She didn’t have time to process either.

  The hum beneath the tube was unfamiliar, but it rose with a steady beat. It was swirling.

  Exeter said, “No!”

  The instant was confused. Her fear had no time to congeal.

  Exeter tapped his neck. His helmet wrapped over him in a blink.

  He rushed Kara, slamming into her then holding on tight.

  Her chest burned as she flew in reverse.

  The fireball expelled a deadly skin of shrapnel and the heat of the sun, neither of which she nor her sudden partner escaped.

  When they crashed, the fire turned to midnight.

  The next thing she knew, Kara woke up in her own bed in the Syung-Low estate, listening to the birds rise with the sun and waiting on Chi-Qua to attend to her needs.

  Of all the nightmares visiting her of late, this was the most troubling. They seemed to be growing in frequency and violence. And this boy, Exeter. Why was he often at the center of these horrifying tales?

  Why was …

  You can stop pretending now. It’s OK, Kara. You survived.

  “Who said that?”

  The echo had no origin. The voice sounded familiar.

  “Lang?”

  Had her brother returned? He’d gone missing on Sanhae. Was he playing games?

  Lie still. They’ll need to assess your injuries. But you’ll live. Be thankful, Kara. It should have killed you.

  The bedsprings pushed through the mattress and pressed into her back. She wanted to scream, but another force from above pushed down. Pressing down. Down.

  “I can’t breathe.”

  Yes, you can. Be patient. It’s almost time to return. They’re lifting him off you now. You owe him your life. Never forget.

  She opened her eyes. A man nearby said, “Here she is.”

  Kara recognized the voice. He was new to her life somehow. A companion. A soldier? Yes. A soldier from another planet.

  No. Universe.

  “Cando?”

  “I’m here.”

  She saw terror, heartbreak, and joy blended in those dark brown eyes; his unibrow scrunched as he forced an immense smile.

  Cando Aleksanyan cleared debris to give himself more room at her side. Twisted metal and machine parts lay scattered. Others scurried nearby. She smelled burnt flesh.

  “Kara, can you feel your legs and arms?”

  The pain was sharp but everywhere.

  “Yes. What happened?”

  “An explosive. It was …”

  Her memory returned.

  “The stasis tube.”

  “Yes. Looks like it was waiting to be opened.”

  “Exeter. He pushed me away. Where is he?”

  Cando nodded to her right.

  Exeter lay close by, his helmet retracted but his armor appearing to have held up. Still, his eyes were closed. He wasn’t moving.

  “Is he?”

  “The concussion of the blast snapped his neck. The armor can resist many things, but we’re still bags of water inside. Don’t believe the hype, Kara. We’re not as invincible as we claim.”

  “But he’s immortal. He’ll …”

  “I hope. He’s been gone eight minutes. Usually, he and the Colonel regenerate within ten to fifteen. We’ll see.”

  “The others?”

  She heard a girl sobbing.

  “I raced over here with Jai soon as we saw the blast. There’s nothing left of Joa. The other one, either. Rain Pai.”

  “Lucas and June?”

  “Lucas didn’t react fast enough. We found him with his helmet still retracted. Probably best you don’t know the details.”

  “June?”

  “I’m not sure how she did it, but I’ve seen her survive worse. We won’t know how bad her injuries are until we get her back to the ship.”

  As bad as the pain was, Kara felt compelled to push herself up. Cando tried to hold her down, to no avail.

  She saw the scope of the disaster. Everything was charred within fifty meters.

  “I shouldn’t be alive, Cando.”

  “No. This was a million to one. You had a guardian angel.”

  Exeter remained cold and motionless.

  “It’s still a fog, Cando. A few minutes before it happened, we thought he was a traitor. Then … all he wanted was to give that woman a proper sendoff.”

  Other inconvenient facts returned to form. Namely, that Exeter violated a direct command and she enabled him.

  Three dead. Maybe four.

  I don’t know what I’m doing.

  “We’ll sort out the details later,” Cando said. “We’re a bit short on time.”

  “What happened?”

  “We were on the rifter heading your way when the Admiral sent a recall order. We’re leaving the station. They ran into trouble topside.”

  She saw the truth when he dodged her eyes.

  “We’re in bigger trouble. Aren’t we?”

  Cando didn’t say another word while he reached underneath and lifted her with great care.

  16

  H AM RACED FROM C&C WHEN EXETER’S old room was cleared without further calamity. The Talons who pulled Yusef and Chi-Qua to safety also removed a pair of crucial artifacts. Force Carmel, a beast of a man who towered over his brothers and sisters, handed the Admiral a drone the size of a marble, its hummingbird-style wings snapped in half.

  “This is what I suspected,” Ham said. “It’s called a pincher. Delivers projectiles containing d’joti, a toxin harvested on Indonesia Prime. We developed these in Special Services.”

  “There were three,” Force said. “They shot their wad at us. Leto blasted two. I took this one by hand. Thought it might be nice to have a sample. What are they?”

  “Hunters. They neutralize sensitive targets. The d’joti paralyzes every muscle instantaneously. Makes for quieter extractions.”

  Ryllen stood between the bodies.

  “They’re still alive, Admiral. Can we save them?”

  “I know the antidote. I’ll write the script. The phasics will take it from there. We’ll need to move them to Horn.” He faced Yusef and Chi-Qua. “You won’t be of much use for an hour, give or take, but stay calm. We’ll be far away, and you’ll be back on your feet.”

  Ryllen was stunned. “They can hear us?”

  “Oh, yes. They’re conscious. They can see and hear everything. All of which makes it a special kind of nightmare.”

  He instructed Force and Leto to carry Yusef to the waiting Scramjet, while the Hokkis Po Wynn and Muna Fei followed behind with the much lighter Chi-Qua.

  Ryllen said nothing until the corridor cleared.

  “That was an ambush, Ham. They targeted X. Why?”

  “If you were after revenge, wouldn’t you want to capture the man who pressed the button? This tells me two things. One, they spent considerable time here laying their trap – all on the presumption of Amayas and Exeter’s return. It was a longshot gambit, but it shows their commitment. Two, it says we’re out of time. The toxin paralyzes for several hours. Failing an anecdote, it spreads to the organs and the neural system. It kills within twelve. SS recovery teams carried the antidote in order to save the prisoner for other procedures.”

  “So, you’re saying these Chancellors are like you? Special Services.”

  “At least one. We …”

  Ham paused and raised a finger for quiet.

  “Did you feel a tremor?”

  “Yes, but I assumed it was the station’s background vibration.”

  “No. Not the F-Core.”

  “I don’t sense anything now.”

  “My paranoia. It heightens whenever I sense other Chancellors approaching. Open your comm stack to every Talon. It’s time.”

  Ryllen launched a broad-range hologram that captured most but not all his team. He grimaced while counting. Ham began:

  “Attention, everyone. This is a mandatory recall. All search teams sublevel will return topside without delay. Report to C&C then prepare for immediate assignment to the Scramjets. We are leav …”

  Cando Aleksanyan and Lin Sangoon talked over him.

  “Massive explosion red sector … en route … huge fireball … trying to communicate … no response …”

  Instinct told Ham what he might have suspected earlier. He was right: The pinchers were not the only trap.

  “Cando, Lin: Calm down. Tell me what you know.”

  “Just the explosion,” Cando said. “Huge fireball. If I had to guess, I’d say where the red team found the survivor. I’m almost there.”

  He heard the panic in Ryllen’s voice.

  “X.”

  Ryllen stared down the corridor leading to the lift.

  “No. Colonel. Don’t you dare.”

  “I have to ...”

  “Cando, Lin: Listen carefully. If you find survivors, extract them quickly. We need to leave here.”

  “If they can’t be moved?” Lin asked.

  “Do your best. I want everyone topside in fifteen minutes.”

  They nodded understanding. The transmission ended.

  Ryllen was, for the moment, no longer Colonel. He was the same wrecked boy who introduced himself to Ham one day after losing his first love, Kai Durin, in an ambush. It was also the day he discovered his true nature.

  “You can’t help him, RJ. If he was caught in the blast, he’ll regenerate. It’s not the first time.”

  “But if he was too close … if the blast incinerated him …”

  They long avoided conversations about the multitude of ways in which immortals might be killed for good. Fire ranked high.

  “This is no time to crack. There were two other Talons in red sector. Not immortal. Be their Colonel. Hold fast for your people.”

  Ham prayed he was right about Exeter. This team would not survive long if Ryllen turned into a raging psychopath. He developed a healthy taste for revenge murder after Kai’s death. Six years of brutal war sapped whatever moral clarity he might have had left. Ham sensed it from the moment they reunited on Hokkaido:

  Ryllen was a man held together by his title and his love.

  “Follow your team to the ships, Colonel. They need a leveling voice. Hiro Parke will pilot Horn and take us to Worm. We may have to leave Ram behind. It can’t slip, and I don’t think our skies are going to be clear for long.”

  Ryllen assented but didn’t go far before he turned about face.

  “I never believed he was a traitor, but I wanted to kill him. The more he defended himself, the more I wanted to tear him apart.”

  The Colonel said no more. He carried the swagger of a Talon as he disappeared around a sharp bend.

  Ham wouldn’t allow the words to cross his lips, but that didn’t stop him from thinking them:

  You are going to be a problem.

  “But first, the cudfrucking Chancellors.”

  He returned to C&C and entered the script for the d’joti antidote then sent it to Hiro Parke, who added it to Horn’s med phasic protocols.

  He consulted with Paul Ochoba, who’d been busy since the discovery of the ambush in room 16C.

  “What are you seeing out there, Paul?”

  “It’s difficult. Y-14 is supposed to have twelve orbital relays, but I’ve only managed to bring five online. We have some blind spots.”

  “The far side?”

  “Dark.”

  “We orbited in Ram while the advance team was restarting the station. We found nothing untoward.”

  “I’d cast my vote for sabotage.”

  “The backchannel signal Leto found likely included instructions to darken the relays on the far side. Clever.”

  “Admiral, are you saying they’re hiding behind Y-14 right now?”

  “If they wanted to assess our capabilities before announcing themselves. Yes.”

  “But how? They’d need a dynamic connection inside Artemis.”

  Ham felt like a fool who built a brick wall without mortar.

  “Good Chancellors are hard to defeat because they come at you by way of the ass. If they’re already in, they know our status. They know we’re about to depart.”

  His heart did something unfamiliar: It sped up.

  “Open a channel to Horn. Now.”

  Paul brought up the visual link.

  Hiro answered from the navigator’s chair.

  “Is everyone onboard?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Break seal and launch now. Use your combat protocols.”

  “Admiral, I …”

  “Do it. You’re under attack.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Ham swung around to the light table.

  “Throw up the external cams. How far can we track the perimeter from here?”

  “The farthest beacon is three hundred kilometers. What are you thinking, Admiral?”

  “I’m not.” He pointed to a rapidly approaching target bearing north by northwest. “I’m seeing it.”

  Horn ignited its nacelles and launched.

  “They won’t make it. They …”

  The missile came into focus as it blistered the horizon, a red demon on course to the docking port, too fast to warrant a countdown. Ham opened a holowindow onto the port, just as it lit up like the sunrise.

  The station shook. Lights and holograms flickered.

  What have I led us into?

  The ensuing silence carried the weight of deadly defeat. He and Paul stared at each other like they dare not face reality. Hoshi Negani sat at her station, hands clasped over ears. Ham noticed her for the first time since he returned to C&C. Why was she still here?

  A crackle broke the silence, followed by an open comm.

  “We’re away,” Hiro Parke said. “A few scorches, but we’re intact. Orders?”

  The landing port showed scattered debris; Ram took a direct hit.

  “Hiro, leave the system before they gain a lock. Go to Worm.”

  “Destination?”

  “You pick. Make it fast.”

  “Will do. But Admiral, you’re grounded. How will we … ???”

  “We’ll figure it out, Hiro. Slip now.”

  Ten seconds later, Horn disappeared inside the lightning flash of a wormhole aperture.

  Paul said what Ham was thinking: “What now?”

  “For the record, I’ve never lost a battle in my life. Cliché dictates I claim this will not be the first. However, I’ve never been outwitted so thoroughly. How many do we have topside?”

  “Just the three of us, sir.”

  He turned to Hoshi. “Why didn’t you evacuate?”

  “I’m not a good listener,” she said. “But you already knew that.”

  He didn’t have time for her nonsense.

  “Paul, how many down below?”

  “Six, for sure. We haven’t heard back about the casualties. You ordered them topside, sir. Should you belay that order?”

  “Yes.”

  The response did not come from Ham. He turned to the double doors. Ryllen Jee, Leto Ahmed, and Force Carmel stood shoulder to shoulder, their turbos active for combat.

  “This is where we’re needed,” Ryllen said.

  “Colonel’s orders,” Leto added.

  Ham knew his relief was illusory, but he’d take it for now.

  “How did you …?”

  “I ordered them off Horn before you gave the launch order. We aren’t leaving people behind, Admiral. What’s the plan?”

  “Gather around,” he said, fully aware there was no plan.

  PART TWO

  RECOMPENSE

  Excerpt from interview of historian Dr. Orson Baatch, upon release of his stream cyclical War of the Nine: Avoidable Catastrophe, in Standard Year 5438:

  Q: Dr. Baatch, you are a staunch advocate of Imperial rule as the most effective political and military system to achieving interstellar prosperity. To that end, do you believe the resurgence of the Chancellors could have been an effective deterrent to the incursions we saw during the War of the Nine?

  Baatch: Of course not. The Chancellors had their time, and they governed with a masterful hand for a millennium. The post-Collectorate factions had no interest in recreating the previous centuries of stability.

  Q: While I’m not sure masterful and stability will win you many friends, we’ll move on. You dismiss the Chancellor factions, but they were for a time part of the so-called Splinter Alliance, which you write might have emerged as a force for good. Explain.

  Baatch: The Alliance was based upon cohesive principles that ensured the economic and technological prosperity for twenty-five percent of the former Collectorate. I have little doubt it would have succeeded. These planets would have been the envy of the other thirty. Within a few generations, they would have established military superiority.

  Q: To do what? Invade the others and reestablish the Collectorate?

  Baatch: Empire, by its definition, does not occur without invasion.

  Q: Is it true your mother’s side of the family were once Chancellors?

  Baatch: I fail to see the relevance.

  17

  N O ONE CELEBRATED WHEN Exeter returned from the dead. Perhaps it was the predictability – his eyes opened thirteen minutes after the explosion. Yet his return felt insignificant while three of their crew lay dead, two in unrecognizable pieces. Shock set in further when they learned of the events topside and were ordered to remain in place. For Kara, guilt competed with a sense of futility amid the carnage. She may not have opened the stasis tube, but she cleared the way. She brought the majority to Exeter’s side.

  She sat at Cando’s feet as he took command of the sublevel.

  “Yes, Colonel,” Cando told Ryllen over his comm stack. “I will. June has a concussion, and her armor suffered a systemic network of fractures in the outer shell above the thorax. If it’s compromised, we might have to remove it.”

  “And X?”

  “He’s running a self-diagnostic. The hairline fractures on his back are distinctive, but he says he was leaping away from the blast, so the concussive effect might have been mitigated.”

  “Is he listening to us?”

  “No. He stepped away.”

  “Hear me, Cando. You have authority, but if the team makes a collective decision, do not give Exeter a vote. Three people are dead because he disobeyed a direct order. Lucas was one of the best of us. If this was another place and time, I’d strip him myself and throw him out an airlock.”