Pallas dismissed her argument with a wave. "We're not talking about my precious disciple. We're talking about you. Telling us might have changed things."
Anger filled Kira. She hurled the J1N at Pallas's head. "Like it did with Elise?"
Pallas caught the drone, making a tsking sound with his tongue. "What discourteous treatment of our youngest's body."
"Screw you," was Kira's mature response.
Kira jerked a shoulder up in apology at Graydon's questioning look. If she thought the J1N was still in danger from Pallas, she never would have used it as a projectile weapon.
That being said, she'd prefer Jin never learn about this. He would not be so understanding.
Pallas tossed the drone into the far corner. It hit the deck and bounced, catching itself in midair.
Kira rolled her eyes as its lens once again pointed in the wrong direction.
"You realize you'll likely die if Jin does," Pallas said conversationally.
"What's your point?"
"Merely to ask why you made no effort to prevent him from undertaking such a dangerous venture. You had to realize what was happening."
"It was his choice," Kira said in as even a voice as she could manage.
As much as his absence hurt her, she'd support him a thousand times if it meant Elena wasn't going through this trial alone.
Pallas regarded her, his face breaking into a lightning fast grin at odds with his earlier seriousness. "That's what I've always liked about you, little sister. Your dogged insistence on choosing everyone over yourself."
"Return me to my ship," Kira ordered, tired of this conversation.
Pallas dismissed Lathan with a look. The yer'se nodded, excusing himself with a low murmur.
Once he was gone, Pallas cast a look at Graydon as if debating the likelihood of convincing him to give them privacy.
Graydon grinned at him, dropping into the co-pilots seat next to Kira and stretching his legs out. He waved a hand. "Don't mind me. Just consider me a concerned citizen. It'll be like I'm not even here."
Kira doubted that. Graydon wasn't that type of man. You could remove his tongue and paralyze his vocal cords and he would still be the first person people noticed.
He couldn't help it. His charisma demanded attention without him ever having to lift a finger.
"I can't send you back," Pallas announced.
"Can't or won't?"
Pallas offered her a faint smile. "Both."
Kira eyed him suspiciously, wondering if he was telling the truth or just trying to make her think he was.
There was a lot about his abilities that she didn't know.
For one thing—how was he able to pinpoint her location to port to? He'd known right where to find her. Appearing in exactly the perfect spot for an ambush. There had to be some type of marker. A tag of some kind that he could hone in on whenever he wanted.
That thought was a scary one. If true, it meant Pallas could find her at anytime, anywhere.
She could think of a lot of applications for an ability like that. Assassination among them.
On the other hand, he had to have a limitation of some kind. Power always came at a cost. Just look at the toll her burst left on her.
Kira didn't know if distance affected how often he could use his power. If so, it would explain his 'impossible'. He might need time to recover before making a jump of that length again.
Or her ship wasn't tagged and he could no longer locate it.
Either way, she didn't have a choice but to accept his excuse.
Pallas quirked an eyebrow at the screen Kira had been in the middle of trying to hack before she was interrupted. "Stealing my ship, dear sister?"
"That's fucking rich. Why are you even here?" Kira glanced at Graydon. "Let me guess. They held a vote after I left. And you're here to try to stop me."
Pallas rolled his eyes. "You're wrong about that last part."
"But not about the vote."
"Don't you want to hear the outcome?" Pallas asked with a smug twist of his lips that made alarm spread through Kira's body.
Her gaze jumped from him to Graydon and back again. The things Graydon and Pallas had said earlier coming back to her.
Things like "agreement" and "siblings".
"Oh no, don't tell me."
Pallas's smile broadened. "You'll have to get over all those negative feelings, little sister. I've been charged by the forty three to handle this matter."
Kira shook her head and kept shaking it. "Absolutely not."
That wasn't happening. It wasn't.
"It's already decided. Lover boy even agreed. We're going to be murder buddies for the foreseeable future."
Kira felt ill. The urge to bend forward and hurl all over Pallas's pristine decks was strong. She resisted, stabbing a finger in his direction as she faced Graydon. "That psycho can’t come with us. He's a loose cannon."
There was a reason Kira and Jin treated Pallas with the utmost caution. It was because anything and everything could happen when he was involved. She'd rather change the plan entirely than have him on board.
"It's already decided," Pallas sang.
"We don't need him," Kira said, feeling desperate.
Graydon folded his hands in front of him. "Do you have another way off this planet?"
Kira waved madly at the ship around them.
"You'd leave me behind?" Pallas asked, sounding hurt.
"In a heartbeat."
In fact, there was nothing she'd like better.
"Another blade at our back wouldn't be the worst thing," Graydon pointed out.
"Trust me, it could."
Graydon wasn't acquainted with Pallas's particular brand of mayhem. He didn't realize what he was asking.
Graydon's gaze moved to the console. "To leave him behind, we'd have to be able to steal his ship. How's that going by the way?"
Kira avoided his eyes as she crossed her arms. Not well.
"Then there's no alternative. We need a ship. He has a ship," Graydon said with an air of finality.
"Fine," Kira said, giving in. "He can come. But only until I rendezvous with the Wanderer."
"We'll see," Pallas allowed.
"No. We won't."
Kira was ditching him at the first moment possible.
Pallas brushed past Kira as she moved to the side.
"Look at this. You weren't even close." He tsked as he took a seat in the captain's chair she'd vacated. "Jin must be the brains in your operation."
"Don't," Kira warned in a guttural voice that made Graydon straighten to give her a cautious look.
Pallas's hands never stopped as he logged into the ship's controls. "Sensitive. You should really fix that or else your enemies will take advantage."
"You would know."
Pallas paused. "I'm not the enemy, Kira. I never was. That's a story you made up to make yourself feel better about abandoning us."
Kira gave him a startled look. "What are you talking about?"
"Nothing, Kira. We wouldn't want to threaten your fragile view of the world."
Kira's eyes narrowed. "No, you brought it up. Obviously, you have something to say. What is it?"
Graydon was a quiet presence at her back, watching the two of them carefully.