Endgame by Ann Aguirre Read Free Book Online Page A

treat us as slaves. Jax funded research that led to a cure, permitting us to become self-sufficient again. But the current rulers don’t want us to be free.”
    “That’s not right,” Sasha says indignantly.
    It’s really not.
    I go on, “So we’ve been trying to get legal permission to open centers where the La’hengrin can come in for treatments.”
    “But they don’t want to let you,” the kid guesses. “Because once people get free, they’ll kick the helmet guys off the planet.”
    Succinctly put, he encapsulates our problem. There was no way we could ever drum up enough support to deploy the cure legally. It doesn’t matter; it was worth trying. I live for the day that people surprise me by doing the right thing.
    “Well said,” Loras says.
    “What’s your plan?” March slides to the floor from the couch, drawing me back against him.
    I contemplate prevaricating, but there’s no point. He can dig it out of me; he doesn’t have to ask. So I lay it out for him, step by step. And when I finish, he’s shaking his head.
    “Guerrilla wars are seldom won, Jax.”
    Loras cuts in, “That depends on how you define it. I can name several where the invaders were driven out because holding that colony became too expensive.”
    I nod. We’ve looked at the historical precedents. Well, Vel and Loras did. In this one instance, I’m content to be led.
    Sasha aims a chiding look at his uncle. “Don’t tell them they can’t win. When I competed for the blue ribbon, you said I just had to believe I could do it. Were you lying?”
    I seam my lips together as March squirms. “Of course not. But this is—”
    “The same thing,” the kid says implacably.
    One of these days, he’ll be a force to be reckoned with. But then, any kid with such strong TK, raised by March, couldn’t turn out any other way. I like him more this time; he’s at theage where you can reason with him. He’s a small person instead of a bundle of agitated impulses.
    “Fine,” March mutters.
    I know better than to expect he’ll shut up without having his say. He just does it where Sasha can’t hear.
I don’t like this, Jax. It’s dangerous. You don’t have the equipment, experience, or personnel to mount this kind of ground war.
    Teach us what you can in ten days. Loras has been studying guerrilla warfare for the last turn, but you can help him figure out what strategies are practicable.
    March doesn’t want me fighting a war without him, but he can’t stay; the conflict threatens to tear him in two. Under no circumstances could he choose to stay here with Sasha, under these conditions. But he
wants
to. And his pain is staggering.
    All right.
    This isn’t how I planned to spend his visit. I thought we’d roll around in bed the whole time and come up only for a few bites of food. But it’ll give the rebellion a better chance if March assesses installations, analyzes the battlefield, and tells us where we can create the most chaos. He mutters, “I’ll help while I’m here.”
    “I knew you would,” Sasha says proudly. “In fact…we should stay, shouldn’t we? They need you, and I can help, too. You’re always saying I have an obligation to use my powers for good. What could be better than—”
    “Enough, Sasha. I’m retired, and you have to get back to school.” Wisely, March doesn’t say it’s too risky for them to linger on La’heng. Nothing rouses a kid’s interest faster than a whiff of danger.
    Even so, from Sasha’s expression, I suspect we haven’t heard the last of this.

CHAPTER 7
    Later, after a long planning session and we’ve retired to my room, March pulls me into his arms.
    He’s sleeping with me, of course. For the short time we’re together, I won’t have anything between us, not even a wall. After he’s gone, I’ll deal with the heartbreak, just as I did before. The separation hasn’t been easy, but I didn’t expect it to be. Anything worth having is worth fighting for.
    “Do you think