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Merra St. Cloud never failed to find her footing, even when she was denied her prize.
The small conference room still echoed with her barely-concealed fury. When Merra came to discuss things with him, she requested privacy for their discussion, and Exton readily agreed, knowing she would be more than happy to use the crew’s eavesdropping to her advantage if she could.
Now, he was glad he had agreed to that for more than just his sake. Her passion, even in arguing for St. Cloud’s release, would have easily inspired some of his crewmembers, spiriting them away from their duties and the war’s demands. She might have even managed to recruit some members to her own cause.
Exton watched Merra in reluctant half-admiration as she continued to argue, even after he’d given his decision on the matter. Exton had to give her credit for her tenacity; he might have even ended up agreeing with her, if Tyler hadn’t just vindicated St. Cloud moments earlier.
It was just too much of a risk. There was a reason he’d preferred to keep Aerie in the dark when it came to how he felt about her father; there were so many uncertain things, and it was dangerous to expose doubt to the wrong person.
He was almost relieved, really, in dealing with Aerie’s mother instead. He knew he would not be tempted to divulge any of those details with her.
Merra is definitely the wrong person to confide in, he thought grimly.
“You can stop,” Exton said, interrupting her between arguments. “I’m not letting St. Cloud go. I told you why. I don’t trust him.”
“That’s a silly reason. The world will end before that happens,” Merra replied. “You don’t even trust me, but I’m here.”
“You weren’t the one who killed my father,” Exton said through gritted teeth.
“That’s also a failing argument. You’ve made your own fair share of mistakes,” Merra remarked. “Victor hasn’t forgotten about Silas, any more than you’ve forgotten about Gerard and his father.”
Exton felt his breath leave him in a rush of air at her words.
“See?” Merra looked over at him haughtily. “You know what it is to be a leader, Exton, because you’ve lost people who trusted you. That’s why you make a good captain.”
“That was low,” he finally managed. “I never told you about Gerard and his dad.”
“I knew Brother Jean-Luc just as you did,” Merra said, her arrogance softening only slightly. “Jean-Luc was imprisoned and killed for failing to reveal his son’s guilt after you launched the Perdition. I heard about it, even though I never put the two together before Victor told me about Gerard.”
Shame colored Exton’s face as he remembered how it felt to win against the URS, to have his father’s ship in his possession, only to find out it had come at the cost of a friend.
He deliberately turned away from Merra’s scrutinizing gaze. “I’m still not letting him go.”
“You shouldn’t let your feelings compromise your judgement.”
“I fail to see how letting him go is good for the war, let alone his own safety,” Exton insisted, facing her once more. “He tried to kill Osgood, according to what we’ve heard. If he didn’t stage it.”
“So?”
“So, he’s not exactly trustworthy to Petra, and Osgood wants him dead now. There are not a lot of other places I can send him without a guard or where people will listen to him. He’s better off here.”
“He’s useless here.”
“He’s safe here.”
“That should give you all the more reason to release him to me,” Merra said. “It would be fitting revenge, after everything, to let him go and confront Osgood with your blessing.”
“I haven’t decided what is ‘fitting revenge,’ yet,” Exton snapped. “But it isn’t going to be sending him off with you.”
Merra scowled. “You’re being foolish. Victor is certainly capable of escaping from here. He is only here because he wants to be.”
“He already told me that, but I think he’d find escaping more difficult than you say.”
Exton almost smiled, thinking of how he’d assigned the Reverend Thorne himself to the task of monitoring St. Cloud’s movements. While the leader of the Ecclesia had been unwilling to lend the full force of their following, he had promised to lend a hand where he found it appropriate. Guarding a controversial prisoner seemed to be the perfect request, and Exton considered it a bonus that he managed to anger both St. Cloud and Dennis with the guard assignment.
“You should let him go to earn his trust.”
If Merra hadn’t said it so seriously, Exton might have laughed. “I don’t want his trust,” he asserted. “If anything, he told me that he wants to earn mine.”
“That’s a mistake.”
“No. The mistake is thinking that I’m the one who has to do something.”
“No, it’s a mistake thinking that trust between two people is a one-way street.”
“It starts out that way, Merra, and if he wants my trust, he’s going to have to abide by my rules.” Exton held his ground firmly. “And that means staying here. For now.”
If not forever, he added silently.
Exton couldn’t stop himself from smirking as Merra stewed in angry silence. He finally scored a victory against her, and one that was big enough to get her to give up.
She pursed her lips in bitter resignation. “Fine. But this is not the last time I will argue with you over this.”
“Fine. We can always reevaluate the situation later,” Exton said, keeping his tone detached, even while he was relieved. Arguing with Merra could be more draining than physically fighting. He had a feeling it was more dangerous than an actual fight, too.
It wasn’t that she didn’t have good principles. He knew her well enough to know that she fought for others more than herself, and nothing she asked for was completely unreasonable. Even letting St. Cloud go wasn’t an irrational move.
The problem, Exton thought, is that there is too much that is uncertain right now.
It wasn’t just doubts about St. Cloud’s charges against his father, or even St. Cloud himself. As Merra began pacing around the small conference room, furiously running her fingers through her gray-streaked hair, Exton glanced out of the window, looking down at the world.
It didn’t look much different, since he’d been staring out the window the night of Emery’s wedding, imagining throwing the world into the bowels of hell.
If anything, Exton knew he was the one who had changed. The old derision, the bitterness at the world, the pain and guilt he carried for it—all of it had been transformed. He felt a strange sense of protectiveness, and he wanted to honor that connection as much as his promises to Aerie.
It helped knowing that he did have support in Merra, his family, and the others who were working around the world with the Perdition and the other defectors from the URS.
But even with all of that, he could not just abandon his own inner demons.
“We’ll reevaluate this situation later,” he repeated, his voice sounding hollow and brusque against the silence in the room.
Before Merra could reply, his comm device went off. He jerked his attention toward it, slightly jarred from its sudden interruption. He answered it out of habit more than anything else.
“Yes?”
“Hey, Cap.” Jared’s voice came in clear. “I’ve got a few issues for you here on the Bridge. Trust me, you’ll want to come see this.”
Exton glanced over at Merra. “I’ll be there in a moment,” he said.
“Roger that.”
He clicked off the device. “I have to head back,” he said. “Was there anything else you needed?”
“Fine time to ask me that, right before you’re leaving,” Merra scoffed. “But no. I have nothing more to ask of you.”
Exton narrowed his eyes in suspicion. It seemed like a long way to come for the trouble. Maybe she figured she would get her way in person rather than over the comm system, he mused.
Still, he had other matters to attend to. “Alright,” he said. “I know Tyler’s headed back down to Petra with you. The ship should be ready for you.”
“Thank you,” Merra said. She drew herself up proudly, giving him a dazzling smile. “I can see myself out.”
Exton watched as she whirled around and waltzed angrily out the door. He had a feeling she was going to cause him further trouble. That smile, as pretty as it was and as brilliant as he remembered it from his youth, suddenly seemed sinister.
“I can’t do anything about it now,” he grumbled to himself, as he headed toward the Command Bridge nearby.
As he came up on the Bridge once more, he was glad Merra had taken her leave; there was an air of frenzy about the room. Just from looking at the focused expressions on his crew, Exton could tell there was trouble coming.
Was Osgood up to something? Exton wondered. Or maybe it was something else. He knew from reports on the ground there was a lot of confusion in the URS, including the capital.
While Jared was examining reports with Thora, the large monitor on the screen was filled with another familiar face. Exton stepped forward, smiling in warm greeting.
“Kamalo,” he said. “Nice to see you again.”
Kamalo had joined Exton in liberating Chaya only a few weeks before, saving Exton’s life in a critical moment during the battle. Exton was grateful for Kamalo’s actions, and he was also glad Kamalo had risen up as a leader among the Chaya camp.
The man’s darkened wrinkles contrasted sharply with the whiteness of his grin as he saw Exton. “Always a pleasure, boet. Or should I stick to Captain, now that you’re back on the Perdition?”
“Either or is fine,” Exton assured him. “What can we do for you?”
“Our sensors are picking up some unusual movement in the Caribbean,” Kamalo informed him. “We have weapons shipping out to different camps, and one of our ships—”
“Hold on,” Exton said. “What ships? Chaya doesn’t have any ships registered, let alone any for weapons transport.”
“Once we took over the camp, we were able to claim two of the ships the URS had brought over here. We’re using one to ship the research equipment to Petra, and the other is headed out to the rendezvous point in the Caribbean.”
Exton was stunned. “I wasn’t informed of this. And why would you send them out, with weapons?” Exton asked. “There was no order.”
Exton was suddenly half-tempted to call Merra up from the hangar to ask if she was behind this. Deciding it was best to be prudent, he was just about to call for her when Kamalo answered him.
“Chaya has its own governing structure in place,” Kamalo said. “I stayed back to help with aid and relief, and to keep you informed of our team’s progress. I didn’t know about this myself until a few hours ago. I was only informed, too, when it was clear the ship was missing.”
“Great,” Exton muttered. He knew they would have to find the ship first, before it was lost, or even worse, before it was found by the URS. He would deal with Chaya’s secrecy after the ship was under their surveillance.
“Jared.” Exton turned toward the copilot. “Hold Tyler’s ship.”
“I’ll send the transmission now, Captain,” Jared said, hurrying over to the console.
“What information do you have so far, Thora?” Exton asked.
“We’re trying to locate the ship based on Kamalo’s estimates,” Thora said, pushing a loose lock of her long black hair out of her face as she studied the portable screen in her hands. “With the new program to locate the Craftcarriers, we’ve been able to push back against a lot of the static in that part of the world. I’ve adjusted it for the ship, so we should have the results soon.”
“Keep me updated.”
“Will do,” she said with a quick nod.
Exton looked back at Kamalo. “We’re on it. What else has the community been doing that they don’t want us to know about?”
“Nothing that demands as much attention as this, boet. I’m disappointed, too. I’ll see what else I can find and report back to you.”
“Thank you. I’ll have Thora send you the reports when she delivers them to me.”
“I’ll look for it.”
The monitor went blank as Kamalo signed off.
“Captain,” Jared called. “Commander Caudwell has delayed his takeoff.”
“Excellent. Have him report to the Bridge along with Aerie’s mother.”
“You mean Mrs. St. Cloud?”
There was something about the way Jared said her name that irritated Exton. He felt the old familiar hatred for people who couldn’t keep their mouths from flapping when it came to discussing other people’s business, even if he knew he often depended on rumors and gossip for intel and insights. Exton was certain the Perdition was buzzing about with discussions of St. Cloud’s family drama. While it was expected, he could only hope Aerie wouldn’t be hurt by it.
“Yep, that’s her,” Exton replied, turning back toward the main monitor, avoiding Jared’s eyes. “I have some more questions to ask her, apparently.” He rubbed his temples, already exhausted from the day’s work.
Glancing at the clock, he knew he still had hours to go before he could sink himself back into Aerie’s warm and welcoming embrace.
A thought struck him as he gazed at the information on the screens, all of it pouring onto the monitors at once, like a mystical form of dance.
“Jared.” He held up his hand. “Just delay Tyler’s ship. I’ll meet with Merra later when we know more.”
The younger man nodded. “You got it, Cap.”
“Good.” Exton hid a grin. If he was going to be stressed and angry and disappointed, he was going to make sure Merra was, too. There was no point in attacking her with no proof, and there was no proof so long as Kamalo and Thora were still gathering it up.
She can wait for us, just as I have to wait for them. Knowing she would not be pleased in the meantime, and that it would likely have her beyond frustration by the time he was ready to talk with her, gave him a smug half-sense of satisfaction.
The other half of his satisfaction came with the thought of inviting Aerie to accompany him on his rounds.
He nodded toward Jared, giving him full control of the Command Bridge, as he headed out to find his bride.