by F. T. Lukens
“I want credits,” Rowan said. “Lots of credits.”
“I want an honorable discharge.” Asher’s shoulders tightened. “And an apology wouldn’t go amiss either.”
VanMeerten pressed her lips together in a tight, white line. “I can arrange a discharge. I can arrange credits. I cannot speak to the other requests.”
Ren inwardly wilted, and his face drained of color. He should’ve known. Even if he bargained, he’d never be free.
“You can’t apologize?” Rowan asked. “I find that hard to believe.”
VanMeerten clenched her jaw, and a tremble appeared in the hinges. “I can’t speak to Corps policies. I cannot grant blanket amnesty to dangerous individuals and I cannot withdraw all the troops on planets as I am not the only individual who makes those decisions.”
“Ren is not dangerous,” Asher said. “Neither is his brother. And neither are the ones who had lived quietly in hiding until the Corps began to drag them out. Vos took advantage of a situation the Corps created. Surely, you see that.”
“I can give amnesty to Ren and his brother. No one else. And I will remove troops from Erden.”
Ren shook his head. “I won’t advocate just on my behalf. It has to be all or none.”
“Can you even stop her? You can’t expect us to bargain so much away when we don’t even know the extent of your power. And will you stop her? We can’t trust you. You all lied, and you attacked an encampment.”
“Ren,” Rowan said, lifting her chin, “show them.”
Ren swallowed. He disentangled from Asher’s hand, not wanting to hurt Asher’s mechanical shoulder accidentally. He took a deep breath and called upon the anger that welled within him due to this conversation, the frustration, and the fear and he concentrated on shaking apart, vibrating into pieces, as he collapsed inward. It came to him more easily, and his vision went blue, then violet, darker by degrees as he crumpled, and then his star exploded outward. A rainbow of sparks dripped from his fingers, and his vision swam in technicolor.
The comms crackled with energy and power, and he reverberated across the cluster, stretched along the communication feeds, and into the councilor’s office. It was the farthest he’d ever gone, and he was weak scattered out along the lines, but he flickered in their lights.
“What are you?” VanMeerten asked, voice breathless with horror.
“I am a star.”
“Ren,” Asher took his hand. “Come back.”
Ren retracted into his body in seconds and let the power go. He heaved in a breath and locked his knees to keep from staggering. The action left him weak, but he refused to show it, not in front of VanMeerten.
“Impressive,” Councilor Morgan said. “But can you stop her?”
“I don’t know,” Ren admitted. “She has abilities that I don’t. But I’ve learned more since I last faced her.”
“Then what good are you?” VanMeerten sneered. “Why should we waste our efforts on you?”
Rowan raised a finger. “Because everything else you’ve tried has led to people being killed. You’ve been utter dirt at protecting the drifts. We’ve seen it. And you need help.”
“We have another ally,” Asher said, shouldering forward. “And he won’t work with you without us. Without Ren. Between the three of us, we can work something out.”
VanMeerten sniffed, but the apprehension in her features softened. “And what? You’ll arrange a meeting?”
“Yes,” Ren said. He caught the look Asher and Rowan shared, but ignored them for the time being. “Yes, if you promise. Promise me you’ll back off and let us live.”
“A moment.” Councilor Morgan placed her palm over the camera and Ren heard a hurried whispered conversation. Rolling his eyes, Ren boosted the sound, and the conversation came loud and clear over the Star Stream’s comm.
“Handy,” Rowan said with tight smile.
With a huff, Councilor Morgan pulled her hand away. “Speak, Grace.”
The general straightened the jacket of her uniform. The medals on her chest gleamed; the braided ropes over her shoulders pulled taut.
“An honorable discharge for Asher. Credits for Rowan.” Her left eye ticked. “And a pardon for the technopath and his brother. Warrants and files deleted. That’s all I will promise. If you succeed, we’ll negotiate for the other pieces.” She cleared her throat. “Does that sound fair?”
“You forgot the apology,” Rowan said sweetly. “I think we all deserve one, but especially Asher and Ren.”
VanMeerten grumbled but the councilor knocked her arm into the general’s back. “Fine. On behalf of the Corps, I apologize for the treatment you’ve both received.”
“Work on the apology,” Asher said. “For when we arrange the meeting. I’d like it to be more specific and sincere.”
“Otherwise? Do we have a deal?”
Asher wrapped his arm around Ren’s shoulder. “What do you say?”
It wasn’t enough. It wouldn’t ever be enough. But his family would be taken care of. Maybe… maybe she would bend when Millicent and Vos were finally dealt with.
“Fine. With further negotiation understood once the threat has been neutralized.”
“Yes,” VanMeerten agreed. “And how will you arrange this meeting? It needs to happen fast and—”
“We’ll take care of it,” Ren interrupted. “We’ll contact you when we’re ready.”
She nodded. “Fine. Don’t dawdle.”
Rowan cut he feed. “Don’t be such a cog,” Rowan muttered once the screen winked out. “Who does she think she is?”
“I think she is the head of a military organization,” Lucas said from his seat. “That was intense.”
Ren had forgotten he was there, but was glad he was another witness to their deal.
“Did you record that?” Asher asked.
“Sure thing. I hit that button as soon as she popped up on the screen. Damn, she’s scary.”
“She’s not scary when you know what scares her.” Ren leaned into Asher’s side. “She’s afraid of me.”
“So,” Rowan sat heavily in her chair and slumped, “how are we going to arrange a meeting with an escaped convict and us and a general who would as soon see us all thrown into jail as smile at us. We can’t go to them. I don’t trust VanMeerten.”
“I don’t trust Vos. He’ll turn on us as soon as he gets a chance. And if he managed to free Abiathar, he could turn Ren against us, or any other star host he may have freed.”
Ren bit his lip. “We’ll use a dream.”
“What?” Rowan stood. “We’ll do what?”
“My brother can enter dreams. My powers don’t work there. I’m certain he could find Vos. He might not remember, but he’s done it before in the prison. And we know where VanMeerten is hanging out.”
“That was Mother’s office.”
“Can he get all of us there? Would it be safe?”
Ren shrugged. “It would be safer than a physical meeting.”
“We’ll ask him.”
“Not now,” Ren said. “He needs to rest. He’s been through a lot.”
“Soon though. VanMeerten is right. We can’t dawdle. Millicent has three drifts under her control that we know of. And with each passing moment, Vos is either getting farther into hiding or starting to rebuild his own forces.”
“I’ll talk to him tonight.”
_
The rest of the day passed uneventfully. Restless, Ren stayed in the cargo bay, rifled through the crate Ollie had bought him before the incident, and fixed the spare parts he could and trashed the ones he couldn’t. Asher left him to his thoughts. Liam rested, and Ren checked in on him often, traveling through the circuits to watch the slow rise and fall of his chest. He slept like the dead, sprawled out, unmoving, leaden in the sheets—the sleep of the truly exhausted. Ren intimate
ly knew the feeling.
Ren dreaded asking Liam to use his power to help them. He’d been manipulated by the Corps, tortured if he didn’t comply, and resisted in his own small ways. And now he was rescued, only to be asked to do the same thing. Lost in thought and work, Ren didn’t notice the passing of time until Asher touched his arm.
“Ren?”
Ren blinked, and Asher frowned. “I’m going to bed. Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just… lost track of time.”
“Not like before?”
“Huh?” Ren set a piece of tech aside. “No, not like before. Thinking about Liam.”
“Ah,” Asher sat next to him. “Do you want talk about it?”
Ren scrubbed a hand over the back of his head. “Not really. I need to talk to him.”
“You do.”
“I don’t have much time.”
“You don’t.”
Those were the facts and Ren appreciated Asher for confirming them and not trying to pry anything else out of him or try to offer unwanted platitudes.
“Talk to him, Ren. If he doesn’t want to help us, that’s fine. It means we have to figure out another way. We can do that.”
Sighing, Ren stood. He checked the feeds and was surprised to find Liam was gone from the room he’d been assigned and was on the bridge. Lucas was there as well, tapping away at his console, but otherwise, they were silent.
“Okay. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”
Asher’s mouth tipped up in a grin. “I’ll wait for you.”
Ren padded up the metal steps from the bay into the heart of the ship. He passed the common area, where Penelope and Darby played a card game, laughing at each other, then walked down the hall past the crew quarters. He jumped up the small set of steps and ducked onto the bridge.
Lucas looked up from his calculations and stood. He didn’t say a word, only acknowledged Ren with a tip of his chin and a small pat to the shoulder as he walked past.
Liam stood at the viewing screen, dressed in clothes that didn’t belong to him, barefoot, and swaying like an apparition.
Ren waited a few moments before addressing him.
“Hey, how are you doing?”
Liam didn’t turn around.
“I’m fine.”
“That’s good.” Ren knotted his hands behind his back. “I need to talk—”
“It’s right there.” Liam pressed his hand to the viewing screen. “I want to go home.”
Ren wandered toward the screen. “I know.”
“When you were there last, did you see anyone other than our parents? People from the village?”
Ren crossed his arms. “A few. Our home isn’t there anymore, Liam. The village is gone. Our house… well, it was standing, barely, but I doubt it is any longer.”
“We’ll rebuild it. Dad and I can. I know you two didn’t always get along, but between the three of us, we could fix it.”
“Liam—”
“You could convince Sorcha and Jakob to move the village back to the lake. They’d listen to you.”
“I don’t think—”
“Mom told me she was sorry for everything that happened in the laurels.” Liam cast a look over his shoulder to Ren. “She wanted me to tell you. I talked to her through my dreams, when I could. She was harder to contact than you were, and I think it had something to do with her power. I’ve been too exhausted to try for the past few weeks. She’ll be worried.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I want to go home. Please?” He turned wide, wounded eyes to Ren. “We could run down there, and you can drop me off. Or you could transport us. I know you can. I saw that you can.”
Ren ducked his head. “We’re not going to Erden. We don’t know what’s happening down there or where our friends are.”
“Ren—”
“I said no,” Ren snapped. “We’re not going. We have other things to deal with. We have other things to do than worry about anyone planet-side.”
Liam’s features screwed up in anger. His cheeks went red, and his lips trembled. “Just because you don’t want it to be your home anymore doesn’t mean you can keep me from going. I want to go to the lake. I want to see Mom and Dad. I want to be back on the soil.”
“Liam, that’s not why.”
“Yes, it is! Just because you hate it doesn’t mean I do!”
Ren sighed. He scrubbed a hand over his face. “Liam, I don’t want to fight with you. I’ll get you home. I promise. But later. Too much is at stake right now.”
Liam crossed the room and pushed Ren hard in the shoulder. Ren staggered back.
“You just want to use me like they did, don’t you? I heard you talking to that general. She needs you, and you need me.”
Stricken, tears sprang to Ren’s eyes. “That’s not true.” His voice shook.
“Liar!” Liam pushed again. “Liar! Come on!” He pushed until Ren’s back hit the bulkhead. “Fight back! I know you can! You never did at home, but I’ve seen you now. I know what you can do!”
Pushing his forearm across Ren’s chest, Liam pinned him against the metal. Ren’s heart slammed against his ribs.
“Liam, stop.”
“Why? Why should I? That’s how it works up here, right? You got what you wanted by fighting; maybe that’s what I have to do.”
Ren pushed against Liam’s shoulders. “Will you cut it out? You’re right. I don’t want to go back to Erden. I don’t want to take you there. Happy?”
“No! I want to go home! Why won’t you let me?”
“Because I just got you back!” Ren shouted. Tears threatened to spill down his cheeks. “You may have spent a year in that prison, but I’ve been in chains and chased across a countryside. I’ve been possessed by a ship. I was betrayed, and I was murdered, and the whole time I looked for you. I wouldn’t stop looking for you.”
Liam shoved Ren one last time. His elbow caught Ren in his wound; then he released him and stalked across the deck. The pain stole Ren’s air, and he gasped, knees weak.
“What? Is that supposed to make me feel guilty?”
“No,” Ren said. “It’s supposed to make you feel loved.”
Liam bowed his head and covered his eyes with one hand. His shoulders shook. Tentatively, Ren came up behind Liam and touched his back.
“You’re my brother. You’re my family. You’re the only family I have.”
“That’s not true,” Liam said, voice thick.
“Our mother and your father aren’t… they’re not… I don’t think…”
“Not them,” Liam said, saving Ren from having to find the thoughts and feelings associated with his mother and stepfather. “The crew. This crew are your family. Asher is your family. I… don’t have that.”
“You could have that. They’ve spent almost as much time looking for you as I have. They welcome everyone who wants to be a part of the crew.”
Liam shook his head. “I don’t want them to be my family. I have one.” He pointed to Erden. “There.”
Ren closed his eyes and blew out a breath. “You’re right. It’s not just that we don’t have time. I need you. I need your power. I can’t let you leave, yet.”
“I know.” Liam shrugged. “You want me to arrange a meeting between those people.”
“I do.”
“So you can kill her.”
“I don’t want to. I don’t want to kill her. And maybe we can disarm her and keep her from hurting anyone else.”
“And if you’re not able to.”
“That’s why we need to have a meeting. To go over our options.”
“I thought you hated the Corps and Baron Vos.”
Ren smiled ruefully. “The enemy of my enemy is my friend. And VanMeerten promised she’d let us go if I do this. If I help them, they will let you go ho
me and they’ll give Asher a discharge, and Rowan will be able to do business again.”
“And you?”
“I’ll get to be free.”
Liam’s brow furrowed. “What are you planning?”
“I’m not planning anything.”
Liam’s defensive posture dropped. “You’re a bad liar.” He waved his hand. “Don’t. I just… you need to consider Asher before you make any big sweeping decisions. He loves you.”
“I am considering him.”
“Okay. I just think he’d be happier with you than without you.”
Ren didn’t have any intention of leaving, of dying again. But he wasn’t naïve. He was a supernova, destined to explode. “I’m sorry for not telling you everything,” Ren said. “You’re not a child anymore.”
“Neither are you.” Liam smiled sadly. “Sorry for pinning you against the wall and thanks for not frying me or something.”
“It doesn’t work like that.”
“Sure, it doesn’t. You could’ve totally toasted me, and I would’ve deserved it.”
Ren ruffled Liam’s hair, and Liam ducked, laughing, and batted Ren away. “Go to bed,” Ren said. “You’ve had a trying day.”
“Yeah, in a bit. I want to stay and look a little longer.”
Ren knocked his shoulder in Liam’s. “Okay. Night.”
“Night, big brother.”
Ren left the bridge and headed to the crew quarters. In the crew hallway, Asher waited, feet twitching on the deck plate, arms crossed over his bare chest, hair sticking up.
“I heard shouting.”
Ren looped his hand through the crook of Asher’s elbow. “Everything is fine.” He tugged Asher back toward their room.
“Are you lying to me?”
Ren stopped short.
“We made a promise we would be upfront and wouldn’t hide things anymore. You lied to me at the prison.”
“Come on,” Ren said. “I want another night of sleeping with you before things get out of control again.”
Asher followed, frowning. Once inside their room, Ren guided him to the bed.
“I’m not lying,” Ren said. “I didn’t tell you about feeling the trouble on the top floor because I was scared you’d have us abandon Liam when we were so close. I was afraid. I’m sorry.”