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Finn and Isla conferred in quiet voices behind Kira, their voices a low buzz of sound as they discussed their options. She wasn't overly surprised when neither thought to include her.
She might have taken charge when the Curs were there, but now that they were out of the equation again, the Tuann had slipped back to treating her like a pretty ornament—something she would never be.
That was all right. She could follow their lead for now. They were more familiar with the terrain and more likely to have an idea of what they faced.
Kira waited with Jin, keeping watch, even though it was a mostly unnecessary exercise.
Finn and Isla were intent on each other as they discussed options. She suspected their single-minded focus was an illusion. Both were well-trained soldiers. It would be ingrained in them to keep a situational awareness at all times.
She had no doubt that if she were to take a single step toward the door, they'd drop what they were doing and tackle her. They'd probably end up tying her to them afterward—not that she had any intention of disappearing into the Citadel. Not for the moment at least.
Finn looked up then, as if sensing her thoughts.
"What's the plan?" Kira asked, trying for innocent.
"Neither of you can show your faces," Isla said, her face grave. "Roderick's men will guess who helped the humans escape. They'll be on the lookout for you. As soon as you're spotted, you'll be arrested for treason against your House."
"And you'll somehow escape the same fate?" Kira asked. Isla was right there with them when they'd rescued Jace's team. She'd be as recognizable.
She and Finn shared a look of amusement. "I'm not Luathan. All they see when they look at me is my armor. They'll know two of the commander's people helped in the escape but not which two."
"You're taking a chance they won't arrest all his people on sight," Kira said.
Despite her argument, Isla’s assessment matched hers. She doubted Alma and the other conspirator realized she'd eavesdropped on their plans. They'd think the Curs' escape worked in their favor—odd timing or not.
If she was caught and immobilized, her credibility would be stripped and they could easily kill her. Freeing the Curs had made her situation more precarious, but it was worth it.
"Some risks are worth taking," Isla said as if reading her mind.
Finn offered his hand to Isla. The two clasped hands before slapping each other on the shoulder.
"I'll see you when this is done," Finn told her.
"I look forward to it. Don't forget you still owe me a drink," Isla said before slipping out the door without a backward glance.
Kira waited, her senses straining for signs Isla had been spotted. Clear so far.
"What will we be doing while she's locating Graydon?"
"You will stay close and follow my every order," Finn said, the words terse. "If I could, I'd secure you somewhere safe."
His dissatisfaction over not being able to do exactly that showed.
Once the Tsavitee battle cruiser landed and the planet descended into a warzone, there would be no safe place left.
"That still doesn't answer my question," Kira said.
Finn's voice was grim. "There's a chance Graydon is no longer at the ceremony. He's probably noticed your absence and has gone in search of you. While Isla checks the gathering, we'll try other places."
"And me? What should I do?" Jin asked. He did a figure eight in the air. "I can scout ahead or manage comms."
Finn jabbed his finger at Jin and then Kira. "Stay with her. Don't go wandering off. In fact, how about you stay quiet for a little bit."
Jin's sphere dipped in disappointment. "Rude."
Finn shook his head at Jin before checking outside the door to see if anyone was coming. With one last disgusted look at the drone, he made his way silently out into the hallway.
Jin tucked himself into the crook between Kira's neck and shoulder, his metal casing warm and comforting against her skin as she followed Finn.
"Just like old times," Jin whispered.
"Let's hope we don't leave behind the same body count," Kira said.
The three remained silent as they moved through the Citadel. This wasn't the time for idle chitchat or distractions.
The last time Finn had given her a tour of the Citadel, the artwork and carefully designed architecture had seemed coldly impersonal, despite its beauty. Tonight, it felt like those same statues and paintings watched Kira's every move, setting the spot right between her shoulder blades to tingling. She could almost anticipate the cold metal of a blade in her back.
Every twist and turn of their path came with an increased feeling of pending disaster, a perfect place from which to stage an ambush.
Tension sat heavy in the air. In war, you got used to the never-ending strain as you waited for the next awful thing to happen. You learned to ignore the ever-increasing tightening of your nerve endings as your entire body attuned itself to the possibility of what was coming.
Himoto had once called war ninety percent boredom so extreme you'd do anything for relief and ten percent sheer, unrelenting terror.
By now, everyone in the Citadel likely knew of her betrayal. They would come looking for her, if they weren't already. All she could do was wait and hope she survived the ten percent of terror.
Kira was content to let Finn take the lead, remaining several feet behind him. His knowledge of the terrain was greater than hers. It made sense for her to follow.
As they approached another intersection where their hallway joined with several others, Kira's shoulders tightened, her senses hyper-alert.
Finn held up one fist, signaling a stop.
She nodded, placing her back against the wall so she could see in both directions. She remained in place as he disappeared around the corner.
She held her breath, straining to pick up even the faintest of sounds. She released the air when there wasn't an immediate furor. Good, that meant the coast was clear—for now.
"If you're going to put your plan into motion, the time is now," Jin said into her ear, several minutes later. "There are four heat signatures moving toward us from our three o'clock."
Kira hesitated, torn.
Finn rounded the corner. "Run."
Kira didn't wait to be told twice, turning and sprinting back the way they'd come. Jin flew before her, taking the lead, Finn pounding after them.
"This way," Jin yelled.
Kira followed, the sound of pursuit spurring her to greater speeds.
There was a screech of sound and then long, needle-thin arrows of green blazed down the hall. One hit inches from Kira's face as she made another turn. It burrowed into the wall leaving a thin pinhole behind.
She chanced a glance behind her, catching a glimpse of a woman in green synth armor adopting an archer's posture, holding a strange-looking contraption. In her left hand, she had a long-curved piece of wood. It looked like the front of a bow but lacked a string. As Kira watched, the woman drew back her right hand, energy coalescing at a point in front of her pointer finger until a long thin energy arrow took shape.
So that was what was being shot at her the first night.
Finn shoved her out of the way as the arrow flew free, shattering against the wall.
"Move," Finn yelled.
Kira scrambled to her feet and darted after Jin.
He disappeared between a set of double doors. Kira dashed after him, Finn close on her heels.
He whirled, slamming the doors shut behind them.
"Go, I'll hold them here," he said.
Kira hesitated. It didn't feel right leaving him to face them alone.
"Kira, come on," Jin yelled.
Her mouth firmed.
"Go, these two won't be a problem for me if you're not here to protect," Finn snarled.
"Since you're being an ass, have it your way," Kira said. She turned to leave, saying over her shoulder. "Try not to die. Otherwise, I'll have to make sure all the other oshotas know a few puny Luathans brought you down."
"Smartass," was his faint response as Kira jogged after Jin, a cold rock in her stomach despite the levity.
Only minutes passed before there was a giant crash and then a roar that told her the Luathans had made it through the doors.
Kira didn't try to be quiet as she pelted after Jin, the need for distance and speed outweighing the desire for subtlety.
She was lost within minutes as he led her through a maze of rooms, through halls and courtyards, and over more than one sloped roof.
Her legs burned as she followed, sprinting toward a garden retaining wall, running up it and grabbing the top. She pulled herself up, dashing along it as Jin took another shortcut.
Reaching the end of the wall, she leaped off it, trusting him to warn her of danger. She landed, turning her forward momentum into a roll.
She found her feet again before sprinting down a stone walkway sheltered by an arboretum covered in pale, silvery flowers.
Jin paused at a set of doors leading to a glass-covered conservatory before moving inside. Kira cautiously followed.
It was a greenhouse, similar to what she'd come across on Graydon's ship. The darkness inside, coupled with the vines crawling up the walls and the overgrown trees and plants, shielded her from the outside, while giving her a 360-degree view.
"Where are we?" Kira asked, catching her breath as he made a circuit of the room.
"A little spot I discovered. From what I can tell, it's mostly abandoned. I've only ever seen one person visit, and that person wasn’t a warrior. We should be safe enough for now," Jin said.
Kira spied a change of clothes on one of the workbenches tucked to the side. She headed over to them, shrugging out of the rags of her dress. Much as she loved the dress, she needed attire more suitable for fighting.
"How far are we from the Nexus?" Her voice was muffled as she pulled the shirt over her head. Her head popped out of the collar.
"Not far as I fly. It'll take longer for you given your big body."
Kira rolled her eyes before pulling on her pants.
"Why?" he asked, suspicion threading through his voice.
"Because that's where we need to go. If they intend to bring down the defense network, the Nexus is the best place to do it from," she said.
It was time to go on the offensive. Enough running around the Citadel searching for Graydon. There were too many buildings. They'd never find him in time.
If they wanted a chance at stopping the Tsavitee attack, they needed to go straight to the source.
Jin let out a gusty wheeze. "Why is it your asks are never easy?"
"Face it, if they were, you'd get bored."
He'd probably end up destroying half of civilization as a result.
"You keep telling yourself that, Kira. Somehow, I don't think it's me in danger of boredom," he muttered, trailing behind her as she left the glass building.
*
Finding the Nexus was easy. Not a single patrol hindered their progress.
The lack of security made her anxious. If she’d been in charge of security, she would have sealed the Nexus—the military command hub of the Citadel—first.
This didn’t make sense, Kira thought as they approached the unguarded door to the Nexus. Its large frame reached for the ceiling high above. There were no signs of the Luathans anywhere.
Roderick might have been lazy and slightly dumb, but even he couldn’t have been this inept. Right?
“What do you want to do?” Jin asked, no happier at the ease of their passage than her.
“I don’t think we have a choice, do you?”
His silence was answer enough.
Kira pushed the heavy door open a crack and peered through. Inside was as deserted as the hallway.
Curiouser and curiouser.
She slipped inside, careful to keep her movements smooth and silent.
The emptiness of the massive room felt oppressive, like even her surroundings waited with bated breath for something horrible.
“I don’t like this,” Jin stage whispered.
Neither did Kira.
“Did you ever find it unattended during your patrols?” Kira asked, taking in their surroundings.
The room, like the rest of the Citadel, was one of incomparable beauty. Cathedral ceilings arched overhead, paintings and carvings drawing the eye up. Elegant columns marched down either side of the massive space and in the middle, two stone steps led to a sunken section of the floor in the shape of an octagon, a pattern etched into it.
The shape of the octagon was mirrored overhead by gold lines that intersected and weaved into a dizzying pattern that looped in on itself like a kaleidoscope if one stared at it too long.
Like much of the Citadel, there was an overwhelming feeling of airy lightness, the stones in the columns and floors white and flawless. An impressive feat given the lack of windows.
At least now she knew if there’d been a battle, the evidence of it would be written all over this room. Blood would have stood out in stark relief against all the white.
Kira took all this in from her place next to the door. She was careful not to intrude deeper into the room until she’d assured herself they were really alone, and no invisible assailants waited behind those columns.
The room felt almost holy, the air still and somber, silent as if unnecessary noise feared intruding. A great well of power crouched beneath the surface, deep and vast and mind-bendingly ancient. Kira could see now why it was called the Nexus. It was the meeting point between the planet’s soul and the surface, reality stretching and bending until it felt like you could reach out and touch the intangible with little effort. She hadn't felt the Mea'Ave so vividly since her first encounter.
It was unlike anything she'd ever experienced, and she got the feeling if she didn’t tread cautiously it would be the last thing she ever did.
"No, never," Jin said, answering her previous question. "There's always at least two guards posted inside the room and two outside."
Which meant someone with the authority would have had to recall the guards from their post. Something Kira found unlikely. The first general order any soldier learned was a variation of "I will guard everything within the limits of my post and only quit my post when properly relieved."
It was part of a set of rules sentries through the ages had abided by—long before humanity had spread through the stars, when it was a collection of countries at war with each other. The basic order’s wisdom had endured for good reason.
Kira couldn't see the Tuann being any different. You didn't abandon the military command center of your base for any reason short of death.
Either the guards on duty were part of the conspiracy or something tragic had happened to them.
Both instances would have resulted in enemy combatants taking control of the Nexus.
Instead, it lay empty. Stranger and stranger.
"Hello, anyone here?" Kira called. "The door was open."
"What are you doing?" Jin hissed.
"They wouldn't have just abandoned this place," Kira said distractedly as she moved further into the room.
"Instead you decide to announce our presence to whoever might be waiting to kill us?"
She shrugged. "No one answered. I think we're safe."
"Unbelievable," Jin muttered. "I'd like to say I'm surprised, but nothing you do surprises me anymore."
Kira ignored his grumbling as she moved deeper into the room, not bothering to step lightly as her footsteps echoed in the large space. There were no soft surfaces to muffle the noise of her passage. The acoustics were amazing. A choir singing from the sunken section would sound like they had the voices of angels as their music reverberated through the space.
She approached the octagon and walked a long circuit around it as she eyed the two steps leading to it.
If she remembered correctly, this spot was where Liara had been standing when she was looking at the starmaps.
How did it work?
Kira saw no evidence of controls, and no way to manipulate it. It was an octagon someone had sunk into the floor.
The presence of the Mea'Ave strengthened the closer to the octagon she got, the pressure from the planet squeezing Kira's mind under its immense weight.
"I don't suppose you caught a glimpse of how to work this thing in your snooping," Kira said, straightening from where she'd bent to take a look at the floor.
"I may have seen something of that nature," Jin said nonchalantly.
Kira's glare told him to get on with it.
He made another grumbling sound and then a hologram appeared in front of him. Liara stepped onto the floor and raised her hands, her mouth opening as she sang several low notes. The air around her shimmered before stars spun into view.
Jin's hologram faded.
"That's it? That's all you've got?"
"What else do you need?"
"I don't know—something useful."
"I can't do everything for you," he shot back. "You figured out how the Tsavitee ships worked. I have faith you can do this too."
Kira's snarl would have once made junior enlisted military members quail. Jin didn't flinch.
"You're a pain in the ass," she said.
"Then we're a matched pair."
Kira muttered about insolent scraps of junk as she studied the sunken floor.
She didn't step onto it. Not yet at least. There was a possibility of hidden traps designed to attack unauthorized users. If this had been a Tsavitee ship, she would have counted on it.
Acting rashly could trigger an alert of a breach to their system.
Kira rubbed her hands together as she considered her options. If she’d had the time and an attack wasn't imminent, she'd spend several days studying this setup, testing and probing to see its reactions.
Time was the one thing she didn't have.
She bit her lip as she considered stepping into the space and just seeing what happened.
A hard hand grabbed her arm and jerked her to a stop just as she had psyched herself up to take that final step.
Graydon's furious eyes glittered at her. "Mistake. The Mea'Ave would fry your mind as soon it realized you weren't the Overlord or her heir."
Kira looked from him to the octagon in dismay.
"Good advice," she finally said.
She let him pull her back several steps. She sighed in relief before trying to remove her arm from his grip. His hand tightened to the point of pain.
His harsh expression finally registered. There was none of the warmth or heated promise from earlier in the night. She couldn't see the resigned annoyance that had characterized their first exchanges.
Instead, she saw a glittering hardness, diamond-like, lacking any trace of emotion besides fury.
Something was wrong. She knew this look, had been on the receiving end before by those she trusted.
A tight ball formed in her stomach.
It was the type of stare you gave someone when you realized they weren't the person you thought they were, when you found out they'd betrayed you on such a fundamental level there was no hope of forgiveness.
Graydon's jaw clenched so hard she feared he might crack a tooth.
Her gaze went over his shoulder. "Where's Isla? Didn't she come with you?"
Graydon's frown deepened as he asked, "Now, why would she have come looking for me when she had orders to stand watch over your friends?"
"Ah." That explained it.
He cocked his head, fury deepening in his expression as his voice lowered ominously, sinking a wealth of fury into his words. "I’ve got it. Perhaps because you attacked the Luathans and freed their prisoners."
"I take it she didn't get the chance to warn you about the Tsavitee attack under way," Kira guessed.
This could complicate things.
Graydon let loose a sound dangerously close to a growl, a low rumble warning people to escape before the cold grip of death came for them.
Kira stayed where she was, fascinated in spite of herself, at the way his eyes darkened as he visibly battled for control.
"I have proof," Kira offered when it looked like he might give in to his urge to throttle her.
"That would be lovely," he said through gritted teeth. "But first, we need to get you out of here. If the Luathans catch you here, they'll execute you."
He didn't give her time to argue, forcibly marching her toward the door.
"But—"
Graydon ignored her protest.
She craned her neck to look at Jin. "A little warning would have been nice."
"I didn't sense his approach. He somehow fooled my sensors."
Kira stared at the side of Graydon's face. It would have been handy to know how the Tuann kept doing that.
"We can't leave," Kira said, struggling to escape Graydon's grip. It wasn't easy, especially since she didn't want to risk hurting him or further escalating the situation.
After an aborted movement, she gave up. His fingers were like bands of steel, tight and unbending unless she planned on breaking them.
"Graydon, listen to me. There is a Tsavitee warship waiting outside the system. Someone is trying to bring down the defense network so they can land." Kira fought to slow his progress, desperation tinging her voice. "Unless we do something, people are going to die."
He turned to her, his nostrils flared. "Do you understand what they'll do to you if they catch you in here?"
Kira stared at him. It dawned on her he might be furious for reasons that hadn't occurred to her. That maybe it wasn't as simple as him assuming she'd betrayed him.
"Does that matter, if we can save them?" she asked. It was the only response she could think of.
She was no martyr. She had no intention of sacrificing herself for the Tuann. She'd seen too many people die, carried their souls on her own. She wouldn't dishonor them by throwing her life away recklessly.
Those same souls would rip her apart when she met them in the afterlife if she didn't try everything in her power to stop this, not when they'd sacrificed their lives on similar causes.
Eternity stretched between them as he studied her.
"Show me your proof."
Relief fluttered in her chest.
He was giving her a chance. That was all. She'd have to make it count.
"Jin."
Jin played the recording without any further prompting.
Kira took the time to study Graydon as he watched it. His expression remained closed, giving her no hint to his thoughts beyond a slight tightening along his jaw.
"You're here to see if the defense network has been tampered with," he said flatly.
She nodded. "Close enough."
He released a frustrated breath. "That is an excellent plan. Truly."
She sensed sarcasm in that statement as he pinched the bridge of his nose before looking at her.
"You have no clue how it works. It takes talent along with years of training to handle the stress it places on the mind."
Kira's lips firmed.
He nodded at Jin. "Your drone can handle a hundred tetrabytes of information at a time, right?"
"Two hundred," Jin boasted.
"The melding sends double that every second. Even if you'd succeeded in not killing yourself within seconds, you would have activated the secondary defenses."
Kira frowned pensively before shrugging. "I'd have figured something out. If nothing else, we would have waited for the traitors to show themselves. Killing them would have worked just as well."
"Yes, and you would have been executed immediately after. Brilliant plan," he snarled.
"I would have stopped the attack. I count that as a win." She gave him a thin smile. "You seem to think I'm easy to kill. I'm not."
"This is a true statement," Jin agreed. "She's like a cockroach, only hardier."
Graydon didn't react to that statement, never taking his attention off Kira as he scowled at her.
"A hundred different ways to address this and you chose the most dangerous," he muttered.
"Also, a trait of hers," Jin pointed out. "You get used to it."
"Are you going to help or continue to poke holes in this plan?" Kira asked Graydon, lifting her chin.
He curled his lip. "Follow me."
Graydon approached the octagon, stopping on the first step and going no further. He raised his hand, his forehead creasing with strain.
Before him a field of stars came into view, some dull and faded, others bright and almost blinding.
"Woah," she said, looking around her in awe.
The stars zoomed by as Graydon played with it.
"There, that's the Tsavitee ship," Kira said, pointing.
It was barely noticeable, an easily overlooked blip if she hadn't suspected its presence.
"It's heading toward the planet," Kira said.
Probably the only reason they caught it.
Graydon muttered several unfavorable curses.
"What about the defense network?" Jin asked urgently. "Can you tell if it's been tampered with?"
"No, I don't have access."
"Not even as the Emperor's Face?" Jin asked.
"Every House maintains their section of the defense network. Their codes vary. Under normal circumstances I could demand access, but there is little chance of that, given what you've done."
It was a dig at Kira. One she ignored, focused as she was on studying Graydon's motions and the stars in front of her.
The technology was cerebral based, relying on the strength of the mind controlling it. Fascinating. There must be some type of mechanism to prevent just anybody from accessing it. Maybe it was programmed to recognize brain patterns or the DNA of those coded into it.
The planet's spirit pulsed under her, its strength sending lancing pain through her head.
Graydon made several small motions and the starfield faded, a schematic taking its place.
"Is this one of the schematics for the defense net?" she asked.
He studied it with a resigned expression. "Yes, I asked to be shown the last thing accessed and this was what was pulled up."
"They wouldn't have something like that up unless they were doing a system or weapons check," Jin said, drifting closer to the hologram.
"Stay out of the octagon," Graydon warned. "You're as likely to be fried as her."
Jin backed up several feet. "Of course. My bad."
"I doubt they would have done a systems check so close to the ceremony. Not with so many high ranking Luathans here," he said, returning to their conversation.
Which meant this was probably the work of their enemy.
He stepped from the platform, slight beads of sweat dotting his forehead.
"Are you all right?" Kira asked.
"Manipulating the melding is more of a Luathan talent. I've never had a knack for it," he said, straightening, the brief flash of weakness already gone.
"Let's go," he said.
"Wait, we're not done. We haven't determined the extent of the damage," Kira protested.
"I've confirmed your theory. We need to leave before anyone finds us here."
"It's too late for that," Liara said from the doorway.
She stepped further into the room, her guards swarming into the room behind her, cutting off their exit.