They did worry that they actually saw no warriors or personnel as they walked the corridors. Something was suspicious. Right before the large cargo area of cages and slave pens, a miniature cargo bay resided. Ten torture rooms, five on each side, made up this must-visit spot on the ship. A must visit spot, as traditionally, Krakill's loved torture. The screams actually got them horny. It helped them produce the necessary chemicals to lay their egg for fertilizing. Sick, right? Sick was seeing them get hard from breaking your bones or cutting into your body, as they knew first hand. It had happened only once, but they gave a brief shudder as they stepped into an Athrian's hell.
Splitting up they each looked inside the small window. Shemrick found one of the warriors who had gone along with Kirrek dead in the first cell he looked in. Quickly stepping inside he wrapped the body in Shashay and pushed a small button on the side. This reduced the warrior to ash and shrunk down to a pouch that he tucked into a pocket on his vest. Continuing his search, Shemrick found Kirrek alive in the next cell and signaled his brother with a short, low whistle. Kirrek looked in bad shape.
Heathrick quickly searched the other windows for occupants, and found something so horrible he let out a low curse. Surprised, Shemrick went over to see what was wrong and sucked in his breath it was so bad.
Whereas Kirrek had been beaten and cut up, this small female had been beaten and carved up and parts of her skin were missing on her breasts, thighs and belly. She was hanging naked, suspended from chains and her own body was killing her slowly. Her body had pulled away from the wall in her exhaustion, her strength had given out and she could no longer keep it upright, causing her arms to be wrenched out of the sockets from her own weight. Her head was slumped forward, the chained collar around her neck cutting off her oxygen, choking her. She would be dead soon if they did not intervene. Heathrick nodded to Shemrick's unasked question, and quickly went inside to release her.
Heathrick was careful to tilt her head back and fold her arms against her breasts. She was so close to death she did not even scream when he released her, or when he folded her arms in front of her. Carefully picking her up as though she was a child, he made sure to carry her tight against his chest. Shemrick went to Kirrek and threw him over his shoulder.
They quickly returned to the shuttle so that Sameth could work on the little human they had found. She would need Sameth a whole lot more than Kirrek. They gave the completion signal right as they stepped onto the ship and closed the doors. They bellowed for Sameth as soon as it became safe to do so, while walking back to the medical compartment set aside for this trip. They both sent a prayer to the Goddess that she would survive while they continued towards Sameth. They had not found the other warrior said to have been with Kirrek, and could only pray for his soul if he was unrecoverable.
Another double click sounded in his ear and brought Jarrek back to the mission at hand. One mission left. Time to get busy. Jarrek paused at end of the corridor, trying to listen for conversation or movement. He wanted to find out which missions had been completed, but did not want to risk speaking in a voice that would carry and get him caught. It was enough to know that his men had succeeded at their missions. Jarrek heard no movement or conversation, so stepped around the corner and continued.
He did not like the feeling in his gut that warned something was wrong. Where were the personnel? Where were the warriors? Where they off trying to sneak aboard his ship? It was not one of their normal tactics, but something was off, and he could not think of what it could be. Had Varill killed off most of his crew? Since they could manipulate DNA and base pairs, they usually had contingents of warriors frozen to replace any that were killed for stupidity or in battle. This ship almost echoed its state of emptiness. Goddess willing, perhaps they were succeeding in killing them off. He would have to ask Varill, right before he killed him.
Stopping at another corridor, he again paused to listen for movement or conversation and this time heard something moving away from him talking. Peaking his head around the corridor, he watched as two Krakill drug the body of one of his warriors. Looks like they had tortured him away from their usual spot. Why? He could not make out what they were saying, so he began following behind them. He watched to see where they would take him. He hoped that he could rescue his warrior before continuing his mission. He wished he could tell who the warrior was, but from this distance, and his head almost touching the ground was unable to see his face. He watched them drag his warrior into a room along the corridor.
Trying to hurry to the door so he could hear any conversation between them and find out what was going on. What he did hear caused his anger to spike. One Krakill, bitching to the other to hurry up, so he could have a turn made him wonder of what they spoke. Torture? They usually traded off anyway, so what was he speaking of?
Then Jarrek heard, “Shut it. I found the vid, Krukick. I get to go first. You can have the front like I showed you, then we can trade places and you can shove your rod inside his hole. It looked fun and the squishy human in the vid looked as though it was painful and horrifying. Got my rod hard just watching. We can keep him all to ourselves now. I will go back and put in that he died of his wounds and we can do whatever we want with him for as long as he stays alive.”
His horror growing with each word, Jarrek felt his fury rise. They were talking about raping one of his warriors! Not while he still lived. Hearing his warrior begin to scream and then have it muffled, he knew that they were starting. Well, they would not get much farther. Unsheathing both of his swords, he pushed the activation button with the back of one hand tightfisted around his sword, and went in swinging. They were dead before they knew he had even interrupted them. Too bad. They did not deserve the quick death he gave them.
Going to the table, he touched his warriors exposed shoulder, ducking at the slow fist thrown his way. “'Tis fine warrior, you are free now. How badly are you injured?” Jarrek asked in a voice devoid of emotion. Warriors may give one another relief, but never by force. It was a quick way to get sentenced to death. He would not treat his warrior with anything other than respect, nor remark on what was done. It was for his partner of choice to help him work through any issues that arose.
Jarrek saw no shame in what had been forced upon him. They were dead, and he was avenged. “Your captors are dead on the floor. We need to get out of here before we become discovered. Now I ask you again warrior, how badly are you injured?” Jarrek asked a little more forcefully.
Darthos S'et Valleyark finally heard the question put to him and raised his head. Finding his Commander and Prince standing over him confused him for a moment, while the last several days replayed in his head. Once the replay had finished, he almost whimpered. Struggling to stand and cover himself, he replied, “I am not hurt too badly Commander. They have been working on Cloge the most. I think that they killed him early this morning, as they then came to me with more frequency. The beatings and cuttings are not too bad. I am not new to that torture of theirs. The rapes are something new though. Cloge warned me it was coming. He unfortunately had many visitors hurt him. They have discovered some kind of entertainment vids from the marble planet that has gotten them salivating and curious. Between Cloge, the female, and me I think that they must have all had a turn, until these two grabbed me. Varill's second in command really likes the female, poor woman. I wish that I could have saved her. The screams were worse than anything they did to me. Domu! They have discovered a way to prevent our morph Commander. We must find out how they did it and destroy that information.”
The urgency of that last bit of information made Darthos want to kick himself. He should have started with that first. Unfortunately, he was a little confused from the starvation and dehydration. He was able to redress without the help of his Commanding officer, thank the Goddess, but they needed to find where that information was kept and retrieve it. Now ready, he took the sword that Prince Jarrek held out to him and prayed that he would be able to use it. His body hurt and pr
otested moving. He would never shame himself in front of his Commander and Prince by admitting he was not ready to defend himself.
Jarrek looked at Darthos' stance and could see the pain he was in. Not needing him to kill Varill, he turned to his warrior and said, “I am off to kill Varill. I have teams rescuing my brother and daughter and placing bombs throughout the ship. I am sure they will find Cloge's body and the female if she is still alive. All that I require of you at this time is that you return to the ship and tell Heathrick and Shemrick of your discovery. Perhaps they can find where this information is located and retrieve it before the bombs are set. If not, it will not be a problem for long. We are going to make this ship disappear into little dust motes. No trace will remain to lead others of their race to this sector of space. I know Varill is a greedy cruvek and will not have shared this information with anyone outside this ship. Only if his entire ship and life were about to be exterminated would he bother to share. Then, only because his genetic make-up demands it. So hurry to the launch bay. At the farthest corner in the west, there is one pod and two fighter jets set for repairs. Take this to uncloak Bruthus' new ship, and open the doors.” Handing Darthos the re-cloaking device, Jarrek left him to carry out his orders.
He could feel the time slipping through his hands and needed to get this finished. He had fifteen minutes left at the most before they discovered the rescue mission and started searching the ship for them and firing on his own. Before the laser cannons started firing he needed to be sure that his team was safely aboard his ship and headed towards Athria with all speed. If only a few of his other battle destroyers could arrive in this sector of space. That would make Mr. Stinky, as his beloved called Varill, pause and retreat. The third double-click sounded in his ear. All the bombs were in place and both his brother and daughter were safe in his people's possession. Hopefully, they had rescued the other woman that Darthos was talking about.
Jarrek sent a prayer to the Goddess, that when he joined her she would allow him the boon of watching over his Cordisa and daughter. If he could not be with them in life, then he wanted to protect them in death.
Getting closer to Varill and the bridge, Jarrek still worried over the fact that he was having too easy a time. Just running into two Krakill while heading to the bridge was wrong. By this time on any other mission he had laid between ten to twenty down. This felt wrong. Taking the advice of his gut, Jarrek peeled off the corridor to enter the first unoccupied officer's quarters he came to. As he was one level away from the bridge, he was right next to their living quarters.
The first room he came to looked empty on first glance, he was halfway across the room before he noticed the sleeping figure in the bed. Jarrek pulled his sword and knife in smooth, fast motions and slowly approached the bed.
He was standing next to the bed, ready to plunge his blade home when he noticed that there was no breath coming from the body. What the hell? Going to the computer, he checked the duty roster and found all but Varill's personal security confined to their rooms by Commander Varill himself.
What was Varill playing at? Confident that he had found the reason for the empty corridors, although clueless for the reasoning, Jarrek continued towards the bridge and Varill himself. Varill without realizing it was aiding in his own destruction.
Not two minutes later, Jarrek realized he should have kept the stealth, as he was bounding down the hallways towards his objective, he was running right into Varill's personal guard. They made sure that Jarrek regretted losing his caution before they presented him to Varill's brand of greeting. They surrounded him and the leader grabbed one arm while another did the same to his other side. Wondering what was going on and about to morph out of the group, they stabbed him in the chest with a needle and pushed the plunger. His body immediately burned and his symbiot screamed inside his head. Shit! They did have a way to disable their morph. They proceeded to beat him around the face and ribs, before dragging him to Varill and dropping him at his feet. He quickly engaged his comm unit, so that his team knew he was taken and to save his brother and daughter.
14.
That Simple?
Hailey ran into Sidhawk just as she was leaving the Goddess' chapel. She was so happy to see him she immediately smiled and jumped into his arms and planted a big kiss on his cheek. “I am so happy to see you! I need your help. Jarrek is about to make a bone-headed move and I need to save his ass, so we can live happily-ever-after.”
Sidhawk saw Hailey exit the Goddesses chambers and was surprised she had found it. They had tucked it away in this section on purpose. This way, ensured that the ugliness of their war did not reach her. She was unsullied by their fight and no warrior would come here unless cleansed from any battle. When Hailey had looked up at him and smiled, he was surprised again. Then she astounded him by jumping into his arms and kissing his cheek. What was going on? She had just left from a tense scene where Loku was being an idiot with tears on her face. He expected that he would need to comfort her and even cheer her up before they could discuss what had happened. “You are well Hailey?” He asked tentatively.
“Fine and dandy, Sid, let’s get started. How do I work the bond?” Hailey questioned. Sidhawk looked confused, and she needed him to keep up.
“Look, Sid, I don’t have time to play twenty questions with you. I need you to tell me how to work my bond with Jarrek. Keep up here. Things are happening at a rapid pace and I need to be in time. I have a wedding to plan and I need to make sure the groom will live to be there.”
“Wedding, groom, twenty questions game? I do not understand your speech Hailey, what is going on in a fast manner? If you can tell me plainly what is happening, then I will be glad to assist you.” Sidhawk had tried to understand her speech, but she was talking rapidly and practically dragging him back down the hall towards her room. He needed a clearer understanding of her language. He vowed to spend hours with her learning all the ins and out of her language, if he only could live through whatever she was planning now.
“I want you to tell me how to work the bond that Jarrek and I have so that I can let him know that I love him and accept the bond, before he lets Varill kill him to give me a freedom I don’t want. Savvy?” Hailey told Sidhawk, adding a little Captain Jack there at the end, just to tweak his nose. She loved how so many of those she had spoken with had such difficulties understanding her language. It had her laughing on the inside so much that she was surprised she hadn’t peed herself yet.
“Oh, yes. Of course, I will try. We may need to find Loku and ask whom the eldest man aboard is. I have knowledge, but no practical experience you know. No one has had a Cordisa in thousands of ansis’, we may need help.” Sidhawk was so happy to hear that she changed her mind, he was reluctant to ask what had changed her mind, but as she was dragging him along at a fast pace he was not sure if he should. She may need to slow to catch her breath for the explanation, if that was the case, then he should ask.
“May I ask what has happened to change your mind? Not that I am complaining mind you, I am just curious.” Sidhawk decided that he had nothing to lose in asking, so went ahead and did just that.
“I met your Goddess while I was visiting her and she told me to get over myself, because she really had made Jarrek just for me or me for Jarrek I guess since he’s older.” Hailey told him matter of fact.
Sidhawk stopped dead at her words. The Goddess had spoken with Hailey? Wow. “She really spoke to you?” He asked in a voice full of awe.
“Yes, really Sid, like I would make something like that up. Jeez! Look, the point is that she told me that Jarrek and I were supposed to be together and that if I wanted to keep that love I would need to learn about the bond, as he had made a bone-headed decision and was about to die if I didn’t figure it out.” Hailey told him pulling at his arm in an unsuccessful attempt to move him along.
“Wow. Hailey you are going to tell me all about it. This is momentous!” Sidhawk replied, excited.
“Move your ass, Sid and I
will tell you when we save Jarrek.” Hailey told him and finally succeeded in getting him to continue moving.
Sidhawk directed her left when she was going to turn to the right, certain that her room and the lift to the bridge was that direction. “My rooms and by extension the elevator to the bridge is to the right Sid. Where are you taking me?” Hailey inquired.
“There is more than one lift Hailey, I am simply getting us there faster.” Sidhawk replied in the sarcastic tone of voice he had heard Hailey use on more than one occasion.
“Snark, Sid? Progress, I like it. Of course, there is more than one elevator to the bridge. I should have realized. Sorry.” Hailey said and rolled her eyes at her mistake.
Knight in Shining Alien?: Athrian Warriors Book One Page 13