by R. E. Vega
On the other hand, every moment the Defiance stayed here in port, she was a sitting duck. She closed her eyes again, trying to think, but her mind was flooded with images of purple eyes. A shiver moved through her.
She needed to leave. Now.
Her eyes flew open and she grabbed the door, sliding it open again. She’d find her way off this ship and find a way off this planet—even if it meant stowing away or something. She’d do anything to get away.
The only problem? She wasn’t exactly sure where the exit was on this ship. She’d been so nervous and relieved when Dayna led her to this room that she hadn’t been paying attention to which way they were going.
Left, she told herself. She didn’t know how, but something in her gut told her the exit was to the left. The Defiance wasn’t nearly as large as some of the other vessels in Castalia—surely with enough wandering, she’d find her way off this thing.
She walked quickly down the corridor, trying to make as little noise as possible. She’d only met Dayna and the Captain since boarding this ship, and she had no interest in meeting any other members of the crew while making her escape.
Before long, her corridor intersected with another. She had the choice of whether to go left, right, or continue straight, and after a moment’s hesitation, she continued straight.
Somewhere in the distance, she could hear the sound of voices, but she couldn’t tell where they were in relation to her. She kept near the wall and hurried onward.
At the next corridor, she nearly tripped over her own feet. The entire floor was littered with debris—it looked like there’d been some sort of fight here. There was even a streak of blood on one of the walls. She covered her mouth, fighting down nausea as she hurried on. Now she was more determined than ever to get off this ship—and fast.
Footsteps sounded behind her. Her heart leaped into her throat, and her gaze darted around, looking for anywhere she might hide. There was a recessed doorway not far away, and though it didn’t offer complete cover, it was her only option. She ducked into the doorway and pressed her back against it, holding herself out of sight.
The footsteps came closer. It sounded like two sets. And with them came voices—one of which she had heard before.
“We’ll discuss this later,” came a voice that Yuki recognized as the captain’s.
“But we’re in danger now,” came a male voice. “Just ask her about it, Captain. She’s hiding something. And until we know all the facts, we can’t properly defend ourselves.”
Yuki pressed herself even closer to the wall as the two of them passed. As she’d guessed, the captain was one of them. The other one was a rather handsome-looking man of close to the same age who limped as he walked. Both were too involved in their conversation to see her.
“There was a strange symbol on their ship,” the man said to the captain. “Like a seal or something. I didn’t recognize it. We need to figure out who these people are and exactly what they want. If we use Dayna as bait—”
“We are not using any member of this crew as bait, and that is final,” said the captain. “And we will leave on my command, not yours. I say we leave as soon as possible. That is not up for debate, Officer Locke.”
“Then you are putting us all at risk—and that includes our precious new First Officer.”
Both of them stopped, turning toward each other in the middle of the corridor.
“It is my ship and my command,” said the captain. “I acknowledge that this threat is important, but there are greater threats right now. If we don’t get Barner off this planet soon, then we might find ourselves in one of Trousso’s prison camps. I’d rather face down some purple-eyed freaks with a grudge than end up there.”
Yuki’s breath caught in her throat. Purple-eyed freaks? The Captain could only be referring to one thing. At least now Yuki knew this crew wasn’t on their side.
The captain and the handsome man—Officer Locke, the captain had called him—continued down the corridor. Suddenly Yuki had no interest in getting off this ship anymore—she wanted to know exactly who these people were and what they wanted with them.
The handsome man said they wanted Dayna. Dayna—the only person who’d been kind to her today. The only person who’d been kind to her in far, far too long. Officer Locke was so afraid that he was willing to give Dayna to them, just to keep himself safe.
Anger boiled up in her. She would never give anyone to them, even to save herself. She knew what they did to people.
She also knew it wouldn’t make any difference—the monsters with the purple eyes would still come after her anyway.
In spite everything, she found herself stealthily following the pair, trying to hear more of their conversation.
“…just ask her,” Officer Locke said.
“Rest assured, I will,” the captain replied. “But right now our priority is getting out of here.”
The two of them turned and went through a doorway, and Yuki hurried after them. The door slid shut before she could reach it, though, so she stayed at the threshold and pressed her ear against the metal, trying to hear the rest of the conversation.
There were more voices now—at least a couple more, perhaps even three or four. It was hard to tell. But she recognized Dayna’s voice among the others. She wondered if Dayna knew the handsome man was willing to betray her. More so, though, she wondered how much Dayna actually knew about them. Could there be someone else on this ship who’d experienced what she had at their hands?
The door was too thick for her to understand much. She could hear voices—it sounded almost like an argument—but she couldn’t make out any of the words. She prayed the Captain didn’t change her mind, that she continued to insist that they all leave as soon as possible. And that she refused to give Dayna—or anyone—over to them.
The first part of her prayers was answered rather quickly. As she stood there with her ear pressed against the door, she heard the ship’s engine come to life. They were leaving! Finally!
She released a long breath, and for the first time in months, she allowed herself to feel hope. They were leaving Castalia. She was getting away.
Her relief was short-lived. A hand came down on her shoulder, making her jump. She tried to twist away, but the grip was too strong. When she looked up, she found herself staring up into the face of an A’lyph.
“Well,” said the A’lyph. “What have we here?”
A’lyph weren’t allowed on Castalia anymore. And everyone knew that those who remained on the planet in spite of the extradition order were all criminals and murderers. Before she could stop herself, a scream escaped her throat.
She beat against him, trying to escape, trying to get away. But his grip was too strong.
“Just calm down,” he said. “I’m not going to—”
The door slid open behind Yuki, and the A’lyph immediately cut himself off.
“Captain,” he said with a dip of his head. “I caught her listening at the door.”
“Well isn’t that interesting,” said the captain, but her tone suggested she didn’t find this interesting at all. “Bring her in here, Ulan.”
The A’lyph pulled Yuki into the room. She looked around. They appeared to be on the bridge, and there were at least half a dozen pairs of eyes on her as the A’lyph pulled her to the center of the room. Her gaze briefly met Dayna’s, but the woman’s expression was guarded.
“You can release her, Ulan,” the captain said.
He did as he was told.
“Now,” the captain continued, stepping forward and looking down at Yuki. “Care to tell me exactly why you’re on my ship?”
DAYNA
There was something about the girl Dayna had allowed on board the ship that she’d found familiar. It wasn’t until the girl arrived on the bridge that she was able to piece together why.
Yuki stood in the middle of the room, looking from crewmember to crewmember with tears in her eyes until her gaze came to rest upon Dayna. The girl was
trying to hide it, but Dayna could see the same strength—along with the same terror—she was sure had been in her own the day she’d escaped the purple-eyed barbarians. And now that she knew they’d somehow come to Castalia—an area of space Dayna had thought was safe, at least from them—it had to be the reason the girl was running.
Captain Arleth glared at the girl. “You have two seconds to explain what the hell is going on before I toss you out of here.”
“I…” She gulped hard, almost begging Dayna with her eyes to do something.
There was no way for Dayna to be certain she had escaped them, too—not yet. But she had to help her—there weren’t many out there like Dayna and Yuki. Women who had lived long enough to tell the tale, let alone have successfully escaped.
Dayna stood at her console, facing the captain. “Captain, I ask that you not question her—or me—until we’re well out of Castalian space.”
Brax shook his head so hard it looked like it might pop off. “Unacceptable. Captain, those people almost killed me. If either of these two had something to do with it, we need to get them both off the ship now. We need—”
“Your concerns are noted, Locke. And while I agree that we need to know—”
“Everyone needs to slow the hell down,” Ulan interrupted. “I found this girl trying to listen to what was going on inside the bridge. What the hell does that have to do with Dayna being thrown off the ship?” He turned to Brax. “And last I heard, you wanted to—”
“Enough.” Captain Arleth held up a hand, silencing the rest of the crew. She paused for a moment, looking the girl up and down. “I’m sorry, but we just can’t afford the risk of having a passenger who won’t mind her own business. I’m sure you can find a ride on another ship—there were at least a dozen on the departure schedule. And we’re going somewhere that you probably don’t want—”
“Captain, I said I’d vouch for her, and I do.” Dayna interrupted this time. “If we could just—”
“And why does that matter, Captain? Why does Dayna vouching for anything—especially for some stranger—matter?” Brax shook his head again. “I’m not going to say it again…I was almost killed—”
“You were almost killed because you couldn’t keep it in your pants, as usual.” Dayna glared at Brax for a long moment before turning back to the captain. “Have I ever done anything in the four years you’ve known me to give you a reason…?” She shot another glare at Brax for good measure. “Any reason not to trust me?”
Brax interjected again. “But I almost died today, Captain—”
“And if I’m not mistaken, Locke, Dayna also saved your life today. Again. As she’s done on a number of occasions in the past four years. As she’s done repeatedly for most of us in the past four years.” She turned to Ulan. “Thoughts?”
He let out something of a whistle. “My first thought is that Brax would get us into a lot less trouble if he would stop going off with strange women at every port of call—”
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure the captain didn’t send you on a mission to fu—” Dayna was cut off with another wave of Captain Arleth’s hand.
“They both have a point, too, Brax. Perhaps you should take some responsibility for what happened today. If you had done as I’d asked—”
“Captain, there was no one in the bar who had information to give me. I tried to explain that earlier—”
“And yet, instead of going somewhere you might have found the information I asked you to retrieve, you decided to go off with this purple-eyed woman you keep talking about—”
The captain stopped talking at the sharp intake of Yuki’s breath. “You…you went with one of them? Voluntarily?”
“See, Captain? She does know something.” Brax folded his arms over his chest, almost clucking his tongue. “I told you these women couldn’t be trusted—”
“Captain, I’m sorry to keep interrupting.” Dayna was feeling a bit more apologetic than usual, particularly since it was becoming clear to her what was going on. “But we really do need to get out of here. I’d hoped I’d never have to explain to anyone what happened to me on Tarni, that we’d never go anywhere near that part of the galaxy again. But if they are here…” She shook her head. “I don’t know what it means, only that we might have bigger problems than the border patrol or Trousso’s people.”
The captain paused for a moment, finally turning to Yuki. “I’m going to need for you to go back to your quarters, at least for the time being. We don’t hold prisoners here, so you’re going to have to promise to stay there. Ulan will take you back to your room.”
It would have been difficult for anyone on the bridge to have missed Yuki’s terrified glance at Ulan at the notion he should go anywhere with her. It almost seemed like she was as afraid of Ulan as she was of the purple-eyed monsters, which was ridiculous.
Dayna turned to her. “It’s okay. Ulan is a member of the crew. I trust him with my life.”
The girl swung her head slowly from side to side, saying nothing.
Brax seemed to think this was a good time for his opinion. “Captain, if she doesn’t trust A’lyph, she’s obviously one of Trousso’s people. If she’s bought into that line of bullshit, why the hell would we want her on this ship?”
The captain seemed to agree with him. Her brow furrowed as she turned back to her navigator. “Dayna…”
But Dayna ignored both of them, focusing only on the girl. “I know what those purple-eyed beings said to you—what they told you about the A’lyph. Almost none of it is true, Yuki. I know it’s hard to believe right now, but you need to know that Ulan is one of us. One of this crew.”
The girl turned to look at Dayna, questioning her without words.
Dayna’s voice softened—she knew the terrible things those purple-eyed freaks did. Said. The brainwashing that went on from day one. She knew how difficult it had been for her to come to trust this crew herself—especially Ulan—but if she could do it, Yuki could, too. Well, she hoped Yuki could, too. “I know it’s hard to believe it right now. I…I know. Because I’ve been right where you are, in exactly the same position. And…and…” She looked over at the captain with something that felt like regret. “And if the captain won’t help you, I will. We’ll both leave right now, and I’ll find us a way off this planet myself.”
Brax’s mouth had fallen open to the point he looked like a fish struggling to breathe.
The captain had her lips pressed in a hard line, but there was something in her expression that Dayna recognized, too. Something almost soft, almost caring. She finally turned to Brax, almost spitting out her command. “Do as I asked when we landed.” She glared at him for a moment. “Get on your comm and figure out where the IU patrols have a weakness—if there’s someone there still sympathetic to Harcrow. I know you know how to be delicate about it. Find one of your previous…dates. Someone you didn’t piss off when you left them the next morning.”
Dayna glared at him as she tried to cover the twisting she felt in her gut at the accusation. The accusation she knew was all too true.
But the captain interrupted her thoughts by turning her attention back to her. “Dayna, ready the ship for departure. I want to be out of here in the next ten minutes.” She turned to Ulan. “And you get this girl back to her quarters.” She glanced at Yuki. “Where you’ll stay until we’ve cleared Castalian space. Understood?”
The girl gulped and nodded, flinching as Ulan took her by the arm.
Captain Arleth sank onto her chair at the center of the bridge. “And please, everyone…” Her voice sounded almost resigned. “Can we save the rest of the drama for when we’re off this godforsaken planet?”
BRAX
Brax wasn’t pleased that Captain Arleth was letting Dayna—or their passenger—off the hook, but he knew better than to argue anymore. If the others were content to risk their entire crew, then he was certain they’d learn their lesson soon enough. Maybe if one of them were bound and thrown into the sea to be food for steg
odrake, they’d understand.
He strapped himself into his seat as they prepared for takeoff, then risked a glance over at Dayna.
A pity that a woman that exquisite should be so utterly infuriating. He preferred his women a little less…complicated. And he especially preferred when they avoided trying to kill him—and that included withholding information that could potentially lead to his death.
“We’re all set to go, Captain,” Dayna said, her hand against her earpiece.
Captain Arleth nodded. “Good. Take off as soon as we get clearance.”
Brax curled his hands around the armrests of his chair. He had a bad feeling about all of this.
A few moments later, Dayna got the signal, and she slowly raised the Defiance off the ground.
“Good riddance,” he muttered under his breath as he watched Castalia get smaller and smaller below them. As much as he feared the worst, he was all too ready to get off this planet.
As the worst of the turbulence passed, he released his grip on the armrests. For the first time since his escape from the sea, he looked down at his wrists. The skin was bruised and raw where he’d been bound.
Yet another thing to see to. At least the sharp, throbbing pain had softened to more of a familiar ache after Kaylin’s treatment. But his head was throbbing, and a heavy exhaustion seemed to have settled into his limbs. After his adventures today, he needed a strong drink and a long nap.
He was trying to pump up his energy when he heard Captain Arleth quietly curse. He looked out through the viewport. At first, he saw nothing amiss among the small number of passenger vessels and cargo ships arriving or departing in the airspace around them. And then he spotted it—the small but unmistakable ship with the purple symbol on the side.
“Is that them?” Captain Arleth said.
“Yes,” Brax and Dayna said at the same time.
“They must have some cloaking device on there to hide it from Castalian defenses,” Dayna added. “Their ship isn’t on the scanner, and they’ve received no orders from the tower.”