The Last Narkoy: Gathow: Book 2

by Elizabeth Price

  The group turned back to their tasks, leaving Sedom to open the door. The door opened to a surprisingly clean office. All of the furniture was new and the drapes. She went to the window behind the desk and looked out. Outside had a perfect view of a small park that sat in the middle of the first floor. She could see several children playing in the park just as she did when she was younger.

  “First time back?” Danstu asked from beside her. Sedom nodded. “I hope you don’t mind. I thought it could use some spit and polish,” he mentioned.

  “As long as it wasn’t your spit,” she joked. “From now on, house families on levels two and three. There’s better facilities for children… more parks and schools. Keep level one available for higher-ranking officers and political advisors,” she ordered.

  “Sounds like a good idea. I’m going to have the Bockines brothers start on the stones. What is the pass code?” he asked.

  “Two-two-three-nine-five,” Sedom said. After she told him, he left. Sedom turned back to her office chair, grinning. She just gave Danstu her complete trust yet she didn’t blink an eye.

  She pressed her thumb to the computer on her desk. A moment later a letter appeared on her monitor. It was a letter to her, personally, from her grandmother. Sedom’s eyes widened as she read. Everything she questioned, ever command decision she ever made, believing it was her decision, was written in her grandmother’s own words as exactly what she should have done.

  “She wanted me to reopen Gathow,” she said out loud. She read further, pointing her finger at a paragraph about the Oslo. “Son-of-a…” she huffed, standing. “Great, just great!” she yelled so loud that it caused those outside her office to take notice. She walked over, closing the door. “Okay, computer, where is the Enisos moon?” she called out.

  She hurried back to her computer, examining the map that had appeared. “Why in the hell did you do that?” she gasped.

  NINETEEN

  Zion glanced up from the table having heard the door open.

  For a long moment, he waited not seeing anyone enter. He wanted to blame it on the wind, but being that they lived in an underground city, the wind was hardly an issue.

  “What's this game called again?” Lolum asked Godwin as he thumbed at his cards.

  Godwin looked over the tops of his cards, his face stone. “Poker.”

  “Leave it to humans to take a piece of paper and turn it into a game,” Zion joked.

  “Remind me not to play with Sortec. Something tells me she'd be a natural,” Noral said with a snicker. “Though playing with a mind-reader has me concerned,” he nudged across the table to Zion.

  “I should give it a try sometime,” Sedom spoke from the doorway.

  The sudden sound of her voice made the five men in the group stand.

  “Chadon, to what do we owe this honor so late at night?” Zion asked.

  Sedom strolled into the room, glancing over the cards on the table. “Have a seat, boys. It was quiet. I thought I'd see what you were up to. No good I see,” she joked.

  The men all took their seats. All but Godwin seemed on edge with Sedom in the room.

  “Something like that,” Lolum mentioned settling back into his seat. “How's the hunting?”

  Sedom took up a seat between Lolum and Zion. “Boring. There's no Marisheio in the area. I guess they're learning to leave us alone.”

  “Don't count on it,” Dranuim grunted. “Well I'm out,” Dranuim grumbled, folding his cards on the table.

  “Me too,” Noral said with a tired sigh. “Last time I play cards with a human,” he joked.

  “Didn't you learn your lesson about humans?” Sedom said glaring at Godwin.

  Godwin stood glaring back. “Problem, Chadon? Last I checked I've never wronged you,” he asked plainly, but forceful enough to make Sedom know he would not back down.

  Sedom rose, her hand holding her up against the table as she glared directly back at Godwin. “Should there be?” she asked back. “Because I can certainly oblige you.”

  Lolum grabbed the back of Godwin's shirt, pulling him into his seat. “Don't,” he barked.

  Godwin inched his way back into his seat, Sedom following suit. She took up the discarded cards and then gathered up the rest from the players still holding cards. “Tell you what, you and me right now. Five cards, no wild.”

  “Since when did you learn to play cards?” Lolum asked within a nervous chuckle.

  Sedom gleamed. “Who said I have?” she said with a wink. She shuffled the deck three times then dealt out the cards.

  “What's the stakes?” Godwin asked, taking up the cards.

  “I win, you recruit and train five men to fix my ships,” Sedom started.

  “And if I win?” he asked.

  Sedom smirked as she thought. “I'll give you back your ship and everything you need to fix it,” she offered. “Fair trade.”

  Godwin glanced at his cards amused. “Fine. I'll take four cards.”

  The rest of the men stood around the table, watching the two with amusement. Sedom dealt Godwin four cards and then herself three.

  “Let's up the stakes a little, shall we? How about I get to keep one of your ships instead,” Godwin began as he studied Sedom's placid expression.

  Sedom chuckled. “Fine. In return if I win, you remain here for the next five years servicing my ships, no questions asked, ” she replied.

  Godwin nodded.

  “Bad move. Bad move,” Zion said.

  “Deal, show them,” Sedom ordered.

  “Full house, threes and fives,” Godwin stated with a stylish, toothy grin.

  Sedom nodded, her eyes turned to her cards as she let out a deep breath. “Straight flush, queen high,” she said with an equally deviant smirk. “Start work tomorrow on mine first. It's the big ship with the blue wings. It has Tevon Devok painted on the side.” She stood motioning to Zion. “Walk with me,” she ordered.

  As soon as Sedom and Zion were clear of the room Godwin took up Sedom's cards, not able to believe what happened. “How the hell did she do that?”

  Dranium chuckled, Lolum following his lead. “She cheated,” he stated.

  “Cheated, how?”

  Lolum patted the man's shoulder. “She memorized the cards when she was shuffling. She knew exactly what you were holding. Don't feel bad, she's tricked us all from time to time.”

  “I don't understand why she'd want to. She hates me being here,” Godwin pointed out.

  “We need a mechanic,” Dranuim said. “She pulled a similar trick on me to keep me here fixing the computer systems. Best bet I ever lost,” he said.

  Godwin held Lolum to the side. “Well don't I feel lucky. What does Tevon Devok mean?”

  A deviant smile crossed the old man's lips. “Hell Cat.” He patted Godwin's shoulder. “Welcome to our world. It only gets interesting from here.”

  Outside Lolum's apartment, Zion walked alongside Sedom, wondering what was on her mind. She seldom came right out and asked for anything, but the tension he felt from her told him she was about to.

  “My bed is calling me so out with it, Sortec,” he demanded.

  “I need volunteers for another mission,” she began.

  Zion hesitated to answer right away. “Am I rescuing any more Marisheio? If that’s the case I’m not interested. I still have a headache from the last one you brought home,” he asked with a scowl.

  Sedom shook her head, holding back her chuckles. She knew secretly he liked Ratisha, even if he claimed otherwise. “No… no more Marisheio. There's enough roaming around Gathow. This time it's more dangerous. I don’t want to order anyone to join us if they don’t want to.”

  “You make it sound... intimidating. I didn't picture you the type to add drama to a situation. You know my answer is always yes.” He shuffled his feet uneasily, causing Sedom to do so also. “You’re nervous?” he questioned, finding her demeanor rather shocking.

  “Slightly,” she admitted.

  He continued to wat
ch her, waiting for her to elaborate further. When she didn’t he asked, “How many, who, and how much fire-power?”

  Sedom glanced around the empty streets of Gathow. Even though she had allowed more people in Gathow, the city’s enormous size still made it feel empty. “It’s more of a where. I want to find the Oslo and bring it back here. The problem is that the ship is cloaked around a moon in the Domaris system.” She removed a computer pad from her jacket and handed it to him.

  He stared tensely at the screen for a moment. “Domaris? We have to cross through the Cha’lan system in order to reach the Domaris system,” he pointed out.

  She nodded as she took back the computer. “Yes. This leaves me in quite a dilemma. The ship won’t operate without me on board. We can’t take a Narkoy ship even close to the Cha’lan system without the Marisheio taking notice of us. I’m going to need a team to help me planet-hop and get me safely on board that ship. It’s not going to be easy.”

  Zion’s eyes turned to the ground as he thought. “I thought you said the Oslo was in the Nevet system?” he mentioned.

  Sedom grinned a grin of someone caught in a lie. “My most powerful ship is docked on the backdoor of my enemy’s planet. Would you volunteer that information?” she asked coyly.

  “Suppose not,” he agreed, but still his eyes remained tensely on her as if telling her he knew there was something else.

  Sedom flipped to another image on her computer pad, handing it to Zion. He examined it, his eyes widening. “Two ships?”

  Sedom exhaled an unsteady breath. “The Azeran. The Oslo’s sister ship, which is docked in the Nevet system. It sustained massive damage about thirty years ago when my grandmother used it to attack a Marisheio outpost near the Cha’lan boarder.”

  Zion’s dark skin flushed. “Peaceful? I thought--”

  Sedom shook her head. “So did the rest of the galaxy, including me. I just recently learned about this. Apparently my grandmother had been using this base for military operations and hiding it under the guise of peace. She was the one who reopened the main floor. We all thought it was peaceful negotiations between rival worlds. We were wrong. The Marisheio attacked us because we attacked them. It just took them thirty years to figure it out,” she whispered low. “Something I wish to keep between us,” she hinted.

  “Understood. So why not fix this…”

  “Azeran? I need the Oslo to know how to fix it. The ships main computer is fried. I need to copy the Oslo’s main computer and install it into the Azeran,” she explained. She wrapped her hand around his right bicep, her hand only able to hold half of his bulging muscle. “I need your help to convince Noral and especially Dranium to come along. I need a doctor and a technology expert just in case.”

  Zion turned back to Lolum's apartment smirking. “Noral’s not combat ready. If I were to choose, I’d choose Orion. As for Dranium, it took a damn miracle to get him out of his tower to play poker. The man's still afraid of his own shadow and I don't like the idea taking him into a potentially dangerous situation. I’ll find someone else. How about asking Rosanheer?”

  “Thinking about it, I’m going to need Qilo to pilot the Oslo home. Refrain from bringing Rosanheer if you can. He’s a traitor to his people and if we are caught, they will show him no mercy. No more than eight. I’m going to ask Tremble and see if she’d be willing to come along. We'll need a little muscle just in case.”

  “I thought that's why we have you around?” Zion joked.

  Sedom blinked several times, attempting to understand what he meant. “Oh, funny, little muscle. Ha... ha,” she said with a scowl as though she still did not quite understand. “Gather your team together by tomorrow afternoon. We'll meet in my quarters and I'll explain what we're up against then.” She started to walk away, but in mid-step paused. “And Zion, don't lose to a human. It's embarrassing.”

  “I wasn't going to lose,” Zion called back in protest.

  “Never hold aces and eights, you're asking for trouble,” she said with a wink then continued to walk away.

  “How the hell did she know that?” Zion asked himself, shaking his head in amusement.

  Rosanheer poked his head out of the door, seeing if the coast was clear. “She gone?” he called to Zion who grunted in response. “What did she want?”

  “New mission—“ he started to explain when suddenly three orbs dropped down beside him, all three glowing red.

  “Intruder alert. There is a perimeter breach in the forest,” the lead orb announced.

  Zion rolled his head across his aching shoulders. “I better go see what’s going on.”

  “I’ll join you. I need some fresh air. You can explain to me in route,” Rosanheer offered.

  TWENTY

  Inside her quarters Sedom relaxed back on her new sofa, staring up at her bookshelves. So many books written by her people, yet she knew very little of who and what kind of people they were. Even Narkoy from her own city, ten years and she barely scratched the surface of who they were. She could read every book on her shelves or in the ancient library and still only have a vague clue what being Narkoy was.

  “When are you leaving this time?” Garric asked from the doorway.

  “I thought I told you to knock?” she asked. Her eyes were closed.

  “You could tell it was me when I opened the door,” Garric smarted back. “How long?”

  Sedom shrugged and remained silent. She had no desire to talk to Garric and she was a little frustrated that her servant took the liberties to disobey her.

  Garric crept into the room noticing her aloft expression. “I knocked four times, you didn't answer the door. I thought you might be in trouble.”

  “I didn't want company,” Sedom grumbled back displeased.

  He took a seat in a green high-back wing chair. “When you say you don't want company, I've learned it means the opposite. Where are you going this time and for how long?”

  “What's it to you?” Sedom barked back.

  “It means my master is leaving and I'm stuck here among a group of Marisheio haters, fending for myself until she returns. I want to know...”

  Sedom swung her legs to the ground and wiped her hands over her face. “I have a project for you that will keep you busy while I'm gone and I'll transfer your commands to Lolum to be on the safe side. He has no ill-feeling towards you.”

  Garric's green eyes widened. “So there's a possibility you won't come back?”

  Sedom allowed a deep breath to fill her lungs. She could feel her hands tingling, though she was not sure why exactly. Was it the anticipation of seeing the Oslo or was she simply frustrated with all of Garric's questions? “Every time I go to the surface, fly my ship, or even wake up in the morning there's a good possibility that I won't come back. I'm becoming wise to taking percussions.”

  Garric's eyes turned to his hands. “Understood. So you don't know when you'll be back?”

  Sedom stood, wandering into her kitchen. “When I'm back. Would you like some tea?”

  Garric waved Sedom on. “No, I don't sleep as it is.”

  Sedom ordered her tea from the food replicator, thinking at the same time how she could respond to his comment. “Have you talked to Hasapoi? Maybe he can help?” When she did not hear a response she turned back to Garric. To her surprise his hands were shaking. Noticing her noticing him, Garric hid his hands in the pockets of his jacket. “Talk to Hasapoi,” she ordered more direct.

  “He'll tell me the first thing that would help is not to be a slave,” he pointed out with a grimace. “I chose this life, but...”

  “There are days,” she repeated, as he had so many times over the past two years together. Sedom curled back on the sofa with her tea in hand. “Well thanks to Dranium we have our monitoring station back up and running. Starting tomorrow, I want you to monitor all in coming and outbound Marisheio transmissions and keep detailed records. I’m allowing you full access to the library.”

  A slight grin appeared in the right corner of Garri
c’s pale-green lips. “Spy on my own, locked away in a tower. Fitting,” he smirked. “Anything in particular I'm listening for?”

  Sedom shrugged. “I think you’d know by now,” she winked. “Hints at finding Gathow would be the most obvious. If you did hear something concerning us, again go to Lolum.”

  Garric frown with obvious concern. “Lolum? You do know he can't read?”

  Sedom's face grew stern. “Damn, I forgot about that. I guess that’s another thing I’ll have to give to Danstu to take care of.”

  Garric shrugged. “I’ll help Lolum figure it out. At least I don't feel threatened by him. Surprising, considering his background. Looks like I will be busy,” he smirked. He rose from his seat and gave Sedom a slight bow. “I'll head back and see if I can get some sleep. You won't be leaving right away?”

  Sedom shook her head. “No. Zion hasn't picked a team. We'll probably leave in a few days. I want to make sure everyone is well prepared.”

  The air grew thick as Garric continued to stare at Sedom. He finally nodded, understanding that he was not going to get any answers out of her tonight. “I'll see what I can get out of Zion tomorrow,” he half-joked. “See you in the morning.”

  She grunted, not buying into his attempt. The door closed and the room grew eerily silent. Sedom picked up her book, which was sitting on the arm of the sofa, and began reading again. After only a short time of reading Sedom's ears began to ring. There was no noise and the lack of noise was deafening to her. She slapped the book closed, hearing the rushing of pages and the whoosh of air as the book connected with either of its sides. The sound was short-lived though. She opened the book, the spine creaking from age. Again she slapped the book together. Still... even with this mild distraction her ears still hurt.

  The troublesome squeak on her bottom stairs entrance echoed in her ears like a whisper, faint enough to be heard if someone knew what they were listening for. Someone was coming to see her. She listened, hoping to hear footsteps. She had learned everyone's footsteps that she was friendly enough to speak with. Nothing.