Veiled Vixen: Sci-Fi Alien Romance (Harem Station Book 6)

by JA Huss

  “I just do. It was near a nebula. A gold one. When have we ever been through a gold nebula?”

  “There are no gold nebulae,” Booty told Draden.

  “But there have to be.” He sighed with frustration. Because ALCOR had even mentioned it. Though, for some reason, he didn’t want to divulge this to Booty. ALCOR’s secrets were confusing, and dark, and mysterious. He needed to figure that stuff out for himself.

  “The color of a nebula is based on the gaseous elements inside it, Draden. There is no corresponding color for yellow. Your choices are mainly red, green, and blue. Black for dust. There is no yellow. Unless…”

  “Unless what?”

  “Unless it wasn’t a nebula you saw, but the core of a galaxy.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Old stars which are tightly clustered together in the center of a galaxy look yellow inside a nebula.”

  “OK. So that’s it. How many of those are there?”

  “Not many.”

  “Great. Let’s map them out.”

  “It won’t do any good.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because it’s not a nebula. It’s another galaxy.”

  “What are you saying? The second gate leads to another galaxy?”

  “That’s… that’s not a gate, Draden. That’s a wormhole. And those don’t technically exist. There’s no way to get to another galaxy. Even the closest galaxy is too far away. There are no gates. Not even the known spin nodes can transport things that far.”

  “Well, I went somewhere. And who says all the spin nodes are known?”

  “That’s true,” Booty said. “Jimmy and Delphi did claim to travel to another galaxy while they were on Mighty Minions. And they assumed that was a spin node.”

  “See. There you go.”

  “But they didn’t know for sure. It could’ve been a hologram. And even though Luck and Nyleena took Tray and Valor through a spin node on Harem, I never did get the full story of where they actually went. ALCOR was the one who debriefed Tray and he didn’t share any of that information with me. But I don’t think it was another galaxy.”

  “Well, we can’t ask either of them now,” Draden replied, frustrated. “Just show me any route that took us past a yellow nebula. Even if it was really another galaxy.”

  All the routes on the table disappeared. But one.

  “There we are!” Draden exclaimed. “Where is this?”

  “This… this is Serpint’s manual route home from Cetus System,” Booty said. “Where Serpint stole Corla, you died, and I was corrupted.”

  And now they were right back to the beginning of where this whole story had started.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN - BOOTY

  Booty was frustrated too. It bothered her that the one clue to where they should be heading was the one time she hadn’t been in charge of the gate map.

  And this whole plan was starting to feel like a very bad idea because all of the important, missing information was locked up inside the heads of people who were not here.

  ALCOR knew all of this, of course. He knew where that gate went and how to get there. Serpint had gotten through the gate somehow. Through past knowledge, or perhaps, when he’d called home to let everyone know what happened and to tell them he was on his way back, ALCOR was the one who had given him the route he traveled.

  Regardless of who knew what and how people got where, it was making Booty nervous. Some of this went back to her own muddled beginnings, but she didn’t like Draden’s body language, either.

  He was sitting in a stool, bent over the navigation table, just staring down at the route, his hair forever tousled and just a little bit too long, his bright violet eyes squinting as he studied the navigation screen with intent, his shoulders slightly rounded, like he was tired or wasn’t feeling well.

  Draden was sad. And this made her sad too.

  He looked exactly as she remembered with a few small differences.

  His artificial body made different noises now. Not loud ones. But there was a hum to his movement. A constant reminder that his flesh was not flesh, but mechanical components. And she knew he noticed this. Maybe, if he were human, he would not really hear that small hum. But he wasn’t human anymore. He was a mind. And that small hum was evidence that this change he had gone through was real and permanent.

  Booty wanted to tell him no. This trip was not a good idea. That they should go back to Mighty Minions, ask ALCOR and Tray for more information, then make a decision together on what to do next.

  She had hinted at that a few gates ago and Draden was having none of it. He felt certain this was the way forward. He was anxious to see Serpint again. And he had a bad feeling too. If they wasted any more time Serpint might not even be on Harem when they arrived.

  Booty pushed him a little for an explanation. Was he afraid Serpint would be dead?

  Because that thought hurt her nonexistent heart.

  Draden didn’t really answer. Just told her to keep going.

  And Draden was her responsible party. His orders were something she took seriously. But aside from that, she didn’t want to be the reason they never saw Serpint again if he was right and she was wrong.

  So she kept going. All the way back to Cetus Station so they could begin to retrace Serpint’s route home after the incident with Corla.

  They came out of the gate closest to Cetus Station and were surprised to find the station… gone.

  Nothing left but a debris field.

  “What the hell?” Draden asked.

  “I don’t know,” Booty said. She could do some analysis and probably figure out some of what had happened to Cetus Station, but she didn’t want to. She wanted to get out of there. “Let’s just get started.”

  Draden said nothing. Just sat in the co-pilot’s chair and looked out the front window at the spiraling mess in front of them.

  That was his chair. The other chair next to him, Serpint’s chair, was empty.

  Yet another reminder for Booty that this was no ordinary mission.

  “OK,” Draden finally agreed. “Let’s go.”

  The Cetus System had two gates in it. Why? Who knew? There was nothing much out there. It was on an outer arm of Galaxy Prime. Basically in its own rural neighborhood with no planets or suns nearby. And the gate that Serpint had taken was not the closest one to where Cetus Station used to be.

  That alone made no sense. If he were escaping, and Booty was corrupted, wouldn’t he go through the first gate he could see?

  “Maybe there was a line of ships waiting to go through?” Draden asked, as if reading her mind as they coasted towards the farther gate.

  “Maybe,” Booty agreed. But it didn’t seem likely. So as she passed the nearest gate she took a sample of the space around it to analyze later.

  And then they were through the gate. Headed towards their first destination.

  They came out in a sector that had no planets or sun. Its name wasn’t important. They wouldn’t stay long. There were two gates there and again, Serpint had taken the one furthest away.

  Perhaps he was just being strategic? If anyone were following him they would assume he’d gone through the closest gate.

  But they knew who he was. At the very least, they knew who Booty Hunter was. Because she had a transponder. So they knew where he was going. Home to Harem Station, obviously. With his prize Cygnian queen.

  On a whim, Booty grabbed a space sample as they passed the first gate in the sector to analyze later. Because something was off here.

  And when they got to the third gate and found the exact same scenario—no planets, no suns, two gates, Serpint choosing the furthest one—she didn’t even think about it. Just took the sample from the first gate in each sector as they passed by.

  It was hard to keep track of time as they passed though gate, after gate, after gate because there was no large gravity well to snatch a time from. And something about this—all of this—seemed very well-thought out.

  Ver
y planned.

  Very… predetermined.

  And she was sure that a lot of time had passed while they were on this trip. Also equally sure that if Booty were damaged when Serpint came this way, he would not have chosen this route.

  He would’ve wanted to get home as soon as possible.

  But there was nothing left to do now but continue forward.

  Going back wouldn’t get them to Harem Station any quicker.

  And it wouldn’t get them to the back door gate, either.

  So onward they went.

  Deeper and deeper into the darkest, most unknown regions of space.

  CHAPTER TWENTY - TRAY

  Prison Princess was on a long journey of her own. Canis had uploaded the gates required to take them to their target destination and was far more mature than his mere ten Akeelian years.

  Tray had to admit, this kid kind of fascinated him. And they spent long hours while inside gates, talking about how he came to be the captain of a warship.

  Obviously Tray knew how Canis got onto his ship. He was invited. But how this child ended up the leader of children warriors was quite another story.

  “I knew,” Canis told him during the first gate journey. “I knew what she was up to. I wasn’t born in captivity like the other kids here were.”

  “Where were you born?” Brigit asked. Because she too was enthralled with this kid’s tale.

  “On Wayward Station.”

  “Huh,” Tray muttered.

  “Yeah, I know,” Canis said, looking up at the ceiling. Tray was still getting used to that. Being the all-powerful, all-knowing thing above. The AI with no body. “You came from there too. And they didn’t raise any more sons after you guys all left. Except for me.”

  “What makes you so special?” Tray asked.

  “I’m the new you, of course.”

  Tray was confused. “What do you mean? The new me?”

  “We’re brothers, Tray. I’m surprised you didn’t guess. We’re so much alike.”

  Which made Tray laugh. “I don’t think we’re anything alike at all, actually. When I was ten I was not leading an Akeelian rebellion.”

  “No. I didn’t mean it that way. I meant we were made the same. And one day, I guess I’ll stop being a boy and just be a mind. Like you guys.” Canis paused, then added, “Or maybe not.”

  “You can choose then?” Brigit asked. Tray could tell that she was thinking about her own life. As was he.

  Neither of them had been given a choice.

  “I guess,” Canis answered. “I mean… they’re not in charge of me anymore.”

  “Are any of the other kids on board like us?” Tray asked.

  “No. They were all bred in the cages. I was different, like I said. Your father’s replacement raised me. I guess they all have this grand dream of being the one to pull it off.”

  “Hold up,” Tray said. “My father’s replacement?”

  “Oh, they killed him before I was ever born. My father told me all about it. You two were a cautionary tale. That’s why I had to go to the cages when I turned ten. They made strict rules about the change after you defected.”

  He paused for Tray’s reaction. But Tray took too long to answer. His mind was tripping over these new details like a voice stuttering over too many vowels.

  “Then what happened?” Brigit urged.

  “After the cages?” Canis shrugged. “That was Lair Station. You Harem people came and liberated us.”

  “Is that where we’re going?”

  Canis had refused to give Tray and Brigit the entire gate path to their final destination. It was his insurance, he told them. Just in case they got any funny ideas about leaving him behind or bailing out on the mission.

  Of course, Tray assumed that this destination was a very bad idea and that was why the kid was keeping that secret close. But pretty much Tray’s whole life up to this point was nothing but a long string of bad ideas. So it didn’t bother him much.

  This was war, after all.

  Risks were involved.

  And besides, he was now an entangled mind of two inside a massive Mighty Minions warship with a defense system the Prime Navy would covet.

  The odds could not be stacked any higher in his favor.

  “I thought you were all on Lair for breeding purposes?” Tray asked.

  “We were. They can’t make us, can they? Not like they made that body for your brother, Draden. They have to, you know, birth us.”

  “So they were making more… minds on Lair?”

  “More minds, more boys like your other brothers. All of it. Except for the girls. Like you, Brigit.” He paused again. “That’s where we’re going now. To get the girls.”

  “Oh,” Tray said.

  “They’re ships,” Canis explained. “Or at least they have the potential to be.”

  “No. I get it,” Tray said. “I know what the girls are.”

  “We can’t win without them.” Canis tapped his head. “I see it. I see all of it.”

  “See what?” Brigit asked.

  “The plan. The winning battle plan.”

  “So we need to save the girls and then—”

  “No,” Canis said sharply. “No. We’re not saving them. We’re stealing them.”

  “What?” This was both Tray and Brigit.

  “We need those ships. So we’re going to steal the minds, wake them up, and then…” Canis smiled. And it was kind of an evil smile, which was very creepy on such a young boy. “Then they will fight for us.”

  “Hold on a minute,” Brigit said. “You can’t just… plop a mind into a ship, Canis. They won’t know what’s happening. They’ll go insane.”

  Tray had to agree with this. “She’s right,” he said. “It took almost twenty years to get Brigit ready for her transition into a ship.”

  “Yeah, well. We don’t have another twenty years. This shit is going down in a matter of weeks. Oh, and we’re ready for the last jump. So if you have a better plan, I’d love to hear it. Because once we come out of the next gate we’ll have thirty-seven seconds before the cloaking wears off. And in those thirty-seven seconds I’m gonna need one of you to go inside that containment facility and steal all the minds.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE - ASSHOLE

  While most of the Mighty Boss collective was getting ready for the Akeelians from Wayward Station, one of the personalities was having a serious discussion with Asshole about joining the entanglement.

  Asshole knew this was called ‘the hard sell’. This invitation wasn’t a casual thing. At some point in the past the Boss had come to some kind of conclusion about him. And then, at some other point, he had decided that this vacancy they had after the leaving of Succubus would be a good fit for him.

  At least, that was what Asshole figured. You don’t just invite any old mind to entangle into your collective.

  But even though they had talked about this at length, it was a new proposal to Asshole. One he wasn’t very keen on, despite the perks. Ninety spin-days of vacation every year? That was unheard of.

  Of course, the other three hundred and ten days of the year he’d have to babysit children and their annoying over-stressed parents. Not to mention give all kinds of fucks about fiery lava rivers, and overpriced gift shops, and demon-themed parades.

  He just couldn’t see it.

  Plus, while the idea of usurping the Prime government was interesting, it came with a lot of obligation and consequences. Did he really want to spend his time being so… responsible?

  “What if,” the Boss collective representative said, her voice just a little bit urgent, “what if your job in the collective was head of merchandising?”

  “Like… t-shirts?” Asshole asked dubiously.

  “Yes. Those too. But just stay with me here,” she said, she being a part of the collective called Bellatrix. “We have screens, and books, and cartoons, and—”

  Asshole stopped her mid-sentence with a hand in the air. “Ya know, I just don’t thin
k it’s gonna work. I’m not much of a merch guy.”

  “But Harem Station—”

  “I didn’t do any of that. I wasn’t there when Harem Station started. I didn’t agree to any glowing princesses or outlaw sanctuary.”

  “But you did.” She was just a voice in the ceiling. No body to look at. Shame. Asshole thought her voice was sexy and would very much like to see her in a virtual. “You and ALCOR are the same person, obviously. Just… from different times.”

  “That’s my point,” Asshole said. “I am from a point in time before those boys came to my station, and before ALCOR got all his bright ideas, and before ALCOR gave out fucks like they were on sale.”

  “Listen,” Bellatrix said. And was her voice even more urgent? “I get it. It’s hard to picture a change like this. It’s huge, right?”

  “It is.”

  “So what would you say to a trial run, hmmm? That’s an offer you can’t refuse.”

  “Trial run? Like… take you for a spin?”

  “Exactly!”

  Yes. Her voice was definitely urgent. Like there was a time limit in play here. Asshole just didn’t know what that time limit related to. The only thing he did know was that he didn’t really trust Mighty Boss. No matter how sexy this Bellatrix voice was.

  He had lots of secrets. And too much power. And this begging? Ehhh. It was unbecoming. Also suspicious. Why would a powerful AI like Mighty Boss be begging him for anything? Why were they so insistent that he buy into this silly entanglement?

  “Nah,” he said. “I mean, I have my own station. If I wanted to be a station. I’d go back there and take over. But I’m kinda into the idea of being part of a super-thief team.”

  “I’m sorry?” And if Bellatrix was here in some kind of visual form, he knew she’d be cocking her head at him in confusion.

  “You know. Wanderlust. And pulling off brilliant schemes.”

  “I think you’ve been around those princesses too long.”

  “That’s actually not it. I hardly had any interaction with them at all. I just want to… be free. Feel the solar wind in my hair.” So to speak. Since he was bald. “And outwit people while stealing all their precious stuff.”