by Reagan Woods
Instead of the window into the ship she’d hoped for, the light appeared to come from a maintenance shaft. The light didn’t reach the bottom of the metal ladder that descended into the dark hole.
“Down the ladder,” he ordered quietly.
Swinging around to descend the ladder, she darted a glance around the lighted area. They were moving through a series of dead spaces in the ship’s design that someone had connected. The result was a well-concealed de facto passage. From the shape of the surrounding walls, she thought they must be headed for the main shuttle bay.
“Down!” he snapped again, stepping menacingly towards her.
Reaching for the next ladder rung, she nearly slid all the way to the bottom. The rungs were spaced almost two feet apart, not exactly friendly to someone of her stature.
When she reached the bottom, Jorkan slowly lowered Nora feet-first after her. Arianna was left with little choice but to try and brace the bigger girl as she fell.
“Ooof! What the hell, Jorkan!” she protested as the dead weight slumped against her face.
Her nose felt like it had been smashed and her lip began bleeding again. What an asshat.
Slinging Nora over his shoulder again, he pushed Arianna ahead of him into the blinding darkness. Bleeding and afraid, she stumbled forward.
“How much further?” she deliberately kept her voice pitched low, hoping to avoid angering the psycho.
“Keep walking.”
“What do you plan to do with us?” she tried again, this time going for timid and non-threatening.
They abruptly turned a corner and were engulfed in a greenish light.
“This beautiful piece of femininity is my reward for good behavior,” he gave a lecherous smile and smacked Nora’s well-rounded derriere.
“So why take me?” her words were barely above a whisper.
“There are any number of ways in which you might be useful to me yet,” he purred.
Fabulous.
“Such as?”
“You’ll make a fine gift for our hosts. You know, as a good-will token so they don’t get too angry at me for stealing this one ahead of schedule. But first, if you’re very, very good, we’ll spend some quality time together,” the last was said as though he were granting her a favor.
“Here we are,” he pushed her into a low-ceilinged alcove. Some sort of pipe or bar ran the length of the space about half-way up the wall. Attached to the bar were two thin, flexible cords.
“These will slice through skin and bone like butter if you struggle against them,” he said matter-of-factly.
He tied one cord around Nora’s wrist and held out his hand for Arianna’s.
“Such an obedient girl. It’d be a shame to have to hand you over to one of those freaks. Be a good girl while I’m gone and maybe I’ll keep you for myself.”
Arianna listened to his retreating foot falls before turning to Nora, “How much of that did you hear?”
“Enough to know we don’t want to be here when he returns,” she gingerly rolled up from her prone position.
“Wherever we are, he felt comfortable leaving us here without gagging us.”
“This whole place is sound-proofed. I wandered around back here for hours before I found you. Will anyone come looking for you?”
“I doubt it. I belong to the General, the alien who was with me in the holoroom,” she explained. “He’s probably too busy to realize I’m gone.”
“You belong to General Darvan? The alien who had us all hunted down and stuck in the camps?”
“I was taken captive and given to him as tribute,” Arianna said. “Can you get loose? Whatever this stuff is, mine is on tight,” Arianna sank to her knees and tried to untie the knot at her wrist. She only succeeded in cutting a gash into her thumbnail. “Damn.”
“Wow, Arianna, your face is a mess,” Nora sounded horrified.
“It looks worse than it feels, I’m sure,” she dismissed the throb coming from her nose and lip. She peered around but didn’t see any weapons in the low-lit area. Her foot was freaking killing her.
“You have blood everywhere.”
“Yeah, broken noses are a bitch. I’m fine. Your shirt took a hit, though. We need to figure a way out of this,” her frustration with the situation was mounting.
“Great,” Nora looked down at the bloody smears faintly visible against the plaid of her shirt.
“There’s only one way that I can think of: I’ll continue to feign unconsciousness so he has to carry me again. You make a run for it when he moves us to whatever he’s going to use to get us off this ship. I’ll slow him down.”
“I can’t leave you with that monster. No. We have to find a way out of this for both of us,” Arianna insisted stubbornly.
“Sure, hon. But if we don’t figure it out, we go with my plan.”
Chapter Nineteen
“He took the bait,” Skylan reported through the com in Darvan’s ear. Skylan’s black ops training made him the ideal candidate to shadow Jorkan.
With any luck, they’d be able to thwart the Doranos Attaché’s plans and figure out who he was working for. Councilor Darkan didn’t believe Jorkan had the right connections within their military to sell the Ventix their plasma cannon technology or the space folding engine. Darvan wasn’t so sure. He and Darkan both agreed that Jorkan was the highly placed mole who’d sent the Ventix the code to break into the energy net around Earth.
Darvan gave no sign of having heard Skylan’s report. Instead, his full attention was on the “emergency session” of the High Council he’d been called to.
One of Tegas’ aides had just uploaded an incriminating video of Arianna sending what appeared to be an encrypted data burst from Darvan’s personal holoscreen. He certainly hadn’t ever showed her how to access that screen before.
“In summary, though it is a painful blow to our warriors and the Earther refugees alike, it appears that the general’s Earther had a hand in the catastrophic loss of life aboard the Horizon,” Councilor Tegas finished his argument before the Council.
“Declaring the Earthers in-league with the Ventix will not cause me to compel my warriors to give up the Earth females, Tegas,” Darvan stated with uncharacteristic defiance. He really hoped Darkan knew what he was doing.
“You will have to do so if this Council votes to do so,” Tegas smirked.
“Before your vote, I’d like to give an oral summary of the report I submitted,” Darvan interjected.
“That won’t be necessary, General,” Tegas tried to cut him off.
“I haven’t seen a report,” Councilor Darkan was echoed by several of the council members.
“As you can see, it is necessary,” Darvan began. Seizing his opportunity, he launched into his presentation. “In this video stream, which I have uploaded to the public archives, you can clearly see Doranos Attaché Jorkan keying the codes we all assumed were Arianna’s personal codes into the communicator terminal in my quarters. This time stamp is mere minutes before the info blast to an undisclosed recipient made from Arianna’s log-in. Yet, it was not included with Councilor Tegas’ video. I never showed her how to access that particular communication terminal. I brought it with me for my personal use.”
“That does not prove your captive is not the mastermind behind this plot,” Tegas protested. “It merely proves she was canny enough to fool Jorkan into believing she didn’t watch him access the terminal.”
“Jorkan shouldn’t have had access to that terminal either,” Darvan said flatly. “As I said, I brought it from home for my personal use.” He didn’t even address the fact that somehow Tegas had managed to access the private cameras Darvan had set up for keeping an eye on Jorkan. Obviously, there was more than one of Tegas’ lackeys still aboard the Victory.
“Er – well, he is something of a technical whiz. I’m certain he was merely trying to make efficient use of his time by checking his communiques while keeping an eye on your Earther.”
“It’s possi
ble, and we will question her. I’d also like to question him but Attaché Jorkan has gone missing. As has a short-range flier.”
“Widen your search for Jorkan,” Councilor Darkan commanded. “In the meantime, have someone you trust question your captive.”
“Yes, Sir,” Darvan bowed and signed off.
“They’re moving again,” Skylan reported. “Main shuttle bay. He’s got more than one Earther with him.”
“That is an unforeseen complication,” Darvan hesitated, the presence of another Earther changed the game and increased their odds of failure. “Where did the other Earther come from?”
“He must have made a trip to the surface,” Skylan surmised. “Silex reported that the missing flier is back in the shuttle bay. Either he has one hell of a cloak on that thing or he has an auxiliary override for the landing doors. What now, General?”
“Stick with the plan. Get Arianna back and then take her in for questioning. Show no mercy. Make her convince you of her innocence.”
“Are you certain she’s innocent?”
“No. I think you’ll find she did it.”
“Sir?”
“Follow the mission plan, Skylan,” Darvan sincerely regretting bringing Arianna into this mess. He’d initially assigned Jorkan to baby-sit Arianna in an effort to stem the flow of inaccurate and divisive information into the Council Chambers. Jorkan had turned the tables on him by dragging his little captive into the fray.
∞ ∞ ∞
“Ouch! Watch it,” Arianna yelped when Jorkan finally returned and snipped the wire from her wrist with wire clippers.
“Shut up!” he roared. “Apparently, you’ve been very friendly with our General,” he grabbed her hair and pulled her close to his body. He smelled of sweat and dust with a hint of oil or grease thrown in.
Wrapping a cold hand around her throat, he gave a testing squeeze. She held very, very still, not even daring to breathe, terrified that he would snap and choke her to death. His grip tightened fractionally.
“My contact seemed to think it was voluntary but I think you were using him to make me jealous.” The idea seemed to pacify him momentarily. He released her throat and ran his hand along the V-neck of her dress. When she tried to pull away from the sickening touch, he tightened the fist in her hair and pulled her even closer. Dipping his whole hand under the clinging fabric, he fondled her breasts with cruel hands, tweaking her nipples painfully. “Do you enjoy my attention, slave?”
“Yes,” she agreed with a hiss of pain, knowing he wouldn’t stop unless she played along with his fantasy. It was pretty clear to Arianna that Jorkan was having a parting of the ways with reality.
“Time enough for that later,” he leered releasing her. He bent and slipped Nora over his shoulder before grabbing Arianna’s hair and pulling her along with him.
They did a quick march down the passage into a large ante room. He shoved her ahead of him through a garage-like vented door into the cold openness of the shuttle bay. There were no signs of guards or other personnel.
Arianna was knocked momentarily breathless by the sight of space beyond the giant clear windows of the shuttle bay. In spite of her perilous situation, she was in awe of the starry darkness. Intellectually, she’d known she was in outer space for weeks, but she hadn’t actually seen it for herself.
In the foreground, without Earth’s atmosphere to dim and distort its color, Mars was a bright rust red. The planet loomed so large that she could clearly see Olympus Mons, the highest known peak in the solar system. The stark, desolate backdrop of the red planet drove home how truly hopeless her situation was. Did Darvan even know she was missing from the holoroom? How long had they been tied up?
Jorkan pulled a remote from somewhere on his person and uncloaked a little shuttle parked nearby. Still gripping her by the hair, he dragged her behind him to the entrance hatch.
Nora reared up off of Jorkan’s shoulder and, gripping his head tightly between her hands, brought her knee up into his face. The sickening pop of cartilage breaking and the sudden spray of blood indicated that Jorkan’s nose was broken. Arianna felt viciously glad he was getting a little payback for the violence he’d dealt her.
“Run,” Nora shouted as she plummeted toward the hard floor, landing with a heavy thud.
Letting go of Arianna’s hair, Jorkan grabbed Nora with both hands and tossed her into the waiting shuttle.
“Jorkan, surrender,” a loud voice echoed in the shuttle bay. The room flooded with black-clad warriors armed to the teeth.
Jorkan made a grab for Arianna but she scrambled out of his reach, her shocked paralysis finally breaking. Seemingly deciding to cut his losses, he turned and dove into the open shuttle hatch. The shuttle roared to life and she retreated from the blistering heat of the engines.
“He’s got the master code,” someone shouted as the cavernous shuttle bay began to quake and shift around her, forcing her to hands and knees.
Warriors began diving into small shuttles and fighters parked in neat rows nearby, preparing to give chase. The air thickened with the noxious smell of burning chemicals and exhaust, making her vision swim, exacerbating the renewed pain in her head. She crawled frantically, searching for the door she’d entered through.
Jorkan’s shuttle bucked and rocked erratically slamming into several shuttles parked nearby. Trying to avoid hot sparks and randomly flung sharp debris, she began to panic. There was no way she would make it to the door before Jorkan opened the airlock. Flash-drying all the moisture from her body while her body decompressed was not her idea of a fun way to die.
Engine suddenly revving, his shuttle shot forward and collided with the still-closed airlock. Screeching and groaning, the thick metal began to distort as it absorbed the shock of the impact.
Chapter Twenty
“Oomph!” the world tilted and spun in a crazy whirl as she was tossed over a broad shoulder and jogged out of the shuttle bay.
“You’ve got some explaining to do,” the big Corian said calmly. He continued to fireman carry her through a maze of hallways, jostling her mistreated body terribly.
“I think you broke my rib. Can you put me down first?” she wheezed.
Dumping her to her battered feet, he propelled her through a doorway into a small office. The door sealed shut behind him.
He was big, almost as big as Darvan. And he looked ruthless. When he pushed her into a chair, she didn’t have the guts to fight him. He looked like he’d enjoy killing her. Slowly.
“How did you hack into our system?” he asked in English, seemingly unconcerned that blood was still seeping from her lip and trickling steadily from her nose.
She stared at him in surprised shock for a moment. “Come again? I’d like to speak with the General, please.”
“He can’t help you now, little girl,” his toothy smile was terrifyingly cold. “How?”
“What do you mean ‘hack’ into your system? I’ve only ever used the reconditioner and the hologym like Jorkan showed me.” She was starting to lose patience with all things male. She needed a pain killer and a Xanax, pronto.
“How long have you been working with the Ventix?”
“I didn’t even know about the Ventix until the attack on the ship earlier today – or – whenever that was.”
“Do not play games with me, female,” he bellowed at an impressive decibel into her face, aggravating the throbbing ache behind her eyes. His onyx eyes seemed to spark with wrath and menace. With one threatening look, he let her know in no uncertain terms that he was more than willing to beat the answers he sought from her.
All of a sudden, time stopped and the focused truth of her existence became very clear to her. She was trying to find reason and purpose in an unreasonable reality. She didn’t belong here with these alien people. She didn’t belong anywhere anymore. Maybe she never had.
Fuck it. It was either her day to die or it wasn’t. She’d had enough of being pushed around by these alien assholes.
“M
aybe you could try telling me what you’re talking about before you waste both of our time screaming at me, jackass.”
Uh ho. That sure got the big scary alien’s attention. His sharp intake of breath preceded a vicious tooth bearing – she’d hesitate to call it a smile.
“You will watch how you speak to me, female,” he snarled.
“No. You will watch how you speak to me.”
She felt much calmer now. True, she wasn’t in control of the situation but at least she was laying out her own terms for once in her life. No more “yes, sir” for Arianna Wellingcourt. If today was her last, she’d go out with a bang – not a whimper.
“Now. What just happened? How did it happen? Who, really, are the Ventix? And WHAT does it all have to do with me ‘hacking’ into your systems? That’s a really antiquated term, by the way.”
“I’m asking the questions here,” he rejoined in a much more reasonable tone.
“I’m not understanding them,” she said sweetly. “Ask. Better. Questions.” She could feel the tension adding to the headache behind her eyes.
“How do you explain this?” he flipped a com screen so she could watch herself pecking away at the parameters to the hologym’s system.
“I’m tweaking some of the hologym programs that are biased to prefer feats of strength over cunning,” she answered truthfully. Absently, she rubbed the back of her neck trying to soothe some of her aches and pains, fighting the increased pressure in her head.
“When did you do this?”
“Two cycles before the attack,” she promptly replied breathing through the nausea swamping her. Ok. The pounding in her head kicked up another notch, moving into full-on migraine territory.
“How long have you known Jorkan’s true allegiance?”
“What time did he take me from the holoroom? Subtract that time from now and you’ll have your answer. Although, I still couldn’t say where his allegiance actually lies.”
“You’re awfully glib, sweetheart.”