Chapter 27 #3
Graydon pretended to think. “Considering we came prepared for a possible showdown with rebels, I’d say it’s pretty good.”
“I guess you’ve got a deal,” Kira told him.
Graydon eyed her with a darkness that made her shiver. “I do so love our deals.”
For that matter, so did Kira.
“Look who finally showed up,” Raider murmured as they approached the hotel lobby on their way out.
Station security was in the process of cordoning off the entrance and surrounding area.
Not wanting to waste time being detained a second time, Kira did an about face to head back the way they’d come. “Let’s take the back way out.”
Spotting them, Sergeant Fitzpatrick shouted at them to stop.
“Solal,” Graydon barked.
The oshota stopped, letting them pass as he faced security. He mumbled a word, his hands tracing a rune in the air. A second later he infused his ki into the symbol. A bubble expanded. Out and out. Until it filled the narrow corridor, creating a temporary barrier.
Graydon took Kira’s arm. “Quickly, coli. That won’t last long.”
For the second time that day, Kira led their party into the passageways hidden in the Red Rabbit’s walls. Now that she knew the likely identity of the station master, these passages took on new meaning.
They tramped through cramped ductwork and down rickety ladders that probably hadn’t seen use since the first builders.
Despite that, the passages were surprisingly well maintained.
Someone had gone to a lot of trouble on their upkeep, making Kira wonder if the hermit Gus was purported to be only applied when it came to the rest of the forty-three.
There was no way she would have been able to do this by herself.
A short time later, the passages let them out on the commercial deck. Right across from customs.
They retraced the steps they’d taken upon arrival, marching down the gangway at a swift pace.
“Anyone else wondering where Maksym wandered off to?” Raider asked.
“My little protégé. Somewhere under that cold, hard exterior of yours, I knew you cared,” Maksym announced, making Raider jump as he stepped out of the shadows across from where Graydon’s ship was docked.
“Why do you keep doing that?” Raider whisper yelled.
“Because it’s fun. One day you will have a protégé of your own, and you will do the same to them. You may thank me then for all the inspiration I’ve given you over the years.”
“Stop reacting every time and he’ll lose interest,” Kira advised.
Maksym held his hand over his heart. “Youngest, you wound me.”
Kira rolled her eyes. “Doubtful.”
Maksym’s ego was the healthiest and most indestructible that Kira had ever seen. A bombardment from a Tsavitee world ship couldn’t puncture it. Let alone Kira’s verbal jabs.
Frowning, Maksym scanned the group behind her. “Heir, correct me if I’m wrong, but you seem to be missing a few members of your party. Most notably, the small one that looks like a child.”
“Some things happened. I’ll explain on board.”
Kira twitched with the need to be well away from Titan as soon as possible. Any moment now, security was going to realize that all they needed to trap them was to impound Graydon’s ship.
It wouldn’t work, but it would delay them at a time they couldn’t afford it.
Graydon unlocked the docking tube, gesturing them inside.
Kira started to follow the rest when a chime from her comms distracted her.
Right on time.
“Jace,” Kira said, opening the channel. “Did you get my package?”
“Are you serious with this?”
“You said you needed to produce results. I can’t think of anything better than rolling up the entire operation of a dangerous pirate clan, can you?”
Silence echoed.
Kira smiled. “Do me a favor and give us two hours to get into position before you hit the strongholds on station.”
“I can do that,” Jace said, still reeling from the information Kira had dropped in his lap. “Don’t think this is enough to get you off the hook for what happened on the docks.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kira lied.
“I have you on camera.”
“Are you sure? Could have been some other redhead.”
The sound of boots had Kira looking up to find security flooding down the gangway in their direction.
Maksym went still, his gaze trained on the group
“Are you listening to me?” Jace asked.
“Not really,” Kira answered, picking up on Maksym’s tension. She touched his arm. “Come on. We should go. The others are waiting.”
He patted her hand distractedly, his attention still on the group of humans. “You go. There’s something I have to take care of first. Don’t worry. I’ll catch up when I can.”
“Kira,” Graydon called from the threshold of his ship.
“Let’s just go,” Kira urged Maksym.
They’d already won. A few seconds and they could be on the other side of the docking tube, hatch closed and pushing away from the station.
“What’s going on?” Jace asked.
“Your security is being a pain in the ass,” Kira answered as Maksym took her arm and guided her into the tube.
She went willingly.
“What security? Where are you?”
“The passenger docks.”
“I don’t have security down there,” Jace said.
A second later the chilling call of an apex predator brought everything to a halt.
Kira’s breath shortened as her insides froze.
Primus.
“Jace, seal off the passenger docks. There’s a primus on Titan.” Kira whirled to find Maksym no longer beside her and the hatch on his side closing.
“A primus? What?”
“You heard me. It’s a fucking primus,” Kira screamed. “Protocol Phoenix.”
Raider rushed to her side, shoving his shoulder against the hatch and pushing. His face turned red, the tendons of his neck straining before he gave up. “It won’t budge.”
Kira pounded on the hatch. “Maksym, don’t do this!”
Maksym’s voice crackled over the intercom. “Heir, I thank the Mea’Ave every day for sending you to us. Life had grown far too dull and boring before your arrival.”
Through the porthole, Maksym smiled and stepped back. Kira craned her head, pushing away from the hatch to watch through the docking tube and the station windows as Maksym appeared with a wide smile on his face. He said something to the approaching station personnel.
“Jace, can you open the hatch on dock slip L5P3?” Kira tried.
“I don’t—I can’t. You invoked Protocol Phoenix. You know what that means.”
She should. She helped create it.
All sections would be sealed off. Anyone left on the wrong side was on their own. Attempts would be made to lure the target to the nearest airlock where they could be spaced. If they failed or if the primus endangered the rest of the ship, the section it was trapped in would suffer a decompression.
That was how dangerous Kira and the Curs had judged her other form.
“He’s right, Phoenix,” Raider said softly.
“I know.”
The words were lonely. Bereft. An echo of all those times Kira had stood in similar no win situations and been forced to make the hard choice.
“Damn it, Maksym,” Kira whispered.
The oshota faced off with the group in front of him. Tuann dressed to resemble station security, Kira saw now. Their pointed ears and weapons made from Tuann metal gave them away.
Kira’s heart clenched as a humanoid figure crashed through the group from behind, uncaring of those it hurt. At the sight of Maksym, it tipped its head back and howled.
“It’s time to go,” Graydon said from the entry of his ship.
“Not yet,” Kira said, her gaze trained on Maksym’s battle.
The oshota slipped away from the primus, managing to avoid the claws intended to disembowel him. He swung his sword, decapitating one of the Tuann who tried to attack him from behind.
“Maksym is a seasoned warrior who made his choice,” Graydon said harshly.
Kira flinched, words of argument hovering on the tip of her tongue. She bit them back.
Much as it hurt, he was right.
Turning toward the ship, Talon’s sad smile caught her attention. “Now you know what we oshota are for.”
“I don’t like it,” Kira told him.
“That’s because you’re too much of an oshota yourself. You don’t think like a sword. You think like a shield. Don’t worry, heir. We’ll train that out of you,” Talon promised her.
When Kira glanced at Finn, he held her gaze with a rare stubbornness.
For once, he didn’t look away or pretend not to be anything but what he was. An oshota. Her shield. Ready and willing to sacrifice everything, even his life, for his chosen person.
“Jin and the children need you,” Finn said softly.
Kira shot one last glance at the battle taking place on the gangway. After a moment, she nodded.
“Stay frosty, Maksym,” Kira whispered before turning and walking toward the ship.