Athena's Ashes

by Jamie Grey

  “Wait,” Dallas growled.

  Across the room, Jayla had leaned forward to watch the video. Blake’s hands were clenched together on the table, his knuckles turning white. She didn’t want to even glance at Finn for fear of what she’d see in his gaze.

  Renna watched as the scene continued with her walking away, then cut to the man she’d supposedly sold something to. He went inside his shop and plugged a chip into his computer. The image on his computer filled the screen.

  She curled her shoulders forward, hunching against the weight of the evidence against her. That was the data she’d gathered on the MYTH leaders and headquarters she’d gotten only a few days ago, plus detailed schematics on defense systems, technology, and troop movements that she’d never seen before. All there for viewing by the highest bidder. She knew how it worked. He was pulling together a sell list. She even recognized a few of the names as buyers she’d sold to in the past.

  Somehow Samil had spliced together different footage to frame Renna perfectly.

  “We were able to intercept the man’s comm and retrieve the data, but this breach of security is grounds for treason,” Dallas growled.

  “Major, I can assure you that wasn’t me. I copied data from your database to use to hunt down Pallas. That’s as far as it went,” Renna protested. “You have to believe me. I want to stop her, not take down MYTH.”

  “I believed you when you said you were working for us. I believed you when you said you were looking for Captain Finn. I believe now that you’ve lied to us from the very beginning.”

  “Sir, if I may—” Jayla started.

  “You may not.” Dallas’s voice was like a whip, cutting through her words. “I am not discussing this any further over a holocom. Commander Jayla, you will bring in Captain Finn and the Athena immediately to MYTH HQ. And you will bring the traitor, Renna Carrizal, in wearing cuffs.”

  “What about Dr. Samil?” Renna demanded. “She’s still out there. She’s still trying to destroy you. And Major Larson is with her. He’s been feeding her information for years. He was on the admiral’s board, for fuck sake! Why aren’t you going after him?”

  “We have upgraded our systems and removed all of Dr. Samil’s access. Major Larson has been dishonorably discharged and all of his access removed as well. Admiral Usamov is confident the threat is contained. Right now, you’re our biggest problem. A problem I can’t wait to deal with,” he said ominously.

  She could feel the fury coming off of him in waves, even through the holo. Too bad there was no way in hell she was going back there to face him in person.

  Finn stood up to face the holo. “Sir, please…”

  “I’ve had enough out of you, Captain. Get your ass back to base before I try you for treason, too.” Dallas glared at them all and then snapped off his communicator.

  Renna stared straight ahead. She couldn’t stand seeing the distrust and hatred on everyone’s face. Samil had succeeded in turning everyone against her.

  “Renna, how could you?” Jayla asked accusingly. “We trusted you.”

  Her gaze flew to the other woman’s. “You don’t believe that do you? You know how devious Samil is. She’d do anything to protect herself, and I’m a convenient scapegoat.”

  Jayla shook her head. “It was on the screen, Renna. You saw it yourself. Why do you keep denying it?”

  “Maybe there’s another answer,” Blake suggested. His brown eyes were troubled. “You wouldn’t betray us, right, Renna?”

  “Of course not,” she snapped. “This is all Dr. Samil’s doing. You should know me better than that.”

  “But you copied that information yourself. How else did it get there, along with the chips you stole from Aldani?” Finn asked, not meeting her gaze. A muscle jumped in his jaw.

  Renna jumped to her feet and crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re kidding, right? You’re all walking right into Samil’s trap. This is what she wants—me locked up, Finn and the Athena grounded. And when there’s no one else to fight her, she’ll strike. She’ll destroy everything. You can’t let her win.”

  She stared at each of them in turn, willing them to believe her, to trust her, but every gaze dropped as she met it. Her body went cold. She should have known better. No one ever trusted a thief, no matter what they said.

  “Finn. You promised me…” Her voice broke when he wouldn’t meet her eyes, instead staring at a spot on the wall. Spots danced in her vision.

  “Fuck this,” she spun on her heel. “I thought better of you all.” She stared straight at Finn as she said it, hurt making her heart beat sluggishly. Everything he’d said about trust had been a lie. He’d never believed in her. Had it all been an act?

  “Renna. Wait. We need you to stay on the ship. Dallas’s orders,” Jayla said apologetically. “I can’t let you leave.”

  “Then I guess I’ll be in my bunk, waiting for all of you to come to your senses.” She slammed her palm against the button that opened the door and marched out, spine straight, face expressionless. This was bullshit and they all knew it.

  She wasn’t going to wait around for Dallas to decide she was a traitor. She had a real traitor to stop. And that meant getting the hell off the Eris without getting caught. Luckily they were on Forever Station, and she knew the bowels of that place like the back of her hand.

  When she was safely back in her room, she grabbed her duffel bag and shoved a few changes of clothes into it, along with her tools and tablet. She pulled on her leather coat and hid half a dozen knives in her boots and the slots in her sleeves. Where she was going, it never hurt to be heavily armed.

  Now she just had to get off the ship without Finn, or anyone else, stopping her.

  The pain of his betrayal hit her again like a punch in the gut, and she wrapped her arms around her waist. Her knees gave out, and she fell onto her mattress, biting back a sob. How could she have been so wrong about him? After everything they’d been through. Everything they’d said. Hell, she’d almost told him she loved him less than an hour ago.

  She curled her hand into a fist and punched her pillow.

  Damn him. Damn them all. She didn’t need them. She’d done perfectly fine without them until now; she’d be fine working alone again. She’d take down Samil if she did nothing else before she turned into a cyborg.

  Someone rapped softly at her door, and Renna froze. Shit, they’d come to lock her in the brig already. She didn’t want to resort to violence, but there was no way they were taking her in. Quickly, she dropped her duffle beside the bed and kicked it beneath the mattress.

  “Who’s there?” she demanded.

  “Renna, open up. It is Viktis.”

  She glowered at the door. He was the one unknown in this whole situation. Did he believe her? Or was he siding with his new friend, Finn?

  “What do you want?” she demanded through the door.

  “To help you,” he answered softly. “I can get you off the ship without anyone knowing.”

  “And why would you do that?” she asked.

  “Renna. Stop wasting time! It’s me. You know I have your back.”

  She opened the door. “Just checking. I didn’t know how your bromance with Finn had affected your senses.”

  “The captain’s a fucking idiot if he believes that video. Now get your stuff. We don’t have much time before Jayla puts the ship on lockdown.”

  Renna grabbed her bag from beneath her bunk and noticed Viktis already had his own duffel slung over his shoulder. “A little conspicuous,” she said, nodding to it.

  “Not if we’re on shore leave.” He grinned, his amber eyes sparkling. “Let’s go. We have a station to get lost in.”

  Renna followed him through the sleeping quarters and to the cargo bay hatch. The bay was empty, all of the technicians still finishing up their own duties docking the ship and prepping it for a quick getaway, per Jayla’s orders.

  Viktis opened the hatch, and the pair slipped out into the metal docking tube that led to the
main station. None of the port crew paid them any attention as they picked their way over cables and around carts of tools. Renna followed closely behind Viktis, but they kept their pace casual, two engineers off for some shore leave on the most infamous station in the sector. They cleared the docking bay and headed for the elevators at the end of the warehouse.

  “Where to?” Renna asked. “I’m assuming you have a plan in mind?”

  Viktis smiled slowly. “You know me so well. I have an apartment down in the Merrin district where we can lay low until I get a hold of my ship. I’m assuming you’ve got your own ideas?”

  She grinned back at him. “The ship you won in a poker game? Finn said there was quite the story behind it. I can’t wait to hear it.”

  “All in good time,” he said with a chuckle. “Let’s get you safely out of here first.”

  Renna nodded. “My plan is to go after Samil, but I need some information first. Every advantage I can get.” A dull throb started behind her eyes, wiping the smile from her face. “Shit.”

  “What’s wrong?” Viktis asked, eyebrows shooting up. “Are you all right?”

  She shook her head. “My implant has a built-in comm, and Gheewala will be able to track me using my EMP signature as soon as they realize I’m gone.”

  “Can you shut it off?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m going to try.” Renna focused on the signature of her implant. Gheewala had said it was unique, but if she could turn it off or blend it with some of the other communications in the station, maybe she could hide her presence.

  She took a deep breath and felt herself slip into the comm network. Her mind moved sluggishly as she pushed through the electromagnetic field. Definitely not the easy connection she’d made with the Athena. Energy sparked through her mind, but after a minute she found the comm line. With a few tweaks to the energy signature, she closed off the ship’s communication access to her implant. That should keep them from contacting her for the time being. Now hopefully she could find a way to keep them from tracking her, too.

  Renna slipped deeper into the station’s network, searching for something she could use as a shield. If she hid her signature behind a stronger one, maybe that would be enough. The sensation of travelling through the wires and electromagnetic fields felt like swooping through a tube at light speed. Her whole body tingled as the network curved back on itself or dropped to another level of the station.

  And then she felt it. The heartbeat of Forever Station. The central control room where everything originated.

  The competing fields would easily hide her own signature if she could somehow loop it in. It would act like a firewall, protecting her from Gheewala’s abilities. Renna found a chink in the field and slipped her own signature inside, hiding it in the code. Her mind raced with numbers and images. She could freaking see everything like a glowing monitor in her head. It made her whole body ache with exhaustion.

  “Renna?”

  Viktis’s voice yanked her out of the connection with the hub, and she blinked.

  “Are you all right?” he asked, peering at her with concern.

  She nodded. Luckily, she’d already closed the door in the code. She should be hidden for now. “Sorry. Took longer than I expected. I should be safe while we’re on the station.”

  “Good. Then go find your contact and I’ll meet you at my safehouse in two hours. Try to stay out of trouble.”

  The elevator dinged as it stopped on Viktis’s floor, but Renna stopped him with a hand on his arm. “Thanks. I know you didn’t need to help me.”

  “Yeah, yeah, knight in shining armor and all that. This is what happens when I let you out of my sight. You need me around just to make sure you don’t get into trouble.”

  Renna smirked back at him. “You know I can’t resist you.”

  Viktis shook his head as he left the elevators. “Get in line, love. You’ve got competition now.”

  TWENTY-SIX

  Renna stepped off the elevator in the Phoenix sector, the political hub of the station. Amber Ileth and violet Delfine mingled with humans and the four-armed Trezians. Humanity had taken their place with the other species on the station two hundred years ago, when they’d first joined the Coalition. But they’d quickly taken charge of the political scene and now had the biggest embassy on the station. It took up a whole block, the shiny white facade towering over the other buildings. The entrance was an ornate, golden gate that opened into a fountained courtyard filled with apple trees from old Earth. It was quite a sight when they were in bloom.

  She’d spent one memorable summer there with an ambassador’s aide. He’d been a fantastic tour guide. Among other things. Renna had gotten to know all the secret access ways and hidden rooms in the facility. Her job had gone off without a hitch.

  But the embassy wasn’t her destination today. She headed toward the Bank of Conyara at the far side of the sector. She had a safe deposit box there with a little nest egg, in case of emergencies.

  This certainly qualified as an emergency.

  She pushed pashed a group of chattering Delfine dressed in their traditional loose-fitting gowns. Right now, it felt like she was drifting through space in a disabled lifepod, alone and without power. Which was stupid since, until a month ago, she’d done everything on her own.

  Bitterness seeped through her. Everything was going to be different. Right. She should have known better.

  Renna ducked out of the stream of aliens and accents and headed down a narrow alley between two squat buildings. Her bank wasn’t one of the fancy ones—the Conyara kept to themselves for the most part—but that made it an excellent hiding place. And the manager owed her a few favors after she’d taken down a con man who’d stolen millions from them in a scam.

  Renna pressed a finger to the cool metal pad beside the door. It slid open silently into a dark, shadowy lobby that stunk of sweat and money.

  “Well, if it isn’t Mae Carson. It’s been too long, my girl. Welcome back.” The Conyara alien’s ridged skull had a several tufts of dark hair that bobbed as he smiled up at her.

  Renna stooped slightly to shake his hand. “Nice to see you, Syd. Just passing through to take care of some business.”

  “Of course. Go on back.” He gestured to an arch at the back of the lobby, and Renna ducked through to a long, narrow hallway. Doors led off both sides to small storage rooms, and Renna counted down to the fourth door on the left.

  The room’s walls were lined with small boxes, each stamped with a number and boasting another fingerprint scanner. Syd had pretty good security for a second-rate storage operation. And since she never visited more than once a year, there was little chance that anyone knew who she really was.

  She pulled out the drawer and set it on the small table in the middle of the space. Inside was a credit chip with a hundred thousand on it, a stack of forged IDs, and a shiny new blaster. Renna took the money and the pistol, then shuffled through the IDs until she found one that would work.

  Juley Talley, human engineer working for Taylor Corp, would have to do. She didn’t think MYTH would broadcast that they were looking for her by name, but it didn’t hurt to be cautious. And if she needed to hire a transport ship, she didn’t want her real identity pinging on anyone’s radar.

  She carefully locked the safe behind her and waved to Syd on the way out. “See you next year,” she called.

  “Always a pleasure, Mae.”

  Outside the bank, she carefully blended back in to the mass of people. The Phoenix district cleared out at the end of the day, but right now, it was full of people on their way to their various destinations.

  She hadn’t been to Forever Station in, well, forever, and she’d forgotten how full of life it was. The Trezians had built it as a monitoring station almost seven hundred years ago, but it had grown until it was some kind of technological monstrosity, expanding outward and upward every few years until it looked more like a floating mountain than a space station.

  She’d sp
ent plenty of time here when she was younger. It was easy to lose yourself amongst all the people, a must in her line of work. And since it was both a trading hub and a political hub, she’d found plenty of work stealing secrets as well as credits.

  Her stomach growled, and Renna wandered toward the center of the district, a circular hub where vendors set up food carts and people hawked cheap souvenirs. Forever Station was like a carnival, with visitors coming in and out to play, buy, or sell. But the backbone residents never changed—the maintenance people who kept the station running, the security guards, the merchants.

  She inhaled a lungful of recycled air and the scent of the food from a hundred different cultures. It smelled like home. She loved the confusion and energy, and hiding in plain sight was the best way to stay off MYTH’s radar. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to help her find Samil.

  She needed someone else for that.

  Carrying a cup of strong coffee and a bowl of noodles, Renna found a table at the edge of the chaos. She sipped the bitter drink, letting it slide down her throat in a burning rush. Real coffee was hard to come by, but this would do the trick. At least it was full of caffeine.

  Across the hub, she spotted a woman in a long, dark skirt, her jet-black hair woven into dozens of braids down her back. She carried a briefcase and walked with a purpose toward one of the food vendors.

  Kara Dezal.

  The woman ordered a plate of noodles and sat down at the table next to Renna’s without looking around. She tackled her food like a starving woman, shoveling in great mouthfuls. For someone so tiny, the woman could eat.

  Renna pulled out her tablet and scrolled through her newsfeed, carefully ignoring the other woman.

  “You going to tell me what you need, Renna?” Kara finally asked, still concentrating on her food. “I can’t sit here all day.”

  “Information. But you already knew that.”

  “Of course I did. That’s the only reason you ever contact me.” Kara studied Renna’s unusually pale face and shadowed eyes. “You look like shit.”