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

by Zen DiPietro

  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 second 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 came 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.”

  “And easier for someone to sneak a communication through,” Krazinski said. “We’re not taking any risks. Everyone is securely locked down, with all disaster protocols observed.”

  “Everyone but you, and those four other point-to-point stations,” Fallon noted.

  “Yes,” Krazinski agreed. “Not my first choice of duty station, but someone completely trustworthy had to do it. The clash on Jamestown forced us to neutralize everyone Colb had recruited. Most of them were good people who were duped into committing treason. But regardless of their delusions, I’m having a hard time with trust after seeing officers I’d had complete faith in killing their colleagues. That’s why I came myself, and assigned only my closest comrades to the other spots.”

  “What exactly happened on Jamestown?” Raptor asked.

  Krazinski’s heavy sigh said much about regret. “Colb’s people were planning an uprising to take over the station. We surprised them by attacking first. Our initial intent was to use nonlethal force, but that was a mistake. We suffered more casualties than we would have if I’d permitted lethal action at the outset. But that’s my burden to bear. There will be a lot of holes to fill once we get back to Jamestown, left by the traitors and loyal officers both.”

  A beep signaled the completion of the pressurization. Fallon removed her helmet, drawing in a deep breath of air. Across from her, Raptor did the same.

  Since putting a pressure suit on required at least fifteen minutes to properly attach and align the systems, she and Raptor only removed their gloves. Krazinski’s voice said, “Might as well remove all of it. We have a lot to talk about, and you’ll be more comfortable.”

  She looked at Raptor, but he only shrugged and reached behind his neck.

  “Here, I’ll get it.” She moved behind him and depressurized the suit, then began helping him peel it off. When she moved to face him, she saw his humor and a hint of wickedness. He wouldn’t say it out loud given their circumstances, but his expression said that he found the actions similar to a very different scenario.

  She rolled her eyes, but couldn’t help but smile. When they switched roles, he helped her out of her suit while giving her some enthusiastic leering. It was so incongruent with the situation she almost laughed out loud.

  Finally they stepped through the airlock into a short corridor. At the end of it Raptor opened a door, and they entered a tiny room that reminded Fallon of a crisis ops control center. Krazinski stood waiting for them. He looked paler and thinner than Fallon remembered him.

  He smiled. “I can’t tell you how good it is to see you two. I feel like finally, the end to all this is near.” He stepped closer and gave them a deep, deep bow of respect and gratitude.

  Whatever Fallon had expected, it hadn’t been that. Raptor’s startled expression no doubt mirrored her own.

  “I hope it is,” she said quickly, trying to cover her surprise.

  He nodded. “Let’s get to work and make sure of it.”

  Raptor and Fallon checked in with Avian Unit, then turned to making sure Krazinski’s story checked out on all points before doing anything more. Like Krazinski’s, their trust was in short supply lately.

  “When exactly did you realize Colb was doing illegal research?” Raptor asked. He sat on a small modular chair that was identical to the ones Fallon and Krazinski sat on. This little hideout was far from plush.

  “Not nearly soon enough.” Krazinski’s face was lined with regret. “We gave each other wide leeway to do our jobs. He handled his teams, I handled mine. But I’ve worked with him for over twenty years, and we’d run Blackout together seamlessly. I wish I could say that in retrospect, I could see the signs of his betrayal. But he seemed no less sincere, no less committed to the PAC.” He sipped from a packet of water. “When Andra died a few years back, he grieved, but privately. Her loss did not affect his work. Or so I thought.”

  Krazinski lapsed into silence, no doubt picking through the past, trying to see if hindsight could give him a new view of events. But he shook his head. “It wasn’t until I heard some whispers in the tech industry and followed one anomaly to the next that I noticed something bigger emerging. Even then I didn’t realize it was him.”

  “That was when you tried to blackmail Brak to create that kind of technology,” Fallon said.

  “No, by the time I did that, I did suspect Colb. I just couldn’t find any proof. I hoped Brak would be a link to the people involved, but it was very clear that she knew nothing of any of it. Even then I hoped I was wrong about Colb. That I was overly suspicious. An old man seeing shadows and thinking they were monsters. I even thought it might be time to retire. I was no use to anyone if I’d lost my edge. But then I connected a supplier to a scientist. Once I investigated the scientist, I realized the nature of what was happening. Implants. Illegal technology. Treaty violations.”

  “And of course by that point, the team you normally would have sent out had already been sidelined.” Fallon frowned.

  “Avian Unit was the best Blackout team, in my opinion. I never understood why Colb seemed to favor Stone Unit over you. And I objected when he sent you out on individual deep-cover missions. I wanted you back, but he insisted he had you on critical a
ssignments. He backed it up with details, but I still felt another team should be doing that work.”

  Fallon’s attention caught on the mention of Stone Unit. “Do you know that I killed Granite? I didn’t know who he was at the time. I intended to question him but I injured him too badly.”

  Krazinski winced. “Yes. I did know.”

  He said nothing more, but Fallon distinctly sensed that he blamed himself for not seeing it all much sooner.

  Disasters and betrayals were always like that. They seemed impossible right up until they happened.

  “Any idea why Fallon was singled out to get an implant?” Raptor asked. “Colb had a lot of BlackOps to choose from.”

  “I can only speculate. Either he wanted to separate your unit to keep you from being able to work against him, or he did it specifically to get access to Fallon. Maybe because of her extraordinary memory?”

  Fallon only nodded. She was disappointed he didn’t have more to add about what had happened to her, but clearly those answers could only come from Colb himself.

  Krazinski continued, “When he knew I suspected him, he began to squeeze me out. Tried to discredit me. Prove that I was unreliable. He connected some of his own dealings to me, making it seem I was the cause of it all. He managed to confuse the others in Blackout long enough to get his ass to Zerellus and make himself conspicuous.” Anger darkened his face. “Of course we could do nothing at that point but try to keep him isolated.”

  “Because a public death or apprehension would have brought all the treaty violations to light,” Fallon finished.

  “Yes. And it gets worse,” Krazinski said.

  “Oh good, I was hoping you’d say that.” Raptor sighed.

  Krazinski ignored him. “The Barony Coalition has begun strategic attacks on small outposts on the fringes of the PAC zone. Testing our strength and tolerance. They’re aware of at least some of the treaty violations—thanks to Colb, I’m guessing—and their goal will be to shift the balance of power so that they can take over the PAC.”