Page 10 of Shielded in the Shadows

My sister was dead. She’d been dead only a year, and I hadn’t managed to find her in time. How many more wounds could I be expected to take today?

As many as N’vera wanted to dish out, I supposed. And I had no choice but to pay for the privilege because I needed to find out what else N’vera knew. I owed Calla at least that much.

Robotically, I tapped in a code on my wristcomm, passed it over the light, and paid.

“Many thanks for upholding your part of our business.” N’vera inclined their head. “I must tell you something of myself, if you will indulge me. I assure you it is important for you to hear, Asta Irclion.”

Somehow I doubted it, but my legs had been cut out from under me, so I stayed in the booth—at least for now.

“Until recently, I was employed by a Kurutan of great standing, whose name I will not mention as I remain loyal and it does not concern you,” N’vera said. “This Kurutan had chosen as their life’s mission to avenge the death of their parent, who died at the hands of assassins not long after their birth.”

“Sounds like a mission I could get behind,” I said. “The prospect of vengeance appeals to me at the moment.”

“No doubt.” N’vera took a long drink from their bottle. If I’d thought whatever they were drinking would be palatable for me, I might have asked for a swig. “I found their quest quite compelling myself, and assisted them as they searched for the culprit across the galaxy. But once we found the former assassin my employer believed had killed their parent, they discovered they had been mistaken. The assassin had not slain my employer’s parent, and in fact had prevented my employer, who was a young child at the time, from suffering the same fate. Two years of searching for vengeance had instead led to a reunion of savior and the one he’d saved.”

“Heartwarming.” I made a rolling gesture. “Is this story meant to discourage me from seeking vengeance for…” My throat closed and I couldn’t quite finish the sentence. I wasn’t ready to say the words aloud.

“No, Asta Irclion. This story is important because when my employer found the assassin they had sought for so long, he was retired and living on a moon at the edge of Alliance space, and he was not alone.” N’vera leaned forward, claws clacking. “Calla Wren is his mate. I heard her speak her full name to my employer, and saw her alive with my own eyes several months after her supposed death. The Defense thinks she is deceased, but she is not.”

I felt as though my innards had been ripped out and then stuffed back inside in all the wrong places.

The urge to kill this Kurutan for gutting me with that gods-damned Defense file and then doing this—giving me hope only an idiot would cling to—compressed my vision until all I saw for several heartbeats were N’vera’s eyeballs waving at the end of their spindly stalks. If my informant was telling the truth, those eyes had seen my sister alive and in the flesh.

I clenched my hands. My nails dug into my thighs. “What moon?” I grated. “I need coordinates.”

N’vera’s eyes dipped meaningfully toward the datapad and its blinking red light. A number had appeared beside the light. A number twice as much as the number of credits I’d already transferred.

For all the suffering and pain I’d experienced in my life, the universe had never felt quite as ruthless as it did in that moment.

The fact I should have seen it coming but somehow hadn’t ripped a laugh right out of me. The sound was so loud and harsh that a dozen bar patrons nearby turned to look and N’vera clacked their jaw in what seemed like alarm.

I hated N’vera, but I had to respect them too for laying such an expert trap. It was a weird feeling—one I’d felt before, most recently while lying in my own blood at Vinian’s feet…er, tentacles.

N’vera had drawn blood too, just not the kind that could be seen. Maybe I’d take one of their clawed hands and put it on the wall next to Vinian’s severed tentacle. Or maybe not. It would depend on how the next minute played out, the knowledge about Kurutan ways I’d absorbed in my travels, and how well I’d read the being across the table from me.

“I don’t have that much,” I said, which was true. “And I can’t raise the difference soon enough to suit both our needs. But I want to find my little sister. I owe her that as a matter of family honor.”

N’vera’s insectoid expression was impossible to read, at least for me, but I thought their gaze had turned appraising.

“Family honor means a lot to your people. It doesn’t mean shit to most of mine, but it does to me,” I said. “Calla is all I’ve got and I couldn’t protect her when we were kids—children, younglings,” I clarified when N’vera’s head tilted. “So I have a debt of honor I must pay.” I leaned forward. “I can transfer just over half that amount right now, which is all the credits I have minus enough to fuel my ship, and I’ll bless you and your journey with a true and grateful heart.”

And leave your appendages intact, but I didn’t add that part. If I’d assessed N’vera correctly, threats would get me nowhere, but invoking family honor and offering to bless their life’s journey might.

Slowly, N’vera reached for their datapad.

I watched them drag it close, tap its screen with long, curved claws, and swipe their palm across a scanner. Then they pushed it back across the table.

The figure in the corner had dropped by half.

I held my wristcomm above the light but didn’t tap in my confirmation code. If N’vera refused to give me the coordinates after I paid, or they’d lied about seeing Calla alive, I’d be screwed worse than I’d been in a long, long time. I’d have a near-empty credit account, a ship with its fuel depleted by half, and be possibly—probably—no closer to finding my sister than I was when I walked into this bar.

This would be a leap of faith, and I hadn’t had any faith in anything or anyone but myself in a very, very long time.

“The coordinates?” I prompted, arm poised over the datapad.

N’vera made that strange grating sound again. It was definitely laughter—or the Kurutan equivalent. I grinned, but there wasn’t an ounce of humor in it.

I wasn’t going to get any coordinates without paying first. Gods above, it was hard to think about giving away almost every credit I had to my name on the hope N’vera didn’t fuck me over.