Dragon's Echo

by Natalie Grey

  “If it were that easy to kill Dragons, we wouldn’t be very good at our jobs.” Nyx shook her head. “I tell you, though, I wish I could go back and take Soras out before he had the idea to start bribing some of us.”

  She kept her tone light. She was trying not to think of the dock worker, thinking he was alone, thinking she had left him to die.

  She would get him back. Estabrook had been telling the truth when he said he wouldn’t kill the kid yet. He made too good a human shield.

  I’ll get you out of this, Nyx promised the dock worker silently. Then she turned and made her way toward the Ariane. “Wraith, Centurion, meet me at Bay 72. Rest of the team, back on the Conway. We’ll be back soon.”

  Damn. She had wanted like hell to take Estabrook out today.

  9

  Several piles of armor lay along the side of the war room on the Ariane and the command crews of Teams 11 and 9 were all frowning at the layouts on the table in front of them, all stripped down to their under-layers.

  The room did not smell fantastic, Nyx had to admit. She wrinkled her nose as she leaned against the table, drumming her fingers meditatively on the wooden surface.

  She’d missed this table. Somewhere—it was an enduring mystery, and one he had shared with no one—he had gotten a genuine hardwood table, heavy as anything, and gotten it onto the Ariane and into the war room. Nyx had spent hours in this room, planning missions, sitting on the table, rubbing her fingertips over the grain of the wood as she thought.

  She wondered if she could do similar things with the Conway, and then realized that of course she could. She was the captain.

  It was still a strange thought.

  “It was risky to let him go,” Aegis said bluntly to Nyx.

  Used to his opinions and his manner, she only nodded, but Centurion gave him an unfriendly look.

  “It was a risky plan from the get-go.” His eyes drifted to Talon. “If we’d taken more time to plan, maybe we wouldn’t have ended up in this situation. Now we’re on the clock.”

  Talon opened his mouth and Nyx cut in. She caught his eye. “From now on, any joint op, we plan together. Centurion and Wraith had good ideas, but things were in motion and we couldn’t change course by the time they weighed in.”

  Talon opened his mouth to retort, then closed it and nodded. He would be the first one to tell Nyx to be involved in planning her own missions, and also to stick up for her command crew.

  He was just used to being the final authority when it came to planning missions with her.

  She could tell from his face that he was having the same thoughts, and the two of them broke into a grin at the same moment. Talon dropped his head down to rub at his forehead with a laugh.

  “God, this is weird.”

  “Weird as shit,” Nyx agreed. She threw him a wry smile. “And we don’t have time for it to be weird. Centurion’s right, we’re on the clock. So … what do we do now?”

  Talon deliberately looked over at Centurion and Wraith, waiting for their input. He was a stubborn bastard at times, but he could admit when he was wrong. It was one of the reasons Nyx had served with him for as long as she had.

  “The surprise,” Wraith said finally. “I’m not saying we go crazy trying to figure out what it is, but from the way he talked—if we went after him, all of that—I have to think it’s something that’s not a trap for us when we do, it’s coming one way or another.”

  “And he was speaking to Nyx,” Tersi said. He looked over at Talon and there was some meaning to the look that passed between them.

  “We’ve already had a surprise this week,” Centurion said. “And I didn’t like it. Hope it’s not more of the same.”

  “Speaking of which,” Wraith said, “since we’re all here—has anyone heard of Tristan Mandekar?”

  Nyx frowned and shook her head. Tersi, Aegis, and Talon seemed similarly stumped.

  “He went under an alias at the docks, but Foxtail’s pretty sure that’s who it was who carried out the attack—his real name, I mean.” Wraith scratched at her head. “And Tersi’s right, Estabrook was talking to you. It’s not odd that he would know who you are, all things considered. But with what happened earlier this week….”

  Nyx chewed her lip.

  “He could be trying to drag her off-course,” Talon suggested.

  Nyx looked up, smiling faintly. His turn of phrase was exactly the one she had used, herself. They had spent enough time together over the years to begin using similar syntax.

  “Seriously,” Talon said to her. “That’s something I hadn’t considered. They’re trying to distract you. They’re using your last mission to lead you off on some wild goose chase. You took down Ghost. Whoever this is, they’re trying to play with your head.

  Nyx frowned at him. It was a good point … so why in hell did he look so evasive about it? She looked at Tersi and Aegis, and found that neither of them would meet her eyes.

  Her frown deepened. “We didn’t take everyone out.” She directed those words partially at Aegis and Tersi, both of whom had been there with her during the mission. “Part of why we’re going after these four now is that we’re worried they might find someone else to attach themselves to. Well, if some member of Ghost’s organization was smart enough to take control of it when she died, they could easily be that ‘someone else.’”

  “I don’t think so,” Talon said.

  He was lying to her. He was lying, right to her face. Nyx braced her hands on the table and stared him down. “You wanna tell me why you’re not even willing to talk about this?”

  Her voice was dangerous and the other four people in the room were beginning to look deeply uncomfortable. Talon and Nyx had been known to have screaming fights about aspects of missions before, so Tersi and Aegis knew they might not want to be in this room anymore, and Centurion and Wraith could read the writing on the wall.

  For a moment, it looked like Talon would meet her where she was. His eyes were narrowed and his face was equally dangerous as he opened his mouth—

  And then he looked down at the table and heaved a sigh. He tipped his head back, staring at the ceiling.

  “Whoever is doing this,” he said, not looking at her, “they are patient, they are well-connected, and their goal is to hurt you. To hurt you, Nyx.” He looked back at her. “And I know you. You’re going to go right to it. You have Lesedi working on it. You have Hugo working on it, too, don’t you?”

  “Not like he wouldn’t anyway,” Nyx said, annoyed. “You can hardly lay that one at my door.”

  “My point is, maybe slow down a bit on this one.” Talon’s fingers were almost white where they were wrapped around his elbows. “They’re trying to fuck with you and they’re trying to hurt you, and that’s not something to go at head-on.” He looked at Tersi and Aegis. “One of the benefits of doing this mission first is that you give Lesedi and Hugo time to work. They might find something you can use, something whoever-this-is doesn’t want you to know. Take your time with it.”

  It was the truth. He was finally telling the truth, which meant she should be glad, shouldn’t she? He’d been trying to misdirect her so that she wouldn’t do something rash and get hurt. They all had—she could tell from the way Tersi and Aegis were trying to meld with the wall that they’d been in on it.

  They were doing it because they cared about her.

  And she was furious.

  “Are you trying to teach me Mission Planning 101?” Nyx asked them. She held the silence until all three of them looked up at her. “Do you think I am so damned stupid that I can’t manage my own shit? Talon? You’re the one who recommended me for a command trial. Did you think you’d be babysitting me forever?”

  He swallowed, looked away.

  “You?” Nyx met Tersi’s eyes. “Did you think I couldn’t hack it?”

  “No.” He closed his eyes. “Nyx—”

  “And what about you?” Nyx rounded on Aegis. “Of the three of you, you, at least, should know better th
an this. You’ve watched Talon go charging in a hundred times. You’ve told him he was being stupid. You’ve told me I was being stupid. Suddenly all three of you don’t think enough of me to tell me that? To tell me to be careful?”

  Talon was staring at the floor. She had never seen this expression on his face before.

  Nyx watched him. Her blood was pounding in her ears. Talk. Say out loud how fucking stupid you were being. Admit it.

  But when he opened his mouth, she realized she couldn’t deal with hearing it.

  “You know what? Don’t. I’ll be in touch about this mess.” She jerked her head at the table.

  “Nyx.” Talon’s voice was completely flat, and she knew him well enough to know what that hid: hurt, and worry. Of all the sins, Talon’s was definitely pride. Right now, he was ashamed of himself—and he hated it.

  Well, he could fucking deal.

  Nyx beckoned to Wraith and Centurion, grabbed her gear, and headed off the ship. She saw her former teammates look up from their work as she passed by, smiling and ready to call questions about how she was settling in, only to close their mouths when they saw the expression on her face.

  She didn’t have it in her right now to reassure them. She was in a blind fury as she strode across the docking bay to the Conway and in the decontamination lock on the ship, she said simply to Wraith and Centurion,

  “Not a word. I am not in the mood.”

  Both of them nodded silently.

  She got herself back to her cabin without slamming any doors, which she considered to be a small miracle. Her first instinct was to reach for a bottle of whiskey in her closet, but then she remembered that it had been her ship-warming gift from Talon and she slammed the drawer shut with an oath.

  She sank down on the bed, pressing her fingers into her temples so hard they ached. She could hardly think for how furious she was, and the last thing she wanted to do was slow down and think about why.

  She was still sitting there when the comm rang. Nyx shot a glare at it, sure she would see Talon’s name on the screen, and froze when she saw Mala’s name.

  She seriously considered not picking up, but it had been days since they had spoken. She hesitated, then pressed the button to accept the call—audio only. If Mala saw her face, she’d definitely know something had gone sideways.

  “Hey.” She made her voice as normal as she could.

  “What’s wrong?” Mala said at once.

  So much for that idea, apparently. Nyx sighed and scratched at her scalp where the hair was drawn back tightly into a braid.

  “Stuff related to the mission. Talon is—you know, not important.”

  There was a pause. “If you’re angry about it, doesn’t that make it important?” Mala asked finally.

  “I really hate it when you make sense, you know that?” Nyx laughed and let herself flop back on the bed. “And you do it all the time, too.”

  Mala gave a chuckle. “It’s one of my best and most annoying traits. So, spill it.”

  “Talon’s been acting really weird and it turns out he was trying to….” Nyx considered how to explain. “They’re all trying to—well, him and Tersi and Aegis—trying to keep me from doing anything rash now that I have my own team. Charging in against someone who’d want to hurt me. And I know I should be grateful, but goddamn, if there’s one person in the world who shouldn’t get to lecture people on charging in, it’s Talon Rift. And can’t they fucking respect me enough to just tell me to be careful and believe I’m smart enough to do that?” She sat up, pressing her hands over her eyes. “Sorry. I’m sorry. I just got into a fight with Talon about this and I’m still wound up.”

  “Mmm.” Mala said nothing for a long moment. “Well, I have to say, selfishly, that I’m kind of glad. I know that’ll probably make you furious, too, but….”

  “What do you mean?” Nyx frowned at the comm unit.

  “I don’t know your team,” Mala said. Her voice sounded tight, like she was trying to control her emotions. “I know Loki, but not the rest of them. When it was Team 9, if you’d stayed, I would have known who was looking out for you. I know they’re Dragons and they’re good and all that, but it’s just scary to me. Knowing that Talon and Tersi and all of them are trying to help you stay alive, well … I can’t be mad about that, even if they suck at it.”

  Nyx considered this.

  “And Aegis, especially,” Mala added, “how easy is it going to be for him to say he’s worried for you? Or Tersi? He lost Sphinx.” Her voice was choked and there was a pause while Nyx heard her sniff and knew she was wiping at her eyes. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to cry. God, we’re all a mess, aren’t we? But Tersi’s not going to want to say he’s worried, not in so many words. Talon wasn’t going to want to step on your toes because he knew how angry you’d be. I know it sucks. But they were doing it because they love you and they want to keep having your back and I can’t be angry about that. I can’t.”

  Nyx found herself smiling. She rested her head on one hand, looking at the comm unit.

  “…Nyx?”

  “Just taking it in,” Nyx said.

  “Er … taking what in?”

  “You all. I’m really lucky, you know that? To have people who care. To have you.” She sighed. “They shouldn’t have done it, though. It was fucking dumb.”

  “Yeah, I know.” Mala sounded glum.

  “Why do you sound so sad?” Nyx was laughing.

  “Because now you’ll be fighting with them while you’re running a mission. Why were they so worried you’d do something stupid, anyway?”

  Nyx froze. She hadn’t told Mala about the explosion at the docks. There had been the clean-up, and then they’d had to talk with an endless set of Intelligence Police—and Hugo—and then they’d been lifting off, she’d been learning the crew’s names, there had been paperwork and the mission….

  And the opportune window for telling your girlfriend that someone had set off a bomb near you in what was probably not an assassination attempt was probably an hour or two, tops.

  “Um. First mission planning, that’s all. They’re babysitting, I’m mad.”

  “Well, I don’t blame you. You’re right, Talon’s hardly one to point fingers in that regard. The stories Cade tells are enough to make my hair go white.”

  “Oh, really?” The next time she saw him, Cade was going to get thumped upside the head—hard. If Aryn hadn’t already taken care of it, that was.

  No, even if she had.

  “Yeah. I mean … given what we’re about to do, I can hardly get on your case, though.”

  “Wait, what?” Nyx directed her full attention at the comm unit.

  “It’s fine! It’s going to be fine. Don’t worry. I won’t be in the line of fire, I stay on the ship, remember?”

  “Uh-huh.” Nyx was going to reserve her judgement until she knew the whole story. “Keep talking.”

  “See? You’re doing exactly what Talon was doing. I know my limitations, I’m staying on the ship, and you know that Cade and Tera are not going to make a plan that will result in the rest of us getting hurt.”

  “Hmph.” She had to admit that was true. “I’m still curious.”

  “You’re still worried, you mean.” Mala sounded like she was grinning. There was the sound of talking the background and she sighed. “And we’re getting close, so I really have to go. We have a tight turnaround on this one. Not at all because it’s illegal. Definitely not. Look, I’ll tell you all about it after. Deal?”

  “Deal. Have fun.” With your crime spree, apparently.

  “You, too.” From her tone, Nyx could tell that Mala was smiling. “I’m not saying let the guys off the hook, but go easy on them, okay? I love you.”

  “I love you, too.” Nyx was smiling as she ended the call.

  She considered. The storm of fury in her chest was gone and in its place was deep weariness.

  “That was fucking stupid,” she told Talon, knowing he couldn’t hear her. She was halfway betwe
en smiling and wanting to tear her hair out with frustration. “Just stupid, Rift.”

  She knew she’d forgive him for this. They might yell at each other over missions—there were times when one or the other of them would have flipped that table if it weren’t so heavy—but they always cooled off in a day or two.

  And it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world to let Lesedi take her time with the research on this one.

  With a groan, Nyx pushed herself up and went to go find some tea.

  Now that the yelling was over, there was a mission to plan.

  10

  “Mala?” Cade stuck his head around the door of Mala’s cabin. “You ready?”

  “Yep.” Mala gave one last smile at the picture of Nyx she kept next to her comm unit and headed out into the hallway. Nyx had sounded better when she ended the call, and that made Mala feel a little bit better—though she was still hoping to learn a bit more about Team 11.

  She hadn’t been kidding when she said it made her nervous not to know Nyx’s team.

  She accompanied Cade down toward the Io’s tiny shuttle bay, where everything had been maneuvered to the edges of the room to leave space for both their shuttle, and a fancy new shuttle.

  A very fancy new shuttle.

  Belonging to a mob boss.

  Mala and Cade seemed to be the only two who had qualms about this heist. Tera had no reservations at all about stealing from a mob boss so she could more easily kill their target, Aryn was not inclined to be sympathetic to either the mob boss or her underlings, and Lesedi had seen enough ridiculous events in her work that this didn’t even seem to rate as ‘crime’ for her.

  Mala, on the other hand, had been raised on a quiet planet where the biggest scandal was whether the roads were repaired properly, and Cade had spent the past two years of his life trying to avoid having anything to do with either Dragons, or mob bosses.

  That had been difficult on New Arizona, but he’d managed it.