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  “Understood, Lady Captain. I shall begin on this endeavor.”

  “Good. Thank you.” Alisa watched him head toward NavCom. “Maybe we can find a replacement eyeball for him on Cleon Moon. Do you think there are any android creation and repair facilities there? Solstice had a number of models in her compound.”

  “I don’t know, Captain,” Yumi said quietly, and looked past her shoulder.

  Alisa turned and jumped—Durant had come up the stairs and stood only a few feet away.

  “What do you want?” she asked, thinking of the last conversation they’d had, the one where he’d called her a grub who couldn’t effectively raise a Starseer daughter. He’d also blathered about the empire returning, about people lying in wait, ready to rise again with Prince Thorian at the head of their movement. She’d promised to space him if he didn’t leave at the next stop. Unfortunately, there hadn’t been a next stop yet, not unless one counted the hidden asteroid base that Tymoteusz had destroyed. Maybe she could dump him into a dinosaur-filled lake on Cleon Moon.

  His eyes narrowed. He was probably monitoring her thoughts. She smiled. Let him.

  “Your daughter has a tendency toward stubbornness and irreverence,” he said.

  “Imagine that.”

  “Because of her superior Starseer genes, she could be a suitable mate for Prince Thorian, but she should learn to be refined and obedient.”

  “I’m quite positive those traits aren’t encoded in her superior genes.” Alisa wondered if Durant would see it coming if she punched him. “Is there a reason you’re talking to me? Because I would prefer you didn’t.”

  “Proper behavior rarely has a genetic component. Her unruliness is a result of her upbringing. As her mother, you should ensure she has better manners. She must be appropriately disciplined. As the prince’s mate, she would be expected to attend important imperial functions, social and political, as well as birthing children who must be raised carefully since they will have the potential to have great power.”

  “Would you stop trying to set my eight-year-old daughter up with a ten-year-old boy? Not only is it creepy to talk about her birthing children right now, but the odds of her still liking the same boy in ten or fifteen years are pretty low. And you’re certainly not going to arrange any marriages. Who do you think you are, anyway? The empire is gone, and we don’t even know where Thorian is right now.”

  “We will find him,” Durant said firmly. “All shall pass as I have planned.”

  “Uh huh.”

  “It is good that you assigned the android to search for the staff.”

  “Someone here has to do it. Your people don’t seem to have a clue.”

  “No.” Durant’s forehead furrowed as he gazed toward his camp. “Almost immediately after Tymoteusz left the asteroid base, the staff disappeared from our awareness. Even those with the strongest senses can no longer feel it. He may have discovered a way to muffle it.”

  Muffle a staff? Alisa imagined a bag being pulled over the orb on the end of it, and knots being tied around the stick part.

  “Captain?” Leonidas spoke over the comm. “You better come to NavCom. There may be trouble.”

  “So soon?” Alisa muttered, remembering the “tax collectors” that had come after her ship the last time they approached Cleon Moon. She hadn’t expected to encounter anything like that until they were closer to orbit.

  She turned away from Durant, but he spoke again as she started toward NavCom.

  “You should use your parental influence to ensure she’s an appropriate candidate for the future emperor when the time comes,” he said.

  “You should tie that robe around your face and gag yourself,” Alisa said over her shoulder, not stopping.

  “I don’t understand your recalcitrance. As her mother, you will be ensured a position of luxury and ease. A modern ship, if you wish. You would want for little and demands on your time would be few once Jelena reaches childbearing age.”

  Alisa ground her teeth. If she’d had a stun gun at her waist, she would have shot him.

  “If you don’t wish to take on this responsibility, then I will—”

  Alisa had reached the end of the walkway, but she whirled and glared at him. “You stay away from her. You’re a delusional madman, and you’re not going to discipline her or anyone else.” She shuddered, wondering what kind of discipline Durant might have already inflicted on Jelena—since she still seemed herself, she hoped that meant the man hadn’t had time for anything of the sort as he’d been kidnapping children and fleeing from planet to moon to station.

  He lifted his chin and met her glare. You do not have the power to stop me, he spoke into her mind. Along with the words came the image of her lifting a stun gun and pointing it at his chest, only to have the weapon torn from her grip and held up in the air where she could not reach it.

  “Wanna bet?” she growled, forming an image of her own, her opening the cargo hatch as Leonidas hefted Durant over his head and hurled him out of the ship. He tumbled thousands of feet, his black robe flapping in the wind, and plummeted into a lake. A T-rex promptly swam out and ate him. Alisa had no idea if T-rexes could actually swim, but she liked the vision, so she kept it firmly planted in her mind.

  Durant sneered. The cyborg will not strike against me. He was loyal to the empire long before he met you.

  “You’re not the empire. You’re a delusional kidnapper.”

  I want the same thing as he does, the empire to return to power and Thorian to lead it there.

  Tired of arguing with the idiot, Alisa turned and stalked away. Even though it worried her sometimes that Leonidas was loyal to the old empire—and Thorian—she knew he wouldn’t side with Durant over her for anything.

  Alisa passed through the mess hall, the table still surrounded by boxes, and entered NavCom, where Beck and Leonidas were pointing at the view screen and having a discussion. Alisa couldn’t yet see what they were pointing at, thanks to their broad shoulders blocking the way.

  “Do you think I have time to add more insulation to the cargo I’m preparing?” Beck asked. “You know, before I have to jump into my armor and defend the ship? I don’t want all my bottles getting broken in a battle.”

  “They can intercept us in less than twenty minutes if they so choose,” Leonidas said.

  “Maybe I can insulate some of the boxes. What are the odds that they’ll be scared away by our new e-cannons?”

  “A warship has twenty e-cannons, a dozen ship-rated blazers, and a reinforced hull and redundant shield generators.”

  “So the odds are low,” Beck said.

  “Very low.”

  Alisa was on the verge of clearing her throat, but Leonidas turned sideways so she could enter NavCom—and see the view screen. A hulking white Alliance warship was framed in the center, the distant green gas giant, Aldrin, just visible behind it. A glance at the sensor display showed several other ships in the area.

  “Is that the same fleet we encountered in the asteroid belt?” Alisa asked. She supposed it was foolish to hope that Commander Tomich might have escaped whatever trouble he’d been in, acquired a fleet, and come out to help her.

  “I’m not sure,” Leonidas said. “I was unconscious when that fleet showed up.”

  “Wish I had been. Talking to that Admiral Agosti was about as fun as chewing on rocks.” Alisa stepped past the men and sat in her seat.

  “The warship has positioned itself in our path.”

  “I can change our path,” she said, but it wouldn’t matter if the ship wanted to catch up with them. Warships had speed; seventy-year-old freighters did not.

  Leonidas tapped at the sensor station controls. Alisa started to ping the ship to get an identification, but her comm panel lit up with an incoming message first.

  “Captain Marchenko of the oft-beleaguered and unfairly harassed Star Nomad here,” she said.

  “Captain,” came the humorless response. “This is Admiral Agosti. I understand that you still
have Admiral Tiang aboard your ship.”

  Alisa sighed. When Agosti hadn’t given pursuit after Sepiron Station had been destroyed, she’d hoped some superior of his had told him to leave them alone.

  “We haven’t yet reached a port that has enticed him to want to leave my ship,” Alisa said. “You’re more than welcome to comm him and discuss the situation with him. Again.”

  “We know you have him drugged, or you’ve otherwise coerced him to want to stay aboard.” The admiral’s voice lowered to a mutter. “It’s not as if there’s another reason an officer would stay aboard that floating junk barge.”

  Alisa glared at the comm. Why were people going out of their way to irk her today?

  “Yes, we’re coercing him with cookies. He adores my chef, and that’s why he’s staying.”

  “As nice as it is to be adored,” Beck said quietly, “I have a feeling I better hurry if I want to get my boxes insulated before a battle starts.” He trotted back toward the mess hall. Apparently, crates of broken sauce bottles would not impress a client.

  “Tell Tiang that someone wants to talk to him,” Alisa called after him. She turned back toward the comm. “Any chance Admiral Hawk has joined your fleet since the last time we spoke, Admiral?”

  “Senator Admiral Hawk is busy on Arkadius and is not active duty anymore.”

  “Senator?” Alisa mouthed. Had there been an election while she had been busy dodging asteroids? “Well, how about Commander Tomich?”

  “No.”

  She sighed over her shoulder to Leonidas, who was standing behind her, as if to protect her from Agosti. She appreciated his presence, though it wouldn’t do much good as long as this confrontation was limited to comm chatter.

  “You will give us the admiral back,” Agosti said. “Even though we have superior forces and can take him physically, we are willing to offer you something of value in trade.”

  “Like what?” Alisa muted the comm. “If they’re offering deals, that means they don’t want to fight us, right? Maybe our e-cannons are scarier than Beck thought.”

  “Unlikely.”

  “Maybe you’re scarier.”

  He wasn’t in his crimson combat armor yet, but he could loom imposingly even without it.

  All he did was arch an eyebrow in response.

  “Enable video transmission, Captain,” Agosti said.

  Alisa toggled a button, curious about what he wanted to show her. “Done.”

  A moment later, Agosti’s pompous face appeared on her monitor.

  “I was hoping you’d show me something more enticing,” Alisa said. “Supplies for my ship, perhaps. Or supplies for my chef. He’s going through a lot of ingredients in preparing an order for an important client.”

  “Should you be goading an admiral?” Leonidas murmured.

  “It’s not as if kissing up would do any good.”

  “Have you ever tried it?”

  “Well, no, but I’ve never tried shooting myself in the foot, either, and I’m sure nothing good would come of that.”

  The display on the monitor changed. Agosti’s face disappeared, and a room or a cell came into view. A person lay on a built-in bench, the only furniture in view. His black robes contrasted sharply with the white walls, and Alisa’s mouth sagged open as she recognized the bearded face.

  “Stanislav,” she whispered.

  Was he alive?

  His eyes were closed, and he wasn’t moving, but they wouldn’t be keeping his corpse locked in the brig, right? Bruises darkened one side of his face, and who knew what injuries lay under the robe, but the fact that he seemed to be alive gave her hope. She had assumed him dead, dead before she had decided if he was a decent person or not. Dead defending the ship’s airlock so that she, Leonidas, and the doctors could escape Sepiron Station.

  Without taking her gaze from the monitor, she muted her end of the transmission and switched to the internal comm.

  “Abelardus, come to NavCom, please,” she said.

  “As you can see, Captain,” Agosti said. “We have something that is of value to you. We are open to a trade.”

  Coming at once to do your bidding, my demanding Captain, Abelardus spoke into her mind.

  Just see if that’s really Stanislav over on the warship, will you?

  What? One second.

  Alisa un-muted the outgoing channel. “Something of value to me? A Starseer? I’ve already got plenty of those.” She wanted Stanislav back, of course, but it might be better not to let them know he mattered one way or another to her. Otherwise, Agosti might try to bargain for even more than Tiang’s return.

  “Yes, I’m aware of that,” Agosti said, his voice chilling several degrees. Ah, that might be the real reason that he was hesitant to bring his warship closer and force a boarding. “I am authorized to trade this man to you in exchange for the admiral. We will send a shuttle over to your airlock for a simultaneous exchange.”

  “Tiang,” Leonidas said, and Alisa turned in her seat.

  Tiang stood outside of the hatchway, looking as if he didn’t particularly want to come in. He had changed out of his hazardous materials suit. Good. Alisa didn’t know what Agosti would have made of that. Maybe he would have thought she was forcing Tiang to juggle bars of radioactive material while she kept him drugged.

  “It seems your leave is up,” Alisa said. “The Alliance wants you back.”

  “But Captain, I’ve set up my lab, and I’m progressing in my work, and I can’t take it with me. There won’t be any Starseers on the Alliance ship.”

  “There’s at least one,” she muttered, waving at the monitor.

  Stanislav disappeared from the display, and Agosti’s face returned.

  “Your decision, Captain?” Agosti asked.

  “That Starseer is a lot of trouble,” Alisa said, waving for Tiang to come forward. “I’m not sure I want him back.”

  “Our records show that he’s your father.”

  How had they figured that out? Had Stanislav told them? “And you think that negates my statement?”

  A grunt sounded. Leonidas had risen to his feet and picked up Tiang, bringing him through the hatchway and depositing him in front of the vid pick up.

  “Really, Colonel Adler,” Tiang protested, “I hardly think this manhandling is appropriate, given the recent favor I’ve done for you.”

  “Admiral Tiang,” Agosti blurted, relief in his voice. Had he thought Alisa had done away with him since the last time they spoke? “Are you injured? High Command is very worried about you. As is your daughter.”

  “You didn’t even send her a message?” Alisa muttered.

  “Actually, I did.” Tiang frowned at Agosti’s image. “I told her where I went. She shouldn’t be worried.”

  “Unless she’s in the camp that thinks you’re drugged.”

  Tiang took a deep breath. “Admiral Agosti, I am engaged in a research experiment presently, as this ship seeks to find the Staff of Lore and the one who used it on Arkadius. Perhaps you would be willing to work with the captain. Since she has the loyalty of the Starseers, it makes sense to work with her.”

  Alisa kept from coughing at the word “loyalty,” but barely.

  “We don’t work with criminals, Admiral,” Agosti said. “Prepare to leave that ship. We’re readying a shuttle to retrieve you.”

  Tiang tried to step back but bumped into Leonidas’s chest. “I can’t go at this time.”

  Agosti’s already deep frown deepened. “Drugged,” he whispered to someone to his side.

  Alisa dropped her face into her hand. Maybe she should have Leonidas carry Tiang to the airlock and force him to rejoin the Alliance. Only the implication that Tiang was working on something that might help them deal with Tymoteusz and get Thorian back kept her from issuing that order right then.

  That is Stanislav, Abelardus spoke into her mind, but he’s unresponsive.

  Unconscious from his wounds? Or had the Alliance inflicted further wounds on him in the last cou
ple of weeks? Her fingers curled into a fist.

  They may be drugging him to keep him from using his powers. He’s strong enough that they couldn’t keep him in a cell if he didn’t wish it.

  “Will you do the trade or won’t you, Captain?” Agosti asked, now looking at her instead of Tiang.

  Tiang huffed and stuck his fists on his hips.

  “I need a day to think about it,” Alisa said. More like, she needed a day to try comming Hawk and Tomich again. Senator Hawk. If he’d just been elected into that position, he might have been too busy to check on the message she’d sent him before. Or rather, the message she’d sent for him through his wife’s comm. She had no idea if either of them had checked those messages. With Arkadius busy rebuilding Laikagrad, it would be understandable if they hadn’t. Alisa needed more people high up in the Alliance chain of command that she could contact.

  “I see,” Agosti said coolly. “It appears that you are en route to Cleon Moon. If you change your mind, we will be in the area.”

  The monitor went black. Alisa had expected more of an ultimatum—do the trade now or never. The reasonableness worried her. Maybe Agosti was planning some raid to retrieve Tiang and thought he would have the opportunity to do it when the Nomad was down on the moon.

  She turned to face Tiang. “Can’t you go back to them, let them check you out to see that you’re not drugged, and then talk to someone about staying?”

  “I doubt they’ll let me come back to my lab even if they see that I’m not drugged. They’ll think I’m being influenced by Starseers or something silly.”

  Alisa sighed and shooed him toward the hatchway. Leonidas stepped aside so he could depart.

  “We could force him to leave,” Leonidas said.

  “That crossed my mind, but not only do we owe him a favor—” she waved toward Leonidas’s head, “—whatever he’s working on could be useful in getting Thorian back. But Stanislav would be useful for that too.” Not only that, but she hated the idea of leaving him in the hands of the military. Who knew what they would do to him, especially since he had been the one to keep their people from boarding the station and getting whatever it was they had wanted there.