by Regine Abel
Jarog nodded, the same thoughts having visibly crossed his mind.
“It is common for agents to shave their horns and have their tail either cut off or tucked in. A good wig, dissimulating clothes, and no one will be the wiser,” Haelin explained. “They want my business, but for this, they need my territory. Assassination attempts have grown exponentially of late, which is becoming a serious problem.”
“You’re expecting an all-out war?” I asked.
Haelin shook her head. “No. We don’t believe in blood baths, here,” the Narengi leader said with an amused smirk. “We may be a merc planet, but we’re civilized in our hostilities. Assassins are mere soldiers performing the task they were given. Had any of the three succeeded in killing me, they would have been allowed to leave with their lives—their reward for winning. In the case of Dokolm, he hadn’t struck against me, only against you,” she added, turning towards Jarog. “Had he managed to defeat you, he would have gotten to live another day. Thanks for winning. I would have hated to let that one loose—he was vicious.”
“Interesting rules of engagement,” Jarog said, to which I nodded.
“Indeed,” Haelin replied. “But enough about them. Tamryn wants to reunite with her family and rebels. What about you, Cyborg? What do you want?”
This time, I held my breath as I stared at Jarog, just as curious about his answer. His face closed off, looking even more unreadable.
“First, to get Tamryn back to her people, and then I will go to Gorkon,” Jarog answered.
Haelin stiffened. I immediately got a bad feeling, while Jarog suspiciously narrowed his eyes at her.
“I’m afraid you will need to revise your plan, Jarog Kaijo,” Haelin said, the sympathy in her voice knotting my insides further. “It appears that many of your surviving brothers went to Gorkon after the transport ship’s explosion. Emperor Shui got wind of it and sent in his army.”
I felt the blood drain from my face and braced for what I knew would follow. Jarog sat so still, he might as well have been a statue. Haelin issued a vocal command, and the giant screen on the wall lit up.
“Replay Gorkon news for the past 48 hours,” Haelin said, before turning back to Jarog as images of sheer devastation on the surface of Gorkon filled the screen. “I’m sorry, but whoever didn’t perish in the initial bombardment, has fled and gone into hiding. There are survivors, but I don’t know how many. A couple more planets and a moon were targeted as well. The Emperor, and Kirs as a whole, are getting a lot of backlash for this. But Shui is claiming to be protecting the galaxy from the rogue Cyborgs out for blood.”
“I see,” Jarog said in a neutral voice.
His face was so empty, so devoid of emotion, a cold shiver ran down my spine. The machine that had abandoned me in the desert was back. Gone was the man who had begun to surface over the three days of our journey here. Coping mechanism or not, I couldn’t begin to imagine what kind of pain the human part of him had to be feeling right now. I put down my utensils, whatever appetite I had left vanished. Thankfully, I’d already almost been full.
“I understand you have lost most, if not all, of your pod brothers?” Haelin asked in a soft voice, the contrast with her previously harsher attitude quite striking.
“All but one has died, and the last one is either critically damaged or dying. So yes, any way you look at it, I’ve lost them all,” Jarog said matter-of-factly.
“Then you will have some thinking to do as to what your next steps will be,” Haelin replied, casting a sideways glance my way. “You may stay here until you have made a decision.”
Heart pounding, I licked my lips nervously to ask the question that had been burning my tongue since arriving here.
“Would it be possible to establish an off-world connection?” I asked in a careful tone.
“Your Uncle Cedric is alive,” Haelin said.
I gasped, my hand flying to my chest in shock while joy exploded in my heart. “You talked to him?”
“He messaged me yesterday to say he had survived. We didn’t talk directly. He was on the run. He promised to perform a vidcom as soon as it was safe enough,” Haelin replied. “I will pass the call to you when he does. But it could be hours or days. Lanish has sent a message to your father on Bionus. When he gets back to us, maybe he’ll have more info for you. Please take the next couple of days to evaluate your situation and your plans as well.”
“I want to get back to Bionus, to my father and my family,” I immediately replied.
My chest constricted at the sympathetic expression on Haelin’s face.
“Understandable. However, now is not the time to go there. Emperor Shui didn’t raid Gorkon and Trija—among others—only to back down now. All the rebel survivors, especially the Cyborgs, are a major threat to his despotic rule. He knows many will rally on Bionus. Any ship headed for our homeworld will be intercepted by the Emperor’s forces and shot down if they refuse to be boarded for security checks. Taking the two of you there would require me to send a big enough fleet to make the Kirsian troops cower. Whatever bonds of affection link our families, I’m not putting that many of my troops on the line for a couple of rebels.”
I swallowed hard and gave her a stiff nod. It wouldn’t make sense to jeopardize so many lives just for me to get home, not to mention that I didn’t really know what Jarog’s plans were now.
“Where would it be safe for us to go at this point?” I asked, feeling defeated.
“Honestly, at the moment, the safest place for the two of you is right here, in Satos,” Haelin said. “No one in my city will risk my wrath by trying to collect the bounties on your heads. Anywhere else you go will be at your own risk. You’re both skilled warriors. I could put your talents to good use. But if you’re too antsy, there are a few planets or moons you might try. I’ll send you a list. If you decide to go that route, I can have some prosthetics made to hide your brands. Just be aware that they will only fool the naked eye and some basic scanners. Shui made sure you would never be able to hide his mark on you. And for Cyborgs, the bounty is beyond generous.”
“And I believe your rivals have captured one,” Jarog said.
Haelin smiled, picked up her glass, and leaned back against her chair. “So, you saw the escort?”
“Yes,” I replied in his stead. “But we’re only speculating they have a Cyborg based on the size of the escort. They wouldn’t have needed that many guards for a regular person.”
“Correct,” Haelin said with an approving glimmer in her eyes. “The capsule landed almost at the same time as yours did. The Ferein had more men in the sector. There have been a few fights over it, but Grellik, their leader, has sent reinforcements to hang on to his prize.”
“The Cyborg didn’t fight back?” Jarog asked.
“Not from what I’ve heard,” Haelin said, shaking her head. “Then again, Doc Timmons is on his way to Tarkis, the Ferein city.”
“He’s damaged…” I whispered.
“What?” Jarog asked.
“Doc Timmons is a genius cyber and bioengineer,” I explained. “He’s totally apolitical—and to a certain extent amoral. He’ll work with anyone, on absolutely anything, as long as the project excites him mentally. He loves a challenge. If he’s going to Tarkis, it’s probably to repair the Cyborg.”
“Or to modify him,” Haelin said, tension creeping into her voice. “Grellik will not sell a Cyborg. He doesn’t need the credits, no matter how generous the bounty. He’ll want a killing machine puppet. But that’s a discussion for tomorrow,” she added, glancing at her watch.
The Narengi female rose to her feet, and we did the same.
“Sadly, I must leave you now. Other business calls. Clean clothes and sleepwear have been left for you in the bedroom. There is fresh linen, towels, and anything else you may need in the en suite,” Haelin added, waving at the large set of double doors I had noticed earlier before giving me a teasing smile. “There’s only one very large bed in the room, but the couch is also q
uite comfortable. Someone will be down shortly to clean this up,” she continued, pointing at the leftover food on the table. You can leave your clothes in the laundry basket in the bedroom. It will be taken care of tomorrow. You may freely come and go between this room and the club, but for now, abstain from going outside of Perdition. I will see you in the morning.”
“Thank you,” I said, feeling both relieved and overwhelmed.
Haelin smiled gently and then walked out of the room.
Feeling defeated, I turned around to look at Jarog, but his eyes were glued to the giant screen still playing images of the decimated villages on Gorkon. This time, I truly saw the man beneath the machine. And on his face was etched a world of pain.
Chapter 9
Jarog
I stared at the screen without really seeing it. The images overlapped, and the low volume made the voices talking sound like white noise. Beneath the numbness that wanted to deprive me of rational thoughts, a burning anger simmered. The extent of the Emperor’s betrayal stirred the type of violent emotions I hadn’t felt since my transformation. That rage wasn’t even on my own behalf, even though I’d remained loyal to Shui. It had only been a matter of time before I’d turned my back on his despotic ways. But the Narengi had been right: many Cyborgs had been bound to Gorkon—the vast majority of them loyalists… truer to him than I’d ever been.
Now, with my pod brothers gone and the few surviving Cyborgs that might have forgiven my choice of honoring my oath decimated by this latest attack, I felt like a drowning man, lost in the middle of an agitated ocean.
“I’m sorry, Jarog.”
Tamryn’s soft voice and the gentle feel of her hand on my arm snapped me out of my dark musings. The sympathy on her beautiful face did something strange to me that I couldn’t put into words.
“It’s okay. I had expected bad news, although not to this extent,” I confessed with a tired voice. “I am sorry you didn’t get more positive news as well, but at least it’s not all bad.”
She gave me a sad smile. “Yes, there are indeed some positives, which is what we should focus on. What are you going to do?”
The uncertainty in her voice took me by surprise.
“I don’t know, yet,” I said honestly. “I wanted to get you home, but that no longer seems to be in the cards. Haelin’s suggestion that you remain here until your family is in a safer position strikes me as a wise one. It will please me to know that you are safe,” I said pensively. “As for me, I will make the most of Haelin’s hospitality to decide what to do next. Some of the Cyborgs will want to regroup as there is strength in numbers. Analyzing the news might help me narrow down where my brothers may have gone instead.”
Tamryn nodded slowly, a troubled expression flitting over her features.
“Yeah, I guess that could work with an elimination process,” she said, before nervously licking her lips. “Worst case scenario, you could stay here with me. We could kick some Ferein butts together.”
The slight tension stiffening her shoulders and the intensity in her eyes belied the casual tone she’d used to speak those last words. Tamryn wanted me to stay here with her. That did funny things to me.
But why does she?
Had a genuine friendship begun to form between us over the past few days or was this simply a knee-jerk reaction? Was she merely clinging to the last thing from her recent past that hadn’t been taken from her, yet?
Does it matter?
“That would also be an option,” I said in a soft voice.
Although subtle, I didn’t miss the way her shoulders relaxed. Tamryn smiled. For a split second, she appeared to want to say something, but our gaze locked and then… and then I couldn’t really explain what happened. Some sort of communication passed between us… almost like a connection. According to my neural processors, 5.7 seconds had elapsed while we silently stared at each other before my companion snapped out of whatever trance had taken hold of both of us.
Her cheeks slightly heating, she averted her eyes, looking suddenly embarrassed.
“Well, time is on our side now,” she said. “We don’t need to rush into any decisions tonight. I’m uh… For now, I think I’m going to hop in the shower, or better yet a bubble bath if there is one.”
I smiled in response. Tamryn nodded and then walked away with a slightly stiff gait. While it saddened me to no longer feel the soothing heat of her palm on my arm, her strange reaction held most of my attention. I didn’t quite understand why she suddenly seemed so self-conscious around me. Considering she’d slept on top of me three times already—the last one with both of us naked but for our underwear—I couldn’t think of any reason for there to be any awkwardness left between us.
Is it because we will be sharing a real bed?
Haelin had mentioned the couch if sharing the one bed was a problem. I couldn’t see why it would be. Granted, the couch looked fairly comfortable but, for a man my size, it would quickly become cramped if I had to spend more than one night or two on it. While it would probably be very comfortable for Tamryn with her much smaller stature than mine, the thought that she would choose this couch rather than sharing the bed with me felt like a personal slight and triggered a possessive response that left me reeling.
Why the fuck am I worrying so much about our sleeping arrangements?
The only thing that should matter to me was that we finally had a safe roof over our heads for the time being. I’d slept on the hard rock of that first cave with Tamryn’s weight on top of me without blinking. Sleeping in a bed, a couch, or directly on the floor shouldn’t be an issue as long as our safety was ensured. But logic had ceased to dominate my thought process since meeting that female with her deceptively delicate appearance. She was awakening in me things I hadn’t felt in six years… And I didn’t want to silence them.
I no longer needed to.
Returning my attention to the screen, I relegated thoughts of Tamryn to the back of my mind and made my way to the couch. Whatever decision I made would involve her, but if it meant leaving Xyva, I needed to have a good reason and a plan to get her onboard. While remaining here in Satos offered many advantages, I felt uncomfortable at the thought of my fate and safety being in the hands of another. Haelin could turn on us any day, on a whim, and we’d be fucked. I liked having control over my own destiny. That didn’t mean I would want to leave in the end—the Narengi leader didn’t strike me as fickle in her decision-making process—but having options prevented one from making dumb choices out of desperation.
I watched the news footage, slowing down the images, looking for any sign one of the Cyborgs might have left or communicated live. With how aggressive Emperor Shui was hunting us down, nobody was using the Mainframe, which would have made our collective lives easier. If nothing else, this gruesome exercise allowed me to catalogue all the Cyborgs that were deceased for sure, where and around what time, information which I saved in my personal database. It was impossible to know who had died onboard the transport ship. However, my database contained the list of all the Cyborg pods. By an elimination process, I could figure out who might still be alive, and what locations they might seek as refuge. It was a long shot but better than nothing.
Moments after I began my analysis, the door chime rang. When I bid the visitor come in, the same Narengi female that had led Tamryn to the executive lounge earlier, entered the room with a hover tray. She smiled politely and began cleaning up the leftovers from the table. To my surprise, she didn’t leave with the remaining wine or fruits but placed them instead in the small fridge that had been cleverly dissimulated behind a wall panel.
As I discreetly observed the female, it suddenly dawned on me that she wasn’t merely the sexy hostess she pretended to be. Zooming in on her, my enhanced vision allowed me to detect at least three blades cleverly hidden under her skimpy outfit. Even her sexy gait—that would fool common people into merely seeing a provocative strut—possessed the lethal fluidity of an apex predator. That female was a
n elite assassin. The fact that Haelin sent one such as her to clear our table made me extremely uneasy.
The Narengi leader doesn’t trust us…
But why? She had tested us more than once, as had her staff. They must have sensed something that put them on their guard. I couldn’t begin to imagine what. I’d been completely forthright in my intentions. The thought that she might have sensed deception from Tamryn crossed my mind. I immediately rejected it. And yet, logic dictated that I further explore that possibility. Since I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that I had no ill intentions towards our host, they couldn’t have perceived any threat from me. Who did that leave?
Maybe my cybernetic implants are making it harder for them to assess me?
That was a possibility, one that made me far more comfortable than the prospect of being deceived by Tamryn.
The Narengi female took a bit longer than necessary to complete her task. Judging by the friendly smiles she cast my way, I couldn’t tell if she was trying to lure me into striking up a conversation with her or hit on her. I did neither, knowing it to be a trap. Then again, maybe she was merely lingering to get a sense of what I was up to. In any case, having extended her stay as much as reasonably acceptable, the female finally took her leave. Her departure couldn’t have been more perfect as my enhanced hearing perceived Tamryn coming out of the hygiene room.
The bedroom’s double doors parted, revealing my companion dressed in a midnight blue negligee that hid nothing of the perfect curves of her body. She walked out, brushing her long black hair, freely cascading down her back. Despite not wearing a bra, her breasts stood firm and perky behind the thin, silky fabric. I couldn’t tell whether she was merely cold or aroused, but I could clearly see where her nipples poked against the material of the nightgown.
The surge of lust that exploded in the pit of my stomach took me by surprise. For a reason I couldn’t explain, I rose to my feet and took a couple of steps towards her. Tamryn stared at me with an intensity that seemed to want to tell me something. Or was that merely wishful thinking?
