by L P Peace
Daris’s hand ran up and down her back.
‘Get your hand off my female, Maruzen,’ Makios growled.
Daris stepped back, but a flash of humour passed between the two men before they embraced.
‘When you need rescuing from the Calidon syndicate, let me know.’
‘And when you want relieving of my ship, let me know.’
‘We’re dying on this ship,’ Rhona said.
‘Then when that happens, let me know, and I’ll come get my ship.’
Rhona tapped the Maruze on the arm playfully. Surprisingly, her hand bounced off of hard muscle.
He grinned at her. ‘Maruze have a dense muscle structure,’ he said.
‘Apparently.’
Daris kissed the top of her head and avoided a playful swipe from Makios. ‘If you get any human female friends, think of me.’
‘While you’re part of a crime syndicate?’ she scoffed. ‘Absolutely not.’
They walked out into the mess where Devorak was waiting with a packed bag. He sat on a table, one leg resting on the surface.
Rhona walked over to him and wrapped her arms around his neck. Behind her, Makios growled a warning.
‘Quiet, you,’ she said to Makios before turning to Devorak. ‘And you, don’t be a stranger. Which means visit us, and we’ll do the same.’ She held the hug for a moment longer before stepping away. Devorak let her go, but slowly, reluctantly.
Whatever look was on his face when she saw it, he masked it with a casual smile. He stood and moved over to the airlock, which was extending to the station and making a seal.
Suddenly, she was grabbed and pulled into a dark hug.
‘Well, as you’re giving them out,’ Daris murmured in her ear.
Rhona laughed, returned the hug briefly, then stepped away. When she did, Devorak had already opened the door.
‘See you all soon,’ Devorak said. He glanced at Rhona, then stepped through and was gone.
Daris nodded and followed.
Deyuul stepped over and watched. When they stepped onto the station, he closed the airlock, retracted the seal and went to the bridge.
Makios stepped up behind her and she leaned against him.
‘I’m going to miss those two,’ she said.
‘Me too.’ He wrapped his arms around her. ‘Now, let’s go to the bridge. Time to go through the gate.’
‘Oh, crap,’ Rhona sighed.
The viewscreen magnified the view of Hidinus station.
Makios got the first look at a place he had first heard hinted of over six weeks before on Thanesh’s ship. It looked like a building complex had been uprooted, ground and all, and dropped into the middle of space. The station sat in the inner edge of a nebula, almost undetectable from more than a few hundred thousand madith away. It orbited a dead planet and its moon, which in turn orbited a white dwarf.
Most of the station was falling apart. No light escaped from most of the structure, and much of it was dilapidated. One side had undergone visible repair, and light blazed from an observation deck on one level.
‘There?’ Makios stood over Sidha who was navigating the Hidinus computer system.
‘Almost,’ Sidha murmured. Something flashed on the screen. Sidha grabbed it and threw it up on the viewscreen.
‘There,’ he said. A blueprint of Hidinus came up. ‘There’s an airtight path.’
‘It’s,’ Makios frowned, ‘meandering.’
Sidha nodded. He’d been in the chair for five hacri working the system, locking some doors, opening others, carefully and covertly diverting air into the new airtight pathway.
‘Best I could do,’ he said. ‘That station is close to falling apart.’
‘Maybe when we leave, we should give it a little nudge,’ Makios said.
‘I take it Rhona’s staying here,’ Sidha said.
Makios nodded. ‘As are you and Kenian.’
‘No,’ Sidha said. His tone filled with disbelief. ‘You’re leaving me behind?’
Makios nodded. ‘I doubt you’ll have any trouble, but I need to know my female and engineer are safe.’
‘Me?’
Makios nodded. ‘You can fly the ship, help fix the engines and you proved your worth as a fighter on Caras. I was grateful to have you there.’
Sidha went silent for a moment, then nodded.
Makios watched the station as they approached. Tala was running silent; comms, lights and engines were off while they glided towards an old docking port on the dark side of the station, but still, he felt nervous.
‘You sure they can’t see us?’
Sidha waved at the viewscreen. ‘According to their system, we’re a known piece of debris. The system knows we’re there and are tracking us, but the Goedan don’t have a clue.’
Makios nodded. ‘Keep an eye on it,’ he said.
Sidha nodded.
‘How are we doing, Deyuul?’
‘We’re on course to the dock.’ Deyuul pinched something from his screen and threw it to the viewscreen. ‘There.’
A yellow shape hit the screen. It blossomed across and imposed itself over the image of the station, highlighting a section nearest to them. Near the top of a low-lying structure was an old docking bay. The doors were closed, but Sidha had the workaround for when they were close enough to need them open.
‘How long?’
‘A few metri,’ Deyuul said.
‘Not enough time for you and Rhona to have sex,’ Sidha said quickly. Makios saw the regret in Sidha’s eyes as soon as he had spoken.
‘You talk about my sex life again and see what I do,’ Makios snapped.
‘Sorry, sorry.’ Sidha threw a hand up in a placating gesture. ‘My fault. It won’t happen again.’
‘People are to stop talking about that subject now. It’s none of your business.’
‘When you stop sharing it, we’ll stop talking about it.’ Deyuul looked at him.
‘Rhona’s right. We need to soundproof.’
Makios walked from the bridge into his quarters. Rhona was sat on the bed reading through the Quartex. She was researching the Enhari Empire and how it had affected the region.
‘So,’ she said as soon as he opened the door, ‘the Amarans invaded the Enhari first. But then had some kind of big social upheaval and closed their borders while they sorted it. The Enhari decide they needed an empire to fight an empire, and that’s how all of this started?’
Makios smiled. ‘Except that the Weyilan Empire invaded the Amarans first.’
‘Empires begat empires,’ she said thoughtfully. ‘Same on Earth, for thousands of years.’ Rhona looked up. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Opening the weapons cabinet,’ Makios said as one of the doors of his cabinet swung open.
‘I thought that was a wardrobe,’ she said, standing and joining him. ‘Do I get one?’
Makios shook his head. ‘Not until I’ve had the chance to train you.’
‘I’ve been trained on Earth weapons,’ she protested.
‘Shame you don’t have any of them with you.’
‘You can’t be serious?’
‘Rhona, these things are dangerous.’
‘Whereas Earth weapons just fire ping-pong balls at our enemies,’ she scoffed. ‘That’s how we’ve held off aliens for three hundred years. Nothing scarier than big bouncy balls.’
‘They’re powerful weapons, Rhona,’ he said. ‘I worry you’d be knocked from your feet.’
‘I’m a big girl, Makios,’ she said, leaning against him and stretching her arms over his chest. ‘I can look after myself and I know how to handle a weapon.’
Unable to help himself, Makios leaned down and pressed his lips to hers. They stared at each other as they shared a chaste kiss.
‘Fine. But if you’re thrown on your ass, I warned you.’
‘Duly noted.’
Makios grabbed his holster and slipped it on. He put a gun in each side and then hid a variety of knives on his body.
�
��I don’t have a holster that will fit you,’ he said. ‘Take this.’ He handed Rhona a knife in its sheath. She slipped it down her pants, securing it on the band. ‘And this.’ He passed her a small dagger. She slipped it in her boot and pulled her pants over it. ‘And this.’
The pistol was small, but it fit in her hand and had a comfortable grip.
‘You must grip this with purpose,’ he told her. ‘The pistol responds to your grip.’
‘Right?’
‘Press firmly once,’ he said.
Rhona did as he said and small lights appeared on the top.
‘What’s that?’
‘You just activated the weapon,’ he told her. ‘If you squeeze the trigger now, it will go off.’
‘Could it damage the hull?’ Rhona asked, surprised and worried.
Makios smiled and shook his head. ‘Amot absorbs energy, remember. If it were the type to hold ballista, then it might, depending on speed and size, but energy weapons are harmless to amot. This is why a lot of Thalos’s weapons were ballista.’
‘Were they?’
Makios nodded in confirmation. ‘The heavier guns were all ballista. They would have torn Tala apart.’
A look of regret doused the interest on Rhona’s face. ‘Makios, I’m sorry I was such a—’
He quieted her with a finger to her lips. ‘You were scared for the adalan and frustrated you could do nothing about it. I understand and harbour no ill-feeling.’
‘You’re the best,’ she whispered.
‘I am,’ he agreed and kissed her again before continuing to show her how to use the pistol. ‘Squeeze it twice, quickly.’
Rhona followed his instruction. The light increased.
‘Put your finger on the foremost light.’
She placed her finger on the front light.
‘And drag towards the muzzle.’
She dragged it forward.
‘That’s how you increase and decrease the setting,’ he told her. ‘The more lights, the brighter they are, the more damage it will do.’
‘Is the lower setting like stun?’
‘Stun?’
‘Yeah. You knock a person unconscious.’
Makios chuckled.
‘The weapon inflicts pain and damage,’ he said. ‘The higher it is, the more likely the damage is to be enough to kill those you’re firing on. There is no,’ he shook his head, ‘stun setting.’
Rhona regarded the weapon a moment and grimaced. ‘Oh.’
‘Keep this on the lowest setting until you’ve had a chance to fire it a few times.’
Rhona nodded. Without him needing to tell her, she dragged the lights towards the back of the barrel, to the lowest, dimmest setting.
‘Got it.’ She nodded. ‘What about ammunition?’
‘It is a charge weapon,’ he said. ‘Squeeze the grip again.’
Rhona squeezed the grip. After a delay, it went off.
‘Good.’ Makios nodded approvingly. ‘Now, look at the bottom of the grip.’
Rhona turned the pistol.
‘When the charge is out, that small chamber there will pop out.’
‘Like a magazine,’ she murmured.
Makios tilted his head in question.
‘Earth ammunition,’ she said. ‘Old ammunition, anyway. So, I take this out?’
Makios nodded. ‘And pop a new one in.’ Makios opened a box in the cabinet, revealing the weapons charge cartridges. He handed one to Rhona.
‘Press your thumb to the charge,’ he said.
Rhona did as he said, and the charge already installed popped out.
‘Good, now— ’
‘Take it out and install the new one?’
Makios grinned. ‘Am I being patronising?’
‘A little bit.’ She smiled up at him. ‘But we’re handling a weapon I’ve never used before, so I expect it. You should have seen what my dad was like when he was training me. I had to pass a written and oral exam before he would even begin.’
‘Your people expect that?’ he asked.
‘Yes. But these were additional tests he designed himself. When he took me to a course with nerf guns, I realised he was playing a prank on me.’
‘Nerve guns?’ Makios asked, panic rising. ‘He used such a weapon as a prank?’
Rhona burst out laughing and shook her head. ‘Nerf. Nerf, not nerve. The ballista is made of soft foam. They’re toys for kids.’ Rhona shook her head and practised swapping the charges around. Her fingers were dextrous, her movements sure and graceful; she had a deft hand for this. ‘The ballista are like this,’ she held her hand several iniths apart. ‘Big. They’re completely harmless.’
‘I understand now.’ Makios smiled. ‘I had something similar as a child.’
Rhona grinned up at him. ‘What were you like as a kid?’
‘Smaller,’ he said, still smiling at her.
‘Well, duh.’
Makios laughed. She had explained the meaning of duh to him already.
‘Alidai was a fighting pit surrounded by a city. It was not a nice place to grow up.’ Makios smiled, remembering the children he had called friends. ‘I got in trouble, was mouthy. Ship life was difficult at first, but I adapted. Even more so when we met Alethia’s family. Tessa was a different pace of life, and the planet is beautiful. Vasa is too dangerous and barren. Kathens like nature. I found out how much when I first walked on Tessa and saw the forest for the first time.’
‘I’ve never been in a forest,’ Rhona said. ‘There’s a grove of trees in Hermes, the village we have on Mars, but it’s small.’
‘I’ll take you camping on Tessa,’ he promised.
There was a knock on the door.
‘Come,’ Makios called. His eyes not leaving Rhona.
It opened to admit Sidha. ‘We’re going to dock in a few metri,’ he said.
Makios nodded. ‘Gather the crew in the galley,’ he said. The door closed.
Makios stroked Rhona’s face as a small smile crept onto her face. He took a deep breath and leaned his forehead against hers.
‘You stay safe in there,’ she said. ‘Come back to me.’
Makios nodded, his head rocking gently against hers.
‘I’ll be watching from the bridge.’
Makios wanted to tell her so many things, but he knew to say them was admitting to the danger he would be in, and he didn’t think his red goddess would handle it very well. Instead, he leaned down and kissed her, saying everything he wanted to say in that kiss. Rhona wrapped her arms around his neck and clung on as their kiss heated.
Reluctantly, Makios pulled away enough to break the kiss. ‘I love you, little human,’ he said.
‘I love you too.’
Taking her hand, Makios led her out of the room, down the hall and into the mess. Everyone except for Sidha and Deyuul were there, standing around the big table. They still hadn’t been separated since their big dinner together. Sidha’s absence didn’t matter; he didn’t need to see this, and Deyuul could watch from wherever he was.
The boxes with the equipment Thanesh had loaned them for the mission were open across the floor. Armour and extra weapons were being distributed among them.
Makios and Rhona sat down, the room went quiet, and everyone else joined them a moment later.
‘Okay, everyone knows what they’re doing?’ Dabin and Vella nodded back at him. ‘Good. Weapons cabinet is open. If you want to add anything to,’ Makios indicated the equipment they were already carrying, ‘this, go get your weapons.’
After they left, Rhona looked at him.
‘What are we doing here? Rescuing scientists?’
Makios took a deep breath. He’d lied to her because of Devorak, not her. Time to make it right. ‘In part, yes.’ He nodded.
‘So what’s the real reason?’
‘The scientists were kidnapped by the Goedan to create a substance called Dynexium,’ Makios said. ‘It’s a potent source of energy or makes a weapon in the wrong hands.’
‘Okay?’
‘It’s also known as radiant,’ He said. ‘With radiant, you can power a ship's engine for tens of solars or a world for solars.’
‘It must be radioactive,’ She said, her brows furrowing in concern.
Makios nodded. ‘Without the proper casing, you couldn’t get within madiths of it without dying,’ he confirmed. ‘The scientists taken are from a licenced processing and refinement facility.’
‘Madiths?’
‘A fenth is about this far apart.’ Makios held his hands apart. It was a little over a foot wide. ‘A madith is five thousand fenth.’
‘What are you going to do with this dynes… dienix… radiant?’ She leaned closer to him. ‘Makios, please tell me you’re not going to do something stupid.’
Makios smiled at her. ‘Of course not.’ He released a breath. ‘With radiant, Thanesh can develop Tessa into a planet that can join the IGC within five standard galactic orbits. Once inside, he intends to start working on making slavery illegal in IGC member space. He has the power and contacts—he just needs the position. This radiant is a first step on getting him there.’
Rhona covered her face with her hands for a moment and took a rattling breath. ‘I take it this is hugely illegal?’
Makios nodded. ‘The handling or transportation of radiant is against IGC law,’ he confirmed. ‘But I’m just here to rescue some scientists. It would be irresponsible of me to leave the radiant behind.’
‘Thanesh’s idea?’
He nodded.
‘The scope of his plan is breath-taking,’ she said. She took Makios’s hand. ‘This is a vitally important mission, isn’t it?’
Makios nodded again.
‘I really want to tell you not to do it and just leave but,’ she whispered. ‘But for my people’s sake, I need you to.’
Makios covered her hand with his free one.
‘And for my sake. I need you to come back.’
Makios forced himself to chuckle. ‘Nothing could stop me returning to you,’ he promised.
There was the hum of thrusters, and the ship landed heavily. Rhona took a deep breath and put her free hand on top of his. He glanced down at the pillar of hands between them.
‘All going well, we’ll be no more than a couple of hacri,’ he promised her.