Ki's Redemption

by Keri Kruspe

Ki helped with the transition as D’zia and his TrueBond, Lora, moved into the Chancellor’s Palace on the Space station orbiting Zerin. While there, he enjoyed being in charge of eliminating the Erkeks in high levels of responsibility and replacing them with reputable members of the Consortium.

  The only real mystery to everyone on the space station was the “playroom” with its many and varied tools of sadomasochism. Who had been the lucky recipients of U’unk’s malicious attention? Hard evidence of silver blood scattered along a wall belonged to a Runihura female. Where was she now? There was no listing of her in the palace records, coming or going.

  One of D’zia’s first orders had been to investigate who she might be and discover what happened to her.

  Ki volunteered to lead the investigation, but D’zia just looked at him and said it was “covered.”

  Whatever that meant.

  Then D’zia had the temerity to tell Ki he should concentrate on more important matters.

  When Ki demanded that D’zia explain, his TrueBond, Lora, smirked with a firm command for him to “figure it out.” With that cryptic declaration, she pulled her mate away and told Ki to “get going.”

  He refused to let the infuriating couple distract him as he left before them, going to the palace on Zerin for Qay’s coronation.

  While D’zia took over as Chancellor, King Abzu E’etu stepped down and Ki’s friend Qay was officially invested as the new ruler of Zerin, along with his human TrueBond, Aimee.

  Aimee, during the coronation ceremony, decided it was the perfect time to give birth to Prince Ryox Argent E’etu. They named the baby after one of Qay’s ancestors, and in the tradition of Aimee’s people, his middle name came from someone in her family. The hybrid human/Zerin resembled a typical Zerin, except with four fingers instead of the normal three. As a newborn, the colors of his eyes remained in question, but the iridescent dark skin and ears that sloped to a point were all Qay. The baby’s head was full of black, straight hair with a startling white patch that began at his forehead and tapered to the nape of his neck in a smooth line.

  Good thing the Zerin populace embraced their new prince with open arms. In fact, the mixed heritage of the new royal was becoming something of a fad among his people.

  Once the excitement surrounding the birth and the new king settled, Ki found he didn’t have a goal on what to do next with his life. His past as a mercenary had no appeal. He’d left that behind long ago when he vowed to protect Qay. However, now that Qay was no longer in exile, Ki’s duty protecting him transferred to the Imperial Forces.

  Not that Ki resented moving on. In fact, he usually relished the challenge change brought. The only problem was figuring out what that challenge should be. He’d never been in this situation before, unsure and floundering. Credits he had plenty of; he could live in opulent comfort without working another day. Qay and D’zia were safe and busy with their TrueBonds and new occupations. While they had no need for him in their daily lives, they’d find something for him to do if he asked. The mere thought caused him to shudder. He always took command of his life, not relying on others to tell him his purpose. Whenever life had taken a dramatic turn, the next course became clear.

  Not this time.

  A dragon snort echoed in his mind. Of course the path is clear. We go back and claim our mates.

  Look, Grirryrth, we’ve been over this more than once. Late that night inside the luxurious room assigned to him in the royal palace on Zerin, Ki sat in a large, roomy chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. He wasn’t in the mood to rehash the same old argument. In the dim light that matched his mood, he crossed an ankle over his opposite knee. For the first time in decades, he dressed in civilian clothes and kept the Solaherra battlesuit absorbed within his skin at the cellular level. The natural materials of his soft gray tunic rested over the black pants tucked into the dark boots that reached mid-calf.

  With a deep groan, he tried once again tried to talk sense into Grirryrth about the females they’d left on Earth…

  … you left…

  A devastating cry seized his body and mind. A female’s scream of despair sliced and cut deep as a soulful roar of pain reached across the stars…a plea to end her torment.

  What was that? Ki asked, though he didn’t have to.

  It was Cheithe, screaming in agony. Being separated from her mate created an unstoppable force of nature that transcended time and space.

  Ki froze and couldn’t take a breath.

  We must go to her NOW! Grirryrth roared and clawed to escape.

  No, Grirryrth! You can’t come out here. Ki gritted his teeth as he struggled to hold on to his form. While the room was a big suite, it wouldn’t fit a three-ton dragon. Calm down and let me think!

  Sweat popped out on Ki’s brow as he struggled and grasped the arms of the chair to help focus. The heat Grirryrth created reached an unsustainable level.

  Cheithe! I’m coming. I’m coming! Grirryrth gave a resounding roar and ignored Ki’s demand. In reflex, Ki stood and bent at the waist to hold on to the top of his thighs. He took in deep, gulping breaths to gain control.

  Grirryrth… Goddess damn it…I said, calm down!

  NO! We must go to her…

  Yes… okay… OKAY. Fruking stop and let me think! Ki straightened and clenched his fists to soothe his trembling body. The internal inferno dissipated as Grirryrth finally relinquished with a rumble and a growl to fade into blissful silence in the background. Ki chuckled. Looked like all his intentions to stay away from Sherri were over and he’d deluded himself it had been the right thing to do. The absence of the MalDerVon scroll wasn’t a reason to stay away. Which, he admitted, was ludicrous. Some personal marking had nothing to do with what Sherri meant to him. Besides, with her being human plus his Crart heritage, the scroll may never appear.

  It finally became clear…did that really matter?

  Decision made. I’ll contact Elemi to head out for Earth. He reassured his distraught dragon.

  The only thing to do was tell Qay and D’zia where he was going. And let them know he had no intention of coming back. For the first time in weeks, a peaceful calm washed over him. Yes, this was what he’d been seeking. He’d just been too stupid to realize it.

  Grirryrth snickered.

  “Excuse me? I must not have heard you correctly.” It was hard keeping his tone smooth when Ki questioned Elemi as they approached Earth’s orbit. With the news that the AI ship couldn’t locate Sherri, his dragon roared and clawed, trying to get out.

  Calm the fruk down, you overgrown gnotdile lizard. I can’t think with you screaming in my head.

  A plume of smoke drifted out of Ki’s nostril. It was a sure sign of Grirryrth’s annoyance. I will yield for now, but you WILL find my mate.

  Blessed silence followed as Elemi answered.

  “As I said,” Elemi’s voice took on a reluctant tone. “I’m having trouble locating Sherri.”

  Ki pressed his lips together. “Try to connect with her personal guards.” He personally hired those guards before he left. Not that he told Sherri he took that particular job on himself. Shysutá and her AoA allies were as expensive as hell.

  “Unable to comply,” Elemi answered. “I am incapable of connecting with them.”

  A back molar creaked as his jaw clenched. “All right, let’s look at this in another way. Scan for Nok and Merkaba life signs to find Striyx and Shysutá.” He flicked his eyes back and forth as information scrolled across his ODVU. There…a weak signal from Shysutá’s life signs in a North Eastern Canadian providence. “Can you find anyone else close by?”

  “No. The Merkaba female’s life-force is fading. There is a dead Nok male in the same room with her. No signs of any humans in the immiate vicinity.”

  “Transport me to her coordinates as close as you can.”

  As he spoke the last word, Ki materialized into an airy room decorated in neutral colors. He ignored the surroundings and concentrated on the prone figure of the purple Merkab
a female under an overturned, heavily padded chair.

  He shoved the heavy armchair away. Kneeling at her side, with gentle hands he moved her head to check for a pulse at the side of her nose. He barked at Elemi. “Elemi, transport her to your medical unit and commence the appropriate healing program.”

  Her body disappeared as Elemi responded in his internal ODVU. “Arrived. Analysis has commenced.”

  Ki turned to Striyx’s still figure. With a sigh of resignation, he kneeled beside the cold body of the Nok male whose silver eyes were open and glassy in death.

  A deep slice across his throat was the obvious cause of death. White blood pooled around his head and mixed with the pink of Shysutá’s. A thick, metallic smell perfumed the air. With gentle respect, he closed the unseeing eyes and asked Elemi to transport the body to store in a freezer unit. “Report this incident to the Imperial Forces. They need to know what in the nine systems is going on here.”

  “The Merkaba female is stable,” Elemi reported a few clicks later. “I will keep her in stasis until we can get her to a healer on a civilized planet.” The AI vessel made a sniff of disdain.

  Not that he blamed her. Earth was a primitive society with backward ideas, which included their medical treatments. He’d only entrust Shysutá’s health to the best the Consortium had to offer. He couldn’t begin to imagine the horrors the galaxy would face if anything happened to Hayami’s sister.

  Ki prowled through the spacious home, going from room to room trying to uncover what happened to Sherri. After he canvassed the entire six-bedroom household, his chest tightened. There wasn’t anything else out of the ordinary. With determined strides, he went back to the large room where he’d found the dead Nok and wounded Merkaba. With clenched fists on his hips, he surveyed the living space again as his eye twitched. Where was Sherri? A growl rumbled from deep within his chest.

  “Elemi.” Frustration made his voice harsh. Nothing…there wasn’t anything out of the ordinary to catch his attention. “Scan for any anomalies I cannot detect by myself.”

  Zerin male! One we’ve scented before. Grirryrth answered before the ship could.

  Ki raised an eyebrow in surprise. Why didn’t you say so?

  Grirryrth gave him no verbal answer, but sent him a picture of Chancellor U’unk. Every bone in Ki’s body hardened. He fought the instinct to change into his dragon.

  “Ki, dearest,” Elemi piped up. “A Zerin male and human female are approaching a ship six measures away in an easterly direction.”

  “Transport me to them!” Ki braced himself. What the fruk! How did that piece of damaged puntneji escape and wind up here? A thundering growl rolled out of his chest.

  “I’m so sorry, dearest, but I cannot transport you because of the excessive growth of evergreen plants with elongated stems and supporting branches and needles.”

  “Goddess curse a sacrilege slug!” Damn if a bunch of trees stopped him from saving his TrueBond. “FRUK!” His growl roared as he raced out of the house to the grassy clearing.

  “Grirryrth, attend me!” He lifted his arms for the transformation. The dragon must have expected the call because the minute Ki stepped into enough space, he formed and flew toward the east.

  With Grirryrth’s advanced eyesight, they followed the obvious trail U’unk left.

  The despot had stomped and smashed through the surrounding foliage, kicking leaves, dirt, and bush out of his way. Heavy footsteps meant he had to be carrying Sherri, especially since there weren’t any other footprints.

  Grirryrth snorted a burst of flame at the thought of another male touching his female.

  They spotted the small 8-15 ship in a narrow clearing. It had the same basic “M” shape as a regular 10-15, but this smaller vessel had room for only two passengers. It carried a maximum weapon payload, primarily used for suicide missions.

  How and where the psychopath got the ship was anyone’s guess. Not that he cared. He had to stop U’unk before he boarded with his female.

  Grirryrth flung open his impressive wingspan to gather enough air to reach the vessel before U’unk did. The dragon landed with an earth-quaking thud, breaking trees and shrubs under him.

  U’unk dropped to his knees and loosened his hold on Sherri who rolled seemingly boneless on the floor of the plant-laden forest.

  Her loose body flopped as only an unconscious person could.

  He doubted she was dead. U’unk would hardly waste time carrying around a corpse.

  Encouraged, Grirryrth sat on his haunches and lowered his massive triangular head to eye the kneeling Zerin male. The biggest problem maintaining the dragon form was the inability to converse with their prey. For now, Ki left Grirryrth in control. Sometimes people spouted all sorts of interesting things when they assumed the creature in front was a dumb animal with no sentient capabilities.

  U’unk was an exception. He ignored the giant dragon and bent to pick up Sherri.

  Grirryrth growled in warning and shuffled a clawed foot forward.

  “No, I don’t think so.” U’unk pointed a disintegration blaster at the side of her face.

  Her body lay in a twisted heap, her back on the forest floor, bent at the waist with one leg over the other. With her arms splayed and short hair fanned behind her, the exposed tender skin of her temple gave the maniac a clean shot.

  “You come any closer and I’ll kill her quicker than you can get to me.” The bald Zerin twisted his lips into a sneer.

  When Grirryrth didn’t move, U’unk stood as he kept an eye on the massive dragon. “Get out of my way and let me leave in my ship.”

  Grirryrth snorted. A stream of smoke came out of both nostrils as his bulk moved to block the ship.

  “Oh, so you do understand me.” U’unk’s tone never fluctuated. It remained flat and impersonal. “Good. Then this will be easier for the both of us.”

  The blaster pointed at Sherri didn’t waver. “I will take her with me, for protection purposes, of course.” His dead obsidian eyes showed no emotion. “If you hinder me in any way, she’ll be disintegrated without a second thought.”

  Grirryrth chortled, his amusement clear.

  The furrow between U’unk’s sleek dark eyebrows deepened. “I fail to see what’s so amusing. Just so you are aware, I have no issue in killing others. Even females.” He gave a thin, evil smile. “In fact, I enjoy it.”

  “Oh, do I’s bets,” a singsong voice tittered behind the disgraced Chancellor.

  U’unk’s eyes widened before he spun around at the sound of the feminine words. From his stiff stance and redirection of the blaster, he well aware of who confronted him.

  “This does not concern you, Hayami of the Merkaba Peoples,” U’unk greeted her formally. “I respectfully offer you an alternative payment for your services.”

  Hayami’s youthful exterior was deceiving.

  Ki’s former commander in the AoA was hundreds of years older than she looked. Grirryrth had scented the Merkaba before she made her appearance. For once he was exceedingly grateful Shysutá and Hayami had a connection deep enough that one would sense when the other was in mortal danger. It was sheer chance he’d gotten there before she did.

  Her diminutive size housed a brilliant strategist whose thin frame was covered in pale, pink skin. Her large, light champagne-pink eyes framed dark magenta lashes matching her spiky deep-rose-and-black hair—short in the front with long tresses that floated past her thighs. That day she wore a brief pleated skirt with a white blouse tucked in at her tiny waist. Small-heeled Earth-style pumps with pearlescent thigh-high stockings adorned her firm legs and dainty feet.

  Strapped to those silk-clad thighs were steel rods as thin as her wrists. These were energy-based weapons that were lethal to whoever she aimed at.

  What Ki found interesting wasn’t those nor the ceremonial Katana belted at her back. It was the metal round disks she held in all four hands, each disk not any bigger than her palm. While different in design, Ki suspected he’d seen those missiles
before.

  “Differ begs on you.”

  Hayami’s full lower lip curved at the corner as her eyes throbbed with an emotion Ki found familiar.

  She wore the same expression just before she delivered unspeakable agony to an unwary individual. “Tried sister to kill. Trespass money erases not.”

  U’unk’s black gaze searched the dragon—as if the larger predator would grant him the mercy he’d not get from the female.

  Hayami skipped over the prone form of Sherri and stepped closer to the big Zerin.

  He dwarfed her diminutive frame as desperation rolled off him in a burnt-amber scent. U’unk didn’t move the closer she came. His breath was even as he swung the blaster in her direction. “I will not hesitate to do the same to you, Hayami of the Merkaba Peoples.”

  “Know do this I.” Hayami agreed as she stopped outside his personal space. “You not.” With a quick flick of all four wrists, disks flew out of her hands and spun in his direction. In mid-flight, each plate released sharp spikes that surrounded the metal.

  U’unk might have been strong or flexible enough to evade one or two of the disks, but not four. Three passed him by mere inches, but the fourth lodged in the meat of his thick neck.

  With a hiss of pain, U’unk pulled the small weapon out and threw it to lodge in a tree trunk next to Hayami’s bright-pink head.

  It shaved off a clump of loose hair around her ear without penetrating the skin.

  “Bad too you for.” Hayami lifted her upper right hand and waved a forefinger in his direction as if he was a naughty child.

  U’unk scowled as he wiped at the trickle of garnet-red blood that rolled over the column of his heavy neck. “Is that all you’ve got?” The deep voice rumbled with disdain as he raised the weapon to press the cylinder at the center of her light-pink forehead. “You should have taken the money, Hayami.”

  The Merkaba smiled as she clapped both sets of hands and hopped in glee, uncaring that the metallic barrel dug into her soft flesh with each bounce. “See come, Fylgir!”

  “Hayami, yous gos tos far agains!” A bulky yellow Orisha male lumbered toward the petite female. Having worked with Hayami for several decades, Ki had expected Hayami’s mate to be close behind.