Dark Matters (Class 5 Series Book 4)

by Michelle Diener

  It took her a moment to work out what he was saying.

  She started to move, to launch out of her chair, but he grabbed her arms, held her in place.

  “Sorry, I know you've done nothing to deserve this, but the Tecran will only lose more honor if you're found, and so I'm being patriotic and helping myself at the same time.”

  He slapped something against the skin of her inner wrist and she looked down at it with horror. “What is that?” Her voice was a broken whisper.

  “Something that will help you sleep. It's perfectly harmless.”

  She looked up at him, saw his focus was on her face, waiting for her to react, and she took stock, realizing she felt . . . fine.

  It wasn't doing anything to her.

  Her eyes widened in surprise, because he seemed so sure, and then she almost rolled her eyes at herself.

  Play along, stupid.

  She let her eyelids flutter closed, then open, then flutter closed again, and slowly let the tension seep from her body, so she slumped sideways on the chair.

  “Good.” He stood, letting go of her arms.

  She sensed him standing over her for a while, and she kept her breathing even, her body relaxed, even as her heart hammered in her chest.

  She wanted the patch off. Even if she wasn't reacting as immediately as he thought she would, it could still be doing her harm.

  “How do I do this?” His words made her freeze, and she had to slowly relax again as she heard him moving away, and realized he was pacing, talking to himself. “Not from here. Better start the negotiations somewhere else.”

  He went silent, and she could just make out his footsteps in another room. When he came back, she had to force herself to stay limp, even though her muscles wanted to twitch. He leaned over her again, ran a finger down her cheek. “Smooth.” He sounded surprised, and then she felt a patch being stuck on her other wrist. He gave a grunt of satisfaction as he stepped back.

  “That'll hold you.” There was a smug satisfaction in his tone.

  He walked away, and the door opened and closed.

  She stayed still, uncertain if he was gone or not. After a moment, the door opened and closed again, and she felt the shock of adrenaline run through her.

  He'd been watching her.

  She tried to keep her hands from shaking. A minute ticked by and she cracked her lids a little, saw the room was empty, and stood up, ripping the patches off her wrists and throwing them on the floor.

  Dr. Farnn had told her that they'd done plenty of tests on her while she was unconscious, and they'd found her reactions to their drugs very atypical.

  She was lucky the patches hadn't killed her, because it could just as easily have gone that way.

  She drew in a long, shaky breath, pressed her fingers to her eyes. A sound escaped her throat, and she forced it back down.

  Her relationship with the Tecran was complicated.

  They'd taken her, but those who had done the taking weren't the ones who interacted with her on a day to day basis at the facility, and the scientists and doctors she spoke with were . . . friendly.

  But they hadn't set her free.

  The guards at the facility, though . . . She had refused to let them forget they held her prisoner. She had chafed at their rules and broken them every chance she could get.

  The Tecran at the apartment building on the cliff had helped her a little, but they hadn't put themselves out to give her a safe place to stay or information that she could use to save herself.

  The people in the square . . . they were a mixed bag of allies and enemies.

  And now Gugi--he'd done her harm.

  She forced herself to shake it off.

  She started for the door, and then paused.

  Gugi was coming back, but once she was out the door, she'd be in the same position she'd been in before. Alone, cold. Hunted. Maybe it would be wise to see what he had that would be useful to her.

  At least now she knew her priority was to contact the UC team coming in. They would hopefully protect her.

  She looked around, slowly spinning in a circle.

  The room she'd sat in was just one of three in the apartment. There wasn't much in it for her to use, so she stepped into the kitchen, unhooked a bag from the wall and threw in food she recognized from the facility and an insulated mug.

  Aware of time slipping by, she moved through to the bedroom and began opening drawers. When she found Gugi's clothes, she quickly stepped out of the thin pajamas she'd been in since the day before and pulled on warmer pants and a shirt. They were too big, but not by much.

  She decided to keep the rock climbing shoes. They fit her, and they were waterproof, but she pulled on new socks and added some clean pairs to the bag, then took an insulated jacket which she put on under the cloak.

  She was about to leave when she saw the handheld on a desk.

  She shoved it into the pack and jogged to the front door, then listened carefully before she cracked it open.

  There was no one in the corridor, but she heard voices up ahead and quickly stepped out and moved silently, retracing her steps to the back door.

  It opened easily from the inside. She braved the biting wind again, looking in both directions. There was no one around. The afternoon light was almost gone and shadows enveloped the alleyway.

  She hunched a little against the cold, turned her face away from it, and disappeared into the darkness.

  Chapter 12

  They stood on the knife-edge of war.

  Dray took a few steps closer to Filivantri Dimitara, as did a number of others from the UC leadership team, as she faced off against the Tecran Defense Leader.

  Suu Ulima had puffed himself up, chest almost bumping into the much smaller Bukarian, but Dimitara held herself with a cool disdain.

  “You knew we were coming, your own people agreed to this solution instead of war, so your hostile attitude has no place here.” She spoke without giving him the respect of his title, which, by virtue of the UC takeover, had ceased to exist.

  “How do you plan to run something you don't understand?” Ulima hissed at her.

  “I understand you broke the law. Flagrantly. Again and again. And endangered the whole UC by playing with banned thinking systems. So if I decide to dismantle your military down to the ground, and build it up again from scratch, then I will. I don't have to understand how it works now. You will be the one who needs to understand how it works in the future.”

  Dimitara's words caused a hush over the crowd. Dray saw people were literally holding their breaths.

  Ulima took a step back, shock on his face. “They said you'd run it, not destroy it.”

  “If I don't get cooperation, if the only way I can work is to start from scratch, that's what I'll do. If you continue to refuse my people access to your systems, refuse to answer questions, we'll find another way. We have our mission from the UC, and we intend to carry it out.” Dimitara took a step forward, and the Defense Leader just stopped himself taking another step back. “Do you understand?”

  Instead of answering, Ulima spun on his heel and strode out of the room.

  A little way off to the side, the Tecran political leaders stood, trying not to wring their hands, but Dray thought they were a little pleased with Ulima's stand, as well.

  They didn't want to look like they were capitulating too much to the 'invasion', as he'd heard their arrival referred to a number of times on the comms in the big parliamentary building.

  “Well?” Dimitara turned to the politicians. “Do we turn around and get ready for war? Do I call Bane in closer? What's it going to be?”

  She let her voice carry over the assembly room, and while some looked defiant, like they would prefer that outcome, a lot more looked uneasy, or downright nervous.

  “You must understand it is hard--” One of the politicians stepped forward, again, trying to have it both ways.

  “So the word of a Tecran is once again not to be trusted.” Dray spoke t
o Dimitara, cutting off the politician. He made sure his voice could be heard. “First, they break the Sentient Beings Agreement, then they lie to the UC about the Class 5s, and now they break their word on the agreement made to prevent war. I look forward to them being out of the United Council. We need allies we can trust, not dishonorable liars.”

  There was more than one hiss of outrage at his words, but they had the desired effect.

  The tension in the room eased, and some of the Tecran military officers who'd had their hands on the weapons strapped to their thighs moved them to hang at their sides.

  That they were armed would have to be rectified. They would have to hand their weapons in. Dray felt the tension ratchet up in his chest, because that would not go down well, but he wasn't prepared to walk around with armed enemies all around him.

  “Your words are insulting. We have no intention of going back on our word.” The politician who'd been speaking to Dimitara sent him an outraged look.

  “Sounded like it to me.” The Fitalian ambassador, Pilto, stepped forward, the two members of his team flanking him. One was military, like Dray, the other, Synter, was an administrator-type, like Zutobi. But she had military training, Dray saw now, in the way she stood just as ready to attack as the Fitalian military officer, Chep.

  He'd spoken to Chep a few times on the journey to Tecra.

  He'd recognized Chep's name from one of the classified reports he'd been given to study for this trip. Chep had been involved in the last big standoff with the Tecran before they'd capitulated and agreed to the UC overseeing their military. Chep and another Fitalian officer had been taken prisoner by Paxe, the Class 5 that had destroyed himself rather than be taken back under the Tecran's control.

  The Fitalian military officer had Dray's respect. He'd helped a UC team get out of the situation with Paxe alive, and according to the Grihan officer caught up in the incident, Captain Kalor, Chep and his colleague had had Kalor's back.

  As if he sensed eyes on him, Chep glanced across and they exchanged an almost imperceptible nod.

  “I'm going to start feeling left out.” Juno Cossi sidled up to him. “Making eyes at the Fitalians. I thought the Bukarians were your favorites.”

  Despite himself, Dray's lips twitched.

  Cossi was the Bukarian military officer assigned to the leadership team, but he knew her light banter was a cover for a cool, hard-eyed demeanor he had caught a few glimpses of during the journey to Tecra.

  “There aren't supposed to be favorites,” he said.

  She gave a genuine chuckle. “Sure.”

  She tilted her head as she kept her eyes on the scene before them, and Dray turned his attention back to it himself.

  Pilto's comment had had the effect of backing up Dimitara with a weight that smacked heavily of the United Council old guard.

  Pilto was of the era of cooperation with the Tecran, and his word held weight here.

  The politicians had genuflected a little when he'd stepped forward, and were now trying to smooth over Defense Leader Ulima's obstructionism.

  Chep let himself drift back and Cossi and Dray drifted forward, so they were suddenly standing side by side as if by accident.

  “They're going to suggest we go off and settle in, and start fresh tomorrow,” Dray said.

  “I'd say that's a given,” Chep said.

  “And I say fuck that,” Cossi murmured.

  “What does Yuf say?” Chep asked.

  Yuf was the Garmman military representative. From what Dray had seen, he seemed more a bodyguard to his ambassador than an actual military attaché.

  “He'll say whatever his master tells him to.” Cossi made the comment with a neutral voice, but Dray caught the disrespect.

  And agreed.

  There weren't supposed to be favorites, but there were. And of the five members of the United Council, the Garmman were the closest to the Tecran. They had been more than a little involved in the illegal development of the Class 5s, but that had been proved to be through the cooperation of private actors, not the Garmman government itself.

  Luckily for the Garmman.

  They were also responsible in large part for the pirate scourge that was the Krik.

  So yes. There were favorites, and right now, Dray didn't give a damn about diplomacy. He wanted people on either side of him who he could trust.

  “Then let's go break the news we're taking our teams in right now.” He spoke quietly, catching Cossi's grin, and the quick bob of the head from Chep.

  They moved forward together.

  “Ambassador Dimitara, we're going to assemble our teams now and start looking over things at military headquarters, see what we're dealing with.” Dray noticed that Chep and Cossi had fallen back a half step, so he was the leader.

  Clever of them.

  That put the target squarely on his back, but he'd prefer to be the one setting the agenda, so that worked for him.

  “Of course. Can you get someone to show them the way?” Dimitara turned to the hand-wringing politician.

  The man gave Dray a vicious look. “I'm sure your people are tired, Ambassador. Surely they can start tomorrow?”

  Behind him, Dray thought he heard Cossi snigger.

  He said nothing in response, just held Dimitara's gaze, and she gave a nod.

  “My people are very much rested and up to the task. Thank you for your concern, but it isn't necessary.”

  “We don't need an escort. I already know where to go.” Dray smiled. “We'll see you later.”

  He gave a half-bow and turned on his heel, and Chep and Cossi strode after him.

  He glanced back, looking for Yuf, giving him a chance to join them, but the Garmman military officer was nowhere in sight.

  With a shrug, he faced forward and went to do his job.

  Chapter 13

  Whoever was looking for her would have a place to start when Gugi got hold of them.

  So she needed to mingle, Lucy decided.

  Skulking through back alleys was asking for trouble. If they found her there, there would be no witness to what happened to her.

  She made her way toward the cliffs and the main buildings. That was surely where the United Council people would be. If she could work out which government building they were headquartered in, she could at least watch for a chance to approach one of them.

  She wondered if they would be easy to pick out. She recalled the tall, pointy-eared aliens from the video clip on the screen earlier, and the shorter, stockier aliens, all standing around a stage with three human women. She'd watch for anyone who looked like them.

  She guessed her ace in the hole was her appearance. If she worked out who the UC teams were, they would certainly recognize her.

  They wouldn't simply dismiss her.

  But until then, her appearance would only endanger her.

  She had wrapped her scarf around her mouth again and tugged at the hood of her cloak so it hid her face, but it also narrowed her scope of vision, made it difficult to see anyone coming at her from the side.

  It was still safer than showing more skin, though.

  She reached the main street and stepped into the flowing crowd.

  There seemed to be more people around now than there had been earlier, and there was an ugly mood, with people shoving past others and shouts of annoyance as people were jostled.

  When she'd been in the square earlier she'd sensed the tension and the discontent, but now the UC team had actually arrived, it had intensified.

  She was careful not to bump anyone.

  Keeping her head down, she made her way along the length of the street.

  A crowd was gathered in the square, but she slowed down before she reached it, sensing violence in the air. She had the feeling things could turn nasty in a blink, and she wasn't sure which side the security forces were on.

  Or if there even was a side represented here.

  It didn't feel organized or cohesive.

  The security officers, wha
tever their personal feelings, were much more visible than they'd been earlier. They stood in small groups of two or three, scattered through the square and in the street Lucy was on, for the most part seemingly relaxed as they chatted with the public.

  There were other Tecran who, like her, were hovering, avoiding making the decision to step into the square. On the faces of some of them she could read fear, in others, contempt.

  Someone gave a shout deep in the crowd of the square, and it decided her. She turned away, but before she could find a group of people to attach herself to for cover, she noticed more than one cafe had now set tables outside, despite the cold. There were enough people sitting at them, watching the unfolding drama in the square, for her not to stand out.

  She veered out of the stream of pedestrians, moving carefully between small tables to find one in deep shadow, and sank down.

  The tabletop immediately flickered to life, offering a variety of menu options. Nervous that not ordering something would bring her attention she couldn't deal with, she placed an order for grinabo and chose a dish at random.

  The credit bank she'd been given that morning worked again, and she relaxed a little, feeling more secure here than she had on the street.

  She took a careful glance around, but no one was looking her way, with most of the attention on the gathering crowd in the square.

  A few protesters were standing on the benches in the square to address the crowd, and more had made their way up onto the dais in the center of the massive space.

  She tuned them out and pulled the handheld she'd stolen from Gugi out of her bag.

  It lit up, and she stared at it, perplexed, unsure how to work it.

  Before she could try, a server slid a tray in front of her, his attention barely on what he was doing, let alone her, as his gaze fixed on what was happening in front of him.

  He walked away, setting a second tray on another table, and then stood, legs apart, arms crossed, watching the growing mayhem.