by Mina Carter
Diseases though had proven more difficult. Curing one had changed something else and caused a worse mutation, one of which had wiped out their women. Proof positive in her mind that trying to play God bit you in the ass eventually.
But they’d created humanity. She still struggled to get her head around that revelation. That she was from the same genetic stock as Karryl, albeit it a Lathar mission a millennia ago that had been genetically engineered for different conditions. Not conditions on earth, but another planet. Something had gone wrong and they’d lost contact with the mission. It had been assumed they’d all died. Not found a new planet and survived, the memory of where they had come from lost over time and new legends and stories growing up to explain that ever-present existential question.
“It’s…” Jane paused for a moment as she considered the best way to describe the outpost. A hulking mass, it was comprised of what looked like old earth storage shipping containers, hexagonal in shape, clustered around a central tube-like core. Other constructions rose from the center, tethered by metal stalks that themselves had extra structures bolted to them. Nothing matched. It looked like it had been salvaged from some intergalactic junkyard and bolted together.
A bulge at the top had to contain the docking bays by the look of the large doors on the side. Karryl turned the small shuttle toward it, then flicked her a quick glance. “Be quiet. I want them to think I’m alone.”
She nodded, trying to maintain a professional expression when inside she was ready to squeal like a big kid. She was going to see aliens. Real aliens on a real alien space station. Wild west in space kind of stuff. Of course, the Lathar were aliens, but they were so human-like at times…and now it had been discovered that they and humanity were related, could they actually be called aliens?
Perhaps the real little green men were on this space station. She couldn’t wait to find out.
“Pernassis, this is shuttle Lei’anna requesting permission to dock.” Karryl’s voice had changed from the one he usually used when speaking to her, and was firm, deep and brooked no argument. Once again she was reminded he was far more dangerous than she took him for at times.
“Lei’anna, this is Pernassis,” the reply came in a female voice that dripped sex. “We have you with a Latharian palace tag, are you sure you’re not lost out here, honey?”
“That is correct, and the Lathar are never lost.” Karryl almost barked the reply, obviously in no mood to play games. “I have business on the outpost. Are you going to give me permission to dock, or do I have to come back with a war group?”
There was a small squeak in reply. “No, no, there won’t be any need for that. Permission to dock granted, Lei’anna, you’re allocated to bay seven. Have a pleasant stay on Pernassis.”
“I sincerely hope so,” Karryl left the subtle threat hanging in the air for a moment, then said. “Lei’anna out.”
As he closed the connection, Jane lifted her eyebrow. “You lathar are bullies, you know that? There was no need to bully that poor woman like that.”
“Bully? A Krin?” He chuckled, shaking his head. “Not likely. That poor woman is the male of ‘her’ species, taller than most Lathar, with eight arms and a fondness for the flesh of other species, preferably served raw and screaming.”
“Shiiiit.” Jane shivered. “She sounded like a phone sex worker.”
Karryl nodded, movements sure on the controls as he took them into the docking bay. Obviously he got the reference. “That’s how they hunt. Pheromones and sex appeal. Their scent glands fetch a high price for use in the perfumery industry. The trouble is they tend to be rather attached to their body parts, so harvesting them to sell is a high-risk occupation. A well-paying one if you can avoid getting slaughtered and eaten. I do believe some of them prey on their own for that reason.”
She blinked in surprise. “What? They kill their own to sell their scent glands?”
He shrugged, turning the shuttle about neatly and easing them into bay seven. At least, she assumed it was bay seven. The painted number on the metal bulkhead in front of them had long since worn off. There was a small bump as they hit the docking clamps, then a whir and clunk as the clamps engaged. A wave of Karryl’s hand killed the shuttle’s engines.
“It’s economical when you think about it. Get paid for the glands, the rest they eat.”
She covered her mouth for a moment. “That’s just sick.”
Karryl unbuckled his harness and levered himself out of the recliner. The holo-consoles snapped off at his movement. “Not every species has humanity’s morals. Spend any time out here and you’ll learn that. Fast, if you want to survive.”
“So I’m finding out.”
She unbuckled, and tumbled off the couch, following him to the back of the cabin. Lathar were always armed, but he opened a door on the side of the cabin, the handle recessed like the rest, to reveal a weapons cache. Whistling through her teeth, she looked along the racked weaponry. For a two man shuttle, it sure was well stocked.
Already carrying a heavy pistol holstered on his hip and blades nestled in his boots and wrist sheaths, Karryl picked out a second gun belt. He buckled it about his hips and added not one but two pistols. Huh, double-decker holster, that was neat. She looked for another one but could only see a standard belt with a holster on each hip.
Karryl paused, what looked like a shotgun in his hand, as she picked up the belt. “What do you think you’re doing?”
Giving him a “well, duh” look, she buckled the belt. There weren’t enough holes so it didn’t fit snugly, sliding down to wedge over her hips at a slant. “Arming up. There’s no way I’m walking onto an alien space station without a shit-load of weaponry.”
He plucked the pistol she’d picked up out of her hands and shoved it back into its slot. His look could have melted perma-steel. “Oh, no, you’re not. I am not riski—”
Fury surged. She snatched the gun out and jumped down his throat before he could get another word out. “Because I’m a woman? I’m a goddamn soldier, this is what I do!”
He hissed in anger and frustration, showing his teeth.
“I meant risking the mission. These people have never seen a human. You’ll stand out like a fucking sore thumb.” He plucked the weapon from her fingers and jammed it back, shaking the rack. “Not everything’s about you. I need to get information, not announce our fucking presence to all aboard.”
Fuck. She hadn’t thought about it like that. Silent, she took a step back and nodded. There was no way she wanted to interfere with his mission. She was already on a sticky wicket where the palace was concerned because of her attempts to spy for Terran Command, she didn’t need to compound her errors. Her desire to see little green men would just have to wait.
“I apologize, you’re perfectly correct. I’ll stay here and guard the ship.”
He nodded, swinging what looked like the lathar version of a shotgun over his shoulder. Or a grenade launcher, it looked like it could be either or both.
“Ship, activate surveillance perimeter on my bio-signature.”
“Affirmative,” a disembodied voice made Jane jump and look around.
The holo-consoles in the cockpit reactivated, casting a blue glow over the two control couches. There were two images: one showing a corridor with an airlock door, and the other showing the two of them standing in the middle of the shuttle’s cabin. At the same moment, the door opened onto the airlock.
“The ship’s AI will track me as I move through the station,” he explained, taking a step forward to tuck a finger under her chin and lift it so she had to meet his eyes. Her breath caught as he loomed over her. Not through fear. Something else surged through her veins. She preferred him like this, as he really was, rather than trying to be civilized to charm her into his bed.
The ghost of a smile whispered over his lips. “You’ll get to see your little green men.”
She hadn’t told him that. Her eyes narrowed, but he smiled. “You talk in your sleep, little o
ne.”
Before she could argue, he bent and kissed her. It was firm, but brief, the contact ended before she’d registered it.
“Stay here, don’t touch anything and behave. I don’t want to have to explain to Daaynal if something happens to his ship.”
With that, he left the shuttle, door closing behind him.
Jane stayed where she was for a moment, lifting her hand to her lips. They tingled from his kiss, every time he touched her. Frustration surged through her. She liked him, a lot, and she knew he wanted her.
If he was human, she’d have jumped him in a hot minute and enjoyed every inch of that lean, hard warrior’s body. Then, when whatever they had worked itself out, they could have parted amicably, as friends. But he was lathar so it wasn’t that simple. If she shared his bed, accepted his claim, that was it…they were joined for a lifetime. And that scared the living crap out of her.
But he wasn’t pushing his claim anymore, which confused her. The man was a born predator so she knew he hadn’t given up, doubted he even knew the meaning of the concept. No, he was playing another game, one she hadn’t figured out yet, and her blood thrilled at the thought.
Sighing, she ran a hand through her hair and headed for the cockpit with its twin displays. No time to figure out what he was up to now; she’d have to bide her time.
The pilot’s couch was just as comfortable as the co-pilot’s, but her attention was less on the padding beneath her posterior, and all on the big man displayed on the screens in front of her. For a moment, he dominated both as he stepped out of the airlock and walked down the corridor away from the ship. The image on the right shifted to another camera and she could see Karryl walking toward her, his expression grim and forbidding, while the picture on the left showed the empty corridor outside the airlock door.
The images changed as he moved through the ship, the AI moving from one camera to another to keep him in view. As he entered the main area of the outpost, which looked like a mall back home, Jane got her first view of aliens in the “wild.” There were two levels to the main promenade, the upper with wraparound balconies that looked down on the lower. A line of dried out fountains in the center of the ground level gave hints toward more auspicious times, long since passed.
Both levels were packed with creatures of all shapes and sizes. Tall, yeti-like creatures walked next to what looked like a blob of pink slime. She recognized one of the more insectoid creatures as the same species from the Latharian palace, and there were many oonat, mostly on leashes. The poor creatures appeared to be everyone’s whipping boy.
One thing she didn’t miss was that Karryl was the only Lathar aboard, and everyone was quick to scuttle out of his way. She didn’t blame them. There was an aura of lethality around the big warrior that no one in their right mind wanted to mess with.
“Stop,” she said suddenly, catching something in the corner of the screen. “Can you roll that back a little, or expand the view?”
“Affirmative,” the AI replied smoothly and the screen on the right grew in size, moving the airlock corridor one up above, as the camera panned out.
“There and there,” Jane pointed to two dark-clothed figures in the crowds behind Karryl. “I’ve seen them too much. Are they following him?”
“Assessing…”
The AI split the screen again so there were now three views. The corridor above, Karryl moving through the crowds on the left while on the right, the AI flicked rapidly through different images from the outpost camera feeds. Each image concentrated on one of the men she’d pointed out.
“There is a 97.375 percent probability the subjects are following Warrior Karryl,” the AI said, its voice unemotional. “Analysis of physical movements suggests subjects are likely to be Krynassis mercenaries.”
“What the hell are they?”
Jane’s heart rate picked up as the two closed in on the unaware Karryl. He’d entered a bar on the second level and appeared to be in conversation with an insectoid. His back was to the entrance of the bar, which made all her soldier instincts scream. He was an open target.
“Regardless of their physical location, the Krynassis are a highly dangerous reptilian-derived lifeform with similar physical capabilities to the Lathar.”
Helpfully, the AI changed the image on the right side of the screen and a new face appeared. It was male, with close-cropped short hair and at first glance could have been mistaken for human or lathar. Then she noticed the shimmer of scales over the high cheekbones, and as the man in the image smiled, the sharp fangs. Still, he wouldn’t have looked out of place as a male centerfold. For ladies into scales…
“Shit, why are all aliens freaking hot?”
“The Krynassis are cold-blooded,” the AI interjected. “Pack hunters, they are considered extremely dangerous in hand-to-hand combat.”
Karryl was on his own and unaware he was being stalked.
“What are Karryl’s chances on his own?” she asked bluntly. Sliding off the seat, she strode across the cabin and yanked the weapons cache open. Her hands were steady as she armed up. There was no way she was allowing those lizard men to take him down. Not without going through her first.
The ship’s voice continued. “Poor. Alone, he is likely to sustain life-threating injuries. However,” she heard the disapproval in the computer’s voice, “his chances will not be improved by the addition of an inferior being to protect.”
Jane paused, pistol in hand and looked at the consoles. She isolated the AI’s location at the front of the craft, given away by a small blinking blue light whenever it “spoke.”
“You want to run that by me again?” she asked, eyebrow raised. “Inferior being? And before you answer, I would invite you to consider that this inferior being has an energy weapon and a direct line of sight to your processor housing.”
The AI was silent for a few seconds, then the lights flickered again. “Point taken. May I suggest some…enhancements?”
There was a click and a door to the left of the weapons cache slid to the side. A rack smoothly extended from the dark space within and Jane sucked in a breath. Body armor, but not like she’d ever see. This stuff was bad-ass and made of the same metal as the combat bots the K’Vass used to attack Sentinel Five. Pity the shuttle was too small to carry any of them.
“Armor?” she asked, already unbuckling her gun belts to put on the stuff.
The lower half hit the floor with a clunk and she turned so that she could step back into it. The small of her back hit the belt and the whole thing moved, adjusting to her more diminutive stature as harnesses snapped around her legs and tightened. She lifted a leg experimentally. Despite the metal and straps, she didn’t feel any different.
“Combat exoskeleton,” the AI replied. “Designed to enhance a warrior’s performance on the battlefield. It should overcome your natural…limitations.”
Its speech pattern had changed, becoming more fluid and…human. It was mimicking her, Jane realized.
“You learn fast. I’ll give you that.”
Jane grinned as she lifted the breastplate over her head and settled it on her shoulders. Like the lower half, as soon as it sensed it was in the right place it started to adjust. Straps shot from the sides and wrapped around her torso, hooking into loops on the leg portion and pulled tight. A flap on the shoulders flipped down and with a click-click-click a row of plates not unlike scales covered her arms.
“So I should,” the AI sounded huffy, as though she’d insulted its intelligence. “My brain patterns were modeled after one of the greatest mathematical engineers in Latharian history, Miisan K’Vass.”
“Tarrick’s mother?” She’d heard Cat mention the name.
The AI made a small noise. “And sister to the emperor. She was beloved by all and a genius. A lot of the technology currently used by the Lathar was developed from her work. Mathematics was a great passion amongst women of her class before the plague took them from us.”
Great. She’d always had the impre
ssion Latharian women were delicate, frail creatures who needed looking after, not freaking geniuses. Mathematics was not her strong point, unless they were talking enemy numbers and how much ammunition she had left. Anything past the mundane and she was lost. The fact that the women Karryl had grown up with were highly intelligent made her feel even more like the dumb grunt she was.
“A helmet too?” She cleared her throat, covering her discomfort and reached for it.
“Indeed. It should conceal your gender although there is nothing we can do about your physical size. Since no one will expect you to be female, most will assume you are a younger warrior.”
“Good.”
At least her hair would be covered. In the palace, nearly everyone seemed fascinated by the short, platinum locks. Blond was an uncommon color amongst the Lathar. The only one she’d seen so far was the emperor’s champion, Xaandril.
Helmet in place, she blinked as the screen showing Karryl in the bar appeared at the bottom right of her field of vision. It alternated with the view outside the bar where the mercenaries were gathering. She needed to move. Now.
“Seal the airlock behind me,” she ordered, grabbing her weaponry. The exosuit moved, providing holsters so she loaded up. Never could have too many guns. Not when going into a hot situation that involved lizard men. Perhaps she should take a mouse or two as a distraction. “Don’t open the doors for anyone but me and Karryl.”
“Understood. And Jane?”
She stopped halfway out of the door and looked back. The cockpit screens had changed to show the face of a Latharian woman. Tall, she was ethereally beautiful and Jane knew she was looking at a facsimile of Miisan K’Vass.
“Yes?”
The AI woman smiled. “Good luck.”
Chapter Six
Karryl had been in many low down, disgusting dives in his adult life, but Pernassis beat them all, hands down. He shouldn’t have expected anything else though. This area of space was a no man’s land between sectors, well off the main space lanes. An area of lawlessness and chaos most people avoided.