“I don’t care to cut open a person’s head on the basis of that much conjecture.”
Fallon had gotten so caught up in her discovery that she hadn’t considered that Brak might not cooperate. “Are you saying you won’t do it?”
“Why not use Lim’s implant? He already has it.”
“Krazinski’s waiting to hear from me. He may not even know who Lim is. He hasn’t turned up in any searches we’ve done.”
Brak turned her back to the image of Lim’s brain. “How can you even consider this, after everything you’ve been through?”
“Two things. First, it’s my job to do what needs to be done. Second, I trust you to do what you do. You’ll get it right.”
“Shouldn’t you consult with your team?”
Fallon didn’t even have to think about that. “No. It will cause unnecessary delay, and opinions will be mixed. In the end, I’ll end up making the decision anyway.”
“But they’re your team. Your family, for all intents and purposes. Shouldn’t they get a say?”
“Sometimes. Not this time. Being in command sometimes means making unilateral decisions that may prove unpopular.”
Brak rubbed at the scales on her head. Fallon had never seen her so agitated. “You’re sure there’s no other way around this?”
“Can you make an implant that doesn’t need to be inside a brain to work? Because that’d be nice.”
Brak shook her head. “No. They require neural feedback and electricity to be fully functional.”
“Then I don’t see any other way.”
Brak looked like she was about to refuse. Fallon held up a hand before she could. “Look at it from my perspective. I have my team to protect. Plus all of Dragonfire. Plus all of the PAC. If I’m the only one who can get this done, then I’m going to do it.” She closed her eyes, letting herself think about Brak’s concerns. “I know it’s a risk to me. I don’t want anything else happening to my brain. But I really need to not think about that because if I do, it will make what I have to do a lot harder.” She opened her eyes and fixed them on Brak. “I’m not going to watch the PAC fall apart and spend whatever’s left of my life knowing I could have helped, if I hadn’t been so worried about myself, or how the people who matter to me will feel about it. Please. Help me do this.”
Brak stared at her, unblinking, for several long moments. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’ll do it. On one condition.”
“What?”
“Once all this is over, you have to get PAC intelligence to issue me an official commendation for saving the PAC with my cybernetics expertise.”
The demand was so unexpected, Fallon laughed. “Okay. Why?”
“I want to take the commendation home to Briv and show it to my parents. Either they will recognize my honor, or they will shun me, but it’ll be my chance to be a part of my family and my world again.”
“Wow. All right. Pull this off and I’ll do whatever I can to get you that commendation.”
Brak dipped her chin in agreement. “I can have the device ready in a day. Two, if we want to be sure it won’t make your head explode.”
“Let’s make it two.” Fallon had always appreciated Brak’s brutal sense of humor. “This won’t delay your work for Lim?”
“No.”
“Good.” Fallon didn’t want to prolong his wait. “We won’t mention this to anyone.”
“You’re going to pay for that later, but I’ll go along with it.”
Fallon’s amusement faded. “I’m always paying for something. It might as well be for something that might save us all.”
In the team meeting the next day, Fallon explained that Brak would create a duplicate of the router in Lim’s brain. The others seemed encouraged by the possible step toward contacting Krazinski. She said nothing of her additional plans to have it put in her head. She let them think it might be possible to activate it in some other way.
After the meeting, she tapped several people to befriend Lim. She knew that he had the temperament and eye for detail of a BlackOp. He wouldn’t have survived the past year and a half if he hadn’t. But she also knew from her own experience that Lim needed people he could trust. He needed to feel like someone cared that he existed.
So she asked Arin and Kellis to seek him out. Both had overcome difficulties in their pasts, and that could serve as a bridge to common ground. They also were in the early stages of BlackOp recruitment, and if, as Fallon suspected, Lim had been a young BlackOp before his memory loss, he’d have two contemporaries. If he chose to continue in that line of work, anyway.
She also tapped Wren to befriend him. Fallon couldn’t think of anyone with a bigger heart, or more love to give. Since Wren had experienced a situation similar to Lim’s but from the other side, she was in a unique position to offer support.
Another day passed, and when it came time for her to lie down on the techbed, she did it without reservations.
“You’re sure about this? It’s a much simpler procedure than your last one, but there’s still a risk.” Though Brak remained perfectly professional, Fallon saw her personal concern as well.
“Completely.” She positioned herself and waited for the restraints. She’d been through this drill before and looked forward to waking up to some results.
Jerin looked like she wanted to say something, but she didn’t. She’d only just returned to Dragonfire, and had gotten an earful of a briefing upon arrival. Fallon knew she had reservations about this procedure, but Jerin merely rested her hand on Fallon’s forearm for a moment, then stepped to the techbed controls.
Brak joined
