Athena's Ashes (5 page)

The doctor frowned. “Renna…”

She shook her head. “It’s fine, Doc. I’m just tired this morning and my brain hurts. Let’s get the probing over with.”

In silence, Samil drew two vials of blood, checked Renna’s vitals, and listened to her heart. Renna stared at a spot of dust on the wall and tried to ignore her racing pulse and the feel of the doctor’s cool fingers against her skin.

Finally, the doctor pulled out her ventroscope. “I’m going to examine your vision now, Renna. Hold perfectly still. I promise this won’t hurt a bit.”

Renna arched an eyebrow. “You know I don’t believe you when you say that.”

“Would I lie to you?” Samil’s lips twitched, but her face stayed serious. “Now don’t move. This will only take a second.” Samil took the mask-like metal device from the tray and pressed it to Renna’s face.

Renna’s skin turned icy where it touched, but she only had a moment of wonder before a sharp red light stabbed into her eyes. Searing pain, like someone had taken a scalpel to her eyeballs, shot through her. She curled her hands into fists, nails biting into her palms as the pain subsided.

“Deep breaths, Renna. Are you all right?” Samil removed the device from Renna’s face and helped her lean back against the pillows on the bed.

“Damn, Doc. What the hell was that?” Renna asked weakly. She squeezed her eyes shut against the throbbing pain and took a shaky breath.

“A full neural scan. And it should not have been that painful. I’m worried.”

“That makes two of us.” Renna wiped a trickle of sweat from her forehead and tried to force her shoulder muscles to unclench. It felt like her whole body had been squeezed through a tiny tube lined with needles.

Samil muttered something under her breath and pulled Renna’s digital medical records up on her tablet. “I need to run some calculations,” she said, brushing her hair away from her face.

Renna clasped her hands together, resisting the urge to yank the woman’s ponytail holder out of her hair and weave a tight braid to contain the rogue tendrils. “Whatever you need, Doc. I’m not going anywhere.”

“Actually, that’s not true,” Samil said with a frown. “Major Dallas wants you to meet him in the debriefing room when we’re done here. I’ll let him know it’ll be a while. You’re in no shape to move right now.”

No thanks to her. Renna gritted her teeth. What the hell was the doctor doing in the first place? She was supposed to be working on a cure, not playing around with new toys and using Renna as a fucking lab rat.

“What’s going on?” Renna asked. “Is the degeneration happening faster now?” She already knew the answer, but she wanted to hear it from the doctor’s lips.

“I’m afraid so. If we don’t figure this out, you’re going to run out of time.” Samil chewed her bottom lip as she studied the monitor. “The neural integration has slowed thanks to the drugs, and your body is fighting really hard to keep it that way. But even more interesting is how the implant is adapting to these changes. If I’m not mistaken, it’s establishing its own pathways, creating external networks instead of the internal ones we’d expect.”

External networks. That had to be how Renna had felt the
Athena
or how she’d hacked into the servers. But why did it hurt so much?

“I’m going to adjust the medication we’re working on for you. I think we should have something ready by this afternoon. I’m even more hopeful we’ll have a breakthrough by the end of the week.” Samil tucked her tablet back into her coat pocket. “Get some rest for now. I’ll have Major Dallas call for you later when you’re feeling better.” She patted Renna on the shoulder. “We’re going to solve this, Renna. You’re too important to lose right now.” Dr. Samil smiled and left the room, Monty humming along behind her.

“Too important to lose right now,” Renna muttered as she let her eyes drift closed. “What happens when I’m not important anymore?”

A few hours later, Renna rolled over in bed and stretched, feeling her muscles burn and stiffen. Lying around all day wasn’t helping her keep in shape. She needed to get the hell out of here.

Especially if Samil was right and she was running out of time. The urge to be with Finn burned like a glowing ember in the middle of her chest.

The flashing blue light on her tablet caught her eye, and she pushed away the sliver of fear and urgency that was her constant companion lately. Switching on her device, she scanned her messages.

There were the usual sale ads—she saved one from the specialty boudoir underwear designer she liked to splurge on. Twenty-five percent off on bras and lingerie. Maybe MYTH would hold a delivery for her.

There were two feeler emails from potential clients that she deleted without even reading. She didn’t have time for that sort of thing right now. Saving her own skin, ensuring Finn and Myka’s safety, and acting as Renna, Warrior Princess, for the galaxy was a bit more important.

The last message was her weekly subscription to the
Galactic Free News
. Renna’s gaze lingered briefly on the article about the arrest of Kitty Cordoza, one of most notorious mob bosses in the galaxy. Good. The woman deserved to spend the rest of her life in prison. She was the one who’d crated Myka Aldani and shipped him all over the system. Too bad Renna hadn’t been there to witness her detainment in person.

But what she was really interested in were the classified ads.

Back when she and Viktis were together, they’d used a complicated code to communicate with each other while they were out on jobs. If he and Finn needed her now, that’s how they’d get a hold of her. As she read through them, her shoulders slumped. Nothing.

Renna tossed the tablet on the bed and rested her head in her hands. In this situation, no news was good news, no matter how much she missed them. She should be happy they didn’t need her. But she ached to know Finn was all right. That he was safe from Pallas. Gods, when had she gotten so obsessed? Finn was a soldier; he could take care of himself. And she’d do no one any good if she worried about him instead of the job at hand.

It had to be all the time on her hands. She had nothing else to think about besides Finn. The sooner she got out of here, the better.

Renna slid off the bed, landing lightly on her feet. The room bobbed like a ship, and she swallowed back a surge of nausea as she clutched the edge of the bed. Evidently, Samil’s device had affected her more than she’d thought. Her head still buzzed at a low-level frequency, almost like a mosquito flitting around her head. That could stop any time now.

She crossed gingerly to the washbasin and splashed her face with water. It helped calm the spinning a bit and she took a deep breath. The residual pain from the attack had finally started to fade, but her mind kept coming back to the fact that Samil’s device had felt like something crawling through her brain. Her skin erupted in goose bumps. The doctor better know what she was doing. Becoming a cyborg was not in Renna’s retirement plan.

“Renna.” Her door slid open, and Dallas strode into the room. His eyebrows furrowed as he took in her pale face and shadowed eyes. “Dr. Samil said you weren’t feeling well after your test this morning. Any better?”

Renna shrugged. “I’ll live. What’s the news?”

“The admiral has assigned you a ship and crew. The
Eris
is one of the best small cruisers we have. Weapons functionality is limited, as this is a stealth mission, not an attack mission. But she’s a beauty. I’m sure you’ll love her.”

“That was fast. What’s the admiral’s game here? Why does she trust me with this?”

“I thought this is what you wanted.” He stood in parade rest, arms behind his back, but he watched her warily, as if he was analyzing her every word.

Renna ignored the discomfort of being studied so closely and shrugged. “It was. I just didn’t expect to get it. I’m a thief, after all. Don’t you military people distrust me on principle?” It felt too easy, somehow, that they would just agree to her proposal.

“The admiral is one of the smartest people I know. Finding Finn and the
Athena
is her top priority, and if you’re the one who can do it, she’ll go to any lengths to get you what you need.”

She was glad they recognized that at least. Too bad they had no idea the problem was in their own organization. “How soon can I leave?”

“This afternoon.”

Renna’s eyes widened.

“There has been some debate. Dr. Samil would like to keep you under observation for several more days, but the admiral outranks her. We can’t afford to waste any more time.”

“I always knew I liked you, Major.” Renna grinned at him. “I’ll pack up my stuff and be ready to go in half an hour.”

“Good.” He leaned forward, lowering his voice. “I hope you know you can trust me completely, Renna. Right now, my only concern is finding Finn and making sure he’s all right. I don’t care what other scams you might be running.”

She tilted her head and studied his haggard face. “Based on that statement, I’m going to assume
you
don’t trust
me
.”

“Renna, I know more about your background than anyone else in this organization. I chose you to rescue Myka because I believed in you. And I backed you to find Finn for the same reason. I think you’re exactly what MYTH needs, even if they don’t know it themselves yet.” He paused, his lips twitching at the corners with a grin. “But no, I don’t trust you outside my line-of-sight. I know better than that. You should be flattered.”

She couldn’t help but return his smile. Damn, she was getting soft. A few kind words and she turned to mush.

“That being said,” Dallas continued, getting to his feet, “the admiral and her staff don’t know you nearly as well as I do. As a condition for this mission, they are requiring ship status reports every twenty-four hours.”

The happy glow faded. Dammit. So much for keeping her whereabouts secret from Pallas’s moles inside MYTH. “Of course. They’re worried I’m going to pull a Finn and steal the ship, huh?”

“You’re going to tell me the thought didn’t cross your mind?” Dallas asked, tilting his head to study her.

Renna chuckled. “Fair assessment. Fine. I’ll report in daily.”

“See that you do. You do not want them to send a recall team after you if they decide you’ve gone rogue. We also equip all of our ships with a self-destruct button, and they’re not afraid to use it.” He turned to the door. “Finish gathering your things. You leave in an hour.”

SIX

“Ready to see her?” Dallas asked as he pressed his palm to the hangar bay scanner.

Renna’s insides fluttered as she nodded. By the stars, she was as anxious as a teenager on her first date. It was just another ship, just another crew. No need to be nervous.

The door to the hanger slid open, and Renna stifled a gasp at the shiny cruiser sitting on the landing pad. At half the size of the
Athena
, it was still almost as long as a city block.

“The
Eris
runs with a crew of fifteen. It has a fully stocked med-bay and state-of-the-art stealth systems.” Dallas puffed his chest out. “One of the best new designs we have.”

“Did you have something to do with the design, sir?” she asked, letting her gaze linger over the crisp lines and curves of the beauty.

“I helped, yes, but it was a team effort.” He moved into the hangar, but his voice had softened and he smiled at her. “Come, my dear. You don’t want to keep your crew waiting.”

A dozen men and women stood at attention in front of the ship, while the maintenance crew scurried around prepping the
Eris
for travel. They all wore the gray-and-gold uniforms of MYTH, and most of them were human, but she spotted a few alien faces in the crowd.

Dallas’s boots clicked against the cement floor as they approached. “This is Commander Cori Jayla. She’s in charge of running the ship and making sure everything goes as planned with the mission.”

A tall woman with angular features and a swoop of jet-black hair saluted them. Her dark skin was smooth and unwrinkled, but Renna guessed her to be in her late forties.

“It’s an honor to be included in this mission, sir,” she said in a crisp voice.

“At ease, Commander. Renna, Jayla has worked for MYTH almost as long as I have and is one of our most trusted agents. She’ll help you find Captain Finn or die trying.”