The Gilded Cage by Blaze Ward Page A

give hers a squeeze.
    “I’m not doing this for her, `Mina,” he said simply. “I’m not doing it for you. I’m doing it because it’s right.”
    Oh .
    She wondered about future conversations she might have with this man about the nature of evil.
    What was evil?
    Javier Aritza did not frequently strike her as an especially deep philosopher. Certainly not a pre–eminent existentialist.
    And yet.
    He was willing to simply step past all of his hatred for Djamila, and do the right thing, because Wilhelmina Teague had asked.
    Because she needed paladins.
    “So what do we do now, Javier?”
    Instead of answering, he let go of her hand and rolled out of bed. She watched his butt in those old sweats as he took two steps to the piloting station and pressed a button.
    “Curveball, this is Mother Hen,” he said into the radio. “What is your status?”
    “Primary scouting complete, Mother Hen,” Suvi replied instantly. “Transmitting now.”
    The console chirped as a file arrived. Javier sat down to read it.
    In spite of the cooler air in the room, Wilhelmina climbed out of bed and looked over Javier’s shoulder as he quickly digested the document.
    He looked up with a sardonic smile.
    “This would be easier to do if you were wearing any clothes, `Mina,” he observed tartly. “Men do find your breasts distracting.”
    She considered responses for a moment with a sly smile.
    This Javier was much closer to the man she had been expecting, a week ago. Nicer. Friendlier. Softer.
    Navarre might prove to be an interesting lay, but he wouldn’t be nearly as much fun in bed as Javier.
    “So I can’t tempt you?” she replied teasingly.
    “You’re already tempting me, woman,” he said. “But time’s tight if you want to do this. I can always have you for dessert, afterwards.”
    Wilhelmina blushed, smiled, and turned to look for a shirt.
    That would be a promise to keep him on track. She could always threaten to withhold marital favors if he got them all killed.
    Hopefully that would be something to bring Javier back to her.

BOOK EIGHT: PALADIN
    Part One
    The stars around her were wonderful. Suvi was home again, however temporarily, as the little flitter silently cruised through deep space outside the station, working hard to sneak up on the pirate freighter, Salekhard , with Javier and Dr. Teague in tow in suits.
    Suvi considered Javier’s plan with mixed feelings.
    When she was Mielikki , this trick would have never worked on her. But then, in those days she’d also been a small warship, built to Concord Fleet standards and expected to operate like an officer and a gentlewoman. She’d been literally wired into every hatch, every vent, every everything on her former ship.
    Salekhard was just an old tired freighter. At least she looked that way to someone looking in from the outside. Probably the big, bad wolf if you got too close. Q–ship.
    But that was the mean people aboard. Salekhard was just an old iron ship. No brains, no personality. No AI cousin aboard.
    That was probably for the best, considering Salekhard was in service to evil. Suvi wouldn’t have to figure out a way to kill her. Javier could do this thing and they’d be off.
    Suvi wished she could talk to Javier and Wilhelmina right now, but his orders had been extremely specific. No radio transmissions until he said otherwise, when they made it to the other side. Suvi looked around at the deep black of empty space instead.
    Not being a starship anymore had always been painful, but now it hurt doubly so. She was back in deep space, pulling what Javier called a second–story–maneuver.
    A length of line connected her to Javier and then to Wilhelmina, floating silently behind her on a tether like strange little balloons in their space–suits. He could communicate with her via hand signals, if he had anything useful to say, but right now, it was just silence.
    Oh, sure. Traffic all around them. A place like Meehu Platform was never quiet. There were