by Poppy Rhys
“Run faster!” she yelled at Tosh when she caught sight of the peacekeepers pursuing them.
Their transport pod loomed closer, and if they could just get to the transport and off the main fleet, they would be fine. The peacekeepers wouldn’t pursue them further.
Willa tripped over a piece of trash, her body slamming full force into a furry male that staggered and fell backward, both spilling to the floor. She rolled off him, gasping for air and getting to her hands and knees.
He roared.
Willa startled, struggling to her feet as the male raised a clawed hand, ready to swipe. It was like slow motion as she watched the gleaming talons swinging down closer to her face, her fingers too late in grasping for her gun.
A red fist flew out of nowhere, connecting with the hairy cheek of her would-be offender. One of the Khymas pulled back his fist and hammered it into the male’s cheek again, giving her enough time to stand up and begin running.
“Holy fuck,” Tosh said over and over, “did you see that?!”
“I was there! Of course I saw it!”
“Christ, what have you gotten us into?”
“It’s always my fault,” she puffed for breath, looking behind her to see all three Khymas trailing them.
The peacekeepers were on their heels, their stunners aimed and ready.
“Shit!” she looked over to Tosh. “We’re not gonna make it.”
“You take the left,” she said breathlessly.
Immediately she snatched a gun with each hand from the holsters hanging under her arms and abruptly stopped running, turning in the same moment Tosh did.
“Get down!” she commanded the Khyma who, all three, hit the floor.
Her thumbs flipped the charge, the whine of her guns and Tosh’s filling the air to accompany the set of hollers from those nearby that scattered away from a live weapon.
Aiming for the chest of the three peacekeepers to the left, she pulled hard on the triggers multiple times. Woosh, woosh, woosh, the sound of the discharge flooded the vicinity and the gun’s recoil vibrated through her skin and bones.
Peacekeepers always wore protective vests. She didn’t want to kill them, just stun.
All six rolled to the ground heavily, groaning loudly and gripping at their chests.
“Get up!” she yelled, turning and hightailing it to the transport.
As soon as the transports scanner detected her and Tosh, it began to open its sliding door with a hiss.
“In, in, in,” she repeated over and over at the Khyma, her eyes flitting to the peacekeepers who were already up and running toward them, if a little slower.
She felt the transport’s engine purr to life and lift before she even closed the door. Willa gripped a handle so she didn’t fall back out, and then pounded a fist on the emergency panel to shut the damn thing.
Tosh was already in the piloting seat, initiating airlock and pushing the piloting lever forward. Willa quickly skirted past the Khyma that took up the bench, and then perched beside her bestie in the co-pilot seat.
“I told you attracting unwanted attention would be bad.”
Tosh glared.
CHAPTER TWO
She was right; the peacekeepers didn’t pursue them once they were off the ground, thankfully. They loomed closer to Pearly, the massive commerce ship they’d called home for a little over a year. As the bay door opened, Willa redid her hair tie, pulling back the long, inky black strands that had come loose.
Tosh landed, the bay attendants stepping aside and waiting for them to exit so they could put the transport in its proper place. When the three Protectors emerged, both men blanched, causing Willa to snort just a little.
“Cheer up, Tosh,” she chirped. “We’re still alive and ready to take on another day.”
“For now,” she said grimly.
Once they got to the decontamination enclosure, she and Tosh stepped through and she held up a hand to signal the Khymas to stop since the fit would be too tight with all of them in there together. The chemical steam shot at them from all angles, killing any harmful microbes, and then the glass doors were opening and they exited.
She waved for the males to come forward, and they did. When the chemical steam sprayed from the vents, they jumped, bumping into one another as they tried to figure out what the hell was going on.
Willa laughed, elbowing Tosh who was scowling. “What? It’s funny.”
The males rushed from the enclosure once it opened, like they couldn’t get away fast enough, and then Willa was trailing an angry blonde to the elevator.
“Tosh, come on,” she urged, crowding into the contraption. Her bestie was silent the entire ride to the bridge. The doors hissed open, the large, round, brightly lit room teaming with crew members as they walked in.
“Talk to me,” she pleaded.
“Why? It doesn’t do any good!” Tosh tossed her hands in the air, walking across the bridge with purpose.
“But, what did I do now?”
“You’re acting like this is normal,” she swung her hand at the males. Willa glanced at them hovering right behind her.
“Not normal, but necessary,” she looked back to Tosh. “At least, for now.”
“You’re never serious.”
“I am too.”
“Maybe about food, and gambling,” she huffed.
“Those are two very important things.”
The whispery sound of papers fluttering caused her to glance to the right, doing a double take as she realized every crew member had stopped what they were doing to stare, slack jawed.
“What the hell is going on?” Killian, her brother, stuttered and hopped up from the captain’s chair.
She cringed.
It had been the one stipulation their bosses had. If she and Tosh wanted their own routes, Killian had to captain Pearly. At the time, it didn’t seem so bad, because they generally got along just fine, and they were so bent on getting out there on the routes they were willing to take any deal.
The ship was still technically theirs, and Killian was more of a figurehead. He sat there, looked pretty, played captain, and she and Tosh did what they wanted.
Usually.
He was mainly there to report back to the bosses, and make sure transport stayed on schedule.
“I thought you said you were going down there to get a shipment?”
“I… did…” she hedged, her eyes slinking to the towering males, her gaze just eyelevel with the top of their rippling abs. Bioluminescent spots fanned over their cheekbones and the bridge of their noses, like an alien version of freckles. The one in the middle had white ones, which stood out to her because the other two had yellow.
They glowed against their red skin while their turquoise orbs stared down at her. They were just swirly pools of blue, with no pupil.
She couldn’t really tell if they were watching her specifically, except that their heads were tilted down toward her.
“They are not a shipment,” Killian seethed.
“Technically, they are, because they were for sale, and-”
“You bought them?”
“Well, I tried, but they were too expensive-”
“So she stole them.”
“Tosh!” Willa looked over, feeling betrayed. Her friend’s cheeks were flushed, like she was piping hot, even though her eyes had a glint of regret.
“I’m sorry, I’m just so mad at you right now,” she growled. “You’re still my best friend…”
Willa narrowed her eyes, figuring she deserved that.
“And you just walked out of Tor’s Black Fleet with stolen property?” Killian asked, incredulous.
Her lips opened, closed, and a small sound eked from the back of her throat as she debated how to answer that. “Uh…”
She could’ve made a snarky comment. Something about just trying to fit in with Tor’s crowd, acting like a regular criminal and all, but she didn’t.
“Willa?” Killian urged, his eyes finally registering t
he fact she had weapons all over her body. “Why are you armed?”
“You’re smarter than that, Kill.”
“She didn’t murder anyone, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Tosh grumbled.
She hitched a thumb in Tosh’s direction, “What she said.”
“This is it,” Killian collapsed back into the captain’s chair wearily. “Our bosses are going to kill me. And then bring me back to kill me again.”
“That’s not true,” Willa took a step toward him. “Because you’re not going to tell them.”
He groaned, scrubbing his face with his hands.
“Can someone get these guys some damn clothes, please?” Her eyes flitted back over the naked males behind her, and she shook her head.
****
Sometime later, once they were back on route and in warp, Willa leaned a hip against the railing running through the bridge’s raised platform while she stared at the now clothed Khymas and they stared back at her.
When she tilted her head to the side, they mimicked her.
She narrowed her eyes.
She tilted her head to the other side, and so did they.
“Hmm,” she hummed, folding her arms over her chest, to which their gazes flickered over her torso. At least, she thought so. It was like they were looking for clues on how to proceed. Silent commands, maybe. Kind of like how one of them punched the furry guy back on Tor’s without being told to.
“Stop playing with them,” Killian said from his chair, not bothering to lift his head while he looked over a report on a glass tablet.
Willa ignored him.
“What is your name?” she asked the one in the middle. He stared blankly at her, like he couldn’t understand her, which didn’t make any sense. “Whaaaat iiissss youuurrrr naaaame?” she said slowly, enunciating each word.
Someone snorted, but she didn’t know who.
She chewed on the inside of her cheek, shifting her weight and jumping when he began to speak. It was just a series of guttural sounds and squeaking.
With the implant she’d had all her life, she was used to hearing different languages translate. Normally at this point, her implant would be mimicking the tones of his voice, but it would be coming through in English, her native tongue.
But nothing was happening.
She smiled, holding up a finger in the universal ‘one moment please’ gesture before she turned around.
“Did anyone else understand what he just said?”
“Sounded like he was barking and chirping at you,” Rio, the navigator, chimed up.
“That’s what I thought,” she mumbled, stroking a finger under her chin as she looked back to the male.
“I’m Willa,” she told them. “Wiillllaaaaaa.”
Killian sighed. “Can you do that somewhere else?”
She cut her eyes, pushing herself away from the railing as she prepared to go somewhere other than the bridge, just as a tech was passing by with his face buried in a clipboard.
He bumped into her, and before he even had a moment to realize what happened, one of the Khyma’s arms shot out, his giant hand wrapping around the tech’s neck and hauling him up off the floor.
His wobbly shriek gurgled as the Khyma’s fist squeezed.
“What the-” Killian shot to his feet.
“No no,” Willa’s eyes bugged and she waved her hands. “Put him down!”
Immediately his fist opened, the tech dropping to a heap on the floor and scrambling away in the mess of scattered papers.
“Holy shit,” she choked, biting her lips to keep from smiling at how, well, protective these guys were. She was positive now that they were the perfect choice for when she found out where the Wenden was.
“Are you okay, Wes?” she bent down to gingerly rest a hand on the tech’s shoulder, his eyes wide and fingers rubbing at his assaulted throat.
“Get security up here,” Killian yelled at whoever would listen. “Now!”
“What?”
“They can’t just choke anyone who breathes in your direction,” he argued.
“You can’t lock them up,” she frowned, feeling all three males crowd her back as if they could feel the tension shift and were readying themselves to defend her. “They’re harmless.”
Killian looked at her like she was crazy.
“Okay, okay,” she gestured for him to calm down. “I’ll just, I don’t know, find a room for them. But you’re not locking them up, Killian.”
“I don’t want to hear about another incident, understand?” he skewered her with his gaze before it flitted over the males behind her warily.
“Fine.” Willa waved a hand as she turned to exit the bridge. “C’mon boys, let’s go find something to get into.”
“Willa,” she heard Killian warn before the doors to the hallway slid shut behind them.
She traveled the brightly lit halls, periodically looking over her shoulder to make sure her new entourage was keeping up. Her curiosity was getting the best of her, as she just couldn’t understand why her translator wasn’t responding to their speech. If it was a language, the implant should’ve picked it up. Even if the language wasn’t programmed in, the implant would’ve said ‘error’ or something.
They took an elevator one floor down, the doors opening up to the ships medic bay. It was a smaller medical crew, compared to some of the other ships in her parent’s fleet, but it was also a smaller craft in general. There were only two doctors and just under ten other individuals that made up the medical team.
The sharp scent of disinfectant stung her nose causing her to scrunch and wiggle it. Staff moved around them, absorbed in what they were doing except a few that scrutinized the males behind her as they walked on.
“Willa, you know I don’t like weapons in my bay,” the stern voice of Dr. Jonah Kintly greeted her. He raised his thick black brows, looking at her expectantly.
“I forgot,” she grinned, sighing when an attendant stood beside Jonah with a large tray. She removed the two hand guns from the holsters under her arms, setting them on the tray. It took a minute as she continued to remove weapons from her belt, the straps along her thighs, and both bracelets that worked as small explosives until the attendant struggled to uphold the tray.
When she finished, she gave Jonah a ‘are you happy now’ look.
He cleared his throat, pointedly staring down at her boots.
“Right,” she sighed, forgetting completely about the requal knives hidden in each boot. The requal mineral was a deceptively strong opaque substance, making them virtually unbreakable. She bent down, pulling each blade out and dropping them on top of the pile with a clang.
“Thank you,” he finally smiled, his green eyes roving behind her. “Who are your overly chatty friends?”
“That’s why I’m here,” she stepped to the side, sweeping her hand out. “Meet… well, I don’t know their names. Unless barking counts, but even then, I couldn’t really mimic it properly I don’t think.”
One of Jonah’s brows rose.
“Watch,” she stood beside the doctor, her gaze falling back on the middle one. “What is your name?”
Blank stare.
“Give it a minute,” she said when Jonah looked down at her quizzically. “I’m Willa.”
He repeated his series of guttural sounds and chirps.
“Did your implant translate that?”
Jonah scowled, folding his arms and rubbing his jaw. “Strange.”
“I’ll take that as a no.”
The doctor turned and made his way further into the bay, gesturing for them to sit down on the hovering beds. When they didn’t sit, she jolted, remembering to speak up.
“Sit,” she waved a hand toward the beds. All three slowly sat down upon separate surfaces, a small glint of confusion pulling at their black brows. Their large ears were similar to humans, except longer, reaching upward and thinning to a point. The strange things twitched with each beep, and sigh of machines around the bay.
“I forgot to mention,” she hedged when Jonah sent her a curious stare, “that they’re Khymas, so they’ll only listen to their keeper. Which… is… me,” she finished, chewing the inside of her cheek. No wonder Tosh was bent out of shape.
“I see…” Jonah narrowed his eyes before he began tapping on a large glass screen at one of the nearby stations. “I’ll need a blood sample.”
She watched as he gathered a syringe and alcohol swab, her stomach feeling a little queasy at the sight of a needle. Padding over to the white freckled Khyma, he reached out with the fresh swab and stopped short when a low growl rumbled from the creature’s chest.
Her eyes quickly took in the scene, noticing how all of them went on the defense, their backs ramrod straight, eyes honed in on the doctor.
“It’s okay,” Willa intervened before something much worse happened. She sidled up to the alien, laying a hand on his arm and rubbing in an effort to comfort him. “He needs a sample,” she said slowly, smiling and nodding her head.
“Hurry up Jonah,” she mumbled.
CHAPTER THREE
He flinched.
His gaze dropped to her hand.
What was she doing?
Why was she touching him?
Was he being punished for warning the male approaching him?
His nostrils flared, preparing to be shocked, punished, for acting out.
The male that reeked of chemicals continued his approach, but his senses were being overwhelmed by confusion. So much confusion.
He waited for the shock, but it didn’t come. She simply kept rubbing his arm.
Why was she doing this?
Was it her form of punishment? To confuse? To catch him unaware and then shock? He knew that would be unexpected; make the shock hurt more when he wasn’t prepared.
He tried to hide the tremor that shook his insides.
This was cruel. She was crueler than his Brev’an for doing this. Making him wonder instead of just getting it over with.
He couldn’t help it when his breathing deepened, as much as he tried to mask his fear. He hated getting shocked. It hurt so badly.
It sizzled through every part of his body, but mostly at the back of his neck. Burned. Fire, it felt like.