Fractured Era: Legacy Code Bundle (Books 1-3) (Fractured Era Series) Page 4

  “She lost a lot of blood,” Cassia said. “We’ll have to keep her for a while.”

  “Lucky her,” Maeve said. “She won’t have to deal with demented Fenton anymore.”

  Cassia lifted her brow. “You know… she’s lucky to be alive.”

  “Yeah, so am I.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Maeve met Cassia’s eyes. “I mean Fenton told me to get in the press. And I told him to go fuck himself.”

  “You…” Cassia went pale. “You did what? You disobeyed an enforcer?”

  “He’s an idiot. So, yes.”

  “Did he…”

  “Lash me? Yep. Then Gilly volunteered to do my job.” A lump formed in Maeve’s throat, and she gently touched Gilly’s shoulder, unable to tear her gaze from where her hand should be.

  Gilly had been so excited to do her duty, so hopeful about Soren. And now…

  “I’ll take good care of her,” Cassia said softly. “You don’t need to be here. I… Let me get you some cream for your back.”

  She left the curtained enclosure to cross the partition to the next cot. Maeve took one last look at Gilly, then pushed through the curtain to the other side.

  “Sit,” Cassia said. “This will help with the sting.”

  “I really gotta get to midmess.”

  “Let me treat you.” Cassia’s voice was rough, and she stepped closer and touched the zipper at the top of Maeve’s suit. “Please.”

  Without thinking, Maeve placed her hand over Cassia’s. Sparks leapt between them, and tension thrummed in the small space, as dangerous as a live wire. The intensity of it hadn’t diminished, even if Cassia claimed their friendship was over.

  Neither one of them breathed as Maeve lifted Cassia’s hand and pushed up her sleeve, revealing the infinity symbol tattoo there.

  Maeve had expected it, of course. She’d known it would be there, but actually seeing it was strange. Horrible. Her own wrist still had the teardrop shape denoting her half status, but Cassia was paired now, her infinity complete. The other half of the symbol was dark with the fresh ink of a new tattoo.

  “So how’s the paired life?” Maeve asked lightly. “Must be nice having a whole exec cubic to yourselves.”

  “Don’t,” Cassia whispered.

  Maeve dropped Cassia’s wrist and turned away. She unzipped her suit in a fluid motion and shrugged it off her shoulders so it hung around her waist. The cool air of the medbay sent a shiver through her, and she crossed her arms over her bare breasts.

  Cassia sucked in a breath. “Damn. He got you good.”

  Maeve was afraid her voice would betray her if she tried to answer, so she waited in silence, staring at a scuffed panel as Cassia collected her supplies.

  Her light touch ran down Maeve’s spine as she washed the wounds, and each new caress caused both pleasure and pain, warming Maeve in the worst way. She tried to ignore the discomfort as Cassia spread the cool numbing cream across her back and applied the bandages.

  “How’s your pop?” Maeve said, glad Cassia couldn’t see her face. “Happy now, I’ll bet.”

  Cassia stopped bandaging her and sighed. “He is.”

  “He has no right to tell you who to be friends with.” Same fight, different day, but Maeve didn’t care anymore. She’d say it until Cassia saw the truth. “You being paired doesn’t change things.”

  “Yes it does.” Cassia’s voice was firm, and she pressed the last bandage on hard enough to make Maeve wince.

  She pulled her suit back up over her shoulders and turned. Cassia’s eyes dipped to the exposed line of skin where Maeve’s suit was still unzipped. Her gaze ran up her torso and lingered on the dip between her covered breasts.

  Maeve’s breath quickened. Cassia bit her lip, fair cheeks flaming, and averted her eyes.

  Maeve zipped up her suit, pulling it so hard she heard thread tear. “Well, I won’t throw away friendships when I get paired.”

  Cassia started returning her supplies to the cabinet. “It’s time I grew up,” she said, her voice thick. “I have a husband. I’ll be Lead Medic someday, and Jason will be Lead Navigator. I can’t… spend my free time drinking in the sublevels with you. It’s not responsible.”

  “We don’t have to drink.”

  “It’s not just…” She shook her head. “You know what they say.”

  “No. What do they say, Cassia?” Maeve stood taller, her anger fading to something like desperation. She knew damn well what everyone said, but she and Cassia had never talked about it before. Not ever.

  “You know.” Cassia shut the cabinet door and paused there, her jaw tight, not looking at Maeve.

  “I want to hear it from you.”

  “They say you’re…” Cassia mumbled. “That you’re the reason I was forced to pair.”

  “Who cares? It’s not true. Right?”

  Cassia didn’t respond right away, and Maeve waited, heart pounding.

  “No,” Cassia said. “Nothing they say is true. I’m not…”

  “Deviant? Broken like they all say I am?”

  Cassia narrowed her eyes. “Stop.”

  “Who cares what they say, then?” Maeve’s brain was screaming at her to shut up, horrified at how vulnerable she sounded. But the darkness was back, threatening to consume her whole. She grabbed Cassia’s hand and willed her to be the friend she’d once had.

  Cassia yanked her hand away as if Maeve’s touch had burned her. She glanced toward the curtain, to the door beyond, like she was worried someone would enter… or like she wanted to escape.

  “I care. And my family cares.” Cassia’s voice cracked. “And I don’t need or want this anymore, understand? I’m an adult, not a child. I need to do my duty to the fleet. Jason and I are in the population lottery now. We could be one of the lucky couples to have a healthy child. Maybe it’s time you did your duty and paired.”

  Her words were a knife through Maeve’s heart, cutting deep. But she recovered… and gave Cassia a proud smile.

  “Maybe I will.” She pushed past her and stalked back out to the medbay.

  Cassia’s father was working the station now, and he gave her his usual disapproving stare as she walked past with her head held high.

  The other curious medics stopped what they were doing to watch her leave. She had no appetite, so she skipped midmess and headed back to her cubic. Her bunkmates came and went, but the shut privacy panel on her bunk kept anyone from bothering her. As the shift buzzer rang for second shift, she decided to skip that, too. Fuck consequences.

  Gilly would be Outcast for life, and it was Maeve’s fault. Her cowardice had finally hurt someone else—a new half, a girl who had been much braver than she’d ever be.

  Maeve told herself she wanted control, but like Dritan said… she was just a quitter, too cowardly to do her duty to the fleet and die an honorable death. Too afraid to show Cassia how she really felt.

  But a sub with twisted desires didn’t fit anywhere on this fleet.

  She buried her face in her pillow and tried to come up with a surefire way to end her existence with the least amount of pain possible.

  Stealing Fenton’s card again was an option, but Dritan was onto her and would be watching for that. But there was another way to get herself airlocked.

  Treason.

  Treason was punishable by death.

  Plenty of violations could lead to that sentence, but an easy one was staring her right in the face. All she had to do was physically assault a high-level exec. Head Enforcer Jacobs would be at last mess tonight to announce the draft picks, and Maeve wouldn’t mind getting a few punches in for her dead parents.

  With the captain there as a witness, Maeve would be labeled a traitor and would probably be airlocked before last mess ended.

  Maeve fell asleep with a smile on her lips as she pictured endless space and a red planet spinning on its axis—the promise that this would all be over soon.

  ∞

  Maeve was strangely calm, happy eve
n, when the buzzer went off for last mess. She laced up her boots and joined the tired crowds trudging toward the galley with a spring in her step. As she grabbed her last meal from the cooks, a sense of rightness flowed through her, her mission crystal clear in her mind.

  Dritan caught up to her as she sank into her usual seat. “Where were you second shift? Fenton was pissed. You’ll be in the brig tomorrow.”

  She gave him a small smile. “I’m not really worried about it.”

  Dritan’s brows knit together, and he chewed his lip in frustration. “You’re… you’re not acting right, M. Ya gotta stop it. They’ll stick you on grimp if you keep this up. Then you really won’t be yourself.”

  Grimp dulled every emotion, but it was highly addictive. The thought of using it had crossed Maeve’s mind, but she and Dritan had talked about it before. They’d both rather be dead than living that particular lie.

  “Huh. I’ve never felt more like myself.” Maeve took a bite of the quin, relishing the taste of it, bland as it was. A person should enjoy their last meal, shouldn’t they? It was hard to look Dritan in the eye, knowing what she was about to do, but he’d forgive her. Eventually.

  Dritan shook his head, acting irritated, but the rest of their crew showed up, so he dug into his food without responding.

  Her crew was quiet and withdrawn, and they ate in silence until a commotion at the door drew their attention. Maeve’s pulse sped up as the captain, lead tech, and head enforcer walked through. Miller and Jacobs had hologear on this time, each of them wearing a single piece of glasstex over one eye. Maeve’s excitement died as a long line of enforcers trailed in behind the execs. They looked alert, stunners at the ready.

  Kak. Why hadn’t she realized they’d have security when they announced the list? How would she reach Jacobs now?

  The three execs went to the dais, and the enforcers formed a half-circle in front of them. No one in the galley sat back down. Instead, at least half the crowd drifted closer, forming a loose ring just outside the line of enforcers.

  Maeve pressed her lips together and swung her legs off the bench. She shoved through the gathering crowd to make her way to the front, using her small size to her advantage. She’d made a decision to assault the head enforcer today, and she wasn’t backing down.

  When she reached the line of enforcers, she found herself face-to-face with Fenton. He sneered at her, but she focused on Jacobs, standing behind him.

  The captain began another inspirational speech, but the words all ran together, garbled and unintelligible through the red haze Maeve existed in. Adrenaline flooded her system, making her sweat.

  Head Enforcer Jacobs stood for everything that was wrong with this fleet. Worthy subs got maimed and killed, while the execs lived in luxury. Better food, bigger cubics, different rules, longer lives. Not that she needed another reason to hate Jacobs after she’d killed Maeve’s parents.

  She tried to measure the space between Fenton and the enforcers on either side of him. If she darted forward quickly, she might be small enough to slip through. Then she could hop up on the dais and get some swings in before they stopped her.

  The lead tech started reading his list, and a low murmur replaced the crowd’s silence as two halfs found out they were going to die tomorrow.

  A hand grabbed Maeve’s wrist, and she jerked her head to the side to find Dritan there. His presence made her doubt herself, and she grew nauseous from the guilt. Would he suffer if she did this? Maeve shook off Dritan’s grasp, her chest heavy with indecision.

  The head enforcer moved her fingers through the air as she manipulated the holographic list only she could see.

  “Beatrice Maxwell.”

  “Yoko Himura.”

  “Dritan Corinth.”

  “Michael Fitz.”

  Dritan.

  The galley spun around Maeve, and when her gaze landed on Fenton in front of her, his kak-eating grin revealed everything. This was his fault. Jacobs kept talking, and Maeve glanced at Dritan. He looked stunned. Afraid.

  “You’re not eighteen,” Maeve murmured. “I don’t understand.”

  Dritan tore at his short curls. “My birth records were passed from deka to deka… They’ve messed them up before… Maybe… I… I don’t know.”

  “We are sending one enforcer down with the team.” The head enforcer’s voice cut through Maeve’s shock. “George Fenton.”

  Fenton’s smirk faded to accommodate his gaping jaw, and he blinked, uncomprehending.

  As Jacobs passed the amplifier back to the captain, and he began saying his final words, the grav system seemed to malfunction. Maeve felt like she was floating as she darted forward and slipped between Fenton and the enforcer next to him. Fenton didn’t see her coming, too off-balance after his bad news to stop her as she leapt onto the dais beside the head enforcer.

  Maeve clenched her fists tight, facing Jacobs, and the whole room went quiet. Blood pounded in her ears, her rage begging to be set free, to be unleashed on this woman, as if hurting her would make it all better.

  But Maeve’s body betrayed her.

  The words fell from her mouth like a bad hand of chips, tossed on a table for everyone to see.

  “You’ve made a mistake,” she said, barely hearing the words leaving her own mouth. “Dritan Corinth isn’t eighteen yet. But I am. We have the same training and are on the same crew. I volunteer to go in his place.”

  Galley conversation erupted into a roar. Or maybe that was just Maeve’s pulse in her ears.

  The head enforcer recovered from her surprise and ordered the enforcers to stay in formation. “What’s your name?”

  “Maeve Vasquez.”

  Jacobs inclined her head slightly, and the lump in Maeve’s throat threatened to choke her. What had she just done?

  “You may take Dritan Corinth’s place.” Jacobs gestured to the nearest enforcer, and he guided Maeve back off the dais.

  She could barely hear, barely see as the captain continued his final speech, and the crowd began to disperse. Every muscle in her body seemed paralyzed as she stared down at her hands.

  The crowd cleared, and when she looked up again, she found Dritan, the rest of their crew arrayed behind him. They all had new respect in their eyes… except for Dritan. He wasn’t making any effort to hide his pain this time.

  The urge to escape washed over Maeve, and she ran past them all. Dritan followed her into the corridor and grabbed her by the shoulder, spinning her to face him.

  “It was supposed to be me.” Dritan squeezed her shoulders tighter. “Fuck, M. Why?!”

  Maeve jumped at his sudden outburst and glanced around as people in the corridor stopped whatever they were doing to stare at them.

  “Answer me.” Dritan got closer, pushing her into the wall. “Why do you have a death wish?”

  “The correct response is thank you.” She pushed him away hard, and he let her go with a look of defeat.

  She took off at a fast clip down the corridor, her blood rushing to her head. Her death wish hadn’t included a fiery ending. All she’d wanted to do was control when she died… and choose the least painful way possible.

  What have I done?

  Fenton didn’t have a monopoly on illegal hooch. Maeve’s stash was hidden in an empty storage cubic in an abandoned sector on P2. And that’s what she needed right now—a drink.

  The stairwell was still full of subs and techs as she entered it, but she slipped between them all, shoving through to get where she was going. Curses floated around her, but she ignored them. The crowd dissipated at zero deck, and Maeve caught her breath before jogging down to the abandoned sector on P2.

  Most of the lume bars had been recyced there, and many of the panels had been stripped away, revealing dead and burned out components in the walls. Every machine there had been stripped for parts, so except for the hum of the power core, it was blissfully silent.

  When she got to the repurposed storage cubic, she pulled out the fermenting quin alcohol and
poured some of it into her canteen. Someone had lifted a stained cot from recyc ages ago, and as Maeve sank down on it, legs shaky, the door slid open.

  Dritan stormed into their spot without meeting her eyes or saying a word and grabbed some of the hooch. He leaned against the wall and sucked it down, his face twisted with anger. She’d never seen him this mad. Maeve took a long draught, and it burned like fire all the way down her throat.

  He was clearly trying to think of a solution to a problem he couldn’t fix, which is what he always did. She went numb as she drained her canteen, the effect of the hooch intensifying with every sip. Volunteering had been the right thing to do. The fleet needed colonists like Dritan, colonists who believed in duty and a better world. They didn’t need her.

  “Sit down.” She patted the cot. “I volunteered. You aren’t eighteen, and they won’t take my name off the list now. You can’t fix this.”

  He chugged another mouthful and didn’t look at her.

  She dropped her empty canteen to the cot and went to stand in front of him.

  “I can’t fight it anymore.” Maeve’s voice cracked, and she hated how she sounded. Dritan finally met her eyes, and she licked her lips, forcing herself to continue. “Ever since my parents… Since Cassia. You don’t understand. There’s this… darkness.”

  “You’re not alone. You don’t think I’ve felt what you’re feeling?”

  She stared at him, not knowing what to say. He'd had a rough start in life, but he'd always acted so optimistic. “I… I don’t know how else to escape it.”

  Dritan took another chug and didn’t answer, just stared back at her, judging her with his intense eyes until Maeve couldn’t take it anymore. She returned to the cot, twisting her canteen in her hands over and over as the long silence stretched between them.

  Dritan pushed off the wall and grabbed her canteen from her grasp. He refilled both their bottles, then sank down close beside her.

  Maeve took her canteen from him with mumbled thanks.

  She forced a laugh to fill the silence. “So. Did you see Fenton’s face when they called his name?”