by E L Strife
“Kyras?” Yari didn’t know where the panic came from, only that she didn’t like the way he said it.
“We’ll get you both up to speed on that soon enough. For now, Yari, you’re with me.” Azure started for the main hangar. “You have good skills for a trainee. I think you will pick this up fast, which is what I’m looking for. We need all the help we can get.”
Yari glanced one last time at Johna. I will check in with you soon.
“I’m fine.” His eyes locked on hers—now a smoldering, robust blue. “Hurry.” Before I change my mind.
Chapter 48
EARTH WAS TEARING itself apart, filling Azure with doubt over the upcoming Kyra battle. Even after supposed decades of peace, Earth’s kind couldn’t pull together for the common reason of survival.
Because Linétens were disrupting order again.
Azure rubbed a hand over his face. He was crouched on the floor of a collector, reworking connections in a server panel. It was a tedious process.
He had never known a Linéten that wasn’t Verros. In his mind, the terms were interchangeable. No species liked them. They were conceited and destroyed countless civilizations in their path, like Suanoa. Linétens might be brazen where the Suanoa were mulish and calculated. But from what he’d seen, the two were seeds of the same rotten Brocanip.
Azure grinned in a malicious digression. I’d love to put both of you on a planet and let you duke it out, save us the trouble and the heartache. He snorted under his breath. Ehrun.
After the nuclear threat was neutralized, Atana had remained in the lab with Tanner, studying Kyra info from the Suanoan computer download. Bennett and Cutter were preparing tactical strategies, and the doku were training the newest pilot recruits, including Yari.
With the destruction of the aggressive Linéten zone and the Pacific zone housing whatever it was they wanted, Command had freed up more resources and shepherds to help in the bays. It made the copious tasks move quicker as he doled them out, freeing him up to work on the crucial reprogramming in peace.
Sliding the crystalline server back into its place in the collector fuselage, Azure shook his head. On Agutra, survivors transitioning to slavery went one of two ways. Quick snap, unable to handle the concept of the cage, or strong at first, broken over time. Those born in the fields knew nothing else. To them, the torture, overworking, and constant fear was innately acceptable. Unless they’re like Imara and watched their entire family be murdered.
And Kios.
Earth didn’t have the same stressors. They valued appearances, hiding all their species as one for the sake of peace because they were unable to set aside their differences. Azure couldn’t wrap his head around it.
Sighing through his nose, the world tipped, and he had to brace himself against the wall. I need sleep.
“What is wrong?” Teek asked, looking up from module rack he had pulled out on the floor, the citrine glass panels highlighting the front of his blue coveralls.
Azure studied Teek’s saffron eyes. I’m so glad he can’t hear my thoughts. Innocents carry our hope with their optimism. Without them, we fall apart. “Have you found the mid-level module for the imperial ring registry?”
“Not yet.” Teek slid another subpanel out and scanned it with one of his handmade gadgets. “Thirty-eight more to check.” The teen had grown particularly quiet after watching the zone wars earlier that day. Azure wondered if he should’ve shielded him from it, sent him away with a task instead. He hadn’t because this was life, and Teek needed to not feel like Atana and Bennett did with their command.
Azure’s legs ached when he forced them to straighten. “I am going to crash. Let me know if you find anything.”
“Tsu, Martiis,” Teek muttered.
Azure stopped on the ramp. “How is your tail?”
“Fine.” Teek curled the bandaged end around his feet, not looking away from his task.
“Maybe Lavrion could look at it.”
“It is fine.” Teek’s tucked up body shivered. He tilted a transparent panel forward with a pick, reaching his scanner in between. Red dots spun circles over the glass.
Azure softened his voice. Teek never wanted to be told to stop. “You are crashing.”
The young male shook his head, pointed ears drooping. “I am not done.”
Shaking hands meant mistakes. Needing a distraction, Azure resorted to the gentlest, indirect method they used on Agutra—teaching languages—forcing Teek to stop and pay attention. “Ahna tus lian. Niema, avi. You need sleep. Please, go.”
He dropped his arms in a huff but respectfully responded in like fashion to the wish of his elder. “Yan il sim mocohas. This is my purpose.” He sniffled, gesturing at the panel. “Sim vi siisa tahtu yan! I am good doing this!”
“Tsu.” Azure leaned against the hull, resting without giving away how weak he was. “Li tiisa mitron lian im nux amah marra vimora. A strong protector rests and fights in his day.”
Teek growled and slid the module back in its place, tossing his tools in his bag. He stumbled to his feet, stalking toward the ramp, glaring at the floor like a child in trouble.
Azure had never seen him so angry and moved into Teek’s path, grabbing his arms when he tried to storm around him. “What has you so upset, my friend? Please, open to me.”
“I want to win. I tired of being afraid!” Teek’s narrowed eyes welled up with dancing crimson waters.
“Tsu, Teek. Sim ku. I know. Sim sutannes. I’m sorry.” Azure pulled him into his chest, rustling a large hand through the fur on Teek’s head. He let the teen cry into his shoulder until the tears ran dry and his body stopped jolting from the sobs, returning to its weary trembling.
Teek had no family, no story. Chamarel simply found his bundled form stashed in a cluster of trees on the rocky hill in their sector. He was a teenager thrown into the responsibilities of the adult world, without knowing much of what childhood felt like. Even Azure knew what it was like to be spun in circles by his father in the grass outside their hut on Vioras, to play in the river with his pet Uri, and smell the sweet aroma of his mother making Dulashiki. The memory of its buttery crunch made his mouth water. He’d been collected at seven years old.
Teek had awoken from the womb to the nightmare of Agutra.
“Avi lian,” Azure said softly.
The young Simmaro shuffled out of the bay through the main doors. Azure closed the collector ramp and followed Teek’s path some minutes later. Passing Sergeant Tiisan on the way out, he caught the wary look in his eyes. Inside the station, a sergeant stopped in the hallway, asking if he needed help.
He looked to the darkened splotches on his shirt. “Oh, no. Simmaro cry red. My blood is blue.”
She paused, letting the concept sink in, then continued on her previous trajectory.
Pushing the door open to Atana’s room, Azure found it empty. Must still be in the lab.
He sat and pulled off his boots, socks, and shirt. Their fabric was soft, but it didn’t breathe like the open weaves of Agutra clothing. He felt almost suffocated by them.
Flopping back on the bed, he rolled onto his side and stared at the reflection of his radiant eyes in the brushed steel walls. Everyone was falling apart around him, and it made him wonder how things were in the sky.
Imara is coming soon. I can ask her.
His wristband beeped. Lifting his arm, he looked at the screen. Atana’s face smiled back at him.
“Hi,” he mumbled through a smile.
“We’re almost done here. I’ll be at the room in a few minutes.”
“Okay.”
He saw Tanner lift a tablet and point at something. She nodded and sent him away, out of view.
Azure loved watching her. She had filled out, now full of tantalizing life. Her mahogany waves swung from her ponytail when she turned to shout an order at someone else. So glossy and smooth compared to dreads. He admired her plump lips, no longer peeling and cracked from dehydration. Her eyes are so bright and attentive,
less anger in them.
“Azure.” She said his name again.
“Huh? Sorry.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “You need anything—food, water?”
He shook his head. “Just you.”
She tensed. “Hush.” Raising the wristband closer to her, she gave him a private wink. “See you soon.”
“Can’t wait.” The screen flickered back to his biological stats. His heart rate and adrenaline saturation were up, his oxygen saturation low. Unlike on Agutra, he knew he could hold off to find food, specifically meat, until the morning. He frowned, the familiar clawing of hunger in his belly. Counting the rivets in the ceiling panels, he fought to stay awake until she returned. Sleep won the battle without much effort, and Azure was sucked into another horrid flicker from his past.
Why wouldn’t his legs move faster? The glint of paired blades had him sprinting after Imara, hoping to catch the Linoan stalking her before it got a swing in. His body jerked from furious desperation, aching hunger, and fear as he thrust himself with every last bit of energy down the corridor.
“Imara, behind you!”
Something graced his sweating forehead with the lightness of a strand of hair. Drenched in cold sweat, he quaked and felt arms secured around him. Every breath felt like lifting a boulder with his chest. An unidentifiable sound slipped through his clenched teeth. He blinked his burning eyes open to the stripes on her chest.
“I’m here, Azure,” Atana cooed in his ear, rubbing a comforting hand over his back. “I’m here.”
—Imara—
Chapter 49
IMARA!
She glanced behind her in the hallway outside the Jesiar fields.
What is it? Rimsan’s flumes spiked outwards as he scoured the metal shaft with her, casting indigo light over the walls.
Imara shook her head. Taking a deep breath, she continued her patrol of the halls with a Warruk’s weapon in her hands.
You need to stop thinking about him. Rimsan curled his tentacle-like strands in against his back.
Her glare was a gentle warning. You spend twelve long cycles working with them, and then they’re gone. It is not an easy adjustment. She snorted. How are your kiatna recovering? Was Healer Cutashk able to visit and help Saema Miush?
He neared a corner and peeked out. Yes. We are grateful for his assistance. He also brought four of his maintenance workers to help with repairing the irrigation system that was flooding out the bottom level.
Imara smiled, fingering a bead in her hair. Hydro-post seven.
Yes, how’d you know?
It breaks a lot. Have any of your crews gone back to work?
Several are tending to the propulsion systems. Fix one thing, only to discover it is broken somewhere down the line. Rimsan snuck out into the hallway. I hope we can find ourselves a compatible planet soon.
Agreed. Imara followed behind. We will need fresh resources soon. The water filtration systems for our neighboring sectors need to be scrubbed, and we haven’t much salt left in food storage.
A faint amber glow bounced down a corridor. Rimsan grabbed her arm, pulling her into him. His flumes uncurled from his back, bowling forward around their bodies. The luminous indigo-and-black bubble solidified in an instant. Fiery shots lit the hall, skipping off Rimsan’s shield.
When the assault stopped, Imara lifted her gun. Rimsan’s flumes shifted to accommodate her arm through the barrier. She sent four blasts barreling after the retreating assailants.
Imara stepped to charge after them when a strong, long-fingered hand caught her elbow.
What are you doing? She snapped.
It’s a trap. Rimsan gestured around the corner. I encountered it last cycle while patrolling with Varyn. They pick a split junction, shoot on one side and backtrack until they’re behind you as you follow them. The Linoans are faster and getting more thoughtful because they know they’re near the end.
We took out the last Warruk bunker a half-cycle after the ongkrat. What is the Linoan status?
His flumes curled back to wave like arced wings under water, rippling and pulsing with indigo light. Last den was infiltrated early this cycle. Two crews got away.
There are eight left? she asked.
That we know of. His head swayed to the side, listening.
Rimsan, where is Imara?
Amianna? Imara looked around Rimsan’s arm to the hall junction on her right. The blood-orange light appeared again from the direction they were headed. Get back!
Rockets lit up the metal hall. Rimsan encased the girls inside his lifting shield and tensed for impact. A shower of luminous, indigo mist fell over Imara’s head. The amount suggested multiple flumes had disintegrated. She flinched behind his partial cover, Amianna’s quickly compensating.
He cried out, quivering eyes squeezing shut.
Imara took his face in her hands while Amianna took to the defense. “Can you fight?”
Rimsan pursed his lips and nodded through a rasping breath. I have enough left for Kilavi.
When the barrage paused, magenta flumes withdrew from them, and Amianna turned to face their assailants. She cupped the strands around her body to a point in front of her chest. The pulses of light from her spine tracked through her flumes to the bulbous tips, building into one electrified mass. Jagged lines split her cheeks with light, her eyes narrowed in fury.
Globs of whirling flames ejected in rapid succession.
Spinning back to back with Amianna, Rimsan followed suit, releasing weaker indigo fire down the opposite end of the hall. Imara stood cornered against the wall, their bold strands shooting to either side. They were in her way, but she could see the corridor Amianna had come from. A disturbing shift in the shadows coupled with an energy-draining fog made her slowly draw the throwing knives from her belt.
She closed her eyes to adjust to the darkness. “Break!”
Pushing apart, Amianna and Rimsan continued their assaults, orange return fire ricocheting off their shields. Imara bolted between their backs and lifted her eyelids in the hallway. Four Linoans bounded toward them. Typical.
Pairing a set of blades in her right hand, she slung them at the Linoan advancing on her right. One buried in its forehead. The second clattered to the floor.
Imara took the last two in her hands, lunged off the wall, and thrust herself over the Linoan advancing on her left. She rammed their points into its upper back, using the handles for leverage. Landing on the floor, she flung the Linoan’s lighter body over her head, blocking punches from the third. Ripping her throwing knives out, she deposited the second’s lighter form on the third, crumpling it beneath. She bolted at the fourth.
It swung a fist, and she ducked, jabbing a knife between the paired blades, burying her sharp tip through its fingers, splitting his palm in two. Screeching, it threw the other fist, which she countered with the same action before releasing a war cry and ramming her forehead against its nose.
With a crunch, the Linoan collapsed.
The third had freed itself and regained ground. Imara tried to twist her blades free but found them stuck. As the third reached for her, she darted to the side, finding footing on a pipe, and hopped up into the ceiling trusses.
It looked up as she swung. Her bare heel caved in its face. It stumbled back, and she dropped to her feet.
Picking up the one throwing knife on the floor, she took a long step, increasing the momentum of her throw. The metal released from her fingers, burying in one of the Linoan’s eye sockets.
For good measure, she grabbed each Linoan by the head, snapping the neck with a vindictive twist then tugged her blades from the bodies. It was the only time she enjoyed the sloshing sounds of bloody, torn flesh.
The firefight came to an end, and the Primvera joined her.
Amianna scanned the soppy figures in the hall. Always the face?
Yes, Rimsan answered to Imara’s relief. She didn’t want to revisit the memory of her family’s death in detail, ever again.
T
hat’s twelve. Rimsan’s flumes twitched in consternation. More than we thought.
Guess some are hiding. Imara wiped the knives on her fibrous, home-spun shirt and slid them into the slots on her belt. Veriisaht ehrun.
Maybe we need to change up the schedule because we’ve become predictable, Rimsan suggested.
Imara tapped one of Amianna’s flumes when they headed back for the sector. What did you come find us for, alone? Where is Daquet?
Her strand cowered away. Amianna cocked her head in Imara’s direction but didn’t flinch. He did not survive his injuries from last cycle.
Rimsan hustled up beside her, inadvertently pushing Imara to the rear of the pack. He was an honorable Prime, served you well. She watched as he inspected a bandage on Amianna’s arm. Who is guarding you now?
No one. Amianna glanced at Imara. Parula is working with Giko’s guard team, and she was my last sector guard. I am requesting permission to go to the surface with the next collector as part of the propulsion crews. They are sending supplies from Earth at the half-cycle. If Martiisa permits.
They stalled outside a food storage container, enjoying the jubilant voices of other guards and workers now echoing worry-free through its interior.
Imara noted Rimsan was glaring at Amianna. “I know Paramor needs your skills repairing a few more things. I have to go, something about fighting Linétens. A few others have been requested, those familiar with collectors. Let me think about it.”
“Tsu Martiisa.” Amianna gave a terse nod and spun on her toes.
Rimsan grabbed her arm. “You’re not going there because of the sergeant, are you?”
Amianna’s look of surprise dropped to an illuminating glower. “It’s not your concern.” She jerked free from his grasp. “I can help our kiatna adapt the technology. It is its own language.”
“How can you find him attractive?” Rimsan snorted. “You’re a Prime. You need to be with a Prime. Deserve to be.”
Her flumes spiked in disagreement. “Remmi doesn’t make judgments or assumptions. He takes things the way they are, good or bad. He helped give us this freedom!”