Free Fallen Empire 2: Honor's Flight by Lindsay Buroker

gone.”
    Alisa’s legs grew weak, and she groped for the back of the sofa for support. She had not expected anything else, and yet, a silly part of her had hoped that she would not only find Jelena when she arrived on Perun, but that somehow, Jonah would be there, too, that it all would have been a mistake.
    She brushed the back of her hand across her eyes. This was as much Sylvia’s pain as hers, and she managed to utter a soft, “I’m sorry.”
    “So am I.” Sylvia came around the sofa and hugged her.
    Alisa had never been that comforted by human contact, but she returned the hug.
    “Do you need any money?” Sylvia asked. “A lot of the banks crashed in the last months of the war, and nobody has much—we’ve been clinging to physical assets and coin. You’ve probably noticed the imperial morat tanked and is barely worth anything in the rest of the system.”
    “I’m fine,” Alisa said, even if she wasn’t, not in any sense of the word. But she didn’t want to take money from her sister-in-law, especially if she was struggling too. Money seemed so unimportant now, anyway. She stepped back, wiped her eyes again, and forced a smile. “Thank you.”
    With her legs feeling numb, she walked back out to the front of the building.
    As Beck had implied, Leonidas was on the comm, but they weren’t separated. They were both by the lamppost now, their heads tilted together. Leonidas had taken off his earstar and held it so they could both listen.
    “What is it?” Alisa asked when the men turned in her direction, Leonidas reaffixing the earstar.
    “Dr. Dominguez needs my help,” Leonidas said. “He’s run into trouble at the library. Someone is stalking him.”
    “Someone more ominous than a twelve-year-old boy?” Alisa glanced at Beck.
    “Apparently.”
    “Are you going to help?” She remembered that Leonidas had asked Alejandro for help, something related to studying cybernetic implants and performing a surgery on him. Alejandro had refused, saying that he did not have the necessary knowledge, though it had sounded as if he did not want the knowledge. She did not bring this up, since she’d been eavesdropping and was not supposed to have heard the conversation.
    “Yes,” Leonidas said without hesitating. He gave her an assessing look that she wasn’t sure how to read. “Come with me.” He waved for her to follow and started back toward the train station.
    “Uh, I don’t respond well to commands,” she said, making him pause. “Unless that was your way of asking me out on a date. But if that was your intent, I would expect flowers and chocolate. Definitely chocolate.” Three suns, she could use some chocolate about now. “Oh, and perhaps use a more diffident tone.”
    Beck smirked. Leonidas simply looked exasperated.
    “You’ll be safer with me if Beck’s spy turns into something more dangerous,” Leonidas said, wriggling his fingers again, an order to follow.
    “ My spy?” Beck protested. “That kid was snapping pictures of you, buddy. And I can take care of the captain just fine. We’ve got chicken feed to buy.”
    Leonidas’s eyes closed to slits. “You will not come to assist Dr. Dominguez?”
    “What do you think we can do that you can’t, mech?”
    Alisa agreed with the sentiment—all she had was her old Etcher in her holster, and her fighting skills were meager without the cockpit of a combat ship around her. But Leonidas’s question made her wince, feeling guilty. Even though Alejandro and his orb weren’t on her radar now, as far as problems went, he had patched her up after they escaped the pirate ship, and she felt a degree of debt toward him for that. His solicitude was one of the reasons she hadn’t seriously contemplated sending word about him and his orb off to Alliance headquarters.
    “Stay then,” Leonidas said coolly and resumed walking.
    “We better help,” Alisa said with a sigh. “Though you’re probably right in that there’s not much we can do that