by L. E. Thomas
Ryker’s lungs burned. Pausing against a damp rock, she caught her breath and set her light on the wet surface. Mist swirled in front of the beam emitting from the flashlight. Far behind her, voices echoed off the rocky walls of the cavern. She didn’t flinch, didn’t react to the sounds. Instead, she stared into the flowing water.
She couldn’t argue with the simple truth growing in her mind; she wasn’t going to make it out of here. There was no rescue coming. Austin wouldn’t be able to save her this time. Worse, these weren’t uneducated and untrained pirates trailing her. Well-trained and motivated Zahlian Marines followed her through this underground maze of tunnels.
Remembering her training, she searched the satchel for anything the Marines could use. She didn’t plan on being taken alive, but she knew they would search her belongings for any intelligence she possessed. She’d left all forms of identification on the Formidable for this mission in Zahlian Space. Only one object she carried might be useful to her enemy, and that was the Whisper. If they could crack this piece of technology, communications across the Legion would be compromised.
She grabbed it and knelt next to the river, holding the Whisper in front of her. Her hand trembled as she held it over the flowing water.
The decision to drop the device battled with her instinct to survive. Closing her eyes, she let the Whisper fall from her grip. It splashed in the water, floating for a brief moment before disappearing beneath the surface.
Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes. Please let Austin know I loved him. Somehow, please let him know.
She stood, grabbing the pistol and the flashlight.
Voices clamored in the distance, reflecting off the cave walls.
Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a faint light coming from behind her. She turned away from her pursuers and began walking.
The cave split. She paused and breathed. The river continued down the left cavern. She shined her flashlight, saw the water winding around a corner. Rocks made the right side much tighter, but it was dry.
Think, Ryker.
Her brow furrowed, and she clenched her jaw. Usually, she was able to fight back the fear of failure. It was always there, lingering at the back of her mind. But now, with fatigue and the enemy threatening to overtake her, resolve crumbled around her like sand on a beach.
“Left,” she said aloud, deciding to follow the water.
All water had to go somewhere. If it didn’t, this entire cavern would be filled with water. The smell of mold and death filled the air. She pulled her body forward, willing each step as if it would yield results. After another hour in the cave, she lost all sense of distance. She could have walked a hundred miles in this underground world, and it would have looked the same.
Water trickled down from a series of stalactites, the beam from her flashlight stretching the shadows across the path as if she ventured into the mouth of a giant beast.
She passed under the massive rock formations and pulled out her last bottle of water. Leaning against the stone, she took a long drink. The water rolled around her empty stomach. Wincing, she fought back a wave of nausea. She had to eat but wasn’t sure she could stomach another protein bar.
Slinging the satchel over her shoulder, she trudged forward. Her boots sank into the wet soil with each step.
A faint light beamed down from ahead. She blinked, thinking for a moment she was hallucinating. The light increased as she moved forward. A roaring sound moved down the tunnel. She exhaled.
A waterfall.
She ran forward, tapping into whatever energy she had left. A swirling mist flowed toward the cave’s opening. She placed her hand on the wet rocky wall and stared down at an immense body of water surrounded by forest-covered mountains. She estimated the cave to be a hundred feet above the lake. Daylight illuminated the water’s surface with golden rays.
Maybe the drop ship had remained on the opposite side of the cave, waiting for the lucky Marines to emerge with their prisoner.
As if responding to her thought, two drop ships ascended over the mountains and shot straight for her position. Her heart sank.
She turned around but realized the Marines were close behind her.
She looked back at the two ships hovering over the lake.
Exhaling, she gazed at the water below.
“THERE IS NO ESCAPE, STAR RUNNER,” the amplified voice boomed from the drop ship and echoed down the cave. “DROP YOUR WEAPON.”
The muscles in her face quivered, her fingers tightening around the butt of the pistol. She glanced at the gun in her shaking hand, realizing the weapon was her only escape, her only way to avoid capture and torture at the hands of the Zahlian Empire. She wouldn’t be their toy, their lab rat to play with and rip intelligence from before she collapsed into a worthless heap of flesh and bone.
No, not her. She wouldn’t go that way.
She had one choice.
Staring at the nearest drop ship, she winked. Raising the pistol to her head, she pressed the muzzle to her skin.
I’m sorry, Austin.
Electricity shot into her back, sending her muscles into spasms. Her gun fired into the air, the bolt exploding into the cave’s ceiling. Her body went numb, her teeth clenching together so tight she thought they’d shatter. Losing her balance, she felt the world turn end over end. She fell through space, the mist surrounding her body.
The water came closer. Her face slapped the surface.
The darkness took her as Austin’s face flashed once more in her mind.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The cold burned Ryker Zyan’s fingers and toes. The frigid air seared her exposed skin. Her body shook, her eyes refusing to open. Her lips parted over chattering teeth. Folding her arms over her bare chest, she collapsed her trembling body into the fetal position. She slid the fingers of her right hand down her leg.
She wore no clothes. They had taken them …
Forcing her eyes open, she saw nothing but a blur. Distant points of light slid past her as she drifted in a sea of stars.
Stars. A sea of stars.
Shaking her head, she fought through a muddle of memories.
Drop ships cornering her. A loud voice on a speaker.
She rubbed her face with cold hands, wiping her eyes.
The chatter of voices echoing up the rocks. Orders barking from a deep voice. Boots pounding a wet, rocky surface.
Was that memory … from Lian? She thought of weeks spent in underground bunkers and caverns, avoiding endless shelling and strafing runs by the Tactron Coalition. Her bunker had been infiltrated before … a strike team from the Coalition killing everyone in her pod as she slid into a ventilation shaft to hide. Two days later, she emerged when she could no longer fight off thirst by licking condensation off the pipes in the pod’s winding infrastructure.
When she found her people, the guardians who raised her since she could remember, remarked on her good fortune. What the Coalition would have done to a young girl of the Rollian resistance …
No, she thought in a haze, that wasn’t the memory. Her mind sharpened, images coming into focus. The wet rocky surface. The underground river, cold like a thousand needles penetrating her skin. The men chasing her—the Marines.
Her eyes opened. Zahlian Marines.
The drop ships had converged on her position, streaking across the sky like they knew where she hid. But they did know. They knew because … the escape pod. The pod she had used when the missiles hit her Trident. They had hit her Trident because she had tried to save Austin.
Austin.
Her head cleared.
The electricity had surged through her body, igniting her muscles and ripping control of her movement. The water had slapped her face. And then there had been nothing.
The reality of her situation gripped her heart like icy tentacles. Her greatest fear had been realized. Despite all her efforts on the moon, she had been captured. Not just by pirates or marauders; she was now a prisoner of the Zahlian Navy. A pri
soner with no identification, no rights in the known galaxy. She could be considered a spy and executed, but she didn’t think good fortune would be on her side this time.
She opened her eyes, saw the lights still spinning.
Wait, she was the one spinning. Searching her surroundings, she rubbed her naked arms. She floated in zero gravity. An energy field extended on one side of her like a shimmering blue bubble. Beyond it, the spinning lights were stars. She gasped and turned around. On the far side of her energy sphere, a flat surface of metal extended. Glancing to her left and right, she realized it was the steel surface stretching into the distance. Her spherical cell was on the side of a space station, maybe even a ship.
Her breathing accelerated. She looked down at her feet, saw the stars beneath. A dark line stretched off to her right, a collection of haze she recognized as a possible asteroid belt. As it moved out of her vision, she knew she was on the outside of a ship. This bubble had been created to contain her. Looking around, she saw no other bubbles along the hull. Had they left her out here to freeze? More importantly, how long had she been in this enclosure?
She reached out with her foot toward the shimmering blue energy field. If she could kick off the field, perhaps she could get closer to the hull and—
Zap!
The pain jolted through her foot and up her leg. A brief flash of light shot around her. Grimacing, she pulled her legs to her stomach and rubbed the affected foot. It throbbed like she had dipped her toe in acid. She looked up. The shock had sent her tumbling toward the hull. She studied the flat surface. An octagonal shape stretched out beneath her, appearing to be a hatch with a grip on one side.
After several minutes of floating, she reached out and grabbed the hatch’s grip. The steel was cold—colder than anything she had ever felt before. She pressed against the hull and sighed. At least she wasn’t floating in the bubble cell anymore. It might have been all in her mind, but she felt warmer near the hull. Perhaps some residual heat coming off this mysterious vessel was warming the air in her cell?
She swallowed. Air.
Scanning the hatch in front of her, she saw nothing resembling an oxygen vent. Whatever she was breathing had been pumped in when they opened the hatch. Either they didn’t plan on leaving her in here long, or they planned to let her die in this cell. Remembering her training to conserve air, she tried to limit the frequency and depth of her inhalation.
Finding nothing inspiring on the hull in front of her, she turned to the stars. Perhaps if she could recognize a constellation or …
Since the asteroids had moved away from her, she saw nothing but random stars strewn across her field of vision.
Where was she?
Why wouldn’t they just kill her?
She remained crumpled against the hatch for hours, staring into the void and longing for the sight of a planetary body or a space station—anything to signify her time floating in this Glistening Orb from hell would soon be over.
Images of Austin spinning in the zero-gravity dance club filled her mind during the minutes and hours. Later, she imagined swimming with him in the waters on Oma, the warm waters under the blazing daylight. With nothing else to do at the moment, she allowed her mind to wander. Once, she saw his face in this bubble with her. He projected strength toward her, the way he always did. His confidence and ability was intoxicating. She dreamed he was with her. Somehow, he would have known what do if he were here. He always survived, always managed to turn the most devastating odds into heroic victories.
But when she opened her eyes, blinking as she studied her surroundings, Austin was gone. Worse, his image had not left her with a solution to her problem.
You’re going to die in here.
No, she thought. Don’t listen.
But there’s no way out. You’re going to die in here, forgotten and cold. Austin will forget you, go on with his life with someone who accepts him, who won’t give up on him so she can advance her career.
Stop it, she thought. Quit doing this. There’s always hope. Always.
You know better than that. There wasn’t hope for all the Star Runners under your command, the ones you let the Wraith murder.
She shook her head and thought, I did what I could. There wasn’t anything I could have done for them.
There wasn’t hope on Lian. You saw your brothers and sisters fight and die. And you did nothing to help them. You just ran, fled like a coward.
But I was recruited by the Legion. I am a Star Runner. I fight for billions of Legion citizens and preserve their freedom.
Good for you. Now you’re going to die here.
“No!”
She blinked, her eyes wide. Her voice reflected off the energy field, jolting her at the volume. Taking in a slow breath, she clenched her teeth. Get a hold of yourself, she thought.
Fatigue swept over her. She fought against it, knowing to fall asleep in such temperatures would kill her. Of course, she could think of worse ways to die than falling asleep …
A red light glowed, beaming down on top of her from the ship like the tail of a comet. Keeping one hand on the grip, she shielded the light with her other hand.
“Hello?” she called.
The blinding red light extinguished just as a blue scanning laser shot out from the base of the hatch, flickering on her toes. It moved up her body to the top of her head and back. She shook her head. Should she demand to speak to someone?
You idiot, she thought. What good will that do?
The scanning laser stopped. Four metal pops in quick succession rattled the hatch’s grip. She braced herself, not really knowing why.
A blood-red outline of the octagonal hatch glowed. She swallowed, wondering if the hatch would pull her in or blast her into the vacuum of space. Squinting, she lowered her gaze and focused on the hatch. Each heartbeat stretched like an eternity in the silence.
The hatch popped and slid open. She let go of the grip as the metal door disappeared into the ship. A dark room loomed in front of her. A florescent light flickered to life, illuminating a small airlock not much bigger than her quarters on the Formidable. A black strap like a safety harness floated toward her as she drifted in the doorway.
She grabbed it and gave it a tug, pulling herself into the airlock. The florescent lights buzzed over her head. She smelled something familiar … alcohol maybe? Perhaps iodine? It smelled both clean and sick simultaneously, kind of like a hospital. The airlock door rumbled shut behind her, jolting her as she floated over the floor. With a whooshing sound, the atmosphere in the airlock equalized. Her stomach lurched as the artificial gravity from the vessel pressed on her. Her body floated to the floor. First her toes, then her heels settled on the cold surface.
And then the lights went out.
Lights from a muzzle-mounted LED blinded her.
“What are—”
The butt of a laser rifle smashed into her gut, forcing the air from her body. She coughed. A strong hand yanked back on her hair, arching her body so far she thought it would break. A dry and rough cloth was jabbed into her mouth, slipped down her throat. It tasted like fuel and beach sand. She coughed into the cloth as her feet were lifted into the air. Acid crept up her throat as men lifted her and carried her naked body from the airlock.
The ceiling passed, lights blinding her until she saw nothing but spots. Fear surged through her body, threatening to take over her mind. She closed her eyes, spilling tears down onto her cheek.
Think. Don’t panic. Pay attention.
They carried her down the bright corridor, the light still pressing against her eyelids. The men took a left. Then a right. Then a left. Their boots pounded on a metal surface, turning into a hollow clanging sound. A metal grating? She heard the hum of electronics, a chattering of voices.
A man screamed, his vocal cords rattling as if they would rupture.
She asked who was screaming, but the cloth in her throat muffled her voice. She opened her eyes again. Four men dressed in black carried her
with gloved hands. A black cloth covered their faces, revealing only their eyes. Fierce laser rifles with scopes hung over their shoulders. And, suddenly, they stopped.
Staring into the bright oval bulb over her, she dared to raise her head. A dimly lit hatch dilated in front of them, revealing a room with a metal operating chair like one would expect in a dentist’s office. Thick straps covered the seat. A man in a shiny black lab coat stood near, his attention on a tablet in his hand. A small table sat at his side, containing an assortment of polished and glistening tools. One of her escorts thrust a translator into her ear.
After a moment, the lab coat man glanced up and waved the tablet. “Bring her in.”
She kicked her legs, the man on her left losing his grip and crashing into the wall.
“Stupid whore!”
A fierce strike to the side of her face darkened her vision. She felt herself slipping. Closing her eyes, she fought to stay awake as the men carried her into the room. Dimly, she felt thick restraining straps tightening over her body, pressing against her skin. Something clamped to each one of her fingertips, and she opened her eyes. A searing light beamed down from the ceiling, heating the air around her.
She blinked away tears, focusing on the light above her. She tried to lift her arms, then her legs, and realized the straps prevented her from moving even a little. A hand came from the darkness, gripping the cloth in her mouth and yanking it free. She coughed and convulsed, her back arching on the cold chair as it reclined until she was horizontal. Her lungs burned with each spasm.
Footsteps moved away. She heard the hatch close. Other than the loud humming of the light and her raspy breath, she was left in silence.
When she opened her eyes, a red straw had appeared from the darkness and halted an inch from her lips. She recoiled, moving her mouth away from the straw.
“Drink.”
She jolted back as the voice echoed around the room like it thundered from the heavens. Shaking her head, she struggled against the straps until she split the skin on her ankles.