by Kyle, Celia
That’s probably all that saves us from certain death. Kintar gains altitude as we flash around a crumbling tenement, leaving the pavement below and our pursuers as well.
As he banks us about, I get a great view of the Starcorp building, as if to taunt me. Damn it, Thrase is in there, somewhere, and here I am leaving her behind to protect my own skin.
With effort, I manage to calm myself. Kintar is right, but damn him for being so. The two of us could never hope to defeat so many well-armed and prepared foes.
But I swear an oath to myself, the moon, and my beloved Thrase, that I will return. I will come back for my fated mate.
And woe be to any god or mortal being that gets in my way.
Chapter Fourteen
Thrase
“Walk,” the battered Kraaj growls, pushing his pistol into my lower back. I don’t move, nor do I say a thing. I just remain where I am, still looking at the broken window. My heart has tightened so much it has become pebble-sized, and my stomach has turned inside out. I can’t believe Zander’s gone.
I refuse to believe it.
“Are you stupid or what?” The Kraaj insists, his growl becoming more threatening as he prods me with the pistol. “Move, or do I have to drag you out of here?”
Unable to control my anger, I grit my teeth and turn on my heels. My arm moves in an arch and, seizing my body’s momentum, I slap the Kraaj as hard as I possibly can. He just absorbs the impact, expressionless, and then arches one eyebrow. Shaking his eyes, he holsters his gun and grabs me by the wrist.
“Dragging it is then,” he says, and then starts pulling me out of the room. I amble after him, unable to think clearly. A deep void has settled inside me, and there’s nothing but grief inside my mind. It just isn’t fair. What kind of universe would show me that I have a fated mate, only to steal him from me?
I’m led through an endless maze of corridors and then pushed inside an elevator. The Kraaj and the other guards squeeze themselves inside of it, and the stench of sweat and unwashed bodies is enough for my stomach to lurch.
Starcorp? More like Sweatcorp.
Still dazed, I look at the small elevator screen, watching as the numbers descend until they hit zero. The elevator doesn’t stop there. We keep on going down the building and into the sub-basement levels, and I realize the building is far larger than I thought. We step out into a dimly lit corridor, the soft hum of the air-recyclers the only sound I can hear, and I’m led toward some kind of holding area with a bunker-style door.
On the other side of the door are open cells, no more than a dozen different perimeters delineated by energy fields. They’re all empty except for the one at the end, where a horned figure is curled atop a ragged mattress, its body covered in caked blood.
“Since you seem to like these double-dicked assholes so much, here’s another of them.” Laughing, the Kraaj deactivates the energy field on the only occupied cell, and then shoves me forward before activating it again. “Enjoy the rest of your miserable life.” He makes a slight pause, and then scratches his chin, his narrow eyes focused on me. “Shit, I hope they don’t kill you. If you ever end up on the auction block, I could see myself spending a couple credits on you. You don’t see tits like that every day.”
“Fuck you,” I throw back at him, a wave of unbridled anger washing over me. My fingernails are digging into my palms, and my heart is beating with a murderous rhythm. If I could, I’d choke the living daylights of this nauseating silver creature. I’ve always been a rational person, and I’ve always prided myself on being above the pull of emotions, but right now I just can’t help myself.
“Yeah?” He laughs again. “With some luck, I might fuck you.” With that, he turns on his heels and waves at the six human guards trailing after him. Obediently they all march out of the room, the Kraaj bringing up the rear. Once they’re all gone, I take a deep breath and close my eyes.
You need to focus, Thrase, I tell myself, grieve Zander later.
Easier said than done, of course.
Turning around, I look at the previous occupant of the cell. Just like the Kraaj said, he’s a Kilgari although I can barely notice the golden hue of his skin. His powerful limbs are covered in dry blood and purple bruises, and there’s a lot of swelling as well. Whoever this guy is, he must have pissed off Starcop in a royal fashion.
For a moment, I almost think he’s dead, but then I see his chest rising and falling weakly. Sighing with relief, I go down on one knee beside him.
“Hey there,” I mutter, not knowing what else to say. He stirs softly and then rolls to his back. I gasp, suddenly recognizing the facial features hiding underneath all the bruises. “Lokyer? Is that you?”
“In the flesh,” he croaks, his voice coming out raspy and weak. “What are you doing here, Thrase?”
“We came to rescue you,” I reply. “Yeah, I know, it doesn’t look like it.”
“Where’s the rest of the crew?”
“At the Ancestral Queen,” I say. “Zander and I infiltrated Starcorp so we could dig for more information. We had no idea about your whereabouts, so we had to keep digging.”
“Is Zander here too?”
“Zander, well, he…” I trail off, suddenly realizing that I can’t say it out loud. It’s too soon. Lowering my gaze, I just look at the concrete floor and bite on my bottom limp, tears already stinging at my eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Lokyer whispers and then reaches for me with a groan. Gently, he places his hand on top of mine, giving my fingers a squeeze. “You guys shouldn’t have come here. You put yourselves at risk because of me.”
“That’s why we’re a crew.” Forcing myself to look back into his eyes, I offer him a smile. Up close, he looks even worse. He also has a couple of deep cuts on his chest, and dark bruises around his neck. “What the hell did they do to you?”
“Everything they could think of,” he replies, and then I have to wait for him to continue as a coughing fit takes over him. He places one hand in front of his mouth as he coughs, and I watch with horror as blood sprays onto his fingers. He’s going to need a full medical examination, and I’m more than willing to bet he’ll need surgery as well. His mind seems intact, though, so at least there’s that. “I didn’t tell them a damn thing, though. The bastards wanted me to talk, but I just spat on their faces. I never broke, Thrase.”
“I know you didn’t.”
Even though I don’t know Lokyer that well, nor are we close enough for me to call him a friend, I’ve never met a crew as trustworthy as that of the Queen. The Kilgari I’ve met there might be rough around the edges at times, but they’re all honorable. Not a single member of the crew ever believed Lokyer would talk, and they were right to believe it.
“Does it hurt?” I ask him, gently brushing my fingers over the bruises on his shoulders.
“Only when I laugh.” As if to prove a point, he starts chuckling, but the sound of it is quickly followed by a pained groan. “See?”
“I’d advise you not to laugh then.”
“What’s the plan here?”
“Well, huh, I—” Suddenly, I hear a rustling in the corner of the cell. I jump back, startled, and my eyes widen as I realize a creature is there. “What in the world is that?”
“That’s Num, my cellmate.”
Slack-jawed, I look at the butterfly crawling around the floor. It’s kite-sized, much larger than the ones I’ve seen before, and its wings have a weak iridescent glow to them. It has wide tender eyes, which remind me of a puppy, and curved antennas that are drooping down to the floor. More than looking like an insect, the critter has the appeal of a small puppy or a gentle bird.
“It’s hurt,” I whisper, slowly realizing there are holes in its glassy wings. Carefully, I approach Num, and it makes a low chirping sound. Its eyes lock on mine, and it drags itself across the floor toward me. The glow in its wings intensifies slightly and, just for a moment, the gray coloration of its body is replaced by a weak purple. Suddenly I realize the color
s aren’t changing because of a chemical process. “Is gray its natural color?”
“He was glowing brightly when they brought him here, and he seemed healthy, but then he started turning gray. With each passing day, he became weaker and weaker.”
“That makes sense,” I say. I’ve read about creatures like this before.”
“It’s a butterfly. I assumed you’d have heard of it.”
“No, it’s not a butterfly,” I say. “It’s so much more than that. Creatures like Num here are a biological rarity. Their natural state is in quantum flux between energy and matter, and that’s probably why it looks so hurt.”
“Huh, alright,” Lokyer says. “Translation, please.”
“He—I think you’re right when you say it’s a he—shouldn’t be in a pure matter state for long periods of time,” I continue. “Someone must’ve messed with its natural organic processes, or maybe it’s the energy field in the cell, but Num’s being forced to remain in this matter state. It’s killing him.”
“Well, shit, that’s not good.”
“I might be able to do something about it,” I continue, mentally rummaging through everything I know about these types of creatures. I’m still thinking of that when I hear the doors to the cell block opening.
“On your feet, Miss Tits,” a Kreetu guards says. “Upper management wants a word.”
Chapter Fifteen
Zander
The gang plank hasn’t even drawn itself fully in, and I’m already out of the cargo hold, moving up decks toward the bridge, where I hope to find Solair.
Kintar rushes to catch up with me, slowed a bit because he had to park the hover bike next to our shuttle craft. His heavy bootsteps echo off the corridor wall as he draws abreast of me.
“Zander, where are you going?”
“To the bridge, of course, to see if our good captain is present. We have to launch a rescue op immediately.”
“I agree with you, believe it or not, but look at what you’re doing to the ship.”
He points at the burnished gold deck plating, and I cringe at the sight of black tar smears leading from the cargo bay.
“I recommend you use the sonic shower in the cargo bay and then go to present your case to Solair.”
My face screws up in a grimace, and I jab my finger in his face.
“There’s no time.”
“Think, Zander. Use that big brain. Solair’s more apt to listen to you if he’s not pissed off you tracked… whatever that stuff is onto the bridge.”
“It’s liquefied pavement, and… yes, I see your point.”
“Good man.” Kintar gestures up the corridor, where a pair of crewmen move pointedly to avoid stepping in the crud I’ve tracked all over the deck plating. “I will go and summon the senior staff to the bridge. I imagine Solair will want everyone there.”
“Thank you.” I catch his arm before he can leave, which unfortunately puts a black smear on his sleeve. “Ah… sorry… but seriously, thank you. Not just for this, but for saving my life, too. I owe you an apology for the way I treated you in the armory the other day.”
“Think nothing of it.” He waves off my concerns, grimacing at the stain left on his sleeve. “Any of us would do the same for each other.”
Kintar’s wide face breaks into a toothy grin.
“Besides… I can’t blame you for wanting some quality alone time with your fated mate. No one can.”
He raises his hand as if to pat me on the shoulder but then looks at the condition of my clothing and thinks better of it. We part ways, and I head to the sonic shower station in the cargo bay. I decide to just step onto the sunken dais fully clothed, since everything is soaked. Only when I’ve got the majority of the grime off my garments do I pull the privacy curtain and strip naked.
My irritation levels drop once I’m clean, and no longer have liquefied black pavement squishing around between my toes. Giving my clothes a quick shake, I don them once more and rush up through the decks toward the bridge.
When I’m passing by the galley, I pause, frowning as I hear Kintar’s voice emanating from within.
Our ship’s steward stands with one arm on the serving counter, leaning against it with a big smile on his face as he speaks to Marion. Much like Kintar, her duties on the ship are varied and numerous. Judging from the grin on her own cherubic face, I’d say she’s equally as happy to speak with the shorn horned former Alliance officer.
Given the dire circumstances, however, I’m more that a little peeved. I stand behind him, arms akimbo, and clear my throat noisily.
“Zander?” He takes me in with a wide-eyed gaze. “I see you’ve cleaned up.”
“And I see you have yet to gather the senior staff on the bridge… like you said you would.”
“Ah.” Kintar looks back and forth from me to Marion, clearly at a loss for words. “I, ah…”
“It’s okay, big guy.” Marion smears a stained rag over the burnished counter. “I’ve got a lot of work to get caught up on. We’ll catch up later.”
I arch an eyebrow at Kintar as we leave the galley.
“So you think Marion might…”
“I have nothing to say on the matter.” Kintar sniffs pointedly. “I’ll gather the staff. You head up to the bridge and fill in our intrepid captain.”
I nod and then jog my way up the decks until I reach the corridor leading to the bridge. Only then do I start to feel apprehension. Solair is a cautious sort when it comes to risking the lives of the crew under his command. Even though I know he cares about what happens to Thrase, convincing him we need to mount a rescue op could prove difficult.
The doors slide open, and as one the bridge crew turns their gazes on me. Solair’s brows come down low over his eyes, and his nostrils flare. He’s probably a little miffed at my going rogue and running off on my own with Thrase.
“Well, look who’s decided to return to duty…” His recrimination dies in his throat when he takes in my expression. “Oh no. Did something happen to Thrase.”
“Indeed. I apologize for my actions, Captain, but I’m afraid my discipline might have to wait.”
“Tell me everything.”
So I do, not sparing any details. Solair’s eyes go wide when I mention the women in cryo sleep who’ve endured brain surgery. He greets the news of our capture with equal gravity, and when I wind down, most of the senior staff has joined us on the bridge.
Solair takes them in with his gaze.
“Did you all get the gist of that?”
“We did, Captain.” Kintar steps forward and stands at “parade rest,” with his hands clasped behind his back. “I’m willing and able to join the strike team.”
Solair sighs, and rubs the bridge of his nose.
“I’m not sure there’s going to be a strike team, Kintar.”
Damn it. Perhaps if I were in Solair’s position, I would have an equal amount of reservations. But all I can think about is seeing Thrase slapped to the ground by one of the brutal Kreetu.
“Captain, please.” I stand up and come over to his side. “We have to save her. You know what kind of monsters the Project Blue Dawn officials can be.”
“I’m aware, Zander. But I’m also aware of the safety of the rest of our crew.”
I make a strangled, frustrated noise in my throat and turn away from him before I end up throwing a punch. As I said, I understand his position but I will never be able to agree with it.
“Now hold on, Solair.” Grantian crosses his arms over his massive chest. “We don’t leave our own behind. The whole point of this operation was to rescue Lokyer, after all.”
“Whom we don’t even know for certain is even in that building anymore.” Solair meets the fiery gaze of his first mate spark for spark. “And at no point have I said we will not rescue Thrase. I’m just saying maybe we should pursue other avenues rather than naked force.”
Varia puts her hand on Solair’s shoulder, and I feel instantly hopeful. I know his fated mate won’t allo
w one of her own Frontier refugees to be cast to the spine backs.
“Solair, there’s no negotiating with these people. They’re fanatics who think every evil they commit is justified so long as it advances the power and presence of humanity in the galaxy at large.”
Solair strokes his chin in thought, considering her words.
“If… and this is a big if… we do decide to mount a rescue mission, we need to be smart about it. Can’t go just blasting in the front door.”
“Indeed. They’ve probably increased the presence of Star Crushers after Zander and I escaped their wrath.” Kintar glances over at Fiona. “Perhaps our resident systems expert could hack into the K’Patel city server and find the floor plans for the Starcorp building. They would have been filed with city hall before construction even began.”
Varia nods in assent.
“Time to work your magic, Fi.”
“I’m on it.”
Her fingers dance over the keys as I pace anxiously back and forth across the bridge. Everyone gives me a wide berth, perhaps reasoning what I’m going through even though only Kintar has been directly informed.
At length she grins and puts up a holodisplay.
“Got it.” A blue grid-work image of the Starcorp building appears above the holoemitter. She zooms the 3D image in and focuses on the rear of the structure. “This looks promising. K’Patel made the Star Corporation build the infrastructure needed to filter their industrial waste water, which then feeds into the city sewer system…”
She zooms in the image a bit more and points at the holodisplay.
“…right here. It says the sluice gate is more than twenty feet wide. More than enough room to sneak a force inside.”
Solair nods, and I can see the heavy burden he bears lurking in his golden-eyed gaze.
“I see it, Fiona.” Solair turns to face the rest of us, his lips drawn into a tight, solemn line. “We’re privateers, merchant men, not warriors—with the exception of our former Hael Hound and Alliance officer, of course.”