Out Past the Stars

by K. B. Wagers

  “All right, shoot.”

  “Do you have a death wish?” The question wasn’t heated; it was, in fact, barely a whisper. It dragged the vision of Thyra killing me to the front of my mind, and my breath caught in my lungs.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard me.” He was still staring out over the city.

  “I thought we covered this.”

  “So did I, but this plan feels an awful lot like you sacrificing yourself to get the rest of us clear. This isn’t about me not getting to go,” he said before I got the words out. “This is about you and whatever you’re planning.”

  Thyra could take three people to Adora’s ship. I’d picked Emmory and Gita because of all my people, they were the only ones who’d died and been brought back, making them at least safe from the touch of Farians. Thyra seemed assured that no Farian would break the taboo against killing with their power, but I wasn’t about to hinge the lives of my people on it.

  I would have taken Hao, but we’d already had the discussion about bringing him back from the dead and I knew he wouldn’t agree to it just for the sake of extra protection.

  The reality was any of Adora’s people could just shoot us and that would be that. I didn’t know if I’d be able to bring anyone back from the dead, my crash course with Mia notwithstanding.

  “This isn’t about Gita, either. I love her and I hate the thought of sending her into danger. However, she’s an adult and can take care of herself. Close your mouth.”

  I obeyed, though I was unable to keep the smile hidden and Hao sighed.

  “I haven’t told her yet, little sister, so maybe keep that under wraps for now.”

  “Of course. I don’t have a death wish, gege.” I turned, my shoulder brushing his, and looked out at the city as I tried to collect my thoughts. “My father spent the first eighteen years of my life teaching me how to live in this world. When I lost him, I was devastated, and then there you were.” I felt a tear escape and brushed it impatiently away. “You taught me so much. I will never be able to repay you. You asked the question, let me give you an answer,” I said, lifting a hand when he opened his mouth.

  “My apologies, Your Imperial Majesty.”

  I rolled my eyes with a smile at his teasing bow.

  “My father may have laid the foundation for who I am, but you taught me how to be a leader. I have done what I can to make sure the empire is safe if something does happen to me, but believe me when I say I don’t have a death wish. I would like to go home and give Ravalina the chance to grow up before she has to take the throne. I would like the opportunity to lead Indrana in a time of peace, not just see them through a war. I don’t know if I will be any good at it, but I want to try.”

  I just didn’t know if I was going to get the chance. Those words stuck in my throat, refusing to spill out into the open air.

  “You will be. You’ve always been good at this. I didn’t teach you how to be a leader, little sister. I only showed you what I saw in you. What you were already capable of doing.”

  His quiet words wrapped around my heart.

  “I also know you would never send someone else in to do a job in your stead and neither will I.” I faced him and folded my hands together as I bowed, keeping my eyes on the ground between us. “So forgive me, brother, but I will go into danger—not only to keep you all as safe as I can, but because I am the only one who can do this.”

  The words I didn’t say, that I was all too aware that this could result in a choice between my death or Mia’s and that even if I didn’t love her I’d die to save her, hovered on the back of my tongue.

  I felt his hand slide into my hair, fingers flexing against my scalp for just a moment before he withdrew. Hao took me by the shoulders, urging me upright until I faced him, his gold eyes boring into mine.

  “Do not die. That’s an order.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Hao nodded once, released me, and turned back to look over the city. I recognized the dismissal, so I left him alone and went back to the ship.

  “Everything okay?” Gita asked.

  “Yes.” I patted her shoulder. “Maybe go talk to him, though?”

  She nodded in much the same way Hao had and headed down the ramp toward him. Zin took her place.

  “You’d think they’re the unlikeliest pair, and yet…”

  “They are so similar,” I murmured. “It’s a wonder they don’t murder each other.”

  “There was a risk early on.” Zin laughed. “Still is, if we’re being honest.”

  “She’s good for him.” I smiled as Hao wrapped his arms around Gita and she returned the embrace. “Gy’s death hit him hard, and then to lose the rest of his crew so soon after.” I felt the guilt swell that I hadn’t been there to help and to say good-bye during Gy’s illness. The loss of his crew except for Henna during our desperate race to Ashva had been a shock for us all, but for my brother it had been the loss of everything he’d built.

  There was nothing you could have done there, Hail. I let the guilt slip through my fingers without trying to hold on to it.

  I leaned into Zin. “I’ll keep Emmory safe, I promise.”

  He studied me for a moment, a half smile playing on his round face. “You know the best way to do that? Keep yourself safe.”

  “You, too, huh?”

  “No, I know you don’t have a death wish. You just have an overdeveloped sense of honor and often feel like you’re the only one who should get to sacrifice herself for the good of others. I married a man who’s nearly your identical twin.”

  “Ouch.” I laughed and mock-rubbed at my chest. “You wound me. I’m much prettier than your husband.”

  Zin chuckled. “You are such a shit, Hail Bristol.” He reached a hand out, pressing it over mine for just a moment. “That reminds me. I have a present for you. I updated the compilation from your meeting with Thyra.”

  My smati pinged with the file receipt.

  “Me being a shit reminds you of the Farian Hiervet’s expressions?”

  “In a roundabout fashion.” Zin squeezed my hand. “I would deeply appreciate it if you would bring my husband back to me, Your Majesty.”

  I put my other hand over his. “I will. I promise.”

  He slipped his hand free. “Here comes Thyra. Hail, keep your eyes open. If I learned anything from watching all that footage it’s that they’re up to something and she’s in charge. Observational bias, maybe, but it’s hard not to be suspicious.”

  “If it keeps us safe, I’ll take it. I’ll also keep my eyes open, I promise,” I murmured, and let the polished smile fall into place as Thyra came up the ramp.

  “Star of Indrana.”

  I dipped my head. “Good evening, Thyra. Are we ready?”

  “If you and your people are,” she replied. “I know where Priam is and we can assume Adora is nearby.”

  I looked over my shoulder as Emmory approached from behind. I took the Koros 101 from him and slung it over my shoulder. The pulse rifles were presents from Aiz, delivered by Talos a few hours ago along with a report that the negotiations were going well.

  “Should be wrapped up by the time you get back.”

  “Let’s hope so.” I patted him on the shoulder. “Tell them I’ll see them in a bit.”

  “Stay safe, Astéri.”

  “You know me.”

  Talos caught me by the arm. “I do, Hail, which is why I say it. Please come back. My Thínos already grieve for the loss of their father. I do not want your death to add to that and it would.”

  “I promise,” I replied; the emotions welling up in my throat were too complex to find words for, but the Shen seemed to understand. He leaned in and touched his forehead to mine, then left.

  “Majesty?”

  I blinked myself back to the present, shaking my head at Emmory with a small smile. The others stepped back. I nodded to Thyra and took her limb. “I’m fine. Let’s do this.”

  20

  This trip wasn’t
like the first one we’d done. That short hop had us blinking into and out of existence faster than any of us could draw breath. Going to Adora’s ship felt like being wrapped in a blanket and dragged down a flight of stairs.

  I went to a knee when we rematerialized, bracing myself on a wall as the world came back into focus. Gita was bent over, both hands on her thighs. Emmory was still upright but only through some force of will the rest of us lacked.

  “Are you well, Star of Indrana?” Thyra, of course, was unaffected by the jump, and her eyelids opened and closed in a strange rhythmic pattern as she watched us.

  “We’ll be fine. Do you have a location?”

  “I do.”

  “Go back and tell the others.”

  “I am shielding us; when I leave, Adora will know you are on her ship.”

  “It’s fine.” I waved a hand. “We’ve got it covered.”

  I recognized the frown, but Thyra didn’t argue and vanished. I counted seconds, waiting for the sound of an alarm that didn’t come, and then exhaled a long breath.

  “Did you not think Johar’s masking programs would work, ma’am?” Gita asked as she straightened.

  “I’d trust Jo with my life,” I replied, as Emmory reached down and helped me to my feet. “But expecting things to go wrong always seems to work better for me.”

  When we’d laid down this plan, I knew the only way to make it work was to keep Thyra as much out of the loop as possible. In theory we were here to make sure Adora couldn’t run by sabotaging her engines. Thyra was supposed to return to Faria and let Hao and the others know our coordinates so that Admiral Hassan and a joint force of Farian and Shen ships could meet us.

  The reality was we were moving to a different location where Gita could hack into the shipboard computer and figure out where we were, then send that information on to Admiral Hassan. We’d hit the engines after and escape on a shuttle in the chaos.

  The door of the small room Thyra had dropped us into slid open at a touch. Emmory gave me the Look when I stepped forward and I put my hands up with a smile. “After you, Ekam.”

  “Thank you, Majesty.”

  I grinned at Gita as we slipped out the door into the corridor on Emmory’s signal. The interior was reminiscent of the ship we’d been on after my rescue from Sparkos with the same curved gray walls and bright lights.

  But this ship was larger. We had the schematics and Emmory headed aft as I counted doorways in my head.

  Emmory and Gita were in sync with each other, their training on display in a way I didn’t usually get to see, while I was painfully aware just how off I was in comparison to them. I wondered idly what kind of fast talking I’d have to do once we got home to get Emmory to let me train with my BodyGuards.

  Maybe not much, I realized as he stopped us with a raised fist and then waved me forward to the edge of the T junction. He peeked around the corner and gestured. “We’re clear. Gita, go.”

  Gita moved past me, weapon out, and I followed, Emmory bringing up the rear.

  “Here.” I pointed to the right; the door for the secondary command center was marked on the overlay my smati had provided for my vision. Gita guarded the hallway, weapon up and watching the corridor with her dark eyes.

  We knew the ship didn’t have a full complement of crew. Adora had scraped together whoever she could in her flight off Faria. I didn’t want to think about what they would have done with any crew members who were on board who didn’t agree with Adora and Priam. Especially with the knowledge that Priam could kill any of the Farians for good.

  However, full crew or not didn’t seem to matter much for our luck as the sounds of voices came around the corner. “In here.” Emmory slapped the panel behind me, opening the door and slipping inside with his gun raised. “Empty,” he said.

  “You two have to hide,” I whispered. The meaning of Fasé’s words to me were suddenly very clear. “I have to go to Adora. I need you to get into the coms and broadcast the bridge feed to the rest of her fleet. Then, when you take the bridge back, try not to not shoot anyone.”

  Emmory’s mouth tightened. “Hail, that was not the plan.”

  “It’ll be fine.”

  “She said she was going to kill you.”

  “She won’t.” I shook my head. “Trust me on this, Emmory. She’ll kill the two of you in a heartbeat, but she wants me alive or that assassination attempt on Mia would have been directed at me.”

  I didn’t have the words to explain how I knew this, only that as mad as Adora was at me, she hadn’t killed me yet. I guessed that had less to do with my ability to stay alive and more with the fact that there was some reason Adora still needed me.

  I gave Emmory a little shove as the voices grew louder. “You can save my ass in a little bit and feel super smug about it, okay? But I need to talk to Adora face-to-face.”

  Emmory discarded whatever he’d been about to say, and exhaled. He tipped his head toward the door with a wordless order and I passed him my guns before I closed the door.

  It slid shut between us. I turned and headed down the corridor toward the voices.

  “Gentlemen,” I said, slipping my hands into my pockets and smiling at the three Farians who came to a startled halt a few meters away from me. “I’m here to speak with Adora.”

  The Farians didn’t quite know what to do with my sudden appearance, so it took longer than it should have for them to cuff me and haul me to the bridge. They didn’t search me, but I didn’t mention the lapse.

  Adora didn’t get up from the captain’s chair, her platinum eyes flicking over me as if expecting some surprise. When she couldn’t find any visible evidence of trickery she looked me in the eye.

  “How did you get on board?”

  “Long story,” I replied with a shrug. “Not really the point of my visit.”

  “What is the point of your visit?”

  Every eye on the bridge was focused on us and I let the silence linger for a few heartbeats before I smiled. “I’ve come to offer you terms of surrender.” I noticed that several of the Farians flinched, and I hoped Gita had figured out how to get into the bridge coms.

  Adora laughed, the sound brittle and breaking against the walls. “You’ve let all this go to your head.” She gestured at my cuffed hands. “I have you in custody, what do you think is stopping me from killing you here and now?”

  “I am the only one who can offer your people a pardon if they walk away from this terrible path. They were so close to peace after all these years and you dragged them from it. There is nothing to save you from your crimes, Adora, but there is still time for them.”

  “My crimes? I have done nothing but help my people become better than we were!”

  Better? That was the second time she’d said something about it. I hid my frown at her words and reminded myself that my reply needed to be for the Farians around her, not for Adora. “You tied them to an alien race who use your energy for their own purposes. You sold out your people for your own personal power. You kept them isolated and in chains and waged a war against those who wanted to be free. Listen to me, the Farian Hiervet are not here for the good of Faria. They are here for their own good.”

  I spotted the looks the Farians around us shared and so did Adora. Her mouth tightened and she pushed out of her chair.

  “What do you know of it? You’re merely a human, short-lived and useless. The gods wanted nothing to do with you and were it not for this prophecy we would have been content to let you wallow in the mud.”

  “You had nothing to do with our survival. Humanity found our way out of the mud and into the stars without help from any of you.” I kept my voice even and the smile on my face just barely curving the corner of my mouth. “And we can show the Farians how to do it themselves.”

  I’d learned a lot of things from Hao when I’d joined his crew. One of which was how to bait someone into losing their temper. A person on the verge of losing it gave away more information than they meant to every single ti
me.

  Challenge the leader for control.

  “Quiet.” The blow to my back wasn’t as enthusiastic as it should have been and I could imagine the silent conversations going on behind me.

  Sow confusion, doubt, and fear.

  “The loss of everything you thought you knew is scary, but don’t let your fear drive you away from the one thing that can save you.”

  “You understand nothing.” Adora’s cold smile cut like a knife. “But I think you will when you watch me destroy your home.”

  That was the moment I’d been waiting for. The one I’d known was coming for us and why I couldn’t just let Adora wander free. We’d subverted her plans to attack Faria by presenting a united front; now I would talk her out of attacking Pashati.

  Get your opponent to make your choice rather than their own.

  “You can,” I replied. “I’m not saying it wouldn’t hurt us, but you’re a fool if you think this catches me by surprise. My heir is safe, as is the leadership of Indrana. You will do no more damage to my empire than a child knocking over blocks in a fit of temper.”

  The difference between Hao and me was that while he liked to manipulate his opponent into making the choice through subtlety, I was more often inclined to do it with a hammer.

  Adora grabbed me by the throat and dragged me down until I was at her eye level. I could feel her will sliding against mine, seeking a hold and finding nothing.

  “They ruined everything! Twisted you and warped you into an abomination. Thyra warned me it could happen, but I didn’t believe you would ever turn your back on us—not with so much at stake.”

  “I know what’s at stake,” I replied, carefully sinking the hooks of my own will into hers. “It’s why I made the choice that I did.”

  Adora was too distracted to notice until it was too late. Though even with my advantage, I wouldn’t be able to hold her for long. She was far older and stronger than me and all it would take was one of her people to realize that she didn’t have control of the battle unfolding in front of them.

  “I’ve seen it, Adora. I can help your people, I can help you. Surrender to me and we’ll sort it out. Your only other choice leads to your death.”