No More Heroes: In the Wake of the Templars Book Three (24 page)

So when it came time to choose a place to bring Raena, Ariel’s only choice had been Kai. Ariel expected that Kai’s weapons-free status would keep Raena safe.

And they had enjoyed a marvelous stay on Kai. Ariel name-checked the restaurants, the amusements, the casinos they’d frequented. It was as good a commercial for the pleasure planet as anyone could wish. Mykah expected an advertising flack somewhere was even now figuring out how to illustrate the list so that a human woman wasn’t seen to be the spokesperson gushing about how great Kai was.

“But when we needed Kai to protect us,” Ariel said, “they failed utterly. They didn’t arrest the Thallians at the spaceport. They allowed Revan Thallian and his kill squad to roam around Kai City, armed with a shock net and sleep grenades, if not additional weapons that they didn’t get a chance to use against us. When the Thallians attacked my party, Kai Planetary Security didn’t arrive until well after the fight had broken up. We are extremely lucky that Revan Thallian didn’t plan to kill Raena until after he’d taken her hostage, because if he’d wanted to kill her on Kai, Planetary Security provided no defense at all.”

Corvas set the video of the assault in the souk to play once more. This time, it had a counter embedded in it, clicking off the time parts before the Planetary Security team finally arrived.

It was long enough for Raena to incapacitate three soldiers and kill the rest.

“Where were you?” Ariel asked. Anger choked her voice. “I trusted Kai to protect us. Not only did no one come when we needed help, now you are prosecuting Raena for not going docilely to her death. You’re blaming her for bringing violence to a weapons-free world, when you did absolutely nothing to prevent that violence from happening here. I’m sure she is not the last person to visit Kai who expects your protection.”

She almost said more, but Corvas gestured and drew her attention. Ariel took a deep breath and leaned back into her chair.

“Raena Zacari was orphaned by the War. I took her under my Foundation’s protection. Her safety is personally important to me. I’m disappointed that it wasn’t as important to Kai.”

“Thank you, Ms. Shaad,” Corvas said. “I’d like to call prisoner #1823 to the stand.”

*   *   *

The man was marched in and shackled to the witness box. He looked calm for the moment, if not particularly clear. The jailers hadn’t made much of an attempt to clean him up. He wore an ill-fitting jumpsuit that hung on him. His hair had been washed, if not combed. His bleary gaze fixed on nothing.

Raena wasn’t exactly sure what her role in this bit of theater was going to be, but she inched toward the edge of her chair in readiness. Her ankles were chained to the base of the chair. The chair was bolted to the floor. The tether that connected the restraints around her wrists to her hobble allowed her to raise her arms about shoulder high. Her wrists could reach about a half-meter apart.

The judges questioned the man about who he was, why he’d come to Kai. He muttered, “Can’t tell. Can’t reveal the family.”

Raena watched the three judges exchange a look.

Corvas stepped forward, moving quickly enough that he caught the prisoner’s attention. Suddenly the man came alert, eyes clear and focused.

Corvas asked, “Son, do you know who this is?” He stepped aside to reveal Raena sitting behind him.

The soldier launched himself forward. The attack was all the more frightening for being entirely silent. He was hobbled, just as Raena was, but the chain that attached him to the witness stand tore the wood apart. He bounded forward like a beast.

He slapped Corvas to the floor as he plunged toward Raena. She stood to meet him.

The first punch came toward her head. She sidestepped it easily. The second one aimed down toward her heart. She raised her manacled hands, tangled the cable between them around his arm. A quick circle of her foot wound her hobble around his calf. She yanked hard, falling backward into her chair as she shoved his shoulders away from her.

He lost his balance and fell. His head hit the floor with a thud.

Raena clutched the seat of the chair and managed to prevent herself from falling atop him. She disentangled her leg from his, wrapped her feet in the tether running down his body, and yanked him over onto his stomach. Then she pressed his head to the floor with her foot.

He flailed beneath her, trying to flop himself over. Raena got her other foot atop his shoulders and pushed down as hard as she could. If the chair hadn’t been bolted to the floor, she would have fallen. For once, the restraints worked in her favor.

The bailiff had moved into place to protect the judges. Only now that Raena had the soldier pinned did the guards finally move into action.

She knew they were going to stun her before anyone else had figured it out. They really couldn’t stun the soldier without hitting her, too, and they weren’t going to get close enough to grapple with him until he was unconscious. She would have done the same thing.

She was glad when the cameras zoomed in close. They would show how defenseless she was as the stun staff put her down.

Damn, she hated the feeling of current running over her skin,
co-opting her muscles. She clenched her teeth to keep from biting her tongue.

*   *   *

Haoun exploded to his feet to go to Raena’s rescue. Ariel had been expecting that, so she grabbed his forearm. Belatedly, Mykah took hold of him too. Luckily, Haoun hesitated before doing something foolish.

“She’s okay,” Ariel said quietly. “Settle, before you catch the cameras’ attention.”

Haoun sank back to the bench, shaking. “What was that all about?” he whispered angrily.

“Proof that Kai couldn’t protect her,” Mykah guessed. “Did you see how fast she is?”

“But how does that help her?” Coni asked. “Kai doesn’t recognize self-defense as an appropriate response.”

“She didn’t fight him,” Mykah explained. “She stopped him. Kai couldn’t stop him, now or when he attacked her before.” He turned to Ariel. “Do you think they’ll drop the charges?”

“No. They’ll still try to fine her. That’s why we’ll have to prove he came from the
Arbiter
and they should never have let him onto the planet in the first place.”

The bailiff helped Corvas to his feet. He limped over to speak to the judges, cradling one of his arms awkwardly across his body.

“Oh, Corvas is hurt,” Coni said.

“He’s lucky it wasn’t worse,” Ariel said fondly. “I warned him. He was supposed to get out of the way.”

“You knew this was going to happen,” Haoun accused.

“Yes,” Ariel admitted.

“Did Raena?”

“As soon as she saw him, don’t you think?” Ariel offered him a tight smile, not liking his tone. “I told her this morning that Corvas planned to call for him.”

Raena was being unshackled from her chair now. She wasn’t unconscious, but she looked pretty out of it. One of the guards heaved her across his shoulder. Her limbs hung down, swinging like a doll’s.

Three other guards picked up the soldier.

“Court is adjourned,” the bailiff announced.

“’Bout time,” Ariel said. “I need a drink. Anyone else?”

“Is she going to be all right?” Haoun asked. “She looks terrible.”

“You know she’s had worse, right?” Ariel asked. Then, relenting, she said, “I’m the last person to be unsympathetic to Raena, but I also know how much she’s endured. Stun is uncomfortable, but it doesn’t cause lasting effects unless you get hit repeatedly in a short amount of time. Even then, it won’t leave a mark.”

They all understood she was referring to the scars striping Raena’s back.

“She won’t like it,” Ariel summed up, “but it won’t damage her.”

“I’m going to see if they’ll let me up to sit with her,” Haoun said.

“She’s only allowed one visitor a day,” Coni reminded.

“Every legal system has its price,” Ariel told Haoun as she stood up to give the big lizard room to get past her. “Take her some food. The stun will make her hungry when she wakes up.”

“You’ve been stunned before?” Coni asked.

“In my misspent youth.” And that was all Ariel wanted to say with the cameras still buzzing around. She smiled at Coni and Mykah. “I’m serious about getting a drink. Please come keep me company.”

*   *   *

The guard placed Raena back on the bench in her cell, making sure her head went down softly, then left her alone. Raena couldn’t even turn over yet, but the stun was wearing off. She felt as if medium-sized insects crawled all over her skin, biting out mouthfuls of flesh.

Stars and sky, she hated to be stunned.

She wasn’t sure where the trial would go next, but Kai would have to respond to the accusation that they couldn’t protect the wealthy people who came to enjoy their hospitality. She had to admire Ariel for attacking the pleasure planet’s most vulnerable point. If the Business Council wasn’t careful, Ariel could end tourism to the planet.

Raena realized this might be a dangerous time for her, alone in her prison cell with no one to watch her back. Too bad the Business Council had already tried the deranged roommate gambit to settle the case before the trial started.

At the very least, they would hold Raena responsible for drawing the Thallians to Kai. She wondered what kind of blame-the-victim crime they would label that.

She hoped that Corvas was okay. He’d hit the floor hard enough to snap something. Raena knew the bone repair technology on Kai was state of the art. She just wished they weren’t so often in need of it.

*   *   *

The kids let Ariel pick the bar, so she chose a funky little place lit with strings of multicolored lights. Ariel summoned the serving robot and paid before anyone could object.

The kids were fond of Raena, which was enough of a point in common for Ariel. Crusading Mykah reminded her of her own kids. Coni’s sense of humor made her think of Heddryn, a Fossa she’d been friends with back in the War. Heddryn had been dead more than a decade, but it felt good to honor her memory now.

Once everyone had tasted their drinks, Ariel asked, “What’s going on between Haoun and Raena?”

“It started on Lautan,” Mykah said.

“No, it started on the ship,” Coni corrected. “It might have been all on his part then, but he was always sitting beside her, trying to get her to notice him.”

“Raena can be kind of oblivious,” Ariel said fondly. “He knows her story?”

“She’s been open with us about it,” Coni said.

“She’s Haoun’s type,” Mykah added, “meaning human. He used to romance the human ladies when he was working here on Kai.”

“It’s different with travelers passing through,” Ariel pointed out.

“We worried about that at first, too,” Coni said. “This seems more serious.”

Ariel raised her glass and wished, “May they find happiness.”

The others hurried to join the toast.

*   *   *

Despite the discomfort of the stun wearing off, Raena must have drifted off to sleep. When she jerked awake, Haoun had placed her head on his thigh. He stroked her hair.

“Hey,” he said softly. “Are you with me again?”

“Yeah.” She pushed herself into sitting up and wiped the back of her hand across her mouth. “I wasn’t drooling, was I?”

“Were you? I didn’t notice.” He handed her a foil-wrapped tube still toasty warm to the touch. “Ariel said you would be hungry. It’s human food. A tikka burrito.”

Suddenly, she’d never wanted to eat anything as much as she wanted this. She tore the foil away and bit off a huge mouthful of tortilla stuffed with saffron rice and some kind of poultry. Once she got that swallowed, she asked, “What’d you get for yourself?”

“Apparently, I got it for the guards,” Haoun said. “They told me I could bring you food, but I couldn’t bring a picnic.”

“Want a bite?” she asked with her mouth full.

“Eat what you want first.”

She was so ravenous that she couldn’t stop to make conversation. Haoun didn’t seem to mind. He watched the patch of sunlight traveling across the opposite wall. Raena watched him. He sat twisted sideways on the bench, so that his tail could trail off onto the floor, which meant he couldn’t put his back flat against the wall. For the first time, she realized that, just as things in the galaxy weren’t made for her because of her size, things were also not made if you had to watch your tail. She stopped feeling quite so singled out.

She made herself offer the burrito to him again. “Please help me eat this.”

“I’ll just have a taste.” His bite was as big as three of hers.

“Thank you for this,” she said, when he handed the burrito back. “I’d forgotten what it was like to come out of stun.”

“You’re welcome. Are you starting to feel normal?”

“As normal as ever.” She leaned her head against his shoulder. “How long can you stay?”

“’Til morning.”

“Don’t tease me,” Raena said seriously.

“I’m not. I bribed the guards.”

“You didn’t really,” she accused.

“Ariel said all legal systems have their price. Luckily, your guards had a price I could afford.”

She set the remains of the burrito aside and wrapped her arms around him. “Did you really?” she asked again.

“I was worried about you. I know I’m not a lot of protection, but I couldn’t stand the thought of you in here alone tonight. I may not be able to stay awake in court tomorrow, but I will watch over you while you sleep tonight.”

She snuggled against him, thinking,
this is the best boyfriend I’ve ever had
. Judging from the last two, her taste must be improving.

“I don’t think anything will happen.” She yawned. “They have me under surveillance.” She nodded toward the camera she knew about, the one in the corner above the door. There were undoubtedly others she didn’t know about.

“They had you under surveillance the night you were attacked by your cellmate, too,” Haoun pointed out. “Coni got a hold of the recording for Corvas.”

“Ariel made my safety the personal responsibility of the commandant after that.”

Haoun looked at her with a tilt of his head that she read as skepticism.

“Not that it matters,” she said. “I would rather have your company.”