Chapter 27

Bren palmed the button to stop his private lift between floors and leaned up against the cool metal wall, closing his eyes even though the lights were muted. He needed the moment of privacy to gather his thoughts.

Between Esterhazy, Sophia, and his normal duties as Captain of the Silvana, he was a man on the edge. And he seemed to be the only one affected.

The few crewmembers that were even aware of the communications lockdown seemed to be energized by the potential for danger, instead of disturbed. Esterhazy acted as though he was nothing more than a well-meaning snoop. Sophia was patient with the crew, unruffled by Esterhazy, at turns passionate and candid with Bren in a way that kept him coming back for more. She gave no indication that being under constant surveillance bothered her in the least.

Bren drew in a breath and let it out slowly, trying to relax. He had a reputation for being able to outlast anyone at the negotiating table, but he had the feeling he was going to be the first to crack in this crazy game that Esterhazy and Sophia were playing. They said one thing with their mouths, a second with their eyes, a third with their bodies, and a fourth with their silences. He was a manipulator at heart, but compared to the two of them, he was the soul of honesty.

He still wanted Esterhazy off the Silvana, preferably in chains, as soon as possible. He wanted to have the whole tangle resolved. Sophia out of danger. The Silvana and her crew out of danger. Everything back as it was before Sophia had crashed the Warlock.

He knew the fastest way to get rid of Esterhazy was to take part in the farce that was about to happen, though he didn't like that either. Everyone was waiting for him down on the flight deck, where he was going to test the Warlock's repairs with a flight down to Lexington Dock. Sophia and Banks had come to some agreement where she allowed the Head Mechanic to work on the ship, and some of the idiot-proof fixes had been assigned to the other mechanics. Between the two of them, they'd made the Warlock flight-ready in the space of a week, all without alerting Esterhazy to the full extent of the repairs they made.

Thanks to some inspired storytelling by Darska, Esterhazy believed that there had been a minor accident in flight and that the Warlock's repairs and Sophia's use of a cane stemmed from that incident. It was implied that she was nursing a minor injury instead of recovering slowly from a major one. Bren was reminded why he kept Darska around — for the one time in a hundred where the man proved invaluable.

Everything was set up for the flight and the secret plan to apply to Dock Administration for any evidence of Sikandar II or Esterhazy's involvement in Carolina's crash. There had been no indication that anything would go wrong with their plan.

Bren took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes slowly. He was still suspicious, because of Sophia. She was still hiding something.

She would have never let another person — not even himself — repair the Warlock unless she was in dire need. She'd also agreed a little too readily to the trip to Lexington Dock after her initial resistance. Even when he questioned her motives with the jammer running to cover their conversation, she hadn't given any hint of what schemes were fermenting in her head.

So now the Silvana was floating above Lexington Dock, and Bren was going to go down to the flight deck, climb in the ship that had crashed on two separate occasions, and wait to see what Sophia had planned.

He opened his eyes and pushed the button to start the lift moving again.

The scene on the flight deck was a cross between a newscreen production and a free-for-all. All the mechanics were present, as were Miller, Esterhazy, and his security detachment, each person thinking they were the most important on deck. Though a run had been cleared from the Warlock's berth to the edge of the docking bay, there were still other ships and equipment blocking sight-lines all over the place. Esterhazy had set up visual recording gear in several places, and it was as disorganized as any mechanic's toolbox flung all over the deck floor.

At the center of it all sat Sophia, straight-backed and smiling, her cane leaned jauntily against one thigh.

Bren hung back in the lee of a light scout ship, making note of where everything and everyone stood. Then he strode into the thick of the melee.

"Captain Bren." Esterhazy welcomed him with a familiarity that Bren had hated years ago, which had only become more intense over the last few days... "We are discussing the ramifications of this historic flight. What are your opinions? This will be the second time you board this ship with a princess of Anatoray. Will bad luck haunt this flight as it did before? Does this affair," he stressed the word heavily for the newscreen recorders, "Conflict with your ownership of the Silvana? Does your newfound appreciation for Anatorayen contracts mean that the Silvana will lose its vaunted neutral status as a courier?"

Bren simply looked at the man until he finally wound down. In his quiet voice, he said "Move your equipment from beyond the aft end unless you want it crushed."

He waited while someone explained to Esterhazy which part of the Warlock was aft and the gear was moved. While the man's back was turned, he raised his eyebrows at Miller. She shook her head slightly. There had been no indication that Esterhazy had done anything suspicious when he went to retrieve the recording gear from his ship. Bren still didn't trust him.

If Sophia was right and Esterhazy had been instrumental in Carolina's death, then he would be trying anything to get Sophia out of Bren's company. Any manufactured emergency from the Anatorayen government would do. The best weapon he held against Esterhazy was the same one hanging over his head; comm silence.

Stepping over the various cables, Bren finally made his way to stand before Sophia. He narrowed his eyes against the vision of a different woman with the same brown hair, loose around her shoulders with red gleaming through it under the white deck lights.

It wasn't that Sophia was anything like Carolina. He was exquisitely aware of the differences, but he knew the brief vision was intended as a reminder. He may not have been able to stop Carolina's death, but he was determined to protect Sophia.

"Ready to go?" She asked, outwardly serene but obviously impatient to be flying.

He looked up at the shining metal skin of the Warlock, then down at its pilot. "Yes."

They didn't get much farther than the cockpit before they had their first argument.

"No." Bren looked down at Sophia, noted the spark in her eyes. She was almost back to her full strength, and ready for a fight.

"I'm a better pilot than you are." She argued, her right hand closed possessively on the back of the pilot's chair.

"And if anything goes wrong again, I want to be the one throwing the switches. You're strictly navi on this flight."

"The pilot's consoles only have partial access to backup system controls, as you well know. This is not something we're going to vote on. I am the Warlock's pilot. If you won't navigate for me, then get off my ship. I can fly him on my own." She glared up at him.

He leaned close as though to kiss her, "Do you really want to have this fight now? Right now?" He asked in his deadly soft voice.

Her eyes said she did, but she remained silent and sank into the navi's chair.

Bren took her acceptance for what it was worth and brushed the pad of his thumb across her lips — both thanks and warning. He knew Esterhazy and his recording devices probably couldn't see them from the flight deck floor, but he had no desire to chance broadcasting garish pictures of himself kissing Sophia on all the newscreens.

He stowed Sophia's cane within reach, closed the canopy, then lowered himself into the pilot's chair. Pleasant memories washed lightly over him without ever becoming a distraction him as he ran through the vanship's extensive pre-flight checklist.

One thought came through as he checked lights and cocked his head to listen for the changing tenor of the engine as it infused Claudia to power the systems he brought online. Was he agreeing to all this just to fly the Warlock once again?

He looked out through the canopy at the flight deck wall of the Silvana, and immediately knew that the answer was no. The Warlock was his past, and the Silvana was his future. He was only flying the Warlock for Sophia, which was — to his mind — a more acceptable reason.

He could hear her behind him, doing the navi checks with an attention to detail that he respected. He turned back to his own work, confident in his partner.

"Bren, wait!" Sophia said urgently from behind him, and he spun around in the Captain's chair, ready for anything.

She gave him a guilty smile, "I forgot my diplomatic papers in your foot locker. Can you go get them?"

He recognized the ploy for what it was, because he'd been waiting for it.

She'd put the papers in his locker for safekeeping when she started sleeping in his cabin instead of the Warlock. That had been at least a week ago. It was entirely plausible that she might have forgotten her papers there, except that Sophia would have never forgotten something that important. It was entirely reasonable to expect that he would go up to his rooms and get them, which would get him out of the Warlock.

He felt a surge of triumph and anger mixed together. Now that he knew what her first goal was, he could fight it. "There's no need. Miller can get them for you."

She blinked once, all innocence. "She has a key? I thought that locker was safe, that there was only one key."

"It is safe."

There was a moment — only a moment — where she paused, then she nodded graciously. "The papers should be right on top."