by Anna Carven
“I’m a mechanic, not a mercenary,” Jia said weakly. “Dead bodies aren’t exactly my forte. I haven’t encountered anything like that before in my life.”
“I should have thought about this before calling you in,” he growled.
“Don’t be hard on yourself. You’re an elite ass-kicking badass.” Jia shrugged. “I’ll bet you haven’t had to escort many civilians in your time, especially those of the non-Kordolian variety.”
“It is true.”
Jia shuddered as she recalled the damage in the control room. “So am I correct in guessing that the mess in there was caused by a grown up Xargek?”
“Correct.”
“That seemed like a targeted attack, though.”
“The Xargek would have figured that this center was vital to the station’s operation.”
Jia’s eyes widened. “You mean they’re intelligent beings?”
“Once they get to the adult stage, yes… at least, to an extent. We believe they possess hive memory.”
“That is… disturbing.” Kalan’s words chilled her to the core. She’d thought the fact that the Xargek were flesh-eating and almost invincible was bad enough. Now he was telling her that beyond the simple urges of killing, eating, and reproduction, they were capable of intelligent thought. “You think it might still be around?”
“I am going to call for backup.”
“While you’re at it, can you get a message to someone Human in central command? Tell them to send the power techs down here. They need to come and check this out.” She glanced back at the control room, filled with a sense of disquiet. “If any of them are still alive,” she murmured under her breath. She wondered whether the dark, hidden spaces of the power plant concealed any more bodies.
Perhaps the Xargek just consumed them whole.
Kalan rattled some quick-fire commands into some mysterious hidden comm device, speaking in his melodious native tongue.
It struck Jia as absurd that a warlike race like the Kordolians should speak such a pretty language. Hearing Kalan speak those unintelligible words in his deep, resonant voice was auditory caramel to Jia.
She wanted to go somewhere quiet and have him whisper sweet Kordolian nothings to her in his ovary-melting voice.
But right now, there wasn’t anywhere safe or comfortable on this entire station, and if they didn’t locate the source of the pipe-noise soon, something disastrous was going to happen.
“Backup is going to be difficult to get right now.” Kalan switched to Universal as he terminated his communication. “As is your tech team. It’s chaos on the upper levels.”
“Xargek?” Her voice was tinged with dismay.
“There are more of them than we thought.” Kalan stroked her hands and wrists with his bare fingers as she sighed.
“I still need to go down and check the water pumps near the core,” Jia said, as her protesting stomach finally settled. “There’s a pesky valve down there that only I know how to fix. I will bet you any money that’s the culprit.” She was probably going to have nightmares about what she’d seen in the control room, but she’d deal with that later.
She pushed her negative thoughts away, focusing on Kalan’s solid presence behind her. With him around, she felt near-invincible.
Somehow, she’d picked up a supremely competent bodyguard.
“Let’s go,” he said, gently guiding her forward, one hand resting on her waist. In his other hand was her tool-case.
She didn’t protest against his steady, reassuring touch as they continued down into the unknown.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Kalan cursed himself for being thoughtless. He was a hardened warrior, and death was a familiar companion. Corpses and the stench of blood were not new to him.
Once he’d been satisfied there was no imminent danger, he hadn’t thought twice about allowing Jia to enter the control room.
But as soon as she’d stepped across the threshold, he knew he’d made a mistake.
All the color had drained from her face, and her eyes had gone wide in shock.
Her mind was still a mystery to him. She possessed an odd mixture of innocence and pragmatism, and it was obvious she cared about her fellow Humans.
At first, Kalan had only wished to possess her body. Now, he wanted to know her mind and understand her soul, precious creature that she was.
He knew he shouldn’t pursue her. They were darkness and light, and he wondered how she’d react if she saw the scars underneath his armor.
He was a totally unsuitable mate for someone like her.
But he’d surprised himself. She’d brought out traits in him he hadn’t even known he possessed.
Tenderness. Protectiveness.
She did not yet understand how remarkable that was.
Oh, he would be patient with this one. In the end, it would be worth it.
As they entered another dark stairwell, Kalan marveled at how well she’d recovered from her initial visceral reaction.
She wasn’t the type to run away screaming. She’d gathered herself and pressed on with what she saw as her duty.
He respected that.
Water dripped from some unknown source as they walked down a flight of stairs that creaked and groaned.
They came out in a dark corridor that led to an open space filled with pipes, gauges, and various machines. Compared to Kordolian technology, Human engineering seemed… messy.
The first thing Kalan’s acute hearing picked up beyond the constant whompwhomp of the pipes was the sound of Human voices.
Jia couldn’t hear them. Not from this distance.
To his relief, there seemed to be no sign or smell of Xargek. Humans didn’t worry him. He could handle Humans.
“There are Humans down there,” he informed Jia quietly.
“What?”
“Ahead. Is that where you intended to go?”
“Yes. I can’t hear anything with all this noise. Are you sure?”
“My senses never betray me.”
“Maybe it’s a repair team,” she said hopefully. “Maybe they’re already onto the problem.”
Kalan raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. Experience had taught him that wishful thinking in combat was a quick route to a fool’s death, and life had taught him that hope was a wasted emotion.
“Behind me,” he said roughly, as he localized the sound of the voices. He drew a plasma gun and peered down the passageway. “Let’s go.”
Kalan was mindful of Jia as he stealthily made his way towards the source of the sounds. Normally, he would pass swiftly through the shadows, but with Jia walking behind him, he moved more slowly.
They came to an opening; a cavernous space which housed a huge cylindrical structure. The place was mostly dark, illuminated only by blue lights along the walkways. Large pipes ran the length of the space, regulated by various machines and monitors.
“Such primitive technology,” Kalan murmured, as Jia snorted, sounding half-amused.
Between the thudding and groaning he could hear snatches of Human conversation, but he couldn’t make out the words. They were speaking in a tongue that was alien to him.
Thank the Goddess the Kordolian Empire had forced the Universal language on most species inhabiting the Nine Galaxies. Coming across rare and untranslated speech was always a headache when they colonized new worlds.
As they came to a large metal tower, Kalan signaled for Jia to stop. He looked beyond the structure and saw the glow of lights in the darkness.
Jia saw it too. “What the hell are they doing?” Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.
A fine sheen of moisture had glazed her dewy, flawless skin, making it glisten. Kalan blinked. He’d caught himself staring. Again. But now was not the time to become distracted.
“Why don’t we ask them?” He nodded in the direction of the voices. “I wish I understood what they were saying, but we will have to get closer so you can interpret.”
“Let’s go, then.” Jia edged
forward, but Kalan held her back.
“Quietly,” he warned.
“Excuse me for not exactly being a stealth demon,” she whispered back fiercely. “Not all of us are cut out for sneaking. Besides, I doubt they’ll be able to hear anything above the racket of those pipes.”
She was starting to talk back; this was a good sign. Very few beings in the Universe felt comfortable enough to talk back to him.
He had to admit, what she was saying made sense. Humans had extremely poor hearing. They would need to get closer.
“I will show you how to ‘sneak’ sometime,” he said, reaching up to switch off her headlamp. “There is some technique to it, but once you grasp it, you’ll find it easy.”
She blinked, looking adorably disorientated in the darkness as her pupils widened to compensate for the loss of light.
“Follow,” Kalan said, putting a finger to her lips. “And not a word from now on.” He wished she would open her mouth and take his finger between her delicate lips.
Jia frowned but followed suit as Kalan led the way, taking a circuitous route around a maze of machinery and pipes.
As they reached the central core, he was able to make out three figures standing beside the massive cylindrical structure.
Three Human males, dressed in black.
They carried guns, and they appeared to be trying to attach something to the wall of the cylinder.
“Mercenaries,” Jia whispered, as she came up beside him. She inclined her head, listening to their conversation. Kalan watched her carefully as her expression turned to one of shock, then anger.
“I can’t fucking believe it,” she growled, and he realized it was the first time he’d ever heard her curse.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
“Set the timer for one hour, or whatever the Ephrenian equivalent is,” a man said in English, his rough voice floating to Jia between the thudding of the pipes. “That’ll give us enough time to get to the cruiser and get well clear of this shithole.”
They were standing behind a pump-house, just meters from the main reactor core, close enough that she could hear everything, even with all the background noise. Kalan had his hands on her waist again. Jia was getting rather used to that.
“Don’t know why you had to use our last infiltrator bot on a fucking Thangarian pirate cruiser,” another voice complained. “Would have saved us the hassle of actually having to board this place. I prefer to do things remotely.”
“The bot wouldn’t have been able to navigate down here without getting picked up by some meddling peacekeeper, and you know it.”
“I don’t know, it looks like there’s an all-out shitfight going on up there. Humans against Kordolians and Xargek. Maybe they wouldn’t have noticed one little infiltration bot amongst all the chaos. What a fucking mess. We’re almost doing the poor suckers a favor by blasting them into oblivion. They won’t know what hit them.”
“What’s the resident population on this one? About three thousand, isn’t it?”
“Three thousand God forsaken souls. They’ll never know it, but their employer would rather collect a massive insurance payout than rescue them from Kordolians. Stock price is going to plummet either way, but at least this way, they don’t get penalized by the Federation for having lax security. I reckon’ it goes deeper than that, though. Someone really, really wants to eliminate the Kordolians before they reach Earth. Can you imagine the fallout if this turns into an Invasion Day? It’d be chaos on Earth. I don’t know who our orders came from, but this has Covert Affairs’ fingerprints all over it.” The speaker laughed harshly. “I don’t blame them, though. I wouldn’t want to face those monsters on Earth, either. Heard too many war stories on Dangaria. Vicious brutes, they say. We don’t want them taking a fancy to Earth now, do we?”
“Stop waffling and hurry up and set the charge, Jannek.” A third voice chimed in. “I want to be out of here before we get jumped by Kordolians.”
“You sure this thing’s going to blow through double-Armium? That casing’s radiation-proof. I’d hate to get back and realize the Big Bang’s not going to happen after all because the core’s casing was too thick.”
“This is Ephrenian fission technology. The expensive shit. It’ll work, idiot, and once the actual reactor core is breached, boom. It’ll go off like a dirty supernova.”
Jia had heard enough. These mercenary assholes intended to blow them to smithereens, and all for what? Corporate damage control? A cover-up of epic proportions? She stiffened as anger coursed through her, making her tremble slightly.
“What’s wrong?” Kalan’s softly whispered question was a warm caress against her ear.
“Mercenaries. They’re setting up explosives next to the reactor core. They mean to make this entire station disappear, and all of us along with it.”
Kalan went still. All around them, the pipes creaked and groaned.
“So Humans are also capable of this kind of treachery,” he said finally, his voice as cold as ice.
“You bet,” Jia replied. “If you think we’re all innocent and squeaky clean, then you don’t know Humans.”
“Clearly, I have a lot to learn.” Kalan unclipped the big plasma cannon he carried on his back and drew a long dagger from somewhere on his large frame, holstering his plasma gun. He set the cannon down beside Jia. He moved so lightly on his feet she’d almost forgotten he was lugging the big weapon around.
“No guns?”
“No guns. Not when there are explosives.”
“Wait, where are you-”
“Stay here,” he said tenderly, the sound of his voice totally at odds with his actions. He noiselessly drew a Callidum sword from where it was sheathed at his back. With the long sword in one hand and the dagger in the other, he somehow reminded her of an ancient samurai.
Well, just a little bit.
“Wait. It will be over soon. Don’t look, Jia.”
Before Jia could ask what he meant, he was gone.
And of course, despite his warning, she couldn’t help but move over to the edge of the pump house and peer around the corner.
Kalan moved like a great black panther, crossing the narrow space fluidly, his obsidian blades almost invisible in the scant light. Transfixed, Jia found herself unable to tear her eyes away.
A chill swept through her.
This was really happening.
There was no going back from this. Jia knew what happened next, and there was nothing she could do about it.
She didn’t dare do anything stupid like cry out and give away her position, or try run in there and stop Kalan. After all, these were mercenaries who would see all of them die in a heartbeat, and there were explosives involved. She didn’t want to make matters worse.
Jia watched in horrified fascination as Kalan came upon the three mercenaries like death incarnate. He’d activated the helm of his armor so that his features were completely concealed, giving him a sinister appearance.
Jia held her breath. The noise of the pipes seemed to fade away into the background as Kalan approached the Humans. One of them turned, a bolt gun in his hand.
Before Jia was able to comprehend what was happening, the long dagger was lodged in the man’s throat, and the gun fell from his hand as he toppled forward.
He dropped to the floor, blood spurting everywhere.
“What the fu-” The second one died by a slash to the neck.
Jia’s eyes were wide, and her heart was beating faster than lightspeed. She’d forgotten to exhale. She couldn’t believe how damn fast Kalan moved. It shouldn’t be physically possible.
Kalan pounced on the third, easily wresting the man’s gun out of his hand and knocking him to the floor. There was a blur of movement, then his dark blade was pointed at the man’s throat.
“Kordolian!” The Human froze, momentary terror crossing his face. He was a large man with salt-and-pepper hair, a grizzled beard, and crude tattoos snaking around his forearms. He looked like a shit-kicking, mean-ass mer
cenary, the type of guy one would usually avoid at all costs.
But right now, he was at Kalan’s mercy, and he wore the expression of a man who knew death was close.
Kalan’s helm melted away from his face as he stared at the mercenary, anger twisting his features. The Human tried to scramble backwards, but Kalan pressed the tip of his sword against his flesh, eliciting a gasp of pain as he drew blood.
“You would slaughter your own people?” Kalan’s tone was deceptively mild.
“Fuck you, alien,” the mercenary snarled, his Universal rough and heavily accented. In those few seconds between life and death, he seemed to have discovered some bravado. “Why the hell should you care? Your people are just going to take over this rust-heap and ship them all off as slaves, anyway.”
“Deactivate it.”
“What?”
“The bomb. Undo it.”
“It isn’t that easy, asshole.” Stupidly, the mercenary grinned. Jia wondered if the man was actually insane. Did he not realize what Kalan was about to do to him? “I don’t fucking know how to deactivate it. Why should I need to? Look, it’s all in Ephrenian. Beyond the numbers, I don’t understand a thing. You just press this button here, enter the timing, and boom. You won’t get me to deactivate it, because unfortunately for you, I don’t know anything beyond how to blow shit up.”
Kalan did something with his sword then. Jia couldn’t see quite so clearly, but he flicked his wrist, and the man screamed in agony.
That was when an ear-splitting, high-pitched whistle ripped through the air. Above, red lights started to flash. An announcement came over the speakers.
“Warning, critical pressure build-up in pump one. Automated overflow release malfunction. Robotic adjustment failure. Manual release required. Send personnel immediately. Send personnel immediately. Manual release required.”
“Shit.” Jia picked up the tool-case. “Kalan,” she yelled, trying to ignore the grim spectacle of death and interrogation that was playing out before her, “I’m going!”
She didn’t wait for his reply, in case he decided to do something overprotective. Instead, she nimbly dashed around the pump-house, navigated a network of pipes and crossed the floor until she reached the main pump that fed water to the reactor’s core.
