Coalition Reckoning Read online

  Kira was still hanging from the ceiling, upside-down, her ponytail dangling from her head. She was holding Brendan by his armpits and gently lowered him to his feet.

  “You all right?” she asked.

  Brendan nodded and she released him. He kept watching her with wide eyes as she disconnected from the ceiling with a soft snap, flipped around, and landed in a squat on the ground. She stood slowly.

  “That was so cool,” Brigid murmured.

  Brendan swallowed hard. “We were married?”

  “We were.” Kira reached out and clasped Brendan’s hand. “And we can be again—if we can figure out how to navigate our current situation.”

  “I’m sorry, I’m just having trouble wrapping my head around all this.” Brendan’s voice was thick, his eyes unfocused. “Can my memories be restored?”

  Kira’s lips pinched into a thin line and she shook her head.

  “But you can make new ones,” Brigid said. “You can fall in love with her again.”

  “This is…” Brendan ran his fingers through his hair, making the red curls stand on end. “This is insane. What the hell kind of people are we dealing with, that they would do this to someone? I mean, our first date? First kiss?”

  “The first kiss isn’t as important as the last,” Dane said. “And if we want to survive with our memories intact, we need a plan.”

  “No one else is losing their memories.” Kira stalked over to Marq.

  Dane followed her, keeping his grip on Brigid’s shoulders as they walked. Brendan followed.

  “Lock down the programming pods,” Kira said. “You’re the first officer. You have the authorization.”

  “The moment I use my codes to assist you, they’ll know I’ve been compromised.” Marq disconnected himself from the console and gestured to the pile of unconscious soldiers. “Right now, Teisha thinks I’m incapacitated. We need to maintain the element of surprise.”

  “How surprised do you think she’ll be when she sees that the two of you are identical?” Kira said.

  Dane flinched. “She won’t realize—”

  Kira cut him off. “Teisha is a Commander. Her mind has been sharpened, not forced into a stupor like most Coalition soldiers. The High Council wants her to give orders on their behalf, not follow them blindly. She’ll see through what you’ve done to hide your similarities, and she’ll order tests that show what my exosuit has already told me.”

  “And what is that?” Marq asked.

  “You’re not clones,” she said. “You’re brothers. I don’t know how you were created, but it wasn’t in a genetic engineer’s lab.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?” Brendan let out a half-hearted laugh.

  Dane ignored it. “If they find out—”

  Kira cut him off again. “You don’t have to tell me what they’ll do to you.”

  “Space jail?” Brendan didn’t seem to be trying to lighten the mood so much as reassure himself. His eyes were haunted, and a muscle in his jaw was twitching.

  “Mind-wipes and reprogramming,” Marq said. “The same as they’ve been doing to all Coalition citizens for our entire lives.”

  Dane turned to Kira. “If your nanNet never integrated with you, but it’s still functioning, you’re in for a hell of a lot worse than a mind-wipe chamber.”

  “They’ll dissect me, down to my DNA,” Kira said.

  “Wait, what?” Brendan stepped closer to her.

  “The exosuit will protect me,” Kira said. “I just wish I could convince it to be more helpful.”

  “So, the nanites the Coalition put in your head are controlling the exosuit?” Brigid asked.

  Kira nodded. “I think so.”

  “But they’re good-guy nanites?” Brigid said.

  Kira’s lips quirked up on one side. It was the closest thing to a smile Brigid had brought out of her. She hoped she would get a chance to do more.

  “I suppose you could say that,” Kira said.

  “Maybe we can talk to them.” Brigid looked up at Dane. “Send them a message?”

  “They respond to my thoughts,” Kira said. “That’s why the Vegans gave me an exosuit. They say I’m ‘awakened’, whatever that means. It’s part of some legend.”

  “Cool.” Brendan smiled at her, and even reached out and took her hand in his.

  “Can you get them to talk to the ship?” Brigid asked. “See if they can send a signal to the Vegans or help us find a place to hide?”

  “With us being on the way to Sadr-4, I don’t think hiding is much of an option anymore,” Dane said.

  “Okay, then.” Brigid looked around the room. “We need to meet back up with Henry, Vay, and Barbara. But then we can barricade ourselves in here. Maybe take any weapons those soldier guys have on them in case we have to leave.”

  “Putting on their uniforms will help us move through the ship if needed,” Marq said. “But we lack the time to train you on the use of our uniforms’ bracers.”

  “Just show us how to blow stuff up,” Brigid said. The gleam in Brendan’s eyes made her think he was eager for some payback.

  “Maybe we’ll just keep them on the stun setting.” Dane squeezed her shoulder. “We don’t want you blasting a hole through the hull and spacing everyone.”

  “Right,” she said. “That would be bad.”

  “This whole thing sounds kind of like a crap shoot,” Brendan said.

  Kira stepped closer to him. “It’s a dangerous situation, but I’ll do everything I can to keep you safe.” She looked to the others, and added, “All of you.”

  “The exosuit should help with that,” Dane said.

  Brendan smiled and let out a soft laugh. “I can already see why I fell in love with you.” He brushed a hair behind her ear, then said, “Oh, to hell with it. I only hope this one isn’t the last.”

  He leaned in and kissed her.

  Brigid felt her eyes widen. It was so sad thinking of all they’d lost, but at the same time, there was a tiny part of her that was hoping for a miracle.

  The metallic bands on Kira’s body started glowing. In a pulse of energy that Brigid felt vibrate through her, the bands expanded, enclosing Kira and Brendan in a tall cylinder of light.

  Tiny motes of silver drifted away from the pair, clustered as if they were being carried by a breeze. They landed on the console that Marq had been using earlier to control the programming pods.

  Dane held Brigid closer. He muttered, “What the hell?” under his breath.

  She squinted against the brightness, wanting to see what was happening. Finally, the lights dimmed, leaving Kira and Brendan in the middle of a passionate embrace.

  Brigid’s cheeks heated. She hoped that she and Dane would get a chance to kiss each other like that again. Well, except for the weirdness with the exosuit.

  The couple finally pulled apart—barely—to stare at each other. Brendan blinked a few times, then said, “Kira?”

  “Yes?” Her voice was a little breathless.

  Brendan looked around, smiling at Dane and Brigid.

  “I remember.” He turned back to Kira. “I remember everything. How is that possible?”

  Kira shook her head, her face beaming with a huge smile. “I don’t know. Are you sure?”

  “I think so,” he said. “I remember my broadcasts looking for aliens and you answering. How you crashed your escape pod into my lake.”

  “I did not crash it.” She scowled briefly. “I set it to self-destruct after a perfectly controlled decent.”

  “Sorry.” He smiled down at her, then kissed her again.

  “Not to interrupt,” Dane said, “but we have a little problem.”

  Kira and Brendan pulled apart again. Dane pointed at Kira.

  “Your exosuit is gone,” he said.

  “What?” Kira leaned back, staring down at her body. The silver bands that had adorned her arms and legs were gone, as well as the one around her neck.

  “I thought they couldn’t be removed,” Brendan said. />
  “That’s what the Vegans told me.” She ran her hands over her arms as if she couldn’t believe what her eyes were telling her.

  “What are we going to do without the exosuit to help us?” Brigid said. Seeing it at work had made her feel at least a little more hopeful about their situation.

  “Is your nanNet intact?” Brendan asked.

  Kira closed her eyes for a moment, then nodded. “I can still feel them.”

  “That’s a relief,” he said. “But that still doesn’t explain where the exosuit went.”

  “Could it have gone into that computer thing?” Brigid asked, pointing at the console. The others stared at her. She shifted a little, then said, “That’s where the sparkles landed.”

  “Sparkles?” Brendan said.

  “There were small lights coming off of you while you kissed,” Marq said. “The Earthling is correct. They landed on the control console and disappeared.”

  “I have a name, you know,” Brigid said.

  “Brigid,” he said. “I’m aware.”

  Dane ignored the exchange. “You said your nanites were controlling your exosuit. And that they respond to your thoughts.”

  “Yes.” Kira nodded.

  “Why would they have gone into the control console for the programming chamber?” Dane asked.

  “The Reckoning has different protocols for mind-wipes,” Marq said. “We make a copy of all memory cells before wiping them, so that intelligence operatives can review the person’s experience for useful or forbidden information.”

  “I didn’t know we had technology that could do that,” Dane said.

  “You’re not supposed to,” Marq said.

  “The nanites must have figured that out and used it to reconstruct Brendan’s memories.” Kira smiled up at Brendan.

  He picked up her hands and kissed them. “Please communicate my thanks to them.”

  “Wait a minute.” Brigid walked over to the control console, staring at the flashing white lights and strange etchings on its chrome surface. “If the nanites could access that much of this computer, what’s stopping them from accessing the rest of the ship?”

  One of the flashing lights turned green. No one else seemed bothered by it, but it struck Brigid as strange. All the other lights were white.

  “Kira, can you communicate directly with your nanites?” Dane said. “Give them orders, instead of just letting them respond to your thoughts?”

  She nodded. “I can.”

  “But there’s a cost,” Brendan said.

  “It’s worth it.” Kira closed her eyes again, her brow furrowing in concentration. “I don’t think it’s working.”

  More lights on the console switched to green. The flashing pattern changed as well.

  “Am I the only one seeing this?” Brigid asked.

  Kira opened her eyes. Everyone looked to where Brigid was pointing.

  “The console is malfunctioning.” Marq began tapping in commands. “Likely due to the interface with the— Ow!”

  He leapt back, shaking his hand. Dane hurried to Marq, inspecting his hand.

  “What happened?” Dane asked.

  “It shocked me.” Marq shook his head. “As I said, the console is malfunctioning.”

  “No, it isn’t,” Kira said. “The nanites are still in there. Some of them, at least. I can hear them—and they can hear me.” She beamed up at Brendan. “It doesn’t hurt to talk to them anymore.”

  Brendan returned her smile, wrapping an arm around her as they stared at the console. “What are they saying?” he asked.

  “They want to know what’s next,” she said.

  Dane looked up at Marq, then over to Brigid and smiled.

  “New plan,” Dane said. “We’re taking the ship.”

  Brigid beamed up at him. “Now that is a great plan.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Dane resisted the urge to run his hand over his face. His cheeks felt cold without his usual stubble. The back of his neck was even worse.

  Were Coalition ships always this drafty?

  Brigid walked at his side, fidgeting with the tight-fitting Sadirian uniform she wore. It could barely contain her curves, and showed off every inch of her body. If they pulled this off, he might just get another chance to explore it more.

  She caught him ogling her and said, “What?”

  He smirked. “Just admiring the view.”

  “Well, knock it off,” she said. “You’re supposed to be an emotionally repressed Sadirian soldier.”

  “Like you weren’t checking out my butt earlier,” he murmured.

  “I’m still getting used to ‘the new you’,” she said. “I think I like your hair better long.”

  “Good, because I’m growing it back out as soon as we’re done here.”

  “But I get a kiss before you grow out your stubble again,” she said.

  He cocked his head to the side, staring down at her.

  She shrugged. “I just want to know what it’s like.”

  Chuckling, he turned back toward the corridor. “Whatever you want, sweetheart.”

  “Watch the pet names,” she whispered. “And the accent, too.”

  Right. He’d have to be careful about that. He set his face in a stern line.

  Kira and Brendan walked in front of them, their hands encased in restraints. They all paused at the door to the bridge.

  “Everybody ready for this?” Dane said.

  Brendan shook his head. “Ready to get it over with.”

  A light on the access panel next to the door flashed green. Kira struggled to suppress a smile. She looked over her shoulder at Dane and nodded.

  “Let’s go,” he said.

  The door slid open, revealing the command center of the ship. Teisha was standing in the center, straight black hair streaming down her back and hands on her hips. Her feet were set in a wide stance as she stared at the viewport.

  Instead of stars, swirling, rippling eddies of cobalt and ultramarine blurred past their ship. Blue space.

  It had been a while since Dane had traveled using a dropgate. He still couldn’t believe the Reckoning could create its own.

  The Coalition only built dropgate generators near the most important outposts and planets because of the time and resources involved in creating them. The idea that the High Council now had ships that could skip the need to travel to the dropgate generators was unnerving, to say the least.

  However he entered blue space, Dane always found the view claustrophobic. Shaking off the sense of all that blue closing in on him, he pushed Brendan’s shoulder, urging him into the room. Kira glared at Dane, then followed.

  To her credit, Brigid didn’t react to the gesture. She kept her face blank as she headed immediately to the communications station, just as they’d planned. No one seemed to notice her.

  Dane, they noticed. And not just because he was a head taller than everybody else on the bridge—aside from his ‘prisoners’.

  Dane nodded toward the soldier who was standing at the communications station. The man nodded back, then switched to another station, giving his over to Brigid.

  “Marq.” Teisha arched a brow at him as he approached, giving Kira’s shoulder a shove this time. “You’ve returned at last. And with offerings.”

  “I was unable to provide updates, as these saboteurs have disrupted our communications systems.” He kept his voice as flat as possible.

  “You look different.” Teisha narrowed her dark eyes at him.

  “I was exposed to a weapon unlike any I’ve encountered,” he said. “It may have affected me.”

  “You can report to the med bay after your report.” She stepped up to Kira, close enough that their noses almost brushed. “K-58-b7. You have been harboring secrets from the Coalition. I look forward to prying them from your mind myself.”

  “That may be difficult,” Dane said.

  Teisha snapped her gaze to his. “Explain.”

  “She sabotaged the mind-wipe ch
amber,” Dane said. “The technology she used is incredibly powerful.”

  It wasn’t even a lie. Of course, they didn’t quite have access to that technology anymore, but Teisha didn’t have to know that. Hopefully, by the time they dropped out of blue space, the nanites would have taken over enough systems to be just as helpful as the exosuit—in their own way.

  “Where did you obtain this technology?” Teisha demanded.

  “As the recently assigned planetary liaison for Earth, I would be happy to answer your questions and act as intermediary with the head of Earth’s Department of Homeworld Security.” Kira smirked, cocking her head to the side. “Are you interested in establishing a dialogue?

  Teisha sneered. “I do not recognize your first contact committee. And your assignment as Earth’s planetary liaison is under review, as all of General Serath’s recent orders soon will be.”

  Dane’s stomach sank. It was one thing to suspect that Adam’s plan to approach the High Council about Earth’s right to establish a first contact committee wasn’t going well. It was another to both hear Teisha confirm it and go further.

  If Adam’s orders were about to be called into question, the High Council must be planning something. Something big.

  Adam was the head of the Coalition fleet. More soldiers were loyal to him than the Coalition itself. What were they up to?

  If Kira was unsettled as well, she didn’t show it. In that calm, low voice of hers, she said, “Very well. If you aren’t interested in a parlay, you can return us to Earth.”

  On cue, she and Brendan both twisted their wrists, making the restraints fall to the ground. It wasn’t all that impressive, since they’d never been locked, but Teisha didn’t know that.

  To add to the effect, Dane leapt back, pointing his bracer at the pair. He struggled to keep himself from faking a surprised expression.

  What was living with suppressed emotions even like?

  Teisha held up a hand, silently ordering him to stand down. Her frown deepened as Dane lowered his bracer and stood at attention.

  So far, their smoke-and-mirrors were working. That was what Henry had called it when they’d all gathered to create their makeshift plan. Misdirection and distraction, just like with the baking soda volcanoes. Only on a much larger scale.