I’m in TDF custody. Which means I’m in every kind of trouble in the galaxy. But I guess I’m not dead?
Could be worse, Jones.
I risk moving, rewarded with stabs of pain all over my body. Looking down at myself, I can see I’ve received some first aid—the worst of my gouges and cuts are dressed in medi-wraps to stimulate healing, and there’s a chill-pack tapped to my bare, bruised chest to kill the swelling. I’m still wearing my Aurora Legion cargo pants and the boots I got in my package from the Dominion Repository, but nobody’s seen fit to replace my shirt. For a second I panic, reaching up to my neck … but I find the silver chain, my dad’s Senate ring still attached to it.
Dad …
What would he make of all this? What would he tell me to do? News about the battle between the TDF and the Unbroken has probably gotten out by now. The whole galaxy could be at war. And Scar, Auri, and the others … they’re out there alone.
I can’t protect them anymore.
I sit up, wincing at the pain as I look around the room. In news that surprises nobody, I’m in a detention cell. The door is sealed, the camera above it live, the temperature just lower than comfortable—all as expected.
What I don’t expect is that I’m not in here alone.
She’s laid out on another bio-cot along the opposite wall. Wearing her Unbroken dress uniform from the waist up and nothing but a pair of black briefs from the waist down. Her thighs are dressed in medi-wraps, bruises darkening the olive skin beneath. At some point she was plugged into an IV drip, but she’s torn it out, blood dripping from her wrist, spattered on the floor. She’s on her back, black braids, black lips, black heart, staring pure murder at the ceiling.
Saedii.
“Finally awake,” she says quietly. “I trust you enjoyed your rest?”
“… How long was I out?”
“Hours.” She shakes her head. “You Terrans are such … weaklings.”
“You’re in Terran custody,” I point out. “So what’s that make you?”
“A prisoner of war.” She turns her head, fixes me with her withering gaze. “One you cannot hope to win.”
“I warned you,” I scowl. “You played right into their hands, Saedii. You gave them exactly what they wanted.”
“A conflict in which there can be no victory? The enmity of an Archon who destroys suns?” Saedii sits up slow, swings her bare legs around, and places her feet on the floor. There’s only the slightest trace of pain in her eyes, despite her injuries. “If your people wanted annihilation, then yes. I have given them that.”
“It’s not my people behind this mess.”
“That pathetic Aurora Legion badge you cower beneath will not spare you the Starslayer’s vengeance. Caersan will draw no distinction between the TDF and your fellow legionnaires.” Her black lips curl, pointed canines glinting. “He will slaughter all of you. Your suns will collapse. Your systems will be swallowed. Your entire race consigned to the dust of history. All of you.”
“You sound upset,” I say.
Her eyes narrow behind the strip of black paint across her temples. But that infuriating Syldrathi cool slips into place like a well-worn glove.
“You are a fool, Tyler Jones,” she says. “And you will die a fool’s death.”
“I’m not the fool spitting threats for the whole ship to hear.” I point to the small black dot above the doorframe. “You realize we’re under surveillance, right? That they can hear everything you say? See everything you do?”
“I am a Templar of the Unbroken.” She tosses her braids back off her shoulders, pointing to the three blades scribed on her forehead. “Warbreed by birth and troth. Anointed by the blood of Archon Caersan himself. I have nothing to fear from your people.”
“I keep telling you, the folks running this show aren’t my people. There’s things going on here you can’t possibly understand. But believe me when I say, Saedii, birth, troth, blood, whatever. You’re in way over your head here.”
I lie back down on the cot, wincing as I paw at the bruises on my bare chest.
“So be careful you don’t run your mouth right off your face.”
Placing my hands behind my head, I stare at the ceiling, feeling Saedii’s burning gaze roaming my body. I can tell she wants to kill me—I can feel the threat and rage radiating off her in waves. But I know she’s not stupid enough to try anything with those cams on her, and besides, her wounds