Enemy Within (26 page)

“You believe that uncovering an alliance with the Chekydran will justify collaboration with the enemy?”

“We’re not at war.”

“You’re not at war with the Chekydran, either.”

Ari hesitated. It was a mistake.

The queen smiled and sat back. “I see.”

“It is more a sense of inevitability within the ranks and command structure of the Armada than a secret war.”

Eilod sighed. “More TFC doublespeak.”

“Someone in Armada Command saying one thing and doing another,” Ari said. “It’s military. I’m used to it.”

The queen laughed and rose.

Caught off guard, Ari struggled to her feet as Eilod touched a command screen and the sonic shield died.

“Captain Idylle,” Eilod said, that I’m-speaking-as-the-queen tone in her voice. “On behalf of the citizens of the Claugh nib Dovvyth, we thank you for your dedicated efforts against Chekydran incursion. We are pleased we could assist the Tagreth Federated Council in fending off the attack on its Kebgra outpost.

“At present, Captain, it would seem your goals and those of my people coincide. I offer a temporary alliance, a truce, if you will, in the best interests of both our peoples against a common enemy.”

Damn, she was good, not naming the enemy, even if she’d just pinned Ari between a black hole and a supernova. Ari grinned. “At present, I can’t speak as a representative of the Armada, ma’am, much less as an official of TFC. Inasmuch as I am still bound by my oath to the Council, however, I agree. It is an efficient use of resources to protect the citizens of our respective territories. I am, for the moment, at your service.”

“Splendid,” Eilod said, an answering twinkle of amusement in her eye. It did not show in her voice. “Allow me to extend the hospitality of the Empire, Captain.” She touched another button on her command console. “Auhrnok Riorchjan, enter.”

The doors opened. Seaghdh entered, strode to where Eilod stood, knelt, took her hand in both of his, and touched his forehead to the back of her hand.

“Auhrnok Riorchjan, my trusted advisor, I ask you to take up the mantle of ambassador,” Eilod intoned.

“By your will, Your Majesty,” he replied.

“Rise, Auhrnok. Captain Idylle will be our guest until we can arrange with officials of Tagreth Federated for a mutually acceptable meeting place with her ship, the
Sen Ekir
,” she went on as Seaghdh stood.

He shot a glance at Ari.

She raised an eyebrow.

“The results of your medical scan indicate a number of nutritional deficiencies, Captain,” Eilod said. “Dr. Annantra would be pleased to offer treatment. Copies of all files will be forwarded to your ship upon transfer.”

“Thank you,” Ari said.

“Thank you, Captain,” the queen replied. “Auhrnok, Captain, if you will pardon me? I am due in conference with the Councils.”

“By your will, Your Majesty,” Seaghdh said. He bowed.

Ari blinked, uncertain how to respond.

Eilod winked, but wiped the grin from her face by the time her cousin rose.

“Captain? If you will permit me,” he said, his tone remote and his expression chilly. “I will escort you to medical if you wish or to quarters if you prefer to rest.”

He didn’t say whose quarters. Cravuul dung, on two fronts. It occurred to Ari that since the queen had lowered the sonic shield, news of her whereabouts would reach Admiral Angelou sooner rather than later. She did not want to find out the hard way just what functions her CO had built into the transponder.

“Medical, please, Auhrnok Riorchjan,” she said as he ushered her out the door. “I understand you are the top-rated energy blade dueler in the Empire. I admit it is a hobby of mine. Perhaps after I’m in better physical condition, I could impose upon you for a few pointers?”

Her Majesty’s Auhrnok Riorchjan stared down at her. The cool mask cracked and a gleam of humor crept into his eyes.

“You wouldn’t be lulling me into a false sense of security, would you, Captain? Luring me onto the dueling floor in order to trounce me?”

“How could you think it of me?”

“How indeed.”

SOMETHING
warm and comforting stroked Ari’s bare arm. She couldn’t order her eyes open. She couldn’t move. She’d been drugged. Panic reared up within her. That gentle, persistent touch soothed her, assuring her frayed nerves that she had nothing to fear.

Consciousness returned piecemeal. A dull ache woke in her left cheekbone. Her head cleared and she remembered. The transponder. Not Chekydran. Seaghdh and the Claugh nib Dovvyth.

She’d asked for this. She groaned and opened her bleary eyes.

It was Seaghdh’s hand on her arms.

“Is my head still attached?” she rasped.

“Yes.”

“Stop petting me and fix that.”

He smiled. “I can do better than that.”

Something beeped. The ache faded.

Seaghdh resumed caressing his palm down her arms, first one, then the other.

“I am not a feral hiztap,” she mumbled, referring to a memory from childhood. She’d found a family of hiztaps, little furbearing carnivores prized for their ability to eradicate vermin, living behind her father’s labs. They’d been filching food from the university students. She’d found homes for the youngest hizzetts. The adult female, however, had been on her own too long. She would not warm to Ari or any other person.

The local animal practitioner had anesthetized the hiztap and sterilized her. He’d put Ari at her side and advised her to stroke the creature’s plush fur as she woke. Ari had. For hours. The animal had growled and flashed her teeth when she fully woke, but she didn’t actually bite. Ari didn’t know what changed that day, but while the hiztap never became a loving companion, she and Ari did reach an accord. She’d lived with Ari, sharing her quarters and warning her of prank-minded interlopers until she died of old age just after Ari’d entered the Armada Academy. She hadn’t thought of the hiztap in years. Why did Ari miss her so sharply and so suddenly?

“I could think of no other way for you to wake knowing you weren’t in a Chekydran cell,” he said.

“It worked,” she replied. “I’m awake. Why are you still doing it?”

“I like touching you.”

As the anesthetic cleared her system, the feel of his skin on hers strengthened her heart rate. Sensation seeped warm and tingling throughout her body. She sighed.

“It’s against regulations,” Ari murmured, “dueling a handicapped opponent.”

He smiled. She heard it in his voice when he answered, “A blade master takes every advantage. It worked. You’re not still mad at me.”

“I am,” she replied. “I just can’t do anything about it right now.”

“Now who’s dueling?”

She felt his heat a moment before he touched his lips to her left cheekbone. Her breath hissed in between her teeth. It wasn’t from pain.

He chuckled. “I take it you approve of my unusual medical technique?”

“I do,” she breathed, savoring the thrill racing across her nerve endings. She stared up into his face, so close to hers and frowned. Tension stood out in the crinkles at the corners of his mouth. Without thinking, she smoothed shaky fingers over the creases.

“Auhrnok!” Dr. Annantra exclaimed.

They both jumped. Ari hadn’t heard the door open. Apparently, neither had he. Seaghdh straightened. Her hand fell back to her side.

“You are disturbing my patient,” the doctor warned.

“I hope so,” he replied.

“You will desist,” the woman said, her voice shimmering with amusement, “or I will expel you from my medical bay and delete your clearance. Captain Idylle needs rest. Not distraction.”

Ari laughed and found the control to lift the head of the bed so she could sit up. She felt better. Far better than she should have after the kind of surgery she would have needed to remove that transponder. A chill moved through her. “Where is it?”

“Where is what?” Dr. Annantra asked, her smile bright.

“The transponder.”

The doctor’s grin disappeared.

Ari growled.

Seaghdh jerked his chin and the doctor fled. He secured the door before turning to meet Ari’s glare.

“You changed the codes,” she said. Of course they’d left the transponder in her head. They’d reprogrammed it so that it would no longer respond to Armada Command orders, but it certainly would respond to theirs.

“Yes.”

She ground her teeth together until her jaw hurt. Without intending to do so, she’d just handed Eilod Saoyrse the means to kill her remotely. A few hours ago, she’d at least had the Armada code for her transponder. Now that was gone and she had nothing but an enemy that imagined they had the means to control her.

“Interesting,” she managed before the lines of tension returned to his face. She caught a hint of distress behind his carefully neutral mask.

He pressed his lips tight. Trying not to say anything? Rage slipped into his expression.

It dawned on her. He wasn’t furious with her. This was aimed elsewhere.

“Must have been a hell of a fight,” she said, “you and your cousin. Sorry I missed it.”

Seaghdh’s mask crumbled. Rage, bitterness, and fear shone in the tight muscles of his shoulders and the line along his clenched jaw.

“She pulled rank,” he grumbled. Shaking his head, he ventured toward her as if unsure of his reception at her bedside. “She’s made a mistake.”

“Yes. She has.” Sharp pain filled her chest, as if something was swelling within and trying to break free. Ari gasped and tasted it again. Hope. Damn it. Her eyes burned. “I miscalculated,” she admitted. “I ignored the fact that women define honor differently than most men. It didn’t occur to me she’d lie so naturally.”

“She didn’t. That’s my job.”

“She said one thing and did another, Seaghdh,” Ari countered. “There’s a word for that.”

He wouldn’t meet her eye. “Removing the transponder would have required extensive recovery time. Time we don’t have.”

The queen had put him in a tough spot, probably on purpose, testing his loyalty, forcing him to choose between the two of them. Ari nodded. “That makes it all right then, doesn’t it? Did you deactivate the destruct capability, Auhrnok?”

A moment of anguish clouded his features. His pain took the breath from her body. Of course they hadn’t disabled the destruct feature.

She took his hand.

He looked at her, then, his gaze searching and uncertain.

Ari didn’t hear or feel the hum of a sonic shield. She had to assume that meant anyone could be listening. How could she warn him that he was being tested? Or did he already know?

“Not telling me who you were,” she said, “pissed me off, but I could justify it. Enemy territory and all. I’d have gotten over it. But this? Your government is holding me hostage, Auhrnok Riorchjan. Please tell your queen that believing she can motivate me by threatening my life presupposes I value my life in the least. And that is a mistake. You have proof of that.”

She watched Seaghdh sift through her words, processing the fact that she hadn’t accused him. She’d specified his cousin. She’d also reminded him that she’d already offered once to die on his account. At the time, it had been a bid to stay out of Chekydran custody, but if she had walked out the air lock and died sucking vacuum, Seaghdh and his men would have survived. She couldn’t give him many more clues.

His com badge trilled. It wasn’t the same pattern of sound Ari’d heard in the shuttle bay. That he didn’t answer the call confirmed her suspicion. The Claugh coded their hails. Armada hails were all the same. You found out what someone wanted when you answered. She released his cold hand.

He went to the door. It opened. Seaghdh paused. “You can’t make me want to kill you, Captain.”

Message received and understood. Good. She met his penetrating stare. “I don’t have to, Seaghdh. Your cousin has already made the decision to handle it.”

Disbelief fired in his eyes, then alarm. Biting out a curse, he stomped away. As he went, Ari heard him acknowledge the com call in his own language.

Dr. Annantra stepped into the open doorway, her expression troubled. “May I come in, Captain?”

Ari blinked. It was Annantra’s medical bay and Ari was just a prisoner, no matter how politely they wanted to play that game. “Why not.”

“I am sorry, Captain Idylle. I could not risk extraction.” The doctor activated instruments and watched readouts for a moment. “Are you in pain?”

A single humorless laugh escaped Ari. “I deserve it.”

Startled, the woman stared, eyes wide. After a moment, Annantra cleared her throat, looked unseeing at her instruments, and nodded. “Whoever installed the transponder included a fail-safe.”

“A trap,” Ari surmised.

“Yes. One I could not circumvent. It will require a specialist.”

“Neurosurgeon?”