Dark Horse (10 page)

“We are not the Tecran.” Filavantri breathed in heavily through her nose, and then shook her head. “But, of course, we are. They are part of the United Council, so why should you expect anything else? I keep forgetting the betrayal of our principles wasnʼt made by another species, it was made by a full Council signatory.”

She lifted a hand to her ear and tapped. “Sub-Lieutenant Hista.” Like Havak had yesterday, she waited a moment to be put through. “I require a handheld preloaded with all five languages of the United Council, and full cultural and social information of all five signatories.” She paused, and then frowned. “Yes, it is for Rose.” She said Roseʼs name very firmly, as if chastising the person on the other end.

“I donʼt mind if itʼs not connected to the main system. Thatʼs why I requested the information be preloaded.”

When she turned back, her lips were in a thin, tight line. “When Sub-Lieutenant Hista has permission from the captain, sheʼll have a handheld delivered to your room, and instruct you in its use.” She lifted her left hand, flicked her sleeve and Rose saw the time light up on her cuff. “Iʼll need to go and file some reports now, Iʼm afraid. But Iʼll walk you back to your room so you donʼt get lost.”

She took Rose back to her room and then looked even more fierce when Rose confessed she didnʼt know how to get back in. She showed her how to place her hand against a plate beside the door for identification.

Rose put a hand on her arm as she turned to leave.

“Thank you. Iʼve been isolated for a long time and your kindness means a great deal to me.”

The liaison officerʼs face relaxed a little, she gave a nod and a smile, and as she walked away, Rose hoped her new friend wouldnʼt end up regretting being kind to an orange.

T
he small runnerʼs
engines lifted from a purr to a whine as it landed in the Class 5ʼs launch bay, and Dav looked over at Dimitara as she disengaged her harness.

“Borji is waiting to debrief me. If you want to go ahead and see the Tecran prisoners while I speak with him, youʼre welcome to.” He unclipped himself and rose to his feet.

He saw the smooth, golden skin above her eyes lift in reaction. She understood the subtext. That he had nothing to hide, and they werenʼt abusing the Tecran and could withstand a surprise visit from a liaison officer from the Council. Even an unaccompanied one.

“Thatʼs all right, Captain. Iʼm happy to wait for you.” She stood herself and Dav nodded and followed her out.

Borji was there to meet them, standing at the foot of the ramp with arms crossed over his chest, still in his bio-hazard suit, his helmet clipped to his belt.

Dimitara gave them the illusion of privacy, pretending to study the other vessels in the launch bay after a nod of greeting to Borji. The dead lion had been moved to a small refrigeration unit in the storage bay, or Dav was sure sheʼd only have had eyes for it.

As it was, he was forced to proceed knowing she could and probably would hear everything. Perhaps it was better that way. Better that she understood the full extent of their situation.

“Status?”

Borji grimaced. “Nothingʼs changed since the system reset the jamming signal for another twelve hours.”

Borji had contacted him in the early hours of the morning to let him know, and Dav could see his chief systems engineer was beyond frustrated. “What do you think is significant about the reset?”

“Well, the time frame. Something was expected to happen in the first twelve hours, and it didnʼt, so it reset. Thatʼs the only thing I can think of.”

That was Davʼs assessment, as well. “And I wonder what that event was supposed to be.”

“Do we really want to find out?” Borji rubbed a hand over dark-ringed eyes.

“Take a runner back to the
Barrist.
” Dav realized it wasnʼt only Rose he hadnʼt been taking proper care of. “Get some sleep before you fall over.”

Borji didnʼt argue. “My whole team needs rest. Iʼll give us eight hours and then we can come back fresh. But thereʼs one thing.”

Dav waited as Borji tapped at his handheld, then turned it to show him.

“See that?” Borji pointed at a thin graph line that was interwoven with the others.

“Yes?”

“It isnʼt ours.” Borji lifted his gaze. “It looks like ours, but we havenʼt been sending out a signal every thirty minutes. See, our comms are all over the place, as and when we need to speak to someone on the
Barrist
, but this is exactly every thirty minutes.”

“A piece of equipment, constantly updating?” Dav asked.

Borji shook his head. “I thought of that. Iʼve checked every piece of inventory we brought over. Every one of their signals are accounted for. This is something else. Something using an almost identical signal to ours, reaching out every thirty minutes.”

“Reaching out to whom? Or what?” Dav asked.

“Thatʼs just it. It seems general, but I donʼt want to bet on that, because we donʼt know.”

“Can we listen in?”

Borji rubbed a hand over his face. “Tried. No good. The minute we get a lock, it jumps. Every single time.”

“Like it knows youʼre there?”

“Oh.” Borji laughed. “It knows weʼre there. My guess is the signal is coming from the comm system on this ship.”

“This keeps getting better and better.”

“Beware of unexpected gifts.” Borji quoted the same saying Dav had thought of when the Class 5 originally landed in his lap like a hot coal.

“Yes.” Dav tapped at his ear as a comm came through, grimaced. “The Tecran captain is getting a little louder in his demands to speak to me.”

“What are you going to do with him?” Borji put his handheld away.

“Move him across to the
Barrist
. Into our cells. Thereʼs something going on with this ship, and Iʼd rather no Tecrans were on it if the whole system kicks us out.”

Borji nodded. “Well, Iʼll round up my team, get some sleep. Iʼll see you later.”

Dav gestured to Dimitara, and they made their way to the tube that would take them down to the cells where the Tecran officers were being held. It was in a less polished part of the ship, more grating and pipes were visible than in the upper decks.

At least all the bodies were gone since heʼd last been here. Appalʼs team had stacked them in large refrigeration units in the Class 5ʼs stores. Next to the lion.

His thoughts, almost inevitably, flowed back to Rose.

He wondered how she was doing, and whether she would appreciate him bringing her something from her cell. Whether it would upset her or please her.

When they turned into the passageway that led to the long containment unit, he realized, as he hadnʼt done the first time heʼd been here——probably because of the horror of the bodies——that the lighting was bad, and the air smelled stale, as if it wasnʼt being continually filtered like the levels above.

“This is where they kept Rose?” Dimitara asked, distaste in her voice.

Dav gave a nod. “This is nothing. Prepare yourself for what you see in the prison area. Appal felt it appropriate to keep the few Tecran officers who survived in the place they kept Rose and her animals.” Although they had moved them to the clean, unused cells. Appal had made her point.

Outside the door to the cells, one of Appalʼs subordinates was waiting for them.

“Report,” Dav said.

“They seem upset.” The officer looked at Dimitara and cleared his throat. “Theyʼve been issuing threats and warnings since you left.”

Dav was sure heʼd have been given a more colorful description if Dimitara hadnʼt been there, but the guardʼs expression was enough.

“Whatʼve they been saying to each other?”

“They know weʼre listening, so not much. General conversation. Promises of reprisal.”

Dav rubbed his hand through his hair. “So noted.”

The guard activated the door and for a moment, Dimitara simply stood in the entryway and stared.

Dav left her there, stepping in. He ignored the call of the Tecran captain, walking past him and on to what he had already identified as Roseʼs cell. He turned, and called the guard over, got instructions on how to open the cell door.

Dimitara joined him as it slid open.

“She lived in a glass cage?” She shook her head. “No wonder she asked Dr. Havak and I if there were lenses tracking her inside her bedroom.”

Davʼs head jerked up. Dimitara met his gaze.

“Can you blame her? They,” she waved a hand toward the Tecran officers, “are part of the same Council we are.”

Dav didnʼt respond. He stepped into the room, saw the neatly made bed, the small sink, the toilet beside it. Sheʼd had no privacy for three months.

On the tiny round table there was a handheld, and he picked it up.

“She asked if she could have that back, if we didnʼt want her to have a handheld from the
Barrist
.” Dimitara held out her hand for it, but Dav didnʼt oblige.

He switched it on.

“Why did she want it?” He scrolled through the options.

“It has the five languages of the Council members on it, and she wants to improve her Grih. Learn Bukarian.”

“Her Grih is already excellent.” Dav couldnʼt find anything on the handheld but the five languages, and handed it to Dimitara.

She almost snatched it from him. “Yes. I asked for a handheld from your comms team for her that included cultural and social norms for all five signatories to the United Council.”

Dav hadnʼt heard anything about that, and he had been specific in his orders that anything concerning Rose come through him first.

It must have showed in the look he sent her.

“Not one on the system. A standalone.” She all but rolled her eyes. “And they wouldnʼt give it to her until youʼd approved. The request is probably waiting for you back on the
Barrist
. Of course, as this is hers, she could simply have it back instead.”

“Iʼll take it with me. Let Borjiʼs team check it out first, then if theyʼre happy there are no nasty surprises on it, she can have it.”

The Tecran captain was hammering on the clear wall of his cell by now for their attention, and Dav held out his hand for the tablet back and then stepped out of the tiny room to hear what he had to say.

“Captain Gee?” He waited, hands behind his back, lens feed on the tiny lens clipped to his collar activated.

Gee had stopped pounding the moment Dav stood in front of his cell, and now his eyes slid right to Dimitara. “Who is that?”

“This is United Council Liaison Officer Filavantri Dimitara.” Dav wondered if there had been a liaison officer aboard the Class 5. It seemed unlikely, given the massive breach of Council law that had happened in this very room.

Gee seemed to ponder that. “The United Council moved quickly to be here already.”

Was it fear or anticipation that made Geeʼs hands shake?

“I was already on board the
Barrist
when it encountered your vessel, Captain Gee. Iʼve witnessed everything that happened in the last twenty-four hours first hand.” Dimitara turned her head, looking down the length of the transparent-walled cells, the low ceilings and the lenses mounted on the walls.

It was most likely true that if the liaison officer hadnʼt taken to Rose, she would still be angry at this blatant and inexcusable breach of the rules, but Dav knew from both Havak and the guards heʼd tasked with watching Rose that Dimitara was behaving very protectively of their new guest.

Dav was struggling to maintain a distance from her himself, so he didnʼt blame the UC liaison, and was more than grateful for it now.

The Grih would come out of this with a clean record, if Dimitara had anything to do with it.

Gee narrowed his eyes. “Why is there a liaison officer on a Grih exploration vessel? You must already suspect them of wrong-doing.”

Dimitara cocked her head, her long, slender neck a perfect curve against the silver-gray of her United Council uniform. “All exploration and military vessels, from every member nation of the United Council, now has a liaison officer aboard. The law was introduced a year ago. Interestingly, in light of what Iʼve seen here, the Tecran were the only ones to vote against it, and I can now see why they wouldnʼt want any independent eyes on board. It was a four to one vote in favor, and the only reason none of the Class 5s have a liaison officer is because your government said all Class 5s were in deep-space, and involved in important work, and you would have to accept your new liaisons when you came back in for major servicing.” Dimitara made the humming sound that grated on Davʼs ears so badly, but which didnʼt seem to effect the Tecran at all. “Iʼm surprised you donʼt know about it. I would have thought it would at least have been communicated to you, Captain Gee.”

Gee looked like he didnʼt know whether to continue to deny heʼd ever heard of the new legislation, which Dav was sure was true, given Geeʼs accusations and the look on his face when Dimitara set him straight, or whether to pretend he had been told and had forgotten about it.

In the end, he went with silence.

Dav crossed his arms. “You seem very quiet, now, for a man who insisted I come over to speak to you.”

Gee raised his head, as if he suddenly recalled why Dav was here at all. “I demand to speak to Dr. Fliap.”

Dav frowned. “Who is Dr. Fliap?”

The feathers at Geeʼs neck fluffed out. “A scientist on board this ship. He became ill nearly two months ago, and was in the high-care med-chamber.”

Dav recalled Appalʼs report on the man. “As far as Iʼm aware, heʼs barely hanging on to life, and has been in that state for some time.”

Gee shook his head. “We heard him. He spoke to us.”

Dav frowned. “Spoke to you?”

“Through the comms.” Gee indicated a comms unit up at one end of the room.

Dav walked over to it, looked up. Turned to the guard. “You hear anything?”

“We arenʼt in here all the time. Mostly weʼre outside. If someone spoke in Tecran through that comms unit, we wouldnʼt be able to distinguish it from all the talking theyʼve been doing amongst themselves.”

Dav gave a nod. “From now on, someone is in this room at all times.” He turned back to Gee. “Iʼm afraid youʼre mistaken, Gee. Your scientist is on board the
Barrist
, in our own high-care med-chamber, and has been since a few hours after we stepped onto your ship.”

“He asked for help. Said he was trapped in the med-chamber.” Geeʼs hands clenched to fists against the glass wall of his cell. “I recognized his voice. It was unmistakably him.”

Dimitara took out her handheld. Made a note. The action caught Geeʼs attention.

“You! Youʼre the liaison officer for the Council. I demand you investigate.”

Dimitaraʼs mobile, elegant lips pursed. “I have, in fact, seen Dr. Fliap in the med-chamber on board the
Barrist
. The chief medical officer showed me the arrangements theyʼd made for him personally.”

Gee looked around at his colleagues, and they exchanged uneasy looks.

They seemed to be telling the truth, which was disturbing. Because it meant someone had sent a false comm through the system. Was it to stir up the Tecran? Or had it been done to achieve something else? Like get the captain of the
Barrist
back over on the Class 5?