Dario, too, worked from the safety the boulder afforded them. Kardok was having slightly more success. Last she saw, he had his arms around one of the men—a Terran male that appeared dwarfed by Kardok’s massive size—and he was whipping the man about, using him as both a shield and a projectile.
He hurtled the man at the rest of the group, causing them to scatter and giving her at least one clear shot.
“We have to move closer,” Kira said, ducking down one last time. “We can’t penetrate their armor from here.”
“Your orders, Captain,” Dario said.
She nodded and crouched down. As she rounded the edge of the boulder, Dario on her heels, she let out a loud cry, drawing the men's attention toward her. She fired her gun rapidly, aiming at anything that wasn't Kardok—who remained in the center of the group. A few shots were returned in their direction, but Kira ducked them as Dario leaped to the side.
And, for a second, things seemed to turn in their direction. For a second, it seemed as if they were going to win the upper hand.
Then, she froze.
“Thor,” she gasped. “Where is Thor?”
He wasn’t in the heat of battle, as she had expected him to be. He wasn’t near the ship or tucked behind another boulder.
“Where the hell is he?” she demanded.
A shot flew in her direction, and Dario grabbed her arm, pulling her back just as it zipped past.
His tug caused her to spin around slightly, and that's when she saw them—Thor and Mordecai, locked in yet another one-on-one fight. They had separated from the group and were darting back and forth over a cluster of boulders about 500 yards away.
“Duck!” Dario yelled, pulling her back to her present predicament.
She did as he said, falling to the ground and lifting her weapon at the same time. The second her stomach hit the hard-packed dirt, she fired a shot. It hit one of Mordecai’s men square in the chest, but didn’t do as much damage as she would have liked.
He continued to march toward her, his face twisted with amusement.
Kadrok was busy wrestling one of the remaining men while the other was moving around them quickly, hoping to attack Dario from behind. Kira pushed herself up as Dario turned to face his opponent.
The man still stalking toward her raised his gun and grinned. She fired another shot in his direction, but again, it did nothing more than splatter against his combat armor and fizzle away. He fired at her, and she spun to the right. His shot grazed against her arm, warming it slightly, but not penetrating her combat suit.
As she spun, she reached her arm out, grabbing onto his shoulder and pulling him in close to her. She jumped up and wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down to her level. She pressed her gun into his side and prepared to fire.
A shout distracted it.
It wasn’t just a shout, it was a cry—a pain-induced cry coming from the area she knew Thor and Mordecai were. She faltered, for just a second, she faltered.
It was all her opponent needed. He reached back and grabbed onto her, flipping her over his head and throwing her down onto the ground in front of him. Without blinking, she kicked at his shins and pointed her gun at his face.
When he buckled forward, surprised and slightly hurt, she fired.
Her ears were ringing from the sound of the blast and her hands were shaking. Her attacker's lifeless body fell onto her and she struggled to free herself. Kardok was there in a hurry, lifting the man up and tossing him aside as if he were nothing more than an oversized ragdoll.
Kardok extended his hand to help her, but she didn’t notice. She jumped up and gazed around. Dario was still locked in battle with Mordecai’s last remaining man.
“Help him,” she ordered Kardok as she rushed to where she last saw Thor.
Thor and Mordecai had moved to the side of sloping, rocky hill. As she came to the top, she could see them, and she let out a soft sigh of relief. Thor wasn’t injured. At least, he didn’t seem to be from where she was. But, Mordecai didn’t appear hurt, either.
The two men moved swiftly. Thor’s agility was matched by Mordecai’s well-trained tactics. One moved in, the other moved back. One took a shot, the other dove. It was a dance; a disturbingly dramatic, deadly dance.
And it seemed that neither of them was going to gain the upper hand.
But then, Mordecai did. He moved to the right, sending Thor to the left. But Mordecai switched directions quickly, reaching his arm out and wrapping it firmly around Thor’s wrist.
“I’m done playing,” he snarled as he twisted it around.
Kira shrieked as the gun fell from Thor's hands. She rushed forward, ready to fire when Mordecai's eyes found hers.
“Stay there,” he said, pressing his gun into Thor’s side.
Kira shook her head and tears clouded her vision. “Don’t,” she whispered. She didn’t let her eyes drift to Thor’s. She didn’t let her feet run to him, no matter how badly they ached to. She held her ground as she held Mordecai’s gaze.
“Don’t,” she said again.
Mordecai scoffed. “Oh, since you asked so nicely.”
“You don’t have to do this,” she continued. “You don’t have…”
Mordecai threw his head back and laughed. Exactly what she had been hoping for. His momentary loss of focus gave Thor the chance to move. In the blink of an eye, he had taken hold of Modecai’s hand, the one pressing the gun into his side, and pulled out of his hold.
It all happened so fast. Kira couldn’t make out what was happening between the terrified tears that continued to cloud her vision.
Then, a shot and a cry and a thud.
She gasped for breath, shaking her head as she raced forward. A pair of arms reached out and took hold of her, pulling her back and holding her tightly. She tried to fight, but she couldn’t.
“It’s okay,” Thor said softly. “It’s okay. I’m okay.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Her heart was still pounding wildly in her chest. A mixture of adrenaline, fear, and relief rushed through her veins. She didn’t remember the trip back to the Curio. She didn’t remember leaving the planet. She didn’t remember anything more than cheers and shouts and relief.
“Max lost one ship,” Thor informed her, once they had set their course and had time to relax.
“Did he lose a lot of men?”
“No, thankfully. It was one of the smaller ships.”
“Good.”
They were back in their room. The ship was set to auto-pilot, and some Max’s men were taking the first watch, flying in front of the rest in case of an ambush. Kira slumped down into the bed and laid back.
She couldn’t wipe the smile from her face.
“I told you I could do it,” Thor said, wrapping his arms around her.
“You scared the shit out of me, though.”
“Oh, come on, that’s half the fun.”
She elbowed him in the side playfully, and he grunted and winced back.
“Oh, are you okay?” she asked, sitting up quickly.
“I’m fine,” Thor replied, lifting up the edge of his shirt to reveal a purple and blue bruise running up his left side. “If you think this is bad, you should see the other guy.”
Kira took hold of his shirt and lifted it up over his head, leaning in to examine his wound more closely.
“Maybe you should have Dario look at that,” she recommended.
Her hands gently grazed over the mark, tracing the lines in his chest and side and delicately tickling his skin.
“Why would I do that?” he asked, nudging her chin up. “Having you look at it is much more fun.”
She smiled and leaned in, pressing her lips to his. He laid back on the bed and pulled her down with him. As she leaned in, he winced again. She moved to pull back but he held onto her tightly.
“It’s worth it,” he whispered. “It’s all worth it when I get to be with you.”
His hands slipped lower and quickly undid the snaps of her pants. She moved in to kiss him again, letting her own hands drift over his body once more. He was right. It was all worth it—what they did, what they faced. Sharing in the fight was worth getting to share in the victory.
All she could think of was that—being with him, having him there—as they both slipped out of their clothes. When they came together again, she positioned herself beneath him. He leaned in, kissing her neck and sending shivers of excitement and longing running up her spine. She writhed to feel him more, to be closer to him.
When he pressed his weight forward and entered her, a gasp of pleasure slipped past her lips. It was a feeling of completeness. There was something passionate and tender about the way he moved. He grazed against her, causing her to wiggle with satisfaction.
Her arms prickled with goosebumps as he moved in and out, his member hard and strong. Her entire body welcomed the sensation; her skin warmed to his touch, her mouth longed for his kiss, her head spun with the pleasure he was giving her.
She reached her hands up and ran them through his hair, pulling his face down to hers. Her heart was beating quickly and her entire body shook.
All the thoughts of losing him, the fears of Mordecai taking him from her, were instantly erased. He was hers and she was his. They had survived, together. They had won, together.
And now, as they lost themselves in each other’s company, everything felt right.
“I love you, Kira,” he whispered, his warm breath washing over her bare chest.
“I love you, too,” she replied, still gasping with pleasure.
And for just a short time, there was no war and no fear and no doom. They were together, and that was all that mattered.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Captain?” Dario’s voice called through the door. “Captain?”
Kira let out a soft sigh and rolled onto her side. Thor grunted softly, not fully awakening from sleep, and stretched out into the space she had just vacated. She grabbed hold of her shirt and shorts and pulled them on quickly.
“Yes?” she asked as she stepped out into the hall. “What is it, Dario?”
“I’m sorry to bother you,” he said.
She couldn’t help but notice the way his hands twitched and his eyes darted back and forth nervously. His hair was tousled about, as if he, too, had been woken suddenly from a deep sleep.
“I wouldn’t wake you unless it was important.”
“I know,” she replied, taking his hands in hers. “What is it, Dario? What’s wrong?”
“I’ve just received another message from Thane,” he said quickly.
He looked back over his shoulder as if he were afraid that someone nearby was listening to them. His lips pursed together and his hands began to shake slightly.
“What did it say?” she asked.
Still, Dario scanned the halls. “It would be best if we discussed this in private.”
“We are in private,” Kira replied.
“Are we? Are you sure?”
“Dario, what’s going on?”
His eyes met hers and a shiver ran down her spine. “Come in,” she said, leading him back into the room where Thor continued to snore softly in his sleep.
“Should we wake him?” Dario asked in a gruff whisper.
“You tell me. How important is this message from Thane?”
“Important.”
“Then we wake him,” Kira said, walking over to the bed and plopping down onto it.
Thor stirred but didn’t wake up. She reached out and shook him gently. This time, his eyes drifted open slowly.
“I’m sleeping,” he said, his words nearly lost in a yawn. “You wore me out before, you know that Captain…”
“Thor,” Kira said, cutting him off quickly. “Dario is here.”
“What?” Thor asked, sitting up instantly and pulling the sheet up to his chin. “Dario, what the hell?”
“What he means to say is, ‘please, tell us what is on your mind,’” Kira said pushing herself up and grabbing onto Thor’s shirt.
She tossed it back to him before leading Dario over to one of the stiff metal chairs in the corner of the room. Once he was seated, she slid down into the chair next to him and waited. He took his time, his mind running wild as he tried to find the words to begin.
“Here,” he said finally, shoving the communication device he used to remain in contact with Thane into her hand. “Just watch it.”
Thor shifted on the bed, leaning forward to get a better view as she set the small cube down in the center of the floor between them. The second the image of Grimm’s personal aide poured out of the device, Kira scooted back. Leaning back against the bed, she held her breath as she watched.
“Dario,” Thane began. “Dear Dario, I am afraid. Not for me, for you. He knows, Dario. He knows everything.”
Thane’s eyes were wide, bloodshot, and piercing through the holographic image. With each message, Kira felt as if he aged. The handsome young man who had delivered the mission dossier to her all that time ago in the locker room aboard the TFS Victory had transformed before their eyes, each of his recorded messages serving as yet another testament to the physical and emotional strife he was enduring.
“I don’t know how,” he continued. “I don’t know how he knows, but he does. He knows your plans. He knew you were going after Mordecai. He knows your team has split up again. He knows that your Captain is not with the group coming after him. He knows everything.”
Thane paused and bone-chilling silence filled the room.
“There has to be a double agent on your side. Someone over there is informing him of your each and every move. Someone is not who they seem to be. Be careful who you trust. Please, Dario. Please be careful. I love you. I miss you.”
With that, the message ended. As soon as the image sucked back into the cube, Dario let out a soft sob. Kira’s blood ran cold. She turned to look back at Thor. The only emotion on his face was anger.
“It’s one of the damned pirates,” he said, preparing to push himself up out of the bed.
“Wait,” Kira stopped him. “We can’t be sure.”
"Like hell, we can't! They're pirates, Kira!"
“They were soldiers once.”
“They’re not anymore.”
“They helped us defeat Mordecai.”
“They haven’t fixed our radio yet.”
“Exactly,” Kira said.
She spun around and faced Dario then looked back at Thor. “They haven’t fixed our radio, which means that they don’t’ have all of the information that Grimm would need.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, we don’t know what’s going on with the others and neither do they. They can’t be sharing intel with Grimm because they’re not getting any.”
“What do we do?” Dario asked. “We can’t be sure it’s not them. We can theorize, but we can’t know for sure. And we can’t reach the others. We would need to use their comm system, and we can’t do that. We can’t risk it.”
“We need an engineer,” Thor muttered.
“What about one of the men that was taken captive from Mordecai’s group?” Kira offered.
“You think they’d actually help us?” Dario asked.
"I think it's worth a shot," Kira replied. "It's the only option we have. Clearly, Max's engineer is no good. And at least one of the prisoners can be manipulated into doing what we ask. They were once, right? They bought all of Grimm's bull shit. Why wouldn't they buy ours?"
“And what bull shit are we trying to sell them?”
“Well, those captives that are with Max’s secondary fleet are expecting to be shipped back to the T.A.F. and put away—for life—if they’re even allowed to live at all. Why don’t we offer them a chance at retribution?” Kira offered.
She, herself, didn’t expect her plan to work. She had known Grimm. He was smooth-talking and had a sort of charisma that clung to a person, even after they were no longer directly in his presence.
Still, marching into the holding cell on the smallest of Max’s fleet, she had a sense of purpose of her own.
“We just need one engineer,” she called out.
Max, Thor, and Dario marched along behind her. The faces of men she didn’t know, but somehow felt sorry for, peered out at her. Grimm had said before that she was a pawn. He was wrong. They were.
“In exchange for your help, we will be willing to volley for a less-severe punishment from the T.A.F. on your behalf,” Kira continued.
No one replied. She wasn’t giving up yet.
“What did Grimm offer you?” she asked. “Glory, fame, a future? Well, in case you didn’t notice, he lied! Oh, sure, you’ll get your glory—as some of the most hated men in the history of the Galaxy. Sure, you’ll have your future—locked up and wasting away in the back of some cold, heartless cell.”
She spun around and faced the men around her. Some of them locked eyes with her, while others looked away.
“If you do this, you won’t get what Grimm promised you. But, you will spare yourself what he’s left you with. He’s not coming for you. He can’t help you.”
One of the men to her right shuffled his weight around. Then, another to her left moved slightly.
“He used you,” Kira continued.
“And what is it you plan to do?” one of them asked gruffly. “You just want to use us, as well.”
“But what I’m asking you to do won’t land you on the T.A.F.’s hit list. I’m asking you to save yourself. This is as much for us as it is for you.”
“That’s a load of bullshit,” another one of the men replied. “But, I’ll buy it. I’ll fix your comm system.”
She spun around to face the man who spoke. He was the typical Terran male—dark eyes, dark hair, and strong build. It still surprised her to see the men that Grimm had enlisted. They looked just like any man one would see on the street. They weren’t evil or blood-thirsty. They weren’t monsters.
“You can do it?” she asked, still observing him carefully.
“I wouldn’t offer if I couldn’t.”
Suddenly, a chorus of voices filled the holding cell. It was as if by some crazed domino effect, all of their resolve began to crumble. That was the problem with starting a revolution on broken promises nestled in hate.
Loyalty was built on more than that.
“Sorry,” she said, unlocking the cell of the man who first stepped forward. “First come, first served.”
They had their man. To her surprise, it only took him a few hours to get their comm system back up and working.
“So, when you said your man had some training, did you mean that? Really?” she asked Max as they escorted their aide back to his cell.
“He did,” Max replied defensively.
"Just a thought, Max," Kira replied. "Maybe you should step-up your interview process if you consider this whole pirating thing in the future."
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
It took two days for repairs to be made to the ships that were caught in the worst of the battle against Grimm’s surprise attack. The waiting was the worst part. Aldo’s ship had sustained minimal damages—all things Alaria could fix on her own. Some of the other ships in the fleet weren’t so lucky, though.
Four of them were declared unfit for battle and sent back to the TFS Arbiter. Still, their numbers were strong, and Lieutenant Doone felt they were capable of continuing on with the mission.
They were all anxious about setting out on their journey again—all a bit shaken. That shouldn’t have happened. Aldo continued to say it, over and over again.
“It’s like he knew we were coming,” he continued to rant.
Still, when Doone gave the orders to proceed, they fell into line with the ships around them. Aldo’s nose twitched as he waited for his turn to join the fleets. Bron relaxed back in his chair.
When a ripple of static filled the cockpit, they both jumped.
“Bron? Alaria?” Kira’s voice came over the radio.
“Kira!” Bron exclaimed, initiating the ship-wide intercom. “Kira! You’re back!”
“Bron! It’s so good to hear from you. Is Aldo with you?”
“I’m here,” Aldo replied.
“Good,” Kira said. “I need you to open a private frequency where we can talk.”
“Just you and me? Captain, I don’t think your robo-soldier will be very happy about that. But. I guess if you…”
“Aldo, this isn’t time for jokes. I need to speak to you—all of you—on a frequency that can’t be intercepted by anyone else. Can you do that?”
“Sure. Give me five minutes. I’ll send over the information.”
“Thank you.”
The communication died out instantly. Just as the buzz of dead air filled the flight deck, Alaria and Vinnie came bursting in.
“Dario!” Alaria exclaimed. “Wait! Can I speak to Dario?”
“They’re gone,” Bron said, pushing himself up out of the co-pilot’s chair and walking over to her.
“Why do they want a private frequency?” Vinnie asked, walking up to one of the consoles and resting his weight against it.
“Why do you think, kid?” Aldo asked.
He didn’t look up from his work. He remained in the Captain’s chair as he scrolled through one screen after the next, numbers flying across each one of them. His nose twitched and his eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement as he went about his covert task.
“Do you think they’re in trouble?” Alaria asked.
“That’s what we’re about to find out,” Aldo said triumphantly. “I didn’t need five minutes,” he chuckled to himself. “I was just being modest. Why do I do that? I’m the best. I know I’m the best.”
Two minutes later, they were speaking to Kira and the others again.
“I’m sorry to say that this conversation will not be a friendly catch-up chat,” Kira said as soon as her image came over the screen in the center console. “I know you all want to talk, but right now, I need you all to listen.”
Her tone was unusually grim and her features seemed to be rigid and stiff. Alaria had never seen her look like that before. She didn’t like it.
“Last night we received a message from Thane,” she continued. “He said that somewhere someone is working as a double agent. We don’t know if that person is on our side or your side of the fight. But, someone is feeding information to Grimm.”
Alaria gasped, but Bron grunted.
“Figures,” Aldo said.
“What do you mean?” Thor asked, stepping into view.
“Let’s just say, we’re not surprised,” Aldo said.
“Grimm’s men ambushed us a few days ago,” Bron added. “Even Lieutenant Doone and his mighty all-knowing fleet didn’t expect them.”
“Lieutenant Doone?” Kira asked.
“Yeah, he’s the ego in charge of this side of things,” Aldo replied.
“He’s in charge?” Kira asked. “Since when? Why didn’t we know about this?”
“Your comm systems have been down,” Vinnie said.
“Why are you surprised? Do you know him?” Alaria asked.
“Not really,” Kira replied. “How many men are with him? A lot?”
“A fleet,” Bron said matter-of-factly. “Keep up, Captain.”
“Right, you said that.”
She seemed somewhat flustered, Alaria instantly noticed. “Is everything okay, Kira?”
“Fine,” she replied. “Great, actually. Well, no, not great. Clearly, this isn’t great.”
“She’s rambling,” Vinnie muttered. “She does that when she’s scheming.”
“I’m not scheming,” Kira replied. “I’m just thinking about our next move.”
“Scheming,” Bron and Vinnie said in unison.
“How far are you from finding Grimm?” Kira asked.
“Well, we were stalled for a few days for repairs and such,” Bron replied. “So, I’d say we’re still about three days out.”
“Good,” Kira said with a firm nod. “We’re not too far behind you.”
“You’re already done with Mordecai?” Alaria asked. “Why didn’t you start with that? Why doesn’t anyone start with good news anymore? This whole war thing doesn’t need to be so depressing, you know.”
Kira smiled and shook her head. “You’re right. Yes. We defeated Mordecai, also last night. We had a little help.”
“The pirates?” Aldo asked. “You’re still with the pirates?”
“We are.”
“And why aren’t we suspecting them?” Bron asked.
“That’s exactly what I said,” Thor chimed in.
“For now, we’ll suspect everyone,” Kira said. “But, just in case, do me a favor.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t tell Lieutenant Doone that we’re on course for your location just yet. If anything, tell him we’ve been stalled. If the double-agent is on your side, it’s best if they don’t know that we’re coming for them. That way Grimm won’t be able to prepare another counter-attack—not against all of us, at least.”
“And if the leak is on your side?” Bron asked.
“Then we’ll deal with him,” Thor said firmly.
“Alaria?” Dario said, rushing onto the screen.
His hair was disheveled and his face was drawn. The second she saw him, her heart sunk slightly.
“Dario, are you okay?”
“I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m worried is all. Are you okay?”
“I am.”
“I miss you,” Dario said.
“I love you,” Alaria replied.
Disconnecting the call was hard, for everyone. Even Aldo noticed the charge in the air that appeared when they were working together and the way that spark died out the second they were separated once again.
“You all have something very special here,” he said. “This whole team thing, I mean.”
“You’re a part of our team now, too,” Bron said, patting him on the back.
The force of his encouraging gesture nearly sent Aldo tumbling forward out of his Captain’s chair. To everyone’s surprise, Aldo didn’t immediately respond to the scene, which made Vinnie chuckle and Alaria giggle softly, with a sarcastic, defensive remark.
Instead, he, too, laughed slightly.
Back on board the Curio, though, no one was laughing. A pit had formed in Kira’s gut, and she knew it would remain there until she got a clear answer. Although, she was pretty certain that she already had one.
"His name is Ryker," she began when she and Thor were alone again. "He was my field training officer."
“Your field training officer?” Thor asked with a chuckle. “And now he’s a big-shot Lieutenant leading a fleet and calling the shots? That’s good for him.”
“No,” Kira said shaking her head. “You don’t understand. He was with me on my first mission.”
She waited for Thor to remember.
“Your first mission with Grimm? The one to find the Empyrean’s hideout?”
“Yes.”
“Okay.”
“He’s the double-agent, Thor. I’m sure of it.”
Thor leaned back in the bed and folded his hands behind his head. “How well do you know this guy?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
“Well enough.”
A smirk crossed Thor’s face. “Captain Winter, did you break one of the cardinal rules of going through official T.A.F. Training? No sleeping with your officers.”
“I didn’t break any rules.”
“Did you sleep with him?”
“Thor,” she said firmly, crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t really see how that is important.”
Thor laughed. “It’s not. I just love to watch your nose squish up and your eyes go wide like they do when you’re flustered.”
“Or angry,” she said, keeping her voice firm.
“You’re right. I’m sorry. This is serious. What makes you think that he’s the double agent?”
“It makes sense,” she replied. “He was always so insecure, you know.”
“No, I don’t know. But, I don’t know him like you do.”
She reached out, grabbed a pillow, and threw it at him as hard as she could. He lifted his hands to his face just in time to deflect the blow. He rolled onto his side and took hold of her hand, pulling her down onto the bed with him.
“I’m sorry, again,” he said as he wrapped his arm around her.
She snuggled in next to him and stared up at the ceiling, not paying attention to his apology or even caring about it. Her mind was still racing.
“He was always looking for approval; he was almost desperate for it. He would have done anything to get Grimm to notice him,” she continued.
“Do you think he finally did?”
“It’s just too much of a coincidence,” she replied.
“How long has it been since you talked to him last?”
“I haven’t spoken to him since that mission. We didn’t end on good terms. He was jealous of me, I guess. I don’t know. It’s not important.”
“If he really is the double-agent, he’s been keeping up the show for a very long time. With all the security and precautions the T.A.F. is taking, I doubt they would bring in someone off the streets to lead what is probably the most important mission in the history of the Alliance.”
“Like I said, I wouldn’t be surprised. He’s smart and skilled and desperate for adulation. Ever since he got kicked out of the Special Forces, all he wanted was to prove his worth again. To whom I have no idea. Himself probably.”
“Sounds like you really knew this guy well.”
“Basic Training is a long four years,” she replied.
“And what happened after…”
“I’m not having this conversation with you,” she said firmly.
That night she barely slept. Thor sensed her inner turmoil and tried to calm her. But, they both knew there was no doing that.
As much as she hated talking about the past, thinking about the future wasn’t any more pleasant. She worked to close the space between them and the others as quickly as possible, throwing the Curio into FTL drive anytime the machines were booted up.
The entire rest of the trip to face-off against Grimm, she thought over every possible scenario. If Ryker was the double agent, then there was no telling how the ultimate battle would play out. She thought and planned and prepared as best as she could.
And when the time finally came, she was ready.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
The fight began fast. It seemed as if the three days between the time they got back on course to find and face Grimm, and the time when that battle actually began passed quickly. They were ready, though. They had spent the last few days doing nothing more than preparing.
Alaria remained in the Control Room, even sleeping there to be sure she was ready when the moment came. Zola kept her company, and Bron visited her as often as he dared leave the flight deck. He, Aldo, and Vinnie had taken to sleeping there.
When the first rumble of battle started, Alaria was on her feet. Zola meowed loudly and jumped from her lap, scurrying into the hallway. Instantly, lights around her started flashing. The warnings were coming in.
She hurried over to the control panel linked to the shield array and checked everything—twice.
“It’s starting,” Bron’s voice came over the intercom.
Alaria nodded and tried to reply but she couldn’t. Another set of lights began to flash and drew her attention to the opposite side of the small room. The weapons array was online. She felt the hull shake as one of the missiles flew from its home.
“Be safe,” she called out, hoping that Bron was still online.
“I always am,” he replied.
He was nervous, though. After the last fight, they had all lost some amount of confidence. This time, Doone was online, barking out orders quickly and with an air of authority that Aldo had commented that he didn’t deserve.
“Weak ass leader,” Aldo muttered as he fell into position. “Oh no! They’re shooting at us! We need to run! It’s like he’s never been in a real fight before.”
Bron manned the cannons, and Vinnie worked the turret guns. It was impossible to tell how many ships were zooming around them. Bron worked to take them out, but their shields were strong and their weapons even stronger. The shots that just grazed by their ship were enough to make the entire thing shake.
Vinnie bounced up and down, cursing each ship as he sent a rain of energy-packed bullets flying in their direction.
“Take that, ass hole!” he cried. “This one’s for you, bitch!”
“You’re okay with him talking like that?” Aldo asked.
“Where do you think he learned it?” Bron asked, finding the hull of a ship in his sights and exclaiming “eat shit!” as he pulled the trigger.
Aldo shook his head and focused. His mission was the same as the others in their fleet—get to the hideout. He could see it up ahead, the entrance nearly hidden beneath a mountain of rocks and hills and craters. Still, he knew it well. He could have found it blindfolded.
The problem wasn’t finding it; it was getting there.
All the ships that Grimm had sent out had one mission, as well—keep them away.
The alarms in the flight deck pinged, sending a shiver up Aldo's spine. Someone had locked in on their position. He pulled up on the controls, pulling the ship to the right as he did. The bolt of energy zoomed by them, but they weren't in the clear, yet. Another ship locked on their position, and the chase continued.
Aldo pulled the ship even higher, urging it to fall out of the line of sight of the enemy. There were too many ships on, them, though. It was as if they were all there, chasing him through space, driving him further away from his target.
“What the hell, Lieutenant? Get them off me!” Aldo yelled.
“Trying,” Lieutenant Doone replied.
Aldo glanced at his screen to see a pair of fleet ships flying in their direction. In the distance, Doone and his men were locked in their own exchange with a small fleet of Grimm’s ships.
The fleet ships that were sent to help them zoomed in close, taking position—one to their right, the other to their left. They fired shots, diverting the swarm of vessels that had descended on them. One by one, the ships veered off. Some were destroyed, others disarmed. But still, it seemed that for each that left, another came.
Then, a ripple of fire filled Aldo’s starboard camera.
"Shit," he said, pulling the ship to the left and diving down. "One of our guys was hit."
“A lot of our guys have been hit,” Bron replied, looking at the screens around them.
Everywhere he looked, all he saw was fire and metal and destruction.
The sirens began to ping again. Aldo scanned the screens. They were surrounded. Four separate ships had locked in on their location. They each fired their weapons.
“This is it,” he said, his voice shaking. “Give them hell while we still can!”
Bron and Vinnie quickly began to fire at the incoming projectiles. Bron was able to disarm one, Vinnie another. Aldo dove out of the way of one of them, but there was one more still out there—flying straight at them, and closing the space all too quickly.
Then—the explosion.
Aldo screamed and pinched his eyes shut, expected to feel nothing more than heat and pain. He didn’t. He did feel the ship shudder around him and go spiraling through space a few times.
“Holy shit!” he exclaimed, opening his eyes and grabbing the controls again. “You did it! One of you did it!”
“It wasn’t us,” Bron said.
Aldo looked back at the screens. And there, he saw a sight that nearly made him burst into tears.
The Curio was flying off to their left, a larger ship hovering just past it.
“Kira!” Vinnie exclaimed.
“We made it just in time,” Kira said, leaning back in her chair and pulling the Curio around.
“For that,” Thor said, firing another cannon as one of the many remaining ships barreled toward them.
It pulled up and zoomed over their heads, the missile he launched hitting the side of another one of Grimm’s ships.
“That’s the thing about big numbers,” Thor said proudly. “Bigger room for error.”
“Well, that room is closing in quick,” Kira said.
She watched a pair of elite fighter jets that were quickly flying up on them from below. She waited until they were close before throwing the controls forward. Aldo and his team behind them took out one of the incoming ships, while Kardok on their turret guns took out the other.
The battle raged on, and slowly, they closed the gap between them and the opening to Grimm’s lair. Her heart accelerated quickly as she pushed through another onslaught.
“Who is this?” a familiar voice barked over her radio. “Identify yourself!”
“It’s Captain Winter,” she replied.
“Kira?” Ryker asked.
“Captain Winter,” she corrected him.
“I didn’t know you were en route.”
“You can thank me later,” she said, diving down as Thor took aim at a ship heading straight for the underbelly of Max’s ship.
“You have the clearest shot, Captain,” Ryker continued. “Can you get it?”
“I think so,” she replied.
She continued to work her way through the maze of ships—some throwing missiles in their direction, others nothing more than floating piles of metal already destroyed in the fight.
“We’re going to do it,” she said excitedly, her entire body shaking. “We’re going to…”
Just as she approached the entrance of the caves, a swarm of ships flew out at her. There weren’t many, but they were fast and strong and had the element of surprise to their advantage.
“Shit!” she exclaimed, pulling back on the control.
One of the new-comers fired at them, hitting the rear section of the ship. Everything around her shook. She tried to press on, but another shot found its home in the port side of the Curio. The lights flickered and the sirens blared.
“Captain,” Dario said. “I don’t know what’s happening. But I don’t think it’s good.”
He was in the control room, and clearly not as capable as Alaria was to identify and fix a problem before it became a disaster.
“Things are flashing and there’s steam coming from here….” Dario continued.
Another missile flew in their direction. Kira had no choice but to pull up. If she entered the cave, they would follow her in, blocking her exit and leaving her a sitting duck, waiting for sure death.
The ship rose quickly, although shakily. The sirens continued to scream and Thor and Kardok continued to fire whatever shots they could. Kira spun the ship around, ready to move when everything fell silent.
They were gone.
All of Grimm's ships were pulling back—escaping. Kira threw the controls forward, preparing to go after them when the scenes of destruction around her made her freeze.
What was left of their fleet was pathetic. The ships that remained intact didn’t look like they would stay that way for very long. She scanned the area, not breathing until she saw Aldo’s ship to her right and Max’s to her left.
At least they were okay.
"What do we do?" she asked, leaning back in her chair. "We have to go after him! Max, Aldo, are you there? Are you able to go on?"
“We’re here,” they both replied. “We’ll follow you…”
“If you go, you go alone,” Ryker’s cold, solemn voice broke into their transmission. “I will not lose any more of my men, Captain Winter.”
There were too many ships flying away. She had five in her command—Grimm had at least a dozen. They didn’t stand a chance.
“Are you kidding me?” Kira exclaimed, watching the ship grow smaller in the distance.
Her time of shock had passed, and now all she felt was anger. A surge of determination built up inside of her again. She had to stop him. She couldn’t do it anymore… She couldn’t…
She moved to throw the Curio into drive again, but Thor reached out and stopped her.
“Let him go,” he said solemnly. “We have to let him go.”
“No!” she exclaimed.
Her eyes were filling with tears of frustration and her hands shook. The dots on her screen grew fuzzy and her head spun, trying to replay the battle again and again in her mind, changing it—if only by force of will.
“We have to regroup, Kira,” Thor continued. “We’ve lost a lot of fighters. We can’t afford to lose anymore.”
“We won’t,” she said, her voice cracking. “I can take him… I can…”
“Kira,” Thor said, kneeling down in front of her and ripping her hands from the controls. “This isn’t over. I promise. We won’t stop until we get him.”
She shook her head and looked at him. She tried to find comfort in his eyes like she had so many times before. But, she couldn't. All she could see was her reflection, a look of hopelessness written across her face.
“What if we never do?” she asked softly.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“We had him!” she exclaimed, throwing her fists against the controls.
“You’ve said that before,” Thor replied.
They sat together on the flight deck, Aldo and Max and their ships following close behind them, as they flew with the remaining fleets in the direction of the TFS Glory—a small, yet functional T.A.F. Space Station located between Alpha and Omega space.
Vinnie had remained on the other ship, taking Bron’s place as co-pilot for the short journey. Kardok had gone to join Aldo, as well. But, Bron, Alaria, and Dario were all together, somewhere aboard the Curio, taking some time to recoup before whatever happened next happened.
“He was right there, Thor. I mean, damn!”
“How many times are we going to go over that battle?” Thor asked. “Kira, talking about it, replaying it in your mind, getting angry about it isn’t going to change it.”
“Why do you always have to be so damn rational?” she asked.
“Because if both of us were like you, we’d drive each other crazy.”
“Well, for the record, your attempts to rationalize me out of anger is driving me crazy anyway.”
“Well, your anger is still just as sexy as it was the first day we met.” She looked over at him and he smiled back at her. “We’ll get him, Kira. We will.”
“But we…”
“We’ll get him.”
She sighed and turned her attention back to the viewscreen in front of her. The blanket of stars that filled the sky did nothing to calm her. If anything, it only added to her frustration and anxiety. Each twinkling light in the distance pulled her attention toward it.
Was it him?
Was he still out there?
Was he watching them? Taunting them?
“He has to have a double-agent,” she concluded.
“You still think it’s this Doone guy?”
“That’s what I’m going to find out,” she said with purpose.
“Kira,” Thor said, his words filled with concern. “What are you going to do?”
“Nothing,” she said, trying to sound innocent.
“Kira, I know you…”
“Then you know it’s no good trying to talk me out of a plan once I’ve formulated one.”
“You haven’t formulated one,” Thor replied. “You haven’t had time to formulate one. You just now decided you wanted to do something.”
“Well, I’m in the process of formulating.”
“I can talk you out of that, surely.”
“Nope,” she said, shaking her head firmly. “It’s too late, I’m formulating.”
Her plan had only half-formed in her mind by the time they reached the TFS Glory, though. All she knew was that she had to find a way to prove that Ryker was working with Grimm. He had to be communicating with him somehow. Using a secret frequency or scattered signal.
That couldn’t be, though. That was stuff that Aldo could do; not Ryker. It had to be simpler than that. But what?
There were only a handful of employees stationed on the TFS Glory. The small space station became suddenly very crowded when Doone’s fleet, and Kira’s crew, and the pirates who had stuck around even after the carnage of the battle with Grimm, piled on board.
The pirates went to the bar; the soldiers went to the mess hall. Kira and her crew went to the only conference room the station had to offer. To their surprise, Lieutenant Doone was already there, waiting for them.
“Captain Winter,” he said, stretching out his arms and walking up to her quickly. “I cannot tell you how relieved I was to see you and your group of out-laws show up! You saved us, you know. Of course, you do. You’re Captain Winter.”
Everyone except for Thor was surprised by his warm embrace.
Even Kira was slightly surprised.
“Ryker,” she said, pulling back from him. “I mean, Lieutenant. It’s so good to see you.”
“Wait, you know each other?” Alaria asked. “Like well? Like first-name-basis-well?”
“Well enough for a hug. I’ve never seen Kira hug anyone she doesn’t know,” Bron said with a grunt.
“How well?” Vinnie asked, his voice bouncing with mischief.
“Pretty well, I think,” Thor added with a chuckle. “She doesn’t even hug me in public.”
Kira spun around and glared at him. His eyes sparkled as he suppressed a laugh.
“Oh, I’ve seen her hug you in public,” Bron said.
Vinnie chuckled and opened his mouth to say something in tune with his guardian’s playful remark, but snapped it shut when Kira’s glare fell on him.
“You’ll have to forgive them,” she said spinning back around to face Ryker.
He was staring at her, his expression blank. There was something in that stare that made her arms prickle with goosebumps. In a flash, a hollow smiled crossed his face.
“I’m glad to see you’ve found a crew so fitted to your boisterous personality,” he said, stepping back and motioning for everyone to come in.
“We need to message Artanis,” Kira said, moving to the head of the table.
Ryker followed behind her, standing to her left. “You took the words out of my mouth.”
Kira looked over at him suspiciously. He flashed her his charming smile, the one that hovered right above the surface of all of his insecurities. She had seen that smile before.
“Captain, please, will you do the honors?” he asked, motioning toward the tablet sitting in the center of the table.
“This is your mission, Lieutenant,” she replied.
“I’m afraid not. I’m in charge of the fleets, but you are in charge of me. You are the one Artanis favors, Kira. It’s always you that they favor.”
The smile not faltering from his lips, Ryker laughed and slid the tablet in her direction. As she reached for it, her fingers grazed his. A shiver ran up her spine—cold and nervous. His eyes met hers and for a second, she wasn’t sure if she was in the present or the past. For just a flash, a heartbeat of time, she was back in Training. She was the one looking for approval—his approval.
How had the roles shifted so drastically and quickly? One mission was all it took for him to grow to hate her; one mission was all it took for her to discard him for a future and career she now found herself willing to give up—for another man and the life she wanted with him.
“Holy shit, I’ll do it,” Aldo said reaching across the table and taking the tablet from Kira’s hands.
Before she could react, Aldo pulled up a line of communication, setting the tablet back down in the center of the table and stepping back, waiting for Artanis’ image to fill the air. When it did, Kira’s eyes drifted between the white-haired face of her Commanding Officer and the face of the man she loved.
Thor looked back at her with an expression she couldn’t read. He seemed confused, concerned, and yet, encouraging.
“Admiral,” Aldo spoke, “we are sorry to report that Grimm got away.”
“We?” Artanis asked, his brow furrowing. “Where is Captain Winter?”
“Here,” Kira said, stepping around the table and in front of Artanis’ hovering face.
“Why is it that you were not the one to deliver the news?”
“I was right here,” Kira replied. “I was simply going over everything with Lieutenant Doone.”
“I see,” Artanis replied.
“She was being awkward with Lieutenant Doone,” Bron muttered under his breath.
“Awkward!” Kardok exclaimed.
“I suppose I should have informed you of my decision to bring in reinforcements,” Artanis said, clearly noting the frustrated look on Kira’s face.
It seemed like everyone noted that look on her face.
“It was a scrambled effort, Captain. And given that your comm system was down…” Artanis continued.
“We lost Grimm,” Kira cut him off. “But, we will find him again, Admiral. I’m sure he didn’t get far.”
“And his troops?”
“We were able to overpower a good portion of his forces. He did take some ships with him when he left, however.”
“Smaller numbers mean it will be easier for him to hide. Aldo, do you have any thoughts as to where his secondary hideout would be?”
Aldo popped back into view, his nose twitching. “No,” he said with a shrug. “As far as I knew, he didn’t have one.”
Artanis shook his head. Kira felt the pressure in the room increasing—spirits were falling and guilt was amassing. It didn’t help that she could feel Ryker’s eyes burning into her. He was waiting for her to act, judging her abilities to lead.
“I think we have something that could be beneficial,” she said suddenly. “I think we can figure out where he’s hiding.”
Everyone in the room stiffened up.
“How so?”
“We believe he is working with someone on our side—a double agent. My guess is that it is one of the pirates. Grimm was far too prepared for our attack, and not to mention the ambush he staged when Ryk—Lieutenant Doone and the others were closing in on his hideout.”
“Why am I just now hearing about this?” Ryker and Artanis asked in unison.
“I’ve had a lot on my mind,” Kira said, her tone slipping back into the controlled, casual air she so often assumed in these situations. “You know, saving the galaxy and all.”
“I have just filed the pardons for the pirates!” Artanis said firmly.
“Good,” Kira replied. “They won’t suspect that we’re on to them, then. It’s always best when they don’t suspect it.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
“What are you doing?” Thor asked her in a gruff low tone.
She scanned the bar, sipping on her drink as her eyes fell on Ryker. He was looking back at her. Butterflies filled her stomach again—angry, nervous butterflies that made her feel sick.
“Now he knows we’re onto him.”
“He knows we’re onto someone. He’s watching us, Thor,” she replied. “He’s weighing our abilities. Not seeing the obvious—that Grimm has an inside man—would make us appear either naïve or suspicious. Now, we’re neither. Besides, maybe it is one of the pirates. You’re the one that said…”
“But you were so sure it was him.”
“I need proof,” she muttered into her glass.
The bar they were in—the only bar aboard the TFS Glory—was crowded and loud. A group of pirates sat in one corner, each with a drink in their hands and four empty glasses in front of them. Ryker's fleets were a little more refined, on their second beverage, but still, it was clear that they, too, were hoping to drown their defeat in a glass of whiskey.
“I never liked him,” Aldo said sliding into the booth next to her, a little too loudly for Kira’s comfort.
“He fooled me,” Alaria admitted.
She sat in the booth across from Kira. Kira couldn't help but notice how close she was sitting to Bron, his arm draped around her casually. Dario was to her right and seemed to be in his own world. Kardok, seated two down from Kira, next to Thor, was in his own world, as well. But, his world seemed to be a much more pleasant place than Dario's. He laughed to himself as he sloshed his drink back and forth in his glass before lifting it quickly to his lips and draining it of its contents. Vinnie sat silently, pouting that Bron still refused to let him have a drink.
“So, what is your history with him, exactly?” Alaria asked, leaning forward. Her bright blue eyes went wide and a sly smile slid across her face.
Kira’s cheeks flushed as Thor chuckled.
“They were lovers,” Thor said.
Kira elbowed him in the side briskly.
“What?” Bron asked.
Vinnie perked up. “No way,” he muttered.
“It wasn’t like that. We knew each other for years. He was my training officer. When I graduated and Grimm selected me for the mission to find the Empyreans, Ryker was brought on to work the mission, as well. He was hoping that mission would help him get back onto the Special Forces.”
“So, what about all of that makes you think he’s working for Grimm still?” Dario asked.
“He was jealous of me,” Kira continued. “Grimm seemed to favor me, as Ryker so subtly reminded me back in the conference room. He hated that I was given classified information and he resented me for not sharing it with him.”
She took a long sip of her drink and let her eyes drift back over to where Ryker was leaning against the bar. He wasn’t looking at her anymore. She let out a soft sigh of relief.
“In the end, I broke things off with him. I wanted to focus on my career, and his constant whining and endless insecurities threatened to hold me back,” she added nonchalantly.
"I remember you back in the day," Bron said, nodding. "You were always hyper-focused on your career. Even when you were breaking every rule in the book, all you cared about was flying and adventure and kicking ass."
“You say that as if I’ve changed,” Kira mused.
Bron tilted his head to the side and glanced between her and Thor. “You’re saying you haven’t?”
“I’m saying I’m still really good at kicking ass,” she said, throwing back the last drops in her glass.
Ryker was leaving the bar, and she intended to leave with him. She was going to get her answers—tonight. Looking up at Thor, she smiled, kissed his cheek and then turned her attention back to the others.
“Will you excuse me?” she said. “I have a past to drudge up and a galaxy to save.”
“What are you going…?” Dario started, but Thor lifted his hand to stop him
“She’s formulated.”
“What?” Bron and Alaria asked.
“Don’t worry about it,” Kira said, sliding out of the booth after Aldo vacated his seat. “Just be ready to back me up if I need it.”
“We always are,” Bron said. “That’s one thing about working with you we have all come to accept—always be ready to act.”
“Good,” Kira said, smiling back at them over her shoulder as she hurried out of the bar.
Once she reached the small space station promenade, she scanned her surroundings quickly. It didn’t take long for her to spot Ryker, turning the corner a few hallways to her right. She hurried after him.
“Ryker!” she yelled out once she had turned the corner after him.
He stopped but didn’t turn to face her. “Why am I not surprised that you’re here?” he asked.
“I don’t know. I am,” she replied.
He took another few steps and stopped in front of one of the many doors lining the hall. Pulling out his ID badge, he finally looked back at her.
“Want to come in for a drink?” he offered.
“I don’t know if I should.”
"It's me, Kira. It's not like we haven't had a drink together before. It's not even the first time we've been alone in my room before if I remember correctly."
Her cheeks flushed on their own accord.
“I didn’t come here to…”
“Who are you trying to convince?” he asked, holding his badge in front of the reader.
The door slid open and he stepped in. She followed behind him, her stomach suddenly turning to knots. She reached down instinctively and rested her hand on the grip of her Phantom. Ryker was already moving past the small seating area and headed toward the even smaller kitchen. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, stepping in deeper into the single bedroom temporary living space.
“What will you have?” Ryker asked.
“I’m good,” she replied, taking a seat on the couch.
It was an uncomfortable couch. Or, maybe, she was just uncomfortable. Still, she tried to stay as focused as possible. Scanning the room, she looked for anything that was out of place, anything that seemed to be suspicious.
There was nothing.
It was obvious he had just arrived at the room, dropped his things, and then went to the conference room where they had met earlier. All of his items were still in bags, piled next to the door.
“I made you a drink anyways,” he said, walking back into the room and handing her a glass.
“Thank you,” she said, taking it and setting it down on the small table in front of her. He sat down on the table next to her drink and stretched his legs out, clearing his throat as he did.
That was suspicious, she thought. Or, was she just over-analyzing everything?
“Why did you say you weren’t surprised to see me here?” she asked.
“Why are you here?”
“I asked you first.”
He sipped his drink and leaned back slightly. The table creaked softly under his weight. His frame was larger than she remembered, even more muscular. His eyes were tired, not playful like they used to be. The scars on his cheek seemed more pronounced as if they had become deeper with age.
“I saw you looking at me in the bar,” he said.
Again, her cheeks flushed.
“I know you’re with that Arcanum,” he continued. “I’ve heard a lot about him, you know.”
Kira wanted to squirm. She had to play it cool, but talking about Thor with Ryker was not a situation she considered comfortable. Fighting pirates and running from bounty hunters—those were things she was comfortable doing. Navigating her way through an awkward conversation about relationships was not.
“We don’t need to talk about him,” she said.
She wasn’t sure how Ryker would take her statement. She only knew she wanted him to change the subject.
“Is that why you came here? To not talk about him?”
"I didn't come here to talk about him if that's what you're asking."
Ryker smiled and moved to the couch next to her. As soon as he scooted in her direction, she scooted away. As she moved her foot grazed against something under the couch. A bag, maybe. Something small for sure.
That’s when she finally knew what she needed to do.
“Whoa there,” she said, laughing nervously. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I thought you came here to…”
“What the hell?” she said, standing up quickly. “Ryker, I’m insulted.”
She reached for the glass on the table, the one he had brought for her, and took hold of it. Her gestures were dramatic and felt stiff. It wasn’t like her to cause such a scene, but she needed him to leave the room.
So, with an offended squeal, she threw her drink in his face.
“I can’t believe you thought I wanted to…!” she began to exclaim.
But, before she could finish her theatrical display, Ryker pushed himself up, shouting a slew of profanities, much more intense than she felt she deserved and rushed back into the kitchen. She didn't bother to ask if he was okay or try to apologize for her outburst.
Falling quickly to her knees, she shoved her hands up under the couch. The second they landed on a small, fabric pouch, she knew she had was she was looking for. Pulling the pouch out from under the couch, she felt it, just to be sure.
There was no doubt; there was a comm band inside. Which was odd, since Ryker was already wearing one. Why would he need two?
She could hear him continuing to shout out profanities from the kitchen. Without a second of hesitation, she ran for the door. She didn’t stop until she was sure it was safe—at least for the time being.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
“Where’s Aldo?” Kira asked the second Alaria opened the door.
The first thing she did when she left Ryker’s room was find Thor. He was still in the bar, bonding with the pirates.
“I stayed behind to wait for you,” he said with a smile. “How was your date?”
“How much have you had to drink?”
“Nothing,” he said. “I wanted to stay sharp, just in case…”
Before he could finish his statement, she had grabbed onto his wrist and tugged him along behind her. A few moments later they were at the door of one of the rooms her crew had reserved upon arriving at the TFS Glory.
They had rented four rooms. Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember who was in which room. The room they had shown up at was not the one she was looking for.
Alaria’s big blue eyes stared at her, confused. She took two steps back and motioned around the room. Only Bron and Dario were there with her.
“He’s not here. He’s in his room,” she replied.
“As much as we enjoy all being together, we don’t share living quarters, you know,” Bron said.
Kira wanted to ask about who was going to be sharing the living quarters she had just walked into—Alaria and Dario or Alaria and Bron—but she decided that question was best kept for later.
Or never—that could work, too.
“Where is he staying?” she asked.
She hadn’t realized until just then that she was short of breath. Alaria rested her hand on her shoulders and leaned in to look her in the eye.
“What is it, Kira?”
“I… found…” she gasped. Shaking her head, she reached into her pocket and pulled out the comm bad she had stolen from Ryker’s quarters.
“It’s a comm band,” Thor said, taking hold of it. “So what?”
“It’s a secondary comm band,” Kira replied. “I stole it from Doone. He was wearing one—the one he’s been wearing all along. So, why does he need this one?”
“Is it an older model?” Dario asked.
Alaria took possession of it and turned it over in her hand to examine it. “No,” she shook her head. “In fact, it’s new. Like, really new. I’ve never seen one like this.”
She walked further into the room, holding the metal device gingerly as if she had suddenly realized its value. Leaning over, she placed it carefully on the table in the center of the room.
“It’s amazing,” she gasped. “I mean, look at it.”
Kira walked up behind her and stared down at the metal band. “It just looks like a comm band to me.”
“Oh, it’s much more than that.”
Alaria reached out and turned the device over. On the inside of the band, wheels and pins and a world of technical bits and pieces that Kira didn’t understand whirred about.
“It’s a tracker, a navigation device, and a comm band all mushed into one. And, it has its own internal encryption system. It scatters the signals it sends out. That means it has a partner, a mate, I guess you could say. The only person this comm band will communicate with is whoever has its other half.”
“How can you tell all of that just by looking at it?” Bron asked.
Alaria looked back at him over her shoulder, her eyes wide and filled with the excitement only a true engineer could feel at the discovery of this new device.
“Well,” she started. “This little thing here, it is hooked up to…”
“We don’t have time,” Kira cut her off. “We believe you, Alaria. Can you figure out who or what it’s communicating with? Can you pull up a message history, at least?”
Alaria wrinkled her nose. “Sorry,” she said softly. “It’s encrypted. I need the code. The only thing I can do is take it apart and put it back together. I can’t even turn it on.”
Dario shuffled back and forth, staring at the device in Alaria’s hands.
“Dario?” Kira asked. “You made the comm device you and Thane share. Is this like that at all?”
Dario shook his head. “That is nothing more than a transmitter. It only sends recorded messages. This is something else.”
“Then that brings me back to my original question—where is Aldo?” Kira said.
“I’ll go get him,” Bron offered. “I think his room is down the hall a little way.”
“Hurry,” Kira said as he rushed out. “I have a feeling Ryker is going to be looking for this.”
“How did you get it?” Thor asked.
“I threw a drink in his face,” Kira replied
“You did what?” Alaria asked.
“He tried to come onto me.”
The time between Bron’s departure and his return with Aldo felt like an eternity. In reality, it was only a couple of minutes. But, each of those minutes brought Ryker a little closer to figuring out what she had done.
"What's going on?" Aldo asked when he finally arrived. He walked into the room without even knocking. "Bron said everyone is meeting here for some reason?"
Bron followed him in.
“I didn’t tell them anything, not yet. Figured it’d be better to wait,” he explained.
“Kira got hit on and threw a drink in some guy’s face,” Thor said.
“Damn,” Aldo replied, walking further into the room.
“It was Lieutenant Doone, and I did it so I could get this,” Kira replied, pointing down at the metal comm band still sitting on the table. “We need you to figure out how to access it. Can you?”
Aldo’s nose twitched as his eyes fixed on the small metallic object. He rubbed his hands together as he moved slowly toward it.
“This is Grimm’s doing, no doubt about that,” he said, leaning forward.
Still, he didn’t reach out to take hold of it. It seemed as if time stood still. Or, at least, as if time had become painful—each second that ticked by, Kira felt her anxiety growing.
“He’s going to figure it out soon,” she said.
“You can’t rush genius, dear,” Aldo replied.
“No, but you can kill it. Which is exactly what Ryker will do as soon as he figures out I stole his top-secret comm device.”
“Someone’s cynical,” Aldo muttered as he leaned in closer to examine the device.
“You’re just now noticing this?” Thor said.
“I don’t spend as much time with her as you do. I’m sure you know her in a lot of ways I don’t,” Aldo replied, not missing a beat.
“Can you activate it or not?” Kira said, losing her patience.
“I can,” Aldo said, finally taking hold of it.
His fingers began to work, quickly, turning the device over, opening it up, pulling up a holographic keyboard, and entering in a string of figures and numbers faster than any of them had anticipated. Before they could ask what he was doing, he set the metal band down and backed away.
A smirk crossed his fur-covered face. “Grimm may be intelligent, but he’s lazy,” he said.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s still using the same codes he did when I was working for him. I’m the one that first set up this whole closed network system. I was also the one that wrote the override code.”
“You may be worth that whole mess in Jaantu 7, after all,” Thor said, patting him on the back.
“I’m glad I’m finally impressing you people,” Aldo muttered.
The device, still sitting on the table between them, shook to life. A series of numbers poured out of it, and then, it went blank.
“We have five minutes,” Aldo informed them. “Then it will self-destruct.”
“Self-destruct?” everyone asked in unison.
“It was a damn good code,” Aldo said with pride.
“Will it hurt us?” Kira asked.
“No,” Aldo said, clicking his tongue and shaking his head. “It’ll just melt away. Now, if someone were wearing it, it’d dissolve your arm entirely. But, at worst, it’ll just make a very large hole in this very cheap table.”
“We’re wasting time,” Dario said, drawing their attention back to the matter at hand.
“What is it you want to figure out?” Aldo asked.
“Everything,” Kira said. “Everything. What have they been saying to each other? Where is Grimm?”
Aldo nodded and waved his hand over the space above the band. A keyboard appeared. He entered in yet another code and stepped back once again.
A wealth of information spilled out in front of them. Video messages played, all at once. Some showed Grimm; some showed Ryker; some showed a man that looked familiar and alien at the same time.
“Who is that?” Bron asked.
“I don’t know, one of Grimm’s buddies that was always lurking about,” Aldo said calmly. “There’s too much here,” Aldo said. “There’s no way we can go through it all in four minutes.”
“Can you pull up the most recent message?” Thor asked.
Aldo nodded and stepped back toward the device, a little more apprehensively this time. Another quick exchange between him and the hovering keyboard and one single video hovered in the air.
It was Grimm.
Kira’s spine tingled with anger and fear and frustration and excitement.
“You’ve done well so far,” Grimm said. “It’s all gone according to plan. We will be moving to the next system now. Kill the Captain and then her crew, then come join me. We will be victorious. You will have your glory, Lieutenant. You’ve earned it.”
Kira’s eyes went wide.
“He’s supposed to kill you,” Thor said, almost angrily. “He’s supposed to kill you and you went to meet him in his quarters? Do you realize how dangerous…?”
“What is the next star system?” Kira asked cutting him off. “Are they going in order?”
“I don’t know,” Aldo said, shaking his head.
“A map, there must be a map on the device,” Dario said urgently.
“Two minutes,” Alaria warned.
Aldo worked quickly to search the files on the comm band. There was one that seemed different than the others. It wasn’t a map—it was a list. A list that was as coded as everything else on the device.
They studied it, for as long as they could, but time was running out, and the seconds that ticked by passed much quicker than any of them had been prepared for. Before they knew it, the words fell out of the air.
“It’s shutting down,” Aldo said, pushing them back. “It’s destructing.”
“Does anyone remember what it said?” Kira asked. “Does anyone know where they’re going next?”
Silence.
Then, a robotic laugh.
It wasn't menacing or evil or haunting, as would have fit the moment. It was sarcastic and gruff and followed by an unmistakable grunt.
“Thank you for inviting us.” Vinnie’s voice seemed to shake the room back into the present.
“Us!” Kardok exclaimed, hovering in the doorway.
"I went to see Aldo and found Kardok. He said you were all meeting here. Well, he didn't say that. He just said ‘Aldo!' and laughed. But, I got the message," Vinnie explained.
They all turned in unison to find the young Terran teen, still in his pajamas with his metallic tagalong at his side. Spilling out of the robot’s torso was the image they had just watched disappear—the list they hoped would guide them to Grimm.
“Oh, Rob recorded everything,” Vinnie said, patting the robot on the head. “Just in case.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“You nosey little shit,” Bron said, smiling from ear to ear. “Bless your adventure seeking little heart, you’ve done it again!”
Vinnie crossed his arms over his chest and nodded confidently. “Just another day in the life-saving your asses with my own brand of rebellious genius. Not like I expect you to thank me or anything. I’m always the one…”
“Did he get it all?” Aldo cut him off. “Did the annoying self-important hunk of metal really record it all?”
“You know, for people that are so worried about being caught, you’re not very observant of what’s going on around you. We’ve been here for a while,” Vinnie replied.
Vinnie waved over his shoulder for Kardok to come inside. He did, kicking the door shut behind him as he did. Leaning his weight against it, he watched as the others scurried about, an amused smile on his face.
Everyone rushed to crowd around Rob. They poked and prodded him, bringing up the image again, despite his protests at being crowded by a group of “air-breathing idiots.”
Alaira didn’t join them, though. She smiled and walked around the group, tousling Vinnie’s hair in the way she always did.
“Thank you, Vinnie,” she said. “We never expect it, but you always come through. That’s what makes it so valuable, you know. You’re always there when we need you to be. Even if we don’t know it.”
Vinnie shrugged, trying to play it cool. “It’s what I do,” he said.
But, secretly, he smiled inside. He had grown to like Alaria. She saw him when others didn’t, and he wanted to have that in his life. She also saw Bron in a way that others didn’t. He had never seen him act the way he did around her with anyone else. She made Bron happy; she made him happy. Not to mention, she was pretty badass herself, and that always counted for something in Vinnie’s mind.
The rest of the group was so busy at work that they didn’t notice the soft clunk the comm band made when it dissolved through the table it was resting on and fell to the ground, nothing more than a pile of bolts and pieces that could never be put together again.
“It’s all encrypted,” Kira said, sitting back. “Aldo, do you know this code?”
“I know I’ve become the resident know-it-all, and, to be honest, I’ve been enjoying the role. I think it fits me very well,” Aldo began.
Kardok laughed and exclaimed from his post by the door. “Aldo is a know-it-all.”
“Maybe we should re-work that title. ‘The Wise One’ may be better…” Aldo mused.
“Aldo,” Kira cut him off. “We can work on the name later. Answer the question.”
“Right. The short answer is ‘no.’ I don’t know this code. Well, I guess that’s not really the ‘short answer.’ It’s just ‘the answer.’”
“It doesn’t matter,” Kira said, pushing herself up off the ground.
The others remained huddled around Rob, staring up at her, waiting for her orders.
“The important thing right now is that we get this information to Artanis. We need to expose Ryker; we need to get him removed from this mission.”
“Rob can send it,” Vinnie said.
“Good,” Kira said. “Do it. Now.”
The small robot shook slightly as the images pouring out of its metallic belly disappeared. Everything they had seen had been recorded into Rob’s internal hard drive. The videos of Grimm, Ryker, and Grimm’s secret colleague, the messages of praise and approval, the encrypted list of star systems—they were all there for Artanis to see.
A collective sigh of relief filled the room once Rob’s metallic voice informed them that the files were sent.
That sigh evaporated quickly when a sharp series of knocked rippled through their moment of alleviation. Kardok jumped away from the door, spinning around and holding his fists out in front of him.
"Captain Winter? Kira! I know you're in there. I've been to your room already. I've searched the other rooms reserved under your ship's call sign. I know you're there!"
Ryker’s voice was distinct. It wasn’t the same calm, collected voice he used to address his troops. It wasn’t laced with the false air of confidence that it assumed when he went to meet Bron and the others aboard Aldo’s ship.
It was the voice he had used when he spoke to her, all those years before. It was terse and tense and had an undertone of rage that seemed to pierce through the silences left between his thoughts.
Kira moved toward the door, drawn forward more by morbid curiosity than anything else. She nodded to Kardok, who took a few steps back, although he didn’t lower his fists. Just as she approached, Thor reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back.
“He was ordered to kill you,” he whispered in her ear.
“I want to see him try,” she replied, taking hold of her Phantom.
“Kira,” Thor said softly, although there was nothing soft about his tone. “Let one of us answer it.”
“No.”
“Do you remember how you felt about me going up against Mordecai?”
Her eyes met his and she inhaled sharply. “Of course, I do. And I remember you insisting on doing it anyway. And I stood there and watched you. I watched you take him on, again. You had to defeat him for you. I have to do this for me.”
“You’re our Captain,” Thor replied gruffly. “You don’t get to do things for you anymore.”
“Kira!” Ryker called out again. “I’ll give you to the count of three, then I’m coming in!”
She smiled up at Thor and shook her head. “It’s funny,” she said softly. “Doing things for myself has somehow become intertwined with doing things for all of you. I have to do this because I know him; he’s out to kill. I can’t let him kill any of you.”
“We can’t let him…” Thor started.
But, Kira pushed herself up onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his, simultaneously pulling her wrist out of his grasp. He could have stopped her; he was faster than her and stronger. But, he didn’t. She smiled at him over her shoulder as she walked toward the door.
“Calm down!” she called out, just as Ryker reached his count to ‘one.’ “You never were good at being…”
She pulled the door open and the words caught in her throat. His face was deformed—melted like the comm band they had just activated. Her hand flew to her mouth as a gasp unwittingly slipped past.
He took advantage of her surprise, reaching out and grabbing onto her wrist, tossing her Phantom to the side and pulling her out into the hall violently. From behind him, a swarm of men rushed into the room where everyone she cared about was taking cover.
Shots were fired. Shouts penetrated the air.
Through it all, she couldn’t take her eyes off his face.
“The drink,” she gasped as he pulled her in close to him. “It was in the drink.”
“I should have known. You were always too much of a prude to drink when you were working. And when you came to see me, you were working, weren’t you?”
“I don’t know…”
“Don’t play dumb, Kira. It was never a good look on you. I still see you that way, though, you know. Young, naïve, bright-eyed and ignorant—a trainee still blind enough to think that the T.A.F. has all the answers. For a time, I tried to see you differently. I tried to see you as someone with more wit and depth. But, you never were that, were you? You were always blinded by the glory of the position; you were always looking for your next promotion, not caring who you toppled down in the process.”
“Ryker,” she gasped, still trying to find a way to look at him without wincing. “You don’t understand; you never did.”
She softened her tone and wiped the look of fear off of her face.
“I never wanted to be better than you,” she continued. “I never wanted to make you feel this way.”
She tried to look into his eyes. She focused on them. She let the memories of their time together bubble up to the surface.
“You were my idol,” she continued. “In so many ways, you still are.”
She stepped into him, inhaling slowly as she did. He relaxed slightly.
"I always admired your strength, your perseverance. I was only trying to be what you saw in me," she continued, taking another slow, purposeful step. "You always talked about my potential. I wanted to show you that I could be everything you thought I was."
Another step and Ryker went rigid. His hand flew down to his side, stopping hers before she found the hilt of his gun. His face twisted into what she could only assume was meant to be a smile.
“This is beneath you, Kira,” he said.
“You are beneath me,” she replied, lifting her knee swiftly and placing a blow into his gut.
He buckled forward and stepped back quickly. Immediately, she loosed her fist, already balled up from the tension she felt coursing through her veins, and let it find its home in the left side of his face.
The cry of pain he let out sliced through the air. It was surely due as much to his recent encounter with the deadly acid he had slipped into her drink as it was to her perfectly placed punch.
She didn’t have time to enjoy her short-lived moment of victory, though. From the room, she could still hear gunshots ringing out. She scurried around Ryker and bolted for the doorway. The second she pressed her hand into the reader and the door slid open in front of her, yet another unwitting gasp slipped past her lips.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
It was chaos—pure chaos.
Directly in front of her, blocking the others into the room, were the three remaining men that came with Ryker. Their colleagues laid on the ground at their feet. At the sound of the door sliding open, one of them turned back, gun still in hand.
The shot was fired.
Kira dove to the left, simultaneously stretching out her arm and grabbing hold of her Phantom as she hit the ground. She let the inertia of her fall push her around back onto her stomach, where she pushed herself back to her feet swiftly.
“What’s the plan Ryker?” she asked, pointing her gun at him.
He had recovered from her blow and was now pointing the barrel of his pulse gun in her direction.
“You’re going to kill me and my crew, then what? You won’t get away with it. You won’t get off the TFS Glory. There are cameras all over this thing. They’ll see; I’m sure they already have.”
Ryker didn't seem to care about what she was saying. He simply smirked—although it looked more like a painful wince—and pulled the trigger. Kira had anticipated this and was already back on the ground just as the surge of energy flew over her head.
With one gentle squeeze of the trigger of her Phantom, she sent Ryker to his knees, his right ankle in worse condition than his face.
She pushed herself up again and rolled forward, head over heels, kicking Ryker back as she reached out and grabbed his gun out of his hand. Her maneuver had placed her back in front of the room door again. This time, she didn’t wait to open the door again. Pushing her back against the wall opposite the panel separating her from the others, she held out both guns and pulled both triggers at the same time.
At first, nothing happened.
She shot again. And again. And again.
Finally, a hole was worn through the thick metal panel, and she was afforded a direct shot at the back of Ryker’s men’s legs. She took as many as she could before a barrel appeared in the hollowed-out space she had created.
She scooted to the side, jumped to her feet, and opened the door. There, kneeling down at the level of the hole she had shot through the panel was the man who had pointed his gun at her. She didn’t hesitate to shoot him.
He was the last of Ryker’s men. She wanted to sigh with relief, but the sinking feeling in her stomach wouldn’t go away.
Ryker was rustling on the floor, twisting around and trying to reach something behind him. Perhaps another gun or some sort of weapon. Kira didn’t wait to find out.
“Thor!” she yelled into the room. “Are you okay? Is everyone okay?”
“No! Everyone is not okay!” came Vinnie’s voice in reply.
Kira’s heart sunk. She pointed her gun at Ryker. “I keep trying to decide if you’re worth more dead or alive,” she said, her voice thick with anger. “And I think I’ve just decided.”
“Wait!” Thor said, running out into the hall and stepping between her and Ryker. “We might need him.”
“Who’s hurt?” Kira demanded.
She could already feel tears stinging her eyes. At first, Thor didn’t respond. There was a cut running up his right arm. It looked to be from an energy surge grazing past him. Other than that, he seemed unharmed. Still, she couldn’t relax. She couldn’t take solace in that.
“Who?” she said again.
“No one, Kira,” Thor said, a crooked smile crossing his face. “No one is hurt.”
"Like hell, no one is hurt!" Vinnie cried out. "They killed him! They killed Rob!"
Kira couldn’t help but laugh. It was a long, loud, exhausted laugh that bubbled up from her stomach and didn’t stop until the tears pushing at the back of her eyes began to stream down her cheeks.
Bron and Kardok rushed out into the hall and took hold of Ryker. Kira noted a few injuries on them, as well, much like the wound that ran up Thor’s arm.
“Take him to holding,” Thor said to them over his shoulder.
He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Kira. She buried her face in his shoulder and inhaled deeply.
“He tried to kill me,” she said softly. “Before. When I was in his room. He tried to poison me.”
Thor leaned in and rested his chin on the top of her head, holding her a little tighter.
“I could be dead right now,” she continued. “I seriously didn’t think he would do something like that. How could I have been so stupid? If I had drunk that drink…”
“But you didn’t,” Thor said softly.
“We’ve had too many close calls, Thor.”
“We’re almost done.”
“We were supposed to be done by now,” she replied. “We were supposed to be done with Grimm yesterday. Something always messes it up. Something always comes in the way.”
Thor shook his head and pushed her away from him, holding her out at arm’s length. “I’m going to miss this token brand of Winter negativity when we’re filling our days with… well, you know,” he said, winking. “What will you have to worry about when we’re not running for our lives?”
“I don’t think that worrying about something like that is uncommon,” she replied.
“It’s not. But you have a way of making it extra cynical.”
“Are you saying you don’t like my cynicism? This is news to me…”
“On the contrary. I think it’s one of the things that makes us such a good couple. You do that—worry and fret and turn things over too many times in your head—and I get to be the handsome, charming distraction that swoops in and makes it all okay.”
She smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck, stepping into him and pressing her lips to his.
“I want revenge!” Vinnie’s shrill, angry voice pulled them apart. “I want him killed!”
“Vinnie,” Alaria said softly. “The man who hurt Rob is dead already. We shot him, remember?”
Kira and Thor walked back into the room, stepping over the lifeless bodies of the men who had foolishly decided to join Ryker in his fight against them. There was a heat that still hung in the room, put there by countless blasts from energy guns and plasma rifles. It seemed to stick to everything. Dario and Aldo sat on the couch in front of the partially melted table. Vinnie stood over a pile of metal that had no clear shape except for an arm trailing out one side and a pair of wheels lying to the other. Alaria leaned against the wall next to him, her eyes following his to the pile of remains littering the floor.
“Now what?” Dario asked, looking up at them as they moved around the tragic scene of a boy and his robot and toward the far side end of the room.
“We talk to Artanis. We figure out how to decipher Ryker’s list,” Kira replied, sitting down gingerly on the edge of the half-melted table.
“At least the transmission got sent to Artanis before…” Aldo’s voice drifted off. His eyes slid over to where Vinnie was now slumped down on the ground trying to recollect any usable parts from Rob. “I can’t believe I actually find this sad,” he observed. “I didn’t even like that cursing opinion on wheels.”
They were all sad, in an odd way. They let the moment wash over them, just for a second, before they sprang back into action.
“Thor, Aldo,” Kira said, “radio Artanis and reserve a conference room for us.”
“Where will you be?” everyone asked.
“I have to pay a visit to an old friend.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
It was odd being on the outside of the bars. Kira felt as if she walked a little taller, strolling down the short row of cells aboard the small space station. When they reached the cell where Ryker was being held, Bron and Kardok were still there with him.
“They didn’t have any problems finding a reason to lock him up,” Bron informed her. “They caught the entire fight on video.”
“I warned you,” Kira said, glancing around Bron’s bulky frame.
Ryker sat in the corner of the cell, his knees pulled up to his chest and his face hidden in his hands. His ankle had been treated and bound, and what she could see of his face seemed to be covered in a greasy ointment.
He didn’t look up as he said, “you stole from me. You should be in here, too, you know.”
“And what was it that I took, exactly? Do you want to talk about that?” Kira asked.
He didn’t reply.
"We have a conference call with Artanis in thirty minutes," she informed the others. She had just received word from Thor that Artanis had received the files and he would review them quickly before getting in touch again.
“I’ll go tell the others,” Bron said, nodding to Kardok to follow him as he marched down the hall.
And then, they were alone again.
She wanted to leave but she couldn’t. Her feet were cemented in place.
“You won’t win this,” Ryker said in a low almost growl-like rumble. “Colonel Grimm is always going to be ahead of you. He’s always been prepared for you, Kira.”
“Is that why he sent you?” she replied sharply. “Because if he thought I was naïve enough to blindly accept you back in my life, I have to say, I’m disappointed. I expected more from him.”
“Don’t tell me it didn’t almost work,” Ryker replied, finally looking up at her.
She didn’t reply. She didn’t need to. The look of disgust on her face was all the response he needed. He got to his feet quickly and stumbled toward her, throwing his weight against the bars separating them.
She almost shrunk back but forced herself to hold her ground. Suddenly, her feet didn’t feel as immobile as they had just seconds before.
“It did, though,” he said, grabbing onto the bars and using them for support. “It almost worked. I didn’t need you to feel anything for me again, Kira. I knew you wouldn’t. You never did.”
His eyes burned into her. He had a crazy look about him. His face was twisted and contorted beneath the ripples of scar tissue already forming around his recent injuries. There was something familiar about that look, though. She had seen in before—in Grimm. It was the look of a man that had convictions—convictions strong enough to dictate his every action, his every thought.
He believed what he was doing was right; he believed he was on the right side of the war.
“I just needed you to be stupid,” he spat. “And that I knew you would do. I just needed you to follow me. I had to get you alone.”
“And how did that work out for you?” she replied.
He threw his head back and laughed. “Don’t think this is over! What do you think will happen when Colonel Grimm doesn’t hear from me in a few days? Do you think he’ll just sit around and wait for me? A hopeless lover sitting by the phone? Don’t be foolish, Kira! He’s planned for everything.”
“He’s deemed you disposable, then? He sent you on this mission preparing for you to fail?”
“Don’t try to play mind games with me. It won’t work. Not again. I let you in once before and it nearly cost me my career! Grimm was ready to expel me from the force, you know. After everything that happened between us. He thought I was too weak. I wasn’t you; I wasn’t strong and cold and heartless. I cared too much.”
“Don’t flatter yourself, Ryker,” Kira replied sharply. “You were controlling and manipulative. Don’t try to play the victim. The only thing you were the victim of was your own jealousy. You let it dictate you.”
“And look where it’s gotten me,” he said triumphantly.
She did look at him—deformed and deranged, driven to madness by his own insecurities.
“Wow. You’re right. You’re doing great.”
Again, he released a long, loud mocking laugh. “This isn’t over, Kira. Many more will die before Colonel Grimm is done.”
“And you’re okay with that? You’re okay with all the destruction and pain he’s inflicting?”
“Why are you surprised?”
“You were never like this,” she said, shaking her head and taking a slow step forward. “What happened to you?”
Ryker’s expression changed and for a second, she saw him again—the sweet, strong, loyal man she had known all those years ago. For a split second, he looked at her in a way she thought he never would again. There wasn’t hate in his eyes. There was something else.
But then, in a flash, it was gone.
Pulling himself closer to the bars with one swift movement, he stuck his face in front of hers and laughed.
“You, Kira. You happened to me.”
Now, she did stumble back, her feet catching beneath her. She stretched her arms out, expect the ground to rush up behind her.
It didn’t.
Instead, she felt a pair of strong, steady arms grab hold of her and whisk her quickly to her feet. A sigh of relief slipped past her lips. It wasn’t just because he had saved her from an embarrassing fall. It was because having him there separated her immediately from the moment—the all too intense moment—she shared with Ryker.
“Thor,” she said, looking back at him. “Thank you.”
“Damn!” Ryker laughed hysterically. “That was impressive. You just came out of nowhere! I mean, really! You just appeared…” he rambled on as he returned to the corner of his cell.
“We should be going,” Thor said, leaning in and whispering to Kira softly.
He didn’t need to whisper. Ryker already knew they were meeting with Artanis. He didn’t do it to be secretive. He did it to be reassuring. She felt his lips brush against her ear softly; his breath washed down her neck. His arms were still at her waist, his chest pressed tightly to her back.
She let him pull her away, guiding her quickly down the row of cells toward the exit. It wasn’t until the thick metal door slammed shut behind them, and six inches of steel separated them from Ryker that they spoke.
“When you said you had some bad luck with relationships in the past, I thought you just meant the typical ‘my boyfriend’s an asshole’ type stuff,” Thor said, chuckling as he turned to face her. “I guess I should have known that nothing with you is ever typical, though.”
He smiled and took hold of her hand, prepared to lead her toward the conference room where the others would be waiting for them.
“Yeah,” she said absently as she followed behind him.
She never saw Ryker again. Nor did she care to ask what had happened to him once he was back in the T.A.F.’s control.
But, in the back of her mind, the conversation played on repeat. He had blamed her. It was her fault he turned out like that.
Could that be true?
How could it be true?
How could it not?
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Alaria sat impatiently in the conference room, waiting for Thor to return with Kira. The memory of the fight they had just survived made her shiver slightly. It was expected but unexpected at the same time.
They knew Ryker would be coming.
They didn’t know he had other men with him.
The five of them burst into the room, guns blazing. Thor had saved them. His gun was drawn and the half-melted table and chair positioned in front of it were overturned before any of the intruders could fire a shot.
As the blasts of energy and surges of plasma flew overhead, they took cover. Thor returned fire as they scrambled for their weapons. Everything happened fast. She remembered hearing something going on in the hall. Her thoughts went to Kira. She was alone. Should they try to get to her?
“Watch it!” Thor called a warning in her direction.
A shot zipped past her, causing her to duck behind the overturned chair. Thor and Bron retaliated. Dario and Vinnie had moved to the corners of the room. They were focused on the two men flanking the others. She popped up and took aim at the one in the center. Just as she fired, she saw Aldo’s blast hit one of the men in the leg. Kardok barreled forward, tackling his companion’s target to the ground, taking advantage of his compromised state.
It was all happening so fast.
And then, she saw it. Bron had been hit.
She remembered that clearly; as if it were the only thing that had happened in that span of time. She remembered the feeling of complete dread that slapped her in the face when the bolt of energized matter zipped up his arm.
In that second, her world stopped.
She looked over at him now. He was sitting next to her. His arm was not bandaged. It didn’t need to be. The blow was nothing more than a graze. The scar it left behind was small. But, it was there.
His eyes met hers and he smiled.
“Are you okay?” she asked, her eyes drifting back down to the faint, red line in his left arm.
“I am,” he said with a nod. “It’s nothing, really.”
She nodded, but tears began to sting her eyes slightly.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
The expression on his face quickly turned to one of confusion and concern. He pushed himself out of his chair and knelt down in front of her in the clumsy, awkward way he seemed to do everything around her.
“When I saw it hit you…” she began, her words small.
Dario, Vinnie, Aldo, and Kardok all noticed her state and hurried over to see if she was okay. She kept her eyes fixed on Bron’s. He looked back at them over his shoulder and nodded. They seemed to understand and took a few steps back.
All of them except Kardok, who stared down at her with a simple, encouraging smile.
“I’m okay, Kardok,” she said.
“Okay!” Kardok exclaimed.
Aldo walked to his side and put a small hand on his wrist. “Come on, Kardok. They want to be alone.” He led Kardok back a few steps, explaining, “he doesn’t really get social cues.”
Alaria giggled and smiled back at Kardok, who continued to grin in her direction.
When she turned her attention back to Bron, though, she suddenly felt as if they were the only two in the room. Bron looked up at her. She knew he was trying to think of what to say. She could feel his nerves buzzing around like crazy.
Reaching out and taking his hands in hers, she said, “I was so afraid that something had happened to you.”
“But, I’m fine.”
“I know,” she said, smiling. “But in that instant, I suddenly understood what Kira felt when Thor was in Medical, and what Dario must feel like not knowing that Thane is okay. It was strange and terrifying and horrible.”
Bron’s cheeks flushed. She loved when they did that. His hands became suddenly sweaty and his eyes darted back and forth between hers and a random spot on the wall behind her.
“Imagine how I felt when I saw Rob get hit!” Vinnie cut in. “I mean, that was probably one of the worst moments of my life. I really put my heart and soul into that…”
Vinnie’s voice drifted off as Bron turned and glared up at him.
Aldo appeared again, this time at Vinnie’s side. “Kid,” he said sharply. “Not the time.”
“Why not?” Vinnie asked as Aldo pulled him back.
Alaria giggled.
“He gets his social skills from me,” Bron said, laughing slightly—a nervous, shaking laugh—as he turned to face her again.
“I can see that,” she replied.
Again, Bron’s cheeks flushed.
“I mean, he’s very sweet and caring,” she added quickly.
Vinnie grunted, clearly still eavesdropping on their conversation. Alaria’s heart continued to flutter in her chest a little bit. Something was changing between her and Bron, and she liked it. It had been a long time coming. But, then again, it felt as if it happened all at once. Suddenly, it felt real; it felt tangible.
Bron smiled and opened his mouth to say something. His dark brown eyes were softer than usual. There was still the brute strength behind them that she had found herself looking for time and time again. But, at the same time, there was a hint of insecurity and fear mixed in with the grit and resolve she so perfectly associated with him.
She held her breath.
“Have you contacted Artanis already?” Thor asked, bursting into the room.
Bron grunted and pushed himself up quickly. Her eyes followed him. He glanced down at her, a weak, almost frustrated smile wiggled across his face.
“We need to get in touch with him quickly,” Kira said as followed Thor into the room.
Alaria couldn't help but notice that she looked shaken up—even more shaken up than she had been immediately following the firefight.
“We were waiting for you,” Dario replied.
“Hopefully, he isn’t,” Kira said, walking to the center of the room.
There was only one small table in the room. And atop it sat a tablet, much like the others that were used by all the T.A.F. personnel.
“I know we all have a lot on our minds,” Kira said as she took hold of the device. “But now is not the time to worry about those things. Vinnie, I’m sorry about Rob. Dario, I know you’re worried about Thane. Believe me, we all have things we’d rather be thinking about. But, right now, we need to focus on Ryker and his damned comm band. Okay?”
Her words dripped with purpose. It spread through the room.
Everyone straightened up and nodded as she initiated the call.
“Artanis,” she said firmly. “We have a big problem.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“If he doesn’t hear from Ryker soon, he’ll know we’re on to him,” Kira finished explaining.
“What are our options then?” Artanis asked.
Everyone in the room sat silent, waiting for Kira to answer.
"Ryker won't help us if that's what you're thinking," she replied.
“What if we cut him a deal?” Dario offered.
“What kind of deal?” Thor asked.
“It won’t matter,” Kira said. “He won’t care. He’s prepared to die for this.”
“You’re certain?” Artanis asked.
Kira looked around the room. She could feel them all pleading with her; they needed her to answer. She didn’t have an answer, though.
“I’m sure,” she replied. “He won’t help us; he won’t help me.”
“We don’t need him,” Thor said.
“But, we do,” Aldo replied. “We can’t read the damned list. How will we know where he’s going next?”
“The list,” Kira said softly. “That’s it.”
A confused silence filled the room.
Kira spun around, looking at everyone again before turning back to the image of Artanis hovering over the center of the small table. Even though he was light years away, and there were others in the room, she felt as if she were back at the beginning of everything—back in post-mission debriefings, trying to explain her crazed strategies and ways of thinking yet again.
“It’s Grimm,” she said. “He’s a man with a plan. That’s one thing that hasn’t ever changed about him. It doesn’t matter if Ryker doesn’t contact him. He will continue with his plan. Nothing will stop him.”
“So?” Aldo asked. “He’s obsessive. What’s the big deal?”
“Sure, if he doesn’t hear from Ryker, he’ll be prepared for something. He may arm himself a little better, but half of his fleet is already destroyed. Sure, he’ll know we’re coming. But, he won’t expect us at the same time.”
Again, the confused silence filled the air.
“He doesn’t think we’ll figure out the list. He doesn’t expect us to know where he’s going. He’ll prepare for it because it’s Grimm. But, something else about Grimm that hasn’t changed is his cockiness,” she continued. “Admiral, I think our best course of action is to continue trying to decipher the list. He may hit another system before we find him; he may hit two. But, he won’t compromise his mission. The only way we can get ahead of him right now is by exhibiting the one quality he doesn’t have—patience.”
“How is sitting around staring at a list of words we don’t understand being patient?” Thor asked.
“Because he’s expecting us to act right now. That’s what we want to do, right? Who’s to say that he’s not sending out troops to the different systems he thinks we think he’ll hit?”
All she could see were the blank stares on the faces around her. It didn’t matter. She knew this was the right thing to do. She knew that exhausting their forces trying to hunt him down at places he might be was exactly what he wanted them to do.
“The list,” Artanis said, his words thick and filled with thought. “Are we even sure that that list is something worth spending our time on?”
“What other option do we have?” Kira asked.
“I’ve sent it to a group of the leading T.A.F. de-coders. So far, they’ve come back with nothing,” Artanis replied.
“Keep trying,” Kira insisted.
Artanis sighed. “Captain, I’ve trusted your judgment on a lot of outlandish maneuvers before…”
“Well,” Kira cut him off with a chuckle, “I wouldn’t say you trust me.”
“Yeah, you’re right,” Artanis replied. “But, I will this time. I will call back the fleets we have readied to search the Omega sector and tell them to wait. Just one more day. That’s all we can afford.”
“That’s all we’ll need,” Kira said confidently. “We’ll figure this out.”
“There are so many lives at risk,” Dario muttered.
“I know. But, imagine the lives that will be lost if we divide our forces. If Grimm is able to overpower us when we go up against him again… We can’t keep playing these cat and mouse games around the Galaxy. I’m tired of it,” Kira said firmly. “I’m done chasing him. I’m ready to destroy him.”
Again, an air of determination spread through the room. It remained there, even after they ended their call with Artanis. When the others began to file out of the room, going back to their rooms for the night, Kira remained. She wanted to absorb a little bit more of that feeling. She needed it.
“You okay?”
It surprised her that the voice that called back to her wasn’t Thor’s. She turned to face the door to see Alaria standing there. Her petite frame barely filled the doorframe, but her smile seemed to fill the room.
“Yeah,” Kira answered absently.
“No,” Alaria said, shaking her head.
She took a few steps into the room and kicked the door shut behind her. The smile was still on her face, but beneath it sat an expression of understanding.
“Want to talk?” she offered.
“No. Yes. I don’t know,” Kira replied.
Alaria giggled and walked across the room. With grace and ease, she pulled out one of the chairs and sunk down into it.
“Can I talk then?” Alaria asked.
“Of course,” Kira replied.
She took a seat across from the bright-eyed, platinum-haired Telani woman. She hadn't spent much time alone with Alaria, and in that moment, she couldn't figure out why. She had a presence about her; it was calming and inviting and warm. Maybe it was her cheerful demeanor or her blameless nature. Whatever it was, Kira was thankful for it in that moment.
“I just wanted to thank you,” Alaria said softly.
Kira chuckled. It sounded a lot like Thor’s chuckle. Had they become that couple? That couple that had started acquiring each other’s oddities? She hoped not. She wasn’t sure she could deal with someone acting like her.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I do,” Alaria insisted. “You’ve done so much for us. You’re always there to lead us, even when it’s hard for you—even when it’s scary.”
“This whole thing is scary.”
“I know; I’ve always known that. But now, I feel it in a whole different way.”
Alaria’s cheeks blushed. The tinge of red spreading across her porcelain pale skin only added to her natural beauty.
“What do you mean?”
“Throughout this whole thing, I’ve had Dario,” Alaria began. “And, I worry about him. You all know, I worry about him. But, the reason I worry about him so much is that for so long, he’s been the only person in my life that I genuinely care about. Do you have a family, Kira?”
Kira wasn’t sure what she was getting at but she answered anyway. “I do. We’re not very close—not like you and Dario. But, I do. I love them and miss them. But, my career has taken me away from them so frequently…”
“And that’s how it is with me and Dario. Before all of this, I had been separated from Dario for years. And now that I have him back, I hate to be separated from him.”
“That makes sense.”
“Of course,” Alaria said. “I’m here for Dario. But, Dario is here for Thane. I’m not saying that in a bad way, don’t get me wrong. I’m so happy for him, honestly. And now, it seems, I’m even happier for him because I think I’m starting to understand it.”
“There is it,” Kira said with another Thor-like chuckle. “There’s what you really want to talk to me about.”
Alaria’s cheeks got even brighter. “Bron…” she started. Her voice went even higher than usual as she said his name.
“Bron is a great guy,” Kira replied.
“He got hit, you know, during the fight with Ryker’s men.”
“I heard. It wasn’t serious, though, was it?”
“No, no. But, seeing that made me realize that I would be completely devastated if he had been hurt—like, really hurt. I don’t know how you did it after Thor…”
“I had all of you to worry about,” Kira replied. “But, to be honest, I was a mess when it happened.”
“We all knew you were still there for us, though. And, that’s really saying something, Kira. And, I wanted to thank you for that.”
“Well,” Kira replied, working up the courage to open up about something deep and personal—something she rarely did. “I don’t know how positive of a thing that is.”
“What do you mean? Having our Captain always behind us? How is that not a good thing?”
“Ryker,” Kira said. Now, it was her voice that was acting weird, getting high and shaky.
Alaria wrinkled her nose. “Don’t tell me you…”
“No! No, no, no. He’s a complete asshole. What I mean is that he said something to me before. I know I shouldn’t let it bother me. But, it does make me think.”
“What did he say?”
“He said that I was the reason he turned out this way. I made him turn evil or crazy or whatever.”
Alaria laughed and tossed her hair back over her shoulder. “You don’t believe that, do you?”
“I guess I shouldn’t think so highly of myself as to destroy a man’s life just because…”
“I don’t mean that way. I mean…” Alaria scrunched up her brow as she thought. “I mean you don’t turn people bad. You turn people good.”
“I thought we were going with the whole ‘I shouldn’t think that highly of myself’ thing.”
“Think about it. Bron was working at a Hangar in the Bazaar, specializing in black market goods. Now, he’s an official employee of the T.A.F. Thor was headed to Jaantu 7. Now, there’s no Jaantu 7 to head to!”
“I don’t know if that’s necessarily a good thing…”
"Well, you know what I mean. He's back in his position as Commander and leading the fight against the Galaxy's most notorious villain. If it had been any other pilot flying that ship, they wouldn't have listened to him when he exposed Grimm for what he is. Dario had a bounty on his head. Vinnie… Well, Vinnie is Vinnie. There's no changing that kid."
Kira smiled. “I wouldn’t want to.”
“Aldo and Kardok would still be locked up in Jaantu 7 because, well, it would still be there. We already talked about that, though. And I would be on the run with Dario somewhere, without you or Thor or Vinnie or Bron…”
Again, that helpless, listless smile crossed her face. She sat there for a second, letting Bron’s name hover in the air.
“Anyways,” she said, shaking her head. “Kira, you don’t turn people evil. You inspire them to be good. Ryker went crazy for the same reason Grimm did—he’s just plain crazy. You ask me, you’re lucky you got rid of him when you did.”
“But if he had never met me…”
“He’d still be bitter and angry and jealous of everyone else’s success. He still would have kissed Grimm’s ass to get back into the game. You know it’s true.”
“It’s good to hear it, though,” Kira admitted. “Thank you, Alaria.”
“Like I said, I wouldn’t be here without you.”
“Well, I’m glad you are here. And, just so you know, Bron feels the same.”
Alaria’s eyes lit up. “You think so?”
“I’ve known Bron for a long time. Trust me, he’s reached a level of awkward with you that I’ve never seen before, which is a good thing.”
Somewhere lost in space…
They had been traveling for a long time. At least, it felt like a long time to Thane. His body was weary from lack of sleep and his mind ached from his desperate attempts to memorize everything about his surroundings.
They had managed to escape. Somehow, Grimm had survived the initial attack. Thane had tried to flee. It was a poor attempt. As Grimm barked out orders, sending all those still hidden away with him to the ships, he had tried to get lost in the shuffle.
“Thane, you idiot!” Grimm yelled, grabbing onto his arm and tugging him along behind him. “You want to die?”
No, he wanted to live. This wasn’t a life. Running from the man he loved was not the way he wanted to spend his forever. But, he had no choice. Grimm had thrown him aboard yet another windowless ship and trapped him in his world of madness.
Now, they were nearing their new destination. Thane was needed in Grimm’s office—yet another dark, windowless room. It seemed to him that Grimm insisted on taking the most depressing room available to them as his own. It was as if he wanted to live in the darkness.
Perhaps, Thane theorized, it was because darkness was all he had left in his heart.
Victor was there. Thane hated that thing. He didn’t want to be near the robotic freak. And, as much as he hid from his boss, he didn’t try to his that.
“He won’t bite,” Grimm said, waving him in.
“He doesn’t need to know that,” Victor replied, shooting Thane a grin filled with shiny metal teeth.
Thane hurried around Victor and rushed up to Grimm’s desk.
“Yes, sir? What is it?”
“Have you received any reports from our inside man, yet?”
Since the commotion of relocation and the need to reassess their situation, Grimm had placed Thane in charge of dealing with intel. Initially, he had thought it a great opportunity. He would have first-hand accounts of everything Grimm was planning.
It was ironic that now was the time Grimm decided to give him a promotion—first time in all the years he had worked for him.
But, nothing of any use came in. He spent his days watching the reports coming out of the T.A.F. Headquarters. Nothing new. He waited by the comm device, staring at it for hours, praying for something to come through. But nothing came.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “Nothing yet.”
“Damn it!” Grimm exclaimed, slamming his fist down on the desk.
“Any chance he’s been compromised?” Victor asked.
“Never. Ryker would never betray me.”
“You sound sure; that’s awfully naïve of you.”
It still amazed Thane the way that Grimm allowed Victor to speak to him. He had never known a person to speak to Grimm that way. At least, he had never known a person that was still alive to speak to Grimm that way.
But, Victor didn’t appear to be a person, or alive, for that matter.
“Didn’t you say he had a history with their Captain? Perhaps she wooed him.”
Grimm chuckled. “Kira couldn’t woo a puppy. She’s far too cold.”
“I doubt her crew sees her that way.”
“Well, Ryker does. That is what lead me to choose him, you know. Hell hath no fury like an insecure soldier scorned. He’ll finish her off. I’m confident in that fact.”
“We could have finished her ourselves if you hadn’t…”
Grimm lifted his hand, cutting Victor off. Thane wanted to scream. If he hadn’t what?
“I know what I’m doing,” Grimm said firmly.
“And what will you do if you do not hear back from your precious Ryker? “
“We continue with the plan regardless.”
“And if they figure it out?”
“Then we figure it out!” Grimm exclaimed.
He pushed himself up and kicked the chair out from under him. Throwing his fists forward, he slammed them down on the desk. It felt as if the entire room shook with his rage.
“We are smarter than them! We are ahead of them! We will remain that way!”
Victor didn’t flinch as Grimm heaved with anger. Thane wanted to melt into the floor and disappear, but he knew he couldn’t. Something was about to happen. He could feel it.
Grimm was about to give him just what he needed.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
She didn’t expect to get to sleep that night but somehow, she did. Talking with Alaria had helped a lot. It had also helped that she had met up with some of the renegade pirates at the bar immediately following her meeting with Alaria.
It wasn’t the alcohol; she hadn’t drunk anything. It was the company. The light-hearted feel in the bar was a clear contrast from the danger-lurking-around-every-corner world she lived in. The pirates, even though former T.A.F. officials, had a care-free air about them, something they had adopted in Jaantu 7, Max explained to her.
“Listen, Cap,” he said, slurring his words slightly. “I’ve been in this game a hell of a lot longer than you.”
She didn’t doubt that. Under his burly physique and self-appropriated adventure-seeking persona, she had begun to see the years he wore perfectly concealed. He was easily nearing Artanis’ age.
“I’ll tell you this,” he continued. “The Galaxy is always on the brink of disaster. We are always running here or there, hunting down this idiot or that power-hungry bastard. After this one, there will be another, then another. That’s what Space does to us, don’t you see? The more we discover, the more we want to rule. It happened way back in the day when Earth was nothing more than a flat surface at the center of everything. Then, boom!”
He slammed his glass down on the table, causing Kira to jump.
“We discover that there’s a whole world of shit over there—no edge to fall off of, just more area, more places to claim. Wars, destruction, the whole ‘my dick is bigger than yours’ games were on! It’s just that, all over again. It will never end.”
“Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Kira asked.
“Yes!”
Again, his emphatic nature caused her to jump.
“Yes, it is. Because it teaches us one very important thing. And what is that?”
“What is that?”
“Don’t spend your entire life fighting for something you don’t let yourself enjoy. You will always find another mission or another lunatic just waiting to be wiped out. But, why do we go after them? Why do we care?”
“Safety.”
“There is no such thing. Not in our world.”
“Then…”
“Then nothing! We do it because it’s the right thing to do. We do it for the ones we love. We do it so they can live their lives and not worry about said lunatic. Well, Kira, I’ll tell you this. If you don’t get a taste of that—that freedom to just enjoy life like all those lucky bastards living outside of this mess of military operations—then you’ll forget what it is you’re fighting for. Don’t let this consume you. Afford yourself the life you so strongly desire for them, the life you’re willing to die for. Remember why you’re here. People that don’t… well, they turn into Grimm. I almost did. I almost joined him. But then, I got locked up. And, my life became about something else. Can you believe it? There is something else out there! Value that. And don’t wait until you’re my age to start doing so.”
It was nothing more than the drunken ramblings of a former T.A.F. official, turned prisoner, turned pirate. But, somewhere between the slurs and the spilled drinks, Kira felt as if she understood what he was saying.
It was exactly what she had been feeling all along.
And, it did make her feel better. In an odd, “drunken uncle” sense, she felt that Max had instilled her with the words of wisdom she had been needing for so long.
So, that night, she crawled into bed next to Thor and let herself enjoy that; she thought about just that.
Until her T.A.F. issued Comm band began to ping.
"Damn it!" she exclaimed, sitting straight up in bed.
Thor popped up next to her, sleep still heavy in his eyes.
“You didn’t seriously think we’d get a night off now, did you?”
“A girl can dream,” she muttered, crawling across the bed and taking hold of the device.
With one shake, a small beam of light illuminated the space floating above her hand. No surprise to her—it was Artanis.
“We’ve found something,” he said.
His white hair was sticking up around his temples, and his eyes sagged. Either he didn’t sleep at all, or he, too, had been awoken suddenly.
“What is it?”
“One of the de-coders stumbled on an ancient language that matches the symbols in the test.”
“That’s great!”
“Except that language has been out of use for centuries, and no clear way of interpreting it has been invented yet.”
“There’s always a catch,” she sighed, looking back at Thor.
“We can try to begin comparing the symbols to texts we have on record, ones we believe to have translated, but that could take years, Kira!”
“What language is it?”
“Arkadian.”
Kira's mouth dropped open. "Arkadian? We have the technology to decipher Arkadian."
“Not this version of it,” Artanis replied. “It’s archaic, from long before the First Contact Event of 2124. This is dating back to their ancient history.”
“You called me to tell me that you that? That basically, you have nothing?” she asked.
“No,” Artanis replied, shaking his head. “I called you to get the others together. I think you’ve had the answer right there with you all along.”
She didn’t understand what he meant, but she did what he asked. The others were all as drowsy and unaware as she and Thor were. They had only had a few hours of sleep and it was evident on all of their faces.
“He said that we may have the answer,” she said, leading them back into the conference room.
They filed in behind her, taking their seats around the small, metal table. Artanis wasn’t going to meet to talk with them, he had simply sent the files retrieved by Rob back to them.
“Rob,” Vinnie muttered when she explained. “He’ll never know how much he really meant to all of us.”
“He wouldn’t care, Kid,” Aldo replied. “He was a robot.”
“Watch it!” Vinnie exclaimed. “He was more than that!”
“Yeah, he was annoying,” Aldo said.
Kira could sense a fight coming on. They were all tired and now they were all on edge. She stepped back from the table, ready to interrupt them when the files came flying out of the device at lightning speed.
“Kardok!” Kardok yelled, cutting their two battling companions off. “Kardok!”
Everyone froze and turned to face the usually silent green-skinned giant. His eyes were big and bright and his face was scrunched up in a hyper-focused fashion.
“What is it?” Thor asked.
Karok replied, rambling on with more words than Kira even realized he knew. The problem was, he wasn’t speaking a language that any of them knew. Her translation implant, the one that every Galaxy-residing individual had installed at birth, did nothing to give her any clarity.
“Kardok worked for Grimm as a translator,” Aldo said bluntly.
“A what?” everyone asked in unison.
Kardok continued to ramble on as they waited for some explanation.
“I never knew what it was that he translated,” Aldo continued. “I wasn’t even sure I believed it. The guy never talks. But, anyways, Grimm had him do some work for him, reading some old texts or whatever.”
Kira’s mouth hung open. “So, this entire time, Kardok could read this? Why didn’t he say that sooner?”
“He was with me when you all decided to have your super-secret bracelet reading meeting,” Vinnie said gruffly. “See what happens when you don’t invite us all to join?”
“Kardok!” Kardok said firmly.
It was the first time any of them had heard him sound strict. It stunned them all into silence. The familiar grin crossed his face again as he refocused on the words in front of him.
“Map,” he said casually over his shoulder. “Need map.”
“Right, map,” Kira said, nudging Aldo forward.