The Empress Capsule (Audacity Saga Book 1), page 29
Shit.
She switched back to ballistic and fired faster, backing down the hallway now and hoping to God they’d listened, sending tight bunches of three shots each into the white hide.
Not a one seemed to have any effect.
What the hell? How did one kill these things? She couldn’t very well lop off each tentacle and just hope it would bleed to death.
The thing leaped again, too close now. She ducked and rolled, the creature missing her just slightly. She twisted, still sitting, releasing the fog cloud to help hide her location at the same time as she switched back to laser. She let the rifle prop on her knee, pulled out the pistol, and blasted them both on full—
White enveloped her, wiping out the whole world. Sound muted.
I will have you, songbird.
No. Ellen thrashed and tore, continuing to fire into the mass around her. Swirling black pierced the whiteness, like oil dumped in milk, so she seemed to have done some damage. But her armor creaked loudly.
The songbird—or the creature—was crushing her.
Suddenly the white above her sliced apart as the creature shrieked. She stopped her fire, dropping the weapons. A blade ripped through white flesh, revealing the station’s metal ceiling. And then Kael’s face, charged with bloodlust and rage.
Man never could follow orders.
Well, for all their low-tech bullshit, the Theroki had her on this one. Why bother with lasers when a knife would do the job? She fought through the goo and grabbed the laserblade from her leg compartment, slicing wildly around her.
The creature fell away, pooling around her like white sludge on all sides. She fought back nausea, reeling, trying to stand steady.
Silence fell.
She stood, panting, eying the creature. Waiting. She nudged it with her boot—no response. Then she finally sighed, hoping the thing was truly dead.
She met Kael’s gaze. He stood panting too and staring at her. “I know I disobeyed a direct order, but—” he started.
“And I know I owe you another beer.”
“What?”
Just then, her suit sensors bleeped. Suit integrity warning. Shit. All that crushing had done some damage. She set the nanos to begin repairs. A quick estimate came back—the repair would take longer than her air supply would last, not to mention the decon power drain trying to keep the virus out.
They needed to get out—and fast.
“Shit, I’m leaking. Let’s go.” She grabbed her dripping multi from the mess; the pistol had clung to her suit when she dropped it just like the tranq had. No time to put them away now.
She reached for his hand and jumped high over the corpse, sprinting after the rest of them down the corridor. “We can talk about your insubordination later.”
“Over beer?”
“Definitely.”
“You run a weird ship, Commander Ryu.”
“Thank you, Kael.” She knew he understood her words were more than just a simple reply or a courtesy.
“Of course, Commander. My pleasure. As always.”
They were nearly to the entrance, his hand in Ellen’s, when a hissing, shimmying sound met Kael’s ears.
“Is that—” he started.
“Teredarks!” Zhia shouted from up ahead, still gripping Dremer’s bicep.
A flurry of curses from across the team lit up the comm. Long, segmented bodies poured out of the ducts from above and dropped down near the entryway. How could Teredarks survive in this, how could they even— But his eyes caught on their strange headsets.
“Force-field armor!” he called. “That’s keeping them alive.”
He skidded to a stop next to Zhia, Ellen halting beside them.
“What now?” Jenny whispered.
“I’m reading all sorts of invulnerabilities in their armor, Commander,” Nova said quickly.
“Me too. I’ve got a leak. Nova—grenade. Now.”
Nova whirled to look at her, eyes wide, and then for some reason her gaze flicked to Kael. What the hell? “Are you sure? But what about—”
“Do it. There’s no time. We need off this station now.”
Nova still stared a moment longer, hesitating.
“What are you waiting for?” Ellen shouted, staggering. He lunged toward her and caught her shoulder.
At that, Nova scrambled, pulling out the string and entering in the coordinates on the first grenade.
“What kind of grenade is that,” Kael said slowly, “that can get past all these invulnerabilities?”
Ellen pointed back to the customs desk. “Get behind that,” she snapped. “All of you. Take Dremer with you.”
“Tell me, or I’m not going.”
Ellen looked exasperated but then shook her head. “It’s a knockout grenade.” Their eyes locked for a long moment through their visors, then she let out a disgusted sigh. “You happy? Now go. Get back there. Unless you want us all to die here?”
He raised his eyebrows but complied. He grabbed Dremer by the arm and pulled, fairly sure her suit would be even less helpful against those things than his was. Damn, what would he break this time? How odd he hadn’t had to deal with knockout weapons more than once or twice over the years, and now—
And now. As he sank down into a squat behind the customs table, the look on Nova’s face flashed through his mind again. Dremer knelt behind him as he checked for more coming up the hallway. He didn’t see any. He backed away around the corner, pushing Dremer farther out of the blast wave, but his mind was only half on avoiding the grenade.
What were the chances?
The high-tech, low-touch style. All nonlethal attacks. The search for scientific abuse. They’d been getting the hell off Helikai at just exactly the same time he had been, so conveniently.
How had he not seen it before?
It had been them in the lab. Hadn’t it. His lab had been the first in this string of attacks.
He opened his mouth to say something—he wasn’t sure what—but never had a chance to decide. The wave of the knockout grenade shook the air. His cover wasn’t enough, he felt it clear through to his bones, and after a moment of feeling like his entire body was on fire, the world fell away. And he slept.
Chapter Thirteen
The oath program was running.
He gasped for breath and sat up. His heart beat loudly in his ears, so loudly for a moment the voices around him didn’t register. The world was a blurred mess he couldn’t make out. Adrenaline coursed through him, acid powerful in his veins, and he panted, trying to catch his breath.
Where was the capsule? Where was he? He leapt to his feet, starting forward before he staggered. Someone caught him and steadied him from behind. He jerked away.
“He’s going supernova—get the tranq,” said a voice.
Too much. Too many chemicals. Where was the capsule? Where was Ellen?
“He already is,” said another. He could barely make out the words, let alone who said them.
“We don’t have it—”
“Get it.”
“Here—”
“I’ll reload as fast as I—”
“Fine.”
A face appeared in front of him, soft eyes and pink lips.
Ellen.
He could never forget that face. A different kind of power surged through him, but the oath program smacked it down. She approached him slowly and put her hands on his shoulders, frowning. “Kael—they’re all gone. It’s over. It’s just us here. Stand down. Get ahold of yourself.” Her voice was solidly in command mode.
He slowly met her eyes, jaw clenched, nostrils flared. “You’re not helping,” he growled through gritted teeth.
She stepped back. “Jen—you try. You’re the sweetest. Get up here. Tell him, no, ask him to calm down. Nicely. Like you normally would.”
“Commander?” Her eyes were wide. Good. He narrowed on her.
“It’s okay,” Ellen whispered. “Tranq’s almost ready.”
He scowled. They were not tranquilizing him. He at least needed to seem to get it together so he could check on the capsule, relieve the oath’s pressure.
Jenny nodded and approached slowly.
Ellen drew her pistol, trained it on Kael’s armor control unit, and released the safety.
“Kael?” Jenny said softly, green eyes blinking up at him. “Please calm down. Can you calm down?”
He responded only with a low growl.
“Look, all your things are here. We’re back on the ship. We’re free of the Teredarks, and we’re the only ones here. If you hurt anyone, it will have to be one of us.”
Kael took a deep breath, and to some extent her words did calm him. They were back on the ship. Surely the capsule was close, maybe being serenaded by a Natural telepath. Although he’d had enough telepaths for one lifetime, thank you very much.
“Thanks, Jen,” he whispered as he felt the pounding of his heart calm slightly.
“Let’s hit your quarters, Kael,” Ellen said, holstering the weapon. “I’ll take him.”
“Be careful,” Levereaux said in a private comm channel. “I still have the item here, didn’t get enough warning to finish the scan and put it back. I’ll get this tranq fixed and the item back stat.”
Ellen didn’t acknowledge. It was a good thing Jenny had talked him down, because the tranq gun had jammed on reload. Piece of shit. Maybe it might have had something to do with the creature-alien-whatever guts all over it. They had backup means of sedating him, but none of them were perfect.
She much preferred him not going nuclear. Being himself.
Kael was only nodding and walking numbly toward her. He marched ahead of her to his quarters and palmed open the door.
She followed him in, not entirely sure why. She shouldn’t. A bad idea. But she palmed the door shut behind her.
“You okay, Kael?” she said softly. Cautiously, and not entirely clear on why she was doing it, she hit the button to retract her helmet. Perhaps to seem more human to him, less like a threat. Yes, perhaps that was it.
His eyes turned to catch hers, suddenly fiery, and she knew he was not okay, not entirely. But then again, was she?
“I thought you were dead,” he said slowly. He stepped closer to her.
“So did I.”
He stepped closer to her again, stopping just inches away from her. “That thing swallowed you whole. I thought you were gone for sure.”
“I’m tougher than that.”
“Why did you stay? We all could have run. I could have helped you fight it.”
“Well, you did in the end, so does it matter?”
He pressed his lips together. “Elle, I…”
She caught her breath. It was the first time he’d ever called her that. His eyes met hers as he went quiet.
“If we had died out there, would you have had any regrets?” he said softly.
She held the word in for a long time. But he was due for the truth, wasn’t he? “Yes,” she whispered.
He leaned forward and seized her mouth with his as her eyes flew wide in shock. His armor slid against hers, and she winced at what he might be scratching, but… She inhaled deeply through her nose and then…
And then she kissed him back.
For a long moment, her mind went silent, and there was only the feel of him, the two of them alone in the cosmos, escaping death. Needing a bit of life for once. Of something more primal, more deep, more sincere. Something more.
She had no idea how long passed before she broke away, gasping for breath. But he didn’t release her, his mouth straying to her neck.
“Kael, wait,” she said softly.
He didn’t respond. She remembered the way he’d surged to life in the sick bay, like he’d been a corpse coming back from the dead, but suddenly charged and ready to kill someone. All the bloodlust of the actual battle too… What was his chip pouring into him even now?
“Get ahold of yourself,” she said more sharply. “Can you even stop right now if you want to?”
In answer, he only growled. The primal sound sent more spirals of heat through her. But if he was hopped up on chems, even natural ones, he wasn’t thinking straight. They couldn’t do this. Not now.
Not like this. Not ever? Did he even know what he was doing?
She drew her pistol, pressed the crusty, dirty muzzle to his skull, and flipped the safety. “Get. Control. Now.”
He froze for a split second, and then with a gasp, he flung himself away from her. He leaned face-first against the far wall, arms above his head, panting. “Hell. Sorry.”
They stood in the silence, panting.
“Thanks,” he whispered. “Sorry.”
“Not entirely your fault. I encouraged you.”
“No. Still. My. Fault.”
“Well, I’m still sorry too.” She hesitated. “Look. You muddy everything. I cannot endanger my ship and my crew by falling for you.”
“Isn’t it already too late for that?” His soulful eyes looked over his shoulder at her.
“No.”
“Would you have shot me just now?”
“No.” She’d wanted what he’d wanted. She had just wanted him to be sure of it, in control of it, not in a blind rage. She wouldn’t have regretted his attentions. “Maybe.” She couldn’t muster the full lie of yes that she should have.
“What about back there in the hold? If I’d attacked Jenny.”
She gritted her teeth. “No. Probably not.”
“Good.”
“No, it’s not good. That’s just the problem. I would have hesitated, and you could have killed her.”
“But I didn’t.”
“You didn’t. You managed to hold off on Nova too. But what about next time? How many chances should we take?”
“There won’t be a next time. We’re almost to Desori.”
They stood in silence again, contemplating that.
“And you’ll be gone then?”
“Don’t you want me gone?”
She said nothing.
“You know that’s an answer too, right?”
“What is?”
“If you wanted me gone, you’d have said so.”
“Ah, slag off, Kael.”
His head rose slowly, like he’d just remembered something. He strode to the cleaning cabinet and opened it. Squatting down, he reached inside, and—
His eyes turned to meet hers, wild and angry. “Where is it?”
She took the safety back off the pistol and palmed the hatch open. “I don’t know.”
He straightened like a bear ready to charge. “And I trusted you, Ryu.”
“You can still trust me.”
“It was you in the lab, wasn’t it?”
She gritted her teeth, but reluctantly nodded once. She was lucky it’d taken him this long. “When did you figure it out?”
“The knockout grenade. But I can’t believe I didn’t see it sooner. You could have told me.”
“No, I couldn’t have. This is a secret mission. You were guarding the enemy. I wouldn’t have let you in this far if we hadn’t needed help.” God, she hoped that was the only reason, but a little voice said it was a lie.
“Where is it?” He took a step forward, and she backed equally out into the hallway. “The one time I don’t take it with me…”
“I don’t know. I don’t have it. But I’m sure it’s safe and hasn’t been harmed.” She raised the pistol, aiming it straight at him. Outside in the hall, she heard a metallic scurrying—Xi’s cleaning robots?
“Are you really going to kill me after all this?” he said slowly.
“Are you?”
“I don’t have a choice if I don’t have the capsule.” The muscles of his neck were straining. He was struggling not to surge toward her, wasn’t he?
“I’m you’re only ride to Desori.”
“I don’t think that’s going to work this time,” he said with real regret in his voice.
“You can’t reach me before I shoot you. You’ll just fail your mission with that tactic.”
“There’s no reasoning with this stupid thing. It wants the capsule back, and it wants it now.”
“We’ll get it back to you. It’s only for a few more minutes—”
“If it were up to me, I’d sit back down. But it’s really not. Please, Ellen, I can’t—”
Just then, one of Xi’s robots rounded the corner and dove straight between Ellen’s legs. Kael stared at it. “Xi, now is not the time—”
The creature leapt, attaching itself to Kael’s chest. A blue glow and an audible thwomp came from the thing, and Kael froze.
What the hell? The suit clattered to the ground, suddenly a useless chunk of metal with Kael trapped inside, swearing up a storm. “Xi, how could you?”
“Violence of any kind is not permitted on the ship,” Xi said, sounding more smug than stern.
Just then Levereaux rounded the corner, tranq in hand, and fired, hitting Kael squarely in the neck.
His eyes were still trained on Ellen, shot through with a strange mixture of betrayal and trust and hope. His lids drooped once, twice, and then out he went.
Ellen sighed. “Good shot, Doctor. Let’s make sure we have that capsule nearby when he wakes up.”
“Attention, crew.” Kael roused suddenly to Adan’s voice over the comm. “We’ll be in Desori in approximately two hours. Prepare for landing.”
The surge of energy that had been beginning to flood him slowed. Something cool and metallic rested under his fingers. He raised it into view.
The capsule. Its lights blinked the same as ever.
He had no real other way to know if any harm had come to it. But here it was. Back in his possession.
Like she’d promised.
He flopped his head back down, lowered his arm, and closed his eyes. By the seven suns, what had he done? What had he said?
How had it taken him so long to figure out they were the ones who had raided the lab?
It didn’t matter now. He had nearly made it. He still had the capsule. His mission was nearly over. His assigned mission.
His personal mission to escape was only beginning.
