Chapter 26
Velda had some kind of magical ability to make people see things her way.
Ethan wondered if the silver balls took the strengths of the person they were absorbed into and bolstered them—working with the abilities that were already there.
That would explain why he was a better fighter, and Velda was a better negotiator.
As Linao said, the Caruso liked her. They listened to her when she spoke, and she handled them just right.
As the head of defense for Aponi for the last couple of years, Ethan guessed her powers of persuasion were already pretty well honed.
And he was absolutely sure she’d just saved him from being hit with laz fire. No doubt about it.
They had been about to open up with their weapons when they saw him already down, and Velda tending to him.
The temperature had come down almost instantly.
Now he played injured as they were taken back to their cell, hunching over a little, making himself smaller.
“While I was getting the door codes, we saw on the system that the med bay doors had been opened, and it wasn’t any of us,” Linao said. “It was honestly too easy to track you down.”
“I wanted to find the med bay,” Velda responded. “Ethan had been hit and I hoped there was something there that could help him.”
“There wasn’t. Caruso med care doesn’t work on us, and they only have the basics anyway.
They have a very callous disregard for their injured crew.
” Linao shot a sidelong look at the Caruso soldiers behind her, but he guessed they didn’t understand the standard VS dialect she was using.
He wondered what the story was with that—it was almost as if she was poking at them, just like she seemed to poke at everyone.
When they came to the cell, Linao opened the door and gestured to the food spilled over the floor. “At least you’ll have something to eat.”
Velda put her arm around Ethan and ushered him in as if he could barely stand. “At least there is that,” she agreed.
Linao shook her head as the door closed.
“I don’t think she knows what to make of me,” Velda said.
Ethan guessed it was because Linao’s default was to distrust and dislike everyone, and something about Velda interfered with that. She couldn’t help but like her and that disturbed and unsettled her.
He pretended to stagger to the bed, in case Linao checked the visual comms to make sure he really was injured.
Velda crouched beside the food, picking it up and laying it out on the bed Linao had taken as her own, grouping the same things together. She opened a nutrient bar and gave it a sniff.
Something about the way she did it made him think it wasn’t just to see if she liked the smell. The silver balls were assessing it. Deciding if it was safe to eat.
She made a face and walked over, crouched beside him. “It’s not going to taste good, but it’s not going to kill us, either. And we need the energy.”
He took the bar and bit down. It did taste disgusting, but he thought he might actually have had worse out in the field before. He choked it down.
Velda did the same with the bar she’d taken for herself, and then she went and got them water from the sink in the bathroom. She sat on the ground beside the bed, brushing the hair back from his brow as if he was seriously ill, and her eyes laughed down at him as she held the cup to his lips.
He wanted no lens feed and a way to lock the door so badly he could barely stand it.
As he thought it, the door opened again, and Velda turned her head, still sitting on the ground, although he felt her whole body tense.
It was Linao.
“Sylvester wants to talk to you.” She leaned against the wall. “Let’s go.”
Velda stood, set down the cup, and then bent to help him to his feet. The look she shot him was fierce, as if she wanted him to do something he wasn’t doing.
Look less angry, the voices in his head warned. Look weaker.
He realized his teeth were clenched and his hands were, too, and he forced his body to loosen up.
He let Velda draw him to his feet and prop her shoulder under his arm, and he tried to work out how much of his weight to let her take.
He didn’t want her to take any. He wanted to wipe that smug smirk off Linao’s face and run rampant through this ship.
Not right now, sweetheart.
He swore the voice in his head this time was Velda’s. He didn’t look at her, but he’d ask her about it later.
They followed Linao out and it looked like there were way more Caruso here than there had been before. The group that had taken the ship from their fellow Caruso had overrun it, by the looks of things.
He would love to know the story behind a Caruson coup, if that’s what this was.
As well as the story of how the Cores had found out there were factions within the Caruso to exploit.
How had they learned that?
Linao led them to a large room with a big desk and seating behind it for one.
It looked like the Caruso expected their underlings to stand to attention when meeting with the captain or general, or whatever the leader was called.
It wasn’t a Caruson soldier sitting at the desk, though.
Ethan studied the man with interest. This must be Sylvester.
He immediately knew he was Linao’s father. Her features were a feminine version of his own.
The Caruso were also studying the man occupying the seat of power, and Ethan thought they might be angry or uncomfortable at the sight of him on their ship, taking up the top spot.
As if he suddenly read the room, Sylvester stood. Where Linao wore her dark hair in an elegant bun, his was cut close to his skull. He had the sleek, muscular form of his daughter, though, and even the way they moved was similar.
He walked to the front of the desk and leaned against it, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Velda Shan?ha.” He tilted his head. “I never expected to meet you in person.”
“And you’re Sylvester?” Velda asked. “The head of what is left of the Cores?”
Sylvester’s lips tightened at that, but he inclined his head. “My daughter tells me Ritter used you for his experiments.”
“And others,” Velda said. “I gather most of the runner’s crew were drafted in to participate, but they got annoyed with it and refused after a while.”
“Yes, but they’re not here, and you are.” Sylvester’s gaze swept from Velda to Ethan, but Ethan had known it was coming, and he let his body hunch just that little bit more, and he could feel the silver balls drain the color from his face.
“What is it?” Linao asked, her voice sharp as she watched her father.
“Ethan Hyt seems a little worse for wear. What’s wrong with him?” Sylvester didn’t sound worried so much as bored.
“He was hit with laz fire while they were escaping. And it’s not the first time he’s taken a hit since Ridgeman and his team found the two of them at the mine.” Linao shrugged.
“And it looks like there’s been no benefit to him from the experimentation.” Sylvester’s tone was disappointed. “Where is the box? I was told the Caruso took it with them.”
“It was in the runner that took us from the ship,” Linao said. “The teams are searching through what’s left of it now.”
“So we could have damaged it ourselves in the attack?” Sylvester straightened.
“Yes. You could have damaged me, too,” Linao said. “You obviously thought it was worth the risk.” She gave a cynical smile. “Just like on Fjern.”
There was a beat of silence.
Sylvester shifted, leaning back against the desk.
“I already told you, Vanburren made it sound as if your vessel was about to be taken by the Fjerna. And he told me he gave you five minutes to get out before he destroyed your ship. He also made your return the main part of his negotiations afterward.”
“Of course.” Linao’s tone spoke volumes. “He was just following protocol.”
After an uncomfortable pause, Sylvester waved a hand toward the door. “Why don’t we go have a look at the progress they’re making in finding the box?”
Linao said nothing, but she turned on her heel and stalked out.
She was a strange one, Ethan thought. She over-shared, then she said nothing, she made the cruelest threats, and then chatted normally. He wondered if she had been living a lie for so long, she didn’t know how to react any more.
When they had been discussing the new planet they’d found, she’d told Ritter her ship had been destroyed and she’d spent a week as a prisoner there.
When Ethan had heard that, he’d assumed the planet’s inhabitants had been responsible, but now it sounded as if it had been her father who had ordered her ship destroyed.
And she still hadn’t forgiven him for it.
Sylvester watched her go, face blank, and then followed her out, and the Cores guards went with him, leaving him and Velda alone in the room with the Caruso soldiers.
“What experiments was Sylvester asking you about?” The Caruson standing beside them waited until the room had cleared before he spoke.
“They were trying to understand how some tech they found in a space wreck works,” Velda said.
“What wreck?” The Caruson’s attention focused on her.
“I don’t know the details,” Velda said. “We were their prisoners and their experimental subjects. They didn’t tell us much.”
“But you were part of the experiment. What was it?” The Caruson stepped closer to her.
“A box with some silver balls inside. They absorb into the skin, but there’s a device that draws them back out again.” She shrugged. “The scientist was disappointed with the results.”
“Sylvester seems interested.” The Caruson glanced back at the door.
“They were bringing the tech to him when your fellow Caruso hijacked the ship,” Velda said. “When the Caruso crew realized where it was going, they made sure to take it when they tried to get back to this ship.”
Another soldier in the group said something in Caruson, and the soldier who’d been speaking to Velda responded, eyeing them both thoughtfully.
Ethan was pretty sure he was as surprised as Ethan was that Sylvester and Linao had more or less lost interest in them after making such a production about taking them out of their cell.
Either the father and daughter were locked in some strange back and forth with each other, something that took preference over everything else, or they were playing a long game that wasn’t quite clear yet.
Ethan could see the Caruson soldier had assumed there was a strategy at play, but he personally thought the chances were fifty fifty.
It didn’t escape his notice that Velda had taken the lead again on the responses, and the Caruso had listened to her carefully.
So far, they almost seemed more hostile to Sylvester and his crew than to him and Velda.
“Let’s go see this tech for ourselves,” the soldier said.
The walk to the bay was more like a congenial stroll than them being herded along as prisoners.
Velda again, he was sure.
They arrived to find about ten Cores guards climbing in and out of the crushed ship, and looking at it from the outside, Ethan wondered how they had managed to get out of it alive.
He was guessing the sight of the damage had inspired Linao’s bitterness at her father’s solution to stopping the runner. Because she was right. She—and they—were lucky to still be breathing.
He still didn’t know how they’d crushed the ship like that. Four dead Caruso lay beside the runner, and two others were stashed to the side, faces uncovered although they were very still. Could they still be alive?
Ethan remembered the empty med bay, and Linao’s sidelong glance at the Caruso with her when she told them it was not considered a priority to tend to injured soldiers. Was this what she was taking a dig at them over?
“Got it!” One of the Cores guards emerged from the runner with the box in his hands. It was crushed on one side and the lid was slightly buckled.
“How soon until Ritter joins us?” Linao asked.
“A couple of hours.” Sylvester turned from the runner and then stopped short at the sight of him and Velda.
Ethan had been careful to limp along, letting Velda assist him, but he had the feeling Sylvester’s eyes narrowed a little when he saw him.
“What are they doing here?” he demanded.
“We are not yours to command,” the Caruson soldier who’d spoken to Velda said. “You left them in the room. We brought them to you. You are welcome.”
Sylvester blinked, and before he fixed his expression to neutral, Ethan saw the spike of fury on his face at being challenged.
“Thanks, Nirro.” Linao slapped the Caruson’s arm lightly and jerked her head at Ethan and Velda. “Come on, back to your cell.”
Ethan considered the various escape options, but there were too many weapons in the room. Too many people to fight.
He let Velda draw him out of the bay, her hand patting his back as if to console him for the fact that he couldn’t do what he wanted.
And what he wanted was to fight.
He wouldn’t have called himself a violent man before. If he were given the chance, that would change.