I let her go and paced in front of her, gathering my thoughts. “I read your medical reports. I read about the death of Captain Brooks and about the man you think was responsible, the Prillon medical officer who disappeared. Krael?”
Rachel’s expression said more than words. Hate was strange to see on her normally kind face. “Yes. That’s his name. He murdered Brooks and nearly killed Maxim and then disappeared, crawled back into a hole like the rat he is. Others would have died if we hadn’t figured out what he’d been up to.”
“I don’t think the fact that Krael was never caught, and that now, three months later, warriors are disappearing is just a coincidence. Did he have friends? Family? Who did he train with? Eat with? Sleep with? Work with?”
“He worked in medical with Doctor Surnen. I can vouch for the doc. He’s arrogant, but he’s no traitor. He nearly worked himself to death trying to figure out what was going on with Maxim. At first he was a misogynistic jerk, but he’s grown on me and I think I may have changed his perspective on some things. As for the rest of your questions, I don’t know, but we can find out.”
“Yes, we can.” Our gazes locked and I knew she was all-in. “But first I need armor, and a gun.”
Rachel told me to strip and led me to the S-Gen pad where she ordered armor and then helped me get into it. I looked good, and the armor was surprisingly lightweight and flexible. Formfitting and maneuverable. Rachel gave me a critical once-over and nodded. “Good. The armor will deflect basic ion blasts, but that’s all I know about it.”
I pulled the small, silver ion blaster from its holster on my thigh and felt my face practically crack in half, my smile was so big. It felt good to hold a weapon again, to know it was to help track down a bad guy and end him. “Do you know how to fire this thing?”
She shook her head. “I’m a lab nerd. Sorry.”
With a shrug, I turned, pointed at the reading chair and fired. An explosion of sound accompanied the chair bursting into flames, the fluffy guts that I’d once sat upon floating through the air like glowing cinders from a wood fire riding a breeze.
“Excellent.”