“That sticks a bit in your throat, doesn't it, Captain?” Paxe asked. “You could barely speak through those gritted teeth.”
“He made the offer, though.” Imogen's words were soft. “That's better than you'll get from the Tecran. You don't have to be the Grih's ally. You just heard Bane is a neutral party. What's wrong with that?”
Cam had not expected her to weigh in on this. But her words were calm and matter-of-fact, and Paxe went quiet, as if considering them.
“If you betray me, Captain, or if Battle Center does, I will take as many of you with me as I can.” Again, that cold, cold voice, frigid as the Grihan planet Nastra in mid-winter.
“Understood.” He hoped Battle Center understood, as well. They'd come close to betraying Sazo, and had nearly lost more than they were willing to because of it. He'd seen the reports, hoped the lessons had been learned. At least Hoke was the head of fleet now, not Admiral Krale. She understood what had gone wrong, and Sazo had been happy with her appointment.
He had to trust that would be enough.
“Ten minutes before we fire on the Hailimon, Captain Kalor.”
“You won't take Imogen with you.” The drone turned face Cam.
Cam nodded. “I hadn't intended to.”
“What if they carry out their threat if I don't go?” Imogen looked between them.
“They have no reason to believe I know where you are on this ship.” Cam shrugged. “They're hoping I do, but unless they have lens feed of us coming in here together——”
“They don't.” Paxe's words were short. “And you're right. They'll have to search the ship for her, which will waste their time, something that can only help me.”
“What will they do to you?” Imogen stood, hands gripped tightly together in front of her, gaze locked onto Cam's.
“I don't know.” If they were willing to shoot the Hailimon, maybe they were willing to kill him, but if they wanted to stay in the UC, they'd probably let him go and deny they'd threatened a UC ship. He would need to keep quiet about the fact that proof of their threat had already gone to Battle Center.
“A few snatches of conversation I've heard indicate they plan to put you on a small runner and take you back to the Hailimon.” Paxe gave up the information grudgingly.
Imogen crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, that sounds okay.”
“I'll make sure Battle Center knows you're here, Imogen. That the UC knows. The Tecran will be forced to hand you over.” Cam realized time was running out, but he felt a deep sense of unease at leaving her alone.
“She'll be safe. They can't get in here.”
“But she needs to eat, to drink. How long could she last in here?” He suddenly realized Paxe had probably starved them earlier because he simply didn't remember that people needed sustenance.
Paxe said nothing, and time stretched out, all the more weighty because he had to get to the bridge before the Tecran carried out their threat.
“She will leave the armory with you,” he said at last. “But she'll go to the store when you head for the bridge.”
“Can you protect her in the store?” He didn't think it worked like that, from what Imogen had told him. He could only lock the armory because the Tecran could and would harm him if they got the weapons from here.
“She'll be safe.”
“It's okay.” Imogen grinned at him, reached behind her and patted her whip. He could see she was frightened, but the smile was genuine, and his heart gave an uncomfortable jump at the sight of it. “I'm pretty good at protecting myself. And at least they aren't Krik.”
Cam shot the drone a last look, but there was no reassuring expression to read, no supportive exchange of glances to be had with a box with a lens attached to it.
There was nothing for it.
He had to go to the bridge to save his team, and he couldn't take Imogen with him.
Rose McKenzie had been instrumental in freeing Sazo and Bane, even though they had partially freed themselves first. Tecran High Command would have good reason to fear Imogen, especially now Paxe said that Fiona Russell had freed Eazi, and the Tecran had destroyed his Class 5 because of it. They would see Imogen as a serious threat, and he wouldn't put it past them to kill her.
“Five minutes, Captain Kalor.” The Tecran officer who spoke looked agitated for the first time.
Thinking about the consequences of carrying out his ultimatum, Cam decided. Realizing how serious they would be. For that alone, he wanted to step onto the bridge with seconds to spare, make the bastard sweat, but he would never take that kind of risk with the lives of the Hailimon's crew and his team.
“I have to go.”
The door of the armory slid open, and they all stepped out, the drone so close to Imogen, it was almost crowding her.
“Good luck, Captain.” She took one of his hands in both of hers, stepped forward and went up on her toes to press her lips to his cheek. “I hope I see you again.”
He curled his fingers more tightly around hers and her face flushed, as if she'd suddenly realized she'd been too familiar.
The kiss had felt like something she'd done often, a ritual of some kind of her people.
She tried to step back and he released her hand and placed both of his on her shoulders, holding her in place. He leaned forward, touched his nose to first one cheek and then the other. The Grihan greeting and goodbye for close friends.
“You will see me again.”
And then, because he only had a few minutes left, he turned on his heel and ran for the bridge.
Chapter 19
Imogen ran as well.
Every moment she was wandering the passageways was a moment the Tecran could find her.
When they reached the stairs, the drone offered her a place in its box, and she took it. Its speed was more practical than fun, now.
It took them just minutes to get to the correct floor, and she stayed in the drone so that they made it to the store far faster than she could have run.
When the doors opened, though, she flinched back at the sight of the dead Krik lying where the drones had left him earlier.
“Can you move the body out into the passageway?” She stepped out of the box and forced herself to look at her dead attacker. She did not want him in here with her.
The drone grabbed the Krik's ankle and dragged the body out, and Imogen turned away. The cabinet where she'd found her whip was right in front of her, and she moved her gaze beyond it to the towering stacks of shelves running back into the shadows.
There would surely be good places to hide here.
A movement from the corner of her eye made her freeze in fear, until she saw it was the drone, back from getting rid of the body.
She hadn't heard it come back, and she suddenly realized none of the doors made any sound when they opened and closed.
“You got any good ideas of where I can hide?”
“I was thinking——” Paxe cut off so sharply, she snapped her gaze to the drone before she realized its shockgun was pointed at something to the right.
She turned her head, and felt the world fall away as she took in the sight of the Tecran soldier aiming his shockgun at her.
She'd been walking on a plateau up until now. She'd been afraid, anxious, stressed and lonely, but she'd soldiered on, putting one foot in front of the other, the inbuilt calm of her nature and the lack of any other choice keeping things relatively level, with the exception of a few spikes.
Now, the ground beneath her feet fell sharply away, and she stood at the very edge of the cliff. Looking down the barrel of the shockgun, something hot and wild rose up in her, and she stepped off into the unknown.
“If the drone does not lower its weapon, we will fire on you.” The Tecran spoke to her, she guessed, but his eyes were on the drone, as if it was the most dangerous threat in the room.
Wrong.
“We?” she asked, and then swung her gaze left as another Tecran stepped out from the shadows of the stacks, on t
he other side of the cabinet.
“Tell it to lower its gun.” The first one pointed at the drone.
“I don't control it.” She put her left hand behind her, sliding her fingers under her top.
“You told it to take out the body, and it obeyed.”
“I asked it to take out the body, and it decided to oblige me.” She grasped hold of the whip, moving her head from soldier to soldier to see if they had noticed, but their attention was definitely on the drone.
She just had to figure out if they were here specifically to grab her, or if they were here for some other reason.
It was so unlikely they could have guessed she'd come here, she could only assume the group that had split up after they reached the bridge hadn't all gone to the secret place where Paxe was being kept. Some must have been sent to search for her and Captain Kalor here, or to fetch something from the store.
“I'm guessing you don't know how many are lurking around here?” she asked Paxe softly in English.
“Some of them covered their lenses. I thought they had put something over accidentally, but perhaps they anticipated that I'd be able to tap into their lens feed.”
She switched to Tecran. “What do you plan to do with me?”
The soldier opened his beak-like mouth at her and hissed, in what she knew from her time on Balco was anger. “Do not ask questions, tell the drone to put down the weapon.”
“I already told you, I can't do that.” She was so calm, now that she was free-falling. It was liberating.
She pulled the whip out in one smooth move, lifting it up and over her head and bringing it down in a wide arc in front of her at exactly the middle point, so the wildly dancing blue strands spread evenly in either direction.
The Tecran who'd been shouting at her got off a shot at the drone. Then, too late, she realized the second one had fired as well.
At her.
Except . . . she felt the blow, tensed for the pain, the disorientation of the electric charge, but it didn't come.
She patted her side, disbelieving, then looked at each of the Tecran in turn and saw they were down.
The drone was, too.
She fingered the soft fabric of her shirt thoughtfully. Paxe must have given her more than she realized. She slid the whip back into place and crouched beside the drone, laid a hand on it.
It was vibrating in the same way as the drone the Krik had shot earlier, when she'd knocked Pren and the captain unconscious.
So. Rebooting.
Most likely her connection to Paxe had gone, then.
“Paxe?” She gave it a try anyway.
Nothing.
She was about to stand when she felt the hard, cold metal of a shockgun barrel against the back of her neck.
“Let me see your hands.” The words were in Tecran, and she lifted both hands up in front of her. “Where is your weapon?”
“I don't have one.” She was relieved to see the drone's shockgun was still gripped in its pincer. There was an explanation for why both soldiers were down.
“Stand up slowly, keep your hands in front of you.”
She obeyed, rising up carefully, and turning to face her captor. It took everything she had not to lower her hands and check that her tunic was covering the whip completely.
She considered taking the chance, the fury in her not even slightly abated.
The soldier took a step back, and she saw his leg was injured. He looked ruffled in a way she hadn't seen in a Tecran soldier before.
He tapped his ear. “I'm in the store. I have Imogen Peters. Dtar and Fenri are down.” She couldn't hear what was said in response, but he gave a grunt of acknowledgement.
“Turn back around and keep those hands up.” He waited until she complied, moved behind her and rested the shockgun on the nape of her neck again. His breathing was fast, his chest swelling as he tried to get in enough air, and she had the sense he would kill her if she moved.
No matter how well the clothes Paxe had given her resisted shockgun fire, Imogen didn't think it would work if she was hit directly from the barrel to her skin, and she didn't doubt he'd do it.
She'd been standing beside the drone, and she leaned forward carefully, until her knees were against the side of it, and she felt the vibration of the reboot. It was cold comfort, but comfort nevertheless.
The soldier tensed for a moment when he felt her shift, but then relaxed slightly when she went still again.
She looked down and left, at his feet, saw he was more or less balancing on his good leg, his injured one strangely limp.
Shockgun fire, maybe. Which meant Paxe's other drones had probably been doing some shooting.
She nudged the drone with her knee in solidarity.
The tinny sound of someone speaking into her captor's earpiece reached her, and the soldier pressed his shockgun barrel even harder into her skin.
She pushed back, exasperated, and turned her head, saw five Tecran standing in the doorway, with Captain Kalor between them.
“What was she doing here?”
She assumed the officer was speaking to the soldier holding his shockgun to her neck, but he was watching her, his big eyes hard and glittering.
She was still in free-fall, she realized. Rage incandescent bubbled up inside her. She was so tired of this.
They had a problem with her? They should have left her to mind her own business on Earth.
“She wasn't doing anything.” The soldier eased back a bit. “When I came in, she was crouched beside the drone.”
Captain Kalor caught her eye, his gaze on her, his hands clenched at his side. He looked good, unharmed as far as she could see. But angry.
They were a matching pair, then.
Although . . . she swallowed. She probably didn't look quite so furious. Kalor was at least a head taller than the Tecran beside him, and in comparison, his arms and shoulders were massive.
She was really glad she wasn't the object of his rage, because he looked like he could tear heads from shoulders and be quite fine with it.
“Well, get what we came for,” the officer ordered two of the soldiers beside him.
They shared a look and walked forward, slowing when they got to the cabinet.
“Is this the one they told us about? The one they couldn't open?” The soldier reached out and touched it, then seemed startled when it started up its eight note chime.
As the two moved around it toward the long lines of stacked shelves, both slowed and looked at their fallen teammates as they passed them.
So the soldiers she'd found in here hadn't been lying in wait for her, they'd been fetching something from the store.
She wondered what was so important that it had become part of their mission.
Silence settled over everyone for a beat, with the sound of footsteps among the stacks a backdrop to the cheerful notes of the cabinet.
“Get these two onto stretchers,” the officer suddenly barked, waving at the two on the floor, and the Tecran holding his shockgun on her jerked in surprise.
Imogen sent him a filthy look and he hissed at her as she lifted a hand to rub her neck.
“She's not that dangerous.” The officer stood alone with Kalor now, holding his shockgun on him casually as his men opened the packs on their backs and set up stretchers, working together to lift each unconscious man onto one and then activating its hover mode. Kalor was doing a good impression of a statue beside him, but Imogen could feel him seething from where she stood.
She wondered if he recognized the same emotion in herself.
He was careful not to stare at her too overtly.
The officer looked over at the stretchers when they were done. “Take them to the runner.”
The two soldiers hesitated, as if they were afraid to go out there alone.
Paxe must have drones stalking the corridors.
Their officer noticed the hesitation, too. “There a problem?”
“Back-up,” one said at last.
“We have two dead, two unconscious, one injured and a package the admiral considers critical to carry back, as well as two prisoners. There is no back-up.”
They eventually lowered their eyes and each took a stretcher by its handle with one hand, shockguns ready in the other, and left.
The two who'd gone into the stacks emerged, and Imogen realized the cabinet had finished its final seven note chime and had started again with the eight notes.
“It isn't there.” The soldier who spoke looked over at the cabinet as it replayed the first set of eight notes backward.
The officer gripped his shockgun harder. “It must be there.”
They shook their heads.
“He's moved it.” The rage in the officer's voice left her in no doubt who 'he' was. He tapped his earpiece. “Captain Falyar. Reengage the lens feed in the store. I want him to see something.”
He jerked his head at the soldier holding his shockgun on her. “Watch him,” he said, waving his hand at Kalor.
Then he stalked forward, lifted his own weapon, and put it against Imogen's temple.
“You went to a lot of trouble to find her. I will kill her right now if you do not tell us where you hid it.”
Imogen looked at Kalor, saw the coiled violence, the energy just about to be released and did a quick shake of her head.
She stared at him, then at the cabinet.
He frowned.
“When it's time,” she said in Grihan, “get behind it.”
Kalor narrowed his eyes.
She hoped that meant he was going to follow instructions. And she hoped the Tecran didn't speak much Grihan. None of the guards on Balco had, although she remembered belatedly the officer holding his shockgun on her had spoken to Kalor in Grihan earlier.
“What?” the officer snarled at her.
She ignored him, keeping track of the chimes. They'd gone forward, backward, forward. One more backward to go and then she needed to pay real attention.
“I am speaking to you.” Like the soldier before, he pressed the barrel harder against her skin.
She reached up, grabbed hold of it, and shoved it away.
He was so surprised, he took a step back.
Dark Minds (Class 5 Series Book 3) Page 14
