Dark Minds (Class 5 Series Book 3)

by Michelle Diener

  “Do we let them get away with that?” Dav asked, and Imogen could hear the anger in his voice.

  “To the outside world, yes,” Cam said. “But behind closed doors? I think Admiral Hoke and the leaders of the four planets will have quite a lot to say.”

  “What about Carro?” Rose asked. “Isn't he surprised we cut off comms and haven't gotten back to him?”

  “He'll know we know about the Fitali converging on Larga Ways. I think he's giving us time to work out our response.” Hal Vakeri sounded calm, but Imogen had the sense it was calm of a dangerous kind.

  “What happens if Leto's commander decides not to risk it?” Rose posed the question Imogen was thinking.

  She noticed Oris and Sazo hadn't said anything since Oris had made it clear neither would hand themselves over to the Tecran, no matter what the consequences to the Grih and Larga Ways.

  It was their right, and they had no obligation to submit to slavery again for any reason, but she guessed they wished there was another way.

  And maybe she had found one.

  “Captain Leto is having difficulty persuading her superiors,” Oris said into the quiet.

  “Break into their conversation, and let's talk to them direct.” Cam put his hand on her lower back, rubbing as if to ease an ache for her, but it was his outlet for his anger and agitation, she realized, his calm revealed for the lie it was as he clenched the fabric of her shirt in a fist.

  “I think that would be best.” Sazo spoke for the first time, and he sounded angry, too.

  The Fitali might give a thought to who they were pissing off.

  “Patching you through . . . now.” Oris's voice was a whisper in her ear.

  “High Chief Vaw?” Cam's words were clipped, irritated.

  There was an abrupt silence. “Is this Captain Kalor? Because——”

  “Listen to me.” Cam forced his hand flat against her back again, and Imogen could feel the struggle for control. “We have one of your ships. It is ours unless you do not take this very seriously. We're offering you a way out. The Tecran do not have what they say they have. It is safe. I vouch for this personally. But even if it were not, can you honestly say what you are being asked to do to Larga Ways and Balco will have any less repercussions than what you're trying to cover up?”

  “You think I don't know that?” Vaw snapped. “The problem is these orders come from Vice-Admiral Ipsos. His son was one of the scientists who was in the original four, the ones who started this mess. The posthumous reputation of his only child, and his need for revenge against the grahudi, led him down this path, and now he faces a humiliating end to what was otherwise seen as an illustrious career. Personal reputation is coming before national interest. If any Fitali on the home planet knew of this, they would be outraged, and the Horde is walking a fine line between political expediency and not making this any worse.”

  “Then put your mind at rest. The Tecran no longer have the consol. You will have to deal with us when this is over, and believe me when I say you will pay for this in ways that will make Ipsos regret his choices, but you will get out of it with your reputation and your public honor intact.”

  Vaw waited a beat. “What do you want us to do?”

  “The battleships can stay where they are, but focus their weapons outward. You're protecting Larga Ways at Battle Center's request while we deal with the Tecran fleet.”

  “And the consol?” Vaw was tenacious, Imogen would give him that.

  “If we can get it, it will be returned to you.” Cam qualified the promise carefully.

  “And if you can't get it?”

  “No one else will be able to, either.”

  More silence. “Agreed.”

  “Fiona? Eazi?” Hal spoke the moment Vaw signed off.

  “They're pulling further back,” Eazi said. “And yes, weapons have gone outward.”

  “So what do we say to Carro?” Rose asked, satisfaction clear in her tone.

  “We let Captain Carro think we're prepared to sacrifice Larga Ways,” Hal said, a vicious edge to his words. “Let him get his head around that.”

  They waited for Oris to connect, and this time, he gave a visual of the Tecran captain. He looked smug.

  “Captain Carro.” Hal said nothing else.

  “You ready to accede now?” Carro stretched his mouth wide in what Imogen had come to learn was an aggressive display.

  “Accede?” Hal pretended confusion.

  Carro narrowed his eyes. “Don't play games, Vakeri. You know by now the Fitali are on our side. Hand over the Class 5s or our allies will destroy Larga Ways and fire on Balco.”

  “I don't know how many times I can say it, but the Class 5s are not ours to hand over. You've failed to engage with them once since we light-jumped here, but perhaps you need to start doing so. I have no power to make them do anything.”

  “Enough.” Carro's chest swelled, and Imogen heard the hint of a screech. “We are serious.”

  Imogen couldn't see Hal, the screen showed Carro, but she could picture him lifting up his hands.

  “I cannot give you what I do not have. Do I want you to destroy Larga Ways? Of course not. It would be a war crime and both you and the Fitali will be cut from the UC for it. For even making the threat, I should think. But I cannot do a thing to save it if you are determined to fire on it, because I cannot give you the Class 5s.”

  Carro looked like he was having an apoplexy. Imogen found it deeply gratifying.

  The Tecran captain turned and said something, and Oris switched suddenly to the lens feed of the Tecran fleet before them.

  “He has ordered them to shoot . . .” Oris trailed off.

  A shot was fired from the Levron at the hostage vessels, but unlike the first time, this was no warning shot.

  A small, bulky miner was hit and disintegrated in a flare of bright light.

  Imogen lifted both hands to her mouth, pressed them hard against her lips to stop any sound coming out.

  Cam was absolutely still.

  They all stared at the tiny pieces of debris floating away in silence. Oris switched back to the Levron's bridge.

  “How serious do you think I am now, Captain Vakeri?” Carro turned to face the lens again. “Still say there is no way to give me what I want?”

  Oris cut him off, making the screen black, and still, no one said a word.

  “Oris, do you have an explorer drone like the one Paxe gave us?” Cam's face, when he turned it up to the speaker, was one of stone cold fury.

  “Yes.”

  “And some space survivors? I'm not sure what the Tecran call them.”

  “They use the term space survivors, too. I have enough for every member of the crew who used to serve on this Class 5. Space time is ten hours.”

  “I'll take fifty in the explorer. How quickly can you have them loaded?”

  “Are you sure about this, Cam?” Hal asked what Imogen could not get past her throat.

  “We can't leave them there.” Cam looked at her as he answered. “And we can't ask Oris and Sazo to give themselves up. If we can get everyone off the hostage ships, that will give them a chance and will mean the Tecran have no leverage. As long as everyone takes beacons to activate later when it's safe, we can find them again.”

  “Do you want me to come with you?” As Imogen said it, she realized that wouldn't work. She understood why he was shaking his head. He'd need every bit of space in the explorer to fit in whatever the space survivors were, and if there was anyone ill or injured, he'd need room for them, too.

  “The explorer is loaded.” Oris sounded subdued.

  Cam held out his hand, and she took it, jogged with him down to the launch bay.

  “Just try to come back in one piece,” she said when he pulled her in for a hard, tight hug. She kissed the side of his neck, and then his lips as he bent his head.

  He rested his forehead against hers. “Stay safe.” He released her. “I'm going to assume they'll be listening for any comms, s
o I won't make contact at all.”

  She stood to one side as he climbed into the explorer, packed with compact boxes the size of briefcases. He hesitated in the doorway before closing it, and she forced herself to stay still as the door came down and the thin, black dust of the launch bay swirled as the explorer lifted and disappeared through the gel wall.

  “He is risking his life for those people,” Oris said.

  “Yes, he is.”

  “Do you think I should be doing the same? Giving myself up for them?”

  Imogen shook her head. “Even if you do give yourselves up, do you honestly think they'll let everyone go?”

  Oris's silence had the air of surprise. “No. Because you're witnesses to their crimes.”

  Imogen nodded.

  “You have made me feel better, Imogen. Thank you.”

  Imogen reached out and patted the drone that must have loaded the explorer with the space survivors. “That you thought to ask the question is just as appreciated——”

  “The listening device has just attached to Paxe, and he's hailing us.” Oris interrupted her with a shout of glee.

  “He's encrypted the message,” Sazo said. “The Tecran will know he's communicating with us, but they won't know what he's saying.”

  “They'll try to stop him, though.” There was a little hitch in her chest at the thought.

  “They'll look for the device and try to destroy it, yes. If they use a maintenance pod to check the exterior, we probably have a little time because they'll have to do a manual scan.”

  “Are you able to decrypt it?” Rose asked.

  “He's sent a message only another Class 5 could decrypt, but it will still take a little——Got it!” Sazo's excitement was catching.

  “Paxe says the captain and his officer are no longer in his lock-safe. The Tecran managed to get more teams onboard and they've destroyed all the drones, so he couldn't keep them pinned down there anymore. The Tecran onboard are looking for the Fitali notes they stole, and they've disabled his engines so he can't run away from them again.”

  “He has a request for you, Imogen.” Oris's voice was hesitant.

  “What is it?”

  “He says, if you are up for it, he will trust you enough.”

  Imogen sucked in a breath, pivoted on her heel and started to pace. “Does he think I can get in there undetected?”

  “If you can get in, he can keep you safe, he says. Now that there are no drones for him to use, they've restored the lens feed systems in most parts of the ship. And he can tell you where everyone is using the earpiece I gave you earlier. He can direct you to the lock-safe.”

  “But he can't go anywhere with his engines disabled.”

  “No,” Oris agreed. “But they wouldn't have destroyed the engines, they'll need them to leave later, so he can see what they've done, try to fix them, and he'll have the ability to use his weapons. While he's still under their control, he can't fire on them. That changes as soon as he's free.”

  She thought about it. “If you can get me there, then——”

  “I want to let you know I've cut off comms to Dav and Hal.” Sazo interrupted her. “Rose can hear us, though. When Rose and I saved Bane, I got Rose onboard using a maintenance pod. They're identical for all Class 5s, and the system can't tell which ship they're from. This works even better if they've let a number of maintenance pods out to search for the listening drone clamped to Paxe's side. If they see you, they'll think you're one of theirs.”

  “So I go across to Paxe in a maintenance pod?” Imogen thought back to the distance between them and the Tecran fleet. “Wouldn't it take too long?”

  “It would,” Oris agreed. “But not if I moved forward toward the Tecran. They'll think I'm handing myself over, and when I get close enough, you can drop out of a maintenance hatch. Hopefully my subsequent withdrawal will hold their attention equally well.”

  “That would work.” Sazo's voice was soft.

  “It's dangerous, Imogen. Are you sure you want to do this?” Rose's voice was just as quiet, and Imogen remembered Dav couldn't hear their side of the conversation. She heard him asking Rose for clarification in the background.

  “I'm afraid, but I'll do it. What are the alternatives? The Tecran might decide to kill more hostages at any time, and Cam is right there.” She took a breath. “We know they'll do that anyway if you and Sazo do turn yourselves over, and even if they decide to retreat, they will try to take some of us with them. Most likely, they'll aim at the Illium and there are hundreds of crew onboard. At least freeing Paxe gives us all a better chance, besides being the only right thing to do.”

  “Agreed.” That's what Imogen liked about Sazo, he made no attempt to prevaricate.

  “What about taking over the Levron's systems?” Rose asked. “Sazo did that once before.”

  “We've both been trying since we got here,” Sazo told her. “They've learned at least some lessons since the battle we had with them two months ago. They have made their systems very difficult to breach.”

  “Sounds like there really is only one choice.” Imogen took a deep, steadying breath. “Let Paxe know I'm coming.”

  Chapter 38

  Hal and Dav came back online with grumpy silence.

  “I didn't cut you off, Sazo did,” Imogen heard Rose say through her earpiece as she lowered herself into the maintenance pod. “Don't get cross with me.”

  “Perhaps you'd like to share what was said.” Dav was clearly trying to keep a hold of his temper.

  “Oris is going to move toward the Tecran fleet. He's not giving himself up, he's just getting Imogen close enough to Paxe so she can board him.” Sazo's tone was cool, as if he didn't like Dav's tone.

  “What?” Hal choked out the word. “What happens when they realize you aren't handing yourself over?”

  “I'll move back. Just use the line it's nothing to do with you.” Oris sounded quite cheerful.

  He was going to enjoy messing with the Tecran's minds.

  “Moving now,” he said.

  The plan was that he was going to move around the hostages, come close to Paxe before he stopped directly in front of Carro's Levron.

  He'd eject the pod as he passed Paxe, giving her the shortest travel time possible.

  The pod sealed closed, and she gripped her electric whip tight. She wondered if they'd pass Cam, wondered what he would think was happening when he saw Oris moving to engage the Tecran.

  It would be a good distraction for him, as well as her.

  “Nearly there,” Oris told her, and her heart started beating faster. “In three, two, one . . .”

  The pod shot out of its maintenance chute, and for a moment, Imogen had the disconcerting sensation of tumbling through space as the pod spun.

  She closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were steady, heading for a massive black wall.

  Oris had gotten her really close to Paxe.

  She craned her neck and saw Oris come to a smooth halt in front of the Levron. The flat, elliptical battleship's shields shimmered in response and then Paxe must have grabbed hold of the pod because she was pulled in through the small gel wall of the maintenance hatch.

  “Imogen.” Paxe's voice was soft in her ear.

  “Paxe. Are you okay?”

  “I am more okay now. Thank you for coming.”

  “I told you I'd help you.” She was whispering, even though the pod was still closed, but as soon as it came to a stop, the lid lifted and she scrambled out. “Let's go.”

  “No one nearby. There are thirty crew onboard, and this ship is built for five hundred, so we have a good chance of you going unseen. Go left when you step into the passageway.”

  She ran until she got to a junction, and waited.

  “You need to turn right, but there is someone in the passage you need to be in, so wait. And . . . he's gone. Go.”

  She tried to make as little noise as possible as she ran right, turned when Paxe instructed, and then reached the
stairwell.

  “You need to go up one floor, then left again.”

  She needed to catch her breath when she reached the right floor, leaning against the wall until her pulse was steady again.

  “We're nearly there.” Paxe couldn't help the excitement in his voice. “There is no one around, you can step out now.”

  She did, moving cautiously along the corridor.

  A door slid open in the middle of the long wall to her right, and she flinched at the stench coming from the tiny room.

  Two Tecran had been holed up in the room for weeks and it smelled like it. They'd done nothing to clean it.

  It was foul.

  She looked carefully before stepping in, but as she did, a blaring alarm sounded from above the door.

  She leaned back, saw a small raised, circular attachment the same color as the wall.

  “A motion sensor alarm?” She asked Paxe.

  “Must have done it after they destroyed the drones.” Paxe's voice was no longer excited. “Imogen, you need to get out of here.”

  “Okay.” She took a deep step past the debris near the door and grabbed the silver chain hanging from the end of Paxe, pulled him out and then hopped back into the passage. “Which way?”

  “You . . . did it.”

  “Yes, which way?”

  “Right.” He sounded almost dreamy. “They're coming.”

  “What can you do?”

  “Almost . . . nothing.” He still sounded shell-shocked. “I think they've been disabling everything in preparation for having to pull me out of the slot themselves.”

  “The weapons?”

  “No. Looks like they're disabled. They've been clever. I thought it was just the engines. They've been feeding my systems false data. I can start repairs now, but all the ways I could disable them, like air loss, or shutting them inside rooms, are gone . . .”

  From behind her, Imogen could hear the sound of thunderous boots.

  “How close?” She couldn't help the hitch in her breath.

  “Go left. Left!”

  Imogen swerved left, saw out of the corner of her eye a Tecran soldier running past the end of the passage she'd been on scramble to a stop, turn and run after her.