End Game

by Lindsay Buroker

  Chapter 17

  Alisa popped into NavCom before going to check on Jelena. With the immediate crisis averted, Alisa thought her daughter would be all right for a few minutes, and she wanted to check on the status of the tracker. Had Mica been able to locate the signal and link up with the device?

  “There you are,” Mica said, when Alisa stepped into NavCom. “I thought you didn’t want to delay.”

  “I don’t. There were Starseers blocking the passage.”

  “And screaming girls. I heard.” Not sounding particularly bothered by either, Mica moved from the pilot’s seat to the co-pilot’s seat and tapped the holodisplay on her netdisc to life. A compact box of wires sat next to it, plugged into the comm panel. “They’re already at the edge of our range.” She pointed to a couple of blips on the display. “That’s them. We’re here. This is where they were when I first started tracking them about six hours ago if you want to take the points and plot their current course.”

  “Will do.” Alisa sat down and reached for the navigation controls and also commed the Alliance shuttle. “Are you boys about ready to depart?”

  “You in a hurry to go somewhere Star Nomad?” came the reply.

  “Got some cargo to pick up and a life to get back on track.”

  The soldier grunted. “We’ll leave shortly.”

  Alisa closed the channel.

  “Cargo?” Mica asked. “Like a prince and a staff?”

  “We’ve been forbidden from showing up at Tymoteusz’s ship.”

  “Oh, and I’m sure you have plans to obey whoever gave that order.” Mica waved at the blips on the display.

  Alisa eyed those blips, worried that Henneberry’s ship would fly out of range while they dallied here. She opened the comm to their catering shuttle, wondering what they should do with it now that the gig was over. Leaving it here in empty space would be wasteful. Ideally, she should return it to whomever Leonidas had purloined it from, even if it had been originally stolen from the empire. But she didn’t want to send Bravo Six away with it when he might be a valuable resource against the chasadski. With no mind to control, he might have a better chance of sneaking up on them and deploying Tiang’s weapon than any of them. She had expected the research Starseer who had originally owned him to request that he be loaded onto the shuttle with the rest of their people. But he hadn’t said a word yet. Of course, after dealing with Leonidas, the Starseers might not have many words for Alisa, at least not ones they would say to her face.

  “Six?” Alisa said. “Take a look at the fuel in that shuttle, will you? How much farther do you think it can travel?”

  “That will depend on the number of course adjustments I must make, Lady Captain. There’s fuel enough to power up to full speed, and if the shuttle can coast, it could theoretically travel across the system. I have no need for life support, so mid-flight power requirements are minimal.”

  “Ah, good point.”

  “What is our destination? I can plot a course now.”

  “We’re not sure, but I’ll send over our tracking data so you can make a guess. Be prepared to leave shortly.”

  “Yes, Lady Captain.”

  “And Bravo Six?”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m glad you’re still with us.”

  Six paused, his logic circuits perhaps looking for an appropriate response. “This service is satisfying to me, also, but I do hope for a chance to resume research eventually.”

  “If we survive this, I’ll make sure that happens,” Alisa said. “I bet Tiang wouldn’t mind a medical research assistant.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Assuming he doesn’t get court-martialed,” Mica said.

  Alisa closed the comm. “I don’t think that’s likely. But I’m sure there will be ramifications for his AWOL status. I just hope he gave us something that will be useful.” She finished plugging a course into navigation. “As soon as the Alliance leaves and disappears from the sensors, we’re taking off.”

  “To seek cargo out in the middle of nowhere?”

  “We’ve found cargo there before,” she said, thinking of the staff.

  The Alliance shuttle commed them.

  “We’re detaching from your airlock now,” the soldier said. “Let me say what a total pleasure it is having all of these Starseers on board. Thank you so much for sharing your refugees with us.”

  “I sense sarcasm in your tone. Are they already harassing you?”

  “Three of them are talking into my head. Is that normal?”

  “For them it is. Nomad, out.” Alisa made a shooing motion at the blip on the sensor display that represented the Alliance shuttle, willing it to pull away quickly and zip toward Aldrin’s moons.

  She didn’t wait until the shuttle was out of sensor range before kicking her thrusters to life. She doubted Henneberry and however many mafia ships were going along with her to meet Tymoteusz would be traveling at top speed, but it didn’t take much speed to outpace the Nomad. With the passing of each minute, Alisa worried that they would fall out of range of the tracking device.

  “Let’s hope they don’t think it’s odd that you’re going to look for a cargo in the same direction that their fleet of Alliance ships is heading,” Mica said.

  “I’m hoping that pilot isn’t paying attention to us at all with those Starseers staring at the back of his head and chatting him up. Think how you would have felt a few months ago, before we’d met any of them, if a bunch of black-robed figures had descended on our ship. It was rough enough getting used to Abelardus.”

  Really, Abelardus thought into her mind.

  Shouldn’t you be getting some rest? The Nomad’s night cycle had started, the corridors automatically dimming. I’m not sure how far we’ll travel before Henneberry leads us to Tymoteusz, but being well rested would probably be a good idea.

  You sound so motherly when you say things like that.

  Alisa needed to find Jelena and say motherly things to her. She watched as the Alliance shuttle, heading in a different direction, grew distant on the sensor display.

  I thought you should know, Abelardus said, that Young-hee has stayed to help. As have Nyarai and Aaron, some of the Starseers originally from the Arkadius temple. They’ve been wanting a chance to strike against Tymoteusz and get that staff out of his hands.

  Good. Tell them thank you.

  Should I tell me thank you too?

  Sure. Feel free to deliver that message to yourself.

  “Do you mind watching NavCom for a while?” Alisa asked when the shuttle disappeared from sensors. “I just need to be notified if Henneberry changes her course, so I can come up and make an adjustment.”

  Mica frowned. “Believe it or not, I have work to do. I wasn’t planning to spend the night in NavCom.”

  “If you’re referring to that unauthorized construction project in the cargo hold, you most certainly do not have work to do. Unless it’s to disassemble it.”

  “Beck authorized its construction before he left.”

  “Beck doesn’t have the power to authorize anything more than the purchasing of brownie-making supplies.”

  “You’re sure? He seemed quite positive that adding a pond was within his realm.”

  “I won’t be gone that long,” Alisa said, standing. “I’ll come back to relieve you, and you can go work. Or sleep.”

  “Just leaving for a quickie with your cyborg?”

  “Sadly, no. There haven’t been any quickies—or longies—since Jelena returned.”

  “She doesn’t approve of your sex life?”

  “Not when that sex life doesn’t revolve around her father.” Alisa grimaced, not wanting to explain the details. “I need to go check on her.”

  “Fine, go. But don’t leave me for too long or I might start contemplating things I could build up here in NavCom. Yumi once mentioned that parakeets are cheerful. Maybe I could hang a cage next to the stuffed spider there.”

  “You’re a mean woman, Mica.
” Alisa walked through the hatchway.

  “Yes, I am.”

  Alisa checked Jelena’s cabin first and frowned when she found it empty. She wasn’t off skulking around the ship in the dark, was she? Or visiting the chickens? Deeming the latter likely, Alisa turned toward the cargo hold, but she noticed that her cabin’s hatch was ajar with faint light coming from it. She opened it and peeked inside.

  Jelena lay curled in a ball on the bunk. The wall lamp was on low, showing her face. Her tears had dried, but she didn’t look happy.

  “Everything all right?” Alisa asked, stepping inside and closing the hatch.

  “They’re all gone,” Jelena mumbled, her voice barely audible.

  “Your teachers? I thought you didn’t want to go with them.”

  “I don’t. I want to help find Thor. I meant the other kids. There’s nobody left to talk to or play with. It’s…”

  “Lonely?” Alisa suggested, coming over to sit on the edge of the bunk. “You can talk to me, you know. I’ve missed having you do that. I get lonely too.”

  Jelena seemed to contemplate that. Puzzled by the idea of adults getting lonely?

  “Do you miss Dad?” she asked quietly.

  “I do.” Remembering that her daughter would sense far more than she said, Alisa felt the need to explain further, lest her simple response seem dishonest. “I especially miss him when I’m alone and there’s nothing to distract me. I’ve been so busy these last few months, looking for you and getting all caught up in this Staff of Lore craziness, that there hasn’t been much quiet time for having thoughts of what used to be.”

  She frowned, not sure if that would make sense to a child.

  “I miss him now,” Jelena said. “And I missed him a lot when I was staying with Aunt Sylvia. After Durant came… and we were running, and then my life was getting super weird… sometimes, I forgot to miss him too.”

  “I think it’s natural for the living to continue to live when people have passed, and life does get busy sometimes, and you forget to mourn, but maybe we can make some special times together where we can do that, remember how your dad was and remember why we miss him.” She smiled, trying not to feel awkward as she spoke of such things. Jonah would have been much better at explaining death and the appropriate way to deal with it. Inconsiderate of him to be gone now instead of here, having this discussion with Jelena.

  “How?” Jelena sounded interested.

  “Well, I could try to find some candles, and we could have a little service, the way the Xerikesh describes, or we could just take turns talking about what we liked about him and what we miss.” She didn’t know if there was anything as poetical as a candle anywhere on the ship. Alejandro might have a couple in whatever box he kept his prayer beads, but she didn’t want to ask him for favors. If they wanted to mourn by an open flame, she might have to borrow Beck’s portable grill.

  Jelena giggled softly.

  “What?” Alisa asked.

  “A grill? You can’t get religious by the fire of a grill.”

  “No?” She ruffled Jelena’s hair. “I don’t think the Xerikesh mentions grills one way or another.”

  “You’re silly.”

  “Yes, I am. All right, we’ll just share what we miss about Dad, then. Sound good?”

  Jelena nodded and shifted positions, giving up the pillow and coming over to lay her head in Alisa’s lap. Alisa blinked away tears and stroked her hair. She’d thought she had missed watching cartoons and making candies with her daughter, but she had missed this even more. Being needed. Being the person that another person relied upon.

  “I’ll go first,” she said when she trusted her voice. “I miss the way your dad always knew how to handle situations and never lost his temper. He was much more even-keeled than I am. He knew better than to get cranky and spout off to his bosses and colleagues.” Many of whom had been imperial loyalists… Yes, he’d been far better at navigating treacherous waters than she. Now, aware of his secret Starseer abilities, Alisa wondered how much of that had been a defense mechanism. He’d dared not make trouble, lest that secret come out and endanger his family. Still, even at home, where it wouldn’t have mattered, he’d always been slow to anger and quick to smile.

  “I miss how he gave me rides and swung me through the air in the living room,” Jelena said. “And remember when we went to the swimming pool, and he tossed me up in the air so I could do flips?”

  “I do remember that.”

  It crossed Alisa’s mind that Leonidas would be excellent at tossing children and catching them, but she pushed the thought aside as soon as it arose. This wasn’t the time to try to bring him into their little family. She couldn’t push that. It would have to happen with time. She could at least be pleased by that tiny bit of progress tonight, that Jelena had recognized him as someone it was safe to hide behind.

  “I miss the way your dad was good at listening,” Alisa said. “A lot of people aren’t, but he always seemed to remember what I said, even if he was reading or watching one of his documentaries at the time. And I heard from his students that he was good at remembering little details they’d shared with him too.”

  “I miss that he would have gotten me a horse,” Jelena said.

  “What?” Alisa laughed. “We lived in a flat in a high-rise in the middle of the city. I’m quite positive he never promised you a horse.”

  “He did. While you were gone. He said we’d go out to Grandma’s farm once the war ended and it was safe to travel again, and he said I could ride the horses there.”

  “I’m not sure that’s quite the same as giving you a horse.”

  “I just want to ride one a little. And talk to it.”

  “We’ll do that, like I said. As soon as…” Alisa didn’t quite know what to call this upcoming confrontation with Tymoteusz.

  “As soon as the war is over?” Jelena asked quietly.

  Alisa winced, sad that her daughter saw their current situation as little different from what it had been like living in Perun Central that last couple of years. Did she believe that her world would change once again and that people would die and that there wouldn’t be a horse trip?

  “As soon as we get Thorian,” Alisa said firmly. “Which we are going to do.”

  Blessings of the Suns Trinity, she had never been much for praying, but she closed her eyes and begged any deity that might be listening to allow her to get that boy and take her daughter horseback riding. Jelena made a contented noise.

  “You haven’t told me much about him,” Alisa said.

  “Thor?” Jelena yawned. “We used to play together because most of the others were all older or acted like we didn’t know anything. And I didn’t know anything. I didn’t know anything about Starseers or how to be one. Aunt Sylvia didn’t teach me anything. She wasn’t one. It’s not her fault. She didn’t know. But Thor showed me some stuff and helped me get caught up, and we used to sneak away together sometimes and explore these tunnels that were around one of our schools.”

  Alisa listened in mild horror, realizing those must have been the tunnels under Cleon Moon. The kids were lucky they hadn’t been eaten by dinosaurs.

  “He cried sometimes,” Jelena said. “I punched Travis when he saw it and laughed. Then I got in trouble for hitting one of the other kids. But I didn’t tell them why I did it. Thor didn’t want people to know he’d cried. But he was sad a lot. Both of his parents died. We were kind of the same.”

  Alisa smiled at the idea of her daughter being “kind of the same” as the prince and heir to the empire, but she supposed kids didn’t worry about titles and governments. And with the empire gone, what was Thorian anyway? Just a ten-year-old boy in need of a family.

  “I miss him,” Jelena murmured, yawning again. “And I miss Dad.”

  “I know.” Alisa continued stroking her hair, suspecting she would doze off soon.

  Jelena turned her head to look up. “What should I call your… him?” She waved toward the wall in the directi
on of Leonidas’s cabin.

  “Your him?” Alisa teased, because teasing was easier than broaching this difficult subject. “Is that the way those Starseers taught you to speak?”

  “There aren’t rules on how to speak when you’re telepathing.”

  “Ah.” Telepathing? Was that a word? Maybe it was one of those fancy Starseer symbols she’d seen etched on their old ruins.

  “Tommy told me to call him Tommy, but it’s weird saying grownups’ names. Remember how Grandpa used to make me call him sir?” Jelena made a face.

  “He wanted me to call him sir too.” Alisa smirked. “I’m sure Leonidas wouldn’t mind if you called him Leonidas.” He would likely be tickled if Jelena spoke to him at all. Alisa didn’t think that had happened yet.

  “Lady Westfall calls—called—him Colonel.” Jelena’s face scrunched up. “Did you fight together in the war? But he’s a cyborg. Aren’t they…”

  “He was an officer in the imperial army, yes.”

  “So you were enemies?”

  “Technically, but we never met when I was serving the Alliance.” For that, Alisa was grateful. She still shuddered at memories of cyborgs in red combat armor invading her ship and mowing down her fellow soldiers. And friends. “The war is over now. People are just people. He’s agreed to work for me.”

  Jelena’s confusion faded, and she offered her sly smile. “That was stellar when you told him to make Lady Westfall leave, and he did. And she ran away.”

  “Yes, he’s a good ally to have.” Alisa did not say more, afraid the conversation might touch upon the kiss Jelena had seen her share with Leonidas in sickbay. She didn’t want to talk about that now. They would get Thorian, slip away from whatever battle remained, and go ride horses together. She imagined Leonidas on a horse and smirked again.

  “He would need a giant horse,” Jelena said, apparently monitoring her thoughts. She turned her head, resting her cheek in Alisa’s lap again.

  “Maybe two.”

  “Mom, you can’t ride two horses.”

  “If anyone could, he could.”

  “I just want one,” Jelena murmured, her voice sounding groggy again. “To pet and to talk to. To be friends with.”