The Smuggler's Radiant (Renegades Book 2)

by L P Peace

  ‘That explains it then,’ Dabin said with an unusually kind bed manner. ‘You have several fractures in your femur and several broken bones in your ankle that aren’t healing right.’ Dabin looked at Deyuul who nodded. ‘We have a distance to go, and you can’t make it on that foot. I’m going to have Deyuul carry you.’

  ‘No,’ Kadian said, forcing himself to stand. ‘I can make it.’ The Todaal took a step, but his leg wouldn’t hold him.

  Deyuul reached out. ‘You can lean on me,’ he said. ‘I will only carry you when we need to be quick.’

  Kadian refused to look at him. ‘That’s the whole journey, isn’t it?’

  ‘Yes.’ Deyuul nodded.

  ‘Fine,’ Kadian snapped. ‘Do it.’

  Deyuul picked up the Todaal and nodded at Makios.

  ‘Everyone ready?’ Makios looked at the small group of Todaal, their faces full of resolve.

  ‘Let’s go.’ Makios led the way with Sidha’s clipped instructions in his ear.

  In less than an hacri, they’d be on the ship, out of the station and going into FTL. It didn’t matter if the Goedan saw them then. They’d never get a ship in space fast enough to stop them leaving.

  Still, Makios couldn’t shake the feeling that, despite the issues they faced getting through the station, it had all been too quick. Too easy.

  Rhona felt the grip around her heart ease as she saw Makios on the station's cameras leading the Todaal to Tala. With every step, her worry built as the adrenaline eased from her system to leave wrecked nerves behind.

  She looked at Sidha and Kenian. Sidha nodded at her as he directed the group back. Kenian smiled indulgently.

  The ship jumped in next to the station. It appeared to be unfolding in front of her. One moment it wasn’t there; the next it was.

  ‘Oh, shit,’ Rhona stood staring at it.

  ‘What?’ Makios’s voice filled the bridge.

  Rhona’s heart stopped when she realised she recognised the blue and gold cruiser.

  ‘Drexan Thalos’s ship just jumped into the space right next to us,’ she said. Rhona’s brain stopped thinking. ‘Makios, it’s right there. I can see it.’

  ‘What?’ This time, the tone around the word was full of disbelief. ‘Vrok,’ he swore.

  There was a hushed conversation.

  ‘What’s it doing?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ she whispered as though Thalos could hear her if she spoke louder.

  ‘They’ve hailed the Goedan and are waiting for a reply,’ Sidha said. ‘Makios, you guys get back here.’ Sidha was bent over the controls, working hard. ‘He knows we’re on the station, but he doesn’t know where. His ship is moving towards the habitable end. He hasn’t seen us.’

  There was silence.

  ‘Makios?’

  ‘I’m here,’ his rich timbre replied. ‘I’ll be there soon. It’s okay.’

  ‘How did he find us?’ Rhona asked.

  ‘I have a couple of theories.’ Makios and the group resumed walking. ‘Like a tracer chip on you we should have checked for. Especially after he found us at the gate station.’ Rhona watched the image from Makios shake from side to side as he shook his head. ‘Or maybe someone at Caras planted a tracker for him. We’ll see which it is.’

  Thalos raised the Goedan. A few minutes later, they discovered the corridor of air and the missing Todaal and spread out across the facility to find them.

  Makios wished he’d thought about getting Sidha to purge the air corridor after them, compartment by compartment, but it was too late now.

  They still hadn’t discovered Sidha’s hacking of their system and he was monitoring them as they moved, helping Makios and their group avoid detection, filling new rooms and compartments with air as needed. He had tracked out a new route for them and was filling it in advance. Emptying the corridors behind. Still, it intersected with the old path enough that there were still plenty of opportunities for the Goedan to find them.

  Thalos docked and emerged from his ship with another Amaran and two Raqhan. From the fear in Rhona’s voice, she knew them well, and just the thought of what they had subjected her to on their ship made him want to tear a route straight to Thalos and rip out his still-beating heart.

  ‘I can see you winding yourself up again, baby,’ Rhona’s voice said. ‘Calm down. You need to be calm and quiet. The Goedan are about to pass.’

  Makios took a deep breath. He would return to her, he just needed time and a grenade to stick up Drexan Thalos’s -.

  ‘They’re gone. You guys can continue now,’ Sidha said.

  The group took a collective breath of relief. Makios stood and looked around at the room in which they had taken refuge.

  The seats, the joysticks, the targeting systems; they were in an old gunnery station.

  Wires lay, unattached to anything on the floor next to an old toolbox. They must have been performing on the spot repairs as the battle went down. A spray of blood across the floor and over one screen suggested the conflict had entered the room before the gunnery men were able to leave.

  Why had the Goedan chosen this as their research station? Death was everywhere. That should have been warning enough to keep them away.

  ‘Let’s get moving,’ Makios said.

  ‘Out the other door,’ Sidha reminded him. Away from the Goedan.

  ‘Can you empty this room when we’ve gone?’ Makios asked.

  ‘Already on it,’ Sidha confirmed. ‘There’s another problem hallway coming up.’

  ‘Not air again?’ Vella asked in a panicked voice.

  ‘Air?’ Vadia said, her hand going to her stomach.

  ‘Vella, stop worrying the pregnant woman,’ Rhona said.

  ‘No,’ Sidha said. ‘Gravity. The gravity plating’s failed.’

  Makios explained it to the Todaal as they left the gunnery room. He wanted to get the vrok away from there, from the whole station.

  ‘That shouldn’t be much of a problem,’ Omin said. ‘How long is the section?’

  ‘Tell him it’s around thirty fenth,’ Sidha said.

  ‘Just a thought,’ Rhona said. ‘But could Deyuul deploy his legs and you all conga line down the hallway, holding on?’

  Once Rhona explained what a ‘conga line’ was, they agreed it was the best solution to the issue. Again, Makios felt a fierce pride of his mate’s mind and resourcefulness.

  A few minutes later, they turned a corner and found a hallway full of random floating items. The floor was buckled in places, as though the hull beneath had sustained a massive impact.

  Deyuul unfurled his legs. Even though they had warned the Todaal, there were gasps of surprise.

  ‘Didn’t see this coming, Uunda,’ Kadian said.

  ‘We don’t show it often,’ Deyuul said. ‘Aliens tend to react badly.’ He looked at the camera Vella was carrying. ‘Alethia’s mother called me a spider the first time she saw it.’

  Makios heard Rhona cackling down the comm.

  ‘I can see that,’ she said, her breath still heavy with laughter. ‘Though they have eight limbs and you only have…’ There was a pause. ‘I just realised you’re an arachnid. Arachnid? Arachnoid? Arachient?’

  ‘Nobody but you knows what you’re talking about, little human,’ Makios said.

  ‘Oh, shush,’ she scoffed.

  Makios arranged them in order. Deyuul would go first with Kadian in his arms. Vella would hold onto Deyuul with Vadia between them. Then Omin with Makios holding onto Vella. Then Arridis, followed by Dabin holding onto Makios. The Todaal would be holding onto the Tala crew member in front as well, but this way, each crewmember had someone they were personally responsible for should something happen.

  ‘Sidha, any sign of the Goedan near us? I don’t want them coming across us while we’re all floating.’

  ‘Sidha says no,’ Rhona said. Her voice seemed distant.

  Panic flared in Makios’s chest. ‘Rhona, is everything okay?’ Makios had a vision of her standing with her hands up in
surrender. Thalos glaring at her.

  ‘Yes, fine,’ she said. ‘Sidha just had a great idea to distract the Goedan and Thalos, so he’s concentrating on that.’

  ‘What’s the idea?’ Makios asked.

  Rhona sighed. ‘Computers aren’t my best, so I only caught about every tenth word, but he said something about a ghost system. I don’t understand what that is, but he’s very busy. Got a bit of a manic grin on his face.’

  The conga line formed and using his legs to wedge himself against the walls, Deyuul led the way inside the hall. Each of them moved forward, stepping until they became weightless. First Vadia, who Makios heard whimper, then Vella.

  ‘Ah, this is much better than the other hall,’ she said.

  ‘Vadia, are you well my love?’ Omin said. A moment later, his feet lifted off the ground.

  ‘She can’t talk right now,’ Vella said, sympathy in her voice. ‘We’ll be soon through,’ she said quietly to Vadia.

  Makios felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise. He took a step and when he stepped down it fell quicker, and his body pushed against contact with the deck plate. He moved on, not wanted to break the chain, and suddenly his whole body lurched.

  Makios groaned when his stomach began to roll.

  ‘Are you okay, baby?’ Rhona said.

  Makios knew everyone was hearing her speak, but because of her tone, it felt like she was speaking only to him.

  ‘I’m fine, little human,’ he said quietly. ‘We’ll be through in a metri.’

  Deyuul continued on at a good pace, and except for the occasional whimper of the pregnant Todaal, they made it through shortly after.

  As Dabin set his feet on solid ground, Vadia retched and emptied her stomach on the floor. Omin moved towards her, followed by Dabin.

  ‘Makios, Sidha has it, but there’s a catch.’

  ‘What catch?’ he asked. ‘What is it?’

  It was Sidha’s voice that replied. ‘I’ve created a system that will make ghost noises in different areas of the station,’ he said. ‘It will lead the Goedan away from you, but it has to be plugged directly into the station and I need help.’

  ‘Take Kenian,’ Makios said. He knew what was coming, and he didn’t like it.

  ‘You know it has to be me, Makios,’ Rhona said. ‘Kenian needs to be here to quick-start the ship when we all get back.’

  Makios knew she was right. Kenian was the most familiar with the system he’d designed, but he rebelled at the thought of putting Rhona in trouble.

  ‘Tell me where you’re going,’ Makios said. ‘I’ll meet you there.’

  ‘Makios.’ Rhona’s voice was calm, but firm. ‘The Goedan are closing in on you. We have to do this. It has to be now, and it has to be me. You know it, and I know it. Let’s get it done.’

  Makios looked up and saw Vella, Dabin, Vanoor and Deyuul looking at him with concerned looks on their faces. Vella nodded.

  Makios turned his back and let out a stream of swear words. ‘Fine. Do it.’

  ‘I’m glad you said that,’ she said. ‘We’ve already left the ship.’

  ‘What?’ Makios swore again. ‘When?’

  ‘While you were in the cool hallway groaning.’

  ‘You will be the death of me, female,’ he growled.

  ‘But what a sweet death it’ll be,’ she said back.

  Makios scraped his hands over his face, but despite himself, his cock twitched at the promise in her voice.

  The station was cold and dark. Rhona had noticed the breath misting from her lover's mouth every time he spoke, but actually being in the station was a different matter.

  ‘Am I just particularly weak, or is it colder here than the others have it?’

  ‘It’s colder here,’ Sidha confirmed.

  The hall they walked through was as dark as the rest of the station, the only lights those they brought with them. Both Rhona and Sidha shone the beams close to where they were walking, picking their way through the debris and cables that littered the dark grey floor.

  ‘Do you think there are any bodies this way?’ Rhona swung the beam in a morbid attempt to find one. Her worst nightmare right now—besides Drexan Thalos—was turning around to find some dead body staring at her. Worse, to be in a cool, gravity-compromised hall and have one floating towards her with no way to get away from it. A shiver ran down Rhona’s spine.

  ‘Now why did you have to think that, you stupid cow?’ she muttered.

  ‘What’s a cow?’

  ‘Can you answer the question and not the random comment?’ Rhona did another sweep of the hall in front of her, then behind her for good measure.

  ‘I’m ignoring it because I don’t want to think about it,’ Sidha admitted. ‘We’re taking this turn.’ He pointed at the juncture as they approached.

  ‘How you doing, Kenian?’ Rhona called out.

  ‘I am utterly useless at Sidha’s job.’ His voice was calm despite his words. ‘But I will have the ship ready to go on your return.’

  ‘Good to know, sweetie.’

  ‘Sawee tee?’

  Rhona grinned. At some point in the last couple of weeks, these aliens became her crew. They were her extended family every bit as much as Callie, Emma and Abe. Even Doug, who she barely knew, but he was still one of her trading family. Somehow, she hadn’t just fallen in love with Makios. She’d fallen for his crew as well.

  ‘It’s a term of endearment, my dear.’

  ‘Among my people, we use the word colti for people we feel are family even though they are not related.’

  ‘Colti?’

  ‘Yes, colti.’ It took Rhona a moment to realise he’d called her colti, not clarified the pronunciation. She bit her lip and let out a deep breath.

  ‘We’re going to soundproof our room,’ she said to break the sudden tension.

  ‘I would really appreciate it,’ Kenian replied, his voice seemed as thick as hers felt.

  ‘I think we all would,’ Sidha said behind her, as he led the way around the corner and found an ice-encrusted hall.

  ‘Oh, wow.’

  The hallway before them stretched on for around forty feet before it turned into a ramp that led to the next compartment. At some point, probably during the battle, water gushed down the hall from above and froze when it hit this hall, ebbing to a stop several feet from the bend. There were frozen waves, and Rhona could see where the water had hit surfaces and rippled back before the freeze had caught the ripple in suspension.

  Sidha grabbed hold of the wall plating. ‘Grab hold of me and let's go.’

  ‘Grip your toes,’ Rhona said.

  Sidha looked at her, confused.

  ‘My mum always says you need to grip your toes on ice.’

  ‘She’s on ice often?’ Sidha asked.

  ‘Never once in her life,’ Rhona admitted. ‘But it’s worth a try.’

  Rhona gripped her toes and grabbed onto Sidha. Bit by bit, they made their way across the ice, stepping over the rougher textures of water as they shuffled across the surface.

  Rhona stepped over a particularly high wave. ‘How do you think it froze this fast?’

  ‘Perhaps the thermal regulators failed temporarily.’

  ‘Temporarily?’ Rhona gestured to her frozen breath.

  Sidha shrugged. ‘Maybe some of them came back online, but not enough to defrost the water.’

  Another couple of minutes went by before they passed through the frame of an airlock and reached the bottom of the ramp. The first two feet was covered in the ice, but the rest was clear.

  ‘Right. Lean forward, pull ourselves up?’ Rhona looked back at Sidha. Over his shoulder, she saw a form hunched against the airlock frame. ‘Oh, God!’ she shouted. She jumped away and fell on her ass, sliding down the ice towards the body.

  Sidha was at her side a moment later.

  ‘Are you well?’ Rhona nodded and looked at the frozen Enhari. It almost looked like she’d fallen asleep, though it was more likely she died from the cold when
it hit a temperature that turned water to ice fast enough to preserve ripples. The alien female sat with her back to the wall, her knees hugged to her chest—she never had a chance.

  The Enhari may have been the aggressors in this ancient war, but this woman died in this hall alone, and Rhona couldn’t think of anything sadder.

  Sidha looked from the body to Rhona. ‘Come on. Let’s go.’

  Rhona nodded, allowing Sidha to pull her to her feet and onwards. When she touched the deck plating beyond the ice, it was warm. Pushing and pulling, they got through the obstruction and carried on up the ramp, turning into a section the aliens lived in. They passed open doors that showed personal living spaces beyond them. Some of them were clean and tidy, others wrecked in the crew’s efforts to take some of their things with them. Several times they came across rooms with long desiccated remains. For a moment, Rhona wondered how they died, then she noticed the wounds. Someone had executed them.

  After turning a few more corners, they came across a mess hall.

  The room was the same dark metal as the rest of the station. There were four long rows of tables with fixed seats. Some of the places were set with trays of long rotted food. The attack interrupted a mealtime. One moment, these people were sitting here eating, probably joking and talking with friends and colleagues. The next, the station was attacked, their lives ending or changed forever. She was walking through history. The only time Rhona had ever felt like this before, was the first time she really understood The Violation. But those men were remembered. There was no one to remember these people.

  ‘These?’ Rhona tapped the camera mounted on the oversized jacket she was wearing.

  ‘Yes?’

  ‘When we get back to civilisation, we’re giving this to someone to register all this, right?’ She looked at Sidha. ‘This is important. This battle, these people. They deserve to be remembered.’

  ‘A little nifty editing to omit certain data, and yes, I’m sure we will.’

  Rhona nodded in satisfaction.

  ‘That panel there,’ Sidha said. He led the way over to a section of the wall that, to Rhona’s unindoctrinated eyes, looked like every other panel. With a few moves, it was off the wall. He set the bag he’d been carrying off his back and dug through to get out the small, black box he’d loaded the program into.