Page 92 of Defiant

“So it all just continues,” I said, mostly to keep her talking at this point, “the way it has been?”

“Spensa, Icreatedthis situation,” Brade said. “And by crushing your rebellion, I’m going to prove that the military was right to support me. Sorry. But Ihaveread human history. I’ve studied it, learned from the master tacticians of the past. I…”

She frowned, then put her hand on a pouch she wore on her belt. She was looking past me, toward…

Well, scud. Toward the doctor still standing back there with my dose. My powers fluttered and stuttered, like a person trying to come awake in the morning. I couldalmostaccess them. I strained, and felt the delver inside me churning. The air started to warp around me, which made me curse softly.

It would give me away.Can’t you stop that?I thought in anger at the delver.

No,the thought came back from Chet.No. I…I need you. Can you control it?

Could I?

“Hell,” Brade said. “Did we give her the full dose?”

“No dose at all,” the doctor said. “We were ordered not to touch her—”

“Give it now!” Brade said, scrambling forward and waving toward the troops. Several of them grabbed me by the arms, and one pulled the crowbar from my hands. The doctor hurried up, preparing the syringe. But before she reached me, klaxons started going off throughout the station. Along with red lights, flashing with a panicked urgency.

“What?” Brade asked.

“Major incursion into the local space,” one of the tenasi soldiers said, reading from an alert monitor on the wall. “An entireplanethas hyperjumped into the region…” She trailed off, then looked toward us. “It’s Detritus.”

30

My soul vibrated even further. My friends.

My friends were here.

And they were doomed.

I wasn’t certain why that feeling struck me, but it suddenly seemed overpoweringly potent. I trembled, thinking of the battle to come—and the losses it would inevitably involve.

I gasped, barely noticing as someone grabbed me by the arm.

“Where is the nearest potential command station?” Brade shouted, audible through my haze of pain.

“Meeting rooms across the hall have access!” a soldier replied, pushing open the door out of the docks. “Take your pick.”

“Whichever one is closest,” Brade said. “Get command protocols transferred there, Gavrich. Kio, inform the fleet.” She spun, shaking me by the arm. She pointed at the doctor. “You. Get her doped.”

My friends are here,Chet thought to me.I need to help them. I need my powers!

Wait.

They weremyfriends. Not his.

Our friends. My friends.He thought the words with force, and the air warped further.We have to help them!

“Should we throw her back into her cell?” one of the soldiers asked, slamming me painfully down on the ground as the doctor stepped up.

“No,” Brade said, backing away, watching that doctor through oddly wary eyes. “We might need the delvers, so I’ll want her handy. Just make sure she’s gagged, restrained, anddrugged.”

We can’t get drugged again,I thought in an utter panic.Not again. Not again!

Do something.

Do something.

---