Soulless

by Kate Rudolph

  Wind ruffled the back of his neck and Raze shivered from the cold. He snapped his head back, looking for the source. “What’s the temperature in here?” he asked.

  Kayde took the reading and did it a second time without telling him the result. After a third check, he finally spoke. “Well below standard range. The heat regulators might have been hit by blaster fire.”

  Or there was a breach.

  He and Kayde picked up the pace, looking for anything that could answer that question. They got their answer when they found Dryce huddled next to a bleeding Dru, his hands covered in green blood as he tried to stanch a wound on his leader’s stomach. Nokta was nowhere to be seen.

  Raze ran back the way they’d come until he found the medkit he’d spotted on the wall earlier. By the time he was back, Kayde and Dryce were speaking in low voices and Dru’s eyes had slid shut. He threw the kit down and opened it, reaching for regen gel and a wound sealer.

  “We didn’t even see them coming,” Dryce was saying. His fingers shook when he pulled them away from Dru’s wound. “Nokta called for backup while she was coming back from intel. By the time we got here, she was gone. They were like fucking ghosts!”

  Raze slathered gel on the wound and sealed it. Dru had lost a lot of blood, but he was breathing evenly. A shot of painkiller and a stimulant had his eyes snapping open. He shot up from his position and winced, cursing out an impressive streak of swears. “Nokta reported a breach,” were the first coherent words out of his mouth.

  “Can you move?” Kayde asked.

  Dru took a minute, but he nodded. It took all three of them to get him up, but he could move with only Dryce’s support once he was on his feet. Kayde took the rear, his rifle at the ready, while Raze led the way, alert for the enemy. He tried to signal Toran on the comm, but something was blocking the signal, probably whatever had kept Dru from calling them.

  Wherever the enemy was hiding, they weren’t in the hallway on the way to the women’s suite. The four of them shuffled in and locked the door behind them, settling Dru down onto a chair. Sierra came up with a bottle of water and offered them towels that she must have procured from somewhere. Her teammates came up behind her along with another woman who Raze didn’t know.

  “What’s going on?” asked Mindy. The four women had formed a wall around Dru, blocking him from view of the other survivors. Of course, they didn’t want to cause a panic. They weren’t going to like the news.

  “There’s been a breach and our comms are malfunctioning. Dru was injured and Nokta is missing. We saw no one in the hallway, but we suspect some of the Oscavians are inside.” The sentences came out choppy, but he reported the information as quickly as he could.

  “How the fuck do they keep screwing with the comms?” Mindy demanded. “I chalked that shit up to the atmosphere on Fenryr, but now comms aren’t working here too?”

  Jo made a slashing motion with her hand and shook her head. “Worry later.”

  Sierra looked between all of them, her face pale but determined. “So we have twelve civilians, one of whom is restrained, an injured soldier, and few weapons with an unknown amount of hostiles. What’s the plan?”

  ***

  At some point in the discussion, Sierra had migrated to stand next to Raze. She didn’t even realize that she’d laced their fingers together until her palm started to sweat, but she left it where it was. She hadn’t known that she could hate those damn slavers any more, but now that they—or their client—had followed the ship to this base and compromised its location and attacked Raze’s people, she wanted to do something rash and destructive.

  Instead she was stuck babysitting while an unknown number of hostiles had broken into the facility and might be intent on retrieving the women in her care. Raze’s hand wasn’t enough. She gave herself five seconds and leaned her head against his shoulder. He leaned into her touch, but before anyone but the uninjured Detyen that she hadn’t been introduced to could give them a weird look, she straightened and waited.

  “Where’s the hard line in this room?” Toran asked. His eyes skated over the walls, jumping past the cluster of survivors and completely missing the panel embedded in the wall behind them.

  Sierra pointed straight at the mass of women. “It’s locked down,” she warned. “We were only given access to the media player. I wish it had been enough.” She muttered the last part, but it was still loud enough for them to hear her.

  Toran just nodded. His jaw set and he steeled his shoulders before marching towards the panel and moving around the women like they were a giant boulder in the road.

  “What’s his problem?” Sierra whispered to Raze. This wasn’t the first time Toran had glared at her people. At first she’d chalked it up to the complications she’d caused in their life, but he looked at her just fine. It was only when he had to interact with the women they’d rescued that he got strange.

  “Problem?” Raze looked past her to where Toran was now speaking into a wired communicator. “I haven’t noticed anything.”

  “Seriously? I’ve known the guy for a week and can tell he’s acting squirrelly. He doesn’t like the survivors.” Out of the corner of her eye she caught the Detyen stranger staring at them again. She flicked her eyes over to him and stared. “Hello, can I help you?”

  His eyes widened when she addressed him, making it more than clear that he wasn’t one of the soulless Detyens wandering around. He glanced at Raze and his mouth gaped. Raze squeezed her hand and turned toward the man. “Dryce, this is Sierra, my denya. Sierra, this is my brother.”

  Right, the brother. He’d mentioned him before. Sierra nodded at the other man and now that she was looking, she could see the resemblance. The set of their eyes and the strong lines of their noses, the golden green tone of their skin, even the disbelieving expression that momentarily coasted over the Detyen’s face matched what she’d seen of her mate. Dryce recovered quickly, though he still glanced at Raze every so often as if he thought the man would disappear in a puff of smoke. “I am glad to meet you,” he said.

  They didn’t have time for more conversation before Toran came rushing back. “Comms are glitching all over the base. The enemy has taken out a terraforming station and already the casualties are mounting. The Oscavian leader has chosen not to identify himself, but he’s made it clear that he and his men will retreat if we give over the women that were stolen and those who did the stealing.” Toran glanced over at her and then to Mindy and Jo.

  That declaration hung out there for several seconds before anyone spoke. “And?” Jo finally prompted.

  “And Sandon isn’t the type to turn civilians over to slavers, but he’s meeting with a representative and an hour-long ceasefire has been called.”

  “You really think they’re just going to forget this place if you give us to them?” Mindy demanded.

  Sierra watched as Toran flinched. “It’s not Toran’s decision,” she found herself saying. “And he’s not going to give us over.” Where the defense of the man came from, she wasn’t sure. But he hadn’t let Raze be executed and even in his discomfort, he’d defended the women in this room.

  Toran nodded at her. “Sandon is buying time, both to mount a defense and to get us out.”

  “Our ship isn’t ready.”

  “Us?”

  She and Mindy spoke over one another but Toran just nodded as if a nod answered either of those questions. “We’re not taking your ship. And the defense is yours, if you want it.” He flicked his eyes to Raze for a moment and then back to the rest of the group. “They might have short range tracking chips in the survivors, or another control chip. Earth is a long way away, and that journey isn’t easy. But if you wish to leave the four of us behind,” again with a glance to Raze, “that is ultimately your choice.”

  Mindy and Jo visibly re-counted the Detyens in the room, confirming that there were five, not the four Toran mentioned. Then they looked at how close Raze and Sierra were standing and neither needed to announce that Ra
ze was coming with no matter what.

  “We could use the muscle.” There wasn’t time for any more discussion or debate. Toran gave a rundown of the path they’d be taking and the potential dangers. Piloting off the planet in stealth mode while an Oscavian warship hovered overhead was the biggest risk, barely dwarfing the fact that they could run into Oscavian warriors bent on abduction and death at any moment.

  Sierra found Quinn and they got the women into order, and a wave of relief washed through the room as they learned they were about to go home, even with the threat of blaster fire all around them. And in less time than expected, they were lined up and ready to go. Kayde handed out blasters that he’d retrieved from a nearby locker to Sierra, Mindy, Jo, and a deputized Quinn. Quinn took the lead with the Detyens while two of the survivors stayed near Dru to help him if he stumbled. Raze dropped to the back of the pack with her, Mindy, and Jo to help cover the rear.

  And like that, the merry band of survivors and warriors was running blindly through a besieged fort, trying to beat the enemy to safety.

  ***

  The first sign of trouble started halfway to the hangar. The women had kept up well, even if Toran and Dryce set only a moderate pace for them to move. Dru couldn’t run with his still healing wound and most of the women didn’t have the endurance to do more than walk briskly. But with a group as large as they were, they made good time. The halls were deserted and with the ceasefire underway, everything had taken on an eerie silence, every move they made echoing down long hallways until he was sure they could be heard all the way outside.

  A Detyen warrior lay unmoving on the ground as they turned a corner and one of the women let out a gasp while another began to scream before she was cut off by someone else. Raze hung at the rear of the pack while they paused to check the warrior’s vitals. Dryce met his eyes and shook his head; there was nothing they could do to help him but wish him well on his journey to the afterlife.

  They continued on, now even more cautious. The hangar door was just out of reach, down one more hallway, when a giant purple warrior covered in silver armor stepped into the hallway, blasters in each hand.

  “Down!” Toran called, and to the women’s credit, they all dropped except for the bound blonde who had to be pulled to the ground by two others. The women scrambled back around the corner, taking cover as they’d been instructed to do before they left their quarters. Raze’s blast rifle was heavy in his hands as he heard every shot let out from where he sat. He shuffled over, watching as Mindy, Jo, and Sierra kept their eyes trained behind them to make sure no one came up behind them and caught them unaware. Raze peeked around the corner and saw that his team and Quinn had taken cover, but the armored Oscavian still hadn’t been hit. His armor seemed impenetrable, but he wore no helmet.

  Raze steadied his rifle and aimed. He’d only have one shot, but even if he didn’t hit, he hoped the distraction would be enough to let the others get their hits in. He let out his breath and fired, the stream of red shooting too quickly for his eyes to follow before the Oscavian collapsed. Blaster fire wasn’t usually deadly, but a hit to the face from a blast rifle could end a person.

  They stayed under cover for several more seconds before checking for more hostiles. Once it became clear that the armored Oscavian was the only threat at the moment, everyone got moving again.

  The blast doors to the hangar slid open under Toran’s command and the cold air inside froze Raze to the bone. The heating system was busted here and there could be a breach in the walls. He looked for a sign of danger, a sign that this was where the Oscavian had come from. Tools were strewn on the floor and a patch of sticky liquid caught in shadow might have been blood, but he couldn’t tell.

  Their ride sat on the far side of the room, a long-range freighter that had been retrofitted with stealth capabilities and one defensive gun. Its shield was meant to guard it from space debris, but it was the best ship available to them right now. The women ran for the door, entering through the ramp at the back while Raze’s senses went into overdrive trying to see if they were really in immediate danger or if he was just paranoid.

  The last of the women boarded and he followed Sierra while his people and Quinn took up the rear. In under a minute, they were on board with the ramp raised. The women had found the seats and he followed the warriors and soldiers into the cockpit.

  Kayde and Jo had taken the pilot and co-pilot seats while Mindy sat in the navigator position.

  “Where’s the exit?” Jo asked. Sierra stood behind her chair, hands on the headrest.

  “The roof retracts,” Kayde informed them.

  “And is that going to be obvious to the giant warship squatting in the sky?” Mindy sniped. Tempers were running high, for those in their group who had them, and they needed to get away quickly.

  “Probably not,” was Kayde’s less than reassuring reply. “We’re on the far side of the base and this ship is small, we don’t need it open all the way. We can close it remotely once we’re out.”

  “The stealth engine on this ship will see us away safely,” Toran assured them. “Let’s take our seats and get out of here.”

  It took several minutes to power up the ship. Raze sat next to Sierra at the back of the large cockpit with Dryce in the row of seats behind them. No one said anything, as if the sound of their voices could be enough to alert the Oscavians to where they were. The lights came on and the whir of an engine whistled around them. Raze gripped Sierra’s hand, needing to do something when it was now all in their pilots’ hands.

  Another several minutes passed and even Raze, who knew very little about ships, was beginning to think that something was wrong. “Shouldn’t we be gone by now?” he finally asked.

  “The door isn’t opening,” Kayde said, even and soulless as always.

  “What?” Sierra leaned forward to get a better look at the view screen. “Why not?”

  “Maybe it’s whatever is fucking with the comms,” Mindy suggested. “Whatever it is, we’re stuck until we get it to work.”

  “Or someone goes out and opens it manually. The controls are on the far wall,” Kayde pointed towards where he meant. “It should be one of us.” He meant the Detyens. “They’ll need to close the door behind us. I would do it, but they need the extra pilot.” Raze expected Jo or Mindy to protest, but apparently his claim was true.

  “I’ll—” Dryce was cut off before he could volunteer.

  “You should have left me in the first place,” said Dru. “I can open a door. Fly well.” He grabbed his blaster and exited the ship through the rear ramp without further argument. The ramp closed up behind him, sealing them back in the ship.

  Raze leaned forward, trying to get a look at Dru’s progress, but he was too small on the screen and Raze was too far back to get a good look. Minutes passed, but then he heard a screech outside as the door above them began to retract.

  “Everyone buckle up,” Jo warned over the intercom. “We’re going for a ride.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  They made it through the door and the Oscavians didn’t see them. They flew along a steady route away from the base and the Oscavians still didn’t see them. They broke atmo and nothing shot after them. But Sierra didn’t fully let out her breath until they were several thousand kilometers away from the base and speeding their way towards the right jump gate, still wrapped up in the ship’s powerful stealth engine.

  “Our path is mapped,” Mindy told them. “We should reach Earth in a week.”

  After they were through the jump gate, Sierra got up and went to tend to the women. She did a head count and checked it again when she only came up with eleven survivors, a certain blonde conspicuously absent. Rather than level an accusation at the group, she crouched near Quinn’s chair. “Please tell me Laurel is locked in a room somewhere on this ship.”

  Quinn’s head whipped around and she did the same count that Sierra had just done, eyes wide. “I could have sworn she was with us. I saw her all the way to the
hangar, I’m sure of it.”

  Sierra nodded and stood. She surveyed the women again and saw a few wouldn’t meet her eyes. “Has anyone seen Laurel?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

  A few looked away from her, but one, Valerie, smirked. “I guess she missed the bus.”

  Rage flashed through Sierra and she took a step towards the woman before she felt Quinn’s hand on her leg. Footsteps down the corridor let her know Raze was on his way, her emotions flashing in his mind. “You left her behind?” she yelled. “It was the middle of a battle!”

  “One that she called down on us,” Valerie crossed her arms and sneered. “We couldn’t trust that traitor not to sell us out as soon as we made it somewhere else. She made her choice.”

  “She didn’t have a choice!” Even though she knew she should keep her voice down, Sierra didn’t care. “It could have been any of you who go stuck with a control chip and forced to do that shit. You are all—”

  Raze placed a hand on her shoulder. She looked back to see him shake his head slightly. Even if a distant part of her understood what some of the women had done, she wanted to tear into them. No matter what Laurel had done, it wasn’t okay to leave her on the battlefield where she was vulnerable to attack and capture.

  “There are three rooms just down the hall.” She forced false evenness into her voice. “Choose your quarters. We’ll be home in a week.”

  She grabbed Raze’s hand and tugged him through the sea of women to the room she’d claimed for them. She’d managed to rescue her bag full of a few changes of clothes, and luckily the ship was stocked with enough soap to keep them all clean for the next few days. Raze had nothing but the clothes on his back. And her.

  “They left her there to die,” she said against his chest as he pulled her close.