Freed by the Wolf

by Elin Wyn

  “That noise we’re hearing, that's the ship’s engines. And we don't know where it's going.”

  Loree’s face couldn't go much paler, but her lips thinned as she processed the information. “They're taking us somewhere? They must be. They have to know we’re missing from the lab.”

  “We don't know if that's the only reason they're going to wherever. Maybe they already had an appointment. Maybe it has nothing to do with us.”

  I palpated Ronan’s side. The broken ribs from earlier appeared to be healing faster than expected, especially considering he wasn't taking any downtime.

  He hissed at my touch, so obviously they were still giving him some trouble.

  “You said there was good news.”

  I finished with Ronan’s side and reached for the tablet and power hub before moving to his back. “We brought you a present.”

  Loree perked up immediately, reaching for it. She watched it flicker, set it to charge and immediately brought up the lock screen.

  “We think it belonged to the captain, so once you get in, I'd imagine it would have full access to the ship’s systems. That's all I know about it.”

  “That's enough, it's an older operating system, but there are always doors.” Her eyes were fixed on the screen, brighter than they'd been since the night of our capture.

  She bit her lip and looked up at me.

  “Doc, I need another favor.”

  Ronan flinched under my hands at the nickname. I rubbed my thumb gently across his shoulder in tiny arcs until he relaxed.

  “Anything. You know that.”

  “Don't put me back under. Keep me awake. If you've got stims, shoot me up.”

  “What? No. You need to rest.”

  Loree pulled her hair behind her and twisted it into a knot. “I need to crack this. Information is our best weapon right now. And we both know resting isn't going to cure me.”

  I stepped to the side of her bed. “Resting keeps most of the pain away.”

  “What do you think will happen when they get to wherever they're taking us?”

  I thought of the bodies in the lab, the bodies in the tanks. My knees weakened, and only Ronan’s strong hand at my back where he’d followed me kept me up.

  “You made your choices. She can make hers,” he rumbled.

  Loree looked between us, eyes narrowed. “What is he talking about, Nadira?”

  I leaned into his hands. He was right, but I didn't have to like it. “Nothing.”

  Grumbling, I sorted through the vials I’d taken from the lab. Just as I remembered, several doses of stimulants were in the mix.

  A shudder ran through me as I imagined what the stims would've been used for. And then my spine straightened. Fine. We’d use their tools against them.

  I prepped the injector and paused. “Are you sure? At least let me up the painkillers, as well, to balance it out.”

  Loree shook her head. “Too much will make me just as sleepy. I’ll make mistakes without noticing.” She frowned. “But, maybe leave an extra one where I can reach it, just in case?”

  “What do you mean where you can reach it?” It had been too long since I’d slept. That had to be it. She wasn’t making sense because I was too tired to hear straight. “I'll be right here.”

  Her eyes slid down to the foot of the bed. “That's the second half of the favor.” Loree winced at the injector’s sting. “Really, it’s more for you than me.”

  I collapsed in the chair next to her. “Explain.”

  “I’m going to be a complete bitch for a while. I’m always hyperfocused when I’m working, to begin with. Mix in pain, and I think you’re going to want to move me somewhere else, out of your hair.”

  “Out of the question.”

  Ronan pushed away from the wall he'd been holding up and gave her half a laugh. “This isn't the only room back here.” He paused at the door. “I don't think Nadira’s going to let you be moved much. I'll go get the next room down ready for her to crash in, while you keep convincing her.”

  “I don't like this,” I snapped once he left.

  “You don't have to,” she bit back. “What exactly have we liked about any of this?”

  She leaned towards me to clutch at my sleeve. “What happened out there with him? Did he hurt you?”

  “No.” I patted her hand. “Of all the options in this place, he rates pretty safe.”

  “Wouldn’t know it to look at him,” she muttered, then turned her attention back to the commtab.

  I moved to the chair next to the bunk, then started folding clothes to raise the seat to the level of the mattress to make a little table for her.

  “If we get off the ship, I'll tell you everything we did on our excursion. It’s just that none of it really matters now, does it?”

  “When we get off.” Her hands flew over the tablet. “If there's anything in here, I'll find it.”

  By the time I had arranged the injector with two pain vials and an extra stim, some water and food rations, I was ready to get out of the room.

  Loree hadn't been joking. She really was a total bitch while she was working.

  “And you'll throw the rock if you need anything,” I pointed to the wall dividing this stateroom from the one Ronan had disappeared to.

  “I'm going to throw the rock at you if you don't get the hell out.” But she grabbed my hand as I left. “Thank you. Now let’s see what I can find.”

  Stepping into the corridor, I thought I heard Ronan arguing with someone. He’d said there was no one else in this section, right?

  “Dammit, Erich, I’m fine,” he barked out as I hurried into the next stateroom, but there was no one else there.

  How long had he been alone on the ship? And was Loree right to worry about putting our safety in his hands?

  But all of that left my mind when I realized what he’d been doing while I was getting her settled.

  He’d set the table for dinner.

  Technically, he’d pulled out the desk from the wall, grabbed a second chair, found plates from somewhere else, and put the still-sealed mealpacks at the exact center of each dish.

  It was possibly the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen.

  I blinked at the comparative finery.

  “We’re not savages,” he growled, looking embarrassed. “Doc had a thing for table manners. I just don’t always remember.” He rubbed his throat, then to my utter shock, pulled out a chair and waited for me to sit.

  I mirrored him as he tugged a small tab on the corner of the silver meal packet, then jumped and hastily put it down when it heated in my hands.

  The smell of hot...something...filled the room.

  Warily, I tasted it. “You’re right, these are....” I trailed off. "Technically good.”

  He grinned. "Only for one definition of the term."

  We ate in silence, exhaustion filling my bones like lead. So much had happened, and still I hadn't had a reasonable night sleep since the Hunters grabbed us from Orem station.

  Ronan refilled my water glass. "You think she can crack it?"

  I took a sip, considered. "I think right now we're working in the dark. Any information is going to be as much of a weapon as a blaster. Maybe more."

  I thought about what he had said, about looking for weapons.

  "Tell me more about the ship?”

  “I’ve searched as far as I can, but it’s too big. There are whole areas I haven’t gotten to yet.”

  “Somewhere there has to be shuttles or something, right?” I realized. "Loree and I, all of the prisoners. We were brought here in something."

  Ronan tipped his chair back. "Probably a Dart."

  "Can you fly it?"

  "I don't know. Never been in one. And things the Hunters use tend to be modified for them. If they can have their communications wired inside their brains, how do they handle navigation?" He dropped his chair forwards again. "Besides, they're pretty small ships. And..."

  "I know. You have your plan, I have mine.
”

  I leaned a little more heavily on my arms and the urge to just put my head down on the table grew.

  "Nadira, even if we find something, can you fly a shuttle?

  What the heck. The table looked comfy. I nestled my head on my arms. "All I wanted to do since I was a kid was be a doctor. Doesn't leave a whole lot of time for other skills. Afraid I’m not much use for anything else."

  I heard his chair scoot back and my eyes drifted closed. "At the Capitol, most people just go to medbots if they can afford it. It's only on the Fringe where they actually need human doctors. We’re a little more easily replaceable."

  “You left a life at the Capitol to come here?"

  "It was boring." A giggle wormed through my belly, burst through my lips. "This certainly isn't boring.”

  Strong arms lifted me from the chair.

  "What are you doing?"

  "Putting you to bed." I flopped in his arms but couldn't seem to coordinate my limbs. "I need to be awake. What if Loree needs me?”

  "I'll listen for rocks."

  “You might heal faster than non-enhanced humans, but you need to rest, too.”

  His sigh rumbled through his chest. “If I lay down with you, will you stop worrying?”

  I pushed away, looked up to meet his amused gaze. “No funny stuff.”

  “No funny stuff.”

  Ronan tucked me in closest to the wall, then turned out the lights.

  He lay stiffly on top of the blankets on the edge of the bed. Between me and the door, I realized.

  I stared into the dark, acutely aware of his body next to mine. But other thoughts pricked my mind.

  “What are you still worrying about?”

  “Besides being trapped on a mystery ship full of psychotic androids that want to dissect us?”

  “Take that as a given.”

  The breath left me in a defeated sigh. “I have one patient left, and I’m failing her.”

  Ronan rolled towards me, his eyes shining faintly in the dim light from the panel.

  “If you were back in the Capitol, could you cure Loree?”

  Truth didn’t take the bitterness from the words. “Not cure, but keep it in check. No one has done enough with genetics to fix the problem.” I poked his side, only partially because I liked how touching him had felt. “There’s talk of rogue science, but that’s only rumors.”

  “I should be hurt.”

  “You’re cranky, but not a rumor.”

  “See, there’s hope for everything. Go to sleep, Nadira.”

  Ronan

  Eventually her breathing evened out and she dropped into sleep.

  What was I doing? I could smell Nadira next to me. She’d cleaned up since I’d broken her out of the lab, but even when she'd been dirty and terrified, I could smell her essence underneath it all. She was sweet and clean.

  Good.

  Not for me.

  The layers of fabric she wore had kept my hands from her skin as I lifted her, but it didn't matter. I craved her touch.

  And that wasn't a distraction I needed right now.

  “Are you sure?” Erich said from the corner of the room.

  I sat up, carefully, so as not to disturb Nadira, but she slept on.

  The dark blond hair tangled across Erich's face, like it always had. His mouth twisted into a smile, ready to call me out for being stupid, being a stickler for orders. Just like nothing had ever changed.

  “Of course I'm sure. There's a mission on.”

  "Ronan, sometimes missions change. You know that."

  For all the times he was right, this couldn't be one of them. I didn't have to close my eyes to see the pit, to feel the knife in my hand, at my throat. To watch them all fall.

  "What do you think Doc would say?" Erich sat on the bed next to me, looking at Nadira. “I think she'd like her.”

  Void, the idea of two bossy doctors in my life. But that wasn't right, was it? Doc wasn't in my life. And Nadira couldn't be.

  "Go to sleep, Ronan." Erich walked away. "If for no other reason than you're no good to anyone wounded. Not her, not me, not the others.”

  That at least was right. Nadira’s arm had fallen out from the covers. As I lay back next to her, I allowed the back of my hand to rest against hers. Just the lightest of touches, but it was enough.

  A sharp thunk startled me from sleep, then another crash.

  I grabbed Nadira’s shoulders, pushing her into the back corner of the bed while I wheeled to face whatever was attacking.

  "Ronan, the rocks. It’s Loree."

  Rocks. Loree. Right.

  She wiggled past me on the bed and waited at the door. “Aren't you coming to see what she found?”

  I carried the extra chair over to Loree’s room. She better have found something good to make up for that bit of embarrassment.

  “You can tell us while I check you out,” Nadira ordered. “And you better have found enough to make you happy, because you’re going to take a rest for a while.”

  “No argument from me,” Loree said. She looked better than when she was in the cage, but not by much, to be honest. I figured that observation wasn't worth making aloud, and waited to hear what she had to report.

  “The ship’s name is the Pyrian Star. You were right about when it launched, if it matters. I've gotten into their comms, but there’s something strange.”

  Nadira looked at me. “I thought the Hunters got orders directly?”

  Loree answered first. “If you mean the black androids, I think they might. It was weird, the ship received the message and acted like a relay, retransmitting it short range.” She looked at me for confirmation. “The Hunters have receivers on them? In them?”

  “More or less,” I nodded. “But that’s as much as I know.”

  “That explains one mystery. But not the big one.” She tapped the panel again. “The message made no sense and I haven't gotten into navigation yet to figure out where we’re headed.”

  “Start with what you have. What did it say?” Nadira asked as she finished dosing Loree up.

  “‘The Daedalus experiment has been terminated. Return to the compound for further instructions.’” She shrugged. “That was it, no explanation about what the experiment was, no explanation about this compound, no coordinates, nothing.”

  But I didn't hear anything past the first part of the message. The Daedalus experiment. That would be us.

  Terminated.

  I swallowed and tasted dust coating my throat.

  Whoever the hell was giving orders, we weren’t terminated yet. Not as long as I was alive.

  Nadira laced her fingers through mine and, with a mental push, I shifted back to the conversation at hand.

  “I think we need a new plan,” she said softly.

  I shook my head. “I can't allow-”

  “I agree, we can't let the Hunters or whoever’s controlling this to touch them. But if we got your brothers away, could you think about another option?”

  “Wait,” Loree’s eyelids fluttered open. “Brothers? You have so much to explain later.” Her eyes closed again, though I suspected she wasn't all the way under yet.

  “If I promise to help you keep them safe, will you help us escape? All of us?” Nadira’s gaze pinned me while she waited.

  The weight of the decision hung on my shoulders like bricks of permisteel. But she was right.

  If there was a chance to find out who was giving the Hunters their orders, where this compound was, then killing all the Hunters in the universe wouldn't be enough.

  “We need a ship.”

  “Could we take control of this one?”

  I rocked back in the chair, considered. “A possibility, but I'd be hesitant to try. If the enemy has had it all these years, they could have back doors in all the systems. Even if we took it, I don’t know if we could keep it.”

  Nadira nodded, apparently unconcerned. “Then we need a different ship. They either brought us here on a shuttle, or one of those Darts
you mentioned, right?”

  “Probably, but I don't think we should trust anything of theirs. I’d hate to think we’d gotten away, and then realize they could control navigation remotely, bring us right back to them.”

  “You’re not the only one. So, we need a different ship.”

  Logical, I’d admit, but it begged another question. “How, exactly, do you plan to do that?”

  “Send a distress call. While the Imperial forces are thin out here, surely there are other crews who might be persuaded to pick us up.”

  I scrubbed my hands through my hair, wincing a little at the tangles. “I know you're not from out here, honey, but people on the Fringe mind their own business. You'd have to offer a lot to get someone to come and get us all off this thing. Not to mention we don't have control of the airlocks. And let’s not forget, we’re in jump space.”

  “One thing at a time,” she said primly. “I think with a carefully worded message, we could convince someone to get us. But they might not be the nicest people.”

  I grinned. “You get a ship here; I’ll get us on board. Leave that part to me.”

  “Won’t the Hunters notice the transmission?” came a mumble from the bed.

  “Do we have a choice?” was the only answer I could give.

  Nadira frowned at us both. “Loree, I thought you were going to sleep.”

  “Soon. Can’t help it.” The redhead had brought the commtab back to life. “First we’ve got to get out of jump space.” All the information stayed flat in the screen, but the weird display didn’t seem to bother her. She flipped and tapped it until she let out a satisfied grunt. “There, that's the way to get to the engine rooms.”

  I looked at the diagram she pulled up, matched it to my mental map of where I’d already explored. “I don’t think I’ve been that way. Hard to tell.”

  “It’ll be an adventure.” Nadira sagged into her chair. “We need more of those, right?”

  “Like how to disable a jump drive?”

  “I have schematics, not an operating manual,” Loree muttered. She silently flipped screens, and then hissed in victory. “‘Emergency procedure instructions.’ This should do it.”

  Nadira waited, curled small in her chair. I kept my grumbling to myself.