Ven’s posture relaxed, and he squeezed Liv’s hand. “Thank you, Mother.”
“We do have a serious matter to address, though.” Victorious’s drone stood and descended the stairs, breaking what Liv assumed was some kind of Spire protocol as all the sentinels lining the walls hummed louder, bringing their secondary weapon systems online in readiness to protect their queen. The Cynbel ignored her protectors and waved a hand at the walls and ceiling. “Will you show us on the star map where the other Nuallan’s are hiding?” she asked Liv.
Liv’s mouth suddenly felt dry. She’d known this question would arise. It had to. “I can’t. I don’t know.” She’d also answered truthfully, but she doubted the Cynbel believed her.
Victorious arched an eyebrow at Liv. “You don’t know?”
“She’s a traitor,” Harper said. “As soon as we realized she’d gone back to Vengeance, we all relocated so she couldn’t sell us out.”
Liv glanced at her and nodded. “Harper’s right. We have our own protocols. If one of us is about to get captured, we can link with a communications array and send out a telepathic warning across our own version of a deep link. We situate ourselves in such a way that two or three of us are always close enough to pick up and relay distress calls to the entire group. Ask Vengeance to look inside my head. He’ll see I’m telling the truth.”
“And Harper?” Victorious asked.
“Yes,” Liv said. “As soon as Harper knew she was going be captured, she sent out the warning. Neither of us will be able to pin them down on a map for you.”
Vengeance gently squeezed her hand again. “Finding the Nuallan telepaths is their best chance at long-term survival.”
“I know. But they won’t see it that way at first. They’ll hate me.”
“But they’ll be alive, safe from the rogues. Basilisk was able to find you. I’m certain other rogues are hunting your friends now.”
Liv closed her eyes and sighed. Ven was right, of course. As long as her friends lived, they wouldn’t be safe from the rogues, which meant returning to the one thing they’d feared most: becoming links for Warships of the Spire.
“I really can’t tell you where they are, but I’m confident if Vengeance boosts my telepathic range with his deep space sensors, I’ll be able to find them eventually,” Liv offered. “It will take time, though. We’ve been hiding from AIs and Spire telepaths since we first escaped the rogues.”
“I told you she was a traitor,” Harper snapped. But her tone lacked the same bite, and she now stood with her arms folded across her chest. The two sentinels merely stood on either side.
“Thank you for your honesty, Liv,” Victorious said. She returned to her throne and addressed the other Triumvirate members. “Finding and matching the Nuallan telepaths is now of utmost importance. My son and his new link will undergo repairs and healing, but once both are cleared for duty, they will begin the hunt for the other telepaths.”
“I concur,” Kenrick said.
“As do I,” Keeva Elissa contributed. She glanced at Harper, whose expression darkened again.
“If the Spire tries to match me to some warship, I’ll fry his mind before he knows what hit him,” she warned.
“Better not match you with a male AI then, I suppose,” another female voice said.
Liv jumped at the unexpected addition of the new arrival and looked over her shoulder. Another drone had entered the Triumvirate’s chamber. She’d never met her in person, but she’d briefly spoken with the commanding AI. Brenna had survived the battle of Nebula.
The drone stopped before the dais, saluting the Triumvirate. “Warship Brenna reporting as requested.”
Cynbel Victorious nodded in acknowledgement. “Thank you for your prompt response. We wanted Vengeance and the Nuallan telepaths to hear what you reported earlier. We hope they’ll have some insight into this disturbing new development.”
Back aboard his warship body, Vengeance’s primary core sparked with curiosity and prepared to initiate a threat analysis. In the Triumvirate’s chamber, his drone body inched closer to Liv as he listened to Brenna’s report.
Brenna, whose drone sported a strawberry blond bob and had pale blue eyes that reminded Ven of the Nuallan sky, faced him and Liv. “I hate to rain on your victory parade, but there was another ship who jumped into transit as soon as the rogues were defeated at Nebula.”
“What was his birth stamp?” Vengeance asked.
“Who said it was a he?” Brenna answered. “As for a birth stamp, the ship didn’t have one.”
Liv beat him to the next question. “You mean battle damage obscured it?”
“No,” Brenna clarified. “I mean the ship didn’t have one. Likely never did.”
“The ship wasn’t Spire?” Liv asked.
“Depends on when she rolled off the line, I suppose. She might be pre-Spire.”
Brenna’s announcement was met with silence, but Ven recovered first. “Pre-Spire? Are you sure?”
“The ship was an older model. That’s all I know. Really old. The creation date could be pre- or post-Spire. But the unknown AI’s exact age wasn’t what bothered me most.”
If Vengeance had been human, he was sure his stomach would have been churning with tension. The Spire Empire had been around for thirteen thousand years. That would make this unknown ship far older than any other AI still in operation. Older, even, than any of the presently ruling Hive Queens.
“I scanned her before she escaped,” Brenna continued. “She had no telepath with her when she went into transit.”
“That’s not—” Vengeance began but was cut off.
“Possible?” Brenna finished for him. “I would have said the same, but I’ve replayed all data of the moments before the AI entered transit, and it all points to the same thing. This AI can transit without a telepath.”
“Brenna,” Victorious interrupted. “Report to Teutorigos security and prepare to have all your data put into quarantine for study. We can’t risk any kind of contamination.”
Brenna’s eyes widened. “You already know something about this, don’t you? Should I be relieved or worried?”
Cynbel Victorious ignored Brenna’s questions, and her gaze roamed over Vengeance and Liv instead. “We will discuss this session with the other Triumvirates, and if we have more questions, we will call on you again. But for now, go. And Vengeance, see that your link and Harper have everything they need. The Nuallan telepaths are far more important than you know. I can’t express how happy I am to hear that many of them survived, even if we don’t know their location yet. Rest assured, we will find them and bring them back to the safety of the Spire.”
“Triumvirate,” Brenna said as she walked to the base of the steps leading up to the dais, “once I’ve been cleared by security, I’d like to request Harper become part of my crew to give her a chance to adjust to Spire life before she is matched with another AI on a permanent basis. My current link and her husband are expecting their first child in a few months, and she wishes to be taken off active duty.”
“You want to what?” Harper demanded, but both Brenna and the Triumvirate ignored her.
Caderyn Kenrick rubbed his chin thoughtfully for a moment then nodded. “A sound plan. I imagine after what Harper suffered at the hands of male rogues, she might prefer to work with one of the female AIs instead. Victorious, do you concur?”
“I do,” Cynbel Victorious agreed.
“Well, I don’t,” Harper shouted.
Victorious shot her a pointed look and said, “It’s settled.” All three members of the Triumvirate stood and descended the dais, exiting the room despite Harper’s continued protests.
“Well, then,” Brenna piped up. “Harper, unless you want these sentinels to continue babysitting you, I suggest you shut up and report to Teutorigos security with me.”
Harper folded her arms across her chest again, but her scowl wasn’t quite as angry and hateful as before. “And if I don’t?”
Brenna s
hrugged, but her smile never faltered. “Your new buddies will accompany us. And personally, if we’re going to have sentinels following us around everywhere, I’d prefer my own.”
“Why did you even ask for me?” Harper demanded. “Don’t you know anything about me?”
“Of course I do,” Brenna answered. “And you’re headstrong, just like me. Believe me, I understand you more than you realize.”
Harper let her arms fall to her sides as her scowl transformed into an expression of curiosity and surprise. “How could you possibly understand me?”
“Do you think humans are the only race that can be traumatized? Or that can be changed by their experiences?” Brenna asked.
Harper seemed to think about it then slowly shook her head. “I don’t know. I thought I knew a good AI, a kind and loving one. But he abandoned me after Nualla, just like Vengeance abandoned Hayley. We were damaged, discarded.”
“None of the AIs who lost their links on Nualla abandoned you,” Brenna promised. “They mourned for you, each of you. Even those of us who didn’t know you mourned for you. And you’re not damaged, Amelia. And neither am I.”
“What?” Harper whispered.
Ven had no idea if the telepath was surprised by hearing her old name or Brenna’s admission that she had a troubled past that had left her with permanent scars as well.
But Brenna extended a hand toward her and offered, “There’s a path forward from here. I promise.”
Harper eyed the drone’s hand for a few seconds as indecision flashed through her eyes then she slowly placed her hand into Brenna’s open palm. They’d only made it a few steps toward the exit when Liv shouted, “Wait!”
Liv ran to her old friend, hesitating briefly before she threw her arms around her. Harper’s hesitation was just as brief. She let go of Brenna’s hand and hugged Liv back, crying against her shoulder. But most bewildering to Ven was when they both begged forgiveness of one another, as if they could both be wrong at the same time.
Just when he thought he understood humans, they would do something entirely illogical and puzzling.
Liv and Harper released their grip on each other, and he laced his arm through Liv’s as Brenna took Harper’s hand again and led her from the room.
Vengeance drew a deep breath and dragged Liv closer once they’d left the Triumvirate’s chamber. He smiled to himself because he really did enjoy the sensations his drone body experienced when he was near Liv. As usual, his primary core spun down a now familiar line of thought.
“Can we go visit Harper later?” Liv asked, proving her telepathy hadn’t fully recovered if she didn’t know where his thoughts now lay.
“Of course. Brenna and I will both be in space-dock for a few weeks. However… I want something in return.”
“Are you blackmailing me?” she laughed.
“Perhaps.”
Liv shot him a sexy, mischievous smile and countered, “You know I can play this game as well, right?”
“Actually,” Ven answered, “that’s the whole point. You can’t.”
Liv tilted her head at him, her mischievous smile never waning. “What is it you want, Vengeance?”
“Chess.”
“Chess?” she repeated slowly.
He just shrugged. “I miss our nightly sessions.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” she mumbled. “I was thinking you had far more enjoyable games in mind.”
Ven laughed now, too, and assured her, “Oh, believe me. I do.”
Liv groaned and rolled her eyes but relented. “Fine. But if you don’t let me win occasionally, you can play those other games by yourself.”
“You can win every game then,” Vengeance teased. He was glad she’d agreed to play chess with him, though, because while she was in recovery, he wasn’t permitted to enter deep link with her, and he missed that intimacy. At least by playing chess, he’d be allowed to glimpse how her mind worked.
His smile broadened as another thought unfolded and raced along many pathways in his primary core. He planned on exploring Liv’s heart, soul, and mind for many centuries to come, and after that, perhaps they’d seek a new eternity together. In the meantime, his drone had a few ideas about how to explore his new link.
Liv stepped closer to him and whispered in his ear, “You know, I don’t need to be in a deep link with you to know what you’re thinking. Sometimes, you’re pretty easy to read, Vengeance.”
He shot her an innocent look as if he hadn’t been thinking about sex. Again. “Actually, Link Olivia, I was just thinking I owe you a vacation. Perhaps one that involves swimming lessons and hunting for bradan.”
“That was not a bradan expression,” Liv said, but the joy in her voice settled it. He would spend the rest of his life finding ways to keep that joy there, and if he had to contact the Greenmantle Terraforming Guild and request every planet being colonized be stocked with bradan, he would.
They stepped outside into the warm sunshine of Teutorigos, his home planet where he’d first felt sensations like heat and pleasure and fear and pain. But he no longer worried about allowing pain into his life again. As long as Liv remained at his side, there was nothing for him to fear and nothing he couldn’t survive.
Liv brought his hand to her lips and kissed it gently then smiled up at him. “Bradan, huh?”
Ven nodded and tipped his face toward the warmth of the sun and the limitless expanse of the universe that lay beyond his planet’s sky. “What could possibly be out there that we still need to fear?”
“Nothing, Ven,” Liv answered. “Together, we’re invincible.”
About the Authors
For more information about the Warships of the Spire series, please visit http://lisablackwood.com/warships-of-the-spire/
S.M. Schmitz is a USA Today Bestselling Author and has an M.A. in modern European history. She is a former world history instructor who now writes novels filled with mythology and fantasy and, sometimes, aliens.
Her stories are infused with the same humorous sarcasm that she employed frequently in the classroom, and as a native of Louisiana, she sets many of her scenes here. And like Dietrich in Resurrected, she is convinced Louisiana has been cursed with mosquitoes much like Biblical Egypt with its locusts.
Read More from Author S.M. Schmitz: http://smschmitz.com
Lisa Blackwood is a writer of paranormal, fantasy and sci-fi with romantic elements. As well as writing, she also enjoys gardening, orchids, horses and spending time with her Hellhound Freya. She grudgingly lives in a small town in Southern Ontario, though she’d much rather live deep in a dark forest, surrounded by majestic old-growth trees. Since she cannot live her fantasy, she decided to write fantasy instead.
Read More from Author Lisa Blackwood: http://lisablackwood.com/
Vengeance (Warships of the Spire Book 1) Page 22
