Bringing Stella Home (44 page)

“
So what do you think I
should do?” she asked.

“
This is my advice,” said
Roman. “Leave with them. If the battle with the Hameji had not
happened, you would be flying this mission, yes? Treat this not as
mutiny, but as misunderstanding.”

“
But what if they won’t let
me?”

Roman laughed. “They will let you,
Danica. You are a good captain—they are not leaving because of
you.”

Danica nodded. “It’s going to be
dangerous,” she said. “Are you sure—”

“
Anya is a survivor,” he
said, waving his hand. “Ilya is a bit cocky, but he can take care
of himself.”

“
And the boy?”

“
You will only fail him if
you choose to stay here.”

He has a point.

She checked her wrist
console. The Hameji transport was almost ready to launch. They
would undock from the
Tajji Flame
and make their first jump in only a few
minutes.

“
Do not worry, Captain,”
said Roman. “I will take care of this end. We will sell boy’s ship
and repair the
Tajji Flame
while you are gone.”

Danica shook her head.

“
No,” she said. “Wait for
us here.”

A wide grin spread across Roman’s
face. “Yes, Captain,” he said, lifting his good hand in a
salute.

“
If I don’t return in five
days, I’m placing you in command.”

“
You will return,
Captain.”

“
Even so. You promise to
take good care of my men?”

“
Of course, Captain. Of
course.”

* * * * *

James sat on the edge of the Hameji
transport’s stiff command chair and watched the indicator lights
flash on across the control board. The screen to his left had two
bullet holes in it and it sparked when he tried to turn it on; the
one above his head had a dent in the corner but was still
functional. Dark bloodstains could be seen in the cracks between
switches and keys, and the air still smelled of
disinfectant.

I killed in this
place,
James thought to himself.
I killed almost a dozen people.
He could see their bodies in his mind’s eye,
draped across the control panels and keyboards at which Anya and
Ilya both sat. The image brought a cold sweat to the back of his
neck.

“
I’ve almost got these
controls figured out,” said Anya, snapping him out of his thoughts.
“It’s going to be a while before I’m familiar with them enough to
fly, though.”

“
Just find the controls to
the jump engine,” said James. It felt strange to be the one giving
orders now, especially since he hardly knew what he was
doing.

The bridge door hissed open behind
them. Loud footsteps followed, rapping sharply against the metal
floor. James turned around as Anya gasped.

It was Danica.

“
Hello, Ensign McCoy,” she
said. “Mind if I join you?”

James frowned. “How—how did you get
here?”

“
The question you should be
asking is
why
I am
here. The answer is that I have decided to renew our contract.” She
glanced at Anya and nodded. “If you’ll to take me on, I’m willing
to overlook the recent unpleasantries as a simple
misunderstanding.”

James was speechless. To his right,
Anya’s cheeks paled, then blushed deep red. Ilya seemed just as
lost as James.

“
Are you sure?” James
asked. “I mean, this mission is going to be difficult. Do
you—”

“
I’m fully aware of the
dangers, McCoy,” said Danica. “But danger or not, as captain I have
an obligation to my men.”

“
We’re still your men?”
Anya blurted out. Her body was as stiff as a durasteel
hull.

“
Of course you are—and not
just you,” she said, glancing at James. “My obligation extends to
the ensign as well.”

“
Wait—I’m one of
you?”

“
Of course you are. Now, do
we have a deal or don’t we?”

“
I—well, yeah,” said James,
his mind in a whirl.

“
Is that a ‘yes’ or a ‘no,’
McCoy?”

“
Um, yes, Captain. I just
thought—”

“
What did you
think?”

James paused.
McCoy,
he thought to
himself.
She called me ‘McCoy,’ not
‘Ensign.’

“
Nothing,” he said.
“Nothing at all.”

“
Then let’s not waste any
more time,” said Danica, stepping up to the command chair. James
rose to give it to her.

“
Thank you,” he said softly
as she took her seat.

“
What did you say,
McCoy?”

“
I, er—let’s get
started.”

“
Yes,” said Danica,
smiling. “Let’s.”

Chapter 23

“
You’ve got a lot of nerve
to call on Gazan like that. Honestly, darling, you’re lucky he
didn’t kill you.”

Tamu dabbed Sholpan’s swollen face
with the healing accelerant, making her wince. “I know,” Sholpan
moaned. Her breathing came in short, quick bursts; even with the
painkillers, her whole body felt as if it were on fire.

“
Still,” said Tamu, “it was
a brilliant move. Batshit crazy, but brilliant.”

“
Why?”

“
Oh, you haven’t heard?
Gazan stole off on a shuttle just this morning.”

Sholpan frowned. “He did
what?”

“
Ran away,
dear.”

“
Why?”

Tamu gave her a funny look. “Because
Qasar is going to disown him, of course. Wouldn’t you—”

“
Disown him?”

“
Yes, dear. What did you
expect? You’re Qasar’s wife now, after all—an assault on you is an
assault on his honor.”

“
Yeah, but—”

“
So it all worked out for
the best. Gazan is eliminated, and all you have for it are a few
battle wounds.”

You say it like it’s that
easy,
Sholpan wanted to say. Instead, she
stretched out on her stomach and let Tamu rub the accelerant across
her bruised shoulders and arms.

“
But—but I didn’t want to
eliminate Gazan,” she said. “I only wanted to make peace with
him.”

Tamu clucked her tongue. “Respect is
much better than peace, honey—so much better. And with the way you
handled Gazan, all the wives are bound to respect you
now.”

Respect me, yes,
Sholpan thought woefully.
But they’ll still be my enemies.

“
So what happens
next?”

“
Well, dear, it all depends
on Gazan’s next move. He may set a plot in motion to assassinate
his father—”

Sholpan sat up straight.
“Assassinate?”

“
Only in the worst of
cases. Of course, if he does, he’ll take you out once he rises to
power.”

“
Take me out?”

Tamu shrugged. “I wouldn’t worry about
it, darling; Qasar is far too strong for that. No, Gazan will
probably leave and start his own fleet, in which case Qasar will
hunt him down and kill him.”

Kill him?
The thought gave Sholpan an awful sinking feeling
in her gut.

“
And if Gazan strikes
first,” Tamu continued, “Qasar will almost certainly crush
him.”

“
Crush him?” said Sholpan,
sitting up. “But Gazan is his son!”

Tamu shook her head. “There’s nothing
you can do about it, dear, and anyhow it’s not your fault. If Gazan
wanted to live, he would have accepted his punishment for beating
you.”

“
But why does it have to be
this way?”

“
It’s their way of life,
honey. Better get used to it.”

No,
Sholpan thought to herself.
I can’t
let Qasar kill his own son. That’s just wrong.

“
I have to do something,”
she said. “I have to stop it.”

Tamu frowned. “Good luck with that,
darling,” she said. “Good luck.”

* * * * *

Qasar summoned Sholpan to his
bedchamber that night, but he did not make her sleep with him. It
was the first time since their marriage that they’d been in the
same room together and not had sex. Still, Sholpan’s bruised and
aching body reminded her all too well of that first night, when he
had beat her for refusing him. He shifted, and her heart jumped in
her chest. Even now, she didn’t know what to expect from
him.

“
Why, my son?” Qasar
moaned. “Why?”

At first, Sholpan thought he was
asleep, but he sat up and raised his fists in the air.

“
WHY?” he screamed, his
voice splitting her ears. Then, as abruptly as he had begun, Qasar
buried his head in his hands and drew silent. Slowly, his shoulders
began to shake.

He’s weeping,
Sholpan realized with a start.

She lay still and stared at the
ceiling, unsure what to do. If Qasar blamed her for the falling out
with his son, he might hurt her if she tried to say anything. But
then again, if that were the case, why had he summoned her to his
bedchamber at all? There had to be a reason.

He must know I’m
awake,
Sholpan realized.
I can’t lie here and do nothing.
Slowly, tentatively, she sat up and put an arm
around Qasar’s massive shoulder.

“
Gazan, Gazan—why must you
die?” Qasar sobbed. He leaned into her, as if to seek comfort.
Sholpan found herself at a loss for what to do.

“
You love him, don’t
you?”

“
Yes,” he sobbed. “Of
course I do.”

Stars,
Sholpan realized,
he really
does.
In Qasar’s eyes, she saw the
tenderness of a loving father mourning for his own child’s
death—something she never thought she’d see in the face of a Hameji
overlord. It affected her more deeply than she’d
expected.

“
Why?” she asked, rubbing
his back. “Why must you kill him?”

Qasar moaned, and his great knotted
muscles relaxed under her touch. “Because he has turned against
me,” he said.

“
Turned against you?
How?”

“
Gazan fled only twenty-six
hours ago to take command of the
Flame of
Destiny.
Captain Bargai was complicit in
this act of treachery, and their plot would have worked, except for
an astrogator who alerted my men. A small strike team posing as a
band of mechanics boarded them and stopped the plot. Bargai and
Gazan both confessed, as well as eight other co-conspirators from
Bargai’s immediate family.”

“
So now you must kill
them?”

“
Of course.”

“
But that’s just wrong,”
said Sholpan. “Why should you be forced to execute him? Can’t you—I
don’t know, strip him of his inheritance or something?”

“
I would to Tenguri that I
could, Sholpan,” said Qasar. “That was what I was going to do, when
I heard how he’d mistreated you. It would have been a blow to his
honor, but not an irrecoverable one.”

“
So do that,” she cried.
“Let him live—by the stars of Earth, he’s your son!”

Qasar sighed and shook his head. “How
can I overlook the magnitude of his crime? He has attempted to
split my fleet and turn my own captains against me. What else can I
do? The punishment for mutiny is death.”

That’s stupid,
Sholpan thought, but caught herself before she
said it.

“
Three more days,” Qasar
continued, “and he would have left for the main battle fleet to win
a name for himself. He would not have been a danger to you. Three
days—and now this.”

Sholpan’s blood turned cold as a pang
of guilt swept over her. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know this
would happen.”

Qasar glanced up and stared at her
with his penetrating eyes. “Didn’t you?” he said, his voice full of
disbelief. “How could you not know it would come to this? He blames
you for his mother’s death, you know.”

“
I know,” she said. “It’s
just, I’m so new to this, I—”

“
Why did you want to meet
with him, anyway? What was the purpose in that?”

“
I—I only wanted to make
peace with him. That’s all.”

Qasar looked at her as if she were a
talking monkey. “There is no peace without honor,” he
muttered.

Sholpan bit her lip and
began once again to rub Qasar’s back.
No
peace without honor,
she thought to
herself. Such a cold and heartless way to live. And yet, in the
absence of any other law, perhaps it did give a sense of order to
one’s life—order, and purpose.

“
Do you blame me for all of
this?” Sholpan asked softly.

“
Blame you for
what?”