by Viola Grace
“Like what?”
When we find my body, if I am still in my sleep pod, I will be hydrated and breathing easily. There is a full life support system for me now. As long as I am in my safe place, I should be fine. It is only if they have removed me from the pod that I will be in deadly danger.
“So, how did you find your way home that first time?”
Oh, the elder contacted my ship, and I was able to see their location on the scanners. My talent and ability to move is based on spatial orientation. I am an excellent navigator.
“That is fascinating. I knew there was something I liked about you aside from your body.”
She blasted his thoughts with a cool wind of frustration. It always comes back to that for you, doesn’t it?
“I appreciate you physically. There is nothing wrong with that. Among my people, we either link minds or trigger physiological reactions with our partner. I don’t have that option with you, so I am trying to make my courtship intentions clear. No surprises.”
She laughed in his mind. I am in your mind, and you are worried about surprising me? How thoughtful.
“I am striving to be a good partner. I will prove my mettle when I find you.”
Get me into line of sight with the platform, and I will prove my own ability to take care of myself.
“Two hours, Wiyra, and we will see how we work as a separated team.”
She had to admit he sounded far more confident than she felt. What the hell was going on at the platform?
Chapter Three
“Where is she, Kwinto?”
Vecho Kwinto stared at the two intruders who had brought a dozen armed men to steal Wiyra. “I don’t know. She was here when you arrived, so I don’t know where she is now.”
The younger of the two lifted him and hissed into his face. Fangs that dripped venom were inches from Vecho’s cheek. “Tell us where she is.”
“You have searched the entire platform. There is nothing more that I can tell you. She was here, and when you arrived, she disappeared.” Vecho used his single ability to keep the older male from reading his thoughts. “She comes and goes as she pleases.”
He was dropped on his old, bony butt. He stifled his groan. No one had told the invaders anything, but they were working through the mining platform, floor by floor. They would find the energy signature of the pod if they started to do wider sweeps, but he could only hope that Wiyra was alive wherever she was. He had no idea what was going to happen when they found her, because he knew that they were not going to stop until they located his granddaughter. He just hoped that she found them first.
* * * *
“Are we close enough?” He seemed nervous as he piloted them toward the silent platform.
Burin had their shuttle masked from detection.
From within his body, she reached out to her own and felt the call. We are close enough. I can get there. I hope everyone is all right.
“You won’t know until you get over there.”
They were drifting toward the platform on minimal power. Should I go now?
“Wait until the shuttle is locked onto the platform. If they are waiting for you to return, I don’t want to be left behind while you come out of your trance.”
Fine. I hope everything is all right. It looks awfully quiet over there.
“You will find out soon enough.”
They eased in, and when she felt the tug of her body, she whispered in his mind. See you soon.
Her skin was cool and her pulse thudded hard as she settled back into her body. She opened her eyes, and the interior of her pod was blessedly familiar. With her left hand shifting slowly over her controls, she brought up the schematics of the platform and looked for life signs.
Her own people glowed brightly, but there were fourteen intruders who shifted in a dull blue spectrum. Wiyra checked her location and grinned. She was in the slag pit. Barely any oxygen and tons of cold mining waste surrounded her and kept her from those who didn’t know where to look.
There were intruder figures wandering around the platform, probably looking for her. If they had been looking for anyone else, they would have found them already.
Grimacing, she knew that there was only one way to let her grandfather know that she was back. He wasn’t going to like it.
* * * *
Vecho sat in the command chair and felt the prickle along his senses.
Grandfather, I am back.
He fought not to jolt in his chair as Wiyra’s voice whispered behind his shields. Are you safe?
I am. There is a Citadel tracker who is making his way onto the platform as we speak. He is coming to help us, but he is outnumbered. Can we help him?
Of course, child. We were only waiting for you. Watch out for the one with the fangs. He’s an Uhn.
Does he know about Grandma?
Vecho smiled and said. I did not feel it necessary to tell him.
Wiyra’s laughter filled his mind. I will tell him that you are about to move.
Excellent. Glad to have you aboard, Wiyra. We were worried.
You can remain worried. The tracker is Burin.
Vecho’s grin caught the attention of one of the men guarding him. A scowl was all that the guard gave him, so Vecho alerted his grandchildren and the platform workers to the fact that Wiyra was back and safe. Sighs of relief filled the platform and weapons were lifted. The attackers had taken them by surprise, but they had been held back by the knowledge that the Waking Dream was loose, and she would need to find her home safe and in one piece if she could reintegrate with her body.
The moment the attack came, her pod had dropped into the slag pit. It was the only mechanism that they had come up with, and it had never been needed before today. The fact that it had worked was a great triumph for all of the members on the platform. They would all give their lives to keep her safe, but it was a relief that they didn’t have to.
Vecho faced the fact that if Wiyra had gone to Burin, she would be leaving them, but she would be leaving them by choice and not under duress at the hands of savages. It was time for her to start her own life, but her family would always be there for her provided that they could make it through this adventure intact.
* * * *
Wiyra scooted down in her pod and unclipped the breather. She pulled the mask over her face, and once it was settled, she removed her drip feeds. She knew that two things would happen when she blew the pod. The first thing that would happen was that her body would start to freeze. The second thing would be that the intruders would come running when the pod no longer insulated her heat signature.
Moving fast was out of the question, so she breathed slow and deep until she was confident in her coordination. She went into a foetal curl and slammed her fist into the emergency release that had enough strength to shift the slag that was on top of her pod.
The blast rattled her teeth, but she uncurled and left the pod as quickly as she could. Three hard falls to the floor later, she managed to hit the exit lock and stagger in to let the decontamination field run over her.
She shivered and counted down from twenty as the beams scorched over her suit, removing traces of mineral slag from her baggy jumper. Wiyra moved into the hall the moment the lock opened, and she stripped off her mask, chucking it back in the cleansing chamber.
She could hear footsteps approaching, so she went up. She climbed the riveted ladder, eased open the maintenance hatch and slipped inside. When she had been a child, it had been a game to creep silently in the tunnels and evade detection. It was now worth more than dessert to not get caught.
Her hair was bound tightly to her head, and it snagged on a few rough pieces of metal as she crept quietly through the tunnels on her hands and knees. It was a lot easier when she was ten.
She kept moving for half an hour before she left her body to check her relative position in the ship. Her astral form stuck its head down and confirmed that she was near the command deck.
Back in her body, she
resumed her slow crawl into the space above the command deck. Once there, she lay flat and let her astral form out to explore the situation in her least visible mode.
Two intruders were lying dead at her grandfather’s feet, and he was calmly cleaning the knife that he had used to dispatch them. Tracker Burin was at the internal sensors looking for more of the intruders. She walked up to him and slid her hand into his head.
“Hello, Burin. Where are the others?”
He jumped and blinked rapidly. “Your men have taken care of all but one. Your grandfather mentioned that there is an Uhn onboard, and I am pretty sure that it is the survivor.”
“I will be with you in a moment, then. I am best able to deal with an Uhn.” She removed her hand and returned to her body.
* * * *
Burin turned to Vecho. “What did she mean by that?”
The older man laughed as he sheathed his knife. “I don’t know. Was Wiyra here?”
“She was. She said she was best able to deal with an Uhn. Why would she say that? Their bites are addictive.”
Vecho smiled. “My beloved wife, Naltha, was an Uhn. None of our children inherited her fangs, but they are all immune to Uhn venom. If she doesn’t take care of the intruder, her cousins will.”
Burin blinked. “I see. It was not mentioned when I was first here.”
Vecho looked at the monitors where only one invader was left. “Why should it be? If you are not an Uhn, there is no reason for concern.”
Burin shrugged. “Fair enough.”
A slight noise above him gained his attention, and he watched as two slender legs emerged from an access hatch and the woman of his dreams dropped into his outstretched arms.
She smiled up at him, her hair frayed and fuzzed in a halo around her smudged face. “Hello, Master Tracker Burin. You can put me down now.”
He sighed, her scent assaulting his senses and distracting the hell out of him. “Of course I can.”
She grinned at him, “Are you going to?”
“I am thinking about it.”
The last intruder burst into the command deck with his fangs flashing and venom dripping.
Burin wanted nothing more than to put himself between his woman and danger, but she turned, grabbed the knife that her grandfather threw to her and lunged at the Uhn with a snarl.
His little sleeping beauty turned into a rabid attacker in a moment, and the Uhn was bleeding to death before Burin could do more than step forward. Damn, she was fast. He was going to have to put a lot of focus into watching her move.
Chapter Four
Wiyra cleaned the knife on the intruder’s bodysuit. “I apologise for the suddenness of my movements, but he did attack my home. Grandpa, what was he looking for?”
“He was looking for you, dumpling. There is some kind of Raider recruitment drive, and they wanted you.” Vecho came toward her, and she returned his knife to him.
She smiled as he sheathed the knife then squeaked as he hugged her. “I am fine, Grandpa.”
The moment she was free, Master Tracker Burin replaced her grandfather. His hug was more full contact and less unrestrained joy. “I am very happy that you are back in your body and safe, partner.”
She winced and awkwardly returned the hug. “I am glad to be up and around, Burin. Thank you for helping me.”
He didn’t seem inclined to let her go, but when Vecho cleared his throat, Burin released her.
The feel of his body against hers had warmed her cool skin, and she missed him when he left.
“So, Grandpa, where were they taking you?” She helped haul the bodies to one side. Being pirated was not an unheard of situation for a mining platform, and they dealt with it on their own.
Burin helped her drag, and the collection of dead was soon arranged near the door to the ejection bay.
“I believe that they were hauling us to the Raider stronghold under the theory that you would eventually show up and be in their territory.” Vecho nodded to her cousins as they brought their own dead into the command unit.
Stennar had brought a grav sled, and he picked up the dead after giving Wiyra a quick hug. “Good to see you, cuz. I was worried.”
“So was I, Stennar. I had a thought that you were trying to get me to spook the Dremmak platform again, but then, I realised that you would want to be there to see them scream.”
He laughed, kissed her on her forehead and gathered the dead for disposal.
Vecho was in the process of halting the platform’s progress and changing its direction.
Burin checked the schematics, and he spoke quietly to Vecho, “Have you checked the docked ship?”
Vecho shook his head.
Wiyra stepped forward. “I heard that. I will check it if you don’t mind.”
“Please, dumpling. We will wait here.”
Wiyra nodded at the dark scowl on Burin’s face. “I will be back in a moment.”
She sat in the command chair and sent her astral form to the dock and into the invader’s ship.
The ship was surprisingly high tech. Despite the improvements made to the platform, Wiyra had rarely set foot in a place with this much technology. She didn’t even know what half of it did, but there was no one on the ship.
With a snap, she sat up. “The ship is empty. Super-high tech though. If I were you, Grandpa, I would eject it and let it float loose. You don’t want to try and haul it in for scrap. Not this one.”
She rubbed her forehead and frowned at the pain. She didn’t usually spend this much time exiting and entering her body without the life support in place.
Vecho spoke quietly with Burin, and the tracker left the command deck to verify what Wiyra had seen.
She crossed her arms and glared at her grandfather. “Did you just send him to double check what I said I saw?”
Her grandfather’s cheeks got hot. “No, no. That isn’t what I said.”
She got out of the command chair and walked over to his side. “I didn’t hear what you said, but I know that look on your face. You want any tech you can salvage for sale, but I am telling you, they will come looking for it.”
Vecho sighed and got a cleaning unit. “You are probably correct, I just asked him for a second opinion. There is nothing wrong with a second opinion.”
She snorted and helped him clean up the blood on the deck, the control panel and her own suit. “Oops. I forgot.”
Her grandfather laughed. “You may have scared poor Tracker Burin when you grabbed that knife. I don’t think he was prepared for your physical savagery.”
She snorted and continued to use the scrubber to remove the remains of the small battles.
Ten minutes later, Burin returned, and he nodded at Wiyra. “I cut it loose. There is no way that they will not come for that ship.”
She stuck her tongue out at her grandfather and put the scrubber away. “I told you so.”
He held his hands up in surrender. “I just wanted to recoup the expense of all this fuel.”
“Go back to our claim, mine the three asteroids I explored and you will have more than enough to compensate you for the lost time. Now, turn this platform around and head back to the field. I have to fulfil my contract with Master Tracker Burin.” She inclined her head to her new partner.
He looked surprised that she was immediately admitting to the contract, but it turned into a pleased smile. “Bring only what you can’t be without. The Citadel will provide a suit with body armour for you, as well as any other clothing you need.”
She inclined her head. “I will be back in a moment.”
Wiyra was trying to act like there was nothing wrong, but her platform was more than her place to live, it was her home, her family and her life up until this point. Most folks had planets, countries and towns to call home. She had this chunk of metal, and current events had proved it was constantly at risk. She might never see it again.
Shaking off the personal gloom that had struck her, she entered her quarters and removed a duffel
bag that she filled with personal grooming items, hair combs and a picture of her parents. The rest of her family was on a data crystal, but her parents had gone dirt-side one day and had a romantic picture taken with a pounding ocean in the background. It was Wiyra’s favourite possession.
She slipped the duffel strap over her shoulder and left her quarters. Wiyra paused as she exited her room. “What are you all here for?”
Stennar gave her a small smile. “You are leaving us, and we are here to say goodbye.”
She started a gauntlet of hugs that included her cousins, the few platform members that she was not related to and her eldest brother, Wargo.
“I will miss you, little bit.” He hugged her and spoke into her ear.
“I will miss you too, big twit. Keep Vecho on the straight and narrow. He tends to lean to the frivolous side when it comes to safety.” She hugged him back.
“I don’t know if I will be as successful reining him in as you were. He has a soft spot for you.” He smiled and held her out at arms’ length. The dark eyes and lashes that she saw in the mirror looked so much different with masculine features.
She put a hand to his cheek. “Take care of him and this platform. You are next in command after all.”
“Take care, little bit.” He stroked her hair and pinched her nose.
She batted at his hand and entered the command deck with tears stinging her eyes.
Vecho had no restraint. Tears were running down his face the moment he saw the look on hers. “Oh, dumpling. Come here.” He held his arms out, and her tears broke through the control she had on them.
“I want you to keep an eye on your diet and get plenty of exercise. No drinking with men one-fifth your age, Grandpa.” She sniffled against his shoulder.