Flight (11 page)

"Junco!"

"Kadian," I breathe, "I can't believe I actually missed you!"

"Who's the hunk in the bed, Juncs?"

"Isten, you idiot. We twined. I'm the nine and everything is pretty fucking good over here."

He huffs out some air. "Pfffft, that's not what I want to hear, Snowbird. Happiness doesn't sell screen time. So when can we–"

Isten takes the com from me. "Kadian? No more calls, Lucan will have a presser and you'll be invited." He hands the com back and then goes into the bathroom.

"My, my, Junco. He's a lot nicer than Tier, Ryse or Ashur. I approve."

"He is nice, isn't he?" I wink at Isten when he peeks his head out of the bathroom. "OK, I gotta go. Bye! That's my tub, you have to wait."

He grins and begins unbuckling his pants. "You can have the tub, Junco. I'm taking a shower."

"What happened to because we need healing or comfort or warmth?"

He shrugs. "We smell like shit, Juncs. That qualifies."

I push past him before he's naked and start adding bubbles to the tub. Fuck it. I strip and sink into the hot water with a moan.

I'm relaxing, almost asleep really, when Tier barges in and finds us. "What the fuck is going on, Isten?"

Isten ignores him as he stands under the hot water so I open one eye and look over to Tier. "It was your idea to do this twine thing? Well, I gotta thank you because I love it." I feel Isten's happiness as the words come out. I slink down into the bubbles and shake the dirt out of my hair. Several leaves break loose and float off in the water and when I resurface Tier is gone.

I can almost hear Isten's private laugh.

We've been summoned to the Aves building so we all pile into the flyer. I'm sandwiched between Is and Ash – while Ryse, Rikan, Mish and Arel stare at us from the opposite bench. "What?" I ask them.

"So, you like it?" Ryse's eyebrows couldn't be higher on his forehead, that's how surprised he looks.

I nod and feel Isten's pleasure. "I really do, Isten. It's so cool to have you like this."

I feel Ashur's eyes on me and look up at him. "What?"

He smiles. "Nothing, Junco. I can see you do like it and I'm glad. We thought you might" – he winces – "resist."

"Well, it would've been nice to know beforehand, but no, there are a lot worse things than being twined to Isten." I feel him hug me internally and I blush.

Ashur frowns. "Isten, if you have something to say, say it out loud. You know I hate that shit."

Is doesn't even turn and I laugh, which only makes Ashur think we're talking about him behind his back.

"Fuck you both."

We just laugh harder.

The wingless woman directs us to the conference room when we arrive at Lucan's offices. Tier and Braun are already there and the tension between the 039 and Braun is palpable almost immediately. Ashur takes his XO seat at the far left of the crescent-moon table, while Isten directs me to sit next to Tier on the far right. Isten sits next to me and Arel sits next to him. Ryse, who is now back to being our pilot, is in the Up position in the middle, and Braun, Rikan, and Mish sit between Ashur and Ryse.

Every seat is filled.

We are complete.

Layla sits alone in front of us at a small round table. She turns around and smiles at me so I give her the girlfriend nod. Her eyes brighten, then she turns back around and gets busy with the data on her com.

I look up at Tier and his eyes glow a little as he looks past me to Isten. He's about to say something when Lucan walks in.

"Good morning, 039. You will leave tomorrow, so we have a lot of business to go over. Report."

Tier stands up. "We are nine," he looks over to Ashur and Braun, "and we will act like a complete team. Am I clear?"

Both Ash and Braun manage a decent, "Yes, sir."

Tier continues. "Isten and Junco are twined. Isten will report."

Isten stands. "Feels fucking spectacular." And then he sits.

I laugh a little, I can't help myself.

"Junco?" Lucan draws my attention back to him. "Is this how you feel as well?"

I nod as I stand. "Yes, I'm happy with it. Our training went well, we are matched fairly with skill, and I think we'll be productive." I sit as they all look at me. "What? I can be professional when I want to."

Lucan smiles at me then moves his attention. "Ashur?"

Ash stands up and scratches his chin. "Ready to go, Lucan. Junco was fitted with armor and assigned weapons. Everyone will have to wear a dosimeter to catch the rads we'll encounter since the whole fucking place is glowing. The new armor also has anti-rad shielding on it and everyone gets a potassium iodine implant, so that will help. We're gonna go over there today and try it all out, make adjustments, then pack it up for the trip. After drop, Arel will go with Tier's team, be backup spotter for Is or Juncs, and do his coms and hacking from the rear. Rikan and Mish will take point for all contact. Braun and I will be front support."

Lucan nods. "Braun?"

Braun stands as Ashur sits. "We've got a half-dozen bunker-busters on ship now, one hundred thousand projectile rounds, ten thousand plasma charges, emergency armor, emergency evac and vac suits, terrestrial and space beacons, ship coms, on-Earth coms, and everyone will have a new ammo belt." He looks around at us and smiles. "I think you'll like it."

"Ryse?"

Ryse has a hard time checking his grin as he stands. "We've got a sweet ride this time, guys, the Tactical Blue,
She's All Mine
. This will be her second mission, just coming off outer systems patrols. She's got slick silver so we'll be able to hang about a little in the atmosphere and not be detected if necessary. She's also got offensive capabilities, so if you need anything, just ask. We'll have three backup teams on board – the 399, the 057, and the 011 – and we'll be dropping you from upper stratosphere into the Northern Territories where the last coms came out of to keep our presence under wraps for as long as possible. Junco, I don't know if you're airborne?"

"Not from that altitude, no."

"You'll tandem with Isten then."

And then Lucan is back to Tier. They exchange looks and Tier stands. "Objective one is to establish a secure low-Earth orbit for the jump sequence. After the drop Ryse will maintain slick-silver cover and the ship will function as base camp for the backup teams and science camp for Layla.

"We will jump from high strat into the Northern Territories and objective two will be to find and secure Moju. We have an idea where he might be and we've received signals over the past few months to alert us on movement. Junco is lead for this objective.

"Third, when Moju is secured and debriefed we will proceed to locate and extract the remaining four Siblings. Again, we've had intel on where they might be and how that might go, but we'll discuss it later. Ashur and I are leads for this objective.

"This is a planned six-day ground mission with a maximum allotment of ten days per our agreement with the Polar Friendly. If we require longer then they will not give aid if we need it. We'll go in and get the fuck out as quick as possible, let's not make this a big deal. Death beacons will activate with the armor and you will all come home with me no matter what happens. Rendezvous points will be determined once we have final jump coordinates."

Lucan nods. "Layla, report on science."

Layla stands, her back to us. "We have five morph tanks, just in case" – she turns around to see us – "just in case, you never know, right? So five. We think they've probably all been morphed since they are so close to the twenty-year limit, but you can never be too sure. We've also fit the lab with a full genomic sequencing and alteration station and will be able to make adjustments en route home, should the need arise. I have hand-picked four assistants, so we're set in science. I'll bring the KI implants over to your gear-up this afternoon and you'll all get injected for anti-radiation precautions. No whining, you babies." She turns to us again and nods, then takes her seat.

Lucan smiles, his gaze lingering on each of us as he goes down the line. "You are easily the best trained and most gifted warriors the avian have ever had. If this can be done, you will be the team to do it. I have complete faith in you. Please come home alive."

I see him swallow and I feel the uncertainty in him. Isten picks it up and we both share a wave of sadness.

"Dismissed."

We get up and head for the door to make our way to the armory.

"Junco?" I turn back to Lucan. "I will visit with you tonight, if that's OK?"

I nod. "Yeah, sure."

And then I turn and fall in with the team. Everyone in the outer offices watches as we move together and for the first time I feel the expectations and hope they've laid on us. Isten drapes his arm over my shoulder as we walk, pulling me into the oneness of what makes the 039 stand alone among millions.

Chapter Nine

The evening wind in the upper parts of the habitat picks my hair up and gently flaps it against my face as I sit on the 039 terrace swing. Laughter from the poker game inside drifts out and makes me smile as I listen to their conversation. They are such men.

My foot dips down and gives the swing another push just as Tier appears. "Had enough of them already?"

He sits next to me, making the swing lose its rhythm for a second, and then his foot corrects it. "Nah, Juncs. I just miss ya, that's all. And now Isten gets all the fun parts." He looks over to me and his smile falters. "I'm just having a hard time remembering why I took this job again in the first place."

I swallow and keep my eyes trained out on the blur of traffic. "Well, you didn't have to let us do it, you know? You could have just told him no."

He takes my hand and squeezes. "No, Juncs. I couldn't. We'll lose for sure if yer not tied to him. I saw it."

I look up, startled. "You saw it?"

He nods and then looks away. "And before ya ask, I don't know anything else." His gaze returns to my face. "Yer a total interference. Nothing makes sense when yer in the equation. Lucan can't see ya very well either, ya know. That's why he never saw yer whole plan out there in Deliverance."

I wait, watching him struggle with the words. Patient.

"He would've never let ya do that, Junco." He stops again and takes a few seconds. "If he'd of known how ya felt."

"It was Kush that pushed me over. It just stopped making sense at that point. And I–" He squeezes my hand again. We've never talked about that night before. When we had our time together we just pretended it never happened. "I thought for sure you were gonna die, Tier. And I had already made up my mind that I was going with you if you did. There wasn't a chance that I was gonna let you die and then walk away like I did with Isec. Not a fucking chance. It took a lot of killing, but I finally found my bottom."

He puts his arm around me and I lean into his chest.

"And I hate to say this, but even though Sera said I was reborn, that it was a true resurrection, I don't feel unburdened. It's heavier than ever, Tier. I feel overburdened. I need someone constant, I can't take being pulled in all these directions."

He strokes my hair but has no words for me.

"Those weeks we spent together were exactly what I needed. You have no idea how perfect that was. And then I come back and I'm at Lucan's house. And he's there to help me, and direct me, and talk things through with. So I adjust." I look away and sigh. "But even though I'm pretty good at adjusting, most of the time, anyway – it's about consistency." I stop and frown so hard my head begins to throb. "Tier, I'm tired. I'm tired of adjusting. I need more than this or I won't make it."

He pulls my head closer to him and nods.

"And then Isten shows up and I'm twined to him. And that's good too. I'm not complaining, Isten is great. I love it. Really. But now he says I should rely on him."

I sit up now and look at him in the face. "So my question is, which of you should I look to, Tier? For guidance? I'm confused. I can't listen to all of you, I just need my one true direction. Which of you will point me there?"

His eyes get glassy as I stare at them and I look away.

"Junco, I want to tell ya it's me, but for now it isn't." He turns my head back and lifts my chin so I have to look at him. "It's Isten. The only way we'll make it is if yer tied to Isten on Earth. That's all I know. And I'm sorry if it's confusing, I understand that. Especially with all the shit that's happened ta ya."

We sit there for a few minutes, the swing soothing me back to calm.

"When we get to Earth, Junco–"

I look up again when he doesn't continue. "What?"

"Yer gonna be yanked in so many more directions yer head will spin, darlin'." He reaches into his pocket and pulls something out and then presses it into my palm. I bring it up to my face and watch the light from passing traffic bounce off the reflective surface.