Roran

by Clarissa Lake

  “Goddess of Light, Maker of all,” Roran spat. “Haemeg, you fool! What have you done?”

  Enraged and outrage, Roran wanted to overturn the table and destroy everything in sight like the Sargans had destroyed his world. He smashed his fist down on the table, spilling their drinks. He was so angry and upset he was shaking, and his eyes were bright.

  He glanced at Becca, who had been listening to Haemeg’s message with him. Her eyes were bright with unshed tears as well.

  Looking around the dining area, every eye in the room was on them. Roran silently dared any of them to come for him. He wanted to punch Haemeg in the face repeatedly. He wanted to kill someone badly.

  Meanwhile, the fruited drinks spread over the table, and the pink wine drizzled onto the floor from the table.

  The pink waitress came bustling over to the table, carrying a large towel. “Oh, dear. What happened here?”

  Roran could only stare at her.

  Becca spoke, “I am so sorry, my mate got some terrible news, and he accidentally spilled our drinks.”

  “No, matter. We will just get this cleaned up; then I will bring you more drinks to have with your meal.”

  Momentarily, a smaller green alien came out with a mop and bucket to clean the floor. When they finished, the table smelled pleasantly of fruit and wine. A short span later, Neesa was back with two steaming plates of delectable smelling food.

  “Thank you, Neesa. It looks wonderful,” Becca said graciously.

  The server paused to look at Roran like she wanted to say something encouraging, but thought better of it and went to serve other diners.

  Roran closed his eyes and just breathed in and out deeply and slowly for several breaths, trying to rein in his emotions. Haemeg risked everything for a big payoff, and he lost everything. He betrayed his people, and they would brand him a traitor. If any of his family still lived, they would be too ashamed to ever return to Farseek.

  Everything about the whole chain of events angered and frustrated him. But Haemeg did a stupid thing and got his stupid self brutally murdered for his stupidity. He was dead; Roran’s best friend gone forever.

  Somewhere inside Roran, there was still that little boy who went off alone and wept after his grandfather died. His hands fisted on the table before him while he fought for control. Then he felt her hand on his.

  Roran opened his eyes and met her gaze. He sighed unevenly, then covered Becca’s hand with his other one. Who better to understand his grief? Slavers stole her whole life from her. Even if she went back, all the people she loved were gone.

  But she still found the courage to love him. And that was no small joy. Roran took her hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back tenderly. No words were needed.

  Finally, they ate without conversation.

  Chapter Seventeen

  “Haemeg and I were friends since we could barely walk,” Roran said when he had finished eating. “I thought I knew him. I still can’t believe that he did this.”

  “I can only imagine,” said Becca reaching for his hand. “But he did say that he did not know what the information was and how they would use it.”

  “It doesn’t make it right. He gave military secrets to the enemy. That makes him a traitor.”

  “I understand that, but he was just the messenger. He didn’t plan the attack on Farseek. Somebody else did the planning and paid a lot of money to pull it off,” said Becca. “I saw a movie once where they were trying to figure out who was behind some spying scheme. Someone told him to follow the money.”

  Roran lips compressed into a thin line and his brows wrinkled. “That is my next move. I was planning to find Rhazien Fadek. Haemeg gave me some answers that make me believe the Sargan is only another pawn in a much bigger game.”

  “What about that, Deeto guy? Are you going to tell him what you found out?”

  “Not yet. We don’t even know how big this is. I think the more people that know what we’ve learned, the greater our risk.” Roran reached for his glass of wine and took a long swallow. “I think when we finish here, we should just go back to the ship and head for Bekket Station.”

  “What is at Bekket Station?”

  “My flat. I’m going to close it so we can go to Farseek as I promised you we would. My mission was to find out who killed Haemeg and why. Now I know. I will look into the rest, but I can do that on Herminia.”

  During the span they had spent at the tavern, it began to fill with customers. One of them had seemed to take an unusual interest in Roran, and he had noticed. He had the look of an operative, and Roran suspected it just might be Rhazien Fadek.

  Roran had gone against Sargan operatives several times in the past. A couple of times, he had barely escaped with his life. If the man he saw was Fadek, he wanted to avoid a confrontation if possible. Roran no longer needed to avenge Haemeg death. The men who killed him were already dead. He didn’t want to waste any more time there looking for the why. He doubted he would find the answers at Tegliar Station.

  With all the corrupt things he had learned about Haemeg; he wasn’t sure he wanted to know any more. The bigger question was why Farseek, a peaceful agricultural world.

  When they left the tavern, Roran took Becca’s hand as they stepped onto the pedestrian beltway. He scanned the surroundings looking for anyone observing them. Even though he did not see anything suspicious, the fine hairs on the back of his neck prickled. He felt someone was watching them.

  The sooner they got back to the dock, and into the ship, the better he would feel. Unfortunately, someone was waiting for them beside the spaceship. Roran stopped a few meters from the imposing male who stood between them and the entrance of his ship. He saw no one else in the docking bay.

  “Can I help you?” Roran asked the Sargan warily. He suspected who and why he was there.

  The humanoid male was close to Roran in size and stature, but he did not look human. Humans came in many colors, but green was not one of them. He had bright red hair and fine scales all over his body. The Sargan wore the black uniform of the military elite.

  “I’m afraid I can’t let you leave. If Haemeg left the information, I think he did; my employer will want you to join him.”

  Roran stilled, squeezing Becca’s hand just a little too tightly. “Rhazien Fadek, I presume. What does it matter? The damage is done, and Haemeg is dead. I was only looking to avenge his death, but the murderers are already dead. You saw to that, didn’t you?”

  Rhazien shrugged. “I had to make sure they didn’t lead back to me. Unfortunately, that didn’t take care of the problem. I didn’t count on Haemeg screwing me over after he was dead.”

  “Again, why does it matter at all that I know that you orchestrated the fall of Farseek? But you didn’t plan it. You were just following orders from someone else because you don’t have the credits to finance it nor access to the technology they used in the attack.”

  “Yes, but that person is getting nervous that you are too close to finding the truth. So, he has asked me to take care of that for him.” Rhazien took out a large combat knife. “I’m afraid you have to go.”

  Roran took out his knife, which closely resembled his opponent’s. He released Becca’s hand and motioned to her to get back away from him.

  Becca stepped back, looking on with a combination of fear and horror. Roran was her only ally in this part of the galaxy. Aside from the fact that she loved him, she was more than a little concerned about what could happen to her if Rhazien killed him. She was nowhere near ready to take on someone like Rhazien.

  Both men held out their knives and approached each other, feigning jabs, measuring each other preparing to attack. Roran also pulled one of his throwing daggers from the sheath at his back. The two circled each other, jabbing and feigning.

  When the fighting started in earnest, the two men moved so quickly, jabbing and blocking, it was hard to follow which man did what. Roran made the first cut across the Sargan’s ribs, but he wasn’t fast enough
to avoid a slash to his upper arm. Knives clashed, preventing injury. Roran managed to kick Rhazien in the lower abdomen hard enough to make him fall.

  Rhazien jumped to his feet in an acrobatic move to resume his attack. Both men seemed evenly matched so that it was difficult for either to gain an advantage. As relentless as Rhazien was in his attack on Roran, the Farseek warrior was just as ruthless.

  Roran managed to cut the Sargan's hand across the back causing him to drop one of his knives with blood oozing from the deep cut through his tendons. That didn’t stop him from jabbing the other at the Farseekan. In doing so, it allowed Roran to jab his knife into the Sargan’s belly.

  The Sargan grunted in pain but continued to kick and jab. Block, punch, kick, slash, repeated in rapid succession, so fast that Becca couldn’t tell who was winning. The fight went on and on. Roran took several minor cuts and a couple of shallow stabs, but that didn’t seem to slow him down.

  Becca wanted to help, but she worried that if she got too close, it would break Roran’s concentration and cause him to be injured or killed. Although she had gotten reasonably adept at knife throwing, the men shifted positions so fast that she could easily hit the wrong man.

  Finally, Roran kicked the Sargan in the knee so hard that he faltered, and Roran was able to jam his combat knife into his foe several times in rapid succession. The deep penetrating wounds spurted blood, and the Sargan sank to his knees but still jabbed his knife at Roran.

  Roran danced away, then back again, slashing across the Sargan’s throat, causing a new eruption of blood spurting from his enemy. Rhazien choked and gagged, falling over onto a side, convulsing as his blood pooled around his body. Then he breathed his last.

  Becca hurried to Roran’s side and put an arm around his waist. Breathing hard from the exertion, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, smelling of blood, sweat, and his own essence. Roran was bleeding from multiple cuts on his arms, chest, and abdomen. There were also shallow stab wounds in his chest and stomach.

  So, intent were they on each other; they didn’t immediately notice the arrival of Tegliar Station security. There were four armed officials, all holding weapons pointed at Becca and Roran.

  Roran still held the combat knife in his hand with Fadek’s blood dripping from it. Becca pressed a little tighter to him. He had just killed a man, and she was afraid they were going to arrest him.

  “Ran?”

  “Captain Sovaktu, are you all right?” asked the officer apparently in charge.

  “I will be, Commander Bartel. He didn’t give me any choice.”

  The commander holstered his laser blaster, and the other officers followed suit. “I know, the video feed from the security monitors backs your actions. He’s been a pain in our collective ass for the last few rotation spans. He thought he was going to run things because he was one of the Emperor’s Black Ops. He killed one of my officers, and I wasn’t allowed to arrest him. You did me a favor.”

  “Does that mean we can leave?” asked Roran.

  “Yes, go on into your ship and get patched up. We’ll take care of the mess.”

  “Thanks, Bartel.”

  Roran gave Becca a gentle squeeze and turned to the ship’s loading ramp, ambling toward the entrance. They paused briefly in front of the door while Herminia identified them and opened it, then they walked inside together.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Once inside the ship, Roran called out, “Feenix take us out of here, heading Bekket Station. Becca and I will be in the med room.”

  Although none of his wounds were lethal, he was battered and bruised, sore all over. When they got to the med room, Becca helped Roran shed his ruined clothing. He had slash wounds on his back as well as is arms and front and one on his upper thigh, a failed attempt to sever his femoral artery.

  Becca wiped down his back with a cloth soaked in anti-bacterial fluid. After she finished, he climbed naked onto the med table. Sensing his presence, it activated immediately. A snake-like hose finished washing him down with the anti-bacterial fluid. A robot arm injected additional nanocybots to repair the damage from within.

  The med unit ran a full body scan to assess his injuries. Almost immediately afterward, the med program read off the list of his injuries and gave an estimate of two spans to complete treatment of all his wounds.

  There was a slight lurch as Herminia broke free of the docking clamps and boarding tube. The engines whirred to life, and the ship turned heading back to Consortium territory.

  “You should get some rest, me’ara. This will take a while,” he told her.

  Becca took his hand in both of hers. “I almost lost you. I’m not leaving until you are ready to leave with me.”

  “I’m probably going to fall asleep any minute now with the pain meds the unit administered. You’d better rest now because when I recover, you won’t be getting a lot of rest.” He gave her a sexy smirk then closed his eyes.

  Becca still didn’t want to leave him, but she felt drained after watching her mate defend himself against a trained assassin. So closely matched in skill and stature that the fight could have gone either way. She stood by the med bed for several minutes, holding his hand and just staring at his face.

  “Me’otu, what has happened to the captain. Herminia has just informed me that Captain Sovaktu has activated the medical healing bed,” Feenix asked on the overhead com.”

  “A Sargan assassin injured him in a knife fight with, but Roran won,” Becca answered.

  “Are you all right Me’otu Becca?”

  “I was not injured.”

  “I am glad you are uninjured, Me’otu. The captain would be distressed, had you been hurt.

  “You should get some rest. Seeing the captain injured would have been distressing to you as well.”

  “Yes, Feenix. I was terrified. Ran is an excellent fighter, but the Sargan was very good as well,” she said. With one last look at Roran, she left the medical room.

  She realized that she was feeling sleepy as the adrenalin high from the danger was wearing off. The med room was only about the size of a modest bathroom on Earth; there was no room for a seat or bench for her to rest. She bent over him and kissed his lips, then released his hand and reluctantly left the room.

  Becca went to their cabin, undressed and slid into their bed alone, then burst into tears. She had been terrified that Roran would be killed. Instead, she had watched him kill the enemy in a brutal fight to the death.

  It replayed in her head almost like a movie, one of those violent martial arts movies she used to watch with her brothers. The brothers that she would never see again. That thought brought a fresh round of tears and a stab of homesickness. She wished she’d hugged her mom and dad the last time she saw them. But there’d been no reason to believe she would never see them again.

  She sobbed her heart out, mourning her family and all that she lost until she fell into an exhausted sleep. Her last thought as she closed her eyes was that she still had Roran.

  That was where he found her several spans later when the medical bed finished healing his wounds. From the tearstains on her pillow, he knew she had been crying. Roran hadn’t seen her cry since that first day when she learned how long she had been in stasis.

  Seeing him kill the Sargan brutally as he bled from multiple wounds, certainly didn’t help her mental state. He could imagine all too well what might have happened to her had he been killed. Some high-born aristocrat would take her as a concubine, or brothel owner would put her to work.

  Those thoughts made him want to kill those hypothetical slavers.

  Watching her sleep, knowing she was naked under the bed cover, made him want her. If he woke her now, she would probably take him. She had never denied him since they first became lovers. He decided to let her sleep and come to him when she was ready.

  Still naked from the medical bed, he went to the column of drawers on his side of the bed. Pulling out a pair of shorts and a sleeveless workout shirt, he dressed and stroll
ed out to the bridge.

  Feenix took note of his presence immediately. “Can I assist you, Captain?” he asked.

  “Just keep us on course for Bekket Station. I have some questions for Herminia.”

  “Yes, Captain,” the AI responded at the mention of her name.

  “Herminia, I want you to do a full search and get me everything you can find on Evzen Guryon, governor of Halor. Specifically, I want a list of his business holdings as well as holding companies and what businesses are associated with those holding companies. Put them up on the screen at my chair as they become available. Thank you.”

  Roran took a seat in his captain’s chair and watched as his virtual computer screen filled with data. It filled so fast that he was unable to keep up as he tried to read it.

  “This is not going to be so easy as I had hoped. Okay, Herminia, remove all corporations and businesses that are public holdings. Show me only holding companies that have businesses or real estate in enterprises under them.”

  He watched hundreds of corporations disappear from his screen, but there were still several hundred on dozens of different planets. Next, he had the AI group them by the enterprise. The list didn’t shrink, but a pattern was starting to emerge.

  Some of the planetary holdings were inside the Sargus Empire. Guryon owned factories, mining operations, and agricultural planets held under dummy corporations established on planets within the Consortium. Dummy corporations were holding other dummy corporations.

  A sudden chill ran up and down Roran’s spine. Why had no one ever done this before? The technology had always been there. This man was a member of the Consortium high Council for goddess’ sakes. Owning property of any kind with been the Sargus Empire was illegal because of slavery.

  “Warning, your search cannot be completed. Queries from this system are blocked. Trackers are attempting to breach my firewall. Transferring your results to nebula storage.”