CHAPTER FOURTEEN

A few days later, the women took a field trip to the Zenai monastery at Jurdan’s invitation. Tigh was busy with affairs of state. Apparently, one of the many duties of the emperor was to hold court and settle disputes among his subjects. Quite a few cases that needed to be heard had piled up in his absence, so he was holding court for a few hours every day until he got through the backlog.

Today, he’d be doing a marathon session while the women were safe in the heart of the Zenai monastery. He’d told Ginny before she’d left that there was no place safer for her in the universe than there, and so, he would be able to work without worry for her safety. His plan was to clear his desk, if at all possible, of the old matters so that anything new could be dealt with more quickly.

Jurdan had been especially eager to learn more about Henny’s fighting style, so he’d extended the invitation to the entire crew. Ginny participated in some of the kata exercise as part of the all-women group, but when they started actual fighting practice, she sat back to watch.

Jurdan and a number of highly-ranked priests surrounded the outdoor square they were using for their practice, and when time came for individual sparring bouts, a few of the priests squared off for some friendly contests with the ladies. This was a much higher level of training and teaching than what had occurred on the ship with Tigh’s crew. These priests were truly interested in learning how Henny accomplished take-downs that they clearly didn’t expect.

They were especially interested in how the smallest of the women could face off against huge warriors and manage to not only hold their own, but occasionally prevail. Each time one of the smaller ladies landed a blow on a stunned male, they slowed and asked for details on how the move had been accomplished. Henny would step into her role of teacher, at that point, and the men listened with intense concentration.

Over the course of the afternoon, Henny went a long way toward cementing her role as teacher and expert fighter. She also did a bit of exhibition kata and even sparred with some of the top-level priests. Jurdan clearly gave her respect for her skills, and the other priests followed suit. All in all, it was a good day, Ginny thought, for improving their position and gaining friends and admirers among the warrior priests.

Ginny, Krysta and Sally were on the way back to the palace. Henny and the others had decided to stay a bit longer at the monastery and would return later that night, but Ginny was feeling a bit queasy and wanted to go home and lie down.

She was in the air car they’d been using when something rocked the sturdy vehicle, and it began an unscheduled descent. They weren’t anywhere near the city yet, so the farmland below was a mostly flat patchwork of crops. Tolo had been piloting the vehicle, with Sally sitting in the co-pilot seat and learning how to operate the vehicle. Krysta had been sitting in back, relaxing and chatting quietly with Ginny, but when the car started to go down, everyone snapped to alert.

Tolo tried to get a message out on the comm, but it was pretty clear he wasn’t getting through. Sally took over the comm task, telling him to concentrate on flying while Ginny looked on helplessly. This wasn’t like being in battle in her ship. This was far too small a craft with few weapons, and although it was very maneuverable, if the engine went out for whatever reason, its only option was to glide to the ground and await rescue.

They were gliding now, heading for a country road with no traffic on it. That would do for a landing strip, Ginny thought, as she looked out the window. She caught sight of pursuit behind and alongside them. This wasn’t a simple malfunction. This was a deliberate attack.

She tried her personal comm, but it, too, was jammed. Grabbing a pen and paper out of her bag, she wrote a quick note the old-fashioned way and jammed it under a corner of the carpet. Unless the attackers burned the vehicle—which she didn’t think they would, since a fire like that would attract too much attention too soon—Tigh’s people would find her note. She hoped.

She also snapped a few images on her personal comm of the pursuit vehicles, trying to document as much as she could, and ordered Krysta to do the same. The attackers might find and destroy their comm devices, but at least they would have tried.

And Ginny had one last thing she could do. She activated the small robotic recording device that Tigh insisted she carry with her at all times. It was the same small camera that had been part of her gear aboard his ship, which had come in so handy when all the men had been incapacitated. The memory of those units had been downloaded and reproduced for analysis, and the units returned to the women with Tigh’s blessing. He encouraged them all to carry them, and Ginny had acceded to his wishes.

Ginny activated the little unit. It detached from her belt and began to hover, recording everything.

“Oh! I’ve got mine, too,” Krysta said, seeing Ginny’s device appear over her shoulder.

“Don’t activate it yet,” Ginny said quickly. “Keep it in reserve. My unit will probably get captured if we end up in their trap.” She glanced out the window and frowned. “And it certainly looks like we’re going to get caught. What we need to do now, is leave clues for those who will come after us. To help them find us quicker.”

Ginny positioned the floating camera near the window to record what it could of the pursuing vehicles. Then, she took the camera and reattached it to her belt, this time, facing outward on the buckle, as if it was some kind of ornament. With any luck, the bad guys wouldn’t realize what it was, and she’d get a chance to discard it somewhere Tigh’s people would find it. In the meantime, it would continue to record everything.

“Do you think they’re going to kill us?” Krysta asked, her expression grim.

“If they’d wanted to kill us, they would have blasted us out of the sky already. I’m betting on capture, so stay alert. If you can get away, do it.”

“But—” Krysta objected, but Ginny was having none of it.

“That’s an order. They’ll keep me alive, but I’m not sure about the rest of you. I’d rather have you free to come get me than dead.” Harsh words, but it was how she felt. She saw Krysta nod and was glad she understood.

Tolo had his hands full guiding the car down to the ground safely, and Sally was still working on coms, to no avail. The com system was supposed to be triple coded and unassailable on this royal vehicle, yet somehow, someone found a way to jam them. They’d also punched through the shield that should have been protecting the engine like it wasn’t even there. It was simple. Someone had to have given the enemy their codes.

“None of this is supposed to be possible with all the precautions,” Krysta said, sounding grim as they kept coasting, ever downward.

“Inside job,” Ginny muttered, but everyone in the small cabin heard her.

“I fear you are correct, Highness,” Tolo said, fighting with the stick to keep them in line with the roadway as they drew ever nearer to the ground.

“Orders?” Sally asked, as if they were back on their ship again. What Ginny wouldn’t give for a fully armed warship, right about now.

“You three do your best to escape. They want me. Probably not you guys.” She hoped.

“I cannot comply, Highness. I am sworn to protect you to my last breath,” Tolo said, sounding grim. She wasn’t going to argue with him. There just wasn’t time.

“Do what your conscience demands, then,” she said, focusing her energies on the women because she didn’t think she’d have any luck dissuading a Zenai warrior priest from whatever it was he thought he was supposed to do. “Don’t get yourselves killed,” she said to Sally and Krysta, meeting each of their gazes for a heartbeat. “Do your best to break free. If you can’t, do your best to stay alive, whatever that entails. They will be looking for us. Do what you can to help the searchers. Drop clues, if possible.”

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Sally replied, her tone subdued but resolute.

“We’ve been in tough spots before,” Ginny reminded them. “We’ll get through this. Just keep your wits about you.”

“Roger, that.” Krysta braced as the air car made contact with the road.

It was a bumpy landing, but they made it down in one piece. Krysta popped the hatch but was thrown back into the cabin by some sort of grenade that hit her in the shoulder with great force before popping and releasing a cloud of gas. Ginny tried to hold her breath, but it was useless. She felt the effects of whatever was in the gas putting her to sleep—hopefully, that was all it was doing.

She felt herself being lifted. Someone had her ankles, and someone else had their hands under her shoulders. They weren’t all that gentle, but at least they were taking her someplace rather than killing her on the spot. She was able to open her eyes just enough to see a squad of jit’suku men, some of whom were wearing what passed for medical clothing in their society, along with a few soldiers.

As they loaded her into a waiting vehicle, Ginny bided her time before taking the opportunity to detach the miniature floating camera from her belt. She pressed the tiny button that would order it to remain hidden and to stay on station before releasing it to land on the ground. The little chip inside the floater was smart enough to conceal itself using whatever cover it could find for the next hour.

By that time, she’d probably be long gone, but at least she was leaving behind a recording of exactly what had happened to her. She only hoped it would help Tigh find her. She wished she had some way to tell him just one more time how deeply she felt about him, but at that point, the effects of the gas took her completely under, and she didn’t wake for a very long time.

 

Tigh was hearing one of the last cases of the day when the court chamber doors burst open, and Xeer came running in. He was followed by an equally hasty troop of palace guards who stationed themselves around the room and the participants in the current trial.

“My apologies,” Tigh said to the parties who were seated at separate tables in front of him. “We will have to resume this later. Please follow the guards’ instructions.” Tigh rose and removed his robes of state, discarding them on his chair as Xeer joined him.

“Sire, there was an attack on the Velkir’s air car. The car went down, and all three women—your lady, Sally and Krysta—were abducted from the scene. Tolo is in critical condition and may not live through the night.” Xeer’s voice was low and urgent as they walked through the private door at the back of the court chamber. More palace guard were present all over the rooms and corridors they walked through.

“When?” Tigh asked, already considering his options. One thing was certain. He wasn’t going to sit around in the palace while his soul mate was out there, somewhere, in danger. He was walking rapidly toward the hangar where his personal vehicles were stored.

“No more than half a standard ago,” Xeer answered promptly. “When the air car did not show up on the next radar station as expected, the alarm was raised. The attendants at the previous radar station were found dead. The enemy planned this operation to the minutest detail.”

“I’m sensing there’s a qualification to your words,” Tigh said tightly, even as he worried. “What is it?”

“Your lady, sire. She was brilliant! She left one of those little floating recording devices at the scene in stealth mode. We have retrieved it and downloaded the footage. Sire.” Xeer stopped walking to face Tigh. “It was Gruber.”

Tigh saw red for a moment before he managed to calm himself enough to speak. “Gruber? You are certain?”

The bastard responsible for the virus that had killed so many in both galaxies. Gruber was the one war criminal Tigh had searched for and been unable to find. He was a thorn in Tigh’s side, having been behind the attempt to subvert his ship on its way home from peace talks with the humans. If not for Ginny and her crew, Gruber would have derailed that, as well. If evil had a name, in Tigh’s opinion, Gruber was it.

“I saw his face on the camera. He was definitely commanding the force that took the women. You can even hear him speak, and we have voice-matched the recording with our files. It was definitely him.” Xeer began walking again, following in Tigh’s tracks as he paced toward the hangar with renewed determination. “Sire!” he called. “Tigh!”

Xeer’s use of his name turned Tigh around. It had to be pretty important to get Xeer to forget the new protocols that Tigh insisted he didn’t like and didn’t need but that everyone around him seemed unable to relinquish. Xeer had his attention now, and he came closer, lowering his voice to keep their discussion as private as possible.

“Tigh, there had to be an accomplice—or many—on the inside. Gruber had the codes to the air car and was able to jam coms and fire through shields that should have held off anything up to, and including, a nuclear warhead.” Tigh’s blood boiled as Xeer’s words penetrated. “Whatever you’re planning to do, choose your wingmen and crew wisely. Only those you trust implicitly. There are, without doubt, rotten apples among us.”

“I’m trusting you to figure out who they are,” Tigh said, between gritted teeth. “I’m giving you authority to investigate anyone and anything within this palace and its grounds. Run it to earth, Xeer. Find out who has betrayed me and arrest them. Do this for me while I find my mate.” Tigh reached out to put one hand on Xeer’s forearm, impressing on the warrior how important a task Tigh was giving him.

“I will not let you down,” Xeer pledged. “I knew you would want to go out and find them, which is why I directed everyone to meet you in the hangar.” Xeer smiled just a bit, and Tigh had to shake his head.

“You know me too well, my friend.” Tigh resumed walking. “Who is everyone?”

“The Velkir’s crew, and the remainder of the men who traveled with us to human space, for a start. Jurdan sent some warrior priests along with the ladies. I believe they’re readying the Phenix, even as we speak.”

The Phenix was the emperor’s personal warship. Small but fast. Light but sturdy. It was designed to allow the emperor to either escape the palace, should all other defenses fail, or to join in the fight as highly specialized strike battleship with minimal crew. His men could handle it. As could the ladies, he now believed, if given half a chance. Tigh decided to let them sort out who would control what station aboard the ship. They probably already had.

“Bring them back, Sire,” Xeer said in a low voice.

Tigh noticed the emphasis in his friend’s voice and remembered that Xeer had seemed particularly impressed by Krysta. Tigh knew it wasn’t just his own future at stake here, but Xeer’s as well.

Tigh paused to meet his friend’s gaze. “I will bring them all back. This, I vow.”

Xeer nodded. There was a great deal of emotion in that simple gesture, but there was no more time to waste. Tigh kept moving. He had to find them and bring them back, not just for himself, but for Xeer and for all jit’suku.

Xeer stayed behind with his guardsmen as Tigh mounted the ramp that led into the Phenix. He climbed up to the bridge and came upon a well-ordered group of people—males and females—working together to prepare for launch.

Tigh spotted Jimnai Burk sitting in the nav position. He’d been the first officer during the trip to human space, and Tigh trusted him implicitly. Hansa was standing next to Henny, over by the weapons consoles. It looked like he was showing her what they had and how to use it. They all looked up when Tigh entered the bridge.

“Thank you all,” he said, overcome by the determination he saw on all of their faces. “I understand there is a recording of the abduction?”

Just like that, they got back to business. The petite ensign everyone called Tiggy motioned Tigh over to her station. She was Ginny’s coms officer, he recalled, and she was sitting at the primary coms board on the Phenix, with his own coms officer backing her up. They had the display screens up and running to show Tigh what Ginny had recorded.

He watched the take down with his jaw clenched. He heard Ginny declare what Xeer had told him—that this was an inside job. Someone—likely more than one person—on the inside had betrayed them. He vowed they would find those responsible and bring them to justice, but first, he had to rescue his mate.

Ginny had been so brave. He was impressed, all over again, at how cool his mate was under fire. She had left the device behind, ordering her people to do all they could to get away or leave clues. At least one more of those human recording devices was out there, with Krysta. He’d heard them discuss it, and Ginny had told her friend to save it for later. But what about the other woman?

“Sally was co-piloting.” Tigh stated. That had been easily seen on the early part of the recording. “Does she also have one of the recording devices?”

Tiggy looked up at him. “We all do,” she answered a bit sheepishly. “Captain told us to keep them with us at all times, just in case, but I can’t guarantee Sally had hers with her today. She should have, but there’s no mention of it on the recording we have.”

“Understood.” Tigh watched the rest of it, his gut twisting in knots to see Ginny tossed into an air car like a sack of grain. “Is there any way to track these devices?”

“Yes,” Tiggy said at once, giving Tigh hope. “Captain said to keep that to ourselves, but I think she meant it for just this sort of situation. If the floater is recording, I can track it, but if it’s in standby, or shielded, there’s no signal for me.”

“This hangar is shielded, so we’d better launch,” Tigh said, already moving toward his command chair. “Start scanning as soon as we’re airborne.”

“Aye, Captain,” Tiggy replied, giving Tigh a little start of surprise. He supposed he was the captain of this ship, but he hadn’t expected the title. Just one more of a dozen new titles he’d never expected to wear.

He talked to the other stations, finding everything in readiness. On his command, they flew through the open hangar doors, using their atmospheric drive. Although this ship was fully capable of traveling in space, it was also small and maneuverable enough to do well near the surface of a planet.

He had wanted to take the ship out for a shakedown cruise—more for him than for the ship, itself. He hadn’t gotten the chance to do so before now, but he would certainly put this little marvel of cutting edge jit’suku technology through its paces today.

“I’ve got a signal!” Tiggy didn’t look up from what she was doing, but her expression was relieved. “Make that two signals. The XO and the navigator’s floaters are both operational and broadcasting.”

“Can we see the feed or is it strictly a homing beacon?” Tigh asked the woman.

“At this range, we can only use it to get closer. Once we’re near enough, I should be able to get enough of the transmission to give us something.” Again, Tiggy focused on her board, but the news was good.

Tigh felt a grim satisfaction go through him. They would at least be able to track the women to their current location. That was a damned good start.

 

Ginny woke by slow degrees. It was like coming out of a fog, and she realized she must have been drugged into unconsciousness by whatever was in that gas grenade. She only hoped it hadn’t harmed the babies, but she couldn’t really worry about that at the moment. Her first priority had to be getting out of this mess, so she could get to her own doctor and be assured that the babies were okay. She tried to take heart in the fact that she felt all right and her abdomen didn’t give any indication of problems. She hoped it would remain that way.

Ginny knew Tigh was probably already on his way to find her. She just had to help things along, if she possibly could. Escaping would be nice, but if she couldn’t manage that, she’d be happy with just figuring out where they were and what the situation was.

Opening her eyes just a fraction, she looked around, trying not to draw any attention to the fact that she was waking up. She was laying on a slab of some kind in a windowless room. A quick look around told her that Sally and Krysta were in the same room, on matching slabs sticking out from the opposite wall. Krysta was sitting up, rubbing her head, but Sally was still unconscious.

Seeing Krysta up, Ginny sat up, too. “Any clue what’s going on here?” Ginny asked, rolling her neck to loosen the crick in it from laying at an odd angle.

“I’ve only been awake for a few minutes. Haven’t seen anyone or anything besides these four walls, Captain.” Krysta made some casual hand gestures, alerting Ginny to far more than her words revealed.

For one thing, Krysta was able to communicate that she’d activated both floaters, which were firmly attached to Sally and Krysta’s belts. Ginny felt good about that. If their luck was holding, the signal would get out and be received by those looking for them. Tiggy knew how to track the low-tech signal. She’d tell Tigh, and they’d follow the beacons, if at all possible.

“How are you feeling?” Ginny asked, just to keep the spoken conversation going while Krysta continued to fill her in with gestures only her team understood.

Krysta’s hand signals alerted Ginny to surveillance cameras Krysta had already spotted around the room. They were definitely under observation, so the cautious approach was best.

“I’m okay. I suspect they gave us some kind of counter-agent to wake us up,” she went on. Krysta had specialized sensors as part of some of her hardware. If she said they’d been deliberately awakened, Ginny could take that as fact.

“How about Sally?” Ginny gestured to the other woman who gave every appearance of being out cold.

“I think she got more of the gas than we did, even though she was sitting up front. You held your breath, right? Like I did?” Again, Krysta’s words said one thing while her hand gesture talked of something completely different. In this case, she was indicating that, if someone came in through the door visible just to her left, she was going to take them out with her cybernetic arm.

“Yeah, as soon as I saw that grenade hit you, I did my best not to breathe, but eventually, I had to,” she admitted.

“Yeah, me too,” Krysta replied. “But Sal didn’t see the gas come in the door. I don’t think she knew to hold her breath, so she got more of a dose than we did. Plus, they took us out of the cabin first. She was in the gas longer. As was the pilot.”

Ginny felt a pang for Tolo. She had no doubt Tigh would mourn if the man had died. She felt pretty bad about it herself. She hated to think of that skilled, big-hearted man dead because someone wanted to get to her.

“Makes sense, I guess,” Ginny replied while giving the hand sign that she understood Krysta’s plan and wouldn’t get in the way.