Page 43 of Reformation
What is it?
A distress call. Our ship is the closest to handling it.
Ferran frowned.From whom?
Claudia Caractacus and her daughters.
Ferran was stunned. He remembered—vaguely—a plan that Garrett Caractacus had worked out, the equivalent of a mutual defense pact, between members of his family, the children, and those close to them. Ferran knew that he and Jason were on the list, but he’d never imagined they’d actually be called to act on it.Where are they?
Phracian Colony, above Kyres. The distress call has been going for the past five minutes. I conferred with Garrett to verify, and it’s real. You and I can be there in under half an hour if we burn enough fuel.
Ferran tried to remember the details of the emergency protocol that had been set in place.They’ve abandoned their residence, then.
Their residence was destroyed. Local law enforcement found three bodies in the wreckage. None of them were Claudia or the girls, but their bodyguard was there.
Ferran felt sick.And the other two?
Unidentifiable.
No one is unidentifiable in your modern society.
Jason’s forehead furrowed.These two were. It’s a dark op, pure and simple. They’ve undoubtedly got more people looking for the escape pod. We have to move fast.
They made it to their ship, got permission to leave, and were in the air in record time, abandoning the thronging party moon they’d been booked at and heading for the tiny Central System planet of Kyres.
“If there are people looking for the pod,” Ferran said, checking that their nav system was appropriately keyed into the distress signal, “then they will certainly be on their guard against interference.”
“That’s true,” Jason acknowledged.
“We won’t be able to get them without a fight.”
Jason leaned over and kissed Ferran’s temple. The strength of their emotional connection surged with the touch, and Ferran felt himself calm as his husband’s equanimity swept over him.
Then he saw what his husband planned todo, and his calm vanished.
“That is a bad plan!”
“They won’t expect it.” Jason kissed him again, then went back to pulling on the thin suit that would provide a barrier between his body and the atmospheric suit he’d layer over it.
“Because it isn’tsane.”
“Marines do these sorts of ship-to-ship maneuvers all the time.”
“Between friendly ships, not enemy ones,” Ferran reminded him. “And what about the pod?”
“You’ll have to grab that while I’m dealing with them.”
“What if there is more than one of them?”
“Then we’ll handle it.”
Ferran narrowed his enormous amber eyes. “You are never this optimistic. Are you sick?”
“Just determined.” Jason reached out and stroked a hand over the small, soft quills at the edge of Ferran’s neck. “Imagine if it was Grennson. Wouldn’t we want someone to do everything they could to take care of him?”
“Of course,” Ferran whispered.
“And Miles is doing that, right now. The least we can do is look after his family in return.”
