No More Heroes: In the Wake of the Templars Book Three (22 page)

“I can help you with that,” Ariel promised.

“I can take you to the planet,” Kavanaugh said, “but we’ll have to hire a ship. Eilif and Jim are staying here.”

“Kavanaugh and Gisela are serving as their bodyguards,” Ariel argued. “That’s not going to work.”

“I’m not going to volunteer,” Haoun said. “Going to the Thallian world, no matter what’s creeping around on it, is suicide.”

“Stay with Raena,” Vezali said calmly. “She needs you here.”

“I can help guard Eilif and Jim,” Mykah said. “I won’t be as much protection as Kavanaugh would be, but I’m probably better than nothing.”

“I go where he goes,” Coni said. Besides, she was curious to get to know the Thallian survivors better.

*   *   *

The crew walked back to the boarding house where they were staying. Each had sunken into his or her own thoughts.

Mykah’s comm buzzed. “The
Veracity
has been released!” he read aloud. “We owe back docking fees, but they are willing to waive them if we drop our suit for travel damages.”

“That’s a relief,” Coni said. “Are you going to drop the suit?”

Mykah turned to face them all. “The
Veracity
is a democracy,” he reminded. “What do we want to do?”

“I won’t be here to help you with the lawsuit,” Vezali said.

“I want to concentrate on getting Raena out of jail,” Haoun said.

“Ask Ariel for her advice,” Coni suggested. “She’s the one who paid our travel bills. She’ll also have a better sense of what our chances of winning might be if we proceed.”

“Let’s get off the street first,” Haoun urged, heading toward the closest bar. “I need to drink something stronger than ale.”

While the others procured liquid sustenance, Mykah settled into a quiet table at the back of the cantina. He commed Ariel and told her about the message from the new dockmaster. “What do I do?”

“If it were me,” she said, “I’d pursue the suit and damn the cost. But you have a chance to get your home back. It won’t cost you another credit and you won’t have to stay in the boarding house any longer. Which way do you find yourself leaning? I’ll support whichever choice you make.”

“I want the
Veracity
back.”

“Then take her back. Have they put any conditions on you?”

“Like what?”

“A gag order? Are they forbidding you to discuss the impoundment?”

“They haven’t mentioned it.”

“They know—or they should know—that you’re a journalist, Mykah. They will try to silence you. Tell them you’ve already been in discussions with Mellix about this matter.”

“I have been,” he said, surprised that she would guess that.

“Perfect. If the torpedo’s already in the tube, so much the better. Let them know that anything they say to you is on the record. If they try to gag you, tell them their threats are being recorded and you will proceed with your suit.”

Haoun handed Mykah a glass of xyshin and sat down beside him.

Mykah nodded his thanks, then asked Ariel, “You think they’ll cave?”

“They’ll cave,” she promised. “They’re already regretting that they started this debacle. Now they just want us out of here as soon as possible, so they can begin the damage control.”

“Thanks, Ariel. I appreciate your advice.”

She laughed. “Always glad to help.”

The first round of drinks was the most celebratory by far of their homecoming on Kai.

CHAPTER 10

O
nce the night got good and dark, Eilif and Jim transferred to the
Veracity
. They settled into the spare cabins. Gisela came too, to continue to guard them. Haoun decided he’d stay at the boarding house, rather than live so close to the Thallians. Ariel planned to continue on in her hotel near the Hall of Justice, but she came to say goodbye to Kavanaugh and Vezali.

While Mykah pulled out a range of weapons, Vezali looked the
Veracity
over to make sure it hadn’t been tampered with, that it was still space-worthy. Mykah was sorry to see her go, but admired her bravery for volunteering to explore Drusingyi with Kavanaugh.

The Thallians had been used to fishing and fending off predators in their home ocean, so they had a number of weapons designed or modified to fire underwater. Mykah spread them out in the lounge for Ariel’s inspection. She seemed impressed by the variety of antique weaponry.

“They had all this onboard when you took over the ship?” she asked.

“And more,” Mykah said. “Raena’s been teaching me what it all can do.”

“It looks like everything is in excellent shape.”

“We only had what Father brought with him on the
Arbiter
,” Jim said. “We had to take care of things, because nothing could be replaced.”

No one had an answer for that, so Ariel changed the subject. “If we were dreaming here, I’d send Vezali with the new 728 pulse rifle. That would stop a leviathan dead, guaranteed.”

“No place on Kai to buy one,” Kavanaugh pointed out.

“I could order one for you to pick up en route.”

“No,” Kavanaugh said. “Let’s just get this done. There’s plenty here to choose from.”

Ariel nodded. She picked out a couple of guns and had Vezali hold them, get the feel of them. “It’s a shame you can’t actually test-fire anything,” Ariel said. “That would give you a sense of how hard it’s going to kick. You can’t tell much about a gun just by picking it up.”

“I don’t want to carry much,” Vezali said. “It will be awkward to swim if I’m weighted down.”

“How many tentacles do you need for swimming?”

“I’m used to using them all, but I can adapt. I’m concerned about the drag as I swim with something in my arms.”

“I should be able to rig up a carrying case,” Jim offered, “something smooth-sided enough to be hydrodynamic.”

Vezali nodded her eyestalk. “That would be great, Jim. Thank you.”

*   *   *

Kavanaugh insisted that he and Vezali walk Ariel back to her hotel. “I’d feel better if you’d stay on the
Veracity
with the kids,” he confided.

“I’ll be okay,” she promised. “Now that we’ve seen the Templar fire, I’m much less worried about things coming off of Drusingyi after me.”

“I’m worried about things on Kai coming after you,” Kavanaugh argued. “If you were armed, I wouldn’t worry at all, but how many days of trial is it going to take before they decide that Raena isn’t the only threat to them?”

Ariel smiled. “They won’t give me that much credit.”

“They’ve got to know who’s paying Corvas.”

She shrugged. “That’s obvious, I suppose. But they didn’t put much thought into this mess before they stirred it up. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have chosen the
Veracity
. I mean, come on. The faintest bit of research would uncover all the mysteries the
Veracity
has revealed to the galaxy. Why would you attack someone who is going to expose you?”

Kavanaugh didn’t have an answer for that, but Ariel figured it out on her own. “This goes deeper than the Business Council of Kai,” she said.

“Somebody put them up to this, that’s for damn sure,” Kavanaugh agreed. “The question is: is this only about keeping Raena off the street? Or are they distracting you from something?”

Ariel stopped in front of her hotel and looked around. The travel ban had obviously affected Kai badly. Six months ago, when she and Sloane had hidden Raena here, the city had bustled with life at all hours. Now there was almost no one on the street, even though it wasn’t much past midnight.

She shook that thought away. The silence stretched awkwardly, then Kavanaugh stepped over to kiss her goodbye. Ariel wrapped her arms around his shoulders and held him close.

“Be careful,” she ordered.

“We will,” Vezali promised.

*   *   *

The following morning, Raena had an unexpected visitor. Ariel looked nervously inward before she stepped into the cell.

“I’m surprised to see you here, Ms. Shaad.” Raena got off her bench to give Ariel a deep, hard kiss. “I can’t offer you much hospitality, but come sit down.”

“Thanks,” Ariel said shakily. “They only let one of us come each day and Haoun has been pretty determined he’d be that one.”

Raena smiled. “He’s really a pussycat.”

“You just like it when he growls,” Ariel teased.

“Among other things.”

Ariel grinned.

“It’s good to see you,” Raena said. “Been a while since you’ve been in jail?”

“Actually, I was in this one last time we were on Kai—right after you left. Planetary Security gassed everyone who didn’t run from the souk and dragged the survivors here. One of Thallian’s men is still here.”

“Oh? Corvas said Kai didn’t hold prisoners long-term.”

“This guy is a special case. They’re hoping he’ll become sane enough for trial. No prison will take him until he’s been found guilty in court—and no one is offering to transport him to a psychiatric hospital on charity. Kai won’t pay to get rid of him, so here he sits.”

“Does Corvas know about him?”

“Yes. Kai is going to press more charges today, so our friend may become involved in your defense.”

“Keep away from him,” Raena ordered. “Seeing me is going to spark his conditioning. Everyone in the courtroom will be in danger.”

“You think he’s been brainwashed?”

“Of course. Jonan would never have let him off the planet unless he was absolutely confident in his loyalty.”

“There’s more good news,” Ariel threatened. “If the Business Council decides to blame you for bringing the Thallians to Kai, Corvas wants to get into why they were after you. He wants to trace it back to your ‘mother.’ Kai knows some of the story already, since Gavin used RespirAll on our friend, but of course the story got all garbled. Anyway, the first Raena may come up in court today. I wanted you to know in advance.”

Raena took a deep breath, understanding exactly what Ariel meant by that. Corvas wanted to connect Raena Zacari, the Imperial assassin, to the Thallians. There was no ‘first Raena,’ only Raena herself, pretending to be her own daughter. She hoped like hell the identity Coni had created for her would stand up in court.

Ariel offered her hand and Raena clasped it, her fingers naturally finding their places between Ariel’s. They sat silently, shoulder to shoulder. Eventually, Raena said, “Thank you for warning me.”

“Not something I wanted sprung on you in public.” Then Ariel collected herself and handed Raena another transparent shopping bag. “I brought your costume for the day.”

Raena turned the bag upside down. Out tumbled a silver catsuit, supple and reflective as mercury. She smiled, truly pleased. “The crew got the ship back.”

“Last night.”

Raena peeled off her dress and skinned into the catsuit. “This makes me feel more like myself than I have in weeks,” she said. “Thank you, Ariel.”

“I know what you like, little sister.”

Raena grinned at her. “You do, don’t you?”

*   *   *

As everyone settled into the courtroom for the second day of Raena’s trial, Mykah watched the Mistress of Ceremonies preparing to face the cameras. Her dress was even tighter today, her heels even higher, as if her appearance had to compete with the subject matter of the trial.

The Mistress of Ceremonies spoke into camera number one. “Yesterday was an explosive day of testimony, wasn’t it? We learned that one of the terrifying Thallian clan had been killed on Kai. You’ll be relieved to know that the dockmaster who allowed Revan Thallian onto the planet has been arrested by the Business Council. I’ll bet his replacement does a much more thorough job of screening visitors to Kai.”

“Meanwhile,” she continued, turning to the second camera, “the Imperial-era
Veracity
—impounded by Kai City Spaceport on our sister pleasure planet Lautan—has been released from custody. Apparently, there is no evidence to prove it was the same ship as the
Raptor
, which has now been linked to the Thallians. The
Raptor
itself seems to have completely disappeared. Let’s hope the new dockmaster can whip the spaceport into shape.

“The
Veracity
has been returned to Captain Mykah Chen and his crew, who were the first to pick up the distress call from the survivors of the
Arbiter
on the Thallian homeworld. Let’s chat with him now. Captain Chen, do you have a moment?”

“Of course,” Mykah said. He smiled at the feline MC, seeing echoes of Coni in her face.

“Yesterday,” she said, “you asked the court if Kai was in the habit of impounding ships. Do you have any reason to think the
Veracity
was singled out?”

“There’s no reason—that I know of—that it should have been.” Mykah stared into the camera, thinking, “Even humans have rights.”

The MC prodded a little more. “Do you have any evidence that other ships have been impounded unjustly?”

“The judges said yesterday in court that they would look into it. That satisfies me for now.”

And really, that was all he was prepared to say on the subject, until Raena was out of Kai’s clutches. Both Ariel and Corvas had cautioned him not to put her into any more danger. He intended to be careful.