“I know.”
“I thought one last push would see us through. Numb myself. Put it all on me. Get it done. Then we’d get to live the life we’d promised ourselves. Experience the future we wanted Pax to have. I know that was silly.”
“It wasn’t silly. Reality is just more stubborn even than you.”
He takes a long, deep breath.
“You know what I told myself out there…each time my mistakes compounded? I’d say, Darrow, next time you listen to Virginia, you jackass. If you get so lucky to see her again. You listen to her as you should have all along. I’m not saying you’re always right. But I know I tend to shut down. Sometimes for years. That’s not right. It’s not…the path I want to walk anymore. It’s lonely, and we’ve always been stronger together. After all, we made our tribe together. We made Pax together.” He grins, lopsided with a devil’s sheen in his eyes. I don’t care that he’s putting it on for show. I don’t care that he’s not come back with the victory he promised. He may have lost on Mercury, but he’s conquered the worst part of himself: his intransigence. Nothing makes wisdom like true loss, it seems.
“So. Since time’s of the essence, you should give me your orders, my Sovereign.”
35
DARROW
Winds of Duty
“AFTER THE DAY OF RED Doves, Regulus ag Sun fled Luna on his flagship and disappeared along with the most advanced ships of his personal defense fleet. They were spotted between the orbits of Mars and Venus at Narcissus Station, and then again by one of our spy drones beneath the ecliptic plane. They were last sighted by a military sensor station here.” Virginia’s finger taps a small asteroid on the inner fringe of the Belt. “That was over eight months ago.”
A hologram of Virginia floats in the lounge of the Archimedes. Aurae is flying the ship. The door to the cockpit is closed and locked. Whether out of respect or horror, a stillness settles over Sevro, Cassius, and I as it becomes apparent to them Mars is no longer our destination. The only sound is the tick of Sevro’s knife as he trims his nails.
Tck. Tck. Tck. I knew he’d never accept this news from me. I hope he will from Virginia.
“At first, I suspected that Regulus had built himself a refuge in the Belt. Perhaps a series of battle stations or doomsday bunkers should the war go foul. Then I found Regulus’s logos. That logos traded his freedom for Regulus’s books. Not the ones Regulus reported to the Republic auditors, but his hidden accounts and registry of raw materials. I learned that Regulus’s empire was larger even than I suspected. It seems for the last ten years he’s been siphoning helium from his mines in Cimmeria as well as funding off-grid rare metal mining in the Belt. The metals—mostly antimony, rhenium, neodymium, and tantalum—are all perquisites for warship and next-gen weapons fabrication.
“Since this discovery, our agents and telescopes have searched for the location of his laboratory and dockyard. Despite the resources at my disposal, those efforts were in vain, until a few weeks ago. We have found Regulus.” An oblong asteroid appears to the left of Virginia’s face. Cassius pulls it outward and expands it. “What you are looking at is Asteroid 12193. An asteroid so unremarkable that even six hundred years after its discovery, it still does not have a name.”
Sevro’s knife stops as the computer calculates the distance from Mars to the asteroid on the map and gives a range of estimated flight times based on potential velocities, the faster we go the more risk we assume.
“My analysts and I believe that this asteroid is not only a base for Regulus’s operations. It is a factory and laboratory for military research. Taking into account the ships that Regulus took with him when he fled, as well as the quantity of metals he has mined over the last nine years, we believe this asteroid to contain a force large enough to shift the balance in this war.
“Five of our fastest ships were deployed to reach this station. We have lost contact with all of them. Whether that is Gold jamming or something else, we don’t know. Your ship possesses a unique combination of traits that should help you succeed where they may have failed. A Whisper-corvette made by the Rim, cloaked by Regulus’s best technology, and a diversion in the form of an assault on Ceres that should draw enough of their squadrons to allow you to sneak through.”
“Who is leading that assault?” I ask.
“Praetor Ciarti Inawran.”
I approve. “She’s a dangerous asteroid fighter. One of Orion’s best.”
“Your mission is to reconnoiter the asteroid, establish contact with Regulus, and persuade him to bring the sum of his hoarded might back into the fight. Regulus believes Darrow and Sevro are dead. No one save Matteo is closer to that bastard’s cold heart than the two of you. I am counting on you to convince him to rejoin this war.”
“Why can’t we just beam them a message?” Sevro asks.
“One, our relays are now down. Two, the strength of signal required would alert our enemies and lead them straight to the asteroid. Three, they won’t answer.”
“Quick’s stubborn as psoriasis. What if he doesn’t want to get back in the game?” Sevro asks, looking for a way out.
“Then you force him back in, like you forced Lorn to fight against Octavia.” She looks off-screen and anxiety saws at me. I thought we’d have more time. Virginia confirms my fear. “It seems the enemy has finally noticed this transmission and is attempting to trace its location. The Lightbringer will have your coordinates in minutes.”
“Victra,” Sevro says. “I want to see her. I want to see my baby.”
Virginia is the picture of empathy. “I’m sorry, Sevro. She’s on the planet already. The only reason you’re getting this is because it’s not being blocked by the shields. Once I go down there…You might not hear from me until you get back. Unless the shields go down…”
“Does she know I’m alive?”
“She knew the whole time. Even when my hope was dim, she knew, Sevro.”
“She would want me to come home,” he says almost to himself.
“She would want to win this war, Sevro. You know that’s how you protect your family. After all you’ve been through, you’re alive. Don’t throw that away now.”
“The Abomination told me to tell you hello,” Sevro says, and it seems like a jab. “If I ever saw you again. Last thing he said to me. ‘Tell my sister I send my regards.’ ”
Virginia stiffens. “Sevro, I am sorry for what happened.”
“So fun. Being a bit player in your clone family drama,” he says. “So happy you got rescued and left me behind.”
“I barely escaped myself. I wanted to come back for you—”
“Duty, though. Registers. You’re the Sovereign. No hard feelings, horsey. None at all.”
“Is there anything you want me to tell Victra?”
He looks down. “Naw. She knows.”
Then he leaves. Cassius follows to give me privacy, but Virginia calls for him to wait. I feel schoolboy resentment creep in, that she would spend precious seconds on him. “It’s been too long, Cassius, but it’s good to see you back where you belong.”