The pistol in my right hand was nearly out of ammo and the left wasn’t much better. I dropped them both and swiped a compact rifle from one of the Quint soldiers on the ground, then took a deep breath.
I was about to do something stupid, but time wasn’t on my side.
Forty seconds.
I broke cover, shooting as I went. Four guards remained. I counted on speed and shock—plus a little help from Valentin—to tilt the odds in my favor.
The next round of shots from the doorway came from both sides of the opening. Since they were hitting Adams’s soldiers rather than me, I figured Valentin must’ve gotten some backup. Trapped between us, the remaining soldiers didn’t stand a chance.
In the soft green light from the glow stick, Adams saw his death in my face. He backed away with a sneer. “If you kill me, the other ships will destroy the station. Their deaths will be on your head.”
“Where is the detonator?” I demanded.
Luka and Valentin eased into the room, keeping an eye on the soldiers who were injured but alive. Luka looked like he’d survived a bomb blast—and maybe he had. Imogen was not with him.
Adams’s eyes narrowed and a sly smile replaced the sneer. “Let me go and I’ll tell you.”
As much as I wanted him dead, we might need him alive to force the other ships to stand down, so I shot him in the thigh. The round punched straight through the bone, and he fell with a scream.
Fifty seconds.
“Search over there!” I yelled at Valentin. I pointed to where Adams had been when the electronics had died. With his vision augments, Valentin would have a better chance of spotting the detonator in the shadows, anyway.
Mad laughter echoed around the room. “You’re going to fail after all of this,” Adams taunted from the floor.
I dropped my gun and lunged for him, but even injured, he was strong, likely augmented, and he fought like his life was on the line. I punched him at full strength, snapping his head back. While he was dazed, I patted down his legs. His uniform didn’t offer too many hiding places, but the detonator wasn’t very big. It would easily slip in a pocket.
I reached for his jacket. The inner pocket was my last hope. A twitch of movement was all the warning I got before his arm flashed up, aiming to slide a blade between my ribs. I deflected the blow at the last second, and he changed direction, burying the knife in my left thigh.
White spots danced in my vision and the world froze for a breathless second.
I slammed the pain aside. The wound wasn’t fatal and with his hand occupied, I had free access to his inner coat pocket. My left hand closed on the cylindrical detonator just as my mental timer ran out.
Sixty seconds.
Agony blossomed burning and bright as Adams twisted the knife deeper. I clenched the detonator with grim determination and wrenched it free, though the movement caused fiery pain all down my injured arm.
I confirmed the detonator’s safety lever was depressed, but before I could figure out how to disable it entirely, the lights came on, blindingly bright after the soft light from the glow stick.
Valentin shouted something that I couldn’t parse. All of my focus centered on keeping the detonator safe, even as shots echoed around the room.
Adams made a triumphant noise and pulled the knife free. A wave of pain threatened to pull me under, but then all of this really would be for nothing. Adams would kill me, and I would let go of the safety lever. I refused to let that happen.
I reacted on instinct, grabbing for his wrist. With only one hand, I was at a disadvantage, but I’d been in far more fights like this than Adams had. When he jerked his arm out of reach, I jabbed his thigh wound. He howled but didn’t drop the knife.
He slashed blindly at me. A knife fight was a good way to bleed to death and I was already losing blood at an alarming rate. I needed to end this before he got lucky and hit something that I wouldn’t recover from.
I scrambled back on a wave of pain, reaching for the gun I’d dropped. Adams twisted, stretching for a pistol I hadn’t seen in the shadows.
Time slowed.
My hand closed on the rifle. It was meant to be fired with a supporting grip, but I lifted it one-handed, my aim steady despite the pain. All of the choices in my life, both terrible and wonderful, had led me to this moment, and I knew, even as Adams lifted the pistol, that he wasn’t going to be fast enough.
He was good, but I was better.
With the detonator secure, I squeezed the trigger. Adams slumped back, a round through his head. A heartbeat later, two more rounds followed mine, both in his chest, and I blinked at the gun in my hand.
Had I shot more than once?
It took me far longer than it should’ve to remember Valentin and Luka. I blinked and Valentin was carefully trying to pry the detonator out of my clenched fingers. Blood smudged his upper lip.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I’m worried you’re going to pass out. I need to secure this before I can help you.”
“Is the station okay?” I asked. My tongue felt heavy in my mouth and it took time to shape the words. “Did I get it in time?”
Valentin nodded, but his mouth compressed into a hard line.
“What aren’t you telling me?” I demanded.
“More Quint ships just arrived.”
Chapter Twenty-One
I stared at Valentin for a long moment while the words worked their way through my fuzzy brain. “What?” I finally asked, sure I’d misheard. My arm hurt; my thigh hurt. I didn’t think I was up for fighting off yet more Quint soldiers. Hell, I wasn’t even sure I was up for dragging myself back to an emergency shuttle.
Before Valentin could answer, all of the screens at the front of the ship flickered to life and the intercom squawked as it came on. After a moment, Chairwoman Soteras appeared on screen, dressed in a dark navy suit and pale blue shirt that complemented her light brown skin and dark hair. She looked cool and collected even though she must’ve been awoken in the middle of the night.
She calmly stared into the camera. “All Quint troops receiving this message are hereby ordered to immediately stand down and prepare to be boarded,” she said, her words broadcast over the intercom as well as the speakers. “Those who refuse will be executed as traitors to the Confederacy. Resist or run and my fleet will destroy you. Any further attacks will result in immediate eradication.”
“Do you think she knows we’re in here?” I asked.
“Sawya is communicating with her. And I also sent her a message, in case Sawya conveniently forgets us.”
“You can link from in here?”
Valentin grimaced. “Not very well. I overdid it earlier. We need to move so I can figure out what’s happening.”
He carefully peeled the detonator from my hand and disabled it. Then he tightly wrapped several layers of tape around the whole thing to keep the safety lever depressed, just in case.
His hands were bloody, and I didn’t know if it was his or mine. Neither of us came out unscathed.
Luka reappeared with a first aid kit in hand. He looked like he needed the entire contents for himself. He’d also lost his armor, so he only wore the stretchy base layer, and it was shredded. I could see at least three holes caused by plasma pulses, each of them leaking blood. Blood had also dried on his face and in his hair. I wasn’t sure how he was still moving.
“Imogen?” I asked him, my heart in my throat.
“Stella is with her.” He swallowed. “Last I heard, she was badly hurt but alive.”
Anything that caused Luka to worry had to be bad indeed. I tried to link to Stella, but the room blocked my attempts. How long had it been since Luka had talked to her? Was Imogen still alive?
Bitter worry churned in my stomach. I tried to stand, but Valentin put a hand on my shoulder.
“Stella said to stay put until she gets here. Imogen is in a trauma-doc but stable.”
Any injury that needed a trauma-doc was grave, but Stella wo
uld do everything in her power to ensure Imogen survived. Imogen was in good hands and bleeding out because I tried to get up and go see her wouldn’t help her at all.
The message from Chairwoman Soteras repeated, and I glanced at the screen. I hadn’t realized that it was a recording. “Is Soteras here?”
“Not as far as I can tell,” Valentin said. “That looks like her office in Iona.”
Valentin carefully sliced away the fabric around the hole in my thigh. The knife had gone in cleanly, but then Adams had wrenched it around, so the wound was deep and ragged. Valentin irrigated it with a sterile solution, then slathered it in renewal gel.
I hissed as he gently stretched an elastomer bandage over the whole thing. The first aid kit was sadly lacking in painkillers, and now that the adrenaline was wearing off, I felt every ache.
“Sorry,” he murmured.
I couldn’t force any words past my clenched jaw, so I merely nodded.
The sound of booted feet in the hall pulled me from my stupor. We were too exposed here, but I didn’t think I’d be able to stand long enough to get my armor on. Still, I could shoot from the ground.
I raised my weapon as Stella shimmered into view, still in her Kos armor. “Samara!”
I lowered the rifle on a wave of relief.
Ari stepped into the doorway and said, “You’re supposed to let me clear the room before you turn off the camouflage.”
Stella waved a hand. “The room is clear.”
I could hear Ari’s eyes rolling, but she didn’t argue, she just directed the three soldiers with her to watch the outside corridors. The she swept inside and started checking to see if any of the enemy soldiers still lived. I vaguely remembered shots during my tussle with Adams, so I doubted that she would find any alive, even the ones in armor.
“How is Imogen?” I asked.
Stella opened her visor. “She’s stable. A team is evacuating her and the others to the emergency shuttles. Sawya got us clearance to head back to the station, we just had to come get you, first.”
“How many did we lose?”
Stella’s lips pressed flat and her jaw clenched. “Nine.”
Both too many and surprisingly few. “Are the Quint troops still fighting?”
“No,” Ari said. “Most of them fell back during the power outage. The rest fled when the announcement started, so whoever Soteras sends in to clean this mess up will have their work cut out for them. They’ll have to sweep the ships room by room to find everyone.”
Ari finally made it to where Adams had fallen and toed his body. “I think you got him.”
I understood the need for gallows humor in this room full of carnage. I still felt disconnected, and I found it hard to believe that he was really dead, even with his body as proof.
Stella apparently decided Valentin was doing a good enough job patching me up, because she turned and started on Luka. He tried to wave her off, but whatever she lacked in height, she made up for in sheer force of will.
“It’s easier for everyone if you just give in,” I advised him.
He scowled at me. While he was distracted, Stella pulled out her supplies and started cleaning his wounds. He finally sank into a chair with a grumble and let her work.
While Stella worked on Luka, Valentin cleaned and bandaged the wound on my arm and several cuts I hadn’t realized I’d gotten. By the time he was done, I felt like I was more bandage than person.
Valentin helped me to my feet. My thigh burned like fire and barely held my weight, but I gritted my teeth against the pain.
“I don’t think I can carry my armor,” I admitted.
“Leave it,” Valentin said.
“But—”
“It’s not worth it. I’m sure Soteras already knows about it, and I’ll give you a new set.”
“What should we do about Adams?” Ari asked.
“Leave him, too,” Valentin said. “Let Soteras worry about how we boarded a Quint ship and made it all the way to the bridge to kill the Commander.”
“She needs to clean her house,” Ari grumbled. “Adams showed up with a dozen ships. Their commanders had to know they were operating off the books, but they all went along with it. Someone high up in Quint had to be helping him.”
I nodded. If peace was going to have any chance of success, then both sides needed to stop harboring warmongering traitors. Valentin had put a dent in the ones in his court. It was time Soteras did the same.
With that sobering thought, we left the bloody bridge behind and limped toward the emergency shuttles.
Despite some valid concerns about our safety, we left Implacable on a pair of emergency shuttles and headed back to CP57. Captain Howe was amongst those who hadn’t survived, so Major Morley directed his troops as well as her own.
A squadron of Quint fighters escorted us back to the station. Having so many ships around made me nervous, but no one attacked so perhaps our shield worked. Or maybe the traitors were just pretending to comply and biding their time until they could tunnel again.
The ride was somber. We had over a dozen injured soldiers, some of them critical, and a hastily opened emergency blanket covered the bodies of the fallen. It was only thanks to luck that none of my loved ones were under that blanket, but Imogen was gravely injured. She’d taken an explosive blast at close range. The two soldiers in front of her had died instantly.
I stared at her still form. Her chest was encased in the trauma-doc and her face was wrapped in bloody gauze. I willed her to hang on. Stella assured me that she would pull through, but I wouldn’t believe it until Imogen opened her eyes and griped at me for leaving her behind.
We docked at Sawya’s private berth, and they met us in the hallway outside. The cool perfection of earlier was gone. Sawya’s suit was rumpled and their hair looked like they’d run their hands through it nonstop since we’d left.
Sawya greeted Morley first. The two of them spoke softly. I couldn’t overhear what was said, but Sawya appeared to be comforting Morley. The major hadn’t spoken at all on the flight from Implacable. She felt the loss of each of her soldiers, but Captain Howe’s death had hit her particularly hard. Morely remained dry-eyed and stone-faced, but anguish was carved into the lines of her body.
Stella left to accompany Imogen to medical. On her way by, she stopped to point at me and Luka. “I expect to see you both within the hour. Don’t make me come find you.”
I nodded. She’d given me a shot of painkiller, but even so, I doubted I’d be up and moving for more than an hour. I desperately wanted to sit down, but if I did, I might not be able to get back up again.
Luka said nothing, but he stared after the cargo sled carrying Imogen, his jaw clenched. He had vowed to stick with Valentin, but I could see that the decision was costing him.
Sawya broke away from Morley and headed our way. I wasn’t anywhere near sharp enough to deal with them right now, but it couldn’t be helped.
“Welcome back,” they said. “What of Adams?”
“He’s dead.”
“How?”
“I shot him in the head after he jabbed a knife in my thigh. Did you find the explosives?”
Sawya’s mouth turned down at the corners. “Yes. I have teams searching the rest of the station, but I believe we’ve found them all. They are being disabled as we speak.”
“How did someone sneak explosives past you?”
Their expression blanked into an impenetrable mask. “That’s something I intend to find out. While I’m not delighted that you brought this trouble to my door, I am glad for the chance to clean my house. I knew Adams had some sort of plan for the station, but I didn’t realize that I had quite so many rats scurrying around in the dark.”
“What about the station? Did it take damage?”
“There were a few minor hits but nothing breached the hull. We lost a few ships, but overall, it could’ve been far worse.”
I blew out a relieved breath, and then raised a questioning eyebrow. “Care to s
hare how you shut down a destroyer?”
Sawya smiled and remained silent.
I chuckled. “Fair enough. However you managed it, I’m grateful. Adams would’ve absolutely used the detonator, and my soul is bloody enough without thousands more deaths on my head.”
“Thank you for stopping him,” Sawya said. “I knew he was threatening the station from outside, but I didn’t expect an attack from inside as well. If you ever need anything, you know where to find me. Now get to medical before you fall over.”
A favor from Sawya was no small thing. I inclined my head in gratitude. “Does it look like Soteras is serious about rounding up the traitors? She wasn’t behind Adams’s attack?”
“As far as I can tell, she’s serious.” Sawya sighed. “She knows CP57 isn’t big enough to bring the war to her, but we can make life very difficult for her citizens. She preemptively offered recompense and wants to strengthen our peace treaty.”
“Will you accept?”
“Eventually,” Sawya said with a grin.
I silently wished them luck. Soteras wouldn’t be the first Quint leader to promise peace and then fail to deliver, but so far, she seemed to be sincere. Only time would tell if that trend would hold—and for how long.
“Are the original Quint ships surrendering?” Valentin asked.
“For now,” Sawya said. “They are outgunned by the new fleet, and the news of Adams’s death is spreading. We’ll see what happens when their stardrives recharge.”
“I can’t fight a fleet of Quint warships,” I said, “so I’m going to go spend a few hours in a med chamber. While I’m gone, try to keep the number of emergencies to a minimum, okay? Taking out one megalomaniac a day is my limit.”
Sawya’s eyes softened. “Rest well. I promise to keep the drama to a minimum for the remainder of the day.”
Luka tried to fight going into a med chamber, but fighting Stella in medical was like fighting the sea—impossible and exhausting. She was two seconds from sedating him when Ari vowed to watch Valentin until Luka was healed.
The Queen’s Triumph (Rogue Queen) Page 17
