So a plan for the short-term. Those plans were the easy ones. Those plans didn’t require strategy and deft maneuvering like trying to land a battle cruiser. The bigger plans, the ones that might make a difference in his carcinogenic campaign against the Reidar, they required more finesse. One of these days, he was probably going to have to stop making shite up as he went along, especially considering the growing number of people relying on him not to get them killed.
For now, he was going to go collect the measly half a crew he had with him, send a message to his sister, and hope they could all get to Forbes in one piece.
“Your friend seems commendable,” Ella commented out of the blue. It was the first time she’d spoken directly to him in days.
“Commendable? You always come up with the most colorful language, princess.”
“You should confide the truth to him sooner rather than later. He could be a worthy asset in the long run.” Her serene expression didn’t change in the slightest.
Until the little skirmish they’d engaged in on the Swift Brion, he’d thought they’d be seeing less and less of that damned priestess mask. But she’d reverted right back to the aloof, untouchable idol persona, like she’d been when she’d first come aboard. Of everything, that was what pissed him off the most—her walking around like she was so damned above everything. Like none of the muck he was mired in could possibly touch her.
“Yeah, he’ll be a real good asset until I get him killed as well,” he muttered, clamping his muscles against a surge of frustration.
Ella shot him an unreadable sideways glance, and he almost wanted her to argue that he wouldn’t get Colt killed. But she didn’t say anything, and once again he was left with the reality that she’d apparently abandoned all inclination to help him.
Chapter Fifteen
Skimmer Two, Near Barasa
A large warm hand on her shoulder and the murmur of her name in a low voice that sent shivers rippling through her roused Kira. She blinked to find Varean leaning over the narrow bunk she’d fallen into a few hours ago.
“We’re coming up on Barasa. Lianna will be contacting the spaceport tower for landing in a few minutes.”
She pushed her hair back as she sat up, reaching into her pocket for a couple of pins, and then haphazardly securing the shorter strands away from her face. “Did you get any sleep?”
He nodded as he scooted back to sit on the bunk opposite. “A few hours. But it’s kind of hard to sleep, considering my life resembles a crater-pitted asteroid at the moment.”
She sent him a sympathetic frown, reached to take his hand, but then thought better of it. She glanced toward the front of the ship to see if anyone had noticed, but Lianna was set at the helm, concentration on the viewport, while Tannin and Zahli seemed to be absorbed in a conversation.
She looked back at Varean to find a rueful half smile on his face. But there was a slight shadow in his gaze as he regarded her, like maybe she’d inadvertently hurt him.
“Worried about what the others would say if they knew?”
A sharp jab of guilt rammed right into the middle of her chest. “I’m sorry—”
He sat back, scrubbing a hand over his hair and avoiding her gaze. “Don’t be. I understand. You might trust me, but they don’t, and they care about you. If they found out, it would probably cause you nothing but trouble. Forget about it.”
She hadn’t meant to hurt him—not that the stubborn military-to-the-toes guy would let her see it. But she’d gotten to know him well enough that she could tell he’d taken her hesitation the wrong way. Unfortunately, they didn’t have time to be hashing out such things right now.
“Anyway, try not to worry about the tests. Whatever we find, we can deal with it. Okay?”
He nodded, standing and folding the bunk into the recess on the bulkhead. She sighed, annoyed he could dismiss her so easily after what they’d shared a few short hours ago. But she could understand his position, relate to him wanting to isolate himself in the face of an unsure future.
Maybe once she had irrefutable proof Varean was a victim of the Reidar, Rian might be more willing to help him, since they’d have that tragedy in common. Perhaps if Varean wanted to return to his old post onboard the Swift Brion, they could get him back there after they’d solved the current issues of being split up and having no ship. Whatever happened, she had no doubt that he’d want to join the fight against the aliens, especially if it turned out they’d done something to him that he had no memory of.
Stretching her stiff muscles, she slowly pushed to her feet, missing her comfortable bed on the Imojenna more than ever. She helped Varean fold up the rest of the bunks and then went to the front of the ship with the others.
“Breakfast? Chocolate or caramel?” Zahli held out a packet of energy bars. Made of a protein powder composition, they were okay in a tight spot or as a snack, but didn’t have much taste. Damn, she could have used a coffee and bacon right now. One positive about living on the Imojenna, Rian had never scrimped on the essentials like real coffee, never making them drink the cheaper repli-coffee like most shipbound people put up with.
But she was hungry enough that she took one of the bars and ripped it open. Through the viewport, the burn of Barasa’s upper atmosphere streaked past the skimmer, Lianna communicating with the spaceport tower for landing.
“We heard from Rian.” Zahli cut Varean a wary look as she set the bars aside.
Kira sat down adjacent to her. “He wants us to get things wrapped up on Barasa ASAP and meet him on Forbes. Seems like he might be able to get what we need.”
“Well, that’s a nice change, something actually working out like it’s meant to.” She took a bite out of the protein bar as they cleared the burn and emerged into blue skies, the skimmer settling into a smoother descent. “Have you and Tannin come up with a plan to track down Quaine Ayden?”
Zahli nodded, glancing at her fiancé. “Tannin is going to hack Barasa’s cities’ surveillance networks and run a facial recognition program, see if he can track Quaine’s movements after he arrived onworld a few weeks ago.”
“While you guys are doing that, I’ve got something I need to do.”
Zahli raised an eyebrow. “And what might that be?”
“Rian wanted answers about Varean, and I intend to get them. An old friend of mine from med school works at one of the hospitals here. I want to see if she can get me into a lab so I can run some blood tests.”
“And I suppose you need the commando to go along?” Lianna asked, a hint of skepticism in her voice as she guided the skimmer toward the landmass below. “I bet he jumped at the chance.”
She tried to keep the frustration out of her expression. Varean stood nearby, arms crossed and expression shuttered, not looking like he intended on contributing to the discussion.
“He wants the answers about what’s going on with him more than anyone. Rian brought up the possibility that the Reidar did something to Varean, even though he has no memory of it, and I think he’s right. We just need to work out what.”
“We’re not doing anything until we’ve cleared it with Rian.” Lianna shot a stubborn glance over her shoulder as Barasa’s world-capital city came into view.
“No offense, but Rian isn’t here.” She took a breath to keep her temper, not wanting the others to work out how important this had become to her. She still didn’t really understand it herself, so trying to explain it to them would be impossible. Which was why she’d hesitated in taking Varean’s hand before, not because she was ashamed of him like he probably thought.
Besides, Rian wasn’t a god, but all too often, people treated him like he was. Lianna, in particular, was loyal to a fault.
“He’s still the captain.” Lianna’s voice was tight with tension. “Off the ship and split up, we’re vulnerable. Following orders, even if Rian isn’t here to oversee them, is the only thing that’s going to keep us alive. He expects us to find Quaine Ayden, so that’s what we’re going to do.
The last thing we need is to go looking for trouble. Well, any more trouble than we’re already aiming for, considering we’re tracking a guy who was probably killed by the Reidar.”
Kira continued with determination, “We hardly know anything about the Reidar. Whatever they did to Varean, it could give us information we didn’t have before. If we’re ever going to have even half a chance against the shape-shifters, we need to know everything we can about them.”
Lianna sighed as she set the skimmer down. Once they were fully grounded, she glanced at Zahli and Tannin as she powered off the shuttle. “What do you think?”
Zahli shot a considering look at Varean, who stood tensed and detached a few steps away. “We’ve already divided the crew once. I don’t think it’s a good idea to split up again.”
“This isn’t a debate. I’m taking Varean to run those tests. If you don’t like it, kick me off the crew.”
Stunned silence met her announcement.
Holy crap, had she just said that? Yep. By the way Lianna, Tannin, and Zahli stared at her, she really had. So much for keeping under wraps how important this was to her. But while she hadn’t meant to blurt out the ultimatum, she found that, upon reflection, she meant every word.
Despite the dangerous and unfortunate circumstances they’d met under, she’d never met anyone like Varean, and that was saying something, considering she was on a crew with Rian Sherron, a universal-class forger in Callan, a hacking genius in Tannin, not to mention the numerous other larger-than-life men who regularly marched on and off the Imojenna. But there was something about Varean none of those other guys had. Something in his loyalty, in the secrets of his past he’d held onto for half his life, in the way he’d put up with crap that might have made another person lose their head, figuratively and literally.
“Kira, I’m not worth you losing your place here.”
She turned at Varean’s low words to find he’d stepped closer to her. “Yes, you are.”
He shook his head, jaw clenching. “They’re right not to trust me, and neither should you. Maybe the best thing would be to let me walk. Tell Rian I fought my way free or you left me on the ship. Just promise you’ll forget all about me as soon as I step foot off the skimmer.”
She shifted closer, shortening the gap between them. “Maybe you don’t think it, but you need someone on your side, Varean. If you leave, how are you going to find out the truth?”
A strange kind of desperation had settled into the pit of her stomach, like she’d swallowed meteorites. It wasn’t only the ingrained need to help a patient, especially one who’d been taken advantage of or put into a terrible situation not of his own making. She couldn’t watch him walk away into the unknown and possibly right into the Reidar’s firing line, couldn’t imagine him walking out of her life and straight to his death.
God, she was such an idiot to let him get under her skin like this. She’d come to care about him more than she should. Whatever happened, Varean would leave. Rian didn’t trust him, and even if they found out he’d been subjected to god-knew-what kind of Reidar experimentation, it wasn’t like the captain would get all chummy-chummy over their matching torture scars and give Varean a place on the crew.
The best Rian might be willing to do was return him to the Swift Brion. And even that wasn’t a certainty. He pretty much never apologized to anyone for anything. It was more likely Rian would consider cutting him loose without killing him a magnanimous act.
Varean glanced past her, presumably to where the other three stared at them and then returned his gaze to her, silver-blue eyes wary with uncertain shadows.
“Fine. I’ll stay, because I already gave you my word. But only if your shipmates decide they trust you to know what’s right.”
She crossed her arms and turned to face them, the only friends and nearest thing she’d had to family in the last few years. She felt like an invisible wall had sprung up between them, solid and sure as ancient stone, forcing them apart.
However, Zahli, at least, looked like she might agree. “You really think the Reidar might have done something to him like they did to Rian?”
Of course, this would be a sore subject for Zahli, who worried about her older brother every day and had only the shadow of a clue what the Reidar had subjected him to or why.
“I really do. And if we can find a way to help Varean—”
“Maybe we can find a way to help Rian,” Zahli finished.
“Zahli…” Tannin took her hand.
“We need to give them a chance.” Zahli’s tone had become resolute, matching her firm expression. “Kira is right. We probably owe Varean that after what we put him through.”
Frowning slightly, Lianna didn’t look so convinced. “Just because they played the we-can-help-Rian card, you’re going to go along with it?”
“It’s not that simple, and you know it.” Zahli crossed her arms. “And I’m not going to apologize for wanting to do everything in my power to help Rian. He’s my brother, and after all he’s done for us, we owe him that.”
“And the fact we’re doing it behind Rian’s back doesn’t matter?”
Zahli’s features only got more stubborn. “If you’re so worried about what Rian will think, comm him. I’m not trying to hide anything from him. I trust Kira. If she thinks the Reidar did something to Varean, then we should let them go and run the tests.”
Lianna glanced away and, though her expression remained obstinate, Kira could see that logic was winning out. “Fine. But we shouldn’t split up. We stick together, first to track down Quaine Ayden, then to get the tests done.”
An automatic disagreement surged forward, but Kira swallowed it down. Yes, it would be more difficult to go unnoticed as a group of five at the hospital—if her old med school friend even agreed to help her—but getting them to make this much concession was probably as far as she could push things. While she might have told them they could kick her off the crew, the last thing she wanted was to be homeless again… Well, more homeless than she already was, considering they’d lost the ship.
“Okay, sounds like a plan.” She glanced at Varean, who nodded.
Apparently satisfied, Lianna turned her attention to Tannin. “I’m assuming the skimmer’s onboard computer isn’t going to cut it for whatever super-hacking you’ve got in mind?”
Tannin gave her a sharp grin “Not even in the slightest.”
“Where do you want to do this from, then?”
“We can either get a hotel room under the false idents Callan made or break into my parent’s house.”
Zahli shot him an incredulous look. “Why would you want to break into your parent’s house?”
Tannin shrugged, the movement careless, but his expression troubled. “There are a few things of mine I wouldn’t mind grabbing, assuming they didn’t trash-compact everything when they disowned me.”
“I’m sorry. I knew coming here wouldn’t be easy, but I guess I never considered exactly what it meant for you.” Zahli reached down and twined her hand with Tannin’s, stepping closer to him.
“It’s fine, Zahli. It’s been over twelve years.”
“If you’re sure this is what you really want.”
He sent her a tender, reassuring smile. “It is. Besides, they have heaps of priceless stuff just sitting around the house, and we need money. Stealing a few things to sell is the least I owe them for failing to act like parents.”
Great. The felonies kept stacking up—they were docked under forged ident files and hacking into government surveillance systems. Might as well add breaking and entering to the list, because at this point, it was their least serious crime.
“Before we go,” Kira said, interrupting them before they could come up with more illegal activities. “I need to send a message to the doctor I know, see if she can help me get access to a lab at the hospital where she works.”
Lianna waved toward the skimmer’s helm. “Go ahead. The comm system is still online.”
She made her
way to the front of the ship and looked up Doctor Melyssa Kendrick, finding her at one of the smaller outer-suburban hospitals.
She and Mel had been pretty good friends at med school and interned together. They’d spent a lot of nights studying, made it through thirty-hour shifts together, and on more than one occasion, drank way too much at the on-campus bar.
Mel had left to take a job on her home planet of Barasa about a year before everything had gone down and Kira’s life had irrevocably changed.
She was taking a long shot, requesting that Mel get her access under the name Doctor Kat Allen. Since she’d been barred from practicing medicine at any hospitals or clinics within the central systems, Callan had created an entire false medical ident for her. She’d had to use it only twice before now, both times to get supplies on planets at the very edge of the central systems, and it had held up with no problems. Hopefully the same would apply for actually going into a hospital on one of the inner central worlds.
Mel might or might not have heard what had happened to her. Either way, asking her to allow them access to the Dalton Memorial Hospital genetics lab, knowing she was using a fake ident and banned from practicing medicine in the central systems, was a huge favor from someone she hadn’t seen in five years.
Message sent, she joined the others outside the skimmer. As she stepped out, Zahli held up a Reidar stunner for her, while Lianna used her commpad to close the ship.
She shook her head. “You know how I feel about guns.”
Varean grabbed it, instead. “Whether or not you like guns has to come second to your safety. Besides, this one won’t hurt anyone unless you happen to shoot me with it. At least if you have this and come across any Reidar, you’ll be able to slow them down.”
He took her hand, bringing it up to gently set the weapon in her palm.
She closed her grip around it with a small sigh and then reluctantly secured it in the back of her pants like the others had. The cold surface of the gun pressed uncomfortably into her skin, while the slight weight of it felt awkward and unnatural. Though it had been years since the incident that had ended her medical career as she’d known it, being in the central systems, heading for a hospital, brought back a lot of things. The frustration, disgust, fear, and utter devastation—she hadn’t felt that particular mix of emotions for ages, making it seem like it had happened only a few months ago.
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