January 16, 2363 AIA
Rising’s Home Base
Ciro Vas wasn’t famous for his healthy sleeping habits, but even he believed there were times when no sane man needed to be awake. But there were a lot of Uprising bases, all on their own planets, with their own times and hours, and replete with computer problems, so he kept a tablet near his bed.
When the persistent beeping coming from the thrice-damned machine pulled him into something resembling consciousness, he grumbled a quiet, inarticulate curse and tried to slip away from his bed while making as little noise as possible.
He crossed the room, taking the tablet with him.
It took some blinking and squinting until his eyes adjusted to the light of the screen.
His next curse was perfectly articulate and not quiet at all.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
Vas gasped and threw himself from the bed. Water was running down his face, dripping from his hair and eyelashes. His senses reeled to pick up cues as his churning mind tried to make sense of the situation.
Someone was in the room.
Reyer was on her feet on the other side of the bed.
The captain wiped the water from his eyes to make sure of what he was seeing. “Falk?”
The general was standing by Vas’s bedside table. Adan usually kept a glass of water there. The empty glass was in Falk’s hand.
“What—”
“Good morning!” Falk said. “It’s 0273 hours, and as of this moment, Captain Adan Vas, number 22006731, you are hereby discharged from the Uprising!”
If Vas’s wake-up had been a nasty shock, it was nothing compared to what he felt now. A cold dullness dribbled through his body. He couldn’t feel his fingers. He almost missed Reyer speaking.
“Grandpa?”
Falk ignored her. “You have fifteen minutes. At that time, security will arrive to lock down your quarters. I hope you don’t intend to give them any trouble. You have thirty minutes to get to your ship and get the hell off my base!” The general waited. “Did you hear me, Captain Vas?”
“I heard you, General.”
Falk turned to Reyer. His voice softened. “Baby-girl.”
Alix walked around the bed to stand beside Vas. “I’m going with him,” she said.
“You don’t have to.”
Vas felt Reyer put her arm through his.
“Wherever he goes, I go,” she said.
The general’s jaw tightened. “If that’s what you want.” He took a breath. “Considering that, I’ll authorize you to take extra food in your send-off package. I’ll relay the order. Have that bot of yours pick it up and get it to your ship. Make sure you take everything you need.”
He turned and left their quarters.
Vas, who had hardly breathed at all during the exchange, felt his lungs rush to gulp down air. After his breathing was back under control, he forced himself to turn to Reyer.
“Okay.” He was glad his voice sounded almost normal. “I want you to know, I don’t think I’ve done anything to deserve this.”
Reyer laughed at the exact same time two tears spilled from her eyes. She put her hands on the sides of his face and kissed him. Then she pulled away enough to ask, “Do you love me, Adan Vas?”
“Is that some kind of a joke?” He wrapped his arms around her, crushing her against his chest.
In his ear, she whispered, “Do you trust me?”
His grip eased. “Yes.”
She spoke under her breath, in a rapid mutter. “Please listen. We don’t have much time. I can’t say too much, and I can’t have you asking questions. Will you do what I say?”
Vas was an honest enough man, he wavered. “Probably.”
Reyer turned her head to kiss his cheek. “Good enough.”
When he let her go, she took a step away. “Get dressed. Tell Lynx to pick up whatever is authorized for our send-off, then pack your standard kit.”
“My standard kit?”
Alix glared at him.
“Right,” he said. “On it.”
They both got dressed without a word. As Vas was packing, he glanced over and saw that she was also preparing a standard kit. Adan finished first. To help her, he went over to her nightstand and opened the drawer. Reyer’s pain relievers were beside her reader. He brought them both over to her.
“Thank you.” She took the reader first.
He opened the Tranomine bottle and spilled two pills into his palm. “Is your next dose soon?”
“Soon enough.” She grabbed the medicine and swallowed it dry. “How long do we have?”
Vas glanced at his watch. “It’s been a little over eight minutes.”
“Leave your com on, but don’t answer anything anyone says. Let’s go.”
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
“General Ito!”
“Yes? What is it, Chief?”
“I think there’s something you should see, ma’am. It’s Adan Vas.”
“Captain Adan Vas, Chief Warrant Officer.” Ito leaned over the man’s console. “What seems to be the problem?”
“His handprint should’ve been shut down, ma’am.”
“The security team hasn’t even made it to his quarters yet, Narang.”
“That’s not what I mean! When someone’s discharged, they should have their restricted area privileges immediately revoked. It’s in the programming.” He pointed to the screen. “His are still active.”
“Maybe Falk hasn’t officially input his new status.”
“That’s right here, ma’am.” He moved his finger. “Falk put it in ten minutes ago.”
Ito straightened up. “Then there must be something wrong with the program. A tech-team can look at it tomorrow.”
The warrant officer pushed away from his machine. “Ma’am, I’ve tried to override and manually remove his privileges three times. The program won’t let me!”
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He squirmed as Ito gazed at him.
“Why would you do that, Chief Narang?”
The general’s voice had been low and gentle, but it still made Narang’s shoulders tense. He felt as if he’d done something wrong. But that was stupid—wasn’t it?
“He isn’t supposed to have access to restricted areas, ma’am.”
“Was he going to a restricted area?”
Narang twisted his chair so he was once again facing his computer. “The last time I pinged his com, he was heading toward sec-wing…” His voice trailed off when he saw the screen. A moment later, the silence was filled with the sound of his fingers tapping on his input console. Then, in a perplexed voice, he said, “He’s at log-3, ma’am.”
“So he’s picking up his supplies.”
Narang shook himself. “No, this isn’t right. He couldn’t walk that fast. Something’s going on.”
He reached for his com, but Ito’s hand was covering it.
“What are you doing, Chief?” she asked.
“I was going to page Mr. Vas, General. If there’s a security breech—”
“Ciro Vas is unavailable.”
“What?”
“He’s on leave.”
The only time the warrant officer could remember his superior taking time off, the boy had warned his team leaders a week beforehand, then proceeded to spend the next seven days worrying over everything like a nervous mother about to leave her children home alone. When the time came for him to go, they had shoved him out the door themselves. If Ciro had taken leave, Narang felt sure he would have known it.
“Since when?”
“Since fifteen seconds ago.” General Ito stared into the eyes of the chief warrant officer. “Do you have any other questions?”
Narang swallowed. “No, ma’am.”
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
Reyer had Vas leave their kit bags tucked into a corner while they proceeded down the halls of sec-wing.
“It’s empty,” Vas noted.
“There’s only one security team on at this time of night,” Reyer said. “They must be busy.”
Yes. Locking down our quarters. “I know I’m not supposed to ask questions, Alix, but what are we doing here? I don’t know if I’ll be able to get us out again.”
“We haven’t had any problems so far.”
“The moment the discharge hits my records, we’ll be shut out of most of this base.”
“Then we need to hurry.”
“Hurry and do what?”
“There’s something else we need.” She stopped outside a door.
Vas glanced at the room number, then at her.
She raised an eyebrow.
The captain grimaced, but he put his hand on the pad. A second later, they heard the click of the door’s lock disengaging.
Reyer pushed down on the handle. “Do you have your e-pistol?”
There was a soft noise as Vas clicked off the safety on his weapon. “You told me to pack a standard kit, didn’t you? Don’t let anyone tell you I don’t know how to follow orders.”
Alix smiled and opened the door.
Inside the room, a man was sitting at a console, facing them. He was on his feet before the door finished shutting.
“Xavier Jensen.” Vas laughed. “You would not believe the day I’ve been having. It just goes to show that there’s always a silver lining, no matter how shitty the weather. If it had to be anyone, I’m glad it was you.”
Jensen started to lean down. Vas’s pistol rose until it was pointed at his chest.
“Don’t.”
The lieutenant slowly returned to his former position. “You’re not supposed to be here, Captain—I’m sorry, it’s former Captain Vas, isn’t it?”
“You heard?”
“Oh, yes. We got the announcement a couple of minutes ago. I had to stay here, but I was following everything.”
“I’ll bet you were.”
Alix put a hand on Vas’s elbow. “Wait here.” She was about to walk away, but she grabbed harder onto his arm and added, “Don’t hurt him unless you have to.”
She walked over to Jensen’s desk. He stepped aside when she leaned over the console. After dismissing several screens, she found the one she needed.
“Reyer, what are you doing?” Jensen sounded pained.
“You’ll see,” she said. “After all, I can’t do it without you.” A few taps later, Reyer stood up from the computer. “Adan.”
Vas ordered Jensen to follow Reyer, while he stayed a few feet behind them. Once they were at the door leading to the holding cells, Reyer ordered the lieutenant to open it.
Anthony Tennama was in the third cell. Vas kept Jensen in check outside while Reyer went in to wake him.
The dim lights turned on as she entered the room, showing her the tall figure curled on the cot.
She put a hand on his bare shoulder. “Tennama.”
He jerked at the touch and ripped off his blanket. Startled, Reyer backed away, grunting when the pain from her incautious step shot through her back.
“Alix?” Vas cried.
“Miss Reyer?” Tennama tried to rub the sleep from his eyes, but he had to turn his palm away and use the back of his hand.
Reyer watched the white claws retreat until they looked like fingers again. The chill that had settled in her chest began to thaw. “I’m all right,” she called to Adan.
Anthony was more awake now. “Miss Reyer, what are you doing here?”
“It’s time to go, Tennama.”
“Now?”
“Now.”
Reyer saw it as a credit to him when the xeno didn’t ask any other questions. He nodded to the chair beside her. “The rest of my clothes, please.”
She tossed him the neatly folded pile and waited while he put them on over his shorts. When he finished tying his boots, he stood in front of her.
She opened the door wide to let him out.
“No cuffs?”
“No.”
Tennama stepped outside and found Vas holding a gun to the back of one of his jailers. It only gave him a momentary pause. “Ah. I think I’m beginning to understand.”
“Good morning, Tennama,” Vas said.
The xeno nodded. “Captain Vas.”
“Would you mind stepping aside? I have to put something in your cell before we leave.”
Tennama shifted, while gesturing with his arm. “By all means.”
“Jensen.”
The man didn’t move.
Vas leaned toward his hostage. “Lieutenant Jensen, I want you to think really hard about how much we like each other and what little they could do to me if I shot you, here and now.”
“I always knew you were a dick, Captain, but I never imagined you’d do something like this.”
“That makes two of us. It’s a funny galaxy, isn’t it?”
Jensen stepped into the cell. Reyer went to close it, but Tennama grabbed the door before it shut.
“Mind the toilet,” he said. “It clogs sometimes. I’ve complained, but the guards never seem to get around to fixing it.”
They all heard the lock engage when the door shut.
Vas lowered his e-pistol. “What are the chances that no one knows what’s happened yet?”
“Probably pretty good,” Alix said.
Vas glanced at her as he holstered his weapon. “How much can you hurry?”
“For your information, Captain Vas, I routinely got record times on PT runs.”
“Recently?”
“You didn’t ask that.”
Vas led the way. When they picked up the kit bags, he tossed Reyer’s over to Tennama. They were in enough of a hurry, Alix didn’t object.
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
The security team jogged down the hall. They were late. They were very late, and the excuse sounded almost comical.
The head of the squad felt his stomach sour. He doubted General Falk would see the humor in it.
When they arrived at Captain Vas’s quarters, the door was wide open. Falk was leaning back on the couch, fidgeting with a chess piece.
“Oh, look who’s here.” There was a loud click as he replaced the piece on the board.
“I’m sorry, sir—”
“Did you get lost, Sergeant?”
The unfortunate sergeant hesitated.
“Well?” Falk barked.
“Yes, sir. We did.”
The general interlaced his fingers and rested them on his chest. “Suppose you tell me about it.”
“We went to the wrong quarters, sir.”
“And what poor bastard did you throw out of bed at this time of night?”
“Colonel Zimmerman.”
“That spoiled prig? Ha! No harm done then.”
“The colonel was rather angry, sir.”
“Mistakes happen, sergeant.”
The sergeant almost sagged with relief. He had worried he’d be crawling out of the room to search for medical help by the time the general was done dressing him down.
Falk stood up. “Now, if you’re finished running from one end of this base to the other, maybe you can secure these quarters.”
“Sir, where’s the captain? He’s supposed to have an escort.”
Falk shrugged. “How should I know? He was gone when I got here.”
[https://i.imgur.com/6iM8gcI.png]
The rest of the base’s halls were almost as empty as the sec-wing. The few people who passed them didn’t even glance their way, but Reyer still felt relieved when they made it to the hangar without incident.
The Colibri’s hatch was already open. Lynx stood at the top of the short set of stairs that protruded from the side of the ship. At the bottom was Ciro Vas.
The captain put a hand on Tennama’s back, propelling him toward the ladder. The xeno took his cue and hurried onto the ship while Adan stopped in front of his brother.
Ciro grinned. “Permission to come aboard?”
“You didn’t salute,” Adan said.
“You’re not an officer.”
“That was you, wasn’t it? You’re the reason my handprint worked.”
“Programs are so buggy, aren’t they?”
“How did you know what I was doing?”
“I traced your com.”
Vas scanned the room for any sign of the security team. “Could someone else do that?”
Holding a gun on Jensen had been a delight, but he didn’t relish the thought of having to fight his way out of the base.
“Sure. It’s basic security training,” Ciro said. “It’s amazing how many people forget to turn them off. But I wouldn’t worry.”
Adan looked at his little brother.
“I switched your signal with Lynx.”
Vas smiled. “Where’s your stuff?”
“Already on board, sir.”
“Then get on that ship before someone sees you.” Vas grabbed Ciro’s shoulder and pushed him toward the hatch. Before he could offer Reyer his hand, they heard someone call out from the distant entrance.
“Alix!”
It was Ito.
They both watched as the general walked through the huge room. She stopped a few feet away.
“Goodbye, Captain Vas.”
The general’s tone was so final, it sounded like an order. Adan, sensing he wasn’t wanted, mounted the stairs and disappeared into the ship.
Ito came close enough to put a hand on Reyer’s arm. “My little warrior.”
Reyer put a hand over hers. “I’ll miss you, Yuuna.”
The general let go and held out the small box she had in her other hand. It was tea. “I didn’t know if you’d think to pack any.”
“I didn’t.” Reyer was embarrassed by how choked her voice was. She tried again—tried to make it firmer. “I’m afraid I had to pack in a rush.”
Ito’s cheek twitched with her subtle smile, then it was gone. “Alix, I’m still your guardian. I always will be. You’ll keep in touch, won’t you?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Good.” Ito squeezed her arm one more time, then left without another word.
When Reyer turned, Lynx was there to help her into the ship.