Page 7 of Rebels Rising (The Intergalactic Union #3)

Artemis

T he sound of arguing drew my attention, the raised voices putting me on alert. I exchanged a look with Eloria and an unspoken understanding passed between us. Without interrupting Bal and Libby’s rather one-sided conversation, I slid Baldr from my lap and placed him on the chair and Eloria moved closer to keep an eye on him while I investigated the fuss. I caught Libby’s eye as I moved away, and without pausing in her long-winded baby-talk speech she gave me a nod to acknowledge she was aware of what was happening.

‘We deserve to be a part of this just as much as any of you,’ came a vaguely familiar voice, his tone verging on snobby.

‘The last thing you will ever be doing is joining us while we plan a fucking rebellion, you backstabbing sack of shit,’ Cadmus responded, the venom in his tone almost drawing me up short. I’d heard him angry a few times, but this was more than that. His tone was filled with unadulterated loathing.

I rounded the corner then to find everyone creating a wall to block off access to none other than the Christianson siblings, but while everyone was focused on Tarren my gaze went straight to Katira. She was standing a few paces behind, head bowed and shoulders hunched as she slowly inched away from the tension-filled interaction.

I’d been wanting to catch her alone anyway, but right now probably wasn’t the time.

‘Why don’t the two of you head back to your room and I’ll come find you tomorrow,’ I cut in, speaking through a small gap I found between Addy’s shoulder and the captain’s. ‘I have something I want to discuss with you, but Cadmus is right. After what you did to Reece, and Addy by extension, I think it’s fair that you keep to yourselves for a bit, don’t you?’

I may have been more understanding of their situation because of my theories, but I was still angry at them both for lying about my friend and causing us all so much pain and suffering. The reasons behind their actions may have softened me slightly towards them, but that didn’t mean I was going to let them off scot-free.

Tarren, red-faced, chest puffed and huffing, looked as if he were about to argue but his sister placed a delicate, scar-riddled hand on his arm and he visibly deflated. ‘Fine,’ he spat out through clenched teeth before piercing me with a pointed stare. ‘Tomorrow.’

I gave a jerky nod that he accepted before guiding his sister back the way they’d come. His gentleness with her was telling, and a part of me thawed even more. Not completely, he still put someone I cared about at risk, but, if I was right, I could understand his action and the reasons behind them. If I were in his position I probably would have done the same.

‘What do you need to talk to them about?’ Addy asked, her nose scrunched in a sneer.

‘Just let me talk to them first, and I’ll come to you when I have the information I need,’ I said, darting my eyes towards the captain in a way that I hoped conveyed my message. She frowned, but understanding soon lit up in her eyes and she agreed.

The captain, however, was not privy to our silent communications and wasn’t so understanding.

‘What reason do you have to keep this information from us now?’ he asked, suspicion clear in his tone. The feeling was mutual.

‘I’m not keeping anything from anyone,’ I assured him. ‘I’m merely refusing to speculate.’

‘Speculate what?’ he demanded, refusing to budge even an inch.

My response was to give him a deadpan stare that raised a few nervous coughs from the other members of our group.

‘Well, come on then. Let’s get this meeting over with. I’m tired and want to get some sleep,’ I waved for them to follow me as I re-entered the cockpit, pushing past the captain in the process. He attempted to block my way, but he was no match for my strength.

Libby was still there, laughing quietly to herself as Baldr attempted to escape the chair while Eloria struggled to keep him on it. Bal was having the time of his life enjoying the little game, but Eloria looked stressed as if he were going to break if his feet touched the floor.

‘Here, let me,’ I offered, picking the little escape artist up and placing him back on my lap.

Everyone settled in around the room, some standing while others seating themselves in various positions. Dorian leaned against the wall with Urman at his side, and on his other side was the captain, though he was scowling at Adara as she picked the arm of my chair rather than him.

‘Hey,’ she smiled at me. ‘Mind if I perch?’

‘Go right ahead,’ I told her. If I caught her starting to lag then I’d give her my seat. Bal could always rest in my arms anyway.

Addy turned to the hologram, her lips stretched wide in a happy smile. ‘Hi, Libby! I’m Addy. It’s nice to finally meet you,’ she greeted with genuine excitement.

‘Ah, hi,’ Libby returned the greeting, suddenly shy. I understood it since Addy would have been the first person she’d met that wasn’t a subject of The Program. Well, she was, but Libby didn’t know that yet. Unfortunately, from the way everyone shifted nervously, her timidness had come across as rude rather than shy.

‘Libs, we’re about to debrief. You can stay if you want, but it will probably be a long one,’ I offered, attempted to divert the attention away from the awkwardness.

‘Oh, um, I should probably get back. It’s still night here and I should probably let you go before the others catch on and demand to see their own kids. You have enough on your plate right now. Thanks for calling, A. And for getting Bal back…’ her words choked off when the emotion got the better of her, and my own eyes watered with tears that were eager to be shed.

‘Of course, Libs,’ was all I said. No words were even necessary. I would have been here to save him with or without her permission, though having it certainly made things between us less bumpy. Fighting with Libby was never fun, and it was an extremely rare occurrence.

‘Love you, A,’ she said, then looked down at the little boy in my arms. ‘Mama loves you, sweet boy! I’ll see you soon.’ She blew a kiss, then the hologram dispersed and the room was left in silence.

No one spoke, the words a struggle to drag out amongst the trauma and exhaustion.

Reece, who had settled cross-legged on the floor by the door, was the first to break the silence. ‘So… was I the last to know that Arty has actually been a girl this entire time, or does someone still have to figure that out?’

The room erupted into an array or chortles and snorts.

‘I knew first!’ Addy piped up eagerly, but her statement was met with opposing reactions. The most negative of which – no surprise there – belonged to the captain.

‘And how is it that you knew her secret the entire time and didn’t bother to let me… us know?’ he demanded sternly.

The pink woman merely shrugged, a teasing smirk pulling at the corners of her lips. ‘I just felt her up. It’s not my fault I was the only one who managed it.’

Cadmus cleared his throat, a smug grin on his face. ‘I would say that’s no longer accurate.’

Disbelieving laughs, born more from shock at his audacity than actual humour, tittered around the room. Reece in particular was torn between laughing and shifting uncomfortably at the reminder of what they’d been forced to witness.

‘Yeah… Sorry about that,’ I apologised sheepishly. While I wasn’t ashamed of my body, these people hadn’t deserved to be put in such an awkward position.

‘It’s not your fault, Arty,’ Addy soothed, a small pink hand coming to rest on my shoulder.

‘What are you all talking about?’ the captain asked. ‘What did I miss?’

‘Maybe I should start from the beginning?’ I suggested, not particularly eager to get into the details of my life but knowing I owed these people at least that much.

‘That’s probably best,’ the captain agreed on everyone’s behalf.

My exhaustion doubled at the mere thought of dragging all of my trauma up and throwing it out into the open, but everyone needed to know. They needed to understand who their enemy was, their goals and how they worked, and I was the best person for the job whether I liked it or not.

And so I adjusted a sleepy Baldr in my arms, got comfortable, and started talking.

*

The room was eerily silent when I was finished telling my story.

The reactions varied. Addy was clinging to me, her fingers digging into my arm uncomfortably but she seemed to need it to ground her. Eloria was wide-eyed and her skin had taken on a greenish hue. Henrik had his face in his hands, covering his eyes as if making himself blind would take away what he’d just learned. Urman was stone-faced and still as a statue, a mirror of Captain Hironimus.

The most concerning reactions, however, belonged to the final three. Cadmus and Dorian were angry. Burn the world down kind of angry. Their jaws ticked from grinding their teeth, their muscles were bunched as if ready to strike at the smallest provocation, and their fists were clenched so tightly their knuckles had turned white. A trickle of blood even dribbled from Cadmus’s palms, his nails piercing the skin.

And Reece…

He looked haunted.

He was staring at me, but it was like he wasn’t really seeing me. I wondered if his own trauma at the mercy of The Program was playing up, his story merging with mine to create a brand-new hellish conglomeration. Whatever he was seeing, whatever he was experiencing inside his own head, I worried he’d get stuck there and struggle to find his way back.

The captain cleared his throat once, then again for good measure before he broke through the tension in the room. ‘What the doctor made you do… is there any chance…?’

My lips thinned into a straight line, and I shook my head once with finality. ‘I don’t know why he thought someone else’s sperm might work, but the nanites destroy all chances of it taking. I’m not pregnant.’

Henrik lifted his head from his hands at the turn in the conversation. ‘Would you mind if I performed an examination?’ he asked. ‘I know you said there’s no possibility, but you said it yourself: the nanites are unpredictable. If Demari believes they’re responding to you and your emotions, I don’t think we can rule it out until we know for certain.’

I inhaled sharply at his reasoning, not because I was afraid to become a lab rat again – I knew that wasn’t his intention – but because his words made that tiny flicker of hope that had been all but expunged sputter as it tried to reignite. I gulped audibly but nodded my consent.

His answering smile was sad, but I tried to convey my reassurance with one of my own.

‘Actually…’ he continued hesitantly, and I waited patiently for him to say what was on his mind. ‘Since we do not know what to expect from your nanites and… other implants, I was wondering if I could perhaps do daily check-ups to keep track of any changes?’

I paused, mulling it over. ‘That would probably be the smartest course of action. I can agree to that.’

He released a sigh of relief, apparently believing my response would have been negative, and I was happy to prove him wrong. While I may not enjoy being poked and prodded at after so long spent doing just that, I was a rational person and could see the necessity of his request.

‘Can we move on now, please?’ asked Addy, her voice quivering with barely tamed emotion.

‘Right,’ the captain said, clapping his hands and rubbing them together as he stood upright away from the wall he’d been leaning on. ‘We can ruminate over what we’ve just learned on our own time, but we should start on a plan. Captain?’

It took me a moment to realise he was talking to me , and I jolted at the realisation. I also couldn’t keep calling him ‘the captain’ if I was the one that currently held that title. It was an odd situation I had trouble wrapping my head around, but I didn’t think I could call him anything else. To me, he’d always been The Captain, and using his given name would just be weird.

I cleared my throat to bide myself time to compose myself, but it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t sure it ever would be, really. ‘The first order of business should be picking a new location. We still need a place to regroup before we head back to the Forbidden Planet.’

The captain (I really couldn’t call him anything else), picked up where I’d left off. ‘Our home planets are out. We can’t afford to put our loved ones at risk by heading there. They’ll be the first place The Program and the IU will look.’

‘So we need someplace off-grid and out of the way,’ Eloria surmised.

Dorian stepped forward, his posture remarkably less tense now that the discussion had moved on to another topic. ‘I think I might know a place.’

I gestured for him to go on.

‘I don’t think we’re going to find any place that ticks all our boxes, but I’m from the Border System. Gerinium, to be more specific.’

‘But doesn’t the IU have charities set up all over the Border System to help with the underprivileged families that make up its populace?’ asked Cadmus, and Dorian winced at the description of his home being regarded in such a negative light. Unfortunately, despite Cadmus’s lack of tact, there was truth to his words.

‘The IU is currently focused on helping those on Burnos rebuild after the wildfires,’ Henrik piped in.

‘Gerinium is largely left alone. We don’t really have an IU presence anymore, so we’re governing ourselves for the most part,’ Dorian elaborated.

‘So you’re suggesting a lawless planet all but forgotten by the IU, even though your family is there and we will be putting them in harm’s way?’ the captain asked, needing confirmation.

‘My family can take care of themselves, but yes,’ he finished, though the statement left me with more questions. ‘We chose the Forbidden planet originally because it was abandoned and beyond the IU’s scope, a planet abandoned by an entire warrior race because it was too dangerous even for them. Now that we know even that’s not an option, I don’t see any place better than Gerinium.’

‘I agree. I can’t think of any other option. I vote we head to Gerinium,’ I said, opening up the floor for the others’ input.

When no one objected, I turned to Eloria. ‘That settles it, then. Make course for Gerinium, GC.’

‘Yes, Captain,’ she said with a quick salute, then turned around to start pressing buttons on the control panel, bringing up a hologram of the Intergalactic Union to plot our course.

I rose from my seated position, a fast asleep Baldr cradled in one arm while I used the other to stroke soothing circles on his back. ‘You can all head out now. I need to make another call.’

‘To Libby?’ asked Addy.

‘No,’ I sighed. ‘Bromm asked me to contact his parents to let them know he’s all right.’

Cadmus frowned. ‘But he’s not all right. He’s unconscious and can’t breathe without assistance.’

I wanted to face-palm. I couldn’t believe I forgot.

‘He’s stuck in the web. He met me there when I entered to open the hangar doors on Nova Station. He asked me to contact them then.’

‘Wait, what?’ Cadmus all but shrieked, the emotional outburst coming from him shocking me more than anything. ‘Why didn’t you say so sooner?’

I didn’t understand the underscore of hurt in his tone and his words, but I was too exhausted to do delve deeper into the reasons behind it. Instead, I sent him an apologetic look I hoped conveyed my regret.

‘I intended to. I wasn’t trying to keep it from any of you,’ I started, then my shoulders slumped as I hung my head, shame at forgetting something so vital heating my cheeks. ‘I think I’m too tired to keep my head straight. I’m sorry I didn’t mention it sooner.’

‘But he’s okay?’ he pushed, but when I looked up his eyes were guarded.

‘Yes. As far as he can be. He doesn’t know what’s happening so I promised to keep him in the loop until he wakes up.’

‘I guess you’ll need someone else to warm your bed at night while he’s asleep then?’ he teased, and tension I hadn’t even realised was running through my muscles dropped at his unspoked forgiveness.

I gestured pointedly to Bal and Dave Junior. ‘I think I’m all set, thanks.’

‘Pity,’ he pouted, but then a playful, lopsided smirk just barely pulled at the right corner of his lips and I knew we were okay.

Yawns cascaded throughout the room, one setting off another until we were all stretching our jaws. I wasn’t the only one who was about to succumb to exhaustion, and I finally dismissed them with a wave of my hand, turning to the holo-table to finish my last task before I could rest.

‘Do you think that’s a good idea right now?’ Eloria asked, freezing my arm as I reached towards the controls.

‘What?’

She eyed the contact information I’d pulled up with trepidation. ‘You and the prince are in a romantic relationship, correct? Or have I read the situation wrong?’

The space between my brows narrowed as I tried to glean the direction of her questions. ‘We are,’ I spoke slowly.

‘Then do you think that perhaps it would be better to get some rest to be at your best before you meet your lover’s family for the first time, let alone royalty?’

I inhaled sharply, the implications not having occurred to me before. ‘Oh.’

‘You can call them today if you really wish, I can’t stop you, but I think it would be wise to wait until you’re a little more… refreshed and rejuvenated before making that call.’

I physically deflated, like someone had poked a hole in my being and all the energy inside of me was being sucked out. My hand dropped from the console to rest against Baldr’s back again.

‘You’re right. I’ll do it first thing when I wake.’

She lent me a knowing smile. ‘That’s probably for the best. Now go get some sleep, Captain. You need it.’

I scoffed as I rose from my seat, but it was half-hearted and weak. ‘All right. Good night, Eloria.’

‘Sleep well, Artemis.’

It was as I was leaving that I realised I’d forgotten to include an important point in the meeting. Xander was still unaware of his ex-first lieutenants betrayal, or her head at my hand. I wasn’t sure how he would take the news, but I doubted he’d smile and thank me.

But that was a conversation for a different time. It was too late to call him back now, and he deserved some rest before I gave him more bad news. Or maybe Addy would do it for me and I could get away with avoiding that conversation entirely. Somehow, I doubted I’d be that lucky.

I sighed, the weight of this war draining me of the rest of my strength as I collapsed into bed, Baldr curling against my chest while Dave Junior snored happily away in his own bed. My luck may have been running out, but that didn’t mean I couldn’t appreciate the little moments like this. This, right here, was enough for me to defy all the bullshit and fall into oblivion with a contented smile on my face.