by Siren Allen
“If the ritual remains incomplete in thirty-six hours your mate will remain in a comatose state for as long as you exist. Upon your demise, she will awaken and return to the state she was in before the blood exchange occurred.”
“The state she was in earlier tonight?” A healthy wet dream having state. “Or the state she was in before I tasted her blood?”
Ep spoke up, “I thought you said you didn’t…”
“Not now, Ep. Striker?”
“She will return to the state she was in before you acquired her blood.”
“Fuck me,” Silver muttered just as Gamma and Beta rounded the corner.
“Whoa,” Gamma stopped and put an arm out for Beta to cease moving forward also. “Is that your mate?”
Silver turned his back to the crew and tightened the cover around Malia’s body.
“Yes.”
“You’ve got her, so we can go right? We’ve got fuel. The kid is resting. Ep’s mate is secure. Your mate is…. What’s wrong with your mate, captain?”
Silver cast a warning glance at Ep who shrugged then went back to working on the wires. “She’s resting. Yes, we’re ready to go.”
“Okay,” Gamma clapped. “Let’s get this shit on the road, well, in the air. Come on Striker. Captain since you’ll be busy for a while, I guess I’ll lead the crew in your absence,” the youngest member of the crew asked.
“Beta,” Silver called out as he hurried down the bridge towards his room.
“Yes, captain.”
“You’re in command. Don’t let Gamma steer us into an asteroid belt.”
“Gotcha captain. Come on rookie. Watch a pro handle things.”
Silver could hear the two males fussing as he walked down the hall. As he turned the corner he shared one more intense stare with Epsilon and found the male shaking his head at him.
“We’ll see if you fare any better when it comes time to claiming your mate,” Silver told his friend as he walked away and he could’ve sworn he heard the male say, that’s why I’m not keeping her.
Well what the hell was he going to do with her? Silver had his own issues to worry about. Like finishing the mating ritual so he could keep his female alive. Come morning he was going to have one pissed off Venusian on his hand.
But at least he would have her.
***
Silver stared down at his mate who was resting comfortably on his bed.
At least, he hoped she was comfortable. She appeared so. He pulled his white sheet up to her chin and tucked it around her shoulders. There, that should make her more comfortable. Perhaps if he fluffed his pillow.
He lifted her head and plumped the pillow before laying her back against it. This was all his fault. He was the reason she wouldn’t wake up, couldn’t wake up until he completed the blood ritual.
“Striker.”
“I was wondering when you were going to call, captain.”
Silver sighed. “I fucked up, Striker.”
“The situation is dire. But it can be fixed.”
“No, it’s more fucked than that.” Time for a confession. “When Malia was a child, I came here and saved her life. The doctors said she only had one year to live. I gave her my blood to heal her.”
“Thus beginning the blood exchange which you completed tonight. But just giving her your blood wouldn’t save her. You would have had to tie her life to yours, the second step of the ritual.”
“Exactly. I did it. I gave her my blood and drank from her, tying her life to mine. But I thought I was covering my tracks by using a memclo to keep her from remembering. I knew she wouldn’t feel the mating pull if she didn’t remember me.”
“Wise decision, even though memclos are forbidden. May I ask how you acquired one.”
“I stole it from commander Rhodes’ office. He used the devices on the enemies of our home-world, the ones he was ordered by the Regime not to kill. He used them so his enemies wouldn’t remember that he’d tortured and questioned them.”
“Yes, it works well in those situations. However, with your mate, things are a little trickier. The memclo cloaked her memories. But when she ingested your blood tonight, that seal was broken. Now, I understand why you say the situation is fucked.”
Silver would’ve laughed at how ridiculous Striker sounded saying the word fuck, but his mind was too preoccupied with his mate’s condition.
“The mating ritual is supposed to be completed in the blood circle. You’ve completed the last two steps of the ritual outside of the blood circle.”
“Yes, now how do I fix it?”
“Scanning the mating ritual database.”
“You have a database on the mating rituals?”
“I do. When you had the ship reprogrammed and remodeled to your needs, you told the engineers to upload all books on your home planet’s culture.”
Oh yeah. He’d done that so he could feel close to his home world, especially since he could never step foot on the planet again. He would never see his sisters again. Damn, he was regretting allowing Striker to return his memories. Some of them were better off blocked.
“Scan complete. According to the information I found on the mating ritual, you are not the first to perform the ritual wrong. There have been others.”
“So there’s a way to fix it?”
“Yes, there is. The mating ritual doesn’t have to be performed in order. However, it must take place in the blood circle. A circle created with blood from you and your mate. You simply have to start over and perform the entire process inside the circle.”
“That’s it.”
“Yes, that’s it. You will also need candles.”
“Do we even have candles on board?”
“No, we do not.”
Shit. “My mate owns a diner, surely there are candles there. Striker, keep an eye on my mate.”
“She will not be awaking anytime soon.”
“I didn’t ask you that. Just watch her while I go find candles.”
“Also captain, you must use a blade to perform the ritual, it must be a blade touched by both you and your mate.”
“Anything else you want to tell me before I leave? You know, like do I need a live sacrifice or anything?”
“No, a sacrifice will not be necessary. However, I think you should know that in every documented incident where the ritual was performed wrong and the mate was not a Time Dweller there were repercussions.”
“Like?”
“The Non-Dweller gained special abilities.”
“That’s a good thing. I need her to be able to protect herself.”
“Some of those abilities left the mate deformed.”
“Shit.”
“Just thought you should know.”
Truthfully, he would’ve rather not known. Silver placed a quick kiss on his mate’s forehead. “I’m going to fix this, I promise.” Another quick kiss to her head then he left the room and made sure the door shut and locked behind him. He found Ep where he’d left him.
“Going somewhere?”
“I need candles.”
“I thought we were getting ready to depart.”
“Not yet.” Striker wouldn’t leave until Silver told him to. “Striker, tell the others we will depart when I return.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Where are you going to get candles from?” Ep asked.
“My mate’s diner.”
“I have informed the others of your need to retrieve candles. Beta’s exact words were, tell him to hurry his ass up.”
“Will do.” Silver misted and left the ship. He quickly found what he needed but hesitated while standing in the kitchen area of the diner. This was his mate’s business. Something she’d worked hard for.
And he was taking it away from her, not giving her a choice in the matter. To say she was going to be pissed was an understatement. He didn’t expect her to understand why he had to do this, not at first anyway.
Once she fell in love with him, she would realize
he’d made the best choice for their future. Silver stared around the diner searching for small items that may make her feel closer to home when they left this galaxy.
He grabbed a box and began filling it with things. Before he left the diner he barred the exit doors shut then misted from the establishment. One more stop to make, her home. Her bedroom was in a disarray from their earlier encounter.
Though she wasn’t coming back there anytime soon, Silver still felt the need to straighten things up. That done he searched through her closet for a bag and quickly filled it with things she might need.
She had a lot of things. It would take him years to replace everything he was forcing her to leave behind. Silver scanned the room. Perhaps he could bring most of it with him, in multiple trips.
That sounded like a plan. His first return trip to The Striker led to his crew staring at him like he was insane. Silver ignored their glares as he placed items from Malia’s restaurant in the ship’s kitchen.
“We sent you to the store for candles,” Gamma joked. “Not groceries.”
“When my mate awakens she will require things from her home and her diner.” Silver placed a box of what looked like rice in the cabinet.
“At least now we get to use this room for something other than storing our tonic,” Beta said before helping Silver unload the box he brought. “And when we first got this ship I thought we should gut this room and turn it into a club. I’m glad we didn’t.”
“Striker,” Silver called out. “How is my mate?”
“Still resting. Do you have the candles?”
Silver pulled the candles out of the box. “Got them.”
“Good. I recommend proceeding with the ritual as soon as possible.”
“Go ahead,” Beta told him. “We’ll finish unloading this.”
“I have another trip to make.”
“Captain, we need to leave.”
“I know, but my mate, she’ll need these things.” He knew they thought him crazy, could tell by the way they stared at him, eyebrows raised. Silver knew he was doing the right thing.
When Malia awakened and realized she was light years away from home and mated to him without her consent, she would be pissed. At least this would soften the blow somewhat, make her feel at home. Or he hoped that was what it would do.
“I’ll be back.” Silver misted from the ship before his crew could protest.
Two more trips led to him filling his bedroom up with items from Malia’s home. His once barren room was now the home of multiple paintings and two dressers filled with her clothes.
He even managed to mist her lounger on board and two of her book shelves. There were also small appliances which he had no idea what they did that was on his floor. His mate purchased them for a reason, he wanted her to have them. His room was now cluttered, but he smiled at what he’d accomplished.
“Are you done?” Striker’s monotone voice filled the room.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“I suggest we leave as soon as possible.”
Silver stared at the ceiling. “What’s happened?”
“I fear I have made a huge error.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I accept full responsibility for the error.”
“What’s the problem.”
“I will not let anything like this happen again. I’m not entirely sure how it came to be.”
“Striker what’s the fucking problem?”
“When the homing beacon went out, I established that it was received by the Iron Bender. However, I was using old data that placed the Iron Bender in the past. I have a garbled transmission coming in from the Iron Bender.”
“What? How? It’s in another galaxy, in another time.”
“The Iron Bender we fled is in another galaxy, another time. The Iron Bender of today is in this time, in this galaxy. Therein lies my error. The Iron Bender of this time is still run by commander Rhodes and it was the present day ship that received the homing beacon. I have not yet determined where it is located.”
Shit. He hadn’t thought of that. For some insane reason he’d assumed the commander would’ve gotten another ship by now, a better ship.
“I detect upgrades to the Iron Bender.”
“What kind of upgrades?”
“The transmission they sent is still downloading. The fact that it is taking so long to come through lets me know we are outdated by their standards. Yet, I believe, through the link of the transmission I can determined some of the upgrades.”
“Are we in imminent danger?”
“Not at the moment. However, I fear they will be able to pinpoint our exact location once the transmission has been received.”
“Then don’t receive it. I don’t give a fuck what they want to say.”
“Not receiving it is impossible.”
Silver sighed. He could feel a headache coming. “Why is it impossible?”
“The link has already been established. They are not attempting to communicate with us via video link. I believe this transmission is a written message. Even if I disconnect, the message will still be received and they will be able to pinpoint this location.”
Gibberish. It was like the ship was speaking gibberish. Silver had no idea what it was talking about. “And when will the transmission be complete or whatever?”
“Thirty minutes.”
“So we leave in thirty minutes.”
“No, we leave now. The link will only show the location we were at when the transmission was sent. We will be far from here by the time they figure out we were here.”
Silver rubbed his forehead. “Striker, when we get to a space station, I’m giving you an upgrade. You’re confusing the hell out of me.”
“An upgrade would change my personality, captain.”
“What personality?” Silver muttered as he tucked already tucked covers under his mate.
“I heard that.”
“We’re leaving now.” Silver stepped over Malia’s things as he made his way to the door. When he reached the bridge he found Ep rising from the floor. Together they walked to the flight deck.
“Striker said we need to leave right now,” he told his crew.
“Let’s roll,” Gamma said. “Ep siphoned us a good bit of fuel, but we’ll need more. Striker where’s the nearest space station?”
“Scanning…. The nearest space station is about fifty clicks from Mercury. However, there is a prison on Mercury. Unlike Venus, their sensors are programmed to detect cloaked crafts.”
“I bet they can,” Beta agreed. “Can’t have crews swooping in trying to help their leaders escape the death penalty.”
“Why should we care if they can detect us, we’re not landing on their planet?” Silver didn’t give a damn if they knew he was near. If he didn’t bother them they shouldn’t bother him. For a second Striker was silent.
“I fear I have errored again.”
“What the hell Striker. What is wrong with you? Are you malfunctioning?”
“I am uncertain, but it is possible. Something seems off. I do not understand. I will run a full diagnostic on myself…”
“No, I’ll do it,” Silver told Striker before sitting down behind the console. “What is the error?”
“We have to remained cloaked no matter what station we dock on. Our ship is a wanted ship.”
A round of what the fucks and why are you just now telling us this filled the air.
“I apologize for the error. I have scanned the dark-net, our ship and all of its member are listed on the network. We are wanted as thieves and murderers.”
“Who are they saying we murdered? You know what, just pull up the dark-net on our main screen.” Silver swiveled in his seat to face monitor one.
The crew stared up at the main communication screen that flickered gray before going black. The word dark-net scrolled across and then the words Most Wanted appeared. Striker scrolled through all of the pictures until he came to a picture of their ship.
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The crew of The Striker appeared on the screen followed by each of their names and their pictures. They were all wanted for the murder of the Precept race.
“We are wanted for the murder of a whole race.”
“Yeah, I see that. We can’t go to a space station near a prison. Where is the next closest station?” Silver asked, eager to get back to his mate and complete the blood ritual.
“The next closest station is in the Kuiper Belt.”
“Come on,” Gamma threw his hands wide. “There has to be a closer place to fill up and lay low while we figure out where the hell we’re going next.”
“There are, but the others are all under order to report anything unusual to the Galaxy Patrol. I fear we will not be safe in those locations.”
“I guess we’ll be making that trip to the Kuiper Belt after all,” Silver told the crew.
“Shit, I hate vampires. I’m sure they’re even worse in this time than they were in ours.”
“Yeah, you may be right,” Silver told him. “But they’re the only ones who won’t turn us in. They’re the only ones who like us, don’t give a damn about the rules of the Galaxy Patrol.”
“So which planet in the belt are we going to? Please don’t say Qoaran.”
“Okay, I won’t say it. But that’s exactly where we’re going. If the ruler is still Palenzo, he’ll let us stay there until we find a way to clear our name.”
“The only way to clear our names is to report commander Rhodes to Galaxy Patrol and turn our cargo over to them as proof,” Beta said.
“Not fucking happening,” Ep growled.
Shit, another complication. To clear their name, they’d have to prove that the commander ordered them to destroy that world under false pretenses and they’d have to turn over the cargo as proof.
But turning over the cargo meant giving the untrustworthy authorities Ep’s mate and a young Dweller with only a few years to live. They were truly damned if they did and damned if they didn’t.
“What are we going to do, captain?” Gamma looked to him for guidance.
Silver didn’t know what to do. But they couldn’t stay here and figure it out.
“We’ll journey to the Kuiper Belt. On the way there we’ll brainstorm and try to plot out our next course of action.”