Cobra Traitor, page 45
part #3 of Cobra Rebellion Series
Where did her heart lie?
Rashida was on the move now, limping toward Kemp, still moaning and pleading like a helpless, beaten woman. With Kemp’s face blocked from Jody’s view, she couldn’t tell whether or not he was buying the act.
But she could see Kemp’s feet, and could see that he, too, was still striding forward toward the hatch. Five meters, Jody decided tautly, was the critical distance where even his bone laminae and drug-heightened resistance would be unable to protect him from a killing shot from Rashida’s fingertip lasers.
They continued toward each other. They reached the critical distance.
And continued past it. For a frozen second Jody felt her mental wheels spinning…
Then, suddenly, she got it.
She glanced up at the ceiling above Rashida’s head, putting a target lock on it. Her timing would have to be perfect. Rashida took one more step—
Rising half out of her crouch, Jody slipped around the corner into the wide corridor and jumped.
She’d done the ceiling flip exactly twice during her training. She’d succeeded both times—or, rather, her nanocomputer had succeeded—but she’d never felt comfortable with it. Now, with every life aboard the Dorian hanging in the balance, she was suddenly overwhelmed by the fear that this time she would fail.
But she didn’t. Her servos flipped her around as she flew upward, turning her just enough to bring her feet against the high ceiling. Upside down, facing the deck, she saw Kemp’s look of shock and fury as she soared above him. Even as her knees bent to absorb the momentum of her impact she saw him snap his arms up, tracking his fingertip lasers toward her—
And as her knee servos began to reverse themselves to send her back down she saw Rashida bend her right arm at the elbow and send two quick laser shots into Kemp’s little fingers, burning away the joints and the weapons hidden within them.
Kemp bellowed with surprise, pain, and rage. His own programed reflexes kicked in, throwing him to the side.
But it was too late. Rashida was within range; and even as he dived toward the bulkhead she leaped forward, wrapping her arms around his torso and her legs around his legs, immobilizing him as they fell to the deck.
They were lying together, Kemp struggling uselessly against her servo-powered grip, when Jody hit the deck behind them and sent a stun blast into the back of his head.
He collapsed in Rashida’s arms and lay motionless. Jody and Rashida looked at each other over his shoulder, and for a moment Jody felt the depth of understanding she’d never had before with anyone but her family.
The moment passed. “Thank you,” Jody murmured.
“I would not have killed him,” Rashida assured her. “Not unless it was truly necessary.”
“Even after what he did to Smitty?”
“I do not believe he was the one who hurt Smitty,” Rashida said, a wave of heartache sweeping across her face. “But even if he was, I would not have killed him. I know what he means to you.”
Jody was still searching for something to say when Captain Moreau came around the corner. His eyes flicked across the three of them, taking it all in. “You all right?”
“Yes,” Jody said. Behind the captain, she could see Meekan helping Merrick to his feet. “Did Merrick—?”
“The Marines are alive,” Moreau said, jerking his head back along the other corridor. “Plaine and Oponn both. Your brother simply took out their epaulets and then stunned them.”
Jody exhaled a sigh. She should have known that, even under the influence of a Troft drug, he wouldn’t kill unless absolutely necessary.
Which meant it must have been one of the Marines in the conference room who had shot Smitty.
Whether it was true or not, that was what she would choose to believe.
But the whole thing might still be for nothing. If the Trofts got aboard…“We need to get the Marines here,” she said. “The Trofts—”
She broke off as a sudden multiple thud sounded from the hull nearby. The captain, she noted with some confusion, didn’t even flinch. “That won’t be necessary,” he said calmly. “That sound you just heard was pieces of the Troft boarding boat. Or possibly pieces of the Trofts.”
Jody looked down at Rashida. “You mean…we won?”
“Hardly,” Moreau said, his voice going a little sour. He looked over his shoulder as Merrick and Meekan came slowly toward them, Meekan with his arm around Merrick’s waist for support. “I have a message for you, Cobra Broom,” he continued to Merrick. “The three Trofts ships that just took out the net and our Troft attackers sent it to us a moment ago.”
“A message?” Merrick asked, frowning. He was still trembling, but his face had cleared and he was starting to come back to full function.
“Yes,” Moreau said. “They said to tell you that Commander Ukuthi sends his apologies that he can’t be here in person, but hopes that these, his other warships, will be sufficient.”
“Oh,” Merrick said. “I see.” He took a deep breath. “Captain, this may sound strange, but Commander Ukuthi is sort of an ally.”
“You seem to have a lot of Troft allies, Cobra Broom,” Moreau said tersely. “Something we’ll have to sort out in the very near future.” He gave a little snort. “But don’t worry about this one. Ukuthi and I have already met.”
A tentative smile tugged at the corners of Merrick’s lips. “Let me guess. He offered you a deal?”
“That he did.” Moreau took a deep breath. “But that, too, is a conversation for later. Let’s get you to sickbay—” he looked down at Kemp “—get him into full-body restraints and then to sickbay—”
He looked at Meekan. “And then let’s get to CoNCH and get the hell out of here.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
The group seated together in the hastily assembled conversation ring in the Megalith’s main hangar bay was not exactly what Jin would call cheerful. But still, amid the swirling tension, there was a certain level of relief.
The Trofts had been defeated. For now.
But only for now.
“So they have this war drug,” Commodore Santores rumbled, his eyes coming back from the data stream and Captain Moreau’s final report, which he’d insisted on reading before he would let any of them leave. “May I ask why you didn’t go back to Muninn and level every place that could possibly be a lab or storehouse?”
“The Dorian wasn’t in any shape for that kind of mission,” Captain Moreau said. His voice was level, but Jin could hear an underlying edge of frustration, as well. “And if we had, we’d have gone in alone. The Balin’ekha’spmi ships made it clear that they were there only to assist our escape, not to engage the Drim’hco’plai in open combat.”
Santores turned his glower onto Ukuthi. “Commander Ukuthi?” he challenged.
“Captain Moreau is correct,” Ukuthi said calmly. “My demesne-lord does not seek open war with the Drim’hco’plai. He wished merely to sow doubt and distrust between them and the demesne-lords who currently battle the Dominion of Man, thus diminishing Drim’hco’plai power and prestige in our region of the Trof’te Assemblage. That goal has now been accomplished.” He looked at Merrick. “Were I you, Commodore Santores, I would focus my thoughts on the fact that you will be returning with your task force unpoisoned and with knowledge of this new weapon that will soon be unleashed upon you.”
Beside Jin, Paul’s fingers tentatively touched the side of her leg. Jin reached down in response, entwining her fingers with his. Yes, most of Santores’s force would be returning to the Dominion.
But not all of it. A message had arrived at Qasama earlier this morning from Aventine, carried by a Hoibie courier ship, informing Santores that the Algonquin had perished in battle against the invading Troft force. That the attackers had also been destroyed was of only limited comfort to the commodore.
For Jin, the fact that Captain Lij Tulu, the man responsible for most of the misery on Aventine and the loss of her husband’s Cobra abilities, had died with his ship was of no comfort at all. Revenge, she had long ago learned, was the most hollow of victories.
“Even if Captain Moreau had gone back it wouldn’t have accomplished anything,” Merrick spoke up. He was sitting between Lorne and Jody, his fingers restlessly stroking the arm of his chair, his eyes never seeming to touch anyone else’s face. Kemp, sitting on Jody’s other side, looked even more uncomfortable, and had yet to lift his own eyes from the deck.
Or maybe it wasn’t the deck he was staring at but his hands, and the bandages where Rashida Vil had burned off his fingertip lasers in order to save Jody’s life.
Rashida. A Qasaman woman, now a Qasaman Cobra. Briefly, Jin thought about the Qasama she’d first visited, so many years ago, and wondered if anyone there would ever have dreamed such a thing could happen.
“It might have stopped this thing before it got going,” Santores countered harshly.
“No,” Merrick said, again not meeting the commodore’s glare. “Because Kjoic had already left Muninn with a sample of the drug. The Kriel demesne-lord will pass it on to whoever set up the deal, and collect the payment.” He gestured to Ukuthi. “None of which the Drims will get a share of. In case you want to add that to the list of ways the Drims came out badly in all this.”
“I do,” Ukuthi promised, his radiator membranes fluttering. “And I will. Perhaps my demesne-lord will use some of his new leverage to free the humans of Muninn from their slavery.”
A flicker of emotion crossed Merrick’s face. “I’m sure they’d appreciate that,” he murmured.
“Are you sure he had a sample?” Santores pressed. “I can’t see the Drim’hco’plai Trofts being that careless.”
“He didn’t get it from the Drims.” Merrick lifted his arm a few centimeters. “He got it from me.”
“From you?”
“From the last four doses the Drims implanted,” Merrick said. “Either before they were injected or right afterward.” He gave Jody a hooded look. “I’m sorry, Jody. I know you thought you were the one who talked me down. I was hoping that, too. At least then the Dominion might have a counter to use against it. But the fact is that it was already draining out of my system when I came after you.”
“So there’s no counter?” Paul asked.
“Of course there is,” Santores said firmly. “Every weapon has a counter. We’ll look until we find it.” He gestured across the circle. “Which is why Cobra Kemp is coming back with us. He still has two samples in his arm for us to study.”
“Wait a minute,” Jin said, frowning. “Why do you need him? Can’t you just remove a sample here?”
“We have,” Santores said. “One sample, anyway. But that’s not enough. We need to know how long it lasts inside a human host, how exactly it was implanted, and how they keep it from leaking into the target’s bloodstream before it’s been activated. We can’t know any of that without taking him along for tests.”
“And besides,” Kemp said quietly, “Acting Captain Filho intends to bring me up on charges of murder.”
Jin tightened her fingers around Paul’s. “Whatever you did aboard the Dorian was warfare, not murder.”
“Then he tries me for treason, or aiding and abetting the enemy, or some such,” Kemp said. “There are men dead on the Dorian, and Filho is determined that someone pay.”
“Besides himself?” Jin countered, feeling a stir of anger. First all but mutinying against Captain Moreau, and now looking for a scapegoat to cover up his ineptitude.
“I’m sure it will all work out,” Captain Moreau said.
“It will,” Santores confirmed. “But Acting Captain Filho and Commander Castenello have filed the charges, and they have powerful patrons. The best thing—for all of us,” he added, looking at Captain Moreau “—will be to take this matter to Asgard and the Dome and hash it out there.”
“What about Qasama and the Cobra Worlds?” Paul asked. “What happens to us now?”
“In the short term, we need to call off the follow-up fleet that’s on its way and send them back home,” Santores said. “The encrypted orders and confirmations I’ll send back to Aventine with you should cover that. In the long term—” He shook his head. “That’s up to the Dome.” He looked at Jody. “And possibly Cobra Broom.”
“What do you mean?” Jin asked, frowning.
“It means I’m going to the Dominion with Kemp,” Jody said.
Jin stared at her daughter, her heart suddenly pounding. “What?”
“I’m going with Kemp,” Jody repeated. Her face and voice were tense, but there was a stubbornness in her eyes that Jin remembered far too well. “Someone needs to plead the Cobra Worlds’ case. To make sure they never pull this sort of stunt on us again.”
“But—” Jin began.
“The agreement has been made, and the arrangements finalized,” Santores cut her off. “And I’m sorry, but there’s no time for discussion. We need to head back immediately, before the war drug is handed off to our enemies and goes into production. Captain Moreau, return to the Dorian—we’ll be leaving Qasama in thirty minutes. Commander Ukuthi, you may return to your ship at your convenience. I understand you’ll be transporting the rest of the Broom family across to the Dewdrop?”
“I will,” Ukuthi said. His radiator membranes fluttered. “It will be an honor to serve them in such a fashion. I trust the Dominion of Man will grant them equal honor?”
“I’ll do my best to make sure they understand,” Santores promised.
“Thank you.” Ukuthi’s membranes stiffened briefly. “Make certain, too, that they know not to again permit their war to spill into our region of the Assemblage. If it does, I assure you there will be consequences all will regret.”
“I’ll pass that on to them.” Santores rose from his seat. “Cobra Kemp, you’ll come with me. Cobra Broom—Cobras Broom, I suppose I should say—again, the Dominion of Man thanks you for your service.”
“I will await you in my shuttle,” Ukuthi added as he stood from his couch. “Captain Moreau, may you find justice.”
Five minutes later, Jin’s family was alone. Together again.
Maybe for the last time.
“Do you really have to go?” Jin asked, trying to fight back her tears. Jody looked nervous enough without her mother adding to any guilt she might be feeling.
“I don’t see any other way,” Jody said. She, too, was fighting back tears. “Not just for Kemp, but for all of us.”
“Why can’t Commodore Santores tell them?” Lorne asked. “Or Merrick. He’s the one who found this damn drug.”
“Lorne!” Paul admonished.
“I’m just trying to help,” Lorne insisted. “The way the Dominion treats women—”
“It’s okay, Lorne,” Jody said, putting a hand on his arm. “Commodore Santores and I have sorted that out.”
“But—”
“Besides, Merrick can’t go,” Jody said firmly. “He injured or killed several Marines and nearly helped the Drims take the ship. From what Captain Moreau said about Dome and Navy politics, his opponents would tear him apart over that. He’d be under the same charges now as Kemp if Ukuthi hadn’t intervened with Santores.”
“Whereas you’re a hero,” Paul said.
Jody gave him a somewhat tight smile. “Crazy, isn’t it? But that’s how it’s shaped up. I was the one who found out where Merrick had been taken, I’m the one who found him, rescued him, and got the drug samples back to Santores. And I’m the one—well, Rashida and me—who finally stopped him and Kemp and kept the Trofts off the Dorian.”
“You also stole a Dominion courier ship,” Paul pointed out.
“Yes, but they’ve already nailed Barrington with all the blame for letting me do that,” Jody pointed out. “Thing is, if they now accuse me of stealing the ship, that leaves them with less of a case against him, and therefore less of an excuse for having kicked him out in the first place. By the time they see how Santores and Barrington are positioning me, it’ll be too late for them to backtrack. Or so Barrington thinks.”
Lorne snorted. “They’ve got some strange politics back there.”
“Probably no stranger than ours,” Paul pointed out.
“Yeah,” Lorne said. “Maybe.”
“That’s also why Kemp and I are traveling with Santores in the Megalith, out of reach of Filho and Castenello,” Jody said. “Santores doesn’t want them to get a hint of Barrington’s plan, and Barrington doesn’t trust them not to be vindictive.”
“Well, damn,” Lorne said. “So that’s it? We finally get the family back together, and you’re just going to leave?”
“Oh, I’ll be back,” Jody assured him. “Really, I will. Kemp and me both.”
“Of course you will,” Jin said firmly. “We just…we’re going to miss you, Jody.”
“I’ll miss you, too,” Jody said. And now, Jin saw, she was no longer trying to hold back the tears. “But I’ll be okay. Really. At least I’m not flying off into the middle of a war on Qasama like you and Merrick did.”
“Or heading off to Caelian like you and Dad did,” Lorne added.
“Or dodging Trofts on Aventine like you did,” Merrick countered. He hesitated. “Speaking of Caelian…”
“Smitty’s recovering just fine,” Jody assured him. “He’s getting the absolute best care possible. If for no other reason than Rashida’s sitting beside him and there’ll be hell to pay if he doesn’t.”
“Good.” Merrick’s face screwed up. “I just wish I remembered…”
“No, you don’t,” Paul said.
“Dad’s right, Merrick,” Jody said quietly. “Kemp doesn’t remember, either. Whatever happened—and I’m still thinking it was one of the Marines who shot him—it’s not your fault.”
Merrick sighed. “I wish I could believe that.”
“Believe it,” Paul said firmly. “Rashida’s interest apart, Omnathi needs him alive and well if he’s going to position him as the first hero of the new Caelian/Qasama alliance.”
“That’s still happening?” Jin asked, frowning. “I thought that was just a ploy Uy dreamed up to use against Santores.”
Paul shrugged, an oddly stiff movement with his useless servos. “As far as I know it’s still on. Actually, it makes a lot of sense, given that the Djinn combat suits may be the key to finally taming the Caelian ecology.”
