Forged in Shadow

by Anna Carven

  Ah, this was going to be a pain-in-the-ass. Rykal raised himself up from an upside-down position in an extreme version of a sit-up, his powerful abdominal muscles flexing as he managed to get his torso horizontal. He slowly extracted one leg from the ladder and planted his foot against the wall. His knee was bent all the way up, but if he extended his body, he could wedge himself in-between the two walls of the shaft. Taking a deep breath, he removed the other leg from the ladder. For a moment he lost his balance and started to slide down, but when he straightened out, planting his other foot against the wall with a sharp crack, he was able to hold.

  Of course, he did this while holding onto the two Humans. Slowly, he began to climb up the shaft like a Kaiin-cursed Xargek, his back pressed against one wall, his feet firmly planted on the opposite side.

  When he reached the open doorway, he gently slung the two women out, briefly dropping back down to retrieve his sword before emerging into a dimly lit corridor.

  He breathed in and found that the air was cleaner here, although that putrid-smelling gas was spilling from the shaft’s open doorway. Rykal turned and pulled the door closed.

  Exposed to fresh air, Arin began to stir. Rykal sighed in relief. Her friend was responding in the same way, her limbs moving slowly as she started to regain consciousness.

  Rykal dropped to his knees beside Arin, gently caressing her cheek with the back of his hand as she moved her head from side to side, mumbling something in Human-speak. She began to cough, her chest moving up and down as her breathing became deeper.

  She’d lost her jacket back in the comm room, shortly after she’d draped it across his naked loins. It was a nice garment; Rykal had liked how it looked on her. If he had time, Rykal would go back up and retrieve it for her.

  Her crystalline eyes flew open, and there was no recognition in them. Her fist flew to his face with a sharp crack, connecting with his nose. Blood started streaming down his face as pain blossomed along the bridge of his nose.

  He welcomed the pain, savoring it.

  It so rarely ever happened, but she’d surprised him.

  “Goddess, you hit hard, woman,” he murmured, his cock feeling as if it were about to crack through the solid plate of his armor. He tasted blood on his lips and grinned savagely as he licked them. Arin fought with all her strength as he pinned her down, gently holding her wrists against the floor as he straddled her. “Calm down, Arin. It’s just me.”

  Her blue eyes fluttered in confusion. Rykal had seen this before. Low oxygen states could cause temporary disorientation. Concern for her overrode his arousal, and he pushed his lustful thoughts aside as he held her down. He was getting used to being constantly horny anyway, thanks to her mystifying presence.

  “It’s just me,” he said again, slowly this time, injecting force into his words. “You’re safe with me, so relax, ashika.” He leaned in so his face was close to hers, so he could feel her warm breath feathering his cheeks. “Arin,” he said gently, savoring the taste of her name as it rolled off his tongue. “Relax.”

  Eventually, she stopped resisting. Recognition dawned in her eyes. She blinked and went still. “R-Rykal?”

  “Yes. It’s only me.”

  “Death is everywhere,” she slurred, still not completely herself. “This entire freighter is a floating death-trap, and I’ve become obsessed with him.”

  “Who?” Rykal’s voice was sharp. The thought of her becoming besotted with another tickled his fierce killing intent.

  “Death,” Arin replied, bringing her hand up to his face. She caressed his cheek with her fingers, bringing them down to Rykal’s lips, which were stained with traces of his own blood. “I never knew death’s smile could be so brilliant.”

  Her touch was like a spark, igniting his desire all over again, stoking the conflagration to new heights. He burned with the need to touch her, aching to feel her bare skin against his. He became acutely aware of her body underneath him.

  His gaze was drawn to her rising and falling chest, to the sweet creaminess of her bare skin between the molded material of her black suit, to the alluring valley between her generous breasts.

  “A-ah.” For once, Rykal was lost for words. All he could manage was a low, strangled expression of pent-up desire.

  “Rykal?” she asked again.

  “Yes?”

  She shook her head, realization dawning on her handsome face. “Oh, shit.” She was fully lucid now, and embarrassment colored her cheeks, quickly covered as tried to sit up. “Get off me, Rykal.”

  “Y-yeah, leave her the fuck alone, Kordolian!”

  Rykal looked up. The other Human stood over them, pointing a bolt-gun at his head. Her arms trembled, and her eyes were wide.

  Rykal would usually act with extreme hostility in this kind of situation, but there was something about this scene that was faintly ridiculous, and he was so overwhelmed with Arin’s nearness that he simply laughed. “What are you going to do with that thing, little Human?”

  “Get the fuck off her, or I’ll shoot.” Her voice wavered, but her aim steadied, as concern for her fellow Human overrode her fear.

  Rykal raised his eyebrows, put his hands in the air, and slowly rose to his feet. “I’m not going to hurt her, see? Now may I at least help her up?” He didn’t really know why he was acting so polite. It was probably because he wanted to make a good impression on Arin.

  “It’s okay, Riana.” Arin was sitting up now. “Don’t antagonize him. He isn’t our enemy right now.”

  “Are you fucking serious, Sarge? He’s killed half our squad.”

  Arin sighed, rolling her eyes at Rykal. “Harris is dead, but the others aren’t.”

  “Th-they’re alive?” Riana regarded Rykal with a look of pure mistrust. “Are you sure?”

  “Have I ever given you bad intel, Riana?”

  “Once or twice, maybe…”

  “Your memory is too sharp for your own good,” Arin grumbled, getting to her feet without Rykal’s help. “You belong in a infotech development lab, not out here shitkicking with the rest of us.”

  Rykal’s comm buzzed. “Ry. If you’re done playing with your Humans, can you get your ass down here?”

  “You dying, Kail?”

  “Nah. But I got another red-stripe in the area, and you’re closest by far.”

  “Two in the same vicinity? Where have all these cocksuckers come from?”

  “Beats me. Just get your ass down here.”

  Rykal hesitated. He didn’t want to leave Arin alone, especially if Xargek were crawling all over the ship. For the first time in longer than he could remember, he was torn and indecisive.

  Kail’s grunt of pain diverted his attention. “Hurry up, pretty-boy. I’ve taken a claw through my gut, and this asshole’s at full speed. I can only hold it off for so long. I need some recovery time, or I’m dead in the next two sivs. Consider it one of the two favors you owe me, Ry.”

  The line went quiet as Kail terminated the comm. Rykal swore, turning to Arin. “I have to go,” he said gently. His brother was in danger, and Rykal knew all too well how quickly the situation could go from bad to catastrophic. He pulled out his plasma gun and pressed it into her hand. “I will be back. Use this instead of that flimsy little thing you people call a firearm. Shoot any Xargek larvae you see. If you encounter an adult, get out of there at all costs. Don’t use the elevators. Don’t use the emergency stairs. Check for bad air before entering any confined space. Stay safe, Arin Varga. I will come for you.”

  Riana was staring at them in open-mouthed shock. Arin took Rykal’s gun. “Same goes for you, pretty-boy. Don’t worry. We’re on one of the docking levels. No more dodgy stairwells or compromised elevators for us.”

  Rykal opened his mouth to protest at the name-calling, but then he realized he liked it when Arin called him that.

  “Rykal,” Kail grunted over the comm, sounding as if he was at death’s door.

  “On my way, brother.” He drank Arin in with a longing gaz
e. “I’ll ask one of the others to come and map out a safe exit route for your people. Make sure you get your ass onto that evac ship, woman.”

  He turned and ran.

  Chapter Fifteen

  The FSS Marcia came alongside them in the early hours of SST, also known as Standard Space Time. The warship was too big to enter the freighter’s docking space; it was about one-third the size of the Hendrix II, and it packed a mean artillery of high-energy pulse weapons.

  Arin watched the main docking bay through the vid-feed. “They’ll send ordinary transports to ferry people from the freighter. It’s going to take some time, though. What’s the capacity of one of those things again, Captain?”

  “A standard military-grade PTV?” Captain Tadao swiveled in his chair, scratching his salt-and-pepper beard. “About a hundred-odd souls, depending on the model.” He laughed, a dry, bitter sound, revealing teeth stained red from years of smoking Juvi. “It’s going to take a while to get all these people off, Sergeant. I for one can’t wait to get my ass on sweet Earth soil again.”

  “I hear you, Captain.” Arin leaned back, surveying the navigation room. She’d managed to track down the rest of the peacekeepers, including the leaders of the other squads. Once the word had gone around that a retrieval was happening, people had miraculously sobered up and pulled their shit together. “Stand by, I think they’re about to make contact.”

  The few peacekeepers on the freighter were currently directing people down to the docks in an orderly fashion. Rykal had been as good as his word, and some silent, scary-looking Kordolian warriors had ghosted through the main elevators, giving them them the all-clear before they disappeared again.

  “You sure the Kordolians aren’t going to slaughter us like pigs as we leave the dock?” Sergeant Brosa maneuvered his large bulk around so he could get a better view of the holoscreen.

  “Nothing’s certain in the Universe,” Arin replied sagely, concealing her amusement as a mild look of alarm crossed Brosa’s face. “I don’t think so, though. We’re not their main priority right now.”

  Rykal would never hurt her. She was as sure of it now, as sure as day came after night. Her heart beat a little faster as she remembered their encounter in the corridor, after he’d rescued them from the poison gas in the stairwell. She’d woken up in a confused daze, thinking death had come for her in the form of a beautiful reaper.

  She’d mumbled some stupid shit, and Rykal had grinned like an idiot, but his gaze had been so damn tender.

  Arin prayed he was safe. On paper, he might be considered the enemy, but beneath that intimidatingly beautiful exterior of his, there were some good intentions, at least when it came to her.

  “Sergeant Varga?”

  Arin blinked as the Captain finally got her attention. “What’s happening, Tadao?”

  “Stand by,” he said softly. “The Marcia’s calling.” The holoscreen flashed red, alerting them to an incoming comm.

  “Superfreighter Hendrix II, this is the FSS Marcia.” General Alison Varga appeared on the Holoscreen. She was in her full battle regalia, with various medals pinned to her breast. They glinted against the dark backdrop of her navy blue military jacket. “We are attending in response to your distress call.”

  If she noticed Arin, she didn’t show it. The general didn’t even make eye contact with her daughter. That was the way it had always been. In the military, family ties were relinquished and you learned quick smart that you had only one master, the Federation.

  Of course, it wasn’t that simple in real life, but it was the reason her mother never acknowledged her when she was working in an official capacity. Arin didn’t mind. Not many peacekeepers knew they were actually related, and she preferred to keep it that way.

  “Uh,” Tadao looked around, waiting for someone to take the lead. Arin waved him on. As Captain of the Superfreighter, it was his responsibility to maintain communications with other vessels, even if he was a civilian who was out of his depth. “Yeah. We need a goddamn retrieval, and we appreciate the fact that you’ve finally shown up in these quarters, general.” It wasn’t just Arin’s imagination; there was a hard edge to his voice, as if he was he was pissed off.

  Actually, they all had a right to be pissed off. The Federation had put their lives at risk by sitting on its hands and taking its sweet time to decide whether they could accept Kordolians on Earth.

  They’d turned a simple situation into a complicated one, as they always did, and shown that they really didn’t give a fuck about ordinary citizens.

  Jupiter help them if they ever had to fight a real war.

  “Just tell me what to do, Ma’am.” Tadao was rolling a Juvi stick around in his red-stained fingers. “Tell me where you want to go, what you want to do, where you want to park, and I’ll pull all the strings to make sure it happens. You just make sure you get all these people off my ship before we all turn into cockroach food or victims of the agents of fucking darkness.”

  To Arin’s relief, her mother didn’t reprimand the man. Instead, she pinned him with a cold grey stare. “Then let’s get on with it, Captain. Just remember that if anyone from Earth Command gives you shit about breaking protocol or disobeying orders, you were acting under my orders. As for the distress call, well, we still don’t know the origin of that, do we?” Her eyes flicked towards Arin for the briefest moment. Arin understood, and in that moment, all she thought she knew about her mother began to unravel, because unlike the last time, this time her mother had decided to protect her. “I’m sure you get my drift. Now let’s get on with it. I’m officially assuming command of your ship, Captain Tadao. Let’s evacuate these poor bastards. We’ll deal with the aftermath later.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Arin watched from the walkway as the second military transport took off, ferrying another load of people towards the FSS Marcia. The thrusters of the grey transport roared as it lifted off from the floor of Docking Bay One, heading towards the airlock. The crowd of people waiting to be evacuated had thinned out considerably, and with every successful drop-off, Arin’s anxiety eased just a little bit more.

  They were doing it. They were actually getting people off the ship, saving them from this terrible precarious limbo, where shit could go down at any moment, without warning.

  As the airlock closed, one of the navigators appeared at Arin’s side. “Uh, Sergeant Varga?”

  “What is it?”

  He peered down at his datapad, a frown creasing his forehead. “We’ve registered everyone onboard except for seven.”

  “Show me.” Arin looked at the list and realized the seven missing were the men from her squad, the ones Rykal had beaten up and locked in one of the lower cargo holds.

  “Shit.” With everything that had happened, she’d forgotten all about them.

  They had been stupid and disobeyed her orders, but they were still members of her squad, and she had a duty to get them off, just like everyone else.

  Everyone fucked up from time to time. It didn’t mean they deserved to get left behind.

  Poor deceased Harris was another matter, but he’d stood on the tail of the tiger, and Arin couldn’t rescue people from their own arrogance.

  “I know where they are,” she told the navigator. “I’m going to have to go and get them. How many more retrievals until everyone’s off?”

  “After this one, three more.”

  The cargo hold wasn’t too far from here. Arin could run across, unlock the cage and bring her men back without too much fuss and plenty of time to spare. She should probably bring some backup, just in case Xargek were swarming down there, but if they encountered any mature ones, she’d be fucked either way.

  Part of her wished Rykal was around. Death was most reassuring when he walked by your side.

  Arin was contemplating who she should round up for this little mission when the emergency lights of the airlock flashed red. She nodded in its general direction. “What’s going on?”

  “I-I don’t know.�
�� The navigator inclined his head, pressing a finger to his comm as he received a communication from the bridge. He started to back away. “We have to get out of here.”

  “Explain what you just heard.”

  “They’re being attacked by something with enough power to breach the transport’s hull. They’re losing cabin pressure.”

  Xargek. They were everywhere, and they tended to show up just when

  Some very dirty swear words ran through Arin’s mind, but she held her tongue.

  A great boom shook the dock, causing both of them to stumble and grab the railings as people below screamed. It was the sound of a pulse weapon discharging fire.

  “Are they fucking crazy?” Arin gasped. They couldn’t shoot at them, even if they were trying to kill Xargek.

  Someone must have panicked.

  The navigator was still receiving information through his comm. “There’s a monster tearing through their hull. The pulse-gun didn’t do anything. Didn’t even touch it. How the hell are they surviving in space, anyway?”

  “Beats me.” Arin thought hard and fast. For this kind of situation, they needed a Kordolian warrior. The lethal silver aliens had turned into unlikely superheroes, but aside from Rykal, she wasn’t sure the others cared enough about Humans to come to their aid.

  They’d all disappeared into the shadows without explanation, and Arin and the rest of the crew had no way of locating them or contacting them. Perhaps they were watching her people from the darkness as they evacuated, but they certainly hadn’t done anything to harm them.

  Surely the Kordolians had eyes on the docking bay right now. They wouldn’t let Humans land on this freighter without checking them out. That would go against any soldier’s instincts.

  Arin began to run, her boots clanging on the metal walkway as she sprinted towards a ladder that led down to the floor of the docking bay. The navigator called after her, but she ignored him. She jumped off the ladder with several rungs to go and hit the ground running, heading towards the assembly area, where the remaining Fortuna Tau workers had been waiting patiently to board the transport.