Lost Alliance (Dragonfire Station Books 1-3): A Galactic Empire series

by Zen DiPietro

  “I like this one.” She plucked a necklace from a display and ran her finger over it. Smooth, polished blue and black beads alternated around the strand. At the front of the necklace, a half dozen bird charms dangled with tiny articulated wings that made them look as if they were in flight. How he managed to do that with stone, she had no idea.

  “You have excellent taste,” the merchant murmured approvingly. “That’s the best of them all. Put it on, see what you think.” He angled a mirror toward her.

  She was supposed to play tourist, so she would. She fastened the necklace and admired it in the mirror, giving herself a slight shake to make the wings quiver. “It’s amazing.” She glanced toward Raptor. “What do you think?”

  Raptor’s game smile faltered when he examined the jewelry, but only for a second. It came right back. “Incredible artistry. How much?”

  They engaged in a hearty battle of haggling, and ended up with a fair price for both sides. Fallon transferred the funds via the infoboard the merchant provided, and after a touch more praise for his skill, they moved on.

  They stopped to admire some clothing, and then some hand-etched saucers and cups, but it was only a pretense for watching their pursuers. And they were definitely pursuers. Not terrible at doing so, but still easily recognizable to Fallon and Raptor.

  “That’s enough,” Raptor finally said. “I don’t like this. Let’s get back to our room.”

  Once they arrived, they sent a message to Hawk, warning him. Peregrine had already retired to her bedroom, which left Raptor and Fallon alone in the living area.

  She settled on a low settee and ran her fingers over her new jewelry. “Tell me about the necklace.”

  He stiffened, pacing to the minibar and filling a glass with water. Fallon had found it amusingly apropos, in a decadent sort of way, that the suite had a minibar and not a proper kitchenette.

  Raptor took a long drink of water, and she got the feeling he was stalling. Finally he put the glass down and leaned back against the bar. “I bought you a necklace on a mission once. It looked nothing like the one you’re wearing. But it reminded me.”

  Questions jumped to her lips, but she fought them back. She stayed silent, letting him tell the story his way.

  He grabbed a straight-backed chair and dragged it over, planting it backward and straddling it to face her. “I probably should have told you about this sooner. Or maybe not. It just seemed like it would complicate things, and you seemed…complicated already.” He took a breath. “So it was a Blackout job, a job gone wrong. Our intel turned out to be way off base. We lost assets, as well as a member from another unit. Some local kids got in the way and we lost them too. Then you got hit with shrapnel. The big, jagged, flay-you-wide-open kind. I got you to our hideout, pieced you back together, and Hawk and Peregrine hadn’t returned. It was one of the worst missions we ever went on.”

  She toyed absently with the necklace, wondering what the other one had looked like. She also wondered why she hadn’t heard this story before. They’d been going chronologically, so maybe they just hadn’t gotten to it yet. Or maybe there was a reason Raptor hadn’t wanted to share this one.

  “That necklace was made of shells. A local design. I bought it because the kid was cute, and obviously hungry. You really liked it. It was around your neck when the shrapnel hit you, and got so caked with blood I couldn’t even tell it was shell by the time I got you stabilized.”

  Dead, starving children, a split unit, and the near death of a partner. Yep, sounded awfully bad.

  “I couldn’t get your heart in rhythm, see. It kept going out. I’d think I had it, and then no. Eventually I started to think I was going to lose you. When I finally got you out of danger, and you woke up, we were both riding the adrenaline. Since it felt like it might be the end, and all.” He studied her, watching for her reaction.

  “I see. So what you’re saying is that we reacted in a pretty human way to being thrown together into a desperate situation?”

  “That’s a fair assessment.” He rested his chin on the backs of his hands, and leaned forward against the chair.

  Should she even care about this? Or did it indeed complicate things, like he seemed to be worried about? She didn’t feel like it did. Some things are just to be expected in extreme circumstances. But if it had meant something to him, then she didn’t want to completely brush it aside. The necklace had seemed to ignite some deep feelings.

  “Did I used to be all hysterical about sex, or something? Like it had to mean something?” Yeah, not what she’d meant to say. She’d been aiming for something more noncommittal.

  He smirked. “No.”

  “So, are you? All hysterical about it?”

  “Not particularly.”

  “Fine. Then it happened. I’m not worried about it.”

  He didn’t seem relieved. “Even if it was more than once?”

  “What, you mean like regularly?” That ran counter to what she’d been led to believe. “I thought that kind of thing was a bad idea, part of the same unit, special bond of four, blah blah blah.”

  He winced. “Not regularly. Just, you know, every now and again. During the worst times. Not an ongoing thing, or something that would compromise our unit.”

  She tried really, really hard to think of why she might give a damn. But she didn’t remember it, so this more recent intimate relationship with Raptor wasn’t more relevant than the older one. She even understood why he’d think it might complicate things for her, but it didn’t. Maybe it would have, before, but she’d since been married to a woman whose culture considered monogamy an unnatural thing. So maybe she was more open-minded now?

  She quirked a shoulder. “Okay, so fine. Thanks for telling me, I guess?”

  “You’re welcome, I guess?” He looked as perplexed as she felt.

  She barked out a laugh and he relaxed, laughing with her.

  She shook her head, smiling. “I’m going to bed. You’ll wait up for Hawk?”

  “Yep. Was planning on it.” He moved to take her place on the settee, arranging a holo-vid projector.

  “What, no data while you wait?” she asked.

  “My eyes need a break. I’ve been making myself blind.”

  Guilt flooded her. She should have realized he’d been pushing himself too hard. She remembered remote piloting the Outlaw and how Hawk had taken care of her. She determined to take better care of Raptor.

  “Good night,” she said softly.

  “Night.” He fiddled with the projector, not watching her go.

  Fallon, Peregrine, and Raptor ordered breakfast into their room. As scheduled, Hawk went to seal the deal with his pal “Arcy.” Fallon had half a mind to meet this fellow for herself, but that was Hawk’s territory.

  Before going, he instructed them to be waiting for him at the docking bay. Shortly afterward, Fallon, Raptor, and Peregrine gathered their things and left the suite. Almost immediately, Fallon had a bad feeling. Like a weight on the back of her mind. A shadow that wouldn’t move off.

  A glance told her that her teammates felt it too. A certain awareness wafted off them, even though their posture and gait didn’t change. It was just something Fallon could sense. The three of them spread out slightly as they walked down the corridor, Peregrine taking the front position and Raptor and Fallon following, forming a roughly triangular shape.

  Fallon went into hypervigilant mode, scanning for anything out of place, any threats, anything suspicious. There weren’t enough people out for that time of day, that was for sure. The corridors were just too quiet.

  A shame they were so loaded with gear. Each of them carried a heavy backpack, along with a bag or two. At least Hawk had taken several bags with him, so they weren’t as encumbered as they could have been. Perhaps someone was just after their gear. Looking for a grab-and-dash.

  But the four figures that leaped around a junction at them obviously didn’t intend to just snatch what they could and run away. They clearly meant to take it all
. Peregrine was at a disadvantage, standing at the front and weighed down by two large bags. Fallon tried to get to her, but a hooded figure blocked her, moving in to attack.

  Fallon ducked the first punch, pivoting around the guy so that her front was against his back, with her knees pressed into the backs of his so that he was off-balance. She wrapped her arms around him and forced him to the ground. He struggled hard, and was stronger than her, but she had leverage and balance. She whipped a zip-cuff out of her pocket and bound his hands, then his ankles.

  She turned to find Raptor standing over one guy as another advanced on him. Peregrine landed a hit to her opponent’s face, staggering him. She pushed her advantage, taking him to the ground. Fallon flanked the guy about to mix up with Raptor, but the dude broke and ran back the way she and her team had come.

  She shrugged at Raptor, not caring if he got away. They’d been after the gear, most likely. Perhaps they’d been hoping Fallon and the others had physical currency on them to keep it untraceable. Their objective didn’t matter, though. They weren’t pros and had posed no real threat. Only a major inconvenience.

  Fallon zip-cuffed the other two, making sure they couldn’t get very far.

  “We need to get Hawk to the dock so we can depart immediately. Station security will arrive before long, and we don’t want to be here to answer questions.” Fallon frowned at the three would-be thieves on the floor. Hopefully security would ban them from the station, ensuring that other, less prepared travelers wouldn’t have to deal with them. But a mercenary station might not work that way.

  Fallon activated her comport. It wasn’t polite to use it out in public like this, but no one else was around. “Hawk. We’ll be at the meet point in two minutes. We need to leave without delay.”

  They’d just arrived at the docking bay when Hawk replied. “Just finished up and got the control codes for the ship. I’ll be there in three minutes.”

  Time ticked by excruciatingly slowly as they waited for Hawk to arrive. Station security might already have responded, if the scuffle had occurred on a security feed. Or if someone had reported the zip-cuffed people.

  Finally Hawk rounded the corner, carrying several bags but somehow managing not to look overburdened. He punched in the code, which released the airlock door, and then gestured the others through.

  Fallon felt better as soon as she stepped off Dauntless Station. Her mood improved further when the airlock door closed and pressurized behind her, even as she ran for the pilot’s chair. The others took up posts on the bridge, but she barely noticed them.

  She executed a textbook departure, complete with all the proper permissions and responses. Finally, she maneuvered the ship away. Only then did she take the time to admire her new ride’s burly design and powerful propulsion. Skimming her hand over the weapons array, she hummed pleasantly as she locked in their coordinates and fired the main engines.

  She sighed as Dauntless Station fell farther and farther behind them.

  “So what happened to you three?” Hawk asked.

  “We got jumped,” Peregrine said. “Amateurs. But they seemed to know we’d be coming out this morning. Guessing they got some tip about our departure.”

  Hawk frowned, rubbing his beard, which made a rough, scritchy sort of sound. “I’ll tell Arcy about that. He’ll handle it from his side. That kind of thing’s bad for his business.”

  “How do you know he didn’t have some part of it?” Raptor asked.

  Hawk made a snorty, scoffing sound. “Not something amateur like that. If Arcy wanted to put us down, he’d get the money for the ship, then do his best to make us dead, quietly and cleanly. Then he’d get to keep the ship, whatever gear we had, and the cubics too.”

  “That might have sounded reassuring in your head,” Raptor told him, “but it doesn’t make me feel better about your pal Arcy.”

  Hawk gave him a wry look. “We don’t have anything to worry about. Arcy and I have an understanding. We each know things about the other. Things that would end us, fast. Mutually assured destruction is the ideal means of ensuring peace. It’s just good business.”

  “Right.” Peregrine frowned at Hawk.

  He glared right back at her. “It’s light-years better than relying on a person’s sense of loyalty. Or worse, their morality.” He spat out the word like it was filthy, and Fallon got another glimpse into what must be a rough personal history.

  He was probably right, too, but Fallon didn’t want to think too hard about that just then. “I’ve laid in a course for Earth. Unless there’s somewhere we should go first.”

  She looked from one face to another, giving them an opportunity to suggest that finding her parents wasn’t their highest priority. She wasn’t entirely sure that it should be. But it was possible she might get some answers that would help in their current situation, especially considering that her father was a PAC intelligence officer, and she hadn’t come up with any better ideas.

  She settled her gaze on Raptor. “Have you uncovered any new data? Anything that would supersede tracking down my parents?”

  Raptor shook his head. “Nothing useful yet. I’ll keep at it, but while I’m working through it, we can either go to Earth, or hijack more data nodes. That would give us more data to put into the pile.”

  Which he was already overburdened with. The rest of them needed something to do in the meantime.

  “Okay,” Fallon decided. “Back to Earth.”

  She was glad to confront her past sooner rather than later. She really wasn’t much of a procrastinator. A thought occurred to her. “Oh, and Hawk?”

  He raised an eyebrow at her.

  “Thanks for buying me such a pretty ship. I’m going to have fun with this one.”

  Fallon named her new ship the Nefarious. The others expressed skepticism about the name, but the way she figured it, she’d spent her whole life do-gooding. Well, sometimes maybe bad-doing in the name of do-gooding, but at the time, those had been value judgments she’d been willing to let others make. Apparently.

  Now she intended to make those decisions personally. Which, perhaps, pushed her into nefarious territory. She kind of hoped so, anyway.

  She fell for the Nefarious in a big way. She’d liked the Outlaw, but she’d barely had a chance to get to know it in person. The Nefarious was something else altogether. She ran her fingers over every console, every panel. She crawled through the maintenance conduits. She studied every schematic. She knew the Nefarious in the way that only a pilot could, a relationship that formed a near symbiosis. This was her ship.

  She’d loved keeping Dragonfire Station secure, and knowing that the people there had confidence in their safety. She’d been good at that. She liked going on missions, too, engaging in a fight-or-flight scenario of life and death. That made her blood sing, made her feel more alive than she’d known she could feel. But piloting a ship like this woke something up inside her. Something that she’d only just rediscovered.

  The ship had autopilot, and each of her teammates could handle basic operations. Over the following days, she had time to eat, sleep, and find time for some recreation. Which usually involved either physical activity or looking after the ship. Even better if it was both at the same time.

  Aware that she might otherwise be deemed boring by her teammates, she occasionally engaged in a match of Two-ten-jack or some other card game. Her heart wasn’t in it though. She felt better when the white noise of physical activity gave her a break from thinking. Sitting still and playing cards did not have the same effect.

  Raptor had gotten an address for her parents. Yumi and Hiro Kato. Their daughter Kiyoko, aka Emiko, aka Emé, aka Fallon, aka Fury, was coming home. They didn’t know that yet, and Fallon could only hope it would be a pleasant reunion.

  That depended entirely on what they knew of her life now, and how they felt about it. And, of course, whether or not they were involved with Blackout’s attempt to ice Avian Unit. Either way, she and her team would learn more about what
they were dealing with. Fallon hoped her parents would prove to be allies, but she had to prepare for the possibility that they could be anything but. Most of all, she hoped they could provide a key to her memory.

  She wondered if Brak had made any progress with the implant she’d described. Fallon found it impressively loyal that Brak would even attempt such a thing. She knew how Brak felt about developing implants related to memory. Sure, Brak was trying to address the issue of lost memory rather than augmenting existing memory, but technology, once invented, had a way of gaining a life of its own and finding new applications. Even Fallon knew that.

  She’d have to leave the morality and risk of such a technology to Brak, though. That was Brak’s realm of expertise. Which left Fallon to focus on her own. As she docked at the orbital station above Earth, she felt like she was finally on the verge of getting some real answers. Not only about the state of Blackout, but about who she really was.

  Peregrine had given all of them elaborate disguises this time, complete with synthetic skin to alter their facial structures. Fallon had become blonde, green eyed, and just a little chubby. Even her own parents wouldn’t recognize her like this.

  She’d be able to identify them, though. She’d studied their active files in the PAC database. Pleasant-looking people. Fit, and fairly unremarkable in appearance. Except for the fact that she’d recognized the shape of her own eyes on her mother’s face, and her father’s chin looked just like her own.

  Family ties. But what did they tie her to?

  She and her team had discussed numerous ways of approaching her parents, but they always ended up with a containment issue in the event that the Katos didn’t turn out to be allies. That left Avian Unit only the option of an in-person visit, with Fallon and Raptor going in and Peregrine and Hawk watching their backs, prepared for an extraction.