Trials of Conviction, page 31
Not wanting to argue, Kira took what was offered and slid her hands into the gloves before wrapping the scarf around her neck, making sure her ears were covered at the same time. Although her Tuann designed garments protected most of her body, her hands and ears were still vulnerable to the cold.
"Why aren't you affected?" she asked Graydon with a frown.
He gave her a superior smile. "Soul's breath."
"So, it's true." Diesel eyed him thoughtfully. "Your kind really are wizards."
Graydon's smile was enigmatic. "I'm sure it appears that way to some."
Diesel’s gaze lingered on Graydon for a second before he glanced at Kira in question. "The wizard tells me you're planning to pay your respects today. Mind if I tag along? For old time's sake?"
There was strain around his eyes that gave Kira pause before she shook it off.
"Sure. Why not?" Kira agreed with a glance in Graydon's direction. "The more the merrier."
Snow had started falling by the time Kira and the others crested the hill where the memorial waited. Diesel brought his chair to a stop, gesturing toward the collection of structures that had been erected on top of a wide flat piece of ground that was covered in stone. "There it is."
Cylindrical markers were lined up in uniform rows. Each engraved with the name and rank of the fallen.
They'd taken the nose cones from each ship lost in the battle and arranged them so the tips were pointed skyward.
"Your work?" Kira nodded at the green flame burning in the center of the memorial.
The care with which this place was treated was obvious at a glance. Despite the abundance of snow around the memorial, the monument itself and its markers were swept clean.
"A bit old fashioned, but I liked the symbolism," Diesel admitted. "Self-sustaining and self-contained. That puppy will continue burning long after I'm gone and my bones have returned to dust. Ingenious, right?"
"It is."
Movement in the tree line caught Kira's attention as Brie stopped at the edge of the forest.
Kira didn't say anything as she walked toward the monument. Diesel followed her, the low drone of his hover chair keeping them company.
Graydon stayed behind, letting her have this moment.
The sound of her footsteps changed as she stepped off the snow and onto the stone ground of the memorial.
She walked through a field of ghosts as her passage triggered the holograms housed in the grave markers. Familiar faces appeared one after another. Friends. A few acquaintances. Even an enemy or two. People who'd disliked Kira for one reason or another and she them.
They were the fallen now.
Her gaze lingered on each face, memories surfacing. Like that of the Petty Officer who'd enjoyed betting on anything and everything. Or the Chief Petty Officer who'd been a great listener, despite how much he loved the sound of his own voice.
There were dozens of memories just like those as Kira wandered the rows.
She visited as many of the crew's grave markers as she could until she finally found herself in front of the ones she hadn't allowed herself to look for.
"Oh," Kira whispered around the tight feeling in her chest as the Curs appeared.
Walker, Bayside, and Bates. Her family.
Their holograms were different from the rest. Candid images taken from Diesel's private records where most of the rest were the photos placed in their personnel file.
Kira's gaze lingered on Elise's before she looked away. To the last marker. One that stood apart from the rest. Just like the man had in life as well.
Kneeling beside it, Kira brushed away the snow that had just fallen. "Hey, sir. It's been a while."
Engraved in stone was the name "Commander Charles Berry".
Below it was an epitaph. "To those who gave all. Always remembered. Never forgotten. Rothchild thanks you."
Wind whistled through the trees.
"I never did get to thank you for what you and the rest did," Kira said. "You saved a lot of lives that day. I know you had a choice. It couldn't have been easy making the one you did."
His crew’s lives. Or Rothchild's.
It had been a selfless decision. They could have run. There had been time.
Kira might not remember the final moments, but she did remember that.
"I'll never forget," she finished.
Diesel's hover chair stopped beside her. "Do you still sing?"
Kira dusted the snow off her hands and rose. "Not for a long time."
"I remember you singing a requiem for the dead after each battle. We'd raise our glasses, and you'd serenade the departed. It was the most beautiful thing I’d ever heard."
That's how she remembered it too. Every memorial. Every remembrance ceremony. Until singing was no longer a thing of joy but rather an expression of loss and grief.
"How about it, Nixxy? Will you sing for them?"
Will you sing for me, Diesel seemed to be asking.
Kira's gaze landed on the eternal flame. She gathered herself. Sound spilled from her lips, coming effortlessly for the first time in a long time.
With the softly falling snow and the rustle of tree branches as her accompaniment, Kira gave herself over to the song she chose. One of farewell and hope for tomorrow.
Every note helped her shed the layers of grief. Every verse lessened the burden she felt like she'd been carrying forever.
By the time the last note fell, it brought with it a feeling of relief. Catharsis.
Kira set a hand on Commander Berry's grave. "Though we part, it's not with heavy hearts but rather gratefulness for the time we spent together."
Those were the words he'd given them during every remembrance ceremony. It felt right to give them back to him now.
Kira dropped her hand. "Why did you bring me here, Diesel?"
She looked back to find Diesel's gaze fastened on the Curs' holograms.
"You always were perceptive, Nixxy. Never one to miss much."
Kira checked on Graydon, finding him closer than she'd left him.
"I always told myself that if I ever saw you again, I'd give you the truth of what happened that day," Diesel said.
Something tugged at Kira's senses. A whisper of metallic ice and acidic rain.
Tsavitee taint.
"What truth is that?" Kira asked, feeling almost numb.
"Rothchild's truth. My truth."
Everything in Kira stilled as his meaning came clear. She shook her head in immediate rejection. "No."
"God as my witness, Kira, I didn't mean to," Diesel whispered in a tormented voice.
Kira held up a hand, stopping Graydon. "Why?"
"You remember how the XO liked to ride our asses about wasting supplies? It was wartime and he had his panties in a twist over the amount of munitions we used."
Kira blinked.
"What were we supposed to do? Go without? During battle? We would have lost. The Curs would have died if they had to worry about conserving ammo in critical moments." Diesel calmed, the bitterness vanishing. "A woman approached me. It seemed like she was the answer to my prayers. I could supplement our stock pile. Make sure we had what we needed."
"I'm assuming she wanted something in exchange."
And that he gave it to her.
Seeing her expression, Diesel shot her a censorious look. "Not that, Kira. I was looking for a shortcut, but I wouldn't have betrayed you for it."
"Except, from your own words, you obviously did."
"Not the way you think.” His smile was sad. "It was the munitions. They were tagged with a tracking device. I didn't find out until the day before the attack."
"Why are you telling me this?"
Kira scanned their surroundings, realizing how isolated it was. There was no one around except for his people. Well hidden in the tree line but still detectable.
Her laugh was ugly. "This is a trap."
Color leached from her skin, gray replacing it. Runes formed on her face and arms, their lines infused with a violet glow that matched the one in her eyes.
Kira smiled, her primus washing away the sting of betrayal as it bared sharp teeth meant for ripping flesh. "You should have brought more people. What you have isn't going to be enough."
Twenty One
Before Kira could make a move, a Tsavitee landed on the monument's nose cone. Metal flexed under its weight as it lifted its nose to the wind.
Kira let the primus slip back below the surface as she backed away. "Tracker class."
The Tsavitee whipped its head in her direction, fixing eyes that science insisted were fully blind on her. Beady and black, they had a slight shine to them. As if the outer lens was made of mercury.
So named for their tendency to hunt prey over vast distances—including across space—trackers were worse than a bloodhound on a scent.
Kira had dealt with them before. Mostly in the years after the war.
She'd gotten good at evading them, but it looked like she'd failed this time.
The tracker crouched, its front legs longer than the back. Skin that looked like tree bark, mottled brown and rough looking, covered its body. Its head resembled a piece of driftwood. Its mouth a thin, uneven slash.
"We need to kill it before it can warn the others," Kira whispered in a low voice to Graydon.
A tracker meant there would be a kill squad not far behind.
As if it sensed her plans, the tracker tipped its head back to release the beginning of a ululating wail.
A bullet between its eyes brought the sound to a premature halt. The tracker went limp, its body sliding off the nose cone to hit the snow with a thump.
Dark green and brown blood spread from the back of its head, staining the pretty white.
"This is a trap, yes. But it's not meant for you." Diesel lowered the sniper rifle he'd used to shoot the tracker. "You're not our target; you're our bait."
Kira stared at the rifle Diesel was holding. "Where did you get that?"
He hadn't been holding it a second ago.
He shot her a crooked grin, tapping Commander Berry’s memorial marker. It opened, revealing an empty chamber. "Let's just say I came prepared."
Brie strode into the open, crossing the short distance to stop beside Diesel as he attached his robotic legs to his body and rose. She gave the tracker a cursory look before saluting the other man. "Sir, you were right. Our forces picked up movement as soon as the tracker called them. In addition to the large number of shriekers they've bred over the last few days, there is a skyling leading them."
"That won't be all," Diesel said.
Brie inclined her head. "The planetary defense corps just notified us that there are three Tsavitee dreadnoughts inbound."
Diesel squatted beside the tracker, looking it over. "That won't be enough to take the planet, but they can do a lot of damage with those."
"The defense corps has already rallied the fighters we have stationed in the debris field. They will try to do some damage before the ships reach us."
Diesel sent Kira a sidelong look. "You've really kicked the hornet's nest this time."
"What is going on?" Kira demanded.
Diesel rose to face her, shouldering the sniper rifle. "Like I said, this trap wasn't meant for you."
Graydon moved closer to Kira, his stance protective.
"A few days ago, a piece of debris from the moon impacted the planet. My people were sent to make sure that was all it was. When they didn't check in, we knew we had a problem," Diesel explained. "But you know the Tsavitee. They're tricky buggers. We had to draw them out. For that, we needed you."
The sound of weapons fire came from the trees to the north-west of the memorial. Explosions followed.
"There's not much time," Diesel said, glancing in the direction of the fighting. He tucked a hand in his pocket and withdrew a small storage device. "This contains all my records regarding those munitions. The transaction history along with the frequency the locater was using to give away our position."
He tossed the device at Kira. She snatched it out of the air.
"This doesn't change anything," she told him.
Diesel gave her a sad smile. "No one knows that more than me. I've spent the last decade and some change atoning for what I did. Let me continue a little longer."
Kira's hand clenched around the device.
Diesel nodded at Brie. "There's a smuggling ship waiting for you. Brie can guide you. Take the All Father and complete the mission. We'll hold them here."
Going head-to-head with a Skyling and its kill squad was tantamount to a suicide mission. They were devious bastards and notoriously hard to kill. Their ability to self-heal from even mortal wounds was terrifying. As was their ability to command.
If one of them was coming, it was just a matter of time before it rolled through Diesel and his people. All he could do was hold the line until reinforcements arrived.
Brie's face was flinty as she met Kira's gaze. Her unwillingness to abandon Diesel despite what he'd done was obvious, leading Kira to believe the woman had learned about it a long time ago.
It spoke of how close they were. And how hard it would be for Brie to leave him behind to follow his orders.
"Damn you, Diesel," Kira whispered in defeat.
He couldn't even let her properly hate him.
Diesel kicked Bate's memorial, grabbing the launcher inside along with the pulse rifle in Bayside's marker. "See you on the other side, Nixxy."
"We should go," Brie said in a flat voice as Diesel headed into the forest beyond the monument.
Seconds later, Kira heard him roar to those waiting in the tree line. "On me!"
Brie left Kira there, walking away without another word.
Graydon took Kira's arm, tugging her in Brie's direction. "They're right. We can't stay here. We need to go."
Kira resisted, her feelings complicated as she stared at the spot where Diesel had disappeared.
"I know how you feel, but there's no time," Graydon said in a tight voice.
Kira let him pull her away, facing forward and jogging after him as they followed Brie.
No one spoke as they made their way down the hill, moving as quickly as possible through the snow.
"I know Diesel said you had a smuggling ship waiting, but Pallas's would be a better option," Kira said when Brie stopped to study their surroundings.
Pallas's ship was likely faster and better equipped for a fight.
Brie shook her head. "I'm afraid that's impossible. He took off early this morning. No one saw him leave."
That rat bastard. He'd abandoned Kira right when she needed him. Again.
"This is why I didn't want him involved with my business," Kira told Graydon.
Her lover's jaw flexed, his eyes chips of ice. "I see why."
Graydon's anger at Pallas's betrayal was palpable. The air heavy with tension.
"I have a team escorting the All Father to the smuggler's ship as we speak," Brie explained. "We're meeting them there."
"You've thought of everything," Kira said dryly, not sure how pleased she was about that fact. She’d always hated being the last one to know.
"Diesel did," Brie corrected, walking away.
"Of course, he did," Kira muttered.
Graydon arched an eyebrow, falling into step beside her as she started after the human. "This puts a damper on things. What are your plans now?"
"For now, we'll rendezvous with Odin. Waiting for the Wanderer to arrive is no longer an option if the Tsavitee are here."
Frustration nipped at Kira. As usual—when things went wrong, they did so at light speed.
"It might be time to think about calling in Harlow's reinforcements," Graydon put forth.
"You don't need to remind me. I'm already considering it."
For now, though, their first step was to get off the planet and find somewhere safe to hunker down while they tried to intercept the Wanderer from flying into a trap. After that, they'd see about those reinforcements.
A high whine from behind them came an instant before the trees in front of them were strafed with pulse blasts.
"Move! Move! Move!" Kira screamed, sprinting forward to weave through the trees.
Brie looked back once before doing the same.
Graydon covered their retreat, protecting Kira's back as they plunged through the forest.
"Over here," Brie called, waving them toward an embankment protected by a massive fallen tree.
Kira sailed over it, her heart squeezing when she found the drop on the other side much steeper than it had looked. She barely managed to land without breaking an ankle.
"A little warning next time would be nice," Kira growled at the human.
Brie's eyes were wide. "I didn't expect you to jump over it like that."
Graydon landed next to Kira. "Well, this is fun."
"Not the word I'd use," Kira said, dusting snow and dead leaves off her hands.
Pulse blasts hit the tree, sending bits of bark raining down on them.
Kira tucked herself further into the protection of the fallen tree. "We need to do something about that."
Otherwise, they were just asking to get sniped.
"I thought you'd never ask," Graydon said with a wink before climbing onto the top of the tree.
Brie attempted to stop him. "What are you doing? Get down from there or you'll get shot."
Kira pulled her back. "Don't worry. He'll be fine."
With a last glance at Graydon, Kira pushed Brie toward the creek bed that must have been the reason for the steep embankment. "We should get moving."
And give him room to work, Kira added privately.
Behind them the air crackled, the pressure in it causing Kira's ears to pop.
"What is he doing?" Brie asked, trying to get a look at Graydon.
Kira didn't let her, shoving her forward a little more forcefully. "Nothing you need to worry about."
There was a crack and then a flash of black light that seared her retinas even when looking in the opposite direction.
Brie dove for the ground, probably thinking a bomb had just gone off next to them.
An accurate description, Kira allowed as she glanced behind them to see the landscape obliterated by Graydon. The trees looked like they'd been snapped in half, lying on their side. The trunks splintered like matchsticks.
