Coalescence (Dragonfire Station Book 3)

by Zen DiPietro

  “Yes. Very well, Lim. Why don’t you rest while we tidy up?”

  “Okay.” He closed his eyes and went silent.

  Fallon moved closer to Jerin. “Why is he so out of it?”

  “Some people are slower to come around after brain surgery. Some take longer to recover from anesthetic. Perfectly normal. Don’t worry.”

  Jerin joined Brak at the techbed controls and they murmured to each other in what sounded to Fallon like satisfied tones. She had nothing to do here but sit and watch Lim doze.

  A half hour later, he was still dozing.

  “He may sleep for another hour or so,” Brak said to her. “If you want to go, we can contact you when he’s awake.”

  “No. He asked me to be here. I don’t want him to wake up and think I’ve abandoned him. I’ll wait.”

  Fifty minutes later, he roused. He still looked tired, but he’d lost his air of confusion. Jerin and Brak explained the situation to him again as he became more and more alert.

  “Great,” he said. “Thanks.”

  “You can stay here as long as you like,” Jerin told him.

  “No. I’m good. I think I’d like to go back to my quarters and rest. Maybe watch a holo-vid.”

  “Perfect,” Brak said. “We want you to take it very easy for the next few days. You won’t be able to tell, but your brain is going to be very busy. Let it do its thing.”

  “Sure,” he agreed.

  “I’ll help you to your quarters,” Fallon said, moving to assist him when he sat up.

  “That’s nice of you,” he said. “Thank you.”

  “It’s nothing.” She moved close as he stood, but he stayed steady under his own power. He just seemed terribly tired.

  “When should I come back for my turn?” she asked Jerin and Brak before leaving.

  “Two hours will give us time to get some lunch and rest a little.” Jerin smiled at her.

  “Two hours, then.”

  She saw Lim to his quarters, kept him company for a little while, then left him under Hawk’s supervision.

  “You’ll let me know as soon as you leave the infirmary?” Hawk asked.

  “I’ll come straight back here. You’ll be the first to know, after Jerin and Brak.”

  “And you,” he added.

  “Right. And if we’re lucky, Krazinski will know very soon too.”

  “Are you ready?” Brak peered down at Fallon.

  “I couldn’t be more ready.”

  “Okay. I’ve programmed the techbed with a repeating audio frequency, as well as a physical pulse, just to be sure. Have you prepared the message you intend to send?”

  “Yes.” Fallon would keep the message short. She only needed to let Krazinski know that she was listening.

  “Lie back and relax. I’m going to lower the lights so that you can focus more completely on the audio and sensory input. Tell me when you’re ready to start.”

  Fallon glanced at Jerin, who smiled encouragingly, before closing her eyes. “Now.”

  She heard an electronic buzzing and felt a corresponding vibration beneath her. She focused on it as it repeated. She imagined herself aligning with the pattern, becoming part of it.

  She felt something odd, and opened her eyes. It was like someone taking her outstretched hand in theirs. But it was in her mind. She must have made the connection. There was nothing left to do but send her message.

  “I’m here,” she thought.

  “That’s it.” Fallon sat up. “It’s sent.” She focused on letting go of the connection, and after a moment the feeling went away.

  Jerin nodded, and Brak said, “I’ll discontinue the stimulus.”

  “Do you feel okay?” Jerin asked.

  “Fine. It’s interesting, actually. Like there’s a tunnel inside my head.”

  “Can you open and close it at will?” Jerin asked.

  “Yes.” Fallon imagined the sound of the frequency and felt the sensation of connection again, then let go of it. “I just turned it on and off again. Kind of neat. Like flexing a muscle.”

  “I suggest you turn it off to sleep,” Brak advised.

  “Yeah. Good plan. Otherwise, I plan to keep it open as much as possible, so I’ll know as soon as Krazinski replies.” She looked to Brak. “Unless there’s some reason I shouldn’t?”

  Brak gave a slight shake of the head. “Not that I’m aware of. You can receive messages, but the device can only be activated by your own brain. How long do you think it will take to get a reply?”

  “Depends on how far away they are. My message will have to travel to them, then their response will have to cover the same distance. Since there won’t be any relays along the way to boost the signal, I’d guess a couple days or more, if they’re relatively nearby.”

  “That’s a long time to wait,” Jerin said.

  “It’s a far cry from the datastream,” Fallon agreed. “This is a pretty old-school means of communication.”

  “When are you going to tell your team about this?” Jerin asked.

  “Hawk already knows. But I’ll tell the rest of them tonight. I want them to be prepared to act as soon as I get a response.”

  Fallon sat next to Hawk in her quarters when she told the rest of their team, including Hesta and Ross. Afterward, she watched them intently as they thought it over.

  After a long silence, Hesta said, “Okay, then. What next?”

  The tedium of yet more meetings and discussions was tempered by her surprise at their lack of passionate response. She’d expected a verbal beatdown, and in its absence, a strategy meeting was downright tolerable. “We need to find Colb. Or get him to come to us.”

  “Colb doesn’t know what we know and what we don’t,” Hesta pointed out. “Could we just pretend we know where the people of PAC command are hiding out?”

  “A bluff.” Fallon liked the idea. “It’s a great play, but if he doesn’t fall for it, we’ve given away the fact that we know he’s watching.”

  “So we’d have to make sure the bait was too good for him to resist.” Peregrine chewed on the pad of her thumb.

  “I’m not sure what that would be,” Fallon admitted. “That’s why I’ve been focused on getting to Krazinski so we can use his resources and intel.”

  No one responded, so it seemed no one else knew a surefire way to lure Colb out, either.

  “We can think about it,” Ross said.

  But Hesta’s suggestion had gotten her thinking, and an idea struck Fallon. “Wait. I might have a way. Or know someone who will. Let me see what I can find out tomorrow and I’ll let you know.”

  Hawk nudged her leg with his. “That’s it? You can’t give us any details?”

  “No. Not yet. I might be chasing starshine and I want to be sure.”

  “Okay,” said Peregrine. “Then I think we’re done here. At least, I am.”

  Relief washed over Fallon. They weren’t going to make a big deal about her decision to have the networking device added to her implant.

  “Don’t think you’re off the hook.” Peregrine smiled at her sweetly while stretching her back. On Peregrine, an expression like that was downright terrifying. “You have two people who will be distinctly unhappy with your decision. I’m certain they’ll do a far better job at raking you over the coals than I will. That means I can save myself the trouble.” She ran a hand down her ponytail.

  Hesta stood. “I think that sounds about right.” She directed her attention to Peregrine. “Can I buy you a drink at the pub?”

  “Absolutely.”

  Ross and Hawk exchanged a glance. “I think we’re out of here too, cupcake.” Hawk kissed her cheek on his way out.

  Which left Fallon alone with Raptor.

  “If I thought yelling or cursing at you would do me any good, I’d do it,” Raptor said. “I won’t waste my energy.”

  “One second.” She ignored his bewilderment as she turned and marched to her bedroom. She pulled her knife case from the closet and expanded it. From the se
cond row, third column, she removed a sleek black knife with a carved handle. She had a hard time saying it out loud, but she hoped this would show him how she felt about him.

  She returned the case to her closet and straightened just as the doors opened.

  “What are you doing?” He frowned at her, looking puzzled and angry.

  She closed the space between them and held out the knife. “Giving you this.” She laid it carefully in his palm.

  “This is the knife you won when you took the championship at the academy.” He ran his thumb over the engraving, which spelled out her name and the words Grand Champion, along with their class year.

  “It’s always been my favorite, though it doesn’t have the finest blade, or the most expensive inlay. I earned this one. And I want you to have it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you know what it means to me, and that I’d only ever give it to someone I truly love.”

  He slow-blinked at her.

  She steeled herself. “That’s right, I said it. I—oof.”

  Raptor had picked her up and was squishing the air out of her. She had to wonder where that knife had gone, but it was a nice kind of squish. All warm and cozy and full of distracting Raptor kisses.

  Apparently he had also decided to go with showing instead of telling.

  “You didn’t accidentally transmit any of that, did you?” Raptor tickled her playfully the next morning, to no effect. They both knew she wasn’t ticklish.

  “Nope. It’s not like it’s an open link to my thoughts. Telepathy, or mind sharing, or whatever you want to call it, has not been invented inside my head. Now I need to get to work.” She started to roll out of bed, but he caught her around the waist and held her back.

  “What if you go, and then we have another fight?”

  She relaxed against him. “We’re always going to fight. I wouldn’t know what to do if you stopped fighting with me. But we’re done fighting about whether or not we’re together. Well, unless you decide you want out. And if that’s the case I’ll have to kick your ass.”

  “I’m not going to want out.”

  “Good, because I’m working at being all enlightened, here, and it would suck if you ruined it.”

  He gave her a push and she nearly fell off the bed. She got her feet under her and popped up beside it to see him grinning at her. She grabbed a pillow and threw it at him on her way to the shower.

  Prelin’s ass, she loved that man.

  Fallon seemed to be making a habit of skipping her morning run. Instead, she asked Cabot to meet her at his shop before it opened.

  Once they were inside with the door closed, she wasted no time. “You suggested that if there was a way you could help, I should let you know.”

  “Yes. What can I do for you, Chief?” Cabot’s usual good humor had been eclipsed by seriousness.

  “I need a way to make someone think that something big is happening here. I’m sure he’s watching, and we just need to give him something to see. Something worth coming after.”

  “Well, to know if I can arrange that, I’d need to know what would interest this person.”

  “The transport of a few hundred people to the station would definitely get his attention.”

  Cabot rubbed his hands together thoughtfully. “Would we need actual people, or the mere assumption of people?”

  Fallon smiled. Cabot had the right idea and that boded well for this plan. “Just the assumption.”

  “So a couple of personnel transports. Should these ships be capable of withstanding an attack?”

  “Yes. We’re presenting him with a target. A target that he’d love to destroy. So these ships need to be prepared. Of course, if there’s any damage, I’ll cover the cost of repair.” And if the repairs were interesting, at least Wren would be entertained.

  “Hmm. When would you want those ships to arrive?”

  “The actual arrival isn’t important. It’s the approach I care about. I’d like them to take no longer than a week to arrive, but the sooner they got under way the better, so I could start laying the groundwork to draw out our snake.”

  Cabot pressed his lips together. “That’s quick. Large transports tend to be booked out in advance to ensure capacity.”

  “If you can’t help—”

  He cut in. “I didn’t say I couldn’t. I just need to make some inquiries. See what’s available.”

  “I’ll let you get started.” She paused at the door. “Thanks, Cabot. If you can help me out with this, I’ll owe you one. Not just me, either. A lot of people will owe you one.”

  “Oh, I do love to be owed favors from important people.” His jauntiness had returned. “I suspect this is going to be quite the interesting adventure.”

  He had no idea. Or…maybe he did.

  On the boardwalk the next afternoon, Cabot waved Fallon over and ushered her into his shop for a private chat.

  As she waited for him to finish up with his customer, she looked around, noticing what items were new or missing compared to the previous day. She recalled her bet with Hawk, and her need to pick out something special for him to give to Hesta, but she saw nothing bizarre enough. Another day.

  Cabot escorted his happy customer, who carried a small cube-shaped container, to the door. He quickly locked up and joined Fallon.

  “I can have two ships with a combined capacity of eight hundred here in about eight days. Is that sufficient?” he asked. “With just a few crew on each.”

  “It’s faster than I expected, though slower than I hoped. So I guess it’s just right.”

  He smiled. “Good. I already told them to get under way.”

  “That was presumptuous. But smart. Thank you.” She calculated what she’d need to arrange. Timing would be critical, but a week gave her more than enough time to have everything in place.

  “Anything I can do to help.” Cabot wore his customary pleasant expression, but the look in his eyes was dead serious.

  “I’ll hold you to that.” She smiled to show her gratitude, but she wasn’t joking either.

  She rode the lift back up to her office. As she stepped out, an odd sensation caused her to slap her hand to the wall to keep herself steady. She felt light-headed, and her perception of her surroundings dimmed for a moment.

  The sensation passed quickly, and she straightened. She now had long numbers in her head, which she immediately recognized as coordinates. Krazinski had told her where to find him.

  It was go time.

  Back in the pilot seat of the Nefarious, Fallon felt invincible. She wished she never had to leave this spot, existing in a time loop where she was forever embarking on a mission with her team. She felt fairly certain Hawk, Peregrine, Raptor, and Ross felt the same.

  The small Sarkavian moon her coordinates were leading her to seemed an unlikely place for Krazinski to be hiding out. But then the best hideouts were usually the unlikely ones.

  Landing on the moon gave her a strange sense of having come full circle. She’d planned her rebellion from the outside, and here she was, bringing her team back into the fold so they could join forces to take out the real enemy. After two years of being diverted, she was returning to what she should have been doing all along.

  Yet if she hadn’t had these past years, she wouldn’t have Dragonfire, the crew of the Onari, or her current relationship with Raptor. She wouldn’t have even met Wren.

  She wouldn’t wish those things away, even if she could.

  The coordinates she’d received led them to a bunker. Its opening was wedged into the side of a crater. Fallon didn’t care for wearing a pressure suit, but there was no way around it. An airlock on the surface would have given the bunker away.

  Raptor entered the code Krazinski had sent them, and the hatch opened. Though the passage below was lit, the steep stairs leading downward had an ominous feel.

  “Creepy-ass entrance,” Raptor observed. “Never would have known it was here. But that’s the point, right?” His words cam
e through their open channel sounding hollow.

  “Why have a secret hideout unless you can make it seem like some space monster is about to come out and eat you?” She appreciated the ominous feeling of the place.

  “Not what I meant, but I can’t disagree.”

  She descended first. The sound of her boots clanging on the metal steps came up through her suit. Bang, bang, shuffle, bang.

  Finally they reached the bottom. Fallon waited for Raptor to join her, and then they stepped into the airlock together.

  “I have to admit, I don’t feel awesome about this,” Raptor said as he secured the hatch behind them. “It’s like we’re trapping ourselves for someone else’s convenience.”

  “Yeah.” She activated the pressurization sequence. “But even if someone did have plans for us, they’d know that we have friends in a nice big ship ready to tear the side of this moon off to get to us.” She hit the airlock’s voicecom circuit. “Isn’t that right?” She had no doubt they were being monitored on an internal line.

  “Save your energy for the real enemy, Fallon,” Krazinski’s voice advised, sounding amused. “There’s nobody here but me.”

  “I’ve had a hard time telling who the real enemy is lately,” she said to the faceless voice. “So you’ll forgive my suspicion, I’m sure.”

  “How long have you been here? And why are you alone?” Raptor asked.

  “Ever since we received Fallon’s transmission. We’d just about given up hope. We’ve enacted an emergency protocol that requires the use of point-to-point closed networks. So I’m right here at the terminus as the relay between you and the rest of command.”

  “How many relay stations like this are there between us and them?” Raptor sat on a rock ledge that seemed designed for the purpose. Even through a pressure suit, Fallon could read his impatience.

  “Four. The other members of PAC command aren’t as far away as they could be, but they aren’t right around the corner, either. It’s not easy to hide that many people, as you can imagine.”

  “So they’re together?” Fallon asked. “Seems like splitting them up would have made it easier to hide them.”