The Complete Razia Series, page 49
She glowered out towards the meeting, where they were no closer to translating the purple aliens' language than when they started a month ago. She was wasting precious time, and the longer she sat there, the more it grated on her. In-between looking up bounties, Lyssa had been tossing ideas back and forth electronically with Lizbeth on ways to get out of the meeting (she had gotten so desperate as to offer to cut off her own finger).
"Yes boy, what is it?"
"Pardon me, but I have an urgent message from Dr. Peate's supervisor that cannot wait."
Lyssa's head shot up at the familiar voice. Her eyes scanned the room until they landed on him—her savior. Seventeen years old with a meticulous part down the left side of his blond head, her little brother Vel was a most welcome sight. His expression was a mixture of sycophantic deference with an underlying amusement that Lyssa was sure only she saw.
"Oh, er, very well then, we shall complete this another time," said the man at the head of the table. He turned to Lyssa with a most pompous expression. "We will need you or your representative here at all times—"
Lyssa didn't even hear the end of his sentence, as she had bounded out the door with Vel in tow.
"God in Leveman's Vortex," Lyssa gasped, as if he had saved her from drowning. "You are the best. I can't even…so thankful that you—"
"You're quite welcome, Lyssa."
She shifted, giving Vel a look that communicated how she felt about being lured her out of one horrible situation and into another. Used to Lyssa's mood swings, Vel simply smiled back at her.
"What do you want, Dorst?" she said.
"Many things. Starting with a little respect from my subordinate."
She rolled her eyes and turned to him. Dorst was the second oldest of the twenty-four Peates. He, like Vel and most of the brood, shared their mother's light hair and fine expression.
Lyssa's eyes shifted to the man next to Dorst who looked awfully familiar. She blinked; he wasn't familiar, per se, but standing next to Dorst and Vel, he resembled them mightily.
"Who's this?" Lyssa said, folding her arms over her chest.
"You brat," the unknown man snapped. "I'm your brother!"
Lyssa shrugged and could not believe he expected her to recognize him. In the first place, she preferred to believe her family didn't exist (and most of them felt the same about her). And in the second, twenty-four names and faces were a lot to remember. The only ones she could recall with easy clarity were Vel, Dorst (because he was her supervisor), Sera (her despised eldest sister), and…Jukin.
"And your name is…?" she drawled.
"Heelin!" he croaked. "God in Leveman's Vortex, Lyssa, I sat right in front of you in classes for five years and you don't even remember my name?"
"Oh…" She wasn't actually ashamed; she'd spent most of her Academy education glued to her mini-computer looking up bounties for Tauron, or hunting for Tauron himself. Somewhere in the back of her memory, she might have remembered having a brother in class with her, but since they all hated her, she didn't really care.
Heelin folded his arms over his chest petulantly and scowled at Dorst. "I'm not working for her."
"Wait, what?" Lyssa gasped, visions of the last internship dancing in her mind. On the whole, it had turned out all right, but she couldn't risk another brother knowing her secret. "I'm sorry," she found herself repeating. "I can't take on another intern."
"I'm older than you!"
She jumped at Heelin's ferocity; she was normally the one doing the yelling.
"So…" she said, looking to Dorst who looked far too amused for the ire he had caused.
"I am assigning," Dorst gave Heelin a look that could kill, "Heelin to work with you for a while. Take on some of your workload."
"Why?" she deadpanned.
"Well, you've got other things to be getting on with other than this business on your planet, right?" Dorst said, motioning to the meeting room. "Heelin will take over. It will be maturing for him to spend some time out of the field and in the Academy."
Lyssa began to chuckle as Heelin's face reddened. This was punishment, pure and simple. "What'd you do, Heelin?"
"That's none of your business," Dorst interjected. "What is your business is that I expect you to mentor Heelin."
"What?" came the response in unison.
"Lyssa, you have been running around here like a one woman show for years now—don't interrupt," Dorst snapped as she opened her mouth. "It's time you learn how to work with other people."
"I know how to work with other people," Lyssa huffed.
Dorst smiled at her. "Name one person that you've worked with in the past six months."
She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it abruptly. Lyssa Peate hadn't been working with Lizbeth on the plot to uncover the assassination attempt of the president, the news organization named the space pirate Razia as her partner. Although more people than she preferred knew about her double lives, Dorst was not one of them.
She tossed a look to Vel, but he simply cleared his throat. "Lyssa, I agree with Dorst."
"Get sucked," she snapped. "You always take his side!"
"Oh, and Lyss," Dorst said, ignoring the way she bristled at him, "when you get a moment, stop in. We need to discuss some things with your career." With that, he turned and walked the way he came.
She glowered at Dorst's retreating back. "I'ma stop in and take you to see the last supervisor I had…"
"Oh, you know he'd make it through to the Arch." Vel was smiling at her in the annoyingly pleasant way he did when he was smug about something.
"You are a traitorous bastard," Lyssa growled.
"I thought he could keep you company," Vel said, nodding to Heelin, who was similarly growling about this injustice.
"C-company?" Lyssa prayed Vel hadn't divulged her secret. Far too many people knew about that now, thanks to Lizbeth's blabbering to the crew of Sage Teon, the only pirate who actually gave a damn about her.
"Yes, as I'm about to leave for my planetary survival course," Vel said, as if they'd had this discussion multiple times already.
"Oh God in…that's today?" Lyssa whipped out her mini-computer to check the date, but it was still dead. The planetary survival course was a rite of passage for all DSE candidates. Three months alone on a planet with whatever the candidate thought to bring with them.
"Yeah, so," Vel said, shifting uncomfortably. "I'll see you in about three months?"
"Want me to come get you?" Lyssa asked.
"You can't go get him," Heelin drawled. "It's not allowed—"
"Heelin, the amount of care that I have about that statement is minuscule," Lyssa snapped before turning to Vel. "Seriously, I can—"
"Lyssa, it's okay. I'm actually looking forward to…well, to being alone for a while."
"Oh yeah, how's that girlfriend of yours?"
Vel's face faltered. "Lyssa, I told you that I broke up with her last week."
Lyssa winced. "Sorry, been wrapped up with this whole…"
"No, I get it." Vel smiled, but she noticed it didn't quite reach his eyes.
She shifted uncomfortably, "So…do you have time for a quick lunch before—"
"No, sorry," Vel said, sounding genuinely so. "The shuttle leaves in about half an hour."
Lyssa felt bad that she'd forgotten something so important in Vel's life. "Want me to walk you there?"
"Why don't you two take a chance to…uh…get reacquainted." Vel nodded to Heelin who looked like he had something terrible under his nose.
"You know this is nothing but another lame attempt to get me to tell Dorst about Sostas, right?" Lyssa hissed.
"Of course, because when's the last time Dorst asked about Father?"
She had no response; it had been some time.
Vel pulled her into a hug. "I'll miss ya, Lyss."
She awkwardly returned the hug, leaning into him a bit. She couldn't help but feel like they were growing apart now, him off into Academy career and her into…whatever she was doing with her double lives. She rather envied him for his focus on what he wanted.
"Go catch a bunch of pirates for me," he whispered so only she could hear.
And just like that, he broke free and left her standing alone in the middle of the hall. Watching him go felt almost as terrible as when she'd woken up and saw Sostas' ship flying away for the last time.
Heelin's drawling sneer broke her reverie. "Are you just going to stand here all day?"
She studied him for a second, making sure to notice all of the ways he was just like the rest of the Peates. They were all the same, save Vel. "You aren't going to find anything out."
"About what?"
"Sostas."
"I'm sure I don't care about Father's secrets," Heelin retorted. "The man left, who cares? Half of my professors thought he was a nutjob anyways."
Lyssa felt the urge to deck Heelin, but resisted it. Dorst might write her up for attacking a fellow scientist, especially one who was supposed to be her employee.
Heelin crossed his arms and glared at her. "So what am I supposed to do for you, huh? Sit in a meeting for you while you go do…Leveman's knows what?"
Her eyes widened.
"Is that what Dorst told you to do?" she asked, a bit breathlessly.
Heelin rolled his eyes again, and she wondered if they would permanently stick up there. "He said I'm to take over your Inclusionary Investigation."
"You are, huh?" If the investigation dragged on for weeks—months—that could give her ample time to spend on D-882. They required DSEs to excavate and sell a minimum of three planets per quarter, but since she was entangled in this sentient creature mire, they had given her a waiver until it was resolved. She wouldn't have to set foot on the Academy for…well, for however long it would take them to work through the bureaucracy.
Without the need to return back to the Academy, she could round up every single one of the top twenty.
Then the other pirates would have to notice her.
She glanced down the hall to where Vel had disappeared and felt a surge of affection for her little brother. Perhaps this was his plan all along!
"What are you grinning about?" Heelin said with a scowl.
"My dear Heelin," Lyssa said, rubbing her hands together in glee, "so, the deal is you work for me right?"
He grimaced painfully but did not correct her.
"So, in that case, you will stay here, in this room, with these…things," Lyssa ordered. "You will represent me in all Academy meetings. You will write up whatever reports they want—"
"But—"
"That's what Dorst said, right?" Lyssa continued with a devilish grin. "You work for me now. This is what I'm directing you to do."
"I thought you were supposed to be learning how to work with other people?" Heelin asked.
"I am going to work with other people. I'm going to work with them right over to the bounty office…"
"What was that?"
"Nothing!"
***
Perched on the edge of a plastic bench on the notoriously unreliable pirate transport system, Razia, now dressed in her cargo pants and black boots, was headed into heart of the pirate city on the planet D-882. She couldn't help the grin that seemed permanently etched on her face. She hadn't been this happy in weeks, months, maybe even years.
She giggled loudly, drawing the attention of two men sitting on the opposite side of the shuttle. She'd taken care to find the cheapest possible docking station on D-882, even farther out than usual, since she was planning to be there for a long time. She giggled again, then cleared her throat when the two men glared at her. She made sure to return their stares with gusto as she departed the car.
The transport shuttle was operated by the four pirate runners, which was why it rarely worked. Case in point: the escalator that normally carried her up to the top level was out of order, meaning she had to climb up at least three stories' worth of stairs. Even as her quads burned, nothing could dampen her mood as she emerged into the blinding heat of the desert city
She sauntered into a bar directly across from the station, catching the attention of the middle-aged man in a booth who watched her with a mix of curiosity and adoration. Harms was her pirate informant, a man that knew practically everything about everything in the pirate universe. Although he was supposed to be impartial to the four webs, he had something of a soft spot for Razia.
"Why are you so happy?" he asked, looking her up and down.
"I…" Razia's mind drew a blank for a fake reason for her good mood. Just as Dorst didn't know about Lyssa's life as Razia, Harms didn't know about Razia's life as Lyssa Peate. "I just am," she said finally.
"Okay, keep your secrets." Harms sat back as a serving robot placed a glass of water in front of him. "To what do I owe the pleasure of your company?"
"Well, I wanted to know if you'd heard anyone talking about me?"
Harms took a sip of his water. "Yep."
"I mean…anything good."
"No, honey." Harms shook his head. "Everyone is still pretty pissed off at you."
"Yeah, I figured." Razia slumped down in the booth, then shook her head and sat back up again. Now was not the time to be defeated. "Okay, so, next question: Who does everyone want captured?"
"Oh." Harms scratched his graying beard. "Relleck probably."
Razia winced and tried to hide it. Her whatever with Relleck was another thing Harms didn't know about. "Who else?"
"You."
Razia growled. "Who else?"
"Sage."
"Harms, for crying out loud, I'm trying to get noticed here!" To his amused face, she added, "Positively."
"What are you so worried about?" Harms asked. "You're still seventeenth."
"Until my bounty expires. Which could be any day now."
"It's only been a year."
"And it hasn't changed a single credit! Which means that when it expires—it's going to expire—then I'll be at zero." Her good mood evaporated. "Normal bounty hunters don't have to work this hard. Normal bounty hunters who've captured almost every one in the top twenty get money on their heads. Normal bounty hunters—"
"Are dudes," Harms said gently. She puffed up and he held up his hands in defense. "I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying it's the truth. And now, with all of this presidential mumbo jumbo hanging over your head, it's just not the right time to try and win people over."
"There is no right time," she said darkly.
"I know you didn't just come here to complain," Harms said, sipping his water. "What's cooking in that brain of yours?"
She graciously accepted the topic change. Harms' patience with her was not unlimited. "It looks like I'm going to be here for a while, so I was going to try and pick off the top twenty in succession. Make a big show of it."
She glanced up at Harms to gauge his reaction. He seemed unimpressed, but he also didn't look like he hated the idea.
"Worth a shot," he said after a moment. "Eli Stenson just dipped out of the top ten, so Dissident doesn't have anyone up there right now. He seems to be in a bad mood about it, too."
Razia brightened. "So he might not be so angry if I knock off everyone's top pirates?"
"There's a reason why these guys are the most wanted. Most of them have been there for a while. It's been a long time since we've had a fluke show up, so don't do anything stupid."
"I'm not going to do anything stupid."
Harms ignored her bristling. "You say that, and yet you've got that crazy look in your eye."
After about an hour of discussion about the ninth and tenth most wanted pirates in the universe (and a payment of about half a million credits), Razia was on her way to hunting Gunnar Bodhi and Jarvis Loeb. She added the information she'd gleaned from Harms to what she'd already uncovered—
Someone grabbed her by the arm and yanked her into an alleyway. Before she had time to react, almost-familiar lips pressed against hers. And along with them, she tasted smoke and booze and retched in disgust.
She pushed him away. "I told you not to smoke before you do this."
"Aw, come on," Relleck said with a grin, "you like it."
"No, I don't," she said, backing up from him, but he kissed her again. Sensing that her disgust wasn't enough to dissuade him, she tried a different tactic. She pulled away and hissed, "Someone could see you."
He stepped back and she scowled at the taste still in her mouth. She still wasn't used to this. Whatever they were doing it was strange and weird and just wrong. Razia didn't want to know what Dissident would say if he found out she was fraternizing with the enemy.
Besides, even after two months, she still hadn't even let Relleck see her ship. She definitely didn't trust him beyond these back alley make-out sessions.
"What are you even doing here?" Razia asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You hear about this Pirate Ball thing?"
Razia heard pirate ball and thought of only one thing. "What in Leveman's Vortex is a pirate ball?"
"The runners wanna celebrate the Piracy Act. It's been twenty years," Relleck said, slid his hands along her back. "So they're making us all get dressed up in tuxes and come to Eamon's."
Razia couldn't help her barking laughter when she thought of someone like Sage Teon, one of her other pirate friends, in a tuxedo. It was laughable.
"Yeah, well, that sounds like a riot." Razia rolled her eyes. "You idiots have fun."
"Contestant's making all of us go to it—wants to show up the rest of the runners." Relleck glanced at the ground, strangely nervous. "You wanna go with me?"
Razia stared at him, her brain trying to comprehend the words that floated in the air. Being with Relleck, his hands on her back, the disgusting taste of smoke and him on her lips, and now he was…asking her…out?
"What…like as your date?" The word sounded absolutely ridiculous in her head.
"Yeah, why not?"
"Because first of all, this"—she pointed between the two of them—"isn't that. I don't want everyone knowing that we're…whatever."
"What, so you'd rather go with Sage Teon?"
She blinked. "Sage?"
"Yeah, you two are always talking." He sniffed and leaned against the wall. "What's going on between you?"
