Velocity Rising

by Angie Arland

  “Join me in the Command Hub, I have an idea.”

  “Be happy to, sir.” Karson turned to leave but hesitated. “Sir?”

  “Yes?”

  “How is she?”

  Aiden glanced down at Zoe. “Grimes will pull through; her vitals are stable.” He cleared his throat and pushed down the guilt. “The medical bot has patched her up better than any fleet doctor.”

  “Ah… I meant Spero, sir.” Karson eyed the retriever as she lay on the gurney, snoring softly. “Ryder updated me on Zoe a while ago.”

  Aiden raised his brows. “She did?”

  “Apparently she snuck away from the hub earlier to check.”

  “Oh,” Aiden blinked at Karson before turning to Spero. The hound’s four paws twitched, and she growled in her sleep. “Spero has nothing broken, and the medical bot has repaired the ligament damage. Now she needs to rest.”

  Karson took a few steps further into the room and waited for the door close automatically. “None of it was your fault, you know that, right?” The Weps didn’t wait for him to answer. “Mason and Grimes disobeyed your orders, sir. Hell, we all did, and we’ll probably do it again if the circumstances call for it. But everyone pulled together in the end, and we got you and Zoe out of there. Even Harper pitched in, much to my frecking amazement.”

  Karson seemed at ease, opening up to him. Over the past few cycles they had become more like brothers than crewmates and talked openly to each other. Aiden realized that Karson was right. But he was one-hundred percent sure that Mason dragged Zoe into the alien’s nest. It wasn’t the first time he’d gone in guns blazing without a second thought to the consequences of his actions. Their old C.O. Captain Jack Wright had a hard time with the grunt too.

  “Karson, do you think the rest of the crew would object if I took a sudden leave of absence?”

  Karson’s eyes widened. “Sir, you’re not doing this alone, I won’t allow it.”

  “I didn't want to drag you into this.” Aiden frowned. “Your father–”

  “Screw my father, sir. No disrespect, but he’s not here right now so he doesn’t have a damn clue what’s going on. Besides, he’s happy to sit behind a five-inch thick protective shell inside Fleet Command and push out orders like they’re going out of fashion. To hell with him, I really don’t give a sh-”

  “Alright, I get the gist.” Aiden put up his palm. “Let’s go track that ship and see if we can’t get Kellanie and McNeill back.”

  “Let’s not forget Jane.”

  “Her too.” Aiden wasn’t forgetting the woman in the tank. The poor helpless soul locked inside a glass fish bowl since the start of the war. “Let’s begin preparations and find out what this prototype ship is really made of.”

  “Look forward to it, sir.”

  Aiden glanced back at Spero and Grimes and nodded. “Let’s get started then.”

  Aiden munched on a dry nutrient bar as he and Karson joined the crew in the Command hub. It wasn’t linguine but at least it would tide him over for a few more hours.

  Ryder and Harper were pouring over the volumetric display, their eyes glued to the red triangle moving in the opposite direction, at velocity. Harper looked up as he and Karson joined them at the table. Ryder kept her eyes on the display.

  “Sir, what are your orders?” Harper asked.

  “Fleet Command have ordered our return with the data immediately.” The Cendent cut in as she leaned over the navigation console beside Reece. She inclined her head toward Aiden as though that would excuse her interruption. The dinnarei had a reputation for their overbearing personalities and strong views, if she were to make trouble, he’d throw her in the brig for insubordination. Although the prototype ship didn’t have a brig, her cabin would suffice.

  “Thank you for reminding us, Cendent.” Aiden raised one brow to show his disapproval. Flea flinched and returned to the console.

  “I haven’t sent Fleet Command an update as of yet.” Aiden had decided to wait and get the opinion of his crew; their lives and reputations were at stake, not just his alone.

  “How do they know we successfully retrieved the data?” Karson asked.

  Aiden took the Command chair. “Captain Leigh sent them a transmission and updated them on our situation, before–”

  “It is human protocol to follow fleet orders is it not?” Flea interrupted again.

  Aiden openly scowled in her direction. The Cendent’s eyes widened and she turned back to the nav-console.

  “Screw protocol.” Reece swiveled around from the flight console. “No disrespect, sir.” His eyes were puffy as he looked toward Aiden in the Command chair. “Sir, are we really going to let them take our people like that?”

  “The data from the Terudithan vessel is of great importance to your Fleet Command and to my people.” All eyes turned to the Cendent then to Aiden.

  Aiden felt as though he had another Harper on his hands. “Cendent, whether you like it or not, I am your captain. At least until we return to fleet and they find a replacement. But, if you prefer,” his eyes flickered to Harper and back to Flea. “You are more than welcome to spend the remainder of the journey doing dinnarei stuff in your cabin. I’m not officially asking you to join my crew, as you aren’t Fleet military, the decision is yours. But don’t keep us waiting, we’re on the clock.”

  Flea inclined her head once more and cast her eyes downward. “I would not prefer that, sir.”

  “Good. Now that’s out of the way, let’s plot a new course.”

  “So, we're not returning to fleet?” Harper’s eyes were as wide as his grin.

  “Look, we’ll only do this if everyone is in agreement but I, for one, don’t plan on losing any more people today. If the squid can mount a rescue mission on a moving ship then I say, let’s go return the favor.” He looked around the hub at each of his crew and their newest installment, Flea. “Who's with me?”

  “Count me in, sir.” Karson grinned from the tactical table. He nudged Ryder with his elbow.

  “Me too, sir.” Ryder said, glancing up for a moment and back to the display.

  Reece grinned. “I'm up for it, sir, as long as I get to kill squid.”

  Flea joined them at the tactical table and rested her hands on the edge. “But protocol–”

  “Screw protocol!” Harper frowned at the Cendent. “These people are family.”

  “Harper, really?” Aiden threw the man a surprised look “I thought you of all people would be begging to return home.”

  “Oh, I do sir, but not without Captain Leigh, Doc McNeill and Jane.”

  “Cendent?” The dinnarei looked directly at Aiden. “Will you join us in another mission?”

  Flea pursed her lips and inclined her head. “Very well, I know what it is to lose family. I am in agreement and will assist in any ways possible.”

  Aiden read that as respect but not one hundred percent acceptance. Close enough for him.

  The hub door swished open and Spero came rushing toward Aiden. He shifted forward in the chair to receive her and threw his arms around her furry neck. She licked his face in excitement. “Okay, girl, I’m glad to see you too.” Aiden wiped his cheek on his uniform sleeve as Grimes limped into the hub, a transparent cast covering her thigh.

  Ryder jumped up from the Comms console and hurried to her friend, taking her arm for support.

  “Zoe, good to see you up and about.” Aiden said. Spero settled across his feet just like old times. “Shouldn’t you be in the medical bay?”

  “I’m fine, sir.” Grimes lowered her eyes. “Sorry, sir. Mason, he–” Her eyes misted, and Ryder put her arm around Zoe’s shoulders.

  “We’ll discuss it later.” Aiden said. He planned on having a polite conversation with Grimes later, once they rescued their missing crewmembers. The grunt was lucky to be alive after her close encounter with the frecking space crab, and the shock of losing her partner was enough punishment to bear.

  “Thank you, sir.” Zoe looked around the hub and b
ack to Aiden. “So, what did I miss?”

  “Take a seat, Grimes. We’re going to mount a rescue mission.”

  “Sir?”

  “I’ll fill you in.” Ryder drew Zoe aside and eased her into a spare chair beside her own, near the Communications console.

  Aiden gave the order. “Report to your stations. Mister Reece, plot a course to that ship.”

  “Happy to, sir.”

  Forty-Two

  An electrical current energized her body, forcing Tayla awake. Once the brain fog cleared, she peered through the green haze and had to wonder, yet again, what the universe had against her.

  What in the hell?

  Again?

  An endless cycle of nothingness, the passage of time non-existent, unmeasurable; her only thoughts were her sister’s death and escaping this confining green hell. She’d almost resigned herself to the fact that she’d never be free. But she reminded herself, there was a minuscule glimmer of hope. One that she held in her hand right now.

  The trick was to relax her muscles and ease the scalpel through the gel. Too fast and the substance forced her arm back to its original position. It took three tries for her to figure that out. Concentrating hard she moved the scalpel through the gel and finally made contact with the glass.

  This is the day!

  It had to work, and honestly if it didn’t, she’d had plenty of time to think up a plethora of ways to use the scalpel to end her own suffering.

  A door on the far side of the room opened. Tayla’s breath caught and she stilled her arm. Squinting through the haze, she made out three figures, a tall female with dark frizzy hair and two, armed alien soldiers.

  The soldiers forced the uniformed woman further into the room. She tripped on something out of Tayla’s sight and landed flat on her face. Tayla grimaced, that was going to hurt.

  The figure remained unmoving on the floor, seemingly unconscious. The alien soldiers regarded one another, turned and left the room. The door slid across behind them.

  Tayla squeezed her eyes shut and opened them again in case she was hallucinating. A frisson of excitement ran though her veins as she realized, the hands, the ears and frizzy hair, belonged to a human!

  As she became more aware of her surroundings, her eyes scanned the room. The conduits and heavy wires were gone, replaced by a ring of ceiling lights and a half dozen empty tanks against the opposite wall.

  When had they moved her?

  The woman moved her arms then sat up suddenly and swiveled around. Pushing the hair from her face, she picked herself up off the floor and hurried to the door; thumping hard against the smooth white surface. Tayla heard a muffled scream as she kicked the door. Continuing the barrage for a few minutes, she finally gave up, and leaned her back against the wall, panting.

  The woman surveyed the sparse room before hurrying to a small bank of consoles, that Tayla hadn’t noticed before. Pushing up her sleeve she tapped on a wrist cuff of some kind; obviously not an ordinary piece of jewelry. Tayla wondered if she had seen her. The woman glanced up, almost making eye contact but instead she looked across to the door and back to the console.

  Tayla’s heart sank and frustration grew to a crescendo. She bit down hard on her lip and tasted blood. The urge to scream grew but she knew from experience it was a futile notion. No one ever responded to her.

  The woman fussed over the console, muttering to herself, frustration clearly painted on her face.

  Minutes ticked by and Tayla’s anxiety increased.

  Please help me!

  Let me out!

  Wait! Was she working for the aliens?

  So many unanswered questions ran through her mind as she watched the woman leave the row of consoles and pace the room. Back and forth, back and forth. Every now and then she stopped, rubbed her chin and glanced up at Tayla.

  She did see me!

  Tayla screamed and hollered and tried pleading with her eyes but the woman returned to pacing and talking into her wrist cuff, her other hand planted on her hip.

  It had been so long, maybe weeks, she couldn’t tell, since she’d seen another non-alien. For memory the last human she’d seen, who looked uncannily similar, ignored her and left without a sideways glance.

  Tayla’s heart skipped a beat as the woman approached the tank but she frowned, planted her feet apart and tapped her chin with her index finger, deep in thought.

  I’m in here!

  She proceeded to walk the circumference of the tank, inspected the base, then tapped her fingers repeatedly across the transparent surface.

  What the hell?

  A series of symbols appeared across the curved glass; a holographic type of interface that Tayla had seen once before. Her pulse quickened as she waited for the agonizing pain.

  The woman took a step back as a gurgling sound grew in intensity. Pain seared through Tayla’s ears as the green substance evacuated through a grate under her feet. A few minutes later the curved glass door slid open. Cold air rushed in and Tayla’s legs buckled, unable to hold her own weight. Collapsing on hands and knees, she crawled out of the enclosure and hit the floor, wet, soggy and shivering. Her first breath caught in her throat and chunks of green gel expelled from her lungs, forcing her to cough and gag. A comforting hand rested on her shoulder.

  Wait? Am I’m really free?

  Once her lungs were clear, she threw herself back onto her haunches and stared up at the woman. Unable to comprehend that she was finally free of the tank. Was it a ploy of some kind? What would they do to her now?

  The woman’s olive skin and hazel eyes looked so familiar. It was a relief to see different colors after seeing green for so long. “Are you one of them?” Tayla asked, her throat felt raw and the pain brought tears to her eyes.

  “Do I look alien?” The hazel eyes regarded her.

  Tayla searched her pale face and shook her head, still not believing her.

  The woman’s worried eyes darted toward the door and back to Tayla. “Any idea how long before the squid return?”

  Tayla had been deceived before. “Squid?”

  “The aliens.”

  “You call them squid?” Tayla frowned. “They don’t look li-”

  “It’s their diet,” She cut in. “They eat squid mostly, and octopus, marine animals and such. But you’d know that already, living among them for so long.”

  Tayla shook her head, “Not as long as you think.”

  “I wouldn’t be too sure about that.” The uniformed woman knelt on the floor.

  “Are you human?” Tayla asked.

  “Of course. What else would I be?” She paused, pushing the loose strands of hair from her face, and winced when she touched the cut on her lip. “We had you stored in our cargo hold but the terudithans came after us and, well, long story short, we ended up here.”

  “Us?” She wasn’t making any sense.

  “Doctor McNeill; he was taken too, but we were separated before they performed some sort of painful procedure on me.” She drew her brows together and shuddered. “You haven’t seen him, have you?”

  “The Doctor?” Tayla shook her head, still not knowing whether or not to trust her. Although her story was sound, she’d already placed her trust in a certain young boy who, turns out, happened to be working for the terudithan’s.

  The woman’s eyes were fixated on the scalpel in Tayla’s hand. “Please, I’m not the enemy here.”

  “So, you say.” Tayla had almost forgotten about the scalpel, she’d held onto it for so long it had become an extension of herself.

  “Tell me,” The woman’s voice rose. “Who are you?”

  “W-what do you mean?” Tayla cringed back. Was she accusing her of being something other than human?

  “Why did the terudithans rip open our ship to take you?” The woman’s eyes were bright with tears.

  “They did?”

  “You must have something they want, to go to all that trouble.”

  Tayla just shook her head, dumbfounded
.

  “Okay, I’ll play your game. Where are you from?” She asked, fidgeting with the cuff bracelet on her wrist.

  Tayla was taken aback with the question and had to stop and think about it. “Tenamere…I…yes.” She blurted. “It’s a small town near the mouth of the river, a few miles from the ocean.”

  The woman didn’t seem to believe her and frowned. “Don’t tell me then.” She regarded Tayla a moment. “I don’t suppose your name is Jane?”

  Tayla didn’t relax her hold on the scalpel. “Who’s, Jane?”

  “Never mind.” She shook her head. “I’m Captain Kellanie Leigh,” she offered her hand. “Of the United Earth Fleet.”

  Tayla flinched at the offering. “I- I’m Tayla.” She couldn’t for the life of her remember her own surname. After regarding the woman’s hand she took it in her own.

  “Captain Leigh,” Tayla said.

  “Call me Kella,” her hint of a smile turned into a frown. “Now, how the hell do we get out of here?”

  Tayla looked down at the scalpel. She had two choices, go back into the tank or escape. But the woman didn’t know yet and Tayla wasn’t sure how to tell her. “We can use the scalpel to trigger the door controls.”

  “You’ve done it before?”

  Tayla nodded trying hard not to break down when she thought of Claire. “My sister, we-” Tears pricked her eyes.

  “Let’s get out of here first, then we’ll talk.” Kella pushed herself up from the floor. “Can you walk?”

  “There’s no way out.” Tayla blurted.

  “But you just said-”

  “We’re on a ship, in space.” Tayla whispered, close to tears. “There’s no escape.”

  “No, you’re wrong.” Kella shook her head. “You were on a ship. When they brought us here, Doctor McNeill and I were forced to walk from their ship to this building complex.”

  Tayla’s eyes grew wide. “That means-”

  “We’re getting out of here.”

  Tayla almost feinted with relief. She swallowed hard and, with renewed purpose, pushed herself up off the floor. The room spun but Kella clutched her arm.