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A sob ripped through her. Giving up would be so easy. She could disappear on Crius Beta. Find a quiet place. End it all. It might hurt Finn for a while, but he’d get over it. He’d understand. And then everyone would be free to move on.
But what about Pallas? She’d promised to stop him, to keep Myka safe. A stupid promise, one she didn’t know if she could actually fulfill. One she never should have made in the first place. But it was out there now, haunting her.
Renna raised her head from her knees and scrubbed away the tears wetting her cheeks. Whatever she decided, it would have to be soon. She was running out of time.
NINE
After she’d pulled herself together, Renna made her way to the bridge. Sitting around feeling sorry for herself wasn’t really her style anyway. She took up a spot just inside the door, out of the way of the rest of the crew.
Commander Jayla sat in the chair overlooking the command center, while Lieutenant Blake was at his station to her right.
“Entering atmosphere,” Flight Lieutenant Tevsi said, adjusting the ship’s speed and trajectory. The Delfine pilot glanced back at Renna, raising one of her pale violet eyebrows. “Where to?”
“Hunda,” she said. Crius Beta was a modern, well-populated planet. As the ochre-colored ground rushed toward them, Renna could make out the huge manufacturing compounds, shining white and chrome in the late afternoon sunlight. Luckily, she didn’t need to worry about finding her way around one of those; they were headed for the main city.
“Dock at Station Twelve, if they have space.”
“I’ll contact the spaceport now,” Tevsi said.
“Thank you, Lieutenant,” Jayla said, getting to her feet. “Make sure to keep us under the radar. No need to announce we’re with MYTH. Use the fake codes Dallas gave us.” Jayla motioned to Renna. “Can I speak with you?” Without waiting for an answer, Jayla marched away from the bridge.
“Are you going to tell me what we’re really doing on this planet?” Jayla demanded, stopping in the middle of the corridor. “I did my own research. There’s nothing here but a few manufacturing companies and financial businesses. Why would Finn come here? It doesn’t make sense.” Jayla narrowed her eyes. “Is this some sort of trap?”
Renna sighed noisily. “I’m not sure what else I can do to convince you people. I haven’t left yet. Haven’t betrayed anyone. In fact, I’m actively trying to help you. Cut me some f**king slack.”
A zap of power shot through her brain as her implant kicked on, calculating the odds of her escape from MYTH. She shuddered and threw a hand against the wall to steady herself as the heads-up display appeared in her vision. Eighty-seven percent chance of success if she ran now—they’d never find her on this planet—but there was a ninety-two percent chance she’d never see Finn again if she did.
She squeezed her eyes shut, willing the implant to turn off. That kind of information was not helpful right now.
“Everything all right, Commander?” Lieutenant Blake asked. He walked gingerly toward them, like he knew he was approaching two fighting beasts.
“I don’t know. Renna?” Jayla tilted her head, waiting for an answer.
“It’s fine.” She rubbed the back of her neck. It really wasn’t, but the commander didn’t care about the implant taking over Renna’s brain. “I have a job to do, and I plan on doing it with or without you, so if you’re not here to help me, get out of my way.”
The commander’s lips thinned. “Exactly what do you have planned?”
“Nothing illegal,” she said, ignoring the woman’s worried frown. “But I’ll be impersonating someone else to get inside Titan Industries. If you can’t play along, I’ll be going by myself.”
“Titan Industries?” Blake tilted his head and rubbed a hand along his jaw. “Never heard of them. What do they have to do with Finn and the Athena?”
“That’s what I’m hoping to find out,” she lied.
“Well, count me in.” Lieutenant Blake tugged at the lapels of his uniform jacket. “Cloak-and-dagger is my game.”
Renna shook her head. “Not if you stomp around like an elephant like the rest of the MYTH soldiers I’ve met.”
Blake shot her a wounded look. “I can safely assure you I’ve never stomped in my life.”
“Really?” Jayla asked, her lips twisting as she tried not to grin. “And that’s not you making the whole ship shudder on the way to the mess every morning?”
Blake held up his hands. “I can’t be held responsible for anything I do before coffee.”
Renna interrupted before the two of them went any further. “Whatever the case is, I need you both to stay out of my way if you come. Understood?”
Jayla’s dark eyebrows furrowed like she wanted to protest, but she finally nodded.
“Good.” Renna turned toward the hatch. “Let’s go find us some intel.”
Renna stepped out into the dusty hangar bay at the smaller of Hunda’s spaceports and pulled on her knee-length leather coat. Commander Jayla and Lieutenant Blake both followed, dressed in civvies instead of their MYTH uniforms.
The spaceport was at the edge of the city, mostly used by mercenaries and people trying to stay under police radar. Totally her kind of place. She inhaled, letting the smell of the planet wash over her. There was the typical spaceport odor of starfuel and exhaust in the background, along with the scent of food from the nearby bazar and the steel-and-glass tang of the towering buildings at the center of the city. And beyond it all, something she’d never felt before—the faint hum of the communications systems on the planet.
She didn’t know whether to be terrified or excited by that addition.
“Where to?” Blake asked, squinting into the distance.
Renna focused on blocking out the noise as she nodded to her right. “The Baji building. It’s the blue one over there.”
Blake tapped an order into his wrist tablet. “Speeder should be here in a minute or so. You going to tell us what we’re up against?”
Renna watched the busy street as speeders whizzed by. A crowd of laughing businessmen in orange suits hurried back to work at the stock exchange after some corporate lunch. A trio of stylish Delfine women in tight, black dresses walked past on their way to the shopping district. It all looked perfectly ordinary. But that didn’t mean it was safe. Blake and Jayla would be better off not knowing the truth, but if she knew anything about MYTH officers, it was that they were as tenacious as a two-headed moisu when it came to information.
