Return of the Ascendant (The Ascendant Series)

by Raine Thomas

  “No. But we know that Earth has the ability to monitor events outside of their atmosphere, and has a basic level of self-defense against extraterrestrial attacks. There was a chance they would see any weapon-fire against the Shelvaks’ vessels and opt to retaliate. I didn’t want to leave you and Ma’jah Kyr stranded, should that happen.”

  Ty nodded, not questioning Gren’s judgment. He had just wanted to determine their current status.

  “Are the Shelvaks still in orbit around Earth?” he asked.

  “No. They launched just before our transition equipment came back online. We have the V’larians to thank for that.”

  Ty didn’t react to that statement. “Do you have any idea why the Shelvaks and the V’larians happened to enter Earth’s galaxy? This planet is far outside of their usual flight patterns. They don’t generally interact with less advanced civilizations.”

  Gren’s frown deepened. “I don’t know, Dem-Shyr. I know only that the V’larians aided us in getting our systems operational. They claimed that they were scouting for planets with sustainable life and happened to pick up the Shelvak vessel on their radars. Because they were worried the Shelvaks might harm innocent life on an unsuspecting world, they decided to investigate. They didn’t realize we were also here until they entered the galaxy. Our cloaking device prevented it.”

  “So it was a happy coincidence that they arrived here?”

  Gren snorted. “You and I both know there are no such things as coincidences.”

  “Indeed.”

  That left Ty with a lot to process. Things had happened so fast when the Shelvaks attacked that he felt like he was missing something important. The only image that kept running through his head was Kyr getting ripped from the bedroom window, the only sound her agonized scream as she was sliced open by the begothia. He needed time to push past that and clear his memories if they would have any chance of figuring out what happened.

  “Tell EyraRowe to set the coordinates for Alametria, Gren,” he ordered. “Have the crew and passengers prepare for stasis. It’s time to return the Ascendant.”

  Chapter 21

  The first thing Kyra registered was the sudden lack of noise. She hadn’t even known there was any noise until it ceased. Now, she registered the lack of the steady swooshing sound, reminiscent of a fetal heartbeat, which had served as her companion for an unknown amount of time.

  As her brain awoke, she tensed in anticipation of the pain to come. The last time she had closed her eyes, she had known death was imminent. No one could survive that much pain.

  Strangely, though, it never came. Even as she finally opened her eyes, she didn’t feel anything other than well-rested. Had she died, after all?

  The thought had her heart rate picking up. She blinked to fully clear her vision. All she saw was white. Was this the light at the end of the tunnel everyone talked about?

  No, she realized as more came into focus. The room was just well-lit. Releasing a relieved breath, she tried to sit up. Something held her down. Frowning, she tried to lift her right hand to remove whatever was pinning her chest. Alarm didn’t hit her until she realized that both of her arms were restrained, too.

  Twisting her head to either side, she realized that she was contained in a tiny tube. Although she had never been claustrophobic, the idea of being strapped into a tube without any air had her gathering breath for a scream.

  Be calm, Kyr.

  Ty’s voice filled her head. It had an instant effect, making her relax. She took a deep breath, knowing he would help her.

  A hissing sound made her ears pop as the tube retracted. The restraints around her body unlocked and disappeared. She tried to sit up, but a wave of dizziness had her lying back down in a hurry.

  “One moment please, Ma’jah,” a female voice said. It sounded distant, like it came from a speaker or another room.

  “Where’s Ty?” Kyra whispered to no one in particular. As far as she could tell, she was alone.

  “I’m here, Ma’jah.”

  He was suddenly in her line of sight, standing over her. Relief rushed through her, bringing a smile to her face. It faltered, though, when he didn’t return it. His expression was completely unreadable.

  “The Rowe are stabilizing your vital signs,” he explained. “It’s typical procedure after someone has been in stasis.”

  “Stasis?”

  She struggled to put that word into context with her last memories. She’d been on the couch in the house. Sem had been treating her. He’d mentioned that the V’larians had helped out the Alametrians and the trackers were once again activated.

  They had transitioned.

  Once again, her heart started thudding heavily in her chest. Stasis. Her muddled brain brought forth a memory to aid her. She knew she had been basically catatonic.

  “How long was I in stasis?” she asked.

  “We are preparing to land on Alametria.”

  What?

  That couldn’t be. She wasn’t ready for this. She hadn’t gotten a chance to say goodbye to Earth, and here she was, about to land on a planet she could barely remember?

  No!

  “Everything will be fine, Ma’jah,” Ty said.

  How could that possibly be true when he offered her no genuine expression of comfort? He didn’t follow up his statement with an explanation of how things would be fine. He didn’t touch her or smile. In fact, he was looking at her like she was an object rather than a person with feelings.

  His brow furrowed as that thought occurred to her. Had he picked it up? She decided he hadn’t, since his expression once again went blank. It must have been a fluke.

  “Ma’jah Kyr is clear,” the female voice said.

  Now, Ty did touch her. He reached down and took her arm, gently easing her into a sitting position. She held his gaze, wondering if he was going to hug her or otherwise console her, but she soon realized he was simply doing a physical examination. When he reached for the fabric covering her shoulder, she saw she was wearing some kind of robe. It was white and made out of a material she’d never felt or seen before. Well, she supposed she had, but couldn’t remember it.

  This was so messed up.

  “How do you feel?” he asked as he bared her skin so he could see her back.

  “Peachy,” she replied, clutching the robe to her chest and avoiding his detached gaze. “Can I get changed before we land?”

  “How…?”

  He drifted off, sounding perplexed. She glanced at him again as he continued to look at her back and shoulder. It was like he was hunting for something. His eyebrows were drawn low over his silver gaze. He turned and looked in the direction of a wall of light.

  Following his gaze, Kyr watched as a thin male with dark hair approached. His skintight reflective suit was like something out of a science fiction movie. That thought made her want to burst into nervous laughter, but one sober look from Ty quelled that impulse.

  “Nothing, HemmelRowe,” Ty said. “Not even a scar.”

  “Not possible,” the man, Hemmel, said in clipped tones. “I will examine her myself. Ma’jah, please lie back down.”

  After giving Ty an uncertain glance and receiving his barely perceptible nod, Kyra did as ordered. She fought a wave of embarrassment as Hemmel untied and opened her robe without any warning and began poking and prodding her bare flesh, even shoving at her shoulder to turn her onto one side so he could examine her back.

  Talk about no bedside manner, she mentally snarked. Were all Alametrian doctors like this?

  A minute later, he allowed her to sit back up. She hastily covered herself, spotting three other people observing her from behind the wall of light.

  “I do not understand,” Hemmel muttered, staring at her as though he didn’t know what species of animal he was dealing with. “This is absolutely unprecedented.”

  “What is?” she asked, looking from him to Ty.

  “You have fully healed from your injuries,” Ty said. “Even the begothia—Shelv
ak—wounds.”

  “And that’s not normal?”

  “No.”

  “Oh.”

  She didn’t know what to make of that, but Hemmel had a look in his eye that made her suspect he wanted to lock her in a secure facility and evaluate her in search of the next big scientific discovery. The idea terrified her.

  “Come with me, Ma’jah,” Ty said, taking hold of her arm like he had on Earth. “We’ll see about getting you a change of clothing.”

  “Thanks.”

  She eased off the cushioned pedestal and gratefully followed Ty’s lead. The odd shoes—slippers?—covering her feet felt as light as paper, but she didn’t feel anything poking her through the soles. Fascinating.

  “Was I the only one in stasis?” she asked as they walked through a sliding door.

  “No. Most of the crew is put into a state of suspension during intergalactic travel.”

  She had more questions, but they stopped just outside the doors of the room they exited. A guy nearly as tall and wide as Ty spotted her and bowed. He had the look of a human military soldier with his dark buzz-cut and impressive build.

  “Ma’jah Kyr,” he said in a deep voice that sounded like pebbles in a blender. “It’s a pleasure to see you again. Dem-Shyr TaeDane has informed us that some of your memories are still repressed, and we are all to introduce ourselves just in case. I’m GrenDane, head of your inflight defense.”

  The unique tone of his voice jogged her memory. “I do remember you, Gren. You were the Mynder assigned to me while Ty was off learning his lessons.” She smiled. “I gave you a run for your money, didn’t I?”

  He looked momentarily stunned by her friendly joke, as though he couldn’t believe she had spoken to him. The longer the resulting silence lingered, the closer to Ty she edged. Ty’s grip tightened on her arm, and Gren jerked as though Ty had shouted at him. He met Ty’s gaze and cleared his throat.

  “My apologies, Ma’jah,” he said, looking at some spot over her shoulder. “If there is anything you need before we land, please let Dem-Shyr TaeDane know and he will communicate that to us.”

  Kyra remembered that Ty could communicate through thought with other Mynders. Maybe he had shouted at Gren, after all.

  “Okay,” she said, offering him another smile. “Thanks.”

  She endured a few more introductions along the route to get her somewhere to change. None of them stirred any memories, though. Some people acted as though they’d never met her before. Since Ty and Sem had mentioned the fact that she had been well-protected growing up, she supposed that could be true. Their star-struck reactions to meeting her made her want to crawl into a hole.

  “Can I see my par—I mean, my Kyndred?” she asked as they turned another corner. All of the hallways looked the same…white and smooth with no windows or signage that she could see. How could anyone find their way around? “And Avana?” she added.

  “They are already secured to land,” Ty replied.

  His curt tone made her frown. Why was he being so cold towards her? He’d barely spared her a glance since leaving the room where she’d awakened. When he introduced her to others, it was with no warmth or any indication of affection. Would it be this way between them from now on?

  Depressed by the thought, she barely registered when they entered a sleeping area. Two narrow beds jutted out from one side of the room, running lengthwise along the wall in the style of bunk beds. The opposite wall of the small space held cubby holes with drawers. The solid white door slid shut behind them, leaving them enclosed in the room together.

  “Those containment units hold clothing,” Ty said, releasing her arm. “You can use whatever you’d like.”

  “Okay.”

  Not wanting to waste any time in case the landing came sooner than she expected, she walked over to the drawers and started going through them. It didn’t take her too long to find an ankle-length dress made of flowy purple fabric and undergarments that looked enough like a bra and panties to work for her. At least Alametrian clothing wasn’t all that different from what she was used to.

  “Will this work?” she asked. “I don’t remember the weather on Alametria.”

  “Our climate is controlled. That will be fine.”

  She guessed he wasn’t planning on leaving the room, since he just turned his back on her and faced the door. Sighing, she made quick work of removing the robe and putting on the other clothes. She supposed the odd shoes she had on would have to suffice. Hopefully her hair wasn’t too atrocious, since she apparently wouldn’t be given the opportunity to fix it.

  “I’m ready,” she said.

  He glanced back at her, gave her a quick once-over, and nodded. Before he could take her arm to lead her out of the room, she grabbed his hand.

  “Ty, why are you acting like this?”

  His gaze flashed with some indefinable emotion, but his expression remained impassive. “I am seeing to your safety, Ma’jah.”

  Hearing him use her title even while the two of them were alone brought a lump to her throat. “Is this because of the dream?” she asked in a quiet voice.

  If she hadn’t been watching him so intently, she might have missed his flinch. As it was, she wasn’t even sure she’d seen it. He gazed down at her, cool and composed.

  “Rest assured that my dedication to your safety will be unwavering from now on, Ma’jah,” he said by way of response.

  What did that mean? That he no longer desired her after the dream? That he no longer had feelings for her? Did he ever have feelings for her in the first place?

  Maybe the kissing to stimulate her memories had all been part of the lesson she’d been meant to learn, she thought numbly. Maybe she’d been meant to learn heartbreak.

  If so, she just learned her lesson loud and clear.

  Chapter 22

  Suck it up, Kyra. You’re supposedly some ruler of worlds. You can’t act like a beaten puppy because a guy you barely remember doesn’t want anything to do with you. Snap out of it! What happened to your self-esteem, for God’s sake?

  She kept up the steady stream of encouraging, ass-kicking statements as Ty led her through the corridors. Gren had interrupted them in the bunk room to let Ty know they were about to land, so Ty was apparently taking her somewhere to “secure her.” She used the travel time to try and talk herself out of the funk that she’d fallen into after Ty said things between them would be strictly professional from then on.

  There was enough havoc in her life right now, she tried to convince herself. Dealing with Ty’s attitude had to take a low place on the priority list. Besides, she was sure that once she recovered all of her memories, she wouldn’t be into him at all.

  Yeah, right.

  He brought her to a section of the ship housing several rows of seats. Some of the seats were enclosed by what she thought were safety shields. They reminded her of the tube that had surrounded her when she awoke. Behind the shields, heads turned to look at them as Ty led her to a seat. She didn’t recognize anyone.

  “Do we have to use the shields?” she asked Ty.

  “Yes.”

  Damn.

  Pressing her lips together, she sat down and waited for Ty to help her secure the complicated harness. His hand brushed against her body several times in ways that made her tingle with pleasure, but the lack of interest on his face kept her libido in check. A rush of anger—at Ty as well as herself—made her clench her fists. She had the overwhelming desire to strike him.

  His eyes met hers. “Calm yourself, Ma’jah Kyr,” he murmured.

  Her anger abated. Calm…yes, calm.

  She felt his influence on her. Apparently, they had managed to remove at least that much of the barrier in her mind. She wanted to be irritated that he was using his abilities on her, but was powerless to resist him. Why would she want to? she thought as he stepped back and secured her shield. Wasn’t it better to be calm than angry or fearful?

  No, another part of her mind declared. You’d rather be
in control of your own feelings and emotions. What right does he have to tell you how to feel?

  Since Ty stood outside of her shield, she held his gaze as that thought raced through her mind. He nodded once. All of her anger and fear flooded back in. She took in a sharp breath, knowing he had done it that way on purpose. She glared at him as he moved to the seat beside her and began securing his harness.

  Determined to ignore him, she looked straight ahead at the bland white wall. If he didn’t want to be distracted by her, she would do everything possible to keep away from him.

  Good luck with that, her mind mused darkly.

  Time felt like it stood still. She gripped her knees, trying not to think about the fact that they were hurling through space in a metal vessel. Was it even made of metal? She actually had no idea. Maybe it was made out of something sturdier. If so, why was she buckled in more securely than one of NASA’s astronauts?

  Her thoughts whirled. Her pulse raced. Sweat beaded on her brow. She longed for a picture or something on the adjacent wall to focus on. Heck, even the rather gross poster of the cardiovascular system plastered to her doctor’s office’s wall beat this sterile white crap. How was she supposed to control her fear when she had nothing else to think about?

  You can think about Ty, her subconscious snidely chimed in. And that dream…

  Oh, shut up.

  The strange internal battle served its purpose, though. Not long after she had mentally wrestled herself to the ground, the movement of the ship came to a halt. The landing had been much less turbulent than on any airline flight she’d ever been on, which made her wonder about the complicated safety measures. She supposed the measures were there in case anything went wrong, something she was glad wasn’t an issue right then.

  When Ty got out of his seat, she reached over and removed her shield by depressing the lever she had seen him use to bring it forth. A weight of anxiety lifted from her the moment it disappeared. Looking down at the harness, she started to get herself out of it. Before she got even one latch undone, Ty reached down to help her.