Fledge (6 page)

I look down. "But why?" Then I look back up to see what his eyes say. "Why would you guys risk so much for me? You don't even know me."

He shakes his head. "You're wrong, Junco. We know you better than you know yourself. We've watched it all go down in real time."

I turn to leave, but he stops me again. "Wait, here," he says, handing me another bottle that I can barely manage to hold on to, "this one's for you."

I pass out the beers and take my seat again. Isten reaches over and removes the top on mine after I struggle for a few seconds, then hands it back. "That's good brew, you'll like it." Then he smiles and lights a stogie, his attention diverted by a play on the table. I turn the bottle around to see the label and my stomach feels funny. It's called
Little Sister
.

Braun watches me as he's coming out of the kitchen. He drops off his load of beers and then comes over and pulls a chair up next to mine and immediately starts peeking at Isten's cards. Isten punches him in the arm and scoots over next to Arel, leaving Braun to bother me.

"Here's the million-rill question for you, Junco." Braun leans back in the chair and flashes a grin around his stogie, then snags my shirt between his fingertips. "Who the hell did you steal this shirt from?"

My face heats up as I watch the guys start shouting out guesses. I smile at all the names they know, none of whom have ever gotten that close to me."You're all wrong," I say, looking down at it. The memory floods back in from somewhere and I recall the night with perfect clarity. "Mikah Mesner."

"No!"

"Shit, that loser–"

"Say it ain't so, Junco–"

I look up. "Oh yeah, boys. It is so. Mikah fucking Mesner. He was – a lot of fun." I think I make myself blush.

Isten looks at me with a serious expression. "Hey, Junco, I've got a shirt you might like, too." Every one of them spits beer at that one and I feel the heat overtake my face which makes them laugh even more.

I look around the table and find Ashur, a little more serious than he should be, and challenge him with my eyebrows. "Something on your mind, Ash?"

He accepts my challenge without delay. "You had Tier's shirt for a while there, Junco."

The guys take my side.

"Oh, shit–"

"Ash, why the fuck–"

"You piker, leave it alone–"

My hand goes up as I look calmly around the table. "Since I have been informed that we are all in this together, you might as well know the truth." I pause to straighten up my face and look down. They all lean in, waiting for me to give the details. "I did not sleep with your captain." Braun is so pleased he kisses me. Everyone else seems pleasantly surprised and one by one they lift their bottles in the air and toast me.

Ashur salutes with his beer and I nod and flash him a crooked smile.

We spend the rest of the night talking about each other, and since they know so much about me already, they tell stories even I had misplaced.

Right before I pass out on the bed between Arel and Isten I make a note to myself. Best day ever.

Chapter Five

I roll over on the bed, bump into another body, and force my eyelids open a fraction. Isten's arms wrap around me and pull me in and I fall back into a dreamless sleep only to be woken up in seconds when the door chimes. I hear Layla shout, "Officer up!"

Bodies scramble all around me and I feel Isten pick me up and throw my feet onto the floor. Before I even have my eyes open I am standing at attention, my right hand forming an Earth salute that may or may not be appropriate. The eight of us are lined up in a column, four to a side, in front of the screen. Layla walks through our pattern and stands at the center on the other end.

I keep my eyes trained upward like everyone else, but steal a peek over towards the commanding officer who stands just to my left.

"At ease, Aves."

Everyone relaxes and I study them quickly to see how I should stand. Feet apart, shoulder width, hands behind my back, eyes to the officer. Some things never change.

He begins with a sigh. "I don't expect you to be happy about this and I don't really care. I have my own team, which you are all aware of. Except the lady here–"

"Junco Coot, sir."

"Junco, then. Tier is out and it looks extremely doubtful that he will be back. So, for the time being I'm your captain, but Ashur remains XO until more permanent arrangements can be made. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir," we all shout.

"All right then, we'll have a morning meeting every–"

"Why the fuck is Junco on the screen?" Braun's cursing interrupts the captain and we all crane our necks to see the news on the far wall.

"Holy shit, it's Selia! Where is this?" I look around. "How do they have this footage?" I have a lot of eyes looking at me, but only Layla responds.

Layla comes over and takes my arm until I'm sitting on the bed. "A lot has happened on Earth, Junco. It's a huge mess and this" – she points to Selia on the screen, her face burned and dirty, dressed in a military uniform that I don't recognize; every once in a while she cowers from an explosion in the background – "woman has been blasting some video of you all over the fucking sphere. She's got a tape of your mother threatening the governments of no less than four of the Republics, your mother's in–"

"Invaded the MR, yeah, I know that. I gave Selia that shit and sent her out right before I went into the meeting to kill Aren."

Everyone looks at me now, but only the captain speaks. "You started this
war
?"

I sneer at him, instant dislike for his baseless accusation. "Of course not, I needed to get a message out of my compound, so I gave Selia there the video Slag gave me of my mother in exchange for a favor. Looks like she did her job and then some, which is good, otherwise I'd have to go back and kill her on principle."

Mish and Rikan snigger on the other side of the line and Ashur hisses at them to shut up.

The captain directs the guys to take a seat at the table. "Perhaps you should start at the beginning, Junco. This was not in any of the reports."

"Well, it wouldn't be, would it? No one knew but me and I wasn't debriefed." I stare up at him innocently and he draws a large breath in.

"Yeah, OK. Start at the beginning, please."

I run it down in simple terms: the memory dump with Tier, the envelope in the Goat, the trip back to my room, the secret room, the call from HOUSE to see Slag, the discharge – everyone groans at this part, but I move on quickly – then the video message on the cube Slag gave me.

"She set them up?" Ashur's tone says he's doubtful.

I shrug with my hands. "This is all I know, Ash."

"And that part about your childhood, Junco?" Layla asks. "Is it true?"

"You mean the part where I assassinated my first target at six? Or the part where my mother wanted to steal me away and my father had her deported?"

She swallows and nods.

"I found the memories of both," I say, looking from face to face. "We were on vacation, some fancy European ski resort. They went up the on the lift in front of me, I pretended to be adjusting my sock in my boot. The targets got on the lift, then I followed. When we got to the top my parents were already halfway down the mountain. I followed the couple until my parents came out from the trees, then they killed the man and I slit the woman's throat with the SEAR. It was the first time I ever used it – for real, anyway."

All eight of my new teammates stare at me in disbelief and the silence makes me continue. "We changed to cross-country skis in the woods, trekked a few miles down to a road, and were picked up in a long silver car by an older man with white hair." They continue to stare. "That's it. You can close your mouths now."

"And you were six?" It's Isten's question this time.

I look to him and nod. "Six – but if it makes you feel any better, Isten, I hurled my guts out afterward. So anyway, like I said, I knew the reporters were out there beyond the gate at my house, and this girl, Selia," I point to the screen where she is still talking, "got the golden ticket if she would just deliver Charlie's cubes to someone in his family. I'm glad she's telling everyone, that was the purpose of me giving her the evidence."

Ash throws me a little gray cigar box and I breathe a mumbling thank-you as I slide it out and strike it up.

"Now what?" Ash is looking to the captain.

"Well." He stops and looks down, his eyebrows teetering somewhere between surprise and frown. "I don't think we have to worry about her going through the General Fledge."

And the uproar that ensues drowns out any pain I might be feeling from exposing myself.

Ash is irate. "She is Aves! A sanctioned member of the 039. She will not go through the General Fledge!"

The captain sighs. "She's only part Aves, Ashur. It's not good enough for Lucan. I have no say in this and neither do you. Either she goes through it, or Lucan–"

"Or he kills me," I say bluntly. "Tries, anyway. And since I am on his world, breathing his manufactured air, he'll probably be able to accomplish that regardless of how well-trained I am." They all stop talking to look at me, eyes searching my face. "Lucan explained it yesterday, and I agreed to do it. And to testify against Tier in the trial. That was the deal."

Now they look at me like I'm a traitor but I put my hand up. "Don't ask, OK. You all just need to trust me. Tier asked me to trust him when he brought me here, and I did. Still do." I look straight at Ash. "I still trust him, Ashur."

I look around to the rest of them, even the captain. "And now I am asking you all to trust me. Do you think I want to kill strangers just prove my worth? No. I don't. And I have no information that will incriminate Tier, I promise. He told me nothing. Nothing. There is nothing I can say to hurt him at this point. When he asked me to come with him when we were out on the rock, he said the thing was already in motion, his actions couldn't be taken back, even if he wanted to."

Braun turns away and runs his hands through his hair. They are all so much like Tier it makes my heart ache.

"I never asked him to save me. But he did. I'm sorry if that wasn't what you signed up for when you took your vote. But I can't change it."

I wait to see if any of them will fight with me or maybe walk out, but they don't. I take a deep breath and when I let it out, I feel alone. My team is confused and hurt, my captain is selling me out, and I've told them all to pretty much fuck off. I am just Junco. Again.

The captain clears his throat. "OK. Men? If I were your real captain, I'd stick around and give a shit. But I'm not. Your captain is sitting in Justice on trial for treason because he refused to kill your nine here. Like the girl said, deal with it."

And with that he leaves us alone.

Ashur is furious and stalks up to me, making himself an imposing figure compared to my smallness. Braun intervenes and pushes him back. "Don't do it, Ash, I'm fucking warning you."

"Junco, what were the instructions? I want answers, now!"

I shake my head and Isten takes his turn. "Come on, Ash, back off." Ash pushes him in the chest and Isten bares his teeth. "You better think twice, Ashur, you better think before you touch me again."

"Junco," Layla pleads. "How could Tier have told you anything? You were under morph. There was no message, you dreamed it." Mish, Arel, and Rikan just hang back and say nothing as they watch me struggle.

I turn my head and play with my hair, thinking about it. Then turn back and study each face one at a time. I want to trust them, but Tier ordered me not to. "Layla, if I could tell you I would. But I can't. It was an order. His order."

"Just tell us what the order was," Ryse says, taking my hand. "Really, Junco, he would never fault you for telling us."

"You're wrong, Ryse, it was pretty fucking specific. I'll do what I can, I promise. That's all I can say. I'll do whatever I can to make it right."

Braun steps forward and pulls me away from the group. "All right, show's over. Let's get on with the day."

I break free and head to the shower. The hot water blasts me until my whole body is red and when I step out in my avian clothes once again, the room is empty except for Braun. He's sitting at the table with his back towards me, smoking a cigar and watching some avians fight in a contest on-screen.

"I have to tell you something, Junco," he says without turning around to look at me.

I take a seat on the other side of the table and wait for him to acknowledge me. He just pushes a little gray box in my direction and I light the stogie up, puffing on it to calm my nerves. We sit that way for several minutes and then I push him. "Spit it out, Braun. I don't have a lot of self-control right now."

He lifts his eyes and I can see the wheels turning in his mind. He pokes his cigar in the direction of the screen.

I turn to look at the fight.

"That's Deliverance from last year," he says.

I shake my head. "OK. I'll bite. What's Deliverance?"