Dark Minds (Class 5 Series Book 3) (13 page)

He looked sidelong at the drone again. “Did you mean it when you said I can say what I like?”

The drone didn't respond, but Imogen could tell when Paxe was in control and when the drone was on auto, and she was pretty sure he was listening. Messing with Kalor's head by not answering.

No love lost there, on either side, she realized, when she saw Kalor's gaze narrow.

“If he said it, he meant it,” she said, giving the drone a dirty look. “He hasn't lied to me yet.”

“To you, maybe.” Kalor kept watching the drone, and then turned suddenly, looking at the range of weapons neatly held in brackets on the wall. He reached out, took a shockgun, and slid it into the holster on his leg, shoving it home with an defiant thump.

The drone did nothing, and eventually he relaxed. As much, she guessed, at having a weapon again as Paxe allowing him to take one. It seemed to reassure him that Paxe was serious in his promise not to shoot him again.

They hadn't been watching the lens projection for a while, and she turned to it, saw the Tecran had finished in the launch bay, and had opened the doors. They'd brought a team of ten, and the soldiers covered each other as they stepped into the passage and out of sight of the lens feed.

“Can you follow them?” she asked Paxe. The drone she recalled lying in front of the food storage room in the kitchen had seemed incapable of moving.

The feed went black, and then flickered on again, this time from a perspective which seemed to be in the midst of the group. She could see the back of Tecran soldiers, and caught glimpses of others to the right and left.

“You hacked into a lens on someone's shirt.” She didn't hide the admiration in her voice.

Kalor made a sound, but when she looked over at him, his eyes were on the projection.

“Where are they going?” he asked.

“The bridge.” The way Paxe said it, Imogen had the sense he was pleased about that, which meant the Tecran were either wasting their time, or he'd set some trap for them there.

Kalor frowned, and Imogen was caught by his focus. He was absorbing everything, she realized, tucking each bit of information away, to report back later.

“Are the Tecran in trouble for this?” She'd asked him to tell her what was going on, and then they'd been distracted by what the Tecran were doing, but she might as well start getting some answers, building up a picture.

“They're in Grihan territory, with no Grihan escort.” He looked at the drone.

“No escort. It's just this Class 5 and a Levron battleship.”

“Then yes, they're in Grihan territory without permission, something they did a month ago, and for which they are currently being sanctioned by the United Council. That they would do so again when they're in such a delicate position . . .” Words seem to fail him.

“They don't have any other Class 5s left. They either get Paxe back or they've got nothing.”

He'd been watching the Tecran slip into a stairwell and start climbing, but now he swung back to her, face slack with shock. “None?”

She shrugged. “Paxe said the last one they had has gone missing. It was following him for a while, but it disappeared a couple of days ago and the others are either on your side, or destroyed.”

“Maybe he just can't find it anymore. It doesn't mean it's disappeared.” His hand tightened around the stock of his shockgun.

“He's been listening in on the Tecran. They're panicking about it, so he thinks it's also gone rogue.”

“And no matter what they think, Paxe has too.”

She nodded.

Something like glee crossed his face and then he looked back at the Tecran team making their cautious way to the bridge. “Let's hope they don't figure it out before Paxe deals with them, because when they do, they'll have nothing left to lose.”

T
he Class
5s had all gone rogue.

Cam would have laughed out loud, wanted to, but there were downsides to it, as well.

Paxe had tried to blow up Larga Ways, after all. Without a second thought.

The reason why thinking systems were banned, the history lessons taught to every Grihan child about the Thinking System Wars, was writ large in everything Paxe had done up until now.

And yet, Imogen continued to treat him with a friendliness, an affection, he didn't deserve, and which disturbed Cam on the deepest level.

Every time she praised Paxe for his strategy with the Tecran, or interceded between Paxe and himself, she did so with a warmth that seemed a betrayal of Cam himself.

Which was crazy.

Imogen didn't know about the taboo against thinking systems in Grihan society, and if she treated Paxe like a person, rather than a dangerous entity with no morals or conscience, that was because she was literally from another part of the universe.

And yet, he was hard-pressed not to say anything every time she and Paxe interacted.

He shifted from the projected lens feed Paxe was providing and looked over at her.

She sat on the bench, elbows on her thighs, chin resting on her clasped hands as she leaned forward to look at the feed.

She was wearing the new clothes Paxe had given her; knee-high boots, and a soft-flowing tunic and pants. Something about the clothes made him think they were made of Cargassey cloth. It was traditionally never dyed, so all Cargassey cloth was a pale blue, shimmering to green when the light caught it differently. Imogen shifted, and the deep green of virgin forest winked back at him from a sea of pale blue.

Except the Cargassey didn't sell their cloth.

It was illegal for it to even leave their planet, so this was either the result of a bribe or some other corruption, or the Tecran had stolen it.

They'd stolen a grahudi from the Fitali, so he guessed theft was the most likely explanation. And in this case, he was glad.

Cargassey cloth was as good as some armor at deflecting shockgun fire. The reeds the fibers came from had developed a resistance to the tiny insects that used electric shocks to burn holes in woody stems to lay their eggs.

If the Grih could, they'd outfit every soldier in Battle Center with a set of clothes made of the stuff.

But the Cargassey swamps the reeds grew in were small and few, and choosing to supply one nation rather than another had become such a diplomatic nightmare, they'd decided no one could buy it but the Cargassey military.

And now, Imogen had a set.

Paxe may be a killer, but he was protective of Imogen.

Cam still couldn't understand the dynamic between them.

It was the same with the hidden holster Paxe had obviously had made for her. With her bent forward like she was, he could just see the shape of the cylinder——the whip, she called it——underneath the loose swing of her tunic against the small of her back. Unless you knew what to look for, it was invisible, and when she was standing, he guessed you wouldn't be able to see it at all.

Paxe was taking care of her, and helping her arm herself.

It was obvious he had formed some kind of connection with her, where he had none with anyone else.

“They've reached the bridge.” Imogen spoke with her usual smooth, musical delivery, and it took him a moment to understand what she'd said.

He needed to be sharper than usual around her. Her voice, everything about her, distracted him in a way he'd never experienced, and if ever he needed all his wits about him, it was now.

He turned to look, saw the Tecran moving in formation, watching each other's backs as they opened the double doors to what was clearly the control center of the ship.

But not all of them entered. Half stepped through, the other half turned away, jogging at a fast clip back the way they'd come.

“Where are they going?” Imogen asked.

“I think I can guess.” There was a nervous tension in Paxe's answer.

The team disappeared, and the feed spun back to the bridge, as the officer whose lens they were looking through turned and stepped through after his colleagues.

“Can you hack into one of the lenses on the group that went a different way?” Cam asked.

“I can, but I won't show it to you.” Paxe kept his words clipped.

Imogen turned to look at the drone, and Cam had the sense she understood why he wouldn't let them watch the other team.

“What do you want to do?” She put out a hand, and touched the drone as if offering comfort to Paxe himself.

“I don't know.” There was a coldness, a hard edge to his words, and to Cam, he sounded just like the thinking systems he'd been warned about as a child.

“They won't harm you. You're all they have left.” She bit down on her bottom lip as she spoke.

“What's going on?” Cam ignored the lens feed on the bridge, his attention fixed on the interaction between Imogen and Paxe. Something was obviously very wrong.

“Paxe suspects they are going to the room where he is, and that they could destroy him.” The face she turned up to him was drawn with concern.

That didn't sound that terrible to him.

“Attention, Captain Kalor.”

The words, in a heavy Tecran accent, came through the comms system built into the ceiling of the armory, and Cam spun to look at the feed the drone was projecting on the wall.

A Tecran officer was standing at the captain's helm, speaking into a comms unit.

“We have intercepted your team on the UC Fast Cruiser
Hailimon
and know you are onboard. We also understand both from your colleagues and from the presence of a specific Tecran runner from our Balco facility in this launch bay that you have Imogen Peters with you, or that she is also onboard somewhere.”

“That's what they were so excited about in the launch bay,” Imogen said quietly. “The runner the Krik took me from must have been parked there.”

“We understand you might not be able to respond through the comms system, but if you do not present yourself on the bridge in fifteen minutes, we will be forced to fire on the
Hailimon
.”

“Are you recording this, Paxe?” Cam stared at the Tecran officer as the soldier whose lens Paxe was using moved around the room.

“Yes.” Paxe sounded interested. “Why do you want it?”

“They have just threatened to commit a war crime. To violate their oath of non-violence to any official UC vessel and crew.”

“This will harm them?”

“It will get them expelled from the UC.” It was hard to get the words past his throat.

“I have lifted the comms ban and sent it to Battle Center, then.”

“They can't stop it?”

“No. They weren't quick enough, and it was encrypted, so they don't know what it was.” Paxe sounded a little more cheerful. “I'll leave the comms open. There's no point in keeping it shut down now.”

“Can you tell Battle Center you believe all the Class 5s have gone rogue?” He didn't know he'd ever wanted a favor as big as this.

“I can't be completely sure about the other Class 5.”

“You can say that. That you're not sure, but that the Tecran are worried. If the Grih know they most likely won't be facing another Class 5 in battle, they'll get here faster because they won't need as much back-up.”

“And how will that help me?” Paxe's tone remained cool.

“The Grih have taken Sazo in as an ally, and they've accepted Bane as a neutral party. There is no reason why they can't do the same with you, according to what you want.” He never, ever thought he'd be negotiating with a Class 5 to join Battle Center.

Ever.

But there was no getting around the directive from Admiral Hoke since Sazo had joined them. The five thinking systems the Tecran had activated were awake, and living within UC borders. Either they made peace with them, or they threw themselves into another Thinking Systems War. Hoke had chosen cooperation and alliance if at all possible. As a Battle Center officer, Cam was duty-bound to offer Paxe a place, no matter how dangerous he thought him.

And Hoke was right. He would be dangerous regardless. If he was an ally to the Grih, they may just make it out unscathed.

“That sticks a bit in your throat, doesn't it, Captain?” Paxe asked. “You could barely speak through those gritted teeth.”

“He made the offer, though.” Imogen's words were soft. “That's better than you'll get from the Tecran. You don't have to be the Grih's ally. You just heard Bane is a neutral party. What's wrong with that?”

Cam had not expected her to weigh in on this. But her words were calm and matter-of-fact, and Paxe went quiet, as if considering them.

“If you betray me, Captain, or if Battle Center does, I will take as many of you with me as I can.” Again, that cold, cold voice, frigid as the Grihan planet Nastra in mid-winter.

“Understood.” He hoped Battle Center understood, as well. They'd come close to betraying Sazo, and had nearly lost more than they were willing to because of it. He'd seen the reports, hoped the lessons had been learned. At least Hoke was the head of fleet now, not Admiral Krale. She understood what had gone wrong, and Sazo had been happy with her appointment.

He had to trust that would be enough.

“Ten minutes before we fire on the
Hailimon
, Captain Kalor.”

“You won't take Imogen with you.” The drone turned face Cam.

Cam nodded. “I hadn't intended to.”

“What if they carry out their threat if I don't go?” Imogen looked between them.

“They have no reason to believe I know where you are on this ship.” Cam shrugged. “They're hoping I do, but unless they have lens feed of us coming in here together——”

“They don't.” Paxe's words were short. “And you're right. They'll have to search the ship for her, which will waste their time, something that can only help me.”

“What will they do to you?” Imogen stood, hands gripped tightly together in front of her, gaze locked onto Cam's.

“I don't know.” If they were willing to shoot the
Hailimon
, maybe they were willing to kill him, but if they wanted to stay in the UC, they'd probably let him go and deny they'd threatened a UC ship. He would need to keep quiet about the fact that proof of their threat had already gone to Battle Center.

“A few snatches of conversation I've heard indicate they plan to put you on a small runner and take you back to the
Hailimon
.” Paxe gave up the information grudgingly.

Imogen crossed her arms over her chest. “Well, that sounds okay.”

“I'll make sure Battle Center knows you're here, Imogen. That the UC knows. The Tecran will be forced to hand you over.” Cam realized time was running out, but he felt a deep sense of unease at leaving her alone.

“She'll be safe. They can't get in here.”

“But she needs to eat, to drink. How long could she last in here?” He suddenly realized Paxe had probably starved them earlier because he simply didn't remember that people needed sustenance.

Paxe said nothing, and time stretched out, all the more weighty because he had to get to the bridge before the Tecran carried out their threat.

“She will leave the armory with you,” he said at last. “But she'll go to the store when you head for the bridge.”

“Can you protect her in the store?” He didn't think it worked like that, from what Imogen had told him. He could only lock the armory because the Tecran could and would harm him if they got the weapons from here.

“She'll be safe.”

“It's okay.” Imogen grinned at him, reached behind her and patted her whip. He could see she was frightened, but the smile was genuine, and his heart gave an uncomfortable jump at the sight of it. “I'm pretty good at protecting myself. And at least they aren't Krik.”

Cam shot the drone a last look, but there was no reassuring expression to read, no supportive exchange of glances to be had with a box with a lens attached to it.

There was nothing for it.

He had to go to the bridge to save his team, and he couldn't take Imogen with him.

Rose McKenzie had been instrumental in freeing Sazo and Bane, even though they had partially freed themselves first. Tecran High Command would have good reason to fear Imogen, especially now Paxe said that Fiona Russell had freed Eazi, and the Tecran had destroyed his Class 5 because of it. They would see Imogen as a serious threat, and he wouldn't put it past them to kill her.

“Five minutes, Captain Kalor.” The Tecran officer who spoke looked agitated for the first time.

Thinking about the consequences of carrying out his ultimatum, Cam decided. Realizing how serious they would be. For that alone, he wanted to step onto the bridge with seconds to spare, make the bastard sweat, but he would never take that kind of risk with the lives of the
Hailimon's
crew and his team.

“I have to go.”

The door of the armory slid open, and they all stepped out, the drone so close to Imogen, it was almost crowding her.

“Good luck, Captain.” She took one of his hands in both of hers, stepped forward and went up on her toes to press her lips to his cheek. “I hope I see you again.”

He curled his fingers more tightly around hers and her face flushed, as if she'd suddenly realized she'd been too familiar.

The kiss had felt like something she'd done often, a ritual of some kind of her people.

She tried to step back and he released her hand and placed both of his on her shoulders, holding her in place. He leaned forward, touched his nose to first one cheek and then the other. The Grihan greeting and goodbye for close friends.

“You
will
see me again.”

And then, because he only had a few minutes left, he turned on his heel and ran for the bridge.