Trials of Conviction, page 19
Pallas went still. "You wouldn't dare."
"Threaten Kira or the drone again and you'll find out."
"Without me or this ship, you'll be stuck on this planet. You won't be able to go anywhere."
Graydon didn't seem concerned. "I'm sure we'll figure something out."
Pallas bared his teeth but dropped his hand from the hilt of his sword.
"Kira, you good?" Graydon asked with his en-blade still against Pallas's neck.
"Define good."
The J1N trying to murder Pallas hadn't been on her itinerary for the day. The fact that the matter had passed with no bloodshed could be considered a minor miracle.
"You can put away your en-blade. I won't do anything to them," Pallas said with a snide look at Kira.
She glared at him. "If I were you, I wouldn't trust anything out of that psycho's mouth."
Her history with Pallas said he wasn't the type to let an attack of this nature go so easily.
Pallas's gaze lingered on the J1N long enough for Kira to grow uncomfortable. "Let me guess. That's not Jin."
Kira met his gaze, ice sliding through her veins.
The corners of Pallas's lips lifted. "I thought something was off about him. Why didn't you tell the forty three that in addition to Elena, Jin is also compromised?"
"It didn't feel necessary. I doubt it would have made a difference anyway."
The enigmatic smile on his face widened. "It's so good to see you finally understand the purpose behind keeping secrets. Even when it comes to your nearest and dearest."
"Like you did with your little yer'se?" Kira cut her eyes to Lathan. "After all the threats you made regarding me telling the Curs and you reveal the forty three’s existence to him."
Pallas dismissed her argument with a wave. "We're not talking about my precious disciple. We're talking about you. Telling us might have changed things."
Anger filled Kira. She hurled the J1N at Pallas's head. "Like it did with Elise?"
Pallas caught the drone, making a tsking sound with his tongue. "What discourteous treatment of our youngest's body."
"Screw you," was Kira's mature response.
Kira jerked a shoulder up in apology at Graydon's questioning look. If she thought the J1N was still in danger from Pallas, she never would have used it as a projectile weapon.
That being said, she'd prefer Jin never learn about this. He would not be so understanding.
Pallas tossed the drone into the far corner. It hit the deck and bounced, catching itself in midair.
Kira rolled her eyes as its lens once again pointed in the wrong direction.
"You realize you'll likely die if Jin does," Pallas said conversationally.
"What's your point?"
"Merely to ask why you made no effort to prevent him from undertaking such a dangerous venture. You had to realize what was happening."
"It was his choice," Kira said in as even a voice as she could manage.
As much as his absence hurt her, she'd support him a thousand times if it meant Elena wasn't going through this trial alone.
Pallas regarded her, his face breaking into a lightning fast grin at odds with his earlier seriousness. "That's what I've always liked about you, little sister. Your dogged insistence on choosing everyone over yourself."
"Return me to my ship," Kira ordered, tired of this conversation.
Pallas dismissed Lathan with a look. The yer'se nodded, excusing himself with a low murmur.
Once he was gone, Pallas cast a look at Graydon as if debating the likelihood of convincing him to give them privacy.
Graydon grinned at him, dropping into the co-pilots seat next to Kira and stretching his legs out. He waved a hand. "Don't mind me. Just consider me a concerned citizen. It'll be like I'm not even here."
Kira doubted that. Graydon wasn't that type of man. You could remove his tongue and paralyze his vocal cords and he would still be the first person people noticed.
He couldn't help it. His charisma demanded attention without him ever having to lift a finger.
"I can't send you back," Pallas announced.
"Can't or won't?"
Pallas offered her a faint smile. "Both."
Kira eyed him suspiciously, wondering if he was telling the truth or just trying to make her think he was.
There was a lot about his abilities that she didn't know.
For one thing—how was he able to pinpoint her location to port to? He'd known right where to find her. Appearing in exactly the perfect spot for an ambush. There had to be some type of marker. A tag of some kind that he could hone in on whenever he wanted.
That thought was a scary one. If true, it meant Pallas could find her at anytime, anywhere.
She could think of a lot of applications for an ability like that. Assassination among them.
On the other hand, he had to have a limitation of some kind. Power always came at a cost. Just look at the toll her burst left on her.
Kira didn't know if distance affected how often he could use his power. If so, it would explain his 'impossible'. He might need time to recover before making a jump of that length again.
Or her ship wasn't tagged and he could no longer locate it.
Either way, she didn't have a choice but to accept his excuse.
Pallas quirked an eyebrow at the screen Kira had been in the middle of trying to hack before she was interrupted. "Stealing my ship, dear sister?"
"That's fucking rich. Why are you even here?" Kira glanced at Graydon. "Let me guess. They held a vote after I left. And you're here to try to stop me."
Pallas rolled his eyes. "You're wrong about that last part."
"But not about the vote."
"Don't you want to hear the outcome?" Pallas asked with a smug twist of his lips that made alarm spread through Kira's body.
Her gaze jumped from him to Graydon and back again. The things Graydon and Pallas had said earlier coming back to her.
Things like "agreement" and "siblings".
"Oh no, don't tell me."
Pallas's smile broadened. "You'll have to get over all those negative feelings, little sister. I've been charged by the forty three to handle this matter."
Kira shook her head and kept shaking it. "Absolutely not."
That wasn't happening. It wasn't.
"It's already decided. Lover boy even agreed. We're going to be murder buddies for the foreseeable future."
Kira felt ill. The urge to bend forward and hurl all over Pallas's pristine decks was strong. She resisted, stabbing a finger in his direction as she faced Graydon. "That psycho can’t come with us. He's a loose cannon."
There was a reason Kira and Jin treated Pallas with the utmost caution. It was because anything and everything could happen when he was involved. She'd rather change the plan entirely than have him on board.
"It's already decided," Pallas sang.
"We don't need him," Kira said, feeling desperate.
Graydon folded his hands in front of him. "Do you have another way off this planet?"
Kira waved madly at the ship around them.
"You'd leave me behind?" Pallas asked, sounding hurt.
"In a heartbeat."
In fact, there was nothing she'd like better.
"Another blade at our back wouldn't be the worst thing," Graydon pointed out.
"Trust me, it could."
Graydon wasn't acquainted with Pallas's particular brand of mayhem. He didn't realize what he was asking.
Graydon's gaze moved to the console. "To leave him behind, we'd have to be able to steal his ship. How's that going by the way?"
Kira avoided his eyes as she crossed her arms. Not well.
"Then there's no alternative. We need a ship. He has a ship," Graydon said with an air of finality.
"Fine," Kira said, giving in. "He can come. But only until I rendezvous with the Wanderer."
"We'll see," Pallas allowed.
"No. We won't."
Kira was ditching him at the first moment possible.
Pallas brushed past Kira as she moved to the side.
"Look at this. You weren't even close." He tsked as he took a seat in the captain's chair she'd vacated. "Jin must be the brains in your operation."
"Don't," Kira warned in a guttural voice that made Graydon straighten to give her a cautious look.
Pallas's hands never stopped as he logged into the ship's controls. "Sensitive. You should really fix that or else your enemies will take advantage."
"You would know."
Pallas paused. "I'm not the enemy, Kira. I never was. That's a story you made up to make yourself feel better about abandoning us."
Kira gave him a startled look. "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing, Kira. We wouldn't want to threaten your fragile view of the world."
Kira's eyes narrowed. "No, you brought it up. Obviously, you have something to say. What is it?"
Graydon was a quiet presence at her back, watching the two of them carefully.
Pallas let out a sigh, twisting to face her. "You want to do this now? Okay. Might as well since we're going to be bosom buddies for the next little while. A chance to clear the air and everything. You want to hold the past against us? Turnabout is fair play. We didn't abandon you. You abandoned us first."
That wasn't fair.
"What did you expect me to do? Leave Jin there to die? He wouldn't have survived the punishment for our escape."
"Despite what you may think, none of the forty three has ever disagreed with your sacrifice in remaining behind to get Jin out."
Pallas's expression was unnaturally serious. He was always the one with a roguish smirk or grin. Even when something bad was happening, he never lost that devil-may-care attitude.
"It's what came after that was so disappointing," Pallas said.
"What are you talking about?"
"All those years, you never came looking for us. You forgot us. Your humans became the only thing you cared about.”
"That's not true," Kira corrected. "Jin and I thought you were dead. We saw the explosion. We heard the cannons. We never knew there was anything left to look for."
If they had, they would have searched and never stopped until they found the forty three again.
"We mourned you," Kira said with a catch in her voice.
Every day for years.
"We stole one of their ships and used it to cover our tracks. What you and Jin saw was the ambush Ryan and Alexander set and the cannons we fired."
"There was no way we could have known that," Kira defended.
"You might have. If you'd looked."
"There were bodies!"
She and Jin had been younger then. Not nearly as jaded and suspicious as their current incarnations. They hadn't yet learned to peer beneath the surface of things. To look at the discrepancies and through to the truth.
If this situation happened today, things would have been different. They would have left no stone unturned.
"Who told you that?" Pallas asked with a closed mouthed smile. "Himoto?"
Kira wavered, opening her mouth before closing it.
"You've always only seen what you wanted to see," Pallas said with a faint scoff, turning back to the console. "You did it with Elise. You do it with us."
A lifetime worth of hurt feelings and misunderstandings filled the silence that resulted.
Graydon rose, moving up beside Kira.
"Since we're in the mood to share, here's another secret, dear sister," Pallas said, looking up from the computer screen. "We went back for you that night. Himoto beat us to you by minutes."
Thirteen
Raider - Bay of the CSS Reliance
Raider strode down the Wanderer's ramp and into the landing bay of Jace's flagship, the CSS Reliance. The din of a military flight deck post battle instantly surrounded him. The loud bangs of mechanics working on the returning small winged fighters. Refueling them before directing them to their berths. The flight deck crew's shouts as they orchestrated their well-trained dance, accomplishing the necessary tasks in the least amount of time possible.
It was a familiar refrain that had followed Raider for the entirety of his adult life. Waveboard riders typically launched from the flight tubes located in the side of the ship, but they were no strangers to the flight deck. It was where they passed the time when on call. Those twelve hour shifts where they had to be ready at a moment's notice.
Raider hadn't spent as much time on this flight deck as he should have, but it didn't matter. At their heart, all of them were the same. Whether it was a battle cruiser or one of the smaller frigates, they had the same basic layout. The same sort of people serving on their deck.
Right now, those people were staring at Raider and his companions in curiosity. It wasn't every day that a civilian ship docked on a flight deck in the midst of a battle with the Tsavitee. Even more intriguing to them were the Tuann at Raider's side. A species most present had likely only ever heard about.
Raider's expression matched Wren and Finn's. Their faces stoic masks as they progressed across the deck.
Blue walked beside Raider, exuding dissatisfaction. "You're making a mistake. I hope you know that."
"It's good then that it's my mistake to make."
Blue muttered a few choice words that would have had her counseled for insubordination if someone other than Raider had heard them.
Raider gave her a closed mouthed smile that didn't reach his eyes. "You know, Blue. You don't have to make this mistake with me. If you can't do this, just tell me now."
It'd be better for him to know so he had time to make alternate plans rather than relying on her later and her not showing up.
Blue made a face. "Don't be stupid. Of course, I'm going to make it with you. I know what's at stake. I'm here to the end. Stupid plan or not. I just feel the need to let you know how much I dislike this."
Raider's expression eased. "Brat."
Blue stuck out her tongue at him.
Raider glanced at Wren. "How long until your people are in place?"
Wren's lips lifted in a faint smile. "When you need them, they'll be here."
Blue aimed a disgusted look at the Tuann. "Can you be any more enigmatic?"
The skin around Wren's eyes creased slightly. "It is a skill acquired with age."
Raider chuckled lightly under his breath. His father-in-law's humor was as sly as ever.
A dark haired man standing next to the flight deck's exit raised his hand at Raider in greeting. "Look who the cat dragged in. It's about time you two found your way home."
"Nova," Raider said, clasping the other's hand and giving him a brief one armed hug. "It's good to see you."
A Cur, like Raider and Blue, Nova was part of the new generation. Handpicked by Raider and Jace when Admiral Himoto decided to resurrect the unit a few years ago, he was a good waveboard pilot. One of the few who'd made the cut and survived the hellish training Raider required of each of his recruits.
"Not as good as it is to see you. Thanks for the chance to exercise, by the way. I've been itching to taste Tsavitee blood since we found out the alliance had ended."
Releasing Raider's hand, Nova cast a look at the Tuann standing nearby. "What's with the wizards? You haven't changed sides, have you?"
Raider's gaze cooled at the faint deprecation in the other's voice. "Where's Jace?"
Nova pointed behind him. "Waiting for you in his ready room."
Raider nodded, preparing to head there.
Nova stopped him with a raised hand. "About that—he instructed that the wizards wait here."
Raider stared the other Cur down.
Nova met his gaze with a bland expression. "Admiral's orders, boss man. You know how it is."
All too well. If Nova had orders, there was no getting around this.
Raider glanced at Wren.
His seon'yer nodded. "We'll wait for you here."
Nova smirked, looking the Tuann up and down. "Don't worry, boss man. I can keep an eye on your friends."
This idiot.
"Nova." Raider waited for the Cur to give him his full attention. "Let's not be stupid, shall we? Picking a fight with either of them will end poorly for you."
Nova's grin was foolhardy. "You know me, boss man."
Yes, Raider did. Hence the concern.
"You don't have to worry. I'll keep an eye on him," Maverick said, walking up to them from the other side of the deck.
Raider relaxed at his arrival, knowing he could count on the other man to keep this hot head in check.
Part of the new blood like Nova, Maverick had a steadying presence that helped balance out his friend's recklessness. The two actually made a pretty good pair despite the drastic differences in their personalities. One of the reasons Raider had chosen them for his unit.
"Alright then." Raider started past them. "You coming, Blue?"
Blue rolled her eyes as she dropped the fist she was bumping against Maverick’s. "Yes. Yes. You don't have to shout."
"Later, little genius," Nova called.
Blue twisted, walking backwards for several steps. "Later, dumbass."
Nova's chuckle followed them as they disappeared into the corridor leading into the rest of the ship. A few minutes later Raider thrust open the door to Jace's ready room, stalking inside without bothering to knock first.
"Excuse me!" A woman rose from the chair where she'd been seated, an outraged look on her face. "You can't just barge in here."
Raider acted like she hadn't spoken, focusing on Jace. "We need to talk."
Jace took in Raider and Blue's entrance with a neutral expression from his chair. A second later, he signaled for the woman to leave.
"Grace, give us the room."
Grace's lips flattened as she sent Raider a nasty glare before sliding past him. "I'll be outside if you need me."
"Hey, Gracie," Blue called with a sugar sweet smirk.
"Once again, it's Grace, Ensign Yuki Ikeda."
Blue's smirk widened. "Whatever you say, Gracie."
Jace steepled his fingers in front of him as the door shut behind Grace. "I must say that was quite the entrance. If you were anyone else, you'd be in a lot of trouble right about now."
"Good thing I'm not anyone else," Raider shot back.
