Chapter 22
Twenty-Two
Kira
Kira’s revelation brought the room to a screeching halt.
Along the walls, Solal and Amila looked appropriately horrified.
Graydon went very still, his features tight, his big body poised to explode into motion.
Kira ignored them, her gaze trained on Jace, letting the rest, even Graydon, fade into the background.
Jace was what was important right now. His reaction and how he handled the next few seconds would shape not just this mission’s outcome but the wider political fallout in the galaxy and the Consortium as a whole.
Jace drummed his fingers on the table, watching Kira with a calculation that felt foreign and familiar at the same time.
It took a second to figure out why.
Himoto.
For a moment, it was like looking across the table at the man who’d raised her. Whose values and tough love had helped shape her into who she had become.
Then that moment was over and all she could see was Jace. Kind, stupidly honorable, Jace. A man who’d already given so much in Kira’s vendetta against the Tsavitee.
His blood. His sweat. And now, apparently, his future.
“Do you know what you’re suggesting?” Jace asked.
“I do.”
“If true, it would mean humanity violated the treaty.”
“I’m well aware. Protecting that treaty is how I wound up where I am, remember?”
Graydon had used it and Kira’s presence in Consortium territory to gain her cooperation when they’d first met. She’d had her own reason for going along with his and Himoto’s plans, but yeah, the agreement between the Tuann and humans was an inciting factor.
Jace’s gaze slid to Raider. “You neglected to mention any of this in the message you sent.”
“Thought it was the kind of thing that would be easier to swallow in person.”
Jace’s forehead creased as he looked between them. “What exactly is it you’re asking of me?”
Kira glanced at Jin.
He already had the images cued up and ready to go on his scroll.
Sliding it across the table, Jin pointed to the one of the tattoo. “Any and all information you have about the group using this symbol. They’re a clan called Belladonna.”
Graydon sat up abruptly.
Kira glanced at him to find him laser focused on the tattoo.
It was on the tip of her tongue to ask if he recognized it, but she held back.
From the way Graydon’s face shut down, it was clear he didn’t want to talk about it in front of Jace.
“That’s it?” Jace asked sarcastically. “No requests to borrow my fleet or co-opt my personnel for a search of the station?”
“If you’re offering,” Kira drawled, trailing off pointedly.
He might jest but Kira wasn’t going to rule it out. She’d do any and everything to save those children. And Caius.
Jace scrubbed a hand over his face, laughing humorlessly to himself. “Sure. Why not? How about a kidney or a lung while you’re at it.”
“Keep your organs. Tuann medicine is more effective,” Kira tossed back.
Jace leaned against the table. “I’m starting to dread these little visits of yours, Nixxy. Trouble always follows you.”
“Sorry.”
There was nothing else she could say. She hated that she was once again asking him to stick his neck out for her. If word got back to Centcom that he was aiding them, she wouldn’t be the one paying the price. It would be him.
“Don’t be,” Jace said on a sigh. “There’s not much more they can do to me at this point anyway.”
If Himoto was alive, Jace wouldn’t have been in this position. But hanging onto the what if’s and should have been’s wasn’t constructive.
You played the hand you were dealt.
Always.
“I’ll get you what I can. It won’t be much,” Jace warned. “Since my reassignment, I’ve been brushing up on the various clans. I don’t recognize this symbol or the name Belladonna. That means they don’t have much of a presence here on Titan.”
“Anything you have will be helpful,” Kira said.
Jace would have been focused on the larger clans, the ones who threatened Centcom and the Consortium’s bottom line. Those clans who were merely a nuisance went largely ignored.
Jace took two palm sized boxes out of his pocket and slid one across the table to Raider. The other, he handed to Kira. “Before I forget—I took the liberty of fast tracking your exit packets. Congratulations—you’re both retired. The Force thanks you for your years of service.”
Raider flicked open the box’s top, exposing the ribbon and medal inside.
“Duty, Service, Sacrifice,” Raider read before snapping the box closed. “Thanks for this.”
“Much as it pains me to admit, I can see that your future lies elsewhere these days. Given the current political climate, that’s probably for the best.” Jace’s smile was wry. “We both know your low tolerance for bullshit would have seen you court martialed when you inevitably disobeyed orders.”
Kira set her box aside. “I’m surprised you managed to push this through. Centcom couldn’t have been pleased.”
They would have looked for any reason to obstruct Jace’s wishes. Raider’s career and future would have been simple collateral damage to them.
“It took the last of my political capital,” Jace admitted.
“What are you going to do now?” Jin asked.
“Regroup. Reassess. Strange as it might seem, this posting gives me an opportunity. A lot of people are unhappy with Centcom and the Consortium’s First World planets. This situation has highlighted the extent of rot that has infected their ranks. It’s time something is done.”
From the way he talked, it sounded like Jace had a plan.
His ability to turn a disadvantageous situation into something advantageous had always been one of the things that separated him from other officers. This far from the center of power Jace could grow his influence without interference. By the time he made his move, there would be no stopping him.
“I’ll get you the information you requested,” Jace said, rising. “In return, see what you can do to control your people. I don’t want any more incidents taking place in the station’s green spaces.”
What incident?
A quick glance around the table showed Raider and Jin with expressions as baffled as Kira’s. Graydon shook his head slightly to say he didn’t know either.
“Stay away from my trees, Phoenix.”
“Is that an order?” Kira asked, pretending she knew what he was talking about.
“It’s a request. We both know my days of ordering you around are over.”
“I’ll take it under advisement.”
“You do that. Just be aware that Titan’s station master is said to have made an example of the last person who damaged their gardens.”
“You’ve met Titan’s controller?” Jin asked.
They’d only heard rumors about the person. No one they knew had ever met them. Most considered them an urban legend.
Jace shook his head. “Their orders are always relayed through their lieutenants. Some of whom are a little less than savory, if you catch my meaning. I’m not entirely certain they aren’t working hand-in-hand with the clans.”
“They probably are.” Jin glanced at Kira. “Not much happens on Titan without the clans say so.”
It was an inescapable fact of life that you either accepted or died fighting against.
“This place is a mess,” Jace complained.
That was one of the reasons this posting was such a punishment. Kira didn’t see any way of removing their strings from this place. The best and easiest way would be to burn it down, along with everyone inside, and start entirely anew.
Jace wouldn’t do that, of course.
Kira liked him better for that fact.
He knocked on the table as he turned to leave. “I’ll have my aide forward the information you requested.”
“Thanks, Knight,” Kira said.
“Don’t thank me, Phoenix. I’m not doing this for free. You’re racking up debts at an astronomical pace.”
He said that, but so far, he’d never once tried to collect on any of these so-called debts.
Jace swept out of the room. The open door offered a brief glimpse of the aide waiting outside to speak with him.
Kira didn’t recognize her but guessed from her frazzled expression that she was new.
Next to her, Lieutenant Mei Himoto was a steadying, calm presence. She stood at attention, her appearance immaculate. Every strand of hair. Every pressed crease of her uniform. Every stray thread of fabric. All perfectly in place.
Graydon waited until the door was fully shut before confronting Kira. “Are you certain that image belonged to the people who took these children?”
“Yeah. Why?”
Graydon touched his lower lip with the tip of his tongue, looking over Jin’s head at Dylan. “We tracked the surviving attackers to a base in this sector. Every person on it had a version of the tattoo you gave Jace.”
“I’m not leaving this station until those children are found,” Kira told him.
“What if I promised to get them out?” Graydon asked as carefully as possible.
“I know you’ll do your best, but they’re not your focus.”
Vengeance and making sure the perpetrators didn’t escape was.
“I could say the same for you,” Graydon said wryly.
“That’s where you’re wrong. Children come first.”
Jin nodded. “Always.”
“Besides, their parents are wanderers which makes them wanderers too. Kashori and Asanth won’t care about them,” Kira added.
Jarek and Sariah even less so.
To them, these children would be unfortunate casualties. Nothing more.
“I wouldn’t be too certain of that,” Graydon murmured. He rested his cheek on his palm, tapping his chin with one finger. “Say I look the other way and decide not to interfere with your presence here.”
“Why would you do that?”
She knew why.
Her.
And Roake.
For all that he was Torvald’s person, he was also a son of Roake.
“What would you get out of it?” she asked.
“Everything, coli.”
Kira and Graydon stared at each other. His stark admission sitting between them like an immovable fortress.
“Fine, I’ll keep you in the loop,” Kira said, giving in.
He caught her wrist when she would have risen. “More than that. You don’t make a move without me.”
Kira didn’t pull away, too addicted to his touch and the way he rubbed his thumb over her pulse.