As Vas walked through the halls of Home Base, a half step behind General Jordan, he wracked his brain for any hint of why the general might want him. When the torturous exercise offered no obvious solution, he opened his mouth and said, “Sir, may I ask a question?”

“That depends on the question, Captain.”

“Am I in some kind of trouble?”

Jordan’s low voice rumbled, “Have you done something wrong? Recently?”

“Not that I know of, sir.”

Jordan cast an eye over him. “Then, at the moment, I think we can assume you’re not in trouble.”

“Ah.”

“Pending further information.”

“Yes, sir.”

They walked a few more feet in silence.

“Is there anything I should know about, Captain Vas?” Jordan demanded.

“No, General.”

“Good.”

That conversation had not been as enlightening as Vas might have hoped.

“Sir, can I ask what this is all about?”

“It’s classified. You’ll find out when we get there.”

Vas heard the clatter of metal footsteps on the floor and looked around to see what was happening. His younger brother, Ciro, was flanked by two bots. He was heading toward them, his face set with grim purpose.

“Ciro?”

“Adan! You heard?”

“He has not heard, Mr. Vas,” Jordan barked as the younger Vas and his entourage joined them, “and I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t yell out confidential information in the halls.”

“Understood, sir.”

Ciro’s unusual seriousness made Vas even more wary. By the time Jordan finally stopped in front of the interrogation room, Adan was certain he was walking on his own raw nerves. The door opened with the general’s handprint. In the observation room, Ito, Dr. Jane, and Alix were waiting.

Adan’s automatic smile at seeing Reyer dissolved when he realized the import of her presence.

Shit.

Mechanics weren’t often invited into classified meetings. Dr. Jane was strictly forbidden from them unless she was presenting information. And bots were a precious commodity for the Rising; there was only one reason why two would be assigned to the same place.

Vas stared through the one-way glass at the man they were going to be guarding. “He’s a xeno.”

Ito nodded.

“A bot already confirmed it,” Jane said. Her fists were tight, and she was leaning all her weight on the balls of her feet.

Vas wondered if the biologist knew how eager she looked. He couldn’t blame her. Dr. Jane had tried to be cheerful about the new direction her work had taken, but every once in a while, usually after two glasses of wine, she’d grow quiet and her smile would fade. Then, if she spoke at all, she’d wonder about the xenos.

Judging by her suppressed agitation, it was obvious how much the aborted study had eaten at her.

The captain turned away from the biologist. “Was he trying to infiltrate?”

“No,” General Jordan said. “He flew here and surrendered himself.”

“He flew here in a shuttle,” Ito added.

Vas grimaced, then looked at the man again. He seemed to be about Vas’s age. His clothes and hair were disheveled from his suicidal journey. “It’s been two years. What does he want?”

“We don’t know for certain, but he says he wants to talk to Alix.”

Adan turned to Reyer, but she didn’t know what to say.

“Do we know him?” he asked her.

“He says he used to be Major Tennama,” Reyer said.

“Oh! Well!” Vas pulled out his e-pistol, jerked back the slide, glanced at the power source, and let the slide click back into place. “Shall we flip for the honor or both shoot him?”

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Alix tried to repress her smile with only partial success. “Well, we know why he didn’t ask to see you.”

Vas holstered his weapon and put a hand on her cheek. “Are you all right?”

“Yes, Captain.”

At the mention of his rank, Adan felt the presence of the two generals watching him. He let his hand fall back to his side.

“Did he say why he wanted to talk to you, Reyer?” Jordan asked.

“No,” she said. “He claims he has information we need and that he needs our help.”

Vas said, “What do you think?”

Reyer sighed through her nose, then turned to look at the figure in the chair. “Until he surrendered himself, we had no idea he was a xeno. He nearly killed himself getting here, and we can easily kill him now. I can’t imagine he’d put himself in this situation unless it was important…”

As the silence stretched on, Ito prompted her: “But?”

“I don’t want him to know Jane’s here.”

Dr. Bonumomnes’s head whipped around. “What?”

“That’s the only other thing I can think of. If he isn’t telling the truth, he might be after you. We know they want you dead, but we have no reason to suspect they know you’re here.”

“But there’s a chance,” Jordan said. “I think that’s a wise precaution.”

Jane slapped the frame of the window. “I call the corpse!”

Ito’s subtle smile lifted only one cheek. “I don’t know why you didn’t think you’d fit in here, Doctor.”

“I don’t think we should kill him yet, Jane,” Reyer said. “I think we need to hear him out.”

“Sure, sure. Whenever.”

Jordan looked at Ciro. “The robots—have you already disabled their memory storage?”

Ciro winced at the clumsy phrasing, but he’d learned long ago it wasn’t worth trying to correct the general. “Yes, sir. They’ll record nothing while they’re in the room.”

“Is video set up?”

“It will be. I’ll have to create some additional security.”

While Ciro briefly explained the minor adjustments he needed to make, Adan pulled Alix close to him.

“You’re going in there?” he said quietly.

“He came all this way to see me, Adan. It’d be rude not to talk to him.”

“I don’t like it.”

“You don’t like the fact I don’t stay in our quarters all day, wrapped in bubble wrap.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I said you could take up a nice, safe hobby.”

“Like embroidery?”

“Can’t you find something else? Those needles are so pointy.”

“Come on, Adan. He’s cuffed to the chair, damn near dead, and there’ll be two bots guarding him.” She reached down to his hip. “And I’ll have a gun,” she said, pulling his weapon.

She winked as she disarmed him. The presence of two superior officers was barely enough to keep him from responding in kind to her teasing—and she knew it. Vas could tell by her faint smile and raised eyebrow.

He grunted and looked away. “So I’m only here because you forgot your e-pistol?”

General Ito interjected herself into the conversation: “You’re the directing officer over the entire classified project.” When she saw the blank look on the captain’s face, she sighed. “Adan Vas, you do remember you’re actually an officer, correct?”

“Is that why people keep shading their eyes as I walk by?” He mimicked a salute.

Jordan said, “If their misguided respect is too distracting, Captain, I’d be happy to recommend you for demotion.”

Ito and Reyer were smiling, so Jordan was probably only joking. But still.

“That shouldn’t be necessary, sir. I’m sure I’ll get used to it.”

Ito went on, “If you ever bothered to actually look at some of the paperwork, you might have noticed that your name is at the top of the file.”

That made sense. They avoided using one of the leading generals as a directing officer whenever possible, and Vas was one of the few—

No, wait. I’m the only other officer that knows about all the missions with the xenos.

Frankly, he was still surprised they were willing to trust him with it.

The captain stood up, straightened his jacket, and turned to his brother. When Ciro looked up from the console and nodded to him, Vas turned to Alix.

“Miss Reyer?”

“I’m ready, Captain.”

“Not yet, I think. Ciro, do you have a micro-bud?”

Ciro stepped away from the computer while reaching into his pocket. He fiddled around with the earphone as Vas continued talking to Reyer.

“If we have any questions, we’ll relay them to you.”

“Sir,” she said.

“Those bots aren’t Lynx, so don’t expect them to react quick enough. If you don’t like the way he’s looking at you, feel free to shoot him.”

Jane raised a finger. “Ummm—”

“Yes, Dr. Jane?”

The biologist noticed the captain’s expression. “Ne-never mind.”

Ciro finished fitting the piece into Reyer’s ear. “She’s ready.”

“Dr. Jane, please move away from the door,” Vas said.

Jane stepped back.

Alix pulled open the door and stepped inside. The two bots followed her.

The room was stark white with nothing but a small table between two chairs. The xeno sat in one. His arms were strapped to the arms of his chair in two places.

When she entered, he raised his eyes. They were large, hazel-brown, with the outside corners slightly turned down. Maybe it was her imagination, but they seemed deep. Tennama’s eyes had always seemed to be considering her. These eyes seemed to be inviting her to consider him.

Soulful.

Reyer mentally shook herself. Adan was right; she did read too much if she was thinking something as asinine as that.

To the bots, she said, “Take your place next to the prisoner. He’s a hostile enemy. If he tries to escape or attack, kill him. Keep him away from any human.”

The man sat there, watching her, as the bots came forward.

When his metal guardians were in place, he muttered, “Miss Reyer?”

“What do I call you?” Alix moved closer, but she didn’t sit down.

The man’s sense of humor might have been blunted by his exhaustion, but it wasn’t gone. A twitch at the edge of his lips was all he could spare for a smile. “That is a complicated question, Miss Reyer, as I think you well know.”

“You said you were Anthony Tennama.”

“I am Anthony Tennama.”

“You sure as hell don’t look like him.”

“He was a good man.”

Reyer’s mind lurched at the strangeness of the comment.

“He means a lot to me.” The xeno’s voice was soft. After a deep breath, he said in a more natural voice, “And since you know that name well enough, you might as well think of me as him.”

“Major Tennama had me tortured and tried to have Vas killed.”

“No, that was me. Tennama was long dead—by seven years—before we found out about you.”

“Fine then, Tennama. What do you want from me?”

The xeno lowered his head. The silence was probably shorter than it felt.

“It’s hard to know where to begin or how to explain,” he said.

“Just tell me what you want my help with.”

Their eyes met.

“I need you to help me kill my queen,” he said.

After another silence, Reyer pulled out the second chair and sat down. “I think you have a lot to explain. Start as far back as you need to. I’ll listen.”

A fleeting shine appeared in Tennama’s eyes. “Thank you, Miss Reyer.”