“Okay, what’s a Pirr?”
The Yeti made a new sound that didn’t translate, but by the way he was shaking, Jack thought it must be laughter.
“The Pirr. They are very dangerous, my friend. If they choose you as their enemy, you will be destroyed. You would be better off in my band. If you do not know drums, you may sing backup while you learn,” the emotionless mechanical interpretation relayed.
“I’ve never heard of these Pirr.”
“They do not reveal themselves unless they think you worthy. You must have done something wonderful to get their attention. Or, something terrible.” Bava whistled through his teeth. “They will destroy your ship and all aboard.”
“Then we need to go.” Jack sent payment to the barkeeper through his datapad and got up from the table. “How do we go?”
The Yeti shook his head. “The ship is locked in. Only the harbormaster can release you.”
“Then I’ll find the harbormaster. Thanks for the tip, Bava. You guys rock.” Jack held his fingers in the trident shape of hard rockers from the past. He turned and headed for the corridor.
“Luck be with you, friend Jack! May you also rock!” the Yeti called after him trying to imitate the hand gesture.
***
Jack hurried to the port, weaving through the crowd. He wasn’t able to maintain more than a light jog, and his visibility was nil. He didn’t even see the security guards until they had him by the scruff of the neck.
“This port is closed for maintenance.” The huge guard turned Jack around and nudged him away. “Return in one day.”
“It can’t be closed for maintenance. My ship is back there.” Jack tried to pull away from the guard’s massive hand, but his grip on Jack’s shirt tightened.
“The ships in this port are also locked down for maintenance.”
“How can you do that? It isn’t your ship,” Jack protested, but the guard didn’t answer. Instead, he nudged Jack between the shoulder blades to get him moving.
He stumbled but was saved from hitting the floor by a hand under his arm. Summers had a grip on his elbow, his jaw set.
“Did you get turned away too?” Jack asked.
Summers nodded tightly. “I need to get in touch with the captain.”
“It’s the Pirr. They’re coming to get us.”
“Who is the Pirr?” Summers demanded, just short of snapping. “I’m not in the mood for jokes, Mike.”
“I don’t know exactly, but I think they must be the aliens from Amadeus. I was told we’re being held until they arrive so they can destroy Charon. And us,” he added as an afterthought.
Summers sniffed the air. “Have you been drinking?”
“That’s beside the point. My new friend Bava the Yeti said that the Pirr are after us, and as far as I know, there’s only one alien race that hates humans currently.”
The two men shuffled closer to the wall, hindered by the crowd’s press and Jack’s own clumsiness.
“They are following us. I was afraid of that.” Summers got them to the wall and put his back to it while he scanned the crowd. “What do you suggest, Mike?”
“If we could get to the ship, then we get Cor to short out the docking clamp and fly away while I cloak us.”
“Can you do it drunk?” Summers growled.
Jack shrugged. “Get some coffee in me, and I’ll be fine.”
Summers muttered something under his breath and steered Jack into the nearest establishment. That meant the club where Bava and his brothers had been performing. Now they were gathered around Jack’s old table, talking in surprisingly high, trilling voices.
“Jack has returned! Have you changed your mind?” Bava stood to greet them, opening his arms expansively. “But you brought a friend. Does he play an instrument?”
“I do not.” Summers gave Jack a suspicious look. “You make friends fast, do you?”
“I bought Bava a drink. He seemed to like it.” Jack pulled an empty chair up to the table. “How’s it going, guys?”
“We are well. We have made a new friend, and we have received human applause. All is well.” The Yeti grinned, showing an unsettling number of teeth. “How is it going with you?”
“We can’t get to our ship, and we’ve got crew on leave I need to find.” Summers moved to stand over Jack’s shoulder, arms crossed over his chest. “That’s how it’s going.”
“If we can get ‘em all here, I can get us on the ship,” Jack added.
“I’d message them with my datapad, but I’ve got no connectivity. What about you, Jack?”
Jack pulled out his datapad. Its applications worked, but anything linked with a network or another device was disabled. “I’ve got nothing.”
“No matter. We will help you bring your human companions to my club.” Bava growled something at Inga and Inga. The other two Yeti barked something in return, then walked out of the club. “Now we only have to wait. Will you drink?”
“No.” Summers spoke over Jack. “No more drinking, unless you’ve got plain old water.”
“Thanks, anyway,” Jack said. “We’ve got a mission now.”
Before ten minutes had passed, Jack had his datapad out. He played his favorite songs for Bava from classics to pop music he’d loved as a kid. When Jack offered to copy his files over to the Yeti’s device, Bava almost exploded from excitement.
Summers twitched an eyebrow.
“This isn’t piracy. This is sharing our cultures,” Jack declared, even though no one had accused him of anything.
Summers shrugged and went back to playing with his datapad. Something in Bava’s many pockets screeched, and he pulled out a flat square device. Someone yowled at Bava through the device.
“There is a new plan. Come with me,” Bava said.
“What plan is this?” Summers didn’t move. “I didn’t approve any new plan.”
“This is a plan where security raids my club but finds no humans to arrest.” The Yeti patted Summers on the head. “Jack is kind to befriend someone so far beneath him.”
Summers sputtered, and Jack pretended to cough before he laughed. “Come on, LT. I know we just met him, but Bava’s the best chance we’ve got.”
“I don’t know about that,” Summers muttered, but he got up and followed along as Bava led them up the steps to the polished black stage. He held the curtain aside to let them through, then followed.
“What now?” Jack asked.
The Yeti shook his head agitatedly. His long locks of fur flared out from his head, making it double in size.
“You must not be here when security arrives. My brothers, they already carry your fellow humans as cargo to your ship. We have paid many bribes for the guards to look the other way. If they knew Jack was our friend, it would not go well for us. It would be the end of the band.” Bava shook his head again.
“Hey. Bava.” Jack reached out to stroke his new friend’s fur, trying to calm it. “Don’t worry. I can get us out. Just hold the curtain back after we disappear, then do the same with the outer door. I’ve got this.”
“Are you sure about this, Gagnon?” Summers asked.
“Sure as can be. It’s just easier if no one’s looking when we go invisible. Can you do that for us, Bava? Can you hold the curtain and the door and make it look natural?”
“Yes, but what will you do?” The Yeti stopped shaking his head and put a large paw over the Mystic’s hand for a moment.
Jack grasped Summers’s wrist, then focused. As power filled him, he made it spill over to cover Summers the same as himself. The barrier would bend the minds of anyone looking their way, making them unnoticeable for the duration.
Bava sucked in a breath, and stepped back, making a gap in the curtain the humans could slip through. As he passed by, Jack thought he heard the giant alien mutter something like Pirr, but there was no time to stop and ask. Bava walked across the club ahead of them and pushed the door open. He stood holding it open, growling in his own tongue as he surveyed the cr
owd.
Jack felt a tug on his arm. “Let’s move,” Summers hissed in his ear. “I don’t want to stand around holding hands all day.”
“You’re the boss. Just keep your voice down,” Jack hissed. They hurried down the hall. They were still moving against the crowd’s flow, but there was sufficient space to weave through to the entrance to the port.
The two guards stood with their arms folded over their chests, snarling at anyone who came too near. They didn’t see Jack and Summers as they approached. Jack hesitated when they were within grabbing range, but the guards didn’t so much as twitch.
He grinned and slipped between them, pulling Lieutenant Summers along behind.
***
The only signs of activity in the port were labor bots moving pallets in or out of cargo holds. A pair of Yeti oversaw a red bot as it loaded crates into Charon’s hold. Wells was on the deck, arguing with them, while they talked back in their own language. As far as Jack could tell, neither understood the other, but it didn’t stop them from disagreeing.
“I said I didn’t agree to this purchase! The E.F. will not be responsible for the cost of this…” Wells consulted his datapad. “Yeti combs. What are we going to do with five hundred kilos of Yeti combs?”
Inga warbled at him, and both Yeti snuffled. Jack was pretty sure they were giggling at Captain Wells. He thought Wells was getting the idea too.
“Captain.” Summers pulled away from Jack and came into sight. When there was no immediate uproar, Jack let go of his powers and sagged. A furry arm wrapped around his shoulders and held him up.
“Thanks, Inga,” he said.
“Summers? Where the hell have you been?” Wells demanded. “I’m trying to get off this tin hat, and they won’t let me call my crew back!”
“Your crew is in the crates,” Jack said. “The Yeti helped me get everyone on board.”
“You?” Wells snapped. “You put my men in boxes?”
“I got them safely off Zeri Station. Aliens are coming for us, captain. The ones from Amadeus.”
“We have reason to believe they’ll destroy Charon if it’s still here when they arrive,” Summers added.
Jack smiled. The lieutenant was on board after all.
“Then we need to go.” Wells ushered Summers on board, then stopped to give the Yeti a suspicious look. “They don’t want to come, do they?”
“Who, Inga? No. They’d never break up the band.” Jack bowed his head to the brothers, and they returned the gesture. “Thanks, guys. Tell Bava too.”
The pair chortled and jogged away. The labor bot rolled out of the cargo bay and trundled off down the walkway to its next job. Jack nodded to Wells and boarded the ship, the captain following closely behind.
***
Escaping Zeri Station was nearly as simple as Jack had hoped. Coraolis disrupted their lock controls from the Astral Plane. As soon as they were released, Jack cloaked the ship. It flew away without a single challenge.
Rather than find another scenic route, Wells decided the best course was to head directly home. If the Pirr knew enough to figure out where they were going, they likely knew Earth’s location.
The crew’s demeanor relaxed once underway. No one forgot it was Jack who got their crewmates off Zeri, and they took to calling him ‘the Ambassador’ when they heard how he’d befriended the Yeti.
Better yet, when they got permission to message their loved ones back home, the crew became almost friendly. Jack sent a short message to Julia and Dante, and sent one to Isabel too.
Finally, he sent a message to Bava on Zeri Station. There were no words or images to give Jack away as a human. He didn’t know what the Pirr would do to his Yeti friend if they found out he’d helped the humans. Instead, Jack sent one of his favorite musical films and hoped the Yeti would get the message.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The planet Hoi enveloped Khiann with a welcome heat. Resources were finite even on Night Thorn, and so she could never keep it warm enough to be truly comfortable.
Once she landed, she changed from her Legion uniform to a loose-fitting wrap and strapped her blade to her back. The wrap was black to signify her affiliation with the Legion, with clasps forged from precious metals to represent her birth rank.
She would just as soon trade them for plain copper, but that was impossible even if it didn’t cause mortal offense to her father. A Pirr was her clan, and her clan, the Pirr. Nothing in life could change that.
She left Night Thorn to the technicians and departed for headquarters. It was near midday, and Hoi’s blue star was blinding in its brilliance. Her protective lid slipped into place over her eyes when she glanced up at it, putting a shadow over everything.
The walk was all too short. Soon, she was back within four walls, in an environment that was neither too hot nor too cold being as carefully controlled as a space station. Some preferred it that way, but she would rather live with the whims of nature. Anything else made her soft.
A page greeted her at the door and bowed. Her left ear twitched in annoyance, but she inclined her head. It wouldn’t do to deny the gesture. The page was correct to bow. It wasn’t her fault that Khiann preferred a well-earned salute over groveling.
“Commander Khiann, Lady Xoa, the High Commander requires your presence,” the little thing parroted.
“One name is sufficient,” she said crisply. “I will find him. You are dismissed.”
The page bowed, nose scraping her shins before she made herself scarce. Khiann watched until she disappeared around a corner. She’d planned to submit a thorough report first, but it seemed she wasn’t so lucky.
High Commander Afit’s office was overwhelmed with greenery. Blue vines crept up the north wall, with the occasional white blossom straining toward the window. Hanging plants effectively lowered the ceiling by several feet, and Khiann had to step carefully or hit her head on the pottery. Afit’s workstation was clear of anything resembling work.
He watched as a gardener pruned the plants at the window, sipping a cup of Yarbrew. He waved Khiann in when he saw her step into the open doorway. He didn’t look at her, and that was how she knew she was in trouble.
The gardener gathered up the collected trimmings and hurried out of the office, bowing her head to avoid Khiann’s eyes. When they were alone, Afit drained the last of his brew.
Khiann walked in and stood to the left of the empty chair, her hands clasped behind her back.
“You wanted to see me, High Commander?”
“Lady Xoa. It is always a pleasure to see you.” He still hadn’t looked at her.
“It is as much an honor as always,” Khiann replied in kind. His cheek twitched, but without eye contact, the emotion behind it was hard to read.
“Enough. I have received word of your mission. Is it true that you permitted humans on the surface of Ixhoi?”
Her left hand’s grip on the right tightened. She wanted to protest his word choice, but she knew better than to fight that battle. There was a more important one ahead.
“I believed the dragon would prevent them. I was unprepared when it did not.”
His ears curled in contempt. “Humans are the enemy, Xoa. Any action they even think of taking must be thwarted at any cost. That is your duty.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Now tell me what happened on the surface.”
Khiann hesitated for a fraction of a second. Her field reports would have arrived ahead of her. Afit would know of her failure already. This was an attempt to shame her further. She would answer because he was her commander, but she wouldn’t own any more shame than what she deserved.
“I found the humans after they had already breached the walls of the city. They explored its buildings and entered its Astral Plane to sabotage the city’s workings.”
“Did they succeed?”
“To my knowledge, they only managed to turn on the lights. They were too inept to do more.”
Afit tapped his chin with his first two fingers
. His ears curled reflexively, then snapped back open. After the silence became uncomfortable, he twirled his fingers at her in a silent order. Go on.
“I raised a mind fog to slow and confuse them, but they reached the temple and stole its treasure.”
“Not the Key.” Afit’s voice was flat. It wasn’t a question. He was imposing his reality on the world. It was a terrible pity that it wouldn’t work that way.
“Yes. The Key.”
“Not the Key that is the last known of its kind? The one that was under guard by our ancient enemy until the humans took it from you?” Afit’s words were accompanied by a spray of moisture. Still, she didn’t flinch when he walked into her space and leaned in.
“I know I have failed—” she began.
“You have worse than failed. You have betrayed your world with your incompetence. I should have you arrested.”
That was a step too far. She drew herself up, eyes narrowed as she moved into his space, forcing him to take a step back. It was one thing to take a dressing down. It was another to put himself so completely above her.
“You accuse me of treason, Afit? You?” she hissed. “My family has been at the Archon’s right hand since the Descent. I follow your commands, but I will not accept your attempts to make me less. Who are you to call me a traitor?”
His lips drew back in a snarl, revealing his sharpened teeth. His left incisor was polished gold. If he were to break his flesh using that false tooth, he would die in agony in seconds. That was the price the low born paid if they wished to rise in the ranks. He lived on the edge of death and would step over the precipice if ordered by one of sufficient rank.
She stared at the tooth, before locking eyes with her commanding officer. His pale skin lost its color, and he looked away. He may have been in charge of her, but he was not her superior. She let him have his pound of flesh, but that would be all. Now was the time to move forward.
“Your pardon, Commander. Your failure is my own. I take full responsibility.”
“If you insist, High Commander.”
She stepped back and allowed him to compose himself. It only took a moment, and she used that time to calm her own mind. When he faced her again, she stood at attention to await his order.
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