by Abella Ward
Ronan drew his own blade. The weight of the broadsword was so familiar in his hands that he forgot for a moment how long it had been since he had wielded one. His muscles remembered exactly how to use it.
Aliens wearing Planchet uniforms ran down the corridor. They didn't notice the two warriors waiting in ambush until it was too late. Ronan launched himself on them with a roar. He swung the sword, the familiar swish as it severed the air and struck through the nearest neck sparking an ancient bloodlust in his veins. Tag slipped in like a shadow, her blades striking with deadly accuracy.
The Planchets raised their guns, but it did them no good. Ronan cleaved a great swath through them, driving into the center of the group. Tag backflipped over the group and landed behind him. She laughed as she spun in circles. They guarded each other's backs as they cut down their enemies.
It was over in seconds. Tag wiped her blades off on the uniforms of the fallen.
"Well, this is rather exciting, isn't it?" Tag grinned.
"Not as exciting as it would be if I were alone, but I get what you're saying."
"We have to have that duel sometime. But for now, I'm glad you're on our side."
"Don't take it personally. I'd be out of here already if Planchet was just after your corporate information." Ronan explained briefly his history with Lirreb. "He must have tracked me here and decided it was a perfect excuse to be able to attack the base and steal some information at the same time as abducting me."
Tag scowled. "I wondered why they would make such an obvious attack on a Walian base. But if they have you as an excuse, they might be able to get away with causing untold destruction here." Her swords rose slightly. "So I guess the question is, do I help you get away and hope Planchet chases you, or do I turn you over to them?"
"They also want Erica," Ronan pointed out. "And I don't think Bethy would be happy if you let Planchet take her."
"True… my little wife certainly demands her own way." The Aphrosian grinned suddenly. "Is yours the same?"
Ronan inclined his head. "I thought she would be a sweet submissive companion. I was very wrong. And I'm glad I was."
"Hmm. I'll tell my brother what you told me. If the Planchet Corporation is really this desperate to get their hands on you, then we won't be able to stop them. Walian is still quite small, we don't have the resources to fend off a siege. And if they get Bethy… well, they might take her claiming they were 'liberating' her or some such nonsense and then use her for their own purposes. So the safest place, for her and Erica both, is in the Zon Sanctuary. If we can get there, perhaps he will grant us asylum."
"Us?" Ronan quirked a brow. "You're coming?"
"I go where Bethy goes. And Bethy goes where she'll be safe, whether she likes it or not. Besides, she has been trying to convince me to find her cousin ever since we met. I doubt she'll be happy if I split them up now."
Ronan nodded. His kneejerk reaction was to just leave Bethy and Tag here, but his gut told him he could trust the Aphrosian. It was clear she loved her little human, just as Ronan loved his own. He headed back towards the safe room, Tag walking with him. She used her comm to explain the situation to her brother. He confirmed that the Planchets had asked for Ronan shortly after their initial attack. He was giving them half an hour to get away before he handed the T'shav over.
They made it to the safe room without incident and retrieved their women, explaining the plan as they headed out of the building. Bethy kept asking questions and Ronan had to resist the urge to tell her to shut up. He also had to resist the urge to sling Erica over his shoulder and run with her.
The ship was docked on the third level of the Walian base, Ronan having parked it there after disengaging the takeoff protocol. The little group reached it quickly. But just as they dashed across the open space, gunfire erupted from behind them.
Bethy cried out, stumbling. Tag shouted and dove over her, tucking the human in a ball and rolling a few times to hide the two of them behind some barrels of coolant. The Aphrosian knelt, firing rapidly at the Planchets that were charging Ronan and Erica.
"We can't leave them!" Erica shouted as Ronan scooped her up into one arm.
He fired back at the Planchets haphazardly, running towards the ship. His first concern was Erica's safety. Once she was out of the line of fire he could come back for Tag and Bethy. Blaster bolts showered down from every side, some barely missing him, some wide from their mark. They were certainly scraping the bottom of the barrel on this attack—probably because it was only the first wave.
Send in the cannon fodder first, tire their enemies out before sending in a skilled crew. Clever.
He dashed into the ship, depositing Erica in the main room. "Get into the medical bay and seal yourself in. I'll be back with Bethy and Tag shortly."
Erica's eyes were wide but she nodded. "Don't get shot."
He kissed her hard once more before he turned. He hadn't gone more than two steps before a T'shav appeared in the doorway. Ronan brought up his gun while reaching for his sword–but it was too late. He dimly heard Erica screaming behind him, but she sounded so far away. Everything seemed to go terrifyingly slow. He couldn't get his muscles to move quickly enough.
The T'shav drove his broadsword through his chest. Ronan saw it go in, felt the white-hot pain, but his mind refused to connect that with his body. He let off a shot from his blaster, barely missing the T'shav. In response, his attacker knocked the weapon from his hand.
When the blade was withdrawn, Ronan fell to his knees. Darkness swirled around him. Erica was still screaming. He couldn't make himself move, no matter how hard he fought to do so. Hands grabbed his shoulders. A high, keening voice was in his ear. He managed to look to see Erica beside him. Her arms wrapped around him and tears flowed freely down her face.
"No! No! Ronan, no, please no!" She kissed him hard, again and again.
His strength was failing him. He collapsed. Erica ripped his shirt open. The T'shav stood over them, bloody sword still in hand, gazing down without pity. Ronan's hand brushed Erica's hair. He tried to tell her to run, to leave him, but his voice wouldn't work. He couldn't feel his heart beating.
Something pricked on his chest, and a burning pain made him groan. His vision cleared enough to see what Erica was doing. She had applied Bloodstore. Now she grabbed a fistful of Fleshseal and shoved it into his stab wound. Ronan's back arched and he screamed with pain. Erica straddled him to hold him in place and continued to work.
The T'shav that had stabbed him shook his head. He seized Erica around the waist and hoisted her away. She kicked and screamed. Ronan growled, pushing himself up—the pain overwhelmed him and he collapsed again.
"Well, this human should just about cover the costs that you owe Mr. Libber, right? Pity you'll be dead and won't be able to try to save her."
"Let me go!" Erica clawed at the T'shav's face.
"That wound is fatal, little human. No amount of Fleshseal will save him."
"No!" Erica's voice rang in his ears. "Ronan!"
Everything went black.
Chapter Thirteen: Erica
Erica glared at the Suesue taking a tissue sample from her. It was the fourth time in an hour. Her arms were covered in bruises and scabs. But if she didn't sit still and allow the alien to insert a large-caliber needle in her arm, retrieving a layer of adipose and muscle, she would be restrained. They would also refuse to give her a localized anesthetic. As awful as it was to watch the needle inserted into her arm, it was worse to actually feel it.
The human rested a hand on her large, pregnant belly. It had been months since the Planchet Corporation took her. Months since she last saw Ronan lying in a pool of his own blood. She didn't know if Tag and Bethy had escaped the Planchet attack alive. She didn't even know exactly how many months she had been in this stark prison.
The walls were glass, and she could see the scientists working outside. In her little prison was a bed and a water fountain. She was let out every couple of hours or so to u
se the bathroom, and other than that the only contact she had with anybody was when the samples were taken. Even the food was automatically delivered by a robot.
Lately, things had been a little different. Nobody would tell her what was happening, but from the probes that buzzed around her, taking pictures from every angle, she assumed she was going up for auction soon. Apparently, the Planchet Corporation decided that it wasn't cost-effective to keep her around as a lab rat or selling off her tissue samples, or whatever they were doing with her.
At least here she knew they weren't going to kill her or end her pregnancy. If they were, they would have done it already. Whoever bought her, though…
"There we are." The Suesue put the needle and sample into a sterile container and gestured for the assistant to start using the regenerator. "That's all for today."
Once they used the regenerator, they wouldn't take any more samples for at least twenty-four hours. Apparently, regenerators tainted the sample for a time. Erica didn't care about the science behind it, she was just glad to be able to have break.
Erica watched the regenerator pass over her arm. The holes made from the needles disappeared before her eyes, the old scabs healing as well. "Do I at least get to shower today? It's been two days—I stink."
The Suesue ignored her, turning to the assistants that were marking down what samples had been taken. They never talked to her. Probably to maintain a good professional buffer from acknowledging that she was a living, sentient person that had more than once begged them not to do what they were doing.
"Mr. Lirreb wants to inspect the specimen himself. Make sure it's clean and dressed presentably."
"Inspect?" Erica drew back from the Suesue, her heart jumping to her throat. "What does that mean? Inspect how?"
They ignored her questions, as per usual. Erica's heart pounded as they escorted her to the showers and gave her a pretty, flowered smock belted at the waist to wear. She considered the situation–she didn't know what Lirreb wanted with her, but he was the one that had ordered Ronan… killed. Would she have the chance to kill him?
Her hand rested on her stomach. No. She couldn't take that risk. She didn't know what her future held, but if she attacked the Planchet CEO, then she'd most likely dead by the end of the day. And her baby, too.
***
Saliva pooled at the corners of Lirreb's blubbery lips as he ate, all but ignoring Erica. Her hands were clenched under the table. The delicious-smelling foods that were spread over the table made her mouth water, but the toad-looking creature across from her stole her appetite with his mere presence.
"Are you planning on selling me?"
Lirreb patted his wide mouth dry and leered at her. "Are you referring to the images we have been capturing? You're being sent to market, Miss Chase. As soon as that is born." He pointed at her stomach. "T'shav babies are selling for high prices this year. People do so love to raise them for their own little armies."
Erica wrapped her arms around her stomach. "We'll be sold as slaves, then?"
"No. You will be sold as part of a breeding program. The T'shav you carry will be sold as a slave."
Erica's mouth went dry. Lirreb was planning on taking the last piece of Ronan away from her. She shook her head. Unacceptable. She could submit to all of the poking and prodding she had gone through. She could even accept being sold because there was a chance that she would find someone sympathetic to her, like she had Ronan. If not, there was always the possibility to try to escape, or somehow contact the Zon Sanctuary for rescue.
But if she was separated from her baby, there would be no meaning to life anymore.
"No. I won't let you."
Lirreb folded his hands on the table. "You don't have a choice in the matter."
"I have medical skills. You only took me to pay off the debt that Ronan incurred. I can work it off. Please. Please don't take my baby from me."
"I didn't bring you here to listen to you begging, Miss Chase. I only thought that it was about time you know what was happening."
There was a knife halfway between them. Could she get to it before he did?
"I was not part of Ronan's schemes." She hated saying that as though it was his fault, but what choice did she have? Ronan was gone. Protecting their child, preserving that piece of him, was the most important thing right now. "I didn't want him to buy me, but he did. But I had no part in his botched mission and you already killed him. Isn't that enough for you?" Erica slammed her fist on the table. "Isn't it?"
Lirreb's arrogant smile didn't change. "No."
Erica lunged for the knife. Lirreb snatched it up and clucked his tongue at her, shaking his head.
"Killing Ronan was personal. Not only did he not do as I wanted, but he disrespected me. Made a thinly veiled threat to kill me, even. But that’s all it was. Personal. I would have killed you, too, but my business head brought me around. I have investors to think about. I've already lost money, feeding and sheltering you while you come to term rather than just terminating your pregnancy."
Erica snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure all the tissue samples you've taken from me are worthless."
"You should count yourself lucky that the market for T'shav babies has picked up in recent years, otherwise I would have already ended your pregnancy. But I lost money on the baby, and I need it back somehow. Selling it will cover the cost of keeping you in my care."
"I won't let you take my baby."
Lirreb stood. "As I said, you don't have a choice. Guard, come take Miss Chase back to her cell."
Erica jumped to her feet, looking around desperately for something to fight with. She couldn't let them take her baby from her! Lirreb sighed dramatically as she picked up the chair and turned to face him. Suddenly, she saw a T'shav enter the room.
Only it wasn't just any T'shav. It was a ghost.
The chair clattered to the floor. Ronan stood in the doorway, looking as glorious as he ever had, all muscle and sinew. He twirled a broadsword as he advanced on Lirreb. The toad stumbled back, eyes wide, mouth hanging open. Erica couldn’t breathe. She couldn't believe her eyes. This had to be some sort of sick joke… or wasn’t it?
"You're dead!" Lirreb shouted.
"Your man didn't check to make sure." Ronan overturned the table that separated him from Lirreb. Erica backed away, gaping, still unable to believe her eyes. "I would never have been so sloppy. He assumed one blow would kill me and left me to die. But guess what? I was in a medical facility."
He drove his sword through Lirreb's chest. The toad's eyes bulged. He choked as Ronan withdrew the sword.
"If you had left my mate out of this, you would have lived. But you had to make it personal."
The sword swung. Erica turned her head away, but still heard the twin thumps of the body and severed head. Her heart hammered and she backed against the wall. This couldn't be real. It had been months—months! She had forced herself to accept Ronan's death. This had to be a dream. She couldn't let herself believe it. When she woke up and he was dead again, it would kill her.
Warm, strong hands cupped her face, making her look at him. "Erica. I'm sorry."
A tear ran down her face. He brushed it away with his thumb. A sob escaped and she threw her arms around him. "I don't care if this is a dream, I'm never letting you go again."
Ronan hugged her back, holding her so tightly she thought she might break–but she didn't care. "I'm so sorry."
Chapter Fourteen: Ronan
Ronan would have liked to just hold Erica. Unfortunately, they didn't have time. He pulled away, putting a hand to his chest as the muscles there pulled. Months of healing and he still hadn’t fully recovered. Erica's hand joined his over his heart.
"How are you alive?"
"The Bloodstore and Fleshseal you used were enough to keep me alive until Tag could get me to an infirmary."
"You were stabbed right through the heart. No regeneration could fix that."
"No. I needed a heart transplant. If I had been anywhere else
in the universe I'd be dead, but with their hybridization techniques, they were able to use alien tissue as a base model to clone a new heart. It's never been done before."
Erica looked amazed. "A miracle."
"We have to go."
Gripping Erica's hand, he headed for the door, but a twinge in his chest had him leaning on his sword as if it were a cane. He tried not to let Erica see how much pain he was in. Not now when he just got her back. He couldn't let anybody come between him and his mate again.
"Healing isn't going as fast as normal. Apparently blending alien DNA together has its drawbacks." He tried to smile at his mate, but the worry in her eyes stopped him. He cupped her face again. "I'm sorry I didn't come sooner. I would have, but—"
"That doesn't matter. You're here now."
Ronan nodded. He grit his teeth against the pain and strode from Lirreb's rooms, holding Erica's hand tightly. Maybe Tag was right when she said he wasn't ready to take on the Planchet Corporation, but that didn't matter–they didn't have any time to spare.
A security force was charging up the corridor, armed to the teeth. Ronan grinned at them, pushing Erica out of harm's way. The front row of the security force dropped to their knees, raising their guns, but Ronan didn't give them the chance to fire. He leaped through the air, channeling the lingering pain into rage. The broadsword swung through the air, cleaving through three guards at once. Their limbs jerked and writhed as they fell.
A guard slammed the butt of his blaster into the back of Ronan's head, making him stumble. He recovered quickly, swinging around with a roar. His sword sliced through the blaster-resistant armor as though it were butter. With a quick stab, he skewered two guards on his sword. Releasing it, he swung around, using fists now. He dug his toe claws into the floor as a giant Dibat crashed into him. Ronan used the Dibat's momentum to flip him around and into his companions.