Stolen Flyght – Chapter 17

“Are you going to run or fight or cause a scene?”

I swallow through the lump in my throat at Lady Nina’s stern face. I’ve only been this close to her when I was negotiating for Gus, and it’s still an unsettling experience. She has superhuman strength in her glare alone.

What can I do but comply? I nod and glance at Jinzo and Lia. They nod, too.

“Okay. Bring in the other woman.”

The door opens, and another man brings in Gloria. Nina’s band of men lets us go. I rub my wrist where he had held on tight and wince at the red skin there. This man is fiercely strong and not to be trifled with. They train their security well here.

“Sit.” Nina points to the chairs. We all sink into our seats. Gloria glares at both the man who apprehended her and Nina as she sits next to me. The room is frosty, and the good vibes from our previous conversation have vanished.

This is an unplanned detour.

Nina is every bit as intimidating as she was haggling with me over adding Gus to my network. She’s strong and commanding in her military uniform. I swallow down my fear of her, remembering how she took the Amagi. She stole my ship! I shift forward to stand up and argue with her, but Jinzo clamps his hand down on my leg. He squeezes and shakes his head.

“Well,” Nina says, folding her hands on the table, “color me surprised when a young botanist named Lucy Lin showed up in my office to tell me she was sure my new daughter-in-law was skulking around the base in the secure section.”

I close my eyes and sigh. If only Lucy hadn’t seen me without the mask on, we would have been home free. Fucking OEN. They are ruining my life, even after they’ve given up on me being the hottest gossip in town.

Nina sighs, her face falls, and her shoulders slump. “What are you doing here? Whatever it is, it can’t be good. My son’s not here, is he? I don’t want him getting messed up in this business.”

I scoff. “Ha. As if you care?” I point straight at her, and the anger I’ve been holding back bubbles over. “You’ve been playing me since the beginning. You let Gus become a member of my network because you were using him to spy on me and my ship. So don’t tell me you give a crap about Gus when you clearly do not.”

Nina slams her hand on the table.

“You think I wanted to hurt and betray my own family?” Her face brightens pink with anger.

“Yeah. Yeah, I think you would hurt and betray your own family for the military. When I spoke about it with Gus, he wasn’t even surprised you turned on him!”

She winces and closes her eyes.

“He was not surprised one bit. What kind of mother does that make you? Huh?”

The room is quiet except for my seething breaths. I love Gus, and I will not let this woman pretend like she didn’t stab us in the back. Because she did. She stood in the Amagi, told us all to go to hell, and sent us packing in a tiny shuttle. My fist tightens under the table. I’d like to send her packing right now.

Nina opens her eyes. “A shitty mother and I know it. Look,” she says, dropping her voice. “You think that Reformer nonsense is happening just in the civilian ranks?”

My anger cools a few degrees.

“No. It’s happening here.” She drives her finger into the table.

Shit. Gabriel Almas said the same thing when I met with him on Sonoma. He said there was unrest in the military ranks, and they were avoiding mutiny almost every day. He also implied there were rumors of an unknown threat…

Despite how much I hate Nina and everything she represents, I calm myself, and I listen.

“Women in the higher ranks are being forced out. We’re losing our only advantages bit by bit.”

Shit. This is not good.

“I was told to apprehend you and your ship at all costs. And if I looked weak, then that was it. They’d court-martial me, take everything my family has, and stick me in jail.” Her jaw shakes before she controls it. “It was either Gus or the entire family. I made a tough choice, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

I bite my tongue.

“I’m sure he hates me now.”

“He doesn’t hate you.” I glance at Jinzo. “He accepts what happened, though he doesn’t like it. He was more worried about me hating him, which I don’t. I love him.”

Nina stares me down for several breaths.

“You do love him.” Her tone of voice is certain. This is not a question.

“Yes.” I find the strength to lift my head a centimeter more. “I love all the men I’ve chosen. This is not a game. This is my life.”

She thinks about this for a few moments, weighing choices in her head. What will she do next?

“Let’s get this over with,” I say, spreading my hands wide. “You don’t want to look weak for the admiralty, so you’re going to take us into custody, and we’re going to jail. Right?”

Our eyes meet, and we stare each other down for a long moment. Why isn’t she calling for the cavalry right now? She can’t show weakness.

She narrows her eyes. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” Gloria asks.

I purse my lips and pull back. If I have learned one thing about Lady Nina Correa, Commander Nina Correa, it’s that she is not to be trusted. Not then, not now.

“Let’s have a quick history lesson before we get to the maybe.” Nina clears her throat.

I look over at Jinzo and wish we could communicate telepathically because I want to know what he’s thinking right now.

“For a long time, after we colonized the Duo Systems, men treated women as if they were slaves. If women were downtrodden back on Old Earth, then they were a thousand times so here. So, when we rose up and took over the military,” — she raises her hand in a fist — “we had to fight doggedly to secure our place and keep it. Our ancestors did not work that hard to have it crumble away now.”

“I follow you.” I pause, and the conversation from earlier pops into my thoughts. “This is why you’re trying to edit out the Vir gene.”

She smiles. “We need an even playing field. There’s too much history and animosity rolled up in the Vir gene. It needs to go. And if it’s gone…?”

“Then men can live their lives without being persecuted because of it,” Gloria finishes. “Sure, they’ll still have to win women over with their personalities, and the relationship network system will still hold sway, but —”

“They will have fewer reasons to be mad at women.” I finish Gloria’s sentence. “It’s a noble idea, but…”

“But what?” Nina asks.

“You’ve gone too far with the androids and the gene manipulation. One good thing doesn’t erase all the terrible things you’ve been doing here.”

She raises her chin. “Why are you here, exactly?”

Gloria shakes her head, but we can’t hide our mission from Nina if we want to get out of this situation without going to jail. She holds our lives in her hands.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me what happened to my outside team.”

Nina raises one eyebrow.

“Yes, my outside team. They were in the data center on the outskirts of the base. But they haven’t responded on comms for about an hour.”

Nina smiles, and the expression seems wrong on her face. This is not a woman who gains pleasure from anything unless it means hurting someone else.

“Your team is being held close by. When I heard from Ms. Lin that you might be here, I looked for other apprehensions. Would you like to see them?”

“I would.” Yes, please show me Skylar, Carlos, and Eamon. I’ve been worried about them. Even Eamon. And I’m not negotiating anything until we’re back together.

Nina looks over her shoulder at one of her men, and he leaves the room.

My knee bounces under the table as I wait, hoping this isn’t a trap. Maybe the door will open and more soldiers will stream through? Maybe they’ll take hostages until I give up more information?

The door opens, and Skylar, Carlos, and Eamon are escorted in. I jump to my feet and throw my arms around Skylar. She groans as I squeeze her, so I let go quickly. She must be injured because she cradles her left elbow with her right hand. She gives me a peck on the cheek.

“We’re okay, Viv. I knocked my arm pretty hard, but I think it’s just bruised.”

I pull out my chair for her to sit, and then once I’m certain Carlos and Eamon are okay too, I turn back to Nina.

“Okay, we’re here on behalf of Renata Dellis.”

Nina’s face slips into a frown.

“She’s my new employer, and she wants to know what the hell you’re doing here. And right now, I don’t blame her. Because you’re doing some radical shit here, and everyone should know about it, not just her.”

“What’s Renata going to do with the information you give her?”

I shrug. “Beats me. She’ll find some way to compete with the military and offer everyone a choice. If you’re curing the Vir gene, maybe she has something to say about that.” I lean forward at the table. “Look, I don’t like the position any of this has left me in. You took away my ship. My brother took away my family land and my inheritance. And well, Athens? It’s the lesser of all evils. Renata scares the hell out of me, but she’s the only person who has been willing to help me from the outside this whole time. So whatever she does with the information I give her is fine with me.”

What a far cry from my initial feelings about Athens Industries. I used to fear them. Now they’re my ally.

Things change.

“You’re very bold to give that woman so much leeway.” Nina’s voice is threatening, but I lift my hand.

“Like I said. No choice.”

She sighs and stares down at the table for a moment. “So, now that you have your entire team, let’s talk about what we do next,” Nina says, but I raise my hand.

“We?”

There is no ‘we.’ Is she kidding me? I will not help her after what she did to Gus.

She raises her eyebrows at me. “You think I have a choice now? Oh, wait. I do. I can turn around and hand you over to the MP’s. Does that sound like a good idea?”

“That’s what I expect of you.”

“Of course. Or I could help you out of this precarious situation you’ve gotten yourself into.” She gestures to Skylar and my outside team. “Have I not shown enough good faith already?”

“I don’t trust you.”

I haven’t ever trusted her. Not for one minute.

“I suppose you must if you want to get off of Neve alive.” She stands up, cutting off the conversation.

I don’t fall for her play at leading us into doom.

“What’s in it for you? Huh?” I won’t budge until I know what I’m dealing with.

Everyone in the room is quiet now. This is a game of wills with front row seats to the madness.

“Let’s lay it on the table, shall we? You want something. I want something.”

Nina’s lips twitch. I make eye contact with Jinzo, and his expression says it all. I’m completely, thoroughly nuts to go toe-to-toe with this woman. In any other circumstance, she could squish me like a bug.

Gloria leans across the table. “Vivian, can we talk about this before you do anything? Ms. Dellis would —”

“Renata chose me because I can make decisions.”

If looks could kill, I would have been dead ten minutes ago. Gloria said she didn’t want me to make decisions that would endanger us, and here I am doing just that.

I scan the room to see if anyone disagrees with me. Nina’s eyes bounce back and forth between Gloria and me, wondering who is in charge here. Eamon’s eyes are wide, and he keeps jerking his head at the men who are guarding the room. Not sure what that means. But Jinzo, Skylar, and Lia are on my side. That’s enough for me.

“So?” I ask, prompting Nina to talk.

She sighs as she sits back down. Let’s negotiate.

“You have a way off-planet?” she asks.

“We do. Though the craft is small and can only fit a few. Also, it’ll be about five kilometers away, so we’ll need to get gear, get outside, and walk without being detected. Can we hijack the Amagi instead?”

She shakes her head. “That bay is guarded, and you need clearance to fly. It would be too risky. Ah, uh…” She glances sideways at Skylar. “I’m not sure if she’s even space-worthy at this point.”

“If I don’t get my ship back —” Skylar warns, but Jinzo cuts her off.

“We have a backup plan,” he says, sitting forward. “If we can’t make it to the dropship, then we can call for more help. But only in the case of an extreme emergency.”

This is news to me, but not surprising. I wasn’t involved in every part of the planning. None of us were. If Jinzo knows, then that’s good enough for me.

“You need an extreme emergency?” Nina’s eyebrows jerk upwards, and her smile turns wily. “I can provide you with an extreme emergency.”

I… I do not like the sound of that.

Nina nods. “If you get me off this planet, I will produce all the information you need to make Renata Dellis the happiest woman in the Duo Systems. Athens Industries will never fail with what I have to give her.” She knocks her knuckles on the table. “I’m looking to retire from the military. I’d rather be free or in jail than work for them any longer. Today is my last day.”