Veredian Chronicles Box Set

by Regine Abel

  I nodded, blinking back the tears that pricked my eyes.

  Whatever Gruuk might feel about my children based on their personality, or who sired them, he had proven time and again that he’d protect them. He always did what was best for them, to the extent of his ability, without undermining—too much—his status within the Empire and among his crew.

  That didn’t make things any easier.

  Gruuk kissed me, the contact of his lips gentle, tender, and comforting. He then held me in a tight embrace. Face buried in his neck, I clung to him, fighting the persistent sense of doom that made my stomach roil.

  After a beat, he released me and caressed my cheek.

  “I have to get back to the deck,” he said in a soothing tone. “I must supervise the operation to make sure all goes well.”

  I nodded, drawing in a shuddering breath.

  “Sevina will be back in your arms soon, I promise.”

  I gave him a shaky smile and he kissed me again before walking out.

  That had happened forty minutes ago.

  I paced my room, the discomfort in my stomach having escalated to cramps of anxiety. Aside from my healing ability, I possessed no other psi trait. However, a mother’s instinct held a power of its own. My baby shouldn’t be out there. Something terrible was about to happen.

  Having completed her training session on the holodeck, Amalia had returned to her room where she worked on some hacking assignment for Gruuk. I kept her mother’s mission a secret, hoping Sevina would return before she found out, sparing her the anguish that now ate away at me.

  A quick look at the time indicated they had been gone on that mission for forty-seven minutes.

  Goddess, this wait will kill me.

  Just as the thought crossed my mind, the alarm went off. My knees nearly buckled.

  We had different alarms based on the nature of the emergency. This one announced the return of an away mission in distress.

  Arms and legs pumping, I dashed to the docking bay, bumping into one of the crewmates along the way. When I didn’t stop to apologize, he yelled some threat or obscenity at me. I couldn’t tell. I didn’t care. My heart drummed in my throat as the sense of impending doom returned with a vengeance, robbing me of breath.

  Reaching my destination at last, I slapped my hand on the bio-scanner.

  “Access denied,” a monotonous synthetic female voice said. “You do not have the clearance to access this area without an escort.”

  “NO! Open the fucking door!”

  “Access denied. You do not have the clearance to issue vocal commands.”

  With a feral roar, I brought down my fist on the bio-scanner before turning my wrath and despair on the reinforced doors blocking my access to the docking bay.

  “Warning. Tampering with the ship’s access controls will result in severe disciplinary measures. Security has been informed.”

  I ignored it, slapping my palms pointlessly against the hard metal surface while screaming to be let in. They wouldn’t hear my hands on the door, but my voice might carry. Maybe it had, because seconds later, the doors parted.

  A crewmate walked out, carrying some container. I squeezed to the side to let him through then froze where I stood. Ahead, Gruuk and Chief Medical Officer Bradok stood side by side, putting on hazard suits.

  Oh Goddess…

  Clinging to the doorframe for support, I watched two crewmates maneuver hovering decontamination chambers to the landing area.

  “You can’t be here, Maheva,” Bradok said, noticing me. “You are not to approach med bay until I can confirm there is no risk of contamination.”

  “No! That’s my daughter out there! What’s going on? What happened?”

  Gruuk faced me. Guilt and sorrow flashed on his face before it took on a neutral expression. My heart sank to the pit of my stomach and I felt the blood drain from my face.

  “The shipment wasn’t celesium, but kaledium,” Gruuk said.

  “Kal… what? What does that mean?”

  “It is a highly radioactive metal,” he replied with a hard edge to his voice. “They were all exposed.”

  “Nooooo! Noooo!”

  The room swam and rushed up as my legs failed to support me. My knees slammed against the metal plated floor. I barely felt the pain radiating in my legs as my vision blurred with the tears choking me.

  It will kill her. It will kill them both.

  Veredians were highly sensitive to radiation and rarely survived treatment. Our bodies absorbed radioactive particles with greed, making decontamination all but useless.

  “Return to your quarters, Maheva,” Gruuk said, his voice oozing with tension. “It isn’t safe for you here. Keep Amalia away as well.”

  Amalia…

  I couldn’t muster the strength to get up. Through teary eyes, I saw Gruuk gesture with his head at the two crewmates who had brought the decontamination chambers. They marched towards me, each grabbing one of my arms and lifted me to my feet.

  “No!” I shouted, struggling in vain to get free.

  They dragged me, kicking and screaming from Gruuk’s grim presence. It wasn’t safe for me to stay. My mind knew that, but my heart—what remained of it—didn’t care. I wanted to hold my baby, tell her all would be okay. In four weeks, she would deliver Amalia’s beautiful little sister and then she’d get her wish of living in the fortress with our other Sisters, like Gruuk had promised. She would be happy at last.

  Tired of me kicking them, the crewmates each grabbed one of my legs, carrying me splayed on my back. The ceiling lights glared at me while my screams bounced off the walls. Their lurching steps, as they battled to restrain my struggles, made my stomach queasy.

  “Nana!” Amalia’s voice shouted.

  My blood ran cold, slapping me out of my temporary madness.

  “Let her go, you bastards!” her young voice shouted.

  She let out a scream of rage accompanied by the rapid slapping of her sandals on the metal-plated floor approaching us.

  They’re going to hurt her.

  My protective instincts surged forth.

  “Let me down! Let me down!” I urged, stopping my struggles. “I’m okay, now.”

  They hesitated at first but then all but dropped me when Amalia started kicking and punching them.

  One crewmate shoved her back. She stumbled but didn’t fall. At twelve, Amalia was already tall for her age, with a toned, strong body.

  “Don’t hurt her!” I yelled, scrambling to my feet and running towards Amalia.

  She advanced threateningly towards the crewmate, but I pulled her into my arms and held on tight. Eyes glued to them, she continued to glare, snarling.

  “You stay away from her, you fuckers!”

  “Amalia! Look at me!” I shouted. When she didn’t comply, I shouted again, “Look at me!”

  Reluctantly, she forced herself to obey. I caressed her hair, hoping to soothe her.

  “It’s okay, sweetie. I’m fine. All is fine. I was just a little upset so they had to carry me back to my room. But I’m fine now, okay? Let’s go, all right?”

  Amalia’s flat chest rose rapidly with simmering anger. Her eyes flicked back and forth between the crewmates and me, deep creases marring her forehead.

  “You listen to the slave, stupid brat, if you know what’s good for you,” said one of the two ‘bastards’ like Amalia called them.

  I groaned inwardly.

  Stupid idiot! We don’t need this right now.

  She roared and struggled to get out of my arms and go at him.

  “Amalia, enough!” I yelled, tightening my grip. Looking over my shoulder, I glared at the crewmates. “Just shut up.”

  He took a step forward, teeth showing, hands fisted.

  “You don’t tell me to shut up, slave, unless you want me to remind you of your place.”

  Clenching my teeth, I let go of Amalia long enough to grab her hand and drag her after me.

  “Come on, sweetheart. Let’s go back t
o your room.”

  The hateful stares of the males burned holes in my back. Amalia kept glancing back at them over her shoulder, itching to challenge them.

  Her teenage rebellion had come to full bloom after we celebrated her birthday last week. She’d always had a propensity to swear, words she learned from spying on the crew. Combined with her innate protective instinct and Warrior breed, she became extremely aggressive whenever the guards or crew showed her mother or me any type of disrespect or threat. I didn’t want her meek or submissive, but she couldn’t go on provoking or defying the guards. Gruuk’s protection would only go so far.

  With tragedy looming on the horizon…

  My heart stuttered and I silenced the sob rising in my throat. For Amalia, I needed to be strong. Her head snapped up to stare at me. I forced my face into a neutral expression and gave her a trembling smile. Her frown deepened.

  Blessed Goddess, please protect my Sevina and her child.

  We reached her room, shadowed by the two crewmates, and entered under their watchful eyes. As soon as I closed the door, Amalia assaulted me with a barrage of questions.

  “What’s going on, Nana? Why were they carrying you like that? Why were you screaming? Where’s Mama?”

  I swallowed down the bile rising in my constricted throat and looked at her face, almost identical to mine at her age. Grabbing her hand, I pulled her to the office area of the room she shared with her mother. Now that she was all grown up, it replaced her former playground and provided the perfect workspace for hacking training and assignments. I gestured for her to sit at her desk and pulled over the chair Gruuk used when he worked with her.

  She obeyed, her face etched in worry; worry I wouldn’t be able to appease, only increase. I took her hands in mine and locked eyes with her.

  “Your Mama had to go on a mission,” I said in a soft voice.

  She recoiled. “But she’s pregnant! Why would Master Gruuk do that?”

  Because he had no choice without getting challenged. Because he thought she would be safe.

  But those were not the words I spoke. It was past time to sever the bond between them. As much as Gruuk loved her, in time he would destroy her, too. She had the strength, the smarts and the ability to successfully escape. I would see her free, no matter the cost.

  I nodded slowly. “Yes, she is and shouldn’t have been exposed to danger. But Master Gruuk sent her out there in her condition because, to him, she’s not a person. She’s a slave.”

  Amalia stiffened and tried to pull her hands away. I tightened my grip.

  “WE are slaves, Amalia. Property, tools for him to use at his leisure to increase his profit.”

  “But Master Gruuk is kind to us,” she said with a defiant voice, her eyes filling with sorrow.

  “He’s kind because we give him what he wants. Do you think he’s kind to the other females in the hold?”

  She flinched. The words scorched my lips but there would be no turning back.

  “He’s not your father, Amalia.”

  She pulled her hands out of my grasp, and I let her go, my heart breaking as she hugged herself, head bowed.

  I’m so sorry, baby.

  “He’s not our family. He owns us and does whatever he pleases with us, even sending us into senseless danger, like he did to your Mama.”

  “What’s wrong with Mama?” she asked, fear creeping into her voice. She cast a worried glance towards the door before looking back at me. “The alarm? Is that for Mama?”

  Tear prickling my eyes, I caressed her hair, my hand coming to rest on her cheek.

  “She went to open a container on an abandoned ship, but the cargo was a radioactive metal instead of the celesium they’d thought to find.”

  She jumped to her feet, a look of horror etched on her face.

  “What?”

  I grabbed her forearms and tugged at them. “Sit down, sweetie.”

  “But—”

  “Sit down,” I repeated gently, tugging again.

  She let herself drop back into the chair and gripped my dress.

  “But radiation is bad for us!” Her glistening eyes flicked between mine. “Mama is okay, right? Mama and the baby are okay?”

  I shook my head, blinking back tears.

  “Everyone on the team got exposed to the radiation.”

  “But… but… You can heal them right, Nana?”

  The desperate hope in her voice tore my heart.

  “I can’t heal sickness or poison, sweetheart. You know that,” I said, cupping her face in my hands. “Dr. Bradok is putting her through decontamination right now, and then I’ll see what I can do. Until then, you and I have to stay away so that we’re not contaminated, too.”

  “Why did he do that to Mama?” Amalia asked, tears pouring down her cheeks. “Why did Master Gruuk do that? She was safe! She was fine! I don’t want to lose my mama!”

  She held onto me, her blunt nails digging into my back. She pressed her reddening face against my shoulders, sobs wracking her body. I embraced her, my face buried in her hair, and allowed my own silent tears to run down my cheeks.

  * * *

  The crewmembers who were part of the away mission made near full recoveries in less than twenty-four hours. Sevina remained in decontamination for two days. She sustained significant internal damage. I healed what I could but her system had absorbed too much of the radiation particles, tampering with her DNA, changing her genetic blueprint. I couldn’t change her back. The baby also suffered from the fallout. She still lived but wouldn’t make it to full term.

  Dr. Bradok couldn’t give Sevina a more aggressive treatment without outright killing the baby and probably her as well. He and I both knew it didn’t matter anyway; neither of them would survive. Still, we played the part, putting on an optimistic front for both Sevina and Amalia’s sakes. Deep down though, both of them knew as well.

  Needless to say I didn’t return to Gruuk’s quarters, and he didn’t come train Amalia. In the two weeks that followed, we hardly left Sevina’s side and I shared her bed at night.

  She deteriorated at frightening speed. Without my almost constant healing, she would have passed away within the first four or five days. Her beautiful hair had fallen off and she vomited frequently. Healing required me to use resources from her body. I couldn’t regrow damaged organs out of thin air. Weakened, sick and unable to keep down most of the food she consumed, there wasn’t much for me to use without weakening her further. Even what we gave her through the IV and hyposprays didn’t suffice. So I just took enough to mend the most urgent or whatever I believed would provide her the most relief.

  That night, in the wee hours of the morning, the baby faltered. Sevina was too weak for me to take any more from her to bolster her unborn child’s failing heart. We had to get her out to give her a fighting chance.

  Exhausted from her constant vigil, Amalia didn’t wake while the crew and I sneaked her mother out to the medical bay. Sevina slipped in and out of consciousness while we performed the C-section. Halfway through, I felt my great-daughter’s spirit depart before Bradok even pulled her out. For a brief moment, I wondered if her father felt her passing like he’d felt his daughters’ births.

  While Bradok battled in vain to revive the baby, I sealed the cut below Sevina’s stomach and gestured for him to stop. Once done, I cleaned my great-daughter and brought her to Sevina.

  She was a beautiful child, with Sevina’s green eyes and her father’s jet-black hair. We cried together while Sevina held her newborn who looked just like her father, with dark mocha skin and full lips. Like Amalia, she bore Warrior markings.

  As the light faded from her eyes, Sevina made me promise to take care of Amalia. I swore it although I didn’t know with what strength. I felt tired, worn, twice my fifty-seven years of age. Dr. Bradok took care of the baby while I cleaned Sevina and covered her with a white blanket. Standing by the sink, I washed my hands and prayed to the Goddess that she’d look after my two oldest daughters, b
oth now beyond my reach.

  The med bay door slid open and Amalia burst into the room, face drawn, eyes wide with fear. She looked at my nightgown and bloody hands, then her head snapped towards her mother’s still form, covered with a thin blanket, her eyes closed.

  “MAMA!”

  Her scream, filled with despair, pain, and unbearable anguish tore my heart to shreds. What strength I had left evaporated and the dam broke; I burst into tears.

  Amalia rushed to her mother’s side, shaking her.

  “MAMA! MAMA, WAKE UP!”

  Bradok ran up to her, his large hand grabbing Amalia’s slender arm as he tried to pull her off. She turned around, a feral look on her face. Hand fisted, she screamed and swung a vicious punch at his face, which he barely avoided. He let go, raising his arms to shield himself while she rained kicks and blows on him with more strength than her young body should possess.

  He backed away.

  Bradock circled around me and reached for the intercom to call for backup. Leaning against the counter for support, my body racked with gut-wrenching sobs, I helplessly watched Amalia try to wake my oldest daughter.

  “Mama, don’t leave me! Please, Mama. Please!”

  Within seconds, Piruk, Zaluk, and Doruk stormed in and zeroed in on Amalia.

  “Don’t hurt her!” I exclaimed, moving to intercept.

  Bradok’s hand, raised in warning, stopped me from getting closer.

  “We need to sedate her. Don’t get in the way.”

  “Just don’t hurt her! Please!” I pleaded.

  Piruk grabbed Amalia’s arm. Without missing a beat, she turned and punched him a solid one in the face, splitting his eyebrow. He stumbled back, his hand flying up to his face to cover his injured eye.

  “Get away from me!” she shouted, taking a protective stance in front of her mother.

  Zaluk moved in on her as well. She kicked, clawed, and bit anything she could reach. I begged both for her to stop and for them not to harm her, but she acted possessed. Eventually, both males managed to subdue her, pinning her to the floor, and Bradok administered the sedative with a hypospray to her neck.