by A. B. Keuser
Raza pulled him over onto his back, and the pain laced through him with a renewed fire. "Thank the stars you're still alive."
"Right about now, I almost wish I wasn't."
"Don't say things like that." She tried to pull him up right, but shied away from his hand. "What the eff is that?"
Cable looked down to his hand, his arm to the elbow, it was pink and streaked like exposed muscle. His head swam as he flipped it over and looked to the suction like nodes on his palm.
It was the only way.
"The only way to what? Freak me out?"
"Cable?"
She cannot hear me.
It was the only way we could communicate….
As KaZie asked.
Keeping the strange new hand as far from him as he could, Cable stood and resumed his pacing. "Either I'm going crazy, Raz, or the ship hijacked my hand for some reason and now it's talking to me."
Raza stiffened and looked around as though they were in the midst of ghosts. "The Kas were supposed to be telepathic."
Rumor and Fallacy.
Our technology allows minds to connect.
We cannot do so unaided.
"So what the hell is on my hand?"
It is how we can link with those who do not possess Kindiran blood.
We have never done so with a human before.
It is a most… disorienting experience.
"You can say that again."
The doors opened in front of them and Cable looked cautiously to Raza. Somehow, he couldn't shake the feeling this was a trap.
I will show you how to access Aaron Flack’s ship.
"You don't call him KaRapp?"
He has not earned the designation of Ka.
Unlike his sister, he has caused only harm.
He is a murderer.
He will be punished in kind.
"Good to know." He turned to Raza. "Whatever you do, don't hurt the ship."
She stared at him blankly, giving a little shrug and tightening her grip on the cannon.
"Any chance we're going to get a confirmation from Kenzie that she put you up to this.... that you're not going to jettison us at your first chance." He turned to look up at the ceiling, feeling like he was talking to a ship comm. "I mean, the Kindira and Humans did not have the best of relationships before...."
KaZie trusts you.
Her judgement so far has been sound.
Until you betray us, we will consider you allies.
As friends of KaZie.
The last sounded like a forced caveat. "Lovely, we'll all get along just peachy then, I'm sure."
Cable didn't ask what the thing on, around.... or that had replaced his hand was. He grimaced at the mere idea of it; he certainly didn't want to know what it was doing to him.
You have a problem.
The others.
Male, female.
“Kate Stacy and Darius Bezzon. They’re with us.”
You don’t trust the male.
That is good.
I will lead you to your friend.
She needs your aid.
Have your other female bring her medical supplies.
“Shit.”
Raza had already packed up her bag and slung it over her shoulders. “What’s up.”
“Stacy’s in trouble.”
“What did she and that rat get themselves into this time?”
“Pretty sure Bezzon’s the problem.”
He followed the directions KaDen set forth, ignoring the dizzy hum as he tried to get used to the other voice inside his head… of the memories…
Stopping dead in his tracks he cursed.
I need to know what sort of human you are.
What’s done is done.
I won’t apologize.
Raza hadn’t fallen back with him, and he heard her quiet call from around the corridor.
Stacy was on the ground, unconscious.
The other hit her when her back was turned.
“Get her up, awake, and make sure she’s not concussed.”
“And Bezzon?”
“Make sure he doesn’t try to take you out too.” He didn’t voice his surprise that the sub lieutenant hadn’t killed her.
This is the sort of person you trust to help you retrieve KaZie?
“He’s the sort of person I don’t trust to leave to his own devices.”
KaZie and I will deal with him.
Your skills are needed on another ship.
Aaron Flack and the female they call Maeltar have plans.
“Plans you don’t approve of?”
Ones that would kill more than just you and I.
Stacy came back to them with a curse and a promise to kill the bastard. Cable tried not to smile as Raza patched her up and led the way, following the directions he called out from KaDen.
He had a feeling that too much of this would force him to claw his eyes out, but he didn't ask if it was reversible.... because if the answer was "no" he really didn't want to know. Raza was ignoring the grotesque appendage, silently suffering through its proximity.
Stacy’s occasional glances made him wonder if she thought it was a hallucination left over from her head injury.
If nothing else, Cable could be thankful for the fact that whatever the ship had done to his hand, there was a numbing agent slowly diffusing from its point of origin. It had already claimed his arm and was sweeping across his back, taking away the lingering sting of his wounds. It was probably a curse in disguise. He had no doubt he'd further injure himself before the day was through because he'd forgotten about one or more of his wounds.
I can alter your healing mechanisms.
You don’t need to be numb.
"No, I'll probably need it in the long run." For Kenzie.
Raza didn't even look at him this time. "Talking to the ship?"
"Yeah, you want to stick your hand in an outlet and join in on this convo?"
"No thank you. I just had a manicure and I'd hate to ruin it."
"Is that what you were doing on Bad Alley while the rest of us were hunting down leads?" Stacy asked.
"I will have you know, the crassicau who did my pedi was an amazing font of information."
While Raza gave Stacy the brief version of events leading up to his hand, Cable paused at the entrance to the space he’d led them too.
There was no ceiling. But the void didn’t suck them away.
“Wherever Kenzie is,” Raza said, looking up into the bright dark, “She is loving this.”
KaZie has bigger problems to worry about than playing with my systems.
Cable didn't acknowledge him. Instead, he went to the white disk on the floor where KaDen directed them.
He pulled his secondary gun to the ready and waited for the world to explode around him.
Thirty
The barracks she’d left them in had been empty as a tomb, but Mack couldn’t run off in search of them. She had a crassicau to deal with.
Nrog’s growling calls for her echoed through the ship, and with each corner she turned, she expected to see him barreling toward her. There was an odd acoustical component that made her wonder if the ship needed the intercom system that ran through the decks. She decided it was a testament to the fact that the Ka were a much more soft spoken race than her scaled friend.
She found him as she rounded the corner near the aft hangar hatch and her mind raced as she tried to remember which hangar she’d stowed Vinnita’s ship in. The organic composition of the ships layout had her all turned around.
When Maeltar emerged from behind the creature, with a decidedly pleased-with-herself smile plastered on her face, she let out a sigh of relief. This was a social call.
“Are you here for an inspection?”
“I didn’t mean to tear you away from your work. Aaron mentioned you work best in seclusion, but you bodyguard would not take me to you. He seems most suspicious of me.”
Mack looked to Nrog and wondered at the idea Maeltar
thought he was her bodyguard, and not simply her guard… but then, he thought she’d been on Aaron’s side from the beginning, so that made sense.
“He knows how delicate the ships systems are at this stage.”
Maeltar leaned in closely, the stale stench of cigarette smoke on her breath. “Between you and me? I think your brother was stupid to ever take the leathers off that one. They’re much more docile when properly attired.”
Mack walked slowly to Nrog’s side, each step deliberate as she considered her words carefully. Aaron had taken steps to ensure Maeltar’s loyalty until he no longer needed her, it would have been so easy to cast doubt… to throw a wrench into her brother’s master plan. But she’d heard the stories from both Cable and her brother when they were home on leave: Maeltar was a clinical mastermind, and ruthless in her revenge. Whether she could believe those stories or not, she didn’t know, but she decided it would be better to err on the side of caution.
She stood in the military at ease she’d seen Cable adopt on more than one occasion and watched him, waiting.
His eyes shifted from Kenzie to Nrog and back as an uneasy smile settled over his features. She pressed her chapped lips together and continued to wait.
“I was hoping for a tour of my ship… a private tour if you could spare the time.”
Mack didn’t look at Nrog. Maeltar was the sort of woman who thought herself the alpha of a pack, if she gave an inch, Maeltar walk right over the top of her. “Not possible. For one thing, it’s not your ship yet. For another, I have too much work to do. This distraction is already costing us time.”
Her brow narrowed suspiciously. “Aaron said you were simply fine tuning things.”
Mack barely allowed herself to blink at the pronouncement. She was far from that, but Maeltar didn’t need to know that. “And in a ship this size there is a lot to polish.”
“Perhaps then, I could join you… watch as you put those finishing touches into place.”
Mack was about to refuse the suggestion when a muted klaxon sounded in the hangar behind them. Nrog shifted in agitation beside her before turning with a quick bow. “I will return as soon as I see to that, KaZie.”
The doors to the hangar opened and closed behind him so quickly, she barely realized they’d done so. And then Maeltar was on top of her.
She stood so close the toes of their boots touched and with the wall behind her, Mack couldn’t back away.
“Now that your lizard is distracted, what say you and I find a bunk. I’ve seen the way you looked at me when we first met… how you’ve been undressing me while you claim to not have time for me.”
Mack swallowed at the pronouncement. That had been the last thing on her mind. “I believe you are mistaken.”
“That is a mistake I never make.” She leaned in and Mack pushed her away. He only laughed at the act. “I do love when women play hard to get.”
Attempting to slide past her, Mack made for the hangar doors, but Maeltar grabbed her wrist and twisted her around to face her again. Without thinking, she swung.
The punch landed hard across the woman’s cheekbone, and as she recoiled, blinking at Mack, mouth agape like a dumbfounded fish, Mack felt the cold tendrils of dread seeping through her.
The woman’s eyes hardened as her jaw muscles twitched. “That wasn’t very nice.”
“Keep your hands off me and I won’t have to do it again.”
Maeltar held up her hands as though someone was pointing a gun at her and took a half step back. “Happy now, love?”
“I’m not your love.” She straightened her uni shirt. “And now, I’m not happy. You’re interrupting my work.”
“You work for me, I can interrupt it whenever I want.”
Turning back to her work, Mack glanced down the hall out of the corner of her eye.
Nrog was off working on his own tasks. She’d have to get herself out of this one on her own.
“You might want to go check your information with my brother.”
“Nah.”
Maeltar was on her a moment later, and Mack fell to the floor in shock. The woman’s lips found her a moment before she could react and get her hands between them.
She pushed her head back, keeping her face as far away as she could. That would only last for so long. She needed to get a hand loose, to find a conduit and channel a line of the kazahan’s energy.
Maeltar was one woman she had no trouble electrocuting if she had the chance.
When the woman broke free of her grasp, Mack threw her weight to the side, almost rolling them. And when she crashed back onto her shoulder, Maeltar laughed. She’d thought Kenzie’s attempt had failed. She was wrong.
Reaching out, Mack pressed her fingers to the pulsing vein at the base of the wall, and sucked in a long breath as the current flowed through her.
Maeltar flew off her like a cat lurching away from a pan of water.
She landed in a heap ten feet away, but she was on her feet before Mack was.
Her eyes were filled with fire, her smile a grim line.
“That is a neat trick… I think we’re going to have more fun than I hoped.”
Kenzie was jerked backward.
Aaron stepped between them, his fists balled at his side. “What the Hell do you think you’re doing?”
“You said she was mine!” Maeltar struggled to get up, but the boot pressed against her chest kept him pinned to the floor.
“Cash before delivery. You don’t lay a hand on her until you’ve fulfilled your part of the bargain.”
Maeltar cast a glare at Mack as Nrog stepped beside her and scooped her into his arms, lifting her high off the floor.
“I’m starting to wonder if what I’m ‘paying’ for is even worth it.”
Aaron landed a punch across Maeltar’s face, almost exactly where Mack’s had fallen. “Don’t you dare insult my sister.”
Her brother hauled Maeltar to her feet and pushed her back toward the hangar. “Get back to my ship. We’ve got company.”
“I am not a welcoming committee.”
“Yes you are.” Aaron shoved her forward and watched her go, arms akimbo.
When she was out of sight, her brother finally turned to her and for the first time since his reincarnation as KaRapp, she saw a glimmer of the brother she’d loved so fiercely. Aaron reached up to stroke her stinging cheek silently before the faint spark was gone and he looked to Nrog with a malice evident in his eyes.
“Make sure she doesn’t leave your sight. I don’t want her damaged – especially before preparations are complete.”
The words stung through her heart like an icy blade. And she pulled in a ragged breath and sucked on her swollen, split lip. The dull throbbing evidence of Maeltar’s attentions was an easier pain to stomach.
Still working, what felt like, hours later, Mack sat on the floor, head against the wall, and listened as Nrog worked just around the corner, easily within shouting range.
But her next visitor wasn’t who she’d expected.
The floral odor hit her before she saw him, and she hoped the crassicau wouldn’t detect it. She didn’t know enough about their olfactory senses to guess.
“What are you doing here?” she said the words low, glaring at him.
“I’m part of the rescue operation, remember?”
She still didn’t know why that was, Cable had to have been desperate to bring Bezzon along. Or maybe the cut on his forehead had been the result of a blow and he wasn’t thinking straight.
“I know that, but why are you here.” He should have been with Raza and Cable.
Even if Cable had brain damage, he wouldn’t have sent Bezzon to help her.
He rolled his eyes and threw his hand to the side as if to usher her. “Come on, we’ve got work to do.”
“I am working , and even if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t go anywhere alone with you.” When he looked hurt, she added. “I haven’t forgotten what kind of person you are when you don’t get what you want.”
His head snapped up and she turned too. Her crassicau guard had joined them, silently.
Nrog stared at him, jaw twisted in something akin to irritation. “You’re late.”
She froze, blinking between them and then shoved herself to her feet. “He’s…. You’re in on this?”
Sighing, Bezzon cracked his neck and stood up straight, his wound seemingly gone. “I had hoped to save that revelation for later.”
She looked at him, wondering if she’d ever truly seen him.
“Like I said, some people thought your brother was a traitor. I knew the truth. I just couldn’t figure out a way to make it clear that Cable was unworthy of your friendship.”
“Yeah,” she started to sidle away and he stopped her, fingers digging into her bicep as he hauled her back and then started down the hall.
“How long have you been in contact with my brother?”
He didn’t respond, but she could read volumes in the pride of his smirk.
“You planted a bomb in Celesta?”
“No, I just provided the fuel source.” He smiled as if that was something to be proud of. “Your brother provided the ignition by sabotaging the structure. It is amazing what you can do with flash sticks and a little bit of pressure.”
“So you killed all those people and you’re standing here smiling about it?”
“The station was evacuated. Those that were left behind were acceptable casualties.
“And the guy on the hive?”
“I didn’t know about him. Your brother sent him as a backup, I suppose. You’d have to ask.”
“You mean he didn’t trust you to get the job done.”
Bezzon narrowed his eyes at her, and then smiled.
“You’re trying to goad me into doing something stupid, aren’t you? It won’t work. Remember, I spent the last six months getting to know you. You flirt with barbs, and I’m more than happy to feel that particular sting.”
The idea made her want to vomit, and she considered how enjoyable it would be if she threw up on him.
“Who else has my brother turned against the fleet?” She tried to make it sound like she was impressed. Bezzon’s patronizing glance told her he didn’t believe it.
“There are a few of us… But mostly, it’s better that everyone think Aaron’s dead.
“Is Admiral Buchanan in on this? She seems to be the one putting you in Cable’s path.”