by L P Peace
Vella appeared, the first to return. ‘Don’t worry, Rhona,’ she said. ‘I’ll take care of him.’
Rhona grinned at her. ‘I feel so much better now,’ she said.
Rhona watched Makios lead Vella, Deyuul and Dabin out of the docking bay. Before he left, he turned to look at the ship, and though he couldn’t see her, he waved.
‘See you soon, little human,’ he said in the comm.
Each of his team wore personal comms so Sidha could lead them using a combination of the makeshift map he’d made and the working surveillance equipment in the station.
‘See you soon, Captain Blackhorn,’ she said. She smiled when she heard his groan and the accompanying snickers from the crew.
‘Sidha?’ Makios asked.
‘Left,’ Sidha said from the co-pilot’s con beside her. Kenian sat in the pilot’s chair, and Rhona had pulled some cushions from the room she shared with Makios and was sitting on them on the floor between them watching the viewscreen.
She had done this as a child on the Audrey Hepburn, annoying her mother and father endlessly and only strapping into a seat when things got rough. That came to an end when one of the cushions fell over her father’s con when he went to push a button and had, instead, been forced to wrestle with it until he finally threw it on the floor. Rhona was banned from using them on the bridge after that.
She smiled at the memory and felt a pang for her family, including her uncle Michael. It helped distract her from the worry she felt thinking about Makios and the crew out there in hostile territory searching for scientists and a deadly radioactive substance. It distracted her from the knowledge that what was happening could dictate the fate of the human race. She thought about Decimen and Kenian; it wasn’t just humans. What was happening could benefit slaves across the IGC, an organisation she hadn’t known about until a couple of weeks before.
It distracted her from thinking about Thanesh and wondering how many more steps there were to this plan and how helpful he intended on getting with humanity.
‘Okay, right,’ Sidha said beside her.
Rhona looked up at the screen. The members of the team were all wearing cameras and trackers so Sidha could keep an eye on them and reunite them if they got separated.
The screen was on Vella’s feed. Makios was leading from the front, the whole crew fell between him and Vella at the back. They turned right as she watched and continued on.
‘Halfway down, there’s a door to your right. It’s a stairwell. Go up three levels.’
They followed Sidha’s instructions.
‘Left out of the stairwell,’ Sidha said quietly. ‘Left again.’
‘You’re taking us back towards the ship,’ Vella said.
‘This is the only safe path,’ Sidha replied. ‘But it means you’ll double back once or twice.’
Rhona listened to Sidha lead the group through the station. She watched the rhythm of Makios’s stride whenever he was in view, watching him put one leg in front of the other. The rhythmic swing of his gait seemed to calm her.
Whatever had happened on this station that caused it to become abandoned had involved some kind of firefight in the halls. There were blood splatters on the walls, scorch marks where energy weapons had been used. Parts of the ceiling’s plating had collapsed and littered the floors along with random pieces of debris. Probably the aliens who lived here tried to save some of their possessions and dropped them on the way to the docking bays. At least she hoped that was what happened.
Her question was answered on the next turn.
‘Oh my God!’ she murmured.
‘How many?’ Kenian asked.
‘About fifteen,’ Makios said.
Some were huddled in a corner, while others lay on the ground. Having been exposed to the vacuum and cold of space, they were almost perfectly preserved. They could have died minutes ago.
‘What race are they?’ Rhona asked, seeing something familiar.
‘Enhari,’ Makios said. ‘One of the men who beat Decimen on The Crucible was Enhari.’
That’s what it was. She could see the digitigrade feet and long, powerful tails.
Vella walked over to a tall, grey alien. Amaran. Beside him was another alien, this one was a brownish-grey and wearing a spacesuit. He had ridges on his bald skull and cheekbones. Despite how alien he was, he was handsome.
‘When did this happen?’ Rhona asked. ‘How long has the station been abandoned?’
‘From these present,’ Makios waved at the bodies, ‘I would say this took place during the Enhari Empire expansion attempt.’
‘That was like three hundred and fifty years ago,’ she said.
‘Yes,’ Makios confirmed.
‘And nobody came for them in all this time?’
‘This was probably a secret facility,’ Deyuul said. ‘Or it happened at the end of the war, and no one wanted to take responsibility for the clean-up.’
‘It could even have been a radiant facility,’ Makios said thoughtfully. ‘Would explain why they brought the Todaal here.’
They stepped over the bodies carefully and made their way on to the next hallway. Three more had gone by before the bodies began to thin. Ten minutes later, they were finally through littered dead.
‘Go in that room on your right,’ Sidha said.
They moved into the room which turned out to be a large cargo bay set over two floors.
‘Go up those steps,’ Sidha said. ‘There’s a door at the top.’
‘I’ll go first,’ Makios said.
He walked over to the stairs at the far wall and gingerly tested the first step. It creaked, and Rhona jumped and cried out in alarm.
Makios took a deep breath and released it. ‘Rhona?’
‘Sorry,’ she said before he could tell her off.
‘Just be calm, my goddess,’ he whispered intimately.
‘Goddess?’ Sidha mouthed at her.
‘Shhh,’ she mouthed back.
He shook his head and smirked.
‘She calls you Captain Blackhorn and you call her goddess?’ Vella chuckled. ‘Guess we know how the distribution of power is in your relationship.’
Makios took another step onto the stairs. It creaked again but stayed firm. He stepped up to the next one, then the next. He was several steps up when the creak turned to a groan. He had enough time to jump and grab the floor of the level above before the stairs collapsed under him.
‘Makios!’ Rhona jumped up.
He hung there silently for a few moments before hauling himself up to the next level. He pulled himself until his upper body was lying on the floor, then pulled and rolled the rest of the way. He disappeared from Vella’s camera.
Rhona looked to the side of the viewscreen where Sidha was monitoring the stations feeds. She located the one Sidha was watching and saw Makios lying on his back, breathing heavily.
‘Deyuul,’ he called down.
‘Of course,’ Deyuul said.
Rhona watched Vella step into Deyuul’s arms.
On the camera observing the lower level, she watched his extra limbs unfold and he raised himself to the upper floor carrying Vella with him. Makios moved out of the way. With grace Rhona didn’t know Vella possessed, she took her feet and stepped onto the higher level.
Deyuul lifted Dabin next, then Vanoor, before he stepped onto the higher platform. By this time, Makios was standing. He stepped through the door into another hallway, the crew following before they continued on their way.
‘Right, I have to warn you about what’s coming up next,’ Sidha said.
‘Why?’ Makios replied. ‘What’s coming up next?’
‘One of the hallways isn’t completely airtight,’ he said.
‘What?’ Vella’s voice sounded panicked.
‘It’s sealed with compartment doors, but microfractures are letting the air escape. I’ll open the doors when you get there and close them behind you.’
‘How long will it take to get through the hall?’
‘If you run, about thirty sicri. It’s not nearly enough to feel the thinner atmosphere, but the cold is going to hurt.’
‘I hate cold,’ Vella admitted.
‘It’s nothing you can’t survive,’ Sidha promised.
‘When will we reach it?’ Makios said. He turned a corner and was faced with a closed compartment door. ‘Oh.’
‘Take a metri,’ Sidha said. ‘And trust me.’
‘I don’t want a metri,’ Vella said. ‘If I think about it, I won’t go.’
Rhona saw Makios nod on the screen. His face was tight with anxiety. ‘Everyone ready?’ There were murmurs and nods of assent. They turned to face the door. ‘Sidha, do it now.’
Sidha tapped at the console for a few seconds. ‘Opening,’ he paused and hit a button, ‘now.’
In front of them, the door slipped open. At the end of the long corridor, she saw another door open. Makios ran, leading the way.
‘Durv, the air is thin,’ Vella said after a few moments.
Immediately, Rhona could hear the difference in her breathing. Vella had told Rhona her people were semi-aquatic, able to hold their breaths underwater for up to forty metri, so over an hour. This hallway shouldn’t have been affecting Vella’s ability to breathe at all, which told Rhona that what Vella was experiencing had more to do with anxiety than anything else.
‘My damn feet feel like a neutron star,’ she complained.
‘Vella,’ Rhona said, ‘Makios is beating you. You can’t allow that.’
‘What?’
‘Look at Makios, way ahead of you,’ she said. ‘I look to you to represent us women here in space. I need to know you can beat his ass for me if I ever need you to.’
Vella’s breaths were coming heavier. ‘Oh,’ she gasped. ‘I can beat his ass.’
‘Great,’ Rhona said. ‘Less talk, more action.’
‘Got it, human.’ Vella’s voice was clipped, her words short. Despite the evidence of how she was feeling, she pushed ahead and started to gain on Makios.
They were halfway through the hallway now.
‘Rhona—’ Vella’s voice was weak, her breathing heavier.
‘No talking,’ Rhona said. ‘Concentrate on running. You’re almost there. You’re on his heels.’
Rhona looked at Sidha, his finger hovered above a button.
‘You’re almost there,’ Rhona repeated. She looked back. Makios and the compartment door were filling the screen. ‘You’ve almost got him,’ she said.
Vella made a final push. Her breaths were coming out in staggering, staccato gasps as she pulled ahead of Makios and into the compartment beyond followed by Makios, Dabin, Vanoor and with Deyuul taking up the rear.
‘Yes!’ Rhona punched the air as Sidha hit the button. Behind them, the doors slipped closed.
Vella bent over then fell to the floor, dragging in great lungsful of air.
‘Thank you, Rhona.’ Vella tapped the camera, her hand blocking the view for a moment. ‘You’re a good friend,’ she said, ‘and a good co-captain.’
‘I’m not the co-anything,’ Rhona protested. ‘Makios and I haven’t spoken about anything like that.’
‘We will when we get back,’ Makios promised.
He looked straight down Vella’s camera, hovering over her prone form. ‘That was the act of a captain,’ he said. ‘I’m very proud of you—and you don’t need anyone to beat my ass,’ he added. ‘No one beats my ass like you do.’
Silence followed his statement. Rhona desperately tried to keep the laughter in, but when Vella started, she joined in.
The look on Makios’s face made it worse, and a moment later, everyone was laughing.
‘That just sounded so wrong.’ She laughed.
‘Sounded good to me,’ Sidha murmured.
Rhona folded at her waist and held her stomach, trying to stop her sides from splitting.
‘I need you as a co-captain,’ Makios said into the camera. ‘None of my crew respect me anymore.’
‘Anymore?’ Dabin said dryly.
Deyuul helped Vella find her feet. She was still laughing when they turned and continued on.
‘Anything else we should know about?’ Makios asked Sidha.
‘No,’ he said. ‘It’s a clear walk now to the Todaal.’
True to his word, the rest of the journey was uneventful. They were outside the doorway to the Todaal’s sleeping quarters minutes later.
‘You got the door?’
‘It’ll be open,’ Sidha’s hands moved across the screen. ‘Now.’
The door slipped into the wall above. The lights inside the room came on, and Rhona saw what looked like little more than a hallway with bunk beds set into the wall. Figures were lying there, moving, opening their eyes, looking at the camera. They looked like the handsome alien with the ridges.
Makios stepped into Vella’s view. ‘Omin Athasan?’
One of the aliens got out of bed and stood. ‘Yes?’
‘Your cousin, Ventian, sent me for you. We’re getting you all out of here.’
Omin’s mouth opened a little. ‘Really?’ His voice broke over the word.
‘Yes,’ Makios said. ‘Get your things together.’
Omin buried his face in his hands and started crying. Behind him, a smaller figure got out of the same bed. She was obviously a female of the same species. Rhona gasped when she saw the protruding belly. She put her arms around Omin, who turned, embraced her and kissed her cheek. He looked at Makios.
‘We were so afraid the child would be born here,’ he admitted. ‘My mate, Vadia.’
Two more Todaal appeared. One was taller than the rest from the bunks on the opposite side. One jumped down, leaving the other one sitting on his bed. Even seated, it was easy to tell that he was taller and more muscular than the rest. He was bruised, one eye swollen shut, and he had one arm that he held close to his body, cradled in the other. He was wearing a collar around his neck.
‘We have to get the Dynexium,’ the smaller newcomer said.
‘Yes,’ Omin agreed. ‘We must bring it home. We can’t let the Goedan have it.’
‘We’ll help you,’ Makios said.
Omin turned and saw the larger male. ‘Kadian, sit down. We won’t be leaving for a few metri.’
The larger Todaal glared through one eye at Makios. ‘They’re here for the radiant,’ he growled. ‘They’ll kill us as soon as they have it.’
‘We’re here for you,’ Makios said. ‘Omin’s right. We can’t let the Goedan have radiant.’
‘It’s all right, Kadian,’ Omin said in a soothing voice. ‘My cousin is getting us out of here.’
‘No,’ Kadian hissed. ‘Your cousin is getting you out. The rest of us are expendable.’
‘Not to me,’ Makios said.
‘I don’t believe you. You want the radiant,’ Kadian said.
‘Kadian?’ The Todaal nodded. ‘I just want to help.’
‘Why?’ he snapped. ‘No one else does.’
‘I don’t know,’ Makios stumbled over his words. ‘I don’t know what to say—’
‘Makios,’ Rhona said. He fell silently immediately, listening. ‘Tell them the truth,’ she said. ‘They’ve been slaves now. Tell them the truth.’
Makios sighed.
‘I knew it,’ the Todaal hissed. He managed to stand, to push Makios, but succeeded only in pushing himself back on the bed.
‘Okay.’ Makios crouched on his haunches. ‘I’ll level with you.’ He looked up at the Todaal. ‘We want the radiant.’
‘What are you going to do with it?’ Omin asked, moving to stand between Vadia and Makios.
‘I’m giving it to High-Protector Thanesh,’ he said. Makios filled them in on some of Thanesh’s plan.
‘And Thanesh knows about this?’ Omin asked.
‘No,’ Makios lied.
Omin stared at him and nodded, disbelief apparent on his face. ‘We’ll get the radiant,’ Omin said. ‘But we’ll discuss what happens to it later.�
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Makios nodded. ‘That’s all I can ask. Where is it?’
Omin pointed at a door on the other side of the room. ‘We’re not allowed out of these two rooms,’ he said.
‘Sidha, can you open it?’
‘Of course,’ Sidha answered. A moment later, the door opened.
‘Anything from the Goedan yet?’ Rhona asked.
Sidha checked the console. He flashed through several camera feeds.
‘They’re all sleeping,’ he said.
‘Makios, get that stuff and get back here,’ Rhona said.
‘You okay?’ He looked at Vella’s camera.
‘Yeah, just… I’ll feel better when you guys, the Todaal and radiant are on board and we’re jumping to FTL and getting the hell out of here.’
The lab was a big, round room with a circular console in the middle and chairs facing out. In the centre was a tank filled with blue liquid. Inside, a lump of something the size of Makios’s fist glowed blue, fading to green as the light was diffused through the yellow liquid. The tank itself was no more than a fenth in height and half a fenth in circumference.
Three robotic arms hung from the ceiling. The arms extended towards the tank.
‘How do we move it?’ Makios looked at Omin.
‘There’s a container for it over there.’ He pointed to a cabinet in the far wall. Makios indicated to Vella, who went over to it and fished it out, carrying it back.
For the next few minutes, Omin and Arridis fiddled with the controls until finally they had the radiant in an amot container.
Makios began to feel some of the concern and discomfort he had heard in Rhona’s voice earlier.
It was too easy.
‘Let’s get going,’ Makios said, picking up the canister. It was sturdy but not too heavy.
He nodded at Omin and Arridis. ‘Let’s get you back to your families.’
He walked into the Todaal’s shared barracks. It was so small. How did Omin and Vadia get the time alone to create a baby?
Dabin was treating Kadian from his bag. Sidha had already instructed Vella on how to get the shock collar off.
‘You have some serious wounds here,’ he said to the Todaal.
‘I don’t like it when Goedan hit my people,’ he said. ‘And they don’t like it when I hit them.’