by L H Whitlock
Brock pulled Lily up by her arm and secured her in place next to Sara.
Leaning back in her chair, Sara tilted her head toward Lily, exhaustion dominating her face. “You jumped from the ship,” she said, her voice weak.
“Of course I did,” Lily mumbled. She knew her face held the same expression as Sara’s.
“I would have died. I’m not a particularly good swimmer.”
“Neither am I,” Lily admitted.
The blue-haired girl laughed weakly. “Thank you. You know I love you, right?”
Lily’s eyelids grew increasingly heavy. “Forever and into the stars,” she said, repeating a common phrase of Sara’s native world.
“Approaching TIP,” Alberta announced through the comm. Lily leaned back in her chair and tried to relax. TIPing was a technology given to the Renegade by the Developers. It would open a wormhole and transport them to a safe area only a few rotations from Base. It was the only reason the Renegade could even keep up with Golan’s tarnish. Without it, they would stand no chance.
To say the Developers were allies was a bit hopeful; the Developers didn’t align with anyone and only provided information and technology when it was convenient. On the plus side, the Developers hated Golan and would do anything in their power to help the Renegade win the war, well, with the exception of actually doing any of the dirty work themselves. Lily knew she should be grateful, but everything about the Developers made her nervous. It was probably unfair to be skeptical, she had never actually met a Developer. No one in the Renegade had and not much was known about them. Rumors spoke of the Developer’s engineered planet, undetectable to scanners and free to move, it was even said they could transport their entire planet using the TIP technology.
The ship rocked slightly as it entered into the TIP and Lily glanced out the window. The stars melted together, appearing to surround the ship in distorted, white globs. They rushed past, elongating as they looped along the edges of the wormhole. Lily glanced away from the image, the eerie picture making her dizzy. Once Alberta announced that they were safe, Lily pulled herself up from her seat, her muscles on fire, and limbs heavy. “I’m going to bed,” she announced to no one in particular, then hobbled out of the room.
14
Beep…Beep…Beep. Lily fought to open her heavy eyelids before settling on reading the message on her RAB with only one eye. ‘Urgent. Meeting room in ten minutes.’ Groaning, Lily rolled over. She wasn’t sure what bothered her most, the fact that her arms felt like bruised, wet noodles, or that her dreams had been filled with a half-dressed Ulrick. Shaking the masterpiece from her mind, she pulled herself out of bed and threw on a clean pair of pants and black tank.
Before leaving the room, she checked herself in the mirror to make sure she was pulled together. That was a negative. Her blonde hair was in knots and dark bags hung beneath her eyes. Sighing, she splashed water on her face to dispel the sleep before making her way out the door.
Entering the meeting room, she found the others already sitting around the table. A hologram of Rowan paced in the front of the room and the image of a large steel fortress floated above the oval table. Lily sat between Sara and Gustavo. A Rebi-maid, the robotic housekeeper, zipped around balancing an assortment of tea and food in her seventeen hands. Lily stared at the brown tea and Spinorga she had been served and frowned. Spinorga, a delicacy in the U’goja system, was made of tree grubs toasted until they boiled from the inside. Not an appropriate choice for first meal or any meal in her opinion.
“Trade ya?” Lily looked hopefully at Gustavo’s plate which held a baked Yo’ha; a pastry filled with beetle droppings. Gross, but still better then what she had.
Gustavo glanced at her plate and his cheeks flushed green. “Oh for fuck’s sake, we need a new Rebi-maid.”
“Yes, I believe the Rebi-maid is confused as to what first meal is. Also, it’s not a good cook.” Sara poked at the fried fish on her plate until it broke into flakey bits.
“If we stop wrecking ships and highly advanced, expensive technology, maybe we can buy a new one,” Brock suggested.
“Yous always breaks ship,” Alberta said, waving her fork at Brock before taking another large bite of Yo’ha. “I Regi good cook.”
“I think you’ve lost your damn mind,” Brock said, a dribble of tea rolling down his chin and onto his shirt. He tried to wipe up the stain but it only made the mark spread. “You gunna eat that?”
Gustavo shook his head. Brock reached across the table to pluck the baked Yo’ha off the plate.
“Hey! That was mine!” Lily glared at Brock from across the table. He shrugged in response.
Rowan cleared his throat.
Heat rose to Lily’s cheeks and she stopped scowling.
Rowan twisted one of the many rings on his fingers, a nervous habit. “Good, now that everyone’s here, let’s go over your next mission.”
Gloria, who had been mostly silent, looked up from her wiggling ‘food’ and groaned. The tentacle on her plate slowly inched its way onto the table, apparently unaware that the rest of its body was missing. “They just got back from a mission. Don’t you think they should rest?”
Rowan turned to Gloria, a scowl marking his rounded face. “I do apologize, but this is of great importance… for you especially.”
Gloria perked up.
“We have located Vincent on Briella.” Rowan smoothed back his white hair.
Gloria gasped and jumped up. “Vincent! I’m so happy! I knew we would find him.”
Brock and Lily exchanged a worried look. “Is he alive?” Lily asked hesitantly.
Gloria paled.
“Yes, our intel says he is.” Rowan’s emerald eyes darkened, betraying his tone of hope.
“What’s Briella?” Gloria’s voice was shaky.
“Briella’s a high-security prison. Golan keeps most persons of interest there for questioning,” Rowan responded. “I suggest stealing access codes and getting in through the service door. That area’s the least secure and you’ll run into fewer guards. I don’t want a lot of you on the planet. Brock and Lily will break into the prison. Gloria will stay with the heli-shuttle until the team gets back. Alberta will remain on the Home Ship and Gustavo, you are needed for some technical work.”
Gustavo nodded in understanding.
“When do we leave?” Lily asked.
“You will be in range tomorrow morning. You have one rotation to get to the prison, one to get Vincent, and one to get back. During the night you’ll have to seek shelter. The Varlie come out for their hunt. You shouldn’t run into them, they are solitary creatures, but if you do, be careful.”
An image of a large, fur-covered, four-legged Varlie sprung to life. Its holographic paws clawed at the table, slobber dropped from its lower lip as it snarled, baring yellowed daggers. Light reflected off its greasy gray fur, and beady, black eyes sat above a large snout.
Gloria squealed.
Gustavo laughed and mimicked the frightened girl.
Lily glared at him.
Rowan cleared his throat, a bemused look passing over his face. “The guards will also be docile at night. They won’t want to encounter the Varlie either. Bring Vincent back before he leaks any information.” Rowan glided his pinky ring on and off.
“With all due respect, Vincent would never disclose classified information. He has been with the Renegade for over ten years.” Lily stood from her seat.
“I’m aware of Vincent’s credentials, but the Prison Guards are known for getting information out of their prisoners. Get some rest. You’ll be within range in the morning.” Rowan saluted, then his hologram faded away.
Lily stared at the now empty spot where Rowan’s hologram had been. The image of the Varlie snarled, startling Lily out of her daze. She shut it off with a press of a button on the control board.
The room was quiet for many moments then Brock broke the silence. “Well hell, who woulda thought we’d be going back to Briella. Shit, El, remember the time y
ou got locked up there?”
Lily scowled and rolled her eyes. “Oh sure, fun times.”
“What happened?” Gloria plucked at her purple eyelashes with her fake nails. Her meal had crawled halfway across the table, creeping its way over to Gustavo. He watched it with a timid eye.
Gustavo began, “Oh, this is a good story. Lily was captured during a mission a few years ago and was locked up in Briella. Well… we all know how she handles enclosed spaces—“
Brock couldn’t contain his excitement and interrupted, “She freaked the fuck out, destroyed everything in her cell and yelled profanities you’ve never heard at the guards. They finally tried to enter the cell to sedate her—“
Sara cut into the story. “When they entered the cell, Lily beat the sense out of them and stole their clothing and weapons. She walked right out the door like nothing happened. Golan nearly lost his mind.” Sara’s blue eyes sparkled with laughter.
Gloria’s teal lips stretched into a smile. “That sounds intense.”
“What’s intense is the amount of money Golan put up for her bounty. He was so pissed off he offered almost 200 galactic G’s for her!” Gustavo slapped his hand against his knee.
“Yeah, that Lily collected herself.” A small snort escaped Sara.
“What do you mean?” Gloria asked.
“She allowed herself to be captured by a bounty hunter. Once the hunter dropped her off at a collection bank, he was given his reward. For some reason they used to do this with the captive present. They changed procedures after that, of course,” Brock explained.
“Yeah, El broke out of her restraints, beat crap out of hunter, and stole bounty. We bought new Home Ship. Best ever until Gustavo blew it up.” Alberta scratched the shaved side of her head and her dragon tattoo seemed to flex with the motion.
“Hey, I never heard any of you complaining about it. You would have all done the exact same thing,” Lily said, barely containing her laughter.
“Not everyone psychopath like you,” Alberta defended.
“All right, you got me there. Let’s get some rest.” Lily wiped away a tear of laughter.
Gustavo, Alberta, Brock and Sara stood and left the room. No one bothered to clean up the dishes from their meal. The Rebi-maid would get to them later, or at least it was supposed to.
Gloria lingered behind, her face ashen, and unshed tears clinging in the corners of her eyes.
Lily walked over to the taller girl. “You doing all right?”
Tears fell from Gloria’s eyes. Lily rubbed the sobbing girl’s back, her tears dampening her shoulder. “Yeah, I’m just worried about Vincent.”
“We will get him tomorrow, everything will be okay.” Lily decided to leave out the part that Vincent was probably going to need some intensive healing and would most likely be out of commission for a while.
“You sure? Should I really be going with you? I don’t want to hold you back.” Gloria wiped at her purple mascara, it smudged making her eye look droopy on one side. Lily had to admit the girl still looked stunning, smeared makeup and all.
“Yes. You are doing great. Vincent will be so happy to see you. He will want you there.”
“Will you st-stay with me a while?” Gloria managed to say through hiccups.
“Sure.” She led Gloria back to her sleeping chamber. Lily tucked the sheets around Gloria’s shoulders and sat on the small sofa against the wall. With a press of a button the Rebi-maid was summoned with an extra blanket and pillow. Lily curled beneath the covers, Gloria’s soft snores coaxing her into a restless sleep full of images of a half-dressed warrior god.
15
Lily crouched in a room several stories high inside an abandoned brick building, peering through one of the many blown out windows. Privora, the once thriving level-two civilization, had been destroyed by Golan over one hundred planetary cycles ago. Cinder-blocks, broken glass, rusty steel, and crumbling brick littered the once neatly paved streets. The few buildings that had survived, stood as lonely silhouettes amongst the rubble.
“Don’t ya think we should’ve brought more people with us?” Brock gazed out the window next to Lily, admiring the fortress in the distance. “I mean…we are breaking into a heavily guarded prison.”
Lily turned and sat beneath the window, leaning against the stone wall. Activating her RAB she studied the maps. “We do not really have a choice. The more people we have, the higher our chances of getting caught. I am not getting locked up in that shithole again.”
Brock glanced at Gloria, who was banging her boots against the ground, trying to empty them of dirt. “Did we have to bring her?”
“Really? After all she has done? I think she has more than proven herself. She can handle her own. And besides…we need someone to watch the ship.”
Gloria squealed. Jumping up, Lily drew her gun. Brock rolled his eyes, walked over, and crushed a bug beneath his boot. Gloria smiled thankfully at him with teal-painted lips.
Brock raised an eyebrow at Lily as he crouched next to her.
Lily sighed heavily and shook her head. “She can generate fucking awesome shields,” she mumbled to no one in particular.
Brock did not respond as he glanced at his RAB. “We leave in five.”
Gloria quickly laced up her boots, picked up the E-Gun she had laid carelessly on the ground, and awaited Lily’s instructions.
Lily led the team out through a hallway and down the crumbling staircase to the ground floor. The hotel’s lobby held the remnants of elegance and Lily didn’t doubt it was once magnificent. Now, the marble floor was chipped and covered in a layer of soot. One arm of a chandelier hung from the ceiling by a long gold chain, the rest scattered the floor in shards of glass and broken faux-crystal. Rotting wooden desks signified where the check-in used to be, and art hung crookedly on the walls, their images too faded to make out. The team stopped briefly at the front doors.
Lily glanced through one of the many holes that dominated the wooden board. All she could see was rubble, fallen buildings, forgotten, rusted vehicles, and small patches of lonely overgrowth.
Turning back to her team, she gave them instructions, careful to keep her voice low. “Keep close and stay covered, the guards are probably on to us already.”
Lily sprinted from the building and ducked behind a rusted vehicle. After a quick scan she darted from her hiding spot to dive behind a large cinder block. Gloria and Brock followed, taking positions behind large chunks of rubble. They peered around the sides, E-Guns on point.
Goose bumps rushed up Lily’s arms as she rested them on the cool stone. Grains from the crumbling rock dusted her pants. Moving again, she made her way over the jagged ground and ducked behind a rectangular metal box.
“We have ten energy signals heading our way, moving fast.” Brock’s quiet words filtered through the RAB.
“Take positions.” Lily pulled the E-Gun’s barrel extension off her belt and twisted it onto the front of her E-gun, transforming the device into a long range weapon, and rested it on top the metal box. She knelt and waited for the enemy to come into range. The first orange, reptilian Liklin came into view. His head was slightly elongated with sunken, pale green eyes and a row of tiny, razor sharp teeth. On the sides of his head were small holes where his ears were and his orange scales were darkened from sun exposure. A thick, scaly tail flicked behind him, swaying with each step. Lily shot him through his chest and the Liklin fell to the ground. A chorus of hisses signaled that others were close by.
Gloria screamed as a bullet nicked the stone column she was hiding behind. Lily turned and shot the attacker in his head.
The Liklins advanced relentlessly, jumping over piles of rubble, seemingly uncaring of their vulnerability. Lily cursed, grabbed the barrel of her gun and twisted the extension, barely getting it off in time to shoot the approaching Liklin in the chest. She ducked out of the way as he fell toward her. Damn, they are quick.
She glanced over at Gloria, who had successfully killed a Liklin.
It lay at her feet, purple blood pooling around its head. Lily secured the extension to her belt and shot another lizard as he tried to duck behind a barrier.
Brock, who had transformed his cyborg arm from its humanoid form into its machine gun form, fired at three pursuing Liklins, then dove behind a fallen wall as two more popped up from their hiding spots, guns aimed.
Lily hit both lizards with a single bullet each; they fell into the rubble with loud grunts.
Lily motioned with a wave of her hand for Gloria and Brock to follow her as she ducked behind a fallen column. Brock and Gloria made their way across the battlefield to join Lily, careful to stay crouched and covered the entire time. Lily had to say, she was impressed that Gloria picked that up so quickly. Once her comrades were safely behind the concrete column, Lily scanned with her RAB, finding the last of the Liklins crouched behind a cinder block several yards away.
Seeing as the Liklin didn’t seem like he was going to come out from his hiding spot any time soon, Lily decided blowing the cinderblock up was safer then navigating her way out in the open to him. She gripped her gun and took a deep breath, focusing her energy into the E-gun. Her hands heated as her Bio-energy was transferred into the weapon, lacing the bullets with explosive power, and then shot the energized bullet into the concrete. After a short delay it blew up, sending chunks of rubble into the air.
There was a moment of silence as the group waited for the dust lingering over the battlefield to settle.