Trials of Conviction, page 36
Jace cut their trip down memory lane off with a sharp gesture. "Don't even think about it. I'm not sending my people on a suicide mission without a clear plan."
Kira gave him a sidelong look. "Does that mean you're planning on helping us?"
Jace looked away from her, tugging his ear in a gesture that usually meant he was feeling guilty about something. "It seems the Consortium have finally got their heads out of their collective asses. I've been ordered to dispatch my fleet to form a barricade around our core planets in an effort to protect them from the coming war."
Kira's snort held disgust. "You know that's a mistake."
The Consortium couldn't win with a defensive mindset. They needed to strike hard and fast. Sitting around and letting the enemy come to them would just result in massive casualties again.
"Protecting the idiots who put us in this position is a fool's errand," Raider said.
"I swore an oath," Jace said defensively. "Like it or not, I answer to Centcom. It is my duty and responsibility to follow their orders."
"Not me." Raider shook his head. "I'm not doing it. I'll resign my commission. I don't care what you do, but I'm going after Elise and Elena. Try and stop me."
Knowing he wasn't going to be able to get through to Raider, Jace switched his target to Kira. "Give me something. Do you have a location or plan?"
Kira flicked a glance at Raider, her jaw flexing as she gave a faint shake of her head. "No."
Jace picked up his drink and drained it. "Then you leave me no choice. Unless you have something concrete, the battle group flies out according to Centcom's wishes in eight hours." His gaze swung to Raider. "And you with it. Even if that means arresting you and placing you in the brig."
Twenty Four
Jace and Raider glared at each other. Neither willing to concede. If she left things as they were, Raider might get himself thrown into lock-up sooner rather than later.
"I guess I can't expect more than that," Kira said, breaking the tension.
"Kira!"
"He's got a point." Kira sent Raider a look, asking him to trust her. "We don't have a plan. Yet."
They were asking a lot of Jace. She could see why he wanted certain assurances before he threw his life and career away.
Unlike Raider, he didn't have a daughter or lover in danger. The only thing compelling him to help was his loyalty to them.
Kira made a point of not asking more of her friends than she thought they could give. This was skating dangerously close to her breaking that rule.
"Fine," Raider ground out.
Kira had no intention of letting Raider ship out with the rest of the battle group. If it came down to it, she'd use force to bring him with her.
That being said, they still had time.
Jace would figure things out eventually. The hole she put in his precious brig when she broke Raider out would be a pretty big clue.
Jace cleared his throat, looking uncomfortable. "There's one other matter I need to discuss with you."
The way Raider stiffened distracted her. She glanced at him in question, only to find his face hard.
"You should know I've arrested Blue," Jace announced.
"Explain."
"She's responsible for Rothchild. She is our leak." Jace nodded at the tablet in front of her. "All the information is there. See for yourself."
Feeling like she was having an out of body experience, Kira reached for the tablet in question and dragged it into her lap. It was already unlocked, the files queued up and waiting for her to access them.
"The records of Himoto's you gave me go back years. Rothchild wasn’t the only thing he was investigating. There are files on every battle you mentioned. Every one that went unexpectedly wrong. Apparently, you're not the only one who suspected a leak."
Kira scanned a few of the files. "You're saying Himoto knew about Blue?"
The man she'd known would never have let a spy join the Curs. He would have rooted her out at the tiniest of suspicions. Evidence—or the lack thereof—wouldn't have stopped him.
Unless—he hoped to use her to disseminate false intelligence.
Himoto could have given a masterclass on spycraft. It was one of the reasons she'd stopped trusting him in the latter part of the war. There'd been a small piece of her that feared the forty three were right about him being the cause of everything.
"It appears so," Jace admitted. "Himoto identified at least four highly placed officers in Centcom's fleet who he thought might have been party to this. Admiral Kent was among them."
"No surprise there," Raider muttered.
Jace acted like he hadn't heard. "Several government officials were involved as well."
"Are any of them still in power?" Kira asked.
"Many of them helped spearhead the Consortium's withdrawal from the alliance."
"How is Blue involved? She left the Vega months before it was assigned that mission."
When Rothchild happened, Blue was attending a military academy on New Lexington. It was why Kira and Jin had excluded her from the list of suspects. Their orders hadn't come down until long after she was gone.
"There was a sleeper program embedded in the comms array. It was set to send her regular updates as to the Curs' status. Your status specifically."
Kira looked up from the tablet. "It's funny. This is the second time today that someone has claimed to know who was responsible for Rothchild."
Jace frowned. "What are you talking about?"
"I ran into an old friend of ours down on the planet," Kira said, glancing at Raider as he leaned forward in sudden interest. "Remember, Diesel?"
Raider's nod was slow as a thoughtful look entered his eye. "I do."
"He's dead," Jace said in confusion. "I attended his funeral."
"Maybe he is now," Kira allowed, remembering the explosion that had leveled the Vega. "But earlier today he was as alive as you and I."
"What does this have to do with Blue?" Jace asked.
"Only that he claimed he was the one responsible for Rothchild."
There was silence at her answer. Then Raider exploded to his feet. "I told you it wasn't Blue!"
Jace wasn't listening. "Explain."
Kira took the storage device Diesel had given her and handed it to Jace. "You might want to get your people to look at this."
Jace took the device.
"When he handed that to me, he said he'd been approached by a woman looking to sell him ordnance. He was desperate due to the supply issues and took her up on the offer. What he didn't know was that the weapons had trackers on them set to give away our position at regular intervals."
Jace was quiet as he considered this new information, absentmindedly turning the storage device over in his hand.
"What happened to Diesel?" Raider asked.
Kira shook her head. "I don't know. We got separated. He stayed behind to delay the Tsavitee kill squad on my ass. After that, there was a rather large explosion."
"But you didn't see him die?"
Kira shook her head.
"He could still be alive then," Raider said, looking like he almost hoped he was so that he could get revenge.
"This doesn't absolve Blue," Jace said, gesturing with the device.
"No," Kira agreed.
But it did cast doubt as to her culpability. And it helped explained why Himoto had never done anything about her.
"Do you remember that time Blue tagged Bayside with a tracker beacon when he was on leave for R and R?" Kira asked Raider.
"He was pretty furious when he found out," Raider said with a light chuckle. "He'd been planning to visit the casinos and a bliss den."
Similar to the opium dens of old Earth, bliss dens were popular during and after the war as a place people could go to smoke an herb known for its relaxing properties.
While not illegal, the use was frowned upon by the higher ups. It was also not the kind of thing you wanted your annoying adoptive sister knowing about.
"Blue had extreme separation anxiety back then. It was bad enough that Himoto and I made it a requirement for her to see a counselor when she reached the academy."
Jace shook his head, looking impatient. "Don't try to sweep this away by attributing her actions to a mental health issue. Maybe you're right and she wasn't working with the Tsavitee. She still exposed sensitive information to our enemy. Anybody could have intercepted those transmissions. That alone is enough to sentence her for treason."
"Only if her actions weren't approved by someone higher up," Raider said thoughtfully.
"What are you talking about?" Jace asked.
Raider glanced at Kira. "She said Walker knew."
"That makes sense. They were always close."
Walker had lost a sister in a hovercraft accident before the war. Blue reminded him of her.
"You think he would have compromised your position for her?" Jace asked scornfully. "Walker wasn't that type of person."
"No, he wasn't," Raider agreed. "At least not without permission."
"He didn't ask me," Kira said at Jace's look.
She wouldn't have agreed to that. Not even for Blue.
"You think he asked Commander Berry."
Despite the disbelief in Jace's tone, he looked like he was considering it.
"Not just him," Kira said, looking down at the tablet. "Himoto knew too."
Beforehand or after. Either way, he hadn't done anything with the information for a reason. Kira was betting it was because Blue was a red herring who wasn't actually involved.
Jace sat back, looking defeated. "I can't release her just on that."
"I'm not asking you to," Kira responded, opening the rest of the files and flipping through them. "Just take a second look at everything while keeping in mind what we told you and whatever you find on Diesel's device."
If Jin was here, she could have him look into Blue's transmissions and see whether they were the leak. She didn't have his skills, though, and Odin was busy.
The smile dropped from Kira's face as she clicked on a series of video stills taken from the miners' last calls.
"See something?" Raider asked, leaning forward.
Kira didn't answer as she ignored the bearded man in the foreground and zoomed in on the familiar looking side profile.
"Pallas," she snarled, recognizing the half shaved head and the slant of his nose.
Kira exited out of the photo, stabbing her finger at the next one as she looked for a better angle.
"Show me your face," she hissed, moving on to the next when the previous proved disappointing.
Over and over until she stopped on the last photo. The only one where her brother was staring directly at the camera. The look on his face menacing.
Under his image, someone had typed The Enforcer.
"What is it?" Raider asked when Kira froze in disbelief.
This wasn't possible.
Pallas couldn't have been there. And Himoto had known nothing about the forty three’s organizational composition or the role Pallas played in their ranks.
Then how did he know what Pallas was to the forty three? Their enforcer.
Kira's blood ran icy as she remembered all the times Pallas had targeted the Curs. Always managing to stay just on this side of the line of what would infuriate Kira enough to go for his throat.
Making a decision, Kira twisted the tablet so Raider could see.
His expression turned murderous.
"What is it? Why do you two look like that?" Jace asked with a frown, snagging the tablet and pulling it in front of him. "Did you notice something I didn't?"
Neither Kira nor Raider answered, staring at each other in grim realization.
"The enforcer," Jace read. "There are a few other notes about him and a group called the forty three, but I wasn't sure what they meant."
Himoto had known about the forty three. Not just that there had been other survivors from the camp, but much more than that.
What else had he known but failed to mention to Kira?
The door opened.
"I don't remember giving permission for anyone to enter," Jace called, his scowl fading when Finn was the one to step inside.
The oshota focused on Kira. "They're ready."
Finally.
Kira pushed off the couch, Raider joining her.
Jace looked between them in confusion. "Where are you going?"
"You said you wanted a location and a plan before making a decision." Kira nodded at the oshota. "Well, I just achieved the first."
Time to go figure out the second.
"Sir!" A soldier sprung to attention at Jace's approach, snapping a salute as his colleague rushed to open the door to the conference room.
"At ease," Jace instructed, marching past without sparing them a look.
Kira and Raider followed, the latter jerking his head at Finn. "He's with me."
Despite his obvious uncertainty, the soldier didn't try to stop them as they entered the room.
"It would be more accurate to say you're with us," Finn said as the door closed behind them.
"We're standing in a human base. It's pretty obvious who's with who," Raider shot back.
Kira barely heard their argument, taking in the crowded briefing room.
Graydon and Wren, their oshota arrayed behind them like lethal looking bookends, stared down the three officers across from them with identical impassive expressions.
Two of the humans Kira didn't recognize. Captains, the both of them.
The third was an old friend of hers.
"Commander Hollis, may I offer late congratulations on your promotion," Kira said.
The Commander laced her hands over her stomach and leaned back to look up at Kira. "Hearing that from you feels good. Just think—if you hadn't pulled your disappearing act, you might still outrank me."
The commander was a middle aged woman of African descent with an unflappable personality and a mean right hook, Kira knew from experience.
"Coli, your friends were just informing me of their inclusion in this briefing," Graydon said, his tone dangerous as he gave the humans across from him an amused look. "Which is strange because I don't remember agreeing to their attendance."
One of the captains, a blond man by the last name of Shepperd, according to the tag on his uniform, slammed a hand down on the conference table. "Watch yourself. You're a guest in our home."
The atmosphere in the room changed. Hostility and aggression filling it on both sides.
"They're here because I invited them," Jace interjected, stopping at the head of the table "This is my base, after all. Got a problem with that?"
The question was a challenge. As was Jace's unfriendly smile.
Graydon looked up at Kira. "That would be up to her. Given it's her mission and all."
Jace didn't like that response. Nor did the two captains. Hollis's expression remained neutral. An interested bystander for the moment.
"It's fine." Kira touched Graydon's shoulder in a request for him to tone down the antagonism. "Jace and I reached a tentative agreement."
Whether that would continue to be the case depended on what Odin had to share.
"As you wish," Graydon murmured.
Kira took a seat beside him, Finn taking up a stance behind her as Raider threw himself into a chair at the other end of the table.
Jace glanced at the man positioned beside the door. "Bring them in."
The man acknowledged the order with a nod, stepping to the door and opening it. Quiet murmurs came from outside.
They didn't have to wait long before Odin strode into the room. The lack of an earring pointed to the Sye being in his male aspect.
The humans barely had time to register Odin's presence before the person behind him claimed their attention. Chairs scraped against the floor as those across the table from Kira came to their feet.
There was an exclamation from both captains as they yanked their pulse pistols out of their holster to aim them at the general in front of them.
Hollis retreated from the table, giving herself room to maneuver as she did the same. The guard on duty beside the door plastered himself against the wall as he fumbled his weapon out of its holster before finally pointing it at Aeron's head.
"What is one of them doing here?" Shepperd demanded.
His companion, Captain Bechler, didn't speak, his expression strained as he remained focused on the enemy in front of him.
Joule moved in front of the general, a shield already activated in the event someone got a little trigger happy. Devon flanked him, his sword held at his side.
Aeron took in the room with a sneer. "I can't believe we lost the war to you idiots."
Talon sauntered around Aeron, taking in the weapons pointed in his direction like he thought they were cute. "It would be a very bad idea to fire those at any of us."
"Oh yeah?" Shepperd asked, his finger flexing on the trigger of his pistol. "And what do you call letting that monster on our base?"
Talon's smile widened. "Tactics."
Shepperd drew in a sharp breath, looking about three seconds from doing what Talon had warned him not to do.
The oshota at Wren and Graydon's side shifted. Finn's face was blank. The oshota showing little concern for his colleague.
"Lower your weapons," Jace ordered tiredly. "You can't shoot him."
Jace's unhappiness about that fact showed in his voice.
Hollis was the first to partially lower her weapon. "You knew about this?"
Jace glared at Kira. "You could say that."
Kira leaned back in her chair, stretching her legs out under the table as she returned his glare. If he didn't want his people to overreact, he should have warned them before letting a general loose among them.
"The prodigal daughter returns," Talon declared, spotting Kira. "Did you have fun without your oshota?"
Kira quirked an eyebrow. "Define fun."
"Kill anyone?"
"A few here and there."
Talon snickered as he moved further into the room. "Sounds like a good time to me."
Shepperd and Bechler finally lowered their weapons, but they remained standing where they were, keeping plenty of distance between them and Aeron.
