Mesmerized

  More chaos, and Roman let it go for a while longer.

  Andrei’s hands clenched into fists as he thought about what those three greedy bastards had done.

  “Quiet.” Roman held his hands out in entreaty. “We will move swiftly and with confidence in our goals. I have ordered strikes on Imperialist military targets. As of now, we control the Waystation. We have closed off all access from the Imperium into the Federation. But we can—we will—use it to enter their territory. I will not stop until Ciro Fardelle is on his knees.”

  “House Lyons, why risk more lives?” someone called out from the floor.

  The chorus added, “Close all the Portals past Sanctu. Why not collapse them ourselves if we have that technology? That way none can enter.”

  “Yes! Give up the Edge. They’re nothing to us in the larger scheme of things. This solves the problem forever, and we can get on with our lives. This sort of thing slows commerce.”

  “I will not give the Edge up. This matter has been resolved. Every single ’Verse within this Federation is part of the whole. I will not show my belly and abandon the Edge for expediency’s sake. I will not hand them over to their fate, abandoned at the end of the world without any traffic, left to die without help.”

  “But you’ll send our young men and women out there to die? For what?”

  Andrei’s gaze narrowed. How could that even be a serious question?

  “Those young men and women come from every ’Verse. Just as a soldier from Asphodel—three soldiers from Asphodel, as it happens—were the ones who saved us all by getting the materials we needed to create our own device.

  “I don’t send them lightly. But with a heavy heart. A heart sure that every life in my ’Verses deserves protection. We are family, we are the Federation Universes and we will not act like the Imperium to get out of our duty. I am House Lyons. I do not run, I do not hide and I do not give in to the petty demands of cowards to save my own ass.”

  He paused, Andrei noted, totally understanding the impact of that quiet moment as Roman scanned the room and into each of the vid cameras.

  “We are at war. And just as we did at Varhana, we will win the day. I will not stop until Ciro Fardelle and his empire are nothing but rubble. Citizens, I will call upon you to do your part when you can. Military units are being mobilized. Remember that all military personnel are not to have their homes or jobs confiscated while they are away on active assignment. Any rumors of profiteering on supplies that may be harder to get will be punished severely. This is the time for us to stick together, not fray at the edges and toss our compatriots to the gathering storm. We are the Federation Universes, and we will win the day.”

  He bowed his head.

  “Thank you.”

  Daniel blew out a long breath. “Well, that’s it then.” He turned to face Andrei. “How’s Piper?”

  “Still out. I left her sleeping right before this came on. The medtech said she’d be coming out of this soon. I don’t want to go anywhere until I know she’s safe.”

  “You love her.”

  Andrei nodded. “Yes.”

  “You need to get papers. Marry her. She needs that security in times like these especially.” He paused. “And so do you.”

  “I don’t know. Not about marrying her. I want that. But it can wait.”

  “Why? Why should it? Things are uncertain. Give her some certainty, and damn it, Andrei, let yourself be happy with her. Claim your future. Do you remember when we were finally on our way back here with Carina? You gave me a talking to about being stupid for resisting claiming her as my own.”

  Andrei sighed. He remembered, and he got the point. “I’ll be back as soon as I can. The window may still be open in the municipal office next door.”

  “I’ll make a call to be sure of it. Go, soldier, double time.”

  Vincenz stood outside her room, watching her sleep.

  Her name was Hannah Black, and she’d been a scientist. They didn’t know a lot more just yet. What he could tell from the testing journal was that they’d taken her from wherever she’d worked and begun experimenting on her.

  Extreme isolation.

  No one spoke to her.

  No one touched her.

  All food was given through a slot in her door. When they needed a blood draw or any other physical test, they gassed the room and did it while she was out.

  Sometimes they hadn’t fed her for a few days just to see her response.

  This angered him more than he could say. And yet, she’d survived. Survived the kind of torture that broke men in his line of work.

  Julian had come back from Ceres, the grief back in his features. He stood with Vincenz, an arm around his waist, his head on his shoulder as they both watched her rest. He’d spent several long meetings with Ellis debriefing over what he’d learned while Vincenz had used the workstation just outside Hannah’s door for the last hours.

  “Makes me want to hunt Fardelle down and shoot him in the face.” The anger was there in Julian, deep, and sometimes Vincenz wondered if he’d ever fully exorcise it all.

  Hannah had affected them both on a deep level. Vincenz didn’t understand why, not for either of them beside the normal human concern for another who’d suffered.

  But she did, and his heart ached for the way she’d clung to him. When he’d put her down and tried to move away, she followed. When they had to deal with meetings and were away from her for very long, he’d found her curled into a ball in the corner, her blankets around her body, eyes closed. At his soft use of her name, her eyes startled open, and she’d moved to him, nearly tripping over the bedding.

  “Touch,” Julian had said. “She needs it. Needs stimulus. Can you imagine what it must have been like for her?”

  So Vincenz had laid on the bed, putting a blanket low to assure her it wasn’t sexual. She burrowed into his body, and Julian had gotten on the other side as her blood pressure lowered and the doctor made noises and took notes, saying exactly what Julian had said.

  She had been deprived of touch for so long, she craved it, would be a little crazy about it for a while. Maybe always. They didn’t know at that stage.

  She’d fallen into a deep, medicated sleep, and Vincenz and Julian had gotten up but had been unwilling to go too far. Vincenz had to keep looking in to reassure himself. Her, too, he supposed. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Hannah would be important.

  “I missed you,” Julian murmured, bringing his thoughts back to the man standing with him. Vincenz turned to face him.

  “Me, too. I know it was hard. Back on Ceres.”

  Julian shook his head. “It’s over. We got a great deal of information, and I’m here with you now.”

  A soft kiss. The brush of lips and the scratch of beards. Kissing a man was not the same as kissing a woman. Julian’s mouth was bigger, surer than Vincenz’s female lovers had been. There was a gnash of teeth, the feral grunts and the slide of tongue against tongue. The body under his hands was hard and utterly male.

  In Julian, Vincenz found a piece he’d been missing. A piece to fill part of the emptiness he’d been feeling as long as he could remember.

  They had a depth of connection and companionship that had soothed Vincenz’s gaping wounds. And, he liked to think, Julian’s own wounds were healed a little as well.

  They’d come together in an improbable way. But most things in Vincenz’s life had been improbable, so he went with it. Accepted it.

  Piper woke up with the telltale symptoms of having been tranqued. She sat up and realized they weren’t on Parron anymore. They weren’t on a transport of any kind either.

  She remembered two things. Kenner, dead. She clutched her chest as the pain nearly felled her again. And Andrei shot. Panic ate at her insides.

  “Andrei?” she called out, getting from the bed.

  The room smelled like him, and she realized wherever they were, he’d been with her not too very long ago. Her panic subsided a little by the time she reached the
door.

  On the other side she heard voices, his was one and Taryn’s was the other. She moved toward them, calling out for Andrei.

  They were in a communal space of some sort. Probably a military installation. Where, she didn’t know.

  He jogged toward her, and she held her hand out to stay him so she could look at his leg.

  “Your leg?”

  “I told you it wasn’t a big deal. Tore through some muscles, shot clean through. I’m fine. Not even limping. Are you all right?” He sighed, shaking his head, impatience on his face. “I’m sorry, stupid question.”

  Taryn moved past Andrei to hug her. “You’re awake. We were worried for a while.”

  Tears hit again as she simply flopped down on a nearby couch. The sadness made her so cold. As if she were made of ice. Just numb and it felt better than the rage. Better than the hollow grief.

  Taryn sat on the couch next to her and Andrei fell to his knees before her, his head in her lap. “I’m sorry. I’m so terribly sorry.” Emotion tore at his voice.

  “Did you kill the one who did that to him? Destroyed his face and left him to die alone?”

  Her voice was flat, and Andrei lifted his head.

  “Yes.”

  “Did the processing plant blow?”

  “Yes.”

  “I wish I could go back there and kill them all twice.”

  Andrei said nothing, simply remaining at her feet.

  “I shouldn’t have agreed to his coming.”

  “Do you think you could have stopped him, Piper? Really?” Andrei’s gaze on hers was gentle and full of emotion. She took his hand in hers, joining her fingers with his.

  “It was too dangerous. He wasn’t trained for that sort of thing. He wouldn’t have been there if I hadn’t been.”

  “Neither of you would if I hadn’t put you there. I’m sorry. So, so sorry.”

  She saw it clearly then, the way he’d expected her to blame him for Kenner’s death. He blamed himself for it, so why shouldn’t she?

  She took his face in her palms, tipping it so he faced her fully. She shook her head. “No. Oh, baby, I’m sorry. You can’t possibly blame yourself.”

  “I could have fought harder to keep him away.”

  “Bullshit.”

  Piper looked up, startled to find the man she’d only seen on a vid screen.

  Daniel Haws paced over to where they sat. “Fought harder? How so, Andrei? You argued yourself very nearly into the brig on this.”

  Piper looked back and forth between them. “What?” She’d known he’d protested, and she really wasn’t surprised he’d gone that far for her, but he hadn’t even hinted at that sort of trouble. She’d yelled at him about Kenner coming, and he’d never tried to defend himself.

  Heart overflowing with love to counter the sharp sting of grief, she turned to Daniel.

  “Stop it. Now’s not the time.” Andrei glared at Daniel.

  “Again, that is bullshit. You told Wilhelm Ellis you’d quit your commission if he sent Kenner.” Daniel looked back to Piper. “And Ellis reminded him you were out there and how could he get you back safely if he just quit. And he threatened to send him to permanent lockup and you’d be out, unprotected, all because he refused an order from his superior.”

  Piper shook her head sadly, with a sigh. “He wanted to be there. Kenner, I mean.”

  Taryn snorted. “Gods, yes. Piper, you couldn’t have stopped him. He begged to go, especially after the attack on Ceres and Julian was called away. I was there. He made a strong argument. Appealed to Ellis’s sense of honor and duty.”

  Daniel scrubbed his hands over his face. “Ellis gave him his word, which is why he pushed Andrei back so hard.”

  “He wanted to be there.” Piper accepted it as she said it. Let the blame go.

  Well, not entirely. She had a bill she expected the Imperialists to pay.

  “It’s not your fault, Andrei. Or mine. It was the fault of an enemy soldier on our land. The Imperium is responsible.”

  Andrei nodded. “The Portal . . . in Parron.” He paused. “They collapsed it. We used the device, but it took half a day to get it there. They’re trying to figure out the extent of the damage. More dead, obviously. But we know there’s some time lag before the Portal is totally destroyed.”

  “That’s something.” Her lips were still numb.

  “Yes, and small bits of good news are better than none. Troops have been mobilized, and we’ve closed the border with the Imperium. Roman ordered strikes on Imperialist targets using portals he’s been hoarding for years and years.”

  “Sneaky bastard.”

  Piper looked up, surprised to hear Wilhelm’s voice and even more surprised to see Roman Lyons standing next to him.

  Ellis got to one knee as Andrei had moved to stand when the leader of the Federation Territories had entered the room.

  Wilhelm bowed his head. “Please accept my deepest condolences. It was my decision to send your brother to the field.” He looked up to Andrei briefly before he turned his attention back to Piper. “Against my third-in-command’s very strident protest. Kenner wanted to do something. I gave him my word to allow him to serve his government. I am truly sorry he paid with his life. But he gave it with honor and a sense of duty I found myself deeply humbled by. Your brother was a true hero, Ms. Roundtree.”

  She nodded, unknotting a little more. “Yes, he was. Thank you.”

  “If there is anything I can do to help you and your family in this difficult time, please let me know.” Roman Lyons bowed deeply over her hand.

  “There is something you can do. Since you offered and all.”

  She tipped her chin up, daring him to back out.

  “Ask it.”

  “I would like to be made a permanent member of Phantom Corps. As Andrei’s partner. I want him to be my primary trainer. I expect to be his backup on every operation.”

  Roman stood, clearly surprised.

  “Well, every operation it is appropriate I accompany him on. I can give that much.”

  Daniel murmured something to Andrei about never introducing her to Carina or there’d be more trouble than the men could handle.

  It was Comandante Wilhelm Ellis who answered.

  “Done. But being in Phantom Corps is not easy. Do you think they came to me polished and trained? Hells no! Andrei got into fights at training camp all the time for the first year. Daniel couldn’t use a knife to save his damned life. And now look at them. I will train you until you are broken down and remade into a stronger, better, brighter human being. You will understand your worth by the time I am through with you. If you truly want this, you need to understand I expect a total commitment from you. This isn’t a favor so Andrei can get tail while he’s on an op. You want in, you earn it. Do we have an understanding?”

  She stood, moving next to Andrei. “Yes sir, we do. And thank you.”

  Ellis snorted. “You joined the military during wartime, young lady. Don’t thank me for your foolhardy sense of loyalty to yon lunkhead there.” He indicated Andrei, who sighed heavily.

  She sat back down, pinning Andrei with a glare. “Sit down! You have a wounded leg.” She couldn’t resist sending Wilhelm a glare over that.

  Andrei sent her a look from the corner of his eye.

  “She’s right, Andrei. Sit.”

  “Where are we? I don’t remember a lot. The roof. There was shooting.” Piper slid a palm up her forearm, remembering the sharp bits of pavement. She found the skin patch just below her elbow.

  “Ravena. This is Corps HQ.” Andrei adjusted as she curled into his side.

  “Andrei’s leg needed treatment, so everyone was brought here. He insisted you be seen by the medtech as well,” Daniel explained.

  She sat up, remembering more. “Vincenz had a woman with him.” Piper paused, remembering the way the woman had clung to him, as if her life depended on it.

  “Her name is Hannah. We’re working on more, but she’s . . . having a rough
time of it.” Daniel began to pace.

  “They’d been experimenting on her. We know that much. Vincenz is working on the test journals to figure out what exactly they did to her.” Exhaustion threaded Andrei’s voice.

  “I want to go home.”

  Andrei froze and then took a deep breath. “All right. It’ll take a while to get you and Taryn a transport. But I’ll make it happen.”

  She turned to him, the sound of his voice catching her, jagged and sad. “No.” She snorted. “Your flat. I just had to pledge my ass to Comandante Ellis there. Do you think I’d run after I did that?”

  “Oh.” A small word, filled with emotion.

  “There’ll be a briefing in four hours. If you’re feeling up to it, your presence is required.” Ellis checked his comm. “Conveyance outside to take you to your flat.”

  “If it’s all right with you two, I’m going to stay here for a while.” Taryn shoved his hands in his pockets.

  “Why?”

  “I ended up speaking with one of the Federation scientists on your transport from Parron. I might be able to give some help with the work they’re doing to create weather-hearty grain.”

  She realized she wasn’t the only one who’d been limiting her options by remaining out on the Edge running cargo.

  It was Andrei who spoke next. “My flat has an extra room, and you’re welcome to it for as long as you need it. The address is in your personal comm. Come when you’re ready.”

  He took Piper’s arm, and they got out of there before another disaster struck. As it was, he knew there’d be a fast turnaround before they were rotated back into the field.

  The ride to his flat was quiet as she stared out the windows. It was full day, and the streets teemed with people on their way somewhere to do all manner of something. He saw it through her eyes. Remembering what it had been like the first time he’d made this trip through the city.

  Miraculous to have landed here after Asphodel. So big and bright. Clean. Organized. It wasn’t until he had gone farther out, into the other circles of Ravena, that he discovered poverty and hunger were not just a product of places like Asphodel.