by Cheree Alsop
“Run!” the one who had called Brandis out shouted.
The other pirates took up the call. Holding their heads and attempting to escape the horrors that filled their minds, the pirates ran down the opposite hallway away from Zanden’s crew, and the hostages, left between the Ketulans and whatever was down the dark hallway that had scared the pirates so badly, stumbled after them.
“Whoa,” Zanden said. “What was that?”
Liora let go of the push. The sudden release made her legs give out. Zanden caught her arm to steady her. At that moment, every Ketulan intent on breaking through the bridge door turned to face them.
“Uh oh,” Creeden said. “Now we’re in trouble.”
“I’ve got this,” Kray replied.
Liora glanced back to see the girl hold a lighter up to a heat detector against the upper wall. The red light flashed and yellow fire quencher immediately sprayed from the ceiling vents.
The Ketulans whirled and hummed in protest, flying in circles and stabbing at the vents in an attempt to stop the rush of fluid. Crackles and sparks flashed in the half-light as their systems protested.
“Attack!” Zanden shouted.
The team from Corian ran into the fray. They stabbed the undersides of the Ketulans, destroying power cells right and left, then double-checking to ensure they got each one before moving onto the next.
Liora reached the door. A small circle had been cut through by the Ketulans, and she could see the bridge crew of the Hyperion beyond.
“Brandis?” she shouted. “Brandis Day?”
A groan met her ears and another voice said, “He’s not here.”
“Where is he?” she demanded.
A face appeared. Blood streaked the Salamandon’s cheek. His eyes widened.
“Officer Day. How are you here?”
“I came with the senior commandant,” she replied. “Where is Brandis?”
“They took him,” the Salamandon said.
Fear gripped Liora’s heart. “Who took him?” she asked.
“The Ketulans,” the Salamandon answered. He stepped back with a gesture behind him.
Liora peered into the hole. To the right of the monitors, just visible from her vantage point, Liora could see torn metal and jutting wires where Ketulans had cut through the wall. The hole was barely big enough to drag someone through and into the outer wall.
“Was he…” Liora paused, then made herself ask, “Was he still alive?”
“Yes,” came the Salamandon’s answer. His voice was choked with tears when he said, “We fought to keep him here, Officer Day. We truly did. Five of my crew are dead….” He took a shuddering breath and continued, “I asked them to take me instead, but they wanted Commandant Day.”
“Did they leave a message or any sign of where they were going?” Liora pleaded. She knew the Ketulans didn’t speak, but there had to be a way to find Brandis. If they hadn’t killed him, they had taken him for a reason.
“They didn’t,” the Salamandon answered. “I’m so sorry. I failed him, Officer Day.”
“You tried to protect him,” Liora replied as she knew she should. “Unseal this door so your crew can receive medical care.”
“Yes, Officer Day,” the Salamandon answered.
Liora stumbled through the wrecked remains of the Ketulans. Against the far wall, she saw a heap of bodies from hostages the pirates had slain. If she had listened to the voice in her head, the hallway would be littered with fallen pirates and more hostages as well. She couldn’t believe how close she had come to destroying them. Actually, she could believe it, and that was what scared her.
“Officer Day, are you alright?” Zanden asked.
When she didn’t respond, he touched her arm.
“Call me Liora,” she said in an automatic response.
“Alright,” Zanden replied. “Liora, are you okay?”
She shook her head. “Brandis is gone.”
Silence filled the hall as her words struck home.
After all they had gone through, the pirates and Ketulans they had killed, and the risk to their own lives, they had failed their mission.
Liora stared at the wall in front of her, willing the answers to be written there. She had told her father that she would rescue Brandis, yet he was gone. How did one bring back someone who had vanished without a trace?
Her foot hit something and pain ran up her leg. Liora looked down to see a claw clamped around her ankle. A dissonant hum sounded from the Ketulan and sparks came from it when it moved.
“I’ve got it,” Zanden said.
“Wait,” Liora told him.
The pilot looked at her as if she was crazy, but he did what she asked.
Liora knelt, ignoring the claw. She was about to put her hands on the machine when Zanden spoke quietly.
“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” he asked. “With all the liquid, you could get electrocuted.”
“I’ve been electrocuted before,” Liora replied. “Someone gave these Ketulans orders. I need to find out who and why.”
Liora set her palms on the rough metal hide of the Ketulan. Electricity ran up her arms. She closed her eyes against the raw pain and pulled, searching the machine for anything familiar.
The mind was strange. She didn’t know if she could call the circuits and wires an actual brain, but there were synapses similar to those she found in humanoids, processes that made the machine work and drove it to accomplish its goals.
The synapses were broken, charred by the electricity and fragmented. She followed them the best she could, and stumbled upon a pocket of information. It felt like a memory, but it was organized into sequences.
Secondary objective: Brandis Day, Commandant of the Corian merchant fleet. Son of Julius Day and Risaria Violet Day. Twenty-six years old. Dark brown hair. Brown eyes. Completed secondary school and senior training at Corian School of Interplanetary Education.
Orders: Capture and return.
Liora could feel the Ketulan’s energy failing. It sparked and shuddered. She pulled harder.
Primary objective: Liora Day, human-Damaclan Officer of the Coalition. Daughter of Julius Day and Queen Tenieva of Clan Obruo. Twenty-three years old. Dark brown hair. Brown eyes.
Orders: Destroy. Return with evidence.
The Ketulan’s synapses went dark.
“No!” Liora said. “I need to know where they’re taking him. I was almost there!”
Zanden quickly searched the other machines.
“This one looks the least destroyed,” he called over his shoulder. He pulled the fuel cell free. Sparks showered into the air. Zanden tossed it to Liora.
“Try that one.”
Liora yanked the Ketulan’s fuel cell free and shoved the other one in its place. A faint hum caught her ear. She put her hands back on the cold, wet metal.
She quickly searched through the synapses. The machine’s spark was faint. She didn’t have much time. She located the pocket of information and quickly sifted through the sequences. The signal was weak. She felt it fading.
“Come on,” she whispered.
“You’ve got this,” Zanden said from behind her.
Liora felt the synapses slipping away from her.
“No,” she growled. She tried something else. She gathered what remained of her energy and pushed it toward the Ketulan. She felt the information flicker and thought it disappeared. In desperation, she shoved the energy harder. All at once, the information was there, bold and harsh, glaring in her mind.
Singular objective: Kill Liora Day. If unable to complete objective, secondary objective is to bring Brandis Day to Dreyer Nebula Five Eighty-four, alive.
The source of the orders was unknown. Whoever had given the Ketulans their directives had been careful not to leave any trace of themselves that might be recognized.
Liora let her hands slip off the Ketulan as the burst of information vanished.
“What did you find out?” Zanden asked.
Exhausted
and with her heart pounding from the exertion, Liora sank to the ground.
“They took Brandis to Dreyer Nebula Five Eighty-four.”
“Are you sure?” Zanden asked. He held out a hand to help her up.
Liora accepted his assistance and stood.
“I’m positive,” she said. “I need to go there and get him back.”
“Dreyer Nebula Five Eighty-four is further than we’ve ever gone before,” Creeden said. “Can the Nines make it?”
“Not without refueling,” Zanden replied. “We need to return to Corian to refuel and resupply if we’re taking a journey that far.”
As anxious as she was to find Brandis, Liora knew better than to take off unprepared. “We’ll go to Corian; I’m not asking anyone to come with me. I’m not sure what I’ll find.”
“You’re part of our team,” Tanlia said.
“Let’s be honest,” Zanden replied. “You’re the leader of this team, and you need us. You can’t go flying off by yourself if you expect to bring Commandant Day home.”
“I can try,” Liora said.
“And we’ll follow,” Zanden told her. “You’re stuck with us, Officer Day, and I’m sure the Senior Commandant will agree.”
Liora met their stubborn expressions. Even Kray, the smallest of the group, crossed her arms and returned Liora’s gaze.
“Fine,” Liora gave in. “But stop calling me Officer Day.”
A crew of the senior commandant’s men and women jogged up the hallway.
“We’re here to free the bridge, Officer Day,” one man said. He saluted Liora.
She fought back a sigh as grins spread across the faces of the crew around her.
She gestured toward the door. “There are survivors in there,” she told them before she made her way back down the hall. The team from Corian followed.
“What should we call you, then?” Waylan asked as Creeden helped him limp beside Liora.
“How about Female Commandant Day?” Tanlia suggested. “It has a nice ring to it.”
“Stupid,” Creeden responded. “And Commandant is way overused. What if we go with Damaclan Commander? That way we can be Team Damaclan and everyone will be afraid of us.”
“Everyone’s already afraid of you, Creed,” Kray shot back. “You smell.”
“My manly stench attracts all the women,” Creeden replied. “You’re just jealous.”
“Jealous that I don’t stink?” Kray asked.
The others laughed.
“How about the Slayer?” Gunsa suggested. “Slayer Day would provoke fear in your enemies.”
“Maybe I should just stick with Officer,” Liora muttered.
Zanden laughed from her other side. “I don’t know. Slayer Day does roll off the tongue.”
Liora glanced at him to see if he was serious. He held his grave expression for a moment before he broke into a smile.
“Alright, how about Warden Day?” Zanden suggested. “If you’re assigning yourself the job of keeping Corian safe, which you showed when you stopped the Damaclans from destroying our planet, Warden wouldn’t be so far off.”
“Do I really need to have a title?” Liora asked.
She meant for it to be a rhetorical question, but Creeden answered.
“Of course you do,” he replied. “You’re a Day; through your veins runs the bloodlines of the founders of Corian and the creators of the Day merchant fleet. You can’t just parade around as Liora, the killer half-blood Damaclan daughter of Senior Commandant Day.” He paused, then said, “Well, you could. But think of how much cooler it would be if you were Warden Day, Protector of the Corian Realm, Guardian of the merchant fleet, Defender of the innocent, and Avenger of all that is—”
“She’s got the point, Creed,” Zanden cut him off.
“Yeah, you went overboard,” Tanlia told him.
“Overboard?” Creeden asked.
“Completely,” Kray said. “Atmosphere suit, boots, gun, and all.”
Creeden looked at Liora. “Did I?”
Liora fought back a smile as she nodded.
Creeden threw up his hands, dislodging Waylan who would have fallen on his face if Liora and Tanlia didn’t catch him.
“Now everybody’s a critic,” Creeden said as he stormed ahead of them. “Try to give someone a majivit title, and they don’t appreciate it.”
“Warden’s not that bad,” Liora admitted.
Zanden nodded. “I think it fits.”
“We could be Team Warden Day,” Kray suggested.
“Or the Warden Day Crew,” Gunsa said.
Liora reached the pressurization chamber and picked up her helmet. The crew was still debating what to call themselves when she locked the helmet on her head. She turned her attention to the vast dark space beyond the hold. Brandis was out there somewhere. She would do whatever was needed to find him. Yet the thought that she didn’t need to do it alone was comforting.
Whatever they called themselves, Zanden’s crew had been swift and efficient in taking out the pirates and protecting her as she fought the Ketulans. It wouldn’t hurt to have a team like that in her fight to rescue her brother.
Liora returned to her TDV Nine. She set a hand on the ‘Day’s End’ painted along its side.
“Not today,” she said.
“You’re going to need to get that retitled,” Creeden noted when he passed her.
Liora shrugged. “I kind-of like it.”
“It’s something to fight against,” Creeden guessed.
Liora nodded. “Something like that.”
She climbed into the cockpit and entered the coordinates for Corian.
“Let’s go home,” she said into her communicator. “We’ve got my brother to save.”
“Yes, Warden,” Zanden replied.
“Yes, Warden Day,” Gunsa said.
“Aye-aye, Warden,” Tanlia echoed.
“Sure thing, Warden Day, half-blood Damaclan destroyer of all who threaten Corain,” Creeden said.
Liora smiled. “Warden Day is fine.”
The others laughed.
Chapter 21
Liora carefully steered the Nine to its docking position. Her thoughts were clouded with fading adrenaline from the fight and heartache at finding Brandis gone from the bridge. Her father and half of the crew had stayed behind to help get the Hyperion home. The mood had been solemn after Liora told her father the news about his missing son.
Liora hit the button to release the hatch and glanced up as it opened. Her gaze locked on a form leaning against a pillar about ten feet away.
“Tariq?”
Her heart sped up at the sight of him, alive and standing there, watching her with the concerned expression and half-smile she found so endearing. Seeing him there made her realize the truth. After everything they had been through, she hadn’t been sure he would survive the attack of the Nameless Ones.
Leaving to rescue Brandis had been so much more than that. Instead of rushing toward something, she had been running away from the thought that Tariq could die and leave her alone. Through everything she had survived, that was the one thing she felt she couldn’t.
Tears filled her eyes and a smile spread across her face.
“Tariq!” she yelled.
Her voice echoed through the massive docking bay and workers stopped to look at them, but Liora didn’t care. She almost fell down the side of the Nine in her effort to reach the floor.
By the time her shoes touched the ground, Tariq was there, sweeping her into his arms. She kissed him again and again, telling herself with each one that he was truly there, holding her, kissing her back just as fiercely. It felt too wonderful to be true, and a sob tore free from her throat.
“Oh, Liora,” Tariq said, his voice breaking. “I was so worried about you.”
“I thought you’d never wake up,” she told him with her face buried against his chest. “I thought I would come back and find out you had died. I almost flew away instead of landing.”
“
Where would you have gone?”
“Nowhere,” she replied. “I would have flown until the Nine ran out of fuel, and then waited until I died.”
Tariq held her gently back from him. His gaze was tumultuous when he looked down at her. “Why would you do that?”
“Don’t you remember?” Liora asked him. “We live together or we die together. That’s how it is. That is the only option.”
Tariq’s tears broke free and a wavering smile touched his lips. He nodded as he looked down at her. “We live together or we die together. That’s the way it is.”
“I love you, Tariq Donovan,” she said, using the backs of her fingers to wipe his tears gently from his cheeks.
“And I love you, Liora Day,” he said, using the cuff of his soft shirt to do the same for her.
“That’s Warden Day,” Creeden said as he walked past them.
Tariq stared after him. “Who was that?”
“A member of my crew,” Liora replied.
“You have a crew?” Tariq gave her a skeptical look. “Liora Day has a crew?”
“I usually go solo,” she said.
He nodded. “I know. That’s why I’m so surprised.”
“The Warden Day Warriors!” Creeden shouted from the other end of the hangar.
“If he’d put as much thought into the mysteries of the Macrocosm as he does our crew name, he’d have solved cold fusion by now,” Kray said on her way past.
“At least he’s thinking about something,” Tanlia said. “That’s more than he usually does.”
“Can we get to the medical wing already?” Waylan asked as Zanden and Gunsa helped him walk down the docking bay. “This bullet is killing me.”
“Then you should have avoided it,” Gunsa pointed out.
“Maybe if everyone wasn’t busy shooting at metal objects, I wouldn’t have been hit,” Waylan shot back.
Zanden met Liora’s gaze and grinned. He touched a finger to his forehead in a casual salute and turned his attention to helping Waylan along.
“That’s your crew?” Tariq said with a hint of doubt in his voice.
Liora nodded with a feeling of pride that brought a smile to her face. “That’s my crew. They fought well against the Ketulans and….” Her smile faded as the thought of what she needed to do returned. Seeing Tariq had banished everything else from her mind, but Brandis was in trouble.
