by S. E. Weir
Strangely, all the Aurians in her field of vision nodded at the same time.
All righty, then.
Phina, could I trouble you to help me out if you aren’t too busy?
Of course, Braeden. Sorry. Finding it curious that he’d reached out mentally rather than using the implant channel, she moved forward even more quickly, trying to focus again. Still, she couldn’t help gently ribbing him. I would have thought Braeden, with his mighty mental powers, could have handled a few Skaines.
One would think.
Phina pulled out her knives as she raced around the last empty pen to find Braeden dodging bursts of weapon fire to land bruises on the Skaines. He had just knocked one out with an elegant tap of his staff when the third Skaine snuck out of a gap between crates stacked near the hatch to the rest of the ship.
Wasting no time, Phina ran half the distance before the two Skaines noticed her and included her in their deadly dance of firepower. She leaped and jumped and twisted and flipped her way toward the third Skaine. Why couldn’t she have a gun like Link’s? This would have been so much easier.
Braeden, why are you moving so slowly?
Am I moving slowly?
Now you’re being evasive. You’re never evasive. Something’s wrong.
Phina yelped as she received a burn across her thigh. It encouraged her to move faster.
I must have been evasive at some point. Never sounds like a long time. His mental voice sounded weary.
And now you’re scaring me.
Phina took one more leap and slid under the Skaine’s next blast. The momentum brought her close enough for her to kick out at his legs.
“Ouch! Why did no one tell me not to kick Skaines in the legs?” Phina sent over the comm link.
Stunned, she only had a second to react as the Skaine aimed his weapon at her with dead eyes. Phina threw herself to the side as chills raced up her back. Coming out of the roll, she instinctively threw her knife, which slammed unerringly into the alien’s torso just about at his heart. He stood motionless for a moment, then collapsed. Huh. That was a first. She had practiced for hours every week since her trip to the Balderian planet, but she hadn’t realized how easy it had become for her with all the changes in her body.
“Because it’s obvious when the legs are encased in metal?”
Phina laid still while her lungs sucked in air. She still heard sounds to one side of her, indicating that Braeden still fought the other Skaines. “What?”
“It’s obvious that you shouldn’t kick the metal legs of their armor.”
“Thanks, Ryan. It’s not that obvious because some moves will still work even if they are armored. However, not even kicking will work when the components of the Skaines’ armor are this dense. Why wasn’t this included in their specs?”
“A detail you can add at a later time,” Link broke in. “Let’s get this done so we can get on with our primary mission to help these people.”
“Aye-aye, Captain.”
Phina pushed up and turned just as Braeden finally knocked the weapon out of the Skaine’s hand, then cracked him on the head. The tall, slim Gleek sagged on his staff, which was the only thing holding him up at the moment. He appeared to be completely wiped out.
Braeden? Seriously, what’s wrong? She moved forward to grab his arm in concern.
His eyes had lost their brightness, and the green had faded from bright emerald to dull sage. Closing his bleary eyes, he shook his head. His mental voice sounded listless and exhausted.
“Phina, we must leave this planet.”
“We are. We just have to help everyone until the other ships come to take the Aurians to safety.”
“It needs to be now. We can’t wait. Every moment we stay on this planet, we have life sucked out of us. We will grow very weak. I will die before the other ships get here. We have to leave right away.”
Phina’s brow furrowed in confusion as she stared at her friend. Braeden’s words sounded extreme, but he wasn’t one for exaggeration. After a moment, she nodded then opened the channel for the team’s comm.
“Everyone, we have a problem. We need to get all the Aurians on board and leave this planet now. Braeden tells me it’s too dangerous to wait for the other transport ship to get here.”
There was dead silence before people started swearing over each other. It sounded like Link, Ryan, and Maxim.
“How the hell will we manage that?” Ryan wondered.
Maxim growled. “We take the Skaine ship too. You can fly it.”
“That might be our only option if Braeden is correct.” Link grimly agreed.
“Right. Yeah, there’s that.” Ryan’s words rang hollow, as excited as a damp rag.
“Is there a problem? You told me you can fly a Skaine ship. It’s a Skaine ship.”
“No, it’s not that. I can fly it. I just hate all the modifications they make. It’s creepy.”
“Phina, you’re sure we need to go?” Link had an odd tone to his question, which she ignored. They didn’t have time to figure it out.
“Braeden’s sure, and he’s almost collapsing on the deck, looking like the life is draining out of him every second we stand here.”
“Shit.” Ryan began to say something else, then, “Hey!” He was cut off, and Link began speaking. Weird. Link must still be with Ryan.
“All right, then let’s do this. Phina, you finish up there. Let Braeden rest. Everyone else, start getting the Aurians ready to go. We’ll have to try out the translators and see how they work without Phina as a buffer. Split them between the two ships. Move it, people! We don’t want to lose anyone.”
Phina sheathed her other knife, then helped Braeden move over to the side so he could lie down without getting close to the fallen Skaines and the blood leaking from the bodies. His face looked pained, his limbs shaky.
She had just stood back up when she heard a scuffing noise behind her.
Chapter Nineteen
Etheric Empire, Planet Lyriem, SS Revenge
Trillet gripped the gun in his sweaty hand as he crept down the corridor. He could hear people fighting and muffled voices ahead. Pausing, he fumbled to push a button on the front of his clothing.
“Captain?”
“What, Trillet? Why are you whispering?” His impatient voice sounded distracted.
“I’m outside the cargo hold. I can hear them fighting.”
“Well, what are you waiting for, an invitation?” He swore fervently enough to make Trillet stare down at the comm in disbelief. The captain sounded mean and out of control. While he was often mean, the captain never lost control. What had happened since he left the bridge?
“Is something wrong, Captain?”
As he waited, Trillet leaned against the cool metallic hull of the ship, unthinkingly spreading his free hand across the surface. Smooth. Nice. Quiet. Huh. The fighting had stopped. The captain’s voice jerked him out of his trance.
“Something wrong? Those damned dogs from the Empire just took out everyone down there. Now there’s only me and a demented moron left. We’re either going to die or get hauled off.”
Trillet frowned at those numbers. “There’s three of us, Captain. You, the demented moron, and me. Don’t worry, I’ve got a gun, and I’m going to use it on the Imperial dogs. I owe them for their Ranger sending me to the mine.”
Silence filled his ears, punctuated by faint choking noises. When the captain finally spoke, his voice had dropped to a growl worthy of Ravid. “Well, that is such a relief to me, now isn’t it?”
Beaming, Trillet patted his gun. “Happy to help, Captain.”
Moving forward, the Skaine put on his business face as he reached the door. Trillet pressed the switch, waiting as the door opened before sliding into the cargo bay. His feet were whispers, legs moving smoothly, gun at the ready.
In front of him were three Skaines strewn across the floor. To the side of the fallen lay a tall, lanky body, but he couldn’t make out the details. Some weird-looking huma
n, he was sure. Rising from a crouch next to the tall body was a human woman just over average height. Trillet stopped and stared at her, confused.
She didn’t look like an evil dog of the Empire. She looked young and innocent. Ranger Two had been a young woman as well, he reminded himself. Look how that turned out. The evil bitch had thrown him and his coworkers into the mine, where Trillet had gone mad. This new bitch could be looking to do the same thing.
It wasn’t fair.
Why did he have to be the one going mad? Why had he been punished for doing what Skaines do? Anger derived from madness surged as he lifted his gun to shoot the evil bitch from the Empire who wanted to take him down.
He would take her down first.
Phina whirled at the noise behind her. Within a second, she’d processed the situation: the Skaine who had been working his way down the ship had finally joined them, his weapon was currently being brought up to point at her, he stood within leaping distance, and he had the intention of shooting her and the rest of her crew. His determination was unmistakable. Worse were the prickles of madness that emanated from him. Given that, Phina decided she had little choice.
In one smooth and quick move, Phina swiped the knife from the sheath on her thigh that she had been fingering and arced the blade. It struck where she had intended—in the heart of the Skaine. His face froze in surprise.
As he collapsed to the deck, a wave of defeat, resignation, and relief emanated from him. Relief from the madness? She needed time to process what she felt with her mental senses, time she didn’t have. Not yet.
“Greyson, send the Pod over. Braeden needs to get off this planet now. I’ll take him up, and we’ll wait for you.”
“You can’t wait for the other ships? We could probably collect everyone when they arrive in the next hour with all their supplies.”
“He’s dying inch by inch. He can’t even talk out loud anymore.”
“Damn it all to hell! We’ll send the Pod. Stand by.”
The next few minutes took an eternity to pass. Phina, not knowing what else to do, opened the doors to the pens, though she informed the Aurians they would need to stay on the ship so they all could leave soon. Then she retrieved and cleaned her knives.
Finally, she heard the thuds and thumps of footsteps at the other end of the cargo bay. Alina, Maxim, and Doctor Keelson ran toward her. Alina gasped in alarm when she saw the bodies and again when she saw the state Braeden was in, while Maxim and April continued forward to gently pick him up.
Doctor Keelson frowned when she felt his pulse as they walked, trying not to step in front of Maxim while he carried the Gleek. Alina trailed behind Maxim while Phina walked next to the doctor and they all supported Braeden. Phina, glancing from the side, noticed her perplexed expression.
“He’s got two hearts.”
April jerked at Phina’s quiet reminder. “What?”
“The Gleeks have two hearts. It’s going to mess up your measurements.”
Nodding, Doctor Keelson trotted to keep up while her hands moved to various points on her patient’s body.
“Do you know what happened?”
Phina frowned distractedly, shaking her head. “He said something about his life or energy being taken.”
“His pulse is thready and weak, his skin dry and brittle, and his eyes look dull. I agree; if there’s something here that is doing this, he needs to leave. If he doesn’t improve, you will need to place him in stasis and hope it works on Gleek physiology. I can’t get to him until after we help the people here.”
“No.”
Maxim and Alina looked at her, startled at her vehemence. “Phina?”
“We will suffer similar effects. He is just the most sensitive to it. We all need to leave before the effects kick in. I told Greyson we need to go up on the Pod and leave, but that’s just us two. That’s why everyone needs to hurry—so we can all leave. You can help them on the ships.”
They reached the bottom of the ramp and stepped toward the Pod, which was only a few yards away. The Aurians scurried around their buildings, causing Phina to hope they were packing and not having a different issue.
The Pod door opened, allowing Maxim sans wolfman, Phina, and Doctor Keelson to step on. Alina waited outside after Phina exchanged faint smiles and a hand squeeze with her. The Guardian carefully placed Braeden on the emergency medical bed, which had been fitted with stretchable straps. After arranging the straps, Maxim stepped out the door with a nod.
Phina called through her implant, “Guys, don’t forget the last Skaine on the ship. He’s on the bridge, so he’s probably the captain.”
She got murmurs of acknowledgment. Doctor Keelson checked Braeden’s vitals more thoroughly. “Still the same. I’m not sure what needs to happen for him now.”
Phina gave her a reassuring smile she didn’t feel. “It’s okay, Doctor Keelson. We just need to get him off the planet right now and see if that revives him.”
Nodding, April stepped back and walked to the door. “I’ll take care of the sick and injured here, but once we are in the air, call me if you need me.”
“Will do.”
The door sealed after her as Phina stepped toward the front of the Pod. “Stark? You there?”
“Of course, Genius Girl. I’m always here.”
“Would you take us up?”
“Sure thing.”
Phina barely felt the motion as the Pod rose, the ride smooth. Within seconds of its departure, the Pod moved more quickly and at a steeper incline. The screen in the front showed a barren planet below with the dark brightness of space above. The sheer emptiness that lay before her left her feeling very alone. Even though it was a state she was familiar with, she was used to being around people now. That realization startled her. How had that happened?
After passing through the haze of the atmosphere and into space, they traveled for another minute or so before Stark indicated they had stopped. Phina got up, walked back to sit next to Braeden, and gently took his hand.
“Ok, Braeden. Now what?”
Etheric Empire, Planet Lyriem, SS Revenge
Maxim watched the Pod as it rose and swiftly moved above the planet. After another moment, he turned to Alina and nodded when he saw her concern. He clasped her shoulder and gently stroked her with his thumb.
“Phina will be fine. We’ll get done here and meet up with her shortly.”
Alina raised an eyebrow in amusement. “Oh, don’t worry, big man. It’s not Phina I’m worried about.”
“Oh? Who would you be worried about?”
“Let me think.” She tapped her chin playfully. “He’s tall and strong, and he goes furry sometimes but fights like crazy either way. He’s smart, loyal, kind, and oh-so-sexy.”
A slow smile spread across Maxim’s face. “Oh? Who is this paragon of a man?”
“Peter Silvers.”
Maxim stilled and stared at her blue eyes bright with amusement and that wicked little smirk playing on her mouth. It took him a moment to realize he was growling and slowly bringing her closer to him. When she was only inches away, her amusement growing, he narrowed his eyes to show his lack of appreciation for her words.
“Peter Silvers?”
Alina grinned. “Yup.”
Without warning, Maxim grabbed Alina and tossed her over his shoulder, eliciting shrieks from her. Holding her in place with one hand, he walked back into the Skaine ship, poking her with tickling fingers every so often until she gasped for relief.
“Nope, not until you change your answer.”
“Okay, okay! Stars, don’t be such a baby about it.” Though still out of breath, she still chuckled.
Maxim swung her back over his shoulder and set her down on the deck, then took the time to kiss her. Thoroughly. Breathless, Alina finally pulled back.
“All right, you’re definitely not a baby.”
“No.” Maxim agreed, not taking his eyes off her.
Alina’s mouth twitched, then stretched into th
e smile she only gave him. “You knew I didn’t mean Peter Silvers.”
Leaning down, he touched her forehead with his. “I know.”
“And I am worried about Phina,” she added softly closing, her eyes.
He wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. “I know that too.”
“All right, you two, quit your flirting.” Greyson Wells’ voice startled them out of the beginnings of another kiss. “Maxim, Phina said there’s one more Skaine on board, and you’re the best one to take care of him. Alina, please go out and help bring the Aurians on board.”
Sighing, Maxim pressed a kiss on her head before releasing her. “Duty calls.”
Etheric Empire, Planet Lyriem, Pod
Far too pale and as still as death, Braeden managed to hold on. If he died, it would take days to return to his home planet for him to be reunited with the Mother and reborn into another life cycle. It would take a full decade to relearn everything he needed to know and longer still to develop the abilities he had carefully honed. And he wouldn’t be Braeden. No, he would be an entirely new person.
In short, he wasn’t ready to die yet.
But how to rejuvenate enough to live had become a problem he wasn’t sure he could solve. He let his mind drift now that his body had stopped being drained, his very molecules pulled apart. If he had been any younger, he would be dead. And yet, if he were younger, perhaps it wouldn’t have drained him so quickly. The Aurians were still alive, though in a sad state. The humans hadn’t seemed to sense it even though the energy pull was there. He would have noticed if Phina had been having trouble even though he hadn’t been shielding her for the last several hours since she had been using her new shields.
As he mulled the problem over, he became aware of Phina’s physical presence. The energy of her life force emanated from her in waves he could feel almost violently.
Braeden? Any ideas?
Even after the loss of his energy and strength, Braeden felt no difference in the mental connection between them. That gave him food for thought, but for another time. Most pressing was the need to figure out what had happened and if there was any hope of fixing it.
