“So that means if she died,” Voyou said, “then the tracker would die too? Once she, ah, cooled off?”

  “One outcome I did not consider was the death of Captain Severyne Joelle Dampierre,” Richeline said. “I honestly thought she was too mean-spirited to die.” She shook herself. “All right. The mission goes on, even if the captain doesn’t. Let’s scan the moon, and interdict and search any ship that leaves. Our runaway princess has to be somewhere–”

  A Letnev face appeared on the screen, the image bordered by the flashing red that indicated an emergency override message. “Captain, the Glamarij authorities are demanding we collect our troopers and immediately leave the system.”

  “What? Who are they to give commands to a Letnev warship? We could bomb their moon into shards!”

  “They, ah, have excellent orbital defenses, captain. They’ve also jammed our scanners and communi­cations equipment – indeed, everyone’s communications equipment – so we can’t reach out to the Barony. I think they’re concerned about public relations, considering their wealthy clientele, and they have the newest Hylar tech, so we can’t overcome their jammers, except by traveling outside their range.” The bridge officer cleared her throat. “We’ve also received a message from Lord Alicante’s personal secretary asking, quote, ‘Why are you bothering her Lordship’s dear friends the Glamariji?’”

  “When you say Lord Alicante…”

  “The Baron’s second cousin, yes, captain.”

  Richeline closed her eyes. Voyou was very glad he didn’t have her job. “Fine. All right. Get me the Glamarij – whoever is in charge here – so I can apologize for the misunderstanding. Let them know we were pursuing a wanted terrorist, and there was no time to go through proper channels. Send a shuttle to pick up our troopers.” She blanked the screen and slumped back in her chair.

  “What now?” Archambelle said. “We can’t simply give up! That girl holds the key to securing Letnev supremacy, throughout the galaxy, forevermore!”

  Richeline shrugged. “I’m not the one who killed the captain. More’s the pity.”

  “We can’t follow her as planned,” Voyou said. “But don’t we know where she’s going? Those three stars she always talked about, right?”

  Richeline sat up. “That’s true. Archambelle, what are the coordinates for that empty bit of nothing in the sky?”

  “Coordinates? There are no coordinates! She pointed at a bit of darkness! The center of a triangle made by three stars that aren’t even all that close to each other, astronomically speaking.”

  “So we don’t have coordinates,” Richeline said. “We have a direction, and that means we have a heading. What wormhole gate gets us closest to those stars?” She looked at Voyou. “That question was directed at you, Undercommandant. You’re in charge of surveyor teams, so you’re the closest thing in this room to a navigator.”

  Voyou wasn’t flustered. The captain – could she really be dead? – had flayed him with words on a regular basis. Richeline couldn’t compete. He consulted his wrist gauntlet. “There are two possible gates nearby, one controlled by the humans, the other by the Naalu. The Naalu will let us pass for a price, but the humans won’t let a Letnev warship pass through for any price.”

  “Fine. Send word ahead to the Naalu, with a photo of Xing. Tell them she’s a wanted terrorist and we’re offering a reward for her apprehension. Maybe we’ll get lucky and she’ll try to use that wormhole too.”

  “And if not?” Archambelle said. “We just, what, aim for a vague point in the distance and hope we happen to cross paths with the girl?”

  “We’re headed to the middle of nowhere,” Richeline said. “No one goes there, because there’s no reason to go there. If we find any ship in the vicinity, odds are it’s hers.”

  “I detest this plan,” Archambelle said. “But I cannot think of a better one.”

  The screen blinked on again, with the same apologetic bridge officer, bordered in override red. “The premier of Glamarij is on the line.”

  Richeline made a shooing gesture at Voyou and Archam­belle. “Get out of here. I have to practice diplomacy now.”

  Voyou didn’t much like Archambelle – she looked at you like she was guessing how much your organs weighed – but when engaged on a secret mission, one had to find camaraderie where one could. “It’s a shame we didn’t put a tracking device on Bianca,” he said once they were in the corridor.

  “We did. Three times. The first two were simple subcutaneous implants, placed secretly in her back. I found the first tracking chip on the floor outside her cabin. The second one, I found on the floor of the corridor, halfway between the lab and her rooms. The third time, I told her I needed a deep tissue sample, and jammed a needle in as far as I dared.” She sighed. “I found that tracking chip under the examination table – it never even made it outside the lab. Her body simply expelled the devices, so quietly and efficiently that I don’t think Bianca even noticed.”

  “She’s a remarkable woman,” Voyou said.

  “Mmm. She is a compass and key that will lead to a world of wonders. Her only value is utilitarian and scientific.”

  Voyou could hardly think of a suitable reply to that, so he moved on to another topic. “Do you really think the captain is dead?”

  “As a scientist, I am reluctant to draw conclusions based on a single piece of indirect evidence, but I am also capable of assigning probabilities to various explanations. There are other reasons the tracker could have failed, but Severyne’s death is the most likely. It’s a shame. She didn’t believe in the mission, not the way I do, but she would have pursued our goals to the death anyway, simply because that was the mission.”

  “She did,” Voyou said.

  “She did what?”

  “Pursue our goals. To the death. It seems.”

  Archambelle made a sour face. “I wish she’d pursued the mission a bit closer to the goal first.”

  •••

  “Be careful with that.” Severyne scowled at the Naaz as she sewed up the shoulder gash Bianca had inflicted on her. Clec had a delicate touch, at least. “Did you stitch up that human’s face, too? I don’t want a big ugly scar like he’s got.”

  Clec, hovering in a little anti-grav harness, made a clucking sound. “I think it gives Heuvelt’s face character. And no. That wasn’t my work. This shouldn’t leave a mark once you’ve healed.”

  “Back on my ship they would have smeared on some medical gel and healed my wound seamlessly. You’re using a needle and thread? Barbaric.”

  The door to the tiny medical bay – really just a closet with a reclining table, a first-aid kit, and some rudimentary medical machinery – slid open, and Bianca sidled in, eyes downcast. “Back on your ship, they were going to put you to death,” she said. “No amount of medical gel would have fixed that.”

  “Did you have to tackle me, princess? Really? You could have told me what you had planned.”

  Bianca shook her head. “Once I realized there was a tracking device inside you, I knew we had to cut it out and destroy it right away. If the ship had actually taken off while that device was active, the Grim Countenance would have been able to figure out our heading, and then it would have been easy to tell what vessel we were on – I had to act immediately.”

  That was all true, and it was also why Severyne really wished Bianca had noticed her tracking chip ten minutes later.

  “I was very careful, really, and I made the smallest incision I could.”

  “How did you know they were tracking me?” Severyne allowed a little of her genuine dismay to come through, since she could play it off as pain from her wound. When Bianca had leapt on her with that knife, Severyne was sure it was all over – that Bianca’s psychic abilities had blossomed, and she’d seen the truth of Severyne’s treachery. But then Bianca had flipped her over and cut the tracker out of her shoulder instead.

  “I just… I can tell when there are signals going back and forth, from machine to machine, system to system. That’s new, or anyway, I just realized I can do it. When I saw signals coming out of you, I knew it had to be a tracker. I’m just glad we found it. Now we’ve got a real chance at getting away.”

  Yes. Getting away on the wrong ship. They should have been on board a mercenary vessel, crewed by Severyne’s hired freelancers, pursued at a respectable distance by the full might and majesty of the Grim Countenance. Instead, they were on a ship with a crew who were, apparently, fugitives from Letnev justice. Bianca really was off the leash.

  Not entirely, though. Severyne was still here. She’d just have to complete the mission herself.

  She reached out and snatched the hovering Naaz from the air, grasping its four flailing limbs, two in each fist. “Tell your captain we’re commandeering his vessel,” she said.

  For the second time that day, Bianca hit her.

  Chapter 25

  Severyne rocked back when Bianca smacked her arm, and Bianca winced – she hadn’t meant to apply that much force. Clec went spinning out of Severyne’s grasp, and suddenly her four arms were glistening with tiny metal spikes – weapons, though Bianca wasn’t sure what kind. She stepped between Clec and Severyne. “Stop! Clec, I apologize, our original plan was to hijack a ship, but,” she turned and glared at Severyne, who was rubbing her arm. “But, that won’t be necessary, because we can make an arrangement that benefits everyone.”

  Clec lowered her weapons. “If I tell Ashont what you did, she will bite your face off,” Clec said. “And I tell Ashont everything. Amina, if you wish to have a discussion with us, you must first lock her up.” She sent out a signal. Bianca watched it pass through the door.

  A few moments later, Heuvelt appeared, holding a pair of shackles. “What’s going on here?”

  “This Letnev uses violence as a first resort,” Clec said. “It is best if we curb her negative impulses before she gets hurt.”

  “Amina could kill you all in the space of three heartbeats,” Sev said. “That’s three of your rapid little heartbeats, Naaz.”

  “But I won’t,” Bianca said. “Everyone, please, calm down.” She spread her hands, smiling, and to her surprise, Heuvelt and Severyne both appeared to relax, their muscles loosening, their eyes softening and then going glassy. What was happening?

  “I must ask you to stop generating soporific pheromones,” Clec said.

  Bianca blinked. “Am I? Did I?” She stopped doing it, and only in that moment did she even realize what she’d done, or that she could control it.

  “I have detected an anomaly in the atmosphere, yes. My personal filtration system prevented the chemicals from affecting me, and I’m instructing the ship’s filters to do the same.” The Naaz bobbed before her in the air. “How did you even do that? With cross-species compatibility!”

  “I didn’t mean to!” Bianca said. “I’m so sorry, really. Can we just… talk?”

  Heuvelt snapped the shackles onto Sev’s wrists. “Oh, yes. We should definitely talk.”

  •••

  “Why did you shackle her, Clec?” the Rokha growled.

  “Because I know you won’t bite someone in chains,” the Naaz said.

  “Using my own ethical framework against me is unfair.”

  “It may be reasonable to bite her later,” the Naaz said. “We should try to gain a better understanding of the situation first, though.” She turned, fixing her eyes on Severyne and Bianca. “Why were you fleeing the Letnev?”

  Severyne placed her shackled wrists on the table. Playing the prisoner had been rather more enjoyable than actually being one. The galley was small, and five people crowded it, even when one of those people was so small they perched on another’s shoulder. “Do you want to field this one, princess?”

  “Sev is on the run because–”

  “Who’s Sev?” Heuvelt interrupted.

  Severyne sighed. “I am. And the princess here is Bianca. We were using assumed names earlier, but I suppose it hardly matters now.”

  “I see,” Heuvelt said. “I disapprove of false names, for personal reasons, but… do continue.”

  “Sev struck a superior officer,” Bianca said, “and was sentenced to death. She helped me escape the brig on the Barony ship. I’m so sorry she grabbed you, Clec, really, we just didn’t have time to discuss changing our plan, it’s my fault–”

  “Why were you in the brig?” Ashont said. “Does it have anything to do with your ability to dispatch half a dozen Barony shock troopers in mere seconds?”

  “Yes, are you some sort of augmented soldier?” Heuvelt said. “A Barony experiment meant to infiltrate Federation society or something?”

  “I’m not any kind of soldier. I’m… well… I’m a compass. And a key. But mostly I’m just a person.”

  “Explicate,” Clec said.

  To Severyne’s considerable dismay, Bianca told them her entire life story, from her father discovering the secret lab up to their escape to Glamarij, and all points in between. Some of it, like Bianca’s early fluency in Letnev, Brother Errin’s revelations about her true nature, and her hacking her way to free rein in the Grim Countenance systems confirmed the worst things Severyne had suspected. She congratulated herself on her paranoia, though; Richeline had thought planting the fake personnel file was an unnecessary precaution, but if she hadn’t, Bianca would have seen a photograph of the real captain, and the whole ruse would have failed.

  “I do not know about these Mahact,” Clec said, “but I have heard of Ixth. A world of impossible wonders.”

  “I’ve heard of Ixth too, in adventuring circles,” Heuvelt said. “A world with rivers of liquor and trees made of gold. But tales of Ixth are like those stories about the lost colony world of the Hylar, filled with forgotten technology, or the Muaat City of Diamond – they’re just stories.”

  “The Mahact were real,” Bianca said. “They made me. They’re remaking me, even now. I don’t know why, but the Letnev thought I was created to lead people to Ixth. They thought following me would make them rich and powerful. If you help us get where we’re going… I can make you rich, instead. Will you help me?”

  “We’ll have to discuss this,” Heuvelt said.

  Bianca nodded. “Of course! Sev and I can wait. Ah…”

  “My cabin is fine,” Heuvelt said. “Please don’t remove her shackles.”

  “I don’t even have the key or the code,” Bianca said.

  “I think we all know that would not prevent you, if you wished to set her free,” the Naaz said.

  Bianca blinked. “Oh. I suppose that’s true. Of course I won’t.” She rose, and Severyne followed her. They went into Heuvelt’s room, with its unmade bed and pile of dirty clothes in one corner, and the door closed after them.

  Severyne wrinkled her nose. “This place is vile.” She shook her shackles. “Will you get these off me?”

  “I think Ashont would hurt you if I did. I could smell she was serious.”

  “Oh, you can smell intent now?”

  “Sometimes.” Bianca sat down on the edge of the bunk. “Really, Sev, you didn’t have to grab Clec like that. I listened to them while we played cards – they’re doing deliveries these days, but by preference they’re explorers and treasure hunters, trying to make money to outfit their next expedition. We can be that next expedition.”

  “I apologize,” Severyne said. If she couldn’t have her own loyal crew on hand, the next best thing was dumping this crew out an airlock, but it seemed that wasn’t going to happen, either. What could not be changed must be accommodated. “I was acting in what I believed to be our best interest. That trick with the pheromones, did you know you could do that?”

  “I really didn’t.” She sounded miserable. “I don’t want to make anyone do things they don’t want to do.”

  “I don’t know much about these Mahact, princess, but you sure don’t sound like you inherited your morality from them. According to the legends, they liked taking and making slaves, ruling by force, and destroying anyone who opposed them.”

  “Just because I have some of their power doesn’t mean I have to use it the way they did. I’m afraid of my own capabilities, Sev. With all the things I can do, I have to be extra careful, don’t you see? Sometimes I think it would be better for me to forget all about my yearning and go live on some little planet out of the way somewhere. But I have to know what’s in that dark space behind the stars. I thought when I got closer, the need would diminish, but it’s actually gotten stronger. It’s like being hungry, or thirsty, or exhausted – it’s a desire beyond thought, deep in my body. I know the Mahact programmed this need into me, but I need to know why.”

  “What if it’s something bad?” Severyne hadn’t thought much about that question before. She was a pragmatist. She had her orders, and knew the purpose of her mission, and she would do everything she could to fulfill it. Archambelle was irritating, but she was also brilliant, and there was no reason to doubt her theory about Bianca’s provenance and purpose. But it was all speculation, based on fragments of ancient lore and assumptions that could be faulty. The only way to truly know Bianca’s purpose was to follow her and watch her fulfill it.

  Severyne’s first field operation had gone disastrously awry, and given her a glimpse of cosmic horrors beyond her capacity to imagine. She really hoped that sort of thing wasn’t going to become a pattern.

  “Then I’ll do my best to use it for something good instead.” Bianca glanced at the closed door. “How long do you think it will take them to decide?”

  Severyne snorted. “Bianca. Really. What is there to decide?”

  •••

  “What is there to decide?” Clec said. “If we refuse to help her, Bianca could disable all of us, lock us in the cargo bay or jettison us from the airlock, and take our ship for her own. If we cooperate with her willingly, we might actually make a profit instead.”