Ghost in the Machine (Corwint Central Agent Files) Read online

  “Hank, I can honestly say that I have never been more sure about anything in my life.”

  Hank took in another long breath, but the steadfast tone of Ethan’s voice said it all. What a wild week it had turned out to be. “Okay then! Well, you know Tara isn’t going to just let this slip under the radar. She’s going to want to plan some sort of … something… with flowers and cake and God knows what else.”

  “Seriously?”

  “Seriously.” Hank laughed. “She’s one of those closet wedding planner girls. I found her whole stash of mags and this huge binder under the couch in her apartment one time. I think I still have some of the bruises she gave me when I couldn’t stop laughing.”

  Ethan sighed and shook his head at his friend’s completely oblivious nature. “I doubt she had a Mecha and a Vesparian in mind when she was putting that binder together.”

  Hank scratched the back of his neck with a sideways grin. “Yeah. I know.”

  “You know?” Ethan wondered if had correctly understood the inflection in Hank’s voice, but he was afraid to betray his earlier conversation with Tara. “As in... about Tara… and you…”

  The grin faded from Hank’s face. “Yeah. She had my picture on the first page of that binder, which I didn’t see if it ever comes up. She’d kill me. Besides, I’m not a total limik, Ethan.”

  Ethan frowned. “Then you don’t feel the same?”

  “Of course I do. I mean, c’mon! She’s smart, she totally kicks my ass at like everything and of course she’s gorgeous, which just makes it more brutal.”

  Ethan crossed his arms and raised his eyebrow. He had held suspicions about Hank’s feelings for a while now, but until recently Hank had been pretty good at hiding them. “So, you gave me that big talk about love and wormholes, and here you are afraid to jump in yourself. Figures.”

  “It’s complicated.” Hank sighed heavily as his shoulders sagged.

  “More complicated than a Mechatronic Automaton falling in love and marrying a Vesparian who isn’t supposed to exist?”

  “Point taken.” Hank chuckled. “I just don’t want to lose what we have. It’s comfortable! We always have each other’s back. She’s my best friend, Ethan. If I ever fucked that up because I suck at relationships as much as I think I do, I’d never be able to live with myself.”

  “Would you rather she go off and find someone else?”

  “Fuck no.” Hank ran a hand through his hair, pissed at himself for being such a damn coward.

  “She’s not going to wait around forever, Hank.”

  “I know! Damn you, Ethan. I was supposed to be getting the details about you and Orynn, not discussing my complete failure at taking my own advice!”

  Ethan gave Hank of smile of encouragement and was about to respond when the com unit on his door sounded. He hit the com button on the panel to his left. “Come in.”

  The door opened and Tara stuck her head in. “Hey, we’re just about to cross into Ruisk territory. Orynn’s set up at the com station in case we run into any patrols since her Ruisk speech makes everyone else’s sound like slurring drunkards, but so far it’s been quiet.”

  “Thanks.” Hank smiled a nod to her and she turned and left. He started following her out the door as Ethan was mouthing the words ‘Jump in the wormhole.’ at him. Hank mouthed back an annoyed ‘Fuck off.’ and walked out the door.

  Ethan laughed to himself as the door to his station shut behind Hank. That poor limik was going to lose the best thing in his life if he made her wait much longer. If it came down to it, he was just going to lock those two into a storage container together until they sorted themselves out. Turning on his view monitor to the bridge and watching his wife at the com station, he wondered if they could work together on a plan later to get those two kids moving forward.

  Pulling up his long range communications panel, he sent an update to Merik on their intended destination in case the Trexen could get away from Brogen to join them on Entarsk. Given Brogen’s record for blowing shit up and setting things on fire, which was previously bested by only Hank, he hoped the Trexen was still alive to give them a hand.

  After sending the message, his eyes fell back onto the view-screen showing Orynn sitting at the communication station. She blushed suddenly and glanced over in Tara’s direction, who was apparently using a station to station relay message to communicate with her. Ethan was tempted to open the message feed as he watched Orynn type in a reply from her own station with a growing blush, but he decided to let her enjoy her ‘girl talk’ with Tara.

  The next hour passed by without any sign of a Ruisk patrol and it was starting to give him an uneasy feeling. This close to Entarsk, they should of at least received a ping off of a cargo-ship. Just as he finished that thought, the readout on one of the view-screens in front of him gave a warning beep and flashed red to indicate that it had picked up an engine signature from a vessel in the area.

  He tapped his console to connect into the bridge com system as he reviewed the readout. “Heads up. Looks like our luck couldn’t hold out forever. We’ve got our first Ruisk patrol ship incoming.”

  “Well, it was good while it lasted.” Hank looked over his shoulder at Orynn. “Ready?”

  “Ataha! Tuiskinya kowza vetzi’se.” Orynn replied in perfect Ruisk with a smile.

  Tara snickered and Hank turned to her. “What did she say?”

  Tara just shook her head as Orynn joined her in laughter. “Not my fault someone wasn’t paying attention in linguistics. Ever.”

  Ethan’s voice cut back in and didn’t sound happy. “Correction. We’ve got our first Xen’dari patrol.”

  “Xen’dari?” Hank looked over the readout. “What in the universe is a lone Xen’dari patrol doing out this far from the Ruisk homeworld?”

  “No idea,” Ethan rechecked the readouts. “but something isn’t right. I’m getting a strange anomaly. Brom, can you do me a favor and launch a sensory grenade at fourteen, eighty-three and two?”

  “Sure.” Brom wondered what the Mecha was up to. According to the readout he was looking at, there was nothing but dead space at those coordinates. The patrol ship was coming from the complete opposite direction. Using his tactical interface, he prepped the modified grenade and fired. When the grenade hit its targeted destination, it exploded automatically and cast a wide sensory net. “Whoa!”

  “Fuck!” Ethan cursed as the sensory net feedback lit up the main view-screen on the bridge with the readout he had pulled up. Three class four Xen’dari fighters and one very large class one Xen’dari command ship suddenly became visible as the sensory net hit against their cloaked vessels.

  “By the stars.” Orynn stood slowly from her station. “Ethan, it is him.”

  “Him who?” Hank glanced back at her and was shocked by the deep look of fear that had come over her face.

  “No time to explain.” Ethan overrode the ship’s navigation and engaged the engines, turning the Zera full about to go back the way they had come. Two more Xen’dari fighters decloaked to block their path and one of them fired a warning shot off the Zera’s bow.

  The com station behind Orynn beeped, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the view-screen. Tara leaned over and looked at the incoming message. “The command ship is hailing us, Hank.”

  “Answer it, please.” Orynn responded before Hank could answer. “Ethan, stop the engines.”

  “No.”

  “Ethan, listen to me, please.” Orynn turned her eyes to the bridge video monitor as another warning shot rocked the ship.

  The fear in her eyes as she looked at him through the monitor brought a desperate anguish to his voice. “I’m not letting this happen!”

  “Please, Ethan! He will destroy this vessel just to get to me!” She grabbed the console as another blast tore through the shields and offered less of a warning and more of a command to stop. “Onir vel asni, Velstrae. Tu nuassa Eros ni’asae! Sinae, Ethan. Sinae!”

  After another momentary hesitation f
rom Ethan, she felt the hum of the engine lower to a stop. “Thank you.”

  “Hank?” Tara eyed Hank, who glanced to Orynn, then reluctantly nodded. “Okay then.” Tara took in a deep breath and hit the accept button.

  The angular face of the Xen’dari Commander, with steel blue eyes and dark wavy hair, peered down at their bridge from the main view-screen. His eyes focused on Orynn and a smile of satisfaction came to his lips. “Well, It looks as if I have finally managed to get one step ahead of you, my dearest Volkaryk.”

  Orynn took in a deep breath and stepped closer to the screen as Ethan stepped onto the bridge. “Hello, Jarren.”

  “What? No smile for me?” Jarren gave a mocking frown. “After all the trouble I went through in order to set this little trap up, you could at least show a little appreciation!”

  “Who the fuck are you?” Hank stood up from his Captain’s chair and stood beside Orynn as Ethan came up behind her.

  “Hank, please…” Orynn turned to him with pleading in her eyes for him to remain calm.

  “So, you haven’t told him, my dearest?” Jarren’s glance fell on Hank with a menacing smirk. “How wonderful! Well, allow me to get you caught up on a little family history, cousin.”

  “Jarren, no!” Orynn turned her pleading eyes to Jarren, but she knew it was futile.

  “Cousin?” Hank looked from Jarren to Orynn. “What is he talking about?”

  “You really can’t trust these Vesparians, cousin.” Jarren continued. “They love to bat their eyelashes innocently and coil themselves around the hearts of men, and this one… oh yes, this one is a master at her trade! I, dear cousin, am the son of your Uncle Keith. He died some years before you were born, and when I say died, I mean to say that he was murdered in cold blood by having his brains blown across the walls of the Eros Estate solarium!”

  “Jarren, please, you do not know what you saw that day!” Orynn interjected, but Jarren ignored her and kept his gaze focused on Hank. He was going to rip apart everything she had created until it was all left in burning ruin at her feet.

  “This particular Vesparian has a taste for Eros men it seems, and we Eros men all seem to be fools for her pretty little face and sweet smile. I wonder, dear cousin, has she found her way into your heart? You certainly look enough like your father, so maybe she has already crawled herself into your bed, too.”

  “That is enough!” Orynn clenched her fists at her side, but she knew she was helpless to stop him.

  “No! It is not enough! Nothing I will ever do to you will ever be enough!” Jarren hissed and slammed his fist against the arm of his chair. A twitch of his brow caused his right eye to shut.

  Orynn took a step back from his hate filled glare and hit against Ethan behind her. She felt Ethan’s hands grasping her shoulders, but her whole mind had gone numb. This was not how she wanted this to happen. She wanted to have the chance to sit down with Hank and properly explain things to him. Her eyes turned to Hank and she could not stop the tears that came. “I am so sorry.”

  “I bet, dear cousin,” Jarren continued in a quieter tone. “that she neglected to tell you how, in the span of twenty-four hours, she fucked your father and then killed mine!”

  “It was not like that!” Orynn pleaded with Hank in desperation as he looked at her in a confusion that was quickly fading into anger.

  “You were the one?” Tara stood and looked at Orynn in disbelief. “You told me Hank’s father changed because of someone breaking his heart, and it was you?”

  “You knew?” Hank turned his growing anger on Tara.

  “It’s more complicated than that, Hank.” Ethan jumped to Orynn’s defense.

  “You too?” Hank’s eyes widened as the feeling of betrayal hit him. “Is it true? Did your wife fuck my father and then kill his?”

  “Wife?!” Jarren’s hatred seethed back into his voice.

  “Wife?” Brom and Tara both questioned at the same time.

  “It wasn’t like that.” Ethan could see the feelings of betrayal in Hank’s eyes and it hurt deeply. “Keith was a traitor who killed Jhonis’s wife. He deserved what he got. As for your father… it was a misunderstanding. We were going to tell you. After this mission, we were going to tell you everything, I swear.”

  “Well, it seems you’ve been busy, my dearest.” Jarren’s voice calmed into an amused detachment and his gaze was now locked on Ethan. “A Mecha? Your standards have certainly dropped. Although, I must admit that this little bit of news is going to make things all the more entertaining.”

  Orynn looked back up at the face of the boy she had known so long ago as her voice became the quiet whisper of an accepted fate. “What do you want from me, Jarren?”

  Jarren sighed and looked back at Orynn with a soft smile. “The same thing I have wanted for thirty-five years, my dearest. I simply want you to keep your promise. You do remember your promise, yes?

  “Yes. I promised that I would always be there for you.”

  “It seems you and I had a very different understanding of the word ‘always’.”

  “You were five years old, Jarren.” Orynn knew she had broken that promise to him, and she had always regretted it. “They took you to Xen’dari and I only would have put your life in danger. I have never forgotten that promise or what I did to your father.” She turned to Hank. “Or yours.”

  Hank wanted to believe her. He wanted to feel anything besides the confused anger boiling in the pit of his stomach as he watched the tears spill forth from her fear-filled eyes. Maybe there was more to the story, and she had obviously told Tara and Ethan, but none of them had seen it fit to tell him about his own family. The knife of that pain dug deeper and he could no longer look at her.

  “Don’t let those silver eyes of hers get to you, cousin.” Jarren wasn’t nearly finished ripping her world apart. “All Vesparians can do is lie. It can’t be held against them, I suppose, as it is in their nature.”

  He reached to his side, then held up a Velxkul collar for all to see. “But that’s why we have these! Now, my dearest, all you have to do is put this on, come on board my ship without a fight and all will be forgiven. Well, that and remove their memories. Especially that Mecha. We can’t have them come looking for you, now can we? Vesparians aren’t supposed to exist after all.”

  “You can take that collar and shove it up the Empire’s fat ass!” Ethan growled.

  “You will watch your tone with me, machine!” Jarren hissed back. “Or I will have them tow your ship all the way back to Ruisk and let them take you all into custody! It is only because Hank is of my blood that am I even considering on letting you leave this in one fucking piece!”

  “Swear by the Four Council!” Orynn cut off Jarren’s ranting. If she could get him to swear by the Xen’dari Four Council, then he would be bound by his word under penalty of death. “Swear by the Four Council that you will let the Zera and all her crew go and that they will not be pursued. Swear to it, and I will come aboard without resistance.”

  “You are hardly in a position to negotiate, my dear,” Jarren countered. “but, I will do as you ask. I have no desire to spill more Eros blood. You have left so few of us, after all. However, you will remove yourself from their memories. Completely. I don’t want them to even know your name.”

  “Agreed.” Orynn trembled in Ethan’s grasp as her whole world fell out from under her.

  “Not agreed!” Ethan turned her around and shook his head. “No, Orynn. You can’t let him do this.”

  “What choice do I have? I will not put myself above everyone on this ship!”

  “Better listen to her, Mecha. She knows I have no qualms about doing this the hard way, so I suggest you take my offer while it is still on the table.” Jarren motioned to his side as he cast his glance back to Orynn. “Now my dearest, since I know you are incapable telling even the most basic of truths, I would like to introduce you to Tavia. Tavia, say hello to the Vesparian.”

  A tall female Trexen with shoulder length jet
black hair stepped into view beside Jarren’s seat and leaned into the monitor. She gave a cold emotionless smile. “Hello, Vesparian.”

  “I have a feeling that you and Tavia are going to become the best of friends!” Jarren twirled the collar in his hands with a practiced ease. “She is going to confirm that you have altered their memories. If she gets even the smallest flicker of betrayal from your head, I will not hesitate to blow them apart. Are we clear?”

  Orynn swallowed. “Swear to it.”

  Jarren huffed a sigh. “Fine, fine. I, Jarren Eros of the Xen’dari Fleet, Commander of the Tul’xi, do hereby swear by the Four Council and all their governance and wisdom, that I will pose no harm or threat to the Corwint vessel known as the Zera, its Captain, of my blood, Hankarron Eros second of his name, or his crew, so long as the Vesparian known as Orynn does forthright vanquish from their minds all knowledge of her existence and they do not pursue her or seek future knowledge of her whereabouts.”

  He paused and looked at the Mecha. “Oh and you will delete every single file about you from that one’s drive. No hidden scripts or special tricks. I do believe that nullifies the marriage, yes?” Jarren gave a dark chuckle. “I told you, my dearest Volkaryk, that you belonged to me. So the oath is spoken! Who will bear witness?”

  “I bear witness to my Master’s oath. If it is broken, may our lives be forfeit.” Tavia responded.

  “I will hunt you down, and l will kill you.” Ethan stepped forward and stared into the view-screen at Jarren with death in his eyes.

  “My poor mechanical man.” Jarren gave another over-exaggerated mocking frown. “When this is all done, you won’t even remember who I am.” He turned to Orynn. “Leave no trace and we can all go about our lives in peace. I will give you… ten minutes to say goodbye? I think that’s more than generous. It’s more than you gave me to say goodbye my father.”

  Orynn nodded in defeat. “Agreed.”

  Jarren nodded and turned to Hank. “Please lower your shield and allow our ship to dock, cousin. I am truly sorry you won’t remember this. I should like to have had more time to get to know you. I believe you and I could have had a great deal in common. Just be grateful for now that I have saved you from that vile creature. She would have gotten you killed eventually. She always does.”