Part 16 (1/2)

”Why?”

”I don't know much about him, and that says a lot in this community, given how high profile he is among The Tavali. He's kept his scandals down to none, and no one knows his business. What I do know, he's had several chances to move in on his brother's throne and never has. Same for his mother's Tavali chair and rank. He's a man of rare integrity who actually understands loyalty.”

”You're right. That's a rare thing.” Galene frowned as a strange expression pa.s.sed over Fain's face. Even odder, a light seemed to flash behind his pupils, illuminating them and the iris of his eyes.

What the...?

”Buckle down.”

While the female in her would have balked at a civilian male barking an order like that at her, she recognized a military command when she heard one. She obeyed without question as Fain went to the con and strapped himself to the command chair.

”What's going on?”

Before he could answer, the hailing alarm sounded. His s.h.i.+p answered for him.

”This is Storm Dancer. STA1-LY-8-GENC-NCOB-ORFC-Y.”

There was a brief pause. ”Serial and captain?”

Fain took over. ”You have my UCC. I don't see why you need that, especially since you have yet to identify yourself or your business.”

”We are a League cruiser on patrol in search of rebels against our nations. Now identify yourself or be arrested. You have three seconds to respond.”

”Captain Chryton Doone. STA1-8LY-5831930-GENCX.”

”Crew?”

”One organic copilot. One mecha.”

”We need visual confirmation.”

Galene's stomach heaved at that. There was no way they wouldn't know her face. She'd been prime commander of the Andarion Empire for almost a decade. Had dealt with The League more times than she could count.

We're captured.

Fain pa.s.sed an evil grin toward her. ”Trust me?”

”Have I any choice?”

He snorted, then hit the release on his seat. It shot back, suspending him in the middle of the control room in a thick plasma bubble.

Galene gasped as she realized what she'd seen earlier in his eyes when The League cruiser had arrived. Fain was the s.h.i.+p. Holy G.o.ds of Andaria. This was a technology every nation had been trying for centuries to perfect.

And The Tavali had it.

Stunned, she watched as he took absolute control of every part of the craft and went against The League cruiser and the fighters it launched against them. While the bubble he was in kept him cus.h.i.+oned, the impact was harsh on her, but she remained quiet so that she didn't distract him.

Fain cringed as one of the blasts got past his s.h.i.+elds and struck his side. The bad thing about being hardwired to the s.h.i.+p was that he felt every strike against the hull as a physical blow to his own body. And in the back of his mind was the knowledge that Galene was with him.

She was in danger.

He was violating his oath to show her this technology. No Rogue was supposed to expose their neurobinders to any non-Tavali under any circ.u.mstance. But he couldn't maneuver the s.h.i.+p like this without a crew, and he wasn't about to let The League take her.

Laws be d.a.m.ned.

Life be forfeit.

The Tavali could take his Canting and his head if they wanted it. He wasn't about to surrender her to her enemies for anything. And honestly, he preferred to battle this way. It was much more personal. Like being in the Andarion Ring. Fist-on-fist. When connected to the s.h.i.+p, he was in s.p.a.ce. He could feel the pressure of the vacuum pressing against the metal. It smothered him. And at the same time, it freed a part of his soul.

He saw all and nothing. The darkness and the light. It gave him an understanding of the vastness of the universe and how small he was in it. How extremely insignificant.

It was why most pilots couldn't pa.s.s the tests for Rogue. Why they cracked within a few weeks, or months.

Less than one percent of one percent could master the physical and mental stresses it put on the body. Never mind the synchronization process of bonding to the s.h.i.+p. It took a full year for the neuromapping of the brain and s.h.i.+p circuitry to merge into a unified whole. Another year before a pilot could actually master the s.h.i.+p as part of the body.

Suicide rates were high among the Rogues, usually within nine months after that initial stabilization of pilot and s.h.i.+p although a lot of them ended up as fatal ”accidents” that were believed to be disguised suicides and not the operator-errors officially filed on the log books.

Eventual insanity rates were even higher. Rarely did they make it a decade before their brains frayed beyond repair, and most ended up in unresponsive comas. Fain was one of the few who'd managed to hold it together for any length of time. It was the only reason Venik had ever allowed him to live.

He'd thrown Fain into this as a joke, fully expecting it to kill him. He'd thought it hysterical irony to merge Fain with the very s.h.i.+p he'd been enslaved on. A cruel way to get back at an Andarion.

Yeah...

It hadn't worked out quite the way Venik had planned. Never underestimate a Hauk's survival instinct, or the need to be the burr up the a.s.s of anyone out to do him or her harm.

There was a reason Fain's family was legendary.

Fain turned and shot a blast at the League fighters as they closed rank around him. They had no idea what they were facing. They thought this was a divided crew.

Not a single living organism.

He skidded past them and headed back toward Tavali-controlled s.p.a.ce. But it wasn't until he banked around the southern moon of Nebyla III that he realized something.

There were no Tavali reinforcements here. No patrols, and there should have been at least one.

He was flying dark.

Minsid h.e.l.l. This had been a setup! Whoever had been transmitting those facts about The Sentella had done this to get Galene out here to contact them. They knew she'd leave the station to make a solo report to the Command where there would be no risk of her being overheard.

And like a fool, he'd headed straight into this trap.

Something proven as more League forces dropped in around him. They shouldn't have been here without a ma.s.sive Tavali counterstrike. This entire sector should have been secured and locked down by Venik's troops. Only someone high up in their Nation could have pulled Tavali patrols back and cleared it for The League.

”Surrender your s.h.i.+p, Hauk. There's no need in dying today.” The fact they knew his name further confirmed his suspicions.

He laughed at the order. ”Haven't you heard? War Hauks don't surrender, giakon. We take our enemies with us to the grave.” He dove under the cruiser.

And straight into a huge swarm of fighters.

Fain skimmed two and rammed a third. One of his engines sparked, causing his nose to bleed and his leg to go numb from the impact. Ignoring it, he twisted and dodged as another group came up on the side and from behind.