by L O Addison
Nathan raised his eyebrows in an amused expression. “Your pet dragon? Are you serious?”
“Like I said, he’s a vater lizard, not a dragon. And I need him to come with us.”
“And why is that?” Lio demanded. “Vater lizards are highly dangerous creatures. They aren’t meant to be pets.”
Kaylin shrugged off the ambassador’s concern. “Red plays an absolutely vital role in my thieving tactics. He’s not just some pet, he’s a highly trained working animal. Sending me on a mission without him would be crippling.”
Beck suspected she might actually be telling the truth. Either way, it didn’t really matter. Kaylin had clearly made up her mind that she was taking Red, and trying to change her mind about anything was like trying to talk a mountain into moving.
Nathan seemed to come to the same conclusion, because he said, “All right. I’ll allow it.” But then he jabbed a finger at each of the Resistance soldiers. “If that creature so much as growls at one of you, kill it. Immediately. No sedative shots, just a bullet through its brain.”
Kaylin flinched slightly, but she didn't dare argue.
Nathan spread his hands on the table and took a deep breath. “All right. Now. Does anyone else have objections to our assembled team?”
His eyes locked with Lio’s, clearly challenging the ambassador to protest. But Lio just calmly met his gaze.
“I am satisfied with the current team,” he said simply.
“Good,” Nathan said with a nod. He gazed around the table, meeting each of their eyes. “All right then, ladies and gentlemen. We have a mission to plan.”
Beck settled back in his seat and crossed his arms over his chest.
It was going to be a long night.
II
Pursuit
11
Kaylin
Kaylin sat back against the metal wall of the cargo hold, wincing as a rivet dug into her spine. She shifted a little closer to Red’s cage, finding a more comfortable position, and then focused her attention on the taros bracelet secured to her wrist.
It was a slim band of smooth silver, and no thicker than about a quarter of an inch. But no matter how closely she examined it, she kept coming back to the same conclusion: there wasn’t any way to take it off without activating the needles and knocking herself unconscious.
It threw a wrench in her plans, to say the least. She’d been planning to sneak off the first chance she got, but now she was stuck as the Resistance’s captive until she could figure out how to get the damn bracelet off without knocking herself out.
A shudder of turbulence ran through the cargo ship, and Kaylin gripped her knees tightly. There were no seats in the cargo hold, just tied down boxes of equipment. She sat between a large storage box and the cage Red had been jammed into.
Red let out a low, keening whimper. She pressed her hand against the metal slats on the side, and he leaned toward her, so his hide just brushed against her fingertips.
His scales had turned a sickly yellow color, and Kaylin winced at how cold they felt. Red was just like any other lizard—he couldn’t make his own body heat, so he had to absorb warmth instead. He’d been kept in a chilly storage container all night, and was now he was trapped in the unheated cargo hold of the transport craft. With no sunlight in the hold, it was basically lizard hell.
There was nothing Kaylin could do to comfort him except for keeping her hand pressed close and crooning soft words to him. She’d been stripped of all her lock-breaking tools, which meant cracking open the cage’s lock simply wasn’t an option.
The door to the cargo hold slid open, and Beck stepped inside. A frown pulled at his mouth, and dark bags drooped under his reddened eyes.
“You look like hell,” Kaylin said.
“Right back at you,” Beck muttered, rubbing at his forehead. He gestured sharply at her. “Time’s up. We’re about to fly through a storm. I need you back in your seat.”
She patted the cage. “I’m staying with Red.”
“No, you’re going to do as I say.”
Kaylin bit back a curse. He’d offered her five minutes in the cargo hold to check on Red, which was actually pretty generous. But she couldn’t help resenting his command to leave.
Beck narrowed his eyes. “I’m not using handcuffs on you, because that bracelet should be enough to keep you from doing anything too stupid. But I have no issues restraining you if you don’t listen to me.”
Kaylin met his harsh gaze. “Red’s scared and cold. You bastards haven’t given him any source of warmth for over fifteen hours.”
“Kay, are you even listening to me right now?”
“Are you listening to me? Because I’m trying to tell you that you’re torturing an innocent animal.”
Beck pressed a hand to his face and let out a low groan. “You are freaking impossible,” he muttered.
“Just let him out,” Kaylin said, nodding to the cage. “He’ll calm down if he can just sit in my lap and soak up some warmth.”
“Absolutely not. There’s no way in hell I’m letting that creature loose on this ship.”
“Then let me in.”
Beck slid his hand from his face so he could give her an incredulous stare. “You want me to let you into a cage with a dragon?”
“Vater lizard, not a dragon. And he’s perfectly harmless.”
“He tried to rip my throat out!”
“He’s perfectly harmless for me.”
Beck shook his head and stalked off through the door of the cargo hold. He didn’t bother with a goodbye before sliding the door closed behind him.
Cold anger curled in her gut, and she spat a curse. She'd thought Beck might actually help. Sure, he was a part of the Resistance and technically her enemy now. But he was also someone who genuinely gave a damn about helping others, and wasn’t purely interested in climbing the ranks of the Resistance.
Or at least that was what she’d believed. Which had been stupid. Every time she trusted someone, they let her down. There was no reason Beck should be any different.
The door burst back open, making Kaylin jump and Red snarl. Beck strode into the room, carrying a bundle of blankets in his arms. He dropped them into Kaylin’s lap, and she instantly felt a pang of guilt.
He hadn’t been ditching. Just grabbing supplies.
She stared down at the blankets in her lap. “Red’s cold blooded. These won't help.”
Beck ignored her as he crouched down and grabbed one of the corners of the blankets. He pressed his thumb against a tiny button, and warmth flooded through the blanket.
“Thermal blankets,” Beck said. “They should be perfect for him.”
Kaylin bit her lip, taken aback by the wave of relief that struck her. She got to her feet and grabbed all three of the blankets, activating their heat setting before she tossed them on top of Red’s cage. His whimpering cut out, and he snaked his head up, sniffing the blankets suspiciously.
“It’s okay,” Kaylin murmured to him. “They’ll keep you warm.”
Red snorted in surprise as his nose brushed against the warm fabric. Then he snagged a corner of the blanket with a tooth and tugged, dragging it through the slats and into his cage. Red chirruped excitedly as he grabbed the other two, and then he patted the blankets into a mound in the corner of the cage, making a bed.
“There’s a good boy,” Kaylin crooned, pressing her hand against the side of the cage.
Red snuggled deep into the blankets, a deep purr rumbling in his throat. He snaked his tail out, pressing it against Kaylin’s palm, and she stroked his hide comfortingly with her thumb. Relief filled her as she watched the sickly yellow color fade from his scales, leaving a happy, affectionate red.
“So that’s why he’s called Red,” Beck murmured.
Kaylin nodded.
Beck remained crouched next to her, and he shook his head in disbelief as he watched the dozing lizard. “You’ve actually tamed that thing, haven’t you?”
Kaylin nodded. “He�
�s perfectly well behaved, as long as you’re not waving a gun in his face. Or mine.”
“I don’t even know why I’m surprised,” Beck said. “You could always get Doc to do anything.”
Kaylin smiled slightly at the mention of the base’s pet. He was a retired bomb-sniffing dog, and he’d been missing a front leg and more than a few brain cells ever since a grenade got him. Doc had always been nosing up trouble, but Kaylin had been one of the few people who could keep the reckless mutt under control.
“How is Doc?” she asked.
Beck cleared his throat uncomfortably, and Kaylin’s chest sank as she watched his mouth pull into a tight line.
“He’s dead,” Kaylin murmured, not bothering to say it as a question.
Beck nodded. “He passed last winter. But he died peacefully. It was just old age, from what I heard.”
“He was only eight.”
Beck shrugged and looked away. “War ages everyone. Dogs included.”
Turbulence shook the transport craft, and Kaylin lunged to grab one of the handholds on the wall. Just in time. The craft bucked as it flew deeper into the storm, throwing Beck against the side of a cargo box. He cursed as his shoulder slammed into the container.
Kaylin instinctively grabbed the collar of his shirt with her free hand, hauling Beck’s head toward her and away from the steel edge of the cargo container. He blinked a few times, clearing his mind, and then reached out and snagged a handhold of his own.
Beck righted himself and crouched carefully next to Kaylin, riding out the rest of the turbulence. The shaking only lasted a minute or so, but it felt far longer with Beck pressed close to her side.
It had been over a year since Kaylin had been this close to someone without fighting them. She avoided people because she didn’t trust them. But as she sat there with Beck hovering hardly an inch away, she couldn’t feel any sort of fear toward him. They may have been on opposite sides now, but he was still Beck, the man who was too damn honest for his own good.
The turbulence settled into a low tremor, and Beck took his hand off the handhold, rubbing at his shoulder.
“Ow,” he muttered, grimacing slightly. He shot her an annoyed glance. “This is why I didn’t want you going in the cargo hold.”
“Because you knew you’d hurt yourself?”
“Because it doesn’t have any goddamn seat belts.”
Beck carefully got to his feet and held a hand out to Kaylin. “Come on. Let’s get back to our seats.”
Kaylin glanced over to Red. With his nest of blankets, he had enough padding to keep him safe from the turbulence.
“Red,” she said, leaning close to the cage.
He opened one reptilian eye and swiveled it toward her.
“I’ll be back in a bit. Okay, buddy?”
He gave a tired little chirrup and closed his eye again, snuggling deeper into the blankets. She felt a sudden spike of envy as she watched the lizard settle in for a nap. All he needed was warmth and a few reassuring words to feel safe.
She wished she was still young enough for that to work for her.
Kaylin ignored Beck’s extended hand and got to her feet by herself. They walked swiftly on the balls of their feet, keeping themselves balanced against the swaying of the transport craft. Beck guided them out of the cargo hold and back to the cabin of the transport craft. Jamison and Cate were in the cockpit, piloting it through the storm, which left only Lio, Marin, and Liam in the cabin.
Liam sat near the door to the cockpit, his eyes closed as he rested. He was a tall man in his early thirties, although his dark blond hair was already speckled with gray. He opened his eyes long enough to quickly examine her, and as soon as he spotted Beck escorting her, he closed them again.
Marin wasn’t as quick to dismiss her as a possible threat. The bodyguard kept her eyes glued to Kaylin, watching her as she took the empty seat across from the ambassador and clipped the seatbelt into place. Beck sat next to her, nodding a greeting to the aliens.
Lio stirred from sleep and stared suspiciously over at Kaylin. She folded her hands in her lap, letting the ambassador clearly see that she had no weapons and no intentions of using one. She still felt a little bad about shooting him with the taros dart. He’d just been in the wrong place at the wrong time, and he really hadn’t deserved it.
“So,” Kaylin said. “I hear you’re not from around here.”
Lio blinked, clearly shocked that she was speaking to him. Marin’s expression darkened, and Beck nudged her in the side, but she ignored them. She was sitting literally five feet away from an alien. This might be the only chance she ever got to talk to one civilly, and she wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.
“No,” Lio said carefully. “I’m not from around here.”
“Then where’re you from?”
“Rhuramentia. It’s a planet in Sector 32 of the Andromeda galaxy.”
“No way, seriously? I have an uncle from that same sector.”
Lio’s eyes grew wide with a mixture of confusion and shock. He stayed like that for a long moment and then his eyes narrowed with suspicion, and he hesitantly pointed one of his delicate, pale fingers at her. “That was a joke?”
“Yeah,” she said. “A really lame one.”
A puzzled look pulled at his lips, and he tilted his head, looking for all the world like a confused alien puppy. “Ah. I see.”
Beck cleared his throat, and his voice dripped with impatience as he said, “Kaylin, the ambassador is still recovering from a very long journey. So how about we don’t bother him?”
Lio held up his hand like a stop sign. “Let her talk,” he said to Beck, although his curious gaze remained fixed on Kaylin. “I’d like to get to know this thief better, if I’m to work with her.”
Beck gave a small nod, but not before shooting Kaylin a warning glance. She ignored him and leaned closer to the ambassador.
“So what’s your planet like?” she asked.
Lio glanced at his bodyguard, as if silently asking if he was making a mistake by giving any information to Kaylin. Marin hesitated a moment and then gave a tiny shrug.
The ambassador glanced toward the small window above Kaylin’s head, which showed nothing but thick, dark clouds. “It rains almost every day of the year on Rhuramentia,” he said, his voice softening with a fond tone. “And we don’t have continents or open land, like your planet. We have small islands, some natural, some manufactured. The rest of our world is covered in oceans.”
“So how do you grow food, if you don’t have open land?” Kaylin asked. “Do you just farm the oceans?”
He raised his eyebrows, as if she’d just asked a supremely stupid question. “We don’t grow food. We are the Rhuramenti.”
Kaylin frowned. “So… You don’t eat?”
“Of course we eat,” Lio said. “We just don’t grow our own food. My people offer our galaxy peace, knowledge, and protection. In return, they offer us food and anything else we require.”
“Oh,” Kaylin said. “So then your people rule your galaxy?”
Lio flinched back, as if she’d just flung an insult at him. “No. Absolutely not. Our purpose is to serve, not to control.”
Kaylin tilted her head curiously. “So then the other planets aren’t required to give you food?”
“Hardly,” Marin said, speaking up in a sharp, quiet tone. “It’s in the best interest of our neighbors to give us supplies, and so they do. We have the largest and oldest libraries of knowledge in our galaxy, and we’ve developed some of the best technology in the universe. Those who become our allies are given rewards far beyond what they give us.”
Kaylin nodded, suddenly understanding Earth’s interest in allying themselves with these people. If the Rhuramenti had so much power and so many allies at their disposal, it was a no-brainer to join forces with them.
“Do all of you travel around to different galaxies?” Kaylin asked.
Lio shook his head. “No. Very few of us do.”
&
nbsp; Kaylin gestured between the two aliens. “Then how did you get chosen to come here?”
Lio pursed his lips, seeming to be searching for an answer. Then he said, “Our people are not like yours. We don’t waste time seeking out our calling in life. It’s given to us.” He gestured between himself and his bodyguard. “I was given the role of a Collector for the Council. Marin was given the role of a Collector Guardian. Our jobs require us to travel, and so we do.”
“So you weren’t given a choice about it?” Kaylin asked.
Lio frowned. “Why would we want a choice? The Council tests our personalities and assigns us a position that fits our abilities and wants perfectly. To reject the Council’s decision is to reject perfection.”
Kaylin opened her mouth, getting ready to argue about freedom of choice and all that jazz. But then she glanced down at the taros bracelet wrapped around her wrist, and the words stuck in her throat. Maybe freedom of choice wasn’t always what it was chalked up to be. If she’d had some super-smart Council to guide her life, she probably never would’ve gotten herself in this situation.
“So who exactly are these people on the Council?” Kaylin asked. “I mean, what makes them so perfect?”
Lio gave a polite laugh, as if she’d just told another lame joke.
“What?” Kaylin asked.
Lio’s strained smile fled from his face. “Your question is…serious?”
“Yeah,” Kaylin said. “I’m not sure how your society works, but here on Earth, we like to know about the people who control things.”
Lio put on a carefully neutral expression, but Marin stared at Kaylin like she’d just said the dumbest thing ever.
“There are no people on the Council,” Marin said, her tone defensive. “People are flawed. The Council is not.”
Beck leaned forward. Apparently, the conversation had finally gotten interesting enough to convince him to join in.
“Okay, so then what exactly is the Council?” Beck asked.
“The Council is the culmination of all of our efforts to collect knowledge,” Lio said. “Every time its system makes a decision, it takes into account fifty-eight thousand years’ worth of information that has been collected by our ancestors and stored in the Council’s database.”