No More Heroes: In the Wake of the Templars Book Three (31 page)

Raena wiped her hand down across the top of her boot, palmed the knife there, and used it to slice the safety strap.

Coni retrieved the staff from the agent who’d been stunned. Now, each armed with a stun staff, the crew of the
Veracity
turned to face the Business Council of Kai.

“Ms. Shaad,” the head councilor squeaked, “can’t you control her?”

Ariel laughed. “Raena’s in control now, Councilor.” When the Business Council had no response to that, Ariel asked, “What would you like, Raena?”

“All this captivity has left me with a whole lot of energy that I’m eager to burn off before we get back into space. However, I would prefer not to fight my way across Kai City, because—despite your best efforts—I am not your enemy. I would like to leave Kai with some shreds of its dignity intact. The choice is up to you, Councilors. Either you can allow me and my crew to walk out of here, or I can show you all the remaining flaws in your Planetary Security. What’s your preference?”

“Just go,” one of the councilors said. “Don’t hurt anyone.”

“Thank you.”

Raena came over to kiss Ariel goodbye. She wrapped her hand in Ariel’s braid and pulled her head back, kissing her long and deeply. Sometimes a kiss has to say everything that words cannot express.

“I will call you as soon as this is over,” she promised.

“Be careful.”

“As careful as I can be.”

“I love you,” Ariel said.

Raena smiled at that and let her get the last word. Then she walked up in front of the cringing high hat Councilor and lay the stun staff at her feet. The
Veracity
crew stacked their staves beside Raena’s and followed her toward the door.

“Now,” Corvas said behind them, “I’ve prepared an accounting . . .”

*   *   *

When they got back to the ship, Mykah’s crew of engineers met them in the
Veracity
’s lounge. Two were Dagat like Vezali, one was Na’ash like Haoun, and the last was human. Mykah introduced him as Orfeo Wachek.

“It’s good as new,” Orfeo said. “We repaired everything you noted and tested the fuel lines and power connections. Vezali will want to restock her backup parts—we raided them pretty much down to zero—but you are ready to fly.”

“Thank you,” Mykah said with a grin. “Coni’s authorized the payments to the accounts you gave me. We really appreciate you helping us out at the last moment like this.”

“It’s been a pleasure,” Orfeo said. “This is a sweet old ship.”

“It is that,” Mykah agreed.

*   *   *

Raena followed Haoun up to the cockpit. He settled back into his pilot’s chair with a sigh and started flipping switches.

“You don’t have to come,” Raena pointed out. “We can drop you off somewhere safe. You have your kids to think about.”

“Not really,” he argued, resigned. “You’ve been thinking about them like a human family: two parents and their offspring, bonded for life. I’ve let you think that, because that’s what I want. But the Na’ash—for most of us—the father leaves as soon as the eggs hatch. The mother raises the young alone. My mate thought it was weird when I stuck around after our boys hatched. When Jexxie was born . . .” Haoun’s voice choked up, but he forced himself to continue. “Serese thought it was perverse that I wanted anything to do with our kids. After seeing me in the court broadcasts, she claims she’s never going to let me near them again.” He swallowed hard. “There is nothing holding me back anymore. The
Veracity
is—look, I like you a lot, Raena, but it’s not just you. Coni’s been like a sister to me. Mykah’s my brother. I feel the same about Vezali. I can’t let you all go face the Templars alone. I mean, I’m terrified, and I don’t want to die, but I also don’t want to survive and know that I let you go to your deaths because I was too much of a coward to stand with you. I couldn’t . . . I couldn’t live with myself.”

Raena perched on the arm of his chair. “I learned a long time ago that courage isn’t going into a fight when you’re certain you’ll win. I have to go to Drusingyi, because I have to try to save what’s left of my people. None of the rest of you are obligated to come die at my side. So I respect and honor your courage. I’m grateful to have you as a friend.”

“Good. Promise you won’t try to erode my fragile bravery by telling me what you expect we’re getting into?”

“I promise.” Raena slipped down into his lap and hugged him as tightly as she could. “I’ll post a sparring schedule once we’re underway. I’ve got three days to whip you three into a fighting team.”

Haoun started to protest, but Raena laid a finger across his mouth.

“Mandatory,” she said. “I saw how you bobbled that stun staff.”

He laughed.

“But I’ll make it up to you afterward,” Raena promised. She hopped out of his lap. “I’ll leave you to the preflight check.”

“Send Gisela up, will you?” he asked. “I’m going to train her to copilot.”

“Is she coming along with us?”

“She is your biggest fan,” Haoun said. “She wouldn’t let us leave her behind.”

“She goes on the sparring schedule too, then.”

*   *   *

Raena found Gisela lying on the banquette in the lounge. “Which one of Ariel’s daughters are you?”

Gisela opened eyes that were a strange blue so dark that it almost looked black. “My uncle sold me after my parents died. I was working as a maid in a brothel on Tacauque when the Shaad Foundation bought me.”

“How old were you?”

“Almost eight.”

“How old are you now?”

“Sixteen.”

“Still living at home?”

Gisela looked at Raena skeptically. “Is this an interview?”

“In a way. I’m trying to figure out how you fit in here.”

“You’re not the captain,” Gisela pointed out.

Raena’s smile was tight. “I’m the evil mastermind. That means I outrank Captain Chen.”

“My apologies, then.” The girl pushed herself into sitting up. “Ariel trained me to be a bodyguard to Madame Shaad.”

Raena tossed a Stinger at her. “Field strip that.”

The girl took the Stinger apart in seconds, stacking the pieces neatly, then reassembled it in half the time. Clearly, her mother’s daughter.

“You a good shot?”

“Not as good as Ariel. Better than everyone else.”

“I don’t know if we’re going to need sharpshooting on this trip. I don’t know what we’re going to need. What I’ve got are games players and hackers, but maybe what I need are diplomats. Real diplomats who know how to make peace. And I’ve never known anyone like that. All I’ve ever known were soldiers following the orders of crazy people.”

Gisela didn’t dispute any of that. Instead, she said, “Eilif was the gentlest person I ever met. She mended a bird’s wing after the poor creature flew into a window at the villa. She could make anyone feel better. She could tame the most broken child . . . She had a gift. And that
thing
killed her because it didn’t need her. She bled to death on the floor of the
Veracity
because I was knocked out and couldn’t help her.”

“Concussion?” Raena guessed.

“Yeah,” Gisela said. She didn’t nod. “It’s getting better.”

“We’re not a hospital ship,” Raena said. “You’re going to have to take care of yourself. If your head gets knocked around again, even if we just have a rough landing, you could be looking at permanent damage.”

“I’m used to taking care of myself,” Gisela promised.

“Good. I’m not used to taking care of anyone else.” After she said it, Raena realized that was a lie. She had taken care of Ariel for years. She relented and said, “Haoun wants you in the cockpit. He says he’s going to train you to copilot.”

The girl’s smile lit her strange-colored eyes. “Thank you, Raena. You won’t regret letting me come along.”

Raena wondered about that, but she let it pass.

*   *   *

The training began as soon as the
Veracity
was back into space. Raena supervised as Mykah and Coni grappled. She noted that they held back, gentle with each other, so she separated the two of them. Her surprise attack on Mykah was full-speed and all-out. He had mass and reach on Raena, but she let him know she wasn’t playing this time.

Coni watched, puzzled, waiting for Mykah to complain or ask for help. When she heard Raena break his arm—the groan that escaped him left no doubt—Coni leapt back into the fray.

Raena slapped her hard enough that Coni’s head rang. The little woman landed a few more blows on Mykah before Coni succeeded in peeling Raena off of him. She threw Raena back with surprising strength, but the little woman landed on her toes and launched herself back at Coni.

“Are you crazy?” Coni protested. “Stop. Wait. What are you doing?”

Raena backhanded her. As Coni blinked tears away, Raena threw herself into a backflip and went after Mykah, who lay panting on the deck. She kicked him hard enough to roll him over. He doubled up, trying to protect his organs.

Coni sprang after Raena. She pulled the woman off of Mykah, pitched her hard at the deck at an angle so she couldn’t pop back up, then pinned her down with one foot.

Her claws were unsheathed and her hand had drawn back, when Mykah grabbed her arm. “Stop, Coni!”

Shaking, Coni stepped back and let him hold her.

Mykah reached his uninjured hand down to Raena. She let him tug her to her feet.

“I’m going to be ill,” Coni warned.

Mykah petted her back. “It’s just the aftermath of the fight,” he said. “Stand up and take a deep breath. It will pass.”

Coni looked at him, shaking her head. “I thought she was going to kill you.”

“That’s what she wanted you to think.” He turned to Raena. “Did you see what you wanted?”

She nodded. Blood bloomed on her chest, where Coni’s claws had torn her shirt. Raena pressed on the wounds, to slow the bleeding.

“I’m sorry, Coni. I wanted to see what you were capable of. Now I want you to think about whether you can unleash that fury before Mykah gets hurt. Because if you can’t, if you restrain yourself, it may be too late.”

Coni sank to the floor, still panting. “I wanted to kill you.”

“I know. But we don’t have time to be polite about this. I need to know that you can defend yourself, that you will defend all of us. I need to know that you can get angry enough to kill, if you have to—and that you won’t freeze up afterward. Because if we get to Drusingyi and there are Outriders there—if there are gray soldiers there—I want to know that you won’t go down without a fight.”

Raena sat down in front of Coni and reached out to take her hands, before noticing that her own were bloody. “This is going to be hard,” Raena promised. “It’s going to be awful. If you don’t want to come down to the planet, I won’t think any less of you and I don’t want you to think any less of yourself. You need to decide that if you do come, you will be all in. Otherwise, you or Mykah are going to get killed. If I have to fight alone, I’d rather go alone to do it.”

*   *   *

Haoun came into the gym hesitantly, unsure what he would find. He’d seen Raena stitching up her chest before she hauled the Thallians’ old bone regenerator out to mend Mykah’s arm. Coni had retreated to her cabin. Haoun knew Coni and Mykah had been sparring with Raena. Clearly, something drastic had happened.

“I won’t bite,” Raena promised him.

“I’m not sure a human bone-mender will fix me,” he answered.

“Your lesson is different than Mykah or Coni’s,” Raena said. “I want to see how fast you can move and for how long. We’re going to run.”

She made him run on the treadmill. And run. And run. Haoun had probably never run so long in his life. He found himself dragging slower and slower. Raena jogged alongside him without getting winded or slackening her pace.

“Jump off,” she told him. When he did, she said, “Freeze.”

He locked his muscles up so hard that he nearly tipped himself over.

“Good. Very good. If we need to run and then hide, I don’t want them to hear you gasping. You’re doing great.”

He laughed. “What if they hear my heart pounding out of my body?”

“I can’t hear it,” she said. “Can you ignore it?”

He nodded.

“Okay. Now I want you to attack me.”

He’d known it would come to this. He looked down at his claws. He couldn’t retract them like Coni could hers. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“I know.”

“I don’t want you to hurt me, either.”

“I know.”

“I—I don’t think I can do this. I’m sorry, Raena. I want to protect you. I want . . .”

She leaned up against him and looked up into his face. “It’s all right. I didn’t want to set a limit for you. How do you feel about shooting?”

“I’m okay at shooter games. Better at spraying around cover than at sharpshooting.”

“Good. I’ll train you on the ship’s external guns.”

He realized, “You’re going to leave me behind.”

“It’s safer for us both,” she said. “You are a natural pilot. We need you to get us onto Drusingyi—and we’re not getting away unless you survive to fly us out again.”

“Why are you going gentle on me after you were so hard on Coni and Mykah?”

“I told you their lessons were different. I wanted to see if Mykah would follow me even when he was in danger. If he would trust I had a plan, even if he got hurt. I’d never gone off-leash on him before. I wanted to see if he’d panic, if fear or pain would defeat him. He made me very proud.”

“Did you mean to break Coni?”

“She isn’t broken. She’s upset and angry and it may take her time to forgive me. But she stopped to watch when she should have stepped up. It may be just the way her people are, or it may be individual to her, but I’ve faced those guys in gray four times. They don’t freeze. If I ever waited to see what they were going to do next, I would be dead. There isn’t time to think in a fight. I can train her to overcome that tendency, but she has to decide if she wants to. If she doesn’t, that’s fine. I’m not going to beat it into her the way it was beaten into me. Unfortunately, we don’t have much time, so I pushed her—both of them—hard.”

“You should go tell her that,” Haoun said. “She’s going to tear herself up over this. She’ll feel like she let you both down. She didn’t protect Mykah and she disappointed you.”