Solar Flare

by Autumn Dawn

  She felt sluggish and rather cold, and she didn’t want to discuss this. She rubbed her arms. “An experiment? You need to think more about this, you know. I’d say you weren’t getting much out of it earlier.”

  He stilled. “You think I don’t like making love to you?”

  His blunt question made her cheeks hot. “That’s what I think.”

  He crossed his arms and stared at her, bemused. At last he said, “I think you need something hot to eat. Soup, maybe, and tea. Lots of tea. You’re probably dehydrated.” He nodded to himself as if he’d found the answer to a puzzle. He helped her out of the pod and steadied her wobble. “When you feel better, we can talk about our side trip tomorrow.”

  He was changing the subject, and she was glad to let it go. She needed time to think about where they stood now.

  Contrary to her expectations, giving Azor the green light hadn’t simplified anything. She hadn’t expected to remain confused.

  How aggravating that he didn’t seem concerned. If anything, he seemed surer of her than before. He treated her with courtesy and quiet possession as he seated her in the galley and heated tea and frozen soup. If she had wanted to cement his confidence, it seemed she couldn’t have chosen a better way than to make out with him.

  She glanced aside, uneasy. She couldn’t help her guilt over that. It was how she was raised.

  He glanced at her as he poured their tea. “It’s growing up on Polaris. Of course, if you weren’t so stubborn, we’d be married and you wouldn’t be feeling this guilt.”

  She glanced at him sharply. “You’re not a mind reader.”

  “No, but you’re easy enough to read. Give over. Share the Jade Ceremony with me. It’s the answer to your offended conscience.”

  She accepted the tea from him and toyed with the cup. She didn’t want to marry him out of guilt. To change the subject, she asked, “You’re going to talk to the Guok, then?”

  He nodded grimly. “I need to. That was uncalled for.” It was hard to tell whether he meant interrupting their interlude or putting them to sleep.

  She was happy to let him worry about it. It was time to put serious thought into his offer…and the reason it filled her with dread. She wouldn’t find any peace until she did.

  Her feet gave a twinge and she winced. An ache had been steadily building in them since she’d awoken. She assumed it was due to the long rest. They had a tendency to act up if she didn’t stay on them. She’d have to take more care.

  Azor was busy dishing soup and missed her discomfort. She decided it wasn’t important enough to mention.

  She did think uneasily of her doctor’s recommendation to amputate, though. She looked at her hands and slowly flexed. They were still slightly clumsy, even after all this time, but not enough to show. Though the graft of artificial bone had been successful, there had been some nerve damage. The procedure had been experimental, but she’d volunteered against her doctor’s advice, hoping to preserve a part of herself. Now she had ninety percent mobility in her hands. At least the pain was gone.

  The doctor had tried to talk her into prosthesis on her legs, claiming that a total replacement would offer complete mobility and feel natural as well, but she’d balked, undecided which option to chose. She’d thought she’d had more time….

  She glanced at Azor. If the pain got worse, she’d have to tell him. They could not afford a medical emergency this far out in space.

  She sighed. Maybe she’d get lucky and it wouldn’t come to that. Maybe the Scorpio would have a better option for her. A girl could hope.

  “Ready?”

  Brandy nodded, trying not to tug at her skirt. She wasn’t accustomed to wearing them and felt acutely uncomfortable, especially since this one rode a hand above her knees. She wasn’t used to feeling so much air on her legs.

  Xera hadn’t been satisfied with Brandy’s reasons for the detour, though the delay itself hadn’t bothered her. Only the promise to talk about it more in person had convinced her to let the subject drop. Xera understood that some things were best discussed face to face.

  Azor looked over her blue hair and the garish mask of makeup that tattooed her face and neck. He hadn’t needed cosmetics to create the black tracks that spiraled over his cheeks and chin. His hair was much longer now, black, and pulled back in a French braid. He looked menacing and perfectly willing to kill whoever crossed him.

  “Don’t gawk at the sights,” he instructed her as they walked toward the hatch. “Keep your eyes open for trouble.”

  They’d already landed and the Gouk was in charge of the ship. After Azor had grilled him, the Gouk had excused his error by saying that the pods had not closed on schedule. He’d grown concerned and closed the pod himself. “Must stay on schedule,” he’d said woodenly, though he’d finally agreed to leave the pods alone unless it was an emergency. They’d had to review protocol again to ensure they agreed on what an emergency was.

  He’d had a fit about Brandy’s deviation from the schedule. It had taken a real effort and a promise from Azor to remain constant in the future before he’d calmed down.

  Brandy was starting to dislike the little nuisance.

  She kept her attention on their surroundings as they walked down the ramp and into the busy shuttle bay. As instructed, she ignored the interested glances sent her way, knowing that few would dare to say anything to her with Azor at her side.

  Well, technically he was a pace in front of her. He’d told her it was how the women here showed respect, ignoring her disgusted look. Since he was the expert, she hadn’t argued the point, though. They’d be in and out of this place soon enough.

  Many of the heavy metal shutters were up, blocking the view of the stars. Graffiti covered most of them, a collision of alien script she was happy enough not to read. Women with brazen eyes watched Azor, their eyes trailing contemptuously over her. Neon signs flickered desultory, their owners too lazy or cheap to replace them. Across the sidewalk, a brawl spilled out onto the dirty sidewalk, drunken, angry patrons intent on smashing their opinion into each other’s faces. She sent them a wary glance, but was otherwise undisturbed. She’d seen her share of brawls.

  The police station was three blocks down, on a street just as run down and dirty as the rest of the place. Azor lead the way in and asked the clerk at the counter for Officer Traid. Her name tag said she was “Ooam”, no prefix.

  She looked up at them and blinked her glossy, pure black eyes. The blue tendrils on the back of her head stirred lazily. She nodded toward the back of the room and went back to her job, bored. They walked past.

  Brandy frowned at the sticky floor, noting more than one bug skittering across the cracked tiles. Ugh! What a hole.

  Officer Traid was a thin, tired black man with little curiosity. He checked her papers, did a DNA scan to confirm identity and led them to a room. He accepted Azor’s bribe without comment. “It’s a secure com. You’ve got about half an hour.” He wiped his hand across his crumpled uniform, avoiding their eyes. “You can let yourself out.”

  Brandy waited until he’d left, then sent Azor a scoffing, quizzical look.

  “Not here,” he cautioned. “Just make your call.”

  The connection didn’t take long. In less than a minute, the digital image of the former ensign looked at Brandy doubtfully from the view screen. “You don’t look much like the lieutenant.”

  CHAPTER 14

  Brandy sighed with annoyance. “It’s the makeup I had to wear to be able to travel in this backwater pit. Your officer checked us out—what more do you want?”

  Azor glanced at her blandly, and she interpreted it to mean that she ought to settle down. It would be easier to do if her feet and calves didn’t ache so much. It felt as if she were walking on splintered shards of bone. She regretted not using a pain patch.

  Trevor nodded thoughtfully. “So he did. Okay, what do you want to know?”

  Finally! She settled back in her chair. “Tell me what you remember of my sister. I w
ant to know what happened after your ship crashed on the planet, too.”

  He considered her. “I was there when she escaped from the GE that last time, too.”

  She straightened. “Really? You’ve got a lot to say, then. Start from the beginning, if you don’t mind.”

  Chats such as theirs were expensive, and though Brandy was footing the bill, Trevor was thoughtful enough to keep his report concise. “Well, the lieutenant and our captain were always butting heads…” He went on describe the adventure, adding many details she’d never heard before. “…and their commander shot Genson right in front of us, just for daring to speak first. Harris-D marched up to the aliens and negotiated over the body without blinking an eye. Captain Khan looked like he was sucking sour patches when she dragged Genson’s body back. It was like spitting in his face. Well, she should have been sent in first—she was the translator.”

  He grew pensive as he described the death march to the rock fortress and subsequent events. “Anyone could see the Scorpio Commander had taken a shine to the lieutenant, and Captain Khan didn’t like it. He accused her of treachery, even though he’d told her to spy on the enemy. He struck her and she fought back. Then the Scorpio Commander stepped in and his men disarmed us all. You’ve never seen anyone move as fast as they can,” he said with a frown. They couldn’t have been pleasant memories.

  “Anyway, I didn’t see her again until she showed back up at that accursed planet. We’d been traded back to the GE by then, and they’d snuck back to take more samples. There’s some valuable stuff on that planet, did you know? Raw starship fuel, lots of natural resources, though you couldn’t pay me to live there. Too many monsters.” He grimaced. “That’s supposed to be classified, by the way, but hey, they fired me, so what do I care?” He shrugged.

  Grinning, he said wryly, “It was your sister that got me fired, by the way. I helped her to get off that rock and got tangled up in a mess when they found Captain Khan’s body. They didn’t have proof that I’d done it—I didn’t, by the way—but they fired me anyway. Best thing they could have done. I’m happier this way.”

  Brandy frowned. “Xera fought to go back, then? Did she say why?”

  Trevor cocked his head. “You don’t know?”

  She shook her head.

  Slowly, he said, “She was expecting his child.”

  She drew a slow breath. “Well, that would do it. She wouldn’t do anything else, under the circumstances.” It troubled her, though. Xera had been married to Ryven at the time, so perhaps a baby was to be expected. She wondered if the situation had been uncomfortable for Xera. If Ryven were brutal enough to slaughter a man just for speaking out of turn, how would he treat an unwilling wife? Surely Xera wouldn’t have returned to an abusive husband, not even for a baby.

  She addressed another rumor she’d heard. “I have a hard time believing it of her, but some of your former crewmates said she made up to Ryven, flirted with him.” Xera had never been much for flirting, and not under those kind of conditions. It had never rang true.

  Trevor snorted. “That’s just jealous talk. Look, she was a good-looking woman on ship full of guys. She’d turned down half of them at one time or another, including me. Of course it’d make the guys sore, the enemy getting the girl. What do you think they’d say?”

  His words were comforting. She didn’t want to believe bad things about her sister. “Thank you for telling your side of the story. I feel a little better than I did before.” In some ways, at least. Ryven was going to have to work to prove himself to her, after this.

  “No problem. Tell her “hi” for me the next time you talk.” He looked over his shoulder. “There’s other people outside the booth, waiting to use the pin beam. Is there anything else you want to know before I go?”

  She shook her head. “That was it. Thanks again.”

  “No problem.” He signed off.

  Brandy sighed. She did feel better in some ways, apprehensive in others. There were a lot of details Xera had never shared. Brandy could understand why; if it made her uneasy now, it would have made her frantic before.

  Azor nudged her arm. “Think about it on the ship. I’d rather not hang out here any longer than we have to.”

  He had a point. She heaved herself to her feet, hiding her discomfort behind a pensive expression. She couldn’t wait to get off her feet and take something for the pain.

  The Hatir licked his lips as he watched the foot traffic going by their ship. It had been an eternity since he’d had some meat. He was starved. Gouka might be vegetarian, but the predator in him wanted flesh. And why shouldn’t he have it? He was a careful hunter. He wouldn’t get caught.

  He growled softly to himself and changed into something a little more appropriate for hunting. His true prey would never find out. He’d have the little Gouk back in place long before they arrived…perhaps a little rounded for having fed well.

  His black lips pulled over his fangs as he slithered toward the hatch.

  Brandy noticed a crowd forming a couple of ships down from theirs. She glanced their way, but didn’t think much of it. Whatever was happening didn’t concern them.

  Or it wouldn’t of if a man didn’t suddenly look their way and shout, “Hey! You’re new here. What do you know about this?”

  Azor calmly moved in front of her as the big man got closer. The stranger was dressed in brown, worn pants and blue canvas shirt with holes that revealed his black undershirt. He had a knife sheathed at his hip and big wrench hanging from his utility belt. His heavy, scarred boots rang on the deck as he stormed their way.

  “Easy,” a bystander cautioned, sizing up Azor. “Being new don’t mean nothin’, Kril. He’s awful tidy to have done that to poor Jadious.”

  “What’s happened?” Azor asked calmly, glancing over the heads gathered around what Brandy now suspected was a body. “Someone was hurt?”

  “Murdered,” Kril spat. His eyes were bloodshot, a little wild, like someone who was running high. “They gutted my cousin like a mongrel dog.”

  “His guts is gone,” his buddy said helpfully, and ducked away from a fist. “Well, it’s so, Kril.”

  Kril turned his aimless rage back on Azor. “I say you done it.”

  Azor’s voice remained calm, but it grew soft, cool. “Go home and sober up, boy. Better yet, find a cop to trace your killer. The time you waste here only lets him get away.”

  Kril hesitated, momentarily confused. Unfortunately, whatever rot he was on did little for his thought processes. He reached for his wrench and raised it for an attack—and was stretched out on the cold floor seconds later, unconscious.

  The crowd stared at Azor ominously. They didn’t appreciate seeing a stranger drop one of their own.

  Azor nodded to them once, then walked away deliberately. The ramp to their ship opened on his command as they got close.

  He leaned down and said softly in her ear, “Be ready to run.”

  Her heart slammed into gear. Could she? By this time her feet were burning as if she'd seared them on hot knives. Only her will kept her on her them, and tears burned behind her eyes at the torment. She took a look at the murderous crowd and drew a tight breath, and resolve hardened her expression. It was run or die.

  “Get him!” someone shouted, and Brandy broke into a sprint. The sudden shock of her running weight on the soles of her boots hurt like poisoned daggers, like shards of steel stabbing her feet. She staggered, blinded with the sudden burst of pain, and could do nothing more than limp to the ramp as the mob closed in. Some hero she was.

  Azor cursed and snatched her arm. He flung her up the ramp, covering her clumsy retreat as he fought his way up the ramp. One false move and he’d be dragged away, swept under. The vigilantes wanted blood—his would do.

  She made it inside and hit the button to retract the ramp. Azor fought his way up it as it closed, and men jumped off to avoid being sealed inside. That didn’t stop one man from whipping a chain across the ramp, trying to catch Azor’s f
eet. Azor couldn’t see it coming from his angle.

  Caught by surprise, Azor grunted as the heavy links caught his ankle. He staggered, but the ramp had risen too far for the mob to take advantage of his momentary weakness. He limped into the ship, his breathing heavy with pain.

  He grabbed her arm. The deck vibrated faintly with the newly kindled engines. “Let’s get to the bridge. Sounds like the Gouk is already powering up.”

  Though in pain himself, he supported her to the bridge and saw her to her seat before taking his own. Shook up and feeling rather battered, Brandy strapped in as Azor took over the controls. At least the Gouk had proved his worth here—the ship had been refueled, serviced and was ready to go. Azor got them out of there before anyone thought to lock down the shield doors for the shuttle bay.

  “Prepare to jump to hyperspace,” he warned her as soon as they’d cleared the station. There was an ominous conversion of ships headed their way.

  “Calculations are ready,” the Gouk said, his voice wooden. It was one of the rare times his eyes were focused on anything other than his game.

  Azor did a quick check, but there wasn’t time for an in depth perusal. The ships were closing in. “Jump.”

  The stars stretched long and winked out as the ship jumped. A moment went by, then suddenly alarms blared, jolting Brandy's already stressed nerves.

  “What the—” Azor’s fingers flew furiously over the controls, then he stared at them in angry disbelief. “Gouk! We clipped the rings of a planet! What were you thinking?” He made some rapid readjustments, working furiously at the controls, but they were already spinning out of control, headed inevitably toward one of the planet's smaller moons. “Brace yourself!” he snapped.

  He managed to slow them just enough to survive the smackdown into the snow covered surface. Plumes of vaporized ice crystals flew into the air, completely obscuring the view screen. She braced against the chair as they skidded sideways, and grunted at the abrupt stop. It felt like they'd hit something.