by Layla Stone
The Bolark lawyer chuckled darkly.
“Counselor. You’re starting to piss me off,” Dern warned.
The male held up his arms. “I didn’t say anything.”
“Continue, Rannn.” Dern pointed a finger at the Bolark.
“We gathered samples on our way to our mission, and Ansel was able to verify that the virus manipulates the body. He was also able to gather a sample of the virus and is currently working on a cure. As for the seven Eldon survivors, we were able to successfully sanitize them before bringing them on board. They claim to have also visited Yerg and got sick from the water contaminants. They are alive because I followed protocols. Specifically, medical ones. In the former captain’s records, we have evidence that no medical procedures were followed by the Federation in the Eldon outbreak. Starting from the mission directive by Armsono to Mosel. That’s all I have to report.”
The Bolark raised his arms high. “Oh, is that all? By all means, with that kind of amazing intel, you should have been able to raise the dead. But let’s not point fingers like you seem to enjoy doing, shall we? Let’s point out that you have no evidence that Armsono had anything to do with the incompetence of Captain Mosel. Once he called in the star carrier for help, the job was on the former captain. Not the admiral. You’re pissed about the planet being nebulized? So is he. His sister lived there. He never would have nebulized it. Your accusations are out of order, especially for someone who didn’t have all the facts. I demand that you rescind your recommendation and admit that you made it under emotional confusion. And, of course, give Admiral Armsono a personal apology.”
Rannn didn’t say anything but pushed another document forward, a transmission copy of the protocol orders he’d sent to the admiral. He also showed a transmission of the orders he made for the medical ship.
“Oh, no,” the Bolark said. “Your turn to justify yourself is over. No more this or that. You said your piece, and now I will fight for his. You are a dishonorable captain who has issues with his superiors. Just a few months ago, you had Pegna’s admiral sent to DBS after you fairly made him explode after not listening to any of his directions and commands.
“How dare you accuse this man of not doing his job when he responded to the distress call from Eldon within minutes. The planet his sister lived on, if you will remember. You can’t prove that he did not follow protocol. You can’t prove that he sent the bomb. And once you realize that, you will rescind your accusation, and we can actually spend some time looking for the one who destroyed the planet.”
Rannn let his arms fall to his sides. “I won’t withdraw my charges. There was no one but me or Armsono that could have overridden those orders. No one. Even if he didn’t block the ship, he still ignored my quantum message. He never once responded, and from my reports, no one has been to the planet since. No one is investigating a non-approved nebula bomb. If Armsono was not negligent, then why hasn’t he investigated the incident? He is still responsible for it.”
“Investigate what? A dead planet. What is he going to find?”
Dern lifted his fingers to his lips. “I’ve heard enough.”
Admiral Armsono stood up next to his counsel. Both looked at the Krant admiral expectantly.
“I’ve made my decision.”
Pax sat forward, watching the screen and the Krant, hoping the male had honor and realized what a scumbag Armsono was.
“There is not enough evidence to prove to me beyond a doubt that Armsono sent the nebula bomb. Had you proof of that, I would have agreed with you, Captain Rannn. But as it stands, Armsono did not act dishonorably by calling on Garna to aid with the planet-wide emergency. That’s what the Garna was made for. So, while Armsono may have not aided much with the efforts, he didn’t actually have to after he’d sent the Garna in to handle the situation. My final word on this issue is that Armsono’s position will remain intact.” Then Dern looked at Captain Rannn and said, “I will begin the investigation into the nebula bomb. We will find out who ordered it and what ship deployed it. Until then, my ruling stands. Transmission over.”
The screen winked out.
Rannn slowly leaned his head back and then hissed a series of curses. Pax pushed himself to his feet and would have offered his agreement that the whole thing was crap, but he needed to get back to Vivra. He needed to touch the sweetness in his life.
Back in medical, he walked into Shady arguing with Ansel.
“It will work.”
“No, it won’t. The captain will never allow it,” Ansel said, shaking his head.
“Allow what?”
Ansel cut his eyes to him. “She wants me to put tracking chips in the Flourg. She says if Jaccy sent two people to get the slaves, he will send another until he gets them.”
“They’re going to Marnak. They’ll be safe there.”
Shady snickered. “Yeah, no, they won’t. Marnak is not as perfect as you think. There are traffickers there, too. But no one talks about it. I talked to the Flourgs from Lobash and they said the Terran pirates told them there were thousands of buyers lined up. Trust me, someone will pick them up. If not Jaccy, then someone else. If for no other reason than their skin. I can literally bet my life on the fact that one of them will be on Lotus Nexis days after we break port after dropping them off.”
“The admiral of that planet wouldn’t allow traffickers,” Pax said, knowing that no trustworthy admiral would ever allow it or ignore it if they knew about it. At least he hoped to Seth they wouldn’t.
“You can’t stop what you can’t prove. And they never leave any evidence.”
Shady had no idea how deep those words burrowed inside Pax. He also knew that it was a horrible time to ask Rannn to approve this and then hope that he was wrong. And heaven help Admiral Aeon if they dropped off the slaves and they were picked back up. But, then again, it involved Jaccy. “Call the captain, put the question to him.”
Pax stayed as Shady explain her point. Within seconds of the call, Ansel was rubbing his head, knowing he had thousands of Flourg to chip. The rest of the miners didn’t have the luminescent skin, only those that worked with phosephenite.
Weary, Pax moved to the private room but didn’t go to the opposite bed. Instead, he moved behind Vivra’s sleeping body and pulled her into his hold. He pressed his nose against her neck and breathed in her smell. It was magnified because she had not showered, but he still felt his body ease at the touch of her cool skin, and her scent that filled his nose, his lungs, and his body.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chipped
Vivra was so warm when she woke up. She also felt more refreshed than she ever had in her life. As if she’d slept for days.
Then she felt the arm around her and a strong body behind her. Opening her eyes, she didn’t recognize the room she was in. She blinked a few times just to make sure she was seeing the right thing.
Yep. She had no idea where she was.
Looking down, she saw a copper-red arm holding her. A scent she knew to be Pax was in the air.
“Pax?” Her voice cracked, and she had to swallow a few times to wet her mouth. “Pax.”
The arm tightened around her. “Hey. Good morning…or whatever time it is.”
Yep, that was Pax. She didn’t have the urge to move, so she leaned back into his warmth. “Where are we?”
“Medical bay.”
Why were they in the medical bay? But as she thought about it, she also began remembering Brica, the slaves, Mish, and…more of Mish.
Tentatively, she touched the tips of her finger to her face. It felt normal.
She pushed off the bed, throwing Pax’s arm off her as she got up and walked out the door, looking for a mirror. To her right was a bathroom. She rushed in, terrified of what she would see. Mish had beaten her unconscious. He must have done permanent damage.
The light turned on as she entered—motion-detected. In the mirror, she saw her mouth open slightly. She also saw her ski
n—as unblemished as it had been before she left.
Impossible.
The door opened, and suddenly Pax was there. “Ansel was able to do reconstructive surgery.”
Oh. No! She’d needed reconstructive surgery? What did she look like before? What had he seen? He must have seen. Deep embarrassment flooded her throat, and she hated it. It burned. It hurt. “How bad?”
“Does it matter?” He looked a little disappointed, and she didn’t know why.
“Yes, it does.” It was her face!
“You died. You were dead. And your facial bones were broken. Ansel had to make synthetic new ones.”
Vivra touched her face again. She had fake bones in her face? She didn’t even feel them. Was that bad? Was she supposed to?
“Shady saved your life—actually, she brought you back to life. I bet you didn’t know she has the ability to send electrical pulses into others through her fingertips.”
Vivra didn’t know that, but she knew that all the cyborgs had remarkable abilities; that’s why she’d accepted the transfers. She needed to find Shady and thank her, maybe find something that showed her appreciation.
“Okay.” It was all she could say as her mind flooded with the things she’d seen. Then she remembered Yon. He was still in that hangar. “Yon’s in the hangar, he’s hurt.”
“He’s fine. We picked him up, too. And all the glowey people.”
“Flourgs,” Vivra corrected, and that’s when she remembered. “Oh. Yelena. Did you see Yelena when you got me?” Vivra didn’t pray, but she hoped to Seth that Mish hadn’t gotten Yelena. The poor, sweet female.
“She’s alive. She’s been waiting outside for you to wake up. She’s been worried about you, too.”
That made Vivra look at him, really look at him. She saw the concern on his face. He was holding a lot of emotions back. Maybe he needed a hug.
She reached up, and he leaned down, pulling her into him and holding her longer than usual.
She smiled inwardly. Poor thing did need a hug. “Thank you for getting me.”
She felt his nose at her neck. It started to move slowly and seductively, and it instantly made her body aware of him. “How did you know I got you?”
She was arrogant enough to say, “Because you like me.”
He moved his mouth over her neck, and she felt his tongue and a little nip. The small act was hot, and she instantly wanted him in her bed. “Yeah, I like you.”
Pax shoved his hand into her hair, but instead of going through it, it got snagged on a knot. He tried to jerk away, but it was too late. Vivra tried to pull her head down and away and just made things worse.
When she felt how grimy her hair was, she wanted to vomit. And the Demon was kissing her?
Gross.
She needed a shower. Hell, they both probably needed one because he didn’t look any cleaner than she did.
“Your hair likes me. See, it’s trying to keep me.”
Despite herself, she laughed. “You’re ridiculous.”
When she was finally free, the moment had passed. He must have read it in her face. “You said you’d be in my room after this, so…you ready to go?”
“No. I’m going to take a shower and file my report while it’s still fresh in my mind. Then I’ll come and see you.”
Pax didn’t seem to like it, but he also didn’t argue. She liked that.
“See you in an hour.” He turned and walked away.
Behind him, Yelena stood, her dark eyes looking at Vivra, her arms at her sides, looking like an animal that wasn’t sure if it was about to be eaten or ignored.
So, Vivra decided to point at her face and say, “How bad was it? You can be honest.”
That snapped Yelena into a run, arms out. They wrapped around Vivra’s neck, and on repeat, the female kept saying, “I’m sorry.”
Okay…everyone needed a hug, apparently. Vivra, being a decent person, hugged the Flourg back. “It’s okay. Not sure why you’re apologizing.”
Yelena stepped back. “I’m so sorry I hid. I should have acted sooner, and then when I did….”
Again, Vivra wasn’t sure what Yelena was apologizing for.
“But I killed him, so he will never hurt anyone again,” the Flourg whispered.
Yelena killed Mish? Vivra felt her head jerk back.
“I had to. He wouldn’t stop hitting you.”
“I’m not mad that you killed him. I’m surprised.” Taking a deep breath, she said, “Thankful you did. I would have died. I mean, I did die, apparently, but I may not have been able to be revived if the damage was too extensive.”
But the words didn’t seem to penetrate. Yelena was still frowning. “I’m so sorry.”
“Well, don’t be. Why don’t you walk with me and fill me in on what happened?” She hooked her arm with Yelena’s and noticed quickly that the female was clean and in Federation-issued shirt and pants. A training outfit, but still, she looked much better than she had before. Her thick, light brown hair was now clean and smooth.
Totally pretty.
“I had a bomb taken out of my head, that’s one thing that happened.”
“Wow…you go straight to the meat of a story. But, okay. Go on.” Vivra led Yelena out of medical and to the elevator.
Quieter this time, Yelena said, “They are dropping us off on Marnak.”
“Yeah? You excited to be free? Eat real food?”
The female shrugged.
“What?” Vivra asked as the door opened for her floor. Vivra pulled Yelena after her and headed down the hallway.
“I’d rather stay here.”
“Why?” Vivra asked, not because she didn’t want Yelena to stay on board, but because she wanted to know why the Flourg wouldn’t want to be set free on Marnak or even be shipped back to Allus, her homeworld.
“I like it here.”
Vivra pressed her hand to her door and walked in, unhooking her arm from Yelena’s. “I’m going to need a better reason than ‘I like it here’ if I’m going to put in a request for you to stay. And, if you remain, you will be put to work. Which means, you will be a FAVII, but as long as you give me a good reason…”
“What jobs are available? I can look at a list and tell you which ones I can do.”
“Other than mining, I assume.”
The side of Yelena’s lip curled. “Yeah, besides that. We had jobs other than the digging. I took care of the air-recycling unit.”
“You took care of the ecosystem?”
“What is that?”
“The air quality.”
“Yes. I mean, yes, I did that. I took care of the air quality. Being in an underground mine, there has to be proper air flow. In addition to proper material retrieval flow, but that wasn’t my job.”
Vivra smiled and pointed to the chair next to her small table. “Take a seat while I shower. I will put in the order after I get out.” Right before she stepped into the bathroom, she hollered, “If you’re hungry, I have some bula pasta in my refrigerator. Help yourself.”
“Okay.”
Vivra took a long shower and cleaned every part of herself twice, except for her hair—that she washed three times. When she stepped out in a towel, she grabbed clean clothes from the closet and dressed in the bathroom.
Afterward, she saw an opened but uneaten bula packet. She lifted the corners. “You didn’t like it?”
“No. I’m sorry.” Yelena was looking at the table as she spoke.
“No problem. It’s not for everyone.” Vivra tossed it into the trash then opened a new one and warmed it up. While she was doing so, she began filling out the paperwork. She finished the forms and submitted it to the captain, then closed down her Minky pad, ignoring the logistics requests. Checking the clock, she saw she had thirty-two minutes before the hour she had given Pax was up.
She sat down at the table, put her hands down and said, “I don’t think the captain is going to deny my request,
especially since you have experience.”
“Thank you,” Yelena said, pulling her lips into her mouth.
“But you’ll need to take a test. If you pass, you will go straight to work. If you don’t pass,” she added quickly, seeing the look of fear in the female’s eyes, “then you will take a few training courses. After that, you will be up and running. Regardless, you will be working soon. So, while I was filling out your form, I also assigned you a cabin. You want to see it?”
Yelena didn’t move or get excited.
“Really?”
Vivra already hated how Yelena seemed to be hearing but not believing her. “Yes, really. Now, let’s go see your new room.”
“I was already assigned a room,” Yelena said quietly as if the information would upset Vivra.
Vivra didn’t like to see any female acting like this, so scared for her life. Scared of her…well, to be honest, Vivra kind of liked it when other females were scared of her, but this was excessive.
“Well, I assigned you a better one because all the berthing rooms were issued out.”
A small, tentative smile lit Yelena’s face and then she was up. Vivra hooked the female’s arm again when they were in the hall, and they walked down a few cabins. She coded Yelena’s biometrics into the door and then said, “Here you are!”
***
Vivra finally saw Yelena calm down and look a little bit comfortable once in her own room, but it might take time for the Flourg to adjust. The female didn’t even seem excited when Vivra told her that the request for FAVII had been approved by the captain.
But it had been way longer than an hour, and Vivra needed to go see Pax. Needed to get some one-on-one time with the Demon and that mouth of his.
The door slid back, and Clalls was there, his eyes…cold.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
He didn’t say anything, but she saw his nostrils flare. She stepped to the side and entered the hallway, not about to play a guessing game regarding whatever the Demon’s problem was.