He leaned forward, set his hands on his desk, looked from Trax to Nave to me. “I want every detail.”
“We work for Subterranean Services. You know, the STS,” Nave said.
“I know what the fucking STS is. Do you want to spend time in a prison cell?” General Aryk asked him. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“We were assigned with Alexius to Syrax to find the traitor. Others from the STS are undercover elsewhere in the Dark Fleet as well, but we don’t know who or where.”
The general nodded once. “Understood.”
“We’ve been there for months and hadn’t discovered who betrayed us,” Trax said, frustration punching through his words.
“You said the queen told you,” the general said to me.
I nodded. “She did. When we were captured…” I paused here, squeezed Jamie’s shoulder. “I didn’t hand us over to the Dark Fleet. We were surrounded. General Surano’s warship, two gunships, and ten Scythe fighters already locked on our position. We were about to be blown to bits. I did what I had to do to keep us alive. It was the only way. They knew me as one of them. Delivering the first Starfighter meant Jamie would stay alive long enough for me to get us the hell out of there.”
“It worked,” Trax said. Nave nodded in agreement.
“Continue,” the general prompted.
“My gift only deepened my status within the Dark Fleet. I was one of them. The queen invited me to a meal. There, she was so convinced I was in league with her, she told me who the traitor is. She complimented me that I was even better than him.”
The general’s jaw clenched tight as he set his hands on his hips. “Who?”
The question was like a cracking whip. We’d all lost loved ones in the bombing.
“Delegate Rainhart.”
The general turned away, faced the screen with Trax’s and Nave’s faces, but he wasn’t seeing them, only turning over this information in his head. It was like a piece to a puzzle all of Velerion had been trying to solve.
“Who is Delegate Rainhart? What does that title mean?” Jamie asked. In the short time she’d been here, she’d been involved in so much. I forgot that she didn’t know anyone outside of Arturri or the training program. In fact, she’d met more people from the Dark Fleet than perhaps Velerion. And she’d met the enemy herself, Queen Raya.
The general turned back, held up a hand to stop me from answering. “Velerion is governed by the Delegation, a group of elected delegates who make our laws and enforce them.”
Jamie tilted her head, considering. “Sounds like a parliament or senate. How much power does this Rainhart guy really have?”
General Aryk spoke slowly. “Rainhart has been a delegate for nearly two decades. He sits at the head of multiple committees, including planetary defense and weapons production.”
“Oh shit.”
Jamie’s short outburst made me smile, which had felt impossible just moments ago.
No one spoke. The depth of Rainhart’s treachery was difficult to process.
“He needs to die.” Trax spoke for all of us. I was not the only one who had lost friends or family the day of the attack.
“You will not go after him,” the general warned. He even pointed at the three of us, slowly and one at a time. “After what he has done, there are many who wish to finish him. But we will do this properly. We will use him as he has betrayed us.”
I pushed off the wall but didn’t loosen my hold on Jamie. “The queen has most likely realized her error in sharing his name with me. She may have already contacted him,” I said.
“Or placed a contract on his life,” Nave added.
“He might already be dead,” Jamie offered.
Trax and Nave both swore under their breaths. We’d been so distracted on escaping Syrax… and saving Earth. “You can’t wait, General.”
The general nodded. “Agreed.” He looked to Nave and Trax. “I am sure your superior within the STS will want a debrief.”
They nodded. “Yes, she will,” Nave said, rising to his feet. “We will leave here and see to it. With your permission.”