Trials of Conviction (The Firebird Chronicles, #5)

So, Blue had better get with the program. Annoying little sister or not.

Raider slammed a hand down on the table. "That's too long. This boat needs to go faster, Blue. I don't care how you do it, but get us to Rothchild."

Blue threw up her hands as a frustrated sound left her. "Do you think I'm not trying? You're asking me to break the laws of physics. The Wanderer is already running at capacity. We can't go faster."

Raider refused to accept that. "A Tuann ship could make that journey in half the time. Don't tell me it's not possible."

"Yes, a Tuann ship," Blue stressed. "For all the modifications Roake made to the Wanderer, she's still Consortium made."

Raider was getting tired of the excuses. "You've spent months in their territory. Don't tell me you've learned nothing that can help us."

That was why she was on Ta Sa'Riel, after all.

Raider had been tasked with babysitting Kira and making sure she didn't fuck up their alliance—or get herself killed with her stubbornness. While Blue was supposed to do a little intellectual espionage. Reverse engineer anything that might give them a technological edge in the war Himoto and Jace thought was coming.

"I've learned quite a lot, actually," Blue said. "But nothing that would help in this situation."

"How is that possible?" Raider snarled.

Frustration mounted.

"You're right. I could probably jury-rig some type of modification that would allow us to eke out a little more speed from the engines. BUT—" Blue held up a finger. "That would only cause massive damage. I doubt we'd make it even half way before they quit. We'd be stranded between systems, waiting for someone to answer our distress call. That would leave us worse off than we are now."

"Since when have you been the cautious sort?"

Blue had a history of disregarding any potential risks and sallying forth despite the objections of those around her. She'd endangered his and the Curs' lives on more than one occasion.

It figured that the one time he was willing to allow the mad scientist at the helm she'd gone AWOL.

"I'm trying to show a little personal growth and maturity," Blue spat, kicking the chair next to her. "If you weren't reacting emotionally, you might even appreciate that."

Raider's glare turned white hot. "Blue—"

"I'm sorry!" Blue cried. "But breaking the ship won't help Elena—or Kira."

Raider held back the words he wanted to spew. Most of them not nice or what Blue deserved.

The urge to issue a command forcing the point was hard to resist. Only possible because he knew it was pointless.

The first rule of command—don't make stupid orders. It was the fastest way to lose respect and most of the time it didn't work anyway.

"Raider," Wren rumbled from the corner of the room where he'd been watching the argument. "This isn't helping."

Raider ground his teeth together hard enough to cause pain to shoot through his jaw. He was well aware of that. But he also didn't know what else to do.

The restless energy in him demanded action.

The Wanderer's sirens wailed. The overhead lights turned red a moment later. Right after, the ship shuddered as something collided with its side.

"What's that?" Raider asked.

Blue was already scrambling for the bridge. "We're under attack."

The ship shuddered again as Raider and the others made it to the bridge to find Talon and Finn already seated in the pilots' chairs, one flying the ship while the other operated the weapon's system.

"What's going on? Status report," Raider barked.

For half a second, it occurred to him that Wren, as the most senior member on board, should be the one issuing orders before he dismissed that thought. It was his daughter at risk. This was his mission. He'd be damned if he'd allow anyone else to take command.

Kira was the sole exception to that rule. Partly because he had experience serving under her. But mostly because he trusted her implicitly and he knew she was as desperate for Elena's safe return as he.

"A Tsavitee fleet appeared moments ago," Finn answered.

The ship tilted as he evaded a round of strigmor eels, a particularly nasty Tsavitee weapon that looked like a long, silvery ribbon and moved like it was gliding through water, sinuous as it hunted their ship.

If they impacted, they would burrow through their hull, depressurizing everything inside.

"They're trying to capture us alive," Raider said.

Blue nodded in agreement. "They would have sent something better than eels otherwise."

Wren's gaze didn't move from the display of the Tsavitee fleet. "How did they get close?"

"They evaded our scanners somehow. It wasn't until they fired that our systems picked them up," Talon answered as Devon and Joule appeared in the hatchway behind them.

"Where's the general? Who has eyes on him?" Raider barked.

Raider's skin crawled at the thought of Aeron walking around this ship unsupervised while they were under attack from the Tsavitee. He wouldn't put it past the general to sabotage their ship to make it easier for the other Tsavitee to take them captive.

"We locked him in his quarters as soon as the alarms sounded," Devon answered.

Joule nodded. "I put a shield around the area as well. Just in case."

Good.

Kira would be proud of the boy. He was turning into a good soldier who'd make a fine leader one day if he kept going the way he was.

"How many enemies are there?" Wren asked.

"Too many," Talon answered.

"How did they even find us?" Blue asked as Raider moved to one of the other displays, bringing up the exterior feeds to see what they were dealing with.

A half dozen ships came into focus.

"Oh fuck," Blue cursed. "We're no match for them."

In addition to the Tsavitee Superior Class One ship in the middle, a vessel capable of housing approximately 120-150 souls, there were five smaller escort vessels arrayed around it. Each with an additional capacity of thirty to forty depending on the mix of species inside.

During the war, the Superior Class had given their fleet fits, pushing the Centcom's back again and again.

"Don't be so quick to count us out," Wren advised. "We are not without recourse."

"Look, I know the Tuann think they're the biggest, scariest thing in the galaxy who no one else can match," Blue said sarcastically before stabbing a finger at the window and what was waiting outside. "But we're heavily outnumbered and out gunned. Nor is it likely we can outrun them for long. Like I said before—the odds aren't in our favor."

Wren and Finn exchanged a look.

"Then perhaps it’s time we call in a few people who can change that," Wren said.

Raider stopped to look at his seon'yer. Something in Wren's voice warning him that the other man wasn't just talking out of his ass.

The calm on Wren's face, despite the very dark odds they were facing, was all Raider needed to see to know the old man was up to something.

"You're having us followed," Raider guessed.

From that look the two shared, Finn knew. And hadn’t told Kira.

"Harlow's people or Graydon's?" Raider asked.

Wren's eyes were steady as they met Raider's.