by Kayla Stonor
“Believe me, although, there is nothing I want more than to,” he tore her dress in two, loving her shocked gasp, “ravish you where you stand, I can’t afford to be caught. Now,” he pulled clothes out of the bag strapped to his waist. “Put these on. We can catch up later.”
“Oh my God, I can’t believe it! I prayed you were alive, but I thought you must hate me!” Her eyes devoured him; she looked in complete shock, her expression flitting between sheer delight and disbelief.
“I won’t lie, I had some sticky moments for a while there, but I quickly realized Octiron had been playing games, messing with our heads, and I couldn’t forget the devastation on your face. Ahnna, you did the right thing, putting Xecara first, getting your citizenship. That’s all I’ve been waiting for. Now’s the time to disappear.” He grinned. “With me. Now put these clothes on.”
Ahnna grabbed the clothing he handed her and pulled on the pants first, Tierc helping to remove the remaining shreds of her dress. “They had Xecara in this hole, Tierc. She was terrified. God, I know that fear, I’ve been there, and she was filthy, like the slaves on the Krakan Toll.” She shoved arms into sleeves and Tierc pulled the shirt over her head. Damn, she was cold, her nipples puckered, unsurprising given the temperature had just plunged, or she was just incredibly happy to see him. Overhead the sky lit up from a long series of lightning bolts, a general mask of white when seen from their covered position in the alley. Winter come early.
He found the foot leggings and boots he’d purchased for her. “I thought Xecara looked okay, just really scrawny… and frightened.”
“Only because I helped clean her up and feed her.”
“It’s okay. I’m not accusing you.”
He would never tell her the truth, that the Tetriarch had used Ahnna as her personal delivery service. As far as he knew, the details of House Verdon’s reinstatement of diplomatic relations with Sorsei had not been made public. Octiron had presented the challenge as Team Orion Nebula facilitating the release of a political prisoner, thereby resolving a diplomatic row. No one queried the ethics, the audience more interested in the heart-breaking end to their budding romance.
More drama in bust ups than weddings.
She pulled on the first boot and looked up. “Was it Jalo? Who got you out?”
Tierc dropped down to hold the second boot still. “All I know is the force-field containment collapsed. I shifted to a Cyran snake and disappeared into the ventilation system. Your cuffs stopped me shifting, never stopped me absorbing DNA.”
“A snake!” Ahnna’s nose scrunched up in disgust.
“It’s reptilian. Worked for me.”
“But how do you think? What happens to your brain?”
“Gets stored… like data in a pin crystal. Basic instructions filter through and when it’s safe, instinct takes over and I shift back. It’s not much different from matter transfer, just need a DNA imprint as input.”
Ahnna stood up, ready to go. Tierc grasped her hand and began to run.
“Where are we going?” Ahnna yelled.
“The Orion Nebula.”
“But we forfeit the ship! You never made it back in time!” She began to pant.
“Technically, I did. My contract merely demands I and my partner return to Primaera after successful completion of one hundred points before the winter solstice, and I have. Axo logged my presence on Primaera two minutes ago. So we need to move now.”
“Axo?” Ahnna grabbed a quick breath. “You trust Axo?”
“Axo, the AI you love to hate, never let on about the shields I put in, did he?”
Ahnna threw him a quizzical look.
“See, Axo belonged to Octiron and had to follow their direct orders. Work around his directives and he can be very helpful. Now his logic circuits states he belongs to us. There are no vid drones watching us, no comms-link tracking us.”
“Is that why you didn’t contact me? You needed me to complete the terms of my contract?”
“Couldn’t afford any suspicion and you needed your citizenship.”
They reached a clearing and Tierc detected a light humming in the air. Two minutes later the Orion Nebula landed, its door already open. Tierc grabbed Ahnna and hoisted her in. She squealed with surprise. He jumped in behind her.
“Have you been working out?” she gasped, scrabbling to reach the bridge as the T-47 yacht launched at high speed into space.
Tierc showed her his bare wrists as he dropped into his customary seat and grinned. “No cuffs remember. I have my Qui back.”
“Axo?” Ahnna looked around her.
A bodiless voice answered. “Yes, Ahnna.”
“Thank you. I owe you an apology.”
“I look forward to your apology at a more convenient moment.”
Tierc grinned as Ahnna’s jaw dropped.
* * *
The Orion Nebula cloaked, they watched hundreds of Central Alliance ships stream past their hiding place behind an asteroid two hours out from Primaera. They had raised cloaking shields to await the nearest wormhole out of the sector.
Ahnna peered out the viewscreen in disbelief. “They can’t be looking for us.”
“We need to find another wormhole,” Tierc replied, his jaw clenched with tension. “Axo?”
“Tierc, I am detecting transmissions on multiple frequencies. I can confirm the Central Alliance is searching for the Orion Nebula.”
“But why?” Ahnna jumped up, furious. “We’ve done nothing wrong. Octiron doesn’t own the Central Alliance!”
Tierc shot her a glare. “Ahnna, keep still, and whisper. The shields diffuse energy signatures, but the system’s hardly robust. The less we output the better.”
“Sorry,” she whispered. She slowly sank into her chair, worry gnawing at her. They just wanted to live their lives out quietly, away from the rest of Paragon. Were all these ships after Tierc? They couldn’t possibly want her.
Fear for him laced her heart. “Axo, are they saying we stole the Orion Nebula?”
“They are asking you to trust them. They say it’s a matter of galactic security.”
“Trust them?”
“Papers are filed.” Axo reported. “You are both citizens of Paragon with full rights. Octiron have waived ownership of the Orion Nebula.”
Tierc’s eyebrows furrowed. “So why are they chasing us?”
Ahnna shook her head. “I can’t believe this,” she whispered. “We haven’t even had a chance to eat and there’s an entire fleet looking for us! Do they want to hand us our papers gift-wrapped in ribbon?”
Tierc didn’t respond. That rogue muscle in his cheek was twitching and he was chewing his lip, something she’d not seen him do before. As she studied him more closely, she noticed new lines around his eyes, and his fingers were shaking. She placed her palm over his hand, and he stilled, looked at her.
“What did she do to you? The Tetriarch.”
“Nothing. Something.” His hand turned, fingers entwining with hers. “I’m getting better.”
Ahnna caught her lower lip between her teeth. “I hate them.”
“The Tetriarch? She’s a bitch. Crandal? He’s evil. But not everyone we met was out to hurt us.”
She sighed, accepted this was true. “Maybe we can wait them out. Your shields are holding. They’re guessing we’re here.”
“Shields are deteriorating by point oh oh one percent every minute,” Axo reported.
“Skal!” Tierc pulled his hand away and frowned at the console. “Axo, analyze the Alliance ship movements since their arrival.”
“The Alliance vessels are tracking a standard search grid. They will arrive at this location in thirty point four minutes fifteen seconds.”
“A point oh three deterioration and the shields are already at ninety percent efficiency. Not good.” Disappointment etched lines into his face. “I didn’t build shields for this level of scrutiny.”
“What the heck did we do? A matter of galactic security? This is crazy.”
Tierc rubbed his face. “They want me.”
“No. We don’t go there.” Ahnna racked her brains for another option. “Axo, plot a drift that avoids the search grid, close all systems and reduce life support to bare minimum.” She glanced at Tierc who nodded confirmation.
Silence reigned for thirty-five minutes. The wormhole opened and still they dared not move. As the temperature dropped, they watched an alliance cruiser fly so close it filled the Orion Nebula’s viewscreen.
Ahnna wanted to see their ship from outside. The shields cloaked them from view by deflecting visible radiation around the ship, reforming on the other side, offering the viewer the appearance of a star system. From inside the Orion Nebula, it seemed impossible that the passing Alliance ship could miss them. Heart thumping, hardly daring to breathe, cold, she wanted to run. Only Tierc’s hand on her arm kept her sane. When the ship’s stern slunk out of sight she took a badly needed breath.
“Surely they will move on.”
Tierc also kept his voice to a whisper. “They must have tracked us to these coordinates to be this persistent. I think they know we’re here.”
Another ten minutes passed.
“Shields dropped to sixty percent,” Axo reported.
“Skal!”
Ahnna spotted a cruiser turning towards them. “They’ve seen us.”
“Axo, defensive shields up.” Tierc ordered, manually switching systems on. “Arm weapons.”
Tierc took one second to scan the navigational display and then fired propulsion. G-force pressed Ahnna back into her seat. She couldn’t even turn her head. Tierc zigzagged through the sphere of ships forming around them and then they were racing for the open wormhole, the nearest alliance ships forced to reverse direction to catch them up, but more distant vessels were already on their tail.
Ahnna caught a shift of color across the wormhole’s event horizon and then a gigantic war ship popped into existence a thousand meters ahead of them. Tierc hauled the directional column left, taking them into a wide spiraling path in an attempt to get them back on track.
A second, a third warship appeared.
Thwarted, Tierc reduced speed to a point Ahnna could look at him.
“Receiving transmission,” Axo reported.
“Put it on,” Tierc said grimly. His eyes blazed with anger, or frustration, Ahnna couldn’t quite tell.
“Don’t fire!” Zeke’s voice exclaimed. “Honestly, you don’t want to fire. It will complicate what’s already a fucking mess.”
Tierc stabbed transmit. “Fuck you! Fuck Octiron!”
Ahnna grabbed his arm. “Tierc, wait! I met Zeke when I arrived back at Primaera. He said he didn’t know Crandal’s plan and I believed him. I don’t think he’s part of what happened on Verdon. We should hear him out.”
“I didn’t know.” Zeke jumped in. “I swear! Please, give me a chance!”
Tierc’s jaw popped, he was so mad. Scales burst through his blue flushed skin.
Ahnna shivered, goosebumps rising. She swallowed and then nodded even though Zeke couldn’t see her. “Zeke, go ahead. What’s going on?”
“You’re not going to believe this. I’m having trouble believing it. That portal that got you here. From your universe?”
“Go on,” Tierc growled.
“It’s still open. They never closed it. Octiron’s been containing the ripple effect for months. See, Crandal knew the chances of reaching your universe again were minimal and he wanted to see if Octiron could control it, move it elsewhere.” His voice rose. “Even got the Ops-Dir reassigned.”
Tierc leaned forward, scales dominating now. “What? So he could haul in other innocent victims?”
“I guess. I mean, I’ve only just learned all this! Shit like this doesn’t happen! Anyways, they can’t contain it, and they can’t close it! They hadn’t realized until they tried. They think it’s because you two are on the wrong side.”
“Oh my god!” Ahnna jumped out of her chair. “They need us to go back!”
“Yes,” Zeke replied. “Octiron was hoping Tierc might reappear, that they could capture you both and send you back, but they never expected Axo to go rogue. That’s when they contacted the Central Alliance. Those electrical storms on Primaera are only the start if the portal escapes containment and the storms are ramping up. We’re beginning to see geomagnetic disturbance. Please, you need to go back… for all our sakes.”
Tierc paused transmission and looked at Ahnna, his eyes calmer, glittering with excitement. “I would love to say no, out of pure spite, but what’s happening here, could be happening on Earth. If Zeke’s telling the truth, we have to go back. If he’s not, well, I hate to say it, but we’re out-gunned.”
“Zeke wouldn’t lie to us.”
“Yes, he would.”
“Not about this. He cares for us. I believe that.” Her body stopped shivering. The ship was warming up and happiness filled her. “Tierc! We can go home!”
He grimaced, thinking, silent for several moments. “Except we don’t know what’s waiting on the other side, especially for you.”
* * *
Tierc held Ahnna’s hand, took a deep breath of filtered oxygen. Back where they started.
Now they were here, face to face with an Octiron-created portal, he had vague memories of their arrival in Paragon, a disoriented impression of dark striated walls and polished floor, all illuminated by the writhing portal in front of him. He remembered Ahnna’s threat to kill him, the cold blade at his throat, an overpowering feeling of helplessness.
He’d blacked out, come around briefly, here, in this cavernous room licensed to abduct victims for Paragon’s consumption.
He looked at Ahnna, still sexy inside her bulky EVA suit. They hadn’t needed them on arrival, but the portal was less stable than normal and this was Octiron’s precaution. She gave him a wan smile, her mind clearly elsewhere. Light from the portal swooped and fluctuated and suddenly, they could see Ahnna’s Las Vegas apartment again, the portal re-stabilized. Shadows moved on the other side. The techs monitoring the portal had determined that Earth was managing their end using force-field containment measures as part of a massive security operation. There had been communication, neither Earth nor Octiron ready to risk the consequences of an energy overload between two discrete universes.
A voice from the control room started a minute countdown.
Ahnna jumped, glanced to the door. She looked ready to run.
Tierc hastened to reassure her. “Try not to be scared. There’s no evidence you were planning anything and they know you’re under my protection.” He prayed the hour of preparation had given the authorities on Earth sufficient time to process the message he’d composed on the trip back to Primaera. He prayed the message had got through, the portal so unstable.
“You going to lie for me now?”
“No.” The queasy fear in his stomach tumbled over.
“Cos if you did, I’d be really disappointed in you.”
“I’m a United Regions agent and—”
“You’re being Qui doesn’t put me above the law.”
“And I am bringing you in as a valuable asset. The information you have on HD-X is worth immunity from prosecution. Things will be hard for a while, but we’ll be searching for Joseph. I won’t stop until I find him, I swear. He’s young. It’s not too late for him.” His heart ached to see the nervous unease in her eyes. She didn’t reply, and he understood why. Betraying HD-X meant betraying everyone she’d ever cared about, but for Ahnna there was no going back. “I’ll make this work, Ahnna.”
Falling in love with the enemy altered perspective, he knew that.
“It feels wrong,” she whispered.
“Tierc, Ahnna, it’s time.” The Central Alliance commander broke in over the comms, her voice soft given the circumstances.
Tierc squeezed her gloved hand. “Whatever happens, I’m with you. Never forget, I am a noble Qui and you are my mate. The United Regions makes allowances for Q
ui mates, after all, it is the Qui Empire…” He grinned reassuringly.
“I never saved your life,” she moaned.
“What do you mean?”
“You always saved me. I did nothing for you. I caused you nothing but pain and heartache!”
“You were too busy saving everyone else.” Behind her protective visor, he saw her fight back tears. Love filled him. “Plus I’m Qui. I shouldn’t need saving. Makes us look bad.”
She spluttered, half-laugh, half-outrage, but shy warmth shone in her eyes when she squeezed his fingers back. They stepped through together.
Epilogue
“S o, Ahnna Marcel. Thank you for joining us today.”
“Thank you for having us, Cara. It means a lot to me. I’ve wanted a chance to explain myself for some time, but I had to wait for certain events to conclude.”
“You’re referring, of course, to the recent raids on HD-X compounds across Earth, raids that have led to multiple arrests and the release of hundreds of children. Children like your son, Joseph, who have been, and I quote the UR news release, ‘systematically brainwashed with bigotry and hate for the Qui.’”
A burst of joy quelled Ahnna’s nerves. Why nerves pinged her stomach, she couldn’t say. She should be used to interviews, she’d done enough of them, but this one mattered. This interview was her choice. This interview could make a difference.
“Finding my son, Joseph, getting him back, has meant everything. I didn’t think he’d remember me, I was so nervous to meet him again, but when he saw me, he froze and stared for the longest time. And then he smiled.”
She had dropped to her knees as Joseph ran into her arms, a ten-year-old boy not too old to cry, young enough to remember the only mother he’d known. Their bond had not broken.
“That must have been a special moment.”
“For me and other mothers as well. I didn’t realize until that moment how much I resented HD-X, what they did to me, to every child subjected to their programming. The news release used the word brainwashed, and that’s accurate. It’s devastating to discover everything you believe is a lie, that you’ve been on the wrong path… causing harm, preparing to do harm… for years. Tierc did a lot of deprogramming of my beliefs in the Paragon galaxy, just by being him, and they say it takes a huge emotional experience to break through old thinking, and that’s true, but when I got back, and began to research history, properly, comparing different sources, sifting fact from myths and speculation and common misconception, that’s when I really understood what HD-X has done to me, to its members. That’s why I’m here.”
