End Game

by Lindsay Buroker

  Before Leonidas could comment on her delusions, her comm unit beeped.

  “Marchenko,” she answered. She kept hoping Tomich would get in touch again. She’d sent a response to his message, one urging him to find Stanislav and try to get him released, so he could help against Tymoteusz. She hadn’t mentioned the mafia meeting, though she’d thought about it. But this time, she didn’t want the Alliance bursting in—so far, they hadn’t done anything to fix her problems when they had done that. They’d usually ended up shooting at her instead of at the true target.

  “Captain,” came Tiang’s voice. “I’m in need of a chasadski Starseer.”

  “I don’t have any stored aboard.”

  “I need to conduct an experiment to see if I’m on the right heading with my research, and I don’t wish to use any of our ally Starseers.”

  “I’m sure they appreciate that. If we’re able to capture any of Tymoteusz’s people, I’ll be certain to save one for you.”

  Leonidas returned to spray-painting the hull.

  “I had hoped to have this tested and prepared for dissemination the next time we met Tymoteusz,” Tiang said. “Perhaps someone here might volunteer… for the greater good.”

  Alisa scowled at her comm unit. “I forbid you to do medical experiments on any of our passengers. Even Abelardus.”

  “Then I am at an impasse, Captain.”

  “You’ll just have to do the best you can without running experiments on people.” A rat scurried about at the edge of Alisa’s vision. “Can’t you use animals? There are plenty of rats out here.”

  “Rats don’t have Starseer genes.”

  “So take some of that blood you got from Ostberg and inject it into a rat.”

  “Really, Captain. You lack even the most rudimentary understanding of—well, hm. Maybe if I… Let me look something up.”

  He didn’t close the comm, so Alisa left it open as she went back to painting the hull.

  “You may be lucky he didn’t do experiments on you while he was performing your surgery,” she told Leonidas.

  “I don’t have Starseer genes, so I’m certain I’m not of interest to him.”

  “A cyborg with telepathy and telekinesis would be a scary thing to contemplate.”

  “Indeed.”

  As it was, Alisa still didn’t know how she would manage to make Leonidas less scary for Jelena. He was being aloof instead of friendly. Even though Alisa understood his reasoning—Jelena would be horrified if she peeked into his mind and caught fantasies of him having his way with her mother—it made it all the more difficult for her to gain familiarity with him.

  “Captain?” Tiang asked.

  “Yes, Admiral?”

  “Please bring me some rats.”

  “Bring you?”

  Leonidas snorted.

  “Six or eight should suffice.”

  “Admiral, I don’t know if you saw it in the brochure, but there’s no room service aboard this freighter.”

  “None at all? I am paying quite a bit. I believe you promised me a luxury experience.”

  “A luxury dining experience,” Alisa said. “Not a luxury lab-rat-specimen retrieval service. And I’m positive you’ve eaten your fare in cookies already.”

  “I’m looking at the original brochure now,” Tiang said.

  “Is there a brochure?” Leonidas murmured.

  “The original fliers I made back on Dustor are still in the system. They were appealing enough to entice Alejandro and Yumi to show up.”

  “I never saw those.”

  “That’s because you had already barricaded yourself aboard. Obviously, you knew without ever seeing a brochure that you would be experiencing a sublime and luxurious experience on my ship.”

  His eyes closed to slits. “Were I young and immature, I’d be spray-painting you right now.”

  “Please, don’t. I have a dearth of clothing as it is.”

  “The paint is water soluble,” Mica called from around the corner.

  “Hm.” Leonidas’s eyes narrowed even further.

  “Captain,” Tiang said, “I really could use those rats. I’m not young enough and spry enough to catch them.”

  “I’ll have someone get on it right away,” Alisa said, “but only because I’m expecting whatever potion you’re creating to perform miraculous miracles against our enemies.”

  “Potion? I’m not a witch, Captain.”

  “Leonidas,” Alisa said, closing the comm and tucking it away. She hefted her can of spray paint, suspecting she would need it for self-defense purposes momentarily. “Would you be a good security chief and collect six or eight rats?”

  He pointed his paint can at her, but hesitated to fire first. Noble to the end. Alisa didn’t hesitate.

  His enhanced reflexes almost got him out of the way of the spray, but the nozzle was set to a wide distribution. She grinned as she caught his elbow.

  Unfortunately, he stopped hesitating after that. A cloud of white paint molecules came her way. She ducked and ran around the corner, almost crashing into Mica, who was working on the side of the shuttle.

  “Ah, no. Don’t get me involved in this,” she said, backing away with her hands up.

  Since Alisa was being chased relentlessly, she couldn’t pause to say anything. She raced toward the ramp of the Nomad, hoping Leonidas wouldn’t spray-paint her cargo hold in his effort to continue painting her. In her haste, she tripped over the edge of the ramp and fell forward. She would have smacked down chest and face first, but Leonidas sprinted a few steps and caught her before she struck down.

  He swooped her up in both arms, and she wasn’t sure whether she was rescued or imprisoned.

  “My savior and my tormentor in one,” she remarked, noting his still-narrowed eyes. And the smudge of paint on his cheek.

  He opened his mouth to reply, but someone at the top of the ramp cleared his throat.

  “I thought I should come to select my preferred specimens personally,” Tiang said.

  Alisa started to comment, but stopped, gaping when she saw Jelena standing next to him.

  “Uhm,” Jelena said and held up a large stencil of a basket of fruit, one of several she had dragged to the ramp. “Yumi said I should bring these out to you.”

  Leonidas set Alisa on her boots, her boots that were spattered with white paint.

  “Yes,” Alisa said, “those will be perfect for after the base layer dries.” She wiped at moisture on her cheek, and her hand came away white. “In all locations.”

  “Can I, uhm…” Jelena frowned doubtfully at Leonidas.

  “Do you want to help?” Alisa waved her paint can in invitation.

  “I was practicing my telekinesis in the kitchen, and some boxes fell over. That was really Jiziri’s fault, but Tommy said, maybe I would be better at painting.” She continued to send wary glances toward Leonidas and did not come down the ramp.

  “I, too, have been forbidden to help in the kitchen,” Leonidas said. “Due to overly efficient knife skills.”

  He sounded stern rather than conciliatory, and it took Alisa a moment to realize he was trying to make an overture toward Jelena.

  “Yes, you two are practically the same.” Alisa smiled. “Shall we all finish the white together?”

  Tiang cleared his throat again.

  “You can have my can,” Leonidas told Jelena, holding it aloft. “I believe I have another duty. A very temporary duty, I hope.”

  “There are hundreds of rats in the junkyard,” Alisa said. “Since you’re so fast and agile—” she wiped away more paint, “—I’m sure collecting a few won’t take long.”

  “Six to eight,” Tiang said brightly as he strolled down the ramp. “I prefer young healthy ones.”

  Jelena walked hesitantly down after him, eyeing the paint can in Leonidas’s hand.

  “Here,” he said, turning to offer it to Alisa, probably realizing Jelena wouldn’t be comfortable taking it from him.

  Alisa stepped back and cl
asped her hands behind her back. Not sure if she was doing the right thing, she said, “She can get it from you if she wants it.”

  Leonidas grimaced.

  “Smile,” she whispered as Jelena came closer. “And look approachable.”

  “How do I do that?” he whispered back.

  “Smile,” she repeated.

  He bared his teeth at Jelena.

  “Suns’ hells, not like that.” Alisa slapped him on the arm. “You look like an Octavian Blood Bear luring a hunter back to his den.”

  A clunk sounded behind Leonidas. He and Alisa turned to look, but there was nothing there. Jelena darted forward, took the can from his grip, and jumped off the ramp and to safety.

  Alisa snorted. With moves like that, they were sure to be fast friends by nightfall.

  “Good tactic for bears too,” Leonidas said and saluted Jelena.

  “There’s a nice plump rat in the corner,” Tiang called.

  Leonidas gave Alisa a dirty look and jogged off to join him.

  Alisa’s comm beeped.

  “Captain?” Beck asked.

  “Trouble in the kitchen?”

  “No, I think most of the troublemakers have gone. Though Alejandro could be more useful. Right now, he’s sampling everything he cuts.”

  Alisa was surprised Alejandro had joined in with the work at all.

  “We just got a message from our employer,” Beck said, “through the company site.”

  “And?”

  “We now have a meeting location.”

  “Nearby, I assume?” Alisa asked. Since they were supposed to be ready in just over a day, the meeting couldn’t be three planets away.

  “A spot near Baku Moon. It’s on the far side of Aldrin’s orbit from here. Paint fast. That shuttle is going to have to lift off in a few hours to make it in time, and I’ve got to get all this food cooked along the way. I doubt the shuttle has the capability to do more than keep things hot.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t think to ask my team to steal a vessel equipped with a full kitchen.”

  “I’m used to making do with the Nomad. But, Captain? I’ll admit to you, I’m real nervous about this.”

  “We’ve been in crazier situations and bigger battles,” she said. “Or are you worried about the ratings that the diners will give to your new catering company?”

  “No, it’s just that my last dealings with the mafia didn’t go well. You think White Dragon will be here? Medric might have had time to rethink our last meeting and realize we were influencing him. And doesn’t Henneberry know what you and Leonidas look like? How are you going to sneak past her?”

  “I’ve already got costumes on board.”

  While dithering in dock, Alisa had ordered those, as well as a few new shirts and undergarments to replace the frayed, hole-riddled items in her cabinets. She had also ordered Jelena some clothes, so she wouldn’t have to run around in that black robe indefinitely if she didn’t want to. Unfortunately, Jelena seemed rather taken with it. Or maybe it was required for group tutoring sessions. At least she had worn the cats-in-space pajamas the night before.

  “I haven’t told Leonidas about his costume yet,” she added. “He’s still dealing with the last problem I made for him.”

  She watched as Leonidas raced past, his legs moving too fast to see. He darted behind a debris pile and came back grasping a rat long enough and squirmy enough to be a ferret. With giant fangs. He held it out to keep it from biting him.

  “Excellent,” Tiang said. “That’s one. Seven more, please.”

  Leonidas gave Alisa another dirty look.

  She grinned at him, lowered her comm unit, and made sure Jelena was several feet away, and then whispered, “I love you, Leonidas.”

  Chapter 9

  Alisa took them into the air, pausing a few times to pick at tenacious paint under her fingernails. Water soluble. Maybe if that water came via a pressure washer. Her only solace was that Leonidas had just as much paint clinging to him. Not to mention all the rat fur and a few bite marks that his hunt had left him with. Cyborgs were speedy and fast and strong, but junkyard rats weren’t wimps, especially when their instincts told them they were being rounded up for lab experiments. Alisa hoped they didn’t end up with angry telepathic rats that could hurl objects around with their minds.

  The sensors showed the shuttle taking off behind her. Bravo Six was at the helm over there, working to further Alisa’s schemes for no pay. She wished she could reward him with something. A replacement eyeball, perhaps.

  The Nomad and the shuttle, now a perky white craft with steaming meals and baskets of vegetables painted on the sides, headed over the city and toward the part of the dome that held the exit—and the energy barrier that guarded it.

  As Alisa flew over the buildings and closer to that barrier, she reached for the comm so she could get permission from air traffic control. It beeped first with an incoming message.

  “Star Nomad and unidentified shuttle,” a woman said, “you have not been cleared for exit.”

  “Can you clear us?” Alisa asked reasonably.

  “Not at this time.”

  Alisa’s stomach sank. Had Solstice changed her mind about letting them leave? Because she’d read between the lines that Alisa and her team intended to do something at that meeting. As far as she knew, Solstice had never commed Leonidas to tell him the location. All of their information thus far had come from their chef contact on Henneberry’s ship, the one who presumably believed Beck was running a legitimate company, a fearless legitimate company that had no trouble providing meals for all of the mafia heads at once.

  “What time would be better?” Alisa asked. “I’ll record it on my calendar. Oh, look. I have an opening in two minutes.”

  The air traffic controller closed the channel without responding.

  Alisa sighed and turned them to fly along the inside of the dome. The city was thirty miles wide, so they could take a few laps before seeing all the sights, but Alisa wasn’t interested in sightseeing now.

  “Leonidas,” she commed ship-wide, not sure if he had finished scraping off paint or not. “I may need you to chat convincingly with Solstice to get her to let us leave.”

  He did not answer, but a minute later, he padded into NavCom wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, his body still gleaming with the cleaning spray from the sanibox.

  “Uh,” Alisa said, letting herself ogle him for a moment, “I suppose that is the appropriate outfit for convincing chats with Solstice.”

  “Oh? Will she be impressed by the paint in my armpit hair?”

  Alisa snorted. “How did it get under there?”

  “My opponent was crafty.” He gave her a long look that seemed to contain equal parts admiration and exasperation. She found it appealing and wished she were in a towel with him—or maybe less.

  “You’re lucky Jelena didn’t team up with me. Just wait until next time.” Alisa smiled, still pleased that Jelena had spent an hour painting with her, talking about what she was learning from her tutors. The curriculum sounded balanced, with the children studying traditional academics as well as Starseer mental skills. If Durant—or someone who was less of an asteroid kisser than Durant—had come to Alisa to explain Jelena’s potential and what the studies would entail, she might have eventually been won over without the need for kidnapping and subterfuge. Of course, she had to remind herself that Durant wasn’t likely the only imperial loyalist in the group—or the only one that thought Jelena might further his future. “I think once we get Thorian back and life can return to a semblance of normality, she may be willing to help me paint you.”

  “Enticing.” Leonidas slid into the co-pilot’s seat and poked through the comm messages to find Solstice’s information.

  “Yes, you are,” she said with a wink, but he didn’t acknowledge it. His speculative look had disappeared at the mention of Jelena.

  It was just as well. No point in ogling and leering when they couldn’t—or at least shou
ldn’t—do anything now. Peals of laughter floated up from the direction of the mess hall. Jelena was still running around the ship with two of her age mates. Alisa hadn’t had much luck with enforcing a bedtime yet, since she and the adults had been up late with their projects, and that led to some crabby mornings. She admitted to being a touch gun shy at disciplining Jelena right now, not wanting to be the mean mom after so long apart, but bedtimes were on the list of things that would, she promised herself, return to normal once they finally finished dealing with Tymoteusz.

  “You’ve been letting Durant use the comm?” Leonidas asked.

  “What? No. I mean, I haven’t stopped anyone from sending messages from their cabins, but he doesn’t have a cabin.”

  “Looks like this came out of Abelardus’s cabin. Let me contact Solstice, and you can take a look.”

  “At someone’s private communications?”

  “I know that’s a hobby of yours,” he said dryly.

  “You eavesdrop a couple of times…” Alisa trailed off since Solstice’s face had come up on the monitor.

  Leonidas leaned forward. “Solstice, we’d like to leave your dome. Is there a problem?”

  “Colonel, love, is that a collarbone I see? You’re getting me terribly excited.”

  “I told you,” Alisa mouthed.

  “We have an appointment that must be kept,” Leonidas said.

  “Whatever you’re planning, don’t do it. There are Alliance ships in orbit all over the place up here.”

  Up here? Had she already left for the meeting? Alisa tried to tell if she was on a ship instead of in her compound. She spotted a couple of blinking lights behind Solstice, but curtains and more art lined the wall, too, and she couldn’t tell for certain.

  “We’re aware of the warship,” Leonidas said.

  “There are more coming this way.”

  Alisa frowned. Was that true? And if so, would it scare away the mafia heads? Would the meeting be postponed or moved?

  “Further, I’m off to the very important meeting that you convinced me I should go to,” Solstice said, smirking at him. “Presumably so you can seduce me in order to get information from me later.”