by Layla Nash
He remained near the table, unruffled, and waited. Jess took a deep breath; she only had one question, maybe two, before the Minister would refuse to answer any more. That was how it always was. “How much did you know about the corruption among the Fleet captains, like Witz? They sold people and stole technology and destroyed the innocent, just to protect and enrich themselves. The Ministry had to know something, we have officers on every ship. Why didn’t we do something about it before Witz sold us to the Xaravians?”
She realized she still said “we” when talking about the Ministry, and wondered if that would ever change.
He managed to look regretful, as if the idea pained him. “Power can corrupt even the most honorable of men, and it is something we have to manage and uproot when we find it. Because of you, Jessalyn, we have identified many officers who sympathized with the corruption, and dealt with them accordingly. Perhaps you can assist with that effort going forward. I have appointed a new internal affairs division within the Ministry, to destroy those factions that seek to destroy the Ministry and the Alliance from the inside. They are interested in speaking with you more about your experiences; I am certain the leadership team would want you as a member, if you want to join.”
Internal affairs. Jess stared at the table in front of her as the Minister patted her shoulder and shuffled out the door, though she didn’t see any of the items still on the dingy metal. “Do not take too long to make your decision. Nathan will be here to assist you when you are ready to act.”
Nathan returned just as the door squealed shut on bent hinges, but Jess barely noticed him. Internal affairs was the office most hated both inside and outside the Ministry; if there was a newer office, more intense than the old, then that hatred likely intensified as well. Stepping into that snake pit, right after being brought back from apparent treason, wasn’t the way to a fresh start.
She wondered why the Minister didn’t mention just retiring and walking away. He acted as if her only choice was to rejoin the Ministry or to die without the antidote. And he didn’t say exactly what information they wanted from her. No doubt it would mean betraying the rest of her colleagues, the Xaravians, and whatever rebels she’d been in contact with. Was her old life worth it? Pretending to go back the way things were, hoping the Minister was right that the corrupt captains would be removed, and searching for relationships that would always and forever be based on lies?
Her thoughts began to tangle again and breathing slowly grew more difficult. Was that all she would have? All she thought she deserved? A dangerous career and one-night stands like Nathan?
Jess’s throat closed as she thought about it. She wanted more. And all she saw in the scratched metal surface of the table was Trazzak.
Trazzak
The moment their ships docked at the illegal port, the mood on the small outpost changed. Some of the stores began to shutter, and a few other ships took off. Trazzak had no idea how the pirates and other criminals knew trouble was coming, but they clearly had a sixth or seventh sense for it. Yurik pretended nothing was wrong, and docked his cruiser like normal — as if they were truly going to get a meal and discuss ways to screw over the Alliance on the way to actually screwing over the Alliance.
Trazzak hoped Frrar remembered his instructions, and that Maisy stayed on the Heva. The last thing he needed was to lose the Earther doctor on an illegal port filled with slavetraders and pirates. She’d be a fine prize for any of them, and Trazzak wanted to at least complete one mission before he possibly started another to rescue her.
Yurik led the way through the front side of the port stores, and Trazzak searched for any hints of an ambush. It would be a perfect spot for an ambush. He made sure his elbow rested on the hilt of his dagger, just in case, and the stunner was within easy reach in his robes. Neither of them spoke until Yurik gestured down a side alley toward the backs of the stores and some storage units. “I left them back here. I’m fairly sure they’ll still be here, but we can take a look. Their ship was around back.”
Trazzak clicked his communicator to signal to Frrar, then nodded. “The sooner we get this over with, the better.”
He got half a dozen steps into the dim alley before Yurik lunged. Trazzak grunted as a blade slid between his ribs and pain erupted in his side, and turned to flip Yurik into a pile of trash. He’d halfway expected the betrayal, but it still hurt far more than the physical pain that a former brother and friend would try to kill him. Trazzak roared and grappled with the bastard, his feet sliding in the trash and mud of the alley. His right arm failed as the pain spread and he couldn’t grip Yurik’s robes, and Trazzak reached for the stunner to do away with the sandsnake once and for all.
Yurik snarled and wrapped a length of his robe around Trazzak’s hand, wrenching away the stunner, and reached for another knife. Trazzak staggered upright and waited for Yurik to lunge at him again, using his momentum and a well-aimed kick to send the other Xaravian head-first into the nearest wall. Even one-armed, Trazzak had a hell of a lot of fight in him. And pure rage raced through him. Jessalyn was somewhere nearby, maybe dying, and he wasted time fighting off a traitor who sold her out.
Trazzak smashed Yurik’s head into the wall again and the Xaravian went limp. Trazzak snarled and wrapped his hand around his throat. “Why? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“I never left,” Yurik said, mostly a cough. He groaned and sank lower in the garbage. “After training. I never left.”
The son of a bitch. The Ministry must have recruited him after their information officer training, and the fool went along with it. “What did they promise you? Was it worth it, to betray your brothers?”
“I couldn’t walk away from the money.” Yurik snarled, showing his teeth, and made a feeble attempt to throw Trazzak off. “They gave me everything. Anything. It was more than enough.”
“Traitor.” Trazzak ripped the dagger sheath from Yurik’s belt and shoved it in his face. “You betrayed this. You betrayed everything. You’re lower than the lowest sandsnake.”
Yurik’s eyes narrowed and flashed black and silver, and blood darkened his tangled hair. “The rebellion betrayed me. Do you know how long I’ve sat on that fucking outpost, that hell hole of a snake’s ass? And there’s nothing, no mission, no company, no purpose. Just… waiting. Waiting for the next move. They gave that to me. They can give it to you, too — along with more money and power than you can even dream of. It’s just a very small price to pay.”
Trazzak couldn’t conceal his revulsion. He tore off Yurik’s belt and used it to bind the man’s hands and feet to a tangle of iron pipes nearby. He didn’t have time to deal with the traitor yet. “I should kill you right here. You deserve to die in the trash. But I will let you live to face the warrior councils on Xarav. They will judge you, and everyone you know will hear of your treachery.”
Trazzak retrieved their daggers and the stunner, and winged Yurik in the knees to make sure he didn’t try to escape. A great deal of fear lurked in Yurik’s eyes, and maybe a hint of relief. Trazzak imagined it must have been a heavy burden to bear all those years, to lead a double life and have to constantly conceal who and what he was. Now that he’d been caught, all of the fear of being caught was out of his hands for good. Trazzak smashed Yurik’s head into the pipes until he lost consciousness, and growled in rage to think his friend betrayed not only Trazzak’s trust, but Jessalyn as well.
Trazzak had no sympathy left, though. He pressed his hand to the wound in his side and dragged himself down the alley to the storage units. She had to be in there. He thought he could smell her, even through the trash and smoke of the port. Far overhead, lights flashed and a few alerts sounded as a lot more ships took off, and only one docked. He hoped it was the Galaxos and not an Alliance fighter, but he couldn’t see through the heavy atmosphere.
Yurik’s betrayal weighed heavy on his heart as Trazzak searched for footprints or hints of Jessalyn’s presence. He couldn’t understand how Yurik could have turned his back o
n his colleagues, his brothers, the rebellion itself. Something they all believed in. For the first time, he thought he understood a hint of the betrayal that Jessalyn and the others must have known when their former captain sold them to the Xaravians — and how difficult it must have been to remain with the Xaravians, with that treachery associated with the Galaxos and their new lives. He shook his head and placed his feet with care as he heard voices behind one of the dented metal doors, and knew it was her. It had to be her.
Jess
Jess preferred talking to the Minister, but she knew he wouldn’t do the dirty work of killing her if she refused. So Nathan sat there instead, waiting patiently for her to make up her mind or keel over. She didn’t know which would come first.
The easiest path was to just go back to how things were, turn a blind eye to any of the corruption that lingered, and continue on how she had been before. It would be so much harder to take the risk of a new start, and finding out if she could really make it on her own. Maybe she wasn’t strong enough or smart enough or capable enough to stand on her own. Maybe the rebels wouldn’t want her back, or Trazzak wouldn’t want anything to do with her, or her friends would look the other way. The fear of the unknown almost paralyzed her.
It could also have been the toxin.
“It’s a very easy choice, Jess,” Nathan said abruptly, apparently also tired of waiting. “You get everything you want back, and all you’ve got to do is tell us what happened on the Argo — our version of it, of course — and swear that Griggs and Lennox and the others coerced you into defecting away from the Fleet. Blame everything on them and you can return. We’ll find you an easy job, if you don’t want to deal with the Ministry any longer, or we’ll set up a retirement and pension for you. All you have to do is provide a public statement on the Argo incident, exonerating Witz and the others, and give me as much information on the Galaxos and the rebels as you’ve got. Easy. We’ll be done in a matter of days, and you can go on about your life.”
Of all the things he proposed, none of it was easy. She couldn’t turn her back on Isla and Griggs. Jess started to shake her head, feeling the creeping numbness spread down her arms and up her legs.
Nathan held up his hand to cut off her rejection. “I told him you wouldn’t do that, but I had to offer it. There are still two alternatives. One is to continue being a stubborn fool and let the toxin finally kill you. It should take no more than ten minutes at this rate, even with the partial antidote that the Minister gave you. The second option, and the only real choice for you, is to return to the rebels on our behalf. You actively pursue our agenda among them, report on their activities and plans, and introduce the misinformation I give you into the rebel community. You’ll be paid well, and eventually we’ll get you out of there. But you know the risks. It’s up to you.”
Jess shook her head, wishing she had enough energy to laugh in his face. If she couldn’t betray her friends with a public statement of their guilt, she sure as hell couldn’t be a spy among them every day. He should have known better. But it just showed how little he knew her at all. How little any of them knew her. Jess managed to wheeze something like a laugh, although Nathan probably couldn’t hear, and forced herself to speak despite the numbness in her face. “Does everyone know about what Witz and the others did? Selling people? It wasn’t just them. Is it everyone?”
“Will it really make a difference either way, Barnes?”
“I don’t know.” Jess blinked and wondered why her vision blurred: tears or eternity? “I can’t tell who is good or bad anymore.”
Something changed in his face, and for a second, Jess recognized the old Nathan — idealistic and energetic, before he grew so jaded and hard-edged. “Everyone is bad, Jess. All of us. That’s just how it is.”
“We didn’t start that way,” she whispered. “I know we didn’t.”
“It’s about the power,” he said. “It’s always been about power in the Alliance. Who has it, who can take it, how much it costs. You and your friends were a casualty to that game, just like all the ships and planets and civilizations that get flattened in our way. That’s just how it is.”
Jess’s head tilted back so she could stare up at the ceiling, lined with mold and Pasteur only knew what. “It was supposed to be in the service of something good, of something better. The ends justified the means, Nathan. That’s what they told us. I thought we made life better. Spread equality. Raised up the impoverished, struck down the corrupt and exploitative. Was it all lies?”
“Yes,” Nathan said. “But at least it helped you sleep at night.”
It hadn’t even done that, most nights. Jess slid lower in her chair, then managed to maneuver her hand onto the table and toward the injector. Nathan started to smile, as if he knew what choice she made, but instead Jess shoved it over to him, completely out of her reach. “I’m not going to betray those who showed faith in me. I’d rather die here alone than have my crew think I sold them out.”
He looked disappointed. He actually looked disappointed. Jess wanted to laugh. She even managed a smile.
Nathan sighed and picked up the injector, studying it as he shook his head. “Your loss, sweetheart. I never thought you were this naive. We’ll make sure they know you turned on them before we kill them. It’s —”
She blinked and then it was as if the entire room disappeared in a roar of bending metal and exploding bricks and dust. Jess stared, wondering if maybe that was what dying felt like after all.
Trazzak
Trazzak heard a semi-familiar voice say Jess would be blamed for something after she died, and he lost what remained of his control. He didn’t bother trying to open the door; he ran through the wall of the flimsy storage shed and surprised the hell out of Nathan and Jessalyn. Trazzak tackled the Earther before he could reach for a weapon, and though the male offered token resistance, he wasn’t exactly built for grappling with a Xaravian.
Trazzak snarled as he lurched upright and hauled Nathan up, throwing him against the wall and pinning him where his feet dangled several feet off the floor. “The antidote. Now.”
“It’s too late,” the Earther said, his voice gurgling in his throat. “Too late.”
Trazzak looked back at where Jess sat, staring at a small injector on the table, and feared the bastard was right. She looked blue, and not like the blue-purple of Xaravian scales. Just blue. It was not a color that Earther faces were meant to carry. He growled and slammed Nathan against the wall again. “The antidote. I will rip your heart out.”
“On the table.”
Trazzak dropped him in a heap and then threw him into the chair, wanting to break the fool’s neck. Trazzak picked up the injector and thought about jabbing it right into Jessalyn’s arm, but he hesitated. He didn’t trust the Ministry for a second. They couldn’t have intended Jessalyn to leave that room alive. It wasn’t like them, not when they thought they had a traitor. He squeezed Jessalyn’s hand and started to panic to feel how cold and lifeless her fingers were. There wasn’t much choice. He could try the injector and maybe save her, or he could watch her die.
He picked up the injector. Jessalyn looked up at him, her blue eyes dull, but she managed something close to a smile. “I knew you’d come.”
His hearts broke. Both of them, at the same time. It felt as though his world shattered around him. He couldn’t lose her.
Trazzak lifted the injector and placed it against her arm. “I hope this —”
“Don’t do it!” Something crashed behind and Trazzak jumped, almost dropping the injector as he whirled, expecting another attack.
Instead, a wide-eyed Maisy clambered over the rubble outside the destroyed storage room. Trazzak snarled. “What is wrong with you?”
“I can test it,” she said, breathless. “Wait.”
“We don’t have time,” Trazzak said. Fates help the doctor if the delay ended up killing Jessalyn...
“Test it on that asshole,” Frrar said, and Trazzak picked up a chunk of stone to
hurl at him.
“Who the fuck is on the ship?” Trazzak bared his teeth, ready to strangle them both. The antidote wouldn’t do much good if they all ended up stranded on the illegal port because someone stole the damn cutter.
Nathan leaned back, making a face. “It’s the antidote. Just give it to her before it’s too late.”
Maisy crouched next to Jessalyn and started doing stuff with gadgets from her bag, though her face paled and her eyes reddened when she saw Jessalyn. “Not yet. You have to test it.”
“Fine,” Nathan said, and held out his arm. “Give it to me. There might not be enough to save her after you waste it on me, but whatever floats your boat.”
Trazzak grabbed the injector and jabbed it into his shoulder without a second thought, and Nathan watched him with a slightly surprised expression. It wasn’t more than two heartbeats before the Earther’s eyes dimmed and his breath stopped and he fell over, dead.
Trazzak stared, the injector falling from his hand. He almost killed Jessalyn. And they didn’t even have a hint of how to save her. The breath choked in his throat and he went to his knees next to Jessalyn. He’d failed her. He’d been a total asshole and still failed her. “I’m sorry.”
Her eyelashes fluttered as she tried to open her eyes. “It’s okay.”
He glared at Frrar, standing there with a horrified look on his face, and roared at him. “Find something. Bags or boxes or something. They had to bring something to treat it. There’s got to be something.”
Maisy put something else against Jessalyn’s chest and the agonizingly slow, weak beating of her heart echoed around them. Frrar fumbled and dug through the rubble around the shed, and Trazzak wondered if that was how it was going to end — chaos and noise and dust. He held Jessalyn’s face in his hands, staring into her eyes. “We’ll make it.”
