End Game

by Lindsay Buroker

  “Young-hee,” Abelardus said, touching her jaw. “Since you won’t go into a trance right now, will you help me work on this?”

  Young-hee, still gripping her wounded side, looked daunted by the idea, but she took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

  “Just follow my lead,” Abelardus said with gentleness in his voice that Alisa hadn’t heard before.

  She hoped he was planning something miraculous. She watched the sensors and the holodisplay showing the positions of all the ships in relation to her shuttle, and threw a few zigzags into their escape flight, hoping to make a tougher target if—when—someone fired at them.

  Before they reached the freighters she’d meant to fly between, the first e-cannon blast came. The sensors lit up in warning, and she banked hard. She should have been too late, but the blast skimmed starboard of their previous position. It would have missed even if she hadn’t dodged. It wouldn’t have missed by much, but it would have missed.

  “That’s the yacht,” she mused, continuing evasive maneuvers as she kept heading toward the freighters. If she could put one of them between her and the yacht, it would have a harder time hitting her.

  Another e-cannon fired. Alisa dove hard enough that the shuttle’s artificial gravity had trouble compensating. Beck groaned. She didn’t know if it was from queasiness or his wound.

  Outside, the e-cannon blast zipped past, a fiery orange streak that trailed through the space they had occupied.

  “We’re going to have a hard time dodging them forever if they give chase,” Alisa said. Thus far, the yacht had not moved. She hoped they were busy dealing with the chaos she had left behind.

  “Just keep doing what you’re doing,” Leonidas said quietly from the back. He was sitting on the deck, his back to the hull, a hand on his abdomen, his arm bleeding freely.

  Alisa worried about how much damage he had taken, and Beck and Young-hee were injured too. She had to get her team away. They needed Alejandro’s attentions sooner rather than later.

  “Yumi,” Alisa said, flying under the belly of the freighter that hadn’t moved yet. “I’m promoting you from science officer to nurse.” She was the only one who wasn’t wounded or concentrating on Starseers things. “Can you find some bandages for our injured?”

  Yumi was gripping the armrests of her seat with white-knuckled hands as she stared at all the ships on the display, including those giving chase. But she jerked out a nod and started hunting for first-aid supplies.

  “Feel free to drug them if that’ll make them feel better,” Alisa said.

  A third e-cannon blast came from the yacht, this one missing well wide. Alisa dodged, pretending she was worried about those attacks, but she’d already figured out that whoever was at the weapons controls over there wasn’t trying to hit her. She assumed it was Tomich. Unless she and her ass had left more of impression on the captain than she thought.

  Unfortunately, Tomich couldn’t do anything about the mafia ships. Even though she hadn’t done anything to them, that black one and three others were arrowing after her. They all had more speed than the shuttle. This craft was more maneuverable than the Nomad, but that was all it had going for it.

  “The black ship is firing,” she said, diving again, wondering how she would get away. The mafia ships were being conservative now, with so many of their brethren in the area, but once Alisa took the shuttle into open space, it would be an easy target.

  “But not at us,” she said, dumbfounded as the blazer bolts she’d thought were heading for the shuttle instead clipped the wing of another mafia ship.

  An accident? Intentional?

  Before she could decide, the ship fired back. Several ships fired. And not all at the big, black craft. It raised its shields and turned, no longer following the shuttle but facing the vessels firing at it. Soon, at least seven of the mafia ships were flinging attacks at each other.

  A broadcast message lit up the comm panel, and Alisa turned it on, even though she doubted it was for her.

  “Cease fire, cease fire.” That was the captain of Henneberry’s yacht. “This is a peaceful meeting, as promised when we contacted you. If you continue shooting at each other, we will step in and put an end to the fighting.”

  Alisa glanced at Abelardus. “Is that you two?”

  “Riling up the mafia bridge crews?” Abelardus opened a single eyelid and smiled slyly at Young-hee. “Perhaps.”

  She managed a return smile for him—at some point, she’d laid her hand atop his hand, which still rested on her arm.

  “They’re natural enemies,” Young-hee told Alisa. “It’s not taking much to stir them into combat mode.”

  “But we’ll be out of range before long,” Abelardus added. “We won’t be able to continue to influence them then. Fly fast, Captain.”

  “Working on it.” Alisa stopped the evasive maneuvers and set a course straight back toward Aldrin. She could veer off to rendezvous with the Nomad once she was sure there wouldn’t be pursuit.

  “Nice job,” Abelardus murmured quietly to Young-hee.

  She nodded at him. “Thanks, you too.”

  Beck sucked in a pained breath when Yumi cut away his shirt to apply bandages to his bullet wound.

  “You doing all right, Beck?” Alisa asked, alternating between watching the ships on the sensors and making sure her people weren’t dying.

  “Been better.”

  Leonidas was slumped in the back, his eyes open, but he didn’t look like he had the energy to move forward and take one of the seats. Maybe the deck seemed more comfortable.

  “I appreciate you taking that bullet for us, Tommy,” Alisa said. “Thank you. I guess we should all bring weapons with us next time we cater.”

  Leonidas cleared his throat and gave her an expectant look. Yes, he had taken more than a bullet for them. He’d taken a cyborg—and dodged fire from all those security men.

  “I was going to thank you next,” Alisa said. “Beck looked more pitiful, so I did him first.”

  “More pitiful? Are you sure?” Leonidas looked down at his arm and grimaced. That gash he’d received had cut through flesh and muscle, all the way to his implant, a glimpse of the grayish material visible through the blood. He seemed to realize that and shifted his arm so it wouldn’t be visible to her.

  She smiled gently at him. As if she didn’t know about his exotic insides by now.

  “Thank you for protecting us, Leonidas,” she said softly.

  “You’re welcome.”

  A beep came from the control panel. Alisa groaned and turned back to it. Had one of the mafia ships decided to chase them?

  “It’s that Alliance warship again,” Abelardus said. “The one with your favorite admiral.”

  He was right. And it was flying straight toward their shuttle.

  Alisa would have preferred dealing with the mafia, but she tried to smile for her beleaguered team. “Isn’t this fortuitous? If they capture us, we can rescue Stanislav while we’re there.”

  “Uh,” Beck said, “who will rescue us?”

  Chapter 15

  The grab beam enveloped the shuttle with a flash of blue and a jolt.

  “That didn’t take long,” Alisa said glumly.

  She had changed course several times to try to evade the warship, and she’d thought about fleeing back to the mafia ships, but she knew Henneberry and her buddies wouldn’t hesitate to kill her. She hoped that the Alliance, still wanting to get Tiang back, would keep her alive, at least long enough to question her.

  She leaned back from the controls, letting go. There was little point in fighting now. The beam held them immobile.

  A forcefield lowered on the side of the warship, and the shuttle was inevitably drawn toward a large bay, this one stark, white, and utilitarian. Military.

  “Rude of them to capture and delay us when we’ve got people in need of medical treatment,” Beck said.

  “I agree,” Alisa said. “I’ll try to get them to send a doctor
in to fix you up while they’re interrogating me.”

  “That’s thoughtful of you, Captain.”

  “Interrogation,” Abelardus said. “I can’t wait.”

  Alisa thought about asking him to try to find the person operating the grab beam and tinker with his mind, but with nothing but open space for hours around them, Alisa couldn’t imagine that it would matter. Even if she managed to escape the warship once, it would have plenty of time to catch up to the shuttle again. Besides, if she was taken aboard, maybe there was a chance that she could escape, find Stanislav, and free him. Too bad her most powerful ally was lying on the deck in the back with his eyes closed.

  I resent that, Abelardus spoke into her mind. I’m just as powerful an ally as he is. Did your cyborg cause twelve mafia ships to start firing at each other? I don’t think so.

  I only saw seven firing.

  You were counting?

  So I could shoot down your hyperbole later, yes, of course. Alisa managed a quick smile at him, though her gaze was soon drawn back to the hangar bay opening as the shuttle was pulled closer and closer to it.

  I think their grab-beam operator is drugged, Abelardus said. As is the bridge crew. I’m not able to get a read on their thoughts.

  They must be getting wise to the proliferation of Starseers in the system these days.

  More likely, they’re scared pissless that Stanislav will wake up in his cell. And be cranky.

  That might be true. If Agosti had received a full report on how Stanislav had thwarted his boarding team back on Sepiron Station, he would know to be wary of his powers.

  The shuttle entered the bay and floated down onto the deck between two rows of bombers and strikers. Even though she was in a perilous situation, Alisa found herself gazing wistfully at them. She missed the days of flying for the Alliance, of being a faithful, trusted, and unquestioned member of the organization.

  A thunk sounded, and an alert flashed on the control panel as the shuttle was locked down. The forcefield rose again behind them. Alisa turned off the engines. They weren’t going to get a chance to fly anywhere, not anytime soon.

  “Do we have a plan?” Beck asked.

  “Yeah,” Alisa said, “you sit there and let Yumi fondle your shoulder while I go chat with Admiral Agosti.”

  “I’m not opposed to feminine fondling, even though she stabbed me with an injector, so I can’t feel it much right now. But I don’t think you should go out there without some tough men to guard you.”

  “Abelardus can come with me.”

  Beck’s head lolled to the side so he could look at Abelardus. “He doesn’t look very tough when his hair is twisted up in that girly bun.”

  Abelardus pulled his braids down so they hung around his shoulders. “Better?”

  “Maybe Leonidas is strong enough to go with you,” Beck suggested.

  Abelardus glared at him.

  “No,” Alisa said, looking at the view screen. A door had opened, and two squads of combat-armor-wearing soldiers were marching out. “You and Leonidas will stay here. Yumi and Young-hee too. Yumi, if you get a chance, Leonidas looks like he could use some bandages.”

  “He’s my next stop.”

  Alisa stood up and hit the button to open the hatch, doubting anything could be gained by making the soldiers cut their way into the shuttle. Two men without combat armor came into the hangar, following the squads of soldiers. One was the dour-faced Admiral Agosti, which did nothing to reassure Alisa, but the second wore stately whites and grays, with a cape that nearly brushed the deck behind him. The dark-skinned man walked with a slight hitch to his step, as if he wore a knee brace under his elegant trousers. Admiral—now Senator—Hawk.

  Alisa didn’t know how much reassurance to take from his presence, but he’d at least worked with her team and fought alongside Leonidas back in that volcano on Arkadius. Maybe he would be more reasonable than Agosti.

  She picked her way past Yumi and walked down the aisle of seats toward the open rear hatch. At some point in the last thirty seconds, Leonidas had gone from horizontal to vertical. He stood with his jacket sliced in several spots, blood still dripping from his wounds, but he clenched his destroyer in one hand, and his jaw was set in a fiercely determined visage.

  With concern and love tightening her throat, Alisa peeled the last few shreds of his prosthetics off his face. She grimaced at the bruises starting to darken his skin and the swelling of a split lip. That fight had been rougher than she had realized.

  “Why don’t you wait here for nurse-in-training Yumi?” she suggested. “Or there,” she added, pointing at the deck. “In a supine position. With pillows and a mug of hot cocoa.”

  “I don’t think this shuttle came equipped with pillows or cocoa.”

  “Probably not. It was an imperial troop shuttle, after all. I’m sure the empire would have hated the idea of its troops luxuriating with comforts.”

  “Very much so.”

  Leonidas must have heard the soldiers approaching outside because he turned from her, stepping up to the threshold of the hatch and facing outward. The ramp had not deployed. Maybe it had been broken—or ripped off—when the cyborgs had been trying to get in.

  As Leonidas glowered down at the armored soldiers who came into view, pointing their rifles at his chest, Alisa stepped up to his side. She tried to ease in front of him, hoping the men would be less likely to shoot an unarmed woman, but his arm came up to her waist, anchoring her to the deck. It seemed he would accept her at his side, but he wouldn’t let her be a shield. Not that she was surprised.

  “Afternoon, gentlemen,” Alisa said to the glassy faceplates of the soldiers—from her angle above them, she couldn’t see any of their eyes. “It’s fortunate you came by. There’s this epic mafia meeting going on over that way.” She waved in what might have been the direction she’d come from. “You should probably check it out. I understand they’re planning to overthrow the government. Our government.” She pointed at them, then touched her chest. She was still a loyal Alliance citizen, yes, sir. And she would appreciate it if they treated her like one.

  The men—there had to be at least twenty of them—stared at them without answering, their rifles pointing unwaveringly at Leonidas’s chest.

  “But if you insist on spending time with me and my team,” Alisa went on, smiling and trying not to feel daunted, “several of my people were injured while confronting those would-be usurpers. If you could call a medic or two down here, that would be extremely useful.”

  “What kind of fool confronts multiple mafia ships in a shuttle without weapons?” a familiar voice asked.

  Senator Hawk stepped around the back corner of the shuttle and looked up at Alisa, his eyebrows raised.

  “Sir,” Admiral Agosti whispered, easing into view and grabbing his arm. “You shouldn’t get so close. She’s got her pet cyborg with her.”

  “I’d say from past experience that she’s more dangerous than he is.”

  “Really,” Leonidas said, managing to sound indignant despite his injuries.

  “I’m sure he’s referring to my wild unpredictability rather than my martial talents,” Alisa said.

  “Indeed,” Hawk said. “If you’ll be so good as to drop your weapons and come down here, I’m sure it would set these soldiers’ minds at ease.” He extended a hand toward the armored men. “Then we can relax and have a nice chat. One where you let me know where my soon-to-be father-in-law is.”

  “Probably turning my ship into a quarantine zone.”

  Hawk’s eyes narrowed slightly. He was being amiable enough, but she doubted he would hesitate to use force against them if pushed.

  “Better put down the destroyer,” she told Leonidas.

  His eyes also narrowed. She thought he would prove mulish and refuse, but he flipped the weapon’s safety on, held his arm straight out, and dropped it. It clattered to the deck.

  “Anything else?” Hawk asked, eyeing his belt.

  “No,” Leonidas said
.

  Hawk looked at Alisa.

  “I don’t have anything,” she said. “We’ve been posing as caterers. We didn’t so much confront the mafia people as we got ourselves invited to their shindig. But as it turns out, you can board the ship of a rich businesswoman easily enough. It’s leaving that’s a problem.”

  “Come down.” Hawk pointed at the deck. Maybe he didn’t want to have their chat where he had to crane his neck to look up at them.

  “We will,” Alisa said, “but can you please send a medic? I wasn’t joking. I have a man with a bullet in his gut, an injured woman, and Leonidas could use…” She looked him up and down, not sure where to start the list.

  “Hot cocoa,” he murmured.

  Hawk’s eyebrows rose.

  “It’s been a rough day,” Alisa said.

  Sensing that they would soon lose their patience—they no doubt wanted to search the shuttle and make sure nobody with weapons lurked inside—she put her hand on the hatchway to hop down. Leonidas landed before she did. A couple of the armored men twitched, their rifles shifting toward the destroyer on the deck. Alisa didn’t know what they thought would happen if he lunged for it. They were all protected by their armor. Of course, technically, Agosti and Hawk were close enough that Leonidas might have lunged for them. She doubted he would make a hostage of Hawk after they had worked together. Agosti might be a different story. He had, after all, rudely ordered an attack on the station while Leonidas had been undergoing his surgery.

  “Search the shuttle,” Agosti ordered as soon as Leonidas and Alisa stepped away from the entrance. He glanced at Hawk, who nodded slightly. “Take the injured men to sickbay. Under guard.”

  Alisa took some comfort from the fact that Hawk appeared to be in charge. It seemed strange, since he had only a small amount of gray in his wiry black hair, whereas Agosti must have been fifteen to twenty years his senior, but Agosti hadn’t been a war hero and wasn’t now a government representative. Indeed, Alisa found Hawk more intimidating in civilian clothes that seemed stately and fitting for a man in office than she had when he’d been an officer in combat armor.