Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Epilogue

Angle of Truth

Sky Full of Stars, Book 2

by Lindsay Buroker

Copyright © 2017 Lindsay Buroker

Illustration Copyright © 2017 Tom Edwards

TomEdwardsDesign.com

Acknowledgments

The adventures of Jelena, Erick, Thor, and crew continue in this second installment in the Sky Full of Stars series. As usual, I had lots of help getting the story together. Let me pause to thank my editor, Shelley Holloway, and my beta readers, Sarah Engelke, Cindy Wilkinson, and Rue Silver. Also, thank you to Tom Edwards for the fine cover art for this series. Lastly, thank you, good reader, for coming back for another adventure!

Chapter 1

Alfie charged up to the crates being floated out of the cargo hold and barked in protest. One of the workers using a hand tractor arched her eyebrows, as if to ask if she was in danger, but the dog hadn’t connected the unfamiliar man and woman doing the unloading with the disappearing cargo.

“Here, girl.” Jelena Marchenko, captain of the Snapper, and Starseer in training, patted her thigh and dug out a vat-grown ham cube. She tossed it to Alfie when she ran over and sat next to her. The black-and-white, forty-pound dog Jelena had rescued from a laboratory engaged in animal experiments accepted the treat enthusiastically, but her hackles remained up as she watched the crates leaving the cargo hold. “Guard dog,” Jelena explained to the workers, though she hadn’t trained Alfie for such a job. She also wasn’t sure if the dog cared about the cargo per se or was protesting because those crates were filled with dehydrated food rations.

“Just let me know if I need to protect my ankles,” the woman said.

“She’s taller than that. She would go for your knees.”

The woman scowled and walked the floating crates out the cargo hatch and down the ramp to a big ground truck waiting on the busy dock outside. Jelena admonished herself for making jokes, at least when dealing with the client’s people. She needed to be professional and act older than her eighteen years, since her position as captain was very tenuous. She’d already failed once to prove herself capable of the responsibility. This was her second chance. Most likely, her last chance.

“Are you threatening our clients?” Erick asked, walking out of engineering and joining her. For some reason, he carried his Starseer staff instead of a hand tractor to help unload the cargo, and the runes running down the side glowed faintly.

“Not me. Alfie is considering making herself ferocious.”

“She’s awfully fluffy and cute for that.”

“I didn’t say it would be effective.” Jelena waved to his staff. “Are you expecting trouble?”

“There are a lot of people outside.”

“It’s a city.” Jelena nodded toward the drab gray skyscrapers and apartment buildings beyond the head of the docks. An even grayer sky spat a misty drizzle onto them. “I hear cities often have lots of people in them.”

“Lots of people who might find us interesting?” Erick’s eyes grew distant as he gazed into the drizzle, his face scrunching up as it did whenever he concentrated on using his mental talents.

“Why not? I’m quite fascinating.”

Alfie flapped her tail and nuzzled Jelena’s hand.

“Alfie agrees.” Jelena didn’t mention that her hand currently smelled of ham.

“There are a dozen ships docked along the promenade here,” Erick said, ignoring her comments, “but for some reason, about thirty people out near those shipping containers are looking in our direction, studying the Snapper.” He flicked his fingers toward the freight yard on the other side of the road, where massive lifting vehicles meandered between stacks and stacks of giant, multicolored containers.

There would be plenty of places for people to hide back there, but the machinery was automated, and Jelena couldn’t see anyone.

“I’ll try to see what some of them are thinking,” Erick added.

Jelena reached out with her own senses, intending to seek out the potential spies, but a graying man with a potbelly strode up the ramp and into the ship. He wore a dyspeptic expression that looked like a permanent fixture.

“Make your staff stop glowing, Erick,” she muttered. “We’re incognito Starseers, remember?”

He didn’t seem to hear her, but his runes did stop glowing, fading into what appeared to be ebony wood. The material was much stronger than wood. It was a proprietary metal alloy enhanced with power by the tool-builder who had crafted the staff. In this case, Jelena’s grandpa, Stanislav. A nearly identical staff leaned against a bulkhead in her cabin.

Alfie stood up and looked from the man to Jelena, silently asking if she was supposed to do something fierce. And if ham rewards would be involved if she did it correctly.

Jelena used her telepathic link to soothe Alfie and stepped forward to meet their visitor, Sergeant Lemaire, the security man overseeing the delivery of his boss’s cargo. Since he looked like a person about to lodge a complaint, Jelena spoke first, holding up her netdisc as a holodisplay popped into the air above it.

“Sergeant, did you come to sign for the cargo?” She smiled, tempted to use the same mental soothing that she’d used on Alfie. But touching the minds of strangers was deeply personal and made her uncomfortable. Touching the minds of animals was far more appealing.

“I came to see what’s taking so long,” Lemaire snapped.

“We’ve only been here for five minutes.” Jelena wasn’t sure why he was complaining to her instead of his own two people. They were moving crates efficiently but not with obvious urgency.

“You’ve been here fifteen minutes. It took you ages to land and open the hatch so we could get to work.”

Ten minutes was “ages”? Ten minutes during which she’d been affixing docking clamps and tubes to resupply water and fill the oxygen tanks while answering questions from the port authorities about their cargo and how long they would be staying?

“Don’t you have people who can help?” Lemaire propped a fist on his hip. “Mop Head is just standing there, rubbing that staff.”

Erick blinked. “Is that me?”

He could use a haircut. His blond locks were covering his ears and dangling in his eyes.

“It’s not Alfie,” Jelena said. “She’s female.”

Erick squinted at her.

“No staff,” she explained.

As a twenty-four-year-old man, shouldn’t Erick be quicker to catch on to innuendoes than she was? She’d read books and surfed the sys-net of course, but when it came to personal experience, she’d led a sheltered life, growing up on her parents’ freighter and until recently, usually having her very large and very muscular cyborg stepfather as a duenna whenever she’d left the ship at its various ports. The one boy—man—she’d dated while practicing for her piloting exams hadn’t been one to crack lurid jokes. As focused as he’d been on academics, he might not have even known lurid jokes.

“I agree that we should get the cargo off-loaded quickly,” Erick said, his humor apparently on vacation today. He leaned his staff against a bulkhead and jogged into engineering. “Austin? Come help. Jelena, you might want to call Masika and Thorian to help too.”

Sergeant Lemaire’s eyebrows twitched at the name Thorian. Jelena didn’t allow herself to wince, not with Lemaire frowning at her, but she wished Erick hadn’t used his name. She was sure that former Prince Thorian, the only heir to the now-defunct Sarellian Empire, wasn’t the only Thorian in the Tri-Suns System, but he was certainly the most famous. Ten years had passed since his father died and the empire fell, but thanks to his recent assassination hobby, his name was back in news vids being broadcast all over the system.

Erick returned with Austin behind him, his younger brother as tall as he but ganglier and more pimple-prone. Erick tossed a hand tractor to Jelena, and he and Austin set to work, moving stacks toward the ramp with more alacrity than Lemaire’s people had shown.

Under Lemaire’s ongoing impatient glare, Jelena headed for another stack of crates. She noticed he wasn’t offering to move anything. At least it wasn’t like the old days when people had needed to physically lift crates with their own strength.

As she applied the hand tractor, its energy beam lifting the cargo, she tapped the earstar draped over her right helix. Trusting the AI to figure out she wanted to comm the rest of her crew, she spoke without preamble. “Thor and Masika? Can you take a break from beating on each other and come down to help—”

Trouble! Erick telepathically warned her as something clanged onto the Snapper’s ramp.

Alfie’s head came up, and she barked in that direction.

Instinctively, Jelena used her mental powers to raise an invisible barrier around Alfie and herself. Belatedly, as she identified the item, she realized she should have raised a barrier around it. The grenade rolled to the base of the ramp and exploded.

Smoke filled the air outside the ship, and a woman cried out in pain. The female cargo handler. She’d been on the way back from the truck for another load.

Lemaire cursed, yanked out a blazer pistol, and ran to the hatchway, using the hull for cover as he pointed the weapon around the edge.

The people from the freight yard? Jelena asked Erick telepathically, now wishing her staff wasn’t back in her cabin. She could use her powers without it, but the tool amplified them and helped with focus.

Yes, and some more are coming from between two other ships docked farther down. They seem to be part of the same group. Erick set down his cargo, lifted his hand, and his staff floated into his grip.

Jelena winced when Austin dropped his hand tractor—and the crates the tool had been levitating. The younger Ostberg had never developed Starseer abilities, and he raced for engineering instead of preparing to defend the ship. Jelena didn’t know him well enough yet to know if he intended to hide there or grab some tool to help. He’d only been on the Snapper for a couple of weeks and hadn’t arrived with weapons unless one counted his ghost-hunting paraphernalia.

Another boom came from the base of the ramp. Tires screeched and metal crunched as one of the hulking freight vehicles rammed into the side of Lemaire’s truck. With all the smoke, he couldn’t have seen much, but he fired in that direction.

Jelena ran toward the controls for the cargo hatch, figuring the best course of action would be to lock down the ship—grenades and hand weapons shouldn’t do much against the armored hull of the old freighter. But if grenades were flung into the hold, that would be another matter.

“What are you doing?” Lemaire grabbed her wrist when she reached for the hatch controls.

“Closing the door.”

“They’re trying to steal our cargo,” he growled, shooting into the smoke as he kept his grip on her wrist. Jelena was tempted to yank her arm free—and use her power to knock him on his ass—but he added, “You will help us drive these thieves away. I’m not signing for anything if we don’t get our full cargo.”

Jelena wasn’t positive her crew was still responsible for the cargo at this point, but her parents—the owners of the family business and her employers—wouldn’t appreciate it if they didn’t get paid for the freight run. She winced, envisioning her second chance to prove herself failing through no fault of her own.

“We’ll help,” she said, extricating her wrist.

Erick stormed out onto the ramp with his staff in hand.

“Thor!” Jelena called over her shoulder. “Masika, are you—”

Masika, a dark-skinned, muscular woman with unnatural speed and strength, raced around a stack of crates and blurred past to join Erick at the base of the ramp. Thor came right behind her, wearing his usual black clothing with his retractable sword extended and glowing blue, a promise that it was more than a simple blade.

“Never mind,” Jelena said.

Thor carried her staff, and he tossed it to her without a word as he ran past. Another grenade went off close to the ship, and Jelena grimaced, imagining her ramp being mangled or blown off.

She silently ordered Alfie to stay back and strode out, keeping her barrier around her. Smoke filled the air, and she couldn’t see much with her eyes. Thumps and clangs came from the direction of the truck. Jelena’s senses told her Masika and Thor were there, striking and hurling away armed people trying to reach the cargo bed. Erick blocked someone’s attempt to leap into the cab and drive the truck away. One man came in from the side, leaping onto the bed and tearing into a crate with a crowbar. Masika heard him and pounced, lifting him overhead and throwing him into one of the shipping containers across the road.

Most of the would-be thieves didn’t have blazers or even guns with bullets, instead clobbering people with crowbars or makeshift clubs. Thor leaped into the cargo bed and found one who’d made it in before he arrived. The scrawny man swung at him with a crowbar. Thor parried the blow, his enhanced blade cutting the lesser weapon in half. His foe stumbled back, and Jelena sensed his alarm and fear. Whatever he had expected for security, it hadn’t been a Starseer.

Thor grabbed the man and, much like Masika, hurled him farther than he should have been able to, though he used the power of his mind rather than genetically enhanced muscles. Soon, Masika and Thor stood side by side on the edge of the cargo bed, blocking any who approached. The locals had no chance of getting past them, not with their current tactics.

The number of thieves—as they did indeed seem to be—surprised Jelena. As did the ragtag nature of their clothing and the griminess and gauntness of their faces. Did they know the Snapper was delivering food? Was that why they had attacked?

Still on the ramp, Jelena looked up and down the street, her staff ready and her defenses up, but she didn’t attack anyone. She had a notion of finding the leader and mentally coercing him or her to call off his comrades. That idea faded when she spotted a grenade hurtling straight toward her.

Her heart skipped a few beats, but she kept her calm and pointed her staff at it. She batted at the projectile with a soft whisper of power. The grenade flew back in the other direction, and someone cried a warning. Or maybe that was a curse. She knew the natives of the Hierarchy Moons spoke Solis Lingua, but she couldn’t understand their heavy dialect.

Her senses warned her of three people approaching her from the opposite direction, following the hull of the Snapper, as if they meant to pull themselves onto the top of the ramp and sneak in behind her—or maybe knock her to the side and charge in behind her.

Jelena whirled toward them, thrusting out with her barrier, using it like a battering ram. The three men—no, those were three boys, barely into their teens—stumbled back. They were as gaunt as the rest of the people, all clad in clothes that didn’t fit. Two of them didn’t have shoes. Even though she hadn’t hurt them badly, mostly startling them, she promptly felt bad about the assault. She lowered her barrier, trying to think of something she might say or do to convince them to break off before they were seriously hurt. She didn’t want to fight starving kids.

Lemaire fired from behind her, and she jumped. She’d forgotten about him, and she gaped in horror as his blazer blast struck one of the boys in the chest.

“What are you doing?” she cried.

The boy clutched a hand to his chest, eyes huge with pain and horror. He tripped backward and fell to the ground. Dead.

“My job,” Lemaire growled, starting to fire again.

This time, Jelena grabbed his wrist, pulling it to the side so his blast didn’t hit a second boy. The two remaining thieves were standing in shock and staring down at their companion. Seeing Lemaire’s blazer bolt bouncing off the hull of the Snapper spurred them into motion. They sprinted away, disappearing into the smoke.

“They’re just kids.”

“They’re thieves.” Lemaire pushed past her, shooting into the smoke again. “If you won’t help, get out of my way.”

She had been helping.

She was tempted to knock Lemaire off the ramp, but more cries from the truck distracted her.

Try not to hurt them, please! she spoke into Erick’s, Thor’s, and Masika’s minds. There wasn’t time to elaborate. She was forced to turn to the side to defend against two more boys coming at her. One had a slingshot, and the other was throwing rocks.

Retreat, or you’ll all be killed, Jelena silently ordered them, breaking her personal rule about not using telepathy on strangers. She made the words forceful, hoping to scare the boys into running.

Their eyes widened with fear, but they still hurled their rocks. Through her brief mental contact with them, she could sense the hunger gnawing at their stomachs, along with their surface thoughts. If they could just get one crate, they could gorge themselves and be full for the first time in months. Maybe years.

Jelena raised her shield again, halting their approach, but feelings of sympathy almost made her falter. A big part of her wished she could let them slip in, to steal a few items from one of Lemaire’s boss’s crates. She had no idea where the food was going—her job was to deliver it and nothing more—but Lemaire and his colleagues all appeared well fed. She imagined they could part with a few items.

“Got it,” Austin said, startling her.

Her concentration lapsed, and the determined rock-slingers almost made it to the ramp. She refocused, erected her barrier, and pushed them backward with it. They were confused and afraid, but not yet ready to give up. They felt themselves so close. It was worth risking pain for this much food.

Lemaire turned toward the boys and fired, absolutely no sympathy in his jaded heart. But this time, her barrier was up, and it worked both ways. His blazer bolt ricocheted off it and zipped back over his shoulder.

Yelping, he flung himself to the ramp. “What in all three suns’ hells was that?”

“A Starseer shield,” she said, leveling a cool gaze at him, hoping he would connect some dots and realize he’d been foolish to grab her wrist.

“Here,” Austin said, tapping something tucked under his arm. A box of exposed wires and circuitry. Then he opened his palm, displaying small objects. “Put these in. You, too, mister.”

Jelena managed to keep her barrier up while she accepted the items Austin pressed into her hand. Were those earplugs? He gave two to Lemaire, who was still on his belly on the ramp, glowering into the smoke around them, then ran down the ramp, calling, “Erick?”

Jelena struggled to extend her barrier to protect Austin as he moved closer to the truck. She would never forgive herself if she let Erick’s little brother get killed.

Another grenade came sailing out of the smoke, this time, toward the truck. Jelena was on the verge of dropping her barrier so she could knock it away, but a breeze whispered through, stealing some of the smoke, and she saw Thor flick a finger. The grenade not only bounced away, but it flew so high into the gray sky that it detonated a thousand feet above their heads where it did not harm anyone.

Thor whirled to face two men as they leaped onto the cargo bed from the side—it was clear they had intended to get to the truck under the chaos created by the grenade. Its failure did not deter them. One swung a board with sharp nails protruding from the end. Thor swiped through it with the curved blade of his sword, then threw a side kick. His heel slammed into the man’s stomach, the power of the blow hurling him out of the truck where he landed hard on the road. Without pausing, Thor knocked a makeshift weapon out of his second foe’s hands and flung him back, too, this time, using pure Starseer power rather than a physical attack. The man flew farther than his comrade, his back hammering into a shipping container.

Jelena only glimpsed Masika before the smoke curled in again, obscuring her view, but numerous foes were down around her. Jelena took some solace in the fact that Thor’s sword hadn’t been dripping blood, but she had no idea if the people at Masika’s feet were unconscious or dead. An angry, frustrated ball formed in the pit of her stomach.

“Stop attacking!” she yelled, trying to infuse the power of persuasion into her order, hoping something might get through to these people. They couldn’t win. Didn’t they understand that?

Austin appeared out of the smoke again and set his machine at the base of the ramp. He tapped a button, and an ear-splitting wail erupted from it. Ear-splitting was no exaggeration. It was all Jelena could do not to crumple to her knees.

Austin pointed at her hand, and she thrust the earplugs in. A horrible caterwauling came from the cargo hold. Alfie. Jelena sensed her fleeing from the ramp—from that machine. She raced all the way to NavCom and flung herself onto the folded blanket under the console, her paws over her ears.

Jelena could still hear the awful noise through the earplugs, but it wasn’t quite as debilitating. Lemaire rolled to his knees and stuffed his own plugs in. Two men ran past the base of the ramp, clutching at their ears. One had blood trickling down his jaw. Damn, that was an effective weapon, whatever it was. But a weapon that didn’t kill. Those who were capable of it ran away. Earlier, there had been other people on the road and the docks, but they had disappeared into their ships as soon as the fighting began. Far in the distance, a couple of people leaned out of hatches and shook fists in Jelena’s direction before disappearing back inside. Those without ships to retreat into ran toward the city. Except for those who were too injured to manage. At least five people were dead, Jelena realized, letting her senses trickle over the road—over the battleground.

All of them had died from blazer fire. That of Lemaire and his helpers. The woman who’d been loading cargo was injured, her arm hanging limply at her side, and Jelena couldn’t blame her for opening fire, but the entire situation frustrated her.

Let’s get this cargo unloaded and off our hands, Erick spoke into her mind as he stomped up the ramp, his face like a storm cloud. He gave a significant look to the dead boy, and Jelena knew he shared her frustration.

Austin left the machine running, and Jelena’s small team passed Lemaire to grab hand tractors and finish the task. He made a quick comm call, then positioned himself at the top of the ramp, on guard instead of helping. As if anyone would try again with that noise generator blaring.

In an impressively short time, the cargo was out of the Snapper’s hold and piled into the back of the big truck.

Austin turned off his machine. Jelena’s ears still rang, and she didn’t hurry to remove the plugs. She tapped Lemaire’s shoulder and held up the holodisplay, needing his virtual signature. She made her eyes steely, hoping he wasn’t going to balk again.

He gave her an exasperated look, as if that mess had all been her fault, but swiped his finger through the air above her netdisc.

A small truck rolled down the promenade. Jelena expected the authorities or maybe an ambulance. Instead, a few people in black, collared shirts like Lemaire’s jumped out, all wearing flak vests and carrying blazer rifles. He strode down the ramp without a farewell, directed a couple of them into the back of his company’s truck and another into the cab. He claimed the driver’s seat for himself and drove away. The other truck followed. Security escort.

“Enjoy your food,” Jelena muttered and turned toward the hold.

She almost bumped into Erick. He was scowling after the trucks.

“What a mess,” he said.

“Not quite what I expected from our first freight run out here,” Jelena admitted.

“No?” Erick snorted. “What did you think it would be like working out among the border worlds? The Alliance’s reach doesn’t extend out here, and most of the moon and planetary governments, if they exist at all, are corrupt. There’s a reason your parents don’t take runs out here that often.” He shook his head and stomped toward engineering.

He hadn’t said it, but Jelena couldn’t help but feel he was blaming her for this predicament, or at least the fact that they were running freight out here. If so, it wouldn’t be misplaced blame. Her fiasco back on Alpha 17, rescuing lab animals from a corporation that had a long reach, had led her parents to decide their new freighter—and its crew—would be better off taking jobs in a part of the system that fewer people paid attention to. Jelena still didn’t know if the Alliance wanted her arrested—or worse—for the damage she had done to a space base when they’d been escaping pursuit.

Austin grabbed his machine, tucked it under his arm, and headed for engineering.

“Austin?” Jelena decided not to call him Little Ostberg, as her mom sometimes did. After his help, he deserved to be called by his first name. “Thanks. That was a good idea.”

“Welcome.” He gave her a crisp salute, as if he were an Alliance military officer rather than a seventeen-year-old kid working to save money for the university.

Jelena looked around their dock and the road again as she reached for the hatch controls. She shook her head at the dead people, the potholes created by the grenades, the broken boards and clubs that had once been used as weapons, and at the utter lack of any police, enforcers, or similar authorities coming out to investigate. Coming to help people.

Feeling like she was running from the scene of a crime, she let her chin drop to her chest as she tapped the buttons to withdraw the ramp and close the hatch.

“It’s only going to get worse,” Thor said quietly, as he walked over to stand beside her.

Jelena scowled, not wanting another lecture, or something she would interpret as a lecture. He’d been assassinating his father’s old enemies when she’d talked him into taking a break and lying low with her crew for a while—surely he didn’t have the right to lecture. “I didn’t know prognostication was among your Starseer talents.”

“It’s not, but I’ve traveled out here. For training exercises and to make contact with old allies of my father, people who find it preferable to live out here rather than in Alliance territory.” He tilted his head, almost reminding her of Alfie, as he regarded her. “If you can, you need to harden your heart to the poverty and desperation, or you’ll be miserable every time we stop.”

“Harden my heart? Thor, I rescue animals, never want anybody to feel bad, and don’t eat meat that isn’t vat-grown because I can’t stomach the thought of something dying on my behalf. What makes you think I could possibly harden anything?”

“So you’re opting for misery?”

“Maybe the stars have deemed it my fate.”

“The stars are indifferent to us. We create our own fate.” He extended a hand toward the cabins and NavCom, perhaps offering to walk that way with her.

“If you believed that was true, you wouldn’t be trying to do your father’s bidding ten years after his death.”

His face grew closed, and Jelena wished she could retract the comment. Unlike Erick, he hadn’t been blaming her for anything. He’d almost seemed consoling, or at least as close to it as someone could get while dressed like an Old Earth ninja, carrying around an uber sword, and wearing a chip on his shoulder the size of an asteroid.

“Trying to become the man my father groomed me to be isn’t casting my fate to the stars,” Thor said. “The more I see of these planets out here, the more convinced I am that the empire needs to return. The Alliance is too content with the territory it has—you’ll notice that they took the wealthiest, most resource-rich planets for themselves while abandoning the rest—to care about what happens out here. My father wanted everyone to be protected and have a job and food and shelter. Not just those born on desirable planets.”

He walked away, his back stiffer than it had been before they started talking, and Jelena resisted the urge to point out that a lot of the employed people in the empire had resented the utter lack of freedom they’d had. They might not have been physically hungry, but their souls had been starved.

She kept the words to herself. She didn’t want to argue with Thor, and she also didn’t want him pointing out again that she’d been eight when the empire fell and didn’t truly know how it had been. He never seemed to want to accept that he’d only been ten and had been so sheltered as the son of an emperor that he hadn’t had any idea how it had been, either.

“Jelena?” Masika called from the corridor. “Comm message for you.”

Jelena waved in acknowledgment but grimaced too. Maybe it was only because of Thor’s prediction, but she doubted that message would herald anything good.

Chapter 2

In NavCom, Jelena checked the exterior cameras to make sure no further trouble was heading for the Snapper before sliding into the pilot’s seat and answering the comm. Her mother and stepfather, Leonidas, appeared in the holodisplay above the console. It was a recorded message rather than live, the origination stamp reading Demeter. Her parents and their freighter, the Star Nomad, were doing runs within the heart of Alliance territory, as usual. Of course, they hadn’t blown parts off any Alliance space bases or irked any big medical research corporations lately.

“Hello, sweetie,” Mom said, lifting a hand in greeting.

Leonidas arched his eyebrows at Mom. “Are you sure you should greet her so warmly for this news?” His eyes glinted with humor, but the words made Jelena uneasy. What news?

“You think I should greet her with stern words? She might close the comm before hearing the whole message if I did that.”

“Just promise to send along some brownies if she listens to the end,” Leonidas said, winking toward the camera. “Or maybe some horse dolls.”

“Jelena recently assured me that she’s too old to play with dolls.”

“Then what are all of those fur and plush horses lining the ledge above her bed?”

“I believe she said those were collectibles.”

Though Jelena wished they would get to the point and not keep her in suspense, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of nostalgia for her cabin back on the Nomad. After a month aboard the Snapper, the ship didn’t feel so strange—and she’d had warm feelings toward it ever since they bought it, since it was shaped like a turtle—but it wasn’t home, not yet. She didn’t know if it ever would be when Leonidas and Mom and her sisters, Maya and Nika, weren’t here, but she was glad Erick, who had been like a brother to her for the last ten years, had joined her crew. And Thor… well, they’d been childhood friends, not siblings, and after more than ten years apart, she wasn’t sure what they were now. Still, she was glad to have him back in her life, for however limited a time that might be. Austin and Masika were much newer acquaintances, and she didn’t know if she would ever think of them as family. For now, they were the crew. A crew that, strangely enough, she was in charge of. Being a captain seemed odd, even if she’d been the one who had wheedled and pleaded for the family to add a second ship to the business. Or maybe especially because of that. She hadn’t truly earned her position, not yet.

Mom took a deep breath, and Leonidas, as if he could read her thoughts, sobered, his eyes turning toward Jelena.

She grabbed her stallion mug, sipped from the blazonberry vitamin drink inside, and mentally braced herself, certain they were about to get to the meat of their message. She was relieved she could contemplate a response before sending it. From this far out, it would take hours to be relayed back to the core worlds.

“We received an invoice, Jelena.” Mom lifted her eyebrows, as if Jelena should know all about it.

“Erm?" Jelena hadn’t tried to order anything on the company account.

“Jelena?” Erick asked, popping into NavCom. “Oh, never mind,” he added when he saw the message playing.

Jelena paused it, certain she didn’t want to know about any invoices her parents were bringing to her attention. “What is it?”

Erick paused a step inside the hatchway, looking like he intended to retreat and give her privacy.

“I just wanted to say sorry. About being grumpy back there.” He pointed a thumb over his shoulder toward the cargo hold, or perhaps toward the docks outside.

“You don’t have to be.” Jelena sipped from her mug. “I’m grumpy too.”

“You don’t look grumpy when you’re drinking out of a horse’s butt.”

“It’s a stallion, and his butt isn’t up here.” She pointed at the rim of the mug.

“Are you sure? The handle is his tail, and your lips are close to that.”

“My lips are above the handle. This could be his croup—his rump—but definitely not his butt.”

“Aren’t the rump and the butt the same thing?”

“It’s clear that you didn’t take an anatomy class at that fancy university of yours.”

“No, nobody cares if an engineer can locate a horse’s butt. Or his own.” He grinned and thumped her on the shoulder. “Are they telling us what our next assignment is? Should I come back later? I wouldn’t mind getting the Snapper out of the vicinity of these docks.”

Yes, Jelena planned to take off as soon as she played the rest of the message.

“You might as well sit down.” She waved to the co-pilot’s seat. “I assume that information will be coming after I hear about the invoice.”

“Invoice?”

Jelena hit play.

“Yes,” Leonidas said, “a bill caught up to us when we were making our last delivery. From the Alliance government. Our company, we were informed, owes over fifty thousand tindarks for damage to a space base on Upsilon Seven. It seems that the Snapper blew up a large chunk of its support structure.”

“With the star cannon mounted in the turret atop the ship,” Mom added. “Jelena, how could you blow up part of a star base?”

“There were armored thugs on it trying to storm the Snapper,” she blurted, even though her parents couldn’t hear her.

“You didn’t tell them about that part when we were back on Arkadius?” Erick asked.

“I said we had to depart Upsilon Seven in a hurry due to extenuating circumstances.”

“Exploding space bases are extenuating.”

“It was just the ramp. And the ramps under the ramp. And the framework attaching the ramp to everything else. And some of the everything else.”

“I’m sure more specific details are on the invoice,” Erick murmured.

“I got a message from Senator Hawk, who’d heard about the invoice and the incident,” Mom went on. “Apparently, we’re lucky that our business is only being fined, as a lot of the local enforcers were hurt. More than a dozen armored men were killed, too.” Mom gave Leonidas a dark look. Or maybe that was a darkly concerned look. “But since they were with a mercenary outfit based out of the border worlds, and their supposed employers later denied having anything to do with the attack on the base, the Alliance isn’t putting out an arrest warrant for those who killed them.”

“It sounds like Hawk may have pulled a few strings to make sure of that,” Leonidas said in a disapproving rumble. He didn’t like owing people favors, especially not Alliance people, not with his imperial background.

“We’ve taken out a loan to pay off the debt,” Mom said.

Jelena winced. Her parents were supposed to be saving money for the twins to go to college, not paying off egregious debts. Fifty thousand tindarks? Up until a few weeks ago, Jelena’s allowance had been ten tindarks a month. She couldn’t fathom tens of thousands of tindarks, or how one made that much money. She was fairly certain they were only getting about a thousand for the delivery they’d just made, and she had to pay people’s wages and resupply the Snapper with the majority of that.

“Your father and I have discussed whether we should be responsible for paying off the full amount,” Mom said, “and the answer is no.”

Erick snorted. “I saw that coming.”

“We’ll pay on the loan each month, to ensure that’s done in a timely manner, but you’ll pay us each month, until we’ve paid it off.”

“In twenty years or so,” Leonidas grumbled.

“Your first payment is due in three weeks. I’ll attach a file with the details. I hope you’ve downloaded an accounting program and are keeping books for the Snapper.”

“Accounting?” Jelena looked at Erick, hoping engineers knew more about accounting than they did about butts. It involved numbers. Engineers liked numbers.

“I’ll help you find a free software program,” he offered.

Not exactly the way she’d hoped he would save the day.

“You may find the numbers daunting. I know we did. I suggest…” Mom looked at Leonidas, one hand groping in the air. Mom didn’t know what to suggest? That wasn’t comforting.

“You may want to find a way to try and make some extra money on the side,” Leonidas said.

“The way Beck did when he was first building up his sauce empire?” Mom asked.

“I doubt barbecuing skewers of meat on the ramp at the ship’s stops and asking for tips would pay off that loan quickly.”

“No, not the way Jelena cooks.”

“What?” Jelena protested, her indignation mostly based on the fact that Mom and Leonidas weren’t master chefs, either. Leonidas had a particular gift for burning things. Why would he cook something on a low setting when he could heat it more quickly on high?

Erick held a couple of fingers to his lips, the gesture not quite hiding the smirk there. Her predicament was improving his mood? Lovely.

“Maybe you can find some passengers to take on,” Mom said. “If nothing else, you could try a lemonade stand. Those were popular in some countries back on Old Earth.”

“Popular or profitable?” Leonidas asked.

“I’m sure one of those p-words was involved.” Mom waved a hand in dismissal. “We’re looking for a new assignment for you, Jelena, but feel free to hunt around on your own. It seems the Hierarchy Moons don’t export much. You may have to head down to the planet Macha. I hear they make mud.”

“Ceramics,” Leonidas said.

“That’s hardened mud, isn’t it? Anyway, keep us updated if you find something first so we don’t double book. Talk to you soon.”

The image of her parents disappeared, replaced by a copy of the invoice and how much Jelena would now be responsible for paying every month. Her eyes blurred before she even came to the part about interest. There was nothing about the potential of lemonade stands. How much did lemons cost? As a pilot and freighter captain, was she supposed to know such things?

“What do you want to do?” Erick asked.

“We’re not starting a lemonade stand. We are Starseers, wielders of great power and heirs to the Kirian rulers of old, rulers who almost took over the entire system centuries before the Sarellians did it.” She pointed at Erick’s nose. “Say nothing about my unicorn underwear. Which I am not, in case you were wondering, wearing.”

“I wasn’t. I was going to ask how powerful you felt while drinking out of a horse’s butt.”

“Croup,” she said slowly, pointing to the top of the mug. “We’re going to have to find you an online anatomy class.”

“Maybe I can take it at the same time you take the accounting class you now need.”

Jelena groaned. “Can’t we just do something to make piles of money? How hard can that be for people with our talents? Everyone on this ship has some kind of superhuman power. Except for Austin.”

“Should I point out that Austin is the one who came up with a solution that didn’t involve brutalizing starving people?”

“I’m not sure that’s true. I saw bleeding ears.” Jelena brought up a sys-net search, though she didn’t have any idea what to search for. How to make money? How to make money as a Starseer? How to sell an engineer for enough money to pay off one’s debts? She gave Erick a sweet smile.

“I should feel wary right now, correct?”

“Oh, definitely.”

“What are you thinking about? Taking on mercenary contracts or some other questionable venture?”

Jelena blinked. “I wasn’t, but I am now. That sounds more profitable than hunting for passengers on planets full of poor people. We could become mercenaries, couldn’t we? Temporarily, of course. We have a ship, weapons, and a crew with greater-than-average talents. What more could we need?”

“An army of a couple hundred people, as I understand it.”

“Surely, each one of us equals say… fifty average people,” Jelena said.

“I’m not sure where your arrogance comes from, considering your stepfather pummels you into the gym floor during sparring sessions on a regular basis.”

“He’s greater than average too.”

“No argument here.”

“How much do you think mercenaries make?” Jelena eyed the sys-net interface. At least she had something to research now.

“I don’t know, but I doubt you can look for jobs or gigs or whatever on public sys-net boards. You have to have contacts, and I’m sure you have to have job experience. A reputation for slaying sufficient numbers of enemies.”

Their faces sobered, as they both seemed to realize they had done precisely that less than an hour earlier, or at least assisted Lemaire in doing so. Erick shook his head, looking like he wanted to retract the comment.

“We have a resource on board.” Jelena tapped the controls, preparing the ship for takeoff. “I’ll get us into orbit and go talk to him.”

“Him? I assume you’re not thinking of Austin.” Erick frowned, apparently not liking the idea of going to Thor for advice.

“If I ever need something annoying built, I will definitely go to Austin. For mercenaries…” Jelena thought of how Thor had mentioned traveling in this section of the system before and how he had numerous contacts. She could easily see former imperial officers turning mercenary. “I think Thor might be the best resource we have aboard.”

“Only because we have a supremely limited number of resources.”

“Mom did give me permission to hire more people. Maybe some of Thor’s old contacts would like a job.”

“More people like Thorian on board? Wouldn’t that be a delight.”

“There’s nothing wrong with Thor.”

“He’s broody.”

“So is Masika.”

“And he’s arrogant.”

“He was royalty. Royalty is supposed to be arrogant.”

Not to mention that he was good at everything and had some justification for arrogance.

“Are emperors and their families royal?” Erick asked. “I thought that was just kings and queens.”

“You also thought a horse’s butt was located above his tail, so I’m not relying on you as a resource.”

“But you’ll rely on Thor? Wonderful.” Erick gazed at the view screen as they lifted off, the gray clouds and drizzle matching his mood.

Chapter 3

Jelena found Thor in the back corner of the cargo hold, near the entrance to engineering and the workshop. He’d scrounged a few mats for a makeshift gym, though he didn’t have any equipment for it yet. That didn’t seem to bother him. When she walked up to him, he had his shirt off and was doing a handstand, his brown hair dangling down to brush the mat. His forearms quivered, and he lowered his chin to the ground, then pushed himself back up, lean muscles flexing. He wasn’t big and brawny like Leonidas, but lithe and strong like a gymnast. He did several more handstand pushups before dropping his legs to the mat, standing, and meeting her eyes.

She hadn’t seen him shirtless before and wouldn’t have minded admiring the show, but since he was looking at her, she would have felt strange about scrutinizing him. Besides, she didn’t want him to think she was attracted to him. And double besides, someone who couldn’t harden her heart—and had no desire to do so—shouldn’t develop romantic feelings for someone who had killed people before her eyes.

Thor’s eyebrows twitched upward, and she flushed, remembering that he had some chasadski Starseer talents, talents that were considered ignoble or were outright forbidden by traditional Starseer teaching. Among those talents was his ability to read her thoughts, even though she’d learned long ago to protect them from other Starseers. Apparently, he knew “back doors” into protected minds.

“This is why I came to you,” she said brightly, hoping to distract him from reading her thoughts now. She waved at his bare chest, but almost forgot what she’d meant to say as she noticed a few scars there that she hadn’t expected. She wasn’t sure why—he had recent ones on his temple and cheek from his crash on Upsilon Seven. Most of these looked like blazer burns, but one set of faded white lines had been delivered by claws. And had a knife or sword done that one on his side? She’d assumed the training he’d endured over the last ten years, with Starseers and imperial loyalists trying to turn him into a man capable of leading armies, had been for practice and not quite so… injury provoking.

“To goggle at my chest?” Thor asked.

She flushed deeper. Damn it, she’d told herself not to look. “I’m not goggling. I’m looking for someone who knows all about mercenaries. And those scars make you thugly enough that you could be that someone.”

“Thugly?” This time, only one eyebrow twitched upward.

She was glad he didn’t sound offended, because that wasn’t what she’d meant to say. He wasn’t thugly. He was quite—well, he was normal. Fine. That was all. Nothing out of the ordinary. And why was she all flustered about this?

“We need to make some money,” she blurted. Yes, a change of topic was what was needed. Or a redirection to the correct topic. The one that had brought her back here.

“You want to make a career change from running freight to killing people for a living?”

“No, of course not.”

“That’s what mercenaries do.”

She opened her mouth, ready to protest and say they’d be special kinds of mercenaries, but he stepped closer to her, and the words got stuck on her tongue. His pushup workout must have been going on for a while because sweat gleamed on his forehead and his shoulders.

He grabbed his shirt off a crate next to her, then stepped back.

Jelena cleared her throat, glad for the space. It was easier to focus with more space.

“I was imagining that we’d be the kinds of mercenaries that rescue people rather than killing people,” she said.

“People generally hire mercenaries to fight wars or guard their resources. Rescue missions aren’t typical.”

“That’s good because we’re atypical people.”

“I won’t argue that.” Thor pulled his shirt over his head.

“I’m going to be mature and not take that as an insult.”

“You left food and bandages behind for the people who tried to rob us.”

Er, he’d noticed that? She’d thought she had been surreptitious when she’d left ration bars and quick-meals behind at the docks, hopefully for the injured thieves to find.

“So?” Jelena crossed her arms over her chest, refusing to feel bad about trying to help people, especially when she’d inadvertently assisted someone in harming those people.

“So you don’t have the heart to be a mercenary.”

“Look, I didn’t come down here for an assessment of my organs. I was just wondering if you have any connections who might know about jobs that are out there. They don’t have to be mercenary jobs, just opportunities for people with our unique skill sets to make some extra money.”

Austin walked out of engineering, whistling to himself as he carried a box covered with gauges and dials and antennae. “Captain,” he said cheerfully, spotting her. “Mind if I set up the ghostometer in NavCom?”

“Yes. Why?” She glowered at Thor, anticipating a comment about her people’s “unique skill sets.”

“To see if any pilots ever died in there,” Austin said. “Wouldn’t you feel uncomfortable being all alone in NavCom if the spirits of past pilots were in there, and if they were feeling vengeful for the unkind manners in which they died? The dead are often jealous of the living, you know. They could haunt you or use their powers to fiddle with the gauges while we’re in the middle of a tense battle.”

“I…” Jelena rubbed the back of her head. What would a good captain do at this point? Tell him to beat it? Let him run his equipment?

“What happens if you detect ghost activity?” Thor asked, sounding more curious than mocking. He couldn’t believe in such things, could he?

“We’ll have to have an expert come on board to host a cleansing,” Austin said.

“Is that expensive?”

“I’m not sure. Last time, someone in my sys-net ghost-hunting group did it for me for free. I fixed his thrust bike for him.”

“Sounds like a good deal.”

For the kid with the thrust bike, sure.

Thor looked at Jelena again, smiling faintly. “Maybe ghost cleansings would be a good line of work for a crew with unique skills to get into.”

“Captain?” Austin looked back and forth between them, clutching his machine earnestly.

“You can set it up somewhere out of the way up there. Just don’t bother Alfie. She’s still recovering from your other machine.” Jelena frowned sternly at him.

“I wanted to give her earplugs, but I didn’t think she’d let me.” Austin smiled, hugged his machine, and trotted off. “You won’t regret this, Captain,” he called over his shoulder. “I’ll make sure NavCom is safe for—oomph!” He tripped over the hatchway lip as he headed into the corridor.

Fortunately, or maybe that was unfortunately, he did not drop and break his machine.

“I’m already regretting it,” Jelena murmured.

Thor headed in the same direction at a more sedate speed that didn’t involve tripping. Jelena watched his back, her shoulders slumping. He hadn’t said he’d help. He probably thought her whole idea was foolish and that she should start that ramp-side lemonade stand.

I’ll check with my contacts, he told her silently without looking back.

Jelena lifted her chin, her heart also lifting. Thank you, Thor!

He turned at the intersection, heading toward his cabin.

Er, wait, she added, a thought coming to her. You meant about opportunities for special mercenaries, right? Not for, uh, ghost cleansings. Because I don’t think I could fake giving a cleansing as easily as I could fake being a mercenary.

I’ll see what jobs are out there, came his dry response. Desperate captains can’t be picky.

“Solar hells,” Jelena grumbled.

She had better look up the prices of lemons out here.

• • • • •

After the Snapper reached Macha’s orbit, Jelena headed to the cabin that doubled as the galley and the mess hall. She wanted to lean over Thor’s shoulder while he contacted whatever underworld gangsters or mercenaries or former imperial henchmen he knew, but he might not appreciate that. He hadn’t seemed that enthused by her gaping at his scars. Were boys supposed to hurry to put their shirts on when girls walked in? Erick would have shamelessly flexed all of his skinny muscles if Masika had walked in while he was exercising. Not that Jelena had caught him exercising often when Leonidas wasn’t around to enforce mandatory crew self-defense and fitness hour. Or, in Leonidas’s case, three hours.

The smell of fresh paint and the clinking of a brush in a bucket greeted Jelena before she stepped into the mess hall. She almost tripped over the four-person table. It had been unclamped from the deck and pushed to one side of the cabin—the side with the hatchway.

“Huh.” Jelena peered under the table. “I didn’t realize that could be moved.”

“Probably because it hasn’t been done in fifty years, and the fasteners were rusted to the deck.” Masika, paint smudging her gray fatigue bottoms as well as the backs of her hands, was painting the wall above the freezer and refrigerator. She waved a brush in greeting.

“Not a problem for a painter with super strength?”

“Nope.”

Jelena stepped more fully into the cabin. Two of the walls only held a base layer, so they weren’t that exciting, and the refrigerator wall was in the process of being painted sky blue. The third wall now displayed a beautiful mural of snowy mountains covered with evergreen trees, their boughs laden with snow. A frigid blue river flowed through the center of the picture, its edges lined with ice that looked so real Jelena believed she could break it underfoot and fall in.

“That’s brilliant. And all the white is a great idea. It looks so much brighter in here. Bigger.” Jelena spread her arms to demonstrate how close in the walls were.

Masika shrugged and made a noise that sounded like, “Enh.”

Jelena clamped down on her tongue to keep from teasing her about her perfectionist streak. Early on, Masika had shared the story of her past, about how she’d sought out the Stellacor biotech corporation after being raped on her university campus. She’d wanted to be stronger, and she’d wanted to be able to take care of herself, and they’d been promising a treatment that could give people that. The tradeoff had been offering herself up as a human guinea pig and losing some of her dexterity and fine motor skills to gain greater strength, speed, and the ability to heal more quickly than normal. More than that, they’d made her sign an agreement to stay and work for them for years—and to be worked on by them for years. Only after Jelena had somewhat inadvertently kidnapped her had Masika given in to what she considered a selfish moment and decided to fake her death and stay on the Snapper instead of going back to her employers. She deserved respect and kindness, Jelena vowed, not teasing.

“Would you be open to an artistic suggestion?” Jelena gestured toward the mural.

“From you?” Masika’s dark eyes closed to slits as she looked over her shoulder.

“Yes, from me. Why? You don’t think my ideas have artistic merit?”

“I’ve seen your cabin.”

“It’s cheerful, isn’t it? I got my sparkly lamps, my unicorn comforter, and some more of my horse posters from my cabin on the Nomad when we were down on Arkadius. Now it’s really decorated in my style. Oh, and my cabinets have a decent amount of clothing in them now. And shoes.”

“Your shoes are garish. They’re worse than the posters.” Masika turned back to painting.

“They are not garish. Some of them are a little young, I admit. I’ve had the sequined blue ones since I was thirteen—I can’t bring myself to get rid of them. But my allowance was never sufficient for huge shopping sprees.”

“Allowance.” Masika snorted.

She hadn’t shared specifics on her family yet, but she’d mentioned she wouldn’t have been able to attend that university without a scholarship. Jelena supposed what she had considered a strict but fair allowance would seem extravagant for some. Still, she couldn’t help but bristle a bit and say, “I worked for it. It’s not like you can grow up on a freighter without having to do some of the ship’s duties.”

“Yes, I’m sure you were like the child miners on Storm Asteroid 23, laboring fourteen hours a day around machinery that could dismember or kill you.”

“Erick did run engineering before he left for the university.”

Masika looked back again, her expression a little more wry than dismissive or wary this time. “That probably was dangerous.”

“Indeed it was. I got my Starseer robe caught under his floor-cleaning robot’s treads once.”

“You’re a weird girl, Marchenko.”

“You say things like that, but I’d still let you borrow some of my shoes if you wanted to go out on a stellar date with someone.”

“Not the ones with the rainbow glitter glued on them,” Masika said. “Please tell me that was an after-factory addition.”

“Those are my workout shoes. You need something perky when your cyborg stepfather is pounding you into the deck.”

Thor walked into the mess hall with his netdisc in his hand, his eyebrows raised at however much of the conversation he’d heard.

“Thor agrees,” Jelena said.

“About needing perky shoes?” Masika asked.

“Absolutely.”

She looked at his shoes. They were black, almost slipper-like, to match the rest of his outfit.

Jelena imagined sneaking into his cabin one night and gluing rainbow glitter on them. Why hadn’t she thought to bring any of the twins’ craft supplies along?

Thor skewered her with a dark look.

“Those who poke into the back doors of people’s minds get what they deserve,” she murmured to him, feeling completely unapologetic.

“Your mind is a lot different from most people’s.”

“Naturally.” She grinned at him.

He seemed taken aback, but then lifted his netdisc, waving a finger to bring up the holodisplay. Jelena glimpsed an auction site with ships on it before he switched to another window. She looked at his face. Was he already plotting ways to get a new ship so he could leave? So he could get back to assassinating people? She’d thought she’d talked him into taking a break from that so the Alliance would forget about him and stop sending people after him. It’d been less than two weeks, and they’d only completed one job since she’d hired him to help out. Granted, he had never promised to stay for a long time—or any set time at all—but she couldn’t help but feel sad that he wanted to leave so soon. She told herself that it had nothing to do with her or her ship, and that it was about the destiny he was so certain he had to pursue, but it was hard not to take it personally.

“I’ve learned of three possible jobs that are available that an outfit as small as ours could potentially take on,” Thor said without commenting on her thoughts.

“Excellent.” Jelena rubbed her hands together and forced enthusiasm into her tone. “What are they?”

“A gangster named Black Bearface wants some medical supplies stolen from an Alliance ship carrying them to Hierarchy Moon 3. He plans to sell them at an exorbitant price on the black market, so he’s willing to pay reasonably well for their acquisition.”

Jelena peered at Thor, certain he was pulling her leg. “That sounds like a job for someone who wants to irk the Alliance.”

“Yes.” The most serene expression crossed his face.

“Uh huh, we’re not stealing from anyone unless the lives of animals or people are at stake. What’s next?”

“Someone called The Southern Scar wants a rival killed, a wily war veteran who has eluded him thus far. He’s offering ten thousand tindarks.”

“Killed? That’s worse than stealing. Thor, are these real jobs, or are you teasing me?”

“They’re real jobs.” He held the display toward her, as if that would verify their legitimacy. The text hanging in the air in the background didn’t tell her much. It looked like some kind of private community site.

“Are those real names? They sound like something a vid maker would make up for dramatic flair.”

“They are alliterative,” Thor murmured, and prodded a different header. “All right, how’s this? The two primary governments on Fourseas have been squabbling for a long time, and just under a year ago, it escalated to war. Recently, some of Opuntia’s leaders and top minds were kidnapped by the Chollans. Their own attempts at rescuing the POWs have failed, and the Opuntian government is willing to pay well if someone can get their people out alive.”

“A rescue?” Jelena gripped his arm. “Thor. Why didn’t you lead with that one?”

“I was hoping you’d want to steal Alliance medical supplies. And that the Alliance would be blamed for negligence and ineptitude after the loss.”

“You knew that wouldn’t happen.”

“Yes, but I had fantasies.”

“Marchenko isn’t the only one here with a different mind,” Masika muttered. She had her back to them and hadn’t stopped painting, but she must have been listening.

Jelena would have smiled at her if she’d been looking. Instead, she released Thor’s arm, but only so she could swat it. “Give me more details of the rescue, please.”

“There are three Alliance officials among those who were kidnapped. One looks to be a diplomatic envoy to the planet, there to help mediate and find a solution to the war.”

“Meaning we might be able to get into the Alliance’s good graces if we rescued those people? That’s almost as good as being paid. This is wonderful. Tell them we’ll take the job.”

Thor’s lips thinned, but he did not state his opinion of seeking the Alliance’s “good graces.” “What shall I tell the Opuntians in regard to our credentials?”

“I don’t suppose we can just use your credentials.”

“I’d prefer not to announce my name to a government friendly to the Alliance.”

“I thought not. All right. What if we told them that we stole highly desirable contraband out from under the noses of an influential and wealthy corporation?”

“Is that me?” Masika dabbed more paint on the wall. “Or are you talking about the dogs?”

“The monkeys, actually. They were helpful. I should have kept some of them.” Jelena pointed to Thor’s holodisplay. “If that doesn’t impress them, maybe you can send pictures of the space base we damaged. Say those are the lengths we’re willing to go to in order to complete a mission.”

Thor shook his head slowly. “We’re not going to be able to let you do the talking if I’m able to secure a meeting, not if we want to get the job.”

“Are you sure? I could dress up and wear my rainbow glitter shoes.”

Thor only continued to shake his head. “I’ll try to arrange something. Set course for Fourseas. Even if this doesn’t pan out, we should be able to find some work in a war zone. If nothing else, there will be embargoes and blockades. We could make some extra money if we were willing to smuggle goods and get shot at.”

Masika dropped her brush into the paint can, turned toward them, and propped her elbow on the counter. “In case I wasn’t clear before, you people both have different minds. Very different minds. Smuggle goods and get shot at? That’s not a sane person’s way to make money.”

“Does that mean you don’t want to come?” Jelena asked. “I thought you wanted to do something heroic with your super strength,” she added, referencing a comment from the conversation they’d had when Masika shared some of her story.

“I said I wanted to help people. Heroics weren’t mentioned.”

“But they’d be a nice bonus, right? Heroically helping people. That’s better than anonymously slipping someone a tip or something of that nature. Right, Thor?” She eyed his bland face. “What are you thinking?”

“That I had better lock my cabinets so you don’t try to glitter my shoes tonight.” He prodded his holodisplay to minimize the list of job options. “I’ll let you know if I get a meeting.”

As the list closed, Jelena saw the auction site again. Before she could dwell on its meaning, he minimized it too. She glimpsed a picture of people that had been open behind everything. It looked like a family portrait with two young boys. His family?

“Who’re they?” She started to point, but Thor snapped the netdisc down, closing the display.

“Nobody,” he said and walked out.

“I think,” Masika said, “that if you try to glitter his shoes, he’ll run you through with his glowy sword.”

“What if I string festive little lights all over your mural to make it look like they’re part of the snowy landscape?” That had been the artistic suggestion she’d wanted to make earlier. The painting didn’t need accents, but she imagined it would be nice to wander into the mess hall late at night for a snack and not have to turn on the overhead lighting. One could sit and admire the snowy mural by the glow of the little lights.

“You’re going to find trouble on Fourseas and drag us all into it, aren’t you?” Masika asked, sighing.

“Heroically, if I can manage it.”

Chapter 4

From space, Fourseas was a mix of greenish-blue seas and two dusty-brown continents among equally brown island chains. If not for the water, the planet might have reminded Jelena of Dustor, the sandy dustball where Mom and Leonidas had first met.

“That’s where our potential employer is.” From the co-pilot’s seat, Thor pointed to the larger continent, an amorphous rectangular blob with a mountain range bisecting it from east to west. A few green smudges in the shadows of the range broke up the prevailing brown.

“Is that where their enemy lives?” Jelena pointed to the other major continent, one lacking mountains or any hint of green. Even from a distance, it looked like an unappealing place to live.

“That’s the Chollan homeland, yes.”

“What do we know about it?” She waved to the netdisc in his pocket—he didn’t seem to have an earstar. Maybe none of the models were suitably black and broody enough for him. “Shall I fly over it on the way to the other one? A little pre-mission reconnaissance?”

They didn’t have the job yet—she’d let Thor handle everything thus far and hadn’t even spoken to the Opuntians—but maybe it would impress their potential employer if they knew a fact or two going into the meeting.

“Flying over a continent that’s at war with another continent might not be wise. This far away from the core worlds, their resources will be limited, but I’m sure they have ground-to-air weapons capabilities.”

“We’re an unmarked civilian freighter. Why would they fire on us? We could be on a charity mission bringing bandages and food for the beleaguered masses. Maybe we’re here to airdrop treasures on their doorsteps.”

“I imagine charities comm ahead before showing up on people’s doorsteps.”

Jelena considered the advice, then plotted a course that would take them over the smaller continent.

“We have shields,” she said to Thor’s disapproving look. “I just want to take a peek. We’ll take some scans of the major cities and get a feel for what we’re up against.” She programmed instructions into the sensor panel, so the ship’s instruments would do just that.

Thor pointedly reached over and tapped the button to raise the shields. Jelena thought about pointing out that a charity-sent freighter with peaceful intent wouldn’t fly down with their shields up, but she couldn’t fault his caution. She’d never been to Fourseas and didn’t know what to expect.

“They’ve traditionally been isolationists.” Thor set his netdisc on the console and brought up the encyclopedia entry for the planet and its two key nations. “The Opuntians were considered an imperial province during the Sarellian reign. They had senatorial representation and an appointed leader to run the province, but they were largely left to their own devices. Compared to the core worlds, the populations here are fairly small. The Chollans, those on the continent you’re determined to fly over, were under imperial law, too, and paid taxes, but they didn’t have representation in the government, nor did they seem to care what went on in the empire or system as a whole. Fourseas wasn’t one of the original colony planets, but it was eventually terraformed enough to have a breathable atmosphere and potable water, assuming one didn’t mind running a desalination plant to extract it. Two groups settled within the same year, the stronger and richer claiming the big continent. Those who claimed the small continent were a conglomeration of people who weren’t fans of the Divine Suns Trinity and wanted to follow the old ways.”

“The old ways?” Jelena glanced at his holodisplay, but they were dropping out of orbit now, and she needed to focus on flying.

“The Old Earth religions. Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Shintoism, Judaism, etcetera.”

“I didn’t think anyone believed in that stuff anymore.”

“The scientist leaders of the original colony ships certainly tried to ensure that.”

“What do you mean?”

“History wasn’t studied on the Star Nomad? I’m disappointed in Leonidas’s parenting skills.”

“Are you? I’ll let you tell him that to his face when we see him next.” Jelena shot him a dirty look. However powerful and athletic Thor thought he was, Jelena would put her money on Leonidas if they ever fought, once he was fully recovered from his heart transplant, anyway. “I took all the normal Arkadian curriculum classes while I was growing up on the Nomad, including history, yes, but all I remember the texts saying was that the old religions had fallen out of favor, and that by the time the colonists regained space flight, fought off the Kirians, and the empire had been established, they were looking for something new. The empire promoted the Divine Suns Trinity and made it clear it was unhealthy to follow any other religion.”

“The Divine Suns Trinity was around from the beginning. It was conceived before our ancestors arrived in the system. Even though the original colony ships came from different countries and cultures on Earth, the scientist leaders of the various expeditions had bonds that transcended nationality, and they worked together to plan everything. They’d seen religious and cultural differences play major roles in starting wars on Earth throughout the centuries, and after the third World War, they were terrified that humanity would simply take its differences to their new system and start warring anew as soon as they could. So through various methods—it’s speculated that they did some brain programming while people were settling into suspended animation for the long journey—they convinced the colonists that it was time for a new religion, one that would be representative of their new system, and one that they would all share. If you compare the Trinity to the old religions, you’ll realize it’s basically thinly veiled agnosticism with a faint, wry nod to the idea of gods with our suns as deities. There are a few religious holidays and ceremonies, and there are the tenets laid down in the Xerikesh, but you basically have what a bunch of atheistic scientists imagined a religion should be.”

“What history books did you find this information in?” Jelena had never heard anything like this story.

“The ones without cartoons or pictures.”

“Keep insulting me—and my parents—and I’ll airdrop you right along with the imaginary charity goods we’re bringing.”

“I’ll send you some articles,” was all he said, then pointed at the sensor display. “Stay above twenty thousand feet. I do see weapons facilities down there.”

They were flying in over the ocean and toward the longest coast on the triangular-shaped continent. Jelena was surprised by the lack of cities. There were long-abandoned ruins all along the coast, but the sensors only spotted two major population centers, one at the northern tip of the triangle and another along a harbor in the south. A handful of the coastal towns looked to have suffered bombings and been abandoned more recently. She didn’t see anything inland. Was the land so dry and inhospitable that people couldn’t settle there?

“They’ve created a tunnel system and have a lot of underground habitations with locations known only to the natives, at least according to the entry.” Thor waved at the encyclopedia articles and maps.

“So these Chollans follow one of the old religions?” Jelena asked warily, hoping he wouldn’t insult her education further.

“Forgive me,” Thor murmured and gave her a sad smile and an odd two-fingered salute. Was that in regard to her thoughts? Or what she had asked? “The Chollans follow many of the old religions. As I said, it’s believed there was some brainwashing of the early colony ships, or maybe it’s possible people were simply pressured into converting to the new religion when they woke in their new system, but there were holdouts. On all the original colony planets, people here and there remembered the old ways and passed on the traditions to their children. The empire had zero tolerance when it came to those other religions.”

“No tolerance from the empire? Imagine.”

“There were good reasons for that. The world war that the colonists left behind was fresh in their memories and extremely terrible.”

“We’ve found ways to make war without religion being involved,” Jelena said.

“Yes, discontent with one’s lot and a desire for more seems to be built into the human psyche. No matter how advanced technology, no matter how convenient and pleasant modern life becomes, we find ways to feel restless and disgruntled. If we have no reason for grievances with strangers, we make them up. Fear of the outsider is ingrained in our genes, not without reason, but the smug glee with which we turn others into outsiders is odd. War seems inevitable for our kind.”

A strange, detached viewpoint from someone who planned to start the next war.

“Perhaps that’s what’s behind the war down here,” he added, waving to the brown landscape below. “Though interestingly, the people of Cholla have rarely made war amongst themselves, despite the fact that they represent at least a dozen of the Old Earth religions, if not more. People came here to flee what they considered the religious oppression of the rest of the system, and they settled in different spots around the continent, ignoring each other initially. But they seem to have grown together and intermingled over the decades and centuries that followed. Maybe fear of the empire and distrust toward the Divine Suns Trinity gave them a reason to bond with each other. They knew they were all the minority.”

“So they lived here in peace? What changed?”

“Tensions with their neighbors across the ocean, the Opuntians. Perhaps the tensions were always there, but they grew after the fall of the empire, turning into something of a cold war, with spying and distrust on both sides. A year ago, the Alliance representatives came, wanting to work with the Opuntians. That seems to have been a catalyst. The Chollans elected a war leader with a brutal reputation, and outright war soon started. The Opuntians claim the Chollans want to spread their religious viewpoints and destroy those who won’t forsake the Suns Trinity, but it seems more likely the Chollans are concerned about what their enemy’s acceptance of Alliance backing could mean for them.”

“They didn’t object to the empire’s presence on the planet, but they object to the Alliance?” Jelena scowled at the desert landscape below, a surge of indignation filling her. How could anyone accept the empire and not accept the much more amenable and fair Alliance? “That’s so wrong.”

“Your prejudices are showing,” Thor murmured.

“Only to those who snoop in my mind.”

“I’m fairly certain they’re in your spoken words too.”

“I—” A faint jolt ran through the ship, and an alarm flashed on the console. Alfie’s head came up, concern in her soulful, brown eyes. “Are they firing on us?” Jelena stared in disbelief even as she shared soothing feelings with Alfie.

Thor had warned her, but why would they have fired on a civilian ship? The Snapper didn’t have anything to do with their war. Yet.

“Yes.” Thor waved at the sensor display. “The attack originated on that hill over there. There are missile silos. With powerful missiles if we felt one with the shields up. They look like they might be old imperial Gem-9s.”

Jelena steered away from the weapons platform. She didn’t see any signs of settlements over there. What were they protecting?

Another attack came, this time from the coast. She glimpsed it on one of the exterior cameras, a missile arcing up from an installation over there.

She had time to adjust their flight path and get out of the way. Or so she thought. The missile banked, a self-guiding system taking it unerringly after the Snapper.

“A lovely welcome,” she muttered, sending more power to the thrusters in the hope of outrunning the missile. The shields could handle a few hits, but she wasn’t sure what the missile range was. Would the Chollans fire at her all the way to Opuntia? For that matter, could they launch missiles into space? “Do you think they know we’re going to see their enemy?”

“It’s possible. We haven’t informed them we’re coming to see them.”

In a final burst, the missile caught up to them and slammed into the rear shields. Light flashed on the cameras as another jolt shook the Snapper.

“They may simply want our cargo,” Thor added. “They are a people at war. Their resources are most certainly limited.”

“That’ll be a disappointment then, since people are the only cargo we have right now. I know Masika isn’t sharing her paint. She complained about the price of the limited supply at the DG-1 station when we stopped.”

“Captain,” Austin said over the comm. “Are we being fired at? I have alarms going off back here.”

The sensors alerted Jelena to another missile being launched from another coastal platform.

“Yes, and expect more of them.” Jelena was speeding toward the ocean so they could get away, but she contemplated returning fire. Picking a battle with a planetary force probably wasn’t a good idea, but if she could disable one of the weapons installations without hurting anyone, maybe that would teach them that firing upon strangers wasn’t polite.

She’d no sooner had the thought than they flew over an abandoned city, half of the buildings flattened and the broken streets piled high with rubble. A massive crater dominated ten square miles in the center.

“I’d just get out of here,” Thor said.

“Working on it,” Jelena said, her desire for vengeance or teaching lessons fading.

“Do you suspect paranormal activity as a problem?” Austin asked over the comm.

“What? No.” Jelena banked and twisted, trying to avoid the missile relentlessly pursuing them, exhaust from its rocket propulsion system streaming from its tailpipe.

“I thought you might not be able to return fire because of ghosts messing with the machinery in NavCom. My ghostometer picked up some interesting activity up there.”

“Something we can chat about at length later.” Jelena braced herself as the missile, unimpressed by her evasive maneuvers, smashed into their rear shields with another blinding flash.

“At length?” Thor murmured. “Is that something you truly wish to discuss at length?”

“At a short length.”

“I’m trying to paint back here,” Masika called from the mess hall. “Fewer bumps would be appreciated.”

“I wonder if captains of military ships have to deal with this much commentary,” Jelena said, finally taking the Snapper out over the ocean. Another missile launched from a coastal installation behind them, and she groaned. They weren’t going to be safe until they reached—hells, she didn’t even know.

“It depends how gruesome their reputation is for quashing such commentary,” Thor said.

“Like if there were beheadings, the crew would be too afraid to speak?”

“Floggings might be sufficient.”

Erick appeared in the hatchway behind them. Alfie usually flapped her tail against the deck when anyone arrived, possibly to pet her, but she kept it tucked tightly around her. Her back was pressed as far back against the console as she could manage.

“How long are we going to stay in the vicinity, Jelena?” Erick asked. “The missiles hitting us are powerful.”

“I noticed.”

“We can’t take many more direct hits.”

“I noticed that too.” She flicked a hand at the shield integrity holodisplay. “I’m attempting to get out of their range now.”

“Why were we in their range to start with?”

“Jelena had a sightseeing itch,” Thor said.

“An intelligence-gathering itch,” she corrected.

“Oh? What intelligence did you gather?”

“I learned that they have installations capable of firing big missiles.”

“That’s in the sys-net entry,” Thor said. “Maybe you should read up on the planet.”

She glared at him. “Maybe I should read up on floggings.”

He returned her glare with the utmost blandness.

“Those were automated weapons facilities,” Erick said. “At least the last two. I didn’t detect any people inside that I could manipulate with my Starseer charms.”

“I should have fired at the installations then,” Jelena grumbled.

“No sign of further missile launches,” Thor reported, tapping a couple of buttons on the sensor panel.

“We are, however, being hailed.” Erick pointed to the message indicator on the comm panel.

“I see that,” Jelena said. “Maybe they want to apologize for their rude missiles.”

She tapped the comm. “This is Captain Marchenko of the Sna—”

“Identify yourself, unfamiliar freighter,” a tense male voice demanded.

“That’s what I’m trying to do.” Jelena glanced at the comm display and realized the message wasn’t coming from the continent they had left but from the one they were flying to, Opuntia. “Marchenko of the Snapper, an Alliance-registered freighter.”

If the Opuntians had Alliance allies, maybe mentioning their affiliation would help.

“You’re coming in from Chollan airspace, Snapper,” the man said, sounding deeply suspicious.

“Actually, we’re coming from Macha. Cruising over that stark continent back there was clearly a mistake. Did you see them firing at us?”

“What’s your purpose, Snapper? Do you plan to cruise over Opuntia as well?”

“No. We have a meeting there with…” Jelena looked at Thor.

“General Chang and War Minister Sorel,” he supplied. “Marchenko and I are the leaders of the Mustang Free Mercenary Company.”

Jelena wasn’t sure they should be claiming to have a company, but she beamed a smile at Thor for the name, however fictitious.

“You and Thorian are the leaders?” Erick murmured from behind her.

Did you want to be a leader too? Jelena asked him telepathically, not wanting their comm contact to hear.

I just don’t want to be demoted to a lesser rank by someone who’s only been on the ship for three weeks.

You’ve only been on the ship for four weeks.

Five, and I’ve been working for the family business for ten years. All right, I was away at school for four, but I came back. He truly sounded distressed.

Erick, it’s a fictitious company, and they’re fictitious ranks. I didn’t know about any of it until thirty seconds ago.

Well, don’t let him be in charge. Leonidas would never approve.

Jelena wasn’t sure about that, though she agreed that Mom would not likely approve. I’ll keep your concerns in mind.

“Unidentified leader of a mercenary company we’ve never heard of,” the man said dryly, “your ship does indeed match the credentials of an Alliance-registered freighter, but there’s no marked affiliation with a mercenary outfit.”

“Naturally,” Thor said. “We are simply getting a ride on it.”

“Your entire company?”

Someone must have looked up the specs for the Snapper and found out the model only had eight cabins for guests and crew.

“Only the ones who will be needed for this mission. Please send landing coordinates at your earliest convenience. We, being unfamiliar with your planet, would appreciate an escort as well.”

“Oh, you’ll have an escort,” the man grumbled and cut the comm.

Erick scratched his head. “Is anyone else unsure whether we’ll be greeted or arrested?”

“Yes,” Jelena said.

Her doubt lifted slightly when coordinates appeared on the comm display. The sensors showed significantly more metropolitan areas than on the other continent, and she was glad to have directions. She plugged them in and flew toward a large inland city along what appeared to be one of the planet’s few rivers.

“Are we going to our meeting as fearsome Starseers?” Erick looked at Thor. “Or fearsome mercenaries? I assume fearsomeness of some kind will be required.”

“Do you have a mercenary outfit?” Jelena asked him.

“I don’t know. What do mercenaries wear? Presumably not shoes with sparkles.”

“Definitely not asteroids and spaceships pajamas.”

Thor eyed them up and down. His expression suggested he was far too mature for the conversation. Jelena redoubled her resolve to glitter up his shoes one night.

“Assuming you two insist on coming, Starseer robes with the hoods up to hide your ages.”

“My age is older than yours, buddy,” Erick said.

Thor ignored him.

“Don’t I have to come?” Jelena asked. “As the co-leader of the Mustangs?”

“I suppose,” Thor said. “But I want Masika standing next to me. She looks far more believable as a mercenary than you two. You can stand behind us and act ominous in your black robes. Bring your staffs.” He lifted a hand when Jelena opened her mouth. “Yes, I’ll still acknowledge you as one of the leaders, but let’s make you a silent leader. I’ll get my weapons and meet you in the cargo hold after we arrive.” Thor stood, strode past Erick, and disappeared into the corridor without waiting for a response.

“I’m not fond of when he gets bossy like that and thinks he’s in charge,” Erick said.

“I’m not fond of suggestions that I should be silent. That’s not one of my strengths.”

“I’ve noticed.”

“I hope this goes well,” Jelena said, adjusting the controls to compensate for a stiff wind blowing across the sea.

“We should let your parents know our plans, don’t you think?” Erick waved to the comm. “In case something happens and we need to be rescued.”

“We won’t need to be rescued. But I’ll absolutely let them know.”

“Good.” Erick headed to his cabin to change.

After we’ve rescued the Alliance people and been paid, Jelena amended silently. Mom and Leonidas would never give her permission for this, but if she simply dropped a fat deposit into their account later, they would praise her wisdom and initiative. After all, they didn’t want to be in debt for the next twenty years, either.

Chapter 5

An escort of eight soldiers arrived to meet Jelena and the others at the base of the Snapper’s ramp. They didn’t point their rifles—automatic weapons firing bullets rather than blazers using energy packs—at her team, but they also weren’t friendly, especially considering Jelena had come intending to rescue some of their leaders.

After an exchange of very few words, during which Thor did the talking, the men led the way along the docks and into the city. Jelena and Erick, wearing their Starseer robes and carrying their staffs, as instructed, followed Thor and Masika. Thor wore his usual black getup, with the telescoping sword attached to one hip and a knife and blazer pistol on the other. He, too, kept his hood up and most of his face covered with the wrap that hid his throat, mouth, and most of his cheeks and nose. Masika walked openly in her gray fatigues, with a blazer rifle slung across her torso on a strap, and a dagger on her hip. In addition to her staff, Jelena carried a multitool on her belt. Since she didn’t have the stomach for shooting people, she didn’t bother carrying a blazer.

“That’s disturbing,” Erick said, nodding to a wrecked ship in one of the other docking slots, a ship that wouldn’t be flying again. Only the clamps and the bottom third remained. The rest of the body had been blown away.

One of the other docking areas was closed due to damages, and as the group walked deeper into the city, Jelena saw more signs of destruction. Gaps in the skyline that denoted collapsed buildings. A road closed with barricades, the pavement ending raggedly at the lip of a crater. Charred and overturned ground vehicles. A lot of the damage appeared recent. Very recent.

Jelena eyed the sky above them, feeling vulnerable now that they weren’t in the Snapper with the shields up. They had left Austin inside with Alfie—he had even poorer odds of passing for a mercenary than the rest of them. He could keep the power on and raise shields if the city was attacked. That wouldn’t do anything to protect their group, though.

“When was the last attack?” Jelena asked one of the soldiers closest to her, a bleak-faced man with a hawkish nose.

“The Minster of War will decide what you may or may not be told,” he said, keeping his gaze forward.

Thor looked back at Jelena. He didn’t say anything out loud or telepathically, but she imagined him remembering his instructions for her to play a silent role. She thought about sticking her tongue out at him, but that didn’t seem very mercenary-ish.

All of this triggered memories she thought she had forgotten, of living in Perun Central during the bombings near the end of the war, of the day when she had been one of hundreds of children ushered from their classrooms and down into the bunker under the campus. They’d hidden there in fear and confusion as explosions sounded in the city above them. The power had gone out for hours that seemed like days. Children of all ages had asked to go home or simply asked for their parents. Then the lights had come back on, and Mrs. Reid had pulled Jelena aside to deliver the bad news. Her tenement building had taken a direct hit. Dad had been grading papers from home that day, so he’d been there when the bomb struck, when the building was destroyed. Her Aunt Sylvia would be coming to pick her up once it was safe to go out in the streets again.

Thor stopped, and Jelena bumped into his back.

“Sorry,” she muttered, realizing the entire procession had stopped at a set of wide stone stairs leading up to a building’s front entrance. The lead soldier jogged up the steps and inside.

Thor looked back at Jelena again, and she thought he might chastise her for not paying attention. Mercenaries were supposed to be aware of their surroundings, weren’t they?

Instead, he rested his hand on her arm and surprised her by sharing a feeling with her, much as she did when she communicated with animals. A sense of comfort and also shared commiseration. Yes, he knew what it was like to be under fire and lose one’s family.

The lead soldier returned to the landing. “The War Minister will see you now.”

Without waiting for a response, he waved for them to come up.

Thor released Jelena’s arm and complied. Their group walked up the stairs but not through the front door, instead following a stone walkway around to a smaller and insignificant-feeling side entrance.

“Guess mercenaries don’t use front doors,” Erick muttered, then nudged Jelena’s arm. “Are you all right?”

He must have seen that exchange with Thor and wondered what had prompted it. Erick, like most Starseers, couldn’t read her thoughts and wouldn’t know what she’d been thinking about. Erick had been safe with his family on his home moon during those last months of the war. He’d said there hadn’t been much fighting there and no bombing. Lucky him.

“I’m fine,” Jelena said. “I’m mentally preparing myself to rescue people, to do something good for people. Something noble.”

“You don’t think delivering cargo is good and noble?” Erick asked, as they were led into a corridor.

“Anybody can do it. Rescuing people—that’s something suited to our unique talents.”

“Oh? Do you think there will be cattle in need of stampeding?”

“You never know.”

The procession climbed another set of stairs and stopped in front of a wooden door engraved with different kinds of cactuses. While the lead soldier knocked and waited for a response, Jelena stepped close enough to Masika to ask her opinion on the artwork.

“It’s simple,” Masika said.

“Is that bad?”

“Not always. It can be a sign of real talent, to be able to convey a message in a few deft strokes from a pen or brush. Or chisel.” She nodded at the door.

“Oh? What’s the message here?”

“That the continents are named after cactuses,” Thor said dryly.

“Are they?” Jelena asked. “Maybe that’s all they could get to grow here.”

“Sounds right. The terraforming was stopped prematurely due to a changing political climate.”

“What does that mean?”

“They ran out of money, I’ll wager,” Erick said.

Thor nodded.

The soldier frowned over at them, then pushed open the door. He and three of his cohorts walked in first. The other four came after Jelena’s group. She definitely had the feeling that this escort would have come with them whether Thor had asked for it or not.

Inside, she let Thor and Masika step to the front while she and Erick stood behind them. She shifted her hood as she looked around, doing her best to keep her face in shadow, appearing mysterious and enigmatic rather than young and inexperienced.

The office they’d arrived in held two large desks and also a conference table with a huge paper map stretched across it with models and figurines stationed at various points on the two major continents as well as the various islands. More paper maps lined the walls. One of the desks held an old-looking computer ten times larger than Jelena’s netdisc, and it was the only sign of more advanced technology in the room. A clunky machine on a stand in a corner looked like it might be a typewriter. Judging by the sheet of paper sticking out of it, it wasn’t a museum piece. A large, lumpy rock sat on a corner of one of the desks, some flecks in it catching the light. It looked like a big piece of ore, though Jelena couldn’t have guessed what kind it was just by looking. Mica, her parents’ friend who’d grown up in a mining colony, would have known. For some reason, it was encapsulated in a clear veneer. Maybe whatever was inside was valuable? Or dangerous. She knew ahridium had to be treated before it could be used in spaceship hulls because the ore itself was toxic to humans.

Nobody was sitting or standing around the table, but a bald man rose from behind one of the desks. A side door opened, and a second man came out, combing his fingers through his white hair. No, he was shaking dust out of it. Had he come from a bombing site? Or maybe he’d been crawling around in some damaged room in this building.

The two men looked over Jelena’s party, then exchanged long frowns with each other. They wore similar attire, layered black and red clothes that seemed an odd marriage of an old-fashioned business suit and a kimono. Jelena hadn’t seen many civilians since landing and didn’t know if it was a garment of office or representative of the local style. The soldiers wore fatigues, similar to Masika’s but in tan instead of gray.

“You have Starseers among your mercenary outfit?” the white-haired man asked Thor.

“We do, General Chang and Minister of War Sorel.” Thor nodded to the one who’d spoken, and then the bald man, making it clear he knew which was which, even though the men hadn’t introduced themselves. Not that this was an impressive display of Starseer skills, since Chang had the bronze skin and almond-shaped eyes that the surname suggested. Sorel was a wiry, olive-skinned man who looked fit under his loose, layered clothing. “I’ve brought a small but efficient strike force,” Thor added, not introducing himself or anyone else.

Jelena assumed he hadn’t given them his real name. Maybe he’d made up something alliterative like The Southern Scar or—what had the other one been? Black Bearface.

“If you can give us as much information as possible, we’re prepared to extract your men.” Thor didn’t ask if the job was still available or act like there was a question of whether they would be chosen.

The older men exchanged long looks again, almost as if they were speaking telepathically. Jelena doubted it, but supposed they could encounter people with Starseer powers on any planet. It wasn’t as if she knew everyone in the community. She hardly knew anyone in the community. But maybe if she and Erick heroically rescued enough people, the rest of the Starseers would decide that they were people worth knowing, maybe extend an invitation for them to come visit one of the main temples.

“We’re still trying to ascertain whether you are a good match for this job.” Sorel folded his arms over his chest. “You don’t come with references or a reputation, Lieutenant Cyrus.” Was that the name Thor had given them? “We couldn’t even find a record of your unit’s existence.”

What had the war minister been using to look them up? The typewriter? Jelena supposed they’d passed a couple of satellites on the way to the planet, but she wondered just how much sys-net access these people had. Did the common citizen have any connection to the rest of the system?

“Let us prove ourselves in the deed,” Thor said. “If we successfully return your people, you will pay us. If we don’t, you’ve lost nothing.”

“Not necessarily. We would have tipped our hand to the Chollans that we’re sending a team. In the event of a failure, they would know to expect further rescue attempts, and they would be more prepared.”

Masika stuck a fist on her hip. “They took your people. I’m sure they’re expecting you’ll try to get them back. No matter what happens, they’re not going to be mystified by a team appearing.”

The men frowned at her, then at Thor.

“You let a female speak for you?” Sorel asked.

Masika’s other fist came up to her hip. Jelena almost copied the gesture. What kind of backwards, benighted country was this?

“How would you like to be dropkicked through that window by a female?” Masika asked.

The men appeared scandalized.

And you thought my lack of silence would be the problem, Jelena told Thor silently. A little smugly.

“We hire based on talent,” Thor said, not noticeably perturbed—or affronted—by the question. “You will give us as much information as you have on the location and status of the prisoners.”

The older men looked like they might object once again, but their brows smoothed, and they stopped exchanging those looks with each other.

“Yes, we should give you the information we have,” Sorel said amiably.

“And perhaps there should be refreshments?” Chang pressed a switch on one of the desks, and an unsubtle buzz sounded.

A side door opened, and a robed woman with a tray laden with food and drink walked in, her eyes downcast. She set the tray on the desk and removed a plate with something covered in a red sauce, then propped two-pronged forks at various points around the plate. She poured tea from a pitcher into four cups, then bowed deeply and left without a word.

I’m beginning to get an idea of what the proper place for a woman is considered to be on this world, Jelena told Erick silently.

I’m beginning to want to sample what’s on that plate. It smells good.

I see you’re concerned for the plight of women here.

I’m concerned for the plight of my stomach. When are we getting something besides dehydrated food and quick-meals for the ship?

Sometime after we’re not fifty thousand tindarks in debt.

“Please, have a taste,” Sorel said, waving at the plate and taking one of the teacups for himself.

Chang also took a cup, then walked to the conference table. Jelena wondered if the two remaining cups were supposed to be for the leaders of the Mustangs or for the men of the Mustangs.

“This is the city where we believe our people are being held,” Chang said, pointing to a coastal location on the map.

It was one of the two cities Jelena had identified as they’d flown over the continent. Interestingly, there were others marked on the map. Bombed locations that had been abandoned? Or maybe they represented the locations of the underground settlements Thor had mentioned.

Erick strode to the desk and grabbed a fork. He only considered the dish briefly before pronging the sauce-covered patty on the plate. Whatever it was had been cut into small rectangles. Jelena wasn’t sure if it was a steak that had been pounded flat or something from a plant. Meat seemed more likely. Erick pronged several more of the saucy squares, as many as he could fit on his fork, before moving to the conference table.

“You’re that sure it’ll be good?” Jelena murmured, joining him at the table, next to Thor.

“The sauce smells good.”

“Could be something dreadful underneath.”

“Like meat that came off a bone instead of out of a vat?”

“Precisely.”

Erick stuck the fork into his mouth, pulled the entire stack of squares off, and chewed heartily. The cowl of his robe didn’t entirely hide the grin he gave Jelena. It also didn’t hide when the grin faded, and his expression turned dubious. His chewing grew less vigorous and more contemplative. Or was that horrified?

“Not as palatable as you expected?”

“Well. It’s not meat.”

Chang frowned at him. “It’s cactus. What else would it be?” He tapped the map. “Pay attention. The female is more observant than you.” The way he delivered the line made it clear it was an insult.

“Cactus?” Erick didn’t sound overly insulted. “Huh.”

Masika’s eyes closed to slits. She might still be considering dropkicking the general. Or the war leader. Or both.

“Do you have any idea where in the city they’re being held?” Thor asked.

“We don’t,” Chang said. “We don’t even know if our people are still alive. The spy we sent a few days ago… hasn’t reported back.”

“We’ve had a few planes go over by night, flying by to do reconnaissance, but the Chollans, cowards that they are, have automated weapons systems. Machines do their fighting for them.” Sorel sniffed. “They’ve launched their missiles at our cities from afar, too, so we’ve had to spend a fortune building anti-missile weaponry of our own. They have forcefields for their own major cities—leftover imperial technology. We had some of it, too, but the generators failed early in the war, and we’ve had no way of getting replacement parts.”

“The empire’s manufacturers aren’t making them anymore,” Thor said softly.

“No.”

“We’ve encountered their weapons systems,” Jelena said, not wanting to discuss the empire or its fall.

By now, she figured the men had gotten over their surprise at the notion of talking females, but they both set their teacups down and stared at her.

“There are Starseer women?”

“That cannot be true. Those must be disguises.”

“I’ve earned this robe through ten years of training,” Jelena said. “Of course there are Starseer women. How do you think more Starseer men are made?” She waved her hand and elevated one of the cups as a demonstration. She considered flinging the contents at the men’s clothes as a further demonstration.

Thor looked at her. He didn’t say anything, but she sensed his silent suggestion that she be good and set the cup down. She thought about being bad and going with her first inclination, but they hadn’t been given the job yet, and, judging by the two other jobs Thor had shared, opportunities for her to make extra money as a mercenary without violating her ethics were rare. She lowered the cup.

“As I was saying,” Jelena said, “our ship was fired at, too, without provocation. We won’t simply be able to fly over there and pick up your people.”

“Even by night, their detection methods are excellent,” Chang said, apparently getting over the shock of a Starseer woman. “We’ve also had no luck sailing sea vessels to their shores. Their missiles are even more capable of taking out boats.”

“How did your spy get over there?” Thor asked.

“We have a number of submarines that they haven’t figured out how to detect yet. They’re compact vessels, insufficient for delivering armies, but we can get small numbers of people to their shores.”

“That will work. You’ll take our team over on one, we’ll retrieve your people, and you’ll return us all to your continent.”

Jelena lifted a finger, intending to protest. Just because they’d been fired at by the Chollans didn’t mean she was ready to leave the Snapper on another continent while they went off adventuring in some antiquated underwater vehicle probably navigated by a typewriter. Worse than that, she wouldn’t be piloting. What would happen if something went wrong? If the submarine didn’t wait for them while they were retrieving their people? They could be stranded indefinitely on a continent full of crazy religious zealots. She hadn’t flown over anything on the Chollan continent that had looked like a space base. Chances were they didn’t have spaceships—there might not be a way off that continent at all.

“Young man, you’re not the one giving the orders here,” Sorel said, speaking first. “We have limited submarines, and we don’t simply… ah.” His brow furrowed. Thor was gazing at him—staring him straight in the eye.

He wasn’t looking at Chang, but Chang’s eyes grew glassy.

You should try the cactus, Erick told Jelena silently. Watching Thor diddle people’s minds is more entertaining while you’re enjoying munchies.

You didn’t look like you were enjoying that cactus pad. Jelena found watching Thor mess with people’s minds more eerie and alarming than entertaining, but could she truly object? She wanted this mission.

The texture takes some getting used to. The sauce is good.

Maybe we can get a crate of fresh cactus pads to take on the ship, since you prefer them to quick-meals.

I didn’t say that. But I wouldn’t mind a few jars of the sauce. Maybe the quick-meals would be better if they were smothered in it.

You’re a true gourmand.

“We’ll call up a submarine to depart tonight,” Sorel said, speaking slowly now and nodding to himself. “It will be a journey of approximately three days.”

Three days? The Snapper could fly twenty laps around the planet in that time.

“Excellent,” Thor said. “My team is ready.”

Chang stirred, some of the glassiness fading from his eyes. “Is this your whole team?”

“It’s all we’ll need. A small incursion force will be superior in this case, and you said yourself that your submarines can carry limited personnel.”

“How do you plan to find our people once you’re over there?”

“Leave that to us,” Thor said.

“We’ll leave that to you,” Sorel agreed.

Definitely eerie, Jelena decided.

Thor turned a sad gaze toward her, and she winced inwardly, reminding herself that he could be reading her thoughts at any given moment. Of all people, shouldn’t she understand him and not judge him? Or be afraid of his powers?

“Let’s get ready,” Thor murmured and headed for the door.

Erick pronged a few more cactus pieces and deposited them in his mouth on the way out.

Feeling a need to be petty and lash out, Jelena gave one of the teacups a mental nudge as Sorel was reaching for it. It tipped over, spilled its contents, and rolled off the table, shattering on the floor.

The side door opened, and the woman hurried in to clean up the mess while the men only stepped aside to avoid the puddle. Jelena regretted her action. Why didn’t things ever work out the way she planned?

Chapter 6

The submarine was dark, damp, and smelled of gym socks. When they’d first climbed into the compact horizontal cylinder, Jelena had likened it to a spaceship, a noble craft designed to carry intrepid travelers from destination to destination, all the while protecting them from their hostile environment. That had been before she’d gotten the first whiff of gym socks, seen the beads of water dripping down the curving walls, and clunked her head on the low ceiling. Now, she was positive she was being punished for being petty about teacups.

Voices came from the cramped cockpit up front. Thor was standing up there, monitoring their departure and exchanging a few words with the two pilots, soldiers in fatigues who spoke with a thicker accent than the war minister and general had. For the most part, Jelena had a hard time understanding them, but they’d been clear when they’d shooed Erick out of the cockpit, proclaiming that no, he most certainly could not steer the sub. A wise decision, Jelena was positive. She had no interest in “letting her rip and seeing if they could out-swim the sharks,” as Erick had suggested.

Once they were underway, Thor made his way back past Erick and Masika and pointed to the seat next to Jelena. She was in the process of tearing open one of her berry vitamin packs to dissolve in her canteen and nodded for him to sit next to her. Erick and Masika were discussing building a character for a game he was trying to talk her into playing, Striker Odyssey most likely. Jelena hoped the two pilots weren’t listening. If the average citizen on Opuntia didn’t believe there could be Starseer women, they would be dumbfounded by the idea of Starseer nerds.

I don’t think mercenaries are typically known for playing vid games, either, Thor said silently, taking the seat.

His arm brushed hers, but she didn’t feel much through the sleeve of her robe. She wouldn’t have minded leaning against him, but she didn’t. It was a strange impulse. She didn’t need to lean on anyone—everything was going well so far, even if they’d had to leave Austin, Alfie, and the Snapper behind. Austin had seemed delighted at the chance to do his ghost testing in private without pesky living people tramping through NavCom and messing up his readings. He’d been less delighted when Jelena had informed him that he’d have to feed Alfie and clean up the faux grass latrine area in the back of the cargo hold. That latter, she judged, had been the sticking point.

Realizing she hadn’t responded to Thor, Jelena screwed the cap back onto her canteen and replied. What are mercenaries known for? Picking their fingernails with daggers and coming up with alliterative nicknames for themselves?

You’re thinking of gangsters. For the nicknames.

But not the nail picking?

No, playing with knives, including using them for grooming purposes, seems like a mercenary thing to do.

Do you ever pick your nails with your sword?

No. Thor arched an eyebrow at her. Silly question, apparently. But he smiled faintly and added, I have used it to scratch my back.

I won’t let your secret out.

Good.

Jelena liked it when he smiled. He seemed like a normal person then, a person she could still be friends with, not someone intent on taking over the system, no matter who stood in the way.

Thor pulled his netdisc out of a pocket, but he didn’t open it. He held it loosely in one hand, rested his forearms on his knees, and studied the deck.

Jelena almost asked him if something was bothering him, but she didn’t want to pry. She appreciated that he’d chosen to sit back here next to her instead of by himself.

After a few more thoughtful moments, Thor thumbed his netdisc on and brought up the holodisplay. At first, it filled with a map of the galaxy with notes scribbled all over it. Contacts? Plans? He squeezed his fingers together, minimizing the application before she got a good look. The one behind it was a game, or maybe that was a puzzle, and she wondered if he planned to challenge her to some two-person version of it.

Do you like puzzles? Thor asked, his bemused smile suggesting that hadn’t been his original question. Indeed, he swiped the game away, finally revealing a third display.

It depends on the picture in the puzzle. Jelena thought of the giant puzzle she’d discovered in his room back on Halite Moon, the one where the missing pieces in the system map had denoted locations of people he intended to assassinate, and she grimaced at the memory.

His smile faded, that sadness he so often wore replacing it. She felt she should apologize for her thoughts, but he was the one who’d been killing people. And it was his choice as to whether he wanted to read her mind.

I could probably find some of cute animals. Fuzzy kittens. He looked toward a porthole. Fish and octopuses.

Cute fish? She wrinkled her nose.

Hm, pretty ones, perhaps. Thor brought up the display that had been lurking on his device behind the others.

Jelena recognized the picture she’d glimpsed in the Snapper’s mess hall a few days earlier, the one he’d hastily put away before she had a good look. This time, he enlarged it and let her see.

“You and your family?” she asked, only realizing she’d spoken aloud when Erick looked over.

He and Masika weren’t far away—nothing was far away in the sweat-sock submarine—and he frowned, as if noticing their closeness for the first time. Jelena knew Erick wasn’t interested in her romantically—his attempts to lure Masika into his game world would have assured that even if she hadn’t already known—but he seemed quite certain that Thor wasn’t an appropriate person for her romantically, either. Jelena had no doubt he was right, and she flicked her fingers, acknowledging the silent disapproval. There wasn’t any reason for it, regardless. Thor had made it clear that romance was about a billion light years away from his plans for the future, and she couldn’t be attracted to anyone who solved his problems by killing people. She could understand why he did it, perhaps, and she even understood his quest, but she could never love someone bent on destroying half the system—not to mention probably destroying himself in the process.

“Yes,” Thor said, this time not letting on if he’d read her thoughts. “I was seven when this was taken.” He pointed to himself in the picture, a cute sandy-haired boy with a goofy grin.

The grin surprised Jelena. No, it startled her. Of course a seven-year-old child was expected to laugh and smile, but the Thor she’d always known had been so solemn, so grim. She’d not known him before he lost his family. It hadn’t occurred to her that he might have been a normal, playful kid then.

“Eric was thirteen in the picture.” Thor pointed at the second boy, one nearly as tall as his father. He wasn’t grinning. He looked determined, like someone wanting to come across as an adult, as someone important. “He’d been groomed his whole life to take my father’s place when the time came,” Thor said. “He was oldest, so of course, he was the heir. I was to be an ally for him, it was assumed. I was taught Starseer mysticism and mind-focusing tricks from a young age, even before I had my darugula and developed my powers.”

“Darugula?”

“You don’t know the term? Few outsiders do, but I assumed Stanislav would have taught you. A days-long ritual where a child is put under duress so that his genes will express themselves rather than remaining dormant into adulthood.”

“Oh, I didn’t know there was a ritual. I knew about the stress needed to turn one’s genes on.” Once again, she remembered the days after the bombing, seeing her home destroyed on the news vids, learning that her father had been killed. It had been after that, while she’d been staying with Aunt Sylvia, that she had started developing mental powers. Her mom, even though she carried the genes, had never developed powers and hadn’t even known about her bloodline until ten years ago.

Thor nodded. “Yes. Few outside of the Starseer community know about the darugula or its importance in the development of powers, but sometimes, children with the right genes and of the right age undergo natural, accidental stressors that act as the needed epigenetic triggers.”

Jelena willed the memories of her own stressors to exit her mind. Seeing the bombed cities had already brought back far too many uncomfortable memories, ones she’d thought had been forever buried in the recesses of her mind.

She cleared her throat. “So, your brother was supposed to be in charge, and you’d be his supporter.”

“Yes. His spy, his assassin, his military leader. Whatever the empire needed.” He gazed at the picture, perhaps unaware of her memories now, too lost in his own. “It was quite a blow to me when I lost Eric.”

Jelena glanced at their Erick, realizing for the first time why Thor might prefer to call him Ostberg instead of by his first name.

“Even though he was years older than me, so we’d never been playmates, we’d always had a good relationship,” Thor said. “He used to ruffle my hair every night whenever the family was able to eat dinner together, and we’d argue about which forceball player had the best chance to win the slam that year. He was the one to teach me how to shoot peas out of my nose.”

“A skill you haven’t practiced nearly enough since you boarded my ship,” Jelena promptly said. By the suns, she’d pay in gold to see Thor do something that silly.

“No peas on board.”

“We’ll remedy that as soon as possible. Erick wants to get a crate of cactus pads. Maybe we could cut one up in the shape of peas.”

Erick must have heard a few words because he looked over again, this time wearing the most puzzled expression on his face. Or maybe he was puzzled because Masika had turned her shoulder away from him and was reading something on a netdisc. Jelena wondered if Masika had shared any of her story with Erick. It didn’t seem like it should be Jelena’s place to share it, but maybe he should know that his odds might not be good with her, even if gangly vid game players were her type.

“He died before the war ended,” Thor said, touching a finger to the image of his brother.

Jelena’s humor evaporated.

“One of the first people I assassinated—” he did not shy away from the word, “—was responsible for his death. After my brother’s death, my father began grooming me to assume Eric’s position, but you could always sense…” He shrugged. “He was always sadder after we lost Eric. Father was a good man, and he didn’t do anything obvious to show that he favored Eric more than me, but by then, I could read people’s thoughts… so I knew. They’d been a lot alike, and he’d poured so much into molding Eric to be the next emperor. I knew he was disappointed at all that effort being lost. Of Eric being lost. He never felt it was fair that the war had taken his oldest son from him. He was still glad to have me, but…”

Thor shrugged again, as if he was indifferent now. Jelena didn’t have to be able to read his mind to know that wasn’t true. Maybe that was part of why he was so determined to live up to his father’s expectations, to do all that the entire empire had ever expected from him. Maybe to do all that it—that his father—had expected of Eric too.

“What was your mother like?” Jelena asked, in part to turn Thor’s mind from dark thoughts, and in part because she was curious. “She seems sad in the picture.”

Thor had never opened up to her this much, even when they’d been kids. They’d stood together then, her having his back, and him having hers, but their wounds had been too fresh, too raw to talk about then. This moment seemed almost a gift, and she didn’t want to give it up too soon.

“Does she?” Thor tilted his head. “I never noticed. Maybe you’re right, but I took that expression for serenity. She always seemed a peaceful woman, at least on the surface. Though when I became able to sense thoughts… That’s not as much of a boon as you’d think.”

“I know. That’s why I rarely do it. Except with animals. They’re never saying or doing things that are different from what they’re thinking. People are…”

“Disingenuous. Mother wasn’t that, not exactly. She’d married my father for true love—something rare among the arranged marriages in my family line—and she bore him children because she loved him, but she was always certain something bad would happen, that she was raising children who would be killed young by generals or assassins. She believed she’d have to watch us die before her eyes. With Eric, that was true. She died too young to see the rest of it come true, though she was probably right that I’ll die young too.”

He sounded accepting rather than depressed over that thought, but Jelena found it morbid. She wasn’t sure whether to hug him or suggest they search the submarine’s stores for peas. In the end, she clasped her hands between her legs, not wanting to say anything that would push him away.

Thor closed the netdisc and returned to silent speech. It’s not for the empire that I do what I do, he told her, but for them.

I appreciate you taking some time out from your plans to help us.

Actually, I’ve been debating ways I can use your plans to my advantage.

Oh? Jelena didn’t know how to feel about that. One of the reasons she’d talked him into joining her crew had been to get him away from the violence, from the assassinations—and from the Alliance assassins now hunting him.

When you were simply going to deliver freight, I didn’t imagine it could be of any use to me, but establishing a reputation as a mercenary might improve some people’s opinions of me. There are imperial loyalists who long to fight and bring back the empire but who don’t believe someone so young should be their general.

Because they’re sane? she suggested.

He snorted. If I can become known as a competent mercenary before I try to assemble an army, it might help my cause.

Jelena didn’t want to imagine Thor as a mercenary general any more than she wanted him to lead armies against the Alliance, but she doubted her words would do anything to sway him, and it seemed premature to worry about the possibility, so she opted for a light response.

You’ll have to learn how to pick your fingernails with your sword then.

It does seem inevitable. He stood then, giving her that two-fingered salute, and walked back up to the cockpit.

Jelena leaned back in her seat, wishing she could convince Thor to shoot peas out of his nose instead of bullets out of guns.

Chapter 7

Jelena woke with a start to utter blackness. Her narrow bunk rocked, then pitched her sideways. She landed on the cold metal deck, and before she could figure out what was happening, something—or someone—landed right next to her with a thud. And a curse. It was definitely a someone.

“What’s happening?” Masika asked from another bunk.

Someone groaned from the deck next to Jelena. It wasn’t exactly a response.

“Erick?” Jelena asked, reaching out with her senses and her hand.

“What—” he started, but a distant boom sounded, and they all fell quiet. Listening.

Jelena sensed Thor standing on the deck a few feet away and one of the two pilots up front in the cockpit. Thor radiated calm. The pilot radiated fear. Not good.

“Were we hit?” Erick asked. “By what? I don’t sense any ships around.”

The other pilot scrambled out of his bunk and patted his way toward the back of the submarine, bumping Jelena and Erick as he passed.

“Stay calm,” the cockpit pilot called back, his accent thick, barely understandable. “It’s all under control.” Jelena did not need to use her senses to know he was lying.

“Land mines,” Thor said. “Or sea mines, I suppose.”

“They’re all over the place,” the pilot said. “I was avoiding them, but then we passed too close to one above us. I wasn’t expecting—they weren’t here two weeks ago. Sokolov!” He switched languages and spat a rapid series of words over his shoulder.

A curse and a clang came from the back.

Jelena didn’t understand the men, but she hoped the one up front was asking—or demanding—that power get fixed soon. She found her bunk and rested her hand on the metal framework for support. The deck was still rocking, and the faint groans that came from the hull did not sound good. How deep were they? How close to land? Was it morning yet? They’d been due to land today.

She drew a deep breath, forcing calm, and reached out into the ocean to get a sense for their plight—and how far under they were. Mostly, she sensed life. Fish and other sea creatures, some strange and alien to her mind, but all vibrant with life. Jelena guessed they were fifty or sixty meters below the surface. Not as deep as she’d thought they might be. She noticed a pod of sleek, finned creatures swimming near the submarine. They were large, as long as humans, and at first, she thought they might have some ill intent, but they had amenable minds, and she realized they were curious about the vessel. Surprisingly, they did not seem concerned about the mines. A couple of the creatures dove under the submarine and came up on the other side. She had the impression they wanted the submarine to play with them.

“This is not the place, my friends,” Jelena murmured.

“There’s another mine ahead of us,” Thor said, his voice ringing in the dark interior. It was calm but urgent too. “Do you have steering power?”

“Yes, but I can’t see anything,” the pilot responded. “Sonar is down, as is our view—”

“I can see,” Thor overrode him. “Veer to port. Now.”

The craft almost lurched as the pilot obeyed. A clang, followed by more curses, came from the rear. The pilot barked something back at his colleague, which led to a heated exchange.

“Did we get out of its way?” Jelena asked.

“Yes, but I’m not sure it’s far enough,” Thor said, moving up to stand next to her and Erick.

“Should we try to create a barrier around the submarine?” Jelena doubted she could extend hers around the whole vessel—or keep it up against explosive charges—but Thor was more powerful, and she could help him.

“I don’t think the sub could work in an enclosed bubble. The currents the propeller created wouldn’t have anywhere to go, and we’d end up being tossed against the sides of the barrier.”

“Yes,” Erick said, “but we definitely have a problem. I can see the mines out there too. They’re all over the place. We’re close to the coast, less than ten miles.”

“They weren’t here last time,” the pilot repeated, as if they hadn’t believed him.

A boom sounded, and the deck rocked again. Jelena lost her grip on the bunk and stumbled against someone. A protective arm went around her, helping to keep her upright.

“Guess we didn’t veer far enough,” she muttered.

A hiss-clank came from the rear of the craft, followed by an ominous trickle of water.

“Is that a breach?” Masika asked, a panicked note in her voice.

An emphatic, “No,” came from the pilot in the engine room.

Jelena wished she believed him.

“Maybe we should surface,” she suggested. “Also, whoever is holding me in a manly manner, I’m fine now. You can let go.” She patted the arm, using her senses to identify her helper.

“Damn,” Erick said. “That wasn’t me. I wish more women recognized my manly manners.”

Thor released Jelena without comment, at least not to her. He told the pilot, “The mines seem to be attached to buoys of a sort. That’s not quite the right word. They’re devices that are keeping the mines floating between thirty and one hundred meters below the surface. If we can descend below them or rise above them, we should be safe.” A bang, clank, and a trickle came from the engine room. “Relatively safe,” he amended.

Erick snorted.

“I’ve come to a stop,” the pilot up front said. “It’s not safe to navigate until we figure out how to get the sonar back online.”

“And the electricity,” Jelena murmured.

“You’re complaining about being in the dark when you have the arms of someone with manly manners wrapped around you?” Erick asked.

“He let go.”

“That’s a relief. I’d have to tell Leonidas if any canoodling was going on down here.”

“We have electricity from the batteries,” the pilot said. “The lights are off to preserve what we have until the engine is repaired.”

Thor shifted to the side to walk past Jelena and up to the cockpit. “You will continue,” he told the pilot firmly. “I’ll guide you.”

“Thor is driving now?” Erick muttered. “How comforting.”

“Keep a second eye out, Ostberg,” Thor said over his shoulder.

“Yes, your royal highness.”

Jelena swatted him on the chest. He’s lying low. Don’t do anything to blow his cover.

I didn’t blow anything. A delusional mercenary officer could insist his people call him that.

Uh huh. Also, I was told back on Arkadius that his proper address is your imperial highness.

Does he insist you call him that when he has his arms around you?

Next time, my swat is going to be lower.

“Ostberg,” Thor said coolly. Had he been eavesdropping? Or could he just tell Erick wasn’t concentrating?

“Oh, trust me, I’m paying attention to those mines.”

“Good.” Thor lowered his voice, and Jelena sensed him standing right behind the pilot. “Continue.”

She caught herself holding her breath as the submarine creaked and groaned as it continued forward. Ten miles from the coast? They were barely creeping along. Traveling ten miles would take an eternity. And what would they do once they arrived?

“Are we still going to be able to reach our original port?” she asked quietly, not that any of her people would know. And the pilots were busy, one fixing the engine, one being mind-manipulated by a Starseer.

“Do we know what our original port was?” Masika grumbled.

“Well, I don’t, but I assume the pilots do.”

“There are a lot of ships heading our way,” Erick said, sudden alarm in his voice. “Thorian, buddy, you see that?”

“Yes.”

A beep came from the cockpit, and the pilots yelled back and forth to each other.

“I think the sonar came back online,” Erick said, “and they also see the ships.”

A rasp sounded, and soft, yellow light flared from the back of the vessel—was that a lantern being lit? With a match? How primitive.

A vigorous clang, clang, clang sounded.

“I think he’s just banging on the engine with a hammer and hoping for the best,” Erick muttered.

“Can you help?” Jelena wished she could do something to help.

“By what? Pedaling? This antiquated boat could have been a museum piece back when the colony ships first arrived.”

“Does that mean you don’t know how to fix it?”

“Not better than they do, I’m sure. But I’ll go check.”

“Veer right,” Thor ordered.

“I cannot see the mines on the sonar,” the pilot said, though he obeyed the order. “All I see is ships coming for us. They were waiting for us. We’ve been betrayed!”

“Maybe they just noticed that mines were going off all over the place,” Jelena said.

“Why would there be mines, unless they were expecting someone to approach from this direction?” Masika asked.

“You don’t think they’ve got them all along their coastline?”

“That would be an ambitious project, given the length of coastline we saw as we flew over.”

If their team had been betrayed, did that mean the war minister had a spy in his office? One who had shared all the details of their meeting? Such as that Starseers were among the mercenaries coming?

“They’re going to start dropping depth charges soon,” the pilot told Thor.

“We’ll avoid them, but get us to land as quickly as possible. Is there a harbor you were planning to use?”

“We have orders to take you to the one twenty miles south of the city, and we’re not far from there now. There’s one in the middle of the city, but we’d be fired upon as soon as we surfaced there.”

“Where do you think they’ll expect us to land?”

The pilot shrugged. “We’re going to the same place we landed the last time we delivered spies.”

Spies? Jelena found it strange to have her team described so.

“So they’ll be expecting us,” Thor said. “Is there—veer left and up. Sharply. Now.”

Faint gurgles and a groan emanated from the hull as the pilot complied. A boom, this one a little different from the others, came from behind and under them. Jelena could sense the alarm of the sea creatures outside—most of them were fleeing. Those anchored to the sea floor far below felt even more fear.

“Depth charges,” the pilot groaned. “That was one of their ships dropping that. Can you do anything to divert their ships?”

“Possibly.”

Thor looked back at Jelena, his face highlighted by the glow of the sonar screen and the handful of blinking indicators in the cockpit. Did he want her opinion? Or her permission? That seemed unlikely.

“There are eight ships out there,” Erick called from the rear. “It would be hard to manipulate that many people in different places at once.”

“I was thinking of more drastic measures,” Thor said.

“Drastic would be excellent, yes?” The pilot altered their course.

Jelena wondered which harbor he’d decided to head toward.

“If we can destroy enemy ships while we’re here,” the pilot added, “the war minister should be most pleased.”

“Except that this is supposed to be a secret incursion,” Jelena said. How would they sneak in to rescue prisoners if the entire enemy nation expected them and was prepared? “And this isn’t our war, Thor,” she added quietly. “We don’t know who’s in the right.” Maybe neither side was. So far, she had no reason to have warm and snuggly feelings toward either continent.

“Part of becoming a mercenary is agreeing to fight on behalf of the nation who hires you, whether they’re in the right or not. War is rarely about right and wrong, regardless. It’s about protecting resources and conserving—or extending—ideologies.”

Another boom sounded, this one more distant. The submarine trudged onward, unaffected.

“Just get us to shore, please,” Jelena said. “If soldiers are there waiting for us, we’ll fight then if we have to.”

“With solid land under our feet,” Masika said. “Yes.”

“Not enjoying your submarine ride?” Jelena murmured. “I’m not sure it’s that different from being in space with someone firing at us.”

“I don’t have faith that the pilots are capable.”

“And you do have faith when you’re on the Snapper? I’m flattered.”

Masika growled an inarticulate response. It didn’t quite sound like agreement.

“I’ve detonated several mines a few miles away,” Thor said. “A couple of the ships are diverting to check it out. They now believe there are at least two enemy submarines out here.”

“Good idea,” Jelena said, pleased he’d come up with something that didn’t involve sinking ships or hurling tsunamis into them or whatever he’d planned.

Engine failures, he spoke dryly into her mind. I didn’t intend to make anyone blow up spectacularly.

Oh. She felt bad for assuming he’d had the delivery of death on his mind, but he had killed people in front of her eyes before, those mercenaries on Upsilon Seven and the guards in the Stellacor floating castle—not to mention one of the founders of the corporation.

To protect you. The soft words came across as sad, or maybe disappointed that she didn’t understand. If people personally want you—or your friends—dead, sometimes, there’s not time to consider less lethal options.

Oh, she replied again, not having a better word. She felt honored that he wanted to protect her, but she wasn’t sure it was as simple and logical as that. He seemed to relish going into battle, and she hadn’t noticed that the killing bothered him.

My tutors made sure I was hardened to the realities of war, he informed her grimly. As to the rest, yes, sometimes it is pleasurable—or maybe cathartic is the term—to release your frustrations on your enemies.

I’m not unappreciative, just because I don’t agree, Jelena said.

I know.

The lights came back on, making Jelena blink. A whir and a thrum sounded in the rear of the vessel.

“We’re back online,” Erick said.

“The harbor is ahead,” the pilot said, not sounding that relieved.

“That’s supposed to be the empty harbor?” Thor asked.

“It is the one south of the city. There are few dwellings there, only some fishing docks.”

“There are ships in it. And at least a hundred men standing near those docks.”

“Then it’s true. We were betrayed. They expected us to come up there.”

“So how about we land somewhere else?” Masika asked.

“There are no other options that would bring you anywhere within fifty miles of the city, unless you want me to come up out at sea and you swim to shore. But there are many cliffs and no beaches in this area.”

Jelena grimaced at the idea of swimming through powerful ocean waves and currents that would knock them about. She’d had swimming lessons as a little girl, and had paddled through a placid pool on Upsilon Seven a few times, but she did not have faith in her ability to navigate ocean currents. What good would her Starseer talents be if she was dragged under and couldn’t breathe?

At least you could keep the sharks from eating you, Thor said into her mind. Assuming this planet has something like sharks.

I’m not sure, but some dolphins, or creatures similar to them, were following us earlier.

The words sparked an idea for her, and she laughed at herself. She almost dismissed it, but maybe it could work. Were the dolphins still anywhere around? Or had they been scared away by the ships and mines?

“Can you take us to a spot where we can get ashore without having to climb cliffs?” Jelena asked.

The pilot asked something in his own language. It sounded like a query about her sanity.

Dolphins? Thor asked silently.

Yes, if he was reading her thoughts, he could know what she had in mind.

Better than getting captured—or shot—as soon as the submarine comes up.

Masika will object.

No, she won’t. She has faith in my piloting skills.

You think those extend to guiding a pod of dolphins through the ocean?

Naturally.

“We are turning north and following the coast, but there are cliffs all along it.” The pilot sounded dubious about this course of action. “The waves are very choppy up there. Swimming will not be pleasant, and we do not have a life raft.”

“Just prepare to surface when you’re in a spot without any ships nearby,” Jelena said, figuring they could find a way to scale cliffs if necessary. Thor had levitated her over walls before. “Then get away and hide someplace safe. Come back for us at the original drop location at midnight in three days.”

The pilot looked up at Thor. “Are we supposed to follow her instructions?”

Jelena rolled her eyes.

“These people are as primitive as their machinery,” Masika muttered.

“Do it,” Thor told the pilot.

“What exactly are you planning, Jelena?” Erick asked, walking out of the engine area.

“I’m going to see if I can get us a ride to shore.” Jelena closed her eyes and stretched out, hoping to sense that same pod of dolphins. Not exactly dolphins, she decided, as she found them swimming on the outskirts of the area full of ships. They had a couple of extra fins, along with a ridge along their backs.

“We should be worried, right?” Masika asked.

“You’re learning quickly,” Erick told her.

Jelena ignored them, focusing instead on the dolphin-like creatures. She was surprised they hadn’t fled the area with the first mine explosion, or at least when the ships started dropping depth charges. While she watched them, one approached one of the mines. Alarmed, she tried to formulate a warning that would make sense to the creature, but she paused, realizing it was going to swim above the mine and shouldn’t clip it. No, wait. There was a rope attaching the mine to the buoy that Thor had mentioned. The dolphin slowed and sailed in, opening its mouth with careful precision. It clasped onto the rope, and Jelena cringed, imagining that the mine might explode at the slightest disturbance. But the dolphin barely moved the rope, carefully sawing with its teeth. The rope frayed and gave way. Detached from the buoy, the mine dropped into the ocean depths. It struck the sea floor about two hundred meters below and exploded. The dolphin heard it, but didn’t seem concerned about it at that distance. It veered back to its comrades and twirled as it approached, as if to brag that it had successfully eliminated one of the threats in their territory.

“I may have just discovered the most intelligent life on this planet,” Jelena said. At the least, the creature seemed brighter than the pilots and the war minister and his people.

“Is it in this submarine?” Erick asked.

“No.”

“That’s unfortunate. And insulting, don’t you think?” He raised his eyebrows at Masika.

“I feel insulted, yes.”

“We’ve moved away from the ships.” The pilot looked at Thor, seeming determined to report to him instead of anyone else—certainly not anyone else female. “They’re staying near the mouth of the harbor. They must feel certain we’ll come up there.”

Erick grunted. “It would be amusing if the harbor in the middle of the city was undefended, and we could simply sail into it unopposed.”

“It’s not,” Thor said. “I already checked.”

The pilot eyed him.

“A similar contingent of ships is stationed there, expecting trouble.” Thor pointed toward land. “Get us as close as you can. We have our packs with us. None of us wants a long swim.” He looked back at Jelena. “Or ride.”

She’d forgotten about their packs. They’d brought food and water, as well as a few medical supplies and some local currency. Carrying gear would make swimming more difficult, as would wearing her clothes and gripping her staff.

Dolphin friends, she said cheerfully to the one who had clipped off the mine. He seemed to be going for another one, and a couple of the others had caught the gist of the game and were doing the same. Let me show you another fun game, she offered, then, knowing they couldn’t understand her language, switched to sharing images with them instead of words. She felt bad trying to manipulate the creatures into helping, but maybe they would find it fun.

“We’re as close as I dare get us to the cliffs,” the pilot said. “You will need climbing gear if you intend to swim to shore here.”

“We’ll handle it. Just remember to meet us at midnight in three days.” There was a warning note in Thor’s tone.

Jelena, concentrating on enticing the dolphins to come visit, didn’t open her eyes to look at his face, but suspected his expression carried a warning as well. Maybe he was employing some mental coercion to make sure that when they parted ways, the pilots would have the idea that staying around would be a good idea. Jelena hoped it would work. She’d never heard of Starseers having much luck with long-term mental manipulation. Usually within a few minutes, people returned to their normal way of thinking. Hopefully, the pilots had indeed been ordered to stay and help. After all, the war minister wanted his leaders back, right?

Yes, Thor told her, but they also didn’t have a lot of faith in us being able to retrieve them. These men’s orders are to return home if it becomes clear that we’ve failed.

How will they know?

If we don’t show up by midnight in three days, I suppose that will be a clue.

Jelena sensed the dolphins swimming toward the submarine. Excellent. She wasn’t sure if she’d conveyed the idea of them giving her team a ride yet, but at least they were coming to investigate. Earlier, they’d seemed certain the submarine could be a source for fun.

“Take us to the surface,” Jelena said.

The pilot looked to Thor for confirmation before acting.

“Looks like the closest ship is about a mile away,” Erick said. “We’ve got an opening. For what it’s worth. Those cliffs look to be a hundred meters tall, if not more.”

“Can I take this moment to say that it’s annoying to be the only one who doesn’t know what’s going on outside this tin can?” Masika asked.

“You’d only be alarmed if you knew.”

“I’m alarmed now.”

“You’d be more alarmed.”

“Our dolphin friends are almost here,” Jelena said.

“Want to share what that means for those of us who aren’t riding along in your head right now?” Erick asked.

“It means get your weapons and your gear. We’re going for a swim.” Jelena hurried to her bunk to grab her pack, glad she’d never opened it, so it was ready to go. She was less glad that she had been wearing the same underwear for the last three days, because there hadn’t been a private place to change, and she’d only brought one extra set of clothing along, anyway. The pilots had given her a blank look when she’d inquired about saniboxes or showers. Maybe this was a sample of what mercenary life was like.

The submarine rocked, startling Jelena.

“We’re on the surface,” the pilot said, as the craft continued to rock and bob up and down, now affected by the waves. “It wouldn’t be smart for us to stay long, yes?”

“Is that his subtle way of saying he wants us out of here as fast as possible?” Erick asked.

“Probably.” Jelena removed her earstar and stuck it in an inside pocket in her robe that closed with clasps. It would nestle next to a couple of ration bars in there, emergency rations in case she lost her pack during the swim. Lastly, she grabbed her staff and headed for the built-in ladder that rose to the hatch. Since this was her crazy idea, she ought to go first.

Thor jogged to the ladder, looking like he meant to cut her off.

She raised her palm toward him, then reached for the rungs. “I think I’ll be more effective with the sea life than that sword of yours.”

He looked mildly affronted, but he didn’t try to push her out of the way to go up first. “I’ll be right behind you.”

“No checking out her butt along the way,” Erick warned him.

Thor look more puzzled by the notion than intrigued.

“I don’t mind,” Jelena said. “I don’t have a shy butt like you do.”

“Even so, a submarine full of soldiers and mercenaries isn’t the place to flaunt your ponies underwear,” Erick said.

Something she was more likely to do when trying to swim with her Starseer robe tangled around her legs. “I’ll keep that in mind. And, as we’ve discussed numerous times, they’re unicorns.”

“I fail to see how drawing a horn on a pony makes it a different species of animal.”

“That’s because you have the imagination of a toad.”

“You’re not actually wearing unicorn underwear, are you?” Masika frowned disapprovingly. It wasn’t clear if the disapproval was for the idea of wearing frivolous underwear on a serious mercenary mission or because she thought Jelena was too old for animal underwear in general. As if there was an age limit on unicorns.

Thor cleared his throat, and Jelena climbed to the hatch. She spun a creaky, rusty wheel and shoved upward.

For some reason, she expected sunlight to stream in from above. But she’d lost track of the time, and a starry sky awaited them. That should make it easier to sneak to shore without being discovered. Assuming the area between here and there wasn’t full of floating mines. She grimaced at the thought of a bevy of them planted on the water’s surface as well as far below.

There aren’t any between here and the shore, Thor informed her.

Good. Thanks.

She climbed outside, keeping hold of the hatch as she maneuvered onto the small portion of the submarine that was above the water. Smooth and slick, it did not offer good footholds. She slipped, almost tumbling into the water. Only her grip on the hatch kept her from falling off and being swept who knew where. The craft rose with a huge wave, and fear surged through her limbs as she realized she couldn’t see the cliffs—or anything except water—with the water rising and falling all around them. Cold dark water that kept breaking over the surface of the submarine and splashing her.

She hadn’t expected to feel so helpless and vulnerable up here. Reminding herself that she had mental powers to call upon, and that people were waiting for her to do so, she reached out to the dolphins. Even though she couldn’t see them in the dark water, she sensed their curious minds. There were ten of them, and they’d all come to see what this interesting sea creature—they seemed to believe the submarine an animal rather than a mechanical construct—wanted to do. She selected a few of the dolphins that were closer in and planted a suggestion in their minds. Wouldn’t it be fun to swim to shore with humans clasping onto their ridges?

Their first response wasn’t that encouraging. They didn’t seem to think that sounded fun at all. More like work.

Jelena suggested a race. Which dolphin could reach the cliffs first with the challenge of dragging a human behind them?

The idea of a race met with more interest. To her surprise, some of the dolphins started leaping into the air. Even in the darkness, she could see the closest ones rising above the surface. They smashed into each other, and she sucked in a startled breath. But it was on purpose. Their chests—or what she would think of as chests—bumped against each other. It seemed to be a dominance ritual. No, a contest. They were seeing which of them was strongest and most able to engage in the race.

“Uh, what’s happening?” Erick asked.

He, Masika, and Thor had climbed out of the vessel. He and Masika were also gripping the hatch to keep their balance. Thor stood on the other side of the hatchway, his feet splayed as if he were riding a surfboard, his arms outstretched to help with balance. Jelena wasn’t sure if there hadn’t been room for anyone else to grab the hatch, or if he was showing off his balance.

Really, he thought dryly into her mind.

You’re not showing off?

I’m challenging myself. Much like your dolphins.

Just don’t start chest-bumping Erick, or I’ll grow concerned for your sanity.

The dolphins finished their contest, and four of them came close to the submarine.

“We’ll each grab one on its ridge,” Jelena said, “and they’ll swim to shore with us riding along. They’re fast and strong.”

“I can’t even see them.” Masika squinted into the darkness. “Where are they? Right out there?”

“Yes. Follow me.” Trusting the creatures to help, Jelena took a deep breath and jumped off the submarine in their direction.

Water splashed her in the face, and she thought again of how different the ocean was from the pools and ponds she’d swum in before. Her pack weighed her down and she felt momentary panic. But to her surprise, one of the dolphins came right up to her, its side brushing against her, making it easy for her to grab its ridge. Most of its body was smooth, but the ridge was more like scales or serrated bone, and she found it easy to grip.

“I’m on,” she called back to the others. She did her best to hold the ridge with one hand as she also hooked her other arm and her staff across it.

Using her senses, Jelena could tell Erick and Thor had jumped into the water. They would be able to tell where the dolphins were, even in the dark. Masika hesitated. Jelena urged the remaining dolphin to get closer to the submarine so she might see it. The creature complied, though she sensed a little recalcitrance from it, a question of when the fun part would happen. When would they get to swim very fast and see who was fastest?

Jelena wondered if she should warn her comrades of the “race.”

As Masika eased away from the submarine and grabbed hold of her dolphin’s ridge, Jelena telepathically told everyone, Hang on tight. They like to swim fast.

A query came to her from the creature whose ridge she gripped. He wanted to know where they would be racing to. She started to impart an image of the cliffs, but would that be the ideal spot? What if the dolphins would be willing to go farther? How long would it take them to swim up the coast to a more likely landing spot? Maybe they could even reach that harbor in the city. Since the Chollans were waiting for them south of the city, they might not have anticipated this move. If her team consisted only of humans and animals, might they not slip in under the radar or whatever detection systems the Chollans used?

The harbor, she told the dolphin, trying to figure out how to share an image of a place she’d never visited or even seen a picture of herself.

“What’s the hold up?” Erick asked, his teeth chattering. “It’s colder than space in this water.”

“Just giving some directions.”

“Should someone who’s never been here be doing that?”

“Is there another option?”

Abruptly, a perfect image of the harbor filled her mind. At first, it was the view from above, of the docks and the city stretching away behind them, but then, the view dipped below the surface, filling with pilings, wrecked ships, and the fossilized skeleton of what looked like some giant prehistoric whale. Jelena knew the image came from Thor, though she couldn’t guess how he could see everything so perfectly with his senses. She did her best to share the image with the dolphins, sensing that he hadn’t yet. Maybe he wasn’t sure how to share with animals.

Understanding emanated from the dolphins, and then they circled each other a couple of times.

Hold on, Jelena warned her team again.

She’d barely shared the words when her dolphin took off in a burst of energy more like one would expect from a thrust bike than a sea creature. Jelena almost lost her grip as water rushed past her, splashing her in the face, the power trying to rip her loose. It dragged at her robe and her bag and her staff, and within seconds, her forearms trembled from the effort of holding on to that ridge. She channeled her power into her grip, trying to lend her mental energy to her physical strength. It wasn’t something she’d tried often, and she was glad she had the staff along to help her focus. Concentrating while water streamed past her and splashed into her eyes was not easy. Soon, it took all of her effort to hang on, and she lost track of how far they’d gone or if the dolphins were having the “fun” she had promised them.

We’re almost there, Thor informed her.

His telepathic words did not sound strained. Jelena gritted her teeth and didn’t reply. She focused on her burning forearms, on keeping her staff and arm hooked over that ridge, on—

The dolphin leaped into the air, and she shrieked, unable to help herself. A second later, it dove into the water, taking Jelena under for the first time. She would have shrieked again if doing so wouldn’t have caused her to lose all her air. Terror clenched her body as she imagined being dragged all the way down to the bottom of the ocean and being unable to get back up to the surface again before she ran out of air. Should she let go?

Forcing her panic down, she touched the dolphin’s mind, trying to get the gist of its thoughts. Only then did she realize they’d reached the harbor. The dolphin came up again, this time for another leap.

Yours won, Thor spoke into her mind in that typical dry tone of his. It appears to be elated.

Jelena caught a glimpse of lights and the hulls of ships, and let go, realizing they had made it to the harbor. And the water was thankfully calm here, at least in comparison to the waves where they had started out. Her bag and wet, heavy clothes dragged at her, making her wonder if she’d let go too soon, but the ocean water was salty and kept her afloat more easily than pond water might have. After a quick check to make sure her comrades had all made it—yes, and they’d also let go of their now-frolicking dolphins—Jelena stroked toward the lights. She attempted to share her gratitude with the dolphins, but she had no idea if they understood and experienced such emotions.

Something touched her shoulder, and she sensed Thor next to her.

Head in that direction. He shared a picture of a dark area between two docks. There are patrols marching along a walkway that follows most of the harbor. We’ll have to be careful about where we get out.

Do you think anyone saw us arrive?

I’m not sure. There are too many minds out here—hundreds of soldiers in a garrison over there and five big military ships with hundreds more—for me to check them all. But I don’t hear any alarms sounding.

Jelena paddled toward the docks, her movements awkward with her staff in one hand and her pack shifting and bumping on her back. Her arms were weary even though the dolphins had done the majority of the work. Erick and Masika stayed close behind her, and she got the impression that they, too, weren’t the strongest of swimmers. It wasn’t as if space-based Jelena and Erick had found many opportunities for it while growing up, and if Masika was city-born, she might not have, either. Jelena was relieved when she sensed the water growing shallower underneath them. She angled toward a dark pier.

There’s a ship coming in this direction, Thor told her. I think someone on the deck spotted the dolphins—and maybe us. Keep going. I’ll convince them that they didn’t see anything.

Her entire body weary, Jelena kept swimming, eager to plop down on a beach. Behind her, Thor stopped, treading water and peering back the way they had come.

She grabbed a barnacle-covered piling when she reached the end of the pier. It cut into her hands, but the support let her rest for a moment. She raised herself out of the water enough to search for likely spots to climb out. Thick shadows lay under the pier, and she’d just decided on angling for the beach at the head of it when a soft beeping came from the pier adjacent to hers.

Robot sentry, Erick told her.

A problem for us?

I’m not sure. We should—

Thor cried, Look out! into her mind.

Erick lunged for her before she knew what was happening. He grabbed her shoulder, pushing her under, just as a flash of light drove away the night. A boom erupted, seemingly right above Jelena’s head, and a shockwave slammed into her. Stun grenade, she had time to think, before she lost consciousness.

Chapter 8

When Jelena regained consciousness, her first thought was to be relieved that she’d done so. She might have drowned out in the harbor, unconscious under the waves. Her relief faded as she realized that she was sitting on a bench in the back of a truck, intellicuffs bound her wrists, and something was clipped to her belt from behind to keep her from getting up—or falling over. Her chin was drooped to her chest, her head bobbing as the vehicle rolled over uneven roads, and she continued to let it dangle. She kept her eyes closed as she checked her surroundings with her senses.

Masika and Erick sat to either side of her, also cuffed and hooked to the bench. At least they were there and alive. Good. Ten armed men were also in the truck with them, and another two rode up front in a cab. Less good. Thor was…

A jolt went through her. She didn’t sense him.

As their vehicle bumped along the rough road, and she became even more certain that the belt hook was to keep her from falling, she double-checked the back of the truck and the cab for Thor. Then she extended her senses to see if other trucks drove in front of or behind them in a cavalcade. A cavalcade of prisoners. There was another truck following behind them with more armed men in it, but Thor wasn’t in the back of that one, either.

With unease gathering in the pit of her stomach, she checked their surroundings. They drove through a city with old buildings rising to either side of the pothole-filled street. Even with her eyes closed, she could tell this metropolitan area had suffered damage similar to that of the Opuntian capital.

Was the Alliance’s interest in the planet truly a legitimate reason for what was clearly a devastating war?

A question for another time. For after she found Thor.

She’d sensed him from afar on Upsilon Seven and also when they’d been children. Even from across the entire system, she’d known that he was alive, and she’d known when he had been hurt. Granted, that had been more of a hunch, a sense of intuition, than a result of the application of her Starseer skills. And now… yes, he still seemed to be out there, a little presence in the back of her mind representing him. She was certain he was alive. In the cosmic sense of measurement, he wasn’t far away at all, but since they were traveling by foot—or truck—rather than spaceship, cosmic senses didn’t matter much right now. She suspected he was still back at the harbor. Had he been captured by the soldiers on that ship? Or had he also been caught by the stun grenade, but left behind instead of hauled out of the water? She had no idea. All she knew for sure was that she was heading in the opposite direction of the harbor.

Jelena? Erick murmured into her mind. You’re awake, right?

Yes, I’m looking for Thor.

Masika and I are glad to know he’s your main priority.

I already looked for you. You’re right here, sitting on my robe. Thor either didn’t get captured, or he’s… Jelena grimaced, thinking of the stun grenade again, of how it had struck so close. Had that robot dropped it? The weapon had taken Thor by surprise as much as it had her. He’s not dead, she said firmly, though it was hard not to imagine a scenario in which he’d been knocked unconscious and left to drown in the harbor.

I’d think it would take more than a grenade to kill him. Can you talk to him?

Not yet. She tried to reach out in the direction of the harbor. They couldn’t be more than ten or fifteen miles away. That might be the edge of her range for telepathy, but she felt certain his range was farther. Maybe he was too busy running to communicate with her now. Or maybe he was injured and couldn’t concentrate on telepathy. She grimaced again. Apparently, riding into the harbor on dolphins hadn’t been as subtle and under-the-radar as she’d hoped.

You know your staff is missing, right? Erick asked.

A new flash of alarm went through her. Was it? She’d been too busy checking on the others to worry about her gear.

She searched the truck with her senses and located Erick’s staff in a locker behind the cab, along with Masika’s blazer rifle and knife. Their packs rested against the locker. Her staff wasn’t anywhere within her range. She must have dropped it when she’d been knocked out. Damn it. It had been a gift from Grandpa on her sixteenth birthday. A real Starseer staff designed to enhance her specific talents. Now it was floating out to sea or lost at the bottom of the harbor. She spent so little time in water that she didn’t even know if the staff floated.

The thought of losing it distressed her more than her current predicament did, and she felt a twinge of despair mingled with homesickness. If Grandpa were here, he would have known what to do so they wouldn’t have been captured or separated and wouldn’t lose anything—or anyone—important. She’d been so determined to show her independence these last couple of months, to show that she was capable and didn’t need to rely on her family for help, but had anything actually gone right, thus far?

Jelena?

Yes, I see that it’s missing, she replied, trying to keep the despair out of her words. She felt doubly aware of the cool way the cuffs hugged her wrists, the smart material tight against her skin, just shy of cutting off her circulation. I must have dropped it.

Maybe we’ll have a chance to go back and search for it later.

Yeah.

We can escape any time, you know. He nudged her slightly with his elbow. I can break those cuffs, and we can throw up barriers, grab Masika, and jump out of the truck and disappear into their city.

Yes, I know. Jelena forced aside her thoughts of despair. He was right. She wouldn’t have known how to break intellicuffs, but it shouldn’t surprise her that Erick could.

As soon as Masika wakes up, we can try. She must have been closest when that grenade went off. She’s still out like a rock.

While we’re waiting, maybe we should poke into our captors’ thoughts and get a feel for where they’re taking us, Jelena told him, reminding herself that they were on a mission here. A little setback didn’t change anything.

By ‘we,’ you mean me, right?

You’re better at snooping in strangers’ minds than I am.

Just because you don’t like doing it.

I prefer the minds of alien dolphins to those of people.

I’m not going to tell you how extremely odd you are.

Thanks so much for keeping that to yourself.

Do we actually care where these people are taking us if we’re breaking out soon? Erick asked.

If they’re taking us to the same place as their prisoners of war are being kept, it might behoove us not to escape right now.

Ah, right. It would be convenient if we got thrown into the cell next door to the people we’re here to rescue. Then we can all escape together.

At which point, we can thank these people for knocking us out and capturing us.

I’ll let you handle that. Give me a minute.

While Erick poked through minds, Jelena opened her eyes slightly and tried to look around without lifting her head or giving away that she was conscious. She couldn’t make out much with her head down, just the knees of three soldiers sitting opposite them and the butts of their rifles resting on the floor of the truck between their legs. They looked to be cartridge weapons, as the Opuntians had possessed. So this was another continent not subscribed to a monthly delivery from Hot New Tools and Technology Limited.

It was brighter in the back of the truck than Jelena expected, with early morning sunlight slanting through a large window in the back door. She glimpsed some of the surrounding terrain through it, seeing more with her eyes than she had with her senses. The red stone buildings rising on either side of the street, the ones that hadn’t been destroyed by bombs, were surprisingly elegant and represented an interesting blend of architectural styles. Some stretched upward, spires reaching for the sky, while others had blockier forms with huge stained-glass windows. Some lay behind walls with very different types of towers rising from within. In one spot, a grassy park spread for a block, framed by lush green trees that seemed far more appropriate for a wet climate on Old Earth than the brown deserts here.

“Our Holy Square with churches and temples from most of the religions,” one of the men across from her said.

Jelena did her best not to twitch or give away her surprise at being addressed. She hadn’t been doing as good a job of feigning unconsciousness as she’d thought.

“In case they didn’t tell you, this is Dry Wash, our capital and one of the few cities where people continue to live above ground. It’s also the only one where people from all the religions live together. Originally, our ancestors spread out across the continent and formed private enclaves where they could follow the old ways without interference, but early on, some came to the capital, preferring the call of a real city with access to space and the rest of the system.” His voice turned dry. “That was before the space base was bombed and our handful of space-worthy ships were destroyed.”

Jelena looked up so she could meet the speaker’s eyes. There was little point in pretending she was unconscious now. She expected someone older and higher ranking—some leader who spoke on behalf of his people, or at least the soldiers in the truck—but the young, dark-skinned man with his head shaved under his military cap didn’t appear much older than she. The tab on his collar displayed a single black dot, denoting rank, she assumed. An older soldier closer to the door had three dots, the most of anyone in the truck. He was looking toward them sternly, but he didn’t stop his man from talking.

“What religion are you?” Jelena asked, not that she knew anything about the old ways. But since he was offering information, she might as well take it. Maybe she could work the conversation around to the POWs and get him thinking about their location.

“Christian,” he said, looking amused, as if it should have been obvious. He pulled a chain with a cross on it out from under his shirt, holding it up briefly, before tucking it away again. “Do you follow the Divine Suns Trinity? Some of the stories say the Starseers have their own religion. But not one from Earth, I think, right?”

Surprised that he’d identified her, Jelena almost protested, but then, she remembered she was wearing her robe. Her very soggy robe. And they would have seen Erick’s staff when they locked it away. Not everybody would have figured out what they were, even with those clues, but they were huge clues for anyone with knowledge of Starseers.

“The Kirians, our ancestors, developed their own language and religion during the Isolation Era, and some Starseers follow it, yes, but most of us…” Jelena hesitated, not sure if she should speak for all Starseers when she knew so few of them. That old wistfulness returned for a moment, the sadness that she’d never been invited to be a part of the community as a whole. “I grew up with the Trinity and getting presents on Stars Day.”

“Presents are important to consider when choosing a religion.” The soldier’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “One of my squad mates follows three religions. He says it’s because they all have tenets that he holds dear. I believe it’s because he gets to celebrate three times as many holidays. Lots of feasts, days off work, and presents.” He smiled affably at her.

A couple of the other soldiers snorted, but nobody disagreed.

Jelena found the conversation surreal. Were captors and prisoners supposed to chat about presents?

You know he’s flirting with you, right? Erick asked.

Because of how sexy I am in my neck-to-ankle, soggy black robe?

Maybe he saw your underwear when he was hoisting you into the truck and locking you up. Are you trying to get any useful information from him? I haven’t been able to ascertain if we’re going to the same place the POWs were taken, just that we’re going to some headquarters on a hill overlooking town.

I’ll try to get something from him.

Preferably something more useful than his hobbies and his comm console number.

Ha ha. Is Masika awake yet? Jelena let her senses trickle in that direction and found that she was indeed awake.

Yes. She’s doing a better job of feigning unconsciousness than you are.

Glad to know we can add another skill to her résumé.

The truck lurched, one wheel slipping into a pothole the size of a moon crater. Jelena would have been tossed into her new acquaintance’s lap if not for the hook. He gazed out the back window, his smile fading.

“When I was a boy, the capital was real pretty,” he said. “It’s sad that so many of our buildings have been destroyed.” He frowned at her, though she didn’t get the sense that he blamed her.

She hoped not. Just because she’d agreed to rescue some people didn’t mean she had anything to do with their war or the state of their cities.

A few of the other soldiers looked sadly toward the window too. The three-tab man’s eyes narrowed, and he watched Jelena, Erick, and Masika with his hand on his rifle. What Starseer stories had he heard? Did he know about the mind manipulation abilities?

The truck lurched again, and Jelena fell against Erick as it tilted for a climb up a steep hill.

We’re almost to our destination, Erick informed her. It may be easier to do our escape attempt while in transit rather than from a cell later.

You think so? They’re watching us now. Whereas I imagine you could easily thwart the lock on a cell door or any other security measures they put in our path.

They could also take us out of the truck to shoot us in the driveway.

In that case, the thwarting would have to be expedited.

“What’s to be done with us?” Jelena asked, looking both at the man who’d been speaking and at the leader. “Are all visitors to your fine city knocked out and arrested?”

“Visitors,” the leader snorted under his breath.

Jelena was more and more convinced the war minister had a leak in his office.

“Those claiming to be visitors haven’t treated us well of late,” the garrulous soldier said. The garrulous private, Jelena decided to think of him, since she didn’t know the ranks in their army. “We had a freighter come by a few weeks ago, claiming they were on a humanitarian mission and had brought emergency supplies for our people.”

Jelena almost choked on the statement since it was so close to the story she had been thinking about telling.

“They did bring some first-aid kits and some cheap ration bars, but in the middle of the night, they sneaked into the warehouse behind the fish market and stole all the freshly harvested arigato cactus.”

Erick lifted his head. “Someone came all the way to your planet to steal cactus?”

I thought you were feigning unconsciousness, Jelena told him silently.

They didn’t seem to be that fooled by my feigning.

I guess it’s only Masika who gets an update to her résumé.

The private shrugged. “The arigato—or thank-you cactus—is the tastiest one we’ve got. I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve heard it’s considered a delicacy in some parts of the system. It doesn’t grow real well without the heavy mineral content of our soil here on Cholla.”

“A cactus delicacy?” Erick wrinkled his nose.

You were shoveling that stuff the war minister served up into your mouth pretty eagerly.

Because I liked the sauce. The cactus itself was bland.

“That’s just a story,” one of the other soldiers said, flicking a dismissive hand. “I’m sure they came thinking we have piles of ahridium lying around that they could steal, and that taking our cactus was a Plan B. The point is that strangers haven’t been treating us well these days.”

Maybe that explained why the Chollans had fired at the Snapper without warning.

“Enough talking,” the leader said. “It’s not our job to give out information to enemies. Even pretty ones.” He skewered his private with a meaningful look, causing the man’s dark cheeks to flush impressively.

He definitely saw your underwear.

That’s not the information you’re supposed to be gathering from their minds.

“I thought we were going to try to win them over to our side, Sarge,” the private said. Huh, maybe they had typical Alliance army ranks, after all.

“Let the war leader decide how that’s going to go.”

Win us over? Jelena raised her eyebrows at Erick. That sounds more promising than being shot.

Except for the fact that we don’t want to be won over by the losing side in a war, especially when we’ve already agreed to work for the other side. I’m not an expert, but I think mercenaries that switch sides three days into the mission have trouble getting jobs in the future. If they’re not shot outright.

You’re determined that someone’s going to shoot us, aren’t you?

If we don’t escape and slip away into the city soon, yes.

“Are we being taken to where the Opuntian prisoners were taken?” Jelena asked, since Erick hadn’t discovered that information through less blunt ways.

The private opened his mouth, but the sergeant frowned at him, and he shut it without answering.

Got it, Erick said silently. From the sergeant. He thought of the place. It’s not a prison, and it’s not where we’re going. It looks like a water desalination plant. Odd choice, but he was along when they were delivered, and it seems it’s a place the city is worried the Opuntians will target soon if they can get Dry Wash’s forcefield down. Their war leader figures the Opuntians will hesitate to bomb the plant if their own people are being held there.

I don’t suppose it’s anywhere close to where we are?

Just a hunch, but I’m guessing a water desalination plant would be located by the water.

Are you being sarcastic with me?

Me? Never.

Damn, we might have been within a mile or two when we were in the harbor. If Jelena had known earlier, she could have had the dolphins drop them off at the front door. She barely muffled a groan.

The truck went over a final bump and came to a stop. Jelena looked out the window, but all she could see was the sky. Using her senses, she could tell that they’d climbed to the top of a hill overlooking the rest of the city and the ocean beyond. A single stone building stood atop the hill, surrounded by pavement, along with a perimeter fence the truck had driven through. A soldier outside closed the gate with a clang. Jelena hoped she hadn’t missed her little team’s best opportunity for escape.

More troops coming out to escort us. Erick’s frown seemed concerned. And someone else. Someone in a robe.

A robe? There wouldn’t be other Starseers living here, would there?

She imagined coming face to face with someone as powerful as Thor, someone who could nullify her and Erick’s talents.

For that matter, what if Thor himself had been following the trucks with notions of grand rescues on his mind? Back on Arkadius, he’d killed dozens of guards and another Starseer because he’d been angry Jelena had been hurt. What might he do to get her out of prison? That was where she assumed she and Erick and Masika would end up if they couldn’t escape and if they didn’t allow themselves to be won over.

No, they could still escape. What were a gate and a fence to two Starseers and Masika?

Jelena lifted her chin as the soldiers in the truck stood, their weapons in their hands, their eyes alert and wary. When one of the men leaned over Masika’s shoulder to unclasp her from the hook behind her, Masika met Jelena’s eyes. Her shoulders were tense, and she appeared ready to spring, even with cuffs around her wrists. She seemed to be asking if it was time to try to escape.

Jelena hesitated. Now? No, it would be easier to run from the ground once outside the truck. And they should see what exactly they faced first. Another Starseer would force them to come up with a more sophisticated plan than simply throwing up their barriers and running.

Soon, Jelena whispered into Masika’s mind.

Masika scowled.

The private unhooked Jelena’s belt. He paused to touch her arm and nod solemnly. “Good luck.”

Jelena couldn’t tell if he thought she’d need it or not.

Chapter 9

Two-dozen soldiers waited outside when Jelena climbed down after Erick and Masika. That was in addition to the troops that had been riding in the vehicle with them—and in the one behind them. They all held rifles, and they watched their guests carefully. They also watched each other carefully. As if making sure none of their comrades were being manipulated in some way.

Get the feeling they weren’t surprised when we turned up? Erick asked silently.

Maybe.

Jelena looked for the person he’d mentioned, someone in a robe. She didn’t have to look far. The soldiers parted, and a bronze-skinned woman wearing sandals, with a saffron inner robe and a long-sleeved, brown outer robe walked forward. Jelena knew right away that those weren’t Starseer robes, but bloodstains on the yellow one and a dark bag in her hand made Jelena put a moratorium on her relief. The bag appeared to be made from something like snake or alligator skin, but the size and shape reminded her of the medical kits doctors carried. Why would someone be sending a doctor to talk to them?

“Do you want us to hold them, ma’am?” the sergeant from the truck asked, addressing the woman with the bag.

Blue-tinted sunglasses protected her eyes and made them hard to read. A long black ponytail hung over one shoulder of her robe. Her face, with pronounced cheekbones and a sharp nose, had an elegance to it, as if she were some aristocrat of old. Her age was hard to guess—she might have been twenty or forty. Though it didn’t show on her face, Jelena sensed a weariness in her. That of someone with a lot of responsibility who had been working many long hours.

Not a Starseer, Erick said silently.

You can’t judge someone just by her clothing. Jelena remembered the Vogel brother, the co-founder of the Stellacor corporation. She never would have guessed him to have Starseer talents.

True. And I am having a hard time reading her thoughts. All I get is this image of a pool of water in a forest.

“That’s probably wise,” the woman said, her voice mellifluous.

Two soldiers hopped out of the cab of the truck, carrying the locker that held Erick’s staff and Masika’s blazer. Another one brought their packs out and dropped them on the ground.

“Let’s do them one at a time,” the woman said, lifting her bag. “Push up their sleeves.”

Er?

Masika’s eyes widened, and she sought Jelena’s gaze again, this time with more urgency. Jelena felt a surge of that urgency herself, especially when the doctor opened her kit and pulled out an injector. She wanted to drug them? That was their idea of how to win over Starseers? She remembered a story about how her grandfather had been a prisoner on an Alliance warship for weeks once, how they’d kept him in a drugged stupor to ensure he couldn’t use his powers.

A faint roar came from the sky overhead, and most of the soldiers looked up. Several black airplanes flew over the city, high above.

“They’re attacking us during the day now?” the private asked.

“Getting cheeky.”

“They won’t bomb Dry Wash while we’re holding their people right?”

Jelena’s first thought was that “their people” referred to her little team, but she realized he must mean the POWs. She hoped the war minister wouldn’t order bombings while her team was here, either.

“The forcefield was just reinforced,” a white-haired soldier who was probably an officer said. “We’ll be fine. Our missiles will get them before they can break it down. Doctor? I’d feel more comfortable picnicking in front of headquarters here if we were sure our guests couldn’t hurt us.”

“Yes, I’m ready, Colonel.” The doctor nodded for a couple of soldiers to grab Jelena. “Her first.”

Cuffs, Erick, she ordered silently.

Oh sure, now you want to listen to me and stage an escape. He must have been prepared for the order, because Jelena’s cuffs sprang open at the same time as his and Masika’s.

Masika reacted instantly, springing directly into the closest group of soldiers. Jelena cursed as she raised a barrier around herself. She’d wanted to put it around all three of them, so they could run away together, but she couldn’t when Masika was in the middle of a fray. Jelena didn’t want to fight all these people, just escape.

“Shoot them,” the colonel cried as the sergeant from the truck grabbed the doctor and pulled her out of the way.

“Not the words of someone trying hard to win me over,” Jelena muttered over the shouts that broke out.

The soldiers scooted away from Masika, who was punching and kicking with the speed and ferocity of a tornado. Men went down before they even registered that she was among them.

Erick lifted a hand, and the locker lid flew open. His staff soared over to him. Soldiers opened fire on Jelena even though she hadn’t done anything yet. She was ready, and her barrier remained up, but adrenaline shot through her veins, and fear thrummed in her gut. This was real. People she’d never met before and who didn’t know her were trying to kill her.

“Masika,” Erick called. “Get in here.” He jerked his hand in a gesture to indicate his barrier.

But Masika seemed too busy fighting to hear him. She was keeping herself close to those she attacked, making sure the others couldn’t shoot her without risking shooting their own people.

Jelena walked toward her, bullets bouncing off her barrier. She couldn’t attack while focusing on keeping it up, but maybe she could lower it long enough to grab Masika and pull her into its protective influence. She could protect all three of them, leaving Erick free to open the gate and deal with pursuing enemies.

The planes roared past overhead again, but nobody paused to look up this time. The colonel barked into a comm for backup. Soldiers fired incessantly at Jelena and Erick, as if they thought they could wear down the barriers by attrition. Maybe they could, but not soon. Jelena hadn’t drawn upon her power much that day, and the bullets didn’t take as much out of her as deflecting blazer bolts did.

Masika wasn’t protected, though, not yet, and a soldier managed to sneak in behind her. He clubbed her in the back with the butt of his rifle, and she stumbled, almost falling. Erick surged past Jelena, dropping his barrier as he rushed for Masika. Jelena followed, trying to extend her barrier around them without lowering it. During the split second that Erick wasn’t protected, a shot got through, and he cried out.

Soldiers surged forward like rabid wolves. Erick flung his staff out, and a wave of power crashed into them, hurling most of them to the ground. A couple rolled to the ground to avoid the attack and jumped up close to him. With the way as clear as it would get, Jelena wrapped her barrier around Erick and Masika, also catching those two soldiers inside as Masika turned to ward off their attack. One had lost his rifle, but he yanked out a knife. Masika moved like lightning, kicking it out of his hand. It flew three feet, struck the inside of Jelena’s barrier and bounced back. It almost hit the soldier in the shoulder. His comrade pulled him back, or maybe he was pulling his buddy away from the furious Masika, her eyes blazing as she pressed her attack. In that instant, Jelena couldn’t see any of the scenery-loving painter in her face.

“Keep your barrier up, Jelena,” Erick said, his teeth gritted, his voice pained. He growled and turned toward the entrance of a building to the side of the main headquarters. A garage door had gone up, and something akin to a tank was trundling out, a giant shell-gun pointing in their direction.

“I will,” Jelena said. He could attack if she handled defenses.

Erick thrust his staff in front of him with both hands, his power striking another squad of soldiers. Men kept firing, some shooting even though they were flying backward. Jelena kept her focus, not letting herself think about how one slip on her part could allow all three of them to be mowed down, and also trying not to think about the hole in Erick’s shoulder, and the pain she sensed flowing from him.

With the soldiers either down or unable to get through Jelena’s barrier, Erick focused on the tank. It stopped with a lurch, and the gun swung back toward the main building. A boom sounded as it fired. A shell slammed through a window, taking out a portion of the wall below it.

Another boom followed, and the ground quaked under Jelena’s feet. That hadn’t been the tank.

Fighting for balance—and to keep her focus—she looked through the fence and toward the city. Those planes were approaching again, but she didn’t think they’d dropped any bombs. Black smoke poured from a building halfway between the hill and the harbor. She couldn’t tell through the smoke what it was or what had been destroyed, but several of the soldiers shouted, and most of them stopped firing.

“The forcefield generator,” someone yelled. “They got it!”

“They couldn’t have from outside.”

“They must have had someone inside.” That was the private who had spoken to Jelena. He turned toward her now, his face a mixture of fear, horror, and betrayal.

He thought she’d done it, she could tell. As if she knew anything about their city’s defenses. She started to feel indignant, but what if that had been Thor?

Wait. So what if it had been? Maybe he was making a distraction for them so they could escape more easily. Robbing the Chollans of their city’s protection seemed cruel, but it wasn’t as if Jelena had picked this fight. If the Chollans hadn’t wanted to start a fight with her team, they shouldn’t have kidnapped them.

“Let’s get out of here,” Erick gasped, clutching his shoulder.

Jelena hesitated, wondering if they might do some kidnapping of their own and take the doctor with them, but the soldiers must have pulled her inside to safety. Relative safety. Those planes were approaching quickly. Even as Jelena glanced at them, one dropped a huge bomb from its belly.

“I agree,” Masika barked.

She had finally stopped fighting, realizing she was protected by Jelena’s barrier—or perhaps trapped by it. She had downed the soldiers stuck inside with them, and she couldn’t get out to reach more.

Jelena led the way toward the gate the truck had driven through. The gate was closed now, but she trusted that Erick, even wounded, could find the focus to fling it open. She only concentrated on keeping her barrier up, especially when some of the soldiers saw them leaving and chased after them, firing. A few men in watch towers along the fence also started firing, but it didn’t last long.

The bomb, the first of many, dropped onto the city. The ground quaked and heaved as power rocked the earth, power that dwarfed what Jelena could do with her mind. Entire structures flew to pieces, some utterly obliterated when bombs dropped onto them. Craters appeared where before there had been buildings full of people.

Horror filled Jelena, and she struggled to keep her barrier up, struggled to keep memories from flooding back to her and breaking her concentration, memories of that devastating day in Perun Central. Guilt also assailed her mind as she wished she could take back her earlier thought, that if Thor had blown up the forcefield generator, it would be justified. There was nothing that could justify this destruction.

Smoke and dust filled the air, and in the short seconds it took her team to reach the gate, a gray and brown haze covered the entire city, blocking the view of the harbor and the ocean. Jelena coughed and inhaled smoke as heat roiled up the hill from below, slipping underneath her barrier. It felt like being trapped in a forest fire. Would the Opuntians bomb the entire city out of existence? What about their own people?

The gate flew open with a wrenching that was barely audible over the booms and screams and sirens coming from the city. Erick stumbled, and Jelena brought her focus back to her team. She gripped his arm in case he needed help and led him and Masika out onto the road. But she paused as soon as the gate was behind them. Where should they go? There was no safety in the city, not now.

She had a vague notion of running out into the desert, however long it would take to reach it, because who would bomb cactuses? But as she looked for a road that might lead that way, she spotted a group of women and children running into an alley at the bottom of the hill. Someone beckoned to them from a sewer manhole.

“There are supposed to be underground areas, right?” Jelena asked. “Where most of the people live now?”

Erick’s face had gone white, and he only shook his head. He needed to sit down and rest, not run all over the city or out to the desert.

“That’s what the sys-net entry said.” Masika pointed at the alley, having seen it, too—the women were lowering children down to someone. “I have no idea if being underground is a good idea when the city aboveground is being bombed.”

Jelena didn’t, either. She could easily imagine tunnels collapsing. But those people seemed to believe safety lay there. And there was no way Jelena and her team could get to the submarine rendezvous point right now. They needed somewhere they could lie low until the attack ended. So much for the idea that the Opuntians wouldn’t attack the city when their own people were being held in that plant.

“Let’s go.” Jelena squeezed Erick’s arm and led the way down the hill. She didn’t lower her barrier, afraid of people taking parting shots at them—or a bomb dropping atop them. Blessings of the Suns Trinity, what would she do then? She couldn’t keep her shield up with that kind of power being unleashed on it.

“The soldiers have stopped firing.” Masika glanced back. “And they’re not following.”

“They have bigger problems than us right now.”

“I’m not sure whether to be thankful or not.”

Jelena looked out toward the smoky city, the craters and missing buildings. She thought of the churches they’d driven past and of the soldier who’d been friendly to her. Had he survived Masika’s tornado of attacks? Would any of those people survive this?

“I’m not,” Jelena said quietly. “I’m not.”

Chapter 10

As Jelena dropped into the manhole, landing on dry ground inside a wide tunnel, she reached out with her senses, worried some guard would be stationed there to shoot intruders. But there wasn’t anyone else by the entrance. Coughs mingled with frightened cries and groans of pain attested to the presence of people—a lot of people—farther down the tunnel. Or tunnels. Her cursory probing revealed a whole maze of them.

“Hope Thor can find us here,” she whispered as Masika dropped down beside her.

“Is he still alive?” she asked.

Jelena started to say, “I hope so,” but she could still feel that faint awareness of him in the back of her mind. “Yes,” she said firmly.

“Is it safe down there?” Erick called from above, sitting on the edge, his legs dangling down. Normally, he would jump down as easily as they had, but that shoulder had to hurt every time he moved it.

“Yes,” Masika said, her response almost drowned out by another distant boom. “Do you want me to catch you?”

“Yes, but I don’t think I should admit that.” Erick handed his staff down to Jelena, grunted, and pushed himself over the lip.

He dropped between them and stumbled. Jelena and Masika steadied him with their hands.

A flash appeared in the circle of smoky sky visible through the manhole. Jelena sensed rather than saw one of the planes exploding. She didn’t know if the Chollans had mustered air forces of their own or if their automated missile systems had gotten their acts together, but they were fighting back now. She hoped the bombing would stop soon, as she still had visions of tunnels collapsing atop them. Fortunately, the passage they had dropped into seemed sturdy and was relatively free of smoke and dust.

“Which way?” Masika asked, peering into the gloom to either side.

“I have no idea.” Jelena wanted to find someplace safe where they could hide until the bombing ended, but they needed to treat Erick’s wound too. Was he losing a lot of blood? It was impossible to tell through that black robe. She wished she’d thought to grab one of their packs when they’d been fleeing. They’d all had first-aid kits along. She could close a wound with her mental talents, but she was less certain about her ability to remove a bullet, especially without any surgical implements.

“Whichever way has fewer unfriendly people,” Erick said.

“Or a doctor,” Masika said, eyeing him. “Friendly or otherwise.”

“My senses can’t tell me people’s occupations at a glance, unfortunately.” Jelena nodded to her left, only because fewer coughs were coming from that direction, and she thought there were fewer people that way too.

Before they’d taken more than a few steps, she sensed someone running up behind them.

Jelena turned, forming a barrier across the tunnel before she’d identified the intruder. Erick also turned, leaning heavily on his staff.

“I’ll take care of it,” Jelena murmured, stepping forward.

A girl of nine or ten ran into the shaft of light coming from above, her eyes wide as she stared at them.

“You sure you can handle it?” Erick asked, then winced. Why was he trying to talk when he was in pain? “She looks fierce.”

No, she didn’t. Dust dulled the girl’s long black ponytail, and dirt and a couple of fresh bruises darkened her face. More dust coated the yellow robe she wore, the color barely detectable under the grime.

“Are you Starseers?” the girl asked, her dark eyes still wide, almost shining in comparison to the dust all around.

“I’m not,” Masika said.

The girl didn’t glance at her—she was staring at Jelena and Erick in their all-too-identifiable robes, robes that Jelena regretted bringing along now. They had been fine for cowing the war minister’s people back in Opuntia, and she’d thought the ability to do the same thing here might come in handy, but it was proving to be a mistake. It would have been better not to reveal their abilities to anyone on this continent.

Of course, the robes might also be what had kept the Chollans from shooting them outright at the harbor. They’d clearly wanted something.

“What if we are?” Jelena asked.

Maybe it was foolish to feel wary of a ten-year-old girl, but she could raise an alarm as easily as the next person.

“You can help us drive out the vile Opuntians and bring peace back to our land!”

“Uhm.” Jelena didn’t feel much like helping the Chollans or anyone on this continent after being bombed in a submarine, knocked out in a harbor, and shot at in a driveway.

“Does your friend need help?” The girl peered at Erick. “My sister is a doctor. I can take you to her!”

With those bruises, she looked like she needed a doctor herself. Everyone down here probably did, but Erick didn’t look good. Did Jelena dare pass up the offer? They not only needed to survive the next three days in this city, but they needed to find and rescue the prisoners. She hadn’t endured all of this to fail. She would rescue those people. And so would Erick. They were both going to be heroes together, damn it. Heroes who paid off their loans. All right, it was only her loan. But Erick could heroically help her pay it.

“She’ll be helping the injured back in Delta Camp. That way.” The girl pointed over her shoulder, then trotted closer to Jelena.

But Jelena hadn’t lowered her barrier yet, and the girl bumped against it. Fear flashed in her young eyes, but as she reached out and touched her fingers to the invisible field, wonder overrode her concern.

“Is this yours?” She patted along it. “You are Starseers.”

Masika looked at Jelena. “Spies are supposed to lie low and be incognito, you know.”

“What’s your point?”

“That you’re bad at it.”

“Technically, we’re being mercenaries this week, not spies.”

“You don’t make convincing mercenaries, either,” Masika said.

“Erick got shot. Isn’t that convincing? I feel like that happens to mercenaries a lot.”

“Comforting,” he muttered.

Jelena lowered her barrier. She had doubts about going to an encampment full of the people who’d been shooting at them twenty minutes ago, but she didn’t think she had anything to worry about from the girl.

“We’d like to see your doctor, yes,” Jelena said.

“Good! She’s the best.”

Jelena hoped “she’s the best” meant she was significantly older than the girl. Erick wouldn’t appreciate being worked on by a doctor younger than he was, someone who might have, given the predicament these people were in, learned her trade from a book. Or some nomadic desert medicine woman using tools made from bones and sticks.

“I’m Hoshi,” the girl added, pressing her hands together in front of her chest and bowing.

“Jelena, Erick, and Masika,” Jelena said. “Lead the way, please, Hoshi.”

The girl twirled two circles before heading off down the tunnel.

“What else can you do?” she asked as they walked. “Can you fly? Can you talk with your minds? Can you really see into stars? That’s where the name comes from, right? You can see the actual fusion happening inside the suns? With your minds?” Hoshi glanced back frequently, as if she worried she would lose her charges. Or maybe she simply felt it was proper to look people in the eye while interrogating them.

“I can’t fly without a ship,” Jelena said, though she thought of the way Thor had lifted her and Erick over a tall electric fence back on Upsilon Seven. That had been like flying. “Some of the other stuff… Uhm, maybe. I can communicate with animals.”

“Like dogs? I love dogs. But it’s really sad now. So many people have died, so now their dogs don’t have anyone to take care of them, and they just roam the streets.”

Hoshi led them through a wide tunnel with alcoves; people huddled inside all of them. The only light came from occasional storm grates, so Jelena could barely see them, but she could sense them. All of their eyes were turned toward her group. Hoshi continued on, gesticulating while she spoke, and didn’t seem aware of the onlookers.

They made it past the people without anyone stepping out to oppose them. Judging by the fear and pain those hunkered souls were feeling, starting trouble with strangers was the last thing on their minds. Besides, they probably figured that anyone walking openly down here needed protection as much as they did.

The tunnel narrowed and rounded a bend. Hoshi pointed to an open manhole up ahead, the air hazy in the light slanting through it.

“That’s not good,” she said, heading for it. “People aren’t supposed to leave the lids off. Because the Opuntian spies could find us. There’s supposed to be guards at the manholes, too, but everybody was caught by surprise by the bombs this time. The forcefield was supposed to stay up, it was supposed to be imperviating this time. Impervitable?” She frowned back at them.

“Impervious?” Jelena suggested.

“Impervious, yes! It was—”

A dark figure dropped through the manhole and landed in a crouch in the tunnel. Hoshi shrieked. Jelena almost did too until she sensed a familiar presence—a familiar presence carrying her staff.

“Way to scare little children, buddy,” Erick said, sounding far less alarmed. “Why don’t you take out your sword and swing it menacingly a few times too?”

“Thor,” Jelena blurted, chagrined that she hadn’t felt his approach. She had been too busy worrying about the people in the alcoves back there.

She rushed forward and threw her arms around him. He straightened in time to receive the hug, though from the way he lifted his hands, he seemed to be thinking of deflecting it. She almost faltered, but he lowered his arms before they came up fully. She gave him a quick squeeze and let him go, not wishing to bother him if he didn’t want it, but relieved to see him.

She started to step back, but he gripped her forearm to stop her.

“Are you all right?” His eyes were intense as they met hers in the hazy light, and she thought she felt the brush of his touch on her mind. “I expected you to meet me at the POW camp in the water plant.”

“She’s fine,” Erick said. “So is Masika, thanks for asking. I got shot, but don’t worry about me. It feels like my shoulder is being scorched from the inside out by the power of the sun, but I’m otherwise fine.”

“We didn’t know where they were holding the POWs until just a bit ago, before the bombing raid,” Jelena told Thor. “You didn’t know where they were earlier, did you? And what do you mean we were supposed to meet?”

“I found out where the POWs were being held from some of the soldiers on that ship. I assumed you would escape from the ones that caught you, find out for yourself, and meet me at the plant for a rescue.”

“You saw us get captured?”

“Not exactly. I saw it in the minds of people who’d witnessed it. I cracked my head against a pylon when that grenade went off.” Thor gingerly touched the side of his head—his hood was up, and she couldn’t tell if he had a knot there or any other injuries. “When I came to, I was tangled in some fishing net between two dinghies. It was, ah, not dignified.”

“I imagine not.” Jelena plucked off a piece of seaweed dried to his shoulder.

“Why didn’t the soldiers take you too?” Erick asked.

“I guess they didn’t see me. I’m lucky I was lying there face up instead of face down. I never did figure out exactly what that robot threw at us, but there were other robots roaming the docks. These people were clearly expecting trouble.” He looked at Hoshi, who was staring wide-eyed at him, just as she had at Jelena and Erick earlier.

“Not without reason,” Jelena said.

“Agreed. We’re not the only team that was sent over.” Thor’s jaw tightened. “I suspect that General Chang and War Minister Sorel, not expecting us to succeed, maybe decided they could slip in teams of their own people to work while the locals were busy detaining us. It seems to have worked too. But they hadn’t yet rescued their own people when I was over at the plant. It’s well guarded.”

“Is it well protected from bombs?” Masika asked. “Because those airplane bombers aren’t leaving a lot of buildings standing in the city. You may have noticed.”

“I noticed.”

“Does that mean you had nothing to do with their forcefield generator being blown up?” Jelena asked. “I’d thought… Well, I thought you might have believed it could be a good distraction while you came to rescue us.”

“Rescue you?”

“You weren’t planning to?”

“I didn’t think you and Erick would need rescuing,” Thor said dryly.

“Because I was there?” Masika asked, frowning at the exclusion of her name.

“In part.” Thor bowed slightly to her. “To answer your question,” he said, turning back to Jelena, “no, I wouldn’t have deemed it wise to destroy the forcefield protecting the city I was currently operating in. I’m beginning to think the Opuntians are loons or don’t truly care much about their missing people. But since we were paid to retrieve them, we should get them, regardless.”

“We’re planning on it,” Jelena said, “but Erick needs a doctor, and Hoshi has agreed to take us to one.”

“Yes.” Hoshi brightened, seemingly glad to be included in the conversation again. “We’re almost there.”

“If the Opuntians have teams of their own in the city, they may be sending one of them to retrieve the prisoners on their own.” Thor frowned at Erick and then back at the manhole, as if he wanted to head back out immediately. “If we want to be paid—”

“Erick needs a doctor.” And Jelena had no intention of making him suffer in pain while they trekked to that plant.

“Of course, but I thought you and I could go get the prisoners. Masika can escort Ostberg.”

“I don’t need an escort,” Erick grumbled, though he did look shaky on his feet.

“Assuming we are responsible for the rescue,” Thor pressed on, waving for Erick to follow Hoshi, as if it had already been decided that they would split up, “we’ll get paid. If someone else rescues those people, our journey will have been a waste.”

“We can pay you,” Hoshi blurted. “If you help us stop the war and make the Opuntians go away, we can pay you.”

“I don’t think it’s within our power to stop a war,” Jelena said sadly. She wished she could. Wouldn’t that be a nobler thing to do than simply helping one side or another?

“But you’re Starseers.”

The way she said it made Jelena’s heart ache. She’d never experienced this, a complete stranger having expectations of her, expectations of her to do great things, not just to be some inscrutable, mysterious, and likely dangerous kook in a robe.

Another distant boom sounded. The tunnel didn’t shake, so Jelena hoped one of the airplanes had been struck rather than another bomb being dropped, but either way, it was a reminder that they shouldn’t linger.

“We’ll all take Erick to see a doctor.” Jelena lifted her chin and looked Thor in the eyes. “After he’s fixed up, or we’re at least sure he’s in good hands, we’ll see about those prisoners.”

Judging by the way Thor frowned back at her, he didn’t like the delay, but he didn’t object further. He returned her staff to her, and they headed off after Hoshi again.

Are we sure he’s telling the truth? Erick asked into Jelena’s mind.

Who? Thor?

Yes. Do we believe him when he says he had nothing to do with blowing up the forcefield?

Why would he lie to us? Jelena asked neutrally.

She looked at Thor’s back. He was following after Hoshi while Jelena and Masika supported Erick who needed to move more slowly. Thor didn’t look back, but knowing he surfed through her thoughts regularly made her uncomfortable talking about him telepathically. She didn’t particularly want to talk about him behind his back, anyway.

Because he knows you wouldn’t approve of actions he took that resulted in half a city being obliterated. A city full of people.

I’m sure my approval doesn’t motivate him one way or another. Besides, why would he have done that? As a distraction to rescue us? He wouldn’t have needed that. He could have taken care of those guards on his own.

I don’t know, but I heard him talking to you about making a name for himself as some mercenary general or whatever. Maybe he has another deal with that war minister, one he made without moving his lips. He was certainly pulling their strings.

For our sake.

Are you so sure?

Yes. Jelena glowered at him. Why are you so sure he can’t be trusted?

Because he wants to overthrow the Alliance, is in the middle of assassinating all his father’s old enemies, and doesn’t get choked up about people dying at his feet.

He’s not—he hasn’t had a simple life.

Oh, is he a poor misunderstood assassin? Jelena—

I don’t want to talk about this anymore. She stared forward resolutely, hoping he would drop it, both because Thor could be listening and because she believed that Thor, even if his methods sometimes made her cringe, was trustworthy and wouldn’t lie to them. Not to her.

Erick gave her a pitying look. Just don’t turn into Bonnie Parker on me.

Who?

Didn’t you ever pick up a history book on the Nomad? You know, Bonnie and Clyde from Old Earth America. He robbed stores and banks and shot people, and she was along for the ride because she loved him.

If Thor starts eyeing banks, I’ll give him a stern talking to.

The police eventually caught up to them, and they were shot to death, Erick added. She died by his side. I think she was younger than I am now.

Jelena almost told him that she could manage to get shot all by herself, but decided that might not be a great arguing point in the debate. Instead, she kept her mental lips shut, and followed their guide. She wasn’t in love, and she wasn’t someone who would ignore ethics and morality, even if she were.

Chapter 11

“Almost there” turned out to be false advertising. Hoshi led them from the warren of storm run-off drain tunnels directly under the city and into rougher passages that appeared to have been carved out long ago with dynamite and pickaxes. The young girl had grabbed one of several lanterns off a wall when they first entered the area and was now leading them by a wan flame fueled by kerosene or whale oil or something equally primitive. Erick made disgruntled and distressed noises as the journey continued on. Jelena and Masika were still walking to either side of him, offering support if he swayed.

“This is the ahridium,” Hoshi said, pausing to hold her lamp up to a vein running through the stone, one that gleamed silvery as the light touched it. “You’re not supposed to touch it or disturb it. My sister says it’s really toxic.”

“It’s pretty,” Jelena said, far more worried about Erick than toxic rocks, especially if they were minding their own business in a wall. Surely, they couldn’t have much farther to go. Why would Hoshi have been wandering so far from her family?

“The ahridium?” Thor asked, an odd note to his voice.

“You know, that the Alliance wants. I bet we could mine some to pay you if you saved Cholla.” Hoshi continued on, the lantern swinging beside her leg as she walked.

Thor looked at Jelena, then frowned at the back of Hoshi’s head, and she imagined him sifting through her thoughts for more information.

She doesn’t know much more, Thor said silently. But she thinks the war is about the ahridium.

Is Fourseas known for ahridium? Jelena directed the question to Erick and Masika as well as Thor.

It wasn’t mentioned in the sys-net entry, Erick replied.

I didn’t think Fourseas was known for anything, Masika thought—Jelena had to pay close attention to her to pick up her response, since she couldn’t project her words outward the way a telepath did.

Except culinary cactus delicacies, if that soldier can be believed, Erick added.

Thor looked over his shoulder.

Jelena started to explain it to him, but paused. One of the soldiers said the thieves might have come for ahridium and settled for cactus, didn’t he, Erick?

The one who was flirting with you?

No, the one next to him.

Thor looked back again, his eyebrows higher this time.

Did you see that big rock on the war minister’s desk? Jelena asked all of them. She could hear voices up ahead, and Hoshi added a skip to her step. Jelena was glad for Erick’s sake that they were about to reach the doctor, but now she wanted to go poking around in the tunnels, looking for ore. Maybe she could question some of the natives, preferably amenable ones who didn’t want to shoot her.

I saw it, Thor replied.

Do you know if it was ahridium?

It might have been. Ahridium is rare. I didn’t think it came in chunks that large. It’s hard to imagine it being used as someone’s paperweight.

“I thought ahridium was an alloy,” Masika chimed in. Jelena hadn’t realized the boys had been including her in their responses.

Hoshi must have heard her speak because she glanced back, but she only waved and smiled. “Almost there.”

The ahridium we use for spaceship hulls is an alloy, Erick said telepathically, but it’s named after the raw ore, which we discovered after arriving in this system. The alloy is more than eighty percent ahridium, and the rest is a blend that makes it lighter and more malleable.

It’s valuable, right? Jelena asked.

Very much so.

Huh.

What are you thinking? Erick gave her that concerned what-are-you-scheming-now look of his.

That this war might not be about religion, after all.

I suspect very few wars ever are, at least among those who start them. But let’s not worry about it, all right? This isn’t our world, and it isn’t our battle. Whoever fired the first shot or whichever nation is right or wrong, some people were kidnapped, and it’s not wrong for us to rescue them and return them to their homeland. Agreed?

Of course. Let’s just keep our ears open.

Erick sighed. What, did he think she was planning something crazy? They were going to hand him to a doctor, rescue the POWs, drop them off, collect some money, and make a payment on their loan. That was it.

“This way.” Hoshi beamed a smile back at them and pointed through an opening in the tunnel wall. Artificial light streamed out from inside, dwarfing the flame of her lantern. “Kiyoko,” she called as she walked through the gap. “Kiyoko, are you here? I brought Starseers. And one needs your help.”

“I’m beginning to think we shouldn’t have worn our robes,” Erick murmured.

“I’ve had that thought too. It would have been easier to fly under the radar in spaceship pajamas.”

“Spaceships and asteroids.” Though he radiated doubt, Erick shuffled toward the entrance. He was in pain, and he must be looking forward to having someone fix him up—and deliver a nice dose of Painpro. Assuming they had drugs down on this planet.

Jelena entered on his heels. Ceiling lamps shone down upon rows of cots, all with people on them. Some sat, some lay down, and all were injured, some grievously so. Jelena swallowed and looked away from a woman missing her arm.

Erick stopped short and lowered the hand he’d been using to hold his shoulder immobile. If there was only one doctor, he might have to wait a long time for attention. Maybe with some lighting and surgical implements, Jelena could clean his wound and remove the bullet.

“Kiyoko is in surgery right now, Hoshi,” a weary woman said, coming forward and clasping the girl’s hands, but only briefly before straightening and peering at Jelena’s group. She wore a smock with dried blood on it, and her hair hung limply around her face, as if she hadn’t had an opportunity for personal care in a long time. The woman—a nurse?—gripped Hoshi’s shoulder, as if to pull her away from the strangers, and Jelena expected her to tell them to leave or to call for someone with a gun. The nurse couldn’t have known everyone in the city, but she would know from their clothes that they weren’t from around here. She swallowed, glancing uneasily at Thor, even though he wasn’t doing anything menacing, then asked Jelena, “Are you in need of medical attention?”

“He is.” Hoshi pointed at Erick.

Erick looked toward the people on the cots and hesitated to speak.

“He was shot,” Jelena said. “In the shoulder. If you’re too busy, I could help him if I could get some clean water, bandages, and a few tools.”

“Shot?” The nurse’s eyebrows flew up, and Jelena could imagine her putting the pieces together, realizing that the four of them were not only strangers, but that they might be enemies.

Maybe you should have told her I was injured in the bombing, Erick said silently.

At some point, someone would have noticed the bullet in your shoulder.

We could say it was embedded in a wall that fell on me. And then it fell out of the wall. And into my shoulder.

That’s a lousy lie, Erick.

Being a spy is harder than it looks in the vids.

“I’ll let Dr. Ogiwara know,” the nurse finally said.

“That’s my sister,” Hoshi said brightly.

“Hoshi, where have you been?” a grandmotherly woman on a cot asked, and the girl trotted over to see her. Maybe she was Hoshi’s grandmother. “Come tell me my fortune, eh?”

“Have a seat,” the nurse told Erick. “I’ll try to find you some water.”

She hustled away, stopping first to duck behind some curtains that had been erected in the back corner of the chamber. To create a private operating room?

Jelena sensed people back there when she checked, and almost jumped because one of them was familiar.

“Uh oh,” Erick muttered, looking in that direction too.

“What is it?” Thor squinted at the two of them.

The curtains parted, and a black-haired woman in saffron and brown robes stepped out, her sunglasses now hanging on a cord around her neck.

“We’ve met her before,” Jelena said, looking around, expecting to see some of the soldiers that had been protecting the doctor. There were some uniformed men on the cots, but none of them appeared hale enough to jump up and start shooting again. “She wanted to drug us,” Jelena added, as the woman’s dark-eyed gaze locked onto hers.

“Not with painkillers,” Erick said. “Unfortunately.”

“I bet a lot of people who meet you two want to drug you,” Masika said.

“Not usually before we’ve spoken,” Jelena said.

“I wouldn’t be too sure about that. I wouldn’t have minded drugging you before you ever opened your mouth.”

“That’s because we met under extenuating circumstances.”

“And because you tried to jam your big stick through my chest.”

“You were trying to kill me at the time,” Jelena murmured, aware of the doctor looking at them.

“I was just trying to mangle you a little and take you back to Stellacor.”

“I found the notion unappealing.”

The doctor wiped her hands, said something to the nurse, and strode through the aisle between the cots. She paused to answer a few of her patients’ questions, but she kept watching Jelena’s team. She watched the woman right back, making sure she didn’t pull out a comm and call for soldiers. The last thing Jelena wanted was to get into a battle in the middle of a makeshift hospital ward, but she also didn’t want to be captured, shot, or drugged.

“Kiyoko.” Hoshi skipped over and intercepted her sister, wrapping her arms around her. “I found Starseers.”

“I see that.” The doctor gave her a one-armed hug, but didn’t hold it for long. She extricated herself and walked up to Thor. Why did people always think he was in charge? Or was it that the doctor wanted to interact with someone who hadn’t been battling with her soldiers at their headquarters? Not that Jelena, Erick, and Masika had been the ones to start that.

“I’m Dr. Ogiwara.” She looked them over. “Only one of you is injured?”

“Just me,” Erick said.

Ogiwara’s lips pursed together in distaste. Did she think they should all have been shot?

“Many of our people were injured,” Ogiwara said.

“If there’s a long line, we can help ourselves, if you can part with some painkillers, antiseptic, and—” Erick looked at Jelena. “Tweezers?”

Jelena had never extricated anything larger than a sliver, nor were bullet wounds commonplace in Alliance territory, so she could only shrug, not certain if there was a specific tool for the purpose.

Ogiwara considered Erick—all of them—and Jelena didn’t have to use her senses to tell that she wanted to turn them away—or maybe turn them in. But she finally rested a hand on her chest and murmured, almost to herself, “However innumerable beings are, I vow to save them.”

“Pardon?” Erick asked.

“All are welcome in my operating room.” Ogiwara extended a hand toward the curtained alcove.

Some operating room. Erick looked dubious, but he did not hesitate for long before heading in that direction.

Erick? Jelena spoke into his mind. One of us will stay here with you, to make sure she doesn’t knock you out for nefarious purposes, but I’m going to go check on the prisoners and see what’ll be involved in extricating them.

I don’t need a babysitter.

I was thinking of leaving Masika.

Oh, I guess I could stand to be babysat a little then. Do you think she’ll hold my hand if I cry?

Maybe we could find you a stuffed animal to clutch to your chest.

Handholding sounds more appealing.

“Masika?” Jelena asked as the doctor followed Erick toward the curtains. “Will you stay with him while Thor and I…” She paused, aware of the nurse and Hoshi standing nearby. She was on the verge of finishing telepathically when her earstar beeped. She hadn’t realized it had survived the ocean and the capturing and was still in her pocket. “Check in with Austin,” she finished. And with the prisoners, she added silently.

“You want me to stay in this dreary place while you go have adventures?” Masika eyed the dark stone walls with distaste—her gaze seemed to skip over the people on the cots. “I hate hospitals.”

“Maybe you can paint a mural for the reluctant residents.”

“Somehow, I doubt art supplies were on the list of things people brought down here when they fled their homes. Besides, you’d need Rochu paint to do a cave wall any justice.”

“You speak from experience?”

“Rochu paint is good for graffiti on cement walls.”

“Graffiti? You do speak from experience.” Jelena smiled, imagining a young Masika engaged in an unsanctioned neighborhood beautification project.

“How do you think I got noticed and offered a scholarship?”

“Must have been impressive graffiti.”

“It was.” Masika strode after Erick.

Jelena turned toward the exit, nodding for Thor to lead the way. She would wait until they were alone to check the comm. It should be Austin, probably wondering when they would be back.

“Do you want to talk to the war leader?” Hoshi asked. “I can take you.”

“The war leader?” Was that the religious nut Sorel had mentioned? The one supposedly determined to spread his people’s religiosity? He sounded like someone Jelena was even less interested in meeting than the people in that headquarters building.

“The war leader commands the entire army.” Hoshi bounced on her toes. “You two could talk about how best to use your Starseer powers to stop the war. The war leader would have legions of ideas, I bet.”

Legions of troops, more likely. Troops that would be happy to shoot Jelena.

“Maybe later,” Jelena said. “We’ll be back to get Erick and Masika. We’re just going to talk with a comrade.”

She thought Hoshi might insist on going with them, or follow them if they tried to leave her, but the nurse came over, put an arm around her shoulders, and murmured something in another language.

“All right,” Hoshi said. “Let me know when you want to go. I can show you to the war leader’s tent.”

Tent? These people were definitely not living the life of luxury.

“Thank you,” Jelena said.

Thor took a couple of steps, but halted before he reached the exit.

“What is it?” Jelena murmured, letting her senses trickle into the tunnel. Two men were walking toward the makeshift hospital. Soldiers. Camouflage us? she suggested silently.

Yes. Thor stepped to the side, waving for her to join him against the wall.

The two soldiers limped in, uniforms bloody and soot-covered. A private and a corporal, Jelena guessed from their rank pins. They did not seem to notice her or Thor. They looked around the rest of the room, and the nurse started toward them, but one sucked in a quick breath and pointed toward the curtains. Erick had already disappeared inside, but Masika leaned against the wall next to the makeshift operating room, her arms folded over her chest.

“That’s one of them.” The private grabbed a revolver in a holster.

Jelena winced, thinking he might be one of the soldiers from the driveway. She should have been more specific about the “us” she needed Thor to camouflage.

The private yelped and dropped his weapon. Everyone looked over when it clattered to the floor, including Masika. She glowered at the men, a challenge in her eyes.

“What happened?” The corporal’s holster was empty, so he could only reach for a dagger, but he jerked his hand away as soon as he touched it. “It’s scalding.”

The doctor stepped out of her alcove, and Jelena glimpsed Erick sitting on a table behind the curtains, his shirt already off.

“Dr. Ogiwara,” the corporal blurted, “those are the people the Opuntians sent. The ones we were supposed to bring to you, and—you saw it, ma’am. They used witch magic and got away.”

Magic? Not exactly…

“I saw it.” Ogiwara looked pointedly at the revolver on the stone floor. “Keep your weapons holstered in my ward.”

“But they’re Opuntian allies!”

“And Trinity heathens,” the private growled.

“We’re all heathens of one kind or another in here,” Ogiwara said. “Sit on one of the cots, and Deidra will get you started. I’ll come by to attend to your injuries shortly.”

We can go, Thor told Jelena, stepping out into the tunnel. The soldiers did not notice.

Jelena lifted a hand to Masika, part farewell, but also part question. Would she be all right? Jelena was having second thoughts about splitting up her team. What would happen if someone who outranked the doctor came in with an attitude similar to that of the soldiers? Soldiers who hadn’t yet sat down or stopped glowering across the room.

But Masika returned the wave, not appearing worried at the idea of being left behind.

You better go, Erick told Jelena telepathically. I don’t trust Thorian when he’s off by himself.

I’m sure your lack of faith saddens him.

Oh yes. We’ll catch him weeping into his pillow tonight.

Let me know if you have any trouble here. Though her concerns hadn’t waned, Jelena headed into the tunnel.

I haven’t been able to get Masika to hold my hand yet.

Let me know if you have any major trouble.

You’ll be the first to—er, did you know they’d be using needles in here? Not jet injectors? That nurse looks like she’s preparing to skewer me for Uncle Tommy’s grill.

Not sure she wanted ongoing updates, Jelena jogged to catch up with Thor. He glanced at her as she drew up beside him.

“Erick has concerns about the technology level of the medical equipment,” she said.

“He’s lucky nobody’s approaching him with a jar full of leeches.”

Thor turned down a tunnel different from the one Hoshi had led them through.

“Do you know a different way to the surface? Or are we going exploring?”

“I can see a map of the tunnels with my mind,” Thor said.

“An interesting factoid but not one that answered either of my questions.”

He gave her a baleful look, then pointed to her pocket. “Austin commed?”

“Oh, right.” Jelena made sure nobody was following them and draped her earstar over her helix. It beeped a poor reception indicator at her and informed her that it would take a minute for it to route the call and establish a link. “I’m guessing there’s not a fleet of satellites around this planet.”

“There used to be enough for sys-net access and communications for everyone, but the Opuntians destroyed a few of the ones that were originally put into orbit by the Chollans, and they put restrictions on their own so the other continent couldn’t use them.”

“You’ve been gathering information while roaming around?”

“Probing the minds of people I’ve passed, yes.” He looked behind them, down the empty tunnel. “I wouldn’t have minded having a discussion with the doctor or a higher-ranking soldier so I could have gotten more information about the ahridium.”

“Are you also concerned that maybe we agreed to work for the wrong side?”

“The wrong side?” His eyebrows arched. “In war, right and wrong depend on which side of the conflict you’re standing on.”

“But those looking in from the outside can form opinions on which side is more deserving of victory. Or maybe just survival.”

“Is it their place to do so?”

“I don’t know, but it’s their place to decide who they should back. Or if they want to get involved at all.”

“We’re already involved, and we’ve given our word to get those people back.” Thor pointed to the left at an intersection. “This way will take us down toward the harbor. I’d prefer to stay underground as long as possible. The bombing has stopped for the time being, but the city is still unprotected without its forcefield. These tunnels, however, are reinforced. This probably isn’t the first time Cholla has been bombed in its history.”

“If your course is set in stone, why are you wondering about the ahridium?” Jelena asked.

“Ahridium is crucial in building warships. Perun depleted its own resources long ago and is now forced to salvage and recycle. The asteroid-mining ships they’ve tried to send out to the Trajean and Kirian Belts have been harried by Alliance ships lately.” His expression grew dark and vaguely accusing. “Knowing where to find some ahridium may be important to me someday, especially if the Alliance doesn’t get ahold of whatever mines are here. That seems inevitable, though, if they’re working with the Opuntians, as it sounds like they are. It could very well be that the ahridium was what the Alliance wanted all along, and why they came in to support the Opuntians. It’s not as if there’s much else on Fourseas. Maybe there’s a deal between the two governments. The Alliance gets to add Fourseas to their roster and collect taxes on lucrative ahridium mines, and Opuntia gets help defeating age-old enemies.”

“So, you’re thinking about yourself and your revolution, and not these people at all?” Jelena asked.

“You didn’t care about these people at all, either, a week ago.”

“Because I wasn’t aware of them. That’s changed. Now…” Jelena sighed. Now, what? Because one ten-year-old girl wanted Starseers to save her people and stop a war didn’t mean it could be done. But it seemed selfish to think of only herself right now. Wasn’t it shallow to worry about getting paid in the face of all this? Thor was right. She didn’t have the heart to be a mercenary.

“They can’t win, Jelena,” Thor said quietly. “It’s better for us—for the loan that you need to repay—that we happened to make a deal with the other side. It’s only a matter of time before Cholla falls.”

“And Opuntia and the Alliance claim the whole planet. Do you want that?”

“Another planet for the Alliance? Of course not, especially since I’ve been thinking of starting the empire anew out here. The Alliance might not be so quick to send forces to the border worlds, as long as they’ve got nothing to protect out here, and it would give us a chance to gather resources, people, and build bases from which to launch an attack at the inner planets.”

It always chilled Jelena when he spoke so calmly of conquering and attacking. If anyone else had been saying such things, she’d think him a delusional megalomaniac, but with his power and his hereditary right to rule, at least in imperial eyes, was it so crazy to believe that he might affect the course of history?

Her earstar beeped, letting her know the link had been established.

“Open,” she murmured, and a holodisplay popped up, projected ahead of her eyes.

Austin’s head and hunched shoulders formed. “Captain? Can you hear me?” Static made the words hard to understand, and his image winked off and on. “We’ve got a little problem.”

“It better not be ghosts,” Jelena said.

Thor snorted.

After a pause, Austin shook his head. “Not this time. But I have a list. First off, an Alliance ship settled in right next to us, and a few of their soldiers went into the city. I thought you should know. Nobody’s commed me, but since this is supposed to be a border planet that’s not ruled by the empire or Alliance, I thought it was strange.”

“The Alliance seems to have a stake in the outcome of events unfolding here,” Jelena said.

“All right, but then there was this other ship this morning. It had a yellow—no, a gold—hull, and I didn’t recognize it. I’ve been researching it and trying to find some matches, but it looked real new, and it didn’t have any military markings, or even a name that I could see. When I tried to run a scan on its ident chip, I got a message back that said, ‘Classified,’ and that’s it.”

“What did this ship do?” Jelena hoped it had nothing to do with them, but that seemed a vain hope.

“It flew into the city, hovered over the docks, and scanned the Snapper.”

“Just the Snapper?”

“I don’t know, but I doubt it was here long enough to check many ships. Oh, and this was a fancy, high-powered scan, Captain. It registered on the sensors, and I figure they know everything about us now, including if I’ve got any diseases or infections, zits or warts.”

“Do you?”

“Zits, yes,” Austin said. “That’s it, though. Well, that thing on my toe might be a little wart. But it’s rude of strangers to look into it.”

“Yes, it is. Where is the ship now?”

“No idea. It took off over the ocean.”

“Over the ocean in our direction?” Thor asked.

“Uh, I think so, yeah,” Austin said. “There’s another problem too.”

“Nice of these things to come in threes,” Jelena murmured.

“Someone’s been bombing the city here, and the radio stations are warning people to take cover, that more attacks are expected. Do you think it’s the same enemy that fired at us when we flew over Cholla? Have you saved those people yet? The docks haven’t taken a hit, but I can’t raise the shields while we’re attached here.”

“I know.”

“Your mom commed too,” Austin said.

“Of course she did.”

“She said she’s arranged for you to pick up a cargo on Umbra and fly it to Macha, and wanted to know how soon we could get there.”

Jelena closed her eyes. Her brain needed a rest. “We’ll worry about that later.”

“The bombing is more problematic right now,” Austin agreed. “Do you want me to undock and, er, fly somewhere?”

Jelena cursed.

“Does he know how to fly?” Thor asked.

“I’m not sure. Erick can as long as he lets the autopilot do everything. Taking off wouldn’t be that hard, but landing, especially docking, takes some finesse. The Snapper isn’t the sleekest and most maneuverable ship.”

“I wouldn’t have guessed.”

“I can fly.” Austin said something else, too, but static made the words impossible to understand.

“It’s like we’re on the other side of the system instead of the other side of a planet,” Jelena grumbled. “Austin, if you can hear me, here are my instructions. If it looks like the Snapper is in an area that’s going to get targeted, yes, you can take her out of dock. And then take her…” Should she have him fly the ship up into orbit? She hated to make things complicated for an inexperienced pilot. Whatever insurance her parents had taken out on the Snapper, she doubted it would pay for damages caused by an unauthorized operator. “Fly her over to this continent, but send me a message before you get close. We’re hoping to finish up here soon.” Now she had another reason to hurry off with Thor and find those prisoners. “Maybe you can pick us up.” That would be preferable to riding three days back in that submarine, especially since they’d have to wait more than two days for it to pick them up, but—

“The missiles,” Thor pointed out.

“I haven’t forgotten. I’m hoping the nearby ones were taken out in those bombings. If not, we have to shut them down somehow. Austin, I’ll comm you later with details. Keep me updated on your status.”

He said something, but again, the fuzz made it impossible to understand. Then the link died.

Jelena sighed.

“We don’t know where the missiles are in relation to the city,” Thor said.

“Are you telling me that with all your surfing of people’s thoughts, you can’t get that information?”

“Only if someone is actively thinking about them. I doubt the average citizen knows much about missile silo locations.”

“We’ll find someone less average to question. Or—” Jelena slowed down. “What if we went and had a chat with this war leader and asked him to shut them down? Or make some allowance to permit our ship to land near the city? Without being fired on.”

“You think he’s going to do that when the reason we want him to turn off the missiles is so we can land and steal his POWs?”

“You’d have to convince him that it’s a good idea. Or maybe—I don’t know. Maybe we could actually make a deal with him.”

Aware of the stubborn and dubious expression on Thor’s face, she groped for a way to convince him this was a good idea. Or to go along with her even if it wasn’t a good idea.

She snapped her fingers as inspiration struck. “You want this planet’s ahridium, right? Or an option to buy some of it in the future? Then you should definitely try to make a deal with the man.”

“If I use my talents to manipulate him, he’ll remember it later, and won’t want to deal with me again.”

“Then we’ll just have to figure out how to get him to come around to our way of thinking without using your talents.” And they would have to do it quickly. If Austin had to leave dock, it wouldn’t take him long to fly the Snapper across the ocean. She couldn’t have him fly circles around the continent, since the ship burned fuel a lot faster in atmosphere than it did in space, and Austin would probably knock out a fueling station if he tried to land—assuming Fourseas even had a station for fueling spaceships.

“So I’m supposed to smile at him and use my natural charisma?” Thor asked.

“Or I could do it. Do you think I’m more charming than you are? Maybe we should have asked Masika which one of us she had fewer urges to drug.”

“Your smile is more attractive than mine.”

“Why, Thor. I’m so pleased you’ve noticed.” She smiled and batted her eyelashes at him, a gesture that might have been more effective in daylight rather than in a dim tunnel.

Thor shook his head. “I don’t see how this could possibly go well.”

Chapter 12

Jelena and Thor came up into the city near the street of churches that she’d ridden down before. Late afternoon left deep shadows in the rubbled intersections, and the suns had an odd reddish tint as their light filtered through lingering smoke. To her surprise, people lingered too. Most of the churches and temples remained standing, and all of them had their doors or gates open. Songs and chants drifted out from inside, some in Solis Lingua and some in tongues she couldn’t understand. She peered through one of the doorways and spotted people on benches facing an altar or lying on blankets filling the marble floor. Many people were embracing or sitting close, sharing rations and praying or singing.

There were temples and monasteries all over the system for those who sought learning or blessings from the monks and disciples of the Divine Suns Trinity, but the average citizen or subject did not visit them regularly, as far as Jelena knew. It was understood that anywhere the light of the three suns touched, it brought the influence of Solis-de, Opus-de, and Rebus-de, and that prayers would be received. She wondered if the majority of the system was missing out by not having more of a sense of community with its religion. Granted, disaster would bring people together whether religion was involved or not, but she sensed that many of these people had known each other before the bombing, and that they’d come here for emotional support as much as for a refuge.

“We’re close,” Thor said. “Up there, and to the right. There’s a military fort where this war leader is supposed to keep his office.”

“In a tent?”

“In a tent.”

Jelena felt nervous about walking into a military base full of soldiers that had been ordered to capture them. Maybe she and Thor should have accepted Hoshi’s offer to take them personally. Maybe she was well known as the doctor’s little sister and could have acted as a diplomat for them.

As they went around a corner, they passed a temple with gongs reverberating from within, and Jelena’s step faltered. Less than fifty meters ahead, the street—and the buildings that should have lined it—was missing, a huge crater taking its place.

“That’s appalling,” she whispered.

“Yes.”

“How many people lived in those buildings?” Jelena spotted a few bodies near the lip of the crater, all bloody, many missing limbs, none moving.

“Impossible to know.” Thor continued down the street. “The base is on the other side. I think we can go around.”

Jelena almost snapped at him, annoyed by his practicality in the face of such horror. But she kept her mouth shut. Someone needed to be practical. She was having a hard time remembering why they were even out here. A selfish part of her wished they’d been able to stay in the tunnels all the way to the base, that they hadn’t needed to come up and witness this.

A boy walked toward them, his face burned, his clothing torn. He peered into alleys and whistled. He paused when Jelena and Thor drew close, frowning at her robe, and she expected a comment about Starseers.

All he said was, “Have you seen my dog? She got scared and ran off. My brother’s missing, and we don’t know if Dad made it. She’s my best friend. I can’t lose her too.” He blinked moist eyes and started for the next alley.

Jelena had the feeling he’d delivered that question and those words to numerous people and didn’t expect an answer. Thor shook his head and kept walking.

Jelena closed her eyes and reached out with her mind, searching for dogs in the surrounding area. She found four within a few blocks that did not appear to be attached to people. They huddled behind trash bins or cowered in gaps in the rubble. She coaxed them from their hiding spots, promising food if they came to her.

“Jelena?” Thor, several paces ahead, stopped.

“Just a moment.” She delved into her inside pocket and pulled out a smashed and mangled ration bar. Fortunately, its wrapper had sealed in the contents during her earlier ocean swim.

The first dog trotted out of an alley, its ribs showing through its thin fur. The boy turned, eyes hopeful, but slumped.

“That’s not my dog.” Still, he went forward sadly, offering his hand for a sniff.

The dog seemed half-feral, and Jelena believed it had been on the streets for a while, but the promise of food kept it from flinching away from the boy. She handed him a piece of the ration bar to feed to it.

Two more dogs came out, one limping, and tears came to Jelena’s eyes. She felt as distressed at seeing animals hurt as people—maybe it was even worse, because animals couldn’t vote or choose whether or not to go to war. They were pure victims in this.

They came straight to her. Jelena didn’t see recognition in the boy’s eyes, but he did look more hopeful as he studied her curiously, maybe wondering if she could produce more dogs. She fed the newcomers, and the one with a limp leaned against her leg, reminding her of Alfie. Alfie who was probably scared back on the ship, with bombings occurring all around. Jelena had promised her a good life when she’d taken her from that lab, but maybe she should have left her at the shelter on Upsilon Seven. A good life didn’t involve battles and wars.

She stroked the dog leaning against her as she closed her eyes again to draw upon her powers. She examined the dog’s wounded hip with her mind, detecting fractured bones. It might not be wise to let herself grow so distracted in the middle of a war-torn street, but she’d healed animals before, and she didn’t think she could let this one go without trying to do something. It wasn’t as if a veterinarian would soon wander through the streets with injectors full of repair nanobots.

Minutes passed as she stroked the dog’s side and worked on knitting its bones back together with her mind, as Grandpa had taught her to do. Technically, he’d been teaching her so she could heal humans, but animals were easier. Everything was always easier with animals.

A bark sounded, drawing Jelena from the near trance she’d been in, and she straightened. The dog looked up at her and wagged his tail. His leg would still hurt for a while, but she’d started the healing process and mended the fractures. She wiped her eyes, hoping the dog would survive all this and have time to heal fully.

She looked up and found Thor standing only a couple of feet away, his hand on the hilt of his sword as he gazed toward a walled compound on the other side of the crater. She thought he might shoot her an exasperated look for dilly-dallying, but he touched her arm and nodded behind her.

A fourth dog had appeared, a big, fluffy gray one, and the boy was on his knees in the street hugging her.

“Thank you,” he told Jelena when their eyes met.

She tossed the last piece of the ration bar to him so he could feed his canine friend a treat. The dog did not appear injured, so Jelena nodded to Thor and said, “We can go now.”

“Good. We’ve already been observed.” His next nod went toward the wall of that compound. A woman in brown fatigues stood atop one corner, her helmet under her arm as she gazed toward them.

Thor lowered his hand from his sword and walked around the crater and toward the compound. It occurred to Jelena that he’d been watching her—protecting her, if necessary—while she worked on the dog.

“Thank you,” she said as they navigated around the crater.

“You’re welcome,” he said, though his voice had a distracted quality to it, and his gaze remained focused on that woman.

She walked down some interior stairway leading off the wall and disappeared from sight.

“I take it she’s going to report our presence to her superiors?” Jelena asked.

Thor’s expression grew indecipherable. “Not exactly.”

The rusty iron double doors leading into the military fort opened before he and Jelena reached them.

“We’re being invited in?” she asked.

Admittedly, the doors were a formality. Further down, one corner of the wall had been destroyed, and it would have been easy to climb over the rubble.

“It seems so.”

There weren’t any guards standing at the door, so Thor and Jelena walked into the courtyard. That corner of the wall wasn’t the only thing that had been destroyed. Only two of what must have been seven or eight buildings remained standing. Some of the rubble seemed fresh, with broken furniture mingling with the wall material, whereas other buildings appeared to have been destroyed during previous raids, with their rubble shoved into piles at the rear of the compound.

Six soldiers walked toward them, and Jelena’s grip tightened on her staff. They were all armed, and she mentally prepared herself to erect a barrier if need be. Her head ached after healing the dog—that kind of work required an intense attention to detail, one that was more draining than engaging in battles.

The woman from the wall walked at the back of the group, her helmet still under her arm. She was older than Jelena had guessed at first, in her fifties at least, with short black hair that might have been dyed to hide the gray. A young officer with a tablet computer trailed after her. The tablet looked to be twenty or thirty years old, but it was one of the more modern things Jelena had seen since arriving.

The male soldiers stepped aside so that only the woman faced her and Thor.

“War Leader Hakim,” Thor said, inclining his head.

Jelena nearly fell over.

“Prince Thorian,” the woman said, startling Jelena anew. It wasn’t as if Thor was wearing a disguise, but the pictures that had been in all of his news vids of late had shown ten-year-old Thorian, not the adult version. And what news could these people be getting with their satellites destroyed and sys-net access cut off? Or had Thor, for some reason, communicated with her already and shared who he was?

“Your intelligence network is more capable than that of your opponents,” Thor remarked. No, he hadn’t given up his name to her. But he also didn’t seem surprised or concerned that she knew.

“I’d be smug about that if my opponents weren’t bombing our last legs out from under us.” Hakim sighed, gazing skyward sadly.

“That would rob a person of her smugness.” Thor looked at Jelena.

“Is this the part where I smile?” she asked.

“Perhaps not. When I suggested that strategy, I imagined the war leader was a man.”

Hakim’s eyebrows rose. “My predecessor, General Vu, was. I’m a colonel and was the fort commander here when this all started. After he was killed, nobody else wanted the job.”

“That’s not the story War Minister Sorel told us about you,” Jelena said. “You’re supposed to be uniting your people to make a push to take over the world.”

“Ah, that was General Vu. If Sorel and Chang don’t know he’s dead, their intelligence is even worse than I thought. But I suspect they know the truth, and that’s just the story they’re telling their people and the Alliance representatives to ensure cooperation. Technically, General Vu only wanted to unite all of Cholla so we would present a unified front and could more successfully keep the Alliance and their corporate allies from taking over our land.” She studied Jelena with dark, thoughtful eyes. “Who are you? As the prince said, I’m Colonel Jamila Hakim.” She offered her hand.

Jelena returned the clasp, surprised the woman had bothered to ask. Everyone else had assumed Thor was in charge and had barely looked at her.

“I’m Jelena Marchenko.” She debated whether to claim to be a captain. Mom and Leonidas hadn’t made that official yet, and given the way her second chance at proving herself was going… Jelena feared it might never be official. “I run freight.”

Hakim’s eyebrow rose. “And wear a Starseer robe.”

“Yes, they’re terribly comfortable. I imagine all freighter pilots will start wearing them soon.”

Hakim squinted at her. Confused? Maybe she didn’t know if Jelena was claiming not to be a Starseer.

“We both have Starseer training,” Thor clarified. “Jelena inherited her mother’s sense of humor.”

“Thor didn’t inherit a sense of humor at all,” Jelena said. “It’s unfortunate. I’m thinking of seeing if there’s an implant he could get.”

“A… humor implant?” Hakim eyed the man with the tablet computer—her aide, Jelena presumed. The young man shrugged back.

Stick to using your smile, Thor told Jelena silently. Your levity is confusing them.

That’s too bad. With the world they’re living in, I bet they need levity.

Maybe they just need better levity.

Don’t think I won’t kick you while we’re meeting with the leader of a nation.

Thor took a step to the side. “War Leader Hakim, what do you mean the Alliance is taking over, or wants to take over, your land? What is their role in all this?”

Hakim gazed thoughtfully at him before answering, maybe debating if she should answer his questions. They hadn’t agreed to be allies. If Hakim’s intelligence network was as good as it seemed, she ought to know that Jelena’s team had been sent by the Opuntians.

“We’ve only spoken to a couple of Alliance representatives,” Hakim said, and Jelena couldn’t tell if she’d decided of her own accord to share information or if Thor was coercing her. Her eyes did not have the glassy look that people sometimes got when they were being manipulated. “We don’t know if they spoke for the Alliance as a whole. They originally bypassed the Opuntians and landed here to visit us. They came offering a place in the Alliance, tax-free trade with other planets in the system, and a deal that could make our nation very wealthy. We’re not opposed to wealth, mind you. Even before the war started, we were never what you would call a rich and prosperous people. We have few natural resources, and there aren’t many animals or plants that can thrive in our desert ecosystem. For centuries, our people have lived almost entirely on fish and the edible varieties of cactus out there.”

“Including the one that’s considered a delicacy in the system?”

Hakim smiled faintly. “Arigato cactus, yes. During the heyday of the empire, traders came and made deals for it, but after the fall, I think the system mostly forgot about it. Or maybe the political climate out there made it difficult for the traders to make money. Either way, arigato never made anyone wealthy. And it’s not what the Alliance representatives wanted when they came. Through some illegal exploratory mining done along our coasts, some corporation learned that we have ahridium deposits here, deposits that are closer to the surface and more accessible than in other locations in the system. Sort of. Most of the deposits are under the ocean floor and a challenge to get to, but perhaps not as challenging to reach as the ones buried in asteroids.”

“The news leaked to the Alliance, and they decided to offer you a place under their umbrella, along with perks, in exchange for being allowed to set up ahridium mining operations?” Thor asked.

“Yes. But there’s a reason why populated countries and planets usually say no to ahridium prospectors and most of the operations out there are set up in deep space. Ahridium is extremely toxic to humans if ingested, and no matter how careful miners say they’ll be, some of what they mine inevitably ends up in the soil and the water around the mines.”

“You said the mines would be in the ocean?”

“Yes, which would make it even more dangerous for us, since it would contaminate the water around our continent. We get our drinking water—our water for everything—from the desalination plants along the coast.”

“You couldn’t filter out ahridium as well as salt?” Thor asked.

“Perhaps it could be done, but not with our current equipment, most of which is a century or more old. The machinery we have was installed when we were a part of the empire. Since they fell and we were forgotten, we’ve been doing our best to make do.”

Thor slanted a bland look at Jelena, and she could see him wanting to point out that things had been better, at least for some people, when the empire had ruled over most of the system.

“The Alliance reps didn’t offer to bring you fancy filtering equipment?” Jelena asked.

“They did say that could be arranged, and our president polled our people and also spoke to our scientists. Nobody wanted to allow the mining. It made people very nervous to know that our only water supply could turn toxic and that if anything happened to our water treatment plants, we would be without a way to filter the poison out of the water. In addition, as the scientists were quick to point out, our primary food source is the ocean. Fish, eel, octopuses, shellfish, tyshree, and langlang, we eat it all. It’s what’s allowed us to live here. Man cannot live on cactus alone.” That faint smile came again. “There would be no way to keep the sea life from absorbing ahridium, and if the concentrations were high enough, the fish would die before we ever caught them. That would especially be true of the varieties that came from Old Earth. The planet’s original species might be able to handle it, since ahridium is an element native to this system, but if we ate them, the result would be the same for us.” She spread her hands. “The Alliance representatives promised us we’d be able to import food, and even potable water, if needed, with all the money we would make from the deal, but then we would be reliant on the rest of the system for our livelihoods. We’re a proud people, Prince Thorian. We’ve made a home in inhospitable conditions, and we’ve rarely needed help. We’d like to keep it that way. So we said no to the Alliance.”

“I would have too,” Thor said.

Jelena kept her mouth shut. She didn’t like where the story was heading. It seemed inevitable that the Alliance—at least the representatives here, the very ones she’d agreed to rescue—would turn out to be the villains in the eyes of the Chollan people. And maybe in her own eyes too.

She had wanted to be of service to the Alliance, to win their regard and perhaps become known as someone helpful. Oh, she wanted the regard of the Starseer community even more, but she couldn’t help but feel that she needed to get in good with the Alliance since she’d caused some trouble at Upsilon Seven and since she was now flying around with Thor. Most of the people he’d assassinated had originally been imperial subjects who betrayed the empire. Unfortunately, that had made them heroes to the Alliance, which explained why their government had people hunting Thor right now. Jelena had known about that when she invited him to join her crew, and maybe that hadn’t been the wisest thing, but somehow, she’d imagined that through the appropriate heroics, they could make the Alliance forget about those crimes and realize that the Snapper and its crew were a boon to the system.

“For a month or so after we rejected them,” Hakim said, “nothing happened. But then our intelligence network reported that the Alliance representatives had gone over to Opuntia and were having meetings with the leaders there. Soon after, the Opuntians informed us that the time had finally come for our population of heathens to give up our barbaric ways, join the Trinity, and allow their missionaries to come over and set up temples and instruct the population in the way of the one true religion.” Her tone had gone extremely dry. “We said no, of course, as they knew we would, but then one of their trains was bombed. Stories were circulated, both on our global news networks and out on the sys-net, claiming that we were responsible, that we’d been so offended by their attempts to civilize us that we’d gone on the offensive and planned to take over their continent. They said we’d launched a preemptive strike and that it was time for war, to ensure their way of life would be protected and that we wouldn’t come for them before they came for us. Our old war leader, General Vu, was blamed—he was known to be devoutly religious, so maybe he was a feasible scapegoat—and the stories started claiming that he was uniting our people and had plans to march on the entire planet and then beyond.”

“Who bombed the train?” Jelena asked, confused by the new thread in the tapestry.

“Not us,” Hakim said firmly.

“You’re positive?” Thor’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Jelena hadn’t been trying to read Hakim’s thoughts as she spoke, but she imagined Thor was. Had he detected a lie in the story?

“The Opuntians wouldn’t have bombed their own people,” Jelena said, “just so they could put the blame on you. Right? I assume there were casualties.”

“There were,” Hakim said. “And it enraged their nation. They voted to wage war on us. And thus, we found ourselves immersed in a battle that we didn’t want. Everybody here knows this is about the Opuntians wanting to take us over so they can hand our ahridium to their new allies and ensure their place in the Alliance. I’m sure they were offered the same wealth we were offered, but how different it is when the mines wouldn’t be anywhere near their continent. As far as the rest of the system knows, this is about religion. The Opuntians have made us out to be cruel and unpredictable zealots. In their opening salvos, they destroyed our satellites, so we don’t have any easy way to inform the system otherwise, not that they’d listen. Our beliefs have always made us outsiders, and outsiders are not to be trusted.”

Jelena eyed Thor, remembering him saying something similar, and she wondered if he’d had an idea about what was happening down here long before this story had been told. But was this story to be believed?

She’s not lying, for the most part, Thor told her silently. She believes what she’s saying. Whether it’s a partial truth or the whole truth, I cannot determine. I can only tell what a person believes.

Is she sure her people didn’t bomb the train?

She’s sure it wasn’t ordered—she was at the old war leader’s side the whole time. She can’t be sure that someone else from the nation didn’t do it. There are a lot of different religions here, and some of them have different factions within each religion. They’ve gotten along well, for the most part, especially for the last couple of centuries, because they’ve had to band together to survive in this inhospitable environment, but that doesn’t mean all the factions are in agreement on all things. Some of them have histories of using violence to make statements all the way back to Old Earth. Further, you may have figured out that she wants our help—interestingly, it’s the Starseers she’s hoping to appeal to, rather than me—so she’s putting the best possible spin on this, the one most likely to make us sympathetic.

Why would the Starseers care about their planet? I mean, I’m somewhat invested now, but a few weeks ago, I wasn’t aware of any of this.

Don’t you ever watch the news?

Not if I can help it.

I doubt the Starseer community cares, but she believes they don’t have any love for the Alliance. Which is true for the most part. Even those who aren’t imperial loyalists remember the Alliance attack on the Arkadius Temple ten years ago. So she thinks a deal might be struck, that something might be offered to enlist Starseer aid.

What would they offer if they don’t want their ahridium dug up? Would ahridium even mean anything to her people? Jelena was fairly certain any Starseer who desired wealth could simply walk into a casino on Primus 7 and win the games of chance. Maybe she should learn how to play them so she could try that. What would her parents think if she offered to pay off a debt with gambling winnings?

From what I’ve read, casino managers figure it out quickly if someone is winning more than is likely, Thor said dryly into her mind. And then they run you out. Or make you disappear.

Making a Starseer disappear wouldn’t be easy.

They have android security. As to the rest, Hakim isn’t sure what she could offer to Starseers that would win them over as allies, but if we show any interest in helping, she’s prepared to give us a place on their continent where we could have a temple and bring our people if we wished. Since Starseers have also been ostracized since the Order Wars, she believes that might appeal, being offered a place in a community.

Would it? Jelena knew that mundane people feared Starseers and never invited them to settle among them. For a legitimate reason. The first Starseers had attempted to take over the system back before the rest of the colonized planets had matured into civilizations and regained the ability to put ships into space. But she’d always had the impression that most Starseers chose to live in isolation and wanted it that way, so they could avoid contact with regular humans.

It might to some. It’s hard to say. There are many factions among our people too. Some side with the Alliance, some remain loyal to the empire—such as those who trained me—but I’d guess ninety percent don’t care who is governing the system since they see themselves as outside of—and in many cases above—the affairs of grubs.

“What happened to the Alliance representatives?” Jelena asked because Hakim was looking back and forth between them, maybe suspecting them of engaging in telepathic communication.

“Oh, they disappeared for the better part of a year. Most of us presumed that they weren’t willing to commit any resources to this war, even if they had a vested interest in the outcome. It’s only in the last month that they returned. Now that we’re likely near the end.” Hakim grimaced and looked skyward. Did she expect another bombing run?

Jelena grimaced, too, well aware that she and Thor were out in the open and that there wasn’t a forcefield up there any longer. She thought of the boy with his dog, and the other dogs, and all the people who’d chosen to stay up here and gather at their churches instead of fleeing to the tunnels, tunnels that might or might not offer suitable protection if the bombings continued.

“It’s the same three people,” Hakim volunteered.

“Who?” Jelena asked. “The Alliance representatives?”

“Yes. Two men and a woman. They’re the ones who originally came to us last year, and the same ones who then went to the Opuntians. Also the same ones who returned to Opuntia last month. I have wondered if they have support from the rest of their government, or if it’s possible the rest of the Alliance doesn’t know everything about what’s going on here. If their leadership is not aware…” Hakim’s face grew grim. “It’s crossed my mind to kill the representatives or make them disappear and see what happens.”

The assassination tactic never sat well with Jelena, but in this case, she could see why the war leader would feel driven to it.

“They’re the ones you captured from Opuntia,” Thor said, “and that are currently imprisoned in your local water treatment plant.”

Hakim blinked a few times, but the expression soon faded, turning a touch wry. She couldn’t be that surprised that a couple of Starseers would figure out what was going on here. “Yes. For now, they’ve not been hurt. If they’re simply carrying out the orders of the higher-ups in their government, then killing them would be unwise—it would result in retribution. And they would simply be replaced by other representatives. But if they’re acting of their own accord for some reason…” She lifted a shoulder. “Making them disappear could put an end to our problems.”

“The Alliance would still seek retribution if you killed some of their appointed representatives,” Jelena said.

“Yes, but perhaps that retribution would be directed solely at me, and the rest of my people wouldn’t be punished.” Hakim shrugged. “I never expected to survive this war, especially not now.” She waved at the rank pins on her collar.

“So you’re holding the representatives here and waiting to see what happens,” Thor said.

“In part. We figured that the Opuntians would be less likely to bomb our city if their Alliance allies and some of their government officials were here.” Hakim’s lip curled in disgust. “But that obviously hasn’t worked. I should have expected no less from a people willing to bomb one of their own trains just to make us look bad.”

Thor did not comment on that.

“I also figured that if nobody came for them,” Hakim continued, “it would suggest they might be operating on their own. Oh, I’m sure they’re official Alliance representatives—I looked them up when they first arrived—but as I said, I don’t know how important this deal is to the rest of their government.” She tilted her head, regarding Thor and Jelena. “You’re not who I expected to be sent to rescue them.”

Jelena shifted her weight. The Chollans definitely had a good intelligence network.

“I assume you’re not working for the Alliance,” Hakim added, looking at Thor and raising one knowing eyebrow.

Her aide’s tablet chimed, and he lifted a hand and stepped away. He raised the whole device to his lips to ask something. Apparently, the clunky thing was a comm unit as well as a computer.

“We’re not working for the Alliance,” Thor agreed.

“The Opuntians then,” Hakim said. “Did they seek you out specifically?”

Jelena wondered if Hakim had any idea how random and happenstance it was that Thor was here at all. Her crew could just as easily be on some space station right now, selling lemonade from the airlock of their ship.

“We appreciate that you’ve spoken openly to us, War Leader,” Thor said, “and you’ve given us a great deal to consider, but we’re not willing to divulge our motives or obligations at this time. Since you presumably wouldn’t be willing to trade your ahridium to anyone else in exchange for help, I don’t know what you could offer us to gain our assistance.”

What assistance could Thor and Jelena provide anyway? The entire Starseer community might be able to stop a war, but they were three Starseers and Masika. And one of their Starseers had a bullet in his shoulder and might have trouble concentrating for a while.

“We can’t offer any ahridium, no. Nothing has changed on that front. We could offer sanctuary to your people.”

“My people?” Thor arched his brows. “Those who might need a place from which to stage a battle of their own to retake the empire?”

Hakim seemed taken aback. “Is that what you plan?”

“One day, perhaps.”

“I was thinking of a sanctuary for Starseers—they’re known to be nomadic, almost gypsies of the system, welcomed by few.”

“True, but they can find sanctuaries wherever they wish. Starseers are perfectly capable of hiding their temples and homes.”

“Hiding grows wearying after a time,” Hakim said. “I was thinking of offering not just a place to build a temple but a place in our community. We are tolerant of all ways of life and all religions. Even those who follow the Suns Trinity.” There was that faint smile again.

“I don’t think we can help you,” Thor said.

Jelena opened her mouth to object—she found herself wanting to help these people—but what could she offer?

“Would you at least grant a favor?” Hakim asked the question to Jelena. Did she sense her as the more amenable one? The one more likely to help?

“You want us to read the thoughts of the Alliance representatives,” Thor said.

“Er, yes. Starseers are known for having that skill. Which you’ve just demonstrated.”

“You want to know if they’re acting on their own or following orders.”

“Yes. I’ve talked to one of our doctors about using drugs that might make them more forthcoming in an interrogation, but she said we didn’t have anything like that here. As with everything else, our medical supplies, those beyond the most basic ones, haven’t been replenished since the fall of the empire.”

“Oh? What was your doctor going to drug us with then?” Jelena asked. “I assume you’re the one who had us captured. Almost captured.”

Hakim lifted her chin, not ashamed by the accusation. “I gave the order for you to be apprehended, yes. We knew you’d been speaking to Sorel and were likely coming to steal back our captives. Capturing those people involved a daring raid in which I lost several good officers. To allow them to be taken back so soon would have been devastating. I wanted an opportunity to talk to you, to attempt to negotiate with you.” Again, she was looking at Jelena. Maybe she felt that Thor was off on his own strange mission and that Jelena was more likely to be a conduit to the Starseer community as a whole.

That’s exactly what she thinks, Thor spoke into her mind. Especially since I asked about launching a war from here, he added.

Then she has no idea that I’m ostracized from the rest of the community.

Ostracized? Thor looked at her, and Jelena realized she’d never floated her hypothesis past him.

Because of Grandpa and his past association with those known to be chasadski, pariahs. Or so I believe. Aside from Grandpa, Abelardus and Young-hee are the only Starseers Erick and I have spoken to since Mom took us away from our tutors. And they were aboard the ship because Mom and Leonidas hired them, and it suited them. Nothing to do with me.

Jelena twitched a shoulder. It was a discussion for another time. Hakim was watching her intently.

“You needn’t have drugged us to negotiate,” Jelena said, “or shot my friend.”

Hakim grimaced. “I wasn’t there and don’t know exactly what happened, but I believe Colonel Bradford and Dr. Ogiwara wanted to drug you for my protection. They were afraid that as long as you were conscious and could use your powers, you’d be a danger. The colonel also thought I should speak to you from a position of power. As if that’s so easy these days.” She gazed around her fort at the destroyed buildings, the rubble. “Regardless, I did not order that anyone be shot, and I apologize. Will your comrade survive his injuries?”

“I hope so,” Jelena said. “He’s with your Dr. Ogiwara now.”

“Ah? Kiyoko is an honorable young woman. And a talented surgeon. Your friend is in good hands.”

Jelena tried to find comfort in her words. She remembered those soldiers who’d wanted to wring Masika’s neck and felt that she and Thor should wrap this up so they could check on her and Erick soon.

Maybe we should negotiate for her, Thor spoke silently.

Who?

The doctor. Didn’t you want to hire one for your ship?

Mom suggested that. But we don’t need a doctor for five people.

One of whom was recently shot, Thor pointed out. If you’re going to continue to deliver cargo—and pursue mercenary contracts—throughout the border worlds, having a doctor around wouldn’t be a bad idea.

We can’t afford to pay a doctor. Besides, it sounds like her people need her here.

Yes, we’d have to stop their war if we were going to try to entice her to join us.

I thought you didn’t care about their war.

I would if they had something desirable to barter in exchange for our help.

Jelena frowned over at him. Why was he implying a doctor was a thing that could be traded for rather than a person who would have to be housed and paid? Thor, if we truly needed a doctor, I’m sure we could hire one legitimately out in the system somewhere.

Doctors don’t come cheap, nor do I suspect most are excited by the prospect of working on mercenary ships.

Could we even do anything to stop the war? If we wanted to?

He didn’t answer, instead meeting Hakim’s eyes again. “We’ll talk to the prisoners with you and let you know what can be gleaned from their thoughts.”

“Excellent.”

Are you doing this to help her or so that she’ll guide us to the plant and open the door for us? Jelena asked, lost as to what Thor was thinking. One minute, he didn’t care about helping, and the next, he had some new idea to do so? Or did he simply want to fulfill his deal with the Opuntians?

We’ll see.

“War Leader Hakim?” The aide with the tablet returned to her side, his face troubled. “Our spies report another wave of Opuntian bombers being prepared. They’re expected to be here within four hours, and it’s believed that they mean to level the city to the ground this time.”

Hakim’s fingers curled into fists, though her face remained calm. “No news from the forcefield generator station?”

“News, but not good news. The saboteurs made a mess. We’d need a bunch of new parts, and…” He shrugged helplessly.

“There’s nothing new on the planet, I know.” Hakim looked at Thor and Jelena. “I don’t suppose Starseers can wave their fingers and fix machines?”

It was an offhand remark, and she didn’t look like she expected it to be possible or for either of them to respond. She was already turning back to her man when Jelena said, “Actually…”

Hakim’s eyes, suddenly keen with intensity, swung back toward her.

Jelena paused to consider the rest. She’d been about to say that Erick had that knack, but it occurred to her that this might be a way to get what they’d come here hoping to get.

“Starseer finger waving might not help, but I have an engineer on my ship who’s very capable and good with machines,” Jelena said.

Thor made a noise deep in his throat. A gag? A choke? You’re thinking of Austin? Not Ostberg?

I’m thinking of getting permission for my ship to land.

“We have engineers there now,” Hakim said, her face falling.

“My person is familiar with imperial technology,” Jelena said.

Now I have no idea who you’re thinking of, Thor remarked silently.

Erick and Austin can work together to figure something out. I think Erick has the specs for most ships—Alliance, imperial, and civilian—in the Snapper’s database. In fact, I’m certain of it, because I complained to him when he couldn’t disable a grab beam quickly enough for my tastes because he wasn’t familiar with the ship. I told him to download specs for everything out there.

A forcefield generator isn’t a ship.

They can figure it out. They’re smart, and Mica was the one to train Erick. She is familiar with imperial technology.

Thor grunted dubiously.

“It couldn’t hurt to have someone else take a look, ma’am,” the aide said. He and Hakim had been exchanging silent looks.

“I suppose I would be foolish to reject help of any kind,” Hakim said, though she squinted at Jelena, as if she suspected an ulterior motive.

How would that be surprising? Didn’t everyone on this planet have ulterior motives?

“Where’s your ship and your engineer?” she asked.

“Possibly on the way here now, but he wasn’t going to attempt to land.” Jelena let some dryness infuse her own tone. “We were shot at without warning the other day when we flew over your continent.” She wasn’t truly disgruntled at this point, but maybe she should let Hakim think she was, so the woman realized that they had as little reason to trust her as she had to trust them.

“A necessary precaution these days, I’m afraid,” Hakim said. “Though there should have been buoys in orbit warning about the no-fly zone currently being enforced over our land.” Her tone turned into a grumble. “Maybe the Opuntians shot those down along with our satellites.”

It’s not a lie, Thor told Jelena.

“If you could arrange for your missile stations not to shoot at our ship—” Jelena touched her earstar. “I can order my engineer to come here.”

“Can he be here in less than four hours?”

Good question.

“I hope so,” Jelena said.

“Comm your man. I’ll make arrangements with Weapons Control. In the meantime—” Hakim gestured toward the gate, “—may I take you to see our prisoners?”

Nerves fluttered in Jelena’s belly. They’d promised to read the prisoners’ minds, but Thor had to be thinking the same thing that she was, that this could be their chance to extract them. And if Austin was on his way in with the Snapper, they could load the hostages aboard, perhaps escape the city unscathed, return to Opuntia, deliver their cargo, and collect their money. And have the Alliance thinking fondly of the Snapper and her crew. If they helped these people and went against the Alliance, what might the ramifications be?

Jelena rubbed her face. Why did it always seem that there was so much more to be gained by going along with the flow than by obstructing it?

Chapter 13

The water treatment plant hadn’t been bombed yet, but Jelena wasn’t sure explosives would make much of a difference. The stone walls were crumbling, the tanks were cracked and leaking, and the rickety, rusty walkways stretching across the holding pools looked like they would crumble and collapse if anyone used them.

Hakim, her aide, and an escort of ten soldiers led Jelena and Thor through the cavernous building, not flinching at the clanks, thunks, and groans coming from the machinery. So what if they sounded more like the dying wheezes of a centenarian than the well-oiled machinery of a system that provided all of the water needs for a civilization?

Jelena? Erick’s voice sounded in her mind, soft and distant. He was presumably still back at the underground hospital.

Yes, I’m here. How are you doing?

I’m fine. His mental words had an odd note to them. A soldier just came in and mentioned how the war leader had captured some Starseers. Have you been captured, Jelena?

Well. Jelena eyed Hakim’s back as they continued past more pools toward a door at the back of the facility. I don’t think it’s considered being captured when you walk into the enemy fort of your own volition.

You turned yourself in? I thought you were going to rescue the prisoners.

Austin commed, and we decided we had to do something else first.

Like turning yourself in?

We’re with the war leader, but we haven’t given up any freedoms. We’re going to see the prisoners now. Are you all right? Did the doctor remove the bullet?

She did, yes. Painfully. They don’t have Painpro here. They gave me something made from cactus thorns. I felt her digging around in my shoulder with her pointy sticks. It was awful. There was crying.

In front of Masika?

No, she stayed outside the curtain.

Good, I don’t think she’s the type who would be impressed by a man crying.

Afterward, Dr. Frankenstein sewed me up like a zombie. With thread. They don’t have QuickSkin here, either, Jelena. I’m going to have a scar. This place is benighted.

I understand it’s a challenging place to live. Listen, I just talked to Austin a few minutes ago. He’s flying across the ocean in the Snapper.

Austin is flying? Erick asked. He doesn’t know how to fly.

That’s not what he said.

He’s seventeen. You can’t trust seventeen-year-olds.

Thanks for that encomium. Can you and Masika get out of Dry Wash? The war leader told me to have him land north of the city along the coast. She promised the missile systems wouldn’t fire at the Snapper, but it might be a good idea to have all our forces together in case something goes wrong. Such as if she and Thor, after talking with the prisoners and getting their side of the story, decided to attack their escort, knock out Hakim, and lead the Alliance representatives out of the city. Most likely while soldiers chased them and shouted orders to rearm their missile stations.

There are guards at this impromptu hospital now, Erick replied. And guards following the doctor around. We’re being watched closely, though I gather they’re more worried about a strike team that’s out in the city, the one that’s believed to be responsible for the destruction of the forcefield generator.

Ah, yes, about that generator… do you think you and Austin could fix some very old imperial machinery that’s in need of new parts?

Are there new parts available?

Unlikely. Jelena eyed some of the water pumping machinery they passed as they drew close to the door. Huge flywheels and tubes and other pieces she couldn’t name reminded her of pictures of the Industrial Revolution on Old Earth.

That’ll be a fun project then.

Another squadron of bombers is expected to arrive in three and a half hours. Even if we’re not sure which side we’re working for, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to fix the forcefield, if only for our own safety. Jelena thought of the boy and the dog and the praying people again, knowing full well she wasn’t thinking only of their own safety.

We’re not sure which side we’re working for? Erick asked, incredulous. Since when are we not sure? This side shot us.

Technically, they only shot you.

Well, that’s all right then. Jelena! Is Thor twiddling with your brain?

I’ll explain more later. They were passing through the doorway, and Jelena sensed people up ahead, in a space at the end of a dim tunnel. Just find a way to meet us at the landing spot.

Thor looked back at Jelena as their escort led them down the passage, the clanking of machinery and trickle of water growing faint behind them. Several soldiers turned on flashlights.

Twiddling? he asked.

It’s like diddling but with less direction.

I wasn’t asking for a definition.

She tamped down an urge to swat him, both because they were surrounded by strangers and because she wasn’t sure he would appreciate it. Someday, she was going to have to have a chat with him about using the back door into her mind and spying on her thoughts and conversations.

Clinks and scrapes came from ahead of them, and a door creaked open. Hakim led them into a room lit with oil lamps rather than electricity.

“Report,” she said, as soldiers near the door came to attention.

Men and women on cots or blankets on the floor squinted as flashlight beams searched the room. They wore dirty civilian clothing, and the place smelled of body odor and mildew, but none of them appeared harmed or starved. Most of them were older, with four men for every woman present. Jelena supposed female officials were rare over on Opuntia.

“The prisoners tried to make trouble and escape during the bombing, ma’am,” a private said, standing straight and rigid as he reported. “But we got them under control without hurting them.”

“Not entirely,” a man on a cot in the back grumbled. One of his eyes was swollen shut.

“Without shooting them,” the private amended.

“Good work,” Hakim said.

Jelena was about to ask which ones were the Alliance representatives, but Thor touched her arm, then stepped back to lean casually against the wall by the door. Right. It might be better to simply observe—observe and surf people’s thoughts. The prisoners would grow more guarded if they realized Starseers had come, though they’d probably already caught on, since Jelena still wore her robe. If there was time to change when Austin arrived with the Snapper, she would do so. She looked forward to putting on something clean—and colorful.

“Have you come to offer the terms of your surrender, Colonel Hakim?” the man who’d groused asked. “It doesn’t sound like the war is going well for your people this week.”

“Who would we be surrendering to, Powell?” Hakim walked toward the speaker. Another man and a woman sat on cots next to him. “To the Alliance? Or to Opuntia?”

“We are merely representatives, as we’ve told you before. Our job is to facilitate the peaceful integration of Fourseas into the Alliance. Since you refused to work with us, we’re working through Opuntia. An alliance with the Alliance will make your entire planet richer. Your war is only delaying what would be a vast improvement to your lives.”

“Or the death of my people.”

His brow crinkled, as if the comment confused him. Did it? Or was it an act? Even though she knew Thor would do a better job—he never had qualms about jumping into strangers’ minds—Jelena used her senses, trying to get a feel for his emotions and thoughts. To her surprise, the man truly did seem confused.

“From ahridium poisoning,” Hakim added.

Powell rolled his eyes. “We’ve been over all that. More than a year ago. You’re overdramatizing things and creating an imaginary problem. Even if the miners weren’t able to keep contaminants out of the water—and they’ve promised that they have the equipment to do so—you’d be wealthy beyond your wildest imaginings. You could have gourmet meals hand-delivered to your planet, along with bottled glacier water from Teravia if you wished. But there would be no need for any of that. They’ve promised us—”

“I’m sure that corporation would promise you whatever you wanted to hear,” Hakim said, “but at the end of it all, neither you nor the miners would be living here. They’d come in, destroy our ocean to get their ore, and leave. And it would be our people who have to live with the consequences. Or not live with them, as the case might be. Or we’d be forced to leave what’s been our homeland for centuries. And there’s nowhere left to go, is there? All the desirable and easily habitable planets and moons have been taken, given to those with the right belief system.”

“Why is it always about religion with you people? Why can’t you just run your government without bringing that into everything? The Alliance doesn’t care what devils you worship, so long as you’re not starting wars and making trouble.”

What do you think? Jelena asked Thor, hoping he was getting more out of the conversation than she was. Hakim hadn’t brought it around to the one thing she’d claimed to be wondering about, whether the representatives had the backing of the Alliance higher-ups or not.

They both believe what they’re saying.

Yeah, I got that. Though Jelena was more inclined to put stock into Hakim’s words, since, as she said, her people would be the ones who had to live with any repercussions that came about due to the mining.

I’m telling her to ask about what the rest of the Alliance wants.

“If I did want to negotiate,” Hakim said, not looking back at Thor, but keeping her gaze on Powell, “who would I speak to in the Alliance? Could you arrange a meeting with someone higher up on your totem pole? I’d want to have a few promises from the prime minister before agreeing to anything.”

“Quite frankly, you lost your chance to speak with him. At this point, we’d only be accepting terms of surrender.”

Huh.

Yes? Jelena sensed that Powell was bluffing or speaking a half-truth, but she wasn’t sure about the details.

Not only is your government not behind him on this; I don’t think they even know about it. It looks like the CEO of a down-on-its-luck mining corporation was prospecting down here without permission and found out about the ahridium. Knowing the Chollans wouldn’t allow mining, the CEO went to an Alliance ambassador, that woman specifically—Elizabeth Friedman is her name—who then brought in her two colleagues there. Their job actually is to help foster peaceful development of promising governments on border worlds in the hope of adding new territories to the Alliance, territories that would bring more resources than trouble. Thor snorted mentally. Picky, aren’t they?

These three haven’t gone to their higher-ups to get permission for any of their meddling?

No, they don’t want to cut anyone in on the mining shares they’ve been offered.

Naturally not.

Maybe we should let this all play out and then blackmail them for the fifty thousand to pay off your parents’ loan.

Was that a joke, Thor?

Not an effective one, I guess. How much do those humor implants you mentioned cost?

Jelena elbowed him.

Leonidas must have gotten one in order to understand your mother’s jokes. He never struck me as brimming with humor. And your mother is…

Delightful. Just like me.

Very much like you, I shall agree with that.

Hakim backed away from Powell, lifting her eyebrows slightly as she looked at Thor and Jelena for the first time.

What do you want to do, Jelena? Thor asked.

She was surprised he asked, but also pleased. If we tell her what you just told me, do you truly think she could end this war by killing those three people? Or locking them away in a dark dungeon somewhere and making the Opuntian government believe they’re dead?

Not at this point. She should have had the Alliance representatives hunted down and killed a year ago. But she wasn’t in charge then.

Jelena preferred to think that Hakim wouldn’t have entertained outright murder even if she had been in charge.

The Opuntian government probably has its own deal with the mining corporation by now, Thor added. Although… hm.

Yes?

That blond man sitting against the wall behind them is from the corporation. I wonder if Hakim knows.

Probably, Jelena responded. Her intelligence network seems solid.

By now, Hakim had crossed the room, ostensibly to confer with her aide with the tablet, but she kept her back to the Alliance representatives as she did so.

“Prince Thorian?” she murmured. “Were you able to detect anything?”

“Yes,” Thor said, and looked at Jelena.

By the sun deities, he wanted her to decide? Yes, the original prisoner rescue mission had been her idea, but this had grown into something far greater. They were at a turning point. If she shared the prisoners’ secrets, she would be choosing to side with the Chollans. Even if she rescued them after doing so, they would feel betrayed if they found out. They would talk to War Minister Sorel, who might decide mercenaries who played both sides shouldn’t be paid. Was it selfish of her to even think of money and her own interests now? Yes, it was. But to have come all this way and gotten involved in all this, and then to get nothing would be frustrating. They might have found a legitimate freight job during this time and at least earned a small amount to put toward that loan.

Hakim’s eyes also shifted toward Jelena.

Jelena stifled a groan. She looked at Thor, but his face was unreadable, and he didn’t say anything, telepathically or otherwise.

Well… when was telling a truth ever truly wrong?

“They don’t have their government’s backing,” Jelena said.

Hakim sucked in a quick breath. “I knew it. I—”

An explosion roared, drowning out whatever else Hakim had to say. The floor heaved under their feet, and pieces of the stone ceiling tumbled down.

It happened so abruptly that Jelena only had time to think of throwing her hands over her head. Thor grabbed her and pulled her close to him, pressing her face into his shoulder as his power flared, creating a barrier around them.

Everyone, please, Jelena spoke into his mind, hoping he could hear the mental words over the cacophonous roar of rubble pouring down all around them. Dust clouded the air, and then light poured through from holes in the ceiling.

She sensed Thor extending his barrier to cover people who were running for doorways or simply dropping to the ground and protecting their heads with their arms. Jelena gathered her wits and narrowed her focus so she could help him.

“What was that?” a soldier yelled, pointing a rifle at prisoners who were storming the door, who wanted to escape.

“It’s too early for the bombers to be here,” the aide yelled, holding his tablet over his head, as if that would protect him if a boulder dropped onto him.

But Thor had extended his barrier over the room. Rubble continued to fall upon it as the weakened ceiling gave way, and people gaped up at the way it appeared to hang in the air over their heads.

A boom came from the other side of the plant, followed by a gush of water. Jelena sensed as well as heard one of the storage tanks rupturing.

It’s a single spaceship, Thor told Jelena. I think it came in over the ocean, but I wasn’t paying attention to the sky before. I do know it fired directly at the plant. It’s circling now, coming back for another attack. I’m… not able to divert the pilot. I can’t even sense him. Or her. Or it.

Android? Jelena asked.

No, I’d sense that even if I couldn’t manipulate one. This is something different. He lowered his arm and released her. We need to get out of here.

“They’re coming back,” Thor called aloud. “Everyone needs to evacuate the building.”

“Wait,” Hakim yelled, frowning at him as she struggled to her feet, looking dazed despite her order. Something must have struck her before Thor got his barrier up. “We can’t just—”

“He’s coming fast,” Thor said, moving toward the tunnel and making sure Jelena followed. “And targeting this structure.”

“Let us out of here,” one of the prisoners cried, shaking a fist at the soldiers resolutely guarding the only exit. The rest of the prisoners looked like they would stampede at any second. The Alliance people seemed as scared as the others.

A shadow fell across the sunlight streaming through giant holes in the ceiling—the ship returning. A civilian craft with a golden hull without any distinguishable markings.

That’s Austin’s ship, Jelena realized, horrified as the hawk-like craft flew straight toward them. The one that scanned the Snapper.

Everyone saw the ship barreling down on them.

“Organized evacuation,” Hakim said. “Go, and—”

There was nothing organized about the stampede that started. At the sight of the ship flying toward them, the soldiers broke ranks, forgetting about the prisoners. They turned and raced down the tunnel toward the front of the plant. The prisoners quickly followed. Hakim cursed, but she and her aide also ran after them.

“This way,” Thor barked, grabbing Jelena’s arm before she could follow.

He ran across the room in the opposite direction, pulling her after him, and pointed at one of the holes in the ceiling. Before she knew what was happening, she was lifted into the air and heading toward the opening. Thor leaped past her, alighting on a portion of the roof reinforced by a wall. Through no power of her own, Jelena landed beside him. He started running across the roof toward a street, but they would never reach it in time. The ship was right on top of them.

E-cannons opened up, and white light flashed as the energy blasts hurtled toward the building. Though terrified and certain they were about to die, Jelena managed to focus enough to create a barrier around herself, trying to extend it around Thor too. But he’d erected his own barrier, one that seemed to encompass half the building. The e-cannon blasts halted in the air ten feet above them and ricocheted upward, almost striking the ship as it swooped past. Too bad they didn’t.

Thor gasped, stumbling to one knee.

At first, Jelena thought a portion of the roof had crumbled underneath him, but it appeared solid in that spot. He pressed his fists against the red tiles and drew in a long, shaky breath. Jelena rested a hand on his back.

“Too much power?” she guessed. She’d never attempted to block e-cannon blasts and could only imagine the effort it would take—if she could do it at all.

“I can handle it.” Thor shoved himself to his feet, and her hand fell away. “But let’s get the hells out of his line of sight.”

He glanced toward the sky where the ship was banking to come around another time. Thor paused as Jelena resumed running, squinting toward the cockpit of the ship, a one- or two-man fighter craft that reminded her of an oversized Alliance bomber. She imagined Thor willing the pilot’s brain to explode, but he only shook his head and ran after her. The ship kept coming.

“I can’t sense him at all, and if not for my eyes, I’d barely know a ship was there,” he yelled.

Jelena reached the side of the building and paused at the twenty-foot drop. Thor jumped down without hesitating, landing lightly on his feet.

Jump, he told her.

Though intimidated by the drop, Jelena was even more intimidated by the ship streaking back toward the building. No, back toward them. By now, the soldiers and prisoners were streaming out of the far side of the structure, but the ship didn’t veer off to target them. It was coming straight for Jelena. Or perhaps straight for Thor.

She jumped down, planning to roll at the bottom of the drop, so she wouldn’t break her ankles. But Thor lifted a hand, and she slowed before landing. She touched down lightly. There was no time to thank him. He was sprinting off toward a cross street that led away from the plant.

As Jelena raced after him, the ship fired again. E-cannon blasts slammed into the facility. Thor wasn’t protecting it this time, and they crushed into the roof, blowing out walls and machinery. Debris flew through the air, passing over and around Jelena as she ran. She kept her barrier up and grunted as a piece of wall the size of a ground truck slammed into it. She swallowed, well aware that she’d be dead now if not for her mental abilities.

Thor led the way down the street, around a corner, through an alley, and down another street. She didn’t ask if he knew where he was going—or if he thought their foe in the ship knew where he was going. It was all she could do to keep up.

Finally, he found a manhole cover in a dim dead-end alley. It appeared to be locked down, but he snarled and flung it open with cyborg-like strength. Or mentally augmented strength, more likely.

Thor waited for Jelena, watching the sky between the buildings and gesturing for her to go first. Hearing the roar of that ship’s engines nearby, she didn’t hesitate to leap down. Thor landed beside her and used his powers to return the manhole cover to its spot with a soft scrape-thud.

Absolute darkness fell upon them, but Jelena could still hear the roar of the ship’s engines. She sensed rather than saw or heard Thor lean against the wall for support. It scared her that he needed that support.

“Are we safe now?” she whispered.

“I don’t know.” He sounded shaken for the first time that she could remember.

Chapter 14

Jelena?

It was Erick’s voice echoing in her mind.

I’m here, she replied from her spot in the dark, leaning against a cool wall next to Thor.

Are you all right?

I very nearly wasn’t, but yes.

Where are you?

Huddling in a dark tunnel with Thor. Somewhere. She’d lost all sense of direction when they’d been running and wasn’t sure if they’d gone toward the water or away from it.

Huddling or cuddling?

I don’t think Thor knows what cuddling is.

That’s a relief. I thought it might be the reason you didn’t answer when Austin commed you.

If he commed just a few minutes ago, we were busy fleeing.

Well, he’s on his way in with the Snapper. Have those missiles been deactivated? And has everything fragile, living, or otherwise important been removed from the landing spot you gave him?

“Shit,” she said. Had the missiles been deactivated? She didn’t know. “Do you know where Hakim is now, Thor? Austin’s coming. We need to—”

“I know.” He brushed her sleeve with his hand and pushed away from the wall.

Jelena didn’t chastise him for eavesdropping—for all she knew, Erick had been including him in the conversation, though perhaps not the part about cuddling.

“I’m telling the prisoners to meet us at a temple on the way out of the city to the north, so we can take them to the landing coordinates you gave Austin,” Thor said. “And I’m hoping that ship doesn’t target the Snapper.”

“I’m hoping Hakim deactivated the missiles so they also don’t target it. Can you get in contact with her?”

“She’s unconscious.” Thor took her arm. “This way.”

“Unconscious?” Jelena walked after him without objecting, trusting him to lead her through the tunnels.

“Yes, I checked on her people when I was contacting the prisoners. They all made it out of the plant before it collapsed, even though some of them had to swim out on the flow from a ruptured tank. As soon as they made it outside, the soldiers tried to round up the prisoners. The prisoners objected. The soldiers lost their cohesiveness on the way out, and the prisoners were able to overpower them. Also, one attacked Hakim—one of the Alliance people, I think. He knocked her out. Her men prioritized pulling her to safety over reacquiring the prisoners.”

Jelena digested that. “So if we can get the prisoners to the Snapper, and the Snapper isn’t blown up by unfriendly fire…”

“We can complete our mission and get paid.”

Get paid. Jelena felt nauseated. It was so shallow to think of that after all this. What would happen when they dropped the prisoners off back in Opuntian territory? The Opuntians could finish their bombing and wipe everyone in the city—maybe on the entire continent—off the face of the planet and out of the history books altogether.

“If you want this to play out a different way, you’ll need to decide soon,” Thor said quietly, guiding her around a corner in the dark.

She kept stumbling over bumps and cracks in the ground. She couldn’t imagine how he could tell where he was going.

“Just use your senses and trust in them like a third eye,” he said.

“I have a hard time using my powers while I’m talking and thinking.”

He paused, and she expected a derisive comment. Instead, he said, “Then stay close, and I’ll guide you.”

“Thank you.” She should be thanking him for ten or twenty other things he’d done over the course of what was starting to feel like a never-ending day, but she could feel emotion welling in the back of her throat and was afraid that if she tried to articulate more, it would all spill over and she would end up crying. What was she supposed to do here? How had a simple attempt to earn some extra money turned into such an insane situation? And how had she come to feel responsible for so damned much? Who was she? No one. An eighteen-year-old no one at that. She wasn’t old enough to decide the fates of nations.

Thor stopped, and she took a deep breath, trying to steady herself, certain he could hear her every jumbled thought. The notion of falling apart in front of a witness shamed her.

“I’m fine,” Jelena said before he could say something, but a slight sniffle escaped, betraying her as certainly as her emotions could.

He surprised her by stepping closer and wrapping his arms around her. Even though she didn’t want to need a hug, her body betrayed her, and she clutched him back. There wasn’t time for falling apart—decisions needed to be made—but she buried her face in his shoulder and squeezed her eyes shut. She refrained from more sniffles—he wouldn’t want snot all over his deadly ninja attire—but she did let tears leak between her lashes. It would have been impossible to stop them.

He rested one hand on the back of her head, and she let herself have this one moment of weakness. In another minute, she would be strong. She would decide what they would do. She would come up with a way to fix everything. Or at least to salvage something.

“All the prisoners are coming to meet us,” Thor said quietly, his mouth not far from her ear.

She felt the whisper of his breath against her skin and grew aware of the warmth of his body through their clothes. She decided she shouldn’t be noticing such things. Otherwise, she would have to answer differently if Erick asked again about cuddling.

“I know,” she said, thinking Thor was hinting that they needed to get going. “I’m ready.”

“Including the Alliance prisoners.”

“Yes…”

“Assuming Austin’s able to land, and we get them boarded, and take off without being shot down, you’ll have time during the trip back across the ocean to talk to them. To convince them. They’re the linchpins in all this.”

Jelena stepped back and wiped her eyes. “That’s a good point.”

“Come on.” He touched her arm, probably pointing off down the tunnel. “We don’t want to risk them being recaptured if we’re not there to meet them.”

“Or being pulverized by someone in a gold ship.”

“I suspect I’m that person’s target.”

“Do you know who it is?”

“No idea.”

“It must be another Alliance assassin.” Jelena wondered if Erick would be willing to talk to Admiral Tomich again and try to ferret out information on who was hunting Thor. Though by now, Tomich could know Thor was traveling with her and Erick, and if that was the case, he wouldn’t be able to offer that information. As it was, she shouldn’t try to finagle it out of him. That could put his career at risk.

“Perhaps,” was all Thor said.

They walked in silence for a few more minutes, the tunnel and the city above now eerily quiet. Then he spoke again.

“I do know what cuddling is.”

Jelena snorted. “Oh, really.”

“Yes. My tutors instructed me on the ways women might use their wiles to try to get close to me for nefarious purposes.” He sniffed. “As if I wouldn’t see in their minds that they had ulterior motives.”

“As if some woman would want to get close to you.” She grinned and swatted his arm.

“It’s happened,” he said, a trifle stiffly.

“Are you sure?” She’d seen the remote, hidden forest base where he’d been receiving his training, and there hadn’t been any female tutors in sight. She doubted he had much more relationship experience than she did. Dr. Dominguez didn’t seem like someone who would let Thor invite random women down to visit.

“It wasn’t there, and it wasn’t a relationship. And she did have nefarious intent.”

“Nefarious? Like wanting to be paid for the hour of time she offered to spend with you?”

“It was for the whole night, and her rates were outrageous.”

“The whole night? Was that her suggestion or yours? You must think highly of your Starseer stamina.”

She imagined she could see him slanting an oblique look at her, even in the darkness.

“You’re awfully worldly on such matters for a girl who still wears unicorn underwear,” Thor said.

“Still? You don’t have to grow out of unicorns, you know. I plan to wear unicorns until I’m a hundred.”

“Given what unicorns symbolize, that will be distressing for your future boyfriends.”

He’d made it clear that he didn’t imagine himself in that role of “future boyfriend,” so she shouldn’t have found the comment unexpected, but it disappointed her to hear the words. Logically, she knew his future was going to be crazy and insane and dangerous—and possibly quite short—and completely at odds with her own goals, so she shouldn’t long for any kind of relationship with him. She couldn’t even imagine that he would stay aboard the Snapper for long. But the disappointment lingered.

Thor stopped under a few pinpricks of light filtering through a manhole cover. He shifted it aside with his mind, and Jelena squinted at the sudden brightness. He sprang up, landing in a crouch in an alley. Spotting a ladder, Jelena hurried up behind him. She couldn’t object to him lifting her into the air with his mind when enemies were shooting at them, but she preferred to get around of her own volition.

“We’re about a half mile from the meeting point I suggested,” Thor said as she joined him. “And a mile from the edge of the city and the landing coordinates you gave Austin.”

Jelena stood up, her staff in hand, and looked up and down the alley. It was abandoned, with rubble blocking one end. Much of the city was likely abandoned by now.

“Can you tell if he’s there yet?” she asked.

“He’s not.”

She considered how much time had passed since her last contact with him. “He should be by now.”

“Yes.”

Trying not to let worry into her heart, she nodded and said, “Let’s go find those prisoners. I’ll comm him along the way.”

Thor glanced skyward several times as they headed for the street. Concerned about that golden ship? Jelena would be, too, especially since whoever was flying it had somehow found Thor’s exact location in a city of tens of thousands.

“For the record…” He glanced at her as they headed up another alley. “My stamina is excellent, whether I apply my Starseer talents or not.”

Remembering him exercising on the Snapper, Jelena didn’t doubt it. “I’m sure your future girlfriends will be pleased to learn that.”

His mouth twisted with a wryness that she couldn’t quite decipher, though she suspected he doubted he would have future girlfriends. Either because they would all approach him with nefarious purposes in mind, or just because he didn’t think he should divert his focus from his goals. Either option seemed depressing.

• • • • •

“Are you sure it’s safe to land?” Austin asked, his concern coming through even though Jelena didn’t have the visual up on her earstar.

“No, but we need you to land anyway. We’re about to have a bunch of prisoners needing a ride back home.”

“I’m not real reassured, Captain. I saw that gold ship again on my sensors just a little while ago. He sure was curious about me earlier.”

“He’s even more curious about Thor. As long as you don’t have him on board, you’re fine.”

“Is Thor coming on board when we land?”

“Yes, but I’ll take over piloting then. You’ll be safe back in the engine room.”

“Captain, when ships get blown out of the sky, the engine room usually goes with them.”

“We’ll worry about that problem when we get to it. Meet you at the landing spot in…” Jelena looked to Thor, who was still leading them through the city to whatever meeting point he’d designated for the prisoners.

“A half hour,” he said.

“Got that, Austin?”

“Yes. I can be there in… twenty-three minutes.”

“Good. I like a punctual pilot.”

Especially considering she and Thor might be spotted leading the prisoners out of the city and chased to the landing spot by soldiers.

Thor took her through a wide street full of smashed market stalls, collapsed tents, and busted barrels of seaweed, fish, and octopuses. Scavenger birds plucked at the smelly remains, but the people who’d been selling the groceries were gone—mostly. A couple of women had been caught by falling debris from the buildings that had lined the street. After checking to see if any of them were alive and could be helped, and finding they weren’t, Jelena avoided looking too closely at the rubble piles.

Movement caught her eye, and she stretched out with her senses, detecting people at the end of the mangled market. One was familiar. The Alliance representative that Hakim had been talking to. Powell. She sensed at least thirty other people there, hiding in the back of a dented cargo truck with flat tires. Judging by the strong scent of fish wafting from it, the vehicle had been used to deliver the market goods.

Thor strode up to the back of the truck and lifted the partially closed roll-up door. A man inside jerked in surprise and pointed a rifle at his chest. Thor knocked it aside with his mind, and the man yelped and jumped back, crashing into one of his fellow prisoners.

“Stop,” Powell said. “It’s the one we’ve been waiting for, the one who’s going to get us home.”

Jelena, who was right behind Thor, grumbled under her breath when she wasn’t identified as someone the prisoners had been waiting for. It was her ship and her plan, after all.

Thor waved for the people to get out. “We need to hurry. There aren’t any tunnels that lead out of the city in the direction we need to go, so the sooner we make our trip, the better.”

Will you be able to keep anyone we encounter from seeing our group? Jelena asked him as the people jumped or climbed out of the truck, many of them bruised—or worse—from that attack on the plant.

I should be able to. If I’m not distracted by other concerns.

Is that ship still out there?

I can’t tell. I couldn’t sense it with my mind until it was on top of us. I don’t know what I’m dealing with, and that’s unusual.

What we’re dealing with. Jelena thumped him on the back as they started out of the market area with the group behind them.

Whoever he is, I’m certain he’s after me.

Oh, I’m certain of that too. But since I’m standing next to you, that makes the ship my problem too.

Jelena smiled, meaning the comment as a joke, but he looked morosely at her.

That is true. As I’ve pointed out before, being the person standing next to me isn’t a good idea. His expression turned thoughtful, and she wished she hadn’t made the comment. He wasn’t thinking of taking off for her own good, was he?

Don’t leave me yet. I need your help to get these people home and to stop a war.

Have you come up with an idea yet?

I’m mulling over options. Once we get these people aboard the Snapper, I want to take Erick and Austin and try to fix the forcefield and find Hakim again.

Shall I point out that it would be easier—and in line with our original promise—if we took off, dropped the prisoners off back in Opuntia, and forgot their war?

Jelena smiled again. No.

Ah.

Thor had to know she wouldn’t do that, or he wouldn’t have pointed out that the Alliance people were among the prisoners and soon to be stuck—trapped—on her ship.

“Soldiers,” someone behind them muttered.

A military truck drove by on a wide boulevard ahead of them, one that had survived the bombing. It soon disappeared from view, but voices drifted around the corner, and Jelena sensed a squadron of troops up there.

“They’re looking for the escaped prisoners,” Thor said, looking back. “But they won’t see you.”

“What?”

“Stay silent and keep following me.”

Jelena walked out onto the boulevard at Thor’s side and grimaced at a squadron of soldiers marching in their direction. There were other smaller groups up and down the street, men pulling injured people out of collapsed buildings and loading them onto trucks. The closer squadron worried Jelena more, and even knowing that Thor could camouflage them, she kept her grip tight on her staff. Some of the soldiers were looking straight at them.

Keep going, Thor said, speaking into her mind, into all of their minds. Some of the prisoners had faltered and looked like they meant to run back. Coercion came with those two words, and everyone hustled forward.

A distant rumble from the sky gave Jelena a new reason to worry. Had the pilot of that gold ship figured out Thor was out in the open again?

He glanced that way, too, but he pointed down the boulevard toward an open gate leading out of the city. The group hurried in that direction, skirting groups of soldiers. Someone tripped and fell down, gasping loudly. Jelena winced, expecting the soldiers to hear the noise. But they kept working, unaware of the thirty-odd people passing within a few meters of them.

As the group closed on the gate, Jelena began to think they would make it, but she winced when she saw all the open land outside of the city. Flat dirt with only a few cactuses here and there to hide behind.

“I told him to land a half mile that way.” Jelena pointed. “Along the coast.”

Thor strode through the gates and headed in the indicated direction while throwing numerous glances toward the sky behind them. The thrum of that engine hadn’t come any closer, but Jelena could still hear it, as if someone was circling over the other side of the city. Circling the area near the water treatment plant, perhaps?

“That’s not the bombers we’re hearing, is it?” someone asked. It was the man Thor had pointed out as being affiliated with the mining corporation.

“It only sounds like one plane,” a woman replied.

One plane? More like one gold spaceship.

Unfortunately, the comment reminded Jelena that bombers had been reported and were on the way. In fact—she tapped her earstar to get a time display—according to Hakim’s aide, they ought to arrive any minute.

“If the spaceship doesn’t get us, the planes will,” she muttered.

“Austin will make it on time.” Thor waved toward the sea, though Jelena didn’t see any ships visible on the horizon. “He’s almost here.”

Jelena’s comm beeped. Austin. Good. Once they got the prisoners on the Snapper, they could raise the freighter’s shields, and be protected from bombers. At least far more than they were out here on the ground.

As she answered the comm, she noticed Thor had picked up his pace to almost a jog. He looked like he wanted to sprint, but there was no ship to sprint to yet, and the wounded prisoners struggled to keep up.

“We’re ready for you, Austin,” Jelena said, hurrying to keep up with him.

“I’m coming in, but, Captain? There are a bunch of airplanes not far behind me, and the gold ship is already there, right on top of the city. I’ve got the shields up, but I think he’s scanning me again, giving me the evil eye.”

“The faster you land and we board, the faster we can get out from under his eye.”

“Yes, Captain.”

As the channel shut, Jelena realized that might not have been the best way to share her urgency with an inexperienced pilot. Now he would be thinking about landing quickly instead of carefully.

“There’s a ship!” someone cried. “Or is it the first bomber?”

Jelena searched the horizon. If Austin didn’t beat those planes here, she would box him in the ears as soon as she got a chance.

Thankfully, the blocky turtle-like shape of the Snapper was flying toward them, visible now in the hazy sky over the ocean.

The comm beeped again, and Jelena answered, prepared to caution Austin to land carefully despite her earlier comment about faster being better. But Erick was the one to speak.

“Masika and I and a friend are out here, Jelena. We can see you.”

“You’re out here?” She peered at the flat brown landscape. “Where?”

“See, Masika? I told you. We can too hide behind a cactus.”

Jelena couldn’t make out the grumbled response, but spotted a black Starseer robe ahead as Erick stepped out from behind a towering cactus with its arms pointing skyward. He waved. Masika and a third person in yellow and brown robes stepped out too.

“Who’s your friend?” she asked, her heart lighter now that her entire team was about to be reunited.

“Dr. Ogiwara.”

“She came with you?”

“Not voluntarily. Masika had no faith in my ability to get us out of the underground hospital there. She felt certain we needed a hostage to get past the soldiers.”

“I was kidnapped,” came a woman’s growl, probably over Erick’s shoulder.

“It’s not a good idea to kidnap people,” Jelena said.

There went Thor’s idea of somehow trading or negotiating for the doctor’s services on their ship.

“Now, now, Jelena. Don’t you think it’s hypocritical of you to lecture us on the foolishness of kidnapping people?”

“Just—”

A roar of engines from behind made Jelena whirl. The gold ship came into view over the wall of the city. She cursed, at first thinking it was flying toward them and would strafe the ground, but it was flying out to sea. Toward the Snapper.

Erick cursed too. “Austin better have the shields up. I’ll tell him.”

“He said they’re up.”

Jelena slowed down as Erick, Masika, and their reluctant captive ran toward her group. They’d reached the coordinates, and the Snapper was heading straight toward them. Unfortunately, the spaceship would intercept it.

“Is there anything you can do to help?” Jelena asked Thor, even as she groped for something she might do. She imagined dolphins leaping out of the water to attack the spaceship, but snorted at the ridiculous idea. Even if the craft hadn’t been shielded and animals could have done something to it, it was hundreds of feet above the ocean.

Thor shook his head. “I can see it with my eyes, but still can’t sense it. Can you?”

Jelena tried to scan the ship, to see how many people were inside, but it was as Thor said. As far as her mind could tell, the ship wasn’t there at all.

It fired, powerful e-cannons blasting. Jelena winced as they slammed into the Snapper’s shields at close range.

She was certain Austin only wanted to land as quickly as possible, but he attempted some clumsy evasive maneuvers. He didn’t loop or bank, merely moved the ship up and down, as if it were on a one-grav rollercoaster. The gold ship easily kept up with it and fired again.

Jelena clenched her fists, wishing there were a way to teleport herself into NavCom so she could take the helm.

The Snapper loosed an e-cannon blast of its own from its rear cannon, but it flew so wide that Fourseas’ moon was in more danger of being hit than the enemy ship.

“He’s coming in too fast,” Thor said.

The shields seemed to still be up, but Austin was coming in as if the ship were damaged, as if he would crash into the cliffs instead of landing atop them.

“Is that pilot drunk?” someone asked.

“Is that our damned escape ship?” Powell clenched a fist and turned toward Thor, as if he wanted to punch him.

Jelena couldn’t take her eyes from the ship. If Austin wrecked the Snapper, the ship her family had only had in its possession for eight weeks, the ship that was still a long, long way from being paid off…

She lifted her comm. “Pull up on the nose, Austin.”

He did, and the turtle’s head rose slightly. Was it enough? She held her breath as he came in.

The bottom of the freighter’s shields bumped against the edge of the cliff, jolting the Snapper and causing rock to shear off and crumble into the sea. The ship bounced into the air as it continued toward them, struck the ground, then bounced again, like a rock skipping across a pond. Jelena wanted to cover her eyes, but she also couldn’t tear her gaze away. At least the shields were still up, and it wasn’t the hull that was smashing into the ground over and over.

The Snapper scraped and ground to a halt surprisingly close to her group.

“Run,” Thor barked, pointing at the cargo hatch, then also at the gold ship.

Their enemy had backed off slightly, maybe waiting to see if the Snapper destroyed itself during the crash.

“Shields are down,” Austin blurted over the comm, his voice so loud it hurt Jelena’s ear.

“Good,” she said, running after Thor. “Want to open the hatch too?”

“Shit! Where’s the button!”

The gold ship didn’t wait long. It zipped toward the Snapper, the two e-cannon ports in front flaring hot, angry white.

The cargo hatch opened, and the ramp lowered. Jelena didn’t know whether Austin had found the button in NavCom, or Thor or Erick had pushed it with his mind. She didn’t care. She raced for the opening, shooing injured people ahead of her.

The gold ship filled the sky. Jelena ran past the prisoners, telling herself it wasn’t cowardly to ensure her own safety. She had to get inside. Someone who knew how to fly had to get the ship off the ground as soon as everyone was aboard.

Just as she reached the ramp, something like a wall of wind came up behind her. Her feet left the ground, and she flew through the air. At first, she thought one of the e-cannons had struck behind her, and this was the shockwave, but her senses recognized Starseer power being used. She tumbled into other airborne people in a tangled mess, limbs thudding against limbs, but everyone flew through the hatchway at top speed.

Before she landed on the deck, the gold ship fired another e-cannon. It was so close, she heard the ominous thwump and felt the crackle of energy in the air. She squinted her eyes shut as she hit the deck, expecting the devastating power to blast into her unshielded ship.

The jolt did go through the Snapper, and she felt it lift off the ground and slam back down, but she immediately knew those cannon blasts hadn’t struck with full power. Thor must have protected them somehow. Thank the suns. Thank him.

“Shields, Austin!” she roared, finding her feet and sprinting toward NavCom. “Get everyone in and close that hatch,” she yelled back over her shoulder, barely making sure Thor, Erick, and Masika were inside before flinging herself into the short corridor that led up front.

Alfie barked and ran toward her from the cabins. Jelena wanted to take the time to hug and comfort the dog, but all she could do was send a brief mental greeting and tell her that their reunion would have to wait.

She leaped through the hatchway into NavCom.

Austin jumped out of the seat as if he’d been stung. “Shields are up, but he’s right on top of us. He—”

The deck heaved as a blast slammed into the ship. The shields were up, but they were a sitting target. Jelena flung herself into the pilot’s seat, not bothering with the harness. The thrusters were still hot, and with a touch, she took them roaring into the air.

“Hang on for a bumpy ride,” she yelled over her shoulder, not bothering to use the intercom.

Something snapped deep within the bowels of the ship.

“Go help your brother in engineering,” she ordered the terrified Austin. “Please. Thank you.”

She wheeled and banked as soon as the Snapper was high enough off the ground to do so. For a second, the city gates came into sight on the view screen, and she spotted Hakim with a bunch of armed soldiers. They looked like they had been running out to retrieve their prisoners, but now, they were staring at the ships skirmishing in the air. Jelena thought she caught a betrayed expression on Hakim’s face as the Snapper spun away. She thought about making some telepathic contact, maybe apologizing and saying she would come back to help with the forcefield when she could, but another e-cannon blast slammed into the freighter, giving her other things to think about. The shield-integrity indicator flashed, and she groaned. They were already down to thirty percent.

“I need someone in the turret,” she yelled, remembering to hit the comm button this time.

On my way, Thor replied in her mind. Erick and Austin are in engineering. There’s smoke wafting out of there.

I’ll keep our topside to him to give you plenty of opportunities to aim at him. Jelena maneuvered the ship, trying to do exactly that.

Their enemy wasn’t going to make it easy; she could tell right away. He looped and twisted like a natural, and there was nothing predictable about his movements. Jelena gave up on trying to sweep in behind him—he was too fast and agile for her to get close—and did her best to keep him in sight of the star cannon in the turret. A thrum of satisfaction went through her when Thor fired and one of their own sizzling blasts tore through the air, catching the enemy ship’s wing. Unfortunately, his shields absorbed the blow easily. The gold ship was probably at ninety percent shield power to her thirty. No, twenty-five now. Damn it.

“Let’s get some more power to the shields, engineering,” she said over the comm, struggling to maintain a calm tone even as she zigzagged to avoid more fire.

Now that she was in the air, Jelena could do more to evade the enemy attacks, but the pilot anticipated her direction almost every time she banked or dove. It was uncanny how effectively he did that, and she started to wonder if he—or she, for all Jelena knew—was a Starseer. But if Jelena and Thor couldn’t sense their foe through the hull of that ship, how could their foe sense them?

“Can’t get you much,” Erick said grimly. “The ship has taken some big hits already. Those are state-of-the-art weapons he’s got over there.”

Thor fired from the turret, once again striking the enemy. Jelena was glad he was able to hit that ship. The pilot either couldn’t read him the way he seemed to read Jelena, or he was too busy trying to destroy the Snapper to worry about his own defenses. Maybe he figured he could get them down before he lost his own shields, so he didn’t need to worry. Unfortunately, he might be right.

One of the enemy’s e-cannon blasts streaked past on the port side, glancing off the shields as Jelena threw them into a roll. The energy ricocheted into the water of the city’s harbor, sending up a huge spray of water. She straightened the Snapper and flew out over the ocean. The city had enough trouble without worrying about more damage from a dogfight over their heads.

“We’re at twenty percent power,” she told Erick and Thor. “He’s barely hurt. We need some brilliance. We need—”

A beep came from the sensors, alerting her to more ships coming into the area. No, not ships. Airplanes. The Opuntian bombers.

“That is not what we need,” she groaned.

Would they ignore the battle taking place in front of the city in favor of bombing their target? Or would they side with the gold ship? Was there any chance she could get them to align with her? As far as the Opuntians were aware, her team was working for them, right? And she did have their POWs on board.

Jelena reached for the comm, even as she spun the Snapper away from their dogged foe, trying again to give Thor line of sight from the turret. Then her hand froze. Wait, why ask for help?

Thor? Are those human pilots in those bombers?

Yes. He answered so quickly that she was sure he’d already checked. Did he have the same thing in mind?

Can you get them to join our side?

Working on it.

Thor loosed another star cannon blast. This time, the gold ship dove toward the water in time to avoid it. The enemy had figured out that the Snapper’s firepower was coming from the top half of the craft, and he was doing a good job of staying in its shadow.

“Yeah, stay in the shadow of this, asshole.” Jelena leaned toward the co-pilot’s seat, flying one-handed while she hammered at the controls for the forward blazer banks.

Even though she hadn’t used them yet, the gold ship almost got out of the way in time, as if the pilot somehow anticipated that attack, just as he was anticipating everything else she did. But the ocean got in the way of his dive, and he had to pull up to avoid hitting the water. Several of the blazer bolts slapped against his shields. She wished they’d take down his shields and that he would show her his bare, vulnerable belly.

He’s too good to be human, Thor told her. Or at least to be only human.

I thought he might be another Starseer.

If so, I haven’t felt him using his power.

Because we can’t feel him at all, right? Do we think the ship is shielding him from us somehow?

I’m not aware of material that can do that, but it’s true that Starseer toolmakers can shield objects so that other Starseers can’t detect them. I’ve only heard of that being done with inanimate objects, though, and I—look out.

Jelena had been flying parallel with the ocean, but she lifted the Snapper’s nose abruptly for a loop, aware of the enemy trying to come at her belly from underneath. He fired, but the e-cannon blasts skimmed past. Did Thor have some of the enemy’s uncanny knack for anticipation? Maybe Jelena just wasn’t as good at reading enemies as she should be. Mom, with all her combat flying experience, had the ability to pull through any battle.

As the Snapper flowed out of the loop, the proximity alarm beeped. Jelena jerked the freighter to the side. She’d been paying attention to the gold ship, but had lost track of the bombers. They were heading straight toward her.

No, they’re coming to help. Pull up again.

She did so, and the bombers passed through the air she’d occupied, angling toward the gold ship. For once, the pilot there seemed surprised, and he didn’t react quickly enough. Four of the eight ships that had come to bomb the city opened up on him.

Jelena almost groaned. They were using machine gun fire. She’d been hoping for blazers and e-cannons.

On airplanes that look like they were imported from Old Earth? Thor asked dryly into her mind.

They sure seemed dangerous when they were bombing the city over our heads.

That’s primarily what they were designed to do, but look, they’re flustering our friend. Take advantage.

I really don’t think it’s the job of the gunner to give the captain orders. Despite her comment, Jelena did exactly as he suggested.

She banked hard, bringing the Snapper back around as the gold ship struggled to escape from the swarm of airplanes all around him. Bullets pinged off his shields. She hoped they were doing some damage.

She lined up the Snapper and flew straight toward him. Finally, she had him directly in her sights. She leaned to the side and hammered at the blazer controls. The crimson beams streaked away at the same time as Thor fired the star cannon.

The pilot of the enemy ship realized he was in trouble and pulled up, knocking one of the airplanes aside with his shields. But he wasn’t fast enough. The Snapper’s weapons tore into him. Thor fired again and again. Jelena glanced at the sensors, hoping they would show the enemy’s shields faltering.

But the gold ship escaped the pack of bombers, and instead of fleeing out to sea or up into space, it turned toward the Snapper. Jelena dove to get out of the way while making sure the enemy would still be in Thor’s sights. The bombers wheeled and gave chase. Thor fired the star cannon, but the gold ship also fired. Jelena tried to dodge, but they were too close. There wasn’t enough time. The e-cannon blast slammed into the top shields.

An alarm wailed in NavCom, and the Snapper shuddered. The controls responded slowly, jerkily, and Jelena feared they would plummet into the ocean.

“Shields are down,” Erick’s voice came over the comm. As if she didn’t know.

I got him, Thor announced calmly.

The sensors showed the enemy’s shields down, and on one of the rear cameras, Jelena glimpsed smoke drifting behind the craft.

She tried to bring the Snapper around to give chase. Whoever this enemy was, odds were he would repair his ship and come after Thor again—and again and again—if he was permitted to do so. She wanted to take him down while they could.

But another shudder coursed through the Snapper. Jelena was able to get the nose up so they weren’t in danger of taking a swim, but as the gold ship flew inland, heading farther and farther away, she realized she wouldn’t be able to catch up.

Feeling defeated, she headed for the spot north of Dry Wash where Austin had landed.

We’ll have to deal with Hakim’s people if we plop down next to their city again, Thor told her.

I’m aware of that. Jelena hit the ship-wide comm. “Ostberg, we’re setting down. How long will you need for repairs?” Silently, she added, Say at least twenty-four hours, Erick.

Er? The steering stabilizer is loose, but that won’t take long to fix. Two hours, maybe three. We could probably fly across the ocean now if you didn’t want to do anything except go in a straight line.

Say twenty-four. Out loud, please.

“Twenty-four hours,” Erick replied over the comm.

“Thank you, engineer. We’ll do our best to deal with the Chollans and keep our prisoners from being recaptured.”

Jelena hadn’t taken the time to close the hatch to NavCom, so she heard the groans and irritated voices drifting forward from the cargo hold. It was to be expected. As long as they didn’t figure out she was intentionally keeping them here.

Erick? Do you think Austin can handle the repairs?

Probably. Why? You want to give me the night off so I can log into Striker Odyssey and let my crewmates know I haven’t died?

As if you could actually get enough bandwidth here to do anything.

I could at least tell them to put me on the list for the next big raid. They get concerned if you miss a week, you know.

I’m afraid you’ll have to miss another day or two. I need you to fix an antiquated and damaged forcefield generator.

This is the forcefield generator for which there are no spare parts?

Correct. You’ll have to use your engineering ingenuity.

More like knives and sticks—have you seen the resources these people have?

Yes, and it’ll be all the more impressive when you fix their machinery in such primitive conditions. Maybe they’ll give you a medal.

I doubt it. Look out a porthole. I believe that’s their war leader out there, glaring at us and having murderous thoughts.

I’ll deal with her. Jelena reached out to find Thor—he’d come down from the turret and was heading her way. Thor? Are those bombers going to be a problem as soon as you’re not influencing them anymore?

She checked the sensors, worried he’d already left the airplanes to their own devices.

They will be, yes. I convinced them to head back to Opuntia, but it won’t take long for my influence to fade and for them to wonder what they were doing and why they’ve turned back. I’d guess we might have an hour.

Jelena locked down the ship and jumped to her feet. That wasn’t long for Erick to fix something using sticks and knives. Especially since they would have to talk Hakim out of shooting them first.

Chapter 15

Hakim and her soldiers were still waiting at the gate. She was talking on a bulky handheld comm device, maybe getting updates on what those bombers were doing, but she lowered it to glare as Jelena, Thor, and Erick approached. They had left Masika in the ship to keep an eye on the prisoners and also the doctor. Jelena had expected Ogiwara to want to leave right away, but since many of the prisoners were injured, she’d said she would stay long enough to treat them. Austin was fixing the steering. Jelena hoped the Snapper didn’t need spare parts, because it was a foregone conclusion that they wouldn’t find them here. She also hoped the gold ship needed longer to do repairs than this little adventure would take.

“I’ve brought my brilliant engineer who’s experienced with imperial technology,” Jelena said, walking up and spreading her arms in the friendliest gesture she could manage.

Is that me? Erick asked.

Before Jelena could respond, ten out of the eleven soldiers waiting with Hakim lifted their rifles and pointed them at her. The eleventh probably would have, too, but he’d lost his firearm. He rested a hand on a knife hilt instead.

Thor flicked a finger, and the ten rifles lowered simultaneously, the muzzles pointing harmlessly at the ground. Some of the soldiers scowled, and others wore vacant expressions.

Hakim hadn’t tried to raise a weapon at them, but she joined in with the scowling.

Jelena met her eyes. “We could have left.”

“Your ship is damaged.” Hakim’s aide flung a hand toward it.

“Not that damaged.” Jelena kept her eyes on Hakim. She was the one person who’d asked her name and seemed to think she could be just as useful as Thor. “We want to help you get your forcefield up, and then I want to share an idea with you.”

Hakim looked toward the ocean and then to Thor. “The bombers will be back, I assume?”

“Soon, yes.”

Hakim sighed, and for a second, her utter weariness was visible under the seasoned-soldier facade. “Come then. Let’s see if your engineer knows anything about old imperial technology.” She appeared more defeated than hopeful when she considered Erick, and Jelena sensed the war leader felt she had been duped. “I won’t point out that he looks like he was in diapers the last time the empire patrolled this part of the system.”

“I was thirteen when the empire fell,” Erick blurted, as if that would impress her.

“Which means he’d been out of diapers for almost three years,” Jelena said, deciding not to point out that she and Thor were younger than Erick.

“Ha ha,” Erick said.

I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t bring Austin, Jelena told him silently.

Maybe I should grow a beard. Would that make me look older?

It depends, Jelena replied as Hakim shook her head and led the way back into the city. Will you be wearing your spaceships and asteroids pajamas at the same time?

They’re comfortable, unicorn-undies girl.

I’m amazed you found pajamas like that in your size.

My grandmother made them. She can make anything. She runs a tailoring and alterations shop back home.

Maybe I can have her make me some suitably perky drapes for the porthole in my cabin.

You better worry about the existing decor first. Austin asked me if you were going to be mad because his landing knocked most of the pony posters off your walls.

Jelena rubbed her eyes. She hadn’t had time to visit her cabin yet. Maybe that was a good thing.

I told him that you’d be too busy wondering what he’d been doing looking in your cabin to be mad about poster dishevelment.

Jelena lowered her hand. What was he doing in my cabin?

Looking for ghosts, he assures me.

She squinted at him.

He may have decided he’s attracted to you.

Thus creating the need to snoop in my cabin? Do I need to put a lock on my underwear drawer?

I don’t know. If he sees the unicorns, he may decide you’re not mature enough for him and leave you alone.

Lovely.

There are a lot of soldiers patrolling the city, Thor told them, not commenting on underwear or maturity. Soldiers who seem to be looking for someone.

Not us? Jelena asked, stifling a yawn. The suns had disappeared below the horizon, and twilight was descending on Dry Wash, but she felt it should be midnight by now. It seemed ages since she’d been startled awake in the submarine. Maybe Fourseas had particularly long days. She hadn’t thought to check when they’d been researching it.

Presumably not, since we’ve been found.

Up ahead, Hakim murmured something into her comm.

Ah, Thor added. They haven’t yet found the team that originally brought down the forcefield generator.

I’m sure we can handle them if we run into them. Jelena waved to include Erick and Thor, as well as Hakim and her ten soldiers. They passed even more soldiers, men and women using lanterns now to continue searching for injured people trapped in collapsed buildings.

If we engage with that team, they may report back to the Opuntians that we’re working with the Chollans.

Jelena shrugged, doubting that information would matter once she started her negotiations with the Alliance representatives. Whether she succeeded or failed with her plan, she doubted they would recommend to War Minister Sorel that she be paid.

Hakim led them to a truck and waved toward the back. “Phillips will take us as close as we can get to the building.”

Surprisingly, she climbed into the back with the rest of them. As the truck started up—on the fourth try—Hakim sat on the wood bench across from Jelena.

“You originally came here to retrieve the prisoners?” Hakim asked, again choosing Jelena as the leader, or at least the person at whom to direct her questions.

“Yes.” Jelena saw little point in withholding information now.

“Sorel reached out to the Starseers for help because his own people couldn’t handle the retrieval?”

“Actually, he reached out to mercenaries in general.”

It was too dark in the back of the truck to read facial expressions, but Jelena sensed Hakim’s surprise before she spoke. “You’re mercenaries?”

Jelena debated whether to tell the truth or to try to pass themselves off as hardened mercs. Thor might pass, but she and Erick? Not that it mattered that much now what Hakim thought.

“We run freight, actually. We needed to make some extra money to pay off a debt.”

“Run freight?” That seemed to surprise Hakim even more than the suggestion that they were mercenaries. “I thought—I guess the stories led us all to believe that Starseers sit in temples in their reclusive communities and spend a lot of time meditating and moving things around with their minds.”

“Thorian meditates a lot,” Erick offered.

“Erick sits in his cabin reclusively and plays holo games,” Jelena said. That definitely ought to change Hakim’s image of Starseers. Maybe she should share that Erick was usually in his pajamas when he played, with rumpled clothes in piles all over the deck and empty FizzBurst cans stacked into castles on the desk.

“Why did Sorel hire mercenaries for the rescue when he sent his own team to take down our generator?” Hakim asked, grunting as the truck bumped down a rubble-filled street.

“We may have been the expendable diversion,” Jelena said. “We noticed your people were waiting for us when our submarine got close to your continent.”

“Hm, yes, we received a tip from an informant about that.”

“And no tips about the—”

Thor stood up abruptly, jerking a hand up. “There are men in combat armor paralleling us.”

“Combat armor?” one of the soldiers whispered wistfully.

“How far from the generator building are we, Phillips?” Hakim called up.

“A few blocks.”

“Attack coming,” Thor barked. “Get out!”

He followed his own order, leaping past Jelena and springing out of the truck. He disappeared into the shadows before she’d even stood up.

“They’re surrounding us,” Erick said. “I think they have grenades.”

“Out, out,” Hakim said, waving to the men who’d hesitated at Thor’s order.

Jelena hurried to leap out of the truck before being trampled by the soldiers. Erick landed beside her and pointed toward an alley between two buildings, one still intact and one merely a shell. She glimpsed movement at the other end of the alley and raised her staff.

“They’re going to target the truck,” Erick whispered, then raced toward the alley.

Jelena went with him, trusting that Thor, wherever he’d gone, could handle working by himself. She sensed Erick raising a barrier across the alley. Two men in combat armor pounded toward it, one carrying a rifle and the other a grenade launcher. Jelena didn’t have to see anything else to know these people were better armed than any of the Chollans. Better armed than most of the Opuntians she’d seen too. She wondered if they were mercenaries rather than natives of the planet, but that was all she had time to wonder before a thunderous roar came from behind them.

Jelena didn’t let herself turn away from the men approaching through the alley, but she glanced over her shoulder as the flames of an explosion shot out from under the truck. The vehicle itself was launched into the air and landed on its side several meters away. Someone cried out in pain.

She would have taken a step in that direction to try to help, but the two armored men ran into Erick’s barrier, pulling her attention back. They bounced off it, but weren’t thwarted for long. They fired at him and sprang into the air, both landing on the roof of the intact building. Their blazer bolts—these men definitely weren’t using bullets—ricocheted off Erick’s barrier and bounced back down the alley.

The men sprang off the roof, trying to come down behind Erick and Jelena. She created her own separate barrier above them, and then, since the two men would have landed on it, she thrust it upward, hitting them with a powerful counterforce. She sensed their surprise as they were hurled across the street, over the now-burning truck and into buildings on the opposite side.

By now, weapons fire had opened up all around Jelena, the bangs of the locals’ rifles mingling with the squeals of blazer fire. White and red beams lit up the night. Hakim’s people were gathered in two alleys, keeping their backs to the walls for cover as the armored soldiers circled around them, striding around impudently, knowing they were impervious to bullets.

But they weren’t impervious to Thor, his mental powers, or that Starseer-crafted sword of his. He’d flicked the weapon out to its full length, and he was running openly in the street, leaping to engage any soldier who was foolish enough to step into his path. Speaking of impudence…

I’m trying to clear the way to the generator building, he informed her blandly as he sprang for an enemy shooting at him from a doorway. These men killed the people working on the generator earlier today, and they intend to keep anyone else from getting in to fix it.

The two men who’d attacked Jelena and Erick regained their feet and sprinted back toward them, so she didn’t answer. Erick shifted his barrier around to block them, and they bounced back again. They paused, the flames from the truck highlighting their suits of armor. One orange-colored and one silver, they were not uniform in any manner. The men fired, this time holding their triggers down to pour sustained blasts into Erick’s barrier.

“Those two seem determined to get us,” he growled, his voice taut with concentration.

Jelena threw a blast of energy at the men from the side, trying to knock their rifles away. One was startled and let go. The other tightened his grip and kept hold of his, but his finger slipped off the trigger.

“Charge them,” Jelena ordered, hearing one of Hakim’s people cry out in the alley. She and Erick couldn’t simply defend themselves. They had to take some of their attackers down.

As Erick lowered his barrier, Jelena raced toward the men with her staff in hand, her Starseer robe flapping about her ankles. The man pointed his rifle toward her chest, but she batted at it with her mind. Again, he kept hold of it, but her power made his aim falter. The runes on her staff flared to life, and that startled him for a second, long enough for her to reach him.

She feinted toward his chest with the tip of her staff. He reacted quickly, speed enhanced by his armor, and almost knocked her weapon out of her hands, even though she’d already been withdrawing it and swinging for his hip. He whipped his rifle across to block the blow. This time, their weapons touched, and she poured mental energy into her staff. Lightning sprang from the contact point, branching and streaking up his rifle. Unfortunately, he hadn’t held his weapon there for more than an instant, and though surprise jolted him, he didn’t experience much pain. He stepped closer to Jelena, swinging the butt of the rifle toward her unprotected head.

Jelena ducked and scrambled back. He would have caught her, his speed greater than hers, but she flung an image into his mind, one of her old standbys: a dog springing at him from the side, lunging for his throat.

Had he paused to think, he would have realized his armor would save him from fangs if there truly were a dog, but he instinctively glanced to his left. It only gave Jelena an instant, but that was enough. She jabbed him in the side with her staff and pressed it there, ensuring there was time for the power to flow from the tip and into his armor.

Blue branches of lightning streaked out and wrapped around him. He stumbled back, trying to bring his rifle to bear, but she stayed with him, keeping the staff pressed against his armor. The air filled with the stench of something burning. She wasn’t sure if it came from the truck or his armor, but he finally dropped to the ground and rolled away from her, putting distance between himself and her staff.

She jumped after him, knowing he still had plenty of fight in him and wanting to put him—or at least his armor—out of commission.

But a dark shape came up from behind the man, reaching him first. Thor swung his sword down from overhead, the enhanced blade gleaming blue in the night. The soldier glimpsed him and tried to roll to the side, but Thor compensated and slashed down into his chest piece. A startled gasp came from the man as armor he’d thought was impervious to any weapon in this city was cut open like a fish being filleted. Again, he tried to roll to the side, but Thor was just as quick as he was and stomped a boot down onto his shoulder, halting his foe. He shifted his grip on his hilt and drove the tip of the sword into his foe’s exposed chest. The man spasmed, his hands coming up to snatch at the blade, but Thor pulled it out too quickly. And it was too late, regardless.

“This way,” Thor said, jerking his head toward the front of the truck. “You need to figure out a way to finish off armored opponents more quickly.”

“Thanks for the tip,” Jelena grumbled, following him.

Erick jumped over his own fallen foe, the man not moving, and joined them. She’d have to ask him how he’d finished off his man so quickly, since he also had a staff and not some crazy powerful sword. Leonidas had always told her to attack armored men’s minds, since the mind was the one target that armor couldn’t protect, but she struggled to use her mental powers to inflict pain.

“This way,” Thor called, waving to Hakim and her soldiers in the alley, then pointing his glowing sword down the street.

Jelena thought they might hesitate, seeing him as some strange, scary figure in black, with blood dripping from his blade. But they must have believed he was on their side, for they ran out of hiding as one, though two men had to be carried by their comrades. Hakim had acquired two pistols, but she wore a worried, frustrated expression as she glanced at the smoldering truck, flames still spitting from its interior. Jelena suspected most of the downed men in the street had been a result of Thor’s work rather than that of her people.

“Get this man out from under here,” she ordered her soldiers, pointing at the person Jelena had heard scream when caught under the falling truck.

He was lucky the flames weren’t on that side and affecting him yet, but he had enough to worry about as it was. His legs were pinned, and Jelena could feel his pain as he shoved ineffectively at the vehicle. Four soldiers surged to either side of him, squatting and trying to push the truck off him. Erick lent his mental power to the effort, pushing the vehicle upward. Thor stood apart, peering into the gloom to either side of the street. Jelena sensed more armored men out there in the streets paralleling theirs.

Two soldiers dragged the pinned man out from under the truck, and one hoisted him over his shoulder.

“We’ll find you a doctor soon, Jin,” he promised.

“Can’t wait,” the man gasped, his legs not moving.

Jelena wondered if they would ever move again, given the medical equipment available here. She couldn’t help but feel bleak all over again at the pain and despair radiating from these people. After this, she wanted to take a trip to somewhere cheerful, a place where people had reasons to be happy. Was there any chance this world could be turned into such a place in the future?

Nobody spoke as Thor led the group toward the building at the end of the street—what remained of it. One side stood, but Jelena faltered when she caught sight of the collapsed half, rubble piles where walls had once been. The rest of the walls, and the roof over the remaining half, looked like they could tumble down at any second. If the generator inside was in as bad of shape as the rest of the structure, it would take a lot more than an engineer and a few spare parts to get it working again.

“War Leader Hakim?” a voice crackled over a comm.

“Here,” Hakim answered tersely.

“We’ve got the bombers back on our radar. They’ll be here in a few minutes.”

“Minutes?” Jelena exchanged looks with Erick. “How fast can you work?”

“With sticks and knives? I’m a wizard.” Erick started for the front of the building, but tossed back a, “Make sure Thor bounces away any bombs that might drop on our heads.” He paused at the front entrance and looked toward a giant hole in the wall a few meters down. Debating which was the better way to enter? “There are people in here,” he called to Hakim.

Hakim looked to her beleaguered troops—most of them were carrying or supporting injured men—and then to Thor.

“I believe they’re on your side,” Thor said to Hakim, and strode toward the building, choosing the giant hole over the door.

Jelena followed him, lifting her staff when a figure stepped out of the shadows and into view. It was a child, too small to be a threat.

“You’re back!” she cried, her voice familiar.

“Hoshi?” Jelena asked. Why wasn’t that girl ever someplace safe?

Hoshi ran out through the hole, heading not for Jelena but to Erick. “Where’s my sister?” She gripped his robe. “Is she all right?”

Jelena winced, remembering Masika and Erick saying they’d used the doctor as a hostage in order to escape. That must have left Hoshi feeling scared and betrayed.

“No, I understand why you did it,” Hoshi said, gazing up at Erick. Had he spoken to her telepathically? “But where is she now?”

“She’s on our ship and safe,” Jelena said, glad she didn’t have to lie to the girl. Ogiwara was safer than the rest of them—Austin would simply raise the Snapper’s shields when the bombers approached. Assuming there’d been time for the shields to regenerate power. And assuming the bombers didn’t all target the freighter. She suddenly doubted herself and whether those were safe assumptions to make. What if the airplane pilots, realizing that Thor had manipulated them and believing he would be aboard the Snapper, all rushed the ship and dropped everything they had on it?

“Jelena will explain.” Erick patted Hoshi on the shoulder and moved past her. “War Leader Hakim—you better take me to the generator.”

“This way.” Hakim, who waved impatiently from the doorway, clearly had that in mind. She looked like she had been thinking of grabbing Erick and throwing him over her shoulder.

Actually, she didn’t think she was strong enough for that, Thor informed Jelena. But she was thinking of grabbing him by the collar and dragging him into the building on his back if necessary.

Oh, does that take less strength than an over-the-shoulder carry?

Thor came to stand next to Jelena and Hoshi. I don’t know. We’d have to set up a test to compare.

“That’s a Starseer artifact, isn’t it?” Hoshi whispered, staring at Thor’s sword. It had stopped glowing, and to Jelena’s eyes, didn’t look like much more than the katana it emulated in shape, especially in the dark when the runes weren’t visible.

“Yes.” Thor withdrew a kerchief, wiped the blade, then held it up. It started glowing.

Hoshi did not seem surprised, nor did she seem worried in the least standing between Jelena and Thor. Jelena had expected tears of worry and betrayal after Erick’s kidnapping of her sister.

“You’re going to save us, aren’t you?” Hoshi looked from the sword to Thor and then to Jelena. “I knew it. You’re going to stop the war.”

“We can’t promise that,” Jelena said.

Thor touched Jelena’s arm. “Those armored men are still out there. I’m going to… patrol.”

Jelena arched her eyebrows at the pause. Did that mean he intended to fight them? To pick them off one at a time? The notion of him deliberately stalking and killing people chilled her, as thoughts of assassination always did, but could she complain when those men were part of the same unit that had blown up the forcefield generator? Not to mention the truck her team had been riding in.

Thor jogged into the shadows, not waiting for her agreement or approval.

“I know you can save us.” Hoshi tugged at Jelena’s sleeve. “You helped Arthur find his dog. And you helped that other dog!”

“What? How do you know about that?”

Had Hoshi run into the boy in the tunnels?

“I know lots.” Hoshi twirled and pointed at the doorway. “We should go inside. It’s not safe out here.” She peered toward the collapsed buildings all around the area and others still standing, their windows dark.

Jelena sensed people in them, people who’d refused to leave their homes when they’d been warned to hide in the tunnels. A couple of scared dogs hunkered in an alley, and she was tempted to call them over, but for what? She didn’t have any treats to offer this time.

She also sensed Thor on the hunt, but she drew her mind back from that. He always seemed dark and cold when he was in that mode. Chilling.

“Inside wouldn’t be a bad idea,” Jelena said, glancing toward the sky as they walked into the building. The first stars had come out, and she thought she heard the faint rumble of engines over the roar of the ocean. “Erick may need our help.”

“He will,” Hoshi said with odd certainty.

Chapter 16

A few oil lanterns burned in the remains of the large warehouse-like building with the destroyed roof open to the stars on one side. On the other side, Erick crouched next to a machine with the panels pulled off. The generator presumably. Jelena felt heartened that it didn’t look to be in that bad of shape. She wondered why the armored men outside hadn’t come in and blown the thing to pieces. Admittedly, there were some holes in the panels that remained up. Someone had been shooting at it. A big thick panel lay on the floor next to Erick, even more riddled with holes. It looked like it had been leaning against the generator, perhaps to shield it, until he’d moved it.

A few more dusty machines hunkered against the wall behind Erick, but the packed-earth floor was open all around him. Surprised Hakim was standing by the doorway instead of looming over his shoulder, Jelena started toward Erick. But she paused, spotting an armored man unmoving on the floor partway to the generator. His leg was twisted at an unlikely angle, especially since his armor should have protected him from breaking or dislocating anything. Soot darkened the front half of his suit. She checked him with her senses. He was dead.

“Stay over there,” Erick said, not looking up. He’d retained his toolbox in the chaos, and it rested next to him, the lid open. “There are homemade land mines buried in the floor all around the generator.”

He waved toward a crater a few feet from the dead man. Jelena hadn’t noticed it. Even if she had, she would have assumed the bombings had been responsible for it. A black substance darkened the earth around the rim.

“Homemade?” she asked.

“I can barely sense them—if not for that fellow, I might have stepped right on one. They’re mostly sacks of gunpowder with tiny detonation mechanisms. Given the rubble and bits of broken machinery all over the floor of the warehouse, it would be a pain in the ass to locate them all, even with Starseer senses.”

Hakim left her soldiers attending to each other’s wounds near the doorway and joined Jelena, careful to follow in her footsteps and not walk out any farther. Jelena grimaced, looking back the way she had come and wondering if she’d risked blowing herself up without knowing it.

“I stopped you before you came into the field,” Erick said, then added in a low voice, “I think.”

“They did a good job disguising them,” Hakim said, nodding toward the packed-earth floor, “especially since they must have been pressed for time, maybe under attack even as they handled the explosives.”

“They who?” Jelena started to set her staff on the ground, but decided to hold it horizontally in her hand instead. Now, she was afraid to even shift her weight. “Didn’t you have people out here working on the generator this afternoon?”

“Yes.” Hakim pointed to a body in the shadows on the opposite side of the generator from Erick. “I think a blazer caught him from across the room. There was another engineer with him, and that may be who planted the mines. I haven’t been able to get in touch with him.” She gazed toward the hole in the wall and the city beyond it.

“Were they trying to keep the Opuntian team out then?” Jelena asked.

“Away from the generator, I’d guess. They must have hoped someone would be able to fix it. It isn’t damaged that badly, considering.” Hakim waved to the collapsed half of the building.

No, the sturdy panels on the generator looked like they had been designed to withstand some abuse, at least moderate abuse. If one of those planes dropped a bomb right on the building, that would be the end of it.

“The mercenaries were probably ordered to make sure they destroyed it thoroughly,” Hakim said, her gaze shifting to the one on the floor. “Maybe they realized they hadn’t done as good a job as they hoped, or maybe they saw our people working on it, so they came back.” Her tone turned sour. “Nobody thought to update me.”

“Maybe your people were too busy with their booby traps.” Jelena nodded at the bare floor. In the dim lighting, it was impossible to see disturbed soil where the mines had been placed. The engineer had been too thorough in refilling the dirt and patting it down. Unlike Erick, Jelena couldn’t sense anything at all under the floor. Gunpowder, if that was the primary component, wouldn’t seem much different from dirt to her mind’s eye. “At least Erick was able to get through without triggering anything. Did you walk across, Erick?”

“He flew,” Hakim said.

“I jumped.” Erick clanged at something with a tool and didn’t look over at them. “Far.” I had Thorian teach me that trick, he added silently to Jelena. In exchange, I offered to help him create a brilliant character in Striker Odyssey, but he declined.

“Then you can jump back when you’re done, right?” Jelena asked, not surprised Thor was uninterested in the game. “And we can leave the mines in situ?”

The Chollans could worry about finding them after the war ended, if Jelena was indeed able to finagle that into happening. She hadn’t run her plan by Hakim yet.

Hoshi scampered across the floor toward Jelena.

Hakim whirled, holding a hand up. “Stay back.”

“But the Starseers have to know. The bombers are coming.”

Yes, Jelena had heard the planes approaching.

“They destroyed our local missile stations,” Hakim said. “There’s nothing we can do but hope the engineer gets the generator fixed in time.”

Destroyed? Jelena looked at her. When had that happened? Did that mean she and Thor hadn’t needed to ask for the missiles to be disabled so the Snapper could land?

“And also hope the bombers aren’t aiming for this building in particular,” Hakim added, not noticing Jelena’s look. Maybe she hadn’t known about the missile stations earlier. Otherwise, wouldn’t Thor have read the information in her thoughts? “Any chance your ship can fight them off?” Hakim asked. “Or do whatever you did earlier to make them help against that other ship?”

The woman didn’t seem to miss much.

“Thor is the one who did that.” Jelena reached out to check on him and found him fighting two armored men in a collapsed building a block away. “And he’s busy.” She grimaced again, now worried for him. She’d seen him battle more armored troops than that at once, and figured he should be all right, but if a bomb landed and distracted him while he was surrounded by enemies firing at him… even he wasn’t perfect. “Fighting your enemies,” Jelena added, in case Hakim believed he’d just gone out for a smoke or something.

Hakim nodded, as if she’d known. Maybe she had.

“I regret that I can’t send my men out to help. Our rifles are useless against their armor.”

“I know,” Jelena said.

A boom sounded, and the ground shivered. The first bomb dropping. It sounded like it had been on the other side of the city, but Jelena couldn’t assume the bombers wouldn’t find their way here eventually.

“As for my ship…” Jelena looked toward Erick, wondering how long he would be. Maybe she could be of more help if she went back to pilot. She could attack the bombers with the Snapper, assuming enough time had passed for Austin to fix the steering problem. It seemed a poor reward for the Opuntian pilots, considering they had helped with the gold ship, however inadvertently, but maybe she could disable the planes without killing their pilots.

“I’d prefer you stay here and figure out how to disarm those mines,” Erick said, his voice sounding flat as he focused on something else. He’d lowered his tool and was staring into the generator innards, manipulating something with his mind.

“Is that a priority?” Jelena asked, surprised. “Can’t you jump back out here when you’re done and avoid them?”

“I was more worried about the mines going off while I’m working. They’re touch sensitive, and if the ground keeps shaking, or if a bomb lands near us and more of the ceiling drops…”

Shit. Jelena hadn’t imagined that scenario.

Another bomb dropped, and the ground trembled harder that time. Erick gripped the side of the generator and looked over at her. She sensed him creating a barrier around himself, but he wouldn’t be able to do much else if he was concentrating on defending himself. Judging by the concern in his eyes, he considered those mines going off a strong likelihood.

“I can try to nullify them or deactivate them if you tell me how to locate them,” Jelena said.

“You’ll have to use your senses.”

“Uh.” Jelena glanced at Hakim, hating to admit her weaknesses in front of strangers. “I thought you couldn’t sense them well.”

I can’t. Erick switched to silent communication. But you have more natural aptitude than I do, Jelena.

My aptitude doesn’t discern the difference been gunpowder and dirt powder.

Just figure something out. His frustration came through with his words, and he focused on the generator again, letting his barrier drop so he could work. People die every time one of those bombs drops.

Jelena tugged at her ponytail. “Hakim, do your soldiers have any way to detect land mines?”

She shook her head. “Unless they’re made with a lot of metal and a metal detector can find them, no. Most of them aren’t anymore. The usual way to deal with areas full of them is to throw rocks and try to detonate them from afar.”

Jelena thought the woman was joking, but her grim expression never changed.

“We don’t want to detonate these,” Jelena said.

“I know.”

Jelena looked toward Erick, on the verge of asking about the metal. He answered preemptively.

I told you. There’s just a tiny detonator and gunpowder. Even if you could find a metal detector around now, I doubt it would work. I’d be able to detect them far more easily if there were a lot of metal.

Another bomb dropped, and he swore and went back to work. Jelena vowed not to distract him again.

A scream came from outside. Jelena jumped, then realized it was Thor at work and not a bomber. She did a quick check to make sure he hadn’t been the one hollering in pain. No, he was on the hunt again. She shouldn’t distract him by asking him for advice, either, though she suspected his senses would be strong enough to detect the mines.

“Does gunpowder smell like anything?” Jelena thought she remembered a smoky scent as some of the soldiers had used their bullet-based guns.

“After it ignites, yes,” Hakim said.

“But it must smell like something before then, too, right? I mean, everything smells like something.”

Hakim gave her an odd look.

Jelena shrugged and stretched out with her senses again, an idea forming. The dogs were still in the alley. One seemed to be a hound type, and she introduced herself with a brush of her mind and conveyed a promise in exchange for some assistance.

“I could use some snacks,” she told Hakim. “If you or your men have anything.”

Hakim’s expression shifted from odd to incredulous.

“For a friend,” Jelena said. “Hurry, please.”

Hakim walked carefully back the way she had come, stepping around Hoshi, who was watching Jelena with bright eyes, almost as if she knew what she had in mind. Hakim started as she passed the doorway and a figure trotted in.

One of the men reached for a gun, but Jelena blurted, “That’s our friend,” at the same time as another soldier said, “It’s just a dog.”

Jelena nudged the dog with her mind, instructing him on a safe path to reach her. He ambled toward her, a big black-and-tan hound with floppy ears and large nostrils. Perfect. She patted him a few times, but, aware of the bombers continuing to fly over the city to unleash their loads, she didn’t let the greeting go on for long. She picked a careful way toward the dead man in armor and the crater, keeping her barrier close around her and the dog as they went.

In her mind, she formed an image of the dog sniffing the crater, then shared it. The hound amiably complied, examining the area with his nose. For a moment, with their minds linked, Jelena also experienced his stunning sense of smell, and she detected all the subtleties, both in the spent gunpowder and in the earth and in the people in the building. She had a hunch the dog might have found the bombs just by detecting the different scent of the newly packed earth versus that which hadn’t been disturbed.

“All right, my friend,” she whispered. “Let’s find more gunpowder.”

She conveyed the idea to the dog, of pointing to other spots that smelled like the crater, hoping the unspent powder would be similar enough to the burned stuff that he wouldn’t have trouble discerning it. The hound wagged his tail, interested by the game.

“Hakim? If we find them, I need your team to figure out a way to nullify them.”

Jelena turned to find Hakim behind her. She must have caught on, because she handed a bunch of metal wires to her. To be used as flags to mark the positions?

“We’ll get some water,” Hakim said. “That’s all I can think to use. If the mines use simple gunpowder and aren’t protected by a watertight container…” She shrugged. “I can’t imagine that Smith had time to make anything fancy. Waterlogged gunpowder won’t ignite.”

“Shit, hose down the whole floor then,” Erick said.

“Hose?” Hakim asked.

“Never mind.”

Yes, even if there had been a hose and a spigot nearby, the odds of the city having running water right now were poor.

“We’ve got our canteens,” Hakim said. “I’ll send a couple of men to look for buckets and more water.”

Jelena nodded and urged her new friend to begin. She crouched, watching him intently with her eyes and her senses as he ventured out onto the floor, nose to the earth. She would raise a barrier around him as quickly as possible if he took a false step, but she hoped she had conveyed the danger of actually stepping on the area that smelled of gunpowder.

The hound went directly to a spot, stopped, and wagged his tail. Jelena picked her way to him, understanding from his mind that he’d already found a mine, and stuck a wire into the ground next to it. Now that he’d pointed it out, she thought she could detect the detonator with her senses, but she continued to let him lead the way. Hakim and a couple of her uninjured men trailed after her with canteens. Another soldier jogged into the building with his helmet full of water. Jelena had no idea if this extremely low-tech solution would work, but she and the hound kept marking spots.

The bombers roared closer, and the earth shook harder. With nobody to oppose the enemy airplanes, they dropped their loads systematically throughout the city. Jelena hoped the majority of the citizens were underground and far away from the metropolis. She couldn’t imagine the tunnels underneath the city being strong enough to withstand such a deluge.

Her comm beeped.

“Captain?” Austin blurted. “Two of the bombers are circling over us, and one just dropped a bomb!”

“How are the shields?”

“All right for a few hits, but do you want me to fly up and go somewhere?”

Not if it meant he would have to land again.

“Have Masika get one of those Alliance people on the comm to talk to the bombers,” Jelena said. “Tell them that their own POWs are in the hold.”

“What if that doesn’t work?”

“Make it work.”

“Er.”

A thunk came from the generator, followed by a yelp of pain. Erick glared over at Jelena, as if his frustrating predicament was her fault. Technically, it was.

“Comm back if it doesn’t work, Austin,” Jelena said. She’d tell him to fly up into space if she had to, where the airplanes presumably couldn’t follow, but she would prefer not to test his landing abilities again, not until they had time for flying lessons.

A distant shout sounded over the comm, and then the channel closed.

“I hope that doesn’t mean the prisoners are causing trouble.” Jelena had enough trouble already. She bent to mark another mine as the hound wagged his tail.

There’s a bomber heading straight toward you, Thor spoke into her mind. Destroying the generator has been his mission all along. I’ve been distracting him, but I’m— A long pause followed the abrupt ending.

Thor?

A cacophonous boom sounded close to the building.

Distracted, Thor finished.

Jelena sensed his alarm as he dealt with mercenaries hurling grenades at him, many grenades, from several different directions. A concerted attack.

Another explosion erupted just outside the generator building, and the ground lurched. Hakim and her soldiers gaped toward the ceiling, but the real threat came from beneath their feet. One of the land mines exploded, hurling flames into the air.

Nobody was standing next to it, but it went off near a wall. Rock and dust flew as the wall shuddered, then tumbled down. Debris must have landed on another mine, because a second one went off with an earth-shaking roar.

The hound fled to Jelena, burying his head between her legs. She created a barrier around them, promising to protect him, even as she tried to figure out how she might extend her defense all the way to the soldiers by the door. And Erick—was he protecting himself?

“I’ve almost got it fixed,” he yelled, as if that was what she’d been asking by looking over at him.

“The bomber.” Hoshi pointed at the ceiling. “It’s right above us.”

“Hoshi, come here,” Jelena barked, realizing she wasn’t by the soldiers or close enough for Jelena to protect with her barrier.

Jelena sensed the airplane up there as she heard the roar of its engine over the rubble still tumbling from that wall. It dropped its bomb. Jelena ran toward Hoshi—the girl was staring upward, her eyes wide. The hound raced after her. Jelena dropped her barrier and focused on the bomb plummeting toward the roof of their building. Two seconds, and it would hit. There wasn’t time to do anything fancy. She recreated her barrier as high above the building as she could—which wasn’t very high.

The bomb hit it. She prayed it would bounce back up and blow up far away from them, but it exploded on contact.

The pure power striking her barrier shattered it, and the backlash snapped in her mind like a rubber band. A giant rubber band. She tripped and tumbled, pain ricocheting around inside her skull. Instead of reaching Hoshi and protecting her, she rolled to a stop at the girl’s feet.

“Look out!” she had time to cry before the roof started falling.

The bomb hadn’t struck it directly, but it didn’t matter. Its power was so great that the shockwave did massive damage. Rock and roofing tiles slammed to the ground all around them.

Jelena shoved herself to her feet, struggling to refocus and re-form her barrier. But abruptly the sound of things pelting to the ground halted. She grew aware of Thor’s presence. He was no longer outside the building in some fight, but next to her. He gripped her arm and pulled her close, drawing Hoshi in too. The hound leaned against Jelena’s leg. Outside, metal wrenched as something crashed.

She looked up, fearing breaking beams as much as bombs. Broken bits of the ceiling were hanging overhead, but they lay on an invisible shelf. Thor had created a barrier across the entire warehouse, protecting everyone inside from falling debris.

“Your appearance is timely,” Jelena observed, checking the air above the building. The bomber was gone, at least for now.

It’s permanently gone, Thor said coolly.

His eyes narrowed, and soldiers gasped as all the debris hanging over them was hurled into a corner of the building.

“Got it,” Erick yelled, and something clunked on. The generator.

A soft hum filled the remains of the building. Jelena couldn’t see the forcefield turn on, but she trusted that it had. She hoped all the planes were on the other side of it.

Not all. Thor shared an image with her, of one crashing into it as the forcefield turned on, blocking its way.

The plane might as well have hit a wall. It was knocked back, and the pilot couldn’t regain control of the craft before it crashed into the top of a building.

“Given what he was here to do, I guess I can’t feel too bad for that pilot,” Jelena said, but she wouldn’t have minded if Thor had kept the vision to himself.

“A couple of the others made it out,” Thor said. “I believe… Yes, they’re flying back across the ocean, no doubt to report that the forcefield has been reengaged.”

“Good.” Jelena looked toward Erick in time to see him take a great leap with his toolbox under his arm. His jump took him over many of the mines that she’d marked with wires. Hakim and the soldiers had drenched them, the ground visibly damp in spots, but Erick wasn’t going to take chances.

Elsewhere, spots Jelena had marked had been buried by the falling ceiling—a great deal of it had come down before Thor ran in to help. She guessed at least ten mines would have detonated if they hadn’t been nullified first. Having two go off had been devastating enough. Relieved that more hadn’t, Jelena leaned down and rubbed the hound’s ears.

“A mate for Alfie?” Thor asked.

“That wasn’t my plan.” Jelena didn’t know how wise it was to collect dogs the way she’d been collecting cats back on the Nomad, cats that hadn’t shown much interest in moving to the Snapper. When she’d suggested it to them, they’d merely yawned and twitched their tails a bit. Of course, they had been lounging in Leonidas’s lap at the time, quite contentedly. “There’s a limit to how many dogs that faux grass potty area we made can accommodate.”

“We?” Erick asked, joining them. “I believe I got roped into making that.”

“I picked out the grass.”

“A Herculean effort, no doubt.”

“I taught Alfie how to use it.” Jelena gave him a challenging look, wagering that might have taken him more time. “Did you know she was thinking of using your cabin when she first came aboard?”

A horrified expression blossomed on Erick’s face. “My cabin? Why mine?”

“If I had to guess, I’d say all the clothing on the deck made it seem like a leaf-strewn forest floor to her.”

“Leaf-strewn? Jelena Marchenko, are you lying to me?”

“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Jelena stopped speaking because Hakim was walking up to them. She probably thought the conversation an odd one for a group of heroic Starseers to have.

Heroic? Thor murmured into her mind.

You don’t think we were heroic?

Ostberg did come through in the nick of time. You talked a dog into smelling dirt.

Into smelling explosive dirt. That was massively heroic. He risked his life out there.

Yes, and what did you do?

I stuck little wires into the dirt.

Hm.

I feel like if I punched you right now, you’d deserve it.

I suspect I usually do.

“Thank you,” Hakim said, bowing to Erick, then also to Jelena and Thor, though she probably had little idea what Thor had been doing out there, that he’d single-handedly eliminated the threat of all those mercenaries.

Single-handedly and heroically, he pointed out.

You definitely deserve a punch. Jelena smiled and told Hakim, “You’re welcome,” while Erick tried to figure out how to return the bow without dropping his toolbox. “Would you do me a favor, War Leader?” Jelena pointed at the hound, where Hoshi had taken over rubbing his ears. “Make sure he gets a good home? He’s a smart boy, and he definitely helped us.”

“I saw.” Hakim nodded. “I’ll find someone who can take care of him.”

“Good. Thank you.”

“I told you they’d save us, War Leader Hakim,” Hoshi said, beaming a smile at Thor and Jelena. “And stop the war!”

“We haven’t done that yet,” Jelena said. “But I have a plan.”

Thor, who must know exactly what her plan was by now, wore a dubious expression. He deserved more than one punch, Jelena decided. And she was still plotting how best to sneak into his cabin and glue glitter to his shoes. Maybe to the hilt of his sword too. She could find blue glitter to match the blade when it glowed.

I’m going to have to plant booby traps, he told her.

I’ll train Alfie to sniff them out.

You are definitely a woman with nefarious intent.

Just like your tutors warned you about, eh?

They neglected to mention the glitter menace.

How shortsighted.

Yes.

Chapter 17

Back on the Snapper, Jelena stood next to Thor in the corridor outside the mess hall. Alfie sat on the deck between them and flapped her tail whenever they made eye contact. They were waiting for Hakim and Dr. Ogiwara to finish creating a concoction in sickbay. The mining corporation man and the three Alliance representatives were sitting around the table in the mess hall with Masika standing guard by the door.

The Snapper had taken off twenty minutes earlier. Once it had reached a cruising altitude, Jelena had programmed the autopilot to take them to the Opuntian capital, setting a leisurely pace. She’d also commed War Minister Sorel to let him know they were coming and that they had the prisoners. Sorel had been suspicious and had demanded to see footage. Rumors about the way Jelena’s team had helped the Chollans must have made it home, or maybe the Opuntians had suspected her team of being untrustworthy from the beginning. So unfair.

“I see you’re extremely nervous about whether this is going to work or not,” Jelena said, peering at Thor’s holodisplay.

He was leaning against the bulkhead, his netdisc in one hand as he pushed floating puzzle pieces around with the other. Maybe he ought to let Erick help him make a character in that gaming world, after all. The puzzles didn’t seem all that scintillating.

“I like them,” he said, responding to her thoughts instead of her comment. “They don’t take up much time, they’re easy to work on while you’re waiting for something—” he tilted his head toward the closed mess hall hatch, “—and everything has a place and fits precisely into its place so that the pieces combine to make the picture you’re expecting. It’s…”

“Comforting?” she suggested when he didn’t finish. “Soothing?”

“Let’s just say that I wish I could do the same thing with my own life,” he said dryly.

Jelena thought that might be the first hint he’d given that he didn’t know how he would achieve his goals. If his father had asked him to reestablish the empire—and she was only guessing that because he’d never shared what his father’s last words had been—that was no simple, easily defined task. Was he to remake the exact empire that had existed? How could that be possible? Or was he supposed to create a new one? Were there any scenarios that didn’t involve a huge war with the Alliance and everyone else out there who would object to a new empire?

“Are you not certain what your own picture is supposed to be?” she asked.

“Not exactly, no.”

She thought that was all he would say, but then he groped in the air above the holodisplay, not reaching for the puzzle but for something less tangible. “I more or less know what’s expected, but the picture is vague, and the pieces are blurry. It’s hard to know which ones I need to acquire and how to combine the ones I’m able to get to complete the puzzle.”

“Maybe you need to bring that picture into focus first before you start sliding pieces around. Then the puzzle will be easier to assemble.”

He grunted neutrally. Or maybe dismissively.

Right, she wouldn’t understand. She wasn’t an emperor’s heir.

“Is your picture in focus?” Thor asked, raising an eyebrow in a challenge. “Or have you even decided on one?”

Er, hers was on the vague side, too, wasn’t it? How could one delineate a picture of something abstract? She wanted to find honor and belonging among the Starseer community. She wanted to use her powers to make a difference. She wanted to pay back her parents and earn their respect. She wanted to be a strong, capable woman who decided her own fate. What would those things look like in a picture?

“I’m still figuring it out,” she said honestly—it wasn’t as if there was a point to being anything except honest with him. “But I’m certain there’s a horse in the picture. And a dog.” She looked down at Alfie, who promptly flapped her tail.

“Well, you’ve got some of the pieces already in then. Though I’m not sure where you’ll put a horse on the Snapper.”

“Is that a challenge? Because I’m positive stables would fit in the cargo hold. It would just be a matter of getting the horse sufficient exercise. Do you think there’s such a thing as horse treadmills?”

He snorted and shook his head, sliding a couple more pieces around on the holodisplay.

The sickbay hatch opened at the other end of the corridor, and voices drifted out.

“Maybe you’ll find your puzzle easier to assemble if you make the picture simpler,” Jelena said quietly.

“I don’t think it’s possible for my future to be simple,” Thor said. “Too many people, living and dead, have had a hand in shaping it, and they all want… much.”

“Your hand is the one that matters. What you want matters.”

Did he even want the destiny he was seeking? Or was he on this life’s mission because he felt obligated to his father and the others who’d raised him?

Thor shook his head again. Dismissal.

Jelena wanted to protest further, but Hakim and Ogiwara walked out of sickbay.

“I’ll leave this to you and check on the rest of my patients,” Ogiwara said, veering toward the cargo hold when they reached the intersection.

“Kiyoko!” came Hoshi’s voice from somewhere ahead of the doctor.

“I don’t think she knows her sister has Starseer talents,” Thor murmured.

“She does?” Jelena nearly fell over. “Hoshi?”

“You didn’t notice her knack for sensing things?”

“I wasn’t paying much attention, but I suppose I can see it, now that you mention it.”

“Hoshi?” Hakim asked, joining them. She carried four vials of what appeared to be water in her hand. “A Starseer?”

“She would need training,” Thor said. “If she was to develop her skills fully. She should have it, regardless. It can be dangerous for a person to have some wild talent without learning any control.”

Jelena looked at him but kept her mouth shut on the thought that came to mind, that he was quite dangerous with control.

“I don’t know where she would go for that on Cholla,” Hakim said. “I’m not aware of any Starseer communities anywhere on Fourseas.”

“My grandpa trains people,” Jelena said, though she didn’t know how he would feel about being volunteered to teach someone who wasn’t a family member or close friend of the family. He’d taken on Erick, but that had been ten years ago. Would he be interested in training another little girl? A process that would take years and years? Erick and Jelena were still receiving training via their sys-net communications with Grandpa. But Hoshi was about the age of Jelena’s twin sisters, so she would have playmates if she went to live on the Nomad.

Maybe it was moot. Would Hoshi’s family be willing to let her go off with strangers?

“I thought we were going to negotiate for the doctor, not her little sister,” Thor said, smiling.

“Dr. Ogiwara?” Hakim blinked.

“Uhm.” Jelena met her eyes but struggled to hold the contact. She wanted to get something out of this, especially since the ship would probably need a few new parts after taking damage in that battle, but now that the moment had come to ask for some reward for their help, she couldn’t bring herself to do it. She had her family and friends and the Snapper—what was a little debt compared to all these people had suffered? How many colleagues and friends had Hakim lost? Could anyone in that city have avoided losing family? “That was just a joke,” Jelena heard herself saying. “We’ve been hoping to recruit a doctor for our ship, but I’m sure your people need her services more than we do.”

“Yes, she’s been a great asset to us. The last decade has been hard for our nation, and not many young people who’ve been able to find passage off the planet have returned. Kiyoko got some of the best galactic training out there, and she could have found employment on any of the core planets, and taken Hoshi off-world for an education and a better life. But she knew Cholla needed her, and she came back.”

“I understand.” Jelena avoided looking at Thor in case he was judging her for not being mercenary enough. Instead, she pointed at the vials. “Let’s go chat with our friends. Thor, we may need some scary Starseer intimidation in there. Are you ready to be the source of that?”

“Always.”

“Do you think you should put away your game first?” She nodded to the holodisplay still hovering over his netdisc, having some inkling that puzzle players didn’t come across as scary.

He slid the netdisc into his pocket, unhooked his sword, and flicked his wrist to telescope the blade out. “Better?”

“Much. War Leader? I’ll take those.” Jelena pointed at the vials again.

Hakim hesitated, a slightly belligerent expression crossing her weary face, as if she wanted to stomp in there and do the deed herself.

“Let me be the neutral third party.” Jelena held out her hand.

“Are you?” Hakim laid the vials on her palm. “Neutral?”

Jelena sighed. “If I was smart, I would be. And I would have fulfilled my original mission and nothing more. My family is going to… Well, I never imagined I’d be someone who’d get herself into trouble with the Alliance.” Twice in one month, she added to herself, thinking of the space base on Upsilon Seven.

“You’ll have a place here if you ever need it.”

Jelena forced herself to smile, but she would feel as if she were being punished by the gods if she had to live in Cholla, hiding in tunnels like a rat or being baked by the suns in that barren desert.

Hakim must have seen through her smile, because she returned a wry smirk. “You haven’t had the arigato cactus yet. It’s worth staying for.”

“Oh? Is that why Dr. Ogiwara came back?”

“Her parents died in the opening salvos of the war. She originally came back to arrange their funeral and take custody of her little sister. I still marvel that she stayed.”

“Oh.” What else could Jelena say? These people had no happy stories, of that, she was certain.

Maybe she could change that. She pushed open the hatch and walked into the small mess hall. The woman and the three men turned wary looks toward her. Masika eyed the vials, but didn’t ask anything. She continued to stand by the door, her hand on the blazer pistol in her holster.

“Good evening,” Jelena told her guests, glancing toward the dark porthole.

Their gazes shifted to Thor as he walked in, their expressions growing even warier. They barely seemed to notice Hakim, even though she surely had more reason to treat them badly than Jelena or Thor did.

“My Starseer comrade and I,” Jelena said, nodding to Thor and making certain these people had no doubt as to what they were, “listened in as you spoke to War Leader Hakim in the water plant. You all seemed to believe that her people were being unreasonable and that there was no reason for them to fight to defend their land from miners wanting to set up camp on their shores.”

“That’s right,” Powell said, standing up. “But I don’t recall talking about all that during that discussion. What lies has she been telling you?”

“There are no lies when you’re dealing with Starseers,” Thor said, his tone quiet but cool. He must have been enhancing his words or his presence, because he seemed to emanate a dangerous chill. It left even Jelena wanting to step away from him. “Yes, Malcolm Andrew Powell. I can read your thoughts.”

Powell licked his lips. “Someone gave you my—”

“Let us not waste time,” Thor interrupted, and Powell stumbled away from the table, his back slamming into the hull next to the porthole. Thor hadn’t moved, but it was as if he’d punched the man. “If you’ve never picked up a book on Starseers, that’s your handicap. Don’t let it hinder our discussion. Our time is brief.”

Jelena tapped the side of her nose and frowned at Thorian. I told you to be intimidating, not be an asshole.

It’s hard when dealing with Alliance warts. Thor didn’t look at Jelena when he replied to her. His hard gaze remained on Powell, who hadn’t tried to move away from the hull.

She suspected they were having a mental chat. She turned her attention to the other three people. The mining executive sneered belligerently and looked like he wanted to speak. Maybe Thor could bully him next.

“As I was saying,” Jelena said, “it sounds like you all believe there was no reason for the Chollans to turn down the original offer, to accept miners coming to their continent.”

“No reason whatsoever,” the woman said.

“Even though the mining industry has been known throughout history for leaving environmental waste, some of it toxic to humans, as a byproduct of their excavations.” Jelena didn’t know if that was true, but thought it seemed likely, given the stories her parents’ old engineer Mica had shared about growing up in a mining colony.

“With modern technology, it’s easy to prevent harmful waste from being left behind,” the corporate representative spoke up. “And scientists are known to blow their supposed findings about the toxicity of environmental waste, as you call it, far out of proportion. They do their studies on little rats and then extrapolate that to human beings, as if that’s the same thing. For instance, there’s hardly any proof at all that trace elements of ahridium do any lasting harm to human beings. Our bodies were designed to get rid of so-called toxic elements. You simply excrete them or sweat them out.”

Jelena smiled. She couldn’t have asked for a more perfect lead-in.

“Excellent,” she said, “then you’ll be happy to demonstrate.”

The woman frowned. “What?”

The vials were capped, so Jelena set them in front of each person at the table without worrying about them being spilled.

“Dr. Ogiwara prepared a solution for each of you of water and extremely trace amounts of ahridium molecules.”

“What?” the woman repeated, her tone flat.

Powell and the corporate man eyed the vials with suspicion. The other male Alliance representative waved a dismissive hand as if he wasn’t worried in the least.

“This is your chance to show that you believe what you’re saying,” Jelena said. “If small amounts of ahridium are harmless to humans, then drink that water. Show me.”

“Please,” Powell said. “Why would we trust that you’ve put only trace amounts in there? And what does trace even mean?”

“No more than ten parts per million,” Dr. Ogiwara said, leaning around the hatch to peer inside, her long black ponytail swinging over her shoulder.

“There could be poison in there.”

“Why would we poison you?” Jelena asked. “We get paid fifteen thousand tindarks if we return you safely to War Minister Sorel. And I don’t know if you’ve gotten a good look around this ship, but we could definitely use that money.”

Hakim snorted. The four people with vials in front of them didn’t crack a smile. The woman glanced at the snowy mountain mural Masika had painted.

“There’s no reason for us to drink this,” Powell said.

“You will drink it,” Thor said.

Powell’s lips pulled back in an expression of horror, his eyes focused on some inner vision. Or was that pain? Jelena frowned at Thor, not sure what he was doing to the man. She did need him to play the ruthless brute in this scenario, but she didn’t want to torture anyone. Her entire plan was built around a bluff. She had no intention of poisoning anyone.

“Unless you’re willing to comm Sorel and inform him that there will be no mining contract,” Jelena said, “and that there will be no deal with the Alliance, a deal that you, Mr. Powell, have no authority to grant.”

The corporate man frowned over at Powell. “You said the prime minister himself agreed that the Alliance would establish itself on Opuntia and help lead Fourseas once the war was over and trouble had settled down.”

“Please,” Jelena said. “This little minion doesn’t know the prime minister.” She glanced at Thor, not sure if that was correct, especially since Powell sputtered, but she pushed on before the man could articulate anything. “I probably have a better shot of getting a meeting with him. I used to babysit for Senator Hawk’s kids, and I hear Hawk and the prime minister play disc asteroids together on the weekends.” She’d heard no such thing, but it sounded plausible. After all, Hawk had been a great hero during the war and had served in office for the last ten years.

Powell stared at her and scowled. Did he believe her? Maybe Thor was influencing him.

“And do the Opuntians know about this plan you apparently had?” Jelena asked. “To bring the Alliance in to govern the planet? I got the impression that the original deals that were offered—and you offered them to both sides, right?—were for assistance in self-rule. It’s hard to imagine either the Opuntians or the Chollans volunteering to hand their independence over to the Alliance, however much more benevolent they are than the empire was.”

Thor snorted.

Hakim shook her head slowly, then leaned into the corridor, waving at someone. Dr. Ogiwara? No, two of the other prisoners came in. Thor didn’t look surprised. They must have been out there listening. Were they some of the higher-ups among the Opuntians? Had Hakim wanted them to hear all this? Powell flushed and avoided their eyes when they entered.

“Don’t let us interrupt you,” a gray-haired man in a dusty, rumpled suit said, eyeing Powell with the speculation of someone newly enlightened. Then he nodded to Jelena. “Please continue.”

Hakim crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m waiting for the part of the discussion where those four drink the water they were so eager to have our people drink.”

Jelena clasped her hands behind her back and gazed thoughtfully at the representatives, as if she were contemplating that very thing. She tried to look regal and wise—and had worn her robe to help enhance the effect—rather than like a kid hoping her bluff worked.

“It’s your choice,” she told Powell. “Drink up, or call off the war.”

The other Alliance man snorted. “It’s not as if we have that power. These people are embroiled in religious differences that go back centuries.”

“You’ll find that my people are very willing to put religious differences aside if you’ll simply leave us alone going forward,” Hakim said. “We long ago grew accustomed to being the minority when it comes to such matters. Despite what your propaganda machines have been spewing, we’ve never had any interest in trying to foist our ideologies on others. We just want what we came here for centuries ago, a place of our own, where we can eke out a living and believe what’s no longer popular to believe.”

“You’ll find that our people,” the Opuntian man in the suit said, “have little interest in the Chollan continent if the ahridium isn’t going to be mined.”

“It will be mined,” Powell said. “Nothing has changed. The Alliance and Allar Corporation want the ore and are willing to—”

“Drink that water in order to prove that extracting it is safe?” Jelena smiled sweetly, then nodded at Thor.

Don’t really make them drink it, she added silently.

Why not? If those four disappear and the Opuntians find out nobody else knows about the deal they made, the war could fizzle of its own accord.

I’d rather they be advocates than victims. And she shrank away from the idea of murdering people. Just in case a vengeful Dr. Ogiwara had made the concoction stronger than they’d asked.

Four right hands reached for the water vials. Alarm flared in their owners’ eyes, and Jelena knew Thor was forcing the moves.

The other Alliance man made a disgusted noise, grabbed his vial first, and popped the top off with his thumb.

“What are the side effects they can expect, Doctor?” Jelena blurted, realizing he was going to drink of his own accord, just to prove that nothing would happen.

“Oh, there are all manner of side effects,” Ogiwara said brightly. “It’s unlikely that they’ll die from so small an exposure, but they might soon experience paresthesia, ataxia, dysarthria, hematochezia, vomiting, and hypovolemic shock. I suppose paralysis and death could occur, especially if I inadvertently made the dosage stronger than intended. Or if there’s an allergic reaction. That can happen with even the slightest exposure, in which case anaphylaxis is a likely possibility. And I noticed your sickbay is on the primitive side. I don’t know if I’d be able to revive them should that happen. Alas.”

Jelena didn’t point out that the equipment in her sickbay was far superior to what Ogiwara had been working with on the planet. She also didn’t point out that she had no idea what most of the things in that list were. Maybe they were scarier if one didn’t know.

The man who’d uncapped the lid hesitated, looking down at it.

Surprisingly, the corporate man was the one to lift his hands and say, “Forget it. This planet isn’t worth the hassle. I’m convinced that enough of these zealots—” he thrust a hand toward Hakim, “—would survive the war and Alliance occupation to bomb the hells out of our ocean drills and mining facilities.”

I put that idea into his head, Thor informed Jelena, sounding proud of himself.

“What do you mean it isn’t worth it?” Powell said. “You’re pulling out? We had a deal.”

“One I had the authority to make and which you, it appears, did not. As the official representative here for my corporation, I am now rescinding our offer, yes.” He lifted his chin and met Jelena’s eyes. “I assume you will drop us off where I can get transportation off this planet.”

“We’ll drop everyone off as promised in the Opuntian capital,” Jelena said. “But if you want a ride farther out, we’re heading to Umbra next to pick up some cargo.” Cargo she hoped would still be waiting for them when they arrived slightly later than her mother had planned.

“It might be easier to get a flight home from there.” He nodded and pointed to the hatchway. “Are we done here?”

Is he telling the truth? Jelena asked Thor as she extended her senses toward the man herself. She should have been doing that while they’d been talking. She didn’t sense any deception from him, not now, but couldn’t help but worry about what he would do once he was away from the Snapper and Thor’s influence.

He is. My image of terrorist attacks on the very expensive mining facilities they would have to build to drill at the bottom of the ocean helped cement feelings he’s been having since he was kidnapped, that this would all be far too much risk for his company. He’s one of the higher-ups in this corporation, so I believe what he suggests will be accepted.

Good.

“Go ahead,” Jelena said, then met Powell’s eyes.

He was still holding the vial—maybe Thor hadn’t let him set it down—and wore a particularly dyspeptic expression. Though Jelena doubted it would be pleasant, she brushed his mind with her senses, trying to ascertain what he was likely to do. He seemed defeated but disgusted too. More than a year’s worth of work, and it now looked like he wouldn’t have any opportunity to get rich. He’d seen this as a way to early retirement. A very lucrative early retirement.

Even though Jelena now had a money problem herself, she couldn’t bring herself to sympathize with the man.

“Are you done?” Jelena asked him.

“The Alliance has no interest in policing a remote border planet when there aren’t any resources to be gained,” he said stiffly.

Sadly, Jelena believed that to be true. He might have had a hard sell even if the mining deal had been in place. She sensed that Powell didn’t want to give up and was developing a sincere loathing for her, but that he couldn’t imagine how he would continue to sway the Opuntian leaders when he couldn’t continue to promise the Alliance support he’d offered. He glanced at the Opuntian man still in the hatchway. The man was gazing back at him with distaste. No, that deal should be over.

But was it enough to end the war? A war the Opuntians were on the verge of winning? Or did Jelena and her team need to take vials of water down for a discussion with War Minister Sorel and General Chang?

Powell is planning to pack up and skip town as soon as we land and let him go, Thor told her silently.

Good. Do you think we need to do more to end the war? She was admittedly naive and inexperienced when it came to such things, but Opuntia had every advantage at the moment. Yes, the Chollan capital forcefield was back up, but that seemed like so little.

Perhaps we should let it be believed that the entire Starseer community is now allied with the Chollans.

Who’s going to believe that? All they’ve seen is us.

Are we not enough? Thor raised his sword blade to his forehead in a salute.

I don’t know. She looked toward the Opuntian man, who was watching Thor, his eyes narrowed thoughtfully.

He’s figured out who I am.

Is he suitably impressed by your imperial eminence?

He’s heard that I’ve been assassinating people. I’m going to let him believe that the Opuntian leaders might be next on the list if they don’t leave the Chollans alone.

I had no idea you’d developed such a fondness for them. Jelena wondered if Thor’s idea would work. Would it, laid on top of everything else that had gone wrong for the Opuntians today, convince them to end the war?

They did offer us a sanctuary. And Hakim has upgraded the offer to include all the cactuses we want.

Thor inclined his head toward Hakim, and she nodded back. Had he been including her in some of his telepathic messages?

Erick will be so pleased about the cactuses.

“I believe,” the Opuntian man said slowly, “that in light of these revelations, it may be time for me to advise my leaders on a cessation of hostilities.”

“Perhaps so,” Thor said blandly.

The man grimaced and walked out. The remaining Alliance representatives also left, giving Thor another round of wary looks on the way past.

“Nobody drank the water?” Ogiwara peeked in again, looking toward the vials left on the table. “Unfortunate.”

“You wanted them to poison themselves?” Jelena hadn’t ever meant for any of them to drink.

“I put together a concoction to induce impressive cramps and, ah, what we in the medical business professionally refer to as ‘disaster pants.’ There wasn’t any ahridium in it. My religion does not allow me to injure others.”

“But inducing cramps and pants problems are permitted?”

Ogiwara’s eyes crinkled. “I don’t believe the Eightfold Path mentions those things.”

“Convenient.”

“Indeed.”

“Well, if any of those people give us trouble during the rest of the flight, we can still make them drink your concoction,” Jelena said.

“Sounds delightful.” Ogiwara pressed her hands together and bowed like some Old Earth monk, then walked out.

Epilogue

“You’re sure you won’t take us up on our offer of sanctuary?” Hakim asked, standing to the side of the five Chollan religious-political leaders who made decisions on behalf of the city and the continent. Fortunately, they’d all been pleased by the cessation of hostilities and hadn’t countermanded anything Hakim had told Jelena and the others.

“We have a cargo to pick up and deliver,” Jelena said. And a debt to repay, she added to herself, regretting that they were no closer to doing so.

She stood with Erick, Thor, and Masika at the bottom of the Snapper’s loading ramp, all three suns visible in the sky, baking the desert land outside of Dry Wash. At this distance, Rebus appeared with little more intensity and brightness than a star, but she imagined it contributing its energy to the cactuses growing out of the barren soil. Alfie was running around, hunting for small creatures among them now. Jelena found it amusing that few, if any, of the cactuses had been damaged by the bombings. Austin, however, had taken out several during his landing. In case a scenario like this happened again, Jelena decided to train him as a backup pilot even as Erick trained him as an engineer.

“And a ghost-cleansing specialist to find,” came a call from the cargo hold. Austin stuck his head out. “This ship is creepy when you’re in it all by yourself. So many restless spirits roaming around.”

“It looks like it’s seen a lot,” Hakim said, nodding, as if she thought nothing odd at the notion of ghosts. Jelena realized she’d never asked her which of the Old Earth religions she favored.

Erick shooed his brother back inside, then dropped his face in his hand.

“Some of our long-range scanners survived the bombings.” Hakim waved toward the hills farther inland from the city. “I was able to find that gold ship.”

Thor had been gazing out toward the ocean, but his eyes now locked onto her.

“It was down for a couple of days out in the desert, and we thought it might be defunct,” Hakim said, “but the owner must have been making repairs. It took off this morning.” She pointed skyward. “It doesn’t look like it’s in orbit, though our scanning equipment isn’t that sophisticated, so it’s possible we’re missing it. Still, it looks like the pilot has given up on his mission for now.”

Thor’s gaze shifted to Jelena. Whoever he is, I suspect he’ll be back.

Can we wait a day or two until we have to start worrying again? I feel like we’re due a vacation.

If I leave, he shouldn’t be a further problem for you.

Jelena wiggled her eyebrows at him. But you’d be hopeless and helpless without us to protect you. To Hakim, she said, “Thank you for the information. I hope he didn’t do too much additional damage to your city.”

“The bombers are to blame for the damage, not anything you people have done,” one of the leaders said. “I understand we owe you our thanks.” The man nodded to Hakim, who must have shared most of the story by now.

“You don’t owe us anything,” Jelena made herself say, though she wished she could legitimately ask for a few tindarks, if only to recover the cost of the replacement parts Austin had installed. The Opuntians, after all the events had been relayed among the various parties, had refused to pay her for the return of the prisoners. She could have refused to turn them over, but what would she have done with thirty extra people on the Snapper? Thor had said that real mercenaries would threaten to kill them—or actually kill them—if the Opuntians didn’t produce the money, but Jelena had been more interested in ending the war than in stirring up further hostilities. To her relief, that was working. The war did indeed seem to be on hold. She hoped talk of treaties wouldn’t be far off.

“That’s not true, but unfortunately there’s little we have to offer.”

Hakim’s expression grew wry. “The cactus crop hasn’t been affected, mostly because they grow wild and aren’t easy for our enemies to bomb.”

“Cactuses?” Erick asked. “I heard you have a variety that’s tasty. I wouldn’t mind trying some.”

“Perhaps we can arrange that.”

Hakim and the leaders murmured a few words to each other. Jelena caught, “… south side warehouse wasn’t damaged” before her gaze drifted toward the city gates. Two figures were walking out, each carrying packs. Dr. Ogiwara and Hoshi.

Were they planning to leave the city? Jelena and Thor had jokingly mentioned that they needed a doctor, but she hadn’t expected anything to come of that, especially after Hakim had shared how vital Ogiwara was to their people. However, there weren’t any other ships out here. Jelena couldn’t imagine where else they would be going.

One of the leaders stepped away to murmur something into a comm unit.

“I have a lot to take care of in the aftermath of all this,” Hakim said, “so I need to take my leave of you. Thank you again for your help. All of you.” She nodded to all of them, even though she’d barely met Masika and Erick, then gripped Jelena’s forearm before turning to walk toward the city. Her trusty aide with the tablet appeared and jogged after her.

Hakim stopped to speak with Ogiwara. Hoshi twirled a few times while she waited. That was the perkiest girl Jelena could ever imagine in these circumstances.

“Does this mean we’re not getting paid by them, either?” Erick whispered.

“We never had a deal to get paid by them,” Jelena said.

“No, but I was hoping they might feel inclined to slip us a few tindarks. Your first loan payment to your parents is due soon, and we’re not even on our way to pick up our next cargo yet.”

“We’ll be on our way soon. The payment will just have to be late.” Jelena hated to fail that way, but suspected her parents would be more responsible and would pay it on time. Her tardiness would make things more difficult for them, but she hoped they had the money in reserve. It had sounded like their decision that she would pay them was more because it was the mature thing for her to do, not because they were in dire circumstances. At least, that was how she had interpreted it. She hoped she was right.

“The local currency is the franish,” Thor said. “I believe its value in the system is an infinitesimal number slightly greater than zero.”

“So even if they had offered to pay, we’d still be broke?” Erick said.

“After the exchange fees were factored in, we might even be in the negative.”

Erick slapped Jelena on the shoulder.

“What?” she protested.

“You’re not doing this business thing correctly. Either as a freighter operator or as a mercenary.”

“We did stop a war.” Jelena felt she’d done something right, surely.

“A noble act that apparently pays zilch.” Erick looked at Thor. “Negative zilch.”

“Negative zilch?” Jelena asked. “Is that a real number? Shouldn’t engineers strive for more precision?”

A throat cleared, and Jelena turned back toward the city. Dr. Ogiwara and Hoshi had finished talking to Hakim and both stood in front of her.

“Captain Marchenko, isn’t it?” Ogiwara wore only the saffron robe today with a pale yellow sash wrapped around her waist, and she carried a medical kit as well as a duffel bag for travel.

“Yes, Dr. Ogiwara. What can we do for you?” Jelena looked down at Hoshi—she also wore saffron, but more of a dress than a robe, with a hem that flared outward when she twirled, revealing old sandals with a broken strap. She smiled broadly when their eyes met. Jelena smiled back, feeling a new affinity for the girl now that she knew Hoshi had lost her parents and had Starseer talents.

“Please, call me Kiyoko. And I know you’ve met Hoshi.”

Jelena nodded, tempted to poke into the doctor’s mind. This had to be about Hoshi’s Starseer talents, but Jelena hadn’t spoken to her about it.

“I’ve been chatting with Prince Thorian.” Ogiwara—Kiyoko—nodded to Thor, who nodded back, his face difficult to read. “He said… I mean, I guess there were signs.” She bit her lip and looked down at Hoshi.

Hoshi twirled again. “I’m going to be a Starseer! I can save planets too!”

Kiyoko lifted a hand. “You’re supposed to wait until after we negotiate to presume that.”

Negotiate? The doctor wanted to negotiate with them? For passage on the ship?

They could take on passengers, but if Kiyoko thought Jelena could get Hoshi accepted to a Starseer school, or even knew where one was, that was a mistaken assumption. Unless maybe Thor knew. Of course, she’d thought about asking Grandpa to tutor Hoshi, but Jelena couldn’t assume he would be willing to take on a stranger.

“We’ll find a way,” Hoshi told her sister earnestly. “I’m positive. You said that when you left to go to doctor school, remember? You were so determined. You said you’d find a way because your people needed you.”

“I’m surprised you remember that,” Kiyoko murmured. “Captain,” she said, facing Jelena again.

“Jelena,” she suggested. It felt too strange having people call her captain. That was her mom’s job.

“Captain Jelena. Prince Thorian said that your grandfather has trained Starseers and may be willing to teach my sister. He also said that it’s very important that she receive proper training, which I believe. I’ve lamented how poor even the basic schooling has been here of late.” Kiyoko’s gaze turned sad as she looked back over the bombed city. “He wasn’t certain if your grandfather would be willing to take her on, but I understand that he—and you—are part of a family business and that you may be in need of a doctor. I’d be willing to trade my services for a good education for Hoshi, providing I was able to see her often.”

“I…” Jelena groped to gather some coherent thoughts. She was surprised that Thor had thought to make the offer, that he’d wanted to help Jelena, and Hoshi as well. No, that wasn’t fair of her to be surprised. Yes, he was focused on his own destiny, but it wasn’t as if he was oblivious to friends and allies. He’d grown speculative about how being a mercenary might help him along his path, but she believed he’d mostly come along on this mission—and on her ship—to help her.

I figure I have to be useful, he told her silently, if you’re not going to let me leave your ship. A ship that’s sure to be in danger again from that thug hunting me. You may need a doctor. A good one.

I appreciate that.

And I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt me to have a few more Starseer allies too.

I doubt Hoshi is going to grow up into someone who wants to help you establish an empire.

She can twirl to distract the enemy while I lead our main forces into battle.

“I’m not sure whether to feel hopeful about your thoughtful silence or chagrined,” Kiyoko said.

Thoughtful silence? Hardly that. “I can’t make any promises until I talk to my grandfather, but we do need a doctor, and he has trained other Starseers.”

“Who became good people?” Kiyoko asked, a flash of worry in her eyes. She seemed more concerned about that than whether Grandpa trained people to become powerful. That was probably a good thing.

“Well…” Jelena looked back at Erick.

“What is that look for?” He widened his stance and propped his fists on his hips. “I’m definitely good people.”

“He trained Erick and me,” Jelena told Kiyoko.

“I see. I shall take that as a positive sign then. You seem… exceptional.”

Jelena decided to take that as a compliment. She stuck out her hand. “Welcome aboard, Doctor. Hoshi.”

As they walked up the ramp with their bags over their shoulders, Jelena turned to follow them, but paused when Thor laid a hand on her arm. He nodded toward the city gate. Three big cargo trucks were rolling through it, heading for the Snapper. One of the drivers was familiar, the chatty private who’d spoken to her during the truck ride away from the harbor.

He leaned out the window and waved at her. A familiar dog sat on the seat beside him, the hound who’d sniffed for land mines. Had he been adopted by the soldiers? With a little training, they could teach him to sniff for explosives even without a Starseer handler.

“What is this about?” Jelena murmured as the trucks rolled closer.

“Cactus pads.” Thor’s eyes crinkled at the corners. “Crates of them.”

“I didn’t know cactuses came in crates.”

The trucks rumbled closer, turning their cargo beds toward the ship, and Jelena gawked at the size of the crates inside.

“Uhm, Erick?” she said. “I think we’re going to need a hand tractor.”

Erick was also gawking at the trucks, and it took him a moment to recover and jog into the cargo hold.

“What are we going to do with all those?” Jelena asked.

“Sell them?” Thor suggested.

“Next to our lemonade stand?”

“Erick did say you have a loan payment due soon.”

“Er… yes.”

• • • • •

“It’s possible you look too fierce.” Jelena leaned back in the portable chair she’d set up at the base of the Snapper’s ramp, resisting the temptation to prop her sparkly green shoes up on the table. The passersby on the Hierarchy Station promenade—potential customers for her freshly squeezed and pulped cactus lemonade—might find that unsanitary, especially since she’d just been roaming through the pet park across from their bank of airlocks. The floor cleaning bots did an admirable job of sucking up deposits left by the various dogs, mules, jakloffs, ostriches, and other eclectic animals that travelers kept on their ships, but it wasn’t perfect. “You’re scaring the customers away.”

“Your beverage is scaring the customers away,” Masika said, her bare, muscled arms folded over her chest, a blazer pistol on each hip. “Besides, I told your broody boyfriend that I’d watch your back while he was gone.”

“Is that Erick or Thor?” Jelena asked, though she knew perfectly well who she meant. “Or that fellow who winked at me when he was hooking up our docking tubes? I’m partial to men with missing teeth and ponytails.”

“I thought you were only partial to ponies with ponytails.”

“Not only.”

Masika arched an eyebrow. “Have you actually had a lover? Or even a boyfriend? I’ve been wondering if I should act as a surrogate big sister for you and warn you away from dubious choices.”

“Erick’s been fulfilling that position.”

Masika snorted.

“And I don’t think it’s appropriate to ask one’s captain about her lovers. But for the record, I dated a parentally approved boy when I was on Arkadius last year taking the exams to get my Alliance pilot’s license.”

“Parentally approved? Does that mean boring?”

“Zhou is the nephew—or great nephew, was it?—of Admiral Tiang, a surgeon and medical researcher my parents are good friends with. Zhou gets excellent grades, plays three instruments, won awards for a paper he wrote on chess strategies, and is studying to be a doctor.”

“You didn’t even kiss him, did you?” Masika asked.

Jelena blushed and looked toward the promenade. Now would be a good time for some lemonade consumers to come up. Zhou had kissed her, albeit rather chastely. They’d had a nice time going to the zoo and some local farms, but she hadn’t exactly spent her days pining for him when they’d parted. She didn’t want to discuss the subject further, especially if her revelations might be turned into ammunition against her. Captains should definitely not be teased by their security officers. There was a rule about that, wasn’t there? She would ask Mom.

Jelena spotted Thor and Erick returning from their cactus-selling errand—they’d been attempting to find buyers for the crates rather than hawking cactus lemonade by the glass—and stood up to wave more vigorously than was necessary. It saved her from having to expound on Zhou and kisses. Also, she didn’t have to feign enthusiasm for the wave. Erick and Thor had left with crates on hover boards. They were returning with nothing trailing after them. That either meant they had found a buyer, or they’d been robbed. Given that Thor was looking particularly dark, broody, and dangerous today, with his sword and a pistol affixed to his hip, the latter seemed unlikely.

“Success?” she asked as they strolled up.

“Shockingly, yes,” Thor said.

“It’s not that shocking,” Erick said. “Did you try the cactus pads? They were good even raw and without sauce. There’s a zing that bites the tip of your tongue and leaves an impression.”

“Are you sure that wasn’t one of the thorns?”

“I’m not the only one who finds them appealing.” Erick pulled out his netdisc and swiped his finger through a holodisplay. “I’m transferring you the proceeds of the sale now, Jelena. Of course, it wasn’t quite as much as we could have made if we went to Perun or Arkadius, but I didn’t think you wanted to spend the next six weeks selling individual boxes to restaurants on different planets to make the optimal amount. Hierarchy Station has more than its share of willing middlemen. We did get a good price, though. Thor glowered at them to ensure compliance.”

“I glowered at them because they were thinking of stealing from us.”

“Does that explain why you were openly fondling your sword?”

“Yes.”

“We’re talking about the one that glows, right?” Masika asked.

Thor demonstrated his glower on her.

Jelena’s earstar chimed, so she ordered it to pull up the money transfer notification. “Twenty-two thousand tindarks?” she blurted, then clasped a hand over her mouth.

People were walking past, most squinting dubiously at her cactus lemonade sign and moving on, but she shouldn’t holler that she was the recipient of new riches to anyone listening. Not that the physical money was in a briefcase at her feet, but still, it seemed an obscene amount to her, and it was in addition to what they’d made for picking up and delivering the cargo her parents had arranged. That would cover fuel and repairs from their adventure on Fourseas. All of this could go toward repaying her parents’ debt. Or most of it could. Hm.

With her face scrunched up, she asked, “Do we have to pay taxes on this? Or… how does it work if you make money outside of Alliance territory?”

“I see you haven’t looked at any of those virtual accounting courses I sent you yet,” Erick said.

“We’ve been somewhat busy.”

“I’m sure the Alliance will want its cut,” Thor said, coming to stand beside Jelena. “Unless you’re ready to give up your citizenship and swear your allegiance to the ruler of a new regime.”

“Is that you?” Jelena asked.

“I’ll give you a break on taxes since you’re ferrying me around on your ship.”

“He’s a generous dictator, isn’t he?” Masika said.

“Is he here yet?” came a young cry from the cargo hold of the ship. “When can I meet him?”

Hoshi flounced down the ramp carrying Jelena’s Starseer staff. Jelena, Erick, and Thor had all told her they didn’t know enough about teaching to start her instruction, but they’d given her free rein to familiarize herself with their meager artifacts. Thor had even let her swipe at imaginary enemies with his sword.

“My family is supposed to be arriving soon,” Jelena said.

Her parents had arranged to deliver a cargo to Hierarchy Station after Jelena had sent the news about Hoshi and Dr. Ogiwara. She was excited to see everyone, but especially to see Leonidas back on his feet and back at work. Grandpa had said he looked forward to meeting Hoshi, but he hadn’t committed to anything yet. Jelena hoped he would, both for Hoshi’s sake and out of selfish interest. She’d already gotten used to the idea of having a doctor aboard the Snapper. Kiyoko had helped her remove a shard of metal from Alfie’s back leg that had been embedded there before Jelena rescued her.

“Don’t swing that around like a sword, please, Hoshi,” Kiyoko said, clasping her hands behind her back after bowing to Jelena. She hadn’t shown any disgruntlement at working for an eighteen-year-old captain, which surprised Jelena, but Kiyoko seemed earnest about her promise to trade her talents for Hoshi’s education. “You should be on your best behavior for your meeting with Mr. Schwegler.”

Jelena hardly ever heard anyone call her grandpa anything except Stanislav or Stan, so that name sounded funny. She was on the verge of pointing out that Grandpa wasn’t a stickler for formality—but Masika gestured down the promenade, and Jelena grinned instead.

She spotted Leonidas first—his gray hair did nothing to steal the intimidation that oozed from him. At six-and-a-half feet, with shoulders almost as broad, and thickly muscled arms that hadn’t thinned much over the years, he always had space around him when he walked, even on a crowded station. This time, Mom walked at his side with one of his meaty arms around her shoulders. Her arm was around his waist, a finger hooked into his belt. Jelena usually thought it weird to think of them as a romantic couple, because who wanted to think about parents being romantic, but for some reason, she caught herself wondering if she would have something like that one day. Maybe it was because Masika had brought up the topic.

Leonidas lifted a hand and nodded when he met Jelena’s eyes, but after a couple of seconds, his gaze shifted to Thor, who still stood next to her, and his hand lowered. Thor wasn’t touching her or even that close, but Leonidas’s amiable expression turned to a frown, and he murmured something to Mom. Thor must have noticed the exchange, too, because he stepped away from her and to the other side of the lemonade table. Mom waved a dismissive hand, but her eyes seemed troubled. Jelena felt her cheeks warm, even though there was no reason for her to feel guilty or self-conscious. It wasn’t as if she’d been holding hands with Thor. Hells, maybe her parents were frowning at the cactus lemonade, and she was just imagining that they were talking about Thor. And her. Together.

Though the thought of a cactus-lemonade-centered disapproval cheered her, Jelena wasn’t tempted to peek into their minds to check. Resolutely, she smiled and directed her wave behind her parents to where the twins skipped ahead of Grandpa, jostling each other and dripping blue Asteroid Icy juice down their arms. Grandpa ambled at a more sedate pace, peering at the kiosks they passed, as if space stations were still new and fascinating to him after ten years of exploring the system with Mom and Leonidas. He always seemed to be curious about everything, people included. Jelena hoped Kiyoko wasn’t expecting someone stately and normal for Hoshi’s teacher. Grandpa owned a black Starseer robe and a staff, but today, he wore snagor-hide cowboy boots, denim trousers, a long-sleeved pale blue shirt full of pockets, and a hat with a brim so wide that it shadowed his face. If he carried a weapon of any kind, it wasn’t apparent.

“That’s him, isn’t it?” Hoshi asked, grinning as she looked past Leonidas and Mom and the twins to Grandpa. Huh, she definitely had some talents waiting to be developed.

“Er?” Kiyoko appeared far less certain. She squatted down to her sister’s height and looked in the direction she was looking, maybe wondering if they had identified the same person.

“The one in the big hat, yes,” Jelena said dryly.

“Oh.” Kiyoko looked like she had more to say about Grandpa’s Starseerness, but she closed her mouth and kept it to herself.

Wise move.

Jelena ran forward to meet Mom and Leonidas, whose frowns had faded by now, and hugged them. They returned the embrace enthusiastically.

“Jelena!” Maya and Nika shouted.

They came up and threw themselves into the hug, spreading their Asteroid Icy juice to the rest of the family. Jelena shook her now-sticky hand, then squeezed both of them and tugged at ponytails.

From the top of the ramp, Hoshi looked down at the twins. They were of a similar age as Hoshi, and her eyes gleamed with curiosity. Jelena was on the verge of introducing everyone when Alfie bounded out of the cargo hold.

“Jelena,” Maya blurted. “Can we take your dog to the park?” She flung her arm toward the fenced area where a couple of other dogs frolicked.

Jelena looked to her parents, intending to ask if they minded, but Nika spoke first. “Dogs have to go to parks,” she said, as if this was a statement of the obvious—and an answer to Maya’s question.

The twins, who had made Alfie’s acquaintance back on Arkadius, called to the dog, and Alfie trotted after them without so much as a backward glance. Leonidas’s eyebrows rose, but he didn’t stop the girls from taking off, perhaps because he could cross the distance from the Snapper’s ramp to the park in one big cyborg spring.

Mom tapped the table, eyeing the lemonade pitcher and the sign proclaiming a “unique experience for your taste buds.” Masika had drawn a very lifelike lemon and cactus on there, but even so, it hadn’t done much to draw in interested parties.

“That’s not working, is it?” Mom pointed at the nearly empty tip cup on the table.

“She’s doing what you suggested,” Leonidas said, smiling at Jelena and nodding to the rest of her crew. He eyed Hoshi and Kiyoko, who were watching quietly from the ramp.

“I’m certain I didn’t mention cactuses,” Mom said.

“We came into a supply of free cactuses,” Jelena said.

“Does one usually pay for them?” Mom looked like she couldn’t imagine it.

Grandpa ambled past them, patting Jelena on the shoulder on the way, and stopped in front of Hoshi and Kiyoko.

Jelena was tempted to eavesdrop, but Mom tilted her head to draw her aside. Leonidas eyeballed the pitcher of cactus lemonade and tapped a finger on one of the glasses. Did he want to try it? It smelled good, in Jelena’s opinion, and he did have those enhanced nostrils and taste buds—a gift from the imperial military to ensure enemies weren’t easily able to poison its cyborg soldiers. The beverage tasted fine to Jelena, but she only had run-of-the-mill taste buds. And nostrils.

“You should have baked some brownies to put out too,” Mom said.

“To draw customers in or to draw Dad in?”

“It certainly would have worked on him.” Mom smiled fondly at Leonidas as he put a half-tindark coin in the cup and poured himself a glass.

“Eggs aren’t always easy to find on a space station, and we don’t have a flock of chickens on the Snapper yet.”

“Yet?”

“Yumi always swore by the merits of using chicken droppings for compost.”

“Are you planning to grow things?” Mom raised her eyebrows. “You never showed much interest in Yumi’s… vegetables.”

Jelena snorted. Yumi had grown vegetables, yes, but she’d mostly grown mushrooms and plants with unique medicinal properties. Often psychedelic medicinal properties.

“I haven’t decided yet,” Jelena said. “We’re still feeling our way into our independence and self-sufficiency.”

“Chickens and eggs wouldn’t be a bad idea. One can only eat so many meals out of pouches.”

“So Erick tells me.”

Mom smiled and drew her farther to the side, resting a hand on her shoulder. Jelena braced herself, afraid she would bring up Thor. Would her parents believe something was going on between them? And would this be a lecture about how dangerous it was to walk at his side? Especially now?

“Jelena,” Mom said slowly. “About the loan…”

“The loan?” Jelena had been ready to argue vehemently that she’d never even held Thor’s hand. It took her a moment to shift gears.

“Leonidas feels strongly that you should be held accountable for your actions and help us repay it.”

“I know, and I will.”

“Good, but I’m worried—I don’t want you taking undue risks because you feel the weight of this obligation.”

“Making cactus lemonade isn’t that risky.”

“We’ve had reports from our Alliance contacts,” Mom said, her tone turning extremely dry. “They came in after the fact this time. Fourseas is farther out, and it takes news a while to filter to the networks. They also have to decide if some border planet at war is considered news. Or should I say a planet ceasing its war?”

“Ah. Hm.” Jelena could tell her mother was proud, but exasperated, too, so she didn’t know what to say. She probably shouldn’t mention that aspirations of mercenary life had taken her to the planet in the first place.

“You will tell us the story, won’t you?” Mom asked. “Leonidas is curious.”

“Just Leonidas?”

“I feel like the more I learn, the more horrified I’ll be.”

“I don’t think it was any worse than our first adventure. I’m fairly certain fewer people tried to kill us.” Jelena decided not to mention the gold ship, and that it might be out there looking for Thor, even now.

“Just what a mother wants to hear.”

“I found it encouraging.”

“Jelena…”

“Wait, before you decide to lecture me, let me send you something.” She took out her netdisc and opened her bank account—technically, it was the business account for the Snapper. She transferred the money Erick had transferred to her, deciding to let her parents worry about her tax liabilities, at least until she had a chance to take some of those boring classes Erick had mentioned.

“You’re making a payment? Leonidas will be proud. But, Jelena—” Mom’s netdisc beeped, alerting her to the transfer, and she took it out to look. And then blink. And then look again. “Jelena, that’s more than a third of the loan amount.”

“It’s enough for the first payment, isn’t it?” Jelena asked with a smirk, knowing she’d only needed to pay two hundred-some tindarks for the first installment. Only. She almost laughed at the word now. A couple of weeks ago, that would have seemed like a fortune to her.

“You didn’t get this from the Chollans,” Mom said, sounding certain. “You didn’t do anything illegal, did you?”

“We sold some cactuses. The Chollans gave us several crates of an apparently rare and desirable type, one that hasn’t been easily obtainable for years. Erick is fairly certain we were underpaid, but one can’t expect great deals out here among the border worlds, right?”

“I…”

“Did you say cactuses?” Leonidas asked, his enhanced hearing apparently catching the conversation even though Mom had taken her to the side. He squinted at Jelena over the rim of his glass.

“Desirable ones, yes.”

“Well, one thing is clear,” Mom said.

“That Dad is drinking my lemonade?” Jelena asked.

“All right, two things are clear. That and that we dare not let you have four entire days off in a row again, nor have any delays scheduled between when you drop off a cargo and pick up the next one.”

“Mom, everything worked out fine. You don’t need to worry about us. We can handle our problems, and we’ll get that loan taken care of before you’ve had to pay hardly any interest on it at all. We are professionals.”

Mom’s eyebrows flew up. In skepticism of her claims, Jelena thought at first, but then Austin ambled past, whistling and swinging something that looked like a metal detector from side to side as he headed up the ramp.

“Austin,” Jelena said, “what are you doing?”

“Erick said we’d be getting paid, like a real salary, so I went out and bought an extendable shaft and search coil for my ghostometer. I also found a Divine Suns Trinity monk on the station who’s familiar with séances. He said he would come guide us in communicating with the spirit realm. Are there candles on the Snapper? We’re going to need candles for the ceremony. Once we’ve contacted the ghosts and learned their names, we can ask them to leave. The monk will talk us through an official cleansing.”

Not waiting for a response, Austin went back to whistling and walked into the cargo hold. Grandpa didn’t bat an eye at his words, but Kiyoko put a hand on Hoshi’s shoulder, pulling her back as Austin passed.

“Have no fear,” Grandpa said. “We don’t have any trouble with ghosts on the Star Nomad.”

“Won’t I be staying on the Snapper?” Kiyoko asked.

“I do believe you’ve made a deal to be my granddaughter’s doctor, yes.”

“Does that mean you’re taking me to study?” Hoshi clapped her hands together.

“Yes, and you’ll see your sister often,” Grandpa said. “My daughter has decided that we need to have many, many business meetings to check up on the progress of our new ship and its captain.” He looked past Jelena to Mom, and Mom returned his gaze with appreciation.

Business meetings? Jelena wrinkled her nose and looked toward Thor and Erick.

Erick shrugged at her. He probably thought it was a wonderful idea, since he hadn’t had any luck at squelching Jelena’s enthusiasm for finding adventure.

Thor merely pointed at the lemonade stand where Leonidas was pouring a second glass.

I’m not sure he paid for that refill, Thor said silently.

He deserves it. I’m going to invite him to do my taxes for me.

Ah. In that case, maybe you should buy him dinner too.

Of that I have no doubt.

THE END

Book 3, Stolen Legacy, will be available May 2017.

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Epilogue