Oath Breaker (Death of Empire Book 1)

by A. B. Keuser

  “Do the Siblings not get along?”

  “It’s not really an issue of Gilroy and Lyz, it’s more the fact that no brother wants to hear what they’re doing at all hours of the day and night—she’s not my sister and I’m not a fan.”

  “Obie, put them in the Isolation section, but deprogram the auto locks. No one will hear them there.”

  “I am glad to have you back, Captain. It will be done. Are there any other special needs for your crew, Danielle?”

  Yella stared at him, but responded to Obie, shaking her head. “No, that’s it.”

  “Have one of them take her stuff to my quarters.” As Si said it, he caught the curious look from her, and hoped what he saw was curiosity, not irritation – he was never good at distinguishing those emotions. José was smiling like an ass.

  He shrugged. “You want to keep me a secret. It’d only make sense for you to take the captain’s quarters. I’ve got a couch. We’ll be fine.”

  He didn’t like the way her eyes raked over him, as if he no longer stood up to measure. Maybe that would change in tight quarters. If not, he’d move to an empty bunk just as soon as he’d warned her.

  Her jaw twitched and he waited for her to tell him off. She simply closed her eyes and shook her head at him like he was a child she’d grown tired of trying to reason with. “Fine, ask Lyz to do it. And ask nicely.”

  “I’ll do it.” José pushed himself away from the wall. “I’ve got to throw my things in whatever bunk she’s stowed me in. I’ll grab yours, too.”

  “Thank you.” Yella watched José go and then turned back to Si. Standing, she gave him a long, sad look. “You shouldn’t be up. Cryo does strange things to your body, and it’s not going to function right until your system is completely flushed. Did you think I put that IV in because I like stabbing people?” The way her lips twitched told him the answer might be yes.

  He let her lead him back out of the office. “Do I have to lay down? I’ve been asleep for fifteen years.”

  “You and I both know that’s not how it works. If you were exhausted going in, you’ll be exhausted coming out.”

  “Lucky for everyone involved, I was healthy as a horse going in.”

  “Sit.” She motioned to a chair next to the bed he’d been in and she moved to reattach the IV. “You were busted up when you went in.”

  “Have you ever been in cryonic stasis, Yella?” Once again, stiffened at the familiar version of her name. “The last thing I want right now is to be cooped up in a medbay.”

  “Think of it as… gradual integration. I can’t risk what might happen to you if you go out there and someone doesn’t like that you’re on board.”

  “Do you still care what happens to me, then?” He tried to make the words come out teasing, but the look on her face told him he’d done it wrong. Again.

  “You want the cold hard facts? I couldn’t get this ship off the ground and keep her in the sky without taking on some extra help. I know my normal crew, I know that if I tell them to think of you as the invisible man, they won’t see you. The others… I don’t hold their leash as tightly. My employer….” she swallowed, and blew out a heavy sigh before looking back at him with a forced smile. “All things considered they’re going to see you as a major setback to their plans.”

  At least part of it was a lie. “How bad is the split? Is mutiny a worry?”

  She looked at him, eyes narrowing and he knew she was calculating the risk of showing her hand. “It doesn’t matter. On a ship this size, with a crew this small… one malefactor could cause huge problems.”

  “Oh.” The realization stabbed him like a sliver of ice through his chest. “You mean me.”

  Her gaze slid away. “You know the ship better than anyone.”

  “Is that why you don’t want me to get Adi and Ric out of cold storage?”

  “Where one variable is difficult to control, a cluster can be impossible.” Some of the anger faded from her, replaced by sadness. “Besides, Captain Bowlin’s war is over. You’re wearing the uniform of an army that was eradicated ten years ago with the final battle of the Reject Wars.”

  “Reject Wars?” The words made him want to spit.

  “The winning side gets to pick what to call it, remember? The Absolution Conflicts wasn’t a palatable option to the Pääom.”

  She turned to leave, and he grabbed her arm, tugging at his IV. Wincing through the pain tearing at his hand, he didn’t let go of her. He couldn’t be sure she’d stay.

  “I’m not the one you need to worry about.” His eyes darted the ceiling and then back down, hoping she’d get the message.

  She let her eyes lift slowly to the ceiling before they fell back to him, her brow furrowed. She opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something else, but shook the thought away. “I don’t trust you, Si. What makes a man who’s supposed to turn the tide in a war, lock himself away in Cryo for fifteen years? Cowardice is going to be most people’s first guess.”

  She pulled out of his grasp and left, the hatch sealing with a heavy thunk behind her.

  “Do you want me to deal with them?”

  “No, she’s right not to trust me. I don’t trust her. Do me a favor, prime Adi and Ric’s capsules so they can be quickly defrosted. I might need their help.”

  He swiveled the computer away from the bedside and typed in his command code to access the full extent of the ship’s files. “Where are we?”

  “Gamma Quadrant. We’ve achieved lift off from Sientä and are on trajectory toward Torjunta in the Beta Quadrant.”

  “Headed back toward the Pääom, then.”

  “That is correct. Ten years ago, at the end of the war, the Pääom took control of all the planets in the Alpha through Epsilon quadrants. At present, there are only a handful of rim worlds not under their control.”

  “What about Perhonen?”

  Obie paused. Never a good sign.

  “Perhonen was destroyed.”

  The words cut through him like a serrated blade, and he let out a heavy breath. “How many died?”

  “I do not have access to that data. However, the members of the population that did escape before the cataclysmic event have been relocated to Ruma. The Pääom was very… thorough in their removal of information.”

  “How did José and Yella manage to make it out?”

  “I do not have access to that data. All indications of the Cholla family have prior to six years ago been burned from the records I have been able to access since reinterfacing with the grid, save for a few scraps of information tucked into dark corners.”

  “That’s okay, Obie. It was more a rhetorical question than anything else.” He tried not to let the smile slip from his lips. It was a rare occasion when he had a one up on Obie.

  “Can she be trusted?”

  “You’re the one who pulled me out and put me in her hands… you tell me.”

  The computer monitor to his left flickered to life, and Si watched as Yella found him in the cryo chamber.

  “She was emotional.”

  “I see a woman who’s sad and afraid.” But he couldn’t deny that there had been something, the briefest hint of a smile as her eyes lit up… and then it had faded.

  She shook her head at the tube. “Is this where you’ve been all along, Si?”

  “So… that suggested she wasn’t going to kill me right away? Obie, you’re not designed to care about emotional responses, remember?”

  “She has a file tagged in the Pääom system. All agents are ordered to apprehend her on sight for delivery to an official named Vôner.”

  “What does he want her for?”

  “That information is not public. Risk of discovery outweighed need for clarification.”

  “But it does work well for you, doesn’t it? Gives the crew an even greater reason to keep away from anything that remotely smells like the Pääom.” He tabbed through the security screenings. “What would you have done if she hadn’t had that little black mark
next to her name?”

  “She wouldn’t have been able to take off. And if she’d managed to get past my land lock protocols, I wouldn’t have let her find the squeaker attached to my hull.”

  “Have you told her about that yet?” Obie didn’t like giving information to outsiders.

  “I felt your immediate release from cryonic stasis was the highest priority.”

  “Let me guess, you haven’t told her the dorsal ladderway is blown. Anything you’re keeping from me this time around?”

  Another pause.

  “Nothing that will harm you.”

  He glared at the ceiling, jaw clenched. The last time she’d kept things from him, the death toll had been catastrophic.

  FOUR

  Dani stopped herself outside the bridge and covered her face with her hands.

  “Don’t think of it as a failure.” She chided herself. “It’s an altered opportunity. It’s not the past trying to drag me back. This time it’s the present being a dick.”

  Shaking out her jacket, she straightened her shoulders and took a deep breath, she could not show weakness. Stepping over the hatch, she immediately turned away, choking out a cough.

  “When you’re on duty, could you please refrain from doing things that I should fire you for?”

  “It’s nothing you haven’t seen before.” Laughing, Lyz peeled herself off of Mopeña and crawled out of the chair that shouldn’t have been rated to hold them both. “You could always put us on separate shifts,” she said, adjusting her top so that it covered her fully again.

  “I could do that… but then I’d have to deal with the both of you sulking.” She’d put up with the random PDAs.

  “Alright, boss is here. I guess I have to get back to work.” Lyz slipped under a console, worming her way in until her frilly pink skirt and the bright blue tights tucked into a pair of old purple work boots were the only things visible. She’d taken the time to change.

  “I can’t believe he’s alive.” Her voice was muffled as she spoke into the coils.

  Dani’s skin prickled as she reminded herself she never should have expected Lyz to keep that secret from Mopeña. The pilot sat at the helm tapping in course corrections as though he was oblivious to everything they said.

  “Every girl I knew growing up had a crush on him. The titters during classes… the random dreams and fantasies they shared.” She laughed breathily. “It would have made the paint peel, you know, if it hadn’t been made of that durable polymer resin the Pääom started using.”

  “He was a hero.” Dani didn’t want to go down the path of fantasies and dreams.

  “And not a bad looking one, even bruised up like that, I bet there’s a planet’s worth of women who’d get squishy again just knowing he’s alive.”

  Dani looked away, through the viewport beyond Mopeña’s head. She was not one of the women populating the galaxy who would fall in love with Osiris Bowlin. She’d done that once and she didn’t repeat mistakes.

  “I hope my girl isn’t one of them.” Mopeña glanced over his shoulder with a wide grin.

  Pulling herself out of the console, Lyz looked at him with narrowed eyes and a teasing smile. “Wanna take me below deck and find out?”

  Happy to leave the dangerous conversation that might have brought up as-yet-unasked questions of her past, Dani made a gagging noise. “Seriously, you two are going to make me sick.”

  “Come on, Dani. Your family knew him. Don’t tell me you’re not happy about this.”

  Closing her eyes, Dani took a deep breath. “It complicates everything, Lyz. We’ve got a freedom fighter who woke up a decade too late. He’s probably going to want to take up arms against the Pääom again. If you recall, we barely had a chance of winning when they weren’t already holding our leashes.”

  Lyz rolled her eyes. “I didn’t expect a woman who’s managed to evade from them for five years to be such a coward.”

  Dani ignored the jab. “Take a minute and think about how difficult these last five years have been. Do you think it’s going to get easier now that I’ve got the Pääom’s ‘number one most wanted’ on board?”

  “Is this a jealousy thing?” Lyz pulled herself out of the hole and rearranged her hair and then turned to her with a concerned glance. “Are you mad because you’ve dropped down to number two now that he’s alive again?”

  “Why would I want to be on the top of that list?” She wasn’t sure she’d been there before. Hell, she wasn’t even sure if the Pääom would bat an eye at Osiris’ resurrection. “Just because he’s alive doesn’t mean anyone’s going to follow him. He disappeared at a critical moment. More people out there blame him than think he’s a martyr.”

  “Those are just the ones that believe the Pääom’s propaganda.” Lyz jiggled a coil of wires, ducking back under the console. “I’ll be real interested to find out how he and his remaining crew ended up in a bank of cryo capsules—fully dressed no less—and in a junkyard for fifteen years.”

  “I for one hope he plans to get back into the fight again.” Mopeña turned back to them, his bright white smile reflecting what little light shone around the pilot’s sling.

  “Stop. Don’t make him into a hero again.” She’d seen too many people die for the Abolitionist’s cause. She’d seen too many die swearing their allegiance to Si.

  Lyz dropped her diagnostic rod on the floor and stood with her hands on her hips. “I don’t get it, Dani, you’re always the first person to put down that sort of thinking… when by rights, you should be the first to start spouting it. I thought you’d see this as a way to get back at them for….” She stopped, panic tightening her features before she turned away. “Shit. I didn’t think. I swear I’m not trying to dredge that up.”

  Dani took hold of her shoulders, drawing her in for a hug. “Revenge leaves a bitter taste in my mouth, Lyz. It’s better to live and remember those who loved you, than die when it means nothing.”

  “Cap! I need you in engineering ASAP!” Stugg’s voice echoed overhead and Danielle pushed herself away.

  “Try to keep this between the two of you. I don’t know what’s going on, with Osiris, or with this ship…. Hell, maybe our employers knew more about this than they let on. If they wanted him cold as a popsicle, trussed up and ready for interrogation, I don’t want them finding out he’s made it back to room temp.”

  She moved quickly toward the ladderway, but still heard Lyz say, “It’s sad, really: seeing that much denial bottled up in one person.”

  One glance toward the elevator, and her mind sorted through the various ways the small room reminded her of her cell…. She descended the ladderway as quickly as she could, swinging herself through the engineering hatch and into the glaring light.

  All around, the clank and grind of machinery filled her ears. After fifteen years languishing on Sientä, it sounded like Oath Breaker had a stomach ache.

  “Stugg?” she called out.

  Hurrying through the tangled masses of pipes she called for him again.

  He didn’t answer her. Or maybe he did. She wouldn’t be able to hear it over the cacophony filling the deck. Mid-engine craft always cost a little more than bottom or top—budget-busting, noise insulation plating could sink a ship builder before they took their first vessel off the line. The price tag that went with the peaceful quiet of the decks above and below this one was unthinkable.

  The engine room maze turned her around three times before she figured out how to spot a dead end—terminating pipes were painted a strange blue.

  She finally heard raised voices and followed them under a long row of pipes that radiated balmy heat.

  Stugg shouted at the ceiling, his clipped pseudo-brogue bouncing off the clattering machinery around him. “Get off my back. It’s not my fault you’re psycho!”

  “What’s going on?” She asked when she was close enough he’d hear her.

  He turned to her, startled, and his scowl melted into a hopeful smile – one she wished she hadn’t
become so accustomed to.

  “There’s something lodged behind the pulse emitter. And this hen won’t let me at it.” He pointed emphatically at the ceiling. “Did you know we’d have to deal with a shitty AI.”

  “Language,” she said, out of habit. “Why are you digging around in her guts? If there’s something behind the pulse emitter, it’s probably supposed to be there, right, Oath Breaker?”

  “No. It is a foreign object that needs to be dislodged.”

  “Then why won’t you let him get it out?” There was a long pause after she spoke, as though Oath Breaker was thinking carefully about how to voice her concerns.

  “I do not trust engineer Glosht. If you are willing to supervise, I will discontinue my preventative measures.”

  “Fine.” She turned to Stugg, to tell him to get on with it, then thought better of it. Looking back to the speaker in the ceiling, she asked, “What measures?”

  In response to her question a burst of steam shot from the vent nodule inches from her arm.

  “Alright, he’s going to get it out, you… stop trying to scald him.” She glared at the ceiling, wondering if she should be looking for sensors in the walls. The last thing she needed was Stugg sharing the medbay with Si.

  Stugg slid onto his stomach near a puddle of water—the remains of one of Oath Breaker’s “measures” no doubt—and slowly wriggled under the tangle of tubes that cooled and protected the delicate workings cocooned beyond them.

  Danielle didn’t know how much supervision she could give, she sure as hell wasn’t going to crawl under there with him. The kid already had too many ideas and nowhere near enough sense to keep them to himself.

  “Thank you, Danielle. I know it is difficult for you to believe, but I do feel your presence is necessary when working on my underpinnings.”

  “I can’t imagine why, Stugg can do whatever he wants in there and I can’t stop him without getting in there, too.” She would let Obie blast her with steam before she got that cozy with Stugg.

  “Doing so would result in your disappointment. It is stated in his psychological profile that he has a deep attachment to you and an ingrained desire to please you.”