Starseers: Fallen Empire, Book 3 (26 page)

“I suppose that’s true, but this needn’t be a bloodbath. We just want to know where the boy is, Colonel. The war’s over, and there aren’t any war crimes listed on your record that you should be held accountable for. Just the usual—” the commander already had thin lips, and they almost disappeared when he pressed them together, “—but understandable grievances.”

Alisa wondered if that was a lie. While she believed Leonidas wouldn’t have done anything atrocious, she wondered if her people would truly let him walk after this.

“I haven’t seen the boy in over six months,” Leonidas said. “I have no idea where he is now.”

The commander looked at his medical officer, who shrugged in return. “I can’t tell if he’s lying without dosing him, sir.”

“Where was he when last you saw him?” Farrow asked Leonidas.

“You’re going to drug me regardless of what I tell you.” Leonidas sighed and lifted his hands toward his helmet.

The soldiers all tightened their fingers on the triggers of their weapons.

Leonidas didn’t even acknowledge them as he pulled off his helmet. Alisa was surprised that he did it, since it made him vulnerable, but maybe he sensed that the soldiers would start firing and find a way to peel him open like an old-fashioned sardine can if he did not.

Or maybe a certain Starseer was influencing his actions. She shivered.

Leonidas tucked the helmet under his arm. He wore his stoic, difficult-to-read face, but Alisa thought she saw some of his pain and weariness in the tightness at the corners of his eyes. Thinking of how much the Starseers had worked him over before throwing him into his cell, she worried that the armor was the main thing keeping him upright. Once again, she regretted that her actions had brought him here. Dealing with an interrogation while at full health would be bad enough.

“What planet did you last see him on, Colonel?” Farrow asked, waving his fingers for the doctor to step forward. “And who did you hand him off to?”

“He’s just a boy,” Leonidas said softly. “Will you go after him with a squadron of armed soldiers and fighter pilots?” His gaze flicked briefly to Alisa—remembering that she had been an Alliance fighter pilot not that long ago?

For the first time, Farrow looked at Alisa. She had been standing quietly in the shadow of the old Striker, having puzzle pieces click into place as she listened and finally started to realize why the Alliance wanted Leonidas. The boy. The only boy they could possibly be talking about who would be of such interest was the emperor’s son. Prince Thorian. Had Leonidas been there at the end? The imperial palace had been destroyed days before the emperor’s actual death out on an asteroid base where a hidden palace had been his final refuge, a place the Alliance never would have known about if not for a spy. Had the elite Cyborg Corps been there in the final battle, defending it? And if so, had Leonidas been called away when the fall became inevitable and when the emperor wanted to make sure his only surviving son escaped?

“He will be captured,” Farrow said. “We have no intention of killing a child, if that’s what you’re worried about, but he will be made to disappear, and we’ll let the press believe he was killed. I’m sure you can understand why we don’t want him secreted away somewhere so that your people can trot him out later on, using him as a figurehead to rally around.”

Leonidas gazed back at him, his face giving away nothing.

“Doctor,” Farrow said, tilting his head toward Leonidas.

“Do you want me to question the woman too?”

Alisa felt her eyebrows fly up. Being questioned with drugs wouldn’t be as bad as being questioned by having fingernails and toenails ripped out, but she couldn’t imagine it would be pleasant. And what did they think she knew? What could she possibly know? She hadn’t been there when the emperor’s hidden refuge was destroyed. She had been across the system, engaged in the chain battles, taking down the Dustor 7 Orbital Shipyard.

“I’ve told her nothing of this,” Leonidas said. “She’s someone I hired to give me a ride, nothing more.”

Alisa knew the words were for the sake of the officers and weren’t true for him any more than they were for her. Farrow squinted at him, perhaps suspecting the same thing, and met Alisa’s eyes.

“You won medals for fighting the empire during the war, and now you’re ferrying around its officers, Captain Marchenko?” he asked.

“We met at gunpoint,” Alisa said, thinking of Leonidas’s admonition that she should save herself if she could. She loathed the idea of lying to do that, but this wasn’t a lie. “And technically, he didn’t pay me for that ride. He had a big destroyer pointed at my nose.” Granted, he had been telling her to go away when he’d been pointing his gun at her, not ordering her to take him anywhere. “What’s a girl to do when that happens?”

“I’ve seen the reports,” Farrow said. “You refused to give him up at Perun.” He nodded to the doctor. “Question her too. He may have confided in her.”

“Why would I confide in an Alliance officer?” Leonidas asked.

“A
former
Alliance officer. One you seem oddly interested in protecting now.”

“You’re supposed to protect civilians from the enemy,” he said without hesitating. “It’s what soldiers do.”

“We’re not her enemy,” Farrow snapped.

Alisa bit her lip to keep from pointing out that he hadn’t seemed to have a problem with blowing up the Starseer temple while the
Nomad
was stuck in its docks.

“We needn’t be your enemy, either,” Farrow said. “The war is over. Your unit was disbanded. We just need to find the boy.”

“And annihilate a temple full of Starseers?” Leonidas arched an eyebrow.

“Are you also concerned about protecting
them
? One wonders what you were doing down there.”

“Research.”

“Question them on that too,” Farrow told the doctor. “We thought she would lead us down to a city where we could catch up with the cyborg once he departed.
This
—” he flexed his hand in the direction of the deck and the battle going on far below, “—was an unexpected bonus.”

Leonidas’s jaw tightened, the first sign that he was worried with the way things were going.

“You’re welcome,” Alisa said. “Perhaps as a sign of your gratitude, you could refrain from sticking giant drug-filled needles in my neck.”

“It’s only a medium-sized needle,” the doctor said.

“I’m sure that’ll make it far more comfortable.”

The ship shuddered, and Farrow frowned slightly. Even though Alisa knew the battle continued on while this meeting was happening, this was the first sign that the
Nautilus
was currently being targeted. Either the shields had absorbed previous impacts so she had not noticed them, or the Starseers had flown up and found the warship in the mist. It was also possible the
Nautilus
had descended and rejoined the fray as soon as it had Alisa and Leonidas on board.

Farrow’s lips moved as he communicated subvocally to someone via his earstar. Alisa could not hear the response, but Leonidas stirred slightly at her side.

“I need to get back to the bridge,” Farrow told the doctor. “Where would you prefer to do your interrogation? The brig or sickbay?”

“The brig, and I want him out of his armor,” the doctor said firmly, his wary glance toward Leonidas promising that he wouldn’t underestimate him. “I have an injectable form of tyranoadhuc gas to immobilize him for the trek down—” he lifted what Alisa had taken for a tranquilizer gun earlier, “—but it will have to wear off before I can question him, so I’ll want him somewhere we can fully restrain him before then.”

“You heard my doctor, Colonel,” Farrow said. “Drop your drawers.”

“You needn’t sound so excited at the idea of getting him naked,” Alisa muttered.

Farrow ignored her.

Leonidas regarded the armored men and women lined up in front of him, along with the weapons they carried. Alisa had seen him fight against more people, and she wondered if he was contemplating it now. He might have been thinking to wait and bide his time for an escape, but if the doctor meant to immobilize him with that drug, this could be his last chance to do something.

His gaze paused on her, and he frowned. She hoped he wasn’t worried that she would be caught in the crossfire. She didn’t want him sacrificing himself because of her. She glanced toward the cockpit, trying to let him know that she would jump up and lock herself in if he took action.

“Sergeant,” Farrow said, backing up, “have your men grab him and hold him for the doctor. We’ll remove his armor once the drug has been administered.”

“Yes, sir.”

The ship shuddered again, the deck lurching beneath Alisa’s feet. Farrow tapped his earstar and mumbled a question as four of the armored men surged forward. The doctor lifted the tranquilizer gun, aiming at Leonidas’s head.

At first, Leonidas did not move. He held his arms away from his rifle, as if he meant to give up. He waited until two of the soldiers were close enough to grab him. Then, using their bodies as cover, he attacked.

With the soldiers in front of him, Alisa could barely see what happened, but two hulking armored men went flying, crashing into those who had stayed back. Weapons fired, and she jumped, catching the lip of the cockpit. The idea of fleeing from the fight rankled, but without armor, she was like a mouse among stampeding Senekda buffalo. Besides, once inside the cockpit with the canopy closed, she might be able to get the Striker in the air so she could use the weapons.

She had only managed to pull herself up and sling one leg inside before something struck her in the back and a nimbus of white light flashed around her. Stun gun. Her entire body clenched, muscles spasming in a second that lasted a small eternity, and then everything relaxed. Her eyelids fell shut. She had no control.

She lost her grip on the hull, and gravity dragged her down. She expected to hit the floor hard. Instead, she landed in someone’s armored hands. Unfortunately, that armor was gray instead of crimson. Someone wearing a uniform jerked her upright, and she felt something cool press against the side of her neck. The muzzle of a weapon?

Blazers had been going off all around her, but they halted abruptly, and silence fell in the hangar bay.

It took a Herculean effort for Alisa to wrestle her eyelids open. She had no control over her arms or legs.

She found herself looking straight at Leonidas, his red helmet back on, his rifle in his hands. He was less than a meter from her, but he froze, staring at her—and at whoever held her. The muzzle of the weapon pressed deeper into Alisa’s neck. She had no trouble feeling it, even though it would take several moments before she was able to move.

Leonidas did not try to reach her. Regret and defeat flashed in his eyes. Alisa wanted to tell him not to give up for her sake, that the Alliance men wouldn’t kill her, but perhaps it was good that she couldn’t speak, because she was not positive it would have been the truth. If Farrow believed he could get his hands on the heir to the empire, he might believe that sacrificing her was worth it. Bile rose in her throat. She did not know if it was an effect of the stun gun or just how her body felt at this betrayal, at knowing her people would possibly kill her.

The Alliance soldiers that Leonidas had hurled aside rolled away from him, collecting their weapons and pushing themselves to their feet.

“Back up and remove your helmet again, Colonel,” Commander Farrow said, his voice beside Alisa’s ear.

She hadn’t realized he had been the one to grab her. She had no idea what the future would bring, but she hoped she one day had the opportunity to press a gun to
his
neck.

“No delays this time,” Farrow added.

Leonidas met Alisa’s eyes, though she could not read the message in them. Then he stepped back, removed his helmet, and tossed his rifle and the other weapons not built into his suit to the floor.

“Strip,” Farrow said.

A soft clack sounded near Alisa, the doctor fumbling to load another tranquilizer dart. She imagined one sticking out of the wall somewhere in the bay. He needn’t have bothered. This time, Leonidas obeyed the order.

Something else hit the ship, making enough of an impact to be felt through the shields. Farrow cursed softly, his breath stirring Alisa’s hair.

You’ve provided us a suitable distraction
, a voice spoke into her head, the same Starseer who had been communicating with her all along.

I’m so glad for you
, she snarled in reply.
Any chance you want to come up here and help us out of our predicament?

In front of her, Leonidas removed his armor in pieces, unfastening the chest plate and boots as the soldiers looked on, once again stationed around him and pointing their rifles in his direction. Their faces held more irritated expressions than before, and more than one looked like he wanted to club Leonidas in the head—or maybe just shoot him. The doctor edged forward, that tranquilizer gun at the ready.

“Think you can handle him from here, Sergeant?” Farrow asked, his tone dry as he looked toward Leonidas, who now wore little more than the snug underwear and T-shirt that he wore under his armor.

Even through her faceplate, the embarrassed flush to the female squad leader’s cheeks was visible. “Yes, sir.”

Alisa could wiggle her fingers but not much more. Reaching her Etcher was out of the question. Someone might have already removed it, anyway.

“Doctor?” Farrow asked.

The doctor leveled his tranquilizer gun toward Leonidas’s chest. Leonidas saw it and tensed, as if to spring, but the gun muzzle gouged deeper into Alisa’s neck. He met her eyes again and sighed. When the doctor fired, Leonidas did not try to dodge. A small dart thudded into his chest.

Alisa growled in indignation for him as he dropped to one knee, catching himself on the deck with his fingers. They needn’t have dropped him like an animal on the tundra. He would have let them walk up and inject him. Because he worried about the repercussions to her if he continued to fight, he would have let them. She blinked away tears of frustration as the drug took effect, and he tipped onto his side. His eyes found Alisa’s again. Though he did not try to say anything, and there was no betrayed wrinkle to his face, she couldn’t help but feel that he was silently accusing her, blaming her for what was about to befall him.