Dark Deeds (Class 5 Series Book 2)

by Michelle Diener

  He'd started walking toward the conference room as he explained, and Hal nodded to Rial, Favri and Tobru to follow them. He was still more than a little annoyed at the scene down on Balco, but he needed his senior officers in the loop.

  When he walked into the room, Admiral Hoke was waiting.

  “Your commander told me you'd been found and were on your way back.” She stood up and the lens view contracted so that she was still center-screen. “We lost all comms with you, with the whole of the Balco system, and we weren't able to get through for over two days.”

  She was pacing, and Hal guessed she'd thought the worst, that the Tecran had taken the Balco system.

  She wasn't far off.

  “Did Commander Chel tell you Fiona Russell had been abducted?” Hal asked, just to work out where to start his story, and the admiral went still.

  “No. He did not.”

  Chel winced. “We only came back online four hours ago, Admiral, and that's when we were able to find the captain from the tracker in his uniform. I have to admit, he was more of a priority to me than our orange.”

  Hal flinched at the term, but didn't pull Chel up on it. His commander was already in enough yurve shit for not fully briefing the admiral.

  “What's going on there, Vakeri?” The admiral leaned forward on her desk, her eyes fixed on him.

  “It seems the Tecran have been lurking in this system for a year,” Hal told her. “They built a secret facility out in the Balcoan desert, and there had to have been some cooperation from at least a few Balcoans. I can't see it happening without someone turning a blind eye. A few Class 5s have come through here. At least two, that I know of. The one who abducted Fiona Russell, and a second one, who abducted another Earth woman, called Imogen Peters. We have an Earth bird called a macaw with us which was taken with Imogen Peters, but the Earth woman herself was gone from the facility when we got there, and we don't know what happened to her.”

  Hoke sucked in a deep breath. “Who is we?”

  “Fiona Russell and myself.” Hal broadened his stance, put his hands behind his back, so he was standing to attention. “She was abducted from the Illium by the Class 5 that originally took her from Earth. His name is Eazi. He was just able to circumvent the hold the Tecran had on him by manipulating comms——”

  “Wait. You're saying he abducted her without his Tecran masters knowing it? While he was still theoretically under their control?” Hoke's eyes were wide.

  Hal nodded. “He said he was stretched to the limit to do it without being discovered, but he managed it.”

  “He grabbed her because . . . ?”

  “He wanted her to free him,” Hal said. “He was engineering his own escape.”

  Hoke froze. “And?”

  “And that's exactly what she did.” Hal blew out a breath.

  “What happened to the Tecran onboard?”

  “They died.” Hal spoke slowly, suddenly realizing whether Eazi had killed them or not, they'd have died when their own people had flipped the kill switch. That's what Fiona had been saying to Dai. She hadn't told him they'd been dead anyway. She'd accused him of killing his own people.

  “Only a third of them were onboard, and they were dead when I got there.”

  Favri sucked in a breath.

  “Where were the rest?” Rial asked.

  “Down below at the facility. On shore leave of a sort. Waiting to hear whether the Tecran were going to stand down against the Grih and the UC, or go to war.”

  Hoke frowned. “How did the Balcoans miss a Class 5 hovering over their desert? This can't be just a few turning a blind eye, Vakeri, the Balcoan government must be involved.”

  “No.” Hal relaxed his stance, started to pace himself. “The Class 5 is powerful enough to hide at the top of Kyber's Arm, the massive storm that sits permanently in the western desert. No one could find them, because the electrical interference is too great. It was the perfect hiding place.”

  “Why did Fiona free him?” Rial asked.

  “I think it was because she felt their positions were similar. They'd both been held prisoner, and she thought it was wrong that he was caged the way he was.”

  “But he abducted her. I saw her get shot.” Tobru frowned.

  “I'm sure they had words about that, but shooting her was not Eazi's idea. He'd explicitly ordered Cy not to hurt her. When he saw what Cy had done, he abandoned him on Larga Ways, and when Cy jumped onboard the runner I took to chase after her, Eazi tried to kill him. He'd promised Fiona he wouldn't hurt me, though, so he had to bring Cy and myself onto the Class 5.”

  “This is the Cy you mentioned earlier. The one you forgot about?” Rial asked.

  “Yes. When Fiona and I left to go down to Balco, Eazi put Cy into a runner, and sent it off the ship, sort of a floating prison. Neither he nor I trusted that Cy wouldn't be freed or murdered by his own people if he arrived back at Larga Ways unaccompanied. The chances are high he's still floating out in space.”

  “So what was that big explosion? Chel said it registered from Larga Ways?” Hoke asked.

  Hal grimaced, remembering the sound of it. Like the world tearing in two. “The Tecran were so nervous after Sazo and Bane came over to our side, Cy admitted they'd installed a massive explosive device in the structure of Eazi's Class 5. The switch was down below in the facility. That's why Fiona and I went down there, to try and disable it. Eazi stayed in Kyber's Arm. He was safe there, even if they flipped the switch, because the electrical interference protected him. But we were caught, and then Eazi discovered finding the switch was going to be impossible, so we escaped. The Tecran had sent up a runner to find out why the Class 5 wasn't getting in touch with them, and we knew they'd work out he was free and tell whoever was down below to activate the self-destruct. So Eazi came out of Kyber's Arm and destroyed the whole facility. We hoped that would destroy the switch. What we didn't know what that Commander Dai, who I now have in the Illium's cells, was in the runner, and he actually had the switch with him.”

  “That massive explosion . . .” Tobru's voice was just a whisper. “That was the Class 5 self-destructing?”

  Hoke choked. “What?”

  Hal held her gaze. “They blew it up.”

  “Did they know the crew onboard were dead?” Favri asked.

  “No.” Hal tried to stand to attention again. “Dai's orders to prevent the Class 5 falling into our hands superseded everything. Even the lives of his crew.”

  “And would it have fallen into our hands?” Hoke asked, voice low and rough.

  Hal twisted his lips. “Eazi is loyal to Fiona. And she is loyal to us. So yes.”

  The admiral put both hands in her hair. She stopped just short of pulling at it.

  “Of course, Eazi hasn't been destroyed. He isn't actually the Class 5, it's just the structure he lives in.” Hal watched Hoke slowly lower her hands.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “When Fiona and I went down to Balco, Eazi launched a runner from the launch bay which I think contained the real him, if that makes sense. Whatever it is that houses the thinking system. Just in case we didn't succeed.”

  “So the thinking system is still alive?” Chel rubbed the side of his head.

  “Theoretically. But Fiona hasn't been able to get a response from him since the Class 5 was destroyed. She's been singing to him, talking to him, trying to coax him back. But she thinks he's traumatized. As if he's lost most of his body.”

  “So that's why she was singing,” Favri murmured.

  The way she said it had Hal narrowing his eyes. “Why did you think she was doing it?”

  Rial cleared his throat. “We thought it was for you.”

  Hal kept his face impassive. That scene, sitting against the rocks, would have looked very cozy to anyone viewing it from the outside. If he was honest, it would have looked cozy because it was cozy.

  “Never mind that.” Hoke's words didn't match her expression. She was looking at Hal with a specula
tive gleam in her eye. “Tell Fiona to keep trying. How do you think the Tecran will react now?”

  Hal had been thinking of little else since the Class 5 had blown. “No matter whether they're going to accept the UC's verdict on their actions or not, they're going to send another Class 5, or more likely a Levron, as I think they're scared another Class 5 would be in danger of breaking free, to listen in and work out how much damage has been done. Even if they have spies on the ground at Larga Ways, and they definitely do, their listening post in the desert is gone, and they'll need to find out what happened to it, and how much we've figured out.”

  Hal sat down for the first time since getting back on the Illium. He knew he looked as grim as he felt. “And if they can, they're going to try to kill as many of their own people we have in custody as they can. Not to mention Fiona, who's our prime evidence that they've been systematically breaking the Sentient Beings Agreement.”

  “That's what I think, too.” Hoke gave a nod. “I'm glad I sent Sazo to you.”

  Hal thought he'd misheard. “Sazo?”

  “When we lost contact, I decided to call in the big guns. He's been light jumping for two days. He'll be there in . . .” Hoke flicked the arm of her uniform, looked down at her cuff. “About nine or ten hours.”

  “By himself?” Hal asked.

  Hoke cocked her head. “No. Rose is with him. And he condescended to let Captain Dav Jallan come as well. Jallan's ship, the Barrist, is following behind them as fast as it can, along with three other battleships.”

  “Maybe Sazo can coax Eazi out of his paralysis,” Hal said.

  “Maybe.” Hoke shrugged, and Hal had the sense a thinking system that didn't come with a Class 5 battleship wasn't nearly as interesting as one who did.

  “Vakeri. A word alone.” Hoke let her gaze rest on each member of his team, and they bowed before leaving him alone in the room.

  “You think any of your crew might be a spy?” Hoke rested a hip against her desk as she spoke.

  “I don't think so. So far, no one has tried anything. But I know there are spies out in Larga Ways. I'm going to detach from the dock. I'd prefer to circle the way station than leave us open to what happened when Eazi managed to grab Fiona earlier. And if the Tecran are sending some heavy guns, it's better we aren't locked into the way station, anyway.”

  “And the way station commander? The Larga Ways Battle Center office staff seem to think he's honest, but with what's been happening out on Balco, I'm wondering if they've been fooled.”

  Hal shrugged. “He seems honest to me, but I'm not prepared to trust anyone but a very select few right now.”

  “What about Fiona Russell?” Hoke finally sank back down into her chair. “Do you trust her?”

  Hal tipped back his head, looked at her through half-closed eyes. “I do.”

  “You've known her less than a week.”

  “True.” He sighed. “But she saved my life at least once down in the facility, and she protected me from Eazi when he was trying to kill Cy. She actually made a deal with him, got him to promise not to harm any Grih, unless it was in self-defense.”

  “Hmm.” Hoke sat up a little straighter. “That's similar to . . .” She shook her head. “Never mind. I'm sorry the Class 5 was destroyed. The Tecran would have no choice but to give up if we had three out of five of their Class 5s.”

  “Well, we have three out of five of their thinking systems. And the same number of Class 5s as they do.”

  “True.” She looked thoughtful. “Who would have thought two months ago we'd be in such a mess?”

  “Better this way, than finding out what the Tecran had been planning on their own timetable, with all Class 5s still firmly under their control.”

  Hoke was shaking her head. “That would never have happened. Sazo engineered his own escape, like Eazi, but Rose was onboard at the time so it was relatively simple. Bane helped Rose get onboard his Class 5 without letting the Tecran know about it so she could free him, but that was a plan put to him by Sazo and Rose themselves. Eazi manipulating things purely on his own to bring Fiona to him . . . that says a lot. These thinking systems aren't blank pages the Tecran can mold into whatever they want. They can pretend to be compliant, but they obviously have a strong sense of purpose.”

  “The last two left in Tecran hands may be actively working to escape right now.” Hal didn't know if a rogue Class 5 was any better than one controlled by the Tecran.

  “Let's hope one of them doesn't meet up with the Krik.” Hoke spoke lightly, but Hal realized she wasn't joking.

  He breathed in sharply. “Yes.”

  “You've got a lot to do, Captain.” Hoke eyed him with a neutral expression. “Get some rest first.”

  He gave a nod.

  “And don't get too distracted by pretty singing.”

  She signed off with a smirk, and left him staring at the blank screen.

  37

  Fee'd slept the sleep of the dead; under so deep, she had to claw her way to wakefulness, scrabbling to gain a foothold. When she finally blinked open gritty eyes, she stared at the ceiling, trying to work out what the hurry was.

  “Eazi?” Her voice cracked and wobbled. Had that been it? A faint sound through her earpiece?

  There was nothing but silence now, but as she stretched gingerly and then struggled to sit up, she had a feeling it had been him who had woken her.

  The sudden joy that infused her at the thought made it easy to get up and hit the shower. When she came back out, she saw her guards must have knocked and then entered, because her clothes from the day before, which Jasa had taken to be cleaned, were sitting on her bed.

  She only saw them at all because her golden silk underwear was on top, otherwise, the shirt and pants blended into her bedspread and disappeared.

  She strongly suspected Jasa had taken the clothes more to study them than clean them, but as long as the end result was the same, Fee didn't care.

  She'd rather wear her camouflage than another cadet uniform. She liked the idea of easily fading into the background given the unfriendly looks she'd gotten from Hal's senior officers since they'd found them on Balco. Favri's blurted statement of how they were better off with her among them had cheered her, but it quickly became obvious Tobru and Rial didn't share her view, and Commander Chel had been even less happy to see her.

  She grinned as she thought of the team's faces when they'd heard her singing with the macaw onboard the fighter that had rescued them, and then realized they would have already been hiding behind the burnt out runner while she'd been belting out I Will Survive. She loved that song since she was a child and had seen a short animated clip of a green, one-eyed alien singing the song, only to be squashed by a disco glitter ball falling from above.

  It was the line about being back from outer space in the song's lyrics which she'd always thought had been the inspiration for the animated alien singer, and it had inspired her as she'd sung it again and again, loading boxes in the Fasbe's launch bay.

  Hal's team must have watched her sing. But when she'd finished, and Hal had looked up at her . . .

  She swallowed hard.

  The firelight had flicked on his face and his eyes seemed such a pure blue, his desire so naked.

  She shivered.

  Her door chimed, and she welcomed the distraction, touching the side panel to see who was there.

  Not such a distraction, she thought, eyeing the sharp face and wide shoulders of her visitor, but she was smiling as she opened the door.

  Hal smiled back, and neither of them said anything as she stepped to the side and let him enter.

  She caught a glimpse of a guard outside her door who she didn't know, eyes straight ahead.

  The door closed, and for a moment they stared at each other in silence.

  “Come here,” he said, and she stepped into his arms, letting her hands trail up his back until she was tight against him.

  “You sure you want to do this?” she whispered, rising up on tip
toe to nibble at a beautiful elf ear. She trailed a fingertip along the outer edge.

  “Do what?” His voice was rough.

  “This.” She kissed the side of his neck.

  “Oh, I definitely want to do this.” He nuzzled her throat.

  “It's just, your crew seem to be scandalized.”

  His hands were in her hair and he tugged back her head, kissed her on the mouth. “They are.”

  “Will they tell on you?”

  He'd been maneuvering her backward, and now he pressed her into the wall, his hands sliding up the front of her shirt.

  “They have already.” He gave a crooked smile. “During my debrief with the admiral.”

  “Huh.” She didn't speak because she was too busy running her hands under his own shirt, over the smooth, taut muscles of his broad back.

  He didn't seem too concerned about being outed as his fingers worked their way under the edge of her bra.

  “And are you fired?”

  He gave a snort of laughter. “No. Actually . . .” He delved a little deeper, “the admiral didn't seem that annoyed about it.”

  The door chimed.

  Her hands stilled, and after a moment, so did Hal's.

  “Guess they don't like us being alone together.” She meant to sound lighthearted, but it came out with an edge.

  “No. I didn't mean to get so carried away.” He rested his forehead on hers. “I asked Chel and Jasa to join me when we were told that you were awake.”

  “So you're to blame for this interruption?” She arched against him, feeling every aroused inch, and then slipped to the side, held her hand over the panel, and gave a pointed look at his erection.

  The door chimed again.

  Hal gave a rueful laugh. “I'll make some grinabo for us all.”

  She waited until his back was to the room, standing in front of the small drinks station, before she opened up.

  Jasa's hand was up, as if to ring again, but she didn't ask what had taken Fee so long to respond, and Fee didn't explain.