by Tim Marquitz
Commander Dard raced up behind Rath and kicked him in the side, knocking him from the ramp. The pirate boss toppled to the ice and landed with a bone-shattering thud.
That was the least of his worries, however.
Vort snatched up the dropped weapon and pointed it at Rath. Then he fired, burning a hole through the back of the pirate boss’s head.
Taj scrambled to her knees, staring at the unexpected scene playing out before her, and only then did it really click in her head that Vort was now armed. She started to cry out, to warn the others, but Vort tossed the weapon over the side of the gangplank as quickly as he’d grabbed it, where it landed with a crunch beside the dead pirate boss.
Vort raised his hands. “Neither I nor Commander Dard had anything to do with this,” he announced. “This was all Rath’s idea, though it clearly didn’t end the way he intended.”
Taj shrieked for someone to put Vort and Dard back in their cage, and she only took her eyes off them once a handful of Furlorians stormed the gangplank. Once the two lizards were secured, she spun about to look for Dent, remembering that he’d been shot.
Her stomach sank as she spied Krawg carrying the limp mechanoid in his large arms, cradling him to his chest. “Is he…?”
“He still functions,” the furred giant responded, “but I fear not for long. He is shutting down rapidly.”
Taj saw the great charred hole in the side of Dent’s head and groaned. “Get him inside,” she ordered, then tapped her comm. “Lina! I need you and Gran Verren to sickbay now! Dent is down.”
Taj shot up the gangplank, leading the way for Krawg to follow. He was forced to duck low to clear the ceilings, but he didn’t complain. The giant ran behind Taj until she reached sickbay and darted inside. He followed her in and set Dent on the table Lina pointed out. The giant Ursite backed away, shuffling to the far corner of the room to give the crew space to work.
“Here,” she shouted, ripping aside the faux flesh that hid the mechanism inside. She whistled when she saw the damage, shaking her head.
“Can you repair him before he shuts down?” Taj asked.
“I don’t know, but I’ll try.” She turned her gaze on Krawg. “The device, do you have it still?”
He nodded and dug the cube out of his pouch, handing it over without question.
“Do you know exactly how long it takes to reorganize his system?”
Krawg shook his head. “I know only that his body likely does not have enough time left to accomplish the process.” He motioned to the alien form twitching on the medical cot.
“Do what you have to,” Taj told the engineer, and Lina leaned over Dent, examining his wound closer, the cube dancing in her trembling hand.
Dent reached up and clasped her arm. “Save…the m-memories,” he whispered, his jaw creaking open and closed of its own volition, slurring his words.
“I will do my best,” Lina told him.
“Avocado,” Dent replied with a subtle nod, then went still.
Chapter Twenty-Two
“Why did you do that?” Commander Dard asked as soon as they were alone in their makeshift cell. “Betray the Terant like that?”
Vort took a seat and looked up at his second-in-command. “We had no chance of escaping then, and given the mood of the crew, their people murdered before their eyes, it would have been a fool’s gambit to hide somewhere in the ship and hope for another opportunity to present itself. The rodents would have been wrathful, and we’d have paid for it eventually.”
“But still, you killed Rath,” Dard argued. “I thought you wanted his help.”
The captain chuckled. “But he did help us, Commander. He killed the mechanoid the Furlorians have pinned their hope on to help them find the Federation. Now, that dream is dead, and we have more time before they find their way to them, extending our lives.” He grinned, patting Dard on the shoulder.
“He also likely earned us a bit of good will with regards to the rodents, seeing how we stopped Rath before he could do more harm. And better still…” he stated, pulling a bolt pistol out from behind him and grinning, “his death provided cover so I could procure this.”
Dard stared at the weapon, wide-eyed. “Where did you—”
“I pulled it off one of the Furlorians escorting us back to our cell,” he answered, returning the gun to its hiding place. “Now, we are not quite so helpless when our next opportunity to escape presents itself.”
“And that’s likely to be soon, seeing how the Furlorians have yet to realize there’s a tracker on board.”
“Precisely, Commander. Now, we sit and wait while the rodents flail and whine and try to find their way to safety without the android’s assistance.” He chuckled and leaned his back against the wall, attempting to get comfortable. “It’s only a matter of time now.”
Vort sighed. “Maybe I can even leverage our good deed for better accommodations.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Taj paced the bridge, her footsteps echoing loudly. Cabe piloted the ship while Jadie took over Lina’s position, S’thlor helping her as he’d done for the engineer.
The flight wasn’t as smooth as it had been with Lina behind the console, but Jadie made it work well enough, leaving the bulk of the decisions to Cabe.
They flew aimlessly, having no idea which direction they needed to go. With Lina and Gran Verren doing their best to repair Dent before he shut down, they were lost. All the information they needed was trapped inside the mechanoid’s damaged skull. And if they couldn’t release it…
Taj groaned, not wanting to go down that path.
At least raiding the pirate ships had provided the crew with a few more weeks’ worth of food and general supplies, but who knew how long that would last given they had no destination in mind. It might well have only delayed the inevitable, a bandage on a severed limb. Eventually, the blood would leak out and spill everywhere.
Taj cursed herself for her disturbing analogies and kept pacing. She refused to fall for the siren’s call of despair.
They would succeed. They had to.
“You’re gonna wear a groove in the floor,” Cabe muttered from his station.
She shrugged in reply, not wanting to engage. Getting sucked into a conversation would only heighten her anxiety and anger, giving her an outlet to explode. She didn’t want to do that to him.
So, she paced on and on and on, hours stretching into eternity.
At last, when she could barely drag her feet around for another pass, the bridge door hissed open. Lina stood there, covered in synthetic blood, as if she’d been dipped in a vat of it. The engineer stumbled inside, smothering a yawn with the back of her bloody hand.
“Well?” Taj shouted, racing over to stand before the engineer. Cabe came over and joined her, hovering close.
Lina drew in a long, deep breath and let it out slow. Her expression was stoic, neutral, and that worried Taj. “We couldn’t save Dent’s body,” she reported. “It was simply too damaged, too broken down already. The gun blast fried what was left of its systems.”
Taj stiffened, feeling a pang of sorrow start to wash over, but then she remembered Dent wasn’t flesh and blood, he was a construct. His body meant nothing in the greater scheme of things. “And his mind?”
“We weren’t able to connect the device to his body. It was simply too involved a process, and there was no way he would have remained alive long enough to complete it.”
“So, he’s…dead?” Cabe asked.
Taj snarled. Had Rath still been alive, she’d have marched off and killed him.
Lina hesitated a moment, drawing the moment out longer. Taj stared at the engineer, who seemed reluctant to speak.
“Is he dead, Lina?” she asked, repeating Cabe’s question, frustration rising at the lack of answers.
Lina sighed, then she broke into a grin. “Not in the traditional sense.”
Taj stiffened, her upper lip peeling back into a disgusted sneer. “What?”
&nbs
p; “What she means is,” a familiar voice sounded around her, “you’re going to wish I’d died on Gran Verren’s dirty med cot.”
Taj stumbled, her head on a swivel, looking everywhere, trying to pinpoint where Dent’s voice was coming from. She couldn’t find the mechanoid anywhere.
“I-I don’t…understand,” Taj muttered. Cabe echoed her movements, surveying the room. He even peeked under the consoles.
“I’m right here,” Dent replied. “Let me clarify, I’m everywhere!” The last came out in an ominous boom that resounded across the bridge, and Taj caught the telltale metallic hum of the comm. Her heart thundered with realization.
“Wait! You’re in the ship?” Taj asked, staring at the ceiling.
“No wonder you’re in charge, Taj,” Dent replied. “Brilliant deduction.”
Taj stiffened and glared at Lina. “You did not put him in the ship’s systems. Tell me you didn’t do that.”
Lina raised her hands in mock surrender. “I didn’t put him into the ship’s systems,” she answered, “but I’m lying. I put him in the ship. Dent is the Discordant now, one and the same.”
“Oh,” Taj muttered and stumbled over to her chair, dropping into it heavily.
The view screen flickered and turned on. A giant smiley face stared at Taj.
“Think of it this way, Taj. Now I can lead you to a Federation planet and you don’t need a blind Wyyvan to translate anymore.”
“Great!” S’thlor groaned. “You’re in the ship for two seconds and I lose my job.” He slumped in his chair. “Guess it’s back to the Toradium-42 mines for me,” he said with a smirk.
Taj chuckled, staring at the view screen as a thought struck her. “Wait, didn’t Lina say she didn’t have time to connect you to your device?”
Lina chuckled.
“She did indeed, only she misled you,” Dent confirmed. “She said she didn’t have time to plug me in while my body was dying. She did, however, have time to plug me in after she’d transferred my synthetic consciousness to the Discordant—horrible name for a ship, by the way. We’ll have to change that.”
“So, wait…you’ve been in the ship for hours then?” Taj asked.
“Indeed. You should let your emotions out more often. That groove you wore in the floor will be hell to buff out.”
Taj raised her head to the ceiling and screamed. The crew stared at her, grinning broadly.
“See? That’s much better, isn’t it?” Dent asked once she was done. “Always good to get it out so your diodes don’t rust.”
Taj groaned. This is gonna take some getting used to.
Still, it was far better than the alternative.
“Well, since you’re all better, Dent, how about you plot a course to the nearest Federation planet, outpost, space station, whatever, and we can get on our way before something else pops up.” She watched as the smiley face on the view screen melted away, leaving behind a swirl of distorted pixels that vaguely resembled a squashed banana. “Uh, you are okay, right?”
“Better than okay,” Dent answered. “Lina and Gran Verren fixed me up perfectly. I’m as taco as I can be.”
Taj slumped into her chair and clasped her head in her hands before it exploded off her shoulders.
“I’m only kidding,” Dent assured her, a strangely metallic laugh filtering through the comm.
“Rowl, save me,” she muttered.
“Now I’m hungry for meat rolls,” Torbon muttered. “Thanks, Dent.”
“Me too,” Cabe agreed, licking his lips. “Some nip would be nice, too,” he muttered, licking his lips.
“Let’s raid the stores!” Torbon and Cabe shouted in unison, jumping up and racing through the open bridge door. “Meat rolls for everyone,” echoed through the halls.
“Does this mean we’re stuck with you?” Taj asked.
“Forever and ever,” Dent replied.
“Then if that’s the case, give me a view of the stars and let’s get to moving before you wear out your welcome.”
“Aye-aye, Captain! A course is set for Federation space, and we are on our way.”
Captain?
Taj replayed the word in her head a few times.
She had to admit, she liked the sound of it.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Hours later, the excitement of Dent’s constant travel monologue and the sheer distance they needed to travel to reach the Federation outpost the AI had pinpointed as their destination having worn off, Taj excused herself and crawled back to her tiny quarters.
She’d only been there long enough to peel her uniform off and crawl into the stiff cot, her head barely having landed on the pillow, when there was a quiet knock at her door. Taj groaned and dragged herself to her feet. That she wore nothing but underclothing didn’t deter her from staggering across the room, undoing the locks, and flinging the door open.
“What?” she asked, snarling.
Cabe grinned from the other side of the door. He cast a furtive glance at her, taking her near-nakedness in, before returning his eyes to hers. The flutter of his whiskers and the slight blush at his cheeks chased away her frustration at being hauled out of bed.
“So, uh…I was…” he started, and Taj grinned at his sudden tentativeness.
She chuckled. “You need something, Cabe?”
He sucked in his lower lip, and his eyes narrowed. Whatever he’d come to her room for had slithered out of his brain the moment he’d seen her. She couldn’t help but smile at that.
The two had danced around each other for years, but their latest adventure had pushed them even closer. Taj stared at him as he hemmed and hawed, clearly trying to organize his thoughts, but she’d had enough of it.
“Just come in, gack it,” she told him, grabbing him by the ear and pulling him inside the room.
He gasped as she pushed the door shut behind him with a solid thump, and then shoved him against it. She leaned in without waiting for him to calm and planted a kiss on him.
That was all it took to break the frost between them.
He leaned into the kiss, returning it, their lips pressed together. He reached up and pulled her into him, wrapping an arm around her, his hand settling on the small of her back. His other hand played at her fur, stroking the back of her neck.
Taj groaned and let him hold her up, leaning in so tight that, if it hadn’t been for the door at their back, they would have tumbled to the floor in a flustered heap.
The air grew warm around them as Taj flushed. She shifted her kisses from his lips to his cheek, kissing her way across his face, loving the flutter of his whiskers and the soft exhalation of his breath in her ear.
Then it was over as quickly as it had begun.
A roaring whoop resounded in her cabin, the room lights soaked in a sudden red.
“You have got to be gacking me,” she groaned, feeling Cabe pulling away with a muttered complaint. “What could it possibly be now?”
Cabe glanced at her, clearly unable to muster an answer, as he slid away from the door, putting a disappointing space between the two of them. He reached up and triggered his comm, snarling the entire time.
“What the gack’s going on?” he asked, growling into the communicator.
Dent’s reply came through crisp and clear. “There are two Wyyvan scout ships closing fast on us,” he reported. “I’ve responded, giving us as much time as possible before they reach us, but these ships are designed to be faster than this leech craft. There’ll be no outrunning them.”
“It never ends,” Cabe spit out with a bark.
“How do these gacking lizards keep finding us?” Taj complained as she marched over to where her uniform lay on the floor, scooping it up.
“I suspect it’s the tracking device installed aboard the Discordant,” Dent answered matter-of-factly. “It’s broadcasting our location on a continuous cycle.”
Taj stiffened, still bent over and clasping her uniform. She straightened and stared at the ceiling, never completely sure
of where to look when speaking to Dent, then back to Cabe.
“There’s a tracking device onboard?”
“Yes,” the AI replied. “There is.”
“How long has that been there?” Cabe asked.
“Systems say it’s been active since you acquired the ship, according to the data logs.” There was a short pause, then Dent cut back in, “You should probably disable that thing unless you enjoy Wyyvan ships surprising you at inopportune times. Seems less than optimal, if you ask me.”
“You have no idea.” Taj bit her lower lip, snarling. “But no, leave the tracker on for now,” she told the AI. “I’ll be on the bridge in a moment.” Taj cut the comm, shoving her feet into her uniform in a huff.
Cabe threw his hands in the air. “Why wouldn’t you rip that stupid thing out right away?”
Taj zipped her uniform up and went to find her boots. “It doesn’t make any kind of difference right now,” she answered. “They know where we are already.”
“But what if more show up?”
A feral grin spread across her lips. “Oh, don’t worry about that. The next Wyyvan ship that follows the beacon will get a nice surprise.” Suited up, she stomped past Cabe and flung the door open, letting it slam into the wall. “Now, let’s go see what we’re up against.”
The journey to the bridge was quick, her steps fueled by the fury swirling inside her.
The first real moment she’d had Cabe to herself was ruined by the arriving Wyyvan ships, and now she’d learned they’d been broadcasting a signal to the universe, telling the murderous lizards exactly where they were every second of the way.
No wonder they had found them on Kulora. Then just a short distance from Bolot, there they were again. Now, she knew exactly why.
Her bootsteps echoed loudly as she marched onto the bridge, a storm blowing in. Lina and Torbon stared at her, wide-eyed, and S’thlor just stared. Jadie hovered in the background, quietly observing the scene. Cabe arrived a moment later.
