Ensign Probus

by Wendie Nordgren

  Sparrow’s eyes focused on the sphere I wore around my neck. It had started to glow faintly. I nodded at her silent understanding and pulled the compass my team and I had taught the alien to use from a pocket. However, just then, a man came at us through the crowd and grabbed Tracy’s arm and pulled a weapon. Before he could utter any threats or demands, Thunderdrop was on him and sinking his fangs into the man’s throat. The male sat heavily on a chair beside her and made inarticulate noises while Thunderdrop secured him to it with silk.

  “As I was saying, I have my own mission.”

  “Stars! Are you crazy? This is no time to earn a badge for finding true north. I need to get you all out of here. Then, I’ll come back for Svenson and the other ladies.”

  I stared hard into her eyes. I’d had enough of her pedantic shit. “Phillip can handle himself. He’ll keep them safe. Better yet, go on and get them first.”

  “My orders are to guard you, first and foremost,” she scanned around the bar for threats. “I’ll take you to my shuttle by force if I have to.”

  Thunderdrop hissed at her, and Sparrow pointed a plasti sonic blaster at her from across the table. “The fuck you will,” she said. Captain Espanoza opened her mouth, but Sparrow interrupted her. “The fuck you gonna do about it? Tell my Daddy on me like you told Gram on Teagan? How’d that work out for you? You like the pretty pillows she sent? My mother’s a fucking whore, so what you get from me as an apology won’t be near as nice.”

  Espanoza held her hands still on the table.

  I asked, “Are you with us or against us?”

  “With,” she said in a voice like cold stone.

  Tracy armed herself with the now dead man’s weapons and gave us a nod. Thunderdrop hadn’t been playing around. Through our bravado, I knew we were all scared. We didn’t know what was happening to our men or what was trying to hold them, and Nico had gone silent in my ear which meant we were being monitored.

  Looking more like a fortune teller than a princess or an ensign, I held the faintly glowing sphere on one palm and the compass on the other. I whispered to the alien lifeform, “Show us where you want to go. Point us in the direction you want us to take.”

  The sphere glowed. Green light danced across its surface casting my face in a ghoulish illumination and touched upon the compass, making its arrow spin before it settled on north-east.

  “Let’s move,” I said as I stood. “Watch her, Thunderdrop. I made a promise, and I intend to keep it.”

  “Chirp.”

  We meandered carefully through the crush of intoxicated bar patrons and out into the street where we moved toward our goal while trying to appear aimless so as not to draw attention.

  Out of the bar and able to hear with less of an effort, her hushed question reached me. “What is that?”

  Deciding it was pointless not to come clean now, I said, “I found more than a piece of alien metal on Luna 241. I have a lot in common with it. We were both taken from our people and imprisoned in hostile alien territory, and neither one of us knows who we can trust other than each other.”

  “Christ. It’s a lifeform,” she said while scanning me.

  “Like you didn’t know?” Sparrow asked sarcastically.

  “No, I didn’t know! Why didn’t you report it? Do you have any idea what this means?” Espanoza asked.

  “No, but I intend to find out.” I followed where the compass arrow pointed.

  “Why didn’t you share this with us? We could have investigated!”

  I snorted. “Who would we have been able to trust with it, Eric and Quaid? They’ve turned their backs on me.”

  “No, they haven’t. They are following orders.”

  “Oh, who gave those orders? Was it the same government who hid the fact that the Asylum’s escape pods landed in a desert not too far from our present location?”

  The pointing arrow led us away from the cordoned-off festivities and into a quiet neighborhood. Thankfully, we didn’t see any mercenaries following us. We kept walking until we stopped in front of a nondescript house in a cookie cutter neighborhood where all the lights were out suggesting no one was home in any of them. Shielded from a solar streetlight, we stood under the porch while Sparrow worked her magic on the door’s palm scanner.

  Espanoza held her weapons up and motioned for us to get out of the way and let her enter first. She nudged the door open, and blaster fire had my ladies and me jumping farther away from the door. Rapidly returning fire, she entered. Then, she called out, “Only two guards, and it’s not what I expected inside from the curb appeal.”

  Slipping inside and closing the door behind us, we looked around a dark, empty room. Two downed guards on the floor were the only decorations. There was a lift.

  Tracy asked, “Why does a single-story home need a lift?”

  Espanoza holstered one of her weapons under her skirt and pulled out her scanner. “This isn’t a real neighborhood. Someone bought all of the surrounding property and is using it to hide in plain sight. The lift goes down.” She crouched, her skirt pooling around her like blood, and pried off the control panel.

  I swirled around with my weapons ready when the front door was kicked open. A familiar feeling kept my finger from pushing the trigger. “Eli! Rovek! Thank the stars!” I said as I felt my bond to Eli and fell into the safety it provided me.

  “We followed you here, but I could feel you.” Eli sounded inordinately pleased at having discovered another means by which to track me.

  Espanoza said, “It’s locked and coded,” from where she struggled to gain access to the lift.

  “Here. Allow me,” Rovek said. He took over for her and quickly overrode the lift’s security protocols.

  “What’s happening to Jazon?” Tracy asked. “They’ve shut us out. We can’t feel them.”

  Rovek said, “They did so to protect each of you. Lord Yukihyo was not so fortunate. We do not know what has been done to them, but they continue to fight a battle which we cannot see. At present, we must consider them compromised. Our forces have infiltrated a facility and have found technology unknown to any of our governments. They have pieces of a crashed alien ship and have been reversing its technology.”

  “Where?” Espanoza asked.

  “Oh, don’t worry, Captain. Captain Alaric and Commander Bosh crashed our party, but we were there first,” Eli said.

  “Earth is a member of the Galaxic Government and under our jurisdiction. If the technology and its source has been discovered, we should leave,” she said.

  “Do what you want. Go ahead and leave. We’re on a rescue mission. No one should be held prisoner on an alien world, kept isolated from family, and tormented,” Eli said coldly.

  I blinked my eyes to clear them. His words were meant for me. The prize everyone had been racing to claim had already been found, but he was here to help me save a kindred spirit from a life of suffering.

  “Damn right,” Tracy agreed.

  They knew what had happened to Momma and me, and they knew I couldn’t turn my back and let it happen to anyone else, even a helpless ball of light.

  “Ladies,” Rovek said as he bowed and gestured for us to enter the lift. It only had one command, down.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “Get behind us,” Eli ordered. He and Rovek placed themselves between us and the lift doors. Our skirts pushed against their legs, giving what we were doing a surreal feeling. “Get down,” he quietly said.

  Sparrow, Tracy, and I crouched. I could feel Thunderdrop’s claws scraping against my upper arms through my sleeves.

  The lift doors swooshed open and brought in the cloying scent of death. Eli and Rovek stepped out of the lift with their weapons held ready and Espanoza at their backs. The lift had opened onto a circular promenade of metal grating and railings. Blood dripped down the walls to the bodies of dead scientists in spattered lab coats. We’d arrived late to a massacre.

  Ironically, the sphere hanging from my neck glowed brightly. The ball of li
ght left its little home, shot forward, and dropped over the metal railing.

  Sparrow, Tracy, and I cautiously stepped from the lift and moved closer to Eli, Rovek, and Espanoza. We watched as it floated down to a strange being who was held in isolation below. It was humanoid in its shape but almost gelatinous, like a gingerbread man made of white, glittery jelly. The greenish-yellow orb of light was absorbed by it and changed in color to white. The being lifted its head as if it saw us. That was when I realized it wasn’t alone, and fear clawed at my heart. He was there, the Mad One from the holographic recording I’d seen with Simon and Ethan in the forest of the wild spiders.

  Oh, stars! This was a trap. The fear clawing its way up my throat felt as though it was swiped away. However, of my friends who were present, none of them had empathic abilities.

  I saw others. There were four Mad Ones in all. However, they seemed not to take any notice of us. From where we stood, I could see their solid-black eyes, but their eyes were vacant. They were as Zared and Jazon’s had been. The alien was controlling them. It was controlling all of them, but it didn’t want me to be afraid.

  “Chitter clack chitter clack chitter clack.” Thunderdrop’s terror broke the spell under which I had fallen.

  One of the Mad Ones convulsed where he stood. I trembled, unable to force myself back into the lift to flee. However, the hybrid didn’t attack us, and Thunderdrop began to calm. Then, he made chirping sounds. It was as if he communicated with the strange being. Thunderdrop showed me an image of Niklos being able to bond with his spiderling. He showed me an image of the two of us together. Then, he showed me Yukihyo and Neema without spiders of their own. He wanted me to understand.

  I said, “They can’t bond because their abilities are too strong. They can’t be equal companions with spiders.”

  “Chirp.”

  Then, I felt it. “Desperation, fear, loneliness, despair, pain, and weakness,” I said in a choked voice. “It’s telepathic and was so much stronger before it crashed and was captured. Eli, it’s trying to escape. It made the Mad Ones kill its captors, and it’s preventing them from attacking us. It knows they want me, but it’s helping me because I helped reunite it with a sliver of its psyche. Their minds are eroding…. It needs our help to escape. It can’t protect me from them and free itself at the same time. It’s too weak.” I stepped toward the metal stairs which lead down to the modified prison where the alien had been forced to construct pieces of technology.

  “Teagan,” Eli growled. I thought he would stop me, but instead he took the lead.

  We weren’t alone. Together, we all went down those steps.

  Thunderdrop kept up his gentle dialogue of chirps as if to reassure the alien lifeform that we meant it no harm.

  Tracy asked, “What is all of this?”

  Sparrow said, “It looks like a series of force shields all set to scramble and randomly alter their pulses. I can disable it.” Taking tools from a nearby workstation, she got to work.

  I kept my distance from the hybrids. I was terrified the alien would lose control of them.

  A loud buzzing sound intensified and then dwindled down to nothing. Sparrow said, “Got it.”

  The force shields holding the alien captive dropped.

  “We’re here to save you, but you know that already. Don’t you?” I asked.

  Holding out one of its limbs, a ball of sparkling white light floated from it to hang suspended in the air in front of my forehead.

  Eli tensed.

  “No, Eli.” I lifted my hand to keep him from interfering.

  The light drifted closer and touched my forehead like a soft kiss, and images blurred through my mind with a dizzying speed.

  I tried to explain what it showed me to the others. “Scientific exploration… ship malfunction… crash… captured… hurt… forced. Too advanced for the civilization to have… created simple devices to satisfy. Home… desperate… took ship… escape… must escape… destroyed to save… Please….” I gasped as the overwhelming images vanished. “It took a ship. It took it and hid it. It used the hybrids to modify it. It wants to go to the ship, but it’s too weak. It needs our help to get to the ship. Eli….” Anguish filled my voice.

  “We will help it. Where is the ship?” Eli asked.

  The lifeform lifted one of its limbs and pointed.

  Following the gesture, we saw a service tunnel. I jumped at a sudden sound and noticed it was Rovek. He was pushing a cart. Eli took it from him and approached the alien lifeform. Too weak to stand, it crawled onto the cart. Eli moved the cart toward the service tunnel. Espanoza jogged to get in front of him and lead the way. My ladies and I followed. Rovek put himself behind us.

  The Mad Ones had blood dripping from their noses. They could feel my presence and were fighting against the alien’s telepathic control. They had learned of it through Rupert Warren, blackmailed him for credits and technology, intent on taking me to save themselves, and had been working closely as security to prevent officials from learning or suspecting anything. Knowing it could control their minds, the alien had used them and their knowledge of me to leave me hints, to try to reach me, someone who might help it. Apparently, the old adage, the enemy of my enemy is my friend, was a universal truth.

  Eli jogged behind the cart. The tunnel began to incline. I could feel it in my thighs and lower back. Thunderdrop clutched at my neck, terrified. Tracy and Sparrow tried to be brave, but I knew they were just as scared as we were. Eventually, Espanoza opened doors which led out into a warehouse. It was filled to its capacity with the Asylum, Henry’s missing ship. Captain Espanoza’s eyes met mine.

  As Eli pushed the cart toward the ship, I said to her, “The hybrids learned of the alien and blackmailed their way into the operation. The alien slowly entered their minds unnoticed and used them to give us hints. It knew they wanted to capture me and keep me a prisoner just as they did it.”

  Her eyes locked onto something behind me. “Get down!”

  Blaster fire erupted all around us. Espanoza covered Tracy, Sparrow, and me, using her body to shield us and backing us against a wall. We crouched down as close to the floor as we could get. Whatever control the alien had been wielding over the hybrids had unintentionally ensnared my Omnes Videntes, and expending so much telepathic effort had weakened it. Mentally drained, it had lost its control of them, and the hybrids had no intentions of allowing it to escape in a ship it had hidden under their noses.

  Eli had disappeared into the ship with the alien. So, Rovek was attempting to keep the hybrids away from us, but we weren’t helpless. Sparrow, Tracy, and I fired at the four Mad Ones, along with Espanoza and Rovek, forcing them to take cover. Fortunately, they weren’t shooting at my ladies and me to kill, and because of how she had copied my costume, they couldn’t be certain about my identity or Espanoza’s. Even with the practiced skill of a Parvac Inquisitor and a Galaxic Militia Captain, hybrid Laconian warriors had skills and abilities which far exceeded our own. I screamed as insipid thoughts of putting down my weapon and looking at the pretty lace on my dress seeped into my mind. Against my will, I holstered my weapon. They were too strong to fight. I didn’t want to fight, not when there was cheerful music playing outside. There were such better things to do. I heard weapons clatter to the ground and felt Tracy’s empty hand grasping mine.

  Suddenly, we were no longer alone. The control on our minds waivered as Xavier, Jazon, Zared, Izaac, Drex, Walter, and Kaoti erupted from the service tunnel in a storm of blaster fire. Eli emerged from the ship and rolled down its ramp while firing. He kicked one of the hybrids in the head and took his weapon.

  Tracy screamed. Turning to see what she did, I saw a Mad One with a blaster cannon firing at Jazon’s back while he engaged in deadly hand-to-hand combat with an adversary, a biological brother, who could read his every thought.

  “No!” I screamed with her, helpless to save him.

  Rovek ran and hurled himself into Jazon, taking him down hard to the ground. The blast fr
om the cannon sped through the space where he had been a second before and hit the hybrid he had been fighting, turning his torso into a sizzling hole of blood and scorched flesh. He dropped to his knees and fell to the ground, dead.

  I held Tracy while she sobbed with her eyes open, staring at what could have happened to her love.

  Then, a wave of air whipped our veils around our heads. The Asylum lifted from the warehouse floor and shot straight up, taking the warehouse roof and a few of the walls with it. We held each other while the walls crashed outward, and the battle with the three remaining hybrids raged around us. However, we were no longer the outnumbered ones. They were. They were captured and rendered unconscious just as a ball of fire rolled out of the service tunnel. Someone picked me up and ran. Colorful silk skirts swirled around me. Each of us had been scooped up and taken to safety.

  “How dare you! Put me down, immediately!” Captain Espanoza was rather annoyed at having been rescued.

  “My lady, your pride means nothing in the face of mortal danger. I shall put you down where it is safe,” Drex said as he continued to walk quickly over scraps of burning metal.

  I rested my head on Eli’s shoulder. “Thank you for saving me, you big strong man, you.”

  “My pleasure,” Eli replied.

  Once he’d put her on her feet, Captain Espanoza scanned the source of the explosion. “It was the lab where the alien was forced to work. It destroyed what it could of the technology it was forced to create.”

  “And any evidence we could have used along with it,” Rovek said.

  What remained of the metal walls of the warehouse groaned and swayed. It had become nothing more than a broken shell, twisted and torn. Saved from that same fate, Tracy sobbed against Jazon’s neck. He met Rovek’s eyes and gave him a nod. He might have offered to shake his hand, but he had his arms full.

  My men had taken the hybrids into custody.

  Captain Espanoza exclaimed, “Where do you think you’re going? You can’t take them. This is Earth. The Militia has jurisdiction here.” She looked rather terrifying in her smudged skeletal makeup.