“Why in the name of Earth would he do that?”
“His exact motives remain unclear, but if I had to guess, he’s lashing out after what happened at the USF summit. As of this moment, none of this has been made public. Nobody saw Basaam get taken. Venta Co. has predictably refused Kale Trass’ every demand, and you know how children get when they’re told no.”
“Fucking Ringers!” I slammed my fist on the bench.
I was right. Everything that was happening was Kale’s fault. Aria could take care of herself, but last time I helped her, she made the mistake of sticking with the Ringers. She didn’t like giving up—she got that from me—but I had to get her out for good this time. For her own sake. Even if she hated me for it, I could live with that. I’d done it for long enough.
“Where’s the exchange going down?” I asked.
“She is sending her sons with the ambassador to Kale’s private Red Wing Company hangar in the New Beijing Spaceport,” Luxarn said. “I have permitted Varus and his unit to ambush them there, with no prejudice.”
“You’re sending them in weapons free with Venta Co. and Red Wing employees present?”
“Taking the life of Kale Trass here is the primary objective. We can cover it up until we’re able to send a relief team to Pervenio Station, catch the Ringers off guard, and free his captives.”
“When are you thinking of making your move?”
“We are preparing to infiltrate the spaceport presently,” Varus said. “It is heavily defended.”
“I advised Varus to contact you so that I may ask you personally to join them,” Mr. Pervenio said. “Your presence will provide an experienced combatant who is familiar with Children of Titan tactics. The offer I made back on Undina remains unchanged. This is your chance to finish what you and Zhaff started, Graves.”
I glanced back up at Venta Tower. Somewhere in its illuminated cap sat my daughter, probably thinking that Kale was making the trade because he viewed her as one of their own. Whatever the reason for his wanting Basaam Venta, I was sure about one thing: he wasn’t saving Aria for her. Something she knew must have made her valuable, and now Kale was either flexing his muscles to see what he could get away with… or up to something worse. That was how the Children of Titan operated. A bombing to get you looking one way while their hands slipped into your pocket from the other.
What they didn’t know was that they were strolling into a Cogent-led ambush. That only I could get Aria out alive.
“Keep your credits and your titles, sir,” I said. Luxarn’s jaw dropped. “A friend is dead because of the trail of suffering Kale Trass leaves in his wake. I’ll help you take down Kale, and I’ll do it this time for free.”
Seventeen
Kale
I sat alone in the Cora’s cargo hold, pulse rifle lying across my lap. I removed the clip, checked it was full, then that all the weapon’s pieces were in their proper places. Not that I knew how any of it really functioned, but it was comforting to know that it would shoot straight if I needed to use it.
Fingers snapped beside my ear, and my head whipped around to face the disturbance as if a bomb had gone off. I was relieved to find it was only Gareth trying to gain my attention. His eyes were uncharacteristically red, and I could hear his runny nose sniveling through his mask. It was from all the direct exposure to the inhabitants of Mars without any precautions. He’d loaded up on every bit of medication we had the moment we returned to the Cora, just in case.
“You look like someone I know,” he signed to me, throwing a nod Rin’s way. She was across the room giving orders to a handful of my guards, a perpetual scowl fixed to her marred face. I smirked and returned to attending to my rifle.
Gareth sat beside me and leaned forward so I could see his hands out of the corner of my eye. After months with him, I didn’t need to focus all my attention anymore to read what he was saying.
“I understand,” he signed.
“Trust me, you don’t,” I said.
“Caring about her does not make you weak. Love is pain.”
I glanced back at his face. Concern softened his usually staid façade. “Rin told you everything, didn’t she?”
He shook his head emphatically. “Didn’t need to.”
“It’s not…” I sighed. “What would you do, Gareth? Let her and my unborn child die because they aren’t full Titanborn?”
“I already have.”
“What in Trass’s name are you talking about?”
“We can’t ever give up on them, Kale. Even if we’re unsure. Even if we don’t understand.”
My brow furrowed. I gestured toward Rin, but again, Gareth shook his head.
“My late wife. She was so afraid of getting sick, she stopped leaving our hollow. I don’t know how to sign the word for that. We fought so much over it, I never liked coming home. I called her crazy and irrational, she called me naive, and it went on. When we had a son, she never let him leave either.”
“I didn’t know you have a child.”
“Had.” His hands began to quake gently. “I was away, working security for a fence trying to broaden his reach to another block. I don’t know how my boy got sick, but he did. When I returned, I found his limp body in our shower. She’d drowned him in the water, the only luxury we Titanborn could afford.”
“Gareth, I—” He didn’t allow me to finish.
“I was so angry when I found our son, a child I barely ever saw, that I strangled her.” His hands now shook so intensely he could barely use them to form words. “She was sick. She needed help. And instead of finding it, I stayed away. I failed her. I failed my son.”
My hand hovered over his leg. I wasn’t sure whether to try and comfort him or give him space. Emotion wasn’t something I’d known he could express, and the heartbreak in my fearless guardian’s expression was almost too much to stomach.
“I had no idea,” was what I managed to utter.
Gareth pointed at Rin. “Neither does she,” he signed. “Don’t ever give up on the people you care about, or you’ll have nothing.”
“It was the Earthers, Gareth, not you. They put us in an impossible situation, and there’s not one of us who turned out right. We had to survive.”
“Maybe that’s true, but they didn’t wrap my hands around her neck. I can still feel her throat crunch. I tried to turn myself in for what I did, only Pervenio was too busy to care. One more pair of dead Ringers was just good business. So I ran as far as I could afford to and took the lowest post the Sunfire gas harvester had to offer. I met Rin and got caught up in a rebellion I couldn’t care less about. If a Ringer like me could strangle his own helpless wife in cold blood, why should I care about the rest of us?
“I only followed Rin because if I hadn’t done something to stay distracted, I would’ve spaced myself just to be free of the guilt. Until we found you. In the face of everything we put you through, all you wanted to do was try to save the people you cared about. Cora. The woman you loved. That was why I decided to follow you.”
He patted me on the shoulder, and I swallowed the lump forming in my throat as I bobbed my head in approval. Then he rose to his feet and gazed down upon me from his towering vantage.
“We all have done terrible things,” he signed. “We don’t need forgiveness. We don’t need pity. All we can do is try to be better. You gave me a cause worth fighting for, Kale Trass. You helped me put the past behind me so I could try to do just that. I will follow you until the very end, and I will always understand.”
There was no question he’d signed more to me at that moment than in all our prior conversations combined. I wasn’t sure how his hands weren’t exhausted and was equally unsure how to respond. Throughout all the chaos since I found myself at Rin’s mercy on the Piccolo, I’d never had the time to think about why he, of all people, had been the first to truly throw his support behind me. He backed my move to rescue Cora from Director Sodervall’s clutches when all the others thought it pointless.
Gareth tur
ned to go help with preparations. I clicked my rifle’s magazine into position and stood, but before I had the chance to say anything, Rin was in front of me. “They’re here,” she said, watching Gareth all the way out onto the Cora’s exit ramp. “What was that about?”
“Nothing,” I said. “Let’s go.”
“The quicker we can get off this rock the better.”
We followed Gareth out into the hangar, where the rest of my guards waited beneath the shadow of the Cora for Madame Venta’s two hotheaded sons. Captain Barnes and the rest of his Red Wing unit stood guard at the hangar’s entry. There was only one way in or out, and all that stood between us and them were some scattered empty containers and crates.
Rin nudged me. “You are aware this is probably a trap, right?” she said.
“Should we take bets?” Gareth signed.
“It was too easy getting them to agree to meet here. We’ll have two Earther corps right on top of us. If they partner up, we won’t be able to hold them off, even with that trick up your sleeve.”
“It’s simple,” I said. “Madame Venta either needs Basaam more than she thinks I need Aria, or somebody is leaving here in a body bag.”
Gareth slapped his pulse rifle. “Won’t be us.”
“Sure as Saturn’s Rings won’t be,” Rin said, her sanitary mask wriggling as she licked her scars beneath.
“We’re here to get Aria back,” I said. “That’s all.”
“I know. It’s a shame letting Basaam go after all the work we did to get here, though.”
“We’ve been over this. It’s too risky for Aria going back on the deal. And like Basaam said, unless we steal his research, he’s useless to our timetable.”
“If he isn’t lying.”
“We’ll find another way, Rin. We always do.”
“Easier than breaking into the Pervenio Station prison for Cora and the others,” Gareth signed.
Rin nodded. “Just a long way to travel to return empty-handed.”
“Making Madame Venta and the USF sweat isn’t nothing,” I said. “Thanks to Aria, we’ve accomplished both.”
“Those tubby mudstompers are always sweating.” She snickered, and Gareth joined her. Then she wiped her own sweat-drenched brow. “Speaking of, I don’t know how much longer I can stand being near these neutral engines.”
I glanced from side to side. Altogether, twelve Titanborn were healthy enough to fight if it came to it, including me, Rin, and Gareth. Two of our dead lay in the cargo hold along with our bound hostages, two were captured alongside Aria, and another could no longer weather the injuries he suffered in the bombing and manned the Cora’s cockpit instead. Per my request, they had the engines primed, even though the hangar’s outer airlock was closed and the room wasn’t sealed off or pressurized. A heavily fineable offense, I was told, due to concerns over radioactive pollution. I hoped the Cora’s advanced tech was alien enough for both the Red Wing and Venta officers not to notice.
We all wore our weapons and armor, even the helmets. I wasn’t going to take any chances. There was no reason to feign pleasantries during a prisoner exchange. My people were ready to do whatever I asked of them. Willing to die. Our revolution boasted no greater consequence. Instead of scraping and stealing from each other in the Lowers to survive, we stood shoulder to shoulder in the name of Titan and, like Gareth said, a cause worth fighting for.
Restless shadows gathered outside of the entry. Captain Barnes spoke with someone unseen.
“I want you watching for anything,” Rin addressed our people. “If any of them even attempts to make a move on Lord Trass, end them.”
I switched on the com-link in my ear. “Engines ready?”
“Yes, sir,” one of the Titanborn in the cockpit replied. “On your command.”
A wave of Venta blue flooded through the entry. Jamaru Venta’s young sons strode out in front, swagger in their gait. Like nothing could touch them. At least three dozen security officers were with them, pulse rifles in hand. Just behind Karl, a slender woman was being prodded along with a bag over her head. I recognized her dress from earlier, though now it was stained with blood and ratty. One Titanborn body each was slung over the shoulders of the duster-wearing Venta collectors on either side of her.
My hands squeezed into fists.
“If they harmed your child,” Rin said, fuming.
I didn’t answer. Nobody else spoke a word until Karl, Fern, and their line of officers was no more than ten meters away from us. I could almost feel the air thicken with tension like fresh broth being stirred. We were outnumbered more than two to one, though we had the benefit of the Cora’s landing gear for coverage. Red Wing officers waited at the hangar entrance behind them as well. It was impossible to know if I could count on them for support. When it came down to honoring their agreement for “Ringers” or starting a corporate feud, I had a feeling I knew who they’d pick.
Madame Venta’s sons stopped and regarded me, grins spreading across their rosy faces. They wore formal attire, as if this was any other meeting, and no weapons either. Their men would handle things for them. That was how it worked for corporate leaders—give an order and let their servants drop the hammer.
I leveled a glower in their direction but held my tongue. The silence had me starting to itch.
“I didn’t think we’d get the pleasure of seeing each other again, Mr. Trass,” Karl Venta said finally.
“Quite a pleasure,” Fern remarked.
“On with it,” I said sharply. “We don’t need to drag this out.”
Karl snapped his fingers. Two officers stepped forward and dropped the corpses of the Titanborn guards I’d sent down to Old Dome with Aria. Each had a hole in his head. More men dead because of me.
“You son of a bitch!” Rin yelled. She lurched at them, but I held her back. I could hear Gareth’s rifle rattling against his armor on the other side of me.
“Forgive the state of your men,” Karl said, still grinning.
“Madame Venta promised they’d be returned to us,” I said.
“And they are. Unfortunately, they died long before we made this arrangement, but now you can return their bodies to Titan to do whatever it is you people do with your dead. Call it recompense for all of the unnecessary trouble you’ve cost us after we were gracious enough to arrange that summit.”
“Screw this, Kale,” Rin bristled. I raised a hand to quiet her.
“You admit to murdering two of my people and expect me to ignore it?” I said.
Karl rolled his eyes. “And you’re innocent? There were Venta properties on the Ring too. You Ringers think you can take whatever you like. Something goes wrong, you just slap a band-aid on it and say sorry. You’re like children throwing a tantrum.”
“Big bad Pervenio was so mean,” Fern mocked.
“Watch your mouth!” Rin hissed. “Mommy isn’t here to watch over you now, is she?”
He glanced back toward his platoon of officers. They may as well have been foaming at the mouths. “No,” he said. “No, she’s not.”
“If you want the blood of thousands on your hands, then by all means, go back on her word,” I said. Karl’s lips straightened, but he didn’t reply. “Like I thought.”
“Where’s Basaam?” barked Fern.
“Waiting for you to take that hood off and prove that’s the ambassador,” I said.
Karl stepped back and took his sweet time wrapping his hand around Aria’s lower back. She winced. “What, you didn’t memorize every one of her curves?” he asked. “I know my mother did.”
“Get your filthy hands off of her!” Rin shouted.
“Touch her like that again, and you’ll get exactly what you want,” I said, deepening my tone as much as I could. “Except my men have been instructed to aim at your and your brother’s heads first. No matter what happens, you won’t make it out alive.”
The notion that Basaam was less important to them than I’d suspected was beginning to creep into my thoughts. Kar
l was obviously trying to provoke us into breaking the ceasefire and acting as the villains Sol so desperately wanted us to be. I quickly surveyed the room to see if there were any hidden cameras I’d missed that might bear witness if that happened. A security feed was posted above the entry watching over the hangar, though it had a Red Wing logo on the side. Was this their trap all along?
Karl grumbled something under his breath, then finally removed Aria’s hood. Her hair was disheveled, like wildfire. Black circles wreathed her eyes all the way around. She didn’t appear wounded, though. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she fixed them firmly on the floor, tears welling in the corners.
“There,” Karl said. “Quite the catch, this one. From nameless sewer rat to our mother’s ripe whore, to yours.”
“The only whore here is you, mudstomper!” Rin shouted. “Selling your souls for whatever you fancy until you tire of it.”
Even Gareth signed an insult.
If not for the circumstances, I would’ve been pleased to hear my aunt finally treating Aria like one of our own; however, I knew it was only because of what she held in her belly. But Madame Venta’s whore? Was that how Aria earned the clout to be supported by Venta Co. in her efforts to cure my people? I couldn’t stop thinking about what else we didn’t know about her, even though I knew I had to focus.
“Well, Trass,” Karl said, regaining my full attention. Now wasn’t the time to let doubts nest in my head and fester. “If you do tire of her, I’m sure Mother would pay a pretty credit to get her back. Sewer trash never goes rotten. And they’re wild, friend. Like rabid dogs.”
“We’ll take her how she is,” I affirmed.
“Your loss.” He clutched Aria by the arm and tugged her forward. “Send down Basaam, and the whore is yours.”
Aria finally mustered the courage to look up at me, and I saw in her eyes a torrent of rage and shame. For a moment, all my reservations about her withered away like ashes to a breeze. I knew I was making the right decision helping her. Earth would pay for all it had done to my people, but for now, I needed Aria back. No Earther corps was going to take anything I cared about from me ever again.
Children of Titan Series: Books 1-4: (A Space Opera Thriller Box Set) Page 75
