Caj grabbed the back of Vi’s chair. “Who doesn’t know about them at this point? News vids have run stories about those two. One of the children they saved was the niece of some civil rights activist. He’s taken that little girl on a tour of every news feed, and Command is scrambling to explain themselves.”
Allie felt light-headed as reality shifted around her. “Everyone knows?” That was impossible. This was their secret...their pain. How could everyone know about Jacqs and the commander?
Vi nodded, though. They did know.
“Are they going back for them?” Allie asked. She leaned forward, desperate to hear the right answer.
Vi looked up at Caj, her expression pained. He was the one to tell her. “They can’t. The bats have taken control of the planet. All the politicians say the same thing—if Command goes back for them and for the miners you didn’t have space to evacuate, the whole treaty is null and void. Ba’kel don’t renegotiate even small details. Your friends are lost.”
Allie shook her head. “No,” she said firmly. “Command can’t go after them, but we sure as hell can. They’re our crew. Zeke is our commander. We will get them back, or we’ll have proof they’re dead, and we’ll bury the bodies. We aren’t quitting before one of those things happens.”
Vi focused on the screen. “Anpaytoo?” she asked quietly.
When Allie looked back, Shank’s mother seemed unhappy, but at least that undercurrent of homicidal rage had faded. “Fine. We talk,” she said. It wasn’t the warm welcome Allie might have hoped for, but it was a beginning.
Chapter Eight
Allie stopped outsidethe door where Shank was locked up. “Well?” she asked when Caj just stood there.
“You handled her well,” he offered.
Allie snorted. “If we’d been face-to-face across a table, she would have shot me.”
“Yep,” he easily agreed. “But don’t let her scare you. She knows you’re trying to do the right thing here. This is why she didn’t want Shank going into the military—she doesn’t trust them because they’re all honorless bastards.”
“Why did he?” Allie asked before she could stop herself. She didn’t have a right to know, not after Shank had dodged that same question a dozen times over.
“He never fit in well. His”—Caj paused before adding—“curiosity always made him stand out. They had a bat on board once, and when everyone else avoided it, Shank used to go in there and try to learn the damn language. He just never did anything that other people might expect.”
“And going into the military was one of those things no one understands?” Allie guessed.
From the way Caj shook his head, she’d guessed wrong. “He wanted to go to school. That was his big rebellion. He wanted more than just station lessons or the computer schools we all have on our ships. Hotah and Anpaytoo finally decided that he would work on the more legal side of the family business: the trading and barter work. They sent him to school to learn not only business and tax codes, but also how to fit into that world. Only when the government got his information—”
“They drafted him,” Allie guessed. This time Caj nodded.
“His mother still feels like she failed him, that she should have talked him out of going to school.”
