by Smith, S. E.
Then soft lips were on hers and there was nothing else. She moved with him, a dizzying tingle of electricity zipping through her, heat rising to her skin, intense enough she thought her clothes might be scorched off.
He broke contact with a smile, amused by her thoughts. “I have seen you naked.”
Embarrassment swept away her arousal, but only just so. “That’s not fair.”
His glowing gaze studied her face and she caught glimpses of what he was thinking. He was marveled by her skin. Beautiful, smooth, deep amber skin.
“You like my skin?” In the span of a few moments, she was aroused, embarrassed, and now self-conscious. What was this man doing to her?
His thumb brushed over her lips. “Yes, but that isn’t all I love about you.”
Lyra felt her eyes widen. If the kiss wasn’t already a confession of how he felt, his words left no doubt.
Her heart felt full, like she found something she thought she’d never have. Mind made up, she said. “I don’t want to leave if you’re not coming with me.”
Sadness and regret wound its way into her full heart as A’ryk cupped her face in both hands. His mouth opened, about to say something. There was an inhale of breath right before words would come out—
He doubled over as searing heat eclipsed him.
Lyra was confused for a second. This was not the searing heat she’d just felt. One more second and she caught movement, just outside the periphery of her mind’s eye. I am the ship.
And then it was just her, seemingly free-floating in space. Her and a human fighter, and a much larger colonist ship.
The fighter was speeding towards her, weapons ablaze. She twisted to the left, pain exploding from her right as a laser bolt nicked her right shoulder. Then she was back in the ship, the whole thing turned on its left side, shuddering as the weapon fire grazed its right wing.
A’ryk became a flurry of movement, a percussion of energy pushing outwards, optic cables releasing her, all awareness of everything happening outside the ship vanishing. All awareness of A’ryk vanishing.
She found herself on the floor, sliding to a halt against the bulkhead. Heart skipping in panic, she twisted to find him. A’ryk was still there, connected to the ship, body aglow with electricity as her stomach suddenly lurched.
8
Needing full control, A’ryk broke the connection with Lyra. Sending the ship in a nosedive, he called for a safety harness to wrap around her. She yelped as fiber optics rose from the floor, weaving to keep her from bouncing around the confines of the room.
The fighter veered off, most likely called back to the colonist ship. Knowing human combatant resources, they’d come after him on the ground.
A’ryk snarled. Dammit, they were too late. He allowed his personal interests to distract him. Yet—
Making eye contact with Lyra, he knew H’tch was right; there was no doubt who she was. Denying it any longer would be too painful. Was losing his home worth it to find his bonded mate? But he didn’t deserve a mate.
Knowing what H’tch would have to say about, he tried opening the bond with the mogha and felt nothing. Anger replaced concern as he tried again. Either the mogha was dead or unconscious. For the sake of the colonists, it better be the latter.
The humans would be tracking them, so A’ryk flew as close to the ground as he could. So close he twisted between trees, barely dodging rock outcroppings. Good thing Lyra couldn’t see out or she’d be yelling at him for sure.
“What’s happening?” he heard for the fifth time, her voice more sharp each time she said it. “A’ryk, give me one of those viewing disks.” She’d been yelling at him ever since she was safely secured to the bulkhead. “I know you can hear me, dammit.”
Double, triple, and quadruple checking to make sure they weren’t being followed, A’ryk headed for the cave he and the moghas had set up for emergencies, a place for them all to meet if they found themselves separated.
Once inside, the ship powered down, he disconnected. As the restraints holding Lyra unwound themselves, he helped her to her feet.
“Are you even listening to me?” She hadn’t stopped talking, but he had, indeed, stopped listening to her in his concentration of their outside environment.
“No,” he said, walking towards the exit ramp. She was safe. Now he had to get the moghas to safety. Nothing mattered until that was accomplished.
“This is a different cave,” she said.
“There are dozens of caves. If they were able to track us, at least I didn’t just lead them to my domicile.”
As he descended the ramp, a flash of fur and antennae bound up it. K’mi jumped into Lyra’s arms and they both went down with the momentum.
“K’mi!” Lyra yelled, the mogha barking and whining. “She says they have H’tch,” Lyra’s voice matched the alarming jolt of his heart.
“Where? Take me to them.”
K’mi jumped down the ramp, leaving Lyra where she knocked the human down. Said human was on her feet, running down the ramp in under a second.
“You are staying with the ship,” A’ryk’s voice was commanding. He did not want an argument.
“You need me,” Lyra insisted, “to tell you what K’mi is saying.”
“I’ve been on this planet for over a decade, in countless dangers, and have never had a problem communicating with K’mi. You are staying here.”
Lyra’s piercing eyes narrowed on him as if her stare alone would change his mind. Waiting for the ensuing protests, he blinked when none came.
“Fine,” she said.
“Stay on the ship in case they come. They won’t be able to get in.”
He waited for her to ascend the ramp and then reached out to close it.
“I’ll close it,” she said. “Go get H’tch. Hurry!”
Nodding, he chased after K’mi.
* * *
Like hell she was staying with the ship. Lyra waited for them to disappear out of sight, then rushed down the ramp, punching the close button as she hurried to catch up.
Stopping with her back to the wall where they first disappeared, she cautiously looked around the corner. There was a corridor of light and shining ice that led out. She followed, bursting into a grove of trees. Shit. Where was she?
Cold wind bit her face and she was glad she remembered her parka.
Go fifty steps to your right, K’mi’s voice cut into her mind. We just passed the cliff you’ll see from there. Head west.
Grinning, Lyra followed the directions, then more directions as they continued. Always the helpful mogha.
I think he knows you’re following, K’mi said after several bouts of directions.
What? How?
I don’t know, but he keeps looking back and growling. He seems pretty irritated about something behind us. I’m guessing it’s you.
“I told you to stay with the ship,” A’ryk’s voice called from up ahead. Then she heard him snarl to himself. “Should have closed that ramp myself. Tricky, stars-forsaken, human.”
Yup, it’s you, K’mi said.
Lyra pushed from the tree she was hiding behind, stepping into the open. “Since when have I done what you commanded? And you don’t listen to me, I don’t listen to you. See how that works?”
“These are life and death situations,” A’ryk’s hands swatted the air in frustration.
“And crashing on an uninhabitable world, running into you, wasn’t life or death?” Lyra swept her arm out, pointing at the frozen landscape.
“As you’ve already said, already reported, this planet is habitable,” A’ryk said.
“Not if we’re going to convince them otherwise, tell them my report was a mistake.”
A’ryk lowered his head, defeat in his eyes unmistakable, “We can’t convince them. This is a rescue mission. We get H’tch and get out of here.”
Walking up to him, Lyra grabbed his hand, “I’m sorry, A’ryk.”
He stared at her clasping fingers for a moment, squeeze
d, and let go. Then he turned and headed into the woods.
Lyra looked down at her mogha, who looked up at her. “Guess this means I’m coming?”
Well, he can’t stop you, K’mi said.
She grinned, There’s that.
They approached an icy cliff-face, K’mi crawling on her stomach. Lyra and A’ryk followed her lead, stopping at an outcropping of rocks overlooking an open area. Giant ice crystals rose from it like trees.
Lyra froze when she saw H’tch, unconscious, chained to the ground under a slight overhang, next to a colossal ice crystal. Two human males were standing next to him with a third stoking a small fire.
“Damn, this place is cold,” the man at the fire said.
“Wake up, hellhound,” one of the men poked at the mogha with his foot.
A’ryk rose and Lyra grabbed his arm, snatching him back down. “What are you doing? You can’t go down there without a plan.”
“Who says I don’t have a plan?” A’ryk held up his blaster.
Lyra’s mouth fell open. “You’re not going to kill them. You can’t.”
“Not if they don’t make me,” A’ryk said.
“A’ryk, please,” Lyra didn’t want anyone harmed. The war had been over a long time. H’tch was alive. There was no reason to escalate the situation. “They’re just human colonists searching for a home.”
“And I’m just a Korthan refugee getting my mogha back,” A’ryk sneered. “Don’t worry, I’ll ask first.”
As if there weren’t a thousand ways this could go wrong. Lyra wondered if she should just go down there and talk to the men when A’ryk added, “Now stay here this time.”
Shimmying over the edge of the rocks, he landed in a silent crouch. When the men didn’t look in his direction, he sidestepped the perimeter of the open space, hiding behind the ice crystal formations as he approached.
Lyra watched him stride out in full view, the men all turning sharply. “You have something that belongs to me. Give it back and I’ll be on my way.”
Movement all around as half a dozen men seemed to appear out of the landscape, dressed in white, some of them even having rock and ice crystals attached. All of them had weapons pointed at A’ryk. Commandos.
A’ryk’s blaster was in hand faster than her eyes could compute, pointing at each of them in turn. Lyra pulled K’mi close to her body and pressed them both into the rock.
“There you are,” a tall commando with sharp features and white hair said. Lyra could tell that under all those clothes and camouflage was a man that shouldn’t be trifled with.
“We figured this hellhound had a Korthan somewhere. When we got reports of the ship, well—” He pointed at A’ryk.
The tall commando held up a piece of scrap metal from Lyra’s ship. “If you’re going to shoot down human surveyor ships, you have to make sure they didn’t set a beacon.”
“I didn’t shoot down any ships,” A’ryk said.
“Korthan lies,” the man reached out, grabbing A’ryk’s blaster, whose arm outstretched as the weapon was taken. Suddenly the commando spun away, bringing both his weapon and A’ryk’s to bear on the Korthan. “On your knees. Now!”
Lyra did a double take.
“Where is she?” the commando demanded.
“Who?” A’ryk said.
“Don’t play dumb. The surveyor. Her body was not at the crash site.”
Lyra couldn’t stand by any longer. A’ryk shouldn’t be punished for something he didn’t do. “I’m right here,” she called from the outcropping as she stood. K’mi stood beside her.
The collective silent stares as she climbed down with her mogha burned. How was she going to explain this?
She walked between the men to stand beside A’ryk. “He didn’t shoot me down. He saved me.”
The commando curled his lip at K’mi, giving Lyra the most disbelieving look she’d seen on anyone. “You expect me to believe that?”
No one had ever accused her of lying, the insult slapping her hard. “Yes, I expect you to believe it, because it’s true. The fact that I’m standing here is proof.”
“Do you know what this is?” The man lunged forward, grabbing A’ryk’s arm, pulling it forward and stripping up the sleeve before the Korthan could react.
The tattoo of the triangle with a fist was exposed on his forearm. Pulling his arm free, A’ryk swung a punch that contacted with the man’s nose. Blood exploded outwards and the rest of the commandos rushed forward.
“Stand down!” the obvious leader called out from behind his fingers, blood running between them. He pulled out a rag and wiped the blood away, pressing it against his nose. “This is not just a Korthan. He’s of the KCC, a cyborg. He’s killed more children than them all.”
Lyra did not like the sound of that. Her eyes darted at A’ryk, who was visibly seething, chest moving in and out. She didn’t know what was true about the war but at that moment, she felt more loyalty to the man that saved her than the man that just insulted her, never mind who was human or not.
“There’s no such thing as cyborgs,” she said innocently.
Eyes boring into hers, the man flicked his wrist, blood spattering the ground. “He has a ship.” Lyra knew he wasn’t talking to her. “Find it.”
There was flurry of movement as the other commandos rushed to do his bidding. The three humans who were initially with H’tch remained.
“This savage is a war criminal,” the man announced. “By order of Statute 3.1.11, he is under arrest for crimes against humanity.”
9
Now, both A’ryk and K’mi were chained to the ground next to H’tch. A’ryk stroked H’tch’s fur, who seemed to be stirring back into consciousness. Lyra felt relief from K’mi.
“Don’t let him touch that animal,” the commando leader barked.
Lyra gasped as A’ryk was cruelly hauled up and kicked to the icy surface of the ground several meters from the moghas.
“Okay,” the commando was suddenly standing right next to her. Lyra stepped back. “You don’t have anything to fear from me. You’re safe now.” He held out his hand as if she were a caged animal. She felt like snarling like a caged animal. This man had no idea what was really happening here.
“I was plenty safe before,” Lyra said.
“You don’t have to keep pretending,” he said. “You can drop the act and tell me the truth.”
The act? “I am telling the truth.”
“Now that your captor is apprehended, you can tell us where his ship is.”
“I didn’t know he had a ship.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. This man didn’t have to know she found out about the ship later, much less that she actually flew it, was flying it when the colonists first discovered them.
“He shot you down,” the commando insisted.
“He didn’t.”
There was a sudden, very intense feeling of hope. Lyra’s eyebrows knitted. That feeling was not her own. If anything, she felt as hopeless as ever.
3-5-8-2-1.
“Let’s start over,” the man said. “My name is Rod Karson. I’m the Marshall with Colony 7521.” He stuck out his hand.
3-5-8-2-1.
“Two, one,” Lyra repeated, staring at this Rod Karson’s outstretched hand.
“What was that?” he said.
3-5-8-2-1.
Yes, what was that? She was certain she was hearing numbers in her head and now the Marshall was quoting numbers.
Use the code.
K’mi, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Lyra grasped the man’s hand and shook, hoping her hesitation didn’t make her look suspicious. She could never let on that she was hearing one of the moghas.
What do you mean? I didn’t say anything, K’mi said.
3-5-8-2-1.
Those numbers. You just said them again, Lyra said.
No, I didn’t, K’mi whimpered and both Lyra and the Marshall looked at her.
“Marshall Karson. Rod. I’m really tired. I just want to retire
to my tent and rest. I can give you a full accounting of everything that happened later.” Lyra put on her best pleading face, inflecting her voice to match.
Rod put his hands on his hips, “Yes. You’ve been through quite a lot already. I look forward to our talk later, then.”
The Marshall stood in place for a few seconds, finally taking his leave. Lyra let out a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding and headed towards the tent the commandos ‘assigned’ her.
I’m going to figure out how to get us out of this, she said to K’mi.
It’s not looking good, K’mi said.
Maybe there’ll be someone else I can talk to. This Marshall is too set in his ways.
3-5-8-2-1.
K’mi, seriously, I don’t know what that means, Lyra was starting to lose whatever patience she had left.
It means, things aren’t looking good. The tone of K’mi’s voice indicated the mogha might have been losing patience too.
Lyra was confused. No, the other thing. The numbers.
What numbers?
The ones you keep saying over and over. Yup, all patience was gone.
K’mi was silent and Lyra was about to apologize for her exasperation when K’mi said, Does it sound like a code?
You said it was a code.
Oh, that’s not me, that’s A’ryk, K’mi said, matter-of-fact.
Lyra felt all breath leave her body. A’ryk? It’s in my head. Like you’re in my head.
He did put you in the chamber. And you did fly the ship. K’mi said.
The chamber? She remembered the presence in the ship.
Use the code, Lyra. It’s your best chance to escape. As Lyra heard it this time, the voice sounded like A’ryk when she flew—
A’ryk? Is this really you? she said.
I just ask one thing, the voice continued. Take the moghas with you. The humans will execute me first thing, but there’s still time to save the moghas.
Stars, it was A’ryk. Lyra didn’t know she could feel awe and irritation at the same time. Awe that A’ryk was talking in her mind without attachments, irritation he was talking execution. There’s still time to save you, too.