Commander Chel had his game face on. He kept looking over at her, though.
“Something wrong, Commander?”
“I know you're there, I can see you, but my eyes are having trouble keeping you in focus.” He didn't look happy about it.
“It's made from the silk of a caterpillar whose cocoon needs to be hidden through a number of dramatically different seasons.” She held out an arm, and admired how it seemed to not be there, except for her hand on the end.
“You never told me that,” Jasa stepped up and fingered the fabric.
“You were lucky you got anything at all out of me last night, to be honest.” Fee gestured to the small sitting area and Jasa walked casually over and threw herself into a chair.
Chel was a lot more tense, and waited for Fee to sit before he did the same.
“Have you eaten yet?” Jasa asked her.
She shook her head. She'd been given some intravenous nutrients last night, and she didn't feel that hungry, but she was going to have to start getting used to the food some time.
Jasa tapped her earpiece, murmured something into it.
“We have some news I think you'll like.” Hal settled opposite her with grinabo for everyone, and leaned back in his chair.
“You haven't told her yet?” Chel asked, and when Hal looked over at him in surprise, Fee guessed he didn't usually sound so accusing.
“Not yet.” Hal waited for her to set her mug on the table. “Sazo will be here in a few hours. And he's bringing Rose McKenzie with him.”
She was standing before she realized it. “That's . . . very good news.” She vacillated, unsure whether to sit again and then turned away from them and walked toward the back wall of her room. She hadn't put it into screen mode, she'd been too tired last night, and there was nothing to look at.
She stood, staring at the milky blue enamel finish of the blank screen and fought the tears that were clogging her throat and stopping her voice, amazed that the news could affect her so deeply.
“Fiona?”
She turned, and saw Hal had stood as well, although he made no move toward her.
The concern in his eyes brought her back to herself. She would not lose it here and now. Not with Commander Chel looking at her with surprise.
She drew in a deep breath.
“I'm very pleased.” She was happy her voice kept steady. “Why are they coming?”
“Hoke sent them when the comms went down but they were a long way away. They'll keep coming, even though we know why the comms died, because we think the Tecran will send a battleship to find out what's happened to their facility and to Eazi. They know we're here, or they should, because we think they have spies at the very least on Larga Ways, but they will risk it anyway, because they need to know how much we've uncovered.”
Chel gave Hal a quick, surprised look. “Should we . . . ?”
“Fiona needs to know what's happening. It's more than likely they'll try anything they can to get to her.”
“So I need to stay onboard?” She'd guessed that anyway, but any final hopes she could walk around Larga Ways and explore died. At least Rose McKenzie's arrival would make up for it.
“I'm sorry,” Hal said.
Chel made a soft sound at that, and Hal shot him a quick look.
“I know I promised you we'd find the place where you smelled that food you liked. But for safety reasons we undocked last night, and we're orbiting the way station.”
The door chimed, and Jasa rose and took a tray from a guard, set it down on the table and like a mother to a recalcitrant child, pointed a finger at the chair Fee had abandoned.
Fee walked back, sat and looked at the food. Made a face.
“You don't like our food?” Chel asked.
She raised her eyes, held his insulted gaze. “No doubt you wouldn't like mine, either.” She picked up a piece of fruit she'd tried before, chewed it gamely.
“What did they feed you on the Fasbe?” Chel asked her.
“No fruit, that's for sure. Something similar to the chewy bar Hal gave me on Balco.”
“You ate emergency ration nutrient bars for two months?” Hal stared at her in shock.
“I was also locked up, forced into manual labor, and frequently beaten.” She gave him a look. “What I ate was hardly the worst of it. At least it was filling and provided me with what I needed to survive.”
“You're right.” Jasa leaned forward and picked up a small dish of what looked like pale green mash, offered it to Fee. “They could have done worse. You're underweight, so they didn't give you enough, but considering the reactions you could have had to things, the bars were the safest bet.”
Chel moved restlessly, and Fee realized he was angry, irritated and wanted to hurry things along.
“Sorry, Commander, you're obviously not here to talk about my diet.” Fee gave him a polite, friendly smile. She'd perfected it on clients who'd just been thinking, and had changed their minds on the design——for the last time, of course——even though work on their house had already begun; and on surly tradesmen claiming not to have understood her blueprints when they clearly hadn't even looked at them.
A smarmy alien commander was no challenge.
Chel froze in place, and then subsided back into his seat.
Hal had sat again when she did, and she saw just the smallest twitch of a smile as he leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “While we were away, four members of the Fasbe's crew were murdered.”
“From prison?”
“No.” Chel spoke, and Fee had the sense it was more to get her attention off Hal than because he particularly wanted to participate in the conversation. “Only Captain Tak and his aide and second in command are actually in cells. The rest were under house arrest, in the barracks the Balcoan military sometimes use when they stay on Larga Ways for maneuvers.”
“You suspect the Tecran? Or their spies?”
Chel nodded.
“They should have killed them all,” Fee said. “Now, the crew that's left has no choice but to tell you everything they know so killing them will be a waste of time.”
“Yes.” Hal sent her a smile. “And it's motivated Captain Tak to finally offer a full confession, as well.”
“Did you get the murderers?”
“No. But Tean Lee, the station commander, has lens feed of the two he thinks are responsible. There are only so many places to hide on Larga Ways.”
“Well, let us not interrupt your meal further,” Chel said, standing.
Hal rose more slowly. “I'll be on Larga Ways for most of the morning, until Sazo gets here. I'll see you later, Fiona.”
She gave the formal Grihan bow in response, but Hal stepped forward, hands together, and offered them to her. She tried to cover them with her own in as brisk a manner as possible, but when she didn't release them right away, he pulled his hands out from between hers. The movement was slow and deliberate. A caress.
When she looked up, he was watching her, eyes intense with energy.
Chel waited for him at the open door, and he finally gave her a nod and left. As the door closed behind them, she noticed Jasa was staring at her, mouth open.
Fee quirked a brow. “Got something to say?”
Jasa laughed. “Oh, no. I prefer to keep my mouth shut in situations like these.”
Fee sat down and picked up the green mash. “I knew there was something I liked about you.”
* * *
Hal walked toward the bridge with Chel in silence, trying to move his concentration from Fiona to the meeting he had with Tean Lee in half an hour.
Between his crew and the security staff on Larga Ways, they'd been patrolling Balco's system since just after his discussion with Admiral Hoke, looking for any sign the Tecran were around.
“What was the point of my being in that meeting?” Chel didn't look at him as he spoke.
“Why do you think?” Hal kept his tone mild.
“I don't know, that's why I'm asking.”
> “Why are you so angry, Chel?” Hal slowed his step, looked over at his commander.
“Because you're obviously not thinking straight where she's concerned. Telling her things that should be for crew only, trusting her with sensitive information. She freed a thinking system, Hal. A thinking system! The fact that it got blown up is beside the point. If it hadn't we'd have another one on our hands.”
“Which would be a good thing, according to Admiral Hoke.”
“Hoke's been got to just as badly as you. I know you've heard the whispers, that Hoke got promoted to head of fleet because Sazo wouldn't join us while Admiral Krale was running Battle Center.”
“And I know you've heard the whispers that it was because Krale was playing dirty games that Sazo refused to work with him. Hoke was in line for head of fleet anyway, that was a well-known fact. Sazo just put the timeline forward a little, that's all.”
Hal didn't know what Krale had done, but he'd always been a fan of Admiral Hoke, and was glad she'd been promoted.
“That may be,” Chel conceded the point with his old graciousness, something that Hal hadn't seen since Chel had watched him with Fiona last night outside the launch bay. “But . . . fraternizing with an orange? Hal, are you mad?”
Hal stopped. Ran a hand through his hair. “Maybe.” His lips quirked up at the corners at Chel's hiss of frustration. “I asked you to meet with Fiona this morning so that you could see her.”
Chel frowned. “What do you mean?”
“Listen to her discuss the Tecran spies lack of strategy or talk about her priorities while she was held prisoner. See her reaction to Rose's arrival, and her acceptance that she won't be able to explore Larga Ways, even though I promised her she could.”
Chel shifted, uncomfortable, and Hal realized his second-in-command had already worked it out. He was just too stubborn to admit it.
He lifted a brow.
“All right. There is no difference between her and us. Is that what you want to hear? I can see it. Despite what we thought at the start, she's never been what we think of as an orange. I get it. But did you have to get involved with her?”
“Why do you, Rial, Tobru and Favri have such a problem with that?” Hal asked him. “Admiral Hoke doesn't.”
Chel's mouth fell open slightly. “I thought . . . last night . . .”
“That between Favri and Rial, you'd dropped me in it for 'my own good' and that Hoke's one-on-one with me was to bring me back in line?” Hal realized he still harbored some real anger at that.
Chel looked away.
“Actually, Hoke and I discussed other things, and at the end . . .” he thought back to the smile in the admiral's eyes, “I think she gave me her blessing. In a round about way.”
“Why would she do that?” Chel asked. He looked deeply unhappy.
It was a good question.
Hal admired Hoke, and respected her. But one thing he knew about the admiral, she was always several steps ahead.
And somehow, she thought a close relationship between one of her senior officers and Fiona was a good thing.
Whatever the reason, Hal was happy to oblige.
38
“Sazo will be here any minute,” Fee coaxed softly. Since the strange sound she'd woken to this morning, there'd been no sign of Eazi, but she knew he wanted to meet Sazo, had been looking forward to it. “Come on, Eazi. Wake up.”
She wondered for the first time if he could talk to her, even if he wanted to. The drone was back on Balco, the runner he'd been using was somewhere over Kyber's Arm. Perhaps she'd been mistaken this morning. Perhaps Eazi hadn't made a sound.
Something she could ask Sazo.
It was late morning now, and she paced her room, too wound up to enjoy the lens feed of a street scene of Larga Ways, happening in real time.
She would love to explore. She forced herself to stop and watch the people walking down the narrow street, browsing at the tiny shops which had their doors flung wide open to tempt passersby.
Perhaps it was her imagination, but the crowds seemed more subdued today. But the Class 5's destruction had been seen all the way to Larga Ways, and the news of the murder of some of the Fasbe's crew was probably out.
War was looming, so she supposed it wasn't surprising the Balcoans and the merchants who traded with them were in a more serious frame of mind.
The way station operated like a medieval walled city, she thought, with space at a premium. But even though the streets were almost too narrow to be practical, they had done amazing things with the room they had. And they had not once forgotten beauty. She enjoyed all the tiny details they'd added which elevated the ordinary to the extraordinary.
It reminded her of the Gothic Quarter in Barcelona, where every door handle, every cornice, every wall, had some delightful element.
Of course, the hovers that ran two levels above people's heads and the strange pets and outfits of the clientele made it clear it wasn't Barcelona, but another place and time entirely.
That, and the purple gel dome, and the view of the planet Balco when you managed to find a gap between buildings to the horizon.
She grinned, but it faded as she saw a figure striding through the street toward her, big body moving with grace and fluid speed through the crowd.
Hal.
He'd said he'd be on the way station for the morning, and from the look on his face, he wasn't exactly enjoying it. He looked grim and focused, and she suddenly thought the Tecran had just as much motivation to kill him as they did to kill her.
If they had their spies, which Hal said they did, they'd know by now he'd been in their secret facility. Knew more of their secrets than they would be comfortable with.
No matter that he'd debriefed his admiral, he'd need to be questioned at a UC tribunal Jasa had told her——both of them would, and if neither of them were around to speak, that would at least buy the Tecran some time.
Her gaze lingered on his face, set in hard lines, and the way he moved through the crowd with a single-minded focus that saw nothing of the scene around him.
He walked beyond the lens view and disappeared, and she stared at the spot where he'd disappeared blankly.
She had it bad, she forced herself to admit.
Really, really bad.
Someone, a person with narrow features and thin arms, stopped at the exact spot she was looking at, and she realized he'd been browsing the wares outside one of the shops. She'd noticed him before she'd spotted Hal because of the green flowing robes he wore. A few others were dressed in similar clothing, and she guessed they were visiting traders from some far-flung planet, but his seemed more expensive, almost unreal, like liquid silk.
Except he didn't look like a trader now. He looked like a hunter. Something about him made her step closer, focus carefully on his face. His eyes were black or very dark brown, with no iris, and they looked as hard as the carapace of a beetle.
Her door chimed, and she turned reluctantly away. When she opened it and looked back, he was gone, and Carmain and Pila stood in the doorway.
“Sazo is here.”
She felt a lurch of nerves. “Great.”
“No one is allowed onboard his Class 5 except for you.” Pila looked like he had one of the sour fruit she'd choked down for breakfast in his mouth.
“How come?” She hadn't been told very much about Sazo, she realized, or what his role in Battle Center was.
“Above our clearance level,” Carmain said with a shrug. “We're here to escort you to the launch bay. There's a runner waiting for you.”
As Fee walked between them to the launch bay, she was once again happy for the camouflage. No one even looked at her, and she had the sense it wasn't for lack of interest, but because they couldn't see her. Or not well enough to register.
The runner in the launch bay was the same as the one Eazi had used to help them with aerial views on Balco, and Fee got into it without any hesitation.
It was only after the doors closed, and they'
d gone through the wobble of the gel wall, that she realized she was completely alone in the vessel.
“Hello?” she said. “Sazo?”
“Hello.” The voice that came through the speakers in the runner was mostly Grihan rough, with just a hint of the fluidity of English. The greeting had been in English, though.
“I'm pleased to meet you. You helped a good friend of mine.”
“Rose?” Sazo asked.
“Rose, too, although I don't know her personally. I'm talking about Eazi. He says you woke him up.”
“I am pleased to meet you, too.” Sazo's voice seemed warmer, closer to human. “I know you freed Eazi, and I thank you for it. But I have to tell you, Captain Vakeri indicated that Eazi was on a runner near Kyber's Arm. I checked the area before I made myself known here, and I could find no sign of it. My guess is that it was destroyed in the explosion. I've sent out a call for him every half an hour since then, and there is nothing. I think he's gone.”
Fee drew the crystal pendant out of her shirt and held it up. “But isn't he in this? The runner was more so he could help us from outside Kyber's Arm.”
“You have him.” Sazo's voice wobbled a little. “I am very . . . relieved. And it seems I have even more to thank you for. Keeping him safe and keeping his secrets. Our secrets.”
“They are safe with me.” She tucked the necklace back under her shirt.
“I like you already, Fiona Russell.” Sazo made a humming sound. “Perhaps we can use one of my runners and pretend it's Eazi for now. Keep the focus on that.”
“Okay.” She gave a shrug of agreement. “He hasn't spoken. Not since they blew him up. I didn't expect him to right away, because it must have been a massive shock, but I've been talking to him and singing to him since then, and nothing. But if the runner is gone, then he hasn't had anything to speak through.”
“Unless he's in the Illium's systems?”
Fee looked up at the speakers. “I don't think he is. He used a trick to get me off the Illium before, but I was told it was using a device he had a Tecran spy attach to the passageway walls. He was still trapped in the Class 5 at the time.”
Dark Deeds (Class 5 Series Book 2) Page 27
