Suns Eclipsed

by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  His lips parted. He licked them. “You’re…not?”

  “Not yet,” she said sweetly. “I have something much better in mind.”

  Hero stepped through a bridge onto the deck and walked over to Bellona. Bellona kept her ghostmaker raised. “You do it, Hero. If he tries to resist, feel free to scratch him. I’d like to see him die with your neurotoxin making him squirm.”

  Hero smiled and moved over to Yishmeray. “Head to one side, sweet thing,” she crooned.

  Yishmeray growled again. He was helpless and Bellona could see the knowledge dawn in his eyes.

  Hero held up her fingers, so he could see the black nails. “Please resist me,” she begged.

  He bent his head to one side. His gaze settled on Bellona, baleful and heated, as Hero injected him with the chemical cuffs.

  He slumped in the chair, watching them, the hatred in his eyes giving him a ferocious expression. He couldn’t move, though. His hand dropped to hang by his side. He couldn’t even look down to see it.

  There was hammering on the deck gates. Dim shouting beyond them.

  “Report, please, Dyse,” Bellona said, ignoring the ruckus.

  “All four ships, under our control,” Dyse said.

  “So fast?” Hero asked, as she bent over the bridge personnel and injected them one at a time. She didn’t stop to swap tips, or sterilize their skin.

  Retha looked around the bridge. “They really didn’t see what was coming,” he said, sounding winded and happy at the same time.

  “They had no idea how to handle it,” Khalil added.

  “Analyze later,” Bellona told them. “We have things to do, first. Amilcare, are you ready?”

  Through the earworm, she heard Amilcare respond. “We’re just cleaning up the Ennius. We’ll be right over.”

  Another bridge formed and Hayes stepped through. “Dyse said you needed me,” he said, moving over to Bellona.

  Bellona pointed to Yishmeray. “Recognize him, Hayes?”

  Hayes looked at Yishmeray carefully. “I heard what you called him. I have no memory of Yishmeray at all.”

  “It is him, Hayes.”

  Hayes’ normal placid expression grew darker as he contemplated Yishmeray. Yishmeray swallowed. He couldn’t talk, although Bellona had a feeling that if he could, he would be taking very fast indeed. Explaining things. Justifying them. Sweat appeared at his temples and over his lip.

  “You,” Hayes breathed. “You made me do things. Horrible things.”

  Bellona smiled. “He’s the one,” she confirmed.

  Yishmeray’s gaze slid toward her. She saw hatred there and borrowed one of Hero’s gestures: She blew him a kiss.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Demosthenes, nomansland.

  Once the five ships had been secured, the personnel aboard subdued and the senior staff separated and herded into the sub-level cells on Demosthenes, Bellona put through a call to Maddie Truman.

  “Are you still over Cerce?” Bellona asked.

  Maddie nodded. She looked tired. “It’s likely to take a while. There are a lot of displaced people. A lot of missing people, too.” Behind her, Alberda hung his head.

  “May we board your ship, Minister?” Bellona asked formally. Then she smiled and added. “I have a present for you and for Lin.”

  Maddie raised a brow. “I would be most interested to see your gift. Please step over.”

  “In about three minutes,” Bellona warned. She closed the screen and looked at Sang, who stood to one side. “Take the chair while I’m gone.”

  He nodded. “Should we make a random jump?”

  “Or two, or three,” Bellona told him. “We’ll have to program it in, later.” She picked up the ghostmaker and pushed it into the holster and touched her ear. “Is everyone ready?”

  “They are,” Dyse told her.

  “I’m leaving now,” she warned and activated the forge.

  The bridge formed, giving her a glimpse of the control deck of the Xiulan. Madhuri Truman was sitting on the brocade divan off to one side of the captain’s chair. It was the diplomat’s couch. She got to her feet with a smile when she saw Bellona through the bridge.

  Bellona stepped through.

  Lin Alberda came over to her. “We’ve heard some odd things,” he said. “Just in the last five minutes.”

  “I might be able to tell you what those odd things are,” Bellona said. “Just wait for a moment.”

  The second bridge formed where hers had been and Bellona moved out of the way.

  Thecla came through. She brought with her the Karassian captain of the Vadas. She dragged him by his hair. He was trussed up like a roast and was still chemically cuffed, for he made no sound of protest.

  Thecla tossed him onto the decking at Maddie’s and Lin’s feet. “The captain of the Homogeny Ship Vadas,” she declared. “Enjoy.”

  Lin and Maddie gasped.

  The rest of the control deck people got to their feet to look at the red-faced captain, astonishment building.

  Thecla stepped aside as a third bridge formed. It was Retha, this time. He shoved the third Eriuman captain through. This one was bleeding from the nose. As Retha pushed him through, he nudged him up against the sizzling edge of the bridge and let go.

  The captain jerked forward and dropped to the ground, writhing.

  “Ooops,” Retha said, smiling.

  “Retha,” Bellona warned him gently.

  He looked over his shoulder as the fourth bridge formed and skipped out of the way. Fontana had his hand around the neck of Lucretia Eucleides and herded her onto the Xiulan. He was not smiling. When they had passed the edges of the bridge, he shoved her and she staggered forward to drop on top of the Karassian captain, unable to hold herself up with her bound hands.

  She grunted at the impact.

  “I gave her a gag shot,” Fontana growled. “She would not shut up. Her rights and privileges, her rank and seniority. Her this. Her that.” He shook his head. “She just doesn’t get it.”

  Eucleides scowled at him.

  Fontana glared back.

  Thecla pulled him out of the way as the last bridge formed.

  “You’ll like this one,” Bellona told Maddie and Lin.

  They had bewildered expressions on their faces. They looked up at the forming bridge.

  Hayes strode through. Like Thecla, he was dragging his captive. Yishmeray was yelling and struggling, for the chemical cuff had worn off. His writhing didn’t bother Hayes in the slightest. He kept a grip on Yishmeray’s arm, which was puny against his big metal hand, pulled him through the bridge and tossed him onto the pile of captains.

  Yishmeray landed heavily.

  “I might have broken his ankles,” Hayes said in his deep, slow voice. “It was an accident.” He smiled.

  Maddie studied Yishmeray. “I don’t know this one,” she said. “The others are in my files, but not him.”

  “That’s because Eadric doesn’t exist. You will know him as Captain Yishmeray,” Bellona said.

  Maddie’s head jerked up. So did Lin’s. “Yishmeray?” he repeated, his voice hard.

  “The one who destroyed the Hathaway,” Bellona confirmed.

  Yishmeray strained his neck to look over and up at the pair. “She’s lying,” he said flatly. “I am Eadric of the Karassian Homogeny Ship Salucci—”

  “Hayes, would you?” Bellona asked.

  Hayes bent over and slammed his fist into Yishmeray’s temple.

  Yishmeray slumped, his eyes closed.

  “DNA matching will give you the truth,” Bellona told Maddie and Lin.

  “I believe you,” Lin said slowly.

  “We will test to confirm before he is punished,” Maddie added, putting her hand on Lin’s arm. “Bellona, thank you. This is a shot in the arm the free worlds need right now.”

  Bellona nodded. “We thought about taking these captains back to the Alliance and using them for leverage, only I suspect you have greater need of them.”
/>
  “What of their ships and crews?” Lin Alberda asked.

  “Their ships are hobbling back home in normal space. Their weapons, their null drives have all been disabled, as have their long range communications. They might make it back in a couple hundred years or so,” Bellona said. “Or they might be found and recovered by the Alliance. That won’t happen today, or even tomorrow, so we have a small window of time to act.”

  “Act?” Maddie repeated.

  “As you’re all here anyway,” Fontana said.

  “It will only take a few minutes,” Bellona finished. “You’ll be back before you know it.”

  Lin Alberda smiled. “Another line in the sand,” he said, sounding very pleased.

  “Not in sand,” Bellona told him. “In hard, baked clay. Immoveable and non-negotiable.”

  * * * * *

  Demosthenes, Nomansland.

  When Bellona got back to Demosthenes, Khalil greeted her with a steaming cup of coffee.

  The nighttime lighting was still active. It was the early hours of the morning, Demos time. She could feel the ache in her bones from lack of sleep.

  Despite the small hour, the control deck was buzzing with people, murmuring to each other, checking readouts and controls.

  Bellona hesitated. She had expected the control deck to be silent, dim and empty.

  Khalil raised his brow, with a small smile, as if he had read her mind and was apologizing for the lack of privacy.

  Bellona went to him and took the coffee cup out of his hand and put it on the nearest horizontal surface. Then she kissed him.

  She felt him stiffen, his hands moving to her sides as if to push her away. This was not something she normally allowed. She had conditioned him to painful awareness of appearances.

  Then he relaxed and pulled her closer, leaning into the kiss.

  Screams and shouts, growing louder, forced her to pull away. Reluctantly. She looked toward the main corridor, where the sound was coming from, as everyone else did.

  Hero was the first to appear, pulling Zeni by the arm. Zeni was fighting the woman every step of the way, abuse and insults pouring from her.

  Behind the pair, Dyse followed at a safe difference, his hands in his pockets.

  Hero shoved Zeni into the nearest secured chair, yanked her head to one side by clenching a good handful of her hair, then rested her fingernails against Zeni’s neck. Zeni grew still, her beautiful almond-shaped eyes heavy with anger and resentment.

  “Dyse, what is this?” Khalil asked.

  Dyse shrugged. “You wanted to know who told the Alliance about the meeting of the free state heads on Cerce.”

  “Zeni?” Bellona breathed.

  Zeni’s jaw flexed as she gritted her teeth and tried to shrug off Hero’s hold. She didn’t deny Dyse’s claim, either.

  Dyse studied Zeni. He looked almost amused. “She is also the one who told the Alliance where to find Demosthenes. She disabled the null-engine, preventing Demosthenes from jumping. That’s how I found her. It was one secret communication, one covert deed too many.”

  “That, too?” Sang breathed. “Why?” he demanded, looking at the woman with disgust.

  “Because of that look right there,” she said, straining to talk with her neck bent at the painful angle it was. “Because I am from Alkeides.” She strained hard and spat. The globule flew toward Bellona but fell short.

  Bellona stared at her, amazed. “Despite everything you have learned about me, you still hold me to blame for Alkeides?”

  “You never would trust me the way you do your friends from Ledan,” Zeni shot back. “You give them everything. I get the left overs, after all I’ve done for you.”

  “Wait,” Khalil said, sounding as amazed as Bellona. “You resent that Bellona didn’t trust you, even as you were betraying her?” He shook his head. “Some people…”

  Dyse lifted a brow. “An interesting example of conflicting values,” he said.

  “That’s one way to look at it,” Khalil said. He looked at Bellona. “Give her to Lin Alberda. He and his folk will be more than happy to deal with her for you.”

  Bellona looked around the control deck. Everyone was watching. “Unless anyone feels they deserve a shot at her first?” she asked loudly.

  Heads shook.

  Hero looked down at Zeni. “I’d sooner not waste my talents on her.” She spat. Her spit landed on Zeni’s cheek, just beneath the eye. Zeni blinked furiously, yet was forced to leave it there.

  “Would you mind stepping over to Cerce and giving her to Lin and his people, Hero? You seem to be managing her just fine.”

  “I’ll help,” Sang said.

  Zeni scowled at him.

  Sang looked at Bellona. “It would be my pleasure.”

  * * * * *

  Hecate Hult was brought to Bellona’s quarters the next morning. She looked tired, yet she moved freely, with no restraints. Bellona had forgotten how small Hult really was. She remembered her being taller.

  Bellona poured coffee and pushed the cup across to her as Hult sat at the low table with a sigh. The gilt on the purple uniform glittered as she took the cup.

  “Long night?” Bellona asked.

  “Not as long as yours, as I understand it,” Hult said. “Lots of thinking, though.” She sipped the coffee with an appreciative hum.

  “Sang brought you up to date?” Bellona asked.

  “Yes.” Hult put the coffee mug down. “He is quite remarkable, isn’t he? Are all androids as capable of growth as he?”

  “I don’t know,” Bellona said blandly. “I don’t think of him as an android anymore. He’s just Sang and I couldn’t have lasted this long without him. If you are to stay on the Demos, you’ll have to jettison all your prejudices about other races, too.”

  Hult jumped a little. “Stay here?”

  “Surely the thought crossed your mind while you were doing all your heavy thinking during the night,” Bellona told her. “You can’t go back to Erium.”

  “I know,” Hult said slowly. “I had not considered staying here.”

  “My cause is not your cause. I understand,” Bellona said.

  “No, it’s not that. I just didn’t think you’d want me.”

  “A capable, clear-thinking officer like you? Why would I not want you?”

  Hult grimaced. “Your mother contacted me, the day we left Cardenas. It was the strangest conversation I’ve ever had.”

  “My mother?” Bellona said sharply. “Why?”

  “I think it was Iulia who arranged for my promotion to captain. She didn’t say it exactly like that.” Hult leaned on her elbow and dig her fingers into her forehead. “Officers of the military do not end conversations initiated by senior family members. It’s political suicide. I sat there, nodding in the right places, wondering what it was she was trying to say. At the end of it…” Hult sat up. “It was very odd. I felt guilty for never having found Max’s killer. That was the strongest emotion. I felt as though I had let down the family, all over again. Then we jumped here and I was looking you in the eye and that’s all I could think of. It was a cold shock when you called out Yishmeray… I always knew he had something to do with the Hathaway’s disappearance. I could never find anything to support my suspicions.” She gave Bellona a stiff smile. “That’s why, this morning and last night, I’ve been going over my complete failure to find who killed Max and hating myself. So no, it never occurred to me that you might offer me a place here.”

  Bellona took a breath. “The Bureau killed Max by proxy. A Karassian biocomp contractor called Ferid. It has been proved and Ferid executed.”

  Hult stared at her, holding herself very still. “You executed him?” Her voice was strained.

  Bellona nodded.

  Hult covered her face with her hands for a moment. Then she straightened, dashed the back of her hand underneath each eye and picked up the coffee cup once more. “I don’t understand your cause, Bellona. I was Eriuman up until a few hours ago. I may yet come t
o believe in it. In the meantime, if I can help you, I would be very pleased to stay.”

  * * * * *

  Clan Assembly Room, Menaii, Deluca Prime, Delucas System

  Iulia didn’t know if she was the first woman to ever step inside the assembly chamber. She was certainly the only woman in the room today. The puzzled expressions and glances she received were energizing.

  She was also pleased to note that she knew nearly every face in the room. She nodded to Peru Scordini, who gave her a stiff nod back.

  Raine was there, too. He looked nervous and she smiled at him.

  Then she found a seat at the table and settled into it, wriggling to find a comfortable position. She pretended not to notice that the room had grown quiet around her.

  The big doors thumped shut, a signal that the meeting was about to begin.

  No one else sat down.

  Peru moved through the crowd to stand on the other side of the table, his arms crossed. “Iulia Cardenas Scordina de Carosa. I don’t believe I saw your name on the invitation list.”

  Iulia resettled her sleeve. “Gaubert is dead, Peru. You didn’t get the memo?”

  Peru’s face darkened.

  “With Gaubert dead, I am the oldest representative of the Cardenas family,” Iulia continued.

  “Markjohn is the oldest male of the family,” Peru corrected her.

  “Oh yes, that.” She smiled at him. “Markjohn filed notice of proxy this morning. Perhaps you didn’t get that, either?”

  Peru licked his lips. There was a smatter of laughter around the room. His gaze flittered from face to face, as he tried to spot who was laughing at him.

  Iulia switched her gaze to Raine. She stared at him, unblinking.

  Raine jerked out a chair and sat down. “Oh, let’s just get this over with,” he said roughly. “The Cardenas family have a rightful seat at the table, Peru. Either toss her and explain why…and find an instant replacement. Or sit down. The day is growing longer.”

  Iulia looked back at Peru, with a bright, enquiring smile, while around the room, others followed Raine’s lead and settled into chairs. After all, Raine was popular. Almost as popular as Peru.

  Peru sat with a lack of grace, fury in his close-set eyes. “I call this meeting open,” he declared, his gaze not leaving her face.