CHAPTER EIGHT

Corinne put down the map and looked up. No. What? What had Richard just said? For a moment she thought she had heard wrong, that her ears had deceived her. But then she saw the postures of the two men, legs splayed, arms held away from their bodies, hands clenched into fists, eyes narrowed, faces blank.

Ready to fight.

She slowly stood. What is this?

“Just where do you think you are going?” growled Cote. Corinne could see that the Star Colonel was leaning forward on the balls of his feet, his muscles tensed, ready to strike.

Richard drew a deep breath. “Where would you go, Star Colonel? If you were not so hurt that you could barely stand, where would your duty compel you to go?”

For a long moment the two men stared at each other.

And then something extraordinary happened. Cote looked away. “The ’Mech Bay,” he whispered. “My duty calls me to the ’Mech Bay.”

And suddenly she saw it, saw all of it, where Richard was going, what he was doing. He had already half-convinced Cote.

Once again Richard had flanked her.

“Wait,” said Corinne, desperately trying to find a way to stop it, “we need you here.”

Neither man looked at her, neither acknowledged her words. Richard stepped up to Cote. “Our brothers and sisters are trapped down there, likely battling for their survival. I know you burn to fight alongside your warriors, sir. But you have a concussion, you struggle just to hold on to consciousness, to draw a breath into your scarred lungs.”

“Star Commander,” Corinne snapped, trying to punch her way into the conversation. “You still work for me, quiaff?”

Richard turned to look at her and there was something in his eyes, something distant. “Aff, Star Captain.”

“My foot and wrist are broken,” she said. “I can barely stand. And Tomas is half-dead. We need you.” She pointed up into the towering height of the sideways passageway. “And the ’Mech Bay is that way. You would have to face an ugly climb to reach it.”

Richard shook his head. “You make my point for me, Star Captain.” He turned to look at Cote. “Your people are dying, sir, and who can you send in your place to save them? Not Tomas and not Corinne. Only I am healthy enough to go.”

Cote slowly shook his head. “I can see the blisters forming on your hands, Star Commander. I can hear the whistle of your breath through your broken nose.”

“But I have no concussion, sir, no fractured bones.” He glanced down at poor, suffering Tomas. “No internal bleeding. I am battered, but I am not broken. How can I flee when my brothers and sisters struggle for their lives?”

Cote shook his head. “Star Commander, you have shown extraordinary bravery and ingenuity in the face of terrible tragedy. But you are hurt. There is no need for you to—”

“There is a need!” Richard roared.

“There is no need for you to atone for your defeat today,” said Cote gently.

Richard slashed his hand through the air, cutting apart Cote’s words. “Neg, Star Colonel. This is not about the Trial. It is about what happened here.” He placed his hand on the bulkhead that separated them from the cargo deck. “Today we faced an enemy, Star Colonel, a treacherous, dishonorable enemy that murdered our people. When has a Ghost Bear ever yielded to such an enemy?”

“Star Commander—” Cote began.

Richard placed his hands on Cote’s shoulders. “Star Colonel,” he said. “Do not abandon your people. Allow me to go to them.”

Cote’s face hardened and Richard watched him struggle with his anger. Cote did want to go to his people. But he could not. He could barely stand on his own. At last the Star Colonel mastered his emotions. “Aff,” he finally said.

 “Neg,” snapped Corinne, pain stabbing through her body as she put weight on her damaged ankle, trying to stand straighter. “No, Richard. We need you. To get to safety, we need you.”

Richard turned to look at her, slowly dropping his hands from Cote’s shoulders.

Those gray eyes, those implacable gray eyes.

The Star Colonel helped Tomas to his feet and worked his shoulder under the other warrior’s arm. He looked up at Richard. “Save my people, Star Commander,” he said softly.

“As many as I can, sir,” said Richard.

Cote nodded and then he turned, half-carrying, half-dragging Tomas down the corridor.

For a moment, Corinne watched them go. Then she turned to look at Richard. “Do not do this.”

“I know my duty, Star Captain,” said Richard placidly. “Do you?”

“Listen to me,” she said desperately. “Whatever happened to the ship, whatever punched through it, it was powerful enough to deform structural members and snap steel tie-downs even though the cargo hold was opposite the impact. You are walking into an apocalypse, Star Commander. None of your comrades are brothers and sisters are alive down in the ’Mech Bay—and if you go, you will end up just as dead as they.”

He stared at her, saying nothing, his face impassive, and suddenly she realized. He knew. He already knew. This was not an accident and it was not a miscalculation.

He was throwing his life away.

“No,” she whispered.

Richard offered her a sad smile. “You beat me, Corinne. You are more than me. Cote was wrong, I am not trying to atone for that defeat. But I cannot live with it either.”

No no no. She was shaking her head, trying to figure out how to make this not true.

“I cannot live in a world where the only way to achieve victory is to destroy you. Maybe that is what the word means.”

Corinne frowned, shook her head, not understanding. “The word?”

“Tender,” he said.

Corinne’s throat tightened painfully. She felt like she was trying to swallow an apple whole. “Do not do this,” she said. “Your Clan needs you, Richard. I—I need you.”

 “You are wrong, Star Captain,” he said softly. “You do not need me.”

And then he leaped, grabbing a pipe running along the wall that had once been the vertical corridor’s overhead, and hauling himself up. He was hurt, yet, but his muscular body still moved with a liquid grace as he climbed steadily towards the doom that awaited him in the ’Mech Bay.

“Wait,” she called after him. “Sibkin.”

But Richard did not stop, did not turn to look down at her.

And right then, Corinne knew, as sure as she had ever known anything in her life, that she would never see him again