The Bright Retaliate by Alex Knowles

Author:Alex Knowles [Knowles, Alex]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-01-12T22:00:00+00:00

One thing had been bothering me for a while, and when I got some time to myself, with a data pad, I sat down and went through the ships recordings of the Emperor’s death.

The recordings were brutal, everything that Sin and Chase had said.

But there was something about it. I watched it over and over again. I hunched over, focused, and watched it again.

“This is where you are hiding,” Sin said.

My back clicked as I sat up. “Ouch,” I said. I put the datapad down and stretched out. The rest of me clicked and popped along the way.

Sin sat next to me. “What were you doing?”

I sighed. “Morbid, I know, but going over the reports and the videos of the emperor’s death.”

She rested a hand on mine. Warmth spread through me and I interlocked my fingers with hers. “Something bothering you over it?”

“Yeah,” I said. I picked the pad up and pressed play for us both to watch this particular angle. The Emperor’s niece was coming down the stairs with her best friend.

“Ráir looked amazing,” Sin said.

I nodded. “She really grew up fast. Looks just like her mother.”

Sin leaned on me. “They both missed you, when you left.”

I cringed, watching as they both took those tentative steps down to meet the oncoming party guests. But Ráir let her friend, Esrai take the lead. I noted that, then the enemy opened fire. The shots fired hit Esrai first, then Ráir, and they both went down. The camera POV flickered and changed, and I got one tiny view of . . .

“No,” I said. “That’s it!”

“What?”

“Esrai, didn’t die. She got up.”

Sin sat up straight. “Where did you see that?”

“Here.” I rewound the image, paused it. Esrai did indeed move in the awkward shot as the camera owner tried to run clear of the slaughter.

“We studied this for months, years,” Sin said. “We never, ever saw that.”

I frowned. “It’s really awkward; I don’t think if I’d been studying it as long that I would have seen it either.”

“You think Esrai’s alive? Or Ráir?”

“I don’t know. If they are out there, they’re hiding good and proper.”

Sin lay her head on my shoulder. “The whole place was gutted. The bodies were beyond being recognized.”

When she sobbed, I could only pull her to me, hug her tight. “I’m sorry, you didn’t need to go over that again.”

She looked up at me. “No, if there’s a chance, any chance. Thank you.”

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