by Tamsin Ley
After her sister’s message ended, he said, “That message came from within this system. Unless they plan to burn out of here soon, we could be on them within the next jump.”
She nodded, frowning. “I’d hoped we’d have more time.”
Reaching over, he took her hand. “There will never be enough time.”
Chapter Fifteen
Marlis felt torn as she recorded her next message. She never wanted her time with Noatak to end, but they were on a mission, and they had to act now, before the Icarus left the system. Knowing her sister would detect something wrong if she acted too chipper, Marlis half-invented a problem for her next message. “Hey, Sis. I know I just messaged you, but I wish you were here to talk to. The guy I mentioned before? He says he wants to be with me, but then keeps making excuses why he can’t.”
Noatak raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t remark, keeping most of his attention on the console.
They were orbiting one of Zyrinic’s inner planets, a gas giant surrounded by several rings. The fine particulate that made up the outer ring was wreaking havoc on their sensors, but this was near the last pinpointed location of the Icarus.
Just as she sent her message, Noatak leaned closer to the view screen and began furiously tapping the sensor keypad. “Uminaq, there they are. I need to get our cloak up.”
She scanned the glowing ring of the planet and spotted the massive flagship doing a lazy rotation, ripples of particulate billowing around its sharp angles and jutting weapon turrets. Her pulse raced. If they were spotted now, the mission would be over. If the Icarus decided to shoot first and ask questions later, they’d be vaporized. She held her breath, waiting.
Once the cloaking system was up, Noatak raised his hands off the console and focused on the view screen. “I don’t think they detected us through the particulate ring, but we’ll hang out here a few minutes to be sure.”
Letting out a long sigh, she let her gaze rove over the swirling orange planet’s surface. “Why are they parked here? This is an uninhabitable planet.”
“No idea, but they just made our mission one hell of a lot easier.”
After what felt like forever, Noatak nodded. “If they knew we were here, they’d’ve demanded identification by now. Let’s move.”
With a nod, she retreated to the back of the shuttle and put on a vacuum suit. Noatak would fly the tiny shuttle along the massive flagship’s underside, moving slowly enough to avoid any proximity detectors. Apparently, the pirates had done this kind of thing before.
The vacuum suit was a snug fit over her breasts, and she was struggling with the seal when a sharp jolt stung her wrist. Pausing, she looked at her wristband. “Twerp, you okay?”
Twerp let out several garbled words, out of which Marlis was only able to make out, “… reaction t-to certain frequenciesssss…” The sentence ended on a hiss of static.
“Twerp?” A lump filled her throat. “What’s going on?”
From the cockpit, a stranger’s voice came over the comm. “Unidentified vessel, please shut down all systems and prepare to be towed.”
The ship shuddered, and she stumbled forward to where Noatak was frantically tapping the keypads. “What’s happening?”
“They spotted us. Uminaq, they have us in a tractor beam.”
She gripped the head rests on the cockpit chairs and tried to remain upright as the ship jolted again. “Fuck, do as they say. We haven’t done anything wrong. Maybe they’ll let us go.”
“I’m on their most-wanted list, Marlis. There’s no getting out of this for me. But you can.” He grabbed her, kissing her hard, then swung her in front of himself before flicking the comm to life. “I’m holding one of your citizens hostage. Release the tractor beam or I’ll kill her.”
She struggled against his solid grip, more out of instinct than fear. “No!”
“We do not deal with terrorists,” the man on the other end of the comm replied.
The shuttle jerked forward, driving her hard against Noatak’s chest. She couldn’t take a breath, and her vision closed in as the flagship seemed to draw closer at breakneck speed. A strange tingling surrounded her, almost a numb sensation.
And then the world went black.
Noatak instinctively engaged his ionic shielding and wrapped it around Marlis when the tractor beam jerked the shuttle forward with a force that had to be close to ten G’s. He held on as long as he could, finally blacking out as the shuttle hurtled toward an open landing bay.
He woke in a tiny cell barely large enough for him to lie flat on the floor. There was no furniture, no fixtures, no panels, no door that he could see. After taking a quick assessment of himself—his chest and head hurt, but there appeared to be no other damage—he stood, scouring the corners of the bare metal walls for any sign of a camera or an access panel.
“Hello?” His voice seemed too loud in the small space.
His last memory was of clutching Marlis against him, putting all of his willpower into shielding her from the deadly force of the beam. Had she survived? Anaq, had he survived? For all he knew, this was Ellam Cua’s perverse version of hell.
Suddenly, a section of the wall slid aside, revealing a sparkling transparent energy shield separating him from the interior of a brightly lit laboratory. Stainless steel counters, several empty exam tables, and scattered medical equipment that Mek would’ve salivated over filled the room. On the far wall, two other doors similar to Noatak’s shone with energy fields.
A man with shiny dark hair stepped around one of the lab tables, eyeing him with a sick, appraising hunger. “In my wildest dreams, I never imagined I’d get my hands on a Denaidan male.” He smiled, showing straight white teeth. “Fortune must be smiling on me.”
Noatak moved as close to the energy shield as he dared. “What the fuck does that mean?”
The man looked down at an oversized polycom in his hands. “Noatak qutar’Kon, a corporal in Galactic Ops, AWOL for fifteen years and wanted for acts of piracy and terrorism.” He looked back up, eyes gleaming. “You’re so lucky we found you. Any other ship would’ve executed you on the spot.” Setting the polycom aside, he made a gesture and three well-armed troopers appeared from the unseen corners of the room. “My name’s Dr. Dollard. We’ll be spending a lot of time together.”
One of the troopers moved toward Noatak and the shield dropped. Noatak eyed the man, wondering if he could take him out with an ionic pulse. He was surprised to even be alive after exerting himself in the shuttle, and calling on his ionic power now might very well kill him. But he still needed to find Marlis, no matter the cost.
Dollard said, “The dampening in here makes using your ionic abilities impossible, so don’t even try. Come out.”
Uminaq. Of course they’d thought of that. He stepped into the lab, familiarizing himself with the layout and looking for any potential weapons. “The woman I was with—my hostage. She survive?”
The doctor was aligning surgical tools neatly on a tray next to a stainless steel exam table. “The tractor beam should’ve turned you both to pulp. The captain was quite surprised to find you both alive.” Dollard met his gaze with a smirk. “It’s also how I knew we’d captured a Denaidan.”
It was all Noatak could do not to sag to his knees with relief. Marlis was alive.
Adjusting the exam table so it stood on end, Dollard gestured toward it. “If you please.”
Several straps dangled from the table’s edges. Restraints. So he was to be tortured. One of the troopers nudged Noatak in the lower back, forcing him forward. Noatak tried to keep his voice even. “What are you planning to do?”
“Denaidan ionic powers have always fascinated me, especially the different way each gender uses the ability. Your males are so brutish with their ionic strength, while your females excel at empathic connections that are nearly impossible to test empirically.”
“You fucking killed all our females,” Noatak snarled. “How would you know?”
“Mmm.” The man
picked up a stim-gun. “I recommend you cooperate if you want to live.
“Keep that thing away from me.” Noatak stepped back, but the men on either side of him caught his arms and dragged him forward, cinching him down.
Dollard jabbed a stim-gun into Noatak’s arm.
The adrenaline already coursing through Noatak’s veins ignited. He yelled and jerked hard against the straps.
Non-plussed, Dollard gave him several more inoculations before waving a scanner over Noatak’s chest, face pinched into a frown. “Hmm. It appears you’ve sustained some ionic system damage over the years.”
“Only because of people like you,” Noatak spat. His mouth felt full of cotton and spittle drooled from the corners.
“Unfortunate.” The doctor stepped back, wiping a fleck from the back of his hand. “This is a significant flaw in my data set. Regardless, it will be interesting to see how the nanites perform in an ionic system like yours.”
Turning, Dollard headed for the exit, his goons close behind, leaving Noatak alone in the lab.
Breath ragged, Noatak jerked against the straps over and over, all the while thinking, Holy Ellam Cua, I’ve just been injected with nanites.
Chapter Sixteen
Marlis woke to the inside of a med bay. Bright lights shone directly overhead, adding daggers to her already splitting headache. She tried to roll over to escape the glare, but couldn’t move. Her arms and legs were strapped to a cot. Panic seized her, and she thrashed against the bindings.
An unfamiliar man in a crisp blue Syndicorp doctor’s uniform filled her vision, blocking the overhead lights. “Calm down, Miss Swan.”
All she could think was that she was in lockdown again. What did I do? “You can release me now.”
He backed away, allowing a familiar face to appear. “Attie?” Marlis held back the catch in her voice. She still didn’t remember why she was here, but she knew panic would only make things worse. There is no danger. “Please tell him to unstrap me.”
Attie looked over her shoulder. “Are the straps necessary?”
The restraints loosened. Forcing herself to remain sedate, she sat up, looking around the unfamiliar med bay. “Where am I?”
“You don’t remember what happened?” Attie asked.
Marlis touched the bandage covering a sore bump on her forehead as memories slowly returned. Noatak. The shuttle. The resistance. Her pulse spiked again. She must’ve been captured. Where was Noatak? And why wasn’t Twerp buzzing? She reached for her wrist and found the band gone. “Twerp? Where’s Twerp?”
Attie shook her head. “Our tech team had to confiscate your AI. They’ll give it back once they’ve pulled the information and made sure it’s not bugged.”
Marlis nearly choked. What kind of information about the resistance might Twerp reveal? Her voice sounded tinny and fake as she calmly asked, “Why would you think I’m bugged?”
“You’re traveling with a known criminal,” a man’s voice came from the door across the large bay. Marlis turned to find a small man wearing an admiral’s uniform approaching, followed by three well-armed troopers. He seemed rather young to be an admiral, with a head of brown hair untouched by gray. “A pirate who would do anything to get his hands on Syndicorp technology.”
“Noatak?” The name left her lips before she could reign herself in. Noatak’d told her he was a wanted man. That’s why his original plan had included suicide. Oh God, had he committed suicide? She shot to her feet and looked around the med bay, hoping to see his familiar copper skin. The only other patient was a woman in a bed at the far end of the room. “Where is he?”
Attie put a hand on her shoulder. “Don’t worry. The pirates can’t hurt you now.”
More memories crashed over Marlis. The crew of the Icarus must think she’d been a hostage. Noatak’d set this all up to make her appear innocent. Fuck, had they executed him? She needed to know if he was alive.
“Corporal Swan,” the admiral addressed Attie. “You have confirmed this is your sister?”
Attie stiffened, her hand moving up in salute. “Yes, sir.”
With a stiff nod, he focused is icy-blue gaze on Marlis. “My name is Admiral Olly, standing officer of the SNV Icarus, with full authority under Syndicorp law to carry out immediate punishment to traitors of the regime.”
Marlis swallowed, her breath coming in short gasps. Noatak was probably dead. She couldn’t make her eyes focus, so she concentrated on her breathing. In. Out. In. Out. She longed for Twerp’s familiar buzz.
The admiral continued, “Marlis Swan, you stand accused of associating with known pirates and conspiring to engage in illegal activities against Syndicorp and its allies.”
“Sir—” Attie began, but was cut off by the admiral raising one hand.
“You will remain silent, Corporal. Your part in this has yet to be determined.”
Fuck. Not only was Noatak dead, she’d put Attie in danger. None of this mission was going according to plan. She reached instinctively for her weapon.
The troopers behind the admiral pointed their rifles at her just as she realized her holster was empty. Fuck, they disarmed me!
Attie gently squeezed Marlis’s arm. “Take a breath, Marlis. There is no danger.” Her sister moved part way between Marlis and the armed guards. “Sir, please forgive her. She suffers from PTSD.”
“I’ve read her file,” the admiral continued, gaze still cold. “I understand she was turned down for active duty due to mental health issues. However, I will not accept that as an excuse. You are facing a charge of treason. How do you plead?”
Treason? She could barely breathe, barely think. She had to get a grip on herself if she hoped to get her and Attie through this alive. What would Attie do? She met her sister’s steady blue gaze, but behind her eyes, Marlis detected reflection of her own panic. Her sister had always been her rock. Now Marlis needed to do whatever it took to save Attie.
She turned back to the admiral. If he believed Marlis had mental health issues, she could play the victim. The thought sickened her. She’d never used her condition as an excuse for anything, never wanted to be considered an imbecile, but right now, it was all she had. Thankfully, Noatak’d given her a plausible cover. She shoved aside the thought that it had been his final act. Hopefully she’d have time to grieve later.
Fluttering both hands, Marlis said, “I’m sorry, sir. I’m just so confused and frightened right now.” Thinking of Noatak, she let tears prick her eyes. “I had no idea he was a pirate until… until…”
Admiral Olly seemed unaffected. “Tell me why you’re here, and I may mitigate your sentence.”
“I was hired as a guard on a cargo ship, that’s all I know.”
“What’s your cargo?”
“I never asked, sir.” She screwed her face into what she hoped was a look of terror. “Please. I need Twerp. She’s the only thing that keeps me calm.”
“Twerp?” He narrowed his eyes.
Attie answered, “That’s what she calls her service AI.”
A muscle in the admiral’s jaw bulged. “Our tech team has been unable to revive your AI. It appears the pirates planted a self-destruct in its code which was activated by our tractor beam.”
Marlis gasped, legs growing weak. “Twerp’s dead?”
Attie’s hand on her arm tightened, and she gasped. “Oh, no.”
Her chest couldn’t contain any more heartache. Not Twerp, too. Marlis refused to believe it. Yet Twerp’s last words to her had ended in static. Noatak and Twerp, both gone in a flash. Grief threatened to shut down all her logic, and she sank, trembling, backward onto the cot.
Admiral Olly took a step forward. “Tell me why you were sending messages to Corporal Swan.”
Shit. Her heart threatened to explode. Attie might be punished for this entire mess. Marlis looked up into the admiral’s face, her vision a tunnel she could barely see the end of. “She’s my sister, sir. Don’t you ever call your sister?”
“Don’t try to be sm
art with me, Miss Swan.” The admiral crossed his arms. “Your shuttle emerged from a burn cycle in this exact location around an uninhabited planet. No cargo on board, no reason to be here, and we’ve traced a hidden tracker embedded in your messages. What is your mission?”
She couldn’t think of an excuse. At least the tears blurring her sight were real. She blinked, forcing one to flow down her cheek. “I’m just a guard,” she choked out. “I don’t even know how to pilot a shuttle. Noatak seduced me. I thought he was special, and wanted him to meet my sister. That’s all.”
He turned to Attie. “This is getting us nowhere.”
Attie frowned. “Sir, my sister’s highly susceptible to manipulation, and this pirate obviously capitalized on that. Her messages went on and on about her new boyfriend. You saw in her file that our father applied for extended dependency waiver but it wasn’t approved before she ran away. Whatever those pirates did to her has obviously exacerbated her PTSD.”
Highly susceptible? Ran away? Marlis took a shaky breath. Attie knew she hadn’t run away, and she sure as hell didn’t think Marlis was easily manipulated. So Attie must be lying to help her. Of all the people in the universe, she could trust Attie. There is no danger. Marlis reached for her sister’s hand. Much as it grated on her, she needed to keep playing the imbecile card. And Attie’s life depended on Marlis’s innocence.
“Sir, when can I have my AI back?” She knew she’d already asked, but asking again was one way to make him believe she was slow.
Olly made a derisive noise in the back of his throat and looked at Attie. “Is she serious?”
“Sir, you read her file.” Attie squeezed Marlis’s hand. “Even if she could answer your questions, the information she provided would be suspect. This is exactly why we applied for a dependency waiver. She shouldn’t be roaming the galaxy on her own.”