“He complained too much about his credits,” Trin said to Avearan.
Part of Phylarlie wanted to let them all die on the streets. After all, they took her captive, placed this slave collar on her that did nothing but suppress her psionics and reminded her about the time she was sent to the psionic training facility, and it was those painful memories that made her feel sorry for them, for they were all fellow Hashmedai psionics who all went through the same experience as her. Worse in fact. At least Phylarlie got shipped out to the Assassin Guild after her first year. Trin, Wyngard, Garif, and Avearan, they were all forced to spend the full five years, only to be forced into a line of psionic work within the empire.
“Let’s get them back to your ship,” Phylarlie said. For she knew if she had any chance of ever getting her equipment back and the collar removed, she had to become a team player, and work hard to save the lives of the two on the ground.
… … …
►► Dark Star docked at Derkurio spaceport, Derkurio
► Morutrin system
Phylarlie wiped away the smeared blood that dripped all over her body as she and Avearan carried both Wyngard and Garif onto surgical beds within the infirmary. Bira rushed in, visually shaken after seeing that her mate Wyngard was among the critically wounded. Something Phylarlie was surprised Avearan wasn’t doing, after all Garif was her mate, and if they couldn’t figure out how to save them from dying on the table, ‘was’ would be an accurate description.
Trin used his psionics to place tiny barriers around their wounds to slow the bleeding. But it wasn’t reliable. He was still intoxicated and the barriers periodically flicked on and off as he struggled to keep them active. Avearan ripped one of the med kits off the wall, while Phylarlie checked their vital signs admiring the irony of the situation.
“Starting to lose them,” Phylarlie said after taking Garif’s faint pulse.
“I can’t keep these healing barriers up,” said Trin. “They're going to lose a lot of blood soon.”
“Doing what I can with this,” said Phylarlie as Avearan handed her a handheld flesh regenerator. “I’m an assassin not a doctor, my job is to take lives not save them.”
Phylarlie looked at the flashing lights of the flesh regenerator, trying to figure out which side was the end to point toward the wound. She heard droplets of blood slowly splat on the floor. If they couldn’t get these two stabilized they’d have to toss them in cryostasis until a doctor could be found, all while hoping the initial shock of being revived from cryo wouldn’t trigger a heart attack in their fragile state.
“Give me the gem,” Avearan said to Trin.
“What for?”
“So, you can get your doctor.”
“What?”
Ella. Phylarlie thought to herself. She plans to swap her mind with that human. “The gem, it allowed her to swap her mind with a human who happened to be a doctor,” said Phylarlie.
“I don’t have all of her memories regarding medical knowledge,” said Avearan “But if I can link with her, I can get them, better yet she’ll be in my body, and she can save them.”
“Sounds like besioc shit,” Trin muttered.
“If you have a better idea I’m all for it.”
Trin stood his ground, refusing to give in while Phylarlie struggled to understand how the medical tools she had in her hands worked.
“I’m getting the gem,” Bira said running away down the halls.
“Bira!” Trin called out to her angrily.
Bira returned a minute later with the gem clasped in her hands offering it to Avearan, the only person who could save the life of her mate. Trin continued to object to the matter with his eyes as he gawked at both Avearan and Bira with fury while Avearan held the gem and attempted to connect her thoughts with it.
Nothing happened.
“The collar,” Avearan said. “It must be blocking me.”
“No, it stays on,” said Trin firmly.
“Fine,” Avearan said offering the gem back. “In that case, I don’t need this anymore. They will all die thanks to you.”
“Trin,” Bira said, pleading to her captain.
Trin looked at Phylarlie hoping that she would have positive news to give. But there was nothing, Phylarlie’s actions didn’t produce worthwhile results, the bleeding continued, and Trin’s barriers dissipated. The facial expression Phylarlie projected toward Trin communicated all that and more. He hissed through his fangs.
“You, you are all stressing me out!” Trin roared. “I should put every one of you out the airlock!”
“Is that going to be your solution to everything?” Bira said to him.
Trin said, “Bira, I would never have expected this from you.”
“Captain.” It was Wyngard, his weakened voice and lack of strength managed one last sentence before passing out. “Just do what she requested.”
Trin stared at his wounded second in command, shaking his head. “Not you too.”
Phylarlie dropped the medical equipment and started preparing to move their bodies into the cryo chamber. Trin’s pride was going to get these people killed and continued inaction was going to help in that matter. Trin’s hand dropped onto Phylarlie’s hand firmly holding onto it, they made eye contact while he shook his head. Trin wanted Phylarlie to continue. This man is fucking stupid.
Bira ran off again into the halls as Phylarlie began to hiss at him and say. “If they all die, have fun trying to put all three of us out into space.”
“I’m still the psionic, I got an advantage,” Trin said.
“Not a very strong one from what I saw,” Phylarlie said, her voice now louder than his. “I’m sure Bira could take you and she doesn’t have the upgrades!”
They entered a heated shouting match so loud neither of them fully understood what they were saying or hearing. Only the finger pointing and random hisses at each other were the signs that they were in a direct disagreement and far too distracted to see Bira secretly return with a remote control capable of deactivating the slave collars.
… … …
►► UNE Black Site, Titan
► Sol system
An out of body experience of flying through space at impossible speeds. It was a feeling Avearan nearly forgot about over the last two months, the feeling of her thoughts being ejected from her body and blasted twelve light years across the cosmos in a matter of seconds falling into the body of Ella while her mind did the same, falling into Avearan’s.
Avearan in control of Ella’s body pushed herself off the floor where she had fallen. The gravity here was light and from a moon of some sort. She began to access Ella’s recent memories namely where she was right then. Right, Titan, a moon orbiting Saturn, which explains the low gravity. Michei and Sarah looked at her with concern and wonder as Avearan smiled at them.
“Michei,” Avearan said in her Russian sounding Hashmedai accent. “It’s good to see you again comrade.”
Michei frowned. “Avearan?”
More of Ella memories from the last two months came through, including the discovery of her psionic powers. As a test, Avearan picked up five nearby Rubik’s cubes with her mind, forcing them to orbit around her hands. “I see Ella has become a psionic.”
“She’s still learning how to control her powers,” Michei said.
“I learnt that years ago.”
“Then maybe you can help us out,” Sarah said with a cocked eye then tapped her communication headset to speak with someone named Sergeant Boyd.
I really wish you didn’t do that, Ella’s thoughts echoed.
I have a medical situation, I really need your expertise here. Avearan’s mind echoed back.
You don’t understand, I don’t have my gem. We can’t switch back.
Avearan sighed as those memories were found. Chloe took the gem away from her, and went missing hours later. Great.
… … …
►► Dark Star docked at Derkurio spaceport
► Derkurio, Moru
trin system
Ella saw enough in Avearan’s memories to understand what had happened to the two bodies bleeding to death on the medical beds went through, and why they summoned her here. In control of Avearan’s body she gathered all the scattered medical equipment and utilized her limited knowledge of the Hashmedai anatomy.
“Unless you’re going to be my nurse, I suggest you move aside mate,” she said to Trin. Everyone except Phylarlie seemed to be surprised at her Australian accent.
… … …
Thirty minutes had passed since the operation. Ella had stabilized their condition for the time being, more work needed to be done, but at least they could be preserved in cryostasis and be revived with minimal issues. To Trin it was bad news, which made Phylarlie wonder what kind of captain he was as he was acting no better than the way the empire treated psionics. And as she recalled, the Hashmedai psionics out there were on the run from the empire to live a free life. One would think they would treat their own kind better than this all things considered.
Phylarlie entered the cockpit where she found Trin slumped over on the floor with a bottle of booze in his hands. Her intention was to display a show of no hard feelings now that the slave collar was removed. “The humans have a saying,” she said, walking toward him. “Penny for your thoughts?”
“I have the worst luck in the galaxy right now.”
“I’m sorry about what happened to your crew, I know that you needed them to get work done.”
“There’s more to it than that,” he said. “If we’re not getting jumped at bars, then we’re getting attacked by pirates looking to take our loot. We can’t forge alliances with other salvager ships. We’re the only all psionic crew which made a lot of them jealous with the huge advantage we have. Even then they would split this whole crew up amongst their ships. We would become tools in their eyes, not a ship lending help. I’m sick of this life.”
Yet you do the same thing to your own crew. “I suppose going back to the empire is out of the question as well, it would just be the same thing in your eyes. Living tools to carry out the empress’ will.”
“We are all known in the empire and wanted.” He put the mouth of the bottle toward his lips, taking in a massive gulp. Half his drink ended up spilling down from his lips all over his cybernetically enhanced bare chest. “Going back means facing execution. All because we wanted to live the life we wanted.”
“This?” She aimed her finger toward the interior of the ship. “Is this what you really wanted?”
“Of course not, but I have no choice! As I said we are all known. We must keep together and mobile, or risk assassins coming for us. Plus, the empire still has a small presence here. The crews aboard those ships wouldn’t hesitate to launch a kidnapping if they knew they could get away with it and knew exactly where we were living.”
“He’s forgetting the most important detail of all,” Ella said, walking in on them. “Trin you have a son, right?”
“I’m done talking,” he said. “I’m finished, I could care less if you all ran away, might be best at this point.”
Phylarlie and Ella left him to drink his ego away while Bira invited them to eat in the mess. The food had gone cold. It had been prepared, then left out when they returned with the injured not long ago. “I haven’t seen any kids aboard,” Phylarlie said, taking a seat.
“His son is back in the empire,” Bira said.
“He’d be a psionic just like his father. If the empire knows about Trin they probably know about his son unless he has him hidden,” Phylarlie said.
“He does for now. Trin uses his cut of credits to pay some cargo hauler to use their standing in the empire to keep his kid hidden away,” Bira said. “He doesn’t want him aboard. Life as a salvager isn’t that great as you probably figured out.”
“There was a reason why Avearan wanted out,” Ella said.
“Trin went through some rough times at the psionic training facility,” Bira said. “Some members of the faculty there turned him into a plaything during the nights.”
“Pretty sure we all had to go through that,” Phylarlie said quietly.
“Not me,” said Bira. “But that’s exactly why I’m out here, to avoid that.”
“Avearan has terrifying memories of Abraxin coming into her room at night,” said Ella.
“Abraxin?” Phylarlie said, remembering the unwanted thrusting he forced upon her. “Yeah, he caught me off guard several times, apparently, he did some things to my mother as well, and I’m going to assume my sister seeing how she killed him.”
“Really?”
“Yeah he was finally caught and the empress gave his life to her.”
“I’ll let Avearan know, she’ll be quite delighted at the news,” Ella said. “Your sister, eh? That was the reason you came aboard, right?”
“Avearan had information about her recent location,” Phylarlie said.
“I have access to all of Avearan’s memories you know.”
A smile grew on Phylarlie’s face, progress at last. “Tell me what you know.”
After their meals, Phylarlie and Ella sat together in the small cramped room Phylarlie was forced to share with Avearan. Ella went through Avearan’s memories about her knowledge of Noylarlie. That she commands a ship called the Crimson Arrow, and that one of the people aboard it was an Aryile with links to the Celestial Order ending the story with how she stole the gem that she now has from that Aryile.
Phylarlie groaned, it wasn’t the news she was hoping to hear. “My sister works for the order?”
“I don’t think a member, more like a hired gun.”
“She carries out errands for them, which makes her a member.” Phylarlie said through gritted teeth. “She needs to get out. I need to get her out.”
“How do you suppose we do that in our situation?”
She paused, unable to find an answer. Guilt and regret started to build up inside of her. “I... I don’t... damn it this is all my fault.” Phylarlie’s hands rested upon her face, holding in the guilt the best she could. “I should have seen this coming.”
Phylarlie, even when young, only wanted to do one thing. Travel through space, visit distant worlds, see what was out there. She knew she had inherited psionic powers from her mother and that she, along with Noylarlie, were supposed to keep it a secret and never use them when others were watching, thus dooming her to a life of being a servant and occasional comfort women to Hasiv and his male visitors.
Running away and revealing she had psionics was her way out of that life, while her eyes still glowed red at the time. Her plan was simple, get taken away for psionic training, hope to be assigned to work as a shipboard psionic, guiding a Hashmedai ship through the cosmos. She fantasized about wearing those sexy and revealing outfits psionics must wear, maybe even meet those attractive shirtless psionic men, it was a plan that couldn’t fail, a plan conjured by a young and naive girl.
Everything went wrong. The psionic training was brutal, almost a prison sentence rather than five years of schooling and practice. Abraxin kept on coming for her at night, kept on digging, wanting to know what became of her mother, where she was hiding what else she had done. Phylarlie tried to resist, knowing that if she revealed too much, Noylarlie’s birth would be discovered, mother would be arrested, her father Yominv might be in trouble as well, not that he played any role in her life.
At the one year mark, Phylarlie had enough. She cut a deal with Abraxin. She told him everything in exchange for him changing her scores on her tests and exams. Psionic students that fail the first year get sent to the Assassins’ Guild, Phylarlie ended up becoming one of them. Abraxin gave his word he wouldn’t tell anyone about Noylarlie or her mother. A word he broke sometime later. Phylarlie’s plan to keep her family out of this and her dreams of becoming a powerful psionic all vaporized with that deal.
Mother and Noylarlie were found to be hiding amongst Hasiv’s staff. Noylarlie was forced to attend psionic training and suffer the same abu
se she did, while her mother was executed.
Phylarlie’s full psionic potential was now being wasted away as an assassin who never got the training and cybernetic upgrades as a psionic. The very same ones her sister now had and probably didn’t want, as she allied herself with the Celestial Order, committing acts of treason that could get her beheaded like their mother.
And it was all her fault.
“This is no way to live,” Phylarlie said through her tearless weeping.
Ella’s arms embraced her providing much needed comfort in her emotional distress, finally understanding exactly what Trin was going through. “Hey, just breathe okay?” Ella whispered to her. “We do have a few unique advantages here.”
… … …
►► Derkurio spaceport, Derkurio
► Morutrin system
Parcisei and Danyal stepped into a tavern left in shambles from a brawl. At first Parcisei was resistant to the idea of Danyal relaxing there as he read the contents to some data pad he had acquired. However, looking at the signs that multiple psionics had participated in the brawl, and that the Dark Star was parked somewhere on this massive spaceport, led him to believe there was indeed a connection. As he walked past the dried blood on the floor, he saw two drunken Aryile pirates at the bar. These must be them, Parcisei thought and approached them.
“Don’t mind me. I just have some questions about a ship that was here not long ago,” Parcisei asked the two mourning pirates.
“The crew of that ship took the life of my second in command, and another of my crew.”
“The Dark Star?”
“Yes. The all psionic salvager ship, they left before we had a chance to track them after we made a tactical retreat.”
“Ah so you ran away?”
“Tactical retreat!” The pirate shouted. “Do you know where they are?”
“Well, I was hoping you had the answers to that question,” said Parcisei. “But hey, this means we’re on the same team here, pal. I want the Dark Star. So do you. You’re down two bodies, and there are two of us. The ships I scanned in orbit and docked here aren’t all that impressive. I’m guessing one of them is yours. My ship is faster and stronger. Let’s work together. Lunch is on me.”
Equilibrium of Terror: Part 1 (Splintered Galaxy Book 3) Page 37