Athena's Ashes (6 page)

“I hope that’s not necessary, sir, but I’ll do my best.” A twinkle of amusement shone in the commander’s eyes as she turned to the handsome blond man standing beside her. “This is my executive officer, Lieutenant Alistair Blake.”

He saluted smartly, but the grin at the end ruined the military effect. “Welcome aboard, Miss Carrizal.”

Renna smiled back. “I look forward to working with both of you.”

“Finn must be insane if he left you behind and went on the run with an Ileth pirate,” Blake said, with a chuckle. “Either way, his loss is my gain.”

Jayla rolled her eyes. “Despite what the lieutenant says, Captain Finn is one of our best. We’ll do whatever it takes to make sure he’s all right.” Jayla’s eyebrows furrowed as she glanced at Dallas. “I’m assuming we still haven’t heard from him?” Dallas shook his head, and the commander’s lips thinned.

Renna shifted on her heels. There was that stupid twinge of jealousy again. She wanted to know more about Finn’s life, about what he’d done after leaving Blur’s gang. She wanted to know how the commander knew him and if they’d gone on missions together. The urge to know everything about him left her breathless, and a surge of vertigo shot through her, sending the room spinning. She squeezed her eyes closed. Godsdammit. This could stop any time now.

She sucked in a few deep breaths and opened her eyes again when the pain lessened.

And then froze. Her implant had created a glowing text overlay with a full workup on Commander Jayla. Heart rate, blood pressure, height, eye color, birthplace, and rank all scrolled past as she studied the woman. She blinked, and the information shifted a level deeper, into a full dossier on the commander, including statistics, kills, military honors, and missions.

She’d been Finn’s commanding officer for two years prior to being reassigned to the
Eris
.

Renna glanced at Lieutenant Blake, and the data shifted instantly. According to the new information, Blake and Finn had been in boot camp together, recruited at the same time by Dallas.

Somehow, when she’d connected with the MYTH database, all of their records had downloaded into her brain. By the blasted stars, maybe this implant thing was going to be useful after all. She blinked again and the heads-up display faded, the personal info disappearing from her vision.

“Everything all right, Renna?” Dallas asked, watching her carefully.

She quickly pushed away her amazement and nodded. “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.” A twinge of panic beat wings against her temples, but she had to look on the bright side. Being able to pull up instant knowledge on anyone could be a real asset in her line of work.

“Commander, is the
Eris
prepped for take-off?”

Jayla saluted. “Ready whenever Miss Carrizal is.”

“Very good.”

There was a commotion at the hangar door as Dr. Samil darted through it, closely followed by Major Larson.

“So glad I caught you,” Samil panted, her pale face flushed pink like she’d been running. “I forgot to give this to you during your checkup.” She handed a small silver box to Renna. “We had a breakthrough. It won’t stop the integration completely, but I was able to create a compound that should keep the implant stable and the neural connection at bay for now. This is a month’s worth of pills.”

Renna closed her fingers around the box, the edges cutting into her skin. She glanced up at Dr. Samil, hoping the woman could see how grateful she was. “Thank you, Doc. I mean it.”

The corners of Samil’s blue eyes wrinkled as she smiled. “Make sure you remember to take them every day. And come back as soon as you start feeling any side effects again. The pills may stop working as your system builds up tolerance.”

“I understand. Hopefully, it won’t take me more than a few weeks to find Finn. I’ll be back for you to experiment on before you know it.”

“I’m going to hold you to that, Renna.” Samil squeezed her arm. “Be careful out there.”

Dallas turned to Major Larson. “Is there something you needed, Major?”

Larson’s gaze wandered over the ship like he was looking for something, but after a moment he turned back to them. “I’d like to speak to Renna alone, if you don’t mind.”

Wariness flitted across Dallas’s face, but he nodded. “Very well. Dr. Samil, Commander, follow me.” The trio headed toward the loading hatch, leaving Renna and Larson behind.

Larson stood at ease, legs spread apart, hands behind his back. He studied her like he’d studied the
Eris
. Like Renna was just another thing to be used.

She forced her body to stay relaxed. She’d be damned if she let him see how uncomfortable he made her.

Finally, he smiled slightly, baring his teeth. “I’m glad to see I wasn’t mistaken about you back on Lenue, Renna. You did what needed to be done with Navang. You rescued the boy and destroyed the threat. I hope you’re willing to do the same to Finn and the
Athena
.”

“I’m not sure what you mean, sir.”

“I know the truth, Renna. I know you blew up the facility. I don’t disagree with your actions, but I wish you’d contacted me first.” The major shook his head sadly. “It could have saved us all a lot of time and trouble.”

Renna stayed silent. The man was going to slip up; she only had to wait.

“This mission to find Finn and the boy is even more important than your previous one. I can’t tell you how critical it is we bring Myka in.”

She crossed her arms over her chest. “And why is that?”

“Myka and his technology are the key to our future. To MYTH’s future.”

She arched an eyebrow at him questioningly, but she held her breath. Could this be it? “How so?” she asked.

“I saw your report. If Navang believed using Myka’s DNA could help him build his army, perhaps we can figure out how. We need every advantage we can get. The universe is a dangerous place.”

“And you have no problem using an innocent little boy to create a super-soldier? No wonder Finn and Aldani went on the run. They’d want nothing to do with this.”

Larson growled and took a threatening step closer, his cold eyes flashing. “You don’t understand, girl. There are some things even more important than protecting the innocent. Do you know how many species out there are waiting for the Coalition to slip up? To take over our territories? If that happens, life as we know it will be destroyed. We need to become better than anyone else.”

A wave of something sharp hit her in the face. It smelled almost antiseptic, and she wrinkled her nose. What had he been doing in the med-bay?

“If that’s what you truly believe, then maybe I don’t want to be a part of MYTH after all,” Renna said through gritted teeth. Her hands itched to punch the smug look off his face, but she held back. “Or do your superiors know you’ve been bending their rules to fit your own purpose?”

Larson’s lips parted for a fraction before he slammed down his icy expression. “I don’t know what you think you know, but I’ve been a part of MYTH since it was founded. I know the real organization and what they stand for.” He lowered his voice. “I’m going to say this one more time, Renna. Your job here is to find the
Athena
and bring that boy back. Or I’ll make sure becoming a hybrid is the least of your worries.”

Major Larson was nothing more than a bully and a thug, and she knew how to handle those. Renna smirked at him first—for someone like him, there was nothing worse than being laughed at. “Thanks for confirming my suspicions, Major. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a mission to start.”

She mockingly saluted him, then spun on her heel and headed toward the
Eris
. She could hear him grinding his teeth as she walked away. The fucker was going to pay—for betraying MYTH, for experimenting on Myka, and for insulting her.

“Everything all right?” Dallas asked as she joined him at the
Eris’s
hatch. He watched the major’s retreating form. “What did Larson want?”

“He wanted to make sure I understood how serious this mission was. How important Myka is.”

“Myka?” Dallas shook his head. “Of course we want to make sure the boy’s all right, but bringing Finn in is our goal right now. Where you find one, you’ll find the other.”

“That’s what I thought, too.” Renna shrugged. “Perhaps he heard different orders. MYTH is pretty decentralized after all.”

He cleared his throat. “Not
that
decentralized. I’ll follow up with Larson later and get this confusion settled. The man’s always taken too much upon himself. Are you ready to go?”

Renna nodded. “Can’t wait.”

Dallas’s face softened, and he held out a hand. “Good hunting.”

She shook it. “Thanks for everything, sir. You won’t regret it.”

She felt his gaze follow her as she boarded the ship. The urge to tell him the truth was stronger than ever, but she couldn’t risk it. She had a traitor to track down before any of them would be safe.

SEVEN

If Renna had thought the inside of the
Athena
was gorgeous, the
Eris
put her to shame. The sleek chrome walls, the smooth leather chairs in front of each console, the navigation map taking up one entire wall of the command center. It was as high-tech as it got. And when Commander Jayla gave the order to take off, Renna barely felt the ship move as they shot through the atmosphere and out into space.

Lieutenant Blake leaned back in his chair on the bridge, grinning at the rapturous expression on Renna’s face. “She’s a beauty, eh? I won the lottery when I was picked as Jayla’s XO.”

“I’d say.” She lovingly ran a hand along the control panel. “You’ve been assigned to her long?”

She already knew from her earlier implant scan that he’d worked under Jayla for almost a year, but establishing relationships with the crew was going to be important. And she knew better than anyone that one of the easiest ways to build a relationship with a man was to get him talking about himself. They could never resist.

“Finn and I served under Jayla on the
Athena
for two years. When they gave her this new ship a year ago, Finn got a promotion to captain and his own command. I got picked as XO for the
Eris
.”

“That’s tough. Did you want your own ship?” She studied him under the guise of paying attention. He was as handsome as Finn, but with spiky blond hair and warm brown eyes instead of Finn’s dark hair and blue eyes. But there was something similar about both of them. Maybe it was their military bearing or the upright moral fiber MYTH beat into them. But where Finn had a core of steel, Blake seemed younger somehow. More innocent.

The lieutenant shook his head. “Hell no. What person in his right mind wants that kind of responsibility? I’m perfectly happy serving under a very able commander and not being on the hook if something goes wrong.” He pointed to himself. “Having your own command is stressful and I’d hate to damage this handsome face with too many wrinkles. Old age isn’t a good look for me.”

Renna laughed—for the first time in days, it felt like. “Good point. Wrinkles would definitely take away some of that boyish charm.”

“I knew I liked you,” he said, beaming. His glance slid toward the commander. “Jayla’s going to have my head if I don’t get back to work. And she is one woman you do not want to piss off. I think she has bigger balls than I do.”

“You going to let me find out?” Renna asked with a seductive smile. She didn’t mean a word of it, but flirting was another sure way to hook a man and she’d slipped into her old, practiced personality with ease. She’d perfected Renna-the-flirt years ago after she’d seen how well it had worked in getting her out of tight situations.

Blake flushed a deep red and stammered, “Uh…no…yes… I don’t know…”

She bit back another laugh. Well that was unexpected. The guy could dish it out, but he couldn’t take it. “Relax, handsome. I promise I won’t bite.”

Blake cleared his throat. “Er, I really need to get back to work. I’ll talk to you later.” He almost scurried back to his console.

Commander Jayla crossed the bridge to stand near Renna. “Are you upsetting my XO?”

“I didn’t mean to.”

Jayla shook her head, her gaze following the man as he took his station. “Alistair’s a good kid. One of the best, actually. But he’s a lot…nicer…than you’d expect a military man to be. Go easy on him.”

“You sound almost maternal.” Renna studied the woman’s dark skin, her angular jaw. Despite reading Jayla’s file, she didn’t know anything about her personal life.

Jayla shrugged. “He had an easy life. I don’t think he knew what he was signing up for when he joined MYTH. Finn and I have kept an eye on him.”

“Is that why Finn got captain and Alistair didn’t?”

Jayla nodded. “Blake’s not ready for his own command yet. Don’t get me wrong, he will be, and he’ll be an excellent captain. He just needs a bit more experience under his belt. He’s got a different style from most of my crew, and I want to nurture that.”

Renna tapped a fingernail against the railing. Interesting. Most military people she’d met were more than happy to beat any sign of emotion out of their recruits. She hoped she was around long enough to see how Jayla and Blake interacted.

“Enough about my crew,” Jayla said, shaking her head. “Where are we headed?”