Exton shuffled through the different drawings, looking for any signs of weaknesses he’d missed before. He knew they had been lucky in the shuttle. There was too much at risk for them to depend on luck this time.
“I miss him,” Emery murmured softly.
Exton nodded. “I do, too.” He smiled down at the blueprints of the Perdition. “I don’t think I’ve seen this since we were barely teenagers.”
“The Perdition is almost ten years old,” Emery reminded him. “We were able to steal it only after the URS put all the finishing touches on the inside.”
“I’ll be twenty-five in a few months. No need to make me feel older than I need to.”
“You grew up quick,” Patty said, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. “My sister would be proud of you.”
Exton only nodded.
“Look at this.” She pointed to a side note on the screen. “It’s one of Papa’s notes. ‘212528—see Lu for details, tell Exton about Ark.’”
“Who’s Lu?” Exton asked. “I don’t remember anyone with that name.”
“Papa did have a system all his own,” Emery reminded him with a sad smile. “Remember? Even his friends called him ‘Boötes.’”
“Aunt Patty,” Exton called. “Do you know who Lu is, the one Papa is talking about here?”
Patty frowned as she glanced at the blueprints. “Let me think it over,” she said. “We have to take care of this mess first.”
“True.” Exton turned back to the main screen where the satellite imaging was coming in. He saw the first picture, and saw that only the Craftcarrier was blurry.
He had been on the Perdition for the majority of the past six years. Exton knew that there was a lot of technological advancement being made. It wouldn’t be hard to make an image scrambler to help camouflage vehicles, he thought. Most of the technology before the URS was created had been lost, supposedly, but even the Perdition had been outfitted with a missile scrambler capable of messing with smaller missiles.
“Blow up that image,” he called to one of the techs behind him, pointing at the newest image. There was a large, black mass on the picture, and he had a sinking feeling he knew what it was.
“Yes, sir.”
Exton watched as the black hole on the photo was enlarged.
The remnants of a cargo ship were blasted into dust, with only random scraps of twisted, burning metal sticking out of the darkened earth every few feet.
“Well, we don’t have to worry about going to pick up Brock’s ship now,” Emery said with a sigh. “That might make it harder to get rid of him.”
“We still have that fighter one of Aerie’s brothers came in on,” Exton said.
“I guess that’s true. Maybe that’s what Brock was doing in the hangar earlier this morning.”
Exton frowned. “Why was he in the hangar? I thought he was in the med ward for his injury.”
“He was. But I saw him coming out of the hangar and heading back that way a few hours after midnight.”
“Where is he now?” Exton asked.
“He should be heading down to the mountain shelters with the others,” Emery said. “If you’re worried about him, I’ll see if I can find him on the cams.”
“Do it.”
“Exton, the Craftcarrier is hovering around the area surrounding the ship,” Patty said. “It looks like it’s waiting for orders.”
“Henry,” Exton called. “Can you have a tech check the comm feeds for any filtration?”
“Will do, Captain.”
“Let me know what they pick up.”
“Exton,” Emery said, interrupting. “Brock’s down by the hangar. He’s got Aerie with him.”
“He told me that he didn’t want to leave without Aerie, and if he thinks he can take her away from me again, he’s crazy.”
“He might be crazier than you think,” Emery said. “Look.”
Exton glanced down at the monitor where Emery was looking. Rage and fear collided into him, as he saw Aerie struggling against Brock in the commissary hallway.
“What are you waiting for?” Emery asked. “Go and help her.”
Exton hesitated, looking around. The room took on a strange, surreal quality. They were trying to prepare for a possible battle. He had a responsibility to his community.
“Go,” Emery urged him again. “We can take care of things here.”
“Thank you,” he murmured. “I’ll be back in a few moments. Ground all flights in the meantime. Once I have Aerie, clear them. If we need to send ships out, we will.”
Emery nodded. “You got it.”
“Don’t forget, I’m here, too,” Patty called as she leaned over another data screen with an analyst. “I’ll look for more weaknesses in the carrier design and compare the blueprints while you’re gone.”
Exton barely heard them. His anger was already simmering around inside him, his heartbeat pounding between his ears as he headed off to find Brock.
♦26♦
Aerie gasped as she barely managed to slip under Brock’s advance. “Brock, what do you think you’re doing?” she asked, outraged. “Stop it!”
“I might not be able to convince you to come with my words,” he said, “but I know I can still win in a fight against you.”
“This is not who you are,” Aerie yelled back as she dodged another punch.
“Well, we’re even then,” Brock said. “You haven’t been yourself either, not since graduation.”
“If you think this will make me love you, you’re wrong,” Aerie told him as she slipped down into a slide tackle. She was relieved to see it work, as Brock stumbled and had to brace himself against the wall.
“I still want to protect you, Aerie. Even if you don’t love me, even if you’ve been brainwashed,” Brock said as he reached for her again.
“If I have been brainwashed, it was by the State,” Aerie insisted. She gasped in pain as he caught her by twisting her injured shoulder.
Aerie elbowed him in the gut and slammed her foot on his instep to break his hold. When he loosened his grip, she wiggled free.
Before he could say another word, she turned and fled, holding her shoulder as it pulsed with pain. Aerie bit her lip, wanting nothing more than to find her mother, or Exton, or anyone who could help her find a way to destroy the tracer on her wrist.
Fear laced through her while her shoulder hummed in flinching pain. While Brock’s methods were appalling, Aerie knew he was likely right: She would have to leave, especially if there was no way to neutralize the tracker.
I don’t want to leave. It feels wrong to leave.
She just turned the corner when she ran right into Exton. “Exton, thank goodness you found me.” Despite the pain her shoulder, she wrapped her arms around him tightly, hiding her face in his chest.
His arms embraced her easily. “Aerie,” he said. “I was just coming to find you. Where’s Brock?”
“Back there,” she managed, grimacing in pain.
“If he hurt you, I swear to God I’ll—”
“There’s no time right now,” Aerie said. “The URS is heading here, to attack.”
He frowned. “How do you know?” he asked. “We only sent the signal for an evac drill. An attack has not been verified.”
“Brock told me,” Aerie said. “He told me I was branded with a tracer at the Reeducation Center. Serena found it while she was taking care of me during our escape.”
“What are you—”
Aerie was about to show him the tracer when Brock came running around the corner. He halted as he saw Aerie holding onto Exton, an angry blush crossing his cheeks.
Exton tightened his grip on Aerie. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I was trying to protect her, and Petra,” Brock insisted. “She’s got a tracer in her blood. It’s standard procedure at the Reeducation Center.”
“And you would know this because ... ?”
“Because I am a high-ranking officer in the military,” Brock sai
d. “Or I was, before I gave it all up to get Aerie.” He glared at her once more, and Aerie, despite the pain in her shoulder, softened.
He shifted his feet, clearly uncomfortable. “I forgot about it until Serena was running diagnostics on her before we came here. And when the Craftcarrier showed up, I forgot it entirely.”
Aerie could feel the tension thicken between them.
“There you are!”
They all turned to see Serena as she charged down the hall. “Come on, Aerie,” she said, clearly disgruntled. “Our mother asked me to go and find you so we can head to the mountains.”
“Serena,” Brock said. “You can tell them I’m not lying.”
She sighed. “Oh, great,” she grumbled. “Is this some kind of weird fight over my sister?”
“Not at the moment,” Exton said, as he shot a look of warning over at Brock. “He says Aerie has a tracker on her.”
Serena nodded. “That’s standard URS procedure,” she said.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Aerie demanded. She pulled back from Exton, ready to argue as menacingly as she could. “I put everyone here in danger.”
“Relax,” Serena said. “The tracer has a relatively weak signal. It would be highly unlikely if they did find you, especially this far out from their other bases.”
“Well, the Craftcarrier we ran into is off-course,” Aerie said. “What do you think about that?”
A look of genuine surprise settled onto Serena’s face. “That’s unfortunate,” she muttered.
“Unfortunate?” Aerie roared. “I could be putting everyone in danger! We have to get rid of it, now.” She glanced up at Exton. “Please, don’t make me leave.”
He shook his head. “No, we can fix this. Right?” He glanced over at Serena for an answer.
“It’ll be hard to get rid of it,” Serena said. She reached forward and pulled back Aerie’s jacket sleeve, revealing the small line of numbers surrounding the burned skin. “This is a special kind of synthetic material. It’s burned into the body and the blood system. If you try to cut it out, you risk cutting down to the bone.”
Exton ran his hand over the small bumps. “What else can we do?”
“I’d talk to the med team,” Serena said. “They might be able to do something with it. Haven’t you dealt with this before?”
“We have tried to find a way to undo the damage of the Reeducation Center,” Exton admitted. “Only a few people have managed to overcome its programming, but this must be part of a newer protocol system. We’ve never seen this before that I know of.”
Serena smirked. “The URS was trying to stop you,” she said. “That’s why they began marking them, I’ll bet.”
“And you don’t see anything wrong with tagging people like cattle?” Exton said.
“Not if they’re a danger to themselves or society,” Serena said, easily dismissing the question.
Before he could argue with her further, Aerie tugged on his arm. “Do you think Meredith would know about it?” she asked him quietly.
“I don’t know,” he whispered back.
“From what I know, it’s a two-part signal tracer,” Brock said. “There’s a part in the blood system, and then there’s a biometric signifier in the strip. You would need to remove the band and give her a full transfusion to get rid of the tracker.”
Aerie jolted as Exton’s comm beeped again. “We don’t have time for that,” she said.
“I will make time for you,” Exton said. He turned to Brock and Serena. “Follow me. We’re going to head back to the med ward. First, we need to find out what is going on. And then, we’ll work to make things right.”
Aerie latched onto his hand as he led the way. “I could be putting everyone in danger again,” she said.
“Or Brock could be lying,” Exton told her, so quietly only she could hear. “Either way, you’re right. We don’t have the time for this. If you are sending out a signal, we can find another way to stop it.”
“You can?” Aerie asked.
“The emergency shelters were carved out of the mountain,” Exton said. “It’s deep and insulated enough it would be unlikely that the signal would go through.”
“Why are we going to the med ward then?”
“I’ll set you up with a tech,” he said. “We need to see for ourselves what’s going on. I don’t trust either of them, Aerie, and I don’t want to put Petra or you in any additional danger.”
The crippling sensation of fear and devastation that had settled into her upon learning of her tracker receded ever so slightly. “I love you,” Aerie whispered.
He smiled at her, bringing her hand up to his lips, never breaking the cadence of his pace.
EXTON WAITED UNTIL Tyra, one of the medics Aerie remembered from the Perdition, had settled her into a small room with Serena and Brock before turning to his comm.
He allowed himself a moment to breathe, trying to relax. Exton had known that taking his crew and his community to the frontlines of a war they had been eager to ignore was bound to be exhausting.
It’s one thing to anticipate it, and another to live through it.
The comm beeped again, and this time he responded. “Yes?”
“The Craftcarrier is moving toward Petra,” Emery said. Her tone was dark and sad. “Merra’s here, and starting to call her forces for takeoff.”
“How did she get in the control room?” Exton grumbled.
“Patty let her in. Like it or not, Merra is the leader of Chaya’s forces.”
“Like it? I hate it.” He let his head fall into his hand at the thought. “She’s not waiting for any plan?”
“That’s the good news,” Emery said. “Patty’s found a few areas on the Craftcarrier where, if we can hit them, it’ll stop them.”
“If that’s the case, taking them out over the water would be our best bet for a short battle.” Exton’s hope renewed. “How many fighters do we have ready?”
“Merra has four of her fighters present,” Emery said, “including her own.”
“How many do we have?”
“We have your shuttle and Dorian’s fighter, as well as another MENANCE fighter.” Emery paused. “Tyler has relieved Henry from his shift and wants to know if you want backup.”
“We have a small op ready,” Exton said. “Tell him to have them on standby. Did Rhodey report in?”
“He did.” Emery paused. “He said from what he could see, it looked just like fission missiles and some lasers that destroyed the cargo ship.”
“Good to know they’re not packing anything else,” Exton said.
“Speaking of which, Rhodey wanted me to tell you that it would have to be an absolute last resort to drop one of the Perdition’s nuclear bombs on the Craftcarrier, especially over the sea. The radiation could get into Petra’s water system and cause a lot of other problems for us.”
“He’s never been one to work when he didn’t want to,” Exton muttered.
“I happen to agree with him, as a student of horticulture.”
“I agree with him, too,” Exton assured her. “I just wish he would’ve given me more options.”
“I know. I know you want to protect Petra as much as I do.”
He nodded. “I’ll be there shortly. Have what fighters we have get ready to follow Merra. I’m sure she’ll love having more power.”
“Roger that.”
Exton glanced back to see Tyra and Serena were discussing different medical techniques, Brock was sitting in the corner, and Aerie was watching him. Exton gave her a small smile, and when her eyes filled with worry, he knew she had seen through its illusion.
He walked over to her, careful to avoid the IV Tyra had recently stuck in her hand. “The Craftcarrier is heading this way,” he told her.
“If you need to go, then go,” Aerie told him.
He could tell she was trying to be brave.
“Tyra said this shouldn’t take long, since she knows what to look for, but I know you’re needed in ot
her places,” she said.
“I have some time,” he said, hoping he was telling her the truth. “And I want to stay with you for now. I don’t want you trying to leave Petra or sneak out of this medic ward. If you were the one who tipped off the URS to our location, it doesn’t matter now. They know we’re here.”
“I’m so sorry.” The defeat and anguish in her voice crushed him.
“We knew it was only a matter of time,” Exton said. “There was no point in hoping we could evade them for the rest of our lives. This just moves up the schedule some.”
“It also put you in the position of fighting a full-blown war.”
“I have always wondered if it would come to this,” Exton told her quietly. “I have been wondering it since long before I met you.”
“I wish we hadn’t met,” Aerie said. “Then you would be safe.”
“Safe but still alone,” he told her. “And still facing this reality. It’s better this way.”
“Not in every way,” Aerie insisted.
He sighed. “There are few things in this life that are perfect. But,” he said, reaching over and threading his fingers through her hair, “this is one of them.”
She gave him a small, grateful smile.
“We still have a little time,” Exton told her. “Merra’s leading a small coalition of our air forces against the carrier.”
Aerie wrinkled her nose. “I can’t believe you agreed to that.”
“I didn’t. She and my aunt are becoming fast friends, apparently. But she is a good pilot. I saw her in action at Chaya.”
Aerie nodded slowly. “I remember one of my instructors once told me she had scored high in combat training, too.”
They sat in silence for several moments, while Tyra and Serena continued to discuss the different machines and medical practice, and Brock continued to sulk in his seat.
Tyra finally turned to Aerie. “You do have liquid transmitted in your blood,” she said. “And the strip here does contain a biometric chip.”
“See?” Brock stood up and looked haughtily at Exton. “I wasn’t lying.”
“You said I’d need a transfusion to get it out of my system,” Aerie said. She glanced back to Tyra. “Is that true?”
The Breadth of Creation Page 24
