Abysm (9 page)

“Thank you, Admiral. I’ll see to it.”

“One last thing. When I win the day, the Alliance
will
have a treaty with the IDCC. Perhaps then we can finally see a measure of peace.”

The young woman frowned, though she quickly covered it up. Not quickly enough.

“Is there something else, Ms. Requelme?”

“Alex…didn’t tell you what they learned while they were in the portal network, did she?”

Miriam sighed. “We only spent a few minutes together, but no. She did not.”

“Well, I’m sure she thought you had more important things to occupy you and will tell you later!”

“She will now. Thank you for your overture, and I hope the day soon comes when we can be public allies.”

Miriam had hardly closed the connection when an incoming comm request from Eleni arrived. What were the odds the field marshal wanted to discuss a public show of support for Miriam from the Federation?

She had the support of everyone who mattered in the galaxy, except the ones she most needed.

SIYANE

S
PACE,
N
ORTHEAST
Q
UADRANT

“What? No, it’s…”
I’m going to kill you, Mia
“…listen, Mom, can we talk about this later? I promise you it will keep until you’re in a safer situation.”

“You’re worried about my safety?”

Alex dropped her head back against the rest. “Yes. You’re supposed to be comfortably ensconced in a big, shiny office with shelves of tea sets and antique books, not in the middle of a war zone on a command ship that’s weaponized like a destroyer.”

“Ah. Fair observation, I concede. But while my work may have appeared relatively tame to you for some time now, I assure you, I have seen battle, Alex. More than once.”

“I know you have. Just be careful.”

“I could say the same to you, and I will. Be careful. This isn’t your fight.”

Why did everyone keep saying that to her? It unequivocally was her fight. But many of the reasons why it was her fight were intertwined with the revelations she wasn’t yet divulging, so she ignored the comment for now. “I think we’re heading to Romane for the night. We’ll drop Kennedy and Noah off, check on Mia and see what the world has in store for us in the morning.”

“Good. My preference would be for you to remain there, but whatever you do, don’t visit Earth right now. I know you want to go home, but it’s not safe. In fact, it is extremely dangerous. Winslow almost certainly has security watching your loft.”

“That bitch.” Her mom actually laughed a touch; she’d take it as a win. “I won’t. Promise. Now, stop letting me distract you and go work.”

Alex signed off but didn’t swing the chair around to face the cabin. Kennedy and Noah had been whispering behind her for the last minute, and she needed a chance to prepare for the presumed result of their conference.

…But she wasn’t going to get it. Kennedy showed up in the cockpit and plopped down in Caleb’s chair with exaggerated flair.

“You spent half an hour telling me all about your adventures, yet you neglected to mention the fact you’d discovered how to enter an altered state of consciousness with your
ship
?”

“I was planning to get around to it. But I thought it would take longer to fully explain, and the aliens, Amaranthe, the Metigens and so on were all more important.”

“Possibly valid, if still suspect.” Kennedy dropped her arms to her knees, leaned forward and lowered her voice. “Are you okay? Because you don’t seem okay. And Caleb….”

She glanced to the rear of the cabin where Caleb was inspecting Noah’s new biosynthetic arm, twisting it around and poking at it with one hand while he sipped on a beer with the other.

“He didn’t act entirely happy about what he called your new trick.”

Alex stared out the viewport at the blur of the superluminal bubble, fighting the palpable need to touch it with her mind. For the briefest second. Her eyes began closing…she blinked.

“It’s not the ‘trick’ so much as…I guess I have been indulging in it a little too often, and it’s easy to lose track of time when I’m in that space. Also, there’s a bit of a hangover effect for a period afterward. He’s right when he says I should lighten up on it.”

“How long?”

“Hmm?”

“How long has it been a problem?”

“It’s not a
problem
, really.”

“Uh-huh.”

She had nowhere to retreat to escape Kennedy’s too-perceptive gaze.
Since the spectacularly disastrous run at the Amaranthe portal.
Valkyrie insisted her brain hadn’t suffered any lasting damage, but she’d felt wrong ever since.

“Not long. I’ll be
fine
.” She donned a facsimile of a grateful smile and stood. “It looks as if the guys are doing more drinking than cooking. We should get in on that.”

What she couldn’t say aloud was that slipping into the elemental realm made her feel
less
wrong. The cosmos opened up to her, welcomed her into its arms as if she were part of it. What was a tiny headache in comparison to such wonders?

INTERMEZZO
I

MOSAIC

E
NISLE
T
HIRTY-
E
IGHT
S
PECIES
A
SSIGNMENT:
F
YLLIOT

S
ALOTE
C
HAE FRETTED ALONG THE PATH
from his empty, barren home to the Life Garden, and shortly back again. Several more such journeys did not elicit the serenity he sought.

He had heeded the Kovana’s admonishments to be patient, to allow the resettling to conclude and the upheaval to subside. But the upheaval would take years to subside to a state of harmony, and he dared wait no longer.

He must return home. If the Life Garden bestowed on him any wisdom, it was this.

Intentions fortified, he veered toward the makeshift shiplot in the field beyond the central settlement.

They had given the field the designation of shiplot, but thus far it was only ships parked amid grasses. Their protectors, these ‘Katasketousya,’ promised them they would be able to continue to fly here in this new realm, continue to spread their wings and explore their new stars. But with the enormous efforts required to make this planet a suitable home, flying around in space was far from anyone’s priority.

“Salote, ho!”

He spun at the shout from behind him to see his tau-mate Emele dashing up the hill after him. He had hoped to slip away unnoticed, but he wasn’t willing to delay another day to accomplish it. So he waited.

“Where are you off to? We could benefit from some aid down at the distro.”

“I can’t, Emele. I won’t be available to aid for a few…days.”

“Ah, Salote, you’re not still thinking of going back to search for them, are you?”

“Not thinking. Going. Don’t you understand? My bonded and my pod-brood didn’t make it out! The last evacuation vessels have come and emptied and left, and they
are not here
. If I do not return for them, they are lost. I cannot abandon them.”

Emele floundered then dipped low in respect. “It is the worst manner of tragedy, Salote. You are not the only one who left family behind. Fef’s down at the lake weeping his heart out into the waters for the third day in a row now, very same reason. You should join him and take comfort in shared sorrow.

“But you heard what the Kovana said. You heard what the alien admonished: it is too dangerous to return. The Anaden demons will kill you within a blink if they find you.”

“Then I will ensure they do not find me. And maybe the demons didn’t find Airini and the little ones. Maybe they’re hiding. Waiting for rescue.”

“Hiding where, Salote? Waiting where? The planet is surely in pieces by now. Our home is
gone
. You need to make peace with this reality. If you will not mourn with Fef, go to the Life Garden. Spend what time you need to make your peace, but make it.”

He circled Emele, ignoring his tau-mate’s flailings. “I have spent so much time in the Life Garden I smell of elderberries and valerian. And it tells me to return home. Airini could have hidden at the moon port. It holds no materials these Anadens would desire, right? It could have remained untouched. Overlooked.”

“Salote—”

“I have to check. To see. I have to
know
.”

“And if you do not come back?”

“Plant a seed in the Life Garden in remembrance of me—no, in remembrance of Airini.”

“I will do both.” Emele clasped him briefly then let him go.

Saddened but undeterred, Salote resumed his journey to the shiplot. Most of his people had evacuated in the mammoth Katasketousya vessels, but those with ships of their own were allowed to bring them along. The route from their home through the portals to this new world had been provided to all such ships, including his own, and the coordinates and accompanying instructions were still stored in his ship’s system. He simply needed to reverse the order of progression.

The shiplot was deserted, and none arrived to interfere as he climbed into his small vessel and checked its integrity.

The time for reexamination of his decision had passed—in truth it had never existed—and now he did not hesitate. He engaged the engines and lifted off without fanfare, though he imagined some eyes lifted to the sky as he flew over.

He endured the violent traversal of the planet’s atmosphere and at last reached the stars, where he took the briefest span to gaze upon the planet below. It looked so much like the home they had fled. But it was no home to him.

If Airini was not there, it was just a rock.

PART
II
:

THE
SPACE
IN
BETWEEN

“God grant that men of principle shall be our principal men.”

— Thomas Jefferson

7

SENECA

C
AVARE
I
NTELLIGENCE
D
IVISION
H
EADQUARTERS

W
ATCHING THE
Z
ELONES CARTEL SPLINTER
and crumble in an avalanche of murders, bombings and firefights was turning out to be rather amusing, if morbidly so.

Olivia Montegreu had been in power for so long and had kept such an iron grip on her power, there were no clear successors to step into the vacancy her death created. The power vacuum which resulted was leading to a great deal of violence, but it was almost exclusively merc-on-merc violence. Lower-level leaders were trying to set up their own little fiefdoms in some places. The other cartels were also taking advantage of the chaos, but Montegreu had weakened them so much they were having a hard time of it.

Rumors circulated that a large contingent of former Triene cartel members who had been unwillingly absorbed by Montegreu were poised to make a significant push to take over the Zelones headquarters on New Babel.

Graham Delavasi didn’t want to count his riches too soon, but it was possible the Zelones cartel was going to disintegrate entirely.

There would still be as much crime and as many criminals as there had ever been; such was the nature of life. But Montegreu had become a threat to the natural balance between law and law-breakers, between order and chaos.

With her gone and her organization in ruins, the balance should return.

He was working toward a good mood as he headed out of his office for a meeting—and bumped smack into Tessa Hennessey in the doorway.

“Whoops!” She backed up and rubbed at her nose. “Glad we caught you. We were coming to see you.”

‘We’ included Will Sutton, who had deftly dodged Tessa’s post-collision boomerang. Graham jerked a nod and reversed course to return to his office. “I’ve got a minute, but not much longer. What’s up?”

“OTS is going after Dr. Canivon and Devon Reynolds.”

He frowned. “Well, we kind of already knew that, didn’t we? It stands to reason they would.”

“Sure, but now they’re
really
going after them, as in devoting substantial resources and manpower to hunting them down with the intent to kill them.”

“All right. Neither of them are in Federation territory, so what can we do?”

Tessa grinned flippantly. “Oh, nothing. IDCC security is all over it. I just wanted you to know Cleo and I were getting results.”