by Zen DiPietro
“Is that why your security was so easy to break?” Raptor asked.
“Well, it was enough to keep out the looky loos,” Colb answered. “But I needed you to be able to get in.”
“Hell of a risk,” Hawk noted. Clearly, he’d dispensed with proper protocol for addressing a senior officer.
Colb smiled, ignoring the breach. “Not really. You were my last hope. If it turned out I truly had no allies, then I might as well meet the wrong end of a stinger. At least that would raise questions.”
Fallon exchanged a look with her team. His story made sense. But could they trust him?
“I understand that you’re skeptical. But I have data. Proof. I can show that Krazinski’s been involved in treasonous deals for over two years now. He squeezed me out because I tried to stop him. I wasn’t fast enough to maneuver him out before he did it to me.” He slapped the edge of the table, his cheeks red.
“We have data too,” Fallon said. If Colb couldn’t give them more than that, he wouldn’t be very useful to them. “The trouble is that we don’t know who we can trust at PAC command. We don’t know how many people he controls. Jamestown Station might be teeming with people loyal to him.”
Colb nodded. “I have some suggestions. So let’s talk about how we’re going to get this done.”
Fallon sent a questioning glance at her team members, but saw agreement in their eyes. They’d needed an ally of his stature, someone who still had ties within the bureaucracy, and now they had one.
“Okay,” she said. “What’s next?”
They tabled the discussion until they could get Colb up to the Nefarious.
They covertly returned to the restaurant. After putting street clothes over their jumpsuits, they ate enough of the rapidly cooling food to make it appear as if a dinner party had taken place. Hawk did the majority of the eating, while Peregrine disguised Colb for the trip back to the Nefarious.
Once on board the ship, they spent the next three hours talking, first suggesting tactics, then hacking them all apart. Finally, exhausted, Hawk suggested they get some sleep. They’d start on their way back to Dragonfire after they rested.
In her quarters, Fallon got dressed for bed, but only stood staring at her bunk. It didn’t look inviting.
Instead she went next door to Raptor’s berth and touched the chime.
“Thought you were tired.” He looked like she might have woken him, but he moved back so she could enter.
“I’m practically asleep right now.” She eyed his narrow bunk. “Mind if I sleep here?” She willed him not to make a big deal about it.
“Sure. But I get the wall side. If someone’s falling out, it’ll be you.”
She smiled. “It’s happened before.”
“That’s why I want the wall side.”
He sat on the bed, and she waited for him to lie down before she hit the light panel and squeezed in next to him. “Goodnight.”
“Night,” he answered, his voice rough with fatigue.
Despite her own tiredness, she listened to his slow, even breathing for several minutes before closing her eyes.
Fallon took the first flight shift, to be sure they got properly under way and because she was somewhat domineering about the pilot’s chair. Afterward, she was glad for a chance to sit down with Colb in his quarters and get reacquainted.
“You’ve been well?” she asked, seated across from him. He looked healthy enough, albeit weathered, for a man of his age. Andra’s death three years earlier had taken such a toll on him.
“So they tell me.” His smile brought back images of her childhood. He and Andra had shared many meals at the Kato household. Her mother had enjoyed hosting them, and afterward, Colb was always happy to play whatever game Fallon suggested. His own children had been a good deal older, and he’d seemed to have a particular fondness for young Kiyoko, as he’d known her then. He’d been so close to the family that he’d called her Kiyoko-chan, just as her mother and father did.
His fondness for her hadn’t changed as she’d aged. He’d been the one to sponsor her application to the PAC academy. Perhaps he’d even put her name in front of the people who ran Blackout, though he’d never hinted at such.
He and Andra had been like family—a favorite aunt and uncle. Even now, seeing him without her honorary aunt seemed strange to her.
“How are Rolly and Jenna?”
He smiled ruefully. “Oh, you know how it is with grown children. They go off to this galaxy or that and you end up hearing from them only on odd occasions. But last I talked to them, they were both busy and happy. Jenna had a second baby and Rolly still hasn’t settled down.”
Fallon nodded. She’d never known his children well. They’d been adults by the time it had occurred to her to wonder about them.
“I imagine it’s hard to have your kids so far away,” she said.
“Yes, but they’re happy, and that’s what matters.” He gave her a knowing look. “No doubt your parents were thrilled to see you.”
She chuckled. “That hardly describes it, but yes. I hadn’t been home for a long time.” When she’d visited a few months ago, her parents had been strangers to her. Now that she’d recovered her memories, she wanted a real visit with them. She knew that her near future had no trip to Earth in it, but maybe her parents could come visit her.
“I imagine they were beside themselves.” Colb folded his hands over his knee. “I’ve never seen parents as proud of their child as they’ve always been of you. And your brother, of course,” he added quickly.
“Kano was always the more easygoing of the two of us,” she admitted.
“Still quite the achiever, though.”
She gave him a small, seated bow in acknowledgement of the compliment to her brother.
He waved his hand. “No need to be formal with me. I knew you when your mother still put your hair in pigtails.”
She let out a long sigh. “How did it all come to this? Fighting the very thing we’ve always wanted to be a part of.”
Sadness washed over his face. “I’ve spent a lot of time wondering that, myself. Some people don’t recognize what they have. It makes them blind to the tiny changes that lead to disaster. When they finally realize what’s coming, it’s too late.”
“What did Krazinski miss?” Fallon leaned forward, watching him intently.
“The fact that the galaxies are always changing. Power is always shifting. We have to keep ourselves informed, so that we have time to adapt. I think John was complacent for too long, and when he realized the PAC was losing its authority, he panicked. Turned to illegal methods.”
“How were we losing authority? I never heard anything about that.”
Colb frowned. “Of course not. The only thing worse than losing a political advantage is advertising that the advantage has been lost. The entire power dynamic would shift. Planets would reconsider their allegiances.”
“So what was happening?”
“Neighboring galaxies were infringing on our sovereignty. Nothing major, but they were pushing at their limits. Seeing how close they could get to breaking a treaty. They knew we would tolerate more than we should, for fear of touching off a war. And that put us on the defensive. In the weaker position.”
“How do we put a stop to that?”
Colb’s face hardened. “We have to draw a harder line. Punish infractions. Even push back if we must. Being tolerant of incursions on our sovereignty makes rivals think we’re an easy mark.”
“Sounds like that will be our first order of business once we get Krazinski out,” Fallon agreed.
“It’s imperative, if we don’t want the PAC to fall.”
“So how do you suggest we get him out?”
Colb tilted his head. “Shouldn’t we bring your team in to discuss this together?”
“I’ll fill them in. I’m the team leader. They’ll follow my lead.”
Colb smiled at her. “That’s my girl.” He rubbed his palms together gently. “You know, i
n some ways, you are more like a daughter to me than my own Jenna. I love her dearly, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t understand her art. You, though, were always what I imagined my child would be like.”
“I’m flattered. You’ve always been family, as far as I’m concerned. So let’s talk strategy.”
For the next hour, she picked Colb’s brain on the inner workings of Blackout bureaucracy and how they could take control.
She wished she could call a team meeting as soon as she left his quarters, but she’d have to wait.
Finally, after Colb retired for the night, she called Avian Unit, including Ross, up to the bridge. As they gathered around, she studied their faces.
She regretted what she had to tell them. “We have a problem.”
“I’ve known Masumi Colb all my life. He’s practically family to me. But he’s lying.” Fallon paused for a moment to let her team digest that fact. “I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s working with Krazinski to bring us in.”
A heavy silence fell as her team worked that idea through.
“How do you know?” Hawk’s mouth set in a grim line.
“He knew that I’ve been to see my parents. I didn’t mention that, and my parents wouldn’t either. He thinks that I assume they would, but I know better.”
“So Blackout knows we saw your parents when we were on Earth.” Peregrine’s typical frown had deepened into something much more grave.
“Apparently. And Krazinski and Colb set up a plan to make Colb look like a potential ally because they assumed I’d trust Uncle Masumi.”
Raptor scowled. “We took that bait, and now here we are, being led into the dragon’s mouth.”
“Pretty much,” Fallon agreed.
“So what do we do?” Hawk shifted restlessly. “Confront him now and force the truth out of him?”
Ross spoke up. “We have the splitter I brought in Fallon’s vault on Dragonfire. We could take the answers if he doesn’t offer them.”
Fallon had thought of that. She’d been forced to decide whether to commit an atrocity for the safety of her galaxy. As a Blackout operative, if she’d been ordered to use illegal tech that amounted to torture, she’d have done her job like a good little soldier. But she no longer had the luxury of relying on others to determine what lines must be crossed for the greater good.
“No. We will not.”
Her teammates’ faces registered relief.
“What, then?” Hawk asked.
“Krazinski and Colb have a plan for us. Let’s find out what it is. We’ll play the part that they would have us play.”
A shadow of a smile flitted over Peregrine’s mouth. “They’ll think they have us where they want us, and we’ll flip it all right around on them.”
“Exactly,” agreed Fallon.
“We’ll have to lock him down pretty hard,” Raptor mused. “Here, and especially on Dragonfire. Without him realizing we’re doing it. Monitor his transmissions, make sure he isn’t calling an attack on us or transmitting information about our activities or access to the station’s systems.”
She’d had time to think about that, too. “We’ll dummy up the station’s records and status. Anything he accesses will be what we want him to see. The real details will be under such tight security even the rest of the Dragonfire crew won’t have it.”
Hawk whistled. “Think Nevitt will agree to that? That’s going to impact her ability to do her job. And if there’s an attack on Dragonfire while we’re providing false data, there will be major chaos.”
“She’ll have to agree. We can’t give Colb access to the station’s real data, and we can’t let him know he’s locked out, either.”
Hawk grinned. “Sounds fun. We’ve definitely never run an op like it.”
“We’ll have to create the program over the next day, so it’s ready when we dock. Then we’ll have to keep Colb occupied and away from any voicecom access long enough to install it.” Her eyes went to Raptor. As their hacker extraordinaire, a lot of this would fall on him.
He straightened. “No problem.”
“Good. In the meantime, we have to be very careful not to let on to Colb that we know his game. No slip-ups,” she ordered. She glared at her team. “This is serious. Quit looking so happy.”
Each of her teammates, Ross included, wore a kid-in-a-candy-store smile.
Hawk stood and moved to put his arm around her. “Aw, lighten up, Chief. Think of how epic it’ll be when we pull it off. We’ll be legends.”
She’d thought of that too, and the legend part didn’t matter to her. But the intricacy of the job appealed. “Among ourselves, and to the scant few people who know about it—if they don’t end up incarcerated for the rest of their lives.”
“Exactly!” Hawk thumped her on the back.
She couldn’t resist. She grinned back at her team. “Fine. It’s going to be awesome. But only if we win.”
“Of course we’ll win.” Hawk lifted a fist into the air. “We’re Avian Unit. Blood and bone!”
The others raised their fists.
“Blood and bone!” Fallon said with them.
20
Coalescence Chapter 5
Fallon wasn’t surprised when Raptor came to her quarters that night.
“You doing okay?” His face showed a caring concern that she hadn’t yet gotten entirely accustomed to.
“Yeah. Other than being a little concerned about my parents and brother, I’m good.”
He made a hum of understanding and sat next to her on her bunk. “Your parents have been in the game longer than you have. I’m sure they’ve seen a lot and know how to take care of themselves.”
“They’ve always done on-the-books work. They don’t have experience with the kind of stuff we’re doing. Colb knows that I’ve been to see them. Under normal circumstances, they’d mention that to a close family friend. Since they didn’t, he must suspect they know something.”
Raptor made another sound of agreement. He put a chummy arm around her. “But,” he said, “what if they know that he knows we know he knows they know?”
She laughed. “They probably don’t. But maybe they suspect.”
“Whew. Glad you followed that. I’m not sure I did.” He gave her a playful jiggle. “Don’t get too far inside your own head. Just do the job. Work the problems as they come.”
“That’s pretty much been my whole approach to life, until recently.”
“And now?” He sounded genuinely curious, no longer teasing.
“I find myself caught up in feelings and relationships. Why do you suppose that is?”
He turned his head at an awkward angle so he could look at her. “Are you looking for platitudes, or truth?”
“Let’s try platitudes,” she decided.
“It’s a temporary thing because of your situation. Once we get past this threat to the PAC, things will sort themselves out and you’ll get back to normal.”
She mulled that over. It was possible. If life went back to normal and she threw herself back into her job, the rest of it all might recede. But she didn’t think so. “Okay, let’s try truth.”
“We’ve all been changed by what’s happened to us. Being split up. Having to fight to get back together, and to stay together. Having to battle our own handlers. We’ve had to become more than we ever intended to be.”
Unfortunately, that had the ring of truth. “How do you feel about that?” she asked. “About how it affects your life, I mean.”
“It is what it is. I’ve never given much thought to what-ifs. I mean, think about it. We’re tiny specks in the cosmos. Not even that. When you compare us to all the galaxies and planets and stars, we don’t even register. There’s an infinite amount of everything my life is not. There’s only a tiny bit of what my life actually is. So I choose to focus on that.”
Somehow that was what she’d needed to hear. She didn’t want to spend her time reflecting and philosophizing about her life. She wanted to live it. “That was
kind of wise. Maybe you should teach at the academy when all this is over.”
The humor returned to his voice. “Me, a teacher? Nah. I need a job where I get up each day never knowing if I’m going to have to jump out of a plane or hide in a swamp.”
She smiled. “The Obafuran mission.”
“Yeah,” he said wistfully. “Good times.”
“If you call a thousand mosquito bites and the rotten stench of swamp good.”
“Well, not at the time. Damn bugs chewed my face up. But it was a good mission.”
“It was,” she agreed. She had to admit that she liked diving out of planes, too. She glanced at the chronometer and stood, causing Raptor’s arm to fall to his side. “I have to get to the bridge and relieve Ross. My shift starts in five minutes.”
“I’ll walk you up there.”
It was a silly thing for him to do, but she decided to live in the moment. “Let’s go.”
Upon docking at Dragonfire Station, the Nefarious was treated to a grand welcome, including a personal visit from Captain Nevitt.
“Admiral Colb.” The captain bowed. “Welcome to Dragonfire. We’re pleased to have you.”
Fallon stepped through the airlock as the pair exchanged pleasantries. As far as Colb was concerned, Nevitt was only a station captain.
Fallon smiled, outwardly as a greeting, but secretly in pleasure at imagining the noose tightening around Colb’s neck. She could feel herself getting closer to her goal. Maybe one day, she’d reflect on the betrayal of someone who’d been like one of her family. At present, she cared only about her job—protecting the PAC and its citizens.
“Please allow me to give you a tour of the station before showing you to your quarters,” Nevitt said to Colb as they stepped out of the docking bay.
To refuse would be terribly rude, so Colb was forced to smile and say, “It’s my pleasure, thank you.”
And away they went, providing Avian Unit with the time they needed to dummy up the station’s computers. At least, Fallon hoped they’d have enough time. Even with Raptor’s skills, it would be tight.
