by Cathryn Cade
“Another attempt to bring down the Orion,” Craig said, his jaw clenching. “By the great God beyond, when I catch whoever is behind this, I will kill them with my bare hands!”
Navos nodded grimly.
“Do you wish to make an emergency landing on Carillon? We’ll be within range in two hours. We could evacuate the ship.”
“If necessary,” Craig said. “Safety is paramount. But meantime, we’ve got to see what our guard can do.”
They watched as Sirena ran into the ballroom, belting on her weapon. She sprang lightly onto a serving table near the passageway and called the guards around her, a warrior queen rallying her troops.
Sirena surveyed the faces of her guard. As one, they were pale and grim. They could all smell the same thing she could—death slithering.
“You all know a boy is dead,” she said. “We’re charged with finding the killer. Commander Stone and I believe it’s some deadly serpent—probably from Serpentia itself. We scented something the first night and searched the prince’s pets, but found nothing. It’s now clear our mistake was not to keep searching.”
“Be prepared for the worst. Whatever this is, it’s deadly. One of the handlers is dead, one missing. We may find another body. You’ll work in pairs—no solo patrols. Each duo will carry a molecular scanner and weapons at the ready. Com-links on at all times. I don’t care if you’re relieving yourselves—stay together and do not turn off your com-links.”
“Commander,” said Gart, a young guard with a cocky half grin. “If it’s just a snake we’re after, why the fuss? I hunt big vipers with just a blade back home.”
“Because this one has thus far managed to navigate this ship without being detected,” she said. “That means it’s either invisible, which we all know is impossible, or it’s using the ventilation system. It could be in many places.”
“Isn’t the ventilation system sectioned?” asked Layla, a female guard. “The screens should keep it cordoned.”
“Very good,” said Sirena with a nod of approval. “The system is indeed screened, to prevent anything from fouling the central generators. Whatever this is, it’ll be somewhere in this quadrant of the ship. But we still have to act fast.”
“Won’t the snake want to go to ground, now that it has killed?” asked another.
“It didn’t kill to eat,” said Slyde, entering the ballroom from the passageway with Craig and Navos. His face was taut. “It didn’t try to feed on the boy. It may be simply searching for a den, as you said, but if it encounters a living being, it will kill again.”
“Especially since Commander Navos believes it was set free by someone with a purpose,” added Captain Craig. “And if it succeeds in killing a passenger, or is even seen by one, the Orion is doomed. Our ship can’t survive another public disaster.” He looked around at all of them. “This is our third voyage. With your help, it won’t be our last.”
“You can count on us, Captain,” said Izard. There was a chorus of assent and restless movement. Sirena watched with grim satisfaction. Her guard was ready to be on with it.
Craig nodded. “I believe we can.”
“We’ll each take a section of this quadrant,” said Slyde. He moved forward, holding a holo-projection device and using it to send up a hologram of the ship and gesturing at it as he spoke, highlighting the ballroom, then the sections of the ships around it. “We’ll fan out from this area. Yvene and Tawnee have already worked these passageways within the prince’s quarters, so we know the creature’s not in there. Izard believes from the scent that it may be moving toward the passenger quarters. You’ll report back here to central command as you search each passage, each room along the way. If you find anything, we’ll all move in immediately.”
“We have less than two hours to find this thing and destroy it,” Sirena added. “If we haven’t found it when we pass by Carillon, we’ll land there and evacuate the ship. Let’s go.”
In a moment, the teams moved out at a jog.
“I’ll go with Tahh,” Slyde told Sirena. He looked down at her. “You’ll stay here as central command?”
She nodded. Then she touched his arm. “Be careful.”
He looked down into her eyes, his hand over hers. “And you, siren. I cannot lose you now.”
Then he was gone, leaving her staring after him.
On his sleek space cruiser, Rra sat back in his seat, a smile of satisfaction on his thin, green face as he and his small crew watched the holo-vid feed from the Orion.
“So, it begins,” he said. “Or should I say…it continues.”
He threw back his head and laughed. “The Orion is besieged once again. Poor, poor LodeStar crew. This time they won’t know what is among them until it’s too late. Dead passengers and crew, bodies littering the ship, all with the marks of great fangs on them.”
Beside him, Lly smiled, her lovely face serene, although her corn-silk hair wrapped tightly about her throat.
“Yes, it will be most horrific,” she agreed. “They’ll never survive the negative publicity.”
He laughed harder. “They won’t survive at all!” he cried.
Lly and the pilot exchanged a quick look. Rra was becoming more erratic, more emotional. A tycoon himself, his shipping line could have simply entered into direct competition with LodeStar, but Rra had an irrational hatred of Logan Stark and his company. He wanted to destroy them in the most public, humiliating way possible.
Lly didn’t care about Stark or his company, but since Rra had become consumed with his vendetta, her position as his mistress had lost much of its appeal. She was afraid of him now. Caution, she could live with. Living in fear was unacceptable.
Chapter Twenty-two
Sirena turned to Layla, who waited beside the hologram. “I’ll be right back. I want to see the body.”
“Captain, I’ll go to the bridge,” said Navos.
Craig nodded. “You have command of the ship.”
Craig walked with Sirena through the back passageway. They found Dr. Tentaclar kneeling beside the body. The boy lay crumpled on the floor of the storage closet between two large containers of feed. His blue eyes stared flatly, his skin milk white against the pale red of the blood pooled on the floor beneath him. Fang marks were clear on the skin of his throat and torso as Tentaclar carefully cut away his shirt.
Sirena swallowed hard against the stench of death and the acrid miasma of a large serpent. Sick fury balled in her gut. This could have been prevented, if only she and Slyde had searched harder, longer. They should have trusted their instincts. And she should not have allowed herself to be distracted by her anger at him.
“He tried to fight it off,” Tentaclar said, lifting one of the boy’s hands. It was torn and bloody. “It would have been waiting. Curious, though…”
He stared at the body, and Sirena watched him carefully. “What is it?”
“Look at this,” he said, turning the lanky form over so they could see the back. It too bore numerous fang marks. “I find it very odd that the serpent attacked so many times, and from all directions. It is almost as if…” Four of his eyestalks twisted to regard her and Craig. Ice slithered down the back of her neck.
“You believe there are more than one of the creatures,” she said, her voice calm despite the surge of adrenaline. As a warrior, she knew how to use her body’s responses instead of being controlled by them.
He blinked solemnly. “I am afraid so.”
“Oh, great God,” Craig said. “That means they could be moving in more than one direction.”
“Yes,” said Sirena. “Although they killed in tandem here. They may stay together.”
“Can you tell from the marks what kind of serpent it is?” he asked.
“I’ve seen fang strikes like this once before, at a desert oasis in the wilds. They were caused by Serpentia’s most deadly serpent—the golden wraith.”
Craig sucked in a sharp breath. “I’ve heard of those. This just keeps getting better, doesn’t it?”<
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Sirena spoke into her com-link. “Commander Stone, guards. We have a new development. We think there are at least two of the serpents. And that they are wraiths. You all know how dangerous those are. You are fast. They’re far faster. Do not let your guard down for an instant.”
“Any sign?” Slyde’s deep voice demanded.
There was a chorus of negative replies. “The scent dies off the farther we get away from the attack site,” said Izard. “We followed it toward the passenger quarters, but there’s nothing.”
“Yvene, Quarle, Raile, move your teams back toward the ballroom,” said Slyde. “They may be still holed up near there. The rest of us will continue searching out here.”
“Let’s get out of here,” Craig said to Sirena. “I can see this stench is wearing on you.”
She nodded. Between lack of sleep and the smell of death, she was a little shaky.
“It doesn’t bother you?” she asked, following him out through the passageway.
“The smell of death isn’t pleasant for anyone,” he said. “Even a veteran like me. But my human senses can’t pick up the serpents’ spoor, as you can.”
“Be grateful for small favors,” she said wryly.
She took a deep, relieved breath as they entered the ballroom.
Then she grimaced. The scent of the vipers should be much weaker here. Instead it was still strong. Moving her shoulders uneasily, she looked around the big room, then up at the ceiling. What lay above the smooth expanse of swirling miraculite and hanging lamps? She would have Layla bring up the holo-prints of the ballroom ventilation system.
At that moment, there was a commotion in the passageway leading from the prince’s quarters. Sirena and Craig straightened, hands on their weapons.
“I will enter,” said a familiar, imperious male voice. “Stand aside.”
Sirena and Craig dropped their hands from their weapons and exchanged a swift glance. It was Azuran.
“I’ll handle him,” Craig murmured. He walked back toward the door. “Your Highness.”
“Captain,” snapped the prince, striding into the room. His silver hair tied back, he wore a flight suit and a weapon. He was followed closely by three of his men, similarly dressed. Their appearance was a sharp reminder that the Aquarians were a tribe of ancient warriors. “I wish to know what is going on. These guards of yours tell me I must remain in my quarters with the women. Unacceptable. One of my people has died—I will deal with the beast that did this.”
Craig nodded. “You do your people great honor with your concern. But this is a matter for our guards to deal with.”
Azuran stared at him down his aquiline nose. His men did the same.
“I have seen the wounds. It is some kind of serpent, the physician tells me.” He turned to Sirena, no trace of the sensual playboy now in his demeanor. “What do you know of this?”
“A serpent,” she agreed. “A deadly one native to my planet. I believe it was smuggled on board among your menagerie. Why, we cannot say.”
“To kill,” he snapped. “That much is obvious. But why? And why this boy?”
“Because he was here,” she said. “He was the pet handler, so he was the first one the snakes found when they emerged from wherever they were hiding.”
“Where is the other handler?” Azuran demanded, looking around. “The Pangaean?”
Sirena shook her head. “We are searching for him.”
“What’s his name?” Craig asked.
“I don’t know the fellow,” Azuran said with royal disdain. “He came on with the reptiles I purchased on Serpentia. We stopped there for a visit before the voyage. Ask my majordomo—he’ll know more about him.”
“We’ve already accessed the ship’s records. His name is Lloy,” said Sirena. She turned to Layla. “Bring up the prince’s servants. We want a visual of the pet handlers.”
“Yes, Commander.” The slender dark-haired woman worked swiftly and, in a few seconds, two holo-images rotated before them, both wearing the prince’s livery. The boy and a pale green Pangaean with a weak chin and green corn-silk hair.
“That’s the fellow,” the prince said.
“From Jardin City, Pangaea,” Layla reported crisply. “Former employment, the reptile gardens owned by one Llo—his uncle.”
“So a new servant came on board and now we have two deadly serpents loose on the Orion,” said Sirena. The three of them looked at each other. “It’s possible this Pangaean is responsible for the serpents being on board. He certainly would’ve had the best opportunity to smuggle them on.”
“Navos did say someone did this on purpose. But how would he have gotten them through the micro-scanners?” Craig scowled. “He sure as hell didn’t have them in a body cavity—that we would’ve detected.”
The Aquarians looked revolted. Sirena merely nodded. A terrorist had used this method to smuggle a bio-bomb aboard the Orion on their first voyage.
She gestured toward the pet quarters. “One of the reptiles purchased on Serpentia was the kronos, am I right, Your Highness?”
He nodded. “Yes.”
“She was sitting on a clutch of huge eggs,” Sirena said. “I saw them the evening of the party. They’re gone now—we looked. What if the handler slipped some wraith eggs under her, along with her own? I don’t believe a kronos is clever enough to notice.”
“So you think these killers are hatchlings?” Craig frowned. “I don’t know much about snakes, but that seems farfetched.”
“Yes, I know,” she admitted, clenching her fists in frustration. “But so does having killer serpents loose on the Orion.”
“Good point,” he said dryly. “All right, as this Pangaean seems the most likely perpetrator, better put out another bulletin to the guard to be on the lookout for him.”
“And meanwhile we do nothing?” Azuran demanded.
“Meanwhile, we let our elite guard do their job,” said Craig, looking every inch the commander of his ship. “Your Highness, the Serpentians are uniquely qualified to find and bring down these creatures. As much as it pains me, you’ll note I am not among the hunters, either. Were we on your planet, with its many waters, you and your men would be the experts.”
Azuran acknowledged this with a regal nod. “I will remain here. We are ready if needed.”
Craig bowed politely. “Very well, Your Highness.”
The prince and his men stalked a short distance away to converse.
“Nicely done, sir,” Sirena murmured. “Now, I think we’d best look at the ventilation system around here.”
“Should we ask the Aquarians to return to their quarters?”
She shook her head as they reached the holo-display. “At least here they’re surrounded by guards.”
Chapter Twenty-three
As Tawnee jogged out of the ballroom with the other guards, impatience warred with hurt and envy inside her. The news that Sirena and Slyde had commandeered the male guards’ locker room for a night of sex had already flown through the ranks, a delicious bit of gossip in sharp counterpoint to the macabre task ahead. The other female guards had made sure she heard about it.
She tossed her head angrily. They were just jealous because she’d had a taste of the commander and they hadn’t.
Yvene stopped when they reached a fork in the corridor behind the ballroom.
“Sir, I think we should search all of the storage units here.”
Commander Stone turned to her. “Good thinking. Arde, you go with them. I’ll take this passageway.”
Yvene frowned. “I thought we weren’t to go alone.”
“I’m the exception,” he answered calmly. “You’re in charge of these two young ones.”
Tawnee watched as his huge frame disappeared to the left into one of the narrow hallways that ran around the back of the ballroom.
“Tawnee,” said Yvene in a sharp voice. “Come along. We’ve a job to do, and I need you focused.”
“I’m coming.” Pouting, she followed the others
into a large storage room with several compartments. Sleek containers were stacked in neat rows.
“You two take this end,” Yvene said. “I’ll go around this way.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Arde started along the row toward the end of the storage room, but Tawnee hung back. As soon as the other two were out of sight, she ducked back out into the passageway. Her heart pounded with exhilaration as she hurried after Commander Stone. This was her chance to get him alone. Somehow she would make him see that she was the right female for him. She would search alongside him, showing him how brave and clever she was.
He was not in the other passageway. She frowned, wrinkling her nose. She could certainly smell the acrid scent left by the serpents. Ugh! She turned a corner and hesitated. Which way had the commander gone? And how was she going to be able to find him with that horrible smell clogging her nostrils?
She felt rather than heard the movement above her. She froze, every nerve taut with sudden premonition. Very slowly, she tipped her head back and looked up.
The two sleek twisting shapes, the size of her arms, seemed to pour endlessly from the opening of the air vent above her. Their triangular heads swayed slowly back and forth as they watched her with their cold, flat eyes. The nearest one opened its mouth and hissed loudly, a long, blood red tongue tasting the air.
She opened her mouth to scream and it struck, catching her on the throat. Her cry died in a horrible gurgle of sound. As she fell back to the floor of the passageway, the other snake dropped to join the kill. The poison began to work instantly, sending agonizing shards of fire and ice shooting through her body. All she could do was twitch convulsively as they struck again and again.
“Tawnee. Where are you? Tawnee!” Yvene’s voice crackled from the com-link, sharp with fury and concern. “Commander Stone, come in. The cadet is gone.”
The snakes, their task finished, slithered from the body and disappeared into a shadowy corner of the passageway.