vessels. If you surrender now I promise no harm will come to you.”
The man who spoke before came back on. “We’re ready for whatever you can throw at us.”
“Very well.” Daith closed her eyes and concentrated. She made the Horizon’s sensors believe the ships had been disabled. Less than a standard minute later she turned to Trey. “All their engines have been disabled. They are floating dead in space.”
Trey looked at the pilot who nodded in agreement. “Sensors register all other ships have stopped moving.”
“Great. Let’s target their lead vessel and—”
“Incoming fire!” the pilot called out. “Their weapons are still active!”
“Evasive—” But Trey didn’t get to finish his order. The ship rocked underneath him. “Render them weaponless!”
Daith sent a message directly to the mind of the captain of the oncoming fleet. Crude, but she made it clear he needed to stand down, that the Horizon surrendered. “Already done,” Daith said in a smooth voice. She found her way out. “The hit we sustained did critical damage, but I can fix it,” she reassured him. “I have to go to engineering and look at it. I used too much power against the ships.”
“Fine,” Trey said, dismissing her. “We’ll finish off this broken fleet when you finish the repairs.” Trey placed his hand on her shoulder. “You’ve done well. Dru would be proud.”
Rage flared up like flames. How dare he say Dru’s name! She almost snapped Trey’s neck with her mind, but a wave of fear hit her. If she killed Trey, his crew would use their hand-held weapons against her and she didn’t think she had enough energy left to stop them all. Her vision blurred even more and she had to press her hands together to keep them from shaking. She couldn’t hear anyone’s thoughts anymore. All she felt were vague emotions.
No, she had to escape.
Daith left the bridge and instead of heading down toward engineering, she made her way up to the holding cells. She walked through the door and approached the guards on duty.
“I’m sorry,” she told them.
Looks of confusion passed over their faces.
She closed her eyes and concentrated. Using her mind, she constricted their windpipes. She heard them both gasp for breath and felt their heartbeats slow. When she sensed they’d lost consciousness, she released their airways and heard the rush of air fill their lungs as their bodies began to work again, unconscious but alive.
Daith opened her eyes and blinked several times, hoping her cloudy vision would clear. When it didn’t, she cursed softly, headed for the controls, and turned off the electric energy fields that blocked the cells. She watched Cenjo and Torrak each step out, their faces almost identical in bewilderment.
“We don’t have much time.” She motioned for them to follow her. “Where is your associate?” she asked Torrak.
“I don’t know…what’s going on here?”
Daith shook her head. “There is no time to explain. We need to leave.”
Cenjo stepped up. “Kalil is in my office.”
Daith’s forehead wrinkled. “Your office?”
He smiled. “Like you said, there’s no time to explain. Let’s go.”
“Wait,” Torrak called out. He rushed over to Faan’s body and, although everyone knew the result, he checked for a pulse. He looked up at Daith, his eyes ablaze. “We can’t leave her here.” Torrak lifted her to her knees and with Cenjo’s help, draped her between them.
Daith turned to Cenjo, her words slurred. “I’ll meet you in the shuttle bay. I’ll go and get Kalil and be there soon.”
“You can’t move him by yourself with his bad knee,” Cenjo said, grabbing her by the arm. “You can barely stand on your own.”
Daith pushed away his help. “I won’t need to carry him. Trust me. You have to start up the shuttle.”
The three of them left the holding cells, with Torrak and Cenjo carrying Faan, and Daith headed toward Cenjo’s office, her skin clammy, her mouth dry. She entered the room and found a young man with a mop of curly red hair, his leg propped up on Cenjo’s desk, the knee swollen and purple.
His body clenched as she approached.
Daith offered him the most reassuring smile she could. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to get you off this ship. But first, let me look at that leg.”
Daith concentrated on his knee. Her mind screamed in agony while she forced it to work. She redistributed the blood flow, cooled down the swollen tissue, and popped the kneecap back into place. It wasn’t perfect, but good enough for him to walk on. Daith wiped at her bloody nose and told him they had to hurry. Along the way, Kalil asked Daith about everyone else.
“Cenjo and Torrak will meet us in the shuttle bay. They are carrying Faan.”
“So it’s true. She’s dead.”
Guilt hit her in a wave. She stumbled, trying to block the anger and confusion that emanated from Kalil. “I’m sorry. You can hate me later.”
The two of them found Cenjo and Torrak waiting outside the shuttle.
“I can cripple the ship,” she said, “but if we don’t leave soon, I won’t have the energy left to do it.” Daith’s head pulsed in pain and blood dripped from her ears. Nearly blind she stumbled, gripping the edge of the doorway.
Kalil and Torrak made their way onto the shuttle. Cenjo hesitated, right outside the door.
“What about Xiven?” he asked. “Somebody needs to make sure he doesn’t continue to fight.”
Daith sighed. “We won’t have to worry about that.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’s here.”
Cenjo spun around to find Trey, an electric-volt weapon in his hand. A dozen crewmembers stood behind him.
“Going so soon?” he asked.
Daith nearly collapsed. She’d been so close. “Trey, it’s over. I know everything.”
Trey smirked. “And you played your part perfectly. The citizens below saw a vidlink recording of you on the bridge and know you’re behind this attack. My pretty little puppet performed well. And now, you aren’t needed anymore.”
Daith felt Cenjo tense beside her. She put her hand gently on his arm.
“Ah, yes. I haven’t forgotten about you, Lieutenant Commander.” Trey’s voice dripped with disgust. “Back on her side after trying to kill her? How can she believe you now?”
“You’re one to talk. Did you start planning the takeover of the Aleet Army before or after Jaxx’s death?” Cenjo snapped.
Trey’s face darkened. “Jaxx was brilliant, but a fool. He could’ve fixed everything. But he couldn’t handle it. That’s why I had to take over. I knew I could succeed where he failed.”
Something clicked inside Daith’s head. She took a step forward, her legs unsteady. “Was it hard for you to see Jaxx fail?”
Trey looked at her. “What?”
“He didn’t live up to what you wanted him to be. He broke like anyone one else would have. But in your eyes, he wasn’t supposed to. He should have fixed everything, like he did on your planet.”
Trey scoffed at her. “You don’t know what you’re talking about. You don’t remember any of that.”
“No, but I don’t need to.” Daith kept talking to keep him distracted. She probed ever so gently into his mind. With emotions and adrenaline so high, his thoughts came to her easily. “What did it feel like to have this icon of yours let you down? After all the work you put into this cause, his cause, and then to have Jaxx give up, leaving you all as targets, not taking responsibility for his actions?”
Trey’s breathing quickened.
“Or maybe it’s because you blame yourself for his death?” Daith continued. “That you couldn’t do more to help him. That he wouldn’t let you help him.”
Trey tried to laugh, but it sounded forced. The crewmembers around him shifted uneasily.
“You had nightmares about it. For years.”
Trey’s smile faded.
Daith pressed on. “You saw him decide to give up on his life, his mission. Your mission.”
Trey’s jaw clenched. “Get out of my head.” She felt him try to reestablish his block, but it wouldn’t hold.
One of the guards looked at Trey. “Commander?”
Trey threw the guard a look that silenced him instantly. “Shut your mouth,” he said to Daith, his weapon shaking. “You don’t know anything about what happened to me.”
Daith took another step forward. “You keep telling yourself that in war you have to sacrifice the few to save the many. But the few became real faces, those you knew.” Daith began to pull the names from his mind. “Your mother—”
Trey fired, but his weapon hissed in a display of blue sparks before powering down. She had shorted it out with her mind.
Beads of sweat popped up all over Trey’s face.
“…Jaxx, Riel, Dru,” Daith continued. “I’ll bet no one knows you sometimes forget whole parts of the day. I bet none of your guards know you can’t sleep more than three standard hours a night because of your nightmares. You have no friends. You have no family. You have no one who knows your deepest darkest…
…secret.”
Trey’s eyes widened in terror. “Don’t!”
But Daith found the memory. “No one knows the guards who beat and raped your mother did it to you first. And she had to watch.”
No one moved.
Trey began to shake and the crewmembers around him all looked uncomfortable, tightening the grip on their weapons.
“How dare you,” he seethed. “How dare you judge me and my actions? I wanted to bring peace. I wanted to do what your pathetic father couldn’t do, didn’t have the GUTS to do!”
“You don’t know what I went through,” he continued, spittle forming in the corner of his mouth. “You can’t imagine what it’s like for a twelve-year-old to go through what I went through. And Jaxx didn’t punish those men! He changed their thoughts—like that was good enough? But what about their victims? Didn’t they deserve justice? Didn’t my mother? Didn’t I?
“It would have been for the best!” Trey screamed. “Everyone would have been safer and happier and no one would ever have to go through what I did. EVER!”
Trey lunged toward Daith, startling one of the edgy guards.
The whole room stood, frozen, as Trey looked downward, a large smoldering hole in his chest. The smell of burnt flesh filled the space.
“I didn’t mean to!” the guard exclaimed, dropping the weapon. “It just went off!” He bolted from the room.
“What...?” Trey’s gaze returned to Daith, his eyes glassy.
He crumbled to his knees. Daith rushed over to him, sliding onto the floor.
“I can save you.” The words came from her lips without her knowing why. She hated this man. He’d stolen her past, her life, her soul. He killed Dru. He used her.
But something inside her ached. He’d been through so much pain, so much terror. A desire to help him, fix him, save him blotted out everything else inside her.
Because if he could be saved, after all the horrible things he did, then maybe so could she.
Daith prepared herself to repair his wound, but the power wouldn’t come. She could barely see anymore. Her concentration wouldn’t hold. She couldn’t even feel his fingers on her hands.
Trey shook his head.
“Don’t save me,” he gasped. I want the pain to stop. She heard his words in her head.
Daith wanted to object, but she didn’t know what to say.
One of the guards called for Doctor Milastow, but everyone knew she would arrive too late.
Trey turned his head and spat out a glob of blood. Don’t let the men who hurt me get away with it... don’t let them hurt me anymore. He brushed her face with his bloody hand. Dru loved you, you know. A spastic cough forced its way through his lips.
Daith swallowed, finding it hard due to the lump in her throat.
His eyes fluttered. I’m sorry. Tell my mother, I’m sor—
Trey’s hand dropped from her face.
Three standard hours had passed since Cenjo issued an unconditional surrender and the Horizon docked on Sintaur.
Three hours since Daith, Torrak, Kalil, and Cenjo had all been rushed to separate hotel rooms under heavy guard to await trial.
Three hours since Trey’s death.
Daith had done nothing but lay on the hotel bed and stare at the ceiling. She felt totally alone. Her body began to repair itself as she lay—her sight returned, her head stopped pounding, and her balance came back.
But she didn’t care.
Soon she would stand trial for the destruction of hundreds of homes and buildings, irreparable damage to an entire fleet of ships, and the deaths of thousands of innocent civilians. She would see Torrak, the only real connection she had to her past. How could she face him after she’d killed Faan? And she continually battled the urge to tap into the energy connection she felt on the bridge. It pressed on the edges of her mind, tempting her with power and insight, but her fear overpowered the urge.
She would never access her abilities again.
Daith hoped they locked her away for the rest of her life. She didn’t deserve to be free after what she’d done. She wanted to curl up in a windowless room and rot for eternity, content only because she knew she would never be able to hurt anyone again.
A hard rap at the door interrupted her thoughts. Daith sat up slowly, stiff from tension, and told whoever to come in. A guard entered, followed by a governmental official.
“My humblest greetings, Miss Tocc,” the Sintaurian said with a low bow. “I’m sorry I hadn’t come earlier to greet you. I’ve been a bit busy, as you can imagine.” The official walked toward the bed. “My name is Appointed Official Losa, but you may call me Losa. I hope the accommodations suit you?”
“They’re fine.”
“Good. If there is anything you need, please don’t hesitate to ask. You have, I assume, been told you are to stand trial tomorrow morning?”
Daith nodded.
“Very good. I believe Judge Illu is presiding over the case. She has been informed of the situation and instructed to expedite the trial. It will, of course, not be vidlinked for the public, so there is no need to worry about that. But it should be over with quite painlessly, I imagine, and you’ll be free to be on your way.”
Daith’s eyebrows furrowed. “I don’t understand.”
Losa wrung his hands. “I’m sorry. I hope I didn’t offend you. Were you not briefed on the trial tomorrow?”
“Not specifically.”
“Oh, my,” Losa said. He took a seat next to her on the bed and patted her hand. “Well, you see, we understand what happened so you won’t be convicted of anything. The trial is a formality,” he explained, talking to her as if she were a child. “We know the vidlink broadcasts were fakes. We know you couldn’t have done those things and you were framed by this Commander Xither, or Xiven was it? No matter. He is dead and he is the guilty party.” Losa frowned at Daith’s surprised expression. “I’m terribly sorry. Have I offended you somehow?”
“I don’t mean to contradict you, Losa, but you are gravely mistaken. I did do all those things. That image of me on the broadcasts was true.”
Losa chuckled and waved away her words. “Please, my dear, there is no possible way you could have done those things.”
Daith stared at him in disbelief. Didn’t he realize her power? Didn’t he know how dangerous she was?
“The guilty party simply made you think you were doing those things,” Losa continued. “Xither confused you and manipulated you to think—
”
Losa and his guard smashed against the wall, pinned. The bed spun beneath Daith while she hovered half a meter above. The lights flickered and the windows imploded, showering the room with shards of glass. After a few moments, the bed slammed back down and Losa and his guard were released, falling ungracefully onto the carpet.
“Do you still think it wasn’t me?” she asked.
Losa and the guard fled the room, locking the door behind them.
Daith pressed her fists into her eyes. Why had she done that? She’d been so angry at them for not making her take responsibility for her own actions, for dismissing her like some sort of naïve child, and she wanted to prove he couldn’t trust her and then she…
…lost control. Again.
A string of thoughts floated through her mind.
I told myself I’d never use those abilities again, and look what already happened.
It will never end for me, will it?
I will never be free from these…these curses.
They will always control me.
I’m a danger to everyone around me.
I should just die.
The next morning, Daith’s eyes opened to the sound of loud knocking on her door. She sat up slowly, rubbing her head. She didn’t remember falling asleep.
“Come in,” she said. Four guards entered, heavily armed, their weapons trained on her.
She sighed at how little they knew the uselessness of their weapons.
“We are here to escort you to your trial,” one of the guards said.
They left the hotel and transported Daith to the courthouse. When they arrived, they stood outside the doors to the trial room. As they waited, Daith turned her head and followed the tall black and grey marbled pillars on either side of the polished silver doors. The pillars stretched all the way to the ceiling and flared out like crowns of flower petals at the top.
The guard next to her cleared his throat and signaled for Daith to enter. She walked into a huge room with a high, curved ceiling, the same silver as the doors. The tables in the room were all the same black and grey marble as the pillars, with the exception of the crimson judges’ table, accompanied by a brilliantly white throne-like chair.
Eomix Galaxy Books: Identity (Book 2 of 2) Page 21