Dark Horse (17 page)

S
he had been trying
to tell him something.

Dav realized it just before he reached the bridge. It had taken him that long to calm down, and go through her words again.

She said she owed him. That she was loyal to those she owed.

Then she implied, oh so subtly, that she owed someone else.

She owed them a lot. More than she owed him, which probably meant she owed them her life.

Maybe Rose hadnʼt been the only prisoner on that ship. Why would the Tecran have stopped at raiding one world. Why not two or three?

And something else theyʼd picked up had chosen to save the other prisoners, and kill the captives.

Dav came to a dead stop.

Could it be?

Rose was innocent of the deaths, he was sure of that, but heʼd always thought she knew whoʼd killed the Tecran crew. And from the start sheʼd all but told him the person or thing who did it was still around.

Thatʼs why sheʼd gone out of the Tecran explorer craftʼs range on Harmon and warned him to be careful.

He rubbed a hand through his hair slowly, trying to forget how it had felt when Rose had done the same thing, just minutes ago.

Sheʼd been hinting at this right from the start.

And what had she just said? Sheʼd try to protect them if she could. Just remembering her saying that, lying curled up, all delicate limbs and soft smooth skin, made him shiver.

If she thought they needed protecting, then she believed there was still a danger to them out there. She was being pulled from two sides.

The bridge was right in front of him, his senior officers were waiting for him, but he couldnʼt go to them with this.

It was pure speculation.

And speculation that some of the factions on the United Council or at Battle Center might twist to their advantage, with Rose as some sort of scapegoat.

He lifted his hand to tap his comm and call for Appal, then hesitated, finger poised above his ear.

What could he really tell her?

There was a chance she would insist they go to Battle Center with this, because thatʼs what heʼd do, if Rose wasnʼt involved.

The thought of Rose hauled in for interrogation, even by someone he trusted like Admiral Valu, sat like a cold, hard ball in his stomach. Heʼd like to think anyone whoʼd seen the lens feed of what Dr. Fliap had done to her would feel the same.

He lowered his hand.

Maybe heʼd read it wrong. Maybe there wasnʼt some unseen, powerful force lurking in the Class 5. Because if there was, Rose might have to do what sheʼd just promised, and protect them all.

D
av was
over on the Class 5, Borji on one side of him, Appal on the other, as the Battle Center group landed in the launch bay. He was running on four hours of sleep and he felt it, the grit in his eyes as bad as if heʼd stood too close to a runner at take-off.

Heʼd waited for the admiral and his team to arrive late the night before, and had settled them in, been up first thing to make sure there would be no surprises when he took the admiral and his group around the Class 5.

If there was someone hidden here, pulling the strings, no one had seen them yet.

Battle Center had sent one other admiral besides Valu, two vice-admirals and a Captain Tio, who was temporarily without a vessel.

Dav was damned if Tio would take the Class 5.

He was certainly hoping for it, Dav could see it in the way he looked around as he walked down the gangplank.

“Welcome.” Dav saluted as the party reached the bottom. He knew Admiral Valu, and while he had never met her, Admiral Hoke had a high enough profile that he knew her face.

Rumor had it she was going to be the next Head of Fleet, and looking at the clear, bright intelligence in her eyes, the energy with which she took in her surroundings, Dav believed it. The rest of the party, aside from Captain Tio, seemed to be nothing but high-level gawkers.

He introduced Borji and Appal, and then started with the stores, seeing as they were next to the launch bay.

“The Tecran seem to have traveled extensively.” Admiral Hoke reached out and touched a vacuum-packed bale of rare Suidani silk. “Suidani was abandoned as a planet over fifty years ago, and its people scattered everywhere. This much silk is extraordinary.”

“We canʼt even begin to guess all the places theyʼve gone. Rose and the animals from her planet are proof of that.” Appal stood to attention.

“And theyʼve hidden or destroyed their mapping files,” Borji put in. “So when we say we canʼt guess where they found Rose, we mean that literally.”

“Iʼm looking forward to meeting the first advanced sentient orange in half a millennium.” Hoke inclined her head. “Admiral Valu conveyed that she was mistreated here.”

“She was.” Dav kept his voice clipped. He wasnʼt going into the details of it standing around in the dusty gloom of the stores.

Hoke inclined her head but didnʼt pursue the subject.

Dav moved them out of the stores, over the rest of the ship, taking them through the bridge, the weapons bay, the communal areas.

He left the prison until last.

He wanted the impression of it to be foremost in their minds when they met Rose, which they would do next. He wanted them to understand how extraordinary she was, to be the way she was after living here for three months.

The smell of the place still lingered. No one had come to clean up, as Dimitara had declared the area a crime scene, and the United Council investigators would have to come through here and collect the evidence.

Valu stopped dead when Dav opened the door and they all caught sight of the long line of cells, transparent-walled and tiny, that stretched in both directions.

“How long were they here, did the orange say?” Captain Tio asked, and his voice was hushed for the first time.

“Her name is Rose McKenzie.” Davʼs tone was short. “She is not ʽthe orangeʼ. She is a person who was abducted and confined to that cell,” he pointed to the small room with its bed and table, its toilet and sink, “for three months. And in that time, she was cut open, prodded and poked, and treated with contempt.”

There was silence for the first time in the group.

“You said animals from her planet were held here, too?” Hoke asked, and Dav knew it was to break the tension, as she had the full report on what had happened here already.

“Seven. One was killed on this ship with a lethal injection, the other six were sent to Harmon with Rose. My teams have rounded all but two up, and they are already on board the
Barrist
. We hope to have them all recovered and safe in the
Barrist
by the end of the day.” Appal stood to formal attention, her hand resting lightly on the stock of her shockgun.

“You have lens feed evidence of the torture?” One of the vice-admirals, a wiry man in his early seventies with a lined face, asked, and Dav thought for the first time he was taking the experience as more than just an exciting few days out.

“We do.” Dav walked over to Roseʼs cell again. He couldnʼt help it.

Valu, Hoke and Borji joined him.

“Why did they do it?” Borji asked him. “How could they justify it to themselves?”

“They didnʼt think theyʼd ever be caught.” Dav said. “In this Class 5, they thought they were invincible, and totally unaccountable.”

“Do you think . . .” Borji looked over at him. “The other Class 5s? There are rumors there are five of them. Do you think the same thing is going on on the others, as well?”

Dav did, but before he could answer, a double chime came through his comm from Dimitara.

“I hear you are giving a tour of the Class 5,” she said, with no attempt at pleasantries.

“I am.”

“I wish youʼd let me know. I have the United Council committee here, except one member, who should be arriving shortly by private transport, and they are eager to get on the Class 5, as well. The investigative team is with them, too. Can we join you now?”

“Iʼve just finished the tour, Dimitara. The admirals can take the transport back, and Iʼll wait for you and your group to get on it and come over.”

She hummed, making him wince. “Thank you. Weʼll be waiting.”

“United Council?” Valu asked.

“Theyʼre unhappy I gave you a tour without including them. Theyʼll meet your transport in the
Barristʼs
launch bay and come over here so I can show them around.”

“Donʼt let them even begin to suggest this is a United Council matter when it comes to the acquisition of the Class 5. We couldnʼt be deeper into our own space boundaries than we are. This is a Grih ship now, whatever crimes against UC law the Tecran committed on it.” Hoke spoke calmly, but Dav saw her hands were tightly fisted.

“Has that been mentioned? That we should hand it over to them?” Appal asked.

“Itʼs the rumor weʼve been hearing.” Valu drew himself up. “Itʼs not happening though. If the Tecran hadnʼt tortured those oranges, weʼd be free and clear, but given they did, we have to give the United Council some access, but that doesnʼt give them a right to think the Class 5 is theirs.”

“Oh, itʼs definitely ours,” Borji said, and Dav grinned, because he didnʼt think Borji just meant it was Grihan. He meant it was theirs. The
Barristʼs
.

Then Borjiʼs comm chimed and after he tapped it and listened for a few seconds, his face changed.

“Problem?”

“Uh.” Borjiʼs gaze flew to his. “We may have a small problem. Captain?” He jerked his head toward the door and walked out, and Dav followed.

Borji signaled to Appal, and she joined them in the corridor.

“The Class 5 weapons system just activated.” Borjiʼs forehead was sheened in sweat.

“At the
Barrist
?” Dav lifted a hand to tap his comm, order everyone off his ship, but Borji shook his head.

“Not the
Barrist
. At a small private vessel coming in from the direction of Sector 7.”

Appal frowned. “This area has been determined a no-go zone since we found the Class 5. Whatʼs a private vessel doing coming this way?”

Borji was tapping at his handheld, flipping through screens and frowning as he relayed his instructions to the device. “The system has identified the vessel as the most likely origination point for the signal that was sent to the
Barrist
about Rose.” He looked up. “Iʼm not sure of the criteria itʼs programmed to use, but itʼs classed it as an enemy vessel.”

“The Class 5 is a Tecran ship, so Iʼm assuming it wouldnʼt identify one of its own vessels as an enemy,” Appal said. “That means itʼs likely this new vessel isnʼt Tecran and Iʼd have bet a yearʼs pay whoever sent that message was. Does this mean someone other than the Tecran wants to protect them? That some other group is involved in whatever the Tecran were doing here?”

Borji grunted at that, flipped through more screens.

Dav tapped his comm. “Farso Lothric,” he directed, and was put through immediately. “Lothric, what have you got for me on a small incoming vessel?”

“You mean Councilor Fu-tamaʼs ship?” Lothric sounded surprised. “It just appeared on our screens. How did you know about it? I thought you were over on the Class 5.”

“I am.” Dav didnʼt explain further. “Who is Fu-tama? Why isnʼt he with the other councilors?”

“Heʼs the Garmman delegate. He wasnʼt at United Council headquarters when the message came through from Liaison Officer Dimitara, so he got away as soon as he could and came privately.”

“One moment.” Dav tapped his comm to mute his connection. “How large a chance is it that this is the vessel that sent that secret comm to someone on board the
Barrist
?”

Borji stopped what he was doing, looked up. “The Class 5 system gives it 79%.”

“The vessel is the private transport of a Garmman councilor. He missed the official ride and had to take his own. Dimitara said something about it to me earlier when she asked about the tour.”

“So chances are itʼs just a coincidence this vessel has arrived when it has. It probably had nothing to do with the comm about Rose.”

“The system is blocking every attempt Iʼve made at access.” Borji looked up, and his eyes were wide. “Itʼs aiming a weapon that Iʼve never even heard of at the Garmman vessel. The councilor has two minutes before heʼs blown away.”

Dav tapped his comm. “Lothric, order Councilor Fu-tama to stop his craft immediately. Back thrusters would be better.”

“Sir?” Lothric sounded more than confused, Dav thought he sounded panicked. Then he remembered Lothric had cut his teeth in Battle Center on the Garmman home world, and probably knew Fu-tama. If he had plans to go back to the diplomatic corps, which Dav thought he would after his mandatory stint of two years on active duty, Lothric might believe giving an order like that to a United Council representative would be career inhibiting.

“Patch me through to the councilor now.” Dav had no plans to enter the diplomatic corp. And he didnʼt care what Fu-tama thought.

“This is Captain Dav Jallan of the Grihan Battle Center ship
Barrist
. The Tecran vessel we have commandeered started an auto-routine when your vessel came into range and its weapons system has you locked on. Stop immediately, and employ back thrusters until we can deal with the problem.”