He realized then that he was surrounded, the only way out alive was to take her with him. He’d not realized yet that he was already a dead man. He lunged for her, but Vor stopped him, wrapping his hand around Malm’s throat and squeezing. “Sirena, he is contained. Do you not have another syringe?”
“Why, thank you, Vor. You know? I believe I just may have another syringe.” Vivian lifted the syringe from her pocket and looked at the pretty silver chemical floating back and forth in the light as she moved it.
“What is that? What are you doing? You can’t kill me, you need me. Without me, you’ll never find the rest. They’ll stay like this forever if you kill me. You’ll have no chance of saving any of them!”
Vivian’s eyes locked onto something behind Malm, but with Vor holding him still, he couldn’t turn to see what she was looking at.
Kol entered the ‘sleeping chamber,’ his unit with him, boxes of vids in their hands. One small aluminum rectangle in his hand. “This is the brain for this ship’s computer, Sirena. All activity is recorded here. If there are other women, we will find them with this. He is not needed.”
Vivian smiled, returning her eyes to Malm’s, “I’ll say it again. I win.” She stepped closer. She had no fear at all. She had ultimate faith in Vor and was so focused on vengeance that she would not have noticed if fear were present. Again she held up the silver-filled syringe, tilting it this way and that, causing it to flow back and forth. “Do you see this? It’s quite beautiful really. Do you know what it does?”
By this time, Malm was moaning, trying to draw his legs up to his stomach to relieve the pain that had begun. He was moaning and whimpering, but he offered no words.
“No? I’ll take that as a no. I’ll tell you, this is a wonderful thing, for me anyway. Not so much for you. When you inject someone with it, it seeks out their muscle tissue, then it invades that tissue molecule by molecule and liquefies it. All your muscles, all your internal organs — liquid. You will literally bleed out through your own pores. Then when the chemical now mixed into your blood seeps onto your skin, that will liquefy as well.”
Malm’s eyes grew big as understanding started to take shape in his warped brain.
“That’s right!” Vivian singsonged. “You are being liquefied alive. But there’s one problem. It’s taking too long, and it’s really going to make a mess. And my doctors will need to be here to take care of all these ladies who will reclaim and live their lives in spite of you, you sick fuck.”
“There’s an empty tank back there, Sirena,” Zahn said matter-of-factly.
“What?” she asked, turning to Zahn.
“An empty tank. Let’s dump him in it and let him turn to goo inside it. No mess, we’re done and we can get you back home to your Sire.”
“You know what? That’s an excellent idea!” Without another thought, Vivian slammed the needle into Malm’s neck, depressed the plunger and smiled as the thick silver liquid coursed into his body. She stood aside to allow Vor and Zahn to carry a screaming, writhing-in-pain Malm to the back of the room, where they did indeed, climb up a step ladder and dump him inside a tank, sealing it before climbing down again and coming back to join her where she stood with Kol, now surrounded by all her guards. The tanks were apparently sound-proofed, so she could not even hear Malm’s simpering whines any longer.
“Are you ready, Sirena?” Vor asked.
“Yes, I am. Just give me one minute.” Vivian walked slowly back through the tanks of women, pausing to touch each and every one. “I promise, I’ll make it all okay,” she whispered.
She turned to go and noticed Kol standing mesmerized beside one of the tanks. “Kol?”
Kol turned to look at her, his face full of anguish. He shook his head as though disbelieving what he was seeing.
“They’ll be okay. I’ve promised them. I’ll see to it,” Vivian said.
He tried to speak, his voice barely audible.
She moved closer to him, “I couldn’t hear you.”
Kol looked up at the woman suspended in the tank in front of him, then he spoke again, “She’s mine.” Kol reached out and placed his hand on the tank.
“Oh, my God,” Vivian whispered, then she started giving orders, “This one. Get her out first and get her out now! Right now!”
Doc and his assistants were finishing taking readings on another of the tanks and looked up at her, surprised at her demand. “Sirena, we planned to work our way through, first to last.”
“New plan, this one, get her out first. Now! What do you have to do? What do you need to free these women?”
“We need to transport them back to the ship. But we need to be sure they will survive being removed from the tanks first. It is likely they will remain asleep for at least several hours after removal. It is a matter of recording all the information, their vital statistics and such, then draining the tanks and moving the women one by one back to Command Warship 1. We’d planned to move several at a time rather than all at once, so we can be available to stabilize any that may need it. Some have a better chance than others.”
“Why is that?”
“Some species are stronger, Sirena.” Doc shrugged apologetically, “Several are human.”
Vivian understood — humans were very fragile compared to most of the species in the universe. She’d seen it first-hand. “I understand. But this one?” she pointed at the blonde floating in the tank that Kol now leaned fully against, “You pretend she’s my sister, got it? She survives — get her ready, she’s coming with me.”
“We have yet to record all her data. We’ve not taken her vitals yet.”
“Do it now! Log it now, then drain it. Get her out, I’m taking her back with me. And one of you to monitor her on the trip as well.”
“Sirena…” Doc started.
“Now!” Vivian demanded, crossing her arms and tapping her foot.
Chapter 33
Back on Command Warship 1, Quin had just about lost his mind when Malm dropped from the ceiling and accosted Vivi. He jumped from his chair, bellowing a war cry and curses that almost deafened each of his warriors still wearing their helmets. Several snatched them from their heads while wincing. Simultaneously shouts and roars went up all around the conference room from his advisors, his mother, and Bart.
He shouted orders to any who could hear him and soundly cursed Vor for not wearing his helmet so that he could respond accordingly. Only once he saw Vivian stab the deadly silver liquid into Malm’s arm did he even begin to stop shouting and threatening. Then, when Vor rushed over and took control of Malm as Vivi continued to speak to him, did he realize it was a plan. A plan no one had advised him of. Then Vivi stabbed another syringe into Malm’s neck, and he saw the sense of satisfaction cross her face. He watched as Vor and Zahn dragged Malm to the back of the room and dumped him into one of the tanks while Vivi was surrounded by her remaining guard. Then and only then did he sit down, his chest heaving, to try to get himself under control. Quin raised his eyes to the holovid once more, and watched Vivi walk slowly from one tank to another, touching each and speaking. He cursed again, “I cannot hear her! Someone tell me what she says, damn it!”
“All is well, my son. You can surmise her words. Look at her face. She has great empathy for these women.”
Finally, he was able to drag his eyes to his mother’s and was shocked to find her — smiling.
“What could you possibly find amusing?” he snapped at her.
“There is nothing amusing. But much to be proud of.”
“Such as?”
“You, my son. And your Vivi — she will be a magnificent Sovereigna one day.”
“What about this entire situation makes you believe she will be a magnificent Sovereigna? She placed herself in danger!”
“She did. And while she had a personal agenda, she did it to free others, to insure that they and those who didn’t survive, had justice.”
Zha Quin turned his eyes back to the holovid. He heard bits and pieces
of other operations taking place onboard Malm’s ship, but none from the room Vivi was in. Most had taken off their helmets, and he was only able to catch glimpses from two of his men who now stood in the doorway overseeing all from a distance. He watched as Vivi stopped to speak with Kol, who was leaning against a tank as though he had taken ill. He watched as she turned, shouting. He watched as her guard stepped forward, shooting demanding looks in the direction she shouted.
“She has managed to completely endear herself to her guards, they adore her. They are no longer your guard appointed to protect her, they belong to her,” Eula said admiringly, also watching the holovid.
Quin watched the scene before him as his mother spoke. Smiling as Vivi crossed her arms and tapped her foot on the floor, her demand clearly issued and now waiting for it to be carried out.
“She is…” and he stopped, unable to find a suitable word to describe her.
His mother finished for him, “She is courageous, strong, beautiful, kind. She has the most genuine heart. And she is just. She is all things one could hope for, in a tiny little female. She is going to make you very happy, my son. Your life will never be the same.”
“She is going to cause my death if she ever tries anything like this again,” he snapped.
Eula smiled indulgently at her son, “I think not. You’ll be fine, just follow her lead.”
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
As soon as the cruiser was docked and secured, Vivi threw off her seat restraints, rushing to Kol’s side where he sat, his female in his arms, staring straight ahead. She was breathing, though shallowly, and had regurgitated quite a lot of the liquid she’d been floating in. Doc had performed a basic check of her vital signs, and done all he could to force most of the liquid from her lungs when they’d first removed her from the tank. But their abilities were limited. They’d decided that Malm, for the most part, just drained the tanks and allowed the women to revive on their own. If they didn’t, they didn’t. And they might have been the lucky ones. Because if they did, an even worse hell awaited them. Vivian’s memory was spotty, but she clearly remembered the terror of being forced into one of those tanks and the liquid rising around her as she screamed, terrified, while Malm and several other males watched her, laughing while she “drowned.” Vivian had watched as Kol’s woman was released, then tended to as her lungs began to purge the liquid from them. Doc believed her as stable as she could be for the moment. He wrapped her in a warming blanket and sent one of his assistants back with her aboard the cruiser. Vivian’s guard had helped secure the woman on one of the bench seats, strapping her securely so that she’d not bounce around on the forty-minute trip back to Command Warship 1. All was well until she started trembling; then, Kol unstrapped her from the bench she lay upon and held her tightly against him, murmuring to her, while taking his seat.
He refused to lay her back down. Simply shaking his head each time the medical assistant requested he do so. Finally, in frustration he said one word, “Vivi!”
Vivian took over for him. “Can he hurt her by holding her instead of allowing her to lie flat?” Vivian asked the young male sent along for medical support.
“I don’t think so, but Master Healer said no one was to touch her until he had a chance to get back here to check her properly and to determine if she needs to be placed in the healing unit.”
“Well, you let me worry about Master Healer. Kol is her male, and if you try to make him put her down, I’m not responsible for his actions once he does,” Vivian explained politely.
The medical assistant was a young male and not Cruestaci. He obviously had no idea of the pull of finding one’s Ehlealah. He did look as though he understood he’d be putting himself in danger if he pushed Kol any further though. In fact, he looked a little afraid. Vivian felt sorry for him, she smiled sweetly, “Thank you.”
He nodded, looking very uneasy and took a seat at the back of the transport where the woman had been secured previously.
The rest of the trip was uneventful. Thirty minutes later they docked, and the moment the door of the cruiser opened, Quin was in the door way, shoving his way down the aisle to get to her.
Vivian rushed into his arms, loving the feel of him holding her.
Quin lifted her into his arms, holding her close, “Vivi!” he groaned.
“I’m here, I’m here.”
Quin didn’t speak, just buried his nose in her hair and held her tight until he was sure that her scent would never be erased from his senses.
Eventually he looked around, realizing that they were the only ones still on the cruiser. “Everyone left?”
“They did. My guess is they’re with Kol. He found his female among the women Malm had collected.”
“We should go to him, stand with him.”
“We should,” Vivian answered.
He didn’t put her down, just turned and started walking toward the door of the small battle cruiser. He found that her guard, her personal guard, had stayed outside the cruiser, waiting for their exit. He nodded to them, acknowledging them, then paused, pinning Vor with a look that would have made a lesser male quake in his boots, “We will discuss your role in this.”
“Yes, Sire,” Vor answered, bowing his head. He smiled when Vivi shook her head and mouthed, “Don’t worry about it,” to him as Quin carried her past.
Quin either didn’t notice or chose not to address it at the moment. On the way to medical he did, however, bring up her plan and the fact that she neglected to let him in on it, “We will also discuss your knowledge of the poisons you took with you, and we will discuss your lack of honesty with me prior to execution of your plan.”
“It was necessary, Quin.”
“It was not necessary to deceive me, Vivi” he said firmly.
“It was. You didn’t even want me there to begin with. Knowing that I planned to kill Malm myself would have insured that you didn’t let me go. I was careful, I took precautions, and had I failed, Vor would have killed him.”
“So Vor is equally responsible,” Quin said, his face pulled into an angry frown.
“No, he is not. I told him if he didn’t help me, I’d never forgive him, and I’d replace him.”
“Vivi!” Quin chided.
“I needed his cooperation. And for the record, he wasn’t happy about it. But he had a syringe also and if I’d not been able to do it, he would have stepped in and done it for me. Either way, I was safe. Vor would never let anything happen to me.” She decided not to tell Quin that Zahn was also involved, all for the plan and took no convincing at all. Zahn thought she was kick ass, and she kinda liked that.
“You leave this ship again, I will be at your side. That is not up for discussion!”
“I agree. Now let’s go check on Kol’s woman.”
“I did not even notice a woman on the cruiser. All I saw was you. Is she much injured?”
“I’m not sure. She did have bruises on her body, but she was unconscious, they all were. She was breathing on her own though, so that was a good sign.”
“I do not envy Kol these next few days. It is excruciating to watch your Ehlealah suffer, trying to make sense of her new reality. It is very difficult not to be able to help, to comfort. To know that the very sight of you only causes her more fear.”
“She’ll love him. He’s a good male.”
“She will, if she is not too broken to trust again.”
“I trusted you. If I could trust again, anyone can.”
“I love you, my Vivi,” Quin said, holding her just a bit tighter as he remembered the pain of watching her hurt while struggling to find her way.
Vivian snuggled into his arms and kissed his cheek. “Your face soothes me, calms me. I love this face.”
Quin rumbled at her as she smoothed her hand against his cheek, laying her head on his shoulder as he took them to find Kol.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Quin entered medical and walked through, poking his head into each room until he found Kol, standing ne
xt to a bed, holding the hand of the unconscious woman lying in it as the assistant that had returned with Vivian scanned her to get a readout of her state of health. She was nude, and Quin turned his back, facing away from the bed out of respect for both Kol and his woman.
Once the exam was finished and her body covered, Quin turned back and went to Kol’s side. “Take heart, my friend, she will be well.”
“How can you be sure?” Kol asked, not looking away from the woman lying on the bed.
“Because Vivi was much worse, and Doc saved her. If he could save Vivi, he can save your woman as well,” Quin explained.
“Not if he’s not here!” Kol half-shouted, finally meeting Quin’s eyes.
“He will be soon. I will see to it.”
Kol didn’t answer.
“Alright? I will see to it. I give you my word.”
“Alright,” Kol finally conceded.
Quin hurried from the room to Doc’s office, so he could advise the medical team of what he expected. Doc was to finish the initial examinations. Then return to the ship and allow his medical team to process the women and send them to Command Warship 1. Doc would be here to receive each woman and keep an eye on them, especially Kol’s woman.
Vivian took Quin’s place beside Kol and hugged him from the side, standing next to him, both watching his woman lying there, completely unaware of either of them.
“She’s beautiful, Kol.”
Kol nodded.
“And she looks kind. I bet she’s kind.”
Again he nodded.
Vivian decided that rather than try to engage Kol in conversation, she’d just stand close and be there for him. “It’s gonna be okay, Blue-Dude,” Vivian said softly, laying her head against his bicep.
Quin eventually returned, “I have arranged for Doc to return, additional medical support will replace him on site. He will be here shortly.”
“Thank you,” Kol said, still not taking his eyes from the unconscious woman.
Haven 1: Ascend Page 30
