Soul of Defiance

by R. E. Vega

  The tingling in his arm increased, almost to the point of pain. Shocked, he pulled his hand away from the metal wall. He stared down at his fingers, but they looked just as they always did.

  Frowning, he tried again. He pressed his hand flush against the cool metal of the corridor wall. For a moment, he was able to bear the tingling. But the moment he focused his attention outward—on trying to sense the heat of the girl or his crewmates—the sensation intensified again. The tingling became sharp, almost as if he was being burned.

  He cursed and yanked his hand away from the wall again. What the hell is going on?

  This had gone well past annoying. Now he was actually starting to worry.

  He arbitrarily picked a corridor and headed down it, trying to understand what was happening to him. He’d felt nothing when he was in that dark place—nothing like this, anyway. But he’d most definitely brought something back with him.

  If only they’d recognized that ship. There were too many questions and not nearly enough answers.

  In the meantime, though, if he wasn’t going to be able to find the girl in the usual ways, then he’d have to resort to the less-effective human means.

  What was her name again?

  It took him a moment to remember—humans did have the oddest names sometimes.

  “Yuki,” he called out. “Miss, I just want to make sure you’re all right. There’s no reason to hide.”

  There was no response—but he wasn’t really expecting one.

  “Miss,” he called again. “Are you hungry? I can get you something to eat.”

  He reached the next turn in the corridor, then stumbled. The tingling in his body seemed to have turned inside, wiggling into his brain. He stopped and squeezed his eyes shut, trying to calm his mind. There was a pulsing in his head, and it oscillated between a tickle and a pounding. He reached out to the wall for support, then cursed when the burning sensation shot through his arm again.

  Okay, this was going beyond annoying now. This was becoming almost debilitating.

  The girl could wait. He needed to get to the sickbay and see if he could do anything to stop this. As the vibrating in his head increased, though, he wondered if it would make it even that far.

  There was only one thing to do, and as much as he hated the idea, he didn’t see any other choice.

  He’d already used so much of his virtue today—he really needed to recharge. But there was just enough left for him to access, and with a deep breath, he let it flow out into his limbs, chasing the vibrations away. And it seemed to work—the itching ceased, the trembling seemed to stop. It took a lot of energy to maintain, but he was willing to do anything to relieve the strange sensations in his skin.

  And then everything changed.

  Pain shot through his head, and it felt like his skull was being splintered into a thousand pieces. He lost control of his virtue, and the strange sensations came rushing back, burning up and down his skin. The agony was sharp and bright, and for a moment he was blinded by it.

  And then everything went dark.

  YUKI

  From her hiding place in the storage room, Yuki heard the A’lyph man scream.

  She huddled closer into the corner, her heart racing. Were they back? Had they come for her?

  She hadn’t meant for anyone else to get hurt. She didn’t mean to put anyone else in danger. But she should have known better. They didn’t care about hurting people. Not when those people stood in their way.

  She shouldn’t have run from the A’lyph. Now she’d have to face them alone. But she’d been so scared…

  Without thinking, she shut her eyes, and the images rushed through her mind again. She wondered, when it came down to it, which she feared more—facing them or facing whatever was happening inside her head.

  Either way, she couldn’t hide here forever. They’d find her for sure. But where could she go? There were only so many places to go on a ship, especially a relatively small one.

  But even small ships had escape pods. If she could get to one of them…

  She had no idea how to drive an escape pod. But it couldn’t be that complicated, right?

  She crawled forward on her hands and knees and listened. She couldn’t hear any footsteps or voices outside. If they were on the ship, they didn’t appear to be nearby.

  Her hand shook as she slid the panel door aside. The corridor beyond was empty. This was her chance to run.

  Slowly, carefully, she stood. She pushed the panel all the way open and stepped into the corridor, pausing once more to listen.

  She heard nothing. She also had no idea where the escape pods were, so she picked a direction at random and hurried down it.

  The next corridor was empty, too. After a moment’s pause to listen, she continued down it.

  She was beginning to feel a little less nervous, even confident, until she reached the next turn.

  And almost tripped over the A’lyph’s body.

  She stifled a cry and stumbled back. Her heart pounded in her ears, but as she looked around, she saw no signs of anyone else.

  I should run, she told herself. Turn around and go the other way.

  But something drew her closer to the body. Slowly, without realizing why, she found herself kneeling down next to him, reaching toward him.

  He was still breathing. She could see that now. And when she pressed her fingers against the side of his throat, she could feel the twin pulses there. She’d heard that A’lyph had two hearts, but she’d never had the chance to ask one about it before. And she’d definitely never felt them. It was odd.

  Unconscious, he didn’t look as scary as he did before. He looked almost human. Almost.

  She felt bad for running from him, but even worse that he should end up this way because of her.

  Yuki straightened, looking around. There was still no sign of anyone else around. This was her chance to run. To escape. But she couldn’t just leave the A’lyph here. Not like this.

  She had no idea how to help him. But if she could get him to an escape pod, she could take him with her. They could find help together. And when he woke, at least he wouldn’t be here. She’d keep him away from them, at least.

  Making up her mind, she stood. Carrying him was out of the question, but maybe she could drag him. She grabbed both of his hands—his skin felt so weird and cold compared to hers—and began to pull him down the corridor. At least the floors were smooth, making it easier to slide him along.

  This might be the stupidest thing you’ve ever done, she told herself. Stupider even than escaping. But she’d already made her decision. One way or another, she was going to get out of here alive.

  KAYLIN

  Kaylin tried to smooth her clothing, but it did little to change the wrinkled fabric.

  It is not embarrassing, Kay, came the voice in her head. Thad’s voice.

  She was not ever going to get used to being able to hear his thoughts—and she was definitely not going to ever be able to tolerate having him hear hers. There had to be something she could do. Distance seemed to be the wisest choice, at least for the moment.

  “You do remember you were still able to hear me from the bridge, don’t you? And that I was unconscious when you did?” Thad grinned as he pulled on his pants. “And just so you know, I find your ability to lose control an attractive quality, not one you should be thinking of trying to change. Besides…” His grin widened. “I’m sort of enjoying knowing exactly what you want.”

  Good God, this was not going to end well. There had to be some way to break this tie between them. She could see how it was going to become something of a noose before long.

  “Fine, I’ll lay off, at least for now.” His smile fell as he pulled on his uniform shirt. “Do you think everyone else is tied together like this? That maybe whoever did this to us paired us up?”

  Kaylin hadn’t even thought of that. She’d spent far too much time on recreational activities in the past few hours—more than she would ever care
to admit. Far more than was appropriate for the captain of a ship, particularly one that had just been attacked in the way they had.

  Because this had been an attack. Whether or not the effects of what had happened were good or bad, she and her crew had been taken against their will. And at least two of them had been changed somehow—and who knew what the long-term effects were going to be? For all any of them knew, she and Thad might be in serious danger. There was no way to know exactly what had been done to them without further investigation.

  “We need to go to sickbay,” she informed her engineer.

  “I told you, I feel fine, Kay. And judging by what just happened, so do you.” The grin returned to his face. “Besides, I still have the starboard shields to repair. Which I’d probably be done with by now if I hadn’t been so rudely interrupted.”

  Her cheeks burned at his words, but it was worthless to feel any amount of shame in what had happened between the two of them. He’d know what she was thinking in a second, anyway.

  “Regardless of my interruption, Thad, I’m ordering you to sickbay. I’m ordering both of us there immediately.”

  “And what will you do? Cut my head open?” He shook his head, still grinning. “You know, it might be a better use of your time to talk to Ulan about this. Maybe he knows something he hasn’t told us. We still barely know anything about his powers—it isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that it was the A’lyph who did this.”

  She sighed. Thad was right, of course. She’d only taken Ulan on board her ship because he excelled at negotiations—and because he knew this part of the galaxy better than any human. And it had seemed the right thing to do at the time—he’d needed a job and she had an opening for a crewman. It didn’t hurt that Ulan was so good at what he did.

  “I still want to run a scan. On both of us. If I run a microcellular scan, I might be able to see what changes were made on a molecular level. I might even be able to see what the hell it is that’s giving you the ability to read my thoughts.”

  He chuckled, holding his hand out to her. “You mean, whatever it is giving you the ability to read my thoughts.”

  She ignored his hand, edging herself toward the exit as she motioned for him to follow her.

  He reached for her hand again as they entered the corridor, but she ignored it.

  There’s no one here, Kay. He slid his arm around her waist instead.

  Her jaw tensed—she did not like that she couldn’t keep even her most secret thoughts private. And she definitely did not like that Thad now seemed to think that because he knew what she was thinking, he could break the rules she’d set when this little affair began.

  Because your rules are ridiculous, Kay. What is the crew going to do when they find out about us? You really think they’re going to mutiny?

  Of course she didn’t think they were going to mutiny. She wasn’t sure what she thought they’d do, but she knew she wasn’t meeting the high standards she’d set for the rest of the crew. She knew she had to set the example for everyone else. If she didn’t set the precedent—

  Then what? Would you really exile someone from the ship for fraternizing with one of their crewmates?

  Damn it. It was hard enough questioning herself and her own decisions. She definitely didn’t need Thad questioning her, too.

  They made their way to sickbay without bumping into any of the other crew, which seemed somewhat odd in itself.

  The medical bay was a bit of a mess when she arrived—she usually kept it immaculate. The other crewmembers were trained to perform basic first aid, so that must have been why the cupboard doors were open and the supplies inside askew. She didn’t have time right now to wonder who might have been here—who of her crew might have required some sort of medical treatment. If it was serious, she trusted that someone would report the injury to her in due time. It was also possible, she supposed, that someone else might have been suffering from the same sort of after-effects and had been trying to help themselves.

  She’d have to look into the status of the crew later.

  She performed the health scan first on Thad, then on herself, focusing as much on unusual brain activity as her limited scanner would allow her. It wasn’t much—not compared to what they had in the hospitals on Earth—but it was probably the best scanner on any cargo vessel in the galaxy. She prided herself on having a healthy crew, and she knew they appreciated it, too.

  But much to her disappointment, the scans showed nothing unusual. There was a bit more activity in the temporal lobe of both of them, but nothing that couldn’t be explained by what they’d just been through today.

  “I don’t understand. There should be…something.” She set the scanning tool on the counter and frowned. “You can’t just magically acquire some super human power—”

  “But that’s just it, isn’t it? This isn’t human. Which is why we need to find Ulan.” He frowned. “Not that I think he’s responsible. But maybe he has some idea of what’s going on.”

  She nodded, tapping the communication device on her wrist. “Ulan, report to sickbay, please.” She waited a moment, but there was no response. “Ulan, respond, please.”

  Nothing.

  Something was wrong. She couldn’t explain how it was she knew, but as soon as she didn’t receive a response from Ulan, there was a part of her that knew. It was the same sort of feeling she had when Thad was talking to her without speaking—it was some sort of internal knowing.

  She focused on that knowing, trying to almost narrow her perception to just that sensation. And it was that moment she realized two things. First, she was able to hear the thoughts of other people if she focused just right. Hearing the thoughts of everyone on the ship was going to drive her insane if she didn’t learn to control it—to focus it the way she was right now.

  But the second thing Kaylin realized at that moment was that she could hear Ulan’s thoughts, almost like she could hear Thad’s. And he was unconscious, just like Thad had been when she’d first heard him inside her head.

  And she couldn’t explain how, but she also knew Ulan wasn’t there. He was no longer aboard the Defiance.

  BRAX

  Brax and Dayna were just starting their reports in the commons when Captain Arleth strode into the room, Thad just behind her. The first thing he noticed was their auras—both slightly different shades of orange with flickers of other colors within. Strangely, their auras seemed to pulse with the same tempo, almost as if they were in sync with each other. He was starting to get used to seeing halos of light around everything—he no longer felt the need to keep rubbing his eyes, at least—but this was new.

  “We have a situation,” the captain said.

  Well, that was obvious to just about everyone by now. But before Brax could make a smart-ass response, his captain continued.

  “Ulan is no longer on board,” she said. “Do either of you have any idea where he’s gone?”

  Brax glanced at Dayna before looking back at his captain. “We were in the sickbay and then we came here. What do you mean he’s no longer on board? Did he leave? Was he taken?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m trying to find out,” Captain Arleth said.

  Dayna shook her head. “I don’t understand—we all saw him on the bridge just a short while ago. What makes you think he’s gone?”

  “I just…know,” the captain said. “Trust me. I can’t explain it right now, but I know.”

  “Maybe they took him again,” Brax said. When all eyes turned to him, he elaborated. “Whoever took us, I mean. Maybe they decided they want him back.”

  “He is the only A’lyph on board,” Thad said, nodding along. “It’s possible they discovered something they needed in him—something none of the rest of us have.”

  He and the captain shared a strange look, and Brax glanced between them, trying to interpret the look that passed between them. Their auras pulsed a little brighter, and for a moment it looked like their respective clouds of light were actually rea
ching for each other, interacting.

  “We should get back to the bridge,” Dayna said, rising from her seat. “If that ship is back—”

  “If that ship is back, we’re screwed anyway,” Brax said. “There’s nothing we can do to defend ourselves against them.” He tapped his earpiece on. “Ulan, do you read me? Come in, Ulan.”

  “I already tried that,” the captain said. “It doesn’t matter. He’s unconscious.”

  Brax frowned. “How can you possibly know that?”

  The captain glanced at Thad again before saying, “I don’t have time to explain it now. Let’s just say that I’ve been experiencing a few side effects from whatever the hell happened to us.”

  “You too? So have Dayna and I.” Brax looked at Thad. “You as well?”

  “Looks like we’re all in a similar boat,” Thad said.

  “Which is something we need to discuss, but right now we have more pressing business,” Captain Arleth said, though she looked concerned by this news. “Let’s get to the bridge.”

  “I’ll contact the others,” Brax said as they all let the commons. “See if anyone else is missing—”

  “I’ve already checked. The entire crew is accounted for,” Captain Arleth said. “Only Ulan is gone.”

  Brax’s frown deepened. This entire day had been one disaster after another. When they put down in Castalia, he’d thought they only needed to worry about Trousso’s people. Now they had evil purple-eyed women and giant mysterious ships coming after them too.

  He glanced over at Dayna. She’d been blinking a lot since they’d returned from wherever that ship had sent them, but at least she no longer looked like she was about to be sick at any moment.

  “How are you feeling?” he asked her quietly. At first glance, her current aura looked almost a brownish-gray—but he quickly realized it was because she seemed to be shifting through several different colors, unsure of where to settle.