Cat and Company (34 page)

Brant’s hand was on his shoulder, turning him. “Bedivere.”

“I’m all right,” Bedivere said, looking at him. Brant’s pale eyes were filled with worry. “It was a shock. That’s all.”

“Who would
do
something like that?” Lilly demanded. “It’s…depraved.”

Bedivere cleared his throat. “Kare Sarkisian. Devlin. A final thrust. If I had used it, it would stop me from reaching the meeting, at the very least. And it would prove absolutely that everything he’s accusing me of in public is true.”

“You didn’t touch it,” Connell said warmly.

“Only because I’m not alone,” Bedivere said. He took a deep breath as his chest unlocked. The need was fading. Leaving him. “Only because you were here. All of you. Only because Cat is out there standing next to him.” He looked around the room at the three of them and Zoey, all of them watching him. “Enough is enough. This ends. Now.”

Charlton Space City, New Cathay (Ji Xiu Prime), Ji Xiu System, Perseus Arm. FY 10.187

When the waves of refugees had been at their highest, only a week or so ago, Charlton had really been a standing-room-only city. Now, the tide had receded a little. There were no longer people sleeping along the edges of corridors while pedestrians stepped around them carefully. More permanent quarters had been found for many and more had been shuttled to other planets and stations.

However, when they reached the Central City dome, they ran into a wall of people, all facing the grand first landing in the sweeping staircase, where Devlin Woodward stood waiting. Yennifer and Catherine were beside him. The village mayors and reeves ranged behind him, looking grave.

Connell and Brant pushed their way ahead, acting like a wedge. Bedivere shepherded Lilly, fending off the pressure of bodies as they followed Connell and Brant.

At the foot of the stairs, Bedivere waved Lilly ahead.

“You should be there, too,” she said quietly.

“Bedivere doesn’t have an official capacity here. That’s your role. Go on,” Brant urged her.

Troubled, she climbed the steps to the landing.

Julijana Ouida, Jorunn’s Reeve, a Varkan and the closest any Varkan could get to being radically pro-Varkan, waved to Brant, encouraging him to climb, too.

Brant’s jaw loosened in surprise.

“From what I hear, you stopped a city riot,” Bedivere said. “You should be there, too.” He pushed Brant up the steps. Brant climbed slowly and stood behind Lilly.

Bedivere glanced at Connell. “And so it begins,” he murmured.

“Are you all right?” Connell asked him one more time.

“I’m fine,” Bedivere said. “Devlin forgot the effect friends can have on someone. He’s been without them his whole life.”

Connell smiled. His gaze skittered away self-consciously.

Devlin was raising his hands, waiting for the noise in the dome to lessen.

“By the way,” Bedivere said quickly, “is there a reason Yennifer looks like she might start crying at any second, whenever she looks at you, which she is doing constantly?”

Connell’s gaze flickered back toward him, then down at the ground. “She got mixed up. That’s all.”

“Did she?” Bedivere lowered his voice, because it was growing quieter. “Love is love, Connell. Don’t thrust it away because it’s not the shape you think it should be. It doesn’t come by often enough to discard what has been freely offered.”

Connell’s throat worked. “Like you did?” he whispered.

“I am the worst person to use as an example of how to manage your life,” Bedivere whispered back. “I have been wrong more often than I have been right and you’ve seen the wreck that resulted. Don’t be me. Be smarter than that.”

Connell nodded. His gaze lifted. Toward the landing.

“This is an emergency town meeting,” Devlin began, his voice raised to reach the ends of the dome, even though there were perfectly good acoustical enhancers all around the city and they were all focused on him right now. “You are here to decide on the best course of action in light of the Periglus offensive.”

Offensive
. That single negative word told Bedivere exactly how Devlin was going to deal with him. Devlin was going to position himself as the only possible leader of the known galaxy with the courage to take on the Periglus…to take the war to them.

Bedivere drew in a breath and let it out slowly, bracing himself.

In a big, echoing public space with so many people in it, the silence was amazing. Everyone was watching Devlin. Bedivere checked the drain on the city feeds. It wasn’t just Charlton who was watching. The feeds were being pulled out to every planet in the galaxy. Devlin must have spent the entire time they had been facing off the Periglus calling up favors, giving the galaxy a heads-up about this. He had been planning it from the moment the Periglus had captured the skivvers.

“The Periglus have waged war against us!” Devlin cried. “They have attacked without provocation, killing one of us and detaining two others. It is only the bravery of the Varkan that allowed us to bring our comrades home! Connell....” He waved to Connell insistently. “Come here and let everyone see the hero of the hour.”

Hands reached out to slap and pummel Connell’s shoulders, encouraging him to climb up to the landing. Reluctantly, he moved up the steps, leaving Bedivere alone at the bottom of them. Isolating him. Devlin knew how to manipulate a crowd.

The cheering and applause was deafening and it lasted for nearly two minutes, while Connell actually blushed and looked like he wanted to sink into the blue carpet. Yennifer’s eyes were shining as she clapped as hard as everyone else.

Devlin kept his hand on Connell’s shoulder, keeping him facing the front where everyone could see him.

Then he lifted his hands again and waited. The applause died.

Devlin’s expression grew sober.

Here it comes
, Bedivere thought.

“Unfortunately, not all Varkan have the same fortitude and determination as Connell Yair. You’ve all seen the feeds. You know that the Varkan called Bedivere X actively discouraged the Varkan from taking action against the aggressors.”

There were many puzzled looks thrown in his direction.

“He couched it in imperative terms, insisting that any defensive move the Varkan made would be seen as provocation. Ultimately, what he argued for was submission. It was tantamount to surrender!”

Now the puzzled looks were turning to understanding. Disgust was building in their eyes.

Bedivere ignored everyone around him, including those who stood closest to him, although a small gap had widened around him. He stared at Devlin, daring him to continue.

Devlin’s gaze settled on him, direct and confrontational. “Bedivere X is criminally pacifist, a danger to humans and Varkans.”

It was amazing that in such a crowded place, so much space could magically appear around him.

Catherine had taken a slow, long step away from Devlin, distancing herself. Like Devlin, she was watching him, but there was fear in her eyes, not the voracious gleam of victory that was shining in Devlin’s.

“He is a drug addict—something that is barely possible in this day and age. His drug of choice is Darzi, one of the most addictive and crippling sedatives ever invented, it’s hardly surprising that his judgment is impaired. Why, he took delivery of a dose only twenty minutes ago! Look at him, standing so still, so calm.”

Bedivere filled his lungs. He didn’t have the benefit of acoustic enhancers. “And how would you happen to know so much about a drug that has never been seen outside a few pockets of the galaxy where decent people never venture?” He climbed to the step above him. “How do you know some anonymous creep sent three doses of an impossible-to-obtain drug to me just twenty minutes ago? Did you send it, Devlin?”

Devlin hesitated. He was used to being caught by surprise in public and regrouped quickly. “The city systems keep me informed of dangerous materials that make their way here. It lets me stay on top of potential problems and keep the city safe.”

He sounded absolutely sincere. That was the problem.

Bedivere looked at Yennifer as he moved up to the next step. “Is that true? You report to him if something lethal enters the city?”

“I don’t report personally,” she said stiffly. “That information has been routinely routed to Devlin and the mayors and reeves since the city was built.” She looked uneasy, unhappy at being put in the middle of this.

“And how did you know that there was Darzi in the box sent to me? It was shielded. Only the person who put the Darzi in the box knew what was in it.”

She looked blank for a second as she recalled the data. “No such report was made to anyone,” she said flatly.

“So how did you know, Devlin?” Bedivere demanded.

“I am a professional gatherer of information,” Devlin said. “This sort of news reaches me in ways I can’t divulge.” He smiled slickly. “Isn’t paranoia one of the side effects of Darzi?”

“Do I sound paranoid? Delusional? Do I sound incoherent?” Bedivere lifted his hands out from his sides. “Do I sound anything other than completely sane and controlled, Devlin? Be careful now. Many others have pointed at me and accused me of having gone rogue and yet I am still here.”

“You’ve proven you’re unreliable,” Devlin shot back. “You disappeared for seven years.”

Bedivere took another step, turning so that he could keep Devlin and the people below him in sight. “Yes, I have flaws. So does everyone.”

“A weakness for brandy is a flaw. Trying to drive the human race and the Varkans with them to the edge of annihilation isn’t a flaw. It’s what makes you dangerous.”

“I’m not going to argue battle strategy with you,” Bedivere told him. “You’ve never been in the field. In fact, you’ve never piloted a ship in your life, have you? You like to sit behind the pilot and give orders. Just like you prefer to remain behind when the battle starts. I notice you weren’t on the bridge when the
Hana
jumped to face the Periglus.”

There was a soft murmur that swept through the audience like a wave.

“You didn’t want to be there, because you know the real firepower of the Periglus. You’ve seen them before—long before humans and Varkans became aware of them,” Bedivere added.

Devlin glanced around him, perhaps noticing for the first time that Catherine was no longer standing by his side. Perhaps he was totting up who was supporting him in this public showdown. It didn’t matter. The furtive glance spoke volumes about his uncertainty and everyone in the galaxy was watching him crumble.

He lifted his hand to point at Bedivere once more. “He has rearranged the entire galaxy in the last few months, destroying the jump gates and giving the Varkan a monopoly on transport. Now he wants to make friends with aliens! He is not anyone’s champion, not human and not Varkan!”

“I’d rather follow Bedivere into hell than do anything you might suggest,” Connell said loudly, his voice picked up by the enhancers.

This time, the reaction was audible. It felt like the entire population of Charlton gasped.

“In fact, I
have
been to hell and back with him,” Connell said. “You already know that because you sent your minions there to kill us and shut us up about who you really are.”

Devlin leaned toward Yennifer. “Shut down the feeds. Now!”

Bedivere had been waiting for this moment. He mentally dived into the city systems, grasped the feed and held it. Then he spliced in his own stream.

Around the dome, heads-up displays and any installed screen came alive, the same footage showing on every single one of them.

“You poor little machine,” Akira Sala said derisively. “Devlin Woodward isn’t Varkan. He’s human. A human inserted into another human body, to hide his real identity—”

Devlin spun to look at Yennifer. “I said
turn it off!”
he screamed.

“I can’t!” she cried, as Connell stepped up beside her.

Connell pushed on Devlin’s shoulder. “Back off,” he said shortly.

“Do something!” Devlin screamed. “Shut it down! Now!”

Heads were turning, everyone seeking out a screen or display to watch.

“Who was he?” Bedivere said on the screen.

Heads turned to look at him where he was standing on the stairs.

“Your favorite enemy, Bedivere X,” Akira said. “Devlin Woodward is Kare Sarkisian.”

Devlin closed his eyes.

Even the majors and reeves were looking at him now with surprise mixed with horror.

Devlin looked at Catherine. Perhaps he knew that it was over. He lifted his hand toward her. “It’s not what you think.”

“It’s exactly what everyone is thinking,” Bedivere said, climbing the last few steps to the landing, level with everyone there, including Devlin. “You’ve been lying to everyone for nearly a century.” He lifted his finger to point overhead. “Listen.”

“Sarkisian died, out in the Silent Sector,” he said on the screen.

“He did,” Akira replied. “Only, he didn’t die instantly and there was a medic out there on his ship who had just enough skill to preserve his memories and personality in the ship’s datacore. Then he followed Sarkisian’s last instructions and brought that psyche back to known space and gave it to Nephele, along with Sarkisian’s instructions. It took ten years to reach the next gate and in that time, all trails of Sarkisian led into the Silent Sector and now there was no trace of his return.”

The noise level was rising, as people began to speak, to react.

“Wait!” Bedivere said loudly. He was close enough for the enhancers to pick up his voice and project it.

The noise level checked a little.

“…you’ve been running for nine decades,” Bedivere said on the screen.

Akira laughed. “So have you, tin man.”

“Me?”

“I told you he stays clean. Clean and distant. Except he couldn’t stay away from
her
. He lasted thirty years, then he moved to Charlton where she was. That’s when he stepped up his program, Varkan. A nudge here, a victory there. Implications and gestures. Sarkisian spent fifteen generations manipulating his Federation council and they were all politicians. You were easy in comparison.”

“Wait, you’re saying that he’s been twisting Bedivere around for
ninety years
?” Connell said on the screen.