by Brooke Hodge
Chuck gave me a belt that I tied around my waist so I could wear my wakizashi. It was awkward without the matching katana, but I made it work. As I was getting the fit right, a loud crashing in the front caught both our attentions. I put my hand on my sword and looked to Chuck.
“Wait here. I’ll see what’s going on.”
I was never good at staying put and stuck my head through the curtains as Chuck rushed to the front. Someone was beating frantically at the doors, but the ballistic TechGlass held strong. Chuck checked the cameras, then opened the doors. A middle aged man with a sparsely-filled gray beard nearly fell in the floor at Chuck’s feet.
“What in the sam hell is wrong with you, Cecil?”
The older man was nearly out of his mind in fear. He was a scrawny thing, worn thin by work and malnourishment. “You gotta let me in, Chuck. It’s the tulaxans. A whole pod of ‘em. They’re armed for battle and everyone is running for their lives.”
Tulaxans! Oh fuck! Did Sotash figure out who I was or was Torch here for Jason? Either way, he was in trouble. If Sotash was looking for me and Jason was the last to have me, the tulax leader wouldn’t believe him when he said he’d set me free. He’d torture Jason and his whole crew to death looking for information. I had to find him and warn him. I took off for the door.
“Ma’am, you can’t go out there! If a pod of tulaxans is here looking for battle, you won’t be able to protect yourself with just that little sword.”
“I appreciate your concern Chuck, but I’ve gotta go. Please let me by.” He looked in my eyes and knew I wouldn’t take no for an answer. He sighed and stepped out of the way. Cecil took the opportunity to jump inside.
Everyone was running like crazy. Drones were humming through the center like a swarm of bees but none were scheduled to arrive at this location for another twenty minutes. I didn’t have time to wait and I didn’t have time to run to another. I leaned over the glass railing. Several drones moved about below me but only one was empty enough and within a distance that wouldn’t outright kill me. Timing its movement and calculating my weight and the distance, I figured I had a ten second window. Someone screamed to my right but I blocked them out.
“Gaia, please don’t let anyone bump me,” I whispered in prayer. “Four…three…two…jump!” I launched myself over the edge, hoping I’d given a strong enough push to make the distance. Two other drones were coming in my direction, but they were full. I just hoped they didn’t hit me.
Freefalling isn’t as fun when you’re worrying about getting knocked off your trajectory and falling to your death. At first I worried the drone wasn’t moving as fast as I’d thought, but two seconds later I landed on the skid deck. The drone wobbled and whined. It tipped violently to the right, dumping a couple Elcas and some other tentacled creature into the void. I only had a moment to feel bad for that because I was also slipping on the rusted deck. I flailed, grabbing onto the railing at the last minute. The drone wobbled back and forth a few more times, its motors trying to compensate for my added weight, before finally leveling out again. Swinging my legs, I was able to launch my body up and onto the skid deck. I flipped over on my back to catch my breath, then rolled over and drew my sword as some angry-looking elcas moved over toward me. I never thought anything could look worse than an elca, but apparently I’d never seen one angry. I guess they were tighter with their brothers than I thought. Not wanting to kill any more, I lunged at them a few times until they stopped advancing, choosing to simply seethe in my general direction. My face contorted on its own looking at their monkey/penguin faces and bared fangs. Nature was fucked up sometimes.
Once docked, I backed off the drone, hoping none of the elcas would decide to attack from behind. Once I felt safe in the crowd I turned and ran, trusting my intuition to lead me to Jason. Trusting the connection I still felt as strong as ever. Weaving through the crowd slowed me down, but I eventually found a hinged door I felt sure Jason was behind. It was locked. Looking around, I spotted a bewildered looking security officer trying to think of a way to either get the hell out of the way or do the job he was contracted to do, fear and lack of training preventing him from doing either. I hit him at the base of the skull with the hilt of my sword and dragged his limp body to the side of the corridor. His plasma weapon would do nicely as a lock pick.
The blast took out the locking mechanism, but my shoulder opened the door. It would be unusable in the morning but I didn’t care because I was staring at Jason’s confused face. It was the most glorious sight in the worlds.
The four plasma guns pointed at my face by three angry tandari soldiers and one pissed-off tandari king…notsomuch.
“Fuyumi! What the fuck are you doing here?” Jason fumed.
“Saving your ass!”
“You know Fuyumi?” The tandari king asked, not turning his attention away from me.
Jason lifted an eyebrow. “You know Fuyumi?”
King Orantuk nodded slowly. His dark hair and skin looked much healthier than the last time I saw him. “She is the lost daughter of the Yamaguchi-gumi.”
Please, don’t. Please, Kai. I know you can hear me. I sense it.
There was a boring sensation as he probed my thoughts. So, that’s what that felt like.
I didn’t know it was her that hired me. I would have never worked for them. You have to believe that. I’m sorry for what I did to you.
He narrowed his eyes at me. There was no love lost between us, but he was an honorable soldier. He wouldn’t betray my confidence. I hoped.
“Yeah, but what else? There’s something you’re not telling me.” Jason looked from me to the king.
Kai did not take his eyes off mine. “She would not have me say.”
“There’s no time for this! Jason, the tulaxans are here. They’ve found us. We have to get off this station.” Jason’s shoulders fell. Kai shot glances at the others.
“Are you certain?” Kai stepped forward, lowering his weapon. His look was suddenly concerned. It wasn’t something I was used to seeing on Old Stoneface.
“Everyone on the station is panicking. They’re saying it’s a whole battle-ready pod.” I looked from Kai to Jason, not sure who I was really giving the information to.
“Captain Williston. Thank you for your service. We will be in touch.”
“Sure thing, Your Highness.”
Kai bristled at the term, but didn’t say anything as he passed. He just glared at me. I guess I deserved that. I did kidnap his entire crew and torture him for a few months. I was actually lucky to be alive. Shivering at the string of expletives he thought in my direction, I waited until the door swung shut, banging against the broken lock before turning back to Jason.
“Come on, we have to go.” I pulled on his arm. He didn’t budge.
“Why? Why did you come back?”
“Really, Jason? Are you going to be emotional about this now?”
“No, but I need to know why you’d come back. Does it have something to do with your family? Are they using you against me?”
I recoiled, hurt and angry. “Really? That’s what you think?”
“I’ve known who you were the whole time, but I couldn’t figure out why you’d make such an effort to get on my ship. Was it for the amulet? Is Sotash trying to double cross me? Is Nobu after it?”
Tears welled up in my eyes. I hadn’t cried so much since I was a kid, but Jason thinking only of Fuyumi, the Yakuza enforcer and Information Officer, was more than I could bear. “What? What amulet? No. I was running away from my family. From who I used to be.”
Jason crossed his arms over his chest. Blaster fire boomed outside the room. The station rocked. Holy shit, what was strong enough to do that? He didn’t even flinch. “That’s a really good story. Was fucking me part of the plan to get me to believe you? Cause, honey, I’m not that easy.”
“Are you serious? No. We can’t do this now.” Another blast rocked the ship. A loud rumble filled the space, shaking the door against the frame. Wer
e they bringing their whole damn ship in here?
“I’m not going anywhere until I find out why the hell you wanted on my ship so bad.”
“I needed to come to Hana Rae and your ship was the closest one heading in this direction for the next few weeks. I was running away because of what they were using me for. I couldn’t do it anymore. I couldn’t be responsible for any more deaths.”
“So Mistress Shi finally grew a conscience?”
I grabbed my stomach to keep from throwing up. I’d been called that several times, but hearing it from Jason was a punch to the gut. The Mistress of Death was a name created to strike fear in those I was about to break. “Jason…”
He sighed and rubbed his eyes. “I’m sorry. I know that’s not who you are now. I knew who you were when we picked you up. I figured anyone so desperate to get on my ship that they would bribe tulaxans to do it had to have a good reason, but there’s more to your story. I just need to know what it is. I can’t jeopardize my crew because I caught feelings for an assassin.”
Emotions stirred in me so strongly, I forgot for a moment that I wasn’t actually human. He knew who I was the whole time but didn’t turn me in. Maybe I could trust him. I tried to get a feel for his thoughts, but he was blank. Not that he was blocking me or anything. He was just waiting for my answer.
“I can read minds.”
An explosion of thoughts crossed through his mind. “Come again.”
“I’m telepathic.”
“Okay. Well, that’s not what I was expecting.”
“It’s more than that, though.” I wrapped my arms around my chest, trying to hold myself together. I’d never really talked about it to anyone else. Once my adoptive father, Nobu, discovered what I could do, he’d sent me on missions to uncover secrets about his enemies and the heads of companies he wanted to acquire. All he had to do was put me in the same room as someone, but his favorite thing was to have me torture someone until I learned the information he wanted. It was completely unnecessary. He was just that sadistic.
The breaking point came when I was interrogating the second in command of a rival family. He had information on me that Nobu didn’t. But instead of thinking it, when he knew I could read minds, he said it out loud for my handlers to hear as well. It was information that he knew would get him killed, but he wanted to destroy me as well. Jilted lovers are unpredictable like that.
“I’m not human.”
“Excuse me? You look pretty human to me.” He stepped closer, looking down at me. “You felt human.”
“My body is, but it’s just a shell. I’m an amaranthian. An oracle.”
“Wait. Oracle. Like the Oracles of Delphi? Ancient mythology?”
“Yes. Only that part was real. Actually, quite a bit of Greek mythology is based on the amaranthians. Apparently, some of us were quite egomaniacal and had a love for theatrics.”
Jason paced back and forth. “So…you can’t die?”
“My vessel can. But it just houses my energy. That energy lives on forever.”
“Hmm.” Jason crossed his arms over his chest as he thought. Finally, he lifted an eyebrow and shrugged. “Well, okay then. That works for me. Let’s get out of here.”
“Wait. That’s it? You’re good?”
“Sweetheart, I’ve dealt with enough aliens to know there’s a whole shit ton of things I don’t know a damn thing about, but that don’t make them any less real. You tell me you can read minds and can’t die, I’ll accept that. Just as long as you’re not some kind of sleeper that’s going to blow me and my crew up in the middle of no-fucking-where.”
I shook my head, a little bewildered.
“Alright then,” he said as he held out his hand, “let’s get the fuck out of here.”
“How? It sounds like they’re blowing the station up around us. What if they find us?”
“They ain’t here for us. We just don’t want to stick around long enough for them to find out we’re here and think they stumbled on a two-for-one special.”
I was confused, but I took his hand and let him lead me out through a back door. We wound our way through corridors, doubling back a couple times when he took a wrong turn, until we ended up in the tram lobby. It was nearly empty as most everyone had already fled to their respective ships. Hana Rae was the emptiest it had probably been in a century. He hit the button to start the automatic tram return and we hopped in as the countdown began.
Jason stood in front of me, looking weary and unsure, but as handsome as ever. He said he believed me, but would it be that simple? Could I believe him? I had no idea, but I wanted to try. I wanted to feel something besides fear and hurt. Something other than the numbness that came when you forced yourself to feel nothing at all. I stepped forward cautiously like I had the night before. I didn’t want to scare him off. Really, I didn’t want to scare myself into stopping. Neither of us panicked, so I took another step. And another. Until I was wrapped up in his arms. Even as our bodies floated in the lowered gravity between the station and the gravity rings, I felt safer than I had in my whole life. I felt loved. Or at least wanted for something other than my ability to kill.
Eight
I docked my new ship in the cargo hold and ran up to the bridge where Jason and the rest of the crew waited, taking the steps two at a time. Taesoo was scanning the communications channels and Xanda was spooling up the engines. I still wasn’t sure what Jean’s job was, but she was busy doing something at a pano over on the side.
“Bringing on more strays, Captain?” Xanda asked without looking up.
“You know me. Bleeding heart that I am.”
“Well, at least she doesn’t eat much.” Taesoo added.
I laughed despite myself. “Oh, TaeTae, you haven’t seen me after a good fight. I can put away more than you think.”
“I’ll attest to that.” Jason looked over his shoulder and winked.
“Don’t call me that.” Taesoo was smiling, though. He pulled up the external view on the pano as we left the bay. “Dear God in Heaven, what is that?”
“I don’t know, but it’s not tulaxan,” Jason said, turning toward the pano.
Nobody else spoke a word as Taesoo pulled up a scan of the massive ship on the other side of the station. It was bigger than any dreadnaught I’d ever seen with armaments covering every external surface. Without warning, there was an explosion on one side. The entire vessel rocked from the power of it and I was hit with such a strong wave of energy that I fell back into my chair even before the ship itself listed from the shock.
“Fuyumi! Are you okay?”
“Dammit! Would everyone quit asking me that? I’m fucking fine.” I said as I pulled myself back up.
“Captain, a small transport just left the main ship. What do we do?” Jean spoke up.
“Nothing. Turn off all the nonessentials. Let’s wait this out.”
The ship turned away and headed back toward the station. As it got closer, a buzzing sensation came over me. I recognized it from earlier.
“Jason,” I whispered.
“Yeah?”
“Remember what I told you?”
“Uh-huh. Kinda hard to forget.”
“Well, I’m not alone. There’s another one on that transport and she’s stronger than any other I’ve ever come across. Even stronger than King Orantuk.”
“You mean, Kai is…one of you?”
“Yes, but I just found out.”
“Is she good or bad?” Jason was scanning her transport as he spoke. The others looked between each other but didn’t interrupt.
“I don’t know.”
“She’s sending hailing frequencies. In Tandari,” Taesoo said.
“The Imperial Conquest is approaching, sir,” Jean noted.
“What the hell is going on?” Jason asked it, but we were all thinking it. We watched as Kai’s ship pulled in the transport.
“Captain, the unknown ship is gone.” Jean called out, alarmed.
“Where did it go? Did
it blow up?”
“I don’t know, sir. It just disappeared. There’s no debris and there’s no gravity field from an FTL jump, though.”
“How the hell does a ship that size just fucking disappear without a trail of some sort?” I asked, looking around the room. They looked at each other but didn’t answer. There were a few whispers of thoughts, but they were gone before I could grab one.
“I can’t tell you, but that’s exactly what it did,” Jean said without looking away from her panel.
“Does someone have some information I don’t know about,” Jason asked.
Of course, everyone looked at me. I sighed and sat down.
“Alright everyone. You might want to settle in. This is going to be a long story.”
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