It broke Naero’s heart.
Their situation forced them to ditch Kattryll’s Triaxian luxury transport in an ocean on Egano-4.
The megs she could have gotten for that craft, even at a loss, would have bought her a great ship. Her first ship.
But Baeven was absolutely right. Kattryll’s small yacht would be nova hot. Triax wouldn’t rest now until they were all recaptured or killed outright.
Such a high profile craft would be far too easy to track down.
If she ever managed to escape from Triaxian Space, she’d send someone she could trust back to “discover” the ship as a salvage one day.
For the moment, escape seemed like a pretty big if.
They were practically in the heart of the Triaxian regions, and the Gigacorps were known for their tenacity. There had to be a very hefty bounty on them already, and half the Triaxian Navy was most likely looking for them.
They left Egano-4 immediately, transferring to a small Lidoma merchant ship that Baeven had waiting for them under independent registry.
Naero didn’t like securing both Tarim and Ellis in their standard crew quarters.
The two youths both took it differently. Tarim looked very sad, and embarrassed that they didn’t trust him.
“I’m sorry,” she said. The frame to his door panel suddenly felt so cold to her touch as she leaned on it.
“I know you think I’ll just get in the way–dumb lander kid on the loose,” he said. “But I can help; I want to help. Teach me how to do something. I’m smart. I learn fast.”
“It’s not that,” she said. “I can see Baeven’s point. He doesn’t know you. I don’t know you. We can’t take any chances. Gallan and I will come to see you when we don’t have duties. As long as you’re with us, it’s all right. I’ll load your terminal with some interesting stuff from the bridge. Get some rest. You probably need it.”
“Don’t treat me like a child, Naero. I...I don’t think I could handle it.”
“Okay, Tarim, I’ll try.” What did he mean by all that?
She closed his room panel to sec-lock it. His sad eyes whipped away from her. The buttons she pressed the codes into clicked angrily like a nest of disturbed bugs. Some old ships’ electronics were like that.
Gallan led Ellis down to his quarters, the Matayan protesting the entire time.
“If it is as you say, and I am not a prisoner, then why are you detaining me?” He spotted Naero.
“Girl, tell this oaf to release me at once. As a prince, I demand it.”
Girl? He didn’t even remember her name?
“In case you’ve forgotten, Your Highness, my name is Naero, Naero Amashin Maeris, of Clan Maeris.” She watched his eyes widen.
“Naero, of Clan Maeris, I gave my word upon my honor to your leader not to harm any of you or sabotage this ship. It is in my best interest that we escape. I resent being treated like a criminal.”
“You’re still a potential enemy,” she said, despite the fact that, cleaned up, he was even prettier, and he smelled wonderful, like musk and flowers.
“The fact that we rescued you does not dispense with centuries of hatred and violence between Spacers and Matayans. Like I told Tarim, Gallan and I will come to see you, but for now, I think Baeven’s right. Until we’re sure we’re safe, we can’t take any chances.”
“If you are not ransoming me, then allow me to send a coded message to my people.”
“Right, fat chance. And have Triax and whoever else intercept it and hunt us down? Live with it–you’re going to run with us for a while. We’re all alive at least. As soon as we can, we’ll try to dump you off somewhere safe. But we can’t leave any leads for our enemies to follow.”
Ellis stalked into his chambers without another word, his back to them, still fuming. Fists clenched and broad shoulders tight.
They secured the panel behind him.
The bugs protested again.
“Naero,” Baeven called over her com, “I want you in the Medical Bay as soon as you’re done.”
“Affirmative. We’re finished here. Gallan’s going back to monitor the bridge. I’ll be with you shortly.”
In the small ship’s medical section, Baeven performed a variety of scans and tests on her, all to no avail.
Om kept asking her, Are we in danger? Is this one trying to access our secrets? He is formidable. How can I defend us and our secrets with my defensive protocols still offline?
I’m not sure, Om. I think he’s trying to help us still. Let’s wait and learn what we can.
Something told her to hold back what Kattryll had let slip, that Triax alone possessed some way to both detect and access the Kexxian Matrix. Every time she was on the verge of telling Baeven that, some instinct warned her not to.
“Are we done yet?” Naero asked. “I’ve been away from my studies for a few days. I’d like to get back to them.” She was starting to get stiff. The old cushions of the medbed felt like lumps of solid rubber.
Baeven seemed under a great deal of pressure.
“Nothing!” He slammed his fist against the ship’s hull.
He actually dented it.
With his bare fist.
He turned to her again. “I need you to think back to when you and your brother were with your parents.”
“Okay...”
“Were you ill at all? Did you or your brother undergo any medical treatments, even routine immunizations?”
Then Naero remembered.
“There was this weird physical scan that took several hours. The medtek was this little furry guy from Omni Corps space, a Cumi. I don’t remember very much about it. They performed it while we slept. Mom and Dad were real grim and insistent about it at the time. All they said was that they were worried about some kind of ancient plague. But we checked out fine.”
“Haisha, that could be it,” Baeven said. “What plague could they have meant? The Kexx virtually eliminated illness among themselves and their systems for millions of years.”
“Does it have something to do with the Cumi then?”
“The Cumi are another ancient, far-trading race. They knew of the Kexx at the very beginning of their civilization. And you say your parents said nothing more to you two about these scans–which just happened to take hours to complete–or what they were for?”
“That’s not unusual,” Naero told him. “We didn’t talk much. Jan and I were fighting constantly with our parents before they left on their re-supply loops through Matashi and Omni Corps. On their last exploration run, we couldn’t speak to each other without arguing.”
“They might not have told you the truth for good reason.”
“They thought it best that we all cool down for a while, so as usual, they sent me and Jan off with Aunt Sleak. It was on their way home to rendezvous with her on her Triax run that they...”
She choked up suddenly.
Why now, of all times? It was as if her throat suddenly filled up with dust.
“The Matayans, they–” The grief she’d suppressed came back on her so suddenly that she couldn’t talk anymore. Shock and fatigue gave way to tears that streamed from her eyes. She had to turn away and shudder to keep from sobbing.
Her legs threatened to give out from under her.
Baeven put an arm around her before she collapsed. She leaned against his solid bulk and wept for all she was worth.
He stroked her hair. “Mourn those you love, Naero. For their memory, for the loss of their blood. Never forget them. They live in our hearts now, and in you.”
Images of her mother and father throughout her life flashed through her mind. Baeven held her for a long time. She finally realized that they were leaning against the wall of the medical section still, and pulled away from him.
Be an adult. Live with it. Go forward.
“You must think I’m pretty childish,” she said. Then she looked at Baeven. His eyes were red too.
Aunt Sleak had said that he and her mother were close once.
“M
y mother,” she said. “Did you love her?”
“Yes,” he said, without hesitation. His demeanor saddened. “I am...an old friend of the family, after all.”
He sighed deeply. “At one time Lythe and I were very close, when we were young. When we knew little of the universe that lay around us–like some predatory thing. I would have given my life for her. In my own strange way… I’m still doing so.”
He turned away and bowed his head. “I enlisted in Spacer Intel at a young age and volunteered to train with the Mystics, against the will of my family. My work drove me away from everyone. Things happened. I was exiled. We never spoke again or met. I’d heard she had married well, and had two children. I was happy for her–that she knew such a life as I never could.
“Then I discovered that she and Spacer Intel were embroiled in this business. I took an interest in the affair, but I was too late to help her, or your father and their people. I’m sorry.”
Naero took his hand.
He raised his head and smiled proudly. “From what I have learned, your parents fought and died bravely, taking many foes down with them.”
“I can’t see why Aunt Sleak hates you so much.” Yet Baeven was so hard to get a handle on. He even smelled different each time she met him, using different colognes.
He looked at her and his gaze hardened. “Perhaps she knows me better, Naero. Perhaps you will hate me one day as well. We are in a difficult place, with few options. I have hard choices to make. Choices that will affect the lives of trillions of beings, and not only our own people. The costs of another Spacer War may only be the beginning.”
The absolute severity and certainty of his words made her shudder. “I don’t understand most of this mess. I don’t even know if I want to, but if I can help in any way, I will.”
“One way or another, I think you’ll have to. But understand this: We are all expendable. If the time ever comes when I must sacrifice you, your friends, or even myself, please try to understand that I will do whatever I must.”
For who?
I cannot trust this one.
Om, I’m not sure anyone can.
Naero understood that she had been born into a hard world of metal and plasteel, of extremes of cold and heat.
Spacers were born to rise to the challenge, and still maintain their humanity.
Somehow, she felt that all of those harsh extremes were multiplied tenfold for this enigmatic stranger, who by his own choices made himself an outlaw and a pariah.
“My mother once told me that the most dangerous enemy to have is one who is completely convinced that what he or she is doing is right, because they are utterly ruthless.”
Baeven looked off and smiled sadly. Then he nodded. “Lythe was right, Naero. Your mother was very, very right. But then, she usually was.”
He walked away, his hands clasped behind his back. “But doing the right thing is not always what you should do, or what you need to do. They can be completely different things.”
He seemed to have an insight suddenly.
“I think I know where to go to find out whether you carry the Kexxian Matrix or not. But as usual, it’s going to be difficult, and very risky.”
“We need to know. Too bad Jan isn’t with us.”
“I’ll handle the arrangements. Just make sure that the Matayan and the lander don’t cause any trouble. I’ll shove them out an airlock if they do.”
She laughed at first, but then she realized, as before:
Baeven meant every word.
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