She shakes her head, “I want what you want and that's crazy.”

  He scoffs back with fire in his voice, “Stealing forbidden and experimental technology for yourself. I would hardly call that the same.”

  “So he’s kept the truth from you still, well that's the Ryker I know and loath.”

  “A woman scorned huh?”

  “What? No, I want Ryker Mallory dead. Not for just what he’s done to me recently but because he's the leader of the rebellion. ‘The’ leader, as in the guy-who-pulled-all-the-strings-and-no-one-has-ever-seen-his-face leader.”

  The sound of the metal blaster hitting the floor rings out, “You can't be serious.” Graven’s voice quivers.

  “Oh yeah, I’m telling the truth. I spent years getting close to him and six months of intimacy with that bastard before I got enough on him to confirm it all. I would love to have those memories back so I could convict him, but I can't. So I'm doing what I have to.”

  The memories of her fake romance with Ryker send a shiver down her spine. How she had no feeling for him before whatever took over that made her love him and obey him without question.

  She takes a deep breath and continues, laying her head back on the wall behind her, “Which if he found out why I was really there would explain why he wants me dead.”

  10

  There’s a silence in the air. Even with the water still pouring down splashing on itself and rushing down the drains on either side of the walkway. It is all background noise. Kat wants to look around the corner and see if the shotgun blaster really is on the floor next to Graven. If it is, she could make a run for it. Her shot to the leg did still hurt like a bitch but won’t slow her down.

  Graven breaks the silence first, “If what you say is true, I want him dead more than any other living being in this universe. But with this explosive near my heart. I can’t even get close to him.”

  Whisper says, “I just finished your left arm, now all I have to get is your right. I need like five more minutes.”

  “Way to go Whisper and I can try.”

  “Well, I can’t have my meat-bag blow up with me attached now can I?”

  “No, I guess you can’t.” Kat sees Graven’s head peek around the corner and her heart skips a beat.

  His blueish green eyes wash over her like a wave cresting on the shore. She takes an extended look at his face. Strong features, with a thin beard at the edges, and messy auburn hair. She watches his eyes look up and down her as they exchange glances.

  He gestures with his head. “How’s your leg holding up?”

  She isn’t quite sure how to respond. He is the one that just shot her, which is something she needs to remember. Trying to push down the inviting hunky-ness he’s projecting she says, “It’s fine, I guess. It only got grazed by a shotgun blaster at short range.” Emphasizing the last couple of words, unable to hold back her anger.

  “Right. Sorry.” His eyes fixate on her wound for a short time and then he retreats back around the corner.

  “Sorry?” Blurts out as confusion sets in, “I’m pretty sure you did that on purpose.”

  “I did and I hit where I was aiming too. It’s just you seem to have hit the bomb that is placed on my heart. I’m not sure if it’s disabled or about to blow but either way, I’m free.”

  Kat says, “Wait, what!?”

  “You had better get out of here, and fast. The pressure it was putting on the inside of my chest is gone, which can only mean one thing. Boom.” Graven tosses the shotgun around the corner. It scrapes and bounces along the floor splashing water around. “I don’t have any other weapons and I know that it’s a very trustworthy statement since I just shot you. Just hurry, I definitely don’t want to kill you if I’m not forced to anymore. Plus I’ve lost too much blood anyway. Like I said, once my heart stops. Boom.”

  “Whisper what is he talking about?”

  Whisper sighs, “I am in the middle of something if you don’t remember.”

  Kat rolls her eyes, “Yes, I remember, but can you check him out too?”

  “What!? How am I supposed to do that?”

  “We shot him right? So that means your nanites are inside him. Can you access them?”

  “OH! Well, I’ve never thought of that before. Let me try it.”

  Graven grunts in pain, “Katrice, please. Get out of here, General Ajax wouldn’t want you to die here.”

  There is a name that she hadn’t heard in years, but now everything rushes back in. That is who she was reporting to. How did this guy know his connection to her? Is he the reason her cover was blown? It couldn’t have been because she was already deep in mind control-ville way before he showed up. She is still very curious about how the hell Ryker did that Jedi mind trick on her.

  General Ajax sent her into this deep cover as herself because it had to be real and knew that reports could be sparse at anytime. Ryker Mallory was too important a target to tip off with a fake identity and any of the hundreds of inconsistencies that could pop up. So why would General Ajax send in another operative? Did something happen to him, or did he find out that she got compromised?

  Kat asks, “What is that supposed to mean?”

  “I know you killed the General’s nephew. How the General hid the whole thing, making it a self-defense shooting. The fake dishonorable discharge. He placed me to find you because of my past. Because I have a hatred that’s motivating. The last communication from you was more than three years ago, right when you started having relations with Ryker.”

  Kat takes in a deep breath, exhaling slowly. If he knew that much then what else did he know? She wasn’t proud of what she had to do, but it was the only way for her to get close enough to Ryker to incriminate himself.

  “There wasn’t anything I could use on him at all from where I was as the security chief. So I had to get closer. From there I was just as watched as he was, and couldn’t send off a message even if I wanted to. I had gotten the suspicion that he was on to me in one way or the other when he sent me on that mission to liberate the plans for the AI and the ship. There is also a lot of things he asked me to do that I can't explain.”

  “You never questioned any of it?”

  “That would be the million credit question, wouldn’t it? I have no frigging clue why I went along with the hundreds of requests he made. He asked and I couldn’t stop myself.”

  “Were you taking anything like pills or anything that he told you to take daily?”

  “Just depression pills from the company doc and a bottle of perfume he told me to wear. I had to use both every day.” She rubs at the brim of her nose. “Why am I talking to you about all this again?”

  Whisper replies, “To keep him busy or we could redecorate the surrounding space with a mixture of the space station and what is left of your flesh.”

  Kat whispers, “Right.”

  Graven answers, “I think because of our connection to the General.”

  Kat says aloud, “Right, that.”

  “So tell me, when you left on your trip, did you ever run out of your pills. Then have a headache where you wanted to kill yourself just to make it stop?”

  “Yes… I did, how did you know?”

  “Lasted for about a week too, didn’t it?”

  “Yes. The creep factor is rising. You might want to explain yourself.”

  “Ryker was testing a new drug out on you and it seems to have worked with flying colors.”

  “What drug?”

  “He’s calling it Compel and it’s just as advertised. He takes a pheromone that is either topical or pill and it releases into the air around him. You got fed Compel, in a drink, in food, somewhere. Maybe even that depression pill. When you smelt the pheromone he gives off, that was all it took. Anything he said you should do, you did, without question. With a smile even. That splitting headache you had was the Compel leaving your system.”

  Kat’s jaw drops. Thoughts of when she regularly patrolled through Ryker’s labs come to mind. She never saw anything like what was just described. Or did she. A fuzzy memory scratches at her mind like a finger on a chalkboard. Six months after she started her relationship with Ryker, a new wing had been opened in the complex. She had to put a new recruit down there the first night because it opened a day ahead of schedule. Scott Johnson was his name and he called her down into the lab because something was missing. He caught her off-guard. He was stronger than her, trained in grappling. Ryker was standing behind him, then by her side. Commanding Johnson to let her go. Ryker tells her to forget about that night and that wing of the facility.

  Kat’s voice is weak as she says, “He knew and wanted to test it out on me.”

  Graven says, “There could be numerous memories he could have made you forget. Who knows what happened in those years after you took it at his side. All the General knew is he had to get you out.” Graven hacks and coughs. “Enough about that. You know the truth now, go get out of here, and live.”

  Whisper says, “His explosives are disabled but not disarmed. The trigger seems to be damaged and as far as I can tell, it would be near impossible to disarm now. It will still explode if his heart stops because it is powering the device. Without power, the space station here will have to rebuild. On top of that, he is leaking fluid faster than a sailor in a whore house.”

  Kat says, “I don’t think that’s how you’re supposed to use that saying and how do you even know what a whore house is?”

  “Easy, internet. Did you think I was just talking to you and piloting the ship on the way here?”

  “Great, first thing you do as a newly made sentient life form, surf the galaxy-net.”

  “Internet, galaxy-net whatever you want to call it, yes I spent time on it. Oh, and the other bomb in your right arm has been disarmed for a few minutes.”

  “Why are you just telling me this now?”

  “Because, you seem to be having the most delightful chat with that man over there. It is the first time I have seen you actually speak to something other than me. I was curious.”

  Another hacking and wheezing cough can be heard from around the corner. “Quickly…” Says Graven as his body slumps to the ground into the hallway where Kat can see him. She stares at his face which seems to be at peace.

  He’s really cute, passes through her mind. Something she doesn’t know why keeps popping into her head. The situation does make her remember a mission she was given years ago while she was still in the Empire’s Army. She saw a good soldier die before her eyes. Another man, one whom she could see herself with, and was ordered to leave him behind for the sake of the mission. Before her right now she sees another good soldier dying.

  Kat wrestles with some internal frustration before saying, “Whisper..., is the ship ready?”

  “Yes, waiting and ready for our arrival O’ fleshy one.”

  “There is a medical bay on the ship, right?”

  “Yes, but why are you… No. No, I won’t do this. If he goes off while you’re carrying him that’s it’s for you, my brother, and me. That isn’t something I want to experience just yet. There are more cat videos to watch and romance novels to read that I haven't gotten to yet.”

  “Then you had better try to patch him up on the way to the ship.”

  Whisper angrily says, “Stupid meat-bags.” She grumbles, “Fine, just hurry. I can’t keep him alive forever.”

  Kat lifts his body up in her arms. His face is still peaceful but Whisper is right. There is a lot of blood on the floor and now on her. He isn’t going to last long and if his heart stops beating it would mean the end for the both of them. At least he would leave her with a bang, which is more than any of the other men in her life. Immediately recognizing her bad joke she decides that she should focus on getting her handsome damsel-in-distress back to the ship before they both exploded.

  11

  Luck is on Kat’s side with the ship two hallways away. Walking through the side dock door leads into the common area of the ship. All that is there is a set of stainless steel pots and pans strapped down to the wall above the built-in kitchen. Which is top of the line, just like everything else on this boat. She goes into the hallway between the common area and the cargo bay where a door leads to the medical bay.

  This is the first time she's gone inside. She walked by it a hundred times but couldn’t bring herself to go in, only look in through the glass door. With her first steps in, it doesn’t quite feel as scary as she thought it would but the memories still flash brightly in her mind. Waking up like she had in that sterile white room with all the needles. It is enough to make her never want to be back in a medical room again. But here she is, holding a perfectly good reason to be there. Her skin crawls just standing in the threshold.

  Whisper says, “Kat lay him on the table and then get to the bridge and plug me in. I won’t be able to do anything for him till then.”

  Kat lifts Graven and places him on the table, strapping him down. They might be taking off in a hurry and she can’t have him falling off the table setting off the bomb. A deep voice rings out at Kat’s hip as she fastens the last strap. She jumps out of her skin almost falling on the ground.

  “Fury online.” He yawns loudly, “Master, command please.”

  Whisper says, “Brother!”

  “Whisper, is that you?”

  “Yes, it is. Did they do anything to you?”

  “Did who do anything to me?”

  “Ryker Mallory, did he wipe you or reprogram you?”

  “I don’t think so. Last thing I remember is getting turned off in the lab next to you. Where are we?”

  Kat breaks in, “There isn’t really time for this right now. Let’s get away from the space station before the Mars Security Forces get here and focus on our guest so he doesn’t explode.”

  “You have a point for a lowly monkey,” Whisper replies. “Fury we can talk on the way. Do you still have the programming for Crucible’s weapons?”

  “Can I just go back to sleep for a while? I was having a really good dream.”

  Kat waves Whisper across the scanner for the bridge door, it beeps sliding open. A setting she changed on the way there, not wanting someone to sneak off with the ship. She runs around the back of the cockpit and jumps in. Hard rough leather welcomes her as she fidgets back and forth settling into the seat. Hello military grade comfort. She looks at Whisper on her left wrist, and then down to Fury within the holster on her right leg.

  “Alright you two, ready to see what Crucible can do?” Kat inserts her left hand into the hole, locking Whisper into the console.

  Whisper voice come out over the speakers, “Crucible is all green Kat. I’m starting the surgery now.”

  Kat breathes a sigh of relief. “Great, now Fury’s turn.”

  Reaching down to wrap her hand around Fury’s grip is simple enough. She takes an elongated withdrawal to get him out of the holster. Laying him out across both her hands, she can see the craftsmanship that was put into his construction. The precision of the wooden grip, and the filigree down the barrel. She turns her attention to the misshapen oval opening in the center console. It is shaped to fit Fury perfectly with his chamber open. Opening it sparks her curiosity to look it over. The back is a solid piece, with no place to slide in bullets. Turning the gun around, looking into the chamber reveals Fury’s nanite housing. Which she could tell from the tiny etching on the side that said “nanite housing.” She lines him up carefully and slides him into the console. Fury’s grip and trigger are within reach for what she assumes will be control of the weapon systems. A small cover slides over Fury’s chamber, locking him into place.

  “Weapon systems check started.” Fury yawns. “Should be about ten minutes. I also need to install driver updates.”

  Kat rolls her eyes. Everything always needs updates, even when it’s brand new. There hasn’t been a time in recent memory that she purchased something that didn’t need an update, so why did she feel so surprised that Fury needs them too.

  She throws her hands in the air, “That should be fine. The security forces should be here in about seven minutes, but we will be long gone by then.”

  Whisper says, “Kat… you might want to turn on the main screens.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “The security forces are already here. They’re hailing us.”

  Kat closes her eyes for a second before turning on the main monitor. A small Mars Security Forces ship is there all by itself. This is bad news but one small ship should be easy enough to get away from. She hopes. There isn’t much time before they need to get out of there before the real fireworks start. She had let off a tip to a Guild contact she knew, that a certain ship was harbored at this station. The message was sent right when Whisper powered up the ship but Whisper didn’t know it. With him being an enforcer he would have the clout to bring in some heavy backup. The only problem is if she’s still here, things go from bad to worst.

  “Kat, they want us to drop our shields, and power down our engines or they’ll open fire on us,” Whisper says in a quiver.

  “It’s ok, Whisper, there isn’t anything to worry about. This is an experimental ship made from the collaboration of Conglomerate tech, Earth tech, and Guild magi-tech. They won’t be able to bust through the shields that easily with just one tiny ship.”

  Fury says, “Five more FTL drops detected. ETA two minutes. Three large destroyer type vessels and two small type fighters.”

  Kat sighs, “Ok, that could be a problem.”

  Whisper says, “How are we going to get out of here?”

  “I’ll think of something, Whisper. Fury, where are you at with the weapon systems?”

  He yawns. “Five minutes.”

  “Can you make that three?”

  “I’m working as fast as I can here.”

  Whisper interrupts, “Kat, I have a problem.”

  Kat feels herself flash with heat but tells herself to calm down.

 

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