by Cheree Alsop
Liora fought back a smile at the teasing sarcasm in his tone when he said the last few words. “It wasn’t important,” she replied. “My goal was to never seen a Damaclan again after leaving Ralian.”
Tariq’s smile faded. “Obruo changed that.”
Liora nodded and lowered her gaze to the floor. “Yes, he did. He changed everything.”
“He’s still out there somewhere,” Tariq told her. “We’ll find him.”
She glanced up at him. “I just worry about how many more people he’ll hurt before we do.”
Tariq let out a slow breath and gave a nod. “We’ll have to watch our step. If we keep our visits to Gaulded and planets to a minimum, he won’t have many places to go.”
Liora’s heart skipped a beat. “Tariq, what about Verdan?”
“What about it?” Tariq asked, though his voice was reflective as though her words made him think.
“Tariq, Obruo could trace us there easily, especially with the slain Coalition officers. He obviously has the ear of many who can get him that kind of information, or else he wouldn’t have known I was at Gaulded Zero Twenty-one before he blew it up.”
Tariq shook his head. “Verdan is a hard planet to get into. He wouldn’t make it through the lightning unless he could prove citizenship or had express permission from either the Kristo Belanite family that owns the Gaulded or from a Coalition colonel. And we’re not there anymore.”
“That didn’t matter on the Gaulded,” Liora pointed out.
She could tell the thought of Mrs. Metis and the citizens of Echo being in danger at Obruo’s hands bothered him.
Tariq ran a hand through his hair to push the black strands from his eyes.
“Verdan is a protected planet by both the Gaulded and the Coalition because of the volts we put out. Obruo crossed lines when he blew up a Gaulded. I don’t know how many more risks he can take before he loses all of his allies,” Tariq said. “But just the same, after Gliese, we’ll head to Verdan and make sure everything’s alright.”
“Okay,” Liora replied. His words eased the tightness she felt. If they were protected, Obruo would have a difficult time getting inside the lightning field to reach the planet. But there had been other places.
“You’re thinking about the other stops we’ve made, aren’t you?” Tariq asked, watching her face.
She nodded. “Tariq, everywhere we’ve been is in danger. The Gauldeds, the people I’ve spoken to. Obruo won’t stop.”
“Neither will we,” Tariq reassured her. “First, we have to concentrate on destroying the Omne Occasus. After that, I promise you, we’ll find Obruo and make him pay for what he’s done to us.”
Liora expected to feel reassured by Tariq’s words, but instead, she felt only fear for Tariq. What if Obruo found a way to kill the human? He almost had during the circus on planet Luptos. If they were ever in a situation like that again, she didn’t know what she would do.
That was the truth of it. She had never expected to care about anyone so much. She held feelings for Devren that confused her, emotions drawn from his kindness and the way he always looked out for her; but with Tariq, it was different. Tariq felt like the feather that floated just out of reach, like a feral animal that wanted to be loved, but couldn’t quite draw near enough to be touched.
When Tariq looked at her as he did just then, as though her thoughts mattered more to him than anything else in the Macrocosm, she almost believed that perhaps he could give his heart to her.
Yet there it was again, the way his gaze dropped to the floor and something akin to guilt showed in his eyes. She knew he missed his wife, the woman Obruo had ripped from his life so violently. She didn’t know how to fix it, or if he wanted her to.
But the thought of Obruo getting his merciless hands on the human scared Liora more than anything. Obruo knew how to make people suffer; he relished in it. If there was anything Liora had learned growing up in Obruo’s household, it was that the Damaclan leader knew how to bide his time and wait patiently for the perfect moment that would inflict the most pain.
The thought sent a tremor down Liora’s spine.
“Are you alright?” Tariq asked.
She met his gaze, so concerned yet so cautious as though he fought an inner battle he didn’t know how to win.
Liora nodded. “I’m fine. Thank you for checking on me.”
Tariq knew her words for the dismissal they were. “You’re welcome,” he replied. “You should get some rest.” He made his way to the door and put his palm on the reader. When it opened, he looked at her. “I keep meaning to reprogram this so it only opens for you.”
She shook her head. “I don’t mind.”
He nodded and ducked out the door. It slid shut behind him. She glanced up at O’Tule’s painting one more time, then pulled her pillow down and curled up on the floor.
Chapter 18
“Welcome to Gliese,” Hyrin said.
“It’s not what I expected for a water world,” O’Tule replied.
She glanced at Shathryn as if hoping for a response, but the exterior analytic specialist had barely said anything since Tariq cleared her from the medical wing. Tear tracks showed on the woman’s face, but she didn’t cry when the others were around.
“It’s not water like we’re used to,” Hyrin explained. “It has all different phases. We can expect steam, high-pressure ice, and darkness. The water vapor and clouds that make up the atmosphere absorb any starlight, so with water fathoms deep, there’s going to be a type of darkness unlike anything we’ve experienced before.”
“Sounds like fun,” Tariq said dryly.
Devren glanced at him. “Your type of adventure, right?”
“Any kind of adventure is my type,” Tariq replied.
Devren grinned. “That’s what I thought.” He glanced around at his crew. “Officer Straham, you and Shathryn maintain orbit with the Damaclan ship.”
The officer didn’t look pleased about the order. “I’m not sure I’m comfortable having Damaclans as bodyguards.” He gave Liora an apologetic look. “No offense.”
“None taken,” she replied. “Damaclans have earned our reputation.”
“Just the same, they won’t go against Liora’s orders,” Devren told him. “You’re safe up here and they’ll protect the ship in case the Coalition finds some inconceivable way to get here.”
“Yes, Captain,” Officer Straham replied.
Shathryn merely nodded, her gaze blank.
“What do you want me to do?” Zran asked. He looked like one of the crew now that he was dressed in a Kratos uniform. The black and blue set off the blue streaks that marked the Zamarian’s arms and face.
Devren glanced at Liora. She nodded, indicating that he could be trusted.
“We’re not sure what’s going to happen when we get down there. If anything goes wrong, I need a crew up here ready to act,” Devren replied. “Things could get dangerous.”
“Count me in,” Zran said, holding out his hand.
Devren shook it. “I appreciate that.”
He led the way down the hallway. They were almost to the cargo hold when the intercom buzzed.
“Captain, there’s a starship approaching. It looks Damaclan,” Duncan announced.
Devren looked at Liora. “You don’t think your friends brought some backup, do you?”
Damaclans wouldn’t betray her, unless….
Liora took off running up the hallway. She burst onto the bridge.
“Pull up the ship,” she demanded.
Officer Straham fumbled for the right button. When he hit it, Liora’s heart skipped a beat. Painted on the side of the craft was the same symbol as the tattoo beneath her left ear, a blade in the center of the Eye of the Tessari dragon.
“Obruo,” she said.
Tariq and Devren ran into the room in time to hear what she said.
“We’re in trouble,” Tariq stated.
“We need to get the Omne Occasus out of here,” Devren replie
d.
He looked back over his shoulder at the others. “Hyrin, can you separate the Feren orb from the Omne Occasus?”
“I can,” Hyrin replied. “But it’ll make the imploder unstable. I was hoping we could wait until we reached Gliese’s atmosphere.”
“We have to do it now,” Devren told him. “Stabilize the Omne Occasus the best you can and disguise it in the crate. Put the orb in the Gull. Tariq, help him. We need to leave, now.” Devren turned to Officer Straham. “As soon as we’re gone, take off. We’ll call for pickup when we’ve cleared Gliese.”
“We might not be able to contact them until we’re through the atmosphere,” Hyrin called over his shoulder as they ran down the hallway.
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Devren replied. He put a hand on Officer Straham’s shoulder. “For now, circle behind the planet. If you are followed or attacked, head for the transporter.”
“The Gull wasn’t mean to support life for more than a few hours,” Officer Straham said with a worried expression. “If you get stuck….”
“So don’t you and Duncan head off to party at Callisto and forget about us,” Devren told him.
Duncan shook his head in the corner. The bands woven through his ears shook. Liora couldn’t remember ever seeing him look frazzled in all the attacks they had been through, but even his gaze was tight when he looked at the Damaclan ship on the screen.
“Let’s go,” Devren commanded.
Tariq and Hyrin reached the Gull at the same time. Hyrin’s face was pale and he held the black box in his hands carefully as though a viper would jump out and bite him if he jarred it the wrong way.
“I don’t feel comfortable about this,” he said, buckling into a seat.
Devren took the controls. “Everything about this mission has turned on its head,” he said. “Our only goal is to get rid of this mess as fast as we can and get on with our lives.”
“If there’s anything left of them,” Tariq replied, sliding onto the passenger seat.
“Thanks for that,” Devren said dryly. He pushed the intercom button. “Open the cargo hold.”
“The second Damaclan ship is waiting for you,” Officer Straham said.
“Thanks for the warning,” Devren told him.
Devren hit the thrusters before the door slid open completely. The sides of the Gull scraped metal before it shot clear of the Kratos.
“Impatient, are we?” Tariq asked.
“I’m drawing fire away from the Kratos. The last thing we need is for Obruo to get a missile inside with the rest of Omne Occasus in there.”
A monitor beeped.
“Missiles left side,” Tariq announced.
Devren jerked the starship to the right and put it in a dive toward Gliese.
“If we can reach the planet, maybe we’ll be able to lose Obruo in the water,” Hyrin said.
Several missiles sped past the ship.
“He’s not fooling around,” Tariq pointed out. “He’ll try to stop you before you reach the surface.”
“There won’t be a surface,” Hyrin replied. At their questioning looks, he explained, “Water planets aren’t made up of one form of water. There are many forms I’ve never even seen before. My guess is that the atmosphere will flow right into the water, which surrounds the water core.”
“Either way,” Tariq interrupted Hyrin before he could go into more detail. “Obruo’s out for blood. We need a way to fight back that doesn’t endanger the orb.”
A missile struck the Gull.
Tariq muttered a curse. “He’s damaged the missile compartment. I can’t fire back.”
Devren spun the ship to the right, dodging another strike. The hazy cloud of Gliese loomed in front of them. Devren hit the thrusters and the Gull darted into the misty atmosphere.
“The computer’s gone haywire,” Hyrin reported from his seat behind Devren’s. “The atmosphere’s interfering with the read.”
“We’re flying blind,” Devren replied.
Hyrin nodded. “That’s another way of putting it.”
The clouds darkened and the Gull’s navigation lights turned on. A missile clipped the back of the ship. Devren pulled to the left, but Obruo stayed close behind.
“Turn off the lights,” Liora told them. “His computers should be malfunctioning as well. If we go dark, he’ll have no way of tracking us.”
Hyrin nodded. “She’s right. The atmosphere blocks out any light from the nearby stars. In a few seconds, we won’t be able to see our hands in front of our faces.”
“Do it,” Devren said.
Tariq switched off the external lights, then those in the cabin. Hyrin was right. Without the ship’s lights, they were left in complete darkness.
“I’m angling slightly left,” Devren said quietly. “That way if he follows our trajectory, it’ll throw him off.”
Liora felt the slight change in direction. Without the ability to see, her other senses strained. From her seat behind Tariq’s chair, she caught a slight hum.
“What’s that?” she asked. It felt right to talk softly with the darkness pressing in on all sides.
“What?” Hyrin whispered back.
“That humming sound,” she replied.
“I hear it now,” Tariq said. “It seems to be coming from the right.”
Gray showed through the window beside Tariq. Everyone squinted, trying to make it out. The gray brightened and became a glowing orb nearly the size of the ship.
“What on earth?” Hyrin gasped.
The orb drew near. Liora looked past the light to its source and her stomach twisted.
A creature with clear fangs and milky white eyes drifted closer. Its mouth opened slowly, revealing translucent fangs nearly as long as the ship was tall. Fin-like appendages waved in the liquid, keeping the creature in place.
Liora could barely wrap her mind around how big the creature was. Their ship would be a mere morsel to such a beast. It was the first time in her life that she felt like prey instead of a predator.
“Uh, Devren,” Liora said.
Tariq glanced at her, then past the orb to where she was looking.
“Dev, get us out of here!” he demanded.
“What—” Devren’s eyes widened. He slammed his palm on the controls and they shot forward. The rear camera showed the orb fading back into the watery darkness.
“I don’t like this place,” Hyrin said.
“More lights,” Tariq told them.
Wary, everyone peered at the glow in front of the ship. It drew nearer and widened in ripples of green and pink that billowed deeper. Strange hollows and curved spikes surrounded it.
“Is that alive?” Hyrin asked with a hint of fear in his voice.
Devren steered the Gull carefully closer. To their surprise, the ship’s nose bumped into the object far sooner than it looked like they would. Everyone was jerked forward in their seats.
“Ice,” Hyrin said.
“I’ve never seen ice look like that,” Devren replied.
“It’s the pressure,” Hyrin explained. “The deeper we go, the more pressure the water is under. With the temperature changes, the water that turns to ice floats, but it wouldn’t be as cold as the ice we’re used to.”
“So we should go for a swim?” Tariq suggested.
Hyrin stared at him with wide eyes. “You would drown. There’s no telling what phase of water you would encounter, and with the high-pressure….”
“I’m joking,” Tariq told him. “I don’t want to go out there.”
Everyone watched another strange ice sculpture flow past. It looked like a demon beast trying to claw out of the dark depths. There was no way of telling what made it glow, but the green and pink hues gave it a haunting appearance Liora saw again when she closed her eyes.
“Creepy.”
She opened her eyes at Tariq’s voice. The glowing ice had drifted past, yet other shapes showed the deeper they got. Creatures nearly four times the size of the Gull
floated effortlessly in the darkness. Huge tendrils hung down from the domed heads that glowed dimly in the darkness.
“Jellyfish.”
The others looked at Liora.
“Malivian had a display of Earthling jellyfish. They glowed like that when he put lights in the aquarium,” she explained. “They were much smaller than these, but they always seemed harmless to me.”
As if to contradict her, another jellyfish floated past. In its tendrils it held another of the creatures with the glowing orb, only this one’s face was half-eaten. Its jaw hung sideways and the translucent teeth glowed with the faint orange color of the jellyfish.
“Deeper,” Tariq said.
Devren did as his friend suggested.
“How much further in do we need to be?” Liora asked Hyrin. “And what is your plan for destroying the orb?”
“According to Tramareaus.” Hyrin paused. He cracked a smile and said, “I’m so used to groans of dismay when I say his name that I almost expect them now.” At Liora’s impatient look, he continued, “The orb needs to be exposed to as much water as possible. The waterproof box I put it in has a latch lock which will be easy to open out there.”
“Your plan is to go into the water and open the box?” Liora replied.
Even Devren gave Hyrin an incredulous look.
“What?” Hyrin asked. “I figured it would be easy. Suit up, go out there, open it…” His voice died away as though he realized what he was saying.
Heading out into the freezing dark water filled with mysterious and abnormally large, toothy and tentacled creatures didn’t exactly make the best plan.
“I’ll do it,” Tariq said.
“I will,” Liora told him.
The ship shook and a siren sounded. The lighting flickered on and off.
“What’s going on?” Tariq asked.
“I’m not sure,” Devren said.
“Obruo will see us.” Liora watched the rear camera, convinced the Damaclan leader would show up at any moment.
The ship shuddered again. Another alarm began to beep.
“Everyone get suits on,” Devren commanded. “If we lose pressure down here, we’re done for.”
Tariq handed him an atmosphere suit and pulled on his own. Liora assisted Hyrin with suiting up. The Talastan’s hands shook as he fumbled with the zipper. Liora helped him get it fastened.
