"Parts from a Tsavitee cruiser in your engine, a new power source none of my engineers can explain and a drive capable of at least three times the speed your ship is classed for. To say nothing of the weapons and defenses it shouldn't have," Himoto said, almost admiringly. "Jin does good work."
"Not just Jin," Kira corrected. She'd done as much on the ship as he had, teaching herself along the way. They'd created something that was much more than it appeared. She was proud of everything they’d done, even if most would never know the full extent of its capabilities.
He gave a small nod of acknowledgment to her words. "Those upgrades won't even give the Tuann pause. All they need is for you to get a little distance from the station and then one well-placed shot would have you dead in the water. They'd be able to board with little effort. Then you won’t have any control."
It wouldn't be as easy as that. Himoto had named several of the modifications, but not all. The fact he'd been able to name any was more disturbing than she had words for. It meant someone in Himoto's command had been keeping an eye on them, making a note of their purchases. She thought she'd left all that behind when she left Centcom.
The reason they probably didn't know about the rest was because they weren't kits. They were pieces and parts Kira and Jin had re-purposed or adapted from Tsavitee ships. There'd be no other way Himoto would know about their activities unless he had eyes in the ship, something she knew he didn't have.
"What do they want?" Kira asked in frustration. She found it hard to believe the Tuann would go through all this, threaten war, over her saving two kids.
He hesitated, indecisive.
"Himoto," Kira warned, not in the mood for his normal cloak and dagger games.
His eyes were piercing when they met hers. "They claim you're Tuann."
Kira's lips parted. Part of her felt frozen, like this was happening to someone else. Another part—the part she thought dead—felt a wild fluttering of hope, the thought of not being alone, of not being the only freak out there, taking wing. She firmly squashed it.
Even if by some odd, unlikely coincidence she did turn out to be Tuann, it didn't mean she was no longer alone. It just meant her freakishness now had a name.
She'd learned many hard lessons about the peril of letting hope run away with you. It was the ultimate liar, an illusion turning smart people into fools, sundering their hearts from their chests when hope inevitably crashed them against the rocky shore.
She didn't know these people, and couldn't even begin to guess their reasons for lying, but she hadn't survived this long by believing everything someone told her.
Jin drifted out of the shadows, his metal exterior gleaming dully. His presence returned her equilibrium, reminding her she was by no means on her own.
"What leads them to that conclusion?" Kira forced herself to ask, trying to be logical about it all.
He pointed to her wrist, before lifting it and turning it so the mark on it was exposed. "Do you know how you got this?"
She frowned at him. "You know the story. You were there when I was discovered."
Their beginning had started with blood and fire. Kira had been near death after doing her utmost to destroy the compound where she'd spent her entire life being tortured and experimented on. Himoto and his team had rescued her from all that, killing the group of scientists who had been trying to train Kira and the others to be the best monsters they could be. Children as young as three taught to fight and then beaten as their caretakers tried to mold them into living weapons.
She and a few others had attempted to escape. The resulting commotion had drawn the notice of the local branch of the military. When they'd investigated, they found Kira and a bunch of dead scientists and guards.
The mark preexisted all that. For as long as she could remember, she'd had it. It didn't match any symbol she’d been able to find. It was tempting to classify it as a birthmark, except the edges were too precise and the shape too detailed.
"Every Tuann I've met has something similar on their body." He drew back her sleeve, and she let him, watching with narrowed eyes, untrusting.
The mark he revealed was in the shape of three crescents over a circle, smaller lines joining some of the crescents.
"From what we can tell, it’s a declaration of their House and lineage."
Kira wasn't willing to believe him. "Humans have known about the Tuann for over a decade. How has no one put this together before now?"
He huffed at her. "You've been gone since the war ended. We knew very little about them then."
And they hadn't wanted to lose one of their aces. Kira had been a legend during the war. She had more Tsavitee kills than any other wave runner. Throw in her special abilities and she could see why Centcom kept knowledge of her to themselves.
She pulled her arm from him. "Sorry, Himoto, I have no interest in digging up the past. I like my life right now. Tell them they're about thirty years too late."
She gestured at Jin and stepped past Himoto.
"You know their weapons are more powerful than anything we have," Himoto warned.
"I'll take my chances."
