Accounting for Drakes (Stand Alone Tales #21)

Chapter One

A bil checked her clipboard and clutched her stylus. The life signs of the clients in the suits weren’t supposed to fluctuate like that. The boss came in, and she said, “I am worried about that intensity.”

“Species?”

“Venkin.”

“Scenario?”

“Battle of Crimhollow.”

“Don’t worry about it. They are aroused by violence.”

Abil looked at the readouts and blinked. “Oh, oh.”

Mbrak smiled. “If you want to intercede, they always enjoy another species at the bottom of their pile.”

She blinked. “No. I don’t interact in the system.”

“Anymore. You used to.”

She frowned. “You know why I don’t do that anymore.”

“With Styra no longer on the station, we need someone to troubleshoot.”

“Eckval is better at that than I am.”

“She was on the last shift, Abil. We need someone doing more than monitoring.”

She huffed. There was no other word for it. She scrambled around to find the words but just muttered, “Scared.”

“The Yorathian in pod thirteen needs an assist. They are stressed. No sex in that scenario.”

“Oh. Okay.” She clutched her clipboard.

Mbrak sighed and turned her toward the change room. “Off you go.”

Abil sighed, walked into the change room, got to her locker, stripped, and put on one of the sensor suits with admin capabilities. She checked to make sure that all of the sensors matched up with the right area. If they were in the wrong place, things went bad quickly.

She checked her clipboard for the right lineup of actions to take. She clutched it, moved to an available pod, confirmed her admin status, and settled in the cradle with her face mask scanning her features to project her expression in the scenario.

Abil connected with the system, and then, she was falling end over end into the scenario. She landed in the hero crouch and stood slowly in her long tunic and leather leggings.

Ranger was the description of her clothing, and it let her move easily in most scenarios. She looked down and flinched when she didn’t see the clipboard she had been clinging to over the last few weeks since Styra left. Her memory was unravelling with the loss of her cousin’s mind. Her anchor point was gone, and the others couldn’t hold her up. The pain that Styra had to deal with had made her mind solid. Abil’s small anchor had shattered when her cousin had transformed into a drake.

Abil tried to remember why she was there, but then she remembered she could ask, “Parameters of the program?”

Mountain climbing and cave exploration.

“Where is the client?”

In a cave-in two hundred metres to your left.

“Okay.” She jogged toward the edge of the mountains, stating, “Requesting rescue kit at the cave-in.”

Kit delivered.

She smiled and made her way through the grass and then the brush, and she nearly tipped into the crevasse that led below.

The kit was nearby, so she went through the rescue protocol she could remember, anchored three sites, and got the thin energy consumer that would let her carefully dig through the rocks.

The world around her was an energy projection in a computer, and the tiny unit would let her remove parts of the area around her.

The blockage in the tunnel disappeared in a few minutes under her focused, careful shots.

When the cavern was clear, she descended slowly and then saw the guest trapped under a stack of rocks.

She looked at them and tried to remember what to say. “Um, hello. Do you require assistance?”

The male lying there grunted; his eyes flashed black and silver. “No kidding. Can you move the rocks?”

“Sure. Would you prefer manual or electronic removal?”

“Get. This. Stuff. Off. Me.”

She nodded and quickly went to work with the small unit.

When he was free, she helped him stand and dusted him off.

“I am sorry. It was supposed to close the entry and force you through the tunnel to the caverns beyond.” Her hands brushed his back and the back of his thighs.

He paused. “Are you going to clear off the rest of me?”

Abil blinked. “Of course, sir. Apologies, sir.”

He looked at her and shook his head. “I can’t believe Mbrak employs simpletons.”

She recoiled and backed away from him. She hit her emergency extraction.

She sat up and removed her face monitor, rubbing her eyes as the tears started falling. She scrambled loose from the filaments and scuttled back to her locker, changing and getting into her normal clothing as quickly as she could. She clutched her clipboard, filed the rescue on the admin terminal, then walked to the supply room and took inventory of the two million items that the space station stocked.

She had the quantities and usage of everything in her mind, but the people parts of things were tricky. She needed to link to another mind to communicate effectively, but Mbrak said that was rude. She wasn’t allowed contact with strangers, which left her with family, and family thought her needs were creepy. She got that through the links.

She paused and took a deep breath. She had survived her first ten years on her own, hunting and gathering for food and clothing herself. No other being had been there to talk to or interact with, so she was missing all those pieces.

Styra had said that social stuff was like dancing, but Abil didn’t know how to dance either.

Even for one of Mbrak’s family, she was odd.

* * * *

M brak joined the other drake for dinner and smiled. “So, how did you enjoy being trapped in the cavern with normal human strength?”

Yorath snorted. “That was delightful.”

Mbrak laughed. “Well, we sent in a rescue.”

“The simpleton? Yes. I am aware.”

Before the server could come to the table, Mbrak paused and got control of the rage that had boiled inside him. “What?”

“The woman who could barely form a sentence with the demeanour of the most menial servant. That one.”

“What did you say to her?”

“The creature? I said I was surprised that you employ creatures like her.”

Mbrak got up and said, “Get off my station.”

Emperor Yorath sat straight. “What? You said you had a bride of your lineage for me.”

“I did. You aren’t worthy of her. Get off my station before I tear you to pieces for your insult to my grandchild.” Mbrak could feel his eyes flaring, and fire wreathed him.

Yorath stood up and stumbled back. “Oh, shit. That was her?”

“Yes.” The words came out in a hiss. “My little girl raised herself until we could find her. She doesn’t know how to navigate the worlds. You stated she would be protected and sheltered. Get. Off. My. Station.”

Yorath stood and inclined his head, confusion in his expression. “Thank you for considering me.”

Mbrak left the restaurant and went in search of Abil. She hated her block to interaction and forcing her into the simulator had been a whimsical means to introduce her to Yorath. Fucking hell. She’s probably doing inventory or auditing the programs.

He walked through the station, and everyone got out of his way.

When he stalked into the supply area, he caught her sad scent. He sighed and went to find his granddaughter halfway through the stacks of supplies for the mechanical section of the station.

He walked up to her, and she looked at him. Her mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.

He wrapped her in his arms and rubbed her back. “He wasn’t good enough for you anyway.”

The hot, wet trail of tears on his chest broke his heart. “Come on, let’s go get dessert, and then you can audit the cargo department.”

She hiccoughed and smiled up at him.

“You can even do a weapons count if you still have a sad.”

She smiled and nodded.

“Did you want to do another language course?”

She paused. “I can use language; I just don’t know when I am supposed to. It isn’t needed all the time, and I forget when I am supposed to use it.”

He frowned. “What else are you forgetting?”

She swallowed. “Protocol for going into the simulator, which pod to use for maintenance, and how to find the guests once I am in there.”

Mbrak felt unwell. “When did the memory loss start?”

“When Styra left. I... uh... anchored to her, and then, she was gone.”

His eyes widened. “She let you?”

“When I was smaller, she said that whatever I needed, I could have, so I linked to her for balance, and that helped, but now she’s gone, and I...” She shrugged.

“Oh, honey. Okay, I am going to work to find you someone you can link to who is right for you.”

“Can’t it just be the station?”

He ruffled her hair. “No. The station is my prison, and I am not going to make it yours.”

She frowned. “I don’t mind.”

“No. You can’t link to me. Period. I am in your genetic line.”

“Wait. So, the link is like mating?”

“What you did to Styra was more like holding on to a big sister. She didn’t mention it to me, so I don’t think she was aware of it. She had a lot going on.”

“I attached to her pain. When the pain was fixed, the link was gone,” Abil mumbled.

He nodded. “So, you picked a target that couldn’t feel you. Right. We need to find someone that you can link your mind to without fear. I am going to look as fast as I can for a candidate.”

“I want something to do. I need something to do.”

“I will make sure there is something for you to do.” He cupped her cheek and grinned. “Now, how is inventory doing?”

She grinned, clutched her clipboard as she walked with him, and told him about the twenty-nine items that were running short, and all were used in the maintenance of the pools in the spa. Someone wasn’t logging their parts.

Mbrak smiled at her attention to detail. Her mind was designed to navigate through the stars, but she hadn’t learned anything about people in the last twenty years. Now, he understood something he hadn’t before. She needed another mind to graft to and would give her an anchor point. He wished he had known about the link to Styra before, but he had been watching for an attachment to a psyche, not a symptom.

Ah well, it was time for dessert.

* * * *

A bil hummed happily with the promise of overhauling the records for the cargo-handling area. They kept horrible records, and she was looking forward to looking for weak points.

A figure loomed ahead of her. She stopped in her tracks and clutched her clipboard.

“Hello, little one.”

She stared at the man from the simulation. She nodded.

“Mbrak has ordered me off the station after issuing an invitation to take on one of his bloodline.”

Abil took a step backward.

“He also mentioned that you had an alternative upbringing.” He took a step toward her.

She nodded and eased back again.

Abil felt a touch on her mind, and she froze, shaking her head. “You should not be doing that. It is dangerous.”

He moved closer. “Little one, I don’t intend to hurt you.”

She frowned. “Not for me, for you.”

“What?”

“Dangerous for you. I attach my mind to yours and pull your power, and you just offered yourself to me. It is very stupid.” She felt her mind sending contact points to his, and he was surprised.

His eyes widened, and he reached out for her while she continued to break into his mind and examine everything he knew about drakes and transformation.

She heard a familiar voice calling her and stopped her audit of the emperor.

She backed up and looked at her grandfather. “He started it.”

Mbrak cupped her cheeks and looked at her. “Are you still connected?”

“I let go; he is still hanging on.”

Mbrak growled. “Yorath, I thought you were on your way.”

“I... had to see her. I understand now.”

Abil nodded and said, “Please excuse me. I need to go to an airlock.”

Mbrak blinked. “Why?”

“Because I know how to do it now, and she really wants to stretch out.”

“Do it?”

“Yes. He showed me how.” She smiled calmly. “He didn’t mean to, but I understand it now.”

Mbrak looked at her seriously, and she could see the icy green glow from her skin. “Run, Abil.”

She nodded and ran. The sprint took her through sparsely populated areas, and when she got to the outer ring, she opened the airlock and stood inside. One last breath, and she hit the outer door release.

She fell out of the station, and the companion in her thoughts was delighted. We will be so pretty.

Another figure loomed, and she scowled. She was going to transform, and another stupid drake was getting in the way. He grabbed her and hauled her toward a small debris field left over from station construction.

He threw her toward the debris, and she felt the energy building. Remembering what she had learned, she let her attachment to her human form go and welcomed weightlessness. Her drake did the rest.

The wings were wonderful. They took in the light from stars and suns and let her move. She swept along, and the other drake was pacing along with her.

She curled and flexed, stretched and flew through space. This is what she was for. She didn’t need a mate. She was fine to be on her own. Now, her grandfather didn’t need to worry. She was finally whole.

Abil turned and flew back toward the station, snagging a small object in her claws before building up speed and going through the magnetic defenses of the dock in her human form.

She was naked. That wasn’t mentioned in the other drake’s thoughts.

The footfalls behind her made her turn, and she frowned. “How do you keep the clothes?”

He smiled. “If you come with me, I will tell you.”

“Come with you?”

“To my home. Come with me.”

She frowned. “I will take it all.”

He grinned. “You can try.”

“I will succeed.” She was trying to warn him.

He walked up to her. “I have worlds upon worlds.”

He grabbed her biceps and lifted her. When there was a centimetre between them, she whispered, “Not an efficient storage arrangement. I will do better.”

The kiss surprised her. It roared through her system and flared along her nerve endings.

She heard Mbrak calling, but the kiss went on and on. The taste of him was something she couldn’t describe, but it was comforting. She clutched at the embroidered tunic that he was wearing and felt him smile against her lips.

She backed up. “Laughing at me?”

“Happy to have found you. I have dreamed of you but never guessed that the old blue bastard had someone like you hidden.”

“I have never been hidden. I have always been right here.” She pulled up her clipboard and stepped away from him. “And he is not an old blue bastard. He is my grandfather and my friend.”

Mbrak sighed. “I have a wrap for you, Abil.”

She walked toward her kin, and he put a blanket around her shoulders. “Thank you.”

Mbrak smiled and put his palm on the top of her head. “Your language is better.”

She pointed back toward the other drake. “He linked to me first. I didn’t do it.”

“I know you didn’t, little girl. Go shower and head to bed.”

She nodded and smiled. “There are three lights out on the station. I will send maintenance the report.”

“I know you will. Off you go.” He kissed her temple.

She walked away without looking back but rather looking at the station around her. She could see it all. Every part of it. Every ship, life sign, and electrical signal, she could see it all. Abil smiled and headed back to her quarters.