“Our first clear victory in weeks,” Paul added.

  Cando continued. “We were hunkered down during a truce cycle. Apparently, those two were not fond of their unit commander. Thought they’d give us a shine.”

  Leto said, “They were looking for a unit that blew off the regs. Wasn’t us, for sure, but we never stood in their way. They loved two things in life: Killing the enemy and pumping each other. They didn’t give a shit about defeating the Chancellor Swarm. They wanted breakfast in the morning, a body count by midday, rations for dinner, and a couple hours of alone time.”

  “Which they more or less got until we hit Shanpour.”

  The tone darkened.

  “We lost six in the first wave,” Leto said. “Sometimes, I didn’t think any of us would get out of that city alive. But Lucas and June? They racked up kills and never missed a chance for a good pump.”

  Cando sighed. “That was the part I never understood until later. They confided in me one night. Turns out, they were accidental soldiers. Lucas thought he was joining Flight Service Division. Managing supply lines, retooling dropships. You might appreciate the irony, Kara. You see, the Orzed Federation – the resistance to the Chancellor Swarm – based its training center on Huryo. And yes, it’s a swamp on that side, too.

  “They didn’t pay close attention to what they signed when they arrived. They joined the Orzed infantry. By the time they realized their screwup, they were en route to Hokkaido. The Swarm entered the system and set up staging platforms. Those two landed with their unit, took a look around, and decided they loved the planet. Thought it was worth fighting for. After three months, they were promoted to Twenty Talons. June said they never felt so alive. If they went back to Catalan, they’d die of boredom and regret.”

  “So,” Kara said, “they didn’t care if they died in the war?”

  “Not at all. They made their peace with it, so to speak. The only thing they didn’t like was the idea of not dying together.”

  “She would hate us,” Leto said, “for not bringing his body.”

  Shoan spoke up. “Not if she saw what he looked like.”

  “You might be right, Shoan,” Cando said. “It was my call. I saw nothing to be gained except additional labor. It’s best he’s buried where he fell. When we leave this place, I intend to have a moment to honor Lucas.”

  “Plus Joa Zaan and Rain Pai.”

  “Of course, Shoan. Them as well.”

  The conversation faded. Kara thought the silence would take them through this round of rock blasting. Paul surprised her.

  “Shanpour. What a nightmare. I’ve never seen fire reach so high in the sky. That city was a cinder by the time it was over.”

  “Hellish, for certain.” Cando groaned. “But none of us would be here if we hadn’t fought there. We were patrolling the southern wall when this deranged kid sauntered up to our post. Remember, Leto? The first question he asked?”

  “How would I forget? ‘I need the name of the planet, the city, and the year. Oh, and I’m Ryllen Jee. Why’s the city on fire?’”

  “Then he held out a glowing cube and said he had a mission.”

  “He took such a shine to killing the enemy, I think he pissed off Lucas and June. But they got over it every time he saved their lives.”

  More chuckles among the Talons.

  And there he was, up front, saving them again.

  “Something I don’t understand,” Kara said. “What happened to June and Lucas? I barely knew them, but they didn’t strike me as the people you described before. From the bits I heard, they seemed to blame Exeter for driving them apart.”

  Again, the silence. Were they clamming up or waiting for one to take responsibility?

  “No one here knows the full truth,” Cando said. “Lucas confided in the Colonel. June came to me. I assume the Colonel spoke to Exeter. Beyond that, it’s unfair to comment. They can’t defend themselves.”

  A new voice entered the conversation.

  “That may be, but there is one common denominator,” Lin Sangoon said from his position at June’s side. “Exeter Woolsey. He was the viper who came between them. He was the insubordinate traitor who killed Lucas and will likely kill June. He compromised the Colonel. We walked into this trap because he promised answers to our questions about the Inventor. His lack of disclosure almost killed everyone onboard Ram when we came out of Worm.”

  “You’re not wrong,” Cando said, “but we’ll have time for recriminations after we escape this trap.”

  Ham interjected. “If I might offer a word? I spoke to Exeter after I agreed to turn him over to the Chancellors. I believe he was devastated by what transpired. We put tremendous stock in him, which might not have been strategically wise. But I believe his efforts were earnest. Blame him if you wish – and I will not object – but the word traitor is harsh.”

  Lin raised his voice. “Admiral, how much do you know of war?”

  “I fought long ago. Three tours with the Guard. Always on the winning side. It was preordained. So, my experience will not resemble yours.”

  “No, it won’t. But did you believe in the idea of absolute fealty to your brothers and sisters in combat?”

  “Without reservation.”

  “The Twenty Talons have lost millions of brothers and sisters fighting the Swarm. Fealty is all that separates us from final defeat. Wouldn’t you agree, Major?”

  “It has been our glue. Yes.”

  “I don’t believe Exeter shares this ideal. He might have fought alongside us, even with great courage and distinction, but what choice did he have? He was trapped. His only way back home was through the Colonel.”

  “What is your accusation, Lin?”

  “Perhaps this is not the time. As you said, he is not here to defend himself. But I do wonder if we might be blind to his agenda. I wonder if he struck a deal with the enemy to save his immortal life.”

  “I can’t imagine any deal,” Ham said, “preventing those Chancellors from carrying out their revenge.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “About the Chancellors? Yes.”

  “Exeter?”

  “I gave you my perspective.”

  “Because you don’t know him like we do. He has been pumping the Colonel for five years. They claim to love each other. What if Exeter has been using that love for some other purpose? What if …?”

  “Enough.”

  The word dropped from Cando and Ham both.

  “We are trapped and exhausted,” Cando said. “But that is no excuse for paranoia. The Colonel is doing everything he can to lead us to the surface. And you talk like this? Where is your fealty, Lin? Enough.”

  For Kara, the only surprise to these revelations was the manner in which they surfaced. She knew all that talk of unity before they left the Hokkaido system was gloss to hide underlying tears. The Talons fought too long, saw too much death and suffering, to come through it all without deep, embedded scars. And this animosity Lin revealed? Just a scab on a wound. She feared what might lie beneath.

  It’s your own fault, Kara. You chose to join them.

  She thought it worth remembering that everyone else in this tunnel – Talon or otherwise – was a ruthless killer. Whether for sport, political agenda, or the rationale of war, these people were expert at taking human life without remorse. Some were still teens. None were victims.

  Yet they were also human. Creatures capable of laughter, sarcasm, and camaraderie. Intelligent, innovative, visionary. Brilliant strategists. Technological geniuses. Masters of language. Capable of deep, abiding love. Was she making a mistake to feel for them? To look past their murderous impulses and see the hope inside each?

  And if she saw only the best in these people, what then? Did she have the strength to avoid becoming just like them?

  31

  T HE CLIMB RESUMED MINUTES LATER. The tunnel’s incline intensified, slowing their progress but symbolizing the final stages of their journey. One more collapse stalled them for seventeen minutes. Ryllen and Force exchanged turbos with Meena and Lin, their power banks all but depleted. Conversation died. Attempts at humor withered. Paul Ochoba began pinging the surface, hoping for a response from Horn. The lack of a return ping did not delete prospects for rescue, and Paul expressed little concern. The comm stacks, he said, simply weren’t playing nice from inside the tunnel.

  They were scaling a forty-five degree climb at close to three hours since evacuation when the news arrived from the lead Talons, who raced ahead to scout the tunnel.

  “It’s caved in below the discharge.”

  Ryllen sent his message to every comm stack.

  “Can you tell how deep?” Paul responded.

  “No. I need you up front. This will take probably every turbo we have.”

  Cando sent Paul forward then messaged the crew himself.

  “We’re almost there. Hold fast.”

  As they waited for an update, Kara turned to Ham, who sat close by. He was quiet for most of this journey, far from the irascible, arrogant man she met at Mal’s Drop. What was he thinking? Was he out of ideas? Beyond his element? Regretting his tactics with Dayton Romilius? Surrendering Exeter? Or was he contemplating life beyond Y-14? Making plans and considering every permutation?

  “How is your oxygen holding up?” She asked him.

  “Up is down. At this juncture, it seems moot.”

  “I know. Either we have more than we need, or we’re dead.”

  “I try not to deal in absolutes. In this case, you’re right. The race will not be won or lost at the finish line.”

  “For what it’s worth, I’ve been impressed. If you weren’t so clever, we’d all be dead long ago.”

  “We may yet.”

  “Still, I’m glad Ryllen gave you the highest title.”

  “Gave?”

  “OK, so maybe you claimed it. Demanded it. Whatever. Either way, you were the perfect man to have in charge when they attacked. Ham, I remember what you told me back in Pinchon. The day we were heading to Baangarden in your hopper. We didn’t know what was going on, and you said you were afraid. I asked of what. And you said …”

  “Yes. The Chancellors.”

  “Your own people.”

  He sighed in the darkness.

  “Imagine being a Chancellor born in the past, say, fifty years. Imagine the legacy you are expected to uphold. Hmm. Your people spent the first thousand years wiping out competing ideologies. They spent the second thousand devising a way to control humanity and all its wealth. They spent the third thousand cleansing Earth of ethnics – except for the servant class, of course – and drifting above the colonies like a pantheon of gods. Imagine if you see that glory smashed into oblivion and become a relic of history – all in a few years’ time. Do you surrender, or do you plot a new course? A new path to godhood?”

  “I’m glad you chose to surrender when you did.”

  “I didn’t surrender. I ran away. But if we leave this foul place …”

  Ham cut himself off. “For another time,” he said, his voice fading.

  Just as well. News came from the front. Paul’s tone was dark.

  “I’m showing a massive collection of debris. It’s not all rock, which isn’t necessarily a positive. Most is silt and other surface particulates. We’re very close to the edge of Scylla’s bombardment ring. There had to be tremendous displacement.”

  “How do we handle it?” Cando said.

  “I’m not sure. If we drill with turbos, we’re likely to generate more collapses. The whole thing will be too unstable.”

  Kara tried without success to remain calm.

  What was it all for?

  “Here’s what I recommend,” Cando told the crew. “First, we make no assumptions. I understand the time element. We need to look at this as an engineering problem and develop solutions. What we cannot do is allow emotion to cloud our …”

  The pings interrupted.

  They triggered every comm stack.

  And then, a voice.

  “Come on now, Cando! This is all about emotion. Let’s fire up these people!”

  Yusef Matook came through clear … and extremely loud.

  Kara burst into tears.

  Laughter and cheers echoed through the tunnel.

  “Apologies for the delay,” Yusef continued. “I was stiff for a while, but I’m back in form. We had a close encounter inside Worm … almost didn’t make it out. Another story. Yes? But I have a cracker of a co-pilot and a crew that’s ready to put on their rescue boots. We’re sitting above the rendezvous coordinates. Hiro says you’re like Dameraat hanging by your last talon. We’re on it. Give us a few minutes to work up a firing solution, and we’ll have you out.”

  Ham turned to Cando. “Firing solution? What is he proposing?”

  “I think I know. It’s probably our last gasp.”

  “Ask him about Scylla.”

  “Yusef, it’s great to hear your voice, old friend. We’re eager to hear your solution. But, what about the enemy? Are you in danger?”

  “Oh, that. You mean the dead ship floating in orbit? Dead probably isn’t the best word. Your plan worked. Some asshole’s been trying to contact us for an hour. Seems to be in considerable distress. Isn’t that a horrible shame? I resisted blowing him out of the sky on account of Exeter. But if you’d like, we can make a quick run and fry him with a few shots.”

  “Negative, Yusef. Brilliant job. Thank the crew for us. Now, if you don’t mind terribly, we’d like to leave here. We have a casualty. She’s critical. Sooner is better.”

  Sooner was faster than Kara imagined.

  Minutes later, Yusef ordered the crew to move back at least two hundred meters. He explained his plan, which Kara thought outlandish. From a strict engineering standpoint, the idea of drilling a shaft to intersect the tunnel seemed viable enough. But his only tool was a railgun. She knew its destructive ability: How it decimated Herodotus from a surface cannon, and how it blasted through a section of that same ship’s hull when they came out of Worm slip. But to use it as a boring tool and not cause collapses nearby? The risk was staggering.

  The reward was considered too great not to try.

  He promised to modulate the weapon’s energy cycle, hoping to prevent nearby quakes. The goal: Produce a viable shaft thirty meters deep by a meter in diameter. Enough to lift them out, one by one.

  They huddled far from the action, closer than the fourteen had been since evacuation. The tunnel vibrated. Redundant mechanical whirrs moaned as the railgun did its work.

  June cried out for Lucas. She was waiting for him at the loading dock. They were leaving for Huryo.

  No one in the dark realized it was over until the vibrations stopped. They heard no rumble of collapse.

  “You’re good,” Yusef announced. “I’m going to lower the grapplers now. They’ll be waiting for you.”

  Miracle did not seem an apt word, but Kara thought of no others. Judging by the silence as the fourteen moved forward – Lin and Meena carrying June’s stretcher at the front – no one else seemed to believe it, either. For the moment, the very reason they came to Y-14 seemed irrelevant. This was not supposed to be about hoping to live another hour; this was supposed to be a hunt with a team full of hunters. Maybe tomorrow it would be again. For now, they were alive. Kara was alive.

  When they neared the shaft, Yusef went around to his crew and allowed each one to say encouraging words. They were waiting on the surface. When Chi-Qua’s voice came over the comm stacks, it sounded different than Kara had known all her life.

  “We made it,” Chi-Qua said, “and we’re just getting started.”

  It wasn’t much, but it also wasn’t Chi-Qua Baek. This was someone new. Maybe that was the key to survival, Kara thought. She wasn’t a princess of the Haansu elite anymore. So, what was she? That was a question unanswerable.

  For now.

  When they reached the shaft, no one moved. Kara expected to see lines tied around the stretcher, being lifted by the grappler.

  “It’s too late,” Lin said, on his knees.

  There was to be no celebration.

  June Serrano was dead.

  PART THREE

  TROPHIES

  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 level tremendous criticism at those who tried to break up the Splinter Alliance in the early years. Why?

  Baatch: Opponents to the Alliance believed it would unleash irreparable chaos upon the nine universes. They believed the ubiquity of wormhole tech and the Splinters themselves were tools capable of bringing large-scale destruction rather than innovation, connectivity, and prosperity.

  Q: But Dr. Baatch, weren’t those two developments responsible in large measure for the catastrophe?

  Baatch: Only because of interference in their development. Consider the Twenty Talons, for instance. Their incursion into this universe set the worst events in motion. A full analysis of their galactic footprint proves my point. Their appearance created a wholly unnatural causality, beginning with their actions on Hokkaido and later on Zwahili Kingdom.

  Q: They made their mark, for sure, but they were few. Could they have had such an outsized influence if the Alliance were as sound as you claim?

  Baatch: Few, you say? Amayas Knight was one man. He upended life in nine universes.

  Q: Ah, yes. The Inventor. Do you believe he will ever be found?

  Baatch: Oh, I see. You’re one of them. Amayas Knight died seventy years ago. Pull your head out of the conspiracy jar.

  32

  T HEIR WORDS WERE BRIEF, though they had known June and Lucas for years. The short remembrance on the surface of Y-14 surrounded the shaft leading to June’s final resting place. Some argued for a burial in space, but the Talons wanted the ex-lovers – as passionate as any they knew – to remain where they fell, alone together on a lifeless world. Kara heard neither grief nor rage in their voices; they lost many brothers and sisters across the divide. Instead, she heard shame and embarrassment.