Atrophy

by Jess Anastasi

  “Because I think they are.” He caught the look of disbelief Zahli shot him and turned more fully away from his crew so he didn’t have to see it. Shite, everyone thought him more than half nuts, but couldn’t they see the bigger picture?

  Mae sighed. “All right, you’ve had me believing for a long time now the Reidar exist, but don’t you think someone would have noticed if there were aliens invading our galaxy?”

  “I don’t have time to explain, and as nice as this catch up has been, I’d really like to get my ass—and the collective asses of my crew—onto my ship and off this planet.”

  “What do you expect me to do? I’m not the highest ranking agent. I can’t just let you pretend to knock me out and allow you waltz out of here.”

  He shrugged. “Who said anything about pretending?”

  Her slate eyes darkened to a stormy gray. “Don’t even think about hitting me, Sherron, or I’ll stalk you across the galaxy to get my own back. And you won’t like it.”

  “I thought you said he wouldn’t ever hit a woman.” Tannin hadn’t bothered lowering his voice, and Rian glanced over his shoulder. His sister shoved her scumrat of a boyfriend in the shoulder, her own expression not so friendly.

  Beyond the door, the sound of boot steps and voices echoed. Their time had run out.

  “All right, kids, party’s over. Mae, when they take us out of this room, we’re going to escape. I don’t want you to do anything except not shoot us. And, I’ve got a favor to ask, so you’ll be hearing from me in the not-so-distant future.”

  Mae nodded and stood at attention next to the hatchway.

  Rian turned to the crew, his gaze landing on Ella, ignoring the way his pulse pounded and his blood heated in his veins. “It’s time you earned your place on the crew, princess.”

  Zahli looked at Ella, like everyone else did, wondering what the frecking hell Rian had in mind.

  Ella’s expression became annoyed and more than a little stubborn. “I told you, my training forbids me from—”

  “Your goddamned training can sod off. Unless you want your pretty little ass handed on a platter to Baden Niels and his Reidar buddies, you’re going to work your mojo and help us the hell out of this room and back to the Imojenna.”

  Ella crossed her arms, her posture obstinate. Zahli went to move closer to her, to offer some support, but Tannin wouldn’t let her leave his side.

  Rian stalked closer to Ella, Lianna and Callan moving out of his way. “I mean it, princess. You think I’m a bastard? Wait ‘til you meet Baden Niels. And you know as well as I do exactly what the Reidar are capable of.”

  Something seemed to pass unspoken between them and the fight went out of Ella.

  “What would you have me do?” Ella transformed back into the priestess they’d first met, her demeanor still-water calm, as a fine tremor of energy infused the atmosphere.

  The hatchway slid open, revealing a dozen soldiers lined up behind Agent Cabell.

  Rian turned to face the soldiers, putting himself in the line of fire, as usual. “I don’t care what you do, so long as you do it now.”

  The lights above them popped and sparked, plunging the room and outside passage into total darkness. Chaos erupted, shouting and the thumping echo of many booted feet moving. Zahli latched onto Tannin’s hand, the thick darkness and frenzied noise pushing her heart rate up, making her chest pound. Tannin tugged her arm and she followed him blind, hoping he had a better idea of what to do than she did. His other hand came to rest on her shoulder. He pushed her against a wall, his body against her, protecting her from the sporadic pulse pistol fire that’d broken out.

  The commotion went on and on, though only fractions of seconds ticked by.

  And Ella thought this was a good way for them to escape? How were they going to get past the fourteen UAFA agents standing between them and freedom in this pitch black?

  Little by little, the confusion and noise faded, until she heard nothing but her ragged inhalations, with Tannin’s breathing a harsh echo above her ear.

  A bright, silver-blue orb appeared, hovering in the middle of the room, lighting up everything like a mini star. Tannin let her go as she took in the scene of UAFA agents lying strewn about the doorway and passage, all except for Agent Petros.

  “Oh my god,” Agent Petros gasped, crouching to touch the neck of the nearest soldier, voicing exactly what Zahli had been thinking.

  Ella stood under the shimmering star, a fine wave of blue electrical currents sparking over her skin and in the air around her. “They’re not dead, just asleep. We’d better get back to the ship before they wake up.”

  “You heard her, let’s move it.” Rian stole a pulse pistol from a soldier lying across the hatchway.

  “Remind me to never piss you off, priestess,” Callan said as he holstered two guns at his thighs, two at his hips, shoved another gun down the back of his pants, and then palmed two more. Because obviously one wasn’t enough.

  Ella walked out ahead of them all, the little star keeping up with her like a floating guide through the darkness. Rian offered Miriella a pistol as she passed, but she shook her head. He shrugged and handed it and one other off to Lianna and then gave two weapons to everyone as they exited the room, leaving the UAFA soldiers unarmed.

  At the end of the passageway, the door slid open, light flooding in from the adjoining sector and Ella’s star flickered before disappearing.

  Ella turned to Rian. “There aren’t any other UAFA agents on Dalphin, in case you were wondering.”

  “Are you sure?”

  She shot him an exasperated look, becoming less like a priestess and more like the Ella they’d come to know. Of course, Rian could annoy anyone.

  Ella held out a hand. “I can show you, if you don’t believe me.”

  Rian sidestepped and almost bumped into a row of hard plastic chairs attached to the wall in the outer corridor.

  “I’ll take your word on it.” He skirted the chairs and started at a jog along the passage.

  What had that been all about? Rian didn’t like to be touched, but he’d never almost fallen over himself trying to avoid someone. Usually he just got angry and took a verbal chunk out of whoever had been dumb enough to try.

  She couldn’t help a small grin at how Ella had put Rian off-kilter as they emerged into the main section of the terminal.

  “What are you smiling about?” Tannin asked as they passed through crystal-pane doors to the private docking bays, the spaceport eerie in its emptiness.

  She shrugged. “We’re not going to Erebus.”

  Tannin’s expression darkened. “We’re not in the clear yet. And somehow I doubt Baden Niels will give up on us so easily.”

  “We’ll be safe on the Imojenna.”

  Safe enough, anyway.

  The docking hangar had four other ships of various sizes grounded in it, yet there wasn’t a single person about. The UAFA agents had done a thorough job of clearing the place out to apprehend them.

  The Imojenna had detainment clamps attached to her footings, used when a ship hadn’t paid its docking fees or to keep a ship dirt- or station-bound when the IPC of UAFA had warrants on one or all of the crew. Rian stopped to study the clamps, stringing an inventive lot of curses together as Sen hit the control to lower the loading ramp.

  Rian turned to Tannin and her as the gangway thumped to the ground. “Everette, can you do something about these, like maybe hack into the spaceport mainframe and get them released?”

  “I can—”

  “Don’t say try or I’m leaving you here for the UAFA agents. I think they’re going to be a little pissed when they wake up with no weapons.”

  Tannin glared at him, but nodded. “I’ll do something about it.”

  “Get your ass on the bridge then.”

  In a matter of moments they were all onboard and locking down the ship. Zahli followed Rian, Tannin, and Lianna up to the bridge. It almost seemed like she hadn’t been gone for the past four weeks. Nothin
g looked different, and once again they were blasting their way out of an impossible situation.

  Some things never changed.

  Tannin slid into the co-pilot’s chair while Lianna took Rian’s usual spot. They spoke back and forth, talking technical stuff she had no hope of understanding. It made her heart swell to see Tannin working so naturally, like he belonged, like one of the crew. He’d found a place in the universe.

  Her decision to leave the ship had been right, as much as it’d hurt.

  But things had changed. The Reidar had proven they were all collateral damage when it came to getting their hands on Rian and Ella.

  Rian didn’t have a choice about bending his rules any longer—it’d be dangerous for any of them to leave the Imojenna. He, and everyone else, would have to get used to the idea of Tannin and her being together.

  “Frecking Christ.”

  Zahli looked at Rian, who stood in front of the main viewport. She walked over to join him and saw what her brother had sworn about.

  “Lianna, bring up outer-ship audio,” Rian instructed.

  Down in the hangar, Cabell held Agent Petros, his forearm tight around her throat.

  “Captain Sherron, surrender yourself and the Arynian now or I’ll break Petros’s neck,” the agent shouted. Something in his demeanor didn’t seem quite human any longer.

  “Got it!” Tannin announced. “The detainment clamps are free.”

  “We’re clear to launch as soon as you give the command, Captain,” Lianna reported, her calm tone at odds with the tense situation.

  Zahli looked over at Rian. “How does he know about Agent Petros?”

  Rian’s expression was devoid of emotion, but his gaze burned cold. “You heard Cabell. Niels has a file on me. They know everything, Zahli. There wasn’t a single moment of my life they didn’t touch when they had me. Niels probably made sure Mae got assigned to this detail to use her as back up collateral.”

  This new information, the hint of god-knew-what torture he’d lived through, it left her whole body aching with soul-deep illness. But she couldn’t process it, not yet, not until they got away from Cabell and off Dalphin.

  “What are we going to do? We can’t just leave her there.”

  Rian spun from the viewport and strode over to the command console, tabbing the communications icon on the crystal display.

  “I’m coming out. Don’t kill her.” He bent to open a compartment with some of his spare weapons stored inside. “I’m going down. When I’m clear of the ship, launch and head for the safehouse on Auberon. I’ll find some way to contact you later.”

  Zahli rushed over and stopped him from grabbing a nucleon rifle. “Don’t be an idiot. You’re what they want. And if you go alone, how do we know that guy won’t kill Agent Petros anyway?”

  Rian snatched the gun from under her grasp and flicked the strap over his shoulder, slinging it around to his back.

  “What choice do we have? I’m not bringing Ella, and I’m sure as hell not going to fly off and let him kill Mae.”

  “We’ll go.” Tannin stood from the co-pilot’s chair. “Zahli and me. We’ll cover up, walk out, and let you launch. By the time he realizes it’s not really you and Ella, it’ll be too late.”

  Rian’s brow lowered. “You expect me to entrust the welfare of my sister and one of my oldest friends to you?”

  “I lived on Erebus for twelve years. The first couple were spent with the general prison population, and I learned a trick or two. Trust me. I will protect them.”

  Zahli’s heart leaped into overtime at the utter determination and resolve burning in Tannin’s gaze. He and Rian stared each other down until Rian shrugged the rifle off and handed it over to Tannin.

  “Your life won’t be worth living if you let anything happen to either of them.”

  Tannin took the gun and looked at her, something hot and eternal blazing in the depths of his eyes. Her heart stuttered to a halt and her breath caught.

  “Been there, done that. Don’t want to repeat the tour.”

  She couldn’t imagine what Tannin had felt when he’d thought her dead. She’d barely had time to think about it, but she saw a shadow of heartbreak in his expression, just like that moment in Rian’s car when Tannin had uttered I thought you were dead. There was no sentiment he could have expressed with words alone to encompass even a little of the fierce passion she saw on his face. Love didn’t quite cover it.

  If she didn’t feel the same way, his emotional confession would have scared the frecking stars out of her.

  Rian gave her a gentle push. “Zahli, see if Ella has something of hers you can put over your head, then get down to the cargo hold ASAP.”

  A trickle of apprehension ran along her spine as she hurried to Ella’s quarters. For half a second she considered asking the priestess to help them, but then immediately dismissed the idea. She’d already done more than enough when they’d escaped that locked room. Not to mention the fact she’d brought Rian back from the dead.

  On crew level, Ella already had a sapphire-colored, flowing type of garment laid out. Zahli thanked her, not dwelling on how Ella had known what she needed, and continued down to the cargo bay.

  Taking a deep breath, she strove for calm and composure. There wasn’t anyone in the universe she trusted more than Tannin.

  She didn’t want to know about the tricks he’d learned, living in hell all those years, but she had faith in him. Plus she had a few skills of her own. Rian had made damn sure of that.

  Boot steps thumped on the stairs. Tannin joined her, armed like he was heading into a one-man war. He wore one of Rian’s jackets and a pair of sunglasses, with the collar of his shirt turned up around his jaw. He looked dangerous and deadly.

  And oh, so frecking sexy.

  “Ready to launch it?” He strode passed her and slapped at the hatchway control panel.

  Well, at least he seemed to have Rian’s swaggering bravado down.

  She joined him along the frame of the atmospheric doors, tugging the material of Ella’s robe over her lighter hair and complexion. “Do you have a plan?”

  He grinned, grabbing a handful of robe at her collarbone and yanking her against him for a quick, intense kiss. “Come back a hero. An alive hero.”

  She frowned, annoyance at his audacity threading through her. “You’ve been spending too much time with my brother.”

  “Don’t I know it.” He took out a nucleon gun and checked the power pack as the ramp finished lowering. The weapon made a solid chink noise as he shoved the energy chamber home again. “Let’s get this over with.”

  She let him stay a step ahead of her as they left the ship, their feet barely off the hatch before it started lifting once again. Light prickles of trepidation skimmed beneath her skin. Unlike Tannin, she didn’t want to come back a hero. She just wanted to stay alive. And keep everyone she loved that way, too.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Tannin put himself into his best Rian-type stance, feet braced wide, ready for a fight. Zahli stood behind his left shoulder, swathed from head to toe in the soft, voluminous sapphire robe. The Imojenna’s heavy-atmosphere engines roared above them and the ship lifted off the ground in an elegant movement, giving him a direct line of sight to where the UAFA soldier stood with Agent Petros.

  The soldier moved forward, dragging a resisting Mae with him. Tannin took a few cautious steps, knowing the game would be up any second now and he’d only have a moment to act. The UAFA soldier might not have any weapons, but he could snap Agent Petros’s neck in an infinitesimal fraction of time.

  As he’d expected, the soldier hesitated and then stopped altogether, anger and realization distorting his features. “You’re not—”

  Tannin fired the nucleon gun as Petros twisted and dropped out of the way. The blast glanced off the agent’s shoulder and sent him stumbling. Mae wrenched all the way out of the man’s grasp and sprinted toward them. When she got clear, Tannin fired again, dead center of the agent’s c
hest. The guy staggered, but didn’t fall and just kept on coming. What a surprise. The lead UAFA agent on their case wasn’t quite human.

  Tannin tossed the nucleon gun to Petros and swung the rifle around, flicking it to automatic fire and letting rip. It took a few seconds of tearing shots, peppered at the agent’s torso and head, but at last he teetered back a few steps then collapsed like a stone to the hangar floor.

  The silence after the rupturing noise of the rifle rang a high pitched whine in his ears. No one moved and he kept the gun up, because he could almost believe the agent would get up and make another run on them.

  “You killed my commanding officer.” Mae stepped into his line of sight, holstering the nucleon gun as she started back toward the unmoving agent.

  He didn’t take his eyes off the crumpled form, ready to fire again at the slightest twitch.

  “Just be careful.”

  Zahli caught up with him and together they moved closer to the fallen soldier.

  Mae forced out a half laugh, half scoff. “What? You think he’s going to get up after being pounded by automatic rifle fire? Which was total overkill by the way.”

  “I don’t think it was.” Not when the bastard refused to go down and stay down.

  Reaching the body first, Mae went to crouch down next to it, but halfway through the motion, jumped back a step. “Oh my god! That’s not Agent Cabell.”

  “No, it’s not,” Zahli answered, staying well back.

  Mae ran a hand over her long ponytail, tugging on the end.

  “Is that one of those things Rian keeps going on about?” She backed away from it, not waiting for an answer. “What am I supposed to report to my superiors? That an alien took over the operation and you guys killed it?”

  A rumbling overhead stopped Tannin from answering. The Imojenna dropped back to land in a different docking bay, a couple of ships over.

  He turned and took Zahli’s hand, leading her away from the dead Reidar, toward their ship. “Does this mean your brother doesn’t trust me after all?”