Craved

by Elin Wyn

  Valrea considered it. “I could probably just make it short out, be sure we don't damage the landing field.”

  I shook my head. “No, we need to make sure they can't repair it. We'll just have to be careful.”

  Valrea and I placed explosives while Rhea kept watch on the corridor outside.

  “That should do it.”

  We retreated past the second door, and then a bit further down the hall, just to be sure.

  I held the detonator out to Valrea, but she shook her head.

  “Rhea, would you like a turn?”

  Slowly, Rhea pressed the button.

  Nothing happened. I waited for the delayed rumble, the shaking.

  Nothing.

  “Maybe the button stuck?” Rhea hit it again. But still nothing happened.

  “There's something wrong, I'll go back and check.”

  Before Valrea could stop me I'd broke away, dashed through the hall with the annoying sound and into the control room.

  The explosives were still mounted properly, blinking merrily away, ready and waiting for the signal.

  The signal.

  I went back through the noise of the hall to where Valrea and Rhea stood waiting.

  “It's a dampening field.” I sighed. “That's what I'm hearing.”

  Valrea shook her head. “What you mean?”

  “There is something that is interfering with the transmission of the signal from the detonator to the explosives,” Rhea explained. “Is that correct?”

  “Yup. And we don't know where it's coming from.”

  “Then we find it.” Valrea narrowed her eyes, scouring the ceiling already. “We tear everything apart until we find it and destroy it.

  “Valrea, honey.” She kept checking the corridor, not listening. “We don't have time. Right now we have momentum. There's not enough of us on the ground to risk losing it. Tomorrow they’ll wise up, get guards posted all over the place, not just in the hall.”

  I turned to Rhea before Valrea caught on. “Get Vicki as soon as you can. And then, all of you, just wait in the warehouse for the Pack to come. They'll be here soon.”

  I crushed Valrea to me, breathing in her scent, her taste. And I felt it through her body the instant she realized what I was saying.

  “What are you going to do?”

  “Take the dome down. That was the mission.”

  I stepped back from her, my glorious, determined princess.

  There was no way, even with my speed, that I'd be able to get past the blast zone once I was close enough for the trigger to work.

  “I am sorry,” Rhea said.

  “Yeah, me too.” I turned to face the door, ready to charge. Then a sharp pain at the back of my head dropped me into darkness.

  Valrea

  Stunned, I started at Rhea as she carefully lowered Geir. “Upon consideration, I think it would be better to go further back.”

  Grabbing him under his arms she dragged him backwards.

  “What are you doing?

  “I'm sure he will recover quickly, so there is not much time.”

  Soon the corridor turned a corner and she stopped. “As long as you are behind the wall, I believe it will be safe.”

  Rhea took the detonator from Geir’s hand.

  “You can't do this,” I pleaded. “Give me time. I’ll find whatever's creating the dampening field!”

  Her gloved hand brushed my cheek. “He is correct. This is the time to strike, there will not be another chance.”

  “But what about Vicki?” I cried.

  “I am confident you will save her.” Her tone was unmoved, implacable as ever. “I will not doom you to live the rest of your life without your love. Besides, I have seen the stars. Together we will destroy Father. All of us will strike through your hands.”

  A final hug, then she pushed me away. “I will always protect you.”

  And she disappeared around the corner.

  “Rhea!” I chased after her.

  “Go back, Valrea. This last time, do as I tell you.” And she sealed the door to the hall leading to the dome control behind her.

  “What the hell happened? When did we get back here?” Geir moved behind me.

  “Rhea, she-”

  I couldn’t move, just stared where Rhea had gone.

  Geir looked between me and the door, put the pieces together, and grabbed me dragging me kicking and screaming back around the corner.

  “No! She’s going to-”

  The explosion cut me off, and I fell weeping into his arms.

  “Don’t you think we should head back to the warehouse first?” Geir watched me warily.

  “No.” I strode down the maintenance tubes, waited for him to follow me or not.

  “Rhea said to get Vicki. I’m getting her now.”

  “Do you have a plan?”

  “Does kill them all count?”

  “Works for a short term one, sure.” He walked beside me. “But we might want something more concrete soon.”

  “We’ll call it plan A, then.”

  The fire that raged through my limbs when the pills failed, when withdrawal racked and tortured me, filled my mind.

  Fury and destruction.

  Retribution.

  There had been love, even after years of pain and torment. How many sisters had Rhea been forced to watch over? How much of their hatred had she endured, without the ability to explain?

  It was time for a reckoning, for everything. For all of us.

  Distracted by my black mood, when we turned a corner and ran into a pair of cadre members, we were all surprised.

  They fell back, raised their weapons. “Halt! Identify yourselves!”

  “Plan A?” Geir asked.

  “No quarter.”

  Another day, another time, I might regret their deaths. But not now, with the explosion of Rhea’s death knell still ringing in my ears.

  Geir sliced through them before they had a chance to question us again.

  Detached, it was easy to see how his moves were like a dance. But with very sloppy partners.

  “Onward?” He asked.

  “Just a minute.” I took the blaster and sidearm from one of the dead men.

  “I'm tired of being defenseless.”

  He looked over his shoulder at the bodies.”I'm not sure if that's actually the case, as long as I'm around.” But he took a blaster for himself.

  “I need to look after myself.” Too many people had looked after me, to control me, protect me.

  No more.

  As we advanced up the levels towards the surface, people ran by, but no one challenged us.

  “How long do you think it is been since most of these people saw the dome down,” Geir asked.

  “Most never have.”

  When we emerged to ground level the sky above the compound blazed, deep cobalt, covered with stars.

  “It worked,” Geir said. “The Compound is open, vulnerable.”

  I nodded, throat tight. I wasn't sure what our plan could have been if Rhea’s sacrifice had been for nothing. “Let's finish this.”

  Side-by-side we strode towards the hall. Not the side door, not this time. Up the front stairs, through father's gaudy, tasteless waiting room, and into the inner chamber where he held court in his perpetual half-life.

  Stanton stood by father’s bed, the two of them planning, conspiring, as always.

  “Where is Vicki?” I demanded.

  Stanton glanced over, shrugged as if our presence, armed and in the inner sanctum was nothing to be worried about

  “The child? Right here,” he gestured.

  In the depths of the tubes and wires that ran in and out of father’s medchamber, I could see a dark shape.

  “What have you done to her?” .

  “Nothing, for now. She's just taking a little nap.” Stanton pulled her small form out, letting her droop over his arm.

  Limp, lifeless.

  No. She twitched in whatever drugged sleep they had sent
her to. Kicked against him.

  Good girl. Keep fighting.

  “This insurrection will not stop my destiny,” Father brayed.

  “No? It seems to be doing a fine job of putting your loyal followers into disarray.” I looked at him, the shriveled skeleton who had run my life. “Without them, how exactly are you planning to retake the Empire?”

  “My will is unstoppable, ungrateful wretch. You had the chance to stand by my side, but like all of your blood, you refused it.”

  “And always will,” I spat back

  Stanton snagged the long handle of a carrying case by his feet, slid it over his head so it hung across his body leaving one hand free to pull out a handheld blaster, holding it to Vicki's small head. “If nobody minds, I think I'll be leaving now.”

  Moving backward, not moving his eyes from us, he exited the dais with his hostage.

  My heart tore in two. Father had to be stopped, but would Vicki pay the price?

  “Geir, please,” I begged. “Get her.”

  “Are you sure you’ll be alright?”

  “I promise, I am. I will be.”

  Without another word he sprinted out of the room after Stanton.

  “Whatever you’re planning, none of us will be your tools anymore.” I approached the steps, crossed the line beyond which I’d never been allowed.

  One step up. One step closer. “Whatever your plan is, you’re finished.”

  “Stupid girl. My will is carried out by stronger hands than yours.”His eyes blazed with fanatical fury as he pulled himself upright from the treatment bed. “The Empire will fall and I will be the cause of its destruction.”

  “The Empire you fought for? The Empire you hated? And it changed without you, old man, left you behind and in the dust.”

  “Never!” He raged. “I will not be forgotten.” He glared at me and the blaster in my hand. “And you will not be the cause of anything. You are nothing without me.”

  He tore at the tubing running into his arms, pulled the wiring from his legs. Alarms squealed, lights flashed as all of the delicate work of the med chamber was wrecked by his desperate thrashing.

  “You just need someone to teach you how to behave.” He snarled, ripped more of the bands away. “Should've left you with your mother, at that backwater spaceport. She wailed and whined when I took you, just like you always have.”

  “No more than trash.” He lurched up from the pallet, wild eyes unseeing. “I will not be held back by the likes of you.”

  He lunged towards me, hands curved into claws, ready to fight.

  And fell, tumbling down the steps until his shattered body lay still on the floor.

  No one came in response to the alarms of the medchamber. No loyal attendant. No faithful cadre.

  I walked back down the stairs, stood over his body, flecks of spittle running down his withered chin.

  And stepped over his corpse on the way out the door to meet my future.

  Geir

  I bolted after Stanton, wrenched open the hidden door at the top of the dais he had retreated through and followed.

  Every fiber in my being howled against leaving Valrea alone with that monster. But she was strong. Stronger than anyone had realized.

  She’d asked me to save Vicki and let her finish it.

  So I would.

  The corridor opened into an empty room. Scattered chairs, a few workstations, all switched on, but nothing on the screens. And two doors leading away.

  I spun, searching for clues. Both doors were slid open, both silent. Nothing on the ground, no tracks to guide me.

  Then I caught the faintest scent.

  Like Valrea’s, but not quite the full sweetness of narla fruit. Something close, something related.

  Vicki.

  The hunt was on again.

  There were fewer guards than I had expected as I tore through the building, all distracted, even a few with their helmets pushed back. None seemed interested in challenging me.

  Outside the scent was fainter, but still enough to follow. A crowd had gathered, gaping at the open sky. Murmurs swelled through the crowd, an angry restless sound. Abril and Caze’s campaign had watered the seeds of discontent that the General’s authoritarian rule had planted.

  The destruction of the dome had forced them to flower. Time to get out of here, take back what I’d learned. Come back with the Pack, ready to strike.

  As soon as we had Vicki.

  I followed her scent, and realized where Stanton was heading. The landing pad. He was getting out, making a break for it.

  Not a chance.

  I put on a burst of speed until, through the crowd, I saw him, about to cross into the smooth, paved area.

  Gripping the blaster, I considered cutting him at the knees. But even stopped, he could still kill the child out of spite before I reached him.

  A clean headshot wasn’t possible, jostled by the crowd. And aiming for the torso, I risked hitting Vicki myself.

  I broke through the crowd, saw the landing pad wasn’t quite as smooth as it had been. A few ships tilted crazily near the middle and the paving had cracked, broken.

  Maybe we hadn’t been as careful with the explosives as we should have been.

  Leaping over a torn section of hull, I drew closer, the pounding of my feet like drums in the still air.

  Then he spun, wiggling the blaster in his hand, pressed hard into the soft underside of Vicki’s chin.

  “I know all about you animals.” He spat, lip curled. “You wouldn't think twice about taking a shot. Probably wouldn't even phase you. But if you know what's good for this brat, you'll stay back.”

  I snarled, but obeyed. For now.

  He continued walking, turned slightly sideways. I stalked behind him, waiting for my chance. A lapse in his attention, a stumble on the newly uneven surface, the bag strapped over his shoulder to slip.

  But he was focused, controlled, not a step out of place. At the side of a small grey runner he stopped, watched me with narrowed eyes.

  “You continue to be a nuisance . You should have been found, executed as soon as you landed. That you weren’t discovered immediately shows how inefficient this whole place was.”

  “Not one of the general’s faithful, then?” I shifted my weight, flexed the muscles in my calves.

  “He was useful,” Stanton admitted. “And profitable.”

  I glanced at the bag he’d taken from beside the medchamber. “Is that part of the profit?”

  “Maybe.” He wouldn’t be drawn out.

  “If you have it, what do you want with the kid?” I cajoled, anything to keep him talking. “By now the general's dead. His twisted obsession with his daughter should die with him.”

  Stanton snorted, laughed. ”I don't give a damn about the girl. But I do care about insurance.”

  He shifted Vicki’s slack body to key in the door code and I tensed, waiting for the opportunity, but he whipped back into position, before I could pounce.

  “I told you, I know all about your kind. You're an abomination. Not even useful tools.”

  “If you don’t care about her, take me with you instead. One hostage is as good as another, right?”

  “You have to be joking. The only way I want one of your kind near me is strapped to a table, ready for dissection.”

  My fists clenched, but I didn’t take the bait, give him the excuse to fire.

  “And I know better than to leave one of you alive at my back.”

  Not dumb. Because I’d rip his head from his neck, gladly.

  “She’ll be coming out of it soon,” I snarled. “Are you really prepared for the care of a child? Even if you don’t care about her being happy or healthy, everywhere you go, people will notice her. Someone will ask. And we’ll hear about it.”

  His eyes just narrowed further, and I barrelled on, talking. “You can’t keep her as insurance forever.”

  “I don't need to.”

  With strength surprising for his wiry frame he hur
led Vicki towards the nose of the neighboring shuttle.

  I sprang, snatching her from the air and tucking her against my gut as we somersaulted across the pad.

  Though it had only taken a minute to save her, it was long enough for the bastard to get inside the runner and start the engines.

  With no other options, I pressed Vicki over my shoulder and fired the blaster in one continuous stream at the small ship, hoping for a lucky hit, a weak spot in the hull, something.

  But nothing happened. He must have hit the shields as soon as he entered. The engines whined and roared to life, and I took off running back the way we’d come. It was about to get hot, and there was nothing left to do.

  At the edge of the pad I cradled Vicki and watched Stanton get away. We’d find him, follow him. Whatever he had planned, the Pack would stop it

  Vicki turned and kicked in my arms as she began to wake up.

  “I usually let them grow a little longer before decanting, but I’ll take her now, if you’d like.”

  Doc’s head emerged from nowhere and I stepped back, startled. “How did you get out of the warehouse?”

  “Got bored. Only so many explosives a woman can make in a day. Tianna is mostly healed, so there’s not much to do there either.” Doc sighed. “She woke up long enough to ask me to find her daughter. Not really the sort of errand I’m best at, but figured I might as well.”

  A flicker, and a cloak landed at my feet. But I still couldn’t see the rest of her.

  “Um. Doc?”

  “Couldn’t find the daughter, all these young people kind of look alike to me. Besides, everyone was running around like the world was ending.”

  Another cloak was added to the pile.

  “Figured you’d be a part of that. And I know what you look like. When I saw you tearing off this way, I thought I’d wait for you.”

  With a click and rustle, the stack of cloaks grew.

  “Doc, how many of these did you put on?”

  “Five. Odds against them failing all at once were pretty low, seemed worth it. But I wouldn’t recommend it for field work. They’re hot.”

  I choked back a laugh. “I imagine they would be.”

  She finally emerged, and held out her arms. “Alright. Give her to me.” Doc looked over the landing field. “I'll go pick out our ride so we can get the hell out of here.”