by J. J. Green
“You lock me inside my mind and I cannot control what I do or say,” said Lomang. “It is very annoying and uncomfortable, and there is no point to this parley if I can’t state my own opinion.”
“There’s no point to this parley at all,” Cadwallader said. “You have no bargaining power. It’s only due to Lin’s kindness that we’re here to listen to you before we refuse your ‘offer’.” He rested his hands on his spread knees.
Lomang scowled. All his confident bonhomie had evaporated during his incarceration. He looked vicious and vengeful.
Then, suddenly, he smiled and it was like the sun breaking through storm clouds. “I forgive your ignorance. I sometimes forget that I am in another sector and things work differently here. I must work harder to understand your culture and customs.”
Cadwallader’s eyes flicked to meet Carina’s.
“What is it you want to say?” she asked Lomang. “Please don’t waste our time with your babble.”
“I believe you underestimate what I have to offer you, and how badly things will turn out for you once news of what you’ve done gets back to my people.”
“I have everything you have to offer me secure in the hold of this ship,” Carina replied. “And soon the soldiers helping me will have their share of it. As to news of what I’ve done getting back to your people, you gave up the location of the Zenobia’s tracker and how to disable it while you were Enthralled. No word of what’s happened here will reach your home.” She leaned forward. “Be careful what you tell me, Lomang. Don’t forget I can put you under and check the truth of your words.”
Lomang spread his hands wide in a gesture of defeat, though Carina thought she detected a glint of rage in the man’s eyes. “I cannot deny it. You have the upper hand. It is for this reason that I have finally decided to negotiate with you for my freedom and the release of my men.”
“You are not in a position to negotiate,” Cadwallader said. “If you go free it will be our decision. You have no influence in the matter. Lin, I’m sorry, but I have better things to do than to listen to this puffed-up idiot.”
“I want to hear what he has to say,” said Carina. “Humor me, please?”
Cadwallader raised his gaze to the ceiling but he remained in his seat and folded his arms over his chest.
“Make it quick, Lomang,” Carina said.
“Before I can make my offer, it would be helpful to know what you need.” Lomang flashed a tooth-filled grin. “You’ve seen what’s in the Zenobia’s hold. You’ve seen the type and range of goods I can acquire. I have contacts on many worlds in this sector and my own. Whatever is your heart’s desire, I am confident I can get it for you—at no cost!”
Carina burst into laughter. “You think you could make me pay for this mythical object you think I want so badly. You might know all about contraband, what you can buy in one place and sell in another at a huge profit, but you don’t know me. There’s nothing you can get me that I want.”
“But you must want something,” Lomang said. “Everyone wants something. To desire, to strive, to achieve a goal, these are very human traits. And though you are strange and have strange powers, you still seem human to me. What is it you need? What is pushing you on every day? You stole my ship on Pirine. Why?”
“I needed to get off the planet,” she said. “I had no intention of taking anything from your hold. What we found in there was a complete surprise.”
Lomang squinted at her. “It is true that nothing was missing. Before your brother betrayed me, he said he didn’t know why you had gone to Ostillon. He said the place was dangerous for you, that the Dirksens were your enemies. What is the reason you wanted to go there? Is that where we’re going now?”
“My motivations are no business of yours,” Carina said, irritably.
“Ah, but they are,” Lomang said. “They may be vital to my survival. Tell me what is at Ostillon that you want. My men picked you up in a temple. Is it religious salvation you crave?”
“No, I’m not looking for salvation.” Carina paused.
Was it possible that Lomang could help in her search for information about mages and Earth?
“You said you aren’t from this sector,” she resumed. “Where are you from?”
Lomang’s features broke into an expression of great relief. Carina guessed he thought he was finally making headway in his effort to save his life. He didn’t know she had no intention of killing him.
“I believe here it’s referred to as the Geriel Sector,” he said, “though of course we give it a different name. Perhaps what you seek may be there? I would be willing to take you to my home planet, where you can search our archives to your heart’s content.”
“Lomang, if I were to set foot on your planet my life would be forfeit,” said Carina, “so let’s not pretend that’s an option.”
“Geriel Sector?” Cadwallader said. “That’s a long way from here, and your ship isn’t carrying Deep Sleep capsules.”
“I purchased the Zenobia in this sector,” Lomang said nervously.
“So you have another, bigger ship somewhere waiting for you when you want to go home,” Cadwallader surmised.
A ship that carried Deep Sleep capsules would be very useful to Carina once she found out how to get to Earth, as well as a major prize in itself.
She and Cadwallader exchanged a look.
Lomang’s face fell.
Carina said, “Ever since my family and I took over your ship, I’ve been defending you and your crew from those who want to space you. You seem like a practical man. You know that killing you all would be the simplest and safest option in this situation. However, as a gesture of mercy, I will guarantee your safety in exchange for the vessel that can travel between sectors. Give me the coordinates and any security or other intel I will need to take the ship.”
Lomang wriggled uncomfortably in his seat.
“Remember,” she went on, “I will check the truth of what you tell me with my…” she waved her hands. “…special powers.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Atoi had invited Carina to eat dinner with the mercs and she was happy to go along. As the days passed aboard the Zenobia and Carina spent time with her old buddies, reminiscing about assignments they’d carried out and soldiers who had died or retired, her attitude to merc life had changed. Her old friend and savior Captain Speidel had advised her to get away from it, telling her she wasn’t like the others, but that wasn’t true. For a time, she’d been very at home with being a merc, despite the violence and danger—perhaps even because of it. Spending years on the streets had accustomed her to a rough and ready way of life.
Living among the Black Dogs again had made her realize how domestic and stifling her life with Bryce and the children had become. She loved her little family but she was too young to be their mother. She felt ill-equipped to provide a childhood for her siblings when she hadn’t had much of a one herself.
The passenger dining room was too small to accommodate the Black Dogs who ate aboard the Zenobia after coming off guard duty: the crew’s mess room on the deck above was used instead. Carina sat with Atoi, Cadwallader, and Stevenson, around one end of a table. Atoi invited Halliday, Brown, and Jackson to sit with them too, for old time’s sake.
“So the Sherrerr boy we rescued turned out to be your brother?” Atoi said, scraping the last of her dinner from her plate. “What a coincidence.” She’d been eating yam mash and reconstituted meat.
The food was something Carina had never gotten used to in her two years as a merc, though some, like Atoi, seemed to love the slops. Most of the others had finished and were leaving the mess.
“Yeah,” Carina replied, “though I didn’t find out for a long time.”
“Cute kid,” said Atoi.
“I keep telling you,” Stevenson said. “It’s fate.”
Carina couldn’t tell if he was joking. The pilot didn’t seem the type to believe in the supernatural.
“Fate or not,” sai
d Cadwallader, “that assignment certainly turned your life upside down, Lin.”
“Yeah,” Atoi said, “from blood-thirsty soldier to mother hen, all in the blink of an eye.” She grabbed her drink and downed it all.
Jackson slammed down his glass. “I remember Orrana now! Shithole of a place.”
“If you hadn’t lobbed grenades into the refinery stacks we would have had it,” said Halliday.
“Didn’t save Carver,” Jackson said, staring into his drink.
“Or Lee,” Atoi added.
“Good soldiers,” said Cadwallader. “Both of them.”
“I’ll drink to that,” Jackson said, “but not this piss. This ship of yours got any beer aboard, Lin? Or are you keeping it all to yourself?”
Carina looked at Cadwallader. “In honor of the soldiers who gave their lives to rescue my brother?” she asked. The lieutenant colonel thought a moment then gave a slight nod.
Carina stood up. “I’ll be right back.”
Atoi and the others cheered.
On her way to the passenger level galley, Carina bumped into Bryce.
“Sorry, I can’t stop,” she said. “I’m on a mission.”
“The kids missed you at dinner,” said Bryce. “They were wondering where you’d gone.”
“Didn’t you get my message?”
“Yes, I got your message.”
“Then why didn’t you tell them I was eating with the mercs?”
“I did,” Bryce replied, an edge to his tone. “My point is, why didn’t you tell them? Why did you leave it to me to explain?”
“You mean I should send a note to six kids explaining my absence for one meal?” Carina rolled her eyes. “Okay, remind me to do that next time.” She tried to step around Bryce but he moved to block her way.
“Is that it?” he asked. “Conversation over?”
Carina put her hands on her hips. “What else is there to discuss? I’m having dinner with some old friends. Since when did I need your permission to do that?”
“Old friends?” Bryce sneered. “Let me guess. The pilot’s there, right?”
“So what if he is? What’s wrong with you?”
“What’s wrong with you, Carina? Ever since those mercenaries came aboard you’ve been acting weird. I want to know what’s going on.”
“Acting weird? What kind of weird?”
“You’ve changed,” Bryce said. “You’ve gotten tough, short-tempered, dismissive. It’s like you’re a different person. Even the kids have noticed.”
“Oh they have, have they?” said Carina. “I guess you were all discussing me at dinner.”
“As a matter of fact, we were.”
“That must have been a lot of fun for you all. Now get out of my way.”
Bryce stepped to the side.
“We were talking about you because we’re worried about you,” he said as Carina passed him. “Because we care,” he said to her back.
Carina stomped into the passenger galley. How dare they all discuss her behind her back like she was a conversation piece. After all she’d done for them, not one of those ungrateful brats could tell her to her face how much she was disappointing them all. At least they had the excuse they were kids. The same didn’t apply to Bryce. His baseless jealousy was making him nutty.
She found the beer keg. It was only half empty. It appeared Lomang didn’t have much of a taste for the brew, and neither she nor Bryce had been interested in drinking it with the kids around. She filled two pitchers and carried them out. By the time she returned to the mess, only Cadwallader, Atoi, Halliday, Stevenson, and Jackson remained. It was just as well. If the other mercs had seen the beer it would have made them envious and caused bad feelings, though doubtless Cadwallader was more than capable of putting any loudmouths in their place.
“Now that’s a sight for sore eyes,” Halliday said. “How long’s it been since we had a drink?” He drained his glass and held it out.
“Too damned long,” said Jackson. “Our CO keeps us on a tight leash, that’s for sure.” His gaze slid sideways to Cadwallader and he smirked.
“Not tight enough, it seems,” the leader said, straight-faced as Carina poured his beer.
“Only kidding, sir,” Jackson said. “Seriously, if I didn’t have someone keeping booze out of my hands I’d be dead by now.”
“Are you sure you should have some?” Carina asked.
“There she goes,” said Atoi. She made clucking noises and flapped her elbows. “You channeling Jackson’s mom, Car?”
“Geez, don’t say that,” said Jackson, looking genuinely frightened by the idea. “Anyway, my mom’s still alive, last I heard.”
“Yeah, she is,” Halliday said. “She was telling me she gave up having kids after taking one look at you.”
Stevenson lifted his beer into the air. “I propose a toast.” He waited for everyone to lift their glasses. “Old times!”
“Old times,” they all repeated.
Stevenson gave Carina a wink over the edge of his glass as he drank.
The conversation split into two groups. Atoi, Halliday, and Jackson compared their respective parents’ disciplinary methods, which included beating them with the back of a spoon, locking them in a cellar, making them clean the bathroom with a toothbrush, forcing them to take ice-cold showers, and threatening to let the Regians take them.
Meanwhile, Cadwallader, Stevenson, and Carina talked about the war between the Sherrerrs and the Dirksens. The two men were interested to hear the inside story on what had been going on.
“We were approached by the Sherrerrs not long ago,” Cadwallader said. “Something about a raid on a moon. I didn’t like the sound of it and turned them down.”
“That might have been Banner’s Moon,” said Carina. “I took part in that. We stole a prototype of a new weapon the Dirksens had developed.”
“Really?” Stevenson said. “What does it do?”
“It sends out a subliminal signal that affects brain function,” she replied.
“What, it impairs motor control?” asked Cadwallader.
“No. It affects the emotional state, inducing absolute terror, as I understand it. The soldiers were incapable of any action while under its influence.”
“The soldiers?” Cadwallader said. “So you didn’t experience the effects?”
“It didn’t seem to work on me,” said Carina. She shrugged. The conversation was moving in the direction of her magehood and making her uncomfortable. She wished she hadn’t mentioned the raid on Banner’s Moon.
She shifted in her seat. “I managed to get away from the Sherrerrs not long after that, bringing my half-brothers and sisters with me.”
“Did you hear about their flagship, Nightfall?” asked Stevenson.
“Hear about it? I was aboard it.”
“You were?” Stevenson whistled. “That was one big ship. Did you…?” He paused as his gaze focused on something behind Carina’s back. He gave a small cough.
Carina turned. Bryce was standing in the doorway, glaring at her.
She was tempted to just ignore him, but Atoi, Halliday, and Jackson had noticed his arrival too. Now all her merc friends were looking at her, expecting her to do something.
She got up and strode toward him then walked past him and into the corridor.
“Do you want something?” she asked.
“Darius is asking for you,” Bryce said. “He wants you to tell him a story before he goes to sleep.”
“Can’t you do it?”
“He wants you.”
“He’s seven! He doesn’t know what he wants. Would it hurt you to say I’ll tell him a story tomorrow? And why did you come all the way up here? It’s embarrassing for you to come to the door to collect me like you’re my dad.”
“I tried to comm,” Bryce said. “Your button’s off.”
“No, it…Oh.” Carina didn’t remember turning it off but she must have at some point. She turned it back on. “I’m going to be here for a wh
ile. Tell Darius I promise I’ll tell him a story tomorrow. A long one to make up for missing one tonight.”
Bryce didn’t acknowledge her reply, only looked at her stonily. “I see your pilot friend is here.”
“Fantastic observation skills you have,” said Carina. “Is that it?”
“Are you going to spend the night with him?”
“What?!”
“You looked like you were pretty close with him just now, and that other guy, Cadwallader. Maybe it’s him you’re after, not the pilot?”
Carina stepped close to Bryce and poked him in the chest. “Firstly, Cadwallader isn’t into women. Secondly, what the hell are you on? Have you been trying out the potions in Lomang’s pharmacy in the hold? What makes you think I won’t be coming back to our cabin tonight? I’m with you, aren’t I?”
“I don’t know. Are you?”
“Stars,” Carina said, “if you have to ask…Maybe we shouldn’t be together. Maybe we aren’t right for each other after all. I’m seeing a side of you I never saw before.”
“Ditto.” Bryce gave Carina a sullen look and then walked away.
She returned to the mess, where the conversation had resumed in her absence. She tried to regain the spirit of the evening but she felt drained. Maybe reconnecting with the Black Dogs had changed her a little, bringing out aspects of her personality that hadn’t shown while she was with Bryce and the kids, but so what? It was no excuse for Bryce to turn into a caricature of a jealous boyfriend. She wasn’t going to apologize for having a romantic past that didn’t include him, and she’d done nothing to justify his suspicions.
Carina sipped her beer and brooded as the others talked.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“So you really want to attack probably the most heavily defended place on all Ostillon?” Cadwallader asked, rubbing his jaw.
He and Carina were looking at a holo of the world. The globe turned as they watched it.
“We don’t have to attack,” Carina replied. “But I do want to get inside.”
