Girl from the Stars Book 5- Day's Hunt

by Cheree Alsop

  Her father’s expression was pained. The understanding on his face echoed the ache in her heart. “I know how you feel, Liora. When I lost Brandis’ mother, I nearly took my own life. I would have if it wasn’t for the fact that my little boy needed a father and my little girl was out there somewhere.”

  Liora swallowed, her throat so tight she could barely breathe. “My heritage is not my own; my people are not my own. Without Tariq, I have no purpose.”

  Senior Commandant Day held her gaze. “You do now.”

  “What do you mean?” she forced herself to ask.

  “Your mother needs your help.”

  Liora sat back, caught off-guard by his words.

  “Liora, I didn’t lie to you to hurt you; I did it to protect you. Foundlings are a dying race. There are so few of them left that they are forced to hide.”

  “What is killing them?”

  “The right question is who,” her father replied. “The Foundlings have been hunted for centuries by a deadly race known only as the Sadarin.”

  Liora’s breath caught.

  “What is it?” her father asked.

  “I’ve fought them before,” she replied.

  The commandant’s eyebrows rose. “When?”

  “After we destroyed the orbs. The Sadarin were the Nameless Ones from Ralian who killed my clan.” She paused, then corrected herself. “Tenieva and Obruo’s clan. They left me because they knew I would bring them to the orbs.”

  “The orbs you destroyed?” her father’s tone was confused.

  Liora nodded. “They wanted to use them to create a gateway to our galaxies, but I destroyed them and brought false orbs back to the Sadarin on Ralian.”

  “Which is when Tariq was almost killed,” her father said.

  “Exactly. The Nameless Ones, the Sadarin, were sucked into the orb vortex and destroyed. We killed them all; they should be gone.”

  Her father didn’t look reassured. Instead, he rose and put a hand to the panel on the wall.

  “Show me the Valier file.”

  The screen wavered. Instead of an image, a voice came through.

  “Julius, you have to warn her…” The screen flickered and the sound cut out for a moment. It came back on. “She’s not safe. None of us are. Dondrell is dead. They found…” Again the fuzz. The sound gave a low thump, then returned. “He’s almost here. Warn her, Julius. Keep her safe.”

  The sound cut off completely and the screen went blank.

  “It’s her.” Liora could barely say the words, her shock was so great.

  “Who?” her father asked.

  “The woman with the silver hair. She was at the head of the Council.”

  Surprise showed on her father’s face. “Raliel was at your hearing?”

  The name was one more thing Liora could fit into the puzzle of her life. At the moment, everything was jagged edges and gaping holes. As soon as two pieces fit together, something else vanished, like the fact that Tenieva wasn’t her mother. Liora changed that thought. Tenieva had raised her, sheltered her as much as she could against Obruo, and taught her everything she knew about the Damaclan heritage and what it meant to be strong in the face of adversity. Tenieva was her mother. Raliel might have given her birth, but she knew who had guided her earliest steps and put the first knife in her hand. Tenieva was her true mother.

  “When the Ketulans attacked, I saved her life,” Liora replied.

  Something about that statement bothered her. She remembered waving the woman over, protecting her when the Ketulans sliced at her with their merciless blades. She saw their metal bodies reflected in the woman’s silver eyes. She had helped the woman to her quarters to get help.

  The memory wavered. Liora saw the woman at her side, beneath her arm, helping Liora to safety instead of the other way around. The blood from her back had coated the woman’s hands. She had turned her medic over to Liora, waving away her own care. She had given Liora her quarters. The last thing Liora remembered was the feeling of safety and peace the woman had pushed to her before Susa began burning her skin to cauterize the life-threatening wounds.

  “She saved my life.”

  The truth struck Liora.

  Her father watched her.

  “He has her.”

  “Who is he?” the Senior Commandant asked. “I’ve sent out mercenaries to track her down, but they’ve all disappeared. We have no leads. If you know anything about the man who took her, we’ll be that much closer to saving the remaining Foundlings.”

  Liora shook her head. “I don’t know. He’s a voice in my head.”

  She glanced at him, worried he would think she was crazy. Instead, he merely watched her, waiting for whatever she would say with an accepting expression on his face. She was grateful for that expression.

  “He’s dark and evil. That much I know. She argues with him and somehow he has the ability to hurt her. He taunts me, telling me to give up, to lay down and die.” Liora rose to her feet. “I need to get her away from him before he kills her.”

  Senior Commandant Day followed her to the door. “I don’t want you to go running off alone after some unknown evil able to slay your race.”

  She waited impatiently for the door to slide open. “You don’t know me very well,” she told her father as she hurried down the hall.

  The door at the end opened and Liora paused. Devren, Hyrin, Straham, O’Tule, and the majority of the crew of the S.S. Kratos waited for them. Each person was in a uniform bearing the blue and silver colors of Corian. Guns were in holsters at their sides and each held a helmet for their atmosphere suits.

  “I think I know you well enough,” her father said, stopping by her side. “Devren assembled a crew he felt would be competent for your mission, and Hyrin has overseen the outfitting of the Kratos.”

  On impulse, Liora gave her father a hug. He let out a grunt of surprise, then wrapped his arms around her.

  “I don’t know how to thank you,” she told him.

  “Promise me you’ll be safe,” he replied.

  She glanced over to see a small smile cross Devren’s face as he shook his head. Rescue missions and staying safe seldom, if ever, went hand-in-hand. He knew that was the last thing Liora would do.

  “I’ll try my best,” she answered, keeping it vague on purpose.

  “Stay in touch, don’t take unnecessary risks, and above all else, come home.”

  Liora nodded.

  Her father put a hand on her shoulder, drawing Liora’s attention back to him.

  “Liora, come home again, please. I don’t know how much longer I can stand to let you rush off about the Macrocosm worrying if it’s the last time I’ll see you.” He blinked. “The time I missed being your father as you grew up is the biggest mistake of my life. If I outlive you, it’ll make that look like a quark in comparison. I feel like I should go with you, even if you don’t want your old man hanging around the Kratos.”

  Liora was touched by the emotion in his voice. “Dad, I know you’re needed here. You have an entire merchant fleet to command and protect. Millions of families depend on you. In comparison, I’m one girl.” She saw his gaze tighten and he was about to protest, but she gave him a smile. “But I’m a girl whose father is Senior Commandant Day, creator and owner of the Corian Merchant Fleet. I have the instincts of a Damaclan and the heart of a human. With a little luck, we’ll be back in time for the wedding.”

  “Wedding?” her father asked in surprise.

  Liora grinned. “Ask Brandis. He’ll laugh.”

  Chapter 7

  “Did you tell Dad about the pressure from Malie’s family?”

  Brandis’ voice made Liora turn.

  He stood in the control room of the S.S. Kratos as Devren’s crew prepared it to depart.

  “I might have hinted at it,” Liora replied. “Sorry about that.”

  Brandis chuckled. “I don’t think you’re sorry at all.”

  “That’s true,” she replied.

  Brandis lo
oked around the room. “It looks good. Dad mentioned his engineers made some improvements.”

  “They’ve been in here day and night since we took off in the Nines,” Hyrin said from his seat near the main screens. “It’s like a whole new ship.”

  “Couldn’t get them to give her a facelift?” Zran asked, running his hand over the worn keyboard where Shathryn used to sit.

  “I like it the way it is,” Devren replied from the captain’s chair. “She’s got character.”

  “Ornery and sassy, just the way we like her,” O’Tule replied. The green-skinned woman grinned. “I can’t wait to go back out again.”

  “I thought you liked Corian,” Zran said.

  O’Tule set her hand on his and gave him a warm smile. “I like the company on Corian, but the Kratos will always be home.”

  He leaned over and kissed her.

  “I should be going with you,” Brandis said, drawing Liora’s attention back.

  His words took her by surprise. “But what about Malie?”

  Her brother gave her a half-smile. “I said I should be going with you. I’ll definitely be staying with Malie. Though I wouldn’t mind getting further away from the kind of pressure her family’s putting on us.”

  Liora smiled at him. “Half the Macrocosm isn’t far enough?”

  Brandis shook his head. “Not unless the communicators fail. They have no qualms about contacting us at any time, day or night.” He tipped his head to one side. “Think I could convince Dad to block out all incoming transmissions for a day, or even a few hours? It would be divine.”

  “If you do that, the Fikes might head to Corian.”

  Brandis’ face paled. “We don’t want that. Madam Fike is, well, to put it lightly, a very persistent woman. I’ll consider myself grateful we made it this far away.”

  Liora gave him an empathetic look. “Good luck with all of that.”

  Brandis hugged her. “Good luck finding your mother. Try not to upset too many Gauls on the way.”

  “Now you’re just taking away all the fun,” Liora replied, hugging him back.

  He waved at her and walked away down the hall. The door slid shut.

  “We’re ready to depart,” Hyrin said.

  Devren looked to Liora for confirmation.

  “Let’s go,” she told them.

  Chapter 8

  “Look at that.”

  Everyone stared out the windows and at the monitors of the S.S. Kratos. The red planet couldn’t be seen beneath the mass of Ketulan bodies surrounding it.

  “I guess we found out where the Ketulans went,” Hyrin said.

  The mood that filled the Kratos control room was a somber one.

  “What do we do now?” Zran asked.

  He and O’Tule exchanged worried glances from their seats at the computers.

  The thought of catching the attention of the hundreds, perhaps thousands, of Ketulans wasn’t a pleasant one. Liora looked at Devren.

  “It’s your call,” the young captain replied. It was obvious by his expression that he didn’t relish the thought of confronting the machines, but he waited for her word.

  “We need time to think,” Liora said.

  Devren turned to his crew. “Hyrin, get us out of here before we draw their attention.”

  “Yes, Captain,” the yellow-haired Talastan said.

  He spun the ship around and gunned the thrusters so fast everyone had to grab onto each other and the chairs for support.

  Devren cracked a smile when Hyrin finally let up. “Thank you for your haste,” he said with a hint of sarcasm.

  Hyrin nodded, his sideways eyelids blinking rapidly. “I don’t think they followed us.”

  “You didn’t give them a chance,” O’Tule replied with a breath of relief.

  Devren turned in his captain’s chair to face Liora’s seat near the back wall. “So now what?”

  Liora shook her head. “I’m not sure. A wall of Ketulans was the last thing I expected to find when we got here.”

  “I guess that shows we’re on the right track,” Straham said.

  The older man didn’t appear thrilled at the knowledge.

  “Yes, it does,” Liora agreed. “The ship is where the original Nameless Ones, the Sadarin, came from. If we can search the records, we might be able to find its origin of departure.”

  “Last time we went there, we were lucky to get out with our lives,” O’Tule pointed out.

  “Seems like we might be faced with that situation again,” Hyrin replied, his expression anxious.

  Liora crossed her arms in front of her chest. The movement pulled at the skin on her back. She clenched her jaw and didn’t let the pain show.

  “What we need is a way to get through the Ketulans without getting everyone torn apart. Some sort of a diversion would be perfect,” Liora said. “Also, the Sadarin technology is completely different from our own. We’re going to need help.”

  “I know who can help.”

  The enthusiasm in O’Tule’s voice surprised Liora. It could only mean one thing.

  “We need to go see Tramareaus and Shathryn!” The small, green-skinned woman jumped up and down in her seat. “It’s their wedding, anyway. We promised we’d be there. A crewmate can’t have a wedding without the rest of the crew present, right?”

  She gave Liora and Devren pleading looks.

  The last thing Liora wanted to do was go to a wedding.

  Devren read her expression.

  “She has a point,” he said with an apologetic smile. “Tramareaus helped us with the orbs. He might know what we can do to distract the Ketulans. It’d be worth a shot.”

  “Yes, it would,” O’Tule seconded quickly as if she couldn’t help herself.

  Liora looked around the control room in the hopes that somebody would side with her against going to the wedding. Hyrin grinned at her, Straham merely shrugged his shoulders, and Duncan, the older man in charge of communications through the ship, nodded enthusiastically so that the bands in his ears waved back and forth.

  Liora sighed. “Fine. We’ll go to the wedding.”

  “Thank you!” O’Tule replied.

  She jumped up and hugged Liora. Liora suffered through it until the small woman dropped her arms.

  “I forgot we weren’t supposed to do that,” she said apologetically.

  Devren nudged Liora’s shoulder.

  “Somehow, I think Warden Day will survive a little positive affection. It might even do her good.”

  Liora speared him with a look. “It will kill me.”

  O’Tule and Zran burst out laughing.

  Liora rolled her eyes and turned away from the crew. As much as she hated to admit it, O’Tule’s hug felt nice. It had been a very long time since anybody reached out to her that way. Liora clenched her hands into fists and walked down the hallway.

  “Hyrin, take us to Bratres. Let’s go watch the wedding,” Devren’s voice echoed after her.

  Liora needed to hit something. She paused at the first branching hall and debated whether to go to the engine room and ask Lieutenant Argyle if she could borrow some of his engine crew for sparring practice. She doubted he would appreciate having his men and women beat up, and also wasn’t sure how her body would handle it. Her back didn’t do well with fast movements. It was something she needed to ease into slowly.

  Liora ran a hand over the painting that ran along one wall. O’Tule’s colorful craftsmanship depicted an underwater scene with two furry creatures swimming alongside each other. She wondered if O’Tule had seen the image in real life, or if she had created it out of her imagination. Either way, it felt as though the creatures were alive. Their details were so exquisitely captured from their wide webbed feet to the fine hairs that outlined their black noses.

  “They may have been the happiest animals I’ve ever seen in my life.”

  Liora didn’t look up. Devren never was one to hide the sound of his footsteps.

  “We went there on a mission for the C
oalition,” Devren continued as if she had asked him. “The oceans of Earth are filled with such diversity. It’s hard to believe the planet used to contain twenty-nine percent land mass.”

  “You don’t need to do that.”

  “Do what?” Devren asked with a hint of surprise in his voice.

  Liora glanced at him. “Talk to me like I’m one of your crew. Try to make me feel included. It didn’t work back when you were a Coalition captain, and it’s not going to work now.”

  Devren crossed his arms in front of his chest and leaned against the opposite wall with his gaze on the painting.

  “Losing Tariq doesn’t change things,” he began.

  Heat ran up Liora’s arms. “It changes everything!” she said just below a shout. “Everything here has lost its meaning, the medical bay has some girl medic from Corian, and I can’t even go down the same hallway his room is in because it kills me to know he’s not inside.”

  “I know.”

  Devren’s quiet response caught Liora when she took a breath before lashing out again. She paused.

  “I know about not going down that hallway.”

  She looked at him, really looked at him. There was such sorrow in the depths of his brown eyes and though there were smile lines around his mouth, she wondered how many of those smiles he forced the same way that she did.

  Devren lowered his gaze to the floor. “Since the moment you told me he died, I haven’t been able to go down that hallway. His room hasn’t been touched, walked in, or even opened. I asked the crew to leave it alone.”

  Liora didn’t know what to say. Devren had done the same thing when his father, the original captain of the S.S. Kratos, had passed away in a skirmish. Instead of taking over the spacious captain’s quarters, Devren had stayed in his small room.

  “That’s not what I meant,” Devren continued. He lifted his eyes to hers. “What I was going to say was losing Tariq doesn’t change things with the way you fit in here. You became a member of the Kratos the moment you accepted a position aboard this ship, and once a Kratos crew member, always a Kratos crew member.” His gaze softened with understanding. “You might not feel like you fit in here, but you do. Pay attention. You’ll hear it in the way Straham talks to you like an old war buddy because you sniped to protect the ship together. You’ll see it in the way O’Tule smiles when you walk in the room because she’s not the only girl here and she feels like she can talk to you. You’ll see it when Jarston makes pie because he knows you like to have some with your lunch.”