“Right.” Maddison thought about Joy and Loris. Were they alright? Had the mercenaries come for them,too? They had to be okay. Havoc had protected her. Surely Vengeance and Risk would do the same for her friends. And Loris could take care of herself.
“We could ask the AI to scan for any transmissions. Maybe theHarvestis broadcasting a message?” she said.
“I hope they aren’t. Though my brothers will be there by now. If there’s trouble, they’ll handle it.” He flicked a finger toward the ceiling. “Ask the AI to do that. It seems to like you.”
“AIs are programmed to be polite. I found that if you use the same level of curtesy in return, things go more smoothly. Ship, would you please scan all communication channels and provide us with copies of any transmissions you pick up?”
“Affirmative. Scanning now.”
Only a few seconds later, the AI spoke again. “One transmission detected. Source, unknown. Language spoken: verexi. Message as follows.”
A low, rumbling growl filled the cabin. Maddison tensed, but Havoc broke into a smile.
“This is Rage, known to the verexi as Subject One. To every ship who receives this broadcast, I have a message for you. Leave now or be destroyed. The gyr claim this system as blood price for the wrongs done to us by the verexi.”
Havoc roared, almost drowning out his clan-brother’s next words.
“If any of the fa’rel receive this message. Know this. I am coming, and I am not alone.”
After that, there was nothing but pulsing bursts of static.
“The message repeats. Do you wish to hear it again?” the AI asked.
She turned to Havoc and waited. This was his decision.
For the first time, he addressed the AI directly. “Play it again, please. But slow it down once Rage stops speaking. I need to hear that part.”
She cocked her head. After all this time, it made sense he’d want to hear his friend’s voice again. She couldn’t recall exactly, but it had to be more than a year since this whole incident made the news. But why did Havoc want to listen to static?
The message played again. She didn’t hear anything new, but Havoc did. He tried to stand but then snarled when the harness held him in place. “I need to answer him!”
“Answer him how?” She put her hand on his arm to calm him.
“Rage. The static at the end. There’s a pattern in it. It’s code.Ourcode. The one we used to tap out messages when we were locked in our cells and didn’t want the scrawnies to hear us talking. Bysshe taught it to us.”
“If you try to get to the cockpit, the AI will refuse toimplement any instructions until you sit down again. Whatever you want to do, we can figure out how to do it from here.”
He blew out a breath and nodded. “Right. The AI can do this for us.” He flexed one hand, letting his claws extend for a moment. “I’m used to doing things myself. This is strange.”
“Welcome to my life the last few days,” she quipped. “What did the coded message say? How can we reach your clan-brother?”
“There’s a relay buoy in orbit around this planet. That’s the source of the broadcast. If we send a message back using the right protocols, it will send it back to Rage. It’s some kind of faster-than-light system.”
FTL communication was complicated, but she knew enough to understand that Rage would have to be somewhere relatively close in order for the reply to reach him without it taking weeks, if not months, to arrive.
“Did he say how long to wait? Or should we send it and return to the surface as soon as we’ve found the right coordinates?”
“He said to wait. That means he’s close.” He chuckled. “And he’s not happy with the verexi. Not at all.”
“Did he explain who the gyr are? I don’t recognize that name.”
“He didn’t. He only said that the verexi would pay in blood for what they did to us.”
“Do you know what you want to say to him?”
“Fuck yes.”
“Then let’s send that message. We can send him another one once we have the coordinates for your home.”
