part0014

Craze scooted back in his seat, putting distance between himself and his ex. “It’s been awhile.” He stared out the window at the many people and multiple buildings. Some folks started hurling chunks of dust at the vehicle. He gripped the familiar dents of Talos’s badge in his pocket.

“Soon they’ll be throwing more than dust.” Tabbish swiped a tab wired to her BAA uniform through the ignition. She had to do it twice, steadying her hand on the second attempt. The hover van purred and flew off toward the structures farthest from the docking facility.

“Pardeep has lost its charm.” His hair coiled tighter, and he wished he had never come home. It wasn’t home. Where in the galaxy did he belong? Not in the diplomacy corps. He couldn’t imagine staying allies with the Foreworlds past the war. They were too damned dodgy.

Steering over the smooth holo-road, Tabbish’s shoulders stiffened, the lines of her gray army jacket as crisp as if it hung on a hanger. “I’m sorry. I imagine you wanted a farvelous homecoming.”

“A stupid dream.” Crossing his arms, he slumped in the seat. “Especially since you can’t forgive me.”

“It’s not that.” She swiveled about, raking a tender gaze over him, her dark eyes more alert than Craze had ever seen them. A gray cap with a visor covered her thick purple hair. “I don’t hate you. I hate what we did. I’m as guilty as you.”

“I’m the one you left.”

“To salvage what we did, to make sure it works, to ensure the two sides properly merge ‘n fight together as one.” She slowed the transport. “It’d be easier to talk if you climbed up front.”

“You want to talk? You snub me on every tab message.”

“As much as I’d prefer we hadn’t run into each other, I’m not going to ignore you now. We brokered peace with the Foreworlds, certainly we can negotiate a détente between us.”

His curls loosened to waves, and Craze crawled over the seat to the front, plopping down beside a woman he used to hold in his arms, sometimes to soothe her nightmares. “Certainly, we can. We got along great until you ran off.”

“I ran off to destroy my former master. I can’t begin to explain what it was like to be enslaved by Quasser.” Her chin quivered and her eyes burned. A deeper green settled over her cheeks. “The alien will pay ‘n its kin. I’ll see to it.”

“I knew when we first hooked up you’d eventually leave me. Pardeep Station wasn’t your callin’.”

“It’s not yours either.” Her words lashed out crisp in the cab of the hover van. “You is a gifted envoy. Make the most of it. Do everything you possibly can for the Backworlds.”

“You think I’m not? I gave up everythin’ that meant anythin’ to me to persuade the Foreworlds to join our cause against the Quassers. My home is gone. My friends is gone. So is my gal.”

“I’m not…not gone. Changed.” She squinted and ran a hand over her long face. “In your shadow, I will never come nose to nose with Quasser ‘n get to stick a quark bomb up its ass. I have to face it ‘n give every fiber of my being to killing it. I must stand alone against my enemy.”

“Don’t be dense. This fight is unwinnable alone. That’s the whole reason we flew off to parley with the Foreworlds.”

“Okay, I worded that poorly. Love takes a commitment. Revenge takes the same commitment. I don’t have the energy for both. One will get short-changed, ‘n it’d be you. It’s more fair to end things.” Her lips hovered near a frown.

“We can reboot our relationship to fit the new you, can’t we?”

“You can give up trying to woo me at every opportunity?” Her gaze darted over his face.

“I may never stop hopin’, but I’ll keep it to myself. Promise.” He pressed a palm to his heart.

Her teeth drew hin her lower lip, and she inhaled deeply. “Our love didn’t die, which makes this hard. I’d prefer more distance ‘n more time without talking.”

“Yeah, it takes time to change the heart, but, Tabs, I want to know what happens to you. Don’t shut me out. Not completely.”

She turned her face away, hitting the accelerator. “You distract me from what I have to do. Vengeance is my goal, not love.”

Craze didn’t want to be second in anyone’s pot of priorities. “You may feel differently someday.” His hair drooped. “I hope you find someone who makes you want to give up the vengeance ‘n remember what this war is actually about.”

Her fist thumped against her head. “I can never forget, never. I fight so no one will ever live through what I did.”

The entrance to the BAA base loomed ahead. After putting down the window, Tabbish waved her tab before an orange light. The gates clicked open then clanged shut. She slowed the hover van. Her head hung, and she sighed. “You promised to let me go.”

“You still care about me?”

Her head snapped up. “Of course, I do. The only way I can reach my goal is to pretend you don’t exist, that you’re a figment of my imagination. If we talk too much, I have to face reality.”

The wound in his heart widened. If he convinced her to return to his arms, their relationship would never be what it was. If he kept his mouth shut, he’d lose her to a suicide mission against the Quassers. “I accept we have no future as lovers ‘n promise to never message inappropriately.”

She stopped the transport at the entrance of the BAA base. “The moment you do, I’ll quit communicating.”

He placed a hand over hers. The war with the Foreworlds had torn the Backworlds apart. The war with the Quassers would change it again. Craze hoped she’d survive and they’d find each other at the end. They could help each other through the wreckage and build a new home. “I wish you well, Tabs. Take the best of care of yourself.”

Her eyelids blinked rapidly, and she squeezed his fingers. “You filled the best moments of my life. The most farvelous ones.”

Leaning over, he softly kissed her cheek, lingering. “Until later, huh?”

“Yeah.” She nodded.

He gave her shoulder a squeeze and left the hover van. His hair rebraided itself into the complicated style that shortened his tresses to above his shoulders. Guards escorted him inside the base. The lobby was smaller than he expected—dark, closed off, thrumming with soldiers. They searched him and the door with deadly intent, their fingers twitching over their holsters. Younger versions of Pauder.

A skinny, little officer ran over, short of breath, his hands darting about excitedly. “I have a mission for you, Envoy.”

Craze arched a brow. “From who?”

The boy wet his lips, reminiscent of the young weapons officer on the Foreworld cruise liner. “Commander Rinner.”

“He’s not my commander.” Craze’s sleeve tingled with an incoming urgent message. Of course, it was Commander Rinner.

“The matter is crucial to the safety of this base ‘n Pardeep Station.” Rinner’s voice was as deep as a black hole, and his expression hinted at a universe-ending crisis.

“What is it you need?” Craze gave in, mostly because he couldn’t say no to anything Pardeep needed.

“Your brand of diplomacy is what is needed to tame a prisoner.”

“The sergeant will escort you to her cell.”

Craze followed the sergeant through seven secured doors. The elevator required pass codes, and instead of up, the car took them down.

“Underground?” Craze asked.

“We prepared for Quasser captives. If a battle goes wrong, we don’t want the prisoners escaping. The two prisoners we have is a good test of the facility. They is quite dangerous.”

Craze’s mouth grew sticky. “Who is these criminals? Did you catch a Quasser? The Foreworld Ambassador should be here.”

“The matter is none of the Foreworlds’ concern, Envoy.”

“I’ll have to report when I meet up with her. It’s in the alliance agreement. I’ll not breach it. I worked too hard, gave up too much—”

“If you wish to tell Ambassador Strom, it’s your decision.”

They traversed tunnels, gates, and endless guards, arriving at the prison cells—mammoth rooms constructed of transparent steel. Blaring lights allowed no shadows. Bars at the top, thirty feet up, let in air.

Water sloshed in the first cell and a woman with silver scales swam in circles. Gills expanded and contracted in her sides. Her hair flowed like silver kelp around her face.

Shit. Craze did not want to speak to the Water-breather. They had met many years ago and the gal had brought nothing but doom. She wouldn’t hesitate to kill everyone on Pardeep to serve her twisted goals, including making a deal with the Quassers.

“Put a bullet through her head ‘n be done with it.” Craze stopped short, crossing his beefy arms. “I’ll not deal with the likes of her.”

“That’s fine,” the sergeant said. “She isn’t your mission.”

“Oh.” Craze smiled and loosened his shoulders. “Who is?”

He was led to a cell at the other end of the block. Inside sat a woman who resembled Craze and very much wanted to see him dead.