Chrystal Bones (Finding Home Book 1)

by Billie Jo Hanlin

  Idris stopped in front of a large decorative boulder and pressed his hands into several spots in a precise order before stepping back.

  The boulder soundlessly moved two feet back revealing a tunnel entrance. “There is about a ten foot drop once you get past the ladder so be careful when you land.”

  One by one they silently disappeared into the opening. Idris was the last one to drop in and when he did the boulder slid back into place, hiding the opening to the tunnel.

  Soft lights automatically came on as they made their way through the tunnel. It took thirty minutes to reach a small door made out of the same metal used for space ship hulls.It was impervious to any type of weapons fire that would fit in the cramped quarters. Everyone preformed one last weapons check even though it was not necessary.

  Jayden wished that Blue had stayed with the ship. There was no way of knowing what they were facing on the other side of the door but if they were right and clones had infiltrated the port they needed her to identify them. Well that and she would have handed him his head if he had suggested she stay behind.

  He knew she could take care of herself. She proved that on the planet she called the Mudball and again when she had taken out a Ragillian ship by herself. That did not change the fact that he would have preferred her to stay safe and sound on the ship with Leo.

  Leo had been left behind only because he would draw too much attention walking through the port. He had let his displeasure at being left behind known to them all and Blue.

  Blue was putting her extra gun back into its holster on her thigh when she felt Jayden’s sudden amusement and looked up in time to have him pull her up off her feet into his arms for a hard kiss. When he set her back down she said in a furious whisper, “You have to stop doing that.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you just can’t kiss me whenever you feel like it when there are others around.” She stamped her foot for emphasis. Wincing inwardly, she really had to stop doing that.

  Jayden did not even try to stop the grin from forming. “You asked me to rock the ship with you in front of all of them,” he said with amusement.

  “That was different. I was under the influence and can’t be held responsible for my actions,” she replied a little primly, completely embarrassed by the memory.

  “They do not mind if I kiss you in front of them,” he assured her.

  “Nope, we do not mind at all,” Sparks agreed.

  She looked to see all of them, even Dro nodding in agreement. “You are my big brother, you are supposed to mind,” she said pointing at Idris.

  “Tried that remember? You took exception to my interference. If I recall right you kicked me in the stomach for it.” He rubbed the spot where her kick had landed and laughed. Then patted her on the head.

  No, she thought, he did not just pat me on her head like a dog. Yes. He. Did. He was so going to be toast when she had time. “Remind me to kick your ass when this is over,” she said. He just continued to smile at her like the rest of the idiots. “If you idiots are ready shouldn’t we get going? You know save the planet and all that,” she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

  Idris put his hand on the computer screen for identification then gave a series of both verbal and manual codes. When a needle appeared out of the door he pricked his finger on it, giving a blood sample. Blue was impressed.

  “I guess you do have some security around here after all.”

  “When this is over I am sure the parents will let you do whatever you want. Maybe you can overhaul our security for us,” he joked.

  She nodded solemnly, “I will be sure and do just that.” Maybe one day she would be good at this brother sister thing. It might be fun having a big brother around to tease.

  All joking died away as the door slid quietly into the wall revealing a fully equipped weapons locker.

  “It was designed this way in case we were caught without weapons,” Idris said into the quiet.

  “How long has it been here?” Blue asked.

  “Since the port was built over a thousand years ago. It is upgraded every year with the newest technologies,” Idris said as he walked across the room to activate a set of monitors that covered the whole wall.

  He brought up the central control room where everything looked as normal as it could with a hundred enemy ships circling the planet. That would change the minute the Ragillians realized they knew there were clones here and that they could identify them.

  Next Idris pulled up a detailed map of the port. They were all pretty familiar with the main areas of the place since they spent quite a bit of their down time here or on Haldairia, but the map showed places they had never been. Once they could get to the control room and secure it everything else should go smoothly.

  They walked out of the room into the corridor and strode with grim purpose towards their goal. Many of the port staff recognized Idris and moved out of their way. Some bowing, most just nodded their heads. Blue was given some curious looks but no one tried to stop them until they got close to the security offices.

  The head of security was a big man with a hard face. He was one of the first men that Blue had seen who looked to be in his sixties, which meant that he was probably four or five hundred years old.

  He was also a clone. Blue sent that information to the guys telepathically. Without showing any surprise, Idris gave the man a slap on the back. “Coloin, nice to see you. We have a little problem I need to talk to you about in your office,” Idris said steering the man towards the security rooms.

  “Of course Prince Idris,” the man replied.

  The fake Coloin was quickly restrained once in his office. He refused to answer any questions Idris or Jayden asked him. He just stared at Blue. She stared back. She received the dead blank feeling from this one that she had gotten from the clones on the Mudball but when she looked for his light it wasn’t the sickly yellow of decay yet.

  She opened her mind and touching his arm she burrowed into his mind. She searched for any information, any feelings at all. She was very careful to not go too deep incase she killed him. There was nothing. He might as well be the walking dead for all the emotions he felt.

  When the clone did speak it wasn’t to ask for mercy. Instead he said to Blue, “You are the one that has the Doctor so worried that all his plans will be destroyed.”

  Blue not bothering to deny it said, “It would seem so. Do you know what those plans are?”

  “Some of them. No, I will not tell you what I know.” He added before she could ask.

  “Then tell me this. What happened to the man you replaced?”

  “I am sure he is still with the good doctor. If he is still alive that is.”

  “Don’t you care about anything or anyone?” she asked him leaning in closer.

  “No. The doctor performs lobotomies on most of us to make sure of that. Are you going to kill me now?” the clone asked her in the same tone that someone else might ask what was for dinner.

  Jayden and the guys had stood by listening to the exchange between Blue and the clone but now Jayden informed the clone. “We know how to identify you now without a full molecular scan. It will not be so easy to infiltrate any more of you into secure areas.”

  “It will not be necessary after today.” the fake Coloin replied impassively.

  “We do not have time for this,” Idris said and stunned him with the weapon he had pulled from his holster. The clone slumped over in the chair. The only thing holding his body up were the restraints Sparks and Jos had used to tie him up.

  Blue swept the area with her empathic senses and located several people heading their way. “You had better stash him somewhere out of sight we have company coming,” she told Jayden and Idris. With no time to spare they stuffed him under the desk and walked out of the office in time to meet the three security guards.

  One of whom was a clone. Jayden took care of him as soon as Blue sent him the information and Idris explained what was going on to the two
left standing.

  “Can you scan the entire port and tell us where the clones are?” Jayden asked Blue.

  She thought about it. Truthfully she really wasn’t sure. It had been easy on the Mudball because they and the clones had been the only ones there. Here there were hundreds of people and she didn’t know if she would be able to tell just from the color of their lights.

  She closed her eyes to concentrate and opened her mind. Her vision was filled with hundreds of tiny lights each one an alien being. She forced herself to look for any sickly yellow lights. When she opened her eyes she gave Jayden a shake of her head.

  “There are only four that I can see that I know are Ragillians and several more that might be. I think that the older the clone the more the degradation shows up in his light. I also think some of the clones here have to be pretty young,” she finished.

  Vihan asked Idris, “Can you check and see who went off planet in the last couple of years?”

  “I can pull up the duty roster and see who was off work for any length of time but that is going to be nearly everyone here. To find out who went off planet would take longer than we have right now,” he said as he scrolled through the computer checking for any communication with the ships above them.

  He did not find any but what he did find shocked him even though it should not have. It was an order to proceed with the assassination of the King and Queen.

  Balik was to let an assassin into the private quarters of the royal family in two hours through a secret entrance known only to the family and a few loyal guards. While he was doing that a group of twenty soldiers were going to mount an attack from the front.

  This was deemed the perfect time for the attack because it was the first time the King and Queen had gone home to rest for a few hours since the Ragillians had begun gathering. They would be tired and distracted after a stress fueled week.

  Once more it was going to be a race against time. They had to take out the clones and get to the palace in enough time to warn the guards and his parents then get back here.

  Jayden who had been reading the message at the same time said, “Go. You, Vihan and Dro head to the palace. Warn them. We can take care of things here and if there are any clones there maybe Dro can sense them or not sense them as the case may be.”

  Idris was torn between staying to help and going to warn his parents.

  Blue also read the message and told him, “You have to go. This is not something you can trust to a com line especially since we don’t know that it would even reach the right people.”

  Knowing they were both right Idris gave a sharp nod of his head. Even with their fastest transportation it would take almost an hour to reach his home. It was going to be close to get back here in two hours.

  He exchanged a look with Jayden. They had known each other for so long that a look was enough to convey everything he was thinking. Take care of my sister. Help me save my planet.

  Jayden knew how hard it was for Idris to leave the space port in his hands. He knew Idris trusted him but it was his planet and sister’s life on the line. He had not had a choice in leaving Blue with Jayden on the Mudball but he still felt like he had abandoned her and now he was abandoning her once again in the face of danger.

  It was not an entirely rational thought but Jayden knew he would feel the same in his place and he made a silent promise to Idris. He would always do his best to keep her safe. Keeping that promise might be difficult given her personality but he would keep her safe.

  Idris gave Blue a kiss on the cheek and a hard hug before he, Vihan and Dro hurried out of the office. Leaving Jayden, Blue, Sparks and Jos to head in the opposite direction towards the main control room.

  In order to keep from being overheard the small group communicated telepathically as they hurried. Blue stopped them twice. Both times to point out a clone. The place was busy with activity and they could hardly openly shoot them on sight without causing a panic. From the uniforms they wore Jayden knew that they were in key positions to hurt the Shillidons when the time came.

  One was a top level communications officer and the other was another highly placed security officer. Blue walked up to the first one before Jayden could stop her. He did not know what she said to him but she had him following her into a deserted souvenir shop. Once there she quickly incapacitated him and after gagging and tying him up she stuffed him into the back room of the shop.

  Jayden said a little sarcastically when Blue walked back to them, “Are you going to do this all by yourself or would you like some help?”

  Blue was startled. She was so used to working by herself that she hadn’t given them any thought. She had just done what had needed to be done. Riley would not have thought anything of her actions but she needed to remember that she was dealing with men. Men, Riley had told her, had egos that needed stroking. It was a stupid thing to do in her opinion and she never had to before.

  “He wouldn’t have followed you as easily as he did me. Men are men everywhere. You all think that women are weaker and need your protection and help. Even an unfeeling clone.”

  “Trust me princess, none of us will ever make the mistake of thinking that you need us.” There was an undertone in his mental voice that disturbed her. Almost as if she had hurt him in some way.

  Good grief she thought, we don’t have time for a relationship crisis now. She gave him a puzzled look before they continued. She did let him deal with the second one when she pointed him out. He sent Sparks and Jos to get him. They made up a story about someone being sick in the bathroom and when the Ragillian followed them Sparks stunned him while Jos tied him up.

  They did not run into anymore clones the rest of the way to the control room. Once they got close they were stopped by several staff members but since Jayden was almost as well known to them as Idris, he was allowed to pass without any trouble. People were running in and out of the room in a constant stream of activity. There was fatalistic air of grim resolve as everyone went about their business.

  Jayden strode into the room like he owned it and the rest of them followed. Blue didn’t need to open her mind’s eye to see who was a clone and who wasn’t. The nondescript small man sitting at the weapons station was one, along with the man running communications. There was another one standing along the wall.

  The most surprising to Blue was the woman. She wore an air of authority and was giving orders into a small hand held unit as she paced the room in agitation. It was all for show. She was as devoid of emotion as the rest of them. In the center of the room stood the pompous Commander Azael.

  He was a big, robust man who took pride in his appearance. Even after what had to be a stressful week he was immaculately dressed. Not a hair was out of place and his uniform looked freshly pressed. His face was unlined and his voice was strong and deep. Blue took one look at him and knew he was going to be trouble. A spit and polish, by the book man if ever there was one.

  His emotions matched his demeanor perfectly. He was prepared to do his job and defend his planet no matter what it took. He had the discipline not to show his surprise at their arrival but it was there in his emotions along with irritation at the interruption.

  “Commander Naypreyio I did not realize you were on station. It was my understanding that you were with the prince on a mission.”

  “Yes, well we are back,” Jayden informed him.

  “Impossible. I just spoke with the Prince a few hours ago and he was in orbit on a ship. If you were with him then there is no way you could be here,” he said going for his laser pistol in its holster.

  Jayden was faster and had his gun out and pointed at the Commander before he could finish drawing his pistol.

  “I demand to know what is the meaning of this?” Commander Azael demanded.

  “You have been infiltrated by clones Commander and we are here to clean house,” Jayden informed him.

  The four clones knowing their cover was blown pulled their weapons and started firing before anyone understo
od what was going on. Jayden and Blue fired back killing two while Jos got the third. The clones had succeeded in killing five of the people in the room before being taken down.

  The woman clone had her gun pressed into the back of Commander Azael’s head and calmly said, “I will kill him if you do not put your weapons away.”

  Blue knew she would. When Jayden hesitated she walked towards the woman.

  “Stop. Do not come any closer. I will kill him.”

  “See that’s your problem. I don’t know him and really don’t care if you kill him. You will be just as dead as he is.” Blue informed her.

  Emotionless or not that was not the response the woman was expecting and her hesitation allowed Blue to get closer.

  “It will not matter, the bombs are set to go off in two hours. Your shields will be down and this planet and the chrystals will be ours.”

  “What bombs?” Azael asked.

  “The bombs I planted days ago. You people are so arrogant that it never occurred to you that Goren is smarter than all of you. He has been planning this for years. All he needed was another few months to get everything in place. The King’s replacement was almost ready.”

  Well wasn’t this little trip just full of surprises. They knew Blue was the reason that Ragillian’s plans had to be altered but they had not even imagined that he had gotten hold of the King’s DNA to make a clone. With Balik to sneak him on planet and into the palace it would have been easy to pull a switch. Blue could think of so many ways it could be done without anyone knowing in time to prevent disaster.

  Knowing there was a chance the woman would fire Blue stepped forward and shot a fist into her face. The clone’s head snapped back and blood spurted out of her broken nose. The Commander was fast on his feet and stepped away out of the beam of energy that shot from her gun. Instead of hitting him in the head and killing him it hit the wall, burning a hole through it.