I felt Jervonis’ holy wrath fill me with energy. “You are whatever our God deems you to be. Right now, that means taking care of these children and not drinking yourself into a stupor.”
“Screw you Osiris. Who named you the prophet of Jervonis?”
“He did.” I flipped the toe of my boot under the glass bottle that had fallen and kicked it up into the air. I caught it with one hand and brought it down on Serph’s head. He stumbled backward for a moment, one hand pressed to the wound on his head. When he pulled his hand away it was bloody. His eyes focused and then grew hard as he charged at me. I swiped another bottle from the table as I spun out of his clumsy attack. As he passed, I stuck out a foot that sent him sprawling onto the hard cavern floor.
Serph flipped onto his back just in time to see me break the bottle I had picked up against the edge of the table. Before he could move, I landed on him, straddling his chest and pinning his arms to the ground with my legs. “You will do as Jervonis commands.” I brought the jagged bottle down on his left eye. His screams filled the room as I pulled the bottle free. “Or there will be retribution.” Disgusted with his screaming and the crying children, I reached into my belt and pulled out a tiny shockstick. I stood up and shocked Serph in the chest until he lay still.
Turning slowly around, I looked at the cages of wailing children and slipped the shockstick back into the loop on my belt. “Do not be afraid, children.” I made a motion with both of my hands that they should calm down. “This man has failed you. He has failed our God. I will see to it that you are given everything that you need to be fulfilled.”
Turning away from the unconscious man on the ground I started to leave the room. Once I was outside and the door was closed, I activated my comm. “Serph has let us all down. Send someone down here to clean up the mess and four of the acolytes to see to the needs of the children.”
“It will be as you command, Osiris,” A voice responded.
Good. At least someone around here got the bigger picture. We all had to sacrifice if we wanted this to go off without a hitch. The reward was the return of our planet to the people and the raising of our God from the underworld. “See that when Serph is deemed fit by our healers that he is sent for re-education.”
“As you wish.”
The man probably wasn’t still fit to be a brother, but I would let Jervonis make that decision once he awakened. Until then, I would make sure that everything went according to plan. I didn’t care how many of my brothers I had to harm to see this through. We should be working as one mind, one heart. Instead, some had fallen into the trappings of this realm. Drinking, fornicating, eating until they were so fat they could barely walk. None of which pleased our God. All of that was over now. Jervonis was coming.
Chapter 12
Drake
When I walked back into the bungalow, the mood was subdued. The lights had been dimmed. The music was low, and everyone was standing out on the patio watching the sunset over the ocean. In the other room, I could see the chef putting the final touches on dinner. I wasn’t sure if I should tell everyone what was going on with Ice or if I should let them enjoy one last meal before things got hectic again.
Slipping my arm around Maze’s waist, I looked down into her eyes and leaned in for a small kiss. She knew something was wrong, and her eyes danced with questions that she didn’t ask. I turned my gaze away from her and back out over the water. It really was peaceful here, maybe I had underestimated how much a little downtime could do for the soul.
The sun slipped under the waves, and the lights of our bungalow grew a little brighter. Ice wasn’t back yet, something Kyra had noticed. I motioned for Maze to go inside as I head for my spunky little sparkplug.
“Jeez, Captain. Couldn’t you have put her to work after dinner?”
I pulled Kyra in close for a hug before responding. “She had some family stuff come up and wanted to be alone for a bit.”
“Family stuff? We’re the only family she has.”
“Damn straight we are. This had something to do with her little brother back home.”
“Little brother?” Kyra looked completely shocked.
It seemed I wasn’t the only one taken by surprise at that little factoid. “Yeah, I had no idea. She never talks about her life before she joined the Talon.”
“I know what you mean, Captain. How can I love her so much and know so little about her?” Kyra asked, her eyes starting to look misty.
I gave her another quick squeeze. “You know enough. You know about her heart, you know that she loves you.”
Kyra smiled at that. Her eyes closed briefly, and she was obviously thinking of a personal moment between the two of them. When her eyes opened, she smiled. “Thanks, Captain.”
“That’s what I’m here for. Now let’s go dig into this meal, and after I’m too fat to stand up, I’m going to find a way to waddle back out here and smoke some of this hash I told Ice about.”
“You better not smoke it without her, or she’s going to be pissed.” Kyra laughed.
“Damn straight, I will,” Ice scoffed, walking out onto the deck.
“Well, it seems as though you made it back in plenty of time.” I gave her a quick smile and walked back into the bungalow. Casting a quick glance over my shoulder showed the two of them locked in an embrace. I could see that tears were falling again, and I knew we would probably be ending our vacation early. I was so ready for that this afternoon, and now I just wished we could have stayed in this moment a little longer.
The rest of the crew was already gathered around the semicircular table. The chef was standing on the other side making the plates as we settled in. I took my seat at the table and Maze slid a beer in my direction.
“Want to tell me what all of that was about?” she asked while pointing in the direction of the deck.
“It’s Ice’s story to tell, but I don’t think she will leave you in the dark for long.”
Maze clinked her beer against mine. “Whatever it is, we’ll get through it together.”
“Because we’re family.” I turned away from her to look at what the chef had put together for us tonight. I had to say when I first arrived I thought it would be all seafood and veggies, but our chef had quickly come to realize we weren’t those kinds of people. Tonight it looked as if we had some kind of steak, with twice baked potatoes. The chef had also put together some lobster tails with crab legs, and now he was putting the finishing touches on some kind of soup and filets from the fish Gabe caught earlier.
“Arigato, my man. If you ever get tired of working at a fancy place like this, just let me know.”
“Thank you, Mr. Drake, but this is my home.”
“I can see that I won’t be able to sway you so easily. What if I were to say offer an additional perk? Samantha, over there, is single.” I pointed at her with my knife. Arigato followed my gaze, and I laughed as both of their cheeks burned with color. I could see Samantha was pissed, but before she could talk I added, “Just kidding, Arigato. You’ve actually got to keep an eye on her. Despite those beautiful looks, her bite is actually worse than her bark.” Samantha glared at me to let me know she was no dog, and then playfully snapped her mouth closed in a bite before turning to look out at the deck.
I waited for Arigato to focus back on me. “But if you ever find yourself looking for a low paying job that often has wild and dangerous adventures, just give me a call.”
Arigato politely laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind.” I could already tell he wasn’t going to do anything of the sort.
Ice settled into the chair next to me. “You have to watch out for this one too. Captain’s always pulling on things he shouldn’t be.”
“She meant legs. I’m good at pulling legs.” I tried to defend myself, but it just came out sounding worse than if I said nothing at all.
Maze turned and spat some of her beer out as laughter erupted around the table. I laughed right along with them. Our poor chef looked a little red in the ch
eeks as he tried to keep his own laughter at bay. Damn, I thought we might have finally cracked his steely exterior. While he didn’t laugh with us, there was a twinkle in his eye as he started to serve Ice and Kyra. I gave Ice what I hoped was my best Captain’s not happy glare, but she shrugged it off.
“What? It’s true,” Ice said with a smile.
“So are you going to fill us in on what took you so long to get back?” Samantha asked from across the table. “Please tell me he didn’t have you working the whole time.”
“Nothing like that, but we should talk about it after we enjoy dinner.” Ice tried to sound light-hearted but failed.
Samantha just rose one eyebrow in question and then looked between us. I tried to send her a mental note that everything was ok. I hoped that we still had enough of a bond for her to pick up on it. She turned to laugh at something Gabe said. They clinked their glasses together and smiled. It was good to see them getting along after they had gotten off to such a rocky start. Everyone turned their minds towards their food, and the room grew silent.
We finished dessert and all of us moved out to the deck with our drinks. Maze and I moved all the chairs around so we were sitting in a semi-circle looking out at the water. The sound of the waves washing against the pylons under the bungalow was calming. The lights on the top of the deck covered us all in a gentle blue glow. The food was doing its work, and I could almost hear my bed calling to me. Before we could go to sleep Ice had to tell us what was going on.
She looked nervous, and I had just the thing to help her calm down enough to get out her story. I placed my jar of hash on the table after loading my own vaporizer and made a motion for everyone to help themselves. Soon the patio was awash in the smell of the plants the hash had been harvested from. The vapor drifted out over the ocean and Kyra snuggled herself against Ice. Ice looked up hesitantly at first, but after meeting all of our eyes she looked a little more confident.
“I’ll try and make a long story short. I need to go home,” Ice said.
“How about you share a longer version of the story?” Gabe quipped.
Ice’s shoulders slumped, and she stared at the floor. “I can’t ask all of you to come with me. There were some problems with the way I left, and there is no easy way to say this, but I’m considered a wanted fugitive there.”
Laughter floated around our little circle. “Ice, we’re all criminals. Shit, I’m wanted on at least nine planets, but they can’t officially touch me because of our association with the guild. Guild business supersedes the laws on most planets. All except the core worlds, really.” I let a little chuckle escape, thinking about the work we did on the core planets regardless of the laws. You couldn’t call yourself a smuggler if you always hid under the skirt of the guild.
Ice didn’t look up, but her shoulders heaved. “People died, Drake, and I can’t help but feel more than a little responsible for what happened. If I go back and they arrest me, I’m never getting off that planet again.
“I don’t know if you know this about me, Ice, but I’ve killed my fair share of people. It’s never easy, but sometimes it has to be done.” That kind of quieted everyone down. “Oh, and if you ever went to prison, don’t think for a second that we wouldn’t find a way to bust you out.” Ice gave me a brief smile. I could tell that she knew I was telling the truth. We would always come for her, no matter what.
Her smile didn’t last for long as her expression quickly turned dour.. “But Maze and you were soldiers. Gabe was a freaking enforcer. Shit, even Richard only used a blaster when it came to killing pirates. And Samantha, well, she was created by the government and sanctioned for those kills.”
Ice looked out at the water, avoiding our gazes. “The men that died when I left home were good men, company men. They were just trying to do their jobs. It should never have happened.”
“I didn’t always just kill the men they told me to. Some people just deserve to die, and some that die don’t. All we can do is try to do things the right way. It isn’t always easy, and it doesn’t always work out, but we have to try.” Samantha took a sip from her glass and gazed over the ocean.
“But it’s different when you had a bomb put inside of your head.” Ice smiled, but she looked bitter about it.
“Oh the bomb was a convenient excuse when I had to kill for them, but it wasn’t the only reason I did it. Trust me when I tell you, you aren’t the only one with dirty hands,” Samantha said.
Ice looked up, and I was sure she could see all of us nodding our heads in agreement. Life was rough out in the black. Sometimes you had to kill to stay alive, sometimes you had to kill because it was part of a job. Nothing was ever freely given out here, and once you had a little something squirreled away it made you a target for others.
“The people that died when I left,” she lowered her head again, and Kyra took her hand in hers and held it tight as Ice started to sob, “they were just working class people. Marcus promised me no one would get hurt, but he was lying.”
I knew there was no way she would stop blaming herself for what happened, at least not tonight. Maybe in time she would realize that you couldn’t control everything. Sometimes bad things happened to good people. “Tell us why you need to go home. I’ve got a few ideas about how to get around the you’re not welcomed back problem.”
Kyra let go of Ice’s hand and climbed into the chair with her. They shuffled around for a moment to get comfortable and then Ice started to talk. “It’s my brother, he’s been kidnapped.”
“Well then what are we still doing here?” Maze said. “Let’s go get him back.”
“Fuck yeah!” Gabe shouted. “Whoever took him is going to be sorry.”
Samantha just nodded. Something was obviously on her mind. It was tough for me since our bond had faded, but I could still feel a little of what she was thinking. Her silence didn’t cover the swirl of emotions that I felt coming from her now. She wanted to be turned loose. She wanted to hurt whoever dared lay a finger on her friend’s brother. I knew how she felt, I felt the same way.
“You know all of us are here for you, no matter what,” Kyra said. “I love you just the way you are.”
Ice started sobbing. I tried to bring the conversation back into the realm of what I was more comfortable with. That meant no women crying if it could be avoided. “Well, I guess it’s a good thing we went to check on the Talon today, since she’ll be back in the black tonight.” I looked around waiting to see how my statement affected everyone. No one looked angry that we would be leaving early. In fact, they looked ready to spring into action. “Let’s grab our gear and get the hell out of here.”
Gabe walked over and put a hand on Ice’s shoulder. He patted it a few times. “Don’t worry, we’ll get him back.”
Ice watched him go, an expression of shock on her face. Gabe wasn’t much for emotions. Shit, he wasn’t one for doing anything that didn’t bring him cold hard credits, but even he had a family back home. I’d done a little prying, and despite his boasting and his facade of only caring about himself, he still sent money to his family every time we got paid. Family was all that we had, so all of us had to look out for each other.
Richard was the next to leave. He pulled Ice into a warm hug and whispered something into her ear. They exchanged a look for a moment and then hugged again before he left the room. The Doc was a good man. I didn’t know what he said, but it would have been from the heart. You really couldn’t ask for much more than that.
Maze stood up. “I’ll get our stuff put together.”
Samantha pulled Ice into another hug. If the poor girl didn’t get out of here soon people were going to hug her to death. “I’ll get the ship ready to depart.”
Kyra gave her a kiss. “Don’t you worry about a thing, I’ve got this.” She took off in the direction of their room.
Ice looked at me, her expression almost one of disbelief. “So we’re really going to do this? Everyone really wants to go and help find my brother?” She shook h
erself for a moment, coming to grips with the reality of it.
“Never doubt it,” I growled.
“Now that’s the growly captain I’ve come to know and love.” She laughed as if a weight had just rolled off of her shoulders. “So what’s your idea about getting me back on the planet safely?”
“We just need to have someone put up a contract. Doesn’t really matter for what. Local law enforcement doesn’t hold precedence over a current mercenary contract.”
“That’s brilliant, Captain, but you don’t know these people like I do. They aren’t likely to let a contract get in the way of them making a play for me.”
“Well then, we’re just going to have a little extra fun.”
“Let’s not try and start a war. The company that owns the planet has deep pockets, and the local law, despite claims of being impartial, work directly for them. We have to tread lightly here, Cap, or we will have a whole planet rallying against us.”
If that didn’t put things in a whole new perspective, there wasn’t a lot that would. I couldn’t have a whole planet gunning for my team, but I’d be damned if I was going to let them take Ice. “Well, you are pretty damn good at creating new idents. How long has it been since you’ve been home?”
“Ten years.”
“Probably won’t be too many people that recognize you right away. Maybe get with Samantha and Kyra and see if they have any ideas on how to alter your appearance just a bit.”
“I was due for a haircut anyway,” Ice said with a smile. She had a mischievous look in her eyes that told me something was up.
“Let’s head back to the ship. We’ve got a rescue to plan.”
Chapter 13
Drake
I listened to Ice talk with her old friend Sally Kim. After a little back and forth and some laughter, it sounded like she was willing to help us. Ice looked at me as she continued to speak with her friend. I gave Maze the signal, and she sent the transfer through to Sally’s account. Ice laughed again, and I watched my screen waiting for the contract to show up. The last thing we needed was some other outfit trying to grab the contract before we could.
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