Dark Deeds (Class 5 Series Book 2) (16 page)

“He's been shouting he needs to talk to you for a while, but he's finally given a little more detail. Unfortunately, I think he's telling the truth. It confirms some things that have bothered me for a while.”

“What things?” Hal pushed away from the table as well.

“Cy claims after the other two Class 5s were taken by the Grih, the Tecran High Command put in place a way to make sure it didn't happen again. Or at least, to prevent the Grih getting any more Class 5s on their side.”

“A self-destruct mechanism?” Hal said it softly. Battle Center should have made this leap themselves. Maybe they had, and just hadn't put out the word yet.

“Surely that's not right?” Fiona frowned, her hand clutched around her necklace. “You're in control, and you wouldn't destroy your own ship.”

“According to Cy, the activation switch is down below, on the facility on Balco. They haven't hit the button yet, because we're still here, but I'm going to go back into Kyber's Arm. According to Cy, the storm's interference is the only way to guarantee this ship won't blow up.”

“
H
ow many hours
have you been shut up in there?” Fee asked Cy as the ramp lowered. “Four hours?”

Hal had his shockgun trained on the Tecran, and Cy raised his hands in surrender and slumped down into the more comfortable pilot's seat inside the runner, rather than the one he'd been tied to for so long.

“So?” Cy opened his mouth and leaned toward her in what she assumed was an aggressive display.

“That's a long time to know we could all blow up at any time and say nothing about it.”

Hal took a step closer, and she could see the same curiosity on his face. “I agree. If death is imminent, you've taken your time about telling us.”

Cy moved his head, turning it right and then left, as if to ease some muscle cramp, and Fee guessed being tied up for so long, he probably was stiff, even if he'd been free for a couple of hours. That he was almost able to turn his head 180 degrees from front to back was just a footnote in the craziness her life had become.

“I tried to tell you before you shut me in.”

“Not that hard, and you left it to the last minute.” Hal said.

Cy pouted. “If they do it, it'll be as a last resort.” He shot Fee a filthy look. “This ship is the pride of the Tecran fleet. They'll explore every other option before they destroy it, but they'll do it if they think it's been taken from them.”

He stood as he spoke, his gaze shooting daggers at the runner's lenses. “It started after that battle we had in Grih territory last month. Although I knew there were other Class 5s, we were absolutely banned from talking about them, ever, even onboard our own Class 5. I didn't realize it until we got to Grih airspace, but that battle was to either get one of our Class 5s back, or destroy it so it didn't fall into enemy hands. Something went wrong though, and they pulled us out of the battle. I suppose they realized the very thing that makes the Class 5s so powerful also means they are almost impossible to destroy. Captain Flato was nervous after that. We were sent off on a few unimportant missions, which felt like they were just trying to keep us busy and far away from the action. When we got to Balco this week, the first thing the captain did was allow some of the crew who staff the facility below to come up. They made some alterations to the ship. I offered to take them back to Balco, and it was clear enough they were installing an explosive of some kind, one that could be triggered from a considerable distance away.”

“They didn't tell you openly that if you were boarded by the enemy, you'd be sacrificed to the greater good?” Hal's voice was dry.

“No. I know how High Command works, I wouldn't expect them to, but the techs from below didn't really even talk among themselves while they were here, and believe me, I was listening carefully. It was only when I took them back to Balco, landed the runner, and got out to share a meal with them before returning that I picked up some of what they were doing. No one needed to tell me it would be a last resort. I know how much the Class 5s mean to High Command.”

“You say you suspected something like this?” Fee asked Eazi, looking up at the lens in the launch bay so he would know she was talking to him.

“I knew something was going on.” He spoke into her ear. “I knew they'd brought something dangerous up, but I wasn't able to see what they were doing. Flato removed all lens and audio feed from that whole area. I've sent some drones in there to try to see what they did, but whatever they've installed, they've set it behind the wall and removed all cables near it. There's no way to know where in the storage room they even put it, and I'm afraid if I use the drones or even you and the captain to look for it more thoroughly, there may be a trip switch that activates it. Our only option at the moment is to disable the switch itself, and that's down on Balco.” The fury and frustration he felt at being helpless came through, loud and clear.

“You're speaking to whoever took over the ship?” Cy glared at her. “You seem on good terms.” The accusation in his tone made her laugh out loud.

“Yes, I'm on good terms with him. What are you going to do about it? Put me on the Tecran Naughty List? I was happily minding my own business on Earth, you're the ones who forced me to be here. For you to act all injured when I fight against you because of that is absolutely unbelievable.” She pushed her hair behind her ear with a hand shaking with rage, then took a deep, cleansing breath. “Good terms is the least of it. Any enemy of yours is a close personal friend of mine.”

Hal turned to look at her, eyebrow raised, and Fee moved a little self-consciously. Guess she'd needed to get that out of her system. And being clean, well-fed, well-rested and well-dressed again helped her feel more like herself.

Her old, Earth, view of herself had been as a young, attractive woman with a challenging and fulfilling job, but in the last three months she'd been a prisoner and a slave, and the Garmman had even forced her to hide her face and her identity behind a mask.

Looking at the heat in the captain's gaze as he stared at her, she realized being found attractive again was good for her self-esteem. And it didn't hurt she felt that attraction right back, in a heart-skipping, breath-hitching punch.

When Hal had found her, she knew he and his crew had seen her as a weak and helpless victim. She felt more in control now, stronger, in her golden silk, with some food in her stomach and her injuries healed. And it looked like Captain Vakeri didn't see her as weak and helpless anymore.

He cleared his throat. “We in Kyber's Arm yet?” He turned his head up to the lens as well.

“Yes.” Eazi's voice came through her earpiece, so she assumed he was talking to Hal that way, too. “That means we're out of signal range on Balco, but up until we moved back in, the Balco facility was signaling us over and over. They're using code, one I don't have the key to. As they would know I wouldn't receive any messages inside Kyber's Arm, Captain Flato must have intended to take me out of the storm when he got onboard.”

“So their fingers are going to get itchy pretty soon,” Fee said. “And when they do, as soon as we leave Kyber's Arm, boom.”

“Why would Flato take the Class 5 out of Kyber's Arm?” Hal asked Cy.

The Tecran shrugged, surliness in every line, then frowned as he considered the question properly. “I can only think it's because they're monitoring the comms from Larga Ways, and they've heard about the abduction.”

Hal nodded slowly. “You're right. Of course they're monitoring what's happening on Larga Ways and Balco's capital cities.”

“Maybe Flato told the ground crew he'd move out of Kyber's Arm so they could keep him updated.” Fee knew in the captain's place, she'd have done the same. He'd have wanted to know what was happening, not be stuck in the storm, unable to communicate. Especially if he knew it was her who'd been abducted. According to Eazi, she was supposed to have been delivered to the Balco facility weeks ago by the Garmman. Flato would want to know what had gone wrong, and if the Garmman had betrayed them.

“So, what do we do?” Fee crossed her arms over her chest, dread rising in her even as she registered and enjoyed the soft, almost velvety feel of the silk against her skin.

There really was only one thing
to
do. She just didn't want to do it.

“We take the runner back to Larga Ways.” Cy watched them with sharp eyes.

“That's not going to help the Class 5,” Hal said. “Even if we go back, get down to the surface of Balco and find this facility, all without letting the Tecran know the Class 5 is no longer theirs, they may still have activated the destruct mode. If we can't work out how to reverse it, the Class 5 will be forced to hover here until it runs out of energy.”

Fee felt a renewed surge of warmth for him. She'd told Eazi before that Hal was a protector, but she was glad that extended to Eazi as well.

She would have to go down, but it sounded like he would go with her.

“The Grih aren't in control of this ship,” Cy sounded as if he was very certain of that. “What do you care what happens to it?”

Hal rubbed a hand through his spiky hair. “The person who
is
in control has declared himself a friend of the Grih. So I'll do my best to help him.”

Cy's eyes went very wide. “You make it sound like a single person. Who is it?”

Neither she nor Hal said anything and he stood and stared at them as Eazi closed the runner's ramp again, shutting him in.

The fear of facing more Tecran, of making herself a target for them again, had initially swamped her. But she knew she couldn't run. There was nothing for it but to go down and try to destroy whatever it was that could blow up the Class 5.

The Tecran would keep coming for her, and Eazi was an ally she had started to count on. For his sake and hers, she would help him.

She drew in a deep breath. “Would you like to come down with me, Captain? Otherwise, I can ask Eazi to send you back to Larga Ways.”

Hal stared at her. “Would I like to go down with you?” He seemed to struggle for a moment.

Fee frowned. “Yes.”

He kept his gaze locked on her. “A foreign power has set up a military operation on a Grihan planet, and they're spying on us. As a senior officer of Grih Battle Center, I'm obliged to investigate. I also know my superiors would want me to do anything to safeguard this Class 5, and heading down to Balco will help with that. But why on Guimaymi's Star do you want to go?”

“Because I promised Eazi I'd help him.” And he'd offered her a place here, without conditions or strings. As someone without a place left in the world, that offer had been a precious gift. She could run, she could stay up here and wait for something to happen, or she could act. And if they were successful, they'd be ruining the Tecrans' plans. Something she could really get behind.

Hal had schooled his features and she had no idea what he was thinking.

“So, you're coming?”

“Yes,” he said at last. “I'm coming.”

“Good.” She gave him a sunny smile. “I need to get out of this dress, and then perhaps we can meet outside the armory? I'm sure Eazi can provide us with some weapons.”

She turned on her heel and walked out of the launch bay, leaving Captain Vakeri staring after her.

“
Y
ou could be hurt
down on Balco.” Eazi spoke to her the moment the launch bay doors closed behind her.

“But we'll both theoretically be safer off this ship,” Fee said, touching the crystal around her neck again.

“Both——” He seemed stymied for a moment. “You mean, I come with you?”

“Yes.” Fee shrugged. “As you said earlier, your corporeal form is hanging around my neck. I'm assuming you could gain access to the systems at the facility. Maybe find which program would activate the self-destruct. Probably better than Captain Vakeri and I could, anyway.”

“I . . . I hadn't thought of myself as separate from the ship. It's so much a part of me, but . . . you're right. If I'm not on the ship and it explodes, I'll still be fine.”

Fee walked into her rooms. “If not fine, at least alive.”

“I hope it doesn't come to that.” There was almost a tremor in his voice, like a little bit of static on the line.

“Well, that's the reason we're going down.” She smoothed a hand regretfully over the dress. The stretchy silk made it a one-size-fits-all affair that she'd shimmied into by pulling it over her head. She suspected it had been cut to hit someone's knees, whereas it was below calf length on her. “What can I wear instead of this? Because no way can I creep around a secret facility looking like I'm about to walk the red carpet.”

The door of her room gave a polite ping, and then opened to admit a drone.

“I took some fabric from the stores and had an outfit made for you while you were eating, using your exact dimensions.” Eazi told her.

“Ooh. You have a way to make clothes?” Fee reached into the drone's box and pulled out an outfit.

“Yes.” He sounded amused, and she guessed making clothes was quite literally child's play for him.

Fee laid the clothes out on the bed, waiting until the drone left the room. She knew it had a lens on it, and while she was getting dressed and undressed, she wanted privacy. No matter that Eazi probably couldn't care less one way or the other, she didn't need footage of herself getting changed in any database, thank you very much.

“These are great.” She separated out the garments. There were gloves, shoe covers, and a kind of balaclava, along with pants and a top. The pants resembled yoga pants, stretchy and flared at the bottom. Everything was in a shimmery gray. Fee held the shirt up and it seemed to blend into the wall behind it. “Camouflage?” That explained the gloves and hood thing. Hard to be invisible with your head and hands uncovered.

“The fabric is another type of silk, from a caterpillar that has evolved a way of hiding its cocoon by making it almost impossible to distinguish from its surroundings. The cocoon needs to be hidden through two very distinct seasons.”

“I love it.” She wriggled out of the dress and pulled the clothes on over the underwear Eazi had already given her, made of the same golden silk as her discarded outfit. She patted her encryptor, tucked into her new bra, just to make sure it still lay flush against her skin and didn't make any suspicious bumps. “Where did you get the silk?”

“We found it on a small planet on the edge of Bukari territory. It's part of the Bukari Union, but they had an ecological disaster a hundred years ago when someone brought two small pets on-planet with them without permission. Ten species were wiped out when it turned out the pets were carrying a disease nothing on the planet had any immunity to. Their population was reduced by a third and they closed themselves off to any outside trade.”

“How did you manage it, then?”

Eazi was silent for a moment. “We stole whatever we found interesting.”

Fee tugged the top straight, then sat to pull on the boots that had come with her Grihan cadet uniform. “Openly, or was Flato being sneaky about it?”

It would say a lot about where the Tecran were with their plan to start a war, depending on whether they were being brazen about their aggressive exploration or not.

“As quietly and unobtrusively as possible.” Eazi said. “We shadowed one of the planet's three moons, listening to their comms, working out what technology they had that might be useful to us. When we felt we knew what we wanted, Flato sent down a stealth team to one of the major cities, and they broke into warehouses and stole the camouflage silk fabric, some interesting devices, and a few weapons.”

“Sort of what they did on Earth, in other words.”

“Yes.” He paused again. “Well, on Earth, we just grabbed you, some random species of animals, and left.”

“Not interesting enough for you?” She should be glad of that, not insulted, because if they were boring, they'd be left alone. It was why she'd long ago made peace with never returning. No way was she going to ask to be taken back, and expose the rest of her world to this dangerous new life she'd found herself in.

“No. You were extremely interesting. That's why after they realized Rose McKenzie was an advanced sentient, they came back for another sample. But I had the feeling that something else was going on, and they had to mark Earth as a future project. They were hoping to get a lot of information from you and Rose before they went back.

“I know Flato fought to be the one sent to fetch more samples, after the reports of what Sazo and his crew had found were circulated, and then he got into trouble afterward when he balked at what he'd been ordered to do when he realized he wasn't just picking up an interesting new species, but an advanced sentient.

“He and the medical team had a number of shouting matches with each other, but in the end, Flato had to agree with the doctors that they were breaking the Sentient Beings Agreement by even having you in the cells. That's when High Command ordered them to hand you over to Captain Tak, so he could bring you to the facility.”

“Why have a facility here? Why not somewhere in Tecran airspace? Wouldn't it be safer for them?”

Eazi made a humming sound. “If I were to guess, it would be because High Command knows it's breaking all its treaties with the United Council, and it wants some deniability. Putting the facility on the border of Garmman territory, just into Grih airspace, makes it easier for them to say they didn't know what was going on.”

Right. New galaxy, same old, same old.

“So, how many Tecran know how to find Earth?” It had been worrying her since she was taken, a heavy weight in her gut every time she thought about it. That she could be the first of many, now they knew the way.

“None.” Eazi sounded . . . smug.

“How is that?”

“Sazo. He did it at Rose McKenzie's request. He tracked down and corrupted every report his captain sent out about Earth and its location, and that virus hunted the whole Tecran network, finding every mention of Earth and destroying it. I have it on my system, because I quarantined the virus, and Sazo must have it on his, hidden away, but we both pretended the files had been destroyed on our side, too.”

“But some Tecran will know about it. They read the reports.”

“Yes, but they won't find those reports again, and unless they memorized them, they have no information to go back to, no galaxy locators. They might know it exists, but they don't know where to find it anymore.”

She didn't know whether to collapse in relief, or dance for joy. “Thank you, Eazi. That means a lot. Really.”

Her door chimed, and it was with a light step that she went to open it. Hal Vakeri stood outside, waiting for her. He tilted his head to look at her, his expression all soldier. “Useful fabric.”

“Do you have enough to make an outfit for the captain?” Fee asked Eazi.

“Yes.” Eazi didn't sound too enthusiastic.

“My uniform has similar capabilities,” Hal said, with a shake of his head. “Are you ready to choose some weapons?”

“Sure.” Fee had never held a weapon in her life, but she bet there would be something Eazi could find her that would be useful. “Lead the way.”

H
al already knew
where the armory was, he'd found it on his exploration of the ship. He had Cy's shockgun and his own, and didn't know if he would trust anything from the Tecran stores anyway, but it would be better for Fiona if she was armed, and he decided he might as well see what was available.

He was very aware of her, following behind him down the passageway. He could have shortened his stride so she could catch up, but he didn't want her too close to him.

She messed with his mind.

He knew how to read people, and she had an expressive face, so he'd seen that she'd been terrified by the idea of going down to Balco. He couldn't blame her after what she'd been through. But then she'd coolly asked if he wanted to come with her, or go back to Larga Ways.

He'd been standing there, wrestling with the problem of what to do with her while he went down below, because although for safety she needed to get away from the Class 5, he didn't want her going back to Larga Ways unprotected, either. He'd been trying to work out how to suggest she get in a runner and simply wait somewhere inconspicuous in the Balco system until things were safe, when she'd taken control.

He didn't miss the proprietary implications of her offer, either. She saw herself as aligned with Eazi, or at least, able to make offers on his behalf.

It disturbed him on every level.

He was a child of his time, and he'd grown up on warnings about thinking systems. Like all Grihans, he'd had to study the Thinking System Wars.

He'd asked Eazi before why he and Sazo had both connected with Earth women, but perhaps the answer was as simple as they did not carry the baggage of the past with them.

And then, on top of all that, he forced himself to admit that she made his heart beat faster.

He'd first seen her as more than a victim when he'd spoken to her in Doc Jasa's med chamber, and that had veered to attraction when she'd sung happy birthday to Mun, all sleek and severe in her cadet uniform, her smooth dark hair and her big, dark eyes as exotic as they were beautiful. She had epitomized grace under pressure.

But since he'd seen her again on the Class 5, whether bleeding and exhausted, dressed in gold, facing down her demons and overcoming them, or now, shimmering in silver, determination in every line, he had to admit that he found her almost irresistible.

“You just walked passed the armory, Captain.” Eazi spoke in his ear, and Hal brought himself up short.

He shook his head and turned back to the double doors that he'd completely missed.

The doors opened, and Fiona caught up with him. She was breathing a little hard, and he felt a stab of guilt at not slowing his pace for her.

He'd only taken a cursory look at the weapons when he'd been this way before, but now he stepped into the room and took more notice.

The space was well organized and well stocked.

“Do you need a lot of training to work a shockgun?” Fiona asked.

He pursed his lips. Shook his head. “Not a lot, but to use it well, you do need some training. I'd suggest you find something easier.”

She nodded, and he thought she looked relieved. The shockgun would have been too big for her, anyway, he decided. He'd have said too heavy, as well, but he wasn't sure that was true. Her bones and muscles were denser than the Grihs, and she'd spent a lot of her time on the
Fasbe
moving heavy boxes around. She was much stronger than she looked.

“Can you suggest something?”

He thought she was speaking to him, but when he turned to her, he saw she was looking up at one of the lenses on the ceiling.

Eazi must have answered her, because she moved across to the far wall, and lifted something off the rack.

“What is it?” He stepped closer, and had to keep himself very still as the scent of her twined around him. She smelled incredible.

“A light-gun, Captain.”

The words snapped him out of his fugue. “No. She can't use it.”

“Why not?” She turned to look at him, and he realized he was far too close, but retreat would look strange. He forced himself to stay in place.

“It's illegal. If we're going to use what we find down there against the Tecran at the UC Courts, then using a light-gun will undermine our moral high ground.”

“Okay.” Fiona shrugged and put the weapon back.

She didn't know what was or wasn't illegal. It was obvious, how could she when she was from a completely different world? But it struck him clearly now. She would have used the light-gun and not thought twice about it. She freed a thinking system, and didn't see the problems it would cause for her with the Grihan government.

He'd offered her sanctuary, but helping Eazi may mean that offer was no longer his to give.

And as a senior officer of Battle Center, he would be forced to agree with what his superiors decided.

He certainly couldn't get involved with her, no matter how irresistible he found her. That would really endear him to Admiral Hoke.

The only hope he had was that Rose had done the same as Fiona, and she was still firmly part of Grihan society.

“The light-gun would be perfect if you're confronting a large number of people you want to incapacitate but don't want to kill,” Eazi said, speaking through the comm system this time so they could both hear him. “I don't understand why Fiona can't use it.”

That was true. But still . . . “It's a banned weapon. The Tecran developed it for crowd control, but it was too effective. The Tecran authorities, as well as every other member of the UC, decided it could just as easily been turned against the security forces as used by them. They were supposed to all be destroyed, so I don't know why this one is here. It's a violation of the Tecran's own rules.”

“They took it off some Krik pirates, actually,” Eazi said. “Rather safely in our armory than in their hands, I'm sure you'd agree.”

Hal could just imagine what a Krik pirate crew could do with a light-gun. “Yes. Confiscating it was by far the better option.”

“What about a reflector?” Eazi asked.

A bracelet slid forward on a narrow retractable shelf. It was made of a dark metal with a sheen to it that seemed more than just a reflection of light.