Of Sea and Stars (Partners Book 3)

by Melissa Good

  There was no Uncle Max. No old uncles or aunts, and no brothers or any of their family. Jake was still in lockup, and Tayler was somewhere, bewildered, bereft of his own family in a place now very strange.

  Not really his home anymore.

  She was tired. Now, after it all, her head hurt like crazy again, and she knew if she peeled off her uniform there would be lots of bruises under it, and for what, really?

  No win, anywhere. At best, she’d kept them from being obliterated by a much superior force that despite her bravado could not have been stopped.

  Jess thought about it. Was that a win? She looked around the table. Fuck.

  Dev was in ops, persistently trying to get information from Base Ten. Horribly worried about Kurok. Jess lifted her eyes and saw a bio alt enter. “Hey.”

  “Hello.” The bio alt came over to her. “We would like to bring some food to the operations center. Is that all right?”

  “Sure,” Jess said. Dev had shared a plate of seaweed rolls with her, but she figured more couldn’t hurt. “Take that basket over there.”

  “Thank you.”

  CeeBee? BeeTee? “What’s your name,” Jess asked.

  “I am AyeBee 354.”

  Right. “How about I call you, Abe?” Jess said. “I’m not good at remembering numbers.”

  The bio alt regarded her with surprised interest. “My crèche name was Alvin,” he said, after a pause to retrieve the basket. “Would you like to address me as that?”

  “Alvin. Sure.” Jess watched as he left the kitchen with the basket, taking the task of someone who probably died in some pointless way in some corridor and was now fish food.

  “This is profoundly fucked up,” Jason said after a pause.

  “Yeah,” Jess agreed. “What do we do now? Go back to base?” She sucked at her soup, then straightened a little as Dev entered. “Any luck?”

  Dev came over and sat next to her on one of the kitchen stools. “I got through to our base. They have put Doctor Dan in some mechanical device. They do not expect he will...he was very damaged.”

  Aw. Jess put her cup down. “Sorry to hear that, Devvie.”

  “Yeah,” Elaine said. “He’s the one who figured out how to set off those guns on the roof. He’s good people.”

  Dev remained silent for a few moments. “May we go see him, Jess? April and Doug have just returned with our vehicle.”

  “We should all go back,” Jason said. “I’m sure there’s some coded message somewhere telling me to go shoot myself that I should probably read and ignore.”

  “Or shoot me,” Jess said. “Or shoot them. Or shoot ourselves in the head.”

  “I don’t feel like shooting anything right now,” Elaine admitted. “But I’d love a hot shower and a nap.”

  Jess studied Dev’s face. “Sure, lets go.” She put down her soup and pushed herself to her feet. “I don’t think the gooneys are coming back. Not if they think we’ve got a laser disrupter all ready to make them atomic particles.”

  “Yeah what was that all about?” Mike asked, turning and standing up as she neared.

  Jess paused. “A laser disrupter is a piece of old school technology that basically grabs whatever energy it sees and multiplies it into a really big boom. Used against the big troop transports and stuff like that. Could take out a base.”

  Mike’s jaw dropped a little. “We got one?”

  Jess yawned and rubbed the side of her face. “No.”

  Jason started to laugh. “But you told them we did.”

  “Yeah. Figured, what the hell? We had a thermonuke. We’re certified crazy. We got barrage guns on the roof. Why not?” Jess half shrugged. “We coulda.”

  “Those guns nearly blew up on us,” Johnathan said. “Doc guy said it wouldn’t take another round.”

  “But they didn’t know that,” Elaine said. “Crap I didn’t know that. After what I saw here, if you’d have told me you had a disrupter in the basement, I’d have believed it.”

  Mike moved over a little, into her way. “So that’s it? You just leaving now?”

  Jess was too tired to even take offense. Actually, she reasoned he had a point. “I’ll be back.”

  “Might not want you back,” he said straightforwardly. “A lot of people died being in your target range.”

  Jess considered that for a minute. “Move out of my way or I’ll kill you,” she finally said in a mild tone. “Maybe it was me who almost got splatted because the target was this.” She pointed at the ground then drew her gun from its hard point and had it at his neck before he could stir. “Move.”

  He stared at her for a long minute, and they all wondered. Then he stepped back with an almost smile. “Not going to call that bluff, Drake.” He sat down at the table. “But someone will.”

  Jess put the gun back and continued on her way, with Dev silently moving at her side. After a pause, Elaine and Jason followed, and the kitchen fell silent as the two Bay men regarded each other across the table.

  “She’d have done it,” Johnathan said. “She’s Drake both sides. There’s just no end to the jackassery in that.” He sipped from his mug of soup. “Could end up net plus, Mike.”

  “It could,” Mike agreed. “Cleared out a lot of the useless round here. Finally get to move my fuckin’ quarters where they should be.”

  “Mmm.”

  IT WAS EXCELLENT, really excellent, to be sitting back in her pilot’s seat in the carrier, going through the now familiar steps to bring the big vehicle online. Dev slid her comms helmet on and plugged into the inputs, anxious to be on their way.

  Behind her Jess was speaking with April. To Dev’s left, Doug sat in the pilot jumpseat, his long legs sprawled across the floor of the carrier. “Sorry about the doc,” he said after a bit of silence.

  Dev drew a breath then released it. “Thank you for trying to bring him to safety,” she said. “I know that must have been difficult.”

  Doug blinked a few times. “Truth? I thought April was going to kick up when they asked, but she didn’t. Just told me to get my ass moving. “I was glad to. She was glad to. He bled for us.”

  He bled for us. Dev had heard that a lot in the last few days. “Yes.” She pre-spooled the engines. “Jess? We are about to maneuver.”

  Without comment both agents sat down and strapped in.

  Dev lifted the carrier and slid it sideways on its landing jets, turning the vehicle and easing out of the landing bay door to emerge above the cliff that held Drake’s Bay.

  Below, in the half circle bay, there were already small work boats afloat, gingerly moving toward the debris from the fight, towing it out of the way.

  It started to rain.

  “Base seemed okay.” April continued the conversation she’d been having with Jess. “Got me in and out, all reg, no real grilling or nothing.”

  Jess sighed. “Hope that’s still the case with my ass on board.”

  Behind them the rest of the Base Ten carriers emerged from the bays and made up formation as Dev waited there for them. Then she started forward, hoping the same thing Jess hoped.

  She wanted a chance to see Doctor Dan.

  They flew along the coastline, unmarked and unremarkable in its rain lashed and ruffled gray blue surface. Waves crashed up against the cliffs and covered the isolated small beaches full of small rocks and sand.

  “This is Interforce flight BR270006, inbound to Base Ten,” Dev said into the silence after it had gone on for a long while. “Requesting approach and landing assignment.”

  Just like nothing had happened. Just like they were coming back from a training run.

  “BR270006, acknowledged,” Base Ten ops answered. “Stand by for pad assignment. Welcome home.”

  “Did they actually just say that?” April said. “Really?”

  Jess lifted her hands in a shrugging motion and put them down. “Insanity.”

  Surreal. Dev merely shook her head.

  They approached the imposing cliff face that was the Cit
adel to where the new landing doors had been installed recently and yet seemingly a lifetime ago.

  The bay was already open for them, and the carriers behind them. Dev saw mechs moving into position, and she slowed the carrier as it crossed into the bay, which bore signs of recent battle.

  “BR270006, pad six,” Ops said. “Please clear quickly so the rest of the flight can land.”

  “Yes.” Dev headed for the pad. She could already see a group of bio mechs standing by. She cut power as she extended the landing skids, feeling the faint jar as they hit the pad surface and then the thump and pop as the jets cut out and they were down. “BR270006, secure,” she reported to comms.

  Jess was up and out of her seat. She opened the hatch and stood full in its breadth as the small ramp extended. Her eyes swept the interior of the big cavern, but nothing seemed out of place. Then she saw Cliff heading her way, his arm in a sling.

  Across the cavern the rest of the carriers were landing, the noise in the room rising to include all their offgassing and the clanks and pops of the umbilicals being attached.

  All normal.

  “Jess. Welcome back,” Cliff said. He mounted the raised pad. “Everyone okay?”

  Jess stepped aside to let the rest of them out, sensing Dev at her back. “Yeah. Dev needs to get to med. We can all talk later.”

  Cliff nodded in understanding. “Hey, at least you all made it back in one piece. We heard the comms. They multiplexed it all call.” He moved aside to let them exit then followed along as they came down off the pad and walked across the cavern floor.

  Dev felt sick now that she was here. She kept her hands in the pockets of her jacket, responding to the quiet greetings of the mechs and techs as they passed.

  The rest of the agents and techs quickly caught up to them, and they went into the long corridor together, a vague flash of memory coming to Dev of her return from her first mission here, where everything really had changed.

  She wished briefly that she was back in that time, on that walk to the briefing room, everything so new and fresh again. It was sad and tiring to be surrounded by so much pain and death, where nothing seemed like it would be optimal and all choices appeared wrong.

  They passed a glowing blue ring, and she almost didn’t notice, just felt the brief tingle under her skin, and the soft chorus of chimes as they all were scanned, recognized and allowed.

  There were marks of fighting on the walls, but mostly the base seemed to be as normal as she remembered it to be. Some mechs in the hall, some security, all moving aside to let the operations group pass.

  Soft tones, standard announcements, ops reports all moving past her as they moved from gray to green to the blue of operations and then off one corridor to the white of med.

  Jarad was in the hall, and he paused as he saw them. “You’re back.” He had one of the tough fabric med jumpsuits on, liberally splattered with blood and the yellow and green blood stop and pain cream they used for triage.

  “Busy day.” Jess said.

  “Could say.” The chief medic glanced at Dev then back at Jess. “Guess you’re here for the tank.” He paused, but they all just looked at him. “C’mon.” He waved them to follow. “I told ops I’d keep the lights on until you all got here.”

  Dev didn’t understand what that meant, but she saw the expression on Jess’s face and her heart sank. She knew her partner understood, and it wasn’t good. She took a breath, and they went through a pair of double doors that opened for them, and then she was in a room she hadn’t been in before.

  Inside there were six big units, all filled with thick green liquid. In three of them there were naked human forms with tubes and leads snaking from them.

  Jared led them to the last one, near the back wall. Inside, they saw a stocky form that had old, faded marks on its arms, and the tab readouts over the tank were all red. Jared turned. “As I told the agent here.” He indicated April. “He took a neural right in the head.”

  “Fuck.” Jess exhaled in pure reaction.

  “He walked in front of it,” Elaine said in a somber tone. “Had a half dozen of the dirty firing. He just took it.”

  Dev walked closer and put her hands on the surface of the tank. Doctor Dan’s eyes were closed, and he wasn’t moving. She could see the damage.

  She exhaled a little, her breath fogging the surface of the tank and felt a very deep sadness. There had been so much she’d wanted to talk to him about.

  Jared regarded the form then swiveled back around. “If anyone had any doubt he was one of us, that killed it.” he said. “And it killed him.” He looked at Dev. “I just kept the machines on so you could...um.” He paused and faltered as Dev’s eyes filled with tears. “Ah, sorry,” he ended in a mutter.

  People died in here all the time. Jared wasn’t used to anyone reacting to it, even when long time friendships were lost and partnerships ended. Their lives just didn’t allow for that.

  Much.

  “Gosh I’m sorry, Dev,” Clint said in a small voice.

  Most of the agents looked down or away. Most of the techs moved closer. Doug reached over to pat her on the arm. It was a little uncomfortable.

  Embarrassing. Dev felt hideously alone there. She hastily wiped at her face and tried to think about something else.

  But then Jess moved closer and put her arms around Dev, pulling her close in a hug and she turned and buried her face into Jess’s chest to get away from all those watching eyes.

  “Ah, Devvie,” Jess said in a sad and resigned tone. “Only thing I can tell ya is if he had to pick a way to go, you know he’d pick this one.”

  “I know,” Dev said softly. “But I’ll miss him so much.”

  “Yeah, I know. Me too.” Jess rubbed her back. “You want some of your other buddies to come up here, too? Maybe we’ll sing him a song, something like that, huh?”

  Dev had to struggle to understand what Jess was asking. “Oh,” she finally murmured. “Yes.”

  “I’ll go get some of them,” Clint muttered. He turned and shoved his way out of the room.

  “Damn, that’s a real shame,” Jason finally said, awkwardly. “No shot, Jared?”

  The doctor shook his head, looking uncomfortable. “It was a crapshoot even getting him here.” He gave April a little nod. “They redlined it.”

  Jess could feel Dev sniffling against her and felt a sense of deep sadness herself. To have come as far as he had, and escape all that they all had, to end like this?

  A waste and it was making Dev really unhappy. Jess remembered what she’d felt in those minutes she’d thought Dev had blown up and her brow creased.

  A man who had lived and died by his own rules. Who had worn his honor on his sleeve, literally.

  Who had given his loyalty and love to her father. Now she’d never get a chance to ask him why, though she thought she knew.

  There were sounds behind her. She looked over her shoulder as some bio alts entered, eyes wide with shock and horror. Cathy came in with them, her eyes unapologetically reddened with tears.

  His dying mattered. Jess exhaled. His dying made a difference to all these people, herself included and it was a shame he wasn’t there to see it. “Okay.” She took the lead because she had to. “We’ll sing him out. Then Jared can get his work done.”

  They gathered close, all of them mingled together in common silence.

  THEY WAITED UNTIL the bio alts stopped coming in, and Jess figured everyone who wanted to be there was. The bios were nervous, sad, scared, and a little afraid to approach the tank. She waved them forward with what she hoped was an encouraging look.

  Okay, possibly not. Jess frowned when the bulk of them froze in place, averting their glances.

  Dev wiped her eyes and walked to the tank and pressed her hands against the surface. “Come here,” she said to her crèchemates. “We have to say goodbye. Doctor Dan was very damaged. This machine is just keeping him from being made dead until we can.”

  “Oh, no,” a KayTee
moaned softly.

  One of the BeeAyes whispered, “Now I see why they told us to come.”

  “Yes.” Dev turned her head and looked at him. “He was our teacher. He cared for us. So come and look and say farewell.”

  And so they did, slowly filing in behind Dev and around the tank. The agents and techs came in behind them and Jason and Elaine got next to Jess and exchanged looks with her.

  April and Doug edged their way closer, and Brent came around to the other side of Jason, near the wall.

  Cliff came back into the room last of all, standing somewhere between the bios and the agents as though he couldn’t decide where he belonged, then after a moment joined three of his bio alt mechs in the back row around the tank.

  The room was full. It felt like hearts inside it were, too.

  Jason put his hands behind his back. “Jesslyn Drake, the first words are yours,” he said, as Jared went to the med console, visibly glad to be hidden behind his responsibilities. “Start the end.”

  Yes, it was hers. Jess stood up a little straighter. “They are,” she said. “He was kin to my kin.” She paused. “His blood was shed for us. He died in honor, giving his life for his friends.” She regarded the bios who watched her wide eyed. “For his family. His children he shaped with his own hands.”

  The bio alts held their breaths, listening hard.

  “He was brave when he didn’t have to be,” Jess continued, thoughtfully. “Not because it got him anything, just because it was part of who he was. He was one of us. Always.”

  She stopped speaking and the crowd around her started. “He is our brother in arms,” agents and techs said in unison. “He goes where all the brave hearts go to join the long line of those before him and us who will follow.”

  “Go with the wind.” April spoke up. “That touches everything, always as you touched us.” She clasped her hands behind her back.

  “Thank you for teaching us,” Cliff added softly. “And for creating good people.”

  A KayTee spoke up timidly. “Thank you for taking care of us.”

  Dev drew in a breath and laid her hands flat on the tank surface, peering into the green, misty liquid. “Thank you for making me.”