Star Brigade: The Supremacy (SB3) (52 page)

The Nubrideen answered with a feeble headshake. Sam patted Bevrolor on that hulking back, taking a long look at her battered CT.

She had needed this session to go smoothly. Especially after the split with Habraum, the Korvenites no closer toward a new homeworld, and CT-2 losing both Children of Earth moles. She shook her head as frustration threatened to choke her.

Ozaihi-Iphor moved to help Bevrolor. To Sam’s lack of surprise, the Nubrideen shoved him away with a big, meaty hand. No way would a Nubrideen female desire help from any male. The Ubruqite’s cloudy facemask on his helmet betrayed no emotion or facial features, but the stiffness in his body armor’s posture revealed his displeasure. While Ozaihi-Iphor walked toward the rest of the group, Sam pushed away her self-pity and knelt down by Surje. The Voton looked out of sorts by how his body glow flickered erratically.

Sam slipped an arm around his waist to help him up. “You okay?” she asked with quiet concern.

The Voton nodded and frowned as Sam guided him toward the beginnings of a quarrel—Ozaihi-Iphor, Jan’Hax, and Bevrolor vs. Addison.

“Congratulations, Freerunner,” Bevrolor growled, her three eyes glowering down at the much shorter Addison. The Nubrideen rubbed at her neck while she continued, “Because of you, everyone gets captured or killed.”

Addison, already petite in size, resembled a small child before the furious Nubrideen. But she didn’t back down. “I extracted what we needed and went further to get something that could help our mission,” she retorted crossly. “Is it my fault you all are too incompetent to back me up?”

Everyone erupted in unison. “WE’RE incompetent?!” Surje pushed forward into Addison’s face, blazing a furious and fiery crimson. “CT-2 is a team! A team of—”

Sam had to drag Surje away. “Shut. UP!” she snapped at her unruly squad, who all looked ready to murder Addison. Sam was tempted to let them, but brushed that urge aside. “Give us the room.”

Surje and Ozaihi-Iphor left first. Jan’Hax and Bevrolor followed, speaking in hushed, angry tones.

Soon it was just Sam and Addison. “Get over here.” This confrontation had been a long time coming. Raichoudry had been a pain in Sam’s ass since she returned to Star Brigade five months ago.

Addison scowled but approached as ordered with a stiff-shouldered gait. Anger aside, Sam had to admire Raichoudry’s athletically compact and lean figure, perfectly sculpted by daily yamakasi training and rigorous combat simulations. Even with the large hooked nose on Addison’s sharp features, she wasn’t unattractive. That is, if her facial expressions came in flavors other than sullen, smug, and aloof.

Sam wasted no time laying down the law. “I’m all for adlibbing on a mission. Otherwise, when I give an order, you follow it. Pulling that shit on a live mission would’ve gotten the whole CT massacred.”

“I apologize for that,” Addison stated swiftly, removing her yellow visor.

Sam wasn’t expecting such contrition. She pursed her lips and nodded in acceptance.

“But I almost cracked the encryption—” Addison blurted out brashly, gesturing like a kid on a sugar high. “Fake mission or not, there had to be something worth decrypting.”

So sorry not sorry then?
Sam shook her head. “You should have just destroyed that mainframe and escaped.” She stabbed her point home like a knife. “That test was explicitly for you...and you failed.”

Addison gritted her teeth, but kept silent as Sam continued with taut anger, “The whole combat team fails if even one operative is out of sync. Get that through your head, or I’ll find a tech who can.”

That earned a smirk from Addison. “Doubt that.”

The superiority reminded Sam too much of Marguliese. “You have something to say, then say it.”

Addison’s sneer stretched to obnoxious levels. “Maybe you once were everything Captain Nwosu and Captain Ivers extoled you as: a fearless and badass field operative.

“All I see now is an irresponsible, bad-tempered drunk unfit to lead a daycare, let alone a combat team. You dropped the ball on this assignment into a black hole. If not for the data I acquired when I was undercover with the Children of Earth,” Addison clearly enjoyed rubbing that back in Sam’s face, “we’d be nowhere.”

A flush crept up Sam’s neck, but her face gave nothing away. “You done?”

“Not even close,” Addison’s words, brisk and articulate, were drenched in sneering entitlement. “You care more about being your subordinates’ friend than their leader, shamelessly playing favorites. Then you get off on pitting said favorites against each other to vie for your attention.” Her glare was pointed, venomous. “You’re as obvious as you are an embarrassment.”

Most of those words Sam could laugh off, except the truth about how badly the CoE assignment had gone. She balled up her fists and got in Addison’s face, emphasizing her minor but clear height advantage. Sam itched to teach this vile piece of flotsam some manners…until she caught Addison’s gleeful look while subtly centering her stance, as if bracing for an attack.

This splashed cold water on Sam’s rage.
She wants me to erupt.
That would give Addison ammo to run to Habraum or another UComm higher-up in his absence.

The little bitch has balls
, Sam grudgingly admitted. Luckily, she was a master at this sort of game. “You’re calling me obvious.” Her tone became lightly amused, arms wisely folded behind her back. “Like how you follow Habraum and Marguliese around with that moon-eyed fangirl act. It’s been your MO since Union Virtua Command, no? Kissing the right senior officers’ asses. Then scurrying about bringing them dead rabbits until you get a pat on the head and maybe a seat at the grownups’ table?”

Sam jerked up, reaching an epiphany. “Wait, you pulled that shtick with Jovian Ivers. No wonder you snagged that undercover assignment you keep lording over everyone. Especially when at the time, you had no field experience and less than a year on Star Brigade.”

Addison rolled her eyes, still insufferably smug. “I worked my ass off for that assignment.”

Sam looked at her sideways. “I bet you worked your ass off. Then again, Ivers did like his protégés young, ambitious, and beddable…sorry,” she snorted at the deliberate slipup, “I mean
biddable
.”

That vaporized Addison’s smugness. “Shut up! My relationship with Ivers wasn’t like that.”

“Maybe not,” Sam shrugged innocently and pressed deeper, “but we both know what you want from your relationship with Habraum. I mean, he’s the Brigadier Executive Officer. Makes sense why you trained so hard during those Cobalt Trials that Habraum ran?” Sam teased, “To secure your spot, and I don’t mean just on my CT.”

The blue glow from the HLHG suite walls highlighted the horror on Addison’s face. That reaction, along with the data her source had provided, confirmed Sam’s suspicions.

“Captain Nwosu is my mentor,” Addison protested shakily. She clearly sensed the trap closing in around her.  “He challenges and inspires me—”

Sam guffawed at the pitiful retort. “I doubt that he challenged you to try seducing him two months ago.” She leaned in for the kill, speaking just above a throaty whisper, “Looks like, despite all that brains and talent, you’re just a scared little girl who needs a sugar daddy to succeed.”

“
Shut your mouth!
” Addison’s fist lashed out, cracking Sam across the jaw and dropping her to one knee.

Ouch.
Sam tasted blood in her mouth while standing back up. A dull ache spread across the right side of her face. Still, she couldn’t decide what felt more satisfying: the color draining from Addison’s coppery skin or putting the loathsome tech in her place. “Insubordination and assaulting a superior officer.” Sam wiped the trickling blood from her lip with an unhurried thumb. “Clearly you’re not as smart as you think everyone thinks you are.”

Addison visibly shrank, knowing she was screwed. So Sam decided to exploit the opportunity.

“All that data you gathered from the Children of Earth, you’re gonna analyze every byte, until you find something to get our mission back on track. Because if you can’t, then what use are you to this CT?”

Addison gawked. “That’s a year’s worth of data!”

“Better get started then. Cause the thing is,” Sam edged closer, “I
own
you.” The cat-quick jab snapped Addison’s head back, followed up by an open palm slap to spin her viciously around.

With Raichoudry dazed and on the floor, Sam basked in the moment. “Sorry. Must be my bad temper.”

After reaching her quarters, a quick shower of breezy sanitizing waves wiped Sam clean. As she threw on an olive kurthon hoodie and matching sweatpants, wrestled her messy blonde hair up in a knot, striking Addison suddenly felt like no great victory. It had been petty and immature.
Be a better leader tomorrow.

She then listened to Khrome’s brief transmission for the fourth time. Knowing CT-1 was safe alleviated Sam’s mood somewhat after days of silence.

Any CT-2 bullshit could wait until tomorrow. All Sam wanted now was to see her daughter.

Exiting her home office, Sam headed for Tharydane’s room. “We’ll get takeout from Hollusphere,” she muttered. Once inside the vacant bedroom, Sam remembered. “Oh.”

She and Tharyn hadn’t spoken since their awful, stupid fight yesterday. It had prompted the Korvenite to spend last night with Lethe—her other guardian.

All these failings the past few days twisted like white-hot knives in Sam’s belly. She collapsed against a wall in Tharyn’s bedroom, sliding to a seat with a tortured sigh.

Tonight Sam had no strength left to feel anger…or anything else
.

Liliana Cortes sat perched on the upper-level steps of the pyramid, arms wrapped around her long legs. The cool night air cleared her head, calmed her nerves. But it did not clear the doctor’s shame. Lily’s abrupt exit had no doubt offended Kyas’argiid, leaving Captain Nwosu to explain the alleged slight.

Hearing the iokkas scream as it burned...and the stench. Ugh. Quud ritual or not, Lily found it vile. A Quud warrior from the gathering hovered near the complex’s entrance.
Of course, the high chief wouldn’t let a guest wander unsupervised.
Lily planned to sit until she felt more settled and less ashamed.

“Cortes?”

The doctor turned when she heard her name, and sighed. Out of the complex egress came the stony frame of Byzlar. He approached slowly, passing the guard watching her. “The Captain was going to come, but I offered instead. You alright?”

Lily put on a tight, thin-lipped smile. “I’m fine, Vaas. It was just the smell of that iokkas.”

Byzlar plopped down beside her. “I’m confused.” His frown resembled a jutted crease of rock.

Lily sucked in a deep breath, preparing to shoo him off politely. She had no interest in company right now.

The Aesonite turned. “How can somebody who took out countless jusha beasts with ease suddenly get all light-headed by one little animal sacrifice?”

That caused Liliana to throw back her head and genuinely laugh, which echoed across the cityscape. “That iokkas wasn’t trying to rip my throat out.”

Byzlar shrugged. “True.”

Liliana rested the side of her head on her right knee. “Was Kyas’argiid offended?”

Byzlar shook his head. “No one besides Mhir’ujiid minded much.”

Liliana changed the subject to a topic she dreaded bringing up. “How are you?”

Byzlar winced. “Better than a few orvs ago.” He turned his upper body to face her directly, and Liliana reflexively stiffened—anticipating his forthcoming blame for not saving the corporal.

It never came. “I know you did everything you could,” he said. “It was
Ghuj’aega
who killed him.” When the Aesonite spoke Ghuj’aega’s name, hatred imprinted itself on his wedge-shaped, stony face.

Lily returned her attention to Qiidr Ol-Chaeda’s far-reaching sprawl. The main plaza was nearly empty, a fraction of glowstones illuminating the few Quud still milling about. Among the panorama of towering pyramids, some were dotted with small, bright squares of light, signaling the Quud inside. Qos’s moonlight needled through the billows, highlighting several structures below. Aside from a soft gust, the quiet was absolute. So much that Liliana heard ringing in her ears. The doctor breathed in deeply, feeling worlds better. Byzlar said nothing, which was just what she needed.

“Can you believe this?” she asked after some time.

Byzlar shook his head, gazing upon the ancient city. “What?”

Lily drew both arms from around her legs. “Eight months ago, I was doing patient care on Terra Sollus, bored to death and petrified at the thought of space travel. This is so
not
where I expected to be.”

Byzlar wrinkled his nose. “At least you got to follow in your mother’s footsteps, right?”

Lily chuckled at how wrong he was. “Unintentionally. I wanted to be an aerospace engineer.”

A baffled Byzlar leaned back, amused. “Really?”

Lily smiled with fond nostalgia. “Until I was fourteen. My cousin Ella and I were going to open up our own spacecraft-repair shop when we got old enough. She’d be the pilot, I’d be the engineer.”

Byzlar sat up, intrigued by this revelation. “What changed?”

“So much…” Lily almost stopped there. But in such an amazing place, any falsity felt wrong. “My older brother,” she began with a sad smile. “Tomás could have been anything he wanted.
Anything
. He was that smart.” It had been so long since she’d spoken about her sibling; it was like putting on old slippers, still safe and warm despite the wear and tear.