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Chapter 29

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“Let me go back back!” Neff flapped his skin wings. Dastin, Eabani, and Jayce sat in the command chamber. Uusanar’s attention was wholly on the holo globes. Jayce had a blanket over his shoulders and nursed a cup of steaming broth.

“How many times do I have to say this?” Dastin rubbed his temples. “We will get you back to your nest as soon as . . . feasible. Eventually.”

“Tell us again what happened to Sarai,” Eabani said.

“It’s not going to be any different the third time,” Jayce said. “It’s my fault and I know it.”

“You ever come across a shape-shifter like this Leeta before?” Dastin asked.

“Didn’t even know they existed.” Jayce sipped his broth. “She was so . . . I was just trying to help her.”

“What do we do now?” Eabani asked. “We’re supposed to keep her safe, Dastin.”

“You think I don’t know that?” Dastin shouted. “We couldn’t get into the Pinnacle. That was for Maru and the rest of the shinies to handle.”

“You’re making excuses,” the Lirsu said.

“Reasons, not excuses, but neither make any bit of difference. Maru is dead and the Tyrant has Sarai,” Dastin said. “At least we have a kid with some kind of super stone, and he smells like fish.”

“Why no no one worried about Neff?” The Docent touched his abdomen and the Veil flakes clinked in his stomach. “I have hatchlings to feed!”

“If I’d have left you behind, you would’ve been killed by other Pilgrims before you got back to the boomtown,” Dastin said. “You’re welcome. Stop complaining.”

“Neff, what can you tell me about this?” Jayce opened his hand and light from the stone shone through the command chamber. Even Uusanar paused to wonder at it.

“Bad bad!” Neff tucked his head into his wings. “Docents never go to the Pinnacle. Never! Smells stronger than the way stones in nexus systems. Put away!”

Jayce closed his hand.

“Sorry, kid,” Dastin said. “We’ve got to get you back to the experts.”

The command center’s light went amber.

“There is an issue,” Uusanar said. “I am dangerously close to permanently damaging my stone to keep this FTL acceleration, but there’s a problem at Nashar’s Star.”

A holo appeared. Red points pulsed over the fourth planet around a blue star.

“Shit!” Dastin touched the holo and more fields appeared. “Are you sure?” he asked Uusanar.

“My surety grows the closer we get,” the shipmaster said.

“What do all the red dots mean?” Jayce asked.

“There’s a star jammer in-system,” Dastin said. “We can get in, but we can’t get out.”

“If I try to exit FTL now it will tear us apart,” Uusanar said. “You wanted speed, you must accept everything that comes along with it. I have to use the way stone there to transition back to real space.”

Dastin put his hands on his hips, then gave Jayce a dirty look.

“I’m starting to think you’re bad luck,” the Marine said.

“What’s a star jammer?” Jayce sipped his broth, too tired to get worked up over the comment.

“Big ship that prevents ships from entering FTL,” Eabani said. “They’re rare and expensive. Most of the time they’re used to keep a navy ships from escaping during an invasion.”

“Nashar’s Star is the Thirty-Seventh Fleet’s anchorage,” Dastin said. “Who’s going to attack there? Some alien power we don’t know?”

“As if things can’t get any worse,” Neff muttered.

“The distortion pattern is familiar,” Uusanar said. “It’s of Governance manufacture.”

“Or Tyrant era,” Dastin said. “He enjoyed using scramblers to lock down systems.”

“It’s worse,” Neff whined.

“Our vector may be advantageous.” Uusanar flicked a finger and a course appeared through the Nashar system. It passed close to the large pulsing dot of the scrambler ship. “Whoever is attacking did not anticipate reinforcements from the Deep.”

“The Iron Soul have heavy weapons aboard that you’ve kept hidden from us?” Dastin asked.

“Not me—him.” Uusanar pointed at Jayce.

“What?” Jayce glanced around.

“The reason scramblers are so expensive is the Veil-fleck resonance sheath,” Uusanar said.

“You can get us that close?” Dastin asked.

“No, but the skiff can,” Uusanar said. “Maru came to me because I could be quite sneaky when needed. It is time to utilize my entire repertoire.”

“I am so lost,” Jayce said.

“Is it ready?” Dastin asked Uusanar.

“Has been for days,” the shipmaster said.

“Come with me.” Dastin slapped Jayce on the shoulder.


Dastin opened the door to the ship’s armory. Jayce followed behind him. He shivered in the cold room.

“You gonna be all right?” Dastin went to a computer panel and began typing.

“From the shunting or the disaster in the Veil?” Jayce shrugged. “I’m pretty miserable from both, tell you the truth.”

“I’ll get you some anti-inflammatory pills and water. Ancient Marine cure for everything,” Dastin said. “Maru approved all the specifications before he sent it through the assemblers.”

A panel on the bulkhead spun open and a Light Armor suit appeared. Its color was hues of gray, but Jayce felt a tinge of excitement when he realized it was for him.

“The mounting ring on the harness is too small.” Jayce raised the fist gripping his stone.

“Easy fix.” Dastin tapped on a screen and something buzzed and whirled inside the bulkhead.

“I don’t . . . I don’t know how to use it.” Jayce touched the sleeve of the armor and ran his hand down the light weave beneath the forearm plate.

“Hey, some good news,” Dastin muttered. “Maru always said the tech didn’t require much thought. The stones are bonded to you shiny boys and it reads your thoughts and intentions.”

Dastin tapped the metal plate next to his cybernetic eye.

“This just works.” He clacked cybernetic fingertips together. “Same theory.”

There was a ding and a small box popped out of the bulkhead.

“Get changed,” Dastin said. “It’ll fit over simple enviro layers so you can recycle your body’s water. It’s void-rated without needing to pull from your harness and it has integrated holsters for your hilt and sidearm. Mount points for carbines and battle rifles on the back.”

Jayce tossed away the tattered jacket and trousers, then slipped into the Light Armor. He stretched his arms and legs.

“Pinches between the shoulders,” Jayce said.

“It’ll mold to fit you better with use. Hold still.” Dastin unscrewed the too-small stone-mounting ring and replaced it with a new one from the box.

Jayce flexed one hand and looked at himself in a mirror.

“Hey now, you look like a hero.” Dastin put his hand on the back of Jayce’s neck and gave him a quick shake.

“I don’t feel like one,” Jayce said. “It’s like . . . like the time I found some of my father’s old clothes and put them on.”

“Put the stone in,” Dastin backed up.

“Worried?” Jayce smirked at him.

“No! No.” Dastin took another step back.

Jayce turned the stone over in his hand, then brought it up to the ring. It hummed as it neared, then leapt on its own into the harness. The Light Armor tightened against Jayce’s body, then the sensation faded away, like he was wearing simple clothes.

“The color permanent?” Jayce ignited his hilt and the light weave glowed along with the blade.

“Huh, you remind me of him,” Dastin said. “Same weapon.”

“This belonged to Sarai’s father,” Jayce said. “I’m not sure why it chose me.”

“First time I saw that was when Taras cut through my cell door,” Dastin said. “I’d been in and out of the Tyrant’s arena on Pelen IX for days. The noble that ran the place loved watching the turn. Loved watching those of us who hated the Tyrant get turned to him. Taras got me and a few others out before we could amuse the nobles. My own fault for getting captured. Thing is, the Tyrant will have me in the end.”

“What do you mean? The Tyrant’s dead.” Jayce snapped a punch out and smiled when there was a flash of power off the knuckles.

“Look.” Dastin pushed the back of his high collar down and showed Jayce a spiderweb of flesh and metal fused to the back of his spine. “I have the Grip. Courtesy of my first hours in a Tyrant POW camp. There’s no science or med tech that can pry it out. Not without killing me in the process.”

“What . . . what’ll happen?” Jayce asked.

“I’ll die. Maybe today. Maybe tomorrow. But one day it’ll happen. The newer it is, the longer it takes to fully compromise the nervous system. Soon as the Grip detects that my body can’t keep my brain alive—” He snapped his fingers. “Part of me will still be alive, the part that keeps all my years of experience and some memories. But it will make me a slave to the Tyrant. That’s not living, kid. I die, you finish me off good and proper. Decapitation. Wreck my brainpan. Whatever it takes. You promise?”

“That’s a hard thing to do,” Jayce said.

“The Grip takes me and the Dastin you know will be gone. Only an enemy will remain. Little miss and Maru are—were—willing to do it. Do you hate me?”

“What? No!”

“Then why would you let me spend the rest of who knows how long as a slave to Tyrant?”

“I wouldn’t!”

“Then it’s settled. Thank you.” Dastin nodded.

“I—wait . . . wait.” Jayce narrowed his eyes. “I may not have actually killed that Draug on Illara.”

Dastin put a hand over his face.

“He was dead in the mud, but I didn’t finish him off like you told me—”

Dastin slapped Jayce on the back of his head.

“Hey! Things were chaotic and sorry I didn’t remember everything you told me. The Draug’s going to come after me again, isn’t he?” Jayce frowned.

“And he’ll be a hell of a lot harder to kill . . . You know what? We’re going to focus on the nearest lethal target before we come out of FTL.” Dastin cocked his knife hand up, then forced it back down.

Jayce tapped the empty holster built into his thigh plate.

“When do I get a gun?” he asked.

“Did the Veil teach you how to properly use a firearm?” Dastin asked.

“No . . .”

“No gun.”

“But Gunny! I’m wielding the power of the Veil with this super stone and I’ve got a Paragon hero’s sword. You can definitely trust me with a gun.” Jayce nodded quickly.

Dastin handed Jayce his coil pistol.

“Shoot out the light and I’ll give you any weapon you want.” Dastin pointed to the ceiling.

“Easy.” Jayce accidentally pinched his finger between the trigger and the trigger guard. He pulled it out with a smile, then extended his arm up and pulled the trigger. There was a buzz and nothing else.

Jayce flipped the gun around and looked down the barrel.

“What’s wrong with it?” he asked.

“It doesn’t have a magazine loaded and the safety is still engaged!” Dastin slapped Jayce on the back of the head again and snatched the weapon away. He slid the chamber back and verified the weapon was empty, then re-holstered it.

“No gun for you! Not until you’re trained. Now get your ass to the skiff before I kick it all the way there!”

“Yes, Gunny!” Jayce ran out of the armory.


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