Vas wandered over to the table where the woman was absorbed in reading the cover of a book. He picked up another title and stared at it. If a peacekeeper had interrogated him on his taste in literature, he would have had to make something up; he never really saw the ornate scrawl announcing “the riveting new installment of Romance Rogue.”

“Good day,” Adan murmured when the woman glanced at him.

“Oh.” The woman nodded. “Young man.” When she turned to greet him, her arm carelessly swept a large pile of books onto the floor. “So stupid of me!”

“Let me help you.”

They both bent to pick up the books.

Once they were ducked out of the line of sight, the woman couldn’t stop staring at Adan’s face.

“Ciro?” she breathed out, her voice softer than a whisper.

“He’s safe.”

The woman wiped away a tear building at the edge of her eye. “Happy?”

“Happier than should be allowed.”

“You?”

“Busy.”

She nodded.

“You?” Vas asked.

“I…I’m married. Please forgive me.” She sounded strained, almost desperate.

Both of them had stopped working, their motionless hands resting on the forgotten books.

“No!” Adan said. “No, don’t apologize! It’s your life. I’m happy for you.”

The woman nodded, her lips pressed together. She reached out for another book. Her hand was trembling.

“Does he make you happy?” Adan asked.

The woman nodded. “He’s…a good man.”

“Good.”

“Adan.”

Vas stopped working again.

“Adan, he works for the Supremacy.”

The captain swallowed. “Everyone deserves to make a living.” He didn’t know if his tongue, suddenly so thick and unwieldy, would even be able to say it. “What does he do?”

“He’s a civil engineer. He works at the atmosphere border station.”

A horrible doubt began to worm its way into Vas’s mind. He was careful not to raise his head or glance at where Hugo was standing.

“You’re not involved—you’re not passing information—”

“Who would I tell? I don’t know anyone in the Rising, and I would never betray you!”

Vas nodded. That made sense. Hugo wasn’t what most people would consider nice, but even his worst enemy would say he had a sense of honor strong enough to bend steel around. He would never use an old friend. He would keep her safe.

“Does your husband know about us?” Vas asked.

“Yes. And no. He knows about both of you, but I’ve been cleared of suspicion. I think I’m watched though.”

Vas put down the books he had in his arms. “Were you watched when you came here?”

The woman shook her head. “No. This was long ago.”

Vas breathed out with relief.

“Adan, I came to warn you. They know that someone is here on planet. They’re looking for you.”

“Do they know it’s me?”

She shook her head. “They got a messenger warning them to be on the lookout for a Rising pilot in the company of a young woman.”

Vas’s heart began to pound. “How long ago was this?”

“Ten, fifteen minutes ago? The notice came to our home.”

Adan Vas swore. “That means it’s planet-wide.” He looked up at the woman. “You haven’t seen me—not since I left you. Even if I’m captured—if anything happens—you haven’t seen me from that day.”

“I love you, Adan.” She wiped at her eyes again. “Look out for Ciro.”

“I always do.” He knew he shouldn’t, but he still reached out and took her hand. “We’ll meet again someday, even if it has to be in heaven.”

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“More likely I’ll have to drag you out of hell,” she said with a weak smile.

Vas stood up and walked toward the back of the shop. He took Reyer by the arm and said to Hugo, “Take care of her. She’ll need some privacy for a while. We’ll take the back door.”

“Is there a problem?” Hugo asked.

“Yes.”

“What?”

“There’s a planet-wide notice.”

“How?”

“I wish I knew!”

“Go! Be careful, Adan.” Hugo strolled away with deliberate calm and didn’t look back.

Vas steered Reyer past the bookshelves, toward a door labeled “Employees Only.”

When the door was closed behind them, Reyer said, “Vas, who was that woman?”

“No one. She’s not a part of this.” He knelt down by the far wall, moved aside the table holding the coffeepot and various dressings for the stale brew, and pulled out a hidden panel.

“Who was she?”

Adan looked up. Alix’s face was open and curious. She doubtless would have balked if she knew, but it looked almost pleading. It occurred to the captain that Reyer had been a long time without people and longer without any simple answers.

“She’s my mother,” he said.

“This is your home planet?” she asked.

The captain nodded, then put out his hand. “Your bag.”

“I can manage it.”

“You’ll have enough problems with this next part.”

Reyer relinquished her kit.

“Ah, I have something for you.” He handed her the new e-pistol and its holster. “You might need it.”

She nodded as she took it.

“I’ll go first,” Vas said. “The ladder is steep and the rungs can be slippery. If you need a break, I can help hold—”

“Captain Vas.”

Vas stopped, half in and half out of the hole carved into the cliff.

“I can take care of myself,” she said.

“Miss Reyer, my assignment is to get you back to headquarters in one piece so we can figure out why everyone is so damn determined to find you. I’m glad that you can take care of yourself. It makes my life much easier. I’m frankly impressed by how well you manage in spite of the pain you keep trying to hide—but it is my job to take care of you, and I’m going to do it.”

He disappeared down the hole before she could answer back. She finished attaching the holster to her belt and followed after him.

A minute later, Joseph Tate came in for his break. He replaced the panel, slid the table back into place, and made himself some coffee.

There was almost no light down in the hole. The air was cool and rose steadily past them in a gentle breeze. It smelled like water and wet stone. They had been climbing for a while, but being well aware of how time could warp, Alix didn’t bother trying to guess how long.

Vas noticed the change in her breathing. “Miss Reyer?”

“I’m alright.”

“Do you need a break?”

There was silence.

“Yes.”

“Climb down to me.”

More silence. “I don’t know if I can, Captain.”

Adan adjusted the bag so it was balanced on his back and started moving up toward her.

“I’m at your legs now, Miss Reyer. Please don’t kick me.”

A laugh. “Yes, Captain.”

Legs. Hips. Chest. It wasn’t easy, but he was able to reach around her and get a grip on each rung. At last his feet were only one step below hers, his arms just under hers.

“Give me a moment,” he said in her ear.

He let go with one hand to pull the kit around to his side so it wouldn’t be crushed as he leaned back against the rock wall. He pushed his feet against the ladder and wedged himself as best he could. “Lean back, Miss Reyer. I can take your weight.”

He could feel how tense her body was when she leaned against him.

“Relax,” he said. “I’ve got us.”

“Easier said than done, Vas.” She took a shuddering breath.

“How bad is it?”

“Bad.” Her voice was strained. She took another breath, trying to let her back unwind slowly. The pain burned through the whole area. She gasped a few times in quick succession, then finally managed to rest without feeling the need to cry out.

“Can anyone hear us?” she whispered.

“No,” Adan said. He shifted slightly. “There are only three openings. Two are covered by soundproof material. The third is a tiny slit of a cave down near the river. The rest is more than a meter of solid rock.”

“Good.” Reyer laughed. She often did when the worst of the pain passed—sheer relief. “Cozy tunnel you have here. Does Hugo use it?”

“It would be a little tight for him, but he’d rather go down with his books.”

“Did you know him? Before you joined?”

“Yes. In a way, he recruited me. Do you know why he joined? The Supremacy created a list of banned books.” Reyer felt his almost silent laughter ruffle her hair. “He didn’t even read the list. He’d found a contact before the official messenger even got to Mesa Rojo.”

“The book ban?”

“That was before we were even known as the Uprising.”

They rested there for a while without speaking.

“Will your mother be alright?” Reyer asked.

“I don’t know. Probably. She’s not a rebel. She never agreed with my decision. She’s denounced me and my brother and acts as though we’re dead.”

“Your brother?”

“Yes.”

“How did you find out she denounced you?”

“Simple, Miss Reyer—I told her exactly who to go to and what to tell them. I made sure she went in the door before I disappeared.”

“I’m sorry, Vas.”

“We do what we can to protect our families.” He took a breath. “What about you? Where are you from?”

“I don’t know,” Reyer said. She closed her eyes in spite of the enveloping darkness. “Both my parents died when I was a baby. They were fighting at the edge of the war zone. I was raised by the Uprising.” In the lull that followed, she added, “I don’t have a home planet. The Rising was my family.”

Vas haltingly said, “That explains a lot.”

Reyer turned her head as much as she could. “What’s that supposed to mean, Captain Adan Vas?”

“Well, Miss Alix Reyer, I was surprised to see such a thick file for someone who turned out to be three months younger than I was.”

She laughed quietly. “I guess that’s reasonable.”

“How young were you when you started going out on missions?”

“Very young. ‘A born warrior’ they called me.”

“Yes,” Vas mumbled, “I remember.”

Reyer reached out and slapped the rung in front of her. “If they could see me now. I can’t even climb down a ladder without needing a break.”

“In all fairness to you, it’s a really long ladder.”

“From a born warrior to a burden.”

For a while neither spoke. Then Adan said, “General Ito thought you were worth rescuing. Someone in the Supremacy thinks you’re worth searching this whole arm of the galaxy for. You obviously must be worth something. We just have to figure out what. I don’t suppose you have any ideas?”

“Nothing specific comes to mind. I have a lot of knowledge—names, faces. But from what Tate was telling me, a lot of it would be irrelevant, and there would be easier sources to get it from. I have no idea what they could want from me.”

“We’ll figure that out later. Do you think you can climb again?”

“I have to. I don’t think we want to stay here forever.” Reyer mentally prepared herself for the pain, then pulled herself back up to the ladder. Vas made it easier by supporting her weight as much as he could until she got a hold on the slick metal.

“As much as I would love to stay here, we do have to get back to the ship.” The captain climbed down around her. “If I don’t give Lynx the chance to tell me he told me so, he’ll blow every circuit in his body.”