by Cheree Alsop
“I hope you’re right,” Hyrin replied.
Devren steered them carefully through the docking bay that looked as though it could comfortably fit fifty ships the size of the Kratos at the same time instead of one puny Gull. Cargo carriers and older mining units took up half of the floor space inside the cargo hold. As soon as they were clear, the hatch slid shut. Devren carefully landed the Gull away from the other crafts.
“Personnel approaching. They’re armed,” Hyrin reported.
“Take it slow,” Devren told them. “We’re at their mercy. They could easy turn us over to the Coalition.”
“Or scrap our ship and sell us as slaves on Pion Seven,” Tariq pointed out.
“On that note,” Liora said. She put her hand to the door panel.
The panel slid aside to reveal twelve guards armed with pulse rifles. The guns weren’t aimed at them, but the guards held the weapons at ready. Two humans waited beside the guards, a young man who looked a year or two older than Tariq, and an older woman with the stripes of a captain on the sleeves of her uniform. The woman stepped forward the moment Devren’s foot touched the floor.
“Welcome to the SS Eos,” the older woman with long blonde hair said. “I am Captain Hart. We received your distress signal and you happened to be not far from our destination, so we swung by.”
Devren shook her hand. “I am Devren Metis, captain of the Kratos. This is Tariq, the Kratos chief medic, Hyrin, our technical specialist, and Liora, a member of my security team.”
Liora noticed that Devren refrained from introducing any of them as officer. They still wore their atmosphere suits even though they had left the helmets aboard the Gull after the hold pressurized, so the Coalition sigils were covered. She hoped they could remain anonymous.
Captain Hart nodded at each of them in turn. “Welcome aboard.”
Devren concluded with, “Something happened to our ship and we missed our pickup. We appreciate the assistance.”
“You’d be dead within hours floating around out here,” the dark-haired young man behind her said. He stepped to the side of the captain and held out his hand. “My name is Brandis. My family owns this ship.”
Hyrin whistled from his place next to Devren. “Your family owns a Golden Condor? Something this size is usually shared by several companies.”
Brandis nodded. “My family owns five Condors; the Eos is one of the older models. We run merchant services from system to system.”
“Our next stop is Mirach’s Ghost Galaxy,” Captain Hart said. There was a hint of tightness to her voice when she continued, “We’re also running late.”
Brandis gave the Kratos crew a warm smile. “My apologies. We are indeed behind schedule. We must be off. My crew will show you to the available quarters.” His head tipped slightly to one side when he asked, “Where are you trying to go?”
“Verdan,” Devren answered smoothly. “I have family there and I’m hoping the ship we were supposed to catch will be in contact.”
“Verdan is in the Cas One Galaxy,” Captain Hart said. “It’s several clicks out of the way even after the next stop. We couldn’t break there without delaying—”
Brandis held up a hand and the captain fell silent. “We will stop in the Cas One Galaxy after Mirach’s Ghost. I apologize that we cannot do so earlier, but we have prior commitments.”
“I understand,” Devren replied. “We are grateful for your assistance and hope we don’t put you too far out of your way.”
The captain’s cloudy expression said otherwise, but she didn’t argue with Brandis. Instead, she motioned to one of the armed guards. “Please escort Captain Metis and his crew to the quarters on twenty-seven beta. See that they have a change of clothes and a chance at the showers before dinner.”
“Thank you,” Devren told her.
She nodded curtly and turned away.
Brandis watched her go. “Don’t worry about Captain Hart. She hates it when we’re behind schedule. I’ll have a word with her.”
“No need,” Devren told him. “We appreciate your hospitality. You’ve gone above and beyond.”
“Such is our family motto,” Brandis replied. He motioned toward the guard who had sheathed her gun and waited silently for them. “Please go with Insa. She will see that your needs are met and you make it to dinner.”
He left and several of the guards fell in behind him. Liora and Tariq exchanged a glance.
“That was weird,” Tariq whispered.
“This whole situation’s weird,” Liora replied. “It feels like too much of a coincidence.”
“There’s one way to find out,” Tariq told her. He motioned toward Insa who led them through the far door.
Liora nodded. She raised her voice. “Excuse me?”
Insa glanced back at her. “Yes?”
“It was very nice to be picked up,” she said, trying to sound casual. “Did you happen to be in the area?”
Insa shook her head and pushed a button for the elevator. “We had just left the Milky Way Galaxy. I’m not sure what brought us here.”
They stepped silently into the elevator. Devren gave Liora a curious look. Liora lifted her shoulders in reply.
Hyrin cleared his throat. “How does a ship this size get from the Milky Way to Gliese so quickly?”
“It felt like we hit one transporter and then another. I don’t remember us traveling so fast before,” Insa answered.
She escorted them to a long, empty hallway.
“These rooms are yours.” She nodded to Liora. “Miss, yours is the first on the right. Clothes will already have been put on your beds and you’ll have a chance to relax a bit. Dinner is at eighteen hundred.”
“Thank you,” Devren said.
They watched her go.
“This is getting stranger,” Tariq commented.
“What?” Devren replied with a hint of sarcasm. “You don’t accept that a Golden Condor with an obviously tight delivery schedule went clicks out of its way to scoop up an obsolete Gull with four unknowns aboard?”
Tariq shook his head. “Not one bit.”
Devren crossed his arms in front of his chest. “The way I see it, whatever this Brandis guy says, goes. The question is, why rescue us?”
“Maybe he has information about the Kratos?” Hyrin put in.
“Maybe things will clear up at dinner,” Liora replied. “I could use some real rest.” She gave them a look over. “And you boys need a shower. We all smell like Gliese’s fish water.”
Tariq snorted with humor and Devren cracked a smile.
Liora put a hand to the panel and her door slid open.
“You could call Liora our sanitation expert,” Hyrin suggested.
“Security officer works just fine with me,” Liora replied, stepping into her room. The door slid shut behind her.
“If I said that, Liora would kill me,” she heard Tariq say on the other side of the door. “You’re lucky you’re a Talastan. Nobody hits a Talastan.”
She smiled and looked around the room.
The quarters were far bigger than her room on the Kratos. Given the ship’s size, it shouldn’t have been a surprise, but they were strangers and didn’t bring anything of use to the Golden Condor. It followed that they should be given the smallest accommodations possible; yet the quarters she stood in would have housed an entire family aboard a homestead ship. A bedroom branched away to the right of the living room she stood in, and the bedroom had its own private washroom complete with a shower.
A change of clothes waited on the bed. They were new and clean, but Liora preferred her Ventican outfit. It had saved her life enough times that giving it up now would be foolhardy.
Liora washed her clothes in the shower, then hung them up to dry while she let the warm water fall over her shoulders. She used the taffala scented shampoo to wash her hair. The ends were getting longer than she liked.
She thought of asking Shathryn to cut it again, and a pang of worry went through her at the thoug
ht that they had no idea what had happened to the Kratos or its crew. Hopefully answers would be available on Verdan. According to Tramareaus, there was only a short window of time in which they could get rid of the other orb from the Omne Occasus. Given what had happened on Gliese, she had some idea of what would happen if they failed to do so before it activated.
A knock sounded on the door just as Liora pulled on her dry clothes. She strapped the knife to her thigh before she answered. Tariq stood there with wet hair and an embarrassed expression. He looked different without his uniform. The civilian clothes from the Eos made him appear more relaxed. He held something out. She realized it was the bandages for his ribs.
“Could you assist me with this?” he asked.
“Of course,” Liora replied. She motioned for him to come inside. The door slid shut behind them.
When she turned around, Tariq’s shirt was in his hand. His left side was nearly black with bruises. Liora touched his skin gently with her fingertips and he winced before gritting his teeth. Touching his skin sent warmth up Liora’s arms. It took an effort to push the sensation aside.
Liora let out a slow breath and picked up the bandages. She held them in place with one hand and pulled them steadily tighter with the other.
She heard Tariq’s breath catch.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice soft.
“It doesn’t hurt,” he replied.
“You’re a liar.”
She looked up at him with a smile. Her smile faded at the intense emotions in his eyes. His light blue gaze burned as he stared down at her.
“Tariq,” she said, her voice barely a whisper.
He covered her mouth with his. His fingers closed around her arms and he pulled her closer. The bandage for his ribs fell forgotten to the floor. Her fingers brushed the bare skin of his back. Tingles ran all over her body. She pressed against him, returning his kiss with an intensity that surprised her. She had never wanted anything in her life more than she wanted to be held in his arms forever.
When he finally stepped back, they stared at each other, flush and out of breath.
“I interrupted your chance to rest,” he said with a half-smile.
“And I haven’t even wrapped your ribs,” she replied. She picked up the bandages. She felt almost embarrassed to look at him. She glanced out of the corner of her eye and found him watching her.
“I really did just come over for that,” he said, sounding sheepish. “I don’t know why all of my intentions go out the window when I see you.”
She met his gaze. “All of your intentions?”
A roguish grin swept across his face. “Well, most of them.”
She wrapped his ribs with gentle fingers, careful to keep the pressure even so it would give him support.
When she was done, he took a testing breath.
“Much better,” he said with a sigh of relief.
He crossed to her bedroom and came back with an armful of blankets that he began to spread on the living room floor.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
He glanced back at her. “Making you a bed that you’ll actually sleep in.”
His actions touched her. She had spent so many years in a cage that beds were impossible to lay in for long without feeling so soft they were claustrophobic. He spread the blankets out with care and folded one end down before setting the pillow on top.
“Your bed, miss,” he said with a grand sweeping gesture. “Allow me to tuck you in as a thank you for taking care of my ribs.”
He waited as though expecting her to lay down.
“Are you serious?” she asked.
He gave her a straight look that was belied by the hint of amusement in the depths of his blue eyes. “I’m always serious, Liora.”
She gave in, feeling foolish as she settled on her back on the bed he had made.
“This may be the best floor bed I’ve ever slept in,” she admitted with a half-smile as he lowered the blanket on top of her.
“It was made with all the expertise I possess,” he replied.
It was a strange moment, him standing above her, his expression torn as though he wasn’t quite sure what his next action would be.
There was something in his face that held her heart, a wistfulness as if he wished they could just forget everything for a moment.
She wanted him to stay, even if it was just to talk until dinner time. The heaviness of her eyelids and the exhaustion that had filled her body since swimming beneath Gliese’s dense water made it difficult to keep her thoughts clear.
“Get some sleep, Liora,” Tariq told her. “You look exhausted.”
“You do, too,” she said, noting the shadows beneath his eyes and the way he looked as though he, too, could barely keep his eyelids open.
He reached for the door panel.
“Stay.” The word slipped out before she could stop it.
Tariq looked down at her, his gaze shielded as though he didn’t dare let how he felt show. “You want me to stay?”
Liora tried to sound casual despite the way her heart pounded in her chest. “I have a perfectly good floor bed here. Why head all the way back to your room when there’s room here for both of us?”
The barest hint of a smile touched Tariq’s mouth. “My room is across from yours.”
“Oh,” Liora replied. She felt a brush of heat color her cheeks.
Instead of leaving, Tariq knelt slowly on the edge of the blanket. Liora moved to one side of the pillow so that there was room for him. He settled there without a word. For a moment, they lay side by side. Liora scolded her heart, telling herself that being so near to him was no reason for it to try to pound out of her chest.
Tariq lifted his arm. It felt so natural to duck beneath it and rest her head on his chest. She could hear his heart beating beneath her ear. A smile touched her lips at the realization that it was pounding just as hard as hers.
“I’ve never trusted anyone enough to be this close to them,” she admitted softly.
“I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep with you so near,” he replied, his voice husky.
His fingers touched her hair, softly drawing the strands behind her ear. She set a hand on his bare chest, feeling the way each breath made her head gently rise and fall.
“I’m falling for you, Liora.”
His words made her heart slow.
He continued, his voice tired but with the sound of a smile. “I haven’t felt this way in such a long time that I barely remember what it is.”
“Is it good?” she asked.
“Far better than I ever remembered,” he replied. His voice dropped off with a slight outlet of breath.
Liora glanced up and found his eyes closed. She set her head back on his chest with a smile and closed hers as well.
Chapter 21
The dream felt vaguely familiar. Liora walked down the hallway with a feeling of coming home. She smiled at the pictures on the walls, photographs of the smiling couple with the sweet little baby girl. Beneath one of the picture frames, a streak of red caught her attention. It was out of place, bold amid the pale grays of the dream. It was wrong.
Liora reached her fingers out and touched the blood, but something was different. They weren’t her fingers. There were scars she didn’t have, and they were thicker. The palms were bigger and there was a ring around one of the fingers.
Liora moved on, following the streak of red. She reached a living room with black and white couches. Across one lay a purple handmade blanket that looked familiar, yet foreign, as if she knew what it felt like to lay cuddled beneath it, and then as though she had never touched the blanket before.
A cry of terror brought Liora’s head up. A woman cowered in one corner. A man with tattoos down the left side of his neck advanced toward her. Liora couldn’t move or make a sound. The dark blade of the bone knife in his hand buried deep in the woman’s stomach. He yanked the blade upward. It cut easily through the flesh, opening the woman from
her belly to her neck. He pulled his blade clear and she collapsed to the floor.
A little girl sobbed in the opposite corner. Liora fought to move, to defend her, to do anything she could to stop the Damaclan who brought terror to the familiar house. Her muscles locked, fighting in protest against whatever held her. The blood that dripped from the Damaclan’s blade as he advanced toward the girl splashed with agonizing clarity on the white carpet.
The Damaclan’s grip tightened. A smile spread across his face. He reached for the girl. She shrieked and tried to escape, but he was faster. He caught her by one arm and lifted her easily. The little girl cried. Liora shouted. The Damaclan’s head jerked up. He turned to look at her, and suddenly Liora was staring at herself, a twisted smile on her face and the Damaclan markings down her neck. Her smile deepened and she drove the knife into the little girl’s chest.
“Liora, time for dinner.”
Liora’s eyes flew open at the knock on the door. Her heart raced and her breath caught in her throat. She kept seeing her own face, the glee in her eyes and the mocking smile as she killed Tariq’s little Lissy.
“Liora?”
She rolled to her knees and stared at Tariq. He looked up at her, his eyes wide and his own chest heaving.
“I-I had a nightmare,” he said quietly. He sat up and rubbed his eyes as if he was having trouble clearing what he had seen from his mind.
“Me, too,” Liora said.
A knock sounded on the door again.
“Liora, we’re heading to the cafeteria. I think Tariq is already there,” Devren called.
“I-I’ll meet you there,” Liora replied.
“Alright,” Devren said. “I’ll save you a seat.”
“Thank you,” Liora answered.
She turned her gaze back to Tariq. He watched her with a furrowed brow, the blanket gripped so tightly in his hands that his knuckles showed white.
“Liora, I dreamed….” His voice faded away.
“I know.” It was hard to admit, harder still to see the pain fill his gaze.
“You dreamed my dream,” he said.
Liora nodded. “I don’t know why. I-I didn’t mean to.”
