by A. G. Wilde
Were they hiding?
As soon as they went through the double doors, Ka’Cit pushed a button in the wall and the floor began moving upward.
It was a lift.
“Why did the alien seem so…wary of you?”
Again, she was sure Ka’Cit stiffened.
“That, ta’ii, is a long story.”
The lift opened to chatter that suddenly died as they stepped into the room.
What in the Wild West…?
Nia kept her head low, but it didn’t stop her from stealing a few glances from underneath her cloak.
Every single alien in the room was dressed in similar outfits, a faded sort of green tunic, and all of them were dead silent—frozen in time.
Some had their drinks in hand, some were in the middle of chewing, but they all shared one thing: a pin could drop and it would be heard in the silence.
Ka’Cit didn’t seem to notice or, he didn’t mind. His hand was still at her back and he guided her forward.
Up front, there was a large counter with a stocky alien who had more arms than she could count pouring drinks.
When they reached the counter, the tension didn’t cease.
As a matter of fact, it seemed as if the bartender was also frozen, his eyes on Ka’Cit.
They stopped by the counter and Ka’Cit studied the bartender. Nia found herself glancing from one to the other, trying to figure out what the hell was happening, but she knew better than to open her mouth.
Something was going on here that was bigger than her.
“Two galaxy quas.” Ka’Cit didn’t even speak loudly but with the silence in the room, his voice carried.
As soon as the words left his mouth though, it was as if the room collectively sighed and the chatter picked up as if it hadn’t stopped.
Nia glanced up at the man by her side, one eyebrow lifting a little.
She wanted to ask him what the hell was going on but maybe she’d do that later.
“Two galaxy quas.” The bartender placed the drinks in front of them and hurried off.
Nia looked at the bottle before her.
It was fizzing like a carbonated drink on steroids.
She was very aware of Ka’Cit watching her as she grasped it and looked at it, turning it around in her hand.
“It is good,” he said.
It looked like it was ready to erode her teeth more like, but she gave him a brave smile and put the drink to her head.
The taste surprised her. It was almost too sweet and the carbonated part of it popped on her tongue.
But she was so thirsty—she hadn’t drunk anything since leaving the Sanctuary—so she took another swig.
The fizz felt like it went up her nose and she had to shake her head a bit to get rid of the sensation.
She was sure Ka’Cit snickered underneath his mask. “Like it?”
She couldn’t answer, she was too busy taking another swig, but she nodded instead.
“Here, take mine too.” He slid his bottle toward her before leaning forward against the counter.
For the next few moments, he leaned on the counter and watched her consume the drink.
He seemed completely at ease, but she could still feel the tension at her back.
Nia took a few more gulps and allowed her gaze to move over the room without making it obvious she was checking the place out.
Apart from the weird silence that had greeted them when they first entered, this bar, if she could call it that, wasn’t that bad.
The walls were the color of mahogany and drab. Apart from a small circular window on one wall, there were no other wall decorations.
There were several tables in the small lounge made of the same material and color as the walls and the stools looked like barrels that matched the same color.
Ka’Cit was right. Apart from her, there didn’t seem to be any other females within the room.
At least, no aliens were present that she could confidently identify as being female. It felt as if she was in an alien truck stop filled with a host of drivers who transported the cargo from Hudo III galaxy wide.
They were talking together, sharing jokes, but she noticed one thing: despite the chatter, they all seemed to be glancing in her and Ka’Cit’s direction every now and then.
“They seem…uncomfortable,” she whispered loud enough for Ka’Cit to hear and he grunted.
“They should be.”
Nia took another gulp of the drink and allowed herself to enjoy the feel of the fluid going down her throat.
Despite the sideways glances in their direction, she had to admit that the chatter in the background was almost comforting.
If she closed her eyes, she could imagine she was somewhere on Earth in a regular bar.
But they were on a job. They still had to get that package.
They? Funny how she’d now included herself on that.
“Um, Crusher?” The small voice barely caught her attention and she had to pull her gaze from the room to look in the direction of the sound.
It was the Torian, the mechanic who was working on their stolen ship.
“There’s a problem.” Ka’Cit turned to regard the Torian as well.
“P-problem?” The alien stuttered.
“You wouldn’t come back to me if there wasn’t.”
The Torian gulped, his four eyes darting to the side before he forced them back on Ka’Cit.
“It’s n-not a p-problem, but I-I’m afraid there is no quick fix. It will take longer than a few minutes to complete the repairs.”
When Ka’Cit didn’t say anything, the Torian hurried on. “The vessel is…very damaged. It seems to not have been serviced, ever, though,” he spoke even faster now, “I’m sure you serviced it a lot. Maybe whoever you hired didn’t do a good job and—”
“How long?” Ka’Cit cut him off.
The Torian gulped again. “It will take at least three full light cycles to repair the engines.”
Ka’Cit let the blaster fall from his shoulders to hang by his side and the whole room hushed once more.
For a moment, no one seemed to breathe and Nia found herself looking around the room.
Fear registered on every single one of the faces she could read.
“Do it.” Ka’Cit’s words were barely uttered before the Torian nodded.
“Y-yes, Crusher.” The Torian moved quickly, almost falling over his own legs to get away.
As Ka’Cit turned back to the bar, the room released a collective sigh.
Nia stared at him.
No, she had to ask.
Lowering her voice, she moved closer to him. “Just what the hell is happening?”
Ka’Cit huffed out an almost inaudible laugh.
“A curse,” he said underneath his breath.
His answer left her momentarily speechless.
A curse?
“And I don’t think we’re going to make it, ta’ii.” He tapped his finger on the counter as he stared straight ahead. “We definitely can’t intercept that package in time. The chance is lost.”
His words made something fall within her.
“But that means…”
It meant the humans that needed whatever was in this package were going to possibly die?
She couldn’t help but feel that it was completely because of her and maybe her expression showed in her face because Ka’Cit dipped his hand underneath the cloak’s hood to grasp her chin with his fingers.
His touch was light as he rubbed his finger over the small indentation in the middle of her chin and his gaze was focused on the movement.
It felt like he had to pull his eyes upward to meet hers. “It’s not your fault, ta’ii.”
“What gave you the impression I was thinking that?”
He shrugged a little. “I know all too well of blaming yourself for something you cannot control.”
Cryptic.
It felt like there was more to that sentence and she was about to ask him to explain
when the bartender moved over their way.
“I know what will cheer you up,” Ka’Cit’s eyes lightened and he caught the alien’s attention with a wave of his hand.
“Two Zeregga meals. Make them hot and well cooked.”
“Two Zeregga meals,” the bartender repeated as he shuffled off.
Ka’Cit looked at her. “We’ll be here a while. We might as well get comfortable.” He checked the band on his wrist.
“What about those humans? Is there anything we can do to help them?”
His gaze travelled over her face for a few moments. “You truly feel responsible…”
Nia nodded. “Well, if you hadn’t been trying to help me then they wouldn’t be in a worse situation.”
He studied her for a bit more. “I’ll figure it out.”
Nia’s mouth opened and closed.
He said it with such surety, she felt inclined to believe him.
She had to.
24
Releasing a breath, Nia turned her attention back to the room and it was then that she realized the chatter had lessened somewhat.
More eyes were flicking in their direction with increased confidence.
One alien sitting close by them caught her gaze and only because he was sitting in such a position that he had direct view of her face.
He had antennae and a mouth with clasps like an ant’s but that wasn’t the reason he caught her attention.
It was the way he was looking at her, and now that she was looking back, the alien’s eyes slipped from her face to slide down her body.
A sick feeling developed in Nia’s belly and her skin crawled.
She was wearing a cloak that looked like one of her great grandmother’s bedsheets and he was looking at her like that?
If the other aliens in the room were like him, no wonder females hardly ventured to the service satellites alone.
Purposefully, and in an exaggerated fashion, she reached for Ka’Cit’s hand.
He jerked a little at the suddenness of her touch and his gaze snapped to hers.
Nia smiled up at him as she took the same hand and secured it firmly around her waist, moving as close to him as she could.
She was pressed against his side now and she was sure she could feel his heart thundering in his chest.
“Nee-ya? What are you doing?” His voice was only loud enough for her to hear.
“You’re my mate, remember. I’m just reminding those with wandering eyes of that fact.”
“Ah…right. We are pretending to be…” He left the rest unsaid but…was that a note of disappointment she heard?
Ka’Cit pulled his gaze away from hers and glanced around the room before he settled directly on the alien who’d been looking at her funny.
The alien looked away so fast, she was sure he’d just made himself cross-eyed in the process.
The whole situation almost made her giggle.
Almost.
“You drive fear into everyone’s bones, Ka’Cit.”
“Everyone, except you.” Again, there was a note of something in his tone, but this time she couldn’t quite figure out what it was.
He was right, though.
She wasn’t scared of him.
Even now, by her side, there was a calm, deadly coldness about him that told everyone in the room that he wasn’t someone to be messed with.
Yet, that feeling didn’t extend to her.
So, she remained against his side with his arm around her waist and she even leaned into him a little as she focused on the galaxy qua in front of her.
A scent caught her nose and she sniffed.
“The Zeregga meal,” Ka’Cit said. “It’s almost done.”
“Smells good. What’s in it?”
Ka’Cit tilted his head to the side. “Lots of meat and sauce. Most beings love it.”
Eh…meat.
Alien meat. It certainly wasn’t chicken and she wasn’t going to ask what it was.
The last time she’d been curious, she’d almost thrown up her meal and she was too hungry right now for that to happen.
Her stomach growled and she glanced up at him but if he’d heard, he was ignoring it. Or maybe he was ignoring her.
He seemed to be focused on a particular spot on the wall in front of them that wasn’t interesting in the least, and when she twisted in his arms, he seemed to close his eyes and inhale deeply in response.
“Ka’Cit?”
Just then the door opened and the loud laughter of whoever had just entered filled the room, pulling her and everyone else’s attention toward it.
It was a huge brute of an alien.
Big, strapping, and he seemed to have an entourage of smaller aliens of the same species following him.
He looked like a warthog, that’s the closest thing she could liken him to, and his entourage was made up of four smaller warthogs who surrounded him.
He had tusks that came forward from his mouth, his eyes were inset, and he had hulking shoulders.
As soon as they came through the door, the big alien’s eyes homed in on hers and Nia spun so her back was turned to him.
Something about the alien made her uneasy and she decided to pay attention to the drink before her in the hope that he’d ignore her.
The alien kept speaking to his cronies in a language that she couldn’t understand, and his voice became louder and louder, telling her he was moving in her direction.
Ka’Cit’s arm moved against her side and when she looked up at him, his eyes were so cold she could feel a chill.
These newcomers were bad news. She could tell.
She could feel it in the air itself.
They were close to the bar now, and she realized the alien switched languages for her translator implant picked up his words.
“Now, what do we have here?”
Oh God, she wished he wasn’t referring to her.
She was aware that he’d come to stand by the counter and when she risked a glance his way, she found his eyes on her.
Fuck. Her.
Did she have an alien attractor magnet somewhere on the back of her head?
“Where did you come from?” His words seemed innocent but his tone wasn’t.
Nia stiffened and she was aware the room had suddenly gone silent again but the idiots beside her didn’t seem to realize that.
Plus, she was still in Ka’Cit’s arms. Did the alien not see that?
“Don’t think it heard you, boss?” one of its cronies said.
“What’s a Niftrill doing out here on its own.”
“It’s not a Niftrill. You’re just as blind as those phekkers.”
“I said,” the brute repeated, “where did you come from?”
A large hand landed on the back of her head, grasped her hood and pulled it down her head. Nia froze.
When she looked up, the alien was frozen with his hand still grasping her cloak, but his gaze wasn’t on her anymore.
That’s when she realized he was frozen because his hand couldn’t move.
On her other side, Ka’Cit had let her go to grasp the alien by the wrist.
Now there was definitely tension in the room. If she had a knife, she could cut it like a piece of cake.
“Remove your hand, or I will remove it for you.”
Ka’Cit’s words were said so slowly, so surely, that they sent a chill through the room.
The brute appeared momentarily surprised, but it seemed to draw strength from the presence of its cronies.
One moment, she was standing still and the next, the alien was using his other arm to pull her toward him.
It happened so fast, she landed with her back against him and his hand around her throat.
The alien looked down at her, seeing her properly for the first time and his eyes widened a little before he grinned around his tusks.
Nia gritted her teeth and struggled in his arms.
She didn’t want to reveal her gun, she was still grasping it with one hand under
neath her cloak, but if she had to…
Through the corner of her eye, though, she realized Ka’Cit was leaning off the counter.
His movements were slow, bored, but an underlying current of lethal seemed to swim around him.
It was enough to even scare her a little.
As he stood at his full height, Ka’Cit let out a breath and cracked the bones in his neck.
“Why do they never listen?” he said to himself.
The alien grasping her throat grunted and glanced at his cronies. “Who the qrak is this?” He chuckled and his cronies cackled beside him. “Look, I’ll give you a chance to get out of here and go back on your supply run unharmed. But you leave this little gem to me.” He squeezed her neck a little tighter and Nia slammed her elbow into his chest.
The brute’s eyes grew wild and he held her even tighter. “Fighter, are you, little one?”
“I warned you twice.” Ka’Cit’s words cut through the air, stopping the cronies’ cackling and stilling the air around them.
“Twice?” The alien brute sounded confused.
“Didn’t I?” Ka’Cit asked. “Too bad.” He still had the alien’s wrist in his hand and, in one movement, he twisted it.
The alien grunted in pain but he didn’t let her go.
One of his cronies was moving at her side and, without taking his eyes from the brute holding her, Ka’Cit spoke again.
“Take one more step and I’ll cripple you.”
The alien at the side paused.
One of the others spoke. “Who does he think he is? Show him how the Rachzers do things, boss.”
The boss grunted around the pain in his wrist.
“You don’t tell us what to do,” he taunted.
Ka’Cit let out another breath. “I really didn’t want to do this. Not in front of you, ta’ii.” He spoke but he wasn’t looking at her. He was still focused on the brute.
From the corner of her eye, the alien he’d warned began moving again and in a split second, Ka’Cit raised his blaster and fired.
He didn’t take his eyes off the brute and she didn’t know how he found his target but the alien at the side howled in pain and fell to the floor.
For a moment, nobody moved and then one of the remaining three cronies let out a deafening squeal.
