Infinitys end books 7 9, p.27
Infinity's End: Books 7-9, page 27
Cas scoffed. “Right. So, they can beat the hell out of her? I don’t think so.”
“You have to admit, it looks pretty strange,” Saturina said. “The one member of the crew who actually killed—”
“Okay, I get it,” he said, talking over her.
“—actually killed people is still walking around free,” Saturina finished. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but they have a point. She needs to be confined.”
Cas tried not to let his frustration show. He and Saturina had decided to begin a romantic relationship only a few days before, but before they’d barely begun, this contention had come up between them. Despite Saturina not agreeing with Rafnkell’s drastic move to wrest command of the ship from him and Evie, she wasn’t convinced their former captain wasn’t still a threat. It made Cas think the whole attempt at a relationship might be doomed from the start. “I don’t know how many times we have to go over this: it wasn’t her. She thought they were the enemy.”
“And how long until she makes that mistake again? What happens if it’s you beside her next time? Or me? Are you really willing to put the lives of the crew at stake on a belief?”
He stopped in the middle of the corridor, turning to her. “I know you think I’m playing favorites here, but I trust her. She’s not dangerous, not anymore.”
Saturina’s eyes slid to the side. “If you say so.”
“That doesn’t mean I don’t value your opinion. I know you’re just looking out for the crew,” he said, softening his tone.
“One of us has to,” she countered, but despite the unspoken accusation there was a smile in her voice. “I’m just relaying the will of the masses.”
Cas headed back down the corridor again. “Good thing this isn’t a democracy then.”
She caught up with him again. “You can be a real ass sometimes.”
“Trust me, it was Box’s favorite thing to remind me of back on the Reasonable Excuse. It’s one of my defining characteristics. Just be glad you didn’t know me back when I worked for the Sargans.” He’d been aware the past few days just how much had changed for him ever since he’d decided to come back to the Coalition. He wasn’t sure if it was seeing his society decimated, or just the possibility that everyone he knew from his old life was dead and gone that had made him roll around in the memories of that harsher life. But he had, nonetheless.
Saturina rolled her eyes. “I’m glad I didn’t.”
He could sense her frustration only growing. “Once we understand what this beacon is and why it has brought us here, I promise I’ll make her go through a full diagnostic with Xax. And if the doc finds anything out of the ordinary, we can put her in stasis. But look at it from her point of view: she feels worse about it than anyone. After all, she killed the woman she loved.”
“I guess.” Saturina kept her eyes down. “The prisoners did say one other thing. They want better accommodations.”
Cas almost laughed out loud. “What do they think this is? A luxury cruise-liner? It’s called the brig for a reason.”
She shrugged. “How about you put yourself in their shoes. We know there is no local magistrate or court to hear their case, so they can’t be tried. And we can’t drop them off at a starbase where the cells are larger and better equipped. For most of them, they figure they’ll be spending the rest of their lives behind force barriers. Would you want to do that in a twenty by twenty cell?”
Cas considered it. “Okay. You’re right.”
“I know.”
They couldn’t keep them in those tiny rooms forever. At some point, they needed to have some sort of freedom. He just hadn’t been expecting to take on six prisoners all at once. Though, if the situation had been reversed and Chief Rafnkell’s plan had worked, Cas suspected she wouldn’t have bothered with the formality of the brig and instead ejected anyone into space who didn’t agree with her taking control of the ship. “Once we’ve figured out what we’re dealing with on the planet, I’ll assign an Engineering team that can perhaps convert one of the cargo areas into a more permanent—and larger—brig. Will that satisfy them?”
“Probably not, but it’s the best they can hope for, given their situation,” she replied.
“If they weren’t human, I’d pick a rock and leave them on it,” Cas said. But given what they knew about the Athru and their insane desire to destroy humanity, Cas thought that might be too cruel. On this ship they had a type of dampener built by a group of humans who had spent eighteen years evading the Athru. Which meant every human on the ship was safe. Or as safe as they could be, given the circumstances. But if he were to drop them off on some planet…it would be a death sentence. “Any other good news?”
Saturina hooked her arm around his for just a moment. “Nothing that can’t wait until later.” Then she let it go. Despite the fact they operated in different parts of the military—what was left of it—they didn’t want to give the appearance of impropriety. Since technically the head of the Space Corps was supposed to report to the captain of the ship on which they were serving. Though Cas had made it clear as soon as he was in command that rule had gone by the wayside. He didn’t want to have to order Saturina to do anything. If she disagreed with his decision, that was fine, they would find another way. But he wasn’t going to put her in that situation.
They reached the doors of the hypervator. “You headed down to the Bays too?” he asked, hopeful. He liked being in her presence, she had a silent strength about her he found reassuring.
“Nope, I’ve got to go bust Ryant for being late yesterday. Which means he gets extra duties this morning. I’m headed back that way.” She hooked a thumb behind her, and Cas realized she’d just made that whole walk not because she wanted to relay news, but because she liked being around him too.
He grinned. “Make sure you give him an extra kick in the ass for me.”
“You can count on it.” She was halfway back down the corridor when the hypervator doors opened and Cas stepped inside.
Chapter Two
Evelyn Diazal sat in the pilot’s chair of the shuttle Calypso, her head back against the headrest, trying not to think about the possibilities of what might be on the planet below them. She’d spent the past two days agonizing over what—or who—might be waiting for her down there. More than once she’d snuck down to the bay to steal a shuttle and find out for herself, only to turn around and go back to her quarters when she thought about betraying the crew again. Cas had put his faith in her that she wasn’t a danger to the ship, and that was something she needed to respect. Sometimes she still felt like she had the potential to be dangerous, despite the fact she’d excised the Athru part of herself that had been responsible for so much death. That dormant aspect of her psyche, that had been awoken when she’d encountered the other Athru—Diangne—was a vile, ruthless monster, and Evie was glad to be rid of her.
She drew a deep breath in through her nose and let it back out again while she rolled the small black marble Cas had given her around in her hand. While the orb brought her a level of comfort, it also carried with it a shadow. Who had it belonged to? And what had Martial wanted her to do with it when he gave it to Cas with his dying breath? It was obvious it was a beacon as she could practically sense where on the planet it wanted her to go, but what did that mean? Was it Athru technology, or something else? All these questions had been burning in her mind and at the moment it took all her willpower not to fire up the engines right now and blast down to the planet to find out.
Her comm chirped. “Diazal here,” she said.
“I’m on my way down, are you sure I can’t persuade you to take a security team with you?” Cas asked from the other end.
She shook her head even though she knew he couldn’t see it. “I’m not putting anyone else at risk. All I need is your authorization to leave. You don’t even need to come down.”
“Yes, I do,” he said and ended the transmission. Evie huffed. She hoped he wasn’t planning on making a speech about how he needed to come with her. While she wouldn’t mind the company, this was something she needed to do on her own. And now that Cas was in charge of the ship, his place was up here. She might have to remind him of that fact.
Evie leaned over the shuttle’s main control panel and entered a series of codes that brought all the main systems online. No sense in not being prepared. She double-checked all the comm lines for the shuttle and took note there was still no communications traffic coming from the planet. That in itself was odd, since Sissk was a fully developed world and had been for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. The planet was unique in that more than one intelligent species had evolved—twelve, in fact—and each had somehow not killed the others in competition for the planet during its long and troubled history. It was quite a marvel all twelve species had managed to find a way to work together, at least in theory, but power changed hands quickly on Sissk, which made getting things done difficult. It had been one of the primary reasons the planet had never been admitted to the United Coalition: by the time they were ready to apply, another government would take power and change their minds. Fortunately, these days most of the fighting was done on the floors of the Senate, rather than in a battlefield, but with twelve different Senates situated all over the planet, the comm waves were almost always full of arguments. Which was why Evie found the silence so unsettling.
“Hey.” Evie jumped, then turned in her seat to see Cas had poked his head inside the door.
“By Garth! Announce yourself next time or something.” She held a hand to her chest. Her heart, which had already been beating faster than normal, was now running like a drive capacitor on overload.
He gave her a sheepish smile. “Sorry, I figured you heard me. I know you said you refuse to take a security team down with you—”
She held up a hand. “Don’t start again. I told you, I’m not putting anyone else at risk.”
He arched an eyebrow. “At risk from what might be down there or at risk from you?”
“Both,” she said before she thought about what she’d said. “I just don’t want to see any more of the crew get hurt on my account.”
He nodded. “Well, I can’t exactly let you go down by yourself. Not only is it a breach of regulation—” She scoffed at this, since when had he been so strict on regulation? “—but allowing you to go alone would put you at risk. And that’s not acceptable either. So you get a travel buddy.”
She screwed up her face. “A travel bud—” Before she could finish, the metal body of Box pushed past Cas and strode into the cabin, walking confidently toward Evie and taking a seat in the seat adjacent to hers.
“Captain.” Box nodded as his eyes blinked in an errant pattern.
“Wait a second,” Evie said, standing. “I can’t take Box, he’s just as vulnerable as anyone else. Don’t you remember what she did—what I did to him back in that pyramid?”
“Ah, but you are forgetting a very important point, Captain,” Box said, his voice dripping with superiority. “You do not have your insanely sharp sword with you this time and I am armed with twelve types of poisons, each that could kill a Tetrean Rhino.”
Evie took a step back. Twelve poisons?
Box’s eyes blinked again in a pattern she recognized as amusement. “I’m only kidding. I have two poisons that could kill a Tetrean Rhino. The other ten would only increase his sexual prowess, make him more virile for the females.”
“Box,” Cas said, warning in his voice.
“Okay, fine. I have no poisons. Just a sedative.” He held up one of his fingers, which partially retracted to a needle. “But don’t worry. I’m sure we won’t need to use it.”
Evie shot a side glance at Cas. “I’m not going down with him.”
“Why not? I love field trips!” Box whined.
She turned to him. “It’s nothing personal, Box. I enjoy your company. But this message, whatever it is, it’s meant for me. How many times do I have to say it? I don’t want to put anyone else in harm’s way.”
“You mean you don’t want anyone to get in the way,” Cas said from behind her, having entered the shuttle properly.
“I didn’t say that,” she replied. But it’s true. She didn’t want to have to worry about anyone else down there. Sissk had been her home at one point, she felt like it was her birthright to return on her own terms.
“Bottom line is either he goes with you, or nobody goes,” Cas replied. “Minimum levels of redundancy. If I send you down there without an escort and we lose contact, what then? I’ll have to tell Saturina to prep for a rescue mission.”
“Saturina, huh? I’ve never heard you refer to her by her first name before,” Evie said, failing to keep a smile from forming on her face. “Something you want to share with the class?”
“The boss and Captain Jann have decided to enter into a sexual contract,” Box said. “It was bound to happen eventually. His self-satisfaction routine is woefully inadequate.”
Cas sputtered and Evie almost burst out laughing but managed to contain herself. “His self-satisfaction routine?”
“Oh yes. Back on the Reasonable Excuse you could hear everything if you put your audio receptor to very specific points on the hull. There was often a lot of thumping followed by a lot of crying followed by a lot more thumping. Very unhealthy.”
“Thank you,” Cas said through gritted teeth. “Say one more word about it and I’m taking your voice processor. For good.”
Box leaned over to Evie. “He’s very sensitive about his alone time. So, a new relationship should be good for him.”
She glanced back to Cas, whose face had gone a bright shade of red, though the deep breaths he was taking helped lessen the color. “Can we just agree on this arrangement so I can get back to my duties?”
“Whatever you say, boss,” Box said, spinning in his chair so it faced the large window on the shuttle. “I’m ready to go.”
Cas stared at Evie a moment and his features softened. “Are you sure you don’t want to take any weapons? Not even a pulse rifle?”
She shook her head. She’d purposely left the sword in her room. If it hadn’t belonged to her grandmother, she would have already thrown it in the recycler and had it melted down for component molecules. But as it was, she couldn’t quite find a way to part with it, despite all the death it had caused. But that didn’t mean she had to carry it with her anymore. “I’ll be fine. Especially if Mr. Needle-fingers over here is quick. I don’t get the sense there is anything on that planet that will hurt me. It’s not like I don’t know where I’m going.”
Cas nodded. “We’ll keep an open comm line just in case. Both you and Box will be connected to the bridge at all times.” He turned to the robot. “And keep the personal stuff to a minimum, huh? The entire ship doesn’t need to know your every inner thought.”
“No promises,” Box said, throwing up a waving hand without turning around.
Cas rolled his eyes, turning back to Evie. “Good luck down there. I hope you find what you’re looking for. And if for some reason you do run into trouble, let us know.”
“Thanks.” The glint of metal caught her eye and it was drawn to the captain’s insignia he’d pinned on his jacket. She’d missed it before, but it looked like he was finally taking steps to becoming the ship’s new commanding officer. Even if they were baby steps. She approached him and drew him into a hug, and she felt him go rigid. In all the time they’d known each other they’d kept physical contact to a minimum, so she didn’t quite know why she’d taken the extra step to hug him, it just seemed like the right thing to do. She pulled back and without saying anything else returned to the pilot’s chair. She heard him exit and once the shuttle’s sensors confirmed he was clear she closed the hatch on the side.
Box leaned back over once the pressure had sealed. “Well. That was intense.”
Chapter Three
The shuttle rumbled under them as Evie brought it through the top layers of Sissk’s atmosphere. The system’s star: Hommel, burned white in the distance, illuminating this side of the planet. Below them, Sissk itself stretched wide, its browns and greens mixed to form the land which abruptly ended at the few light blue seas that dotted the landscape. Whereas habitable worlds were typically more water than land, Sissk was the opposite as it only had one ocean which cut through the main continent of the planet from pole to pole. The rest of the landscape was peppered by what looked like small lakes from high above but were actually massive seas in themselves up close, though most were cut off from each other except for a few connected by giant, artificial waterways built by the indigenous Sissk species hundreds of years ago.
It was a view Evie was used to and coming back to it after having been away for such a long time sent a pang of nostalgia reverberating through her. Once she’d passed her pilot’s test and had her license, she used to see this view daily after taking up the rentable shuttles as many times as she could afford in a month. She’d spend hours up here, watching the planet below as she practiced her skills, becoming as familiar as possible with the controls until the shuttle itself felt like an extension of her body. It was the one part of her adolescence she’d really enjoyed and diving back through the atmosphere brought it all back to the forefront.
“You lived in Lechal, correct?” Box asked as the last remnants of the inkiness of space disappeared and they were enveloped in blueish-green atmosphere.
“Outside Lechal, but yes, it was the closest port. We’ll have to land there, Sissk doesn’t permit private landings as all…” She broke off, a disturbing thought crossing her mind.
“Captain?” Box asked.
“Where is all the air traffic?” Evie asked, realizing no other transports were flying through the atmosphere. Usually the sky would have been full of them, each in their designated lanes. The lanes themselves were still there, she could see the hovering markers floating as she took the ship lower into the atmosphere.
