by Неизвестный
“They may be farmers, but they aren’t stupid.”
All three of them were inconspicuously decked in their big, bad mercenary outfits. They wanted whoever was behind the hunt for them to come looking...and find them. Absently, Alana patted the small box tucked into her breast pocket, behind a vicious-looking knife. It was a small, state-of-the-art emitter. It broadcasted their location to Bellian, and if she knew her cousin, some other things as well, but she wasn’t willing to ask too many questions. The important thing was that Bellian, and the whole slew of Andraxi hunters, would be there when she called. Alana always operated under one rule, never refuse backup.
“Not all of them are farmers,” Kalien said, the movement of his head indicating the people in front of them. Alana acknowledged it. There were members of at least three species around, not including Andraxi, and neither of those species needed more wheat. More than likely, they were here to spy for their respective governments.
“Times are changing for Celestra,” she muttered.
Damian exited the booth, looking pissed. Both of them inched closer to him. “Well?” Kalien asked.
Damian shrugged, his green gaze surveying their surroundings.
“I put the call through. Apparently, they have been waiting for us. They said they will be here shortly.”
“They want the information.”
“We are late,” Damian explained. “They were worried.”
“What are the chances that whoever is meeting us wanted us gone?”
Damian shrugged, starting toward the half-empty café on their left side. They fell into step with him.
“Fifty-fifty, I would say. We will have to wait and see.”
He snatched the water bottle from Alana and took a long swig. She watched his throat as he drank and nudged Kalien. “You do know that he is on the verge of slipping into battle rage?”
“Hmm?” Kalien barely spared a glance for their lover. “More fun, then.”
Alana choked. Kalien had a one-track mind.
“There you are!” called an unfamiliar voice behind them. They swiftly turned to face it, both Alana and Kalien reaching for their weapons and Damian dropping the bottle. The owner of the voice, a middle-aged man dressed in official-looking robe, blinked at them. His two attendants backed away immediately, all color draining from their faces. Damian’s eyes narrowed. They stared at each other in one long, tension-filled moment.
Then Kalien said, “Undersecretary Corvin, from Celestra Ministry?”
“Well, yes. You called me.” Corvin cleared his throat, his gaze glued to the shiny knife Alana held in front of her. He raised one eyebrow. “I take it it was a long and fun-filled trip?”
Kalien laughed, dispelling the tension. Alana and Damian relaxed, both abandoning their battle stances.
Kalien stepped forward, offering Corvin his hand. “You will have to forgive us. As you said, it was a long trip. My associates are understandably nervous.”
Corvin snorted. “Quite understandably. Shall we move somewhere more private? My government frowns on its business becoming a free show.”
“Not to mention that any minute now, security is going to come to try and drag us away,” Kalien agreed. “However, let’s not choose a too-private place.”
Corvin nodded. “Of course. May I suggest that charming café across from us?”
Alana didn’t have to look to know what he was talking about. It was nestled along a public walkway and probably offered cheap food and even cheaper drink. It opened straight off the walkway, being no more than a row of replicators surrounded with tables and chairs.
“That’s acceptable.” Damian must have come to the same conclusion as she did.
They selected a table off at one end of the café, closest to the wall. Corvin and one of his people sat with them. Alana perched herself on a nearby table, somewhat behind Kalien, who was sitting across from Damian. She scowled at a curious passerby. He blanched, scurrying away.
“You have it, I assume?” Corvin went straight to business. Damian nodded, sliding the still-sealed tube toward him. Corvin sighed in obvious relief. “Thank the gods. Amiree.” He signaled to his other companion. “Call in Varais and tell him we have got it.”
Amiree nodded and pulled out a small gadget, presumably some kind of communications device. Alana surreptitiously glanced at it, wondering if that was all Amiree was going to be doing.
Damian’s hand curled around his wrist. “If you don’t mind,” he said, “our payment first.”
Startled, Corvin quickly gathered himself. “Of course. I didn’t forget, and you did your part. I have to confess, when you were late, we started to worry.”
“Naturally,” Kalien agreed, smoothly picking up the conversation. “You may transfer it to our account here at the station. Our ship will need some repairs before we are able to depart.”
“Rough journey, then? You may have figured out this is a sensitive piece of information. We asked that guy—what was his name—Dis to find the best team he could find. He assured us it would be done. He charged us for that, too.”
Damian’s shoulders twitched.
“Dis knew his business. It’s a shame about him,” Kalien commented casually.
“Shame?” Corvin asked.
“Oh, yes. I heard he had an…accident recently,” Kalien continued with a perfectly straight face.
Alana yawned, covering her mouth with her hand.
“Interesting assortment of visitors you have here. I think we met some of their friends on the way here,” she commented, looking over the long hallway.
Corvin snorted. “No kidding. We have something they want. You may have gotten that much already.” He shook his head. “All kind of unsavory types, and you will appreciate what I am saying when I tell you that our best bet out of the bunch of them may be Andraxi. Never thought I would say that, too.”
“Oh, yes. They can be...interesting,” Alana agreed. She leaned forward, catching Kalien’s gaze. Corvin still seemed blissfully unaware of the danger. His companion, though, started to fidget.
“Stop there! Murderers!”
The shout echoed down the hallway. Alana heard a shriek, punctuated with the sound of blazing fire. They were ready, though. She tackled Amiree and brought them both down, out of the way of shots. Glancing up, she saw that Damian and Kalien were doing the same. Kalien had kicked the table and put it between themselves and their attackers. She saw Kalien leaning over the nervous little Celestrian. He looked grim. His knife flashed. Oh well. The guy probably wasn’t in much danger, but it was better to get him out of the way immediately. She cursed and tugged Amiree. The girl was tense but grasped the situation quickly. She wasn’t much of a problem to drag forward. They crawled over to the rest of them.
“This is station security! Give yourself up, and you will live!”
“I know someone who would not, though,” Kalien muttered, popping over their improvised shield to return fire.
“Undersecretary, are you all right?”
Corvin was purple in the face. “They are trying to kill me, too!” he sputtered indignantly.
Alana raised her eyebrows. “Probably. They are trying to arrest us for murder, so someone other than us has to be dead.”
For a government official, Corvin could curse very well. He looked with distaste on the body of his fallen comrade. “They were waiting for you to show up.” Then he brightened. “Amiree, did you contact our friend?”
“I did, Undersecretary.”
“That’s good. He shall be able to get to the bottom of this, even if we end up dead.”
“If it’s all the same, I would prefer we don’t,” Kalien commented. “Damn it! They are too far away for me to get either of them.”
The lights above them blinked, went down, then came back, muted.
“Emergency light,” Alana muttered. “That should make things interesting.” Thanks to her Andraxi DNA, she could see better in the dark than the average human. Not as good as Damian,
though. She reached to grab his arm. “No. We are not going to kill them. We need to find out who is giving them orders, and that will be easier if they are alive.”
Damian growled in displeasure. She squeezed harder. He subsided, though unwillingly.
“Are you going to surrender?” The shout had almost, but not completely, masked the sound of running footsteps. Both Damian and Alana turned their heads to the left.
“I heard,” Damian whispered, “three of them.”
Alana nodded then unclipped her gun from her belt and poked Corvin with it.
“Take it.”
He looked shocked. “What…oh. Aren’t you going to need it?”
Alana grinned, feral. “Not for this, I am not.”
She went up on all fours and flattened herself against the wall, melting into the shadows. Damian was a breath away. She could feel his heat, but she couldn’t hear him. Adrenaline rushed through her veins, all her senses honing onto approaching intruders.
“Wh…” When the first one went down, his blaster fired, illuminating his body against the gray metal of the station. From the corner of her eye, Alana saw Damian lunging at the second one. That left only one for her. She jumped, hurling her whole weight on him. He tensed, landing with a thud. Alana growled, quickly relieving him of his weapons. His eyes widened as he saw her fangs. Grinning, she hit him with enough force to render him unconscious. She smiled nastily before hitting him with enough force to send him into unconsciousness. He went limp under her. A shadow formed before her. Gripping the fallen soldier’s rifle, she aimed it at the new danger. And lowered it again.
“That was very good, cousin.”
Bellian was grinning at her. Alana snorted, accepting his help. Looking around, she saw more Andraxi wearing purple ribbons on their forearms, rounding the rest of the soldiers and babbling at bystanders.
“Perfect timing,” she answered, moving out of the way of two guys, probably medics, with a hovering stretcher in tow. They loaded her victim, avoiding her gaze.
Kalien was helping the undersecretary stand up. Corvin looked mightily annoyed, but otherwise, no worse for wear.
“Ma’am, if I can have that?”
Alana started then stared at the Corelean standing next to her shoulder. He coughed then looked at the rifle still in her hands.
“Oh. Right.” She handed it over then frowned. “What? The rest of it is mine.”
He looked unconvinced but, as the undersecretary was bearing down at them, decided not to quibble.
“Have you got what you needed, Bellian?” Kalien asked, looking relaxed and unconcerned. He was offering Amiree a hand, and the girl didn’t look hurt enough to justify it. He grinned cheekily at Alana’s narrowed gaze. She relaxed, noticing he swept over both her and Damian with his gaze, probably to assure himself they were unharmed. Damian looked displeased, but not with Kalien. Probably with Bellian, then, for cutting his fun short.
“Consular Bellian,” Corvin said, addressing them. “Timely intervention, I have to admit.”
Bellian bowed. “We are pleased to be of service,” he said, keeping his face neutral.
Corvin huffed. “I suppose that you will use this to enforce the fact that we will need your help in the future, too.”
Bellian looked pointedly at the soldiers in uniform of the Station security that his men were restraining, then at an empty space behind Corvin’s shoulders.
“Yes, yes. I know.” Corvin sighed. “May I ask for the transport down the planet, then? My superiors are anxiously awaiting my report.”
“Of course,” Bellian agreed. He signaled to his men then stepped away.
Corvin nodded to them. “My thanks for your help, then,” he said.
“It was no trouble,” Kalien said smoothly. The diplomat nodded then departed, surrounded by Andraxi.
* * * *
Waving at Amiree, he didn’t miss Alana’s jealous stare. After all, Kalien was turned to his partners. He had to grin at the way they looked. He was a man, she was a woman, a redhead and a blonde, a whatever it was Damian was and a half-Andraxi. Dangerous, both of them. And of course, utterly delicious. He finally had them both where he wanted them, in his bed. Or almost there, he amended. He could work on that.
He patted them both on the back, grinning at their startled expressions.
“We better go back to the Red Star, in case someone from security sees us and thinks we slipped from their hands and we shouldn’t have done so,” he offered innocently.
“Probably a smart idea,” Alana agreed, heading in the direction of the landing bay. She twisted her fingers into Damian’s belt. Kalien snorted. They liked each other, despite all pains they went to make him believe otherwise.
Kalien followed them at some distance.
“Kalien? What’s taking you so long?”
He twitched at the impatience in Damian’s voice and picked up his step.
“Nothing. Just enjoying the view, really.”
Damian growled.
“You can look at the space from our ship. Come on.”
Kalien sighed and did as he was told.
“I don’t think it was what he was looking at, Damian.”
He paused.
“Oh.”
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sunny Day’s main preoccupation in life is reading and/or writing books, though she much prefers reading what someone else wrote. She is thirty something, single, and can usually be found attached to her laptop. Her only form of exercise is bouncing up and down when whatever story she is working on shapes well. She hopes readers will enjoy this one.
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
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