Polaris (31 page)

Jeth had been given the command to stay still and silent, properly cowed.

Saar appeared on the dais, and the audience went quiet. The man commanded respect and awe—the truth of it shining in every eye Jeth saw. He wanted to stab them all out. He could tell some of the audience were news reporters, all ITA. This was just another feigned act of legitimacy, a farce as great as the one they'd staged years ago when they claimed Jeth's parents had committed treason and were to
be executed. In truth, his father was already dead, and his mother locked up in a lab at Hanov.

Saar cleared his throat, the sound amplified by the small mike affixed to his collar. As always, he was wearing the gray uniform with all the signs of his high rank. He launched into a prepared speech, summarizing Jeth, Sierra, and Flynn's supposed crimes. Some of it was true, but most was not. Jeth tuned the words out, lacking the will to care.

No, he didn't care or listen until Saar came to the end of his speech.

“Four days hence,” Saar said, his voice booming, “the guilty will be put to death by firing squad, their threat to the Interstellar Transport Authority and the galaxy at large eliminated.”

The crowd broke into applause, and a tremble went through Jeth's knees. He knew Saar would only have gone through this spectacle because he was certain Lizzie was near. The deadline would force her and Milton to act. The bait was hooked, the trap set.

And in less than four days, his family would walk right into it.

ONE DAY CAME AND WENT WITH NO SIGN OF LIZZIE. THEN
another. The hours maintained their pattern. Jeth would visit his friends, emptying their buckets, bathing them when necessary.

On the third day, he visited Cora again. This time, he went in without the implant. For the first few minutes with Saar out of his head, Jeth could only stare, the relief rendering him dumb. Then clarity set in and the relief faded to despair. This was worse, this full understanding of how beaten he was. At least the implant barricaded him from his feelings and thoughts. In some ways, that was better.

The sense of utter defeat made his stomach clench. His heart was a stone in his chest. Even with the implant out, he felt the press of Saar's will.
Convince her to trust us
. Saar's words reverberated through his mind.
She is putting herself at risk. She will be better off if she does not resist. She will be spared the pain of punishment.

Spared the pain. But she'd be an ITA slave.

Was it better?

Jeth weighed the question as he stopped outside the door to the apartment for a moment. Cora was so young, and
her life had already been fraught with loss and abuse. He'd wanted to give her something better, but he couldn't.

Or maybe he could. Maybe Saar was right, and her life would be better if she didn't resist, if she just accepted her role in the new order.
Would it have been better for you?
the voice of his consciousness asked. Jeth considered the idea. For years he'd struggled against life under Hammer. But was he better off now that he'd lost everything?

It was a question too painful to answer.

At least for himself. But he could for Cora.

Steeling himself against the pain of what he was about to do, Jeth opened the door and walked inside. Once again, Cora was lying on the sofa with a blanket pulled up to her face. She looked even worse than before, as much of a zombie as he was. The circles beneath her eyes were dark and waxy, her face gaunt and skin pale. She looked like she was dying.
Same as the Pyreans.

But this time, when her gaze met his, she didn't react in fear. She smiled, the edges of it worn and tired. “Jeth.” She sat up and held out her arms.

Jeth went to her, scooping her up and hugging her. Tears stung his eyes, but he didn't fight them back. The emotion hurt but at least he was allowed to feel it. Maybe it was better after all.

“Are you okay?” he asked, planting a kiss on the top of her hair.

She shook her head. “I miss Mom. I miss you. I'm scared.”

“I know.”
Me too,
he thought, but kept it private. The
fact that he could brought sweet relief. For a moment his mind was completely his own. “But you've got to stop being scared.”

Cora leaned back from him far enough to fix a narrowed gaze on his face. He could sense the question in her eyes—
was this the stranger who had come before?

He forced a smile. “I mean it, Cora. We're going to be here for a while, and you have to be strong and brave. You need to do what these people ask of you without making a fuss. If you do that, they won't hurt you.”

She started to protest, but he shushed her. He turned and sat down on the sofa, settling her on his lap. He was too tired to hold her, and the lies came easier without the physical strain.

Cora frowned and reached up to lay a hand against his face. “But they hurt
you
.”

Jeth sucked in a breath. “That's different, Cora. And it has nothing to do with you.” He paused, searching for the words to convince her. “Isn't there anyone who is nice to you?”

“Aileen,” Cora said at once.

“Aileen?” Jeth couldn't keep the surprise from his voice. “They let you see her?”

“Sometimes, for a little bit.” Cora cast him a disapproving look. “She's sad, like you.”

Jeth nodded. Of course she was. She'd lost everything, too. He tried not to think about how this was her fault. It wasn't, not entirely. The moment Saar claimed Dax's implant, it was all over. It seemed the universe really had been conspiring against him all along.

“Well, you stay close to her whenever you see her,
okay?” Jeth said, patting Cora's back.

“I will. But I'd rather see you. Can I see you more now?”

“I . . . I don't think so, Cora.” He took a deep breath, his vision clouding over with tears.

Cora went still, the lack of action so unnatural for her. Like most children, she always seemed to be doing something, fiddling her toes, making noises with her mouth, but in that moment, all the frenetic energy in her had evaporated.

“Are you going away?” Cora said.

“Maybe.”

“Like Mom?”

He didn't have the heart to answer. “Just promise me that you'll be a good girl and do what the doctors tell you to, okay?” If she was going to die anyway, he wanted her last days to be as painless as possible.

“If I do good will they let me see you again?”

“I don't know, Cora. Maybe.” This time the lie came easier. She needed hope right now, no matter how false.

“But, I want to see you, Jeth. All the time.” She wrapped her arms around him and squeezed his neck hard. “I need to know that I'll see you or I can't do what they say. I can't.”

Jeth eased her arms around his neck enough to draw a full breath. He racked his brain, searching for words of comfort, a way to motivate her to carry on. Then the answer came to him. “Do you remember the story of the Little Mermaid?”

She nodded.

“Do you remember how it ended? How the Little Mermaid chose not to kill the prince and then jumped into the sea, even though she thought she would die?”

“But she didn't die. She turned into a daughter of the air.”

“Yes, but she didn't know that would happen when she jumped in. She did it anyway because it was the right thing to do. Do you understand?”

Cora went silent for a few minutes. “I need to be a good girl and listen to the doctors because it's the right thing to do?”

Jeth clenched his teeth, hating the lie he was letting her believe, even though it was exactly what he'd been hoping for.

But at the same time, there was a deeper truth there.

“You need to be a good girl, because you
are
a daughter of the air. And if you're good, you'll float away someday, just like the Little Mermaid did.”

“Float away?” Cora said, skepticism in her voice.

“Sure,” Jeth said, an idea forming in his mind. “Just like how you once floated off that big ship and onto
Avalon
. And all of us floated with you. Remember?”

Cora nodded. “I saved you.”

“That's right. And you saved yourself. Now you need to learn to do that all the time.” Jeth watched her face as he spoke, hoping to see the light of understanding flash in her eyes. But she was only seven, far too young for coded messages about escape attempts.

The frustration built inside him. If only he could communicate with her mind-to-mind like his mother did. It seemed like he ought to be able to, and the fact he couldn't was some flaw in his DNA. Cora could save them all. With her ability to manipulate metaspace, she could get them all out of there. But she didn't know how to control it. Not yet.

But someday,
Jeth thought, trying to find comfort in the knowledge. No matter what the ITA had planned for her, they would have a hard time controlling her once she gained full mastery over her powers. He could only hope it would happen before she was old enough to be fitted with an implant. It might be too late for him and the others, but not for her.

“Promise me you'll be good,” Jeth pressed, “and that you'll learn how to float again.”

This time understanding seemed to flicker in her expression, if only for a moment. “I will, Jeth. I promise.”

The fourth day came with no sign of Lizzie and Milton. Jeth mustered the courage to probe the link to Saar's mind, hoping to find doubt there. But as always, Saar was nothing but confidence and power. He was certain that Lizzie would arrive. He was certain that they would catch her.

And so the execution ceremony commenced. They brought Jeth, Sierra, and Flynn onto the flight deck. The soldiers had to drag Sierra and Flynn into place, but Jeth went without much resistance—the implant was too strong, and he was tired from fighting and from losing.

The event wouldn't be broadcast, but the open space would make a rescue attempt more inviting, Jeth knew. The only hindrance was the weather. As when they arrived, a storm was coming in, the wind whipping around them, dousing them with cold water.

There weren't even that many soldiers around, no more
than a dozen, although all of them were Saar's men, easily identifiable by the silver implants. They carried standard-issue rifles and Mirage pistols, but Jeth knew they each had pulse grenades hidden beneath their uniform jackets as well. It would take only a couple of such grenades to disable whatever spacecraft Lizzie and Milton might have commandeered on Peltraz. The scattering of ships on the flight deck looked unoccupied, none of them ready to meet resistance, but again Jeth knew there were whole crews waiting on standby inside. The ships nearest where they stood had pulse cannons hidden beneath their prows, ITA soldiers lying in wait to use them. Everything about this scenario screamed of a setup. Lizzie and Milton wouldn't be so stupid.

But still, Saar's confidence did not waver.

“Get in a line,” one of the soldiers shouted at Jeth, shoving him into position. Then the soldier turned and did the same to Sierra. She spat in his face. The soldier backhanded her hard enough to leave an imprint of his fingers on her cheek. Jeth wished she would stop fighting. Watching her get hurt and being powerless to help was the worse kind of torture. If she only knew.

Then again, maybe she did. Her eyes caught his and she gave up the struggle, falling into place beside him. She leaned into his shoulder. He would've slipped his arms around her if he could, but his wrists were bound with manacles again. They weren't behind his back this time, but the binding still limited his movement.

“I love you, Jeth,” Sierra whispered. For the first time,
he heard defeat in her voice. She too had given up hope. He thought hearing it would be the end of him, but instead something stirred inside him. Defiance, or the old flicker of hatred, of the desire for vengeance that had driven him here in the first place. Or perhaps it was simply the will to live. He didn't know, but he clung to it. Even now, at the end of all things, he couldn't just let go.

Forcing his lips to move, wrestling for control of his body and mind, if only for a few seconds, he said, “You too.”

Sierra choked on a sob, the sound drowned out by the wind around them.

The three of them then waited in silence as Saar paced a couple of times before them, surveying the scene, as if he wanted to make sure every detail was perfect before the execution commenced.

He's buying time,
Jeth realized. Despite Saar's confidence, he still wasn't certain of when Lizzie and Milton would attack, or how.

They won't come,
Jeth thought, forcing it through the link, pressing Saar with this certainty. For a second he sensed the man's doubt echoing back at him.

But in the next second, a flash of light burst overhead, punctuated by a loud crack—the sound of a ship exiting metaspace. Jeth ducked on instinct as the force of the jump terminating so close rocked the entire Hive, the floor trembling like an earthquake.

Once the shock had passed, Jeth glanced up and saw a familiar ship floating above their heads. The
Citation,
one of
Dax's ships.
Lizzie,
Jeth thought, fear shooting through him. This was too brazen. They would be caught, shot down before they even gained their bearings. Already, an alarm had sounded and the ITA soldiers were heading for cover, pulse grenades and cannons at the ready for when the ship flew into range.

Before they'd gone a couple of meters, a bright blue light burst out from the
Citation
. Everyone froze. The light pulsated outward and downward. People flinched as the light reached them, but it passed over them with little more than a static tingle. A moment later, though, every light and source of power on the Hive died. It didn't affect the rifles and handguns, but every pulse cannon and grenade was rendered useless.

The Disrupter,
Jeth realized. Hope blossomed inside him as he sensed Saar's fear through the link. He hadn't anticipated this kind of attack. Jeth spared a moment's regret that the Disrupter didn't work on implants, their Pryean core making them immune to the effect.

But Lizzie and Milton and whatever crew they'd assembled weren't finished yet. They opened fire on the fleeing soldiers, taking out half a dozen of them. Saar fled as well, turning on his heel and racing across the flight deck for cover behind one of the lifeless starships.

Jeth, Sierra, and Flynn stayed where they were, waiting for the path to clear and for their friends to come get them.
The Citation
lowered toward the flight deck, sending up more sea spray and wind in their faces. A couple of soldiers
took aim at it with their rifles, but the
Citation
's crow guns mowed them down easily.

The side hatch on the
Citation
opened. Sierra headed for it first, screaming at Flynn and Jeth to follow. They did, Jeth bringing up the rear.

He couldn't believe it. It couldn't be this easy. He probed the link for Saar's presence but found it empty. Had Saar been caught in the fire? Alarms sounded in his head, but the lure of freedom was too great for him to pay any heed.

They reached the hatch and charged up the ramp. Adrenaline pumped through Jeth's body, making him feel alive for the first time in days.

Then they were on the ship, the hatch closing behind them.

Sierra was screaming ahead of him as they mounted the ladder to the bridge. “Somebody get down here. We need help. Right now.”