by S. J. Bryant
Piper and Ray followed and also sat. Ray folded up on himself, as if trying to take up as little room as possible, a futile task given his size. But Atticus couldn't hold anything against them, who knew what hell they'd been subjected to?
Kari strode in and stood at the doorway. Atticus could just make out Wren standing in the shadows behind her.
"We're in trouble," Kari said. "They definitely got a lock on our ID. If we try to land anywhere, or even pass an Imperium ship, the enforcers will be on us like a swarm of locusts."
"Nice knowing you all." Ryker shut off the astral map as he lifted his beer.
"No," Kari said. "We're not giving up that easily. We'll just have to scrub our old ID, get a new one."
Ryker raised an eyebrow. "Expensive."
Kari shrugged. "Necessary."
"We should probably deal with the drugs first," Wren said. She slid past Kari like a light breeze and seemed to appear in front of Piper and Ray without actually walking to get there.
"What drugs?"
"Them." Wren leaned closer to Piper and drew a deep breath through her nostrils. "Riaxinine."
Kari's face lost some of its color. "Are they in danger?"
Wren shrugged. "No more than any other druggie."
"We're not druggies," Piper said. "We were… forced."
Wren sniffed and spun away, stalking out of the dining room.
Atticus hadn't noticed it before, but now that Wren had pointed it out, he could see the glaze that covered Piper and Ray's eyes, and the sluggish way they moved, as if the air was thicker around them than in the rest of the ship.
Wren returned a few moments later with a jar of white powder. She took two glasses from the kitchen, measured out two spoons of powder into each, and filled them with water. The powder puffed up in small clouds but soon dissolved, leaving behind a chalk-like smell that tickled Atticus' nostrils.
Wren gave the glasses to Ray and Piper and took up her usual seat in the corner, face hidden by shadows.
"What's that?" Kari said.
"It'll help absorb the drug."
"I didn't know you had that kind of knowledge."
"My training had many aspects."
"As an assassin," Piper broke in.
Silence fell over the dining room and they all turned to Piper. Atticus' eyebrows shot up. How long had it taken him to make the connection? And yet Piper got it in just a few minutes.
Wren's expression didn't change. "What makes you say that?"
"I notice things." Piper's voice had become steadier since she'd drunk the white powder and some of the glaze had cleared from her eyes. "It's part of what they did to me. Details. They get inside my head. You can put the knife away, I'm not some spy."
Atticus' gaze flew to Wren and he just caught the flash of metal as she slipped her blade back into her boot. Piper had been looking in the other direction the whole time.
Uneasiness crept through Atticus' gut. The spider-thing they'd encountered back on the Imperium ship had barely been human, what had they done to Piper? She looked normal enough, but…
"You look at me just like they did," Piper said. Her eyes were locked on the table. "The doctors, the other patients. It's not my fault, I just see things."
"It's okay," Kari said, going to Piper and placing a hand on her shoulder. "It's fine. You're safe now."
"I don't think anyone is ever really safe," Piper said.
Atticus' nerves strained to breaking so he bent his attention back to the steel mouse.
"Cheery," Ryker said. "But while we're running for our lives, why don't you distract us? Who's your friend?"
Piper glanced up at the big man beside her. "This is Ray. He saved my life."
Ray shifted, as if trying to huddle deeper into his chair. "Nothing like that."
"Several times," Piper said.
Atticus felt her gaze pass over the room, even though he didn't look up.
"People don't like it when you notice things," Piper said. "Especially not in a place like that where everyone has secrets."
Kari held out her hand to Ray. "Thank you. Whatever you did, if you helped keep Piper safe, then I owe you."
Ray briefly gripped Kari's hand but then wrapped his arms over his chest.
"As touching as this is," Wren said. "We have a bigger problem."
Kari straightened, turning away from them all for a moment. "We need a new ID."
"How are we going to pay for that?" Ryker said.
"I don't know," Kari said. "And I don't know where to get one where we won't be spotted by the enforcers. I just… I just need some time to think."
Kari strode to the door but faltered just before the hallway and glanced back at Piper. They locked eyes for a second and then Kari was gone, her footsteps retreating to the pilot's pod.
Atticus' heart ached for her. All these years she'd thought her sister was dead, now here she was, and Kari couldn't enjoy it properly because they were all in grave danger.
Bad times.
Bad times for them all.
CHAPTER 9
Wren closed her eyes, filtering through the sounds and smells that filled Ghost. Bleach stung the insides of her sensitive nostrils, clinging to Piper and Ray from their time in the facility. Stronger still, the bitter-sweet smell of the riaxinine did its best to dull her senses and block out all the sounds and smells that filled Ghost. Lucky for them it wasn't especially addictive or they'd have a rough few days on their hands. As it was, the anti-tox Wren had given them would probably take the worst of it off. Besides, they all had bigger problems than minor drug withdrawal to deal with, like the fact that the Imperium definitely had their ID by now. Worse, they might have caught Wren's face on camera. She'd done her best to look away from it, and she'd lifted her nose and twisted her lip just a little in the hopes of fooling any facial recognition software. But there were no guarantees, and if the Guild knew that she'd put her cover at risk—
The communicator at Wren's wrist vibrated. Her stomach clenched, eyes flying open.
The Guild.
She slid off her stool and stalked out of the dining room, leaving the others to discuss their imminent discovery and death at the hands of the Imperium. The skin on the back of Wren's neck tingled. She'd only just been thinking about the Guild, about what they'd do to her if they saw… was it a coincidence that they called her at that exact moment? She couldn't give anything away. She'd keep a straight face and find out what they wanted, she could do that—after all, she'd been trained by the best.
"Hello," Wren said as soon as she was inside the relative privacy of her sleeping quarters. They were as sparse and utilitarian as the day she'd moved in. She kept most of her weapons on her body, but the rest were in the secure locker. She had some medical supplies—and poisons—locked in the drawer by her bed, and her few clothes hung inside the cupboard set into the wall of the ship. Otherwise, there was nothing to indicate that the room was hers. She didn't waste space or money on decorations, or mementos. Besides, anything she kept, anything she treasured, would only be used against her. Even the tiniest thing could give her enemies leverage, and she wasn't that stupid.
"Wren," said Guildmaster Silvan. Her stern features looked the same as they had for the last two decades. "Status?"
"Unchanged," Wren said, managing to keep her voice steady.
"Current location?"
Wren's palms grew sweaty but she kept her expression under control. "Deep space. Quadrant Lemur Two but traveling fast."
"Fine. We have a job for you."
It took all of Wren's self-control to keep the relief off her face. Silvan hadn't called her because her face had been plastered over every Imperium screen, they just had a job for her. Good. "Of course, Guildmaster."
"I'm sending through the details now."
"Expiry date?"
"Sooner rather than later. But I want you to take this one when you're back on Zenith."
"I'll get there as soon as possible."
"Good."<
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The communicator went dark and Wren allowed herself a long sigh. Even after all these years, the Guildmasters could strike fear into her heart. She didn't fear death, but what the Guild could do was so much worse. And beyond that, Wren didn't think she'd ever be able to forgive herself if she let the Guildmasters down. They'd raised her, saved her, and taught her everything she knew. She owed them.
Wren opened the new file from the Guildmaster and ran her eyes down the information, taking in the image at the bottom. It showed a young man with a gun slung across his chest. Twenty-seven, located on Zenith, known criminal associations. Wren committed every piece of information to memory. The file would destroy itself as soon as she closed it—the Guild would never leave such information to be found—so she had to be sure of every detail.
She reached the bottom of the document and frowned at the last line of text: affiliated with rebels. There was nothing else in the whole file to suggest why someone would pay a small fortune to hire the Guild to kill this man. His criminal associations were limited to buying bootleg beer, and he didn't have enough money to have earned himself any real enemies. So who would want him dead? The only possibility lay in that last line. He was associated with rebels. The only people who would want him dead were the Imperium.
Wren stared at the photo while her thoughts raced. Most of the time the Guild and the Imperium pretended that the other didn't exist. It was easier that way. It wasn't unheard of for members of the Imperium to hire the Guild to take out political rivals, but otherwise they stayed apart.
Why would the Guild accept a hit on a rebel? The money would have to be good, otherwise they wouldn't bother. But was that enough? Or was the Guild getting involved in politics?
That thought made Wren uncomfortable. The Guild had raised her on a very stringent and singular set of values that did not include room for political machinations. Surely the Guildmasters wouldn't be involved with the Imperium?
Wren pushed that thought aside. It was none of her business what the Guildmasters chose to do. They knew better than she did. She just had to keep her head down and stay out of trouble. And the first step to that was investigating her new target—Mr Alec Page.
Wren took a screen from her desk drawer and did a quick search for Alec. He showed up in a few propaganda pieces about the rebellion, and once in some charity shot where he was giving out food to injured crystal hunters. But otherwise, he had the same web presence as most other people on Zenith: a profile, a government issued ID, and a stream of candid photos.
Even if he was involved in the rebellion, he wasn't a leader or anything, just a normal guy. So why did he have to die?
Wren pulled herself up short and blinked. Why was she asking that kind of question? What did it matter why someone had to die? Everyone died in the end, what did the timing matter? She knew better than to think like that.
Bah, she'd been living with Ryker and the captain for too long, was starting to get soft. She'd better not let the Guild hear about it, or she was as good as dead herself.
The target lived on Zenith, in a normal suburb without any kind of special protection. He'd be an easy hit that wouldn't require any special preparation. As soon as they made it back to Zenith—assuming they lived that long—she'd finish the job. Then she could put these ridiculous questions about the Guild and its motives out of her head, and take on a normal, clean job. That's what she needed to clear her head—a challenging kill with a satisfying target, back to basics as it were.
Yes, a good kill, that would sort things out.
CHAPTER 10
Kari tried to keep the worry off her face but she could feel Piper's keen eyes watching her, even from the other side of the room. Piper had always been observant, clever. As children it might have earned them a few extra tokens, but it got them in trouble too. One time, when Piper was only five years old, Kari had tried to haggle for a moldy piece of bread. She'd been about to get a large slice for just a single token when Piper pointed out that the baker was having an affair with the woman two stores down.
He'd chased them through the under-streets of Zenith for almost an hour and only Kari's knowledge of the secret tunnels kept them safe from his serrated breadknife. At the time, Piper had struggled to explain all the tiny details that had brought her to her conclusions, she just said it was obvious. At that point Kari had warned her to keep her mouth shut the next time something was 'obvious.' Was that why the Imperium had taken her?
Not that it mattered much anymore. Their real worry was what to do about the sector-wide search that was bound to be happening at that very second. The Imperium had their ID tags, that put a ticking time bomb over their heads and as soon as they were spotted, they were as good as dead. Which brought Kari back to the same problem—they had to get a new ID.
Wren slid into the room and sidled to her usual stool. Her unreadable face seemed darker than usual, like a thunderstorm waiting to burst.
"You got a new job," Piper said.
Wren's eyes snapped to her and she drew her lip back from her teeth in a snarl. "It's not polite to eavesdrop."
"I didn't," Piper said. "It was obvious."
Kari had to stifle a sigh. Clearly Piper still hadn't learned to keep her mouth shut about the obvious.
"You don't want to do it," Piper said.
Wren flew out of her seat and strode across the room to tower over Piper. "Excuse me?"
Piper leaned back. "You don't want the job."
"How dare you!" Wren said. "Do you think I would dishonor the Guild? Do you think I'm some half-bit assassin with no sense of honor? Do you think—"
"I don't think any of those things," Piper said. "I just said you didn't like it."
"I tell you what," Wren said, pulling a knife from somewhere in her sleeve and laying it on the table near Piper's fingers. "The next time you have an opinion, keep it to yourself." The knife disappeared back into Wren's sleeve and she slipped into the shadows like a wraith.
"But—"
"That's enough," Kari said, laying a hand on Piper's shoulder. "We've got bigger problems."
"The IDs," Ryker said.
"Exactly. Does anyone have any ideas?"
Kari's gaze traveled around the room. Ryker shrugged. Wren showed no sign of moving, Atticus kept fiddling with the ridiculous metal mouse, and Piper and Ray were silent. Kari sighed, she had a plan, but she didn't like it.
"Marama," Kari said.
Everyone in the room froze, even Piper and Ray.
"I'm not sure that's such a good idea, Boss," Ryker said. "I've heard stories."
"It's a terrible idea," Atticus said. "And if you'd ever been there, you wouldn't be suggesting it."
"And you have been?" Kari fired back.
"As a matter of fact, yes," Atticus said, his steely eyes meeting hers. "It's dangerous."
"Do you think I don't know that? But what choice do we have? If we land anywhere else, we'll be picked up straight away. Marama is the only place I can think of where we can get a new ID without being scanned."
Silence filled the room which set Kari's teeth on edge. She wanted someone to counter her, to offer a better solution, but no one did. She'd only just got Piper back, and now she was suggesting taking her to one of the most dangerous places in the Universe? But as with most things—what choice did she have?
"Wren, do you have any contacts there?" Kari said.
Wren's face remained in shadow. "Might be I do. Your little freak sister was right though. I have a job."
"Oh, well then I'm sorry," Kari said, unable to stop the venom from creeping into her voice. "Then I guess we'll just fly right over to Zenith and set you down."
A flash of white showed as Wren's mouth twisted into a grim snarl. "That's not what I said. Just letting you know that I'm working to a schedule."
"Well your schedule is going to have to play second fiddle to us staying alive."
"For now."
Kari scowled. She hated the way that Wren had complete control over
her emotions, as if she watched everything from a bubble that sat outside of her body. Just once she wanted to see fear, or even anger, in Wren's eyes. Even her posturing with Piper had been more ego than anger.
"You'll introduce me to your contact?" Kari said.
"Yes. But a new ID won't be cheap."
"I know."
"How are you planning to pay for it?" Ryker said. "Are you going to sell them the same info we sold Ollie?"
"I don't think that trick will work twice," Kari said. "Ollie has probably already sold it to someone on Marama."
"Then what?"
"I don't know," Kari said, throwing her hands wide. "I have no damn idea, but it's the only plan we've got. If any of you happen to be hiding a fortune's worth of tokens somewhere, now would be the time to share, because it's not just my life on the line here."
No one responded.
Kari's chest heaved and she forced herself to draw a deep breath.
"Don't worry about it," Ryker said. "We'll find something to trade. You'll see."
Kari nodded once then stalked toward the pilot's pod where she adjusted their course for Marama.
They'd make it quick. In and out. What was the worst that could happen?
CHAPTER 11
"You're not coming," Kari said. "It's too dangerous." She sounded more sure than she felt. In reality she didn't want to leave Piper's side for even a second, but the dark moon, Marama, was no place to take her. There would be smugglers, killers, and mercenaries at every corner. What if something happened?
Piper stared back at Kari with steady eyes. "I'm coming. So is Ray."
"No."
Piper didn't raise her voice, barely even moved. "I'm coming. I've spent most of my life in a cage. Are you going to keep me trapped?"
A lump formed in Kari's throat and a sick sense of guilt curdled in her stomach. Was that what she was doing? Keeping Piper imprisoned? Didn't that make her just as bad as the Imperium? But no, she was doing it for Piper's own good. She had no idea of the kinds of dangers that were out there.
