Out of Orbit- The Complete Series Boxset

by Chele Cooke

  She was up from her hiding place in a second, slipping across the rooftop and back towards the door down into the building. Alec lunged for her, but too late, his fingers slipping from her coat. She could hear him shuffling, but she wasn’t paying attention; she couldn’t sit by and let them do this.

  It was all so organised, so cordial, even. Marching down the stairs, Georgianna could hear her own words in her head, telling Dhiren that the Adveni and the Cahlven couldn’t handle chaos.

  Georgianna pushed open the door and stormed out into the street. The soldiers turned in her direction and raised their weapons. She didn’t look at them; she didn’t give them the satisfaction of thinking they had scared her.

  They didn’t scare her.

  What scared her was the thought of living under these people for one second longer.

  She wouldn’t do it.

  Georgianna pushed back her hood and tugged her scarf down to reveal her face. She held her head high and met Maarqyn’s gaze.

  “Well, well, well. My little bird. What a surprise.”

  The last time Georgianna had been this close to Maarqyn was when he’d ordered the nsiloq branded into her skin. She thought maybe it would burn, that she would be able to feel it now more than ever. But her whole body seemed to flush with anger at the sight of the man and his smug, mocking words.

  Even the name he gave her—little bird—only made her stand straighter.

  “I think I’ve well and truly escaped your cage now. Wouldn’t you say, Commander?”

  Maarqyn considered her for a moment. “It’s Volsonnar, now.”

  “Oh.” Georgianna put on a sickly sweet smile. “I’m sorry, I thought we were reminiscing.”

  A door banged open behind her and Alec marched across the snow towards them, his gaze never leaving Maarqyn’s face. He came to stand beside Georgianna, his teeth grinding and his hands clenched into fists at his sides. She was half surprised he hadn’t started shooting already.

  Maarqyn chuckled. “Look at this. The Belsa are once again crawling out of the woodwork. Rats, indeed!”

  Naltahn watched the proceedings with a tight frown on his wide lips. “Ehnisque was right about you, little bird. You always have a man ready to sacrifice himself for you.”

  “I’m here for the meeting. No sacrifice necessary. Though I do wonder how many of your soldiers would want to do the same for you.”

  “All of them,” Naltahn said. “All of our soldiers would step in front of a bullet to save their commanding officer.”

  “I’m sure they would. But how many would actually want to?”

  Naltahn didn’t have an answer for that, and thankfully, neither did Maarqyn. He glared at Alec, who remained silent and seething.

  Maarqyn waved a hand. “While this little catch-up is nice, what are you actually doing here?”

  Georgianna shifted her weight, moving a few inches closer to Alec. She was glad he was beside her, but she couldn’t help but worry about how Dhiren or Lacie and Jacob would know what was going on if Maarqyn pulled a weapon, or had one of his soldiers do it.

  She still had her own weapons, of course, but she had learned from Beck’s actions. Killing their leader didn’t do a damned thing; there was always someone ready to step in and take their place. Perhaps they even appreciated the move, like Ehnisque had suggested before she had died. As much as she wanted to wipe Maarqyn’s existence from Os-Veruh, she knew she couldn’t kill him, or even attempt it. Georgianna felt that she understood Maarqyn, at least a little. The same could not be said for whoever would replace him.

  “You’re making a deal, right?” she said finally. “Well, we came to take part in that.”

  Maarqyn barked with laughter. He glanced around, as if to find others holding back their sniggers. But the soldiers around them were as stoic as ever, and Naltahn merely looked bored with the interruption.

  “A deal? Here’s a deal for you… Maybe I claim Alec here as part of my demands, or pretty little Nyah. They belonged to me, after all, and if we are claiming what we are entitled to, that surely fits.” He stepped closer, his mirth melting into a leering snarl. He reached up and grabbed Georgianna by the chin and tugged her closer, his fingers digging into her jaw. “No one will ever forget who tamed this little planet and your people. I’ll make sure of that.”

  Georgianna wrenched herself out of his grasp, keeping her hands at her sides and not rubbing her jaw like she sorely wanted.

  She straightened up as Alec moved closer to her. He placed his hand at the small of her back, his fingers against the handle of the copaq. Georgianna glanced at him and gave him a small, reassuring smile before shaking her head. She turned back to Maarqyn and Naltahn. “We want Beck Casey released from the Cahlven.”

  This time, it wasn’t just Maarqyn who laughed. Naltahn chuckled and shook his head, his eyes full of pity as he folded his arms. Maarqyn was more obvious about it; he threw his head back and let out another barking laugh. There was real humour in his eyes, as if he’d never heard anything so idiotic.

  When silence fell over them again, Naltahn was the first to speak up. “We deal for the spoils of this planet, girl, and you come to bargain for one man? I have experienced the Veniche sentimentality too often since arriving on this land. But this was unexpected, even for that.”

  “The Ven never see the bigger picture,” Maarqyn said, still shaking his head. “They only care about the personal. This girl risked everything to take Alec and my Nyah from me, even though they were single snowflakes to the freeze of the dreta system. It took an Adveni to drive them into something that actually made a difference.”

  Georgianna scowled. “You don’t get to talk about Edtroka!”

  “Oh, little bird, I get to do whatever I want now. Tell me, do you know what happened to your dear E’Troke after he died trying to save you? Such a Ven move. He would have done so much more than you ever could.”

  Georgianna thought she was going to choke on the weight of the accusations. She stared, dumbfounded, at Maarqyn.

  A woman cried out nearby. Neither Maarqyn or Naltahn paid any notice.

  “Beck Casey,” Maarqyn said. “The Marshall of the Belsa. The man who murdered the Volsonnar and was wanted for many crimes before that. Why would we ever release him?”

  Georgianna glared back at them, counting her breaths and trying not to lose her cool any further. Maarqyn thought her a ‘little bird’, Naltahn had called her ‘girl’. She was sure that neither man present would ever respect her, especially not if she showed more emotion. Even Alec, at times, thought her impulsive and stubborn, like a child.

  “Excuse me, Commander,” Georgianna said, sneering his obsolete title., “But as you neither hold Beck Casey, nor have ever caught him for any of his supposed crimes, I’m not talking to you.” Maarqyn looked like she’d slapped him. His lips pulled back into a sneer. But he did, at least, keep his words to himself. Georgianna turned to Naltahn. “You made frequent assurances that Beck was only being held while the dust settled from the attack. This was called a war, after all. And in wars, people die.”

  Naltahn studied her. “Miss Lennox.” He broke into a wide smile at Georgianna’s surprise over the use of her surname. “Yes. I know all about you. Mr Casey is a war criminal. There are rules to these things, and he took a weapon to a peace talk and stabbed an important man to death. That cannot go unchallenged.”

  “You promised—”

  “Yes, I did. Just like the Adveni promised that their occupation here would be peaceful, should the Veniche accept their rule.”

  Georgianna shifted her weight and moved closer to Alec. She took a deep breath of air, so cold that it burned in her lungs. She felt stupid, naive, for even thinking that these two powerful men would care what she had to say, for thinking that maybe she could make a difference.

  She glanced at Alec, still silent beside her. He was glaring at Maarqyn with such concentration and ferocity that she wondered whether he was even listening to what they were saying,
or if he was too occupied imagining all the ways he could kill the man right now.

  Naltahn unfolded his arms and clasped his hands before him. He glanced behind him at his soldiers, and then turned back to Georgianna. “Now, Miss Lennox. As we said, we are making deals. So, unless you have something to offer us…”

  “ How about this?”

  The shout came from behind Georgianna and Alec, and she forgot all about not turning her back on these men, because the voice was one she knew. The soldiers all twisted in its direction, holding their weapons high. But none moved forwards. Clearly, they had assumed nobody would dare challenge this meeting. They would be terribly punished for not securing the location properly.

  Dhiren staggered out from between the buildings, one arm wrapped around a struggling woman, and the other holding a knife hard against her throat.

  He dragged her further into the intersection, and Georgianna gaped in surprise.

  Olless.

  Her uniform was dusted with snow, and her long red hair was messier than Georgianna had ever seen it. But she was unmistakable.

  How in the world had Dhiren known what was going on? He’d been stationed too far away to overhear any of the meeting. Alec dug into his pocket and drew out the cubed tsentyl. Veins of electric blue lighted the surface, pulsing with the alerts that a call was in progress. Georgianna could have hugged him.

  “So?” Dhiren shouted, stopping a good distance away. “What about it, Colvohan? You want your emissary back, and we want Beck Casey.”

  Naltahn had lost his calm exterior. His nostrils flared and his eyes narrowed as he glared at Dhiren. He snorted and turned away. “It is no loss.”

  “Don’t bluff us,” Alec said. “It may be no loss if she died, because you could appoint another emissary in a second. You have one waiting in the wings, no doubt. But we don’t plan on killing her. We plan on taking her and squeezing out every bit of information.” Alec flashed a cold smile at Maarqyn. “I learned a lot from my owner.”

  Georgianna turned back to Naltahn and Maarqyn. “Beck Casey in exchange for Olless. And a list of all Veniche in Cahlven custody. Everyone under the shield.”

  Maarqyn stepped back and gave a mocking gesture to Naltahn, who had flushed a blotchy red with anger. He rolled his shoulders back. “A list will do nothing for you.”

  Georgianna smiled. “Then you won’t mind handing it over. We have a tsentyl. You can transfer it directly. I’m sure you have a device on you.”

  Naltahn looked between them, his silence the only control he had left. Alec moved to step forwards, mouth opening to speak, but Georgianna took his hand and shook her head. They had said all they could. No further threats would help them now.

  Naltahn nodded. “Olless has the names.”

  Alec jogged back to meet Dhiren and Olless, who dug into her pocket and pulled out a flat oval. Alec took it and returned to them. Naltahn connected his own device to Olless’ and placed Olless’ device on top of Alec’s. He stepped away.

  Georgianna realised that he hadn’t been synchronising the information to Olless’ device; he had been locking it down so that they couldn’t get at anything other than the list of Veniche in custody.

  “We will contact you with details for the return of your Marshall,” Naltahn said.

  Maarqyn snorted. “Do it while he still has time left. Isn’t that right, Naltahn?”

  The Colvohan didn’t reply. He turned away and swept back to his soldiers, pulling up his hood and barking orders. The soldiers moved in to form a protective cocoon around Naltahn, and the Cahlven returned down the street.

  When they were out of sight, Maarqyn stepped away. “Until next time, little bird. I enjoyed negotiating with you. And Alec, you should remember more of what I taught you. Specifically, how to get information from someone. That may come in useful.”

  He nodded in Olless’ direction, smirked, and turned away, as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

  Alec separated off from them once the Adveni were clear, and headed off to collect Jacob and Lacie. Now the Adveni knew they had at least one tsentyl, they would be checking in on the frequencies and locations of each device. It wouldn’t be safe to use them any more, and Alec wanted them cut off as quickly as possible. He and Dhiren shut their devices down before Alec left, and so Jacob and Lacie’s tsentyls were now the only devices left connected.

  Georgianna wound her arm through the crook of Olless’ elbow and led her along with Dhiren. Olless complied without any hindrance, perhaps dampened by her Colvohan’s apparent disregard for her safety.

  Once they were a street away from the tunnel entrance, Georgianna pulled them to a stop. “Should we blindfold her?” Dhiren looked between Olless and Georgianna, chewing on his bottom lip.

  “The Cahlven can find you,” Olless said. “So can the Adveni, most likely. Blindfolding me will only make it more difficult to walk in the tunnels. I assume that is where we are going.” She glanced at them both and rolled her eyes. “But if you insist…”

  Dhiren shrugged away his coat and pulled off an overshirt. He replaced his coat and, rolling the shirt into a long rope of material, moved behind Olless. She grimaced as the makeshift blindfold covered her eyes and nose.

  Dhiren put his knife away and grasped Olless by the arm, leading her at a quick and stumbling pace towards the tunnels. Georgianna considered telling him to slow down, but knowing how little he liked Olless, she didn’t want to risk his ire too much. The Cahlven was unhurt, after all.

  Olless’ warnings about the difficulty of guiding a blindfolded captive turned out to be accurate. In the end, Georgianna brushed Dhiren away and told him to walk behind them. She took hold of Olless’ hands and guided them to her own waist, ensuring she had a good grip on her coat before she set off, at a funereal pace.

  Before long, Alec, Lacie, and Jacob caught up with them and plodded along behind Dhiren in a strange and slow parade.

  Once they had made the final turning into their little camp and were too far inside to see anything recognisable, Georgianna stopped and removed the blindfold from Olless’ head. She glanced at each of them, her face scrunching in an unreadable expression as she looked upon Lacie and Jacob at the back of their group. She turned away, and waved for Georgianna to continue.

  Back at the camp, Alec hurried past them and jumped up into the tunnel car. Georgianna climbed up after him and held a hand down to Olless. The Cahlven woman looked at the hand, sneered, and clambered up by herself. Georgianna rolled her eyes. There had been a time when Olless had claimed to be their ally, and yet now she seemed to have no interest in their help.

  At the far end of the tunnel car, Alec cleared off his bed and dumped the few meagre belongings on the end of Georgianna’s bed. “You. There.”

  Olless marched past them and slumped down onto the bed. Five Ven stood between her and the door. “So, we just sit here? And wait for your trade?”

  “Trade?” Lacie said. “What’s going on, George? What happened out there? You said we were just going to watch, and next thing we know, Alec has cut the connection and you’ve vanished from the rooftop.”

  Dhiren laid his hand on Lacie’s shoulder, but his gaze remained fixed on Olless. “George confronted the Colvohan and the Volsonnar. Demanded to be included in the deal they were making.”

  “Really?” Jacob said. “I bet they weren’t happy.”

  “I saw Olless lingering behind, and Alec had transferred the connection to me, so I was able to hear what was going on. I decided that the Colvohan might need some… incentive.”

  “Incentive for what?”

  “To give us Beck,” Georgianna said. “And the lists of every Ven under the shield.”

  “Beck’s coming back?” Lacie’s face brightened. “Really?”

  “He didn’t seem too keen when he thought we’d kill her,” Alec said, nodding towards Olless. “But when we reminded him how much information Olless had on the Cahlven way of doing things, he agreed. They’ll be contacting us so
on with information on the trade.”

  Dhiren sneered. “It’s almost like your only use is your knowledge, Olless.”

  Georgianna remembered being called onto the Cahlven ship, summoned to a meeting by Olless because of the information they each held. Olless had told them that they were important, useful to the cause, and had then dismissed them as soon as she had the information the Cahlven wanted. Now the shoe on the other foot.

  Olless kept quiet. She stared at her hands, clasped in her lap. Georgianna hadn’t noticed before, but she was trembling. She pushed past Dhiren and picked up one of the Cahlven blankets.

  He grabbed her arm as she tried to pass again. “You care if she’s cold?”

  “Yes. I do.”

  Dhiren looked annoyed at the idea of making Olless comfortable, and Alec appeared to share his opinion. Georgianna ignored them both and returned to Olless, handing her the blanket.

  Olless gazed at it for a moment with a small smirk and then met her eyes for the first time. “Thank you.” She wrapped the blanket around herself, holding onto the corners. “I had noticed that our inventory was depleting at an unnatural rate.”

  “Your uniform doesn’t look suitable for the freeze,” Georgianna said, skirting over Keiran’s pilfering of the Cahlven stores.

  “No,” she said. “Not particularly. But you must always look proper.”

  Dhiren scoffed and turned away. Alec pulled Olless’ device from his pocket. He approached and held it out. “Turn it on. Get the lists we asked for.”

  Olless took the device from Alec, staring up at Georgianna as she brought the device down into her lap, adjusting the blanket to drape around her shoulders. With a few taps of the small buttons around the edge, the device lit up, and a small symbol appeared in the centre and vanished again. Everyone hovered as they waited for Olless to turn the list over to them.