“How were we losing authority? I never heard anything about that.”
Colb frowned. “Of course not. The only thing worse than losing a political advantage is advertising that the advantage has been lost. The entire power dynamic would shift. Planets would reconsider their allegiances.”
“So what was happening?”
“Neighboring galaxies were infringing on our sovereignty. Nothing major, but they were pushing at their limits. Seeing how close they could get to breaking a treaty. They knew we would tolerate more than we should, for fear of touching off a war. And that put us on the defensive. In the weaker position.”
“How do we put a stop to that?”
Colb’s face hardened. “We have to draw a harder line. Punish infractions. Even push back if we must. Being tolerant of incursions on our sovereignty makes rivals think we’re an easy mark.”
“Sounds like that will be our first order of business once we get Krazinski out,” Fallon agreed.
“It’s imperative, if we don’t want the PAC to fall.”
“So how do you suggest we get him out?”
Colb tilted his head. “Shouldn’t we bring your team in to discuss this together?”
“I’ll fill them in. I’m the team leader. They’ll follow my lead.”
Colb smiled at her. “That’s my girl.” He rubbed his palms together gently. “You know, in some ways, you are more like a daughter to me than my own Jenna. I love her dearly, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t understand her art. You, though, were always what I imagined my child would be like.”
“I’m flattered. You’ve always been family, as far as I’m concerned. So let’s talk strategy.”
For the next hour, she picked Colb’s brain on the inner workings of Blackout bureaucracy and how they could take control.
She wished she could call a team meeting as soon as she left his quarters, but she’d have to wait.
Finally, after Colb retired for the night, she called Avian Unit, including Ross, up to the bridge. As they gathered around, she studied their faces.
She regretted what she had to tell them. “We have a problem.”
“I’ve known Masumi Colb all my life. He’s practically family to me. But he’s lying.” Fallon paused for a moment to let her team digest that fact. “I’ve come to the conclusion that he’s working with Krazinski to bring us in.”
A heavy silence fell as her team worked that idea through.
“How do you know?” Hawk’s mouth set in a grim line.
“He knew that I’ve been to see my parents. I didn’t mention that, and my parents wouldn’t either. He thinks that I assume they would, but I know better.”
“So Blackout knows we saw your parents when we were on Earth.” Peregrine’s typical frown had deepened into something much more grave.
“Apparently. And Krazinski and Colb set up a plan to make Colb look like a potential ally because they assumed I’d trust Uncle Masumi.”
Raptor scowled. “We took that bait, and now here we are, being led into the dragon’s mouth.”
“Pretty much,” Fallon agreed.
“So what do we do?” Hawk shifted restlessly. “Confront him now and force the truth out of him?”
Ross spoke up. “We have the splitter I brought in Fallon’s vault on Dragonfire. We could take the answers if he doesn’t offer them.”
Fallon had thought of that. She’d been forced to decide whether to commit an atrocity for the safety of her galaxy. As a Blackout operative, if she’d been ordered to use illegal tech that amounted to torture, she’d have done her job like a good little soldier. But she no longer had the luxury of relying on others to determine what lines must be crossed for the greater good.
“No. We will not.”
Her teammates’ faces registered relief.
“What, then?” Hawk asked.
“Krazinski and Colb have a plan for us. Let’s find out what it is. We’ll play the part that they would have us play.”
A shadow of a smile flitted over Peregrine’s mouth. “They’ll think they have us where they want us, and we’ll flip it all right around on them.”
“Exactly,” agreed Fallon.
“We’ll have to lock him down pretty hard,” Raptor mused. “Here, and especially on Dragonfire. Without him realizing we’re doing it. Monitor his transmissions, make sure he isn’t calling an attack on us or transmitting information about our activities or access to the station’s systems.”
She’d had time to think about that, too. “We’ll dummy up the station’s records and status. Anything he accesses will be what we want him to see. The real details will be under such tight security even the rest of the Dragonfire crew won’t have it.”
Hawk whistled. “Think Nevitt will agree to that? That’s going to impact her ability to do her job. And if there’s an attack on Dragonfire while we’re providing false data, there will be major chaos.”
“She’ll have to agree. We can’t give Colb access to the station’s real data, and we can’t let him know he’s locked out, either.”
Hawk grinned. “Sounds fun. We’ve definitely never run an op like it.”
“We’ll have to create the program over the next day, so it’s ready when we dock. Then we’ll have to keep Colb occupied and away from any voicecom access long enough to install it.” Her eyes went to Raptor. As their hacker extraordinaire, a lot of this would fall on him.
He straightened. “No problem.”
“Good. In the meantime, we have to be very careful not to let on to Colb that we know his game. No slip-ups,” she ordered. She glared at her team. “This is serious. Quit looking so happy.”
Each of her teammates, Ross included, wore a kid-in-a-candy-store smile.
Hawk stood and moved to put his arm around her. “Aw, lighten up, Chief. Think of how epic it’ll be when we pull it off. We’ll be legends.”
She’d thought of that too, and the legend part didn’t matter to her. But the intricacy of the job appealed. “Among ourselves, and to the scant few people who know about it—if they don’t
