Heaven's Queen Read Online Free

missiles?”
    “For you, baby, anything,” Hicks cooed. “I’m messaging the tower right now. Give me five minutes and I’ll have a beacon for you.”
    “Copy that,” I said. “Thanks, Hicks, see you in a few.”
    The connection cut off with a
click
, and I looked up to see Rupert glowering at me. “Baby?” he repeated, arching an eyebrow.
    I did
not
like the implication in his voice that I needed to explain myself, but since Rupert was the one who was going to be landing us, I did it anyway. “Hicks and I go way back,” I said, switching to Universal again. “He was my first squad leader in the Blackbirds before he landed a cushy corp job as head of security on some nowhere colony.” I’d thought he was crazy for doing it, too, but Hicks had always liked money more than glory. “Never thought I’d be visiting, though.”
    Rupert’s scowl didn’t fade. “And the whistle?”
    “Well, we were Blackbirds,” I reminded him.
    “I never heard a bird make that awful sound.”
    “You’ve never heard about Paradoxian blackbirds?” I asked, looking at him sideways. “Black feathers, ten-foot wingspans, teeth like saw blades, hunts in packs?”
    Rupert made a face as he turned back to the controls. “From that description, I’m glad I never encountered one.”
    “What, you didn’t think we were named after those sissy Terran birds, did you?” I scoffed. “Please. Blackbirds were the reason no one lived above the snow line until the first Sacred King appeared and gave us back technology. Good-sized flock can pick a grown man down to his skeleton in fifteen seconds, and their
scream
…” I shuddered. “Turn your bones to water. My whistle ain’t nothing to the real thing.”
    “The joys of Paradox,” Rupert muttered. “Though I still don’t see why we have to go through this man. I could have used my security clearance to get us landing permission.”
    “Well, now we get the personal touch,” I said, though that was only part of it. Honestly, I felt a lot better having an inside man. Hicks was a flirt and a flake of the worst order, but he was still a Blackbird and a Paradoxian, both of which I trusted way more than Rupert’s clearances. Especially on a little dirt ball corp planet where it was easy to cover things up. But as I was setting up my com to receive Hicks’s landing beacon, I noticed the time stamp on his transmissions.
    “Rupert?” I said weakly. “Remember when we first came out of the jump? When you said we lost some time?”
    He nodded. “How much did we lose?”
    “Eight months, twelve days, five hours,” I read off, heart sinking. Eight months galactic was almost a year on Paradox. A whole year gone, just like that. Rupert didn’t seem to share my concern, though.
    “That’s not so bad,” he said. “I was braced for far worse, though it does make me worry about Caldswell and the others.”
    That snapped me out of my self-pity. “Why?”
    “The jump from Reaper’s tribe ship to here was barely five minutes, and we had the tribe ship’s gate to help,” he said. “The second jump they made to escape the pursuing lelgis was far more reckless, and much, much longer.” He looked up at the star strewn sky. “Dark Star Station is nine hours from here by hyperspace, but on a jump so wild, the time dilation is almost random. They might end up coming out seconds after they went in.”
    “Or they might come out a thousand years from now,” I finished for him. “That would suit Caldswell’s terrible luck.”
    Rupert glanced back at me. “You know, among the Eyes, Caldswell’s actually known for his unusually
good
luck. Though the captain always says that only fools count on being lucky.”
    I chuckled. “Guess that explains the name of his ship.”
    Rupert’s voice went suddenly serious. “Actually, I believe Caldswell named the
Glorious Fool
after himself. A long time ago, he told me only fools gamble what they can’t afford to lose.”
    “What does that have