Refuge in the Stars

by Tim Marquitz

  “So, a tracker, huh?” he asked. “That would explain a few things, I’m thinking.”

  Taj let loose a ragged chuckle. “It would indeed.”

  “We probably should have shut that thing off a bit sooner,” he went on.

  “It’s not like we weren’t a little busy,” Lina defended, despite clearly knowing Torbon wasn’t being entirely serious. “Not to mention the whole language thing and learning how to fly and alien ship and all that. Oh, and the trying not to die stuff.”

  “This is nobody’s fault but mine,” Taj cut in, not in the mood to tolerate the crew’s back and forth, “and I should have realized a society as cruel and controlling as the Wyyvans wouldn’t trust their people to have complete control over a ship with no way for them to track it down if it went AWOL. No, I should have known better, but I let myself be bullied and blindsided into reacting instead of taking charge.” She grunted, still staring at the incoming scout ships. “But that’s okay because I’m gonna fix that problem right now.”

  She spun in her chair and waved to Jadie. Torbon’s aunt came over, eyebrows raised, expectant.

  “Do me a favor, go and collect Captain Vort and bring him to the bridge,” Taj said. “And make sure you have a few people with you to help out.”

  Jadie nodded. “What about Dard?”

  “Leave him,” Taj replied. “I just want the head lizard.”

  “On it,” Jadie replied, spinning on her heel and running off to do as she was asked.

  “What do you want to do about these scout ships?” Lina asked once Jadie left.

  “How long before they catch us?”

  “By my estimate,” Dent answered, “we’re looking at ten minutes, tops. We can accumulate a few more if I press the ship harder.”

  “No, let’s not do that. Don’t want to run the risk we burn something out at the wrong time.” Taj shook her head. “Anything nearby we can use to better our tactical position?”

  “Afraid not,” the AI replied, and Taj could imagine him shaking his head, the giant eyes of his previous android body staring forlornly. “There’s only open space as far out as my scanners reach.”

  Taj grunted. “Then I guess we’re gonna have to do this the hard way, huh? You up for it, Cabe? Dent?”

  “I most certainly am,” the AI called out.

  Cabe shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Confidence, I like it,” Dent complimented.

  Taj only nodded as they prattled back and forth, brainstorming tactical ideas as they awaited the arrival of the Wyyvan scout ships. She, however, was fixated on one thing. A few moments later, that thing arrived.

  Captain Vort strolled onto the bridge with an arrogance out of place with his situation. Jadie escorted him in, three more Furlorians behind him, hands at their weapons.

  Vort’s gaze went straight to the view screen. “I see you’ve gotten yourself into more trouble, Furlorian,” he told Taj. “I’m guessing you need me to get you out of it…again.” He raised a questioning eyebrow at her.

  Taj offered him a cold smile. “Oh, we definitely need your help, Vort,” she replied, getting up and going over to where he stood. “We can’t do anything around here without you.”

  Vort stiffened, his eyelids narrowing to slits. “I sense a bit of hostility in you, Furlorian. I had thought we were over all that.”

  “Oh, you are absolutely right. We are very much over all that. In fact, we’re over pretty much everything between you and I.”

  She leaned forward and jabbed a finger into his chest, reminiscent of how he’d done to her when they’d faced off in the makeshift cell.

  “For instance, I’m completely over the fact that you tricked us aboard the Discordant so that my people wouldn’t have any food or supplies to get by.” She offered him a sharpened grin. “I’m also over the fact that you conveniently forgot to mention the tracking device installed in the Discordant, more of my people being put at risk because you wanted to sow chaos to see how it benefited you.”

  Vort straightened to his full height, meeting her fiery gaze with a forced smile. “You’ll have to forgive me, but I assure you, I knew nothing about a tracker.”

  “No?” Taj asked, nodding and glancing up at the ceiling. “Think that’s true, Dent?”

  “I don’t believe it is,” the AI answered, his voice echoing around the bridge. “In fact, Vort and his commander were discussing that very thing in their cell not too long ago.”

  The captain stiffened, eyes darting left and right, obviously looking for the android.

  “Oh, did I forget to mention that Dent survived Rath’s attempted execution back on Bolot?” Taj asked, staring at Vort. “No? It probably slipped my mind. Anyway, yeah, Dent’s alive and well and serving as the Discordant’s AI. He’s got ears almost everywhere aboard the ship.”

  “Oh, they’re most definitely everywhere,” Dent corrected.

  “And on top of that,” Taj went on, “he’s dialed us in with coordinates to a Federation outpost nearby. We’re on our way there now,” she said. “Isn’t that wonderful, Vort?”

  He said nothing, but Taj watched him swallow hard, his throat bobbling.

  “We couldn’t have done it without you,” Taj told him. “And don’t you worry, we’ll make sure the Federation authorities know exactly how invaluable you’ve been so they can reward you appropriately.”

  Vort’s eyelids narrowed even farther, so much so that Taj could only see the barest sliver of his eyes glaring at her.

  “What’s the matter, Vort? Cat got your tongue?” she asked.

  Vort’s tail lashed out, slamming into the deck with a reverberating thump. Jadie and the others jumped back, reaching for their weapons. Vort took advantage of their momentary pause.

  “You worthless rodent!” he screeched, darting forward faster than Taj had thought possible.

  His meaty hand encircled her neck, and she felt the pressure immediately. He whipped her about, turning her to face the armed guards who’d brought him. The world was a blur, the blood and oxygen flowing to her brain already being cut off by his brutal grip.

  And then there was a bolt pistol pressed to the side of her temple, cold steel biting the flesh. Taj didn’t have a clue as to where he’d pulled the weapon from.

  “Back off, rodents,” Vort warned Jadie and the others, his grinning teeth right next to her cheek. She could smell the fetid nastiness of his breath as he spoke.

  “Hey!” Cabe shouted, darting forward only to stagger to a halt as Vort tapped Taj in the temple with his gun.

  “Stay calm, lover,” the Wyyvan captain warned, “or you’ll be burying yet another of your kin.” He motioned to the rest of the crew with his eyes, maneuvering so no one stood behind him. “All of you, move over to the wall there by the view screen, if you don’t mind.”

  The crew hesitated, and Vort chuckled.

  “Have I given you reason to believe I won’t shoot your precious little leader here?” he asked. “I’ve plenty of Furlorian blood on my hands, if you recall. And if we’re being honest, it’s a bit addictive. A Wyyvan could begin to love the feel of squeezing the life out of you little rodents.” He lifted Taj so her feet dangled off the ground.

  He squeezed Taj’s throat harder, eliciting a choked gurgle from her. He grinned at the sound, and the crew shuffled to the wall as ordered. S’thlor went to stand, but Vort stopped him.

  “No, stay where you are, my blind comrade. I’ll need you there.”

  The world grew darker as the seconds passed, the edges of Taj’s vision closing in on her. Her hands ignored her commands to reach for her weapon, her fingers wrapped tightly about Vort’s hand in an instinctive bid to break free.

  She watched as Cabe and Torbon shook with rage, both desperately seeking the opportunity to pounce and free her. Even little Lina trembled with anger, her cheeks gleaming with furious redness. More so than the Toms, she looked ready to leap to Taj’s rescue.

  “Now, if you don’t mind, and even if you do, pl
ace your weapons on the deck and kick them behind me,” Vort told the crew.

  They hesitated only until he shook Taj, drawing out another gurgle. This one was quieter, less throaty, and even Taj knew what that meant.

  Her world grew dimmer by degrees.

  Weapons clattered to the floor and were launched across the bridge, all while Vort chuckled.

  “And you, our troublesome AI,” the captain went on, “I need something from you, too.”

  “Let her go,” Dent argued.

  “No, I don’t think we’ve come to that point yet.” Vort shook his head. “Now, I suggest you do as I ask or we’ll all find ourselves in a bad spot.” He gestured to the view screen with his eyes. “My friends out there are getting closer and are nearly in firing range, as you well know. It won’t be long until we’re smoldering ash floating in space and, to be clear, I’d rather not have that happen.”

  “Do what he wants, Dent,” Cabe called out. “Taj doesn’t have time for this.” He inched forward and Vort warned him back.

  “Too true, rodent. Your little lover here will soon fall unconscious, and then things will only get worse for her as her mental integrity becomes more compromised the longer I deprive her brain of oxygen. Hesitate or waste my time and you risk her dying, or worse, living on in a horribly deficient manner.” He shrugged. “Your choice, of course.”

  Laser fire flashed across the bow of the Discordant, the view screen adjusting its angle to show the two Wyyvan scout ships closing in fast. More fire flew past, Illuminating the bridge.

  Vort growled, and Taj realized it wasn’t just her time running out, it was all of theirs. “First, you need to tear that wretched AI from the Discordant’s systems. Then, you’ll retrieve my second in command and bring him here, then you will recluse yourself from my bridge.” He snarled the last.

  “There’s no time for that,” Cabe argued. “You’re killing her!”

  Right then, Taj felt the vice-like grip around her neck loosen the tiniest bit, but there was still no breaking free. Her brain swam in the pool of her skull, and her limbs tingled, ready to go numb. She couldn’t feel her hands against the lizard’s any longer. Her legs hung limp beneath her, and her arms were next, she could feel it.

  “Then I’d suggest you hurry,” Vort warned. “You will do as I say or she dies, then all of you.”

  Cabe hissed. “Gack it! Lina, shut Dent down now!”

  “I need to be at my console,” Lina said, and Vort nodded. She shot off without hesitation, flopping into her seat and pounding out commands as S’thlor conferred with her as to the best way to do what was needed quickly.

  “As to my other demands…”

  “I’m on it,” Jadie spat out, spinning around and marching off the bridge.

  “Don’t do anything foolish,” Vort called to her back, watching her leave.

  “Now let her go,” Cabe told Vort. “We’re doing what you want. There’s no need to hurt her.”

  The captain shrugged. “Says you.”

  Taj’s head lolled in his grip, and she knew she had a few more seconds before she blacked out. Her arms had fallen to her sides at some point, but she couldn’t recall it happening. They swung as if boneless, floating below her as if they were someone else’s limbs.

  She bit her lip, drawing blood, the pain the barest of sparks in her awareness as she struggled to stay awake.

  Captain Vort smiled as more shots careened across the bow, scraping along the Discordant’s shields with a flicker of light and a slight rumble vibrating the floor.

  “They’re getting closer,” Vort warned. “I’d hurry or we’ll all die here, disappointed.”

  “Almost done!” Lina shouted. “I’m locking Dent out of the system in three…two—”

  “As our Furlorian friends say so often,” Dent said, cutting into the countdown, “gack it!”

  The Discordant roared into a dive.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Taj hurked as she was ripped from Vort’s grasp, the leech craft whipped into a tumble by the AI.

  The crew and Vort were flung about the bridge like so much debris in a sparkstorm, bodies flying and crashing everywhere. Everything not tied down flew right along with them. The loose weapons clattered and smashed into the consoles and crew with equal cruelty.

  Taj heard the screams of her friends as the leech craft spun out of control. Like them, she flopped about, bouncing from floor to ceiling to wall and back to the floor, the rotation of the Discordant flinging them all over.

  Vaguely, her thoughts beginning to coalesce and come back together, she could see the terror and pain of her friends as they were tossed about. Blood covered a few of their faces from the impacts, and Torbon looked to be unconscious, Taj getting a fleeting glimpse of him as he whipped by.

  As she toppled along, she spied Vort clinging to the captain’s chair with both his arms and tail, his weight warping the back, but he was managing to remain in place. He hissed, his tongue flailing from his mouth.

  “S-sorrrry, foooolks,” Dent called out, his mechanical voice fading as the AI lost control of the Discordant’s systems, Lina’s program shutting him down and locking his mind into stasis.

  Numb from the loss of oxygen to her brain, Taj could only feel the blows in the periphery of her mind. She wasn’t being any less injured by being hurled about the bridge, but her brain hadn’t yet remembered how to sort the signals.

  That’s why it took her a moment to realize she was no longer spinning but lying face down on the floor, her cheek cold against the steel. Dent had pulled the ship out of its tumble as his last maneuver before going silent, she realized.

  Moans and groans resounded all around her, her people clambering about in confusion, and she heard a loud creak, the sound drawing her attention. She glanced in the direction of the sound to see Vort clinging to the captain’s chair and desperately trying to get to his feet. Another few seconds and he would succeed.

  Her synapses beginning to fire once more, Taj was determined to beat him.

  She scratched at the ground, her gaze fluttering about, taking in the wreckage of the bridge as she fought to rise.

  Torbon remained where he’d fallen, blood leaking from a gash in his head. Lina was nearby, rolling about on the floor. Her face was green-tinged and her eyes unfocused.

  Jadie and the other Furlorians were in a jumble of limbs in the far corner of the bridge. They struggled against each other, like serpents in a nest, but none of them slithered from the pile.

  S’thlor rested against the bridge door. He sat there breathing heavy, each inhalation looking pained and difficult. Around him lay a cluster of weapons, several of them caught up under his bulk.

  Taj pulled herself to her knees as Vort reached his feet. He let loose a barking laugh and staggered in the blind Wyyvans direction, favoring his right leg and using his tail to help him balance and walk.

  “Taj?”

  She heard Cabe call out and followed his voice, finding him bent awkwardly between the pilot’s chair and the console. His leg was twisted at a bad angle, and Taj hissed at seeing it. There was no doubt it was broken.

  Their eyes met.

  “I’m sorry,” he muttered. “I couldn’t…couldn’t…”

  She shushed him as Vort reached the fallen weapons, and she shifted his way. He knocked S’thlor aside with his knee, clearing the way. Then he bent to grab one of the bolt pistols. He picked it up and growled, discarding the gun.

  Taj spied its twisted barrel as it clattered to the floor, the captain claiming a second gun and doing the same. He sorted through the rest, grinning as he found the only one that appeared to be in working order.

  The Discordant rumbled as the closing scout ships battered the shields.

  “Seems we’re all out of time,” he told Taj as he rose to his full height, displaying the pistol in his hand.

  Then he shrugged.

  “Some of us, however, will die sooner than others.” He turned around and tottered toward C
abe. “I’d like to think you’ll remember this moment, Furlorian,” he said to Taj as he made his way across the bridge, “but that’s not going to happen given that those scouts ships will likely end us before too long.” He offered up a lazy shrug. “At least I can work my way through your crew before that happens. That will have to satisfy me.”

  The Discordant shuddered under the continued attack.

  Vort grabbed Cabe by the scruff and hauled him from between the console and chair. Cabe hissed and yowled, resisting as best he could, but Taj saw how weak he was. There was simply nothing he could do to stop the captain.

  That wasn’t the case for Taj.

  “I think you’re forgetting something, Lizard,” she told him as she stumbled to her feet.

  Vort spun slowly and stared at her, an amused grin pasted across his green lips. “And what is that, little Furlorian?”

  She returned his smile. “You’re not the only one with a gun.”

  Vort stiffened as Taj whipped her bolt pistol out from behind her back where she’d concealed it after drawing it from her holster when she got to her feet. His eyes went wide, and he went to raise his own weapon, but Taj fired from the hip.

  A bolt of greenish energy tore from the barrel and crashed into Captain Vort’s wide face.

  He didn’t even have time to scream.

  His body spasmed, realizing it was suddenly headless, and twitched once, twice, and then collapsed, falling forward to the floor with a thump.

  Cabe crumpled to the floor beside Vort, still in the clasp of the dead Wyyvan, his arm pinning the wounded Furlorian down. He stared up at her, then toppled forward, unconscious.

  As much as Taj wanted to run to his side and comfort him, pull him away from the disgusting lizard and draw him into her arms, she knew she had something else to do or they’d never get the chance to embrace again.

  She raced to the pilot’s seat as quickly as she could, shouting all the way, her voice raw and ragged. “I need you, Lina.”

  The engineer grunted, clearly still fighting the vertigo that had struck her down, but she climbed to her knees, doing her best to get up.