Krimson Princess: Rystar and the LASSOs Book Two

by Jack Archer

  “What the hell happened?” Kyran exclaimed, putting an arm around Na’gya while Shea took Rystar’s hands into his own. As a group, they left the airlock and to the wing that held their rooms.

  “We were meeting with Ju’sif, my old strike team member,” Na’gya explained, his voice quivering. “We were just talking, and all of a sudden…”

  He trailed off, and Rystar picked up for him. “We didn’t see who did it, must have been an assassin sent to kill the remaining members of the strike team.”

  “That bullet was meant for me. I know it was,” Na’gya said and stopped as they reached his room. He pulled himself out from under Kyran’s arm and glanced down at his hands, still shaking from the adrenaline. Rystar hated it for him, knowing how numb he had to be at this point.

  “We don’t know that,” Rystar soothed, releasing one of her hands from Shea’s grip to place on Na’gya’s shoulder. She didn’t believe her own words, and Na’gya must have sensed it, but he smiled at her all the same and looked around at each of them before heading towards his door.

  “I’m going to shower. Please don’t bother me unless it’s something important,” he said, opening his door and disappearing.

  “I’m worried about him,” Kyran said immediately after Na’gya’s door was closed. He threw his hands to his hips and face Rystar and Shea square on, his brow furrowed, those red eyes laser-focused on them.

  “I’m worried about him, too,” Rystar said with a shrug, “but there’s not much I can do for him.”

  “Have you ever watched a loved one die in front of you?” Kyran asked. Rystar bristled but found no mocking tones in his voice, only a genuine curiosity as if he had been through what Na’gya had. She supposed he had, with all those wars on Earth.

  “I haven’t,” she admitted, letting her shoulders slump. She had blood on her face, too, but it didn’t bother her nearly as much.

  Kyran looked at her with almost relief in his eyes. “I can’t explain it, then. We’ll just have to keep an eye on him.”

  “Shea, will you join me in my room for a moment?” Rystar asked as nonchalantly as she could. It didn’t get past Kyran, who simply grinned at them before running a hand through his hair and stalking off down the hall towards the elevators.

  “What’s up?” Shea asked as Rystar shut the door behind them and leaned against it, hating herself for what she was about to say.

  “I was going to go on a date with Kyran this evening,” she blurted out, eyes focused on Shea and shoving her hands in her pockets. “I’m sorry I made the arrangements.”

  Shea cocked an eyebrow at her and folded his arms but said nothing, looking down at the ground for a moment before flicking his eyes back up to Rystar. “Hell of a time to bring it up. I assume you’re not going now.”

  “Of course not, with what just happened, I think it would be in poor taste,” she said.

  “Not in poor taste because we just hooked up the other night?” Shea asked, a smile playing at the corner of his lips.

  “I mean yes, that too,” she said, taking a step towards him. He didn’t move and she took that as a good sign. How was she supposed to broach this subject with Shea? Or at all, for that matter?

  “Relax, I’m messing around,” Shea said, moving towards her and pushing a strand of hair behind her ear. “I know your heart is too big for one person.”

  “I don’t know what I feel for him either,” she huffed, leaning into Shea’s touch and sighing. “He kidnapped us and ruined my ship and stole my bounty and forced me to lose the best job I ever had. And yet.”

  “Yet you still feel something towards him,” Shea said, tilting his head. “He’s like you.”

  “What are you talking about?” Rystar snorted.

  “You would have done the same if you were in Kyran’s position,” he explained as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. “He’s headstrong, stubborn, wild. Just like you.”

  “Sounds like more than one of us has something for him,” Rystar chuckled, surprised to see a flush creep at Shea’s cheeks. It made her heart dance.

  “I’m just saying,” Shea continued, ignoring the heat in his face, “I’m not surprised you would want to pursue it. I’m just glad I got my chance with you.”

  Rystar huffed, wondering how to broach this and deciding to just rip off the entire bandage at once. “We don’t have to stop what we have.”

  Shea narrowed his eyes at her, letting his hand fall to her shoulder. It was exactly as she suspected. He would wonder for a moment, eventually, get what she was saying, and then question the hell out of her.

  “Both of us? At once?” he asked, more amusement in his voice than actual malice.

  “Well…” she started, clearing her throat. “I’d have to tell you both about what I feel for Na’gya.”

  “That, I definitely get,” Shea said, nodding furtively, and Rystar couldn’t help but giggle.

  “Didn’t take you for a bisexual,” she said.

  “Then don’t assume I’m straight next time,” he retorted, pushing his chest out and smiling. She returned it and sighed, moving to her bed and flopping down on it.

  “This is the worst time to be thinking about this anyway,” she moaned, pulling off her boots and socks. “We’re in the middle of a war, being chased by bloodthirsty folks on all sides. Some guy just got shot all over me. Maybe this isn’t the best time to be pursuing six different relationships.”

  “Six?” Shea repeated, stripping his own shirt off as Rystar stood up to remove her pants.

  “You’re all really hot, alright?” she said, throwing her pants across the room.

  “Hey, I’m not arguing with you,” Shea chuckled, pulling his own shoes and socks off, setting them neatly next to Rystar’s bed.

  “Plus, they’re probably not into me,” Rystar said with a shrug, pulling her shirt and bra off before heading to the bathroom.

  “Don’t sell yourself short,” Shea said, tugging his pants off and joining her. “I know it’s not a good time for relationships, but on the flip side, maybe it’s the best time for relationships.”

  “What do you mean?” Rystar asked, turning on the shower and stripping her underwear off to throw it on the floor.

  “Has anyone ever told you you’re an animal?” Shea laughed, taking his own boxers off and setting them neatly on the toilet seat.

  “Plenty of times, now what do you mean?” Rystar asked, settling herself in the hot spray of water and rubbing at her face to get the blood off.

  “Maybe in the end times, what we need to focus on is love,” Shea said, stepping into the shower with her and leaning against the wall.

  “Or maybe we need to focus on fixing everything, so the Bubble doesn’t collapse,” Rystar pointed out, turning around to face Shea and soaking her hair with water.

  “That’s true, too,” Shea said with a nod, “but we can’t lose ourselves in the process.”

  Rystar thought on that for a moment, wondering if she was sacrificing her humanity, who she was, for what she did. She had always defined herself as what her job was, bounty hunter, security engineer, but never on who she was as a person. She scrubbed at her hair and thought, wondering who she actually was. What was her goal? What did she like to do in her spare time?

  Let’s round Rystar Umara out as a person, she thought to herself.

  “What am I?” Rystar asked to no one in particular, realizing how stupid the question sounded when she presented it out loud.

  “You’re a human being who cares about the suffering around her,” Shea answered, even though the question itself hadn’t been presented correctly. Rystar smiled, realizing Shea knew exactly what she was talking about. “You act like you’re this aloof bounty hunter who’s only in it for themselves, but you gave up everything you’ve known just to help a group of people you’ve never met.”

  “You really think so?” Rystar asked, pausing in her scrubbing to look up at Shea, who had pushed himself from the wall and placed both his br
oad hands on her shoulders.

  “I really think you’re a caring person, deep down,” he repeated, kissing her forehead and smiling.

  “I guess I never actually sat down and figured out who I was as a person,” Rystar admitted, moving out from under the spray to let Shea have his turn. “I’ve never actually thought about who I was or what I wanted out of life. I was just trying to survive.”

  “I think most of us were,” Shea said, dousing his head with water and scrubbing at his face.

  “That’s true,” Rystar said.

  “Not to say you had a rougher time with it,” Shea exclaimed, coming out from the spray and fixing her with an apologetic look.

  “It’s fine, really,” she chortled, leaning back against the wall and pushing some wet hair from her face. “I just have a lot of soul searching to do, is all.”

  Shea nodded, wiping his body down with the hot water as he lapsed into thought. Rystar did, too, wondering if Shea was really okay with her pursuing Kyran and Na’gya and the rest of the crew as she hoped to do.

  “For the record,” Shea interjected into her reprieve, “I think you and Kyran would make an excellent couple.”

  “You’re not jealous?” Rystar asked, tiling her head and narrowing her eyes at him.

  “No, because you and I make an excellent couple as well,” he said, moving closer to her. He put his arms around her waist and pulled her close, slipping a hand out to cup her chin. “Unless you don’t think so.”

  “Now, I never said that,” Rystar said with chagrin, standing up on her toes to press their lips together, and it was just as wonderful as the first time.

  Chapter Eight

  Rystar Umara: Yarev Underwater Prison Complex, Yarev

  With the old Mach II restored thanks to Lupe, they were ready to infiltrate the Yarev Underwater Prison Complex the next day. Shea had come up with the brilliant plan of pretending to still be employed by the FDDS and using his old credentials to access the base with his former partner, Rystar, to speak with the Terran criminal Balee Wylo. Nothing could go wrong at all.

  With everything that happened the day before, Kyran had sent them back up to the stratosphere space dock to get them away from their alleged pursuer.

  “What’s Krimson Princess mean?” Rystar tried again with Kyran, looking around to him. He glanced up and smiled, flicking his red-ember eyes to the ship and back to her.

  “Tell you later, darlin’,” he said again and rummaged around in a nearby locker for a helmet and pressure suit for her and Shea. “Put these on. You’ll need them when you get down in the depths.”

  Rystar had never been further than 15,000 feet under the sea, and that was on Earth. This was a completely alien planet, and she was diving down to depths of over 35,000 feet. The thought of the endless ocean on Yarev struck a deep chord that made her shudder.

  “Doing okay?” Shea asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

  Rystar looked up at him and relaxed, letting him rub circles into her shoulder with a thumb before his hand slid down to the pressure suit Kyran handed him. “Yeah, just don’t really like the ocean, that’s all.”

  “We’ll be in and out, no big deal,” Shea assured her, pulling on the suit one leg at a time and zipping it up over his clothes. Rystar did the same.

  “Yeah, yeah,” she said, zipping up her own suit and pushing some hair out of her eyes. “Now quit talking about it before I get even more anxious. Let’s just get this over with.”

  She shoved the helmet on her head and clipped it to the pressure suit, pressing a button on the side of the helmet to hear static in her ear. After a moment, Kyran’s voice came through, and she let out a sigh of relief. “Copy that, Skylock.”

  “Ooh, finally on a surname basis now, are we?” Kyran’s voice was muffled in the earpiece, but it still made her knees weak as it rang through her helmet. “I like you in business mode, Umara. What about you, Hendi?”

  “Loud and clear,” Shea replied, his voice also muffled through the earpiece. With a nod, they entered the Krimson Princess and settled themselves in the pilot and passenger seats. Kyran led her through the start up procedure and patted the old LASSO before trotting back inside the ship to open the bay doors.

  “All clear, Lupe,” came Kyran’s voice again, just barely audible over the engine’s roars. “Open the bay doors, let them out.”

  The doors in front of them slid open with all the smoothness of a brand new ship, and they saw the curve of the planet in front of them, bright blue ringed with white and yellow. Below them was a twilight sea, navy blue and capped with white waves rippling in the fading sunlight.

  “Clear to launch, Umara,” Lupe’s voice filtered through, and Rystar nodded, pushing forward on the throttle and sending them forward through the doors.

  The little ship freed itself from its parent and began to sink down to the planet, the atmospheric fires ripping around them as they descended. The ocean rushed up to greet them as the horizon flattened, and Rystar held her breath before they hit the ocean’s surface.

  Water gushed around the ship, white bubbles filling the windshield as they plunged further into the icy depths of the ocean. Sand dunes as large as mountains rose around them, and Rystar turned on her lights to amplify the blackness even further. Rocks began to form in the silent space, laden with bioluminescent flora and fauna, pink and blue and glowing at them.

  Lupe’s voice rang in her ear after a moment, and Rystar jumped, ripping her eyes away from the blackness pressing around her and to the comms console. “Okay Rystar, I’m sending down the coordinates for the prison to your console. They should be popping up momentarily.”

  And they did. The bright blue dot blinked at her from the console. It was almost 10000 feet away and 34000 feet down, so Rystar pushed on the throttle and sent them down, down into the abyss.

  It became less dark the more they went on, the underwater mountains around them filled with glowing pink trees and lightning fish that flashed just enough for Rystar to see their teeth.

  “Just try not to look at them,” Shea soothed and reached his hand out to place it over hers. She turned her head to see him looking at her, and she could sense his smile even though his face was obscured by the helmet. He looked away and out the window at a particularly close lightning fish, which seemed more like a lightning whale at this point.

  Why was she out here?

  “Yeah, I’ll stop looking when we get to the complex safely,” she scoffed and turned her eyes ahead to the looming black in front of them.

  “How you doing, Umara, baby?”

  Rystar took a deep breath and relaxed her shoulders, taking in the warmth in Kyran’s voice and Shea’s hand. “Over halfway there, shouldn’t be long now.”

  Indeed, the lights from the complex began to shine in her vision, tiny points of light, hazy from the currents around them wrapped around large, plexiglass domes and thick, aluminum walls. At least it looked like aluminum. Rystar wasn’t a damn scientist.

  The Krimson Princess groaned around her as they approached the 35000-foot marker, and Rystar breathed a sigh of relief when the comms dashboard buzzed with an unfamiliar voice. “Identify yourself immediately. This is a strict no-visit prisoner complex.”

  “Mr. Shea Hendi of the Terran Space Force to interrogate a high stakes prisoner for official government business,” Shea responded into the comms microphone.

  “Mx. Dallas Smith, partner of Mr. Hendi and pilot of this craft,” Rystar added.

  “You sound sexy when you’re lying,” Kyran growled into her ear, and judging by the lack of reaction from Shea, it was clear Kyran had separated their comms for a moment to only speak to her. She rolled her eyes and loved it.

  “Upload your official documents,” came the sharp reply, and Rystar complied, waiting a few moments for the voice to come back. “Which prisoner are you here to interrogate?”

  “Balee Wylo,” Shea replied. The comms were silent for a moment.

  “Please proceed to docking
station three,” the voice said and cut out. Rystar looked to Shea and shrugged before pulling into docking station three and letting them connect to the airlock. With difficulty, they maneuvered out of the ship and into the narrow airlock that led to the causeway where they were met by a large Qartzl flanked by two more with assault rifles.

  Shea stood in front of her and took his helmet off as Rystar did and forced a yawn to make her ears pop. They were protected down here, but the pressure around them was still difficult for their bodies to ignore.

  “Mr. Hendi? Mx. Smith?” The Qartlz in the middle looked down at a tablet and swiped a few times before holding out a long-fingered, webbed hand to Shea. With a deep breath, Shea extended his hand and shook. “I am Warden Galgudi Turmon, overseer of this entire prison complex. We found a discrepancy in your paperwork.”

  “Oh?” Shea said in surprise as the Warden motioned for Rystar and Shea to follow them down the causeway and towards a set of double doors. Shea looked down at her with raised eyebrows, and she shook her head a fraction of an inch.

  “We have no record of a Mx. Dallas Smith piloting for the Terran Space Force,” Galgudi went on, swiping away at their tablet. Rystar’s breath caught in her chest.

  Galgudi turned around to face them, and they all stopped dead in their tracks. “Mr. Hendi, this is a highly locked-down facility, and the only reason we let you in is due to your Terran status in the galaxy. Not many Terrans are able to make it down here, and those who do are on official business. I will give you the benefit of the doubt here, but any attempt at trickery will be met with swift retribution.”

  “My former partner, Rystar Umara, has been disposed of by the TSF,” Shea said, holding out his hands, “and I was left in deep space without a pilot. I had to make do with who I found on Bufefu.”

  Galgudi pursed their thin-lipped mouth and narrowed their deep green, wide-set eyes at her before returning their gaze to the tablet and swiping. “I see. Bufefu is known for their pilots?”