by Juno Wells
"Get out of here," Vaant said through the uneven radio system.
Vrix didn't wait for Griggs to figure out she didn't know how to fly the escape pod, and instead took over detaching the pod from the ship and flying it toward Caihiri. Before she could protest or slug him, Vrix handed her the survival suit helmet. "Put this on. Our pods aren't the spaceworthy vessels you're accustomed to. This'll get us to the ground, but might not get us back to space."
She stared at him. "So how do we get back to the ship?"
"We'll come up with something."
"We're not stealing a ship on the surface," Griggs said, and grudgingly put the helmet on.
Vrix glanced at her as he navigated the pod and double-checked the coordinates to the landing zone on Caihiri. "You're a pirate now. Stealing ships is what we do."
Griggs scowled at him, though she looked cute rather than scary through the visor. "That's not funny."
He smiled at the control panel and flipped on the autopilot. "It is to me."
She sat forward to peer out the slightly scratched windows to the approaching planet as atmosphere burned around them. "Shouldn't we be more subtle than barreling right into the middle of the city? We're supposed to be incognito."
"Not here. They'd see us trying to evade and we'd have half the police force land on us before we could get two steps." Vrix braced his boots on the wall of the pod as the whole thing started to shake during re-entry, then everything jolted and smoothed out as the autopilot gave way to the landing beam from Caihiri. "They've got a very efficient and mostly non-invasive immigration process. With as much illegal business as goes on here on Caihiri, they're not interested in keeping people out. They want us here so we can spend money and facilitate trade and get caught up in something truly awful, maybe disappear in a dark alley to feed the rest of their dirty business."
Griggs gripped the arms of her chair and stared straight ahead, her jaw clenched. Vrix knew better than to comment on her potential weakness, and instead focused on the panels and gadgets on the craft. "Look. I'm fine with you being in charge of this mission."
"You better be, because I am," Griggs muttered, squeezing her eyes shut.
"I am." Vrix flicked on the communicator and used Trade to address the landing crew, passing along the pod's capability and capacity so the tractor beam didn't tear them apart trying to put them in a specific berth. He waited for them to acknowledge the information, then locked down the comms as the pod navigated in the beam toward a vast field of ships. "But the challenge of that is Caihiri itself. There are some customs and beliefs that are not..."
"It's fine. We're not going to be here long enough for customs or beliefs to matter." Griggs pulled off the helmet and set it aside, still refusing to look at him. "So let's just get Heidi and get the hell out of here."
Vrix leaned back in his seat and laced his hands behind his head. "Then what's your plan for finding her and getting out of here, Commander?"
"We go to the location of her last transmission, search for clues, break the bones of anyone near there until they tell us what they know, and go from there." Griggs glanced at him as the pod shuddered and creaked as they coasted to an empty berth and began a slow descent. "Is it supposed to make that much noise?"
"It's probably fine." He ignored the dark look she sent his way, even though he wondered the same thing. "Look, Cici. Caihiri is not a place friendly to women. It may be very difficult for us to get anywhere if you take the lead."
"Don't call me Cici. And I have zero shits to give about whether these assholes respect women. I've got a mission to accomplish, and a friend to save. They can go fuck themselves and get out of my way, in that order."
"You're going to get yourself killed," he said, patience starting to fray. Bravery was one thing, but bravado that led to stupid actions was something else entirely. "And I know you're not this stupid. You're worried about your friend. Fine. We'll find her. But only if you can keep your mouth shut before you get us arrested or killed. Let me take the lead with these idiots. I've been through this before. I know what to say."
Griggs looked at him for a long time, clearly debating in her head, then grudgingly nodded. She undid her safety harness. "Fine. I'll trust you this time. See that I don't regret it."
"Can't imagine why you would," he said under his breath, unbuckling his own belts. "Just don't say anything, don't give them any identification, and definitely don't give them a DNA sample."
An eyebrow arched as she picked up her bag. "Why not?"
"I'll explain later." Vrix hesitated as someone banged on the hatch; they needed a much better plan before diving into a ridiculous mission on a hostile planet, but time slipped away too fast. It was showtime, and he didn't have any other options. Vrix hoped Griggs kept her mouth shut and didn't understand any Low Xarav.
He hit the release and the hatch slowly opened, a rickety ladder descending to the ground. He hopped out, his bag over his shoulder. Griggs paused in the doorway, looking around at the masses of ships all around them and the dozen officials who waited outside the ship, but Vrix gestured for her to get down. She threw her bag in his face so she could jump to the ground. Vrix took a deep breath as he tossed it back and faced the immigration officials, humanoid beings about half his height and twice his width. Vrix slipped back into his barbarian Xaravian warrior persona and folded his arms over his chest. They wouldn't have a second chance to get this right.
Griggs
Griggs didn't entirely mind that Vrix took the lead with the immigration officials, since he towered over them by so much that the intimidation factor definitely worked in his favor. The native Caihiri had a grayish cast to their small features, out of balance with large ears and long arms that nearly dragged on the ground. They wore uniforms with rows of medals, even for what looked like petty functionaries, and Griggs started to wonder if she could get Heidi back by passing out medals. It seemed possible, with the way the dozen Caihiri glittered and clinked.
Vrix started talking, voice mostly growl in a guttural language she hadn't ever heard before, and gestured occasionally at her and the ship. The dialogue went back and forth a couple of times until Vrix handed over the set of papers for identification of the ship and himself. More than one of the Caihiri leered at her, and Griggs started to get defensive. She didn't like not knowing what was being said, particularly when it had to do with her, and she definitely didn't trust Vrix.
Personal experience taught her not to trust any male, regardless of species or how smoothly they talked or how kind they pretended to be. She didn't know the Xaravian, and even though Isla fell head over heels in love with Vaant, Griggs was still looking for the angle they'd use to exploit her and the rest of the crew.
More grunting and gesturing, then Vrix nodded to all the functionaries, and grabbed the back of her neck to start walking away. Griggs jumped to keep from being strangled, and scowled at Vrix as he picked up the pace. She had to rush to keep up. "What the hell?"
"Just keep walking."
"Shouldn't you at least—I don't know, lock the pod? In case we actually need it?" She had to jump to avoid a patch of rough ground, but Vrix's grip didn't ease and his pace didn't lessen.
"No. They're probably already digging through it for anything of value. Don't look back."
Griggs gritted her teeth. She really hated people telling her what to do. It was the worst part of being in the Fleet—there was always someone who outranked her, giving orders. "So what the hell are we supposed to do?"
"Find a hotel first," he said. His quick pace brought them out of the vast field of spacecraft and to an industrial series of buildings, reeking of fuel and exhaust and deafening in the clatter of machinery. So Vrix had to lean close to avoid his voice being lost in the chaos. "I know a Xaravian place where we'll be safe."
She didn't like it. "What did you tell those immigration guys? They kept looking at me like—I don't know. But it wasn't good."
Vrix took a deep breath and shifted his grip to
her upper arm, steering them around the piles of jagged metal and to what looked like more welcoming streets, though the rough stones presented quite a tripping hazard as Griggs tried to get used to her surface clothes and boots once more. The stink from the factories followed them, although the din quieted as they plunged into a warren of narrow streets crowded with vendors and traders and every type of alien she couldn't even imagine.
When they got a few turns into the part of the city that looked like the economic center of Caihiri, more like one of the old-time historic cities on Earth, Vrix pulled her into a side alley between two stones buildings. Griggs glanced around, unnerved by the lack of metal and glass and antennas, and adjusted her grip on the strap of her bag. "You didn't answer my question."
"I didn't want to get into it in the middle of a crowd. I think we're okay here for a little while." He didn't release her arm. "To get through customs, I claimed you as my slave."
A strange ringing deafened Griggs as she stared at him. His slave. The walls closed in around her as everything went dark, and she wondered if this was just an elaborate ruse to trick her into servitude. Fucking bullshit. She wrenched her arm free—or at least she tried, but his iron grip didn't ease. "You fucking monster. I swear to Newton, I will fucking kill you and everyone you ever loved, and I will go back to Xarav and hunt down—"
"Stop," he said, giving her a little shake to get her attention. "Just listen, for once, instead of jumping to conclusions."
Griggs ground her teeth until pain like lightning shot through her head. She eyed his dagger and debated how fast she could get to it, then back to the ship. "Talk fast."
"The only way to get you on this planet without them checking your identification or DNA is by claiming you as a slave. They won't check slaves because they don't want to know if the ownership is illegal. If they identify an illegally-taken slave, they're required to report it and render aid, and that's bad for business." Irritation made his skin swirl with orange and yellow streaks, but his eyes flashed silver. "If they checked your DNA, they'd know that you were a Fleet officer and probably have a bounty on your head. Neither of us would leave this planet alive."
"That's ridiculous," Griggs said, shaking her head. "They wouldn't know I'm a Fleet officer. The only databases with that information are owned by the Alliance, and they'd never—"
"The Caihiri are... creative and opportunistic in the ways they do business. Someone stole the databases and the Caihiri bought them. Now every Alliance official or Fleet crew will be known the second they set foot on this planet. Which is probably what happened to your friend." Vrix glanced down the length of the alley to the crowds that moved slowly past on the main street. "We don't have a lot of choices here. It's not just Caihiri culture and preferences; it's the heart of their business—and business is everything."
Griggs scowled at his chest and wanted to argue, but her irritation waned. It made sense, with what she knew of Caihiri and the illegal things going on in the city. She still didn't like it. "I don't think the ruse will last."
"No shit," he said under his breath, then snorted when she shot him a dirty look. "You have the worst demeanor for a servant, is all I'm saying."
"Uh-huh." She poked him in the chest. "And don't forget I'm still in charge of this mission."
"Of course." Vrix tilted his head at the mouth of the alley. "We should get moving. We can get settled at the hotel and get an idea of how things are going in the city. The Xaravians who own the place will give me a much better sense of how to proceed."
Griggs started for the main street. "Good. Then we start looking for Heidi. We don't have any time to waste."
His hand rested on her shoulder as they joined the crowd, and Griggs fought back the urge to shrug him off and stride ahead on her own. She only had to pretend in public, and they'd find Heidi faster and get the hell back to the Heisenberg to find who stranded a Fleet officer on such a fucking awful planet.
Vrix
Vrix never thought for a second that Griggs would go along quietly with the deception. She probably could have knocked him over with a feather when she agreed to do it. He expected at least a little fight—just for the sake of fighting. He loved that wild fire in her eyes when she went toe-to-toe with him and demanded respect or spit nails over the injustice of something. It was a testament to how much she worried for her friend that Griggs marched right into the crowd of people with him holding her shoulder and didn't even try to run.
He'd forgotten how much he disliked Caihiri—the crowds, the heavy air, the winding twisty streets that occasionally led nowhere, and the fact that most people in the city were criminals. His scales rattled as he grew more and more irate with the crowds, pushing and shoving and threatening Griggs. She looked small and frail compared to some of the aliens streaming through Caihiri and toward the undermarket district, where the really questionable stuff happened. That was where they'd find information on Heidi, or at least the people who would know where to find it.
His scales reddened as he growled at a group of Mylu traders who eyed Griggs a little too closely, and they ducked to avoid his stare when they noticed his attention. At least no one would challenge a Xaravian. The warriors of Xarav thrived on their reputation as mirthless, knuckle-dragging barbarians—always ready for a fight, looking for blood debts, and too dangerous to cross or cheat. It was the only reason he considered bringing Griggs with him to Caihiri. If anyone could protect her, it would be him.
The streets grew narrower and darker as they entered the dodgy part of the city, and rickety buildings towered over them and blocked out more of the sun. Even though the crowds thinned as all intelligent lifeforms remained in the somewhat more genteel market area, it felt more claustrophobic. The back of Vrix's neck prickled as he got the feeling of being followed, but no one was there when he managed to glance back. Strange. He hoped he wasn't just talking himself into paranoia.
He breathed a sigh of relief when they finally reached the dingy street where the Xaravian waystation loomed over the other buildings. It was in the conical shape of the Xarav desert tents, but built of stone and covered with traditional desert designs and battle flags. It felt like a tiny piece of home, very far away from the triple suns of Xarav. His mouth watered just thinking about the fermented cabbage they served in the tavern on the ground floor of the hotel.
Griggs made a face as she looked at the place, then glanced up and down the street. "You've got to be shitting me. This place? Seriously? This looks like a carnival tent."
"I don't know what a carnival is, but this is the safest place in this part of the city. You'd need an army to get through these walls against the will of the owners."
"An army or a Fleet?" Griggs scowled.
Vrix squeezed her shoulder, debating if he should pinch the nerve right there that would knock her out for a few convenient minutes. But he needed to save that trick for later. So instead he tugged on the end of her ponytail and dragged her into the dim interior of the hotel and headed for the reception desk—which doubled as the bar—along the right wall of the enormous tavern where at least a couple dozen Xaravians and like-minded warriors drank and ate.
Silverware didn't exactly clatter to the floor as they entered, but the conversation definitely evaporated as all the occupants stared as he and Griggs walked in. Vrix bristled, knowing they stared at Griggs, and bared his teeth just slightly as he scanned the room for anyone he knew or had blood debt with. Most of the Xaravians nodded at him and went back to their business, though a few of the other aliens' gazes lingered on the surly Earther at his side. Vrix wondered if he'd get in a fight before they even got a room, but the proprietor, a Xaravian named Pyix, appeared behind the bar and studied him closely.
"Which way the wind, brother?"
"From the high desert, brother," Vrix said, echoing the greeting in High Xarav, and leaned over to shake Pyix's arm in the Xarav greeting. Warriors gripped the forearm of other warriors, to test their strength and demonstrate their own in retur
n. "Have you a room for a weary traveler?"
"Just one?" The proprietor raised a dark eyebrow as he glanced at Griggs, who was distracted by scowling at every male in the room who dared look at her. "Sure you want to sleep with a pit viper in your room?"
Vrix almost couldn't swallow a smile, although his spikes rattled with irritation that another male teased Griggs like he would. "She's my slave."
Pyix's expression hardened. Most Xaravians abhorred slavery and fought against those who took or kept slaves. Vrix knew it was a risk, but he waited for the tall proprietor to kick him out or give him keys. After a long silence, Vrix casually tapped the hilt of his dagger, hoping Pyix got the message that there were other things going on. The other Xaravian frowned, rubbing his jaw, and lowered his voice. "What's with the Earther?"
"It's a long story, and one I'd like to tell you over a few drinks. But for now, I'd like to get her upstairs before I have to kill half of your clients." He scowled at the crowd once more, and the hungry stares directed at Griggs lessened somewhat. She really was beautiful, even while glaring and bristling like a mad cat, and it took all his willpower to take his eyes off her to face Pyix. "Do you have a room?"
"Aye," Pyix said, though he didn't look happy about it. He pulled out an old-fashioned ledger book and tossed a pencil onto it. "Fill it in while I get the key."
Vrix did his best to remain vague with most of the information required in the book, and left a deposit so Pyix wouldn't feel obligated to throw their stuff on the street the next afternoon. When Griggs saw the single key, her eyes narrowed and she drew breath to argue, eyes sparking.
Before she could wind up, Vrix caught her around the waist and threw her over his shoulder, juggling the furious Earther as well as their two bags. "Thanks. We need to get out of our traveling clothes."
And he grinned as a few chuckles greeted the joke, though Griggs hissed like a sand demon and tried to reach his dagger. Vrix was really starting to enjoy the game, even if it made getting up two flights of stairs a little tricky. Griggs fumed in silence until he unlocked the door to their room and shoved it open, locking it behind them before dropping her on the bed. She bounced to her feet immediately and punched him right in the chest, hard enough that he almost took a step back. Vrix laughed and tried to cover it in a grunt since she looked so furious.
