Dark Minds (Class 5 Series Book 3) (21 page)

Someone muttered something at Leto again, and she gave a sharp nod. “I would like to know where you saw Haru and Chep, and what has happened to them.”

“I know they were captured by Krik, just like I was, and made prisoner. We were kept together in a hold on a ship the Krik were using, but we were able to escape. I also know that Haru and Chep managed to get out, but there was a Tecran battleship waiting for them when they did. I think they are in their ship, but being forced to remain in place, under threat of the Tecran opening fire if they try to leave or contact you.”

Leto's head snapped back at that. “The Tecran have weapons trained on them?”

“On them, on the United Council fast cruiser containing a UC investigative team, on several Grihan miners, and a few Garmman and Grihan trading vessels, all of whom had originally been taken by the Krik.”

“The Tecran have a battleship here, in Grih territory?” Leto didn't sound appalled. She sounded . . . drained?

“The ship the Krik who took us prisoner were using was a Class 5. Not this one, another one. They . . . failed to keep control of it, which is how we were all able to escape, but the Tecran are trying to recover what they see as their property.” She winced a bit at the wording, because Paxe would have something to say about it.

“The Krik took over a Class 5?” Leto looked shocked, and Imogen could see she'd just made the Fitalian even more curious than she'd been before.

“Got it!”

Imogen blinked at Oris's shout of glee in her ear.

She kept her focus on Leto with difficulty. “I don't know the details of how the Krik came to be using the Class 5.” Not all the details, anyway.

At that moment, the doors to the room opened again, and Cam strode in. “Half an hour was up ten minutes ago.” He glared at the drone then pulled up short at the sight of Leto on the screen.

“Captain Leto.” He looked from Imogen to the screen in surprise. “I haven't seen you since the last UC council meeting.”

“Captain Kalor.” Leto looked like she'd stepped into the Twilight Zone. “Imogen Peters told me there was a UC investigative team involved in this, but I hardly registered that, given the other explosive information she's shared with me. Are you in control of the Class 5, then?”

“No.” Cam shook his head. “I'm here on UC business that includes the protection of Imogen Peters, but I am interested,” now his voice was cool, “why you are here, Captain? Hiding behind Gu-gijeron in Grihan territory?”

T
he side
of Cam's fists were bruised from where he'd hammered on the door after the thirty minutes were up. He'd berated himself for believing a thinking system would honor a promise, but the sight of Captain Leto of the Fitalian Horde on the screen had thrown him off his stride.

Perhaps Oris's explanation that things were at too delicate a stage to allow him to come striding in was truthful.

He exchanged a look with Imogen, but all he could see on her face was pleasure at seeing him again, and he made a conscious decision to let go of his anger at being kept out longer than agreed.

Leto, however, was a different matter.

Diplomacy was an art he was well-versed in usually, and he could smarm with the best of them at the United Council meetings and debriefs he had to attend, but the well of inspiration he drew from to practice it had run dry.

His blunt question to the Fitalian had shocked her and put her on the spot, and she blustered for a moment. “What are
you
doing here, Captain?”

Cam shrugged. “I'm a senior Battle Center officer in my own territory, with a clear directive from the United Council as well, so it's hardly a surprise to find me exactly where I'm supposed to be, surely?”

She shot him a dark look. “Quite. Although your presence in a Tecran Class 5
is
a surprise.” She rocked a little on her feet. “You seem to know what I'm doing here, anyway.”

“The grahudi? Yes, Chep and Haru eventually told me about that. What they failed to disclose was that they had contacted you before the Krik took them.”

Leto looked off to the side, then back again. “I'm surprised they told you as much as they did.”

“It suited their purposes.” Cam's words were dry. “They got information in exchange.”

Leto's gaze flicked to Imogen. “The location of the grahudi, you mean? And who had taken it.”

Imogen gave a nod. “I'm afraid . . .” She drew in a breath. “I'm afraid the grahudi is probably dead by now. They were putting the animals stored at the facility in a ring and making them fight to the death, and I last saw the grahudi two weeks ago.”

Was it his imagination, or did Leto relax a little at that. “It was still alive when you saw it, though?”

She nodded. “But they were fighting more and more animals every day. Two weeks is a long time, and they didn't have that many left as it was.”

“I thank you for your honesty, but we'll check the signal to see for ourselves. Being behind Gu-gijeron means we can't track it at the moment, but as soon as we're in the open, we'll have the ability to find it.”

“And how are you going to go into the open when you're here uninvited and in defiance of your treaties with the Grih?” Cam asked.

“I'm really sorry you had to be here to witness our arrival, Kalor.” Leto closed her eyes and then opened them, and all he could see on her face was regret. “I'm afraid, in order to protect the Fitalian reputation, I'm going to have to silence you.”

“How do you plan on doing that?” Imogen asked, and Cam looked at her in surprise. Her voice was calm but also smooth and sharp as a blade.

They were on a Class 5, and most likely they would be well shielded, but a hit was a hit. Especially in such close proximity. Leto's confidence was a worry, too.

Leto nodded at someone off to the side, and Cam braced.

Nothing happened.

Leto nodded again, more forcefully.

“Trying to shoot us?” Imogen asked, sweetly. “Even if you could, did you not worry you were firing on a Class 5?”

Leto turned her full attention back to the screen, her face set. “I was worried about that, but since we watched the lens feed of the battle between the Tecran and the Grih a few months ago, our engineers have been working on a weapon and a strategy they insist would be effective.”

“And you're telling us this secret information because you think you'll still manage to 'silence' us?” Imogen lifted her hands into the air and made a strange movement with the middle and forefingers of both hands. He'd have to ask her later what it meant.

Leto was silent.

“I'm sure you'll get to it. Any minute now.” Imogen's sarcasm was so heavy, Cam glanced at her, but it was more than that. She was furious, but not afraid.

By her attitude and her body language, she didn't expect any danger.

He opened his mouth, and she lifted a finger and pressed it against his lips.

“Can you cut the link for a bit?” she asked Oris, and the screen went blank.

“How right were they to think they could take you out?” she asked, looking up at the lens. “Leto seemed pretty certain.”

Cam had grasped hold of her arm before she could drop it, and he turned it over, rubbed his thumb along the incredibly smooth skin of her inner wrist.

He felt her pulse leap beneath his fingertip.

“More right than I'd have guessed, to be honest.” Oris sounded a little shaken. “If you hadn't suggested the takeover . . . I was overly optimistic about our chances before.”

Cam went still. “You're saying the Fitali have come up with something that might pierce your shields?” He knew they were perturbed by the reemergence of thinking systems, terrified of what would come of their presence after so long, but the Fitali must have had this technology in development long before Sazo burst onto the scene two months ago.

Which was worrying in itself.

If they hadn't had a thinking system threat to deal with, what had they planned to do with it?

And that brought him to . . . “You've taken them over?”

“Yes to both, Captain. Imogen thought the safest thing for us all was if I had control of their ship, and that was a fortunate suggestion, or we might in fact be in trouble.”

No wonder Imogen had been so calm.

“What I can't understand is why they'd want to kill us. Yes, they've been caught where they shouldn't be, but they have an excuse, and while uncomfortable, it would simply be a few awkward meetings at UC headquarters. To want to eliminate us altogether . . .” It didn't make sense. Leto was not unreasonable. In fact, Cam liked her, and found her one of the easier Fitalian captains to deal with.

“Hatred for thinking systems?” Oris said.

That was a possibility. “Did you tell them who was in control of this Class 5?” he asked Imogen.

She shook her head. “Although I'm guessing if Rose McKenzie is known to have freed Sazo and Bane, having me onboard made it likely from their perspective that I had done the same.”

Cam nodded. “But to shoot without asking first, that isn't like Leto. I've known her for years, and she's thoughtful and logical.”

“They are hailing us again. They don't know I've taken control of their systems. They think their problems are a result of being so close to Gu-gijeron.” Oris turned the screen back on. “We can see them, they can't see us until we want them to.”

Leto was shouting at someone, and another officer paced back and forth in the background.

“Do you speak Fitalian?” Imogen asked him, and Cam realized he still had her wrist in his grasp. He let it go reluctantly, and she watched him with serious eyes.

He shook his head. “Languages are not my strength. I speak some Tecran, better Bukarian.”

“They're arguing about how to proceed, and assume that because their systems don't work, ours don't either,” Oris said.

“Do we tell them the truth?”

Imogen shook her head. “Their faces aren't easy to read, but I could have sworn Leto was relieved when I told her that the grahudi was most likely dead.”

Cam nodded. “I agree. There is something very strange going on. The Fitali have been obsessively protective of the planet Huy for years, but they've taken it up to a whole new level with this. Breaking treaties, threatening to kill.”

“There must be something really interesting going on on Huy, then.” Imogen was watching Leto gesticulating on the screen and Cam took a moment to admire her profile as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear; delicate and . . . beautiful.

“Do I reconnect?” Oris asked.

“Before you do, I just want to suggest you study the weapon they've developed to breach your shield and see if there is a way to counter it. Theirs might not be the only Fitalian battleship with that technology, and the other Class 5s could be in danger.”

“Again, you prove you are well worth the price of admission.” Oris sounded amused, although Cam had no idea what he meant. It was a joke between Oris and Imogen, and Cam realized with a start that they were friends.

The idea made him begin to relax for the first time.

Imogen had been right to kick him out earlier. Somehow, she had won Oris's trust, and that was infinitely better than the thinking system walling himself off from everyone, making decisions with no regard for anyone but himself.

“And the connection is live again . . . now.” Oris spoke through his earpiece this time, so the Fitali didn't hear him.

“Welcome back, Captain.” Cam forced a neutral expression onto his face. “It's a bit difficult to come back from a threat of murder, isn't it?”

He waited, watched the few emotions he could pick up cross Leto's face. Regret, again. Frustration.

“You knew we couldn't shoot.”

“We did, but you didn't.” He lifted a brow. “Where does that leave us?”

“I apologize. In my rush to defend the Fitalian reputation, I acted rashly. I will submit myself to a review panel for judgment when I return to the Horde.”

Leto looked like she was swallowing something large and spiky, the way her throat worked around the apology.

“
Bullshit
.” Imogen spoke in her own language so quietly, he barely heard her, and didn't understand what she said.

Leto focused on her, eyes narrowing as much as they could. “You have something to say, Imogen Peters?”

“Yes.” Imogen smiled in a baring of teeth. “What's to stop you trying to kill us as soon as we leave Gu-gijeron?”

“You have my word.”

Leto was unused to subterfuge, which fitted Cam's knowledge of her. And she was plainly lying.

“Of course.” Imogen smiled that non-smile again.

“What are your plans now?” Leto asked at last, as the silence stretched out between them.

“Your being here has changed things. We'll need to confer.”

That seemed to infuriate Leto.

Cam kept his face passive. “I'll hail you when we make our decision. I suggest you don't go anywhere.”

Leto reared back in affront at the order, and this time, Cam couldn't help his smile as the screen went black.

Imogen turned from the screen, and eyed him thoughtfully. “You do diplomatic doublespeak really well.”

“When I have to.” He took her hand, wanting to touch that smooth skin again.

She let him, her eyes on his thumb as it brushed along her wrist. He felt suddenly heavy, weighed down by desire, as if all around him the air had turned to syrup.

“I'm sorry to interrupt,” Oris said, although he didn't sound sorry, “but we have plans to make.”

“What happened to 'now I go to war'?” Imogen spoke the last phrase in a strange voice, like she was imitating someone, poking fun, but Cam had never heard Oris speak like that.

“'Now I go to war'?” Oris mimicked her exactly.

She tipped her head, amusement on her face. “Yes.”

“Well.” He actually laughed, the first time Cam had heard that from him. “I
am
going to war. But part of war is seeing what allies I have, and that means contacting one of the thinking systems. The three that are free seem loyal to each other, so any one will do, and that's why I've brought us close to Larga Ways. Of the three, speaking to Eazi is the easiest, because he isn't on a Class 5. He's taken over Larga Ways since the explosion, and it would be simple for you to enter the way station and make contact.”

“Simple?” Cam scoffed. “And you're assuming a lot, aren't you? That we'd do this for you?”

Imogen gave him an exasperated look. “Yes, we'll be doing it for him. You want the Grih to have another Class 5 on their side, don't you?”

Cam didn't just want it, he'd been specifically ordered to get any thinking system on their side, by any means possible, by his commander-in-chief, Admiral Hoke. All senior officers had.

He sighed and gave a nod. “What are we going to do with the Fitali?”

“They're not going anywhere unless I allow it.”

“You can't stay hidden here, though. We won't be able to contact you once we leave if you're still behind Gu-gijeron.” Cam tapped the stock of his shockgun as he thought things through.

“When I've given you enough time to get to Larga Ways and make contact with Eazi, I'll get closer so you can link Eazi and I up. I'll have to bring the Fitali along.”

“Sounds simple,” Cam said, voice dry, and Oris laughed again.