by Regine Abel
“I definitely don’t want to do that,” Haelin said, shaking her head. “Grellik is a pain in the ass, but he’s a useful evil. As long as he runs his cartel, no one else can move into the area. It was a mistake on my part not to have prevented the Ferein from kicking out the Zundek from the Merinik Plains. Their Rygow trade post had helped keep a certain balance in the region.”
“We slept there on our way here,” I explained. “They conquered it, yet they are letting it go to waste.”
“They wanted to stop the Zundek expansion that would have crippled theirs,” Yelena replied. “If Grellik dies, every single one of the southern cartels will flock here to fight over his territory. I don’t care about the bloodshed, but it will destabilize the region for a long time.”
“The territory will end up fragmented, with a bunch of idiots each owning too small a portion to truly develop anything worthwhile, so they will keep plotting, scheming, and backstabbing each other in an effort to do so,” Lanish added.
“But won’t that eventually settle with a clear winner?” I asked.
“Unlikely,” Haelin said. “None of those cartels are big enough, strong enough, or with a smart enough leader to hold on to such vast lands. What is more likely to happen is that some really powerful son of a rahashi will come settle on Xyva and take over once all of those smaller cartels have weakened themselves to the point of near extinction. And then I will have a really nasty rival knocking at my door.”
“And taking over his lands wouldn’t make sense for you as it would be too vast to control,” Jarog concluded.
“Exactly. It would be foolish of me to spread myself thin when everything I need is right here, profitable, manageable, and above all secure,” Haelin said. “Greed has caused many a cartel’s downfall. It will not be mine.”
“While I agree with the soundness of your logic, isn’t allowing Grellik to threaten your life in all impunity—aside from the poor assassins who get caught—undermining your authority and standing?” Jarog asked. “Without retribution, he will only grow bolder.”
“Agreed!” Yelena said, before casting a meaningful glance at her leader.
By her tone and expression, the female operative had that discussion many times with Haelin before, without much success.
“You are correct,” Haelin conceded, “but retaliating for the sake of revenge is only going to start a tit for tat war that will be a drain of resources. I don’t want to have a skirmish every other day. I want to strike once and make a statement that will scar him so much, he will think twice about fucking with me again. And the thing he cares about the most is his wallet.”
“You want to hurt his business?” I asked.
“I want to set him back so hard that instead of making credits, he will spend loads of it over the next few months rebuilding his infrastructure,” Haelin said with an evil grin.
“Now, you’ve piqued my interest,” Jarog said.
Mine as well.
Haelin launched into a detailed explanation of her plan. It was freaking bold… and beyond exciting. The only concern was the narrow window to act. We wanted Dr. Timmons to mend the Cyborg, but we couldn’t be sure he wouldn’t include some control chips on Grellik’s behalf should their captive not cooperate. While Claudia might be able to remove it—if it came to that—we had no way of knowing how much damage the Cyborg would sustain because of it.
“Timmons won’t be in Tarkis for at least another week. That gives us time to finalize our plans and iron out any details,” Haelin said. Yelena and Lanish will be your main points of contact for anything you need, from our available arsenal to our best trained operatives.”
“Good. Let’s get to work,” Jarog said.
Chapter 11
Jarog
The past few days preparing for the mission had been soothing, if not therapeutic. It almost felt like being back in the Cyborg Military Elite. Granted, the Narengi operatives weren’t Cyborgs, but they possessed impressive skills. However, nothing could replace the almost symbiotic bond I had shared with my pod brothers. The closeness and trust we’d built over the years nearly allowed us to anticipate each other’s thoughts and actions. And for the other times, our closed neural network allowed us to communicate in words, images, or transfer tons of data which we could assimilate in seconds.
I would likely never experience that again.
If I were honest with myself, my desire to see this mission through wasn’t entirely altruistic or because soldiers left no man behind. He was my chance to belong again, if only temporarily, and not to feel like the last of my kind. Obviously, that wasn’t the case. Other Cyborgs had survived Gorkon and whatever other destinations they had fled to, but who knew if or when our paths would cross again?
In a few minutes, we would set off on that mission. Tamryn had confirmed that even after it was completed—assuming all went according to plan—she would remain here with Haelin until she could reunite with her family. It hadn’t surprised me since we’d already pretty much reached that conclusion during prior discussions. However, she had hoped to receive a similar confirmation from me, which I couldn’t give her.
We were in a strange situation. Although Tamryn and I weren’t in an official relationship, in all the ways that mattered, we were a couple, and our entourage treated us as such. We did everything together: sleeping, showering, eating, working, and obviously fucking—plenty of that, and exclusively with each other. She hadn’t asked anything of me or even remotely hinted at us moving into a more official direction than friends with benefits. If I said I would leave tomorrow, she wouldn’t try to hold me back or attempt to convince me otherwise.
As much as I hated to admit it, that cut me… deeply.
It should have been a relief, but it wasn’t. And yet, I knew for a fact that she wanted me to stay here with her, and that she harbored some feelings for me. Nothing like love, obviously, but undeniable affection and a growing bond of friendship… and trust. I felt the same towards her. However, mine was draped with a layer of protectiveness and, yes, possessiveness. Funny enough, Tamryn, too, was acting protective and possessive towards me, which irrationally pleased me. When Yelena had suggested that she should go with me to retrieve the Cyborg while Tamryn assisted Lanish in destroying the spaceport, my woman made it absolutely clear that was out of the question. Even now, it still made me smile.
That said, that Cyborg would play a big role in my decision to stay or leave. As he belonged to a different pod than mine, he might have information on where his brothers and other Cyborgs might have fled to. Whatever defective state he might be in right now, Caylan still lived. I could feel his damaged presence in our closed neural network. Even if we were within range, communication wouldn’t be possible between us. But we’d now been officially on Xyva for ten days. Caylan should have died a week ago, if only from dehydration. I could only surmise that whatever damage he had sustained, he was currently in some form of stasis.
I just had no idea where the fuck to start looking for him.
Had Caylan succumbed to his injuries, my decision to remain here with Tamryn for as long as she desired my company would have been a no-brainer. I enjoyed everything about her, especially her bluntness and the way she faced every challenge head on. But I especially liked the way she seemed comfortable with what others often referred to as my ‘loss of personality’ since becoming a Cyborg. People didn’t get my jokes—the few times I irrationally felt the urge to make one—but Tamryn always laughed. It wasn’t the jokes themselves that amused her, but my delivery, strange timing, and above all the dumbfounded expressions of others trying to figure out if my words were serious.
Watching her laugh made me want to smile… I sometimes even did.
But right now, seeing my female approach, walking next to Yelena, stirred a pleasant warmth in my chest. As much as my protective feelings towards Tamryn wanted to keep her safe, the warrior in me rejoiced at the thought of going into battle side-by-side with her. I’d already seen he
r skills on the field, further demonstrated during the past few days of training in Satos. If all went well, there would be no fighting for us. However, when had this type of mission ever gone off without a hitch?
“You are looking quite dashing in your merc outfit, Ms. Vakan,” I said teasingly to Tamryn.
“You’re not too shabby yourself, Major Kaijo,” she replied playfully.
I almost snorted when Yelena rolled her eyes at us before leading the way to our shuttle, Lanish on her tail. Both of them were unrecognizable with the prosthetics Claudia had applied to change their features. They were otherwise too well-known by their rivals.
I was about to follow in their wake when my gaze locked with Haelin’s, standing a few steps away near the back exit of Perdition.
“You bring her back in one piece, Kaijo, or don’t return at all,” the Narengi leader said in a hard voice.
“Haelin!” Tamryn exclaimed, both shocked and slightly offended.
“Even at the cost of the mission?” I asked, ignoring my companion.
This time, my female turned to me with a stunned expression, her gaze searching. But mine remained locked on our hostess.
“Of course,” Haelin said, looking at me with outrage.
“Good answer,” I replied to the Narengi, making it clear anything else would not have gone down well.
“You realize that I’m here, you two!” Tamryn said, glaring at each of us in turn. “Why don’t you tell me to make sure I bring his ass back in one piece or face your wrath?”
“Because the fact that you will is a given?” Haelin retorted with a smirk.
Tamryn gaped at her friend, speechless.
I snorted then wrapped my arm around Tamryn’s waist. “Let’s go,” I said.
That gesture surprised me as much as it did her. It implied a level of intimacy and possessiveness—if not commitment—that didn’t really feature in our current involvement. However, Tamryn didn’t balk or pull away, and merely followed. We boarded the large shuttle and settled in the passenger seats. Sitting at the helm, Lanish next to her, Yelena immediately started the engine. The hold contained a series of high-end looking weapons, some new, some second-hand, to further support our cover as mercs in need of new toys. All of them were actually trash—although functional—meant to fool the Fereins should they come snooping a little too closely.
A couple of our operatives went to Tarkis yesterday. They’d been busy setting up phase one of our mission by releasing gazers—an airborne microorganism resembling an eyeball—in strategic locations. Inoffensive in their base form, they naturally sought bright and warm areas, and were particularly hungry for energy, electrical or otherwise. As a parasite, it would latch onto the surface of computers, power cores, generators, and anyything of that nature.
As our goal wasn’t to commit a genocide but to severely cripple the Fereins’ operations, the first team had focused their efforts on the power generators and computers that allowed the space station to operate. If all went according to plan, they would all be fried beyond repair, but without massive explosions or fires that could kill people.
Instead of the thirty-minute flight that it would normally take to go from Satos to Tarkis, we made a detour to give the impression we had just come from Nuria—another large trade center for black market goods. While we didn’t expect the agents at the port to track such details, we wanted to reduce any risk of suspicion. According to Yelena, considering the rivalry between their two cities, the Fereins always checked people arriving from Satos more thoroughly.
“Miko and Shalla have identified the location where the Cyborg is being held,” Yelena said. “The security around the building is a lot more lax than what we feared.”
“Why?” Tamryn asked with a frown, echoing my thoughts.
“Knowing Grellik, I’m betting it’s a mix of overconfidence, the fear of appearing weak, and wanting to avoid drawing too much attention to that development lab,” Yelena explained. “But it’s still not going to be a walk in the park.
“Any news on the doctor?” I asked.
“He arrived a couple of hours ago, a good hour sooner than we expected,” Lanish said in a slightly disgruntled tone.
A sliver of amusement surged through me at this display of grumpiness from the Narengi. The massive male had possessed magnificent antlers, proportional to the rest of his frame, and that testified to him being a prime male specimen. However, as they were far too recognizable, he’d had to get them shorn instead of the usual trim Narengi regularly got to maintain them. Although the carver had done a fantastic job, Lanish’s ‘crown’ had effectively been reduced by half. At least, they would grow back to their former glory in a few months.
But back to the more serious topic at hand, Dr. Timmons’ early arrival could either play in our favor or against us, depending on what plans Grellik had in store for the Cyborg. Putting a control chip inside one of us wasn’t that simple. After all, we had been designed to be invulnerable to pretty much any attempt at hacking or taking control of our neural processors. Grellik would first try to woo the Cyborg into joining forces with him. Failing that, he’d start playing hard ball. That would give us time to rescue him first.
“The fact that after a week in their custody—and ten days since his arrival on Xyva—they still want Dr. Timmons to treat him implies the Cyborg likely sustained some serious damage to his implants,” I countered. “The nanobots in his system should have handled all of his non-lethal, physiological injuries. To me, his early arrival is a good sign.”
“Good sign or not, we’ll find out soon enough,” Yelena interrupted while beginning her descent towards the spaceport. “We’re arriving in ten minutes. Everyone look alive and remember your part. Jarog, time for you to go.”
I cast a glance at Tamryn. She eyed me with a focus and determination that spoke of experience facing danger, and revealed the signs of pre-battle adrenalin beginning to course through her veins. We exchanged a smile, and an unspoken communication passed between us. I couldn’t have put it into words had I tried to, not that it mattered. I’d never been to battle with her, and yet, I implicitly trusted her to have my back.
Illogical…
Fighting the urge to kiss Tamryn, I rose to my feet and headed to the back of the ship. She followed me in silence. I sat on top of the speeder brought specifically for me while she opened the door of the hold.
“See you soon,” Tamryn said.
I winked at her, activated the stealth shield, then shot forward out of the shuttle. I allowed my transport to freefall for a few seconds before activating the jetpack that allowed me to transition into a smooth descent near the ground. I looked at the shuttle, already turning into a small dot in the distance as I raced to catch up.
Any minute now, the spaceport controller would hail them to enquire about their purpose in Tarkis before directing them to one of the shuttle bays. As much as I would have loved to have remained with them, the basic scan my three companions would be subjected to while going through the spaceport control would have revealed that my skeleton was covered in a hyperalloy. Even though many mercs had gotten various cybernetic implants and enhancements over the years, none rivaled what I had in me. They would have automatically known what I was.
Unlike Satos, which was much smaller and fully contained within defensive walls, Tarkis had grown much too big and sat open on many fronts. You could just walk right in. Granted, the surveillance system saw you coming quite a ways away—one kilometer further in than where Yelena had dropped me—but that one wasn’t as thorough as the one in the spaceport. I deactivated my stealth shield before crossing that line and raced to one of the more weakly defended spots, but not the weakest.
By the time I reached my destination, my teammates should already have disembarked, cleared controls, and begun releasing the airborne activating agent that would set the gazers in a frenzy. They would proliferate at an exponential rate over a couple of hours, at which point their concentrated presence would s
tart setting off alarms in various sectors of the spaceport, eventually forcing an evacuation, and causing chaos.
As I closed in on the city, I spotted a drone in the distance headed in my direction. Keeping a calm demeanor, an easy task since my transformation, I continued gliding just above the ground at high speed. The drone lowered to my eye-level without interfering with my ability to see where I was going and adjusting its speed to mine.
I casually retrieved the forged ID Lanish had provided me with and held it up for the drone’s camera without even looking in its direction. It had already scanned me for weapons and found none. Open carry of lower-range caliber weapons was allowed in every merc city—outside specific establishments. But as I wouldn’t be allowed inside the lab with them, bringing any would have been pointless.
Evidently satisfied, the drone flew back up, shifting its attention towards another newcomer arriving in the distance.
Tarkis embodied everything people both loved and hated about mercenary cities. A plethora of shops and stalls peddling stolen or illegal goods lined every street. Two massive junkyards framed the city, which crawled with every possible type of character. Between the shady merchants, clever patrons looking for good deals, criminals on the run trying to blend in, and the con artists hunting for easy prey, lurked the quiet elite, the true predators whose business you preferred to know nothing about.
Judging by the way people were giving me a wide berth as soon as I pulled into a parking lot, they had accurately guessed that I belonged in that last category—a really bad thing under the current circumstance. I forced myself to display a more casual expression on my face as I made my way to the rendezvous point. Picturing Tamryn’s face helped me soften.
As I turned the corner into the main street, I spotted Miko. He exuberantly waved at me with a big grin, as one would when finally meeting up with the friend you were going to party with. I did my best impersonation of enthusiasm as I closed the distance with him. The whole time, my eyes were noticing and analyzing everything and everyone around us, looking for the slightest sign the Fereins were on to us.