Breck made a sound in the back of her throat. “I wouldn’t be surprised if the general goes back on his word to pardon us after we deliver his son, safe and sound, back to Daddy. How do you even know he’s going to keep his promise, Andi?”
Andi grimaced as she watched the Patrolmen outside, in their perfectly polished boots, their pristine blue uniforms. “He made the Vow.” All the Patrolmen out there had made vows, too, when they joined the Arcardian ranks. Several of them had followed Dex to their deaths because of those vows. The Arcardian Vow was as binding as two souls becoming one. “He’ll keep his word, as long as I keep mine.”
“Making deals with the devil,” Lira said with a sigh. “Whatever will we do next?”
“Let me shoot the old man, Cap. We can swing over to Arcardius now, and I’ll make it quick,” Gilly whined from beside Breck. Her red braids had come undone, and curls tumbled over her shoulders, making her blue eyes pop. “Then this will all be over. You don’t want to go back to Arcardius, anyways.” She seemed to shrink back into herself for a second as she thought that over. “Right?”
“No one,” Andi said, glaring at Gilly over Breck’s massive form, “is shooting anyone else. Not yet, at least.”
She didn’t answer Gilly’s second question.
She’d already thought about it, imagined all the ways a life back on Arcardius could play out.
Even with a pardon, it would never be the same. When Kalee died, people had looked at Andi as if she were the scum of the planet. As if, by choice, she’d taken a knife to Kalee’s throat and slit it herself. As if she’d wanted to become a traitor.
Pardon on the line or not, Andi knew she wouldn’t be able to get herself and her crew out of this. Right now, they were boxed in like the blue cattle she’d once seen on a farming satellite.
“I don’t like it any more than any of you,” Andi said, “but we don’t have much of a choice. Our ship is in his hands, and he has an entire Tracker full of armed guards surrounding this cargo bay right now.” She tapped her red-painted nails on the armrest. “I don’t doubt he’ll keep the Vow...but that’s not our biggest concern right now. We’re headed to the Olen System.”
“And this is Xen Ptera we’re talking about,” Gilly said. “We’ve never stolen anything from there. We’ve never even been to the Olen System, Cap!”
Traveling to Olen had become a fool’s journey ever since The Cataclysm ended. There was still the peace treaty in place, preventing the massive Olen System, with its capital planet of Xen Ptera, from attacking the other Unified Systems of Mirabel. But those living in the Olen System weren’t exactly friendly with the Unified Systems.
Andi didn’t blame them. It was a miracle anyone had survived the explosive final battle that took place on Xen Ptera in the final days of the war.
“We can’t think of it like that. If we do, we’ll end up overthinking every move we make. It’s just another job. A grab and go.” But Andi had a hard time believing that herself. She’d been to plenty of dingy, destroyed places in Mirabel. Pirating had a way of drawing her and her crew to the darkest sides of the various planets and moons they’d visited. But if half the rumors she’d heard about Xen Ptera were true, then she had to be strong. If not for herself, then for her crew.
Her past actions had gotten them into this mess. She had to keep them alive to the end.
“Whatever you say, Androma,” Breck said. “If you don’t mind, I’m going to take little Gilly here down to check out the new weapons. With the supplies the general gave us, we can make Sparks large enough to destroy an entire moon.”
“Go ahead,” Andi said. “But I want you both back here before we take off.”
A selfish part of Andi wished General Cortas hadn’t been the one to give the gunners their new weapons. For the past several months, they’d been low on their most beloved supplies. She wanted to be able to provide for her girls, but so far, all she’d done was put them in danger.
Andi sighed, knowing this line of thinking was foolish. Gilly was grinning ear to ear as she and Breck left the bridge, and as long as they were both happy with the new weapons, it didn’t matter who actually supplied them.
Lira remained behind, watching Andi with those all-seeing Adhiran eyes of hers. They’d been together the longest, shared countless stories over bottles of fizzy Cosmic Cram until their eyes became as glassy as the stars.
Andi would never forget the day she met Lira at a fighting ring on Zerpro7. They’d stood side by side, two girls intent on winning their bets. But the fights were slow that night, the brawlers not very skilled, and soon Andi found herself conversing with Lira.
They should put me in the ring, Lira had said, sighing as she leaned over the dirty railing, peering at the fight below.
You sound confident, Andi had answered.
I’m confident enough when it comes to fighting, Lira said, but flying is my true gift.
They’d talked long into the night, and hours later Andi had offered Lira a test run with her ship. They’d flown away from Zerpro7 and never looked back.
“You’re not okay, Andi,” Lira said now. “I can see it as clear as varillium, so stop trying to pretend that you are.”
Andi sighed, running her hand through her tangled white and purple hair. It was going to take her hours to work out the knots.
“I’m fine.” But she knew Lira sensed the lie the moment it left her lips. “I’m just...” She sighed. “I need some time with my thoughts, Lira.”
Lira looked at her doubtfully, but obliged. “I’ll be in my quarters if you need me.”
Andi watched Lira leave the room before turning to look past the clear glass wall and at the inside of the Tracker ship. Men in blue Arcardian Patrolmen uniforms scuttled around like ants as they finished their final checks on the Marauder.
Andi was exhausted, both mentally and physically, the kind of exhaustion she doubted sleep could fix. For once, she wasn’t positive what the next step would be, besides rescuing the general’s son. Beyond that was an expanse of complete uncertainty.
A death sentence pardoned. An entire planet waiting for her. But after all that had transpired and with the wounds she still held inside...could she ever really return?
With a sigh, she picked up her swords and began tallying the day’s kills. As she dug into the metal, Andi’s thoughts drifted to the past.
She wished, desperately, that she’d never been chosen for the sacred Spectre position, that she’d simply become a regular soldier like her father. Her earliest memories of their time together were of training days, bruised fists and bloodied knuckles. Fighting is in our blood, Androma. We will always defend Arcardius, at all costs.
It was because of her father’s training that she so often wound up in the commandant’s office after fighting with other students at the Academy when her anger got the best of her. It was because of her anger that her parents put her into dance classes, in hopes they would help soften her edges.
And it was because of dancing that she’d
