Lost in Barbarian Space

by Anna Hackett

  “This stuff might not be valuable, but we’re getting close,” Alara said. “There’s treasure here. Keep moving.”

  They came out of the narrow tunnel into a large cavern. Here, the walls were mostly white, and the ground was uneven, churned-up ice. Colm stared at it. It didn’t look quite right.

  Ahead, the group of pirates move forward, crossing the space.

  Colm and Honor followed at a slower pace. A second later, he heard a quiet creak from above.

  “What is it?” Honor whispered.

  “I’m not sure…”

  The next instant, a huge hunk of ice slammed down from the roof and shattered across the floor ahead of them. The pirates started shouting.

  More hunks of ice of all sizes rained down.

  “Cave-in!” someone shouted.

  As the pirates scattered in all directions, Colm grabbed Honor’s arm. They ran, ice hammering down around them.

  As a sizable slab of ice smashed into his shoulder, Colm grunted. He pulled Honor in close, shielding her with his body.

  Two steps ahead of them, a massive hunk of ice—the size of a hargon beast—slammed down right on top of a pirate.

  Colm pivoted at the last second, his feet sliding out from under him. He held Honor tight against his chest as they skidded across the icy floor. As they hit the wall, he turned, covering her body with his own.

  The ice continued to rain down for several minutes, and then, it stopped.

  Slowly, he raised his head. Honor did the same.

  She smiled at him. “Thanks.”

  From nearby, Alara was coughing. “Fuck me.” Then the pirate leader went still, her gaze on the far wall. “By a space whore’s fat ass.”

  He followed Alara’s gaze and saw that the ice fall had cracked the wall ahead.

  Nestled in an exposed cavity was the wreck of a starship.

  For a second, Colm felt quiet amazement. This was the ship of people who’d come along with the First Warriors. His ancestors.

  The pirates had forgotten Colm and Honor. As a group, they climbed up and crawled into the hole, closer to the wreck.

  “Nik will go nuts for this,” Honor said quietly, her face grim. “We need to find a way to keep these scavengers off it.”

  Colm agreed. The ancient travelers who’d died on this ship hadn’t made it to Markaria, but they were inextricably linked to the First Warriors. He felt he owed it to them, and their memory.

  “Ideas?” he asked.

  “They’re down to five.” She scowled at the droid. It was hovering silently off to the side. “The syndroid is the wildcard. There’s no telling what kind of weapons it has.”

  “I can destroy it,” he said darkly.

  She grabbed him. “You’re not impervious to heavy lasers or explosives. Don’t underestimate it.”

  He lifted a hand and touched her cheek. “It is my duty to protect you.”

  “Well, you’ll have to settle for us protecting each other.”

  “Hey?” Alara’s voice interrupted them. “You two get in here and look around this ship. If more ice falls, it can fall on you.”

  The pirate leader was a bitch. Colm was going to enjoy making her pay for this.

  Alara used a knife to slice through Honor’s ropes and free her hands. Then the pirate slapped a large, well-used flashlight into Honor’s palm.

  Colm and Honor climbed in through the hole in the wall where the ship was nestled. The dull metal of its hull was covered in a slick layer of ice. Something had torn a hole in the back end of the ship and the front was badly damaged from the crash.

  “We can go in through the tear,” Honor suggested.

  There was jagged metal along the edge of the hole. Colm gripped the edges and bent them back, making it safer for Honor. Then he followed her inside.

  Honor clicked on the light, shining it around.

  “My God,” she breathed.

  It was like the inside had been frozen in time. As though the occupants had just left. Colm saw benches topped with various tools, devices similar to Syncs, and even mugs and plates from someone’s half-finished snack. Things were jumbled around, clearly the result of the crash, but many things were still in place.

  They moved out of the hangar and into a corridor. Through a glass window, Colm spotted chairs attached to the floor and pushed up against built-in desks. Cupboard doors hung open, revealing the jumbled items inside.

  They moved deeper into the ship, eventually passing through a doorway into the cockpit.

  Honor straightened. Ahead, sitting in the captain’s chair, was a body that had been preserved by the cold.

  “By the warrior,” Colm breathed. He scanned the cockpit and saw there were more bodies, still strapped into their chairs.

  “They never made it out,” Honor said. “They died right here.”

  No, it wasn’t like on Markaria, where the survivors of the Excalibur had made it out and gone on to make some sort of life for themselves.

  “It was too cold,” she said. “They had nowhere to go.” She looked around, her hands sliding over objects. She touched the comp system briefly, then she shook her head. “It’s frozen solid. Come on, let’s go look at the cargo bay.”

  He followed her back through the ship. There was so much history here. How different things could have been if this ship hadn’t crashed, or if its sister ship hadn’t crash-landed on his world.

  For a second, a part of him wondered what it would have been like if he hadn’t been cursed with the nanami sickness. But without the nanami his ancestors had granted his people, Markarians would never have existed. He wouldn’t have existed, and for this brief time, Honor wouldn’t have been his.

  “Here it is,” Honor said. The double doors were closed. She pushed at them, trying to slide the heavy panels open. They didn’t budge.

  Colm pulled her back. He wedged his fingers into the groove between the two doors and shoved outward with all his strength.

  The doors opened with a screech.

  The cargo bay loomed beyond. Their steps echoed on the floor as they entered.

  “By the Warrior’s sword.” Colm had never seen anything like it before.

  “Stars,” Honor murmured.

  It filled the entire cargo bay.

  Treasure.

  ***

  Honor couldn’t believe it. It was an ancient Terran treasure trove. There were suits of armor, various weapons, gold, statues. It filled every inch of the space. Her gaze skimmed over it. The contents of the hold were worth a huge fortune.

  Footsteps sounded behind them, and Alara walked into the cargo bay. “Woohoo!” She cackled with gleeful, greedy joy.

  Her remaining pirates followed her in and started cheering. A few rushed forward, holding large bags. It took them mere seconds to start cramming the smaller treasures inside.

  Anger swamped Honor. She watched a pirate carelessly drop an artifact on the floor. The golden statue broke in half.

  “That is a piece of history you just destroyed,” Honor said, her voice tight.

  Alara laughed and the sound echoed in the confines of the ship. “You mean it’s a mountain of e-creds he just ruined.” She reached out and backhanded the pirate who’d dropped the artifact. “Be more careful, or your share goes down.”

  Honor’s hands curled into fists. It was her job to stop this and protect these artifacts. She glanced at Colm and saw the echoing glint in his eyes.

  “Fighting with you will never get old, little warrior,” he said quietly.

  “Ready?”

  “Always.”

  Together, they launched into an attack. With hard chops of her arms, Honor took down the pirate closest to her. Colm stormed forward, his massive fists weapons in themselves.

  With a cry, the final pirates converged on them. Honor and Colm’s hands and feet moved in a deadly dance as they fought.

  “Honor!” Colm grabbed her arms. “Behind you.” He swung her, lifting her off the floor.

  When he
let her go, she slammed into two pirates, knocking them to the ice. Two more hits made sure they weren’t getting up anytime soon.

  She stood, ready for more, when a shot of green laser fire cut across her arm, and she cried out from the burn.

  She ducked, and from the corner of her eye saw the droid floating closer. She glanced down, checking her arm, reassured that it wasn’t bad.

  But then she heard an enraged sound.

  She turned and saw Colm, his hands out in front of him, his muscles tight.

  He launched himself at the syndroid.

  “No!” she cried.

  The droid was firing, but Colm moved too fast. He dodged all the laser fire. His kick sent the droid rocking, but it recovered quickly.

  Honor watched Colm fight, amazement filling her chest. He was so lethal, so ruthless, so powerful. Even without his sword, he was still a magnificent fighter. He slammed kicks and hits into the droid. The droid was fast, spinning and ducking to avoid the blows.

  But Colm had rage on his side.

  Then out of the corner of her eye, Honor spotted Alara lifting a pair of laser pistols—Honor’s pistols—and she was aiming them right at Colm.

  No way. Honor sprinted, slipping a little on the icy floor. She dived into the air and tackled the pirate leader.

  They connected with an oomf. They slid across the floor and right out the hole in the side of the ship. As they bounced over the icy ground, Honor winced, but she kept her grip on the woman.

  The pirate leader wasn’t young, but she was muscled and tough. She punched Honor in the face. Honor felt blood trickling from her mouth, but she spat it out and fought back. They rolled again, trading hits.

  God, the woman was damned strong. Honor began to wonder if Alara had some sort of cyborg enhancements under her clothes. They rolled again and knocked into something. Honor glanced up and saw it was an icy, narrow stalagmite, spiking up from the ground.

  She grabbed it, wrenched, and the long piece of ice came free in her hand.

  It wasn’t her stun-staff, but it would do the job. She rolled away and bounced to her feet. Alara wasted no time getting off the ground, but Honor didn’t let her recover. She smacked the ice staff against Alara. The pirate woman fell backward with a cry.

  Honor followed, spinning the stalagmite like she would her staff. She adjusted for the weight and slick feel of it.

  “You got nowhere to go, girly.”

  “Hear that?” She nodded toward the din of fighting inside the ship. “That’s the sound of your droid and your people getting the shit beaten out of them. I think I have a good chance of taking you down and stopping you from pilfering what isn’t yours.”

  “You really think people want to look at all this stuff? To see it gathering dust in some fucking Institute museum? No one cares.”

  “Yes, they do. I do. The warriors of this planet do and this is their moon, their history, their space. I know you can’t understand that, and I don’t expect you to, but I’m going to stop you from taking a single piece of treasure out of here.”

  “All right, girly, let’s do it. I know more about fighting than you’ve ever learned.”

  They charged at each other.

  Honor took a hard blow to the gut that knocked all the air out of her. She spun, trying to avoid Alara’s next hit.

  She swung out with her ice staff.

  She hit Alara’s arm, and there was a loud cracking sound. The pirate leader stumbled back, clutching her arm.

  “Shit, you broke it!”

  Honor kept fighting her way closer. Suddenly, Alara pulled something from her pocket, and Honor froze.

  The trip here with Lala had taught her to recognize all kinds of explosives, especially Lala’s signature one.

  Lastite. Highly, highly volatile.

  Suddenly, laser fire peppered the wall behind them. Chunks of ice flew in all directions.

  Honor dove, sliding on her stomach across the ice. As she turned, she spotted the syndroid coming out of the ship. A narrow plume of smoke was floating behind it, and it listed slightly to one side. It fired again, and Honor scrambled backward.

  A large body barreled out of the ship, jumped, and slammed into the droid. Colm and the droid smashed into the ground. Colm got the droid beneath him, gripped it with both his hands, and then pulled, tearing the droid to shreds.

  Honor jumped up and sprinted toward Alara. She slammed a hard fist into the woman’s face. The pirate leader fell backward, her arms windmilling, and the lastite explosive fell from her hand. Honor dove, catching the explosive before it hit the ground.

  Alara hit the ice, her head making contact with a sickening crack. She didn’t move.

  Honor sat up, letting out a shaky breath. She tucked the lastite carefully into her pocket. A present for Lala. Then Honor hurried toward her warrior. “Colm, are you okay?”

  He got to his feet. The wild look was back on his face, his eyes molten gold. He was breathing fast. Too fast.

  Then, behind him, she saw a few bedraggled pirates coming out of the ship, weapons up.

  “Kill them,” someone shouted.

  Honor’s chest constricted. She was moving, but she already knew she wasn’t going to be fast enough. And Colm was no match for lasers.

  Shouts echoed around them, accompanied by the whine of laser weapons.

  Colm tackled her, taking her to the ground covering her with his body. It took her a second to realize that the lasers and shouts weren’t coming from the ship.

  They were coming from the cavern below.

  She turned her head, and over Colm’s shoulder, she spotted familiar black-and-gray uniforms.

  Her security team rushed forward, with a woman dressed in sleek, black armor in the lead.

  Suddenly, two small metal balls bounced forward, past Colm and Honor, and into the group of remaining pirates. Knowing what was about to happen, Honor closed her eyes, just as the balls exploded.

  Then, she heard the pirates shouting.

  She opened her eyes. The pirates were covered in a sticky, pink goo. They were stuck to the ground, and each other. The more they fought the goo, the stickier it got.

  “Take that, pirate suckers.” A slim body danced past them, the flash of pink hair a shocking contrast to the pale ice of the walls.

  Lala crossed her arms in front of her, more balls bouncing across the ice. She looked like a damned teenage superhero.

  There were deep-voiced shouts, and this time, it was barbarian warriors that rushed past Honor and Colm. Swords flashed, and the cavern shook with the roar of their battle cries.

  It didn’t take long for the warriors to subdue the last of the pirates.

  “Honor. Colm.” Kavon appeared beside them. “Are you all right?”

  Suddenly, Colm moved. He pulled Honor into his arms, pressing her face to his chest. She felt his body vibrating.

  “It’s okay, Colm. It’s Kavon.”

  His eyes glittered gold, no recognition in their depths.

  Her pulse tripped, and she cupped his cheek. “Hey, come back to me now.”

  Colm made a short, strangled sound.

  “I’m here, Colm.”

  “Honor?” It was Darc’s voice.

  The woman appeared with her long, slender sword clutched in her hand. Colm growled at her.

  Darc tensed and lifted her sword.

  Colm roared now, an enraged sound that reverberated in the space. He stepped backward, pulling Honor with him.

  “Don’t.” Honor held her palm out to the others in warning.

  “What’s wrong?” Kavon’s gaze was on his friend.

  “He needs help.” When Colm’s arms tightened further around her, she found it hard to breathe. “His nanami are out of control.”

  “What?” Shock crossed Kavon’s face.

  She fought back her own emotions. “He has nanami sickness. He’s been hiding it from you. It’s been going on for a while, but he’s been fighting it. But this…he can’t control them anymore.�
��

  Honor saw the ripple of grief cross Kavon’s face before he controlled it. “No. He’s the most controlled warrior I know.”

  “Because he’s had to be,” Honor said. “He saw what it did to his father.”

  Kavon’s chin dropped to his chest. “There is no cure. It will drive him insane.”

  Honor went cold. She could feel the brilliant heat of Colm against her back, the pulsing life of him. She wouldn’t give up on the man she loved. “No.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Colm was struggling to stay aware of what was going on.

  The sounds around him were too noisy, ringing in his ears. The light was too bright, making it hard for him to see. His nanami were amped up, buzzing through his body, overloading him.

  He could feel Honor’s sweet warmth against him. He focused on that. He didn’t want to let her go, and he wouldn’t let anyone take her from him. The touch of her was the only thing grounding him.

  He saw a huge warrior step in front of them. A threat.

  Colm scooped Honor up and heard her squeak. He backed away from the warrior. He kept moving until he felt the slick surface of the ice wall hit his back. He moved along the wall, away from all these threats to his woman.

  “I’m here, Colm,” Honor said. “I’m not going anywhere. You just have to stay calm.”

  He was trying to understand, trying to piece her words together in his head. But nothing was making sense. All sound was just a roar in his ears.

  Honor. His Honor. His mate. That was the only thing that made sense to him right now.

  “You need to calm down. These are our friends. We’re safe now. They’re here to help.” She stroked her hand down his arm, then across his chest.

  Slowly, under her steady strokes, he felt his nanami start to steady. The hypnotic motion of her touch was soothing.

  “Brandall.” A woman dressed entirely in black stepped forward. “The men are staying back for now.”

  “He needs help, Nera.”

  “Kavon thinks he’s beyond that.”

  Colm felt Honor’s arms tighten on him. “No. We have advanced medical technology. There has to be a way to help him.”

  The other woman’s face was hard. “I’m not sure there’s anything we can do.”