by E. A. James
Officer Ashford laughed and turned to lead the group deeper into the small station. “I can see that you’re surprised by my openness, Captain Winter,” he began.
“It’s not what I expected, that’s for sure.”
“Well, I didn’t expect to see your face pop up on the bounty list or your description to come over the Alliance news feed,” Officer Ashford replied.
“It’s true that we’re on the run,” Kira said, knowing it was useless to try to hide the nature of their visit. “But, I assure you that it’s for unjust reasons. We did nothing to deserve the fugitive status that Grimm placed on us.”
Officer Ashford let out an amused grunt. “I assumed as much.”
“We understand if you don’t want us here,” Kira said. “It puts you in a difficult situation, I know.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he replied. “It’s been years since anything exciting has happened in my life. Harboring fugitives seems like a good way to spice things up a bit.”
“If you keep this one around,” Bron said patting Kira on the shoulder, “you’ll definitely run the risk of things getting too spicy.”
Officer Ashford laughed out loud, stopping as they approached the station’s common area. “Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“Because you’re the one that trained me,” Kira replied. “I learned from the best.”
“Flattery,” Officer Ashford observed. “Is that how you made it through my courses so easily?”
Kira rolled her eyes. “There was no easy way through your courses.”
“As sweet as this little reunion is,” Bron said, crossing his arms over his chest, “we really need to get the ship repaired and be on our way as soon as possible.”
“Right,” Officer Ashford said. “Who is the engineer? The repair bay is this way.”
Alaria, Bron, and Vinnie all stepped forward. Officer Ashford led them away, explaining that his supplies were limited, but they were welcome to use whatever they could find. Kira, Thor, and Dario remained in the common area.
“Your Field Training Officer? He was your Field Training Officer?” Thor asked, walking across the room, heading in the direction of a collection of mismatched chairs located in the far corner.
“He seems pleasant,” Dario noted, following behind Thor.
“He is,” Kira insisted. “He’s not going to report us, Thor.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m positive,” she insisted.
“How can you be so certain?” Thor continued.
“Because, as I implied before, I believe Kira is innocent,” Officer Ashford said, re-entering the room.
“Wow, this station is small,” Kira muttered, spinning around quickly to face him.
“Ever since I heard that there was a bounty placed on her head, I knew something more was going on. I spoke to Artanis not that long ago, and he shared my feelings, only solidifying that my instinct was likely correct.”
“Have you spoken to Artanis since the coup?” Kira asked.
"He radioed me to tell me that he had spoken to you and that you were back in Earth Orbit. He explained, briefly, your situation, but he wasn't able to fill me in too much, given that our communication needed to be coded for your security."
The older man crossed the room, lowering himself down slowly into one of the chairs. He settled in comfortably as if he had known them all for years and was simply catching up with old friends.
“I didn’t know you and Artanis were close,” Kira said once Officer Ashford was settled.
“Our fields of work may be different,” Officer Ashford agreed, “but we had one very important thing in common.”
“What’s that?” Kira, Thor, and Dario asked in unison.
“Our distrust of Grimm.” Again, Ashford’s bluntness surprised Kira. “As a Special Forces Commander, he was far too bold for my taste. And then when he got promoted, I knew that it wouldn’t be long before it all went to his head.”
“It seems like Grimm has a lot of enemies,” Thor noted.
“He has even more friends, unfortunately,” Officer Ashford replied. “Although his personality may be strong and off-putting to some, many flock to him for his zeal and determination. Those qualities can be very good or very bad, depending on who possesses them and what motivates that person to employ them.”
Kira nodded in silent agreement. Grimm was a great leader, filling his troops with an amazing sense of duty and responsibility. She herself had gotten caught up in it, once. She wanted to be like him, to share his zest. But, she always knew something about him was damaged. There was something about him that teetered between sincere and sinister. She had never allowed herself to accept that, though, until recently.
“His solemnness gives him an aura of wisdom and security,” Ashford continued. “And these days, that’s all anyone really wants. Someone to tell them what to do, and to do so in a way that assures that they’re doing so in everyone’s best interest.”
“But, what he’s doing isn’t in everyone’s best interest,” Thor countered. “His experiments, his motivations…”
“What are his motivations?” Ashford asked, eyeing Thor carefully. “I only know you by name, former Commander Rockhold. So, you’ll forgive me if I doubt your full understanding of the situation.”
Thor’s eyes went wide and his hands balled into fists. “He wants to take over the Alliance for himself, he wants to make Terrans the supreme galactic race.”
“He believes Terrans to be the supreme race,” Dario agreed.
“You’re still not telling me of his motivations,” Ashford replied calmly. “You’re only telling me what he wants. What brought on his desires? Why did he choose to take such drastic measures? What motivates him?”
The room seemed to fill with a palpable tension, all pouring out of Thor’s rigid posture and piercing eyes. “I don’t need to know his motivations, I know firsthand that man in nothing but pure evil,” Thor replied between gritted teeth.
"Do you think he was always pure evil?" Ashford asked, not backing down from Thor's aggressive tone.
“Does it matter?” Thor asked, his hands clenching into fists at his side.
“Probably not,” Ashford conceded. “The truth is, Grimm needs to be stopped, at all costs. But, perhaps finding the root of the problem will help to tear it out before it can spread.”
“It already is spreading! Right now, as we speak, he’s building his army, crafting it, manufacturing it—creating his own means to destroy those who oppose him!”
Thor’s words were dripping with hate and rage. He was unable to separate his own experiences with Grimm from the situation they were in. Kira didn’t blame him. It was what Grimm did to him, what he was doing to others, that made him such a huge threat. She knew that. She agreed with him. But, on some level, she agreed with Ashford, as well.
“But, will these cyborg soldiers stop what they’re doing, simply because their leader is gone? Or will they turn him into a martyr? Will they remain loyal to him, even after he’s dead?” Ashford asked calmly.
"Well," Kira spoke before Thor could retaliate. "This has been quite the blood-pumping conversation, hasn't it?"
Everyone turned to look at her. Her cheeks flushed as she tried to think of something, anything to say to keep the conversation from becoming heated again.
“Who else needs some fresh air?” she continued. “Too bad there’s none of that around, huh?”
Her weak attempts to lighten the mood were clearly failing her. No one spoke. “Would you mind, Officer Ashford, if Thor and I explored your station a little? I would really like to stretch my legs, and well, I’m just being honest, I don’t want to leave you two alone, so…”
“By all means,” Officer Ashford replied.
Thor sighed as he pushed himself up. It was clear that he wasn’t a fan of conceding in any sort of confrontation, but she knew that the argument they were having would lead to nothing more than hostility. And, the last thing she wante
d, was to be hostile toward one of the few remaining people they knew they could trust.
Thor followed her out of the common area and down a long, metallic hallway. Their footsteps echoed around them, filling the awkward silence that she couldn’t help but feel guilty for creating.
They walked along, engaging in meaningless small talk for what felt like an eternity. They explored the entire station, wandering from the small hall filled with sleeping quarters to the dining hall, to the kitchen, to the control room, then back.
Finally, when she felt that the argument was far enough behind them that Thor wasn’t too emotionally attached to it to hear her, she decided to bring up Ashford’s point again. She considered bringing up what Thor had said as well, about the experiments, but decided against it. That would only get him worked up again. It was clearly still a sore subject and one he almost never wanted to talk about.
“He has a point,” she said as they walked back down the short hall lined with doors leading to unoccupied sleeping quarters “Figuring out Grimm’s motivation could be the key to stopping him.”
“Killing him is the key to stopping him,” Thor replied with a grunt.
“That too,” Kira said, stopping and turning to face him. “But, if he’s successful in creating a revolution, in spreading an idea, killing him may not be enough to wipe that out.”
“And how are we supposed to figure out what the hell Grimm’s thinking? He’s beyond reason, Kira. You heard what Dario told us before. The man has completely lost it.”
“It’s just something we can keep in mind,” she said with a shrug.
Thor leaned back against the metallic wall and sighed. “You were smart to think of coming here,” he admitted. “It does seem like Officer Ashford really respects you.”
“You’re surprised?” Kira asked, feigning shock.
“Only slightly,” Thor said, reaching out and wrapping his hands around her hips, pulling her toward him. “I’ve always known you were someone to demand respect. I just never realized that you had gotten it from so many high-ranking individuals. You obviously impressed these people enough that they were concerned about you. Artanis and Ashford both.”
“Impressed, tormented, it’s all the same really,” Kira replied, giving into his gentle pull.
“Tormented?”
“Now I know you’re not surprised.”
“Not in the least,” he replied, lowering his face to hers slowly.
She pushed herself up onto her tiptoes, letting herself become lost temporarily in the moment, the way she so often did whenever they were alone together. He had a way of making her forget everything else going on around them. There was a part of her that wished so badly that things could be simple, and that they could just return to Earth and begin a real relationship together. But, at the same time, she knew that their relationship functioned perfectly in the environment they found themselves in. They were both seemingly at their best when they were running from danger and fighting off enemies. They were both most at ease when the pressure of external forces pushed them to their limits, forcing them to trust their instincts.
They both lived for the adventure they had stumbled on together.
Just as her lips met his, her eyes drifted shut and her heart started to race. He tightened his hold on her waist, pulling her closer into him, pulling her body against his.
She didn’t hear Alaria approach. She did, however, hear the unmistakable giggle float down the hall, bouncing off the metal walls as it startled both of them apart.
Kira, embarrassed and flustered, turned to face Alaria.
“This was, I mean, we were, I mean…” Kira stuttered.
“Calm down,” Alaria said as she bounced down the hall in their direction. “We all know about you two already.”
“You do?”
“I told you,” Thor said, nudging her in the back.
“It’s so obvious,” Alaria continued. “You two are too cute together to not be a couple.”
Kira’s face flushed bright red. She lifted her hands to her cheeks, trying to hide her discomfort. Thor chuckled weakly as he watched her react in her typical awkward fashion to her more vulnerable emotions.
“Can we just not talk about this right now?” Kira asked, glaring up at him.
His expression fell from a half-smile to a complete scowl quickly. She knew he was frustrated that she refused to acknowledge their relationship out loud.
“Hey, it’s your thing,” Alaria replied, her voice still laced with giggles.
"Well, let's keep it that way, for the time being, okay?" Kira said.
Even though she knew it would upset Thor, the hallway of a former Training Officer’s space station was not the place to reach a relationship milestone, at least not as far as she could see it.
“We’re going to have to, anyways,” Alaria said. “The ship is ready. Well, as ready as it’s going to get. We were able to repair the shield emitter and stabilize the engine, for now. Unfortunately, there’s not much else that can be done with what’s on hand. We’ll have to find a way to come into some parts to make further improvements.”
“Good enough for now,” Kira said, thankful for the change in topic and the chance to refocus her energy on her job and not the uncomfortable pit growing in her stomach. “Then we should get moving before someone finds out we’re here.”
As the last word escaped her lips, the space station shuddered, sending Alaria tumbling forward and Kira tripping backward. Thor reached out quickly, catching both of them before they could hit the ground.
“What the hell was that?” Thor asked as he helped the two women to regain their balance.
Another shudder followed by a loud explosion answered his question for him.
“Shit,” Kira muttered, reaching for her Phantom. “They’ve already found us.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Kira, Thor, and Alaria rushed to the station’s common area. As they grew closer, the sound of voices became more audible.
“This is a private station,” Ashford said firmly. “You have no right to board without permission.”
“Permission is a luxury, and harboring fugitives cost you that luxury, Officer,” came the quick reply.
Thor reached out and grabbed onto Kira’s shoulder, pulling her back before she could round the corner. Alaria, behind them, also stopped suddenly. They all lowered themselves in unison, ducking around to get a better view of what was going on.
In the center of the room stood Ashford, surrounded by eleven heavily armed men, with an impressive collection of assault rifles strapped to their backs and pulse rifles in hand. It was clear from the rough-around-the-edges look the group had that they weren’t TAF patrol. They were bounty hunters.
“There are no fugitives here,” Ashford replied. “Just an old man that wishes to be left alone.”
"Then how do you explain the ship docked in your repair bay," the largest of the ten men spoke. He was a young man, with a cross expression ingrained so deeply in the lines of his face that it seemed to be a permanent feature. Scrawled across his neck was a tattoo of a scorpion.
“Oh, that,” Ashford said with a slight shrug. “I found it floating around not far from here. I decided to take it in and fix it up. Everyone needs a hobby.”
The scorpion man scoffed. “Hobby,” he said with a slow nod. “Right. Well, you should know that ship belonged to wanted criminals. Criminals with very handsome bounties on their heads—bounties we intend to collect.”
“That’s shocking,” Ashford said, leaning back on his heels.
“I’m sure you’re very surprised,” the man replied. “If you don’t mind, my men will need to look around.”
“Anything for the galaxies finest bounty hunters.,” Ashford replied, glancing quickly to his right.
Kira followed his line of sight. There was a short hallway there, leading to where the repair bay was located. She saw a shadow move swiftly down the hall, a small shadow.
“Vinnie,” she
whispered. Hopefully, Dario was with him and Bron, taking cover somewhere on the other side of the station.
The scorpion man barked out a string of orders, sending his men in groups to the different sections of the station. Thor pulled back on Kira’s arm, leading her and Alaria through one of the doors lining the hallway just as a group of three men began their slow, purpose driven march in their direction.
The room they were in was sparsely furnished. It would have served as a bedroom if more than one person occupied the station. There was a couch positioned in the center of the room, and a dresser pushed up against one of the walls. Other than that, the space was wide-open. Not the best place to hide-out in.