Dark Horse (24 page)

“The orange didnʼt go to Fu-tamaʼs ship?” Lothric looked panicked.

“No. Someone called Sazo let us know heʼd taken Rose to the Class 5. You can thank him for locking you into Maintenance Bay 32. He says to tell you, be grateful Rose made him promise not to kill anyone on this ship, or youʼd be dead.”

Lothric dragged a shaking hand over his face. “She freed it, somehow. It was contained, it was all working, until she came along. Fu-tama told me she had something on her that was from the Class 5. Something he wanted back, thatʼs why I had to put her in a maintenance pod rather than just kill her.”

“What did she have?”

Lothric gave an frustrated shrug. “He wouldnʼt say. I tried to find it, see what it might be before I sent her off, but I didnʼt know what I was looking for.”

“How did Fu-tama know she had something on her from the Class 5? The only thing weʼve given her is her handheld from her cell.”

Lothric went deadly pale. “I saw two handhelds lying on the floor when I took her. I didnʼt realize one was from the Class 5. I was in such a hurry . . .” He looked like he wanted to slam a fist into a wall.

“Did she have the handhelds with her when she had that breakfast meeting with the councilors? I remember he looked at her strangely, although I dismissed it at the time.”

Appal gave a nod. “I think so.” She tipped her head to the side. “When you took that handheld from her cell, did the Class 5 captain react?”

Dav shook his head. “He barely noticed.” And surely Captain Gee would have had some reaction, if it was so important? Also, abducting Rose would not necessarily lead to Lothric including the handheld, which he had not in fact done, so could that really be what he was after?

He tried to remember exactly how Fu-tama had behaved when Dav had extracted her from that meeting. What could he have seen in that moment that made him want Rose alive, at least for a while?

Or was it something he thought Rose knew, that he wanted to ask her?

That seemed more likely.

Lothric looked over at Dav, and there was hatred on his face. “What
is
she?”

“I have a bad feeling,” Hoke pinched the bridge of her nose, “that she may be our only hope.”

T
he auto-lens
had done its sneaking, taken a look and sped around Virmana like the Levron battleship it had just identified was hot on its heels.

Only, it wasnʼt.

Dav wondered why not. The Levron was the second best battleship the Tecran had——had been thought their best until news of the Class 5s slowly filtered through about four years ago.

It was quite capable of quickly identifying and then blowing up a Grihan auto-lens.

“Didnʼt even fire on it,” Borji said, puzzled.

“At least itʼs still there, and isnʼt sneaking up behind us——” Kila snapped her mouth shut mid-sentence, looked down at her monitor, and flicked an image to the big screen.

Rose sat in the captainʼs chair on the Class 5s bridge, the chair itself too big for her. Her feet didnʼt touch the ground and she swung them a few times, and then gave up and hopped off it.

“Hello, there.”

She looked pale, with dark rings under her eyes and the hint of a bruise on her left temple.

“Rose.”

Dav forced himself to remain at ease, hands behind his back.

“Sazoʼs introduced himself, he tells me.”

Dav gave a brief nod.

“He also tells me Farso Lothric told you a bit about whatʼs going on. That you have guessed what Sazo is. He didnʼt know some of what Lothric said himself.”

It had never occurred to Dav, not for a moment, that Sazo had been listening to their interrogation of Lothric. He needed to completely change his mindset. Nothing on this ship was private any longer.

All the protections theyʼd built into their society and their life, until now taken for granted, had been overturned.

Something of his surprise and dismay must have shown on his face.

“Disconcerting for you.” She made it a statement. He didnʼt know if he imagined the sympathy he heard there, or whether he was simply fooling himself.

“Did
you
know what Sazo was?” He wondered if she could have any idea of how serious the situation was. She was the outsider here, with no idea of the powers at play.

She gave a slow nod, keeping eye contact. “I always knew what he was. From the very beginning, when he first spoke to me.”

He had been braced for it, but he felt the blow of betrayal, nevertheless. Sheʼd known Sazo was a thinking system. Had kept quiet and all the while, had let the Grihʼs most dangerous enemy loose amongst them.

“You lied to us.” Hoke stepped up to his side. “After we saved your life.”

Rose focused on her. “Sazo saved my life, Admiral. He got me off the Class 5, down to Harmon, and if one of your soldiers hadnʼt collapsed part of the roof over my shipʼs entrance, I wouldnʼt have needed saving from the gryak, either.” She paused. “If youʼre going to bring it down to a score sheet, then letʼs get the score straight.”

She was right, but still, it stung.

She shifted her gaze back to Dav. “Thatʼs not to say, once my way to safety was blocked, I wasnʼt very grateful to Captain Jallan for rescuing me.”

“And your idea of gratitude is to betray us?” Valu asked. “You set a thinking system loose among us.”

Dav shot him a quick look.

Both Valu and Hoke seemed to keep forgetting Rose was a highly advanced sentient. Not easily intimidated, not easily overawed.

They needed to shut up. No matter how angry with her he was, antagonizing her was not the answer.

“Rose isnʼt from here. Itʼs doubtful she understood the consequences.” Heʼd meant to be placating, but as he said it, he realized it was most likely true, and still, he could not let the sense of betrayal go.

“Coming from the two people who were planning to use Roseʼs abuse at the hands of the Tecran to leverage their claim to
my
ship, these recriminations are a little hypocritical,” Sazo said, not from the Class 5 and over the comm, as if he was with Rose, but directly from the
Barristʼs
own bridge. Like a whisper right in their ears.

As a way of bringing home how much power he had over them, it was effective.

“Iʼve been nothing but an ʽorangeʼ to you, Admiral Valu. You havenʼt even bothered to introduce yourself. And Admiral Hoke doesnʼt trust me, finds my looks deceiving, and believes Iʼve somehow manipulated all the senior officers on the
Barrist
to go easy on me to prevent my being upset.”

There was silence, and then Dav, Appal, Borji and Kila turned to look at Hoke.

She toughed it out, looking neither discomforted nor apologetic.

“Whatʼs your point?” Hokeʼs voice was harsh. “We have a Levron battleship almost on top of us, and much though weʼd love to chat——”

Rose shook her head. “Donʼt worry about the Levron. Sazoʼs taken care of that.”

She didnʼt mean he was in control of that, too?

Dav and Borji exchanged a quick look.

If Rose had said that to ease their minds, sheʼd done the opposite. They had a thinking system in control of a Class 5, a Levron, two Battle Center fast class gunships, the
Barrist
and a carrier shuttle.

If he wanted to take on any planet in the UC, he could.

“Given that the two admirals donʼt trust me,” Rose said, “and given the situation . . .” She trailed off, and Dav wondered if Sazo was transmitting something on a screen, or communicating with her privately. She looked up and to the right of the screen, where Dav would bet there was a lens and a speaker, then she flicked a look directly at him. “One moment, Captain, if you donʼt mind.” She looked up and right again. “Sazo? Could you . . ?” She lifted her hand and made a quick slicing motion in front of her throat, and the screen went blank.

Dav crossed his arms over his chest and blew out a breath.

“She knew.” Appal spoke softly beside him. “She knew all along . . .”

Words failed him, and it must have shown because she gave him a look of sympathy.

“What did who know?” Filavantri Dimitara stepped onto the bridge.

Valu glared at her. “That orange knew all along that a thinking system was in control of the Class 5, and she never told us.”

“Well.” Dav thought back to that walk he and Rose had taken, just over three thou so they were out of ear-shot. “She actually did warn me something could be listening in, and trying to take over our systems.”

There was silence.

“When was this?” Hokeʼs voice was sharp.

“When we first found her. She insisted on walking three thou from the ships, which she said was the range of the Tecran explorerʼs scanners, and asked me to switch off my own handheld before she told me.”

“Did she say it was a thinking system?”

He shook his head. “She didnʼt even say it was definite, only a possibility.”

“How would Rose McKenzie know the UCʼs policy on thinking systems?” Dimitara asked. “Sheʼs been locked in a cell in the lower levels of a Class 5 for the last three months, and before that, she lived on a world that has never even heard of the UC, let alone the Grih.”

It was true, but still . . . it was a matter of trust. If she had trusted him, wouldnʼt she have told him?

“Whatever the case, threatening her, or trying to make her feel indebted to us is not a good strategy.” Dav turned back to the admirals. “Itʼs clear sheʼs interceded on our behalf with Sazo. Made him promise not to kill anyone on board. Letʼs try to at least be civil.”

The big screen flickered back to life.

Rose faced them again, her eyes sparking, as if sheʼd just had an argument.

“Right, Iʼll be blunt. I have landed in a situation which I donʼt fully understand. The Tecran grabbed me and I wanted to escape. I made a deal with Sazo in order to do that and as a result, have landed smack in the middle of this mess. I have to take some responsibility, even though I didnʼt know what the repercussions would be when I set out on this path, but you need to take some responsibility too, because this Class 5 is apparently a Grihan-designed ship, and Sazo was created by a Grihan scientist.

“I want to help Sazo make the right decisions now, at least as far as Sazo, the Grih, and I are concerned, and I donʼt understand everything. Sazo can read political commentary and history as much as he likes, but we need someone to give us an idea of where things stand and what the outcome will be if Sazo takes certain actions.”

“I can help advise you.” Hoke stepped forward, face bland.

Rose gave a throaty laugh. “Iʼm sure you can.” She shook her head, the smile fading on her face. “Captain Jallan.” Her clear green gaze caught his and suddenly she was dead serious. She crooked her finger. “I pick you.”

T
he last time
Rose remembered being in the Class 5s launch bay was when sheʼd escaped.

The lion had lain dead right in the middle of the massive space, and she had felt completely alone. She hadnʼt trusted Sazo then, hadnʼt known what was ahead except that she would be away from here.

How ironic that she was right back where sheʼd started, this time waiting for an arrival, not a departure.

She reached for the crystal around her neck and froze for a moment when it wasnʼt there, until she remembered sheʼd taken it off. Sazo had told her Fu-tama must have seen it on her at the breakfast sheʼd had with the UC councilors. In a way, it had saved her life.

Instead of killing her, Lothric had been told to send her to Fu-tamaʼs ship.

It also explained why Lothric had tried to search her before sending her out in the maintenance pod. Her memories of what happened werenʼt that clear, but she did remember the groping hands.

She shivered.

The crystal now sat tucked into a secret compartment sheʼd made by manipulating her hyr fabric bra. Not that she intended to be anywhere near Lothric or Fu-tama, but Sazo didnʼt trust anyone, including Dav, and to appease him sheʼd hidden it away and it had calmed him immediately.

A calm Sazo was good.

The
Barristʼs
runner came through the gel wall and she turned her body away to escape the cold, gritty blast as it set down.

She assumed only Dav was aboard, that either heʼd flown it himself or it had been set to auto-pilot. Sazo wouldnʼt have let him in, otherwise.

The ramp descended and he stepped down, her two black bags gripped in one hand, a large container in the other.

She took a step toward him, mouth open in surprise. “What . . .?”

He wriggled the container. “Grinabo and that bread you like.”

She smiled at him, delighted, and he came to an awkward stop.

His eyes were unreadable and she could feel the smile slowly fall from her lips.

She had chosen a side. That side had been Sazoʼs.

She would do it again, because it had also been Davʼs side. Sheʼd slowly come to realize that. It had made the decision to help Sazo get into the
Barristʼs
system easier.

Sazo was the genie out of the bottle——there was no putting him back in, but he could be reasoned with.

Right now, she understood she was the only person whose opinion he valued.

Rose had done the best she could for everyone, but she was sure from where Dav stood, her best would look very much like betrayal.

“Iʼm sorry.”

He seemed to come to himself with a jerk, and frowned at her.

“Are you?”

“I couldnʼt tell you about Sazo, even though I wanted to. I had given him my word.”

“I got that.” Davʼs jaw clenched.

“I know you might think that I endangered your crew after what Sazo did to the Tecran, but I made him promise not to hurt anyone. He especially took me to the Grih, rather than any other of the UC members, because he thought I would be most at home amongst you, and Iʼve done my best to protect you.”

He gave a slow nod, as if putting pieces together, and for something to do, so she could look away from his direct gaze, she stepped forward and took hold of the container of bread and grinabo. Gave a tug to take it.

He held on, so she was left pulling at something that just wasnʼt moving and stumbled closer to him.

“What do you think, Rose?” His rough voice echoed in the empty launch bay. “Do you think Sazo was right? Are you at home with us?”

“You know I am.” She forced herself to look at him again.

Sheʼd thought the possibilities that had bloomed between them had been scorched to nothing by the revelation of what sheʼd been hiding, but unbelievably, his hand came up and a long, blunt finger traced her cheekbone.

“Why didnʼt you trust me?”

“I did trust you. But my secrets werenʼt mine to tell. And Iʼm sorry, Dav, but Sazo was already manipulating the Class 5 by the time the Tecran snatched me. Heʼd already achieved a level of freedom they didnʼt know about, and he used that freedom to communicate with me. When Dr. Fliap fell ill, he took over my care so that I was protected. When I agreed to turn the final key and let him loose, I had no idea what the Grihʼs view on thinking systems were, and I wouldnʼt have cared, even if I had.

“Sazo saved me, issuing orders as if they were from Captain Gee or Dr. Fliap to make my life better. From the moment he took over, there were no more operations, no more visits. I was left alone.

“I got the handheld, got an ear comm, and Sazo and I started making plans. When I did find out how you would react to knowing a thinking system like Sazo was alive and well and running around in your world again, it was too late, and it had gone too far. I had given my word.”