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PERRIN CARVER’S IDEA OF A meeting room was an old maintenance hangar for a small shuttle. Ancestors only knew why Carver had picked this room out of the warren of offices that ran underneath the old spaceport that fleet had taken and renamed Enclave. Maybe it was the lingering smell of fuel. Maybe it was the heavy shadows clinging to the walls. Maybe it was because the room was too far underground for most people to feel comfortable teleporting to, so Perrin’s stash of treats was safe from the rest of the Starguard here.
Hollis picked out self-chilling bottle of mango juice and leaned against the rough wall. For a moment, it was just like the old days, with Hermione and Perrin arguing while he looked on. Except he didn’t want to grab Hermione and calm her down by stripping her clothes off anymore.
As if she caught the thought, Hermione glanced at him. “This isn’t entirely our decision anymore.”
“It should be mine!” Perrin protested.
“We’re not isolated any more. We’ve made agreements with the other political bodies on this planet. Let’s get some more opinions.”
Despite Perrin’s disgruntled curse, Hollis felt the buzz against his shields as the message went out. Starguard debate over allocation of resources, sub-heading personnel missions. There were teleport coordinates attached, too.
A minute later, Titan and Selena Caryll teleported in, Titan in his all-blacks, Selena in her favorite—or possibly Titan’s favorite—grounder outfit, a loose blue skirt and off-the-shoulder white sweater.
Genevieve bounced in, wearing a Silar uniform of copper and green, and gave him a sisterly nod before taking Perrin’s hand.
“You know, people are starting to complain that the Elites are running everything,” Hollis said. “This isn’t going to help.”
“Captain Sciarra asked me to keep her informed,” Titan said. “She’s handling contract negotiations with another crew.”
“One of your cousins getting married?” Hollis guessed.
“We’re trading an old fighter frame for some new organics in the ship’s garden,” Titan said, then corrected to, “they’re getting.” He smiled at Selena, who shook her head. A year in and sometimes Titan still slipped and acted like a Sciarra, not a Caryll.
Perrin knocked his knuckles on the table. “All right, this is a really quick and only semi-official meeting with representatives of the OIA, Starguard, and Captains’ Council present.”
“We should get someone from the training house,” Hermione said.
“I put out the summons,” Perrin said in an aggrieved voice. “If none of the trainers show up, they can’t complain we left them out. Let’s get on with this.” He took a deep breath.
Hermione held up a hand to stop him from launching into a three-hour lecture. Perrin was good about talking around things when he didn’t like the idea, or thought someone else wouldn’t. “The situation is simple,” she said. “Hollis was captured in the mountains—”
Everyone looked at him in alarm.
“I’m fine.” More or less.
“He was taken to a location near Tarrin, where his captors intended to torture him and implant a control device,” Perrin said.
“Slag them from orbit,” Gen said.
Hollis nodded to his sister. :They didn’t get a chance. I am fine.:
:Slag ’em anyway.:
“Hollis escaped without any real damage,” Hermione said for everyone else’s benefit.
True, if no one asked about the bruises from the rockslide or the lingering, empty sensation when Rowena wasn’t around.
“But the captors did try to imprint him with the idea that he should attend a party in the city-state of Kydell on the second continent,” Hermione said.
Kydell? Hollis looked up with interest.
Perrin growled.
With a roll of her eyes, Hermione continued. “Kydell is the port nearest Descent, and known for black market smuggling activity. The Jhandarmi presence is almost non-existent and legal channels are...” Hermione paused as she searched for a word.
“Corrupt?” Selena suggested. “Kydell makes their money from multiple forms of illegal trade, from weapons smuggling to art theft to selling human skill sets. The government they have has an isolationist stance because they want to protect their monopoly on what other city-states view as illegal activity.”
“Corrupt works,” Hermione said as she sagged against the table. “The Marshalls of Descent have never been able to get a reliable operative in there. And the OIA has nothing.”
“There’s a Jhandarmi office,” Selena said, “but not anyone I trust.”
“We’d be sending Hollis in without any backup?” Titan shook his head. “No. I vote no. Remember last year when Selena went to a pool party undercover? She had a known alias and friends there, and she still almost got killed.”
“And she left a crater in someone’s yard.” Gen grinned and Selena grinned back.
Hollis sighed. “Raise your hand if you ever went into a salvage situation alone during the war.”
The group glared at him in unison.
“This isn’t war,” Hermione argued.
“Says the woman who got herself caught and tortured by the Baulars.” And never really came home from it. Not all the way, at least. “It’s a grounder city, I’ll be able to shield and teleport. I’ll be safe.”
Hermione shook her head. “They have heavy blocks on the city to prevent electronic spying. It’ll interfere with teleports and wreck your shield. The most you would have would be an advantage because you can probably micro-boost with telekyen. But it’s too high risk and for all we know they just want you there to look pretty.”
Perrin and Gen nodded.
“They killed someone,” Hollis said. “They would have put their murder device in me if they could have. They are planning an attack against the fleet. That’s Starguard territory, and I have an open invite to go find out more. We should use it.”
“No,” Titan said. “I still vote no.”
“We vote no,” Selena said.
“Silar is right.” The voice in the shadows echoed slightly, warping it and making it seem like it was coming from lightyears away.
Shields went up as everyone scrambled to identify the person who wasn’t broadcasting anything.
Rowena stepped forward. She was wearing the black ‘Ride A Pilot’ shirt he’d bought her with tan cargo pants filthy with mud and blood, and her hair was frizzing from contact with humidity, although the Tarrin air was dry. There was a bruise on her cheek and a fresh bandage on her arm.
:What happened?: Hollis asked. He could feel other messages moving through the air; he wasn’t the only one asking.
:Later: Rowena waved aside any questions. “Hollis is our best chance to get information on this group and their goals. Even if the fleet backs out, the Jhandarmi are in.”
“I talked about this with Tyrling,” Selena said. “The chance of losing an operative is too high. He can’t ask someone to go in with those odds.”
“He didn’t,” Rowena said. “Someone volunteered.”
A cold certainty settled in Hollis’s chest. “You volunteered?”
Rowena lifted a shoulder in a casual shrug, but she wasn’t making eye contact, she wasn’t moving into the circle or within reach of anyone. “I’m stationed in Kydell at the request of the Jhandarmi. It’s part of the deal we made last year. Which means there’s an operative there that Caryll can trust.”
“You’re going to back Silar?” Titan asked sounding bewildered. “Why?”
Finally Rowena looked up, lips twisted in a scowl of annoyance. “Sonya Lethe and her boytoy engineer were in Kydell today when someone tried to trigger a riot with the same kind of device the Rightful Children of the Empire tried to put in Hollis. Good money says Lethe will have a presence at that party, which means I’m going. We need to get a look at their control device. I can either sneak in, or I can walk in the front door with Hollis and his invitation. He’s their new toy. Chances are high that they’ll give him a new set of orders and release him back into the wilds of Enclave. Walk in. Get what we want. Walk out. No one will know there’s a security breach.”
“Ancestors above,” Titan muttered. “We’ve... We’ve officially hit the end of our times and the heat death of the universe. Rowena and Hollis are agreeing on something. Let’s call it a day and watch the sun go nova.”
Selena smiled and squeezed his arm. “I don’t think this is actually a sign that the world is ending.”
“It’s pretty near apocalyptic,” Gen said with a huge grin. “I’m not sure my brother is still breathing.”
“I’m fine!” Hollis protested. “And I agree with... Rowena.” He felt like he’d jumped into vacuum without a hull. Everything was changing with a word.
:Yes! I knew it!: Gen’s delight filled his mind.
Titan glared at him. :You are not supposed to do that.:
:Learn to love it,: Hollis advised.
Perrin shook his head in confusion. “You’re going to trust Lee with your life?”
“I’ve done it before,” Hollis said, keeping his face calm, his voice unaffected. He’d called her Rowena in front of their friends. In front of the only people who mattered to both of them. :We can do this, right?: He sent the message on a tight beam straight to her.
:Getting in was going to be the hard part. With an invite, this should be a stroll in a garden.:
Gen was muttering and glaring at Perrin, trying to get him to agree. :Can I tell him about last night?:
:No. Not without Rowena’s permission.:
His sister frowned at him.
“This vote doesn’t matter,” Rowena said, blowing everyone’s engines with a word. “I’m going, with or without backup. It’ll be safer and more effective with two of us, but I can run this alone.”
“No,” Selena and Titan said in unison.
“Then send Hollis with me.”
:You hurt her and I swear your sister will never find enough of you to mourn,: Titan said on a tight beam.
:What’s Selena going to say to that?:
:She’ll understand. Rowena is my best friend.:
Hollis smiled and finished his juice. “I’m going.”
“There has got to be a better way,” Perrin said.
“It could work,” Hermione said slowly as she studied Rowena’s blood-stained clothes. “With the right clothes and back story, it could work very well. The opportunity for gain here is something we shouldn’t ignore. We need information from Kydell.”
Gen shook her head. “What cover could they use? Selena has dozens of covers, sometimes multiple ones in the same city-state. How are Hollis and Lee going to go together? Is he supposed to introduce her as his annoying co-worker? The woman who wants him dead? His business rival?”
“She’ll be my date.” The words ran out of his mouth with all the oxygen in his lungs. Ancestors, help me.
The air in the room seemed too thin for anyone.
“Date?” Gen’s voice had an odd squeak to it.
Everyone looked at Rowena, expecting her to reject.
She stared them down, eyes cold.
Titan rubbed his temples. “I regret ever telling you that we needed to find a common ground. I meant finding a favorite food you could share, not a mutual enemy.”
“Your fault,” Rowena said, obviously finishing a conversation that had been private. “You told me to work with the Silars.”
Perrin grimaced. “How bad was the riot, Lee?”
“One of the hired guards pushed a dock worker down. Jae, the one who had a device in his chest, was ready to fight. I stepped in and calmed the situation down long enough for us to get away, but the rowdies are leaving Kydell tonight. They don’t feel safe there.”
Hermione pursed her lips together. “You’re sure it was Doctor Long with Lethe?”
“Positive. Why?” Rowena asked.
“We were in school together on Descent after I came back from the war.” Hermione’s expression grew unreadable. “He’s not someone I would expect to side with Lethe.”
Rowena shook her head. “He was with her. It looked like he was willing.”
“Did you scan him?” Hollis asked. “He may have had an implant.”
Hermione’s breathe caught. Hollis might have been the only one who noticed, but he saw it, the fear in her eyes. She wanted to protect the engineer.
There was a drawn out moment where he could feel Rowena thinking over her reply. She was watching Hermione too. “There was no orun on him,” she answered Hollis. “I doubt he has an implant like the one Sonya tried to use on you. But I didn’t scan for anything else.”
Unspoken words formed an image in his head. :What kind of implant did he have?:
:Nothing that registered with a normal scan for fleet,: Rowena said, but there was a memory lurking behind her words. She met his eyes. :There are devices that were designed to not register. Mal had one when he died. I don’t know if the OIA retrieved it or if it was buried with him. If it was buried with him, someone could have found it, I suppose.:
“It’s still a complication,” Hermione said. “Long is the only heir to a landed family in Descent. They’re loosely allied with my family. If he’s sided with Lethe, there will be problems. But if he hasn’t, if he’s unaware of the situation and merely flirting with Sonya—”
“—it shows he has exquisitely bad taste in women?” Rowena suggested.
To everyone’s surprise, Hermione smiled. “It means that letting him get caught in the crossfire could endanger certain...” She paused to consider her words. “...Projects of mine.”
“Can’t you reach out to him?” Perrin asked. “You went to school together.”
“We were never formally introduced,” Hermione said. “I don’t have an in there.”
Selena and Titan shared a look.
“We’ve already scheduled a meeting at Bennu Industries,” Selena said. “We’ll be sure to meet with him. I’ll run another scan, ask him about Sonya. Even if he says nothing, his reaction will be useful.”
Perrin had a look in his eye that said he was seriously considering confining everyone to quarters for their own safety and his sanity. “This was so much easier when all we had to do was blow up ships.” He looked over at Rowena, probably wishing he’d managed to take her out years ago.
Rowena nodded in sympathy. “Bigger target. Easier to hit. I can see why someone with your aim would miss that.” The corner of her lips turned up in a teasing grin.
“Oh, you didn’t.” Gen’s eyes widened. :You have been such a bad influence on her! She’s teasing Perrin!:
:They were like that on the flight team,: Hollis said. :He’ll live.:
“We’re all friends here,” Hermione said. “This is the price of peace. We have to solve things without punching anyone.”
Rowena snorted in disbelief. “Suddenly I’m glad I’m not a senior officer any more. Lowly grunts still get to punch people. And, if Sonya Lethe gets near me, I will do more than punch her. I’m tired of her treating people like toys.” She teleported out before anyone could argue or ask about the blood.
“Titan,” Perrin drew the name out as he rubbed his hands across his face. “If she starts a war—”
“She won’t,” Titan promised. “Lethe hasn’t threatened the Lees, and that’s all Rowena will care about.”
“Lethe threatened the rowdies and Kydell by going there,” Hollis said. “The Jhandarmi have Rowena guarding them.” Had no one else thought this through? “We need to have Tyrling pull Rowena from the area. She won’t give ground if her commander tells her to guard it. She never has. After she goes to the party, her cover is going to be gone, whatever is left of it.”
Hermione’s eyes filled with nebulas and stars as she accessed her implant. “Her cover might be gone already. The Kydell security force is reporting multiple injuries and two dead after trying to apprehend a rowdy woman who started a fight on the docks. The description matches Rowena.”
“Of course it does.” Perrin glowered.
“The shields over Kydell didn’t register any use of fleet tech,” Hermione said as her lips pressed into a thin line of disapproval. “Perrin, she neutralized a squad of twenty-three men without using her implants.”
Hollis tried to feel something. Anger that Rowena had been in danger. Concern that she’d become that lethal. But it felt inevitable. With her back against a wall, Rowena would do what she’d been trained to do, and she’d been trained to kill. Everything else she did, from helping the Jhandarmi to caring about the complaints of her cadets, was a choice.
And in defiance of everything she’d been taught, she was choosing to stand with him.
He wasn’t going to forget that. Ever.
Perrin closed his eyes. “Did the Kydellians identify her?”
There was a pause and Hermione’s eyes returned to their normal soft brown. “No positive ID. Her cover is safe.”
“Let’s keep it that way.” Perrin looked at him. “You are certain you can run this op with Lee as backup?”
Hollis nodded. “It won’t be a problem.”
“We’re in a precarious position,” Perrin said. “We don’t have enough allies on the ground. There are people getting nervous because we have voting rights in the continental senate. There are people looking for an excuse to take the fleet apart.”
“Rowena won’t give them a chance,” Titan said quickly. “She’s been working with the Jhandarmi for the better part of a year without a complaint.”
:It’s Rowena Lee,: Hollis told Perrin directly, letting his confidence in her show. :She’ll die before she lets anyone hurt the fleet.:
It was his friend who met his eyes, not his commander. :Then your job is to keep her alive.:
:I will.: