Cracked Palace

Contents Cover Title Page Copyright Sign Up for Updates and Deals! Contents 1. The Assassin 2. The Captain 3. The Assassin 4. The Captain 5. The Assassin 6. The Captain 7. The Inquisitor, Fractured 8. The Assassin 9. The Captain 10. The Assassin 11. The Inquisitor, Dreaming 12. The Captain 13. The Assassin 14. The Captain 15. The Assassin 16. The Captain 17. The Assassin 18. The Captain 19. The Assassin 20. The Captain 21. The Inquisitor, Driven 22. The Assassin 23. The Captain 24. The Assassin 25. The Captain 26. The Artist, In Requiem 27. The Captain 28. The Pilot 29. The Child Also by Dave Walsh About the Author Cover Title Page Copyright Contents Beginning Also by Dave Walsh About the Author 
 
 
 
 
 Cracked Palace
 Trystero Book Six
 
 
 
 Dave Walsh
 
 
 
 
 
 Copyright © 2022 by Dave Walsh
 All rights reserved.
 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
 Edited by Amanda West.
 Cover design by Warren Design.
 Content Warning: This book contains strong language, scenes of violence, and racism.
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 Contents
 
 
 
 1. The Assassin
 
 
 2. The Captain
 
 
 3. The Assassin
 
 
 4. The Captain
 
 
 5. The Assassin
 
 
 6. The Captain
 
 
 7. The Inquisitor, Fractured
 
 
 8. The Assassin
 
 
 9. The Captain
 
 
 10. The Assassin
 
 
 11. The Inquisitor, Dreaming
 
 
 12. The Captain
 
 
 13. The Assassin
 
 
 14. The Captain
 
 
 15. The Assassin
 
 
 16. The Captain
 
 
 17. The Assassin
 
 
 18. The Captain
 
 
 19. The Assassin
 
 
 20. The Captain
 
 
 21. The Inquisitor, Driven
 
 
 22. The Assassin
 
 
 23. The Captain
 
 
 24. The Assassin
 
 
 25. The Captain
 
 
 26. The Artist, In Requiem
 
 
 27. The Captain
 
 
 28. The Pilot
 
 
 29. The Child
 
 
 
 
 Also by Dave Walsh
 
 
 About the Author
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 The Assassin
 
 
 
 
 No matter how much work Zed put into the new ship, everything about it still felt wrong. Tetra was able to integrate herself just fine, for the most part, although she was lacking in the same breadth of functionality she’d had on her native ship. All of that time integrated into the Trystero’s systems and crew really gave her some attitude. No matter what, though, having her back was worth any of the headaches. The new Tetra parked in a friendly shipping hub nearby that turned a blind eye for a few credits and had helped Zed when she was hunting down Valencia. Zed, on the other hand, was a few blocks away, perched on the roof across the street from Breedon’s building.
 “You know, this may not be a great idea,” Tetra said. “Remember the last time you launched an assault on Terra Prime?”
 “Everything’s mostly back to how it was before.” It was a joke, although she did remember and was concerned. There would be no peace for her as long as Breedon was alive. Thanks to Breedon’s assault on the Gra’al, whatever that palace in the sky was, it had cracked open and Drake was gone. If there was anyone to blame for everything, Breedon was a good place to start. “Breedon doesn’t have god-like powers like Valencia had. I’ve been in his office, remember?”
 “How do you plan to get back in there?” the ship asked. “Drake helped you last time.”
 “I know that,” she said. “Remember how we sat around studying building schematics for these last few weeks?”
 “How could I forget? You’ve ignored every time I’ve explained how bad of an idea this is. Instead, you’ve obsessed about your entry point.”
 “Then just let me do this already,” Zed said.
 “So you’re going to sneak in through the air ventilation system and murder one of the most powerful humans? What happens next?”
 “Then we can look for Drake. That was always the plan, Tet.” Having a snarky spaceship was fun most of the time, but not when she needed to be focused on serious things.
 “Perhaps it’s because I’m just a machine, but I don’t understand why we need to do this. If there’s a chance of tracking down Drake, shouldn’t we be doing that now?”
 “Breedon could still come after me,” she said. “His very existence is a threat to both of us.”
 “He seems more invested in his movement, the warships, and everything else now, especially after you already threatened him inside his own office and let him live.”
 “So what?” Zed was growing tired of Tetra and her newfound conscience. “This is what we’re doing, Tet. Get over it.”
 “I thought we were done killing. That we’d moved on to the next phase of our lives.”
 “When you were in that ship, did some of your algorithms get fried or something?” Zed leaned back against the cool concrete wall, facing away from Breedon’s office. The colors on her suit shifted, blending into the wall and the ground to where she almost disappeared. Just her fiery red hair and head protruded from the suit, tears filling her eyes. “Because you’re sounding a lot like him now and I don’t need that.”
 “Maybe you do.”
 “I’m sorry. I can’t live up to his standards.” She wiped at her eyes with the