Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [191]
“Enough of this nonsense.” The Designate kicked the knife away.
Panting and still sprawled on the deck, Zan’nh finally looked out into the corridor beyond his cell. His wild eyes drank in the unexpected scene: the murdered guard lying in a pool of blood outside his door, the other guard facedown farther down the corridor. He stared up at the spattered and sweating Designate who loomed over him. Zan’nh’s voice was raspy and rough. “What is this? You...you have killed Ildirans!”
The Dobro Designate paused another second before lifting his foot from the Adar’s wrist. He stepped back, regaining his composure. “Rusa’h isn’t the only one who can take extreme measures. Think of all the Ildirans he has killed.” He sounded bland and matter-of-fact. “If we are not willing to do unpleasant work, then Rusa’h and his lunatic rebellion will succeed. I have always done what was necessary, and I have always served the Ildiran Empire.” He looked with disdain at the Adar, then offered his hand to pull Zan’nh to his feet. “Come with me if you want a chance to end this revolt.”
Zan’nh hesitated for a moment, emotions storming through his mind. Then he nodded, frantic for a way out of the chamber, off of this warliner. After his failed bargain to surrender his vessels, he was ready to destroy this ship rather than let it be used to continue spreading Rusa’h’s corruption.
“Though I may eventually be damned for it in the Saga, I agree with you.” Zan’nh lowered his voice. “If I had been willing to do what was necessary, we would not be in such a grim situation. Adar Kori’nh would never have let it come to this.”
He followed his uncle out into the too-quiet corridor. Businesslike, the Dobro Designate leaned over the nearer dead guard. Without hesitating, he grasped the armored shoulders and began to drag the heavy soldier toward the open prison cell. “Help me hide these corpses and clean up. That will buy us time.”
Blood-sticky hands did not seem to bother the Dobro Designate, but Zan’nh stood staring aghast at the two slaughtered guards. As uniformed Solar Navy warriors, these two had been members of his own crew before their forced conversion. Then he remembered all of his own loyal crewmen who had died as hostages to Rusa’h, murdered one by one until Zan’nh had surrendered his ships. His heart grew cold. He already had blood on his hands. These two guards were casualties of a civil war, and they were less innocent than those other victims had been.
Stronger now, Zan’nh grabbed the second guard, and soon both corpses were sealed behind the door. They used part of one of the dead guards’ uniforms to wipe the worst of the bloodstains off the deck, so that no casual passerby would notice the marks. Breathless, they stood together in the corridor.
Though full of corrupted Solar Navy crewmen, the Ildiran battleship was nearly silent in the thism. Zan’nh felt only the connection from the Dobro Designate, whom he still did not entirely trust. “So there are only two of us aboard this entire warliner. Do we have a plan?”
Udru’h raised his eyebrows, somewhat amused. “I have already completed my part of the plan, Adar. I freed you. Now I rely on your knowledge of the Solar Navy, and this warliner in particular. The next step is up to you.”
Chapter 96—CESCA PERONI
Even in the heated interior of the Aquarius, Cesca couldn’t stop shivering. “I never thought I’d feel warm again.” Purcell said to Nikko, “We need to get away, take off before those robots come back for us.”
“I’m sure they saw my ship when I flew over,” Nikko said. “And I don’t have any weapons aboard to defend us.”
Cesca glanced at the wrung-out administrator, then at Nikko Chan Tylar, dreading what she had to say. But she was the Speaker, and she had to protect the clans.