by Elin Wyn
By the time they reformed their line we had slipped through and approached the cage.
I glared at the giant crane as we passed it. Maybe that should be a target for one of Doc’s little devices.
No crane, no lowering the cage down.
I glanced back at the cadre’s line. They'd find other ways though, may be less showy, but just as deadly.
This time I squeezed Geir’s hand twice and slipped away from him to circle around to where Tianna's body would hopefully block me from view.
I bit my lip to keep from crying out.
Tianna's face was a mottled mass of gashes and bruises, one eye swollen so badly I doubted she could open it. She lay, curled on her size, staring unblinking out to the sea.
“Tianna,” I whispered.” Oh Void, don't let her already be dead.”
I pulled the facemask down from my eyes, crossing fingers that no one but Tianna would be able to see me.
“Tianna, listen to me. We're here to get you out!”
A slow blink was the only sign she'd heard me.
Fine. She was alive. I could work with that.
I pulled my facemask back into place and pulled the second scatter cloak from where I’d tied it around my waist. Flicked it on and began feeding the fabric through the bars.
“I'm going to push this through. But I need you to grab it, cover yourself.”
No response still. “Do you understand me?”
Another blink. “Val?” She croaked.
“That's right, come on. Just get it pulled over you.”
“Get what?”
I pushed more of the fabric through until it bunched, then slid over her hand. She blinked again, refocusing on her vanished fingers.
“Interesting.”
I smiled. That was the engineer I knew.
“It's all in now. Pull it over you and stay still.”
Once she had disappeared from view I hurried back to where I'd left Gier.
“How long do we wait?”
“Shouldn't be much longer.”
We watched people roam across the campus, glaring at the line of cadre and glancing over their shoulders at the cage.
He was right. Only minutes passed before a young man mocked the cadre. “Guarding the empty cage? Don't you have something else to do?”
As one, the line of guards pivoted, saw Tianna had gone, and scattered.
“Fan out!” Shouted their commander. “Find the traitor and any who helped her!”
Everyone cleared from the campus at the charge of the cadre, reluctant to be caught up in the sweep.
The scene was completely clear.
Geir’s hands appeared from thin air on either side of the lock, caught, ready to tear it apart.
“Here, even better.” I held out Docs device, waited. It did take longer than Tianna's codes, but soon enough the door swung open.
“Let's lock it behind us,” I added. “Really give them something to think about.”
Geir gathered Tianna up from the bottom of the cage and she moaned softly.
“We'll get you fixed up in no time,” he soothed.
He stood still, waited for me to reach under his cloak and grab his waistband. “Let’s get out of here before they come to their senses, return for a closer look at the cage.”
“Run ahead,” I begged. “Let Doc start working on her.”
“We can't get in without you,” he reminded me. “Just keep walking.”
Slowly we made our way back to the warehouse. I held my breath that Tianna's muffled groans of pain wouldn't give us away.
Once we were inside I pulled the scatter cloak off, desperate to be out of its confining hood.
“Turn it off before you drop it,” Doc clucked. “You'll have a heck of a time finding it again until the battery wears out.”
But it fell from numb fingers as I waited to see how badly my friend had been hurt.
Geir
Carefully I placed Tianna on Doc’s cot. Lifting the cloak back from her I winced in sympathy. “I think I saw a healing wand in one of those boxes.” I backed away so Doc could start working. “I'll go look.”
Doc slowly peeled her jumpsuit back. “Well, nothing that can't be fixed. I'll try to keep my stitching to a minimum.” She patted one bruised section of Tianna's arm. “My own stitches never were too straight. One of the reasons I made my boys self-healing.”
Doc started on the first round of injuries that needed immediate attention. “She'll be fine, it's all superficial.”
“We did it,” whispered Valrea. “We did it again, saved her. We beat him.”
“And nearly as good, confused the hell out of that line of guards. I'd have given a lot to be able to see their faces.”
Valrea gave out a tiny laugh. “Maybe that's why they wear the masks.” She quickly sobered. “What should we do next?”
“As far as I can tell we've got three targets.” I counted them off on my fingers. “Save Vicki, get the codes for the dome, and destroy the lab.”
Valrea chewed her lip while she thought. “Vicki is probably safest with the Companion right now. I hate to leave her, but we shouldn't take her until we know we’re ready to leave. Let's get the codes for the dome.”
“Don't bother,” Tianna rasped from the cot. She pushed up, swearing, but the bruising was already fading. “You get the codes, they'll change them. It’s a game you can’t win. If you're playing for keeps, I'd say blow the whole thing.”
Valrea looked shocked. “But you've always said that machinery was to be-”
“That was then,” Tianna interrupted. “Right now, tear it all down. I'll rebuild something better later.”
I ran the idea around, tested it. “If we blow the controls for the security dome, won't they just repair it?”
Tianna attempted a smile, flinched and gave up. “Not anytime soon. One of my idiot subordinates blew a whole rack of shielded wiring. Installed it all backwards and ran the power through too high.”
She lay back down. “There's not enough replacements to get the dome fixed. The entire compound would be exposed until they travel out and get more.”
The Compound would be exposed, vulnerable. “Long before then, we’d be back with the Pack.”
“We’ll need to leave the dome for last, then. That means the lab comes first,” Valrea decided. “Finally.”
“Since I've joined your merry band of saboteurs,” Tianna said, “I think I'd like to go with you on that job.”
Doc shrugged. “She'll be fine to go in a couple of hours.”
“You’d be an asset. Any way we can get blueprints of the lab, and the points of entry?”
“I can sketch that for you, no problem.” Tianna sat up again, then closed her eyes, moaning. “Minor problem.”
Doc tsked at her. “Making diagrams while concussed isn’t recommended. Besides, letting a little time pass between your miraculous disappearance and the next disturbance will let some tension build up.”
“You know,” Valrea teased, “if you’d ever let me sneak into the lab, I could draw it out for you.”
“Hush.” Tianna pressed her hands to her temples. “Go play somewhere else.”
“I’ve got some ideas for explosives, I can work on them while your friend finishes healing, and keep an eye on her.”
“Of course you do.” Geir hugged Doc until she looked flustered.
“Go on, take a nap, read a book, go away.” She turned back to her work bench, muttering. “Boys. Never grew up, not a one of them. Always underfoot. You said you had girls? Are they easier?”
Laughing, Valrea pulled me towards the back of the chamber.
“I know where we’re going,” I said.
“Really?” She cocked her head to the side. “Where?”
“There's a whole row of books and you can't wait to get your hands on them.”
She spun so quickly in front of me I had to catch myself from running into her. Stretching on her toes she wrapped her arms around my neck. “Ther
e's something else I can't wait to get my hands on.”
I slid my hands down her curves, hooked my fingers under her ass and lifted her until her mouth met mine.
“More than books?” I asked, our lips so close they brushed.
Her tongue flicked out, touching, tasting. “Mmmm hmmm.”
I didn't need a second invitation, but pulled her head to mine, my fingers knotting in her hair while I thrust into her mouth. She moaned as I twined our tongues in her slick heat, craving every taste.
I pulled her head back, breathing in the scent of her, nipping at the tender skin at the juncture of her neck and shoulder until she panted, glazed and ready.
“This time I think you’re overdressed for the occasion, babe.”
“I think we both are.”
I trailed my hand down her spine, desperate to touch every inch of her. “You know, they are not that far away. We'll have to be quiet.”
“I can do quiet,” she panted.
I sat her down, quickly. No time for teasing, no interest in anything but having her naked before me, I peeled her clothes away.
“Your scent makes me want to track you down, claim you, feast on you.”
“That's a little odd.” she looked away.
“Really?” Stripping out of my own clothes as quickly as possible, I lay over her, rubbing her body against mine. “I think it’s sexy as hell.”
“I can smell you here,” I breathed on the sensitive spot just below her ear, before I nipped at the lobe, making her squirm beneath me. “And here,” I kissed her collarbone, and “here.” A long languorous lick this time, swirling around her nipple, then the other.
“Geir,” she panted huskily.
“Quiet, remember?”
“And here,” I nuzzled the curve of her side where it flowed into her hip, tongued the delicate crease at the top of her thigh.
I kissed the line as it led me further down, her ragged breath tempting me to go further, drag out the delicious torment until we were both wild.
A puff of warm air against her mound and she whimpered.
“Shhh,” I looked up to see her face flushed, her hair spread over the pillows like a glorious aura. “Be quiet.”
I pulled her legs apart and dragged my tongue across her glistening folds.
“I can't do it,” she whispered.
“You can do anything,” I kissed lower, sucked at her clit. “I've seen you.”
I watched her as I worked her clit, her breath coming faster until finally I worked one finger inside her hot channel.
With a muffled groan she bit the back of her hand, thrashing from side to side.
“Oh no, that won’t do,” I whispered and crawled back up to cover her trembling body with mine.
Kneeling between her knees, I pulled her wrist away, holding it above her head, covering her mouth with mine. With one smooth thrust I buried myself in her to the hilt, swallowing her shout, matching the pump of my hips with the assault on her mouth. She stiffened, then wrapped her legs around my waist, locking us together.
I found her other wrist, pinned it with my other hand, the feel of her stretched beneath me, willing and open, tearing any other thoughts from my mind.
Her muted cries heated the air between us, driving me harder, faster, until the touch of her, her scent, her taste was my entire world.
And at her tight spasms around my cock I lost myself within her.
We slept, curled and exhausted, limbs tangled, until with the part of my mind that never truly slept, I heard Doc.
“All the noncombatants should be out of the way by now. Rise and shine.”
The healing wand had taken off the worst of the damage from Tianna, but she still moved a stiffly.
“Don't worry, it’ll loosen up as I get moving,” she said when she caught my frown.
Doc handed around a small set of disks. “Stick them to anything, and make sure you have a wall or two between you and them when you hit the button. Maybe three.”
Valrea's eyebrows rose, but I shrugged. This was how Doc worked.
“You sure there's nothing in there that you want us to try to save for you,” Valrea asked. “Any of their research, tests?”
I could've kissed my lady right then for that. Data, a better gift for Doc then flowers.
“No.” Doc shook her head fast, and I could tell it pained her to say it, to give up a chance to snoop at what Melchior’s scientists had been up to. “It would just be sloppy work. I wouldn’t want to see it anyway. Go destroy it all.”
She patted Valrea’s shoulder, handed her another explosive. “But thank you for asking, dear.”
“The major problem with you going in undercover again, so to speak” she gestured to the scatter cloaks, “is that you're blind to each other. These aren't perfect, but they should help.”
Doc shot me a look from narrowed eyes. “Had to do something to find that cloak you dropped before. We’ve only got the one box of them.” She passed out goggles. “Try them on, let's make sure you're not fumbling around trying to tighten things in the field.”
A tap on the side of the frame, and everything looked normal. The cloaks lay folded on the table, their silver shimmer no different than before I’d put on the goggles.
“What’s it supposed to do?”
“Nothing, until you turn the scatter field on.” With a quick swipe Doc hit the toggle. And instead of disappearing, the scatter cloak became a dark shadow.
Doc helped Valrea adjust her set. “Do you see it?”
“Yup. I guess we don't need that rendezvous point after all”, Valrea teased.
“All right,” Tianna said. “Everyone should be out of the way now, unless that idiot has changed the work schedules just to show he’s in charge now.”
“Even so, we stay cloaked until we return. No talking unless we’re one hundred percent certain we’re alone.”
Goggles or not, I held Val's hand. There might've been a faint snort from Tianna, but she didn't say anything.
Smart lady.
Tianna led us through the maintenance tubes, following the same path that had led to Stanton's trap.
Valrea’s heart rate picked up, pounding in my ears, and I squeezed her hand for reassurance.
It would be fine this time. We were prepared.
The lab complex was empty, along the hallway branching off into a series of rooms, each filled with a variety of tanks, consoles and screens.
And it was all completely empty.
“What was he building down here,” I wondered, after my second inspection.
“A little bit of everything,” Tianna answered grimly. “The big experiments have been offline for a while, a few weeks.”
I wondered if that was something to do with the recall of the Hunters on the Star.
No way to know now.
“All right, let's start in the back and cover everything. Blow it all.” I ran a quick calculation, figured how many disks we could use in each room.
“Tianna, are there any buildings directly above ground here?”
“Don't think so. Why?”
“I wouldn't be surprised if it caved in a bit. Depends how exuberant Doc was feeling.”
We worked quickly, covering each of the workstations. In the third room, I found Valrea standing before a locked cold unit.
The label simply said ‘Test Subject Number One.’
“This is it,” she whispered. “This is what I wanted to find for all those years.”
Though the time beat heavily in the back of my head, we had a moment for this.
I tore open the door to find racks of tubes, each labeled neatly.
“Sample eleven.” She put it down, picked up another. “Sample 26. Sample 58.” A shuddering breath. “He wasn't ever going to stop was he?”
“It doesn't matter now.”
I slapped an extra disk on the interior of the cold unit, and for good measure swiped my hand down the shelves, sending the vials of tissue samples crashing to the floor.
“It's over.”
“What's taking you so long?” Tianna whispered from the door.
“We’re ready.” I reached for Valrea's hand. “Let’s be done with this.”
We raced through the corridor until we reached the first door. Sealing it behind us I fingered the detonator.
“Do you want the honors?” I offered it to Valrea.
No hesitation. “Yes.” And with the light of vengeance in her eyes she smashed the button.
For a moment, nothing happened. Then like an avalanche a cascade of explosions started.
“Run!” I shouted and dragged Tianna and Valrea with me to the next the door. I threw them through and slammed it behind us sealing it and then covered them the best I could.
“Keep down!” I yelled over the roar. “Cover your head!”
All we could do was ride it out.
Valrea
A fine coat of dust coated my throat. I blinked. Void, it covered everything in sight.
“Next time, let’s talk to Doc about double checking the strength of her little toys, alright?”
“Sounds like a plan,” Gier muttered.
I glanced over, and for a moment the image shifted in my goggles, the silver fabric of the cloak replacing the dark shadow. I tapped the side of the frame hard, and Geir was shrouded in black again.
“What’s wrong?”
“Goggles are malfunctioning. Must have gotten hit by debris.”
Tianna sat propped up against a wall, pushed herself up, slowly started moving. “We’ve gotta get out of here. There's no way the cadre won’t come to investigate.”
We headed back through the tubes until Gier held up a hand. “Someone’s coming. A lot of someones.”
“This way.” Tianna headed down another tube, twisting through the maintenance maze until we were sure we’d lost anyone. I wasn’t entirely sure where we were, myself.
We both looked at Geir, expectantly.
“I think we’re safe.”
“Good,” I grabbed his hand, still shaking from the explosions. “Let’s get back and come up with a different way to take out the security dome.”
“That’ll certainly do it,” muttered Tianna.
