They had been her arms. Wiry. Like ropes. Her voice had yelled in Devi’s ear, instructing Tate to secure the bot. But she’d run over and thrown her arms around Kumar as the ship pulled out in a maneuver no one was ready for. If Kumar had been thrown from her seat, both her wrists would have been broken by the security cuffs. Instead, the woman—Reyer. Alix Reyer, Devi reminded herself—had screamed as her grip on the hold behind the senator was tested by brutal physics. When the terrible moment was over, she had belted Kumar into her seat. Her hands had been shaking.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

Devi nodded. Stupidly—as she thought back on it. There was nothing okay about her situation. But at least her wrists weren’t broken.

Reyer sat beside her and fumbled to put on her own belt.

When a minute had passed with no more acrobatics, Tate released himself.

“Sarge?”

Alix’s said through her clenched teeth, “If you’d be so kind as to go ask the captain if we can expect anything else like that?”

Once Tate was in the passageway, Reyer left off the niceties and spewed out a solid half-minute of nothing but profanity.

“Agreed,” Kumar muttered.

The two women glanced at each other. Alix started to giggle. Kumar knew it probably had more to do with being giddy than with any amusement her comment elicited, but she still smiled.

They both fell silent before Tate returned.

“I think the roller coaster is done,” he said. “Ciro’s yanked the signal code they were tracing and Vas is trying to figure out what happened.”

Reyer voice was high and loud with disbelief: “He doesn’t know?”

Tate grimaced. “It’s more like he’s trying to figure out how it happened. But we’re cruising now. We should be across planet soon.”

“Tate, can you do me another favor?”

“Ma’am.”

“This ship is going to have schematics in its computers somewhere. Ciro may have to help break into them, but I’d like to take a look at them.”

“Done.”

He left without another word.

“Obedient.” Kumar mentally kicked herself. She’d promised herself she wouldn’t talk.

Reyer gave the senator a sharp look. “I asked him for a favor. I didn’t give him an order.”

At least someone else was as annoyed with her as she was with herself. “He calls you ‘Sarge.’”

“And?”

Silence.

“I’m sorry,” Kumar said. “I thought he was your soldier. Soldiers are supposed to be obedient, aren’t they?”

Reyer took a deep breath. “He’s my friend.”

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

“Your friends call you ‘Sarge?’”

“No one calls me ‘Sarge.’”

In the contradiction, Kumar thought she finally caught an inkling of the depth of their relationship.

In a subdued voice, Reyer added, “I’m not a sergeant anymore.”

Alix unclipped her belt and worked her way to the floor. Each movement was paced. There was a pause, the shift, then another pause. When the process was done, she was laying down. A minute or two passed in silence.

“Why did you do it?” Reyer asked.

Kumar looked down at her. “What do you mean?”

“Project 32. Why did you sponsor it?”

This time Kumar kept her mouth shut.

“Did Fable propose it to you? Or did you propose it to him?”

That, at least, was easy enough to answer. “He brought it to me.”

“Did he tell you how many people it would take?” When Kumar kept still, Reyer raised her voice. “The prisoners.”

“I remember, Miss Reyer. Yes. He told me.”

“And you were willing to sacrifice them?”

“I didn’t think of it like that.”

“How did you think of it?”

Neither spoke for a long time.

“They were nothing but numbers.” Devi twisted her head so she wouldn’t have to look at Alix. “They were prisoners. It was something that needed to be arranged so that we could achieve a goal.” Her lips parted, then pressed together before she admitted, “I wasn’t thinking about them as people.”

Reyer shook her head and closed her eyes.

“You’re smiling?” Kumar asked.

“Gardner was right about you.”

“Emery Gardner and I only met three times.”

“You didn’t think about us. You didn’t think about them. It was nothing but a tool to you.”

“Did you like General Gardner, Miss Reyer?”

“It’s hard to like someone who sends assassins after people you love.”

“Moric Sipos told me you two talked about books.”

Reyer felt a flash of irritation. They had talked about books—although, to say they had argued about them would be more accurate. Vas had ordered them to shut up on more than one occasion when their debates ran too long and interfered with everyone else’s attempts to sleep.

“Why did he tell you that?” Reyer asked. “And why do you care?”

Kumar’s cuffs rattled when she shrugged. “I thought it was strange. Gardner was your enemy, but you took him in. You were willing to protect him.”

“He helped us.”

“He helped you to help himself.”

“Yes. He wanted to stop the xenos. We thought that sounded like a good idea.”

“Ah. So you were allies. Not friends.” Kumar sighed through her nose. “I see.”

She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. She might have stayed there for the rest of the journey, but Reyer interrupted her thoughts.

“What did you get out of sponsoring Project 32? Was it that specially trained assassin you have?”

“Carter? No!” Kumar’s eyebrows furrowed. “Fable gave him to me. I didn’t ask for him.”

“Why you?”

“He wanted to use him without having to write reports about what he was being used for. If he’d given him to Gardner, there would have been files and paperwork. With me, it was nothing but a phone call.”

“So you never used him?”

Kumar locked eyes with Reyer. “Are you going to kill me, Miss Sniper?”

“Why would I do that, Senator?” Alix’s voice was deceptively gentle. Almost coy.

Devi shook her head and closed her eyes again. “They won’t trade me for her.”

“What?”

“The xenos. If you’re taking me hostage because you think they’ll give you Dr. Bonumomnes in exchange—”

“We weren’t planning on trading you. We took you hostage because we needed you to find Jane.”

Reyer watched Kumar’s face. There was pain there, and a lot of exhaustion.

“Why did they keep Jane alive?” Alix asked.

“My understanding was that they wanted to take her over.”

“Then why didn’t they? Levin’s a xeno, and he was the one who kidnapped her.”

Kumar shook her head. “It’s not like that. It’s not that easy for them. They try to avoid transforming as much as possible. The transfer of knowledge is never perfect. Levin has skills they didn’t want to lose.”

“They didn’t have one they could spare?”

“There aren’t many left, Miss Reyer.”

“How many?”

“I don’t know. They’ve kept as much hidden from me as possible.” Kumar interlaced her fingers and leaned forward, resting her elbows on her knees. “I’m nothing but a tool to them.”

The short silence was broken by Reyer’s quiet laugh. “Maybe there’s justice in this galaxy after all.”

“What is it you want from me?”

“Your help.”

“Will you protect me like you tried to protect Gardner?”

“No. But we won’t destroy you.”

“Forgive me for being blunt, but I don’t find that particularly comforting.”

“Really? Because we have both Gardner’s and Fable’s files. That’s more than enough evidence to expose you, Ms. Kumar. And I don’t think it’d be hard for us to find one or two people in the Supremacy who’d love to watch you fall.”

Kumar felt ill. No, it wouldn’t be hard. Words like “friend” and “favor” meant something completely different in her world.