by S. E. Smith
"Hello?" he called. "We're here for shift change." He wasn't expecting an answer, but he kept his hand poised next to his blaster just in case.
Liana glanced at him anxiously, and he gave her a small nod. They proceeded together toward the cage.
Pym squawked and was hopping from foot to foot.
"He's scared of the bars, I think. Doesn't want me to get too close," she murmured. "A force screen or something maybe?"
"Sounds likely." He stopped a few feet from the cage. "Hello?" he called again, loudly. If they were going to attract attention he wanted it to happen now and not when Liana was elbow deep in the guts of the cage. "We're here to clock in. Anyone here?"
Liana paced at his side, her gaze never wavering from Pym. She had her hands clasped together and was chafing them over and over. Jacen longed to put his arm around her, to hold her hand, anything, but he wanted to maintain the illusion they were just guards as long as he could.
Finally, after a few moments had passed with no one appearing, he tapped her shoulder.
She didn’t even look back at him, just raced toward the cage and sank to one knee in front of the panels on the bottom. She pulled a small toolkit off her belt and unrolled it while he fished a small lock pick set out of his own pants.
Liana lifted the panel away to reveal mechanical guts beneath. "OK." She breathed and seemed to be analyzing the pile of wires and switches and bits and bobs. "OK. I can do this. Don't touch the lock yet."
Obedient, Jacen fell back to parade rest and thumbed the small remote in his pocket for reassurance. Their just in case plan. He'd like them to get quietly in and out, though, of course. Their just in case plan was more of a blow the place plan. If they had to shoot their way out, he wanted all of them safely inside their ship when the first blaster bolts sizzled past.
Jacen gazed around the room, looking for danger. The casino was eerily quiet so early/late in the day. The cleaning crew hadn't even been through yet and the floor was littered with torn paper, and other detritus. The carpet looked dirty and faded, which he supposed didn't matter because usually the casino was so full you couldn't even see your feet, let alone the carpet. The main feature that drew his eye was the large picture window that took up one whole side of the room. At the moment it was facing the rotating star field of open space.
Pym had fallen silent in the cage, apparently recognizing that his human was hard at work trying to get him free. But he paced back toward the tree in the center of the cage and made small cooing noises. Sounds of reassurance, Jacen recognized. Jacen froze, waiting for the other caliba to reveal themselves.
The branches of the tree rustled, and Jacen caught sight of pale feathers, rosy pink with a hint of gold. The caliba hopped lightly down from her branch to land beside Pym. She was bigger than him and paler. She cocked her head at Jacen, studying him sideways with a keen curiosity he could feel.
"Who's this, Pym?" Jacen murmured.
Pym made a smug chirrup in return, and Jacen laughed. Relief washed through him. The other caliba, the rosy pink one, seemed calm, and if she and Pym were bonded it would be easier to get them both out of the cage presumably. Jacen nearly sagged with relief that at least one portion of their contingency plan wouldn't be necessary.
"I think that's it." Liana puffed her breath out. "Try the lock."
Jacen hopped forward, pulling out the necessary items as he futzed with the metal lock. He'd braced himself for a shock in case the force field hadn't entirely been disabled. But he should've trusted his princess more. "You're brilliant, Liana-love. Have I told you that?"
She gave a breathless chuckle, poised on her heels, ready to dive back into the panel if she had to.
Jacen felt the tumblers in the lock give and yanked it down hard. He had his hand on the door to swing it open—
"Well done," a man said behind them. "I thought it'd take you longer to get into the cage or I'd have been here waiting for you."
Jacen froze at the chilly, officious voice echoing across the room. He turned and Tatinas was there with at least a dozen of his guards, weapons drawn and pointed at them.
Liana whirled toward their attackers but didn't stand. "Tatinas—"
One of the guards raised his blaster and squeezed a shot off even as Jacen lifted his own blaster. Jacen rolled to put himself in front of Liana. The shot hadn’t been meant for Liana, though. It had been meant for him. If he hadn't dived toward her it probably would have blown his head off. As it was, the bolt clipped his shoulder and spun him to the ground.
Not good. Heat and stinging pain coursed along his whole side, but he dragged himself to huddle against Liana. More shots didn't come, though.
"You, I don't need." Tatinas laughed as he pointed at Jacen. "Princess, are you ready to surrender quietly? I might let your friend here have medical attention if you do."
A broken sob escaped from Liana, but she sniffed it back and glared at the man, saying nothing.
Despair washed through Jacen like an icy rainstorm. Of course. Of course they'd been caught. He should have gotten Liana safely away. Should have come back for Pym by himself or not at all. "I'm sorry, Liana," he whispered. His torso was sticky with blood, and concentrating was becoming difficult. The whole world seemed to be fading in and out.
"Don't," her voice was tight, and he thought she was furious with him, but when he looked over she was messing with the panel again, using his body to block her hands from Tatinas. "Press the button, Jacen," she gritted out. "We surrender," she hollered at Tatinas. "I surrender! But I want to make sure my friend gets treated for his wounds before I go with you." Liana grabbed Jacen's blaster from his hand and tossed it away. "See. We surrender."
Pain was fogging Jacen's mind, but 'press the button' had finally penetrated. Gritting his teeth, hating to move his arm, he crept his fingers into his pocket and depressed the small switch that would trigger their blow the place plan.
Now that he had no weapon, Tatinas and his people began to close on them. Tatinas looked smug, and he hummed as he walked up. "You'll have to tell me where you've been hiding this past day. And where you got that fetching red dress, my dear."
Liana flinched, but still didn't speak.
Jacen could only groan. "You recognized her."
Tatinas snorted. "Her earring slipped. Finicky things, those glamour holographs—you have to be so careful. And you two weren't. Besides, I knew she'd come for her caliba. Once you have the bond you can't bear to be apart. All I had to do was wait. Isn't that right, princess?"
Tatinas was only a few feet away. Soon his guards would close on them and probably finish Jacen off. Drag Liana away. Their just in case plan was going to arrive too late.
"That's right," Liana said.
"No one hurt the princess," Tatinas bellowed as he and his guards moved in on them.
"You won't," Liana said, eyes like stones as she lifted the small blaster Jacen had insisted she wear on her ankle. She squeezed off a blast with her eyes closed and hit Tatinas in the chest.
The crime boss voiced a strangled croak then keeled over backwards, hitting the ground hard. He was still alive, though, because he almost immediately began yelling obscenities and begging for help.
"Pym!" Liana yelled.
The caliba—both of them—burst through the unlocked cage door and swooped through Tatinas's guards, clawing and biting, wreaking havoc. The rose colored one stooped momentarily over Tatinas, viciously pecking downwards. Tatinas yowled and thrashed then went very still.
Fierce bird. But an echo of satisfaction rolled through Jacen at the man's death. More satisfaction than he'd even thought he'd feel, strangely.
Some guards fled, others tried to shoot the birds, but without success. The caliba were too quick, too fierce, living up fully now to their heritage as hunting birds. Jacen tried to elbow crawl forward toward his blaster, wanting to be useful even if he was light-headed. But Liana hauled backwards on his collar and dragged him toward her.
"Wha—"
"Pym!" she hollered and held the cage door open.
Her caliba obediently swung inside the cage, the rose gold one almost on top of him a moment later. She was a beautiful bird, her feathers silky soft as they brushed over Jacen's hand in the now-crowded cage. She looked Jacen over, clicking her beak anxiously. Jacen wasn't sure if she was scared of him or for him, but he murmured, "It's all right," and tried to beam calm back at her.
Her feathers settled, and she actually pressed against one side of him and folded her wings. Pym did the same, cocooning Jacen in warmth. They all hunkered as low as they could as blaster bolts beamed through the open cage bars, the guards trying to finish what they'd started.
Jacen's shoulder throbbed, and he knew he'd lost too much blood. Everything was going black and it was getting increasingly hard to focus. Jacen wasn't sure why they were all in the cage together, especially when Liana swung the cage door shut to trap them. She also clipped something on her belt to the cage, tying herself to it.
What are you doing, my love? Jacen was so fuzzy-headed he could barely remember his name, but he didn't remember her tying herself to the cage as part of any iteration of any of their plans.
Liana messed about with the cage controls, and the force field hummed to life again. A blaster bolt sizzled and bounced off the barrier a moment later. Jacen could only briefly feel warmed with gratitude before the world went dark around him, and he knew no more.
Liana's pulse hammered in her ears hard enough to make her sick. There were still a half dozen guards left, and they all had their blasters pointed at her. A rather novel experience in her life as a whole, but one she was getting rather sick of in the short term. Still, Liana raised her hands in the air. "Don't shoot. I'm no good to you dead, and you can't even hit the rest of them now." She just needed to keep these guards talking. That was all. Just keep them from shooting her then everything could be all right. She couldn't think about Jacen's shoulder, couldn't think about how not all right things might be with him. She needed to live through the next five minutes or nothing at all mattered.
One of the guards scoffed. "What good are you to us alive now that the damned bird killed the boss?"
Liana shrugged. "Ransom? My father is a very wealthy man, and if all you ask for is money he'll be glad to pay. Tatinas asked too much."
"Is that right?"
"Maybe."
Something massive loomed in the picture window, obscuring the view of space. Liana blew her breath out, the relief so immense she nearly doubled over. "Oh, never mind, my ride's here." Liana pressed at one of the small circles on her ear which anyone else might have thought were earrings but which were in fact the triggers to her very own personal space pod. The suit settled over her body in a tingling rush, technology very similar to the force field around the cage. And just in time because even as her airtight seal triggered, her spaceship shot out the big picture window and exposed the room to vacuum. The cage was bolted to the floor and she was clipped to the cage, but Tatinas guards were sucked out and flash frozen in one swift clump.
The ship honed onto her suit's signature and flew through the picture window (big enough to drive a small spaceship through!). The ramp on the bottom opened up right beside her, and Liana bent to turn the force field off on the cage. She swung the door open, and Pym and his new friend both took Jacen by an arm and flew him out of the cage and onto the ship. Liana jogged afterward and punched the controls to close the ramp. After that she had to leave Jacen lying on the floor with the two caliba so she could get to the control room and get them the hell away from this damned space station.
She trembled as she set the sequence to take them to lightspeed. Jacen Jacen Jacen. Is he all right? I need to go help him. I have to—
The computer beeped at her, spitting out an error code. Stop. Calm down, she told herself. She had to shake those thoughts away, had to put them in a box. She'd already keyed the wrong sequence once and had to start over. She couldn't afford any more mistakes. Breathing slowly in and out, she carefully set the sequence and took the ship away from the space station. Once they had clearance, she punched the code in that would jump them to lightspeed and take them home.
After that was done, she threw herself out of her chair and ran down stairs to see if Jacen was alive or dead.
Jacen was still alive, but barely. He'd lost so much blood. He was weak and he hadn't regained consciousness. The blaster wound in his arm was bad, almost taking the whole arm off. Liana's stomach ached, wanting to rebel at the gruesome sight, at the blood coating her hands. But the caliba couldn't help her with this, and Jacen needed her. Little as she could do for him.
The ship's med bay was small, but it had a small antigrav litter that she used to get him out of the entryway. And it could synthesize blood to replace some of what he'd lost. But it couldn't repair his shoulder, and there was no stasis pod to stabilize him while they traveled. He was so pale, so still.
Liana held herself together until she had done everything she could for Jacen. But, once he was settled, her knees buckled and she collapsed in a heap on the floor, sobbing so hard she nearly threw up.
Pym could sense her distress, and he leaned his weight against her, rubbing at her side with his head, crooning reassurance. And he beamed, love love love to her over and over again. A pure wash of warmth and affection that got her calm enough she managed to stop crying.
The ship hummed around her, carrying all of them far away to safety, but her freedom meant nothing if Jacen wasn't alive to share it with her.
Pym's poor Liana finally fell asleep after crying herself sick. She pillowed her head on the bed beside the man Jacen. Pym had been surprised to see Jacen return. Liana's father had sent the man Jacen away from their nest and nearly pecked Jacen's eyes out when he did so. But now Jacen was back, and, unless Pym was very mistaken, he smelled a mate bond between Liana and her old bodyguard.
Pym ached for his poor Liana, but his healing powers wouldn't work on anyone but her, no matter how much she loved that person.
"He's her mate?" Rose Gold asked, clicking her beak.
"It would seem so. A lot of things happened while Liana and I were separated," and he shuffled closer to Rose Gold and chuffed his head against her neck to let her know that at least one of those things was not bad.
"I thought…" She cocked her head to the side, studying Jacen. "When he came into the room with her, to get us out of the cage…"
"What, Rose Gold?"
Her feathers fluffed, rising on her neck. "I felt his emotions. I think. Determination and fear and bravery. I was very scared to see the two of them. Scared they would hurt us, scared they would take you and leave me. But he beamed back reassurance and calm. And I felt better. I knew they were there to help."
"You didn't say anything."
"There wasn't time with all the running and fighting and flying." Her claws flexed around the perch they shared together, as if she wanted to hop off and fly away. "Pym, does that mean he's…he's my person? My companion?"
Pym felt his own feathers rising as his heart sped. "Only you can answer that. I know he is a very brave human. Kind too. And he would do anything for Liana. Or me."
"I can feel him even now. His pain. Oh, Pym, he really might die." Rose Gold fluttered her wings, her anxiety practically filling the room. "I don't want him to be my human if he's going to die."
Pym forced himself to smooth his feathers. "You could help him. If he is your true companion. Caliba have healing in our hearts. Sometimes we can share it. With each other, and with our own human."
"Yes, my mother healed my broken wing once. I remember. That was why Tatinas wanted m
ore of us." She was breathing hard, all her feathers standing on end. "I should try. Shouldn't I?"
Pym could barely catch his breath. "I would be grateful if you did. If Jacen dies, I don't know what it will do to Liana. But I think we should try now, while she's sleeping. We don't want to get her hopes up."
Rose Gold chirruped understanding and rubbed her head against his twice for his reassurance and hers, he thought. Then she fluttered down to land on Jacen's chest, her wide wings spread, nearly hiding him from view.
Rose Gold hummed low in her throat, and her shimmery feathers seemed to glow. Jacen startled on the bed beneath her, and his hands flexed into fists. Rose Gold made a small trill under her breath, a noise like a mother might make to reassure hatchlings. Jacen groaned and his eyes fluttered open. Rose Gold folded her wings and stayed perched on his chest, cocking her head to the side to study him. An air of satisfaction wafted off her, and a joy so pure Pym couldn't help but trill his own delight.
"Hello, Rose Gold." The man Jacen stroked two fingers over her head, and her eyes slitted closed in pleasure. Pym felt that bonding moment between them as clearly as if an actual rope had been tied around all their hearts. He settled his wings, practically bursting with happiness for them. It had been the same for him and Liana. Two hearts recognizing each other at once. Accepting. Loving.
It had been the same for him and Rose Gold as well now that he thought of it. But different. He snorted in amusement. Very different.
Liana gasped beside them, and hurried to the bed to clasp Jacen's hand. Rose Gold shifted but didn't fly back to the perch over the bed. Instead, she settled into the crook of Jacen's arm, watching Liana approach indulgently. Rose Gold shot Pym a look that was part joy, part smug triumph.
"Well done, my love," he crooned at her.
She fluffed her feathers and settled more comfortably against Jacen's side. "I like this human, Pym. He's not like the others."
