No More Heroes: In the Wake of the Templars Book Three (29 page)

“She saved me,” Gisela said, awed. Ariel put her arm around her daughter’s shoulders. Gisela hugged her tightly.

Mykah turned away. He toggled through the other cameras, watching the soldiers empty the gun lockers and place the
Veracity
’s weapons into a crate. He reversed the recordings to watch them a second time.

“What did you see?” Ariel asked.

“They only took the weapons I got out to offer Vezali,” he said. “Only the things that Jim had seen me put away. I didn’t bother to haul everything out that night, because I knew there would be more than Vezali could carry, more than Kavanaugh would want. So that
really
wasn’t Revan. He would have known where things could be stowed on his own ship.”

“So we’re not completely unarmed,” Ariel echoed.

In answer, Mykah got up and pushed in the wall panel above the bunk. It clicked and dropped open. Two Sharpshooter rifles, a matched pair of Stinger pistols, and the weapons Vezali had bought them on Lautan were still hidden there.

“That’s a relief,” Gisela said with a sniffle.

Mykah handed her a Stinger and gave another to Ariel. Both of them ran through the same sequence of checks as they examined them. Mykah took his own Stinger, checked its power pack, then slipped it through the back of his belt. He wouldn’t be able to carry it if he left the ship, but it comforted him now.

Once they were armed, Ariel asked, “Have you seen what they did to sabotage the
Veracity
?”

“Coni will have to search. She knows where all the cameras are stashed on the ship.” He shook his head ruefully. “I wish Vezali were here. She’s worked over most of the ship already. She would be able to see anything out of place.”

Ariel didn’t offer advice, which Mykah puzzled over. Then he realized it was a sign of respect, her way of allowing him to make decisions about his own vessel. “Let me talk to Haoun,” Mykah said. “He had some other friends that we considered taking on as engineer, if Vezali said no when we left Kai the last time. Maybe one of them is familiar with old Earther ships and can help us get out of here.”

“We can’t leave right yet anyway,” Ariel said. “Not until this stupid trial is settled.”

“Let’s watch the rest of the video,” Gisela said. “I want to see what happened to Jim.”

Mykah toggled back to the
Veracity
’s exterior camera. Once Revan replaced his mirrored helmet, he was interchangeable with the other gray soldiers.

Jim came down the
Veracity
’s ramp, followed by more soldiers. “Where’s my mother?”

“She’s not coming with us.” The Revan replica’s voice was strangely modulated by his helmet.

“I want to say goodbye,” Jim insisted. He started back up the ramp.

“It’s too late.” The closest soldier jabbed him in the back with something. Jim collapsed with a groan. The grays doubled him up and dumped him into the crate atop the stolen weapons. Then they carried him out of the docking bay.

“So the whole attack on the prison last night was a subterfuge so they could kidnap Jim?” Ariel asked. “How many people are dead, between the fires and the riot, just so the grays could snatch the Thallian boy?”

“You think it wasn’t really about killing Raena?” Mykah asked.

“I don’t know. That Revan thing was sending her a pretty clear invitation to come after them. We may not know why until she gets back to the Thallian homeworld.”

“My head hurts,” Gisela said.

“You and I are off to the hospital, my girl,” Ariel said. “Mykah, keep Coni out of the cockpit until everything dries. We need to get everyone back up to fighting trim and get the
Veracity
checked out, before anyone goes anywhere else.”

*   *   *

Raena woke to find Corvas standing beside her, poking at his comm bracelet. Raena realized she’d never seen the lizard sitting. She wasn’t sure if he could. She also realized he wore the blue and aquamarine caftan he’d had on the previous day in court.

“How’s your arm?” Her voice sounded ragged, but it no longer hurt to speak.

His eyes swiveled to her and he flexed his hand. “Good as new.”

“You haven’t been back to your hotel room yet?”

“The curfew was still in effect when they finished with me last night. Then Coni called to say you were on your way to the hospital, so I stayed to meet you.”

“Thank you for all you’ve done for me, Corvas.”

One of his eyes turned toward a camera mounted in the corner of the room. Raena followed his gaze, then looked back at him.

Corvas dug around in the satchel slung over his shoulder. He pulled out his handheld, clicked around silently, then handed it to Raena. The screen showed a video of two teenagers: one human, one whatever Corvas was. “These are my boys,” he said. “Ariel helped me adopt Saul when Tarash was an infant. They’ve grown up together. You’ve never seen such friends. Anything I do for Ariel, I am really doing for Saul.”

Raena typed onto the screen before she passed the handheld back:
Are they safe somewhere?

“Yes,” Corvas said aloud. “Thank you.”

“When can I get out of here?”

“Now that you’re awake, we’re waiting for the doctor to give you your walking papers. Unfortunately, Dr. Fishawk is the only human doctor in the emergency room today, so it may be a while before he can get back to you.”

Raena wriggled herself into sitting up. The effort winded her, but nothing seemed painful. “How is Haoun?”

“They’re treating him now.”

“Is Coni with him?”

Corvas met her eyes. “No.”

Raena exhaled hard. Corvas was even more paranoid than she generally was, but she had to believe—after all she’d been through on Kai—that he had his reasons. “What are the odds that I will miss my time in court?” she asked.

“You’re right to suspect that being hospitalized is not an acceptable excuse for missing your trial. The court was still closed when I checked in with them just now. However, since you were injured by the smoke in the jail—which apparently does not have a functioning fire-suppression system and so is not up to minimal galactic safety standards—the Business Council of Kai has agreed to cover the cost of your treatment here. Haoun’s treatment, also.”

Raena gave him a lopsided smile. “How is he?”

“Apparently, in better shape than you were. They were able to use some less invasive treatment on him, something that would help him to expel the soot. Didn’t sound pleasant, but it also didn’t require sedation. He’s supposed to find his way back to the waiting room and wait for us there.”

*   *   *

Kavanaugh concentrated on flying through the Thallians’ minefield. Most of the mines had been deactivated when the big rescue ships had come to collect the
Arbiter
’s survivors six months ago. Still, he didn’t want to bump up against anything the minesweepers missed.

The planet ahead certainly looked dead. Kavanaugh flew them up on the nightside, where not a single artificial light gleamed in the blackness. It made him think of the Templar tombworld, another ghost world that memorialized a lost people. Both planets were little more than tombstones now. In a way, he supposed, they were bookends: the victims of genocide and their killers.

“Were you on Drusingyi’s surface before?” he asked Vezali.

“Yes. We landed to pick up Raena and Eilif after they’d destroyed the Thallians’ city. The planet is pretty much a wasteland. Its surface is freezing cold, covered in poisoned snow. No surface vegetation. Not much surviving native wildlife, either, except in the oceans. The Thallians grew everything they ate inside their domes. Those farms must have gotten contaminated when the seawater crashed in.”

If ships hid somewhere on the planet’s surface now, their engines were cold and their life support systems shut off. Kavanaugh couldn’t read any energy signatures at all. He set the
Sundog
to orbit, just to make sure they didn’t miss anything, but it really didn’t look as if there was anything to miss.

Vezali got up to fix them something to eat, which meant popping two readymades into the warmer. Still, Kavanaugh appreciated the gesture. He wasn’t any sort of cook, especially not compared to Mykah. Generally, he let his passengers fend for themselves. Rarely did they think to feed him while they were at it.

The planet offered no surprises. Like the Templar’s tombworld, it was pretty much just a rock, albeit a rock mostly covered with a slightly toxic ocean. “Are you sure you want that water on your skin?” he asked.

“Things pass through my system fairly quickly,” Vezali assured. “Maybe I’ll treat myself to a spa afterward, to make sure I detox.”

They strapped themselves down for the trip through the atmosphere, still turbulent seventeen years after the galaxy bombed the planet into permanent winter. Vezali fastened her comm bracelet around one of her tentacles like a garter. She tested to make sure it linked to the
Sundog
.

Kavanaugh aimed for the coordinates Mykah had given him. No one but Raena and the two surviving Thallians really knew where the city lay under the ocean, but Kavanaugh triangulated between the spot where the
Veracity
picked up Raena and Eilif and the snow caves where the
Arbiter
’s survivors had holed up. That narrowed down the range of Vezali’s search a little. “Do you want me to let you off on solid ground?”

“No, I might as well just dive in and get it over with,” she said. “Can you hover?”

“Sure.”

Her skin had turned a cloudy grayish blue. Kavanaugh wondered if she meant that as camouflage or if it signified nerves. Vezali looked very small compared to the planet’s big ocean. Kavanaugh hoped that the weapons Ariel had chosen would be enough protection for the tentacled girl.

CHAPTER 13

W
hen Dr. Fishawk returned for Raena, he brought Haoun along with him. Raena reached out for Haoun’s hand, held it to her cheek.

“Your color’s better,” the doctor observed.

“I’m going to live,” Raena assured. “Are we good to go?”

“Yes. I’ve cleared you. The Business Council accepted your bill. I’m going to show you out the back way, rather than have you go out through the ER waiting area.”

“Perfect,” Corvas said. “We don’t want to start any more trouble on Kai.”

Raena hopped down from the bed to follow the man and the two lizards out into the corridor. Haoun pulled her close against him and nuzzled her hair.

“Thank you for keeping them from smothering me in the waiting room,” she said.

“I’ve never been around a celebrity before,” he teased. “Will you need security everywhere you go now?”

“Could be,” the doctor replied. He opened an unmarked door to a stairway. “Your case has been a topic of much discussion on Kai, Ms. Zacari.”

“Oh?”

“We think there is a reason you were targeted.” He held his tongue while two other medics passed them on the stairs. The Shtrell looked twice at Raena, but neither she nor the furred one stopped.

Fishawk waited until the door banged shut behind them. “The android from your Messiah documentary—”

“Outrider?” Raena asked.

Fishawk nodded. “He was seen in the service district in Kai City before your trial began. People didn’t know who he was until Mellix’s documentary ran. By then, he was gone.”

“Outrider on Kai?” Haoun echoed.

“Yes. He was stirring up trouble among the human workers.”

“That explains a lot of things,” Raena said. They reached the bottom of the stairs. Raena shook the doctor’s hand. “Thank you for all you’ve done.”

“My pleasure.” He opened the door, which let out into a loading zone. “Just, please, keep your head down and get off Kai safely. You have come to mean a lot to people here. There will be more trouble, if anything more happens to you.”

*   *   *

Ariel met the three of them at the
Veracity
’s hatch. “Come to Eilif’s cabin.”

Raena nodded.

Ariel let her past, then stepped in front of Corvas and Haoun. “Just Raena for now, gentlemen.”

The lizards exchanged a glance. Haoun asked, “Where’s Mykah? We should get stocked and start making ready to get out of here.”

“In the galley,” Ariel answered. “Corvas, do you mind hanging out for a bit? I’m ready to make a deal with the Business Council. We need to have a plan in place.”

“Do you want me to make you an appointment tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow is good. Damn the cost.”

“I’ll make it happen.”

All her errands assigned, Ariel showed Raena to the little cabin where Eilif’s body lay. She’d cleaned the clone up and bound her body in a tarp. Only her face remained visible, an unnatural bloodless color beneath her bone white hair.

Raena sat on the edge of the bunk, one hand on Eilif’s shoulder. “This is what they were doing last night while Kai was rioting?”

“Yes,” Ariel answered. “They came here to get Jim. Eilif and Gisela were extraneous.”

Raena looked up at Ariel, but before she could ask, Ariel said, “Gisela’s injured, but not badly. She’ll survive.”

Raena looked back at Eilif’s corpse. “She may have been mine,” Raena confessed. “I didn’t want to say anything to her, because we’ll never know for sure. But Thallian had my ovaries removed while I served on the
Arbiter
. She could have been cloned from those eggs.”