This sounded really good if Vrateus won. It he lost however...I dreaded to think what it would mean for him. For us.
A swell of approving screams and roars rolled from wall to wall. Everyone seemed to be eager to watch a brutal battle with no rules.
I kept my guard up, making sure no one would jump in, in their excitement. Everyone seemed impatient for the fight to start—many might want to join in themselves.
“No weapons.” Crux moved into the center of the room, finally accepting the challenge. “I’ll rip you to pieces with my bare hands.”
I stepped closer to a wall.
“No weapons.” Vrateus nodded, backing up to me. Tearing his shirt off over his head, he unbuckled the gun holsters from his thighs and forearms then the dagger’s sheath from his chest, tossing them all on the floor at my feet.
With a brief encouraging smile for me, he walked to the center of the room.
Broad-shouldered and bronze-skinned, he moved with grace and efficiency.
This was the first time I’d seen Vrateus without his shirt, I realized.
The wide strip of white fur peppered with gray and black on his head and nape continued down between his shoulder blades, thinning into a narrow trail along his spine that disappeared into his pants. The fur on his forearms tapered at his elbows, leaving his upper arms and shoulders bare from it.
Three long, rugged scars ran across his left side, parallel to each other. They must have been left by a set of claws some time ago. A crescent of small round scars on his right shoulder could have been from fangs and teeth.
Strangely, seeing the scars on his body gave me some encouragement. They were a reminder that Vrateus was a survivor. He had fought for his life ever since he was a little boy. I had to trust his skills and his abilities.
Still, my heart ached at the sight of him next to the massive form of Crux when they stood facing each other. Whereas Vrateus looked strong and tall, wired with thick ropes of well-defined muscles, Crux was a mountain of hard flesh, capable of crushing a person to death under one of his enormous fists.
“You’re dead, captain.” Crux smirked. “As will be the female when I’m done with her.”
“We’ll see—”
Crux didn’t let him finish, rushing him without waiting for the signal to start.
No rules.
I tightened my grip on the gun, my hands slick with sweat.
Leaping aside, Vrateus narrowly escaped being knocked off his feet by Crux. Leaner than the errock, Vrateus was faster on his feet, too. Though Crux still showed some unexpected agility for his size. He landed a blow on Vrateus’s shoulder, making him stagger back several paces.
I gasped, my heart speeding up with worry. My attention on the fight, I nearly missed a kreer creeping my way along the wall. His hands and feet splayed flat on the surface for a better grip, he snaked one skinny tail my way. A smirk slanted his lipless mouth, drool dripping to the floor from both corners of it.
“Back off.” I pointed my gun at him, stepping over the pile of weapons Vrateus had left for me to guard. One of the kreer’s tails twitched that way, too, and I fired, shooting it off.
He wailed, scurrying away and up the wall. No blood dripped from the stump of his tail, the small wound fully cauterized by the laser blast.
With a loud roar, Crux launched at Vrateus who rolled out of his way at the last second. Following the momentum, Crux slammed into the wall, crashing into the kreer who’d tried to attack me.
Enraged by his failure, the errock pivoted on his heel, searching for Vrateus with blood-shot eyes.
The night of drinking obviously slowed his movements. I was glad now that Vrateus had been wise enough to get some rest. His moves remained quick and efficient.
Lowering himself into a crouch, his tail swaying to aid his balance, Vrateus met Crux’s next attack with a well-placed kick in the groin.
No rules. It worked both ways.
Howling in pain, Crux doubled over, both hands pressed between his legs.
Not giving him a chance to recover, Vrateus leaped onto the errock’s back, hooking his arm around Crux’s massive neck.
The errock growled. Clawing at Vrateus’s arm, he arched his back, attempting to toss him off. Vrateus grabbed his wrist, squeezing his arm harder and crushing the errock’s windpipe.
Crux’s face turned deep burgundy. The veins in his forehead bulged as if ready to burst. His legs shook. With a strangled grunt, he collapsed to his side, crushing Vrateus’s leg under his bulk.
A wave of shouts, growls, and roars rolled throughout the room. It was impossible to tell if it was the noise of approval or aggression. Either way, the crowd obviously appreciated the fight, whether or not they cared about its outcome.
Eyes glistening with aggression, a dimo moved toward Vrateus and Crux as they wrestled on the floor. He obviously intended to join in the violence.
“Back!” I yelled at him, raising my gun.
He paid me no attention. Cracking his knuckles and licking his lips, he hungrily eyed the fight.
“I said back!” I yelled louder. A surge of adrenaline rushed through me with heat and cold.
Getting no reaction from him, I pulled the trigger. The laser blast seared through the plated layer on the dimo’s shoulder.
Turning his attention to me, his eyes glowing red with rage, the male rushed my way.
“Stay back,” I gritted through my teeth, aiming at his face where his plated armour was thinner.
He didn’t slow down, and I pulled the trigger again.
The laser blast burned through his eye, incredibly hardly slowing his advancement on me. I kept pressing on the trigger, holding the gun steady until the ray worked its way through the dimo’s brain and he crashed to the floor.
“Anyone else?” I pointed my gun at the room, trying hard to stop my hands from shaking. Everything inside me vibrated with tension. No matter how many I’d killed, it didn’t seem to get easier.
Thankfully, not that many of those present were paying attention to me, the focus of most was on Crux and Vrateus.
Holding his opponent in the headlock, Vrateus kept squeezing.
The errock’s eyes finally closed, and he croaked, “Mercy...”
Vrateus released Crux from his grip, freeing his leg then climbing to his feet.
My heart fluttered with relief and gratitude at seeing him standing tall.
Victorious.
He faced his crew.
“I am your one true captain,” he said, slowly moving his gaze across the room. “You live under my rules, or you don’t live at all.”
One thing this bunch of criminals and degenerates seemed to understand better than anything was the pure power of dominance.
Vrateus had no weapons on him. They could rush him, crush him, destroy him—had they had the will to act together. Instead, they remained where they were, held in place by the authority in his voice. Submitting to the winner of the fight.
He knew his people well. He had already made them submit once before. And he had just done it again.
“Now, clean up this mess.” He tipped his chin at the garbage littering the floor. “And bring me the key to the wine storage, this instant.”
Shifting from their position and peeling off the walls, the crew moved to obey their captain’s orders.
Grabbing the holsters with his weapons off the floor, I stepped closer.
Vrateus stretched his arm my way.
“Come here. How are you?” He pulled me in for a firm hug.
“Relieved that we’re both still alive.” I smiled.
Crux groaned on the floor, rolling to his belly.
Vrateus released me from his embrace, watching the errock gather his arms and legs under him.
“What are you going to do with him?” I asked, taking a step back, just in case.
“Accept me as your captain,” Vrateus demanded from the errock. “Or die.”
Crux rose to one knee, rubbing his neck.
“You can’t let him live,” I said to Vrateus, quietly.
A few weeks ago, I would not have believed myself capable of this kind of bloodthirsty ruthlessness, but things had changed. The time I’d spent on the Anomaly had changed me, too.
Keeping Crux alive would be like having a knife aimed at Vrateus’s throat. Having been publicly humiliated by his defeat, Crux would strike again. I had no doubt about that.
“He asked for mercy, I have to grant it to him,” Vrateus objected, adding, “How can I demand from others to respect my laws if I don’t follow them myself?”
He then addressed the room again, “Crux will be whipped for usurping my power. A hundred lashes. Tomorrow morning. He is no longer my second in command.” He gestured my way, unexpectedly. “Svetlana is.”
The combined roar of everyone thundered through the room. The males paused in their tasks for a moment, eyeing me—their jaws dropped, mandibles slackened, mouths hanging open. Astonished, I turned around to face Vrateus.
“The fuck she is!” With a filthy curse, Crux slammed into me from behind. His meaty arm around my chest, he squeezed my neck with his other hand. “You’ll do as I say, or I’ll snap her neck in half.”
“Don’t hurt her!” Vrateus raised his hands, pure horror flashing through his eyes.
My arms pressed to my body, my feet lifted off the floor, as Crux crushed me with his brute strength. I couldn’t even draw a breath, there was no room for my chest to expand.
The sensation of the gun handle in my hand registered with me.
I bent my arm, wedging the barrel between my back and Crux’s front. I angled it at his belly, then pressed the trigger.
He howled in pain. His arms flexed, squeezing the last drops of air out of my lungs, then fell off me. The massive errock crashed to the floor at my feet, and I leaped away from him.
“Svetlana!” Vrateus caught me in his arms.
“I broke your rules,” I rasped, my throat sore and closing in on itself. Wrapped in Vrateus’s embrace, I glanced back at the disembowelled Crux, his legs contracting with their last spasms. “I killed the loser of the fight.”
“It wasn’t your fight.” Vrateus kissed my face, stroking my hair.
He was wrong.
Every fight involving him was now mine, too. Anyone who threatened Vrateus was a direct threat to me. I had a feeling this was not our last fight, either. But at least, there were two of us.
From now on, we would fight all our battles together.
And together we were twice as strong.
His arm tightly around my shoulders, Vrateus addressed his crew again, “Anyone who dares to touch her again will be shot on the spot. Svetlana has my permission to carry weapons.” He met my eyes. “Because she is the only one whom I trust. Completely.”
Chapter 24
JUSTICE ON THE DARK Anomaly was swift.
Vrateus ordered some whippings as punishment for disobedience. Those were to be carried out the following morning.
Considering the sorry state of the habitable sector, most punishments ended up being an increased amount of labor for everyone.
Vrateus questioned Tunkrox, the wiry alien who’d handed him the canteen with the poisoned wine. The male confessed that he stole some fuhnid mushrooms from the gardens while Crux was distracting Malahki.
Together, they then squeezed the juice and mixed it with wine. Apparently, Crux had promised Tunkrox an unlimited supply of berry wine for the job. And judging by the state and appearance of Tunkrox, the errock had fulfilled that promise.
The Tunkrox’s execution was ordered for the very next day.
“How about the errocks?” I asked Vrateus when we finally returned to his room for a few hours of sleep later that night.
“They’ll be whipped,” he replied, taking off his clothes then removing all his weapons.
“Do you still want to keep them as your personal guard?”
“They have been very effective in that role.”
“Have been.” I made a face. “Until they betrayed you. What if they do it again?”
“The better reason to have them close—easier to keep an eye on them.”
“So, you want them to resume their positions?”
“Yes. Wyck will be their lead now. I’ll announce it tomorrow.” He crawled under the covers of his narrow bed and joined me.
I scooted aside, to give him space, but he drew me closer.
“Are you sure about Wyck?” I thought back to the moment I caught the young errock’s glare after I had shot Crux. Wyck’s bright, yellow eyes were full of undiluted hatred for me. I had no illusions I had made a mortal enemy of him by killing one of his kind.
The better reason to have him close.
“All right. Wyck it is then.” I drew in a deep breath. “Tomorrow will be a long day.”
“Try to get some sleep.” Vrateus kissed my forehead.
The metal frame of his bed cut into my side, and I made a mental note to have the bed from my room moved into his. It was much wider and would be more comfortable for the two of us.
A lot of things still needed to be done, big and small. I remembered how exhausted Vrateus always seemed to be before. Now, I was there, to share the burden and the responsibility of running the Dark Anomaly with him.
And together, we were stronger.
THE WHIPPINGS ALL TOOK place in the mess hall. Vrateus wanted the entire population present to witness the punishments.
He’d ordered the errocks to flog each other. They growled and glared with hatred at those whipping them. That was why Vrateus did it in the first place. By pitting errocks against each other, he ensured they wouldn’t be as quick to unite against him any time soon.
Maybe, his crew learned their lesson while watching the red welts swell on their comrades’ backs after each blow of the whip. Or maybe, they mostly enjoyed another display of violence.
Either way, the punishment had been served.
Afterwards, we all moved to the airlock across from the storage room with the spacesuits. Two of the errocks brought Tunkrox out from his holding cell.
“I did it!” he yelled, kicking his long legs out, lashing with his thin tail, and thrashing in the errocks’ grip. “I drank the wine, ate the mushrooms, and chewed on the flowers... And I’ll do it all again!”
“Do you understand why you’re being executed?” Vrateus asked at the entrance to the airlock.
I recited the charges, finishing with, “Under the law of the Captain of the Dark Anomaly.”
“Captain?” Tunkrox turned to Vrateus with a sly smile. “Fuck you, Captain!” He broke into a series of uncontrollable giggles that turned to loud hiccups after a while. “We don’t need a captain here. We need more wine!”
Vrateus gave the signal to proceed, and the errocks shoved Tunkrox into the airlock, closing the door behind him. The lanky alien swayed on his feet, glancing over his shoulder once. Then the outer door opened, blowing him out into open space.
I watched the chitin on Tunkrox’s body crack and tear as his flesh underneath expanded in the vacuum of space. What was left of him was strewn over the wreckage of the crashed ships. I felt only the slightest tug of sympathy. The predominant feeling was that of relief that with his death there was one less threat to Vrateus and me.
Vrateus’s words from long ago rose in my memory, “Around here, there is no law but mine.”
The Federation had no power on the Dark Anomaly. Intergalactic laws did not exist here. The Federation Forces didn’t matter.
Around here, everything was different.
Apparently, I was now different, too.
Chapter 25
A MONTH LATER, ANOMALY time...
I woke up in my old bed that had been moved to Vrateus’s room, replacing his narrow metal one. The sound of running water told me he must be in the shower.
It had been a month sin
ce Vrateus fought Crux and won. Twenty-five years had passed on Earth. Combined with the time I had spent here before that, it had been nearly half a century since I’d left that world. Every day added another ten months to that time.
Chances were that almost everyone I’d ever known as adults was already dead. That thought didn’t feel as crushingly devastating as it had a few weeks ago.
Oddly, knowing that probably no one alive would know about me made me miss life on Earth less. I still dreamed I was running on the grass or swimming in the ocean, now and then. But those were the same dreams I’d had back on the space station during my mission.
I’d said goodbye to Earth long before I crashed on the Dark Anomaly.
By choosing a career in space exploration, I knew I wouldn’t be spending much time on the ground for the rest of my life. Just like my parents before me, I had willingly dedicated my life to working off planet, giving up on personal relationships and the potential for a family.
With Vrateus, I had unexpectedly gained some of that back.
He was closer to me than anyone I’d ever had in my life. Our relationship was more intimate—physically and emotionally—than I’d ever had with anyone else.
Stretching under the soft, puffy covers, I rubbed the remnants of sleep out of my eyes.
“There you are.” I smiled at Vrateus as he walked out of the bathroom naked, drying himself off with a towel.
I couldn’t leave the Dark Anomaly, but I’d gained a different kind of freedom here. I was free to spend the rest of my life with the man I loved. Something my parents never had. Something I’d never thought I could do, either.
“Morning.” The fur on his head was still soaking wet, water dripping from the large, soggy curl over his forehead.
“Come here.” I sat up, patting the mattress next to me.
When he sat down, I took the towel from his hands, drying his head and shoulders for him. The damp fur stood up in spikes when I finished, and I smoothed it with my hands the best I could.
He smiled at me while I arranged the curly wave over his forehead. The luxurious softness of his fur clashed with the rest of this man who seemed to be made entirely of hard planes and sharp edges.
Gravity (Dark Anomaly Book 1) Page 19