by Elin Wyn
Everything changed. And some things never did.
A recording of a bell triggered as I stepped through, and I saw a dark cloud of hair as Cintha hunched over her workbench.
“I’ll be with you in just a - oh!” Cintha grinned, put down her tools and hurried up to envelop me in a huge hug.
“Look at you!” she exclaimed. “A new medicine? I didn’t realize you’d gone off station for treatment!”
The dark circles under her eyes stabbed at me. I’d been so caught up in relearning how to control my legs, I hadn’t even thought of coming down to tell her I was back, what had happened.
I was a lousy friend.
She squeezed my hands and laughed. “I know, I could come up sometime. But I’m kind of wrapped up in stuff.” She shrugged and went back to her bench to tidy up. “Let me put things away. I have a commission but I’m ahead of schedule. What do you think?”
I looked over her shoulder at the fine filigree panels that lay across the work surface, the metal dull now, but after polishing it would shine like a star.
“You’re not the only one that’s been a little wrapped up lately,” I admitted. “I’m sorry I haven’t been down.”
I paused, reluctant to tell her about the Hunters, the abduction. None of it mattered now, right? I was home and walking. It was all she cared about.
But then how was I planning to explain Xander?
I pushed aside the unwelcome thought. He wasn’t a presence in my life. Nor was he going to be.
Nothing to explain, right?
“Who was the kid you sent up for me? She seemed like she didn’t quite believe I was the right mark.”
I took the offered cold glass and sipped, relishing the sweet herbal taste.
“Talley.” Cintha half-smiled. “Bright enough, she’s going to be running the kiddie gangs before long if I can’t think of something else to keep her busy.”
“Any reason you’ve taken her on?” I didn’t meet her eyes. I might not come down on a regular basis, but I knew Talley couldn’t be Cintha’s. However...
She nodded and took a sip of her own tea. “I’m pretty sure she’s Daix’s. I could get her tested, but it doesn’t matter. He and her mother were together off and on for years. She disappeared a few years back, probably OD’d, but I can see Daix clear enough in Talley’s face.”
“Is that what you wanted to talk to me about, for me to find her a job?” I offered. “I don’t have a lot of contacts but surely I could get her something-” I stopped myself.
“Better than this?” Cintha answered dryly. “The Under’s not that bad, just different. But I know you never saw it that way.” She brushed away my apology. “No, Tally’s fine. Daix however. I don’t know where he is.” Her dark eyes widened as she bit her lips. “And this time, I’m worried.”
I put my glass down, searching for the right words. “Cin, you know, it wouldn’t be the first time he’s flaked out.”
She shook her head, black, kinky curls flying. “No. Not like this. For a while, after Tally’s mom disappeared, I think he was trying to straighten out. Wasn’t much good at it, but was trying.” She reached for a set of pliers, twisted them in one hand. “He took a job for some guys.”
I grimaced. No story that started with that sentence ever turned out well.
“The pay was good, but then he quit talking to me. I don’t know what they were doing, but he stopped being around, stopped checking up on Tally. And now I can’t find a whisper of him. No one’s heard anything, or if they have, they’re not talking.” Her fingers fell still, and she fixed me with a look. “And that’s why I need you.”
“You may not like what I find,” I said softly, reaching for her hand. “You’ve never wanted to know details before.”
“I don’t have the luxury of looking away. Not anymore. I need to know where he is, what he’s doing.” Her jaw tightened. “And if he’s coming back.”
“If that’s what you want, I’ll find him,” I answered without hesitation, mind already spinning. Doc had comms at her lab she barely used. I could start there, build a new scrambler using the components I’d just bought from Klayson.
Not exactly a paying job, but it would keep my hand in. And more importantly, do my part to help wipe away a fraction of the tension in Cintha’s face.
“Good.” Her shoulders relaxed just a fraction. “Now I want to hear all about this new treatment. How long does it last?” Her eyes narrowed. “And what side effects did you decide to not worry about?”
The chime of the front door saved me.
A young trio came in, arms wrapped around each other, faces glowing.
“We’ve decided,” the young woman in the middle declared. “You were right. It’s time for us to settle down.”
The men on either side of her beamed, the darker blushing slightly as he shrugged. “Which means it’s time we get some rings.”
I laughed, calling out my congratulations as I backed away, leaving Cintha to attend the newly formed family.
On my way back I pondered where to start the search for Daix. I’d buried our old records when we’d run from the facility. He probably was still using the faked ID numbers I generated.
Tomorrow, when I had a better idea of how I was going to explain my miraculous cure, I’d head back down, talk to Cintha and get a better idea of the time frame Daix disappeared. There were cameras all through Orem station. Not as many in the Under, but I could find them.
I headed back to the bazaar to pick up my components, mind sifting through possibilities.
“Hey baby,” an oily voice called out, and I spun to face the threat.
Void, it was the creep from the arcade yesterday. I kept walking and he didn’t follow, just stood there smirking, stripping me with his eyes.
Maybe I shouldn’t have stopped Xander so quickly.
And that was something else to figure out how to explain to Cintha.
Xander.
But first, I’d have to figure him out for myself. When he touched me...
“Loree Sarratt?”
I stopped, startled out of my thoughts by the dark-haired woman standing in front of me. Deeply tanned skin pulled tight over razor-sharp cheekbones, she stood directly in my way, a slight curl to her lip.
And then I noticed the uniform. Dark grey with silver tracing.
Imperial System Security.
Void.
Slightly behind her stood an older man, not quite as rigid but certainly alert. Prepared.
Official.
“You’re under arrest. We have reliable information that you were behind an incursion against SysSec comms. Come with us.”
Xander
All morning I helped Doc run tests on the captured Cadre members. I say helped, but it really came down to moving them wherever she pointed - both the living subjects and the dead - from one machine to the next.
I was good with knives, but I’d never seen anyone with Doc’s delicate skill with a laser scalpel. And none of us knew what she was looking for, what theories she’d spun in that labyrinth of a mind.
But shutting my brain off, following orders, should have been enough to keep me distracted from the growing urge to find Loree.
Of course, it wasn’t.
Hour by hour, the need to see her grew, pulling at my attention until Doc finally snapped. “Vicki has more focus than you, kiddo. Do us both a favor and go get her.”
“Vicki?” The straps holding the unconscious man to the table would even hold one of us, but still. “Are you sure it’s safe to have her that close to this guy?”
Doc pushed back her micro-lenses and rolled her eyes. “And now I know you’re not following along. Wrong ’her.’ Go get your girl, I’ve got enough samples for now.”
Bouncing on my toes, I had just enough discipline to wait. “Are you sure? I can wait until Aeden or Hakon are free.”
“Go,” she waved me off. “You’ll just distract me with your fretting. I can handle things just fine.”
“Ping my comm if you need me,” I called out as I wound through the lab.
“Bring her back for a checkup when you find her.” Doc cackled. “Not immediately, of course.”
Cheeks burning, I stepped out of the lab. Somehow, combat missions had never prepared me for these sorts of talks.
The overly processed air of the station filled my lungs, and nothing else mattered. Loree was out there, somewhere. And without questioning it, I knew where to head.
Not at the bazaar. Not at the arcade I’d seen her at last night. Not at Nadira and Ronan’s living quarters.
The tug at my gut lead me through decks, through the edge of a residential zone I didn’t recognize. The docking rings. Why would she be there?
But it didn’t matter. I knew that’s where she was going, and something I couldn’t define spurred me on.
Picking up speed as I wound through the cargo areas, I caught the flash of her hair.
I started to shout, then saw the dark uniforms on either side of her.
Instinctively I ducked behind a stack of crates, thoughts whirling. Why was Loree with a pair of Imperial agents?
Was she working with Stanton? Was she reporting on us, on Doc, to the Empire?
No.
I couldn’t, wouldn’t believe it.
I slid behind another stack of cargo for a better view, just in time to watch her stumble, the older male to her right catching her by the elbow before she fell, but I saw enough.
Red painted my vision. Her hands were manacled.
My hands stiffened into claws, the urge to shred the agents apart overwhelming. But still, I stayed hidden.
Something was happening and rushing in without information was the act of a cub.
The agents hustled Loree through the ring until they reached a small craft. No imperial markings, but I gritted my teeth, wondering how they’d landed without Ronan or Davien knowing.
The boarding ramp extended and a choice lay in front of me. Attack, take Loree back, capture the agents and discover their mission?
I snorted softly. Why take the logical path now?
As they dragged Loree into the ship, I slid underneath the craft and began prying off the cargo panel.
In minutes I’d worked my way into the ship’s hold. Quietly investigating my surroundings, empty shelves showed only a few supplies left. Whatever the agents were doing on Orem, they hadn’t bothered to restock.
Through the permisteel walls I could hear Loree muttering angrily to herself. Too much background noise to pick out the words at this distance, but that was anger in her voice, not pain or distress.
I might hate it, but I could live with that. Rescuing her could wait until we found out what the hell was going on.
What she’d have to say about that decision would be another matter entirely.
The hull gave an almost imperceptible shiver as the ship lifted, moved to exit the docking ring and reenter open space.
My shoulders tensed. If this went wrong…
I wouldn’t let it go wrong. That was the only option.
I counted my breath until I was sure we were clear of the station. I kept my hand by the hatch and waited.
There.
The twist in the universe that signaled we’d entered jump space.
Loree’s voice hadn’t moved the entire time. The agents must have secured their prisoner, then laid in the course. They’d be focused on the task ahead, whatever it was.
I could hear them, the man and the woman as I ghosted through the corridor towards the bridge.
They hunched over their respective control panels, barely talking. I moved behind the man, swiftly striking the nerve cluster where his neck and shoulder met.
Disable, question, then kill if needed.
It was hard to get information going the other direction, no matter how the fire burned in my veins.
“What the hell?”
I spun, cursing myself.
The woman must have seen my reflection in the monitor.
She drew her sidearm, but not fast enough.
In seconds she sprawled on the deck, next to her partner.
In moments they were both bound fast, tied with strips of their own uniforms. A quick glance at the controls confirmed we had plenty of time until we emerged from jump space.
Plenty of time for what should have been my first priority.
Rescue Loree.
Her voice had fallen silent during my attack on the bridge. Images of her sprawled in a cell, hurt and afraid, whipped me as I ran through the corridors, her sweet scent against hot metal and grease the only trail I needed.
Without pausing I wrenched open the cell door, then stopped in shock.
Loree crouched next to an open panel, stripped wires coiled next to her. With one hand she pushed her hair back and shook her head. “I don’t suppose I should be mad at you for following me again, should I?”
Loree
“Usually I’m more happy to be proven right.”
Xander’s gruff voice knocked aside the panic that had circled me since the agents grabbed me, even as he lifted me to my feet.
He pulled me towards him, but I placed a hand on his chest. I needed space, needed to breathe. But for just a minute I needed his warm strength as well.
The heat of his eyes scorched me as he waited until my legs were steady.
“Did they hurt you?” he growled.
I shook my head. “I don’t even know why they took me.. It’s not like I’ve ever…” I trailed off.
He cocked an eyebrow and waited.
Cheeks unaccountably hot, I continued. “It’s possible I’ve taken some jobs that have required information SysSec thought was safely stored away. Possible.”
Annoyed with myself, I bit my lip. I was proud of what I did, the skills I’d acquired through the years. Why the hell was I dancing around the subject now?
Because you don’t know how he’ll think about it, a small disloyal voice in the back of my head answered.
That question was answered soon enough by his grin.
“From what I saw you do on the Star, I would’ve expected you to have taken all the command codes for the Imperial Navy.”
Oh. He’d seen me work before. His easy acceptance made the discomfort of another lost memory softer.
“But I’m guessing you didn’t,” he paused. “Did you?”
I rolled my eyes and followed him back through the corridors. “Not recently, no.”
“Then it’s a trifle strange that Imperial System Security would send agents all the way out to our little neck of the galaxy to pick up a single hacker.”
“Get me to their comms, and I’ll find out.”
Xander slid open a door to reveal a small, slightly cramped bridge. “As you wish.”
When the ship was new, the bridge still wouldn’t have been pretty. No sleek gleaming lines here, just a pair of boxy, functional consoles angled away from each other, and uncomfortable looking chairs.
I moved towards the one on my right. It was possible that each had a specific function and would be locked out of other controls, but for now I needed to see what I was working with.
Or working around.
A pair of pale legs, black hairs covering goose-pimpled skin in sparse tufts, stuck out from behind the console.
I leaned over the edge to find the male of the team who had arrested me tied and trussed and now lying limp on the decking.
Silent, I looked behind the other console to find his partner.
My throat dried. “Are they dead?” I managed.
Xander’s face was blank. “Not yet. Was waiting to decide until after I found you. Besides, wouldn’t have spent the time securing them if I didn’t need to.”
That was sweet, in a terrifying way. Probably better not to think about it. I forced myself to focus on the console before me, sliding i
nto the chair, hands running across the keyboard.
“Where were they taking me, anyway?” Comms I could manage. Star maps and ships navigation? A little out of my field.
“Haven’t looked,” came the terse reply. “Saw we had hours left in warp, decided we could figure it out later.”
“What?” I spun around in the chair to face him. “Didn’t you want to know where we were heading?”
He shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. Enough time to lay in a new course once we know what’s going on.”
“Doesn’t matter, he says,” I muttered, turning back to the controls. “Plenty of time. He wasn’t the one tossed in a closet.”
Ignoring the snicker behind me, I took a deep breath, then another, cleared my mind, and got ready to do some magic.
“SysSec doesn’t change their operating commands often,” I said. “I should have answers for us soon enough.”
“If not, I can still just ask our guests.”
Xander kept a hand on the back of my chair, somehow managing to still loom over the agent, the air of the small room suddenly crackling with anger.
I looked up and reached behind me to brush his arm. “Let me see what I can do first, all right?” The muscle jumping at his jawline twitched, slowed. “But if you need to ’ask’ somebody questions, start with her. At least the old guy didn’t let me trip out in the loading dock.”
“I saw.”
“Wait, what?” Ice water hit my spine. “If you were watching, why did you let them take me?”
“How else was I going to get an Imperial ship for you to play with?” A flicker of a smile crossed his full lips. “Besides, I know you’re tough.” He scratched at the back of his neck. “And I was right behind you.”
Whatever. Right now wasn’t the time to try to understand the workings of his mind.
Maybe never. Never sounded like a good time. Let’s work with that.
But first…
“Here we are. Looks like a file from Orem was flagged when it hit SysSec comms, then forwarded to this ship with another message.”
“Can you play it?”
I puffed my lips. “Why do you even ask me these things?”