They listened for the entire three minutes of the song, both swaying a little to the music. As it wound down, Remy noticed a single tear sliding down Lilly’s cheek. In a rare moment of intimacy, he gently wiped it away.
Footsteps on the path behind them announced that their private time had come to an end. Remy stopped the music and turned to face the newcomers. Jacer and Dreyla ambled toward them, led by a limping Milo.
“Just what are you doing out of bed, Captain?” Dreyla asked him sternly.
He smirked and glanced at the dworg and the aflin. “I could ask the same of them.”
“Face it, Dreyla,” Lilly said. “These three are too stubborn to sit still for long.”
Dreyla sighed. “You’re probably right.”
For a few peaceful minutes, the five of them moseyed through the gardens together, but Remy found it tough to enjoy the break. Their present tranquility wouldn’t last. It was merely a fragile moment of calm before the storm.
Oddly enough, it was the aflin who interrupted their brief span of serenity.
“Sheriff,” Jacer said, clearly having determined to get down to business, “Milo and I have decided to return with you to Naillik. Perhaps we can open up communications with the home worlds from there and start a dialogue about this whole mess?”
“I have no intention of going back to Yerdua just to be told I have to prepare for some stupid war,” Milo concurred.
“Is it really going to come to that?” Dreyla asked, picking up a fallen bud from the path and twisting it in her fingers.
“It has before,” Lilly said.
“What?” Remy asked. “When?”
“Oh, yes,” Milo replied. Then, in the matter-of-fact tone of a school-age kid reciting a history lesson, he said, “When Vox was first discovered, it was claimed by the dworgs, the aflins, and the humans.”
Jacer gesticulated with sweeping movements of his spindly arms. “A planet with a new energy source that allowed us to travel faster and farther in the galaxy, not to mention power all of the cities on our home worlds. It was a treasure beyond imagination.”
“So, naturally,” Lilly added, “all three planets fought one another for the right to mine here.” She sighed heavily. “In the end, when the war proved too costly and too deadly, they decided to share it. Signed a treaty and everything. Hence, the three main settlements—Naillik, Elocin, and Yerdua—each named after its related home world.”
Before Remy could probe them for more information, one of the Ladies of Morbious darted toward them.
“The controller says there’s an enormous hovercraft approaching,” she panted. “Whoever’s driving it has been warned to keep their distance, but there’s no response.”
“Where is it now?” Remy and Lilly asked in unison.
“It’s not far from our front gates, but the fighters are set to destroy it if it turns hostile.”
Remy stepped forward. “Wait, did you say an enormous hovercraft?”
“Yes. It looks like a trash hauler.”
A trash hauler approaching Trame?
Remy squinted. “So, not obviously armed?”
The monk shook her head.
Remy glanced at Dreyla, who seemed as confused as the rest of them. He felt a smile creeping across his face.
“What?” Lilly snapped.
“Come with me,” he said, heading out of the gardens.
The others followed him closely—some eagerly, some rather reluctantly.
By the time they reached the front gates, the giant, metallic blue trash hauler had stopped. From one of the guard towers, the small group could see it waiting there, about fifty yards from the entrance of Trame. It remained still, making no move, no noise, but looking a little ominous all the same.
Despite his companions’ trepidation, though, Remy felt at ease. Quickly, he jogged down to the gates and asked the armed monks to open them.
“It could be remotely run, Remy.” Lilly, who’d trailed him from the tower, gripped his bicep, trying in vain to restrain him. “Hell, it could have explosives in it… from Bane.”
As the gates opened just enough for him to pass, Remy shook his head and brushed past her toward the vehicle.
“Captain?” Dreyla called after him.
He didn’t have time to answer her, though, or share his suspicions with anyone before the wide driver’s-side door opened, followed by a dramatic waft of aromatic vapor, and an old man climbed out… their old man. He was positively beaming, with a shit-eating grin to beat all the rest, and it wasn’t due to the drugs this time.
“TOSH!” Dreyla screamed as she sprinted past Remy.
As she twirled around in the doctor’s loving arms, Remy spotted tears sparkling on her cheeks again—only this time, they were tears of joy. Tosh, meanwhile, looked just as happy and relieved to be embracing his young crewmate.
The rest of the small group ambled toward the massive vehicle, Jacer and Milo a little slower due to their injuries.
The passenger-side door opened just then, and Brand hopped to the sand, her disheveled blonde hair shining in the sunlight. Remy turned to Lilly, who was standing beside him, and watched a smile spread across her lips—the widest, purest, most joyous smile he’d seen on her face since meeting her. A smile so blinding it almost hurt him to witness it. In a flash, she darted across the sand and embraced her young deputy, whom, until this moment, Remy, along with everyone else, had believed to be dead.
“We’ve got injured people inside,” Brand said as she stepped out of the embrace. “Char and Maia were both shot trying to get us to safety. They need urgent help.”
Remy didn’t know where they’d come from, but a moment later, twenty Ladies of Morbious, Lady Ris included, appeared outside the gates of Trame. Some helped the wounded out of the vehicle while the others warmly welcomed Brand and Tosh.
Remy just lingered in place, observing the heartwarming scene. Eventually, Tosh made his way toward him, stopping about two feet away.
“Like my ride, Captain?”
“It fits you.” Remy grasped the old man’s hand, intending to shake it heartily.
But Tosh, being Tosh, simply pulled him into a bear hug.
Remy inadvertently winced.
“Captain, you have a lower abdomen injury.”
“Nothing gets by you, Doc.”
Despite the discomfort, Remy let the embrace linger a moment longer—though his joy was marred by the guilt of having left the doctor for dead.
“Sorry about leaving you behind, old man,” Remy mumbled.
Tosh waved his comment away. “You had to protect Drey. That’s all that mattered.”
Remy smiled, somewhat relieved.
Brand’s voice suddenly cut through the happy atmosphere. “Where’s Davis?”
Remy threw Lilly a sympathetic look as she guided Brand away from the group to explain what had happened. Brand took the news hard, sobbing against Lilly’s shoulder.
Wincing, Remy turned his attention back to Tosh, who was recounting to Dreyla how he and the women had managed to escape from Bane. Apparently, the two Ladies of Morbious had arrived at the twelfth-floor suite, looking for him, just moments before Brand had shown up. Some kind of interference had blocked their comms, so they’d had no way of contacting the rest of the group.
Instead, they’d managed to slip out of the hotel unnoticed—easy to believe, given the mayhem all around them, not to mention Darkbur’s fixation on the rear building of his property—and tried to reach their hovercraft.
“Unfortunately, though,” Tosh explained, “some asshole had gone and torched it. Maybe Darkbur’s men did it after you all took off.”
“They do know what our crafts look like,” Lady Ris agreed.
“Course,” Tosh added, “it could’ve just as easily been some pissed-off residents. Bane is an unholy mess right now. What happened at the Butcher’s Place seems to have sparked riots all over the city.”
“Couldn’t have happened to a nicer place,” Re
my joked.
Tosh chuckled. “So, anyway, we had to find another ride. While trying to, we ran into some of Darkbur’s men, which is how the ladies got injured. I managed to stop the bleeding, but we had to get out of there.” He sighed. “That’s when I spotted the trash hauler and figured nobody was gonna stop an old man driving a bunch of garbage out of the city.”
“Good thinking, Doc,” Dreyla said, squeezing his wiry arm.
“The only problem,” Tosh added with a chuckle, “the piece of junk didn’t have any working comms, so we were worried you might blow us the hell up before we had a chance to say hello.”
Lady Ris cleared her throat. “Yes, well… we were about to.”
“Only you, Tosh,” Remy said, laughing, “would think to use a garbage truck as an escape vehicle.”
In the comfortable lull that ensued, Brand finally broke away from Lilly and stepped up to Tosh. To Remy’s utter amazement, she kissed the old man on the cheek, tears still trickling out of her eyes.
“Thank you for saving my life.”
Tosh winked at her. “More than welcome, darlin’.”
Chapter 10
LILLY
Lilly gazed through the open doorway of her office. Remy stood in the corridor, regarding a newly mounted portrait of Deputy Davis. Beneath the commemorative image, a plaque declared how the officer had bravely fought and perished to save the innocent. Lilly had arranged to have both items installed shortly after she and her companions returned from Trame. She’d even invited Davis’s relatives to the unveiling ceremony, and they’d, in turn, welcomed her and his friends to a small funeral in his honor. The least she could do for a deputy who’d meant so much to her.
A week had passed since the battle in Bane, and so far, Darkbur had yet to make his move. No doubt he had a plan of retaliation in motion, but for now, he was likely busy rebuilding his business, reassembling his army, and holding off any opportunistic competitors.
Lilly and her colleagues had exhausted themselves trying to disperse the nano-biotics around the planet, even on the down-low in Bane. Although many citizens had died while awaiting the life-saving meds, she was grateful for the thousands and thousands of people who had lived, thanks to their dangerous mission. Now, as she and her cohorts attempted to prepare for the possibility of war, they also managed to make some time for other pertinent matters.
While Remy lingered in the hallway, Jacer and Milo sat on the opposite side of her desk, engaged in an engrossing conversation with Tosh. At least they seemed to consider it engrossing. To be fair, she’d only partially paid attention while attempting to complete an inventory of the station’s weapons on her computer.
“I think I can seriously improve it,” Tosh said, standing beside the aflin and dworg, holding out a tablet for them to see.
Apparently, the doctor believed he could not only reproduce the nano-biotics, but also increase their potency tenfold, eliminating the need to wait for last-minute shipments from the other end of the galaxy.
“The doctor may like to partake in a bit of juice from time to time…” Remy said, stepping into the office.
She figured juice meant the narcotics the doctor constantly administered to himself, or whatever else gave the old man his perpetual buzz.
“…but he is one hell of a doctor back in our solar system,” Remy finished, looking her straight in the eye.
“I believe him,” she said, leaning back in her chair, “and you, too, for that matter. I may not fully grasp the science behind what he’s talking about, but I think I can speak for everyone here when I say he has our full support.”
Beaming, Tosh offered a comical half-bow and placed the tablet on her desk. With his leathery skin, innumerable wrinkles, and pale gray eyes, he looked a little ghoulish, even when he smiled, but she found herself grinning anyway. She just couldn’t help but adore the guy.
“Come on, Doctor,” Jacer said as he rose from his seat, “I can introduce you to the medical staff over at the hospital.”
Milo stood, too. “I’ll tag along. Maybe we can use it as a bargaining chip to cool off this situation.”
Communication had already collapsed between the cities of Naillik, Elocin, and Yerdua. According to Mayor Cansen—who was way more stressed-out and red-faced these days—a breakdown of negotiations had even occurred between the Dworg and Aflin Councils. So much for the hallowed, bilateral cooperation between the two non-human races. Stupid politics and a deplorable lack of common sense and common courtesy had fueled the flames of war.
After Tosh, Jacer, and Milo left the office, Remy sat in one of the vacated chairs. He looked a whole lot better now that his fever had passed and his wound had healed. His black hair shone from a recent shower, his scraggly beard and mustache had given way to a neatly trimmed frame around his handsome mouth, and a mischievous twinkle had returned to his eyes. Was it possible, too, that someone—perhaps Dreyla—had laundered and ironed his favorite black-and-brown shirt, which, as usual, highlighted his lean, sculpted upper body?
He winked at her, likely realizing she’d been checking him out again.
Her eyes darted self-consciously back to her computer.
“I understand someone stole the med ship,” Remy said.
While her crew had recuperated in Trame, someone had swiped the vessel from under Skully’s nose. She had her suspicions, of course, but no proof.
“Yep,” she said, smiling impishly. “Sorry, I know you wanted to steal it again.”
“Funny. True, but funny.”
“So, I was thinking…” she said, watching him closely.
“Sheriff,” Potter’s voice interjected via the internal comms unit on her desk.
“What is it, Potter?” she snapped.
She’d been on edge ever since returning from the monastery. It didn’t help that, every time she’d tried to speak with Remy, she’d gotten interrupted.
Still, she really needed to temper her short fuse. Her remaining deputies didn’t deserve her ire, especially since she didn’t know which one of them she might lose next.
“You’re not gonna believe who’s called in to talk to you,” Potter continued, likely old enough to ignore her outbursts, or at least not take them personally.
“Gono Darkbur,” she and Remy chorused in response.
“Uh, well… yeah,” Potter said, with a slightly disappointed tone.
Lilly sighed. “Put him through.”
A second later, her long-range comms lit up, and the crime lord’s infuriatingly smug face appeared on the screen.
Without waiting for him to make the first move, she said, “You’ve got a lot of nerve calling here.”
“Sheriff, you should calm yourself,” Darkbur replied. “Hysteria is not a good look on a woman of supposed authority.”
“Gono, you’re a piece of scum,” Remy shouted from off-camera. “Actually, that’s giving scum a bad name. This whole shitstorm of a war is your fault!”
Lilly flashed him a stern look. She didn’t need him escalating the situation.
Darkbur guffawed. “Ah, the wayward captain. Finally found your home port. And as usual, you’ve picked the wrong side.”
“Not from where I sit,” Remy snapped.
After another hefty guffaw, Darkbur asked, “Haven’t seen Tara Shaw lurking around, have you?”
“The way I figure it,” Remy growled, rising from his seat and circling around to Lilly’s side of the desk, “she abandoned your dumb ass, jacked a ship, and is no doubt sipping margaritas on Musk Station by now.”
Darkbur waved his thick hand in dismissal. “We’ll see… anyway, Sheriff, I believe you’ve come to see the necessity of us working together?”
She laughed. “This morning, I read a report that, after we took the nans back, several other factions rebelled against you. Did that bit of news not reach your mansion yet, Gono?”
“Squashed, just like your poor deputy,” the crime boss sneered.
She felt heat rising from her stomach, thro
ugh her throat, and up to her forehead. “The next time I see you,” she spat, “you’re a dead man.”
“Not if Yercer or one of my other loyal lieutenants gets to you first.”
“I wouldn’t hold out hope for that, you piece of crap.”
Before he could respond, she clicked off the comms. After a few seconds of staring at the blank screen, she sank her forehead into her clasped palms.
“Shouldn’t have lost my cool like that,” she mumbled.
“Hell, yes, you should have,” Remy replied hotly. “He’ll get what’s coming to him. Trust me, I’ve dealt with people like him before.”
She peered over her intertwined fingers. “I’ll bet you have.”
Remy flashed her a pseudo-wounded look, then shrugged, smiled, and reclaimed his seat. “I am curious, though… what do you plan to do with Yercer? He’s been in jail for two weeks.”
In fact, even now, she could hear him yelling something inane from his cell.
“He can rot in there, for all I care,” Lilly said. “Until Darkbur shows his face to claim him, no one in Naillik gives a hoot about his so-called rights. Besides, we’ve got bigger problems at the moment—or haven’t you been listening?”
Remy offered his customary half-grin, a roguish twinkle in his eye. “Of course, I have. You’ve got my full attention. You always do.”
Lilly blushed, then gamely recovered her composure. “So, it sounds like Tosh might be busy for a while, but after he cracks the nans dilemma, what are you and your crew going to do? Try to find your way home?”
The question had sat on the tip of her tongue for the past several days—ever since they’d returned to Naillik. It relieved her to finally get the words out, but she found herself dreading an answer she didn’t want to hear.
The roguish grin faded away, and Remy’s gaze turned serious. “First, I need to fix my ship,” he finally admitted. “Of course, I don’t think that’s going to be easy. So, yes, I suppose we’ll be here for a while.”
“In the meantime?” she asked, striving to sound cool, disinterested.
“Well, your brother’s been trying to convince me to help him out on a little job.”
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