by John Coon
Xttra cracked a smirk and shook his head.
“Take a look around. This is my solar system.” He made no effort to hide the smugness in his voice. “You’re a long way from Thetia. There’s no part of Fengar where you can hide from the Stellar Guard for long.”
Kyra cocked her head at him, and a knowing smile spread across her lips.
“Is that a fact? I know everything I need to know about Lathos. The same is true with you, Xttra Oogan.”
Xttra’s eyes grew as wide as plates. A chill crawled up his spine. His heart now shook violently as though a hammer repeatedly struck it.
“How do you know my name?”
“I know much more than a name. I soaked up many details of your life while watching you and your beloved Calandra over the course of several weeks.”
She leaned over him and rested her palms on top of his bound forearms. Kyra drew close enough to his face for him to smell the fragrance she wore. Her scent reminded Xttra of soli flowers, a plant that grew in abundance in the Cassian Mountains. The same mountains bordered the Cassia Province which formed part of the Confederation of Northern Tribes.
Did these Thetians journey to Lathos and operate as hidden spies in Ra’ahm? That scenario did not seem possible. Still, Kyra’s fragrance told him they had not stayed exclusively on Fengar.
“Who are you? Why have you been spying on me?”
“You possess critical information you can offer us. Information unavailable through normal channels.”
A crease formed in his brow.
“What information?”
“Simple.” Kyra straightened up and circled the chair where Xttra remained bound. “You’re going to take us to the planet you call Earth.”
Xttra clenched his jaw and jerked against the metal bands holding his arms and legs in place.
“I will never set foot on that planet again!”
“You’ll cooperate with our wishes. That is if you ever want to see your wife again.”
“Are you threatening me?”
Kyra stopped and thrust an index finger at Xttra.
“No threats. Only a promise.”
Xttra swallowed hard and licked his lips. His thoughts turned to Calandra. Did agents in league with these Thetians infiltrate Luma? Was she safe? Fear, like a clawed hand, squeezed his heart in its tightening grip.
“What did you do to Calandra?”
“Nothing. She’s perfectly safe at home inside your apartment in Luma—for now.”
Panic tightened his throat. Xttra struggled to keep his breathing calm and steady and felt certain Kyra sensed each of those tightening breaths. If only he somehow wriggled a hand free and retrieved his arca vox, then he could warn his crew and instruct them to take Calandra into hiding at once.
His crew.
A new horrifying thought bubbled to the surface. Did these Thetians also ambush his scout ship?
“What happened to my ship and crew?”
“They’re in the same place you left them,” Xander said, glancing up from the helm. He hunched over the console while checking data on a small screen. “Our only aim was to capture you.”
Xttra shot him an icy stare.
“You’ll never get away with this. The Stellar Guard does not shy away from doling out justice to Thetian scum. They will find you. Count on it.”
Kyra laughed. Contempt radiated from her face like sunlight.
“The Stellar Guard? Seriously? Your precious military won’t find us in a thousand years once we leave Fengar.”
“You can’t stay hidden forever. You’re all fugitives now. No way will the Thetian military, or your planetary council, jeopardize peaceful relations with Lathos so you can save your skins.”
“You’re making a bold assumption, Xttra Oogan.”
“And what assumption is that?”
“What makes you think Thetian leadership knows what’s happening here?”
Xttra pressed his lips together and drummed his fingers on the end of the armrest. Her sarcastic attitude and contempt annoyed him, but it also might play into her divulging the information he needed at some point.
“You are Thetians.”
Kyra smirked and shook her head.
“This is a Thetian ship. We are not Thetians.”
Xttra’s face contorted into a puzzled expression. At once, Kyra peeled off her brow ridge and throat gills and tossed them aside on the floor of the bridge. She then slid the webbing off from between her fingers like a glove. Other crew members followed suit and removed all Thetian features from their bodies. His eyes widened as they all revealed their true appearance.
“Who are you?”
“We are from the Confederation.”
Pride swelled in Kyra’s voice as she made that revealing declaration. Heat rose under Xttra’s collar. Their knowledge of him and Calandra, and ability to spy on them, all made sense. Confederation officials were unable to examine the Earth probe Calandra discovered before he seized possession of the interstellar object in the Ice Belt. Now they had abducted him in a desperate bid to outdo Ra’ahm, following Xttra’s first contact expedition to the Aramus system.
“You stole the Earth probe out from under one of our deep space vessels nearly two years ago,” Xander said. He turned and directed a pointed glare at Xttra. “Now we’re setting everything right.”
Xttra answered him with an incredulous stare.
“What do you hope to accomplish by going to Earth? What does the Confederation of Northern Tribes gain from visiting that wretched planet?”
“A new trading partner. A new military ally. Who knows? We’ll work out all those crucial details once we meet with the Earthian leaders.”
Xttra lifted his chin and cracked an enigmatic smile. These Confederation fools had no clue what awaited them on such a dangerous planet. They would be fortunate to escape with their lives.
“Good luck. You’ll need every bit Ahm will grant you.”
A scowl deepened on Kyra’s lips. She took a step forward and grabbed him by the chin. Her fingers pressed into his jawbone.
“Your cooperation is not optional.”
Kyra’s eyes lingered on his own for a few seconds longer. Xttra refused to blink or flinch. These Confederation setaworms could not entertain even a momentary thought they were intimidating him. She finally relaxed her grip on his jaw and stepped back from the chair. Kyra flashed an annoyed smile.
“What we want is simple,” she said. “You will give us the coordinates for Earth inside the Aramus system. Then, you’ll help us contact Earthian political and military leadership so we can form an alliance.”
“You already know which star Earth orbits,” Xttra replied. “Why do you need me to chart a route for you?”
“Believe me. You were far from our first choice.”
“Is that a fact?”
“I wanted the Earthian you brought back on board. But he proved much too elusive for our agents.”
His ears perked up at her mention of Kevin. Finding him drove the whole purpose behind Xttra’s mission. He now worried what fate overtook his Earthian friend. Did he remain on Fengar? Or flee to another place altogether to escape the clutches of both Confederation and Ra’ahm leadership?
Kyra drew closer to the chair again, hunched over Xttra, and loosened the straps on his mounted pulse cannon. Then, she ripped it—metal plate and all—off his upper arm and shoulder. The Confederation agent pointed the cannon’s barrel straight at his chest.
“Where did you conceal the remote controlling this pulse cannon?”
Xttra shrugged. His lips formed into a half-smirk.
“In all the excitement out there, I must have dropped it among the shipping containers. Maybe you should step outside and look around.”
Kyra glowered at him. She set the pulse cannon on the floor a
nd snapped her head toward a station ahead of the helm.
“Search him, Cavac. We don’t have time to play games with this ictus bug.”
A stocky man with hair shorn down to a dark fuzz approached him. His appearance stood out from the other Confederation crew members. Both hands were overlayed with a metallic shell that extended under his uniform sleeves. A thumb-sized cube-shaped neural processor jutted out from his left temple. An ocular implant filled his right eye socket. The implant continuously shifted or turned based on how much light and movement it sensed around Cavac.
Xttra scrunched up his face.
“You’re a melder aren’t you? Just my lucky day.”
Cavac scowled. His natural eye dropped into a half-squint. The ocular implant remained wide open. It shifted and spun while focusing on Xttra. Gazing at the implant sent a shudder through him. The melder scanned Xttra from head to toe, dropping his chin and slowly raising it again as his gaze moved upward. When Cavac reached Xttra’s chest pouch, his natural eye opened wide again.
“Found it.”
He thrust a hand inside the pouch and drew out the pulse cannon remote. Xttra’s eyes darted down to his chest and back up to Cavac. An unsettling toothy grin emerged on the melder’s face. He stepped away from the chair, turned, and tossed the remote over to Kyra. She thrust up her left hand and snatched it out of the air.
Kyra pressed a button to activate the pulse cannon. She hoisted it off the floor and aimed the barrel squarely at Xttra’s chest.
“Now your flex armor underneath your uniform might protect you from an electromagnetic bolt.” She flashed a knowing smile as she spoke. “But I’m guessing it will amplify the bolt’s effects. Do you want to test my theory out? Or will you give me the coordinates for Earth?”
Xttra knitted his brows together and glared at her.
“Use your brain. Find the planet yourself, like I did.”
“Do you think I’m bluffing?”
“You wouldn’t expend so much time and energy in capturing me simply to kill me.”
An electromagnetic bolt leapt from the barrel and slammed into his chest with sudden ferocity. Xttra clenched his teeth and let out a pained moan as the bolt spread across his chest like electrically charged webbing. It vanished a few seconds later.
His eyes widened and Xttra panted. Kyra was crazy. She needed him alive. That bolt could have killed him. Had he miscalculated their need for him?
“I knew I was correct,” Kyra said. “Now, if I leave this on the stun setting, I can keep going for a while. Do you think you can do the same?”
Xttra’s stare hardened and deepened. He spit on the floor in front of her.
“Wow. You are one stubborn Ra’ahmian fool.”
She fired a second bolt in the same spot as before. Xttra pinched his eyelids shut and clenched his teeth a second time. The electric charge startled him with the same abrupt energy as a chill enveloping his body after diving into a mountain lake. When this second bolt finally dissipated, Xttra panted much harder than the first time.
Kyra lowered the barrel and rested the pulse cannon against her hip.
“You have the power to make this stop. Give us the Earth coordinates. Simple solution. Your choice.”
Xttra lowered his head. He didn’t like his odds of withstanding the pain a third bolt promised to bring.
“I’ll tell you.” His voice devolved into a hoarse whisper. “I’ll tell you what you want to know.”
Kyra set the pulse cannon on the floor again and snapped her head at Cavac. She motioned for him to draw closer to the chair a second time.
“Take down the coordinates. I’ll get us off this rock so we can power up the hyperlight engines and go.”
Xttra refused to make eye contact with Cavac as he approached. His worst nightmare had been set in motion and no options remained for him to stop it.
He was returning to Earth.
7
Calandra’s heart sank when Bo’un’s image popped up on her arca vox. His deep frown and concerned eyes told her something awful had occurred. She did not need to be an oracle of Ahm to sense it involved Xttra.
“I wish I came to you bearing better news.” Bo’un adopted an apologetic tone from the moment he opened his mouth. “After everything you’ve endured, you don’t deserve this.”
“Don’t deserve what? Bo’un? What happened?”
“Your husband was taken prisoner on Fengar.”
Calandra sank back against the cushions on her couch. Her throat tightened and tears welled up in her eyes. She brushed them away with her forearm.
“How did this happen?” A distinct tremor gripped Calandra’s voice as she forced herself to ask a painful but necessary question. “Who took him as a prisoner?”
Bo’un cast his light gray eyes downward.
“I have no idea. Our meeting with the Thetian delegation turned out to be a trap. We were ambushed inside the shipping port at the Thetian trade colony.”
“Ambushed?”
“Someone fired laser bolts at us. We made a run for the scout ship and became separated from Xttra on the way. He never rejoined us.”
“No! … No.” Calandra’s lips trembled, and her voice cracked. “This was supposed to be his last mission.”
Bo’un raised his head. A fresh look of determination rested on his scarred face.
“I’ll find him,” he said. “I’ll track him to the ends of this galaxy if that’s what it takes. I give you my word.”
Calandra let her eyes drift away from the holoscreen. Numbness blanketed her whole body. Someone snatched Xttra away from her without warning. All Calandra could do was watch helplessly while her life crumbled like aging bricks into a ruinous heap. Why did Ahm keep allowing so many terrible events to unfold?
Fresh tears ran down both cheeks. Calandra sniffled and refocused her gaze on the holoscreen.
“Did you contact the Thetians?”
“I did. All I learned is they lost contact with one of their spaceships and its crew after unidentified attackers boarded the vessel.”
Not knowing who abducted him or where they took him filled Calandra with fear. It crawled along her spine and seeped into every cell along the way. Tremors gripped her hand, and her eyes formed a half-squint as she tried to hold back more tears from forming.
“Please bring him home,” Calandra said. “I don’t know what I’ll do without Xttra here, safe with me.”
Bo’un answered with a slow nod. He had also grown teary-eyed at this point.
“Whatever it takes, I’ll bring him back. I promise.”
His image vanished from the holoscreen. Calandra set down her arca vox on the table. Her face contorted. Tears burst forth anew a second later. Calandra buried her eyes in her right hand and sobbed.
He was gone. Xttra was gone.
Stolen from her.
Why?
That one question scratched and broke through to the surface. What did anyone gain from abducting Xttra? He wielded no political power. His authority within the Stellar Guard did not extend beyond commanding his own scout ship. What happened to him made no sense.
A small furry body rubbed up against her leg. Calandra pulled away her hand and cast her eyes down at the floor. Bella stood on her back paws and stuck her front paws on Calandra’s right knee. The little cala cocked her head to the side. Her wide unblinking yellow eyes stared up at Calandra’s tear-stained face.
“Hi sweetheart.” Emotion choked her voice. “I’m so glad you’re here right now. I don’t want to be alone.”
Calandra dropped her hand and stroked silvery gray fur adorning Bella’s head. The cala closed her eyes and bumped her snout and whiskers against that same hand. An audible coo greeted Calandra’s ears.
Before she entered hibernation during the journey to Earth, Calandra wondered if Bella would st
ill remember her when she returned home to Lathos. She always heard and read how calas only had short-term memories. Naturally, Calandra expected Bella to be skittish and elusive when she paid Alayna a visit soon after losing her arm. Bella defied those expectations. Her beloved cala sprang from her nest when Calandra opened the door, scurried down the smooth senosa wood post holding it aloft, and bounded straight toward her. For Bella, recognition was both instant and permanent.
Did Bella mourn her absence during their year apart? Did the absence of her familiar face or her familiar scent haunt the cala? Those questions gnawed at Calandra after their reunion. Alayna, of course, spent considerable time and energy doing everything possible to keep the little animal happy and healthy. Still, no one ever expected her to fully replace what Bella lost—even temporarily.
Calandra pulled her hand away from her pet. Her eyes wandered over to a sculpture sitting on a shelf mounted against the opposite wall. The sculpture depicted a spherical compass. Light grey stone, washed in a purple dye, formed the sphere. A single spindle jutted out from each end. Words circled the equator, spelling out a familiar saying drawn from pages in the Book of Ahm. Calandra knew each word by heart. This sculpture symbolized the traveler’s compass and offered a promise to lost and lonely travelers. If a traveler accepted Ahm as their only guide, they would find the true path leading to his holy dwelling.
Xttra will not become lost. I will bring him home.
She rose to her feet. This resolution breathed a new determination into her body and soul. Calandra marched over to the closed balcony doors and gazed upon fraxa trees lining the streets below her apartment. Budding scarlet leaves shook as a gust of wind swayed their parent branches. Her eyes traced the Luma skyline beyond the window and soon focused on an ornate box-shaped building. A broad domed tower rose from the middle. Twin spires adorned the top.
Their chief sovereign would be inside that building tomorrow to address the Ra’ahm National Assembly. Gaining an audience with him would be Calandra’s first step to rescuing Xttra.
***
Nerves and muscles quivered in unison as Calandra climbed steps leading to the main doors of the national assembly chamber. She drew a deep breath and worked to soothe her agitated mind. Still, her efforts did little to dissipate worried feelings swarming over her like a colony of agitated Ictus bugs.
