Frrar

by Layla Nash

  “Just wait,” Frrar muttered. “Just wait until it happens to you. Sneaks up on you until you don’t know how it happened.”

  The doctor snorted and rolled his eyes. “I’d rather wake up with a sandsnake in my bed. They’d be more trustworthy than a female.”

  Frrar ignored him and instead focused on eating. He’d be ready the next time he confronted his brother. And Frrar would tear through that whole hospital to find Maisy and his nephew, and would fight the entire Alliance to get them to safety. They couldn’t get to Centauri fast enough.

  Chapter 31

  Maisy

  Maisy worked on getting Faryl ready to transport. His eyes opened briefly when she held him, and the little boy smiled and drifted back into unconsciousness. Her heart cracked and she whispered, “I’ll save you, little one. Rest easily. It will all be fine in just a little while.”

  She might have imagined it, but it felt like he squeezed her fingers with his. Maisy secured all the equipment just as the doors opened and Faros reappeared. “We are approaching the hospital. We expect some resistance upon our arrival, but we have a sister ship which will help us manage the... challenges. Stay with Faryl in the cargo bay; Nokx and Wyzak will guard you and bring you into the hospital. Tell them where you need to go.”

  Maisy barely had time to nod her understanding before the two other Xaravians lumbered into the room and activated the hover-stretcher where Faryl lay. She followed at a half-jog through the silent corridors to the cargo bay where the rest of the crew gathered. Her heart pounded against her ribs as she lingered behind Nokx, wanting to use his broad back for protection.

  Wyzak, the second-in-command, handed her a lightweight jacket and grunted, “This will protect you. Put it on and do not take it off.”

  She wanted to lecture him about his manners, and that a kind word or a “please” would get him a lot further in life, but she didn’t want to irritate the warriors who were supposed to keep her safe as they ran into Newton only knew what at the hospital. Maisy didn’t remember any of the Alliance hospitals having guards or any defensive systems, but from the way the ship dodged and moved, it felt like they were in some kind of battle. The Sraibur shuddered and shook, and she staggered. Nokx steadied her without looking, his attention still on the port through which they would all exit.

  Maisy struggled into the jacket as she balanced against the rocking and pitching of the ship, then everything steadied as she secured the fastenings. Every inch of her trembled. She wasn’t brave. She really wasn’t. Running after her friends to help them or giving orders as she tried to save lives were completely different scenarios. This headlong running into danger struck her as completely, unbelievably crazy.

  The ship cruised smoothly and then stopped with a jolt; two alarms sounded, high and low, and the junior engineer shouted something in Xaravian. Faros appeared at her elbow and seized Maisy’s arm, making her jump. The captain kept his attention on the slowly-opening bay doors. “You will remain with me, understood?”

  She nodded, her mouth too dry to argue or answer with even one word.

  The pirate glanced at her and something in his expression softened. His head bent and his voice reached her through the clanking of the doors and the noise from the hospital as people shouted and alarms rang out. “We do this all the time, and we are very good at it. You have nothing to fear. Just…don’t do anything stupid.”

  Maisy clenched her jaw and nodded, though the thought of the small pack of knockout stunners inside the larger medical bag she carried reassured her more than words ever could.

  The crew poured out of the ship and dispersed into a hospital facility in complete chaos. Whoever had been trying to fight the Sraibur had either been defeated or driven off, because no one opposed their progress into the hospital. Employees of all races and origins fled until the halls were largely deserted, although occasionally brave nurses and doctors remained with their patients.

  Faros, Wyzak, and Nokx dragged the stretcher and Maisy into the main hospital, and Faros stood her in front of a terminal in the lobby. “Where are we going?”

  Her hands shook as she manipulated the screen, searching for the experimental lab that should have been near the top floor. A frown compressed her eyebrows as she kept searching and half the records and information she needed looked corrupted. Maisy moved faster, not liking the grim presence of the Xaravians behind her and the soft rasp of Faryl’s painful breath. “It looks like they tried to wipe data from the system. I think it’s—the top floor, east wing. Near the exhaust and ventilation rooms.”

  “Good.” Faros jerked his chin at the way ahead and scanned each adjacent hall as they moved, his stunner ready in case a threat appeared.

  Maisy kept a hand on Faryl’s stretcher, worried that the boy had been away from the life supporter and system preserver for so long. He still breathed and occasionally moved, but he didn’t have much time. They reached the top floor and searched for the lab; Faros had to blast doors open with his stunner when everything remained locked, which meant a delay in finally locating the space she needed.

  She exhaled in relief when she saw the experimental lab, filled with monitors and screens and advanced equipment that existed nowhere else outside of Alliance medical labs. Maisy pointed at the long table in the center of the room. “Put him there, please.”

  Maybe her manners would rub off on the pirates.

  Rather than ponder that, she went to the screens and inputted Faryl’s symptoms, beginning the search before going back to hook Faryl up to the various machines. The Xaravians stood back to watch, then Nokx stepped back. “I’ll help the rest of the crew with the... restocking.”

  Faros nodded but Maisy gave the pirates a sharp look. “Restocking?”

  “The ship is low on supplies,” the captain said without expression. “Focus on your work. We’ve got less than an hour.”

  She wondered how he knew that, unless they were already tracking a threat. Maisy made sure the connections to Faryl were solid before returning to the screens. She worked as fast as possible, eliminating the diseases she’d already tested for, and searching for the unique, the strange, the deadly. Anything that she couldn’t test for on the ship or in a generic lab.

  The machines and equipment around Faryl whirred and scanned, searching for more data points, and took tissue samples and blood tests and every other sort of test she could think of.

  Faros grew agitated as his boy remained still and silent. “What’s taking so long? I thought you said you could fix this.”

  “I have to find out what it is first,” Maisy said under her breath. “I can’t fix what I don’t understand.”

  He growled and paced, eyes on his son, and even Wyzak retreated to avoid the captain’s tense anger.

  Maisy concentrated on the diagnostics, narrowing down the possible causes of Faryl’s malady to a parasite. Not a disease or genetic disorder or virus, but a parasite. The communicators the pirates wore started sounding alerts and Wyzak disappeared from the room. Maisy kept working, not looking up. “What’s going on?”

  “Ships are approaching.”

  For a second, hope soared in her heart. Maybe the Galaxos was arriving. Maybe the rebels heard about what Faros planned and moved to intercept them before the trade could happen. “What kind of ships?”

  “Alliance,” he said without inflection. “You’ve got twenty minutes, probably less.”

  Her throat closed in panic. “What are you talking about? It hasn’t been an hour.”

  “They’re early. I can’t control that.”

  She stared at him. “You already arranged the trade with the Alliance? Why would you tell them to come here? What if…what if I save him and the Alliance steals the weapons from you anyway?”

  Faros’s expression didn’t change. “We’ll fight that battle when it’s in front of us. Fix him, Maisy. Fast.”

  Maisy’s heart sank and she debated just stunning him and getting the hell out of there with Faryl. But she was so
close... She gritted her teeth and ran one more test, taking fluid from the boy’s spine to make sure. The treatment for that particular parasite would kill him if she wasn’t right.

  But the lights turned green and she could finally breathe. It was definitely the parasite. “It’s not a disease.”

  Faros tensed. “What is it?”

  “A parasite from the water on the Yu’an planet in the Por’tuan star field. The mother is usually exposed and passes it to the child.”

  The color drained from him until Faros’s scales were pale gray-green. “The mother carries it?”

  “Yes.” Maisy moved quickly to adjust the machines attached to Faryl, then began to dispense the treatment. “It’s rare but she must have been exposed.”

  “I took her there,” Faros said softly. His gaze went far away. “As a gift when she said she was pregnant. It was to celebrate our mating and the child and... the future. I took her there because I wanted to see it. This is…my fault.”

  “You didn’t cram the parasite through her scales,” Maisy said. Her irritation got the better of her as she snapped at him, completely running out of sympathy for the pirate’s mood. “Now call your pals and tell them to get rid of the Alliance ships.”

  “How long for the cure to work?”

  Maisy kept her attention on Faryl, hoping to see signs of improvement immediately. “I don’t know. It has to kill the parasites and expel them from his body, then process the junk they left behind. It could take hours. Once he gets the full dose, we can leave and I’ll monitor him on the ship.”

  Faros used his communicator to call to his men, and a flurry of Xaravian words filled the room. Maisy held her breath as the antidote to the parasite infestation drained into Faryl’s tiny body. She prayed it worked quickly and she wouldn’t be spotted by the Alliance agents that were no doubt already in the hospital.

  Two pirate ships wouldn’t be able to hold off a Fleet destroyer, or even a couple of smaller Fleet ships. More would be on the way, no doubt, as soon as they learned what the Sraibur carried. Or that she was in the hospital, since Maisy had a major bounty on her head for the role they’d all played in killing the captain who’d sold them to the Xaravians. She clenched her jaw.

  And Maisy had called the Galaxos to help, which would bring the entire crew and all of her friends—all of them declared traitors and criminals—right into the Alliance’s clutches. She squeezed her eyes shut and hoped for the first time that the Galaxos wouldn’t show up to rescue her.

  Chapter 32

  Frrar

  The Galaxos approached from the opposite side of the hospital from where the Sraibur and another ship had docked. A dozen other rebel ships patrolled the area to keep an eye out for more pirates and to prevent the Sraibur from flying off with the weapons. Frrar clenched his jaw as he stood on the bridge next to Vaant, scowling at the viewing screen that showed their approach to the hospital. Maisy was in there somewhere, in danger. Possibly scared. Working hard to save herself and his nephew.

  The second pirate ship hovered and tried to engage the Galaxos, firing its weapons with enough power that it might have disabled the ship if Vaant hadn’t expected something like that and engaged the shields. The communicators buzzed and chirped as another rebel ship swooped down to intervene and chase off the pirates, leaving the Sraibur alone.

  When they found a place to dock, Frrar headed for the loading bay without a second thought. He’d find Maisy. That was his only priority. That and kill his brother if he could find the coward. Vrix also waited in the loading bay as one of the junior engineers engaged the hook and ramp so they could de-board the ship and start looking for Maisy.

  The security chief reached out to catch his shoulder. “I’ll go with you.”

  “I can handle—”

  “I’m going with you,” Vrix repeated with more force. “I won’t get between you and your brother, or you and your mate.”

  Frrar’s eyes narrowed as he looked at his friend. “Then why?”

  “Because the captain ordered it.” Vrix looked about ready to growl more but stilled when a cheerful voice invaded the grim room.

  “He means because he can’t stay away from an opportunity to kick someone’s ass.” Cecily Griggs, the Earther security chief, sauntered in the bay wearing her uniform and armor, and carrying enough weapons for a full arsenal. “Isn’t that right, baby?”

  Vrix’s expression darkened. “I told you to stay—”

  “You tell me all kinds of things that I ignore.” Griggs patted his shoulder but looked at Frrar. “And Maisy is somewhere in that hospital, and I’ll be damned if you all get to go charging after her and leave us behind.”

  “Us?” Vrix said.

  He groaned as Jess Barnes, the mysterious Earther with the checkered past, appeared. Trazzak, her mate, was nowhere to be seen. Frrar folded his arms over his chest, not liking the idea of having more Earthers to look after in the middle of all the chaos the pirates had no doubt unleashed on the hospital. “We aren’t going to be there long. We just need to—”

  “Then there’s no reason for us to stay behind,” Barnes said evenly. “Is there?”

  “Where’s your mate?” Vrix demanded.

  The Earther’s face turned dark and very, very cold. “I beg your fucking pardon?”

  Frrar didn’t want to be there for the end of that argument, particularly as Griggs folded her arms over her chest and tapped her boot in agitation, and so as soon as the doors opened wide enough for the ramp to deploy, he split. He brought a locator with him, in case they needed to use the transporter, but he couldn’t waste another second listening to the others argue.

  Someone shouted at him in Earther but Frrar didn’t slow. He dodged a pirate lookout and stunned the warrior, sprinting to avoid a few others who attempted to re-board the Sraibur with boxes and pallets of supplies. Frrar’s boots slid on the smooth floor inside the hotel lobby and each floor he hit as he climbed stairs and searched for Maisy. He could follow her scent, the intoxicating aroma of her hair and soap, and managed to reach the top floor before pure instinct took over. He felt her there.

  His communicator beeped and then Vaant snapped, “Alliance ships are incoming. Get out of there immediately.”

  “Not yet,” he said. “Not without Maisy.”

  He disabled the communicator so the captain wouldn’t order him back, and shouldered aside the door that separated him from Maisy’s voice. He surprised them all in the middle of a fancy lab filled with machines he didn’t understand but would have loved to take apart. Faros looked at him and started to speak, raising his arm, and Frrar fired a stunner at him without hesitating.

  It was only after Faros dropped to the ground that Frrar realized his brother hadn’t been raising a weapon at him. He felt zero remorse. “We have to leave. Alliance ships are here, and—”

  He froze when he saw Maisy’s face—she clapped her hands over her mouth and her eyes turned into huge moons as she looked at him. Tears tracked down her cheeks and over her hands. His hearts beat unevenly, out of sync, as he wondered what had upset her. Surely she didn’t care that he’d shot his brother? “What’s wrong?”

  “I thought you were dead,” she whispered, and launched across the room to throw her arms around his neck. “I thought I’d lost you.”

  Frrar growled and held her tight to his chest, closing his eyes as he buried his face in her hair. “I couldn’t leave you behind.”

  She felt so soft and delicate in his arms, even more so than before. He took a deep breath and managed to release her. “We can’t wait. We need to get out of here.”

  Maisy nodded and wiped at her cheeks, starting to unhook Faryl from all the machines. “Yes. The Alliance is almost here, and they’re expecting the weapons—but he wasn’t going to hand them over, Frrar. He wasn’t. I saved Faryl. He’s going to be fine. We have to get the Alliance away from the Sraibur.”

  “We have a plan,” Frrar said. He went to the door and peered out to make sure no Allian
ce agents had appeared to threaten them. “The Galaxos is here, and—”

  “Don’t leave Faros,” she said quietly.

  Frrar looked back at her. “You’re kidding.”

  “No,” Maisy said. “He’s your brother and you shouldn’t leave him. He didn’t know a lot of things, and he already feels guilty for what happened with Saeva, and with Faryl.”

  Frrar wondered if she’d lost her mind in the day or so since he’d been ejected into space. “He tried to kill me.”

  “Then at least bring him back so he has to stand trial,” she said. Her exasperation turned her face red, and he had a hard time not finding it adorable and endearing. Even with danger closing in on them from all directions, he still wanted to kiss her. “Don’t you want to see him end up in jail?”

  Frrar grumbled but went to grab the back of Faros’s uniform so he could drag the son of a bitch into the hall, while Maisy followed with Faryl on the stretcher and a pile of medications and tubes and bags of various things. He finally threw Faros over his shoulder to make maneuvering through doors and down stairs easier, staying ahead of Maisy and the floating stretcher to clear the danger, and growled his irritation at his brother. He managed to turn his communicator back on and called out to his crewmates, “I’ve got them. Get everyone back on the ship.”

  “We’re a little busy,” Trazzak sent back. “Fighting off the Alliance and all.”

  Frrar’s eyes narrowed as he paused to peer out a window in the hospital to the battle happening far overhead. So the Alliance arrived, just in time to really fuck things up for everyone else. Maisy leaned into him so she could look out the window as well, and inhaled a soft breath. “Oh no. Are we trapped?”