January 20, 2363 AIA

P25

Over the years, Captain Vas’s varied work for the Rising had introduced him to a large network of people who were worth knowing—especially if you had a to-do list you didn’t want the Supremacy to see.

Ana Solis was one of his contacts. They were in her workshop.

Most of the room was dark. Occasionally there would be a click and a flash of light as another photo was taken. Adan stood at the back of the room, by a desk, where the lamp and console monitor provided a more stable illumination. By them he could make out the two IDs in his hand.

Francisco Banderas and Alice Bellerose.

He smiled as he looked at Reyer’s picture. The photo didn’t do her justice. Probably because she’d refused to smile for it. She always looked so serious in photos—which suited Alice Bellerose perfectly.

His stomach twisted.

He’d hoped that he would never have to do this again. It was only luck Reyer had brought the thing; it’d been in the same wallet as her Rising identification.

His thoughts were interrupted when Ciro dropped into the chair beside him and heaved a dramatic sigh. “Jane won’t even pretend to be married to me.”

“Does this surprise you?” Adan said. “You’ve only asked her to marry you a billion times. She’s always said no.”

“Yeah, but I was always serious. This is for her fake ID.”

“Did she know you were serious those other times?”

Ciro shrugged. “She knew I was interested in her.” In a subdued voice, he added, “She always has.”

Vas closed his hand over the two IDs. “Be grateful. At least she’s willing to be with you in real life.”

“Sure.”

Something about his brother’s tone caught Adan’s attention. He watched Ciro as he said, “You know, I’ve seen you come out of her cabin with my own two eyes, and I can still hardly believe it. What does she see in you?”

“I dunno. Persistence?”

“How long have you two been together?”

Ciro twisted in his chair and tapped the desktop with his finger. “I think the real question is, am I with Dr. Jane.”

“How long have you been sleeping with her?”

“Oh, that’s easy. About a year.”

“A year?” Adan managed to stop himself from yelling, but it came out as a strained whisper. “Were you planning on telling me at any point?”

“I have this older brother—he taught me that a good man doesn’t kiss-and-tell.”

Vas smacked the back of Ciro’s head. In deference to the fact Ciro was right, he didn’t do it hard.

“Ow!”

“At some point, if you sleep with the same person long enough, you must cross into some kind of relationship.”

“But you wouldn’t know, would you?” Ciro saw the confusion on his brother’s face and went on. “You’ve always had actual relationships. Commitment. I mean, you and Alix have been living together and everything.”

Vas hesitated, then decided that a respect for privacy was granted to real people, not to brothers. “This can’t possibly be what you want, Ciro.”

He felt a hand touch his shoulder.

“Not everyone’s a hopeless romantic like you, Adan,” Reyer said.

Vas stood away from the desk so Reyer would have enough room to lean on it. She gave him a grateful smile as she did.

“I know my brother, Alix. He’s a worse hopeless romantic than I am.”

“Is that even possible?”

Vas looked down at his brother. Ciro made a face, but he nodded.

“Then why are you doing it?” Vas asked.

“Because I’m in love,” Ciro said. “So I’ll take what I can get.”

Reyer cleared her throat and nodded to the figure standing behind Vas. It was Tennama.

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Ciro put a hand to his forehead to hide his flushed face.

Adan stood toe-to-toe with the xeno. “What is it?”

“I didn’t mean to listen in, Captain.”

“It’s all right, Tennama,” Reyer assured him. “We know you didn’t.”

At first, it didn’t seem as if Vas shared that knowledge, but after a moment, he stepped back.

Anthony came closer to the desk. “Mr. Ciro”—he held out two cards and a nan-card—“my picture and IDs. Is there anything else you need?”

Ciro took them. “Did Solis get a retinal scan?”

“It should also be on the nan-card. If it isn't, the one associated with this ID should work.”

“I’d rather not hunt it down.” Ciro put the nan-card in the computer and opened the files. “I have everything. Hey, Tennama! What did you do for the military?”

“Which me?”

Reyer smiled when she saw the blank look on Ciro’s face.

“You-you,” Ciro said. “I mean—no. Wait. Both of you.”

“Ryan Barnes was a pilot,” Vas said. “No other outstanding skills.”

Tennama glanced at the captain but said to Ciro, “That’s the body I currently have. Major Anthony Tennama was mostly an organizer and bureaucrat, but I taught myself how to use computers.”

“As in—”

“As in black-hat hacking, Mr. Ciro. I needed to know all the backdoors and weak points I could.”

“Why?” Reyer asked.

“Someone had to change the DNA codes and IDs when one of us managed to break free.”

Ciro grinned. “Excellent. Find a chair, Tennama.” While Anthony went to do that, Ciro turned to Adan. “Are you sure you want all three IDs on him?”

“Yes, Ciro.”

When Reyer saw the momentary tightening of the younger Vas’s lips, she asked, “Can you do it?”

“Oh, Alix,” Ciro cried, “I’m hurt you asked! How long have you known me?”

“Then what’s the problem?”

Alix followed Ciro’s gaze. He was looking at his brother.

“It’s a risk,” Vas explained. “The retinal scan data is compact enough the Supremacy can monitor it. Identical retinals are flagged if they’re tied to multiple IDs. The more IDs, the greater the risk of it being flagged. Especially if they’re all being used.”

“Adan—”

“I don’t intend to have him scan a different ID at every port, but it’d be nice to have Tennama’s clearance to go with Barnes’s eyes.”

“Both have been missing for weeks—”

“Which means they’re probably presumed dead, so we need an unknown name for him to hide under until we know if we have to resurrect him.”

Eventually, Reyer nodded. “Okay. I understand. That’s a good call.” She raised an eyebrow. “You’re not bad at this covert stuff.”

“I’ve had practice.”

Jane came up to them, her steps unusually light. “I’m ready, Wonder Boy.”

“And who are we today, Dr. Jane?” Ciro asked.

“Not a doctor. Who’s a doctor? Not me.” She handed him a nan-card. “It’s Jane Talpa. T-a-l-p-a. Born on Gaoyun.”

“Another bizarre last name, Miss Talpa?” the captain said.

She shrugged. “I’m used to it. At least people can pronounce this one. And I’m okay to keep Jane?”

“It’s common enough it won’t raise any eyebrows.”

“Three new IDs, coming right up!” Ciro cracked his knuckles. “First, let’s break into the Supremacy mainframe.”

“You’re enjoying this way too much,” Jane said.

Ciro winked at her.

The doctor turned to Vas. “Captain, sorry to be blunt, but do we have money for all this?”

“Oh, money will not be a problem.” With poison drenched sarcasm, he added, “The generals were kind enough to pay me.”

“Are you always this angry when they pay you?”

“For your information, Doctor, I've never been paid.”

As usual, when confronted by a new and bizarre aspect of the Uprising’s culture, Jane turned to Reyer.

“The Rising struggles with money a lot,” Alix said, “but it’s a rebellion, so most people are fighting because they believe in it. When money gets too tight—”

“Which is kind of the normal state of things,” Ciro interjected.

“—officers can offer to suspend their pay. It's still tracked and owed them, but instead of a full paycheck, they get a small stipend for clothes or other necessities. It can be… a point of pride for some of them.”

“Some of them?” Jane said. “You mean, like the ones named Vas?”

“People named Vas can make anything a point of pride,” Adan said.

“It's something we're quite proud of,” Ciro added.

“And now they paid you?”

“They had to,” Reyer said. “They were terminating his contract and they didn't give him a chance to waive it.”

“Good.” Jane pointed over her shoulder. “Because Solis’s secretary is getting cranky about the fact they haven't seen a chip-card.”

Vas pulled out his wallet. When Reyer offered to take care of it, he handed the whole thing over.

As she and Jane walked away, Ciro muttered, “You know, I don't think Alix would object to pretending to be married to you.”

Vas blushed. “No.”

“You're not even going to ask her?”

“We’re not here to play house, Ciro.” Adan dropped the two IDs he'd been holding. “Alice Bellerose. Make-up a convincing story for why she's been gone for the last two years. Change nothing else.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Tennama returned with a chair, but Ciro was still setting up the system, so there was nothing for him to do. The xeno turned to Vas.

“Captain, may I ask if there’s a plan for where we’re going next?”

At first, Adan didn’t seem to hear him. Tennama was debating whether or not to repeat the question when Vas finally answered.

“We’re going back to P5.”

“Kumar’s home planet?”

The captain nodded.

Tennama was not ignorant of how delicate his standing with the crew was. He reminded himself often that he’d come as a supplicant—he was at their disposal and could expect nothing—but his desire to be as unassuming as possible warred with his unease. “Captain, won’t that be dangerous?”

“Oh, yes. If nothing else, it’s the original home of the Colibri. They’re more likely to recognize her there than anywhere else in the galaxy.”

“Pete and Alix did a good job disguising her, Adan,” Ciro said.

“I can understand why you’d want to go there,” Tennama said, “but we might be able to find the information you’re looking for on another planet. Kumar’s case—”

“We’re not going there for Kumar.”

Before Tennama could respond, Vas walked away.

“Don’t mind him too much,” Ciro said. “It’s not you. Not this time, anyway.”

Tennama looked at Ciro. The boy was so simple. His whole demeanor was friendly and unguarded. Sitting next to him was like sitting next to a ray of sunshine.

“Mr. Ciro—”

“Ciro’s fine, Tennama. Everyone calls me that.”

“Ciro, what’s going on?”

Ciro’s fingers never stopped tapping on the input keys. “We’re going there for Miss Reyer. Adan knows that we can find the information on other planets, but Alix said we should go to P5, and he couldn’t tell her no.”

Anthony considered that for a few seconds before asking, “Does she have that much of a hold over him?”

Ciro grinned. “He would say no. So would she, come to think of it. But this is different.”

“Why?”

“Two years ago, Adan put one of her best friends on an unofficial assignment. Undercover. Dangerous. Very hush-hush. He was trying to hunt down information about—well, about you guys. The xenos.”

“What happened to him?”

Ciro stopped typing, but his eyes never left the screen. “We don’t know. The last we heard from him, he was on P5. That was over a year ago.”

He resumed typing.